Killertrust (16 page)

“ hope you’re happy. I
made a fool of myself at the police station wearing your stupid sock monkey
hat.” Rhetta clomped back to her desk. She didn’t bother taking off her boots.
She tossed the hat at Woody.

He reached up and caught it.
“I tried telling you. But you were too irritated to listen.” He continued
gazing at his computer. She did, however glimpse an upturn at the corners of
his mouth. He tugged at his beard and cleared his throat.

Rhetta pulled out her chair
and sat heavily. She glanced at her computer displaying the
Weather Now
radar. The long-range forecast called for cold
weather for another four days. On the bright side, the forecast also predicted
clearing and warming by the following weekend and lasting for at least a week.
That was typical for southeast Missouri.
January Thaw
is what the
old timers around here always called it. Might be a good time to think about
going to Kansas City.

She hadn’t yet called Ricky
about planning the road trip, and when her friend called her earlier that
afternoon and suggested they meet for lunch, Rhetta begged off. Although she
really wanted to lay eyes on her father’s ’67 Camaro and bring it home, she
couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding that blanketed her when she thought
about it. She still had no word from Frank. Was he still alive? Had he married
again? Was the woman who died a stepmother she’d never gotten to know? She felt
an unexplainable sense of loss at the thought.

Who was trying to kill him if
he was the last member of the Tontine? She had no answers and felt frustrated.

“Let’s get together Monday,
instead, if that’s okay. I have a pile of work to catch up on today,” Rhetta
had countered. She wanted to check Randolph’s schedule before planning the
trip. By waiting until Monday to get together with Ricky, she’d be able to go
over Randolph’s calendar this weekend. A road trip with Ricky and Billy Dan
might be fun after all.

“Sounds great. Meet you at
Dockside?”

“Sure. Dockside it is. I’ve
been craving one of their burgers. Eleven-thirty?”

Ricky agreed, and Rhetta
added it to her iPhone calendar.

“Did I hear you mention
Dockside?” Woody asked as he ambled around the corner from the kitchen. “I love
their hamburgers. In fact, I think I’ll take Jenn there tonight. Thanks for the
suggestion.” He sauntered to his desk and went back to work.

Rhetta pulled open her middle
drawer and stared again at the familiar manila envelope. She fingered it, then
decided not to open it. She knew the contents by heart. Instead, she closed the
drawer, then headed for the wall safe. She wanted to check out the roll of
paperwork, pictures and the cylinder that her father had given her. Randolph
had suggested she place it in their office safe for better safekeeping. She had
everything still in it except the car title. That was at home.

She rounded the corner to the
safe, dialed the combination and opened the door. She went straight to the
shelf where she had placed the package from her father. The shelf was empty.

She backed out of the safe
and called out to Woody. “Woody, did you get anything out of the safe since
yesterday?” She distinctly remembered locking the safe when she closed up last
night. Woody must have gone in and removed it.

“Nope. Why?”

“Would you mind coming here a
minute?” Her heart thudded so loud she swore she could hear it. Along with the
ringing in her ears she noticed when she got upset.

“What is it?” He hurried
over, went in and glanced around the safe. When he came out, he said, “What’s
wrong? You look awful. Have we been robbed?”

“The package my father gave
me is gone.”

“Who has access to your
safe besides you, Woody and LuEllen?” Randolph asked as he set the table while
Rhetta tossed the salad.

“That’s just it, Sweets.
Nobody. Not even the main office in Saint Louis has the combination. So how in
the world did the package leave? Did it grow feet and trot out when we weren’t
looking?”

“When did you see it last?”

Rhetta paused her tossing.
“Let me think. It would have been the first day I went back to work after the
holiday. That would have been, let’s see, Wednesday the second, the day after
New Year’s. I was the only one in the office when I put it in the safe.” She
placed the salad on the table and went to get small bowls from the cabinet.

After she finished helping
set the table, Rhetta sat at the counter and cradled her head in her hands.
“I’m not very hungry. I’m too upset. There are some very weird things going on
around that office.”

“Could someone have used your
stolen keys and gotten in?”

She shook her head. “I had
all the locks changed. Besides, the safe is a combination lock. It doesn’t have
any keys.”

Randolph folded Rhetta into
his arms. “Who could have done this?”

Rhetta shook her head. “I
can’t think of anyone. Besides us, no one but Jeff has keys to our office.
Absolutely no one besides us has the combination to the safe. It doesn’t make
any sense. Of course, the culprit could be a safecracker. But how did he know
what was in the safe? I have to think it’s related to the trust. ”

“Did you report it to the
police?”

“Yes. I called and they said
they made a note of it, but because there was no tangible value to what was
stolen, they didn’t even send an officer to the office.” She returned to the
salad bowl and carried it to the table. “What good is that roll of stuff to
anyone?”

“Come and sit down and let’s
talk this through.” Randolph pulled out a chair for her. “Let’s see what we
have. The cops found the thief who attacked and robbed you. I don’t believe the
attack on you had anything to do with your father, or the hit and run. So let’s
leave that element out of this.

“I think the hit and run,
your father, this stolen package and the fire at the impound yard are all
connected. Frank told us about the Tontine Trust. He believes that someone
killed his friend, and is trying to kill him. Therefore I think, like Frank
told you, you are a target for someone who feels threatened by you and it
concerns the trust. There must be a lot of money at stake. Somebody wants you
out of the way so they can claim the trust for themselves.”

“But Frank said he’s
definitely the last one alive. He has all the proof of the others’ deaths. He
can collect the money now. Maybe he’s gone to get it after all, and that’s why
we haven’t heard from him.” She nodded. That sounded credible to her. “That
would leave me out of the picture. If Frank is dead, and he was the last to
die, and hasn’t claimed the money, who else could have a claim besides me?” She
stood and began pacing.

“That, my love, is what we
don’t know. I can’t figure out who or what, either. But, here’s what I think:
someone your father doesn’t know about has figured out the Tontine Trust, knew
your father gave you a package and figured that package included the account
number. Whoever it is knew he needed the stuff Frank gave you in order to get
the number. Someone thinks they can get the money.”

Rhetta whirled around. “Then
they’re still going to be looking. The car title is what he needs, since the
VIN is the account number. Frank didn’t write it down anywhere.” She hugged her
husband and shivered. “The car title wasn’t with that stuff. It’s still here at
the house.”

Randolph held her. “And, if
he knows where we live…”

Rhetta fed the cats as
she waited for Randolph. He appeared shortly after she started, and waited for
her at the patio door, ready to go, fully decked out in his running clothes.
After collecting her purse, phone and keys, she locked all the doors and set
the alarm. Randolph pressed the automatic door opener and they piled into
Streak. A run would be just what they needed this morning—a good way to shake
off the winter blahs.

After Thursday night’s
conversation, the next morning Randolph drove to the mall and purchased a fire
safe. He told her he didn’t want to take any chances on leaving any important
paperwork lying around. He had it delivered to his studio, since it was too
heavy to risk placing on the wood floor joists in the house. Once the two
delivery men wrestled it into the corner he had chosen, he placed the car
title, along with some other important papers like their insurance policies
inside. The model he got was too large and heavy for one person to carry off.

A whiff of spring teased them
as the sun gleamed overhead. Randolph backed out of the garage, and Rhetta
pointed to the flowerbeds off to the side. “Look, I see some daffodils nearly
blooming. Their little yellow heads are just about to pop open. We may get an
early spring after all.” She captured the image on her iPhone, intending to
post it to Facebook. Randolph twisted in the seat and looked behind them as he
backed up. The garage door stopped and began rising as though one of the cats
had dashed inside. Randolph clicked on the opener again, and the door continued
its descent and closed snugly. He parked Streak.

“One of the cats must’ve
sneaked into the garage. I’ll go get him out.”

While waiting, Rhetta scanned
her picture to post. Randolph climbed back in and put Streak into gear and
continued backing. He put the SUV in drive and headed down the lane to the
county road.

“There weren’t any cats in
the garage, and the storage unit door was shut, so they couldn’t have run in
there. Maybe the garage door is sticking on the track. I’ll check it when we
get back. Do you want to do Dockside for brunch after our run?”

Rhetta grinned. “Sounds
great. I’m meeting Ricky there on Monday for lunch, and we’re going to plan our
trip to Kansas. City. What’s your schedule like? Are there any days that you
can’t go?”

“Not really. I’m flexible. We
should try to leave on a Friday, so we can get back on Saturday and you can
inspect the car all day Sunday.”

She dug in her purse for her
iPhone and ear buds. “Let’s go to Capaha Park and run around the lake.”

“Can you keep up with me?
You’ve gotten slack since your noggin got conked.”

“It’s you who’ll have to keep
up with me. You haven’t run since my noggin conking either. And I’ve been
running on the treadmill and pedaling my butt off on the bike. So we’ll see
who’s out of shape.”

She reached over and cranked
up the oldies, and began singing along. The sun was brilliant, the temperature
at fifty degrees already, and the prospect of a delicious brunch awaited. What
a perfect day!

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into running errands
after lunch,” Rhetta groaned. “I think I saw everyone we knew when we were at
Lowe’s.”

Randolph had pleaded for a
quick trip to the home improvement store to pick up some wire and framing
materials. “I think you look cute in your sweatshirt, tights and sneakers.” He
grinned. And ducked as Rhetta slapped the air where his head had just been.

“You are a brat, husband.
Just because I wasn’t all dressed up was no reason for Kelly Davenport to
snicker when she saw me.”

“She didn’t have her camera
crew, so you won’t be on
First News
tonight. Or maybe she heard about the sock monkey hat.” That earned a
full-blown glare.

Rhetta paid for their
purchases. As they left the store, she said, “As long as I’m making a public
appearance in my running clothes, I guess we should stop at the grocery store,
too. I need a few things. And we’ll definitely have to stop at
Primo Vino!
I need some good white wine tonight.”

“Hello missus,” Mrs. Koblyk called out and waved from her
porch as Rhetta and Randolph stopped at the end of their lane to collect the
mail. The stubborn mailbox was stuck again, so Rhetta hopped out to manhandle
it. Sitting in the SUV and reaching out the window, she couldn’t quite get a
grasp on it. Rhetta returned her neighbor’s wave.

Mrs. Koblyk disappeared for a
minute and reappeared clutching a bag. “I have some of the bread for your
husband that he likes.” She waved a plastic bag as proof.

Rhetta loped to the porch and
climbed her neighbor’s steps. Mrs. Koblyk beamed as she handed Rhetta a foil
package snugged into a plastic bag that felt warm. Mrs. Koblyk must have just
pulled the bread from the oven. “Thanks so much. Randolph loves this bread. Me,
too,” she added, glad that she’d run this morning. She imagined breaking off a
chunky bit of the delicious poppy seed bread and sipping white wine.

“Your visitor, missus, he
drives too fast,” Mrs. Koblyk said, and clucked her disapproval as Rhetta
descended the steps.

Rhetta stopped and stared up
at her neighbor. “Pardon? What visitor?”

“This morning after you
leave, your visitor he leaves, oh, about an hour after you.” She glanced at her
watch as though to confirm the time.

“I’m not sure we had a
visitor, Mrs. Koblyk. Did you see what he was driving?”

Mrs. Koblyk’s grey curls
bounced with her head bob. “Yes, of course, I see. Like what the Mister
Randolph drives. A truck.” More bobbing.

Rhetta felt bile rise.
“Thanks, Mrs. Koblyk. I’ll speak to Randolph about this.” The old lady nodded
and waved again before disappearing into her house.

Rhetta bolted for the SUV,
and clambered in. She tossed the bread into the back seat. “Mrs. Koblyk says we
had a visitor who left our place after we did this morning.” Randolph grunted,
threw Streak into gear and churned up gravel as he sped up the lane.