"Staggs, Earl - The Missing Sniper" - читать интересную книгу автора (Staggs Earl)

THE MISSING SNIPER
By Earl Staggs


Adam Kingston stood at his kitchen window looking out over his backyard, sipping his second cup of coffee of the day and waiting for the phone to ring.

He had slept restlessly the night before and awoke knowing a call would come.

He didn't know who would call, only that there would be a call, that someone had died who shouldn't have, and that he would be taking another trip.

Waiting.

The part he hated most about the whole business.

He drained his cup, stepped to the counter to pour another one and returned to the window. The lawn needed mowing and Caroline's azalea bushes needed a good trim. He sipped his coffee, sighed, and waited.

The phone rang ten minutes later. When Adam said hello, the caller asked in a strong southern drawl, "Mr. Kingston? Adam Kingston?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Kingston, this is, uh, Sheriff Corbin from Mendes County, Florida?"

Adam loved the way the English language was practiced in the deep South. They ended almost every sentence on a high note so that it sounded like a question. "What can I do for you, Sheriff Corbin?"

"Well, Sir, I got your name off a list of Law Enforcement Consultants. It's a list put out by the state?"

He's young, Adam decided. Mid-thirties. And somewhat nervous. "Yes, I'm familiar with that list," he said. He was on the same list in twenty-four states now. "Please go on, Sheriff."

"Well, Sir, according to this list, you help law enforcement agencies solve difficult cases, and it says you, uh, can visit crime scenes, touch pieces of evidence and you...see things and...and you can, uh..."

Adam interrupted. He had to put the stammering young man at ease if this conversation was going anywhere. "Let me ask you something, Sheriff. Have you ever had the phone ring and you knew who it was before you answered it?"

"Yes, I guess that's happened to me."

"And have you ever had someone start to say something, and you knew what they were going to say before they finished saying it?"

"I'd have to say yes, that's happened to me too."

"It's a proven fact, Sheriff, that everyone has a little bit of extra-sensory perception. Sometimes it's called a sixth sense. Some people, like me, just have more than others. That's about all there is to it."

He was lying. There was a lot more to it. A hell of a lot more. For more than twenty years he'd made a decent living as a consultant to law enforcement agencies, but he'd learned that a simple explanation helped get past the awkwardness people felt when they talked to him the first time. Using first names also made people more comfortable.

"What's your first name, Sheriff?"

"It's Dillon, Sir," the caller replied, sounding confused at the change in the conversation.

"Dillon. And why don't you call me Adam?"

"Yes, Sir."