Bone Harvest - Mary Logue [66]
“My mother specialized in olive loaf.” He smiled at her and she envied his straight, white teeth. Teeth always looked better next to dark skin. His skin, seen close, was the color of the dark soil in her garden. Good growing soil.
He said, “I heard you used to work for the Minneapolis police department.”
“Seems like a long time ago, but yes, I was an officer there.”
“That’s a big agency. Nearly the size of Milwaukee. I’ve done some work with them. Quite a change to come here.”
She had expected a note of condescension in his voice, but was surprised to find a bit of envy. “Yes. I’ve enjoyed having more of a life.”
“I hear you. I like working for the DCI, but I enjoy the traveling less and less. My idea of fun is not sleeping in the Durand Hotel without air-conditioning. Like I had to do last night.”
“I’m sorry. What happened?”
“My air-conditioning unit didn’t work. I ended up bunking in with Phil. We get along, but too much togetherness is not good. Neither of us was too happy about the sleeping arrangement. But it gave me some time to go over the file on the Schuler murders. Man, that’s some grisly reading.”
“You find anything up at the Danielses’?”
Her question caught him in midbite. He carefully took his time finishing chewing and then patted his mouth with his napkin before answering. He looked at her and then said, “No. But what occurred to me was that there is a good chance this man walked over there. I mean, he might have had a truck tucked into the weeds on a side road. But maybe he’s a neighbor, just waiting for an opportunity to teach everybody a lesson.”
CHAPTER 20
Bridget stretched out on the lounge chair on the screened-in porch. Even though it was going into the eighties today, there was a slight breeze from the east and it was cool. She patted her belly. She had almost lost all the weight she had gained with the baby. She had ridden Joker this morning before her husband went to work. Rachel had just gone down for a nap and would probably sleep for a couple of hours. Bridget thought of all the things she should do while she had the chance.
First she wanted to call her sister. Bridget hadn’t heard from her since Claire had called asking about the pesticides.
The fact that she hadn’t heard from Claire in three days made her nervous. They usually talked every day or two. She picked up the cordless phone and punched in her sister’s work number.
“Watkins here.” Her sister’s voice was crisp and so sharp that Bridget wondered how many cups of coffee she had had so far this morning.
“This is your darling sister. I haven’t heard from you in a few days. What’s going on over there? I read about the poisonings.”
“Sorry, I’ve been busy. I should have called you. The man who stole the pesticides is wreaking havoc.”
“Mom used to use that phrase—wreaking havoc—but as I recall it was about the way your room looked.”
“Thanks for that reminder.”
“So are you working nonstop?”
“Yes.”
“What about Meg? Do you want her to come and stay with me for a few days?” Bridget didn’t know how Claire managed on her own, trying to raise a daughter with the hours her work required.
“Thanks, but she’s taken care of. She went to stay at Steven’s parents. They’re happy to have her. She’s having a good time. They dote on her.”
“I bet. How are you and Rich doing?”
Claire didn’t say anything for a moment; then her voice sounded lower. “What, do you have extrasensory perception or something? Why do you ask?”
Something was going on. Bridget had felt that those two were ready to take another step forward. They had moved up to spending nearly every other day together. She wouldn’t be surprised to hear they were going to move in together. “I don’t know. Just wondering how he handles it when you get so busy.”
“Not great.” Claire took a deep breath and then confessed, “Bridge, he asked me to marry him.”
“Oh, a wedding. I love it.” When Claire had married Steven, they had done the justice-of-the-peace