Obligingly, Dan turned to face west and set out, counting under his breath. Liss had to suppress a laugh. His idea of “paces” had him looking like John Cleese as he strode through the high grass toward the tree line. She trotted after him, followed in single file by everyone else.
“Forty!” He stopped walking. They were in another small clearing. Years’ worth of dead leaves and pine needles carpeted the ground.
“Did anyone bring a shovel?” Jardine asked.
“Here.” Sherri had thought of everything, but she wasn’t about to offer to dig. She handed it to Dan.
“This ground is as hard as iron,” he complained. They’d had showers now and again, but soaking rains had been rare all summer.
Annoyed that everyone else seemed content to let her husband do all the work, Liss scanned the clearing, hoping for some further proof that they were at least looking in the right place. That whole “forty paces” thing seemed pretty arbitrary. Her gaze passed over an anomaly before it registered.
Leaving the others focused on the digging, Liss picked her way toward the spot. Tall grass and shrubbery almost obscured the top of something that was clearly manmade. She stopped when she reached it, surprised to see that it was a well. She couldn’t fathom what it was doing out here. There was another one closer to the house that had supplied the Chadwicks with water before the town extended its line out this far. Had there been an earlier building on this part of the property? She supposed that was possible, but she didn’t think this was a relic of the nineteenth century. She had a vague notion that older wells were made of brick or stone and came complete with wooden roofs and buckets on pulleys. Obviously, she’d watched too many episodes of Little House on the Prairie when she was growing up!
The well was round, about two feet in diameter, and made of cement—or was it concrete? She never could keep those two straight. Whatever it was made of, it had a square opening cut in the top. The well cover was a solid block of the same material. A rusty grab bar stuck up to aid in removing it. Wishing she had something to protect her hands, Liss attempted to hoist if off, but it was too heavy for her to lift.
A rustling sound was all the warning she had before Benny came up beside her. “What have you found?”
“Probably nothing, but I was thinking those paces could have as easily ended here as where Dan is digging.”
“Might as well look.”
Benny hopped up onto the rim of the well, took hold of the grab bar with both hands, and with one mighty heave had it up and out. Letting it fall to the ground beside the well, she peered into the depths. After a moment, she knelt so she could run her hands along the inside.
Grimacing, imagining the coating of slime that had undoubtedly accumulated there, Liss turned away. Her attention was caught by the discarded well cover. It had landed at an angle, so that the bottom was partially exposed. She bent closer to examine the underside. A small, flat metal box had been carefully wrapped in heavy plastic to prevent water damage and attached to the well cover with duct tape.
For a long moment, Liss just stared at it. Then she started to laugh. The hokeyness just didn’t quit!
Benny tried to shush her, but it was too late. Heads were already turning their way.
Liss’s cousin Ed loped over, took in the situation with a single glance, and gave a low whistle. “Hey, Dan. You can stop digging now.”
The others made their way to the well.
“Careful,” Sherri warned as Kelsey started to circle the rest of the party in an effort to be the first to arrive at the scene. “That’s poison ivy you’re about to walk through.”
He backtracked in even more haste.
With everyone gathered around, including her sweaty, dirt-covered, justifiably irked husband, Liss attempted to detach the box. It was stuck tight. Dan had to produce a knife and slit first the duct tape and then the plastic before Liss could extract the metal box.
It was a long way from being a treasure chest and she could tell by its weight that it did not contain gold or jewels, but it clearly held something of value. Her best guess was a slip of paper with a formula written on it. She wanted to open it then and there to find out, but it was welded shut.
Sean Widdowson pushed himself forward. “I’ll take that. It belonged to my father.”
“Just a minute!” Kelsey objected. “If that box contains material he stole from Cornwall Pharmaceuticals, then it’s the property of the company.”
Aaron Lucas stepped between Widdowson and Liss and extended one hand in her direction. “Hand it over.”
“Not so fast,” Widdowson objected.
The two men looked ready to come to blows. Liss saw Sherri’s hand move to rest lightly on her holster, but before she had to step in to break up a fight, Brad Jardine put an end to the dispute.
“Gentlemen,” he said, pitching his voice loud enough to drown out their argument, “you seem to have forgotten one thing. This box was found on my property. That means I own it, whatever it is.”
Relieved to have the matter settled, Liss handed it over.
“That’s theft, plain and simple!” Kelsey bleated.
“Your lawyers can talk to my lawyers if you have any complaints,” Jardine shot back.
Muttering something about not putting any more money into some high-priced attorney’s pockets, Widdowson bowed out of the competition and walked away. A few minutes later, Liss heard the sounds of a car engine starting up and a vehicle driving away.
The rest of the group started to break up, most of them still grumbling. Jardine was set to leave with the box when Sherri put a hand on his arm.
“I expect to receive a report on what you find when you open that, Mr. Jardine. Whether or not it contains a stolen formula, it has a bearing on matters I’m investigating.” At his raised eyebrows, she clarified. “There have been break-ins at a local home and business. They appear to be related to the case.”
Benny, shoulders drooping now that the excitement was over, had already left the clearing, but Sherri’s explanation produced a scowl from Kelsey and had Lucas putting on his blankest face.
“A word, Mr. Lucas?” Sherri turned her attention on him before he could get away. “At the police station, I think. I’ll give you a lift.”
Liss sent Dan a hopeful look.
“Go on,” he said, resigned. “Ride in with Sherri. I’ll fill in this hole and then go home and clean up.”
“You’re my hero.” She planted a kiss on one dirt-streaked cheek. “Thank you.”
“Go,” he said again. “Can’t have you dying of curiosity.”
She went.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Aaron Lucas sat in the visitor’s chair across from Sherri’s desk. Liss was ensconced behind the second desk in the small, crowded room. By now, she felt certain, Maurice Kelsey had called his bosses for instructions and a lawyer was on his way to represent the company’s close-mouthed employee.
She found it hard to keep from fidgeting. She had as many questions for Lucas as Sherri did, but since she had no official reason for being present, she knew she should keep them to herself. There was something else troubling her, too, but it would have to wait until she could speak with Sherri alone.
So far, Lucas had not been overly cooperative. He’d admitted that he’d bribed Rhonda Snipes to feed him local gossip, thus confirming how he and Kelsey had known to show up at the Chadwick property that morning. Beyond that, he’d given one-word answers to Sherri’s questions, mostly verifying things he’d told her the last time she interrogated him.
“Can you prove you weren’t in Chadwick, Nova Scotia?” she asked.
“Hell with it,” he muttered, and reached into his back pocket, took out his wallet, and removed a credit card receipt. He passed it across the desk.
“What’s this?” Sherri frowned at the badly crumpled slip of paper.
“You wanted proof. There it is. I was exactly where I said I was. Look at the time and date. And look at the pla
ce where I bought gas. I couldn’t have been in Chadwick when that guy was murdered.”
Sherri studied the receipt, then glanced at Liss. “He’s right.”
“Fine. You’re not a killer.” Liss hadn’t really thought he was. She came out of her chair and approached until she was just out of arm’s reach. “That doesn’t let you off the hook for everything. You’ve been involved in this from the beginning. You followed us in Canada intending to steal that map.”
“I admit nothing except that I came upon the scene of your burgled hotel room after the fact.”
“Settle down, people,” Sherri said. “Liss, back off.” She smiled, showing lots of teeth. “I believe you, Mr. Lucas. You’re a professional. As you told us before, if you had broken into that motel room, you wouldn’t have left any trace.”
“Damned straight.”
“So let’s talk about some break-ins that were professional. Break-ins that, coincidentally, happened in my jurisdiction. This is a one-time offer, Mr. Lucas. You tell us the truth and I won’t pursue the matter. Liss here won’t press charges.”
Silenced, Liss watched her friend hold Lucas’s gaze until her eyes started to water and she was forced to blink.
He laughed. “Points for trying.”
“Do you really want to do this the hard way? I didn’t find any unidentified fingerprints, but there was a hair. Everywhere we go, we leave DNA evidence behind. Are you sure you want to risk testing the assumption that I can prove you were there?”
He had a good poker face, but a slight tightening of his jaw gave him away. He couldn’t be 100 percent certain Sherri was lying about the hair. Liss, on the other hand, was pretty sure she was. Would Lucas call her bluff or take the deal?
Sherri was sweating lightly by the time he spoke. “Why should I trust you?”
“Because I don’t want to go to the expense of proving I’m right. This is a small town. We have a limited budget for law enforcement. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll do it if I have to. But I’d prefer to get my answers here and now. In fact, I’m hoping you did break in. Otherwise, I’ve got to go looking for someone else.”
Liss, wisely, kept silent while Lucas waged a silent debate with himself. It lasted only a few seconds, but those seconds seemed like hours.
“Okay. Deal. I checked out the gift shop. Later I was in her house.” He jerked his head toward Liss. “She damned near caught me that time.”
“Find anything interesting?”
“No. It was a total waste of time.”
“What about Benny Beamer’s room at The Spruces?”
He looked blank, and this time Liss didn’t think it was deliberate. “What about it?”
“Did you search it?”
“Why would I? She didn’t have anything I wanted.”
Sherri looked at Liss. “Do you believe him?”
“Oddly enough, I do.”
“Okay, then.” Sherri made a shooing motion in Lucas’s direction. “You can go.”
Once he’d left, Liss took his place in the visitor’s chair. “Did you really think he searched Benny’s room?”
“No, but I thought I’d better ask. I don’t think anyone searched it, other than the two of us. I think she left it that way herself.”
“Any word from your contact in Canada? Do we have confirmation yet that Benny was there when Margaret and I were?”
Sherri narrowed her eyes. “No word so far. Why? Have you decided that she was the one who burgled your motel room?”
Liss drew in a deep breath. “The messy search part fits, but there’s something else, something that happened out at the Chadwick place this morning. I’m beginning to think that we need to reconsider Benny as a suspect in Orson Bailey’s murder.”
“Has she grown a foot and turned into Wonder Woman since the last time I saw her?”
“She didn’t have to. I know we originally thought she couldn’t have killed him because she wouldn’t be strong enough to stab him and then move the body to another room, but I watched her lift off that well cover as if it weighed nothing at all. Seriously, Sherri, that sucker was heavy. When I tried to move it, it wouldn’t budge. Benny Beamer has serious muscles hidden under those long-sleeved shirts she wears.”
* * *
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Sherri said when she walked into Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium later that afternoon. “Which do you want to hear first?”
“Hit me with the good,” Liss said. “I need cheering up.”
She’d been trying to reach her parents for the last two hours. Every call went straight to voice mail.
“Benny was definitely in Canada at the same time you and Margaret were. Not only that, but the RCMP confirms that she tried to book a room at the same motel in Antigonish where you and Margaret stayed. A desk clerk identified her from the photograph I sent to Sergeant Childs. They were full up because of the Highland Games and she kicked up quite a fuss when she was turned away.”
“That’s the good news? I can hardly wait to hear what you consider bad.”
“It is good,” Sherri insisted. “Since she was right on the spot, that means it’s entirely possible that she ransacked your room. She probably took your laptop and Margaret’s jewelry and burgled those nearby rooms to cover up the fact that she broke in to search for the map.”
“Okay.” Liss wasn’t sure where this was going.
“Since she’s now a viable suspect in that crime, our Canadian friends will show her photo in Chadwick, and because the RCMP is interested in her activities, I have grounds to interview her again, maybe even bring her in for questioning.”
“That’s the good part?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t have proof of anything. That means you can’t arrest her, not for the burglary, and certainly not for Orson Bailey’s murder.”
“And that’s the bad news.” Sherri took a closer look at Liss’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I hope. I haven’t been able to connect with my folks. I don’t know where they are.” Her concern for her parents put every other issue in the shade.
“They’re somewhere between Arizona and Maine.” Sherri’s voice was dry.
“Oh, that’s a big help!”
“If you’re really worried, I can—”
“No! I’d never live it down if Mother found out there was a BOLO issued for their car.”
“You know they’re grown-ups, right? Checking in with you is probably the last thing on their minds.”
Liss blew out a breath. “You’re right. And in a way I’d just as soon put off the big reunion. On the other hand, the sooner they get here, the sooner I’ll know what’s really behind this move to Maine. The suspense is killing me!”
She tried to make light of her fears, but they continued to prey on her. She hated knowing that her parents were approaching the point when they would no longer be able to function on their own. She dreaded the moment when she’d have to be the one to take away her father’s car keys because it was no longer safe for him to be behind a wheel. She couldn’t imagine dealing with a mother who no longer had a fast, if annoying, comeback to every innocent remark her daughter might make.
“Focus, Liss.” Sherri’s sharp-voiced command snapped her out of her funk. “Do you want to come with me to talk to Benny?”
Liss glanced at her watch. It was a little early to close the shop, but at the moment she had no customers. For a Saturday, business had been excruciatingly slow. “I’m coming.”
She stepped around Sherri to lock the front door and flip the OPEN sign to CLOSED. “Is she still at the Sinclair House?”
Sherri had her phone out. “Checking now, but she was supposed to tell me if she moved and she didn’t say anything this morning at the dig site.”
If Benny had been lying all along, Liss had serious doubts that she would abide by that promise. She busied herself tallying up the day’s receipts and shutting down the cash register, listening with only half an ear
to Sherri’s low-voiced conversation with the desk clerk in Waycross Springs. She looked up, startled, when her friend ended the call with a muttered oath.
“What?”
“Gone.”
“Checked out?”
Sherri nodded. “Late last night she got a call herself, apparently from Rhonda Snipes. The woman at the Sinclair House knows Rhonda. She recognized her voice. It looks like I’m going to have to have a little chat with Boxer’s aunt.”
“Ed. He goes by Ed now.”
“Whatever! I’ve been putting off dealing with Rhonda for too long already. Word is that she’s established a nice sideline soliciting tips in exchange for information. Not just at The Spruces, either.”
“Is that illegal?” It sounded more like entrepreneurship to Liss. She didn’t like Rhonda, but she had to admire her ingenuity.
“That depends on the information.” Sherri waved off more questions. “I’ll deal with her later. Right now my priority is locating Benny.”
“Maybe she’s back at The Spruces.”
“I wouldn’t bet money on it.”
Several phone calls and a great deal more muttering later, Sherri’s hunch was confirmed. Once again, Benny had disappeared. Liss and Sherri were still at the Emporium, considering their next move, when Sherri’s phone buzzed.
Liss watched her friend’s face as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. Whatever had happened, it wasn’t good.
“Well?” she asked when Sherri disconnected.
“That was Brad Jardine. Someone jumped him from behind, knocked him out, and stole the box we found this morning.”
Chapter Eighteen
It was evening before Liss heard any more about the assault on Brad Jardine. Sherri stopped by Liss and Dan’s house on her way home from work. Liss took one look at her friend’s haggard expression and slumped shoulders and all but shoved her into a kitchen chair.
“Have you had anything to eat? You look like you’re about to drop from exhaustion.”
“I’m fine,” Sherri insisted, but she didn’t object when Liss hastily unwrapped the leftovers she’d been about to put in the refrigerator and made up a plate for her. “Thanks.”
X Marks the Scot Page 23
