Cat Got Your Corpse

by Louise Lynn

  Hazel and Violet had taken Ruth on a short hike with Anthony Ray, and arrived just in time to see the young woman.

  Edgar Hart smiled. "Abby. Just in time to meet my wife. Maureen, this is the young lady I was telling you about. Abby Reynolds. She's a activist of some kind, right?"

  Abby nodded and held out her hand. "He told me so much about you. I really want to check out your shop when I make it to Cedar Valley. It sounds amaze!”

  Hazel blinked. She thought the word was amazing, and she wondered if that was a new thing with the young folk these days. She’d have to ask Violet about it later, and hope it didn’t make her sound ancient.

  Speaking of Violet, the fifteen-year-old’s eyes glittered when she took in Abby’s hippie chic wardrobe and long flowing hair. The girl looked like she lived on nothing but granola and tofu. “I love your skirt. And those shoes. I’ve never seen cute hiking sandals before."

  Abby beamed. “I'll tell you all about them. I got a sponsorship from the company to wear them, as long as I take pictures of my feet next to creeks and trees and stuff."

  Violet's eyes sparkled even more. "No way. You have corporate sponsors? What’s your Instagram? I'll follow you."

  It quickly turned into a conversation involving things like hashtags and other teen speak that Hazel didn't quite follow. Instead, she headed toward Sheriff Cross, who was grabbing some last-minute provisions for his trip back down the mountain. "Leaving so soon?"

  He nodded regretfully. "You know how summers are. There's been another boating accident on the lake, and I have to get there and check out the scene. I wish I could stay to keep an eye on things here, but I know I've got Miss Eagle Eyes keeping everything under control," he said and winked at her.

  Hazel rolled her eyes. "First Jay Turner calls me Miss Nose, and now you call me Eagle Eyes? No thanks. I don't want a nickname that pertains to one of my facial features."

  "So we should stick with Hazy?"

  Hazel scowled at him. "Fine. Miss Nose is better than Hazy. But only barely.”

  Sheriff Cross laughed and glanced at Abby talking animatedly to his niece. "Did she know the deceased?”

  Hazel shrugged. "Not sure, but she's not too torn up about it. It really doesn't seem like anyone is. Besides that James Duke fellow."

  Sheriff Cross nodded slowly. "Yeah. And even then I'm not sure if he was upset Crawford was dead, or simply shocked by it."

  Hazel agreed, and mustered the courage to ask her next question. "So, you get any new information from my dad?"

  Sheriff Cross sucked in a breath and let it out through his nose. "Is that your way of asking if I think he's a suspect? No, I don't actually think your father murdered someone and made it look like a mountain lion attack, so you don't have to get preemptively mad at me about it. But, I don't think he has an alibi either. He says he got up before anyone else, at about five a.m. to go for an early morning hike. He heard an engine around the same time you did, but you didn't see him until later at the ranger station, right?"

  A pit formed in Hazel’s stomach. "Yeah. That's right. But I don't really have an alibi either. I was sleeping alone in my tent and–"

  Sheriff Cross squeezed her shoulder. “I’m not pointing fingers at your dad, but that doesn't mean someone else won't. Especially if Summer Crawford starts whispering in the ranger’s ears. Just be careful, okay? Keep a lookout for anything suspicious."

  Hazel's eyes went to the big ugly diesel truck that was still parked in the campground. "They haven't left yet?"

  Sheriff Cross’s lips pulled into a line. "No, they gathered up their necessities from the crime scene after we’d already gone through everything thoroughly. I let them take down the other tents and move to a different campsite. Summer Crawford claimed she paid for a week and she was going to stay a week, no matter what. She said that's the way her father would've wanted it. She also added that he didn't raise her to be a wussy. But I don't think cutting a trip short when your dad dies makes you a wussy. But, that’s just me," he said with a shrug.

  Hazel nodded in agreement. She couldn't imagine remaining on a trip if her father was murdered during it, but then she also couldn't imagine slaughtering innocent endangered animals for sport, so Summer Crawford was already in an entirely different league.

  “And you didn’t find a murder weapon?” She had a feeling she knew the answer to that.

  Colton frowned. “No. And that’s the biggest hurdle right now. Especially when it comes to proving a person did it and not an animal.”

  Hazel was thinking the same thing. “Did you look in the stream? Or one of the lakes! That would be the perfect place to toss a knife.”

  Sheriff Cross nodded. “Oh, I wish I could have a legion of deputies up here to dredge both the stream and the lakes, but that’s not going to happen right away. But I think the knife used was small and curved, no longer than about six inches. I saw similar wounds on gang victims in San Fransisco.”

  “Are you saying this is the work of a gang of mountain lions armed with knives?” Hazel said and nudged him playfully.

  He laughed. “Probably not, but if you see anything like that, bag it and photograph it, if you can. Without the murder weapon, it’s going to be difficult to prove this was murder.”

  “Will do. I guess that means I'll get a chance to have a lovely little chat with Summer Crawford as well," Hazel said and felt her expression sour.

  Sheriff Cross chuckled again and kissed her forehead. "You might want to have one with James Duke too. Something about him is a little off."

  "Just because he barfed at a crime scene means he's off?"

  Sheriff Cross shook his head. "No, I didn't mean it like that. But he’s supposed to be a hunter, so don’t you think he’d have a stronger stomach than that?"

  Hazel had thought the same thing. "Yeah, and he does actually seem to like those hunting dogs, unlike their owner," Hazel said and glanced across the campground.

  Through the trees, she could see James Duke playing with the dogs, though Summer wasn’t anywhere around.

  "And, be careful," Sheriff Cross said. "If you need anything, talk to Simmons. I’m leaving him in charge with a few deputies that I can spare. They’re going to be staying here and keeping an eye on things. They'll be able to send for someone faster than I'll be able to reach you here. You sure did pick an out-of-the-way campground," he said and shook his head.

  Hazel grinned. "What's the point of a vacation if it's not tucked in the middle of nowhere?"

  Sheriff Cross shook his head, gave her one last sweet kiss, and climbed into his SUV.

  “Hey,” Hazel said. “You never said what your secret weapon was.”

  He smirked. “You didn’t figure it out? It’s you.”

  Hazel laughed, but a rock in her stomach hardened as he drove away. She knew it was his job, but she still hated to see him go. Especially when they worked so well together.

  But she was his secret weapon.

  Plus, she had a few leads, and a pressing need to point the finger at someone besides her father.

  Vacation or not, it looked like she was going to have to work.

  Chapter 11

  Hazel decided to start with James Duke since he was right across the campground from them, and since Summer Crawford was nowhere around, at the moment.

  She took Anthony Ray along for moral support, and to give the Stellar jays a break from their mutual harassment pact.

  James Duke started as she approached, and Hazel took a moment to observe him.

  He looked about Summer Crawford's age, in his mid-twenties, and besides the obnoxious use of army fatigues, he didn't look the part of a hunter in the least.

  But Hazel had learned that just because someone didn't look like something didn't mean they weren't that thing. She'd been fooled before, and some of those times still stung.

  Therefore, she moved toward James Duke with more trepidation than she would have a few months prior. The dogs made an easy excuse for her approach, and they
pulled themselves free of their leads and rushed over to greet Anthony Ray.

  He acknowledged their presence by not swatting at their snouts and instead sniffing each of them once before turning away and looking at Hazel.

  Hazel smiled and reached down to pat the hounds on the head. "I'm surprised you guys haven't cleared out yet," she said, trying to make her voice as friendly as possible.

  James Duke shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. The gesture made him look like he didn't have a neck. "Yeah, well, I thought we should cut the trip short, but Summer is pretty insistent we stay,” he said and looked at his shoes. Unlike Summer Crawford, he didn't wear boots, but instead a pair of hiking sneakers. They looked at odds with the rest of his outfit.

  “I’m really sorry about what happened to your friend. Must be a terrible shock.” She crouched to give the dogs more attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched James Dukes reaction to that.

  He froze, and his eyes shifted from side to side.

  Back in Hazel's former career as a forensic photographer for the LAPD, she learned from her detective buddies that shifty eyes often indicated the perp was about to tell a lie.

  She wondered if that were the case here.

  "Yeah. Awful thing. I know Summer blames it on me, but…” He shook his head.

  "But what? It’s not your fault if you didn't want to stay in the campground for the night. Is the altitude the problem? Some people get above five thousand feet and have a hard time breathing."

  Hazel knew that presently they were just below nine thousand feet, which wasn't a problem for her, but then Cedar Valley was situated at the six thousand feet mark.

  James Duke's eyes lit up. "Altitude, yeah. I was having a hard time breathing," he said the last bit under his breath.

  Hazel raised her eyebrows. "No offense, but you don't really seem to fit in with the Crawford’s very well."

  James Duke let out something between a huff and a laugh. "Believe me, I'm not offended by that. I know I don't fit in with them. This is my first time out on a trek like this.”

  One of the dogs shoved its wet nose into Hazel's cheek and she nearly toppled over trying to avoid the inevitable tongue that was about to lash out at her lips.

  "What gave you the itch to start hunting then?" She tried to keep as much judgment out of her voice as possible. She wasn't sure if she pulled it off.

  "I don't know. Just thought it might be an experience. A bucket list thing," James Dukes said, his eyes darting once more.

  Hazel marked that as a probable lie, and stood up straight. She dusted off her tunic and let Anthony Ray go so he could trot around the campsite and give it a once over. He had a habit of turning up interesting clues, so she decided to let him at it for now.

  “Well, surely you don't have to stay if you don't want too, right? Unless Summer Crawford kidnapped you," she said.

  James Duke let out a shriek of laughter. "Kidnapped? Not technically, but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I left at this point. Plus, she drove, so she’d probably make me hitchhike back." He shuddered.

  “One of the deputies might give you a lift. Or you can talk to the ranger and see if she could call a cab for you, though that would cost a fortune," she said and followed Anthony Ray around the camp.

  Like Sheriff Cross had said, they’d moved the tents and items that weren't directly involved with the crime to a different campsite. This one was closer to the other sites, though still obscured by trees. She also noted that it held about half the stuff from the original campsite. Sheriff Cross had obviously wanted to keep most of it there since it was an active crime scene.

  But he also said he hadn't found the murder weapon. Since whoever did it was trying to frame it as a mountain lion attack, that was pretty obvious, but she needed to find the weapon to find the killer.

  James Duke shook his head, and his shoulders slumped forward. It made him look smaller. "No thanks. I have to tough it out. Man up, like Summer always tells me to do."

  Hazel glanced around again, and saw no sign of the younger Crawford. "Are you and her dating? Sorry if that's too forward of a question but–"

  James Duke's eyes turned into saucers, and he avoided Hazel's gaze. His cheeks went crimson. “What? I—uh—Me and Summer?”

  She took that either as a ‘yes’ or that James Duke wanted it to be a yes, though she couldn’t really see why.

  “How long have you known her?”

  James shrugged. “Not long. A few months, at most. I didn’t know Mr. Crawford was going to come along until the last minute. It was just supposed to be Summer and I, and then her dad popped up," he said, and Hazel caught the note of bitterness there.

  That was interesting. "You wanted it just to be a romantic hunting trip and then her dad tags along?"

  James shook his head quickly. “No! Not like that. I just wanted it to be a more one-on-one experience. But Mr. Crawford acted like it wasn't any big deal. He kept saying I could learn so much from him, so I let it go. And he was right. I could’ve learned a lot—if he were still alive.”

  Hazel didn’t like to think what those lessons learned would have been. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet Cliff Crawford? I hadn't heard of the man until my father's outburst yesterday, but I take it he was a bit infamous on the Internet a few years ago. Were you friends with Summer before that?”

  James Duke’s expression hardened. "No. Not friends. It was more like… I swear it’s not as pathetic as it sounds. I hired her, okay? I know it sounds stupid, and yeah Mr. Crawford got a bit of a bad rap a few years ago, but most people had forgotten about that. You know how fast the news moves nowadays. So I thought it was okay to hire his daughter. Plus she was the best at her craft. Or that's what the website says."

  That caught Hazel’s attention. "Website? She has a website?”

  She hoped it didn’t involve anything tawdry.

  James nodded, and for the first time, a slight smile turned at the corner of his lips. "Oh yeah. I found it in Trophy Supreme, but I’m the first person that hired her. Summer just started a new business taking newbies out on hunts. And it's not cheap either. I’m not getting a refund for this week, which is part of the reason I think Summer is staying. She wants to fulfill her business deal with me,” he said and shook his head.

  Hunters for hire? That was new.

  “So, you hired Summer Crawford to take you hunting for a week, and her father happened to tag along? And then—this?”

  James nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. I’d been talking with Summer online for months, but this is the first time we’d met in person. Honestly, I don’t think she was impressed. I mean, I can’t blame her, but I thought—Never mind. It’s dumb.”

  Hazel had an idea what James thought, and she decided not to mention it. “So, did you actually leave camp because of the altitude, or did you just want some alone time with Summer Crawford?”

  James Duke turned redder than a tomato. “What? I—What?”

  Hazel smiled to herself. She took that as a yes. "Where is Summer, by the way? She hasn't already gone off to track down the mountain lion she thinks is responsible, has she?"

  James let out a small chuckle. "No. Not yet. Though I wouldn't put it above her. She keeps saying she came here to hunt big game, and she’s not going to leave until she's bagged something. As far as I know though, she went to the ranger’s office to make a phone call."

  Hazel wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, but she assumed that the young woman had to let someone know her father was dead. Probably arrange for services as well. "Is she informing her mother?" Hazel asked softly.

  James laughed again, which was a weird reaction to that sort of question. "I don't think so. As far as I know, her parents divorced when she was small, and Mr. Crawford never remarried. I don't think Summer has much to do with her mother, actually. She said she wanted to talk to the press."

  "The press? Why does she want to talk to the press?"

  Anthony Ray walked up to
James Duke, and James bent down to let the cat sniff his fingers. Anthony Ray didn't hiss or swat at them, and he allowed the young man to give him a few pets before he moved on to give a thorough inspection to a tent. "Well, if I had to guess, I imagine she wants to spread her side of the story as quickly as possible. You know how everyone gets riled up when there's a killer cougar around."

  A shiver shot up Hazel’s spine, even in the warm summer sunshine.

  "But the sheriff already said it wasn't a mountain lion attack," Hazel said with more bite than she meant to use.

  James didn't seem to mind. He shrugged, and met her eyes for the first time. "I know. That's the thing, I don't think Summer cares if it was a mountain lion or not. Like she said, she wants to bag big game. And now she has a good excuse to do it without getting arrested."

  Chapter 12

  "You think Summer Crawford killed her father so she could hunt a mountain lion? That’s a cartoonish level of evil. Plus, is that even a normal motive?" Esther said and shook her head.

  Hazel had come back to their campsite with Anthony Ray, only to find it deserted of everyone but Esther, who was quickly throwing things into a bag inside her and Ruth's tent.

  "You're right. It is kind of cartoonish. And the motive, well, people have murdered for less, but she was gone this morning. I didn't see that ugly diesel anywhere until well after the body was found, and the engine I heard wasn’t loud enough to be it. It sounded more like a moped. What are you doing?"

  Esther stopped her packing and let out a long sigh. "I'm leaving. Which is something we should all be doing, by the way. There's either a killer mountain lion on the loose, or a plain old human killer on the loose. I don't want to be anywhere near either one of those things."

  Hazel frowned. “There are deputies at the campground. And I'm sure Ranger Albright has called in more rangers. This place is going to be a lot less deserted than it is now, unfortunately," Hazel said, thinking of her ruined vacation.