Read Alpine Zen : An Emma Lord Mystery (9780804177481) for Free Online

visited me earlier today.”
    “I can’t divulge any information,” she asserted, sounding smug. “Excuse me. I must make rounds.” She rang off.
    Milo looked up from the
ESPN
magazine he’d been reading. “You got dissed by a nurse who isn’t your pal Julie Canby?”
    I nodded. “Worse yet, it was the vile Ruth Sharp.”
    My husband got out his cell and tapped in a number. Apparently, Ruth hadn’t yet gone on her rounds because she picked up on the first ring. “Sheriff Dodge here,” Milo said in the tone he reserved for wife beaters. “Give me an update on Rawlings before I call Doc Dewey and tell him you won’t cooperate with the law.”
    I smiled as I watched Milo listen to whatever Ruth was telling him. He, however, was impassive, still in his role as sheriff. “Got it,” he finally said. “The next time
Mrs. Dodge
calls, cooperate with her. You got that?” He paused. “Good.” He clicked off.
    “Well?” I said.
    Milo lighted a cigarette. “Want to sit on my lap while I tell you?”
    “No,” I replied. “You’re smoking and I don’t want to get close to you. Open up, big guy. And by the way, when I’m working, I’m still Ms. Lord.”
    “You weren’t working at the hospital,” Milo shot back. “There was no story.” He frowned. “I wonder if I should call Doc.”
    “Why?” Taking in my husband’s thoughtful expression, I grew suspicious. “Give, Sheriff, or I
will
take that cigarette from you.”
    “Hell,” he said, “maybe it doesn’t mean anything. Prune Face, or whatever you call that old bat, read off Doc’s preliminary findings, which stated the patient was suffering from dehydration, malnourishment, low blood sugar, and nutty as a fruitcake.”
    “You made up the part about the fruitcake.”
    Milo acknowledged the comment with a brief nod. “It’s the preliminary part I wonder about. Gerry usually goes by the first results. He only digs deeper if he suspects a more serious problem.”
    “Such as what? Drugs?”
    “No. They’d show up right away.”
    “If Doc’s gone home, he won’t get the final results until tomorrow.”
    “Right.” Milo put out his cigarette and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. “There’s something wrong about all of this.” He leaned an elbow on the fireplace mantel. “Maybe I should run a background check on the mother to see if she’s really dead.”
    “Do you want to use my laptop instead of going all the way out to your workshop?” I asked, hoping to sound innocent.
    “Nice try,” my husband drawled. “You won’t sit on my lap, so I won’t use your laptop. You’d look over my shoulder.” He wheeled around, heading through the kitchen to the new door that led to his man cave.
    I’d fix him. I’d use
my
laptop. But it needed recharging. Iwas still cussing to myself when Milo reappeared, looking bemused.
    “I couldn’t find any record of Kassia Arthur, dead or alive. What do you make of that, my cute little investigative reporter?”

FOUR
    A manda Hanson had given birth to a baby girl shortly after midnight. Vida, of course, found out before I did. Her niece, Marje Blatt, works at the medical clinic, and like her brother, Deputy Bill, is bound to report to Vida immediately, under pain of mortal peril.
    “Six pounds, six ounces,” Vida announced, standing by her desk like the town crier. “I hope Dr. Sung doesn’t send her home this afternoon. All this modern twaddle about new mothers being discharged so soon after giving birth is absurd. Old Doc Dewey must be rolling in his grave. But Young Doc is often prone to peculiar modern notions.”
    “Do they have a name for the baby?” Alison Lindahl asked.
    “Not yet,” Vida replied. “It can’t be as atrocious as the last two newborns I wrote up—Athens and Nirvana. Really now!” She tromped over to the pastry tray and snatched up a bear claw. “Bear,” she said under her breath. “That’s what my Gustavson relatives named their baby boy after debating for