Dead Hot Shot (Loon Lake Fishing Mysteries) (13 page)

Doc, where are you?” “At the Birchwood Bar with Ray a and friend of his. You sound tense, Lew. What’s wrong?”

“Had a call from Gina a few minutes ago. She’s onto something serious. They’ve located the computer used to steal credit card numbers from people buying fishing licenses: Mildred’s Food Shop.” “Lew.” Osborne was speechless.

“Whether or not Mildred was storing the credit card information and selling it remains to be seen. Could be the girls are involved, who knows at this point. Gina is meeting me at the shop in half an hour. I’m hoping — since you know Frances, Doc — that she might open up more easily if you’re there.”

“Do the girls know you’re coming?”

“No and I don’t want them to.”

“Need Ray?”

“Since he’s right there with you — wouldn’t hurt. Ask him if he would walk the entire property. I know Jesperson did a rush job — plus those Wausau boys are worthless outdoors. They don’t have the eye Ray has.”

“Remember it was dark when they were there, Lew,” said Osborne.

“You’re right, I’m not being fair. Ask Ray to start as far outside Mildred’s property as seems reasonable and work his way in.”

“Okay, we’re on our way,” said Osborne, getting up from the barstool. “Any more news from the Wausau lab?”

“Only that Josie made dozens of calls to ‘a boy named Jake Cahak.’”

“‘A boy’?”

“Given her age, that’s what they assumed. I’m not surprised. Gina found some strange files on Josie’s laptop, too. Password protected. We’ll get Josie to open those and let’s hope that girl hasn’t gotten herself into something nasty.”

Clarence was disappointed they had to run off but Ray encouraged him to take the rest of his beers and go home. “A bus driver does not need a DUI,” he said.

“Yep, you got that right,” said Clarence as he followed them out the door. “Lose the pension, doncha know.”

• • •

Osborne dropped Ray off at the far end of Mildred’s block near an alley that led to the field behind the old barn. “Did I tell you I found Mildred’s pet raccoon in the field back there? About fifty yards south of the barn. If Jesperson’s people didn’t find the carcass, I’m sure some eagle or fisher has. Watch out so you don’t step in it.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” said Ray. “Been so unusually warm this fall the ground didn’t freeze until a couple weeks ago. Who knows what I’ll find. Good luck with the girls, Doc. Jeez, I sure as hell hope Mildred’s death has nothing to do with them.”

• • •

Osborne was surprised to see the Open sign lit in the window of the store. Lew’s cruiser and Gina’s red rental car, a Jeep Liberty, were parked in the lot so he hurried inside. Stools had been pulled up on both sides of the counter. Gina sat behind the counter near the computer dedicated to fish and game licenses. While Lew was seated, too, she was in front of the cash register. Frances sat between the two women and Josie, her arms folded, leaned against the door to the sitting room Mildred had used to watch TV between customers.

“Have a seat, Doc,” said Lew in a lighthearted tone. “We’ve been going over a few things with the girls here.” She and Gina smiled at him and Osborne did his best to smile back as he took the stool next to the one that Josie was supposed to occupy.

• • •

“We just started chatting a few minutes ago,” said Lew. “Frances is showing us how the license applications are handled from here. Go ahead, Frances.”

“It’s simple, really,” said Frances. She proceeded to enter Gina’s name, address and Social Security number as if she was applying for a fishing license. “Then I would submit your information to the state and within a minute or two we would receive a print-out that we then slip into one of these plastic covers. Very simple,” said Frances with an easy smile — crooked but not pained. She was more relaxed and self-confident than Osborne had ever seen her. He was amazed at the transformation.

“And if I want to use my credit card?” said Gina.

“We run it through this machine,” said Frances, pointing to a small black box with a digital readout sitting on the counter. “But for fishing and hunting licenses only — no using cards of any kind for groceries. Mrs. Taggert didn’t take any credit cards until the state forced her to a couple years ago. She refused to buy a computerized cash register even. I guess you can say we’re wireless but barely.”

Osborne continued to be impressed with how composed Frances was. She was sitting up straight, her shoulders back and, as she spoke, she looked both Lew and Gina in the eye. Her voice was soft but firm with a natural grace that Osborne had never noticed: this was a new Frances Dark Sky.

“Do you recall the last time that Mildred would have upgraded the security and firewalls on this?” said Gina, waving at the licensing equipment on the counter.

“I doubt she ever did,” said Frances. “Nothing has changed since it was installed. And she had no computers whatsoever when Josie and I moved in four years ago.”

“Has it been that long?” said Osborne. “Gosh, Frances, seems like just yesterday you came for your first dental exam.” Frances gave him a shy smile but didn’t answer. “You know, girls, I’ve always kind of worried about you. Mildred was not. well, she didn’t seem to be very pleasant at times.”

“She was okay,” said Frances. “She always made us a really nice breakfast — ”

“Oh, sure, but she wouldn’t let you wear your good jeans,” said Josie. With a slight roll of the eyes, Frances ignored her sister.

“Her bark was worse than her bite, really,” said Frances. “She was always nervous when customers were here. But pretty nice otherwise — to me, anyway.”

“Yeah,” said Josie in a snide tone, “easy for you to say. You were her pet.”

Frances gave her sister a long look. “I wasn’t her pet. I was the one willing to do my share around here.” Josie shrugged. “Dr. Osborne,” said Frances, “I know people think Mildred was mean to us but.,” She paused for a second, her eyes on the counter.

She looked up, locking her eyes on Osborne’s. “Do you have any idea what it’s like living with someone, even if they’re your mother, who is on drugs all the time? Cocaine, meth, ecstasy? With people coming through your home who are wiped out and weird. My life on the res was a nightmare — ”

“Shut up!” shouted Josie from the corner. “That’s not true.

Mom was framed. She wasn’t dealing and she didn’t do drugs like you say. You’re making all this up. Don’t believe a word she says,” said Josie jabbing a finger at Frances as she spoke. “Girls — ,” said Lew.

“She has her reality and I have mine,” said Frances, unruffled by her sister’s outburst. “So, Josie, if you think Mom’s so great why don’t you want to move back to the res?” Before her sister could answer, Frances said, “Because we’re safe here, Josie. Safe.”

“Frances,” said Gina, sounding anxious to change the subject, “we’ve got Josie’s laptop but where’s yours?”

“I don’t have one,” said Frances. “I work on one of the school’s during study hall or the school will let us sign one out overnight. I’ll do that this week ‘cause I have a paper for my lit class due next Wednesday and I’ll need it for that. Why?”

“Just wondering,” said Gina.

“What about your cell phone?” said Lew.

“I don’t have one of those either. Josie got her laptop and cellphone from Mrs. Reece. She paid for the service. Mildred couldn’t afford cell phones plus- — ”

“Chief Ferris,” said Josie, interrupting, “I was just wondering — do you know if Mr. Reece and Blue have read Mrs. Reece’s will yet?”

“I don’t know if they have,” said Lew, “but Dr. Osborne and I met with her lawyer. We discussed the will — and I remember you said you heard Blue and her mother arguing over money, right? Could it have been over the will?”

“Maybe it was,” said Josie. “I know Blue was very angry. Sounded like she was ready to hit her mother.”

“You know, Josie,” said Frances, “you really shouldn’t say things like that unless you know something for sure.”

“I know what I heard,” said Josie with a defiant look. “What about Mrs. Reece’s will? She left money to people, didn’t she?”

“You mean like yourself?” asked Lew. Josie nodded.

“She may have intended to, Josie, but she died before she could rewrite a will that she signed several years ago.”

Disbelief crossed Josie’s face. “You mean she didn’t leave me any money?”

“Not according to the lawyer,” said Lew.

The room was very quiet. “I don’t believe you,” said Josie. “She promised me.”

“Josie, Nolan Reece was an unusual woman,” said Lew. “Over the last few days we’ve learned that she didn’t always tell the truth — not even to her own family. She was not an emotionally healthy person. Now, that said it doesn’t mean she didn’t like — ”

“Um. um.” The girl covered her eyes with both hands. “Can I go to my room?”

“In the barn?” said Lew. Josie nodded. “Yes, but don’t leave your room, Josie. We need to talk more. In fact, Gina, will you go with Josie, please? I’ll be over shortly.”

“Chief Ferris,” said Frances when her sister was out the door, “I have something you should see.” She opened a drawer next to the counter and pulled out a long white envelope across which had been written, “To be Opened After My Death.”

“This morning, I thought I should open the store. Mrs. Taggert would have wanted that.”

“Legally, you can’t do that, Frances,” said Lew. “The estate needs to be settled first.”

“Oh. gee. Am I in trouble?”

“I suggest you close the shop until we know what is legal and what is not. And the envelope?”

“Mrs. Taggert told me last year when she was teaching me how to run the shop — you know, place orders, take care of the bookkeeping, all that stuff — she said if she got really sick or something happened, I should open this envelope that she kept at the bottom of the cash drawer. She said Mr. Craigemeier who did the taxes — he would have a copy, too. So I opened it last night.”

She handed the envelope over and Lew read the contents. She looked up at Frances. “Do you think your sister had anything to do with Mildred’s death?”

“I don’t know. I. really, I don’t know.”

“You girls don’t get along,” said Lew.

Frances did not hesitate. “Get along? Get along? I hate Josie. She’s a pathological liar, has been since we were little, and even though Mrs. Taggert did her best to be good to us in her way — Josie would sneak in here and steal money from the cash register. Then lie about it. She would say I did it.”

• • •

Mildred was never one to waste words — in life or in death. Her letter was succinct:

To all concerned: I have arranged for my cremation and would like my ashes to be scattered somewhere around Loon Lake. Frances Dark Sky can decide where that will be. Half of all my worldly possessions, including my collection of raccoons, my shop and my properties are to go to Frances Dark Sky on one condition — she must graduate from college. The remaining half of my estate is to go to the Northwoods Wild Animal & Raptor Rescue Center.

Not one penny goes to Josephine Dark Sky. She stole her share from the till. I watched her do it.

Sincerely,

Mildred Rubado Taggert

• • •

It was dated and witnessed by a person whose name Osborne did not recognize. In parentheses beside the name, Mildred had scribbled: “a customer stopping by on their way to Eagle River.”

Entering the old barn through the door beside the empty raccoon cage, Osborne followed Lew towards a door off to the left, which led to the second floor. The ground level of the barn was everything he expected: dark and cobwebbed with Mildred’s old Chevrolet parked in the back, boxes of canned foods and other shop supplies stacked along one wall, rusting tools leaning haphazardly in the corners. On opening the door, they discovered a freshly painted and renovated stairwell leading up to an expansive sitting area. Gina was on a sofa waiting for them.

“Doug Jesperson was right — this is amazing,” said Lew, looking around the room. It was furnished with new, contemporary furniture. Osborne walked over to one of the windows. He noticed it was open a good two inches, which didn’t surprise him. The room was quite nice but stuffy with the smell of fresh paint. “Brand new windows, brand new screens, even the sash,” he said. “Who would think this was here?” A small kitchen area anchored one end of the room and another door opened to a white-tiled bathroom.

Across the room, a door stood open to an empty but tastefully furnished bedroom while another door was closed. “Josie’s room,” said Gina, answering their questioning looks. “She said Mrs. Reece paid for all this but Mildred wouldn’t let her change the lower level because she was afraid her taxes would go up.”

“Frances told us she refuses to stay out here because it’s Josie’s,” said Lew. “And because it was easier for her to help Mildred if she slept in the main house.”

“Let me knock on the door and get Josie out here,” said Lew. “She’s got a few questions to answer still.”

“Let’s wait a few minutes,” said Gina. “I’ve got something to show you first. I set up Josie’s laptop over there,” she said, pointing to a table near one of the windows. “Doc, Chief, I’m not sure how much you know about data transmission — ”

“Very little,” said Osborne.

“Me neither,” said Lew. “I share a tech guy with the sheriff’s department and depend on him when our system goes down.”

“Well, this unit with the flashing lights is a router,” said Gina. “It allows Josie’s laptop to go on the Internet wireless. But what we have over here is highly unusual.”

She pointed to a small antenna, telescope-shaped, beside the router that had one wire running into the open computer and another plugged into an electrical outlet. “This is an antenna that I’m betting the crime lab assumed was used for satellite television or radio. In fact, it’s identical to antennas we’ve seen that are designed to hoover data out of the air.”

“What do you mean exactly?” said Lew.

“I mean that someone could, if they knew the password of the person transmitting data from the shop — whether credit card or license information — access that direct from the radio waves carrying the data.”

“No,” said Lew, “I thought there were security systems to prevent that?”

“There are now but a lot of small merchants still use the original encoding systems and those have been cracked so often by hackers it isn’t funny. My students researched a data theft that occurred in Minneapolis where over forty million credit cards were compromised using exactly this kind of antenna, which is capable of intercepting streaming data.”

“Josie,” said Lew, walking over to knock loudly on the bedroom door. “Please come out here” The girl opened the door, her face sullen and tear-stained.

“What now?” she said.

“Josie, sit down with me and let’s go over a few files you’ve got on your laptop here,” said Gina, attempting to sound friendly. The girl flounced across the room and plunked herself into a chair at the table.

“What’s this?” said Gina.

“Dunno, that’s not mine.”

“Oh, is this something Frances was working on?” “No.”

“And this?”

“I have no idea — those are Jake’s folders.”

“You mean Jake uses your laptop? Doesn’t he have his own computer?”

“He does but he likes mine.”

“Well, okay, Josie — would you please open these folders for us?” Josie leaned forward and hit a few keys only to sit back and throw her hands up.

“I can’t. I don’t know his password.”

“Okay, then. We’ll have to find Jake, I guess.” Gina was determinedly cheery. “And I’ll hold on to the laptop until we can reach him.”

“No doubt he’s at the Reeces’,” said Osborne. “We can find him there.”

• • •

Minutes later, standing outside the barn in the parking area near Gina’s rental car, Lew said, “So Gina, you sure you’re up to working out at your cabin? I worry that you’re warm enough out there. That point where the Gudegast feeds into Loon Lake can get pretty darn breezy. We’re due for a winter storm tonight with winds up to forty miles an hour. Doc, here, has an extra bedroom.”

“So does Ray,” said Gina with a guilty grin. “No, I’m fine plus I have wireless access out there, which I need. My big problem is no cell phone service. Now tell me — how is it I can get wireless Internet access through the cable company but no cell phone service? Sheesh! At least I have a landline and, hopefully, the phone company will have turned it on by the time I get out there today. I called them two days ago and they promised.”

“I’m not sure I have that number,” said Lew.

“It’s in the latest edition of your Loon Lake phone book under Gina Palmer but I’ll call you when I get there. My plan is to get in touch with one of my grad students whose hacking skills you wouldn’t believe. He’ll be able to crack the encryption on those files for me. I sure as hell would like to see those before alerting this Jake character.”

“Hey, guys,” said Ray, loping up the drive alongside Mildred’s house. “Sorry to take so long but I was — accosted by one of the neighbors out in the field back there who thought I was lurking. and made an offer. to change my life with his baseball bat.”

“No, Ray — where is this person?” Lew started forward.

“Not to worry, Chief, I assured him I was your deputy. When he calmed down, he had some interesting info for us. Seems he’s been watching a green Dodge RAM drive through the back doors to park in the old barn here almost every night and quite often during the day. He didn’t think much about it until Mildred’s death. As far as he knows — and I do believe he’s one of those gentlemen who knows the business of all his neighbors — the truck hasn’t been here since.

“Ah,” said Lew. “So Jake and Josie have broken up, have they?”

“More likely he hasn’t been here because the girls were staying elsewhere and the shop’s not been open,” said Gina.

Ray glanced up over Osborne’s head and waved at the open window. “Hi there, Josie. How’re ya doin?”

The girl didn’t answer. She slammed the window shut and disappeared.