Read Online Flightfall by Andy Straka - Free Book Online

deeper and waited. The sheriff made a show of checking the load on his weapons.
    Twenty minutes later, I spotted two flashlights making their way up the ridge below us. I pointed.
    “I see them,” Toronto whispered.
    “Nobody comes up here in the dark like this unless they’re up to no good. We’ll wait until they reach the clearing, then take ‘em into custody,” the sheriff said.
    “Don’t you want to see what they’re up to first?” I said under my breath.
    He stared at me for a moment, then nodded his okay. The sound of twigs snapping and boots pushing through leaves reached our ears. These people weren’t worried about making a racket. A woman’s laugh floated through the air, but it didn’t sound genuine. Instead, it carried a hint of fear.
    A few moments later the lights popped into view on the far side of the clearing. Two ghostly figures stepped into the pale moonlight. It was hard to tell for sure, at first. But then it became clear that one held a rifle to the back of the other.
    “Now, darling,” a woman’s voice said, “we’re going to take a good look around and find that dead falcon before that big Indian or his two private eye lackeys find it first. I only hope some bear hasn’t made off with it. I know you’ll cooperate, dearest. You’ve always been good before.”
    “I’m getting pretty sick of this crap, Sylvia.” The new voice belonged to Maria Andros. “You said you had to meet me up here tonight. Just the two of us. What’s with the gun?”
    “It’s just a little gun, pumpkin, just for safety,” Mrs. Clayton said. “It’s a fun game though, isn’t it?”
    “Not for me.”
    We still held the element of surprise. With my head and eyes I motioned to Toronto to move around to one side of the pair while Nicole went to the other. The sheriff and I would take the middle.
    I crept around to position myself behind a pair of boulders. The two women were moving toward Toronto’s position opposite me now, sweeping their lights back and forth.
    “You’re jealous of Jake, aren’t you?” Maria said. “That’s why you killed his bird.”
    “Me jealous of Jake Toronto? What for? He was just being paid to get rid of you for Ricardo. Ricardo was the one who was jealous of you and me, dear. You must know that’s true.”
    We heard only the night sounds for several seconds.
    Then: “I’m not sure I want to do this anymore, Sylvia...”
    Sylvia Clayton moved closer to Maria Andros, angling the barrel of the rifle toward her head. “You’re tired, darling. We’ll talk this over.” She began to stroke the younger woman’s hair. “That falcon was such a beautiful wild thing, you know. Did I tell you it was spiraling upward when I finally found it? The wings weren’t even moving. I think they ride the currents or something. It was really quite a shot.”
    So Jazzman hadn’t been shot in a stooping dive after all. Now that we had the perpetrator right in front of us, it all made sense. Apparently, Dr. Clayton wasn’t the only one practicing his shooting out at the range.
    “Ringing up.” Toronto’s voice punched through the darkness like an invisible knife.
    The two women spun in his direction.
    “When they rise like that,” he said, “they ring.”
    The beam of Sheriff Daveys’s flashlight illuminated the couple. “Hold it right there, ladies. It’s the sheriff.”
    As if he’d been their shadow, Toronto seemed to materialize next to Mrs. Clayton and took hold of her arm and the rifle. Maria tried to turn from the light, but ran straight into me. She scratched my face, tried to bite my shoulder, and kicked at my ankles.
    “It’s okay,” I said, with Nicole’s help holding her at arm’s length. “It’s okay now ... It’s over.”
    In a minute it was, with the sheriff reading the handcuffed Sylvia Clayton her rights while Maria Andros heaved sobs into Nicole’s shoulder.
    “This is absolutely ridiculous,” Mrs. Clayton said. “I’ll have all of your jobs