Free Tailed by Brian M. Wiprud Page A

message about where I was headed. I’d also left a message for Stella, telling her the FBI said I was no longer needed as part of the investigation and would no longer be privy to how the case was proceeding. Which was true, more or less.
    â€œGarth, I asked you to call—you didn’t have to visit.” At the risk of being unkind, Gabby looked much better in sweats than in the buff, and it was a relief to talk to her in more familiar surroundings. Her long white hair was out of the braids and fanned across her shoulders. She stirred her Cobb salad distractedly.
    â€œYou may have told Angie that you needed to speak with me, but I needed to see you. Something very odd is going on that I need to discuss. But you go first.”
    She raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
    â€œWell, I read about your trouble in the newspaper, about that football player. I wanted to make sure you were all right…”
    â€œWell, that has to do with why I’m here.”
    â€œAnd I wanted to say I was sorry for getting in a huff, and that I wished we’d spent more time together on your last visit, and that I’d be delighted to come to Nicholas’s handfasting.”
    â€œI’m sorry, too, Gabby. I didn’t mean to offend you. I admit I’m not comfortable with your naturist lifestyle. But I don’t have to be. Nicholas will be delighted.”
    â€œThank you, Garth.” Gabby’s pale eyes softened, and she patted my hand. “When is this happy event?”
    â€œNext week, Saturday. I know it’s short notice, but it came about suddenly.” That wasn’t exactly true. Nicholas’s desire to have her there was short notice. “You can stay with me and Angie.”
    â€œI have a friend at The Sunny Gourde, he’s an airline pilot and can get me a cheap flight. Now…” Her eyes sparked. “What’s so odd that you needed to come all the way here and take me to lunch? Hmm?”
    â€œWell, part of the reason I needed to see you in person is that what I have to discuss with you is going to be something you don’t want to discuss.”
    Gabby stiffened, but maintained her serene smile. “There’s nothing I’m afraid to discuss, Garth, you should know that.”
    â€œIt has to do with the past, with my grandfather on the Carson side.”
    Her posture remained alert, but I saw her eyes dull over, which meant that she was unhappy with the subject already. Knew she would be.
    â€œBut this is important, Mom.” I only used the “M” word to signal Gabby that I was calling in a favor. “I’m a suspect in the murder of that football player, and there’s some kind of tie to Dad’s father, Julius ‘Kit’ Carson.”
    â€œOh, how could that possibly be? He’s been dead such a long time.”
    â€œAnd, maybe, to J. C. Fowler.”
    She shifted uncomfortably, and said to her salad: “This is silly, Garth. Who thinks you’re a murderer?”
    â€œThe FBI thinks I may have killed that football player in Chicago, and another man in Texas.”
    â€œPhooey! Did you tell them you didn’t do it?”
    â€œYes, Gabby.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t kill these people?”
    â€œOf course not.”
    â€œWell, then they have to prove you did something you didn’t, which in the end will make them look pretty silly.”
    â€œC’mon, Gabby, you know better than that. It’s the FBI. If nothing else, they can make my life miserable until they find the real guy. Look, some nut out there has killed two of my clients with their own taxidermy. And with the football player, the killer called me himself pretending to be the client and drew me out there to discover the body. He’s trying to make it look like I’m committing these murders, to make me the common link. And somehow and for some reason, I am the common link. There’s been some suggestion that it has to