Gray Ghost Read Online Free Page A

set fire to himself,” said Calhoun, “or somebody did it to him.”
    Vecchio nodded as if Calhoun had said something perceptive. “What’re we gonna do?”
    “We’ve got to get ahold of the sheriff,” said Calhoun. “Don’t suppose you lied to me and brought your cell phone with you?”
    Vecchio smiled quickly. “I left it in the car like you told me to.”
    “Then we gotta go back and get it.”
    “Aren’t you supposed have a radio aboard?”
    Calhoun shrugged. “Antenna’s busted.” He didn’t bother telling his client that he never brought a radio on board. He couldn’t think of a reason why he’d want to talk to somebody while he was fishing, and he certainly didn’t want anybody trying to talk to him.
    He snapped his fingers at Ralph and headed back to the boat.
    With all of the Honda motor’s forty horses galloping full speed, it took about twenty minutes to cross the bay to the boat landing in Portland. Judging by the angle of the sun, Calhoun figured it was a little after seven thirty. They’d been on the water about three hours, caught some fish, and now they’d found a dead body. An eventful morning.
    He wondered if Paul Vecchio would write a story about it.
    There were some other fishermen and a few guides launching their boats, and Calhoun had to wait a few minutes before there was a spot where he could pull up and tie off.
    “Go fetch your cell phone for me,” Calhoun told Vecchio.
    Vecchio nodded, hopped out of the boat, and set off at a jog for the parking lot.
    One of the other guides, an older guy they called Beaney, came over and squatted beside Calhoun’s boat. “You packin’ it in already, Stoney?”
    “My sport forgot something in his car,” Calhoun said.
    “You catch the tide this mornin’?”
    Calhoun nodded.
    “How was it?”
    “Damn good on the incoming. Pretty quiet when she went slack. You’re gettin’ here kinda late, Beaney, you want to put your clients into some fish.”
    “I got city folks in my boat today,” said Beaney. He smiled con-spiratorially, guide to guide, showing Calhoun his stumpy black teeth. “They didn’t want to miss out on their beauty sleep. I told ‘em no later than five, but you know how it is. So where was you finding emr
    Calhoun waved his arm, including the whole of Casco Bay. “Oh, out around them islands, mostly. But I reckon they’ve moved by now.”
    Beaney frowned and stood up. “There ain’t many secrets out there, Stoney.”
    That’s what you think,
thought Calhoun.
    Paul Vecchio came trotting back. He handed his cell phone down to Calhoun, who was still sitting in his boat with Ralph.
    Calhoun skimmed down through the list of phone numbers in his memory, found Sheriff Dickman’s home phone under S, pecked out the numbers, and hit the Send button.
    It rang three times and a woman’s voice answered.
    “Hey, Jane,” said Calhoun, “that you?”
    “Stoney Calhoun,” she said. “Trouble, no doubt.”
    “Yep. It’s me. I got to talk to your old man.”
    “He’s in the John,” she said. “Can’t it wait?”
    “Nope. This is pretty important.”
    “Okay. If you say so. I’ll take you to him. He ain’t gonna like it. You doing okay ?”
    “Doing good,” he said. “You?”
    “Aside from having to put up with that crabby old husband of mine, I’m just fine. Okay, here we are. Hang on a minute.”
    Calhoun heard Jane say something, and then the sheriff said, “Jesus Christ, Stoney. What’s so damn important you’ve got to interrupt a man in the middle of an important business transaction?”
    Calhoun chuckled and said, “Damn sorry about this.” He turned his head away. He didn’t want any of the other guides and fishermen who were bustling around on the dock to hear what he had to say. “We got us a dead body, Sheriff,” he said softly. “Ralph and my client found it out on Quarantine Island, and it’s burned way the hell beyond recognition. It don’t look to me like he died of natural causes,