“I appreciate it,” Rhodes said, “but I might not run.”
“You have to,” Wanda said. “How can I vote for you if you don’t?”
“Write-in,” Rhodes said.
“Not the same. I like to see a name on the ballot. You better run.”
“I’ll think it over,” Rhodes said.
* * *
That afternoon Curtis Lambert called the jail and asked to speak with Rhodes.
“I wanted to thank you for what you did,” Curtis said. “For me and Betsy, I mean. Kenny wouldn’t ever thank you, but you did right by him, too.”
“He should’ve come forward,” Rhodes said, “and he shouldn’t have tried to blackmail Pete Hunley.”
“He knows that now. It was dumb, but then Kenny does a lot of dumb things. Look at that snake on his neck.”
“I’ve looked,” Rhodes said.
“The drugs, too,” Curtis said. “I’ve had a talk with him about that. Maybe it’ll help.”
“You never can tell,” Rhodes said, but he didn’t think Kenny would have listened to that kind of talk for long.
“Betsy’s going to be fine,” Curtis said. “Kenny, too. It’ll all work out.”
Rhodes thought that optimism was a good thing, so he said, “I hope so.”
* * *
Before Rhodes left that afternoon, Hack wanted to talk about the election year that was coming up.
“I think you need to start planning now,” Hack said. “Get yourself an organization. Won’t need much of one, but it’d be a start.”
“I haven’t decided if I’m going to run,” Rhodes said.
“You gotta do it. County needs you. Crime would explode without you to keep it in check.”
Rhodes laughed. “You know better than that.”
“You just wait and see what happens if you don’t run. I’ll be the first one to say I told you so.”
“If Lawton doesn’t beat you to it,” Rhodes said.
“He better not,” Hack said. “Anyway, you’re gonna run.”
Rhodes smiled. “I’ll give it some thought,” he said.
THE END
Acknowledgments
I would never have had a writing career without the encouragement of my late wife, Judy, and I would never have been able to continue it without her unfailing support. She was my first reader, my toughest critic, and a super copy reader. Everything I’ve achieved in my career was thanks to her. I told her that often, and I’m glad I did.
My daughter and son, Angela and Allen, had to put up with a father who often sat behind closed doors in the evening instead of watching TV or playing board games with the family. They never complained. Maybe they were just glad to get rid of me for a while, but I like to think they understood what I was doing and forgave my absence.
The late Ruth Cavin was the editor who bought the first Sheriff Dan Rhodes novel and edited many after that. I’ve been lucky to have a number of fine editors over the years, and I’ve appreciated each of them. They’ve helped me shape the series and continue writing it for over thirty years now. It’s been a pleasure.
And it’s been a pleasure to work with my agents, first Ray and Barbara Puechner and now Kim Lionetti. Without them, the Sheriff Rhodes books would have languished long ago.
Any errors in the books have been mine alone, or at least I’m willing to take the blame for them. The buck stops here.
Writing about the sheriff and my many other characters has been a great experience all along the line, and I hope the sheriff decides to run again and then gets reelected. We’ll see.
ALSO BY BILL CRIDER
SHERIFF DAN RHODES MYSTERIES
Dead, to Begin With
Survivors Will Be Shot Again
Between the Living and the Dead
Half in Love with Artful Death
Compound Murder
Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen
The Wild Hog Murders
Murder in the Air
Murder in Four Parts
Of All Sad Words
Murder Among the O.W.L.S.
A Mammoth Murder
A Red, White, and Blue Murder
A Romantic Way to Die
A Ghost of a Chance
Death by Accident
Winning Can Be Murder
Murder Most Fowl
Booked for a Hanging
Evil at the Root
Death on the Move
Cursed to Death
Shotgun Saturday Night
Too Late to Die
PROFESSOR SALLY GOOD MYSTERIES
A Bond with Death
Murder Is an Art
A Knife in the Back
PROFESSOR CARL BURNS MYSTERIES
… A Dangerous Thing
One Dead Dean
About the Author
Bill Crider was the winner of two Anthony Awards and an Edgar Award finalist. An English college professor for many years, he published more than seventy-five mystery, crime, Western, horror, and children’s novels, including standalone novels and several series (Sheriff Dan Rhodes, Professor Carl Burns, Professor Sally Good, PI Truman Smith, weatherman Stanley Waters, and teenager Mike Gonzo). In 2010, he was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Acknowledgments
Also by Bill Crider
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS
An Imprint of St. Martin’s Press
THAT OLD SCOUNDREL DEATH. Copyright © 2019 by Bill Crider. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover illustration by Ben Perini
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-16562-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-16563-3 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250165633
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First Edition: February 2019
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