Tarnished Remains: Shandra Higheagle Mystery #2

by Paty Jager

  Chapter Twelve

  Even with all the evidence against Lil, Shandra’s adamant denial she wasn’t the murderer stuck with Ryan. She’d been right before when her grandmother came to her in her dreams and helped her find the truth when her friend Naomi looked like the suspect in the gallery murder. With that knowledge and the way Shandra had leaned into his hand when he placed it on her cheek, Ryan decided to dig into Seeton and the ex.

  He stopped at the Huckleberry Police Station. The accusations Martha Samples made about Lil were also eating at him. Had the crazy recluse really been a loose girl back in the day? He didn’t see it, but felt inclined to do some research there as well.

  Walking through the door, he spotted Hazel Wells, a retired county worker who filled in as dispatcher at the Huckleberry Police Station. His sister, Cathleen, knew the woman and said she knew everything that had happened in Huckleberry from the time she could talk.

  “Mrs. Wells, you’re looking summery in that pink outfit.” Ryan knew how to suck up to the older women. Comment on their clothing or their cooking.

  “Thank you, detective. What is it you want?” Her eyes narrowed behind wire-rimmed glasses and her gray curls bobbed as she tilted her head slightly.

  “I’d like to visit with you about some of Huckleberry’s residents.” He pulled up a chair, spun it, and sat with his legs straddling the seat and his arms across the back.

  “This have anything to do with the bones you found on Ms. Higheagle’s ranch?”

  “Everything.”

  She picked up her coffee cup. “I’m due for a coffee break.” Hazel was sprightly for her age and practically sprinted down the hall to the break room. Once inside, she filled her cup and poured one for Ryan.

  “What or who do you want to know about?” She sat down at the table.

  Ryan took the seat across from her. “How well do you know Lil Whitmire?” He might as well start with his first suspect.

  “She was fun to be around until Junior High when her parents died in a car accident. She moved in with her grandparents and became quiet, kind of detached from everyone.” Hazel took a sip of coffee. “She was younger than me.”

  “Was she loose? Liked the cowboys?” He asked.

  “No! And what has this got to do with your bones?” She glared at him.

  “Someone yesterday told me she was loose and followed every cowboy giving them what they wanted.” He felt his cheeks heating relaying this information to a woman who could be his mother. Though he wouldn’t blush saying it to his mother. His sisters had pretty much bomb proofed their mother of anything any of her children might say.

  “Well, that person is lying. I don’t think Lil so much as went out with anyone until Johnny Clark came to town. I’m not sure how they met, but once they did, you saw the two together all the time. Well, when Lil’s grandparents didn’t have her working.” Hazel shook her head, making the curls bob once more. “Her grandparents acted like they were afraid they’d lose Lil like her parents.”

  “But they had other children…”

  “Yes, Lil’s dad was Virginia and Ralph’s oldest boy. Then they had a girl who died of complications from pneumonia, and Jerome.”

  “Why didn’t the ranch go to Jerome when his parents died?” Ryan pulled out his notebook.

  “I think they needed money when they both started ailing and used the money from the sale of the ranch to pay for their care.” Hazel stared at him from over the cup. “Do you think Lil killed Johnny?”

  “She’s my first suspect given her key chain was found with the body and she admits to having an argument with him around the time he disappeared.” Ryan took a sip of the coffee. It was better than the paint stripper the chief brewed in his office.

  “Johnny was also seen arguing with another rodeo announcer.” Hazel gave him a smug smile.

  “How do you know this?”

  “I was out with my husband at the Horseshoe bar in Hafersville.”

  “I thought Johnny wasn’t drinking anymore at the time of his death.”

  “He wasn’t, but the other guy was. He was so drunk he could barely walk to the door and as he was leaving he shouted he was going to get rid of Johnny Clark if it was the last thing he did. Something about losing work.”

  Ryan jotted her comment down. “But you didn’t actually see the two together.”

  “Yes, we did. We stopped at a little diner on the way out of town. Johnny and this other guy were arguing. The other guy pushed Johnny. He shoved back and told him to get sober. Drinking was why he didn’t have a job.”

  He circled Phil Seeton’s name in his book. “Did you see either one leave?”

  “Yes. Johnny got into his pickup and drove off. The other guy was cursing and carrying on. We went in and had something to eat. When we came out he was gone too.” She tapped a finger on the top of his notepad. “Sybil at the style salon I go to in Hafersville mentioned that Johnny’s ex had been in there when I was telling her about the argument. She said that Tracy was going on about how she was going to get Johnny back or no one was going to have him. This was before her second marriage. One where that husband came up missing too.”

  “You’re the second person to tell me that. Why hasn’t anyone looked for the second husband?” Ryan jotted down a note to research Tracy Gilley’s second husband. “You wouldn’t happen to know his name?”

  Hazel nodded. “Tucker Gilley. He was a pretty good roper in his day.”

  “So Tracy liked rodeo boys.” He made a note of that and wondered if Martha hadn’t been mixed up about Tracy and Lil. Which seemed odd for a woman who was in charge of records.

  “She was a barrel racer back in the day before her drinking got in the way of her competing. Then she started training horses for barrel racing. I think she did pretty well.”

  “Thank you for the information. If you had to guess, who do you think killed Johnny?” He wasn’t going to use Hazel’s intuition to track down a murderer, but he thought it didn’t hurt to see which way she was leaning.

  “I’d say Tracy. She was known for her competitive nature. I could see her knocking off Johnny just to keep Lil from having him.” Hazel stood, rinsed her cup and hung it on a peg above the coffee maker. “Looks like you’re going to be busy following leads.”

  Ryan nodded.

  Hazel left and Ryan pulled out his phone. He dialed the county dispatch.

  “Hey little brother, you still in Huckleberry?” Cathleen never answered his calls with the same decorum and business tone that she did with everyone else who called the Weippe Sheriff’s office.

  “Yes, I’ll be here until I find the murderer of Johnny Clark. I need addresses for Tracy Gilley, ex-barrel racer and ex-wife to the victim, and Phil Seeton, I’m assuming retired rodeo announcer.”

  “Suspects?”

  “Yes.” Ryan flipped his notepad shut. “You can call me back with the information.”

  “Where will you be?” Her cryptic question wasn’t lost on Ryan.

  “At the Huckleberry Police Station. Where else?”

  “I thought you might need a little R ‘n’ R with a certain woman by the name of Shandra. You invited her to Conor’s wedding yet?”

  He groaned inwardly. “No.”

  “Ryan O’Connell Greer, the woman needs time to find a dress. You better ask her soon or she’ll say no just because it’s short notice.”

  He didn’t need a scolding from his older sister. “I’ll get around to it. Right now isn’t a good time to ask. She’s not very happy I consider her hired hand a suspect.”

  Cathleen laughed. The sound lightened his thoughts and irritated. The same feelings he had thinking of Shandra’s trust and faith in her employee.

  “I have to go. Get me that info as quick as you can. I need to get this solved.” Ryan hung up on his sister and stared into the half a cup of coffee sitting on the table in front of him. Shandra knew something about Lil. Something that made her think the woman was innocent. If the woman had an alibi
, you’d think she’d tell him.

  He shoved out of the chair and decided to do his own digging into the rodeo circuit thirty years ago.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shandra slopped more glaze onto the workbench. She’d returned to the studio after escorting Ryan to his vehicle and found Lil gone. Knowing the woman would return when she was ready, Shandra had begun the tedious process of painting glaze on the coasters she made for the local merchants to sell. They were squares of pottery with Huckleberry Mountain etched in them. It was a bit of added income for her and a way for the stores to have a memento to sell to tourists. Today was a good day for this process. Her mind wasn’t thinking creatively. Her thoughts kept swirling to the two people Lil suggested wanted Johnny out of their way or dead.

  An ex-wife saying she’d rather see Johnny dead than with another woman made a better reason to kill him than the rodeo announcer hoping to get his job. If other announcers had come up missing, then it would make sense that the Seeton guy had targeted the people who were keeping him from working. Targeting Johnny made no sense since there were other announcers out there to take the jobs. But to kill for jealousy and passion…that she could see from a woman.

  She picked up the last fired coaster, slathered it with bluish glaze which would fire clear and shiny, and placed it in a tile rack to dry. With quick movements, she cleaned up the bench, dropped the brushes she’d used in the clean-up sink, and tightened the lid back on the jug of glaze.

  Back in her house, Shandra went to the kitchen for a cold drink and then settled in front of her computer. Lil had said to check the barrel racers’ registry. After an hour of putting in search words, she stumbled across a website for Tracy Gilley Barrel Horses. The woman had not aged well. No doubt from her years of alcohol consumption.

  Her ranch was in southern Idaho. Shandra pulled up a map site and punched in her address and Tracy’s. Six hours. She tapped her index finger on the edge of her laptop. Did she dare drive that far away when Lil could be hauled off at any moment?

  She decided against meeting the woman face to face. But before she called Tracy Gilley, she needed to gather a bit more information about the missing second husband. She again did searches and discovered that Tucker Gilley had been a world champion roper and mysteriously disappeared while on a hunting trip with friends.

  Shandra found the website for the newspaper where the Gilley’s lived and entered the archives. She only had to go back ten years for the information. His wife Tracy was at a horse auction in Texas at the time of his disappearance. “Shoot. That makes it harder to find out if she was involved.”

  Clicking through the photos and articles about the man’s disappearance she noticed a photo of a person she’d seen on Tracey’s website. A man about twenty years younger than Tracy. She scanned the articles and discovered the man was a friend of Tucker. “Could he be the connection?”

  Sheba woofed to come inside. Shandra walked to the kitchen door. Holding the door open for Sheba she spotted Lil entering the barn. She’s avoiding me. Indecision weighed on her mind. Go see if she could open Lil to a conversation about Johnny and the child she lost or continue her digging into Tracy.

  She’d give Lil some more space. Questioning her tomorrow might find her more agreeable. And she was in the middle of researching Tracy.

  Her stomach grumbled. Six. Time had flown by. She placed crackers, cheese, deli turkey, and pickles on a plate and returned to her place on the sofa. Sheba padded in behind her, lying at her feet, with her head propped on the sofa cushions waiting for an offering.

  ~*~

  Several hours later, her eyes burned and she was no closer to discovering anything. She did, however, know enough to call Tracy Gilley tomorrow and ask questions. Shandra closed her laptop, returned her empty plate to the kitchen, and poured a glass of wine. She returned to the sofa to watch the stars and relax before going to bed. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she dropped into a blissful sleep.

  Ella’s face hovered in the sky as Shandra watched horses running in patterns in the field. Each one was a different color, leaving a glittering path in their wake. “Isn’t this beautiful?” she asked Ella. Her grandmother shook her head. “You don’t find beauty in the horses?” Shandra asked, puzzled. Her grandmother had loved horses and had taught her son how to speak with them. That was how he did so well at rodeos. Until that fateful day. Shandra’s heart became sad. The horse’s paths no longer glittered.

  Ella nodded. Lil entered the dream. A gray cocoon of sadness wrapped her body. Shandra tried to get to her, to show her she cared, but a strong wind held her back. What does this mean Ella? I can’t get to Lil, I can’t ease her sadness. Why? What does this have to do with Johnny’s death?

  Barking woke Shandra. It wasn’t a scared bark, but a happy bark. Shandra shook off the last of the dream and walked to the kitchen door where Sheba wagged her tail and peered out the window. Lil stood on the back porch in the glare of the motion-sensor light.

  Shandra opened the door. “Come in. What are you doing out so late?”

  Lil stood at the threshold her eyes downcast. “I couldn’t sleep thinking about what you did or didn’t know.” Her chin came up and her eyes peered into Shandra’s. “I have to know what Sally told you.”

  Shandra smiled. “Come in. You have nothing to fear about what Sally told me. I can assure you, she only told me what I needed to know to help you.” She grasped Lil’s arm, pulling her into the house.

  “Do you drink wine?” Shandra asked, releasing Lil and closing the door.

  “Sometimes. Now seems like a good time to have a glass.” Lil moved to the kitchen island.

  Shandra plucked two wine glasses from her cupboard. She didn’t want to chance Lil having a change of heart if she left the kitchen to retrieve her glass in by the sofa. White wine was always chilling in her refrigerator. She liked to wind down from her days with one glass.

  “Here you go,” Shandra placed a full glass in front of Lil and took the seat to Lil’s left.

  Lil sipped the wine for several minutes before she lifted her gaze to Shandra. “Did Sally tell you…”

  “About losing the baby? Yes.” Shandra kept her tone light. “She told me you and Johnny had a fight because he thought you were trying to snare him in a marriage like his first wife. And that afterwards, the same night, you lost the baby.” She stared in Lil’s eyes. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that alone and carry it with you all these years.”

  Tears trickled down the gruff woman’s cheeks. Gone was the tough cowgirl who said little and worked from sun up to sun down.

  “I didn’t get pregnant to snare Johnny. We used protection. But when he started saying I must have been sleeping around and now was trying to put the kid on him…” She shook her head and bit her bottom lip. Her shoulders shook, but she didn’t let the sobs Shandra saw in her body come out.

  “He was just shocked. If you were using protection, his mind wasn’t dealing with the statistics of pregnancies from failed protection back then. He only understood pregnant and feeling cornered. I’m sure the reason he was on the mountain in your meeting spot was because he’d realized his harsh words and had come back to apologize. ” Shandra reached out, placing her hand on Lil’s arm.

  Lil’s shoulders stilled. She tipped her blotchy, tear swollen face toward Shandra. “Is that why you think he came back?”

  “I can’t think of any other reason why he’d be in that spot on the mountain.” Shandra took a sip of wine. “How did you two determine when you were meeting on the mountain?”

  “If I wanted to see Johnny, I’d leave a note for him on the seat of his pickup and if he wanted to see me, he’d tuck a note in a hole in the corner of the barn.”

  Shandra sat up. “Did you look there after the argument, to see if he changed his mind?”

  “I stayed with Sally for a week after I lost the baby. The day I returned to the ranch, there was a fire that started on that corner of the barn. The one De
tective Greer mentioned I was questioned about.” Lil peered into her eyes. “Do you think Johnny left me a note and whoever killed him set the fire?”

  Shandra shook her head. “If the person knew about the note, all they had to do was collect the note and destroy it. There was no need to set fire to the barn.”

  Lil sipped the wine and sighed. “Are you going to tell the detective about the baby?”

  Shandra sensed while it was relief to Lil that her employer knew the truth, she didn’t want anyone else to know.

  “I’ll only say something if it’s the only way to keep you out of jail. I wish Sally hadn’t been gone that night. From what she said you were sitting on her back porch waiting for her. If she had been home she could say when exactly you showed up and hopefully clear you.” Shandra tapped her fingernail against the wine glass as she spun the information she had around in her head.

  “Marti Glasson saw me walking up to Sally’s door. When I realized Sally wasn’t there and Marti kept staring at me, I ducked around to the back of the house to wait.” Lil took a swallow of wine. “Marti is the biggest gossip. She also had a thing for Johnny. She was jealous of the fact one night when Johnny and I were in the diner in Huckleberry and she was flirting with him, he ignored her and finally escorted me out of the place. He said he didn’t like women who threw themselves at a man. He said desperation wasn’t a turn-on.”

  “I saw photos of Johnny. He was a good-looking man. I imagine he had woman flocking around him all the time.” Shandra hoped by directing the conversation to Johnny, she could learn more, and perhaps, pick up on maybe another person who might want him dead.

  “Most of them kept their distance when he took me to the rodeos.” She smiled. “He called me his little shield.” Lil glanced up from where she’d been swirling her finger in the condensation on the wine glass. “When I told Sally that, she said he was only using me to keep the women away, that he didn’t really care about me.” She sighed and a soft, soppy smile graced Lil’s lips. “But he told me he loved me, and that when he’d banked enough money to buy a ranch we’d get married.” She wrinkled her nose. “I told him we’d have a ranch when Gram and Pappy passed. But he didn’t want anyone saying he married me for the ranch.”