Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (11 page)

Chapter Twenty

“He told Charlie about this?” I asked. “Rubbed the marriage in his face?”

“Pretty much.
He told Charlie he ruined the woman for any other man, making it sound like he had a double meaning.” Jimmy’s lips formed a straight line across his face before he went on with the story. “Charlie was beside himself. I guess this woman was the love of his life, and he couldn’t stand the thought of Tony being with her.”

“Why did
Tony come here?” Chris asked.

The copper
’s lips took a downturn before he spoke. “Don’t know. He just showed up, rented an apartment and took a job at the local feed store. I don’t like this guy. He seems to enjoy bothering people, and he still drinks a lot. I’d like to have run him out of town as soon as he turned up, but there was nothing I could do.”

“Is it possible, after all these years, that Charlie hooked up with this woman? Could she be here in town?” I asked.

“If she’s here, no one ever mentioned it.” Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck. It had been a long day for him.

“Is there anyone new around here by the name of Jonni? He said that was her name.”

“Nope. We don’t get too many newcomers, and there certainly isn’t anyone by that name around here.”

“So,” Chris asked, “do you have any suspects? Anybody look good for Charlie’s murder?”

“Not yet, but I’ll be asking Tony where he was last night. He’s what they call a ‘functioning alcoholic’. He shows up for work every day and does his job, but most of the rest of the time he’s drinking. That boy is trouble with a capital
T
.”

I chuckled inwardly at Jimmy calling the older man a boy. Jimmy was just a boy himself.

“So no suspects?” Bill asked.

“Well, you folks, of course. You were
all here last night.”

“You don’t really think we could have killed him
, do you?” I was indignant that he might suspect us. Why would any of
us
kill Charlie?

Jimmy smiled. “No, ma’am. I don’t really think any of you did it. No motive, other than him digging up your yard and trying to steal the gold, but half the town was out here last night
doing the same thing.”

A slight exaggeration, but I let it pass. Half the town?

“What about the gold we just found?” Bill asked. “Are you going to take it into town with you? Or can we – uh, Ace – keep it here?”

“If you’ve got a safe place for it, there’s no reason for me to take it in. I know what the will said about an heir, so it belongs to your son,” he said, looking at Chris.
“Of course, Stu could always contest the will, but I don’t think he will. That’s just not his style.”

“I’ve got just the place for it,” Bill said.
He let the comment about contesting the will fly right over his head.

“Okay, well, I’m heading back into town to look into Hellman’s whereabouts last night. If you need anything, call me.”

“Are you on duty all the time?” I asked. I knew Serenity had a small police force, but really.

“I’m always available, but no. I’m not on duty all the time. We have two other officers besides me. Delbert
Hickman is on vacation and John Rosebutz will be on duty tonight.”

Mikey giggled.

“Rosebutz? Is he a relation to old Henry?” Chris asked.

“Can you believe it? They’re no relation. Who’d have thought we’d have two people with
a distinctive name like that from a town this size without them being related?” Jimmy shook his head. “Although, with all this gold showing up I’ll bet he wishes he was a nephew or something. Anyway, I’ll have him cruise by your house during the night, just in case.”

Jimmy left, giving us a final warning to keep our eyes open.

“I’d better get the barbeque started,” Chris said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Bill, why don’t you go inside and get the meat. Pamela can fix something to go with the burgers. Ace can supervise the barbequing.” Chris grinned at our son.

Chris and Mikey headed for the barbeque while I stood with Bill and surveyed the property.

“You know, Bill, this could have been a lot worse.”

“How do you figure
?”

“At least they only dug in the dirt. They could have dug up the grassy part of the yard.” I turned and walked to the house, ready to cut tomatoes and an onion.

I heard Bill groan as I walked away.

I took the things I needed out of the refrigerator and found a sharp knife.
I hummed to myself, glad for a few minutes of peace and quiet.

“Just so you know, I’m putting the sack of gold in the attic,” Bill said.

I jumped, not having heard him come into the house. Maybe I was getting used to the sound of the screen door. “Okay. That’s probably a good place for it. I didn’t even realize the place had an attic.” I patted my chest, willing my heart to slow down.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. There’s a pull-down door in the hallway. You wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking for it. It’s really more of a crawl space, but I stored a few things up there.”

“Good hiding place, from the sounds of it.” I looked Bill in the eye for a moment. “I’m really happy to see you and Chris getting along so well.”

He set the dirty leather pouch on the kitchen table and sat down in one of the chairs. “My brother and I are so different. He’s more like Mom – kind of flighty. I’m more like our father. He’s quiet and kind of a no-nonsense kind of guy.
Well, I guess I’m not always quiet.”

“
No, you’re not. You know, Chris isn’t really flighty. He’s as dependable as they come. He’s really been good for both me and Mikey.”

“Okay, the
n let’s say he’s a non-conformist. The point is, we’re very different in a lot of ways. I’ve always put my head down and done what needed to be done. Chris always took things as they came and made the best of them. And honestly? This Bogey thing kinda gets on my nerves.”

“You’ll get used to it,” I said. “And really, Bill, he doesn’t imitate Bogart all the time. Just when it’s a means to an end or he’s being cute.”

“Cute? Chris?”

“The women who know who Bogey is just go nuts when your brother goes into Bogey mode. It’s actually helped us on some of our cases. Give him a break, Bill. Just because you do things differently doesn’t mean Chris is wrong.”

My brother-in-law nodded. “I guess you’re right. He’s surprised me with some of his ideas about last night’s fiasco. He seems to know what he’s doing.”

“And remember,” I said, “we’ve never actively sought out any of the cases we’ve handled. People came to us for help.”

“You call them cases?”

“Only because I don’t know what else to call them. After all, we’re not private investigators, even if we act like we are sometimes.” I started cutting the onion and my eyes teared up. I sniffled.

Bill stood and picked up the pouch. “I’d better get rid of this.”

I wondered if he thought I was crying.

A few minutes later I glanced out the window and saw Mikey and the two men surrounding the barbeque. I smiled to myself, thinking about how many blessings I had in my life.

Setting the table kept my hands occupied, but my mind wouldn’t let me rest. I wondered who
’d really killed Charlie. And why had they picked our yard as a scene for the crime? Was Tony just your average everyday liar? Could I have been standing in the yard with a killer? Who else might have had it in for the busboy from the Burnt Bun?

My last thought gave me a chill. What would this night bring?

Chapter
Twenty-one

There’s nothing quite like a barbequed hamburger, or a barbequed anything for that matter. I heated some beans and baked some French fries to go with the burgers. Stu’s store had a small deli and I’d picked up some potato salad, too.

After eating we sat out on the porch and, as Chris would put it, chewed the fat for a while. He and his brother spoke of childhood memories and had a laugh or two. Mikey laughed loudest of all, enjoying the stories.

Bill told Chris how proud of him he was for adopting Mikey and being a good father to him. I listened without commenting and let the men have the evening. In a way, I wished I had a female friend there to visit with in the kitchen.

Instead, I eventually left them talking
, after reminding Chris to make sure Mikey didn’t stay up too late, and took my book upstairs to read before going to sleep. I hoped we’d have an uninterrupted night. Too bad hopes aren’t absolutes.

I wasn’t sure what time Chris
came to bed, but when I awoke and looked at the clock it was two o’clock in the morning. He was sleeping deeply, not even snoring. His snoring had been a bone of contention between us once upon a time. Eventually I’d gotten used to it and found it to be almost a comforting sound.

Sitting up, I listened for a moment. Had I heard something outside or were the occurrences of the previous night making my imagination work overtime?
I listened again. The noise came from inside the house. I heard footsteps in the living room. One of the dogs made a snuffling sound. It was loud, not the sound of a sleeping dog.

I heard the creak and bang of the screen door just before Bill’s voice boomed
and the dogs began barking.

“
I told you people not to come back here
,” he yelled. “
I’ve got a gun and I’ll use it if I have to.
”

Those words spurred me into action. I reached over to poke Chris, but he was already climbing out of bed.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Your brother’s at it again, and so are the
treasure hunters.” I threw on a bathrobe while Chris pulled on his jeans, and I headed for the living room, stopping for a quick look at Mikey. He was stirring, but not yet awake.

I heard
quick footsteps and turned in time to see Chris run out the front door. I followed him.

Creak, bang!

People were yelling and engines were starting. Bill
and the dogs had frightened people. He was holding his rifle high in the air for everyone to see. I couldn’t make out faces as people ran for their vehicles.

Chris had already gotten the dogs under control, to a point. They stood next to him, but they wouldn’t sit.

Creak, bang
.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Mikey stood by my side, rubbing his eyes.

“Back in the house, Ace,” Chris said. “I don’t want you out here right now.”

“But Dad – ”

“Now! I don’t want you out here.”

Mikey slowly walked, backwards, toward the house.

Hand on my hip, I pointed at the house with my other hand. “Your father said now, and he meant it. And take the dogs with you.”

My son turned toward the house and hung his head, still managing to walk as slowly as possible.
“Come on, Sherlock and Watson. We’re not needed here.”

“Bill, what are you doing?” Chris said. “You’re not going to shoot that rifle so put it away.” He sounded angry, and I couldn’t blame him.

“Yeah, well… These people are getting on my nerves. And who knows? One of them could be dangerous. We
did
have a murder here, if you recall.” Bill lowered the rifle to his side.

“There will be no shooting,” I said. “Not tonight or any other night. I won’t have you waving guns around with Mikey so close by.”

“Gun,” Bill said. “It’s one gun and I wasn’t waving it around. I just held it up so they could see it. It isn’t even loaded.” He sounded disgusted. “What do I have to do? Sit on the porch all night long so they’ll stay away?”

I tapped Chris on the shoulder. “Honey, there’s someone walking toward us.” I could see a male figure coming out of the shadows
near the oak tree and heading our way.

Chris and Bill turned toward the figure and I watched as both men took a stance with their feet apart. Chris folded his arms across his chest and Bill lifted his rifle over his shoulder, making sure it could be seen.

The figure closed in on us.

Creak, bang.

The dogs pushed the screen door open and rejoined us, watching the man and standing quite still. Their hackles were up.

“Stu? What are you doing out here?” I asked. “I mean, really, if you want the gold, just say so. You don’t have to dig for it with the others.” I was astonished to see him on the property.

“Don’t misunderstand,” he said. “I only came out to see what was going on. I could hear cars driving past the house and it was so early in the morning. I knew something was up. I didn’t have to worry about Jean waking up, so I decided to see if they were on their way back out here. Obviously, they were. I thought maybe I could put a stop to the treasure hunting.”

I glanced at Chris. He looked skeptical. “So what were you doing over by the oak tree?”

“Since I was here, I wanted to see where they found ol’ Henry. I understand that’s where they found Charlie, too. My curiosity got the best of me.”

“What about the gold?” I asked.

“Frankly, Pamela, I think over the years the legend has grown. I doubt there’s nearly as much hidden gold as people think. I’m comfortable and I don’t need your son’s inheritance. To be honest, I’ve gotten quite a kick out of that will.” Stu smiled, accentuating his comments.

“Uh huh.” Bill looked even more skeptical than Chris.
He cleared his throat. He knew who Stu was because we’d filled him in after he’d first arrived, but he hadn’t met him yet.

“Oh, Stu, you haven’t met my brother-in-law yet. He owns this property and he’s tired of people digging it up. Anyway, Stu, this is Bill.”

Stu held out his hand and Bill grudgingly took hold while they shook.

“If you’ve got any
pull in this town, make these people leave us alone.” Bill lowered his rifle from his shoulder. He looked like he was challenging the man.

“Well, I’ve got a little pull around here
, although not much. I’m the mayor of this town, although that doesn’t mean much. I’ll see what I can do.”

Chris and Bill immediately relaxed. I guess finding out Stu was an official made him a bit more dependable in their estimation.

Taking the hint from the brothers, both dogs relaxed, too.

“Well, tell them they’re ruining a perfectly good vacation for us,” I said.

“And I’m tired of losing sleep every night,” Chris added.

“Yeah, and I’m tired of filling in holes.” Mikey had quietly returned and stood behind me.

“Ace, I told you to go inside,” Chris said.

“But everybody left. I can stay outside now, can’t I?”

Chris couldn’t argue with that logic. He turned his gaze back on Stu.

“Why don’t you tell the people my brother has a hot temper so it might be best if they stay away?” Chris laid his hand on Bill’s shoulder.

“I don’t have a hot –”

“Yes, you do,” Chris said. “For our purposes, you’re a big
lug with bats in the belfry. Got that?”

“Sort of, but – ”

“It can’t hurt for people to think you’re a little bit nuts. At least we might get some sleep. Now go put your rifle away.” I sounded like I was telling my son to put away his toys.

Stu smiled at each of us in turn. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a time of it. Serenity really is normally a very serene town. People just go crazy when there’s gold to be had – or, at least they
think
there’s gold buried out here.”

Chris rocked back on his heels
and looked Stu square in the eyes. “I’m kinda surprised they came back since Charlie was bumped off out here. You’d think a murder would scare them off. You got any ideas about that?”

“Not a one,” Stu replied. “Now I’m going home and maybe you folks can get a little more sleep.”

“I think shut eye is out of the question for me. I may just sit on the porch and eyeball things for a while. My gal Friday can keep me company.”

“What’s a gal Friday?” Bill asked.

“My assistant.” Chris snickered.

“Your gal Friday is going inside to get some more sleep.
Your guy Thursday can sit with you.” I gave Bill a pointed look. “Come along, Mikey.” I took hold of his hand and led my son back to his bedroom, with him moaning and complaining each step of the way.