Read Online In Between by Kate Wilhelm - Free Book Online Page A

“Pinky, Groucho—”
    â€œWhat in God’s name are you doing?” Sam demanded.
    â€œGiving them tags so we’ll know who we’re talking about,” she said. “We can’t just call them Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo.” She held her finger under her nose and again said, “Groucho.”
    He had a big black mustache. Pinky had a very pink scalp showing through a stupid looking comb-over. “Colonel,” Lori said, passing her hand through the head of a man with a buzz cut who was scowling at his companions. “And last but certainly not least, Fats.”
    Sam grabbed her arm and headed toward windows where he had seen uniformed men passing back and forth. “Come on, I want to see what’s going on out there. Crime scene or something.”
    â€œJust a second,” she said, pulling back. She looked at the man who was speaking, the one she had named Colonel.
    He was talking in a hard, every-word-significant kind of a way. “Just make sure the stories stick. Has anyone gotten to Marilyn yet?”
    â€œNo,” Fats said. “They’re still in the suite.”
    â€œAlex, too?”
    â€œSure. Look, Greg, we all watched the movie, had a couple of drinks and went to our rooms and stayed there. There’s no ‘story’ to it. Just the plain simple truth. Except for Alex.”
    â€œRight. Except for Alex.” Colonel poured more coffee for himself and scowled at the carafe. “God, this is a catastrophe, coming now. Avery is in touch with the governor. We’ve got to put the cork in this mess fast.”
    â€œOkay,” Lori said. “They’ve got their stories straight, and I guess the wives are over there honing their lines or something. On to the crime scene.”
    They went out to a wide, covered walkway that surrounded the entire building. Overhead was another one just like it. Every guestroom in the complex opened to the walkway, with chairs and tables placed outside each sliding door to the rooms, a place to park snow-covered gear, Sam had learned on his visits here. The walkway was six or eight feet high above the ground, although at his last visit snow had come up to the flooring. Two men were at the end of the building, one of them talking on a cell phone. The other was holding a medical bag.
    â€œSheriff, Coroner,” Lori said, passing them to observe a body sprawled on its back near the rail. A man in a white shirt, dark trousers, and a lot of blood. She looked around, then called out, “Malcolm! Malcolm Vicente! Are you here?”
    Sam shook her arm. “Stop that! What are you doing?”
    â€œMaybe he’s hanging around, like us. He can simply tell us who shot him and be done with it.”
    â€œJesus,” he said. “Listen.”
    He stepped closer to the sheriff and heard him say, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Sure, fine by me.” The sheriff pocketed the phone and gave the coroner a dour look. “Lieutenant governor’s on it. They’re sending in state investigators to take over. They said to leave him until Captain Conkling gets here with his crew.” He walked past the dead man and yelled to a deputy out on the lawn. “Come on in, Bud. Let the staties have fun searching.”
    A deputy, who had been leaning over, inching his way along, straightened, nodded, and walked to the veranda and up the stairs.
    â€œState’s taking over,” the sheriff told him as he approached. “Go get that manager and start a count of the guns, find out if any’s missing.” He eyed the corpse, shook his head, and pulled a piece of chewing gum from his pocket, unwrapped it and carefully put the paper in his pocket, the gum in his mouth. The deputy nodded and left. “You want some coffee, Doc?” the sheriff asked. “While you wait?”
    â€œNot waiting,” the coroner said. “My daughter’s here visiting with her three kids. I told them