Read Give First Place to Murder for Free Online

had."
    "Why?" asked Pat. "Because he used drugs?"
    "That, but much more. Selling, methamphetamine mostly, started doing that in grade school. Petty thievery started in grade school too, first from his mother and then from the other kids. He graduated to simple breaking and entering, a try or two at blackmail, even a car theft. Anything to keep his own habit going. He's been a frequent visitor at juvenile hall where they had him pegged as a habitual. Rusty, if he’d lived, would have been a perfect candidate for our ‘three strikes and you’re out’ law."
    "So now what do you do?" The thought that Susannah had been anywhere near someone like that made me furious. I wondered what Irma would have said if she’d known ahead of time who Bryce was hiring.
    “ What we always do. Put one foot in front of the other until we get to the end."
    "That's not what I mean and you know it." I started, but Pat had a question of her own.
    "I keep hearing about the methamphetamine stuff. What is it? Do you grow it, like marijuana?"
    "You make it, and it's deadly," Dan answered. "We have a real problem with it in this county because there’s still so much open country, and we're close to big cities. LA to the south, the Bay area to the north, both only a few hours away. They’re huge, open markets for this stuff."
    "What does open country have to do with drugs?"
    "Lots. It only takes a week to ten days to brew up a batch of that poison, so the scum making it scout out old barns not being used, or they'll rent a mobile home on a ranch, or find a vacant one. Any place where they can set up shop for a while and visitors aren't too likely. They can, and too often do, have the stuff distilled, the powder packaged and are on their way before we even find out they were there. We know when they blow themselves up or set themselves on fire, but otherwise all we find is the mess they leave behind."
    “ Then you think whoever killed the kid is somehow connected with making drugs and selling them?” I’d assumed Rusty’s murderer, like Rusty, was a stranger, but now I wondered. Could someone at Irma’s barn be involved?
    “ I didn’t say that so don’t go jumping to conclusions.” Dan’s frown changed to a large grin as a heavy paper plate loaded with ribs, beans and limp salad was placed in front of his six foot four inch frame.
    "We're going to have to make two trips." Neil told us as he charged back toward the Barbecue stand. Susannah slid a plate in front of me and set another down in front of Pat.
    "I got you two the small plate. Is that all right? You can have some of mine if that's not enough." She looked a little anxious.
    I looked down at my small plate. Enough! An entire dog sled team could have lived for a week on what was on my plate. Besides, I'd caught sight of the ice cream bars on a stick, the ones rolled in peanuts. Childhood memories stirred and I decided on a little dessert.
    For a while, no one spoke. I expected Dan, Carl, and Neil to finish off the huge pile of ribs on their plates, but, as usual, Susannah surprised me. Slender, feminine Susannah could out eat a lumberjack.
    I had one rib left, looked at the pile of bones on Susannah’s plate, and slipped it onto Dan’s.
    The conversation started again, centered on the evening's events.
    "Are you sure you don't want to watch the sheep dogs?" Carl looked at all of us forlornly.
    "Positive." Pat placed her last nude bone in the trashcan and wiped her face. "I'm going to look at the quilts and I want to see who placed where in the wine making. I’m going to forget about murder, drugs, or anything connected with that awful stuff."
    Dan looked a little apprehensive. It must have been the mention of quilts, because he brightened up when I suggested the livestock barn.
    "Are you two going to the horse show?" I looked at Susannah, ready to block that idea if possible.
    "Not tonight. No classes. Besides, I've had enough horror and horses for one day. We're going to the