Free No Way Out by Joel Goldman

she going to be okay with that?”
    That was Joy, more interested in people than problems, a lesson she says she learned the hard way. Fix yourself first and worry about the rest later.
    “I think she’s strong enough to handle it. She went to the hospital to see Crenshaw, but the cops wouldn’t let her near him. She’ll probably feel better once she sees him up and around, even if he’s wearing a jail jumpsuit.”
    She nodded, opened the refrigerator, the door hiding her face but not the catch in her throat. “That thing with the boys on the bus. I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
    “I’m sorry. It just happened.”
    “All the same.”
    She closed the fridge, crossed her arms, and leaned against the counter, biting her lower lip. I put my hands on her shoulders, and we leaned into each other. I rested my face against her neck as a flurry of tremors bent me at the knees. She gripped my arms, and when the shakes passed, I whispered in her ear.
    “Okay.”

Chapter Fourteen
     
    Simon called as we were finishing the dinner dishes. I followed the dogs outside, letting them take me for a walk.
    “The gun dealer’s name was Eldon Fowler,” he said. “He was hit for a hundred and six assault rifles and fifty-one or fifty-two handguns, depending on who you talk to.”
    “Who did you talk to?”
    “County sheriff’s deputy who was first on the scene and Fowler’s wife.”
    “What about ATF? Wouldn’t they be running an investigation like this?”
    “They are running it. They just aren’t talking about it. The sheriff’s deputy said it was one for the books. Fowler hit a deer. They figure he was going fifty miles an hour, which is a hell of a speed for a narrow gravel road in the woods, especially pulling a trailer full of guns at night in the rain.”
    “Was he drunk?”
    “He’d had a couple of beers with his buddies at the gun show, but he tested legal. Anyway, the deer smashes through the window, a big-assed buck, and spears Fowler in the chest with his antlers.”
    “Christ! That’s a helluva way to die.”
    “Only it didn’t kill him. He had a heart attack.”
    “What happened to the deer?” I asked.
    “That’s when things get really interesting. Someone put a bullet in the deer’s brain.”
    “Fowler?”
    “Don’t think so. The bullet they took out of the deer was a .44 Magnum. Fowler’s wife said he was carrying a Glock 22 .40-caliber pistol, but the sheriff’s crime scene people didn’t find it. She said he also kept a Browning shotgun on the rack in his pickup, but they didn’t find it either. Thieves must have taken both guns.”
    “Sounds like the thieves were following him and one of them took pity on the deer.”
    “That’s what the deputy said. I talked to Fowler’s wife, and she told me that Fowler had called her when he was leaving the gun show in Topeka. He told her that someone had stolen a Ruger .44 Magnum Redhawk from him during the show. Said it was his favorite gun. The sheriff’s deputy found Fowler’s inventory sheet for the guns he took to the show. Fowler had checked off what he sold and what he was bringing home. The Redhawk wasn’t checked off.”
    “That’s why they don’t know whether the thieves stole fifty-one or fifty-two handguns,” I said.
    “Right. And there’s one other thing. Highway Patrol got a call from someone an hour before Fowler’s wife found his body. Caller said he and his wife had passed a crazy man in a pickup truck that was pointing a shotgun out the driver’s window as they passed him on Highway 24. Fowler’s wife said he always took that highway. There was a hole in the passenger door of Fowler’s truck. The deputy told me it looked as if someone had fired a shotgun at point-blank range. Doesn’t make sense.”
    “Part of it does. The thieves were on him at the gun show, at least one of them cocky enough to shoplift the Redhawk. Fowler realizes his favorite gun is missing and gets antsy, figuring they may be after the rest