Rain Gods (Hackberry Holland 2)

?Let?s have a talk with him,? Hackberry said. He opened the back door of the sedan and leaned inside. The smell of urine welled into his face. There was a skinned place on Danny Boy?s right temple, like a piece of fruit that had been rubbed on a carrot grater. There was a dark area in his wash-faded jeans, as though a wet towel had been pressed into his groin.

?Have you seen Pete Flores around?? Hackberry said.

?Maybe two weeks back.?

?Y?all were drinking a little mescal together

??

?He was eating in Junior?s diner on the four-lane. That?s where his girlfriend works at.?

?We think some guys are trying to hurt him, Danny. You?d be doing Pete a big favor if you helped us find him.?

?I ain?t seen him since what I just told you.? Danny Boy?s eyes slid off Hackberry?s and fastened on Clawson?s, then came back again.

Hackberry straightened up and closed the door. ?I think he?s telling the truth,? he said.

?You psychic with these guys??

?With him I am. He doesn?t have any reason to lie.?

Clawson took off his large octagonal glasses and wiped them with a Kleenex, staring down the street, a deep wrinkle between his eyes. ?Can we go inside??

?It?s full of cigarette smoke. What?d you do to Danny Boy??

?I didn?t do anything to him. He?s drunk. He fell down. When I picked him up, he started to swing on me. But I didn?t do anything to him.? Clawson opened the back door and used a handcuff key to free Danny Boy from the D-ring inset in the floor, then wrapped his fingers under Danny Boy?s arm and pulled him from the backseat. ?Get going,? he said.

?You want me to hang around, Sheriff?? Danny Boy said.

?Did I tell you to get out of here?? Clawson said. He pushed Danny Boy, then kicked him in the butt.

?Whoa,? Hackberry said.

?Whoa what?? Clawson said.

?You need to dial it down, Mr. Clawson.?

?It?s Agent Clawson.?

Hackberry was breathing through his nose. He saw Pam Tibbs at the office window. He turned to Danny Boy. ?Go down to Grogan?s and put a couple on my tab,? he said. ?The operational word is ?couple,? Danny.?

?I don?t need a drink. I?m gonna get something to eat and go back to my place. If I hear anything on Pete, I?ll tell you,? Danny Boy said.

Hackberry turned and started back toward his office, ignoring Clawson?s presence. He could hear the flag popping in the breeze and the flag chain tinkling against the metal pole.

?We?re not done,? Clawson said. ?Last night somebody made two nine-one-one calls from a pay phone outside San Antonio. I?ll play you part of it.?

He removed a small recorder from his pants pocket and clicked it on. The voice on the recording sounded like that of a drunk man or someone with a speech defect. ?Tell the FBI there?s a whack out on a girl name of Vikki Gaddis. They?re gonna kill her and a soldier. It?s about those Thai women that got murdered.? Clawson clicked off the recorder. ?Know the voice?? he said.

?No,? Hackberry said.

?I think the caller had a pencil clenched between his teeth and was loaded on top of it. Can you detect an accent??

?I?d say he?s not from around here.?

?Here?s another piece of information: One of our forensic guys went the extra mile on the postmortem of the Thai females. They had China white in their stomachs, balloons full of it, the purest I?ve ever seen. Some of the balloons had ruptured in the women?s stomachs prior to mortality. I wonder if you stumbled into a storage area rather than a graveyard.?

?Stumbled??