Murder at Camp (Pineville Gazette Mystery Book 5)

by Wendy Meadows

  Mary raised her eyes. “Mitchell Rideback, Tom Mintson, and Dylan Roltdale are all tied up, right?” she asked. Andy nodded. “Okay...then our only choice is to...disable Mr. Cunningham. We have to tie him up just long enough to get the sheriff out here.”

  Andy gave Stephanie a nervous look. Stephanie sighed, brushed rain water away from her eyes, and then watched lightning streak across the stormy sky. Seconds later thunder shook the entire land. “Mary, John Cunningham doesn’t seem like the type of man who will allow himself to be tied up.”

  “The man is stronger than me, and faster,” Andy pointed out. “I’m not scared of a fight, but I know when I’ll be licked, too. A small dog doesn’t throw rocks at a bear, Mary.” Andy raised his hands. “My hands are used to plowing fields, not fighting.”

  “Well...there’s four of us,” Mary pointed out. “I’m sure if we...all attack at once, we’ll be able to subdue Mr. Cunningham just long enough to tie him down.”

  “Oh my,” Betty fretted, “what a way to treat that poor man...like he’s some kind of common criminal. The poor man is only trying to honor his people, Mary.”

  “I know...I know,” Mary said in a miserable voice. “I don’t like this any better than you do. But right now what choice do we have?”

  “Not much, I’m afraid,” Betty admitted as the winds continued to bash the land, bend tall trees, and turn falling rain water into pieces of broken glass.

  Mary studied the cave. “Okay...we need a plan,” she said and began to think. “Betty, I’m going to need you to go and stand in front of the cave and start calling out for Mr. Cunningham. Andy, Stephanie, we’ll hide at the side of the cave and when Mr. Cunningham comes out, we’ll...tackle him down to the ground.”

  Andy looked at Stephanie again. “What choice do we have?” he asked.

  “None,” Stephanie replied, grateful that Andy Shelton was turning out to be a hero instead of a killer.

  “Okay, Mary,” Andy said, checking his farm hands, “we’re with you.”

  Mary patted Betty’s shoulder. “Okay, the show is yours.”

  “Oh dear,” Betty panicked. She eased up onto a pair of nervous legs, licked her lips, and then began to trudge toward the cave. Mary, Stephanie, and Andy hurried away and made their way to the left wall of the hill and waited. “Mother would be so upset,” Betty whispered, taking one baby step at a time. “Why, Mother becomes upset if I get a splinter. Now look at me...walking into the face of danger again...dressed like a wet grape.”

  A powerful gust of wind struck Betty and nearly knocked the poor woman off her feet. “Goodness,” Betty exclaimed and threw her scared eyes into the storm. She spotted Mary, Stephanie, and Andy arrive at the hill and wave at her. “Oh dear...here we go,” she muttered and gingerly made her way to the cave’s entrance. She cleared her throat and let out a weak, “Uh...Mr. Cunningham...are you in there?”

  “Louder,” Mary mouthed at Betty.

  Betty winced, cleared her throat, and said in a voice a tad bit louder than before: “Yoo-hoo...Mr. Cunningham...are you in there?”

  John heard Betty’s voice whisper into the cave. He jumped to his feet and ran to the front of the cave and peered out. Betty was standing not far away, shielding her face against the wind and rain. “What are you doing here?” he called out in a worried voice. “I told you to leave this land.”

  “I...got lost,” Betty said in a voice that was expecting the sky to fall. “Can...you help me find my way?”

  John felt impatience rush into his heart. “Silly woman,” he complained and hurried out into the storm. As soon as his body was free of the cave, he heard a woman yell: “Now!” Shocked, he spun around and saw three shadows charging at him. “What is this?” he demanded and began backing up. Betty, spotting John backing away from Mary, Stephanie, and Andy, panicked. All she could think to do was drop down on her knees and cover her head. John, not seeing Betty on her knees, tripped over her and tumbled backward.

  “Get him!” Mary yelled. “But don’t hurt him!”

  John looked up just in time to see Andy dive through the air and land on him. Before he could begin fighting the man away, he felt someone grab his left arm and then his right arm and begin struggling to hold him down.

  “We don’t want to hurt you,” Andy pleaded with John, fighting to hold the man’s shoulders down to the ground.

  John fought against his captors but found that a man in his late forties was not as strong as a man in his early twenties. His muscles began to tire, and he lay still. “I must honor my people,” he said, feeling rain water drowning his face. “You are making a horrible mistake. I told you to leave this land.”

  “We will,” Mary promised John, holding his wrist down, “but the right way. We’re going to take the criminals into town and hand them over to the sheriff.”

  “The white man will not prosecute his own. They will prosecute my brother only,” John insisted.

  Betty leaned up, saw John being held down, and felt her heart break. “Oh, please don’t hurt him,” she begged.

  “Not in a million years,” Mary promised and carefully let go of John’s wrist. “Let him go.”

  Andy and Stephanie looked at each other and did as Mary asked. Andy jumped to his feet, helped Stephanie and Mary stand up, and then looked down at John. “We’re not your enemies, John. But we can’t let you turn into someone you would hate.”

  Mary helped Betty to her feet. “Mr. Cunningham, we have to let the law handle this. A woman has been murdered and if we break the law, we’ll all be held accountable. Please, do the right thing.”

  John stared up at Mary’s face, then shifted his eyes to the three other faces staring down at him. But it was Betty’s sweet, innocent face that captured his heart. The poor woman was begging him not to kill.

  “The land...can be a bullet,” he said and slowly stood up. He walked his eyes around the storm and sighed. “You have all prevented me from becoming what my people swore they would never become. Thank you.”

  Betty reached out, and to everyone’s shock, took John’s hand into her own. “We’ll find your gold, Mr. Cunningham,” she promised. “You can take your gold and hide it someplace else and Stephanie will turn this land into real gold...for needy children.”

  John looked down into Betty’s sweet and honest eyes. He had never seen such innocent eyes in all of his life. Betty’s innocence was a beauty he had never witnessed before. “I have forgotten how the heart is supposed to shine,” he said, smiling at Betty and gently patting her hand. “I will help you take the men I have tied up to the sheriff, including my brother.”

  Mary felt relief touch her heart. “Thank you, Mr. Cunningham,” she said, believing the storm was finally coming to an end, not realizing that yet another set of deadly eyes was watching her from a distance. “We’ll make sure justice is rendered properly.”

  John looked at Mary. “You have an honest soul,” he told Mary, “and it is clear to me that justice is very important to you, as it is me. But do not be fooled by the inside of a courtroom,” he warned. “Just because a man sits behind a bench does not mean his heart is the same as yours.” John pointed to the cave. “Inside that cave lie three very deadly snakes who still have the power to scare good men into a corner.”

  Mary nodded. “Yes, you are right, Mr. Cunningham. But far away from here my husband—his name is John too—is flying dangerous bombing missions over Europe, fighting men who are trying to scare entire countries into submission. If we back down from the bullies, we lose the fight.” Mary wiped rain away from her face and stared at John. “Somehow...someway, Mr. Cunningham, justice will be rendered.”

  John wasn’t so certain. But what he did know, as he looked into Betty’s eyes, was that honoring his people in truth was far more important than honoring them with murder.

  The person with the dark eyes watching John, however, was only thinking about murder.

  Chapter Seven

  “I’ll go the sleeping cabin I arranged fo
r us to sleep in and get some rope,” Stephanie told Mary, standing inside the cave. “We can tie the rope around their waists. If they try to run, they’ll have an awful hard time.” Stephanie dared to look down into Dylan’s eyes. “How could you?” she demanded after a moment of silence. “You betrayed me.”

  Dylan’s face wadded up into a snarl. “You were nothing but a pawn,” he told Stephanie. “Think about it. Once Shelton lost the land back to the county, what would happen if we located the gold?”

  “The gold would belong to the county,” Mary answered Dylan. “But if the land is privately owned then gold, if found, belongs to the land owner.”

  “Exactly,” Dylan told Mary. “The state would have no right any longer to confiscate the gold. We had to keep the land under private jurisdiction.” Dylan looked up at Stephanie. “You were the perfect pawn.”

  Stephanie resisted the urge to slap Dylan across his ugly face. “You said you loved me.”

  “I love power and money,” Dylan told Stephanie, sneering at her. “You’re so gullible...it’s sickening.”

  Stephanie felt a tear roll down her cheek and quickly turned away from Dylan. Andy, however, didn’t. “Untie him,” he ordered John. “I’m going to teach this trail rat a lesson with my bare fists.”

  John reached into his front pocket and pulled out a sharp hunting knife. “So be it,” he said. He knelt down and placed the knife to the ropes holding Dylan’s wrists together.

  Dylan panicked. “What are you doing...no...don’t cut the ropes,” he begged John. He looked into Andy’s furious eyes and nearly wet himself. “Stop...don’t cut the ropes,” he said, turning into the coward he truly was.

  Andy bent down, grabbed Dylan by his jacket, and yanked the man toward his face. “If you ever look at Stephanie or even speak to her, I’ll take you down to the lake and drown you with my bare hands, is that clear?”

  “Yeah...yes...clear,” Dylan whimpered.

  Andy shoved Dylan back, hurried to Stephanie, and put his arm around her. “Are you okay?”

  “No,” Stephanie said, and she plunged her face into Andy’s shoulder and began crying. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be loved...”

  You are loved, Andy thought but didn’t say. He gently put his arms around Stephanie and held her. “It’s going to be okay,” he promised.

  John stood up, made a sour face at Dylan, and focused on Mary and Betty. “I have little rope left. I think I will need the rope in the cabin. Can you two please go get it?”

  “I think we can manage to find our way back to the camp,” Mary told John. She looked down and saw Mitchell Rideback and Tom Mintson staring up at her. “You will face justice,” she told them.

  “Justice...ha,” Mitchell fired at Mary. His voice echoed off the walls of the cave and slithered outside into the storm. “Tom will walk free and so will Dylan. I’m the one who will be thrown behind bars.”

  “Shut up,” Tom snapped at Mitchell. “Be grateful that our lives are going to be spared.”

  Mitchell threw his eyes at John. “You know the white man will not face justice. Only our people suffer—”

  “My people suffer,” John interrupted Mitchell. “You have made it clear that my people do not matter to you. They never did. You have no right to call them your people.”

  “You’re an idiot,” Mitchell yelled at his brother. “What right have you to do this? I haven’t hurt anyone, have I? All I did was cut some tires and cut some boards loose on an old bridge!”

  “You were planning to kill,” John informed Mitchell. He pointed at Tom and Dylan. “You came here to kill them.”

  “So what?” Mitchel asked. “So what if I came here to kill off two snakes? You heard them.” Mitchell nodded at Mary and Betty. “They killed Jennifer Mintson and were planning to kill that woman.” Mitchell nodded at Stephanie. “I’d have done everyone a mighty good favor.”

  “You would be minding Roy Delston’s orders,” John told Mitchell.

  Mary studied Mitchell’s evil face and slowly began to put a few theories together in her mind. “Tom and Dylan were going to kill Stephanie and Jennifer and leave their bodies up here for you to find, Mr. Rideback. You were the person they hired to come and work on the camp, right...sure you were,” Mary said and walked to the cave’s entrance and peered out into the storm. “Tom Mintson knew his wife was betraying him...how? She found out about the gold and went to Roy Delston.”

  “You’re—” Tom began to speak but stopped, looking up into John’s powerful face, and decided to speak the truth. “Okay, yes,” he said, “my wife realized that I was searching for the gold. I was struggling to keep it a secret but when she went to Delston, I knew I was in trouble. Delston is a crook.” Tom shook his head. “Delston offered to split the gold with me if I agreed to work with him. I knew the crook was lying through his teeth, but what choice did I have?” Tom glanced at Dylan. “I had to act quickly. That’s when I called Dylan. Dylan scared off Greg Johnson and took over his office.”

  Dylan shook his head. “You’re a babbling moron, Tom.”

  Tom ignored Dylan. “Roy was going to have Andy killed, but when he realized Andy was behind on his land taxes, I convinced him to let me run Andy off legally. In the meantime, Dylan began searching for a private buyer.” Tom looked at Stephanie. “You came onto the stage at just the right time, Miss Aires. You were perfect.” Tom lowered his eyes and continued. “I convinced Roy that selling the land to a private buyer would prevent the state from trying to take the gold once we found it...if we ever found it. Roy agreed...reluctantly...but he agreed. I went to Judge Milcore and threw a few thin threats around and forced him to give Andy only two weeks to make his land tax payment, knowing full well Andy would fail.”

  Mary listened to Tom in disgust. “You planned to kill Stephanie and Jennifer, blame it on Mr. Rideback, who would in turn kill Mr. Delston, right?” she asked. “You were going to frame Mr. Rideback into killing off your enemy.”

  “Dylan asked Miss Aires to sign a legal paper stating that half the land would become his once they married,” Tom explained in a desperate voice. “We were rushing the marriage as quickly as possible but Miss Aires wasn’t cooperating. She insisted on a spring wedding. Dylan and I had to act very quickly.” Tom raised his eyes. “I heard Jennifer talking on the telephone with Roy. Roy was going to have Mitchell Rideback kill us and send in a new man to romance Miss Aires. Jennifer...was telling Roy everything...and I didn’t find out until it was too late. She was ruining my plans...destroying everything. I had to act...it was a matter of life and death.”

  Dylan raised his eyes. “Tom is telling the truth,” he confessed. “Roy hired Mitchell Rideback to kill us in return for cutting some debt he owed in half.” Dylan shook his head. “While we were stabbing him in the back, he was stabbing us right back. Our only choice was to turn the tables on Roy and use his own game against him.” Dylan dared to look at Stephanie. “Tom and I had Judge Milcore sign a fake marriage license and a fake document stating that you agreed to allow me to take possession of the land.”

  “You filthy rat!” Stephanie yelled and kicked dirt at Dylan. “I...allowed you to kiss me. Oh, my lips will never be clean, ever, ever again.”

  Mary walked over to Stephanie and took her hand. “Don’t let him upset you,” she whispered.

  Before Stephanie could reply Mitchell spoke up. “John, you have to believe one thing,” he said. “I tried to get to the camp in time to stop those two from killing Jennifer. I had a flat tire.” Mitchell kept his eyes on John. “When I arrived I cut the bridge down, found Shelton’s truck, cut his tires, and then cut the tires on the other cars, and hurried into the woods. That’s when I saw Jennifer lying dead on the trail. I may be a skunk in your eyes but I did want to save Jennifer’s life.” Mitchell glared at Tom and Dylan. “What would it have mattered if I killed off these two?”

  “Justice matters,” John told Mitchell.

  Mary felt fatigue grab her mind. “Kill your enemy before th
ey kill you, right?” she asked.

  Mitchell nodded. “Jennifer called Roy, told him Roltdale had switched a few days on his calendar around to confuse Miss Aires, and confessed that she was worried he was up to something. Roy ordered me to the camp...to finish them off.”

  “We knew you were going to kill us,” Dylan snapped, “that’s why I switched the calendar. We had to frame you for murder and force you to kill Roy.”

  “Do I look like an idiot?” Mitchell snapped back. “Do you really think I would believe the word of a lying white man? Besides, I had my own plan.”

  “You were going to pin the murder of Tom and Dylan on Roy Delston, weren’t you?” Mary asked.

  Mitchell nodded. “You bet I was,” he told Mary. “I was through being Roy’s doormat. It was time to make that skunk feel some heat.”

  “In other words, you were going to run him out of town, the same way Tom and ran Pastor Whitfield out of town, right?” Mary asked.

  “That’s right,” Mitchell sneered. “I was going to run Roy and Jennifer out of town, but not before giving me the money I would need to buy this land from Miss Aires.” Mitchell looked at Stephanie. “Either die or sell to me, that was going to be your choice.”

  Mary felt her head start to spin. “Good grief,” she complained and grabbed her head. “There're more rats in the pot than there are salt grains in the water.”

  “Tell me about it,” Betty agreed. “I can barely make sense of this, Mary. All I can really understand is that everyone who wants the gold was stabbing each other in the back to get it.”

  John walked over to Betty and softly smiled at her. “Your innocence is pure,” he told her. “You will continue to make the world beautiful.”

  Betty blushed from head to toe. “Oh...uh...thank you.”

  John focused on Mary. “Please, go get the rope,” he urged her. “Like you, my mind is growing tired of listening to words speaking from poisoned hearts.”

  Mitchell shook his head. “I’ll never see justice,” he yelled at John. “But I swear one day I’ll return and make sure you pay for what you’re doing, John, do you hear me?”