Free Lucky Bang by Deborah Coonts Page B

to tell—they'd pretty much fallen apart."
    "So all of this was pretty old stuff?"
    "Yeah, the dynamite was leakin' like a sieve." He snorted. "Not worth much. I thought I'd scored big when this suit offered me a couple of c-notes for three sticks."
    "Three?"
    "Yeah. The guy was a nutcase, all twitchy-like. And stupid. Those sticks didn't have much pop left in them. Hell, half the nitro had soaked into the wood."
    My heart fell. Three. I knew what had happened to two. It was anybody's guess where the third one would turn up. "Oh, those sticks still delivered."
    Frenchie's eyes widened. "No shit?"
    "Pretty much leveled Jimmy G's place."
    Frenchie blinked rapidly as he tried to absorb that. "Anybody hurt?"
    "Only me."
    He backed up a step. "Shit, I'm sorry, man. I thought I was sellin' that dude a dud, know what I mean?" Wrapping himself in a hug, he started shaking. "I never thought…"
    "The guy you sold the stuff to, have you seen him around before?"
    "No. He had that out-of-town look to him—three-piece suit, five bill shoes."
    "Can you describe him?"
    Frenchie stopped shaking as his eyebrows snapped into a thoughtful frown. "A thin, white guy, tallish like you. Dark hair. Mean eyes. And always looking down his nose—talking down like I'm trash, you know?" Frenchie's eyes met mine. "I didn't like that, so I charged him double what I woulda took. Fool paid it."
    "A man on a mission." I eased off the stool. "How old?"
    "Like you."
    I didn't want to ask him what age he thought that might be—I'd established the guy wasn't seventy, so he wasn't Boogie. "How'd he find you?"
    "It was real weird, you know? He was out on the highway. Goin' for a drive, he said. He flagged us down when he saw us comin' out of the mine."
    "Really? What'd he say?"
    "He said some of his folks way back when had been miners in the area. He wanted to know if we'd found anything. We'd already stashed the sticks on the four-wheeler, so we didn't give out. We don't go givin' without gettin', you know? Besides, we didn't know this guy and he looked like trouble, all mean and angry-like."
    "I see." I pursed my lips and tried not to act surprised. "So how'd the same guy end up with the sticks? You're sure he was the same guy?"
    "I'm gettin' to that part." Frenchie nervously picked at a scab on his arm. "Here's the creepy part. The guy shows up later that day at the shop looking for me."
    "The shop? You mean here?" At Frenchie's nod I asked, "How'd he know your name and where you worked?"
    "He said he read it off my work shirt I had on when we met him on the highway. The shirt with my name on the front and the pawnshop info in big red letters on the back. My sister about shit when she heard I was wearing it out in the desert—those things ain't cheap."
    "Apparently he didn't believe your story about not finding anything."
    Frenchie's eyes flicked to mine. Thankfully he stopped picking at that scab. "The guy flashed a wad and I got greedy, told him what we had. His eyes really lit when he heard about the sticks. He wanted it then, but I didn't have it."
    "No, you'd conveniently stashed it on the top of my hotel. I should break you in two for that."
    He paled then hung his head with a sigh. "Probably should. Anyway, I had to get to work and it was convenient. With all the other stuff up there I didn't think anyone would notice. I agreed to meet the guy the next day, yesterday morning, to complete the sale. The rest is history."
    "Did he take anything else?"
    "Couple of clocks and the liquid things. I gave it all to him in the briefcase." Frenchie rubbed his arms as if he was suddenly chilled. "Funny thing though, the guy, the way he looked at me after we did the transaction, you know…it gave me a real bad feelin'."
    Yeah, unfortunately I did know. If the guy had anything to do with Boogie Fleischman, then Frenchie and Flea were lucky they'd run into him out in the open, on a well-traveled highway and again in a public place. "Look, I'll do my best to lower