Give First Place to Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked Dan directly in the eye. “They walked off about then, but it sounded like Bryce had been playing around with that stuff and had promised Stephanie he’d quit.”
    “ Did they say anything more?” Dan’s voice was grim. Good, I thought. Just the way I was feeling.
    “ Stephanie said if Bryce didn’t get rid of Rusty, she would. She was pretty upset.” Susannah sounded pretty upset herself.
    “ When was this?”
    “ Early this morning. Before the first class.”
    “ What did you think of this Rusty?” Dan persisted.
    “ I never saw him before this morning. Do you really think he was taking drugs? And selling them?” The only good thing about this conversation was the look of consternation on Susannah’s face.
    “ He had the reputation,” was Dan’s cryptic reply.
    Something Susannah said earlier suddenly clicked. “What happened to Chovalo’s nephew?”
    “ Drug overdose.” Dan said.
    “ You must have read about it, Ellen.” Pat had put her cup down. She shook her head slightly, as if she still couldn’t quite believe what she was remembering. “It was all over the paper, and the local TV station had a field day.”
    I nodded slowly, remembering the picture of a nice looking young boy with beautiful eyes, tragically and unexpectedly dead at seventeen. There’d been a hue and cry about the availability of drugs for a week or so, but it had died down.
    “ You know, I never could quite swallow all that.” Carl’s brow furrowed and he glared down into his cup. “Miguel worked for me part time, he was serious about school, got great grades. He was up for a scholarship. He didn’t even smoke.”
    “ But he was full of meth. Lab test proved it,” Dan said.
    “ I know.” Carl sighed. “You told me before. But it just doesn’t make sense.”
    “ I hate all this talk of drugs. Rusty, Bryce, Chovalo’s nephew. Is there anyone else associated with that horse barn taking them?” I could hear my voice getting a little shrill, but I couldn’t help it.
    “ Mom. Of course not,” Susannah protested. “How could you even think that?”
    “ Easily. Three people in your little horse world are taking drugs, two of them are dead. That tends to make me nervous. Dan, what are you going to do about Bryce?”
    “ At the moment, nothing.” Dan tilted his cup up, ready to drain it. “What I think is, we need to eat. I didn’t have any lunch, I was a little busy, and I’m darn near starved.”
    "I doubt it," I started to say, but Carl, with a look at his watch, sided with Dan.
    "We'd better eat. Pat and I don't want to miss the sheep dog trials. Ribs or Tri-tip?"
    "Ribs," said Neil. Pat nodded and Dan was already reaching for his wallet.
    "Here." He handed Neil a roll of bills. "Can you and Susannah manage six plates?"
    Neil nodded and, still holding Susannah’s hand, trotted off toward the Barbecue stand.
    "That all right with you, Ellie?" Dan’s question was somewhat after the fact.
    “ Sure.” I smiled brightly, then crossed my fingers, hoping the ribs wouldn't drip with too much grease. "Now, tell us about Rusty." I shook my head at Dan's offer to top off the beer in my cup. Pat refused as well, so he poured most of what was left in the pitcher into Carl's, reserving a little for Neil. Pat frowned at him and started to say something, but Carl interrupted.
    "Neil’s a man now, Pat, whether you like it or not."
    "I don't like it, and I don't believe it.”
    Carl smiled.
    "Listen,” I said, “quit changing the subject. I want to know about Rusty before the kids come back.” Drugs, murder, and my daughter only too close to it. I wanted reassurance that Dan knew all about that boy, that he had a good idea who’d killed him, and that whoever it was had nothing to do with Irma, her barn, and especially Susannah.
    "Rusty was a no good kid," said Dan. "He was well known in this area. We couldn't find one person who had anything nice to say. They'd either fired him or knew someone who