Bus Stop at the Last Chance (Loni Wagner Western Mystery Book 2)

by Sue Hardesty

  “But all they wanted to do was question him about the bus ride. He didn’t kill either guard. I swear!” Loni insisted.

  “Wasn’t a guard. Please. You have to go to Tucson. You have to clear him.”

  “Who’d they say he murdered?”

  “His girlfriend, Della. Somebody found her body off San Pedro Road,” Lola cried. “They say he was the last one to see her.”

  Loni pulled Lola over to the stairs and pushed her down. “I’ll check it out, Lola. I promise. Go home and be with your folks. They need you now.”

  “No. I want to stay with you. I can help.

  “There’s nothing we can do right now, Lola. It’s late.”

  Lola let go of Loni and stepped back, tears still streaming. “Damn it, Loni, you can still call somebody right now.”

  “Who?”

  “Don't you know anybody in Tucson?”

  “No. Maybe somebody at the station does. But we still can't get anything done until the morning, Lola. You need to go home.”

  Lola shook her head, pulling Loni tight again. “I'm scared, Loni. I want to stay.”

  “And do what? Watch me sleep?”

  “Or maybe make out a little?"

  Loni pulled Lola’s arms from around her neck and lifted Lola’s chin as she wiped away a tear. “Not like this.”

  Glaring at Loni, Lola twisted away, running for her car.

  Loni watched Lola speed away before she turned toward an engine noise at the back of the hangar. The only thing that Loni didn’t like about living in the hangar was the noise. She worked her way around two small planes and a helicopter, searching for the source. Walking around another airplane, she found Daniel working on a motor and James sitting, watching him, a beer in his hand.

  “Hey! Didn't you hear Lola pounding on the door?” Loni shouted through the noise.

  Daniel cut the engine. “Nope. What'd she want?”

  “Why are you working so late, Daniel? Don’t you know people are trying to sleep?”

  “I don't know anybody trying to sleep. Do you, James?”

  “Not anymore.” James smiled at her hostile frown.

  Daniel grinned through two layers of grease streaks as he revved up the motor on an AK1-3 Helicopter. “Have to finish this job before morning,” he hollered back at her.

  Ducking, Loni walked up close to James and hollered in his ear. “You hear about Manny?”

  James hollered back. “Nothing aside from you letting them take him back to Tucson,” James lifted the bottle for another long swallow. “You sayin' there's more?”

  With a last look at the plane, Daniel turned the motor off.

  Waiting for the blades to slow, Loni reached out for a fingertip of grease off Daniel’s face and smeared it down James’s nose. “You listening now?”

  “Damn it!” Leaning over, James grabbed the hem of Loni's long tee and wiped the grease off his nose. “What?”

  She swiped another streak down his cheek while she snatched her shirt back. “He got arrested for murdering his girlfriend.”

  James pulled a kerchief out of his back pocket and wiped at his face. “Well, shit! I don't know how many times I told him to play in his own back yard. He never would listen.” James stared at the black smear on the kerchief, walked over to Daniel, and stuck it in his back pocket. “Better you than me gets blamed for that mess.”

  Loni followed the two cousins back through the hangar to the office. James went into the bathroom and left the door open. He hollered out, “Think he did it?”

  “Hell no!” Daniel stubbornly shook his head. “He's too much of a wuss to kill anyone.”

  “You’re Manny’s friend, James. Do you know any cops in Tucson who might help? Any who don’t hate you?”

  “How can you say that? Everybody loves me.”

  Loni snorted. “What I remember is the trouble you got them into when you and your buddies went to Mexico to play.”

  “Yeah.” James smiled. “Daniel, you remember those tall VW bugs?”

  “You mean the ones they stuck on top of a ten-foot frame with wheels?”

  “Yeah, those. One time we got so drunk we couldn't drive any farther so we piled out of the cars with our sleeping bags and went to sleep. Had no idea where we were. I woke up in the middle of the road with one of them VW bugs rolling right over the top of me. Scared the bejesus outta me.” James sighed. “Those were the fun days.”

  Daniel smiled back at his cousin. “Drove one of them once. Forgot to leave our boat up far enough, and the tide went out, leaving that boat high and dry.” Daniel giggled. “I drove that contraption over the top of the boat, hooked it up, and hauled it back down to the water. It was fun until the boat decided to leave with the tide and I had to swim like hell to catch it.”

  “See Daniel?” Loni ridiculed him. “I always told you procrastination pays. You should have just waited for the tide to come back…”

  James interrupted her. “Well, hell, Daniel. Swimming's not so bad. Try waking up lookin up at one. I swore it was a monster attack.”

  Daniel laughed at James. “Lucky it didn't pick you up and haul you to the water and drop you in a hole.”

  Loni punched James. “Focus here,” she demanded. “I need help. Didn’t you have an old cop friend in Tucson who hung out with you?”

  “Yeah. Harry Beal. He’s a detective down there now. Want me to contact him for you?”

  Relief washed over Loni. She said, “God, yes. That would be great.”

  “I’ll call him tonight. I got his phone number at the house somewhere.” James finished his beer and reached over to grab Daniel’s.

  “Get your own,” Daniel said, holding the bottle high in the air.

  “Where do you keep it?”

  “None of your business.”

  “It’s up in my refrigerator.” Loni grinned at Daniel.

  “Shit, Loni. Thought I was your favorite cousin.”

  Loni laughed at Daniel as they watched James leap up the stairs and through Loni’s door. In seconds he hopped back down carrying two bottles. Handing one to Daniel, he tipped the other bottle up and emptied it with a loud burp. “Thanks for the beer, Loni. Mighty nice.”

  “You’re welcome. Anytime.”

  James studied her with suspicion. “Wait a minute. You don’t drink.”

  “I don’t. I just said it’s Daniel's.”

  “Oh, good. Think I’ll have another then.” James immediately leaped up the stairs and disappeared into her apartment once more.

  “You going to replace those?” Daniel hollered to his back.

  James hopped down the stairs holding two bottles again. “Maybe.”

  Shaking her head at James, she sighed. “Some things never change.”

  “Oh, yeah? And I still say you got those dimples from the milkman.”

  “Crap, James. I'm so tired of your milkman routine.”

  James grinned and tossed his empty bottle to her. Yelping, she barely caught it and tossed it back.

  “Stop it, you two. I’m not cleaning up your messes anymore.”

  James tossed both empty bottles at her. Stepping away, Loni let them fall, glass shattering around her. Ignoring the boys, she stepped out of the glass and called Coco. Guiding her around the shards of glass she walked into the small storage room beside the office and grabbed a broom and mop and threw them at James. Grinning, she ran up her stairs and slammed her door shut. She opened the door again and warned James. “I'm locking my door. You're going to have to get your beer somewhere else.”

  Glad her day was done, Loni stared out the window skylight at Montezuma Mountain, feeling the peace soak throughout her body before she reached for her laptop.

  FROM: Loni Wagner

  TO: Sandi@gmailyahoo.com

  DATE: October 8

  SUBJECT: Staying here

  Sorry it’s been so long. Going back to day work is as hard as it was getting used to night work. At least my new police car is refrigerated now. Or it was until it b
urned up today. And all because Lola’s brother got in trouble. Well, he’s usually in trouble, but this time it really looks bad. A murder charge. Even though she's mad at me again and broke our Saturday date that took me two months to get, I told Lola I would try and help though I can’t stand Manny. Guess I want to help Lola more.

  I’m finally finishing that project I from July, painting the inside of my grandparents' house. At least this weekend I get to be in refrigeration instead of on a horse in 90 degree weather. It's October, for god's sake. I can't believe it's still so hot this late in the year. I’m so fed up with this heat.

  Did I tell you about the new asshole Carl hired? Some big dude from Texas. Lola thinks he's cute. Some people might think that he’s good-looking, but he's dumb as a post. If he doesn't get one of us killed first, maybe Carl will get fed up and fire him. I can only hope. Problem is Carl told me he's got a daddy high up in law enforcement in Texas who knows Carl's boss at State. Seems Junior got sent to us to get him away from of some kind of trouble at home. I’d love to know what it is. Maybe my next project will be to find out.

  Take care.

  Loni

  An hour after Loni crawled into bed, she was still wide awake. In desperation she got up and reached for the boot box filled with notebooks and letters from her dad's parents that her Uncle Herm gave her last summer. Back in bed, she pulled out a notebook written by her Grandmother Wagner. She liked learning about her grandparents’ life in the past. For some reason it made it easier to deal with her present troubles.

  Just to hear a voice, she decided to read out loud to Coco. Shaking Coco enough to get the dog to raise her head, she said, “You listening, Coco? I'm going to read you a bedtime story.” Loni wiggled into a comfortable place against Coco and began.

  “Sal and I went hunting on the desert. Not for anything. Just hunting because the folks had bought us a .22 pump gun. It was a dandy and we wasted lots of ammunition. Sal hit more than I did. The first thing I killed was a road-runner. I had been aiming at a quail, and that’s what I hit. I hated to kill anything I couldn’t eat. One time Sal shot in a big hole in the bank of the arroyo. I thought it was a fox. Just two golden eyes. I sent Sal to the house for a hoe to pull him out. Out it came, not a fox, but a great big owl. He landed on Sal’s head. I can see her yet, standing on one foot, her arms shielding her face and yelling, ‘Shoot it, shoot it.’ I didn’t shoot and it finally flew away and we laughed afterwards. It wasn’t funny then.”

  Loni flipped the page and reached over, lightly pulling on Coco's ear.

  “The day my baby sister Sal was born was also the day my cousin married the love of my life, Fred Finger. I wasn’t quite six, but he had often promised he’d marry me if I’d only eat and grow big and strong. For six years I ate large amounts of food to please him. I grew strong but not so big. Well, it was quite a day for the Vicking family: a new baby, measles, a wedding and me howling my head off. I can still remember watching that buggy drive off and I’m hanging on the door crying my heart out. Tho it took awhile, I stopped crying because I had Sal to marvel at.”

  Loni slid down in bed and stretched out as best she could with Coco taking more than her share of the bed. “I guess not much changes, Coco.” She was almost back to sleep when Daniel started banging on something downstairs. Dragging herself out of bed, she dressed, grabbed some soggy salt crackers wet out of a bowl on her table, and stuffed her mouth as she wandered back down to the hangar floor.

  CHAPTER 3

  Three hours later Loni was still handing Daniel tools while he worked on a helicopter. Smelling him and listening to the cadence of his voice always helped her relax. It was like surrounding herself with clean, rich earth. "Where's James?"

  "Couldn't get to my beer so he went home."

  Loni laughed. “Daniel? Did you know you're part Choctaw Indian?”

  “Sure. Dad told me.”

  “Does James know he's part Indian?”

  “I don't know. I think my dad gave our grandparents notes and letters to Uncle Kirk to read. Maybe James read them. Want me to ask?”

  Loni shrugged. “Considering his attitude toward me all those years, it might be interesting to see his reaction.”

  “Oh, yeah. Blame James's mother, Aunt Ethel, for that. She didn't much like me either.” Climbing into the cabin, Daniel fiddled around with the controls.

  “Wanna go?”

  “Know how to fly this thing?”

  “Wanna find out?”

  “Where you going?”

  “Up?”

  “I don't think so,” Loni frowned. “Heard Charley Rankin skidded up to the gas station the other day and said, 'Give me a gallon of gas and a map of Texas. I'm takin' a long trip.' Think I'd get further going with him.”

  Daniel laughed. “Yeah, but I’m offering a free ride. He’d make you pay for the rest of the gas.”

  Loni collected the tools and put them away as Daniel started the engine. Watching him get ready to taxi out the huge hangar door, Loni hollered, “Isn't it too hot to get lift?”

  “Don't know.” Loni got Daniel's usual cocky grin as he hollered back. “Sure you don't want to come along and find out?”

  Crossing her fingers behind her back, Loni watched him taxi out and slowly rise in the air. He waved to her as he turned and disappeared into the dark night. She climbed up to the loft, trying not to worry. Daniel or Uncle Herm could have been in that plane wreck last summer instead of Rene. Settling for a long cold shower before attempting more sleep, Loni pushed her worry into a dark hole and struggled to cover it up until she heard the whopping helicopter return.

  * * *

  The ringing phone jarred Loni out of a sweet dream about Maria smiling down at a baby she was holding. Loni rolled over and picked up the phone. “This better be good.”

  “You want that phone number or not!” James’s giggle was so infectious that Loni relented. “James, you shit. I just got to sleep.”

  Loni could imagine his evil grin as he said, “I was hoping you were asleep. Just getting even, cuz, since you won’t share.”

  “It’s not my beer.”

  “You want this phone number or what?”

  “Hang on.” Loni grabbed her pocket notebook and jotted the phone number down. “Thanks, James. I owe you.”

  “As usual. When are you ever going to start repaying?”

  “I could try real hard not to pour ground up Habanera chilies in your beer.”

  James giggled again before he hung up. Rolling back over, Loni reluctantly acknowledged, like it or not, she would be involved in Manny’s trouble. Loni had just gotten back to sleep when her phone rang again. It was Bobby.

  “Teenager reported dead,” he said. “No confirmation.”

  “Why me, Bobby?”

  “You're the one on call. Don't you ever check the schedule?”

  “Okay, okay. What's going on and where?”

  “All-night party ten miles out on Miller Road. Can't miss it the caller said. They built a big fire just off the road.”

  That tells me a lot, Loni grumped to herself, shaking her head at another one of Bobby's directions as she quickly dressed, hurried down to the hangar floor to her truck and reached up to open the door on her 1994 Silverado Truck. With its raised chassis and oversized tires, Coco had to climb up into the cab as Loni hauled herself up behind the dog. She pushed her truck as fast as she safely dared. It was built to challenge rocky hills and gullies, but it wasn’t the most stable ride on open roads. Painted green, it was pretty well beat-up and mostly covered with gray primer patches by the time that Maria bought it. That was before Maria died in a pool of blood in a Los Angeles back alley chasing a perp. Now its covering of desert dirt had changed the gray primer to tan. Much to Loni's embarrassment, Maria called the truck her second most favorite “Butch.” The truck was pretty much the only thing left from Loni's time as a cop in LA before her lover's death and her grandma's illness drove her home.

  Loni wound her way through the fo
othills, dreading what she would find ahead. Another child lost. She rounded a sharp turn on a hill and dropped down onto a half-circle of car headlights around a large bonfire off the road. She parked on the edge of the road and walked toward the lights before she turned toward the silhouette of a young man backlit by the fire. He stepped out into the shadows and waited for Loni to get out of her truck. He pointed farther into the darkness and said, “He’s down there.”

  Pulling out her flashlight, Loni followed car tracks to a boy who lay crumpled on the ground. He looked like he had been mauled by a bear, and the bent position of his head showed a broken neck. The front part of his shirt was torn away, and ribs stuck up through the lacerations. Probably broken legs and arms, but his untouched face was peaceful. Oh, god! It was Jimmy, Todd's brother, Bill and Janine Barclay's second son. She'd seen him less than two months ago speaking at his brother's funeral.

  She stared intently at the tire treads over Jimmy before she knelt, checking the back tires of a GMC pickup parked next to him. They matched.

  Loni walked back to the group of kids huddled on the ground next to the bonfire. Flames reflected horror and anguish on their faces. A dark-haired girl held a sobbing boy, rubbing his back as they rocked back and forth. Others sniffed and swatted at tears. Loni needed answers. She squatted down in front of the girl. “Tell me what happened.”

  A tall kid with crossed arms stood apart from them and pointed at the boy in her arms. “Paddy ran right over him. I had nothin' to do with it.”

  The girl rocking Paddy flared, “God, Billy Joe. You're such a lying asshole!”

  “Well, I didn't!” Billy Joe was belligerent.

  “Who crowded Paddy off the road?”

  “Shut up, Joy. Did I know Jimmy was there?”