Reining in Murder (32 page)

T
UESDAY
E
VENING
, M
ARCH
15
^TH

“Well, Martha, don't mind if I do.”

Dan extended his glass, which now held just a touch of amber liquid in the bottom. Martha Sanderson reached over and deftly poured a neat shot of Glenlivet into it. Placing the bottle back on Annie's table, she picked up her own glass and took a tiny, measured sip. The unspoken question among the crowd in Annie's kitchen was how such a petite, elderly woman could wield the bottle with such authority, not to mention consume the stuff with such savoir faire.

Lavender was the only one who felt compelled to ask the question out loud.

“Gee, Martha. I never would have suspected you as a single-malt drinker.”

“Fred and I often enjoyed a highball on Saturday nights. And on our trip to Scotland in sixty-eight, we acquired a definite fondness for its authentic taste.” Martha took another delicate sip.

“Wow.” Lavender's eyes grew big, although it wasn't clear if it was because of Martha's declaration or because of the two glasses she'd already consumed herself.

“
O, wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us,'” Martha murmured as she set down her glass.

“Huh?”

“Nothing dear. Just a little Robert Burns. I thought it was appropriate.”

* * *

Annie had trudged up the road to her house after turning out her horses that morning and straight back into bad déjà vu. She saw, to her astonishment, Lavender humming tunelessly in the kitchen, concocting an elaborate casserole that looked suspiciously devoid of meat.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” said Martha, appearing around the corner. “You'd probably like a nice hot cup of coffee. I'm sure I can find one. Would you like a little toast to go with that?”

The news of the fire had spread as quickly as it had on Hilda's property, and Lavender and Martha had decided that morning to come over and see how they could help Annie, whom they were sure was still tired from yesterday's work. She was. In fact, every bone and muscle in Annie's body ached from exhaustion and she wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. Thanks to her two new caretakers, she could and did, but felt immeasurably relieved. If Martha had brought Lavender, she could take her away again, too.

Now, six hours later, there were more people in Annie's home that she could ever remember. It was truly a party, except that Annie could hardly be called the hostess. The other two women had taken over. Lavender and Martha had bustled around the kitchen all afternoon, and the entire house was redolent with good aromas. Wolf showed considerable interest in the oven, so Annie was hopeful that a bit of carrion had been added to the menu.

Dan appeared in the late afternoon, just as Annie had finished feeding the horses. He bore a gift of Glenlivet, and Annie ushered him right in. Kim and Tony followed a few minutes later, and to her surprise, they had another guest with them—Travis Latham. As soon as Mr. Latham—who insisted everyone cut the bull and call him Travis—had been seated in Annie's one cushioned chair, Wolf had left Annie's side and settled comfortably by his feet. Travis tried not to show exactly how pleased he was by the dog's gesture. Annie again vowed then and there that the remaining Belgian, once trained, would find a home at the Latham residence.

The three officers were now sprawled in the remaining chairs around the small kitchen table. It was somehow disquieting to see them attired in civilian clothes. Kim's voluptuous figure was far more evident in skinny jeans and an off-the-shoulder sweater than it had ever appeared in uniform. Tony and Dan were practically unrecognizable in flannel shirts and corduroy jeans.

Annie was dying to ask Dan a million questions, but he obviously wanted to wait until he had his audience's full attention. He had it now.

“It's a complicated case. So let's start with the first murder—that of Wayne Johnston. We know from Annie's brilliant detecting work”—Annie couldn't help a small smirk—“that Eddie Trueblood was the guy who spiked Wayne Johnston's Coke. Millie the waitress has made a positive ID.”

Tony broke in. “I picked up Eddie at the Roadside Tavern last night. Of course, he wouldn't say anything after I read him his rights—the guy knows his attorney's number by heart. But there's no doubt in my mind that Eddie drugged Wayne and is responsible for his murder.”

“I'm also guessing he's responsible for taking a potshot at you, Annie,” Dan added.

“I wouldn't be surprised,” Annie replied. “But this obviously was a two-man job. You found the bear cutout back at Hilda's place. So while Eddie was busy drugging Wayne, Todos must have been setting up the scary bear.”

“Yup. And calling Wayne a few minutes before he took the final pull from his Coke. Turns out that came from a bar within a few miles of Hilda's ranch. Had to be Todos, making a bogus phone call to distract Wayne so Eddie could do his part.”

Martha held up her hand as if she was in school.

“Do you think Eddie was involved in Hilda's death, as well? I'd hate to think of him going to prison for life or worse because he'd been pulled into an evil scheme someone else had concocted. Besides, what was his motivation for helping Todos?” Of everyone in the room, Annie thought, only Martha would express concern for a man who had deliberately drugged and caused another man's death.

Travis now entered the conversation.

“Eddie's nose was out of joint because Hilda had outbid him for the property, just as she'd outbid me. I wasn't the only guy who felt cheated. Only, the stakes were higher for him than me. Everyone in the county knew that Eddie had already failed at two businesses. He probably figured this was his last chance to get Cal, his father, to ante up for a third try. I expect that Eddie was even more bitter about Hilda's ploy to get the property as I was.”

Dan nodded his agreement. “Funny how all the correspondence from you and your Realtor was still in Hilda's office and Eddie's wasn't. Todos wanted
you
to be considered a suspect.”

“But how did Eddie and Todos find each other?” Martha was intent on finding out the full extent of Eddie's involvement. After all, they were talking about the grandson of her very best friends.

“I'm guessing the two miscreants met up at some local dive and realized their common ground—pure hatred for Hilda.

“But, in answer to your original question, Martha, my gut tells me that killing Hilda was all Todos's work. It was personal with him. He wouldn't have wanted to share the pleasure with anyone else.”

“But why
did
Todos kill Hilda?” This was from Lavender, eager to join in, and looking extremely pretty, Annie thought. Her brunette hair actually was very becoming and complemented cheeks rosy with excitement. Glancing at Tony, Annie noticed him watching Lavender out of the corner of his eye and wondered whether he found her half sister attractive. She'd warn him about Lavender later—Tony was a meat eater.

“I've been trying to figure it out, too,” Annie said grudgingly. “I mean, did Todos mean to kill Wayne, the bay, or both? And if it was the bay, was it because the horse lived that Hilda had to die?”

“Brilliant.” Kim was genuinely complimentary. “Dan, I think we should encourage Annie to apply for a job in the Sheriff's Office.”

“Over my dead body,” Dan said quickly.

And mine,
thought Annie. “Well, here's all I know. Hilda was alive and well on Monday, and she was dead on Tuesday, the same day Todos was supposed to have gone off and gotten the hay, right? Which was totally unnecessary, since there was enough Timothy in that barn to last the winter.”

“The elephant in the room we
all
missed,” Tony said sourly.

“Well, we didn't know Hilda's stocking habits.” Dan wasn't ready to make this concession. “And yes, Annie, Hilda was dead on Tuesday. But she'd been dead since Monday—as soon as Todos learned that the bay was still alive. We now believe she died sometime after you hung up the phone with her and before Todos came over to your place to scout out the bay.”

“How do you know all this?” Annie was still skeptical.

“Well, I'm speculating now, but I think the facts will bear me out once I make a few phone calls,” said the sheriff. “And it shows just how cold-blooded Todos was, too. He'd planned the murder
and
his alibi right down to the minute.

“My guess is that after killing Hilda, he packed his truck with hay from Hilda's barn and parked it in the back of the party, the tail end of that path you started on, Annie. So after he returned from your place, all he had to do was drive to Pullman, check into a hotel, plant an empty six-pack, order and pay for a load of local hay to be delivered at some future date, and take off again. The entire trip wouldn't have taken more than eight hours instead of the twenty-four we assumed it had . . . and remember, no one else was allowed up in Hilda's ranch house, so Todos didn't risk anyone else finding the body. You actually upset his scheme, Annie, by showing up with the bay and insisting on finding Hilda. Remember how angry Todos was that day? He hadn't expected anyone to find the body for another day or so.”

Annie shivered as she remembered about how she'd so brashly barged into Hilda's home that day. No wonder Todos had hated her. But enough to kill her? He must have thought she knew something she still did not. It was time to find out.

“So what did you haul off the property? Inquiring minds want to know.”

“Well, as long as it doesn't go further than this room,” the sheriff warned.

“To quote someone I know, perish the thought.”

Dan noisily cleared his throat. “Because we'd dismissed Todos as a suspect, we, er, probably didn't do as thorough a job looking through his digs as we might have. He lived on the property, just a few hundred feet from the arena, but up the hill, so he could always see the horses.”

“Well, that's refreshing.” Annie couldn't help her sarcasm. “I never did understand why Hilda lived so far away from her horses. It's nice to know that she built a horse lookout for a guy who ultimately tried to kill them all.”

“And her, Annie. You keep forgetting that Todos also killed human beings, which is a far greater crime in our great state.”

Annie waved away this small distinction. “So what did you find?”

“Evidence of blackmail.” Tony sounded grim. “Todos had been blackmailing Hilda from the time he stepped foot on the property—we'll probably find out it started even before that.”

“What could Hilda possibly have been doing to inspire blackmailing?” Martha was aghast.

“Horse doping. She'd been doing it for years, to get peak performance from her show horses and she expected Todos to carry on the tradition.”

Annie yelped. No wonder Hilda's horses had always seemed like they were tied up in knots. And no doubt she'd planned on doing it to the bay!

Tony glanced at Annie. He knew exactly how she felt. “He did her bidding, but made it clear that it came with a price. Over time, money payoffs weren't enough. He told her to change her will so that he would benefit from her death. He also wanted the bay. Hilda said she'd make him a beneficiary—easy enough to say. But she refused to give up Trooper. And when Todos realized he wasn't going to get his way, he tried to engineer the horse's death before it ever arrived.”

Kim took up the story. “It took us all night, but Tony and I were able to download most of the incriminating letters and texts on what we hauled out of the caretaker's cabin. Up until now, Todos had had the upper hand. But after Wayne died, Todos realized he was boxed in. He knew Hilda would realize he'd staged the trailer accident and now had something on
him
. He really didn't have much of a choice but to get rid of her. Besides, then he'd inherit the ranch.”

“Or so he thought.” Dan gratefully accepted another half glass of whiskey from Martha. “Hilda was by no means stupid. I don't know what Hilda showed Todos, but there was no way he stood to inherit anything after her murder.”

Another gasp went around the room. Dan smiled, enjoying the suspense he'd created.

“Hilda's will is going to be released next week, but Fenton gave me the rundown this afternoon. The ranch was in both Hilda's and Marcus's names. She didn't have the authority to deed it or any portion of it over to Todos. She may have dummied up something to placate him, but it never would have stood up in court. He died thinking he would inherit everything. In fact, everything in the will goes to Hilda's heirs . . . or Marcus, if he's still alive.” Dan looked uncomfortable. Annie looked straight at him.