Dead Shot by Jack Patterson (adventure books to read .TXT) 📕

that he was. It was clear Willie’s conversation with Cal was over.

“Let’s go, Cal. Your boss is here to bail you out.”

Cal exited the cell and looked back at Willie.

“They’re watching you, man. Be careful!” Willie yelled.

The uneasy feeling in Cal’s stomach grew. He wanted a do-over on today and it was only 10:30 in the morning.

Chapter 27

Guy waited until he and Cal were outside the sheriff’s office before he exploded.

“What were you thinking, driving around drunk and nearly killing yourself last night?!” Guy demanded.

“I wasn’t, Guy. Someone is trying to keep me quiet because I’m learning too many details about the death of those boys.”

“Oh, Cal, please. Spare me the conspiracy theories.”

“It’s not a theory. It’s – ”

“It’s what, Cal? Ridiculous? True? I’m not interested in any excuses you’ve concocted while sitting in jail talking to crazy Willie. The bottom line is you’re going to be suspended after today. I’d suspend you right now but I need your help on today’s paper. Starting Wednesday, you’ll have a one-day suspension without pay, got it?”

“On my day off?”

Guy said nothing. Cal quickly picked up the idea that Guy was feigning anger. Why he was doing so remained a mystery for the moment.

They walked through The Register’s front doors before Guy picked up his tirade.

“After today, I don’t want to see your suspended self down here, do you understand?”

Every newsroom employee pretended to look busy while sneaking glances at Guy and Cal walking through the office. Even Kelly wasn’t sure how to react.

Cal tried to stop at his desk, but Guy nudged him forward, obviously intending for him to continue on to Guy’s office.

After Cal took a seat in front of Guy’s desk, Guy slammed the door. Guy sat down and then leaned across the desk. Cal leaned in too. Guy spoke only slightly more audible than a whisper.

“Cal, if you think that anger was for show, it won’t be if you don’t drop your little Sherlock Holmes fantasy. I know it might be difficult as a reporter to stop looking for the truth on a story, but I’m begging you to stop for your own good.”

Confusion spread over Cal’s face.

“What is going on here? Don’t you want me to find out what’s going on?” he asked back, matching Guy’s hushed tone.

“If I did, Cal, I wouldn’t have assigned you a simple reaction piece. God knows Sammy couldn’t ferret out the truth for a news story if his life depended on it. I’m just asking you to do this as a friend. Can you do that for me?”

“OK, Guy. I guess I can just drop it.”

“I don’t mean just say you’re going to drop it. I mean drop it, period. No off-the-clock digging. No asking any more questions. Nothing. Got it?”

“But, Guy, you don’t know what I saw when I looked at those bodies at the coroner’s office. It looked like – ”

“No, no, no. I don’t want to hear it, Cal. I don’t care if it looked like a mountain lion attack. It’s not important as far as I’m concerned.”

“Not important? You’re the managing editor! I thought the truth was important to you no matter what the cost.”

“The truth is overpriced sometimes. Just lay off it, OK?”

Cal let out a big breath and then nodded.

“OK, Guy. I’ll let this go for you.”

“No, don’t do it for me. Do it for yourself because if you don’t, you’ll find out what I mean. Now, go finish that reaction piece. I need it by 1:30.”

Cal left Guy’s office in a huff, more out of show than frustration—but both were clearly in play. He stopped at Kelly’s desk and continued talking in a hushed tone.

“We need to talk. Got any lunch plans?”

The rest of the morning, Cal worked the phones, calling a few people who knew more than one of the teens who had died. He figured if he wasn’t going to get an award-winning story, he might as well polish what he did write for inclusion in his clip file.

He talked to teachers and little league coaches and employers and family members. He looked at the teens’ Facebook pages. Friends posted their favorite memories of them, some without discretion. They were tagged in photos from the end-of-camp cookout at Coach Walker’s house on Saturday afternoon. They all looked so happy, so full of life. No more two-a-days. But now it was gone. And apparently no one really cared why.

Cal eventually exhausted every known connection to the young men before beginning to write. And write he did. By one o’clock, Cal had finished his story and was in desperate need of lunch and a serious debriefing with Kelly.

Chapter 28

Cal’s head spun trying to process what he knew and what he wanted to know. It felt like a two-sided puzzle of the same picture with no straight edges. If only I could start to put a few of the pieces together …

Kelly volunteered to drive to lunch. She was just as engrossed in the growing mysteries surrounding the events of the past 48 hours. Three dead teens overdosing on drugs. Their bodies looking as if they had been ravaged by a wild animal. Guy acting unusual at the office. The sheriff’s department giving them the runaround. The near fatal crash. A clandestine kidnapping. Cal being nearly ambushed at his home. Trumped up charges. Brief incarceration. The ramblings of crazy Willie.

None of it made sense. Nothing. And Cal needed to sort it out with the brightest mind he worked with – and the only person he trusted at this point: Kelly.

“Where are we headed?” Kelly asked, adjusting her sunglasses for the bright early afternoon glare.

“I make a mean chicken salad sandwich.”

“OK, Cal’s Kitchen it is.”

“You know Ray-Ray’s is always my top choice, but we need to be able to talk about this stuff in private.”

“I understand.”

The two sat in silence for the rest of the short drive to Cal’s house. Cal knew what he really needed to do was find a