Read Rausch & Donlon - Can Be Murder 01 - Headaches Can Be Murder for Free Online Page B

other or with Bernice the waitress and sometimes talking softly in serious, intimate tones.
    “You should cut down on the eggs and bacon, Iver. I’m worried about your cholesterol.” Mabel placed her hand on Iver’s ham-sized arm.
    “Don’t worry your pretty little head about me, Mabel. It’s you we should be fretting about. You work too hard.” He reached his arm around her and patted her shoulder.
    “If it weren’t for my job, I’d be too lonesome. Plus, Jane needs me.”
    The two would occasionally stop for a few minutes at Chip’s table, and they became his first friends in Turners Bend. They were unlike any friends he had ever had, but he was really feeling the need for friends in this town. And strange as it seemed to him, he really liked this “salt of the earth” couple.
    “Chip, your dog is a real sweetie,” said Mabel as she departed, leaving Iver sitting at the counter. “When Dr. Jane and I are in the office, we let her out, and she follows us around from room to room. I can see she’s a real people dog. You got to give her a name, you know. A dog should have a name.”
    “Well, Mabel, if she’s so sweet, why don’t you call her ‘Honey’?”
    “That’s perfect. I should have known a writer like you would come up with just the right name. You should be a daddy soon, maybe on Thanksgiving.”
    Without missing a beat, she continued, “Now about Thanksgiving, you’ll come, won’t you? Iver, bless his heart, is going to make a deep-fried turkey. Dr. Jane is coming cuz Hal is taking Ingrid and Sven to Disney World. She’s bringing the pies. So it’s all settled. You come on Thursday about noon. See you then.”
    Mabel bustled out the door, leaving Chip’s head spinning. What in the hell was he going to do with a dog and puppies? Would a deep-fried turkey be like a giant Chicken McNugget? Ingrid and Sven … sounded like a comedy team you would hear on the Prairie Home Companion radio show. He took his coffee cup and moved to the counter stool next to Iver, hoping for elucidation.
    “So, Iver, you and Mabel an item?”
    “A what?”
    “Do I sense a romance?”
    Iver lifted his empty coffee cup, and Bernice gave him a refill.
    “Nah, I’m one of those confounded bachelors. She’s a widow lady. Her husband, Stan, was a hell of a nice guy. Blew a gasket in his head and died right there in their bed. What about you? You got a lady friend?”
    Chip removed his glasses and wiped a butter smear off his lenses with a paper napkin while he gave Iver’s questions some thought. Then he answered, “No, I’m currently a ‘confounded’ bachelor, too. Say, Mabel just mentioned Ingrid and Sven, are they Dr. Swanson’s kids?”
    “Yes … named after their great-grandparents who came over from the Old Country. They were on the same boat as my grandparents, Astrid and Olaf Ingebretson. Ingrid’s a pretty little thing like her mom. She’s going to follow in her mother’s footsteps and be a vet. Yup, she’s got a special way with animals. Don’t know what to say about Sven. That boy’s a handful, and it’s his old man’s fault. Jane and Hal been divorced for a long time.”
    Something inside Chip stirred as he heard this new piece of information. Divorced. Possibly available. He didn’t want to sound too eager, but he sure wanted to know more. Or did he? He had vowed to stay away from women. Either they messed up his life or he messed up their lives.
    “Does their father live around here?”
    “Oh, ja, you can find him over at the Bend most nights, mean son of a bitch when he’s drinking and an asshole when he’s sober. Thinks he’s a big shot because he owns AgriDynamics. Name’s Harold H. Swanson III. Uppity name, isn’t it?” Chip made a mental note never to use his full name in Turners Bend. Charles Edgar Collingsworth III, impressed people in Baltimore, but in Turners Bend his name would set him apart in a very different way.
    Changing topics, Chip asked, “What’s going on