"It's an indoor pool," said Jean. "We're not sun worshippers here."
"And coal dust might turn the pool water black," said Cole.
Her sister turned to her. "That is complete and total bullshit and you know it."
"Do I?"
The maid arrived with their drinks and Cole took her ginger ale and handed the beer to Puller. She said, "Okay, I'm going. You two can chat about me behind my back."
She left and Jean turned to Puller and clinked her glass against his bottle. "She's a little intense for my taste."
"She's a cop. She has to be intense. And she's a woman, so she has to be even more intense to be accepted."
"If you say so."
"You two are pretty different. Not in looks, but in every other way."
"I wouldn't disagree with that. So why were you two really late? You're not sleeping with her already, are you?"
"Already?" he said in surprise. "She certainly doesn't strike me as the type to sleep around."
"I didn't mean that. And she's not. She's attractive and unattached and you're attractive and I don't see a wedding band on that big hand of yours."
"That doesn't explain the 'already' comment."
"Well, I think my little sister is getting a little desperate."
Puller leaned back and took a drink of his beer. "No, we weren't sleeping together. We were getting blown up together."
She sat up straighter. "Excuse me?"
"Someone booby-trapped a truck at a house we were at. Came a few seconds away from not joining you for dinner tonight or any other night."
Jean put down her glass and stared at him. "You're joking."
"I don't joke about almost getting killed."
"Why didn't Sam mention it?"
"I don't know. She's your sister. You obviously know her a lot better than I do."
She picked her glass back up but didn't take a drink. She stared down at the olives. "I wish she had never become a cop."
"Why?"
"It's dangerous."
"Lots of things are dangerous."
"You know what I mean," she replied in a sharp tone.
"She's a public servant, risking her life to keep the peace. To keep the good citizens of Drake safe. I admire her."
"And you're a soldier, right? A public servant?"
"That comes with the job description, yes."
"Iraq and Afghanistan?"
"Both."
"A young man I had a crush on in high school, Ricky Daniels, joined the Army right after he graduated. He died in the first Gulf War. He was only nineteen."
"If he had come back would you have married Roger Trent?"
She swallowed the rest of her martini. "I see no reason why that's any of your damn business."
"You're absolutely right. Just making small talk until your sister comes back."
"Well, don't trouble yourself. About the small talk. I'm perfectly fine with my own company."
"So why did you want me to come tonight?"
"I don't know, actually. It just struck me as a good idea at the time. I'm an impulsive person."
"Really? You don't strike me as such."
"Well, I am."
"So tell me about the earlier death threats your husband got."
"Why? More small talk? I told you it wasn't necessary."
"No, I'm wearing my investigator hat now."
"It was stupid. Nothing to it."
"Death threats are rarely stupid with nothing to them."
"Well, these were."
"Do you think the same person is making them again then? And should your husband not be worried? Because it's clear he is."
Jean didn't look as confident now. Her hand shook some as she set her glass down. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer that."
"You didn't seem all that concerned about it this afternoon."
"My husband is not Mr. Popular. Lots of people hate him."
"Any you know personally?"
"Yes."
"And yet you married him."
She looked at him darkly. "That's right, I did. So what? And he wasn't rich back when I did. He was still struggling to build his business. So I didn't do it for the money."
"Not saying he was. And not saying you did."
"But you were thinking it."
"I'm sure he has lots of other appealing qualities."
"He does, actually."
"Good to know."
"I don't like your attitude."
"I don't have an attitude. I'm just trying to go with the flow."
"Try harder."
CHAPTER
38
COLE WALKED BACK into the room. "Well, Meghan is far more interested in burning off fat than talking to her aunt." She stopped speaking when she saw her sister scowling at Puller. into the room. "Well, Meghan is far more interested in burning off fat than talking to her aunt." She stopped speaking when she saw her sister scowling at Puller.
"Everything okay?" she said, glancing at him.
He said, "Everything's just fine."
The door opened again.
"Randy?" exclaimed Cole.
Randy Cole had cleaned himself up since Puller had seen him last. He had on freshly laundered jeans, a black T-shirt, and loafers. His hair was neatly combed and he'd shaved.
Sam Cole seemed genuinely surprised but pleased.
Jean looked stunned but not unhappy.
Randy came forward and Cole hugged him. "How are you doing, stranger?" she said in a light tone. Puller assumed she was trying to defuse any possibility of tension.
"I'm doing," said Randy. He looked over at Puller. "Seen you at Annie's."
"Yes, you did."
"You the Army guy everybody in town's been talking about?"
"Guess I am."
"I wanted to join up."
"Why didn't you?" asked Puller.
"Failed the physical. Eyes not up to snuff and something in my chest. Probably from breathing all this fresh air my whole life."
Jean said, "Let's head in to dinner."
The dining room was large, paneled in zebra wood with enough moldings, cornices, and medallions to qualify for palace status. They occupied one end of an antique Sheraton table that was long enough to require three pedestals for support.
Randy rubbed his hand over the highly polished wood. "Damn, coal sure pays good, big sister."
"You've never been here before?" asked Puller. He was sitting next to Randy and had noted him looking around in wide-eyed astonishment at the opulent surroundings.
Jean said quickly, "Not for lack of asking. That was why I was surprised to see you tonight. You never came before when I invited you."
Puller glanced at Randy. The Trents had been married all these years and Randy had not come to their house? Then a possible answer struck him.
"How long have you lived in this house?" he asked Jean.
She kept her gaze on her brother. "Five years. Took that long to build the place. Added a lot of workers to the job rolls, I can tell you that."
"Yeah," said Randy. "Hey, sis, why don't you get your hubby to build a couple more of these? Knock the county unemployment down for sure."
Jean laughed uneasily. "I think we have all the space we need, Randy."
"Damn shame," said Randy.
"But you know there's a job for you at Trent if you want it," she said.
"What would that be?" asked Randy. "Vice president? CFO? Chief ass-kisser?"
Cole turned to Puller and said hastily, "Randy and our father worked for Trent Exploration."
"Doing what?"