by Tonya Kappes
“It just so happens, the owner was Jay Russel’s family.” I knew it couldn’t be Jay because, according to Dottie’s story, they were teens or in their late teens.
“Yeah.” Abby licked her lips. “I’ve got to ask my parents about this. How did you know this again?”
“That’s what I wanted to meet with the Laundry Club gals. I think Jay’s killer also believed that Jay was the robber. According to his ex-wife, she believed he was, too, and he’d hidden it on the property.” I tried to keep the story simple because I could see Abby wasn’t fully listening. She was deep in her own thoughts.
“If that is the case, why did he have the property for sale all these years, and why did Coke Ogden all of a sudden buy it?” Abby asked a very good question that I knew only Coke could answer.
“The Old Train Station Motel is the next stop on my list,” I said.
“Why are you trying to figure this out?” she asked.
“You know me.” I shrugged. “Curious. I found Jay and feel a little obligated to find out why someone did this to him.”
“I’ll head on over to my parents and see what I can gather.” She grabbed the papers off the printer, stapled them, and handed them to me. “Here’s what I found. You take these, go see Coke, and I’ll text the gals to meet us.” With a purposeful walk, Abby headed to her office.
She was on a mission to get to the bottom of this family secret, and I couldn’t wait to hear what she found out.
FOURTEEN
The library was located in downtown Normal. The Old Train Station was located at the far northern border of town. It gave me a few minutes to gather my thoughts about everything I’d learned since I’d gotten up at four a.m.
Betts had mentioned the Fawn’s going bankrupt years ago, forcing them to sell the property where the Old Train Station was located. It just so happened it was Jay Russel’s family who’d bought the property around the same time of the Normal Bank and Loan robbery.
According to Paulette, she believed he was the one who robbed the bank, but it didn’t make sense to me why he’d never used the money or even told her. Why did Paulette think he had the money? What did she observe? Why come back all these years? Why did Paulette wait so long to come back? Five years compared to the twenty years she was gone? The place went up for sale. She wanted the money before he sold. She had mentioned the friends that had hung out together.
“Jay, Lee, Paulette, Brooke, and Brownie.” I looked over at the papers in the passenger seat and wondered if Abby could look up these Brooke and Brownie persons.
If they were around, I might be able to get some information out of them. Abby was right in questioning why I was even doing this. I really couldn’t pinpoint it. For one, I knew Dottie didn’t kill him even if it was a long shot that the gun Jay had reported stolen five years ago was that gun.
What if other people knew about this so-called robbery and Jay’s ties? They might’ve been there like Dottie and Paulette. Jay was a hunter like all the other men in Normal. They owned several guns, and his gun rack in the back of his truck was a proud display of that.
“Gun rack.” I wondered if there were any guns missing from there.
Then there was the electric fence. That really haunted me. I didn’t know much about those, but if Jay was shot, how did he get in between the electric fence. Just by sheer gravity, he’d fallen on top, then maybe slid down. At least it was something for me to look at when I got there.
There were cars all lined up in front of the motel. From what Coke had said, all the rooms had been rented, and it was a great turn out for the hoedown. Too bad it was abruptly cut short.
I parked at the far end and decided to not even look for her. I had many things to ask her to confirm what Paulette had said about her making a pass on Jay. That was even too far-fetched for me to believe, but I was also beginning to believe there wasn’t a robbery either.
The sun was bright and warmed my skin. I grabbed my rain boots and changed out my shoes. I sucked in a deep breath and headed around the building instead of going through the courtyard. I really wanted to get a look at the place where I’d tripped over Jay’s body. The ground was nice and soggy from all the rain. Every time I lifted my foot, there was a suction sound bringing back memories of me romping around my biological family’s home.
Good memories of my childhood home before I was put into foster care were more painful than fulfilling. Maybe my past was the reason I wanted to look into crimes or help out people. After the fire engulfed my home and my family, it’d started off my curiosity on how and why things happened.
Sounds of laughter brought me out of my head and back to the reason I was here. The doors to the barn were pulled open. The band was long gone, but the tables were still in there and decorated with the red and white buffalo-checked tablecloths. The flowers were wilted from what I could see when I hurried past.
There was some activity at that stables, but I didn’t care to see what that was about, just yet. I had my mind set on seeing the exact place where Jay was murdered. Off in the distance, I could see the electric fence. I’d not even noticed it when I’d gone back here to watch Jay with the horses.
“What exactly happened?” I looked at the fence and matted down grass just beyond where Jay’s bottom half of his body had been when I tripped over him. “Your chest was here.” I talked to myself and looked at the sag of the fence.
Police spray paint was still in the grass where it showed the outline of Jay’s body and ran along the edge of the fence.
“So…” I stood a few feet away along the fence from where his body had landed and put my arms out. “If someone shot me, I’d stumble back and hit the fe—whoa!” I screamed, smacking down on my butt. “Dang mud.”
I stood up and looked at the mess I’d made from slipping on the mud. I ran my hands down my leg to get off the excess, but it was the slide marks my feet made that grabbed me.
“There’s no drag marks.” I gasped when I noticed my feet had dragged in the wet, soggy, and muddy grass. “If he fell back, his heels would’ve dragged. It was raining, and there’s no way he didn’t make a mess,” I whispered as the images of Jay falling just confirmed what I noticed.
“Excuse me?” The male voice caused me to jump around and almost lose my footing again.
“Hi,” I greeted Lee. “I didn’t hear you come up.”
“Who are you talking to?” He looked around.
“Myself.” I gestured to my muddy clothes. “I was saying how clumsy I am.”
“It happens after a rain. It makes everything out here a soppy mess.” He looked up at the sun. “It’ll harden with the sun beating down like it is.”
“Gonna be a hot one.” I felt a little nervous around him and wasn’t sure why. I glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone else noticed us.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked.
“Making peace with my finding Jay.” I shook my head, hoping any sort of excuse about me getting the heck out of there would pop in my jumbled-up brain. “I feel awful, and I couldn’t sleep last night. I can’t help but think if I’d found him a little earlier, I’d have seen the murderer.”
“Murderer?” Lee’s eyes filled with fear. “Did you say murderer?”
“Yeah. Haven’t you heard? Jay was murdered.” I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut, but how he was acting really got me in the sleuthing mood. “Apparently, Jay had robbed a bank years ago. It’s rumored the cash is around here somewhere.” I watched as Lee tried to keep a steady look on his face, show no emotion, but the movement of his Adam’s apple told me he was gulping back some massive thoughts. “He’d reported a gun missing about five years ago. The sheriff’s department didn’t find any guns that fit the bullet that killed him in his house, but it sure did fit the gun that was stolen.” I shrugged and took a step toward the motel. “I don’t know much.”
“Don’t you date that detective?” His jaw tensed.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t tell me much.
” I took another few steps. “Just what I told you. But you probably don’t know—” I turned back around to face him, but he was gone. “What made you so jumpy?” I asked and watched Lee hauling it back to the stable. “Why are you in Jay’s stable?”
Paulette Russel wasn’t innocent in my opinion, but she did say Lee was part of the group who’d hung out during the robbery. Lee and Jay were definitely fighting the other day. Even though Hank said Lee had a great business already, it seemed the competitions they entered were very competitive. Lee did mention Sarah, the young rider Jay was working with, and how she was going to be big or something. To me, it didn’t matter how much money Lee already had. It was the extra notch on his belt that he’d be the trainer Sarah would win under.
Which made me wonder if Lee killed Jay for that reason only, and maybe there wasn’t any sort of money around here.
I glanced back over to the riding ring. Lee was standing in the same spot I’d last seen Jay. Goosebumps crawled up my leg and across my muddy arms.
Instead of letting Lee intimidate me, I pulled back my shoulders and walked straight over to the stable. I’d come here to check out the exact spot where I’d tripped over Jay’s body and to check out the stable. Lee wasn’t going to stop me. Just in case, I did go through the front of the stable and hurried inside so he wouldn’t see me.
It was exactly the way I remembered it from the other night, only today the lights were working. The transistor radio, tuned to an oldies station, was sitting on an overturned five-gallon bucket, and the same horses were sticking their heads out of their stalls. The only movement came from the far end where the ring was located. Every few seconds, Sarah and her horse trotted past followed up with a few instructions belted out by Lee.
Rosa wasn’t in her stall when I made it down there. I looked around to see if I could see a horse wandering free, but it was all clear. I walked in and noticed the stall had been mucked. There was a bag of food hanging from the stall door and a trough full of water. It didn’t appear she’d been in here.
There was a tack cabinet in the far right corner. When I focused on it, my mind told me to open it, but my heart told me to stop snooping or else. It was beckoning me to open it. The pull was too great. Or maybe it was the curiosity. Still, I had to see what was inside.
I gave one last glance around my shoulder to see if anyone was in the stable with me. The coast was clear and so was my conscious of not looking. Carefully, I opened the double doors in case they were going to squeak. The yellowing around the tape holding up the photos taped on the doors told me they’d been there a long time.
I took a closer look and noticed a little girl with eyes that looked like Jay’s on a horse that looked a lot like Rosa. Not that I would know for sure, but I noticed the horse in the photo was also an Appaloosa. The white stripe with brown spots around the abdomen of the horse looked exactly like Rosa’s. Then again, I’d never been around horses, so I was no expert.
There were two shelves on the right side, and the left side was open with hooks at the top. Horse reins were on the hooks and a covered saddle was lying on the bottom. The top shelf had grooming items along with other various creams and salves I didn’t recognize.
There was a stack of journals. Being the nosy person I was, I took one off the shelf. I rubbed my finger over the embossed gold lettering stamped on the front that read Jay Russel. I quickly thumbed through it. It appeared he kept all his trade secrets in there along with different clients’ names and phone numbers.
“Now what are you doing in here?” Lee’s voice was loud and stern behind me.
He scared me, making me jump and lunge forward. I banged my shoulder into the tack box, knocking it a little side goggling. The journal fell out of my hands.
“Are you okay?” He hurried in and put his hand out for me to take as I sat there on my knees. “You’re a mess.”
“Thanks.” I groaned after I took his hand and was jerked to my feet. I ran my hand over my knee and gave it a little rub. “Where’s Rosa?”
“No one knows. She’s not been back since Jay let her out.” Lee seemed certain it was Jay that let her out.
“You think he did? I mean—” I shuffled the toe of my rain boot in the hay on the floor, moving it around. “I heard he’d never let her out in a rain storm. She was scared of thunder and lightning.”
“I’m sure that’s why he was here. Putting on the music for her, and he probably walked in on another stowaway. That’s probably who killed him now that you said they are calling his death a homicide.” Lee looked to the right at a couple who were walking down the middle of the stable. He gave them a quick chin lift. The couple waved.
“You’ve got it all figured out.” My confidence had seemed to rise since we were no longer alone. “I mean, just in that short time from when I told you he was murdered”—I referred to when I’d slipped and fell in the mud near Jay’s murder location—“you came up with that.”
“It makes sense.” He put his hand out in front of me. “Don’t you go around making assumptions you can’t back up.”
“Did I make an assumption?” I asked with furrowed brows.
“You are implying that I’ve made up a story to fit why he’d be killed, and that makes me think you think I had something to do with Jay’s death.” He sucked in a deep breath. His chest expanded, and he was suddenly a lot taller than me.
His bullying wasn’t going to work on me. “I think it’s strange that I noticed you and Jay fighting the other day when you were here poaching his client. Sarah, right?” My eyes narrowed. “I mean, like you said, it’s big business around here, and the horse competitions are very important to families. With Jay out of the way, I’d think your business would flourish. Maybe give you one of those top prizes to hang on your wall.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spit down on the ground, narrowly missing my boot. “Why don’t you take your little trash self back to the camper park where you belong.”
He gave me one last good hard stare before he turned around to walk out of the stall.
It took me a second to gather my wits and breath. I took the moment to close the tack cabinet and push it back to where it was before I’d knocked into it. Using my hands, I grabbed under the wood cabinet, pricking my finger on a piece of wood sticking down from the bottom.
“Crap.” I jerked my finger out and wiped the blood on my shirt. “A little mud, a little blood. Nothing is going to come out of this shirt.” I groaned and decided to leave the cabinet right where it was.
“Mae, what are you doing out here?” Coke was standing in the open stall door.
“I came out to check on a few things dealing with Jay.” I wasn’t sure if she had heard. “Jay was murdered.”
“I just heard from Lee’s text.” She gave me a mothering look that told me I was annoying Lee. “What’s going on? Shouldn’t Hank be handling this?”
Her eyes glanced past my shoulder and focused on the tack cabinet.
“He is.” I got a sneaking suspicion that Lee and Coke had talked about more than him telling her I was there snooping around. “It was a closer thing for me. I couldn’t sleep, and when I heard he was murdered, I wanted to come pay my respects to the spot and Rosa.”
“That’s mighty kind of you, but Lee is trying to help me move Jay’s clients, so if you don’t mind, we can move our conversation up to the café.” She wasn’t offering to talk to me there. She was telling me that we were leaving. “Maybe we can get you cleaned up and a hot cup of coffee.”
“Do you know what happened to Rosa?” I asked, taking the heat off of Lee.
He didn’t pay any attention to me when we passed him and the couple on the way out of the stable.
“No clue. I’ve got the park rangers looking out for her. I’m not sure how long she can survive out there with the wildlife.” Coke’s words made me feel such deep sadness for Rosa. “I was hoping she’d come back, but as the hours pass, I’m not sure she will.”
/> “She was witness to awful things,” I said and squinted when we walked out.
The sun was burning brighter than before I’d walked into the stable. The grass had a little dew left on it from the morning, but it would take no time to burn off. Our feet made sloshing noises as we made our way across the field.
“You know, Mae, I appreciate you stopping by, but it’s private property now.” Coke’s attitude had changed. “If you want to look around, please call me first.”
“I thought you told me you wanted me to help you. It’s what you said at the Laundry Club that night.” I was shocked by her change of heart. “You said he was murdered, and you were right.”
“After talking to Glenda, I think I overstepped my authority in her father’s death, and I’m not looking for your help anymore.” She stopped shy of the Caboose Diner door.
“You talked to Glenda?” I questioned when I heard Jay’s daughter’s name.
“She’s staying here. We go back a long way. I’ve been sorta a mother figure for her since her so-called mother left her and Jay long ago. If I weren’t a southern lady, I’d call Paulette some names that would make me feel dirty.” She shivered like she was shrugging off something yucky.
“I’d like to give Glenda my condolences.” I decided to keep my mouth shut about Paulette being back in town.
“She’s right there through the door.” Coke pointed through the Caboose Diner window at a girl with a menu up to her face sitting alone at one of the tables. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
The diner was full, and the chatter covered any silence. Typical diner sounds like the clinking of dishes, the sound of a cash register, and the calls of food orders being yelled at the short order cook could be heard.
“Glenda.” Coke interrupted Glenda’s perusal of the menu. “This is Mae West. The lady I told you about.”
Glenda slowly moved the menu down from her face. Her eyes popped over the top. She laid the menu down on the table and clasped her hands on top of it. Her long red hair wasn’t expected. She definitely didn’t favor her mother. There was a resemblance of her father’s eyes, but that was about it. She had olive skin and gray eyes. A very unusual and striking combination.