The Invisible Hand - A crime novel

Chapter 25

A few miles away, Gus toils in his basement, too. It's late. The rest of his family is in bed.

Gus isn't reading a book, though. He's taking the rust off a single-shot shotgun, a Winchester 37.

It's the same one he's had since a kid. Nicknamed it "Safety" back in those years. Sort of a play on "safety first, safety last, safety always" from firearms training. Simple kid thinking.

Only Red, as sheriff, is issued a firearm by the county. Gus, being on reserve, is left to his own devices. Literally.

Gus never thought once about those devices. Better to let Red shoot first if it ever came to that. Different story now. He figures he has good reasons.

Foremost is that Jane person Red hired out to track down Wil. It's common now for the oil boom to overwhelm law enforcement. Contracting the work is one solution. But the last time Red hired this Jane person, things didn't go so well. More trouble than it's worth.

That Red would hire out again despite that history means something's up. Something that makes Gus scrub Safety hard. Especially since his wife and kids are sleeping upstairs.

"Safety" is the only firearm Red doesn't know about. Never seen it. Good. Red's got an overreaction to things. Might ask Gus for his guns. In the name of "safety," "just in case" or "for your own good."

Gus won't let those words happen. He'll write them his own way. For his own good, Safety won't stay just in the case. No. It's staying with him. Right next to a box of BB shotshells. Goose loads. Hard stuff. With stopping power.

And a box of slugs. For making windows inside people.

Just in case.

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