The Devil in Maryvale

by Jackie Griffey

  Before continuing his work on the brief file he kept in his desk he carefully placed his confidential notes in the office safe where he had put Denise's bracelet. The tangible things he had were in plain sight across the room. The collection of casts on his two cases was beginning to look like museum artifacts.

  The casts of the little truck tires made him shake his head in wonder that anyone could think he'd get away with murder by simply hiding the truck he used. The statement he had from the band leader at the country club effectively did away with Darrell's alibi. He had that in a signed statement as well as on tape. The club's meeting place being on Judge Spruce's property was another point, but it was still not enough to guarantee a conviction. Not when you're opposed by a county judge and his influence.

  Cas frowned, concentrating on the problem. He noted that the interview with the leader of the combo playing at the country club also included their agent's address in case he needed it. Knowing that statement not only knocked Darrell's alibi in the sand but proved the judge a liar lifted his spirits. He pictured Spruce's face and his reaction if he had to use it. He hoped he wouldn't have to. That he could come up with something so incriminating there would be no defense possible. His mind worried at the problem like a dog with a flea he couldn't reach.

  There was a lot more he'd uncovered with bad connotations attached whether it was tangible evidence or not. The old door painted black and used for an altar or table; the goat's head that looked like a cheap horror show prop; and the club Darrell had organized were not things that would help the boy's credibility any whether they were concrete evidence or not.

  The beating his two officers gave Casey Taylor and having Howard Giles as a witness that the brake line on Casey's' car was cut after that beating would be damaging if it could be tied in with the murder. But he couldn't without bringing Casey in to testify. And he didn't want to do that.

  "I've got to get Darrell wrapped up tight enough there won't be any harmful fall-out on other people who might be hurt."

  He felt better remembering Casey identifying the Crow boy from the fax Harlan sent.

  "At least we'll get the Crows red-handed with Lorenzo helping us. I've got my work cut out for me with Darrell and the judge."

  He gathered everything up and cleared his desk, looking at his calendar.

  "The other judge hasn't got here for a formal inquest yet," Cas thought. "Judge Spruce excusing himself because of his closeness to the victim and her mother has already caused a pretty big delay. Not that it hasn't come in handy. If I could just find a way to get Darrell to admit what he's done, what happened, before the inquest, oh, Lord." He held his head full of plans and groaned.

  * * *

  A few days later Harlan Glover called and reported he'd had two more head of cattle stolen in Marble County.

  "Have you heard anything from the Crow brothers yet?"

  "Not a peep. They haven't made contact with Lorenzo. I'm depending on his help to nail them. Maybe they'll try to sell those last two head they got over there in Marble County. What do you think?"

  "It's possible. Looks like the way they've been working, keeping close to home. I've been keeping a close watch on their place and there were fresh tracks. I saw cattle tracks out there a little before this last report came in. Maybe they've got three or four head this time. If they do, you'll be getting some action soon."

  "The tracks you saw and two more stolen? From your description of the place," Cas mused thoughtfully. "they haven't got a place to keep any more. It could be tomorrow. I'll let you know."

  "Thanks. Good luck, and take care."

  * * *

  Time drug by. Cas rearranged and cleaned out some old files, a job he had been putting off. He stayed close to the office, expecting he wouldn't have to wait long before the Crow brothers tried to sell the recently stolen meat.

  At lunch time Cas announced to Gladys he was going to The Smithy and offered to bring back whatever she wanted.

  Gladys pulled her plastic menu out of her desk drawer. "Let me look at the menu a minute."

  "As if we both don't know it by heart." Cas grinned to himself. "No hurry, I'm going to make a phone call."

  Cas dialed the library's number and this time Hannah answered. "This is Cousin Horace," he said confidentially into the phone. "I have another request."

  "All right, Horace, though if it takes more than thirty minutes I'll have to do it some other time. We're short handed today. What is it?"

  "Is that thirty minutes you mentioned your lunch break?"

  "Yes, and I think I hear my partner coming back, so I can leave in a minute. What is it you need?"

  "I'm having to stay close to the office myself too right now. What I have in mind won't take more than a few minutes. If you'll meet me at The Smithy, I'll buy your stew or whatever you want and you can take it back to the library with you if you want to. What I want you to do is hold a ring in your hand and tell me whatever you can about it. Will you do that?"

  "All right," Hannah agreed. "And I'll take you up on your stew offer. If you can leave now I'll see you in a few minutes."

  "Coming."

  Cas retrieved the class ring he and Rhodes had found from the safe.

  "Have you decided, Gladys?" He called through the door.

  "Uh-huh. I'll have a small stew and a couple of rolls. Money's here on my desk."

  "Oh yes, I was really worried about that." Cas made a face at her. "Back soon."

  He saw Hannah coming from the library as he entered The Smithy. He got his orders put up separately to go and joined Hannah at a table where she had laid some extra napkins. "What do you want to drink?"

  "Nothing, I'll get a Coke from the machine when I get back."

  "Thanks for coming." Cas pushed one of the sacks toward her and fished in his shirt pocket for the ring. "I'm pretty sure already whose it is," he said as he handed it to her. "But there's nothing like being sure. I'd like to have you confirm that I'm right about it."

  Hannah held the ring in the palm of her hand, moving her fingers a little as it rolled on its side.

  "It's an old one, Cas. The owner was 'new' when it was," she smiled.

  Cas tried to picture Judge Spruce when he was in high school and later, when he had given Muriel the ring.

  "He looks like the boy I saw. The one who carried the body into the woods."

  She frowned slightly. Her eyes held the question before her lips could form it. "Is he the father of this boy? Is that what you think? It's the feeling I have, too."

  Cas nodded. "Yes, I think he is. Can you give me a name, or is that asking too much?"

  "I can give you his initials, they're T.S."

  "Troy Spruce," Cas breathed.

  "Must be, you can see for yourself." She handed the ring to him. "Hold it up a little where the light will hit it better. They're scratched inside the band there. You can see them if you turn it a little."

  Cas turned the ring until the light caught the scratches on the inside. "You're right. He must have done it himself. I hadn't noticed them, they're so light. Just scratched in there like that. With what you saw and these in the band I'm sure now it's his."

  Satisfied, he replaced the ring in his pocket. "You've earned your stew, Hannah."

  Dropping off Gladys's stew and rolls Cas went back to the break room to eat before returning to his application task.

  Fortified with lunch, he passed the time writing letters to the applicants for the deputy job. All of them were the same except the three he wanted to interview.

  "I guess being chained to this desk has been good for me. I've got some things done I've been putting off. I'm glad to get these letters out to Gladys."

  He pricked up his ears when he heard the phone ring and listened as Gladys answered.

  "Yes, he's here." She covered the mouthpiece. Then seeing Cas watching through the door she mouthed quietly, "It's Cortez Lorenzo."

  "Okay," Cas nodded. "Put him through."

  "Sheriff Lar
kin?" Lorenzo asked when he heard him pick up the phone.

  "Yes, I'm here, Lorenzo."

  "You told me to call if I hear from the meat men. They called me just now. From the junction, he told me. And I told him I do want the meat. He said he'd be here between four and five o'clock."

  "Good. You did exactly right. Who's in the store with you right now, Lorenzo?"

  "There's me, my son, and a boy who works part-time after school. There are two customers just leaving, I think. Should I close the store? I don't want anyone to be hurt."

  "No one will be hurt, Lorenzo. Get everyone out of there and close up as close to four o'clock as you can since he said they're expecting to be there between four and five. They may be earlier than that. I'll have three men over there. One inside and two outside. Your son and the boy can go somewhere else until this is over but you'll have to stay there to give him the money for the stolen meat. We'll move in and arrest 'the meat man' as soon as he takes the money."

  Lorenzo had listened closely without commenting. "I have to give him the money?" Lorenzo asked, sounding unhappy about it.

  "Yes, Lorenzo, you do. Because he won't have sold it till you do. But you will get it back. And you won't be in any trouble. Set your mind at ease about that. You're helping us catch a criminal. A thief who has been preying on our neighbors here and in Marble County."

  "All right," Lorenzo sighed. "I close the store just before four o'clock and send los ninos over to The Smithy."

  Cas called Harlan Glover.

  Harlan answered the phone himself and Cas explained quickly. "I'm about to arrest the Crows, or at least one of them. They called Lorenzo and they're on the way here with meat. Probably from the thefts you told me about."

  "Okay. I'm going out to their place and pick up those hides I told you about seeing and anything else I see that might help us. I've had the warrant ever since I saw the goat hides."

  The first deputy went to Lorenzo's at three forty-five, shortly followed by the other two to watch for the truck in the alley. At five till four Cas walked over and entered the store going from the front door to the back where he could see all the meat department and the doors.

  "I am glad you are here." Lorenzo told him nervously. "Your other men are out in the back. I'll lock the door now."

  Lorenzo put the closed sign up under the shade where it couldn't be seen from the inside and they waited.

  It wasn't long before they heard the Crows arriving.

  Cas tilted his head, "That must be their truck from the noise it's making. Must have invested in a glass-pack muffler," he whispered to Lorenzo. "Just go and stand behind the meat counter."

  Cas took off his hat, put it on a shelf in front of him and ran his fingers through his hair where the hat had mashed it down.

  Quiet reigned in the store as they listened to the approaching sounds. The inside deputy, hat off, was between Cas and Lorenzo posing as a customer when the 'meat man' came in and walked straight to the meat counter where Lorenzo stood.

  Cas recognized Jerry Crow, the youngest Crow brother, from the fax picture. His step was confident, not suspecting what awaited him. He called to someone at the back door, "I'll let you know," he waved a hand to whoever it was waiting out there.

  Cas stepped behind a display and Lorenzo crossed himself.

  Jerry crow turned and approached the meat counter, grinning as he came. "Hi, Lorenzo!" His snaggle-toothed grin widened at the prospect of making a dishonest dollar or two.

  With his meat counter between them, Lorenzo tried to ignore the tenseness between his shoulder blades and fixed his attention on 'the meat man'.

  "Got some good meat for you here at a good price. You want about the usual? I have a little more, if you can use it."

  "No, no. The usual will be enough. Can you get it in all right?"

  "Sure. My brother's out there to help me." Jerry went to the back and beckoned to someone.

  "What's he need?" Someone called.

  "Those first three stacks. I'll come help you with them."

  There was no time lost loading the new dolly with meat packages and in a few minutes the Crows had it all stacked on Lorenzo's meat counter.

  Both brothers waited as Lorenzo looked at the packages and what was written on them using stick-on labels. He stepped over to his cash register. "Same amount as last time?"

  "Yeah, same as before." Jerry answered quickly.

  Lorenzo counted out the money. The Crows' attention was on their pay as Cas came closer and the inside deputy moved to arrest them as soon as Jerry had the money in his hand.

  The surprise made it easy to get them under control without a struggle.

  "Unless you count all the cussing." Cas thought as he checked the Crows for concealed weapons.

  The two Crows were already handcuffed when the two deputies came in from the back. Rhodes and Doug smiled at Raines, who had made the arrest.

  "There's no one else out there," Doug reported. "One of them must have been driving. The other one in the picture didn't come this time for some reason." Doug looked disappointed. "Tough it's not the whole set, or is it flock?"

  "Yeah, they're such pretty things." Rhodes grinned as Jerry struggled with the handcuffs.

  Lorenzo stood by, relieved no one had been hurt as Cas promised. He put his hand on his chest and took several deep breaths then looked out the front window. He looked toward The Smithy across the street where he had sent the boys.

  "We'll get the whole set. We know where the other one is. We'll pick him up later." Cas made it a promise and thanked Lorenzo for his help.

  "Oh, and Lorenzo?" Cas gestured toward the packages. "We'll need to tag this meat and what they've got in the truck. We'll have to store it here until we get the paperwork done. It will be divided between the soup kitchen and the children's home, but we have to get the red tape out of the way first."

  "Si, si." Lorenzo agreed, wondering how long it would be before he could get his money back.

  Cas left the deputies to their task and took the Crow brothers across the square to lock them up. On the way they loudly protested their treatment at the hands of 'the Pine County Gestapo.'

  Aside from a few people who turned to see what the commotion was about, they got no attention for their trouble.

  "That meat wasn't stolen! Who said it was?" John was indignant at having his money for the meat taken away from him and being herded across the street like one of the cattle they had stolen. He stopped to look daggers at Cas, who gave him a little prod from his nightstick to get him moving again.

  "We're supposed to have a lawyer! You can't do this to us!" Jerry got into the act but kept moving, warily eyeing the nightstick.

  "You got no proof of nothing. Not a dad-burned thing!"

  Cas touched John lightly to hurry him along and kept them moving quickly across the street. Their continuing insults fell on deaf ears.

  "Work is a four letter word to them." Cas thought. He felt no sympathy at all except for the farmers who had lost the cattle.

  Entering the office Cas paused to talk to Gladys. She looked the Crow brothers over with distaste as they stood just inside the door. They were still muttering dark threats and trying to look dangerous instead of merely loud and scruffy. She looked to her boss for an explanation.

  "That's the Midnight Meat Supply Caleb and the others have been losing cattle to," Cas explained.

  Gladys's face relaxed into a pleased smile. "I know they'll all be glad to hear that. Good work, Boss!"

  Cas grimaced at her. "I know you're prejudiced, but it sounds good anyway. And for the record, Raines was the arresting officer."

  She continued looking them over. "Didn't you say there were three of them?"

  "There are. The other Crow's still on the wing. He seems to have sat this trip out for some reason but we'll get him. Call Harlan Glover for me while I show these gentlemen to their rooms."

  By the time the Crow brothers were officially in and settled as they were going to get
, Harlan Glover was on the phone.

  "Gladys says you got our flock of Crows," Harlan chortled. "Tell me about it."

  Cas related the facts about the arrest and added, "But I'm afraid Gladys was bragging. We only got two of them, John and Jerry. They're here as guests of the county but I don't know about brother Jake. He wasn't with them."

  "You don't need to worry the point off your head worrying about Jake," Harlan said complacently. "I've got Jake."

  "You have? Tell me about that."

  "Remember when you called to tell me it was going down? I told you I was going out there and see what I could find and pick up those hides, had the warrant in my hand? I saw the new pick-up truck in the yard."

  "Yeah, they hired a little refrigerated van. That's what they brought the meat in this time."

  "Business must be good! The truck being there, I knew there was someone in there but I decided to go on in anyway. It was Jake. I went in as quietly as I could, the door was open. He was sitting at an old desk working on a big ledger of some kind."

  "You got their records?"

  "Yep. I've got the records of their thefts, the amount they paid the packing plant to cut up the meat, and how they sold it to markets like Cortez Lorenzo's there in Maryvale. Business was good and getting better. Depending on your point of view, of course. Oh, and I got the goat hides too, two of them." Harlan laughed, feeling good about it.

  "Well, that's a thorn out of both our sides."

  "Soon as my man here identifies his goat hide I'll send the other one over for Tinwhistle to identify. That should make him happy. I also have the hides from the last three head of cattle they stole with the brands on them. With the footprint Rhodes got at the stock pond, we've got them for sure."

  "I'll talk to the plant too, just to nail everything up tight."

  "Yeah, that will wrap it up."

  The Crows were not able to post bond and were to stay in custody until they came to trial.

  "In the meantime," Cas reported to Harlan a couple of days later, "They're singing like canaries instead of Crows. Each one trying to blame everything on the other two."