Free The Alpine Yeoman by Mary Daheim Page A

leaned down to kiss my nose. “I’ll make the drinks. I can change later. How soon is dinner?”
    I followed him out to the kitchen to check the game hens. “You’re a little earlier than I thought you’d be, so at least twenty minutes.”
More like half an hour
, I thought, but maybe Milo wouldn’t check his watch. The game hens were only now starting to brown.
    He didn’t speak while he fixed my Canadian and his Scotch. I turned the heat on low under the rice. He handed me my glass, his hazel eyes troubled. I touched his cheek before leading the way back to the living room.
    Milo sighed in relief as he sat down in the easy chair before taking out his cigarettes. “You want one?”
    “You know I’ve been trying to quit. Again,” I said, but decided maybe I should go ahead and smoke anyway. “What the hell.” I got up and let him light a cigarette for me.
    “Something’s not right,” he stated after I’d sat back down on the sofa and he’d taken a sip of Scotch. “I had to listen to all the dire predictions about drought and the eastern half of the state burning up this summer.” He paused to take a drag of his cigarette and another sip of Scotch. “Hell, I’m not unsympathetic. I worked with the Yakima crew back in December. They’re good people. My counterpart wasn’t in, so I talked to a senior deputy. He didn’t exactly stonewall me, but he was evasive. In fact, he sounded downright uncomfortable.”
    After a couple of puffs on the cigarette, I felt a bit lightheaded. “Uh … about tracking down a guy with a common Hispanic name?”
    Milo leaned forward to peer at me. “You sure you didn’t start drinking before I got home? You look kind of goofy.”
    I laughed and shook my head. “I don’t think I’ve smoked in almost a month. I feel woozy.”
    “Oh. I’ve cut down, too, at least around Tanya.” He sat back in the chair. “The deputy’s first reaction was that there had to be a ton of Fernandezes in the county. Then I prodded him a bit, asking if they had any missing persons reports. They did, but no one by that name. That answer came too fast. It’s a relatively big and fairly mobile population. I figured he was putting me off. But why? It makes me think they know damned well who the stiff is.”
    I gave Milo a curious look. “Are you sure you’re supposed to be telling me this, Sheriff? Do I need to remind you I’m the press?”
    Milo waved the hand that wasn’t holding the cigarette. “I’dtell Vida if she were here. Of course, she isn’t speaking to me. But this is one of those quirky things that you women are good at. Besides, by the time I finished the Yakima call, Jack Mullins was the only one left in the office. You know what kind of smart-ass remark he’d make. Not helpful.” Milo took another sip of his drink. “You can’t use this in the paper anyway.”
    I agreed. “Unless, of course, it escalates.”
    “It better not. I’ll raise hell if it does.”
    “Do you think the dead man might be one of their own?”
    “It crossed my mind,” Milo replied slowly, “but there was nothing on the guy to indicate he was with the sheriff’s department.” He paused, stroking his long chin. “It could go one of two ways, though. Either he
is
some kind of law enforcement type—or he’s on the wrong side of the law and they want to do some checking before they say anything.”
    The phone on the end table next to me rang. Kip was on the line. “Hey,” he said, “do we have anything new on the guy who got thrown from the sports car? Mitch didn’t update me before he left.”
    “Let me ask the sheriff.” I put my hand over the receiver. “Sports car guy—dead or alive?”
    Milo shrugged. “Don’t ask me. They took him to Valley General hospital, in Monroe.”
    I spoke again into the phone, relaying what Milo had told me. “Mitch may have forgotten. Brenda was ailing this morning, so he was probably preoccupied. Have him call Monroe. Doobles, or whatever his