Title: The Stranger
By: greygoose70
Chapter Nine
Wiley stood there stiff with tension, the sway and swagger gone from his body. His choices having floated around in his mind long enough. A sudden impulse came over him blotting out the risks and chances of success . . .or failure.
When it happened, it was quick. Wiley's hand tightened on the grip of the long-barreled Ruger 357 he was known to carry. The chromed barrel flashed as it was jerked from its location in his jeans and exposed to the light. He swung the barrel around toward the stranger, his forefinger positioned on the trigger ready to shoot. . .he never got the chance.
Suddenly there was terrific roar. Shredded paper and smoke billowed out from Marlowe's lap and Wiley Grusome was seen being picked up off the floor as the blast hit him in his abdominal area causing him to bend forward hurling him backwards through the large picture window onto the wooden walkway.
Marlowe just sat in the barber chair, reloaded his gun, spun around so he was facing Floyd, the barber, and asked, "Am I next?"
When Sheriff Hanley and his deputies arrived, they went right to work taking pictures and measurements along with special instructions issued by the sheriff, one being have Floyd carefully removed the cape from Marlowe in case there was evidence underneath it he didn't want disturbed. As Floyd did as Sheriff Hanley asked Marlowe held the shot-pistol clear leaving him as he had been after the shooting. Hanley had his lead deputy, Burt Thomson, take some additional pictures.
With Burt finished taking pictures Sheriff Hanley pulled over a chair next to Marlowe. Spying the gun in his lap he pointed to it asking, ''that it?"
"Yeah, want to see it?" Marlowe answered holding out for him. "Just hold it up so I can get a little closer look."
Marlowe held the weapon up for the sheriff's inspection, the sheriff letting out a breathless "wow, that's quite some cannon you have there. I'm willing to bet you don't have a license for it."
"You'd lose," Marlowe said.
"Well, I'd sure be liken to see it," Sheriff Hanley responded a hint of disbelief in his tone. That's when Marlowe reached in his jacket pocket, pulled out a leather wallet, tossing it to the sheriff.
Sheriff Hanley flipped open the wallet immediately seeing the gold badge, across the top the words United States, at the bottom the word Marshall. Glancing at the ID on the left was a photo of the stranger, his name, physical description and title, Special Investigator, OCD. He closed the wallet and tossed it back Marlowe catching it handily.
"Well, I guess we're done here," Sheriff Hanley announced loud enough for all to hear. "Doc's got the body, statements been taken, evidence accumulated so let's let these good people get back to what they were doin." Turning to Floyd he added, "Floyd, I'll get Goober's people to clean up this mess and board up the window."
"Sorry about all this, Mr. Lawson," Marlowe said handing him two one-hundred-dollar bills. "Here this should be enough for a new window. Now how much for the haircuts?"
"I've already paid for them," Brent said, "whatta ya say we go to Gracie's Diner for a cup of coffee."
The parts shipment arrived at three that afternoon, they spent the rest of it unpacking the contents and checking off the parts against the packing list. They would start reassembly of the tranny the next day.
Meanwhile the events of the morning had gotten back to Carson Pierce who was currently discussing the situation with Nick Blackwell. "We can have Jed (Jedidiah Bela, Pierce's man for anything murderous) take care of him," Nick offered.
"No," Pierce replied, "Jed won't be back for another three days and our Marshall Marlowe could be gone by then. He's probably run a check on me already, discovered my ties to the Spillano family."
"Why do you think that boss?"
"Because the OCD Sheriff Hanley saw on his ID stands for Organized Crime Division. No, this needs to be done quick and professionally. I'll call Baltimore."
Next Day
They only had about a half day to get anything done since Brent needed to go to Somerset and see a specialist about his knee which meant backtracking to London where he could pick up East Highway 80 through the Cumberland Mountains.
Ding, ding, ding. . .
After saving his work Rick went upstairs to check on Kate. He quietly opened the door, saw her still asleep, closed the door and went down to the kitchen. He wanted to fix her something special for dinner, finally deciding on his Chicken Marsala, one of her favorites. It wasn't one of Lily's, but he would fix one of her favorites also, dirty rice. He began gathering everything he needed for the two dishes and began the preparations.
An hour and thirty minutes later he had it all ready, but his wife still hadn't come down, "better go up and get them" he said aloud to the Marsala sauce simmering in the skillet. "No need," he heard Kate proclaim, "And what is that delicious aroma?"
"One of your favorites, I'm surprised you don't recognize it. Think Italian," he responded.
Taking a healthy sniff, she blurted out, "Chicken Marsala." That was quickly followed by an "Ugh," from Lily who was standing right next to Kate.
"Don't fret little one, I made one of your favorites also, dirty rice."
"Yippee," Lily screeched, "let's eat."
The rest of the evening went as it always did. After dinner was over and the dishes done Kate took Lily up for her bath but when Rick asked Lily what she'd like to watch she said, "You pick one Mommy."
Kate went over to the DVD cabinet and searched finally pulling one out "How about Toy Story," saying it more as a statement than posing it as a question. "Which one?" Rick quickly asked. "Duh, the original one of course," she replied then slipping it into the player and pressing Play.
Kate woke up to a chill, something was missing or better yet someone was missing. Rick was a warm body person. It didn't matter what he set the AC at she was always comfortable when he was snuggled next to her. She rolled over, found his usual spot in their bed empty but still warm so he couldn't have been gone long. She knew inspiration had struck again, she also knew it was just to jot down an idea or short scene so he would be back soon.
TBC