“I wonder who is really putting up the prize money.”
“Beats me, Aggie, but we aren’t gonna find out hanging around here all day.” She walked to the door and I cut off the coffee machine and grabbed my purse, following Eleanor out the door.
I turned onto US 23 and couldn’t help but notice all the traffic heading toward East Tawas. “I bet all those cars are people wanting to audition for that Bigfoot show.”
“I bet you’re right, Aggie. Hopefully, Billy can shed more light on what is really going on around the Tawas area.”
“I sure hope so.”
Ten minutes later I made the turn into Billy’s house. I was glad that his truck was in the drive, at least. The sooner he answered our questions, the sooner El and I could prepare for auditioning for that reality show. When El and I made our way toward the house, I couldn’t help but notice how deadly silent it was. Not one bird singing, not a cricket chirping, nothing. I felt like we were in a dead zone. An involuntary shudder began that I was unable to control. Was I worried what Billy might say, or—”
“Look, Aggie. The door is ajar,” El observed.
I was a bundle of nerves by now, for sure. I pulled out my cell phone and called 911, reporting suspicious activity out at the Matlin place.
When I hung up, Eleanor said, “Wasn’t that a bit premature?”
“No, there is definitely something amiss here.”
“Should we wait until the cops show up then?”
“Not at all. We’ll just be sure not to touch anything.” I pushed the door open with my knee and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Billy’s house was completely trashed. Sofas and tables were overturned, but what startled me the most was that the patio door was shattered and covered with a red substance on the outside that appeared to be blood.
I exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Eleanor who gulped hard. “Maybe we should really wait outside for the cops to show up?”
“Not just yet. We should take a look around just in case Billy is hiding somewhere.”
“I’ve never seen a patio door shattered like that. You can tell that the glass was broken from the outside.”
Sure enough it was easy to see that she was dead-on right since most of the glass shards were inside, not outside. I carefully walked down a long hallway, sneaking a peek inside a bedroom, but it looked normal. The bed wasn’t disturbed and the beige comforter was in place. I picked up a sock from atop the dresser and opened the closet, moving the hangers aside to determine if Billy was hiding in there somewhere, but it was empty.
Eleanor was standing in the hallway, waiting on me. “The bathroom’s empty,” she announced.
“Same for the bedroom,” I said as I made my way back into the living room. I entered the kitchen next where a teapot was lying on the floor discarded, but everything else looked exactly like it should. The sink was spotless, dishes piled in the drain rack. All of the cupboards were closed, too. I opened what I thought might be a closet, but it was a pantry, and empty save for shelves filled with canned and boxed food.
El and I went into the living room just as Sheriff Peterson and Trooper Sales walked in with their guns drawn. El and I raised our hands and I said, “It’s clear in here. We already took a look see around.”
“Why are you even here?” Peterson asked.
“Well, Billy Matlin hired us to find, you know … Bigfoot, and we came to ask him a few questions, but found the front door ajar.”
“Aggie thought it was a good idea to check it out.”
“Not the smartest move,” Trooper Sales said as he holstered his revolver. “You both could have put yourselves in grave danger.”
“I called 911 and reported that there was something amiss here at least.”
“Still,” Sheriff Peterson said. “It would be safer for you two to wait on us to check things out.”
I pointed out the glass. “It appears that the window was broken from the outside in, like they wanted something in here.”
“Something like Bigfoot,” El added. “We searched all the rooms, but we couldn’t find Billy anywhere.”
“Exactly. There is a teapot on the floor in the kitchen. I think Billy must have dropped it when he heard the window break.”
“Yes,” El cut in. “When he came out here to check things out, that’s when it got him.”
“When what got him?” Sheriff Peterson asked.
“Bigfoot, of course,” El said.
Sheriff Peterson and Trooper Sales exchanged a look with widened eyes. “I see,” Sales said. “How did you gather that?”
“From the blood outside, of course,” I said. “Bigfoot must have dragged him outside, and that’s probably when Billy was injured.”
“Bigfoot might have eaten him,” El said. “But that’s weird since Billy has been feeding him all along.”
I nodded in agreement. “Perhaps he forgot to feed him today, El.”
El clapped her hands. “That must be it, but is Bigfoot a carnivore?”
“I fancy him more of an omnivore, El.”
“A what?”
“You know, an animal that eats both meat and plants, or humanoid, since we really don’t know what Bigfoot is for sure, man or animal.”
“A very hairy man.”
“Are you two done yet?” Sales asked. “I wonder if we’ll ever figure out what really happened, since the two of you have invaded the crime scene, and probably destroyed any evidence we would have gathered.”
“Would have? Don’t you mean you intend to gather?” I showed them my sock-covered hand. “I was careful not to leave any fingerprints on anything.”
Sheriff Peterson unsuccessfully stifled a chuckle. “Great idea, but perhaps you two should wait outside while we investigate the scene.”
Before either El or I had the chance to say anything, Sales asked. “Why were you two here?”
“I already told you. Billy hired us to find Bigfoot, but we were given some information and we wanted to ask Billy a few questions.”
Sales smoothed his hair back with a hand. “Such as?”
“Just that we heard there is prize money at stake for finding Bigfoot to the tune of ten million.”
That got their attention. “I see,” Sheriff Peterson said. “Well, who is putting up that kind of money?”
“Heck if I know. All I do know is that the Animal Network plans to shoot a reality show soon. It’s called Hunting Bigfoot.”
El tapped her foot. “They’re shooting it at—”
I tapped El’s toe just enough to silence her as I added; “They’re shooting near here. I forget where.”
“That’s all we need in East Tawas,” Sheriff Peterson began. “Before long, we’ll have big game hunters showing up in town. East Tawas barely survived the last hoopla spawned by the two of you.”
“I don’t care for how you said that, Peterson. Was it my fault that East Tawas had ghost hunters in town that one time, or treasure hunters the other? No. Folks just get riled up when something out of the ordinary happens. It’s our duty to stay on this case and figure out what might have really happened to Billy Matlin.”
“At this point, he’s merely missing,” Peterson said. “We’ll gather up some hounds and see if they can get a scent after we scour the woods a bit on our own. That means without the two of you interfering. It’s bad enough you have those DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife guys fighting over evidence gathered here.”
“So you do know about that?” I asked.
“Yes, and I’m not about to allow you to do the same thing you did with them. You’ll leave our crime scene and get out of our way so that we can investigate on our own.”
With that, Sheriff Peterson and Trooper Sales split up and checked the house, just like we already had.”
“What should we do, Aggie?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t allow them to shove us aside. Hurry, let’s go out back and check things out before either of them realizes where we went. Perhaps they’ll just think that we
left, or are waiting in the car.”
Eleanor and I carefully stepped over the glass, and within a few minutes, we followed the trail of the drops of blood that led into the woods. “Watch out for the stick, Eleanor,” I said.
“It’s sure getting harder to follow this trail. I hope we don’t come across Billy’s body ripped to shreds. I don’t think my stomach could handle that.”
I led the way on the trail that wasn’t too bad, but narrowed slightly just as I heard a whopping sound. El clung to my arm. “Is that … Bigfoot?”
Birds flew overhead and the bushes shook ahead of us. Eleanor’s fingernails bit into my arm, but I gripped her arms just as tight. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as a white-tailed deer burst from the underbrush and reared back slightly when its large brown eyes met ours, dashing on in the opposite direction.
“He sure looked spooked,” Eleanor observed. “Maybe we should get out of here while the getting is good.”
“I’ll agree with that.” El and I went back the way we came and rushed past the troopers who combed through the woods. Guns were drawn as we startled them, and Sheriff Peterson shouted, “What in tarnation are you two doing? Trying to get shot?”
“Yes,” Trooper Sales added. “I recalled the sheriff telling you two to leave the crime scene. Get in your car and go home. We can handle the search.”
The sound of dogs was heard as a handler came forward with two German Shepherds with bared teeth, snapping their jaw at us. Luckily for us, they were controlled enough that neither of us suffered a nasty bite. Those dogs were quite capable of tearing us limb from limb, and I knew it.
“We didn’t run across Billy, but we heard an awful noise. I’ve never heard anything like it before.”
“It was a whopping sound,” Eleanor added. “My bet is that it was Bigfoot by the way a white-tailed deer came running out of the bushes. I know it was as scared as us.”
“I see. Well, move along now, and leave this time,” Sales said. “I’d hate to arrest the two of you just to keep you out of the crime scene.”
My bet is that wouldn’t go so well for him at home with my granddaughter, Sophia. “What do you think happened here, Sales?”
He scratched his arm, swatting at the mosquitos. “I’m not sure, just yet. We’ll be handling it as a missing person’s case until we find something that leads us to believe otherwise.”
“What about that blood?”
“There’s a forensics tech gathering samples. At this point we don’t know if it’s blood at all, or even if it is, if it belongs to Billy Matlin. Don’t worry yourselves, we’ll figure it out.”
Chapter Ten
El and I made for our car and left, heading for town. I looked at the clock and it wasn’t even noon yet. I pulled into the campground and soon Eleanor and I were waiting outside Martha’s Winnebago as I rapped on the door.
She peeked out the door and opened it just enough for us to come in. Martha still wore her bathrobe, and her eyes red and puffy.
“Are you alone?” I asked.
“Of course I am. Why would you think otherwise?”
“Well, the last time we saw you, you were with Joshua Crabtree, I believe. I just thought he was … you know—”
“Your latest boy toy,” Eleanor finished for me.
“He’s helping me make jewelry, that’s all.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that you’re not entertaining the young men these days?”
“Not lately. Since when do you even care, Mother?”
“Hitting a dry spell are you?” Eleanor asked, always the one to try and extract additional information.
“It’s not like that exactly. It’s just that ever since I became a grandma, I’ve re-evaluated my lifestyle is all. I don’t want to be the laughing stock of East Tawas.”
“I honestly never thought that mattered to you, Martha. Being a grandma doesn’t mean you can’t continue to live your life to the fullest.”
Eleanor’s brow arched sharply. “Are you suddenly condoning your daughter’s activities as a cougar?”
“I’ve adjusted to who Martha is, and I’m fine with it.”
“That sounds harsh, Mother. So is that how you see me, as a middle aged floozy?”
“What is going on, Martha? I accept you for who you are and now you’re trying to tell me you’re someone else. So how do you see yourself?”
“Right now, I’m someone with a hangover. I met that author, Madison Johns, for drinks, and I’m afraid I drank too much, but she kept buying them so what’s a girl to do?”
“Say no,” I said with a smile. I made a pot of coffee while Eleanor brought Martha up to speed regarding what had happened this morning and how Billy Matlin was presumed missing.
“So you think Bigfoot dragged Billy off into the woods?” Martha asked.
“It sure looks that way, but unless his body is found, we’ll never really know what did happen.”
“Sounds like quite the story. I’m not sure about these Bigfoot stories. It seems far fetched to me.”
“Really, Martha?” El asked. “I expected that you’d have more of an open mind.”
“And why is that?”
“No reason, really. I guess I don’t know who you really are after all. It was a lot easier when you were a cougar—that I get,” Eleanor said with a wink.
I waited for the dripping of the coffee pot to stop and poured each of us a cup, carrying them to the dinette benches where Martha and Eleanor sat. I then retrieved the vanilla creamer and poured enough in my cup to flavor it. When I sat down, Martha had her face over her cup, allowing the rising steam to drift into her nostrils.
“Whatever your plans are today, Mother—leave me out of them.”
I leaned my back against the floral cushion of the bench. “Oh, really? So you don’t want to go with El and me when we audition for that reality show, Hunting Bigfoot?”
That got Martha’s attention. “You two on a reality show about Bigfoot? This I gotta see firsthand.”
We finished our coffees while Martha took her shower, appearing twenty minutes later wearing camouflage pants and shirt, her wild blonde hair flowing about her shoulders.
“Wow, Martha,” Eleanor said. “You sure spruced up quick.”
“I can’t wait to meet Brent. He sure looks cute on that Animal Network show Hunting Bigfoot.”
I shook my head. “You mean Hunting Bigfoot. Finding Bigfoot is on the Animal Channel.”
“So I suppose the Tawas Bigfoot isn’t big enough of a deal for the Animal Channel, but I’ll settle for Hunting Bigfoot. How hard do you think it will be to get selected?”
“I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s being taped at the Cat Lady’s house, so hopefully we can convince Brent to pick us. It’s the least he can do since Bernice is allowing him on her land.”
“Who?” Martha asked confused.
“The Cat Lady’s real name is Bernice Riley. It’s still hard for me to call her that, but perhaps I should start.” I stared down at our apparel. “It might be a good idea if we wore camouflage to the audition, too, don’t you think Martha?”
“I’m not sure they have any in your sizes.”
Eleanor’s brows drew together. “And that means what, exactly?”
“Nothing,” Martha quickly countered. “I meant I don’t think Walmart has any camouflage clothing this time of year.”
Eleanor whisked back a stray lock of hair. “Well, Walmart isn’t the only place to shop, you know. We could check out Nordic Sports. It’s on West Bay Street.”
“Fine,” Martha said, “but don’t set your hopes on finding any clothing like that. This isn’t even hunting season yet.”
We meandered our way out the door, and soon were off down the road, arriving at Nordic Sports within minutes. The exterior of Nordic Sports was all wood and reminded me of a cabin you might find in the woods. When we opened the door, a bell jingled overhead and we made our way inside. Shelves were filled with everything from camping
and fishing, to hunting supplies—anything you’d need on an outdoor adventure.
Eleanor examined the Kayaks near one wall with interest. “I’ve always wanted to try this out.”
I raised a brow. “Me, too, but we’re much too old to be doing anything that radical.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Be reasonable, Eleanor. Can you imagine us sitting in something like that? Who on earth would help us get out of the blasted thing?”
Eleanor erupted into a fit of giggles. “I guess you’re right, Aggie, but it does look like fun. She strode to the counter and asked the woman behind the glass counter for help locating camouflage clothing in our size.”
Instead of being judgmental, like Martha suggested she would be, the woman went into the back and presented us with what we requested. “Where are you ladies going dressed in camo?” the woman asked.
“We’re auditioning for a reality show, Hunting Bigfoot.”
Still without judging, she suggested proper footwear. “You sure don’t want to be tromping out in the woods without boots.”
Martha shook her head at the woman with the reddish curly hair. “You’re quite the saleswoman, I’ll give you that. Don’t you think it’s kinda crazy for two elderly ladies to be looking for Bigfoot?”
“Not at all. It seems like half the town has gone Bigfoot crazy. At least, ever since Billy Matlin started telling everyone his story.”
“What do you make of his story?” I asked.
The woman put her hands on her hips. “Well, who am I to call the kettle black? I’ve seen some pretty strange things, too. Just last night my hounds sure were spooked at something and took off. I haven’t seen them since.”
“Do you think Bigfoot got them?” Eleanor asked.
“I’m not sure, but they’ve never acted like that before. I hope this gets figured out soon. I, for one, would like to know what’s been going on out at the Matlin place. He’s a nice enough fella. I can’t imagine him just making the story up.”
“Do you know him?” I asked.
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. He comes in sometimes, but he’s only been asking about maps of the area.”
Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 06 - Bigfoot in Tawas Page 7
