“That information wasn’t listed.”
“Was he arrested here in Fort Connor? I mean, was he doing drugs here?”
“It looks like he was arrested in Denver. Yep, Denver. And he was tried in Denver District Court and sentenced to serve five to eight years. He got out in five.”
“So he’s finished his sentence. Can you find out where he is now?”
“Nope. No can do. That’s all I’ve got.”
“Man, you are fantastic, Megan. A superstar sleuth.”
“Yeah, right. Listen, I hate to state the obvious, but the fact that Bill Zarofsky has a scumbag relative who’s a convicted felon doesn’t prove anything about Zarofsky himself. Kevin could be the black sheep in the family, that’s all.”
Kelly considered Megan’s point. “You’re right. But my instinct is still buzzing about Bill Zarofsky, separate from his criminal relative. He’s proved himself to be a liar once already. And I think he’s lying again about Cal Everett.”
“So, what are you going to do now?”
That was a good question. Kelly thought for a minute.
What can I do?
She had nothing on Bill Zarofsky except an empty office. That was less than nothing. People closed offices all the time. And having a felon for a relative didn’t prove anything.
“Right now, I’m going to call Jayleen and see if she’s learned anything about Zarofsky. She knows him from the alpaca associations and exhibitions.”
“Well, good luck. I’ve gotta get back to my own work because I’m hoping we’ll still have a game tonight. It’s not looking too good right now.”
“Do we have a rain date?”
“Yeah, tomorrow night. Meanwhile, keep your fingers crossed that those clouds blow away.”
“Will do. Thanks again, Megan,” Kelly said as her friend clicked off.
She immediately paged through her cell phone’s directory until she found Jayleen’s number and punched it in, anxiously waiting as the phone rang.
“Hey, Jayleen, did you find out anything about Zarofsky?” she blurted when her friend’s voice came on the line.
“Hey, Kelly, slow down and take a breath,” Jayleen said with a laugh. “I was going to give you a call later.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“Not much. All I heard were some comments about his dealings with other breeders. Seems he’s had some disputes with a couple of them over breeding fees and stuff. Apparently this guy has a short fuse.”
“Short fuse and lying to the cops. Not a good combination. You know, Megan did a Web search and found out that Zarofsky has a relative who was convicted of dealing drugs a few years ago in Denver. He served five years in Buena Vista.”
“
Damnation!
Well, that sure puts a new light on things. Was Zarofsky connected to any of it?”
“Megan didn’t see his name mentioned at all, so there’s no proof he’s connected with Kevin Zarofsky. But with a name like that, it’s likely they’re related.”
Jayleen paused. “You know, Kelly, Zarofsky might not be involved at all. Whether Kevin is a relative or not. Zarofsky might be clean as a whistle.”
Kelly mulled over what Jayleen said. Of course it was possible Zarofsky was innocent of all wrongdoing. But Kelly’s little buzzer kept going off. Something was up with this guy. Something made him lie to the police about the night of Everett’s death.
What was it?
Was he involved in Everett’s death? Was he involved in Kevin’s drug dealing?
Suddenly a memory surfaced from the back of Kelly’s mind. Something she heard around the Lambspun table when she and Megan were talking to the two women who lived in Poudre Canyon. They both had strong opinions about Cal Everett, but one woman also mentioned something about Zarofsky. Something that bothered her. What was it?
Cars
. The noisy cars in his driveway regularly woke her up at night. There were lots of cars, she said, coming and going at all hours. Kelly’s little buzzer rang louder.
Why would Zarofsky have so many visitors? Maybe those cars weren’t coming to see Bill Zarofsky. Maybe they were coming to see ex-con Kevin. Was Kevin Zarofsky up to his old habits? Was he dealing drugs from the canyon ranch?
Kelly felt her pulse speed up at that thought. Assuming Kevin Zarofsky was related to Rancher Bill, wouldn’t the police know about it? Wouldn’t he be under supervision or on parole or something?
Who knows?
Maybe he jumped parole and slipped away from Denver. The canyons surrounding Fort Connor were heavily wooded and filled with rugged crags and ravines. Someone who wanted to hide out could do so easily in the canyons, especially if they had a relative nearby who provided food and shelter.
Her mind racing, Kelly let the images and scenes she was scripting in her head swirl. Then, another thought flashed in front of the rest. One of her crazy ideas, of course. Most of her best ideas were a little bit crazy and often a little bit risky.
“Kelly, I can hear you thinking all the way over this phone line,” Jayleen said with a low chuckle.
Her friends knew her too well. “Yeah, I am, Jayleen. There’s something I want to do, but I could use your help. That is, if you don’t mind doing a little sleuthing after lunch.”
“Ha! I knew you were up to something. What’s going on in that fertile mind of yours?”
“Is there a way we can go up to Zarofsky’s ranch and take a look? Slip in a side way, so we can see without being seen?”
Jayleen paused for a moment. “What’re you looking for, Kelly?”
“I’m just curious. One of Lambspun’s regulars has a place next to Zarofsky’s. And she mentioned that cars were coming and going down his driveway all the time. Even at night. She said it kept her awake.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yeah. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now that we know Zarofsky’s got a relative who was selling drugs, well . . . it makes me wonder.”
Jayleen was quiet for a moment. “You know, Kelly, you’ve got me curious, too. Why don’t we take a little drive up there. I know that area around his ranch real well, because it backs up into national forest. We can drive down a forest road, park, and hike up to his property line and take a little look-see.”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind. When can you go? I can be up there whenever it suits you,” Kelly said, once again pushing off the accounting routine until another day.
“How about you be at my ranch by noon? We’ll head off then, okay?”
“Works for me.”
“We’ll take my truck. Your little red car can stay parked here. It sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“Good point. I see you’ve done surveillance work before,” Kelly teased.
“You mean spying on people? Hell, yes. Back when I was still drinking and paranoid. Usually checking on my cheating husband. By the way, you’d better bring a jacket. It’s still raining up here.”
“Wow, you really have done this before.”
Jayleen chuckled. “I’ll bring my binoculars.”
Kelly
stepped through the pale spring green foliage, wet grass clinging to her khaki pants. This high up in Poudre Canyon spring was only now making its presence known. The buds on the bushes were starting to open, and tiny leaves were clasped together like praying hands. Everything glistened. The earlier rain had dropped to a light sprinkle.
Mountain rain showers, however, were deceptive. They may appear light, but they soaked you through unless your rain gear shed water well. One of Kelly’s first shopping trips after she’d decided to make Fort Connor her home had been to the local outdoor gear retail store. She’d needed to stock up.
“Looks like there’s a good spot up ahead,” Jayleen said, walking in front of Kelly.
Pushing back a pine branch, Kelly followed. Droplets of water fell from the branch onto her pants and hiking boots as she walked through the dark, wet soil of the forest floor. The smell of damp earth rose like perfume. Pine branches caught at her jacket but slipped away, unable to grasp its wet surface.
Jayleen paused behind a stand of evergreens and brushed aside a long branch. Kelly joined her and peered through the opening Jayleen had created. The land sloped down from this spot and ended in a rolling green pasture.
There below, Kelly spotted a sprawling one-story white farmhouse. Pastures with alpaca bordered both sides of a gravel driveway that ended in a clearing beside a large reddish brown barn. A smaller gray-colored garage was set back from the barn. She could see alpaca grazing in the pastures, and several clustered in the corral leading into the barn. From here, Bill Zarofsky’s place looked like a typical mountain canyon ranch. Nothing special and nothing suspicious.
Jayleen lifted the binoculars that hung around her neck and adjusted the focus as she peered down into the ranch below. “Looks pretty normal to me.”
Noticing two trucks parked in the barnyard, one black, the other light blue, Kelly squinted. Zarofsky drove a light blue truck. “Do you see anyone walking around?”
“Nope, not yet. But we know at least two people are there because there’re two trucks parked.”
Kelly and Jayleen stared at the ranch without speaking for a couple of minutes. Then, Kelly saw a door opening to the smaller garage building. A man exited and strode across the barnyard to one of the trucks.
“Well, looky here. I knew someone would turn up,” Jayleen said, and adjusted the binoculars again.
The man opened the door to the black truck, got inside, and started the engine. Even from this far away, Kelly could hear the engine’s rumble. The man wore a dark jacket and what looked like jeans. He proceeded to turn the truck around in the barnyard and drive over to the garage. Then he parked, got out, and walked to the back of the truck, where he lowered the tailgate before disappearing into the garage.
“Looks like he’s going to load something,” Jayleen said.
Kelly moved another pine branch out of her line of sight and stared at the gray building, waiting for the man to reemerge carrying something. It was all she could do to contain her impatience. Finally, he appeared, carrying two boxes, one stacked on top of the other.
“Now it’s getting interesting,” Jayleen said, leaning forward.
Suddenly another man appeared from the garage, and he was carrying two boxes as well. Both men walked to the truck, where they loaded all four boxes. Then, the first man pulled what looked like a tarp from the corner of the truck bed and spread it over the boxes. The other man returned to the barn.
“I wonder what’s in those boxes.” Kelly said, pushing back her jacket hood, now that the tree branches provided rain cover.
“They looked like regular old cardboard boxes to me. I guess he’s covering them in case the rain picks up again.”
The second man emerged from the barn again, this time carrying a large sack. He dumped it on top of the boxes in the back of the truck and returned to the barn. Meanwhile, the first man secured the tailgate while the second man returned with another large sack and dumped that into the truck as well.
“Can you tell what’s in those big sacks they brought out?”
“Looks a lot like bags of feed. Almost exactly like it. Those are pretty heavy sacks. I wonder why they’re not covering them up with the tarp, too. Those feed sacks will be ruined in the rain.”
“Looks like they’re more interested in covering up the cardboard boxes. Kind of makes you wonder what’s in those boxes.”
“Here,” Jayleen said, slipping the binoculars over her head. “Take a look and see for yourself. For what it’s worth, the guy in the blue jacket looks like Bill Zarofsky. I can’t be sure.”
Kelly adjusted the focus of the powerful binoculars, amazed how far the vision field extended. Now, the barnyard was close and she could see the men as they walked around the truck, loading more sacks of livestock feed. Glimpsing one of the men, she agreed with Jayleen. The man in the blue jacket resembled the man she saw arguing with Cal Everett at the retreat, but she couldn’t be sure. And the truck looked like the one Bill Zarofsky had been driving.
“You know, Jayleen, I’m really curious why they’re covering up those boxes with feed. They’ve already got a tarp over them. And you’re right, the rain would destroy those sacks of feed. Do you think they’re simply trying to conceal the boxes?”
“Yep, I think that’s about the size of it.”
Kelly pondered. Not having any personal experience with the drug world, she didn’t have a clue how much any of these substances weighed. Like everyone else, she’d seen television news reports and movies showing bags of cocaine, and they always seemed packed pretty tightly in their contraband containers.
She decided to defer to a more knowledgeable authority. Jayleen’s former life of alcohol addiction had exposed her to a fair slice of the shadowy world. So, Kelly asked outright.
“What do you think they’re hiding in those boxes, Jayleen? I figure it’s drugs. What kind, do you think?”
“I’d bet it’s most likely crystal meth. I’ve heard how easy it is to hide a meth lab in the mountains. In fact, my warning bell is ringing like crazy right now. And that’s always a sure sign of trouble.”
“Mine, too. In fact, I’d put money on it. I’m gonna give Burt a call.”
“Good idea, Kelly,” Jayleen said, accepting the binoculars again as Kelly dug out her cell phone.
Checking for a signal, Kelly punched in Burt’s number. Her pulse was racing with the excitement of the chase. And the catch. Burt would be proud of them. Her sleuthing may have solved Cal Everett’s murder and busted a drug operation all at the same time.
Burt’s voice came on. “Hey, Kelly, what’s up? Would you like to help me run some errands this afternoon?”
“Maybe, Burt, but first I think there’s something else that deserves your attention. Did you know that Bill Zarofsky had a relative who served five years in Buena Vista for dealing drugs? He got out three years ago. Name is Kevin Zarofsky.”
Burt was quiet for several seconds. When he answered, Kelly noticed his voice lacked all the fatherly warmth she was used to. “How’d you find out about Kevin Zarofsky?”