No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) (11 page)

“That’s taking it serious.”

“Individual’s abilities to handle their emotions
vary.
 
Sean has a tougher time with his.
Like I said, it’s been a long time, and he’s still in bad shape.”

“Where were you today?”

“We went back to the site of the original incident, or at
least what we think was the original location.
 
The place has grown and private homes have taken the place of the rental
cabins.
 
Fortunately, the road is still
there.
 
Paved now, instead of dirt, but
it follows the same route.
 
The cabin
stood near the end of the road. Nothing’s there now. It’s part of a larger
lot.”

“Any landmarks?”

“The old driveway, mostly overgrown but
definitely a driveway at one time.
The owners have left everything but a
small area around the new house in its natural state. The house is set back off
the road, probably centered on the lot.
 
There was no fence and the owners did not appear to be home, so we just
walked around.”

“Did it do any good?”

“You never know; we talked about the event again, but
we’ve done that a million times before.”

“Ever done it out here before?” I asked.

“No. First time out here and my hope was that his seeing
the trees, the mountains, driveway, whatever, would help bury the original
memories of the place.”

I wasn’t sure how that was supposed to help, but then I
wasn’t the shrink.

“I don’t mean to sound rude, but why are you here instead
of with him?”

“I’m not a lawyer.
 
They won’t let me guide the interview, and besides, I think the guy in
charge accepts our story.
 
While Sean and
I were out there we talked to a mailman. We also got gas at the country store.
We used a credit card.”

“He was shot early today.
 
They may just think you went there afterwards to build an alibi.”

“From what the detective said, I think we were getting gas
about the time the guy was shot.
 
Besides, we don’t even know the victim.”

“Well, I hope it works out for you both. Maybe the shock
of this event will actually help him.”

“I’ve thought about that.
 
It’s a possibility.”

“Will they be bringing him back?”

“I doubt it.
 
I
agreed to meet the detective at the station at four. He said Sean would be
released to me if nothing else came up.”

“Detective Bruno appears to be a straight shooter.”

“I don’t trust cops,” he said and finished his beer.
 
“I need to go back to the room for a few
minutes before I go.”
 
Colt stood
up.
 
“Thanks for the beers.”

I watched him walk away.

ou two looked like you were having
a serious conversation,” Bev said. She had walked up behind me as I was
watching Colt leave.

“We were. By the way, how’d you know what he was
drinking?”

“The Sam Adams?
 
Easy,
that tap
drips
for a while after every pour. I hadn’t used it today, but I saw it dripping
when I returned to the bar.”

“Quite the detective,” I said.

She smiled.
 
Her
smile looked genuine and warm. It could grow on me.

“I imagine he didn’t say his brother was the murderer.”

“No, he’s actually his cousin, and I think I believe
him.
 
How long did you say you’ve lived
here in this area?”

“Only a few years.
 
Why?”

“His cousin went through a tough time about fifteen years
ago.
 
Seems like a
woman came to visit him, just to bleed all over him and his cabin before
dying.”

“What?”

“You don’t have a computer around here I could use?
 
I think the internet might be able to explain
it better than I can.”

Bev went behind the bar and was back in seconds carrying
an
iPad
.

“A modern woman,” I said.
 
I was only half kidding.
 
I had
stopped trying to stay up with technology when I retired from the Air Force.

“What are we looking for?” she asked.

“Look up Colt
Bettes
,” I spelled
his last name, “along with the word murder.”

She started jabbing at the screen. She had chosen the seat
to my right at the square table, but at the moment had the small tablet tilted
toward her.
 
I couldn’t see what she
pulled up.
 
She tapped the screen a few
more times.

“Jeez,” she whispered to herself. She tapped the screen
again.
 
“Have you seen these?”

“No.”

She started to turn the screen to me, but something else
must have caught her eye. She touched the screen again.

“Take your time,” I said.

“Did that guy tell you all about this?”

“Let me take a quick peek at what you’ve pulled up and I
can answer that question.”

“Oh, yeah,” she turned the screen toward me.
 
I leaned in to get a better look and she
scooted her chair closer to the corner of the table.

“Man Implicated in Vicious Murder of Local Woman” ran the
headline. Below the headline the article displayed a picture of a younger Sean
Bettes
.

“That’s the story he told me about.”

Bev read through the article and punched up another
similar one.
 
“So, what did happen? The
articles make it look like he did it.”

I walked Bev through the story that Colt had told me.
 
I left out Sean’s emotional issues and what
happened after that night.
 
I figured his
discovery of the dying woman on the front porch, passing out, and then finding
her later in the bedroom made an interesting story by itself.

“Can you imagine?” she asked wide eyed when I
finished.
 
“I would have totally freaked
out.”

“Me, too.”

Four of the hunting group strolled into the bar.

“Customers,” Bev said.
 
“I wondered when someone else would show up. Don’t go away,” she said.

While Bev walked to her place behind the bar, I studied
the approaching four.

I recognized Aaron Nesbitt, the guy that looked like he
had played professional ball, right away. I also recognized
Harv
but couldn’t remember if someone had told me his last name. The other two I
recognized as part of the group but had trouble fixing names with their faces.

I smiled and nodded as they passed by.
  
Only
Harv
acknowledged my presence. They ordered drinks at the bar and moved off to a far
table. Bev carried a batch of mixed drinks to them before returning to join me.

“I have a feeling they’re going to keep you busy,” I said.

“That’s good.
 
I’d
prefer to stay busy.”

“You ever get any help here with the bar?”

“Sure, there’re three of us.
 
With the construction going on, however, one
person can handle it.
 
During peak
seasons in the summer and the winter, we are busy with three here at the same
time.”

“I guess the lodge is lucky this didn’t happen during a busy
time.”

“Yeah, not much business to disrupt at the moment,” she
said. “It’s sort of like being in a ghost town around here right now.”

“Speaking of ghosts, last night, two things happened to me
that
were
kind of frightening.”

“What?” she asked and moved in closer to hear my story.

“Well, first, after I had turned off all the lights and
had just fallen asleep, my toilet flushed all by itself. I thought someone else
must have been in the room with me.”

“Oh, no!” she laughed out loud.
 
“You got one of
those
rooms.” She laughed again and smacked my arm.
 
“They were supposed to have all those rooms
fixed by now.
 
Let the front desk know
what happened.”

“I take it that it’s happened before?”

“Yeah, something to do with a slow leak in the tanks, or
something
like
that.
 
I thought they had fixed them all.”

“Not mine,” I said.

“In the past, some guests have insisted on being moved to
a different room.”

“I’m fine with the room, but I would like them to fix it.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Bev said.
 
She walked back to a phone behind the bar and
talked to someone.
 
After she hung up,
she checked on the table of hunters before returning to me.

“Mission accomplished,” she said. “Someone will be sent up
shortly to fix the problem.”

“Thanks.”

“You mentioned that two things happened last night.
 
What was the second?”

I smiled, thinking she wouldn’t be able to come up with a
quick fix for this story.
 
“Later in the
night, I heard someone crying--”

“Crying?”

“Sounded like a man. The strange thing is that it sounded
like the person crying was above me, on the third floor.”

“Where all the construction is going
on?”

“Uh-huh. I thought it was strange, too, so I went up to
investigate it.”

“In the middle of the night?”
She
made a face of mock terror.
 
“I would’ve
called security.”

“You have security?”

“Not really, but we’re supposed to call management if we
have a security issue.
 
Tell me, what
happened?”

“I went up and when I opened the door to the third floor
and peered in, it sounded like someone left the floor from the other end of the
building.
 
It was too dark to see
anything.”

“Did you walk through the floor?”

“No, too dark and I couldn’t find the light switch.”

“Too scary, too.
 
At least it would’ve been for me.”

“That, too,” I said with a smile.

She laughed.
 
“That
would’ve freaked me out. I never would’ve even gone to the third floor to
look.
 
Who do you think it was?”

“I have no idea. It sounded like a man.”

“Weird.
 
Why
wouldn’t he simply stay in his room to cry?”

“Maybe he was sharing a room with another guy.”

“That’s true.
 
You
guys can’t bear to be seen crying. Uh-oh, they’re waving at me.”

I watched her go over to the group and then head to the
bar.
 
Another round, I imagined.
 
I couldn’t picture any of the guys in the
hunting group being my crier.
 
My money
was on Sean.
 
Colt said he had emotional
issues. I debated with myself the value of asking him or Colt and came up with
a draw.
 
I would play it by ear.

“I’m sorry I missed lunch today.”

I looked up and back at the voice. Randi stood right
behind me dressed like anyone else might. Her hair this time was a very light
brown. It looked like her natural color. She even had on normal clothing, jeans
and a red blouse.

“That’s okay.
 
How
are you doing?”

“Fine.
 
This morning still doesn’t seem real.
 
I can’t believe Cross is really dead.”

“Sit down and join me, unless you’re headed over
there.”
 
I motioned with my head toward
the foursome.

“I told them I’d join them.
 
I’d rather sit with you, but I better go over
there.”
 
Despite her comment, she didn’t
move.

“Did the police talk to you?” I asked.

“Yes.
 
I think they
think I had something to do with it.”

“They probably wish it would be that easy. Did you
confess?”

“No way,” she said.
 
“It’ll take the third degree to get anything out of me.” She grinned at
her remark.
 
“You’re staying the night,
right?”

“Yes.”

“Good.
 
Never know
when a girl might get afraid again.”
 
She
winked and walked away.

“Your friend seems to have made a complete recovery,” Bev
said when she returned a few minutes later.

“I was thinking that myself, but people don’t always react
to things in the way we’d expect.”