Bone Dry (Blanco County Mysteries) (42 page)

Susannah Branson, the newspaper reporter, was happy to have another crack at John Marlin. Not just for personal reasons this time, but for professional ones, too. The man was a local hero now—he and the sheriff. The cases they had been involved in were incredible. Front-page stuff. Susannah could envision her stories being picked up by the dailies in Austin, Dallas, Houston…maybe even New York and L.A. This was the kind of exposure that could finally skyrocket her career.

They met at Big Joe’s Restaurant again, took the same booth, and sat down for a quiet interview. It was three o’clock on Thursday, and the restaurant was nearly empty.

“Thanks for meeting me again, John,” Susannah said, giving him her best smile as she removed her tape recorder from her purse. “Sounds like you had a wild week.”

Marlin smiled faintly. “You could say that.”

They talked for nearly an hour about both the Bert Gammel bribery case and the Emmett Slaton homicide. Susannah was getting some magnificent material on tape, but there were still some things Marlin couldn’t discuss. Like the autopsy results on T.J. Gibbs. The police were remaining quiet on that topic—but the buzz was that it wasn’t a drowning after all.

“Tell me about working with the federal marshal, Smedley Poindexter.”

Marlin proceeded to describe Poindexter as a committed, hardworking agent. “I’ve spent some time with him over the last few days, going over details on the cases, and he’s really a fine man and a dedicated officer. The U.S. Marshals Service is lucky to have him.”

“What about the gossip that he plans to move to Guatemala and open a beachside hotel? With the Mamelis’ housekeeper?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Smedley about that,” Garza said, and Susannah suspected he knew more than he was telling.

“And the other rumor: that you’re thinking about hanging up your game warden’s hat and joining the Blanco County Sheriff’s Department?”

Marlin laughed. “You’ve been talking to Bobby Garza, right?”

“Well,” Susannah played along with his good humor, “you know I can’t reveal my sources. Just passing along what I heard.”

Marlin grabbed his coffee cup but didn’t drink. “Well, to be honest, that’s all it is: gossip.”

“No plans to join the Sheriff’s Department, then?”

“None whatsoever.”

Susannah eyed him, trying to gauge his sincerity. After a few seconds, she was convinced.

“Okay, last question.” She had gotten all the good stuff already. Now she just needed some filler. “Do you have any comment on yesterday’s reading of Emmett Slaton’s will?”

“Sorry, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”

“Oh, well, I guess you
have
been kind of distracted. It turns out that Slaton was wealthier than a lot of people realized. His lawyer held a press conference yesterday and announced that Mr. Slaton left more than fifty million dollars to the county. And it says here….” She rifled through some papers. “I know I have a transcript of the announcement somewhere. Here we go: The attorney said, ‘The bulk of the money is to be used to renovate and expand the Blanco County Hospital.’ Pretty exciting, huh?”

Marlin set down his coffee cup. “May I see that?”

Susannah handed the papers to the game warden, who began to scan them quickly. He looked up, grinning broadly. “That’s fantastic news,” he said. “When is all this going to happen?”

“From what I understand, they’re going to start building as soon as possible. The city council says….”

The complete series of Blanco County mysteries, available now, or coming soon, in ebook format.

Buck Fever

Flat Crazy

Guilt Trip

Gun Shy

Holy Moly

For more information, visit
www.benrehder.com

Ben Rehder lives with his wife near Austin, Texas, where he was born and raised. His Blanco County mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in
Publishers Weekly
,
Library Journal
,
Kirkus Reviews
, and
Field & Stream
.
Buck Fever
, the first in the series, was nominated for the Edgar Award.