The Alpine Menace Read Free Page B

an explanation. Danny went on bouncing.
    “Do cats really suck the breath?” Amber asked, her expression now worried.
    “What?”
    “You know—I heard they smell the milk on a baby's breath and then they try to get at it by sucking the breath out of the baby and killing him.”
    “I don't think that's true,” I replied as Danny seemed to rise on my knee and began emitting unpleasant odors. “I think your son needs changing.”
    “Go ahead,” Amber said blithely. “I trust you.”
    I was saved by the bell, which rang on my phone. Wedging Danny between my hip and the back of the sofa, I turned to grab the receiver.
    “Hi, Emma,” said a vaguely familiar voice. “It's me. Your cousin Ronnie.”
    Great. Why not the Green River Killer, asking me out for drinks?
    “They let me call you, 'cause you're my next of kin.”
    Great. Really, really great. “What's happened?” I felt compelled to ask.
    “I remembered where I was when Carol got killed.”
    Great, great, great. “Good,” I said. “Did you tell your attorney?”
    “Yeah, and he said you should come down as soon as you can to help me out. See, he needs a witness.”
    “A witness to… what?” Danny was trying to escape. Rheims and Rouen had finished dinner and were sitting at my feet. Amber was studying each toy in turn before she put it away in a big plastic basket.
    “To where I was,” Ronnie replied, sounding as if I were the one being unreasonable.
    “You mean… I'm supposed to find this witness?”
    “Right. You got it. When can you get here?”
    Never? “I don't know, Ronnie. Tomorrow is our deadline for the Wednesday edition. This is Holy Week, and I sort of lie low…” I stopped. Ronnie probably didn't know Holy Week from Hell Week. “Really, I've no—”
    Ronnie was laughing. “My dance card's open. How about Friday? Hey, got to go.” His voice suddenly grew strained. “There's a very big, very… nice dude who wants to use the phone. See you soon.”
    I picked up Danny just before he squirmed off the sofa. I held him at arm's length. I wished I could keep my cousin much farther away.

S HERIFF M ILO D ODGE was in love, and it galled me. On this mild Tuesday morning in April, his smile was as bright as the daffodils that bloomed in the concrete planters along Front Street. There was spring in the air and spring in his step. I wanted to avoid him, but I couldn't.
    “Emma!” he called, arms outstretched even though he knew damned well I wouldn't hug him. “What's new?”
    “Whatever it is, you'll read all about it in tomorrow's
Advocate
,” I responded, hoping I didn't sound as sour as I felt.
    “I hear Dean Ramsey's finally found a house,” the sheriff said, hands now stuffed in the pockets of his regulation jacket. “He made an offer on the McNamara place across the street from me. The McNamaras are moving to Tacoma.”
    I barely knew the McNamaras, who hadn't stayed long in Alpine, but the news was too good to be true. “Are you sure? Amber hasn't said anything about it.”
    “I just heard it this morning, before I went to work.” Milo was looking over my head, apparently drinking in the soft April air and loving life. “Man, it feels like spring, doesn't it?” He actually sniffed.
    “It feels like rain,” I said, resorting to my usual perverse-ness. It's the seventh of April. Unpredictable weather. Thunder-and-lightning weather. Earthquake weather.”
    Milo chuckled and regarded me with his hazel eyes. “You don't seem very cheerful this morning. How come?”
    Dense. The man wasn't stupid, but he sure was dense. Had it occurred to him that since he'd found a new love, I might feel at least a little irked by his uncharacteristically buoyant mood? I had been the one to call a halt to our relationship, hoping we could still be friends. It hadn't worked, not until Milo fell head over heels for Jeannie Clay, Dr. Starr's dental assistant. Maybe I would've been happier for him if Jeannie hadn't been young enough to be his