Her friends sat there stunned into silence.
Annie added, “There’s a space shuttle launch tonight. If anybody asks you where you’re going, you can tell them you’re going to watch it from the golf course. If you can get your husbands to go with you, call me to let me know. I’ll have to talk Art into it.”
DeeDee, always the cautious one, asked, “Are ya goin’ ta tell your sergeant?”
“I suppose I should let them know at the Sheriff’s Department what we plan to do, but I don’t know if we’ll get any support or not. I’ll call Maria right now. Fortunately, the sergeant’s a lot friendlier than she was at first. I don’t get the feeling that she thinks we are meddlesome old biddies anymore. I think she respects us and our problem with The Traveling Corpse!”
Barb blew out some air, “That’s a lot to think about, but we did accomplish a lot this afternoon; now let’s go home and talk it through with our husbands. See if they have any good suggestions and if they’ll go with us. I’ll let you know, Annie, if Brad agrees to go.”
Verna nodded her agreement, and DeeDee said, “My sciatica isn’t going to keep me away!”
Annie bowed her head; the others did too, “Lord, It’s Annie down here with my friends. Thank you for listening to us and helping us to reason things out. We still need your guidance, and our husband’s support. And please keep us all safe. Amen.”
* * *
Sgt. Menendez hung up the telephone and sat there thinking, drumming her fingers on her thighs. Finally, she made up her mind. It was time to take this little old woman seriously. Annie and her friends had hung in there—persevered. Also, they had gathered some impressive evidence. Now they were going to go out in the dark of night on a stake-out! Probably a waste of time. Yet … and yet, in retrospect she thought that those seniors had been right on target all along.
The best theory, Menendez thought, was the one about the body being locked in a car at the Tampa airport. She’d have that report in the morning. Still, she hesitated, thinking that Annie was convinced that the body may be buried tonight right in their park. The pretty sergeant drummed her fingers some more, thinking what to do.
* * *
Late Thursday Afternoon, 5 P.M.
The house smelled good to Annie when she opened her side door. Before leaving for DeeDee’s house, she had filled her slow cooker with cubes of beef and raw vegetables. She’d added seasonings, a few glugs of red wine, and turned it on the high setting. After washing her hands, Annie mixed up some cheese biscuits and popped them in her toaster oven. Art came in and set the table as she dipped the hearty vegetable-beef stew out of her crockpot and ladled it into her soup bowls which were trimmed in a blue Delft pattern. They bowed their heads as Art offered the same prayer he said every evening: “Thank you, Lord, for this food that we are about to receive. Make us worthy of it, and make us worthy to follow in Your footsteps. We ask your blessing upon us and our extended family and friends. And, bless our country and its leaders. Amen.”
As they ate their supper, Annie told her husband about the Golfin’ Gals productive afternoon. She showed him the yellow legal-size paper with the list she had made of all their happenings—anything they could think of connected with “Our Mystery’. Then she showed Art the second list. This one consisted of what they knew about Karl Kreeger. After they discussed the implications, she rubbed her left temple and said, “I know you’ll think I’m crazy to ask this.” Art paused in his eating and looked at her. She continued, “Art, would you go with me to the golf course?”
“Honey, I’ll go with you anywhere, but it’s a little too dark to go golfing and a little cool for necking.”
“No, be serious. Barb and I talked about this on our way home. We want to look around that fifth hole on the Blue. The fence was definitely cut. I need you to go with me to check it out, and Barb’s going to try to get Brad to go too. If anybody sees us and asks us why we are going out there, we’ve got a great excuse. There’s going to be a shuttle lift-off tonight. We can always say we’re just going out there to watch it. Without any streetlights around, you get a great view.”
“That will be a plus. And how can I say ‘No’ to my darling Annie with the beautiful violet eyes? But, I do have one question: Why not wait until morning?”
“Well,” she rubbed her left temple, “It’s not over.” Before he could ask what wasn’t over, she hurried on, “The body. I don’t think Karl has buried it yet. I have this feeling that he’ll try to do it tonight.”
Art sat quietly for a moment, “Have you thought that he might have put her body in her car, driven it to the airport, parked it, and left it there. If he wiped off all his finger prints, it would be hard to tie him to it.”
“Yes, we thought of that; Verna brought it up.” Annie pointed to the line on her yellow pad. “We’ve already talked about that possibility. They’d eventually find the body though. And we don’t think it was very smart of him to ask Jiggs to pick him up at the airport.”
“They say bad guys always make a mistake,” Art said, then added his congratulations. “Annie, you and your friends are first-rate detectives!”
Annie smiled and thanked him, but said, “I’m not at all sure we’ve solved it. I’m not sure of it at all. What if Karl didn’t put her body in the car? And, I don’t think he did because I think we saw the body in that restroom after he went to the airport—not before. I don’t think he wants that body to ever be found. And that’s why I want you to go with me to the golf course. If he can hide her body and you guys pour cement over her, then he’ll get away with murder!”
“So you want me to go on a stake-out?”
“Something like that. Barb and Brad too, and, hopefully, the D and V’s too.
“Don’t you think we’re a little too old to be doing this?”
“We won’t be chasing him; we’ll just sit quietly in our golf cart and watch.”
“Promise me you won’t try to tackle him or anything,” Art said with a twinkle in his faded blue eyes.
Annie was finishing her stew as she explained, “We girls talked about this a lot this afternoon, and we don’t think Karl meant to murder the woman. We think it was an accident. We can’t believe that he’s some horrible murderer who planned it. It wasn’t pre-meditated; it was just an unfortunate accident. At least, that’s what we think.
“If he had reported it right away, called 9-1-1, he wouldn’t be trying to hide a body now, would he? No. He’d be looking at manslaughter, I think is the right term, instead of murder. What is also wrong is his skimming money. That’s stealing. We think Karl has been skimming money from Bingo. If she, Twila, that is, died from a fall, and he admits to pushing her; then it would surely come out that they were arguing. Then the deputies would keep probing until they learned that the argument was about skimming money from Bingo. Karl probably excused his sticky fingers problem by telling himself that he was giving so much time and effort into Bingo that he deserved some reward. It’s just a guess, of course. So, if he was stealing a little of the Bingo money each week, he wasn’t going to be happy having the Board appoint an assistant for him. Once she started keeping records and making sure the money they took in balanced with what they paid out and what was profit, that would be the end of Karl’s reign. He might even have to go to jail.”
She continued, “Karl had lots of helpers. They’d total the amount at the end of the games, but no one seemed to know exactly how much was paid out in expenses. He doesn’t have much of a check or balance system in place. He could do just about anything he wanted to with the money. We don’t think his wife knew about his stealing. Verna found out that Kitty didn’t pay any of their bills; she hasn’t a clue about their finances. When he got those new things, like the new golf cart, and the new van, he probably just told her their investments were paying off better than ever—that they had the money to pay for the new things.
“So, we’re guessing that Twila came back from her weekend at Sanibel Island, stopped home for a few mi
nutes, and then drove over to Old Main. We know she was at her house because a neighbor saw her car. We suppose that Twila and Karl were alone in the clubhouse. If she questioned him about not keeping good records, he might have lost his temper. She probably didn’t back down to him like Kitty always does. If he lost his temper, he might have hit her; we don’t think he meant to kill her. If she fell and hit her head on, say, the corner of a table or maybe she fell down the steps to the stage and hit her head on the metal railing, it could have killed her. We think he panicked then stuffed her in that decoration drawer before Bingo began. You know the rest.”
Art sat quietly for a moment, “You girls certainly have been doing a lot of thinking. You’ve made up a good story—a story that makes sense to me, but it would be a lot easier for him to just put her body in her car, drive it to the airport, park it, and leave it there. Like I said, if he wiped off all his finger prints, it would be hard to tie him to it.”
“You’re right about that being the easiest way, but I think he just wanted to hide her car for a while, and the airport was a clever idea. I don’t think the body is in it.”
“But,” Art said, “let’s don’t rule that theory completely out until they find Twila’s car.”
“Sgt. Menendez promised me she’d track it down. Meanwhile, I don’t want Karl to get away with hiding the body. That’s why I’m asking you to come with me to the golf course,” Annie implored. We’ve got to find the body. No one has seen the body except Barb and me, and maybe DeeDee. For heaven’s sake! The body keeps disappearing. That’s why I need you to go out on the golf course with me. Please?”
“Do you still think he’d do that; still try to hide the body?”
“Yes, I do. He’s clever. Look how he’s managed to move the body around for two days now,” Annie asserted. “Please, will you go with me?”
“You want to go check out Number Five, Blue?”
“Please.”
“Why tonight?”
Because it’s getting warmer out. The temperature’s been rising slowly all day. So, if it’s warm enough tomorrow morning, the men will pour the cement. That’s why he needs to bury the body tonight.”
Art thought about it awhile, then said, “Okay, I’ll go with you if the B’s will go too. It’s too dangerous for us to be out there alone. You say you talked this over with DeeDee and Verna? Also, we should tell your sergeant what we’re doing. ”
* * *
Thursday, Early Evening, 6 P.M.
Annie gathered up two blankets and a bottle of Zephryhills spring water. Her husband wanted to know why in the world she was unwrapping two granola bars. “Honey, when you try to take off the cellophane or whatever these are wrapped in, they make noise, a loud, crinkling noise. If we are going on a stake-out, we don’t want to give ourselves away, for heaven’s sake! A stitch in time saves nine, you know.”
Art shook his head good-naturedly. “My cute little detective!” Then he called, “The B’s are here.”
It wasn’t as cold as the night before, but still there was a nip in the air. They were glad to put their plastic side curtains down to keep out any wind. It was a lovely evening; the stars were coming out but the moon was not yet up.
The Davises and Vigeauxs, who lived closer to the golf courses, were waiting for them in the golf parking lot. Speaking very quietly, Annie warned them again about being quiet. “Stiffle a sneeze or a cough. If Karl hears any human noise, you’ll scare him off.”
Art had another suggestion, “Don’t back up your golf cart because if you put it in reverse, it’ll beep. Park it so you can drive straight ahead in case you have to move during the stake-out.”
Annie asked Brad, “Do you know who owns the field with the ostriches? What’s the farmer’s name?”
Brad nodded, “His name is Gerald Gilbert, likes to be called Gilly. He’s a nice man; he’ll co-operate with you. I told my dad about Barb’s seeing what she thought was Karl Kreeger’s golf cart on Gilly’s land. I asked dad how he got in there. Was he trespassing? Dad knows a lot more about all this surrounding property than I do. He told me that there is a narrow strip of land that the county owns. Anyone can use it, but it just looks like it’s part of Gilly’s property. Karl might have found out about it when he was on the committee looking to buy additional land for the new golf course.”
“Do you know where the entrance is?”
“I think I can find it from what my dad told me,” Brad answered. “Do you want us to stake it out?”
“It would be a good idea, don’t you think?”
Art answered, “I think it’s a great idea to watch that entrance.”
Von took part in the discussion, “If he’s got a golf cart in there, and he probably does, he’ll leave as soon as he buries that … that body. It would be smart if some of us watch from over there. We can cover more territory that way.” To his wife, Von spoke, “Okay with you if we go with Brad and Barb?”
“One place is probably just as dangerous as the othah,” she answered.
Annie commented, “In for a penny; in for a pound.” Art shook his head, but Verna agreed to go.
Von said to Brad, “Lead the way.” Without thinking, Von automatically reached his right hand below the seat to put the lever into reverse.
Verna quickly dropped her hand down to stop him and whispered, “It’ll beep. It probably doesn’t mattah since we’re not too close to Numbah Five, but it’s bettah if you don’t. Sounds carry at night. I think you can get out if you squeeze through there. Careful, now.”
After the B and V’s left to find the entrance to the farmer’s field on the opposite side, the Andersens and Davises cut off their headlights and drove slowly across the Blue course. They didn’t want to alert Karl if he were around. Silently, they pulled up near the new bathroom building and parked so they could stay in their cart and still see the farmer’s field and the future path which Art had helped prepare earlier. It was dug four inches deep, and the wooden forms were in place in the ground. All was ready for the cement to be poured the next morning. The bathroom building shielded them from view of anyone coming from the south.
Doc Davis pulled his cart up beside Annie. He unzipped part of the top section and leaned over and whispered to her, “We’ve got great seats for the space shuttle lift-off.”
“When?” she pointed to her watch.
He held up ten fingers.
They settled down to wait. Soon a white light rose from beyond the far line of trees almost due east. Up, up the powerful Discovery space ship climbed into the night sky. They watched, transfixed by the spectacular sight, until the initial thruster peeled away and fell back to Earth. The craft curved slightly to the north as it kept climbing. They leaned forward to be able to see it through the windshield. Finally, all they could see was a tiny speck of light, and then the heavens swallowed up this scientific wonder.
Annie bowed her head and prayed, “Lord, it’s Annie and Art down here, and the rest of our gang are with us. Thank you for letting us witness the miracle of space travel. Please be with our astronauts and keep them safe. And Lord, please keep us safe. We’re kindda old to be on a stake-out. We really need you to watch over us. In Jesus name, Amen, and thanks for listening.”
The seniors wrapped blankets around themselves and settled down in their carts to wait. The moon came up and stars filled the cloudless sky. They sat and waited, not daring to talk. Art reached over and squeezed Annie’s hand. She remembered once when Art came home on furlough. He borrowed his dad’s car, and they parked on Blueberry Hill. That was over fifty years ago. World War II was raging, yet somehow it was a gentler time—no drugs. Their only worry that night was having the local cop knock on the car window and wave them off. Art looked fondly at Annie; she wondered if he too was remembering ‘necking’ in a 1942 Studebaker.
Annie’s body tensed; she leaned over to Art and whispered in his ear, “Did you hear anything?” She thought she heard a twig break, her heart leaped, but she felt safe with Art
beside her, and the Davises nearby.
Art shook his head. Annie wasn’t surprised that he didn’t hear the little sound. His hearing wasn’t nearly as good as it used to be. She wanted him to have his hearing tested, but he just told her to speak up, to stop mumbling, that he could hear just fine, thank you. That made Annie remember the joke Mr. B told about a man who was telling his neighbor, “I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it’s state of the art.”
“Really,” answered the neighbor. “What kind is it?”
“Twelve-thirty.”
Annie chuckled to herself. All was quiet again. To pass the time she let herself think about another of Mr. B’s stories: Two elderly women, Marguerite and Eliza went to a local restaurant for lunch. Marguerite noticed something funny about Eliza’a ear, and she said, “Eliza, did you know that you have a suppository in your left ear?”
Eliza answered, “I have? A suppository?” She pulled it out and stared at it. Then she said, “Marguerite, I’m glad you saw this thing. Now I think I know where my hearing aid is!”
Suddenly, Annie sat up straight; her body rigid. Art looked where she pointed. There was movement in the field. The ostriches and emus were awake and moving. Something had disturbed them. From the sliver of moon now in the sky, they could see the birds running faster back and forth, but they couldn’t hear them. Doc told them once that ostriches and emus rarely make any kind of vocal noise.
A moment later, Art pointed toward the fence. A big man wearing jeans, a turtleneck sweater and a stocking cap—a toboggan, was trying to get through the fence. Annie realized that this was the same place where she and Barb had noticed that afternoon that the fence was partially cut. He pushed at it, then pulled a tool from his back pocket and cut the fence in two. Annie gestured. Art moved his head to let her know that he saw, but he signaled her to remain silent. The big man pushed through the fence and stepped onto the golf course. They watched him move directly toward the forms for the new cart path. It was obvious that he knew exactly where he was going and what he was going to do with the shovel he was carrying.
The Traveling Corpse Page 12
