Chapter 52

FIFTY-TWO

Back at the car Ronnie calls Missy's home and puts the call on speaker. The phone is answered by a drunk woman, bellowing, "What. Well, crap. Hang on." Clatter, clatter. "Dropped my damn cigarette." I hear a grunt and then, "Where ya' at?" I wonder if she's talking to someone else or the cigarette. Then, "Okay. What ya' want?"

"Mrs. Milligan," Ronnie says.

"I ain't a Milligan," the woman says. "I never married that bastard. All he ever gave me is a kid and an ungrateful one at that. What's she done now?"

"I'm Detective Marsh. My partner talked to Missy at the resort. We need to pass on some new information. She's not in trouble."

"Well, she's, uh, asleep."

Ronnie says, "Can you wake her? I think she'll want to hear what I have to tell her."

"Nope. I don't go in her room. Ever. I just pay the bills and feed her and my boy when he comes here," she says. "You got any kids, Detective." Before Ronnie can answer, she says, "Didn't think so. Well, take my advice. Keep your legs together. Too late for me."

"Good advice, ma'am."

The woman laughs and it turns into a coughing fit. When she recovers she says, "You don't mean that but thank you for agreeing with me. No one else does. It's been nice talking to you but I got things to do before her highness gets her ass out of bed."

"One other thing," Ronnie says. "Do you know a guy named Thundercloud?"

"Oh, Good Lord!"

"So you know him?"

"I should. He's my son, but I don't really claim him. He's no good, that one. And before you ask, I don't know where he is and don't want to know or talk about him, so goodbye."

Ronnie hurriedly says, "Just one more thing, ma'am. Can you leave Missy a note?"

She sighs, and says, "This is it but keep it short. I got to look for something to write with." The phone clatters and I hear, "Well, shit fire." When she comes back she's yelling into the phone, and Ronnie holds it at arm's length. "Okay. Damn pen. Hang on." The phone clatters again and then she comes back. "Okay. This one's working. What do you want to tell her? Not like she'll pay attention. She don't like cops. Not me, you understand. I don't have a thing against cops."

"Just say we're meeting Vinnie in Bellingham."

"Hold on a dang minute." The phone is muffled, and I can hear her speaking to someone else but the words are unclear. "Who's Vinnie?"

"He's someone she's helping us look for."

"Spell the name for me."

Ronnie does; it's like teaching calculus to a two-year-old. She has to repeat the phone number several times.

"Okay. I don't know if she can read my writing but I'll put it on her door."

"Thank you, ma'am. Have you seen Missy's boyfriend?"

She laughs. "Which one? Boyfriend. That's a good one. She's having it on with my no-good boy. How's that for a mental issue?"

"Tell her to call us. Thank you, ma'am."

"Ronnie, ask her if Roger called?" I say, but the call goes dead.

Ronnie and I look at each other in disbelief and a little disgust. Thundercloud is Missy's brother. How sick is that? Next stop, Whatcom County lockup.

We're shown into the sheriff's office right away as if he's expecting us.

"Glad to see you, ladies," Longbow says and indicates two chairs. We sit. "I hope you don't think I run a half-assed outfit. I've got everyone available looking for Duke. It's not the first time something like this has happened. Duke's been a good trusty in the past. I don't know what made him run, but I hope it doesn't have anything to do with him talking to you and Lucas."

Captain Roberts, the jail commander, knocks on the door frame. "You wanted me, Sheriff?"

"Anything on Duke?" Longbow asks.

"Nothing new, Sheriff."

A trusty is in the hallway with a floor cleaner running. Roberts tells the man. "Turn that off for a minute, Ludwig." The machine goes silent but the trusty doesn't leave. Good. I want him to hear this and pass it on.

Roberts says, "I've talked to all the trusties and staff. No one had any idea he was going to skedaddle."

Skedaddle. I haven't heard that word for a while. Sheriff Gray used to say it. He'd say, "Why don't you skedaddle off home." I'm sure Ronnie will look the word up when we leave here.

Longbow says to us, "What can you tell me? It might help us figure out what's got up Duke's ass. Excuse my language, ladies."

The trusty is still there. Ronnie says, "We've been looking for my mom and her brother, Vinnie, called last night and said he needed to talk to her. He mentioned Duke. He also mentioned someone named Thundercloud."

Sheriff Longbow and Captain Roberts exchange a look but say nothing.

I ask, "Is that name familiar to either of you?"

Longbow has a disgusted look on his face when he says, "Yeah. We know Thundercloud."

Roberts says, "He's a frequent flyer here. Bad dude. Dangerous. He was a cell boss. Do you know what that means?"

I do but I shake my head.

"We always had him locked up with the worst ones. He was feared even among that lot. His reputation is he bit a prisoner's ear off. The whole cell, that's twenty inmates, were scared of him and did whatever he said. He'd take their commissary. Stuff like that. If someone disrespected him, he'd have a few inmates pound the guy into hamburger meat. Sorry for the image but there's no other way to describe it. He was a trusty a very short time but spent most of his time here mostly in isolation."

"Was he ever a trusty when my uncle was one?" Ronnie asks.

"Could have been," Roberts says. "They're both gamblers."

Ronnie says, "They gamble in here?"

"They do a lot of things in here. We keep the worst of it out, but we don't have enough jailers to do much good." Roberts asks, "Any idea what Vinnie was going to tell you? Did he tell anyone?"

"No."

Longbow asks, "Do you know how to contact your uncle? Maybe he knows where our runaway is hiding."

"He's coming to Bellingham to meet us," I say. "I was hoping someone here knew where Duke was. Duke is Vinnie's only friend. Now Duke is gone and we were hoping he could get the truth out of Vinnie about his sister."

Sheriff Longbow looks at Roberts. Roberts says, "I've talked to everyone. Inmates. Staff. Kitchen help. No one has a clue."

Ronnie sighs. "Well, it was worth a shot." She hands Roberts a card. "Call me if you hear anything. Anything at all. I'm…" Her words trail off, and I put an arm across her shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Ronnie. We'll find her," I say, and look up at Longbow and Roberts with what I hope are sad and pleading eyes. Ronnie wipes a real tear from the corner of her eye with a knuckle. I didn't teach her that.

We get up and I say, "Well, thank you, gentlemen, for everything you've done. I'll get her home." Ronnie is making that ugly "I'm gonna cry" face and more tears roll. She even convinces me. Maybe it's not an act.

We get outside and I put my hand on Ronnie's arm. "Are you okay?"

She giggles. "How was that? Do you think I got their sympathy?"

Too good. "It was okay."

"Just okay? I should get an Oscar."

"Okay. I'll admit you did an excellent crybaby act. Even the ugly face was convincing." I smile on the inside. "Let's go."