Read Online Rust On the Razor by Mark Richard Zubro - Free Book Online Page B

thought was a plus.
    Another cop car drove up. A very slender, dark-haired guy got out. He seemed to be about the same age and height as the blond.
    â€œWhat’s up, Harvey?” he said to the blond.
    Harvey pointed. “Sheriff’s dead.”
    The new guy walked up to the car, opened the back door, lifted the sheriff’s head, and whistled. He rejoined Harvey. “He’s dead all right.”
    I was pleased at this new confirmation of the obvious.
    â€œThis is gonna be big news,” the dark-haired one said. “Every official in the county is gonna want to be in on this one.”
    I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to interrogate me. The dark-haired one’s hips were narrow and his shoulders broad, but the blond had lovely muscles. I doubted they’d let me choose.
    Mostly I stood around as a crowd gathered and what must have been half the officials in the county examined either the body, the car, the ground, or all of the above, in general doing everything but preserving the integrity of
the crime scene. Several herds of demented elephants on their morning stampede couldn’t have obscured the evidence any more than these people did.
    No one suggested we adjourn to a nice air-conditioned car or building to avoid the heat and humidity, already unpleasant at this hour.
    Around ten a lean, grizzled man with dark circles under his eyes drove up. He wore a very light gray suit and tie. His full head of hair was cut short and was totally white.
    Everyone stepped back and allowed him space. They waited for him to speak. He barely looked at the backseat of the rental car. The first thing he said was, “Cody, cordon off this area. Move all the people back, including the doctors and nurses.” The brown-haired guy moved to obey. So Cody was the name of the slender broad-shouldered one. The older man put his hands on his hips, gazed at the sky, the surrounding buildings, finally the pavement and the car. He saw me and walked over.
    â€œYou found the body?”
    I hadn’t seen anybody tell him. Somehow word got around in this town as if everybody had their own Burr County CNN antenna attached inside their skull.
    I nodded.
    â€œI’m Wainwright Richardson, the county coroner.” He did not offer his hand to be shaken. “I take over when the sheriff is incapacitated. I’ll be handling the investigation. I want you to give your statement to Harvey.” He pointed to the blond.
    At this moment Scott approached me from across the hospital parking lot.
    â€œHow’s your dad?” I asked.
    â€œStill breathing on his own. Shannon and Hiram are with him. They told me Peter was dead. What happened?”
    â€œI found the sheriff in the back of our rent-a-car. Rent-a-corpse? Whichever. He was very dead.”

    Harvey strolled over. I liked the way he hooked his thumbs on either side of his oversized buffalo-head belt buckle. He pointed at me. “I want to talk to you.”
    â€œDon’t worry about me,” I said to Scott. “I’ll be fine. Get back to your dad.” Scott hesitated. “It’s okay,” I said. “Everything will be all right.”
    He still hesitated, but Harvey placed his hand on my elbow, less than a yank but more than gently, and led me toward a cop car.
    I was sweating in the morning heat. The parking lot had no shade, and I could already feel warmth from the concrete radiating through my shoes.
    We sat in the front seat. He took a hand-sized note pad from the dashboard.
    â€œCan you turn the air-conditioning on?” I asked.
    â€œListen, faggot, everybody knows what happened yesterday between you and the sheriff. If I can hang this on you, I will.”
    The towering anger triggered by that kind of unfairness ran smack into my cooperation vow and my good sense. Calm was absolutely essential at this point. I said, “Officer, I’m willing to do anything I can to help. I found the body. I had no