Sinking Suspicions (Sadie Walela Mystery)

by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe

  O ga je li ja gv wi yu hi

  O ga li ga li na hna gwu ye hno

  Jo gi lv hwi sda ne di yi

  Chapter 22

  Lance stopped at Sadie's mailbox and retrieved her mail before continuing up the lane to her house. He parked behind her Explorer, got out, and whistled for Sonny. There was no sign of the wolf-dog. Joe, her paint stallion, whinnied and began to walk toward the barn. “At least I'm not invisible to the horse,” he muttered. He met Joe at the gate and stroked his neck. “Don't worry, big fellow, she'll be home soon.” Joe nickered and walked away.

  Lance let himself into Sadie's house through the kitchen door and dropped her mail on the table. He pulled out his cell phone, punched in the code for his voice mail, and listened. Sadie's voice caused his heart to jump. He looked at his watch. She was already in the air and on her way home. He popped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. Why was she calling him from an unfamiliar number? He would be glad when she got home and everything got back to normal—if that was possible. He opened her freezer and pulled out a piece of venison and dropped it by the back porch. Maybe he could lure Sonny back home with food. If not, Sadie was going to be one unhappy lady when she got here.

  He left Sadie's house and returned home to Liberty, where he tried to get a good night's rest. Unfortunately, his mind wouldn't cooperate. After a few restless hours he cleaned up, downed a greasy breakfast of Spam and eggs, and then climbed back into his truck and headed for the Tulsa airport to pick up Sadie.

  The mind-numbing drive up the Muskogee Turnpike invited an endless circle of thoughts. Sadie had been gone only four days, but it seemed like a month. Even after she'd protested, he'd promised to check on her house and animals while she was gone. Not necessary, she'd said, everything would be fine for only five days. But his macho, overprotective genes had kicked in and he'd gone anyway. What had that accomplished? Now he was caught up in the middle of a mess.

  An old man was missing, accused of murdering an identity thief who had turned out to also be a jealous lover who, right before being murdered himself, had “gutted a man like a chicken.” The killer had sneaked away undetected and escaped in a truck registered in the name of either the missing man or the identity thief, and it was hard to know which, since they were both using the same name. After crashing headlong into a very sturdy tree, the killer had escaped into the woods without a trace, which meant the culprit was either very savvy or incredibly lucky.

  Charlie had already pinned the second murder on Sadie's missing neighbor. Losing one's beloved land to the IRS was motive enough, according to Charlie, but it didn't ring true to Lance.

  Lance didn't know much about Buck, and he hadn't had time to read all the letters he'd found in the abandoned house on Buck's property, but the few he had read reflected a brave man who loved his family and the men he'd fought alongside, a man of character who had learned at a young age about life and death up close. While it was true that Buck had all the skills he needed to kill someone and escape without detection, and while no one knows what drives folks off the edge enough to commit murder, Lance just didn't believe Buck was a murderer. That thought led to another question—if he wasn't the murderer, then who was? And where was Buck? Either dead or dying somewhere in the oppressive Oklahoma heat, he supposed.

  Lance winced at the thought and then switched to thinking about Sadie and her new adventure of becoming a travel agent. He wished she would settle down and get a regular job. Being a travel agent didn't meet his definition of “regular.” Sadie meant everything to him. She'd burrowed under his skin and into his heart in a way he'd sworn he'd never let anyone do again, and now that he was willing to make a commitment to her, all these red flags kept popping up in his mind. Whose keys did he find at her house? Who had sent the e-mail? Why did she keep calling on someone else's phone? The news reports had said everything was back to normal after the earthquake, and he guessed the folks in that part of the world were used to having earthquakes all the time anyway. It couldn't have been that big of a deal. Lance squirmed in his seat as he drove through the turnpike tollgate near the edge of Tulsa. He hadn't been able to have a decent conversation with her since she left and that irritated him. Maybe he needed to back off.

  Lance turned into the Tulsa airport and looked at his watch—12:33 p.m. If her flight was on time, she should be ready to go. He didn't want to have to go to the trouble of finding a place to park in the parking garage, so he followed the circular drive marked for arrivals and drove slowly, searching through the glass walls for the baggage claim area. He quickly pulled next to the curb, jumped out, and flashed his badge to a nearby security officer. “I'll just be a minute,” he said, and disappeared through the sliding glass doors.

  Sadie smoothed her long hair with her hands and secured it at the nape of her neck with a beaded barrette, and then checked her reflection in the mirror of the tiny restroom of the plane. She looked terrible. What little makeup she'd applied that morning had disappeared hours earlier, and the dark circles under her eyes looked as if she'd been on a week-long drinking binge. She hoped Lance wouldn't notice. She couldn't wait to see him, smother him in kisses, and tell him all about her trip.

  She returned to her seat and watched the trees and houses on the ground grow larger. What was she going to say, as a travel agent, when folks wanted to know how bad the flight was between Tulsa and Hawai‘i? She couldn't say “awful,” which was her present opinion. How would she sell any vacations to Hawai‘i with that attitude? She'd have to come up with something that didn't sound quite so bad yet wasn't a blatant lie either. Maybe she could just say something like, “You can sleep on the plane. It'll be worth it.” She hoped she could quickly get a handle on her new career.

  The plane touched down and taxied to the gate while she and everyone else on the flight quickly grabbed their belongings and impatiently waited their turn to disembark. Excitement grew inside her as she hurried up the Jetway and into the Tulsa airport. As she pulled her carry-on down the long corridor and then rode the escalator to the baggage claim, she searched for Lance, but couldn't see him anywhere. She parked her bag by the rumbling carousel and checked her watch. Where was he? What if he never got her message?

  She slowly exhaled as she continued to scan the crowd and watch for her checked bag at the same time. Her bag slid down the chute and wedged itself against another black bag. She smiled and thought of Lance when she saw the silver duct tape on the handle. Just as she hoisted the bag over the lip of the carousel, Lance appeared out of nowhere and grabbed it out of her hands.

  “Come on,” he said. “I'm parked in a no-parking zone.”

  Before she could say anything, he turned his back and carried her bag out the door. Sadie quickly followed him out onto the sidewalk as the automatic door slid shut behind them. Lance shook hands with the airport security guard standing next to his truck and deposited Sadie's bag into the bed of the truck. What was wrong with him? He wasn't even glad to see her, she thought. Blinking back tears, Sadie opened the passenger door and pushed her things onto the seat, climbed in, and slammed the door. It was going to be a long ride home to Eucha.

  Chapter 23

  By the time Lance turned his truck off the highway and was heading up the lane to Sadie's house, the tension between them had grown into a green monster. Finally, Sadie spoke angrily.

  “You act like you're not even happy to see me, Lance. What's the deal?”

  “Sadie, why didn't you return my phone calls? I'm here doing the best I can and you are off having a good time with who-knows-who and won't even take the time to call.”

  “Good grief, Lance. We had an earthquake. My phone was destroyed, which didn't really matter because all the phone systems were down. Nobody could call until later in the day, and then I did call you from Pua's phone. Besides that, I sent Maggie an e-mail. Didn't she tell you?”

  “Who exactly is the guy who sent that e-mail, anyway?”

  Sadie frowned. “The ‘guy’ was a ten
-year-old boy.” Her eyes grew wide. “You're jealous, aren't you? You know, I asked you to go with me and you wouldn't have any part of it, and now you're jealous because I talked to a ten-year-old kid? Give me a break.” She gathered her things to make an easy exit from the truck. “Sometimes you act like a pompous, male-chauvinist pig.” She quietly swallowed her angry sobs.

  As soon as the truck rolled to a stop next to the house, Sadie pushed her way out of the truck. Her carry-on hit the ground behind her. Lance got out and retrieved her other bag from the bed of the truck and deposited it on her porch.

  “I don't know what is wrong with you,” she said, wiping a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. “I'm gone for four days and you go bananas. I don't know who you are anymore.”

  Lance dug into his pocket and pitched the keys he'd found into the air toward her, letting them fall next to her feet. “Here, maybe this guy will be glad to see you.”

  Sonny trotted from the barn into the yard and began to dance around Sadie and bark.

  “I can't believe this,” Lance mumbled as he shoved his hat down on his head, got back into his truck, thrust the transmission in reverse, and almost hit a tree before tearing off.

  When Lance reached the road, he let the truck roll to a stop while he tried to collect his thoughts, then he spit out the open window of the vehicle as if trying to get rid of a bad taste in his mouth. Why did she make him so crazy? He couldn't remember another person in his whole entire life that affected him the way she did. How could he love her one minute and loathe her the next? It didn't seem natural.

  He shifted in his seat and then turned left onto the road. Maybe Charlie would have some new information on the investigation into the double murder. That was another thing he could blame on Sadie. He wouldn't be in the middle of this investigation if he hadn't been roped into looking for her neighbor—a neighbor that was probably out chasing horses, or women, or both.

  As he drove past Buck's house, Lance noticed two vehicles parked in the yard. One he'd seen earlier—the black Caddie that belonged to Buck's niece—was parked beside the house. The other, an unmistakable rental car, sat behind it. Maybe someone had brought Buck home, he thought.

  Lance slowly brought his truck to a stop, backed up, and pulled off the road next to Buck's mailbox just as a middle-aged man dressed in a brown suit and carrying a briefcase emerged from the house. Buck's niece followed him onto the porch. She wore an outfit similar to the one she'd had on the last time Lance had seen her—skimpy. The brown suit man put his hand on the woman's shoulder. She smiled, and he got into his vehicle and drove off.

  Lance's lawman curiosity took over. He got out of his truck and approached the woman. He stood in the yard, keeping what he deemed to be a safe distance from her.

  “Say,” he said, “haven't heard from your uncle, have you?”

  Her smile felt phony to Lance. “Why, no, Mr. Smith,” she said. “Have you?”

  Lance shook his head. “No, I was just driving by and noticed you had a visitor. I thought maybe you had some news about your uncle.”

  “No, but if you'd like to come in we could sure talk about that.”

  “I'd better not.” Lance tipped his hat. “But you'll be sure and give someone a call if you hear something, right?”

  She smiled, crossed her arms, and leaned against the porch railing. “Yes, of course,” she said.

  After Sadie watched Lance drive off, she dropped her purse and hugged Sonny while he licked her face with enormous, wet canine kisses. After sufficient welcoming had taken place, Sonny ran to the edge of the porch and began to chomp on a hunk of venison Sadie assumed Lance had dropped there earlier. She smiled. At least the dog was glad to see her. She gathered her things and went inside.

  She sat down at the table and shuffled through her mail. Then she stared at some unknown blank place in her brain and sulked. How could everything be wonderful one minute and a complete disaster the next? Her body ached with exhaustion, but her mind churned angrily. How could he question her like that? She got up, walked over to the kitchen window, and looked toward her uncle and aunt's house. She wished they were home so she could ride over and spill her worries to them. They were rock steady, and she could always count on them for support, no matter what. But she knew they wouldn't be home for another three or four days.

  She decided to get out of the house and breathe in the countryside, take Joe and Sonny and check on her uncle and aunt's house. By the time she had changed into a pair of worn jeans and an old tee shirt, and pulled on her favorite and most comfortable boots, she felt better.

  As she walked from the house to the barn, she saw the keys that Lance had thrown at her on the ground. She picked them up and turned them over in her hand. She couldn't remember seeing them before and had no idea how they had come to be in her yard, and she didn't have a clue who owned them. She shoved them into her pocket and then made her way to her horse.

  Joe snuffled a soft greeting as Sadie placed her cheek next to his. There was nothing like the love and the smell of a horse, she thought. Joe nuzzled her shoulder as she ran her hand down his neck and over his back. She patted his rump and headed for the barn to retrieve his saddle. It was good to be home, she thought, even if Lance was being a jerk.

  With Joe saddled and ready to go, she climbed on his back and whistled. Sonny came running and the three headed into the pasture. After making sure everything was secure next door, Sadie guided Joe back into the woods toward the creek to the special place where she had played as a youngster. Two crows called to one another and three young squirrels scampered up and around a huge red oak tree, bouncing from limb to limb. The repetitive sound of Joe's hooves on the ground calmed her soul. She felt alive on his back, aware of his muscular body as it moved beneath her. Her horse, her wolf-dog, and the land came together and reenergized her like nothing else in the world possibly could.

  Once they arrived at the crystal clear pool, she slid off Joe's back and let his reins fall to the ground. She walked to the pool's edge, dipped her hand in the cool water and splashed her face, and then sat on a patch of grass in the shade of a huge sycamore tree to think.

  She stretched out her leg, pulled the keys from her pocket, and looked at them. Who did they belong to? Where had they come from? And how did they come to be near her back porch? The key fob looked like a faded U.S. Marine insignia, but Lance was the only Marine she could think of. Now that she thought about it, how would she even know whether someone was a Marine or not? Nothing made any sense.

  Sonny waded through the creek and nosed around the other side of the pool, then lapped at the water. A gray squirrel caught his attention and he stood motionless, watching the animal scampering first up and then down the tree as if it couldn't make up its mind which way to go. The squirrel disappeared and Sonny appeared bored as he plopped down in the shade beside the pool and panted. His eyes landed on Sadie, and suddenly his ears perked up and he barked. He jumped up and ran straight to her. He sniffed at the keys in her hand, grabbed them from her, and ran into the nearby meadow. Then he stopped, turned around, and looked at Sadie.

  “What's with you, Sonny?” Sadie said, irritated. “Bring those keys back to me.”

  The wolf-dog dropped the keys and barked, then sat on his haunches and stared anxiously at her. After a few seconds, he turned and ran a short distance into the meadow, then stopped and looked at her again.

  Sadie walked to where Sonny had dropped the keys and picked them up. Suddenly, an image flashed in her mind and she remembered where she'd seen the keys before.

  “Oh, no!” She ran to Joe and grabbed his reins, stuck her boot into his stirrup, and mounted. The stallion snorted as she squeezed him with her knees and reined him toward Sonny.

  “Let's go, Joe.” Then she yelled to the wolf-dog, “Go find him, Sonny! Go find Buck!”

  Sonny jumped and barked with excitement and then took off running with tremendous speed, with Joe and Sadie following closely behind. When Sonny sli
thered through the fence that separated Sadie's property from Buck's, Sadie nudged Joe with her boots and the horse easily cleared the wire. Sonny led them through a valley, past an abandoned house and along the bottom of a ridge. All of a sudden, he stopped, looked down, and barked. Confused, Sadie rode up beside Sonny. “Where is he, Sonny?” Then she saw it—a sinkhole. She slid off Joe and fell first on her knees and then onto her belly, peering down into the darkness at a lifeless body.

  “Buck?” she called out as Sonny stood beside her and barked. “Can you hear me? It's Sadie. Are you okay?”

  Buck slowly raised his head. “It's about time,” he growled. “Get me out of here.”

  “Okay, hold on.” Sadie's mind raced. How was she going to get this old man out of his predicament? She ran to Joe and returned with a soft rope, one she always kept attached to his saddle. Carefully, she fashioned a loop at one end. “I'm going to lower a rope for you, Buck. Put it under your arms and hold on. Joe will have you out of there in no time.”

  Buck shook his head. “I don't think so…I'm pretty weak and I've got a bum knee. Can't stand up.”

  Sadie secured one end of the rope to Joe's saddle horn and returned to the hole to drop the loop in for Buck. She knelt on the ground again to guide the rope close to him.

  “Can you reach it?” she shouted into the darkness.

  Nothing.

  “Buck? Can you put the rope around your chest, under your arms?”

  Silence.

  “Buck. Talk to me, Buck. Can you hear me?”

  A frog bellowed from far below and fear shot through Sadie's heart. After all this time, was she too late?

  “Hang on, Buck,” she yelled. “I'm going for help. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

  She dropped the rope on the ground in case she needed it when she returned, and then rode hard and fast back the way she had come.