by Susan Harper
“I could ask around,” Bonnie said. “Maybe one of his neighbors knows where he might be.”
“I think I might know,” Felicity said. “Right before you arrested him, he was showing up at Donald’s place. I bet he had gone there looking for his share of the money that Donald was hoarding. Chances are, he has already done back.”
“You think he could be at Donald’s?” Bonnie asked.
“I mean, if he was hoarding as much money as Lonnie said he was, then, yeah,” Felicity said. “I would.”
“All right, ladies, hop in,” Bonnie said, heading around to the driver’s side.
“Shotgun!” Iris called, jumping into the passenger’s seat.
Felicity chuckled and sat in the back. They headed back across town to the trailer park where Donald had lived. And, sure enough, Mick’s car was parked out front. “Idiot,” Bonnie said as they pulled up. “He seriously came back to the spot where I arrested him.”
“Just don’t let him punch you in the nose again,” Iris said.
Bonnie reached up and touched her bruised nose. “You’re not kidding. I don’t think my face can take another hit like that. I won’t hesitate to get him with the Taser before he throws a punch this time.”
“I don’t think he’s going to try to run,” Felicity said. “He’d be stupid to do that a second time. He’s got enough charges on his rap sheet after the last incident.”
“You two stay back, all right?” Bonnie said as she exited the patrol car.
Of course, Felicity and Iris didn’t listen entirely. They exited the car as well, but they remained outside. Bonnie kicked in the front door of the trailer. “Hands up!” she shouted, and Felicity could hear Mick’s voice coming from inside the trailer. He was cussing at himself.
Bonnie marched Mick outside after placing him in cuffs. “What now?” he groaned. “What did I do now?”
“Breaking and entering,” Bonnie said.
Mick puffed up. “Whatever,” he said. He glanced in Felicity and Iris’s direction. “What’s up with those two? They always follow you around or something?”
Felicity and Iris approached as Bonnie forced Mick to sit down on one of the many cinderblocks cluttering up Donald’s yard. “What are you doing out here, Mick?” Bonnie asked. “Especially after you were already arrested once for breaking into Donald’s house. And don’t lie to me. You’re already in enough trouble. You’ve been out of jail for less than twenty-four hours, and I’ve already got you in cuffs again.”
“All right, all right. Geez,” he groaned. “I came here to see if I could find where Donald stashed my money, all right? That’s it.”
“The money you two made from the stolen items Donald sold, am I right?” Bonnie asked. “Very illegal, Mick. We were at your place earlier. You got a nice house. You got a good job, right? Surely you don’t pay your mortgage by pick-pocketing.”
“I lost my job a couple months back,” he admitted. “I’ve got some interviews lined up, but working with Donald has helped to keep me afloat.” Felicity started to feel bad for the guy, until he told her that the reason he lost his job was for grabbing a female employee’s breast. She didn’t feel bad for him after that. This guy is a creep, Felicity thought.
“Just how much money did Donald have stashed away that he was supposed to give you all?” Bonnie asked.
“Five thousand. Each,” he said angrily. “That guy robbed me five thousand dollars. Would have paid my mortgage for the next three months. Was kind of hoping I’d find the whole lot stashed away in his trailer, but someone else already beat me to it.”
“Who?” Bonnie asked.
“I don’t know. Probably Lonnie,” Mick said. “Lonnie Egrit. He would sometimes work with us, and he knew about the money.”
“Lonnie Egrit is dead,” Bonnie said. “And I was thinking that you might just know something about that.”
Mick looked surprised. “Dead! I didn’t know nothing about that!” he exclaimed. “What…what happened to him?”
“Someone shot up a cabin he was hiding out in,” Bonnie said. “He was running scared. What was he scared of, Mick? Was he scared of you?”
“What!? No!” Mick exclaimed. “Lonnie and I were cool! It was Donald who was taking our stash!”
“Before Lonnie was killed, he told us you lot had a fourth partner,” Bonnie said. “Who was it?”
Mick huffed. “Why should I help you?”
“Because either you killed Donald and Lonnie or whoever killed them is probably after you next,” Felicity said matter-of-factly, and her statement made Mick pale.
“You think someone might be trying to kill me?” he asked.
“Possibly,” Bonnie said. “Half of your team is dead. And there was obviously some tension and disagreement about payment before the killing spree started. Sounds like either you’re guilty or you’re a potential victim.”
Mick looked like he was about to be sick. “I…I didn’t kill nobody! I swear! I was just after the money.”
“Then who is your fourth horseman?” Iris asked.
Mick’s shoulders slumped. “You ain’t gonna believe me.”
“Try me,” Bonnie said.
Mick sighed heavily. “Truth is, I don’t know. You see, Donald only brought Lonnie and I into the game pretty recently. He came to me last month, knowing I had been having some money trouble. Taught me how to pick-pocket. It made it easier on him, and he got caught a lot less with an extra set of hands. He had struck up a deal about a month before I started working with him with Lonnie to start sending people his way. That was just to get Lonnie off his back because Lonnie had always been quick to report him. So, Lonnie and I were still pretty new in the game. Donald’s other partner, well, I haven’t ever met the guy.”
“Bull crap,” Bonnie said.
“I’m serious!” Mick exclaimed. “Never met him. Not once. All I know is that Donald told me this guy would send him a signal somehow to let him know who was worth trying to swipe from. I don’t know what the signal was. Basically, the guy would signal Donald. Then Donald would signal me by having Lilly steal from someone in the crowd. I’d know to go after whoever Lilly was bothering. That’s how I knew to dig around in your purse—” He looked at Felicity. “—because he sent Lilly after your sister, so I knew that Donald wanted me to target you two. While you were distracted by the bird, I was able to reach in and grab stuff from your purse.”
“Donald taught you well, huh?” Felicity asked. “Pretty good for an amateur pick-pocket.”
“I think so,” Mick said somewhat proudly.
“So that’s it? That’s all you got for us?” Bonnie asked impatiently.
“Sorry, that’s all,” Mick said. “Believe me, if I knew more, I’d tell you. Especially since you three seem to think that whoever killed Donald and Lonnie might be after me next. But I don’t know who else Donald was working with. I really don’t. He kept Lonnie and me out of the loop at lot. Made it harder for us to keep up with how much money he owed us. I was never totally sure he was giving me my fair share.”
Bonnie sighed. “Sounds like we’re back to square one, ladies.”
“We just have to find out who the fourth horseman was,” Felicity assured Bonnie. “Then, we will have found our killer.”
“The four horsemen, huh?” Mick asked. “I kind of like the sound of that. Any chance when this story breaks, you slip that one by to the press?”
“Oh, shut up,” Bonnie said, pulling him to his feet. “Guess where you’re going.”
Mick sighed. “Back to jail?”
“Back to jail,” Bonnie said and put him into the back of the car. “Well, I can’t really put you back there with him.”
“We got to get back to the station,” Felicity said. “He’s handcuffed, and he seems pretty harmless. I’ll be fine.”
Bonnie hesitated, but she nodded. Iris sat up front with Bonnie, and Felicity sat in the back with Mick. She stared him down, and frankly, she was pretty sure that she intimidated
the man. “I can’t believe you stole my phone and wallet,” she said to him.
“Sorry,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of trouble for myself. I never really wanted anyone to get hurt. I was just trying to get by.”
“Maybe next time you get a job, don’t sexually harass your coworkers,” Felicity said.
“Yeah, that was not my best decision,” he said. “She clocked me in the nose pretty good, too.”
“Good,” Bonnie said, instinctively reaching up and touching her nose. “I hope she broke yours the way you did mine, you creep.”
“I’m not so bad,” he said.
“You aren’t so great either,” Felicity said, and the man slumped in his seat.
Iris started laughing. “Man, I can’t believe you went back to the scene of the crime. That’s like the one thing you’re not ever supposed to do. This has got to be some sort of record. You were released from jail this morning, you bozo!”
“Officer, your friends are harassing me,” Mick complained.
“Good,” Bonnie grumbled and began reciting his Miranda rights again. When she was finished, she smirked at him in the rearview mirror. “You keep this up, Mick, and you’ll have this thing memorized before too long.”
“Ha–ha, very funny,” he said, slumping even further down.
“We’re almost to the station,” Felicity said. “Last chance. You sure you don’t know who the fourth horseman is?”
“I swear, I really don’t,” he sighed. “And, frankly, that might be a good thing. It occurred to me that me not knowing might just be the only reason I’m still alive.”
Felicity nodded. “You do have a point. Lonnie acted like he knew before he was killed. Did he find out?”
“Yeah,” Mick said. “Couple weeks ago, but Donald told him not to tell me. Said he saw whatever signal the guy gives Donald and was able to piece it together. I’m glad I don’t know at this point, but believe it or not, I do wish I could be more helpful. I know Donald and Lonnie were not exactly saints, but they didn’t deserve to be killed. I mean…they were kind of my friends. The closest thing to friends I had, that is.”
Felicity nodded. “I can understand that. Don’t worry, Mick. We’re going to find out what happened to your friends.”
Mick nodded. “Thanks. I certainly hope you do.”
13
“Strawberry with marshmallows? Yes, please!” Felicity said as she eyed the ice cream options from her side of the display case.
“Let’s see…” Iris said as she contemplated her choices. “One scoop of the strawberry and marshmallow, one scoop of the double chocolate fudge, and let’s try a scoop of your house specialty German chocolate too.”
“Seriously, Iris?” Felicity asked.
“I was shot today!” Iris exclaimed.
Bonnie laughed and ordered herself a scoop of banana-flavored ice cream. The three women, once receiving their ice cream, sat themselves in a booth. After booking Mick, the three of them had decided they deserved a break. Ice cream seemed like an excellent way to do that. Helen had a number of excellent fudge and ice cream shops, but Bonnie had insisted on bringing them to this one.
“How is the strawberry with marshmallows?” Bonnie asked.
“Delicious,” Felicity said. “Glad you brought us here.”
“Same,” Iris said. Since she had gotten three scoops, she had opted for a cup rather than a cone to avoid a huge mess.
“Is your abundant supply of ice cream making your bullet wound feel any better?” Bonnie teased.
“Ice cream makes everything better, Bonnie,” Iris insisted.
“Okay, so while we’re sitting here, we might as well review the case,” Felicity said.
“Review what?” Bonnie groaned. “We got nothing.”
“We have a guy in custody who says he didn’t kill Donald or Lonnie but that he doesn’t know who did do it,” Iris said, taking a large bite of double-chocolate fudge. “This blows. I have to be honest, Felicity. I was expecting a little more excitement.”
“Excitement!” Felicity exclaimed. “Again, you were shot! I think that’s plenty of excitement, Iris.”
“Yeah, well, I mean, I figured we would have caught the guy by now,” Iris said. “It’s starting to get kind of boring.”
“Boohoo,” Felicity said, shaking her head. “Ugh, I got to be honest, Bonnie. I’m at a bit of a loss. I’m sorry I haven’t been more helpful on this case.”
“You’ve been very helpful,” Bonnie said. “We wouldn’t have known about there being a fourth player in the game had you not found out where Lonnie was staying. I wouldn’t have known where he was at either if you two hadn’t have found him. And you’re the one who thought to check Donald’s house for Mick. And, thanks to you two, my department isn’t having to deal with a dead guy’s pet parrot.”
“True,” Felicity said. “I guess we have been somewhat helpful.”
“Wait, I have a thought,” Iris said. “We need to figure out who the fourth horseman is, right?”
“Right,” Felicity said.
“Well, Lonnie was able to figure it out even though Donald was keeping the secret from him. If Lonnie can figure it out, then so can we,” Iris said.
“Yeah, but we don’t know how Lonnie figured it out,” Felicity argued.
“But we do,” Iris argued. “Mick said that Lonnie told him he found out who Donald’s other partner was because he realized what the signal was. The fourth horseman’s job was to signal Donald whenever he thought he found someone good worth picking over. Felicity, you and I were victims of Donald’s theft. Maybe if we retrace our steps, we can figure out what the signal was.”
“How do we even know that the fourth horseman talked to us?” Felicity asked. “We could have just been some random pick-pocket victims.”
“But we won’t know that unless we walk through the whole thing again,” Iris countered. “Let’s see if we can’t figure it out.”
“You know, we are just down the street from where Donald would work the crowds,” Bonnie said. “Let’s walk back there and retrace your steps.”
“I suppose it’s as good of a plan as any,” Felicity said.
The three women headed out. Soon, they were walking down the road toward where they had first encountered Donald the Pirate. The road turned to cobblestone, and Iris pointed out that this was where they had ridden in Sam’s carriage on their first day toward where they had met Donald. “Remember Jurgen, the mime?” Iris pointed out. “He was following us while we were riding on the carriage! Being all weird. Sam even had to shoo him away.”
“You think Jurgen could be the fourth horseman?” Bonnie asked.
“If Donald was looking for a signal, a man in brightly colored clothes flailing his arms about and chasing us on foot wouldn’t be hard to miss,” Iris said.
“True…but…I don’t think Donald would have been able to see Jurgen from here,” Felicity said as they continued walking. “Yeah, Jurgen dipped out before we got anywhere near Donald’s performance area.”
The three women headed up a small incline and then down toward the walkway where Donald used to perform. There were some flowers and pirate paraphernalia laid out in his honor. A short distance away, toward one of the many small stages that were all over Helen, a solo guitarist was playing music. “Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee…” he sang. “Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me…”
“Is that basically the theme song around here?” Iris asked.
Bonnie laughed. “Tourists like hearing it. Helen is just one of many towns along the Chattahoochee River. No matter which of those towns you’re in, you stay for too long, and you’re bound to hear at least one rendition of it.”
“I’m going to walk down to where Donald was standing when we first got here and see what all I can see,” Iris said, hurrying toward the walkway. She stood, glancing around.
“Could Jurgen have circled back around?” Bonnie suggested and pointed across the street. “I mean, a couple
of street performers working together seems pretty likely. Not exactly the type of job that pulls in a lot of dough.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” Felicity said, then called down to Iris. “What can you see from down there?”
“Not a whole lot,” Iris called back. “He was standing in the walkway, so he wouldn’t have been able to see up and down the street much. He would have seen us coming, though.”
Then, suddenly, it hit Felicity like a ton of bricks. “Oh, wow!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. She imagined it. Those last few moments before heading over to Donald the Pirate. “The carrot!” Felicity called. “I know what the signal was! Sam stopped to feed Betsy a carrot when we got off the carriage.” She pointed down the road. “Lonnie’s shop is right there. He would have been able to watch Sam and Donald and Mick from his window. He probably put two and two together and figured out that every time Sam stopped to feed a carrot to Betsy that Donald and Mick would target whoever had been riding in the carriage.”
“The carrot meant that he spied something worth stealing!” Iris exclaimed, running back up to them. “Oh my gosh, Sam is the fourth horseman! A literal horseman is our fourth horseman, that’s hilarious!”
“Are you still high on your pain meds?” Felicity asked.
“Hmm…” Bonnie said as she eyed the scene around her. “I’m going to call the forensic team that’s been working Lonnie’s crime scene. If the car tracks we found match up with the type of car Sam drives, I think you might just have a case there, Felicity.” Bonnie pulled out her cellphone and stepped aside to speak with her contact. “Yo, Emily. Please tell me you got something for me,” Bonnie said as she walked off.
Iris squealed and slapped Felicity on the arm to get her attention. “Do you think we solved it?” Iris asked excitedly, practically shaking where she stood.
“Possibly,” Felicity said. She finished her ice cream cone and wiped her hands on her jeans. “Aren’t you getting full? That was a lot of ice cream.”
Iris shrugged. “I’m on vacation. And I still have some of the German chocolate flavor left.” She scooped another bite out of the bowl.
