Poison Branches

by Cynthia Raleigh

  “Yeah, Brett here told me about the trouble with old Sauer yesterday. Shootin’ at people, was he?” he shook his head.

  “He shot into the air. No one was hurt, but he crossed the line this time. He was very agitated that there were people in the cemetery on your ground.”

  “I heard that. I told that young lady it was fine with me if she went in there and looked around.”

  “That’s what she told us. There is something I wanted to ask you about.”

  “Surely, you go right ahead.” He continued to rock as contentedly as if Sarah were there for Sunday lunch.

  Sarah pulled one of the teal colored chairs from the dinette over near the rocking chair. “Now, as you said, you were ill over the winter, and I’m glad you are feeling better, but you said you hadn’t been down to your outbuildings since last summer. Is that right?”

  “Yep. Haven’t ventured down there. I could have, I s’pose, but I don’t really have any reason to right now. I haven’t used them regular for years, not since I quit farming.”

  “Yes, that’s what I understood. There would be no reason for someone to be driving a car or other vehicle into your barn recently?”

  The old man puckered his lips then said, “Well, no. There shouldn’t be anyone going in there.”

  “Have you heard anything, seen anything, that was out of the ordinary? Any indication someone might be messing around down there?”

  “No, but then I don’t sit around listening for it either.” He smiled.

  “The reason I’m asking is that someone reported some pretty deep, and newly made, tracks from the lane going into the barn, most likely made during the rain we had recently. You know anything about what that could be?”

  “No, I sure don’t. You want to have a look, is that what you want Sarah?”

  “I’d appreciate it Mr. Freighley. We don’t know why Milton got edgy when there were people in the cemetery. So, I’d like to just have a look at both buildings, if you don’t mind, especially since they are relatively close to Milton’s property and definitely not visible from your house.”

  “You go right ahead.”

  “Can I get the keys from you?” Brett stepped forward.

  “Don’t need keys. Ain’t locked. Just has a board over the door to keep it from swingin’ open. I didn’t think there was any reason to keep it locked.”

  “Okay, we’ll head down there now. I’ll come back before I leave,” Sarah said as she placed the chair back in its place at the table.

  “I’ll be here.” The farmer continued rocking as the two left through the rear kitchen door.

  ***

  Sarah and Brett followed a path of paving stones that started at the back door, went past an old concrete fish pond about the size of a bathtub which was dry and empty except for some leaves. The path wound around trees and fences, down the hill, toward the barn.

  As they walked, Brett commented, “Haven’t seen much of you around lately, Sarah.”

  “I know, Brett. I’ve been busy playing catch up with training requirements: diversity and comprehensive communication training, as they call it. If I get even a little bit behind, it snowballs. How are you?”

  “I’m good, I’m good. Let me know if you want to go have a drink or something, sometime when you aren’t tied up with a case or those requirements,” Brett grinned.

  “I’ll do that.” Sarah took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

  The top of the barn was visible through the trees as they descended the hill behind the house and the path soon emerged into the sunshine at the back corner of the barn. Sarah and Brett walked around to the far side, where the large double doors were located. The barn was built on an angle to the cemetery, the doors facing roughly halfway between the cemetery and the lane leading to the barn from the road.

  “No lock on the doors like he said, but as he said, he doesn’t have anything in here he feels he has to lock up.” Brett slid the wooden beam out of the brackets and flipped open the latch. “You grab that door and I’ll get this one,” he indicated to Sarah. They tugged on the doors and swung them open.

  They each drew their revolvers and moved to peer into the wide door opening. There was no sound, no movement detected other than a few stray stalks of long ago harvested straw stirred up by the doors opening. They looked through the gloom at the interior. There was a row of stalls on either side of the barn, probably for livestock, with the center portion open. Right in that central area sat an old beige Chrysler. It was parked with the rear of the car inward. The tire tracks stopped short of the car, about ten to fifteen feet away. “This wasn’t driven here. No tracks from the car; it was brought with a wrecker.” Brett pointed, “You can see where the wrecker stopped to unload the car. That’s why the tracks are deep, combined weight of the wrecker itself and this car.”

  They moved slowly, weapons drawn, one on each side of the car, checking inside before advancing. They reached the back of the car together. Sarah looked around once more. There had once been a loft, but the floor had either fallen through or been removed. “No one here. There’s damage to the front end. It looks like the radiator emptied out on the floor, there’s a darker spot in the dirt around the front,” noted Sarah.

  As Sarah continued around the other side of the car, back toward the front, Brett donned gloves and opened the passenger door. “Nothing in the front seat that I can see.”

  “This color paint is very similar to the color left on Amy Barrow’s car, and right here…” Sarah pointed at several areas around the headlights, taking care not to touch the surface, “there’s blue paint. Amy’s car was blue. I’ll call for someone to get down here to go over the car, then we’ll have it taken in for a better inspection. Maybe we are starting to get somewhere.”

  They had both returned to the rear of the car. Sarah commented, “The plate is from Arkansas. We need to find out who this car is registered to and who brought it here, but I’d pay money that this plate doesn’t belong to this car. Let’s have a look into that small building too.”

  Brett followed Sarah to the small stone building. Weapons still drawn, and one on each side of the door, Brett flung the door open. Nothing. Brett peered around the doorway and relaxed. Sarah stepped up to look through the door. “Nothing here,” said Brett, “just some old paint cans and rusty tools.”

  Sarah pulled her phone from the pocket of her twill slacks. With eyebrows raised, she said to Brett, “We won’t know for sure if this is the right car until the lab guys are done testing, but either way, we will need to get over to the Sauer’s to have another talk. If they’ve been patrolling the edges of their property, they may have seen something. It could be an explanation for Milton’s increasingly odd behavior.” Brett nodded and walked back toward the barn.

  Sarah called the station, “Hey Norman, this is Sarah. Get the crime scene guy, whoever is on today, and send him to the outbuildings at the bottom of Mr. Freighley’s farm. Found a car in the barn that could be the one that hit Amy Barrow’s car in Whippoorwill Cemetery. It’s a 1970s model Chrysler Cordoba. Have them go over the car, and then over the small outbuilding next to the barn. Also, check on the plate, Arkansas 549 MBH, expires in February 2016. I doubt it belongs on the Chrysler, let’s find out where it came from, I want to talk to the owner if you find one.” She paused while Officer Petrea replied, “Good deal. Get back with me on that as soon as you do. Nothing obvious in the car. We need to make sure we don’t miss anything, get prints, he knows the drill. Also tell the towing guys to be ready to remove this vehicle.” Another pause, “Yeah, one of the tanks. Thanks.”

  Sarah started to disconnect, but swiftly said in the phone, “Norman, hold on! You there?”

  “Did anyone catch up to Rodney Sauer since last night? He was last seen at the Arrogant Rogue after causing a commotion.”

  “He hasn’t been brought in, but let me check.” Sarah could hear the phone being set down on the counter and muffled voices in the background. Norman returned, “
No, Sarah, they didn’t find him. His car is at the gas station but his tow truck is gone.”

  “Ok. Have everyone keep an eye out for him. I want to talk to him.” Sarah hung up.

  “Ok, Brett, let’s head over to the Sauer house, and let’s take your car,” said Sarah as she headed back up the path.

  Chapter 20

  Milton Sauer came out of his house and stood on his sagging porch with a pinched expression and his fists on his hips. Officer Maddux parked the police cruiser in the stony, weedy area that served as a driveway and he and Sarah exited the car. Milton shouted, “What do you want here? You aren’t welcome.”

  “Just cool your jets, Mr. Sauer,” drawled Brett, “we want to ask you a couple of questions, that’s all.”

  “It’s Sunday, boy. Why you here on a Sunday, don’t you respect that? I already talked to you people yesterday anyway. You told me I have to go to court in a couple weeks. Why are you back?”

  “I do respect your time, Mr. Sauer, but there are times when we can’t do that.” Sarah replied as she and Brett stopped a few yards short of the porch steps. “You aren’t going to pull a gun on me now, are you Milton?”

  Milton frowned, “You got my gun! And I didn’t shoot nobody. I got a right to protect my land.”

  Sarah answered, “Yes, you do, Mr. Sauer, but no one was on your land.”

  “They darned near were, and I didn’t know what kind of nosy business they were up to. I’m protecting Alexander’s land, too, from prowling around and stuff.”

  “Milton, you could see they were looking at stones in the cemetery, and Mr. Freighley gave them permission to be there. They weren’t trying to come on to your property. What’s your problem, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t like Nosy Parkers snufflin’ around my property.” Milton frowned and stared.

  “Can we come up on the porch and talk to you?” asked Brett.

  Milton Sauer shuffled his feet and jammed his hands into his pockets. “Alright, but only for a few minutes. My boy’ll be home soon and we got stuff to do.”

  “We’ll try to take up as little of your time as possible.”

  Sarah and Brett stepped up onto the porch. It was littered with an assortment of appliance and car parts, yard ornaments, and disintegrating lawn furniture pushed up against the face of the house. Milton stood squarely in front of the door. “Now, what do you want?”

  “Milton, you said Rodney would be home soon, do you know where he is right now?”

  “He’s out doin’ his own business. I don’t pry, but he’ll be back real soon and he won’t like you being here any more than I do.”

  Brett returned to the previous topic, “Mr. Sauer, you have always felt, um, very strongly about protecting your property, and that’s fine, but when you start firing your shotgun, something’s different. You’ve never done that before. What’s going on?”

  Milton Sauer glared at the weathered boards of the porch as though he was trying to drill a hole through them, but he didn’t answer.

  In a soft voice, Sarah said, “Mr. Sauer, please. We don’t want to drag this out any longer than we have to, but we know there has to be a reason for the way you acted yesterday. It’s better to tell us now than wait. If you don’t tell us, there are going to be more people out here, pressing you for answers, maybe even getting a warrant to search your house and property…”

  “Nothing doin’! You aren’t doin’ that.” Milton protested vehemently, his face reddening.

  “Mr. Sauer, believe me, I do not want to do that, no one does.” Sarah paused, “So come on. Don’t make us have to go ask for a warrant, we have other things to do too.”

  Milton considered, looked around and behind him. “Oh, hell’s bells.”

  “What is it, Milton? You got trouble?” asked Brett.

  “No. Yes. I don’t, but my boy might.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Milton obviously was struggling to give an answer. “Alright, alright.” Sarah and Brett nodded reassuringly. “Rodney went out Friday, kind of early for him, especially since he didn’t come home until the wee hours the night before. He was drunk as a skunk too when he got home Friday night, just after supper time. Ain’t all that unusual, but he had some stuff with him that he didn’t have before.”

  “Such as what,” asked Sarah.

  “He had one of them laptops and a fancy new phone, the kind I see on tv all the time. We don’t even have computer service at the house, so I asked him why he had a laptop. He got all mad and told me to shut the hell up and mind my own business. He had a couple of bags with him too that he took in his room, but I didn’t see what was in them.”

  “Can you get the bags and show us?”

  “I’d rather not.”

  Sarah realized his refusal was probably just as much not wanting to know himself what Rodney had brought home as it was protecting his privacy.

  “Ok. Depending on what else you tell us, and what comes of this, we may have to see what Rodney brought in,” encouraged Brett, “but for now, please go on.”

  “He came out to the kitchen Saturday morning with a new radio, one of those real expensive ones, I can’t remember. They’re little things but make a big noise.”

  “Boze?” asked Sarah.

  “Yeah, yeah that’s it. I said to Rodney, ‘Ok, you gotta tell me where you got this stuff. You stealin?’” Milton looked defiantly at both Sarah and Brett. “We aren’t the best people, I know that, but I don’t like stealin’ and I won’t have it.” Milton pressed his lips together in a straight line, shifted his weight back and forth, and continued, “He got all het up again, said he’d hit me if I didn’t shut up. That ain’t like him, I mean, he doesn’t say stuff like that to me.” Milton hung his head a bit.

  “I can imagine that was very upsetting to you, Mr. Sauer. What happened then?” asked Sarah.

  “I asked him if he didn’t steal the stuff, where’d he get it. He said he paid for it. I asked him what with, because that gas station don’t make enough for him to buy all that stuff at one time. He started laughing and said he earned it, that he was a real businessman now, he was branching out.”

  “Branching out?” Sarah and Brett spoke at the same time.

  “I asked him that, ok? He took a long time but he finally told me some guy had come into the gas station and asked if Rodney knew someone who could do a job for him. Rodney said depending on what it was, he might could do it.” Milton hesitated.

  “Yes?” Sarah stepped a pace closer.

  “He said he had a car that he didn’t want anymore, and since he had a new car, he couldn’t take the old one with him. He needed someone to get rid of the car.”

  Sarah slowly drew in her breath, “What kind of car?”

  “Well…he said it was an old car that didn’t run well, was starting to leak and needed more work than it was worth, and he didn’t have time to handle it, you know, sell it or take it to a junk yard, whatever. That part was ok, but it bothered me when he said the guy made it real clear that the car had to be gotten rid of somewhere private, not sold or left out somewhere. What he said, he meant he wanted it quiet. That’s what Rodney told me.”

  “Rodney took the job and that’s where he got the money. How much?”

  “That’s the thing, this guy paid him $1,000 to do it. That’s a lot.”

  Sarah felt her pulse quicken, “Yes, yes, it is, quite a lot. Mr. Sauer, did Rodney tell you where he got rid of the car.”

  Milton twisted his features around and wouldn’t look directly at either Sarah or Brett. “Mr. Sauer, you haven’t done anything wrong, other than fire your shotgun of course, but this is very important. I’m not sure you realize yet how important it is and your help with this will go a long way in resolving your own issue. Please tell us where Rodney took this car he was hired to dispose of.” Sarah asked as gently as her rising excitement would allow.

  Milton blew out a big sigh, “He put the stupid thing in Freighley’s damned barn! Old Alex ain’t
never down there, no one is. But Lordy, Rodney acts like he don’t have a brain in his head. He can’t leave it there, and I told him so. I told him it was only going to cause trouble. He said he knew that, but wanted to get it out of sight and then think about where to take it on his own time. Stupid kid.”

  “This is why you reacted the way you did when you saw a couple of people in the cemetery? You had just found out about the car being there and you were scared they would find it. You figured that then Rodney and you both would be in trouble, is that right?” inquired Sarah.

  “Yep. I knew it was a mistake to do that, only drew everybody’s attention, but I was frettin’ over it pretty bad.”

  “I can understand that.”

  Brett had been quietly ruminating over what Milton said. “Did Rodney drive the car to the barn?” asked Brett.

  “No. Rodney said the guy told him it didn’t run, radiator was spitting or something. He put it on his flatbed, you know his tow truck?”

  “Yes, he keeps one at the gas station for towing service. I’ve seen it,” said Sarah

  Brett continued, “If the car didn’t run, the man who hired Rodney couldn’t have driven it to the gas station, so where did Rodney pick up the car?”

  “It was way out, north of here, on one of the old mining roads. He drove up there Friday night to get it, had to wait until dark he said.

  Sarah asked, “If the car was several miles north, how did the man get to the gas station?”

  “I don’t know exactly, Rodney said he came in a black car, expensive looking. He had to know the guy had money.

  “Mr. Sauer, thank you very much for your cooperation. This has been more help to us than you realize. We are going to have to talk to Rodney, though.” Sarah attempted to relay the information without upsetting Milton further.

  “I know, I know. But he ain’t here now and…I honestly don’t know where he is or when he’ll be back. He took off Saturday night like a bat out of hell when he found out you people were here about the gunshot. He hasn’t come back yet.”