Goose in the Pond - Earlene Fowler [43]
“If you’re interested, Sam’s cooking dinner tonight.”
“He’s such a sweet boy,” she said, twisting a finger around a reddish-blond curl. I idled the truck in front of the new Gap store.
“Emphasis on the boy part. He’s Gabe’s son, Rita. Lay off, okay?”
She feigned a shocked look and opened the truck door. “Benni, I’m just crushed. You know I’d never do anything to hurt your new little family.”
Why didn’t her reassurance make me feel better?
It was only after she was waving me a cheery good-bye that I realized she’d escaped before I could ask her about her long-term plans.
At the police station, Maggie, Gabe’s secretary, informed me he was in a meeting with the city manager but would be finished in a half hour.
“The Grand Poohbah left orders for you to give your official statement to Detective Ryan and then wait for him.” Her smile was warm and generous as she stuck a yellow pencil in her dark upswept hair. In her tailored plum business suit and leather pumps, a sedate twin of Natalie Cole, you’d never guess she was a better cowboy than most of the hands Daddy had ever hired. What’s more, she was one of the few people who wasn’t rattled by Gabe’s stern manner. She treated him like a sweet, rather slow younger brother even though he was twenty years her senior. Surprisingly, he not only tolerated it, but also seemed to like her assertive control over his schedule.
After agreeing to be recorded, I followed Detective Ryan, a large-bellied man with a prickly broom of a mustache, into the windowless, tan interrogation room and gave my version of discovering Nora’s body.
“Any leads yet?” I asked playfully when he turned off the recorder.
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, torn between not wanting to offend either the boss’s wife or the boss.
“That’s okay,” I said, rescuing him. “I’ll ask Gabe.”
“Thanks,” he said gratefully, and escorted me back to Maggie’s desk.
“Give it to me,” she said to the detective, holding out her hand for the cassette. “It’ll take forever for one of the clerks to type it, and there’s no need for Benni to make two trips.” She slipped the cassette into her Dictaphone machine. “His Royal Highness is free now,” she said to me, slipping on the headphones. “I’ll transcribe this while you two lovebirds coo in there, and it’ll be ready for you to sign when you’re through.”
I smiled. “You know, Maggie, with your efficiency, you’re going to be giving the King Ranch a run for their money someday.” Her goal, one we’d talked about many times, was to utilize her degree in ranch management and buy her own ranch using her great-grandfather’s cattle brand.
She grinned back at me. “Honey, you can hang your hat on that one.”
Gabe stood next to his window, hands in his pockets, looking out at the maintenance yard. He turned around and smiled when he saw me.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said, coming across the room and pulling me into a bear hug.
“How are things going?” I asked.
“Lousy,” he said, nuzzling the top of my head. “Have you seen the Tribune today?”
“No,” I confessed, pulling away and looking up at him. “I picked up the Freedom Press when I was having lunch with Rita, but I only read Elvia’s book review and the Tattler’s column.”
He gave a disgusted “hmmph” and sat down in his chair. “That column is nothing but cheap, yellow journalism. I don’t know why you read it.”
I shrugged. “Curiosity, I suppose. Just like everyone else.”
“And as long as people keep reading it, that junk will keep being printed.”
“I gave my statement,” I said, changing the subject because he obviously was feeling grumpy, and a gossip column in a local paper wasn’t the cause. “Maggie’s typing it up now.”
“Good.”
I opened my purse and pulled out the sheets of paper from the tablet at Eudora’s. “And here’s those names you asked for last night.”
He read down the list quickly. “Thanks. I’ll give them to Jim at the update meeting this afternoon.”
“Any leads?”
He looked back down at the list in his hand. “Anything else you want to tell me about these people?”
I didn’t answer for a moment, letting