Cantina Valley (A Ben Adler Mystery Book 1) Read Free Page B

she said.
    He smiled and shrugged.   “The only reason I have any bank account is to receive my Air Force retirement check by direct deposit.”   Technically, he had taken out that P.O. Box for the same reason.   At the time of his retirement, the Air Force needed a forwarding address.   Just in case World War III broke out and they needed to recall his ass out of retirement.
    The lawyer glanced about the kitchen and into the living room.   Then she said, “You have an interesting place.”
    “You mean clean?” he asked.
    Her face turned nearly as red as her hair.   “No.   Well, ranch houses can be more lived in.   I grew up on a small ranch near Sisters.”
    “That’s dust versus mud, though.”
    “True.   It was always hard to keep the dust from overcoming everything.   But we tried.”
    “But?”
    She hesitated, considering her words like a good lawyer.   “As I sat in my car waiting for you to get here, I noticed a few things.”
    Here it came, he thought.   Judgment time.
    “There are no telephone lines or power lines to your house.”
    This was entirely true.   “You caught me.   I’m not beholding to the big power companies or the communications conglomerates.   What’s your point?”
    Now she stopped long enough to take a drink of coffee.   Then she said, “You’re completely off the grid.”
    “Brilliant observation counselor.   Would you like a gold star?”
    “But this house is older.   Did it used to have power?”
    “Not exactly,” Ben said.   “This house is actually older than it looks.   It was built almost a hundred years ago by my grandfather.   Back then it was more of a weekend retreat and a place to run cattle.   They also used it to hunt elk out back on horses.   My father inherited it and used a generator to power the place.   I still have a generator backup, but most of my power comes from newer technology.”
    “I saw the solar panels,” she said.   “But this isn’t a great place to grab the sun.”
    “I upgraded the panels recently.   They work with very little sunlight.   But I don’t need much power.   It’s mostly to run a few lights and to power my refrigerator and freezer.”   He hesitated long enough to formulate an opinion on the structure of her strong jaw line.   Either she talked a lot, or she chewed a bunch of gum.   Or maybe she was naturally blessed with a single chin.   “Can you get to the point?   I’ve got shit to do around here.”
    “I’m sorry.   As I said, Colonel Keyes hired me to find you.   His son has a problem.”
    The good colonel had two kids, a son and a daughter.   The girl was in her third year at Oregon State, an ROTC candidate.   The son, as far as Ben could remember, was a major fuckup.   “Bobby Keyes?   Who did he kill?”
    “What?   No one, as far as we know.   But he’s missing.”
    Something wasn’t adding up.   “Why in the hell does Bull Keyes need my help finding his son?   The Bull was one of the best investigators in the OSI.”
    “That’s what he said about you,” she said.   “In fact, he said you were the best he had ever worked with.”
    “Still, why not do it himself?”
    The lawyer hesitated again by drinking down the last of her coffee.   “This is really good.”
    “I know a stall tactic when I see one,” Ben said.   He got up and went to the stove, bringing back the pot of coffee.   He topped off her mug and set the pot on the thick wooden table.   Then he sat down again and waited for her to answer him.
    “Colonel Keyes had a stroke recently,” she finally said.   “He’s confined to a VA nursing home.”
    “The Dalles or Lebanon?”
    “Lebanon.”
    “That’s a nice place,” Ben said.   “Was the stroke that bad?”
    “He’s in a wheel chair in the rehab section.   So he hopes to get out and back to his home in Portland.”
    Ben knew that the colonel and his wife had divorced years ago.   She had been out of the picture since the two