Dog Gone Lies (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

use?”
    “Good question—uh.”
    “Please call me Ray.”
    “Ray, the more you know the better—but the best fishermen develop an instinct about what to use. Some of this is experience, some is just guess work. Some maybe magic, I’m not sure.”
    This would be what Ray had always called bullshit. Tyee wasn’t a fishing guide, he was a magician. He was starting to regret his decision to take up fishing—maybe he should look into getting one of those big satellite dishes instead.
    Tyee finished packing the boat and shoved it a little further into the water. There was a very old wooden pier that extended out about twenty-five feet into the lake which allowed them to step in the boat without having to wade into the water. That was good, because Ray hadn’t brought the right shoes to go wading. Ray noticed the boat trailer up under some trees. Apparently Tyee had launched the boat by himself. It wasn’t very large and probably didn’t weigh that much, but it would have been fine with Ray if Tyee had asked for his help. The man was obviously self-sufficient.
    The boat was a Pro Craft, with a Mercury motor. There were two tall chairs, no doubt for the fisherman to be able to cast while sitting. It crossed Ray’s mind that the boat couldn’t have been cheap, and he wondered where Tyee got the money. He didn’t think about it for long, though—none of his business.
    They settled into the boat and Tyee started the motor and headed out onto the lake. Ray had been around the lake on several occasions, and when he’d been sheriff of Dona Ana County he had assisted in law enforcement operations at the lake, but he’d never been on the lake in a boat and the perspective was totally different. They had been running for about ten minutes and weren’t even close to the middle of the lake yet—it was huge.
    Tyee stopped the boat close to the middle of the widest section of the lake. It suddenly became quiet. The vastness of the water was intimidating.
    “We work on basics this morning. First casting—so we are in middle of lake to make it less likely you get line caught. Most fishing done along the shoreline, or areas where there’re lots of hiding places under the water. There’re fish here but the water much deeper and volume of water to fish not good for catching.”
    Made sense to Ray—more water, fewer fish, less likely to catch something. Tyee got one of the rods and began to show Ray how to hold the pole and operate the reel. Once Ray got started, he was doing pretty well for distance but doubted he could hit any sort of target. He was just happy to get it into the water.
    Their first day of five hours on the water was tough but satisfying. Ray worked hard and seemed to have made a noticeable improvement by the time they called it a day at a little after noon. Once they got back to the shore, Ray helped Tyee load the boat onto the trailer and secure it tightly. He settled up with Tyee with his agreed-upon hourly rate for guidance. They seemed a little bit more comfortable with one another and even shook hands as Ray left.
    Ray was beat—as in totally exhausted. This had been the most physical work he’d done in months. Being out on the water in a rocking boat and casting again and again was very tiring. And the sun had contributed to a washed out, I’m-going-to-fall-down feeling. Plus, on top of everything else, he was starving.
    Ray decided to head to the Lone Post Café in downtown T or C. He’d eaten there many times when he was sheriff in the neighboring county, and had heard from almost everyone that it served the best food in all of southern New Mexico—and he didn’t disagree.
    After he’d moved into the cabin, Ray had purchased a lockable upright freezer that he managed to install in one of the outbuildings on the property. It was stocked up with all kinds of food. For the last few months he’d been fixing his own meals, and thought he was a pretty good cook—but today he was in the mood for