No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) (7 page)

heriff Robert Montoya arrived at
our table at the same time as our meals did.
 
He looked disheveled and weary. I wondered if he had been up all night.
After introducing himself and thanking us for our patience, he told us we
needed to stay at the lodge for the remainder of the day unless we were
specifically released by him.

“Sheriff,” Vic said, “we were supposed to start our
hunting today.
 
You can’t –“

“Vic! Cross has been killed.
 
NO ONE is going hunting today!”
 
Geri’s vehement reproach silenced Vic. Their
eyes met with obvious hostility.

“As I said, I’m sorry, but I must insist you each remain
available to speak with my investigators today.”

“Is Cross really dead?”
Harv
asked.
 
“I mean you can officially say
it, right?”

“Yes, he is –“

“He was shot, right Sheriff?”
Harv
asked.

“The details will come out later.
 
I don’t want to say this or that happened
until I hear the official version myself.”

“When should we expect to be interviewed?” Stallings
asked.

“This morning.
 
We’ll get started this morning, but some of
you may not get called until afternoon.”

“It shouldn’t take long.
 
It’s not like we have much to say,” Vic grumbled.

Sheriff Montoya glanced at a notepad.
 
“Do any of you have any idea where we can
reach either Sean or Colt
Bettes
?”

Everyone replied either by saying no or shaking their
heads.

The sheriff left and conversation dwindled as we all
focused on our food. I noticed a few furtive glances that members of the group
shot back and forth to each other, but their importance, if any, was lost on
me.

Before I had finished eating, four deputies entered the
dining room.
 
The deputy on the far left
called for Geri and left the room with her and one other deputy.
 
While they departed, one of the remaining
deputies asked for Vic. The two deputies led him out a moment later.

“We don’t have to stay right here all day, do we?” Nesbitt
asked.
 
His question was not addressed to
anyone in particular.

“I don’t know,” Griffith responded.

“I think they want us to be available to them.
 
My guess, that’s anywhere here at the lodge.”

“Good, because I’m going to my room.”
 
He walked off carrying his mug of coffee.

“I think I’ll do the same,” Griffith said and left.

“Me, too,” Stallings left.

Harv
looked at me.
 
“Did you know Cross very well?”

“No.
 
I only met him
last night at dinner.
 
Seemed like a nice
guy.”

“He was.
 
He could
be gruff, and I guess we all have had our run-ins with him, but I can’t believe
anyone in our group could have done this.
 
We have all benefited from his management of the company.”

“It didn’t have to be someone that worked with him,” I
said.

“I’ve been with the company longer than Cross has.
 
Nesbitt and I go back to the
Hardzog
era. A good guy and whew,”
Harv
shook his head smiling, “what a ladies’ man!
 
But he’s way too old now to step in.”

“How about Geri?”
I asked.

“She couldn’t have done it,”
Harv
almost smiled at the thought.

“No, I meant take over.”

“Maybe.
 
She was part of the management and profited
the most from the success Cross brought to the company.
 
Of course, she bought in and risked a
boatload of her own money, so that’s only fair.
 
But all of us have seen our pay, bonuses, and other benefits go up every
year since Cross took over.”

“Do you have any thoughts on anyone outside your group
having a motive to shoot Cross?”

“No, not at all,”
Harv
responded.

“Well, hopefully the police will be able to figure it
out.”

“I pray they do,”
Harv
said.
 
He stood up and left the room.

“More coffee, sir?”
One of the
wait staff had approached me from behind, a pot of coffee in hand.

“Yes, please.”

He looked like he might still be in his teens.
 
He also looked a little nervous.

“Crazy morning, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Scary is a better word for it,” he said.

“Do you know what happened?” I asked.

“Only that one of the guests got murdered.
 
I’m quitting this job once they say I can
go.
 
So is about half of the staff.
 
We don’t need this stress.”

I took my coffee and walked out into the lobby. The police
presence was still obvious, but the place had calmed down a little.
 
I went out onto the front porch.

A woman in cowboy boots, black jeans, and a white ski
jacket leaned against the railing.
 
She
had pulled her hood up over her head for warmth against the cold breeze. I
contemplated getting my own jacket but decided it wasn’t that cold and didn’t
plan to be out here that long.

A wisp of white smoke drifted by her head before a gust of
wind blew it away from her.
 
I couldn’t
see her face, but I saw the cigarette in her hand as it went back to the rail.

“It’s peaceful out here,” I said as I approached the
railing next to her.

She turned and looked at me. “Jim,” I sensed she was happy
to see me. “How are you dealing with all the chaos?”

“A crazy day, Bev.
 
Aren’t you in early?”

“Rick called me.
 
He
said he needed the bar opened early today.”

“Did he tell you what happened?”

She nodded, “This is going to be tough on Rick.”

“Rick?”

“He’s the general manager and also a minority owner.
 
It’s a family owned business.
 
A lot of friction among the
family members.”

“Sounds like you know the family pretty well,” I said.

“No, just Rick.
He’s a great guy.
Only one fault,” she said looking at me like I should know the punch line.
 
“He’s married.
 
You’re not married, are you, Jim?”

“No way,” I said, playing her game.

“Good.
 
Someday I
need to break the habit.”

“You’ll let me know if I can help, won’t you?”

“Where did you say you’re from?” she asked.

“Clovis.”

“Not too far away.
 
I’ll have to put you on my list.”

“Bev,” Rick called to her from the doorway.

“Hey, Rick,” she walked hurriedly to him. “How are you
doing?”
 
She took one of his arms in her
hands.

Some of the stress appeared to melt from his face.

“Oh thanks, babe. I appreciate your coming in to help,” he
said in a soft voice.

“Just what the doctor ordered,” I thought.
 
She followed him back into the lodge. The
door had barely swung shut, when it opened again and Geri walked out of the
lodge.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” she remarked when she
saw me. She took possession of the spot where Bev had been standing. I didn’t
see a cigarette, but I imagined seeing some smoke, which was more likely steam,
rising from her head.

“What happened?”

“Really nothing, but that’s just it.
 
I explained that I knew nothing, nothing at
all.”

“That’s all you could do,” I said.

“I know, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. They have to
have some idea what happened to Cross, but they wouldn’t tell me anything.
 
Idiots!
 
They wouldn’t even tell me when we could leave.”

“Give them a few more hours,” I said. “It’ll take them a
while to get organized.”

“Are you a cop?” she asked, some of the hostility still
there.

“No, but I’m familiar with their procedures.
 
Where’s Vic?”

“Who knows?”
 
She
said it
like
“who cares,” and I didn’t think she did.

“Have you heard any more from Randi?” I asked.

“No.
 
I imagine
she’s still sleeping.”

“Do you know if anyone has contacted Cross’ wife?”
 
She shook her head. “This will be on the news
fairly soon,” I said.

“I need a drink,” she said after a moment’s silence.

“I think the bar will be opening soon.”

“Hope so.”

“Geri, Cross mentioned to me that this trip, the fall
ones, don’t include spouses--”

“They don’t, except this year Vic wormed his way onto it
when Fred had to cancel out at the last minute.”

“Guess I can’t blame him.
 
Under normal circumstances this could have been a great trip for you
all.”

She looked at me with a puzzled expression and then looked
away.
 
“I hope they catch this guy and
fast. None of this makes any sense.”

“Well, I guess there’s no reason why I would hear anything
before you, but if I hear anything from the police about all this, I’ll let you
know.”

She looked at me and smiled, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I said.
 
I wondered why I lied to people in times like this. A character flaw
from the old days, no doubt.
 
I might or
might not tell her what I learned from the police.

“Who are you, Mr.
West
?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re like an anomaly here at the lodge. You’re
by yourself--”

“Too easily explainable, unfortunately.”

“More interesting, everyone else is either walking around
in shock, or stressed out, or both. You, on the other hand, are as cool as the
proverbial cucumber.”

“Think I’m the murderer?”

“No.
 
I don’t sense
that in you, but then why should I think I could?”
 
She stared off at the trees.

“For the record, I didn’t have anything to do with his
death,” I said.

“For the record, I didn’t either.” She gave me a
halfhearted smile and walked back into the lodge.

I thought about staying on the porch a few minutes longer,
but a gust of cold air convinced me to head back inside.

No one was at the bar, either in front or behind it.
 
Two women on the hotel staff were comforting
a female colleague who sat softly crying on a couch in the lobby.
 
I looked into the deserted dining room.
 
I placed my empty coffee cup on a table and
went back to my room.

y one o’clock, I had my fill of
television and sitting around.
 
I didn’t
feel hungry, but habit is a hard thing to break, so I headed back to the
lodge’s restaurant. Despite Geri’s comments about my being so calm in the midst
of all this, I felt the anxiety setting in.
 
It bothered me that I hadn’t been interviewed yet.
 
I didn’t like being held until last.

The dining room and bar were empty.
 
In fact, other than one poor soul behind the
registration counter, the whole place seemed abandoned.
 
I walked to the hallway that led down to the
crime scene.
 
The police had taped off
the end of the hall, and a lone deputy stood guard outside the room.
 
I could hear sounds of activity coming from
the room.

In the absence of anything better to do, I went outside
and walked around the lodge until I was outside the window that belonged to the
room in which Cross was shot.
 
I looked
at the ground below the window.
 
Nothing
seemed disturbed or gave me an indication that anyone had crawled in or out of
that window in the past day.
 
A normal
person would have needed a ladder to access the window from the outside.
 
The bottom of the window was about seven feet
off the ground.

I decided to walk the rest of the way around the
lodge.
 
The backyard included a large,
covered concrete patio with an immense brick barbeque pit set off to one
side.
 
A handful of metal tables with
chairs sat on the patio, and a few benches were scattered around the lawn. A
few tall pines had been left near the lodge.
 
Further out the forest became thick. On a warmer day it would be
pleasant out here, I thought.