by Tara Meyers
“We have a deep well,” Shane answered matter-of-factly.
“Ember, Shane’s been read his rights and is under arrest,” Walker interrupted. “This isn’t the time to be interrogating him. He doesn’t have to say anything.”
“There’s nothing for him to say,” Nathan said flatly. “It’s easy enough to figure out. As soon as I got to his house, his wife told me wasn’t there. Again. In fact, she immediately started lecturing me about all the supposed overtime I’d recently stuck him with and that she was concerned it was negatively impacting his mental health.
“You know,” Nathan continued, looking at Shane, “I’d noticed your behavior changing the past six months or so, but I’d assumed you were having problems at home. The aggression, mood swings, social withdrawal…even the hair loss. It all makes sense now.”
“I remember you were the guy that set me up as Kurt Donaldson’s guide,” Ernie added. “You been coming up here with him all along? Is there really gold out here?” he added, asking Ember. “’Cause I’m finding that hard to believe.”
“Not gold,” Ember answered. “Platinum. Placer platinum, and they were using mercury to process it.”
“Amalgamation?” Ernie guffawed. “You’d have to be either an idiot or desperate to use such a method. Maybe both.”
Shane sneered at the older man. “It’s been used for hundreds of years because it works! We knew what we were doing.”
“Shane, you have mercury poisoning,” Nathan said quietly, his anger deflated. “You’ve been dumping it in Parker Creek, and…you killed a man.”
“That wasn’t my fault!” Shane yelled, the whites of his eyes showing.
“Shane,” Walker cautioned. “You might want to shut up now. Let’s get you back to the station.”
“No!” Shane wailed, trying to backpedal away from the sheriff. “I know what I’m saying. I’ve got nothing to hide! When I first met Kurt, he was a nice enough guy. It was a few months after his survey that I came across his camp. That whole situation with the deal falling through had really gotten under my skin, so I spent some time out walking the intended cut. Anyway, it was obvious what he was up to, given his equipment and set up. We…came to an understanding. I would look the other way, and he would compensate me for it. We got some radios so he could let me know when he was in the area. I would occasionally bring him some supplies. That was it!” he spat at Nathan, his eyes wild. “In a couple of years, I was able to put away fifty thousand into a savings account. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s nearly a year’s salary. It would help when I retired.”
“It was an illegal mining operation,” Nathan snapped. “And it resulted in a man’s death.”
“It was just an innocent little dig,” Shane countered. “We weren’t hurting anyone. But then Kurt started acting strange. He began coming out to the site more often, but half the time he wouldn’t even let me know he was there. I started to suspect he was holding out on me, that he was doing more out there than we’d agreed to. I was worried.
“One afternoon this past March, I found him in his tent, talking to himself. When I questioned him, he went off on me, yelling about government conspiracies and other nonsense. I told him then that I was shutting him down. That was it. Pack up his crap and don’t come back. I thought that was the end of it.”
“But he was already half out of his mind by then,” Ember offered.
“Yes!” Shane confirmed. “Exactly! The guy was nuts. But only half as crazy as the night I found him, three months later. That’s when he pulled the gun on me. He shouldn’t have pulled the gun.”
“You’d already taken over the mining operation by then. Right?”
Everyone turned to look at Mel in surprise. She shrugged and spread her hands. “Only makes sense. Shane thought the guy was out of the picture, so why not keep going and pocket all the profit?”
“I was only going to finish the one deposit he’d been working on,” Shane admitted. “When I went out to tear it down, there it was. I could double my money and then get rid of everything.”
“But Kurt came back and wasn’t too happy when he found out.” Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to be bracing himself for the rest of the story.
“He was out of his mind. As soon as I walked into the tent, he turned the gun on me without even asking for an explanation. It didn’t have to happen,” Shane whispered, looking at each of them in turn, begging to be believed. “He didn’t give me a choice. We fought over the gun and…it, it went off.” His hands shaking, Shane raised them to cover his face. Loud sobs racked his body, and he didn’t resist when Walker began leading him back toward where the helicopter was waiting.
“This all began a few months after I started my job here,” Nathan said as the rest of them watched the two men walk away.
“There’s no way you could have known,” Ember replied. Looking at him, she was worried that Nathan would blame himself.
“He was my responsibility. I thought his anger toward me was because I was hired and brought in as a supervisor from another state. So when his aggression and mood got worse, I assumed it was all connected to that. I should have dug deeper.”
“Perhaps you’re thinking too highly of your ability to govern another man.”
Nathan turned slowly to face Ernest Tucker, eyebrow raised. “How’s that?”
“I can understand your perspective, son, but keep in mind that there’s a point where we become powerless to influence the actions of another. Shane Cooper made his own decisions, as did Kurt Donaldson. Now, some of those actions may or may not have been happening under your watch, but that doesn’t mean you were responsible for it. Regret and guilt are a powerful motivator for blame, but it doesn’t negate the accountability of one’s choices.”
The old white-haired mountain man tipped his hat before turning away, and without another word, he disappeared into the thick woods.
TWENTY-FOUR
A disco ball spun overhead, casting a dizzying display of lights over the mulling, costumed crowd under it.
Ember stood awkwardly to the side, sipping at a drink Mel had given her. It was a blood-red concoction bubbling over with steam from the dry ice dropped in it. Mel had promptly leaped out onto the dance floor, where she was still dancing with random people.
Laughing at her friend’s antics, Ember wished she could be that free-spirited at times. Throughout high school, she’d been the consummate wallflower at any dances she was brave enough to attend. Even though Mel insisted she was the “hottest woman there,” Ember was fighting the urge to go put a sweatshirt on.
“Excuse me.”
Nearly spitting her drink out, Ember turned to find Nathan standing behind her. He was dressed in a very flattering Batman costume, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Mel had something to do with it.
“I heard there was a fire goddess in the room, and you appear to be the brightest flame.”
Trying hard not to giggle, Ember had to force herself not to shyly look away from his piercing gaze. Even with a mask on, he was captivating. She hadn’t heard from him since they’d parted ways the day before. While she knew he’d been busy with reports and then the agent that morning, she was afraid he was upset with her. And she couldn’t blame him.
“Shane is at a hospital in Great Pines,” Nathan offered without being asked. “I’m still not sure what he’s going to be charged with. It will probably take some time before it’s determined how influenced he was by the mercury poisoning and, even then, how much he can be held accountable for. There’s a lot of confusion over what happened that night in the tent. After all of this, we might never know the truth.”
The truth. Ember marveled at how many layers had to be pulled away to get to it. And she was learning that often times, it was objective. It all depended on how you were involved in a situation and your perception of events.
“Good news is that the EPA doesn’t seem to be concerned about the reservoir,” Nathan continued.
; “Oh, that’s great!” Ember replied. “How did they figure that out?”
“They’ll be testing everything to make sure but based on the stuff left behind at the mining site, and what Shane said, they figure it was isolated.” Nathan adjusted his mask so he could take a sip of his drink. “I guess he was slowly releasing the mercury into the water while actively mining during those few months, but after he killed Kurt he panicked and started dumping it all as he finished with each barrel.”
Although she was relieved that everything had been resolved, Ember’s only concern at the moment was her relationship with Nathan. Were they okay?
Before she could say anything, a mic squeal made everyone cover their ears and turn toward the front of the room.
“Sorry!” Becky called out, waving a microphone over her horse head. In spite of her complaints from before, she’d been happily prancing around the party in her costume, playing up the horse role. “Now that I have your attention, I’m going to turn the evening over to the one and only, Mayor Elly Gomez!”
Mayor Gomez stepped forward amidst the applause. As promised, she was wearing a very normal skirt and silk jacket. The hoots died down as she turned to thank Becky before addressing the large crowd. “Thank you all for coming here tonight and showing your support! On behalf of the Sanctuary Animal Shelter, its founder, Becky Stratton, and the city council of Sanctuary, I welcome you to the fifth annual animal shelter fundraiser!” More applause followed, and the mayor let it play out before speaking again. “I’m happy to announce that we have already raised nearly ten thousand dollars, and I have just been informed that Mr. Colton Parker has made a very generous offer to match whatever is donated tonight! Mr. Parker, where are you? Come up here!”
Ember watched in surprise as Colton Parker, dressed as a Saint Bernard rescue dog, made his way to the platform. Hamming it up, he leaped to the stage and poured the mayor a drink from the small container around his neck before taking the mic. “Good evening! We Parkers tend to get a rough rap, but I’m hoping you’ll believe me when I say I’m happy to contribute to such a good cause. And…” he continued dramatically, looking around the room before turning to Mayor Gomez, “I’d like to take this opportunity to announce that the Parker Reservoir Agreement will be renewed.”
The room erupted with fresh applause, and Mayor Gomez impulsively hugged Colton, spilling her drink on his back. Laughing, he refilled her glass, and she motioned for the DJ to start playing the music again.
It was a slow song, and Ember turned hopefully to Nathan. He was already reaching for her, and taking an elbow, he guided her toward the dance floor. Daenerys had been sitting good-naturedly at Ember’s feet, but as they moved, she veered off toward Mel, who was grazing at the snack table.
Placing a warm hand at the small of her back, Nathan pulled her in close. Ember closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his shoulder. No matter where they were, he had a way of making her feel like they were the only two people that existed.
“Ember,” he said softly into her hair.
Leaning back, she looked up at him, concerned again that things may have changed between them.
“I don’t blame you for going out there yesterday. I’m not going to lecture you about it. I just wish you felt I was there for you. That you knew nothing was more important to me than our…friendship and what I hope is something more.”
A sensation Ember hadn’t experienced before welled up in her chest to warm her cheeks and push all rational thought from her for a moment. Blinking rapidly, she attempted to take a deep breath and clear her head.
“Honestly, Nathan, I told myself I wasn’t calling you because I didn’t want to put you in that situation. Where you would have to choose, yet again, between me and the loyalty to your job. But maybe…maybe it’s because I’m not used to having someone “there.” I mean, other than my mom. But that was different.” Blushing, Ember tried again. “I feel the same way, Nathan. You mean more to me too than any of that stuff, and so I guess in my messed-up way, that’s why I didn’t want to involve you.”
Laughing, Nathan nodded in understanding, obviously relieved. “I get it. But in the future, try to remember that trust is an important part of a relationship. It’s easy to rely on someone when things are good. It’s when it gets tough that it’s tempting to shut them out. Don’t shut me out, Ember.”
Mesmerized by his voice, Ember found herself leaning in, wanting to stay in that moment forever. But the music had stopped, and as Daenerys leaped up to try and get in on the dance, Ember realized they were only two left on the dance floor.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Sure that her face matched the color of her outfit, Ember stepped back from Nathan’s embrace and saw that Sheriff Walker was standing close by. He was grinning.
“Not at all, Sheriff,” Nathan quipped. “Did you want to dance?”
“Funny, Ranger Sparks,” Walker retorted. “I’m on duty.”
While he was in uniform, Ember noticed his typical cowboy hat had been replaced with a black Stetson. It was a small gesture, but it at least showed he made an attempt to join in.
“I just got off the phone with Kurt Donaldson’s parents,” Walker said, becoming more serious. “They asked me to extend their thanks to both of you. The cremation was postponed, Ember, and Tim is testing for the mercury, although there isn’t much question about it now. If it does turn out to be officially ruled a homicide, I guess Donaldson had a substantial life insurance policy that might pay out. His mom wanted to let you know, Nathan, that they’ll be donating the bulk of it to the parks’ services to help with any cleanup that’s needed.”
“Sheriff!” Mel called out, bouncing up to the group. “Where’s your mask?” she joked, pointing at his black hat.
“I’m on duty,” he mumbled, not giving any further explanation.
“Sure. Hey, where’s Cody? I thought I saw him earlier.”
Rolling his eyes, Sheriff Walker turned and abruptly stomped away, leaving a snorting Mel.
“What is the deal with you and his son?” Nathan asked.
Spreading her arms wide, black tail looped over her wrist and eyes white behind her mask, Mel backed away on her tiptoes, her back arched in a perfect portrayal of a cat. Without a word, she spun around and ran off, Daenerys trailing behind her. Prancing and shaking her head, the dog was still trying to free herself of the cursed cat ears.
Tears threatening at the same time that she laughed, Ember cherished the moment. Even more so now that she understood the tragic events that brought Daenerys into her life. It turned out her dog really was Kurt Donaldson’s alibi to his own murder, and she was the Shappa missing from Ember’s life. Like the little girl that had run laughing and dancing through the halls of her grandfather’s house, the same love had been brought to her.
Her own Red Thunder.
THE END
Have you read book one in The Secrets of Sanctuary Cozy Mysteries?
You Can Lead a Horse to Murder
If you enjoyed Man’s Best Alibi be sure to
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tara Meyers resides in the beautiful state of Washington. When she isn’t writing, she’s out hiking in the rugged Cascade Mountains, or enjoying life with her two amazing kids and several dogs! If you were entertained by this story, you might also like the novels she’s written under the pen name of Tara Ellis.
Amazon author page for Tara Meyers
Amazon author page for Tara Ellis
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