Cactus Waffle Murder

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  “You better make sure she doesn’t ruin our plans for this trip.”

  “Trust me, sir. She won’t be bothering anyone once I get in contact with the authorities.”

  “Good. Now get on it,” with that, the door slammed in the lawyer’s face.

  The lawyer marched down the hallway, digging his phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me,” he snipped at the couple and pushing past them into the elevator.

  The doors closed, and he disappeared.

  “Great. That’s what we get to deal with this trip,” Frank grumbled, heading toward the suite.

  * * *

  The discussion in the hallway bothered Sonja for a minute. Could it really be possible that there was murder involved in this man’s business tactics? Was he so brazen as to insult a woman who’d lost her husband, no matter what she was accusing him of?

  She couldn’t help but feel a little bit grumpy herself, just like Frank seemed to be. After all, this week was supposed to be free of murder and ghosts.

  Finally, she decided it was none of her business and would keep her mind on enjoying the honeymoon with Frank.

  Thankfully, the sight of the room where they were staying was enough to brighten anyone’s day. The walls were painted with an elaborate mural of the local desert landscape, creating a most spacious and welcoming atmosphere. A gigantic hot tub sat in one corner, built out of stone to make it appear like a natural hot spring. To top it off, there was a balcony with a breakfast nook looking out over the real landscape outside.

  It was gorgeous, and Sonja wanted to melt right into it all.

  However, just as she flopped backward onto the bed, she felt her stomach grumble. Frank was removing his shoes when she gave him a timid half smile.

  “What?” he asked, laughing.

  “Do you want to go down to the restaurant for some dinner?”

  After changing their clothes again, since the ones they’d driven in felt slightly grungy, they headed down to the restaurant and were quickly seated at a table.

  “I’m glad you suggested this because I’m quickly realizing I’m starved,” Frank admitted, looking over the menu. “Mmm, southwestern style steak with spicy rice and beans. You can’t get much better than that.”

  “Too bad they don’t have waffles,” Sonja joked.

  “Don’t you ever get tired of waffles?” Frank teased his wife.

  “How can you get tired of waffles?” she shot back, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

  “Can’t argue with you there. In any case, there is a continental breakfast in the morning and I’m sure they will have waffles.”

  Sonja ran her finger down the menu. “I think I’ll have the Navajo taco. It’s green chili on top of a deep-fried flatbread.”

  “I always ate flatbread with butter and honey. I don’t think I ever had it with chili,” he admitted.

  “You grew up in a small western town and you’ve never had that?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll have to try a bite of yours.”

  “I guess you will.” Closing her menu, she set it on the table to show the waiter they were ready to order.

  However, before they could order, the sound of two familiar voices echoed through the low hum of the restaurant. “And you made the second offer to the owner?” Savile asked as he and his lawyer were led by the hostess to a table only a few feet away from Frank and Sonja.

  Frank rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Are we ever going to be free of these idiots?”

  “As I told you on the phone, sir, he flat out refused all three of our offers.” The lawyer answered.

  Taking their seats, they began to look through the menus as they spoke, lowering their voices. However, Sonja and Frank could still make out most of what was being said.

  “If the store owner won’t accept our offers, which are more than generous for that bit of land, we will have to take other measures.”

  Sonja looked at Frank with one cocked eyebrow. What did they mean by other measures?

  The lawyer was clenching his jaw, she could see. What was he thinking? What could these men be planning? “Abook is a good man, Savile. Maybe we should just look for a different place to build.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me what kind of man he is. This is business. We can’t be making friends with everyone we work with.”

  The lawyer nodded his understanding. “Should we up the offering again?”

  Savile sat the menu down, making eye contact with his lawyer. “Hayden, I’ve already upped my offer three times. I will not do it again.”

  “I agree that this is choice land, seeing as it’s right outside the state park.”

  “Then you see why we need to move on with our next plan.”

  This time, Hayden set his menu down. “Look, I don’t want a repeat of what happened in Arizona.”

  “That wasn’t our fault, and you know it.”

  “I can’t help but feel—”

  “No, don’t even start,” Savile interrupted. “It was a business deal, pure and simple. We can’t take responsibility when every little thing goes amiss.”

  “It was a man’s life, Savile. That isn’t a little thing.”

  The taller man waved his hand dismissively. “This isn’t the same situation. You said yourself that this Abook fellow is a good man. If that’s the case, he won’t have a problem selling to us.” He pointed across the table at his lawyer. “You just make sure it happens. Otherwise, what am I paying you the big bucks for?”

  Hayden tilted his mouth to one side. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Chapter 3

  * * *

  After dinner, Frank and Sonja headed back up to the suite to turn in for the night. They were both exhausted.

  Thankfully, the next morning, all the gibberish from the evening before seemed to have melted away. She didn’t want to think about Savile and Hayden for the rest of the trip. Her plan was to completely ignore them and their business tactics and instead focus on her and Frank for once.

  They had such a difficult time focusing on one another back in Haunted Falls, that it only seemed right they deserved this trip. It was their honeymoon, for crying out loud. This was the beginning of their life together and she didn’t want it overshadowed by rude and shady businessmen.

  Popping out of bed and getting dressed, Sonja and Frank went down for the continental breakfast. Just as Frank had predicted, there were waffles. Sonja ate three of them, feeling hungrier than a horse, all with extra butter and syrup for good measure.

  “I’ve gotta keep up my strength for the hike today,” Sonja told her husband when she caught him staring at her in amusement as she’d started in on the third waffle.

  Frank, on the other hand, had a breakfast steak with eggs and hash browns.

  Finished eating, they headed outside and had the valet get their car. They’d dressed in their hiking attire and packed water, trail mix, and granola bars for the day. Sonja had heard great things about the Alcove National Park—especially about its namesake.

  She’d looked up pictures of the place. The alcove was a hollow area in the rock face of a mountain. At the foot of the mountain was some old ruins. Then, a series of ladders and steep hiking took you up to the alcove itself, where holy men from local tribes used to go for meditation.

  She couldn’t wait to get up there and look out on the valley below.

  The drive out to the park entrance took around forty-five minutes, and Sonja began to wonder if they would have been better off staying in town and looking at shops and museums instead of getting in the car again.

  However, her desire to be outside and in the wild overcame that feeling as they approached the entrance to the park.

  “Hey, Frank. Look. There is a little souvenir shop right here. Let’s stop in before we start our hike,” she suggested.

  “Don’t you usually do the souvenir shopping at the end of the day?”

  “There is no rule saying you have to do it that way.”

  G
ladly humoring her, he pulled into the store’s parking lot. Climbing out of the passenger door, Sonja looked around at the open wilderness around them. On the opposite side of the park, where the shop faced, was open plains. Looking toward the park was a mass of trees, mountains, and plateaus. It was a beauty to behold.

  “Looks like someone had a cookout,” Frank noted, pointing out an ashy, spent fire in the field across the road.

  “Guess so. Let’s go inside,” she motioned for him to follow.

  Stepping inside, the first thing they noticed wasn’t the souvenirs on display, the trinkets in the cases, or the statues. It was the ridiculously long line at the register. “What’s going on? A clearance sale?” Frank joked.

  Sonja looked toward the cashier and saw an older gentleman with a slight belly and a long black braid running down his back. He was shaking his head and apologizing to each customer for the wait. “Sorry, I’m a little short-handed today. My clerk who was supposed to be in this morning never showed up,” she overheard him saying to one lady.

  Thankfully, most people seemed to be understanding of the situation.

  “Did you still want to look around or should we wait until later?” Frank asked, putting his arm around Sonja’s waist. “We might be stuck waiting in line if you wanted to buy anything.”

  “You’re right. We can come back after our hike.”

  Holding onto one another, they turned back toward the door to leave just as someone was coming in, almost barreling right into them. It was Hayden, the lawyer.

  “Excuse me,” he snapped, bumping Sonja and nearly knocking her over as he came into the shop. It seemed like he was on a mission.

  Luckily, Frank caught his wife before she fell. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he whispered through clenched teeth.

  “Abooksigun, we need to talk,” he demanded, pushing his way to the front of the line.

  A symphony of muttered complaints came from the people waiting.

  “Mr. Magnate? What are you doing here?” the sales clerk sputtered out, looking around as if he expected someone else to be there with him. Sonja couldn’t help noticing that the man’s face drained of blood like he feared the lawyer being there.

  Then she remembered. Abook must be short for Abooksigun. That was the name she’d overheard Hayden and his boss discussing the night before. Clearly, this little shop was the place that Savile was trying to buy up to develop—a prime property right outside of the state park.

  Were they intimidating him? Was that the other tactics they were using to get the man to sell? Her mind was running wild with possibility, her natural curiosity taking over. She even wondered if the shop being short-handed was Savile’s doing. Had they paid off the other employees to not come in?

  An inherent sense of justice welled up inside of her and she could feel her hands balling up into fists.

  “Where is Savile?” the lawyer demanded.

  Abook put up both hands as if surrendering. “I-I thought we agreed that I wasn’t going to sell you my land . . . my shop.”

  Hayden shook his head and placed both hands on the glass countertop. “That’s not what I’m here for. This morning, Mr. Denningsworth wasn’t in his hotel room. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in the hotel.”

  Now Abook’s eyes squinted together in confusion. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Shouldn’t you know where he is?”

  “No. That’s why I’m asking you,” Hayden snapped.

  The customers were backing up, all of them clearly uncomfortable with this situation.

  Abook didn’t appear to be in a much better state. His desperate eyes darted all around the room as if looking for help.

  “Come on, Sonj’. Let’s get out of here,” Frank said, wanting to leave before he lost his temper.

  Sonja, on the other hand, couldn’t stand by any longer while this man and his boss took advantage of, and intimidated, innocent people. Letting go of Frank, she stepped forward. “Hey. He said he doesn’t know where your boss is. Maybe you should just leave him alone.”

  “Sonja,” Frank hissed, trying to pull her back.

  Who knew what these men were capable of if you managed to irritate them enough. Sonja knew her husband was thinking about the accusations in the hotel the night before—the ones claiming that Savile and Hayden were murderers.

  “You again?” Hayden snipped, taking his hands off the counter and leaving two big smudges.

  “This guy doesn’t want to sell to you and he doesn’t know where your boss is. So, please, stop making a scene so all these nice people can go back to their shopping.”

  Hayden’s jaw dropped. He wasn’t used to having people talk back to him except for his employer. “What business is it of yours?”

  “I’m here with my husband on our honeymoon, and yet, wherever we go, you and your boss seem to interrupt us. So, it has become my business, as well as the business of the people here in the shop who are just trying to enjoy their day out.”

  Nods and a few vocal agreements came from the line.

  Hayden looked back at all of them, at Sonja, and at Abook—sneering the entire time. “Fine. I’ll leave.” He turned back to Abook. “However, if Mr. Denningsworth doesn’t turn up by this evening, I’ll be coming back with the authorities.”

  With that, he marched out the door.

  Abook sighed, but then put on a smile and looked at Frank and Sonja. “Thank you. I’ll give you fifty percent off your purchase just for getting rid of him—and as a gift to remember your honeymoon, hopefully only the good stuff.”

  Sonja smiled from ear to ear at the shopkeeper.

  Chapter 4

  * * *

  After finding a few nice items at the store—a new mug for Frank, a western cowboy cookbook for Sonja, and an adorable statue of a cat dressed up like a farmer—they checked out and made their way to the state park. After finding parking at the visitor’s center and grabbing a trail map, they quickly started on their way.

  The first part of the hike was along easy trails with only minor ups and downs to them. It went through clearings and in between trees. Holding hands, they walked along quietly, taking in the beautiful peace of nature and its muted sounds.

  It was about five minutes into the hike that Frank finally spoke his mind. “You know, that could have been a bad idea back there.”

  Sonja looked up at her husband, readjusting the sunhat on her head she’d brought from the car. “You mean what I did at the shop?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You really think that man and his employer are dangerous?”

  Frank shrugged. “Honestly, I can’t say. However, if another woman is claiming her husband was murdered by them, or even if he just died because of their interactions, I’d be pretty wary of crossing them.”

  “You don’t think me standing up to that jerk at the shop would make him want to hurt me, do you?”

  Frank scratched the scruff on his chin as he thought. “No. It’s doubtful. Still, those guys rub me the wrong way and I want to steer clear of them as much as possible. Big city businessmen can sometimes be pretty cutthroat.”

  “I lived in New York and worked for a jerk publisher, remember?” Sonja pointed out.

  “Too true,” he smirked with one side of his mouth.

  Sonja sighed blissfully. “You have always worried about me getting into trouble.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, your fire is part of the reason I love you,” he chuckled, glancing at her vibrant red hair flowing from beneath her sun hat.

  “My fire?” She raised one eyebrow at him.

  “You’re spunky. You don’t take people’s crap. You stand up for yourself. All of that makes you who you are.”

  “Thank you,” she said, turning her eyes back to the path in front of them.

  “Sometimes, though, it can get you in trouble.”

  “Like when?” she demanded.

  “Oh, you know, almost every time you’ve tried to help in a murder investigation.”


  She shrugged and threw up one hand. “Hey, I can’t help it. Half the time I have ghosts asking me to help out.”

  “And other ghosts try to have you killed,” he reminded her.

  “Hey, there are good people and bad people, even in the afterlife.”

  “My point is, we’re married now. I’m more attached to you than ever before.” He stopped, pulling her close to him and hugging her. “I just want us to be together as long as possible.”

  “Hey, even if I died you wouldn’t get rid of me,” she joked, thinking about what it might be like to become a ghost herself.

  “You know what I mean,” he said, holding her at arm’s length.

  She smiled up at him and stood on her toes to kiss him on the lips. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. Someone needs to stand up to guys like that.”

  “You’re right, but sometimes it is also smart to stay out of things.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she agreed, continuing down the path.

  She highly doubted her small tiff in the souvenir shop would spark a conspiracy against her. She’d been in much hotter water on past occasions.

  After about a half hour of hiking, they reached the ruined village. Building after building stood connected to one another, all of them built out of stones cemented together with mud. Most of the walls didn’t even come up past Sonja’s waist since they had deteriorated away over hundreds of years. A few others still stood tall, however, with remnants of lofts and storage areas above.

  In any case, it was an impressive sight to walk through.

  Even more impressive, however, was the alcove itself.

  “Oh, wow,” Sonja said in a hushed tone of reverence, craning her neck to look up the steep mountainside. She took in the gaping maw of the alcove far above them—a huge expanse in the rock face.

  Four wooden ladders and a series of skinny stone steps were the only way to make the one-hundred-and-forty-foot climb to the top. Warning signs sat at the entrance to the first ladder, stating that anyone with a heart condition or who was afraid of heights should not attempt the perilous and vertigo-inducing climb.