Chief Cartwright’s chair cushion whooshed as his weight dropped back onto it. “Who? What for?”
“Well, Frank Bellandini for one. He’s been smoking behind Bette’s casita, and Bette caught him at it. There’s no smoking on the grounds of the retirement home.” She thought she should make the reason clear. “Bette threatened to go to Russ Ellison and report Frank if he didn’t pay her.”
“That’s a pretty minor offense,” Cartwright said.
“Not at Rainbow Ranch. Most of the residents are sick. We’re all old. Russ Ellison prides himself on having a healthy environment for his residents. If he found out Frank was smoking, there’s a good chance he’d kick him out and make him forfeit whatever rent was due on the remainder of his lease.
“The other one I know about is Leonard Rothenberg. You must know him, at least by sight, if not by name. He’s the one who looks like a bodybuilder.”
Cartwright nodded. “I wish I could have his body.”
“Well, you could,” Lilliana said, “if you took the drugs he takes. Yes, he exercises and plays a lot of tennis, but that’s not all he does. He takes things to keep that body. We’re supposed to report all our prescription medications to Kirstie so she has a record of them. I’m sure Lenny never reported those. Bette found out about them on one of their trips to Las Vegas.”
The chief looked more interested now. “I’ve heard about Mrs. Tesselink and how she aggravated people. Most of the statements I got made a point of mentioning that. But why would she blackmail them? The witnesses also talked about how much money she had, how she lived in an expensive casita instead of one of the apartments.”
“What they didn’t know,” Lilliana said with a bit of smugness, “was that Bette was broke. She spent all the money her husband left her, a lot of it on those trips to Las Vegas.”
Chief Cartwright steepled his fingers in front of his lips and leaned back in his chair as he digested this information. Suddenly he straightened and lowered his hands. He leaned forward across the desk and pointed a finger in her face. “But you were the one with the bat, and your prints were on it.”
“Oh, tosh! Anyone could have used my bat. The door to the storage room wasn’t locked. And the killer probably wore gloves. We all know about that from watching television.”
“Could have and did are two different things, Mrs. Wentworth. All the evidence points to you as the killer. No matter how many stories you tell me, that hasn’t changed. I have a warrant for your arrest.” He held up the legal document so she could see it. “And I’m going to take you down to the county jail and book you. I’ll let the court figure things out.”
Chief Cartwright stood up and took the handcuffs off his belt again. “Hold out your hands.”
Lilliana felt like she was in the middle of a nightmare. Hadn’t the Chief heard a word she said? If he had, he apparently hadn’t believed her. Surely a good lawyer would be able to prove her innocence, but at the moment it appeared as if she was going to be spending some time in a cell.
She didn’t even know a lawyer. At least, not a criminal lawyer. There was that one in Tucson who had changed her will after Charles had passed away. She wasn’t even sure she remembered his name.
“Mrs. Wentworth?” The chief was waiting.
Resigned, Lilliana held out her hands again. She was going to take a ride to Bisbee whether she wanted to or not. After the cuffs were on, Cartwright opened the office door.
Ted Pulaski stood there, his hand raised and poised to knock.
“Just one minute, Chief.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHIEF Cartwright looked as surprised as Lilliana felt at seeing Ted Pulaski. The chief stood, immobile, facing the grocer and former ranch owner, wavering between inviting Ted in and pushing him out of the way.
“Please? Just give me a few minutes.” The earnestness of his plea was echoed in the expression on Ted’s face. Apparently the combination convinced the chief in favor of an invitation.
Cartwright backed up a step and waved Ted through the door. He gestured toward chairs in front of the desk, then circled around, scratching his head, to take a seat in his swivel chair. “I sure hope what you have to say is important, Mr. Pulaski, because I have a murderer to put in jail.”
“I can guarantee Lilliana is not your killer.” Ted shifted in his seat, looked down at his feet, then raised his eyes and said, “I am.”
“What?” Lilliana and the chief chorused. Despite Sarah’s tale of an argument with Bette, Ted was the last person on earth Lilliana would have suspected of being a murderer. He was so kind, so gentle. In all the months she’d been visiting his store, she’d never seen him angry, even when faced with a particularly difficult customer. Being violent wasn’t at all like him.
“I killed Bette Tesselink.” Ted took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow, then sat twisting the cloth in his hands. He took a deep breath. “Lilliana told me she found out Bette was blackmailing people. I don’t know why that woman took such delight in torturing the innocent. Every time you’d turn around, she was causing trouble for someone. Me included.
“I don’t know how she did it, but Bette discovered something, a secret I was keeping, and threatened to go to Russ Ellison with the information. She didn’t want money from me. I’m not sure what she wanted. Maybe power. Maybe something I had no desire to give her.” He coughed as if his throat were dry. “Could I have a drink of water, please?”
The chief got up from his chair, opened the door, and called out to the receptionist. “DeeDee, can you bring three bottles of water in here?”
While they waited, silent, Lilliana wondered whether Bette had been looking for romance, sex, or a marriage of convenience. She doubted Ted would be specific, even if pressed.
After DeeDee delivered the water and returned to the lobby, Chief Cartwright said, “Go on.”
“That day at the flower show I tried talking to her at her table, but she didn’t want anyone to overhear what she had to say. She suggested we meet back in the storage room later on. I waited back there quite a while before she showed up.
“I asked her what she wanted in return for keeping my secret, but she said she’d changed her mind. She figured out the information was more valuable than anything I could offer her. She told me she was going to Ellison with it. In return, she was sure he’d let her live rent-free in the casita for life. With maybe a cut of the proceeds to boot. I told her she couldn’t do that; it was wrong to exploit... the secret. Once word got out, it would never be the same. And the thing that made it so precious would disappear.”
Secret? What secret could Ted have that he thought he had to kill to protect?
“She kept insisting there was no point in trying to negotiate. Her mind was made up.
“I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t bear the idea of... Anyway, I lost it. I saw the bat sticking out of the equipment bag, and I grabbed it and hit her over the head. I didn’t mean to kill her. I was so scared. I wiped the handle of the bat with my handkerchief and scooted out of there.”
He turned to Lilliana. “That’s why I didn’t come back for my plant on Sunday. I wanted to stay as far away from the crime scene as possible.”
“But what were you so desperate to keep Bette from talking about?” Lilliana asked.
Ted curled his upper lip over his teeth and chewed on his mustache. He scrutinized first the chief, then Lilliana, then the chief again. “It’s not something I can describe in words. To really understand it, I’ll have to show you. But you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
That wasn’t a problem for Lilliana. She trusted that if Ted said it must be kept secret, he had a good reason. “I promise.”
The two of them stared at the chief. Cartwright was quiet for so long, Lilliana began to wonder if he’d lost the ability to speak. Finally he said, “I promise. As long as it’s not something that’s against the law.”
“Oh, I can guarantee it’s not,” Ted said.
“Well, then, w
here is this big secret?” the chief of police asked.
Ted stood up and said, “Follow me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ONCE they exited Town Hall, Chief Cartwright headed for his patrol car. Ted stopped him.
“You can’t drive there. We have to walk. And crawl a little. It’s not worth taking the car a block only to have to park it.”
“Crawl?” Lilliana looked down at her clothes. While dressed in clothes a bit more stylish than she would be for a walk because of her lunch with Ted, she supposed her outfit would do for crawling. She was due for a trip to the laundry room anyway.
“What do you mean, crawl?” Chief Cartwright chimed in. He wore, of course, a uniform. From the sharpness of the creases and its immaculate condition, he had his clothes dry cleaned or laundered for him.
“You’ll understand when we get there.” Ted started down School Street.
The chief gave Lilliana a look as if to say ‘crazy old coot,’ then shrugged and followed Ted. Lilliana joined him.
For a ninety-year-old man, Ted set a brisk pace. She could barely keep up with him, while the chief was soon huffing and puffing. Ted turned north on Canyon toward Main Street. At the corner he said, “Wait here a minute while I get some things from the store.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Chief Cartwright said. “I’m not going to let a confessed murderer run off by himself.”
“If you really want to...“ Ted appeared to be in a hurry. “Well, come along then. I have no intention of running off, as you put it. But we’ll need a few things for where we’re going.”
The three of them traipsed to the grocery. Ted went in the back and returned bearing a couple of flashlights, a coil of rope, and a knapsack. He put the flashlights and the rope in the knapsack and hoisted the pack to his back. “Okay, let’s go.”
Ted led them back down Main, about fifty paces beyond the intersection with Canyon, before turning to cross the street. On this side of Canyon, there was nothing but desert in front of them and a view of the church steeple behind them. Even if it were not vacant, they wouldn’t be visible from the shop on the corner opposite the grocery. Or anywhere else, as best as Lilliana could determine. Still, Ted glanced back furtively before leading them across the street. There was no traffic this time of day.
The landscape remained the same on the north side of Main Street: desert, cactus, and mesquite. But Ted obviously knew where he was going, because he didn’t hesitate. He struck off into the desert and headed northwest, Lilliana and Chief Cartwright following. Within thirty paces, it became obvious they were following some kind of trail. Ted must have come this way many times before.
The rocky ground sloped uphill, making conversation difficult as they concentrated on where they put their feet. Anyway, Ted had made it clear he wasn’t going to tell them where they were going or what they would see before they actually arrived at their destination.
Lilliana soon realized they were ascending into the hills close to where she had been a couple of days ago. Her conclusion was confirmed when she heard the tinkle of flowing water and, a few minutes later, stepped out of the brush onto the bank of the stream. Ted stopped a minute to let the chief catch up. Even Lilliana was breathing heavily from the exertion.
“We should have brought some water,” she said. Her dry mouth reminded her how easily dehydration could sneak up on you in Arizona. She hoped they wouldn’t have to resort to drinking from the stream. The thought of drinking water the javelinas had tromped through turned her stomach.
“Oh, sorry. I did.” Ted took off the pack and opened it. He reached inside and pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her. “Do you want some, Chief?”
Chief Cartwright halted beside them, red-faced and panting. He held out a hand and gasped, “Thanks.” Opening the bottle, he slugged down a good third of the water before stopping to catch his breath. “I’d better start going to the gym.” He smiled weakly.
“What gym?” Lilliana asked, curious. Maybe she could join the gym to get more exercise.
“Uh, that’s the problem,” Chief Cartwright said. “You have to drive into Benson for a regular gym. One of the problems with being the only cop in town is you’re on call twenty-four seven. It would take me too long to get back here if there was a problem in Rainbow Ranch.”
Lilliana was disappointed. Then she had a thought. “Say, chief, why don’t you form a softball team? We could have games. You know, the town people against the retired people. You’d probably win most of the games.”
“You’re forgetting you’re under arrest for murder. Not likely you’ll be playing softball real soon,” the chief said. “Even though your... friend... has confessed.”
Ted stared incredulously at Cartwright. “Surely you don’t still think Lilliana is guilty?”
“Let’s just say I’m keeping my options open.” The chief took another long drink of water.
Ted shook his head. “I think you’ll believe me when you see what I’ve got to show you. Ready to continue?”
After the brief rest, Cartwright's color had returned to something resembling normal. He put the cap back on his water bottle and said, “I’m ready.”
Lilliana also capped her water, although she’d only drunk about a quarter of it. When outdoors in Arizona, she found it difficult to keep a balance between avoiding dehydration and needing a bathroom. “Me, too,” she said.
“Okay, then.” Ted turned uphill and followed the stream. After about twenty minutes, he stopped.
“Here we are,” Ted said.
“Where?” Lilliana asked. She scanned their surroundings, saw nothing but desert. The stream seemed to disappear into the hillside.
“If you’ve made us trek all the way out here just to see desert, I’m going to arrest you on general principles.” The chief was aggravated, to say the least. He took off his cap and ran his fingers through hair damp with sweat.
Ted laughed nervously. “Not quite.” He looked at Lilliana and Chief Cartwright with the same apprehension he’d shown at Town Hall. “I’m sorry to ask again, but I have to be sure. Do you both promise to keep what I’m about to show you secret?”
Lilliana nodded.
“Enough already!” Chief Cartwright said, thunderclouds gathering in his eyes. “Yes. A thousand times yes. But if you’re about to show me a pot farm, I will not be bound by my answer.”
Ted took a deep breath and pointed to the end of the stream. “There.”
Lilliana started to feel some exasperation herself. “I don’t see anything.”
“We have to get closer.” Ted led the way to the vegetation around the source of the water and pulled back the branch of a creosote bush.
Hidden behind the bush an opening not quite hip high and about three feet across punctured the hillside. Down the center of it, the stream trickled out, not more than six inches wide at this point.
“A hole?” Cartwright exclaimed. “We came all this way to show us a hole?”
“Not a hole,” Lilliana said softly, understanding for the first time. “A cave.” She felt a surge of anticipation. A hidden cave to explore. Who would have guessed it?
Relief showed in Ted’s face at her comprehension. “Yes, a cave. A magnificent cave.”
The chief tilted his head and pursed his lips.
“You have to see the cave for yourself to understand how precious it is,” Ted said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to get a little muddy crawling inside. But don’t worry, it widens out pretty fast into an area where we can stand up.”
He waited for that to sink in and then asked, “Ready?”
“Absolutely,” Lilliana said. She knelt down near the entrance and started to crawl in, but Ted put a hand on her shoulder and pressed her back.
“Let me lead the way,” he said. He took off the pack again and pulled out the flashlights, handing one to Lilliana and taking the other himself. He also pulled out a yellow hard hat with a light on the front. After clipping the flashlight to his belt an
d putting on the hard hat, he put the pack back on and knelt beside her. He lit the lamp on his helmet and crawled inside the hole.
It was impossible for Lilliana to crawl with the flashlight in her hand, so she stuck it in her waistband and followed after Ted. The interior was incredibly dark after the bright Arizona sunshine. At first all Lilliana could see was the beam coming from the light on Ted’s helmet.
They kept as far to the side of the passage as possible, but Lilliana still felt dampness on her knees as they crawled across the muddy ground. The chief grunted behind her as he brought up the rear.
Gradually her eyes adapted to the darkness. She still couldn’t see much, but she felt more comfortable about going ahead in the gloom. She could hear water dripping as well as the sound of the stream running out into the world. The cave smelled of damp earth and things she couldn’t identify. At least she didn’t detect the stink of ammonia from bat guano, something with which she was familiar from going to Colossal Cave near Tucson.
She felt rather than saw the closeness of the walls and realized why cavers were always so thin. The morbidly obese wouldn’t stand a chance of getting through this section. Even thin cavers sometimes got stuck in the tiny passages, like the famous Floyd Collins in Kentucky. She hoped Chief Cartwright, who had a bit of a donut-paunch, wasn’t having any trouble.
Whatever sixth sense had told her about the closeness of the walls now told her they were getting farther away. She breathed easier, as if the walls had exerted a pressure on the air itself. Just ahead she saw the silhouette of Ted’s torso as he rose to his knees. He edged forward another couple of feet, then stood up. He turned around so the light from his headlamp flooded the passage, and Lilliana could see clearly for the first time.
She had to crawl close to where Ted stood before the ceiling rose high enough for her to stand as well. They stood silently waiting for the chief to catch up. He was winded from the crawl when he arrived and stood with a sigh of relief.
African Violet Club Mystery Collection Page 15