The Road to Wrinkle Ranch

by Nick Russell

  "If there's anything we can do for you, Darci, anything at all…"

  "No, I'm fine, she said not looking at them. “I mean, we already knew it. This just makes it official, right?"

  Her sister sat down beside her and put her arms around her, pulling her close. John Lee noticed that Darci sat stiffly, not seeming to take any comfort from it.

  "What happens now?"

  "We’re still investigating the incident," Maddy told her.

  “The incident? Do you still think it was more than just an accident?"

  "I really can't say at this point because I don't know, Mrs. Agosti."

  "Well, if there's anything we can do to help."

  "Just take care of your sister," Maddy said. "She's going to need some support right now."

  They left the two women sitting there together on the couch and walked out to the Charger.

  "How do you think that went, John Lee?"

  "She doesn't seem too bent out of shape about it," he replied. "Then again, like she said, we pretty much knew it anyway. This just makes it official."

  ***

  While Darci McBride might have been stoic about the news of her husband's death, Sonny Rittenhouse was already a basket case, and when they told him about the DNA confirmation, he completely fell apart. Bent over at the waist, he sobbed loudly, his body shaking with misery.

  "It's okay, Sonny," his mother said, bending over her son and placing her hands on his shoulders, kissing the top of his head. Her own tears fell into his hair.

  "No, Ma, it's never gonna be okay. Never. My Audrey’s gone. She’s gone, Ma!”

  "I know, honey, I know. It just breaks my heart. I loved her, too. I'm right here with you, and I'll be with you all the way. I promise."

  “I love her so much. This can't be true. No, it can't be true!"

  John Lee and Maddy stood there, feeling their own hearts breaking a little at the scene before them. No matter how much a police officer saw in their daily work, no matter how hard a shell they wrapped around themselves, there were times when that shell cracked. This was one of them. Sonny Rittenhouse was a good guy, a hard worker, a solid citizen, and he didn't deserve this kind of pain. Then again, whoever deserved something like that?

  "Sonny, I know this is about the worst thing anybody could ever go through," John Lee said. "I'm sorry I don't have any magic words to make it better but I have to ask you some questions about your wife and the accident."

  "Questions? He can’t answer questions when he’s dealing with this!”

  "We understand that, Mrs. Rittenhouse,” John Lee said. “I didn't mean to sound so cold. I'm just saying that we do need to have a talk with Sonny about his wife and anything about her schedule he might be able to remember. It doesn't have to be now. We can wait a bit until he's up to it."

  "Have you found her car yet?"

  "No, ma'am," Maddy said. “We’ve got an all-points bulletin out for it."

  "Do you think somebody stole it?"

  Maddy shook her head and said, "We just don't know."

  Suddenly Sonny bolted to his feet and they both stepped back as he ran past them down the hallway. A moment later they heard retching and his mother shook her head in pain for her son’s loss and said, “I need to check on him."

  “Yes, ma'am. We’ll see ourselves out," John Lee told her. “I'm so sorry for your loss and your son's loss, Mrs. Rittenhouse."

  She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, and hurried down the hallway. The two deputies heard the toilet flushing and his mother offering comforting words to her son as they left.

  Chapter 16

  It was just by luck that Deputy Nathan Shoemaker caught sight of the Impala out of the corner of his eye as he passed by the house with a Shaw Real Estate sign in front of it on Marsh Landing Road. The trees on both sides of the driveway were badly in need of trimming and almost concealed the car.

  He stopped and backed up and pulled into the driveway, referring to his notes and confirming that the car’s license plate number matched the APB. Nathan had only been on the department a few months, and while he had enjoyed the work, this was the first time he ever felt like he was contributing something major to a case when he reached for his microphone and called Dispatch. “This is County 173. I located that white Impala we have the APB out on," he told the dispatcher.

  Sheila Sharp at the dispatch desk confirmed the license plate number, then told him to sit tight and she would be back with him in a moment. Before long her voice came over the radio, instructing him to stay put and that other deputies were on the way.

  Nathan got out of his patrol car and walked up to the Impala, careful not to touch anything for fear of disturbing any fingerprints that might be on the vehicle. It appeared locked and undamaged, like someone had just parked it there and left. Looking around the scene, he walked up to the vacant house and tried the door. It was locked and there was a key lockbox on the handle. Just in case someone might be there, he knocked loudly and announced himself as a sheriff’s deputy.

  Getting no response, he walked to the back of the house and was startled when a huge yellow tabby cat yowled loudly at his trespass and shot past him from under the porch, causing him to reach for his holstered pistol before he realized what it was.

  Giving his heart a chance to slow down from the scare, Nathan tried the back door, which was also locked. It didn't look like anybody had been there recently. He had just walked back to his patrol car and was making notes when the first backup vehicle arrived, driven by Deputy Kimberly Streeter. Nathan liked Kimberly. She was also a relative newbie to the Somerton County Sheriff's Department, a very pretty and intelligent young woman who always seemed friendly to everybody she met.

  Getting out of her car, she said, "Wow, Nathan, it didn't take you long to find this. The APB just went out a couple of hours ago. I’m impressed.”

  "I was just driving by and happened to see it," Nathan said. He always found himself intimidated by Kimberly's good looks, and never was sure what to say when he talked to her. She, on the other hand, had never met a stranger.

  "But you did good, Nathan. Damn good."

  "Thank you,” he said, enjoying the praise, especially from someone like Kimberly. They made small talk for a couple of minutes and then Deputy Barry Portman pulled into the driveway. He got out of his car and said, "You two need to break it up, people are going to start talking."

  Nathan felt his face flushing, but Kimberly just laughed and asked, "Can’t a girl have a good time around here?"

  Barry walked around the Impala, pulling on latex gloves to check the door handles, confirming it was locked.

  “Anybody in the house or around here anywhere?"

  "No, I tried the house, nobody's there," Nathan said. “Looks like someone just parked the car here and left it."

  "I wonder if it was dumped or if the owner parked it here," Kimberly said.

  "I think Audrey Rittenhouse parked it here herself," Barry said. "It's been my experience that when someone steals a car and dumps it, they don't bother to lock the doors. Hell, half the time they leave the engine running and lights on."

  An hour later they had processed the scene, fingerprinted the car’s door handles and trunk lid, with the help of Deputy Andy Stringer, and a tow truck had come and loaded the Impala on the back of a flatbed to be taken to the Sheriff’s Department’s garage for further processing. Barry and Andy also complimented Nathan on his good work and sharp eyes, making the rookie feel even better about what he had accomplished that day.

  And there was no denying, the best part of it had been when Kimberly praised him in front of the more senior deputies for his sharpness. Hearing their words made his day, but he was careful not to mention that a stray cat had almost made him crap his pants.

  “How about you come back to the garage with us,” Andy said. “You can help us inventory the car and maybe pick up a pointer or two on processing it.”

  Nathan was thrilled to have the opportunity to learn some
thing new, and even more thrilled that, for the first time since getting out of the academy and putting on a deputy’s uniform, he felt that his coworkers were looking at him as a peer, not some green rookie.

  ***

  “I'm sorry to hear that," Roger Bentley said when they went to his real estate office to confirm the death of Lonnie McBride. " I don't think I’ll ever see another salesman like Lonnie."

  "I know we talked about this before,” John Lee said, “but can you think of anybody who might have had a problem with Lonnie?"

  "No, I really can't. He was a good guy and everybody liked him."

  "And you can't think of a reason why he and Audrey Rittenhouse would be together in a car?"

  “I have no idea," Bentley said. "As I said before, those two were always trying to outdo the other in sales."

  "I don't want to put you on the spot, but there's been some talk about Lonnie maybe being involved in some things outside of his marriage," John Lee said. "I know you told us you don't get involved in your employee's private lives. But is there anything or anyone at all that you can think of that might have something to do with this?"

  Bentley shook his head and said, “Not a clue.”

  “What about Wanda Coleman?"

  "Wanda? What about her?"

  "How about the seminar that Lonnie went to a while back, down in Ocala? Did Wanda go to that, too?"

  Bentley shook his head again and said, "No, it was just Lonnie. At least as far as I know."

  "What does that mean?"

  "Just what I said, Deputy. Not as far as I know. I wasn't there so I don't know if Lonnie had company on that trip or not. But like I said, if you're listening to Darci, you’re probably spinning your wheels. That woman drove Lonnie nuts, always calling and checking up on him."

  "Speaking of Darci," John Lee said, "she mentioned something about her brother-in-law, Vince Agosti, being involved in some kind of real estate deal with Lonnie. What’s that all about?”

  There was a flicker, something in Bentley's eyes that came and was gone just as quickly, but John Lee noticed it.

  "I don't know what you're talking about. He may have shown him a house or some property or something, but I don’t keep track of that.”

  “Could you check your records and see if there's any record of the transactions involving Vince Agosti?”

  "I don't have to check my records. Everything goes through this office and has to be vetted by me.”

  “Maybe you could check anyhow, just in case you forgot," John Lee suggested.

  The real estate man sighed and said, “I'll check, but it's a waste of time."

  He turned to his computer, moved the mouse and clicked a time or two and typed something on his keyboard. “No, nothing at all with a Vince Agosti.”

  “How about Amanda Agosti?"

  He searched again and shook his head, “Nothing with the Agosti name. Nothing at all. “

  “Would Lonnie have been involved in some kind of deal that didn't go through your office?"

  "I don't see how," Bentley replied. "I'm the broker, I have to sign off on everything."

  "Then why do you think Lonnie’s wife said that?"

  "I don't know what to tell you. Neither Vince Agosti or Amanda Agosti had anything to do with any kind of real estate transaction through this office. Not with Lonnie, not with me, not with any of my agents.”

  They asked him a few more questions but got nowhere. If Roger Bentley knew anything about a real estate deal that had gone sour and left Vince Agosti angry, he wasn't telling them.

  ***

  "I knew it was coming, but it still breaks my heart to hear it," Alice Shaw said sadly. “Audrey was such a beautiful young woman, such a rising star in real estate. Her loss isn’t just business, it's personal. I really cared about her.”

  “Mrs. Shaw, can you think of any reason why Audrey would have been in that car with Lonnie McBride?”

  She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and shook her head. "You asked me that before and I told you I don't know why they would be together.”

  “One of our deputies found her car at a place out on Marsh Landing Road. A house with one of your real estate signs in the yard," John Lee said.

  “Marsh Landing Road? That would be the Wellborne place. Edward Wellborne went in the hospital a year ago for routine surgery and died on the operating table. Eleanor hung around for a while but the house was just too big for her and she had some health problems of her own, so she moved in with her son down in Vero Beach and put the house on the market."

  "Do you have any notes or anything about Audrey meeting someone there the other day?"

  “No," Alice said, shaking her head. "To be honest, that place is never going to sell.”

  “Why is that?"

  “Because Eleanor’s son is seeing dollar signs. He thinks it's worth almost three times what the market value is. I've tried to talk to him and his mother both about setting it at a reasonable price and getting it sold, but he insists that he'll wait for the right buyer to come along. But that's never going to happen. Not at that price."

  "Did Audrey ever give you any idea about what her schedule was going to be for the day? I know that they are kind of independent agents and do what they want to do, but do you keep track of where they're going to be and who with?"

  "I do with some of the new agents, but not Audrey. The way she was doing things was working out for both of us. I just gave her plenty of room to do it. The only time I knew for sure I would see her in the office is when she had a closing scheduled, like the other day when she didn't show up or call. I knew right away something was wrong because I can't remember Audrey ever missing a meeting of any kind.”

  “What about her coworkers? Would any of them know anything?"

  “I doubt it,” Alice said. “Audrey was always busy, always out in the field. She didn't spend a lot of time here in the office and didn't have a lot of time for chitchat when she was here. She was too focused.”

  "Mrs. Shaw, you said something about problems in her marriage. Can you tell us any more about that?"

  “Why are you asking me that?" the woman’s eyes narrowed at the question.

  "We’re looking for anything that can tell us why Audrey was in a car with Lonnie McBride."

  “If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, what everybody around here is gossiping about, you can just forget that," Alice said sharply. “I won’t believe for a minute that anything was going on between Audrey and Lonnie McBride. Not for one minute! Audrey wasn't that kind of woman.”

  “I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to offend you in any way," Maddy said. “We’re just confused as to how two people who obviously didn't care for each other wound up dying together in circumstances like they did. We've talked to Sonny Rittenhouse a couple of times and he hasn’t indicated any problems in the marriage. The poor guy seems devastated."

  “I don't doubt he is devastated," Alice said. “His meal ticket died!"

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I didn't stutter. All Audrey was to Sonny was a meal ticket."

  "But he's got a good paying job," Maddy said.

  "I guess that depends on what you consider good paying. What he made was a pittance compared to what Audrey was making."

  “And you think that's the only reason they were together? Because of the money she was making?"

  "I didn't say that," Alice said. “What man wouldn’t want to be with a woman like Audrey? She was beautiful, she was smart, she was on the way up. There were lots of reasons that Sonny would want to be with her."

  "But she didn't feel that way about him?”

  “We’ve had this discussion already. It was only a matter of time before that marriage ended. And being a Christian woman who respects the sanctity of marriage, I have to say that it would not have been a bad thing for Audrey. She deserved a lot better than Sonny."

  "Because he didn't make as much money? Didn't have as good a future as she did?"

  “That's
right, Deputy. I’m sure there are a lot of women in this county that would be thrilled to have a life with a man like Sonny. No question about it, he’s a hard worker, he’s steady, but he's like an old mule pulling a plow in a field. He plods through life and gets the job done, but that's about it. Audrey was a racehorse, a champion. They were not even close to being in the same league."

  Chapter 17

  "I don't like that woman," Maddy said as they got in the Charger parked in front of the real estate office.

  "Why is that?"

  "Really, John Lee? You can't see it?"

  "See what?"

  "She's a sanctimonious, holier than thou, Bible thumper."

  “You’ve got something against church people?"

  "No, I have no problem at all with people who go to church," Maddy told him. “No problem at all. I respect people who live their faith. But that woman is a hypocrite. She says she respects marriage, but then goes on and on about how Audrey would have been better off without Sonny in her life."

  "Yeah, she's pretty adamant about that," John Lee agreed.

  “She reminds me of my Aunt Doris," Maddy said.

  “Your Aunt Doris? I didn't know you had an Aunt Doris."

  "Yeah, I do," Maddy said. She lives across the state line, up in Thomasville, Georgia. To hear her talk, you’d think that Jesus and the Twelve Apostles were over to her house every Sunday for dinner after church. But after my dad died, while my life was falling apart and my mom was living in a bottle, she'd come down and tell us both how we just needed to find the Lord and everything would be okay. Then she would jump all over me and tell me that the house wasn't clean enough, or this wasn't being taken care of, or whatever. I was a kid, John Lee! She never offered to help, she never even offered any advice. Just judgment and criticism. That and telling me that if I just prayed hard enough it would all be better."