Alan swallowed hard. He looked at the door and then turned back to Dan.

“Close the door, will you?”

Dan walked over to the door and then shut it and turned back to Alan.

“You saw Mabel.” Alan paused for a moment. “She spends her days cleaning this place whether it needs it or not.” Alan looked around in disgust. “She’s a freak.”

“You married her.”

“Yeah, the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Dan laughed thinking of Allan washing cars for a living instead of working on a stamp collection. Somehow it would serve him right to do menial labor

“She seems to be taking care of you nicely.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

It was funny listening to Alan talk about money. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and never really had to work for anything. Even marrying a woman for her money and then he had the nerve to turn it around and say money was not everything. Dan laughed to himself.

“Who was with you?” Dan asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, it matters.”

Alan wrote down the name on a piece of paper and then handed it to Dan.

“Be discreet, she’s married.”

“Were you drinking?”

“That isn’t what caused the accident if you know what I mean.”

Dan studied the name. He smiled to himself and then glanced up. Alan always had a way of getting what he wanted no matter whose life he ruined in the process.

“Were you at your father’s two days ago?”

“For a little while.”

“Did you see Richie Ames?”

“Isn’t he the boy you found dead?”

“Yes,” Dan said. “He worked for your father.”

“I don’t know their names. They’re just the hired help.”

It angered Dan hearing the words come out of Alan’s mouth because that was something Dan always felt Allan thought about him. It was strange hearing Alan just then. Dan just stared at Alan intently before speaking.

“I thought it odd the amount of rope you carry in the trunk,” Dan added.

“You opened my trunk?” Alan asked with a puzzled look.

“It was the same type used in the murder of the Ames boy.”

“Go to Frank’s Hardware. Half the town buys the same rope. I picked it up for Mabel. You’re welcome to ask her why she needed so much. I opened the one because I was going to try and use it to get out of the ditch but then gave up on that idea. I had more important things to do at the time.”

“I just thought it was odd.”

Dan looked around the room. He stared at the black bear rug in front of the fireplace. Things were not looking good for Alan at that point.

“That’s a big bear,” Dan said as he turned and walked over to it.

Dan bent down and ran his hand across the fur with one hand while pulling out a few hairs with the other. He got up and put his hand in his pants pocket, and then turns to Alan.

“Dad and I each took one down in ’89. You ever go hunting in Jackson Hole?”

“That in Wyoming?” Dan asked.

“Yeah.”

“My old man was too busy working,” Dan said curtly.

Alan looked curiously at Dan. “What are you really here for?”

“I just stopped by to make sure you were okay?”

“Thanks for your concern. I’ll see you out,” Alan said in a way that it was a clear invitation for Dan to leave.

Alan walked to the door and motioned to Dan. It was a clear indication for Dan to follow and leave. Dan in turn obliged. He would give Alan this one, but once he had more information and if it pointed to Alan he would definitely be back, and it would be Alan leaving in handcuffs.

CHAPTER 12

Dan walked into his living room. He took off his gun belt and put it along with his hat on the hat rack by the door, and quickly slipped off his shoes. Dan walked over to the mantel and stared at the pictures of Kay. He reached up and touched the cool glass that separated him from the one he loved. Kelly walked in from the kitchen.

“You miss her, too.” Kelly said walking up to her father.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t relive that day.”

“I think about all the things I wanted to tell her, but never took the time to.”

Dan turned to Kelly and forced a smile. “If only I could have been there. I should have. She called, but I was too busy,” Dan stopped.

“Don’t go there,” Kelly replied and then tried to change the subject. “I made your favorite dinner.”

“I should have called. I won’t be eating here tonight.”

“But,” she said with a look of disappointment.

“I’m sorry, honey.”

Dan glanced over at the pictures of Kay and then he put his arms around Kelly and hugged her. He felt guilty but did not want to cancel his plans just then. For the past eighteen months he had always tried to be there for Kelly when she was having one of those down days.

“I promise to make it up to you,”

Kelly glanced up at her father. “Who are you having dinner with?” she finally asked.

“Oh, it’s just business,” Dan quipped, trying to make light of the dinner.

Dan let Kelly go and walked into the kitchen. Kelly just stared at her father curiously as she followed him.

Dan walked up to the stove. The odor enticed him but not enough for him to change his mind. He lifted the cover, took the spoon off the plate, and tasted the dish that was cooking. It was Hamburger Helper, but had a good flavor. Dan turned to Kelly.

“You’re a good cook.”

“You didn’t answer me,” she said, not giving up.

“It’s a dinner meeting with the medical examiner,” he finally replied after a long silence.

“That Nancy who called?”

“Yeah, the same one who called yesterday,” he said and then pointed at Kelly. “It isn’t what you think.”

Dan put the cover back on the pan and set the spoon down. He went over to the desk and took out a small envelope. Dan reached in his pocket and pulled the pocket inside out. The dust bunnies and black-bear fur fell onto the desk. Kelly looked at him with disgust.

“Didn’t your mama teach you any manners?”

“Hey, there’s a reason for this,” he said and then pointed. “And Grandma taught me manners.”

“You aren’t going to save that dirt?”

“It isn’t like that,” Dan said in his defense.

Kelly walked up to him and then looked down at the desk. “What are those?”

“Fur from a black bear.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Have them checked out,” Dan replied, not really wanting to explain further.

Kelly walked over to the sink. She opened up the cupboard doors under the sink and reached in for the spray cleaner and a roll of paper towel. She walked back over to Dan and handed them to him.

“You can clean the desk off when you’re done.”

Dan put the black-bear fur in the small envelope and then quickly cleaned off the desk. He turned and handed the cleaner and paper towels back to Kelly.

“Does that meet your satisfaction?” he asked and then laughed. He then turned to walk out.

“I’m going to shower,” he said.

Kelly just stood there, looking at her father with arms crossed and a big grin on her face.

* * *

Dan pulled up to the Medical Examiner’s office. The only car in the parking lot was an Outback with a parking sticker for Little Rock. Dan had been nervous and feared that maybe Nancy only was teasing him when she accepted the invitation. He was relieved now. At least she had not changed her mind.

He got out of the squad and walked in. Nancy sat at her desk, doing paperwork. Dan was taken aback for a moment when he saw her. She was wearing a red dress, his favorite color, her hair flowing flawlessly over her shoulders. It reminded him of Kay for an instant, but then he tried not to think about that.

Dan glanced at the table at the far end of the room. It was there the bones were assembled in approximation of where they would be in life.

“Must be hard work trying to figure out what happened.”