Trouble at the Red Pueblo

by Liz Adair

  Neva answered. “It was a week ago yesterday.”

  As Toby wrote down Neva’s information, Spider watched Sergeant Whipple move past Isaac to the glass display case in front of the reception desk. He squatted down and began to look at the artifacts that were for sale, the little white tags turned so the price was visible.

  “What other doings did you have with Austin Lee?”

  LaJean spoke up. “Some of us had some interaction with him, but none of it amounted to a hill of beans. What do you want to know?”

  Toby glanced over at Sergeant Whipple. “Anything you can remember.”

  “Well, he leaned on that glass counter and told me he loved seeing senior citizens overcoming disabilities to be of service. It sounds patronizing now, but when he said it, it sounded right pretty.”

  Isaac said, “Ha! Salting the cow to get the calf.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Toby stood poised to write, but his eyes cut over to the sergeant still crouching in front of the glass.

  Isaac answered Toby’s question, but he was watching Sergeant Whipple, too. “He was fixing on Linda. She wasn’t paying him any attention, so he figgered if he got LaJean on his side, the conquest would be easier.”

  A half smile lifted the corners of Spider’s mouth as he watched Toby scribbling Isaac’s words, obviously oblivious to the fact that the tall St. George officer had stood and silently made his way to stand next to him. When Whipple bent down to murmur something in the deputy’s ear, Toby was so startled that his hands flew up, and the pen went flying.

  Spider grabbed the missile as it flew by him and waited until Sergeant Whipple had finished before handing Toby his pen back.

  Toby took the pen without a thank you and cleared his throat. “I’m going to turn the time over to Sergeant Whipple. He’s got something to bring up.”

  The tall officer walked to the front of the room and did a military about face. Spider almost expected him to click his heels. Whipple’s eyes swept the room. “We appreciate your being here this morning. We appreciate your cooperation.” He pasted on a wooden smile, as if he were reading from a script and obeying instructions in parentheses. “We wonder if you would mind if we examined the contents of this case?”

  “What do you mean by that?” Martin looked from Matt to Neva and then to Spider. “What does he mean by that?”

  “He wants to do some searching without a search warrant,” Spider said. “You can say no.”

  Sergeant Whipple made a steeple of his fingertips. “That will simply delay the inevitable. We can get a court order by phone in half an hour.”

  “Maybe,” Spider said. “Maybe not. Depends on the judge. Depends on your reasons for asking.” He met Marshal Thayne’s eyes, and the other officer gave a tiny nod.

  Matt took a step forward. “Here’s what I say. Let them look through the display case. We’ve got nothing to hide. Anything to get this prissy clown out of here sooner.”

  Toby held up a hand. “Easy, easy. No need to get personal.”

  Sergeant Whipple strode toward the entrance. “I’m going to go get my kit,” he said as he passed Toby.

  Toby looked after the tall, retreating figure. “What kit?” Receiving no answer, he stared at the closing door for a moment then turned back to the staff. He cleared his throat and again took out his notebook and pen. “All right. Going on, I need to ask Matt something.”

  Matt again rested against the table. “Go ahead. Shoot your best shot.”

  “Your name is in the Defrain Estates gatehouse log book on Sunday morning. Can you tell us why you were there?”

  “I was thinking about buying a house.”

  “That sounds a little farfetched. Isn’t it true that you drove up on that mesa to confront Austin Lee?”

  “About what?”

  “About defrauding your father of a quarter million dollars with the scurrilous bathroom injury lawsuit.” When Sergeant Whipple entered with a backpack, Toby’s arms fell to his sides, notebook in one hand, pen in the other.

  The sergeant set his kit down by the glass case. “I need the key, please.”

  “I’ve got it.” Matt tossed the key to Isaac who handed it to Whipple. “About that lawsuit,” Matt said to Toby. “I didn’t know that Austin was behind it until Sunday evening.”

  Toby rolled the pen in his fingers. “Well then, you went to confront him because he tried to defraud the family again in a second lawsuit that had to do with the Goodman cache.”

  Matt shook his head. “There was no need. I knew the Goodman lawsuit was a nonstarter.”

  “Well then, why did you go to Austin Lee’s house?”

  Matt didn’t answer. In the silence, as everyone waited to see what he would say, Sergeant Whipple slid the door of the display case open. Every head swiveled, and each person watched as he unzipped his backpack.

  Even Toby was silent, moving forward to watch as Sergeant Whipple put on a pair of latex gloves and took a plastic bag of Q-tips and a vial of liquid out of the backpack. The St. George officer picked up the first Anasazi reproduction ax in the line of four, wet a Q-tip from the vial, and began swabbing the pointed bottom of the weapon. He bent over and poked the saturated cotton end down into the crack where the stone was attached to the haft. “Ha!” he said, holding up the now-pink swab.

  “Ha what?” Toby came nearer. “What are you saying?”

  “There’s blood on this ax.”

  Matt strode to the display case, leaned against the Don’t lean on the glass sign, and jutted out his jaw. “You’re crazy.”

  Sergeant Whipple dropped the ax into a plastic bag. “We’ll see who’s crazy when we get this to the lab.”

  Matt’s hands were balled into fists. “You’re not taking that ax anywhere.”

  “’Fraid so.” Whipple stuffed it in his backpack and stood. “We’re taking you, too.”

  Spider pushed away from the archway where he had been leaning with arms folded. “What’s the charge?”

  “Murder. The murder of Austin Lee. Read him his rights, Flint.”

  Toby came closer, leaned over the glass case, and in a whisper that all could hear said, “Can we talk about this before you charge him?”

  “I’m senior to you.” Even at a murmur, Sergeant Whipple’s voice had a hard edge to it. “The crime was committed in my jurisdiction. We’re taking him in.”

  While the two Utah officers continued talking in heated undertones, Spider turned to Marshal Thayne. “What do you say? Can two Utah officers come into Arizona and drag someone across the state line?”

  The marshal’s mouth turned down as he nodded. “Yep, they can. That’s ‘cause Deputy Barney Fife over there is an Arizona reserve officer.”

  A smile touched the corner of Spider’s lips. “Deputy Flint, you mean?”

  Marshal Thayne’s face remained impassive, but his eyes twinkled. “Did I get his name wrong? Must have been a slip of the tongue. They’ll take Matt to the shiny new county jail just across the border and hold him until he can see an Arizona judge.”

  Spider turned his attention back to Toby. His body was rigid, and the hand that clutched his pen had the knuckles showing white. “I’m telling you, you don’t need the cuffs,” he hissed. “Not on my territory, not with these people.”

  “It’s regulations, but have it your way.” Whipple’s voice had a petulant tinge to it. “I’m not going to be responsible for a lost prisoner.”

  Toby turned to say something to the museum staff, and Spider watched as his eyes shifted from one attentive face to the other. A blush crept up his neck and suffused his cheeks as he realized that everyone had heard his interchange with Sergeant Whipple. He looked at the ground for a moment and then methodically closed his notebook and stowed it and his pen in his pocket. When he looked up, he spoke quietly. “Matt Taylor, I am arresting you for the murder of Austin Lee.” He proceeded to tell Matt his rights under the law and then asked if he understood.

  “Yes.” Matt’s voice was raspy
as he turned to Spider. “I don’t know how blood got on that ax.”

  “I hear you,” Spider said. “They’ve got a ways to go to make a case. Could have been a false positive.”

  “Could be some animal’s blood,” Isaac added. “That’s one of the rocks I picked up for you. Maybe some coyote killed a rabbit there.”

  “I’ll make sure I get a copy of the lab results,” Marshal Thayne said, shooting a glance at Sergeant Whipple. “We’ll keep them honest.”

  “Flint!” Sergeant Whipple’s voice cracked like a whip. “It’s time to be going.”

  Reluctance showed in every line of Toby’s body. He stood aside and said, “Matt, you’ll have to come with us.”

  Matt cast a pleading look at Spider.

  Spider ground his teeth. This is why he had pushed to have a lawyer present. “Better go on with them,” he said, looking to Marshal Thayne for confirmation.

  The Marshal nodded. “No good will come from resistin’. We can get this sorted out peaceable like.”

  “Come on, then.” Toby took Matt by the arm.

  Matt shook himself out of Toby’s grasp and strode after the tall form of Sergeant Whipple. Toby raised his hands in a no-harm-no-foul gesture and followed them out of the museum.

  EVERYONE DRIFTED TO the window to watch Matt get in the back of the police cruiser. Neva and LaJean were weeping, and their husbands comforted them as best they could. Laurie stood by Spider, and he looked down to see that her eyes were shiny, too. He put an arm around her and pulled her close. “This isn’t the end of anything,” he said.

  Marshal Thayne took a card out of his pocket. “I think I’ll follow them up to the jailhouse. If you need me, my phone number’s on here.”

  Spider took the card and glanced at it. “Thanks.”

  “Send me a text or call me, so I’ll have your number.” Hat in hand, the marshal took a step backwards toward the door as he addressed Matt’s folks and the Bakers. “I’ll keep an eye on things, let you know what’s happening.”

  Neva wiped her eyes with a tissue. “Thanks, Marshal.”

  The officer turned and strode to the door, putting on his hat as he walked toward his pickup. He stopped with his hand on the door as Linda’s car sped down the highway and turned into the parking lot. The marshal waited for her to get out and then said something to her, pointing to the group assembled in front of the window.

  Linda nodded and trotted toward the entrance stiff-arming the doors as she reached them. “Martin? Neva? What’s happened?” The red bandana she wore on her head accented the pallor of her face. Her eyes had the look of a frightened animal.

  At the sight of Linda, Neva broke down sobbing. LaJean shouldered her canvas oxygen tote and put an arm around her friend, leading her to one of the chairs. “Let Spider talk to her, Martin,” she advised over her shoulder. “You need to be over here with your wife.”

  Linda turned to Spider. “Tell me!”

  “Toby and a police sergeant from St. George were just here and arrested Matt for Austin Lee’s murder.”

  Linda’s mouth dropped open. She stared at Spider for a long moment and then asked, “How could they do that? What evidence do they have?”

  “They found blood on one of the Anasazi axes in the display case. I think they think it’s the murder weapon.”

  Linda’s face, already pale, suddenly became ashen. She closed her eyes and whispered something to herself.

  Spider dragged one of the chairs over to where they stood. “You look ill. Please sit down.”

  She sagged into the chair. “I don’t understand.” She spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. “Why Matt?”

  “He was at Defrain Estates on Sunday morning at the time Austin was murdered. That’s a pretty big coincidence. He’s publically said that he’d like to kill whoever it was that was doing this to the Taylors. I heard him myself.”

  “How do they know he was at Austin’s house?”

  “He signed in at the gatehouse. Also, he’s on camera at the main intersection just off the freeway.”

  “You’re on it, too,” Laurie said to Linda.

  Linda turned blank eyes to Laurie. She seemed not to be able to process what she said. “I’m on what?”

  “On the video footage. We saw you coming through after Matt, but you weren’t in the gatehouse ledger.”

  Linda swallowed. “So, they have evidence that Matt went to Austin’s house?”

  “They have evidence he was in the area. I don’t know if they have been able to place him in the house with fingerprints. This Whipple character is annoying, but I’ve got to hand it to him, he’s pretty sharp. He could see that the edge of that ax was the same size and shape as the wounds on Austin’s head.”

  “He tested it for blood and found some,” Laurie added.

  Linda looked from Laurie to Spider. “Is it Austin’s blood for sure?”

  Spider answered. “They don’t know yet, but Sergeant Whipple’s taken it away to send to the lab.”

  Linda closed her eyes again and pressed her fingers against her forehead.

  Laurie touched her arm. “Are you all right?”

  Lids still closed, Linda nodded. Moments later, she opened her eyes and spoke in a firm voice. “I need to talk to Spider. Alone.”

  Spider blinked at the change in Linda. “Okay.” He glanced at the office to see if it was available.

  “No, let’s go to the dugout.” Without waiting for him to agree, she strode towards the door to the yard.

  Spider paused to give Marshal Thayne’s card to Laurie and ask her to text him their phone numbers. Then he followed Linda out to the dugout. When he entered, he found her seated on the bed with her hands folded in her lap.

  “I want to confess to the murder of Austin Lee,” she said. “I killed him.”

  “Whoa there. Let’s go back to the beginning.” Spider sat on the chair. “Why’d you go to St. George that morning?”

  She chewed on her lip for a moment, eyes on the floor. Then she looked up. “I went to talk to Austin. I was going to tell him it was all over between us. I never wanted to see him again.”

  Spider rubbed his jaw and then sighed. “Linda,” he said. “This isn’t going to help Matt. The way you can help Matt is to tell me everything that happened— the truth— from the time Neva sent you to sit with me in the hospital early Sunday morning until you got back from St. George.”

  “Why don’t you think I’m telling the truth now?”

  “Well, first, because there never was much between you and Austin. Second, the little there was between you was over quite a while before Sunday.” Spider leaned back and crossed his legs. “And third, there’s no way you could have killed Austin Lee.”

  “What do you mean? Why not?”

  “Because whoever struck that first blow was left handed.”

  Linda sat still as a statue. She looked as if she was seeing something inward, examining a memory as it played through her mind. When the mental movie was over, she slumped and put her hands over her face, asking in a muffled voice, “What can I do to help Matt?”

  “Tell me everything.”

  “Everything?” She let out a mirthless little laugh and then took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes.” But she didn’t speak.

  “Take your time,” Spider said.

  “All right. Saturday night Matt asked if I wanted to walk around Western Legends with him. He said you had talked some sense into his head. He was still moody, but a lot of that was blaming himself for how things had gone wrong between us. He told me about Tiffany not having any money, and he said that made him feel like a bigger fool. I told him I knew now that he was doing it for the museum.”

  “So things were better between you?”

  She nodded. “We went to his house afterwards and were sitting out back visiting with his folks when Laurie called. She told us about the bomb and asked for someone to come sit with you while she went to help Karam. Matt and I offered to do it.”

  “I
appreciated it, too. I woke up during the night and heard you talking.”

  “Oh? What were we talking about?”

  “You were telling him about you and Austin and the incident here in the dugout.”

  “I should have kept my mouth shut.” There was a bitter edge to her voice.

  “Why do you say that?”

  She scooted back on the bed and leaned against the rocky back wall. Her feet stuck out over the edge of the bed, and she looked like a little girl to Spider. A lost little girl.

  “Things were going so well. He told me about Tiffany, and we got the air cleared about that. I thought if I talked about Austin, we could clear that up and be back to where we were.” She pulled the bandana off her head and laid it in her lap. “But it didn’t work out that way.”

  “What happened?”

  “When I told him that Austin tried to—”

  “—rape you. You might as well call it what it was.”

  “It’s such an ugly word. But yes, when I told Matt, he was so angry. Not with me, and not with Austin so much as with himself. He realized he just stood there as Austin walked over here with me, and it was going on when he wasn’t a hundred feet away. He blamed himself.”

  “And because he was so angry at himself, he wanted to rearrange Austin’s features?”

  “I think so.” She smoothed the red handkerchief in her lap and then looked up. “But that’s different from killing someone.”

  “I agree. Go on with your story.”

  “By then it was about four in the morning. I fell asleep in the chair, and when I woke up, he was gone.”

  “What time was that? I remember talking to you just before Toby showed up. Around eight?”

  “Yes. I hadn’t been up very long. I’d been trying to reach his phone, but he wasn’t answering. I went by the house, but his folks hadn’t seen him. He wasn’t at the museum, so I headed on over to St. George.”

  “Why did you go to St. George?”

  Her chin quivered. She cleared her throat. “Because I just knew that’s where he went.”

  “Did you see him there?”

  Her head rolled back and forth over the rocky wall in a forlorn negative. “I know you said he was there, but I didn’t see him.”