Friends looked after each other here in Buttercup, Tobias had told me. I thought of Serafine, locked in a small room with six years of Texas Monthly back issues, and the seething Aimee beside me. I hoped I'd be able to keep both of them from a bad ending.
Unless Aimee told me what was really going on, though, I didn't much like my chances.
* * *
I stopped by the Buttercup Veterinary Clinic after I dropped Aimee off at the Honeyed Moon winery; I knew Tobias was there because his truck was out front. The office was empty, but the door was unlocked. I knocked and let myself in.
"Hello!" I called out.
"Lucy? Come on back!" Tobias called. I walked down the small hallway to the lab area in the back of the clinic, where Tobias was washing up.
"How's the oryx?" I asked.
"Doing okay so far," he said. "No sign of infection, which is good; I stitched her up pretty well. She may limp, but she'll be okay."
"Will the hunters pay to kill a limping oryx?" I asked.
He grimaced as he dried his hands. "I know. I take care of livestock I know is destined for dinner plates all the time, but there's something really off-putting about killing an animal just so you can show off its horns. I've never been a fan of canned hunts."
"Speaking of the game ranch, I don't know if you've heard, but they arrested Serafine today."
Tobias looked genuinely startled. "What?"
"We went to visit her down at the jail," I said. "I got her a good criminal attorney."
"With Rooster in charge, she'll need it. What I can't figure out is, what motive would they have? Other than the game ranch, that is. I wouldn't think that would be enough."
"I asked Aimee about what she was doing at the Whartons' ranch, but she wouldn't say a word about it. And there was some strange look between them... they know something they're not telling me."
"Well, if you were right about seeing Aimee's car, we can be pretty sure the two of them were seeing each other."
"Do you think there was more to it than that?"
"Well, if they were planning to get married and Mitch was in line to inherit the ranch, it certainly would be a motivation."
"Maybe," I said. "To be honest, I'm kind of surprised Rooster didn't arrest Peter."
"He's a hippie, but he's not a Wiccan," Tobias pointed out.
"Do you really think that's why he arrested her?"
"I'd like to think it wasn't a factor, but you know Rooster," he said. "On a more cheerful note, I have to go check on the oryx. Wanna come with me?"
"I'd love to."
"I named her Stella," he told me as he pushed open the door at the back of the clinic to the little barn area where he kept large animals.
"Stella?" I asked as we stepped outside. I followed him to the stall where Stella lay. She wasn't exactly perky, but she sure looked better than she had when we found her. Her flank was covered with bandages, and she didn't look to be in any hurry to get up.
"I've got her pretty sedated right now. As for the name, see the little star birthmark on her flank?"
"Awww... so cute!" I said. "She seems very sweet."
"She is," he said. "It kills me that I'm fixing her up so someone can shoot her. Sometimes I think I should have gone into practice in a city, where I dealt with pets."
"I'm glad you didn't," I said, wrapping my arms around him and leaning my head on his shoulder. "And I know you can't control what happens to them, but I'm glad you're here to take care of them."
He squeezed me back. "I'm just going to check her dressings, and then I'll be done. Then maybe we can go grab something to eat."
"Sounds like a plan," I said, "Except I need to get on the well thing."
"Well, maybe we can visit Lenny together," he said. "See if we can chivvy him along a bit."
"Thanks," I said. "I need all the help I can get. And then I'm going to see what I can find out about Bug Wharton."
* * *
A half hour later, we both turned up at Lenny's place, a dilapidated little bungalow a few blocks off the Town Square. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there; we were greeted at the door by his wife.
"He went to Houston for the day," she said. "Sorry. " Before we could ask when he’d be back, her phone rang. "Gotta run… I’ll tell him you stopped by. "
"Thanks," I said, but without high hopes. "Now what?" I asked Tobias as we walked back to the truck.
"Let's call Peter," Tobias suggested. "See if we can at least get your stock tanks filled."
I called, but there was no answer. I left a message; nobody was home today, it seemed. I slid my phone back into my pocket and turned to Tobias. "Now what?"
"Let's go get enchiladas," he suggested. "My treat, since you fed me dinner last night... and besides, the odds are you're going to be drilling a new well soon."
"I'll take you up on it," I said. We hopped into the truck for the short ride to Rosita's, and ten minutes later we were ensconced in a big booth with giant glasses of iced tea.
I had just placed my order—chicken chipotle enchiladas, which were hotter than heck and my absolute favorite—when Ed Zapp walked by the table and hailed my companion.
"Thanks for coming out to help with that steer last week," he said. "Sorry to call so late, but it looked like an emergency."
"You made the right call," Tobias said. "That's what I'm here for. Have you met Lucy?"
"We have," he said, and we shook hands. "We've met a couple of times, but we haven't had time to chat. You bought your grandmother's farm, right? The one belonged to the Vogels?"
"That's right," I confirmed.
"I hear you moved the old Ulrich house over there."
News traveled fast in Buttercup. "I did."
"Well, good luck with it," he said. "It's been haunted since I can remember."
"What kind of haunting?"
"Oh, the usual. Noises and such. And my wife, Ginny, swears she saw a lady in the upstairs window one time, but I ain't never seen nothin'. Still," he said, "some places kind of give me the heebie-jeebies, and that house is one of 'em. We went in once when we were kids on a lark, and whatever was in there put up such a racket we hightailed it out of there and never went back."
"Great," I said, feeling deflated.
"She's not had the best week," Tobias explained. "Her well went dry, she's discovered the house is supposed to be haunted, and now one of her friends was arrested."
"Over what happened to Bug Wharton? I heard," he said. "But I think Rooster ought to do a little more diggin'."
"Do you?" I asked.
"Where'd all his money come from? That's what I want to know. That property he bought was top dollar—and he paid in cash."
"Could it be family money?" I asked.
"I knew his family growing up," he said. "They were dirt poor. Could barely make it through winter some years."
"I heard he was in high tech," I said. "Maybe a start-up?"
"I heard somethin' about that, too, but here's the thing: Most of those folks crow all the time about how brilliant they are, about how much money they made when they sold. The Whartons don't say much of anything. Or didn't," he corrected himself.
"So, he never said who he worked for?" That should be easy enough to find out, I thought.
"Not a peep."
"Any idea if he had any feuds with anyone?" I asked.
"Well, the whole town saw what happened with that new witch lady. And that hippie farmer Peter Swenson was picketing his place just the other day with a bunch of crazy Austinites."
Not what I was hoping to hear. I was sure it was on Rooster's radar, too. "Anyone else?" I prodded.
"I did hear something the other day, now that you mention it," he told me. "Some Houston lady came to town, stayed a few days. I heard there was somethin' of a kerfuffle."
"About what?" Tobias asked.
"I don't know, but she called one of the deputies over to the ranch."
"Why?"
"Domestic incident," he said. "That's
all I know."
Tobias and I exchanged looks. "And no idea who she was?" I asked.
He shook his head and pulled a tin of Skoal out of his back pocket. "Nope. Any road, I gotta head out. Nice seein' you, and good luck untangling the mess out at the Whartons' ranch. Oh—and you better make sure your livestock's locked up at night."
"Why?"
"Word on the street is, there's something nasty on the loose.
10
"A mountain lion?" Tobias asked.
"Chupacabra, more like. George Skalicky claims he saw it down by the creek the other day, but I don't buy it. I'd say there's a mountain lion hangin' round."
"Whatever it is, it got one of the oryxes at the Safari Exotic Game Ranch," Tobias said. "I was guessing mountain lion, too."
"Two people claim they saw some kind of ugly, wolflike thing. Personally, I say it's one of those coyote-wolf mixes. Either that, or overactive imaginations."
"There have been coyotes through here, but I've not heard of any coywolves in the area," Tobias said. Some folks had talked about coyote/wolf hybrids moving into Texas; they were much bigger than coyotes and more dangerous, according to some reports. I hoped he was wrong; one mountain lion was bad enough, but a pack of coywolves would make me very nervous. "I'll keep an ear out, though, and let my clients know to keep a close eye on their animals."
Ed nodded. "Let me know what you find out. In the meantime, I've got to head back to the ranch. Good to see y'all." He shook hands with Tobias, tipped an imaginary hat to me, then took a pinch of snuff and tucked it into the pocket of his cheek as he headed toward the door.
As he left, our waitress returned with our order. My mouth watered as she set down a plate smothered in enchiladas with spicy red sauce, refried beans, and rice.
I thanked the waitress and picked up my fork, suddenly starving. "Did you hear anything about a visitor from Houston?" I asked as I cut into the first enchilada.
"No, but I'm curious about that domestic incident. That might be something to look in to."
"I know absolutely nothing about their personal lives," I said, glancing around at the other diners and dropping my voice.
"Something tells me there's more there than we know about."
"I'm going to ask Opal about the domestic incident," I decided. "I'm going to check online to see if I can figure out where their money came from, too. Maybe there's some professional connection, some kind of bad blood, we don't know about."
"Even if there were, that wouldn't necessarily explain what happened to Bug," Tobias said. "It's not like he was murdered in Topeka. If anyone came to visit from out of town, we'd know about it."
"The woman from Houston was here, and nobody knew about it. And if someone tampered with the EpiPen, they didn't need to be there when he died."
"But if you're right, someone put bees in the truck, which means they had to be in town."
"There were a few folks from outside of Buttercup at the Witches' Ball," I pointed out. "Besides, it's possible that someone parked, put the bees in the truck, and took off."
Tobias took a bite of his enchilada, looking thoughtful. "Did Serafine know he was allergic to bees?"
"I don't know who knew. I never heard anything about it; then again, I wasn't exactly close with the Whartons."
"Aimee seems to have been," Tobias said.
"She's not admitting to it, though."
"If it means keeping her sister out of jail, she might change her mind," he pointed out.
I sighed. "Maybe I'll have her over to dinner and see if I can find anything else out. Although after this plate of enchiladas, I may not be hungry again for a week."
He laughed. "They are pretty filling," he said.
"And I don't have to use water jugs to wash the plates," I said with a rueful smile.
"Next stop: fire department," Tobias said.
I raised my iced tea glass. "Sounds like a plan."
* * *
The fire department wasn't much; it was a basic brick building with a giant garage door. Grass was sprouting up through cracks in the pavement outside, and there were a couple of pumper trucks parked in the back corner. "I hear y'all are having well trouble," Ethan Schenk said when Tobias and I pulled up into the parking lot.
"It ran dry a few days ago," I said, "and I can't get anybody out to drill yet. Lenny Froehlich thinks I need a new well, but there's no dowser around, and evidently, that's a prerequisite."
"Peter mentioned you were having trouble. Is it drilled, or dug?"
"I think it's drilled," I told him.
"Well, we can't fill the well, but if you've got stock tanks, we could fill 'em up for you," he offered. "You won't be able to drink it, but you can keep your crops and livestock watered."
"That would be a lifesaver," I said, relieved. "How much would it be?"
"I'll talk to Peter and we'll work something out. It's not free, but it's not too expensive, either."
"That would be amazing," I said. "How soon do you think you can come out?"
"Would tomorrow be too late?" he asked.
"I can make it till tomorrow," I said. "Thank you so much. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Just make sure we can get to the tank," he said. "Why don't you give me your number and I'll let you know when I've got an amount and a time?"
I reeled off my number and he added it to his phone. "I should know by tonight," he said.
"Thanks a million. And if you know of any dowsers in the area, I'd love to talk to them."
"I don't, offhand, but I'll ask around." He hesitated. "By the way, I hear Aimee asked for your help."
"She did," I said. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Well, I was one of the ones called out to the Safari Exotic Game Ranch the other night," he said. "First responder."
"During the domestic incident?" I asked.
He nodded. "I hope Rooster's looking in to that woman from Houston as a possible suspect. She was pretty hot. She went after him with a cattle prod."
"A cattle prod?" Tobias asked. "Like an electric one?"
He nodded. "She got him twice. And once... well, I won't tell you where."
Tobias and I winced.
"Did they arrest her?"
"Bug didn't press charges." He shrugged. "Probably didn't want to testify that she'd zapped him in the family jewels."
"I guess I can understand that," Tobias said, still looking pained.
Who was she?" I asked.
"Her name was Evelyn," he said. "She wasn't very happy with Bug."
"Why?"
"I don't know," he said. "I got the feelin' they were dating, but she thought he was seein' someone else."
"Oh?"
"Well, she called him a 'two-timing son of a...'" Ethan trailed off, turning pink. "You know."
"I can imagine," I said. "So, her name was Evelyn."
"Yes," he said. "She drove a big white Lexus. I didn't catch her last name, but I'm sure Rooster knows it."
If he did, I thought, he certainly wasn't going to share it with me. Fortunately, he wasn't the only person in the sheriff's office.
"Sounds like a suspect for sure," Tobias said.
"Somehow, I doubt she's on Rooster's radar, though," I pointed out.
"We don't always get the best and brightest out in the country," Ethan agreed. "Anyhow, I thought I'd pass it on, for what it's worth. I hope you can clear Serafine's name."
"I didn't know you knew each other."
He colored. "We went out once or twice. She's so sweet and kind... I just don't believe she has it in her to kill anyone."
Frankly, I didn't either. I was pretty sure Rooster was taking the easy way out.
"I'll see what I can find out," I said. "Thanks again for your help with the water."
"Anytime," he said. "This drought is a killer. Fire risk has us all on edge. We've had three calls this week already."
"I've been a bit nervous, too," I said. "It doesn't take much." I lived in a wood house, and things wer
e tinder-dry right now. I'd seen a house in Buttercup go up in flames before; it happened fast, and it was terrifying to think about.
"No, it doesn't. There's a burn ban on, but at least two of these Houston hobby farmers have decided to burn brush in the last few weeks."
I shuddered. "It could be Bastrop all over again." Bastrop was in the heart of Texas's famous Lost Pines; the town had been devastated a few years back by massive, drought-fueled fires. Although the trees were starting to come back, long stretches of US Hwy 71 still looked like a moonscape.
"We don't have the pines, but we've got plenty of cedars," Ethan said. "This used to be a fire-regulated system—the oaks are made to withstand ground fires, and the cedars would go up in smoke—but there's a lot of overgrowth now. An out-of-control fire would be a major disaster."
"Let's hope it doesn't happen, then," I said with a shiver.
"Just keep the bushes and trees cut back from the house," he said. "Make a clear zone if you can."
"I'd love to, but I can't bring myself to cut down my shade trees."
"Well, then, keep it all watered."
"I will, once I get a well that works."
"That's right," he said. "Well, we'll get your stock tanks filled up, at least. But you might want to get on the well. And if recent weather is any indicator, you might want to drill extra deep."
"No kidding," I said. Things seemed to be getting hotter and dryer the last few years. I loved Buttercup, but the weather made me nervous.
Tobias checked his watch. "I hate to run, but I've got to get back to work," he said.
I smiled at Ethan. "Thanks for your help. I hope to see you tomorrow!"
"Be careful of fire," he warned again. "And do what you can about Serafine."
"I will," I promised. "And let me know if you hear anything else."
* * *
Opal's Chevy wasn't parked outside the sheriff's office when I drove past, so I didn't bother going in. I hated to think of Serafine being locked up in there—I mean, how many Texas Monthly magazines can you read in a sitting?—and made a mental note to drop by with a few cozy mysteries the next day. Although I hoped she'd be out on bail—or, preferably, with all charges dropped—soon.
Deadly Brew: A Dewberry Farm Mystery Page 9
