The Marshal and the Sinister Still by C. M. Wendelboe

Author:C. M. Wendelboe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2019-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Emily sat behind her desk looking at ads in the same Colliers as she was that first day I saw her. “Sheriff Darcy is on a business call,” she said as she turned a page. “I’ll let you know when he’s available.”

“That’s all right,” I said. “I’d rather visit with you anyways.”

She warily brought the magazine down and looked over it. “Visit about what?”

“You.” I shook out a cigarette and leaned over the counter with the pack. She eyed me suspiciously before pulling one out. “You gave me good directions to the Napoli Ranch—”

“So you mentioned yesterday.”

After I lit our cigarettes I dropped the match into the spittoon in front of the counter. “I got to admit that even with your excellent directions, the place was a little difficult to find. When I asked you before if you’ve ever been there, you said you drove past there once. For someone who’s only been by there that one time, you sure rattled off directions like you knew the place.”

“Nonsense. Like I said before, I’m from Green River. How would I know my way around the country here?”

“I’m thinking you know your way around quite well, Emily.”

She had half turned in her chair as if she intended leaving when I pressed my point. “What brought you here in the first place?”

“Is there a reason for your interest in me? I’m just a secretary.”

“I think you’re more than just a secretary.” I looked at Milo’s closed office door. “Let’s cut to the chase. When I asked if you’d ever been to the Napoli ranch, the first thing you did was bull-up on me. You took offense when there was no reason to.”

“All right!” Emily snubbed her butt out in an ashtray the shape of a rooster sitting on the edge of her desk. “I worked there once.”

“Cleaning rooms?”

Her eyes widened. “Who told you that?”

I smiled. “I have sources. What I’m getting at is that, at some point, you had the courage to fight your way out of there.”

“Don’t give me too much credit,” she said as she looked down at the floor. “I didn’t have courage. I got lucky when Sheriff Darcy stopped to take a rustling report last year. And he offered me the job as secretary.”

“Answering phones?”

She nodded.

“Typing reports?”

“Of course.”

Typing reports, indeed, I thought as I looked at her fingernails, which were too long to be much good banging away on a typewriter. I suspected Milo had hired her for her other obvious attributes. “Tell me what it was like working for old Gustavo.”

A little light on the side of her desk lit up, rescuing Emily, and she nodded to it. “Sheriff Darcy is free now if you want to see him.”

I thanked her, but not before I told her we needed to have another nice visit soon. I wanted to know just how it was working for the Italians. And just what was going on in that barn of theirs.

“This better be quick,” Milo said when I entered his office.

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