Read Online Wildfire by Mina Khan - Free Book Online Page B

darted from one officer to another. Quick,
jerky shakes of heads answered.
    “Alright, anybody see anything interesting lately?”
    Uneasy glances flickered around. Roberts shook the remaining
pack in his hand. “I’m looking for information. Anybody see anything strange?
I’ll give you the entire pack if you give me something useful.”
    “What’s this about?” The blond kid piped up again.
    Roberts shrugged. “I’m the sheriff and I need to know about
all kinds of things happening in my town.”
    “I saw something, maybe.” The quavering whisper came from
one of the drinkers.
    Roberts ambled forward and held out a cigarette. “Yeah?”
    The man licked already wet lips, revealing missing and
rotting teeth. “Yeah.”
    “Where were you?”
    The guy snatched the cigarette and brought it to his nose.
Took a deep sniff. “Behind the library, near the dumpster.”
    Roberts held out another. “There’s more here. So what time
was it?”
    The second cigarette got tucked behind an ear and hid by
greasy hair. “Still dark. Sometime before dawn.”
    The timing fit Jen’s fire. His chest tightened as he
remembered her pretty face all puffy and red from tears and worry. He wanted to
close the case, reassure Jen, hold her hand. The sheriff leaned forward. “So
what did you see?”
    “I was behind the dumpster.”
    “Doing what?”
    “I got hungry in the night. So I was snacking on an old
burger I found.”
    Roberts stared at the brown paper bag the man cradled in his
lap. “So what you see beside the burger?”
    A crafty light glinted in the old man’s eyes and he flashed
a toothless smile. “Another smoke might help jog my memory.”
    The old coot had nerves. Roberts snorted and handed over
another stick.
    “I was hidden behind the dumpster, when this large, black
shadow swooped over me, swallowed all the light.” The man took a swig from his
bottle. “I looked up.”
    “And?”
    His gaze shot away and boomeranged back. He leaned forward.
“It was a dragon.”
    Roberts shook his head. The geezer ought to get points for
originality. Most others just saw space ships.
    The old guy’s chin shot up and his eyes narrowed. “I know
what I saw. A dang big dragon flew right over me and headed west, toward
Paradise Valley where they’se been having the fires.”
    A boot sailed through the air and thwacked the speaker in
the head.
    “Oww!”
    “Shut the fuck up you old fool.”
    The sheriff whipped around toward the angry voice and saw
one of the sleepers glaring over his shoulder. This guy looked like what he’d
imagine Rasputin looked like. Crazy, gleaming gray eyes stared out of a dirty gaunt
face covered in ropy, knotted hair. It ran from the top of the head into the
moustache and beard. A dusty black overcoat covered most of his long, thin body.
    “Some people are trying to sleep here.” The man glared and
then turned away.
    Roberts’ gaze landed on the boot lying near the whimpering
old dragon-sighting guy. An old, scuffed and creased brown work boot. He
studied the sole of the shoe. His mouth felt dry. The tread pattern seemed
familiar. He nodded to Jenkins to bag it and made his way to the sleeper.
    “Hey, you can’t go about throwing things at people.” He
stood with hands on his hips, close to his weapon and handcuffs. “I might have
to haul you to jail for that.”
    The man cracked his eyelids open and sent out a bleary
stare. “Just trying to sleep.”
    Roberts eyed the other boot peeking out from under the coat.
He stepped forward and tapped the foot with his own. “You got some nice boots
there,” he said. “Aren’t you lucky? Where’d you get them?”
    The man pushed himself up and hunched over his knees. “Found
‘em.”
    “Where?”
    A sullen glare. “By the library dumpster.”
    “Everything seems to happen around this dumpster.”
    Bony shoulders rose and fell. “I was there same time as the
dumb ass claims he saw the dragon.”
    “Did you see the dragon?”
    A laugh