Waffling in Murder (The Diner of the Dead Series Book 20)

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  “It’s been good, overall, but one of my men still hasn’t come back in from checking out a fire code violation.”

  “Who was that?”

  “No one you would know. He’s a newer recruit. Barry Niles is his name. I’m sure he just found someone who needed help. He’s the sort of ranger that is willing to take action of his own accord, something we need more of out here.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Anyway, Shelton Briarworth went up with him, but came back early.”

  “Did he say why?”

  “He dropped some of his effects over a cliff and needed to retrieve them.”

  “Shelton never was very careful,” Frank noted. Sonja wondered how well he knew the guy.

  “Either way. I’m sure Barry will be back shortly and you can meet him then. I think you two will get along well.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  Sonja felt totally excluded as the two talked, like a person watching a TV show.

  Reaching the cabin, Bethany climbed the short wooden steps and opened the door. “Here we are. Home sweet home,” she announced, walking in.

  Sonja forced a smile and mounted the steps.

  A second later she was stopped in her tracks by a piercing scream from Bethany.

  Sonja, too, saw what was so frightening and gasped.

  “What is it?” Frank shouted, quickly stepping in behind them.

  Laying on one of the cots was a pale and wide-eyed man’s body. A bloody spot on the front of his ranger uniform indicated that he’d been shot.

  CHAPTER 5

  * * *

  “It’s Barry Niles,” Bethany spoke with a slight whisper. Her hands rose to her face, covering her mouth in shock.

  Pressing past the two women, Frank moved into the room and over to the cot where the body lay. Squatting to one knee, he carefully felt along the neck for a pulse.

  “Is he?” Sonja asked without finishing the full sentence. Based on the poor man’s complexion, she already knew the answer.

  Frank only nodded his response.

  “Oh, my word,” Bethany cried out, hands on her cheeks like the classic image of a screaming woman. She began to sob.

  “Was he shot?” Sonja asked.

  “Appears so,” Frank confirmed, looking around the room.

  At the same moment, both Frank and Sonja spotted the rifle leaning against the head of the cot. Back when Sonja had been trying to write a mystery novel she had done a lot of research on gun models. If she was correct in her assumption, this looked like a twenty-two rifle.

  “Shot! Who would have shot Barry?” Bethany wailed.

  “Sonja, can you please get Bethany out of here? I need to secure the crime scene.”

  “Sure thing, Frank,” she agreed, putting an arm around the weeping woman and turning to guide her out the door.

  “And try to get in contact with the Park Police. This is technically their jurisdiction.”

  “Got it,” she replied. Walking out the door, Sonja noticed a pattern of streaked muddy footprints along the wood floor and on the stairs.

  Maybe they belonged to the killer.

  * * *

  It took at least ten minutes to get Bethany to calm down enough to tell Sonja that there was an emergency phone line inside the Welcome Hall made specifically for calling fire, police, and emergency services. Sonja made sure that Bethany was comfortable and calm at one of the long tables while she went over and made the necessary outbound calls.

  Within a matter of minutes, the State Park Police were on site. The double doors on the far end of the Welcome Hall swung open and three men in uniform stepped through. The one leading the trio stood tall, at least six-foot-five, and was bald as the day he was born.

  “Lieutenant Doggs, thank heaven you’re here,” Bethany stood up from the table, wiping the tears from under her eyes. Sonja followed suit, also standing.

  “Are you Miss Reed? The one I talked to on the phone?” the officer asked in a firm voice, continuing the long walk between the tables and across the hall.

  Sonja and Bethany sat closest to the back door, leading to the amphitheater, near the kitchen.

  “Yes, I am,” she confirmed.

  “Where is the body?”

  “There is a cabin right out back here, just past the amphitheater.”

  “Cabin one,” Bethany added.

  “Sheriff Frank Thompson is already working on securing the scene.” She pointed toward the door.

  “Very good,” he stopped dead in place in front of the two women, looking back at his men. “Go on ahead and make sure the sheriff has everything in order. Once you’ve finished helping him cordon off the crime scene, send him in here.”

  “Yes, sir,” the two spoke in unison, heading out the back door.

  Once his men were gone, Doggs folded his arms and sighed. “Alright, ladies. I want you to tell me exactly what happened.”

  “Ohh, i-it was horrible,” Bethany broke down into tears again.

  “Please try and calm down Miss Bordo,” he hushed her.

  “It’s Barry Niles. He’d been shot,” she moaned.

  Sonja, feeling more than a little awkward in this situation, put an arm around the woman to help quiet her hysteria. “Officer, it may be best if I take her to lie down, I think.”

  “In a moment,” he cut in, holding up a hand to silence her. He clearly had an agenda he intended to keep. Sonja had to admit, his bedside manner wasn’t the greatest. She supposed, however, that his professional go-get-em attitude was the reason he was a lieutenant. “I understand that this is a very frightening and disturbing scene, especially for two women like yourselves, but I just need to ask a few quick questions before I let you go.” Pulling out a mini notepad and pen from his shirt pocket, he was poised and ready to take any necessary notes.

  “Very well,” Sonja agreed, hoping he was quick.

  “Miss Bordo, you said the victim is Barry Niles?”

  “T-That’s right. He was up for the Ranger of the Year award.”

  The officer scribbled something down. “Okay, and I assume you knew the victim?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was your relationship?”

  She swallowed hard, pushing back tears and gaining enough composure to answer the questions clearly. “I was his supervisor. Despite being a relatively new employee, he was one of our best. He was always trying to go the extra mile. That’s why he was up for this year’s award.”

  “And you selected him for this award?”

  “I did. That’s correct.”

  “Was anyone else up for the award?” he pressed. Sonja knew exactly where this was going. He was digging for potential suspects. It was efficient, she had to give him that.

  “Yes, one other employee, Shelton Briarworth. He’s been with us a long time. More of a rules-centric kind of fellow, but a good ranger nonetheless.”

  “Did these two men get along?”

  Bethany hesitated, looking as if she was unsure how to answer.

  “Miss Bordo?” the officer pressed.

  Sighing, she gave in. “Niles and Briarworth had a somewhat unhealthy competition going on, one that had been a shadow over my employment force for the last year. At every turn, the two men were trying to one-up one another.”

  “An unhealthy competition? Can you go into more detail?” He tapped his pen on the pad.

  “Shelton Briarworth is an older gentleman who has worked in this area for years. He has the whole ranger’s handbook memorized. He knows every rule and regulation and works hard to enforce it.” She paused a moment and bit her lower lip, hesitating on continuing along this same description. “Unfortunately, he’s also a little abrasive. His personality has kept him from moving up in the ranks as quickly over the years. He gets very upset and defensive when younger employees get promoted over him. For instance, when I became the supervisor for this area, he showed great resistance to my requests for the first few months.”

  “Did that chan
ge over time?”

  “It did. Lately, I’d almost consider us friends.”

  “Was Barry Niles promoted over him?”

  “No, but he did receive second rank after only two years of service. That made Shelton upset.”

  “How did you know he was upset?”

  “He yelled a bit in my office. Made a scene about promoting young people too quickly.”

  Doggs nodded, scratching his chin with the end of his pen. “I see. What about this award? How did Briarworth respond to the news that Niles was nominated?”

  Bethany licked her lips nervously. “Not well. The fact that this is Shelton’s first time ever being nominated for this award may be bad enough, but being in competition with Niles just sent him over the edge.”

  “And where is Briarworth now?”

  “I’m not sure. Probably in his cabin, number thirteen.”

  Doggs scribbled out a few more notes, most likely a reminder of the cabin number. The officer would likely want to speak with Shelton Briarworth after examining the crime scene more closely. “What time did you two ladies find the body?”

  “Just around four-thirty,” Sonja chimed in.

  “And did either of you see the victim prior to his death today?”

  Sonja shook her head. “I didn’t. I didn’t even know the man.”

  “She’s just here as our caterer for the award ceremony. I was showing her to the cabin when we—” she paused, choking up again, “when we found the body.”

  “What about you, Miss Bordo? Did you see your employee at all today?”

  “I did.”

  “When was that?”

  “Early this morning we’d received reports of an illegal fire being burned at the top of Tillerson Peak. That was around seven-thirty.” Bethany swallowed hard. “I sent Niles and Briarworth together to check it out.”

  “Together?” Sonja butted in, raising an eyebrow. She would fully admit, she didn’t know either of these men. However, why send two guys who hated each other up a mountain? It just sounded like you were asking for trouble.

  “I thought by forcing them to work together, even just for a day, that they might work out some of their differences.”

  “Perhaps they did,” Lieutenant Doggs noted with a grim tone.

  CHAPTER 6

  * * *

  Once Lieutenant Doggs had finished his first round of questions, he dismissed the women and headed over to the crime scene to see what his men had to report.

  “Do you need anything? A cup of coffee, maybe?” Sonja asked once the lieutenant was gone.

  “No, I’m fine, really. I’m not much of a coffee person,” she admitted.

  Sonja, an avid coffee drinker herself, was wishing for a cup. She didn’t know how she would survive without at least one cup a day, if not more. However, she’d forgo a drink at the moment to help Bethany.

  “Do you want me to walk you to your cabin? You should probably lie down.” Sonja motioned toward the doors at the other end of the hall.

  “I’m not that far from here. I’ll be okay.”

  “Are you sure? I’m more than happy to go along.”

  Bethany paused a moment and then smiled. “That would be helpful, thank you,” she agreed.

  The two women walked out of the building, side-by-side, and down a dirt path into the trees. Sonja followed Bethany’s lead, making sure to stay close.

  After a few minutes of silence, Bethany looked up and asked a question. “So, Sonja, how long have you and Frank been dating?”

  Caught slightly off-guard, Sonja took a moment to form her answer. “Well, about a year now, I think,” she speculated.

  “You don’t know the exact day?” the ranger asked with a hint of shock in her voice.

  Sonja wondered if she was being judged. “Well, it was a little complicated, you know?” she defended herself.

  “I understand,” she replied.

  “We had gone out on a few dates together here and there and then sort of informally became boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “Informally?” Bethany asked, her voice perking up.

  Sonja didn’t like the sound of that. It almost seemed like she was hopeful about Sonja’s use of the word informal, as if she wanted to step in and take a shot at Frank herself.

  Probably not, Sonja tried to convince herself.

  “Informally, at first, yes. We didn’t say we were exclusive, but it just sort of happened that way.”

  “I see.”

  “We’re pretty serious now,” Sonja said, wanting to nip this conversation in the bud once and for all. There was no way she was going to let even a hint of doubt enter Bethany’s mind about who was with Frank. “After months of dating, and not really being interested in anyone else, we knew we were official.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you, we’re very happy,” Sonja said, emphasizing the word very a little too much. Maybe she was trying too hard to sell it.

  Maybe she had nothing to worry about.

  “Good,” Bethany agreed, ending her brigade of relationship questions. They walked on for a few more minutes until her cabin came into site. Just before reaching the door, Bethany spoke again. “You know, if I had as good a catch as Frank is, I would be counting every single day we’d been together and celebrating every moment.”

  Sonja’s jaw dropped wide open in shock.

  “Well, thanks for walking me. I think I’ll lay down for a while.” Bethany mounted the steps and disappeared inside before Sonja even had time to respond.

  * * *

  Furiously stomping back toward the Welcome Hall, Sonja fumed with jealousy. The nerve of that woman, making comments like that. What right did she have to judge Sonja and her relationship with Frank? What made her think that she might even have a chance with the handsome sheriff?

  Did she?

  Sonja paused and let out a whoosh of air, calming down a little. She was being foolish—acting like a dramatic high school girl all over again.

  Frank was her boyfriend, not Bethany’s. What was there to worry about? After all, if they had wanted to date, they easily could have back when Frank was volunteering, right?

  Placing her hands on her hips, she looked up into the dark blue sky. The day was quickly coming to a close, and she still had no idea where she’d be sleeping that night. Maybe she would be stuck in her tent after all.

  The lieutenant would no doubt be keeping the cabin closed off for investigation.

  A rustle in some nearby bushes on the border of the trail drew her attention. Glancing over in the direction she’d heard the noise, she listened carefully, watching the trees. An orange sunset penetrated the branches and leaves, creating a symphony of shadows among the foliage.

  Probably just the wind, she decided.

  As soon as she turned to walk away, a snap of a twig forced her to look back again. “Is someone there?” Sonja called out.

  No response. If anything, it was probably a bird or a squirrel just moving around in the brush.

  Then Sonja suddenly remembered. Between worrying about Bethany’s feelings for Frank and the sudden strange murder cropping up, she’d completely forgotten her main reason for coming out here—Belinda.

  If she was on the right trail, and this really was where Belinda had asked Sonja to meet her, that also meant that somewhere out there in the darkening woods, among the eerie shadows, was a witch.

  Throughout the past months, Sonja knew the witch was watching her, sending her sinister gifts, playing horrible games of cat and mouse. What if it was the witch out there in the woods moving through the bushes and stepping on twigs?

  A rock suddenly formed in Sonja’s throat. It was as if someone’s eyes were watching, stalking her like prey.

  “Whoever you are, I know you’re out there,” she called, hoping to scare them out of hiding.

  Again, there was no response.

  “I don’t have time for games. If you have something to say, just come out and say it.”
<
br />   This time, the bushes rustled again.

  Cautiously, Sonja moved forward, stretching out her hand, prepared to part the branches and look into the thicket.

  Her fingers trembled as they drew near.

  In an instant, the bush spread open, revealing two white, wide eyes staring out at her.

  CHAPTER 7

  * * *

  “Belinda!” Sonja exclaimed upon seeing the familiar woman emerge from between the thicket of leaves. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

  “Sorry, Sonja. I just couldn’t tell it was you until I got closer.” The dark-haired woman stood there in black denim shorts and a white t-shirt. Black lipstick and mascara made it appear as if she’d just freshened up, not spent the last month in the woods.

  “And that also includes you jumping out of the bushes at me?” she scolded her friend.

  “I didn’t jump out, you’re just acting skittish. That’s all,” she defended.

  Sonja found the comment somewhat rude, a surprising attitude from her generally high-spirited and mild-mannered friend.

  “We need to get off the path,” Belinda instructed.

  “Why?”

  “The witch might be watching us. You need to come with me.”

  “Right now? I should really get back to the hall.”

  “There’s no time,” she demanded with a sharp edge to her voice.

  “Belinda, this isn’t like you,” Sonja pointed out.

  Sighing, the dark-haired woman shook her head. “It’s been a long month. You have no idea what we’re up against. I need you to trust me, okay?”

  “There’s been another murder. Did you know that? The officer running the investigation might wonder where I am if I wander off. Frank might worry.”

  “There’s no time,” Belinda said again, grabbing hold of Sonja’s hand and forcefully pulling her through the bushes.

  She let out a slight moan as the branches scratched her bare arms. “Hey, you’re hurting me.”

  “Just trust me. We’ve got work to do.”