Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 14:

Dupree got to his feet and Ellery waved him out the door before him. “Dupree what the fuck was that in there?”

“What, Chief?”

“That whole comment. About him statin his age an bein too young. That is real unprofessional.”

“Chief, yer the one who started the whole banter with him. Yesterday ya asked em if he thought I was queer for Chrissakes.”

“I was distractin em.”

“It wasn’t any more unprofessional than what I said.”

“Fine, Dupree.”

Dupree grinned slyly. “He makes ya nervous don’t he?”

“What are you talkin about?”

“The way he looks at ya.”

“He does have a rather bold eye, Dupree. Don’t say a word ta Ennis. I ain’t interested in no murder witness boy genius.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

“Shut up, Dupree. Now get somebody ta take em home, I got ta somehow get to the courthouse.”

[mariez]

Hi, everyone!  Yay - it's Friday!

Gosh, Leslie, please don't ever apologize!  We really appreciate all you do.

A brief aside...

As we can all see, Wes takes the issue of body armor very seriously. To get the men at the station to wear their body armor, Wes taped this picture up in the locker room:




He had a special picture for Ellery:



L

That is freakin' hilarious!     Yeah, we wouldn't want Ellery getting nauseous looking at that "squishy" female! 

Thanks!

Marie

[mariez]

For Marie who loves minutia, find out how much Ellery actually weighs...chapter 13

Sevigny chuckled. “Well lemme see, yer what, six three? You got ta be... one sixty five.”

“With buckshot in my pockets. I never tipped the scales at one fifty, boy.”

“Damn,” Sevigny looked chagrined by his error.[/i]

Ha ha!  You know me so well!  Yep, I zeroed in on that - that sure is one skiinny chief deputy!


From Chapter 15 - Wes is proud of his boy ...

“Yeah!” shouted an unfamiliar voice behind the other reports. “The former Assistant D.A. said your department promotes queers an perverts... what do you say to that Chief? Are you a queer an a pervert?”

“That would not be a pertinent question, sir. Hirin and promotional practices a the Sheriff’s department are in accordance with the Equal Opportunity Act a 1980, if you need the text it’s posted on the wall behind you.” Out of the corner of his eye, Ellery saw Wes smile. “If that is all, gentlemen, the Mayor of Laramie would like to address you all.”

“Chief Deputy...” came another call from the pack, but Ellery had stepped back, moving back next to Wes, who put a beefy hand on his shoulder.

“Good boy,” Wes said softly.

... and so are we.  Nice job, Ellery.


But the nice daddy/son moment gets interrupted:


“Okay, what’s goin on here?” Wes said as he led the way back in.

“Someone’s got a shotgun an is shootin up the Red Stallion. Officer on patrol callin fer assistance.”

“Damn. Ennis still here?” Ellery asked.

Carol said “Yeah, like you said, they put em in Interview 1.”

“Keep Ennis here,” he said. Wes pointed rapidly at the available officers in the squad room, and they went to don their body armor. “Ellery, you are squad leader on this. Don’t stick yer neck out.”


Yikes!!!

A couple things I noticed . . . we get a peek at Dupree's funny/smartass side in these chapters.  Lately, he's been through so much personal upheaval and recent bar activities have forced him into his serious bouncer role more and more often that he hasn't had the chance to show that side of himself as much.  Hopefully, he'll begin to feel more comfortable and relaxed in his personal life and things will settle down a bit at the bar!

Thanks again for all the quotes!

Marie

[MaineWriter]

Good morning re-readers!

Shelter From The Storm, chapters 16-20 today

http://louisev.livejournal.com/79403.html

I need to work and have to rush out in about 15 minutes, so I won't be able to post quotes until I get home, probably about 1 pm EST. So if anyone wants to fill in in the meantime, feel free!

Leslie

[mariez]

Good Morning, all!  I'd be happy to post some quotes, Leslie!

From Chapter 16, we see Ellery in his official capacity  - and get a good insight as to why Wes promoted him:


“I think I know who it is. Shit. What gave rise ta all this... I can’t believe it....” he mumbled to himself. “You got a bullhorn in yer cruiser?”

“Yeah.”

Ellery opened the passenger’s door of Reynold’s cruiser and pulled the bullhorn out, pressing the transmitter. “Sammy Lang, that you in there? We got six guys with service revolvers aimed at the door a the bar, an unless you throw out that pump action you ain’t gonna get a shot off at any of us before you get a few drilled into you. Now if ya care about Leon, he is bein booked on assault, but if you shoot at any of us it’s gonna be a damned long time before you ever get ta see em again, an I don’t know that you want that.”

Ellery stopped speaking, listening closely. “You an yer sweetheart Ennis Del Mar can go fuck yerselves, Ellery!” came the furious reply from inside the bar. “We woulda beat that boy within an inch of his life, how do ya like that?”

“Yep, yer a real man, Sammy. But you don’t want ta die today an we ain’t got no choice if you don’t throw that shotgun out the door an raise em high. Right now we got ya on breakin an enterin an malicious destruction a private property. That is small potatoes, boy. You don’t want ta get in the big league a shootin a peace officer.”

“How do you know what I want? I would love ta get a piece out a yer skinny ass Ellery, you smug sumbitch.”

“Oh come on Sammy, you ain’t really gonna sign up for hard time just ta get a shot at me. You had a shot at Ennis, Leon gave em a real good shiner an he got knocked up real good. You’ll do two ta five an you and Leon can grow old together. But you start shootin an it is a whole nother story. Besides, I’m way too skinny for you to hit at this distance.”

“You ain’t gonna shoot me if I throw out?” came the question, and Ellery nodded slowly to Jones, who was crouched behind his cruiser opposite him. Jones scampered up against the side of the building, flattening himself against it, about twenty feet from the front door.

“Nobody’s gonna shoot. Just tell us when you’re tossin the weapon Lang. We can all go home safe an sound an you’ll be eatin cream corn an hamburgers in County.”

“Okay. Yer still a fuckin sumbitch Ellery. An so is Buttercup.” A movement at the door, and the shotgun clattered onto the sidewalk.


The dialogue here is priceless!  Ellery handled that perfectly.

Marie

[mariez]

I couldn't skip this part from Chapter 16:

“But I think ya really ought ta go in Interview 1, there’s a cowboy in there wonderin if yer gettin shot up in the streets a Laramie.”

“Oh shit... Ennis!”

“Yep... that’s the one.”

Ellery raced down the hall and opened the door. Edna was sipping a cup of tea, sorting through clippings that looked like recipes. Ennis was dozing in his chair. When the door opened, his eyes opened and he was suddenly on his feet.

“Oh darlin...” Ennis choked out, and heedless of his wounds and Edna’s presence, wrapped Ellery in his arms in a tight embrace, and did not let him go.

“I’m all right Ennis, I’m all right.”


I've noticed that Ennis doesn't usually pace when he's worried - he sits quietly or dozes - which suits his character perfectly!

Marie

[mariez]

From Chapter 17, Ellery and Wes review the tape from the security camera:

Ellery held his breath, and moments later, the picture scintillated with an explosion of glass next to Dupree, and he wheeled, pulling his gun to face the direction of the rifle, and the shadow stepped into view.

“That looks more like six yards ta me,” Wes said. “I got ta thank that salesman fer talkin me into the Level III armor, or that boy’d be dead.” As he said the word “dead” a tunnel of light emerged from the rifle and Dupree slammed back against the car, slumping down. And the shadow fled.

“Goddamn,” Ellery said. “What do you think, Wes?”

“I think we might be able to enhance that face, that’s what I think.”

“There was one of em,” Murdoch said.

“There was one of em visible,” Ellery pointed out.

“What did you mean, you don’t like Sevigny’s story?” Wes asked, looking at him.

“He changed some things, subtly, I don’t know what it is. If a man is threatenin ta do ya in, you don’t reword the threat the next day. Do ya?” Ellery plucked at his lip.

“Hard to say,” Wes said.

“An there ain’t one word a what he said we can corroborate. Not a lick of it. He could a blown Wilkes away himself with his own rifle when Wilkes turned em down, unrequited love.”

“You think he’s queer?”

“He pays way too much attention to the part of me that ain’t talkin. Yeah I do,” Ellery said. “But I don’t trust em an I wish I could corroborate his story.”


The mystery deepens.  And Ellery sure does have a way with words, doesn't he? LOL!

Marie

[mariez]

Ellery visits Wayne in the hospital in Chapter18:

“Uh huh. Okay, so, tell me what happened now.”

“Well I come up to the bar, you know, it was about oh, I dunno, midnight or one. An I didn’t even notice there weren’t any cars around, it isnt busy there on a Tuesday night anyhow so I wasn’t payin attention, an I try the door an it’s locked. So then I go over to the phone booth ta call Lauren an find out why the bar was closed, an this man is standin there. I didn’t see the rifle.”

“Just one guy.”

He nodded. Just the one. Yeah, he had brown eyes, I remember thinkin, gee, he’s got eyes like Ennis.”

“You could see em in the dark.”

“Blake Street has got streetlights right in front a the bar, Ellery, or hadn’t you noticed?” he said, pouting.

“Not there a lot at night, Wayne.”

“Well I am. Well, was. So anyway, yeah, brown eyes.”

“About six foot.”

“Well, taller’n me, shortn you. Maybe Ennis’s height.”

“He is six one. So then what? He say anythin?”

“He said ‘hey queer boy,’ an I thought, oh, someone knows me from the bar. An I said ‘The name is Wayne.’ An he said ‘Oh, Wayne is it. You like to suck cock, Wayne?’ What was I gonna say, NO?”

“A course you would never deny somethin like that,” Ellery said, hiding a smirk.

“Course not. So I said ‘Sometimes, why?’ An he said ‘Cause we don’t like boys like you hangin around suckin cock, that’s why.’ An that is when he went over an picked up this big ass rifle...”

Poor Wayne.  Getting shot by an evil psycho - traumatic stuff.   Of course, Louise gives us something to laugh about, though - "What was I gonna say, NO?"    

One thing to be said for Wayne . .  he's always Wayne!

Marie

[mariez]

Now we see Dupree in his official capacity - and we see why Wes promoted him!

From Chapter 19:

“So could you tell me er, Mrs. ... er, when was the last time ya spoke to em? By phone or... yeah.”

“Couple weeks ago it must a been. He said he expected ta get paid for some special info he dug up in his investigation.”

“Did he say what it was?”

She nodded. “Pictures a somebody important that was gonna cause some sort a political scandal.”

Dupree gulped. “Uh... did he happen ta mention what kind a somebody important, or his name or anythin?”

“I’m sorry... I figured ya would want ta know, cause all I could think was if he got some information on somebody important an they caught wind of it... ya know, maybe that was how come he got killed.”

Dupree thought for a long moment. “Did you get any mail for em after you last heard from em? Maybe somethin from Laramie?”

She nodded. “Some stuff, haven’t opened it... you know, the shock an all. Havin ta come up here an ... identify em.”

He nodded sadly. “I did the same thing.”

She looked at him curiously. “You... identified Jim?”

“Yes. He had a part time job at a bar where I work nights. During the day I was assigned to this case and I recognized him when I went with my boss to start the investigation. That was quite an ordeal.”

She smiled again, dabbing at her nose delicately. “Yes it was.” She let out a sigh, her breath hitching.

“Now about this mail. Do you suppose you could take a look through it and see if there was anything from him, or anything sent from his employers, or anything from Laramie? There might be a clue in there as to what might have happened to him, or what he was working on.”

“I am gonna be seein his lawyer, who has some a his personal papers too, maybe he sent somethin to his lawyer.”

“Yes, if you could do that.” He set down Ellery’s card on the table. “If you find anything you think might have any information that could help us, or if you think of anything more, please give Chief Deputy Cantrell a call. He is handling this case personally.”

She nodded, giving him another, brighter smile. “Is that it? I thought I was gonna get the third degree!”

He smiled and laughed softly. “No ma’am. We are fishin for any information we can get, an that means treatin our witnesses with all due cordiality.”

“That is very nice, thank you.... Mr. “

“Sergeant. Dupree. Jeremy Dupree.”

She held out her hand to him and rose delicately from the chair. She never touched her glass of water. “Very nice ta meet you Jeremy. I’ll be sure ta get in touch with this Chief... Deputy Cantrell. I hope he is as charmin as you are.”

“Oh believe me, he is,” Dupree smiled widely, a twinkle in his eye.


Ah, those poor females - they take to Ellery and Jeremy like bees to honey!

Marie

[mariez]

Some favorite parts from Chapter 20:

“Right. This day ain’t never gonna end.” Ellery looked at his watch. “Ain’t had lunch.”

“Neither have I,” Joe said. “I could stop by the High Plains and get a couple a sandwiches ta go if ya like.”

“Thinkin on yer stomach, Joe, I like that,” Ellery grinned. “Sure.” He got out his wallet and handed two dollars to him. “And chips. And a large Coca Cola.”

Well, those were the days, huh?  A couple of sandwiches, chips, and a large Coke for two bucks?   LOL!!!

.....

Can't pass up a classic Wes/Ellery moment:

“Interview One,” Wes said. “Tell ya what, since you haven’t hardly slept, you can go home after this an start in fresh on the Allen murder tomorrow mornin.”

Ellery beamed. “If you were queer I’d kiss you for that Wes.”

“Which means you ain’t gonna kiss me,” Wes said, and retreated to his office.

.....

Johnson choked on a mouthful of coffee. “This interview is over. We ain’t got a reason ta bring em back with us, Cantrell.” he stood up. “If I cared more than a flyin fuck, I would tell yer Sheriff you made a bad collar.”

“An since I do care more than a flyin fuck,” Ellery said smoothly, “I’ll be sure ta mention to yer Sheriff that yer impugnin a peace officer’s reputation in front of a suspect in contravention of our mutual respect an cooperation regulations.”

Johnson’s mouth snapped shut. “We know the way out. Come on Jesse.” The beefy officer stood up and tagged along after Johnson as he left the room.

Ellery watched Jones as they left, then fixed an eye on Rudy. “Ain’t a bad set a hams on that Jones,” he said, voice pitched low.

Rudy shook his head. “Fuck you, Ellery. You lettin me go now?”


Gotta hand it to Ellery - he knows he was wrong - but he's not about to let anyone (except Wes and Ennis) give him crap about it!  LOL!!

Marie