Saddle Up for Murder

by Leigh Hearon

  It was the few photographs taken of Annie and Lavender when they happened to be in the same place that she searched for now. How she would convince Lavender to unloose her tongue and tell what she knew, Annie wasn’t sure. But she hoped that reminding Lavender of their shared family history—limited as it was—somehow might be helpful.

  Jessica drove up as Annie had finished packing the photos she’d selected. She stepped out onto her porch to wave to the vet inside her van. Jessica slowly emerged from her vehicle, looking drained and spent. She displayed none of the exuberance that Annie normally associated with her. Instead, she looked plain exhausted. Annie ran down her steps to greet her.

  Jessica’s report on the necropsy she’d just performed was short and to the point, and did not surprise Annie at all. In fact, she’d pretty much come to the same conclusion earlier, after learning about Tony’s results with the metal detector on her ranch.

  “It’s our worst fear,” Jessica told her, close to tears. “A small metal ball penetrated the ewe’s lung, killing it almost instantly. There are two more in the left rear leg. I can’t tell which shot penetrated first, but I do know that there wasn’t a chance of this poor thing running away. Of course, animal predators found the body afterward, so you’d never have known a human was responsible without an examination. Sergeant McCready made the right call. Now we know what we’re up against. I hope someone nails the guy and strings him up by his thumbs.”

  “Amen to that.” Annie’s anger, never far from the surface, engulfed her now. “By the way, that’s what the Sheriff’s Office found on my property a few days ago—small metal balls. Dan said it was ammo of some kind. That means someone’s after my sheep, as well.”

  “I feel as if we should do postmortems on every animal that’s been killed in the past month.”

  “I’ve already got one for you on my property—a just-born lamb that Wolf discovered weeks ago. It wasn’t one from my flock, but I couldn’t understand how such a wee thing had wandered onto my back pasture. Now I’m wondering if the guy was just setting up target practice.”

  “Annie, stop. That’s too horrible to think about.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll find out who’s doing it and make sure they’re prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We just have to figure out what weapon was used.”

  “That’s easy. Slingshot. No doubt about it.”

  “Really? You’re sure about that?”

  “Positive. My brother had one growing up. Used to shoot small game birds with it. It’s lethal. My mother wouldn’t allow it inside the house.”

  * * *

  Annie thought of calling Dan with Jessica’s epiphany but decided to hold off. She knew just how much the sheriff resented hearing her relate something he did not already know. Besides, she hoped she’d be able to tell him a lot more of what he didn’t know after her little chat with Lavender.

  Martha greeted her at the door with a warm smile. The aroma of fresh-baked bread filled the small house, and Annie’s mouth began to water. If she was going to be fed, perhaps her errand of mercy wouldn’t be as onerous as she’d thought. Lavender was sitting on the love seat in the parlor, swinging her legs to and fro. She appeared to be reading an old National Geographic, but Annie wouldn’t have bet on it. If a celebrity didn’t adorn the cover, Lavender generally wasn’t much interested.

  Taking a deep breath, Annie approached her half sister.

  “Lavender? I’ve brought some old photos of us. I thought you might like looking at them with me.”

  Lavender threw down her magazine, crossed her arms, and pouted.

  God, this was tiresome.

  “You were pretty small, but you used to visit my mother and me, do you remember? It was only for a few years. You used to come out during the summer.”

  Being a lot older than Lavender, Annie had hated having to babysit her back then, and she wasn’t even paid for it; she was expected to take care of her baby half sister for free. She was surprised now that her mother even had agreed to let Lavender come visit. But then, her mother always was nicer than she was. Most people were.

  Lavender continued to stare off into the distance. At times like this, it was hard to remember that her half sister had actually passed her thirtieth birthday. Annie sat down and took out the manila envelope that held the photos. She stuck her hand in and pulled out one at random. It was of Annie and Lavender, visiting the horse that Annie’s mother had leased for her daughter that summer. It was the best summer of Annie’s life, as far as she was concerned. Lavender was on the horse’s back, her two small hands clasping the saddle horn. Annie was holding the reins. Lavender couldn’t have been more than four, Annie thought, and still looked adorable. Cherubic, if she wanted to be honest. Had she ever actually liked her? Surely, when she was so small, she couldn’t have done much to annoy her. She thought back. No, Lavender had been tolerable back then, she decided. It was only when she was old enough to figure out how to manipulate adults that she’d become insufferable.

  Annie held out the photo toward Lavender. “Do you remember this?” she asked. “How old were you that summer? Three? Four?”

  Lavender couldn’t resist sneaking a look at a photo of herself. Her hands snaked around the photo and she held it up close, examining every detail.

  “I must have just turned five,” she said finally. “I remember this. You’d just gotten your license and we drove out to a big farm. You walked me around on your horse. It was a lot of fun.”

  Amazing. Once upon a time, long, long ago, she and Lavender had had fun together. Annie suspected that even she’d gotten some enjoyment squiring the young girl around on the handsome gelding that had been hers for a few glorious months.

  “The farm wasn’t that big,” Annie said. “Actually, it was pretty small, compared to mine. But I’m sure it looked big then.”

  “There was a lady there,” Lavender went on. “She had an apron and served us lemonade. I remember it was really hot. Did we go swimming afterward?”

  Annie had forgotten that. On the way home, she’d taken Lavender to a lake where she’d persuaded her sister to jump in. Lavender hadn’t needed much encouragement. Annie had joined her and the two of them had had an uproariously good time splashing around in the water. Annie’s mother was none too pleased when they arrived home, sopping wet, and learned that Lavender had gone swimming without her water wings, but Annie recalled that she didn’t make too big of a fuss about it. She was just too tired. Annie’s mother did not have the summer off.

  “You know, you were a pretty nice big sister back then,” Lavender said, as if this was a revelation to her now. “I wish I could have come out more often. But Mummy and Daddy wouldn’t let me after that summer.”

  “Do you know why?”

  Lavender made a face. “I guess they wanted me all to themselves.”

  “Was that a bad thing?”

  “They weren’t that interesting. I didn’t have anyone to play with.”

  For a moment, Annie felt sorry for her half sister. She was an only child, too—Lavender never really counted, in her mind—but she’d never lacked for friends. They were up and down the street, in school, everywhere. Finding a playmate was never a problem. They were just, well, there, all around her.

  “You know, Ashley and you had about the same age difference as we do,” Annie said tentatively. “Maybe, by being her friend, you were trying to be a big sister to her.”

  Lavender swallowed and looked down.

  “I think I’m right, Lavender,” Annie went on. “I think you realized that Ashley needed someone in her life to look out for her.”

  Lavender looked up, her face full of tears. “I was just trying to help her,” she gasped, the tears now rolling down her face. “She didn’t have anyone, not really. Her friends were all stupid and only cared about guys. Her mother was worthless. And Pete—he was a joke.”

  “How’d you meet her?”

  “At the bus stop.” Because Lavender’s driving privil
eges were still suspended, Annie suspected that Lavender had made friends at bus stops all over Suwana County. “We took the same route. I’d go to the library some days and she’d go to work. We started to talk every morning on the way into town. We became friends.” She gave a loud sniff, and Annie wordlessly handed her a large cotton handkerchief from her purse.

  “I hear that she helped find you your job.”

  Lavender nodded. “It sounded like fun, something I would like to do. Ashley helped me fill out the application and I was hired. We were going to have so much fun working together. And then Mrs. Carr died and everything changed.”

  “How did it change, Lavender?”

  She sighed. “Ashley got fired. They said she took pills from Mrs. Carr, but that never happened.” Annie wasn’t sure how Lavender could possibly know this but decided not to push the issue.

  “I guess some pills were found missing later. Do you know who might possibly have taken them?”

  Lavender shook her head back and forth energetically. “I have no idea. Ashley would never let Pete visit her when she was working with Mrs. Carr. She said it was against the rules, and besides, she didn’t really trust Pete not to take something.”

  “Why didn’t she trust him?”

  Lavender looked straight at Annie. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone else if I tell you.”

  “I promise,” Annie lied.

  “Pete was dealing drugs. Bad drugs. Ashley had known about it for almost a year. She’d decided to turn him in, but then Mrs. Carr died, and Ashley wasn’t sure . . . well, she kind of thought Pete might have had something to do with it. So she decided to hold off until she knew more.”

  “What was she waiting to find out?”

  “I’m not sure. She was going to show me something that day. She said it would explain everything and take care of all her problems. Then Mrs. Carr died, Ashley was fired, and after that she never spoke to me again.”

  “Why would she not talk to you? You hadn’t had a falling out or anything, had you?”

  “No, nothing like that. I kept texting her, but she never answered me. And then I found out that she’d died.”

  “Lavender, why didn’t you tell Kim all this? There’s nothing you’ve told me that sounds terribly important to keep secret.”

  Lavender’s face suddenly closed down. Uh-oh, Annie thought, I guess I spoke too soon.

  “What else? I know you’re holding something back. It can’t be good, Lavender. Ashley is dead. We need to know why she died, and I think you know the answer to that question.” She’d almost said “how she died.” That would have been bad.

  “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

  Annie nodded again, her fingers crossed under her purse.

  Letting out a deep breath, Lavender said in a rush, “I think Ashley thought maybe Pete had come to Mrs. Carr’s house and killed her for her drugs. I guess Mrs. Carr took a lot of drugs that were worth a lot of money to addicts. But that’s not all. Ashley was seeing someone else—another guy, and he was giving her grief. So now I’m wondering whether her new boyfriend killed her and Ashley killed herself because she felt so guilty.”

  “What’s his name, Lavender? The new boyfriend, I mean?” Annie was ready to shake her.

  Lavender looked up, her eyes a blank. “I don’t know, Annie, really I don’t. Ashley never told me. She was really secretive about him. All I know is, one day when he picked her up from the bus stop I saw his car, but I didn’t see him inside. Or, at least, not enough to know him now.”

  “How long ago was this? And what kind of car did he have?”

  “I don’t know! Last month, I guess. Maybe sooner. I can’t remember.”

  “And the car, Lavender. What was he driving?” Her voice was rising and she couldn’t stop it.

  “It was blue. A blue pickup. One of those Japanese models. A Toyota, I think.”

  The same model and color of the truck that had pulled up in front of the home in the skuzzy neighborhood of Port Chester. Which meant Pete and Ashley’s new boyfriend knew each other. And probably were partners in crime.

  “But all this could help the police, Lavender. Why not tell them what you’ve just told me?”

  “Because Ashley was afraid of her new boyfriend. I guess Pete beat her up once or twice, but she wasn’t scared of him, not like she was scared of the new guy. That’s why she told everyone she was moving in with you. She thought she’d be safe at your place.”

  “Nobody can hurt Ashley now.” Annie’s patience was rapidly running out. Suddenly, she didn’t care if she was divulging confidential information that Kim had shared with her. She had to know the truth.

  “You have something of Ashley’s, don’t you? Something she gave you that you swore you’d never give up.”

  Lavender’s pleading eyes were no match for the gaze Annie now fixed upon her, daring her to deny what she already knew. With a half sob, Lavender rose from the love seat and left the room. She returned a few minutes later with a felt bag in one hand.

  “She gave it to me the day before she died. She said it was the key to everything.”

  As she was speaking, Lavender reached into the bag and pulled out a key, an exact duplicate of what Dan had showed Annie the day Ashley had been found hanging in her barn. But this one would not open Mrs. Carr’s front door.

  CHAPTER 24

  FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 20—SATURDAY, MAY 21

  At Annie’s insistence, Lavender had called Kim soon after she had brought out the key Ashley had entrusted with her. Actually, if Annie were honest—which she tried to be, whenever possible—Martha played a starring role in convincing her half sister to do the right thing.

  “This isn’t something you can keep to yourself any longer, dear,” Martha had explained with far more patience than Annie would have mustered. “I know you’re trying to be loyal to Ashley, and your feelings are commendable. But when Ashley chose to take her life, her privacy died with her. I’m sorry if that seems harsh, Lavender, but Ashley doesn’t have the right anymore to hold you to keeping her secrets. It’s best that the people investigating her death have all the facts, and you, dear, may be holding an important clue.”

  Annie had to hand it to Martha—she knew how to spark her half sister’s cooperation. Just drop a hint that what she did would be of vital importance to the world at large and Lavender was putty in one’s hands.

  After a brief and stilted phone conversation with Kim, during which Lavender repeated the story of when she’d received the key, she turned toward Annie.

  “She wants to talk to you,” Lavender whispered. Her hand trembled a bit as she passed Annie’s cell phone to her.

  Annie was aware that Lavender’s call to Kim had come at the very tail end of her ten-hour shift, but apparently it made no difference to the deputy.

  “Good work, girlfriend. I still say you’d make an excellent member of our police team,” Kim began.

  “Only if I get to interrogate people.”

  Kim laughed. “I’m going to swing by now to pick up the key and get Lavender’s latest statement on tape. And this time I expect to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help her hide.”

  “I think that’s a reasonable possibility,” Annie replied. “Unfortunately, I can’t stay to hear it all over again. I’ve got horses to feed.”

  “I know. But could you find time to swing by the Sheriff’s Office tomorrow morning to show me Clarissa’s photo? I realize now that in all the excitement of hauling in Pete and the debacle over Lavender’s polygraph, I completely forgot to get your ID of her.”

  “Sure, Kim. Just be sure to give me the recap of tonight when I get there.”

  “You got it. See you tomorrow.”

  “Oh—Kim? One more thing.” Annie moved out of the tiny parlor to the kitchen, where she could talk in relative privacy. Martha waved her in; she had guessed what Annie had to say was confidential.

  “About those metal balls Tony picked up from my plac
e? Well, Jessica Flynn’s just found the same ammo in her necropsy of another animal.”

  “Yes, we know. Sgt. McCready’s already faxed over her report.”

  “So you know the balls are used as slingshot ammo?”

  “I don’t know how we could have overlooked that possibility. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a slingshot in either of our searches of Pete’s cabin or the Port Chester home. Dan’s on his way to Pete’s parents’ place right now, hoping that he can get them to agree to a voluntary search of their home so he doesn’t have to disturb Judge Casper on a Friday night.”

  “Well, I wish him well.”

  “Pete was arraigned today, you know.”

  “I’d forgotten. What are the charges?”

  “Twelve counts of violating the Controlled Substance Act, including manufacturing and distribution. His bail is set at $300,000. Even for Pete’s folks, that’s a pretty steep bond to put up. We’re hoping it’ll be enough to keep Pete in jail for the indefinite future.”

  “If he turns out to be a killer of small, defenseless animals, I hope he’ll stay in jail for the rest of his life.”

  “I hear you. And I’m glad we’ve got Pete so tight on the drug ring. With his arrest, I think we’ll see a lot of his cellies crumble. But I’d feel a lot better if we could make some headway into Ashley’s death. It’s driving all of us a bit nuts. If we could just identify the new boyfriend, or even just this odd key. Either might open up a new line of inquiry.”

  “You’ll figure it out, Kim. And I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble with Lavender. She’s so beaten down right now, you probably could get her to clean your home for life as long as you don’t arrest her for all her previous lies.”