A Groom wirh a View

said he had some kind of injury, but nobody seemed to know just what. Nothing showed. He didn’t limp or have a deaf ear or anything like that. Rumor was that he had some shrapnel in his head, but I don’t know that it was true. People’ll make up what they need to think.”
    The waitress brought their food, which was wonderful, and they ate in silence for a while. Eventually Ambler burped heartily and went on. “Anyhow, O. W. kept Joe on at the lodge. Guess he felt he owed the boy something, being as he wasn’t quite fit to go out in the world. And I gotta give Joe credit. When O. W. got old and pretty dotty, Joe was the one who took care of him. O. W. spent a lot of his later years at the lodge.“
    “So they got along well?“ Mel asked.
    “Hell, no! Neither one of them was fit company for a polecat, but they rubbed along okay. Joe took him back and forth to Chicago to doctors. Bitched the whole time about it, but did it. O. W. was always complaining that Joe was starving him to death, but he kept gaining weight until the last stroke when Joe couldn’t handle him anymore and was forced to put him in a nursing home.“
    “Did O. W. leave Joe anything?“
    “Not so’s you’d notice. But Joe’s kind of a nut about his privacy. He never said. And it was one of those trust things that don’t go through probate and become public record, so nobody could check. Joe might have got a fortune, but you’d never know. He’s as tight and stingy as O. W. was. Even in the old days, when the hard drinkers were down here, word was they had to bring their own booze. O. W. liked the company, but wouldn’t pay for their guzzling.“
    “Did Jack and his sisters visit much?“ Mel asked.
    “It went in spells. The girls would get hard-up or want a trip to Europe and they’d make up to the old man. Jack came down a lot, but it was always about business,“ Ambler said. “The old man insisted on keeping his finger in the pie.“
    “How do you know this?“ Mel asked mildly.
    Gus Ambler laughed. “Good detectin’. Actually, my late wife sometimes helped at the lodge. Mucked out the place for spring cleaning. Did a little darning and ironing and such. Every time she did canning or baking, she made extra for O. W. and Joe. Said she felt sorry for both of them with no women to look after them.”
    The waitress came back for their plates, all three of which looked like they’d been licked clean. “Got any of that rhubarb pie?“ Gus Ambler asked.
    “You don’t need no pie, Gus,“ she said.
    “Just a sociable piece to eat with my friends. Three of ‘em,“ he said, ignoring her assessment of his figure.
    Mel didn’t want to make a fool of himself asking about the treasure, but he had to at least make a stab at the subject. He’d blame it on Jane. “My friend Mrs. Jeffry,“ he said, “the one who’s managing the wedding, says a couple people there have mentioned a treasure.”
    He expected the tough old sheriff to laugh himself silly and was astonished when Gus said mildly, “Yeah, everybody knows about that.“
    “You mean there is one?“ Mel asked.
    Ambler made an expansive “I dunno“ gesture. “I meant everybody’s heard the story. Don’t know if it’s true. It wouldn’t have been so strange if O. W. had left his money and property to the three legitimate kids and left something else to Joe.“
    “But if Joe had secretly inherited a lot, why would he go on living in the lodge?“ Officer Smith asked. He’d been quiet all through dinner, probably because he was busy eating the only decent meal he’d had since his wife left town.
    “I reckon it’s because it’s the only place he knows,“ Gus Ambler said. “He’s got his television and radio, his hunting magazines and no ambition or interest in much of anything. And where could he go where he’d have the same privacy?“
    “What will he do when the lodge is torn down this summer?“ Mel asked.
    “I asked him that when I ran into him at Wanda’s a week or two ago,“ John said. “It was a mistake. He told me to mind my own business and he’d go wherever he damn well pleased.”
    Ambler nodded. “Pretty much the same reaction I got when I tried to talk to him about it.“
    “So it’s possible he does have the means of setting himself up someplace else?“ Mel asked.
    “So he says,“ Ambler said, looking around for the waitress. “Where’s that pie, honey?“ he yelled across the room when he caught her eye.
    “I think he does