The Wanderer Read Free

shrug. “Maybe a few days, just long enough to talk to some of the folks who knew Ben, pick up whatever he left for me, pay my respects. I just want people to know—he had good friends. We didn’t get together a lot, and it sounds like I didn’t get a lot of inside information from Ben, but we were always in touch. And since I came all this way, I want to hear about him—about how people got on with him. You know?”
    “I think I understand. This place is locked up. No one would care if you sat here for a while, while you look around at other possibilities. No hookup for your trailer, but you’d be fine for a couple of days.”
    “Thanks, maybe I’ll do that. Not a bad view.”
    The deputy put out his hand. “I gotta run. You have my number.”
    “Thank you, Deputy McCain.”
    “Roger McCain, but hardly anyone remembers that. Folks tend to call me Mac.”
    “Nice meeting you, Mac. Thanks for helping out with this.”
    * * *
     
    Sarah Dupre walked with Hamlet, her Great Dane, down the main street in Thunder Point to the diner. She looped his leash around the lamppost and went inside, pulling off her gloves. This was one of the things she loved about this little town—there was always somewhere to stop and chat for a few minutes. She wasn’t well-known around here, had only lived here a few months, but considering the way she was treated by her new friends, it was as if she’d been here quite a while. If she wasn’t working, she liked to take Ham down to the beach and stop off at the diner on her way home. Apparently she wasn’t the only one—there was always a large bowl of water for dogs by the lamppost. Twin benches on either side of the diner’s front door frequently seated one or two old guys, passing time.
    Gina James was behind the counter of the diner. Gina took care of almost everything at the diner except the cooking. There was another waitress at night and a couple of part-time girls, but it was a pretty small shop. Gina’s mother, Carrie, was sitting on a stool at the counter, her friend Lou McCain seated beside her. Carrie owned the deli across the street. Lou was a schoolteacher who helped out with her nephew Mac’s kids when she wasn’t teaching. Two of said kids were in a booth, eating fries and drinking colas, an after-school treat.
    Sarah said, “Hey,” and all three women said, “Hey,” right back.
    “Something to drink? Eat?” Gina asked her.
    “Could I have a water, please? How is everyone?”
    “What can I say, it’s Friday,” Lou said. “I won’t be seeing the little bast—er, darlings till Monday morning.”
    Sarah laughed at her. “You’re going to heaven for it.”
    “If I died and went to hell, they’d have me teaching junior high,” Carrie said.
    “And if I go to hell, I’ll be making pies and cakes,” Lou said.
    “You have a day off?” Gina asked Sarah.
    “For Landon’s football game. I’m sitting alert Saturday and Sunday, that’s the price I pay for it.”
    “But no one gives you any trouble about it, do they?”
    “Nah. They like weekends off as much as anyone. And I’ll gladly fly weekends if I don’t have to miss Landon’s games. It’s not as though I have any other social life.”
    Carrie leaned her elbow on the diner. “Wish I had an exciting career like you, Sarah. Being a pilot beats my job, any day.”
    “Tell me about it,” Lou said.
    Before Gina could weigh in, the door to the diner opened, the bell tinkling. Ray Anne appeared in her version of a Realtor’s business suit—too short, too tight, too much boobage. She scowled. “Sarah, that dog should be on a leash!”
    “He is, Ray Anne.” She leaned back on her stool to look out the glass pane in the door. “He’s all hooked up.”
    She wiped at her purple skirt. “He still managed to get me with that awful mouth of his.”
    “Well, Ray Anne, you’re just so edible-looking,” Lou said.
    “Ha-ha. Well, you’ll never guess what I just saw! The most gorgeous man, out at