a dead madam rose up for revenge against the right-minded.’
Ren frowned. ‘What?’
‘You haven’t been to the Brown Hotel? A madam was shot dead on the attic stairs. She was going to turn the place into “a house of ill-repute”.’ Air quotes. ‘The owner vanished,’ said Colin. ‘You should go – weird shit happens in the ladies toilets.’
They both paused.
‘And can I ask?’ said Ren, ‘while you’re giving me a hard time, what that has to do with solving this case?’
‘I’m not giving you a hard time,’ said Colin. ‘Who said that?’
‘Yeah, like those people who say, “I’m not criticizing you, but …”’ Why am I having this conversation?
‘I was meeting the owner,’ said Colin. ‘I thought if Jean had paid the place a visit, he could have something for us.’
‘I’m not feeling the whole Jean-in-brothel vibe,’ said Ren.
‘But you’re feeling the whole Jean-in-historic-Breckenridge vibe …’
‘I’m feeling the need to keep on working here. Gotta go.’
‘Dinner later with the guys at Kenosha. Six thirty.’
‘Great.’ I’ll be back at the inn, sticking hot needles in my eyes. She looked at her watch. ‘I’m giving a briefing shortly. So I’ll see you back at the Sheriff’s Office then, anyway.’
He looked at her. She smiled.
‘In Bob’s office?’ said Colin.
‘Like we’re all going to fit in Bob’s office,’ said Ren. ‘The Sheriff’s Office I refer to is the entire building. It covers all the offices, including Bob’s and the one that has been loaned out to us. Bob’s office is Bob’s office. We’ll be meeting in the conference room.’
‘Thanks for clearing that up so slowly,’ said Colin.
‘Aw,’ said Ren. ‘Thanks for listening so loudly.’
Ren was walking the hallway to her office when she heard Mike saying, ‘Oh, good God, she’s a train wreck.’
His voice was coming from Bob’s office. Ren knocked on the open door and walked in.
‘Are you talking about me?’ she said.
Mike turned and smiled. He pointed at the television screen in the corner.
‘Bob, turn that up,’ he said.
Bob grabbed the remote control and the voice of Casey Bonaventure filled the room.
‘… disappearance in February last year of twenty-eight-year-old Mark Allen Wilson, whose body has never been found. Wilson was last seen at the Brockton Filly, a bar five miles outside Breckenridge at the base of Quandary Peak – a mountain that in the past year has cast a shadow over the lives of two families –’
Bob shook his head. ‘Jesus, Casey is something else. I told her to go off and do some research, and she comes back with this non-story again.’ He turned down the television.
‘Hey,’ said Ren. ‘That could have been interesting.’
‘Seriously, it’s not,’ said Bob. ‘Missing guy from out-of-town, drinking all evening at the Filly, gets loaded, gets into a brawl, wanders out in the snow, goes to relieve himself in the trees, falls over, hits his head, gets hypothermia, dies. No body, but, hey, that’s the story of our lives around here.’
‘That’s it?’ said Ren. ‘No trace of him?’
‘Nope,’ said Bob. ‘Last person he was seen hanging out with in the bar was a guy called Terrence Haggart. And when I say “hanging out with”, I mean “getting badly beaten by”. Next thing, Wilson’s reported missing. And never shows up again. So, there you have it.’
‘I see,’ said Ren. ‘Has the family given you guys a hard time?’
‘He was an alcoholic they had no time for,’ said Bob.
‘That’s very sad,’ said Ren. ‘An illness that seems too recreational for people to do anything about until it’s too late.’
‘Whatever,’ said Mike.
‘Has anyone seen Tiny Gressett?’ said Ren.
‘Last time I saw him,’ said Mike, ‘he was in the kitchen down the hall.’
‘Thanks, see you later.’
Gressett was on his way out of the kitchen with a coffee.
‘Tiny?’ said Ren.
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. ‘Yes?’
She walked around him to face him. ‘I know you probably didn’t have that kind of relationship with her, and that women can be tricky to read at the best of times, right? But can I ask you about Jean’s personal life?’
Gressett nodded. ‘For what it’s worth.’
‘Did she talk about boyfriends or dating? Did anyone ever come pick her up from work, or meet her for lunch?’
He frowned. ‘Not that I can think of.’
‘She never went to lunch with anyone else?’
‘She ate at the office a lot … or we went together.’
God help her.
‘I don’t know after that,’ said Gressett. ‘She could have. I’ve seen her in Sacred Grounds a couple times with a magazine. It’s a coffee shop in Glenwood.’
‘So, alone?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. Always.’
‘Did she seem interested in dating?’
‘In dating? Well, she kept to herself. Maybe she liked it that way.’
Ren nodded. ‘Did you ever get the feeling, maybe, that …’
‘That what? She didn’t like dating?’
‘Do you think there’s any possibility that Jean could have been gay?’
‘I would say absolutely not.’ He almost recoiled.
You asshole.
‘Nothing wrong with it, if she was,’ said Ren.
He looked at Ren sideways, then tried to recover. ‘I … I know that … It’s just … she wasn’t.’
‘Maybe it was something she kept hidden,’ said Ren. Because of your biased
