Cantina Valley (A Ben Adler Mystery Book 1) by Trevor Scott

sealing nuclear secrets in here.”   Ben pulled out a knife, flipped the blade open with one finger, and slit open the package.   The phone resembled a flip phone from the turn of the new millennium.   “I’m still turning it off at night,” he said.
    “Deal.”
    “I hope I didn’t offend you.”
    “Not at all.   I’m so sick of passive men hiding their true feelings, if they even have them.   It’s refreshing to have someone say what they really mean.”
    “I do hold back sometimes, Maggi.”
    “I doubt that.”
    “I could have told you that I’m sexually attracted to you.”
    “Are you?”
    “I’d have to be blind and stupid not to be.”
    “And you’re neither.”
    “Some might disagree.   But now we’re working together.   Actually, I’m working for you.   So, no matter how attractive I find you, I cannot act on it.   I’m duty bound to the honorable.”
    “Do I have any say in the matter?”
    “You have all the say.   You could fire me.”
    Now that Ben had gotten that off his chest, he hoped the tension between them would subside.   He told her what he had found out so far, which wasn’t a helluva lot.   Being lied to by a Bigfoot hunter was not exactly Earth-shattering.   Ben guessed that Marlon had a lot hiding in that log home.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    7
     
    Maggi wanted to hang out with Ben on Saturday as he traveled about the area looking for her brother.   First they drove out to visit Marlon Telford.   The eccentric Sasquatch enthusiast unlocked the electric gate and Ben drove slowly up the driveway.
    “Let me do the talking,” Ben said.   “This guy is a bit out there.”
    “He actually hunts for Bigfoot?”
    “He’s not alone.   He’s part of a group in this area who spend time out in the woods.   Marlon is a little more dedicated than most, though.   He claims to have definitive proof.”
    “That would mean an actual corpse,” Maggi said.
    “Trust me.   If Marlon had that kind of evidence, he wouldn’t keep it to himself.”
    Ben put the truck in gear and let out the clutch, pulling forward toward Marlon’s massive house along his perfectly-paved driveway.
    As Ben parked out front, Marlon stepped out the front door as always.   This time he had actually put on clothes.   He was dressed in chic western camo with his multi-pocket pants bloused military style.   But Ben knew that this man had never served a day in anything more than the Campfire Girls.
    Ben stepped out of the truck into a misty morning that looked like it could have been heading into evening.
    Maggi came alongside Ben’s left side and whispered, “Is this guy all right?”
    “Not sure.   Possibly harmless; possibly has women imprisoned in a dungeon.”
    “Good to know,” she said.
    Marlon the Bigfoot hunter smiled and said, “Welcome Earthlings.   What can I do for my favorite neighbor and his hot redheaded friend?”
    Knowing how he wanted to play this, without implicating his sometime girlfriend Sonya, Ben pulled out the photo of Tavis McGuffin again and showed it to Marlon.   “Could you look at this photo again,” Ben said.   “Last time I was here it was early morning and you looked like the sandman was still messing with your eyes.   Have you seen him?”
    Marlon barely looked at the photo.   “You know, come to think of it, he looks like this fellow I met once at the winery up the valley.”
    “Springdale?” Ben asked.
    “Yeah.   I think maybe it might be him.”
    “Was he alone?”
    Cocking his head to one side in concentration, Marlon finally said, “He might have been with a couple of rough-looking characters.”
    “Describe them?”
    “You know the type,” Marlon said.   “Heavy on the tattoos.   More muscles than brains.”
    “Bikers?”
    “No.   More like military or former soldiers.   You know, white kids who knew enough to put their hands over their hearts when they play the national anthem at football games.”
    Sounded