Buffalo Bill's Defunct (9781564747112) (38 page)

“Hey, he will be.” He brushed crumbs and took another sip of whisky. “They’ll bring him in tomorrow when the doctors release him. Want to bet he has your garage door key on his key chain? Thayer found the other one.”

“Where?”

“Buried behind the garage. He took another look.”

Meg snuggled against him.

He gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Further questions, madam?”

“Carol confessed to me that she killed Eddy Redfern.” She burrowed in his sweater.

“I know. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather.”

“Cliché number five.”

“I’m on a roll. Are you okay, Meg? That must’ve been hard to deal with.”

“I have the feeling I haven’t even begun to deal with it.” Her voice shook a little. She cleared her throat. “And I’m full of questions. If Carol killed Edward Redfern, why was his wallet in Brandstetter’s file cabinet?”

“I gather from what Vance said before the lawyers showed up that he and Carol panicked. They did what Vance has done all along, left it to Hal to do their dirty work.”

“So Brandstetter buried Eddy in the garage?”

“Hal and Meek did. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, according to Vance, but I suspect Hal liked the idea. It gave him a strong hold over Vance. Hal was blackmailing him, bleeding him dry. Or so Vance said.” His voice trailed off. He sounded tired, but he was warm and alive. For now, that was enough.

Time for closure. Meg sat up and took a long, fortifying sip of whisky. “Remember when you swore me in as a deputy?”

He smiled at her. “Sure. A moment of inspiration.”

“Among other things, you said you wanted somebody to tell you when you were crazy.”

He grinned and pulled her to him. “So I did. Can you hold off doing that for a while?”

Meg kissed him on the mouth. “Not indefinitely.”

T
HE
next morning, Sheriff McCormick called a press conference for eleven o’clock. Madeline Thomas held hers at ten.

Mickey Simonson

Sheila Simonson is the author of ten novels, six of them mysteries. She taught English and history at the community college level until she retired to write full-time. She has a grown son and lives with her husband in Vancouver, Washington.

Set along the Columbia River Gorge,
Buffalo Bill’s Defunct
wrestles, on the local level, with the global problem of the destruction of ancient artifacts. Simonson remembers visiting the salmon fishing sites along the Columbia as a child, before their tragic drowning by the waters of The Dalles Dam. She likes to hear from readers, who can visit her website at
http://sheila.simonson.googlepages.com
.

      
For the New Golden Age
      

JON L. BREEN

Eye of God

ISBN 978-1-880284-89-6

TAFFY CANNON

R
OXANNE
P
RESCOTT
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ERIES

  
Guns and Roses

  
Agatha and Macavity Award

  
nominee, Best Novel

  ISBN 978-1-880284-34-6

  
Blood Matters

  ISBN 978-1-880284-86-5

Open Season on Lawyers

ISBN 978-1-880284-51-3

Paradise Lost

ISBN 978-1-880284-80-3

LAURA CRUM

G
AIL
M
C
C
ARTHY
S
ERIES

  
Moonblind

  ISBN 978-1-880284-90-2

Chasing Cans

ISBN 978-1-880284-94-0

Going, Gone
(forthcoming)

ISBN 978-1-880284-98-8

JEANNE M. DAMS

H
ILDA
J
OHANSSON
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ERIES

  
Crimson Snow

  ISBN 978-1-880284-79-7

  
Indigo Christmas

  ISBN 978-1-880284-95-7

KATHY LYNN EMERSON

L
ADY
A
PPLETON
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ERIES

  
Face Down Below

  
the Banqueting House

  ISBN 978-1-880284-71-1

  
Face Down Beside

  
St. Anne’s Well

  ISBN 978-1-880284-82-7

  
Face Down O’er the Border

  ISBN 978-1-880284-91-9

ELAINE FLINN

M
OLLY
D
OYLE
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ERIES

  
Deadly Vintage

  ISBN 978-1-880284-87-2

HAL GLATZER

K
ATY
G
REEN
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Too Dead To Swing

 ISBN 978-1-880284-53-7

 
A Fugue in Hell’s Kitchen

 ISBN 978-1-880284-70-4

 
The Last Full Measure

 ISBN 978-1-880284-84-1

PATRICIA GUIVER

D
ELILAH
D
OOLITTLE

P
ET
D
ETECTIVE
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ERIES

  
The Beastly Bloodline

  ISBN 978-1-880284-69-8

NANCY BAKER JACOBS

Flash Point

ISBN 978-1-880284-56-8

DIANA KILLIAN

P
OETIC
D
EATH
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ERIES

  
Docketful of Poesy

  
(forthcoming)

  ISBN 978-1-880284-97-1

JANET LAPIERRE

P
ORT
S
ILVA
S
ERIES

  
Baby Mine

  ISBN 978-1-880284-32-2

  
Keepers

  
Shamus Award nominee,

  
Best Paperback Original

  ISBN 978-1-880284-44-5

  
Death Duties

  ISBN 978-1-880284-74-2

  
Family Business

  ISBN 978-1-880284-85-8

Run a Crooked Mile

(forthcoming)

ISBN 978-1880284-88-9

VALERIE S. MALMONT

T
ORI
M
IRACLE
S
ERIES

  
Death, Bones, and

  
Stately Homes

  ISBN 978-1-880284-65-0

DENISE OSBORNE

F
ENG
S
HUI
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ERIES

  
Evil Intentions

  ISBN 978-1-880284-77-3

LEV RAPHAEL

N
ICK
H
OFFMAN
S
ERIES

  
Tropic of Murder

  ISBN 978-1-880284-68-1

  
Hot Rocks

  ISBN 978-1-880284-83-4

LORA ROBERTS

B
RIDGET
M
ONTROSE
S
ERIES

  
Another Fine Mess

  ISBN 978-1-880284-54-4

S
HERLOCK
H
OLMES
S
ERIES

  
The Affair of the

  
Incognito Tenant

  ISBN 978-1-880284-67-4

REBECCA ROTHENBERG

B
OTANICAL
S
ERIES

  
The Tumbleweed Murders

  (completed by Taffy Cannon)

  ISBN 978-1-880284-43-8

SHEILA SIMONSON

L
ATOUCHE
C
OUNTY
S
ERIES

  
Buffalo Bill’s Defunct

  ISBN 978-1-880284-96-4

SHELLEY SINGER

J
AKE
S
AMSON &

R
OSIE
V
ICENTE
S
ERIES

  
Royal Flush

  ISBN 978-1-880284-33-9

NANCY TESLER

B
IOFEEDBACK
S
ERIES

  
Slippery Slopes and Other

  
Deadly Things

  ISBN 978-1-880284-58-2

PENNY WARNER

C
ONNOR
W
ESTPHAL
S
ERIES

  
Blind Side

  ISBN 978-1-880284-42-1

  
Silence Is Golden

  ISBN 978-1-880284-66-7

ERIC WRIGHT

J
OE
B
ARLEY
S
ERIES

  
The Kidnapping

  
of Rosie Dawn

Barry Award, Best Paperback

Original. Edgar, Ellis, and

Anthony Award nominee

ISBN 978-1-880284-40-7

REFERENCE/
MYSTERY WRITING

KATHY LYNN EMERSON

How To Write Killer

Historical Mysteries:

The Art and Adventure of

Sleuthing Through the Past

ISBN 978-1-880284-92-6

CAROLYN WHEAT

How To Write Killer Fiction:

The Funhouse of Mystery &

the Roller Coaster of Suspense

ISBN 978-1-880284-62-9

Available from your local bookstore or from
Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co. at (800) 662-8351
or
www.danielpublishing.com/perseverance
.