Tarnished Remains: Shandra Higheagle Mystery #2

by Paty Jager

  Shandra’s door flew open the moment he put the vehicle in park. He hurried to catch up to her at the door.

  “Don’t rush in there and start questioning Martha.” Ryan put a hand on Shandra’s shoulder to keep her from charging into the building. “Be calm and act as if we don’t have all the information we do.”

  Shandra nodded, but he felt her tension.

  He opened the door, and they walked in.

  Martha looked up from her desk. “Hello.” Her greeting wasn’t as cheerful as the first time he’d stepped into this office.

  “Mrs. Samples, could you describe the ring Johnny Clark was planning to give Lil the night he came into the café?” Ryan pulled out his notepad.

  Her gaze flit from him to Shandra and back to him. “Why do you need to know that?”

  “It’s evidence.” Ryan said flatly, hoping to keep the woman from dodging the question.

  “That was a long time ago.” She countered.

  “But when a woman looks at a wedding ring even if it isn’t her own, she admires it,” Shandra said.

  Ryan wondered if Shandra wanted a wedding ring of her own as he watched Martha.

  Her face reddened. “He only flashed it. I didn’t get a good look.”

  “What did you see?” Ryan persisted.

  “There was a stone.”

  “Stone? Not a diamond?” Ryan didn’t want her to come back and say he put words in her mouth. She had to say the color.

  “No diamond. A purple stone. Johnny said he chose a purple stone because Lil liked his purple scarf so much.” Martha crinkled her nose. “She wore that stupid purple scarf until it practically rotted on her neck. And now she wears all those purple clothes. It’s crazy. She’s crazy.”

  “It’s not crazy for a person to mourn the loss of a love and a life she’d been dreaming of.” The sadness in Shandra’s voice drew Ryan’s gaze. Lil’s plight moved her deeply.

  “Did Johnny mention anything about engraving on the ring?” He hadn’t wanted to ask this leading question but Martha said she barely saw the ring. If she’d held it in her hands, he would have asked if she’d noticed anything else about the ring.

  “He said it was engraved but didn’t say what it said.” Martha narrowed her eyes. “What’s with all these questions about a ring?”

  “You’ll learn about it when we apprehend Johnny’s murderer.” Ryan flipped his notepad closed. He pivoted toward the door. Shandra’s boot heels tapped a quick cadence behind him.

  At the vehicle, he leaned against the hood. “Now to find Jerome Whitmire.” He snatched his phone from his belt and dialed the Huckleberry police station.

  “Hi Hazel. Has Blane found Jerome Whitmire’s car?”

  “No. It’s like the man disappeared. Do you suspect him of Johnny Clark’s death?” Hazel’s tone was more challenging than inquisitive.

  “Let’s just say we are gathering strong evidence against him. Let me know as soon as he’s spotted.”

  “Will do.”

  Ryan punched the off button and stared up and down the street.

  “Still no sign of him?” Shandra asked.

  “Blane hasn’t seen a thing.” Ryan’s gaze landed on Ruthie’s restaurant. “How about dinner and I’ll return you to your car?”

  Shandra didn’t want to eat, she wanted to find Jerome. If he left the hardware store in a hurry after a phone call from a woman and he wasn’t to be found, he either knew they were on to him, or he knew they were getting close and he was covering his tracks.

  But she couldn’t think of what to do to find him.

  “Might as well. We’re stuck at the moment.” She fell into step beside Ryan as they walked to Ruthie’s.

  “If May didn’t call Jerome, what other woman did, and why did he run out so quickly after that call?” She wasn’t really asking Ryan, just musing out loud.

  “Who are the women we believe are involved?” Ryan asked, accepting her random rattling.

  “May Whitmire, Janine Whitmire, Tracy Gilley, Martha Samples.”

  “Don’t forget Lil,” Ryan said.

  “But you aren’t still considering her the killer are you?” Shandra was pretty sure he no longer believed Lil killed the man she loved.

  “No. I consider her a victim.”

  Shandra’s heart skipped a beat. Ryan understood Lil was one of the victims in this crime. But it also meant she was still a victim.

  “We have to go to my ranch!” Shandra spun on her heel jogging back to Ryan’s vehicle.

  Ryan caught up to her as she climbed into the passenger seat. He hopped behind the wheel and started the SUV.

  “Why your ranch?”

  “Like you said, Lil is the victim. What if she called her uncle after I questioned her about the night the barn burned? She could have called asking questions. Questions he didn’t want asked.” Shandra clutched the arm rest as Ryan raced out of Huckleberry and up the county road toward her ranch. “My dreams have been telling me Lil was alone. I thought it meant because she lost Johnny and the baby, but I think it’s because her family, what’s left of it, is also her enemy.”

  “You think Jerome was at the ranch that night because he followed Johnny? And when Johnny wouldn’t take the bribe to leave, Jerome killed him?” Ryan asked.

  “That’s the way my thinking is headed. He had access to Lil’s pickup to get the key chain. He said she started the barn on fire. He probably did that to get her off the premises while he buried the body.” Shandra was picturing it all in her mind. Yes, Jerome murdered Johnny.

  Their heads banged against the roof of the vehicle a couple times as Ryan pushed the limits over the bumpy lane leading into her ranch.

  A mile from the ranch, he slowed down. “We don’t want to give away our approach if Jerome has a gun on Lil.”

  Ryan’s statement sent a chill down Shandra’s spine. He’d killed once. He could have already killed Lil.

  Before breaking into the clearing of the ranch buildings, Ryan shut off the vehicle. “Come on. We’ll go on foot from here.”

  Shandra slipped out of the vehicle, scanning the area for Sheba. If she saw a man with a gun, she’d be cowering under something. For her size and bravado she was worthless as a guard dog. There was a car she didn’t know parked in front of the house.

  Ryan headed for the house. Shandra put a hand on his arm and pointed to the barn.

  “Lil lives in the barn. That’s where she’d be.”

  Ryan changed directions and crept to the back of the barn.

  Light shimmered in the tack room window. But it was too high to see into. Shandra moved past Ryan to the small door in the back of the barn. Lil kept things well maintained. Shandra knew the door wouldn’t creak or squeak and give away their approach.

  They both slipped into the barn and edged toward the tack room.

  Voices drifted into the darkness.

  “I told Mommy you wouldn’t be able to make him go away.”

  Shandra put a hand on Ryan’s arm. She didn’t recognize the female voice.

  “Janine, what are you talking about?” Lil asked, her voice a bit shaky.

  “When I called Mommy and told her Johnny was flashing a ring and going to ask you to marry him, she said she’d send Jerome to buy him off.” Janine’s voice was rising in pitch.

  “Lil, I’m sorry, but Aunt May wanted the ranch.” Jerome said. “We knew about the trust, and she wanted me to pay Johnny to leave.”

  “You offered Johnny money to not marry me? But why did you kill him?” Lil’s voice came out low and hard.

  “I didn’t kill him. When he refused to take the money, I went down to Gran and Pappy and tried to persuade them to not let you marry him.” He shook his head. “That’s when I saw you come out of the barn and it caught fire.”

  “That wasn’t me! I told you that back then and I’m telling you now.” Lil’s voice rose as she enunciated each word. “I. Did. Not. Set. Fire. To. The. Barn.”

  A feminine cackle chilled the
air. “No, it wasn’t sweet Lil. I was the one who set fire to the barn. I followed you to the mountain, heard Johnny refuse to leave Lil. When you left, I strolled up and asked him why he was waiting on the mountain. He said he’d left a note for Lil in the barn to come to him. He said he planned to camp on the mountain until she arrived. I found out what part of the barn he’d left the note. When he turned away from me and reached down to pick up a jacket on the ground, I hit him in the head with a limb I’d picked up on the way up the trail.”

  Lil gasped.

  Shandra gripped Ryan’s arm. Janine told the story so coldly, shivers slithered through Shandra’s bones.

  “But how did my key chain get under Johnny?”

  Good question, Lil. Shandra smiled at the woman’s quick mind even though she had to be torn up hearing how her lover died.

  “I left him there. Ran down the trail back to the house. I set the barn on fire, stole the keys from your truck, and brought a shovel back up. I dug the hole, dropped the keys in, and shoved Johnny in.”

  Shandra couldn’t stand it any longer she had to know what the situation was in the room. It wouldn’t be unusual for her to walk into her own barn. She’d leave Ryan out here to charge to the rescue.

  She shoved the door open. A tug on her shirt revealed Ryan wasn’t happy with her decision. “Then how did your mother get the ring Johnny was going to give to Lil?”

  Janine pivoted toward her with a gun in her hand. Lil and Jerome sat duct taped to chairs.

  “One more to burn in an accidental barn fire.” Janine motioned with the revolver for Shandra to move over next to the other two.

  Shandra moved slowly, keeping her gaze on the crazy woman with the gun. “You didn’t answer my question. How did your mother get the ring?” She had to keep the woman’s attention so Ryan could apprehend her.

  “I took it and had a jeweler erase the last part of Johnny’s name. I gave it to Mommy and told her she wouldn’t have to worry about Johnny.”

  The pride in Janine’s voice made Shandra shudder.

  “She told us your father gave her the ring.”

  Janine sneered. “That’s because dear daddy is leaving a note. He’s sorry for killing Johnny and couldn’t live with himself.”

  “How were you going to explain my death alongside my uncle?” Lil asked.

  “He wanted you to finally be with Johnny. He’s crazy you know, just like you.” Janine’s gaze flitted to each of her captives.

  Shandra had a good idea who was the real crazy person in the room.

  Lewis strolled into the room, meowing. He wound around Lil’s feet and jumped into her lap. Her hands were tied and she couldn’t pet him.

  Different scenarios ran through Shandra’s mind. She latched on to the easiest one. With one quick motion, she picked up the orange cat, ruffling his hair. He hated his hair roughed up. His ears laid back and his eyes grew wider.

  “The only person in this family that’s crazy is you,” Shandra said, tossing the cat at the woman and shouting, “Now!”

  Lewis hissed and hit Janine in the chest.

  Janine dropped the gun, flailing her arms.

  Lewis landed on his feet and ran over to hide behind Lil’s legs.

  Ryan hurtled through the door and grasped Janine, yanking her arms behind her back. Shandra searched the room for a knife to cut Lil and her uncle free.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  The clock on the oven clicked over to midnight. Shandra handed Lil a glass of wine and a beer to Lil’s uncle. Ryan walked through the door. She pivoted back to the refrigerator and plucked a beer for Ryan. The stubble on his face, wrinkled clothes, and droopy eyelids proved he was ready to finish the day.

  After detaining Janine, Ryan had called for backup to take her to jail and to help take statements. May had arrived at this point, shouting obscenities at her husband and accusing him of killing Johnny, not Janine. The sheriff’s department cars finally left, taking Janine and May with them.

  Shandra wanted to feel sorry for the mother and daughter, but she couldn’t. They’d considered their own wealth over that of the life of another. And the irony, after killing Johnny, the ranch was sold and the only way they could get it was to purchase it. Something neither wanted to do with the body on the mountain.

  Jerome put a hand over Lil’s resting on the counter. “I’m sorry for all the sorrow my family brought you. I didn’t have a clue about what they did. But when you called today and started asking questions, I had to come see you and figure out what was happening.”

  Lil smiled at her uncle. “It’s okay. Now that I know Johnny didn’t desert me, I feel free.” She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I want them punished for his death, but I know he didn’t leave because he wanted to.”

  Her dreamy gaze and wistful smile brought a lump to Shandra’s throat.

  “Janine will go to prison for sure. Her mother is an accessory.” Ryan took a sip of beer. “Robert just called and said it looked like the mother was turning on the daughter.”

  Jerome snorted. “May has always been out for herself. I could see her turning on Janine to keep herself out of jail. Poor Janine was just a pawn in May’s game of trying to gather the most of everything.” He shook his head and peered at Lil. “I’m sorry for all those years they told people you were crazy. It was those two who were crazy.”

  “Why did you stay with Aunt May?” Lil asked. “I could tell years ago you two weren’t happy.”

  “Her money started my hardware store. And kept it open when times were bad. She threatened to take it away if I strayed or left her. It was all I had after the ranch sold. I’d wanted that ranch so I’d have my own financial independence, but Lil, I would have never killed for it. When I saw how much Johnny loved you by turning down the fifty-thousand May sent me to offer him, I decided to try other tactics.”

  “Like getting Lil thrown in jail for arson and then spreading rumors she was unfit to take over the ranch?” Shandra wasn’t going to soften to the man who could and should have stood up for Lil all those years.

  He had the decency to blush. “When I saw the barn on fire and saw a young woman with blonde hair running from the barn, I thought it was Lil.”

  “You didn’t even recognize your own daughter?” Ryan spoke up.

  Jerome shrugged. “Step-daughter. I thought it was Janine at first, but she wasn’t supposed to be there, so I figured it had to be Lil. At the time, from a distance, they were hard to tell apart. Especially from the back.”

  Shandra had a question that had been nudging the back of her mind for hours. “What I don’t understand is how quickly Janine, and even you, made it up and down the mountain from the murder site, my clay pocket? It takes me hours on a horse to make that trek.”

  Lil sat up. “Thirty years ago there was a direct trail to that spot from the back of the barn up through the rocks. Pappy said it was made by Indians who would go up beyond the clay pocket to watch for intruders. It could only take foot traffic because it’s narrow and carved in the rocks. Someone in good shape can climb it easy in an hour. The trail we made for you for the horses takes longer because we have to switch back and find paths wide enough for a horse with a pack.”

  Ryan perked up. “Is the trail still navigable?”

  Lil shook her head. “I don’t think anyone has used it for years. Once Johnny was gone, I had no reason to go to that spot. The first time I’d been there in decades was when Shandra found the clay and insisted on a trail to get to it.”

  Jerome stood. “I better get back to Hafersville and see what I need to do about my wife and Janine.”

  “You’re not going to stand by them knowing what they did?” Shandra knew family stuck together, but she’d never condone a family member murdering someone.

  “I need to see they have attorneys. After that, they’re on their own. I’ll have enough fallout at the store when this hits the news. I don’t need to be siding with them or I’ll lose everything for sure.” He turned to Lil.
“Again, I’m sorry my family cost you a happy future.”

  Lil stood and hugged Jerome. “I still have you.” She released the man.

  When Jerome turned, Shandra saw tears glistening in his eyes.

  “Good-night,” Shandra said, walking him to the door.

  “Drive safe,” Ryan said from behind her.

  Shandra shut the door on Jerome and faced Ryan.

  “That was a fool-hardy thing you did tonight.” His voice was stern, but his gaze fluctuated between her eyes and her lips.

  “We didn’t know what was going on in that room. We could have stood out there for an hour and discovered they were just talking. We had to know if there was a weapon involved.” She’d wondered when he would take her to task for running into the tack room.

  “And then throwing a cat at a woman with a gun…” He backed her up against the door. “You could have been killed. She could have fired at the cat and you would have been in the line of the bullet.”

  “The way her hand was wobbling while holding the gun, I didn’t think she even knew how to shoot it. But I needed a distraction so you could apprehend her.” Shandra’s heart was racing as Ryan pushed closer.

  “Standing outside that door, waiting and listening.” He released a long drawn out breath. “My heart stopped twice imagining that woman shooting you. And like a bad dream, me getting to you too late.”

  Shandra stared at the snaps on his shirt. If she looked into his eyes she’d say something like, I promise to never do that again. And she’d never be able to keep that promise if someone she cared about was in danger again.

  Ryan tucked a finger under her chin and raised her face. She peered into his dark, brown concerned eyes.

  “Promise—”

  “Shandra, I’m headed to bed,” Lil’s voice called from the kitchen.

  Gah! She’d forgotten they weren’t alone. Shandra ducked around Ryan and briskly walked into the kitchen. She crossed the room and hugged Lil.

  “After tonight, I think you deserve a good night’s sleep. See you in the morning.” She released the woman and watched her walk out the door.