LC 02 - Questionable Remains

by Beverly Connor

  "You must be Lindsay Chamberlain," she said.

  "Yes. Thank you for coming." Lindsay held out her hand. Jennifer hesitated a moment before she took it. An emerald circled by diamonds glittered on her finger in the soft candlelight. She had well-manicured nails, polished with a color that matched her suit. Her hand was cold and her handshake firm.

  "I almost didn't come," she said, sitting down opposite Lindsay.

  "I know dragging all this up again must be painful, and I debated about whether or not to contact you," said Lindsay. "I only want a little information to tell the Lamberts."

  "All right. To start with," she said, "I didn't kill my husband or his friends." Lindsay opened her mouth to speak, but Jennifer interrupted. "Don't deny that's what you want to talk to me about. I know what Grace thinks. She never liked me from the beginning."

  "Why not?" asked Lindsay.

  Jennifer shrugged. "I don't think it's me, really, I don't think anyone was good enough for her precious brother." She shook her head. "Grace was so blind."

  The waiter came to take their orders. "I recommend the Chateaubriand," said Jennifer. "It's their house specialty." Jennifer ordered the house steak, marinated mushrooms, and a bottle of the house wine for both of them. She gave the menus to the waiter and turned her attention to Lindsay. "I hope you like red meat."

  "That's fine," Lindsay said. "You sound angry with your husband."

  "I am. Just when our life was starting to get good, he goes and gets himself killed, and his family blames me."

  "Not the whole family, and I really believe it is the mystery surrounding his death that makes them suspicious."

  "What mystery?" Jennifer Darnell asked.

  "It's not a mystery to you, because the authorities kept you informed. But the Lamberts weren't told very much. It's hard for anyone to lose a loved one and not be able to say good-bye to the body. Death is such a dreadful thing. The family must be convinced not only that it has happened, but that it was somehow an understandable death and the soul is at peace. That's what viewing the body does for families. Because Ken was found so long after his death and because the authorities were not forthcoming, it was not possible for the Lamberts to reach any closure."

  "You sound like an anthropologist," Jennifer said.

  "I am. I majored in anthropology." The waiter brought their salads and dark bread on a cutting board. They ate in silence for a while. Finally Jennifer said, "What is it you want to know?"

  "Just the chain of events."

  "I'm sure Grace told you I was married before. My husband was a lot older than me and had money. I can't say that security wasn't one of the reasons I married him. But he was also a smart man, and that was important to me, too. I'm not a bimbo. I read a lot." She looked up from her salad at Lindsay, expecting to be challenged. "He died of a heart attack. It wasn't a suspicious death, or even unexpected. I inherited quite a bit of money. A lot of it went to pay off debts, but I was left well off."

  The server brought the steaks and poured the wine. Jennifer took a sip. "This is good wine. I've never had a bad bottle here."

  Lindsay took a bite of her steak and sipped her wine. She hoped the food and wine would loosen Jennifer's tongue some more. So far she was very cooperative.

  "How did you meet Ken Darnell?" asked Lindsay.

  "A party. Halloween, of all things. I was Cleopatra and he was Zorro." Jennifer smiled. "In the beginning he looked rather dashing, but as the evening wore on the temporary dye he used to spray his hair black began to run. It was very funny. He was charming and asked me out." Jennifer stopped and again smiled, almost to herself. "I didn't recognize the blond lanky guy who showed up at my door the next day until he pulled his mask out of his pocket and put it on. Ken was really a funny guy then. That's why I fell in love with him. I didn't kill him."

  "I'm sorry for your loss."

  Jennifer shrugged. "Life goes on. I've met someone else and we're hitting it off. If that seems heartless, I'm sorry. Ken shouldn't have gone into a cave as dangerous as Hell Slide."

  "Why was he there? Do you know?"

  "He was checking out a place for our new venture."

  "Wild Journeys?"

  "Yes."

  "Were you in sporting goods before you married Ken?"

  Jennifer shook her head. "No. That was Ken's dream, but I was glad to make it come true. Harold-he was my first husband-and I knew people socially who had ties with the Olympics. There are thousands of hopefuls out there, all needing equipment. We started out as mostly a mail-order place. We branched into mountain-climbing, camping, fishing equipment-we had the best and developed a market through friends of Harold's. It turned out I was good in business. Ken and I were successful. We had just expanded and moved to McMinnville when he disappeared."

  "Where did you get the idea for Wild Journeys?"

  "Ken and a friend of his came up with the idea. Actually, I thought it was pretty good. They were going to put together tours anywhere from a day's outing to a week through caves, or white water, anything adventurous. Advertise it as getting back to the days when men explored dangerous places."

  "And Hell Slide Cave was supposed to be one of those places?"

  "No. It was on private property and known to be dangerous, but Blaine Hillard-that's Ken's friend-thought it would be perfect for the more adventurous tours. I was against it and I thought that was the end of it. Now Hillard's wife thinks I murdered Blaine and my husband, too."

  "Why?" asked Lindsay.

  Jennifer looked at Lindsay. "I can't believe you haven't talked to them."

  "I have, but I want to hear your story."

  "I see."

  "I'm not trying to trap you. I just don't want to throw other people's accusations at you."

  "That's very considerate of you."

  "They are suspicious because of the large amount of insurance," Lindsay said.

  "Look. When we decided on this venture, a lot of money up front had to be spent-advertising, equipment, insurance for the customers, deposits on hotels. There were a lot of things to take into consideration. If anything happened to Blaine or Ken or any one of us, and we couldn't carry out the plans, these things still had to be paid for."

  "Mrs. Hillard thinks that her husband would have named her as beneficiary for a large amount of the money."

  "Not bloody likely." Jennifer chewed a piece of meat while staring at Lindsay. "I bought the policy. It was for the business. Taking care of his family was Blaine's responsibility. He could have bought insurance at the same time, but like a lot of men who like excitement, Ken included, Blaine unfortunately didn't think anything would happen to him." She pointed a fork at Lindsay. "I had a financial adviser telling me how to protect myself and the business. If I hadn't gotten insurance on Ken and Blaine, I'd be stuck with a lot of bills and people would be calling me a poor businesswoman instead of a murderer. Yes, I came out far ahead with the insurance money. But I'd rather have my husband back."

  Jennifer stopped and took a breath and a sip of wine.

  "What can you tell me about the day they disappeared?" asked Lindsay.

  "Not a lot. We were planning a party Saturday evening. The last time I saw Ken, it was Friday afternoon and he was waving to me, going out the door of our store. He just said he'd be back in a while. He never came back. Saturday morning I called the sheriff. I found out that Blaine was missing, too. I figured they were together, but I had no idea where. We looked everywhere we could think of."

  "No one thought of Hell Slide Cave?"

  Jennifer shook her head. "They weren't supposed to be there. It didn't occur to me. Like I said, it was on private property, and Mr. Lafferty is very hard on trespassers. I thought they had maybe gone rafting, working the kinks out of the first tour coming up, perhaps drowned. It was the only thing I could think of."

  "What about the cars?"

  "They took their off-road bikes and left them parked just inside the cave entrance. They apparently boarded up the cave behind t
hem so Mr. Lafferty wouldn't know they were there. It's rough terrain, hard to get to, and he keeps the entrance to the cave boarded up."

  "Were there boats missing?"

  "Boats?"

  "You said you thought they might have gone on the river."

  "Oh. No. But Ken was buying the equipment for the tours. I thought he might have rafts that I didn't know about."

  "Who was the third man?"

  "Roy Pitt? He was a friend of Ken's. I didn't know him. Ken was going to hire him as a guide, I think."

  "You've been very open," Lindsay said.

  "Yes, I have, and I'll tell you why. I have a new man in my life, and I don't want him to start believing I'm some kind of black widow. I want all these accusations to stop."

  "How long have you known him?"

  "What?" Jennifer snapped.

  "The new man in your life. How long have you known him?"

  Jennifer sighed. "I met him before Ken died, if that's what you're asking. He was a business associate, and that was all. I know Grace thought I was having an affair, but I wasn't. I understand one of her busybody relatives saw us together once. It was business. But it's not just business now. I really like him. Ken is gone, and I have a right to be happy." She put down her fork and knife and picked up her napkin, twisting it in her hands. Lindsay could see anger burning her face. "Ken shouldn't have gone into that damn cave and not tell me where he was going. How does Grace think I felt, wondering where he was, wondering if he was somewhere hurt and needing help? Ken was reckless and stupid, and he died for it." Her hand shook as she took a drink of water.

  "Thank you for answering my questions."

  "Will you tell Grace to leave me alone?"

  "Since there is no evidence that he was murdered, much less by you, she'll have to. Do you, by the way, have pictures of his remains? I know that is a rather-"

  "No, she doesn't." Both looked up at the sudden intru sion. A man sat down at the table. He was a handsome man: black hair, dark eyes, straight nose, square jaw, evenly occluded white teeth. His hair was short and professionally styled, and his tweed jacket, Armani shirt, and slacks appeared new. He looked polished, as if he never wore old clothes. He also looked as if he worked out regularly. "That's a cruel request, don't you think?" He had a smooth midwestern accent.

  "Unpleasant, yes," said Lindsay, "but not cruel. Suppose someone did kill Mrs. Darnell's husband. I'm sure she would be the first to want the murderer caught."

  "But someone didn't. Many professional people have looked into it."

  Lindsay and the newcomer stared at each other for a moment.

  "This is Craig Gillett, my friend," Jennifer explained.

  "I'm sorry if I seem insensitive," said Lindsay. "I'm only trying to find out some information about Ken Darnell for his sister."

  "Jennifer said she was going to tell you everything she knew. I hope you're satisfied with that."

  The waiter brought a small folder with the check and discretely put it on the table. Lindsay reached for it, but Craig Gillett slid it out from under her hand.

  "I should pay," said Lindsay.

  "Yes, you should," said Craig. "However, it will be high, and since I don't believe this is either university or state business, it will probably come out of your pocket, so I will pay for it. But don't count on any more goodwill from us. Jennifer deserves a life."

  "Thank you for your cooperation," Lindsay said to Jennifer. "Under the circumstances, it was more than I expected."

  "Please tell that to Grace."

  "I will."

  Gillett paid the check, and they walked out of the restau rant. Lindsay watched him put Jennifer into her car, then get into his own, which was parked beside hers.

  Lindsay drove to the motel. She entered her room, slipped out of her shoes, and had started to take off her clothes when she heard a knock at the door. Through the peephole she saw Craig Gillett standing outside her room.

  Chapter 10

  A LONG TIME ago, the Sun became angry with the people of earth when she saw them squinting their eyes in her direction. "I'll teach them to make ugly faces at me," she said and became very hot, sending them fever and disease. The Little Men who sometimes helped the people saw what the Sun was doing and said she must be killed.

  The Little Men turned two men into snakes, an adder and a copperhead, and told them to bite the Sun when she visited her daughter who lived in the middle of the sky above the earth. They hid near the daughter's house, ready to strike the Sun, but she was too radiant and blinded them.

  The Little Men then turned a man into a large winged snake with crystal scales that sparkled like crackling fire and horns that grew out of his head. In the middle of the snake's forehead there was a dazzling crest that sparkled like a bright star. The bright crest was called Ulunsuti. The snake was called Uktena, the Keeneyed. The Little Men also turned another man into a rattlesnake to help Uktena kill the Sun.

  Uktena and the Rattlesnake went to wait near the Sun's daughter's house, but the Rattlesnake was so excited that he raced ahead of Uktena and bit the daughter when she came to the door and killed her instead. The Rattlesnake became confused by his mistake and raced back to the people without waiting for the Sun. Uktena followed angrily. In his anger and frustration he became danger ous. If a warrior simply looked at him, Uktena would cause him and his whole family to die.

  Many warriors tried to kill Uktena, but their arrows and spears could not pierce the hard scales. There was, however, a special place on the Uktena's body that was vulnerable. A great shaman found it and killed Uktena and took his crest. It was a great crystal, transparent except for a blood-red center.

  The crystal gave the shaman great power, the power to see into the future, to always have a good hunt, to make it rain whenever the shaman wanted. Even each of the thousands of scales of Uktena had power. The big crystal that was his crest, however, was so powerful that the shaman had to keep it in a cave, wrapped in a deerskin and placed in a clay jar and fed the blood of animals.

  Esteban Calderon reread the story his cousins, Sancho and Ruiz, had written down during their visit with de Soto. A young Indian boy they had met told them the story. Esteban had said that it was a foolish story, the tale of a savage and backward people, but Sancho kept pushing the map at him and pointing at an X, tapping his finger on the place for emphasis.

  We heard this story again at another village. An old man knew where the cave was. He said his great-great-grandfather was the one who killed the Uktena. He showed us the cave in return for an ax and a knife. Don't you see, Esteban? Read the story! It's diamonds they are talking about. One large diamond and thousands of smaller ones. It's diamonds. Diamonds, Esteban. A king's ransom in diamonds."

  "You know this?" Esteban had asked.

  "Yes. They are waiting there in the cave."

  "If these," Esteban had gestured at the diary with Ruiz's notes, "are so powerful to the Indians, why did the old man trade you the knowledge of the cave for a mere ax and a knife? Tell me that!"

  "Because only the owner, the old man's great-great-grandfather, could go into the cave and use the crystal. After he died, no one could use it. That's what they believe."

  "This is a map to the cave, Cousin," Ruiz had said. "It is very accurate. You know Sancho can draw a map that is so accurate you can find your way in the dark. Find the diamonds and bring them back."

  Roberto understood the language of some of the people visiting in the town of Chilhaxul, the large Indian village that welcomed traders from all over the land. As he wandered through the village, looking at the various wares to be traded, he met a few Indians from his adopted tribe. They were not from his village, however, for lie didn't know them, but they had the same dress, same tattoo designs, and spoke the same language. Roberto discovered from them that the chiefs of several neighboring chiefdoms were traveling to Chilhaxul for a meeting called by Piaquay. Filled with apprehension, Roberto stationed himself outside the council house, pretending to be working
on a piece of clothing for his master. He listened to the translator inside the house and discovered that the Indians were planning to attack the Spanish when they came to the village of Chilhaxul.

  Roberto gazed around the village and realized that the women were readying themselves and the children to leave. They were placing dried food into leather bags, collecting the children who usually were out running and playing at this time, giving them things to carry.

  The warriors would wait until the Spanish were settled in the village, sitting and talking to the chiefs before they attacked. They planned to kill the leader first, then the soldiers.

  As much as Roberto wanted to kill Esteban, he could not allow his fellow Spaniards to be massacred. And truthfully, he admitted to himself, he did not want any more of the Indians he had lived with and who took care of him to die. However good their plan was, the superior weapons of the Spaniards would fell many of them. He had to do something. If he escaped to find Pardo and his men, he reasoned, Piaquay would come after him and probably kill him on the spot. But Roberto had an idea. He rose from his place by the council house and went in search of Cocunae, a young Indian trader who was from the same region as Roberto's adopted people.

  He found Cocunae trading a sack filled with rose-colored chert to a brave in return for a sack of freshwater pearls. Cocunae had the chert spread on a piece of doe skin, showing the prospective buyer the fine quality of his wares. Yes, Roberto smiled to himself, Cocunae was the right choice. Traders were different from other Indians. Roberto thought it was for the same reason that explorers were different from others of his people. Traveling to exotic places, seeing different customs, he reasoned, made traders and explorers develop a different attitude about the world. It is often a larger view, one more receptive to possibilities. Roberto was counting on that being true with Cocunae. Because Cocunae was young and because he was a trader, perhaps Roberto could talk him into helping. When the brave left, Roberto sat down in front of the young trader. It would have been very bad manners to start the conversation before they got their clan alliances declared, so Roberto did not begin with his business.