Free Alpine Zen : An Emma Lord Mystery (9780804177481) by Mary Daheim Page B

the first to deal.
    Dixie was also the first to take a dig at me. “We’re all anxious for you to host us at your remodeled log cabin,” she said, fingers snapping out the cards with the finesse of a Vegas pro. “Milo never lavished that kind of money on his home with Tricia.”
    “That’s because Milo and Tricia had three children,” I said in a pleasant voice. “After he stopped paying large sums for child support, he was able to save money and invest wisely.”
    Lila, who wore her half-glasses on a long gold chain, squinted at me with those piercing blue eyes. “I didn’t realize the sheriff made such a large salary. My son Billy certainly couldn’t support a family on what he makes. He can barely pay me room and board to help make ends meet.”
    I shrugged. “Tell that to the county commissioners. They set the salaries for the sheriff’s department. If Mayor Baugh’s plan goes through to eliminate his own job and the three commissioners, there might be more money to spend on law enforcement.”
    “
If
,” Dixie said archly. “I dealt and I pass.”
    As usual, it took Edna Mae some time and much scrutiny of her cards to make a bid. “One diamond,” she finally twittered.
    We’d played a few hands when Lila turned to me. “By the way, I wish your husband would stop making Billy work so many nights. I’d planned to have him install the new TV for my bedroom this evening. It wasn’t delivered by my nephew, Ronnie, until almost five-thirty. Why does UPS come so late?”
    I probably looked stupid. “I’ve no idea about UPS,” I replied, realizing that Lila didn’t know Bill was dining with Tanya at Le Gourmand. “As for Bill’s schedule, all of the deputies are on a set rotation.”
    Somehow, by the grace of God or Charles Goren, we got through the first table without any more awkward episodes. Shortly before ten, we were on the last round. I was partnered with Janet, facing off against Linda Grant and Lila Blatt. By this time, almost everybody was semi-blitzed, except me. And maybe Lila. Unlike me, she seemed to keep up with the rest of the crowd, but her rigid demeanor didn’t change.
    “Good Lord,” Janet gasped, “I’m free of Char and Dar and their giggle fits! If they wet their pants on my upholstered Amish chairs, I’ll strangle them with some of our bondage ropes.”
    “Where
is
Al?” I asked, hoping to distract my hostess.
    “He’s in bed,” Janet replied, taking a sip of white wine. “He went to the hospital first.” She hiccuped and bid a spade.
    “Is he sick?” I asked after our opponents passed and I’d responded with two hearts.
    Linda passed again. Janet said four spades to make game. “No,” she said to me while I laid down my cards. “He got a call from an out-of-town woman who’s in the hospital and insisted he come to see her. Maybe she’s dying and wanted to make arrangements. Who knows? We can use the money. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him when he came in the back way a little after eight. Okay, we’ve got this one in the bag. Not the body bag, of course…” She began to play out the hand.
    The final half hour passed without incident except for Linda Grant making a crack about how
wise
it was of Milo and me to spend so much time getting to
know
each other before
finally
getting married, and Lila looking as if she never wanted to see any of us again. I wanted to ask Janet more about the hospital patient, but she seemed on the verge of passing out. Being first out the door was my priority, lest some of the other players crash into me in a drunken stupor.
    When I pulled into the garage, I was surprised to see Milo’s Yukon already parked there. I was also alarmed, wondering if something was wrong. I hurried inside, finding him in the easy chair watching baseball wrap-ups on ESPN.
    “Why are you home before midnight?” I asked, sitting on the easy chair’s arm.
    Milo kissed me lightly and chuckled. “Blatt showed up in uniform around ten. His old