A Sporting Murder

by Lesley A. Diehl

  “Don’t forget Elvira Reed, the perfect wife for any creep.” Madeleine got up from her seat. “I talked to David today on the phone, just for a minute.”

  “How’s he doing?” I asked.

  She shook her head, didn’t answer and headed for the kitchen.

  “This is knocking the stuffing out of our usually resilient Madeleine,” I said to Alex. I whispered because I didn’t want her to hear my concerns.

  “I know. I’m worried about her, too. I don’t think I’ll get anything more out of Luis, but maybe Mrs. Warren can remember the names of other men who worked at Reed’s ranch. It can’t hurt to pay her another visit.”

  “Tonight?” I asked.

  Alex nodded. “I think you should come along. The woman’s touch, you know.”

  How about that. He needed me. I was his partner in—

  “Eve, I can hear you thinking. This is a one-time deal, so get any ideas of helping me in the future out of your head.”

  “Oh, sure, of course. Why would you think otherwise?” I batted my eyes at him.

  Madeleine came back from the kitchen, wiping away tears. She’d obviously had a bit of a cry, then recovered her composure. For a time, anyway.

  “Why are you doing that eye batting thing?” she asked. “Whenever you do that, it’s a sign you’re trying to hide something.”

  “Me?” I batted a bit more, then caught myself. “Sorry about that.”

  She gave Alex a questioning look, but he pretended not to see her or understand what she wanted.

  Madeleine picked up her purse from the table by the door. “Okay, you two. I’m going home to leave you to yourselves. You deserve some alone time.”

  “Hey, don’t go. We can order out something.” Alex got off the couch and held out his hand to her.

  “Not hungry.” Madeleine shrugged into her sweater. She hesitated with her hand on the front doorknob. “We sold well today, and the inventory is down. One of us should go to the coast and rustle up some items. Rodeo days are this weekend.”

  I could hear the fatigue and lack of enthusiasm in her voice. I mentally whacked myself on the head. I’d let her carry more than her share of responsibility for the shop since David had been arrested. Under other circumstances she’d be fine, but she needed someone to lift the load off her, and that someone should have been me.

  “I wouldn’t mind a road trip tomorrow. You can set up the rig on Main Street downtown while I visit our clients and grab some clothes for the weekend rodeo event.”

  “Will you really do that or are you just saying you will? I know you; you’ll just go off and do some nosing around, get yourself into trouble.” Madeleine held up a finger. “And don’t start that batting stuff again.”

  I tried to hold my eyes perfectly still. “Of course I’ll pick up merchandise. Why would you think otherwise?”

  Alex choked on his beer and began coughing.

  Of course I’d get consignment items tomorrow. I was somewhat miffed that Madeleine didn’t trust me. After all, I was going to accompany Alex tonight to visit Mrs. Warren. That should satisfy my snooping needs, shouldn’t it?

  Mrs. Warren again welcomed us into her tidy home and offered coffee. “I don’t have anything stronger, I’m afraid. I’m not a drinker and neither is Moses.” She gave a nervous laugh. “We like to gamble a little. I guess that’s our addiction. My husband was a heavy drinker, but I never joined him.”

  I watched her twist her hands around in her lap as she mentioned her husband. The thought that he might have gotten violent when drinking crossed my mind, and I wondered if she kept things under control by remaining sober and calm, placating him whenever possible. Of course, with his work abroad, he wouldn’t have been home much. I also wondered if she’d preferred his absences to his presence.

  “I hate to bother you again, Mrs. Warren, but—”

  “It’s fine. I know you’re trying to get David out of jail.”

  “You don’t sound too angry about having the man who shot your son out on bail.”

  She looked down at her hands, twisting them still, then glancing up and quieting her movements. “My son was like my husband. An angry boy. I’m devastated to have lost him, but I understand what happened. I also heard that David hasn’t picked up a gun since then.” She raised her eyes and met mine. “So what can I do for you?”

  “Can you remember the names of any workers at the Reed ranch when you were employed there? Or maybe you ran into one of them somewhere around town and might know where the person works now?” Alex leaned forward on the couch in a posture of friendliness.

  Mrs. Warren leaned her head into the chair back, her hands now lying still in her lap. She appeared to be thinking back to her work for the Reeds. Alex and I remained silent, giving her space to review the past.

  The sound of a vehicle entering the drive interrupted her thoughts. Moses Ermlich entered the front door and stopped when he saw Alex and me. His down-turned mouth and the anger in his eyes indicated he assumed we were again bothering Mrs. Warren.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  Mrs. Warren seemed eager to defuse the tension. “I’m thinking back on my time at the Reed ranch to see if I remember anyone who worked there. Maybe you recall the name of that guy who did the landscaping around the place. Wasn’t it Pepe something?”

  “No, I don’t,” Moses growled.

  “He did landscaping?” Alex asked. “That might help. There are only a handful of guys who do that around here. Maybe some of my contacts would know of him.”

  “Maybe.” Moses clearly wanted us to leave.

  Alex decided to bring Moses in on the conversation. “I don’t suppose you know much about the foreman who replaced you, do you? We’ve heard he’s spelled trouble for the men at the ranch.”

  “Don’t know him. I was gone by the time he was hired.” Moses headed toward the kitchen, opened a cupboard and removed a cup.

  “Have you heard stories about him? Maybe you’ve run into him someplace.” Alex appeared desperate to extract any bit of information from him.

  “Wouldn’t know him if I stepped on him.” Moses poured coffee into his cup and took a sip, then moved to Mrs. Warren’s chair, put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. A gesture of comfort and affection. His gruffness was all for us. He only wanted to protect her.

  “Oh, you wouldn’t step on him. He’s a huge guy, sandy reddish hair, blue eyes. Looks like an overgrown boy, but we hear he’s a brute,” Alex said.

  Mrs. Warren and Moses exchanged looks. They had communicated something important, made some decision.

  “I think you should leave now,” Moses said. “We need our privacy.”

  “What do you think?” I asked Alex when we were back in the car.

  “The same as you. Once we described the foreman at Reed’s ranch, they both reacted. They know him.”

  “How? And what do they know?” I asked.

  Alex ignored my question. “I need to keep an eye on Mrs. Warren and Moses.”

  “A stakeout, right?”

  “Yes, and not something you can join me on. It’s boring and a long shot that anything will come of this.”

  “But we upset them somehow, and I think they’re going to take action, maybe tonight.” I was excited that our questions had stirred up something.

  “That’s why I need to offload you right now.” Alex pulled over at a convenience store at the corner of Mrs. Warren’s road and the state highway.

  “You expect me to walk back home?” I looked down at my feet. Of course I was wearing my lizard skin sandals with four-inch heels. Alex gave them a glance too.

  “Hardly. I’m calling Jerry to come get you.”

  “But he’s guarding the motor home, and I don’t even know if he has a car. Please, please, anybody but Jerry.” I put my hands together in a gesture of prayer.

  “Damn. You’re right. Plan B then. It’ll be better than having Jerry drive you. The two of you could get into troubl
e, but Plan B will prevent that from happening.”

  Plan B was Frida.

  I was standing outside the convenience store eating an ice cream bar when Frida pulled up.

  “Is that your dinner?” She rolled down her window and called out to me.

  “You think Alex was too cheap to feed me before he dumped me in this, uh, dump?”

  “Get in. My mother has the kids tonight, and I could use a rib fix. We can go to the Biscuit. How about we pick up Madeleine and have her join us?”

  “I don’t think she’s doing much eating lately.”

  Frida smiled. “There’s more at the Biscuit than eating and drinking, dancing, and cowboys.”

  “There is?” I was puzzled.

  “Yep, there’s karaoke tonight. You, me, and Madeleine. The Lennon sisters, or the Supremes, whatever girl group you like.”

  “I can’t warble a note.” I finished off my ice cream and tossed the wrapper in the overflowing trash can. “But it might be just the thing to take Madeleine’s mind off David.”

  I got into the car and fastened my seatbelt. “Oh, boy, ribs.”

  Frida was about to pull onto the road when Moses Ermlich’s truck shot past the store. Behind it, at a discreet distance, came Alex. He gave us a wave as he passed.

  “Follow them. That’s Mrs. Warren and Moses. That’s who Alex is staking out. We think they know something about the Reed foreman.”

  “You got it.” Frida punched the accelerator, and we became the third car in this three car convoy.

  Oh boy, I thought. We’re hot on the trail of something big.

  My stomach growled.

  Chapter 19

  At the intersection with the highway, Ermlich turned his truck east.

  “Well, it’s for certain they’re not going to the casino. It’s that way.” I pointed down the road in the opposite direction.

  “Maybe they’re just headed to town to pick up a few groceries.” Frida kept a good distance from Alex’s car so as not to alert him that he wasn’t the only one doing the following.

  “I have a crazy hunch.”

  Frida gave me a look. “Most of your hunches are crazy.”

  I ignored her sarcasm. “I think they’re headed to the Reed ranch.”

  “Why? Neither of them works there now. And why at this time of night?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m certain they don’t want anyone to know what they’re up to.”

  Sure enough, after heading north out of Sabal Bay, the truck and Alex’s car took the right turn onto the county route heading toward David’s place and the Reed ranch. I expected them to turn into the Reed driveway, but instead, the truck made a left onto a poorly marked dirt road just beyond the entrance to the Reed ranch. Alex followed.

  “The back way in, I’ll bet,” I said.

  Frida slowed and waited a minute before she negotiated the turn. She looked at me as we bounced down the rutted road. “You just love all this, don’t you? Did you ever think you’re in the wrong business?”

  I leaned forward, peering through the darkness at Alex’s taillights ahead.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. This is great. I’m just a natural born snoop, right. That’s what you meant. I should be a private detective? Or maybe a cop, like you?”

  “No, I meant you should be a cat. You know, curiosity and the cat thing.”

  “What a cruel thing to say, Frida. That cat lost its life to a curious nature, you know. I mean, really.” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. Just then Alex’s brake lights came on, his car stopped, and he got out.

  “We’ll hang back,” Frida said. “Maybe you should stay in the car, Eve. Better yet, maybe we should get out of here. I’m not even sure this is legal.”

  “Don’t be such a wuss. We’re just driving down a country lane at night, then stopping for a walk.” I opened my car door and jumped out.

  “Eve,” Frida hissed at my retreating back.

  I walked past Alex’s empty car, certain that the footsteps I heard behind me belonged to Frida. Wuss or not, I knew her own curiosity wouldn’t let her back out now.

  Suddenly a hand grabbed my arm.

  “Let go of me, Frida. We need to find out what’s going on.”

  “It’s me, Eve.” It was Alex’s voice. “I saw your headlights behind me. Now will you gals be quiet? I’d like to find out what’s going on without scaring off my prey.”

  “We may be trespassing,” Frida said in a whisper. “I don’t remember this road on any map.”

  “This road is actually on David’s land, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind our using it.” Alex put his finger to his lips to signal silence then moved ahead.

  “But what are Mrs. Warren and Moses doing? I was certain they were headed for the Reed place, not David’s,” I said.

  “We can cut west at the end of this road and get into the Reed property the back way, which is what I’ll bet Warren and Ermlich are doing. Pretty smart of them, I’d say.” Alex led the way, careful to stay on the road and not wander onto the side that bordered a swampy area. I could see the moonlight reflected off the water. Cattails and bulrushes undulated in the night breeze. I stopped my imagination from providing me pictures of the animals that might be enjoying a late night swim out there.

  “So if we turn west, we will be trespassing,” Frida said. “And onto property owned by a person who makes his living by shooting things. The guy is into guns. Think about it. If he catches us, he has a perfect right to defend his land.” Frida was right, of course. And she had more to lose than we did. She was law enforcement, a detective who had been removed from the murder cases. She could lose her job if she got caught sneaking around Reed’s ranch.

  “On the other hand,” she continued, “I feel kind of silly saying I’ll wait here for you.”

  “Listen.” Alex held up his hand for us to stop walking or talking.

  We all stood still for several moments and heard … nothing.

  Alex broke the silence. “Damn. We’ve lost them. I was sure they’d drive in the back way. Unless they left the truck and went in on foot. Either way we’d hear the truck or see their taillights or hear them. If they’re on foot, where did they leave the truck?”

  “Why would they go in on foot? Unless they don’t want anyone at the ranch to know they’re coming. Why would that be?” An idea was forming in my head, and it was in direct opposition to Alex’s theory—that Mrs. Warren and Moses Ermlich were confederates of Reed or the foreman.

  “We need to find out if they’re at Reed’s,” Alex said.

  “We can keep going and maybe come up behind them. I just think it’s odd they’d want to sneak in as if they didn’t want anyone there to know ….” I didn’t finish my sentence. A twig snapped behind us. We all whirled around, expecting to see that Mrs. Warren and Moses had spotted us and circled around to take us by surprise. Instead the figure of a huge man materialized from behind a live oak. A rifle rested in the crook of his arm. When he stepped toward us, a shaft of weak, milky moonlight fell across his face.

  “Sammy! What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be home in bed recovering,” I said.

  He gave us his crooked smile. “I guess you don’t know. David arranged for me to keep an eye on his place while he and his foreman are in jail.”

  “When did all this happen?” asked Alex.

  “Today, after you and Eve left my place.”

  Frida stepped forward. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but it’s more than convenient that you’re right on top of the Reed place, given your suspicions about the man.”

  I thought Sammy might take offense, but instead he gave a little chuckle of laughter. “Isn’t it just as convenient that here you are in the middle of the night at the edge of his property when you’re equally suspicious of Reed and his treatment of his workers? And you’re not even supposed to be investigating this case.”

  Frida seemed taken aback by his accusation, but only for a moment; then she grinned and sa
id, “You got me there.”

  Alex waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Yeah, yeah, we all think Reed is a shithead, but I seem to be the only one hot on a lead that might shed some light on this murder. Could we move on? I need to find the people I’m following. They’re up to something.”

  “You think they’re somehow involved in the murders?” asked Frida.

  “Yep, and they’re covering their tracks, trying to make contact with Reed,” Alex said.

  “Uh, could be. On the other hand, it’s just as likely—”

  I was interrupted by Alex before I could get out my own take on the situation. “Let’s confront them.” Alex turned back toward his vehicle. “You interested in accompanying us, Sammy?’

  “My job is guarding David’s place now that it’s not occupied. I’ve no interest in tangling with Reed or his men. I’ll stay here. If you miss Warren and Ermlich, they’ll come back this way. If someone lends me a cellphone, I’ll let you know.”

  I tossed my cell to Sammy. He grabbed it and faded back into the shadows.

  “I’ll go in the front way, like a law-abiding citizen. But just in case there’s trouble, maybe you and Frida should wait on the main road.” Alex hurried toward his car.

  “You got that, buddy,” said Frida. “I’m in enough trouble with my boss. I don’t need to create more by showing up in the dead of night at the Reed place asking about some people I don’t even know. C’mon, Eve. We’re out of here.”

  “No, no, no. I want to go with Alex. It’s either that or I march in there on foot.”

  I was bluffing. I didn’t know how to get to the Reed complex through the woods, and the road leading there was two miles long. By the time I showed up, I would have missed anything interesting.

  Alex stopped short ahead of me, and I ran into him. In the darkness I couldn’t see the expression on his face, but his tone of voice indicated he was at the end of his tether.

  “Fine then. But you stay in the car.”

  “Are you sure you want her along?” asked Frida.