by Nora Kane
Chapter 4
Margot met Sheriff Howser halfway as he came up the road to where she was parked. He came with two deputies and what looked like someone from the state patrol. Margot wasn’t sure this fell in their jurisdiction but that really wasn’t her business. She left her purse full of weapons in the car. She figured the odds they’d haul her in and treat her like a suspect were about fifty-fifty.
“Margot Harris?” the big-bearded man asked.
“Yeah, you want some I.D.?”
“You’re a private detective?”
“Yeah.”
“You working for that guy Shaw who I talked to on the phone?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “I don’t need anything right now. You want to tell me what I’m going to find in there?”
“Two bodies.”
“On the phone you made it sound worse than that.”
“It is, but nothing I tell you is going to make it any easier.”
Howser nodded again, forced a smile, and replied, “I suppose you’re right. You want to wait in my car while the boys and I have a look for ourselves? I’m guessing you and I are going to have some things to talk about.”
Margot couldn’t argue with him there. He’d left the door open. When she reached it and paused he said, “Go ahead and sit up front. You’re not under arrest.”
Howser was a lot paler when he returned and took the seat next to her.
“Damn.”
Margot shook her head; he’d pretty much summed it up.
“If you’re wondering, that was Gabe in the bedroom. Hayes is nowhere to be found. I guess you won’t be the only one looking for him now. I won’t be trying to talk anyone out of chasing his ass down this time.”
“You think he could have done it?”
“No, I don’t, but I suppose that doesn’t mean he didn’t. I know it sounds like bullshit because he hit that psychopath he was dumb enough to marry and jumped bail, but he isn’t the type.”
“You know, even psychopaths don’t deserve to get beaten up.”
Howser nodded. “I know, I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to go to jail over it. I’m just saying…whatever happened in there? That ain’t the Evan Hayes I know.”
“Fair enough.”
“I guess we’re lucky the mudroom door was busted. They could have been there for days, weeks even.”
“The killer didn’t kick it in?”
“Nope. Well, if they did, Gabe made it easy for them. He was bringing in firewood and his truck rolled into the door when he didn’t set the brake. He’d left it propped up like that for the last six months.”
“Somehow after seeing that I don’t feel all that lucky.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Are you still going to look for Hayes?”
“I think I’m going to leave it to you guys.”
“He was scared of something, you know.”
“Prison is a scary place.”
“Not that. Hell, he’d done that before. Not hard time, just a few weeks over some drug shit, but it wasn’t some country club either. He knew what he was looking at and just because he wasn’t prone to violence, doesn’t mean he couldn’t handle himself. It was something else.”
“Like what?”
“He wouldn’t say, but it terrified him. I did all I could to talk him into turning himself in and honestly, I was surprised I couldn’t. Evan makes some bad decisions, especially when he’s high or drunk, but he isn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have skipped if something hadn’t spooked him good.”
“Do you think it was him who jumped through the back window?”
“I hope so, otherwise we’ve got to figure him to be the killer.”
“Who was the girl?”
“Penelope Marshall, Gabe’s recently divorced on-and-off girlfriend. The state guys are already on the way to pick up her ex-husband, though I’d be more shocked if it were him than I would be if it were Evan. Word I got is he threw her out and couldn’t have been happier about it. He already found himself another woman. If we found him dead, I’d put my money on her but not the other way around.”
“Is that her Jeep?”
“No, she drives a truck. Gabe has the Jeep. I’d guess she rode up here with him.”
“Does Gabe own a truck too? Or a motorcycle?”
“Yeah, he has a truck, uses it for work,” Howser said as he looked out his window. “It's not here. How’d you know?”
“I drove by last night.”
“You were thinking of snatching Evan last night?”
“I was, but I thought better of it. It looked like he had guests.”
“The motorcycle.”
“Yeah, there was a motorcycle.”
“Makes sense; they had four chairs around the table, beer cans in front of all four. Someone else was there.”
“Someone they knew. Gabe have a friend with a bike?”
“Sure, what kind of bike was it?”
“I didn’t get that close, but it was a big cruiser, probably American-made.”
“A Harley?”
“Most likely, but like I said, I didn’t get that close.”
“Huh.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t think of anyone who rides a Harley that Evan would have over for cards. Dirt bike or one of those Japanese crotch rockets, sure, but not a big cruiser. Did you see anything else?”
“Sorry.”
“It’s something. It may have taken me two days to figure out the truck was missing. Do you think Evan took it?”
“I have no idea. He could be in the woods for all I know.”
“That’s where the tracks lead. If he went too deep in there, he’s probably lost. He’s always been a city boy.”
Margot, being a city person herself, didn’t know what to say to that.
“Even though we’ll be looking for him in connection to this mess,” Howser continued, “will they still want him back west?”
“Sure, a court date is a court date.”
“Then you’re still technically on the job?”
“Technically, sure.”
“Could you do me an odd favor?”
“If it is stop looking for your cousin…”
“No. It’s the opposite. I want you to keep looking for him.”
“Why? You guys can do it better than me.”
“Can we? I looked up Shaw after he and I spoke, which means I looked you up too.”
“Yeah?” Margot said, thinking of the many things that might be out there about her. Many things that weren’t very flattering. It wasn’t long ago a YouTube true crime show had accused her of being a cartel assassin.
“You’re good at this shit, better than me, I’d wager.”
“I don’t know about that but…”
“But nothing. I’m not done asking favors, by the way,” Howser added.
“I haven’t even said yes to the first one.”
“But I think you’re going to. Tracking people down might not be my thing, but reading people is.”
“A good skill to have in law enforcement.”
“Certainly is. Which is why I feel comfortable asking this.”
“Asking what?”
“I want you to bring him in alive. I want to know what he’s scared of.”
“You look at me and think I’d do that?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Just a feeling about the kind of person you are. You like to do the right thing and more importantly, you don’t like to leave loose ends and Evan Hayes just became a loose end. Am I wrong?”
“Yeah, you’re not even close.”
“So, are you going to do it?”
“What part of ‘not even close’ did you miss?”
“That’s not really saying no.”
After a beat, Margot said, “Oh well, Shaw booked the hotel for two nights in case this got complicated, which it certainly did. If it’s okay with him, I’ll stay another day and see
what I can do but after that, you’re on your own.”
“I knew it.”
“You do know the only lead I had was your cousin Gabe? Don’t get your hopes up. Shaw may say no anyway.”
“No, he won’t.”
“You read him too?”
“Yep.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Howser shrugged and then said, “I don’t suppose you want a dog? She’s a lab pit mix, really good dog.”
“Gabe’s?”
“Yeah, I’d take her, but my wife thinks we already have too many dogs.”
“I’m going to pass.”
“You sure? You look like a dog person.”
“Who told you you’re good at reading people?”
Chapter 5
“You should stay. I could even get you an extra night.”
“Really?” Margot replied.
Shaw had genuinely surprised her. She figured he’d be glad to save the money since Bob couldn’t really be upset if Margot couldn’t bring him back because he was a person of interest in a double homicide. If she’d known Shaw was going to do this, she might have told Howser no.
“Yeah, why not?”
“I’ve got that insurance thing…”
“I can handle it or it can wait. A couple of days won’t make a difference. Besides, that shit can be boring.”
“Boring can be good.”
“Yeah, but it can be bad too. It doesn’t always engage the mind.”
“And this will? I’ve got nothing.”
“Then you get a couple of days in the mountains on me.”
“I’m not looking for a vacation.”
“Then find this guy.”
Margot knew Shaw well enough to know she wasn’t going to win. “Okay, I’ll try, but I’m not guaranteeing anything, and I don’t want to step on any toes. Howser actually seems like a decent guy.”
“Not every sheriff’s deputy is a corrupt hitman for the cartel.”
“Yeah, I know. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I just know I can piss off the police sometimes.”
“You don’t have any history with these guys like you do here. Just stay out of their way and keep them in the loop if you find something and you’ll be fine.”
“Okay, though I still think you’re wasting your money leaving me here.”
“It’s my money to waste.”
“Okay, if I’m still working this, what do you think he saw in county jail that got him spooked? Howser was pretty sure he was scared of something other than just going to jail.”
“What makes you think it happened in county?”
“I read the arrest report on the plane. He more or less turned himself in. I’m sure he wasn’t happy with the prospect of doing time, but he wasn’t willing to make it worse running since he could have done it before they arrested him instead of after. Hell, we both know that when it comes to domestic abuse, no one would even have gone looking for him. No one’s flying out to Colorado, for damn sure. He must have gotten on the wrong side of somebody before he made bail.”
“Someone he would never see again, most likely.”
“Yeah, but it looks like he didn’t believe it and now we’ve got two dead bodies in the house he was staying in. If you’d seen the way they were hacked up you’d think he had a right to be scared.”
“Unless he hacked them up himself.”
“Then it doesn’t matter, but until we know differently, it might be nice to know what made Hayes decide it was worth it to run.”
“You’ve got a point. I can reach out to some people and see if something happened we don’t know about. You think that will help you find him?”
“No, but it can’t hurt.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do. You be careful out there.”
“I will. See you soon.”
Margot considered calling Radcliff but talking to him these days was hard for some reason. She thought about where to go for lunch. Even though, after seeing the scene at Gabe’s, nothing except a few stiff drinks was sounding good.
As she considered this, she remembered something. Howser said Gabe used the truck for work and the truck that had passed the house before she found the bodies had a sign on the side saying G & G Landscaping and Snow Removal. Surely more than one person around here used a truck for work, but it still seemed worth a try. She called Howser.
“What was Gabe's business? You said his truck was for work.”
“Just basic labor. They called themselves landscapers, but they’d do just about anything that didn’t require a lot of expertise.”
“They?”
“Yeah, he had a partner, Gene Reynolds.”
“They call it G & G Landscaping and Snow Removal?”
“How’d you know?”
“The truck passed the house this morning before I went in.”
“Gabe’s or Gene’s?”
“I don’t know.”
“Gabe has the Ford, Gene the Toyota.”
“I still wouldn’t know.”
“You’re obviously not from around here.”
“No kidding. All I can tell you is, it looked like the truck I saw in the driveway the night before. It was dark though and I really wasn’t worried about what was parked in the driveway as much as I was thinking about how many people it meant were in the house.”
“Fair enough. I’ve been looking for Gene anyway. Only he’s not home and he’s not answering his phone. It’s a concern because if Gabe was having a poker game, odds are Gene would have been there. I’m afraid the body in the woods might be his.”
“Body in the woods?”
“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot you wouldn’t know. Shortly after you left, one of my deputies found him. I guess someone should have called you.”
“Don’t worry about it, if I were you, I wouldn’t make keeping some out of town private eye in the loop my top priority. Should I be packing my stuff and heading for the airport?”
