Read Online Flash Flood by Susan Slater - Free Book Online Page A

at the edge and thanks to centrifugal force were sucked flat to the sides as it whirled vertically—then tossed your cookies after it stopped.
    â€œDon’t turn around.”
    The voice was male, low pitched and not familiar, coming from someone underneath him in the darkness. Dan realized the hair on his arms was standing up.
    â€œDo I know you?”
    â€œYou will. I’m going to put a piece of paper on the seat behind you. Don’t pick it up until you hear me leave.”
    â€œWhat’s this about?”
    â€œI think you know.”
    Dan listened to the sound of someone reaching up and placing something on the bleacher behind him. There wasn’t any easy way to get to the man. He’d be out of there before Dan could squeeze through the plank seating and drop to the floor. Besides, curiosity had replaced fear. There was something about the man. Maybe he had the answers.
    â€œIs there more?”
    â€œCould be.”
    â€œHow can I get in touch?”
    â€œLeave a map on the dash of the Tercel. Circle where you’ll be.”
    Dan waited a full minute after he heard the door shut before turning around. Who was this man? How did he know what he was driving? Could be a hired hand at the Double Horseshoe. Some disgruntled cowpoke looking for revenge. What did he care as long as the information helped nail Billy Roland?
    He leaned back and picked up the folded piece of paper. A company’s insert—the kind of detailed disclaimer that came with a boxed drug. He smoothed the creases and could just make out
sucostrin succinvicholine.
A muscle relaxant. Then penciled in the margin were two words: “tail vein.” Virtually undetectable. Dan knew that was what had happened to Mountain Run’s Cisco Kid. Could he prove it? No. But he knew and the knowing might be power enough.
    He’d had the drive back to formulate a plan but the driver of the cattle truck had been talkative, filling him in, almost reverently, on how Billy Roland’s neighbors revered him. There were tales of scholarships, new church pews, operations for the indigent…he could do no wrong. It was just an echo of what the judge had said. Oh well, the bigger they are, the harder they bounce.
    The Double Horseshoe was ablaze with light. Dan had barely stepped inside before Iris caught his arm.
    â€œHe’s in the study.”
    Dan thought Iris looked tired. For the first time, he noticed little lines etched around her mouth and a gray puffiness below her eyes. Being Billy Roland’s wife could be a tough job.
    â€œLooks as though you been rode hard and put away wet.” Billy Roland’s attempt at humor fell flat. Dan wasn’t in the mood.
    â€œI don’t think we need to talk about this for very long. We’ll meet in the morning. I’ll need full financial disclosures. Everything. You can bring a lawyer in. I’ll take your statement under oath.”
    He left the room before Billy Roland could react. Upstairs, he packed everything he’d brought and carried it out to the Tercel before going back down the hall to the study.
    â€œI want you to be thinking about something. Sucostrin succinvicholine. Sleep tight.” Dan closed the door behind him.
    Billy Roland made no move to detain him.
    He got his old room back at the Silver Spur. Before going to bed, he unfolded a map of New Mexico and circled Roswell in red. He paperclipped a business card with the local office phone number on the back to the upper right hand corner and left it on the dash. The map was gone in the morning.
    ***
    â€œI’m not asking you to understand, son, I’m asking you to believe me. I don’t have any problem with your muscle-relaxant theory. It’s as good as any. But what son-of-a-bitch would do such a thing?” Billy Roland was on his second Glenlivet over.
    â€œI need to tape this session.” Dan placed a recorder on the edge of the desk.
    â€œAll right by me. You