Mangrove Bayou Read Online Free PDF Page B

together to get that smile back.”
    Wanda nodded. She did not seem convinced. “Hope so sir.” Troy felt that he was swimming through glue in some dream. Wanda lacked staying power in the conversation department.
    He looked at June. “Who’s on duty?”
    “Bubba’s out on patrol. Milo’s in the break room eating his doughnuts.”
    “Get Milo in here.”
    June turned her head toward the open door and yelled, “Milo! Get your ass in here!” Wanda jumped and looked startled.
    “That’s our intercom system,” Troy said. “Modern technology.”
    “Yes sir.”
    They heard a distant yell. “Whattya want? I’m eating breakfast.”
    “I’ll be right back,” Troy said. He walked the few feet down the hall to the opening into the break room. Milo was at the long table there, slouched back in a chair and sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup, a Krispy Kreme box in front of him. “Officer Binder,” Troy said. “If you could spare a few moments from the carbo-loading for actual police work, I’d appreciate your presence in my office.”
    “Oh. Well, OK.” Milo wiped his lips with a paper napkin, dropped that on the floor, and took a sip of coffee. “Be there in a minute.”
    Troy stared at Milo as if he could not believe what he was hearing, which he couldn’t. He walked back to the office and sat behind his desk. “Wanda, here is what I would like to do. I’ll send an officer out to your house to look at the phone and listen to the calls…”
    “I erased them.”
    “Oh. Well, don’t do that any more until we hear them too.”
    “There’s prob’ly more by now today. But they fill up my voicemail.”
    “Sure they do. Let’s put up with that for a few days while we investigate. Go home now and wait for the officer. I’ll also have a patrol car swing by your house a few times each shift. If you see Billy hanging around, call us at once.”
    “I don’t want the neighbors to see no police car stopping at my house.”
    “I’ll send him in a private car. Would that be all right with you?”
    “Yes sir.”
    “Troy. Call me Troy.”
    “Troy. Sir.”
    “June will show you out. June, get Wanda’s car description and plate for the file. Wanda, remember, if anything or anyone bothers you, anything at all, you pick up a phone and call us.”
    “Thank you sir.” Wanda and June left. Troy swiveled his chair and stared out the west windows toward the boat ramp. The town had, years back, dredged out what was then Snake Bayou, renamed it Sunset Bay, and installed four boat ramps, two piers to service those and a parking lot with the long slots for vehicles with boat trailers. It was popular now with the sport-fishing crowd and occasionally hosted tournaments. Beyond Sunset Bay he saw a flash of yellow moving around the front of the Sea Grape Inn. Mrs. Mackenzie was on the job. In a few moments he heard someone walking in the hallway with squeaky shoes. Milo Binder strolled in, a cup of coffee in one hand. “You wanted to see me?”
    “Sit down.”
    Milo sat. He put his Styrofoam cup on Troy’s desk. Milo was twenty and cocky, five-feet-eight and a sturdy build. Despite the doughnuts, he wasn’t fat. He parted his brown hair in the center so that it swept down over his ears on both sides. He was trying to grow a moustache and not having much luck with it. To match the moustache he had a two-day beard, which, in his case, was light.
    Troy was leaned back in his chair with one foot up on an open desk drawer. He folded his hands across his stomach, turned his head to his left, and stared at Milo, deadpan. Milo stared back for a moment out of blue eyes and some confusion, then looked out the window to his left. He took another sip of his coffee and put the cup back down. He looked back at Troy. “Whattya want?”
    “Pick up the coffee cup. I didn’t give you permission to use my desk for your goddamn dining table.”
    Milo grabbed the cup. “Geez, Louise,” he said.
    “Just curious, Officer Binder. Your