Avalanche: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries) (22 page)

TULLY DROPPED PAP OFF AT
his house. Deedee ran out and gave the old man a big kiss. His cap actually flew off and landed in the snow. Deedee picked it up and slapped it back down on his head. Then she took him by the arm and led him up on the porch. Before going in the door, the old man turned and gave his son a grin. Tully thought maybe he could use a housekeeper himself.

The next morning, as usual, he found Herb sitting on the edge of Daisy’s desk. “That’s exactly where I left you, Herb,” he said. “How does Daisy get any work done with you around?”

“Bo! You’re back!” Daisy cried.

“I hate to admit it, boss,” Herb said, “but even I’m glad to see you.” He walked over and shook Tully’s hand.

Tully looked over in the corner of the briefing room. “Where’s Lurch?”

Daisy said, “He’s probably home sleeping.”

“I don’t allow Lurch to sleep. Call him up, Daisy, and get him down here. Where’s Pugh?”

“He went out to get breakfast.”

“I don’t allow Pugh to eat. Get him back here.”

He walked down to the women’s jail and asked the matron, Lulu Tate, if Lois was decent.

“About as decent as she gets,” Lulu said. “That broad has a really bad mouth on her. We got her into a nice orange jumpsuit and fixed her a nice breakfast this morning. Apparently she didn’t find the chunk she took out of Brian’s arm yesterday all that filling.”

“She bit him?”

“Yeah, but I disinfected him and bandaged him up. He’s pretty cute for a deputy, but he squeals like a pig when you pour disinfectant into a bite. You need to toughen up your deputies, Bo.”

“I’m working on it, Lulu. Bring Lois out here, will you? Put some cuffs on her first.”

“I should put a muzzle on her.” Lulu walked back to the cells and shortly returned with Lois, her hands cuffed behind her.

“They treating you all right, Lois?” Tully asked.

“What do you think?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right, they put you in jail. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln?”

“I’m glad you think this is so funny.”

“Actually, I don’t. Jail is about the most boring thing I can think of. Prison is almost a relief, when you get moved up to it. But you already know that.”

“It sounds kind of familiar,” she said.

“Here’s the deal, Lois. I’ve got you nailed six different ways from Sunday. If you help me confirm a few details, though, I’ll do what I can for you with the judge. You’ll probably still do twenty years, but maybe I can get you in a nicer prison and a job where you can help with the bookkeeping or something.”

Lois rolled her eyes. “What is it you want to know, Bo?”

“For one thing, what happened at Cabin Three. The way I’ve got it figured, you, Grady, and Mike arranged to meet at the cabin after the murder of Baker. Mike skied in about three that morning. He went into the cabin, filled you in on what happened, and at some point Grady hit him in the back of the head with a sap.”

“That’s about it. He wasn’t supposed to hit him so hard that it killed him, though. Grady is seriously stupid.”

“I know. You wanted Mike to live long enough to drown in the river. You had a pair of Mike’s rubber boots in the shop. You put them on and made the tracks from the Pout House to the river. You later removed Mike’s ski boots, and put the rubber boots on him. Then you loaded Mike on the toboggan in the rental room, and Grady hauled him up to the middle of the suspension bridge on the toboggan and threw him off. That’s why the flat track of the toboggan is lighter coming back over the bridge than it is going out.”

“What do you need me for, if you think you know it all?”

“I just need it confirmed.”

“You got it about right. But I didn’t know Grady and Mike were going to do any killing.”

“Sure. Okay, Lulu, you can take her back.”

“You promised to help me, Bo,” Lois yelled back at him as she was being led away.

“I never go back on my word, Lois. Also, keep in mind that neither deceased was greatly loved. You may even get an award for helping dispose of them.”

He pulled out Lulu’s chair and sat down in it. When the matron returned, he asked her to bring out Bitsy.

“You want her cuffed, Bo?”

“No, she’s harmless.”

Bitsy wasn’t nearly as cute as he remembered. Her orange jumpsuit was too big for her and her hair was a mess. He jumped up and offered her the chair. She sank into it.

“They treating you okay, Bitsy?”

“I guess,” she said. “I’ve never been in jail before.”

“Yes, you have,” Tully said. “Once you did a couple years for passing phony twenties.”

“Oh that?” she said.

“Yep. Anyway, if there is any possibility of your going straight, I may be able to get you out of this mess. I suspect you didn’t realize that Mike was going to shoot Horace Baker when you drove him over there.”

“I didn’t!”

“But you knew something was up.”

“Yeah.”

“Did Grady set you up for this?”

She nodded her head yes. “I was supposed to get a thousand dollars for picking Mike up, taking him to Baker’s, and then hauling him up to the Blight Mountain Lodge so he could hop on the ski lift. I work almost a month at Countryman’s for that much. But I’ve been going pretty straight since the counterfeit mess.”

“I’m glad to hear it, because I’m going to let you go, Bitsy, even though I’m aware that the next day you had to realize that Mike had killed Baker. Countryman’s will keep you on, I’ll make sure of that. So don’t try to run.”

“Gee thanks, Sheriff! I didn’t expect this.”

“I would do the same for any pretty woman. But you better not skip out on me, Bitsy. I need you to get up on the witness stand and tell the truth. If I have to hunt you down, you’ll be very, very sorry.”

“I’ll be good.”

“I hope so.”

After signing for Bitsy’s release, Tully walked over to the men’s jail. As usual, he created a considerable row among the inmates.

“Just making sure you’re all being treated humanely!” he yelled above the noise. That only increased the volume. Several of the inmates were dragging tin cups along the bars, something they had seen in prison movies. Stubb Speizer yelled, “Bo, you got to get me out of this cell with Lister Scragg. He’s killing me!”

“How come you’re not back in your own cell, Stubb?”

“Because Daisy is keeping that stupid dog in there!”

“What!” Tully said. “Clarence is supposed to be nonexistent by now.”

“Well, he ain’t! He’s still in my cell!”

Tully walked over and looked down at the little dog. Clarence growled at him.

“See what I mean, Sheriff. I’m thrown in with Lister, and a dog gets a whole cell to himself!”

“Shut up, Stubb!” Then Tully yelled at the jailer. “Hank, find me a length of rope. I guess I have to take care of this myself.”

Tully walked into the briefing room dragging Clarence behind him. The little dog skidded along on his hindquarters.

“Stop, Bo!” Daisy cried. “You’re hurting him!”

“I’m not hurting him. If he would walk along like a decent animal, there wouldn’t be any problem at all.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“Only what I asked you to have done, Daisy. Now I have to do it myself. You knew better than to leave this up to me.”

“But he’s so cute, Bo!”

“Daisy, we’ve been through the cute thing before. He bites people. He bites little old ladies. Townspeople hate him. Idiots shoot at him with high-powered rifles right in the middle of town. Worse, they miss! Somebody is going to get killed. Clarence has created a reign of terror around here for the last six months, and I’m putting an end to it.”

Daisy’s eyes welled up and she dug around for a Kleenex.

Lurch came through the door. He had big circles under his eyes and his hair was standing on end. Tully thought he looked better than usual. “What’s going on?” Lurch asked, looking around.

“Bo is going to kill Clarence!” wailed Daisy.

“Oh, that,” he said.

“You get the evidence I asked for, Lurch?”

“Yeah, boss. The drops on the toboggan in the rental room were blood, all right. I’ll get their DNA checked. The stain in Cabin Three was also blood. Might be able to get the DNA on that, too.”

“Good. By the way, Lurch, here’s something you’ll find amusing. I don’t think Grady used the inflatable boat to pick up Lois.”

“No!”

“Yes! I got to thinking about our trip up the river and decided that Grady would have thought it far too dangerous.”

“Don’t tell me any more, boss!”

“Perhaps you remember, Lurch, that the river was quite mild where the tracks were!”

“No! Stop!”

“I think what happened was, Grady towed her across the river in a rubber raft.”

“How would she get a rubber raft? She couldn’t carry it out with her.”

“Grady had it on the other side. You remember when Pap found that arrow near the river? Well, Grady shot it across from the other side. It had a string tied to it. Then Lois pulled a rope across the river with the string. Then she pulled the raft over with a rope.”

“Stop! I can’t stand this!”

“Finally, she got in the raft and Grady pulled her back across the river with another rope attached to the raft!”

“So we risked our lives for nothing!”

“We found Mike’s body, didn’t we? That’s something. But at least we know now Grady isn’t totally stupid. He didn’t try to run up the river in a jet boat.”

“Yeah, we know that!”

“I do hate to send you back up to the West Branch Lodge, Lurch, but I think you may find Lois’s fingerprints on the raft. It’s rolled up in the lodge’s equipment rental room.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes. Get some sleep one of these days, Lurch. You look terrible.”

“I’m surprised you don’t want me to do Clarence in my spare time.”

“I can do Clarence myself. He and I are taking a ride out into the woods right now.”

“Men!” Daisy said. “I’m the only one who cares about you, Clarence!”

Clarence, sitting on his hindquarters, glanced casually around, probably for some ankles to bite. Tully walked out the briefing-room door. The little dog slid along behind him.

“So long, Clarence!” Herb yelled after him.

“Bo is so cruel!” Daisy said.

Herb sat down on the edge of her desk. “Yeah, he is that all right.”

“Shut up, Herb!”

THE CLARENCE SITUATION HAD BOTHERED
him a lot more than he had expected. He had killed men without losing a wink of sleep. Clarence still gnawed at him. The little dog had sat there, staring up at him with those defiant big brown eyes. Tully hated the whole concept of cute even more now. It kept men from being men and doing what they had to do. To clear his mind, he finally decided to pack up his watercolors, his tent, and his sheepherder stove, and head up the West Branch for a few days of painting. Maybe it was time for him to devote himself full-time to art.

He called Susan and asked her if she wanted to go along, even though it was February. Surprisingly, she seemed receptive. “Let me think about it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but camping out with you in February almost sounds like fun.”

Then Janice called from Boise. Another of Tom’s relatives had died, this time up in Idaho Falls. She was all alone, she said. He knew Janice was definitely an outdoor type, and he still hadn’t recovered from that last kiss. Just talking to her brought back some delicious memories from their college days. While he was pondering Janice, Lindsay called from her dorm at Washington State University. She said she couldn’t keep her mind on her math, thinking about him. “Since we’ve already been intimate once,” she said, “I don’t think it would hurt if I came down to Blight for the weekend.”

“But I’m going camping up the West Branch,” he said.

“Perfect!” she said.

Tully wasn’t quite sure what to do with this embarrassment of riches. Life could get so complicated. Aside from other matters, the weather along the West Branch turned out to be perfect for painting: no snow or rain, and a nice mist hung over the river for days. The sun occasionally broke through and created whole new dimensions in the landscape. In three days, he did almost a dozen watercolors, some of them excellent. He believed every watercolor attempted was a gamble, but the more you painted the better the odds a few would turn out first-rate.

He took the fourth day off and waited up on the road for Jennifer and her bookmobile. He stood in the middle of the road and flagged her down.

“Hi, I’m Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County,” he told her.

She seemed a bit surly. “I know who you are. What do you want?”

“I need a ride,” he said. “What do you think?”

He climbed into the seat alongside of her. Rather irritably, or so he thought, she stepped on the clutch and shoved the stick shift into low gear. The ancient transmission bucked up in the floor every time she shifted. Tully wondered vaguely if he could still drive a stick-shift. Obviously, if a woman with streaks of gray in her straight brown hair could handle such a machine, he was pretty sure he still could. To be kind, Jennifer was plain. He wondered about Hoot’s fondness for her. Probably all those years alone in the woods, he thought.

“You read books, Sheriff Tully?” Jennifer asked.

“I read one once,” he said. “But I got pretty sick of the stupid dog, the one they called Spot.”

Jennifer smiled. “I suspect you’ve read more than that.”

“Let me put it this way, I don’t have a TV. My evenings are pretty lonely.”

“I doubt they’re all that lonely, from what I hear through the gossip mills.”

“My mother is in charge of the Blight County gossip mills,” he said. “No rumor makes the rounds unless Ma approves it. She has single-handedly raised my reputation as a ladies’ man to astronomical levels. So, you married, Jennifer, or do you just wear that ring to keep strange men like me from hitting on you?”

“Yes, I got married right out of high school. His name is Jesse. He’s a mechanic.”

“Why, I know Jesse. He’s not even a lazy oaf.”

“No, he isn’t.”

“He’s fixed my car a few times. He did an excellent job, but charged me for it, apparently not realizing how things are done in Blight.”

She laughed. “I didn’t say he was perfect.”

“I have to admit that you found yourself a good one, Jennifer. So are you and Jesse happily married?”

“I hope so. We do okay. Our boy is a freshman at the U of I. So what do you want with Hoot?”

“Hoot who?”

“You know Hoot who. There’s only one Hoot, and I can tell you right now, he won’t be happy to see you.”

“Probably not, but that’s the reason I’m riding along with you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t see Hoot at all.”

“I hope you’re not thinking of arresting him. If so, you can get out right now.”

“I’m not going to arrest him, Jennifer.”

A couple of miles past the West Branch Lodge, Jennifer pulled into a turnout and shut off the engine.

“What now?” he said.

“We wait. He may not show up, if he sees you here. And there’s no doubt he’ll see you. Open your door.”

Tully opened his door.

They waited in silence for many long minutes. Suddenly, Hoot was standing next to Tully. He had his rifle cradled in his arms, one finger resting against the trigger guard.

“What are you doing here, Bo?”

“I’m glad you asked that, Hoot. I brought you a present.” He handed the mountain man a package.

“A present?” he said, leaning his rifle against the bookmobile. “I don’t need a present. I don’t want one, either.”

“Open it,” Tully said.

Hoot tore off the wrapping and stared at the gift. He smiled. “Two leather-bound volumes of Willy’s plays! You shouldn’t have, Bo.”

“I figured I owed you something, Hoot. It certainly isn’t an award for your marksmanship, but I have to admit, you shoot well enough.”

Hoot was silent, staring at the two volumes. Then he said, “These old eyes aren’t quite what they used to be. But I understand what you’re saying.’

“Well, I don’t!” Jennifer said.

“The books aren’t an expensive gift, Hoot. I got them cheap, at an English professor’s estate sale. I understand he was a major Elizabethan scholar and had scribbled little notes all through them. Otherwise, they’re in pretty good shape. I didn’t think you would mind, having them all marked up like that.”

Hoot laughed. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

Jennifer said to Hoot, “I guess you won’t be needing my Shakespeares again, Ben. Can I interest you in something else?”

“Actually, that’s why I came down, Jenn, even with Bo here. I’m moving on.”

“Moving!” she gasped.

“Yep, the mountains and the winters are getting too hard for these old bones. I’ve got myself a nice remote island in the Caribbean picked out. Figured I’d spend the rest of my days lying on a warm, sandy beach, reading my Willys, of course.” He smiled.

“The Caribbean?” Tully said.

“Don’t expect a postcard, Bo.”

“I won’t. At least not from you.”

Hoot stared at him for a moment. Then he winked.

That night Tully cooked a nice dinner for two on the sheepherder stove. Then they turned in early. Bit by bit, all the mental and muscular knots loosened and finally disappeared. His painting couldn’t be going better. He was even starting to think of himself as an artist. For the first time in years, he was beginning to relax. He was almost asleep when he felt the soft warm body snuggle up against his back. Then the wet tongue was in his ear. Teeth brushed against his shoulder.

“Nibble, Clarence, nibble!” he shouted. “Don’t bite!”