“It’s Nancy, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ve got to go out to Senator Maxwell’s house.”

Nancy suddenly had a funny look on her face. She turned away from Dan and avoided his gaze.

“Why did you give me that look?” Dan asks.

“It’s nothing.”

“Come on,” Dan goaded. “What is it?”

Nancy shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

“I’m not playing games. I want to know. What is it?” Dan asked one more time.

“It was just that a few years back in Little Rock, his son was implicated in this case I was on.”

“Alan?” Dan appeared puzzled for a moment because he had not realized Alan was ever in trouble.

Nancy held up her hand. Dan stared at the scalpel in the other hand.

“Nothing came of it. I shouldn’t be repeating it.”

“I never heard anything about it.”

“Like I said, it was nothing.”

“What was the case?”

“I don’t even remember, it was so long ago,” Nancy said, as she shook her head. “He was cleared.”

“But something made you think about him.”

Nancy motioned with her hands for him to leave. “If you don’t mind, I have work to do.”

Dan studied Nancy a moment and then turned and walked out. He didn’t know her well enough to have her trust him yet. In time he would get that information out of her, but for now he would respect her desire not to divulge that case.

Once the door shut behind Dan, Nancy set the scalpel down and walked over to the phone. She punched in a few numbers and then waited.

“Carla, would you do me a favor. I worked on a case a few years back. Henderson was the name of the victim. Pull the file and fax me my report.” Nancy hesitated a moment while listening. “No, it’s nothing. I know they never solved the case. It’s just something came up and it made me think about that case now,” Nancy said as she glanced at the corpse. “Thanks.”

Nancy hung up the phone. She picked up the scalpel from the tray and walked over to the corpse. She had a lot of work to do yet, but knew in her heart she would find nothing more. It was like that with the Henderson case. It all led to a dead end.

CHAPTER 8

The squad car pulled up to the large country ranch house surrounded by trees and outhouses and barns in the distance. Workers were hauling out carpet pieces from the main house. Dan got out of the squad. He hurried up the walk to the porch and rang the doorbell. A couple of workers carried out another piece of carpet.

“You tearing the house apart?” Dan asked.

One of the workers turned to Dan. “No, Sheriff, just the one room.”

Dan reached up and touched the carpet piece the men were carrying. “Looks like good carpeting.”

“The Senator got tired of the color.”

“Must be nice. I couldn’t tell you what color carpeting was in my living room, let alone whether I liked it or not.”

Dan appeared puzzled. He stood at the door and looked in. Maria Maxwell, the Senator’s third wife, walked out. She was a voluptuous-looking blonde in her late thirties. Definitely what one would call a trophy wife. Especially in the tight fitting black spandex slacks with the oversized sweater that hung over one shoulder. She appeared relieved to see Dan.

“Thank goodness it’s just you,” she smiled widely. It was then she saw the confused look on Dan’s face. “I thought more workers were here. I don’t know what to expect anymore.”

“Is the Senator in?” Dan asked.

Maria’s face turned serious. “Is something wrong?”

“I just need to discuss a few things with him,” Dan remarked, turning to the workers loading the carpet pieces in a truck. “You wouldn’t happen to know if Richie Ames worked yesterday?”

Maria took a deep breath while rolling her shoulders back, exposing her breasts in a way most men found appealing. But when she did not get the usual response from Dan, she dropped her shoulders and then shrugged.

“That was awful what happened.”

Maria’s mannerisms became guarded. “I wasn’t here yesterday. I was in Little Rock at a Daughters of the West dinner. I pulled in early this morning.”

Dan glanced around. “Doing some remodeling?”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. We just fixed things up the way he wanted them last year. Now he’s ripping everything out and starting over again.”

Maria stepped aside and motioned Dan to follow her. “I think he’s in the study. Follow me.”

Dan took off his hat and followed Maria in. Maria led Dan into the study. The room was large with knotty pine paneling and an oversized earth stone fireplace that filled one wall. Half the carpeting had already been ripped up. Dan turned to the Senator, who was sitting behind the big oak desk sucking on a large smelly stogie while overseeing the work being done. Senator Maxwell was in his late sixties, with a receding hairline and a potbelly that protruded over his belt.

The Senator stood up while extending his hand. “Why, Dan, what brings you out this way?” he said.

“The Ames boy.” Dan watched the Senator’s reaction for a moment.

Dan shook the Senator’s hand. His fingers were fat and clammy. If the Senator had not been watching, Dan would have wiped his hand on his pants leg to wipe away the sweat.

“Too bad about that. He was a nice kid. A little slow, but a hard worker.”

Maria cleared her throat. Dan had not realized she was still in the room. Maria seemed a little perturbed with Dan because she could not get a rise out of him like she could with the other men around the ranch.

“If you don’t mind, I have to change for a meeting in town,” she added before the men could continue.

“It’s the Senator I wanted to talk to anyway.”

Maria turned around sharply and walked out, going unnoticed by either man.

“How long did Richie work for you?” Dan asked.

“About a year now. He did odd jobs around the ranch,” the Senator remarked.

“Do you remember seeing him yesterday?”

“No. Not really,” the Senator said and then held up his hands. “There’s always things to do in the barn.”

“Do you have anybody who would know for sure whether he was here?”

“Alan might have been around.”

Dan looked surprised. “How’s Alan doing these days?” Dan asked. He was curious about the Senator’s son.

“He has his good days,” the Senator responded and then rolled his eyes. “He hitched himself up with a widow. She got a pretty good inheritance from her husband. Now he lives off her.”

“It was too bad about the breakdown.”

The Senator looked at Dan for a moment. He studied him for the longest time before responding.

“He was a mama’s boy. What can you expect?”

“Wasn’t he studying to be a doctor?” Dan asked.

The Senator waved his hand as if dismissing the remark. He was not happy about Alan or his inability to finish anything he started. Alan had been an embarrassment to him for years.

“That may have been one of the fields he was studying in. There were so many it was hard to keep track.”

Dan cleared his throat. He looked around a moment and then turned back to the Senator.

“Was there anybody else around?”

The Senator thought a moment. “My foreman was up in Little Rock buying cattle.”

Dan gave the Senator a curious look. “Did he go with your wife?”

The Senator’s eyes flashed with anger but Dan continued. “Maria said she was in Little Rock yesterday attending some dinner. I just figured they might have traveled together.”

“You thought wrong!” the Senator snapped sharply.

“So there was no one here yesterday to say whether Richie worked?”

“I guess not.”

“How did he get paid?” Dan asked.

“You’d have to talk to Jack, my foreman. He took care of that.”

Dan nervously looked around. “Where can I find him?” he asks.

“Out back someplace. I don’t stand over him while he works.”