2 A Deadly Beef (10 page)

"Does
it really matter what we call it, Victoria?" Moose asked.

"I
just want to know the best way to describe it to the judge when we’re
charged with breaking and entering," I said.

Five
minutes later we were parked behind the barn and out of sight, and Moose and I
started toward the farmhouse.  We were going to have to make this quick,
and I just hoped that we had time to look around before Jan made it back. 
I had no idea how we were going to explain our presence there if she just
showed up, but I hoped that Moose had a cover story in mind.  All of his
years sitting at the Liar’s Table had made him adept at coming up with
things extemporaneously, and I trusted he’d be able to provide a needed
excuse if we needed one.

It
never came to that, though.

We
were caught before we took one step toward the house, and by a rather unlikely
person at that.

Chapter 6

"What
are you two doing here?" Penny Rusk asked as she got out of her car and
headed straight toward us.

I
looked at Moose, but he was oddly silent as he struggled for something to
say.  I decided that before the silence grew any longer, I had to step up
and answer myself.  "We were here earlier offering our condolences
to Jan, and I lost an earring," I said.

Penny
frowned as she stared at my earlobes.  "That’s odd.  You
have both of them on right now."

"I’m
not talking about this pair," I said.  "I lost one from the
pair that I was wearing when we were here earlier.  They were an
anniversary present from my husband, and I can’t stand the thought that
they’re gone."

"I
understand that, but does it take two of you to hunt for one little
earring?" Penny asked.

"We
were out running some errands together, so it just made sense that we drop by
and see if we could find it," Moose explained.  "Now that
we’ve explained our presence, I have a question for you.  What
brings
you
out this way, Penny?  You’re a long way from The
Suds Center, and unless I’m mistaken, this is part of your regular
working hours."

"I
came to talk to Jan," she said.

"What
about?" I asked.  It was an impertinent question, but one I wanted
to hear the answer to it nonetheless.  "I didn’t realize that
you two even knew each other."

"Frankly,
I don’t see that’s any of your business, but we went to high school
together."  Penny looked around, and then she asked,
"Where’s your car, anyway?  It’s rather odd you
aren’t parked in front of the house.  It’s almost as though
you don’t want anyone to know that you’re here."

It was
a perfectly legitimate question.

I only
wished that I had a good answer for her.

Moose
saved the day, though.  "It’s simple enough.  Victoria
and I parked back by the barn so we wouldn’t run over her earring by
mistake."

"I
know you said that it had sentimental value, but it still seems like an awful
lot of trouble to go to just for one earring," Penny said.

"It’s
extremely special to me," I said, and then I suddenly pretended to have a
thought.  "Moose, I just remembered where my earring is; I left it
on the counter at the diner.  I took it off because the back was loose, and
I wanted to get a new one.  I’m so sorry.  I’m afraid we
came out here for nothing."

"As
long as you remembered where it is, that’s fine with me," Moose
said.

We
headed back for his truck, but not before I stopped in front of Penny and said,
"Jan’s not home.  She’s taking care of Wally’s
arrangements in town."

Penny
looked alarmed by the news.  "Does she even know what his
preferences for his burial were?"

"I
have no idea, but I’m a little surprised that you’d even
ask."  Moose said, a little too pointedly.  "Did he say
something to you?"

If
Penny minded his question, she didn’t say a word about it. 
"Wally and I discussed quite a few things on our dates.  I’ve
got to get to town and make certain that Jan respects her brother’s last
wishes."

Penny
got into her car, but the infernal woman wouldn’t drive off without Moose
and me.  We retrieved the truck from the back of the barn and reluctantly
followed her down the long drive.  When we got to the main highway, Moose
continued to follow Penny toward town, even though I’d been expecting him
to turn around at some point so we could go back to Wally Bain’s farm
without an escort.  "Are we really giving up and going into Jasper
Fork?" I asked him.

"Who
knows who might pop up next if we head back to the farm again?  Victoria, we can’t afford to be caught out there on a story as flimsy as the one you
came up with."

"Hey,
I
waited
for you to say something, but I was afraid you were frozen in
place for a minute there."

"I
was just considering our best options before I spoke," Moose said a
little stiffly.

"You
had nothing, and you know it, so you might as well admit it," I said with
a grin.

Moose
hesitated, and then my grandfather laughed.  "Okay.  You got
me.  I don’t know what happened to me; I froze.  It was some
fast thinking on your part to step in like that.  Good job."

"Thanks,
but it still didn’t do us much good," I said.  "Who knew
that Penny would be such a bulldog about a simple earring?  She was
absolutely relentless."

"Did
you believe her when she said that she was out there so that she could tell Jan
about Wally’s wishes?"

"Well,
if she
was
telling us the truth, they were a lot more serious at one
point than she’s ever admitted to us.  Moose, I realize it feels as
though we’re jinxed at the moment, but I’d still like to look
around Wally’s place before Jan gets back."

"I
know exactly how you feel," Moose said.  "But we can’t
just drive back there again.  It’s too easy for someone to spot us,
no matter how clever we think we are at hiding the truck.  Victoria, we need to find a way through the back of the farm where no one will spot
us."  He hesitated, and then my grandfather suddenly pulled off the
road onto a path that was barely wide enough for his truck to pass through.

"What
are you doing?" I asked Moose, concerned about his sudden and irrational
behavior.  "This isn’t even a road."

As we
bumped along the muddy lane, which was dotted with puddles everywhere from a
recent storm, my grandfather said, "Don’t worry, this is an old
hunting road that runs back behind Wally’s place.  Sorry about
that.  I probably should have asked you first, but there wasn’t
time.  That cutoff is tough to find, even if you know that it’s
there."

"There’s
no need to apologize.  I’m game to try it if you are," I said
as we kept bouncing down a path that could never be called a road. 
"Are you sure your shocks will take it?"

"I’ve
had this truck down worse spots in the county than this," he said as we
passed another offshoot of the trail heading toward the woods, "and that
was before I sold it to your father."

"Did
he
know that?" I asked my grandfather with a grin.

"I
would have been glad to tell him, but honestly, he never asked," Moose
said.

We
went another thirty or forty feet down the lane through some fairly deep mud
puddles when we turned a corner and Moose abruptly slammed on the brakes.

There
ahead of us was a massive freshly-fallen tree crossing the path and blocking
the way just as soundly as though the end of the road had dropped off into a
chasm.

"Blast
it all, it must have come down in that storm last week," Moose
said.  We’d had rumors of a tornado touching down nearby, and there
had been an onslaught of rain that had come with it.  "This tree
must have come down in the middle of it."

"Is
there any way we can go around it?" I asked as I peered into the suddenly
dense woods all around us.

"I
don’t see how.  To be honest with you, I’ll be lucky if I can
get this thing turned around at all.  At it is, I’ll have to use
this driveway, not that the man who owns it ever uses it himself."

Moose
backed down the way we’d come, and when we came to the offshoot I’d
seen earlier, he worked the steering wheel like magic.  The drive was
extremely narrow, and once I thought we were stuck for good when he slipped off
to one side, but he managed to get us out of it and turn back the way
we’d just come.

"Now
what?" I asked as we headed back out onto the highway.  I looked
behind us, and there were obvious muddy tire-tracks coming from the direction
of where we’d nearly gotten stuck, but the road itself wasn’t all
that pristine, so I hoped that no one noticed them.

"I’m
not entirely sure what we should do next," Moose said.

"We
could try to find Penny and Jan," I suggested.

"No,
let’s leave them both alone, at least for now.  If Penny was telling
us the truth, we need to give them some distance to work things out."

"Then
what does that leave us to do?"

"We
could always go back to the diner until we think of something else. 
I’ll tell you what.  I’m going to get on the phone when we get
back to The Charming Moose and ask a few old friends about Wally Bain. 
Maybe they’ll be able to come up with another lead we can follow."

"It’s
worth a shot," I said, "but we have to hit the carwash along the
way.  Your truck is a mess."

"I
don’t know; I kind of like it.  The mud just gives it character,
don’t you think?" Moose asked.

"I
refuse to answer that question one way or the other, but do we really want
anyone to know that it was us driving through the woods on that poor excuse for
a road?  If we wash your truck, and do it fast, anybody who sees those
tracks will just think that it was kids out joyriding instead of us trying to
get back to Wally’s farm."

"I
see your point," Moose acknowledged.  "Besides, Martha
won’t be pleased if I park it in front of our place covered in mud like
it is now."

After
we washed the truck, a job that took both of us, my grandfather and I headed
back to the diner.

To my
delight, Rebecca Davis, attorney and friend extraordinaire, was there waiting
for me at The Charming Moose.

"Hey,
stranger," she said when I walked in the door.  "Do you have
time for a quick glass of tea and a little chat?"

I
glanced at Moose to be sure he was fine with me stealing a few minutes from our
investigation, and he nodded. 

"That
sounds great to me," I said.  "Let me get us a couple of
slices of pie, too."

She
smiled at the suggestion.  "Make mine apple, and you’ve got
yourself a deal."

I
grabbed us two slices of Mom’s best crumb crust apple pie along with a
pair of forks, slid them onto the table, and then fetched two glasses of sweet
iced tea.

As I
settled in across from her, she grinned at me as she asked, "Victoria, what was
that
about?"

"What
are you talking about?"  I’d opted for a piece of apple pie
myself, having had my share of pumpkin recently, though I never would have
admitted it in front of Greg.  He believed that pumpkin treats should be
enjoyed year round, even though he hated baking the pies.

"Since
when did you have to ask Moose for permission to take a break?  I thought you
ran this place now."

"I
do," I said.  "I should have known that you’d catch
that."  I leaned forward and lowered my voice as I continued,
"Moose and I are digging into Wally Bain’s murder. 
Don’t even act surprised, Rebecca.  I’m sure you’ve
already heard some of the rumors floating around town that we were looking into
it.  After all, by now everybody must know about our confrontation with
Wally the day before he died."

"Are
you talking about the story that you pushed him to the floor of the diner, and
then Moose and Greg started pummeling him?"

I was
honestly shocked by the escalation of the truth into something
unrecognizable.  "Is it really all that bad?"

"I’m
afraid that it is.  Actually, that’s why I came by.  You need
to do some damage control, Victoria."

"I
don’t know what else we can do but try to catch the killer
ourselves," I admitted.  "It’s the only way I can think
of that we can clear ourselves from suspicion."

"You
need to do more than that," she said.  "I don’t have to
tell you that these rumors tend to take on a life of their own. 
I’ve defended you all that I can, but you know how people can be. 
Folks tend to believe the worst in cases like this."

"Well,
I suppose we could take out an ad in the paper proclaiming our
innocence," I suggested with more than a hint of sarcasm.  "Do
you have any better ideas?"

"I
wish I did," she said as she stabbed a bite of pie and ate it. 
"I was sort of hoping that with the combined powers of our brain trust,
we might be able to come up with something useful together."

As we
ate, Rebecca and I tried to think of anything that might help, but we
weren’t successful.  As she finished her pie and pushed the plate
away, my best friend said, "If you could find a way to ingratiate
yourself with Jan Bain, it might help your cause."  She paused, and
then offered me a broad smile.  "I’ve got an idea.  Why
don’t you offer to help her clean out the house?  It must be a
wreck."

"Moose
and I both tried," I said, "but she wasn’t interested in our
help.  I’ll tell you, that woman’s changed since she left
town.  She’s extremely cold, and pretty closed off.  The funny
thing is that I don’t remember her being that way at all when she left
town."

"The
big city can do that to you," Rebecca said with a sigh. 
"Well, I suppose that the only other thing I can suggest is that you and
your grandfather keep doing what you’re doing, but when you’re not
digging into Wally’s murder, you need to be here at the diner, showing
your smiling face to the public."