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telegraph, tell Pam. You have been a running buddy of Marie’s, do you have any idea of who would want to do this to her?”
    Pam sat back in her chair, the plate in front of her practically licked clean.
    “I have no idea. I can’t see her making anyone that angry. She had a boyfriend who came up with her from the cruise ships in Florida, but he liked the money better there and took off a few months ago. I think the boat was out of Key West. He was kind of a jerk, but this?”
    Nicholas nodded. “We are looking him up and going over her house. I brought her cat to you…” He trailed off, looking at Pam inquiringly. She was known for taking in every stray that wandered across her property and then relocating him or her.
    “Drop it off at my house, I gave that cat to her. Bart knows how to get to the barn to keep warm with all of his buddies.” Pam sighed and patted her bulging stomach. “I’m glad I’ve got you to feed me, Rhi. I’m not going to be able to afford food with all of these critters taking over.”
    The sheriff hesitated before speaking again, examining the hat in his hands closely as he spoke. “I hate to ask you this Pam, but I have to. You and Marie had a falling out, didn’t you? Where were you at about three thirty a.m.?”
    “If you are asking if I killed her because Marie was a gossip, the answer is no. She tried to convince everyone I was dumping on the table to steal the pit supervisor’s spot from me.” Pam referred to the practice of “dumping” or reshuffling the cards on a blackjack table as soon as they grew cold to dump more money out to the players to generate more tip money. “The only one dumping was her and we all knew it. I might have told her that I was going to kick her ass, but it was a figure of speech. I was at work until one and then I picked up Katie at the sitter’s at three on this side of town. If you think I drove back into town with my sleeping daughter in the truck in a snowstorm to cut some girl’s heart out, you’re crazy. Besides, we’d made up. Hell, the last time she got snowed into town and couldn’t make it out to her place, she stayed here at my house. And before you ask me again if I know of anyone that had it in for her, the answer is no. Like most blackjack dealers, Marie has pissed off her share of gamblers that are under the delusion that we built casinos to let them win, instead of to make money. But I don’t recall her telling me about anyone more psychotic than the rest of the usual loons.”
    “I had to ask, Pam, you know the rules.” Nicholas stood, his knees creaking, his eyes taking stock of the well-kept little A-frame. “You girls need to be careful out here. Someone nasty was in town last night.”
    “I think we can handle it, sweetie,” Pam said, openly leering at him. “A locked door is nice but there is no substitute for a product from Smith & Wesson. You need to tell Rhi guns don’t kill people. There’s always a warm body pulling that trigger.”
    He looked down at Rhi, who had now stuffed her mouth with pancakes and sausage. “Guns need a hand on the trigger that knows what it is doing and has respect for weapons. If Rhi doesn’t know how to use a gun then she doesn’t need one.”
    Rhi sputtered, spewing pancake over the table. “ Mrff …I didn’t say I couldn’t use a gun. I just never liked using one,” she said, standing to look him straight in the eye, which unfortunately didn’t work because her eyes were level with his chest and the top buttons of his flannel shirt. She noticed they were unbuttoned to allow some very manly chest hair to sneak out. “I was brought up in North Carolina. We like to shoot something every day, to keep our hand in.”
    An unexpected grin covered his face as he looked down at her. “Then, living out here with the lions and tigers and bears, you might want to think about some firepower.” He pointed at Ellie Mae as she made her way back down the stairs. “Unless you want to