“How is it that you knew Nick needed a refill, but you have to ask me?” I tried to act miffed.
“I happened to be walking by and heard the ice clinking in his glass.”
That made perfect sense. And what timing.
“Sure,” I said, just to give her a hard time.
She grasped me by the shoulder and gave a little shake before she left the room.
“Gotta love that woman.” Nick took another long swig.
“Dude, slow down with that, or you are going to have a heart attack.”
“I’ve got this case, three others, and Mimi and I have a date tonight. I need all the energy I can get.” He chugged a bit more.
“Rayna said they were selling everything off to help pay for Bucky’s campaign. But from the looks of it, Bucky has plenty of money.” I typed for a bit longer. “Okay, here it is. He also has a shitload of debt.”
“What’s a shitload?”
I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “Holy schnickeys, I thought Rayna said she wouldn’t let Bucky take a second mortgage on that property?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I was investigating a body with a head that was bashed in.” Nick leaned over to see what I’d found. “I guess she lied.”
“Or he did it without telling her.” I fished a little more.
“How is that even possible if both of their names are on the property?”
“Forgery?” I pointed to the documents. “Hold on.”
It took me a few minutes to find something with Rayna’s signature on it, but when I did, I was able to prove that the signature on the mortgage papers wasn’t Rayna’s. Bucky had forged Rayna’s signature, and basically bet everything they had, including the farm, on his political career. What if he’d lost? How were they going to get that money back?
Then it dawned on me. Mojo. Somehow this whole Mojo thing was a scam. How and why I didn’t know, but Bucky had figured out how to sell the horse, and use the money to pay off the second mortgage. I’d work that one out in my mind. But for now, I wanted to know who killed the S.O.B.
“This points us straight back to Rayna,” I said. “This was the ultimate betrayal.”
“Not so sure it’s a reason to kill someone.” Nick stood, and walked to the door and back. “What about life insurance policies?”
He was one jump ahead of me. I was going there next. I looked through everything I could find in his paperwork, through his IP address, then in his files at City Hall, and found nothing.
“I don’t see anything for him. He has mortality insurance on all of his horses. Mojo is insured for half a million, and the other horses in the barn are insured for anywhere from five grand to fifty grand, but nothing on him or Rayna.” I thought this was strange, especially since they traveled so much, and they participated in a dangerous sport.
“They rodeo, so maybe there’s insurance built into their memberships with the rodeo associations.”
“There’s a thought. I’ll have to check with Cortnie on that. If she doesn’t know, we can ask Rayna or Skinner.” Or we could call the association. I think it’s called the PRCA, Pro Rodeo Cowboy’s Association.
“The problem here is that I can’t have any of this information, so I’ll have to pretend I don’t know any of this for the time being. I’ll get with Gabe and see that we get the affidavit signed, and go back to the Cox place with a warrant. Then we’ll be able to get all of this information on the up and up. Thanks for the heads up. It gives me some solid leads to follow, and at least some direction, or more directions.” He walked back to the door. “I have a headache.”
I stood. I figured I’d walk out to the car with him. “I’m going to go on that test drive with Max tonight.”
“You should. But aren’t you worried that he knows so much? I mean, not about the dealership, but about you?” Nick stopped at the back door to the house.
“What’s to know? I worked for, and now own, the Gotcha Detective Agency. Before that, I was in the military and the Naval Postgraduate School.” I stood tall and proud, smiling like a schoolboy.
“You and I both know that’s not all there is to it. And Max knows, too. He looked you up, Charles. He said as much. And there’s no way he’d have shared the information he did if he didn’t trust you implicitly.” He opened the door and walked down the stairs off the back porch.
“It’s my charm.”
“Barf.” Nick laughed.
“Blow me.”
“You wish.” He never looked back.
“I do.” I couldn’t lie.
Once he was at his car, he turned around, “Be careful. Use your background to check him out. I know you want to like him for who you think he is, and start on the right foot, but he looked into you. He looked deep, Charles. Look deep into him, too.”
He got in his Crown Vic and drove away.
He’d totally ruined my excitement about seeing Max that night.
Chapter 9
MIMI
Tracking down Skinner’s wife wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. I stopped by their place, expecting Skinner to live on a farm, same as Bucky. No, Skinner, and his wife, Naomi, lived in town. I wondered if they had horses anymore.
I thought about what Skinner had said. He traded livestock, so he had to have property somewhere. He had to have horses if he was still roping, or what did he care about that stupid saddle for? I pulled the business card from my purse and looked at the address. San Juan Bautista, California. Great, I really had no desire to drive to San Juan Bautista. The memories that drive up toward San Juan Bautista, and general area off Highway 101 still made my heart hurt.
I was a big girl. Besides, I wouldn’t have to drive past the fruit stand;I wouldn’t be going that far. It had been a long time since the shooting, and most of the buildings that had been there at the time no longer existed. Even so, I bet I could drive right by where the old fruit stand used to be and not even know I’d driven by. Oh, bullshit, who was I kidding? If I had to, I would have found an alternate route.
I got back in the car after no one answered the door, and drove to the livestock yard in San Juan Bautista. On the drive there, I tried my best to keep my mind from going back. I had no desire to relive the bullet whizzing past my head, the dead body in front of me that I thought was my husband, and the conversations with the FBI. The tension in my body from the drive had worked its way into my neck and shoulders, and by the time I got out of the car, I had a massive headache.
I stood and stretched, and rolled my head around, then rolled my shoulders. I took in the sights of the metal pipe corrals, and noticed they were made of the same pipe as the one that was used to kill Bucky. Coincidence? But then it was the same pipe being used out at Bucky’s place for some of the paddocks. Though I did remember that most of Bucky’s place was wood fencing.
I walked up to the office, which was a metal building, like you see barns made of, but this one had windows and doors. I figured there were offices on one side, and maybe a workshop on the other.
I entered the office side and saw there was one desk, and a plump woman of about fifty sat behind it. A mountain of paperwork on one side, and a flat screen computer on the other, the desk looked like the person working might need an assistant.
When she looked up, I saw green eyes that had lost their sparkle. Her skin was smooth, except around her eyes, where the crows feet had dug in. I guessed it was from years of smiling, but she didn’t really look happy. Her mousy brown hair was streaked with gray, and her fat cheeks folded into the flesh of her neck.
Without interest, she said, “What do you need?”
“I’m looking for Skinner Mathis.”
This seemed to irritate her, and she snapped, “He’s not in today.”
I knew this, but it was an opening, of sorts. “Oh, well, then, do you know where I’d be able to find his wife, Naomi?”
“Who are you?” Her face reddened.
Ah, this was Naomi.
“Naomi, I’m Mimi
Capurro. I’m working with your husband, Skinner…”
She stood, nearly knocking over the stack of papers as she did. “I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but we aren’t buying any. Didn’t you see the no soliciting sign when you came in?” She reached down with her right hand.
I remembered what Skinner had said about her shooting skills, and was glad I’d remembered to put my 9mm in my waistband. I reached behind me as I spoke.
“Naomi, before you do anything stupid, hear me out.” I had my gun in my hand now, and my finger ready to flip the safety.
“We ain’t buying.” But her hand came up, away from whatever she’d been reaching for.
I relaxed. I told her about Skinner coming to see me at the agency, about us taking the case, and she relaxed, but just a bit.
I’ll be honest: I’d expected a woman more like Rayna, lithe and athletic. Someone with the ability to ride a horse, a rodeo queen. I’m not sure why. But Naomi stood in front of me in Wranglers and a white T-shirt, a big woman, thick, but not fat, even though her neck and cheeks made her look bigger than she really was. Naomi looked like a cowgirl, a working cowgirl.
“Why would he spend money on a private detective? We’re so far in the red, we’re nearly bled dry.” She came out from behind the desk. “Do you know where he is?”
Oh, boy, did I know where he was! Well, I didn’t really know where he was, but I knew where he wasn’t, and that was at work. He wasn’t where he said he needed to get to in such a hurry earlier today.
“I just know that he was at Bucky Cox’s place earlier. He was talking about buying a horse.”
I saw tears roll down Naomi’s cheeks as she shook her head. “That damn horse. Poor Mojo. I should never have sold him to begin with.”
And the other shoe falls.
“Excuse me?”
“I never thought he’d end up with Rayna.” She rubbed her arms, going over the gooseflesh that had popped up. “I’d already lost my husband to Rayna, and then to lose the love of my life to her, too, it’s almost too much.” She came around the front of the desk and leaned against it.
“Is there some place where we can sit and talk?” This was getting better and better.
Naomi led me through another set of doors, and there was a well-appointed break room, decorated much like the office at Pam’s barn. The walls were light pine paneling, with a cement floor that had been stained hunter green, and stamped with a repeat molding. The furniture was plush chocolate brown with ropes, spurs, and other horse stuff on it. Naomi pointed to the chair, and she sat on the couch.
“Look, I don’t really like to talk about this, but Skinner has always been in love with Rayna. I was his second choice. I know that, and I’ve learned to live with it. I love that man with all my heart, and I can accept being second. Mojo was also the love of my life. He was the horse of a lifetime. I qualified for the NFR on him two times.” She scanned her body. “I was smaller then.”
I wasn’t judging. Not really.
“Five years ago, I got sick. I don’t want to go into the details, but Skinner and I thought I’d never ride again. I didn't think it was fair to Mojo, who loved his job, to never run barrels again, so I sold him to Pam Brown. She was up and coming, and it wasn’t about the money. She promised she’d never let him go without first right of refusal. So when she sold him to the Cox’s, she kept part ownership, in case there was ever a chance I wanted to buy him back. Anyway, with the lawsuit and the liquidation, all that changed.
“So you see, it’s all a mess. And then Bucky tried to screw Skinner over with that trailer deal. No matter how hard Skinner tries to get out from under Raynaand Bucky, they seem to drag him back. It’s either Rayna or Bucky, but one of them always wants him back. They can’t just leave us be.” She started picking at her fingernails.
“So you know about Skinner, Rayna, and Bucky?”
“What’s to know? That Rayna married the wrong man, and she regrets it? That she hates my guts because I got her man? Sure, I know that. That Skinner was in love with her, and he probably still is? I know that, too, but he married me, so Bucky and Rayna will just have to suck it.”
She didn’t know. “Naomi, Bucky’s dead.”
Naomi’s skin turned gray. If she hadn’t been sitting down already, I’d have thought she was going to faint. Hell, she still might faint.
“That’s not even funny.”
“Someone bashed his head in.” I explained how he was getting Mojo ready for the auction, and that there’d been many visitors at the ranch that morning, but no one had seen anything, or at least no one had come forward as of yet.
She tried to stand up, but was having trouble getting up from the couch. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
She didn’t even like the man, and it wasn’t as if she’d witnessed the killing, so I wondered why she was so upset.
She got up and hustled over to the sink in the break room. She retched, but it was just a dry heave. This happened a couple of more times, then she turned on the water, grabbed a cup from the sideboard, and poured herself a full glass. After gulping it down, she said, “Please tell me that Skinner was with you when Bucky was killed.”
That was a weird thing to say, but now I understood why she was upset. “I can’t be sure. The police are investigating. I know when Skinner was in our offices, but I don’t know what time Bucky was attacked.”
She leaned against the counter and drank more water. “No, that’s a stupid question. Skinner would’ve killed him years ago. And not only that, he’d be smarter than that about it, right? He wouldn’t kill him right there by the arena.”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about you and Skinner, and how you were getting along.”
She pushed off the counter.“How we’re getting along? What’s that got to do with anything?”
Duh, do I always have to explain the obvious to everyone? “I thought maybe you knew Skinner was having an affair with Rayna. I wondered if you might have killed Bucky, and whether you might go back and kill Rayna, too,” I wanted to say. But I didn’t know that to be true, and that would be so mean.
Instead, I said, “I don’t know exactly what Skinner’s state of mind was when he left our office. He did mention that there was going to be a horse auction, and that he thought Bucky was screwing over some woman named Pam. He didn’t mention that you used to own the horse. I find it strange that he left that out, but then again, he left out several other facts, too, so I was hoping you might fill me in. And so far, you have filled me in on some things. Would you like me to ask point blank questions?”
A little snotty, she said, “Yes.”
Fine. “Was your husband sleeping with Rayna?”
“I don’t think so.” Her voice caught mid-sentence.
“Can you be more specific?”
“No.” The tone made it clear that this line of questioning was finished.
“Did he have any gripes with Bucky?”
“Other than the loan Bucky took out with Skinner’s credit, and having Skinner arrested for stealing a saddle that was ours, no.” She wasn’t so snotty about this question.
“Do you know anything about the contract Bucky had with Pam for Mojo?”
“I just know that I was about fit to be tied when I found out Pam sold my horse to those people, of all people. The contract had a non-disclosure agreement. At least that’s what Pam said. But it’s all got to be public now that the thing went to court, right?” She seemed to know more than she was saying.
I’d have to look into the court papers on this, if Cortnie hadn’t already.
“Have you heard from Skinner this afternoon?” I wasn’t sure if this question was going to send her flying into a rage or not.
Her face turned bright red, but she remained calm. “He called in sick today. He’s never called in sick for work in our entire marriage. And then you say he was at your office this morning. Something’s up, because he’s not answering my calls to his
cell phone, either. I figured he was sleeping, but apparently he’s not.”
“Why don’t you go home and check on him?” It was an obvious question.
“We have a load of calves coming in sometime today or tonight. I can’t leave until they get here and are unloaded. And it looks like I’ll be unloading them myself.” Now she looked pissed. “He’s really going to be sick when I get a hold of him.”
I stood. I didn’t know what else I was going to find out from Naomi. “I’m sorry to have bothered and upset you.”
She walked to the door of the break room with me. “It would have happened eventually. I just can’t believe Bucky’s dead. And Skinner knows?”
“Yes. Rayna told him.”
“Damn him. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me.” She shoved her hands deep in her pockets. “He and I need to have a long talk.”
As I got back in the car, my cell phone rang. It was Cortnie.
“You are never going to guess what happens to that horse if Bucky dies.”
Chapter 10
CHARLES
When I heard the double honk from the driveway, I hated Max within seconds. Really, did the man have no couth? He couldn’t even be bothered to get out of the damn car, walk to the front door, and knock. I sure as hell wasn’t some dog that would come calling at the sound of a horn honking, that’s for sure.
I was curious, though, so I went to the living room, and peeked through the drapes. My breath stopped at that very moment, and I forgot all about Max, because there in my very own driveway sat a 1955 Porsche Super Speedster. My mouth went dry, and my palms began to sweat. I barely noticed that no one was sitting in the driver’s seat, and my heartbeat was so loud in my ears that I didn’t hear the knocking at the front door.
When the knocking became pounding, I came to my senses. It didn’t matter if Max had been standing at the front door completely naked with a bottle of Maker’s Mark in his hand, I couldn’t have been more impressed by him than I was by that car in my driveway.
Electile Dysfunction (Gotcha Detective Agency Mystery Book 6) Page 10
