Read Online Poor Boy Road (Jake Caldwell #1) by James L. Weaver, Kate Foster - Free Book Online Page A

shoulders at arms’ length.
    “Son of a bitch,” Bear said. “It’s been a long, damn time. You look good, buddy.”
    “So do you.” Jake didn’t realize how much he’d missed Bear until the mountain stood in front of him.
    “Bullshit, I look like the goddamn Michelin tire man poured into a cop uniform.”
    “Can’t believe James Parley is the sheriff.”
    “Yup, elected three times in a row.”
    “Must be doing something right then. Must be tough to stay popular around here.”
    Bear snickered. “As long as those who vote like me, I’m good. The shitheads who I bust aren’t going to vote anyway, so fuck ‘em. Janey said you were in town for your dad. Poor, miserable bastard.”
    The mention of his dad wiped Jake’s face clean. He had flashes of late nights in the woods behind his house with Bear when they were kids. Sitting in the dark, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer lifted from Stony’s stash—Jake talking, Bear listening. Bear letting Jake hide out at his house. Bear watching TV at Jake’s and running with him to the woods when Stony rumbled into the driveway. You could tell the level of Stony’s inebriation by how he pulled in. When the gravel flew, so did Jake. Only Bear knew the full story.
    “Yeah, heading over to Hospice in Sedalia to see if they can get him in there.”
    “Seems like the best option to me.”
    “Don’t have any other choice,” Jake said. “I can’t and don’t want to take care of him. Figure my job is to make sure somebody does.”
    “You should check out the nurses while you’re there.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Bear grinned. “There’s one in particular you might find interesting.”
    “I’m not going to pick up chicks in a hospice where I’m taking my dying father, man.”
    “Just trust me, okay? Check them out while you’re there.”
    While Jake cyphered through Bear’s cryptic clue, the two stood in uncomfortable silence as the sunlight gleamed against the faded scar on Bear’s forehead.
    Jake pointed. “I see you still got that scar from the Valley Bar.”
    Bear rubbed at the spot. “Yeah, that was a hell of a night. How many beers and whiskey shots did Stony feed us?”
    “Enough. You remember which Crane brother started the shit with Stony?”
    “Matt started it then his brother joined in. Hell, Stony fell off that bar stool and only spilled half a beer on Matt. The way those two assholes carried on, you woulda thought your old man took a piss on both of them.”
    Jake laughed. “We whipped their asses in the parking lot though.”
    “Yeah, you only got a busted lip and a black eye. I got a beer bottle in the head and twelve stitches.”
    They stood in silence for another moment as if in honor of the memory.
    “So,” Bear continued, “how long you gonna be in town?”
    “Till it’s over, I guess. Kinda in between jobs and I don’t have a hell of a lot of pressing concerns back home.”
    Bear’s cell phone rang and he answered it with a gruff greeting. How could Jake subtly ask about Langston? Bear had to have some bead on his whereabouts, but it would raise too many questions. Bear grunted into the phone and hung up.
    “I gotta run,” he said. “Tell you what. You get Stony situated and give me a call. We’ll grab some brews and head out on the lake, catch some catfish and get caught up.”
    Jake held out his hand and Bear grabbed it, giving it a couple of shakes and flashing his pearly whites like he’d just won a million dollars.
    “Goddamn,” Bear whispered. “It’s good to see you, man. Don’t forget the nurses.”
    He pumped Jake’s hand one more time with a wink, donned his sunglasses and headed back to his patrol car. Jake leaned against the body of the truck and waved as Bear drove off. Forgetting about his coffee run, he climbed in the cab of the truck, cranked the engine over and drove toward Sedalia to find a place for his father to die.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Willie drank his mid-morning coffee on the porch as the