Read Online Deep in the Valley by Robyn Carr - Free Book Online Page A

and then didn’t. I wish I had. You could use a drink of something. I don’t suppose you have anything alcoholic?”
    “Somebody gave me some expensive brandy once…but I don’t know if I like brandy.”
    “Forget it, I’ll make fresh coffee.”
    “Oh Elmer, what have I done to myself?”
    “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s not too late for you to think about your personal life.”
    “Isn’t it? Where would I start?”
    “You could call some of your old pals from school and tell them you’d like to be fixed up. Let the word out you’d like a date and you’ll get swamped. You’re a pretty girl, June.”
    “I’m not a girl.”
    “Yes, you are. As for children, no one ever knows if they’re going to have them. You might have trouble having a family. You might be infertile like your mother. We never used caution and we only had you.”
    “How do you know it was her? Maybe it was you.”
    “Nope,” he said. He paused to count scoops of coffee. “I sent a sperm specimen to the Ukiah lab when I was fifty-seven. They were exhausted little old fellows with beards, but they were there.” He filled the coffeepot with water.
    “You never told me that,” she said. “About the specimen.”
    “I would have told you if it had come up. Like if you’d had trouble conceiving. You never wondered why we didn’t have a house full of kids?”
    “Mother said you preferred to fish on your time off.”
    He laughed, which caused him to jiggle and wheeze. “She always had a better sense of humor than I gave her credit for.” He put his arm around June’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “You have a long day, honey?”
    “Long? Shoot, I got off early. Typical day. I start off by flashing the Mull family, go to the clinic to find that my receptionist is now imitating a parrot, see twenty-five patients in the morning, have a three martini lunch with Myrna and Amelia Barstow—Myrna’s martinis, obviously—and listen to her new book idea.” Remembering that, June stopped there. “Dad, have you heard her new book idea?”
    He made a face. “I have. Hard to believe that skinny little old woman is preoccupied by that kind of violence, isn’t it?”
    June shuddered. “Body parts…that’s her new theme. Dad, whatever happened to Morton Claypool?”
    “He went off, is all.”
    “But where?”
    “Beats me. If Myrna knows, she doesn’t let on.”
    “There’s talk, you know.”
    “Oh hell, she loves the talk. I bet she started half of it. In spite of the grisly books she writes, the woman wouldn’t hurt a fly. I asked her if she wanted to hire someone to chase down Morton, find out if he was dead or alive, and she said no, it wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t inclined to have him back or give him a funeral.”
    “Don’t you think that’s sort of strange?”
    “For Myrna? Or in general?”
    “I bet she knows where he went.”
    “That could be. I’ll never forget when she told me. It was right around the time of your high school homecoming game. Your mother and I picked up Myrna to take her, and on the way she said, “Well, it appears Morton’s gone off and isn’t coming back.” Matter-of-fact. Your mother asked Myrna was she worried, and Myrna said not a bit, that if there was any bad news, someone would have called her.” Elmer paused and then continued in a much softer tone, “I’ll admit something to you if you swear to never tell her. I checked around Hudson House for freshly turned soil.”
    “Dad!”
    “Just on the off chance…”
    “Why, you clever sleuth!”
    “Myrna’s a wonderful woman, but she’s a tad on the eccentric side.”
    “A tad?” June said. “She’s a circus! I can’t imagine what it must have been like being raised by her.”
    Elmer smiled almost wistfully. “Like being raised by a fairy princess.”
    They passed dinner more pleasantly then, reminiscing about childhood and Myrna, discussing John Stoneand the interview, arguing a bit about whether June felt