"Now," he said, "I think it's time we got more comfortable." The rancher stared at me, the affable grin gone. There was something stony and scary in his eyes. "Ladies first," he said.
"If you don't let us leave soon, people are going to start asking questions about you," I pointed out.
"From what I hear, Rooster isn't the sharpest blade in the drawer when it comes to investigating. And to be honest, I think he'll thank me for getting rid of one more bee in his bonnet."
The mention of bees made me think of what had happened to Bug. "Did you put the bees in the truck?" I asked impulsively. If I could stall him long enough, maybe the police would get things worked out
"I did," he said. "The venom in the EpiPen was Evelyn's idea."
"That's right; she was a nurse. What I can't figure out is, what did you have to gain?" I thought for a moment about the piece of paper the bees had been wrapped in, and the brochures I'd seen in José's trailer.
"The ranch is mine now," he said.
"But you won the lottery."
"Only part of it," Mitch replied. "And I was getting down to the end of it. Bug was gettin' too big for his britches. I wanted to expand the business, but he tried to shut me down."
"You brought these tigers here for people to hunt, didn't you?" Tobias said.
"Smart vet," Mitch said. "It was a side hustle. Profitable, too."
"Bug didn't know about it?"
"We organized hunts while he was out of town. It was fine till he got sick and bailed on his California trip."
"So that's why you killed him," I said. "He was going to out you."
"We built this place together, and he was just goin' to shut me out. It wasn't right. Blood is thicker than water; that's the rule."
I didn't point out the fact that killing your brother wasn't exactly the friendly, familial thing to do.
"So, the deer were for the tigers?" Tobias asked.
Mitch nodded. "José shot white-tailed deer to feed 'em. Some went to the tigers, some went to some folks from Mexico he was helpin' out."
"José was getting cold feet, though, wasn't he? After Bug died?"
Mitch nodded. "Becomin' a liability."
"Did you help buy the ranch?" I asked.
Mitch shook his head. "Nah."
"But you won the lottery. And so did Evelyn."
"Bug got a big cut of that... and a few others, too. He was the big man on campus; the rest of us were just small fry."
"Still, you won quite a bit," I said. The more we knew, the more danger we were in, but the longer we stayed here, the higher the likelihood that Quinn or Peter would get the message and send someone out. "You got at least a million dollars, even if you split it, by my calculations. Where did all your money go?"
Mitch's lips formed a thin line. I thought of the casino brochure, and my conversation with Evelyn. "You gambled it all away, didn't you?" My mind turned to the wheel of fortune and devil cards. That was the addiction: gambling.
"Things between Bug and me weren't even. I was trying to level the playin' field. Had a run of bad luck."
"And so did Bug," Tobias pointed out.
"He deserved it. Lordin' it over all of us. Wouldn't lend us a dime."
"Why was Evelyn in town?" I asked.
"We were tryin' to talk him into one more windfall."
"The lottery scam," I said. "The December 23 winnings. He knew what the numbers would be that day, didn't he?"
"It was a code he slipped in. He needed us to collect, though. If he'd won it himself, it would have been obvious."
"So, you did it in different states, in different years. How much did he take?"
"Half each time," Mitch said. "And we weren't the only two, either. No, Bug's been collectin' for years. Only once he was happy, he quit and left us hangin'."
"And when you were in trouble, he wouldn't help you out."
"Not just that. He kept me from doin' what I needed to to pay up!"
"You had debts," I said quietly. "Gambling debts. That Coushatta place isn’t just a resort,” I realized, thinking of the credit-card statement I’d seen in the trailer. “It’s a casino."
"It is a casino," he admitted. "But I’m not in debt anymore. Once that will is probated, I'll be sittin' pretty."
"It all comes to you?"
He nodded. "I'll give some to Evelyn of course." I wasn't putting any money on that; I was guessing she was slated for extermination, too.
"Why'd she go after Bug?" I asked.
"He wouldn't help her out," he said. "She'd fallen on hard times. He told her she'd had her chance. That's what... inspired her to help me come up with a plan to take care of him."
"What are you going to do about José? He survived."
"I'll go see him," he said. "Finish what I started. Besides, odds are they can't prove anything once the cats are gone. I'll just remind him what might happen if he decided to tell tales. I know about his poachin'."
"Did you set fire to my property?"
"That wasn't me, but I heard about it," he said. "Someone else must not like you."
"What about the trailer?" Tobias asked.
"That was me, I confess. Less obvious than breakin' into it. Nothin' in there was crucial to the business anyway."
"Where are the other two tigers?" Tobias asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"We had a hunt," Mitch said. "Two weeks ago."
Tobias sighed. "Were they killed?"
"One of them was," he admitted.
"Where's the other one?" I asked.
"Could be anywhere. Fence was down. Haven't seen it on the property."
"Wait a minute," Tobias said. "There's a full-grown tiger loose in Buttercup?"
"Is that what we saw by the barn the other night?" I asked, shivering.
Tobias turned to me. "I don't know, but I'll bet that's what did in the oryx."
"But that was after the fences got fixed," I said.
Tobias shook his head. "Tigers can climb, you know. Tall fences won't stop them."
"Thanks for the info, professor," Mitch sneered. "Don't you think I figured that out?"
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Tobias asked.
"No one knows we have tigers here. Except you."
"And the people who paid to hunt them," I pointed out.
"They're not too likely to go to the authorities, are they?" Mitch asked. "Besides, now that the place is mine, I can wind that down. Get rid of the remaining cats."
"What are you going to do with them?"
"There's a market for them," he said, looking very satisfied with himself. "I've got two buyers in Louisiana, coming to pick 'em up tonight. But enough talk. Let's go."
He marched us out of the barn at gunpoint.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll find out," he said, tossing me a key and pointing us in the direction of his truck. "Get in. You drive," he told me. "I'll hold the gun."
I climbed into the driver's seat with Tobias beside me. He reached out to squeeze my hand as Mitch slid into the seat behind me. "I'm pointing it at your boyfriend," he told me. "So don't get any ideas about heroics."
I followed Mitch's directions down a dirt road track, then off to a barely visible rutted roadway that wound through trees and ended at a dilapidated barn. The doors were open; I could see Tobias's truck inside.
"Stop here," he told me, and I parked the truck. "Get out," he said. Adrenaline pulsed through me. I looked over at Tobias; he squeezed my hand again. "Stop lollygaggin'," he said.
I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I got out of the truck. Was this how things were going to end for Tobias and me? In an old barn on the Safari Exotic Game Ranch?
"Are you going to poison us, too?" I asked.
"No," he said. "You're going to have a lovers' quarrel. It'll be a murder-suicide."
"Everyone knows we wouldn't do that," I said. "They'll find out it was you."
"They haven't so far," he said. "That witch is on the hook for everyth
ing."
"You really don't like Serafine, do you?" I asked as we stood together outside the barn. Mitch was leveling the gun at Tobias while Jed stood in the background.
"She was tryin' to keep Aimee from seein' me. Got her way, too. She deserves it."
"You really think Aimee is going to want to see you just because her sister went to jail?"
"Now that I have the means to help bankroll her business, why wouldn't she?"
"Because you're a murderer, maybe?" Tobias suggested.
"She doesn't know that," Mitch said. "Besides, it's what you do when you really love someone. If it weren't for Aimee, I never would have gotten into the gambling in the first place, so she's as guilty as I am."
Tobias and I exchanged glances. Mitch Wharton had either gone to graduate school for a PhD in rationalization or he was seriously unhinged. I was guessing the latter.
"Get in the truck," he ordered us.
"My truck?" Tobias asked. Tobias's truck was parked inside the barn; there was no sign of Jed, though.
"Your truck," he confirmed. "We're all going to go for a ride."
So, it wouldn't be at the exotic game ranch after all. It made sense; he'd want to keep himself clear of everything. What would he do about Jed?
Tobias climbed into the driver's seat. I slowly moved around the truck, Mitch's gun pointed at my head, and got into the passenger side, my mind racing as I tried to figure out how to get out of this awful situation. As I closed the door to the truck, Mitch reached for the back door. At that moment, there was a low, terrible growl. My insides turned to water. Mitch yanked at the door, dropping the barrel of the gun for a moment.
"Duck!" Tobias said. I didn't hesitate. As I hurled myself to the floor of the truck, Mitch yelled. There was a clatter, then a horrible scream.
"The tiger's got him!" Tobias said. Without hesitation, he yanked at the door handle and kicked the driver's side door open.
"What are you doing? No!" I yelled. As I watched, he sprinted to the back of the truck and grabbed the tranq gun from the rack in the back. I looked out the window to where Mitch lay on the ground, writhing; the gun he'd been holding was nowhere to be seen, and the tiger was mauling his leg. The rancher was screaming like I'd never heard anyone scream before.
I looked back at Tobias. He took aim, cocked the tranquilizer gun, and fired. The tiger let out an angry yowl and dropped Mitch's leg, then turned its eyes on Tobias. The dart protruded from its left shoulder. I prayed it would work fast—and be enough to fell the cat.
Unfortunately, it wasn't working fast enough. Tobias shot a second time, landing a second dart next to the first as the tiger advanced. I watched the muscles bunch in its haunches; it was preparing to pounce.
Adrenaline pumped through me. I propelled myself up and over the seat, then grabbed the handle of the back door. As the tiger launched itself, I threw open the back door.
The big cat hit the door with such force, it jarred my whole body. "Run!" I yelled to Tobias. But he ignored me. As I watched, he quickly reloaded, then lifted the gun another time and loosed a third dart. Then, as the tiger staggered to its feet and I struggled to close the truck's back door, he rounded the truck and yanked open the door to the driver's seat. He turned the key in the ignition and gunned the engine. A moment later, the truck burst out of the barn, the side mirror thwacking against the wood frame of the door as we left the tiger and its former keeper behind us.
21
As Tobias raced down the dirt track toward the main buildings, I held the bent door shut from the backseat. "How long until the tranquilizer gun takes effect?"
"I don't know," he told me. "I'm hoping only a couple of minutes. I hit the cat three times; hopefully that will speed it up, but not kill it."
"A tiger can do a lot of damage in a couple of minutes, I imagine."
"I know," he said, grimacing. "I didn't really have much of a choice, though."
"Mitch Wharton isn't facing particularly good odds at the moment," I observed.
"No," Tobias said shortly, taking a hard turn in the road. A moment later, we were at the main compound, where two police cars were waiting for us. Serafine was there, too, hugging herself, her eyes dark with worry. It looked like at least someone got the message.
"What's going on here?" Rooster asked as Tobias screeched to a halt and I practically tumbled out of the backseat of the truck. "I heard y'all were in trouble, but you look okay to me."
"Mitch Wharton tried to kill us, but was attacked by a tiger," I told the sheriff. "Tobias hit the tiger with three tranquilizer darts, but he doesn't know how long they'll take to work."
"Jed Stadtler's back there somewhere, too. We need to go immobilize the tiger and save Mitch."
"Tiger on the loose? I heard about chupacabras, but..."
"We've got to hurry," I said. "Mitch is in terrible danger."
"I've got just the thing for that," Rooster said, reaching for his sidearm.
"No," Tobias said. "I don't want to kill it."
"What exactly do you propose we do, then?"
"I don't know," he said, "but call an ambulance and follow me."
"But..."
Neither of us waited for an answer. We got back into the truck—I stayed in the back so I could keep the door shut—and Tobias put it in reverse, then peeled out, going back the way we came.
"Think they'll follow?" I asked.
Tobias glanced in the rearview mirror and I looked behind. Rooster was clambering into his car. "Yup."
"Slow down or they'll lose us," I said.
"We don't have much time," Tobias reminded me.
"I don't want to get there alone, do you?"
"Good point." He paused until Rooster was mobile, then gunned the engine again. All too soon—but maybe not soon enough—we rounded a bend and arrived at the old barn.
Things looked very different from the way they had a few minutes earlier. Both the tiger and Mitch were passed out on the dirt floor of the barn... and Jed Stadtler was standing over them both, holding the gun Mitch had dropped.
"Uh-oh," I said.
"Good thing we have Rooster," Tobias said.
"Is that a joke?" I asked as the two cop cars pulled in behind us. Jed's eyes widened, but he didn't drop the gun.
"What's goin' on here?" Rooster asked as he clambered out of the front seat of the cruiser.
"I don't know," Jed lied.
"Yes, you do," Tobias said curtly, "but I don't have time for you now."
"Careful," I warned him as he slipped out of the truck and approached the unconscious tiger—and Mitch.
"Don't shoot me," Tobias advised Jed as he squatted next to Mitch and put a finger on his neck. "He's alive, but bleeding badly," the vet said. He unbuttoned his shirt and yanked it off, then fashioned a tourniquet around his leg. "We need an ambulance." He turned to the passed-out tiger. "And we need to get this cat immobilized."
"Do we take it to the cage, or bring the cage here?" I asked.
"Immobilize the tiger first," he said. "I've got some rope in the back of the truck I use for livestock; we can make it work, I think. I need to check its vitals, too; I hit it with a lot of sedative."
"I'll get the rope," I said as Tobias squatted by the big cat.
"Looks like you hit Mitch with a lot, too," Rooster commented from a safe distance.
"Well, based on what his leg looks like, he may thank me," Tobias pointed out. I grabbed a coil of rope from the bed of the truck and hurried over to Tobias.
"I've never tied up a tiger before," he said.
"How different from a cow can it be?" I asked. He gave me a look. "I have faith in you," I assured him.
"That's so encouraging," he said with a grin as he expertly tied the tiger's paws together—kind of a big-cat hog-tying approach—and then plucked the two darts from the cat's shoulder.
"How long will it last?" Rooster asked as the ambulance pulled up outside the barn. Two paramedics came hustling out, then stopped when they saw the tiger
.
"I've got it under control," Tobias said authoritatively. I hoped he was right.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"Get the cage," he said. "I think it's safer than moving the tiger. Can you handle it?"
"I'll go with her," Deputy Shames volunteered. I smiled; in all the excitement, I hadn't noticed her.
"Take the truck," Tobias advised. "You can fit it in the truck bed."
"Will do," I said as he tossed me the keys.
A half hour later, the tiger was safely in the cage in the back of the truck, Rooster was trying to figure out who he should call about the tigers locked in the barn, and Mitch was headed to the hospital under guard. Jed had tried to tell an alternate story about what had happened, but nobody was buying it; even Rooster didn't trust him.
"You're not supposed to have a firearm in your hand when you're on parole," he told Jed. "You're comin' in with me."
For the first time ever, I found myself agreeing with something Rooster had said.
22
Halloween dawned cold and clear, a mix of freshness and smoke in the air as I finished my chores. To celebrate Serafine being cleared—and Jed winding up back in jail—I'd invited my friends to a Halloween potluck celebration at the farm. The Kramers couldn't make it—they were busy with school events—but Peter, Quinn, Serafine, Aimee, and Tobias had RSVPed yes. I busied myself taking care of things around the house and made a quick trip to the Red and White Grocery. The front of the store was decked out with beautiful golden chrysanthemums and a small pile of pumpkins; inside was a hard-to-pass-up bin loaded with half-price candy for trick-or-treaters. I was checking out with three bags of Snickers and a bag of tortillas when Maria walked in the door, wearing a black sweater with a bright orange jack-o'-lantern sewed onto it.
"Lucy!" she said. "I heard you had a bit of excitement."
"You could say that. You're looking festive today."
"Thanks! I love holidays," she said. "But enough about that. Murderers on the loose, tigers prowling in Buttercup... what is this world coming to?" she asked. "Everyone said it was a chupacabra, but I knew it couldn't be. I'm just glad we're safe."
Deadly Brew (Dewberry Farm Mysteries Book 3) Page 18
