Dang Near Dead (An Aggie Mundeen Mystery Book 2)

by Nancy G. West

  Nineteen

  The entire group of us crammed ourselves through the front door of the lodge.

  “I need your names and contact information,” the deputy said. “Tell me when you last saw Vicki Landsdale and anything else you know about her. Line up here, please.”

  My feet started itching. “Let’s be near the front of the line,” I whispered to Meredith. “Then we can go back to the trail and search around.”

  “Are you crazy? That’s the deputy’s job. Besides, it’s about to storm.”

  “We need to comb the area before it starts pouring and the rain washes everything away.”

  “Washes what away? I’m not even going to tell Sam you said that.”

  I was thankful she wouldn’t tell Sam, but Vicki’s injuries felt personal. She’d become a friend. I had to help her. Not even her brother would come forward. Even if nobody else cared about her, I did. How could I abandon her? Guilt would overwhelm me. I knew. I’d done it before—abandoned people closer to me than Vicki. I’d never do it again.

  It looked as though Sam and I were never going to have ordinary time together without a tragedy occurring in our midst. We could never have a relationship without some emergency forcing us together. The whole idea Sam and I could ever be close was a silly figment of my imagination.

  But there was no way we could leave the ranch. Somebody who didn’t like Vicki might have caused her fall. If I found something significant where the horse threw her, I’d tell Sam. He had the expertise to evaluate the information. If he grew angry, I’d be satisfied knowing I’d done the right thing. I’d developed my own sense of duty.

  Meredith and I were near the front of the line and among the first to be interviewed. It didn’t take us long to tell the deputy that Vicki had left dinner early. I didn’t tell him Wayne Rickoff and the Tensels left soon after she did, nor did I mention her troubles with other cowboys and her brother. I had to believe she’d recover and could tell the deputy herself. Meredith and I moved aside so he could question the others.

  My curiosity bubbled to the surface. I had an idea. I saw a chance to make a discovery before trekking back to the horse trail.

  “Meredith, after the sheriff finishes questioning each person, why don’t you slip over and charm that person into telling you where they were between dinner and Selma’s screams? Bat your eyes. Say you’re terribly interested in their experience for an article.”

  “Are you determined to get us into this? Are you actually going back to that trail?”

  “Okay, okay. I shouldn’t go back. Here come Ranger and Monty. Just smile and find out where they went after dinner.” I turned her around and practically pushed her in front of the two men.

  Before she could protest, I scurried toward the door, slipped outside the lodge and headed for the corrals.

  Twenty

  On a list of people who didn’t like Vicki, Ranger (when she ignored his flirting) and Monty would be near the top. While Meredith chatted with those two in the lodge, maybe I could find something at the corrals to tie them to Vicki’s fall.

  The sky was menacing, but at least rain wasn’t pouring yet. I jogged at a pretty good clip but slowed down when I neared the enclosure. The horses milled around, spooky from the weather. Lightning cracked. The horses stiffened and laid back their ears. When thunder rumbled, they blew air out of their nostrils and whirled aimlessly in half circles.

  I neared the corral, talking in soothing tones like the wranglers did. My utterances seemed to work. The horses grew still, studied me and puffed. I didn’t relish sharing space with the skittish creatures, but I saw a shiny object lying in the dirt in front of the horses.

  Talking steadily in reassuring tones, I eased through the corral gate. At first, the horses stood their ground. Then they tossed their heads and backed up. When I bent to retrieve the shiny item, one horse snorted and whipped around, placing his backside toward me. It was Marbach, the horse Monty said kicked at noises behind him. Praying his flying hooves couldn’t reach me, I snatched up the item and skedaddled backward toward the gate.

  Another horse pranced in my direction, whinnying and showing her teeth. I thought she wanted to take a piece out of my arm. I spun and sprinted for the gate. Just before I squeezed through, her teeth caught my billowing skirt. I shoved the gate closed and whirled around. Fabric from my sundress hung from the horse’s lips.

  If I hadn’t been working out, she’d have chomped my derriere. I reached back and felt a hole in my skirt.

  Still panting, I opened my palm to see what I’d retrieved from the corral: a piece of wire about two inches long. Ranger’s sculpture wire? I dropped it into my pocket, inhaled a liter of air and began trotting back toward the lodge. The air felt like soup. Droplets fell intermittently.

  When I spotted Deputy Cranton ambling toward his patrol car, I slipped behind a tree. I didn’t want him wondering what I was doing outside in inclement weather with my poison ivy patch exposed through a ripped skirt.

  Once his car pulled out of sight, I scurried to the lodge and stopped to take a breath before I entered. Holding my shoulders back, I surreptitiously pulled my skirt closed behind me as I slipped into the lodge. Everybody in the dining room sat quietly with somber faces.

  I walked to the bench were Sam and Meredith sat. Sam looked up at me and raised his eyebrows.

  “I needed to get some air and snagged my dress on a bush.”

  Meredith gave me a disgusted look. She knew I’d been sneaking around somewhere, but she apparently hadn’t told Sam. I eased my tailbone onto the bench.

  Bertha was giving a pep talk about why everyone should stay and enjoy the ranch despite the accident. Until that moment, I didn’t know she was capable of such charm.

  “Vicki’s going to be all right,” she said. “And don’t worry about her horse. Nobody but the wranglers will be allowed to ride it. Tonight’s rain will make the weather cooler tomorrow. It’ll be the most perfect Hill Country day you ever saw.” She floated down to her chair, smiling.

  Sam whispered under his breath, “She’s desperate to keep everybody happy. She has a lot at stake here.”

  George Tensel stood. “I think we should all go home. What happened here tonight is a bad omen.” He’d never looked to me like a man concerned with omens.

  Bertha jumped up. “Y’all paid up front for an authentic ranch holiday. I want you to enjoy it.” She smiled. “Besides, I don’t give refunds.”

  George sat.

  “It’s too late to decide anything tonight,” Bertha purred. “Why don’t we all go to bed, listen to the soothin’ rain when it comes, get a good night’s sleep and meet here for Maria’s scrumptious breakfast in the morning.”

  We were too tired to protest. Nobody had the energy to pack up and strike out in the dead of night with a storm brewing.

  Bertha’s plan sounded superb to me. With everyone staying at the ranch, the usual routine would continue, and I’d have more time to casually nose around.

  Twenty-One

  As we walked to our cabins, the night air seemed lighter. The bright moon peeking through pewter clouds would reflect enough light off the river for me to scrutinize the area where Vicki fell. A short trip to the trail shouldn’t be too dangerous. If somebody caused Vicki’s fall, surely the perpetrator wouldn’t dare return to the scene. The backs of my thighs felt almost normal. When I thought about clues I might find, my feet itched.

  This was my best chance to get evidence. Once everybody got in bed, I could slip out of the cabin. They wouldn’t even know I was gone.

  To prepare for bed, I donned my Garfield nightshirt. I planned to slip back into my ventilated sundress for sleuthing. Wearing pants would irritate the backs of my legs, and I didn’t want extraneous stimulation capturing my attention while I scoured the scene.

  Over the dress,
I’d wear the jacket I packed; it had pockets for whatever I might find. I’d bought quart-sized Ziploc bags and sterile gloves at Walgreen’s and packed them in my suitcase to use in the unlikely event I was called upon to collect evidence.

  As soon as Meredith slipped under the covers and turned her face to the wall, I tiptoed to my suitcase, changed, slipped gloves and Ziplocs into my coat pockets and sneaked out the front door. It was lighter outside than I’d hoped. There was no thunder. A gentle mist fell. I darted down the path toward the river, ignoring sounds of night critters foraging nearby in the brush.

  When I reached the spot on the trail where Vicki fell, a glimmer caught my eye. Another piece of wire? Pausing, I squinted at the object to make sure it wasn’t attached to a snake. It was definitely a piece of wire. Pulling on a glove, I squatted to retrieve the specimen and eased it into a bag. This wire was thinner, different from the corral sample.

  I spotted a snatch of fur nearby and bagged it separately. Had an animal spooked Vicki’s horse?

  Hearing movement in the brush, I froze. A horrible musk smell wafted by me. I held my nose. Was that the odor Vicki’d described when we first walked to the cabins? A pack of javelinas must be padding through brush somewhere to my right. Javelinas had a keen sense of smell and nasty dispositions, but since the breeze had blown their smell in my direction, I doubted they could smell me. They were unlikely to attack me unless I provoked them, which I wasn’t about to do. As long as I stayed on the open trail, they were even less likely to approach. I hoped the sound of their teeth gnashing meant they were gorging on prickly pear cactus. Standing still as stone, I finally heard them pad away through the underbrush.

  By the time I thought it was safe to breathe, my eyes had adjusted to moonlight. I saw something else lying in the path: a two-inch piece of rope with a tiny snip of wire stuck to it. The deputy either hadn’t seen it or considered it unimportant. Wire, rope, and animal hair were so common on ranches, he wouldn’t have considered these items unusual.

  The lawman assumed Vicki’s horse threw her as a natural reflex to unexpected movement or sound…like a pack of javelinas moving through the brush. Why would he look for evidence of a crime?

  Farther ahead, near the spot from where the deputy had retrieved a rock, I spotted a smaller rock dotted with red splatters. Had Vicki hit her head on that rock? Had somebody hit her with it?

  Just as I slid the bagged rock into my pocket, a flashlight beam danced toward me through the trees. My heart leaped into my throat. I scurried backward into the brush, praying the javelinas were far away and that my poison ivy patch didn’t hit a branch.

  Sunny came into view. Why was he here? His makeup looked smeared, as though he’d swiped his hand across it. He walked slowly, scouring the horse trail left and right with his gaze. He walked toward the spot where Vicki had lain and stared at the ground.

  Beyond Sunny, from farther down the trail, George Tensel appeared. When he realized there was someone ahead of him, he stopped and shined his flashlight beam on Sunny. I backed deeper into the brush, terrified his light might reflect off the white of my sundress and expose me.

  “What’s going on here?” George said.

  Sunny squinted into the light and didn’t answer.

  Tensel lowered his flashlight. Relieved, I watched him wave it over horseshoe marks slashed in the dust. Had Vicki’s horse danced in reaction to booming thunder? Had it spooked when it heard a shot fired? I saw another cluster of horseshoe marks closer to the rocks where I thought Vicki had hit the ground.

  “What are you doing here?” George said.

  “What are you doing here, Tensel?” Sunny snapped.

  “Trying to figure out what happened to the girl.” They scowled at each other. George flashed his light in wider arcs over the ground, lifting it again in my direction. I eased farther back into the brush. George lowered the light back to the area where Vicki fell. They stared at the illuminated patch of earth. Neither man spoke.

  Finally, George cleared his throat. “I can’t tell much here. Selma’s still in a frenzy. I need to get back and see if I can calm her down.”

  Sunny wiped his hand across his face. “I need to check the campfire. Make sure it’s out.”

  “I’m sure the girl will be fine,” George said. “People fall off horses all the time.”

  “Yes,” Sunny mumbled. “She should be all right.” They turned and walked back the way they’d come.

  When they were out of sight, I concentrated on getting my breathing back to normal. Had one of them come back to search for evidence of what he’d done? I fingered my pockets. I didn’t know the significance of what I’d found, but I was glad I found it before they did.

  If George or Sunny had caused Vicki’s fall, I might find something incriminating in their cabins. But George was on the way to his cabin to calm Selma, and Sam occupied the adjoining cabin. Sneaking around that habitat was out of the question.

  When their footsteps receded and I could no longer see flashlight beams, I eased out of the brush, listening for sounds of movement. The night was still. Even the animals must be hunkered down, awaiting the storm.

  It occurred to me that Sam was apt to show up. I decided I’d better hightail it back to my cabin before he appeared and started lecturing me about being there. I wanted to evaluate my contraband, not relinquish it.

  Sunny had said he had chores to complete. I remembered from looking at the map that his cabin wasn’t far from ours. Maybe I had time to check out Sunny’s cabin before returning to mine.

  Twenty-Two

  Just as I remembered, Sunny’s cabin stood between ours and the main lodge. The small building was nestled in a secluded grove of oak trees. A narrow limestone footpath led to his door. The windows were partially open, but the cabin was dark. I stood still in the brush long enough to ascertain Sunny wasn’t there. Then I darted for the door, opened it and tiptoed inside. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw a bureau across the room with a piece of paper folded on top. I scurried over, grabbed the paper and unfolded it. The words I read appeared to have been scrawled in haste: “Just in case. Fulfill your dreams. Vicki #0746.”

  A map lay beside the paper.

  I drew closer and recognized the Caribbean Sea. There was a dot on the sea north of St. Kitts. I squinted. Was it a reef? A tiny island?

  Besides me, Sunny had appeared to be Vicki’s only friend at the ranch. At least, he’d taken up for her after the snake incident. Had she confided to him she wanted to disappear to a remote island near St. Kitts?

  Now that Vicki was injured and might never be able to go, Sunny might be tempted to take advantage of the “just in case” scenario she’d scribbled on her note. Vicki had told me she deposited funds somewhere. Maybe the number in her note led to the funds she stashed.

  Had Sunny decided he couldn’t wait to fulfill his dreams, whatever they were? With Vicki out of the way, maybe he could chase dreams in the Caribbean without her.

  Cans of face paint were lined up in front of the map. I withdrew the bag from my pocket with the spattered rock and held it next to a can of red paint. As best I could tell in semi-darkness, the colors matched. The front door of the cabin slammed back against the frame. My heart catapulted to my throat. Slipping the bag into my pocket, I whirled around.

  “What are you doing in here?” Sunny roared.

  My heart skipped a beat. I backed up to his bureau.

  He glowered. “How dare you come into my cabin!”

  “I… I… went for a walk, got turned around in the dark and came upon your cabin. The girls twitter about you all the time… they think you’re so handsome. When I realized this was your cabin, I have to admit I got curious.”

  I froze, awaiting his response. He was between me and the door. How could I get past him? While he considered what to do, I decided to make my move. I strode tow
ard him, shaking my head apologetically.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come in uninvited. I’ll just go now and leave you in peace.”

  It wasn’t that easy. Before I could reach the door, he grabbed my shoulders and leaned into my face. His fingers dug into my flesh.

  “What do you want in here? What do you want with me? Do you think I scared Vicki’s horse? Is that it?” His eyes were fireballs. “How dare you!” He shook me.

  I pressed against his chest with all my strength. My pushing was useless. He was bigger and stronger than I realized. Moonlight coming through the door lit the scar on his face like a slash of evil.

  He gripped powerful fingers deeper into my shoulders. It hurt. I had to think fast. Quick as lightning, I poked his eye with my finger and scratched his face.

  “Ouch!” He let loose.

  I scrambled out the door and ran, praying he was too busy dealing with his eye to come after me. I was picking up speed when I crashed into Sam and nearly knocked us both down.

  Twenty-Three

  “Agatha. What in God’s name are you doing out here?”

  “I couldn’t sleep after all the excitement,” I panted. “I was out walking, but it didn’t help.” I had to suck air between words. “I thought jogging…might make me… tired enough to sleep.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “If someone spooked Vicki’s horse, whoever it was could still be out here.” The way he deliberately pronounced each word made my heart freeze. “Are you out of your mind?”

  I hated it when he said that. He should know better. But he thought he knew everything and nobody else could figure anything out. He’d be impressed with what I’d found. If I decided to tell him.

  I hadn’t forgotten what happened at the health club. Things got dicey when I exposed the killer; yet, Sam never once expressed appreciation for my help.