Phil squinted in a thoughtful manner. “You ever get the sense that maybe you weren’t cut out for areer in the hospitality field?”
“Lately people have been asking me that a lot.”
“In that case, I won’t mention it again.” Phil picked up a glass pot full of coffee and poured some of the contents into an unchipped, unscratched white mug. He put the mug down on a small napkin in fron f Luke. “Can I assume this is a special occasion?”
“I need some information. Figured this was probably the best place in town to find it.”
“It is, indeed.” Phil leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Carpenter’s Garage is what you might call a regular nexus of the universe.” He raised his brows.
“This information you’re after, would it have anything to do with your new lady friend?”
Luke considered that briefly. “Is that what folks are calling Irene? My new lady friend?”
“The polite ones are starting to refer to her that way, yeah. And the fact that you have not had an ther lady friends during the five months you have been living here in Dunsley has only made Iren ll the more interesting.”
“Is that so?”
“Speculation had begun to circulate that you were, perhaps, not interested in lady friends.”
“Huh.” Luke tasted the coffee. It was good, just as it always was at Carpenter’s Garage.
“Such idle speculation has, however, given way to more in-depth discussion of the unusual nature o he dates that you and Irene Stenson appear to enjoy.”
“Unusual?”
“Believe it or not, in this town it’s downright rare for two people to spend their evenings finding dead bodies or nearly getting incinerated in house fires. Around here, couples that do not enjoy the bonds of matrimony generally go for a more traditional style of romance. Sex in the backseat of a car, for example.”
“Right. Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to see what I can do to make things look a bit more normal.”
Phil shrugged. “Sometimes normal is hard for guys like us.”
“There is that.” Luke put the mug down on the little paper napkin so that it wouldn’t leave a damp rin n the polished desk. “In the meantime, you can let your loyal patrons know that I will take serious offense if I hear that anyone is referring to Irene in any way that might be deemed impolite.”
Phil inclined his head in a sage nod. “Understood.” He drank some coffee and lowered his mug. “S hat kind of information are you looking for?”
“Irene knew Pamela Webb when they were teens.”
“They were close for one summer, as I recall, but that was about it,” Phil said. “That was the same summer that Irene’s parents died.”
“Irene and Pamela didn’t see or speak to each other after that summer. Yet for some reason Pamela e-mailed Irene a few days ago, asking her to meet her here in Dunsley.
The implication was that she wanted to discuss something important. Even used an old secret code that the two had invented. Al n all, that was enough to convince Irene that Pamela’s death might not have been a suicide or an accident.”
“Heard about Irene’s theory,” Phil said. “What’s your take on it?”
“Let’s just say that after watching someone torch the Webb house last night, I find Irene’s theory interesting.”
“Sam McPherson has put it about that the arson job was probably the work of a vandal, most likel rom Kirbyville, a known den of thieves and miscreants.”
“Motive?”
Phil unlaced his hands and spread them wide. “That’s the beauty of the crime of arson, isn’t it? Firebugs are nutcases. Everyone knows they don’t need a motive.”
“A useful factoid, if ever there was one.”
Phil looked thoughtful. “You didn’t see the guy?”
Luke shook his head. “Nothing but a shadow. I was too busy getting Irene off that deck before the house went up in flames All I know is that he got away in a boat.”
His mouth twisted. “Course I made the escape easy for him because I figured he had come by car. I was heading for the road at the same time he was going in the opposite direction back to the lake.”
“Don’t blame yourself. Situation like that, you have to make choices.”
“Which is a polite euphemism for screwing up.”
“Screwing up happens.”
Luke extended his legs. “Moving right along, what I came here to ask you is whether you have heard anything about Pamela’s latest boyfriend.”
“Her latest?”
“Evidently, she was not in the habit of coming to Dunsley on her own.”
“True.” Phil paused, frowning a little. “But it appears she broke that habit this time. I didn’t hea nything about her having a gentleman friend with her on this visit.”
“Is it likely that you would have heard?”
“When Pamela was in town, there was always talk. She was a Webb, and the doings of the Webbs have always been of considerable interest to everyone in the community.”
“Any possibility that the reason she didn’t bring a friend with her this time was because she already had one lined up here in town?”
Phil snorted. “From what I knew of Pamela Webb, I think it’s safe to say that there was no man here in Dunsley who would have been able to meet her high standards of elegance and sophistication. Present company excepted, of course.”
“Naturally.”
“But given that neither of us two classy, sophisticated dudes was dating her, I think it’s safe to say that she wasn’t fooling around with anyone local. Trust me, word would have circulated like wildfire if she was carrying on with someone from around here.”
“It was just a thought.”
“Here’s another one,” Phil said, eyes very steady. “You and Irene are taking on a U.S. senator who, because of his family connections, has this whole town pretty much in his back pocket.”
“That thought has crossed my mind more than once.”
“Having stated the obvious, I would like to point out that not everyone here is in Webb’s pocket,” Phil added quietly. “You need anyone to watch your back, feel free to call.”
Luke stood. “Thanks.”
” Semper fi, man.”
” Semper fi.”
Twenty
A quarter of a mile outside town Sam McPherson’s cruiser appeared in the SUV’s rearview mirror,