Page 14 of Kyle

“Whoa,” I say. “I wonder how toxic it is.”

Billy glances at the horizon. “Where is this place?”

“We head east. First road, we take a right and head south.”

Five minutes later, we roll up a driveway and stop in front of a white clapboard farmhouse with a big porch.

A thin, gray-haired man with skin browned from the sun comes out with a shotgun leveled at us. “Who the hell are you?”

Cole holds his hands up. “We’re here on behalf of Harry Silver’s widow. She asked us to look into his death. You Machado?”

The barrel of the gun lowers. “I had nothing to do with that.”

“I’m not saying you did. He was working a case for you, wasn’t he? I just want to know about that. Can we talk?”

A girl opens the door. We don’t get more than a glimpse, but she’s a looker. “You okay, Daddy?”

“I’m fine. Go back inside.”

Machado sets the gun against the railing. “Have a seat.”

We join him on the porch.

Cole extends his hand. “Cole Austin.”

“Mateo Machado.” He and Cole shake hands and take the two rockers.

“Sorry about the greeting. You can’t be too careful, and you looked like trouble.”

“We can be, if we need to be. Guess that’s why Joselyn asked me to help.”

“That his wife’s name? He never said, though I remember he told me their oldest was getting married. I’m sorry for their loss. Heard about it on the news. Some detectives came by last week asking questions.”

“You know anything about his death?”

“No. Like I told them, I had nothing to do with it.”

Cole nods. “Tell me about what he was doing for you.”

“He was helping me get some compensation for the contaminated creek killing my orchard.”

“Isn’t that a matter for the EPA?”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, try calling them. You’ll get nowhere.”

“So, what was Harry going to do for you?”

“He was going to find out who was dumping chemicals into the creek.” He points to the west. “Just upriver.”

“Show us.”

He stands. “We can take my pickup.”

The two of them climb in the front, and the three of us crowd into the crew-cab. He pulls onto the road.

It’s an older truck, and Cole rests his arm in the open window, watching the orchard of almond trees flash past us.

“There much money in the almond business?” he asks.

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