by Kieran York
Royce stood. “I know the feeling, Otis. Sometimes I feel left behind by it all. Everyday there’s some innovation I’m clueless about.”
“I hope you get ahold of Lila’s family. They might tell you she’s alive. Even if she’s with another person, and has her own family, I hope she’s fine.”
“I’ll try to find out for you.”
He turned his head, and his eyes watered. “It would be good to know. One way or the other.”
“Thank you for your help, and for the lunch.”
Royce called for Chance to join her. When she reached her vehicle, she felt sorrow spreading through her thoughts. Something told her that she would not be having good news for Otis Brull.
She was also feeling intuition. That cop inside feeling of a possibility or probability meter was sounding an alarm. It was telling her that Otis had not murdered his wife.
***
Back in her office, Royce began checking the Internet search sites. After half an hour, she had located Lila Franz’s older brother, Hank. The family had lost track of her after she disobeyed her parents. She’d run away with a drifter. A no-account, according to her father. Hank quickly agreed to cooperate by providing a sample.
Royce coordinated a plan for Albany police to visit Hank. They would take a swab, collecting DNA. That would be taken to their crime lab to be analyzed. The results would be sent to Denver. Forensics would work to quickly see if it was a match. They knew that the sheriff of a small mountain town had been working to identify a Jane Doe. The technicians would gladly give an assist to putting a name with a cold case Jane Doe.
Royce had promised Hank Franz that she would keep him updated. Also, that she would do everything she could to find the killer. If he or she was alive, Royce would bring that person to justice. Hank wanted to know if Otis was a suspect. She answered that Otis had an unblemished record, and she didn’t believe he had done it. However, she added her stock rejoinder. Everyone was a suspect.
Crossing the street, Royce felt as though there was some progress being made, in some direction. At least this case hadn’t stalled completely. She wanted to let Gwen and Nadine know about it. Off the record, for now. But at least they would be in the loop when more information was released.
***
“Hell’s Bells, I remember now. A little slip of a woman,” Gwen exclaimed. “I’m not sure Nadine had met her. I only remember seeing her a couple of times in the grocery store with Otis. A young couple. But the paper didn’t publish a record of their marriage.”
“Otis told me that they’d wanted to marry, but she was underage and needed her parent’s permission. Since they’d run away together, there was no permission.”
Gwen chuckled. “I know. Back then it was a matter of being unwed and living in sin. Those days were uptight. Sadly, up tight. Kids now days have it easy. Anyway, it might be Lila Franz. If not, at least you eliminated one possibility. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it could be the case. The body hadn’t decomposed as quickly as they estimated. Hell, four decades ago, there weren’t the technologies. Investigators did the best they could with what they had.”
“I’ll give you a call when I know anything more,” Royce said as she made her way to the door.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Hertha said if I saw you to tell you she wanted you to drop by.” Gwen gave a loud whistle. “My, my.”
“I’m sure it isn’t anything like that.” Royce’s blush was a deep rose. Her smile then displayed her dimples. “She probably just wants to take another look at Chance’s paw.”
“It was a paw bruise. Not heart surgery. Come on, Royce. Admit it. You’re in love with her and she’s in love with you. You’re both denying it. Neither one of you are willing to blink. So you’re going to throw your futures away.”
“Chance’s paw needs to be perfectly healed. She’s a working dog.”
“Sure.” Gwen’s laugh boomed. Royce heard it all the way across the street.
Entering the High Country Animal Hospital, Royce hid her smile. “Gwen said you wanted to see me?”
Hertha explained, “I ordered some vitamins for Cleo, and remembered your Gran had mentioned her cat, Shelly, was running low. So I ordered some for your Gran.” She pulled a small sack from the shelf. “Cats are picky about vitamins. Cleo, Princess PITA, over there is the pickiest ever. These vitamins, she gobbles up.”
“Cleo is beautiful,” Royce commented. Automatically, Royce glanced across the waiting room. Cleo was on a chair resting in the sunlight. Royce picked her up, and sat down placing Cleo in her lap. As the sheriff leaned down, Cleo pushed her nose up against her face. Royce grinned. “I love the striping on her legs and tail. It looks like she has Egyptian eye makeup in the corners of her eyes. What a magnificent face!”
“She’s Alpha-kitty around here,” the vet commented. “That’s why Cleo is also called Princess PITA.
“Did the kids really name her Princes PITA?” Royce questioned.
“Oh, yes. They named our truck Bumpy.”
Royce smiled. She watched Chance. “Chance isn’t taking her eyes from Cleo. She sees Princess PITA snuggling and kissing me.”
“Cleo doesn’t kiss just everyone. She’s a lot like I am. We’re selective.”
Royce wanted to taste another of Hertha’s kisses. She pulled a curtain over that thought quickly. She changed the subject. “The children keep you entertained.”
Hertha looked serious for a moment. “Yes, but I think they’ve aged me a decade in the last year. I wouldn’t have missed having the kiddos in my life for anything in the world.”
“You haven’t aged. If anything, they’ve made you look younger. They say that kids keep you young.”
With a lift of her eyebrows, Hertha said, “I’m not sure who said that, but it must be the exercise you get. Parenting is the most difficult job in the world. However, I dispute the looks part. Maybe for me it’s the stress of the job that’s aged me.”
“I promise you don’t look different from when you left.”
“Thanks, Royce.”
It was difficult for Royce to turn from Hertha. She wanted to continue looking into her eyes. It was similar to breaking away from watching something very special happening. Something she wanted to happen.
She handed Cleo back into the warm arms of Hertha.
Chapter 22
After their morning meeting, the deputies dispersed. Nick had stayed behind with Terry and Sam.
“Is it okay if Terry stays here so she can put in some training time with Chance?” Nick asked Royce.
“Great.” Royce smiled at the young woman. “Maybe you can hang out in the office to take calls this morning. Wanda won’t be in until noon, so if you can stand in and work dispatch, I’d appreciate it. Then we’ll take Chance out to Rasp Meadow Crossing this afternoon. You can give her a run through her commands.”
Terry nodded, then went to the dispatch desk to begin taking calls. She used one hand to write, and the other to tickle Chance’s ears. She was getting off on the right side of the police dog.
“Okay, I’m headed to Crystal,” Nick said. “Give me a call if you get anything from Forensics.”
He exited, and Sam immediately began telling Royce about what he had located concerning the drone that was up in the tree outside the Wagner Ranch. He explained, “Terry said she wasn’t knowledgeable enough to give it a try. So I’m not terrific at it, but I gave it a go. We are so in the win column. Tony Wagner is on social media, and he actually posts his aerial footage.” Sam’s smile was overwhelming. “I got in through social medial. I can ‘intrude’ to see all the images without needing to get any kind of warrant. Now I’m trying to go through the massive amounts of pictures. All I need to do is find the night when Calvin was murdered. Then search everything available for that time span. I’ll let you know.”
“I appreciate it, Sam. Tony lives in the lower level, so he’d probably be coming out the backdoor on the left. If I calculate it right, the dro
ne’s camera could possibly be aimed in that direction.”
“Great news,” Sam chuckled with his good-natured laugh. His enthusiasm gushed. “The camera has panoramic. So if it’s there, and I can find it – bingo. My eyes are tired of seeing all the landscapes, rocks, and sky. I’m looking for someone sneaking out.”
Royce called to Terry, “I’ll be back in a little while.”
Terry answered, “I’m keeping an eye on Sweet Chance.”
When Sam and the sheriff walked onto the sidewalk, Sam said in a confidential aside, “Terry is very uptight. Snooty even.”
“Give her time,” Royce said with amusement. “The two of you will get on fine.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’re both excellent enforcers.” Royce’s eyebrows lifted. “Ask Nick how we got along together when we first met.”
Sam’s familiar, joyful chortle sounded musical. “He told me that if he could stand you back then, that I can stand partnering with Terry now.”
“He said that?” Royce leaned toward Sam. “Really?”
“Yep. He said you were humorless.”
“I can’t imagine where he got that impression,” the sheriff replied with a grin. “We were equally insufferable. And now I wouldn’t trade his friendship for the world.”
Sam’s toothy smile stayed in a fixed position. He knew exactly what Royce was saying. “Have a great day, Sheriff.”
“You too, Sam.”
The sheriff considered that all of Sam’s days were great. He made them that way.
Although Terry wasn’t thrilled with his extravaganza kind of attitude, she would need to get used to it. Royce had a feeling that Sam was not about to dial back his happiness.
***
Emma stuttered for a few seconds. “Why are you asking me about my ex-husband?”
Royce glanced around the backroom of Wagner Gun Shop. It seemed gloomy. She took a chair across from the desk where Emma was seated. Emma’s father had bled out on that desktop. Grace and Emma never seemed emotional about anything to do with Cal’s death.
“Rumor has it that he has a record, and perhaps a penchant for crime. So I just want to know more about him,” Royce expounded.
“Dix, that’s what everyone calls him, Dix never was violent. His crime was selling fraudulent stock. He hasn’t even got a motive. I’m confused. You’ve got Otis, who hated my father and fought with him the night he was killed and you’ve got that money grubbing wife of his. I’m telling you, Dix wouldn’t have killed my father.”
“You understand that in an active investigation, I’ve got to follow up everything?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think my ex would hurt anyone.”
“We never know.” Royce hesitated. “How is business doing?”
“Fine. I’m doing a lot of gun repairs now. Tony should be here more, but since none of us get along, he stays out on the ranch and plays with his toys.”
“Do you think there’s a chance of you and Tony selling the property next to the ranch?”
“Why would we? We’ve got enough to support us coming from the companies.”
Royce stood. “I think that’s all I need to know for now.”
***
Royce stopped by to talk a minute with Molly. As she often did, Molly filled a box with pastries for the Sheriff’s Office employees. Royce had just entered, when Terry handed her two phone messages. The first one was from a county jail outside of Los Angeles. That message excluded Emma’s husband from the suspect list. He had been incarcerated for the past three months in California.
The other call, Royce quickly returned. After the conversation, she passed the desk where Terry was seated. The rookie was munching a crispy cherry Danish. “Your mother is a saint,” Terry muttered through her mouthful of pastry.
“Terry, I couldn’t agree more.” Royce leaned in for confidentiality. “Look, I’m going out to Otis Brull’s cabin. I’ll be back within the hour.” Royce rushed to the door. “Keep Chance with you. Bonding time.”
By the time she reached her vehicle, there was a vacantness. She had to tell Otis bad news. Her trip to his cabin was made with her mind whirling around how to put the news into words.
Otis sat on the porch. He motioned for her to take a seat on the old rocking chair. Royce began, “Otis, the news isn’t good. We got the report confirming that the DNA matched. The woman who was murdered forty years ago was Lila Franz Brull.”
His head sunk into his hands. He sobbed. “Why would anyone kill her?”
“I have no idea why anyone would kill anyone. Now, I’d like you to tell me everything. Whatever it is you’re holding back. It needs to be said. Said now – the truth of what happened back then.”
“I reckon she left ‘cause I didn’t give her the life she wanted. After a year of livin’ here, out in the wilderness. She was missing civilization.”
“And?” Royce prodded.
“I’m not certain what did happen. Talk was that she was going to meet up with someone. He was going to leave his wife and take her off to live in a city. She wanted excitement. All this, the cabin and the land – it wasn’t enough for her. I wasn’t enough.”
“A man promised to take her away?”
“That was a rumor then. Yep, and if she didn’t love me, well, she might as well go off and be happy. She took my truck one day when I was out in the woods doin’ a little tracking. Cleaned out her belongings, she did. My truck was left parked behind the Bell Ringer.”
“Were all her belongings gone too?”
“Everything. That fella and her just disappeared.”
“The fella – was he from around here?”
“I’m not certain. I asked around everywhere I could. No fella seemed to be missing. I asked some of the guys I was friends with. Well, they said she’d vanished back to her home. She missed her family. So maybe the guy wasn’t from around here. Maybe he came and took her back.”
“Which friends told you that she’d gone back to Albany?”
“A couple of ‘em are dead or moved. Calvin said that she’d missed her family.”
“Wait, she talked with Calvin about it?”
“Yep. Then I found out from some of the fellas that Calvin and my Lila were sweet on one another.” Otis glanced around. Nervously, he looked at the sky. “My Lila was killed. And you might be thinking I did it. Now you know that the reason why Cal and I feuded. He denied it, but I never believed him. Said she run away back home. Caught the bus and went back to her family. You might be considering that it made me mad enough to finally kill him too.”
“Did you?”
He shook his head negatively. “No. I wouldn’t kill anybody. Not Cal. And not my Lila. It was probably some guy picked her up. A stranger.” His eyes gushed. Each time he would wipe his eyes, they would again overflow. “I lived all these years thinkin’ that she left with that guy. But she’d come back to me one day.”
“In a way she’s never left the area. We can change her headstone from Jane Doe to Lila Franz Brull. Then we can put: Wife of Otis Brull.”
“We wasn’t married.”
“I believe you were, Otis.” The sheriff saw the pain on his face. It was pain; it wasn’t guilt.
“I’d like that to be on there.” His eyes appeared tired, spent. “I always had a feeling when I went to the cemetery. When I walked past that grave.”
Royce dug around in her bullet magazine pouch. She pulled out the scrap of the necklace cross that Chance had located. “Do you recognize this, Otis?”
Her responded, “Belonged to my Lila. I give it to her for Valentine’s Day.” His leathery fingers touched it. He held it to his heart.
“I don’t think it belongs in an evidence vault. You can keep it if you like,” Royce said.
“I do want it, thanks, Sheriff. It’s all I have left of her now. She ain’t comin’ back.” He stood. “You gonna arrest me.”
“I don’t know who killed Lila. So I can’t arrest anyone yet. When
I know, I’ll arrest the responsible person.”
Otis was silent. “Then you ain’t gonna be arresting me.”
***
On the way over to Timber City Times office, Royce called Nick. She told him the latest news. She also called Lila’s brother to let the family know that she had been murdered forty years ago. She promised to let them know more when she knew more.
“You look glum,” Gwen greeted her.
“We got the results back from the lab. The DNA had a hit. The woman who was murdered and buried at Rasp Meadow is Lila Brull.”
“You were right about questioning the amount of time the body was in the ground.” Gwen removed her eyeglasses. “Hell’s bells. I don’t feel good about having this front page story.” Pausing, Gwen threw down the papers she’d been carrying. “Damn, I’m feeling guilt for my feelings. I hadn’t wanted it to be anyone from our community. What’s wrong with me? I should have been humanitarian enough to feel as much grief about someone unknown. Does Otis know?”
“I just went out and told him. He was devastated.”
“Is he a suspect?”
“If he is a suspect, he’s also a great actor.” Royce sighed. “The only good thing is that the woman now has a name. That doesn’t make her grave any less lonely. But I think my father would be pleased to know the gravestone will identify her.”
Gwen’s mouth munched her words. “Except, you want to find the killer?”
“I do. For now, please just print that the body was identified. We have no prime suspect at this time. I’ll let you know when that changes.”
“Royce, are you okay?”
“No. I’m not. I’ve been swimming in questions since Cal was murdered. This case, these cases, don’t seem to be unraveled enough for me to grab ahold of something to solve either of them. This is a big break. Yet questions continue.”
Gwen came around from her desk. Her arms went around Royce. She hugged the sheriff for many moments. When she released her, she said, “Royce, if there’s a way to solve it, you’ll do it.”