From Here to Paternity

shouldn’t be telling you now, but it doesn’t matter anymore.“
    Shelley had prepared yet another cup of cocoa and handed it to Linda before starting to unpack the food from the insulated bags Linda had brought along.
    “Thanks, Mrs. Nowack. Anyway, Tenny and Joanna had known for a long time that he could literally go at any minute, and I think in a way they’d already done some of their grieving, if that makes sense.“
    “Who knew about this?“ Mel asked.
    “Not too many people,“ Linda said. “A lot of the tribe, of course, knew he’d been in the hospital a couple times, but I don’t think many of them realized how seriously ill he was. I knew only because Tenny’s car broke down and I had to drive her down to Denver one time when he’d had one of his attacks. He’d collapsed in a store there and Tenny was really upset. His doctor knew, naturally. Pete Andrews must know, I assume. I don’t know who else. Why does it matter?“
    “I don’t imagine it does,“ Mel said. “But I was thinking that anybody who wanted him dead really only had to wait a while. Is that true?“
    “I guess so.“
    “So maybe the people who did know about his condition would have less reason to take matters into their own hands. But it really wasn’t common knowledge, it sounds like.“
    “No, I don’t think so. The time I had to drive Tenny to Denver, everybody else was told he was in Florida, looking for property to buy to retire to. He was very secretive about his personal life. People up here in the mountains tend to be that way. Especially if it has to do with bad health or bad luck. They have a great horror of being pitied.“
    “Then it’s doubly sad that he had to die— and be found as he was,“ Jane said quietly.

Chapter 13

    Jane and Shelley refused to let Linda clean for them when she’d finished her lunch. This was partly consideration, but partly a desire to talk over the implications of Bill Smith’s murder with complete freedom from eavesdroppers. Linda left to do Mel’s cabin and took the boys’ lunches with her. Mel accompanied her, saying he needed to make some phone calls.
    But before leaving, he took Jane aside for a moment. “What did you mean about the sheriff mentioning that you found the bodies? Both of them. He wasn’t actually suspicious of you, was he?“
    “I don’t know. I think maybe so,“ she said, shivering.
    “I’ll sort this out,“ he said coldly.
    “I think he’s going to try to wring information out of the sheriff at the same time he tells him off and will come back mad as hell,“ Jane said to Shelley as she closed the door behind them.
    “Maybe not. The sheriff might not mind his help now that he has a clear-cut murder on his hands. Tell him off about what?“
    “Me. What’s this?“ Jane asked, picking up a book on the floor next to the sofa.
    Shelley looked. “It must be Linda’s. That backpack thing of hers was open. It probably fell out. Oh, it’s a copy of I , HawkHunter . In paperback. I wonder if they have it at the little bookstore here. It would be interesting to read it again now that we’ve seen him in person.“
    Shelley took the book and glanced at it, then turned it over. “You’d think they’d have put a new publicity picture on the back. This must have been the original. What a nerdy-looking kid he was when this was published. Imagine having a best-seller when you’re what—twenty-two or -three?“
    Jane gazed at the picture. “Isn’t it a shame that men get so much better-looking as they get older and we just fall apart?“
    “Speak for yourself, girlie-girl,“ Shelley said in an old-crone voice.
    Jane took the book back and continued to stare at the photo. “Shelley, this isn’t just a matter of graceful aging.“ She giggled. “Look at the nose. The man doesn’t have that nose this week.“
    “Good Lord! You’re right. That’s a little, ordinary nose. And his hair has a bit of curl in the picture. You could use it for a ruler now.“ She laughed. “The vanity of the man! I guess he thought he didn’t look Indian enough.“
    “I’ll catch Linda and give this back,“ Jane said, jamming her feet into her boots, cozy now from having been in front of the fire. She took Willard along for a romp.
    When she returned, she said, “Well, Watson? What do you think?“
    “What do you mean ‘Watson’? Don’t I ever get to be Holmes?“
    Jane took off her boots and put them back in the closet by the door. “I don’t think