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Kip nodded There were three elderlypipes and the third just sitting with a straw hat pulled low over his face They had been talking quietly until the constable had walked over; now they listened, eyes reeted the I can help you with?"

"That should do it, except for payinginto extending my credit"

Kip tried to smile but found it difficult because he couldn&039;t shake the ie of Turk&039;s dead face; the eyes of the old men were on him and he felt uneasy "Sorry No favoritis for his wallet and then turned to go back into the hardware supply

"Constable," said one of the three on the porch, a lanky man with snowy hair and teeth clamped around the bit of a pipe "What happen&039; to that boy las&039; night?" He leaned forward in his chair, and Moore stopped where he was

"Never you mind about that," Kip told him

"Is it true what they say?" one of the others asked "About his neck bein&039; broke and all the blood gone out his veins?"

"Whoever told you that has got one hell of an io far to think up a better one" Kip kept his voice light and easy, but he was fooling no one; the oldhim, his mouth half-open in astonishment

"Dan Miles saw the body," the ot hold o&039; that throat an&039;"

"Dan Miles drinks too much, too," Kip said,to lies was a crime I&039;d throw all of you in jail"

"They say sole," the ht to see I seen a jumbie back in there when I was a boy Him a mean thin&039;, a tall white thin&039; moved so fast you could hardly see Moved with the wind, and the wind around hio wheeooooo wheeooooo, like that I&039;d seen that face and I ain&039;t never forgot Ugly thin&039;, with bright red eyes and teeth hangin&039; out the mouth I run and I run and I run &039;cause I wasn&039;t s&039;posed to be out there at night, you know? But I seen that face and I ain&039;t never forgot"

Kip leaned a hand against a porch slat, keeping his host of the Ritter wo time back," the first hter "Damn me if I didn&039;t see her over on the fishin&039; wharf where her man&039;s boat used to lie She wave her arh her, and she say &039;Follow ht on off the wharf into the sea and she gone" He looked at the other two men, and they nodded appreciatively

"Kip," Moore said, "what happened last night?"

"You&039;d best go pay your bill," the constable told hi buck naot hisself killed," the one in the straw hat told Moore, sharing the secret "It happen&039; over in the yard where that dam&039; boat be Thass a bad thin&039;, constable Unlucky as all hell That dead boat draw the jule, and they all flock around in there when everybody sleepin&039; and they have a hell of a party, all theh and scream and roll them eyes up and they look for the livin&039; man &039;cause they jealous, and they hate the livin&039; man and want his soul And thass what happen&039; to that young Turk"

The other old , pipe sht?" Moore asked again

Kip said, "Come over to s to talk about" He glanced again at thethe Square toward his office Kip went inside, drew the blinds, and brought the dead ether on the blotter on his desk He sat down, rolling hi up each iteht; when he ca start somewhere inside hi the ridges of yellow fungus This is important, he told himself, but I don&039;t knohy This is important and I can&039;t yet understand it And deep within him, in the hidden recesses, he felt the brick wall treainst it from the dark side

There was a knock on the door "It&039;s open, David," Kip said

Moore caued by what the oldthe ite on?" he asked quietly, noting the strained, tired look in his friend&039;s eyes

"The sub," Kip said "A welder for Langstree did it, a crazy fool by the nah a blue haze of cigarette smoke and shook his head "No Someone beat hi for, though, because just yesterday afternoon he was raold bars and a wrecked German ship I tell you, David, someone did a hell of a job on him, and when they were finished the rats took the rest It&039;s possible he got into the hulk, found so, and whoever killed him took it away from him" He waved at the items on the blotter "This was all we found in his pockets, and this scrap of filthy cloth was gripped in his hand Could be he ripped at so before he went down"

Moore was speechless A murder on Coquina was unbelievable; there had never been a o Inn Hell, he&039;d come to this island because he&039;d believed it was set apart from all the bitter cruelties of men Now he realized his fantasy was just that - a ridiculous dreaet into the boat?" he asked after another h a hatch on the forward deck, just in front of the ; he sealed it and put the bag away in a lower drawer "He was a drifter; ht up with hiarette, then crushed it out in his ashtray "Anyway, dead men tell no tales, as they say" He pushed his chair back and went over to the storage cabinet, unlocking and opening it Froht and a bull&039;s-eye lantern; he tossed the flashlight to Moore "I&039;?"

"Yes," Moore said, taking a deep breath "I&039;d like to see what&039;s in there"

"All right, then We&039;ll be taking a chance if there&039;re live explosives in it, but if a cutting torch didn&039;t blow anything to hell I figure it&039;s pretty safe" He glanced over toward the gun cabinet, but he quickly disainst? The rats? He was certain the shelter was filled with them, but they certainly weren&039;t man-killers For God&039;s sake, he told himself, settle down He clicked the lantern on and off a couple of times to check the battery and then motioned toward Moore "Let&039;s see what the old relic&039;s carrying," he said, and stepped toward the doorway

"God only knows," Moore said

Yes, Kip told hilare of the sun&039;s eye and Kip climbed into the driver&039;s seat of the jeep

God and perhaps one other