Ben Rehder: Bone Dry

Marlin laughed. “You’ve been talking to Bobby Garza, right?”

“Well,” Susannah played along with his good humor, “you know I can’t reveal my sources. Just passing along what I heard.”

Marlin grabbed his coffee cup but didn’t drink. “Well, to be honest, that’s all it is: gossip.”

“No plans to join the Sheriff’s Department, then?”

“None whatsoever.”

Susannah eyed him, trying to gauge his sincerity. After a few seconds, she was convinced.

“Okay, last question.” She had gotten all the good stuff already. Now she just needed some filler. “Do you have any comment on yesterday’s reading of Emmett Slaton’s will?”

“Sorry, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”

“Oh, well, I guess you have been kind of distracted. It turns out that Slaton was wealthier than a lot of people realized. His lawyer held a press conference yesterday and announced that Mr. Slaton left more than fifty million dollars to the county. And it says here….” She rifled through some papers. “I know I have a transcript of the announcement somewhere. Here we go: The attorney said, ‘The bulk of the money is to be used to renovate and expand the Blanco County Hospital.’ Pretty exciting, huh?”

Marlin set down his coffee cup. “May I see that?”

Susannah handed the papers to the game warden, who began to scan them quickly. He looked up, grinning broadly. “That’s fantastic news,” he said. “When is all this going to happen?”

“From what I understand, they’re going to start building as soon as possible. The city council says….”

John Marlin was sliding out of the booth. “I don’t mean to be rude, Susannah, but I’ve really got to make a call.”

“Sure,” Susannah said, anxious to get in front of her computer and begin writing. She held out a hand and Marlin shook it. “A pleasure, as always, Mr. Marlin.”

“Thank you, Susannah.”

Susannah gathered her belongings, keeping an eye on Marlin as he went to the pay phone and slipped some coins into the slot.