Murder at Jade Cove (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 2) (6 page)

“Please, have a seat.
Jack, would you get us some coffee?” she asked, turning towards her husband. A
few minutes later he returned with mugs for each of them.

“Here you are. I’d join
you, but I have to meet my hunting pal Fred out at the rifle range. When I was
deer hunting I noticed that my favorite hunting rifle was missing the target by
a couple of inches, so I’m going to test it out at the range. I’m pretty sure
the telescopic sight just needs a little fine tuning. When those cross-hairs on
the scope are properly adjusted, just about anybody could hit smack dab in the
middle of a half dollar at two hundred yards. That’s why it’s my favorite. Don’t
get many chances to take a shot at a big buck and I don’t want to miss an
opportunity because the sights on my rifle are not properly adjusted. Glad it’s
only the one rifle I’m having trouble with because if I had to test fire all
five of my rifles I’d be out at the range all day. See you later.” They heard
the screen door close behind him as he walked out towards the garage.

Bonnie looked at Kelly
with a smile on her face and said, “It’s such a big subject I really don’t know
where to begin. You probably want an overview. Well, the spotted owls live in
old-growth forests, so there are a lot of them around here. You’re correct in
that it is an endangered species. I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but
they’ve been seen on Jeff Black’s property. The main threat to the spotted owls
is the loss of their habitat. If Jeff’s land is cleared for that hotel and spa
he wanted to build, that would qualify as habitat loss.

“I’ve spoken at a number
of meetings about it. In fact, I even traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with
our Senators and Congressmen about it. I wasn’t able to see them, but I did
have meetings with their staffs. They told me that unless there were
photographs or hard evidence of a spotted owl on the Black property, there was
nothing they could do. I tried my darnedest, but I couldn’t get a picture of
one on his property.”

Bonnie stopped for a
moment and took a sip of her coffee. “Not many people know that there’s an old
dilapidated shack on that strip of Bureau of Land Management property on the
north side of Jade Cove. I found it years ago when I was bird-watching in that
area. Nobody’s ever in that shack, just mice and birds. The windows were broken
out before I ever went there and there’s a big hole in the roof. When I was
there many years ago I remembered that even though it’s not on Jeff Black’s
property, you can see the shack he used as an office as well as his ranch house
from the vantage point of the abandoned shack. I thought it would be a good
idea for me to go hide out in the old shack and see if I could get a photo of a
spotted owl on his property.”

“Can anyone get on the BLM
property?” Kelly asked. “I kind of remember seeing a “No Trespassing” sign on
it.”

“Yeah, well, there may be.
Anyway, I had a telephoto lens on my camera that’s also equipped with an
infrared attachment so I can take photos at night. Believe me, if an owl had
come, I was ready, but I didn’t see anything. It was a full moon when I was
there. I stayed awake at night watching for an owl and slept during the day. I
was out there for two days and nights. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the proof
I needed and the hotel and spa were approved. Best thing that ever happened to
the spotted owls was when Jeff Black was killed. Sure hope whoever’s going to
take over that land now that he’s dead won’t try to build on it. I have some
people coming in a couple of days who are really good bird watchers. They can
see birds that no one else can and I’m hoping they can get a picture of one on
his property. I understand that whoever inherits the property won’t have to get
approval again to build a hotel and spa, but if I can get a photograph of a
spotted owl on that property, I can probably get the Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Department to back me up and stop any future construction.”

“Wow! I had no idea that
if something like the spotted owl is on the endangered species list, a loss of
its habitat might stop something from being built,” Kelly said. “I’ll bet a lot
of people haven’t been very happy when that happened.”

“I look at it this way.
Someone has to look out for our wild animals and creatures. They can’t speak
for themselves. I consider it to be my life’s work to see what I can do to help
them. Make no mistake, Kelly, that hotel and spa will never be built on that
property.”

Kelly stood up. “Thanks,
Bonnie. I’ve taken up enough of your time and you mentioned you had a meeting
you had to get to. I really appreciate you sharing all this information with
me.”

Bonnie walked her to the
door. “I know you can’t do anything about that property, but I hope you
understand just how critical it is to the spotted owls. How would you like it
if someone threatened to tear down your home and you couldn’t speak up?”

Kelly paused for a moment
and looked at her. “I wouldn’t like it, Bonnie. I wouldn’t like it at all.”

As soon as Rebel saw Kelly
approaching the minivan, he got in the back seat and laid down, his job of
watching and waiting for her safe return over for the moment. “Thanks, boy.
Wow, Bonnie may be a nut case, but she sure makes a pretty good argument for
protecting the spotted owls. Who knew? Not me. Time to go home, big guy.”

Bonnie stood at the window
watching Kelly get into her van. When she saw Kelly drive around the corner,
Bonnie walked up the stairs and went into her bedroom. She slid her closet door
open and reached behind a heavy coat hanging at the far end of it. She removed
a cloth bag from a hanger and unzipped it.

“It’s okay, Big Eyes,”
Bonnie said.” No one will ever find you. You know you’ll always be safe with me
because I love you more than anything in the world.” She stroked the stuffed
spotted owl and then put her arms around it’s nearly one and a half foot tall
body. “That mean old Jeff Black is dead and I’m glad. He was the only one who
could hurt us. I told you about how he found me out at the old shack next to
his property. He saw me shoot you several years ago and he threatened to tell
everyone that I killed a spotted owl. He even took a photograph of me with you.
He wanted to know why I’d done it. I told him how I loved spotted owls and I
had to have one just for myself. He was going to tell everyone about how I
killed you, but they would never be able to understand why I did it. I don’t
want to share you with anyone. I just wanted my own spotted owl. Don’t worry,
Big Eyes, our secret is safe now that Jeff’s dead. I love you.”

Kelly walked into the house and
looked out the great room window where the light from the setting sun was
spreading fingers of fading sunlight onto the smooth surface of the bay. No
matter how many evenings she watched the sun set across Cedar Bay, it never
failed to thrill her. The ringing of her cell phone broke her moment of
reverie.

She looked at the monitor
and answered it. “Hi, Mike. I kind of expected to see you when I got home.
Something come up?”

“Yeah, a bunch of things.
I’ve got a meeting with the coroner in a few minutes regarding Jeff’s death.
Marcy’s back in town and I made an appointment to see her later on tonight. I
was hoping to talk to Brandon, but she told me he’s gone back to school. He and
Marcy decided not to have a funeral for Jeff. He was cremated and Brandon said
he’d prefer to remember his father the way he was the last time he saw Jeff.
It’s kind of a grey area because although Marcy had been served with the
divorce papers, they weren’t divorced, so according to the law, she still has
the right to make the decision as what to do with Jeff’s remains. Think it was
gracious of her to bow to Brandon’s wishes.”

“Well, if she hadn’t been
served with the papers, I think she would have loved to have played the part of
the grieving widow, but given the fact that Jeff cut her out of his will and
was in the process of divorcing her, I think she made the right decision. When
people find out about those two things, she’d look pretty ridiculous…”

Mike interrupted her.
“Wait a minute. What are you talking about? What will?”

She told him what Patti,
the teller at the bank, had told her. “Kelly, why would she tell you that?
That’s pretty confidential information.”

“Mike, she and I grew up together.
I’ve known her all my life, plus I think she still resents Marcy. Patti and
Jeff were seeing each other before he met Marcy while he was in Portland on a
business trip. I remember it was quite the talk of the town. Wealthy man goes
to Portland and comes back with a prospective bride. Patti told me he broke it
to her over the phone. It happened really fast and no one in town could believe
it. Looks like Marcy knew a good thing when she saw it.”

“Kelly, you promised me
you wouldn’t do anything on this case. You’re skating on very thin ice here.”

“Mike, I didn’t ask her
about the will. She volunteered the information. You know I’d never break a
promise to you,” she said, mentally crossing her fingers.

“Well, remember what you
just said the next time you’re tempted to ‘help me’ and believe me, I use the
term loosely. I suppose that explains why Lem called earlier. When I saw him
yesterday, he mentioned that Jeff’s will was in his safe deposit box. He
probably read the file copy of Jeff’s will that he kept in his office and after
he read it, called me. That gives Marcy an even stronger motive to kill Jeff.
Anger over him divorcing her, leaving her out of his will, and finding out she
was the beneficiary of a three million dollar life insurance policy.”

“I agree, Mike, but don’t
forget Marcy just found out today that Jeff left her out of his will. If you
consider her a prime suspect, you have to remember that she didn’t know she had
been cut out of his will when he was murdered. I would think she’d want to get
a good divorce attorney instead and hope she could get some of the ranch
property. That would be worth far more than the three million dollars in
insurance money she’d get if he was dead.”

“That’s true, but maybe it
was a question of the old saying, ‘a bird in the hand is worth more than two in
the bush,’ in other words, she could always kill him if she didn’t get part of
the ranch property in the divorce. She’s not dumb. Marcy would probably figure
that Jeff would keep her on as the primary beneficiary of the policy until
Brandon finished college, so she knew she had some time. Yes, she had a motive,
but I think she might have even had more of a motive to see that he lived.
Plus, I’m sure she would have gotten some alimony from Jeff, and if he died, she’d
lose it.”

“Mike, a thought just
occurred to me. Do you think Brandon knew that according to the terms of Jeff’s
will, he was going to inherit everything? If he did, that certainly provides a
motive for Brandon to be the killer. You know, kill Jeff and he gets the ranch
now rather than years from now when Jeff dies from natural causes.”

There was quiet on the
other end of the phone while Mike thought about what Kelly had just said.
Finally, he answered her, “Yes, that would provide a motive and no, I don’t
know if Brandon knew about the will. With Jeff dead, I’m not sure we’ll ever
know. I’m reluctant to consider that Brandon could have done it because I
remember how close and supportive Brandon was to Jeff when the fire destroyed
his property. Remember, after I arrested Jeff for growing marijuana on his
property, and he was in the county jail for a couple of days trying to make
bail, Brandon was the one who stuck by his dad. Marcy abandoned him and left
for Portland to be with her sister and threatened to divorce him. She made
Brandon go to Portland with her, but when he came back to Cedar Bay to deliver
the valedictorian speech at his high school graduation, he stayed at the ranch
house with Jeff. It was a few more weeks before Marcy returned. No, I would
have a real hard time thinking that Brandon killed his father.”

“Well, Sheriff Mike, I
have another person in mind for you. Does the name Bonnie Davis ring a bell
with you?”

“No, it doesn’t just sound
like a ringing bell when her name is mentioned, it’s more like a loud abrasive
gong. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to her speak at various
events, usually about the spotted owls. Why do you ask?”

“I had a long talk with
her today. A tourist was at the coffee shop a few weeks ago and asked where he
could find spotted owls. He said he wanted to take a picture of one and show it
to his Audubon Society group back in Kansas. I didn’t know a thing about them,
so I stopped by her house and asked if she would tell me about the spotted
owls,” Kelly said as she walked into the nearby bathroom and looked in the
mirror to see if her nose had grown as long as Pinocchio’s had grown for lying.

“Here’s the thing,” she
continued, “Bonnie fought long and hard to try and stop the construction of the
hotel and spa on Jeff’s property. She told me she was glad Jeff was dead
because maybe it meant that now the hotel and spa wouldn’t be built. She said
she considered herself to be a voice for the spotted owls. I think she meant
it. She may be a nut case, but she also had a motive for killing Jeff.”

“Well, that may be so, but
I’d have a tough time believing Bonnie’s a killer,” Mike said.

“Here’s one more tidbit of
information about Bonnie that you might find interesting. When I was at her
house, her husband Jack was there when I arrived and he said he had to leave to
go to the rifle range. Seems he was having trouble with the telescopic sight on
one of his hunting rifles and was going to the range and test it. In passing he
mentioned that he owns five rifles. That means Bonnie would have easy access to
Jack’s rifles if she wanted to kill Jeff. Jack also said that with the
telescopic sight on his rifle, it was easy to hit a target anywhere from one
hundred to two hundred yards. Yeah, I know Bonnie is outspoken in her opposition
to guns and supports a ban on the sale of guns, but nevertheless, the old
saying, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’ might apply to Bonnie. Jack’s
rifle could have very easily provided the ‘way’ for Bonnie to kill Jeff,” Kelly
said.