5 A Bad Egg (5 page)

“I say we go
by the garage and have a little chat with Wayne,” I said. “It sounds as though
he had a few reasons of his own to take a pipe to the back of Gordon Murphy’s
head. Not only did the man punch his lights out, but he did it in front of his
girlfriend. I’ve got the feeling that more than Wayne’s pride was hurt by that
blow.”

“Do you think
it was enough to make him kill Gordon?” Moose asked.

“If he
thought he was defending Ellen, it might be,” I said.

“Then by all
means, let’s go speak with him while the sheriff’s occupied with his search for
Ellen.”

“Surely he’s
found her by now,” I said.

“That depends
entirely on how good she is at hiding,” Moose replied.

“I still
can’t believe that she’d just run off like that.”

“Fight or
flight is pretty ingrained in all of us,” my grandfather answered.

“I just hope
that she didn’t do both,” I answered as we pulled into the auto shop’s parking
lot.

It was time
to talk to the owner and see if he might have had something to do with Gordon
Murphy’s murder.

“Wayne, do
you have a second?” Moose asked him as we walked into the office.

“For you?
Always,” the mechanic said.

Moose
whistled softly under his breath when he saw the mechanic’s face. “Gordon
caught you pretty good last night, didn’t he?”

Wayne frowned
as he touched his black eye. He winced a little as he did, and then he looked
straight at Moose and said, “I’ve never been much of a fighter, and that’s a
fact. Before this happened, the last time I raised a hand in anger was in
seventh grade, and that didn’t end all that well for me either, truth be told.
The man hit me before I was ready, but that’s not much of an excuse, is it?”

“Why did he
take a swing at you?” I asked.

“I objected
to his tone of voice,” Wayne said. “I know that he and Ellen have their
differences, but I was going to be whelped if I stood there and let him talk to
her that way. I told him to take it easy, and he hit me. That’s when he made a
mistake.”

“What did he
do?” Moose asked.

“He thought
he’d whipped me and that I wasn’t going to get back up. He was wrong. I got a
good shot into his gut before he hit me again. I’m not all that proud of it,
but it felt good dishing out a little punishment to him.”

“What broke
things up?” I asked.

“Ellen
stepped in between us,” Wayne said. “I wasn’t all that happy about it at the
time, but I should probably thank her for doing it. Most likely I would have
gotten clobbered a lot worse than I did if she hadn’t,” he said with the hint
of a smile.

“Wayne, were
you mad enough to kill him when you two were fighting?” I asked.

“I know I
shouldn’t admit it, but yes, if I’d had something I could have used as a
weapon, I probably would have taken care of him once and for all.”

“You know
that he’s dead, don’t you?” Moose asked.

“Yeah, I
know,” he said, the words escaping in a sigh. “Sheriff Croft came by looking
for Ellen earlier. I didn’t know where she could have gone. Has she turned up
yet?”

“Not that we
know of,” I said. “I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t out looking for her
yourself.”

Wayne scowled
as he said, “I was going to do just that, but the sheriff warned me that I
needed to stay right where I was until he found her. I thought about disobeying
him, but then I realized that even if I did manage to track Ellen down, she
wouldn’t go to the sheriff on my say-so. That woman has a cast iron backbone,
doesn’t she?”

“Yes, she can
be decisive at times,” I said.

That brought
a laugh from Wayne. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. I keep hoping that
she’ll call me, but so far, I haven’t heard a word from her. To be honest with
you, it is kind of hurting my feelings a little. Victoria, if you took off,
wouldn’t Greg be the first call you made?”

“That’s different,”
I said. “We’ve been married a long time.”

“I don’t
know,” Wayne said. “I still think that she should have called me. Doesn’t she
realize that she can count on me? I’m in it, the good
and
the bad.”

Moose put a
hand on Wayne’s shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on her, son. She’s been through a
lot, and she honestly believes that her children are at risk. She’s not
thinking straight right now.”

Wayne nodded
after a moment’s thought. “I suppose you’re right. Where could she be, though?”

“If we had a
clue between us, we’d go looking for her,” I said. “Instead, we’re trying to
figure out who killed Gordon Murphy.”

A light
seemed to switch on behind Wayne’s eyes. “Is that why you’re here, then? Do you
two honestly think that I did it?”

“We’re talking
to everyone who had a problem with the man,” I said. “You have to admit that
you fit in that category.”

“I suppose
that I have to,” Wayne said. “Just for the record, I didn’t kill him. I can’t
say I didn’t consider it, but it passed pretty quickly. If he’d attacked Ellen
physically, or if he’d come after me with something more substantial than his
fists, maybe I’d do it in the heat of the moment, but not cold-blooded like
that.”

“What makes
you think that hitting him in the head with a steel pipe is spontaneous?” Moose
asked him.

“From what I
heard, he got smacked in the
back
of
the head. That means that someone waited until he turned his back, or else they
ambushed him from the shadows. Either way, it was an act of cowardice, and
that’s something I would never do.”

One of the
mechanics came out through the shop and headed straight for Wayne’s office.
“Boss, do you have a second? I’m having trouble with the brakes on that truck
Larry Dale brought in.”

“I’ve worked
on that one before,” Wayne said. “It’s kind of tricky.” Wayne turned back to us
as he got up from his chair. “Folks, I’d love to sit around and chat with you,
but Larry is coming back in an hour for his truck, and I don’t want to hear him
complaining about my service all over town. If I hear from Ellen, I’ll let you
know, but that’s the best I can do.”

“Thanks,
Wayne,” Moose said. “Listen, we didn’t mean anything by questioning you. You
know that, don’t you?”

Wayne smiled
a little. “Moose, I appreciate the gesture, but don’t go backpedaling now. I
know that your loyalties are with Ellen. If you thought for a second that I
killed her ex-husband, you wouldn’t hesitate to turn me in to the police, and I
wouldn’t blame you. She’s a part of your family, whether there’s blood involved
or not. We’ve been friends for a while, but nothing like that.”

“I won’t deny
it,” Moose said as he held onto Wayne’s hand. “If you did kill that rat, I
won’t go out of my way to point it out to the police unless there’s no other
way to save Ellen.”

Wayne grinned
broadly. “That’s all that I can ask. I’m glad that we understand each other.”

“So am I,”
Moose said.

When we were
outside the repair shop getting ready to get into my grandfather’s truck, I
asked him, “Did you just mean what you told Wayne?”

“I did,”
Moose said solemnly.

“So if we
find the pipe with his bloody fingerprints on it, you’re not planning on
telling Sheriff Croft,” I said, having a hard time believing it even as I
spoke.

“Face it,
Victoria. The man was a rat,” Moose said.

“That doesn’t
mean that he deserved to die,” I answered.

“Maybe not,
and if the sheriff catches the man’s killer, I won’t do anything to stop it,
but that doesn’t mean that I’ll serve him up on a platter, either.”

I stood in my
tracks as I stared at my grandfather. “Moose, if we find evidence that points
to whoever killed Gordon, I’m turning it over to the sheriff, no matter
who
it is.”

“Even if it’s
Ellen?” he asked.

“Yes,” I
replied.

“What if I
did it?” Moose asked. There wasn’t a single ounce of kidding in his expression,
and I knew that his question was deadly serious.

“And you were
dumb enough to leave proof behind?” I asked.

“Let’s say
that I had a lapse in judgment and panicked,” Moose said.

“I’d be
crying like a baby, but I’d still turn you in,” I said. “I can’t be the one who
decides who gets punished and who goes free. I’d hate myself for the rest of my
life, but it’s the only way that I’d be able to live with myself. I’m sorry,
but that’s just the way that I’m wired.”

Moose
startled me by hugging me right there in the parking lot. “Victoria, truth be
told, I’d expect nothing less from you,” he said.

“And you
wouldn’t hate me for doing it?”

“I might be a
little miffed at first,” Moose said with a grin, “but I’d have plenty of time to
get over it, wouldn’t I? Granddaughter, I love you with all of my heart, but
we’re going to have to agree to disagree about this.”

“There’s one
thing we need to get straight, though. You won’t try to stop me if I find
evidence about someone we know and I try to turn it in, will you?”

“I said that
I
wouldn’t do it, not that
you
couldn’t,” Moose said. “I won’t
stand in your way, and that’s a solemn promise.”

“Then let’s
keep looking,” I said.

Moose glanced
at his watch. “It’s nearly six o’clock. Who should we go after now?”

“I’d really
like to talk to Sam Jackson. He was pretty intent on getting his revenge on
Gordon when he came by the diner earlier.”

“That’s fine
with me,” Moose said. “Just out of curiosity, is there anyone else we should be
talking to?”

“Robert
Hightower has to be a candidate in our minds, and Opal, too.”

Moose shook
his head. “I can see Robert going off in a fit, but Opal?”

“Think about
it. How would your wife react if someone went after my dad?”

Moose
shuddered visibly. “I wouldn’t want to be in the man’s shoes. You’re right.
Opal has to be a candidate as well. Is there anyone else?”

I thought
about it, and then I remembered my conversation with Mitchell Cobb. After I
told Moose about our conversation, I said, “He seemed a little too wrapped up
in Ellen for his own good, if you know what I mean. I’ve got a hunch that old
Mitchell knows how to milk a grudge.”

“It sounds a
little extreme to me, killing a man because he stole your date for the senior
prom several years ago,” Moose said.

“Do you think
we should take his name off our list?” I respected my grandfather’s opinion,
even when we disagreed.

“No, we’d
better leave it right where it is for now,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing that
Gordon dared show his face in town, given how many folks we’ve discovered
wouldn’t mind seeing the man dead.”

“He never
would have done it if Jessie hadn’t insisted that he get involved in his
children’s lives,” I said, “but it sounded like a deal-breaker to her, didn’t
it?”

“If you want
to know the truth, I still think she’s a viable candidate,” Moose said.

“I don’t
disagree. I’m just not sure how we’re going to manage to interview her again.”

“We might
have to wait to pounce once she’s left the hotel property,” Moose said.

I nodded, and
then I said, “In the meantime, we should talk to Sam Jackson. Do you have any
idea where he might be?”

Moose looked
at his watch, and then he said, “Unless I miss my guess, he’s at The Hole right
about now.”

The Hole was
officially named The Watering Hole, but nobody called it that. It was across
the county line, where liquor by the drink was still legal, and I knew that
some folks from town slipped across the line every now and then when they
wanted a snort.

“How could
you possibly know that?” I asked my grandfather with a grin.

“I may be an
old man, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know things,” Moose said.

“I never
doubted it for one second,” I said. “So, should we go spend a little time at
the bar and see if we can find Sam?”

My
grandfather looked a little troubled by my suggestion. “Victoria, why don’t I
drop you off at the diner first? I can handle this by myself.”

“Moose, I
shouldn’t have to remind you that I’m a grown woman. If I want to go to a bar,
there’s nobody who can stop me.”

“I know that
you
can
. I’m just not sure that you
should
.”

I had to
laugh. “Are you worried about my reputation? Should we wait until Greg can go
and offer to chaperone me?”

“No, you’re
right. I’m just being silly.”

I patted his shoulder
softly. “You’re looking out for me, and normally I wouldn’t have a problem with
it, but this isn’t one of those times.”

Moose
shrugged. “Let’s go, then, but I’m warning you, if you get yourself in a bar
fight, I’m not stepping in to give you a hand.”

He was doing
his best to make up for the slight offense, and I decided to accept his
unspoken apology for treating me like a little girl. “Okay, but I don’t know
why you’d miss out on all of the fun like that.”

“You’re right
again,” Moose said. “If our family goes down, we’ll go down swinging.”

It was all
for naught, though. Against Sam Jackson’s usual habits, he wasn’t at the bar,
and the bartender hadn’t seen him when we asked about him.

Was Ellen the
only one on the run right now, or had we just lost another of our viable
suspects?

Chapter 6

“Where do you
suppose he could be?” I asked Moose as we went back out to his truck.

“Well, I
doubt that he’s with Ellen and her kids,” my grandfather said.

“Why would
she be with
him
?” I asked.

Moose waved a
hand around in the air as though he was shooing away a pesky fly. “She
wouldn’t. I was just thinking out loud.”