The Double-Jack Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries)

by Patrick F. McManus

  “If you’re done whining, Lurch, let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

  They sent the cases with the two skeletons up on the rope, and followed them with the CSI kit. Then Lurch climbed out. Tully took what he hoped would be a last look at the mine. He hated to leave gold behind, but he knew the tunnel would have to be blasted shut for good. One stick of dynamite would bring the whole thing down. He probably could get Buck Toole to light the fuse and then scramble up through the scree. As he liked to say, there was always use for dumb in law enforcement.

  18

  LURCH TOOK THE skeletons and bullets back to Blight. Tully, Pap, and Dave drove to the Quail Creek Ranch. Agatha and Bernice came out to greet them. “Any luck?” Agatha asked.

  “We found the remains of a couple of victims,” Tully said. “I think they probably belong to Tom and the O’Boyle boy. They were right in the range we guessed at from judging the time and gait of the horses. In any case, they were murdered, just as you suspected. All we have that might identify them is a couple of belt buckles. I know you have photos of the two of them. If we can make out the belt buckles in the pictures, that’s as close as we can come to IDs.”

  Bernice gave Agatha a hug and then she came over and gave Tully a kiss on the cheek. “I knew you could do it, Bo!”

  Ernie Thorpe and Bunny came out of the house. What were the two of them doing in there unsupervised? Tully thought.

  “Oh, Bo!” cried Bunny. “Did you solve the mystery for Aunt Agatha?”

  “Solved part of it, I think. Haven’t pinned down the murderer yet.”

  Agatha said, “I want to bury the remains right here on the ranch, Bo. Can we do that?”

  “I’m sure it can be arranged, if they happen to be your dad’s.”

  “Even if they aren’t, I’d like to bury them here!”

  “Fine with me,” Tully said. “What about the O’Boyle boy, if the remains turn out to be his?”

  “I don’t know of any O’Boyles who live around here anymore. If you can’t find any family who want him, we’ll take Sean, too, right, Bernice?”

  “Right, Agatha. We’ll find beautiful resting places for both of them. I’ll weld each of them up a nice marker, too.”

  Pap said, “If everybody is done yakking, let’s go see if we can identify the two of them from a photo. Also, I’d be interested to know if you have a beer lurking around your refrigerator, Agatha.”

  “I’ve been expecting you back at any time, Pap. Of course I have a beer waiting for you. A whole case, if you want it.”

  “That sounds about right. I been dying of thirst ever since Bo drug me off on this adventure.”

  They all went in the house. Agatha turned on the light over the dining-room table and dug out two well-worn photo albums. She placed them on the table. Tully laid the two belt buckles side by side next to the albums. Agatha stared at them for a moment, as if thinking about the last time they had been buckled. Then she started flipping through pages of the album. She came to an old brown photo with cracks spiderwebbed across it. It showed a bearded young man standing next to a teenage boy with long, light-colored hair. The man wore a floppy hat and had a pick over his shoulder. The boy leaned on a shovel. Both of them were grinning at the camera.

  “Bernice, get me the magnifying glass, please,” Agatha said.

  Bernice went into another room and came back with the glass. “I don’t know why,” she said, “But I’m shaking all over.”

  Agatha held the glass up to the photo. Tully leaned over Agatha’s shoulder. “It’s a match! The buckle on the left belongs to Tom. The one on the right belongs to Sean! We’ve got them back!”

  Agatha wiped a tear from her cheek. Bernice turned abruptly and walked away. “Oh, Bo, I am so happy!” Agatha cried. “After all this time, you’ve found them. Nobody except Bernice and me believed you could do it.”

  Pap said, “I didn’t believe it myself. Now, Agatha, are you going to get me that beer or do I have to do it myself?”

  “I’ll get beer for everyone,” Agatha said. “But everybody is going to have a shot of whiskey first. This is a celebration!”

  “Sounds like my kind of celebration,” Pap said. “For an old lady, you ain’t too bad, Agatha.”

  Agatha made a harrumphing sound but couldn’t help smiling broadly. She gave Pap a friendly pat on the shoulder as she went by.

  After the celebration, Agatha and Bernice followed the three men back to their truck. Tully had told Ernie to stay at the ranch until he got back. Ernie pretended not to be happy as a lark.

  Agatha said, “You think the trouble is over with Lucas Kincaid, Bo?”

  “I doubt there’s anything to worry about, but we’re headed into Blight right now. We should be back in a couple of days. By the way, Agatha, Ernie, and Bunny seem to be getting along rather well.”

  “Yes, and I’m so happy. You know, Bunny has been married twice already, and it didn’t take either time.”

  “Twice?” Tully said.

  “Yes. I don’t know what the problem is, but Bunny is something of a perfectionist. That could have something to do with it.”

  “A perfectionist,” Tully said. “I don’t know a lot of perfect men. Other than me, I can’t think of even one.”

  “What about Ernie?” Agatha asked. “He’s such a nice young man. And so nice looking, too!”

  “Oh, yeah,” Tully said begrudgingly. “Ernie is okay.”

  “And he has an actual job! That’s something these days!”

  “You’re right about that, Agatha.”

  Tully, Dave, and Pap spent the night in a motel and had breakfast at the House of Fry the next morning. Tully and Pap then drove over to Batim Scragg’s to check on Clarence. The old man and the dog were out in the front yard. Batim was throwing a ball for Clarence and Clarence was chasing it.

  “That is so disgusting,” Pap said.

  “Yeah,” Tully said. “I certainly wouldn’t have expected it of Batim.”

  “I meant Clarence. He made a career of biting old ladies on the ankles but at least he had some dignity.”

  Batim walked over as Pap and Tully got out of the pickup. Clarence followed him, carrying the ball and wagging his tail.

  “You two seem to be hitting it off,” Tully said.

  “I tell you, Bo, this little guy is the best friend I ever had. Can’t imagine how you ever thought to give him to me.”

  “Like I said, two peas in a pod.”

  “You was sure right about that. By the way, Lucas Kincaid stopped by again, not long after you was here. He got hisself a nice new Humvee.”

  “Must have struck it rich, Batim.”

  “Must of stole it, I figured. I did think about killing him for you, Bo, but he was kind of wary and it didn’t seem worth the try. I did let slip that you was going to the campsite up on Deadman. You didn’t let on like it was a secret of any kind, and I figured you know how to take care of yourself.”

  “No problem, Batim. I wasn’t making any secret of it. I always feel I can keep one step ahead of the bad guys. Otherwise, I’d give up sheriffing.”

  “That’s what I figured, Bo. I didn’t want to cause you any problems.”

  “No, you did just fine. Mostly I wanted to see how you and Clarence were getting along.”

  “Oh, we’re doing great, Bo.”

  “Glad to hear it, Batim.”

  Tully and Pap got back in the truck and headed toward Blight City. Pap rolled himself another cigarette, pulled the string on the bag of Bull Durham tight with his teeth, licked the edge of the paper, sealed the crooked little cigarette shut, and punched in the lighter.

  “How many years you been making those hand-rolleds, Pap?”

  “Since I was about eight. You do the math, Bo.”

  “I was just wondering how come with all that practice your cigarettes still turn out crooked as a snake.”

  “’Cause I like them like that. What do you care anyway?”

  “Ju
st curious. Seems to me that after seventy-some years you would get practiced up.”

  “I’ll tell you something I’m curious about, Bo. How come you let that Susan get away? I thought she was a little fancy for you and way too educated but she’s mighty beautiful.”

  “I like her, too. But she found herself an airline pilot she liked better than me. He was handsome and made a lot of money and owned a big ranch and flew all over the world and his family and girlfriends could fly free all over the world too, but despite all that, she still liked him better than me. A man just can’t figure women anymore. Airline pilots are like a plague of locusts. They swoop down and glom up every good-looking woman in sight.”

  Pap grabbed the lighter and lit his cigarette. As was his practice, he blew the first plume of smoke in Tully’s face. “The one thing I didn’t like about Susan was her occupation.”

  “Medical examiner?”

  “Yeah,” Pap said. “You never wanted to ask Susan what she did that day. That murder victim we found hanging over Batim’s fence, you see her take the body’s temperature?”

  “No! I shut my eyes first!”

  “I mightily regret I didn’t have the good sense to do that. Other than her job, though, I can’t think of another drawback. I’d take another run at her if I was you, Bo.”

  “You think so?”

  “Can’t hurt.”

  “You’re wrong about that.”

  19

  TULLY WALKED INTO the office, his three-thousand-dollar boots cloking nicely on the marble-chip floor. Herb Elliot was back to sitting on the edge of Daisy’s desk, chatting her up. Daisy was laughing! Didn’t Herb realize that Daisy was now divorced? The man was a fool!

  “Bo!” Daisy yelled. “You’re back! I was so worried about you!” She leaped up and gave him a hug.

  Herb stuck out his hand. “Glad you’re back safe and sound.”

  Tully gave his hand a couple of shakes. “You two held down the fort, I take it. At least I didn’t get any panicky phone calls from Daisy.”

  “Daisy and I kept the department running like a fine-tuned engine,” Herb said.

  “Solve any crimes?”

  “Naw, we worked mostly on fine-tuning. Oh, we got one nut running around holding up convenience stores every night at eight o’clock. The newspaper and radio have started calling him the ‘Eight O’clock Robber.’”

  “Probably just what he needs, a little publicity.”

  “We got the convenience stores staked out. There are twelve in all. We’re trying to outguess him, but he’s been beating us. He hasn’t hurt anybody.”

  “Yet!” said Tully. “Sooner or later these jokers blow somebody up. Or somebody blows them up.”

  “So what about Kincaid?” Daisy asked. “You kill him, Bo?”

  “Afraid not. Any word from Pugh, by the way?”

  Daisy said, “No, not since he checked out that murder scene up at Woods Lake. I thought he was joining up with you.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got him busy. I thought he might have called in though.”

  Daisy gave him a puzzled look and shook her head.

  Herb said, “Lurch tells us you’ve pretty much solved those old murders up in Angst.”

  “Part of it anyway. At least we know it was murder and who was murdered. We don’t know who did the murder, though. It’s a picky thing, but you can’t count a murder solved until you’ve found the murderer.”

  “He would be dead now anyway,” Herb said.

  “Yeah, that’s the problem. And that’s the problem with the death penalty, too. The murderer gets the same sentence as everybody else in the world. We’re all under a death sentence, same as a guy who murders ten people.”

  “There’s a thought to cheer my day,” Daisy said.

  “Gee, I never thought of it that way,” Herb said.

  “I expect not, Herb. Anyway, we’re going to hold a little burial service up at Quail Creek Ranch for Tom Link and the O’Boyle boy. I guess there’ll be only six or seven of us there, which is kind of sad. Their lives were cut off just as they were about to become rich. Anyway, I’ve got to make a phone call.” He walked into his office.

  Daisy called after him. “You need me?”

  “Remains to be seen.” Tully closed the door.

  He dialed Susan’s work number. She answered. “Bo! You’re back!”

  “Yeah, just made it in. Hope I’m taking you away from some of your work.”

  “Actually, you are. I’m doing that nice old couple from Woods Lake. Apparently, it’s the work of your friend Kincaid.”

  “How do you know they were nice?”

  “They’re nice now. Death improves a person’s character enormously.”

  Tully started doodling a cartoon of Susan on his desk calendar. He put little horns on the side of her head. “You’re starting to sound like me. Anyway, I was just wondering how you and the flyboy are getting along, Susan.”

  “You interested in him, Bo?”

  “Not unless he can get me free airline tickets.”

  “Well, he’s history.”

  “You broke up with him!”

  “Yes.”

  Tully scribbled in some dark hair that covered up the horns.

  “Does this mean I still have a chance?”

  “Bo, the only reason I broke up with you is that you’re rude, crude, obnoxious, arrogant, egotistical, inattentive, insensitive, inane, and gross.”

  “I’m not inane! So how about dinner at Crabbs tonight?”

  “I’d love to! I thought you’d never call. Why I ever gave you up for a jerk of an airline pilot, I’ll never know.”

  “Free flights, all over the world.” Tully gave the cartoon big eyes with long curling lashes.

  “Well sure, there’s that,” Susan said. “Let me think about this. No, we’re still on for dinner.”

  “Great!” He gave the cartoon a tiny nose and a big beaming smile.

  He hung up and opened his door. “Get in here, sweetheart,” he yelled at Daisy. “I’ve got a bunch of things I want you to take care of.”

  Daisy bustled in, her high heels clicking smartly on the floor. She sat down in a chair across from him, all business now, her back ramrod straight.

  Tully said, “First thing is, find Judge Patterson and get me a search warrant for Mr. Teddy Finch’s home up in Angst.”

  “What’s Finch’s address?”

  “How should I know? Find it. Where’s Lurch?”

  “Probably home sleeping. He’s hardly slept since he got back.”

  “Call him up and tell him to get his butt down here. I want those bullets from the mine identified right now.”

  “Right.”

  “See if you can get ahold of Pugh and tell him he’s got two weeks off. I’ve had him working night and day for the past month.”

  Daisy frowned. “Two weeks?”

  “Oh, right, one week is enough.”

  “I don’t know how to get ahold of Brian. We haven’t heard from him and haven’t been able to reach him. He must have his cell phone turned off. I thought you knew where he was.”

  “You mean he isn’t back?”

  “Back from where? You’re the only one who knows what he’s up to.”

  Tully stared at the wall behind Daisy.

  “What’s wrong, Bo?”

  “Nothing. If you hear from Brian, you call me first thing, okay?”

  “Okay. Why are you so upset?”

  “I’m not upset. What were we talking about?”

  Daisy rolled her eyes. “The search warrant. What shall I tell the judge you’re searching for at the Finch place?”

  “A gun.”

  “What kind of gun?”

  “You’re worse than our old judge! I need Lurch down here to find out what kind of gun!”

  “Anything else?”

  Tully tugged on the droopy corner of his mustache. “Yeah. Call up Ernie at Agatha’s and tell him there’s a red Humvee hidden back in the brush about half a mile
south of Dead-man Creek. Have his friend Bunny drive him over there. Take the Humvee back to Agatha’s. Keep everybody out of it, especially Bunny.”

  “Does Ernie have a key for it?”

  Tully gave her The Look.

  “Right. He’ll know what to do if he hasn’t.”

  Tully drove over to his mother’s. The department mechanics had already replaced his window. The broken glass next to where his car had been parked a week before still littered the gutter. It made him think of Pugh again. Maybe he would give Brian two weeks off anyway. He went up the walk and pounded on the door.

  “It’s unlocked, Bo!” Rose shouted. “Come on in!”

  “How did you know it was me, Ma?”

  “You’re the only one who almost knocks down the door.” She came over and kissed him on the cheek. “Besides, Daisy called and told me to expect you. I guess she thought I might shoot you by mistake.” She pointed to her .45 automatic on the table.

  “I’m glad she called,” Tully said. “So how did the two of you get along?”

  “Oh, Daisy is such a lovely girl! But I’m afraid I was getting on her nerves.”

  “No, Ma! I can’t imagine such a thing!”

  “It’s true, Bo. She did seem to enjoy my stories about you as a little boy.”

  “I was afraid of that. You didn’t by any chance tell her about your own wild youth?”

  “I may have mentioned one or two things, but Daisy found them amusing. She isn’t one of those prissy women that irritate me so much.”

  “The ones with good taste?”

  “Yes. Now tell me about Lucas Kincaid.”

  Tully sighed and slumped into an overstuffed chair with little white doilies on the arms. Rose frowned at him. He sat up straight.

  “Not much to tell. Daisy won’t be sleeping over here anymore, but you might want to keep your gun handy for a while. I’m back in town for tonight but have to get back up to Angst tomorrow. I’m putting the remains of a man and a boy in two coffins and hauling them up to Quail Creek Ranch for burial.”

  “Oh my. That is so awful. But it’s good you found them. Is it legal to bury them on the ranch?”

  He gave her his little smile, the one that said, do you really need to ask that question?