Rasp Meadow Crossing

by Kieran York

  “I don’t get it. Most of the time she could use a little cheering up. She’s very serious.”

  “She mentioned that she hoped she didn’t get partnered up with him,”

  Royce grinned. “Right. Nick remember how we interacted when you started in Timber?”

  “I surely do,” he said with a huge heehaw. “You were mighty tight-jawed.”

  “No one would have believed we’d make it this far. Now we’re friends running two county sheriff’s departments.”

  “Best friends,’ he corrected. “And when we met I thought you were just about as hopeless as Terry thinks Sam is.”

  “I’ll overlook that because I thought you were a royal screw-up.”

  “I was,” he admitted. “For me, I think I tried to minimize the danger by having humor. If it was funny, it couldn’t kill me.”

  “Gallows humor,” Royce stated, “is part of our lives.” She looked away, then admitted, “I was a tad ridged.”

  “You were rock solid, by the book staid.”

  Royce became serious. She asked, “Have you ever thought that we’ve done each other a lot of good? I’m not as stodgy, and you’ve settled down.”

  “We have, and on that note – the other news of the day.” Nick picked up a report. “Luther has relocated to the Crystal Lodge. He’s paying ten times what he paid at the Eagle Inn. But he’s getting much more privacy.”

  Royce sighed. “In other words, I’m not calling on him every day.”

  “He’ll miss not seeing you every day. Maybe I can drop in on him and make sure he isn’t lonely.”

  “I’ve got a couple leads. An allegation that Emma isn’t as sweet as she acts. Tony alluded to the fact that she was shady. Her ex-husband pulled time, and Tony believes she hired him to kill Cal. I checked it out, and it was for fraud. According to Tony, Emma wrote to Dixon when he was in the pen. When he got out, he married her. That was the reason Calvin was pissed off when she got married. The people in town always said Cal hated her daughter getting married to anyone.”

  Nick plunged into his chair. “I’m not going to be easy on anyone that comes courting my little girl.”

  “You’ve got a gun strapped on your waist, so I’m guessing when the time comes, your daughter’s suitor will behave.”

  “Hell, Emma’s dad had an entire warehouse of guns.”

  “Speaking of guns, Cute-Exec got wasted last night. Riled Nita up. This morning, I answered the disturbance call. Got it settled down for the moment. By the way, who is the best tech cop we have up here?”

  “Probably Terry. I’m not sure, but I think Sam said something about fixing a computer.”

  “I might need a little more than being able to reboot a computer. I’ll check with them about it. Maybe they can work together on a project. It wouldn’t hurt to get the youngsters together. Make them a little chummier. A little bonding time. I need to find out about video captured by drones. A long shot, but Tony lost one of his drones atop a huge tree in the back of the ranch. I’m wondering if there’s a way to retrieve that footage. It would be an enormous break if it could show what might have gone on there at the ranch the night Calvin was murdered.”

  “You think the drone might have filmed either Nita or Tony going out. That would screw up their alibi.”

  Royce thought. “What if that drone has dumped, or streamed, images. Downloaded. A flipping lot of ifs. If the gizmo was facing the correct way. If the gizmo was streaming. If it loaded on the phone, tablet, or computer. And if it shows that either suspect took a little jaunt into town to kill Cal. They would have both perjured themselves. That proves that they had something to hide. That could be the wedge to open a confession.”

  “It would be great evidence, but Royce, a computer geek would have no idea what you’re talking about. Gizmo. Are you serious?”

  “I know you’re dying to laugh loudly, so I’ll be on my way.” Royce picked up her hat. She’d only stepped out of the door when she heard Nick’s howl explode into laughter. She grinned. “Come on, Chance. Let’s go have a meeting with our far less computer tech confidential informant.”

  ***

  Royce and Chance met with Plato for a few minutes. Plato’s report was that Luther was not around. And the day was mighty warm.

  Her next stop would be the Bell Ringer. “Faye, I just have a question or two.”

  Faye hurried her news. “Luther moved up to Crystal.”

  “Nick told me. He must have some bucks. He’s staying at the lodge. When I interrogated him, he inferred that his auto parts supply business was doing okay. It must be doing very okay.”

  “Since he went straight, got himself into business, it seems like he’s fairly successful. I’ve never been down to Dallas, but he sent me a photo of his place. It’s just a big warehouse full of radiators, gas tanks and all that car shit.” Faye poured the sheriff a cup of coffee. “What’s going on in Cal’s murder case?”

  “Nothing that’s making sense. Faye, everything seems to be going contradictory to the scenarios I plot.” Royce sipped the hot coffee cautiously. “Delicious. Must be a fresh pot. It’s steaming.”

  “Just brewed.”

  “I wish I could nail down a prime suspect.”

  “I miss Cal. He was one of my best customers. He’d come in here after work. I remember he’d always say to give him a good three or four finger pour on the whiskey. Damn he could drink. He’d buy his friends drinks. Never squawked about his bill. Paid his tab regularly. Fuck, I probably miss him more than his wife and kids do. End of every month he’d be in here with a wad of cash to pay me. Clockwork.”

  “Did he ever act nervous, or worried?”

  “Naw. He’d always tip me big.”

  “He must have been generous to his second wife and his son. Emma seems to feel left out. Maybe it was because he hated her ex-husband,” Royce guessed.

  “Emma was always moaning. But he tried to spoil her at first. Then, according to him, Emma sided with Grace. Her handouts dwindled. Emma threw herself pity parties. Even when she was younger. She’d have little moans about how her father liked her brother best. They call it family dynamics. As you know, over the years my kid has both hated me and loved me.”

  “I always believed Jade loved you. I’m guessing she loves you even more now that she’s moved to Denver.”

  “Strange,” Faye appeared wistful for a few moments. “That’s true. Never a day goes by now when she doesn’t call me. Even ends her conversation sayin’ she loves me. Whoever thought we’d get to that?” Faye stood when customers went to the bar. “Royce, you can be glad you’re not a parent. You go through a world of crap before you get to the rewards. But the reward has no price. It’s too perfect.”

  Royce tipped her hat. She then called to Chance. By the time she reached the swinging bar doors, she felt tears in her eyes. She hoped she hadn’t given Molly a world of crap. Analyzing it, when she had to tell her mother she was lesbian, Molly was hurt by that. When Royce told her mother she was going to an enforcer, there was pain in her mother’s eyes. Molly had lost her husband, and didn’t want to lose a daughter. The sheriff hadn’t meant to hurt her mother.

  Chapter 21

  “Are you still on about your dad’s cold case?” Gwen asked.

  Royce had just sat down in the Time’s conference room. The large stack of yellowed newspapers was in front of her. “I got two cases. Two human beings were murdered.” Royce’s voice was terse. “It wasn’t just important to my father. It’s important to me.”

  “I wasn’t objecting.” Gwen’s laugh was forced. “The town folks all have their opinions about who killed Cal. They want it solved. You know they get restless?”

  “And this great collection of sleuths, who do they believe killed Cal?”

  “It’s a tossup between Nita, Luther, and Otis.”

  “What about Cal’s son and daughter?” the sheriff quizzed.

  “Why would his children kill him? He was worth more alive. Let’s face it, Otis had
been fighting with him. Luther doesn’t need a reason for harming or killing. It delights him to be an ass. And Nita, well, she might have wanted clear title to the ranch and his insurance.”

  “Not that I’ve excluded any of them, but I don’t have the feeling it was Otis or Nita. Wishful thinking, but I’d love to arrest Luther.” Royce’s fingers drifted over the stack of papers. “Maybe going through a year’s worth of old newsprint is only busy work for me. The fact is that I’m stumped about both of these cases. I’ve got an enormous amount of data, yet nothing. I’m chasing ghosts.”

  “One ghost is forty years older than the other,” Gwen said with a chortle. “Now, want to tell me about your trip to the Rasp with Hertha the other day?”

  “It was pleasant. Not the part of viewing what’s happened to the burnt area on the other side of the Rasp. The destruction of our wilderness is so painful to see.”

  “I took photos for the paper. It’s heartbreaking. Yes, painful. Now tell me about Hertha and you.”

  “Nothing to tell. I’m guessing we can salvage a friendship.”

  “I keep hoping for a breakthrough.”

  Chuckling, Royce shook her head. “You’re a romantic.”

  When Gwen left the room, Royce continued to pour through old history. Old yesterdays, she thought as she turned pages. The year prior to the discovery of the body of Jane Doe was similar to most years. Autumn had been lovely. An early blizzard predicted record snowfall amounts. That snow packed winter would produce flooding in the late spring. Forty years ago, winter had been a booming ski season. Merchants saw a financial growth due to a bustling tourist trade. Stormy, commerce doing great, and in the spring, a woman was found with bullets lodged, presumably in her heart.

  Some residents believed the death was due to the rising problem with drugs. Denver was sending crime to the mountains.

  Royce’s only hope of solving the killing rested in modern technology. The lab had promised to get back with her today. Until then, she was attempting to solve two murder cases that were four decades apart. All the pieces of the puzzles were intermingled in a huge pile in front of Royce. They didn’t exactly contribute to the mystery’s solution, but they brought up questions.

  She turned the final pages of the old newspapers. The sheriff then called to her canine companion. Chance jumped up from where she had been resting beside Royce.

  “Let’s continue making our rounds, Chance.”

  ***

  With head drooping, Plato’s legs rushed to catch up with Royce. “Sheriff, I got news for you. That Luther fella is shot of here. Looks like for good.”

  “He’s in Crystal, at the lodge,” Royce informed her confidential informant. “Nick is keeping an eye on him.”

  “Now maybe you can relax.”

  “If Luther isn’t in prison, I can’t relax. And no one else can.” Royce thought about Luther lurking around in Crystal. Terry had mentioned that he’d watched her. Royce would call Nick and have her assigned back in Timber.

  “One of my pals seen Luther and Tony a few times. Being all buddy-buddy. So it ain’t just that they fought.”

  “I’d suspected there’s something going on between them. It’s just difficult to tie down how they’re implicated.”

  “Maybe it’ll come out. Most folks think Otis did it.”

  “I’m not one of them. Yet.” Royce’s voice was stern in its conviction that Otis was innocent.

  “Cal and Otis were enemies. Well, them two had their feud goin’ on. That doesn’t look so good for Otis.”

  “Otis hasn’t got a criminal background, but I’ve learned that isn’t always a determinant about guilt.”

  “Folks all felt so sorry for him when his wife ran out on him.”

  Royce’s steps halted, she whirled around, “Otis was married?”

  “Yep. It didn’t last. Not more ‘n a year. It was clear back so long ago that nobody even remembers. She’d never come into town much.”

  “Was it at the same time when that Jane Doe body was found?”

  “Way before that. Maybe a year or two.”

  “Wait a minute. She left Otis. Ran out on him? But where did she go?”

  “She was a city gal. I heard she went back to her family in the East. Maybe New York. I think I remember hearing something about New York. I can’t remember.”

  “Was it anywhere near the time when Cal and Otis’s feud began?”

  “Couldda been. ‘Spect it mighta been in that time. Sorry, my memory just ain’t as good as it used to be. That was such a long time ago.”

  Royce began to walk back to her office. “It’s fine, Plato. You’ve been a big help.”

  Plato stopped her, “I’m outta smokes.”

  She reached in her pocket to pull out money. “Sorry, I’m thinking about the case. Here’s a few bucks for you. You did great.”

  On her rush across the street, Royce wondered why no one had remembered that Otis was married.

  ***

  Calling Forensics for any test results proved a lesson in patience. Tomorrow, this time, for certain, they again promised. Royce and Chance raced to her vehicle. The trip out to Otis Brull’s cabin was rushed. With her mind also speeding, Royce pulled up to the cabin. She sat for a moment, formulating what she might say that would be most effective.

  She didn’t have time to completely plan. Otis was walking toward her from the wooded area. In his one hand he held his fishing pole, and in the other hand was a string of half a dozen trout.

  “I’m just getting’ ready to fry up some fish. I got plenty. You had your lunch yet?”

  Royce realized that if she took him up on his offer, he would be more likely to talk with her. Breaking bread together put her on his side. If she refused, he might clamp his conversation.

  “Yes. Lunch sounds great.”

  “Come on in,” he directed.

  As he cleaned the fish at the sink, she nonchalantly she stood beside him and watched. “Nice of you to offer.”

  “Yep. I don’t have nobody to cook for, but if I do say so myself, I’m not such a bad cook.”

  “Did you learn from your wife?”

  He looked up a moment. “Naw, my wife – well, she wasn’t my wife. In my heart she was.” His face blanched. “We put it out that we were hitched ‘cause we were livin’ together.”

  “She wasn’t with you long?” Royce surmised that was the reason she hadn’t found anything when she had done a search through court documents. There was no marriage license.

  “Naw. Her family hated me when I began courting her. She runs off with me. I’d been traveling the country. I was clear up in Albany, New York. Met her and fell in love. She was only seventeen, so we needed her ma and pa to sign documents. They wouldn’t give us their blessing, so we come to Colorado where my daddy had a cabin we could have. It was this one.” He paused, remembering. “It was too rustic for her – even in the beginning. I knew it but I kept hoping she’d come to like it.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “Went back to her family I heard. But I wondered if she didn’t run off with another fella.”

  “This must have been forty years ago?”

  Otis went to the stove. He carefully oiled the blackened iron skillet. “Long ago.” He slipped four of the trout into the splattering oil. “I got a loaf of bread from your mom. Best baker ever. I usually eat fish and bread for lunch. Sorry I can’t offer you more.”

  “That’s fine,” Royce commented. “I often make fish sandwiches.”

  “I got some hearty tea. I think they call it breakfast tea.” He poured hot water into two mugs, then dropped tea bags into the boiling water. “I like my Irish tea.” He pointed toward the table. While he loaded fish and bread onto the plates, he joked, “I’da claimed that I baked the bread, but you’d sure have known different,” he joked.

  “Molly’s bread is unique. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed.”

  Otis sat across from her. “I put a few herbs on my trout when I�
��m fryin’ it. But I’m not much of a chef.”

  “This is great, Otis.” She munched the bread and fish. When they’d finished, Royce toasted to Otis. “Thanks, I was hungry.”

  “You’re welcome. I don’t cook like your grandmother. Awhile back I was under the weather. She and her church ladies brought me some meals.”

  “Gran is an amazing cook.” She put the napkin down. “Just out of curiosity, around the time when your wife went missing, there was a lot going on. There was that woman killed at Rasp Meadow within that year. Did you ever wonder if it might be your wife?”

  “I didn’t wanna wonder about that. But yep, I did wonder. But it couldn’t have been Lila. Lila left back in late September. It was the 28th of September. I remember the date I met her, and the day she left.”

  “There was a blizzard that year. In early October. They called it the all-winter blizzard.”

  His frown intensified. “But when they found that poor woman, they said she’d been dead less than a month or two. So it couldn’t have been my Lila.”

  “Actually, with all that snowpack, there is a chance that the body could have been preserved until the spring. By way of the rugged winter, it might be possible. Not much of a chance, but a chance. Just to make certain, maybe you could give me some information. If I knew where she had kin, I could contact them and get a DNA sample. We’d know for sure then.”

  “I can give you what I got in my old address book. Has all her family listed. Lila Franz. But I never contacted any of them. Like I said, they never took a shine to me. So I don’t know if any of them live around Albany now.” He hesitated, scratching his whiskers. He pondered, “How could you tell through that DNA thing?”

  “At the Forensics lab, they have the woman’s DNA. To make a match, they can test the DNA of her siblings, or even her nieces or nephews. Any family member.” Royce explained as she jotted down five phone numbers and addresses.

  “Nowadays everything is science. Computers and science. I’m sorta lost.”