Mud Bog Murder

by Lesley A. Diehl

  “Are you sure? You’ve had one heck of a day. Maybe we should postpone. Grandy and I can graze in the leftovers in my fridge.”

  Grandy looked skeptical. “There are no leftovers in your fridge, Eve. There’s pretty much nothing in there. As usual.”

  “So ribs at the Biscuit?” I asked.

  “Absolutely not,” said Madeleine, her tone insistent. “I’ve already made a huge pot of beef stew in my slow cooker, and I told you I planned on having you all over to help me finish up the food in my fridge before David and I move out to the house on the game ranch. If you don’t come, I’ll have all this food to cart over to the ranch and David and I will be eating stew for days.”

  “But Madeleine—” I interrupted.

  She stamped her foot. “It’s more than just dinner. Since I’m packing up my kitchen tomorrow, I thought you could help me tonight. If anyone spies anything in the kitchen they’d like, let me know. If I don’t need it for the kitchen out at David’s house, you can have it. Anything you don’t take, I’ll donate to the church charity shop.”

  No one dared refuse Madeleine’s invitation, which sounded more like a command performance from an elf with attitude.

  As we shuttered the rig for the night, I reviewed what I needed to do over the next few days: cleanse the shop and—since Alex insisted he didn’t need my help on the case—follow the leads I had and perhaps he didn’t.

  Nappi came by just as we were leaving and was included in the dinner invitation.

  “You heard what happened?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  I wiggled my finger at him to signal him outside, away from Madeleine and Grandy.

  Once we were outside, I said, “I think I need to visit some of those folks Jenny beat out for the mud bog event.”

  Nappi shook his head. “You don’t listen, do you, Eve?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Alex must have told Mr. Lightwind he would keep you out of this investigation.”

  “Alex is not the boss of me and certainly not now that we’re only friends with no benefits.” To be honest, Alex had never been my boss, lust or no lust.

  “If you insist upon visiting these men, then I’m coming along. If one of them is Jenny’s killer, you’re putting yourself in harm’s way, as you so often do.”

  Nappi might be right, and to be honest, I hoped by telling him my plans that he would volunteer to accompany me. As for his comment about my not listening, I’d heard that just yesterday from Grandfather. So maybe it was true.

  My first stop on the list of the three ranchers in competition for the races would be Jay Cassidy. I didn’t consider him a suspect in Jenny’s murder, but he had always been a good source of information about the ranching community in Sabal Bay. Perhaps I could mend a few fences with Jay, while coaxing him to talk about rumors on the range.

  Madeleine was in fine form as she hustled around, putting the finishing touches on dinner. We all offered to help, but she shooed us onto the large porch that spanned the front of the house. We all settled in on the chairs and rockers there, sipping our drinks.

  The phone rang several times; Madeleine took the calls before David could get up out of his chair.

  “I think you’d better cede control to her or you’ll find yourself in trouble,” I told David. Looking contrite, he nodded and sat back in his chair.

  Madeleine stepped out onto the porch with a wooden spoon in her hand and a frilly white apron tied around her waist. “Dinner will be a bit delayed for the sake of some guests arriving late.”

  “God, you look like something out of a 1950s cookbook,” I observed.

  Madeleine shot me a sharp look, then signaled me to come into the kitchen.

  “What can I help with?”

  “You can serve as referee between Alex and Sammy at dinner.”

  “What? Are you crazy? You invited them both? Tonight?”

  “I want this whole thing settled between your two men, Eve. It’s too disruptive when Grandfather Egret needs our support. So make them work it out.” She shook her wooden spoon at me. I wanted to laugh at the sight, but the tenacity with which she wielded the spoon and her tone of voice forced me to comply. Best not to cross Madeleine when she’s mad.

  “Okay, but I’m warning you … I may not be able to control them. And why is this my problem anyway? Why can’t they behave like adults?”

  “I ask myself that question daily about you every time you go off chasing some clue in this case, like I’m sure you’re planning to do tomorrow. Using either Grandy or Nappi or even Jerry as your accomplice.”

  “You’re just jealous I didn’t ask you to come along.”

  “I’m busy tending the shop and incubating right now,” she spit back at me.

  True, but I could see I’d hit home with my remark about her being jealous at being excluded from our snooping trips. She spun on her heel and lifted the lid to the crock pot, hiding her expression.

  I came up behind her and sniffed at the food.

  “Do it or no food,” she said and slammed the lid back on the pot.

  She knew I’d do anything for food.

  “Before or after we eat?” I asked.

  “Before, or you don’t eat.” She gave me a brilliant smile and stirred the contents of the pot.

  Sammy arrived the same time as Nappi, followed five minutes later by Alex. He nodded at me from across the room, hugged Madeleine, and said hello to everyone else, including Sammy. They shook hands and exchanged some words I could not hear. Everyone was behaving, so maybe I didn’t need to intervene.

  Madeleine prodded me in the back. “Do it. Now.”

  When everyone had settled back on the porch with their drinks, I worked my way over to Alex and asked if I could have a few private words with him out in the yard. He nodded reluctantly, as if I were ruining his evening. When I approached Sammy with the same request, he smiled. “Sure.”

  I’d humiliated Alex in public by refusing his marriage proposal, and that was something he’d find it hard to get over. So my problem was Alex. Or was it? Sammy understood why Grandfather wanted to speak to me today before he talked with Sammy, but I knew Sammy was suspicious of Alex being around even though he’d been told Alex was working the case.

  I needed Madeleine’s diplomatic skills for this one, but all I had was Eve’s in-your-face-whether-you-like-it-or-not approach. Honesty was worth a try.

  “Look, you two. I know there’s been some, um, miscommunication with respect to my, um, friendship with each of you, but I don’t want my feelings for you and yours for me to create difficulties in this case. Grandfather needs us, all of us, to support him and to work any leads we have—”

  “You have leads you’re not telling me about, Eve? I hope you’re not holding anything back, because it could have an impact on Grandfather’s fate. The authorities don’t have much on him, but they’re happy with what they have, and they’re not going to work this case beyond the evidence they’ve already gathered.” Alex tapped his foot impatiently.

  “Even Frida? I know she doesn’t think Grandfather killed Jenny.”

  Alex swept his hand to one side and shook his head, dismissing the idea that Frida shared the assumption of Grandfather’s guilt. “No, of course not. She’s a savvy detective, and she knows there’s more to this story. She also knows the prosecutor can’t make a case with the evidence they have. Soon her boss will see that too and have her reexamining all the evidence. In the process she may run down something important, but if her findings don’t agree with the authorities’ belief in Grandfather’s guilt, they may be shoved to one side. So even if Frida doesn’t believe Grandfather had anything to do with the murder, she’s going to be of no help.”

  “And you can use all the help you can get,” I added eagerly.

  For a moment a red flush passed over Alex’s face, and I thought he was about to deliver his usual stay-out-of-this-Eve lecture, but the flush quickly disappeared and was replaced by a smile—a sly sm
ile.

  “You’re right. I do need help. I need someone who knows all the players in the case.”

  I didn’t like that clever-as-a-fox look on his face. “You can’t mean Jerry, can you?”

  Alex snorted out a laugh. “God, no.”

  “So, me? You want me to help?” I practically bounced on my toes in eagerness.

  The short burst of laughter now became a drawn-out roar. I thought he might drop to his knees.

  “It’s not that funny,” I said, feeling hurt and angry.

  He stopped laughing and turned to Sammy, who had been watching the two of us with an amused look on his face.

  “Should we tell her?” Alex said, his voice filled with what I could only identify as satisfaction.

  Sammy glanced at me, the amusement gone, a soupçon of fear marking his dark features.

  What was he worried about?

  “Sammy,” Alex said.

  “Huh?” I said.

  “Sammy will be assisting me on the case.”

  “What!”

  Chapter 14

  “You’re not eating, Eve. I thought you were starved,” said Madeleine.

  I picked at my stew, chased the pieces of carrot around the plate and then stabbed them with ferocity, pretending they were Alex and Sammy. So far the score was Eve 7 and the carrots mush.

  While we were in the backyard, Alex told me that he had talked with Sammy shortly before they came to dinner. He knew he’d need assistance and thought Sammy, motivated as he was to free Grandfather, might be the perfect person to help in tracking down leads. Sammy correctly guessed that I wouldn’t be happy with this unusual alliance. Alex had to know also. My first thought was that Alex did it to get my goat, but I knew he was professional enough to choose only the best man for the job. And he thought the best man was not a best woman—not me.

  I caught Nappi staring at me across the dinner table as if he knew what I was thinking. I scowled back, and he winked. Grandy saw the exchange and smiled. Did everyone here know about the partnership between Alex and Sammy? Were they all as amused as Alex seemed to be? I wondered what Sammy thought. He never raised his eyes from his dinner to spare me a glance.

  I had my work to do. At least Shelley believed I was the right person to find out who killed her mother. This thought raised my spirits so that by the time Madeleine offered lemon meringue pie for dessert, I asked for a large piece.

  After we all pitched in to clear the table, I yawned and said I was ready to leave. “How about you, Grandy? You can stay if you like. I’m sure someone here will drop you off at the house. I’d stay longer but it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow. I’m off to the coast to make some money.”

  Tomorrow I was taking Grandy with me to the Stuart Flea Market.

  Grandy shook her head. “I need my beauty sleep, too.” She picked up her purse, hugged everyone and stifled a yawn.

  Grandy and I said our good nights. Everyone but Nappi seemed content to remain for a while to let their dinners digest.

  I grabbed Nappi before he could get into his car.

  “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

  He shook his head.

  “How about we attend to some unfinished business, like we discussed?”

  He agreed.

  Grandy said nothing at the time, but she didn’t remain silent for the entire ride home.

  “What are the two of you up to?” she asked.

  She’d keep bothering me until I told her what we were going to do.

  “I have the names of three ranchers who were in competition with Jenny for the mud bog event. Maybe one of them didn’t like being beaten out of a lot of money.”

  “Frida probably already questioned them, don’t you think?” she said.

  “Probably, but I can be very persuasive. One of them is a friend—well, he was a friend until Madeleine and I took part in that protest rally. You met Jay Cassidy.”

  “Jay couldn’t have had anything to do with Jenny’s death. You know that.”

  “I do, but I want to mend fences if I can because—”

  Grandy finished for me, “because you want to pump him for anything he might know.”

  “Um-hm.”

  “Well, don’t think you and Nappi are going to leave me home alone to watch television while the two of you are out having fun.”

  “But—”

  “There are nothing but reruns on. It’ll give me the opportunity to wear my midnight-blue warm-up suit. It makes me nearly invisible at night.”

  “We’re not going to be doing any breaking and entering, just talking with people.”

  “You never know. Then I can go?”

  I looked at Grandy’s round, sweet face and knew I couldn’t refuse her a caper with Nappi and me.

  When Grandy and I got to the motor home the next morning, I found the glass in the side window had been replaced. I assumed my old pal Nappi had come through for me again. The drive to the coast down the canopy road beneath the sabal palms and the overhanging live oaks with their veils of Spanish moss was the perfect beginning to the day. The tunnel created by the trees offered a shady retreat from the brilliant sunlight, a serene and comforting journey away from the worries over Grandfather’s arrest, Jenny’s murder, and Madeleine and my business woes. I wished the drive would never end, that I could remain enveloped in the shadowy embrace of this leafy paradise forever.

  “I wonder if they’ve released Jenny’s body yet so that Shelley can set a date for the funeral,” I mused aloud to Grandy. I had broken the tranquility of the drive for both of us by my intrusive question.

  Grandy sighed and shrugged. “Give her a call after we’ve set up.”

  The shade of the canopy was broken by a stretch of sunlit road ahead. I pushed harder on the accelerator. We needed an infusion of money into our business, the sooner the better.

  After parking in our assigned spot next to other vendors in temporary locations at the rear of the rows of buildings that housed merchants who rented permanent shop space, I set up my folding chair and punched Shelley’s number into my cell. A man answered after the first ring.

  Oh, no.

  “Darrel?” I asked.

  “Who’s this?”

  I didn’t want to tell him. He hadn’t been very receptive to my friendship with Shelley.

  “A friend of hers. Is she around?”

  “What friend?”

  Oh, crap.

  “Uh, Amy from high school.”

  “Just a minute.”

  I heard voices and noise in the background, then Shelley’s voice came on the line.

  “Amy, I can’t believe you called. I haven’t heard from you in months.”

  Now that was a real shot in the dark. Shelley actually had a friend named Amy.

  “No, really. It’s Eve. I was just making a joke.”

  “Oh.” Shelley sounded disappointed.

  “How are you doing?”

  “I don’t know if I should talk to you. You’re friends with that Miccosukee who killed my mother.”

  “You must know that’s not true.”

  I heard Darrel say, “Who is that? Really. Tell me.”

  I couldn’t quite hear Shelley’s reply. She whispered into the phone, “I gotta talk to you.” She sounded confused and anxious.

  “Sure. What about?”

  “Hang up. Now,” Darrel said in the background, then there was silence on the line.

  “Hello, hello. Anyone there?” I said.

  “That damn idiot,” I said to Grandy after I disconnected.

  “What’s going on?’

  “Darrel’s intruding again. He wouldn’t let Shelley talk to me. And she seemed almost desperate to tell me something.”

  I called her number again, but the call went to voicemail. I left her a message to call me, then called again to let her know I’d be back in town this evening. I wasn’t able to leave the second message because the system indicated that the phone had been turned off. What the hell was going on? I
was worried enough about Shelley that I decided I’d have to put off my visit with Jay Cassidy and the other land owners interested in mud bog racing until later this evening or even tomorrow. I was about to let Nappi know our night sleuthing was postponed when I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to show up at Shelley’s with reinforcements: Nappi and Grandy, the dynamic duo of threat and mothering. They might appeal to Darrel’s better nature, assuming he had one.

  I hurriedly parked the rig in its usual slot in our flea market and then made a quick call to Madeleine.

  “We sold well today,” I said. “I told you we would.”

  “That’s wonderful, but our original plan for this consignment shop was to locate in Sabal Bay and sell used designer clothes to the women of rural Florida. Now we’re just selling those clothes to tourists on the coast. What happens when the season is over and the snowbirds go back north?”

  Madeleine was right. We had to find a way to get back our local clientele.

  “I’m working on that tonight.” I still planned to visit Jay Cassidy to try to smooth things over using him as my contact with the residents of Sabal Bay. But first I had to see what was going on with Shelley. Darrel wouldn’t hurt her. Or would he?

  Nappi, Grandy, and I grabbed burgers for dinner at a local fast food place and ate in the car as I drove to the McCleary ranch.

  Jenny’s car sat in the drive, but there was no sign of Darrel’s beater. Maybe Shelley was alone.

  The three of us approached the house, and I rapped on the front door. I waited a minute and pounded louder. No noise from inside, although I had noticed a light burning in the kitchen window when we pulled up.

  “Shelley? It’s Eve! Are you in there?” By now I was worried something might have happened to her. Grandy must have shared my concern.

  “So now do we break down the door?” she asked.

  At that moment I heard footsteps from inside the house. The door opened a crack and Shelley peeked out.

  “Oh, good. It is you. I thought maybe it was the cops again. I don’t want to talk to them anymore.”