1 Target of Death (14 page)

Murmurs were heard in the back of the
crowd.

“She’s right. I saw you talking to Milton
hours before the tallies were counted for the chili cook-off,” a woman said, as
she moved forward.

Daniel nodded. “Sassy won, fair and square.
Come on up, Sassy.”

I strutted up there and Nancy was escorted
from the stage. A portly man with rosy cheeks gave me a huge trophy with an
envelope. “Congratulations to Louisiana Sassy.”

Cheers echoed around the stage and they
began to chant. “Dunk her. Dunk her!”

“What?” I asked.

“It’s tradition. Whoever wins the archery
competition must do the polar bear dip,” the man explained.

My eyes widened and Daniel gave me a wink. At
first I had felt bad that he threw the competition, but now I felt like he had set
me up. Damn man. I walked to the lake on shaky legs and took my outerwear off,
staring into a hole in the ice.

“Jump, jump!” the crowd chatted.

“I can’t!” I yelled. “This is lunacy.”

I was shaking so badly, but I just knew if
I didn’t jump in, someone would push me. I took a breath and jumped in. It felt
like hundreds of tiny needles stabbed me all over my body when I hit the frigid
water. I didn’t stay in long. I was helped out and a bear rug was thrown over
my shoulders—another tradition, or so they say. Instead of going back to
the warming tent, Margarita told me to go on back to the restaurant to warm up
proper, and come back later. Dixie also stayed behind with Margarita.

I went back to my room and took a steaming
hot shower. I sort of wanted to throttle Daniel about now, but at least I had
my cash prize. I felt relieved that I’d be able to support myself for a while,
but the truth was that I had no idea what my next move would be. I was still
bothered by the fact that I had no clue if Troy and Cindy were responsible for
Clayton’s murder. Had they also murdered Marilyn? And if so, why?

Once I was dressed, I went downstairs and
was told by one of the cooks that Daniel wanted me to meet him on Carter Road,
and that he had something important to tell me. He also said that I was to
bring my bow. I left ten minutes later, after receiving directions to the spot.

When I got to Carter Road, it was in the
middle of nowhere. I spotted Daniel’s truck parked alongside the road with
footprints leading into the woods. What on earth did Daniel have to tell me
that was important enough to have me in walk in the deep snow in the boonies?

The wind was picking up and whipped my face
with a sting. I trudged through the snow following the footprints, then froze
when I noticed blood speckled on the snow ahead of me. The thought occurred to
me that I might have just walked into some kind of trap, but concern for Daniel
overrode that thought. What if he was hurt, seriously enough to not be able to
find his way out? He was expecting me. Oh, God, what was he planning to tell
me? Had someone killed him, and now they planned to kill me?

I yanked my cell out of my back pocked and
tried to make a call, but I couldn’t get a signal. I stepped back, intent on
leaving for the safety of the SUV. This might just be a job for the sheriff. As
I turned to leave, an arrow whizzed past me, slicing through the sleeve of my
jacket. I jumped around, raising my bow, placing an arrow in it, taking on a
defense stance. A shot rang out and I fell to the ground in a heap. I laid in
the snow face first, but before I contemplated where I was hit, strong arms
jerked me to my feet and a man wearing a ski mask pulled me deeper into the
woods. It was hard enough to walk in the deep snow with a pain in my hip, jarring
my entire body with each step I took.

A wild panic gripped me. I tried to hit
whoever had ahold of me, but didn’t have much luck. My shoulder burned and I
remembered the arrow grazing it. Up ahead was a cabin and I swung blindly at
the man. I knew if I ended up in that cabin, that it would be the end of me. My
captor whirled and struck me full on the face. I saw stars and the man grabbed
me under my arms, dragging me the rest of the way into the cabin.

When I hit the floor inside, I saw Daniel next
to me, motionless, an arrow with a pink and white fletch protruding from his
shoulder.

“What have you done?” I screamed.

“No, what have you done?” Patsy McNalley
said.

Behind her, Winston yanked off his ski
mask. “You did this to yourself, you and your poking around. If you just did
the archery tournament and left it at that, everything would have been fine.”

“How is that, when Clayton was murdered?”

“He’s hardly innocent. We had a deal, and
he stole my money,” Winston said.

“How would killing him get your money
back?”

“He was supposed to have brought it with
him in the woods that day, but like usual, he couldn’t be trusted.”

“It seems you would have waited to see
beforehand.”

“I couldn’t. I had to make the shot from
across the clearing. I wanted to make it look like a woman did it, possibly
even his own wife.”

I stared at Patsy. “How did you come into
this? Were you the one who lured Clayton out here?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get him to take his pants off?
I can’t imagine him doing it for someone old like you.”

“A lot you know, but that was more of an
afterthought. I held a gun on him and made him do it while Winston made the
kill shot. I rather enjoyed belittling the man.”

“So you were both profiting from Clayton’s
meth operation, then?”

“We financed it. He was supposed to be
paying us, but he started getting greedy, just like that lazy-ass wife of his,”
Winston said.

“So, she knew what Clayton was doing?”

Patsy’s eyes protruded. “How could she not?
How couldn’t she know that Clayton was making meth in their shed? She was ready
to take over the operation in her husband’s stead, but she refused to hand over
the cash we knew was kept at their house. So, she became a liability when she
found out who we were.”

“So, did she hand over the money?”

“No, we had questioned her, but she managed
to get outside and tried to escape. Winston put a stop to that
,
though. We weren’t ever able to find the money. Do you know where she hid it?”

“Heck, no. She shooed us off that day when
she found it. We only discovered her body because I wanted to question her
about her husband’s death.”

I stared at Daniel. “Why did you kill
Daniel?”

Winston gave him a kick and Daniel grunted
in response.

“Why did you do that to Daniel? What did he
ever do to you?”

Patsy shrugged. “Well, ever since the
sheriff cut Troy and that Cindy loose, we need another suspect and you fit.”

“How do I fit? I just came into town and I
have no reason to kill him or his wife.”

“I don’t see it that way. The way I see it
is this ... you randomly killed Clayton, possibly when you were out target
practicing. You found out that Clayton had cash at his house and then killed
his wife. After all, you went to see Marilyn the same day the sheriff stopped
by to give her the news. I saw you at her place that day when I drove past.”

“There is no way the sheriff will ever
believe it.”

“Oh, I don’t know. When they find Daniel
dead, too, you’ll look good for the crimes. It should give us more time to find
the cash at the Percy’s place.”

“Unless it was kept in the meth lab that
blew up, by the way.”

Winston’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Yes, it blew up. I guess you’ll have to
find another place to make your meth.”

Patsy grabbed the gun from Winston and
leveled it at my head.

My breath came short and hard as I asked, “How
are you going to explain killing me?”

“You killed Daniel, and came at us. I was
forced to protect myself. Self defense—don’t you know?”

I leaped toward the fireplace, grabbed the
poker, and struck Patsy’s hand. The gun clunked to the floor and I made a mad
dash for it. Just as my fingers grabbed it, Winston slammed a booted foot on my
hand. I yelped, and caught movement from the other side of the room. Daniel
jumped Winston and they tumbled to the ground. I now had the gun and I cracked
off a shot in the air.

Patsy ran for the door and disappeared
outside, while Daniel tussled with Winston. I had no choice but to go after
Patsy. I chased her through the snow, but it was hard to run very fast. She
moved quicker than I thought she should be able to, but she also had a head
start. Unbelievably, she raced toward the same place where I had parked my car.

I heard sirens about now, and as I cleared
the woods, the deputies ran toward me with guns drawn. I dropped the gun and
shouted, “Patsy tried to kill me.”

“I did not. She’s the one.”

“Please,” I implored. “Winston shot Daniel
with an arrow and they’re fighting in a cabin in the woods.”

I stood helpless as the deputies rushed
into the woods, while another placed both Patsy and me into the back of two
separate cop cars. My fingers clawed at the window. I was so worried about
Daniel. Had Winston killed him during their brawl? Daniel clearly didn’t have
the upper hand since he was injured.

Tears streamed down my face when an
ambulance pulled up, and they carried a stretcher into the woods. Is Daniel ...
dead?

It seemed like hours before they returned.
Winston was cuffed from behind and dragged to another cop car. Once he was
inside it, he kicked at the back windows of the car. That was, until it was
opened and a Taser was used on him. The door to the cruiser I was in opened and
I was helped out by Sheriff Price and led to another ambulance that had just
arrived. “Is Daniel okay?” I cried.

“He’s injured and there is no telling if
he’ll make it. Winston hit him on the head with a log when we entered the
cabin. Who shot you?”

“It was Patsy.” I then went on to explain
how Winston and Patsy were involved in Clayton’s meth business and how he had screwed
them over, causing them to murder him, and ultimately his wife, Marilyn, when
she wouldn’t hand over the money hidden at the house.
 

***

When I got to the hospital, I was
immediately sent to surgery to remove the bullet that was lodged in my hip. I
awoke in recovery full of questions about Daniel, but they fell on deaf ears. The
nurses stated privacy policies as the reason they wouldn’t provide any
information about him. But I was so worried that Daniel didn’t make it. I just
couldn’t live with the thought that I’d brought him down. If it hadn’t been for
me, he’d be at the winter festival enjoying himself, not here clinging to life.

Daniel was one of my most worthy opponents
to date. I still couldn’t get over the fact that he threw the archery competition
for me, and he stood up to Nancy like that. What did Nancy have against me?

When I was taken to my room, Margarita was
there with a sad-faced Dixie, who promptly hugged me once the nurses had settled
me in bed.

“Oh, Sassy,” Dixie said. As she pulled away
I noted her crocodile tears that bubbled down her cheeks. “What if...”

“Stop thinking like that. I’m okay. I was
shot in the hip by Winston Hickey.”

“In the ass, you mean,” a doctor said, as
he entered. “Lucky for you that you had plenty of padding in that area.”

Dixie smiled. “See, your ass might have
just saved your life.”

“Do you have any information about Daniel Adams?
He was brought in before me.”

The doctor cocked a brow. “I’m not at
liberty to say, but if you happen to wander down the hall to room twenty-four,
you might find him. If you breathe a word that I told you, I’ll deny it. Got
it?”

“Is it okay for her to do that?” Margarita
asked.

“Her wound is superficial at the most. Just
help her roll her IV along with her. She’ll be released tomorrow.”

I stood, taking care to cover my backside
as I made my way up the hallway.

“I’m so sorry my ex-husband shot you,”
Margarita said. “Sheriff Price told us what happened and I feel just awful. My
cook, Jase, feels bad for giving you that message, sending you out there.”

“It wasn’t his fault. How was he to know
who really had called? Plus, if I hadn’t gone out there, Daniel would have been
a goner, for sure. I just hope he’s okay. The sheriff told me that Winston
struck Daniel with a log besides shooting him with an arrow.”

“That’s just terrible,” Dixie said. “How
did those two think they’d get away with murdering two people?”

“By pinning Daniel’s murder on me. Then
they planned to murder me to make it look like they had to kill me in self
defense.”

“I knew that Patsy was no good, but being
involved with the manufacture of crystal meth, well ... that’s just plain
nuts,” Margarita said.

“From my understanding, Clayton was the one
manufacturing and selling it with money given to him by Winston, but instead of
paying whatever fee they had agreed upon, Clayton got greedy and kept the money
for himself. I suspect he had no idea that Winston and Patsy would hatch a plan
to murder him.”

“And what about Marilyn? Was she also
involved?” Margarita asked.

“I’m not sure, but at some point I believe
she found the meth equipment and tried to start making it herself after her
husband died. That’s why the shed blew up that day we discovered her body.”

“Unless it was set up that way by Patsy and
Winston,” Dixie suggested.

“Good point, but I guess we’ll never know
unless Winston starts talking, but I doubt the sheriff will be supplying us
with the particulars of the case.

I stopped walking when we got to Daniel’s
room. I walked in and he was on the bed with IV’s attached and large circular
pads connected to his chest with wires running into a small box. I stared at
the monitors that measured his heart rate and pulse and it appeared quite good.

I sat in a chair next to Daniel’s bed and
said, “Oh, Daniel, I’m so sorry you got dragged into this. I promise I’ll go to
dinner with you if you wake up.”

One green eye opened. Then he squinted at
me and said, “I’m gonna hold you to that promise, Sassy.”

I smiled. “Please call me Tammy. It’s my
name, don’t ya know.”

“Okay, whatever you say. You know I’ve shot
bows all of my life, but I never knew what it would feel like to be shot with
one. I could do without the experience, if you want to know.”