“Yes.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they left town by now,” Eleanor said.
“She was released on a tether. It’s the only way the court would set bail for her.”
“Where are they staying?” I asked.
“They’re back at the campground,” Peterson said.
“Thanks. I’d really like to ask Bonnie Sue a few more questions about Misha.”
“Good luck with that. She remained closemouthed with me, but I didn’t have anything to charge her with. She didn’t know her sister was planning to murder Misha.”
“I don’t believe Bobbie Sue knew either. She went at him in the heat of the moment.”
“She wasn’t trying to kill him,” Eleanor added.
“Sure looked that way to me,” Peterson said.
“We’ll be in touch,” I said as I led the way to the door.
“Why do we have to do all the dirty work?” Eleanor asked when I made the turn in to the campground. “I don’t want to tell Paul Nagy what his wife did.”
“What she allegedly did,” I corrected. “We have no proof yet.”
“And yet we’re going to speak to her husband?”
“Let’s not worry about it just yet. I’m focusing on asking Bonnie Sue a few more questions.”
“I bet she’ll love to see our faces.”
I waved at Martha and crossed the drive to knock on the twins’ camper.
Bobbie Sue, noted by her ankle bracelet, answered the door.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“We’re here to speak to your sister.”
“About what?”
“Would you let them in, Bobbie Sue,” her sister said from behind her.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Bobbie Sue said as she opened the door enough for us to enter. “Nothing has gone right since we met you two.”
Eleanor puffed up her chest. “We’re not the ones who tried to choke out Misha.”
“It’s no wonder he left the hospital,” I said.
“He couldn’t have left the hospital,” Bonnie Sue said. “He just woke up.”
“Well, he’s missing now.”
Bonnie Sue bit down on a fingernail and ripped it off. “I hope he’s okay.”
“Really?” Bobbie Sue asked as she pounded the table. “That man has never done anything for you but cause you grief.”
“It’s easy for you to say; you don’t love him the way I do,” Bonnie Sue cried.
“Let’s calm down for a minute,” I said. “We didn’t come here to upset either of you, but we have a question for Bonnie Sue.”
Bonnie Sue plopped down on a chair. “Let me have it.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Eleanor said.
“Please everyone, could you all calm down.” I gasped. I waited a moment until everyone had settled down before I asked, “Did Misha have an affair with Constance Shaklee?”
Bobbie Sue frowned. “I’m not sure who Constance is.”
“She raised show rabbits at her home in Tawas City until recently when we found her body. We were told Misha moved into Constance’s house after they both divorced their respective spouses.”
“But he told us there wasn’t anything between them,” Eleanor said. “Other than a brief encounter.”
“We’ve been told he was Constance’s boarder, but we’re not sure since both their names have come up together again. Constance’s daughter assured us her mother was cheating on her father with Misha.”
“Although her brother didn’t seem so certain,” Eleanor said.
Bonnie Sue rubbed her hands across her face. “I’ve only caught Misha with one woman, but I know he had other affairs.”
“A married woman from what we learned.”
“Maybe she killed Constance,” Bobbie Sue offered.
“I suppose anyone who was involved with Misha could be the killer,” Bonnie Sue said.
“I’m uncertain about everything now,” I said.
Bobbie Sue popped the top of a pop. “You trying to pin this on my sister again?”
“No, we’re only trying to sort out the truth.”
“Do you have any idea of where Misha might have gone?” Eleanor asked. “Any special places he might go to that he enjoys.”
“His father had a cabin near Oscoda, but it’s quite a hike from the road,” Bonnie Sue said. “I could point you in the right direction.”
“That would be great,” I said. “Let’s get going.”
15
Misha was out there somewhere, and we had to find him and soon. The drive north was not far from Tawas, and they instructed us to take a back road and park alongside the road.
“We follow the path from here,” Bonnie Sue said.
“We better make it snappy, before the sheriff comes to arrest us,” Bobbie Sue said.
“I told you before we left you can’t leave the camper,” I said. Although I was counting on the alert in case we ran into trouble since the twins were dragging us to who knows where.
“At least we don’t have to worry about you killing us out here.” Eleanor laughed.
“Not funny, Eleanor,” I said.
Trees squeezed the pathway, causing it to narrow considerably.
“Are you certain there’s a cabin out here?” I asked.
“I’m positive,” Bonnie Sue said. “It’s an old hunting cabin.”
“And why would Misha come way out here?”
“It’s the perfect place to be if you don’t want to be found is my thought,” Eleanor said. “Beats me why anyone would need to stay that hidden unless he has something to hide from.”
“Or worry about,” I added.
“What does Misha have to worry about?” Bobbie Sue asked.
“We think the killer might have planned to finish the job at the hospital.”
“Are you talking about me?” Bobbie Sue sighed.
“No, I was talking about whoever took a shot at us in the hospital parking lot. He must have realized he wouldn’t be able to get close to Misha with us lurking around.”
“I don’t know how the killer planned to finish the job at the hospital,” Bonnie Sue said. “His room has been guarded.”
“Oh, how do you know?” Eleanor asked. “Have you been stalking him at the hospital?”
“No!”
“She couldn’t have,” I said. “Misha was in ICU in a medically induced coma.”
“I didn’t know he was in critical care,” Bobbie Sue said.
“He received a serious head injury. We believed he might have been involved with Constance’s murder, but I can’t imagine a conspirator injuring him that badly.”
“Unless they hoped to kill two birds with one stone,” Eleanor said.
“It would have taken a little more than that,” I said.
I jumped as the bushes next to me shook, and I hastened my pace, intermittently slapping at mosquitos. I was beginning to wonder why Eleanor and I had come out here. We were in the woods on a barely there trail. Were the twins leading us to our death? Maybe Bonnie Sue was in cahoots with Misha and we were the only ones standing in their way. But wait, I couldn’t think of a single reason why Bonnie Sue would do that. Misha broke her heart, and if her ex-husband convinced her to help him, it would be the perfect excuse to pin her for murder.
“I wish we had brought our gun,” I said. I think I left mine in the glove box in my car sitting at the dealership. “Are either of you packing?” I asked the sisters.
“Handguns aren’t my style,” Bobbie Sue said. “I much prefer a deadlier weapon like a shotgun.” She laughed.
“I’m glad you didn’t bring a shotgun out here.” Eleanor laughed nervously.
“You don’t have to worry about me, but it would have made me feel safer.”
“Bobbie Sue might sound all tough, but she really has a good soul,” Bonnie Sue said. “And we don’t have a shotgun back at the camper.”
I stopped on the trail and rubbed my hip. “I need to rest.”
“We’re too old to go hiking,” Eleanor said.
“It might not be bad if we did it more regular.”
We laughed for a moment until the sound of a shotgun startled us. We hit the ground, and I coughed to clear the dust from my lungs.
“It’s not hunting season,” Eleanor whispered.
“Apparently nobody cares if it’s hunting season or not,” I whispered back.
“Can you see anything, Bonnie Sue?” I asked since she was in the lead.
Only silence greeted us, and I trudged ahead when I realized Bonnie Sue might be rushing headlong into danger thinking only of saving Misha from whoever wished to harm him.
I froze when I heard a small yelp that told me my fears came true. Someone had Bonnie Sue in their clutches.
I motioned Eleanor and Bobbie Sue down as I crawled forward until I was at the edge of the woods. A hunting cabin sat in a small clearing. Misha was on the ground, a blob of red spreading down his pant leg. I couldn’t quite see the person who held a knife to Bonnie Sue’s throat, but a shotgun was leaning against the door of the cabin.
“This worked out better than I planned,” a woman’s voice said. “Give me what I want, and I might let you live.”
Misha rolled to his side. “Leave her alone; Bonnie Sue didn’t do anything to you.”
“No, she didn’t, but she will very soon.”
“I don’t understand,” Bonnie Sue said, “what’s going on?”
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Misha whimpered. “Why did you come?”
“Because I was worried about you when I heard you left the hospital. You’re not well enough to be without medical treatment.”
“Especially with a gunshot wound,” the mystery woman said.
“I’ll give you what you want but only if you let my ex-wife go.”
“Like you have a choice.”
“Oh, I have a choice if you want the envelope I’ve hidden.”
I locked eyes with Misha for a millisecond and slid out of sight.
“It’s not here,” Misha said.
“Tell me where it is.”
“It’s over by the old oak tree in the back,” Misha said. “I concealed it in a hole in the tree.”
“Show me?”
“I can’t walk. You shot me in the leg, remember?”
“You’re quite the wimp, but I suppose men like you only know how to sweet talk women, not act like a real man.”
Was it Erin?
“Let me go,” Bonnie Sue said.
A whistle split the momentary quiet, and the woman gasped. “What was that?”
“The cops probably,” Bonnie Sue said. “I’m wearing a tether, and I bet the cops tracked me down by now.”
“What are you talking about?” the woman said as she dragged Bonnie Sue’s pant legs slightly up.
The woman screamed as we heard a loud crack, and Eleanor and I jumped out of our hiding spot with whatever twin was behind us.
Bonnie Sue stumbled to the door of the cabin, but the other twin made it to the shotgun first and pointed it at the woman sprawled out on the ground.
“You broke my ankle!” she shouted.
I stared over in shock. “Becky?” I asked. “You killed your own mother?”
“Don’t be so shocked. I told you about her and Misha.”
“I already told you I wasn’t involved with your mother like that. We were just friends.” Misha grimaced.
“There has to be more to it than this,” I said. “What were you looking for?”
“A will?” Eleanor asked.
“Something more valuable,” a voice said from behind us as he banished a handgun.
Constance’s ex-husband Gary!
I stared at the twin holding the shotgun, the thick band of her ankle bracelet visible. It was Bobbie Sue. For a moment I thought I had made a mistake.
“Put the handgun down,” Bobbie Sue said with the shotgun against her shoulder.
“Don’t do it, Dad,” Becky said. “Do you actually think I’d put a loaded shotgun down where someone could get ahold of it?”
“Drop the shotgun, now!” Gary said.
Bobbie Sue tossed the shotgun on the ground.
“Misha get up.”
“I-I can’t,” Misha complained. “You try walking with a shotgun wound on your leg.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I feel so dizzy.”
“You should never have signed yourself out of the hospital,” Eleanor said.
“Fine, leave him, but the four of you get moving,” Gary said. “I’d hate to shoot you where you stand.”
As if he planned to keep us alive.
Eleanor and I huddled with the twins as we staggered to the back of the cabin. A black bear appeared from behind the tree, and Gary shot a few times in the air, and it took off.
We were lucky on that account. There’s nothing more dangerous than a black bear. I’m surprised he was so easily scared off unless he had a good reason. I stared over at the slight movement at the opening of the oak tree, and I backed up.
“So what are you looking for again?” I asked.
“None of your business,” Gary grumbled.
“If it’s more valuable than a will and worth killing your ex-wife for, it must be money,” Eleanor said. “Although I imagine if you were nicer to your mother she might have given you whatever you’re looking for, Becky.”
“What do you think? You investigated her death,” Becky said.
“I wondered why you seemed so cool about the divorce, Gary,” I began. “If you own a yacht, I wonder why Constance didn’t live higher on the hog.”
“She must have taken him to the cleaners,” Bobbie Sue said. “Isn’t that what all men say when their wife gets an equal share in a divorce?”
“It seems strange that money would be stashed in a tree,” Eleanor said.
Becky groaned. “It’s not money, you old bat, it’s a key to a safe deposit box.”
“You mean the one you have to have your name on to access?” I asked.
“Not with a death certificate you don’t,” Gary said. “I can’t imagine Constance took my name off it. She’s horrible when it comes to details.”
I heard a hovering sound nearby.
“One of you get over here and look for the key in the tree,” Becky said.
“Not a chance. If it’s so important to you, look yourself,” I countered. “Get ready to run,” I whispered to Eleanor and the twins.
The closer Gary and Becky walked to the tree, the more the four of us backed up. We carefully ducked behind the cabin just as Becky put her hand in the tree. The buzzing chased us the remainder of the way to the front of the cabin. And between the four of us we helped Misha inside the cabin and closed the door. Becky’s and Gary’s screams echoed in the woods just as Trooper Sales and Sheriff Peterson hurried from the foliage.
We motioned them into the cabin as bees swarmed the area.
“What happened?” Peterson asked me.
“Well, Constance’s ex-husband and daughter killed her and came out here looking for Misha,” I explained.
“Becky shot me,” Misha groaned. “They were looking for the key to Constance’s safe deposit box that apparently Gary still might have access to.”
“He told them it was hidden in the oak tree out back,” Eleanor said.
“But what it was really hiding was a huge bees' nest,” I said. “It’s no wonder a black bear was lingering close by.”
“Is it common for bees to be this active this early in the year?” Eleanor asked.
“Nope, but it’s been warm this month. The bees are just getting their nest ready for honey-making season,” Sales said. “My grandfather raised honeybees,” he said.
“So you mean the bear wasn’t around because he was searching for honey?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“And to think that fool shot in the air to scare the bear away. We could have been killed!”
“On both accounts.”
&
nbsp; Peterson and Sales left the cabin to round up Becky and Gary and, interestingly enough, found them in the outhouse!
The helicopter zoomed across the sky as more cops surfaced from the woods, with a sling to carry Misha out.
“Thank you for helping me,” Misha said to Bonnie Sue. “I would have been dead if you hadn’t run up to help when you did.”
“I only put myself in danger.”
“At least it all worked out,” I said. “I’m glad to find you alive, Misha,” I said.
“For a hot minute we thought you might have been involved with killing Constance,” Eleanor said.
“I surprised them in the pole barn, but to be honest I didn’t see the person who hit me over the head.”
“I have to wonder if we might have scared them off when we arrived so they couldn’t finish the job,” I said.
“They took a shot at Agnes and me when we went to see you at the hospital,” Eleanor said. “I bet they thought they could waltz in the hospital and finish you off.”
“Sounds like they wanted you two dead too,” Misha said. “Why do you have a tether on, Bobbie Sue?”
“I tried to kill you, or have you forgotten?”
“I’ll have to make sure the sheriff drops charges against you. You weren’t trying to kill me; you only wanted to shake some sense into me. And you made me a believer that it’s long overdue that I make some life changes.”
“No more flings with married women?” I asked.
“No more of anything like that.”
We laughed as Misha was put on the sling and first responders carried him away. Becky, covered in red welts, glared from another stretcher as they carried her up the trail. But Gary was led handcuffed on foot with Peterson and Sales on either side.
“What kind of shoes do you have on?” I asked Bonnie Sue.
“I have cowboy boots on. Good thing too because they were instrumental in getting away from that crazy woman.”
“We’re getting ready for our trip west,” Bobbie Sue said, “providing the sheriff lets me off the hook.”
Epilogue
My back ached from strategically placing eggs on the grass at the golf course in anticipation of the Easter egg hunt. It had taken us all of three hours and all our friends were there to lend a helping hand.
Easter Eggs and Shotgun Shells Page 14