The Wild Hog Murders (23 page)

That explained something Rhodes had wondered about. If people knew about Munday’s troubles, they wouldn’t be so eager to hire him, and Rhodes was sure the station manager had let people know. He might even have engaged in a little blackballing, so it was no wonder that Munday had taken a job in a small market like Clearview. He might not have been able to get anything else.

Still, Shreveport wasn’t far from Arkansas, which seemed to be the connection in all that was happening. Rhodes couldn’t write him off. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him.

“I checked on Garver’s story, too,” Ruth said. “He was telling the truth, or something like it.”

“How much like it?” Rhodes asked.

“Enough. You know how eyewitnesses are.”

Rhodes knew more than he wanted to about that. Eyewitnesses were notoriously unreliable. One person would swear that one thing happened, while someone else at the same scene would swear just the opposite.

“You mean his wife might have a slightly different version,” Rhodes said.

“Right, but it’s basically the same story. More or less.”

“I’m still not ready to rule him out,” Rhodes said. “I doubt that Rapper is, either.”

“You think Rapper’s gonna cause any more trouble?” Hack asked.

“Sure he is,” Rhodes said. “He’s not satisfied. He hasn’t killed anybody yet.”

As he said it, he remembered that Rapper hadn’t tried to kill anybody, just injure them. He must have been saving the killing part until he was sure of who the guilty party was. Either that, or he was content to beat people up. Fowler had gotten away, so it would be his turn next.

As he thought about that, Rhodes realized that he hadn’t given enough consideration to Fowler and Winston as suspects in the murders. He’d seen them both at the end of the chase on the night Rapinski was killed, but he’d lost sight of both of them in the woods before they reached the bayed animal. Either one of them could have been separated from the others long enough to have killed the bounty hunter. Rhodes had concentrated on Garver because he was so obviously out of sight of everyone, and that had been a mistake.

“Duke’s on tonight, right?” Rhodes asked.

“That’s right,” Hack said.

“Tell him to keep an eye on Fowler’s place. Rapper might turn up there. Tell him I’ll see him later on.”

“Gotcha,” Hack said.

“Ruth, you check up on Arvid Fowler.”

“Hold on,” Lawton said. “Arvid’s lived around here for a long time. You don’t think he’s done anything wrong, do you?”

Lawton was right. Arvid had been in Clearview for at least fifteen years, but he’d kept pretty much to himself. Other than the hog hunters, he wasn’t involved with anybody else in the community as far as Rhodes knew.

Fowler had his own electrical business, and he was known to be good at what he did. Good enough for Ivy to call him when there was a problem with the air conditioner. He didn’t have a fancy house or drive a new pickup. If he was wealthy from some source of ill-gotten gains, there wasn’t any evidence of it in the way he lived.

Or was there? Fowler and his wife took several vacations a year, sometimes for a couple of weeks. Could he have done that on what he charged for electrical work? Considering his rates, it was possible.

“Ivy says he overcharged us for some work on our air conditioner,” Rhodes said.

“Get a rope,” Hack said.

“I don’t think we need to go that far,” Rhodes said.

“Ivy might.”

“I doubt it.”

“She can be mighty tough,” Lawton said, “but I guess you know all about that.”

“I know enough,” Rhodes said. “Ruth, while you’re at it, check on Len Winston, too. Short for Leonard.”

“Nothin’ wrong with Len,” Lawton said. “I’ve known him since he was a kid. You must really be outta leads when you go after somebody like Len.”

“I’m not out of leads,” Rhodes said. “I’m just being sure I don’t overlook anything.”

“He’s outta leads,” Hack said to Lawton. “Next thing you know he’ll be gettin’ testy with us. He always gets testy when he’s outta leads.”

Rhodes glanced at Ruth, who seemed to be enjoying the banter far too much, but he resolved not to get testy.

Then Jennifer Loam came in.

“Sheriff’s got a bunch of leads,” Hack said before she could speak. “Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

“I was wondering about that,” Jennifer said. “You haven’t been in touch with me, Sheriff, and I’ve called here several times.”

“I told him you did,” Hack said. “He would’ve called you back, but he’s been busy runnin’ down all those leads.”

“I’ve been doing a little background work,” Jennifer said, ignoring Hack. “I thought you might like to know what I’ve found out.”

“Every little bit helps,” Rhodes said.

“It’s a little bit, all right, but I was wondering where Gary Baty stayed while he was in town. I checked the motels, and he didn’t stay in any of them.”

“We checked, too,” Rhodes said. “The way he turned up here and the little petty thefts now and then more or less indicated he was coming into town and then leaving again. I don’t think he wanted to hang around. He might have known he was in danger.”

“So you do have some leads,” Jennifer said.

“Just like I told you,” Hack said. “A whole bunch of leads.”

“Not leads,” Rhodes said. “Just ideas and speculations. Right now, that’s all I have.”

“Do you have anything you can act on?”

“I’m waiting for more information,” Rhodes said, without admitting that she’d just given him another idea for something to check on. It was something he’d do himself as soon as she left.

“You’re not holding out on me, are you?” Jennifer asked. “I don’t want Milton Munday to scoop me.”

They all had a little laugh at that, though Rhodes didn’t laugh as much as Hack and Lawton.

Jennifer said a few words to Ruth, and then she was gone.

“You really ought not to mislead the press,” Hack said.

“I wasn’t misleading anybody,” Rhodes said. “Maybe I do have some leads.”

“Humpf,” Hack said.

He started to work on his own computer, which he used mainly for writing up reports. This time, he went into the complaints received by the department. Sure enough, there was an interesting correspondence. Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe it did. He’d wait on some more reports before he decided.

He wished there was some way he could check on Arvid Fowler’s vacations and see if they matched up with the times of the bank robberies. He needed the information on the robberies first, so he asked Ruth to get that for him.

“Where you goin’?” Hack asked as Rhodes started to leave. “Gonna run down some of those leads?”

“No,” Rhodes said. “I’m going home and eat supper.”

*   *   *

Rhodes had missed lunch again, so he thought he deserved a night out. Ivy was willing, so they went to Max’s Place for barbecue. Seepy Benton had a gig performing at the restaurant on some nights, playing guitar and singing his own compositions, and sure enough, this was one of those nights, according to a computer-printed notice on the door.

“How lucky can we get,” Rhodes said.

“What do you mean?” Ivy asked.

Rhodes didn’t get a chance to answer because Max Schwartz came over to greet them as they entered. Schwartz had a music store as well as the barbecue restaurant, but neither one of them was doing well, or so Rhodes had heard. Rhodes wondered if Schwartz would be able to keep them going.

“Things are looking up,” Schwartz said when Rhodes asked him how business was. “Benton’s been packing them in. I think his students like to come hear him sing.”

Rhodes looked across the dining area. He did see a few young people in the sparse crowd. He also saw the Eccles cousins. It was nice of them to support Benton. After all, he’d gone their bail.

Schwartz led Rhodes and Ivy to a table and gave them a menu. He’d bought the building after the death of a man named Jerry Kergan, and since it wasn’t set up for cafeteria-style dining like a lot of barbecue restaurants, he’d decided to go for a more upscale approach.

“The sauce is the key,” he’d once told Rhodes. “The meat matters, but the sauce has to be good or nobody’s coming back a second time.”

Rhodes liked the sauce, which Schwartz had concocted himself from a now-secret recipe, but the brisket was lean and tender and sliced thin. It was so good it didn’t even need the sauce, though Rhodes never turned it down.

“I think I’ll have the ribs tonight,” Ivy said. “With all the fixings.”

“The brisket dinner for me,” Rhodes said. After all the vegetarian meals he’d had lately, he could use some beef. He handed Schwartz the menu. “Why isn’t Benton singing?”

“It’s his break. He’s right over there.”

Rhodes hadn’t noticed, but Benton was sitting at a table in a corner, and there was someone with him. Ruth Grady. Rhodes had seen them together before, and he couldn’t quite grasp the fact that Ruth would be interested in Benton, though he knew why Benton might be fascinated with Ruth. She was in law enforcement, after all, and Benton fancied himself a sort of unofficial deputy. The fact that she was smart, young, and cute might have had something to do with it, too.

“I wonder if it would be wrong to talk business with Ruth,” Rhodes said after Schwartz left their table.

“Yes,” Ivy said. “She’s busy.”

Rhodes had known she’d say that. He didn’t know why he’d even bothered to ask. He unrolled the cloth napkin beside his plate and arranged his silverware. He glanced over at the Eccles cousins, but they weren’t looking his way.

A waiter brought glasses of ice water to the table, and Rhodes took a sip. The ice cubes bumped against his teeth. When he set the glass down, Benton was standing at the table.

“I’ve been thinking, Sheriff,” he said, after greeting Rhodes and Ivy.

“Always a dangerous thing for you to do,” Rhodes said, and Ivy kicked his ankle under the table.

“It’s about that movie
Avatar,
” Benton said. “Have you seen it?”

Rhodes didn’t have any idea what the movie had to do with anything, but it didn’t matter since he hadn’t seen it and wasn’t likely to. From what he’d heard, it wasn’t the kind of film that would look good on a TV set, and he preferred lower-budget movies anyway.

“Haven’t seen it,” he said. “What have you been thinking?”

“Well, the word
Na’vi
used in the film is also the Hebrew word for ‘prophet.’ Its literal meaning is ‘mouthpiece,’ which is how people thought of the prophet in ancient times. He was an avatar of God’s voice. And
Eywah,
the name of the deity on Pandora, is an alternate pronunciation of the Hebrew
Yahweh
. Did you know there are no vowels in Hebrew?”

Rhodes admitted that he hadn’t known that.

“I did,” Ivy said, and Benton nodded his approval.

“Since there aren’t any vowels,” he said, “you can take the same spelling for
Yahweh
and pronounce it as
Eywah
or
Yaywah,
which happens to be the most sacred name for God in the Cherokee language. Only their priests were allowed to pronounce it, just as only the Hebrew priests were allowed to pronounce the name of their God.”

Rhodes looked over to where Ruth was sitting, waiting for Benton to return. She grinned and shrugged.

“I’m sure there’s a good reason you’re telling me this,” Rhodes said to Benton.

“Not really,” Benton said, “except that sometimes you can find spirituality in strange places.” He nodded toward the Eccles cousins, who were eating ribs and laughing at the same time. “Even Lance and Hugh have a spiritual side, and I think you’ll come to realize that they didn’t mean you any harm yesterday.”

“Don’t count on it,” Rhodes said.

“I’m a math teacher,” Benton said. “I count on everything. It’s been great to see the two of you. I hope you’ll stay for my show.”

Rhodes didn’t say anything, but Ivy said, “We’ll be here for a while.”

“Good,” Benton said. “I’ll dedicate a song to you. How about ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’?”

“I thought you sang songs you wrote yourself,” Rhodes said.

“I usually do, but my version of that one’s pretty popular on YouTube. At least twenty-five people have looked at it. You should check it out.”

Rhodes tried not to look incredulous. “You’re on YouTube?”

“Isn’t everybody?” Benton asked.

He walked back to his table, and Rhodes said to Ivy, “Twenty-five?”

“Maybe he meant twenty-five thousand,” Ivy said.

“No, I’m pretty sure he meant twenty-five,” Rhodes said.

“He’s a little odd, isn’t he?”

“A little?”

“Just a little, and he’s a very smart man. You should listen to him.”

“That’s what he tells me,” Rhodes said.

Their food came then, and Rhodes forgot about Benton as he dug in. The sauce was tangy and sweet, and Rhodes was about half finished with the meal when Benton started his program. He strummed his guitar, tapped the microphone with his index finger, and announced that his first number would be “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” dedicated to Sheriff Dan Rhodes.