The Hunt Chronicles: Volume 1 (10 page)

“What do
ya
know?”  She said with a quivering voice.  “If
it had been a snake, it would’ve bit me.”  She said with an awkward
chuckle.  The next thing I heard was “Reevan, what’s wrong?  What’s
wrong? 
Maddie
!”
  Nona rushed towards me.  She shook me with all
of her bovine might.  “Are you all right?” 
Maddie
rushed towards me.

“Reevan?
  Talk to us, Reevan?  What’s wrong?” 
But I couldn’t answer.  I couldn’t answer.  My head was
spinning.  A floodgate had opened and my brain began hemorrhaging memories
all thanks to
poisoning, food poisoning, chubby neck, if it was a snake,
eavesdropping, all my business, fuel him up, damn angry, under the nails, skull
in showroom condition, Chiclets™, county coroner, foghorn, flip the bird,
hemorrhaging around the eyes, money for the restaurant, golly, deductive
reasoning, Thomas Freely, on the walls, liar
liar
,
heard Donald come home, under the nails, robbery, crystal clock, wet spot, how
dare you, jelly, eavesdropping runs in the family, not now Nona, only
Maddie
had the guts to give it back to him, The Rust
Bucket, dad owned all of us, Nona Bronson, Yosemite, Grandpa’s Cough Medicine,
food poisoning, 12:59, we’d rather not let McCune out of our sight, wet spot,
watch, Warner Brothers, fingernails, if it was a snake, Chiclets™
,
liar
liar
, black hole, Gus’ birthday, exact words, showroom
condition, I don’t know
Maddie
, wet footprints on the
floor behind him, if it was a snake, I don’t know, I don’t know, I…don’t…know…

“I got it.”  I
blurted out so suddenly both women took a step back.  “I know who killed
Wilson McCune.”

A
knock at the door.
  It was
nearly eight p.m.  I spent a few hours that day just sitting in my room
with a pad and pencil, determined not to come out until I had it all figured
out.  When I was finished, I had
Maddie
call
Detective Walters.  He finally arrived, and when
Maddie
opened the door for him, he was wearing a grin. 
Maddie
offered him entry and he took it. 
Maddie
was
about to shut the door when she noticed little Detective Sills had tagged along,
overshadowed by his big ox partner as usual.  He followed in toe, and the
heavy front door shut ominously behind them.

By then, Cheryl and
Thomas were back, leaving Donald with the family lawyer as I had
instructed.  Richard had come out of his room some time ago.  I
called out to him and he stuck his head out of the kitchen and into the hall
that led to the foyer.  “What are they doing here?”

“Relax, Richard,”
Maddie
said calmly.  She walked over to him and put an
arm around his shoulder.  She guided him into the dining room where the
rest of us were waiting.  We all sat, completely aware of the awkwardness
the detectives seemed to bring to every event to which they were invited. 
“Reevan has something he would like to say to everyone.”

“I’m afraid it’ll do
ya
no good, Hunt,” Walters said, his smile
growing.  I smiled back.

“Why is that?”

“
‘Cause
your boy confessed before
we left the station.”  Nona let loose a sickly moan, as if someone had just
stabbed her instead of her employer. 
Maddie
and
Cheryl followed suit.

“Confessed to what,
exactly?”  I asked, cool as a cucumber.  In fact, what Walters
was
about to say would prove to help me greatly.

“Confessed to
stabbing his pop,” Walters said curtly. 
“Confessed to
the whole damn thing.
  He said he
came
home last night drop dead drunk.  Said his sister caught him stumbling
around and tried to sober him up and put him to bed.  After she left, he
got up to use the john, but he never went back to his room last night.”

“Dear God,” Thomas
whispered.  He had been sitting, but then he stood up and backed into the
far corner of the room.  Nona turned to look into the chair next to her,
discovered it was empty, and sprung to her feet to console him.  Walters’
cocky smile was the only one in a room suddenly filled with dread, and it
pissed me off. 

Thomas the giraffe
and Nona the hippo were cowering in the corner, useless as usual. 
Maddie
had her face in her hands.  Richard nodded back
and forth faster and faster as if doing so would make it all go away. 
Cheryl was staring into her own lap, tears cascading down her cheeks and
chin.  Detective Sills merely sat, hands in his lap, eyes on the
table.  He didn’t seem to be enjoying the show nearly as much as his
employer.  The room filled with an air of defeat, of hopelessness, of
despair and failure.  It seemed to be coming out of everyone…well, except
me.

I sat in my chair
gazing around the room, smiling. 
Oh look,
Maddie
is crying
. 
Still smiling.
 
Oh dear,
the tall one and the fat one are sobbing
. 
Still
smiling.
 
The McCune heirs look like the world has just been
pulled out from under them. 
Still smiling.
 
“What are you so damn happy about, Hunt?”  A voice barked at me.

“I’m glad you
asked.”

“Oh Reevan, how
could you say that?” 
Maddie
hollered.  My
right eardrum had blown out.  I was sure of it.

“Because it’s true,”
I answered calmly, “and Walters here is right.  Donald
did
stab his
father in bed.  It’s a fact.  There’s no denying it.”

“Well then why am I
here?”  Walters asked.  “If we agree that Donald killed his pop, why
did you insist on meeting again?”

“Oh, but we don’t
agree Detective.  I said Donald McCune stabbed his father, which he
did.  He didn’t kill him, though
;  you’re
mistaken about that.”  Now Walters got up and rushed around the
table.  His grin disappeared quickly; replaced by a long somber frown.

“You
wanna
run that by me again, pal?”

“I said Donald
McCune did not kill his father.”  Slowly, very slowly, the veil of misery
lifted off the others around the table.  Nona and Thomas left their
protective corner and ventured back towards their seats. 
Maddie’s
eyes had reappeared from behind her wrinkled
hands.  Richard and Cheryl looked at each other and then at me.  I
think they all thought I was cracking wise.  Even Sills seemed shocked
beyond belief.  In some of those faces I saw a brief glimmer of
hope.  In others was the blackness that accompanies unbridled rage.

“What are you
talking about?  He confessed over an hour ago.  What proof do you
have that he’s innocent?  He had a motive, the opportunity and the means
to do it all.  What the hell are you trying to pull?”  The tone
coming from Sills was surprising, but in truth I preferred it to the good ole
boy conversational skills of his partner.

“Well, let’s examine
all of those things.”  I said standing and walking around the table with
my hands behind my back.  It felt very natural, very Zen.  Plus, I
think it made me look casual, like I knew what the hell I was doing, which in
fact I did not.  “The motive,” I began.  “I suppose you think that
Donald’s reason for killing Wilson was monetary? 
His
inheritance, right?”

“Yeah,
so?”
  Sills blurted out like
a cranky teenager.  “We know about his failing restaurant and his heavy
bar tab.  Judging by the description
you
gave us about the argument
with his
father,
it’s obvious they didn’t say goodbye
on good terms.  Money is the number one reason for family spats, Mr.
Hunt.  Frankly, I don’t see why you’re wasting our time with this.”

“Because
that motive for murder can be applied to most of the people in this room.
  Obviously his two other children could have
used their inheritance’s as well.  And with him gone, Cheryl will be free
to marry Lewis
Norville
, a man her father would not
even allow her to think about in his presence.  All of Richard’s
accounting business is in this town and his father pulled all of the
strings.  One wrong pluck and Richard would be out on the street. 
That’s enough to get you thinking about murder, isn’t it Walters?”

“Reevan, what are
you saying?” 
Maddie
asked.

“How could you say
that?”  Richard screamed, sounding hurt.  “You know I’d never-” But I
cut him off.

“Richard, I’m trying
to make it clear to these two that Donald’s motive isn’t all that much. 
My own sister was in Wilson’s will by now, no doubt.  She could have done
it as well, and with the same motive in mind.”

“That’s true!” 
Nona shouted.

“Oh go to hell,
Nona!”
Maddie
spat back.

“But it is true,” I
said, looking at her from across the table, “and let’s not
forget
your motive, Nona.”  Thomas dived in front of Nona as if protecting her
from a bullet only he could see.

“She had no
motive.  Without him, we’d both be out of jobs, and homes!”  He insisted.

“I’m almost positive
that’s an exaggeration.  I called up the Wellington Courthouse this
afternoon and discovered something I had been suspecting from the minute I
arrived.”  They both shot daggers at
Maddie
.

“I didn’t tell him,
I swear!”  She wailed.

“Tell him
what?”  Walters asked.

“No,
Maddie
didn’t tell me anything though I did confront her
about your little secret.  I’m afraid Thomas gave it away last night while
I was standing by Wilson’s door listening to his argument with his
daughter.  He told me that I was being nosey, and that ‘eavesdropping runs
in the family.’  Naturally, I turned to my tightlipped sister.  She
didn’t talk, but it was only a matter of time before it got out.  You
couldn’t hide it forever.  You always knew that didn’t you,
Mrs.
Freely?
”  Nona backed away as her jaw hit the floor.  Sills had
pulled out his little pad during my proclamation.  He was now standing up
and pointing to it.

“You mean Bronson,
don’t you?”  Sills said, panicking at the very idea that something in his
little pad could have been wrong.  “Nona
Bronson
.”

“No I don’t!” 
I shouted.  “Her maiden name is Bronson, her married name is
Freely
. 
As in Mrs. Thomas Freely.”

“How did you find
out?” 
Maddie
asked, a small smile of pride
appearing at the corners of her mouth.

“They gave it away
themselves, I’m afraid; the way they hold each other, and scold each other, and
console each other.  Just watching them gave me a hint, and I assume that
you must have overheard them speaking about it at one point or another since
this house does a poor job at keeping secrets.  You promised not to tell
and you kept your promise.  I called the courthouse, asked a few
questions, and the public records told me everything.”  They all looked at
me, stunned.

“It’s true.  We
are married,” Nona finally said.  “It was only a matter of time. 
We’ve been together so long.  But that doesn’t mean either of us killed
Wilson.  We love each other, and that’s all.  It had nothing to do
with Wilson.”

“But it did!” 
Cheryl’s shrill voice sliced through the air, startling us all.  “It
did.  Father told me all about you two.”  The couples’ eyes grew wide
with terror.  “He
forbid
those two from getting
married in the first place.  He said he noticed them growing closer and
planned to put a stop to it.  He threatened to fire you both if you didn’t
get off each other and focus on your work.  ‘Love leads to laziness,’ he
said.  ‘You let ‘
em
fall in love, soon enough,
you’ll hear them hitting the headboards in every room.’  That’s what he
said, and he told you both to knock it off but you didn’t.  You kept
growing closer and closer and when he told Thomas he was fired last night when
you went in with his pill, Thomas killed him to protect himself and his new
wife!”

“That’s not
true!”  Thomas shouted.  “He did
forbid it and he did threaten
us, but I didn’t kill him and neither did Nona.  We were almost ready to
leave anyway.  We put our savings together when we got married.  We
have enough for a place of our own now.  We had no reason to kill
him. 
We were planning to leave
!”

“I bet you were,” I
said.  “But leaving would have been a little easier with a bit more green
in your wallet, right?  As with
Maddie
, you two
are undoubtedly in the will somewhere.”  Nona looked at me while Thomas
stared down Cheryl, who did not falter.  I had accidentally started
something then.  I had to wrap it up fast before someone else ended up
dead.  “But I digress.”  “Let’s move on to Donald’s opportunity for
murder.  News flash, Chief; we all had that opportunity. 
Night time in this massive house while everyone else is asleep.
 
Do you really think Donald was the only one who could have done this?”