From Port to Rigor Morte

by J. C. Eaton

  “I’m listening.”

  “Boyd probably parked his car at the base of one of the vineyard roads. Then Kelsey had to take Brewer’s keys and drive Brewer’s car away from Lake View Winery before hopping into Boyd’s car for a ride back to his own vehicle. That’s why Godfrey and I couldn’t find keys or other ID on the body.”

  “Brewer’s car is probably sitting on some dirt road somewhere.”

  “Yep.”

  “But what about the vineyard workers? Wouldn’t they have noticed an altercation?”

  “Not if they were in another section. Heck, the vines are in full bloom. From a distance it’s hard to see anything.”

  “There are a lot of gaps in your scenario but I have to admit, it works. But we’re dealing with two murders, not one.”

  “And two missing kids. I need to call Stephanie. This can’t wait.”

  I pulled up my list of phone contacts and tapped her name.

  A groggy voice answered three rings later. “This better be important, Norrie, because it’s quarter to eleven. Derek’s sound asleep so I have to whisper.”

  “It is important. I think Eli Speltmore and his friend are hiding out in Emerson Boyd’s lake house on the bluff.”

  “You mean kidnapped?”

  “Not kidnapped. I think Boyd was in Dresden at the rental house his mother owns and the boys must have overheard him talking about a murder. Why else would they have covered up their bikes and snuck into his car? You know how reckless those two are. Always looking for an adventure. If they were worried about being caught, they would have gotten on their bikes and would have taken off. They had no idea Boyd would drive all the way to his lake house.”

  “Maybe. But wouldn’t he have seen them?”

  “Apparently not. Not if he was talking with someone else. Plus, Eli and Stuart are as slippery as can be. But get this—Boyd didn’t plan on staying at the lake house. He went there first but was headed to his other house in Brighton. He had no idea he dropped those two hellions at his summer home. I overheard his mother on the phone and I’m sure that’s what happened.”

  “Whose mother? Boyd’s?”

  “Yes. And you won’t believe who it is—Barbara Stanowicz. Brewer’s former secretary. That’s the missing puzzle piece. I’ll fill you in later but I need to know which house it is. There are zillions of those mega-mansions on the bluff.”

  “I don’t have a road number but I can tell you this much. It’s between Skyline and West Bluff Drive. North side on the hill. And you can’t miss it if Boyd didn’t exaggerate. The light-sensitive windows weren’t his only bragging points. The place has two grand fireplaces, stone veneer and water features.”

  “Water features?”

  “Yeah, that blowhard had a man-made waterfall border the property. I wouldn’t put it past him if it had a light display. I’d better let you go so you can give the sheriff’s deputies that description.”

  “Um, actually, I’m the one who needed it. Theo and I are heading to the bluff.”

  “That’s not a good move. Call the sheriff’s office.”

  “I will. Once I get there and find the boys.”

  “Norrie, I—”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. And thanks, Stephanie. Sorry for waking you.”

  Theo glanced at me and then back to the road, “She’s right, you know. We should call the sheriff’s office.”

  “We will. Once we have something to tell them.”

  Chapter 37

  Stephanie’s description was spot-on.

  In my next life I intend to come back as a wine publicist. A wealthy wine publicist.

  Boyd’s expansive one-story house towered over the bluff like a modern fortress. Its winding driveway took full advantage of the waterfall view, complete with boulders and glimmering lights. I was certain Eli and Stuart were in there. Hungry, antsy, and loose-lipped. What I wasn’t sure of was what Boyd planned to do or, worse yet, what he had done upon discovering two uninvited guests.

  If I was right about Barbara’s end of the phone conversation, then Kelsey Arnet was on his way to Boyd’s “fortress of solitude.” Who else would be “on her payroll”?

  And if Boyd was indirectly involved in Brewer’s murder, I was pretty certain he was directly involved in Frank’s. It was too coincidental to have both bodies turn up with puncture wounds to the neck. I surmised Boyd saw what Kelsey Arnet had done to Brewer and replicated it with Frank so as to cast suspicion on Kelsey if the need arose.

  “We’d better park down below on the lake road,” Theo said. His voice interrupted my reverie and I had to ask him to repeat what he said. “Are you all right, Norrie? Because we can call the sheriff’s office.”

  “I’m fine. Park the car at the closest pull-off and we’ll walk up there. Right now I think Boyd’s in the house with the boys but we’re soon going to get company when Kelsey arrives.”

  “Or we can call the—”

  “It’ll be too late. Come on.”

  “I’m telling you right now I’m really getting tired of crawling through windows, picking locks, and tiptoeing down wobbly basement stairs.”

  “Oh, drat. My phone just buzzed. It’s a text. Hold on.”

  I read the message and nearly kneeled over. “It’s from Zenora. Can you believe it? It says, I can sense that you’re near water. Of course I’m near water. I live in the Finger Lakes. Yeesh. She also wrote, You’re in danger. Turn back. Boy, if that doesn’t read like a line from an old forties movie, I don’t know what does.”

  I tucked the phone in my pocket as Theo pulled to the side of the road and turned off the engine. “Must be our lucky night. It’s my phone this time. Give me a sec.” He tapped the screen and sighed. “Don sent a text. Probably insisting we go home. Let’s see, he wrote, whoa! Not what I expected.”

  “What? What did he write? What didn’t you expect?”

  “He wrote a long message because Don really doesn’t know how to text. It says, Finished C. J. Box. Went back to the freezer files and read everything. Barbara Stanowicz was Frank Liguori’s silent partner in more than one business dealing. Maybe Brewer wasn’t the only one who gave her the shaft. Text or call me. This is looking ugly.”

  “I think your partner just found the smoking gun.”

  We got out of the car and eyeballed the steep driveway. “My guess is motion sensor lights,” Theo said. “Stay behind the bushes to your right and we should be okay. Worst-case scenario is that we’ll get scratched up a bit.”

  Getting scratched up a bit was an understatement. The bushes on the side of the driveway were rosebushes. Thorny miserable rosebushes. We narrowed our plan of action to two options—bang on the door and demand Boyd release Eli and Stuart or use the tried-and-true method of seeing if we could get in through an open window or pick a lock.

  What we didn’t count on was the third option—someone else banged on the front door while something hit one of the windows on the side of the house, causing shards of glass to rain down on us like sharp pieces of hail.

  “And you complained about the rosebushes,” Theo announced. “Look up! I think that’s your boy by what I’m guessing is a bathroom window.”

  Sure enough, I heard Eli’s voice loud and clear. “I swear I’ll jump, and when I’m dead I’ll come back to haunt you!”

  Is the whole world into this paranormal thing? First Zenora, now this . . .

  “It’s only four or five feet,” I yelled back, thankful the interior lighting in the room gave off a wide glow. “You won’t be in the next world, but you will get cut up. It’s Norrie. Who are you talking to?”

  “The nutcase guy on the other side of the door who yelled at my father before we found the dead bodies. You know who I’m talking about. He’s the man Stuart said could’ve been my principal.”

  “You broke into his house,” Theo shouted. “What did you expect?”

  Eli yelled back. “We didn’t break in. He drove us here when we snuck in the back of his car. Stuart and I w
ere trying to save the civilization of Tantos by fighting off the Umbreon. Really evil dudes. Stuart got a new Lightseekers molten blade weapon and we wanted to try it out.”

  “Is that why your bikes were stashed behind the garage of that old house in Dresden?” I asked.

  “Yeah. We couldn’t take them with us. We were playing in the yard between the house and the garage when he and the stinky perfume woman showed up. We hid behind the garage and listened to them. The woman told the guy he shouldn’t’ve done what he did because one dead body was enough. That’s when Stuart and I knew they were the killers. But they were about to leave so we covered our bikes and got in his car. We ducked down behind the front seats. The woman must’ve had her own car because she didn’t get in.”

  Theo sounded exasperated. “Why didn’t you use your phones and call the sheriff’s office?”

  “We were going to do that from the car only we forgot our phones. Once we got here, the guy went in the house and we hid in one of his garage closets. Then he left. He didn’t know we were here. Good thing his kitchen had lots of cookies and chips. We figured he’d come right back but he didn’t. Not until now.”

  I tried not to groan. “Is Stuart okay?”

  “Yeah, he’s locked in the bedroom but I had to use the bathroom so the guy let me in here. That’s when I locked myself in.”

  “Is the man outside your door?”

  “Not anymore. I heard him go down the hall. Someone’s knocking on the front door.”

  “Stay where you are,” I said. “Theo and I are going to come in through the broken window, but first, grab a towel so you don’t get cut and push the rest of the glass out of the frame. Got it?”

  “Duh.”

  I turned to Theo and kept my voice low. “This isn’t good. That’s probably Kelsey at the front door and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both armed.”

  “Now’s a good time to call the sheriff’s office,” he said. “You start climbing and I’ll dial. It’ll take them at least a half hour to maneuver the bluff road and find us.”

  “Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will be Grizzly Gary’s night off.”

  It wasn’t.

  Eli did what I asked and cleared the glass from the window. If it wasn’t for some large decorative stones that hugged the side wall of the house, Theo and I would never have been able to reach the window ledge and hoist ourselves into the bathroom.

  No sooner did our feet hit the floor then we heard Boyd on the other side of the door. “Open this up, kid, we’re going for a ride.”

  The pounding on the front door got even more intense. “I’m coming back, you little reprobate, and you’d better open the damn door.”

  “Shh!” I whispered. “He doesn’t know Theo and I are in here. We’ve got to get Stuart and get the heck out of here.”

  “Who puts a lock on the outside of a bedroom door?” Theo asked. “It better not be keyed.”

  “Only one way to tell. Come on.” Then I turned to Eli. “You stay here and keep quiet. We’re going to climb out through this window once we get Stuart. Better yet, stand in the shower stall.”

  The bedroom was secured, all right. But not high-tech. Boyd had wedged a chair under the doorknob. I waited until the sound of his footsteps waned as he approached the front door. Then Theo and I tiptoed to the bedroom adjacent to the bathroom, rattled the door enough to dislodge the chair, and motioned for Stuart to follow us.

  I put my finger over my lips and gave Stuart the eye. He got the message and didn’t say a word. A few seconds later, I pushed the bathroom door open just as Kelsey’s voice exploded a few yards away.

  “Talk about ruining a perfectly good night. Your mother said you needed some help disposing of something.”

  “Looks like the shoe’s on the other foot this time.”

  “Let’s get it over with. I haven’t got all night.”

  With a quick thud, I shoved Stuart into the bathroom and turned to Theo. “I think they mean to do to Eli and Stuart what was done to Brewer and Frank,” but no sooner did those words come out of my mouth than I felt a hand pressing into my shoulder, and it wasn’t Theo’s.

  Chapter 38

  “Get out the window now, Eli!” I yelled. “And you follow him, Stuart!”

  Then I realized something. Eli wasn’t in the bathroom. Either he had taken it upon himself to slither out the window or he decided to go the other way down the hall when Theo and I went to rescue Stuart.

  It didn’t matter. As long as those fingers continued to press into my shoulder, I wasn’t going anywhere. I spun my head around to see Kelsey Arnet towering over me and Boyd pointing a fireplace poker at Theo’s neck. Meanwhile, Stuart managed to throw one leg over the window ledge and follow up with the other.

  I shouted, “Watch out for the—” but Arnet put his other hand over my mouth before I could finish the sentence. Then he growled at Boyd, “Good going, you moron. You really screwed up this time. What’d you do? Send out invitations? Never mind. We’ve got to get these two in my car and out of here. Forget the poker. I’ve got a handier tool.”

  With that, he moved his hand from my mouth, reached down, and pulled a gun from an ankle holster. Wonderful. Another yahoo with a concealed weapon permit. “Got any rope or duct tape around? I don’t think these two are going anywhere.”

  “Yeah. Duct tape. In the kitchen. Give me a second,” Boyd replied.

  By now Theo and I were pressed against the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom where Stuart and Eli had been sequestered. I only hoped Eli had taken the straight path out of here through the window and wasn’t lurking around in the house. Kelsey Arnet seemed a bit too cavalier with that gun.

  Theo didn’t say a word, but while Kelsey kept his eyes and his gun on me, Theo slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants where he kept his phone. Not that it would matter. He’d already called the sheriff’s office. Still, I figured he was up to something so I let out a cough that ensured Kelsey Arnet’s attention would stay on me.

  “Stay still,” he said. Then he looked at me closely. “Hey, you’re the woman who sat next to me at the Dresden Hotel. Someone put you up to this?”

  Nah, I can dig my own holes and crawl in them.

  “Coincidence, that’s all. But you won’t get away with kidnapping and murder.”

  At that moment, Boyd arrived with a spool of duct tape over his wrist. “Here you go. Move fast. We’ve got to round up those kids.”

  “You tape them up. I’m not taking the gun off of these two.”

  “You may want to point that gun at your buddy,” I said to Arnet, “because he set you up to take the fall for murdering Frank Liguori.”

  “Huh?” Arnet was dumbfounded. “What are you talking about?”

  I looked at Boyd who didn’t budge a muscle. “Do you want to tell him or should I?”

  “She’s stalling for time.” Then to me, “Put your hands where I can see them.” He ripped off a piece of the duct tape and was about to bind my hands when I said, “You knew Kelsey used a pen to stab Brewer in the neck when they struggled in the vineyard. You knew because you were the one who helped him move the body.”

  “What’s she saying?” Kelsey asked.

  “I’m saying Boyd knew how Brewer was killed so he used the same method when he murdered Frank Liguori at Speltmore Winery. Isn’t that true, Boyd? You’re no dummy. You had to remove any suspicion from your mother and make it look as if the same person killed both men. Frank double-crossed his silent partner, aka Barbara Stanowicz, and I can prove it. We found those letters and agreements in that old freezer in Dresden.”

  Boyd took a step back and widened his eyes. “She’s lying. I didn’t set you up.”

  “Maybe you should let Kelsey decide,” I continued. “He wasn’t born yesterday. Besides, what better way to cover up your dirty deed than frame him. Face it, the coroner would easily conclude it was a pen that caused both puncture wounds. And the pièce de résistance would be the ink. Kelsey had a zi
llion of those pens as promos for his new seasonal employee business. Too bad when he gave you one, he didn’t figure you’d use it to point the finger at him. I give you credit. It was the perfect plan.”

  “You can’t prove it. All I did was move a body to cover up his mess.”

  Kelsey shoved the gun in Boyd’s chest. “You son of a—” But before he could finish, a small bluish object that we never saw coming slammed into the side of Kelsey’s head, causing him to drop the gun. Theo wasted no time kicking the gun off to the side. Then, another small object flew through the air and zapped Boyd right between the eyes.

  I looked down the hall, and there was Eli ready to launch another missile with a rubber band when I shouted, “It’s okay. These two aren’t going anywhere.” In a nanosecond I dove to the ground and snatched Kelsey’s gun.

  “If you think I don’t know how to use this,” I said, “think again.” It was a line I heard in some movie or maybe even a TV show but it worked. The men didn’t budge.

  A moment later a siren blast enveloped the entire road, and that one siren sounded like twenty. Then Stuart came in through the front door. “There’s like a bazillion cop cars out there,” he said. “I waved them over from the driveway.”

  The next ten minutes were pandemonium with deputies everywhere and every one of them shouting at once. But all of that came to an abrupt stop when Grizzly Gary saw me pointing a gun at Kelsey and Boyd.

  “You can hand the gun over, Miss Ellington,” he said. “We’ll take it from here.”

  “You’re not going to read me the riot act?”

  “Don’t give me any ideas.”

  “These two men are responsible for those murders.”

  Deputy Hickman raised his chin at Eli and Stuart, who were now fiddling with the small projectiles Eli had effectively delivered to Kelsey and Boyd. Then he stomped over to where Boyd and Kelsey stood. “Kidnapping carries a long sentence,” he said.