Flightfall Read Online Free Page A

didn’t think any of us spoke Spanish.
    “Never mind.”
    “All right, you showed up here with your little entourage, and if you hang around here much longer, you’re going to get me in trouble. What do you want?”
    “Where were you yesterday?”
    “Where was I? I was here working.”
    “All day?”
    “On the job all day. You can ask anybody. Must have been fifty guys who saw me.”
    They stared at one another for a moment.
    “Why do you want to know where I was?”
    “Because I’ve got a falcon missing.”
    “What? You mean the thing finally took off on you? Serves you right, you ask me.”
    “No kidding. That kind of attitude is what worries me.”
    “What happened?”
    “The bird flew over a ridge about a quarter mile away from me and I heard a shot. I was tracking him but I lost the signal.”
    “And you’re saying you think I had something to do with it.”
    “The thought has certainly crossed my mind.”
    “I’m not that stupid, Toronto. I know the federal regs.”
    “I’m sure you do.” Toronto chuckled. “Just like you know the federal regs about pot growing.”
    Wylie held up his hands. “Listen, man. I don’t want any hassles. You and I don’t see eye to eye about a bunch of stuff. But I didn’t mess with your bird. And I wouldn’t, you dig? Like I said, I was working here all day. You can go ask anyone.”
    “Trust me. We will.”
    “You want anything else from me? Cause I need to get back to work here . . .”
    “No,” Toronto said. “That’s all for now.”
    Wylie nodded and turned to go.
    I began walking out with Toronto and Nicole.
    “Hold on a sec,” Wylie said behind us.
    We turned back to him.
    “I don’t know why I’m doing this, Toronto, but now let me ask you something.”
    “What’s that?” Toronto eyed him with suspicion.
    “Where exactly did you say you heard this shot?”
    Toronto described the location in detail. When he finished Wylie stood for a moment scratching his beard.
    “You have something else you want to tell us?” Toronto asked.
    “Yeah. Maybe.” The young man glanced around. “Not here.”
    Toronto looked at him. “Okay. When and where?”

7
     
    “What did you think?” Toronto asked me as the three of us drove away from the site.
    “I think he was telling the truth.”
    “Me, too.”
    “He was acting a little squirrelly though at the end. Be interesting to see what else he has to say.”
    “Very interesting,” Toronto said. We had made arrangements to meet Wylie over his lunch hour at a deli in town. It used to be a fancier restaurant and was the kind of place that served fresh sandwiches and had deep booths where you could sit and have a private conversation.
    “Wylie was your prime suspect?” Nicole asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “But you said you had more than one.”
    “Right. Next, we’re going to talk to my former client.”
    “You mean the one who owns the land where Jazzy was shot?”
    “Right.”
    “You think he could be our shooter?”
    “Unlikely. But one of his ex-employees is a good bet. Dr. Clayton hired me to get rid of the joker about three months ago.”
    Toronto’s former client, Dr. Ricardo Clayton was a former practicing physician, famous for his appearances and infomercials on TV about self-healing and nutrition. His books and DVDs had sold in the gazillions and he even had his own cable network, where he headlined the marquee show with his stunning wife, filling the rest of the programming with infomercials for vitamins, herbals, and other healthcare products. His net worth must have easily been in the hundreds of millions. I’d heard Clayton had moved to the region a couple years before.
    “What did this employee do that made the doctor hire you to get rid of him?”
    “Not he, she. The woman worked for him as a chef. Hot tempered, and not too bad to look at either. She was really upset with Clayton over some things he’d done to her, and Clayton was afraid she might try to poison his food or