Trouble at the Red Pueblo

by Liz Adair

  Spider pulled off the paper foot covering, put them in the litter bag, and then leaned back to wait for Laurie. Visual flashbacks of the ugly blunt trauma marks on Austin’s head kept flipping through his mind. Trying to divert his thoughts, he pictured Austin as he had last seen him, standing in the doorway, a sneer on his handsome face as he looked beyond Spider to the little orange car he was driving.

  “Dang,” he said to himself. “I wish the Yugo would have survived.’”

  Laurie opened her door. “Are you talking to yourself?”

  Spider smiled. “Yeah. Austin didn’t like my choice of car. I was wishing it had survived.”

  “So you could drive up to his house and say neener-neener?”

  “Something like that.”

  Laurie climbed in, closed the door, and buckled her seat belt. “Okay. Now I can concentrate. Tell me what Toby said, starting with when we pulled up, and he came to meet you. Don’t leave anything out.”

  SPIDER AND LAURIE drove to the museum the following morning. They had called Neva to tell her they had news, and she told them to come at ten when everyone could be there and hear it at the same time.

  Cumulous clouds boiled up from behind the mesas to the north. Spider watched them in his rearview mirror. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get another rain this afternoon.”

  When they reached the museum, the only cars in the parking lot belonged to staff. Spider was glad of that. They had no idea the type of news he was bearing, and a houseful of patrons would be awkward.

  He parked by Linda’s beat-up Kia. They got out, and as he and Laurie walked toward the building, his cell phone rang. Checking to see who was calling, he stood aside to let Laurie precede him through the entrance. “Hi, Toby. How goes the fight?”

  He paused, listening to the deputy’s request. He checked his watch. “We can be there in two, two and a half hours. All right. See you then.”

  Laurie was already greeting Martin and Neva, and he joined her in the lobby.

  Isaac and LaJean came in from the Heritage Yard. “We heard you got something to tell us,” she said, eyeing Spider. “Hope the news is better than you look.”

  Isaac frowned at her. “Mother! What kind of a thing is that to say?”

  “Well, look at him. He’s got a shiner that won’t quit. How’re you doing, by the way?”

  “Much better, thanks.”

  Isaac clapped Spider on the shoulder. “I heard you stood up for Karam. That’s one fine fellow.”

  “We took him to the airport yesterday,” Laurie said. “He said to tell you all good bye and that he’ll see you next summer.”

  Isaac hooked his thumb in his suspenders. “I’ll look forward to that. So, Spider. Good news, you say?”

  “I’ll let you be the judge of that,” Spider said, looking around. “How about Linda and Matt? Are they here?”

  “They’re coming,” Isaac said. “They’re getting ready for a tour bus we got coming in at ten-thirty.”

  Spider looked through the window into the office. “Can we all fit in there?”

  “I’ll grab a couple more chairs.” Isaac picked up the two folding chairs that sat behind the reception desk. “There are already four in there.”

  As Isaac carried the chairs into the office Linda came through the door from the yard and greeted Spider and Laurie.

  “Is Matt coming?” Spider asked.

  Linda looked behind her. “He was on his way, but don’t wait for him. He’ll be right here, I’m sure.”

  “Let’s all come into the office.” Spider made a herding gesture with his arms, and everyone moved into the room behind the lobby and took one of the seats Isaac had arranged.

  “I’ll stand, and Matt can stand when he comes in,” Spider said, looking around at the attentive faces turned to him. “Isaac and LaJean, I presume that you’ve been kept abreast of the events as they’ve happened.”

  They nodded.

  Spider leaned over, so he could see the door to the yard, checking to see if Matt was coming.

  “Spider?”

  He looked at Linda, eyebrows raised. “Yes?”

  “While we’re waiting for Matt, I have some news.”

  Spider stepped away from the front of the room. “Be my guest.”

  Linda drew a folded piece of paper from her Levi’s pocket as she rose. “I was going to share this with Matt this morning, but I haven’t had a chance to…” She glanced through the window, too, obviously wondering where Matt was.

  “What is it you have to share, dear?” Neva’s voice gently brought her back.

  Linda came to the front of the room. “It’s an email. I don’t know if you know, but I went to the museum in Flagstaff for an interview last—” She wrinkled her brow. “I can’t remember when it was. It seems so long ago.” She dismissed the calendar problem with an impatient gesture. “Anyway, I was telling them what we had been doing here and about the cache. This morning I got this email asking if we’d be willing to let the cache go on tour. They’d negotiate the price with us, but what they’re offering is pretty substantial.” She handed the paper to Martin. “I got to thinking, if we let it go on tour for a couple years, we could end up with the money we need, and the museum would be in the black again.”

  Linda’s eyes moved to the door and back, and Spider followed her glance. Matt had entered the room and stood silently at the back, behind his father.

  Matt spoke, and his voice had an edge to it. “Did you tell them about the Lincoln Letter? Is that why they were interested in the display?”

  Color rose in Linda’s cheeks, but she kept her voice calm. “No, I didn’t tell them about the Lincoln Letter. It would certainly enhance the exhibit and probably affect the price we— you— could ask, but I left that for you to disclose.”

  Spider smiled as he moved to the front of the group again. “Thanks, Linda. I think all here would judge that to be good news.” He cleared his throat and waited for her to sit down. “Okay. So my news is that the bathroom injury suit was a fraud. Austin Lee was definitely behind it.”

  There was an instant flurry of murmuring and sounds of surprise. Spider waited for the comments to subside and went on. “I know you’re wondering if you can get the money back. I don’t know. You’ll have to get some legal advice on that. The police have sworn testimony about it, so that should help. You’ll have to make a claim against Austin Lee’s estate.”

  “His estate?” Martin and Isaac spoke together.

  Matt was quiet, his face paper white.

  Linda, too, went pale.

  “Yes,” Spider said. “That’s the second part of what we’re here to tell you. Austin Lee is dead.”

  Isaac, LaJean, Neva and Martin all erupted with questions. How did Spider know? When did he find out? How did Austin die? Both Matt and Linda sat stone still and quiet.

  Spider held up his hands. “Austin Lee was murdered. Someone beat in his skull with a blunt instrument.”

  “When?” Neva asked.

  “They figure it was sometime Sunday morning.”

  Martin raised his hand then asked the question without being called upon. “Do they have any idea who did it?”

  Spider didn’t answer. Instead he watched as Martin’s son’s eyes rolled up in their sockets, and he slid down the wall, ending up in a heap on the floor.

  The room erupted into chaos. Neva sat against the wall and watched the men bending over Matt, asking, “What’s the matter with him?” It was a question no one could answer. Linda joined her there and took her hand.

  Martin loosened Matt’s collar, and LaJean scooted over closer, took off her oxygen tubing, and handed it to him. Martin fixed it around Matt’s face.

  “There. He’s starting to get some color back,” Martin said.

  “His eyes are open,” Isaac added. “Mattie. Mattie. You gave us a scare.”

  Matt looked blankly from his dad to Isaac. He blinked and then turned his gaze on the other people in the room, ending up with S
pider. “What happened?”

  “You passed out,” his dad said.

  Matt struggled to rise, but Martin held his shoulders down. “Wait a few minutes.”

  Spider felt something against his leg and looked down to see LaJean sagging against him. “We have another crisis,” he said, grabbing hold of her substantial shoulders. “I think she needs her oxygen back.”

  Matt ripped the tubing off his face and handed it to Isaac who put it on his wife’s face. Moments later, LaJean’s eyes opened. “Sorry about that,” she said. “It came on too fast to say anything.”

  Linda stood. “The bus is here. You all take care of Matt and LaJean. I’ll go out and start the tour.”

  Matt got to his feet. “I don’t need to be taken care of. I can help with the tour.”

  LaJean held out her hand to her husband and, with his aid, struggled to stand. “Me too. I’m ready.”

  “Okay,” Spider said. “It looks like we’re done here. We got a call from Toby. He wants us to come over to St. George to look at some CCTV footage, so we need to be on our way.”

  “Thanks for coming by,” Neva said. “The fact that someone killed Austin is awful. Just awful. But I don’t think any of us will mourn his passing.”

  LaJean seemed to be back in operational mode. “We’re glad your brush with him wasn’t any worse than it was. You’re doing okay?”

  Spider patted her on the arm. “I look a lot worse than I feel.” He caught Laurie’s eye. “Are you ready to go?”

  Laurie nodded and said a quick good-bye to Neva and Linda. On the way to the door, she whispered, “What’s going on?”

  “I guess we’ll know when we get to St. George.” He held the door for Laurie and then relinquished it to the bus driver, who propped it open for his tour group.

  When they were clear of the tourists, Laurie said, “I meant what’s going on in there? Why do you suppose Matt passed out?”

  “I don’t know. You know the old saying, be careful what you wish for. Maybe he realized all of a sudden that he hadn’t been careful about what he’d been wishing for.”

  Spider held the pickup door for Laurie, got in, himself, and they were soon on their way across the Arizona Strip, heading for St. George.

  An hour and a half later, they met Toby in the lobby of the St. George police station. He ushered them into a small room where a technician sat at a computer in a dimly-lit room. Toby introduced him as Sam.

  Spider took off his sunglasses and smiled inwardly at the way Sam avoided looking at the massive bruising around his eyes. “Glad to meet you,” he told the technician. To Toby, he said, “What’s going on?”

  “That’s what we want you to help us figure out,” the deputy replied. “We’ve got gaps in the times that the gate was manned. The city has a web cam on that main intersection, and we’re going to check the download.”

  “What for?” Laurie asked.

  Toby pulled a side chair over in front of the computer and motioned for the tech to do the same. “To see if any of the people with a connection to Austin Lee came through it.”

  Spider set his hat on a nearby table and pointed to the chairs. “You want us here?”

  “Yes, please.” Toby pulled up a chair for himself, and they all clustered around the monitor. “I’ve never done this,” he admitted. “I guess we just watch and say stop if we see a car or passenger that we recognize. Right, Sam?”

  Sam nodded, and with a few keystrokes, he set the footage rolling.

  “So, what time is this?” Spider asked.

  “We’ve started at nine o’clock,” Sam replied. “The gatehouse has an active log for this time, but I thought we should cover the window of time they’ve set for the murder. They said between nine and noon.”

  Images of cars queuing up at a stop light and then spilling through the intersection ran in a continuous, monotonous thread. Spider had to keep blinking and squirming in his chair to stay awake. Surreptitiously, he checked his watch. Had it only been ten minutes since they started?

  Laurie jumped up. “Stop.” She sat back down. “Can you go back a ways?”

  Spider squinted at the screen as traffic reversed in a whir of grainy images. “What was it?”

  “There.” Laurie stabbed a finger at the screen. “Hold it right there.”

  Toby took his notebook out of his pocket and squinted at the screen. “That’s Dr. Houghton’s pickup and horse trailer.”

  “I see now,” Spider said. “The horse trailer’s got Braces painted on the front. Huh.”

  “We’re not looking for just anyone you might know.” Toby put his notebook back in his pocket. “We’re looking for people who have a connection to Austin Lee. Roll it, Sam.”

  “Well, as to that—” Spider didn’t get his thought finished because Laurie jumped up again.

  “Stop. Go back a bit.” She bent over and stared at the screen. “It’s hard because we don’t have color to help out, but look at that pickup. The one with a rack of lights on top?”

  Spider whistled under his breath. “Matt Taylor.”

  “We’ve got him signed in with the gatehouse,” Toby said.

  Spider frowned at Toby. “You didn’t mention you had him on the gatehouse log.”

  “Didn’t I?” Toby scratched the back of his head. “Well, we do. We only have him logged in, not out. Go ahead, Sam.”

  Spider leaned forward, eyes on the monitor as traffic skittered across it in double time. He blinked periodically to rest his eyes but returned his gaze to the screen each time until he started to feel a dull ache at the back of his head. The ache morphed into a vise that was attached just behind the ears, exerting steadily mounting pressure. Closing his eyes eased that pressure somewhat, and he found himself giving in to the relief he found that way.

  “Wait.” Laurie put her hand on his knee. “Was that Linda’s car?”

  Spider opened his eyes. “I didn’t see.”

  “Back up. Back up. There.” Laurie leaned forward and touched the screen. “See? Her SUV is tan, and the front bumper is turned down a bit, like a frown. I’m sure that’s her.”

  “Well, well, well.” Toby peered at the screen and scribbled in his notebook. “So, Matt Taylor comes through, and twenty minutes later, when Linda comes through, Matt is still there.”

  “Wherever ‘there’ is,” Spider said. “This road leads lots of places.”

  Toby put his notebook away. “But we’ve got Matt in the gate log. Don’t forget that.”

  Spider rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t feel like trying to argue. He clasped his hands, rested his elbows on his knees, and tried to ignore the tightening of the vise. He was being no help. Laurie was, though. And since he brought Laurie, he was a help, after all. He closed his eyes, felt the pressure ease, and decided to keep them closed.

  Spider didn’t know how long he drifted in darkness. He may even have dozed, but Laurie’s elbow nudging his arm brought him back. “Linda again.”

  “Stop,” Toby said to Sam. “Back up and let’s get a look at that. Yep. You’re right. She’s going back the other direction.” Out came the notebook.

  Spider sat up and blinked. His headache was better, but when the images began racing across the screen again, he closed his eyes. How long was this going to go on?

  “Boom.” It was Toby who nudged Spider this time. “There’s Matt, five minutes after Linda goes through.” He wrote furiously for a moment, closed the notebook with a flourish, and stood. “Thank you all for coming over. Laurie, you were a great help. I knew you would be.” He turned to the technician. “Thank you, Sam.”

  Spider reached for his hat. “So, have we watched the whole time frame that you were given for the murder to have been committed?”

  Toby scratched the back of his head. “Not the entire window. You think we ought to do that?”

  Spider set his hat back down. “That depends on if you’ve got your mind made up about who did this or not.”

  “I’ve got an open mind,�
�� Toby said. “Okay. We’ve got another ten minutes or so to watch. Let’s get to it.” He nodded to the technician. “Roll ‘em, Sam.”

  Sam rolled ‘em. Toby sat down, and Spider tightened his jaw as he leaned forward again, elbows on knees. They could have been out of here if he’d kept his mouth shut.

  He watched for as long as he could before the pressure at the back of his head forced his eyelids closed. It seemed forever before Toby said, “That’s it, then. Looks like we didn’t learn anything more out of this last bit of footage.”

  Spider stood and picked up his hat. “Yeah, but you feel good because you exercised due diligence.”

  Laurie put her hand through Spider’s arm and pinched him, at the same time asking Toby, “Is that all you need us for?”

  “Yes. Thanks for coming over.” Toby busied himself rolling one of the chairs back to its place.

  “Glad to meet you, Sam.” Spider raised his hat in salute and walked Laurie out into the lobby. He blinked at the brightness and put on his hat and sunglasses as he headed for the entrance doors. Once outside, he took a deep breath. “I’m glad to be out of there. Old Toby Flint was wearing mighty thin.”

  “He’s nice,” Laurie said.

  “He’s willing to learn, but he’s a lightweight. Come on. Let’s go find a place to buy a Pepsi.”

  “As long as it’s not thirty-two ounces, I’m with you.”

  They walked to the pickup and drove with the windows down and the air conditioning on until they got to a drive-through. Spider ordered soft drinks and gave Laurie hers with a questioning glance. It was half the size of yesterday’s, and she took it with a smile.

  Spider put the change in the ashtray. “Any other place you want to go, or shall we head home?”

  Laurie’s eyes twinkled. “By home, I assume you mean Kanab? No, I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  Spider pulled out of the drive-in and got on the arterial that would lead to the freeway. Laurie sat silently sipping her drink, apparently lost in thought. She surfaced about the time he spied I-15 in the distance.

  “Which way do you turn to get to Defrain Estates?” she asked.