Free Wolf Moon by Ed Gorman

the key to it on my ring.
        "She's a beauty, isn't she?"
        "Beg pardon?"
        "The safe," the teller said. "Barely six months old. Straight from Boston. I doubt even nitro could open it." He smiled. "Saw you looking at her. Must make the police feel a lot safer."
        "A lot."
        "But that's Mr. Reeves for you."
        "Oh?"
        "Sure. Always buying the best and the newest and the most reliable."
         Yes , I thought, and probably spending his partner's money to do it.
        I started hacking then, so much so that it got embarrassing. This morning my throat had been so sore, I could barely swallow, and the chills now came on with a sudden violence.
        "Well, here's my first deposit," I said when I'd finished hacking.
        I handed the teller ten dollars. He found a smart little blue bankbook and took an imposing rubber stamp and opened the book and stamped something bold and black on the first page. He then turned the page over and wrote $10.00 in the credit column. Then he wrote the date in the proper place and gave me the book.
        "It's nice to have you as a customer, Mr. Chase."
        "Thank you. I'm sure I'll like doing business here."
        "I shouldn't say this, being so partial and all, but I think we're the best bank in the whole territory."
        "I'm sure you are."
        With that I turned and started back to the front of the bank. Then the front door opened and there stood Reeves, sleek and slick as always, staring right at me.
        He was obviously angry to find me here, but he couldn't say anything with all the customers wandering around.
        He came in, closing the door on the bright but chill afternoon.
        He walked right up to me and said, "I'm glad to see you're still wearing that uniform."
        "The chief is a more understanding man than you give him credit for."
        "Maybe I'll just have to write him another little note about you." He frowned. "Why the hell don't you just get out of this town, Chase? I'd even be willing to give you some money if you just took that wife and daughter of yours and left."
        "How much?"
        "Maybe ten thousand."
        "Maybe?"
        "Ten thousand for sure."
        I grinned at him. "No, thanks, I kind of like it here. Especially when I get a chance to ruin your day like this every once in a while." I started out the door and then said, quietly, "Be sure to give Lundgren and Mars my best wishes."
        He looked around to see if anybody was watching. They weren't. "You don't know what you're getting into, farm boy."
        "See you around," I said, and left.
        I stood on the boardwalk for a while, enjoying the pale, slanting sunlight, enjoying the town, really, the clatter of wagons and horse-drawn trolleys, the spectacle of pretty town women going about their shopping, the way folks greeted me as they passed.
        They liked me, the town folks, and I enjoyed that feeling.
        I was a happy man just then, and I walked down the street with my lips puckered into a whistle. I tried not to notice how bad my throat was hurting.
        

14
        
        That night, feeling even sicker, I dragged myself home and went right to bed…
        In the darkness.
        "Chase?"
        "Huh?"
        "I wanted to wake you up. You were having the nightmare again. About the kid, I think."
        "Oh."
        "I'm sorry you had to see that, Chase."
        "Yeah."
        "It must have been terrible to see."
        I was sweating, but it was cold sweat and I wanted to vomit. There was just the darkness. And Gillian next to me in her flannel nightgown.
        "I said a prayer tonight, Chase."
        "How come?"
        "That you wouldn't go through with it." Silence. "I know it's on your mind."
        "It could work out for us. A lot of money. Going somewhere and buying a farm."
        We were silent for a long time.
        "Annie