Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (7 page)

“Ace,” Chris said.

“No matter what you call him, the kid doesn’t need us.” Bill folded his arms across his chest defiantly.

“Yes, he does,” I said. “He’s just a little boy, no matter how grown up he thinks he is. And there’s a dead body in a grave in this yard; the second one in two days. He needs his father, and you,
Bill, need to settle down, too. Maybe you’ll be good for each other.”

Bill
glanced at Chris, and Chris nodded his head. “I guess I could use something to settle my stomach. Do you have anything in the house?” He suddenly clutched his stomach and ran behind the oak tree.

“Don’t mess up the crime scene,” I
called out, knowing I was too late.

Chris shook his head and walked toward the house. After a moment,
Bill followed him.

“How do you
do
it?” I heard Bill ask. “I’ve never seen a dead body before and I never want to see another one.”

A tear slid down my face when I glanced down at the body, and sadness engulfed me. I said a
prayer for Charlie, and for whoever might mourn his death.

About ten minutes went by before I heard sirens blaring. I watched while Jimmy’s police unit pulled into the drive, moving past the cottonwoods. Doc’s van wasn’t far behind.

Chris hurried out of the house and we met the two men together, hand in hand.

Jimmy approached us, with his head turned toward the hole in the ground.

“The cadaver’s in the same hole where we found old Henry,” Chris said. “Only this one is someone I’ve seen before, and it’s not just bones.”

Chapter Twelve

The copper hurried to the hole and looked downward, studying the latest stiff. “It’s Charlie Duncan,” he said. “Charlie’s dead.” He sounded surprised, and of course, he probably was.

Doc headed our way and Chris pointed toward the hole in the ground. Doc walked past us and joined Jimmy at the grave. “It’s Charlie,” he said,
surprise in his tone.

Chris rocked forward onto the balls of his feet before slipping his hands into his pockets
and settling back on his feet. Rolling his upper lip under, Bogey style, he said, “I guess no one expected Charlie to be bumped off.”

“
I guess not.” I rubbed my arms in the cool morning air, knowing it would warm up soon. “I’m going to go tell Mikey he can play in the back, but he can’t come out front. The dogs can stay inside until they take the body away.”

“Okay.”
Even though he replied, I wasn’t sure if Chris heard me or not. He immediately walked over to join Jimmy and Doc.

Bill
sat at the kitchen table with Mikey. The dogs sat next to Bill while he scratched their ears, and I could see they were in heaven.

“Yes, Uncle
Bill, my dad calls me Ace.
Everyone
except my Mom calls me Ace. She’s the only one who calls me Mikey, and
no one
says Michael. Hmm. Sometimes Grandma Judy forgets and calls me Mikey, but no one else.”

I smiled to myself and kept my mouth closed. This was a nephew to uncle discussion, worthy of telling Chris about later.

“Are you feeling any better?” I asked, sitting down across from Bill. “Did you take something for your upset stomach?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe you and my brother have been through this kind of thing before. How on earth could you let Mic…
Ace
, become involved in this kind of thing?”

That got m
y dander was up. “We don’t
allow
him to be involved. Do you think we told him to go dig in the yard until he found a dead body?”

“Good one, Mom.” Mikey grinned.

I gave him a motherly warning look he couldn’t ignore. His grin disappeared and he snapped his fingers at the dogs, needing a distraction. They deserted Bill and sat by Mikey’s side.

Bill
sat back in his chair and thought about what I’d said for a moment before changing directions. “So you and Chris know the victim?”

“
You do?
” Mikey asked, suddenly much too interested.

“No, we don’t know him. He was bussing our table at a local diner last night when we ate in town. We know who he is, but we don’t
know
him. Come on, Bill. We’ve been here on vacation for three days. We don’t know anybody around here.”

“Well, we know
the local coppers,” Mikey said, “and we know Doc.”

Bill
turned to my son. “Doc?”

I shushed Mikey and replied for him.
“He’s the local doctor, and apparently he doubles as the coroner. We don’t really
know
these people.”

“Sure we do, Mom. We spent all day yesterday with them.” He looked at
Bill. “And the Chief of Police had a heart attack, but not the Widow Maker, right in our yard. He lived though. And we said a prayer for him and his heart.”

Bill
’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

I mentally rolled my eyes. Mikey was blabbing for all he was worth. “Don’t worry,
Bill. He’s going to be fine. And we had nothing to do with it.”

Mikey found himself in the role of the informed.
“And we know the people who own the diner, but best of all, we got to know Mr. Kimball, the man who runs the grocery store. Oh, and he’s the nephew of old Henry.”

“Old Henry?”
Bill tipped his head to the side, looking to Mikey for answers. He looked like he’d walked in during the middle of a movie.

“You know, the bones I found in the hole in the ground. He was from a long time ago, and there was gold
and silver buried with him. Oh, yeah, and he left a will, which is kinda interesting. He – ”

“Chris and I said we’d tell you the whole story this morning,” I interrupted. “Let me go get him and we’ll tell you what’s been going on.”

I stood, but Bill motioned for me to sit down. “I’ll go outside and see what’s going on. You can tell me the whole story when we come back.”

Watching
my brother-in-law leave the room, I listened for the creak of the screen door before turning to my son. “Mikey, you know what a fussbudget your uncle is. Let’s be careful about what we tell him.”

“I didn’t tell him anything he won’t find out anyway, did I?”

“No, I guess not. I just wish he hadn’t driven over here. Now we’ve got him to worry about on top of everything else.”

Glancing around, I didn’t see the dogs.

“Uh oh. I have a feeling Sherlock and Watson followed Bill outside. I hope they’re not in the way.”

“I’ll go get ‘em, Mom.”

“No you won’t. You just want an excuse to go see what’s happening. You stay right here. I’ll go get them.” I thought for a moment. “Well, you can go out to the back yard if you want to, but you can’t come out front. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I could hear frustration in his voice. I reminded myself that if I were his age, I’d
feel left out, too. Of course, my mother and father never would have been involved in a murder in the first place. Were we really involved?

Mikey ran out the back door while I joined the men in the yard.

Creak, bang!
The door announced me.

Doc was doing his job again, but he didn’t look too happy about it. He glanced up when I approached but quickly went back to work.

“Hey, angel,” Chris said. “I was just explaining to Bill about the gold diggers who were here last night. Look around. There are several holes. These people didn’t waste any time finding their shovels.”

“Why didn’t you call us last night?” Jimmy asked.
“After all, you had trespassers on the property.” He reached down and patted Sherlock’s head. The dogs were thankfully keeping their distance and letting Doc do his job.

“My brother showed up and scared them off. There had to be at least five trucks. I can’t believe we didn’t hear them pull in. But we were dead to the world after our long day.”

“Poor choice of words, bro,” Bill said.

“Sorry.”

“Jimmy, do you think Charlie was killed because of the gold and silver?” I asked.

“Probably, although it doesn’t look like anyone found the treasure. Charlie was well-liked around town
, so I can’t think of any other reason for his murder.”

“Murder,”
Bill said. “I’ve never really given that word much thought until now. You hear about these things, but you never see them. It doesn’t really mean a lot until you actually see a dead body – a murder victim.”

Chris showed compassion when he looked at his brother. “The
real world can be ugly sometimes, but we usually try to ignore distasteful things. Nobody wants to end up as buzzard bait.”

I rolled my eyes because I knew
Bill wouldn’t take well to the particular phrase Chris had used. I was familiar with his slang and often used it myself, but Bill wasn’t.

“Buzzard bait? What’s the matter with you, Chris? There’s a dead body here and you’re referring to him as
buzzard bait
?” Bill turned on his heel and headed for the house.

“I guess I’d better go after him,” Chris said.

“I guess so. And take the dogs with you.”

“Come,” he commanded, looking at Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock would follow Chris anywhere, to the ends of the earth if necessary, so he immediately stood and followed his master. Watson didn’t want to be left out and followed.

Watching Chris follow Bill, something caught my eye. Mikey was peeking around the side of the house. He saw me spot him and ran back to the rear of the house.

“Jimmy, do you
really
think Charlie was killed because of the treasure?” I asked.

“He was a very quiet man, but when he
did
speak, it was because he had something worth saying. He was just good ol’ Charlie, and everyone in town seemed to like him. If anyone had a grievance, I never heard about it.”

“Had he been in town long?”

“He lived here nearly all his life. He didn’t have any family.”

He sure didn’t sound like a man someone would hit over the head. Of course, you never know what’s just below the surface.

Chapter Thirteen

Jimmy helped Doc load Charlie’s body in the van and they took off, although they left crime scene ta
pe around the general area of the hole in the ground. The flatfoot had carefully picked up the shovel that had lain next to the grave and placed it in his patrol car. He said it didn’t look like it was the murder weapon, but he had to be sure, and it could have fingerprints on it.

“Are you people going to be sticking around for a while?” Jimmy asked.

“Yes, we’re still on vacation, although it’s sure been a weird one so far.” I reached up and pushed a stray strand of hair out of my face.

“Good, because I’d rather you don’t leave town until I get this figured out. After all, your family was here when Charlie was murdered.
Obviously you had nothing to do with old Henry’s death, but…” He didn’t finish his sentence, nor did he need to.

“We’re not going anywhere. You don’t really think we had anything to do with Charlie’s death, do you?”

“No, I can’t say I do. But just the same, please stick around.” He turned and headed for his patrol car, and when he left he didn’t look back.

I let Mikey take the dogs outside with the warning not to go near the grave site. Chris,
Bill and I sat down in the living room to talk. We needed to fill Bill in about what had been happening.

While
the brothers talked, Chris doing most of the speaking, I took a peek outside. Of course Mikey and the dogs were over at the grave checking things out. I left them alone because I figured Jimmy and Doc had found everything there was to find, and there was no longer a dead body for my son to examine. Besides, I knew there was no way I could keep the dogs away.

Bill
stood after hearing our story and began pacing the living room. “You mean to tell me there was gold and silver buried with the old guy and the whole town knows about it?”

“Yeah. And it looks like there’s going to be one heck of a treasure
hunt around here. Stu said a few years back someone found one gold coin and the whole town went nuts searching for more.” Chris had a half grin on his face. “However, it’s not going to matter. According to old Henry’s will, Ace inherits everything.”

“
Ace?
”

“Yeah.
In a nutshell, the will said if old Henry’s wife was gone, then whoever found his body would inherit the treasure.”

Bill
ran his hands through his hair. “Ace? You’re sure about that? And how am I going to keep these people off my property?”

Chris nodded
in reference to Mikey being the beneficiary and glanced out the window at him. “Short of walking the property line with a gat over your shoulder, I have no idea.”

“Gat? Gat? What’s a gat?”

“A gun,” I said. “Although I think he was actually referring to a rifle.”

“Yeah, like I’m going to walk around carrying a rifle.”
Bill had mussed his perfect hair style, but I decided it might be prudent not to mention it. He had a little bit of the Alfalfa hairdo at the moment, with strands sticking straight up in the air.

Chris stood and began pacing opposite his brother.
“Listen, bucko, we’re supposed to be here on vacation, celebrating me adopting Ace. How do you think
we
feel? So far this hasn’t been very relaxing. Pamela and I thought we’d get away from the restaurant for a few days and leave civilization behind. Instead we find an old stiff, a new stiff, and a town full of greedy, gold-hungry people.”

“And don’t forget about the Police Chief having a heart attack here,” I added.

“You’re not helping, cupcake.” Chris sounded angry, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t the object of his ire. “And now that I think about the will, I think we’d better keep a close eye on Ace. Who knows what these people are capable of?”

“Well, I’m staying,”
Bill said. “I told Stephanie I wouldn’t be home until we had this straightened out. Plus, I think you’re right about keeping an eye on Ace, and I can help watch him.” He stopped pacing and stood with his feet apart and a grim look on his face.

“You go ahead and cool your heels, but we’re going to finish our vacation and we’re going to have a good time.
You can join us or you can take a hike.” Chris turned and stomped out the front door. The screen door creaked and slammed behind him.

Bill
and I looked at each other. “Is he always like this? What’s he ticked off at
me
for?”

“
It’s not you. He’s only like this when Mikey might be in danger, or when dead bodies turn up unexpectedly.” I smiled, hoping he’d understand I was joking about the dead bodies. Mikey was another matter.

He smiled in return. “My brother is an unusual man. I think the fact that he resembles Humphrey Bogart has had an impact on him
and his life.”

I laughed
wholeheartedly. “Ya think?”

Bill
looked embarrassed. “I only meant – ”

“I know what you meant, and I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I live
and work with the Bogey Man on a daily basis and I’m used to his mannerisms and antics. It might interest you to know that the customers at our restaurant love Chris. We’ve got regulars who come in because they enjoy the food, but more than that, they adore Chris and the atmosphere. Did Chris tell you that two of our waitresses look like Marilyn Monroe and a Myrna Loy? And we have a waiter who resembles George Raft. Our other waitress doesn’t look like anyone famous, but she dresses the part, 1940s style.

“People take to Chris everywhere we go. In some cases I think it’s because he reminds them of a more romantic era. He embraces Bogart’s persona and uses it to his advantage because people love it. And so does he.”

“You call him the Bogey Man?”

“It’s a term of endearment.”

Bill scratched his chin. “My brother means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

“He’s the best thing that ever happened to me
, but I’d never tell him. It would go to his head.” I grinned, knowing Chris knew exactly how I felt. “He’s been good for Mikey, too. That child adores your brother.”

“I noticed Ace imitates Chris. Is that a good thing?”

“You bet it is. Chris is honest, he has integrity, and he’s fun. He brightens our day, every day.” I was getting carried away, but it was all true. Chris was no saint, but he was ours and I wouldn’t change a thing about him.

Creak, bang!

Chris was back. “What’s going on in here? What are you two jawin’ about?”

“You, Bogey Man. I think you and your brother need to become reacquainted with each other. You’ve spent too many years going in different directions. Jimmy said, and I quote, ‘Don’t any of you leave town,’ so this is the perfect time for a mini family reunion.
I just wish I had a sister or brother to turn to from time to time.”

Chris and Bill studied each other
for a moment before Bill held out his hand in a gesture of brotherly love, or maybe friendship. Maybe both. Chris shook hands with him.

“Chris, do you really think Mikey could be in danger?” I asked.

“I hope not, but these people really want that gold.”

I walked to the window and watched our son. The dogs were right next to him, and that made me feel better. They’d never let anyone bother Mikey.

“What about old Henry’s nephew?” Bill asked. “Won’t he feel like he has a right to the gold and silver?”

Chris tipped his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders. “He’s read the will, but he didn’t say anything about the contents. We’ll have to wait and see. I guess he could get an attorney and fight it. He didn’t act too concerned about it though.
I got the feeling he’s happy doing exactly what he wants in that grocery store of his.”

“Gold, silver and a bunch of lunatics. How much worse could it get?” Bill sat down and rubbed his eyes and face before leaning back and loudly sighing.

Experience told me things could get a lot worse if we weren’t careful.