Wacey stepped forward and shut the office door behind him. It was a small room.
Wacey grinned. Marybeth grinned.
'Aimee Kensinger has to go to Venice, Italy, for three and a half weeks with her husband,' Wacey said.
'She asked me if I knew anyone who would be trustworthy enough to stay in her house and keep it up and walk her dog every day. You know, that little rodent Jack Russell terrier others.'
Joe nodded slowly, waiting for more.
'He suggested us.' Marybeth added in a way that indicated to Joe that she liked the idea.
'Our whole family. Even Mom.'
Wacey jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Missy in the living room. 'That way she could live more in the style to which she is accustomed,' he said, affecting enough of a pompous lilt to make Joe smile in spite of himself. 'It's going to be like a family vacation without really going anywhere.'
Joe turned to Marybeth. 'So you want to do it?'
Marybeth spoke practically. 'We're out of room, Mom's sleeping on the couch, everything seems to be falling apart, and it would be a good time to get some repairmen in here when they're not bothering everybody. It seems like we're always here. It would be kind of like having a vacation.'
'Which, as far as I know, you two have never had,' Wacey chimed in. 'Hell of an opportunity. Hell of an opportunity.'
'We move in Thursday,' Marybeth said.
'Then I guess the matter is decided,' Joe said flatly, then drained his beer.
Marybeth asked Wacey if he wanted to stay for dinner. But Wacey said he had to get home. On the way toward the door, Wacey stopped suddenly and watched Lucy and Sheridan play.
'That's a cute little dog,' Wacey said.
'I'M NOT A DOGGIE!' Lucy yelled back, arching up on her feet with her chubby arms curled under her chin while Sheridan fed her an invisible treat.
'What are you, then?'
'I'm not a doggie,' Lucy said, folding back down to her haunches.
Joe Walked with Wacey out to his pickup. Wacey stopped and stood in the dark before he got in. Wacey had brought an unopened beer with him and Joe heard the top being unscrewed.
'Joe, do you know how it's going to look when word gets out that you burned down Clyde Lidgard's trailer?'
'Another bonehead move,' Joe admitted, reaching into the bed of the pickup to see if his weapon was cool enough to touch. It was still warm. He tersely described what happened and said he couldn't understand how the fire had started. He left out the part about maybe seeing a Suburban.
'What a stroke of bad luck,' Wacey said, looking at the now useless gun.
'I bet Barnum's having a good laugh about it. By tomorrow half the town will know.'
Joe sighed. He couldn't believe he had lost his gun again. Wacey took a swig of beer.
'Are you sure this is something you ought to be pursuing?'
'Ote Keeley died in my woodpile. That makes it kind of personal. And to me the pieces just don't quite fit.'
'What in particular?'
Joe rubbed his eyes. They stung from the fire. 'Oh, I don't know. I guess I can't convince myself that Clyde Lidgard just up and shot three men for no clear reason and then stayed in their camp until we found him. And I don't know why Ote Keeley came all of the way to my backyard to die.'
'Joe ...' Wacey's voice sounded high-pitched and pained, as if he were losing patience.
'Clyde Lidgard was a fucking nut. You can't explain a nut. That's why he's a nut. Just let it go.'
'You sound like Barnum and everybody else.'
'Maybe he's right for once,' Wacey said. Joe could see the pale blue reflection of the moon on the bottom of Wacey's beer bottle as Wacey lifted it to his mouth.
'Trust me, Joe. It's been investigated. Everyone's satisfied. We're just Game and Fish guys. Guts and Feathers, as our critics like to say. We aren't detectives. People think we're nothing more than glorified animal control officers. Don't be a lone ranger here. You'll just embarrass the department and get yourself in more trouble, if that's possible.'
Joe absently kicked the dirt with his toe and looked down.
'And you never know,' Wacey said, 'you might find a bad guy and then reach down only to remember that you lost your damn pistol again.' Joe could tell Wacey was smiling at him in the dark.
'You've made your point,' Joe answered sourly. 'Just go on up with your cute little family and have a nice vacation at the Eagle Mountain Club,' Wacey suggested.
'Besides, hunting season's just about to get hot and heavy, and you're going to be busy as hell. We both are.'
'Maybe so,' Joe said.
'That's what you say when you really don't agree but you don't want to discuss it anymore,' Wacey
