Page 28 of A Winter of Discontent for Henry Milch

Was he reading my mind?

“A little,” I said.

“You know they just make most of that stuff up. Petechia can happen if you cough too much… throw up too hard… A crying jag can give it to you. And then there’s about twenty different diseases associated with petechia.”

Rude. I tried to redeem myself. “She was killed in her home.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’ve seen her around. Normally she wears a ton of makeup. And I mean a ton. If she hadn’t taken it off, you wouldn’t even see the… petechia. Plus, she’s wearing pajamas.”

Lehmann said, “Excuse me.” And walked out of the tasting room.

Melanie came over with Emerald’s bottle, and said, “I think this as warm as I can get it.”

I lifted my sister out of her car seat, tucked her into my elbow. Her crying had calmed a bit. She might have beenenjoying the conversation. Who knows? Anyway, she took the bottle easily and chowed down.

“Isn’t she sweet?” Melanie said.

“She’s a monster.”

“A sweet monster.” And then she broke into baby talk riff.

I looked up and could see through the front door that Detective Lehmann had gone over to the deputies and was talking to one of them. After a moment or two, the deputy walked over and got into this black SUV. As it drove off, the detective headed back into the tasting room.

“You sent him off to Roberta’s place, didn’t you?”

Ignoring me, he said, “Where’s her mother? Your mother? Why isn’t she taking care of your sister?”

“She flaked. Back in September.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means she’s gone. We don’t know where she is.”

“But you know she’s okay?”

“She sent some stuff at Christmas. I think she calls my grandmother.”

“Is this out of character?”

“It’s not. And, no, we don’t want to file a missing person’s report.”

“No problem. Let me know if you change your mind.” Then he turned to Melanie, “Look, I should probably warn you. Sheriff Crocker is going to want me to look very, very closely at you. So if there’s anything you want to say now…”

“Sure,” Melanie said. “There is something I want to say. I’m not talking to you again without a lawyer present.”

“That’s just going to convince Sheriff Crocker you’re guilty.”

“Sheriff Crocker is an idiot. Everyone knows that.”

Detective Lehmann did not have a good response to that, so he left.

CHAPTER NINE

After Emerald finished her bottle, I put her back in her car seat and she fell off to sleep in a matter of moments. I gave Melanie my cell phone number and told her to call if Detective Lehmann approached her again.

“Do you have a lawyer?”