"What about the Sheriff?"
"Well, let's just say, he is not much liked around here, people are fed up with his attitude. He thinks himself so important and finds fault with just about everything. I don't think you'll have much look."
"Still, I have to try. I'll see what he says."
"Buy all means try, just don't say I didn't warn you, okay."
"I won't, though it does give you an opportunity to say I told you so."
"Took the words right out of my mouth. Here, I'll let you sample my new tray bake. It's my Mexican creation. Pickled lime and chocolate mousse on a thin layer of pastry, with lemon sherbet pieces," she said, gesturing with her hands as though writing it in the ceiling.
"Sounds intriguing. I'd love to try it."
"I have one I just made. Fresh out the oven." She disappeared into the kitchen and came out moments later carrying the creation, as if it had appeared like magic.
"You took into that, you'll feel better in no time." She placed it in front of me and I took a small piece on my spoon, feeling the light mousse melt away slowly on my tongue.
"Well?" Lulu asked with raised eyebrows.
"It's very good. Perfect texture. I feel better already."
"That raised a smile to your face."
∞∞∞
I C A L L E D T H E P O L I C E that afternoon, telling them I wanted to see them on an urgent matter that could not be delayed and they agreed to send someone down here right away.
The doorbell rang about half an hour later and I was wondering what had taken them so long as I tripped out of my office and down the stairs to answer the door.
I was wearing official office attire, consisting of a pale blue suit and beige silk blouse, as I thought I would be taken more seriously dressed this way.
The two men standing at my door could not be more different. The Sheriff I identified right away from his uniform and Sheriff's star, he was tall and burly, with very dark brown hair and wearing dark sunglasses, he was the second man I'd seen who thought he was a real life cowboy, with a brown trilby on his head. His arms were folded across his chest, I knew what Lulu meant about him appearing important. He took off his
sunglasses and hung them on his shirt pocket when I answered the door. I observed that he wasn't bad looking, though he seemed far too serious and stony faced.
The man standing beside him, whom I presumed was a deputy, was much cuter and looked a year or two above me in age, whereas I put the Sheriff as about five years older. His hair was much fairer than the Sheriff's, but not blonde, and he had a pleasanter face.
"Afternoon. I'm Sheriff Al Mali and this is deputy Shiller. What seems to be the problem?" He spoke like a cowboy too.
I nodded to the deputy. "Afternoon, Sheriff. I'm Bryony Womack and I've recently moved here from New York. My gran, Nelly Womack, used to live in this house."
"Well, Miss Womack. What can we help you with?" The Sheriff asked shortly, as if I had taken up too much of his time already!
"You can call me Bryony, if you don't mind. I think you'd better come inside."
"Okay, Bryony," he sighed and followed me into the house, closely followed by deputy Shiller.
"Can I get you boys' any refreshments?" I asked, as I led them into the front room.
Deputy Shiller hesitated, but the Sheriff put up a hand, deciding for the both of them. "No, thanks." He was very dismissive already, which did not bode well!
The Sheriff sat down on Sunny's favourite side of the couch before I could warn him of cat hairs! I decided it was best to keep quiet about it now as he would probably have a fit, his clothes were so immaculately clean and crisp. I took the armchair of my new suit, facing the two men sitting side by side and I had to suppress a giggle because they looked so incompatible it was hilarious!
"So, Sheriff, did you attend on my gran's death or was it not necessary?" I began after taking a deep breath.
"It wasn't necessary. The doctor had already made his diagnosis," Sheriff Mali said, looking at me like I was out of my mind.
"Which was?" I leaned forward a little as I asked the question.
He stared at me in disbelief, "natural causes!" He almost shouted, glaring at me now.
"Her heart?" I persisted.
"Is this what the urgent matter is? Because if it is, we may as well leave now!" He shouted.
"Wait, here me out, Sheriff."
He looked at his watch and then said, "okay, I'll give you five more minutes."
"I'll get straight to the point, then. I don't think my gran died of natural causes, Sheriff. She was never ill and I believe she had years of life left in her. She was a fighter, she would never have given in so easily, or so quickly. I had only been speaking to her on the phone a week before she died. She was not ill, believe me."
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
"That she was murdered."
"You're crazy, Miss Womack," the Sheriff said with a smug grin.
I looked sideways at the deputy, who nodded his encouragement, giving me the strength to continue. "I have evidence, Sheriff." I looked him squarely in the face as I said this.
"Let's see it, then," he said smugly, adding to Shiller in a whisper, "this should be interesting."
I pretended not to hear this comment as I walked towards the bookcase and pulled out the book I had found the note in. I took out the note and handed it to Sheriff Mali who briefly scanned it's contents, before putting it to one side dismissively. "This proves nothing."
"You're wrong. It proves she was afraid of someone, it proves she believed herself to be in danger, which probably made her seem more ill than she was!" I cried, getting angry with him now.
"It sounds like paranoia to me."
"That's not all, I have a suspect."
Mali turned to look at Shiller and said with a grin, "this just gets better."
"Mr Dexter should be investigated." I folded my arms to show that I meant business.
For some reason deputy Shiller was looking petrified and I realised I had said the wrong name as Mali seemed to explode when he heard that name.
"Midge! Midge Dexter! You're wrong, if your gran was murdered Midge isn't your man! He would never get involved in anything like this!"
"Then what was he doing in the house when I arrived? Answer me that."
"I don't know, but whatever it was, you can be sure it had nothing to do with your gran's death. Your time is up, Miss Womack." He stood up and Shiller did likewise.
"So that's it. You're going to do nothing? Shouldn't you at least look into my claims!" I shouted, following them to the door.
The Sheriff spun around in the doorway and said," a word of advice, Miss Womack."
"Bryony," I corrected.
"Bryony, then. Just leave this whole business alone, will you? Nelly Womack died of natural causes, and that's all there is to it."
"If that's your final answer then you give me no choice but to go it alone."
"If you take my advice, you won't."
"I don't take your advice, thanks all the same," I said firmly, folding my arms.
He scowled at me and stormed to his car with Shiller following quickly on his heels.
C h a p t e r6
I closed the door firmly behind them. Lulu had been right. I would have to get used to be told 'I told you so' from now on. I rolled my hand into a fist to try and rid myself of some of my frustration. It was at least worth investigating, I was sure of that. Mali was just trying to upset me after I accused Midge Dexter.
Angry and depressed, I went into the kitchen and searched through the cupboards for greasy snacks and arranging everything on a tray, crashed on the couch in front of a girly movie, with Sunny snuggling up to me.
I must have fallen asleep this way as I awoke with a start to find that the movie had ended and Sunny was nowhere in sight. I glanced at the clock through bleary eyes and found that, to my complete bewilderment, it was noon! I must have been asleep for longer than I'd thought!
I heard a su
dden crash coming from upstairs and diving from the couch, I cautiously climbed the stairs to investigate. There was no sound now but the beating of my heart as I turned the corner on the landing and pushed open the door leading to the other half of the house. This was where gran's old things were kept!
I crept further along the landing and into the room where the noise seemed to have come from, hearing the floorboards creaking beneath my feet.
Just as I'd reached the row of cardboard boxes in the corner, Sunny came flying out from between them knocking over one of the boxes and flew passed me out of the room, being frightened by the things falling out of the box with a heavy thud.
I rolled my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. I switched on the light and reached for the box, starting to replace some of the items back inside. They were strewn all around the floor and I had to crawl about on my hands and knees to retrieve them.
As I was replacing items in this way, one of the framed photographs caught my eye. It looked like a rodeo rider in full flow. Looking closer at it, I recognised the rider, though she was younger than I had ever seen her. It was gran!
"Gran was a rodeo rider!" I cried aloud, showing how surprised I was!
I really had no idea! My gran, a rodeo rider! I always thought she was tough and a legend, and this proved it!
I searched through the other items and found some awards with a model of a rodeo rider on a stand and written underneath were the words:
R O D E O R I D E R O F T H E Y E A R A W A R D
And there were loads of them from all different competitions from around the worId. I was stunned. Why did she never tell me of this!
Suddenly, Lulu's words about Midge Dexter came to my mind, 'you know he used to be a rodeo rider, right?'
I scanned the other photographs and looked at all the faces of the people on the group ones, taken after the competition. On most of these my gran was standing smack bang in the middle holding her award with her team gathered around her, smiling for the camera.
I noticed the man on the right, he was a real life cowboy and though a lot younger, I recognised his face. It was the face of Midge Dexter!
That was the connection then, between my gran and Midge. They both used to be rodeo riders! Could there be a motive for murder in this connection? An old grudge?
I thought of Louisa Froome that first day I arrived here. She told me there was something else that troubled him, other than his wife being sick. She must have known the truth. Could she have been in it too? She had access to the house as she was feeding Sunny! Could she have let Midge in that day to find what he was looking for?
"I think it is time me and Midge Dexter had a talk. I'll find a way of speaking to him, if it's the last thing I do," I denounced, with my hands on my hips.
But first I needed to get some more sleep!
∞∞∞
I H A D C O M E U P with a plan of action during the night! And I drove to Midge Dexter's house first thing the next morning to carry it out.
I waited outside his house in an invisible place, behind some trees, until I saw him leave the house and get into his car. He drove on for a few miles and I followed at what I thought was a safe distance, until he pulled over and got out of his truck, leaning upon it with his arms folded until I caught up.
I had no choice but to reveal my position! That had been my plan in any case.
"Hi, Midge Dexter, isn't it?" I asked, climbing out of the car.
"Who wants to know?" He asked scowling.
"Come on, Mr Dexter, let us not play games. You know who I am. I am Bryony Womack, Nelly's grandaughter. You saw me that day at the house, you were coming out the door when I arrived. Remember?"
"How could I forget, you have been badgering me ever since."
"That was your fault for not answering the door. I only want to know what you were doing in there. If you have done nothing wrong, why would you hide yourself like that?"
He did not reply, so I went on, "how did you get into the house?"
"Louisa let me in."
"So I thought. You and she are close, right?"
"We are friends, have been for a long time."
"So I gathered. What were you looking for?"
"Why are you asking me all these questions, anyway?"
"I want to know what you were doing in my gran's house. It's a fair question."
"Louisa said it was fine, she was looking after the place for you."
"Were you looking for this, Mr Dexter?" I asked, taking the photograph I had taken out of its frame from my handbag and handing it to him. He stared at it.
"You see, I think you were. It is incriminating evidence, isn't it? You thought it would lead people to you as my gran's murderer. Is that why you wanted it, to destroy it? Was Louisa going to help you?"
"Murderer! What are you talking about, your gran died of natural causes! It was her heart!"
"That would be the easy conclusion to come to, wouldn't it, Mr Dexter?"
"What makes you think she was murdered?"
"This is what started me thinking of it, and the fact that she was not ill a week before she died!" I handed gran's note to him and he read over it.
"This sounds like her mind was unstable. Old people can go down fast, you know? And even if she was murdered, what makes you think it was me?" He sounded far too calm to be guilty, or was that just an act? I couldn't be sure.
"Well, firstly, you were seen coming out of my gran's house and you had a look of guilt about you. Then the second thing was the rodeo connection. What do you expect me to think if you will not give me an explanation for your actions?"
"Hold on, wouldn't the inquest have shown up that she didn't die of natural causes? What does Mali say? You have spoken to Mali?"
I nodded my head, "but there was no inquest. Once the doctor had said it was natural causes, that was it. People assumed that was the case just because she was old."
"Then how do you suggest she died?"
"I think someone gave her an overdose of medication. Now, for the final time, Mr Dexter, will you answer my question or not?"
"You'd better come to the house."
C h a p t e r7
Midge seemed reluctant to begin his story after he'd checked on his wife, who was sleeping soundly in her bedroom.
"She gets agitated," he said, joining me in the front room.
"I'm sorry about your wife, but I hope you can understand that I need to find out what happened to my gran," I said, from the couch. The room was a proper cowboy's haunt and even included a western style bar at the further end of the room.
"What good will it do, bringing it up now? Do you really think you can prove it?" He asked, somewhat angrily.
"I just want to set my mind at rest, that's all."
He paced around the room a little with his hands on his hips. "So, you want to know what I was looking for in the house?" He asked turning to face me.
I nodded not wanting to speak and put him off.
"You're sort of right about the rodeo stuff. I was looking for it. All her memorabilia means something to me. We used to be friends back then, until.." he broke off and began to pace around again.
"Did you and she fall out?" I prompted.
"We did. You may not know it and I hate to speak ill of her to you, but your gran was not always the sweet old lady you might have thought her. She was young once and we were in love and were team mates. That is until she threw me over for another man. He was better, she had said, stronger."
I drew in my breath at this revelation of my gran's true character. I was beginning to see that she was not all sweetness and light as I remembered her to be from the other comments people had already made. She was not so well loved in Sunshine Bluff and I was beginning to think Midge's story had got about. Could that have been why the Sheriff had been so angry when I mentioned Midge in connection with her death?
"You held a grudge against her after that?" I asked.
"Not really, it got worse when she c
heated. Her and this other man cheated against me and my new partner and we should have been the winners, we would have been. They didn't get the last turn right, we finished spot on! No one noticed!"
"Surely someone must have known?"
"Nah, they were the favourites. No one expected us to win!" He slammed his fist down on the table before me. It sure still made him angry!
"Was your wife your new partner?"
"No, it was Louisa."
"Louisa? My neighbour?"
"That's right. But don't go getting any ideas about her! Our reputation was ruined because we accused your gran! But we told the truth!"
"So, Louisa let you into the house to retrieve the award you should have had in the first place?" It was now starting to make sense. Would he kill for it? That was the question.
"Yes, we didn't expect you so soon."
"You didn't find it?"
"No, I had no idea where it was kept. The place was a mess."
"I know. It was Louisa who found my gran, though, wasn't it?"
"Yes, but I told you she didn't kill your gran and neither did I! You're barking up the wrong tree, Miss!"
"Did she see anything unusual the day she was found? Was there anyone about?"
"I don't know! You'll have to ask her! You live right next door to her, don't you! Leave me alone! I killed nobody! I want you out of my house!" He pointed to the door and I could tell he meant it!
I gathered up my bag and legged it out the door as fast as I could.
I mulled over what had been said as I drove home again. Both Midge and Louisa certainly had a strong motive. The question was, which one of them could have done it? Was it one or both of them? Or neither? Although Midge appeared guilty in his manner, I sort of believed him when he said he didn't kill her. But I couldn't be sure. Did Louisa act alone? That was something I was about to find out! Or so I hoped.
As I drove into my drive and parked up, Louisa was gardening, again! I climbed out and went to join her.
"Hi, Louisa!" I called.
"Hello, sugar!" She called back, she still couldn't get my name right! She straightened up from turning over the border, taking off her dirty gardening gloves.
Rodeo Granny Page 3
