Read a short story from HAVE COURAGE

KNOWN ASSOCIATE

I listened as Victoria Moretti, my undersheriff, and Santiago Saizarbitoria, my deputy, quizzed Ruby in low voices as the three of them decorated the office Christmas tree—all two feet of it. “For how long?”

The exasperation in my dispatcher’s voice was becoming more and more evident. “A long time.”

I was gathering a few things from the office before I left, most important, the case to safely store my Colt semiauto­matic. I was having trouble finding the firearm’s lockbox be­cause I used it so rarely—once a year, around this time to be exact.

Vic’s voice was low, but I could still hear her as I searched in the open space behind the hanging files at the back ends of my cabinets. “He just disappears and doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going?”

The Basquo was also still audible. “For only one day?”

“Sometimes two, depending on when he leaves.” There was a pause, and I was sure Ruby was checking the old Seth Thomas clock on the wall in the outside office. “He’s running late and it’s snowing, so I’d imagine he’ll be two days this trip.”

I listened as my undersheriff mused. “You’ve never asked?”

“It’s none of my business.”

“Does he take Dog?”

There was a pause,...