"Okay. I'll grab a booth and wait for you. Don't be too long, now."
"Okay. I'll grab a booth and wait for you. Don't be too long, now."
She turned and headed down the staircase to the street. I watched her walk away, wondering what was going on. I'd known Linda as a kind of nodding acquaintance for a few years, but we'd never exchanged more than the smallest of talk in all that time. I'd stopped in her dad's place a few times, mostly to just shoot the breeze with Phil about sports and catch up on bits of local gossip. I'd never noticed her in the store, but had seen her around town and in the library from time to time. It always struck me as just a little bit odd that such an attractive young woman with no apparent huge personality flaws always seemed to be by herself.
But that was neither here nor there. I had to get the library closed up, cash register squared away, doors locked, all that piddly detail stuff that takes up so big a part of my day. But in 15 minutes I was done with all that crap and driving down to the diner.
When I got there, Linda was nowhere to be seen. Odd, I thought, but I took a seat in a corner booth and ordered a cup of decaf. There were a few other people in the diner, local folks that I mostly recognized. One thing about living in a place the size of Old Town, after a fairly short time you can distinguish the locals from the tourists with a pretty small margin for error. Every once in a while a "new" face appears that turns out to be someone who has lived here for quite some time, but on the whole, my batting average is pretty good.
By 9:30 I'd been there for a good 15 minutes, and still no Linda. Just as I was getting ready to leave, figuring something else must have come up for the young lady, the door opened and two sheriff's deputies walked in. I recognized them as Joey Romito and Angie McGinniss. Joey was a sergeant on the force, and when his work schedule allowed, he'd stop in at the mystery reader's group. His voice was a welcome note of authority where police procedures in novels were concerned, and he had quite a bit of insight into the nuts and bolts of the crime "business." Angie was new in town and in her first year on patrol. They glanced around the diner, then Joey spotted me and they both headed over to the booth.
"Hey Cheese, how ya doing?" Joey said.
"Not too bad, Deputy. What's up?"
"Were you waiting for someone?", he asked.
"Why do you ask?" I replied, a bit warily. Joey was a good guy and all, and I was a law-abiding member of the community, but my natural instincts were always aroused when cops started asking questions, and even more so when they answered questions with more questions. I HATE it when they do that!
"Well, Linda Hunter said we might find you here."
"Oh yeah? Where'd you see her?"
"She's in the E.R., Cheese. She's okay," he added hurriedly, "But she wants to talk to you. So do we, as a matter of fact."
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