Avalanche: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries) (15 page)

WHEN HE GOT BACK TO
the lodge, Lois was seated at her desk in the office.

“Mind if I borrow your phone a minute, Lois?”

“What if I said yes?”

“I would use it anyway.”

“That’s what I thought. I really don’t mind, Bo. Use it all you want. Would you like me to step out of the office?”

“Not this time, Lois. Just don’t go blabbing anything you might hear.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Tully dialed. Daisy answered. “Boss, if you’re not back here soon, I think I’ll quit!”

“You can’t quit, Daisy. You have to give thirty days notice, and I’ll be back by then. What’s the problem anyway?”

“Nobody knows what to do! I try to tell them, but of course they won’t listen to me.”

“Herb is supposed to be in charge.”

“Oh, you know they don’t listen to Herb either. Besides, he’s gone most of the time checking on some stuff you gave him.”

The general state of confusion in the office actually made him feel better. Maybe he was important to the operation after all. That would certainly be a motive for anyone trying to kill him. Maybe the person who set off the avalanche knew what he was doing. With Tully gone, the murders would no doubt go unsolved. Killing Pap as a bonus was probably a good idea, too, because otherwise someone would die for the murder of Bo Tully. It might not be the right person, but somebody would die. Pap was a sentimental kind of guy.

“Listen, Daisy, is Herb around there now?”

“He just came in, boss. I hope you chew on him good!”

Tully covered the earpiece while Daisy yelled at Herb to take line one.

“Hi, Bo,” Herb said. “Hope you’re not paying any attention to Daisy. She’s been flipping out ever since you’ve been gone. You don’t have something going with her, do you?”

“Not yet, Herb. She’s in the middle of a divorce.”

“Well, I imagine Albert the Awful won’t be too upset to be rid of her.”

“So what do you have for me, Herb?”

“Nothing much, Bo, except I’ve been running a real tight ship while you’ve been gone.”

“That’s great, Herb.”

“Do I get a raise?”

“No. I assume you have disposed of Clarence.”

“I’m working myself up for it.”

“You don’t have to work yourself up for it. Just do it.”

“Right, Bo.”

“Now get me back to Daisy.”

Daisy picked up. “What now, boss?”

“I just wanted to make sure Brian Pugh is out taking care of the little task I assigned him.”

“It’s taken care of. Lurch told me and I told Brian. He’s out there right now handling it. I made sure of that.”

“Good.”

Daisy loved ordering people around.

Tully hung up. “I forgot you were sitting there, Lois. Don’t tell anyone what you heard.”

“All I could make out of interest, Sheriff, was that you might be dating some woman called Daisy who is getting a divorce.”

“That’s the part I don’t want you to tell anyone.”

Lois said, “I hope you don’t think Blanche had anything to do with the murder of Mike Wilson.”

“What I think doesn’t amount to anything, Lois. It’s only what I can prove. And right now I can’t prove a thing.”

TULLY FOUND THE HANDYMAN IN
his shop. “You ever know Mike Wilson to buy dynamite, Grady?”

Grady thought for a moment. “He was going to blast a new channel for that crick that meanders through the meadow down the road. I never knew anybody that wanted to straighten a crick before, but that’s the kind of person Mike was. He liked everything nice and tidy, even cricks. You’ll notice in the shop, there’s a place marked out on the pegboard for every tool. If he found a tool that hadn’t been put back in its proper place, he’d blow a fuse.”

“Did he ever straighten the creek?”

“No, sir, he never did.”

“What happened to the dynamite?”

“Can’t rightly say. Never heard Mike mention it or the crick again.”

“When did he purchase the dynamite?”

“How come you’re so interested in dynamite, Sheriff? Somebody blow something up?”

“Maybe. So when did Mike buy it?”

“Last summer sometime, when he got all fussed up over the crick wasting so much of the meadow. To tell you the truth, I like the crick the way it is.”

“Me too,” Tully said. “You’re sure he purchased the dynamite?”

“Pretty sure. He said he did. Said it made him nervous, driving it back up to the lodge in the back of his car. Apparently it is the kind of dynamite that a sudden jolt can set it off, like if another car rams you from behind.”

Tully said, “Back when I was a kid, it was called ditching dynamite. Don’t know what they call it now. It doesn’t seem to me to be the sort of thing you want to have lying around.”

“You’re making me nervous, Sheriff.”

“Hope so, Grady. You might take a look around the shop, see if you can turn up any.”

“Yes sir!”

Tully met Pap and Dave for lunch. “Looks as if this might be our last free meal,” he told them. “You better order the most expensive dish they’ve got.”

“Glad you told us,” Pap said.

The waitress came to take their orders. Pap and Dave each ordered the T-bone steak.

“Oh,” the waitress said, “those are served only for dinner in the evening.”

“This is an emergency,” Tully told her. “My men need T-bone steaks right now. Otherwise, I can’t be responsible for what they might do.”

The waitress smiled. “Okay, Sheriff. I have orders to give you anything you ask for.

“Anything?”

“In the way of food,” she said, laughing. “But I would be happy to discuss any other matters you might have in mind.”

“That’s a discussion I’ll look forward to,” he told her. “Otherwise, today has been nothing but one disappointment after another. I’ll take the soup and salad combo.”

The waitress left, smiling. Not bad, Tully thought.

“Soup and salad,” Dave said. “Bo, that doesn’t give you anywhere near your daily requirement of cholesterol.”

“I know,” he said. “But I’ve got at least ten pounds I have to drop. Then I’ll stop by your House of Fry and order one of your chicken-fried steaks.”

“Gain all ten pounds back in one meal,” Dave said.

“That’s my plan. Anyway, here’s what I have up till now. I know the avalanche was deliberately set off by ditching dynamite. The marks are still up in the snow on the ridge where the avalanche started. From that point, you can clearly see the road down below, and it would be easy to see the red Explorer coming up the road. I just found out from Grady that Mike bought some ditching dynamite last summer. He had to have a permit from Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to do that, and he had to fill out a form to get the permit. When we get back to town, we’ll get a copy from ATF.”

“You have any evidence of the dynamite, Bo?”

“Just the marks in the snow and the holes. I think Mike buried the dynamite at the top of an old rock-slide. I’ll hunt somebody down with a digital camera and see if I can get some pictures.”

After lunch, Tully found Lindsay in the lounge playing chess with Marcus. The boy gave Tully a sheepish look.

“You should be out of here tomorrow, Marcus,” Tully said. “Then you’ll have the chance to explain to your daddy how you drowned your BMW.”

“I already explained it to him over the phone. I thought it would be safer that way. And I would just as soon you didn’t talk to him, Sheriff, because I may have modified the facts a little.”

“That’s certainly what I would have done, Marcus. I think you may have the makings of a fine lawyer. Now I need to borrow your partner here for a private consultation.”

He led Lindsay into the 3-D map room.

“What’s up, Bo?”

“Tell me you have a digital camera with you.”

“Sure, you want to borrow it?”

“No, I’m not much of a tech freak. I need you to shoot some pictures for me.”

“Great!”

“And then you’ll probably get to testify as a witness in a trial.”

“Cool!”

“Yes, it is. I’ll pick you up out in front of the lodge in an hour. Come bundled up.”

“Where are you going now?”

“I have to arrange transportation.”

Janice was still eating lunch. “A passenger!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Tully said. “But she doesn’t weigh much. The extra weight may slow the mutts down a bit, but that’s all.”

“Calling them mutts isn’t helping you one bit to get that ride. Who is the passenger?”

“Lindsay Blair.”

“That hot little fox!”

“Hey, there’s nothing between us. She’s just a kid.”

“When did that ever stop you? I was a kid once, too, you may remember.”

“And then you married Tom. By the way, did he ever turn up?”

“Yeah, his aunt Margaret died and he drove up to Lewiston for the funeral.”

“See, just what I told you. And you thought he was having an affair!”

“Men lie.”

“Oh, sure, there’s that. Anyway, are you going to haul me and my passenger up the ridge again? I could ask Grady, but I’d just as soon he doesn’t know what I’m up to.”

“Is he a suspect?”

“Everybody is a suspect.”

“Am I a suspect.”

“Sure. But not of murder.”

Janice smiled. “Good.”

“COOL!” LINDSAY SAID WHEN SHE
saw the sled and dogs.

“I thought you might like it,” Tully said.

He sat down on the sled and tucked Lindsay’s crutches in on each side of him. She wiggled in between his knees and wrapped her arms around his legs.

“This kid knows all the moves,” Janice muttered. “Mush!”

The pups took off full speed up the slope, scarcely noticing the extra weight, as far as Tully could tell. They arrived at the site of the avalanche in the same mad scramble as before, the dogs ready for a complete tour of the mountain.

“You need to work them more,” Tully told Janice.

“Already you’re an expert on sled dogs.”

“Yes, well, in my judgment you will have no trouble winning the race with this team. I wish my detectives had half their enthusiasm.” He slipped his hands under Lindsay’s bottom and pushed her up. He handed her the crutches. Then he pushed himself up, grunting slightly as he did so. The grunting did not go unnoticed by Janice.

“Maybe you need to work out a bit more at the gym,” she told him.

“I hate exercise in all its meaningless forms,” he replied. He walked down to one of the gray holes, squatted, and pointed. “Can you get a shot of this, Lindsay?”

“Yes. Do you want yourself in the shot?”

“Of course. I need to be in it to show the proportions.”

“You could have brought a yardstick,” Janice said. “That would have shown the proportions even better.”

“Yardsticks don’t have to win elections. How does my hair look?”

“Lovely,” Janice said.

“What are those splotches, anyway?” Lindsay asked.

“The remains of dynamite blasts,” Tully said. “You may have to testify you took the picture.”

“Do I get to testify, too?” Janice said.

“That can be arranged. You are a witness.”

Lindsay said, “I’ve taken four shots. How many do you want, Bo?”

“Depends,” Tully said, climbing back up to her. “Let me have a look at them.”

Lindsey brought up each of the photos on the LCD monitor and showed him. “Good,” he said. “I’m even handsomer than I thought.”

“Which is saying quite a bit,” Janice said.

“I don’t think Janice likes you very much, Bo,” Lindsay said.

“She loves me, Lindsay. All women do.”

Janice laughed. “He could be right about that, kid.”

Tully said, “One more favor, Janice. Run us over again to Cabin Three.”

“I hate that place,” she said. “It gives me the creeps.”

“It gives me the creeps, too, but I need to check something out.”

Marge Honeycut’s snowmobile was parked outside of Cabin Three. Lindsay and Janice sat on the sled while Tully went into the cabin.

Tully said, “Marge, what are you doing in a crime scene?”

“What crime scene?”

“The crime scene I should have put a crime-scene tape around so you would know it was a crime scene.”

“The only crime I noticed here, Bo, is the rotten little squirrels got in again and chewed up something all over the floor.”

“I take it you swept the mess up.”

“Sure.”

“Where is it?”

“I dumped it in this plastic bag.” She showed him the bag.

“The bag have anything else in it before you dumped in the mess?”

“Nope, it was empty.”

“Good, let me look in the bag.”

Marge held the bag open for him. He looked in. “Excellent! You done good, Marge.” He took the bag from her and tied a knot in it. He took a felt pen from his pocket. “Watch what I’m doing, Marge.” He wrote the date and time on the bag and then drew a mark across the knot.

“I seen what you done. You wrote the date and time on it. What’s the mark on the knot for?”

“To keep people from messing with it. Do you know what this means?”

“No.”

“It means, Marge, you may have to testify in a murder trial.”

She clapped her hands together. “Wonderful!” She went out, started her snowmobile, and rode off.

Janice yelled at him. “Hurry up, Bo. I’m getting that creepy feeling.”

“Lindsay!” Tully yelled out the door. “Bring your camera in here.”

She came in a rush, her crutches flailing through the snow. “What, Bo?”

“I’m going to crouch down over here and point at this little dark spot on the floor. Can you get a picture of it and me.”

“Sure, there’s a flash on the camera.”

She snapped the photo.

“Take a couple more at different angles,” he told her.

She took several more pictures. “How’s my hair?” he said.

“Still good.”

“Can I have the memory card?”

She took it out and gave it to him. “There may be some pictures of me on it,” she said.

“No problem.”

“Naked.”

“No problem.”

He heard something rustle behind him and spun around, his hand reaching inside his jacket. A squirrel was sitting on a kitchen shelf staring at him. It had a pine cone in its mouth.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, squirrel, but I planned on taking you with me.”

“It’s only a cute little squirrel,” Lindsay said. “You have to calm down, Bo. You’re getting way too jumpy.”

Cute gets on my nerves, he thought. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll calm down.”