Free 01 - Goblins by Charles Grant - (ebook by Undead) Page A

personal touch a
silver-frame triptych Mulder noted held pictures of what must be his wife and
three children.
    Hawks rose and shook their hands, waving Scully and Andrews to the only other
chairs in the room. Webber chose to lean against the wall near the door, arms
folded casually across his chest.
    The chief picked up a sheet of paper, glanced at it, and frowned. “I have to
tell you, Agent Mulder, this fax your man Webber sent kind of took me by surprise. I wasn’t
expecting any feds to get involved.” He let the paper drop, glanced at the
closed door, and fingered a pen in his breast pocket. “To tell you the truth,
though, I think I’m glad to see you. This shit’s a little deep for me and my
people, and those—” He stopped, lowered himself back into his chair and picked
up a pencil he rapped on the desktop. “The gentlemen from Dix aren’t really much
on letting us hick boys in on much of anything, even though the corporal wasn’t
killed on post.” He used the eraser to scratch at his temple. “Technically, the
Ulman murder is ours. Try to tell them that, though.”
    Mulder gave him the perfect us against them smile. “That’s what we’re
here for, Chief. We’re going to need all the assistance we can get, and we’d
definitely appreciate all you can tell us.”
    “No problem.” Hawks, like his sergeant, wasn’t awed, but not for the same
reasons. “You just let me know what you need, I’ll do what I can.” The pencil
tapped as his expression darkened. “The thing is, I didn’t know that corporal at
all. Grady Pierce, though, he was a royal pain in the ass, but I could think of
a couple dozen guys I’d rather see take it the way he did. The poor son of a
bitch.”
    “Friend of yours?” Webber asked from the back of the room.
    Hawks looked around Mulder at him, shaking his head. “Not really, no. Just known him a long time. Retired drill
instructor, wife left him right after the service forced him out.” He looked
back at Mulder. “He had no skills to speak of except bending his elbow, and AC.”
    Andrews, who had been sitting stiffly in her chair, distaste clear in the set
of her lips, said, “AC?”
    “Atlantic City, Agent Andrews,” the man explained.
    “Oh.” Distaste became disdain. “Gambling.”
    Hawks didn’t blink; he only nodded.
    “So you think it was a gambling debt or something?” Webber asked, dropping
his arms, eagerness creeping into his voice. “Pierce, I mean?”
    “Not hardly. When he went, he mostly won.” He grinned. “Nicely supplemented
his retirement pay, which wasn’t a hell of a lot.” He opened the center drawer
and pulled out a folder. “This is pretty much what we’ve got on both men, Agent
Mulder.” He handed it over. “You can see it isn’t much, even after two weeks
with Grady.” He shook his head and shrugged. “The trail’s probably dead, if
you’ll excuse the expression. You’re welcome to it, though.”
    Mulder nodded his thanks and handed it to Scully, who flipped through it and
frowned. “I don’t see any body diagrams in this autopsy report. Just
photographs, and not much commentary.”
    Hawks scowled. “You’ll have to ask them on the post about that. It seems they cared as much about old Grady as we did.”
    Well, well, Mulder thought. No love lost between Marville and Fort Dix. He
wondered if that extended to the merchants as well.
    Scully held a sheet of paper closer to her eyes, frowning in confusion.
“What’s this say here in the margins? Gablin? Goblin?”
    Mulder looked at her quickly. “Goblin?”
    “Go see Sam Junis,” the chief suggested as she slapped the folder shut. “He’s
the local doc, did the work on both men. He scribbles a lot, half the time
nobody can read it but him. He lives in the first house west of where you’re
staying. He knows you’ll be dropping in.”
    “How did you know where we were staying?” Andrews demanded.
    Mulder didn’t turn, but he hoped the chief wouldn’t