The Next Time You Die A Lee Henry Oswald Mystery

by Hunsicker, Harry

• ISBN13: 9780312348502
• ISBN10: 0312348509
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-11
• Publisher: Minotaur Books

Summary

The anxiously awaited follow-up to Still River, The Next Time You Die is an action-packed mystery certain to establish Harry Hunsicker as the Dennis Lehane of Dallas. The story begins when a bourbon-swilling Baptist preacher hires Oswald to recover a stolen file, who figures the job for a quick and painless infusion of cash. But nothing comes easily in Dallas for anybody named Oswald, especially when a psychopathic hit man shows up, intent on finding the same scrap of missing paper. As the stakes mount, each treacherous step toward the missing file forces Oswald to confront the haunting memory of a split second decision which ultimately cost one-time partner, Billy Barganier, his life.

Author Biography

Harry Hunsicker is a graduate of Baylor University and has lived in Dallas most of his life. When he's not writing the next Lee Henry Oswald mystery, he's a real estate appraiser. This is his second novel.

Excerpts

Chapter One 

Billy Barringer snapped the guard’s neck as if it were a piece of rotten firewood. The noise echoed against the cinder-block walls and tin roof of the maintenance shed. The dead man dropped to the floor and was completely still, the front of his khaki pants darkened with urine.
 
One down. One to go.
 
A small-framed man named Charity stood just inside the doorway, wearing regulation prison whites that matched Billy’s clothing. Charity gulped several times and stared at the body crumpled on the floor.
 
Billy snapped his fingers and pointed to the door, indicating for him to keep watch. Charity licked his lips and squinted at Billy, his eyes dull and watery. Sweat dappled his forehead even though the thick walls kept the building relatively cool in the South Texas sunshine.
 
“Keep your eyes open, for chrissakes.” Billy jabbed a finger at the entrance.
 
Charity blinked and seemed to emerge from his trance. He turned to the door and stared outside.
 
Billy grabbed the arms of the corpse and dragged the man behind the workbench, near where the lawn mowers were chained together. He tried to control his breathing. The guard had arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule. Although minor, it was the first break in the routine since Billy had started work at the maintenance building eight months earlier, the assignment a result of his good behavior and an assistant warden with a taste for preteen girls that Billy’s people on the outside had discovered.
 
Billy didn’t like surprises, not when escaping from a maximum-security unit of the Texas Department of Corrections.
 
He mentally ran through the next few steps. Lunchtime on court day. The number of guards was lower than at any time during the week. Two sets of noninmate clothing for the two escapees. A key and combination to the employee parking lot, only a few hundred yards from the maintenance shed.
 
“Billy.” Charity’s high-pitched voice sounded frightened, as always. The second guard must be approaching. Billy grabbed a short length of two-by-four. He slid from behind the workbench and pressed himself against the wall next to the doorway.
 
The guard entered. He stopped after a couple of feet and blinked, the light in the dusty building dim after the June sun. He walked a few more paces and swiveled his head from one side to the other.
 
Billy stepped out of the shadows. The muscles in his shoulders and arms corded and strained against the thin cotton of his jumpsuit as he swung the chunk of pine at the guard’s head.
 
The impact sounded like a cantaloupe hitting a kitchen floor.
 
The man fell in the exact same spot as the first guard. He started twitching. Billy rushed to pull off his pants in order to avoid the urine problem. Two minutes later he was dressed in the guard’s uniform. The length was fine but the clothes hung loose on his frame. Eleven months of weights in the yard had turned him into all sinew and muscle, lean and sleek.
 
Copyright © 2006 by Harry Hunsicker. All rights reserved.

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Excerpted from The Next Time You Die by Harry Hunsicker
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.