Just that quick he moved down the steps. Watching from the doorway, my heart fluttered in my chest. He really was something else. He waited until he pulled out of the parking lot before turning on his lights and siren.
When I turned away from the door, I saw Jim visiting with friends. He was holding Hannah. When she saw me, she gave a squeal of delight. At least I hoped it was delight. She held out her pudgy little arms for me to take her. “Where’d Drake go?” Jim frowned as he relinquished his daughter to me.
I shrugged. “He got a call, and had to take off. Probably an accident.” Something told me that wasn’t the case. The last time there were police sirens I thought it was an accident as well. Instead, it was much worse. I hoped another body hadn’t been found.
Throughout the service, I was distracted by my conversation with Jane the day before. Why would she think it would be good for her and Jim’s marriage if he lost his business? Losing the hardware store would only make things worse for them. Granted, he would still have the ranch, but would he be able to support them on that income alone? I had no idea what his finances were like.
Even more disturbing was what I’d learned from June. Had Jane been in Phoenix, not Denver like she told Jim? Who was the man she’d been with? I didn’t know what to think.
When Pastor Ned stood up for the benediction, once again guilt pricked at me. I’d zoned out for the entire message.
“Is everything okay?” Jim frowned at me when we were outside. “Your mind was somewhere else during the service. Did Drake say anything about what happened?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I just have a lot on my mind. Is Jane all right?” She often begged off joining him for church. I didn’t know what her excuse was this time.
“She said she wasn’t feeling well enough to come to town.” I could hear the doubt in his voice.
“I don’t mean to pry, but is everything okay with the two of you?”
He heaved a sigh. “If it wasn’t for this little gal,” he looked down at his daughter, “I’d say I made a big mistake. I don’t regret for a minute that she was born. I have three terrific sons, but Hannah fills me to bursting with joy every time she smiles at me.” Anyone could see his love for her when he looked at her. She was playing with his bola tie now, trying to put the ends in her mouth.
I wondered what would happen to Hannah when one of them, or maybe both of them, decided they wanted out of the marriage. Jim would fight with everything he had to keep his daughter here. Jane not so much, I thought. I didn’t doubt that she would use Hannah to get everything she could in a divorce. It was just a matter of time before one of them decided they’d had enough.
“Are you coming out to the ranch for lunch?” he changed the subject.
“Thanks, but not today. I have a few things I need to do to get ready for the week ahead.” I was still looking for the “clues” Max said to follow. I didn’t know how long he’d been in my house before I came home that night. If he’d left something there for me to find, I needed to keep looking.
The road leading to my small house was blocked with police cars and tape. It didn’t take much of an imagination to figure out why Drake had been called away from church.
Unable to go any farther, I parked alongside the road, and waited for someone to come tell me what was going on. When the coroner’s van came down the street, I bowed my head. Please God, put a stop the evil that has taken over our town.
I let out a startled shriek when someone tapped on my window. “Darn it, Bill,” I whispered. This was getting to be a bad habit with him. My heart had nearly jumped out of my chest. Pushing open the car door, I stepped out to glare at him. “I wish you’d stop trying to give me a heart attack. What’s going on? Who died?”
“Some young guy,” he shrugged. “I don’t know him. He might be a tourist.” His face was white, and his hands were shaking.
“You saw the…” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
He nodded gravely. “I found him. I was checking things out along the forest trail when I stumbled on his body. Literally, I almost fell on top of him.”
“Oh, Bill, that must have been terrible. Do you know how he died?” I had my fingers crossed that whoever it was, he hadn’t been murdered.
Gulping convulsively, he nodded his head. “Two bullet wounds to the chest, just like Uncle Max.” I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. “I called Drake. It doesn’t look like you’re going to be getting in your drive any time soon. You might want to go out to the ranch for a while.”
“If you found him in the forest, why would that keep me from going home?” I had a bad feeling about what he was going to say next.
“The forest trail leads up to your place,” he said. “I found him in the trees behind the shed in your yard.”
The breath I’d been holding came out in a whoosh. “Oh, my gosh. What was a tourist doing out here?”
“The victim isn’t a tourist.” We both gave a startled jump when Drake spoke.
“Who is it?” Bill and I spoke at the same time.
“His name is Fred Brewster. He worked at the bank.”
I gasped again, and my head began to spin. They each gripped an arm, easing me back onto the front seat of my car.
“Did you know him?” Drake asked the question, but I could see jealousy in Bill’s eyes.
“No, well, I met him, but I didn’t know him.”
“When did you meet with him? What was the reason?” Drake’s tone was official now. He was in full interrogation mode.
“I went there to ask about…” I paused. He wasn’t going to like my answer.
“About,” he prompted, one eyebrow lifted slightly.
“I wanted to know about having funds transferred into my account.” I hoped that was generic enough that he wouldn’t assume there was more I wasn’t telling. I should have known better.
“Transferred in, or out? Why did you really go there, Holly?”
“Stop treating her like she’s a suspect, Drake.” Bill glared at his brother. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Drake ignored him. “Why did you go to the bank?” he pressed. “I told you to stay out of my investigation.”
“It isn’t a crime to ask about having money transferred into her account,” Bill continued to defend me. “You need to back off.”
“No, you need to back off.” Drake rounded on him. “This is a police matter. You both need to stop poking around in my case.” His face was a cold mask. I barely recognized him.
Bill started to argue, but I stood up to stop him. “That’s enough, both of you. Bill, you need to let Drake do his job.”
“He’s accusing you of something, and I’m not going to let him get away with that.”
Drake started to speak, but my glare was enough to make him sputter to a stop for a change. “No, he’s doing his job. I wanted to see what it takes to wire funds into and out of an account.”
“Why? Are you expecting a wire transfer?” His tone was mild, but I knew there was steel behind it. “Or were you checking to see what you could find out about who transferred the funds from the town’s accounts?”
Bill stiffened beside me, but he managed to stay silent. “Okay, I was hoping to learn something. But I didn’t ask anything about that. My account is at that bank so there’s nothing wrong with me asking questions. I wanted to know what the procedure was to have funds wired in and out of a personal account.” I stressed personal account.
“Who else knew you were there?”
“Beth Ann Rodgers,” I sighed. “She introduced me to Fred.” Both men groaned now. They knew her reputation for exaggerating the truth. By night fall it would be all over town that I’d been in to see Fred. By tomorrow at this time, she might even have me linked to his death.
“What was he doing in the forest?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. ”He didn’t strike me as the hiking type.”
“He wasn’t in the forest unless you call your back yard the forest. I can’t
let you go home just yet. Why don’t you both go out to the ranch with Dad? I’ll let you know when we finish with the crime scene.”
A crime scene in my back yard, I shivered. “Had he been in my house?” I remembered how easy Max said it was to get past the locks on my door. I kept forgetting to ask Jim for a couple of dead bolt locks.
Drake shook his head causing a lock of sun bleached hair to fall across his forehead again. “It doesn’t look like he was in your house. The techs are still going over the scene.”
“Was he…killed here?”
“I can’t say right now. I’ll know more when the techs finish up here.” Can’t or won’t, I wondered. “I’ll call to let you know when you can get in your house.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to come back. Max’s body was found behind the library where I work. Now a body was found behind my house. Was someone trying to implicate me in both murders? Or was this a warning of some kind? Who would know Max had come to see me, and that I went to see Fred?
Drake had only taken a couple of steps away from me when Wally burst through the crowd that had begun to gather on the street. “Another murder?” He charged at me with clenched fists. “Until you came here, this was a peaceful town. Now look at it. You and Max were both a jinx on this town.”
Before Drake could move, Bill took a swing at Wally connecting with his chin. “Holly didn’t have anything to do with this, and Max wasn’t a thief. He was a victim.”
“I want him arrested for assault,” Wally snarled from his position on the ground.
“From where I stand, he was defending someone from your attack,” Drake drawled. “Get out of here before I arrest you.”
“You can’t arrest me,” Wally sputtered, getting to his feet. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I can and I will if you don’t get out of here right now. If Bill hadn’t stopped you, you would have hit Holly.”
The air turned blue with Wally’s curses, but he left. His big truck roared to life at the end of the street minutes later. There were enough spectators to attest to the fact that he would have attacked me.
Bill’s chest was puffed up at Drake’s defense of him. Hopefully this would be the start of a better relationship between them.
“Go out to the ranch with Bill, Holly,” Drake said again. “I’ll call when you can come home.” It was just past noon, and he already sounded bone-weary.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Bill followed me out of town in his forest service truck. I didn’t feel like answering any questions, but I knew there would be all sorts of questions when we got to the ranch.
Jim was surprised to see me when I entered the kitchen. “I didn’t think you weren’t coming out for lunch.” He was cleaning Hannah up after feeding her.
The eleven-month-old was fiercely independent, wanting to do everything for herself. That meant a mess when she tried to feed herself. One of her favorite foods was Spaghetti O’s. Her cute little face was covered with orange sauce now. She squirmed away from the wet cloth, wanting nothing to do with it.
Hannah’s face lit up when she saw me, her gooey hands reaching out for me to pick her up. She jabbered away as though she was telling me something exciting. “Give me a minute before you touch her, Holly, or your nice blouse will be ruined.” He turned around when Bill followed me inside. Dropping the cloth he’d been using on Hannah, he began to sway. “Where’s Drake? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine, Dad. He’ll be out here as soon as he can.” Jim was shaking so badly, Bill helped him into a chair before he fell down.
“Oh, thank God. Too many things have been going on lately. I don’t think I can survive another loss. Tell me what happened.”
No one had seen Jane enter the kitchen until she gasped when Bill told about finding the body of Fred Brewster. “Oh my God.” She slowly lowered herself to the floor, putting her head between her knees. “How could something like this happen?” Her face was ghostly white.
“Did you know him?” Jim asked. The suspicion in his voice brought her around quickly.
“No, no, of course not, it’s just so terrible that someone so young is dead.” The tears sparkling in her eyes said that was a lie.
“No one said anything about him being young. How did you know that?”
“Oh, well.” The wheels were turning in her head as she tried to think up an excuse. “In a small town, you know who everyone is even if you don’t actually know them. I’ve probably seen him around.” Her fingers were twined together to keep them from shaking.
Giving his head a shake, he turned his back on her. There was little doubt in my mind that she knew Fred Brewster more than simply seeing him in town. Was he the man June had seen her with in Phoenix? This might be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for Jim. “Where did you find him?” he asked his son.
“Behind the shed at Holly’s,” the words came out on a sigh.
Jim frowned at me. “What was he doing at your place? Did you know him?”
“I met him for the first time the other day. I don’t know what he was doing at my place.” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Jane go back down the hall. Whatever was going on with her, I felt certain Fred meant something more than a passing acquaintance to her.
It was several hours before Drake showed up. His face was lined with worry. Bill got three beers out of the refrigerator, handing one to Drake and one to his dad. “Don’t tell me you can’t drink when you’re on duty. You’ve put in enough hours today. Take a break.”
For once Drake didn’t argue. Twisting the cap off the bottle, he downed half of it in a single gulp. “It looks like he was killed somewhere else and dumped behind your place,” he said before anyone could ask the question. He avoided looking at me. “He was shot, two gun shots to the chest just like Max. Ballistics will tell us whether it was the same gun. There was a gun on the ground beside to him.”
“Suicide?” Jim frowned. “He shot himself in the chest?” It was a question.
“No. Either shot would have killed him, so he couldn’t shoot himself a second time. Whoever shot him wanted the gun found.” Drake drained the bottle, setting it down on the table. “Someone tried to remove the serial number, but the techs think they can still pull it up. If the gun’s been registered, we’ll know who it belonged to. Forensics will also check for prints.” He gave a sigh. “I’m betting it’s been wiped.”
“Why would the killer leave the gun when it will be so easy to trace it?” I asked.
Drake shook his head. “Criminals aren’t known for being smart.”
“Or maybe he was trying to frame someone else,” I said. “I still think Max was framed.” Drake was too tired to argue the point.
After several moments of silence, he looked at me. “This happened just a short time after you visited him. What did you ask?”
“I’ve already told you. I wanted to know the process of wiring funds to and from my account.”
“But you already knew that since you worked at a bank while you were in college. What did you hope to find out?” When I didn’t have an answer, he continued. “He was killed right after your visit. This looks more like a warning than a coincidence. You need to stop snooping, and stay away from the investigation.”
“I wasn’t snooping. Okay, maybe a little,” I conceded when he gave me that look cops get when questioning a suspect. “But how did anyone even know I’d been there unless Fred told someone? Don’t you see this means he was involved with whoever took the money? Whoever he told about my visit is the one who killed both him and Max.” I felt like I was preaching to the choir. Drake had to be aware of everything I said.
“Leave this alone, Holly, before you get hurt, or worse.” His voice was tight.
Jane had barricaded herself in the bedroom, and didn’t reappear the rest of the day, leaving Jim to care for Hannah. He didn’t seem to mind, or notice that she didn’t bother coming out when Drake arrived. Their marriage was quickly falling apart.
~~~
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“I can’t believe you did that. How could you do that to him? He was helping us.” She kept her voice low so no one could hear her.
“I didn’t mean to do it. He got spooked by that librarian’s questions. He was going to go to the police. He had to be stopped.”
“Not like that!” She almost shrieked. “That’s what you said about Max. Did you have to…”
“Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. He didn’t give me a choice. There was nothing I could do. Things have gotten out of hand. I just wanted the money so we could be together. We need the money.”
“I know,” She sighed. Tears clogged her throat making it difficult to talk.
“You said no one would figure out what you were doing, and no one was going to get hurt.”
“I know, but that was before. It was either them or me, us,” he corrected.”
“We have to get away. What’s going to happen now?”
“I don’t know. We have to go on as before. Honey, I love you, you know that. It’s going to be okay. You have to believe that I would never do something like that unless it was absolutely necessary. As soon as we get our money, we’ll go away”
“When is that going to be? What’s the hold-up?”
He drew a shaky breath. “I don’t know. It’s complicated. Do you still love me?” He began to whine.
“You know I do. I’ll always love you. I just don’t’ understand why you had to…”
“Don’t say it,” he repeated. It was an accident, that’s all it was, an accident.”
“Are you sure no one can trace this back to you? What if they figure out where the money went? It’s safe, right?”
“Of course it’s safe. Don’t you trust me?” He sounded hurt.
“Yes, you know I trust you. I’m just scared. What if she keeps poking around?”
He drew a shaky breath. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if she kept poking around in their business. The bodies were beginning to pile up. If another one showed up, there would really be hell to pay. “I don’t know,” he finally said.
Never Con A Con Man (An Arizona High Country Mystery Book 1) Page 9