The Tamarack Murders (11 page)

“The manager thinks a huge amount. They'll have a more accurate figure tomorrow.”

Tully tugged on his mustache. “Any chance you can get away from the robbery for a day. I have a tiny lead taking us over to Famine tomorrow. You're welcome to come along. The guys we're after could be the bank robbers. If not, they might do in a pinch.”

Angie shook her head and smiled, her hand on the handle of the car door. “Hmm. I'll see what the other agents say. Are you by any chance meeting up with Dave?”

“Perkins? Yeah. As a matter of fact we are, because I may need a tracker. You interested in our fake Indian?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Just your basic detection. I seem to recall you spent quite a bit of time with him your last case over here.”

Angie smiled, got in her car and drove off. Tully drove to the office. The troops appeared hard at work. They must have heard the heels of his boots klocking down the marble-chip floor of the courthouse. He walked over to Lurch's corner. The Unit was tapping madly away on his computer.

Tully stood there until Lurch looked up.

“Geez, boss! You scared me!”

“I was just wondering if, between computer games, you have time to check out the bullet that murdered young Vergil Stone against the seven-millimeter rifles and handguns I have stashed in my car.” He handed the Unit the keys to his Explorer.

“I'll get on them this minute, boss. You turn up any possible leads?”

“No. I have a couple of fragile clues. I want you to use that computer of yours for something other than games to see if you can find a record of any Beekers or Dances living in Blight County. I doubt if any of them had anything to do with robbing the bank, but they may have some idea who pulled it off.”

Tully walked back toward his office and stopped at Daisy's desk, bending over to whisper in her ear. “What do you have planned for my breakfast tomorrow?”

“Don't you wish,” she said. “I'm afraid you'll be back to your Egg McMuffin for tomorrow, Sheriff, because I happen to have a date tonight. I do have a life, you know.”

“A date? With whom, may I ask?”

“Not that it's any of your business, but Clyde Fisk invited me to dinner at Crabbs.”

“Fisk! He walks into a crowded room, he lowers the average IQ by twenty points!”

“This is Blight City, Bo. A girl takes what's available. And believe me, what's available is a pretty sorry mess. No offense.”

“None taken. Listen, sweetheart, you're coming down with a bad case of the flu. Fisk will understand. Get over it about the time I get back from Famine.”

“Is that a proposal?”

“Close as I can come at the moment. What do you say?”

Daisy thought for a moment. Then she put her hand over her mouth and pretended to cough.

Tully smiled. He went into his office and slid into his chair. After spinning around and contemplating Lake Blight for a few moments, he punched a number into his phone.

A female voice answered. “Dave's House of Fry. How may I help you?”

“The boss around, Mavis? Tell him Sheriff Tully wants to speak to him.”

“One second, Bo. He's in the kitchen. I'll go fetch him.”

Fetch. Not often you hear that word anymore. Maybe old words survive only in tiny isolated places like Famine.

Mavis came back on. “Dave will be here in a sec. I haven't seen you over this way in a while, Bo.”

“You miss me, Mavis?”

“Sure. But not all that much.”

“You still hanging out with that vacuous boyfriend of yours?”

“Roy isn't all that vacuous anymore, Bo.”

“How vacuous is he?”

“I don't know. I think Doc Millbank gave him some pills for that. They just haven't kicked in yet, as far as I can tell.”

“He ever find work, Mavis?”

“Sometimes. The pickings over here in Famine are pretty thin, Bo. At least Roy works some of the time. Right now he's pulling off the green chain at the mill.”

“The green chain! Marry him right away, Mavis. Men drop dead pulling off the green chain.”

“And your point is?”

“Insurance, Mavis, insurance. You can't be dumb.”

“Next time you're over, Sheriff, we'll have to discuss this a little more. Here's Dave.”

Dave came on. “You trying to pick up my best waitress, Bo? First your old man runs off with my most beautiful waitress, and now the son is zeroing in on Mavis. A man can hardly stay in business with the Tullys around.”

“Don't get excited, Dave. I have more women problems at the moment than I can shake a stick at. I just can't help flirting with them. It's in my nature.”

“Must be nice, having more women than you can shake a stick at.”

“Not bad at all. As you know, I'm dealing with the inconveniences of a bank robbery and a murder over here in Blight City. What I'm calling about, have you ever heard of any folks over there by the names of Dance or Beeker?”

“Dance? Nope, can't say I have.”

“How about Beeker?”

“Beeker. That rings a bell. It's an old name around here, but I don't know of any Beekers still living here. You know Batim Scragg. Batim's lived here practically forever. He might know of some Beekers past or present.”

“Good idea. Thanks, Dave. By the way, I may need your services tomorrow.”

“Anything interesting?

“Maybe. Might involve some shooting.” He clicked off.

Pugh walked in and grabbed a chair across from Tully. As was his practice, he spun the chair around, sat down astraddle of it, and propped his arms on the back.

Tully leaned back in his chair. “What do you know about the little town of Famine, Brian?”

“Famine?” Pugh thought for a moment. “I know that fifty percent of the population aspires to ignorance.”

“What about the other fifty percent?”

“They've attained it.”

Tully smiled. “I'm headed over there tomorrow. Probably be gone a few days. You'll be in charge.”

“What about Daisy?”

“When you're away, she'll be in charge. But you take care of any major stuff that happens. You should be able to reach me on my phone at any time, but don't use the radio.”

Pugh stared off in the distance.

“What are you thinking, Brian?”

“Nothing. I see you got the paint scraped off your window.”

Tully frowned. “Maybe I should let Daisy handle the major stuff, too.”

“Naw, I can do it, boss. You going after Beeker and Dance?”

“That's my plan. If things get sticky, I may need you and Ernie. So be ready to drop everything and move fast. I don't have any idea how bad these guys are.”

“You going alone?”

Tully checked the doorway to make sure Daisy wasn't listening. “No, I'm taking Angie.”

Pugh smiled. “I'd take her too, but that's not a lot of firepower. How about Pap?”

Tully frowned. “Just once I'd like to handle one of these situations without dragging my old man in. On the other hand, he would never forgive me if I left him out, particularly if some killing is involved.”

“You think there will be killing?”

“Somebody took out Vergil Stone, and if it was Dance or Beeker, neither one of them was much bothered by it. It was cold-blooded, premeditated killing. If they're the ones, I don't think they would hesitate to take one or all of us out, particularly if they're looking at a long prison term.”

“Fish and Game didn't have any record of licenses for them.” Pugh said. Tully rocked back in his chair and laced his fingers together behind his head “They must not have been concerned about being stopped by a game warden while they were out pretending to be hunters.”

Tully nodded. “Lurch found out they had both done time for robbery. Fish and Game would have checked that and refused to issue them licenses. So if these guys are as bad as I think they are, they would have popped any game warden who checked them for licenses.”

Pugh said, “I suspect so.”

Tully stood up, walked over to the door and yelled at the Unit. “Lurch! Come here!”

The Unit wandered over. “I'm pretty busy, boss, but what do you need?”

“Go over to the library and see if you can turn up anything with the name of Beeker or Dance on it.”

He looked around the briefing room and saw his useless undersheriff, apparently about to make an exit. “Herb, stop! I've got a job for you, too. Check the county tax office, and see if you can find any Beekers or Dances listed there. Then go through all the newspapers at the library for the past month, and see if you can find any classified ads with ATVs for sale.”

“Geez, boss, I'm loaded down with work already. I'll get on this first thing tomorrow.”

Tully sighed. “No, Herb, right now. I need this info like an hour ago. So hop to it. Give the info to Daisy.”

Herb went off, muttering. Pugh followed him, smiling.

Tully picked up his phone and dialed. Gridley Shanks answered.

“Hi, Grid. It's Bo Tully. I need some information. What do you know about Beeker and Dance?”

“Just what I've told you. Not all that much. They seemed nice enough fellows. Paid for drinks.”

Tully turned his chair around so he could look at the lake. “I'm headed to Famine tomorrow to check out some things. You ever hear Beeker or Dance mention any relatives living in the area?”

“I don't recall any names. On the other hand, it's pretty hard to recall anything after a night at Slade's.”

“One of them mentioned they were staying in a cabin somewhere outside of Famine. I thought it might belong to a relative of some kind.”

“Could be, Bo. Sounds like something to check out. I don't know much about either Dance or Beeker. I'd help you out, if I could.”

“Thanks anyway, Grid.”

Tully punched in Angie's number.

“Hi.”

“Hey, Bo! What's up?”

“You want to ride over to Famine with me tomorrow? I suspect our bank robbers may have stayed over there someplace. Maybe we can pick up some leads.”

“Sounds good. We've done just about everything we can here at the bank. The last two two agents are headed back to the main office. I'm staying on at the hotel for a few days, in case we get some new leads. You want to pick me up at the hotel?”

“Yeah. Eight o'clock.”

“I'll be waiting.”

“Good. You might want to come armed.”

“I always come armed when I'm out with you, Bo.” She hung up.

Tully turned and looked up. Daisy was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips. “And what is Daisy to do with the information Herb gives her?”

“Daisy is going to call on all the ads and see if the person who placed the ad sold the ATV. If the person gives you a hard time, I will personally go over, kick down his door, and get the info myself!”

“Okay, okay, don't get your tail in a knot, Sheriff.”

Daisy went back to her desk. Tully shook his head. He had to create an atmosphere of more respect and discipline in the office. This, of course, would require avoiding any future affairs with his secretary. He got up and yelled across the briefing room. “Lurch, get in here!”

“You better hurry, Lurch,” Daisy said. “Bo's in one of his moods.”

“Great!” Lurch said, walking by Daisy's desk. “You get him in one of his moods, and I'm the one who suffers.”

“Yeah,” Tully said. “A lot of suffering you have to put up with, Lurch.” He shut the door behind the Unit.

Lurch sat down in the chair across the desk. Tully had walked over to the window and was staring out at Lake Blight. He thought he could make out a rim of ice forming around the shoreline. Maybe this year the lake would freeze over enough to provide some decent ice fishing. He turned and frowned at the Unit. “I'm heading over to Famine tomorrow, and I'm leaving you in charge.”

“You've got to be kidding, boss!”

“I am. Actually, Daisy's in charge, as usual. But I want you to do everything you can to pull this bank robbery and murder together. Whatever you need, get it. Follow up on everything you can think of. Try to find out where Dance and Beeker are staying. I think they're holed up somewhere in the county, probably over around Famine, waiting for the heat from the bank robbery to die down before heading back to wherever they came from, Oregon apparently.”

“When will you be back?”

“Probably late tomorrow night and . . .”

A phone in the briefing room rang. Daisy answered it. “One moment please,” she said sweetly. Then she covered the mouth piece and yelled, “Hey, Bo, it's your fortune-teller!”

Tully glared at her and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Bo! It's Etta.”

“Etta! Great to hear from you!”

“I really need to see you. It's serious, Bo. Can you stop by for tea?”

Tully glanced at his watch. “Sure. How about in an hour?”

“That would be perfect. I don't want to be a bother, Bo, but this is serious.”

“I hate serious, Etta. See you in a bit.” He hung up. Daisy was standing in the doorway. “I like a man who leaps at commands.” She smiled grimly.

“It's not what you think, Daisy. Etta is an attractive woman, all right, but she's ten years older than I am. We're not having an affair.”

“Good, because I've been thinking of getting back together with you.”

Lurch looked from one to the other.

Tully smiled. “Are you thinking our little mistake wasn't really a mistake?”

“That's what I've been thinking.” she said. “I've even thought we should maybe get married.”

Tully stared at her. “Making a mistake is one thing, Daisy. Getting crazy is another.”

Daisy laughed. “I have one requirement, however. We keep Clarence.”

Tully shook his head. “You don't take long to throw in a deal-breaker, do you? I'm planning to haul Clarence back to Batim Scragg tomorrow.”