Read Online From a Dead Sleep by John A. Daly - Free Book Online

Gary.”
    Sean felt his temper simmer, but repressed the urge to unload on his uncle. Instead, he sunk his teeth down into his lower lip. He wasn’t going to lie; he did have aspirations of one day being the big man in Winston. But too much time had passed. He never had the drive. He had no credibility left in the eyes of the town folk. He had tested too many people and burned too many bridges.
    Zed was more perceptive than Sean had thought. Was he, Sean Coleman, really that open of a book? Did others see through him as well as his uncle did?
    An uncomfortable minute went by with no conversation between the two.
    “Your car’s at O’Rafferty’s, right?”
    “Yeah. How did you know?”
    “I read about it in the paper.”
    “Christ,” Sean said in annoyance. “That Hughes kid stays up all night to get his stupid tabloid column to print. He should work for the National Enquirer . He needs a life.” With his eyelids tightened, he leaned forward and began massaging his temples with his hands.
    “There’s some aspirin in the glove compartment, Sean.”
    Sean didn’t waste a second, leaning forward and letting the steel drawer drop open. A white plastic bottle of medicine rested clearly in view, but it might as well have been invisible. Sean’s gaze had been intercepted by the visual feast of a shiny and black holstered handgun that was now caressed in the glow of the small illuminating bulb beside it.
    “Holy shit!” Sean rumbled with his lips slowly forming into an uncharacteristic grin. With wide eyes, he quickly turned to his uncle who was now displaying a smug smirk of his own. Zed winked an eye at him and turned his attention back to the road. His smile widened.
    “Is this what I think it is?” an impassioned Sean asked.
    Zed was grinning from ear to ear now. “Give it a look!”
    For the better part of a year, Zed, who had a well-known passion for gun collecting, had been looking for a Heckler & Koch P9S Sport Mark III in a .45 caliber. It was an extremely difficult weapon to find, not to mention very expensive.
    Sean’s hand trembled as it carefully glided inside the glove box. Goosebumps rose along the back of his neck once his fingers brushed along the glossy wooden handgrip of the thirty-year-old German masterpiece of weaponry. He let out a long whistle of praise. His cautious handling and clear admiration of the gun prompted a giddy snicker from Zed.
    He knew Sean would be one of the few to appreciate it. “Don’t be shy! Take it out of its holster!”
    With his eyes outlining each groove and curve, Sean said, “Tell me you’re not keeping this baby in your glove box, Uncle Zed. This should be hanging from a rack above the fireplace.” He knew his uncle normally only carried a standard revolver on him and left his hobby at home.
    “Of course not. I just brought it along to show you.”
    “She’s a real beauty.”
    The tip of Sean’s tongue slid to the corner of his mouth as he popped out the gun’s clip and snapped it back in place. The crisp sound of metal on metal prompted an approving nod from him.
    “We should go to the range on Monday and turn her loose,” suggested Zed. “There’s hardly any recoil at all. It’s as slick as snot.”
    “You’ve fired it?” Sean asked in surprise.
    “Sure. What good is a lady if you can’t take her for a dance?”
    Sean had heard his uncle use that phrase several times before. He still didn’t get it.
    “Wait a minute,” he said, confusion in his eyes after spinning his head toward his uncle. “I’m working on Monday.”
    “Eh . . . I tried to call you last night. They ended up going with Bodie’s outfit. He put in a lower bid.”
    “Shit. You don’t have anything else for me?”
    “No. Not until Thursday. A museum over in Branston needs someone to work some exhibit they’ll be hosting throughout next weekend. It will be a four-day job.”
    “Branston?” Sean said with a scowl. “That’s almost an hour’s drive. And over the