The Double-Jack Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries) (17 page)

“I don’t recall he smelled all that bad when I arrested him,” Tully said. “Maybe it was a hobby he took up later. By the way, Bud, how come you went back to robbing stores as soon as you got out of prison?”

“It was the only work I knew.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

THEY ARRIVED IN
Angst with enough gas to get them to the service station. “Fill her up,” Tully told the attendant.

“What are those coffins doing back there?” the attendant asked.

Tully explained once again about the remains. The man shook his head and began filling the tank.

Pap suddenly sat up between the caskets. “What’s going on?” he said.

Tully leaned out his window and yelled. “Stop that! You’re spraying gas all over. It’s only my father!”

The attendant was wild-eyed. “I don’t care who it is! Get it out of here!”

Tully finally got the man calmed down. Pap began to climb over into the backseat.

“Stay away from me!” yelled Tanzy.

“You guys are starting to hurt my feelings,” Pap said, sliding into the rear seat next to Judy. “I don’t know how an old man is expected to get any sleep with all the blabbing going on.”

Tully told them Pap had only been resting.

“I was plumb wore out,” Pap said. “I guess I did sleep like I was dead.”

“My nerves can’t take much more of this,” Tanzy said.

Tully handed Tanzy’s revolver to Pap and told him to use it if Tanzy tried to escape.

“I got my own,” Pap said.

“I know you do. But if you use it we’ll probably have to throw it away. So take Tanzy’s. We can’t be throwing away expensive guns!”

“Good thinking,” Pap said. He took the revolver.

“If you think you’re scaring me,” Tanzy said, “You are. I’ve never been arrested by cops this crazy!”

“Thanks,” Pap said.

After dropping Pap and the others off at Jake’s Café for lunch, Tully intended to take Judy to the local emergency room, but she said there was nothing wrong with her that a little makeup wouldn’t cure. So he rented a motel room and sent Judy into the bathroom to take a shower. Then he went to JCPenney and bought her a dress, two blouses, a pair of slacks, nylons, underwear, white socks, white sneakers, and makeup. He put it all on the county credit card. He returned in less than an hour. Judy, a pink towel wrapped around her, was seated on the bed. She took the cartons and bags into the
bathroom. When she came out dressed in some of her new clothes, lipsticked, powdered, rouged, and eye-shadowed, she looked almost pretty. With a hairdo, she would have been.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” she said. “I can’t believe anyone would, let alone a cop.”

“I’m not finished,” Tully said. “Blight County may be a little backward compared with other parts of the country, but it looks after its own. And you’re part of its own.”

Tully went down to the motel office to check out. “We should get a cut rate,” he told the clerk at the counter. “We were here only about an hour.”

“Most of our clients usually are,” the clerk said. “Fifteen dollars.”

Tully decided it was best to pay in cash. He and Judy walked over to Jake’s Café. Pap had untied Tanzy’s hands so he could eat. They had finished their lunch and were chatting like a bunch of old friends. Judy said some of her teeth were sore and ordered only the soup. Tully ordered a hamburger. No one apparently had ordered the Canadian hash.

After Tully had tied up Tanzy’s hands again, they climbed back into the van and headed for Quail Creek Ranch. “So, who’s officiating at this burial?” Flynn asked.

“I figured you would,” Tully said. “You’re probably the only one here who knows the words.”

“We don’t even know if the boy was Catholic,” the priest said. “Certainly Agatha has never mentioned religion to me. You know what she is, Bo?”

“Basically, an ornery old lady,” Tully said. “She was a
fierce teacher, I can tell you that. You learned your Shakespeare whether you wanted to or not. She single-handedly turned me from Pap’s son into a civilized human being.”

“That seems a bit extreme,” Flynn said.

“Pap’s son?”

“Civilized human being. Have you ever caught him being civilized, Pap?”

“I did once,” Pap said, “and it scared me. He could never last as sheriff of Blight County if he was civilized.”

“He’s been nice to me,” Judy said.

“That’s because you’re a woman,” Flynn said. “Bo loves all women.”

“My one weakness,” Tully said.

“Don’t you think that’s the perfect formula for sin, Padre?” Dave said.

“I have a hard time keeping up on human chemistry,” the priest said.

“I went to church once,” Tanzy said.

Pap said, “I guess it didn’t take, huh, Tanzy?”

“I kind of liked it. Seemed peaceful or something. My grandmother took me. Then she died and I never went again.”

“That’s why I don’t go,” Pap said. “You get that close to God he might decide to snap you up.”

The priest shook his head.

They turned off the highway onto the road leading to Quail Creek Ranch. The van thumped and rattled over the rough road. Pap said, “I got an idea what could fix this road for Agatha and Bernice.”

“What’s that?” Tully said.

“That’s for me to know.”

Tully stopped in front of the gate.

“My gosh, look at the birds,” Judy said. “They look like real birds flying up across the bars.”

“Yeah, they do,” said Tully. “Pap, get out and open the gate.”

“Why is it always me? What’s wrong with Flynn or Dave opening it?”

“Because Flynn is a priest and Dave’s an Indian. You don’t expect a priest or an Indian to open a gate, do you?”

“That’s right,” Dave said. “We Indians have a firm principle against opening gates.”

Muttering a string of obscenities, Pap got out and opened the gate.

“I should make him walk the rest of the way to the house,” Tully said.

“You know he’s always armed,” Dave said.

“True. So I guess I’ll wait for him.”

Agatha, Bernice, and Bunny came out to greet them. Ernie Thorpe stood in the doorway of the house, as if guarding it. You can’t fool me, you little poacher, Tully thought. “Ernie,” he yelled. “You got your cuffs on you?”

“Yeah.”

“Well bring them over here and put them on this sorry individual.”

Ernie walked out and spun Tanzy around. He pulled out his pocketknife and cut the twine off his hands and started to put on the cuffs.

“Wait,” Tully said. “Don’t put them on. Tanzy’s going to the burial with us. It will be better without the cuffs. If he runs, shoot him and we’ll bury him, too.”

Tanzy said, “I ain’t going to run.”

Tully turned to Agatha. “The graves ready?”

“Yes, Bernice and I selected a shady spot on a knoll overlooking the creek and Ernie hired four nice young men from town to dig the graves. They said they could use the work, but when we told them what happened, they said they wouldn’t take the money and would stay for the burial. Would it be all right, Bo, if I looked in my father’s casket?”

“Not a good idea,” he said.

“I suppose after all these years it’s just as well. And I still have the pictures.”

“Yes, you do.”

A white Suburban pulled up behind the van. Susan got out. She said to Agatha, “I got to thinking about the burial service and decided to drive up. I hope that’s okay.” She was wearing her lab uniform and had obviously rushed up to the ranch from work. Her dark brown hair had been tied in kind of a knot and was starting to come loose. Tully thought she was even more beautiful than usual.

“Oh, that is so thoughtful of you, Susan,” Agatha said. “And it’s wonderful to see you again. I do hope you’re getting back together with Bo.”

“We’re working on it,” she said. “I’ve given him the ten steps for improvement. We’ll have to see how he does on them. This is such a sad occasion, Agatha. I hope you don’t
mind that I came along uninvited. I brought along some flowers. They’re just lilacs, but I had a ton of them growing at the house. I know you’ve read Whitman’s poem about the death of Lincoln.”

“‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,’” Agatha said. “Lilacs are perfect. I’ll have Ernie carry them up to the knoll.” That’s when she noticed Tanzy. “Good heavens! Who is this?”

“Just another one of my criminals,” Tully said. “We picked him up on our way here. And this young lady is Judy. She’s going to work for Dave at his House of Fry.”

Dave said, “What? Oh, right, I must have forgotten.”

“I’m so glad all of you could come,” Agatha said. “It would have been such a sad occasion if Bernice and Bunny and I had been the only ones. And Ernie, of course. He’s such a nice young man, and he and Bunny get along wonderfully.”

Tully glared over Agatha’s head at Ernie, who gave one of his innocent shrugs.

As they trudged up to the knoll overlooking Quail Creek, they came to the four grave diggers sitting under a tree smoking cigarettes. Dave stopped in midstride, “Stubb and Gordy!”

“Oh, you’ve met before!” exclaimed Agatha. The two loggers were as surprised as Dave. Agatha introduced the other two diggers, who had leaped up and were dusting off their jeans.

Father James Flynn gave a brief but fitting talk. Then he
asked if anyone there could sing. Jim raised his grease-blackened hand. “Hit it, Jim,” Tully said. The kid’s voice was high and clear and beautiful and wafted up into the birch branches and drifted out over Quail Creek like some wild thing released from a cage.

Tully had to tug hard on the corner of his mustache to keep tears from welling up. He didn’t recognize the hymn and wasn’t even sure it was a hymn. Maybe Jim had just made it up. “I was trying to remember why we had brought you along, Jim,” he told the boy afterward, “and I guess this was it.”

“I’m glad I could do something,” Jim said.

They left Stubb and Gordy and the two other loggers to fill in the graves and walked back down to the house.

“You want me to head back to town, boss?” Ernie asked, coming up alongside of Tully.

“Yeah, your little vacation is over. Pap and Dave are staying with me. You take everybody else back into town in your patrol car. Get Judy a cabin at the Pine Creek Motel.”

“As I recall, the owner still hates you.”

“Yeah, well tell Janet this is official business and the county will pay the bill. Judy’s a witness in the string of robberies. Arrange for her to eat her meals over at Granny’s Café.”

“That’s kind of mean.”

“Sure, but it will be a while before she notices. You know what to do with Tanzy. Drop Jim off in Famine and thank his mother for letting him go. Tell him we’ll get him an official
Blight County sheriff’s T-shirt. Tomorrow, bring Lurch up here to pick up the Humvee and check it out.”

“What about Kincaid?”

“As soon as I know something, Ernie, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay if I take Bunny back with us?”

“Yes, take her, you miserable little poacher.”

“Thanks, Bo. I’m sorry if I—”

“Never apologize for stealing another man’s woman, Ernie, because it won’t do you any good. Besides, Susan and I may be back together again, as soon as I improve somewhat. So I guess I’ll let you live.”

TULLY PULLED THE
van into the Finch driveway. He, Pap, and Dave got out, walked up to the porch. Dave rang the doorbell. Margaret answered. “My goodness, Sheriff, you’re back. Dave and Pap, too. Good to see all of you. Come in, come in!”

“I’m really sorry to bother you, Margaret, but we’re back on business, I’m afraid. The last time we were here you happened to mention that your basement was full of firearms.”

Teddy Finch walked in at that moment. “So you’re back on business I heard you say, Bo. I hope Margaret hasn’t been up to something illegal.”

Tully laughed. “Not that I know of, Teddy. I’ll bring you up to date on the mystery we’re trying to solve. I understand you know Agatha Wrenn.”

“We do indeed. Both Agatha and Bernice. They’re lovely women. Bernice is a wonderful artist and Agatha is a distinguished Elizabethan scholar. You think our mine might have something to do with the disappearance of Agatha’s father?”

“It’s possible. We found a small mine in the drainage directly below the Finch Mine. The cliff above it had been blasted to create a rock slide that covered up the old mine entrance.”

Margaret looked shocked. “Good heavens!”

Teddy nodded his head. “You know, Bo, my father knew some secret he said he would tell me someday, but he never did. I think it was something he knew about my grandfather.”

“We found the remains of two people in the little mine,” Tully said.

Teddy’s mouth gaped. Margaret shook her head and appeared about to cry.

“Now for the bad part,” Tully said. “Both of them had been murdered. One of them was Agatha’s father, the other, Sean O’Boyle, a kid of about fourteen.”

“Murdered!” gasped Margaret. “Oh no!”

“I knew my dad’s secret must have been something terrible,” Teddy said. “That’s why he could never bring himself to tell me. What you’re thinking, Bo, is that my grandfather discovered that little mine below where the Finch Mine now sits. He killed Agatha’s father and the boy, and then filed his own claim and blasted a shaft down from the top of the mountain to intersect the ore.”

Margaret looked as if she was about to faint. Dave put his
arm around her and eased her into a chair. Teddy sat down on the couch, shaking his head.

“You’re right, Teddy, that’s what I’ve been thinking,” Tully said. “I hope it doesn’t turn out to be the case. What we do know is that each of the victims was killed with a .43-caliber bullet that has a ridge at its base. It was probably fired from a rolling-block rifle used by the Cubans in the Spanish-American War. A lot of American veterans of that war brought the rifles home. You told me that your grandfather was a veteran of the war. It’s possible he brought one or two of those rifles back with him. The last time we were here Margaret mentioned you had a basement full of old firearms. So I was hoping you would let us look through them and see if we can find any rolling-blocks.”

Teddy seemed dazed. “Of course, Bo, you’re welcome to look for whatever you like. I know enough about you to know that you have a warrant on you somewhere, but you don’t have to bother with that. If you find something, I’ll sign whatever you need to make it official.”