Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition

by Moulton, CD

  “She’s insane so she doesn’t think like sane people.”

  “I know. I was counting on that.”

  “She will know you are thinking in that way. Crazy people are often very smart.”

  Clint nodded agreement. “Is there anywhere around here she would go? Anyplace she may know about from when she was here?”

  “It has been many years – before even I had a wife. I remember that she liked to go to the island place where the stream comes to the river. She was always happy there because no one else came to disturb her.”

  “An island?”

  “The stream goes around both sides of a large boulder and there is perhaps half a hectare of flat land and trees by the river behind it. It is very thick with a big flat rock in the middle.”

  “It isn’t far?”

  “Perhaps one third of a kilometer. Maybe a little less.”

  “She isn’t suspicious that I’m here. She’s going to a place where she once felt safe and happy. She’ll be pretty paranoid and will definitely check to see that no one’s here who shouldn’t be, but she’ll also know that she’s paranoid. She IS smart!

  “Can I get close to where she is without being seen?”

  “From the path, but it is not clear and will be difficult to move.”

  “That’s good! Show me where it is, but keep your family close. She might be using that path herself.”

  He nodded and showed Clint a path along the river, but back ten or twelve meters. It was too rocky to move closer to the river.

  He went along the path a way and found some shrubs broken where the path was overgrown. She had used the path. She could come to the side of the house to about a hundred meters away. She couldn’t see anything unless someone was outside. No one who wasn’t supposed to be there had been outside.

  Clint went on more slowly and carefully. He didn’t want to make even the slightest noise and he was sure she would have some kind of trap set up to warn her if anyone came along the path.

  He was getting close when he saw a thin vine hanging over the path where it was otherwise fairly clear. He stopped and checked along the length of it to find that even a small tug would dislodge a branch propped against the side of a rock. The branch would fall into some shrubs.

  So?

  He looked in the shrubs to see a bird’s nest with a bird sitting on eggs in it. The branch would shake the shrub and the bird would raise a loud ruckus. She really was as smart as Julio warned!

  A few feet farther along was the real alarm. She knew anyone familiar with the area would find that one if they expected anything like it. She might think he would find her ... or she might simply be taking no chances. This one was a small rotten branch that you would almost have to step on or move to pass. If you moved it a large rock that was balanced on the end under some scrub would roll down the little hill and fall directly onto a large hollow log that would ring like a bass drum! VERY clever! It was at a point in the path where there was no way to pass without moving that branch.

  Clint backtracked and went up the side of the steep mountain for a few meters, then climbed around the spot. It left him a hard way to go to get back to the path. All it meant was extra time and effort. It was very slow and difficult, but he made it to the side of the little stream half an hour later.

  Half an hour to go, in effect, two hundred meters. He rested under some little acacia trees for a few minutes, then studied the little stream. It was rocky and slippery, but he wouldn’t want to be that much in the open to approach. She would definitely be watching that stream.

  But she would not be watching the far side! It was miles of jungles to nowhere! He could cross the stream here where he wouldn’t be seen from the island. It would be slow going on the far side on those rocks, but might be easier a very short distance from the stream. The solid canopy of dense foliage would mean not much would grown in the darkness.

  Fifteen minutes later he was moving quickly toward the island. He went along the bank under the overhang to study it. Crossing wouldn’t be too difficult. He would be visible for less than a minute as he crossed and she wouldn’t be watching it here. He waited a minute more, then started across. He went into the dense brush along the side of the creek and on through to where he could stay under cover and watch.

  She had a tent on the large flat rock in the center. There was a little kerosene stove with a coffee pot sitting on it. She was nowhere to be seen. He waited. There was no movement anywhere.

  He heard the loud drum sound from the path. She was headed for the house.

  He quickly went through everything left there, taking anything that could be used as a weapon and the more than fifty thousand dollars in cash and two passports. Then he headed for the path. It was set up so that the branch had to be moved from either side. NOT as smart as she usually was!

  He crossed the stream and headed along the path, then stopped to think before he got himself killed. She had bullets in that camp, but no gun. .357 magnum loads. She would be waiting for him along this path somewhere.

  How did she know?

  The animals. There was constant noise, but they would either get louder or fall silent when he passed. She used sound to track him.

  She didn’t expect him. She might think it was Julio or someone else. She was just being careful.

  That didn’t make her any less dangerous! She wouldn’t care if it was him or someone else she shot!

  Maybe she would want to torture ... no. This was now a game to her. She didn’t have anything against him. She would be past the vengeance bit unless someone tried to use her again, then would get steadily worse. She WOULD kill again if she wasn’t stopped. That was her answer to anything. Anyone who was even the least dishonest in their motives toward her was trying to use her and abuse her like every ... man in her life. She wouldn’t have a vendetta against women.

  Wanda?

  Wanda allowed herself to be used by her father and probably others and wouldn’t do anything to try to protect her. She didn’t see that she didn’t protect anyone, either. That was the point about her mother. She didn’t protect them, but had the excuse that she tried but didn’t know how. Orison used his psychology to help Lawrence keep her in check. That was the real reason she killed him. Donald was just another man who was using her to make money. She snapped when she went into that room where Donald had just, if accidentally – a thing she couldn’t know – killed the one she hated more than anyone else in the world. She killed Donald for THAT, then jabbed the needle into Lawrence in rage because she had probably spent years planning how she was going to kill him. She knew about Orison and the cancer. She wanted her father to stay alive and in pain as long as he could survive, then she’d make his death really horrible. That’s where the acid castration idea was born. He had repeatedly sexually abused her and she was going to get even for that!

  She simply transferred the idea to Lindsay, or maybe had planned it for both of them all along.

  Everything was explained from the psychological angle. It didn’t make her one iota less dangerous or crazy. She would get away with a lot of it on the “crazy” part, but the most important thing was to get her off the streets.

  He went back to the island. He would sit there and wait for her. Julio and family were in no danger if he didn’t face her there. She didn’t kill altogether indiscriminately. She waited for a reason. She sometimes set it up so a reason would be there, of course.

  So she had planned for Frieda to die all along. She probably wanted to do that one herself, but Lindsay took care of it at a time when they must get out immediately.

  He started to pour himself a cup of the coffee, then thought better. That might be another of her traps. She was the type to pour anything left over out and clean the cup and stove before she left. It was sort of scary to be able to think like her. It said some unsettling things about himself!

  He went inside the tent to wait. She had a .357 and he’d be stupid to sit there like a big bulls-eye on a tar
get!

  She didn’t return. He waited until a little before dark, then went back to the house just at nightfall. There were some clouds to the east so it didn’t come as quickly as the nights before. Julio and family were very worried about him. He was sitting on the verandah explaining what had happened at the island when they heard an outboard motor approaching on the river. She’d waited until he left the tent and gotten the boat. She yelled, “Yo, Clint! Good show! You’re damned GOOD! See ya!” She turned and went back up the river.

  Clint swore and tried to call Sam, but there was no signal.

  There was no signal for more than two hours, then Sam said she hadn’t come back with the boat. She went somewhere else.

  “Where else could she go?” Clint asked.

  “Just up the river to where the boat can’t pass anymore. Several little burgs along up there. Ride out on horseback.”

  “She doesn’t have much – if any – money anymore.”

  “Trade the boat and motor for a mule, use it to pay an Indian to take her somewhere. Lots of ways.”

  “Shit! Come get me in the morning.”

  Sam agreed and he went to bed. He had it all to do over again. This time she didn’t have any money and probably couldn’t get any.

  She was smarter than that. She had some way to get her hands on enough to do something or go somewhere. He had to figure where she might go. Where she might have money stashed.

  He smirked. There was only one place!

  In the morning he told the family goodbye and that he would try to come visit them again. They honestly wanted him to stay. He was like family.

  Clint got off the little private plane in Rio. The biggest, loudest, most unwanted stop yet. He HATED cities. Rio was huge!

  He would have to find Gloria Sorento. That wouldn’t be easy – or would it?

  He went to the north bus station and had security there contact Gonzalo Gonzalez in Peru. He needed information on a person who came in a bus six days ago from Peru and Gonzalo would explain. She wasn’t the one he was looking for, she just had information he must have. Ten minutes or so later he was shown the list of all passengers. Gloria Sorento had given an address of 878-C, 2356 Calle “C” South, Vista Montana. That address was across town in an upper middle class subdivision. It took almost an hour to get there by taxi. He paid and found the place.

  He would just watch the building for her. He didn’t want anyone to know he was there. She would definitely have a code or something to warn Amanda. Not this time!

  Clint figured it would take her a week to arrive so knew she might already be there.

  He spotted Gloria leaving. She went to a store to get groceries, then returned to the apartment building. Clint was in a little café by the lobby where he couldn’t be seen from outside.

  Two days later he was still moving between the café and one across from the main entrance. He also spent some time making friends with some men working on building a large fence to one side. He put on a cap and old shirt and blended in with them. He told them he was looking for his wife to show up with her boyfriend. He wouldn’t cause any trouble, he just wanted to know if she was actually seeing the guy. He didn’t care about her anymore. This wasn’t the first. She wouldn’t get anymore support money from him if she was whoring around again.

  Gloria was easy enough to follow. She didn’t go far and spent most of her time in the 8th floor apartment. Clint had her checked by a man who did private detective work and was both good and discreet. She wrote articles for a travel magazine.

  She did go to an ATM once the second day to take out a few dollars. The third day she took out the maximum after going to an exclusive shop called “Maxie’s Max” where she bought a couple of things. The packages were little boxes that were bright red, blue and green. The place sold perfumes and such. Very expensive for an article writer.

  The morning of the fourth day she again took out the maximum. She seemed to have two cards and took out the maximum on both. Clint could watch her to an extent with a pair of binoculars he bought in a camera shop.

  The maximum on regular accounts was $500 per day. On bigger accounts she could take out more. What Clint saw her stuffing into her purse was certainly more than that.

  Where would a writer for a travel magazine get that kind of money? It was obvious how Amanda planned to get new financing. She’d opened an account in Peru with a few dozen thousand, minimum. He had twenty two thousand three hundred from her campsite.

  She was coming in a day or less. She would have the cash waiting for her and wouldn’t have to worry about Clint knowing about the account and tracing where the money was withdrawn. Gloria was getting it and would be the one seen on the camera using the machine. Maybe the accounts were in her name.

  Whatever, she would still have to meet Gloria to get it. Clint would be there.

  Gloria didn’t leave the place all day. Clint had noticed a delivery boy coming and going from the hotel regularly carrying packages and taking them on a bicycle to deliver. About four thirty he was leaving with some packages. He placed a small red, blue and green box in the basket. He had several other small packages that he put stick-em tags on, but not that one. It wasn’t big enough to carry that much cash. Maybe someone else in the place shopped at Maxie’s – or maybe it would have worked if she’d used a larger package. He was supposed to follow the boy? Be away from the hotel for a few minutes? Be chasing after a bright little box that anyone would logically put in a sack or something?

  Clint grinned and sat back. Nice try! I thought you’d be smarter than that!

  About seven the boy came again. This time he brought a sack and three packages. He dropped the sack into the basket, then stood to put the stick-em tags on all the other packages before he rode off.

  Dilemma time! This could be the real thing or another diversion!

  The boy rode toward the Central Park area. Clint felt he could go that far and return before she could get in and out if she only stayed ten minutes. He followed the boy to the park where he sat on a bench for five minutes. Clint was standing behind some statuary by the Hotel Central entrance where he could see him clearly.

  Two people stopped to speak with him. He seemed to know them – then Amanda came from the Hotel Central entrance and passed not more than ten feet from him. She was intent on the boy and stood for a minute watching him, but didn’t go closer. A beggar came to say something to the boy. The boy had him repeat something, shook his head and pointed to the government building across the park. The boy got on his bicycle and headed there. Amanda watched as several people walked in that direction (as many would be doing anyhow) and started toward Gloria’s place.

  So. If he was there he would follow the boy. She would have at least fifteen minutes to meet Gloria. He could beat her to the apartments.

  She turned the wrong way at the corner. She was going around the park.

  I thought she thought that I thought so I stopped one ‘she thought’ back. He was supposed to rush directly to the apartment to beat her there. It was purely by chance he’d decided to watch from the Hotel Central and probably the smartest so far to not rush ahead before she ever got to that corner. He did have sense enough to watch from a place that couldn’t be seen easily from the entrance. He wasn’t about to rush across the park to beat her to the government building! He would simply follow her.

  She stopped three times to idly look around as though she were looking for a street sign or location. She didn’t miss a thing that was visible, but she wasn’t used to being followed by a pro-fess-shee-un-al. She went into the apartments. Clint would have his police backup waiting when she left. He called for them. She would leave by either the side or back entrance, but she had made a big mistake: The back and side gates were locked at night. She had to come out through the front gate or the garage gate.

  Did Gloria have a car? Did he miss that?

  The two police arrived. He had one go inside to check to see if Gloria had a car there. She did. A b
lack Mitsubishi in space 878, level 3. Clint told the police to stop that car if it came out or to stop Amanda, who looked like the picture, if she came out.

  He headed for the parking garage and to level 3 where Gloria and Amanda were just getting into the car. Amanda saw him and pulled a little pistol from her purse to snap a shot over his head. She didn’t shoot at him (he didn’t doubt she had learned to use the thing – and well). It was a warning that the game had gotten serious. He dodged behind a concrete support post and the car headed out. He raced up and came to the gate to see the car caught in the tire claws. The police had heard the shot and raised them. Amanda was standing beside the car looking mostly amused while Gloria was having hysterics in the car. The police had their sidearms pointed at Amanda.

  “Very DAMNED good show, Clint! I think I underestimated you all along!” Amanda said. “I won, anyhow. I got them all. There’s nothing you can do to me that’s half of what’s already been done.

  “I know I’m crazy as a loon and don’t care. No matter what, I won. I had to take a chance here. It was fifty-fifty that you would follow the boy across the square and I’d have time to be gone. I knew you would be there. I didn’t think you’d be at the Central, though. It was planned that you’d watch from the information booth. You can stay there and not be seen from anywhere.

  “Well, luck had to run out sometime! I like to have shit when I saw you there outside the hotel. I didn’t think you’d know I’d seen you, though.

  “C’est la vie! I’ll go quietly. I’ve had enough excitement the past couple of weeks to last ten lifetimes.

  “You want to cuff me now, Officer?” she turned to the policeman and held out her hands.

  “She IS crazy!” the officer cried.

  “No shit! Clint would have told you that!” she said, “I’ll never understand why anyone would question it.”

  “The game’s over, but I suppose they’ll have to follow protocol,” Clint said.

  She grinned. “Naturally!”

  They took her and Gloria to the police station. She was amused at the booking process. Gloria was NOT!