Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-four

I led the way to the kitchen, my favorite place to sit and talk, and sat down at the table.

Jimmy, Chris and Mikey joined me. Sherlock and Watson sat next to the flatfoot, one on each side of him. They continued to sniff his slacks.

“D
idn’t you tell me you have a small puppy?” I asked.

“
Yes, although he’s not so small anymore.” He patted the Labs big heads and gently shoved them away.

Mikey eyed a package of cookies I’d bought at Stu’s store.

“Son, would you please bring the cookies over? I’m ready for a snack.” It was actually close to lunchtime, but once in a while I like to give in to my baser desires, and it wouldn’t hurt Mikey. We’d just have a late lunch.

Jimmy cleared his throat. “Look, folks, we’ve got to do something about all the treasure hunting going on around here.” He glanced at Chris. “And your brother pulling out a rifle isn’t going to help.”

“I know,” Chris said. “Any new leads about Charlie’s death?”

“Not really. Finding his watch might help though. Did you see any of the people who were here last night? Was anyone hanging out around the truck?”

“I couldn’t see their faces,” Chris said. “But Stu was here, too, so he might have recognized some of the people. He
may have seen someone digging near the truck, too. We talked to him last night, but at the time I hadn’t found the watch.”

“Chris, your brother was going to stop by Stu’s grocery store. I wonder if he’ll ask about the watch and the truck.”
I figured he should know.

Mikey offered the dogs each a cookie and they left Jimmy’s side.

The copper had a great poker face, I’ll give him that. The only reason I knew he was upset about Bill sticking his nose in things was because I saw his shoulders stiffen. Well, it was that and the fact he said, “Your brother needs to mind his own business.” He sounded quite irritated.

Chris, on the other hand, does
not
have a poker face. His lips pursed and his face turned a light shade of red. “My brother doesn’t know what he’s doing. You’re right. He needs to back off before he becomes bullet bait.”

This time Jimmy wasn’t quite sure about Chris’s meaning. “Bullet bait?”

“A target for a killer,” Chris said.

“Huh. I hadn’t heard that one before.”

I could almost see the flatfoot filing away the phrase for later use. He was enjoying Chris’s Bogey persona, regardless of the circumstances.

“Let me try calling Bill on his cell phone,” I said. “Maybe I can talk him into coming home. After all, this is all my fault.”

Two men and a boy turned to me in unison.

“Well, I asked him if he’d like to help.”

Chris pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. He doesn’t smoke, but sometimes he likes to Bogey a smoke to kill time, which meant he made a production of putting the cigarette in his mouth and letting it dangle from his lips like Bogart did in the movies. This told me he was stalling and wanted to choose his words carefully.

“Uh, shweetheart, are you trying to get my brother knocked off?” I was wrong. He hadn’t been careful with his wording.

“Of course not! I was simply trying to keep him busy. Unfortunately, I didn’t think ahead about what could happen.” I hung my head, sorry I hadn’t thought things through.

“Don’t be too hard on her, Cross. I think your wife meant well.” Jimmy looked like he was fighting to keep a grin off his face. He seemed to enjoy not only Chris, but our banter – if you could call it banter.

Picking up the cell phone, I left the room and tried calling Bill. My call went straight to voice mail. “Bill, you need to come home. You could be in danger, and it’s all my fault. At the very least, call me back. Oh, this is Pamela. And don’t ask a lot of questions while you’re in town.” I returned to the kitchen.

“Were you able to reach him?” Chris asked.

“No. I had to leave a message. I asked him to come home or call me.”

Jimmy stood. “I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll stop in and see Stu and ask who was out here last night. Tell your brother I still want to talk to him.”

Chris nodded before he walked the copper out to his car.

Bill came home about an hour and a half later, grinning from ear to ear, which made me suspicious.

“Did you get my message?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you were too late. I asked a lot of questions and stirred things up a little.”

“Oh, dear. Tell me you’re joking.”

“Nope. I talked to everyone who would open up to me.
Now you’ll have to excuse me. I drank a lot of coffee.”

Watching
him run into the house, I listened to the screen door creak and bang. Somehow it seemed like the sounds had an air of finality to them. I rolled my eyes, feeling like a drama queen. All he’d done was ask a few questions. How dangerous could that be? I knew from experience how dangerous it could be.

I walked around the yard, checking to see if any more holes needed to be filled in. Looking up, I saw Chris and Mikey coming up the long driveway with the dogs. I hadn’t realized how quiet things were.

“Where have you two been?”

“We went for a walk. I saw my brother pull in. Where is he?”

“In the house. He’ll be back in a minute.”

The dogs made a beeline for a water bucket I’d put out and gulped down plenty of water. With their thirst quenched, they settled themselves on the porch, ready for a nap.

Bill walked out the door and turned to stare at the screen door when it banged shut. “I need to do something about that door. I’m sure I’ve got some oil or something around here.”

“I kind of like the sound,” I said. “I can’t explain it, but there’s something comforting about it
, kind of like Chris’s snoring at night.”

Bill shrugged and joined us in the yard.

“So what happened in town?” Chris asked.

“Not much, but I may have set things up for the killer to give himself away.” My brother-in-law was grinning again.

“You
what?
What do you mean? What did you
do
, ya big chump?” Chris was decidedly unhappy, and that’s putting it mildly.

Bill’s grin disappeared and he looked surprised. “I asked a lot of questions, and I kind of spread the word that we
know
things. I said we’d found possible clues out here.” His demeanor suddenly changed to irritation. “And don’t call me a chump again. Pamela asked me to help and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Uncle Bill, that’s not the way to solve a case,” Mikey said. “Listen to my dad. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s done this before.”

I reached out and pulled him to my side. I had a feeling this was one of those times when children should be seen and not heard.

Chris dropped his head and studied his shoe for a moment before looking at his brother. “I know the Cupcake asked you to help, but not like this. You just made yourself a target, ya big…” He let whatever name had come to mind slip away. “I know we don’t always see eye to eye, but now we could
all
be in danger.”

Without hesitation, Bill said, “I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t think about any danger being involved.”

I could tell Chris wanted to say more, but he let it go, at least for the moment. “Let’s talk about this later, after we’ve all had time to think about it.”

The rest of the day was relatively quiet. Mikey and Bill did a little more treasure hunting, and Chris filled in holes. We had a late lunch and a late dinner.

When we finally went to bed I said a short prayer asking for some uninterrupted sleep.

Thankfully, no one came and dug in the yard that night. We all slept soundly. I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to face anything.

Glancing out the window, I saw Bill washing his truck. Fat lot of good that would do with all the dust in the yard.

He opened the driver’s side door of the truck with a damp rag in his hand, and leaned in. I saw him pick something up, read it, slam the door and stomp up to the house.

Something about the stomping told me he wasn’t bringing good news.

Chapter Twenty-five

I met Bill at the door. “What’s wrong?”

“Chris may have been right.” He shoved a piece of paper into my hand.

I read it and handed it back to him. “This could mean trouble,” I said.

“Ya think?” He was angry
and when he realized he was taking it out on me, he stopped cold. “I’m sorry, Pamela. It’s not your fault.”

“What’s going on out here?” Chris asked. He stood
wearing nothing but a towel, dripping on the hardwood floor. “I could hear you all the way in the bathroom.”

Bill handed Chris the note, and
he read it aloud. “
Leave things alone
,” it said. “
Some things aren’t meant to be out in the open. If you care about your life, go home!
” He turned and walked in the direction of the bathroom, leaving us standing and watching his back, before he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “This isn’t turning out to be much of a vacation.” He slammed the bathroom door behind him.

Mikey and the dogs came running out of his room. “How come dad slammed the door?”

“He and your uncle aren’t having a very good morning so far. Go get dressed and I’ll start breakfast.”

“Could I just have cereal this morning?”

“Sure. Why not? Maybe we’ll all have cereal today.” I really wasn’t in the mood to cook a big breakfast.

Rubbing his eyes, he watched me for a moment before returning to his room.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” I called after him.

“You have a great son,” Bill said. “I like Ace. Maybe one of these days Stephanie and I will have a son.”

“I’m proud of him, although sometimes he seems a little too mature for his age. I’m not always sure Chris and I are good role models.”

“Trust me, you are.”

“Thank you.” Sometimes my brother-in-law surprised me.

Sherlock was nudging me and I knew it was time for their breakfast, too. The dogs followed me out to the kitchen and I filled their bowls before setting them outside on the porch.

“I heard it’s supposed to be hot and windy today.” Bill was making small talk, avoiding the question of the note.

Sometimes I liked to tackle things head-on.
“I wonder who left the note. I also wonder if it was meant specifically for you or if it includes all of us.”

“If I were to make a guess, I’d have to say someone wants all of us to leave. Now the question is, did the killer really leave the note or was it one of the treasure hunters?”

“I’m going to say we have to assume it was the killer,” Chris said. “Was there anything else in the truck besides the note?”

We turned and saw him standing in the doorway
, fully dressed.

“I didn’t really look,” Bill said. “After I saw the note I didn’t think about anything else. Maybe I should take a look.
The window was open, so someone could have just tossed it inside and left.”

While I pulled cereal boxes out of the cupboard and set the table, the brothers walked out to examine the truck for clues.
Mikey joined me in the kitchen. Glancing out the window, I saw the trees waving. The wind Bill had mentioned had come up. Maybe it would cool the air.

The brothers returned
empty-handed and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Maybe we should just go home,” I said. I knew
in my heart the next step could be something a lot worse than a poisoned pen note.

“I need to take the note to the copper,” Chris said. “Maybe he’ll be able to do something about the handwriting. Maybe he’ll recognize it. It
is
a small town, after all. What kind of an idiot would leave a note in their own handwriting?”

“One who figures he won’t get caught?” Bill picked up the note and read it again.

“What note?” Mikey asked.

“Oh, someone left a note for Bill in his truck,” I said. “Someone thinks we should just go home and forget about the treasure and Charlie.” Not wanting to scare my son, I tried to keep my tone light.

He sat up straighter. “It seems to me we can let someone scare us off, or we can stay and fight.”

I patted his back. “You’ve been watching too much television lately.”

He grinned and scooped up a spoonful of cereal.

Things were quiet for a few minutes while we ate.

“Do you think we should leave?” Bill asked.

Chris spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “Maybe, or maybe not. Who did you talk to in town yesterday? Did anyone seem discombobulated?”

“Huh?”

“Did anyone seem upset?” I translated.

“Oh.
Everyone
seemed upset. Let’s face it. They all knew Charlie, and it seems like they all liked him.”

“Not everyone,” Mikey said.
He picked up his bowl and rinsed it in the sink before sitting down again. “Somebody out there is crazy like a fox and really didn’t like Charlie. Am I right?”

“Your kid just cracks me up,” Bill said.

Mikey grinned. “There’s lots more where that came from.”

Chris looked proud of his son, which for some reason surprised me.
“Your uncle is right, Ace. You’re a hoot, and we needed a little comic relief.”

While I did the dishes, the brothers talked about the note and whether they really needed to worry. The general consensus was, they needed to worry.

Glancing out the window I saw that the wind had already died down. The trees were barely moving in a light breeze.

“Bill and I are going into town to see Jimmy,” Chris said. “Do you and Mikey want to go with us?”

“I think I’ll stay here,” I said. “Mikey, why don’t you stay with me? We can walk down to the creek and do a little fishing.”

“But there aren’t any fish in the creek,” he said.

“All we need is a bamboo pole or a stick and some string and we can make sure if there are any fish or not. It might be fun, and it sure as heck would be more of a vacation activity.”

Mikey thought for a moment. “Okay, Mom, I’ll stay here with you. Can I wade in the water?”

“Absolutely.”

After Chris and Bill left, Mikey and I went in search of something to use for a homemade fishing pole. We found a couple of long sticks in the shed, and I found string in the house. I attached a couple of safety pins at the end of the strings and we were ready to fish our little hearts out.

“Where did you learn to do that, Mom?” A mother’s dream. My son was impressed.

“My grandpa taught me. He taught me a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

The dogs followed us to the creek and while we
walked I told Mikey a little about his great-grandfather.

“I wish you’d known him,” I said. “I think you really would have liked each other.”

Mikey nodded. “I’m sure I would have liked him. It sounds like he was fun.”

“He was.”

We sat down by the side of the creek and threw our strings in the water, hanging onto the poles. Actually, I think the sticks were called dowels. The dogs tried to go in the water but I made them wait because I was afraid they’d get caught up in the safety pins.

The stream was surrounded by fir trees and bushes, and it almost felt like we’d left civilization behind. Mikey pointed out a squirrel he saw climbing a tree before showing me a bush he thought might be poison oak or poison ivy. I didn’t think it was, but I didn’t tell him he was wrong.

The wind had picked up a little again, but it felt good. I loved the sound it made as it whistled through the trees. A few clouds had moved in with the wind.

We’d been relaxing for about half an hour when I heard someone coming. Twigs snapped and leaves crunched.
If someone was trying to sneak up on us they were making way too much noise, so I thought maybe Chris and Bill had come back for some reason.

“Who’s there?” I called.

I waited, but no one answered. In fact, there were no more noises, other than the wind. Whoever it was had stopped. I glanced at the dogs and they were sitting very still, watching the trail we’d taken to the creek.

“Who’s there?” I
called again.

Maybe
it was just the wind I’d heard, but I didn’t think so.