Cast Iron Cover-Up (The Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries Book 3)

by Jessica Beck

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I said as I looked down into the pit. It wasn’t very deep; in fact, it appeared that at some point in the distant past, someone had filled a great deal of it up with rocks and other debris. “There’s nothing here.”

  Annie looked over the edge with me. “Not that we can see, at least. Why would anyone ever fill in a well? Could Jasper’s treasure be down there?”

  “More likely it went dry at some point, and they filled it in to keep their kids from falling down into an empty hole,” I said as I put the cover back in place. “It sounds as though there are too many places to look in such a limited amount of time, and I doubt Timothy would appreciate us being here, let alone taking a shovel to his land.”

  “We’re not digging up anything,” Annie said. “I just think the college expedition may have been a little too restricted in their search before.”

  “Be sure to tell them all that tonight,” I said with a grin. “I’m sure they’d be delighted to get your constructive criticism.”

  My sister stuck her tongue out at me, something that never failed to make me chuckle.

  “If we’re not going to do any digging, then why are we here?” I asked her.

  “We’re looking for something like this,” she said as she squatted down near the old foundation of the homestead. It was on the back, well away from the clearing, and I wondered if Kathleen’s people had even searched there. I joined my sister and looked at the spot she was checking out.

  “What do you think, Pat?”

  “It’s just another hole, as far as I can see,” I said.

  “It’s more than that,” Annie replied as she reached down into the gash in the earth and pulled her soiled hand away. “Check it out, Pat. It’s fresh.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked her as I got a closer look for myself.

  She pointed to a circle of grass that had recently been uprooted and was lying off to one side. “Look, the blades are still green. Now check out where they dug the day before.”

  I looked over at the closest other hole and saw that she was right. The grass that had been removed the day before was already browning at the tips, whereas this bit seemed just as lively as the grass that surrounded us. “I see what you mean.”

  “Who was out here digging today?” she asked. “They had to go through the police tape to get here, so it’s obvious they were ignoring Kathleen’s warning not to cross the line.”

  “I know you’re not going to be happy about what I’m about to say, but Timothy could have done it, Annie.”

  She looked long and hard at me before she answered. “You heard me before, Pat. He’s off the table as far as a suspect for murder is concerned.”

  “Even if he dug this hole, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s a killer,” I said quickly before my sister could build up a head of steam.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “If we’re right, and Bones found at least part of the money that was buried out here, why would anyone dig over here?” I pointed to the spot a hundred yards away where Peggy had claimed to have discovered the college student’s body. “Doesn’t it just make sense that if someone killed him for gold and silver, they’d keep looking for more where they found him in the first place? This is an entirely different dig site over here.”

  “Okay, I see what you’re saying. That implies that whoever dug this fresh hole isn’t the killer, since they wouldn’t know where Bones was actually murdered.”

  “Or even spoke with Peggy,” I added. “That would make me believe that it had to be Timothy or Carter. Do you think there’s one chance in a hundred that Peggy hasn’t already recounted every gruesome detail of her discovery to the people she’s here with? If one of them came back to investigate on their own, they’d dig over there.”

  “Even if the killer wasn’t one of them, they’d do the same thing,” Annie said.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “What if whoever killed Bones only got part of the loot, as you just suggested? They might sneak back looking for the rest of it, but they wouldn’t be searching over here, either.”

  “There’s something else we haven’t considered,” I told her.

  “What’s that?”

  “The four students have been with Kathleen most of the day, and I have a hunch that if they haven’t, they’ve at least all been together. When could one of them have had the time it must have taken to break free from the group, come back here, and start digging again?”

  “We’ll have to ask them that tonight at dinner,” Annie suggested. “In the meantime, let’s assume that it wasn’t one of the four of them. That leaves Carter.” She looked hard at me again, daring me to bring up Timothy’s name again. I wasn’t about to say it, even though I felt that this time, it would be a good thing. At the very least, it would imply that her boyfriend hadn’t had anything to do with Bones’s murder, and as far as my twin sister was concerned, that should offer her welcome relief from the direst of the possibilities we’d been considering.

  “So we can assume that Carter didn’t kill Bones, but he’s looking for the gold and silver coins nonetheless,” I said.

  “And if that’s true, it means Timothy has a right to be upset with him, but it clears Carter Hayes of murder.”

  “Based on that line of reasoning, it also means that Carter left his apartment because he was afraid for his life, which leads us back to Marty, Gretchen, Peggy, and Henry.”

  “Then it’s a good thing that we’re going to have complete access to the four of them until morning,” Annie said. “We just have to make sure that we make our time with them count.”

  “Then we should get busy at your place, shouldn’t we?” I asked her.

  “Yes, but I want to get a few shots of this first with my camera phone. You could make yourself useful and take a few photographs of some of the other landmarks around us while you’re waiting on me.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” I asked her.

  “Because we never know what’s going to be useful to us or not.”

  I shrugged, took a few shots of the covered well, and then snapped a few random images of the headstones just for fun.

  “Are you ready?” Annie asked me just as I took another photograph.

  “Yes,” I said as I put my own phone away. “I don’t think whoever dug that fresh hole found anything.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I don’t believe they had time to,” I said. “That hole wasn’t nearly as neat as the others were. I have a feeling that we interrupted someone before they could find what they were looking for.”

  Annie still hadn’t put her phone away. As she dialed a number, I asked her, “Are you calling Kathleen after all?”

  “She needs to get someone out here,” Annie said. “Even if this isn’t related to Bones’s murder, no one should be out here.”

  “Even Timothy?” I took a chance of suggesting.

  “Even him,” she said.

  A minute later, she hit something on her phone and put it back into her pocket.

  “No luck?” I asked her.

  “It went straight to voicemail. I’ll just tell her when she brings the troops out to my place.”

  I glanced at my watch. “Which is going to happen sooner rather than later. Shouldn’t we get going?”

  “Yes, but I’d still like to snoop around here a little more,” Annie said. “I’ve got a hunch this land has more secrets to give up if we’re just smart enough to find them.”

  “According to some old stories I’ve heard, folks have been looking for Jasper’s treasure for a great many years. A few days shouldn’t matter much, one way or the other.”

  “I’m not talking about treasure hunting,” Annie said a little too severely. “I’m looking for the killer.”

  “And I’m not?” I asked her sharply.

  She frowned, and then it slowly transformed itself into the hint of a smile. “I’m sorry, Pat. You’re right. I get carried away
sometimes.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that,” I said, smiling in return, showing her that all was well between us.

  “Let’s get going,” Annie said.

  As we got into the truck, I asked, “Is there anything I can do to help when we get to the cabin?”

  “You can start a fire,” she said.

  “It’s not that chilly yet,” I replied as she carefully turned around and drove back down the path we’d come up so recently.

  “Maybe not, but it will be later this evening. Besides, this fire isn’t going to be strictly for warmth. I’ve decided that my cabin’s going to be crowded enough when we all finally go to sleep tonight, so I’m going to use the great outdoors as our kitchen, dining room, and living room this evening.”

  “That sounds like a good plan to me,” I said. “In answer to your question, I’d be delighted to start the fire.”

  “Of course you would,” she said, grinning. “Has a man been born yet that wasn’t a pyromaniac the second he popped out of his mother’s womb?”

  “Maybe so, but if there is, I haven’t met him yet, and I’m not sure that I’d like to. Fire brings out the primitive side of our nature. There’s something elemental about it that I can’t explain, but I know its pull when I feel it.”

  “Timothy acts the exact same way,” she said, and I could see a hint of sadness in her gaze as she spoke. It would be difficult for her to mend fences with him after this was over, but if anyone could do it, I knew that Annie could. At least I had been spared that much. Jenna was still out of town, and one way or the other, by the time she got back to Maple Crest, our investigation would be finished. I couldn’t imagine the circumstances that would keep our four main suspects in town after the next morning, so Annie and I had to work quickly. There had to be a way of figuring out who the killer was.

  I just wished we had a single clue as to how to go about it.

  At least we had some time alone with our suspects, which may not have been the best thing for our prospects of achieving long-term health. After all, the odds were pretty good that one of them was a killer, and we were about to enter into a situation when our very lives were going to hang in the balance. If we got too close, the murderer might consider us threats that had to be eliminated. On the other hand, if we missed this opportunity to figure out exactly who had done it, we’d never get another chance.

  Either way, I had the feeling that Annie and I were in for a long night.

  Just how long, I had no idea at that moment, but I would find out soon enough.

  CHAPTER 21: ANNIE

  While Pat started working on getting the fire started in the pit out by the pond, I went inside to prep the night’s meal. At least I knew that none of our guests were vegetarians, since they’d all eaten at my grill before. That was a real plus, since nearly all of my cast iron meals tended to be meat centric. It wasn’t that I couldn’t make anything without including meat in it; it just wasn’t my preference. The evening’s meal was going to be a fairly standard stew, one that I would feel comfortable serving to just about anyone. Since my exterior Dutch oven had three legs to keep it elevated above the coals, I tended to brown my meat inside when the opportunity presented itself with one of my standard skillets at the stovetop. That would come later, though. Once I had everything set up inside, I walked outside to see how the fire was coming along.

  “That looks great,” I said as I joined Pat. He had a decent fire going, and I could already see some coals starting to form.

  “I expected Kathleen to be here by now,” he said.

  “Should I call her?” I offered as he added a few more medium-sized logs to the fire.

  “No, let’s use the time we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do,” he said.

  “I thought we’d already decided on a game plan. First we feed them, then we entertain them, and just before bed, we pounce.”

  He laughed. “I was thinking we’d try something more subtle than that.”

  “What did you have in mind? Are we going to play good cop/bad cop? I’ll do it, but only if I get to be the bad one.”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of us sowing doubt in everyone’s minds about their compatriots. If we can get them to turn on each other, we might just see a crack in someone’s armor.”

  “Do you think that could work?” I asked him.

  “It’s better than grilling them again. Kathleen’s already exhausted that routine, so I feel as though we need to plant a little doubt and then step back and see what happens when they start dealing with their own issues without outside interference.”

  “When did you get so devious?” I asked my brother with a smile.

  “It’s what naturally happens when you grow up with two devious sisters,” he answered with a chuckle.

  “I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I said.

  “Good, because that’s how I meant it.”

  Pat poked at the fire as I heard someone driving up my lane. That was one of the good things about living at the end of a pretty extensive driveway. Nobody could sneak up on me there, at least not on four wheels. Kathleen came around the corner in the police van, carrying our overnight guests, a group that just happened to include all of our most viable suspects.

  “Thanks for doing this, Annie,” Kathleen said loudly. “Everyone was happy to take you up on your generous offer.”

  “Not everybody,” Marty said. “I still can’t believe that your deputy left town with the keys to the lockup where our IDs and wallets were stored. What kind of Mayberry nightmare kind of town do you live in here?”

  I could see Kathleen wasn’t pleased with the criticism, but she did her best to smile. “As I said before, I apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing any of you. You have Maple Crest’s most sincere regrets that this occurred.”

  “The only thing I regret is coming here in the first place,” Marty said.

  “You didn’t have to, you know,” Peggy said a little defensively. “We’d have been perfectly fine with just Henry to interpret the map he found.”

  Henry didn’t comment, but I could see that he was trying to hide a smile and failing pretty miserably at it.

  “Peggy, Marty’s important, too,” Gretchen said, coming to his defense, which definitely got the surly man’s attention.

  “Thanks,” he said. “It’s good to know that at least someone appreciates me.”

  Henry shook his head. “Marty, Peggy knows as well as I do that you’ve pitched in more than your share. Right, Peggy?” he asked as he turned to her.

  “Of course,” she said without making eye contact with Marty. It was clear to everyone there that her apology was less than sincere, but evidently Marty decided to ignore that fact.

  “I thought we’d be eating soon,” Peggy said as she looked at the fire. “Is it inside?”

  “I haven’t started cooking yet,” I told them. “We have to let the fire die down more before the coals will be ready.”

  “I’m hungry now, though,” she said.

  “We could always start with dessert,” I said. I’d snagged an apple pie when we’d left the Iron, figuring that it might make a nice ending for our meal.

  “I’m all for that,” Henry said.

  “Sounds good to me, too,” Peggy added, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

  “Stay right here, and I’ll grab the pie and plates,” I said.

  “Do you need a hand?” Peggy asked.

  “Sure. That would be great.”

  “I’ll help, too,” Gretchen added.

  “Thanks, but we’ve got it,” I said. I wanted to get Peggy alone. Otherwise, it would be hard to plant any doubt in her mind about her companions. Gretchen looked disappointed, so I added, “You can help me with the meal prep later if you’d like.”

  “Cool,” she said.

  Kathleen looked at me steadily before she said, “If you’ll all excuse me, I’d better get going. I’ve got rounds to make this eve
ning.”

  “Will you be coming back by the cabin tonight?” Pat asked her.

  “It’s doubtful,” she said, something that we’d arranged with her earlier. We wanted this group to be relaxed and confident that it would just be the six of us, without any signs of law enforcement there, even if it was our sister. Kathleen would come back later, but only if we called her. Otherwise, she was going to set up camp at the end of our driveway, just a minute away if things got ugly at some point and we needed her. She’d kept a sleeping bag for herself in the police van, and though Pat and I had argued with her about the arrangements, she’d insisted.

  After Kathleen was gone, supposedly for the night, I said, “Let’s go, Peggy.”

  We walked into my cabin, and I started gathering plates and forks.

  “What can I do to help?” she asked me.

  “You can grab the pie,” I said. “I cut it earlier, so we should be fine.” Pretending to just realize that we needed something else to drink so I could stall for a little time, I asked, “Does everyone in your group like coffee?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said.

  “Then let’s make some,” I volunteered. “It won’t take long.”

  Without even waiting for her to agree, I started a fresh pot. At least that way, I’d have a little time to talk to one of our lead suspects. After all, Pat and I had already realized that Peggy could have killed Bones and then reported finding his body on the dig site. But I knew that questioning her about that would get me nowhere. This situation called for a little more subtlety than that. “Henry seems to be quite a fan of yours,” I said. “Have you two been dating long?”

  She flushed a little before she replied, “Oh, we’re not going out.”

  “But you’d like to, am I right?” I asked her.

  “Let’s just put it this way. If he asked me out, I wouldn’t say no.”

  “Why would you? He’s a nice-looking young man, and he seems sweet as well. You should have seen him with Gretchen while you were in the hospital. He was really nice to her, too.”