As soon as they got to the bottom of the stairs they were immediately surrounded by Julia, Brad, Ella, and Olivia, the latter two being Brad’s daughters from his marriage to his first wife who had died from a cocaine overdose. Everyone was talking at once. The dogs were right in the middle, wanting to be acknowledged and petted.
“Wait a minute,” Mike said, trying to bring some type of order to the chaos. “First of all, what time did you get in last night? I never even heard you.”
“We got to the house about midnight,” Julia said. “We were pretty tired, so we went to bed immediately, but the girls were so excited they woke us up early. They want to know when they can go to the barn and if there are any horses in the barn.”
“Ella, Olivia, let me pour myself a cup of coffee, and then I’ll take you out to the barn. You’ve met Rebel and Lady before, but this is Sam. He was my aunt’s dog. And yes, there is one horse, but she’s pretty old. When I used to come here, my aunt had lots of horses, but now there’s just one whose name is Missy. She also used to have goats and chickens and pigs and about any other animal you can name.”
“Mike,” Julia said, “we all want you to know how sorry we are about your aunt. It really is a tragedy, and we’re here to help however we can. She must have been quite a lady if this property is any indication. I could only see a little of it last night, but I’ve been looking out the windows this morning, and it looks like there’s an orchard a little ways from the house. And this house! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that can begin to compare to it. It’s much more beautiful than homes in this architectural style that I’ve seen in San Francisco.”
“Thanks. Kelly and I are really glad you were able to come. It’s comforting to have family around at a time like this.” He turned to Ella and Olivia. “Ready to go to the barn?”
“Yes!” Olivia shouted excitedly. “Can the dogs come with us?”
“Of course. Let’s go.” The six of them walked out the back door and headed for the barn.
“Mom, how’s Mike doing? I hate it when I see circles that dark around someone’s eyes. He looks like he’s in pain.”
“He is.” She told Brad and Julia about the suspects, and that there was a good chance Mike might also be considered a suspect.
“Mom, you told me on the phone that Mike was his aunt’s sole beneficiary. Have you and Mike decided what you’re going to do with this ranch and everything else she owned?”
“No. We’re trying to deal with one thing at a time, and right now the priority is the funeral this afternoon. It’s at two o’clock. Some women from the church are coming to help here at the house and set up for the reception while we’re at the funeral. I guess it’s a custom for everyone who attends the funeral to come to the deceased person’s home afterwards. You won’t believe the food that’s already been brought to the house. I’ve completely filled the refrigerator in the kitchen as well as the one in the garage.”
“When I was getting breakfast for the girls I noticed that the refrigerator seemed really full. Why don’t we set up the dining room table this morning? The church women can deal with the food. They’ve probably had a lot more experience setting it up for a funeral reception than we have.”
“Good idea. Brad, would you mind going to the shack with Mike? We don’t think Gary’s there, but if he is, Mike might be able to use a little help.”
“Happy to do it, Kelly,” the tall muscular young man said. “It will give me a chance to see more of the ranch. You know when I was growing up I used to dream of being a rancher and having a place where I could ride horses and run cattle. This place is a little beyond my dreams, but I’d love to have a chance to look at the property.”
“Brad, you’ve never mentioned this to me. Why did you become a psychologist if you wanted to be a cowboy and have your own ranch?” Julia asked. She was a younger version of her mother with her porcelain white skin, deep green eyes, and jet black hair.
“My parents were city people and anything to do with the outdoors was beyond their comprehension. I was told I would be a psychologist from the time I was a little kid. Eventually I just gave up on the idea of becoming a cowboy.”
“Well, Brad, for the next few days you can play cowboy all you want, although I don’t know if Missy has been ridden in a while. We might even have to rent a horse from a neighbor so you can fulfill your boyhood dream,” Kelly said laughing.
“Won’t be necessary. I’ll be fine just walking the land and looking at the magnificent oak trees that are on the property.”
“I haven’t seen it yet, but evidently Gary is living in a shack on a stream that Aunt Agnes and her husband dammed up and made into a lake so they could have their own source of water. That should be pretty.”
“Looking forward to it. Kelly, I brought a dark business suit to wear to the funeral, but it occurred to me that Mike probably didn’t bring one if he was just coming here to visit his aunt. Do you want me to go into town and see if I can find something for him?”
“Thanks for the offer, but this is a pretty casual little town. Actually, you could probably wear jeans and a shirt and fit right in. Mike and I discussed it last night, and he’s going to wear some slacks he brought, a sport coat, and an open collar shirt. He didn’t bring a tie, but I don’t think one’s expected here. I’m wearing a pantsuit I brought. I wasn’t exactly sure what the dress code would be here in Calico Gold, but I’m finding it’s very casual.”
Just then the back door opened with a bang. “Dad, you won’t believe it. It’s a for real barn with hay and everything. Grandpa Mike let us help him feed Missy, and I even gave her a carrot,” Olivia shouted in excitement.
“I petted her nose,” Ella said, not to be outdone.
“Dad, can we take Sam home with us?” Olivia asked. “He’s going to need a new home, and you promised that someday we could have a dog.”
“Sweetheart, I was talking about a little dog. Don’t forget we live in a condominium and don’t even have a yard. Where would you keep him? Plus, he’s a pretty big dog and being kept indoors all the time wouldn’t be fair to him.”
Tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes. Julia walked over and hugged her. “Sweetheart, let’s enjoy Sam while we’re here. If I know my mom and Mike, I’m sure Sam will be well taken care of. Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll go look at the orchard and see what kind of fruit trees are growing there.”
Placated, Olivia put her hand in Julia’s. “Come on, Ella, let’s go.” The three of them headed out the door on their way to the orchard.
Kelly watched them go and turned to Brad. “Looks like Julia’s adapting well to being a stepmother.”
“Beyond well. As a matter of fact, we were going to call you and tell you that Julia’s going to adopt the girls. I didn’t have anything to do with it. The girls came to me one night and asked if Julia could become their real mother. I can’t believe at their ages, four and six, they’d even think of something like that. I told them it was Julia’s decision. They asked Julia and between her tears, she agreed. We’ve already started the paperwork.”
Kelly walked over to Brad and hugged him. “Oh, Brad, that’s wonderful news. You’ve done a beautiful job raising them, and I’m so glad it’s worked out so well.”
“I’ll be back in a minute, and then I’d like to go to the shack, Brad,” Mike said.
When he returned Kelly said, “Mike, I hope you have your gun. I’d like you to take it with you.”
“Great minds think alike.”
“Mike,” Brad said, “I have a permit to carry a gun, and I usually have one with me because in my profession you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of trying to bring it when we left home, but if you have another one, I wouldn’t mind carrying it.”
“You can take mine, Brad,” Kelly said. “Aunt Agnes had one that I can keep with me.” She opened her purse and handed it to him. He raised an eyebrow inquiringly. “Mike makes me carry one,” Kelly said. “
There have been a few times when I’ve been glad I had it.”
“I think it might be better for Julia if we never had this conversation. The less I know, the less I can tell her. Okay, Mike, let’s go.”
CHAPTER 20
“Mike, how many acres is this property? It seems like it goes for quite a ways,” Brad asked as he and Mike started walking toward the shack.
“I think it’s about one hundred and fifty acres. My great-grandparents bought it around the turn of the century. They owned a couple of gold mines in the area, but when those dried up, they bought this property and began to raise cattle on it. When Aunt Agnes and Uncle Max took it over, they not only had cattle, they had quite a few horses and about every other animal that you’d find on a farm. I remember having fresh eggs for breakfast that my aunt had collected from the henhouse that morning. The two of them were pretty self-sufficient. They had their own water from the dammed up stream, meat from the animals, fruit from the orchards, and fresh produce from those two greenhouses you can see over there. Aunt Agnes had a real green thumb. They always had fresh vegetables and fruit. I suppose it many ways it was an idyllic life.”
“Well, it’s always been my dream to grow my own fruits and vegetables and have a lot of animals,” Brad said. “I feel so much more alive when I’m outside and communing with nature than I do when I’m locked in my cubicle of an office listening to people tell me their problems. Don’t get me wrong, I really care about my patients, but if I had a choice, believe me, my choice would be to spend my life outdoors.”
“I suppose you can take comfort in the fact that you have a successful practice, and you’re good at what you do. Look over there. You can see the stream and the little shack right beside it. That’s where Gary lives.” He told Brad about playing cowboy there when he was a young boy and visiting his aunt and uncle.
“Let’s stop here for a minute. I want to see if we can hear any sounds coming from the shack. I can see Gary’s motorcycle, and I find that a little strange.”
Brad turned towards him. “Why is that strange?”
“Well, my aunt talked about how he rode it in the middle of the night, and it woke her up. I also heard it when I first drove into town night before last. Why it’s strange is that I haven’t heard it once since then. He must not have left the shack since Kelly and I got here. Okay, let’s walk on over to the front of the shack, and I’m going to knock on the door. I don’t see a lock, and I couldn’t find a key. Why don’t you stand behind me? I’d like you to keep your gun drawn, because I really don’t know what to expect.”
They walked through the undergrowth to the cabin, and Mike knocked on the door. There was no sound from within, and no one came to the door. He knocked again, loudly, and said in a loud voice, “Gary, it’s Agnes’ nephew, Mike Reynolds. Please open up.”
Again, there was nothing. He quietly said to Brad, “I’m going in. Keep me covered. Something doesn’t seem right.”
He opened the door and yelled, “Oh no!” Brad was right behind him. They both looked in shock at the man on the floor, lying in a pool of blood, a gun in his hand. “Mike, it looks like he’s committed suicide.”
“Yes, it does. Don’t touch anything. Did you bring a phone?”
“Here,” Brad said, handing it to Mike who called 911 and explained to the dispatcher what they had found. She said the police would be there shortly.
“Brad, I’ve got to call Kelly and tell her what’s happened. She’s going to freak out if police cars come roaring up the lane.” He called her and told her about Gary and asked her to point the police in the direction of the shack.
“Mike, I think you might want to look at this.” Brad said, handing him a piece of paper which Mike quickly scanned.
“It’s a suicide note,” Mike said. “He says he couldn’t take it anymore, and that he was afraid he’d hurt somebody. It says to look at the newspaper article next to the note. It will explain what he’s been going through.” Mike walked over to the table where Brad had found the note and saw the newspaper article. He quickly scanned it and said, “It’s about a man who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Gary must have thought he had the same thing. That would explain the screaming that Aunt Agnes heard coming from here. Poor guy. I feel sorry for him.”
Mike heard voices and recognized one of them as being Chief Robbins’ voice. He walked out of the shack. “Well, Chief, two deaths in the two days since I’ve been here. Not a very good track record, I admit, and we’re still no closer to discovering who killed Aunt Agnes. If it was Gary, we’ll never know.”
“Mike, you know the drill. Tell me everything you can.”
An hour later, the chief said, “Go on back to the house. I imagine you have a few things to do before the service this afternoon. I’m going to copy this note and send it, along with the Judge’s signature, to my friend in Sacramento who’s the handwriting expert.”
“Chief, would you hold off? I think I’ll have another one for you a little later. Might as well send them all in at once.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
“I will later. If you would hold those two for now, I’d appreciate it.”
“No problem. I’ll be at the house after the service. If you have it, I can pick it up then.”
“Thanks,” Mike said, looking at Gary’s body as it was being loaded into the rear of the coroner’s van. “Poor guy. Served his country and then his life ends in this little run-down shack. I can’t help but think he wound up ending his life because our country never adequately took care of the men we sent to Vietnam. Maybe if he’d gotten some proper mental health care for his condition his life would have been different.” He sadly shook his head from side to side, and then he and Brad quietly walked back to the house.
CHAPTER 21
“Mike, did Gary really commit suicide?” Kelly asked when he’d returned to the house and told her the details of what he and Brad had found at the shack.
“Yes. He left a note saying he couldn’t take it anymore, and he was afraid he was going to hurt somebody. The note said the newspaper article that was next to it would explain what he’d been going through. Evidently he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, or at least thought he did. The note didn’t indicate whether it was a self-diagnosis or if he’d actually been diagnosed with that condition by a professional.”
“Interesting that he wrote he was afraid he was going to hurt somebody. What do you make of that?”
“I don’t know. I suppose it’s quite possible he was the one who murdered Aunt Agnes. The note he left indicates he was afraid he was going to hurt somebody. Maybe if he did murder her he was afraid he would do it again. That could have been the motive for his decision to take his own life. We’ll know more after the handwriting analyst examines his writing to see if there’s a match to the letters Aunt Agnes received. If there’s no match from him, but if there is a match with one of the others, that will be interesting information.”
“What’s this about a handwriting analyst?” Kelly asked.
“The chief is going to send a copy of the suicide note and the judge’s handwriting to a friend he has in Sacramento who is with the Department of Justice to see if the handwriting on either one matches the letters that were sent to Aunt Agnes. I told him I was expecting to get one more sample of handwriting I’d like to have analyzed and asked him to hold off sending it to Sacramento until later today. Has John been here yet?”
“Yes. He was here about half an hour ago and left an envelope for you. He asked me to tell you he understands it will be a few days before you can get back to him and respond to his offer to buy the Robertson Ranch. Here it is.” She handed him a large manila envelope.
Mike’s eyes widened as he read the offer John had submitted to buy the ranch. “Wow. This property is worth a whole lot more than I thought. He’s offering me two million for the ranch acreage, plus an additional two million for the Robertson House.”<
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“You’re kidding! If he’s willing to offer you that much, I wonder what the developer will offer for it. That’s a lot of money to turn down. Looks like you’re going to have to make some tough decisions pretty soon.”
“I didn’t expect any of this. I really never thought about who might get the ranch when Aunt Agnes died or what might happen to it. I’m going to do something I learned to do long ago when I was dealing with very difficult cases. When I started out with the Sheriff’s Department, the sheriff told me I should compartmentalize things in my mind. In other words I should do the most obvious thing at that moment and put the other things on hold. In my mind I’ve always referred to it as a ‘NMOT’ which stands for the next most obvious thing. It’s really helped me from getting sidetracked during an investigation and spending a lot of wasted time on less important things. Guess the NMOT now is Aunt Agnes’ funeral. How about making me a little lunch and then we probably better go to the church and get this thing over with?”
“Couldn’t help but overhear that, Mike,” Julia said. “That’s something I’m capable of doing. I’ll make lunch, and we can all go together when we leave for the funeral. Brad rented a van for our drive over from San Francisco, so there’s plenty of room.” A few minutes later she called out, “Lunch is ready, and I’m serving it on the porch. I could use a couple of hands to help me carry everything out there.”
The two young girls ate quickly and asked to be excused so they could go see Missy in the barn. When they were out of earshot, Brad said, “I think we need to say something to the girls about Gary’s death, but I’m just not sure what. I’m afraid they’ll hear something when people come to the house after the funeral. There’s bound to be a lot of talk about it, and I imagine a few people will step outside and try to take a look at the shack.”
Murder in Calico Gold: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Page 8
