One of the men snorted and shook his head, but the rest of the group gave him an unfriendly glance before the oldest of them spoke up. “Frank Ivey, you may be from Portland and buy mushrooms from those fancy chefs, but we will pop all the tires on your minivan and leave you out here overnight. Then we’ll see how you laugh at our stories.”
“All right, I’m sorry,” The man named Frank Ivey said. “But there’s no proof some giant ape is running around out here.”
The older man just frowned and then glanced over the minivan before patting the Bowie knife he carried on his belt. Gabe chuckled and looked over at the man. “Joe, now that you’ve said it you know I’m going to have to come back and check to see if you do it. Though,” he said giving Frank Ivey a look, “Who knows how late that might be. Don’t go making fun of our squatch stories, Mr. Ivey.”
The pinch-faced man snorted again and looked away, realizing this wasn’t the place to argue and moved off to his minivan. They all watched him walk off, shaking their heads before turning back towards Gabe.
“Scamp’s got something,” Joe said, nodding toward a shorter, young man with a beard and a bright grin on his face.
“Hell’s yeah I do!” the man said, grinning. “Had one throw rocks at me last week, I swear to God!”
“No way,” Gabe said, leaning in with the rest of them. “Where did it happen?”
Abby watched Gabe transform from a respectable forest ranger into a twelve-year-old right before her eyes. He pulled out a notebook and waited for the details. Abby chuckled to herself but found herself watching Gabe as his eyes twinkled.
“Northwatch trail,” Scamp said, happily. “About six in the evening and probably a mile from coming off of it. Horrible smell and everything, then a few rocks were thrown.”
Gabe was writing furiously before squinting up at Scamp. “No recordings or anything?”
Scamp scoffed and shook his head. “Freak no! I ran my happy ass out of there.”
Gabe put his notepad down and wrinkled his lips in consternation. “Seriously, no one ever pulls their phones out to take pictures.”
“Don’t be too hard on the kid,” Joe said. “I don’t think any of the rest of us would’ve done any different. Who wants to have some eight-foot creature tossing rocks at him? "
The rest of the women and men standing around nodded their heads, and even Gabe agreed. “I swear, one of these days I hope one of the things walks out in front of a camera that’s not blurry from someone peeing themselves.”
Everyone laughed. “That’s one of their tactics,” Scamp answered. “I think it’s in one of their training books, how to make humans pee in fear. It sure worked on me.”
The laughter continued until Joe nodded his head toward Abby. “Who’s the little lady? Is she a new ranger recruit?”
Gabe gestured grandly toward Abby, “this is Abby Morgan. She’s Hazel Morgan’s granddaughter, so you know what that means. Be polite, or you’ll never get an invitation to one of their parties. Not a recruit, but just curious about mushrooms.”
They all greeted her warmly enough, and Abby began to relax until one of the women gave Gabe a squinty look. “She’s not the one that got shot at is she?”
Gabe frowned before answering. “Yeah, she is actually. Who did you hear it from, Rachel?”
The older woman shrugged. “My sister’s girl told me, Sarah Clawson. I don’t know who she heard it from.” The woman grinned, showing off her yellow teeth. “You know how that goes. Nothing much goes on in town without my family hearing in about it.”
“That’s all right, I didn’t expect it would be a secret for very long, but yeah, she was shot. Thankfully it was just a graze on the arm. Have any of the rest of you heard anything about it?”
Most of the people were noncommittal, but Joe grunted. “Buck season isn’t for another two weeks. Not even bow hunting for another week. It's Black Bear season though. What kind of gun was it?”
“Aught-six,” Gabe volunteered. “But it was up near the Scott trail by my ranger station. That’s a no hunting zone. Pretty well known, too. I don’t think someone got that turned around that they thought a bunch of loud tourists were bears.”
“Too bad,” one of the other men said. “Freakin’ tourists are tearing up the mountains pretty bad this year. I swear I have to triple-check the mushrooms they bring in if they find any at all.”
Joe grunted again and spat over his tailgate into the gravel. “I’d rather they were stomping around out there than here asking me a stupid question.”
“Just keep pointing them toward my class,” Gabe volunteered. I know they’re irritating, but I’d rather they be irritating then dead. Do you all need any flyers?”
“Nah,” Joe volunteered. “I’ve still got some kicking around in my cab. I don’t think many of them will be coming around for a while, though. Not after what the Danson boys did.”
Gabe quirked an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Joe. “Buck and Dem? What did they do now?”
“Roughed up one of the tourists,” Rachel said with some heat as she stood up from petting Cheerio. “Troublemakers. I wish they would just leave again and take their problems with them.”
Joe frowned at Rachel as did many of the other buyers, but they didn’t say anything. Abby figured there was a story behind it, but she had already borrowed enough trouble in this town and didn’t feel like digging too much. Even Gabe didn’t look too thrilled at the mention of their names.
“Speak of the devil,” Joe said in a low voice.
Everybody turned and saw a very beaten up old pickup truck pulling up the road.
Chapter 23
The truck pulled up to near where they were all standing, and three people slowly got out. Almost as if in response to her earlier thoughts about banjos and rustic accents, the two men that got out were practically Hollywood stereotypes.
One was big and had long stringy hair and a thick, untrimmed beard that hid his full lips and seemed to blend with the shadows of his sunken eyes. He was wearing a trucker’s hat that said ‘all the way, baby’ on it. From his dull look, she suspected the sentence on his hat was about two words longer than he was used to speaking. The other one was smaller and thinner with a close-shaved skull and an aggressive, almost hyper look on his face. He was exactly the type of person that appeared always to be looking for a fight.
The third person that stepped out was immediately recognizable to Abby. It was Samantha Greene, and she seemed to be trying to disappear into the background as much as possible. Abby could almost feel the fear seeping off of the girl as she stood behind the two brothers.
Suddenly, Cheerio moved between her and the two new men, watching them carefully. It was unusual behavior for her pet, and she watched him strangely for a moment before once more looking back up at the three new arrivals. She didn’t blame Cheerio as the smaller man smiled, but the grin never reached his eyes.
“Hey, gang!” called the small man, holding his arms up as he came around the front of his truck. “How’s my happy group of losers doing today? Can’t walk the woods anymore, so you sit on your butts in the rain waiting for the real hunters?” He slapped his hand on his fender making a loud banging noise which made a few of the people around her jump at the sound. “Well, wait no more, I’ve got the haul for you! Come see what we got for sale.”
The big man moved around to the back of the truck and lowered the tailgate, pulling a tarp out which held a mixed pile of various mushrooms, leaves, and dirt. Several of the buyers moved toward the truck and began inspecting the load, but a few held back like Joe and Rachel. Abby noticed that Joe had a look of distaste on his face, but Rachel looked downright angry. Instead of saying anything the woman chose instead to move off to her truck.
“What’s the story?” Abby whispered to Gabe as they stood back and watched the buyers go to work.
“Well, I might have to take you to coffee for that one. It’s a lot, but suffice to say they’re worth keeping a close eye on. B
uck, the small one, has been a pain in my butt since he was a little kid and it’s been even worse for the sheriff. He’s probably got the longest rap sheet in town. The kid is a classic case of trouble. His brother, Dem, just follows along and does whatever Buck says.”
“What about Samantha?” Abby asked, watching the girl carefully.
“I don’t know much about her, but she at least tries to hold a decent job up at Callahan’s. She came back with them from Phoenix when they returned from trying to make it in the big city.” He paused, looking at Samantha thoughtfully. “I worry about her, though. I think they keep her locked up in their apartment when she’s not working. The Double D’s keep trying to talk to her about it, but she keeps things pretty close to the vest.”
“Double D’s?” Abby asked.
“Doreen and Diana Calem. They own Calamities bookstore in town. If you haven’t met them, you need to. They are a riot on wheels.”
Abby laughed thinking back to the day she met the two happy women who owned the bookstore. “I have met them. I think I could listen to them all day. Riot is the right word, but they’re the ones that pointed me toward your class.”
“Yeah, that is them. They try to help Samantha out but no luck so far. She doesn’t show any bruises or anything, but it could be hidden under clothes, or it’s all mental. No proof,” Gabe said gesturing towards the two brothers and Samantha. “But look at them. There’s no way something isn’t going on.”
They were interrupted by a raised voice coming from the small group of people over by the Danson’s truck. “Half of these are poisonous!”
Gabe and Abby looked over and saw Frank Ivey holding up a handful of colorful fungus and waving them angrily at his fellow buyers. Many of them were already frowning and backing away from the truck bread. Buck pushed himself through the group and stuck his face right into Frank’s. “What are you talking about!? These are good mushrooms.”
Frank held the mushrooms up toward Buck and shook his head. “No, they aren’t! Do you see these white gills? Poisonous!”
Buck grabbed the mushrooms from the man’s hand and looked at them closely before examining the tarp. There were some piles of mushrooms, but when Dem had pulled the tarp out, it looked like they had gotten mixed. “You’re looking in the wrong place, dumbass. There are two piles here, but only one is for edible mushrooms. We’re going to go sell these others up at the University.”
Frank Ivey just looked more offended. “There doesn’t look like there are two piles to me! They’re not even separated!”
Buck lost his temper. He grabbed Frank by his collar and pulled the man close. “Shut up, dammit. There are two piles, and you’ll be picking your teeth up off the floor if you don’t say so.” When he finished, he shoved Frank hard and sent them down into the dirt before turning back to the pile of mushrooms. “Look! Right here! Here are the two piles!” He began pushing mushrooms around, but after a few moments, it was clear he was uncertain and turned toward Samantha. “Dammit, woman, get over here and help me!”
Gabe and Abby had gone over to help Frank up off of the dirt though it looked like the man was unhurt. However, the damage had been done, and the other sellers begin to back off even as Samantha moved over to try to help Buck sort the mushrooms. She wasn’t having a lot of luck as Buck spitting mad and not listening too well, often pushing mushrooms she’d sorted back and forth, creating more chaos than order.
Gabe stepped over toward Buck, his face grim. “Buck, I’m going to need to see your selling license. I can’t have you out here selling poisonous mushrooms to buyers.”
Just as fast as the small man had switched his attention to the mushrooms, he was suddenly in Gabe’s face and growling like a mad dog. “Mind your own business, forest ranger. We had two piles, and they got mixed up when we’re driving up here, obviously. We’ll get it sorted, and it will be all fine.”
“Buck, you are all kinds of stupid sometimes,” Gabe said softly. “This is my business. I’m a forest ranger, and hunting mushrooms falls within that job description. Also, you’re on federal land, and I can arrest your sorry ass if I need to. Now, hand over the license.”
Dem had stepped up behind his brother while the little man flexed his fists. For her part, Abby gritted her teeth and felt her pulse rising. She wasn’t a violent person by nature, but she wasn’t going to stand around and let her friend get attacked by these two if she could help it.
She thought Buck was just about to take a swing when two things happened. Cheerio moved up next to Gabe and began to growl, low and menacingly with his fangs bared. It was a frightening sound that Abby had never before heard from her happy pet, but she’d never been more pleased to hear it. The second was the sound of a round being chambered in a rifle.
Buck and his brother looked around. First at the dog, and then at Joe who was now sitting on his tailgate not so far away and cradling a rifle. He was giving the brothers a flat, even stare that sent a clear message. After a few more tense moments, Buck turned around and stomped off a few feet, cursing while he pulled his wallet out. Fishing out the permit, he turned back around and handed it grudgingly to Gabe without meeting his gaze.
Gabe took the piece of paper and unfolded it before looking back up at Buck. “Good thing you had this. I would’ve taken all of these mushrooms of yours, otherwise. You need to chill out, Buck. It’s no joke selling mushrooms that could kill someone. Next time, keep the dangerous ones in some kind of cooler or something. Got it?”
Buck mumbled something as he took the paper back and shoved it back in his wallet. Abby was sure whatever he’d said wasn’t polite, but before Gabe could say anything else, Buck and his brother turned around and walked back to their truck. Buck grabbed Samantha almost roughly and pulled her along with him before they climbed back into the cab.
Gabe touched Abby on the arm, gesturing for her to follow him as he moved back toward Joe. It was a good thing, because the truck took off, spitting gravel everywhere. If they had been standing there, some of the rocks would surely have struck them.
They watched the truck tear off down the gravel road at an unsafe speed and out of sight before Gabe turned back to Joe and eyed him before looking down at his rifle.
Joe just shrugged and unchambered the round, putting it back in his pocket. “Sorry, thought I saw a bear.”
Gabe chuckled and reached down to pet Cheerio’s head. Cheerio eagerly pushed against Gabe, wiggling happily. “Must have been the same bear that Cheerio saw. Does Cheerio act like that often? I almost peed myself when he went off right next to me.” Gabe asked, looking up at Abby.
Abby crouched down and joined Gabe as they both petted the happy dog. “No, at least not very often. There was this one sergeant he didn’t like that was arrested for domestic violence, but that was a few years ago. I guess Cheerio is just a great judge of character.”
“Dang straight he is if he doesn’t like Buck,” Joe said.
Chapter 24
“I don’t think we’ve learned anything at all,” Abby said as she sat down on the couch in her grandmother’s living room.
Gabe was sitting in a chair on the other side of the coffee table and leaning over with his elbows on his knees. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Nothing that I didn’t already know, at least, but nothing that will help Becky out. Joe was the guy she buys from, but he knows his mushrooms. There’s no way he would buy bad mushrooms. Besides, even if he did get a bad batch to Becky, more than one person would be sick or dead. Her omelets were pretty famous.”
“So what now? As the sheriff likes to point out, I’m not a police officer. I have no idea where to go from here to help Becky.”
“Might be time just to let the police do their job,” Gabe said as he rubbed Cheerios ears.
Abby sat there and looked depressed about the whole thing. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting by going out to talk to the mushroom buyers, but Abby realized she had had a vision of encountering the bad guys and chasing them through the fores
t in Gabe’s truck. Apparently, she watched way too many crime dramas. All that had happened was they met a bunch of friendly people and a few jerks. That seemed par for the course for her lately.
“I sure hope Becky’s okay. I guess they kept her overnight. That’s not a good sign, is it?”
Gabe looked up and quirked his eyebrow. “They kept her overnight? That’s unusual for questioning. They might have held her for several hours to try sweat an answer out of her but unless they charge her with something they wouldn’t keep her overnight.”
Abby looked back at Gabe before suddenly reaching for her phone and dialing Becky’s number. A few moments later a drained and depressed voice answered. “Hello?”
“Becky, where the heck are you? I thought they’d kept you in jail overnight or something.”
Her friend paused for a moment before responding with a sigh. “No. No, I just didn’t want to bother you again. You and your grandmother have already done so much.”
“Dammit, Becky. You should’ve called!” Abby said, giving Gabe an exasperated look and mimed choking someone. “We would have come to pick you up. Where are you now? We’re coming to get you.”
Gabe had already stood and was grabbing his jacket which was laying across the back of his chair. Abby stood as well, and both of them began to head for the door. Cheerio bounded towards the door, excited for yet another trip.
“At home,” Becky responded.
“At home!? You mean where all the police tape is? Does that sound like a good idea? No, stay there, we’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Becky replied dismally before Abby hung up the phone.
“Don’t be too hard on her,” Gabe said. “She’s had a tough few weeks, and I’m sure she’s not thinking straight.”
Abby gave out a big sigh and nodded. “I know, and you are right. Okay, well let’s go get her. I suspect we’ll be doing a lot of cheering up this evening.” She paused and looked at Gabe out of the corner of her eye. “You don’t have to be here for this.”
Hot Tea and Cold Murder: A Red Pine Falls Cozy Mystery (Red Pine Falls Cozy Mysteries Book 1) Page 11
