Slay Bells

by Hildie McQueen

  Her hostess turned around. “Yes. I keep wondering who the victim is. Hopefully Jeremy will come tell us something.”

  It really wouldn’t make much of a difference to Gabriela who the person was since she didn’t know anyone. However, if the investigation took over the ranch, it could mean the festival would be put off. And that could possibly mean she could go home early.

  “Has something like this happened before?”

  Natalie turned from the window. “No. Never. Crime here is very low.”

  Going onto the Hawkins’s land and then luring someone into the cabin had taken some planning. “I wonder why they chose your land then?” Gabriela asked.

  “It could be they know nobody uses the cabins during the winter. And being winter, there wouldn’t be a smell or any telltale sign of the murder until spring. If you hadn’t happened upon it, it could’ve been months before someone discovered him.”

  “It seems I may have ruined their plans somehow.” Gabriela went to the closest chair and lowered into it. Snap. Snap. Snap. The sound of her knuckles cracking replaced the silence in the room. Hopefully the killer wouldn’t be the vengeful kind.

  Kevin Maloney. The name had been repeated several times since Jeremy finally returned. It was almost dinnertime by the time he walked through the front door. Eyes flat and sidearm snug in its holster, he was every inch the detective.

  Jeremy sat on the couch and blew out a long breath. Everyone’s gaze was locked on him, anxious to know what happened. Gabriela was certainly curious although she imagined there wasn’t much to tell other than the dead man’s identity.

  “The victim is Kevin Maloney, the council guy.” Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. They already knew about his neck being cut open since Gabriela had described it. It felt so wrong that the entire time he talked, she fought harder not to stare at his lips or eyes than to remember every detail of what she’d seen or heard when heading to the cabin.

  “Detective Sanders is coming over here. He’ll need to ask you questions, Gabriela.”

  “Oh…yes…of course.” She’d thought Jeremy would be the one questioning her.

  Moments later, the doorbell sounded and a stout man with beady eyes entered the room. He wore a blue shirt, black pants and black tie. The man had bags under his eyes and the look of that one professor who never smiled.

  “Good evening everyone. I have questions for each of you. Anyone else that may have been at the cabins today as well.” His small eyes went to each of them. “It’s going to be a long night.”

  Gabriela frowned. “Is he friend or foe?” she whispered to Jeremy.

  “Both.”

  “Detective Sanders, this is Gabriela Diaz, a writer from California. She’s the one who found Maloney.”

  Sanders eyed her as if she were a clue. “Young lady. Sorry about the way Montana welcomed you.”

  So maybe he wasn’t so bad.

  Two hours later, her opinion changed. Detective Sanders had her go over every detail of the walk to the scene and what she saw several times. Each time he’d stopped her mid-sentence to ask more questions until she wanted to punch him in the face.

  Finally Jeremy stepped in. “I think you’ve got what you need. If anything else comes to mind, I’ll ensure to let you know.”

  Gabriela wanted to cry from exhaustion allowing Jeremy to guide her to the kitchen where Williams had already questioned Henry and another ranch hand. Natalie and Rick were told to go in to be interviewed by Sanders.

  Their questioning only lasted ten minutes or so. However, both looked as drained as she felt when they returned to the kitchen.

  “You should probably stay here at the main house tonight. We’ve done a sweep of the area, but I imagine you’re nervous.” Jeremy’s hazel gaze met hers. The green was darker than normal, she supposed due to the intensity of the situation.

  “I agree, stay here. This is horrible. I insist,” Natalie said seeming to be close to tears. “I feel horrible about all this.”

  Gabriela decided she wasn’t going to cower. She didn’t expect anything to happen with all the police crawling around.

  In San Diego it was nothing to wake up to sirens at least once a week or have to skip an elevator when some sort of public servant took it over for some emergency in her building.

  “I’m okay. I’m from the city. Stuff like this is not a big deal.” This however was different. Not only was it a small town, but also everyone seemed to know the victim and his family. And of course there was the fact she’d found the body.

  “Is there anything else you noticed or saw that you can think of?” Jeremy asked as they walked to her cabin. She suspected he didn’t offer to drive so that it would give her time to breathe fresh air and consider his questions.

  “No. Like I said, I thought I saw a shadow in the woods, but it seemed too small to be a human. I thought maybe it was a large bird or something.”

  He nodded and took her arm to guide her around a tree stump. They made it up the steps and Gabriela unlocked the door.

  He insisted on walking in first while she waited just inside. Finally he came back to the front room. “Looks to be clear.”

  A tremble traveled through her at his proximity. “Jeremy?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Did you check the closet?”

  His lips quivered. “Yep. Under the bed too.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t move. Aright so yes she was spreading it a bit thick. But the way he was acting all heroic made her insides turn to mush. Besides, why not play the scared victim just for a bit and see how he handled it.

  He led the way into the bedroom, turned and put both arms up on the wall trapping her. “Is there anything else I can do for you Gabriela?”

  So he’d seen right through her ploy. “Umm. I guess not.” She bit her bottom lip, sure she was blushing.

  Then he kissed her.

  And she forgot everything, the dead body, the weather and even her name. The kiss was sudden, unexpected and oh so very perfect. The way his mouth moved over hers made her legs wobbly and stomach flip. The man definitely knew how to do it right.

  When he broke the kiss, she remained still, her eyes closed needing to keep the sensations just a bit longer.

  “Are you all right?” Jeremy cupped her jaw. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

  “Oh. Yeah. What?” Apparently, she also forgot the English language too. “No. Please don’t apologize. It was very nice.” She grinned like a loon. “Thank you for everything.”

  His lips twitched. “You’re so different.” Jeremy studied her for a moment. “How have you not died yet?”

  When her mouth fell open, he chuckled. “I’m kidding, but you seem accident prone and who else would have stumbled on the first murder anyone can remember here in this county?”

  Gabriela couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “It’s a gift.”

  “Have a good night. Be sure to call if you change your mind and want to stay at the house.”

  As soon as the door closed behind him, she changed her mind. The silence grew. There were creaks outside, and some damn owl decided to hang out right outside the window and ask who over and over. Gabriela went to every window and double-checked them. When she turned toward the bedroom, every scenario from all the scary movies she’d seen came to life.

  “Oh goodness. The hell with it. I’m not staying here.” She stopped and considered what to do. She could rush to her car and drive to the big house. Of course, the killer would be in the back seat. If she ran to the house, the killer would chase her, she’d be the one chick that tripped on an imaginary tree root and deserved to get killed. Gabriela blew out a breath. She went to the front door and peeked out. No one.

  Then she quickly packed an over-night bag and went back to the front. After looking out every single window, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

  “Okay, okay, okay.” She stepped and took off at a run…right into a hard chest.

  “Ahhhhhhh!” Gabriela scr
eamed, dropped her bag and turned to run back inside.

  “I figured you’d changed your mind when I saw every light go on and off. Then you started looking out the windows.” Since he was laughing while talking, she barely understood what Jeremy said.

  “It’s not funny.” Gabriela barely held back a giggle. “I got spooked. Something creaked.”

  He picked up the bag. “Come on. Let’s get going. We have an early morning.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah. The teams of workers show up to start the prep. As long as we stay away from the murder scene we should be okay.”

  Gabriela scanned the area staring into the woods to make sure the killer wasn’t there. “Have you considered people may not come? I mean there’s a murderer around here.”

  “The murder was something personal. I doubt the killer is anywhere near here.”

  “Hmmm.” Gabriela wasn’t too sure. For the next few days, she was going to trust her spidy senses. If anything at all felt wrong, she’d be on the next plane to San Diego.

  “Wait. So the festival is still on? What about the whole dead guy thing?”

  Jeremy let out a breath. “Yes it will still go on. Maloney was part of the city council. He always came and enjoyed it. So it’s best to honor him by still doing it. Besides, I’m sure there’s going to be some sort of memorial speech in his honor.”

  If she died, Gabriela would insist her friends and family not do anything fun for a long time. They would mourn and be sad for at least three months. Black. She nodded. She would insist they wear black the entire time too.

  She tripped on a tree stump, stumbled forward and landed on the ground. “Ouch.”

  “It’s a pretty big stump. I thought you saw it on the way over.” Jeremy helped her up.

  Gabriela dusted off her pants. “I was planning my funeral. My mind was elsewhere.”

  “Mmmm,” Jeremy replied and continued walking.

  It was too dark to see clearly, but she could swear he was smiling.

  Chapter Seven

  Montana people were very odd. Everyone acted as if getting up while it was still dark outside was normal. Gabriela shuffled into the kitchen, her head wrapped in a scarf and wearing flannel pajamas. After pouring a cup of coffee and adding creamer and sugar, she lumbered to the kitchen island and did her best to pay attention to the conversation. Her eyes felt as if someone had taped rocks to her eyelids. It took strength, but if she lifted her eyebrows, it helped to keep her eyes open.

  “Good morning,” Henry said grinning from the table with a stack of pancakes on a plate in front of him. Jeremy, his father and mother all sat at the table. Several others stood around with cups of coffee. She didn’t care who they were. All of them were crazy.

  “Now,” Rick announced looking at his watch. “Everyone should be here in another half hour or so.” He looked to the two men standing with coffee. “Be out there and direct them to park by the main building. Some may not know where to go. We’ve got a group of newbies.”

  Everyone groaned not seeming to like the idea of new people. Gabriela joined in, but for a different reason all together. It was too damn early.

  Natalie smiled at her. “Your plate is over by the stove. The one with a cover on it.”

  Now they expected her to eat at the crack ass of dawn too? “Thanks,” she mumbled and went to the stove. Surprisingly, the meal actually appealed to her. Two pancakes, link sausages and a small dish of fruit were carefully arranged on the plate. She picked it up and went to sit next to Jeremy. Although she didn’t dislike Henry, she wasn’t sure if he wore pants. He was bare from the waist up.

  “You’re welcome to stay here the entire time if you’re nervous to stay at the cabin,” Natalie told her. “I fully understand. I could barely sleep last night even knowing Rick and Jeremy were here.”

  Gabriela had fallen asleep as soon as her light was out. It had been a long day and even the thoughts of the killer climbing in through the window only bothered her for a few seconds.

  Then again, the kiss had definitely been a good distractor.

  “Syrup?” someone asked and Gabriela realized she’d closed her eyes.

  About twenty people were at the barn area when she, Jeremy and Henry rode up. They were dividing into four groups of five people. Gabriela joined the group that would do clean up. One group was going out to do lights, mostly guys. One group would unload a truck; the third would bring things out of a storage barn and organize it. Her group was in charge of cleaning the main hall.

  Gabriela hurried inside the huge warehouse structure to get away from the cold winds. Although it was not windy inside, it was still freezing and Gabriela wondered how much they were paying the people to work outside. It was crazy.

  Within an hour, two huge bonfires were lit outside, and tall space heaters were set up around inside the space. Surprisingly, the large area was comfortable after a bit.

  Gabriela had to stop several times to catch her breath after making a third trip with a wheelbarrow full of hay. They purposely had given her the easy job and still she was getting tired. Spin class had nothing on working at a ranch. Like the others, Gabriela wasn’t interested in standing or going near the fire. Walking, loading, and carrying were enough to keep her blood flowing.

  In the distance, she spied a couple cars heading over to the cabins, and she stopped to watch. According to Jeremy, the murder scene would be inaccessible for weeks. It was a bit of a problem since they often housed some of the crew that worked the festival in cabins one, two and three.

  The family hoped at least the three cabins would be cleared for use by the time the festival began.

  “They want us to come over,” Jeremy said motioning toward the cabins. “We can take the snowmobile.”

  “Oh yippee,” Gabriela replied with a flat tone. “Nothing like a nice blast of cold air.”

  He ignored her comment and guided her by the elbow toward another building. The family certainly had a lot of storage space. There were barns, stables, storage buildings, and then over by the house was a garage that could house about five vehicles.

  She kept an eye on the surroundings. With everyone preoccupied, the killer could return and stab her. It could be no one would notice until she fell onto the snow and bled all over it.

  Upon arriving at the cabin, Sanders motioned for them to meet him near the wood line. The bags under his eyes were still huge. She considered mentioning he could use cold compresses in the morning and then decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

  “Let’s walk back a bit,” Sanders said by way of greeting. She let out a sigh and followed him as he walked away from the cabin. About fifty feet later, he met her gaze. “Now show me exactly where you walked and describe what you saw.”

  Gabriela sighed. “I walked here,” she said and moved to the opposite side of the road. “Didn’t see anything here. Like I said, other than a few birds or whatever.” She continued on, noticing Jeremy standing outside speaking to a woman. Probably a cop by the way she stood with her arms to her sides bent at the elbows.

  “I saw the car tracks about here,” she pointed at the ground noting the tracks had been covered by snow. They continued on with her moving closer and telling Sanders where she was when noting the door open.

  The closer they moved to the cabin, the more nervous she became. If he asked her to go inside, she would decline.

  Thankfully he didn’t make her go inside. However, he did ask a few more questions.

  When they mounted the snowmobile to leave, Gabriela sagged with relief. “Go. Before he comes at me with a few more questions.”

  “Don’t worry, he’ll ponder and come back with more,” Jeremy replied. “Sorry, I know it’s not easy.”

  “Why aren’t you investigating it? I mean you’re a detective and it’s on your land.”

  “Precisely why I’m not. That and the fact, I’m also a suspect.”

  Gabriela leaned back just as he took off. Her feet lifted from the holders
and she grabbed at Jeremy’s jacket. “You almost made me fall,” she said into his ear. “That was rude.”

  Suspect? Why would Jeremy be a suspect? Was that why he’d remained outside the room when Sanders had been there the night before and not asked her any questions about the incident?

  Then there was another very important question. Did she walk around in the dark the night before with a very attractive killer? Gabriela gasped. Had she kissed a hunky murderer?

  And now, she was riding around with a murder suspect. Her mind whirled. What if she wrote the story she’d been sent to do, and also did some investigating on her own? She could write a separate story on the murder.

  Witness to a murder. It could be the story of a lifetime, a story from the perspective of an unbiased witness. Someone who knows no one involved. Her lips curved and she tapped Jeremy’s shoulder.

  “I have to go to my cabin. I forgot my laptop there.”

  “Do you want me to take you to the house after?”

  She’d made arrangements to interview his mother that afternoon. She glanced at her watch. It was only eleven in the morning. It already felt like an entire day had passed. That’s what getting up early did to a person. It made the days longer, which meant more would be expected from her if she didn’t want to go to bed disappointed in how much time she wasted.

  They made it to her cabin. Jeremy stood next to the snowmobile. “Hey, I know this may be a bit odd.” He looked to the ground and then lifted his gaze to hers. Damn he was hot.

  “Would you like to go to town for dinner this evening?”

  Hell no. Not if you’re a murderer. Gabriela bit her bottom lip and pictured her death in the backseat of his truck. Then the picture turned into a make-out scene. “Oh yeah. I mean. Sure.”

  He smiled and she ducked and rushed up the steps. “Don’t wait for me. I’m going to hang out here for a bit and answer some email.”

  As the hum of the snowmobile’s engine got softer, she let out a breath. She’d interview Jeremy without him knowing. The more she could get for her story, the better, especially if she had a conversation with the man who turned out to be the killer. There was the pesky problem of him killing her.