Strangers by Bill Pronzini Read Free Book Online

Mendoza?”
    â€œI’m not sure. It might do more harm than good, if he wants to make an issue of your unofficial status.”
    â€œBetter to steer clear of him, then,” I said, “at least for the time being.”
    â€œThat would be my advice. Proceed with caution, no matter what you intend to do.”
    â€œI haven’t made up my mind about a course of action yet. Still feeling my way along.” I shifted position on the cushionless client’s chair; the older I get, the more my butt muscles protest sitting on hard surfaces. “Mrs. Hatcher had company when I went to see her last night, before the trouble started. Her brother-in-law, Matt Hatcher. What can you tell me about him?”
    â€œNot very much. Works as a supervisor at the Eastwell Mine.”
    I made a note of that in my book. “He seems to have pretty strong feelings for her that she doesn’t reciprocate.”
    â€œYes, now that you mention it. Aggressive and full of himself, if my brief acquaintance with him is any indication. A man who won’t take no for an answer.”
    â€œDo he and his nephew get along? Didn’t seem that way to me last night.”
    â€œI don’t know for sure, but I doubt it. Since you’re asking for my opinion, I’d say he hopes the boy is guilty.”
    â€œThat’s the impression I got, too. Views Cody as a rival, would like him out of the way so Mrs. Hatcher would be all alone and he’d have a better chance of moving in.”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œHow long has she been a widow?”
    â€œâ€¦ She didn’t tell you?”
    â€œThe subject of her late husband didn’t come up.”
    â€œOh? I had the impression that you and she were … well, very close at one time.”
    â€œFor a short period more than twenty years ago. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since we parted ways.”
    â€œBut you came right away when she contacted you.…”
    â€œMy motives were and are professional, Mr. Parfrey, not personal.”
    â€œYes, of course.” He cleared his throat. “Well. Glen Hatcher. He died … let’s see, four years ago last August. Heart attack caused by hypertension and overwork. Sad case—he was only forty-seven.”
    â€œWhat was his job?”
    â€œMetallurgist. Also employed by Eastwell.”
    â€œAnd Cheryl has been alone ever since?”
    â€œExcept for her son, yes. Not that she hasn’t had other opportunities—she’s a very attractive woman. But she doesn’t seem interested in another permanent relationship.”
    No surprise there. Two marriages that ended painfully, tragically. The first to a Tom Something she’d caught in bed with another woman and who’d unintentionally killed himself and his girlfriend in a drunken accident six weeks after she threw him out; she’d been on the mend from that one when I met her in San Francisco. And the second to Glen Hatcher, which apparently hadn’t been a bed of roses, either, except for the union having produced her only child.
    I said, “The man who claims to have seen Cody running away from the Oasis Mobile Home Park—Stendreyer. What can you tell me about him?”
    â€œWell … he’s a hermit who calls himself a prospector, and a desert scavenger, but he evidently has another, illegal source of income.”
    â€œAnd that is?”
    â€œMarijuana.”
    â€œOh? Rumor, or has it been substantiated?”
    Parfrey’s mouth bent wryly at the corners. “Cody admitted to me, privately and under pressure, that he’s bought joints from the man. I have no reason to disbelieve him.”
    â€œDoes his mother know he smokes dope?”
    â€œNo. I certainly didn’t tell her. Or anybody else except you.”
    â€œGood. Do you think Felix and the D.A. know about Stendreyer’s sideline?”
    â€œIf it’s true that he’s a dealer, then yes,