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“I got it!” The little man grinned at him. He glanced at Abby and flushed. “Miss Brannon, I don’t guess you need any more help?”
“I wish I did,” Abby said honestly. “Mr. Whatley, why don’t you get a place of your own? If you have a private income, it’s not a bad investment. Times are hard, and ranch properties are opening up all over the place, even here in Carne County.”
“A place of my own?” His face almost glowed. “I’ve never had anything of my own. They give me money and push me out the door, so I won’t get in the way or embarrass them. A place of my very own.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll do that.” He smiled at both of them and almost ran for his car.
“God, what have I let myself in for?” Cody groaned. He glared at Abby. “Now see what you’ve done!”
“Nobody else wants him,” she said softly. “He’s all alone. Sort of like us.” She grimaced. “I just thought he might fit in here, if he tried. And if he had a place of his own, he’d be more concerned with it than with mythical dead bodies...?”
He laughed. “Okay. I see your point.” His dark eyes slid over her face. She wasn’t pretty, but when she smiled, it was like sunshine. “However, if you do find a dead body, please call me and not Mr. Whatley.”
She crossed her heart. “Yes, sir!”
He just grinned.
So Horace Whatley bought himself a real ranch with real cowboys, and immediately started work on remodeling it to suit his own taste.
MR. OWENSWASTROUBLED. He was an easygoing man for the most part, but for the past several days, he’d been absentminded to a surprising degree.
“Do you know what’s got Mr. Owens so worried?” Abby asked Marie while they were eating a quick lunch in the local café, in a corner booth where they wouldn’t be overheard.
“He’s got a nephew, Jack,” Marie told her. “The boy’s been in and out of reform school and his parents couldn’t do anything with him. He assaulted another boy over a girlfriend and Mr. Owens was just barely able to keep him out of jail.” She shook her head. “I’ve seen so many cases like this,” she added. “Kind, sweet people with a renegade in the family who can’t or won’t live up to expectations. The boy had two scholarships and he tossed them away. His grandmother left him a little money, but he spent it all. He’s been in trouble with the law all his life. Not his fault, you understand, it was the police harassing him, to hear his father tell it. His father spoiled him rotten right up to the day he died.”
“I know the type,” Abby replied. “In Denver you see all sorts of people. I worked as a receptionist in my brother’s law firm before I started school to be a paralegal. We had death threats!”
Marie grinned. “We have them here, too,” she said, surprising Abby. “Oh, yes. Mr. James had one a couple of weeks ago over a land case he handled. The defendant wasn’t happy about the judgment.”
“Wouldn’t it be a perfect world if we lived in harmony with all our fellow humans?” Abby asked absently.
“How are things going at the ranch?” Marie asked.
“Just great. Lucy’s so happy, not only there but at school, too. And she’s got a new hero,” she laughed. “You’ll never guess who.”
“Our sheriff.”
Abby’s eyebrows arched.
“He did happen to mention to a few people what a sweet and well-behaved little girl she was,” Marie added. “Not to mention that Lucy noticed his husky limping when he hadn’t even seen it himself.”
“She’s very observant,” Abby said, smiling. “Like her dad. I miss him every day. I miss Mary, too. They loved Lucy so much. I just hope I can do right by her.”
“You’re doing a fine job from what I see.” She leaned forward. “My husband works with the husband of one of the vet techs in Dr. Shriver’s practice. He told my husband some sad news.”
“What?” Abby asked, curious.
“Sheriff Banks’s dog has cancer.”
“Oh, no!” Abby said with concern.
Marie nodded, grimacing. “It’s so sad. She’s all he had left of his wife. Deborah left him the dog as a puppy, just before she died. He’s going to go crazy when he loses her.”
Abby felt the sadness like a brand. “He said she was all he had left.”
“He feels that way, too. Such a pity they didn’t have a child, but, then, Deborah would never have settled for just being a wife and mother in Catelow, Wyoming. She was always too big for this little town.”
Marie wasn’t a mean or spiteful person. The remark was unlike her.
“Sorry, I sound catty, don’t I? But she wasn’t the little saint that Cody makes her out to be. I have a friend who lived near her apartment in Denver.” She looked up. A small group was headed for the booth next to theirs. She was quiet, all of a sudden.
