later, thanks. I’ll let you know.”
She nodded sympathetically and moved on to serve other customers. When I was done I left some bills under my coffee cup and slipped out. Bix came slowly to his feet when he saw me and stood patiently waiting for me to untether him. He was such a well behaved animal it’s unlikely I even needed to bother with a leash for him but he didn’t seem to mind.
I called Miles from the public phone to check in.
“No word from her yet,” he reported. There was a heavy measure of sadness and worry in those few words. Miles had spent most of his life as an officer of the law, too – a good part of it right here in Colville – and I’m sure his mind was calculating all the unpleasant explanations there might be for Callie’s absence.
I didn’t want to worry him any more than necessary but I felt I had to tell him about the gunshots.
“Oh, Lord,” he moaned.
“Jessup and I will go out and get the pickup.”
“Ya don’t have to bring it back yet. Use it as long as ya want,” he said. “I’ll let ya know if we need it for anythin’.”
“Okay. Keep the faith, Miles.”
“You, too, Jack.”
Bix and I crossed the street and made our way to Jessup’s office. Bix sat outside the door while I went in. A middle-aged woman with vivid red hair and freckles sat at the reception desk. She wore a nametag pinned to her blouse that identified her as ‘Madge’. “Help you, sir?” she said.
“Chief Jessup in?”
“Sorry, he just phoned to say he’d be late getting to the office this morning. Probably be in around eleven.”
Not what I wanted to hear.
“Can Officer Fordham help?” she asked. “ He stepped out a moment ago but he should be right back.”
I thought about it but decided it’d be better that I deal with Jessup. “No, I’ll stop back around eleven. If you wouldn’t mind telling him to expect me?”
“Sure thing,” Madge said.
I took a walk with Bix to stretch my legs and burn off some nervous energy and managed to kill an hour and a half. When I arrived back at the cop-shop I pointed at Jessup before letting Madge say anything, and walked to his office door. He was drinking coffee from a heavily stained mug and dragging deeply on a cigarette. He glanced up from some papers spread out before him and gave me a bored, barely concealed, look of contempt.
“I spoke with Miles earlier,” I said. “There’s been no word from Callie. Can we drive out and get his pickup?”
He took a deep breath to demonstrate his vast patience, stood slowly, and grabbed his hat from a coat rack behind his desk. “An hour, Madge,” he said as we headed out. At the door, Jessup stopped and turned back to her. “You heard anything from John yet?”
“Not a word, Chief. And RJ says John wasn’t there yesterday when he went over to check on him.”
Jessup looked mystified. “Give him another call,” he ordered.
“Will do.”
When we were outside and Jessup saw me unhooking Bix he looked over at me. “Why don’t you leave him here?”
“I’d rather bring him along if you don’t mind,” I said.
Jessup gave me an impatient look. “Suit yourself.”
I opened the rear door for Bix and then climbed in the front passenger seat. Jessup fired up the Crown Vic and motored