of his waffle without answering.
Niall’s burger arrived promptly, and he made short work of it, doing his best to ignore Fenrir’s hopeful eyes. “You already had a whole plate of waffles,” he told the dog, but he might possibly have shared a french fry with him too.
As Niall was taking the last sip of his coffee, Stu Dennis strolled in. Niall nodded at him, and the older man walked over to Niall’s table.
“Mind if I sit with you?” Stu asked.
“Sure, have a seat. I was hoping to find you here, actually.” Stu was another one of those people Niall remembered being much younger. It had taken him a little while to put a face to the name. Years ago, Stu had been the history teacher at the local high school. He must’ve retired around the time Niall graduated. Now Niall wondered, as he watched the older man, if Stu might have known about David Delacombe and Ana. Stu didn’t seem to miss much.
Stu made himself comfortable, scratching Fenrir on the head as he did so. “How’s the wolf doing?”
“Ha. He’s more of a sheep in wolf’s clothing. I don’t think he’d hurt anyone.”
“He is fierce-looking, though. I had a dog as a boy, meanest beast you ever came across. That dog terrorized my sister and me for its entire life; the only person it liked was my mother.”
“What kind of dog?” Niall was expecting Stu to say “Rottweiler” or “Doberman.”
“Golden retriever. Mean as a snake.”
Niall chuckled along with Stu.
“Now that the dust has died down from the murders, how are you doing?” Stu asked with an air of innocence Niall did not fall for.
“Are you trying to get information out of me?”
“Just making conversation, just making conversation.” Stu smiled and Niall knew he’d been right, but Stu took the hint.
They sat for a while taking about nothing and everything. Stu knew a lot about what was happening on Piedras—Niall would learn more from him than he ever would from a community bulletin board.
“Everyone wants to know what you’re going to do with Od and Jo’s property.”
“The insurance inspector was out a couple weeks ago. Surely ‘everyone’ knows that.”
Stu nodded. “But what have you decided? There’s a pool going, you know.”
“A pool? People are betting whether I’m going to stay or go back to Seattle?”
“Yup.”
“What are the odds?”
“Right now, about three to one in favor of you leaving.”
“You mean they want me to leave?”
“No, no, three out of four think you’re too chickenshit to stay.”
Niall laughed. “Chickenshit, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
“And where do you stand?” Niall asked.
Stu inspected Niall carefully, his eyes narrowing a bit. “I think you’re probably going to stay. Piedras gets in your blood. You were gone for a long time. Things change, even in a place like this. But I think you’re going to stay.”
“What do you mean, things change?” He’d been meaning to bring up Stu’s grandson and the yurts, but now he was curious. What was the other man hinting at?
Stu leaned back in his chair. Gracie chose that moment to come over with the carafe and refilled Niall’s mug. They watched the stream of dark liquid splashing into his cup. Gracie smiled at them and headed off to caffeinate other patrons.
Once she was gone, Niall repeated his question.
“I mean,” Stu paused, clearly searching for the right words, “society has changed. Piedras is more accepting these days—we’re more liberal. Even old coots like me.”
Niall leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Stu, what exactly are we talking about?” He had an idea what the old geezer was hinting, at least he thought he did. Goose bumps broke out along his arms underneath the warm sweater he was wearing.
Stu rolled his eyes. “Homosexuality, Hamarsson. That’s what I’m talking about. For a cop, you are mighty obtuse. Mat’s car has been parked outside the Orca overnight for two days running. That has people talking, but not in the way you probably think. Well, not many, anyway,” he amended.
Niall narrowed his eyes. He felt certain Martin Reynolds was the source of much of any negative gossip about him and Mat, especially after Mat’s run-in when he was walking Fenrir the other morning. Martin irritated Niall’s last nerve.
The old man confirmed Niall’s thoughts. “Don’t worry about people like Martin Reynolds. He’s a shit heel, no doubt, but he’s also too caught up in his own wacky theories to be any harm. I think Claribel would take him out of her will if he did anything more than blow off steam, and