Read Online Gray Ghost by William G. Tapply - Free Book Online Page A

information that was important and valuable—and whoever the Man in the Suit worked for didn’t want him to remember them.
    Calhoun understood that remembering would be dangerous.
    The fact was, he remembered nothing, but the Man in the Suit had made it clear that even if something from before did pop into Calhoun’s head, it would be in his best interest to deny it.
    So each time the Audi pulled into Calhoun’s dooryard, they danced their little dance, the Man in the Suit asking Calhoun what he remembered, and Calhoun saying he remembered nothing, and the Man in the Suit never knowing whether he was lying or telling the truth. As far as Calhoun could tell, the Man in the Suit always assumed that he was lying, but he never pushed it.
    When the Man in the Suit first started coming to visit, Calhoun threatened to shoot him, and he was at least half serious. The whole idea of the Man in the Suit scared him and made him mad. Pretty soon the Remington twelve-gauge became a kind of joke between them.
    Not that Calhoun trusted him, or especially liked him. The Man in the Suit worked for the government. He knew everything about Calhoun’s forgotten life. He used what he knew to bribe and bully Calhoun, who protected himself by pretending it was all irrelevant to him.
    The Man in the Suit came up the steps and sat in the same Adirondack chair that Kate had been sitting in barely an hour earlier. “Who’s that?” he said.
    “Who’s who?”
    “The music. On the piano.”
    “That’s Oscar Peterson. Everybody knows Oscar Peterson.”
    The Man in the Suit shrugged. “It’s nice.” He jerked his chin at Calhoun’s coffee mug, sitting on the table. “What’re you drinking?”
    “Coffee. Want some?”
    “No. Got a Coke?”
    Calhoun went inside and returned the shotgun to its pegs on the wall. Then he snagged a can of Coke from the refrigerator, took it back out, and put it on the table in front of the Man in the Suit.
    “Thanks, Stoney.” He cracked it open, took a swig, put it down, and peered at Calhoun. “So—”
    “I don’t remember anything.”
    The Man in the Suit nodded. “Okay.”
    “So you can leave now. I’m going to bed.”
    “Anything you’d like to know?” said the Man in the Suit. “From before, I mean?”
    Calhoun shook his head. “Nope. I’m all set.”
    The Man in the Suit smiled. “I understand you’ve had some, um, stress recently.”
    How the hell did he find out about Kate so quick?
Calhoun thought. The son of a bitch had a way of worming into Calhoun’s life, of knowing things that were none of his damn business. “What the hell are you talking about?” he said.
    “Sheriff Dickman. He needs you, he asked for your help, and you turned him down. Why’d you do that, Stoney?”
    “That ain’t your affair.”
    “Sure. You’re absolutely right about that. Still, I don’t understand. There’s that murdered body, throat cut, burned and mutilated, which is pretty damned interesting, and you got a chance to help out, help a friend, help your society, and you refused. That’s not being a good citizen.”
    “I’m not interested in some murdered body,” Calhoun said, “whether it’s burned and mutilated or not. And I don’t care about being a good citizen. And I don’t care whether you understand or not. And it pisses me off that you’re so damn nosy.”
    The Man in the Suit shook his head. “Sometimes you disappoint me, Stoney.”
    “Disappointing you don’t bother me one bit.” Calhoun gazed up at the stars for a minute, then looked at the Man in the Suit. “You saying I should agree to be the sheriff’s deputy? That why you’re here ? To tell me that ?”
    “I was a little surprised, that’s all. I don’t like to be surprised. I kinda thought you’d jump at the chance, and you didn’t. It makes me think I don’t understand you.”
    Calhoun shrugged. “That burned-up body ain’t my problem, just because I happened to find it.”
    “No man is an island,