Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 07 - Missing Milt Read Online Free PDF Page A

walk on the side of their road.
    Gloria was glad she had thought to hook Mally to her leash.  A few times, she tried to dart off toward the old oak trees that lined the streets in hot pursuit of a pesky squirrel.  The critter was bent on taunting poor Mally, who finally abandoned the chase and obediently trotted along next to Gloria.
    Gloria turned at the corner of Peachtree Lane as she made her way to Clyde’s place first.  She was in luck!  Sitting in a wooden rocker on the front porch was a dark-haired man, a pipe pursed between his lips.  He eyed Gloria with curiosity as she made her way up the sidewalk to his front porch.
    He took a puff off his pipe and studied her from his chair. The smell of maple and hickory floated in the air and drifted down the steps.  The man pressed his foot on the porch floor and the rocking stopped.  “Can I help you?”
    Gloria shifted Mally’s leash from one hand to the other.  “Yes. My sister, Liz. Liz Applegate, lives in the complex.  She was telling me that one of the residents, Milt Tilton, is missing and I’m making my rounds to see if perhaps some of the residents might know what happened to him.”
    Gloria left out the part about Frances saying he was the last person seen talking to him.  She wanted to get Clyde Ward’s take on things.
    Clyde leaned back in his chair and studied her thoughtfully.  “Yeah. It’s the talk of the neighborhood, even more so now that that kook Frances chained herself to the front of the restaurant.” He snorted. 
    “Did you know Mr. Tilton?” He seemed willing to talk.  It was an encouraging sign. Gloria took a step up.
    He nodded his head.  “Yep.  Old Milt and I like to play cards down in the clubhouse most afternoons. Poker.  Not for much money though…just a few coins.”
    He changed the subject.  “Pretty dog.  Used to have a cocker spaniel myself.  Good hunting dog.”
    Gloria glanced down at Mally.  “Yeah, she loves to chase the birds, the squirrels.  Just about anything, really.”
    Mally thumped her tail and let out a low whine.  Gloria saw this as her opportunity to get closer to Clyde Ward and perhaps ask a few more questions. 
    They wandered up the steps and onto the covered porch.  Mally trotted over to the rocker and Clyde patted her head. 
    “She’s a beauty,” he said admiringly.
    “Do you think Milt took off or is there a chance something else happened to him?”
    Clyde scratched under Mally’s ears, which made her promptly drop to the floor and roll over onto her back for a belly scratch. 
    “You know, it’s kind of odd.  Can’t see Milt as the disappearing kind.  Course anything is possible.”
    He glanced up at Gloria.  “Guess I was one of the last people to see him before he disappeared.”
    His eyes narrowed as he looked at Gloria suspiciously.  “You seem awful curious about old Milt.”
    He leaned back in his chair.  “Say…aren’t you that nosy lady that’s always coming across dead bodies?” He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair.  “Yeah! Yeah, you are that nosy lady.”
    Gloria stiffened her back.  She wasn’t nosy!  She was a detective.  Well, an unpaid sleuth. Her lips drew in a thin line.  “I’m trying to help a friend that is very concerned for Mr. Tilton’s well-being.”
    He snapped his fingers.  The light bulb clicked on.  “Frances is behind all this, isn’t she?”
    Gloria wasn’t about to argue.  “All I’m trying to do is make sure the man disappeared of his own free will.” Gloria went in for the kill.  “I would think any good friend would want the same,” she pointed out.
    Clyde Ward nodded.  “True.”  He rose from his chair and shoved his hands in his front pockets.  He stared down at Gloria.  He was taller than he first appeared. 
    “Milt did make a bit of an odd comment the night he disappeared.”
    Gloria leaned in.  This is what she’d been hoping for…
    “He said something about someone lurking around