Read Online See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy - Free Book Online

“As I said, it is a biennial plant. See for yourself if you must.”
    â€œI must.” I glanced down to the little print, strained my eyes, and read what she wanted me to. She was right, but I really had not doubted that she would be. “Thank you, that will help,” I said, offering a feigned smile.
    Miss Finch withdrew the book and set it on the counter. “This indexing course you took, did you take it at the local college?”
    â€œNo,” I said. “The extension agent brought it out. It’s a correspondence course facilitated by the USDA.”
    â€œThe United States Department of Agriculture?”
    â€œYes, the very one,” I said. I had encountered enough academic snobbery since I started indexing to know it when I heard it, so I didn’t restrain myself in my own defense. I had nothing to be ashamed of, and I damn well knew it. I was an experienced indexer and proud of it.
    â€œI should have known,” she said.
    â€œYou can contact Curtis Henderson, the extension agent for information if you’d like.” I shook my head, squared my shoulders, and prepared to leave. I opened my purse to put the tissue in and I saw the woman’s glasses that I had picked up. “By any chance can you tell me the woman’s name who checked out the books I brought in?”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œI was just wondering . . .” I said, staring at the glasses. Returning them seemed the right thing to do.
    â€œThat is private information. I cannot give out that name for any reason.” Miss Finch had raised her voice. It was as loud as a bank vault slamming shut. Calla would not have done that; at least with me . . .
    My immediate instinct was to shush her, but I thought better of it. “I’m sorry, you’re right, of course.” I dropped the tissue in my purse and closed it. “Thank you for your time. I hope the coming days are easier for you.” And with that, I turned and hurried out of the library, glad to be free of Miss Delia Finch’s presence, satisfied that I had obtained what I’d come for. I was past ready to be home with my dog and my husband where I belonged.

CHAPTER 12
    I had to drive right past the Wild Pony tavern on my way out of town. I could have bypassed it, gone around the block and avoided it altogether, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Instead, I slowed as the building came into view, nearly as curious and intentional as the gawkers that I had come to loath.
    The Wild Pony was a single-level, brick-front building that had been in business for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t sure that the building had always been a tavern; the memory of it was mostly a blur, coming and going to and from town.
    Small bungalows populated the cottonwood-lined street and beyond; small, simple well-kept houses that were the most common in Dickinson. I suppose a man could have gotten himself more than drunk and still found his way home if he had been inclined. I was not one for liquor, but a tavern was just as important to some folks as a library was to me. We all needed a place to go, there was no denying that. The luxuries of town-life weren’t lost on me. But I wasn’t looking for just any man. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Herbert Frakes.
    Like most men of his generation, Herbert had served overseas in World War II and had never been the same since he’d returned home. It was easy to tell that he’d been shattered by the experience of combat, even twenty years later. I feared what the shock of Calla’s death had done to him. Previous stresses had sent Herbert straight to the Wild Pony, and my suspicion was that his pattern of behavior hadn’t changed.
    A few unattended cars sat in front of the Wild Pony. There was no one to be seen milling about. Even though it was late morning, a red neon OPEN sign buzzed brightly in the window next to the door. All the