by Linda Lovely
“Why don’t Paint and I ride up to the property line and take pictures?” Andy suggested. “We can throw a tarp over the hole until Eva gets back.”
I turned to Mom. “Do you mind if I go with them? I’ll come right back. I’d sort of like to see the scene in daylight. Maybe that’ll help chase those spooky images out of my head.”
“Sure, go on. Looks like you have capable escorts.” She smiled.
“By the way, boys, I don’t have a problem with both of you staying the night so long as my daughter doesn’t object. Might have worried about Brie’s reputation if just one of you bunked here. But both? Nah, you’ll keep each other honest.”
A look passed between the “boys.” Obvious they’d talked it over. Was I a prize in some new buddy competition? Couldn’t decide how I felt about that. Maybe I’d work both their butts off to win another kiss.
Only any kissing would have to wait until we cleared Eva’s name.
Eva’s ATV had two seats and one cargo bed. I jumped in the back. “You two take the front. I want to stretch my legs. Been standing way too long.”
I sprawled in the back. A minute later I was hanging on to the roll bar as we bounced our way over Udderly’s roller-coaster fields, startling goats along the way. Last night it had taken almost ten winded minutes to run to the property line and reach the injured Socks. Our motorized transport delivered us in a fraction of the time.
“What the…?”
Paint was the first to spot the huge, gaping hole. We jumped from the ATV and walked over to the edge. The hole was now an eight-foot-deep abyss and three feet wide. No dirt piled anywhere. Just a fresh, empty crater. No bones. No anything.
Since I was pretty sure a meteor hadn’t slammed into the earth since we’d surprised last night’s trespassers, I surmised they’d come back—and arrived better equipped.
Andy knelt beside a wide tread mark imprinted in the damp earth. “Look at these tracks. Can you believe it? A really big backhoe. Construction grade.”
Paint walked from the big dig to a decimated portion of the border fence. “They didn’t mess around. Looks like they had a dump truck waiting on this side of the fence.”
“What on earth? When did this happen?” My mouth hung open.
“This morning you and your dad left Udderly to arrange bail and visit Eva at the jail,” Andy said. “They must have snuck back as soon as you left. Given the size of this backhoe, you’d have heard it if you were here.”
“Pretty ballsy,” Paint added. “Unless they had a lookout.” He glanced back toward the cabin. “There’s a pretty good sight line from here. With a pair of binoculars I could see anyone coming or going.”
I shivered. I didn’t much like the thought of someone spying on me. “At least they didn’t shoot any more animals.”
Andy nodded. “Don’t imagine the dogs interfered. I’m sure at least one came to investigate. But it was daylight, and they’re used to big equipment and farm hands doing chores. No one was harming the goats they guard.”
I shook my head. “What is going on? I sure let Eva down. Keeping that bone safe was her only request. Now it’s gone. Along with every other potential clue about what or who was buried here.”
Paint frowned. “Have to agree it’s bad news. Someone must have thought finding another body would have loosened the noose around Eva’s neck. Otherwise the trespassers would have left the bones alone. Somehow that skeleton suggested the sheriff should be looking at someone other than Eva as the killer.”
“I agree.” The admission turned my stomach. “Not much we can do about it. Another missing puzzle piece.”
“There is something Paint and I can do—fix the fence,” Andy said. “May not be much help to Eva, but at least we can keep her goats from wandering off.”
My task? I put my mind to reclaiming that stolen leg bone and the skeleton that almost certainly went with it. How hard could it be to find who commandeered a backhoe and a dump truck for an off-the-books job this morning? Maybe Mollye, who seemed to know every business and most scoundrels in Ardon County, could give me a heads up on construction equipment and rentals.
TWENTY-NINE
My thoughts seemed to conjure Mollye from thin air. When I walked into the retail cabin, there she was, helping Mom behind the counter. However, a steady stream of customers made it impossible for me to update Mom and Mollye about the missing bones.
While we minded the store, Dad played traffic cop. I’d seen busy sales days at Udderly before, but nothing like this. We had enough cars coming and going to justify a traffic light.
“It’s the rubbernecker syndrome,” Mom whispered in disgust. “People heard about Eva’s arrest on the radio and decided to take a gander at the scene of the crime. Probably figured nobody’d be here so they could poke around.”
“On the plus side, they seem to feel guilty enough to buy cheese,” I replied sotto voice. “At least we’re bringing in cash.”
By early afternoon, I felt sure we’d sold a trailer load of cheese—or in vegan speak, three trillion grams of cholesterol. Finally, there was a short break in the action and I filled in my sales associates on our latest setback—missing bones.
Looking worried as well as plain tuckered out, Mom collapsed into one of the retail cabin’s rocking chairs. She toed off her shoes, groaned, and rubbed her feet.
“Mrs. H, why don’t you take a break?” Mollye suggested. “Brie and I can handle things now that the crowd’s thinning out.”
Mom sighed. “Glad business was brisk even though I’m dog tired. Given how fast legal costs can mount for a trial, we need all the money we can get.”
“You really think it’ll go to trial?” I asked.
“Yes, honey, I’m almost certain it will.”
Mom decided to take Mollye and me up on the offer to mind the store and left to check on Dad.
Once Mollye and I were alone, she urged me to tell all—including any news bulletins I’d skipped over with my mother tuned in. “Keeping up with the Hookers is proving to be a full-time job,” she added.
The short lull in the cheese business continued long enough for me to provide my gal pal with all the gory details. We put our conversation on pause when a batch of customers arrived. As soon as I rang up their purchases and the screen door banged behind them, I nudged Mollye. “Your turn to talk. What do you think’s going on here?”
Mollye frowned as she studied a chip in her blood-red fingernail polish. “I think you’re right. Someone buried another corpse on the farm, and it sure wasn’t Eva.”
“Yeah, and now we have no way to prove that second skeleton was ever here. Our only evidence is a hole dug by a backhoe and our Scout’s honor that nobody on this farm did the digging. But I do have a theory about Mr. Bones’ identity.”
Mollye rubbed her hands together. “Oh, boy, can’t wait to hear this.”
“I think the skeleton belongs to that Kaiser fellow who was reported missing about the same time as Jed. A pretty big coincidence to have two grown men go poof at the same time.”
Mollye nodded, her earrings jangling like miniature wind chimes. “Makes sense. But why would someone dig up Kaiser’s bones now? Why not leave them be?”
“I’m big on theories. It’s all I’ve got. I’m betting whoever killed Jed also killed Kaiser, and he feared Kaiser’s body might be uncovered by the same combination of erosion and animal digging that unearthed Jed’s corpse. There are plenty of critters around here capable of digging up buried bones—including coyotes and Udderly’s own dogs.”
“That’s one possibility.” Mollye nodded. “Or maybe they figured the sheriff would ask SLED to bring in some of those police canines trained to sniff out corpses.”
“I seriously doubt the sheriff would ask SLED’s help on that score,” I scoffed. “Sheriff Jones doesn’t need to paint Eva as a serial killer with stiffs buri
ed hither and yon. He’s better off sticking with a simple case of domestic homicide. A lot easier to sell to an Ardon County jury.”
Mollye’s eyebrows rose. “I can see how a second corpse could point away from Eva. It would definitely poke holes in Jones’ theory that wifey got fed up with being a punching bag and settled the matter with a little lead. So how are we gonna pursue your Kaiser theory when all you have is a big hole?”
I liked the fact that “we” were going to investigate. I knew I’d need Mollye’s help to check out where last night’s trespassers might have gone to shag construction equipment. But first I wanted to pick her brain on Sunrise Ridge.
“We have to keep tugging at loose ends like the one attached to Sunrise Ridge. I seriously doubt Jed traded his half of the timberland for shares in Kaiser’s gold mine. Even Nancy Watson thought that was a crock.”
I took a damp cloth and swiped at a dollop of soft cheese someone had dribbled on the counter. A thought kept buzzing around in my brain, but I had no luck smacking it down. “Can’t help but wonder if that property holds a clue about these deaths. Paint took Dad and me to see Sunrise Ridge yesterday. I have a feeling there’s a connection.”
Mollye shook her head. “Afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree. That was forty years ago. I can see how there might be some link to Jed’s murder, but how could it possibly connect to the Watsons’ deaths?”
The cabin door creaked, and Mom and Dad popped in. My request for sleuthing help on construction equipment would have to wait. No need to worry them with details on my detective plans.
“It’s almost five,” Mom said. “Only two cars left, and the occupants are packing up. Gawkers not buyers. Let’s close up.”
“Won’t get an argument from me. Dad, you ordered pizzas, right? Want to join us for dinner, Mollye?”
She laughed. “You betcha. I heard you were feedin’ five, might as well make it an even number.”
Three large pizzas covered most of the surface of Eva’s table as we crowded around, elbows touching, to chow down. I chose the seat nearest the veggie pizza, half unadorned with cheese. Since the other two pies were “meat lovers,” I reckoned they’d be decimated before anyone paid a call on my veggie-loaded version.
“Howard, why don’t you say grace?”
Mom’s request surprised me, especially since I’d already shoveled a slice of pie onto my paper plate. Our family wasn’t big on saying grace at any meal outside of holidays.
Dad took my left hand, and I reached for Mollye’s hand with my right.
“Bless this food,” Dad said, “and bless and keep safe the loved ones at this table and our dear Eva, who should be sitting here with us. Amen.”
We all added a murmured amen. For a couple of moments, no one uttered a word. We were all thinking about Eva sitting in a jail when she should have been presiding at the head of the table.
Mollye was the first to break the silence. “Paint, I heard you took Brie and Howard on a Saturday drive up to Sunrise Ridge,” she said. “Has that deal with the Japanese buyers gone through?”
Smack. That’s what had been buzzing around in my head.
“We spotted a group of men at the gate to Phase III, the section that’s supposed to be developed next,” Paint said. “We figured they were from Tisnomi.”
“Guess I should call Kathy and see what she knows,” I added.
Mom nodded. “Great idea. Maybe she can tell us where things stand. It’s been a couple months since you two talked anyway.”
“Who’s Kathy?” Andy asked.
“A foreign exchange student who lived with us my senior year in high school.” I smiled thinking about all the hijinks we’d pulled. I’d definitely corrupted the quiet, studious Japanese girl. “Kathy lives in Tokyo. Took a job with Tisnomi as soon as she graduated from college.”
I looked at my watch. Six thirty at night here. Tokyo was what? Fourteen hours ahead? It would be about eight thirty Monday morning. Kathy would be at work. Probably a bad idea to call her there.
“If I call her when I get up at the crack of dawn, she should just be getting home from Tisnomi.”
“Speaking of work, we’d better head home.” Mom sighed. “I need to clear my calendar so Howard and I can make Eva’s bond hearing.”
“Should I come?” I asked.
“No point,” Mom said. “The bail arrangements are made, and the hearing itself won’t last more than five minutes. You need to stay here and hold down the fort. I’m hoping Eva will join you by early afternoon.”
Mollye pushed back from the table. Her eyes twinkled as she glanced from Paint to Andy. “Who’s sleeping where tonight?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
My friend, a definite scalawag, enjoyed stirring the pot. She winked at me, and I felt a blush creep up my neck.
“We’re flipping for it, right?” Andy piped up. “The winner gets Eva’s bed, the loser gets the couch.”
I silently thanked Andy for refusing to take Mollye’s bait, especially with Mom and Dad listening. If Eva’d headed the table, the joking would have bordered on raunchy. Bordered? Heck, raunchy would have been the starting point.
Too bad Eva’s absence was the main reason Paint and Andy were bunking in the cabin. Well, there was also the fact that Udderly had suddenly attracted a new group of night crawlers. Slimy bastards.
After Mom and Dad left, we cleared the table, and Paint retrieved a few bottles of moonshine from his truck to serve up after-dinner libations. I was happy to see he’d brought flavored, slightly less scorching options. “I’ll take a thimble or two of the peach,” I said. “Any more and I might sleep right through any exciting visits by those nighttime creeps.”
Andy nodded. “Better make mine a short one, too.”
Mollye sighed. “Okay, I have to drive home. So I guess I should join the thimble crowd—unless one of you boys wants to share a bed.”
Paint grinned. “Long as you don’t hog the covers, it’s fine with me.”
“Dang, Paint, I can’t ever shock you into a stutter. You’re no fun.” Mollye laughed. “Too bad you’re not my type.”
“And what is your type?” I asked.
Mollye tipped her head sideways as if she had to think about it. “Knows how to take instructions—in and out of the bedroom. Likes to pamper me. Has oodles of money, and laughs at my jokes.”
“Have you found anyone who matches all your criteria?” I smiled. I was actually curious. Mollye had teased me plenty. She’d mentioned Deputy Danny McCoy as signing on for bedroom duty, but it sounded like he was a pinch hitter and not a star player.
“Nope,” she said. “I’m still waiting for a candidate who checks all the boxes. Meanwhile I’m not averse to auditioning men who can meet even one of my criteria. Though I’m not gonna name names, I have one gentleman right now who does know how to follow instructions.”
Andy smiled. “Yeah, Deputy McCoy usually does whatever he’s told.”
Mollye gasped theatrically. “Cripes, I didn’t think anyone knew.”
“Veterinarians hear lots of gossip,” he answered. “People are so used to talking freely in front of their pets they put me in the same uncensored category.”
Paint rolled his eyes. “Mollye, Mollye. You’re actually fraternizing with the enemy—a deputy?”
Mollye stuck out her tongue, which made me think again about her licking comment.
“I prefer to think of Deputy McCoy as my own cuddly little mole. I plan to get him panting answers to my questions about backhoes and dump trucks. Tonight, if there’s still time.”
Paint and Andy were both nodding their approval of Mollye’s tactics. I gave the idea a thumbs-up, too. With a loved one in the pokey, all was fair in love and war. And, bless her soul, I hadn’t even needed to ask Mollye for help digging up dirt on lessees of backhoes and dump trucks. A friend in “deed.�
�
THIRTY
I closed the door to my bedroom after bidding our two guard dudes goodnight. I chuckled at the fleeting fantasy of both men coming to heel if I whistled. Yes, I’d had more than a thimbleful of peach moonshine.
As I slipped out of my clothes, a breeze from the partially open window whispered against my flushed skin. Hot and bothered. Not a good tipsy combination, considering a pair of handsome gents waited within whistling range. Hmm. I knew their lips shouldn’t be on this vegan’s menu, but, hey, no animals would be harmed. How did such delicious thoughts keep sneaking inside my brain?
I shook my head to chase away the lust even though I was reluctant to banish my amorous daydreams. They were among the few things that could distract my mind from Eva’s horrible plight.
Cashew cuddled up and licked my arm. Not a help in shooing away the image of eager tongues. Dang, Mollye, and her bawdy teasing. Come on, Brie, nekkid men and necking should be the last things on your mind.
I played with the goats. Lilly laughed at their antics. The dogs barked up a storm. Cashew joined the chorus. Right in my ear.
I bolted straight up out of my dream. My mind chugged to process. The night crawlers were back.
A fist pounded on my bedroom door. “Brie, someone’s in the barn. Andy and I are going to investigate. Stay here and lock the door.”
“Hell I will.” I sprang from bed and flung open the door. My mind barely registered Paint’s bare chest. Okay, maybe my gaze lingered, but the snarl of dogs reminded me my mind needed to be elsewhere.
Paint’s attention stuttered as well. His eyes had a laser lock on my boobs. The long t-shirt that served as my nightgown was worn past the point of peek-a-boo.
“I’m coming with you.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and Paint’s scrutiny meandered lower, below the hem of my nightshirt. His tongue swiped over his lips.
“Come on, Paint, move it,” Andy yelled.
I looked past Paint’s nekkidness and spotted Andy at the front door.
