Murder at Bear Ranch

by Alex Harris

  Chapter 6

 

  “Detective Wolfe, this is Jeremy. We are about 20 minutes out of Prescott. We can meet you at Marlene’s. We’ve been talking on the way up and Mom seems to think there might be some stuff you need to know.”

  “I’ll call Detective O’Neill and have him join me. See you soon.”

  Oriole speed dialed Fred, “Fred, the family will be here in 20 minutes. I’ll swing by your place and pick you up.”

  Oriole and Fred stood on the door step of the condo, preparing for the unpleasant task, “Our condolences to all of you during this tragedy.” Fred began. “We know you have a lot to do to take care of business, so we’ll try to be brief.”

  “Mrs. Stutz, you indicated you might have some information that could be helpful. Could you tell us about that?” Oriole followed up with her earlier phone call to Mary and Jeremy.

  “Please let’s all sit down. Would you like something to drink?” Mary Stutz had taken over the role of hostess for her daughter. It was obvious looking at Mary that she was the one in charge. Standing a couple inches taller than Marlene, with blonde perfectly coiffed hair, in a Prada suit, Jimmy Choo shoes and enough bling to light up the house at Christmas time, Mary was a woman to be reckoned with. Just ask her, she’d tell you. Fred looked at her right hand as the sun caught the sparkle from the Red Diamond 2 carat ring. Fred thought, shiny as a new dime in a goat’s ass.

  “No thanks, we’re fine.”

  “Well, you know Marvin and I separated years ago, but have remained, I mean had remained good friends. I wanted to pursue a career and he helped me get through college while the kids were young. He needed some financial help a few years back and I loaned him some money. Marvin had several corporations and two business partners; I have the names, phone numbers, that sort of thing. But what you really need to understand is why we separated. I believe that may have something to do with Marvin’s death. The kids know, but no one else knows. It’s been our family secret. I know nothing is sacred where murder is involved but if you can honor our request to keep a low profile on this it would help all of us.” Mary looked at her two children who nodded agreement.

  “Ma’am, you’ll have to give us more information.” Fred prodded Mary.

  “Back when we got married, what 25 years ago, there was only one thing to do and that was get married and have kids. Look how things have changed, Marlene has her career and Jeremy waited until this year to marry. Marvin and I had been friends from the time we were 9 and 11. We were a couple in high school; the only choice we had was to get married when he finished college. I could sense a lack of–oh I don’t know I guess a lack of commitment on Marvin’s part. It was like he was missing out on something. He never held it against us. He just wasn’t completely happy.”

  Oriole stole a glance at Fred, Fred raised his signature eyebrow like here it comes.

  Mary had worked up the courage and dove in, “You see, Marvin, well, He was a good man.”

  “Mom, just spit it out,” Jeremy almost yelled. “Or I will.”

  Oriole was thinking, someone better spit it out or I’ll lose what’s left of my sanity.

  Mary began to pace on the Navajo rug, wringing her hands and creating an atmosphere of anxiety. “Ok alright, let me do it. Marvin was interested in alternative life styles.”

  “What do you mean alternative life styles, Mrs. Stutz?” Fred was as confused as a bee that’d been sprayed with bug spray and hadn’t quite given up the ghost.

  “Why, you know, he was gay.” The condemnation oozed from Mary’s bright red lips.

  “Mrs. Stutz, there are lots of gay and lesbian folk around here. What did that have to do with Mr. Stutz’s death?” Oriole felt her teeth grind in frustration.

  “Why, there are people out there who kill gay men. That’s what happened. Marvin went somewhere and someone found out and killed him.”

  “Mrs. Stutz, who found out. Where did Mr. Stutz go?” The last 20 minutes had been spent listening to this self righteous homo-phob and they were no closer to information about Marvin Stutz’s death.

  “Mrs. Stutz, why don’t you go with my partner, and I’ll talk to Jeremy, Marlene and Jennifer.” Fred and Oriole separated the family. Oriole got stuck with Mary because Fred was known to have educated homo-phobs a little too severely because firsthand experience in his family had created sensitivity in him.

  Mary and Oriole went into Marlene’s home office, while the kids and Fred remained in the over white living room. “Jeremy, what can you tell me? Is there an angle here we need to know about?”

  “No. Mom’s never came to grips with Dad’s life style. If Dad got the flu, it was cause he was gay, if his truck broke down, it was cause he was gay. She’s just over the top on this. Dad never flaunted it. He wasn’t swishy. None of the guys on the pipeline knew. None of his partners knew. He told me when I started college because he felt I could handle it by then. I told Marlene so she wouldn’t be blown away. Dad was a great guy. His being gay didn’t have anything to do with his death.”

  “Did he have a particular friend? Did he hang out at gay bars?”

  “You’ll have to ask Marlene. I’ve only been up here a couple times since they moved to Prescott. I don’t know much about Dad’s private life here.”

  Marlene added, “No gay bars. Dad did talk about this one friend, Gary something. They met at a benefit at Sharlot Hall Museum and caught a couple movies, but it wasn’t a serious relationship. Dad was pretty much a loner.” Rivlets formed as tears began to fall. “But you need to know something, Mom doesn’t know yet, neither does Jeremy. See, Dad felt it was time to cut the strings and get a divorce. I don’t think anyone else knew. Dad sure hadn’t told Mom. He was waiting for the right moment. It just never came.”

  In the office, Oriole was making small talk with Mary to get her to settle down. “Mrs. Stutz, when was the last time you spoke to or saw your husband?”

  “Well, we were friends, but we hardly kept in daily contact, you know. I guess the last time was back when Jeremy and Jennifer got married. But I did keep in touch with emails. We still had business together and we had the kids.”

  “When were the last emails?”

  “Well, I got an email a couple of weeks ago, I guess. It was brief, just an update on the Pipe Line, the weather, Marlene, what Marvin had been doing, that kind of thing. Nothing out of the ordinary.” The rendition seemed too pat, too rehearsed for Oriole’s comfort.

  “Will you excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to my partner.”

  Oriole walked down the hall and made eye contact with Fred, nodded toward the kitchen for him to join her.

  “What have you found out, anything good?” Fred asked.

  “She seems to be reciting a prepared speech. Anything from the kids?”

  “He was planning a divorce.”

  “Get outta here. Mary never mentioned it. Don’t you think that’s important? Why wouldn’t she bring it up?”

  “Marlene says she didn’t know. I find that real hard to believe. Let’s switch places and you work on the business aspect and I’ll take on Mary.”

  Partners switched rooms and took the combined knowledge to dig for more information.

  “Mrs. Stutz, tell me what you know about Marvin’s last days?” Fred quietly entered his interrogation mode.

  “Well, I already told Detective Wolfe everything. Why don’t you talk to her?” Mary snippily responded.

  “Mrs. Stutz, I spoke to Jeremy and Marlene, then I spoke to Detective Wolfe. There might be information you can add. When was the last time you heard from Marvin?” Fred patiently inquired.

  “We didn’t talk much anymore. He had his life and I had mine. We kept in touch by email.”

  “What was his frame of mind the last time you heard from him?”

  “He was fine. He was working hard, long hours, but that was normal. He wanted us all to get together soon.”

  “Did he say why he wanted to get the family together?�
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  “He said he had some things to discuss, business things to update. I suppose he wanted to see all of us together.” Mary evasively responded.

  “Did he give you an idea of what he wanted to discuss about business or personal stuff?” Fred kept prodding.

  “He said he had told Marlene and was going to tell Jeremy.”

  “Did he tell you? Did Marlene tell you?”

  “Ok,OK,OK. He said he wanted a divorce. Are you happy now?” Mary’s voice had reached a screech.

  “Did he say why he wanted the divorce?”

  “Can’t you just leave it alone? He’s dead and there won’t be a divorce. It’s not something we need to get into.” While her voice had returned to normal levels, the force with which she spoke indicated she was still angry.

  “What would the divorce have meant to you, to the kids?” Fred continued trying to elicit information.

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing would have changed. It wasn’t going to happen. I would never give him a divorce and he knew it. I don’t believe in divorce. He has asked before and the answer is always the same. No, no, no. He said he wanted to move on with his life.” Mary started to tear up and she reached for tissue to blot her eyes to avoid messing her makeup.

  “So, he seemed anxious to get on with his life. Did he mention why now?” Fred paraphrased and extrapolated.

  “He said he’d met someone. Can you believe it?” Mary was openly sobbing now. “I gave him the best 30 years of my life and he wanted out, wanted someone else. He wanted a man. I could have understood if it was another woman. But he wanted another man. I wasn’t going to be the laughing stock of all my friends. Thrown away for a man.” In between sobs, spittle erupted from her mouth onto Fred.

  Fred wiped his arm where it landed and kept on. “Did he say who the other man was?”

  “I told him I didn’t want to hear about it. I didn’t want to know his dirty little secrets. Then he emailed me that he was going to file the first of next month. That it didn’t matter anymore. He said he had a right to be happy with his new love. New love. I wanted to puke.”

  “Did he say who his new friend was?”

  “He said he had met him up here. He didn’t say who. How could he do that to me, to us? I would never be able to look my friends in the eye again. How completely selfish. How unfair to me.” She slapped the desk with such force the pencil holder bounced.

  Fred decided to make hay while he could. “I can understand your frustration. Did the two of you talk about this or just email?”

  “I couldn’t talk to him. Whenever he’d call and I knew it was him, I wouldn’t answer. That’s why he emailed me. He seemed to think if he had news everyone wanted to hear it and that’s just not right. I was so mad at him.” If her anger now was any measure when he emailed her, she had been truly pissed off.

  “Do you still have the email he sent you? It might help us.”

  “What? Why would I keep the email? To look at and hurt. I deleted it immediately. I didn’t want anything to remind me of the hurt.”

  Fred decided he gleaned as much as he was going to for the time being and suggested they rejoin Oriole and the kids.

  “I think we’re about done here,” Fred stated, “if we have further questions we’ll call. If you can think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call either one of us. Thanks for your time.” Fred and Oriole returned to the SUV and the office in Prescott.

  “Seems to me Mary just rose to the top of the list. We need to go out to the Pipe Line and interview the employees out there. Let’s see if we have enough for a warrant on the computers to verify the emails. If we split these up maybe early next week we can go out to Chino.” Fred was dishing out assignments.