“And for the record, neither of us keep cash at home,” Eleanor added. “We don’t even keep cash in the bank.”
“Nope,” I agreed. “We pay our bills with our money.”
“Like honest people who make an honest living.”
“Did you kill Faith?” I asked.
“No, you know that!” Darrell spat.
“I can’t say we’re even getting the whole story here.”
“You didn’t even know the money was hidden in the SUV all along.” Eleanor chuckled. “You could have made it easier if you’d searched the SUV when Faith quit showing up for work.”
“You know, you’re right. What do you think is going to happen to us?” Darrell asked.
“You or Skye?” I asked. “She’s on probation and I can’t imagine she’s leaving anytime soon.”
Eleanor nodded. “Her probation will be revoked, most likely.”
Darrell face palmed his head. “I wish Angelo had never told me that.”
“Just because he told you his father kept money at home hardly gives you permission to take it from him -- unless Angelo was part of your scheme.”
“He didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“We’re off, Peterson,” I said. “I hope you’ll let us know Darrell’s real name when you find out.”
“I can do that right now -- Earle Richards. He spent time in prison for fraud in cases very similar to this one, without the dead body. At this point he looks good for murdering Wilber and Faith.”
“And it’s up to you to get a confession,” I said. “I don’t envy you.”
Chapter 20
Eleanor knocked on the motel room door. Callie frowned when she opened the door, but she motioned us inside.
Angelo walked out of the bathroom, a towel draped over his shoulder.
“What now?”
“We have a few questions and we’ll leave. I promise,” I said.
Angelo shook his head in anger pelting us with drops of water from his wet hair.
“Let them talk,” Callie said as she plopped down on the bed.
“Did your father keep a large sum of cash at his house?” I asked.
“I don’t know if I’d consider it a large sum,” Callie said. “He didn’t trust his money in the bank. Never did.”
Angelo’s eyes widened. “Does this have to do anything with his murder?”
“Yes and no. Darrell, or I should say Earle, told us you told him your father kept money in the house,” I said.
“Said you were worried that he’d given the money to your mother,” Eleanor added.
Callie shot Angelo a look. “Really? I can’t imagine that would ever happen.”
Angelo’s eyes widened. “She was trying to get close to him.”
“We’ve already established that both your father and mother were getting closer of their own free will,” I said. “I believe money was stolen from Wilber’s house. We found cash in the vehicle that delivered groceries to him. Then Faith went missing around the same time, and someone murdered her at your father’s house and hid her body in a metal barrel hidden near the shed.”
“Nobody realized the money was hidden in the SUV the entire time,” Eleanor added.
“Did Faith steal our father’s money?” Angelo asked.
“I believe so, but that still doesn’t explain who killed your father or why.”
“He must have found out his money was missing,” Callie offered. “He’d be quite angry about that.”
“Do you think Wilber killed Faith, Agnes?” Eleanor asked. “It makes sense.”
“No. I think someone else did it. He was acting strange. And there was the bloodstain on his carpet.”
“That would do it for me, but I’d have called the police,” Eleanor said.
“And say what? Wilber was a suspect in a string of missing hitchhikers,” I said. “He’s since been ruled out as a suspect.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Callie said. “So where is this Earle now?”
“Being questioned at the sheriff’s department. He put up a Skye Shay to steal your father’s money.”
“She claims she found your father’s body, but left without looking for the money,” Eleanor said.
“The money was already gone thanks to Faith,” I said.
“So Faith was a thief?” Angelo asked.
“We’ll have to assume so because we’ll never know for certain. But the money was in the SUV.”
“What still doesn’t make sense to me, Agnes, is that if Faith was murdered at Wilber’s house, who drove the SUV back to Neiman’s?”
“It must have been Earle,” I said. “Can you think of anyone else who would think to steal from your father, Angelo?”
“I suppose you think I did it. I had a problem with drugs some time ago.”
My eyes widened. “Honestly, I don’t think you did it. If you wanted to steal from your father you could have done it at any time.”
“He kept it close to him,” Angelo said. “I don’t think he ever fully trusted me after my drug issue.”
“We saw you two go to your father’s house after his body was found. Were you looking for the money?”
Callie gasped and exchanged a look with her brother. “Angelo was worried about the money.”
“I was worried it would be stolen before we had possession of the property,” Angelo insisted. “Especially with that neighbor of his across the street.”
“Robert Boyd?”
“That’s the one. He was always watching my father’s place. That and a young woman who was over occasionally.” Angelo looked disgusted. “I saw her hanging all over the Hill brothers recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to rip off our father.”
“You must mean Robert and Gia, not the Hill brothers,” I said.
“Yeah, the Hills aren’t as poor as they act. Millionaires, from what I heard.”
Eleanor and I burst out laughing. “Millionaires?” I said. “Believe me, the Hills are just as they appear. Country folks from down south.”
“Ones who will shoot you if you trespass,” Eleanor added with a curt nod.
“We’d better get going. Thanks again, you two.”
I jumped in the vehicle and Eleanor asked, “We going to the Hills?”
“Shouldn’t that be heading for the hills?” I joked. “And I was hoping we could catch up with Robert.”
“I’ll call the sheriff.”
Eleanor and I parked along the shoulder of the road at Robert’s house. The last thing I wanted to do was get trapped in Robert’s driveway. The cops would do that when they arrived.
Robert’s black truck with the lifters was parked in the back. There was no movement in the house.
“What should we do?” Eleanor asked.
“Knock on the door? I don’t think Robert will think it amiss because we’ve come here before.”
Eleanor knocked on the door, it wasn’t answered. I let my partner pound on the door louder, but I was off the porch and heading to the truck.
“Wait up, Agnes. Where are you going?”
“To see if Robert is in the backyard.”
I walked to the driver’s side of the truck and stepped back at finding shattered glass on the ground. I looked up with a gasp at the bullet hole in the driver’s side window.
“I think you might want to call the sheriff again,” I said. “I can’t see inside the truck, but I have a feeling that Robert’s dead.”
“We going to stick around or head out to the Hills’ place to find Gia?” Eleanor asked. “I have a feeling that she’ll be packing her bags.”
Eleanor didn’t have to make the call. Sheriff Peterson’s car led a posse of cop cars four strong roaring into the driveway.
Peterson lowered his window. “Did you find Robert?”
“Nope, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”
“We believe he might be dead in his truck,” Eleanor said.
“There’s a bullet hole in the window. I
can’t see inside with those lifters.”
“Stay here,” Peterson warned.
This is one time I planned to obey his command.
Peterson and his deputies pulled their side arms and approached the truck. Peterson opened the door and Robert’s body tumbled to the ground, quite dead.
Eleanor and I edged to our vehicle. The sheriff wouldn’t be able to leave the scene now, and we had to catch up with Gia before she got away.
I drove off in a hurry just as two state police cruisers pulled up. They weren’t concerned with us -- they had an active crime scene.
Eleanor and I walked up to the Hill house, and I peered in the back screen door. Gia was holding a gun on Rosa Lee, but I couldn’t see either Curt or Curtis.
“Tell me where you’re hiding your money, old lady.”
“That’s no way to talk to me after I rented a room to you -- and real cheap too.”
I motioned to Eleanor with a finger covering my lips. I then pointed for her to go. Eleanor had the good sense to call the sheriff if I could get her to budge from the corner of the house.
I pulled back and quickly joined Eleanor around the corner of the house when I heard footsteps near the door.
Rosa Lee walked outside, followed by Gia, who held a gun to the back of her head. Rosa Lee carried an oversized suitcase to the back of the Hill brothers’ truck and did her best to throw it in the bed. I swallowed the lump in my throat. If Rosa Lee was outside, where were Curt and Curtis?
I tried the front door, but it was locked. The Hills didn’t use the front door as a matter of routine. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to help Rosa Lee and leave Eleanor to find the boys.
I whispered instructions to Eleanor. She shook her head, but I gave her a gentle shove to the back door.
“Hello, Rosa Lee,” I said as I approached the truck.
Gia turned with a snarl and grabbed the back of Rosa Lee’s shirt as she pointed the gun at me.
“You picked the wrong time to come calling.”
“Oh, but I’m not here to visit. I’m here to bring you in for killing Wilber and Faith.” I nodded to Rosa Lee as if I could calm her nerves.
“That’s a laugh. You might want to talk to Robert about that. I can hardly put a body in a barrel and hide it on Wilber’s property.”
“I knew it,” I cackled. “You admitted where Faith’s body was concealed. If you were after Wilber’s money why kill Faith?”
“Because my stupid sister took the money before I had the chance to steal it. I still can’t believe she killed Wilber. Apparently I underestimated her.”
“Oh come on. How stupid do you think I am? Faith didn’t kill Wilber. He saw the blood on the carpet and you worried that he’d call the police.”
“I still don’t understand why he didn’t, but then again if he called the cops and they found my sister’s body they’d think he killed her.”
“So who drove the SUV back to Neiman’s?”
“Robert did. I was too busy here trying to con these stupid hillbillies.”
“Now that’s not politically correct,” I said with a shake of my head. “So what’s this I heard about the Hills supposedly having money?”
“I know they’re loaded.”
“Locked and loaded perhaps.”
“That’s what I told her.” Rosa Lee laughed. “Could you let go of my shirt, Gia? I already told you I don’t have any money. I grow my own vegetable and make all my meals.”
“She’s right about that. Hey, where are Curt and Curtis?”
“I shot them. They’ll hopefully bleed out before the cops show up.”
“That will happen sooner than you think. They know where I am and will show up very soon now.”
“Get in the truck before I shoot the both of you.”
“Not worried about the money anymore? I can’t say I blame you.”
Rosa Lee climbed in the truck first. Gia sat between us and ordered me to drive.
“I can’t drive this truck. It’s too big!” I gasped.
“Get moving before I lose my temper and shoot your friend.”
“That’s not very neighborly,” I said as I turned the key and the engine roared to life. The truck was hardly quiet. I always knew when they were barreling down the road before seeing the Hill brothers.
I backed up into Rosa Lee’s swing. “Sorry,” I apologized.
“Not a problem. I’ll have my boys fix it for me.”
I drove to the end of the driveway praying that the cops were there, but I was mistaken. I raced up the road. I knew all the back roads. But did I really want to drive on them when it would only make it easier for Gia to dump our bodies? I turned down a dirt road and bit my bottom lip as I drove over the ruts. The truck had too much power for me and it fishtailed.
“So Faith is your sister and you didn’t even involve her in your scheme,” I said.
“Blood isn’t thicker than money.”
“You gotta love a sick and twisted family. Is Robert related to you too?”
“We’re married -- or were.”
“Why did you kill Robert when he helped you?”
“I’m covering my tracks. Nobody would have ever suspected me of anything when I’ve been hanging all over the Hill brothers.”
“Oh, so you’re the brains of the operation.”
“I still can’t believe I worried about her taking my boys away from me,” Rosa Lee said.
“I did. I killed them.”
“We’ll see.”
“Getting back to your plot, Robert should have checked the SUV before he brought it back. Faith hid the money in the vehicle. Eleanor and I found it.”
“Turn there,” Gia said as she glared at me.
“There isn’t anything back there but swamp,” I protested.
“Good place to hide bodies.”
“It’s not like you’ll be able to get away with this,” I said. “You told us you killed Curt and Curtis.”
“My boys ain’t dead,” Rosa Lee said.
“Believe me, they’re both dead,” Gia shouted as she ordered us out of the truck.
“Get walking.”
I swallowed hard as we were headed straight for a swampy area. The sound of frogs and buzzing mosquitos filled my ears. “This is as far as I can walk,” I said.
Gia poked my back with the gun. “Keep moving.”
I turned and faced her. “I’m not moving anywhere,” I insisted.
Gia raised her gun and Rosa Lee smiled. Was she happy I was about to get my brains blasted out?
Click ... click .... click.
“Sounds like you’re all out of bullets,” I said.
Rosa Lee pulled bullets from her pocket and threw them into the swampy water.
Gia growled and moved to shove Rosa Lee to the ground, but I got between them and received the blow. I groaned when I hit the ground. I focused on Gia and looked helplessly at her foot as she moved to kick me in the stomach. I closed my eyes tightly and heard a voice. “Better back off now, I don’t want to have to shoot you,” Curt said as he pointed his shotgun at Gia.
“Not such stupid hillbillies after all,” I said with a smirk as Curtis helped me up.
Curt didn’t waver despite the bullet wound to his shoulder.
“Where did you boys come from?” I asked.
“Hiding under the tarp,” Curt said.
“We were waiting for the right moment to pounce,” Curtis said. “If you wasn’t a girl I’d knock you to the ground, Gia. Nobody treats Ma like that.”
“And to think she rented you a room,” Curt said. “She won’t be doing that no more.”
“Now that, boys, is something I can agree with.” Rosa Lee laughed.
I was concerned about the gunshot wounds both Curt and Curtis suffered. Curt had a wound to his shoulder and a bullet grazed Curtis’ head. Gia had nearly killed the brothers.
A siren cut on, and I was thankful when Sheriff Peterson climbed out of his cruiser. I elbowed Gia, and she slamm
ed into the side of the cop car. “Oops,” I said. “Paybacks.”
Epilogue
Eleanor and I were sitting in Curt and Curtis’s hospital room as several pretty nurses fussed over them. They grinned, loving the attention, even though a few hours ago they professed to have given up on women.
“So what’s this about you Hills being millionaires?” I asked.
Rosa Lee shook her head. “Of all the far-fetched stories.”
“I thought that too when I heard it. I forgot to ask Sheriff Peterson how he found us so quickly.”
“We have a tracking device on our truck,” Curt said. “If you’ll remember, we help the FBI out on occasion.”
“I’ll have to thank my son Stuart for involving you, but it’s not as if you weren’t hiding in the back of your truck. How did you manage to do that without Gia seeing you?”
“We snuck out of the house and hid when Gia was with Ma in the kitchen. It was the longest twenty minutes of our lives,” Curt said.
“I don’t want to think about what would happen if anyone hurt our Ma,” Curtis said.
Andrew and Mr. Wilson walked in the door.
“They didn’t have anything good in that cafeteria,” Mr. Wilson grumbled as he pushed his rolling walker along.
Andrew set down a tray and handed out coffees. “We’ll stop by Tim Hortons tomorrow before we come up,” he promised.
“Aw, I hope we won’t still be in the hospital tomorrow,” Curt complained. “Not that I don’t like the company.”
We laughed. “Settle down, boys. I think you forget the nurses are only doing their job,” Rosa Lee said.
There was a knock on the door and Bernice walked in. Her face had a little more color than the last time I saw her.
“I’m so sorry you boys were hurt,” Bernice cried.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself, Bernice,” Rosa Lee admonished her. “I’m the ninny that rented a room to ... that Gia.”
“I still can’t believe this was all because Wilber kept a little cash at home,” Bernice said.
“What do you consider a little cash?” Eleanor asked.
Bernice shrugged. “Give or take twenty thousand, or so Wilber told me.”
Hidden Secrets Page 15
