Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 06 - Bigfoot in Tawas

by Madison Johns

  “My sister, Margarita, is in town,” Eleanor said. “It seems that she and her friends want to help with our investigation.”

  “Oh, you mean the girl that carries that bow around with her everywhere she goes?”

  “Exactly,” Eleanor said. “She’s a little too pushy for my liking.”

  “She did say she’s done some investigating in Bear Paw. She’s just on the strong-willed side,” I said. “We sent them on a wild goose chance out to the Matlin place to a Bigfoot sighting while we interviewed another witness.”

  “What did you make of it?” Martha asked. “Another basket case?”

  “I’m not sure what to say about it. The lady sure seemed to be honest about what she saw. Not so sure about her story that her husband found a cabin in the woods where chains were affixed to a wall, or that he burned it down.”

  “You must be talking about Shelly and Scott Niles.”

  “So you’ve heard the stories before?”

  “Sure, about a month back Scott was at Barnacle Bill’s talking about that. Half of the patrons told him he’d better hush up before someone sent him to the loony bin, but a few locals said anything was believable in the area where he lives. That was way before everyone seemed hell bent on proving Bigfoot exists here in Tawas.”

  “Was that all that was said?”

  “Yup, just Scott claiming to have burned out a cabin that might be the home to some beast. He never called it Bigfoot, but the descriptions seemed all the same to me. Now that I think about it, it was mighty strange that he never used that name. At first I thought he was thinking it was some sort of shapeshifter.”

  “Shapeshifter?” Eleanor asked. “What’s that?”

  “A person who can change from their human form to that of an animal, like a wolf or bear, really anything they want.”

  “Like a werewolf?” Eleanor asked interested.

  “Except with a shape shifter, the moon isn’t needed for them to shift. Some folklore claims they can shift at will. There is also many shifter romance books out there now, quite popular really. You should check out books about werebears.”

  Eleanor pulled out her iPhone and started an internet search and giggled. “Oh, wow. These books look really good. I should try one out.”

  “Check out the free ones. Many authors offer a first book in a series free. It’s a way to check it out.”

  “That’s fiction though, Eleanor. It won’t help us investigate this case.”

  “No, but what if Bigfoot is really a shapeshifter? It might explain why he’s never been found.”

  “I suppose it’s all in what you want to believe. If you try to suggest that’s the case, you’ll be run out of town. Nobody has ever tried to say anything that ludicrous about Bigfoot before. The next thing you’ll come up with is that Bigfoot is an alien.”

  Martha’s face split into a grin. “That could be, too. The truth is that we just don’t know if Bigfoot is real, or where he’s come from. Like, how has he gone virtually undetected for all this time? With all the sightings, you’d think someone would have some kind of tangible proof by now.”

  “You do have a valid point, Martha, but that’s what we’re trying to figure out. When we’re done eating, we’ll head out to check on baby Andrea, and hopefully Bill might know where we can find the DNR and the Wildlife Service guys. I hope they’re still in town, but I also hope that they test that hair we found at the Matlin place.”

  “What if it can’t be determined? Where will you go then?”

  “Somebody has to know something. We just have to find that someone who can help us solve this puzzle.”

  Eleanor and I finished our sandwiches and soon were heading down the road to Sophia and Bill’s house. When I knocked on the door, Bill was dressed in his Michigan State Trooper blues. “Going back to work today?”

  “I sure am. Andrea is doing much better, and Sophia is back to her old self. She’s in the baby’s room if you came to see her.”

  “Actually, we came here to see all of you. We’ve been quite busy with the Billy Matlin case.”

  He rocked back on his heels. “Oh? I thought you were looking for Bigfoot.”

  “You should know since Billy disappeared we’d be looking into where he might be. He can’t pay us if he’s not found, and since I don’t believe Bigfoot swallowed him whole, we need to figure out where he is.”

  “Sounds like you have your hands full, but please be sure to relay any viable information to Sheriff Peterson or me. We’re still investigating the matter.”

  “Great, so we’re a team then?”

  “I never said that. I still would rather have you two butt out. We both know that will never happen. Just don’t put yourself into any dangerous situations.” He raised both of his hands. “I know that’s dang near impossible for the two of you.”

  My hands went to my hips. “Believe me it’s not intentional by any means.”

  Eleanor fidgeted. “Have you heard anything about the blood found at Billy’s, like did it belong to him or not?”

  Bill sighed. “You know I can’t tell you.”

  “Oh, you can tell them that at least, Bill,” Sophia said as she strode into the room with baby Andrea squirming in her arms.

  I walked over and took the baby from her. “Yes, the information is not that vital since I suspect the blood does belong to Billy. It was his house, after all.”

  “Since you already know, what are you asking me for?” With that he gave Sophia a peck on the mouth and was out the door.

  Once the door slammed behind him, I said, “I just never know if that man is being sarcastic or if that was his way of telling me that I was right about the blood samples.”

  “Probably both, knowing my husband,” Sophia said with a smile. “If you need to know, he barely talks shop at home. Probably too afraid I’d relay it to you, Grams.”

  “That’s silly. You’ve never done anything like that, and I’d never put you in a situation like that. We always find our way to extract information. We’ll be searching out Sheriff Peterson all the same.”

  “Why we gonna do that, Aggie? Trooper Sales already about told us that the blood was Billy’s.”

  “True, but was that the only blood found? It seems to me that if something came flying through the patio door, it would be equally as injured.”

  “If you’re assuming that it was an animal or beast like Bigfoot, and not an object like a brick or log.”

  “I don’t recall seeing anything like that over at Billy’s. Perhaps we should ask Margarita and company. After all, we sent them over there to check things out.”

  “Either you want them to help out with the investigation, or not,” Eleanor sputtered. “Which is it?”

  “Who?” Sophia asked.

  “Margarita is Eleanor’s sister, and she brought two gals to town with her that apparently helped solve a case back over in Bear Paw.”

  “Let me get this straight. Eleanor has a sister who has investigated a crime before too, but in another town?”

  “From the sound of it,” I acknowledged.

  Sophia laughed for a moment. “Sorry, but that’s just funny. Does Margarita also have a senior aged friend along for the ride?”

  “Nope, a just a couple of gals originally from Louisiana. I never heard the story as to why they’re still in Michigan.”

  “They’re helping my sister with her restaurant. It seems they’ve converted her restaurant to serve Cajun cooking.”

  “Here in Michigan?”

  “I love Cajun cooking,” Sophia said as she pulled a filled bottle from the refrigerator, warming it under hot water that jutted from the sink spigot. “We should invite them over for dinner.”

  “I can’t imagine we’d have much time for that unless the reality show really is put off indefinitely.”

  “True, and we can’t very well invite her over and expect her to cook, but I hope at the very least that she could share some of her recipes.”

  “Sounds good,
Sophia. I’ll bring it up to them when I see them next.” I handed the baby back to Sophia who was poised with the baby bottle. “We really should get going. We just wanted to stop by and check on you and the baby. I’m glad that you all seem fine now.”

  “It sure was quite the scare. Bill really proved to be a standup guy. You just never know what kind of father or husband a man will be. The pregnancy thing happened so quickly and so did our marriage. I was so worried that Bill might have felt pressured to marry me, but I can see now that was not the case. I know he loves me as I do him, and he’s a great father. He did his turns at the hospital just like I did. One of the nurses even told me that he insisted on being very hands-on and wouldn’t let them do much in the way of feeding or diaper changes. Tell me what kind of man does that?”

  “One who loves you both with his whole heart,” I said as I gave her shoulder a squeeze.

  Eleanor and I left, confident that everything in this house was just as it should be. Baby Andrea showed no signs of illness now, and Sophia appeared quite rested.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Eleanor and I waltzed into the sheriff’s department we were led straight away to Sheriff Peterson’s office. We walked in and he motioned us to two chairs as he was on the phone.

  “I know, but I’m sure they weren’t aware that they shouldn’t be crossing the police tape. They don’t live in East Tawas. They’re from Bear Paw from what I saw when I looked them up on the computer.”

  Peterson locked eyes with me. “Not to worry, just let them go on about their way. I’ll make sure that Agnes Barton explains to them how crime scenes work in Iosco County.”

  I gulped hard. “Uh-oh,” Eleanor whispered. “No wonder we were led back here.”

  It could also be that most of the people at the sheriff’s department know Eleanor and me quite well by now. We probably have a frequent flyer card. Not that we clock time here, but because we come here often enough to warrant an escort straight to the sheriff’s office. Not all that long ago, Sheriff Peterson and I were practically at each other’s throats, but we’ve grown accustomed to each other. He knows full well that we won’t ever completely stay out of investigations, or what’s left of his hair.

  Peterson hung up his phone and asked us, “Would you two care for coffee?”

  “You’re offering?” I asked Peterson. “That would be great.”

  Instead of calling someone in to fetch it, he disappeared into the other room, returning with two cups filled with fragrant coffee. As we took the offered cups, I thanked him. “This sure is a switch. It makes me wonder what’s up. I couldn’t help but overhear part of your conversation.”

  “I bet not, but no worries there, except I had expected the two of you to be the ones over there to investigate. I had no idea that Eleanor’s sister, Margarita, was in town, or that the two young ladies with her fancy themselves to be investigators. I heard they helped solve a case in Bear Paw.”

  “I don’t know much about that case. They never went into elaborate details.”

  “That’s surprising. So why did you send Margarita and company out there to the Matlin place?”

  “They wanted to help, but Eleanor and I like to work a case between ourselves. You should know that by now, Clem.”

  He shifted his bulk on his chair that strained under his bulk. “Strange, Agnes, because Margarita mentioned that you told them to go out there to the Matlin place to check it out.”

  I cringed, but informed the sheriff, “Actually, I told Tammy Rodrigue they could help us out by checking to see if Billy had returned home, is all.”

  “So you think Billy would return home just like that after all the blood he lost?”

  “Oh, I had no idea if all that blood belonged to Billy or not. So it was his blood, then?”

  Peterson slapped his palms on his desk. “You know dang well it was.”

  I feigned innocence. “Oh, and how was I to know that for sure? It’s not like I took DNA samples, or have a lab at my disposal.”

  “No, you don’t, but I’m sure Trooper Sales already told you the blood was Billy’s.”

  “Actually, Trooper Sales has been quite busy since his baby had been admitted to the hospital, and he doesn’t bring his work home with him.”

  Peterson leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry about your great-grandbaby, but I just would hate to see Bill get into any trouble by letting pertinent information slip into the wrong hands. I’m afraid you girls don’t understand the importance of keeping this case out of public knowledge.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Sheriff. Did you find any other blood on the scene, besides Billy’s?”

  “You should know by now the chain of evidence doesn’t drift down to the both of you.”

  “I know. I just wondered, is all. I just hope that you’re not trying to hush up the Bigfoot stories. What if Bigfoot really is in Tawas?”

  “He’s not, trust me.”

  “Oh, and what about that time when you were called out to Scott and Shelly Niles’s place?”

  He gnashed his teeth together. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure you do. You were called out to their place like a month ago, wasn’t it? But according to Shelly, you didn’t exactly buy into her story.”

  “Listen, we’ve been called out to many homes of area residents. We take all of their Bigfoot stories with a grain of salt. There is just no such a thing as Bigfoot. Billy Matlin has stirred the whole town up with his wild tales.”

  “Perhaps, but Shelly never said that it was Bigfoot on her property, just that something strange happened out at her place.”

  “Yeah,” Eleanor said. “Something stared at her through her window. How can you discount that?”

  “I’m not. We swept the property and turned up nothing. No footprints or signs of anything out of the ordinary.”

  “How about the scratches on the back door?”

  “Anyone could have made them. It proves nothing.”

  “Did you hear the story about how Scott Niles supposedly burned down a cabin in the woods?”

  “That’s a new one. They certainly never shared a story like that. I would have taken action.”

  “Oh, so you can’t really launch a Bigfoot investigation, but you can try to charge a man for arson of an abandoned cabin in the woods?”

  “Look, there’s nothing to substantiate Shelly’s claims, and later I heard that the strange goings on had halted.”

  “So you can admit that there were strange goings on then?”

  “I believe that Shelly believed it, but the truth is that she lives in a remote area and is alone while her husband works out of town. It’s easy to conjure up these stories. Probably she was watching too many reality shows like the Dead Files.”

  “That show is about paranormal activity, like ghosts,” I clarified.

  Peterson swung his hands skyward. “I give up. There is just no pacifying you, is there, Agnes?”

  “I’m not saying that. I was just questioning your reasoning about not believing Shelly’s story.”

  “If I had seen something that I believed warranted a further investigation, I’d have done it. There just wasn’t enough evidence. If you need to know, the Billy Matlin case is more worthy of an investigation.”

  “So, what is going on with that?”

  “All the blood samples belonged to Billy. None of the dogs picked up much of a scent. They lost it at the river. Not much else to do. We could inform the public on this one, but the last thing I need to do is have more people tromping out in the woods.”

  “I see. Thanks for the share. I have no idea how we’re going to find Billy, but I really believe that the reality show just might be the key.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, for one it will give us a chance to search the woods more. I’m really interested to see what the Animal Network has in store for us.”

  “Like in—you’re going to be on the show?”

  “Yes, wh
y?” Eleanor said. “We’re old, not dead.”

  “Believe me, I know that more than anyone else in town. I have yet to call either of you out. I just hope that you’ll both be very careful. I’d hate to have something happen to either of you.”

  Eleanor smiled. “Not to worry. We’ll do just fine.”

  Sheriff Peterson glanced at his watch. “Thanks, ladies, but I have a meeting soon.”

  “What about the DNR and U.S. Fish and Game Service?”

  “You’ll have to catch up to them about the DNA samples. They’re the ones responsible for that investigation. Personally, I believe those fellas are looking for more of a human connection to the crimes of killing that bald eagle. I sure hope that wasn’t the same bald eagle carcass that I saw on US 23, but I suppose you two would know better than to plant roadkill as a potential crime scene just so you can get them to do a DNA analysis on that bunch of hair you found.”

  I blinked as I tasted bile at the back of my throat under his hard stare. “I hope you aren’t expecting me to respond to that suggestion.”

  “Of course not. I know you value taxpayers’ money more than that, and I’d hate to see either of you in trouble over the deal. You might want to tread lightly in the future.”

  Eleanor fidgeted. “We’ll keep that in mind, but I didn’t have anything to do with that bald eagle.” I cleared my throat and El added, “I mean, we have no idea how that bald eagle was killed, but it’s our hunch Bigfoot likes birds for dinner. Obviously, Billy didn’t feed him enough to fill his stomach since he’s so big.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing over El’s weird assumption. “Do you happen to know where we might find the DNR this time of day?”

  “Barnacle Bill’s might be the place. I’m sure they’re off duty by now.”

  I was thinking how the DNR sure didn’t work all that hard, unless you count them asking for your fishing license to make sure you had one. I somehow envisioned them kicking back in that truck of theirs playing games on their Smartphones, but then again, I can be a mite judgmental sometimes. Especially when they were so reluctant to test the animal hair we had.