1 Target of Death (6 page)

“What bad timing,” a man nearby said.

“I hope it doesn’t ruin the winter
festival,” another said.

“There, there,” Margarita said. “There’s no
sense in making a big deal out of this.”

Mary’s eyes crossed for a moment. “You
should be more worried than most of us, seeing as how your restaurant is about
to go under as it is.”

Margarita’s hand went to her hips. “Who on
earth gave you that idea? Patsy McNalley?”

“Well, yes, but it also doesn’t take a
genius to know that Hidden Pass has fewer customers since Hank’s Hotspot opened
up.”

“Hank’s Hotspot?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s a restaurant down the street from
me. They cater to the local hunters in town and serve wild game,” Margarita
explained.

“They also have a full menu and the food is
excellent, not like that slop you serve,’ Mary said with a bob of her head.

Margarita’s faced reddened. “Go to Hades,
Mary. If you need to know, I’m serving authentic—”

“New menu items, she means,” I interjected.
“I guess you’ll have to stop by and find out tomorrow.”

Mary puffed up her chest. “I wouldn’t set
one foot in Hidden Pass if you paid me to.”

Margarita held her head high as she pushed
the cart up to the cash register, waiting as the cashier rung her up. She
pulled out her debit card and glanced at me nervously until the cashier handed
her a number pad to key in her secret code. She punched the numbers, and once
the transaction went through, she had a relieved look on her face. Just how
destitute was Margarita?

I waited patiently while the order was
bagged up and placed into the cart. I all but ignored the other customers who
were speculating on who might have been murdered. I propelled the cart forward
and was thankful that nobody stopped us to ask any more questions about the
body that had been found.

On the way back to Hidden Pass, I
apologized. “I guess I should have kept my yap shut, but I had hoped Mary might
have had something insightful to add about the body being found.”

“If word gets back to Simon about this, I’m
sending him your way.”

“Who?”

“The sheriff.” She pressed her lips
together and added, “Under no circumstance are you to tell anyone Jeffrey
Albright told us Clayton Percy was the man murdered. He’s my only source of
information about what’s going on inside that department.”

“I’m not an idiot. I know better than to do
that. You need to trust me. It’s important that people know someone died.”

“Why is that?” Dixie asked. “If they don’t
know who, how is that going to be of much use?”

“Because it gets people talking, is why.
Who knows—the real killer might even reveal him or herself.”

“I can’t believe anyone would be that
stupid,” Margarita said.

“Mistakes can and will be made eventually,
and when they are, we’ll be on top of it.”

I made the turn into the parking lot and
parked in a spot that was so packed with snow that I wondered if I’d be able to
get back out, but surely Margarita had four-wheel drive.

We climbed out and grabbed a few bags,
trudging through the ankle-deep snow. As we made way for the door, the wind had
picked up and the snow whipped in our faces. Once we were inside, we stomped
the snow from our boots and strode into the back, where Margarita ordered the
staff to retrieve the remainder of the groceries.

Laughter could be heard as the front door
opened wide and slammed shut. I made my way toward the sound and stood face to
face with the local archery champ, Daniel Adams. This time around he shucked
his parka, revealing a toned body with a hint of a beer gut, not exactly
repulsive in my book. Under different circumstances, I might even have thought he
was attractive. As it was, he was the one person who stood in my way of
claiming the ten thousand dollar prize. I wouldn’t allow myself to think that
he might be any competition to me. I had faced opponents from all walks of life
and nationalities, not one of them any competition to me really, but had my
luck run out? I couldn’t allow myself to think that. There was simply no way
I’d allow this Michigander to best me.

“I see you found a place to stay,” Daniel
said. “It’s too bad I’m going to send you back to Louisiana empty-handed.” The
crowd that had wandered in with him roared in laughter. I stared at the lot of
them; they were all wearing camouflage.

“It’s gonna be so embarrassing when I make
you eat those words.”

His brow shot up. “That’ll be the day.
Women just aren’t cut out for this sport. It takes a man with stamina,” he
hinted. He flexed his arm upward, tapping his bulging bicep with his other
hand.

I stared him down. “Go ahead and flex the
only muscle you probably have.”

“Would you care for a practice run?” Daniel
asked.

I clenched my hands into fists and
unclenched them.

He smiled. “No, I meant we could practice
together, unless you’re chicken?”

This fool had no idea those were fighting
words, or how close he came to me socking him in the eye. “Sure, why not? But
it’s snowing rather hard out there.”

He glanced out the large windows, and said,
“It appears to be letting up. I’ll meet you outside in ten minutes.” His
friends clapped him on the back as they shouted, “You’ll show her, Daniel. I
can’t wait to see you take her down.”

Daniel’s brow shot up. “What? This isn’t a
spectator sport, just a friendly competition, one we don’t need any onlookers
for. Isn’t that right, Sassy?”

I nodded, racing up the stairs to retrieve
my bow with a few arrows. I didn’t want to use too many because lord knew if
I’d be able to get more before competition time. Dixie came upstairs and asked,
“What on earth are you planning to do?”

“That local archery pro challenged me to a
friendly competition.”

Dixie just shook her head. “Why on earth
are you giving that man the time of day? Let him stew and wonder what you have
to offer at the competition. You’re gonna let him know your technique and he’ll
use it against you.”

“I have more than one technique. Don’t
worry. I got this.”

“I don’t even want to watch this.”

“Not to worry. It will just be him and me.”

“What are planning to do, roll in the hay?”

“Are you crazy, Dixie? You, more than
anyone, should know that I have no interest in that man.”

“Oh, really? That’s not what your eyes were
saying downstairs.”

“How would you know? You were in the back.”

“Because there’s a mirror near the door. I
believe you were checking him out.”

I slapped my head. “You really should get
your eyesight checked, Dixie. Nothing could be further from the truth. My
interest in him is only in what he can bring to the table.”

Dixie laughed. “You do know how that sounds,
right?”

Instead of answering her, I took my bow and
arrows down the stairs and met Daniel out front. He held a Hoyt Pro Edge Elite
bow and I had to bite my lip to stop from oohing and aahing. I gripped my Bear
Home Wrecker
bow that happened to have the ‘Bear’ name on it in pink. It’s
the perfect bow for me, since its shorter draw length accommodates my chest.

I followed Daniel out back, where he had
two targets set up on bales of straw. Not exactly the correct height for a
competition, but good enough to show this man who was boss.

He snickered. “Cute white and pink
fletches, and that pink on your bow ... it’s so girly. I can already see you’ll
be easy to beat.”

Okay, so he wants to judge me for having
pink on my bow and arrows? “This is one girly who is gonna show you what’s
what.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “Doubtful.”

Changing the subject, I announced, “I only
brought two arrows.”

“I’ll only need one to send your sorry
behind straight back to Louisiana with your tail ... well, I guess you don’t have
a tail, but you do have a pretty fine looking ass.”

He roared in laughter as I gritted my teeth
and went into my stance. He had no clue with whom he was messing. Just as I was
at full draw, Daniel walked in front of my target. “Knock it off!” I shouted,
but he was trying to be cagey so he kept at it. Instead of letting this bastard
get the best of me, I aimed between his spread legs, sinking my arrow, narrowly
missing him.

“You almost hit me!” he shouted.

“Luckily for you, your package is small.”

“How would you know? It just might be
bigger than you think,” he said with a wink. He took his place beside me, drew
back, and easily hit the target. “Your turn.”

Instead of taking a turn, I whirled away.
Not because I couldn’t do it, but because I could have really hit Daniel and
maimed him for life. That’s not how I wanted my competition days to end, by
some stupid mistake.
Tammy, get ahold of
yourself
, I told myself.

When I rounded the corner, Dixie stood
there with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. “Here,” she said. “Don’t let that
man get the best of you like that.”

“You have no idea what I just did.”

“Sure I do. I was watching out back with
half the town, I think.”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“Course you didn’t. They all cleared out
when you almost lanceted the local hot shot.”

“I didn’t meant to do that—”

“I know, you lost your temper, but Tammy,
you could have maimed that man for life.”

“I know. I just lost it when he kept
walking in front of my target.”

Dixie gulped, her eyes widening. “I sure
hope the sheriff isn’t here to talk to you, then.”

I turned to greet the sheriff, who stopped
mid-stride, glancing down at my bow that I still held. “Isn’t it bad enough
that I already suspect you of murdering Clayton Percy?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean, Sheriff.”

“That little stunt you pulled today. I
received at least five calls claiming you shot your bow when Daniel Adams
hadn’t cleared the target area.”

“That wasn’t my fault. My fingers slipped.”

“Why were you at full draw, then? Everyone
knows you don’t do that unless the target area is clear.” When I gave the
sheriff one of my questionable looks, he added, “I’ve been around the
competition circuit for quite some time now. My grandson, Chad, competes, too.”

“Oh, and how old is your grandson?”

“He’s twelve and placing well in
competitions in his age bracket,” he said with pride.

“That’s great. So, Clayton Percy was the
name of the man murdered?”

“Yes, we contacted his wife earlier today
so it’s now official. I still would like to know why you’d have an interest to kill
Clayton?”

I moved my toes inside my boots to keep
them warm. “I already told you that we had just arrived in town.”

“That’s what you said, but I haven’t
decided just yet if I’m ready to believe it.”

“Sorry, I can’t help you with that. Was
this Clayton the type of man who someone might want dead?”

“Not sure about that one just yet. We’re
still investigating. You might be well-served not to be blabbing all over town
about a body being found. You really got the town’s gossip mill up and
running.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” I
said.

“Mary Clink came to the sheriff’s
department not long ago asking questions. She also mentioned that someone with
red hair who accompanied Margarita told her about a body being discovered. I
figured out it was you since I told you to come here. Seems like that was a
mistake on my part.”

“Now, that’s not fair. It’s not like you’d
be able to keep a secret like that for long.”

“Perhaps not, but you might have just
compromised the investigation at a time when I already have enough to worry
about.”

“That’s quite an accusation. How does
telling someone a body was found compromise anything?”

“Because I’d have liked to investigate
further without every busybody in town bugging the bejesus out of me.”

“I never meant to cause any problems. Maybe
we could help.”

“You sure can, by staying out of our way
and allowing us to do our job, Miss.” With that, he turned on his heels and
left.

Once he was back in his car, I was able to
exhale. “He’s bluffing. There is just no way the sheriff could possibly think
we had anything to do with Clayton Percy’s death.”

“We’re perfect suspects since we’re new in
town. All we have to do is—”

“Is what?” Daniel interjected. When we both
stared at him, wide eyed, he added, “I hope you don’t think a local committed
such a crime.”

“Oh, and why is that?” I asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I know
just about everyone in town and I can’t imagine any of them capable of murder.
Besides, it’s a bit of a coincidence that the fletches on the arrow that killed
Clayton were the same color as the ones you have.”