Read Online Pawnbroker: A Thriller by Jerry Hatchett - Free Book Online
Authors: Jerry Hatchett
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime Fiction, Conspiracies, Thrillers & Suspense, Spies & Politics, Technothrillers
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Around midnight, my answering service got an emergency call, says they had a John Doe who needed to be embalmed, wanted to know could we help them out.”
“Who was it?” Penny said, an eager look on her face.
“Hold your horses there, little lady. I’m telling the story.” Sto-rey. “Well,” he continued, “the answering service calls me and wants to know what to tell this fellow. I likes to handle my business myself, you know what I’m saying? So I got the number and calls him myself. Told him I’d be glad to help him out so long as somebody was standing good for the bill. I don’t do this stuff for my health, you understands.”
“And?” Penny was motioning for him to hurry up, which was a futile effort. Milton is a storyteller from way back and he does it at his own molassian gait.
“He tells me the city has a fund to take care of John Does. Says this guy was found shot somewhere a couple of days ago and nobody’s claimed him, that the hospital is fussing and wants him out of there. I tell him what I can do it for and he’s like, ‘Fine, fine, just hurry up and get him.’ So I woke up one of my drivers and sent him on over there and got him.”
“And he’s at your place now, Milton?” I said.
“Mmmm-hmmm. Black man, look to be about forty, got a hole in his temple. And you know, as soon as I seen him, I thought to myself, he sound more like the guy tried to rob you the other day than he does a John Doe.”
“That’s bound to be him!” I said. “Have you embalmed him yet?”
Milton tilted his head back, face pointing straight up. “Oh Lord Jesus,” he said with high drama, “grants your humble servant Milton Jedediah Blue patience with people who won’t lets a poor old man tell a story.”
“Sorry, Milton,” I said with a smile. “Go ahead.”
“You sure?” he said.
I nodded.
“I mean, I wouldn’t wants to interrupt you.”
“I got it, Milton.”
“Well, before I starts to work on him, I calls down to the City Hall and be sure somebody’s planning on paying me. I needed a purchase order, ’cause when you a’dealing with the government, and you ain’t got a piece of paper, you ain’t got nothing. You understands what I’m saying?”
“You bet.”
“And you know what? I can’t find one soul who knows the first thing about a John Doe. So I ain’t done nothing but stick him in the cooler. And that’s where he’s at right now.”
“He’s in your cooler?” Penny said.
“What’d I just say, little girl?”
Chapter 24
BLUE’S FUNERAL PARLOR
MONTELLO, MISSISSIPPI
“What do you mean, the body’s gone?” Detective Tommy Mitchell said.
“Gone. G-O-N-E. What part of that you having trouble with, officer?”
“Where’d it go?”
“How should I know? I guess it’s gone to the place where all the ‘John Does’ go. Wouldn’t nobody talks to me about how I was gonna get paid, so when somebody showed up and claimed the body, didn’t bother me none to send old Johnny D. on his way.” Milton Blue had a big smile on his face, accented by a gold tooth with a small diamond front and center.
“You better watch your attitude, Blue.”
“Sound a lot like a white po-lice-man threatening a black man to me. Better watch your own self, officer.”
“Come on, Tommy,” Bobby Knight said, “Let’s get out of here. Doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t. You listen to me, old man. You’ll produce that body or—”
“Or what?” The voice came from behind them.
Mitchell and Knight turned around to see a hulking man of around thirty, his ripped torso clad in a painted-on white tee. His arms were crossed, his shaved head tilted back and shining.
“Gentlemen, this here is Little Milton, my baby boy. He helps his old daddy out around here.”
“Or what?” Little Milton repeated.
When he got no answer, he said, “That’s what I thought. Why don’t you nice officers be moving along now?”
Chapter
“Who was it?” Penny said, an eager look on her face.
“Hold your horses there, little lady. I’m telling the story.” Sto-rey. “Well,” he continued, “the answering service calls me and wants to know what to tell this fellow. I likes to handle my business myself, you know what I’m saying? So I got the number and calls him myself. Told him I’d be glad to help him out so long as somebody was standing good for the bill. I don’t do this stuff for my health, you understands.”
“And?” Penny was motioning for him to hurry up, which was a futile effort. Milton is a storyteller from way back and he does it at his own molassian gait.
“He tells me the city has a fund to take care of John Does. Says this guy was found shot somewhere a couple of days ago and nobody’s claimed him, that the hospital is fussing and wants him out of there. I tell him what I can do it for and he’s like, ‘Fine, fine, just hurry up and get him.’ So I woke up one of my drivers and sent him on over there and got him.”
“And he’s at your place now, Milton?” I said.
“Mmmm-hmmm. Black man, look to be about forty, got a hole in his temple. And you know, as soon as I seen him, I thought to myself, he sound more like the guy tried to rob you the other day than he does a John Doe.”
“That’s bound to be him!” I said. “Have you embalmed him yet?”
Milton tilted his head back, face pointing straight up. “Oh Lord Jesus,” he said with high drama, “grants your humble servant Milton Jedediah Blue patience with people who won’t lets a poor old man tell a story.”
“Sorry, Milton,” I said with a smile. “Go ahead.”
“You sure?” he said.
I nodded.
“I mean, I wouldn’t wants to interrupt you.”
“I got it, Milton.”
“Well, before I starts to work on him, I calls down to the City Hall and be sure somebody’s planning on paying me. I needed a purchase order, ’cause when you a’dealing with the government, and you ain’t got a piece of paper, you ain’t got nothing. You understands what I’m saying?”
“You bet.”
“And you know what? I can’t find one soul who knows the first thing about a John Doe. So I ain’t done nothing but stick him in the cooler. And that’s where he’s at right now.”
“He’s in your cooler?” Penny said.
“What’d I just say, little girl?”
Chapter 24
BLUE’S FUNERAL PARLOR
MONTELLO, MISSISSIPPI
“What do you mean, the body’s gone?” Detective Tommy Mitchell said.
“Gone. G-O-N-E. What part of that you having trouble with, officer?”
“Where’d it go?”
“How should I know? I guess it’s gone to the place where all the ‘John Does’ go. Wouldn’t nobody talks to me about how I was gonna get paid, so when somebody showed up and claimed the body, didn’t bother me none to send old Johnny D. on his way.” Milton Blue had a big smile on his face, accented by a gold tooth with a small diamond front and center.
“You better watch your attitude, Blue.”
“Sound a lot like a white po-lice-man threatening a black man to me. Better watch your own self, officer.”
“Come on, Tommy,” Bobby Knight said, “Let’s get out of here. Doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t. You listen to me, old man. You’ll produce that body or—”
“Or what?” The voice came from behind them.
Mitchell and Knight turned around to see a hulking man of around thirty, his ripped torso clad in a painted-on white tee. His arms were crossed, his shaved head tilted back and shining.
“Gentlemen, this here is Little Milton, my baby boy. He helps his old daddy out around here.”
“Or what?” Little Milton repeated.
When he got no answer, he said, “That’s what I thought. Why don’t you nice officers be moving along now?”
Chapter
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