Free Fire (45 page)

He smiled, “You have nothing to worry about.”

“I believe you.”

“Besides, it sounds like I’ll be too busy dealing with Sheriff McLanahan and Randy Pope. I’m not looking forward to
that
.”

“I don’t trust her,” Marybeth said. “But I do trust you.”

“You should.”

“Plus, Sheridan and Lucy would kill you if you ever did anythinguntoward.”

“That I’m sure of,” Joe said.

“So what’s going on? Another hunter?”

“Apparently,” Joe said. “I don’t know much yet, but the governor’s worried.”

“Any idea how long you’ll be gone this time?”

“I should be back tonight.”

“No,” she said. “I mean on this case.”

He buckled on his holster with the .40 Glock, pepper spray, and handcuffs, and reached for the brim of his Stetson that was crown-down on the dresser.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We don’t even know for sure if it’s foul play. Everyone’s jumpy because of those other hunters who got shot earlier. No one wants to imagine the someone is huntinghunters, but everyone is thinking that.”

She nodded. She didn’t need to tell him there were parent-teacherconferences later in the week at Lucy’s junior high and Sheridan’s high school. Or about the party they’d been invited to with members of their church. Or about the fact that she wanted him home while she battled with her own mother and needed his support.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he said.

She walked him to the door. Lucy was still watching televisionand didn’t look at him. She simply said, “Gone again?”

Joe stopped, hurt. Marybeth pushed him gently out the door into the front yard.

“We’ll be here when you get home,” she said. Then: “It looks like there’s someone who would like to go with you.”

He turned, hoping Sheridan would be on the porch pulling on her jacket. But it was Maxine, his old Labrador who had turned white four years before and was now half-blind, half-deaf,and fully flatulent.

“Come on, girl,” Joe said.

Maxine clattered stiff-legged down the sidewalk, her tail snapping side-to-side like her old self. Joe had to lift her back end into the cab.

“I
am
curious how she ended up on the governor’s staff,” Marybeth said. “I’ll have to do a little snooping.”

Joe kissed her. “You’ve made your point,” he said. “There’s nothing to worry about her. I need to go.”

“I understand,” she said, “but Ed Nedny is going to be real upset with you.”