A Curious Affair (7 page)

Of course, all bets were off if I found something that made me think drugs were actually connected to Irv’s murder. Then I would report it all. But I didn’t think drugs were involved. The conviction had grown in me during the last few hours that this murder had something to do with the other great addiction of Irv’s life: gold. All our historic local murders were caused by gold, or the need for water to mine for gold. Irv had grown pot for years without any problems, so why would there be trouble now? What had changed recently was Irv’s increasing interest in panning for gold. And maybe in exploring old mines. I think he had come down with a bad case of gold fever, and that could make people very stupid.

On the other hand, perhaps I’d misjudged the sheriff. Tyler might not think I was a potential thief. He might just be concerned about my welfare. There were wild animals out there, mountain lions and bears. He was
probably convinced that there was at least one or two illegal stills out in the woods, too, which could mean trouble with people who were rigorous about enforcing No Trespassing when it came to their moonshine. I decided that this was a more likely explanation for his offer. After all, if he thought that this actually was a murder or that there was some pot field to be found, then he would flat-out discourage me from assisting in his investigation or asking questions on my own. And he could be right about this being a snipe hunt, which would make my per sis tence look foolish—at least to me—when I found nothing and it turned out I was just a crazy woman who listened to cats and inner voices.

That last thought argued against telling him why I was so certain that Irv had been murdered, no matter how kind the gaze he turned on me. I thought a little sadly that probably it would be wisest to spend as little time with him as possible. He wasn’t stupid, and he would be bound to notice that there was something odd about me if we hung around together for any length of time.

On the other hand, there was no denying that there were a lot of illegal businesses up here and druggies could be dangerous when their livelihoods were threatened by an outsider, which I was, in spite of my friendship with Irv. If I really believed that there was any possibility of drugs being involved, and that someone with a denim coat and a smelly butt had murdered Irving, then it might be nice to have the sheriff along on my explorations. I would just make extra sure to act like a normal person for the next little while.

“Is it that difficult a question?” he asked. His eyes were amused. I liked the way he smiled.

“No.” I wouldn’t mind Tyler’s company for its own sake, I decided. I had been alone for an awfully long time and that was probably not healthy. I needed to start
living like a normal person again. I’d just be careful around any cats. “Let’s get the coffee to go.” I raised my voice. “Don! We’re going to pour our coffee into paper cups, okay?”

Don reappeared immediately.

“Sure thing, Jillian.” He set two Styrofoam cups with plastic lips on the counter. Don was an ex-Republican but he hadn’t gone Green enough to practice recycling, or to use biodegradable paper when Styrofoam was cheaper. “You keep warm, you hear? And don’t be a stranger. There’s always a mug waiting here for you, you know. No, don’t pay me. The ice cream is on the house.”

“Thank you, Don. Give my best to Carol.” I realized that Pinky wasn’t the only one people looked after. I needed to remember to count my blessings and bear in mind that other people missed Cal, too.

The sheriff pulled on his sheepskin jacket, put a five-dollar tip on the counter, nodded at Don but said nothing to me until we were outside.

“Okay, Nancy Drew, where to first?” So he didn’t buy that I was just going for a walk. That was okay.

“That way. We’re looking for a gold mine,” I said, deciding to be a bit truthful and see how he reacted to a new idea. I should find out as soon as possible how flexible he was in his thinking.

“A what?” Tyler asked, clearly startled. He really had thought I was looking for a pot field. Well, it was my fault. I’d brought up Irv’s extracurricular drug activities myself the night before.

“An old abandoned gold mine. I hear that it may be being used again these days.” That was a lie. I’d heard nothing definite. “And, as you have probably figured out, Irv liked to hike up here. All the time.” I started for the woods. There was a deer path through the mountain misery on the other side of the road. I hoped passionately that the snow had killed off most of the ticks
that lived in the low-growing shrubs. I didn’t look at Tyler, though I was aware of him. His aftershave was subtle compared to Don’s, but it smelled absolutely delicious. Instead, I concentrated on not turning an ankle and not clenching my jaw as the temperature dropped. It would be a good ten degrees cooler when we got next to the river, and I needed to be prepared.

“So, you think that Irv
was
into drugs and might have been using the mine as a ware house or a green house?” Tyler asked. He was like a dog with a chew toy. He didn’t want to give up his drug theory. I was going to have to offer a very tasty bone if I wanted to pry this idea out of his jaws.

“That’s what some people say,” I answered shortly.

“But you don’t believe it?” The man was perceptive. Of course, I was not great at hiding my thoughts.

“I did at first—sort of. I mean, there’s money in drugs and Irv had to get his somewhere. I know he grew marijuana. He gave some to my husband when Cal was sick, but I’m sure he sold, too. It wasn’t all philanthropic.” I stepped cautiously into the bracken and felt the cold damp reaching for my flesh. I was going to be sopping wet and muddy by the time we got back to the car. “But the more I think about it…I don’t know if it fits. Winter isn’t the usual time to grow dope. And Irv was, in his own way, a rather moral man.”

“Moral?”

“He grew marijuana. That’s illegal but not immoral—at least, not in my book. If you have ever watched someone going through chemo….” I stopped, unable to go on. “But I don’t think he’d do anything else. Nothing that would make anyone around here want to kill him.”

“Like cooking up meth?”

“Meth?” It was my turn to be startled. My answer to that was unqualified. “Absolutely not. It’s too…polluting —of the land and also of people. Irv wasn’t into
chemicals. Look, he fed stray cats and grew his own vegetables. He dated a woman who never shaved her legs or wore deodorant. Irv was about being organic and natural—and kind. He would never deal in anything that brought living death to people or the land.” I hadn’t thought of this before, but it felt right as I said it.

Tyler grunted.

“So, we’re looking for a green house or maybe a storehouse. Something that would be sheltered in winter.”

“Yes, or maybe the remains of one, if someone else knew about it and has been back since Irv died. Or…” I took a breath and went ahead and voiced the thought that was nibbling at me, though it was probably fanciful thinking. “Like I said, maybe we’re looking for a working gold mine. The man had gold fever like you wouldn’t believe. If Irv found something up here he wouldn’t be above a bit of high-grading.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Working someone else’s mine—if it was abandoned. After all, cold weather wouldn’t matter to Irv if he were underground.” It wouldn’t matter in a green house either, I could hear Tyler thinking. I glanced back to see if he was interested in my trial balloon, or if he was going to shoot it down before I got it aloft. “What if Irv was prospecting for gold near someone else’s marijuana patch? Or near someone’s meth lab, since you seem sure that there’s one about?”

“There is one about. And that might be reason enough to kill someone,” Tyler admitted. “But why not kill him on-site? Why follow him home and do it there—assuming that’s what happened?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe so it would look like an accident. Or maybe Irv gave them the slip in the woods and they had to track him down later.” The deer trail we followed disappeared in a clearing and I hesitated. I recalled this place from last autumn. Wild
grapes had rampaged up the trees all summer and they made a glorious red bower when the leaves turned in the fall. But those leaves were gone now and the vines torn down. Wind and snow had done their brutal work on all the growing things. The snowy glade was strewn with denuded limbs, stripped bare and then broken from their woody torsos. The trunks were also clean of moss and lichen and even much of their bark. They hadn’t so much as a fig leaf to hide their nakedness from what remained of the cruel winter. The sight was depressing and confusing without the familiar markers.

I jammed my free hand in my coat pocket. I had gloves but they had gotten wet so many times that winter the leather had lost its suppleness. Having no clear direction to follow, I turned to the right. The land to the left was very stony, and straight ahead was a sheer cliff and then the river. “I just know that prospecting is more in line with what Irv would do than manufacturing drugs. And there is every bit as much money in it—and maybe more.”

“Really? Okay. You knew Irv better than I did, so I’m willing to work with this theory.” He wasn’t discounting other ones, though. And neither was I—not completely. But I preferred that this be about gold than about marijuana, or God forbid, methamphetamines. I didn’t want the threat of drug killings as well as noise pollution to impinge on my safe little world.

“You know, you’re showing me a side of Irving Thibodaux that I never knew. I feel a bit unobservant,” the sheriff said.

“Don’t. Irv was an acquired taste, and he didn’t make friends easily. It took a long time for me to train my palate to accept him. And I haven’t been dwelling on his less attractive points, of which there were many.”

There was no noise to warn me, but I was suddenly aware of intense, nonhuman scrutiny. I tried to ignore it
since Tyler was there and I was doing my best to be normal, but it grew ever stronger, and after a few more steps I stopped and looked to my right, where the baleful glare was coming from.

Tyler stopped too and began to look around. It took him a moment longer to spot what I knew was there.

“Is that…?”

“Yes. Just stay still.” It took an effort to say this, because my jaw had tightened in the cold and because I was terrified.

Are you the woman who talks to cats?
That’s what I heard. Tyler was only aware of the low growl, and it had him reaching for his pistol. His posture switched from genial to deadly in less than a second.

“No,” I said to the sheriff, touching his arm. I was shocked at being addressed by the wild cat, but also relieved. If the cat wanted to talk then it probably didn’t want to eat. At least not me.

To the cat I said aloud: “Yes, kitty. What do you want on this fine morning?”

The mountain lion sat down, looking a bit surprised at being answered, or perhaps at being called a kitty. Its posture was more relaxed than it had been. Tyler was still stiff with alarm, so I kept my hand on him.

You’re looking for a smelly-
butt man who kills his own
kind?
Its teeth were very large as the cat yawned. He picked up a paw and I swear examined his nails. His lips curled with distaste. The gesture was so human I almost laughed.

Instead, I exhaled slowly. The word of Irv’s death might not have gotten out into the human population, but the feline grapevine was obviously fully functional. If this cat could help, I was willing to listen.

“Yes, good kitty. That I am. What do you want me to know?” I could feel Tyler staring first at me, then at the cat, and then back to me again. I couldn’t blame him,
really. None of the popular hiking guides at the tourist center suggested talking sweet kitten gibberish when confronted with an adult mountain lion. He didn’t try to interrupt, though, for which I was grateful.

There are two smelly-
butt men near the river in the man-
cave. They kill many things and the water is undrinkable
now
. The cat stared over my left shoulder. A stray beam of sunlight struck his irises and made his eyes gleam gold. His head was huge, larger than mine.
I would like it
if you and sheep man made them go away
.

Sheep man?
I glanced at Tyler and took in his coat. Sheepskin.

“Pretty kitty,” I said, turning back, but I thought,
Thank you! I’ll try
. “We’re going now. It would be best if you stayed here while we go for our walk. Will you do that for me, kitty cat?”

The cat chuffed and then turned away. In an instant he had disappeared into the trees, making no more sound than a shadow.

“I’ll be damned,” Tyler said, and I finally dropped my hand. It had begun to shake. I was glad that my coffee had a lid.

“Let’s hope not,” I answered, again holding the coffee cup against my cheek as I started off in the direction the cat indicated. My pace was brisk but the wind was brisker. There were still some patches of snow on the ground and tangled in the manzanita bushes, which slouched pettishly under the cold weight. They were beginning to moan as the currents of cold air passed through them. I wanted to moan, too—damn jaw. It was beginning to feel like some hard-rock miner with blasting caps was trying to blow up my face. Still, I had a lead and I was damned if I was going to ignore it. Especially not when I had the sheriff with me.

“You know where we’re headed?” he asked.

“Yes, I have my bearings now. We need to go down
by the river. That’s where the mine is.” I debated how to explain the next thing I needed to tell him. Tyler didn’t seem up on his flora and fauna so I said casually, “There are probably men down there. At least two, and armed. Hunters maybe, but it could be your meth cookers. That’s what brought the cat up here. A mountain lion wouldn’t have come so close to town unless people had invaded his turf. And if it was just one man, the cat probably would have confronted him and driven him off.”

I had no idea if this was true, but it sounded plausible. I hoped a city dweller would think so, too.

“You’re a woman of unexpected talents,” Tyler said, and I thought he meant it as a compliment. “I would never have suspected you of being such an outdoors woman.”