“C
hicks dig a milkman,” Pete said, grinning ear to ear. The guys around Pete at the table laughed, but I had heard it a dozen times earlier on the course as Pete had explained his wearing of the well-worn, Borden Milk, baseball cap.
Okay, I may have thought it was cute the first time I heard it, too, but it was getting tiresome, and the “chicks” he flirted with on the course were too young to remember milk being delivered door to door. Of course, now all sorts of groceries could be ordered for home delivery, so who knows?
“Let’s order,” Tom said. “We don’t need to wait for Doug.”
“Let me call him,” Frank said. “He should be on the way.” He pressed a few buttons on his phone and put it up to his ear. Frank had been with the group longer than most.
The group of golfers consisted of sixteen retired air force officers, all but me former pilots. They accepted me well enough. My link to the group came through three former F-4, and later F-16, pilots whom I had met early in my own air force career during my tour of duty in Spain. I knew a fourth from my days at the Air Force Academy. Everyone was retired from the military now, although most still worked in other jobs.
They had invited me once before when they could only fill thirteen of their sixteen slots. I surprised myself back then by agreeing to join them. This time they only needed one outsider to fill their quota, so I was impressed they chose me. They were all good guys and just as important, not very good golfers.
“Hey, Doug,” Frank said into his phone and then paused. The grin on his face disappeared. “How about you telling me who you are.” He looked around at the group, and I could see his eyes widen. “I’m Frank Derby. I’m at the Waffles and Shakes next to the hotel.” He paused, listening. “I’ll be here. We’ll be here.”
“What’s happening?” Tom asked when Frank put his phone down.
“Doug is dead.”
“What?” Mike asked.
“He’s dead. That was the police. We’re to stay here, and someone will be coming right over to talk to us.”
“That means he was murdered,” Mike said.
I wanted to say maybe not, but kept quiet as all their eyes now turned and looked at me.