Trouble in Texas_A Flight Risk Cozy Mystery

by Susan Harper

  “That’s a good point,” Kendell said. “I suppose she is definitely the one with the motive. Where is she now?”

  “Sulking somewhere,” Jesse said. “She’s still irate about the whole pigpen incident. I don’t think we’ll have a chance to talk to her.”

  “No, probably not,” Kendell said. She heard noises outside and went to look out the window. The Johnson family had all gathered together outside. Brenton and his father were tossing a football back and forth, and the man was moaning about being too old to play catch. “I saw we go out and talk to the Johnsons before dinner.”

  “Agreed,” Pauline said, standing.

  The three of them made their way downstairs and through the house; the Carsons were all working on dinner together, so the Johnsons had all wandered outside for some fresh air. Pauline, Kendell, and Jesse joined them, and Mr. Johnson tossed Jesse the football. “Heard you and Laurie tussled today,” he said with a laugh. “I knew I liked you.”

  Jesse laughed. “Not one of my proudest moments, I’ll admit.”

  “Why not?” he asked. “I heard you won.”

  “Not sure about that. The fight ended after she tossed me in the mud, but I did manage to pull her down with me,” Jesse said.

  “All right, that’s enough games for me,” Mr. Johnson said. “I’m going to go inside.”

  “Um, Mr. Johnson,” Kendell said, meeting him by the door. “I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about Monica?”

  “What about her?” he asked, shaking his head. “Shame what happened.”

  “Yes, well, my friends and I are all trying to figure out exactly what happened. I was wondering if you could tell me about her?” Kendell asked.

  “Look, darling, I want to find out what happened to the girl as much as you do, but I’m tired. I’ve been moving trees all afternoon trying to clear the roads so that we can get out of here and contact someone who can help. The police aren’t going to be able to investigate if they can’t get out this way. I’m going to go inside and sit down in front of the fire and try to catch some shuteye before supper,” he said and entered the house.

  Strike one, Kendell thought, not finding the brief interaction the least bit helpful.

  Kendell turned around to see Pauline standing by Mrs. Johnson. “Well,” Pauline said. “I was just hoping you could tell me about Monica?”

  Mrs. Johnson sighed sadly. “She was a good girl. Grew up on the ranch nearest to ours and the Carsons’. She and Brenton and Junior played together all the time till her family sold their ranch. Even after they moved to the city, though, she would always come out to spend time with the boys. She always looked after them, and they looked after her. Kind of always hoped she’d date my boy. I would have loved for her to call me her mother-in-law, but the three of them were always too good of friends. Probably would have made it awkward.”

  “I’m sorry your family has lost someone you were so close to,” Pauline said.

  “Me too,” Mrs. Johnson said, wiping a tear that slid down her cheek. “She used to always bring me snickerdoodles on my birthday. The girl knew how much I loved snickerdoodles, and hers were just wonderful. It breaks my heart to think that next month on my birthday, Monica won’t show up at the ranch with a plate full of them for me. She was going places, that girl.”

  “Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?” Pauline asked.

  “That’s the thing. She had a whole other life in the city we didn’t know much about. If she had been killed somewhere other than in that cellar, I’d say we would need to start looking to see what she had been up to in the city. The idea that one of us could have done it… It doesn’t make sense.”

  “What about Laurie?” Pauline asked.

  “I suppose that would make some sense, but I don’t know,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Laurie has always been a little extreme, but I can’t imagine her killing someone over some innocent flirting.”

  “Yeah, Ma, but I didn’t think she’d be the type to pounce on someone and push them into a pigpen either,” Brenton said.

  Mrs. Johnson shook her head. “I suppose you have a point,” she said. “I’m going to go help the Carsons finish up in the kitchen.” She too headed inside.

  “What about you, Brenton?” Jesse asked. “Anything useful you could tell us about Monica?”

  “Only that she was my friend,” he said. “Man, we used to do some crazy stuff, the three of us. Mary would always chase us around, too, wanting to play with the big kids. I remember one year, our parents bought all three of us four-wheelers for Christmas. The three of us drove around like we were in some sort of biker ranch gang. Monica would let Mary ride on the back of hers. Monica always treated Mary like a little sister. I know Monica always had a little crush on Junior, but he thought of her too much as a sister himself, so he never acted on it none.”

  “I’m sorry you lost someone you were so close to,” Kendell said.

  “Same,” Brenton said. “Monica, Junior, and I… Well, all three of us were homeschooled till Monica moved into the city. We were the only kids within miles of each other growing up. We hung out all the time, whenever we could avoid working on the family ranches. I really don’t like the idea of having to tell her parents what happened. They are good people. Good ranchers until her dad pulled her back out and finally decided to just cash in. Can’t blame the man. This certainly ain’t an easy life.”

  “You not the gung-ho rancher that Junior is?” Kendell asked.

  Brenton laughed. “Not really,” he admitted. “Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed growing up on the ranch. Ideally, though, I’d want to expand. Get large enough to where I could hire workers. Enjoy just being the boss instead of the lackey. That’s my dream for when I inherit Pa’s ranch.”

  “How would you expand it?” Kendell asked.

  “More cattle. More land. I’d have to talk some other ranchers into selling,” Brenton said. “Not sure if I could talk Junior into selling. I’d probably have to expand in the other direction, but you never know. He does have a good piece of property with those caves. Couldn’t ask for better shelter for the cattle.”

  Eventually, Brenton also headed inside, leaving Pauline, Kendell, and Jesse standing outside by themselves as the sun was setting in the distance. “Sure is beautiful out this way,” Jesse said. “Even with a body stored in their cellar. It kind of ruins the beauty of it, doesn’t it?”

  “We’ll find out what happened to Monica,” Kendell assured Jesse.

  “Why are you so confident?” Jesse asked. “What if we don’t?”

  “We will,” Pauline assured Jesse. “We’ve done this sort of thing before. Trouble tends to follow us a bit, doesn’t it, Kendell?”

  Kendell shook her head. “Point is, we’re going to find out what happened to Monica. We’re not going to just pretend everything is okay. Whoever killed Monica better watch out, because we’re coming for them.”

  8

  There was still some sun shining by the time supper was finished. Everyone was so tired. Kendell got the impression that they were normally work from sunrise until sunset kind of families, but the added stress from what happened to Monica and the storm was causing a slothfulness amongst the crowd. Plus, everyone had stuffed themselves at the early supper they’d had, causing a bit of extra drowsiness to seep in.

  Kendell made her way outside; it seemed most everyone spent their time outside, including their leisure time. There wasn’t a television at the ranch, and while she had been told they normally had internet there, the storm had put an end to that after throwing a dish clear off their roof. “Roads ain’t cleared yet,” Mr. Carson said with a huff as Kendell made her way out the door.

  Mr. Carson was sitting alone on the front porch in one of the many rocking chairs. He was sitting just under the tarp that she and Brenton had placed over the window earlier that day. He pointed toward one of the rocking chairs, inviting her to sit. The old man lit a cigarette and was sure to blow the smoke opposite of Kendel
l. “Where are you friends?” he asked.

  “Pauline and Jesse both went to lay down,” Kendell said. “Pauline is old and needs her rest. And I think Jesse just needed a break from Laurie following her around.”

  Mr. Carson snorted slightly. “I think we all need a break from Laurie.” He pointed out into the front yard by a large tree. Junior was sitting on a little bench, and Laurie had found a seat on a stump nearby. And she appeared to be running her mouth a million miles an hour while Junior distracted himself with some sort of craft.

  Kendell smirked. “She driving him crazy?”

  “Junior likes to whittle,” Mr. Carson said, and Kendell took a second glance to see that the craft Junior was working on involved a small piece of wood and a knife. “He’s actually pretty good, but everyone—even Laurie—knows he tends to go under that tree and whittle when he wants to be left alone.”

  “So, why is she bothering him?” Kendell questioned.

  “Because she knows it’ll bug him,” Mr. Carson groaned. “I warned Junior about that girl the moment he brought her onto the ranch. She said all the right things, but I could tell she wasn’t no rancher.”

  “Most women you meet in a big city like Dallas probably aren’t going to be,” Kendell said with a slight smile.

  “True,” he said. “And there wasn’t nothing wrong with Junior being with a girl from the city. I had no problem with that. Those city girls are well brought up, most of them. Educated. Smart. A lot of them come from good families. But, Laurie… Well, she liked to play fantasy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean she pulled Junior in by acting like she just loved the idea of a rancher’s life. My son has always wanted to take over my ranch. End of story. I never tried to push that on him. Told him it was always an option, but I’d be just as happy to leave my ranch to my daughter. Right now, they both want to be ranchers, so looks like it’s going to be both of them. Junior has always wanted to run this ranch. That was the dream. Laurie, when they first started dating, acted like she was up for being a rancher’s wife. But, after they had been together for a while, she flipped the script on him. The real her started coming out. She started showing up to the ranch with college pamphlets and job applications. Pulling that whole if-you-love-me bull crap. Then, she started getting more and more uncomfortable with Monica. Monica was the one who introduced the two of them! But, the moment Laurie started telling my boy he wasn’t allowed to be around Monica, he dumped her.”

  “Good for your son for remaining so loyal to his friends,” Kendell said. “I could probably name a few guys who would dump their friends in a heartbeat over a pretty girl. Laurie is definitely pretty.”

  “Pretty dim,” Mr. Carson grunted. “I don’t mettle in my kids’ love affairs, but that girl certainly made me nervous. You know who did try intervening on that relationship, though?”

  “Who?” Kendell asked curiously.

  “Mary,” he said with a laugh. “The wife, Mary, and I read right through Laurie the second she stepped foot on this ranch. But, my wife and I decided to keep our mouths shut and let Junior figure it out on his own. Mary, though, been jabbering in her brother’s ear that Laurie was faking the whole country girl routine since day one. Kind of makes me glad to know that my kids will look after each other once I’m too old or too dead to do so.”

  Kendell chuckled slightly. “Well, that’s good. You have a lovely family here, Mr. Carson.”

  Kendell heard a slight screechy yawn erupt, and she glanced down to see Bo sitting at Mr. Carson’s feet. She had almost not noticed the large black and white dog sitting there. “He’s a handsome dog,” Kendell said, reaching down and scratching the dog behind the ear.

  “Oh, yeah, he’s a good one,” Mr. Carson said. “He’s the source of a lot of drama around here as well, though.”

  “Really? He seems like a sweetheart,” Kendell said.

  “Oh, he is. Thing is, Junior and Brenton bought him together when they were just knee-high,” Mr. Carson said, shaking his head. “I told Junior that was a bad idea. Later on, as Bo got a little older, Junior and Brenton had a sort of falling out. Nothing too serious; they just both got more intent on working mine and Mr. Johnson’s ranches. They argued a bit about where Bo should be living as he got older. The dog used to roam back and forth between the two ranches, but he started getting a bit old for that. It was pretty clear Bo favored Junior, and he wound up living here. I don’t think Brenton cared too much for it, but Junior was always the one taking up the responsibility of owning a dog compared to Brenton. Mr. Johnson told Brenton that if he had wanted the dog so bad, he should have been the one spending money to feed the poor thing.”

  Kendell laughed a bit. “I hope that didn’t have anything to do with them drifting apart?”

  “Nah,” Mr. Carson said. “Like I told you, the boys both got serious about working. You can’t be rancher kids forever. Eventually, those rancher kids become ranchers themselves.”

  Mr. Carson sat up suddenly, staring past Junior and Laurie. “Is that Brenton?” he asked, pointing past them and out across the fields.

  Brenton was darting through the pastures in their direction, waving his arms and yelling. “Cows are out! Cows are out!”

  Mr. Carson cussed under his breath and hurried over to the front door, flinging it open. “Cows are out!” he hollered inside. “Cows are out!”

  The next thing Kendell knew, the whole lot, even Bo, was darting toward the largest of the barns on the property. Even Pauline and Jesse had risen from their slumber to come join the ruckus. Even crazy, neurotic Laurie leapt into action. They all darted into the large barn. Kendell and her group followed, even though they had no idea what the protocol for loose cattle was. Kendell watched as everyone began saddling up horses. Even city girl Laurie knew what to do; she helped Junior get his horse going, and she slapped the thing on the rear once he was on top. He darted out of the barn on his horse shouting, “Come on, Bo!”

  Bo suddenly seemed five years younger; that dog darted out of the barn, his old dog persona leaving him like a retired soldier forced back into combat. Laurie ran and grabbed a stool out of a corner, putting it down so that short Mrs. Johnson could hop up onto a horse as well. The men, Mary, and Mrs. Johnson all darted after Junior on horseback while Mrs. Carson scrambled to pass out car keys. She paused before handing Kendell a key. “Um… Do you know how to drive a stick?” she asked.

  “I’m from New York,” Kendell said. “I don’t drive. Period.”

  Mrs. Carson nodded. “Ms. Pauline, you and your little pooch are with me. Jesse, Kendell, you two are with Laurie.”

  Laurie darted off, so Kendell and Jesse followed close behind as she loaded up into one of the beat-up old trucks that were parked on the property. Kendell and Jesse sat in the back as Laurie zoomed toward where the ranchers on horses had gotten off too. She slammed on her brakes and hopped out of the truck. Kendell looked around and could see that those who had arrived on horses had yet to get the situation under control. Several groups of cattle had already strayed.

  “What happened?” Kendell called from the back of the pickup.

  Brenton came trotting by, shaking his head. “Man, this is my fault!” he said. “I left the stupid gate open!”

  “Are you kidding me?” Laurie hissed from inside the truck. “How old are you? That’s crap five-year-olds forget to do!”

  “I was distracted!” Brenton hissed back.

  “By what?” Laurie hissed and rammed the gas, sending Kendell and Jesse fumbling all over each other. Laurie slammed the brakes again, sending Kendell and Jesse fumbling in the opposite direction.

  “Knock it off!” Jesse hissed, but they saw that Laurie had merely been trying to avoid hitting a horse.

  “You stupid beast!” Mr. Carson was shouting; he had been thrown from the horse and was sitting in a giant puddle.

  Laurie jumped out of the car to go help the older man up. “I’ll get the horse,” Kendell said to Jesse. “You t
ry to get this truck moved up that way to block any more cows from darting out of this pasture.”

  “It’s a stick shift!” Jesse snapped as the two of them climbed out of the back, covering their shoes instantly with mud.

  “Figure it out!” Kendell snapped and darted off after the panicked horse. She managed to catch up to the thing, and it was fairly calm by the time she found it. She thought about just holding its reins and walking it back, but frankly, she was tired of looking like a stupid, pampered city girl around these people. She very carefully pulled herself up onto the horse’s back and took hold of the reins. “I have no idea what I’m doing,” she whispered into the horse’s ear. “Please don’t throw me.” She scratched it behind the ear, and the thing shook its head like she had tickled it.

  She made a clicking sound like she had heard Junior doing earlier that day, and the horse started walking back toward Mr. Carson. It wasn’t exactly a quick trot, but she at least got the creature moving in the right direction. Mr. Carson smiled at her when she arrived back with the horse. “Good job,” he said. “You know how to dismount?”

  “I wasn’t even sure if I knew how to mount it,” Kendell admitted and patted the horse on the neck. Mr. Carson helped her climb down, and Laurie handed out switches to Kendell and Jesse. They helped chase the cows on foot while everyone else was on horse, and Mrs. Carson and Pauline drove their truck around, blocking any cows from escaping the herd.

  Eventually, after nearly an hour of running around in the mud, they got the last of the cows back into the pasture.

  9

  Somehow Kendell wound up being the last person allowed to use the shower. She felt an incredible amount of relief as the mud and gunk washed off her and down the drain. Apparently, herding cattle was very messy business, and it was obviously something greatly over-romanticized in the movies. Frankly, she was a little embarrassed at how easily Laurie had handled herself. The Carsons and the Johnsons both had made her out to sound like an incompetent city dweller, but compared to Kendell and Jesse, the woman had sprung into action like a pro. That wasn’t to say that Kendell and Jesse hadn’t figured out how to be useful, it had just taken them a bit longer.