Evan let out a miserable moan, turned, and walked back into his garage. Michelle glanced over her shoulder at him with frustrated eyes then looked at Grace. “Alistair Berman also killed Mitch Taylor. At least, we’re pretty sure that’s what happened. We put his body behind the garage and covered it with a sheet.”
“A deadly snake is what killed Mitch Taylor and we think this Alistair put the snake in with him,” Momma Peach explained. “Mitch drove into town, crashed here, got out of his truck, and dropped dead.” Momma Peach pointed at the deadly snake Michelle had shot and smashed in two. “There it is, over there.”
Grace followed Momma Peach's finger. “A death adder. Quite deadly.”
Michelle folded her arms. “Alistair Berman gave us until tonight to leave town,” she explained in a tired, angry voice. “He ordered us to walk out of town through the open land. Said he’d kill us if we reported any of this to the local police.”
Grace kept her eyes on the dead snake. “He expects you to die out there, I expect,” she told Michelle. “The open side belongs to that kind,” she said and nodded at the snake. “No one really knows why but this area of the land seems to draw in...death.” Grace finally looked at Momma Peach and Michelle. “I grew up not far from here. I know this land. I know what trails will kill me and what trails won't.” Grace pointed to the open land. “To the natural eye it seems like a person could just walk out onto the land and start walking back toward the front road, right?”
Momma Peach nodded and waited on anxious legs for this new voice to reveal the hidden secrets that surrounded Greenglow.
“It's not that way,” Grace explained. “The most experienced trailman can lose his way. How? No one really knows. The land...this part of the land...is deceptive to the eye. What you see isn't what is beneath your feet.” Grace nodded at the garage. “The only man I know who can find his way through the open land is Evan. Even my own brother can't find his way and he's ventured to nearly every part of the world.”
Momma Peach glanced up at the boiling sun. “Well, since you're here it seems that we won't have to worry about making that journey,” she said in a grateful voice. “Alistair Berman disabled that there truck and dune buggy. But you've got wheels and we need those wheels to carry us out of this...this strange place.”
“I will as soon as I go get Patty,” Grace promised in a sad voice. She bowed her head. “Patty was a good man. I...guess it was only a matter of time.”
“What do you mean?” Michelle asked. “Please, we need some answers. Evan isn't being very cooperative.”
“Why should he?” Grace asked, raised her head, and stared into Michelle's tired eyes. “This little spot of land is all that man has left to call his own in this world. He built this little spot with his bare hands and somehow attracted a few loners to come live out here...good people who just couldn't fit in with the world.” Grace nodded at the garage. “Evan's wife loved this land more than he did. He stays here because of her...because he still believes her presence is in Greenglow somehow.” Grace sighed. “The love Evan and his wife shared...that’s rare.”
Michelle thought of Able. Would Able remain in a one-horse town, roasting in the heat, living out the rest of his life in sadness, just for her? Michelle wasn't sure, and being unsure broke her heart. “Officer—”
“Call me Grace.”
“Grace,” Michelle continued, “I'm tired, hot, angry and hungry. My rental car broke down. Two men are dead. A killer is still at large. A scorpion nearly got the best of me. I've had to kill a deadly snake. All I want to do is get out of this town in one piece.” Michelle tossed a thumb over her shoulder. “Evan has to come with us. If he stays, Alistair Berman will kill him.”
Momma Peach searched the rugged landscape. She didn't know how, but her gut said that Alistair Berman was now far away. The land was now empty of human companionship. “Grace, you didn't seem very shocked when we told you Alistair Berman killed Patty. Why?”
Grace leaned back against the cop car, her no-nonsense attitude and beauty reflecting an Australian version of Michelle that was uncanny. “Alistair wants the water rights.”
“Water rights?” Momma Peach asked and then let out a tired chuckle. “There ain't no water in this here town.”
“Do you mean the watering spot?” Michelle asked.
Grace nodded. “Patty owns the land the watering spot sits on. It’s at the bottom of a canyon. The watering spot if very difficult to locate and climb down to. Only experienced climbers can reach it.” Grace studied Momma Peach's sweaty face. She didn't exactly resemble the type of woman who was an experienced climber. “Evan and his wife, through the years, worked to make rope ladders that people can use to climb down into the canyon.”
Michelle bit down on her lower lip. “Okay...so...Patty buys up the land the watering spot sits on. So what?”
Grace sighed. “Patty didn't buy his land because of the water spot,” she told Michelle. “The watering spot just so happened to be on the land he wanted.”
“Explain,” Momma Peach urged Grace.
Grace kicked at the dry ground. “Patty was after gold,” she explained.
“Gold?” Michelle asked.
Grace nodded. “Patty was sure that the land he bought…the land he spent his last penny on… was full of gold. He only shared his secret with Evan.”
“Then...why does Alistair Berman want water rights?” Michelle asked in a confused voice.
Momma Peach waited for Grace to answer with a tired mind, feeling like she was trapped in a hot sauna with ghosts whispering confusing riddles into her thoughts. “I feel like a hot piece of chocolate melting on top of a stove, so please, be kind to my mind and stop walking around the corner to reach the front door.”
“Evan didn't have enough money to buy the land he wanted,” Grace told Momma Peach. “He went to Alistair Berman for financial help. Alistair is—”
“Patty's half-brother. Evan told us,” Michelle informed Grace.
Grace nodded. “Alistair left London and moved to Australia,” she continued. “Poor Patty...he believed Alistair honestly cared about him as a brother, but anyone with eyes knew the truth. Patty...maybe he knew the truth, too? Anyway, when Patty came up empty handed, Alistair became very bitter. But, Alistair isn't the type of person to walk away empty handed.”
“The water spot?” Momma Peach asked.
Grace nodded. “I'm the only one who knows what I'm about to tell you,” she told Momma Peach, glanced at the dead snake, and shook her head. “I hate snakes,” she said in a disgusted voice. “Always have, since I was a little girl.”
“I ain't too fond of those ugly creatures myself.”
“Me, neither,” Michelle added. She looked at Evan's store, tested her parched mouth, and said, “Let's talk more in the store. I need a cold drink.”
“I can go for a soda,” Grace agreed.
“Uh...I ain't so sure. There's a mighty mean scorpion sulking under the cooler in that there store.”
“We'll be careful, Momma Peach,” Michelle promised. “I'm too thirsty to care about that scorpion anymore.”
“Well...” Momma Peach hesitated, ran her tongue around the inside of her thirsty mouth, and then nodded. “Can't argue against a cold soda.”
Michelle looked into Momma Peach's hot face. The poor woman was sweltering. “I wish you were back home at the bakery, standing in your kitchen baking peach pies, drinking coffee on a cold, rainy day,” she told her. “I wish you were safe...singing those sweet hymns...”
Momma Peach read Michelle's eyes. “We'll be home soon enough,” she promised, took Michelle’s hand, and walked her back to Evan's store. “When we get home,” Momma Peach promised, “we're staying home for a very, very long time.”
Michelle stopped at the front door to the store. “It has been a while since you've fussed over Mrs. Edward's food.”
“Oh, don't get me started over that woman's awful food!” Momma Peach begged. “Give me strength, give me stren
gth. That woman's food is more poison than that there scorpion lurking about inside this here store!”
Grace gave Michelle a confused eye. “Don't ask,” Michelle told Grace and rolled her eyes. “If you want to remain sane...just don't ask.”
Grace shrugged her shoulders. “My daddy taught me that the less you know about other people’s trouble, the better,” she said and eased past Momma Peach and Michelle and entered the store. She walked back to the cooler and, without a moment's hesitation, began moving the door open.
“What are you doing?” Michelle cried out.
“Baby, there's a mighty mean—” Momma Peach yelled.
Grace spotted the scorpion. The scorpion prepared for battle, raising its stinger. “Oh, stop that,” Grace fussed. She raised the heel of her black boot and stomped it down on the scorpion. Grace, unaffected by the fierceness of the scorpion, stomped it again...and then again...and then again, until she kicked the squashed remnants of the scorpion out the front door. “Good riddance!” Grace yelled.
“Well...Momma Peach ain't ever seen anything like that,” Momma Peach whispered to Michelle.
Michelle was impressed. Grace was no sissy. “Soda?” she asked.
“Sure,” Grace said and closed the front door.
Michelle hurried back to the cooler, snatched out three sodas, and distributed them. “Here's to...no more scorpions,” she said, whispered a prayer of thanks, and nearly drained her entire soda.
Momma Peach popped open her soda and took a large gulp. “Ah...cold.”
Grace wasn't as thirsty as Momma Peach and Michelle. She tipped open her soda, took a drink, and looked around the store. “Evan never changes this place,” she said in a sentimental voice. “I'm glad.”
Momma Peach began to wonder. “So how do you know Evan?”
Grace sighed and gazed around the store again. “That’s a long story…”
Momma Peach felt sure the key to something was hiding here. “Why would Patrick call you? Were you a friend of his too? Or was he calling because you were the law?”
“Patty called me…as a friend,” Grace explained. “Patty was worried, but he wouldn't tell me what about.” Grace sipped at her soda. “He asked me to drive out here today and visit him. He told me that you two were expected to arrive today, too. I...I hate to admit it, but it's been over a year since I've been to Greenglow. I...wish I would have had a chance to say goodbye to Patty.”
“Who is Patty to you?” Momma Peach asked.
Grace lowered her eyes, stared at the cold can in her hand, and sighed. “Patty was my brother,” she said and fought back a hard tear. “My...half-brother...but half doesn't take away the heart, now does it?”
“No, it sure doesn't,” Momma Peach promised and gave Michelle an uneasy look. “This here trip is going to give me something to chew on for a long time...a long time indeed, yes sir and yes ma’am.”
Outside in the heat, Alistair parked his four-wheeler behind a boulder, climbed into a fancy red truck, and sped away. “I'll be back by night, Evan. If you're still in Greenglow, I'll shoot you down where you stand. But for now, it's time to go have a talk with Heath Marshall and—” before Alistair could finish his sentence, the same type of death adder that killed Mitch Taylor crawled out from under the front seat and ended his life.
The red truck crashed into a boulder with a terrific crunch and went still, and so did the man inside it.
Grace finished her soda. “I'll answer all of your questions once we get back to my trail,” she assured Momma Peach and Michelle. “Right now, I think it's prudent we get out of here before Alistair returns.”
Momma Peach didn't argue. “I'm with you. Let's go get Mr. Evan and get—” Momma Peach heard the front door open. Evan appeared holding a small brown suitcase that looked older than time. “Mr. Evan?”
Evan set the suitcase down on the floor, walked to the cooler, took out a soda, and looked around his store. “I've been thinking,” he said unhappily.
“About what?” Momma Peach asked.
Evan popped his soda open. “This is my town. I built it,” Evan explained. “But if I stay, Alistair will surely kill me where I stand. My only chance in winning and staying alive,” Evan paused and pointed at Grace with his left pointer finger, “is to let the law run its course.” Evan took a drink of soda. “I'm going to spend some time away. In New Zealand. I'm going to travel to Christchurch where my aunt lives and stay for a few months.”
“That would be smart, Evan,” Grace nodded. “But you know as well as I do that pinning Alistair Berman for the murder of Patty and Mitch will be near impossible. Alistair has a lot of influence in this area.”
Evan nodded. He looked at Michelle then over to Momma Peach. “Did you tell them about the gold?”
“In a way,” Grace nodded.
“Did you tell them why Alistair wants the land?”
“Water rights,” Grace confirmed.
Evan took another drink of his soda. “Patty wrote out his desires,” he explained. “He went to a lawyer and had his desires put down on a legal document.”
“We're all ears,” Momma Peach promised, grateful that Evan was finally starting to talk.
Evan walked to the fan sitting on the front counter and cooled down. “Patty came up empty-handed,” he finally said. “I knew he would. Tales of the old canyon being full of gold have been floating around for decades...Patty, rest his soul, fell victim to the tales...so did Alistair.” Evan put down his soda. “When Patty came up empty, Alistair turned into a deadly snake. He had gone fifty-fifty with Patty to buy the old canyon and the land surrounding it from a politician in these parts that is meaner than the scorpion we saw in Patty's truck.”
“The land sale was legal,” Grace stepped in, “but in order for Heath Marshall to sell the land to Patty and Alistair, he had to…well, there’s no nice way to put it. He basically had to steal it from the original owner.” Grace finished off her soda. “Heath Marshall used underhanded political tricks and attacks to steal the land.”
“In all my years living in Greenglow I've never met the man who owned the old canyon or the land around it,” Evan confessed. “I didn't even know the old canyon belonged to someone until Patty told me...oh...three weeks ago? I was taken aback.” Evan let Momma Peach and Michelle soak in his words before continuing. “Alistair, from what Patty told me, started to calm down when he turned his attention to the watering spot.”
“Keep talking,” Momma Peach urged.
Evan allowed the hot air blowing out of the fan to hit his face. “Patty told me that Alistair had a plan to start bottling the water and selling it,” Evan explained, confessing a private secret to two women he barely knew—a secret that would surely condemn him to death if it escaped to the right ears. “Alistair's plan is to tear down my four buildings, build a bottling plant, and start selling the sweet water from the spring.”
“Well, I have to admit that was the sweetest tasting water I ever had,” Momma Peach told Evan. “Folks in these here parts...and even around the world, would pay good money for that water. Isn’t there enough to go around? Some for the town and some for bottling up?”
“Not exactly,” Grace cut in. “Alistair wants his money back and then some,” she explained. “He’s not the type to share and share alike. He’d keep the entire spring for himself and this town would dry up. No one would be able to survive here without the water from that spring. Plus,” Grace drew in an uneasy breath, “he owes Heath Marshall a bit of money that he doesn't have.”
“How so?” Momma Peach asked.
“Heath Marshall made Alistair sign a contract promising twenty percent of any gold that might have been found. And, at the chance that no gold was found, Alistair would be forced to pay twenty percent of the land cost straight to Heath Marshall for...services rendered.”
“You mean for stealing the land from the original owner,” Michelle said in a disgusted voice.
“Heath Marshall did the dirty work and expected pay
ment in return,” Grace nodded.
Momma Peach rubbed her chin. “So...Mr. Alistair the Snake got himself in a bind but then came up with a plan to save his backside.”
“The bottling plant is a good idea,” Grace told Momma Peach. “If Alistair is able to sell the sweet water, he'll make some good money. I don't approve of the idea of taking the water away from Greenglow, of course, but if I were in a pinch with Heath Marshall, I would be turning over every stone in order to find a penny, too.”
“No one is going to tear down my town,” Evan said in an angry voice. “I have the legal document Patty wrote his desires on. I have it hidden away. As long as I'm alive...no one can take Greenglow from me.”
“I'm confused,” Momma Peach said. “I thought you owned this land and—”
“I thought so, too, Momma Peach,” Evan stated in a miserable voice. “But Patty told me the truth.” Evan ran his hands down the back of his neck and made a miserable groan. “My wife and I bought this land illegally. We didn't know that, of course. We assumed we bought this land on legal grounds. But as it turns out, it was just a short-term lease. The land really belongs to the same man who owns the canyon. But because the deed to the land is in Patty's name...well, Patty left me the land...all the land.”
“What about Alistair?” Michelle asked. “He helped purchase the land.”
“But for legal reasons,” Evan explained, “Alistair didn't want his name on a legal document that was connected with Heath Marshall, so the deed to the land was put only in Patty's name.”
“Then why kill the poor man?” Michelle asked.
Evan looked down at his hands. “Why?” he asked. “All you have to do is look into Alistair's dead eyes and you'll know why.”
Momma Peach rubbed her chin and began to think. It was time to chew on a sour piece of wood and start making sense of things. “If...Heath Marshall stole the land from the poor soul who owned it before poor Patrick...rest his soul...then he could have...no...with Patrick dead it would be much easier.”
Not Peachy, Mate Page 6