Read Defiled: The Sequel to Nailed Featuring John Tall Wolf (A Ron Ketchum Mystery Book 2) for Free Online Page B

understand things, always posts a sign on the front lawn or some other obvious place stating that they protect the premises.”
    “Yes, that’s right.”
    “So you saw the Pinnacle sign when you came to work on Saturday?”
    “Of course, I …” She stopped to review her memory. “I think I did, but I couldn’t swear to it. You know how it is when you get used to seeing something all the time.”
    “You take it for granted,” Ron said.
    “Exactly.”
    “Did you notice the sign when you came to work today?”
    Glynnis looked flustered, her agitation not agreeing with her at all.
    “I don’t know. Why do you ask?”
    “Because I didn’t see a Pinnacle sign when the special agent and I arrived.”
    “That’s just wrong,” Glynnis said.
    “You mean I’m incorrect?”
    “No, I mean it should be there, if it’s not.”
    Ron thought so, too. He looked up at Tall Wolf, seeing if the fed would know what he wanted without hearing it. Was there anything else he should ask before Glynnis lost her composure completely?
    Tall Wolf nodded. He’d understood. He pointed a finger at his chest.
    Ron nodded, giving the special agent permission to speak.
    Special Agent Tall Wolf asked Glynnis, “Did Mr. Tibbot have friends who spent the night here?”
    “I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Glynnis said.
    Both cops, local and federal, knew that was a lie.
    The woman had been honest until then. Now, she’d earned a degree of suspicion. They’d see what it meant when they found a way to catch her in the trap she’d set for herself.
     
    After leaving the Tibbot estate, Chief Ron Ketchum saw residents of Goldstrike traveling the public ways, both on foot and behind the wheel. The town was no longer under house arrest. Sergeant Stanley had to be the one to give the all clear, but the order hadn’t come from Ron.
    Clay Steadman must have declared the general amnesty.
    Before Ron could think through the implications of that, John Tall Wolf had a question for him. “You think we could talk about my case for a minute, Chief?”
    “Yeah. Why don’t you call me Ron?”
    “Okay. I’d say call me John, except we might sound like a singing act.”
    “Ron and John?” the chief said with a grin. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. I’ll call you special agent.”
    “And I’ll call you chief, no double entendre intended.”
    Smart man, Ron thought. Had a sense of humor, too.
    Not at all your cookie-cutter fed.
    “So what’d you do with the bomb you found?” Tall Wolf asked.
    Ron gave him the run down of what he’d done earlier that morning and where the bomb was now, minus the detonating device that he’d thrown into the lake.
    “The timer malfunctioned with three seconds left on the clock?” Tall Wolf asked.
    “Yeah.” The memory sent a shiver through Ron.
    “You have a history of being that lucky?”
    “Once or twice in tight spots, but hardly a history.”
    “Huh,” Tall Wolf grunted.
    “Something doesn’t seem right about my being alive?”
    “It’s not a matter of being right, more a question of what are the odds.”
    Put that way, Ron had to think the special agent had a point.
    He should have been the first victim on a long list of casualties.
    Before Ron could dwell on that, Tall Wolf asked, “You mind if I call some people in to take the bomb off your hands? Check it out. Dispose of any radioactive material for you.”
    “I’d be greatly relieved. Thankful, too. But you’re not talking about the FBI, are you?”
    John Tall Wolf looked at the chief and smiled.
    “What, you don’t get along with those fine fellows either?”
    “It’s not just me?” Ron asked.
    “We get all this sorted out, give Darton Blake another call. He can tell you. But no, I didn’t have the FBI in mind just now. I was thinking of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an assist from some of your state cops.”
    Ron pulled into the driveway of Goldstrike’s Municipal Complex, stopped in front of police