considered the clutter. “Been doing a little partying, have you, Mr. Denson?”
“I had a few friends over last night This visit has to do with what, Sheriff?”
Starkey was all business for it being so early in the morning. “Mr. Denson, the business card you gave me the other day has John Denson and Willie Prettybird written on it. Is this Prettybird by any chance the Indian that has been seen coming in and out of your cabin here?”
“The same.”
“I see. Did he help you consume all this stuff?”
“Yes, he did. He and a few friends.”
“Is he involved in your investigation of the marijuana found on the Harkenrider place?”
“No, he isn’t.”
The sheriff took a sip of coffee. “Well then, why is he here? And where are these friends of his?”
“Boogie Dewlapp rented this cabin as a base for my investigation, and when Willie found out, he decided to crash here and maybe do a little fishing and have a good time.”
“Fishing?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know his whereabouts?”
“I don’t have any idea. His friends had to go to work down in Oregon so they all took off early this morning.”
“How early this morning?”
“We threw it in at two o’clock. I damned near passed out when I hit the sack, and the truth is I don’t know when they left. I was asleep.”
“Prettybird doesn’t have to go to work, does he?”
“Willie scores a job here and there. But he’s not a nine-to-fiver; he’s not a wage slave if that’s what you mean. He might have gone to have breakfast with them, or maybe he went to Oregon too. He’s got an apartment in northwest Portland.”
The sheriff sighed. “Mr. Denson, I have a good idea that you’re not telling me everything you know here.”
“I’m telling you God’s truth, Sheriff. Haul out the polygraph if you want.”
“Just who were these friends of his? Will you give me their names?” He took out a pad and readied a ballpoint pen.
“Well, there was Melvin and there was Duke, and Toro, and Little Eagle Brown. Uh, and one woman, Donna.”
He finished scribbling. “And Donna.”
Behind the sheriff’s shoulder I saw Willie Prettybird’s Dart pass by on the highway with two figures in the front seat. Willie and Donna had, in fact, been to breakfast. They had also seen the sheriff’s car and would hang out somewhere until he was gone.
“And their last names?”
I said, “Donna Cowapoo. Little Eagle Brown. I don’t know the others.”
“They didn’t mention any horsing around on the North Fork last night, did they? Redskin frolics.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“When were they here, Mr. Denson? Between what hours? You say you went to bed at two.”
“Let’s see, I had a beer at the Hog Wild and got back about eleven-thirty or so, and they came in not long after that.”
The sheriff sighed. “Now let me tell you a couple of things here, Mr. Denson. First, the people counting those owls are doing it against our advice. We haven’t ruled out the possibility that whoever murdered Jenny MacIvar might be after Dr. Angleton as well. Second, Dr. Angleton believes somebody was up on the North Fork last night making like coyotes and panthers. Under the circumstances, like it or not, she and her party had to knock off early. They were not amused.”
“By the way, how is the murder investigation going?”
Starkey narrowed his eyes. “A murder is police business, Mr. Denson, not yours. When we have something to make public, we’ll tell it to the media, not some hotshot private detective.”
“Maybe there were coyotes and panthers up there. This is the great Northwest.”
“Loons, geese, great horned owls. Sure there were. One thing is sure: Sometime early this morning, somebody broke into the Hog Wild Saloon and stole that flattened owl they had hanging from the ceiling.”
“What?”
“If Willie Prettybird did break into the Hog Wild and steal that owl, he better be praying to the Great Spirit that I get to him before Kenny O’Callahan and his friends. Second, if I find out you’ve been lying to me about any of this, I’ll have your boxtops.”
“I gave you the straight skinny, Sheriff.”
Sheriff Starkey got up and put away his pad and ballpoint pen.
I watched him walk through the mud back to his squad car. He opened the car door and kicked some goo off his fancy cleated walking shoes, but paused before he got in. “By the way, you haven’t found anything substantial in that Harkenrider case, have you? I hate to see kids like that take a marijuana tumble if