The Hanging of Samuel Ash Read Online Free Page B

mistake you for a bo.”
    â€œYeah, I’ll keep it in mind,” Hook said. “The body’s over there.”
    Officer Payne walked around the body, knelt, and then looked up at Hook.
    â€œHow many goddamn ways can a man figure out how to die?”
    Hook said, “A call came in that the wigwag had malfunctioned. Turned out to be this fellow hanging from the cantilever up there.”
    Officer Payne shined his light onto the wigwag and then back onto the body.
    â€œYou ought know better than to move a corpse. This here is a crime scene.”
    â€œA short haul was scheduled in from the mine,” Hook said, shrugging. “Had to get that signal up. Safety, you know.”
    â€œWho is he?”
    â€œNo identification.”
    Officer Payne stood and clicked off his light. “Maybe he left it on his bedside table,” he said.
    â€œOr maybe the sons of bitches who hung him took it,” Hook said.
    Officer Payne searched for a cigarette. Hook offered him one. He popped it between his teeth and lit up.
    â€œBums, be my guess,” he said, blowing smoke out the corner of his mouth. “The country’s crawling with them, what with the war over. Found one in a grain elevator the other day after he’d eaten a bellyful of treated seed corn.” He shook his head. “Blew up like a goddamn toad.”
    â€œTimes can get hard on the rails,” Hook said.
    Officer Payne flipped his cigarette ash onto the ground. “I figure this one here bailed off the wigwag his own damn self.”
    â€œPossible,” Hook said.
    â€œYou could search from here to hell and not find out who he was, ’cause he didn’t want no one to know. He maybe didn’t know hisself.
    â€œIn the end, it don’t matter a damn, if you ask me. All of ’em got the same story one way or the other. Their wives left ’em; they couldn’t find work; they’ve been jilted or otherwise screwed by society. Or maybe they’re just plain too lazy and stupid to get along.”
    He dropped his cigarette next to the body and squashed it out with his foot.
    â€œEvery man’s story should be worth a hearing,” Hook said.
    â€œRight,” Payne said, motioning for the ambulance to pull up. “I’ll have the coroner in Carlsbad take a look-see. We’ll run prints, but I wouldn’t count on it coming to much.”
    â€œI can be reached through the Clovis operator if you come up with anything,” Hook said.
    The ambulance driver and his assistant dropped the gurney and lifted the body onto it.
    Hook turned to the patrolman. “Who’s the coroner over there?” he asked.
    Officer Payne rubbed the toes of his shoes against his pant legs.
    â€œBroomfield, the local dentist. I know as much about ballet as he knows about being coroner.”
    *   *   *
    Hook arrived at the Artesia depot about dawn. The operator, busy digging an apple out of his lunch box, looked up.
    â€œGet them little bastards rounded up?” he asked. “I tell you, kids nowadays.”
    â€œTurned out to be a dead body jamming up the wigwag,” Hook said.
    â€œI’ll be,” he said. “Never know what’s running the tracks these days. I took to keeping a pistol in the desk drawer over there just in case.”
    â€œMind if I use your phone?” Hook asked.
    The operator slid the phone over to Hook.
    â€œDon’t tie it up too long,” he said. “The yard office raises hell if they can’t get through.”
    Hook pulled up a chair and dialed Eddie.
    â€œSecurity,” Eddie said.
    â€œEddie, this is Hook.”
    â€œYou know what time it is, Runyon?”
    â€œLater than you think, Eddie. Look, I just got back from that wigwag out on the potash spur.”
    â€œYou called to tell me that?”
    â€œA body had jimmied the thing up.”
    â€œA body? What the hell’s a body doing on the