Cape Fear Read Online Free

I spend half my time putting nice sharp points on my pencils.”
    Charlie sighed. “I’m out there in the hurly-burly of life, attending all meetings of the Common Council, and the Zoning Board and the Planning Board. Honest sweat, Samuel. Say, why don’t you ever stop by Gil Brady’s Courthouse Tavern any more?”
    “Haven’t had any courthouse business lately. And that’s a sign of efficiency.”
    “I know. I know. Well, I started the wheels rolling on your old buddy. He’s living in a rooming house at 211 Jaekel Street, near the corner of Market. He checked in on May fifteenth. He’s paid ahead until the end of June. This being only the eleventh, he had it in his mind to stay awhile. Our boys in blue check the registrations down there frequently. He drives a gray Chevy sedan about eight years old. West Virginia plates. They plucked him out of a Market Street bar yesterday afternoon. Captain Mark Dutton says he made no fuss. Very mild and patient about the whole thing.”
    “Did they let him go?”
    “They either have, or they’re about to. They checked Kansas and found out he was released last September. They made him explain where he got money and where he got the car. Then they checked back on that. He comes from a little hill town near Charleston, West Virginia. When hewas released he went back there. His brother had been working in Charleston and holding on to the home place. When Max came back, they sold it and split. He’s got about three thousand bucks left and he carries it in a money belt. Charleston cleared him and Washington cleared him. His car registration and license are in order. They searched the car and his room. No gun. Nothing out of line. So they had to let him go.”
    “Did he give any reason for coming here?”
    “Dutton handled it the way we decided he should. Your name wasn’t brought into it. Cady said he liked the looks of the town. Dutton told me he was very cool, very plausible.”
    “Did you make Dutton understand the situation?”
    “I don’t know. I think so. Dutton doesn’t want that type drifting in any more than you do. So they’ll keep an eye on him. If he spits on the sidewalk it will cost him fifty dollars. If he drives one mile an hour over the limit, it will cost him. They’ll pick him up on a D-and-D when they see him coming out of a bar. He’ll catch on. He’ll move along. They always do.”
    “Charlie, I appreciate what you’ve done. I really do. But I have the feeling he isn’t going to scare.”
    Hopper stubbed out his cigarette. “Your nerves bad?”
    “Maybe. And maybe I didn’t act worried enough when we had lunch Friday. I think he’s psycho.”
    “If so, Dutton didn’t catch it. What do you think he wants to do?”
    “I don’t know. I have the feeling he wants to do something to hurt me the worst way he can. When you’ve got a wife and three kids and you live in the country, it can makeyou a little shaky.” He told Charlie the incident of the parked car and the man on the stone wall. The fact that Carol remembered it being a gray car made it seem more likely that it had been Cady.
    “Maybe he just wants to give you a bad case of the jumps.”
    Sam forced a smile. “He’s doing fine, then.”
    “Maybe you can try something else, Sam. Do you know the Apex people?”
    “Yes, of course. We’ve used them.”
    “It’s a national organization and in some places they’re weak, but they’ve got some good people here, I’m thinking of one boy in particular. Sievers, his name is. He’s well trained. C.I.C. background, I think. And police work too. He’s rough as a cob and cold as a snake. It’ll cost you, but it might be a good place to spend money. Do you know the manager over there?”
    “Anderson. Yes.”
    “Call him up and see if he can give you Sievers.”
    “I think I’ll do that.”
    “Have you got Cady’s address?”
    “I wrote it down. Two-eleven Jaekel Street near the corner of Market.”
    “Right.”
    Sievers came to