Saddle Up for Murder

by Leigh Hearon

  “I like that. Thanks for the suggestion.”

  * * *

  Driving home, Annie decided it was time to incorporate some fun into her life. There’d been too much drama recently, and way too many tears. With a few phone calls, she devised a plan that perked her right up, and later that night Annie had gleefully filled in Marcus—on Sunday, she and her girlfriends were taking an all-day trail ride. He tried not to show it, but Annie knew Marcus was secretly relieved to learn that only cowgirls, and no cowboys, would be saddling up with her. And she made a point of telling him she’d be riding “a big, beautiful thoroughbred some wonderful guy gave to me a few months ago.”

  What Annie hadn’t told Marcus was that she had one last bit of police work to finish before she hopped on Trooper’s back and took off for a ride with her friends in the great outdoors.

  It isn’t my fault I’m still involved, she kept telling herself. I can’t help it if what I told Kim now requires my help. Her Good Angel was conspicuously absent from her internal conversation.

  * * *

  Annie was surprised to see both Dan and Kim’s patrol vehicles in the Suwana County parking lot the next morning. Kim, she knew, worked Saturdays and usually had Sunday and Monday off—although, she realized, between working on Ashley’s homicide and cracking Pete’s drug business, Kim had recently put in serious overtime. But Dan considered his weekends sacrosanct. The fact that he was in his office on a Saturday meant either there had been a break in the homicide cases or he was furiously trying to create one.

  She rang the buzzer outside to let Kim know of her arrival. The deputy appeared a minute later dressed in civilian clothes, a Starbucks cup in one hand.

  “I’ve got one back in my office for you,” she said as she pulled open the glass entrance door. “I hope you don’t mind whipped cream.”

  “Love it.”

  The mug shot books already were spread out on Kim’s desk. Annie quickly found the book in which she’d seen the photo that most resembled the woman called Clarissa. Sipping thoughtfully on her latte, she turned the pages until she found the right face. Yup, that was Clarissa, all right. She looked younger and healthier than the person Annie had seen running down the street, but it was still the same person—she was sure of it.

  She turned the book around and pointed to the photo so Kim could see. Kim nodded, and consulted her computer. When she’d apparently found the entry that matched the photo, she whistled and turned to look at Annie, a pleased smile on her face.

  “Clara Ann Waters, AKA Clarissa Waters, AKA Clarissa Smith. DOB 11/17/92. Convictions for minor in possession, taking a motor vehicle without permission, possession of drugs without a prescription . . . and, that’s interesting, domestic violence assault 4 and malicious mischief 2. Last known address in Port Chester. Thanks, Annie. Let’s see if Esther can locate someone to haul her in.”

  Kim left her desk and walked down the hall, returning a minute later.

  “Bill Stetson is dying to find Clarissa for us,” she said. “He’s still chafing from Dan’s assessment of his work on Pete Corbett’s arrest.”

  “What? I heard Dan singing his praises afterward.”

  “Just a show. In fact, Dan’s criticisms weren’t entirely unfounded. But Bill will learn.”

  There was a knock on Kim’s door, which was slightly ajar. Annie could see Dan behind it. He, too, was dressed in civilian clothes today. It was a bit unsettling to see both officers out of uniform; they somehow didn’t seem legit anymore but rather just regular people. Which, Annie realized, they actually were. She so seldom saw them out of their professional roles, she knew little about their real lives, except for the bits and pieces Dan and Kim occasionally revealed to her.

  “Come on in.” Kim welcomed her boss into her small office. “Annie’s just ID’d one of the people with Pete the other day. The one whom Pete asked to be his mule.”

  “Thanks, Annie. Appreciate it.” The words were polite, but Dan sounded dejected. Kim and Annie looked at each other, then Dan. “What’s wrong?” they said in unison.

  Dan flopped into the remaining empty chair and hung an arm around the back. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

  Annie remained quiet. This was not her show, she recognized. Kim leaned forward and said, “How about the good news?”

  “The Corbetts gave me access to their home. Pete’s slingshot was in the garage, and it’s a deadly thing of beauty. Parents knew about its existence—they gave it to Pete a couple of years ago for Christmas—but swear they hadn’t noticed it in the garage before now, and they appear credible. So Pete must have stashed it sometime between his last foray into the countryside, which we presume was last Tuesday, and before he was picked up on Thursday. The slingshot’s on its way to the lab now. Model fits the ammo Tony found and Jessica uncovered, so I’m confident that we’ve found our human predator.”

  “That’s great, Dan!” Kim exclaimed. “Congratulations!”

  “Oh, and the slingshot had an aluminum alloy wrist brace on it, Annie,” Dan added, ignoring Kim’s paeans of praise. “That’s probably what made you and the little girl—”

  “Hannah,” Annie prompted him. “Hannah Clare. She’s a riding student, and was the first to see Pete in the forest.”

  “Well, anyway, that’s probably what made both of you think it was a gun. From a distance, the glint could easily make it look like a pistol or a handgun.”

  “Well, I concur with Kim—this is great news,” Annie said, wondering why Dan was less than enthusiastic about finding the person who’d been on a small animal rampage, and thankfully was now behind bars on multiple charges, with more to follow.

  “Well, it would be, except for just one thing.” Dan did like to stretch out his narratives, Annie thought with a twinge of irritation.

  “What’s that, Dan?” Kim said cautiously.

  “Pete bailed out last night at 0200 hours.”

  “What!” Annie and Kim again spoke as one.

  “How could that possibly happen?” Kim asked, incredulous.

  Dan sighed. He obviously was not looking forward to sharing the details.

  “Someone named Roger Woodstock put up the bond yesterday afternoon. He came in after hours with the paperwork, and out Pete walked. I got the news at 0800. I’ve already been out to the Corbetts’ house. Pete isn’t there, and his parents have no idea where their son might be. Dad swore up and down that he had no intention of bailing his kid out, and offered to give me his bank accounts to prove it. Tony and I cleared the place, just to make sure. Then I sent him over to the cabin and the house where Pete has last been seen, but he’s nowhere to be found. By the way, the Port Chester house is now abandoned. Tony’s tracking down the owner now.”

  “But Dan,” Kim said, her incredulity dripping from every word, “why don’t we have Pete’s address?”

  Dan shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. “It was Bill’s fault,” he finally said. “We were short-staffed, and Bill offered to pull the jail shift last night. Mr. Woodstock, if that’s his real name, happened to arrive when the other two guards were on break. Bill said the paperwork looked in order, but hell, how would he know? The problem is, Bill didn’t know that the bail bondsman delivers the papers, not the person putting them up, so God only knows what Bill was looking at. And the kicker is that Bill didn’t realize until after Pete was gone that the so-called paperwork had left with him. So we have no identifying information about Woodstock, or anything that might tell us where Pete might be.”

  Kim moaned and put her head in her hands.

  “In fact, Bill’s not even certain which bail bondsman allegedly put up the bond,” Dan said bitterly. “It wasn’t the local shop, that’s all he knows for sure. Thought it might have come from up north someplace, around Cape Disconsolate. Then again, he thought the bail company’s letterhead might have included a Seattle location. I’m wondering if the paperwork was legitimate at all.”

  What a disaster, Annie thou
ght. No wonder Bill was so eager to run in Clarissa. He has to do something right to make up for this fiasco.

  “What are you going to do?” Annie spoke without thinking.

  “Before or after I wring his neck?”

  Esther’s voice came through on his shoulder mike. “Sheriff? Clarissa Waters has been picked up. She’ll be here in about twenty minutes. Just wanted you to know.”

  Dan turned a weary face toward Kim. “You handle this,” he said. “I’m going to my office to make some calls.”

  Kim nodded. Annie slinked out behind Dan and quietly left the building, as easily as Pete Corbett had left the night before.

  CHAPTER 25

  SUNDAY, MAY 22

  Annie felt acutely sorry for poor Bill Stetson, whose error in judgment undoubtedly would be an oft-told tale throughout his career, although its longevity now was somewhat in doubt. She knew Dan had done everything humanly possible to try to rectify Bill’s mistake—Kim had privately told her that Dan had been in touch with Judge Casper and Judy Evans, and the Corbetts’ home and cabin were under surveillance 24/7. He’d also made sure that every cop in the tri-county area was on the lookout for the defendant, who’d managed to walk out of jail without leaving a current address, all thanks to an unknown benefactor and yet-to-be-identified bail bonds company.

  Despite these efforts, Pete had not reappeared by Sunday morning, and frankly Annie didn’t give a damn. She was going on a trail ride.

  At the last minute, much to Annie’s delight, Jessica had decided to join the group. Annie’s gooseneck slant trailer comfortably accommodated three horses, but now they were up to five—or four, technically, since Jessica informed Annie she was riding Molly the mule. The only person among them who had a trailer large enough to transport all their mounts was the large-animal vet. Besides, Annie thought as she double-checked her traveling equine first aid kit, there was nothing quite as comforting as having your horse’s doctor ride right alongside you.

  It was now eight o’clock in the morning. The horses had been served breakfast an hour earlier than usual, and everyone except Trooper was out grazing in the pasture for the day. Her ewes also had been checked and fed. Trooper’s saddle, bridle, and blankets were in a neat pile, and his extra gear was stored in a large plastic tub. All Annie had to do was wait for Jessica to arrive.

  She was glad she’d thought to invite Lisa Bromwell, who’d accepted her invitation with alacrity.

  “It’s exactly what Hunter needs,” she excitedly told Annie. “He’s been doing so well and could use the exercise. You won’t believe how happy he’ll be when he realizes we’re off on a trail ride.”

  Annie could easily believe it. All of her horses perked up when they realized they were joining a lot of other horses in a big trailer and heading for the open road. The experience of exploring Northwest forests, meadows, and mountains held just as much appeal to the equines as it did to the women astride them.

  She glanced impatiently at her watch—8:25. Jessica should be here any minute. She opened the tub for the sixth time that morning and rechecked her supplies—halter, lead, currying equipment, treats, equine first aid kit, GPS, duct tape, rain poncho—all things she seldom used but always packed just in case. She decided to throw in a bottle of fly spray; the horse variety would do for both of them, should any flies or mosquitoes be out this early in the season. But there was something else she was missing that nagged at the back of her mind—what was it? She surveyed her tack room shelves. Nope, nothing there that wasn’t already packed. Her view expanded to the saddle posts. Aha—her riding helmet. She was completely hypocritical regarding its use. She insisted that every student rider wear one, of course, and personally supervised its fit. And if she was riding off the ranch, she always wore her own. It was just when she was hopping on Sam or Trooper’s back to visit the ewes or check out a pasture that putting it on seemed too much work. She felt a twinge of guilt, then let it pass. She tossed the helmet onto Trooper’s saddle blankets. There. She was more than ready to go.

  At 8:55, Jessica carefully steered her way down Annie’s driveway and in front of her stables. Annie, who’d been sitting on the dirt, flanked by Wolf and Sasha, got up and dusted off the seat of her pants. Judging by the crowd already in the cab, she and Trooper were the last to be picked up. The good news was that they’d also be the first to unload at the end of the day.

  “We need your truck!” Jessica yelled as she emerged from the cab. Three more women slowly picked their way out, and Annie watched four rambunctious dogs spill out after them.

  “What are you planning—a fox-hunting party?” she yelled back.

  “It seemed too nice a day to leave our critters at home.” Completely ignoring Annie, Luann ran over to Wolf and Sasha and immediately began ruffling their fur.

  “Wolf! Is this your new sister, Sasha? What a good dog! Good boy!”

  “Stop or it’ll go to his head,” Annie said good-naturedly, although in fact she was always inordinately pleased to see other people lavish praise on her cherished dogs.

  “Let’s get the show on the road,” Jill announced firmly. When she wasn’t riding one of her three horses, Jill was the operations manager for a manufacturing company in Blackthorn, an industrial community an hour’s commute away. She was skilled at directing people, dogs, and horses to do her bidding without their quite realizing how it happened.

  “Are you and Trooper all set, Annie?” Jessica asked. Taking a critical look at the vet, Annie thought she’d never seen her look so relaxed or happy. So this was what two days off in a single month could do to an overworked gal.

  “We’ve been ready for hours,” Annie mockingly grumbled back, as she attached a lead rope to Trooper’s string halter. At first, Trooper had been confused by Annie’s command that he stay in the paddock this morning instead of cantering out with the rest of the gang, but instead of racing around—something Baby was still prone to do when left behind—he quickly acclimated to the change in plan and was content to munch on the flake of Timothy hay Annie had tossed in the pen. Now he was well aware that something new was happening, and whatever it was, he was eager to be part of it. As soon as the rig had pulled in and he’d gotten the whiff and the sounds of several new equines, he was on high alert, anxious to meet whoever was in the trailer.

  Annie was relieved to see Trooper’s enthusiasm. Three months earlier, he had been in a horrific accident when the trailer he was traveling in crashed at a high speed and nearly turned over. Since that time, Annie had spent several hours working with the horse to overcome any lingering hesitation about entering or riding in trailers. She’d always made sure that Trotter or one of her horses loaded before asking him to enter the confined space. But Trooper didn’t know any of the horses inside Jessica’s trailer. Well, she’d just have to see how well her training would now pay off.

  But Trooper was, as his name suggested, a trooper and showed no hesitation as he walked up the ramp and into the open slant space. Jessica was the only one who recognized the significance of Trooper’s quiet entry. She walked over to Annie and said in a low voice, “Good job, cowgirl.” Annie smiled her thanks. She was enormously proud of the gelding’s progress.

  Jessica had been correct—the body count in her cab already exceeded the legal limit, so Annie agreed to take her own rig to share the load. Lisa and Jill opted to ride with Annie, along with their two dogs. All the canines were crated in the bed, and thankfully everyone seemed to be getting along.

  “This is going to be one wild trail ride,” Annie thought with amusement as she followed Jessica’s trailer out of her driveway. “Five wild women, four horses, one mule, and six dogs.” Judging by the boisterous laughter of her riding companions and the excited barking from the back of her truck, she was counting on the mule to keep order.

  Once the trucks had hit Highway 101 and the conversational patter had quieted down, Annie put her cell on speaker so they could keep in close communication with Jessica and her passengers. The trail Ji
ll had chosen—for she was the unspoken director of such things—was twenty-five miles south of Shelby, past a state park, and reached through a short series of dusty forest service roads. Officially, Jill informed them, the trail was part of the wide-sweeping Olympic National Forest and would take them along a picturesque river for several miles before climbing up to a mountain lake.

  “According to the park’s website, the roads getting there have recently been cleared of debris, fallen logs, and anything else that might impede us.” Jill’s voice sounded tinny through Annie’s small speaker. “But I wouldn’t count on that being true for the trails themselves. It’s still pretty early in the season, so my suggestion is that we save the heart-stopping gallop we’re known for on these rides until we’re sure the terrain is clear.”

  This made sense to everyone in the truck. There was nothing as exciting as racing across a meadow on horseback with your girlfriends, whooping and hollering. It was less exciting if a horse tripped and a rider fell, and a day of fun turned into one of misery, when you had to lead a lame horse or escort a rider out on a makeshift stretcher.

  “Maybe up at the lake we’ll find a good, flat place to run,” Lisa suggested. She’d easily fit into her gang of friends, Annie noticed, despite her relative youth compared to the rest of the women.

  “Makes sense to me,” Jessica replied from her truck, and for the rest of the trip, the women exchanged tales of trail rides past as well as plans for elaborate overnight excursions they hoped to take during the summer.

  * * *

  They were on the trail by eleven o’clock, an hour after everyone had sworn they’d be, but close enough so that Annie knew their return time would still be in daylight and with plenty of time to enjoy the summit. The plan was to reach the upper meadows by one-thirty, let both horses and riders have lunch and rest, then gallop the horses like banshees and make a sedate retreat downhill, arriving at the trail head by four o’clock. It sounds like too much fun, Annie thought.