Close To The Edge (Westen #2) Read Online Free

the professionals have the equipment and experience, so they can go in and figure out the cause.”
    “Makes sense to me.”
    Meth lab fires produced toxic fumes, and he’d too just as soon the volunteers, who were mostly farmers, stay clear until an actual cause was determined. He looked around at the volunteer fire team. “Is Aaron around?”
    John shook his head. “Said he had to finish planting his soybeans before dark, but he’d come back over as soon as he finished.”
    “Good. I’ll see if he can give me a description of those suspicious vehicles he’s been seeing.”
    The county fire truck and EMS squad arrived. While John stepped over to fill the captain in on the fire and their actions, Gage circled the perimeter, careful to stay out of any area that might still smolder. Off to the rear of the barn he found a pile of empty beer cans. He squatted down and with a pen he lifted the can and sniffed. Just beer.
    Several butts of rolled cigarettes littered the area. He pulled on his gloves, lifted one and sniffed. Grade A pot.
    “Find anything, Gunslinger?” A deep gravelly voice spoke from behind him.
    “Hey, Deke.” Gage shook his head at the high school nickname as he stood and held the butt toward his old friend, Deke Reynolds. “Looks like someone’s been smoking pot and drinking beer out here.”
    “Any sign of a burn pit?”
    “Nope.” Gage scanned the area once more. A burn pit was an area away from the building where a meth lab was housed, with stained soil or dead vegetation from the meth cooks dumping their chemicals or waste. “I don’t see any trash other than beer cans and pot, either. I’d guess just some local kids partying.”
    “Maybe we’ll get lucky and that’s all this will turn out to be.” Deke bagged the cigarette butt and beer can before walking to the perimeter of the fire area where several of his men had donned hazardous-chemical suits and masks.
    As County Fire Chief and a detail-oriented man, Deke donned his own suit and mask and led them through the nearly dilapidated pile of charred lumber.
    As he watched his friend give orders to his men Gage’s stomach rumbled. Once he finished here, he’d best get some lunch over at the Peaches ’N Cream café. Low blood sugar wouldn’t make dealing with his other problem—one small, nicely shaped female with the impaired belief that she was a private detective—any easier.
     
    Just as the café owner’s daughter, Rachel, refilled Gage’s mug with fresh coffee, Mayor Tobias Rawlins slithered into the booth with him. Two members of the town council and the owner of the local paper, Rawlins’ constant entourage, scooted in with them.
    Great. Just what he needed today. First his dispatcher breaks a hip, next a PI comes to town, errant cows cause a traffic jam, a fire, and now small-town politics.
    Couldn’t he eat in peace?
    Seven more months to play sheriff in this town then someone else would be elected to watch over the crazies and he could move back to the city. Nothing could induce him to stay one more second than was absolutely necessary. Sometimes what this town needed more than a sheriff was a zookeeper.
    To relieve the ache talking to the town’s chief politician always caused, Gage rubbed his forehead and looked at each of the other men. “Something I can do for you gentlemen?”
    “Sheriff, we want to discuss the situation with regards to Ruby Martin,” Rawlins said just loud enough for anyone in a two-booth radius to hear.
    And that’s exactly what they did. Lorna and the café’s staff stopped serving, the banker and his two managers stopped their daily lunch meeting, even the two ladies from the antique store all leaned his way to hear the news on Ruby. In this town, no matter what you tried to keep secret, sooner or later the whole town knew your business. You couldn’t fart without someone spreading the news.
    “What situation do you mean, Mayor?” he asked, as he cut another bite of Lorna’s