Archer Mayor [Joe Gunther 22] Tag Man (v5.0) (epub)

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.Now that he was a father himself, Willy wasn’t sure if he wanted Emma to turn out quite so intelligent, or if he’d be scared of her should she do so.He sure as hell knew that he didn’t have Dan’s brains.As if reading that very thought, the latter said, “I hear that congratulations are in order.How are mother and daughter doing?”Normally, such questions were hot buttons for Willy.His privacy was paramount to him.But this was a man on whom he depended and who’d played him like a pro—clearly someone who could keep his mouth shut.He overcame instinct to answer levelly, “They’re fine.I’ve given up sleep altogether.”Dan laughed softly.“I remember those days.”Willy studied him.There had never been mention of a companion or wife in Dan’s life.He’d been questioned over the years by police, for one reason or another, but never to the point where they’d probed deeply into his affairs.On that basis, he remained an official enigma—a man who’d simply appeared one day, complete with child, as if dropped from another planet.“How is the young inheritor?” Willy asked, taking a gentle return jab at Dan’s own privacy.But the other man didn’t mind.Instead, his face softened.“Amazing, in a word.Despite being worlds apart from her classmates in origin and background, she’s more than holding her own.She seems custom-made for the place.”“She boarding?” Willy asked, although already losing interest.“Yes, but she comes home often.”“Where’s home these days?”“Oh, here and there.You know.”What Willy knew was that he’d crossed the subliminal line between them.He took it as a cue to proceed.“We alone?” he inquired, looking past his host into the half-lit restaurant beyond.“Yes.The boss trusts me to close up,” Dan said vaguely, making Willy consider that they might well be standing in what Dan was calling home at the moment.The man moved compulsively around town, sometimes living alone, other times sharing a bed with some woman, often equipped with children of her own.He was a friend of many and a guest of quite a few.Willy let it pass, his curiosity trumped by his need to keep an ally.“You hear about the Tag Man?” he asked.Dan removed a chair from a nearby tabletop and placed it on the floor for Willy’s use, setting another just like it directly opposite.They looked like two lingering shadows of the many diners who’d crowded the place earlier, when it had been full of light and noise.Now, in the pauses between them, they could hear the refrigerator cycling on and off under the bar against the far wall.“I’d have to be fresh off the bus not to have heard of him,” Dan conceded, adding, “I don’t know who he is, though.”“No rumors?” Willy pressed.“What would there be?” Dan challenged him.“The guy doesn’t do anything.The papers say he breaks in and leaves a note.It’s not like he’s fencing jewelry or stealing underwear…” He studied Willy more closely before adding, “Unless you people are holding something back.What is he doing, Mr.Kunkle? You work for a major-crimes unit nowadays.”Willy shook his head.“I’m just being nosy.This has nothing to do with me.It’s a local case.”“So why the interest?”Initially, Willy considered a routine denial—a cop’s instinct to slam the door on all questions.But he liked this enigmatic man, with his preference for the night and his interest in human nature.He appeared to have a code, a guiding principle that kept him level.With Willy’s past of violence, alcoholism, and relational chaos—of which his crippled arm was but the most obvious symbol—he needed to stay open to someone like Kravitz.“Because I can’t make sense of it,” Willy admitted.“It or him?”Willy hesitated.“Both, I guess,” he said.“Why do you ask it like that?”Kravitz considered his answer carefully.“They are distinct entities.The man—assuming it is a man—and his actions.We know a human being is breaking in and leaving notes.What we don’t know is what else he might be doing.So the ‘it’ part of the equation is a little elusive, if you get my point, kind of like a discussion about something that isn’t there.”Willy stared at him.“I liked it better when all you did was grunt.”Dan laughed.“No, you didn’t.I was just a snitch then.Now I’m a fellow soul.You have to care about me.”“The fuck I do.”“What are you doing here, then?”Willy frowned.He hated this kind of exchange.He preferred things straightforward.And to leave the mental gymnastics to Joe.“I’m trying to find out what you know about the Tag Man, which is looking like shit.”Dan nodded thoughtfully.“I can’t tell you about him, Mr.Kunkle, but if I were you, I’d lay bets that he’s up to more than leaving messages like Kilroy.”“Like what?”The answer was a shrug.“Money?” Willy pursued.Dan’s eyebrows rose.“I hadn’t heard that.Is that what you’re holding back?”“Jesus,” Willy growled.“This is getting me nowhere.Tag Man is probably you, just to dick me around.”Dan laughed.“Why bother? I seem to be doing that anyhow.”“Seriously,” Willy asked, trying to justify the visit in some way.“Is there money being lifted? Is that what you’re hearing?”Dan considered his companion philosophically.“That does raise an interesting question,” he mused.“What if this fellow is stealing something from all these people, but no one is reporting it? You’d have to wonder what that could be.”Willy just watched him.“Something to consider,” Dan continued.“How seriously are the police interviewing the victims?”Willy realized it was a genuine question.“They have a decent enough guy on it,” he blurted, trusting that the compliment would never get back to Ron.But in fact, he wondered about Kravitz’s point [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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