Killer Tied

by Lesley A. Diehl

  Back inside, I poked my head into the bedroom to say goodnight to Sammy and check on the boys. I knew I would not easily fall asleep. Sammy knew it too.

  “Don’t stay up too late,” he said when I indicated I’d come back to the bedroom after straightening things up in the kitchen.

  I looked at my watch. It had been a long day. Why wasn’t I more tired? Because, dummy, I said to myself, you are anxious to get moving on finding Henry Montrose’s killer. I’d had enough of traveling back and forth between here and up North, when I knew the answers to who killed him and the location of Brenda and her role in his death could be found here. By shooting Nappi, Freddie had made his presence in the area known. The next move was mine, not his. Eleanor and Irene were safe because Jerry had taken over from Nappi and positioned men to look after them. Nappi was in the hospital, guarded by one of Frida’s men. The person most at risk was Brenda. Or so I told myself.

  Another look at my watch convinced me that it was late, but not too late to give Frida a call. I was wrong about that, too.

  She answered her cell on the first ring. “It’s been a hell of a day. Don’t you ever sleep, Eve? Or better yet, don’t you like it when others sleep?”

  “Sorry, but I was wondering if you’ve made any progress locating Brenda through her daughter’s cell.”

  Frida’s tone changed from sleepy to sharp and alert. “We’re working on it. I tried to call the number a few hours ago, but got a message the phone had been turned off. I’m going to have some techs look at it tomorrow. Is that soon enough for you?”

  Well, no, it wasn’t, but it would have to do.

  “I don’t know if this will help, but I think Lionel Egret may know where she is.”

  “Big, big help,” she said. I could hear the sarcasm in her voice. “We don’t know where he is, so now we know we don’t know where either of them is.”

  “I think he may be helping her, but I can’t see him trying to hide her out in the swamps.”

  “Oh?” Now she sounded interested.

  “I’m wondering if another member of the tribe is helping to hide her.”

  “An intriguing idea, but why should he care about her?”

  “I think he knows what happened out there—and I don’t mean he was responsible for Montrose’s death. He knows who is.”

  “Brenda?”

  “Maybe.”

  “So he’d want to hide the person responsible for killing someone we think he killed? Have you lost your mind?”

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I think he’s seen how fragile she is and is trying to help her.”

  “Now he’s a therapist?” Frida said, sarcastic again.

  “No. But he might seek help from one of the tribe’s healers.”

  She was silent for a long moment.

  “Can you come to the office bright and early tomorrow, Eve? The tech will be in by then, and he may have something for me.”

  “Why so willing to let me participate?”

  “I’m just tired, Eve. I know if I leave you out of this one, you’ll be calling me every night, and I’ll never get any sleep.” There was a click, and she was gone.

  Frida often said that about me. “Let Eve in on this one or she’ll make things worse,” was her usual reason for sharing police business.

  I wasn’t certain what she meant by bright and early, so I dragged Sammy out of his sleeping bag at dawn and insisted he take me home so I could get my car and drive to the police station. I told him what was up with Frida and gently probed him for what he thought about my idea that his father might have taken Brenda to a tribe elder for help.

  “Maybe,” he acknowledged. “If he did, that’s a good sign. It means he’s willing to trust someone.”

  I nodded my agreement.

  “I wonder if he knows what he’s dealing with,” Sammy said. “Brenda does not sound rational. If she killed Henry, the only person she seemed to trust, she might do the same to people she doesn’t know. She has a long history of not cooperating with mental health people. She might see a tribal elder as another therapist, just dressed differently.”

  “That’s why we need to find her as soon as possible.”

  Sammy and I hugged. I jumped out of the truck and ran into the house to grab my car keys.

  Grandy was just getting up and had made a pot of coffee. I told her where I was headed.

  “You’re not going out dressed like that,” she said, pointing at my clothes.

  I looked down at my rumpled shirt and jeans. At Grandfather’s last night, I’d changed out of the outfit I’d worn yesterday, which had been covered in Nappi’s blood. The only clothes I had there were a pair of old jeans and one of Sammy’s T-shirts, many sizes too large for me. I chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Grandy.

  “The shirt is huge on me now, but soon I’ll grow into it.”

  “Until then, hop in the shower and change. I’ll make you some toast and juice.”

  “I’m not …” I began.

  “Maybe you’re not hungry, but the little one may be,” she said, pointing a spatula at my belly.

  “Darn,” I said to myself as I pulled into the police station parking lot. Eating breakfast had made me late. Frida’s car was already in the lot. I rushed into the station and was ushered into the office area by the officer on duty.

  “You’re late,” said Frida.

  “Grandy, shower, eggs, juice,” I managed, out of breath.

  “Well, can you imagine? We’ve got a fix on the phone, and it’s in the oddest place.”

  I wouldn’t have to wait on Lionel Egret’s call after all.

  The tribe’s casino was located several miles outside of Sabal Bay. I hadn’t been here since Sammy had been taken from the casino by a carload of bad guys and dumped off days later, fortunately still alive. The only good memory I had of the place was meeting inside with a group of gambling grannies who had taken Jerry for a Texas hold’em ride when he’d anted up his car and lost it to them. That was one lesson Jerry was not soon to forget—beaten at poker by a foursome of blue-haired ladies.

  Frida and I pulled up in front of the casino and left the police SUV in the parking lot, almost empty at this hour of the morning. Two police cars followed us into the lot, backup in case my hunch was right and both Brenda and Lionel Egret were here.

  Inside the casino, a few die-hards hung onto the one-armed bandits, pulling the levers in an indifferent manner, their eyes staring into space, their faces expressing little hope their luck would change. The cleaners were present, vacuuming the rugs, dusting, wiping down the machines, and emptying the waste bins. One roulette wheel was open for takers, its operator leaning against the table but coming to attention as we passed. When he saw we weren’t interested, he took up his slumped position once more. The vacuums stopped, and the slot players gave up, taking their almost empty buckets of tokens off to the windows to exchange for paper cash. The casino was eerily quiet. Frida took Eleanor’s cell out of her pocket and searched the contacts for the number. She punched it in.

  “I hear something coming from over there.” I pointed toward the door to the bar and restaurant area. We walked away from the roulette wheels, craps tables, and one-armed bandits and into the restaurant. Three people sat at a far table. The big Indian looked up and our eyes met. He didn’t seem surprised to see me, and a flickering scowl crossed his face when he caught sight of Frida. Another tribe member sat across from him, her gray hair plaited in long braids that hung down over her shoulders. If it wasn’t for her traditional hairstyle, I would not have taken her for a tribal member. She was dressed in a blue suit and white blouse and wore sensible black heels on her tiny feet. She held the hand of the woman next to her, who raised her head and looked at me. A smile came to her lips. “Eve. Where have you been all these years?”

  I was startled by her appearance. She looked exactly as I would have visualized my mother at this age.

  Chapter 22

  “This is my daug
hter, Eve,” she said, introducing me to the others. “Now, if I could find my other daughter, we could go home.” She started to rise from the table, but the woman next to her gently pulled her back into her chair.

  I could feel the tension coming off Frida’s body. I was certain her cop instincts told her she should arrest Lionel, but she played it cool and hung back, letting the scene unfold. The officers who had accompanied her here moved forward, but she directed them back with a wave of her hand.

  The Indian woman patted Brenda on the shoulder, whispered something in her ear, then rose and held out her hand to me.

  “I’m Doctor Birdie Rainfall. I’ve heard a lot about you.” I shook her hand, and she indicated we should move away from the table to talk. Lionel remained seated, his lips drawn together in a grim smile. I knew if Frida made any movement, Lionel might bolt. She seemed to know it too, so the two of them continued to eye each other warily.

  “You must be wondering what this is all about. I’m a psychiatrist. Mr. Egret called me several weeks ago and told me he had a patient for me. When he revealed the circumstances, I was skeptical, but he made it clear that the woman was in danger as was he, so I volunteered to help. I’m sorry this has taken so long, but she was in no shape to see anyone. She witnessed a man she called her husband being killed, and she only avoided the same fate because your father-in-law grabbed her and hid her in the swamps until he could come back to find her and bring her to me. Given time, she will heal. What she needs now is her family. I’ll leave that to you.”

  Frida heard what Dr. Rainfall had said. “Why couldn’t you have told us what happened that day, Mr. Egret? Instead you lead us on a merry chase among the gators and snakes.”

  “Would you have believed me when my sole witness was a woman whose emotional health is shaky? What kind of witness would she have been and why would I put her through that?”

  Frida said nothing.

  “I don’t quite understand,” I said to Doctor Rainfall as we returned to the table. “How did my father-in-law find you? We thought he’d returned to the swamps. We had no idea until a few weeks ago that he knew of Brenda Montrose. Sammy and I speculated that he might bring her to a tribal healer, but …” I left my question unfinished.

  She smiled. “I am a tribal healer, of the new sort. Lionel knew me because we went to high school together.”

  Dr. Rainfall patted Brenda’s hand. “Good luck to you, my dear.” She then turned to me. “If there’s anything I can do to help, Lionel has my number.” She appeared to have been just what Brenda needed all these years. I watched her walk out the back door of the restaurant.

  My cell rang. I pulled it from my pocket and checked the caller ID. It was a Connecticut area code. Odd.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “It’s Sammy.” His voice sounded funny, choked as if he was having difficulty swallowing. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the casino. We’ve found Brenda. And your father. You sound funny, and whose phone are you using? What’s going on, Sammy?”

  “Is Frida with you?” he asked.

  “Yes, but—”

  “Don’t say anything. Just listen. Some men came to the house this morning, and well, there was a scuffle. Don’t worry. We’re all fine, but they took all of us out into the swamps.”

  “All?”

  “Yes. The boys, Grandfather, and me.”

  I heard some noise in the background and a voice came on the phone, a voice I had heard once before.

  “I have your husband, his father, and your sons, Ms. Appel. If you want to see them in one piece again, you will do as I say.”

  The voice belonged to Freddie the Bull. I gulped, terror rising in my throat. I turned to hide my face from the others and again walked away from the table so that I couldn’t be overheard. As I did, the fear turned to anger.

  “You slimy little bastard. It wasn’t enough to shoot Nappi, but now you kidnap my family. You’re not going to get away with this, you know.”

  “Oh, I think I will. I just need a little help from you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want Brenda Montrose. Bring her to the shack where you and your husband go. Come alone without the law, or I’ll see to it that I extend my services to your family. You have one hour.”

  His services, as he called them, entailed making people disappear.

  I decided to bluff, hoping it would earn me more time. “Are you crazy? Even if I wanted to do it, that’s not enough time. I don’t even know where to find Brenda”

  “I trust you will find her. One hour.”

  “You have to listen to reason,” I began, but it was clear I was talking to dead air.

  Lionel Egret had been watching me the entire time I was on the phone. Frida was watching him, so she didn’t see the effect the phone call had on my body. I was shaking all over. I tried to gather myself together, but Lionel must have spotted my trembling.

  “I think it’s time we left,” he said.

  “Fine with me,” Frida replied, pulling her cuffs off her belt.

  “But not with you,” he replied.

  She signaled to her men. If she thought taking him in would worry him, she was wrong. Lionel smiled and nodded. Several tribal members stepped out of the shadows of the room.

  “I wouldn’t recommend a showdown, Lionel,” Frida said. “You’re coming with me.”

  He shook his head. “This is tribal land. You have no jurisdiction here. Make any trouble, and I’ll have the tribal police take you and your men to visit our new jail facilities.”

  Frida’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What? You’d arrest me?”

  “I wouldn’t, but these tribal officers might object to you and your men interfering in tribal affairs and on our land.”

  Lionel, seeing he had game point, came over to me and whispered, “I can see something’s wrong. What?”

  I told him.

  His dark eyes turned to the color of obsidian and his jaw tightened. “We need to move. I don’t know the whole story, but he wants to destroy the entire Montrose family. He’s doing this for money. Am I right?”

  I nodded. How did Lionel know so much? Then I remembered. He was from the Egret clan, and they seemed to know everything.

  Something else bothered me about Freddie’s demands. “What about Irene and Eleanor? And you—you saw him or one of his men kill Henry Montrose. He has reason to want you dead too.”

  “I think Freddie is like other white folks. He doesn’t think the word of an Indian counts for anything. Or he assumes I’m in the wind.”

  That still left the question of Eleanor and Irene. Why didn’t Freddie want me to bring them along with Brenda? Ice crawled up my spine. I ignored it for now. I’d call Jerry later to reassure myself they were still safe with him.

  “You can’t come with me. He said I should come alone and no cops. We’re making the exchange at Sammy’s and my shack.”

  My knees were shaking with fear.

  “I’m coming with you.” His tone brooked no argument. “We can come up with a plan on the way.”

  “Now you sound like me.”

  He cocked his head, waiting for me to explain.

  “Everybody says I’m impulsive, that I never plan things out, that I go off like the Lone Ranger.”

  “So now I’m your Tonto, it would appear.”

  I glanced at his face to see if he’d spoken in anger, but his jaw twitched a bit as if the irony in the remark was intentional.

  Frida watched the two of us as we conferred. “Is there something going on, something I should know about, Eve?”

  I shook my head and continued to whisper to Lionel, “He’s given us so little time that I can’t think clearly.” The germ of an idea began to take shape. I shared it with him, and he agreed it was stupid and wouldn’t work, but he also said it was the only thing we had going for us. I put my cell back in my pocket and walked over to Frida.

  “There is something, but I can’t tell you much. W
ill you trust me?” My half-formed plan depended upon my relationship with Frida. Annoying as I had been over the years, I was counting on her to see me as a friend. She squeezed her eyes partly closed and tipped her head forward, trying to read my intentions. I held my breath.

  “Okay.”

  “I can’t let you know where I’m going now or why, but I need you to find me, just not too soon. Or too late.”

  “You have something in mind, so I guess I’ll have to trust you.” That was not a smile on her face.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll give you a call when I need you. Just wait here until I do.” I grabbed Brenda’s hand. “Come on, Brenda. We’re going to visit family.”

  Brenda looked at me and smiled. “We’re going for a ride?”

  Lionel, Brenda, and I headed out of the casino. The two cars left in the lot belonged to Frida and her men and the tribal police.

  “This isn’t going to work. We don’t have a vehicle,” I said.

  Lionel jangled a set of keys in his fingers and pointed to the tribal police cruiser.

  “I thought you didn’t trust or like anyone, and now I find you’re pals with the tribal police?”

  Lionel fixed angry eyes on me. “Just because you’re white doesn’t mean you know everything.”

  “Just because you’re an Indian doesn’t mean you do, either,” I shot back.

  The anger faded and was replaced by something close to respect or admiration. Gosh, if I’d know it was that easy to get the guy to back down, I’d have sassed him instead of trying to be nice to him. As if reading my mind, he gave a quick nod and gestured toward the car. We all got in.

  “Where to?” he asked, pulling out of the parking lot.

  “I’m calling Jerry now to let him know we’re on the way to Eleanor’s apartment. I need to make certain Eleanor and Irene are okay, and I need his help.”

  “Hey, Eve,” said Jerry when the call connected. “What’s up?”

  He sounded so cheery I thought my concerns about Eleanor and Irene were unfounded. I’d worried that Freddie had taken them too.