by B A Trimmer
“What have you been able to find out since you called me last night?” he asked.
“Nothing new. I still need to talk this out with Gina. I’m meeting Les at noon to go over where we stand.”
“Do you think either our client or his sister had anything to do with the murder?”
“I don’t think so, the body was in a locked vault and neither one had the combination.”
“What? I thought you said they both had the combination to the vault. Lester had it written on a notepad and Elizabeth confirmed the combination before he used it to open the vault.”
It’s so fricking annoying that Lenny remembers everything I tell him.
“Yes, but until they actually opened the vault, neither of them knew it would work.”
“What about the jewelry? Are you any closer to finding that?”
“The vault was only the first obvious place to look. We’d already been through the house but didn’t see any signs of it there.”
“Alright, the results from the crime scene haven’t started to come in yet. You said everyone had their fingerprints and DNA taken on scene last night, so that should speed the process along. We should know in a day or two who else was recently in the vault. We also should know later today or tomorrow the ID on the dead guy. They’re currently notifying the next of kin.”
Lenny then leaned forward and started speaking slowly. This always annoys me but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. “Next time it would be helpful if you could pull an ID before you call the cops. It would make things go a lot smoother here.”
“Won’t the police get upset if I touch the body?”
“People touch the body all the time, look at what Lester did. He all but gave the guy a full body massage and nobody’s said boo about it. If you could sneak a peek at the ID next time, it’d give us a leg up. I’m sure the cops would get over it. Go find out what you can. If Lester Murdock’s involved, I want to know about it sooner rather than later.”
~~~~
I left Lenny’s office and went over to Sophie. When she looked up at me I could see she was concerned.
“How are you doing?” she asked. “From what I caught, Lenny’s mood hasn’t improved.”
“I hate talking to Lenny when he’s like this,” I said. “It puts me in a bad mood for hours.”
“Try not to let it bother you. Think about finding a treasure chest. That should put a smile on your face. If nothing else, think about going to the Saguaro Sky on Saturday and stuffing yourself on Jackie’s hors d'oeuvres and champagne.”
Five
I left Sophie as she was starting the long log-in process to get into the secret database. I went into the back offices and found Gina in her cubicle, typing out a report on her laptop.
“Hey, would you have a minute to talk about this one?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said. “I figured you’d stop by.”
“There’s something creepy about finding a dead guy in a vault that’s supposedly been locked for weeks, if not months.”
“I know what you’ve already told Sophie,” Gina said. “But tell me more about the victim. Could you tell how long he’d been dead?”
“It didn’t seem like he had been there for very long. The blood on his wound was still sort of wet when Les rolled him over.”
“Did it look like rigor mortis had started to set in?”
“I don’t think so. He seemed pretty limp.”
“So we’re only talking about a few hours. That would give the time of the murder as sometime after about three yesterday afternoon.”
“That’s after everyone had left. But I don’t see where the dead guy fits in with any of this.”
“As I see it,” Gina said, “the motive for the murder is most likely the millions of dollars in jewelry. People have committed murder for far less. What about opportunity? Did either Les or Elizabeth have time to go back to the house, open the safe, and kill the guy?”
“Well, both of them had the time,” I said. “I can’t account for Elizabeth from roughly three until we saw her at about nine. She told the police she went back to her hotel and only went out for dinner before coming back to the house. I dropped Les off at about five o’clock and picked him up at eight.”
“Three hours is more than enough time. You said that Les is staying at the Tropical Paradise. That’s one of Tony DiCenzo’s hotels. They’ll most likely have security cameras all through the parking lots. If you asked, I imagine they would be able to tell you if Les left his room last night before you picked him up.”
“Yes, but I’d rather not ask. The further I keep from Tony DiCenzo the better off I’ll be.”
“OK, you’re probably right but let’s still keep it as an option. What about Elizabeth? Do you know where she’s been staying?”
“She’s at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch. She has a rental so she probably wouldn’t have taken a cab. For Les’ movements I thought I’d start with the cab companies and work backward. See if they made any drop-offs at the house and then see where the cab came from.”
“OK, that’s a plan. It sounds like either one had an opportunity. What are your feelings about Les and Elizabeth? Do you think they’re involved with the murder?”
”Elizabeth and her brother don’t get along. At first, I thought she was being unfair to him but now I’m not so sure. As I’ve gotten to know her she seems alright.”
“What about Les?”
“That’s a harder call. He seems OK but I keep getting an undercurrent that something’s off. He’s not telling everything he knows. I’m not sure what to make of everything yet. I understand Les and Elizabeth have been arguing with each other for years. Apparently, they’re both well off and neither of them actually needs the jewelry. It’s more like this treasure hunt is only the latest thing for them to fight about.”
“After you confirm the movements of Lester and Elizabeth, your best bet will be to find out who else knew about the Will and the jewelry. If neither Lester nor Elizabeth is involved with the murder it will mean there’s at least one other person or group involved. What about the two guys you said have been following you. Any idea how they’re involved?”
“Not yet but they seem to know more about what’s going on than I do.”
“They’re driving a dark blue rental?”
“It looks like a rental. There are half a dozen stickers on the driver’s windshield.”
“This should be simple. When you pick Lester up today, I’ll follow behind and get the license plate. If the same two guys are still following you, we should be able to track them down from the rental agreement. If we can’t get the ID’s directly from the rental agency, we’ll hand the information over to the police and have them do it. It’ll slow down the process but we’ll eventually get an answer.”
“That will help,” I said. “One other thing. We’re assuming the treasure chest is still somewhere in the house. If the police seal the entire house it will make it harder to look for the jewelry.”
“I’ll talk to Lenny about that. Since we’re representing one of the two people inheriting the house, perhaps we can persuade the police to seal only the master bedroom and the vault. That’ll keep the rest of the house open for exploration.”
“Perfect,” I said with a sigh. “Now I just need to find the jewelry and avoid the murderer.”
“Well, when you first started working here you said you wanted something more exciting than being a bartender at Greasewood Flat. You can’t say this is boring.”
“Yes, but is it bad to want exciting without a murderer skulking around?”
“What else do you have to go on?”
“I knew they wouldn’t let us back in the vault for a week or two so I took some pictures. I would have loved to have gone through all the drawers but I’ll see what the pictures show.”
“When are you picking up Les?”
“I told him noon. I figured he’d be up and ready for lunch by then.”
“Alright, let me know when you take off.”
~~~~
I went back to my cubicle and downloaded the pictures from my phone to my desktop computer. The pictures from the vault didn’t show a lot more detail than I had seen the night before. The mostly empty shelves contained nothing more than two the Greek looking statues and three vases.
Next, I looked at the pictures I had taken of the card that had been propped up on a shelf. I was glad I had taken two pictures from different viewpoints, since the light from my flash had masked some of the words. By comparing both pictures, I was able to make out the entire message.
Congratulations on making it into the vault. As you can see, the jewelry isn’t here. I’ve hidden it somewhere in the house, but not anywhere out in the open. If you need another clue, look below the coffin rock as seen from Dobbins Lookout.
Dobbins Lookout? I thought to myself. What could be up there? It’s only a place on the top of South Mountain where the tourists go. I’d been there several times over the years, mostly when someone came into Scottsdale for the first time and I wanted to give them a great view of the entire city. I couldn’t imagine what could be there that hadn’t already been picked over by the hundreds of tourists who went there every day.
“Hey Gina”, I said. “I’m ready if you are.”
“Did you find anything on your pictures?”
“Sort of, but I’m not sure what to make of it yet. The card in the vault said a clue to where to find the treasure is below the coffin rock as seen from Dobbins Lookout.”
“Do you have any idea what that means?” Gina asked.
“None at all, but I guess we’ll find out soon. Follow me up to the Tropical Paradise and I’ll get Les. With any luck, you can find out who my tail is. Maybe we can start to get some answers on this.”
~~~~
The drive up Scottsdale Road to the resort was uneventful. I saw Gina had positioned her black Range Rover about a hundred yards behind me, but I didn’t see that anyone was following me. It seemed more reasonable they had an eye on Les at his hotel and would wait until he left to make their move.
~~~~
Les met me at the door to his room. I could tell he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before. He had dark circles under his eyes and an overall disorganized look. There was a pot a coffee on the table and he absent-mindedly offered me a cup. I didn’t want to make Gina wait too long but I also wanted to make sure Les was up to going out again. I poured myself a coffee and sat on a chair at the table. Les poured one for himself then leaned against the counter. It seemed to steady him.
“How are you doing today?” I asked. “It’s never easy to find a body. Going through the police procedures is even worse, especially when it lasts until two in the morning. You did really well for your first time.”
“Thanks,” he said with a small snort of disgust. He held up his coffee mug in a toast. “Here’s to hoping there won’t be a second time.”
“I’ll drink to that,” I said as I took a sip.
“Where do we go from here?” he asked. “The jewelry wasn’t anywhere I could see in the vault. Plus, I don’t think the police are going to let us back in to look around.”
“We’re working on having the house outside of the master bedroom released so we can explore the rest of the rooms. We’ll find out later today or tomorrow. I didn’t get a chance to look through more than a couple of the drawers, but I don’t think the jewelry’s in the vault. There was a card on one of the shelves. I took a picture of it last night and looked at it this morning. The card says the next clue is below the coffin rock as seen from Dobbins Lookout. I thought we’d go up there and take a look around.”
“Why couldn’t Granddad have made this straight forward?” Les asked, a little annoyed. “All of this running around seems rather pointless.”
“It probably made him happy to think that you and Elizabeth would be hunting down his treasure together after he was dead. Maybe he thought it would make the two of you closer. Who knows?”
“Maybe you’re right. I assume Elizabeth doesn’t know about the coffin rock or Dobbins Lookout?”
“As far as I know, it will only be you and me up there, along with a couple of dozen tourists.”
“Where is Dobbins Lookout?” he asked.
“It’s at the top of South Mountain. You have a great view of it from your terrace outside the library at your granddad’s house.”
“OK,” he said. “Let’s go up and take a look.”
~~~~
As always, Les winced when he stepped out of his room. The temperature was again over one-hundred ten degrees and still climbing. We climbed into my car and took off down Scottsdale Road. I had a cooler full of water bottles in the back seat and before we left, I handed him one.
“We’ll be walking around in the heat,” I said. “Stay hydrated and you’ll be OK. If you start to feel dizzy or if you notice you’ve stopped sweating, drink some water.”
Traffic was heavy for the middle of the day and I didn’t see the tail. We had made it almost down to the turnoff for the Loop-202 freeway when I got a call from Gina.
“You said two big guys in a dark blue rental sedan?”
“Yes,” I said, “but I haven’t seen them.”
“They’re about four cars behind you. You should be able to see them now, behind the white pick-up truck.”
I glanced up into the rearview mirror and there they were. “Looks like the same guys and the same car,” I said. “Did you get the plates?”
“Yes and I’ll head back to the office and have Sophie run them. It doesn’t look like they want to get too close to our client today, so you should be OK. But keep your eyes open anyway.”
“Let me know when you get something?”
“I’ll call you first thing.”
~~~~
We drove west on the Loop-202, switched to the I-10, dropped down to I-17, and finally got off on 7th Street. Then, we headed west to South Central Avenue.
“Gina will let us know when she finds out who’s been following us. Are you hungry?”
“Actually, I’m starving. I’ve been thinking about the man we found last night and I haven’t had anything at all today.”
“What are you up for? Want to stick with something bland?”
“Actually, I was hoping to try something local. Are there any restaurants around here I couldn’t find in Chicago?”
“Sure,” I said. “We’ll be driving right past a place called Los Dos Molinos. It’s some of the best New Mexican food you can get in the city. Although I should warn you, they don’t do mild sauce. It can get kinda spicy.”
“Not a problem,” Les said. “I go to Mexican places all the time in Chicago. I’m always dumping hot sauce on everything.”
I pulled into the lot of Los Dos Molinos and we went in. The waitress directed us to a booth in the corner and handed each of a menu. Les seemed to enjoy the music and the colorful decorations covering the walls and ceiling.
“This is what a Mexican place should look like,” he said. “What’s good here?”
“Everything. I’m doing a machaca burro, enchilada style. That’s where they put Hatch green chili sauce on top.”
“What’s machaca and what’s Hatch green chili?”
“Machaca is a type of marinated shredded beef; it’s good. The chilies come from the Hatch Valley in New Mexico. If you like spicy, you’ll love the sauce they make from them.”
Les thought it sounded good and we both ordered a machaca burro with the green chili sauce. We munched on chips and salsa until the food came out.
When the waitress sat the plate in front of me, I didn’t wait. I took a big bite and was rewarded with the throat-tightening tingle from the Hatch chilies. I was about to shovel in another bite when I heard Les coughing. I looked up and saw his face had turned red. He put his fork down, coughed again, and downed about half his glass of water. I noticed beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead.<
br />
Tourists, won’t they ever learn?
“Too spicy?” I asked.
“Not at all,” he wheezed out as his color gradually returned to normal. “But, you’re right. This isn’t like the stuff they have in Chicago.”
He took another bite and again winced from the heat. But I also noticed he was starting to appreciate how good the flavors were. By the time he had eaten half of his burro, he was wolfing it down as fast as I was.
Looks like I’ve ruined another tourist for real Southwestern food. The stuff he gets back in Chicago will never taste the same again.
~~~~
After lunch, we drove the rest of the way south on Central Avenue until it wound its way to into the park. The two men in the blue car followed us into the park then pulled into a side lot off the main road.
South Mountain Park is the largest city park in the United States, covering some 16,000 acres of mountains and desert landscapes. There are a dozen hiking trails and they’re all popular with the locals. At the base of the mountain, you can rent a horse and meander the miles of winding trails through the Sonoran Desert. It’s a great place to come if you want to experience the real Sonoran Desert without traveling too far from the city.
Every four or five years, when the winter rains are heavy, the park explodes in color as every cactus and desert plant blooms at once. My favorite desert flower is the Arizona Poppy, which covers the entire hillside in bright orange flowers. They bloom so seldom, it makes them even more special.
With the exception of some TV towers, the highest point you can drive to in the park is called Dobbins Lookout. There you’ll find a big parking lot with several women sitting on blankets selling Native American jewelry to the tourists that gather there. The lookout also houses an observation area and a stone ramada large enough for twenty or thirty people to fit in.
From the top of the mountain, the views of desert and beyond to the city are truly fabulous. The best time to visit is at night. An hour before sunset, you can usually see twenty or thirty people who have set up lawn chairs to watch the sun go down. After it gets dark, you get wonderful views of the city lights, starting with Apache Junction and Mesa to the east, Phoenix and Scottsdale in the middle, and Glendale, Goodyear, and Sun City to the west. I know of people who have come up to Dobbins Lookout in the afternoon for a quick look, but stayed to watch the sunset and then watched the city lights well into the night.