A Murky Murder

by Constance Barker

  “Ugh,” Charli said, imagining it.

  “Exactly,” Tanner said. “Not a pleasant end. But if he was stumbling around in the dark...”

  “And you found panther tracks, I understand,” Elle said.

  “That’s true,” he said. “The other fellas said he heard a woman screaming, or crying for help. That might’ve been what he heard.”

  “That’s what Carter’s buddies think,” Charli told him.

  “Of course, we don’t think they are telling us all they know. It seems weird that they didn’t even hear something that was loud enough to scare their friend,” Elle said. She wrinkled her nose.

  “I can’t say,” Tanner said.

  Charli couldn’t help but ask the question everyone seemed to be walking around. “If there was a panther out here, could it have eaten him?”

  Tanner smiled. “If she’d eaten him here, we’d find the remains being picked at by bugs and birds and other scavengers. We found some remains, but they weren’t human.”

  “What were they?”

  “They are, as they say, under investigation. I think it was a whitetail deer.”

  “So the panther killed a deer?”

  “I don’t think so. Again, there wasn’t much left of it at all. It looked to me like someone tried to hide it, so we are investigating what went on.”

  “That wasn’t in the police report,” Elle said.

  “They didn’t seem to think it was relevant,” Tanner said. “A dead wild animal, more or less, had nothing to do with them. Or so they said.”

  Charli took it all in. “And a panther couldn’t have carried the body off? Either the deer or Carter Block?”

  “Not likely. A full-grown man is a pretty big kill for a panther to take any distance. We didn’t see any sign that she dragged a body off, and no sign of a place where he might’ve bled out.” He put his hands on his hips. “Either body would be quite a load for a panther, dragging a full-grown man off. And the only blood trail at all was that of the deer.”

  “So we know nothing?” Elle said, sounding to Charli as if she was fed up with the case already.

  Charli stared back at the lake and knew that this was where she’d been standing in her dream. The Lake Woman had been down there, where the tracks ended.

  “There are those tracks,” Ranger Tanner said.

  Elle was getting impatient. “So you are saying Carter went to the water’s edge and disappeared?”

  “Well, I can’t say for sure that they were Carter Block’s. Could’ve been some fisherman, or even a poacher.”

  “You get those here?”

  He shook his head. “Afraid so. Everywhere there are animals with hides and antlers that are worth money, there are poachers.”

  “That’s sad,” Charli said. “And you can’t protect them?”

  He sighed. “There aren’t enough rangers and the penalties aren’t particularly severe even when we do catch them red-handed.”

  Elle stood with her arms crossed, looking out over the water. “I assume that searching the lake for his body would be expensive.”

  “And probably pointless,” Ranger Tanner said. “Even though it isn’t deep, the water is murky and the bottom is silty. I doubt divers could find a body down there unless they got really lucky.” He pointed to where the water came inland in narrow rivulets. “Even in these fingers it’s real swampy. People get stuck all the time and we’ve found dead animals that were trapped.”

  Charli stared into the trees feeling a familiar sensation. Branches hung down creating shadows. After a moment she realized it made her think of the long hair of the green woman in her dream and it irritated her that the woman was poking into Charli’s daylight time. “Go away,” she muttered.

  “Are you okay, Charli?” Elle asked.

  She laughed. “Fine. I just got distracted. This place is a little spooky.”

  “Try it at night,” Tanner said. “It gets more than just a little spooky.”

  Charli pictured being there in the dark, unable to see what was in the shadows, imagining the way moonlight might shimmer on the water. She saw herself standing in that very spot, in the dark, and listening to a woman screaming in the trees, and she shivered. “I think we’ve learned everything we can here, Elle,” she said, although something told her that wasn’t entirely true.

  “Me too,” Elle said. “Let’s get back to town.”

  “I hope to see you ladies again soon,” Tanner said.

  He was smiling... a sincere smile that warmed Charli’s heart. “I’d like that,” she said, and then felt a little silly about saying it that way. A person said things like, “you just might,” or “of course I’ll come back out here and camp sometime.” She’d make it sound like she was hoping he’d ask her out. Of course, that was exactly what she was doing.

  Fortunately, Elle didn’t seem to notice. “That ranger sure wasn’t much help,” she said.

  “Tanner? I don’t think he knew anything that would be helpful, that’s all. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

  “I guess,” Elle said. “I need a beer.”

  “Now that sounds about right,” Charli agreed.

  Chapter 6

  Carter's Love Life

  The next day, on her way home from the store, Charli stopped off to see Dorian. “How’s the hunt for truth amid the fog of legend going?” he asked cheerfully. “Learn anything the insurance company wants to hear?”

  Charli grinned. “Well, the idea of a woman eternally chasing love, or at least husbands, in the swamp might seem rather romantic, but the version of it that I’m encountering is more frustrating.”

  “How so?”

  She told him of the visit to the lake and what little they’d learned from the ranger. He nodded thoughtfully. “I’m sure you know that most of these Indian legends, especially the ones that pass from tribe to tribe, get many spins.”

  She laughed. “Ah yes. In the retelling there is elaboration, even change. And the point you are making assumes that my dream is connected to that legend.”

  “That’s how it seems to be going. You must think so too.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Point is, I was online yesterday, looking at some other tellings of the story.”

  “Anything good?”

  “Maybe. While there isn’t any useful information, I did come up with a question or two.”

  “Such as?” Charli asked.

  “Well, in one version, of the story, the brave who disappeared was lured away by a woman from another tribe. There are several versions of this one; in some the woman used magic to lure him away and in others it’s just sex. But fundamentally, the issue is he just took off. The woman went into the swamp to find him, thinking he must be lost. After some years of putting up with her stomping around, the forest gods noticed she was growing old and weak. They admired her determination and granted her immortality so she could continue her search. Of course, in one version of that, she found the couple and killed them both and the immortality was given to her as a curse for having done that. Either way, she wanders around and from time to time grabs some poor soul for a new husband.”

  “Okay, so that’s the more bloodthirsty version. But what question does that raise?”

  “Well, regardless of the veracity of this particular version, it inspired me to think along those lines. What if he had a lover?”

  “You mean Carter Block? I have no idea.” She looked at Dorian. “You think he might’ve run off with another woman and left his buddies to report his death?”

  “Maybe. That’s one possibility. The buddies know or don’t know... there could be a lot of scenarios.”

  Charli sat in an old, overstuffed chair that was marked down for quick sale, and tried not to sneeze at the dust that raised up. “Another being that the wife found out he was having an affair and snuck out to the lake and killed him?”

  Dorian raised his hands. “I don’t know the woman. But if I were a detective that might occur to me as a po
ssibility worth exploring.”

  “So we need to find out something about his wife and the possibility of a girlfriend?”

  Dorian grinned. “You know, that myth is a pretty handy thing to have around if you need to explain the occasional disappearance of people. But it's been a long time since anyone disappeared on Reelfoot Lake.”

  “Has it been? I haven’t been here long.”

  "The last one happened when I was a kid.” He stopped and scratched his chin. “You know what, that’s curious. I’m going to look up the details.”

  “You think it's relevant?”

  “I’ve got no idea. Can’t know until we find out what happened. But I think that the past always has clues to the future.... they are just confused and obscure."

  “The way dreams are.”

  "Exactly like dreams. To some Shamen, dreams, and memories are different aspects of the same thing—the attempt to see into the invisible realm, the spirit world.”

  “Shamen?”

  “Well, they were always the biggest advocates of legends. It reinforced their power.”

  Charli found herself staring at the smiling, painted face from her dream. She closed her eyes and shook the image away.

  “Okay, you research the older disappearance, find out if the guy was ever found. Tomorrow Elle and I are heading to talk with the guys’ wife. I’ll see if I can find out about their relationship and see if there is any mention of a girlfriend.”

  “His buddies didn’t mention anything?”

  “They claim he was a happy guy, with no reason to go anywhere, but not very bright when it came to business. Not a word about a girlfriend.”

  Dorian grinned. “Not the kind of thing a guy mentions to a stranger, especially a woman, when a friend takes off. Might even be giving the newly happy couple a head start before they tell the truth.”

  “That, my friend, is a possibility.”

  She stood up. “Time to head for home.”

  “Did you like the ranger?” Dorian asked.

  Charli stopped. “He was nice. Why?”

  “I had a feeling... when you mentioned him, I got the impression, well, none of my business.”

  No it isn’t, Charli thought. “He was helpful,” she said.

  “Helpful. Okay then. Let me know about the wife and girlfriend angle and I’ll let you know what I find out about such cases gone by.”

  She started to leave, then stopped and turned back. “You know you are an odd man, don’t you, Dorian Palmer? I don’t mean that in a bad way, just that your way of thinking doesn’t fit into the normal modes.”

  “That’s true,” he said, smiling. “It’s very kind of you to notice. I appreciate that.”

  “You do?”

  He shrugged. “I could’ve said, ‘takes one to know one’ but that sounds defiant. I take it that there are too few of us in that club. So go find out all there is to know about the missing man’s mysterious girlfriend.”

  “So you think there is one?”

  “Yes. And so do you.”

  And with that enigmatic exchange, Charli finally made good on her claim to be heading home. She walked to her car and drove to her house, where she occupied herself with a microwaved lasagne dinner, a glass of red wine, and an old movie that she barely remembered when it was over.

  Instead of images from the movie, pictures of the Lake Woman came to her. Try as she might, the dream insisted on lingering.

  Chapter 7

  Looking for Clues

  Charli knew she was missing something. It was frustrating not to have heard the wife’s story, but Elle said she was on her way back.

  “I’ll arrange for us to chat,” she said.

  In the meantime, Charli decided that, when all else was failing, it made sense to go over old ground. You might see something you missed. If nothing else, telling yourself that justified otherwise irrational behavior. “I want to talk to Carter’s fishing buddies again,” she told Elle the next morning.

  “I don’t have time right now,” Elle said. “I’m checking into the used car business.”

  “That’s okay. I can go alone,” Charli told her. “I just wanted you to know I was going over there.”

  “What are you after?”

  “Details. Now that we’ve heard Ranger Tanner’s description I can make more sense of things. And I want to check out a suspicion.”

  “I like suspicions. What do you suspect?”

  “That Carter had a girlfriend.”

  Elle giggled. “You think he was a naughty boy?”

  “Possibly. And there is a chance that the disappearance is a ruse.”

  “Well, knock yourself out. Check in with me later and let me know what you learn. Especially if it is good gossip as well as information.”

  Charli had to laugh. Elle was not a gossip. “Fine. You’ve got it.”

  Deciding not to call ahead, Charli drove over to the refrigeration place and fortunately caught them there. “We were heading out,” Shorty said.

  “Another warm beer emergency?” Charli asked.

  “No, just routine maintenance.”

  “I have a couple of other questions if you don’t mind.”

  “Naw, that’s good,” Ralph said.

  “I was wondering about Carter’s tracks.”

  “They found some,” Shorty said.

  “Right, the ranger said they led toward the lake. I was wondering... was it hard to see that night?”

  “Nope,” Shorty said. “A nice, clear night and you could see lots of stars.”

  “Orion was clear as a bell,” Ralph agreed.

  “You were thinking he was trying to help someone, or thought he was. But why would he run toward the lake?”

  They shrugged. Then Ralph took a swing at an answer. “Maybe he thought she was out there somewhere... that lady he thought he heard.”

  “Which coulda been a panther,” Shorty added.

  “I suppose,” Charli said. “It doesn’t make much sense though. If the sound had stopped by the time he woke you two, then he wouldn’t have known which way to go. It would be careless to walk close to the lake at night, wouldn’t it?”

  “Reckon so,” Shorty said.

  She saw them considering their answers carefully. Clearly, they were afraid of saying something they didn’t want to let out. Getting them to say more was going to take a bit of trickery. “So, this woman, you didn’t hear her at all?”

  Two heads shook in unison. “Nope.”

  “And he said it was a call for help?”

  “Not exactly,” Ralph said. “He just said he heard a woman yelling.”

  “I see,” Charli said. “So maybe it could’ve been Carter’s girlfriend trying to get his attention?”

  “What would Christine be doing out there in the middle of the night?” Shorty asked with a snort.

  Charli smiled. “I have no idea.”

  It took a moment before the two realized they’d given up important information and then they looked sheepish. “That was sneaky,” Ralph said.

  “Yeah, I guess it was,” Charli said feeling proud of herself. Maybe this investigating business could be fun if you went at it right. Of course, Shorty and Ralph weren’t much of a test of her ability to cut through lies and get to the truth. “What’s Christine’s last name and where can I find her? You can tell me, or the police.”

  Ralph swallowed. “Horner. Chrissie Horner.”

  “We don’t know where she lives and we haven’t seen her since Carter disappeared.”

  “Any idea how I can get in touch with her? Any idea at all?”

  Ralph stared at the ground and shuffled his feet. “She works at the auto service center over on Perkins,” he said. “That’s where Carter met her.”

  “So he said,” Shorty muttered.

  Excited with her lead, Charli let the men go back to work and called Elle.

  “That’s very interesting,” Elle said when Charli brought her up to date. “That’s the first I’ve heard of th
is woman. But the lake? I have trouble imagining that they’d arrange to meet out there and sneak out on his buddies though. If he was going to take off with her, why not tell them he was sick or something and just leave from town?”

  “To throw anyone trying to trace him off the scent, maybe? If he just took off, his wife could hire a private investigator. This might keep anyone from looking.”

  “You read too many mystery books,” Elle said. “By the way, I got a call from your ranger.”

  “If he’s my ranger, why did he call you?”

  “Because it’s about my investigation. He said that the police identified the remains they found as a white-tail deer. He’s pretty certain someone was poaching.”

  “They can shoot them legally, can’t they?”

  “Only in November.”

  “Now that is weird. I thought that was turkey month.”

  “Hunting season is for several species,” she said. “And the limits are set to protect the herd.” Then she laughed. “I had to ask too.

  “It would be better to ban it altogether.”

  “Then they’d overpopulate.”

  “Can’t win.”

  “So your fishermen, Carter’s pals, said they hadn't seen anyone out there, but the signs of a kill were fresh.”

  “Are you thinking that Block could’ve stumbled across poachers?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And they killed him?”

  “Ranger Tanner said he mentioned that possibility to the police, but they didn't seem interested in his theory. Poaching doesn’t carry a very heavy penalty so not worth killing for.”

  “How about a woman shouting about a kill? Carter hears her and she panics and kills him?”

  “I like that theory,” Elle said. “But then what happened to the body?”

  “If poachers killed him, it will be hard to find the body. There is a lot of swamp to poke around in. And if someone deliberately hid the body...”

  “Even harder, got it.”

  “So, this afternoon we can talk to Carter Block’s potential widow,” Elle said. “She called me to ask for an update and I’d like to know if she knew about the girlfriend.”