Dyer Consequences

by Maggie Sefton

  Slip, wrap, slide. Slip, wrap, slide. Knitting wasn’t bringing the peacefulness this time. Calm didn’t have a chance with Crazy Idea and friends crowding Kelly’s mind. After another moment Instinct spoke up.

  Bobby’s a liar. You know that. What if this is a lie, too? Something’s not right about this, Kelly. Something’s wrong. Don’t go up there. Don’t do it.

  That got her attention, and Kelly’s needles paused while she took stock of what was happening outside the chaos in her mind. The uneasiness in her gut was no longer gnawing. It had taken a huge bite. Normally, Kelly listened to her gut. Listened to her instinct. Listened to that little voice that came from somewhere inside her. She hesitated.

  Then the awful image of Tracy shimmered before her eyes. Tracy, facedown in the dye vat, her blonde hair floating on the water. Blue-blonde hair. Aztec Blue. Bobby did that to Tracy. He’d killed her, and now he was about to get away with murder.

  Kelly felt a surge of anger shoot right up her spine. The hell he would! She’d find a way to trap that bastard. She knew she would. She owed it to Tracy. Kelly would get Bobby if it was the last thing she did.

  She tossed the needles and yarn into her knitting bag as she grabbed her phone. Punching in Burt’s number, she pulled herself out of the chair and headed toward the front, where she’d last seen Rosa. Burt’s voice mail came on.

  “Hey, Burt, Kelly here. Bobby just called and said he’d be in Colorado Springs all day helping out his mother. That must be Carolyn Becker. So you’d better tell the detectives to reschedule their visit to the ranch, okay? Talk to you later.”

  She clicked off, deliberately leaving out the part about her decision to go up to the ranch and search for evidence. Burt’s constant answer was “wait for the detectives to do their jobs.”

  Waiting took too long to Kelly’s way of thinking. The police were too slow. Today might be the only time Bobby would be away from the ranch for several hours. And he wouldn’t be expecting someone to come searching.

  The cold hand inside Kelly’s gut gave another squeeze, but Kelly ignored that, too. Just like she ignored the warning voice inside her head. She’d made up her mind. She was going to find something that proved Bobby’s guilt. She’d been able to find information on those other four killers. She’d do it again. She knew she would.

  Rosa came through the archway of the main room, and Kelly gave her a bright smile. “Hey, Rosa, I was looking for you. Do you think I could borrow your car for a little while? I’ve got some business stuff I have to do right away.”

  “Are you sure you can drive okay?” Rosa said, clearly hesitant.

  Kelly made an offhand gesture. “Absolutely. My right foot is even stronger now that I’ve been walking without my crutch. I’ll be back before closing time. No problem.”

  Kelly drove the Honda to the end of the ranch driveway, grateful that the deepest snow had melted. She wanted to park as close to the barn as possible. That way she wouldn’t be slogging through too much snow and slush. Grabbing her crutch, Kelly balanced on her good foot as she maneuvered out of the car.

  Mud, slush, and gravel squished up the side of her booted right foot as she headed toward the barn. Glancing back at the car, she noticed that she’d parked between the barn and the ranch house and couldn’t be seen from the road.

  Two alpaca stared at her from the corral area, their huge brown eyes observing her strange hobbling gait. Then a third poked his head out. Then another. Since the snow had drifted higher near the pasture fence, none of the animals came to greet her.

  Kelly decided to give the herd a final pat. Her alpaca, but not for much longer. She’d already decided to sell all of them to Jayleen’s friend, so this could be the last time she saw the animals. A slight twinge of remorse came and passed. Her dreams of owning a mountain ranch were dying a slow death.

  She hobbled inside the barn, and the smell of hay drifted to her nostrils along with dirt and another smell. Something oily. “Hey, guys, how’re you doing?” she said as she clumped through the hay to the wooden fenced corral. “I guess this is goodbye, huh? You’ll be going off with another owner in a week or so.”

  The alpaca started to cluster around the fence, shoving their long necks toward her for attention. Their response spurred Kelly to get closer, so she unlocked the gate and let them mill about the corner of the barn with her. The more affectionate of the herd pushed forward and crowded around her, looking for rubs and attention, which Kelly supplied generously, returning their affection. She placed her crutch against the corral fence so she could pat them with both hands.

  “I’m going to miss you guys,” she said, rubbing the soft gray nose of the most dominant male. He persisted in standing in front of her, blocking the others’ access. “Will you miss me?”

  “They won’t miss you at all,” a sarcastic male voice answered.

  Kelly jumped, her heart racing. Bobby. That was Bobby’s voice, but it sounded different. Not friendly Bobby, not at all. She ducked her head around the alpaca, trying to see toward the door.

  Peering between two alpaca, she spotted him standing inside the barn door. But he didn’t even look like Bobby. Gone were the cowboy hat, boots, and jeans. They’d been replaced by white ski pants and jacket, goggles, and snow boots. Snow white.

  “Bobby . . . wh-what are you doing here?” Kelly managed.

  “Surprised you, huh?” he said, strolling into the barn. “I figured as much. I knew if I sprinkled enough bread crumbs out there, you’d come running. Like you always do. Sniffing around, looking for clues. Sleuthing, isn’t that what your friends call it?”

  Even Bobby’s speech sounded different. No more cowboy drawl. No more friendly tone, either. This Bobby’s voice was cold and harsh. The hand in Kelly’s gut squeezed tighter.

  “I figured you couldn’t resist the chance to come up here and search the ranch house, right?” He walked to the middle of the barn and stopped. A couple of the alpaca bolted away from the corral corner.

  Now that she could see him clearly, Kelly noticed Bobby was carrying a lantern in one hand and a gas can in the other. The gas can had an old-fashioned design, like the one that was found on the first buyer’s torched construction site. The cold in her gut turned to ice.

  "What . . . what are you talking about?” she forced out, her voice sounding strained, odd.

  Bobby placed the gas can and lantern at his feet, then looked back at her with a cruel smile. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you, Kelly? Always figuring stuff out, right? Looking for clues. Well, I figured you out from the start. That’s why I’ve been keeping a close watch on you.”

  Swallowing down the fear, Kelly found her voice. “It was you who trashed my house and car. You were behind everything.”

  His smile broadened. “Sure was. At first I thought you might pay attention, get the message, and let the ranch go. But no, not you.” He wagged his head, mocking fashion. “You dug in your heels, so I had to up the ante. But you still didn’t pay attention. Not even when your dog nearly died.”

  A sudden flash of anger shot up Kelly’s spine, thawing the ice. “You nearly killed him, you bastard!” she shot back.

  Bobby laughed softly, clearly enjoying her anger. “See? I can play you like a violin, Kelly. I know just what to do to make you jump. Just like I made you grab a car and drive up here today. Right where I wanted you.”

  Kelly’s anger died in a flash. Fear started to seep back in. Then that little voice from inside whispered, Cell phone. Call Burt. Now!

  Kelly listened this time. It was the same voice that had saved her when she was careening down the canyon with no brakes. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and withdrew the phone. Obscuring her actions behind the large gray alpaca that stood in front of her, Kelly flipped the phone open and felt her way toward the directory.

  Using the alpaca as a diversion, she glanced toward the animal and stroked his thick winter coat. “Easy, boy,” she said, as she sneaked a peek at the phone directory.
Finding Burt’s name, she punched in the number and prayed Burt would answer.

  If she held the phone behind the alpaca, maybe Burt could pick up her conversation. Maybe Burt could figure out she was in trouble. Maybe she could divert Bobby’s attention long enough for the cops to get to the ranch. Maybe...

  “Did you just drive here now? I didn’t see your truck,” she said, hoping to draw him into conversation.

  “Nope. After the deputy showed up asking questions the other day, I knew I’d better leave the truck parked in town. So I drove the Toyota to a dead-end road on the other side of the ridge right before dawn.” He jerked his thumb in a northerly direction. “Then I came in through the forest.”

  That surprised her. Meanwhile, she spoke in a louder voice. “What? Through all those trees and snow?”

  He grinned. “Snowshoes. Nobody even saw me in the early morning light. I lay low inside the ranch house. When I saw that deputy drive up here midmorning, nosing around, I figured you’d called and told them I was gone for the day. Or so you thought.”

  Snowshoes. Colorado cowboy modern. Kelly had to hand it to him. Bobby was razor sharp. He’d thought of everything.

  “You trashed my place so it looked like vandals and poisoned Carl. What made you think I’d connect that to the ranch?”

  “I figured your real estate friend would put it all together. She’d tell you what happened with those other buyers.”

  “That was you who scared off the other buyers, wasn’t it? You torched that guy’s building in town, and you snowshoed here and killed that woman’s dog.”

  Bobby snickered. “Give the detective a gold star.”

  “Clever, Bobby, real clever,” she said in a clear voice.

  “We thought so.”

  “Who’s ‘we’? Is that your family in Colorado Springs who’s trying to buy the ranch?”

  Bobby nodded. “Yeah. They’re doing the deal, but my mom and me figured it all out. We knew if we scared off enough buyers, the price would sink like a stone.” He grinned. “And it has.”

  Kelly had to bite her tongue to keep the first response from her lips. “I figured you were all in this together. What with both the Toyota and the truck registered to the same Colorado Springs address as the buyer.”

  “Yeah, we could see you’d put it all together once the deputy came up here to question me.”

  “What made you think I’d eventually sell?”

  “We figured your friends would do the convincing. Especially after your accident.”

  “I could have died in that crash.”

  Bobby shrugged. “I figured whether you lived or died, we’d still get the ranch.”

  Kelly held back the Navy curses that came to her lips. Bit them back. Keep him talking, the little voice said. She glanced to her phone while she stroked the alpaca’s gray coat. Her phone screen still showed a live connection.

  “I bet you were using Tracy to get information about the buyers and the ranch.”

  “Yep. That way I could keep track of who was coming and going.” He gave Kelly a cocky grin. “Tracy told me everything.”

  “Why didn’t Tracy tell her friends about you? Most girls talk about their boyfriends. How’d you get her to keep quiet?”

  Bobby smirked. “I told her I was afraid of losing my job here at the ranch if anyone found out she was dating me and working at the real estate office. She bought it, of course. She was in love.” He dragged out the word in a mocking fashion.

  “Why did you kill her?” Kelly asked at last.

  “Because she knew too much,” Bobby said without a moment’s hesitation.

  And without an ounce of obvious remorse or feeling of any kind. It was as if Kelly had asked why he flunked a course. She was appalled by his response.

  “She’d started asking questions. A lot of questions. Like why was I so curious about the buyers? Why was I always asking about the office? Why couldn’t she tell her friends about me? She was getting to be a pain in the ass. Always ragging on me. I was getting ready to dump her when she told me she’d started taking a class at that yarn shop. I remembered you and Jayleen talking about the same class.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t take the chance that she’d let something slip, and you’d jump on it. She’d seen a bucket of red paint in the back of my truck and spotted paint on my jacket one night. She started asking questions. I couldn’t take the chance she’d put it all together.”

  “I cannot believe you killed that sweet girl because you were afraid I’d find out you were trashing my house.”

  He shrugged. “I also knew I’d have to get rougher with you, and I didn’t want her to get suspicious. She knew too much already. I’d let some other things slip when we were talking.”

  “But why kill her? Why not just dump her?”

  “If I dumped her, she’d be mad and try to get back at me. I couldn’t take that chance. My mom suggested I could make it look like an accident. Stage a break-in at the shop.” The cruel smile returned, and Bobby’s eyes narrowed. “It was easy. I hit her on the head, and she slumped right into the tub like I thought she would. Then I trashed the shop to make it look like vandals broke in. I figured it would look like one of them panicked when they saw her downstairs, so they knocked her out.”

  Kelly picked up the grisly tale to keep him talking. “So it would look like an accidental drowning, right?”

  “Yeah, then she came to. So, I had to finish it.”

  Finish it. Bobby made it sound like he was cleaning up a spill. And his mother suggested he kill Tracy. Good Lord. Cold-blooded didn’t come close.

  Kelly stared at him while she stroked the big alpaca. The animal was standing still, remarkably unperturbed by the intense human dialogue going back and forth. Two other alpaca surrounded Kelly in the corner. The rest had scattered back into the open corral.

  Changing topics might keep Bobby talking. “If you and your mother think I’ll let you steal my ranch, you’re crazy,” she said, deliberately showing aggravation.

  Bobby’s face quickly flushed with anger, and Kelly guessed she’d chosen the wrong topic. “Your ranch? That was never your ranch, you thieving bitch! That ranch was meant to be mine!”

  Kelly watched the rage flash across Bobby’s face, fury flaming from him, and her blood ran cold. She’d seen that rage, that fury once before. Where... ?

  “My mom worked dead-end jobs for years to buy that place. Nobody helped her. Nobody. My dad was dead. She did it all herself. Working two jobs, even when she was sick. She put all her money into that ranch, and she was leaving it to me, dammit! Nobody else.”

  Suddenly the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place in Kelly’s mind. Bobby was Geri Norbert’s son. Those cold dark eyes. That cruel twist of the lips. Unmistakable.

  Good God! Had Bobbby inherited some of his mother’s other traits as well as her cruelty? He’d already shown he could kill as efficiently as his mother could. Bobby described drowning Tracy in a tub of hot water as dispassionately as Geri had described slitting her best friend’s throat.

  The icy cold squeezed Kelly’s gut again as she watched Bobby glare at her. She was trapped in this corner of the barn. She couldn’t get away. Even if she could, she wouldn’t get very far with this cast on her foot. For the first time in Kelly’s life she felt helpless. Like prey. What had she said this morning about predators? She was looking into the eyes of one right now, and it was not hard to guess his intent. Not with that gas can at his feet.

  Her only hope was to keep distracting him as long as she could with questions. Meanwhile, she sent a prayer that Burt or Deputy Don or someone was driving up the canyon road right now.

  “Geri Norbert’s your mother, isn’t she, Bobby?” she said in a gentle voice. Keep him calm. Keep him talking.

  “Keep my mother out of it, bitch! It was your fault she was arrested,” Bobby flared. “You tricked her into saying those things into a tape recorder. She didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all lies. People were trying to steal her ra
nch. Just like you and that real estate friend of yours. You two have been scheming to get the ranch and sell it to a developer so he’ll pay you big kickbacks on the deal. Well, it’s not gonna happen. This is my ranch, and I’m getting it back.”

  She stared at him. It was clear that Geri Norbert had built up one huge smoldering resentment toward Kelly. But it was also obvious that Geri had been feeding Bobby lies these past few months, and he believed them all.

  “Bobby, you can’t really believe that. Jennifer and I don’t even know—”

  “Shut up!” He cut her off with an angry gesture. “I’m tired of listening to you. You’re just trying to sweet-talk me like you did my mom. Making her trust you, making like you were her friend, when all the time you were lying to her, tricking her. Well, you’re not going to trick me. I’ve been able to outsmart you from the start. Once I discovered you’d found Tracy’s phone, I figured it was time for you to go.”

  “How did you know I found the phone?”

  His cruel smile returned. “Only you would try to call me.” He reached down and grabbed the lantern and gas can from the barn floor.

  Forcing down the panic that rose in her throat, Kelly spoke up in a loud voice. “You’re going to burn the barn with me inside? Are you crazy?”

  “Crazy like a fox, as my mom always says.” He held up the gas can, and Kelly spotted a bandage on Bobby’s right hand. “This way I can get rid of you and provide myself with an airtight alibi at the same time. You’ll be toast by the time I reach my car. Nobody will even notice the smoke for a while. By the time they do, I’ll be on the other side of the canyon and gone. I’ll be in the Springs with my aunt Carolyn, who’ll swear on a stack of Bibles I’ve been with her since morning.”

  “Bobby, be sensible. Nobody’s going to believe that I stayed in a burning barn. Even with a cast on my foot, I’d run out. They’re going to come looking for you. I told them I was coming to see you.” Kelly prayed she could lie as convincingly as Bobby.