Body Brace (Caught Dead in Wyoming, Book 10) by Patricia McLinn

Author:Patricia McLinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: traditional western mystery series, female sleuth, mystery romance humor series, cozy mystery dog, western murder mystery series, TV journalist mystery series, mystery novels best sellers
ISBN: 9781944126773
Publisher: Craig Place Books
Published: 2021-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I picked up a lunch salad for me, fresh fruit for Mrs. P’s vigil, and flowers for Sally while I listened to Mike talking about reconnecting with former Bears teammates and friends in the Chicago area. I was glad for him. Truly glad.

“Okay, I’m almost to checkout. I’m taking the earbuds out and putting the phone in my pocket. Don’t talk.”

“Got it.”

“Well, hi there, Elizabeth.” To her usual greeting, Penny added, “You’re in on another mess, eh? Two this time. Murder and—”

“I didn’t—” Why did I even try? I had no hope of stemming her flow. Besides, I had nothing to be defensive about. Nothing.

“—mayhem wherever you go. Dead before he ever got there—”

So much for KWMT-TV having an exclusive on that bit of news.

“—of course. Butte’s a strange place to take him. And with the camp kids there the day before and everyone looking forward to seeing how they did the reenactment this time with racing down the butte and all. Not like trying to pretend nobody saw them behind some skinny trees a few yards down the creek bed, when every soul did see. Didn’t like to say anything then but it made them seem not real bright. New place, new opportunities, I say, and so did she, and not all talk. Money where her mouth was with how hard she worked, that’s for sure. All she’d done on the camp and reenactment for months and months and months, then the Ferguson house job the month before for her. Well, with—”

“Ferguson. That name’s famili—”

Mistake. My curiosity might pivot Penny’s talk about Nadine away from the reenactment and toward her other job, preparing for estate sales, as Paige and Verona told me Saturday.

“—her. Not got the hang yet of being boss. Lucky, because she works like crazy. Handles all the details, because she’s nice, when her problems with details can look like—”

She had to be switching back and forth between Paige and Nadine. No way would I interrupt to sort it, not after my Ferguson mistake.

“—she’s not on the up and up, but it’s really just not keeping up. The business is about all she can handle. Comet’s why. Mary kept everything and when she died, Bill kept her, too. Least a while. Took some explaining to get Reverend Boone to see what it meant that Bill didn’t buy Comet, three weeks in a row.”

That struck a memory. Penny told me about that after Mary Ferguson died.

Natural causes for a woman nearing ninety. Not one of our inquiries, thank heavens. We had more than enough with two bodies and Mrs. Parens acting strange.

“That’s interesting, but—”

“Knew she wasn’t breathin’ anymore when he did that. No way he’d go home without Comet if she were. He went, too, end of June. Poor old soul, never the same after. Some get along better after they’re apart than when they’re together, but not them.”

A quick sideways look from Penny made me wonder if that last line slipped in because she was thinking of another couple who, unlike the Fergusons, got along better apart.

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