Circles in the Sand Read Online Free Page A

looked at her daughter. “No, I didn’t know that. It’s not any of my business. Anyway, how do you know?”
    Lorena fidgeted around the counter. “I asked him straight out.”
    Dorris slapped her pencil down. “Lorena, why do you do things like that? You might embarrass people.”
    “He wasn’t embarrassed. Besides he likes you.”
    “Oh come on. He’s only been here a day…and only seen me twice.”
    Lorena could see her mother trying to hide a smile. “I could tell from the way he looked at you…when you looked over his card.”
    “That’s nonsense. Don’t you have something better to do in the diner?”
    Lorena’s smile withered. “He was married though, and does have a girl friend back in Grand Eclipse.”
    “See. There’s no use you getting all excited about my marriage prospects.”
    Back at the sheriff’s office, Radecker was working on a report. Clint said, “I don’t see a pay phone anywhere around here, Sheriff. Did I miss it?”
    “No. There ain’t one. You need to call your headquarters, or a girl friend?”
    “Not calling any girls. Got enough problems. Need to call Air  Division Headquarters at Grand Eclipse in the morning. See when my ride comes back, and what else might be going on.”
    “For official business, you can use my phone. I reckon we can afford that.”
    “Great. If you got a minute, I could use some more information.”
    “Why shore. Sit down. What’s on your mind?”
    Clint settled in behind Kern’s desk. “Over in the saloon, I met a Fritz Deutsch. Seems like he and I might be at cross purposes. Anything you can tell me about him?”
    “Well, yeah. Fritz is, what you could say, is the biggest frog in the pond around here. Got a big spread north of here. Mainly a wheat farmer, but got a lot of steers up there in the old gunnery range. I guess that’s where you two might knock heads. Got a lot of power around here. Several people work for him, and he swings some weight with politicians. He’s tough and he can be mean. If he were a problem for me, I’d watch my back. Apart from that, he’s good citizen. Donates money to the needy. Goes to church, and sponsors our town softball team.”
    “Kind of a complex gent.”
    “Yeah, you could say that.”
    “Any family.”
    “His mother and a ‘simple’ son live with him. Maybelle his wife, left him and hasn’t come back. There’s a girl he’s after. A strange situation. She’s the ward, or adopted daughter of Olivia Gomez. Olivia owns the Boar Pen. Rumor has it, to a select group of men, she auctioned off Olivia-Marie-Elena’s virginity when she was eighteen. Supposedly, Fritz won, for three thousand dollars. Even though his wife is gone, she won’t marry him. He is so burned up he’s threatened to castrate any other man who gets into her pants.”
    “Wow! So what does she do now?”
    “Mainly she goes to college in Missoula. Part time she’s a hooker for Olivia. Fee is one-hundred dollars. Between that and Fritz’s threat, I  don’t believe she’s getting rich off her pussy. Three thousand was for her college tuition.”
    Seeing Radecker looking at his paperwork, Clint got up. At the door he said,  “So Fritz really throws some weight around here.”
    Radecker put his pencil down. “You could say that. If I was you, I’d be mighty careful about crossing him.”
    Outside, he thought,  information…and a warning?  I wonder how neutral the Sheriff is? Maybe I ought to find another way to talk to Grand Eclipse…later. He looked around for something to do. No picture show in town. He decided to walk around the town. Wasn’t much to it. Two streets paralleling Main and a couple of cross streets.
    Walking up River Street he came across a large old house set back from the road. Except for a large open gate, cinder block walls extended across the front, and down both side of a large yard. He supposed it opened on the river side. Corner lights illuminated the front parking lot. He could see light