Читать книгу Small Town Monsters - Craig Nybo - Страница 33

Small Town Monsters

5

Kurt ignored Arthur and made his approach. He let the ball pendulum back and forward then let it go. The ball rolled down the lane, back spinning at first. Forward momentum took over and it built up speed. Not a good shot. It meandered to the right and knocked the number-ten pin down with a crack.

“You’re killing us here,” Arthur said as he looked up at the scoreboard just in time to see a one appear on Kurt’s card.

“We’re kickin’ away, copper; how’s that ass feeling?” Bill said and all four of the red jerseys chuckled.

“Remember, I’m a cop. I could cause you a lot of trouble.”

“Just shoot,” Arthur said with more than a little impatience.

Kurt shot. His second ball managed to knock three more pins down. He whooped and walked back to his team-mates, who shook their heads in disappointment; it would be another losing battle. Kurt sat in an empty chair between Buck and Larry, putting an arm around each of them. “So how we doing?”

“We were doing just fine until you showed up,” Larry said.

And so the games began. Buck, Larry, and Arthur gave Kurt a bad time about his horrible bowling. Kurt reciprocated with mock confidence and barrage after barrage of smack-talking. Larry, Buck, and Arthur loved it; Kurt gave them something to act outraged about; and acting outraged was something all of them were very good at.

“Heard you been up to Buren’s place,” Larry said.

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Word travels fast around here doesn’t it?”

“That’s sure,” Buck said.

“He got some mutilated live-stock is the word,” Larry said.

“That’s right,” Kurt said. There was no use denying it. He had long gotten used to people putting their noses into police business. Usually the good citizens of DePalma Beach, such as The General, had the best of intensions; they were, after all, watching out for them and theirs. But most of the time it was just old fashioned gossip. People were curious. At first Kurt had been a hard-case about it. But he soon learned that it was just part of the job of being a full-time small-town police chief.