Authors: Bill Crider

Murder Among the OWLS (24 page)

BOOK: Murder Among the OWLS

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“You went over and witnessed the will? What about a second witness?”

“She didn't have one. She didn't want Alton to know about the change.”

She shouldn't have let Francine know, either. Rhodes thought the will might have been more a part of the motive than the ring.

“So instead of witnessing the will, you took it.”

“That's right. Helen said she'd destroyed the old one, but I couldn't allow her to make Alton the heir. Leo deserved that money. He'd just started a new business that was going to be a big success, but he needed the money he'd inherit, just in case it didn't work out.”

“Lily Gadney was his backer at the Royal Rack. She'd cut you out.”

Francine gave a sad, tired smile. “How little you know. He was just using Lily, as he had before. I was always the one he cared about.”

Rhodes didn't believe that Thorpe had ever cared about anybody except himself. He'd used women all his life, Lily, Francine, Helen. Probably others that Rhodes didn't know about.

“Was it Leo's idea for you to get the new will?”

“He didn't know about it. She called me there to witness it that morning.”

“When you hit her.”

“Yes, all right, I hit her. The ring, the will, she shouldn't have treated me that way. It wasn't ladylike at all.”

Rhodes wanted to ask her if sneaking around with someone like Thorpe was ladylike, but he didn't think she'd get the point. Something else occurred to him.

“You're the one who sent Brant after Truck Gadney, aren't you. I should have thought of that. Somebody had to tell him, and you were there in the library when I was asking Lily about her and Truck's quarrel with Mrs. Harris. You thought that you could sic Brant on Truck and distract me from you and Leo. Is that right?”

“I called him. I was afraid he'd tell you, but I suppose he didn't.”

“I didn't think to ask him. My mistake.”

“Will I have to go to jail?”

“Yes. You will.”

“For a long time?”

“That'll be up to the judge and jury.”

“She taunted me. Helen. She made me do it. It wasn't my fault.”

It was always good to start working on the case for the defense, Rhodes thought.

“Are you ready to go?”

Francine stood up. “She made me do it. I would never have hit her otherwise. You see?”

“What I see doesn't matter. I just make the arrests.”

“I'll be out soon. I know a very good lawyer.”

Rhodes had a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Randy Lawless?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Just a lucky guess.”

Chapter 29

“I FEEL SORRY FOR FRANCINE,” IVY SAID THAT EVENING WHEN she and Rhodes were eating their meal of three-bean vegetarian chili, which Rhodes was glad wasn't as bad as it sounded. “I feel sorry for all of them.”

By
all of them
she must have meant the women involved with Thorpe in one way or another, Rhodes thought.

“Look on the bright side,” Rhodes said. “Francine will have plenty of time to finish writing that romance novel of hers while she's serving her sentence.”

“It was really Leo's fault,” Ivy said, ignoring Rhodes's comment. “And he's not even going to jail.”

Thorpe was still in the hospital, still in a coma.

“He's not exactly living large.” Rhodes took a mouthful of the chili. “Not like us.”

Ivy didn't smile.

“I love the chili.” Rhodes took another bite to prove it. “You know that.”

“What about Sam? Do you love him?”

Rhodes looked over at the cat. It had one leg stretched out and was licking it.

“Do I have to love him? Can't I just tolerate him?”

“Well, all right. That will do if you promise to stop trying to give him away.”

Rhodes didn't want to make any promises he couldn't keep. He said, “I haven't sneezed in a while.”

“I told you that was psychological.”

Rhodes was reserving judgment on that.

“After all,” Ivy said, “he helped you solve the case. All that DNA evidence on his claws and fur.”

“I don't know if it's there. It's probably not. We're not going to look for it now. We don't need it. That was just a way to convince Francine to tell me the truth.”

“You'd never even have found Helen's body if it hadn't been for Sam. Someone else would have come along and spoiled the crime scene. You might never have known about the murder.”

“It's a possibility. A small one.”

“Come on. Sam's a hero. You just don't want to admit it.”

The cat had stopped licking and was looking at Rhodes as if waiting for him to comment.

“Say it,” Ivy said. “Say his name.”

Rhodes opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“You can do it. It's an easy name. Sam. Give it a try.”

“Sam.”

Ivy smiled at Rhodes. “See? I knew you could do it. Aren't you glad he's here? We needed a cat.”

“We didn't need a cat. We have dogs.”

Both dogs had come to Rhodes by way of cases he'd worked on. He was beginning to feel as if he might be running an animal shelter. He might have to arrest himself for not having a license.

“And now we have a cat,” Ivy said. “Sam.”

Rhodes was saved from further discussion of the cat when the phone rang. Ivy answered it, listened, laughed, then called to Rhodes.

“It's Jan. She wants to talk to you about the book.”

Rhodes didn't want to talk about the book any more than he wanted to talk about the cat.

“She and Claudia had a call from their editor. The editor feels the book is lacking something.”

“Is that bad?”

“Maybe not. It can easily be fixed. That's what Jan wants to talk to you about.”

Rhodes stood up. “What's it lacking?”

Ivy laughed again. “A cat. It lacks a cat.”

Rhodes looked over at Sam, who dragged a paw along the side of his nose, brushing his whiskers.

Rhodes sneezed.

ALSO BY BILL CRIDER

SHERIFF DAN RHODES MYSTERIES
A Mammoth Murder
Red, White, and Blue Murder
A Romantic Way to Die
A Ghost of a Chance
Death by Accident
Winning Can Be Murder
Murder Most Fowl
Booked for a Hanging
Evil at the Root
Death on the Move
Cursed to Death
Shotgun Saturday Night
Too Late to Die

PROFESSOR SALLY GOOD MYSTERIES
A Bond with Death
Murder Is an Art
A Knife in the Back

PROFESSOR CARL BURNS MYSTERIES
A Dangerous Thing
Dying Voices
One Dead Dean
Dead Soldiers

OTHERS
The Texas Capitol Murders
Blood Marks

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

MURDER AMONG THE OWLS. Copyright Â© 2007 by Bill Crider. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.minotaurbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

eISBN 9781466823808

First eBook Edition : June 2012

Crider, Bill, 1941â

Murder among the OWLS : a Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery / Bill Criderâ1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-34809-0

ISBN-10: 0-312-34809-6

1. Rhodes, Dan (Fictitious character)âFiction. 2. SheriffsâFiction. 3. TexasâFiction. I. Title.

PS3553.R497 M85 2007

813'.54âdc22