Murder Grins and Bears It by Deb Baker Page B

HUGE,
hit with the men, this was my first evidence of it. I wondered if
she would comb out her pin curls for it.
    “ And we’d like you to go
too.”
    I had tears in my eyes from coughing on
doughnut crumbs, or so I pretended. I shook my head violently. It
wasn’t even two years since Barney died, way too soon for dating,
and if I did decide to date again, it wouldn’t be a triple
date.
    “ The Detroit boys,” Kitty
explained. “Cora Mae’s going out with BB, and I’m going out with
Marlin. That leaves Remy without a date. How about it?”
    “ I’m working tonight at my
new census job,” I explained, with a hint of false disappointment
in my voice, grasping frantically for a valid excuse. “Any other
time and I’d really like to go along. You two have fun.”
    “ I didn’t know you took a
night job,” Cora Mae whined.
    “ It’s some days and some
nights, depending on what area I’m covering.”
    “ You can set your own
hours,” Cora Mae insisted. “You don’t have to work
tonight.”
    “ I want to make a good
impression.”
    “ We’ll miss you,” Kitty
said, picking up another doughnut.
    This new job was already coming in handy for
dodging unpleasant social situations.

    ****

    My job was to visit every household in the
town of Stonely as well as the outlying areas, and gather
information for the government. I know in the past I’ve said some
pretty harsh things about our government and I’m not taking any of
my words back. Now, instead of giving them all my money, they’ll be
paying some of it back to me.
    Our government is run by a bunch of crooks
and there’s no getting around it. But the job has some interesting
aspects that will enhance my private investigator business. For
example, I go out whenever I want to - days, nights or weekends -
and I interview household members. Besides the information the
government requires on its standard form, I can ask away on any
subject I want.
    I have my own census worker badge, and I
think it will get me in the door better than my new detective badge
once I start testing it out.
    At the first door I said, “You didn’t send
in your census form.” I’d barely completed my sentence before the
door slammed shut right in my face. I made a mark on my form the
way the trainer taught me.
    The second door I knocked on was opened by a
large gorilla-like guy wearing a muscle shirt. He let me explain
who I was. Then without a word, he started to open the door wider,
and I thought I was being welcomed in. Instead, a Doberman the size
of Detroit passed through the widening opening and made straight
for me. The dog ran me off, snarling and barking at my heels.
    I put another mark on my form with a huge
exclamation point and decided to discuss dogs with my trainer,
since she hadn’t mentioned one word about them as potential
problems. I wasn’t trying this one again without Fred as
backup.
    Jackie Hoholik lived in the next house on my
list. She’d been raised by old man Gus, a Finn from the old school.
He even had a Finnish accent even though he’d been born and raised
in the United States. He must have picked it up from his parents,
who immigrated to America in the early 1900s and settled in
Calumet.
    Jackie was the oldest of Gus’s six girls and
he brought her up as though she was a boy. Stocky built with short
dark hair, she could shoot an acorn off a stump from across a
field. She wins every shooting contest in Tamarack County and keeps
the men hopping, trying to outdo her.
    She hunts every animal in every season and
always bags her limit. And I hear she can drink everyone at Herb’s
Bar under the table.
    “ Hey, Gert,” she said,
studying my census badge and opening the door wide. “Come on
in.”
    “ I’m working today,
Jackie,” I said just to warn her. “This is a business
call.”
    “ I can see
that.”
    “ You didn’t send in your
census form, so I have to ask you a few questions.” I braced for
her reaction. If it was anything like the