Mercy & Mayhem: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery (20 page)

He scooted his chair back. “I didn't!”

“Then, how did Rowdy die? Maybe you have a theory?” I couldn't wait to hear him talk his way out of this and I hadn't even gotten to the best part yet.

He opened his mouth to speak, but his words weren't coherent.

Betty sat forward, leaning on the table. “Speak up. Tell me what you did to my Rowdy.”

He looked at her, then, back at me, still unable to speak clearly. “I... No... I...”

Pug whispered, “You killed him? Is that why you asked me so many questions about his life and what kind of friend he was? You were just trying to get information from me?”

“No!” Jeb yelled. “I didn't know I was going to do it. I wasn't planning to kill him. I swear. I just wanted him to tell me... To answer my questions.” Jeb began to sob.

Tina spoke up as she realized what had happened. “That's what Jennifer was trying to tell me.”

We turned in her direction, anxious to hear the rest of her story.

She was lost in thought, recalling events. This was new information to me. I had never heard her mention much of anything about a peculiar conversation with Jennifer. I just assumed they knew each other because they obviously worked together. That wasn't so out of the ordinary.

She continued, looking at her hands as she spoke. “Right before Jennifer left for maternity leave, she was worried about how they'd survive. Jeb would be the only one working and she worried that her medical leave stipend wouldn't be enough to sustain them for an extended period of time.” She looked at Jeb, sadness in her eyes. “Sorry. She told me that you had come home with good news and that you worked out some kind of deal with Rowdy and Randy about doing some work for them.”

Jeb's facial expression didn't change, but his ears reddened, indicating he didn't like what he was hearing. He probably had no idea that Jennifer had so freely divulged intimate tales of their lives to anyone.

Tina looked at Charlie and said, “I'm sorry. I didn't know that had anything to do with this.”

Randy said, “I don't understand. I never made a deal about anything and there's no way that my father did. I'm in charge of the crew at the ranch. Ever since Dad had his accident, I've handled the business affairs.”

With everyone focused on Jeb, no one noticed Pug's reaction to what was being said until there was sudden movement by the door and he tried to run out of the conference room, shoving the officer that had been standing guard next to him.

Charlie leaped over the table, tackling him, and knocking him to the ground. “Hold on right there.” He said.

Next to me, Jeb climbed over the table and trampled over Tina to get out the door too, but the officer quickly thwarted his efforts and sent him flying against the wall.

Betty screamed, clutching her son's arm.

I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath until I became light headed and Tina had to keep me steady.

Both men were handcuffed and escorted away while those remaining tried to make sense of it all. I knew I'd discovered something big, but wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel to expose a killer and his accomplice.

We sat in stunned silence for several minutes before Charlie returned to inform Betty and Randy that Jeb and Pug were being charged with Rowdy's murder and that the Sheriff's Deputies had already brought Jeb's wife, Jennifer, in for questioning as a witness.

              I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Sissy didn't greet me with a smile, but it sure would have been nice to get one. I did just help solve a major crime and I was able to save Betty's property and finances from being destroyed, but I suppose that really didn't matter to everyone, even in this supposed tight-knit community.

“What are you having?” She asked me, but her eyes were definitely on Hank.

“I'd like coffee and sausage and gravy, please.” I said, smiling across the table at Charlie.

He told her, “I'll have what she's having.”

Ruby nudged me with her elbow, while Tina giggled from the far end of the row of tables we'd moved together, saying, “We'll all have what she's having.”

Sissy rolled her eyes and walked away.

The bells chimed over the door. I looked up, relieved to see that Randy had picked her up after all. “Hi, Betty!” I waved in her direction.

She waved back, in between blowing kisses in the air at me.

I looked down at Tina and asked, “How is she doing?”

Tina sighed, answering, “Ornery as ever, but good. She misses you.”

I chuckled. “It's only been a week. I'll be back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but she still misses you and Nubbin is beside himself with anticipation. He can't wait to tell you how he helped you solve the case.” Tina laughed. “Oh, and he is chomping at the bit to find out if you had that new engine installed yet. He's been calling his grandson every day to find out if you dropped your car off at his shop yet.”

My heart welled. The last thing I expected was that I'd be gifted a new engine. Nubbin volunteered his grandson, a mechanic, to do the work and some of the staff took up a collection to pay for it.

Randy nodded at me as he walked his mother to the table. “Hello, Mercy.” He said.

“Hello, how are you doing?” I asked.

He took a seat near me after he helped Betty into the seat next to Hank. “I'm okay, I suppose. After the preliminary hearing, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep things together. I never in a million years would have believed that Pug was stealing money from my family and in cahoots with the land developer to make my father sell the land right out from under our noses.”

“Yeah, I can't imagine that would have been something you would have been looking out for. How long have you known Pug?” I asked.

“Most of my life. He and I went to school together. Our kids played together. We belong to the same church. Heck, his father used to work for my father. I suppose that's how this all got started. I know my father wasn't the nicest man, but he sure didn't deserve to lose his life over some property.” He said, fighting back the tears that had moistened his eyes.

“No, he didn't. I'm sorry.” I offered, not knowing what else to say.

He continued, “And, Jeb, well, technically, I guess he's just another victim in all this. He got caught up in the whole idea of needing fast money and Pug took advantage of him, offering to pay him a hefty sum if he did exactly what he told him to do. I just wish Jennifer had said something sooner.”

Charlie answered to that part. “The whole thing was a big mess. Jennifer didn't know what Jeb was up to. I'm not even sure Jeb understood what could happen. He had tunnel vision and was just looking for a quick fix to his impending financial problems. Now, his wife and baby will have to do without him.”

“But, they poisoned him? I just don't understand it. Do they realize that my mother could have been arrested for that?” Randy looked across the table at his mom.

“Yeah, but what neither of them knew was that Betty didn't have dementia. She remembered seeing something and she knew things weren't right. Actually, she helped solve this case.” I said.

Randy contemplated for a minute. “Who tries to set up an elderly woman and frame her for murder?”

“Someone who is desperate.” I answered. “The only thing is good old Nubbin and Betty weren't so easily fooled and they alerted everyone right away that there were killers among us. They just didn't know who.”

Ruby said, “I just don't understand how the suspicion landed on you, though.”

Charlie blushed. “I'm afraid that was my fault. She was new in town and I didn't want to believe that people I'd known my whole life could have been involved. Besides, it would have never occurred to me to look at Jeb or Pug. Jeb existed in plain site, but went virtually unseen through all of this and Pug didn't become an issue for me until he started panicking and bellyaching when he realized that I no longer believed it was Mercy.”

Tina looked as confused as most of us felt while we were searching for answers. “But, I don't get it. You're saying that Pug convinced Jeb to kill Rowdy for money? They poisoned him with lemonade? How did they know he'd drink it?”

To our surprise, Betty answered those questions. “Because we were creatures of habit, that's why. I always offered Rowdy a refreshing drink when he came to visit me because he never drank enough, not even when we were both living at home. He'd go all day without drinking or eating a thing. Jeb spent so much time fixing that sink that seemed to always be broken in my room, he had to have heard me ask Rowdy every morning.”

“Your sink isn't broken, is it?” I asked.

“Nope. Never has been. I used to take it apart or dismantle the faucet just so Rowdy would come in and fix it for me. It made him feel good and feel useful again after the accident, but that busy body, Kathy, finally started noticing it and asked Jeb to fix it all the time. After a while, we started having regular conversations, until a few weeks ago, when he suddenly acted like he didn't know me. Remember how I told you that you had to stop people to get them to talk to you, Mercy?” Betty looked at me.

“I do. The morning I met you that's one of the first things you said to me and, as a matter of fact, I do remember Jeb fixing the sink in your room, but why were you still dismantling it if he stopped talking to you?” I asked. She sighed. “It was because of Rowdy, wasn't it? Because he still came by every morning?”

“Is that true, Mom?” Randy asked Betty.

Tina asked, “But what was that whole thing about the pocket watch and the ring? Why did you give them to Nubbin to hide?”

Betty blushed. “Well, that was his idea. I'd told him that I thought whoever hurt my Rowdy did it for money because nothing else made sense.”

“Are they valuable?” I asked.

Randy answered, “Not very, but...” He looked at his mother.

She pulled the watch out of her bag and handed it to me. “Open it up.”

I pulled it open, exposing the watch face. I didn't understand what she was trying to show me. She pulled it out of my hand, turning the inside cover in my direction.

“The inscription?” I asked.

Randy grabbed it from my hand, saying, “That's the combination to the safe. Really? That's where you kept it?”

She giggled. “Yep. That way I'd never forget it. At least no one would be able to get anything out of there. They can take some of our stuff, but not all of it.”

“What's in it?” I asked.

Betty used her fingers to count as she listed the items. “The deed to the house, the deed to the land, some money we saved for safe keeping, some jewelry, lists and pictures of all of our valuables.”

Charlie asked her, “Did Pug have access to any of this?”

Betty laughed. “Not unless he was willing to get hit over the head with a cane by Nubbin.”

We all laughed. Nubbin was the best kind of security to have.

Betty's eyes misted as she spoke. “All of the real money is in that safe. No one could have taken that from us. They took my Rowdy, but they'll never be able to take my memories or our land.”

The table quieted down, knowing that the realization would soon hit her. Rowdy wasn't ever coming back.

Randy asked, “So, did they think that by killing my dad, Mom would give everything up?”

Charlie shook his head. “No, Pug thought she'd be declared incompetent and, in your grief, you'd want to be rid of the land and everything else. He'd made it so that he'd get a hefty amount of the proceeds from the sales and he'd give a smidgen of that to Jeb in return for replacing water from the faucet with his deadly concoction of lemonade and oleander pulp.”

I mused. “Now, they'll both rot in a cell somewhere and have to live with the fact that the took a man's life and nearly ruined mine in the process.”

Betty clapped her hands together. “That's it. We are not going to wallow in sadness. You nabbed them, Mercy, and I will be forever grateful. Thank you for believing me when I tried to tell you that something was wrong.”

“But, I didn't really, Betty.” I started.

“You did. I may not have had all my facts straight and my memory may be failing me, but you treated me with dignity and respect and that's more than a person could ask for. Sometimes, in between all the mayhem there should be a little Mercy.” Betty looked at me with tears in her eyes.

The End