Ed Lynskey - Isabel and Alma Trumbo 01 - Quiet Anchorage Read Online Free PDF Page B

record show you just authorized us to do whatever it takes to prove Megan’s innocence,” said Isabel.
    He felt his lower jaw unhinge again. “Now wait a minute, that’s not what I meant by—”
    “It’s too late to waffle,” said Alma. “You fold on your word, and we’ll call our journalist friend, and that story will run next week sure as the sun will come up tomorrow.”
    “Hey, that’s blackmail,” he said.
    The last out the office door, Alma paused and looked back at him. “Have a nice day, Sheriff Fox.”

Chapter 6
     
    For the first minute after Alma and Isabel had trooped out, Sheriff Fox stared at the wall calendar a month behind the times until a sly tap-tap-tap came at his office door.
    “Yeah, come in.”
    An overweight, younger man in a deputy’s uniform, its fabric shiny from being ironed too many times, sidled through the door. Rust orange freckles speckling his beagle face matched his hair. Uninvited, he flopped down in a chair as Sheriff Fox at a short glance appraised him. Sheriff Fox could feel the fiery ambition burning in the deputy to pin on the sheriff’s badge as soon as in a few months in November.
    Eyes closed, he asked in an aggrieved monotone, “Deputy Sheriff Clarence Fishback, what brings you in here?”
    “Congratulations are on tap, sir. You closed out our most sensational case of the decade in a single day. Wow. It was a nifty piece of police work.”
    “Clarence, you sound like a bumblebee farting in a hollow log.” Sheriff Fox’s eyes darted to the office door. “Didn’t you just pass the two ladies out there?”
    “Yes sir, the sisters asked after my mom. Town treasures, aren’t they?”
    “They’ve hoodwinked you but good.”
    “Lighten up, sir.” Hands folded on his belly, Clarence chuckled as if they’d just shared a dumb blond joke. “Aren’t you acting a little paranoid? Two old maids stop by and leave you with a bad case of the jitters.”
    “Those two old maids, as you dub them,”—this time Sheriff Fox poked a blunt finger at his office door—“are tough as worn combat boots. Their niece is in prison, and they’ve gone on the warpath. Do I have a few hiccups? You bet, I do. They can go blab again to the newspaper and generate a boatload of negative publicity to do irreparable damage to our public image. We deal with enough black eyes as it is. Suppose the mayor comes in and cleans house? That should also trouble you since I assume you like your job.”
    More in sync with his boss’s concerns, Clarence gnawed on his cheek lining. “I realize they’re no dummies. It’s amazing how they solved the graveyard vandalism that stymied us for weeks.”
    “Gee, Clarence, thanks for dredging that up.”
    “What’s their best weapon to throw at us?”
    “They know every soul in Quiet Anchorage, and they’re sharp as a cactus. Any more questions?”
    Clarence shook his head. “All of the sudden the Jake Robbins homicide isn’t a ground ball anymore.”
    Sheriff Fox looked satisfied. “You’ve finally got that through your thick skull. Keep close tabs on those sisters, and you’ve done a nifty piece of police work.” He neatened his necktie’s knot and gave the tip a subtle tug as its final adjustment. “Something else needs saying.”
    “What’s that, sir?” asked Clarence, on the edge of his seat.
    “I don’t want to catch you politicking inside my station house.” Sheriff Fox stared down the deputy. “Because the first speech I hear you making, you’re sacked on the spot. Are we clear?”
    “Crystal clear, sir. Rest assured when I put on this uniform, I’m a deputy first,” said Clarence. But the whole time he couldn’t take his eyes off the gold badge pinned to his boss’s shirt pocket.
    “Clarence, you’re nothing but a brown-noser and backstabber,” said Sheriff Fox. “Now, scram before I bust you back to swabbing out the prison cells.”

Chapter 7
     
    Alma’s food portions looked picked at on her plate. Isabel took