“Goodness, I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you.” She smiled brightly. And then added a regretful little frown on the end of it. “Such a shame. I do like pussies.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Longarm said. “So do I.”
“Thank you, Chief Long. You have been a big help to me. I will never forget you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She toddled out of the office with the aid of a cane and went painfully down the staircase. Longarm rolled his eyes and tried to prepare himself for the ordeal of his next visitor.
It was, however, the older day officer—Longarm had already decided to name the man a sergeant and make him responsible for this routine horse-hooey—who came into the office.
“Yes, Baines?”
“Got another death in town, chief.”
“Not …?”
“No, sir, not another murder. This one looks like an accidental drowning.”
Longarm grunted. Things like that were regrettable but essentially unpreventable. Still, it was a shame. “Not a politician, I hope.”
“No, sir. A spinster lady. Edith Matthews. Runs … that is to say she used to run … the ice cream parlor in town.” Clarice’s aunt. That caught Longarm’s attention.
“You say she drowned?”
“Yes, sir. A couple kids snuck away to see could they catch some fish. What they found was Miss Edith floating in an eddy about three quarters of a mile south of town.”
“Which makes it officially outside our jurisdiction, right?”
“Yes, sir. Not that it has to come under anybody’s jurisdiction, it being accidental and all. The justice of the peace will hold an inquest by and by, and the estate will go through probate.”
“There is a county coroner, I presume.”
“Sure, but I doubt anyone will bother calling him in on it. I mean, it’s plain enough how she died.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Funny thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Miss Edith was always one to keep to herself Real quiet, her and her relatives. Bunch of women living all alone in a big house.”
“Yes?”
“Quiet, like I said. But just this morning she made something of a spectacle of herself at Bryce Peabody’s place. Poor thing. And now she’s dead.” The soon-to-be sergeant shook his head in sympathy. “I wonder if the old girl took to nipping at the laudanum or vanilla extract or something of the like.”
“It happens,” Longarm agreed. “What was this about her making a … spectacle, did you say?”
“That’s sure the way I’d put it. Bryce … he’s a mule trader, mind. Lived here all his life … he woke up about five o’clock this morning to what he thought sounded like somebody scuffling on his front porch.”
“Oh?”
“He said he was scared it was the killer come for him. But shit, Bryce isn’t anybody. Just a sorry-ass mule trader with a bunch of kids he can’t hardly keep in shoes. Not the sort our killer would want at all.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I guess Bryce was scared anyway. He isn’t real brave and never has been. He got up and looked out the front window. Said he saw the bushes waving around like crazy, and up on the porch there was Miss Edith. He knew she wasn’t no threat to anybody. Hell, she’s never had any use for any man. So he went and opened the door to ask what she was doing out there making all that noise, and she jumped down into the bushes and ran off before he could ask her anything or so much as speak to her. Said she seen him and took off running like she was a filly half her age. Now the poor old thing turns up dead. I wouldn’t wonder if she had a heart attack from running away from Bryce and fell over dead into the river. What do you think?”
“Edith Matthews, you said her name is?”
“That’s right.”
“Then I’ll tell you what I think, Baines. I think I want you to find this Bryce Peabody and tell him I want to talk to him. Right away. And once you’ve got Peabody pointed this way, I’d like you to find Norman Colton’s cousin Lester and tell him that I need to see him too. Can do?”
The officer gave his new chief a look that questioned Longarm’s good sense. But then the boss, right or wrong, is always the boss. “Right away, Chief.”
“Thanks, Baines.”
“Yes, sir. Uh, should I send the next visitor in while you’re waiting for Bryce to get here?”
Longarm sighed. “I s’pose we might as well get through as many as we can. Send ‘em in.”
Baines grinned. “Her. The next one is a her, sir. And if you thought Mrs. Lucas was nuts, wait until you talk to this one.”
