Page 47 of Head Room

“Oh, yes.Trusted him.Respected him.Now, the colonel’s wife, she did the same, but also loved her.”Connie smiled slightly, remembering her friend.“And their kids.

“Frank saw the colonel most recently last fall after Irene passed.The colonel’s wife came to the funeral, but he couldn’t because he was—” She stopped.“They called it something special.Don’t remember, but it made me think of tidy.”

“TDY — temporary duty,” I supplied.

“That’s it.Got the feeling it was a little hush-hush.Anyway, he came later and spent time with Frank.I’d stopped by to bring a casserole, but that went right in the freezer, because the colonel had brought these huge steaks.”

Her chuckle faded to softness.

“It was good for Frank.Real good for him.He turned a corner toward living again with that visit.”

“So, you were surprised to hear about his cabin and—”

“Stunned about the cabin and not believing for a second about them saying suicide.Oh, I know there’s not an official finding yet, but that’s the word on everyone’s lips and it started from the firefighters, so how long would it take for that to become official?”

“We’ll have to see,” I answered neutrally.

Telling her about the pattern Diana spotted through her camera wouldn’t advance the finding of the truth — because it wouldn’t stay with Connie — or advance our conversation.

It also might give her unfounded hope.

And, yes, Shelton would kill me.

I’m more than willing to risk that when necessary, but no reason to when it wasn’t necessary.

Unless, of course, it gave me an advantage.That rarely qualified as necessary, but it could be fun.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I turned theconversation with another question.“Who were the people closest to Frank and Irene Jardos?Who should I talk to?”

“Honestly, around here, probably me for Irene.Though you have to know that the two of them were such a tight unit that they didn’t need others.Then, I guess for Frank it’s—” She cut me a look.“—Hiram Poppinger”

I whined internally that she’d confirmed Diana’s vaguer connection.Darn it.

Connie might have heard my internal whine, because she said, “I know, but he’s your best shot.”

Not the best choice of words, since Poppinger tried to shoot anyone in range, which included me, my friends, and Shelton, in our first encounter.

I suppose I could look at the bright side that he wasn’t as cranky as he used to be since he’d become an item with Yvette.

The not so bright side was that Yvette maintained she was responsible for Elvis...well, it got complicated, but she maintained he’d faked his death and disappeared from sight because she loved him too much.

Apparently, Hiram Poppinger wasn’t as delicate.

“Frank does — did — also connect with some veterans that are...I guess you’d say they’re off the grid.High side.”

That terrain worked hard to match up with the mountains that starkly rose in National Forest and Yellowstone Park lands farther to the west.These mountains formed part of the wider Rocky Mountains, parceled into messy strands of the Absaroka and Beartooth ranges, with the Gallatin range farther west.

Connie continued, “They don’t come into town much.Frank would pick up things they needed in town, run errands, handle things for them when he could, give them a ride and stick around to take them back if they had to do it themselves.Basically, run interference for them.”

“Did he know them from his days in the army?”

“No.”That sounded certain.Then she immediately qualified it.“I don’t think so.I had the impression he heard about them and went to connect with them.”She frowned.“I’m positive Irene would have mentioned it if they were friends from earlier.”

“How about if they were enemies?”

She chuckled, then stopped.“You mean that.I can’t imagine—” She shook her head.“Okay, okay.I know, better than most, that pretending bad things don’t happen is just being blind.But, truly, Elizabeth, I can’t imagine either of them having enemies.”