Read Online A grave denied by Dana Stabenow - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Dana Stabenow
Tags: Fiction, General, detective, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Detective and Mystery Stories, Mystery Fiction, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Women Private Investigators, Fiction - Mystery, Crime & mystery, alaska, Crime thriller, Shugak; Kate (Fictitious character), Shugak; Kate (Fictitious chara, Women private investigators - Alaska - Fiction., Alaska - Fiction., Shugak; Kate (Fictitious character) - Fiction., Women private investigators - Alaska
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brother?”
He nodded.
“You have a brother?”
He winced. “Yeah.”
“We’ve been married, what, going on two years, we have a child, and this is the first time you tell me you have a brother?” A murmur from Katya in the living room made her lower her voice. “Older or younger?”
“Older.”
“Does he have a name, this older brother?”
“Jeffrey.”
“Any other siblings I need to know about?”
“No.”
“This is like pulling teeth,” she said. “Talk to me, Clark. Why is it bad news that your older brother Jeffrey is coming to visit?”
“He’s not coming to visit. We don’t visit.”
“Then why is he coming?”
“He didn’t say, he just said he was coming.”
“Did he write, call, what?”
“I got a letter yesterday when I went into town to check the mail.”
She digested this. “When?”
“Tomorrow.”
She took a deep breath. “I appreciate all the advance notice there, Clark.”
“I didn’t get much either, Cookman, like I said, I just got the letter yesterday. I don’t even know how the hell he found me. I haven’t spoken to anyone there since before I joined up.”
Mistaking her silence, he added, “Don’t worry, he’s not staying here. I got him a room at Auntie Vi’s. With luck, you won’t even have to meet him.”
“I don’t mind if he stays with us, Bobby. Half the Park’s on the couch every other night as it is. Besides which, you’re his brother. Why wouldn’t he stay with us?”
“Because I wouldn’t invite him to.” When she would have said more, he said, “Let it alone, okay, Dinah? He has nothing to do with me.”
“He’s your family.”
There was a moment of silence so fraught that Dinah could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. “Jeffrey Clark is not my family,” Bobby said, enunciating each word with exaggerated care. “That he is my brother is strictly an accident of birth. You are my family. Katya is my family. And Kate. Nobody else, and in particular no one from inside the city limits of Nutbush, Tennessee!”
She flinched a little at the volume of his response. He saw it and took a deep breath. When he spoke again his voice was lower and more controlled. “If I could have gotten away with it I never would have told you he was coming at all, but the way the Bush telegraph works, you’d have heard about the only other black man in the Park two seconds after he got off George.”
Dinah was the only child of two only children and her parents had died young, and the most family she’d known was beneath the roof she was living right now. To whistle family of any kind down the wind seemed to her the height of foolishness.
On the other hand, she knew something of the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s departure from Nutbush, Tennessee, which had resulted in him lying about his age to get into the army. It had also led, indirectly, to his residence in the Park, which was where she had found him, and she was inclined to regard whoever had helped make that happen with a benevolent eye.
On the whole, however, she thought that this might be one of those times when a smart wife stayed quiet.
He’d rolled to one side, his body so tense she could hear him glaring. She leaned over and kissed his spine. “Were you thinking you wanted dinner anytime soon?”
He looked at her over his shoulder and must have been reassured by what he saw on her face. “Hell, yes, I want dinner!” he said, the familiar bray back in full force. “You just worked ten pounds off me, woman, I need fuel!”
“Then get your butt into the kitchen and peel me some spuds.”
She took her time getting back into her clothes, knowing he was watching, and knowing too that Bobby was never so ready as when he just had. She was rewarded when a hand grabbed her elbow and tumbled her back into bed.
The last thing
He nodded.
“You have a brother?”
He winced. “Yeah.”
“We’ve been married, what, going on two years, we have a child, and this is the first time you tell me you have a brother?” A murmur from Katya in the living room made her lower her voice. “Older or younger?”
“Older.”
“Does he have a name, this older brother?”
“Jeffrey.”
“Any other siblings I need to know about?”
“No.”
“This is like pulling teeth,” she said. “Talk to me, Clark. Why is it bad news that your older brother Jeffrey is coming to visit?”
“He’s not coming to visit. We don’t visit.”
“Then why is he coming?”
“He didn’t say, he just said he was coming.”
“Did he write, call, what?”
“I got a letter yesterday when I went into town to check the mail.”
She digested this. “When?”
“Tomorrow.”
She took a deep breath. “I appreciate all the advance notice there, Clark.”
“I didn’t get much either, Cookman, like I said, I just got the letter yesterday. I don’t even know how the hell he found me. I haven’t spoken to anyone there since before I joined up.”
Mistaking her silence, he added, “Don’t worry, he’s not staying here. I got him a room at Auntie Vi’s. With luck, you won’t even have to meet him.”
“I don’t mind if he stays with us, Bobby. Half the Park’s on the couch every other night as it is. Besides which, you’re his brother. Why wouldn’t he stay with us?”
“Because I wouldn’t invite him to.” When she would have said more, he said, “Let it alone, okay, Dinah? He has nothing to do with me.”
“He’s your family.”
There was a moment of silence so fraught that Dinah could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. “Jeffrey Clark is not my family,” Bobby said, enunciating each word with exaggerated care. “That he is my brother is strictly an accident of birth. You are my family. Katya is my family. And Kate. Nobody else, and in particular no one from inside the city limits of Nutbush, Tennessee!”
She flinched a little at the volume of his response. He saw it and took a deep breath. When he spoke again his voice was lower and more controlled. “If I could have gotten away with it I never would have told you he was coming at all, but the way the Bush telegraph works, you’d have heard about the only other black man in the Park two seconds after he got off George.”
Dinah was the only child of two only children and her parents had died young, and the most family she’d known was beneath the roof she was living right now. To whistle family of any kind down the wind seemed to her the height of foolishness.
On the other hand, she knew something of the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s departure from Nutbush, Tennessee, which had resulted in him lying about his age to get into the army. It had also led, indirectly, to his residence in the Park, which was where she had found him, and she was inclined to regard whoever had helped make that happen with a benevolent eye.
On the whole, however, she thought that this might be one of those times when a smart wife stayed quiet.
He’d rolled to one side, his body so tense she could hear him glaring. She leaned over and kissed his spine. “Were you thinking you wanted dinner anytime soon?”
He looked at her over his shoulder and must have been reassured by what he saw on her face. “Hell, yes, I want dinner!” he said, the familiar bray back in full force. “You just worked ten pounds off me, woman, I need fuel!”
“Then get your butt into the kitchen and peel me some spuds.”
She took her time getting back into her clothes, knowing he was watching, and knowing too that Bobby was never so ready as when he just had. She was rewarded when a hand grabbed her elbow and tumbled her back into bed.
The last thing
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