Give First Place to Murder (25 page)

"Don't make a sound. There's someone outside. Quick, get in here."

Screams are hard to swallow, but I managed. We darted behind the open stall door and she pulled me down on the floor. The barn seemed unnaturally still with only my heart making noise as it tried to climb out of my chest through my throat.

"Who is it?" I whispered in her ear.

She shook her head and put her finger against her lips.

The soft sound of footsteps and the glow of a stronger flashlight came down the barn aisle. It had to be the pirate, I thought wildly. How could I protect Susannah from this terrible peril? Exactly what it was, I didn't know, but I was sure it was peril.

The footsteps went slowly down the aisle, starting, stopping, starting, stopping. I could feel a scream getting ready for another try.

The flashlight beam illuminated the horse in the stall next to the one where we crouched, and the footsteps started again. There was no place to hide. We were trapped. All the old war movies I’d ever seen flashed back, prison camp escapees caught under the cruel glare of the spot light. I could almost hear the machine gun fire. Only the footsteps didn't stop, and the light didn't flash.

I took a deep breath and hiccupped. Susannah looked at me aghast, then started to giggle, but I pinched her and she glared at me instead.

"Where did he go?" I mouthed at her.

"I don't know," she whispered back.

She rolled carefully over on her hands and knees and started to pull herself up on the stall wall.

"No," I wanted to shout. Tugging at her did nothing, but after what seemed like an eternity she squatted back down. Her eyes were wide as she whispered in my ear, "It's Chovalo. Irma must have gotten him bailed out."

Chovalo. So Dan was right. "What's he doing?"

"He went into the tack room." She grabbed my arm as a door quietly snapped open. A quick flash of light, the soft footstep again, the rattle of the barn door on its track, and the barn was once more dark.

Susannah moved. She crawled to the open stall door, looked around it and rapidly crawled back to me.

"It was Chovalo all right."

"But why?" Speaking in an almost normal tone seemed less scary than whispering. "Why would he want to roam around his own barn in the dark with only a flashlight?"

"I don't know." The distress in her voice made me want to reach out and hug her, but it would have to wait. We had to figure out what to do. If Chovalo really was a murderer and a drug runner, we were in serious trouble.

"We've got a problem."

"Another one?"

"No. Same one. Chovalo knows we're here."

"How could he? We never made a sound. Unless we count your hiccup."

"You’re forgetting something."

"What?"

"Our car."

She didn't say anything, but her eyes got a lot bigger. "Damn." My sentiments exactly.

"Stay here." I reached for the flashlight. She gave it up reluctantly. I stood up slowly and edged out of the stall into the barn aisle, toward the slight opening in the big barn doors. The faint glow that entered made my weak flashlight unnecessary.

"Where are you going?" Her whisper echoed loudly in the quiet barn.

"To see if I can spot Chovalo. Or that blasted pirate. Or anybody. If no one’s near our car, we'll make a run for it."

"You sound like a bad movie." Her voice was right beside me.

"I told you to stay in the stall."

She didn’t bother to answer. Instead she looked out the crack between the doors. “I can’t see a thing.”

I motioned to her to help me. As silently as possible we pushed the big door back enough so we could see the whole yard. My car was still there and it appeared to be unoccupied.

“
Look,” Susannah plucked at my sleeve. There was the flashlight beam again, but somehow muted. I didn't think we could be seen against the unlighted backdrop of the barn but wasn't in the mood to take chances. We backed up and huddled tightly against the doors. Someone was coming out of the horse van. I pushed Susannah back further and took another look. The flashlight beam lit up his face like an angel in a Christmas play. It was Chovalo all right. He closed the van door, swung the light around the yard, letting it pause on my car. He walked over to it, studied it for a moment before letting the light play once more around the yard.

We were doomed.

The light swung our way. I gestured madly to Susannah but she’d already jumped back into the blackness of the barn. We looked silently across the aisle at each other as the beam of light lingered on the open doorway.

Suddenly it went out. We waited. It must have been only minutes but it seemed like hours before Susannah crept across that small expanse and stood beside me. "Will you please tell me what's going on?"

"Chovalo was in the van. Looking for something, I think. Then he left."

"Looking for what?"

"I'm not sure.” Something was nagging at me. Chovalo. The van. Tack trunks. “Susannah, that’s the same van Wes drove yesterday, isn’t it?”

“
Sure.”

“
Oh, oh”

“
Oh, oh, what?”

“
I just remembered what someone said and it’s given me an idea.”

“
What kind of idea?”

“
Wait. Let me think about this. Yes, that’s it. I think. How could we have been so blind?”

"What are you talking about? Mom, I don’t like the look on your face. And I don’t like the way this place feels. Let's get out of here."

"In a minute. Susannah, how many of these big vans does Irma have?"

"Mother, this isn’t the time to take an inventory. Let's go."

"Wait. How many?"

"Two." Susannah stood still, watching me. "Why?"

"You’re positive that’s the one that was in Santa Barbara yesterday? That’s the one Wes used?"

Susannah turned and stared at the van waiting quietly under the stars.

"It has to be. The other one’s back on the East Coast somewhere."

"Wes was supposed to start his run last night. He made a terrible fuss about that."

"He had a schedule change. He said so." She stared at the van some more. "Maybe he sent the horses some other way."

"Let's find out. Would you recognize the gray horse that was supposed to leave?"

"Won't be hard. We don't have a gray horse."

She took the flashlight, and we started down the barn aisle. She shone the light on each of them, waking them up, making them blink.

"Here she is." Susannah's tone was a mixture of confusion and anger. "What's going on here?"

"Isn't this the horse with the tack trunk?"

Susannah looked from me to the horse, more confused all the time. “Yes.”

"When was the last time you knew a horse that needed a trunk?"

"Wes said this is a special favor for the people who bought her. It's not a big deal, Mom."

"It might be."

"What are you talking about?" Susannah finished scratching the gray horse's nose and followed me down the aisle. "Where are we going?"

"To find the trunk."

"You can't possibly think…"

She was right behind me as I pushed open the tack room door.

"Don't switch on the overhead light."

She didn’t have to. Her little light already flashed around the room. It bounced off saddles, bridles, blankets, tack trunks. Two red and silver ones and right beside them, a green one.

"Open it."

Susannah knelt beside it, pushing at its lid. “It’s locked.” She got up and stood beside me. We both stared down at the trunk, daring it to give up its secret.

"Do you keep Irma's locked?"

"Couldn’t. No one ever trusted Bryce with the keys."

"Chovalo was looking for something in here, but he was also in the van." I tried to think this through. "If we're right and that locked trunk contains what we think, Chovalo must know it. So what else is he looking for?"

"Evidence?" Susannah stared at the trunk as though it would sit up and answer all our questions any minute.

“
Evidence of what?”

“
That he didn’t murder Bryce. Or Rusty. That he’s not a drug smuggler.”

"I don’t know how he expects to find evidence of that in a tack trunk. But if I’m right about what’s in it, then there are a whole lot more people involved in this than Chovalo.”

“
Are you talking about the pirate? Where is he, anyway?”

“
I don’t know that either.”

"Let's go get Dan," Susannah said. It was the best idea I'd heard all night.

The moon was out, the yard bright under its light. It would be easy to cross to the waiting van. Chovalo had been in there, and I’d be willing to bet the farm he’d found something. But I had to know for sure. Dan would be willing to listen to me if I had a few facts, not vague suspicions. The van might harbor some of those facts. My car also waited, inviting me to get the hell out of here and go home. I was tempted.

"Susannah, go get in the car and lock the doors. If anything happens, go for help."

"Oh sure, Mom. No problem." That clearly meant she wasn’t leaving me. She followed me up the ramp and through the van door back into darkness.

"Turn on the damn light. I can't see a thing." My whisper sounded harsh in the dark, at least it did until it was interrupted. There was a terrible crash. Then a moan.

"Oh my God. Where are you? Are you all right?"

The flashlight came on to show Susannah sitting in a corner, her back up against a hay bale.

"I tripped over some buckets."

"Maybe you can find some firecrackers to set off next.” I snapped at her in relief she wasn’t hurt. . “They wouldn’t make much more noise. What’s all this stuff?"

The light traveled slowly around the inside of the van. We were in the empty middle; empty except for the hay bales Susannah sat on. A few plastic sacks that said wood shavings were shoved in a corner along with the pails, and some long plastic things that looked like fish net hung on the wall.

“
What are those things?” Curiosity momentarily won over the need to hurry.

"Hay nets." Susannah got to her feet. She brushed straw off her bottom. "These are stalls. You back the horse into that space there, swing this padded bar against its side and secure it with this pin. These chains go in front of the horse’s chest."

There were padded metal arms on each side of us, suspended from the ceiling. They looked very efficient and at some other time I’d be fascinated to see how it all worked, but not now.

"I don't need a lesson in horse transporting." I was beginning to get nervous. We’d been in here too long and had made too much noise. "I want to know what Chovalo was looking for. Flash the light around."

It came to rest on two blue tack trunks.

"Where did those come from?"

"I've got a pretty good idea. Keep the light on them."

This time the lid was unlocked. Not a good idea, for neatly stacked on the upper tray were little plastic sacks filled with course white granules. Lots of little sacks. Lots of money. Lots of trouble.

"Oh dear God," breathed Susannah, the light glued on the trunk. "Is that…?"

"Now we really have something to tell Dan. Come on. We're getting out of here."

I was a little late. Lights came on. They flooded the inside of the van, momentarily blinding us. I gasped. Susannah screamed, but neither of us slammed down the trunk lid.

"I wondered what was going on down here." Linda stood in the doorway, a few stray hairs straggling out from her normally severe ponytail, legs still encased in those tight jeans.

"Oh, Linda. Thank God, it's only you," gasped Susannah.

"Only me," Linda repeated. "Who were you afraid it might be?" Her slightly nasal voice was expressionless, but the look in those pale brown eyes wasn’t.

"Chovalo, I guess. I can't believe it, but it must be true."

"What's true?" Linda filled the doorway. Her tone was only mildly curious, but she’d spotted the open lid on the tack trunk.

"Chovalo’s selling drugs. Or helping sell them. Look what we found." Susannah gestured toward the open trunk.

Linda took a half step forward. "You found something. In that trunk? What do you suppose it is?" She took another step forward and I took one backward. I aimed a kick at Susannah, trying to shut her up, but missed. Too bad.

"Drugs." Susannah waved at the open trunk in her most dramatic manner. “That’s what. We're sure that's what they are, aren't we, Mom."

I tried to get between Linda and Susannah while I figured out how to maneuver Susannah closer to the door. Linda took another couple of steps into the van, which made me happy, but she hadn't taken her hands out of her jacket pocket, which didn't.

"What do you plan to do now?"

Run like hell, I thought.

"Why, go get Dan, of course, and I think you should find Wes. Don't you think so, Mom?"