Ian Morson [William Falconer Mystery 04] A Psalm for Falconer (pdf)
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I blew my nose, hit themotherlode . Before it watered up again, I caught a
whiff of a new odor. What? I shrugged and went on.
"Damn! Ah, damn my eyes!" That was no curse, friends. That was a squeal of
triumph.
Snake had painted my lady in white. He had caught her as the incarnation of
beauty yet she, too, had some of the creepiness he'd put into his portraits of
Jennifer.
She was in a wind, running, frightened. A darkness lay behind her. You knew
it was in pursuit, yet you could not define what it was. The harder you looked
the harder it was to tell it was there. The woman looked right into your eyes.
The artist's eyes. Her right hand was just starting the motion of reaching out
for help. Her eyes said she knew the person she was looking at knew what was
behind her.
It transfixed me. It had the impact of the swamp painting. And this time I
couldn't figure out why, because this one couldn't be explained in terms of my
own past.
I blew my nose again. I got another whiff of that odor. This time I
recognized it.
Smoke!
The damned stable was on fire! No wonder the horses were excited!
I scrambled out of there, to the edge of the loft.
Flames roared at the end where Peters had been working. The animals had
gotten out and run. I heard shouting outside. The heat was savage.
I wasn't trapped yet. If I moved fast I could get clear.
I knew the mileage Morley would get out of the gesture as I dove into the
hole leading to Snake's cache. He'd be on me for a year, risking my life over
some daubs on canvas.
I slapped a dozen of those daub-hickeys into a pile as big as I could manage
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and dragged them out. The fire was spreading fast. Flames were almost to me
when I burst out. The heat beat at me. I felt my eyebrows curl, my eyes dry
out. I staggered away. The flames came after me.
"Damned fool," I muttered to myself. The heat seared the back of my neck. Now
my eyes watered, nearly blinding me. My chances were slim enough without the
damned paintings.
I couldn't let them go. They were that important. They were worth risking a
life. Part of me already mourned those I'd had to leave behind.
The fire had spread below faster than it had up top. It was ahead of me now,
at the end where Snake had lived. I wasn't going to get out that way.
I could see daylight through cracks between the vertical boards that formed
the outside wail, rough-cut timber that had shrunk with the years till some of
the gaps were half an inch wide. It was like looking through the bars at the
gates of hell. From the inside. That close. And so far.
As panic closed in, I threw myself that way.
The stable was old and damned near falling down, and, if it was half as
rotten as it looked, I might be able to bust out. I hit the wall with my
shoulder, low. Both creaked. Neither broke but I figured the wall had the
edge. I got down on my back and shot my feet out. One board gave an inch. That
gave me hope and maybe some manic strength. I let fly again. An
eight-inch-wide board tilted outward, then fell away under its own weight. Mad
as I was, I flippedBradon's paintings out before trying to make the hole wide
enough for me.
The smoke almost overcame me first, but I made it. I jumped.
I lay around panting a while, vaguely aware that I was out there alone, away
from the hollering on the other side of the barn. I climbed a fencepost and
got myself upright, looked around, counted limbs to make sure I hadn't left
any behind. I was still alone. I gathered my priceless salvage.
If there are gods, they agreed with me about those paintings. They hadn't
been damaged. I got them together, limped over to the cow barn, hid them in
the hayloft. My fuddled sense of humor told me that was appropriate. Then I
stumbled back around the far side of the stable.
The whole gang was running around like chickens, doing the hopeless, bringing
buckets of water from thewellhouse . Only the General and Peters were absent.
"Garrett!" Jennifer squealed. "What happened?"
I'm such a handsome devil, they just go to pieces when they see me. "I was
taking a nap in there," I lied.
She got a little pale.
I gave her my heroic grin. "Not to worry. I just busted through a wall and
here I am." A coughing jag hit me. Great timing. Damned smoke. "Can't stop the
true of heart."
"You could've been killed."
"I could have. But I wasn't. Too light on my feet."
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Kaidsaid, "Somebody tried to kill you, boy," as he staggered past with a
five-gallon bucket.
I looked at the growing inferno. That hadn't occurred to me, though it should
have.
No. You don't kill somebody by setting a barn on fire. Too easy for him to
get away. Maybe you start a fire to flush him out, but . . . That wouldn't
have worked here. Too many witnesses.
Even in my fuzzy state, it was obvious the arsonist had wanted to get rid of
the stable and whatever contents he'd been unable to find during a hasty
search.
Wonderful. Snake's information had escaped me again.
Even Cook was out lugging water. But no Peters. I worked up a case of the
suspicions before I recalled why he wasn't around.
Hell.Saucerhead was overdue. I said, "You guys are wasting your time. Just
keep it from jumping to the other buildings."
"What the hell you think we're doing,dipshit ?" Chain growled. "If you're not
going to help, get the hell out of the way."
Which was just the advice I needed. "I'm going inside to treat these burns."
I had a few but didn't know how bad they were. Not too bad, I hoped. I didn't
need them distracting me. The cold was bad enough.
I stumbled away. The others didn't pay any attention.
27
I walked straight through to the front of the house, past the dueling
champions and all the deadStantnors . I'd been in that stable longer than I'd
thought.Saucerhead was way overdue unless I'd guessed badly about how long it
would take to recruit a doctor and jump a couple of fences through hoops.
I stepped out the front door. My burns, not bad, made their presence felt. I
hoped that doctor would have something for the sting.
Nothing in sight. "Saucerhead, what's holding you up? How long does it take
to twist a guy's arm?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
