Murdered in Argentina: A Jack Trout Cozy Mystery (7 page)

“I’ll go in and see if they’re missing. Santiago, since the police chief is your brother-in-law, would you take Carola and Lisa downstairs and wait for him? I’ll be down shortly.” He began to walk back across the hall and stopped. “Lisa, one more thing. Where did Jack keep his passport?”

“He had a document holder he usually kept in his briefcase. He often worked on business when we flew, and he liked to keep all of his things together. My passport is with his. Look in his briefcase. It should be there.”

Jack had no desire to go into the room where Ray was, but given what Santiago had said about corruption and what he knew from his own personal experience, he didn’t want someone else to find the Rolex, ring, money, and passports. He knew Ray’s body would probably be taken to a funeral home after the police chief came, so he’d better get those things now.

After he entered Ray’s room, he walked over to the bed and saw the Rolex on the nightstand. He put it in his pocket. Jack pulled the sheet down and tried to avoid looking at Ray while he concentrated on his hands.
Well, there’s the ring Lisa mentioned. This is not something I’m looking forward to, but I guess there’s no other way to do it. I’ll have to twist it and hope it comes off. That diamond is so big it’s not a far stretch to think that someone would cut off Ray’s finger to steal it
. After what seemed like an eternity, he was able to get the ring over Ray’s knuckle. He pulled the sheet back up and turned away from Ray, feeling bile start to rise in this throat.

Jack saw a large briefcase on the table and looked inside it. He found an inside pouch that appeared to be the document holder Lisa mentioned. He took it out and opened it. Inside he found Ray and Lisa’s passports, $2,800 in cash, and two credit cards.

This is bizarre
, Jack thought
. It doesn’t look like anything has been stolen, so why was he murdered? If it was a random murder and a stranger had snuck into the lodge, surely he would have taken the passports, money, and the watch, even if he couldn’t get the ring off Ray’s finger. I have no idea what could have happened or why.

He had just started towards the door when he remembered he’d told Ray to take his antique fishing gear up his room, so it wouldn’t be stolen. He looked around the room and didn’t see any of it. Jack began a closer examination of the closet, the bathroom, and the room itself. He even got down on his hands and knees and looked under the bed. Ray’s fishing equipment was not in the room.

Maybe he gave it to one of the guides, so it would be ready for him in the morning, although that seems far-fetched. I’ll have to ask them, but it certainly is strange.

He heard a car drive up, looked out the window, and saw two policeman getting out of a police car. Jack walked down the hall to the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed there was a blank space on the wall where the whip had been displayed.

The whip that was used to murder Ray must have been the one that was hanging on the wall. It really doesn’t tell me anything about whether or not it was premeditated. Someone could have pulled it off the wall in anger just before killing him or knew it was there and planned on using it ahead of time.

As he walked down the stairs he shook his head, not knowing what to think about the strange twist of events that had happened.

CHAPTER 13

When Jack got to the bottom of the stairs he saw Carola sitting next to Lisa who was softly weeping. Santiago was talking to a man in a police uniform who Jack assumed was his brother-in-law.

“Jack, I want you to meet my brother-in-law, Ramiro Gomez. He’s the San Martin chief of police.” They shook hands.

“Santiago,” Ramiro said, “where is the body of Senor Martin?”

“It’s upstairs in the second room on the left,” Santiago answered. The chief of police and his deputy walked up the stairs.

Several minutes later the chief came down the stairs and said, “My deputy will call the mortuary and look for evidence. While he does that I’d like each of you to tell me what happened. Senora Martin, I’d like to start with you.”

Lisa wiped her eyes with the Kleenex she was holding in her hand and began to speak. “Ray and I had an argument in our room after dinner. I thought it would be best if we stayed away from each other for a little while, so I left the room and came down here. I had a glass of wine and read a fashion magazine I’d brought with me. I was probably down here for two hours or more. When I walked back up to the room and opened the door, I saw Ray in bed. I thought he’d fallen asleep after taking his nightly sleeping pill, but then I saw the whip twisted around his neck. I walked over to him and realized he was dead. I turned around and ran across the hall to Jack and Carola’s room. That’s all I know. Ray’s dead,” she murmured through her tears.

“Senora Martin, I am sorry for your loss. We will do what we can to try and find out who did this. Senor and Senora Trout, do you have anything to add to what Senora Martin told me?” the police chief asked.

“No. We were asleep and were awakened by Lisa pounding on our door and yelling for us. That’s really all we know. How long do you think it will take to find something out?” Jack asked.

The police chief rose as his deputy came down the stairs with the whip in his hand. “We will try to get back here in the next day or so to talk to the others. We have several cases at the present time which will take precedence over this one. I am sorry, but San Martin is a small town, and we have very few policemen on our force. I will sign a death certificate so you can fly Senor Martin’s body back to the United States when you leave here. If there is anything else, I’ll be in touch. His body will be at the mortuary in San Martin. Ahh, I see the coroner’s van now.”

There was a knock on the door, and Santiago answered it. Shortly afterwards the coroner and his assistant carried a gurney up the stairs. A few minutes later they came down the stairs with Ray’s body under a sheet strapped to the gurney. The police chief and his assistant followed them out the door.

As soon as the front door closed Carola looked at Jack incredulously and said, “I don’t believe this. Ray was murdered, and this is all we’re going to get from the police? I mean, I know the police in some of these South American towns are not like they are in the United States, but this is ridiculous. I know for a fact it gets harder and harder to find the murderer as every hour goes by. From what the police chief said, it sounded like this case was at the bottom of his priorities.”

“Carola, I agree with you, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it,” Jack responded.

“Senora Trout, you’re South American,” Santiago said. “You know that each police force has its own way of dealing with crime. I’m sure this doesn’t come as a complete shock to you.”

“No, it doesn’t. I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never had to experience it in person,” she said.

“There is a spare bedroom we always keep for emergencies at the end of the hall. It is empty.” Santiago turned to Lisa and said, “I imagine you don’t want to sleep in your room tonight. I’ll show you to the other room. Would you like me to get something from that room for you?”

“Thank you. Yes, I would like the make-up kit that’s on the bathroom counter and the pajamas and robe I laid out earlier should also be in there. I’ll wait and decide what I’m going to do about all this tomorrow.”

“Santiago, thank you for everything. Go on home. There’s nothing more that can be done here tonight. I’ll take care of Lisa and get her things out of her room. I have a tranquilizer I keep on hand for emergencies, and I’ll give one to her, so she can get some sleep.” Jack said as he turned to Lisa and said “I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”

Lisa looked faint when she stood up, and Carola and Jack each put an arm around her, gently guiding her up the stairs. They walked her to the far end of the hallway and opened the door to the room Santiago had mentioned. Jack led her over to the bed and helped her into a sitting position. “Carola, stay with her. I’ll be back in a moment with a sedative and her things.”

He returned a few moments later with a glass of water, the sedative, and the other things she’d requested. “Carola, I think you should help her get in bed, but I do have one question. Lisa, when I went into your room before the police chief came, and I got Ray’s Rolodex, money, the passports and his ring, I didn’t see his antique fishing gear. Was it in the room when you left?”

She wrinkled her brow deep in thought. “Yes. Ray had propped that stupid fly rod up by the door. I remember when I slammed the door it clattered to the floor behind me. Why?”

“Whoever murdered Ray must have taken his fishing gear, because it’s missing from the room. Maybe that was the motive. Lisa, if you don’t mind, I’ll keep the things I picked up from your room. I think that’s probably too much for you to deal with right now. Carola, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

*****

Ten minutes later Carola walked into their room. “Were you able to get her settled down enough to sleep?” Jack asked.

“I think so. She took the sedative, and she has to be exhausted from crying so much. Jack, what is going on? It was as if the chief of police didn’t even care that a man had been murdered in his jurisdiction. How can that be?”

“Carola, you know we don’t have secrets from each other, and I’m going to tell you something I promised Santiago I wouldn’t tell to anyone, but in this case, if I keep the secret, justice won’t be done, and I can’t live with myself if that happens. I sometimes think we have to obey a higher law.” He proceeded to tell her about his conversation with Santiago.

“Are you telling me this police chief probably won’t investigate this murder because it happened to an American, and as far as he’s concerned he thinks that’s a good thing? Is that what you’re telling me?” she asked with a horrified look on her face.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Well, that’s totally unacceptable to me. If he won’t investigate it, I will,” she said tossing her head in anger, her jet black hair creating a swirling cloud around her while her big brown eyes blazed in anger. Bright spots of red on her cheeks conveyed how angry she was. Carola was a South America beauty, and anger only intensified her coloring and her beauty.

“Sweetheart, this is a little out of your league. I know you and your friend Kelly Reynolds did a good job solving a murder mystery in Cuba and at the same time pretty much saved my life, but this is different. I don’t know what you can do.”

“Jack,” she said looking at her watch. “It’s only ten at night in California. I’m calling Kelly. I’m sure she can give me some ideas.” With that being said, she picked up her phone and punched in a phone number.

CHAPTER 14

Carola’s friend, Kelly, the wife of Sheriff Mike Reynolds, lived in Cedar Bay, Oregon. The two women became friends when they met on a fishing trip to Cuba that had been arranged by Jack. She answered her phone on the third ring. “Kelly, it’s me, Carola. I’m sorry to bother you so late at night, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

“What’s wrong, Carola?”

Carola spent the next twenty minutes telling Kelly about the events of the evening and asking her opinion on what she should do to try and solve the crime.

“I can tell you some places to start if I were you, but keep in mind, these are just suggestions. Since I’m not there, I really don’t know exactly what you’re dealing with,” Kelly said. “Actually, Mike just walked in. I’m usually in bed before now, because I have to get up so early to open up the coffee shop, but I decided to take the day off tomorrow and do some personal errands I’ve been putting off. Let me get his input, and I’ll get back to you.”

Carola put her phone down and took a pad of paper and a pen out of her large purse. She looked at Jack who was about to drift off to sleep and said, “I want to be ready when she calls. It looks like I’m going to be very busy for the next couple of days. I’ll go in the bathroom, so you can get some sleep. See you tomorrow.”

A few minutes later her phone rang. “Thanks for getting back to me, Kelly. What did Mike have to say?”

“Well, first of all, being a sheriff he’s appalled that nothing is being done to find the murderer. Secondly, he thinks there are several things you can do. You need to find out everything you can about each person in the group Ray brought on the fishing trip. I don’t know how you can do that, but I’m sure you’ll think of a way. You can start with an Internet search like we did in Cuba when we wanted to get some background information about the possible suspects when that English fishing guide was murdered. Maybe Ray had some kind of a competitor in his business. It might be a good idea to see if you could find out something from that angle.”

“I remember Ray saying something on the drive here about a competitor who had taken away some of his company’s business. When I get off the phone I’ll try and remember the conversation. I might even wake Jack up, although that probably won’t make him very happy,” Carola said.

“You speak the language of Argentina. I’d talk to some of the people at the lodge. They might know something. Since Ray’s prized fishing gear is missing, maybe one of the maids or fishing guides knows where it is. I’d spend some time with his wife. You said they argued a lot. I’d also see if Ray has any relatives or if his wife does. Maye one of them wanted something bad to happen to him for whatever reason. Who gets the company when he dies? Did he and Lisa have a prenuptial agreement? Who was in line to take over the company if something happened to him? Those are a few things that immediately come to mind. I’ll think about it some more, and then let’s talk tomorrow. Good luck.”

“Thank you so much, Kelly. I do have something to tell you that I was going to surprise you with. Actually, I was going to send you some pictures when we got back to Chile. Remember that cat, Cayo, that fell in love with you when we were in Cuba?”