Fraidy Hole: A Sheriff Lester P. Morrison Novel (33 page)

This has to be how the caveman felt when he discovered fire
, she thought. She brought the matchbox to the light and counted, three left.

Chapter 26

The Sunday morning sunrise was still soaking up the dew on Cimarron County when Lester, in that half-asleep, half-awake state of being, felt warm dog breath in his face. The aroma was a far cry from that of hot coffee and frying bacon when Mary Alice was alive and had breakfast going on before he ever crawled out of bed. No, this smell was more akin to a dead rabbit. Harley sat on his haunches as close to the mattress as he could get, his big black muzzle resting
o
n the sheets in an ever expanding puddle of dog drool. Lester opened one eye and made a feeble attempt to push the dog away.

“Go away
,
Harley. It’s Sunday. I had a long night, didn’t get to bed till nearly one o’clock. You know that. Remember? Why are you bothering me so early in the morning anyway?”

Harley’s powerful tail slammed the corner post of the bed with a
whap, whap
sound.

“You’re not gonna let me sleep in are you? You ornery mutt, I suppose you’re hungry like always.”

At the sound of the word
hungry
, the tail whapping went into overdrive.

Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap.

Lester moaned
as he felt
the familiar
twinge of pain in his lower back
and swung his bone white legs off the bed.

“Too old for this shit.”

The cupboard held only two cans of dog food.

“You want beef and gravy or beef and cheese
?
Take your pick.”

If Harley had a preference, it was
n’t
obvious.

“Hell, you’d eat both of ‘em if I let you. Ain’t that right dog?”

The lab trotted to the food bowl and sat, never taking his eyes off the cans.

“That’s what I thought, but you’re only getting one you fat bastard.”

Lester dished out the dog food, made coffee, and pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt before making his first phone call of the day.

The phone rang several times before a sleepy grunt answered.

“Ummph.”

“Billy Ray? You still in bed? Hell, I been goin’ for hours. Done milked the cows and slopped the hogs. Get yourself up and ready now. I’ll pick you up in a bit.”

“You are so full of it,” said the gravelly voice.

“Well, that’s possible I suppose. I’ll take care of that momentarily, and then I’ll be on my way to your place, okay?”

A click being the only reply, Lester hung up and padded barefoot to the bathroom.

An hour later, Billy Ray was sitting on the curb outside the apartment building when the Sheriff pulled in and parked at the RESERVED FOR MANAGER spot.
The black lab had one paw resting on the open passenger window.

“Aw gee, you brought the dog? I like Harley
. He’s a great dog
, but he’s hairy, he’s heavy, and he stinks. Can’t he ride in the back?”

“Nope, too dangerous for him back there. Hop in.”

There was no use arguing. Bill
y
Ray sighed and pushed the dog to the middle of the seat.
As a greeting,
Harley gave him some wet tongue
across the cheek
.

“I assume we’re headed to J.O.’s place, right? Billy Ray asked. “He’s gonna pay for my car…right after I punch him in the nose.”

“To
assume
makes an ass out of you and me. Every heard that one?” Lester said, backing up.

“Yeah, but what does that mean exactly?”

“Means we’re not going to J.O.’s, not right now anyway.”

“What? Why not?”

Lester let the question sit awhile.

“Well?” Billy Ray said, the Sheriff’s silence getting to him.

“Well, what?”

“Why the hell are we not going out to pick up J.O? That’s what!
Jesus.”

“Think about it Deputy. Put yourself in J.O.’s shoes. If you had sideswiped the vehicle of an officer of the law the night before, would you be sitting at home, watching the Sunday morning prayer service on the TV, or would you be laying low somewhere, biding your time till you could figure out your next move?”

Billy Ray leaned his head back and closed his eyes, knowing that he would receive no satisfaction from J.O. Mecham on this day. Harley put his head in Billy Ray’s lap and got comfortable.

Lester continued
.
“First, I don’t think J.O. watches much
TV
preachin’ on a Sunday. Second, we can’t say for sure that he saw the badge I was waving around. He could say that he was simply trying to pass and lost control on the slick road. A judge might even believe him. Sides that, I don’t exactly see eye to eye with a couple of the judges around her
e
.”

“
Who woulda thunk it
,” Billy Ray said, his eyes still closed.
“But Mecham left the scene of an accident. Surely we could nail him on that.”

Lester ignored the logic.
“And third,
he’s still a suspect and we need to keep tabs on him, but not today. One way or another he’ll pay for your damages Billy Ray, not to worry.”

“Uh, huh,” Billy Ray said, “But I’m not holding my breath.”

Lester hit the streets and turned east on Main. Boise City was stirring but not fully awake, a half dozen cars traveling up and down the main thoroughfare. The United Christian Church had two cars out front, most likely the minister and one of the elders, making sure things were in order before the congregation arrived. The parking lot at the only grocery store in town was sparsely occupied as well, the fixings for Sunday dinners having been shopped for and purchased yesterday. One gray haired man in a white shirt and tie was filling the tank on a spotless old Lincoln at the Stop and
Shop
convenience store while a young woman with a ponytail
and a Golden Retriever jogged b
y
.

“So
, are
you gonna’ tell me where we’re going, or am I supposed to guess?” the aggravation in Billy Ray’s voice obvious.

“You seem to be a little testy this fine morning
,
Deputy. You should try to get more sleep.”

“Obviously,” Billy Ray said and closed his eyes again. “Wake me when we get
there, wherever it is
.” There was no comfortable place in the pickup with a hundred and five pound dog in your lap, but Billy Ray did his best to find one. He took a deep breath and tried to relax.

Three minutes
later, “We’re here,” Lester announced.

Billy Ray lifted an eye and recognized the house in front of them. “The Sanchez place? Why?”

“Same reason as before, to see if anyone here knows anything about Melissa.”

“I might be missing something, but I don’t see any vehicles of any kind in the driveway,” Billy Ray said, sitting up.

“Doesn’t mean nobody’s home. Why don’t you trot up to the front door there and give it a knock. Move it right along now.”

Billy Ray shot Lester a look
,
but slid out of the cab and rapped on the front door of the Sanchez home. The knock went unanswered. He waited a moment, gave Lester a shrug, and climbed back in the pickup.

“Like I said, nobody home.”

“That’s possible,” the Sheriff said, “I didn’t see any movement at the windows either. But let’s sit for a few minutes.”

Harley found footing between Billy Ray’s legs and stuck his head out the window, hoping to catch sight of a squirrel or, even better, a cat. It had been a long time since he’d got to chase a cat.

“Whew, when’s the last time you gave this a dog a bath,” Billy Ray moaned, turning his head to the fresh air outside the truck.

“I forget. Might have been at my little pond behind the barn. I recall him jumping in and trying to grab a green-head Mallard a while back.”

Billy Ray shook his head, giving up on any chance of sleep with a smelly black lab bouncing around his lap and stepping on his testicles.
“What’s next?”

“Jason Woods. I’ve never been to his place. You can direct me.”

Billy Ray turned to face the Sheriff. “I’m tellin’ ya, Jason doesn’t know anything about Melissa. If he did, he would have told me. Just because he was at the Pirate’s Den that night doesn’t mean shit. Lots of people were there.”

“Mr. Woods may not know what he knows,” Lester said. “I just want to talk him, that’s all. Hopefully, he can confirm what Earl told us about who was in there and who wasn’t.
Maybe remember something about who Melissa was talking to. The clock is ticking
,
Billy Ray. We need a break in this case and we need it now.”

The deputy was silent for a moment. “You’re right of course. I’m sorry for getting all defensive on you. It’s just…you know.” Lester nodded
, understanding
. “Which way?”

Billy Ray tilted his head toward downtown. “Get back on Main and head west. I’ll tell you where to turn.”

The door on the detached garage adjacent to Jason Wood’s sleeping room was standing open.
His old Kawasaki dirt bike, one that he’d acquired in a late night poker game, was gone.

“Looks like nobody’s home today,” Lester said. “Any ideas on where he might be?”

“None.”

“You think Woods might know any of those bikers that Earl mentioned, the ones in the bar?”

“Dirt bikers don’t have much in common with Harley riders
,
Sheriff.”

“Thought you told
me
he had a Harley.”

“He does
. It’s
there in the back of the garage. See it?”

Lester squinted. In the shadows and off in one corner rested a
massive,
dust-covered, motorcycle
.
The motor had been removed from the frame and rested
p
recariously
on a
make-shift
stack of cement blocks.
There was no sign of recent work activity.

“I think Jason told me it was a 1980 model, an FLT I believe. But it hasn’t run for months and he doesn’t have the money to fix it.”

“So how does he get to work?”

“I think his boss loans him a company car on working days.”

Lester nodded. “ How bout you try his cell?”

Billy Ray punched the numbers. “Voice mail.”

“Tell him to call. Tell him it’s important.”

“Jason. Sheriff wants to talk to you. Call me. I’ll fill you in later. It’s serious, a no shitter.”

“What does that mean, a
no shitter
?” Lester asked in puzzlement.

Billy Ray shrugged. “Just a military expression. Means the situation is for real. Means this is not a drill.”

“Humph, learn something every day. I got to tell Nelda on dispatch about that one.

Billy Ray smiled. “Yeah, I can just imagine our good Christian Nelda putting
that
over the radio.”

“Well,” Lester
sighed
, “Might as well head out to that junk place we saw the other day, see if he was really at the bar like Earl thought.”

Billy Ray asked, “You know anything him; married, family, broken any laws lately?”

“Nope, nothing, but I’m fixin’ to find out. Let Harley out for a pee before we go would you?”

Billy Ray rolled his eyes but did as suggested. The lab did some serious sniffing before finding a suitable place to lift his leg, the location of choice being just inside the garage, exactly where Jason Wood’s parked his dirt bike.

“The whole damn outside world to choose from and Harley pees in the garage. Really, Sheriff
,
you need to teach that dog some manners, some commands;
NO
being a good one to start with.”

“Thing is, Billy Ray, I hate to interfere with a dog’s natural instincts. Too much domestication robs them of their spirit
,
you see. Who wants a dog that acts like a robot, obeying every little command like he was witless, without a mind of his own? Ain’t right. A dog is supposed to be a friend and companion, free to follow his natural impulses, his biological drive, not some kind of toy to drag around on a leash or carry in a purse for Pete’s sake.”

“Thought you told me you used the bathroom this morning.”

“I did, what does that have to do with anything.”

“Because you’re still full of it, that’s what.”

The lab had wandered to the next house over, checking the yard for any hot mail. “Harley, get in the truck,” Lester yelled. “And pay no mind to my insolent deputy here.”