Murder Fir Christmas (18 page)

Still, it would be helpful during the winter when the roads could be impassable. There was probably nothing—including a tree down in front of her—that it wouldn’t go through or over.

Chief Rogers was waiting inside for her. She grabbed a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin before she sat down with him. She was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. This would tide her over until she could get home for supper.

“Where have you been all day?” He sat opposite her at his big desk. “You didn’t answer your cell phone, but you managed to get a message out to Trump about your mother.”

She described her day for him from the time they’d parted company at the island. “The important thing was we managed to get the bear away from the houses. I think she’ll sleep peacefully now.”

“Good work. I’d rather you took care of those calls than us.” He smiled. “I have good news on another front. Judd identified a fingerprint on the red jeweler’s bag you found out there. We didn’t have to look far. It belongs to Vince Stookey. He’s still not talking. The one thing he says is that he didn’t kill Ray Hoy or Harvey. But I think we’ve got him.”

“Did he say what happened to the ruby?”

“No. He says he didn’t know anything about it. But I think we have enough to file with the DA. We’ll see. But I’ve charged him with both murders, one count of B and E, and whatever the charge is for stealing Harvey’s body.”

“That’s good news,” she said, though it seemed to her that the evidence was flimsy. “Thanks, Chief. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that.”

Chapter Nineteen

But Bonnie didn’t have the restful night she’d envisioned.

Everything was fine at the house. Her mother had made lunch for John Trump when he checked on her. She’d also had dinner waiting in the oven for Bonnie when she got back. Rose had gone to church, where they were working on wreaths for the Christmas Eve celebration. She’d left a note with the food and said she’d be back around ten.

The little wolf wasn’t in his kennel, but she’d come to expect that. He was sleeping peacefully on her bed. Bonnie would believe that her mother was letting him out because she felt sorry for him, except that she had the key to the lock on her keyring. She lured him back to his kennel with some chicken. He was looking healthy and strong but might have a few scars on his back from the fire. His fur was already growing over the spot where the bullet had hit him.

“Listen, you,” she said. “Matthew says animals understand me. If you do—stay off my bed. It’s starting to smell wolfy in there. I couldn’t find your mother, but we have a good idea where she is. It won’t be long, and I’ll take you up there to be with her.”

He whined and lay down in the kennel without eating the chicken. His eyes stayed fixed on her.

“I told you that you can’t stay. Trust me, you won’t want to when you get bigger. There’s a whole world out there for you. Goodnight. See you tomorrow. But not on my bed.”

Bonnie latched the kennel but didn’t bother to lock it. She went out and moved her brother’s truck to the side of the house. She might use it for shopping if her truck was too expensive to repair. The Hummer was her work vehicle now. She missed her little Jeep that she’d used in Alabama.

After that, she finished going through all the papers and files she and Matthew had taken from Harvey’s old office that morning. She smiled, thinking about him as she read the papers. It was hard to say if he always acted that way with a new woman or if he was seriously flirting with her. Maybe it was being out of the town that had done it. Only time and getting to know him better would say.

In the meantime, it had kind of cheered her up and helped her forget about Saul. She’d thought he might call when he found out she was gone. He still had her number. He was probably off somewhere helping his niece, Zoe, with her food truck business. It hadn’t been his niece that caused Bonnie to believe she and Saul had no future. It was Saul himself and his reluctance to make anything permanent. He had a better relationship with his albino alligator than he had with most humans.

It was better not to think about it that way, she chided herself as she got up to add wood to the fire and get a fresh cup of hot cocoa. She was mixing the drink when someone knocked at her door. The little wolf howled as she went to answer it. Yes, he was definitely going to have to live in the wild again.

“Hi, Agent Tuttle.” It was Jean Shelton.

“Mrs. Shelton, please come in. What can I do for you?”

“I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Harvey’s wife came in the foyer and looked around. “I was just thinking about a few things and wondering if you might be able to answer some questions for me.”

“I’ll try. Have a seat.”

“I know you mentioned something about a ruby that Harvey found that he may have been killed for.” Mrs. Shelton twisted her hands in her lap.

“That’s right. Would you like something to drink? I have coffee, tea, and hot chocolate.”

“No. Thanks anyway.” Mrs. Shelton stared at Bonnie, her eyes still red from crying. “We have a financial crisis, Agent Tuttle. It seems my husband cashed in his retirement to put money down on the beach house. I’m assuming, though he never said a word to me about it, that he planned to sell this ruby to pay for it and replenish his account. So now I have no money, and Chief Rogers has told me he can’t find the ruby.”

“I’m so sorry,” Bonnie said. “Maybe the finance company will let you get his retirement savings back if you release the beach house.”

“They don’t sound very flexible about it. In fact, they are threatening to sue me for the rest of what is owed on the beach house. I’m not sure what to do about it. You know what the job pays. We don’t have that kind of money.”

Bonnie studied her, wondering why she’d come to her with the problem. She had to know that the Tuttles didn’t have anything to lend her to help with the problem. “What can I do to help?”

“I need that ruby. My husband didn’t steal it as far as anyone knows. That means it belongs to me now. I need to sell it and make everything right.”

“Of course. I understand.” Bonnie frowned. “But I really have no idea where it is. We’ve checked all over. It may be with whoever killed your husband.”

“I’ve been afraid of that, and I’ve been thinking. Would it help if I offered a finder’s fee? Chief Rogers said the ruby might be worth millions. If it would incentivize someone to come forward, it would be worth it.”

“Maybe that would help,” Bonnie replied, not really sure about that. If someone had the ruby, why not just sell it and take it all?

“Would it help you?” Mrs. Shelton’s look was coy.

“No, ma’am. I’m looking as hard as I can for Harvey’s killer but not for the ruby. You’re welcome to try what you can to locate it. Please be sure to notify the police department if someone comes forward.”

“I will.” Mrs. Shelton got to her feet. “I hope you’ll do the same and keep me in your thoughts as you search. Of course I want the killer as badly as you, but we could lose everything if the ruby isn’t found.”

Bonnie stood, inches over Mrs. Shelton even with her shoes off. “I’ll do the best I can for you. Good luck, ma’am.”

When the other woman was gone, Bonnie thought about the predicament Harvey’s good fortune had put them in. There was really nothing she could do to help, but she felt bad for them.  It hurt her professional pride that Mrs. Shelton thought she would do a better job if she offered her a financial reward, but it didn’t really surprise her.

Rose got home a little after ten, filled with stories about working on the wreaths. Bonnie told her a condensed version of her day, and the two went to bed. The little wolf didn’t howl when her mother came in the house, as he had when Mrs. Shelton had shown up. It was easy to compare him to a dog, but she knew that was a mistake. Wild animals were always wild.

They went to bed soon after, but Bonnie couldn’t sleep. She’d already talked to her mother about using the office her father and brother had used in the house, and now she found herself in that room straightening up and boxing her brother’s personal belongings so she’d have room for her own.

She remembered being in here plenty of times as a child when her father worked on what he planned to do to make the Christmas tree farm more productive. He and Eric had huge files in great detail on planting, fertilizing, and cutting. Neither one of them had been full-time tree farmers, even though it seemed like it from the amount of work they’d put into it. Bonnie hoped she was up to the task of working on the trees and keeping up with her work as a Wildlife Agent. She wasn’t happy with the idea of giving up either effort, but she couldn’t envision not doing her job with animals and humans that required so much of her.

By midnight, she felt settled into the office. She put up a few of Harvey’s maps of the area they served. It was a huge territory, encompassing most of Tennessee and even part of North Carolina, which included the Cherokee Reservation. She’d have to plan some time to meet with the Cherokee tribal council soon. It was just another addition to a long list of settling into her job.

She checked the maps against known mineral areas that included rivers and streams where Harvey might have found his ruby.

“Not that it especially matters,” she said aloud. “But where did you find it?”

Maybe it was better not to know. She’d have to include it in a report, and when that leaked out as it always seemed to do, that river or stream would be inundated with miners hoping to match Harvey’s big score.

Bonnie heard a noise at the window and looked up to find Dustu coming in the house through the large pane. The little wolf was at his feet as he warmed his hands near the fire in the hearth.

“How did you get in here?” she asked the shaman. “What do you want?”

“I’m here to help you, as is your wolf.” He smiled broadly. “Remember that you don’t need to find the ruby. You need to find the killer, or he could kill again. He seeks the ruby and doesn’t care how he comes by it. Protect yourself, Unega Awinita. You are more valuable than this thing he seeks.”

The little wolf grinned too and wagged his tail.

“I think you should leave,” she told the shaman and then turned to the wolf. “And you should get back in your kennel.”

The wolf howled loudly and woke her up. She’d been asleep with her face on the desk, drooling a little on the wood. She wiped it up quickly and went to check on the wolf. He wasn’t in his kennel, and she found him asleep on her bed again.

Before she could walk him back to his kennel and demand that he stay there, there was a loud knock on the front door. She was still in the clothes she’d slept in but ran her hand through her hair and went to answer.

It was a man with two children who wanted a Christmas tree. They didn’t really open until nine a.m., but she remembered her father opening whenever he needed to and invited them in for a warm drink while she put on her boots and jacket.

Rose got up and made steaming bowls of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. The man was from Frog Pond. His wife was a nurse who was working the morning shift at the hospital in Sevierville. He wanted to surprise her when she came home by having the Christmas tree up in the living room. His two little girls were loud and full of energy. They ran ahead in the snow after breakfast as they argued about which tree was the perfect one.

The three hawks that had been on the hood of the truck yesterday called to Bonnie from the roof of the barn, as if demonstrating that the one she’d tended was all right. She nodded to them as she picked up a chainsaw and headed to the tree the girls had chosen.

The tree was cut and bundled by nine a.m. and then tied to the top of the car. She waved goodbye to the family, who’d paid well for their tree. The money had made up for what she’d lost the day before. Had this been the way it was for Eric and her father? She’d have to remember to ask him when he came back for Christmas.

The pepper factory foreman called about an injured deer that had been found in the parking lot. Bonnie promised to be there as soon as she could—which included time to shower and change clothes. The wolf had gone back into the kennel without her help this time. It seemed pointless to bother closing the door since he came and went as he pleased. She gave him some chicken and wondered how he and the shaman had managed to get into her dreams.

“I think I’m getting too close to you too, little man.” She reached a hand to stroke his coat. He looked up but ignored her as she touched him. “No. This can’t happen. I have to find you a home.”

Bonnie told Rose she’d be back for lunch and went out to the Hummer. There were no injured animals and no sign of Matthew. She was alone to work as she chose, as she’d been most of the time in Alabama. The Hummer was loud as she started it, but she’d get used to it. She’d get used to all of this as part of her new life.

Life had made her a pragmatic woman. She’d made one big mistake early on that had cost her dearly. Recovering from that had meant being more careful than most people—she looked more than once before she took a step, much less a leap. None of that had changed since she got home. The shaman in her dream was probably nothing more than her own subconscious warning her to be careful.

That was one thing no one had to warn her about.

The pepper plant on the high hill overlooking Sweet Pepper was at full shift that morning. With the ice and snow completely gone, the factory the town had been built around was humming along. Bonnie had called ahead and the plant manager met her in the parking lot.

“She’s back here.” The plant manager walked her around to the area where trucks would normally be parked to take the hottest, sweetest peppers in the world to market. “The men who found her just wanted to put her out of her misery.”

“I’m glad you stopped them,” she said.

“I told them there was a stiff penalty for shooting a doe out of season,” he continued. “I won’t have that going against the pepper plant. What you do from here is up to you, Agent Tuttle.”

He walked away without offering any other assistance. Bonnie revised her initial impression of him. He wasn’t interested in helping the doe. He just wanted her off the property in the least troublesome manner.