01 Storm Peak Read Online Free Page B

nodded, allowing the point. Then added, with devastating logic, “Never usually need more than one round myself.”
    Jesse grinned at her. “I’ll bet you don’t at that,” he admitted. “You must be the world’s most parsimonious woman with your ammunition. Anyone’d think the county made you buy your own.”
    “They do,” she replied morosely, leaning forward to slide open the top left-hand drawer on her desk. She took out a heavy pistol in a regulation belt holster and tossed it across the desk to him. “They only supply me with rounds for this useless damn Beretta.”
    Jesse shook his head slowly, examining the big, blue-black automatic that she’d passed him. “You’re still stubborn as ever then,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.
    Lee shrugged. “I get used to a gun, I like to keep it she said simply. “What about you? You telling me you used one of those teeny short barrel .38s they issue to detectives when you were down in Denver?”
    “Not exactly,” Jesse grinned, conceding the point.
    “I thought not,” said Lee. “My guess is you hung on to that old 1911 Colt auto of yours. Right?”
    “That’s right enough. As you say, you get used to a gun, you want to keep it.”
    “And those old Colts, they certainly had some stopping power,” Lee mused, and instantly regretted it. She saw the quick flash of pain that crossed Jesse’s face. Then it was buried under his usual inscrutable mask.
    “They certainly did,” he said. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Lee knew she’d put her high-heeled foot right in it there, but couldn’t find a way to get out of the predicament. Fortunately, the silence was broken as Tom Legros pushed open the unlatched door with his hip, and entered with two mugs of coffee.
    “Here you go, Sheriff, Jesse,” he said cheerfully, setting the mugs down. He glanced curiously at the Beretta on the desk between them. Reminded of its presence, Lee leaned forward and scooped it into the drawer again.
    Tom leaned against the nearest of the two filing cabinets that graced Lee’s office, arms folded.
    “So, Jess, any ideas on our victim in there?” he asked. Jesse shrugged noncommittally. Lee answered her deputy.
    “Jess thinks the murder weapon was a gizmo called a “jigger,”’ she said. “A spring-loaded spike that you push up against the victim, then trigger off.”
    Tom shook his head, wondering. “Never did hear of anything like that,” he said.
    He thought about it for a second or two, then pushed himself away from the filing cabinet and headed for the door.
    “Meant to tell you, Sheriff, some of the local kids have been causing a ruckus out at Payne’s Crossing on their snowmobiles. Thought I’d better get down there and take a look around.”
    “Couldn’t the town police look after that, Tom?” Lee asked him. “We’re going to have our hands full around here.”
    Tom Legros rubbed his jaw. “They’re saying it’s not their jurisdiction. Payne’s Crossing is way past the town limits.”
    Lee sighed. Everyone had manpower problems. “Take care of it then, Tom,” she said. After a pause, she added, “Don’t be too hard on them. They’re just kids, after all.”
    Tom touched a finger to the brim of his Stetson. “I’ll attend to it,” he said, and went out, hitching up his gunbelt as he went. Jesse was interested to see that he also wore a non-regulation, single action peacemaker. He wondered if it was Lee’s influence, decided it probably was.
    “He’s a good man,” he said. Lee nodded her agreement.
    “Not the most imaginative person I’ve ever met,” she said. “But he’s painstaking and he’s stubborn. He doesn’t give up once he’s started on something.”
    “Good qualities to have in a cop,” Jesse replied, and yawned. “Guess I’d better be getting home.”
    Lee started to rise from behind her desk.
    “I’ll drive you back to the Tugboat,” she said, but he waved her back down again, checking