A Nose for Justice by Rita Mae Brown

Author:Rita Mae Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, Dogs, Brown, Nature, Real estate developers, Great-aunts, Rita Mae - Prose & Criticism, Country life, Ranch life, Mystery, Detective, Animals, Corrupt practices, Crime, Mystery & Detective - General, Mystery & Detective, American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction - Mystery, General, Suspense, Corporations, Nevada
ISBN: 9780345511812
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

Pete worked an early shift so he was off at sunset. His mother had asked him to deliver to Jeep a mince pie, Rebecca’s traditional Christmas present.

Snow swirled on top of the Petersons, a few lazy flakes making their way down to Wings Ranch. The weatherman had predicted snow off and on, no great accumulation. It shouldn’t create transportation problems.

Once at Jeep’s house, Pete carefully lifted the still-warm pie from the footwell of the Wrangler’s passenger side. He took no chances of having the pie slide off. Shutting the vehicle door, he sprinted up the porch steps, grabbed the brass horseshoe, and knocked.

“Just a minute,” Mags called out as King and Baxter barked.

Pete heard their claws tapping down the hall as the dogs raced for the door.

Mags opened it and smiled broadly. “Officer Meadows.”

“He’s a deputy sheriff.” Jeep called from her den, emerging. “Pete, how are you?”

“Miss Reed, I mean Jeep, Merry Christmas.” He handed her the pie.

“Aunt Jeep, let me take that into the kitchen for you.”

“Put it in the oven. Not on the counter. King will steal it if it’s not in the oven.”

“Not true.”

“Can you reach up on the counter and stove, too?” Baxter thought that just wonderful.

“Can,” King smugly said.

“Come sit with me for a spell.” Jeep took Pete’s hand, leading him into the living room. “Sit down and tell me everything you know.”

He laughed. “That should take about two minutes.”

“If I tell you everything I know, we’ll be here for days.” She settled in an easy chair opposite him. “The advantage of age.”

Mags and Baxter entered the room. Pete stood up. She noticed.

“Deputy, please sit down,” Mags said, as she dropped in the other chair across from him.

“Please call me Pete.”

The living room furniture had been made from the horns of longhorn cattle and their hides. Apart from being comfortable, it looked as western as one could get.

“Can we get you anything to drink?” Jeep asked Pete.

“No, thank you.”

“How’s the family?”

“All here.” Pete laughed. “Kids running all over the house. Mom and Dad love it.” He looked around the room. “This place is big enough for a baseball team of kids.”

“So it is,” Jeep agreed. “Mags, before I forget, Rebecca’s gift is under the tree. Remind me to give it to Pete.” She turned her warm brown eyes back to him. “We saw you on the news. Hollywood is waiting.”

“Sure.” He smiled.

“It is strange, isn’t it?”

“That it is. We’ll track down our bomber. Sometimes you get a lucky break, but I think of this like a mosaic. You collect tiny pieces in all these colors and perhaps a pattern suggests itself. Generally, it’s lots of knocking on doors, reading, thinking. It looks glamorous on TV, but mostly my job involves lots of patience.” King nuzzled the policeman’s leg.

“’Spect it does,” Jeep agreed. “King, leave him alone.”

“He likes me.” King defended himself, but went and sat with Jeep.

“I called Darryl Johnson today,” Jeep said. “Craig Locke shows up here once each season to try to convince me to sell my water rights, which I won’t do, of course.

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