Murder at the Big T Lodge: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery (10 page)

Wes stood up from the
table where he and Liz were sitting in the lodge’s kitchen and poured himself a
glass of water. “Would you like one?” he asked.

“No thanks.
Let’s talk about Mickey Roberts. I think he’s a very strong suspect. With Milt
out of the running, Mickey immediately becomes the frontrunner in the race for
California governor. Mickey had to know that Milt would be a very formidable
candidate and would have the money to spend to get the word out that Mickey has
a couple of unsavory things in his past. It seems like all of these people
have, at least in their minds, a reason to want Milt dead, but I think Mickey
might have the most to gain from his death. Wes, I just thought of something
else concerning Mickey.”

She told him
about overhearing Mickey’s phone conversation with someone named Rick and how
Mickey had said he knew Milt was dead, because he’d heard Jack ask a guide to
call the lodge and make sure the mortuary had taken the body. “Wes, did Jack or
one of the guides call you regarding the removal of Milt’s body by the
mortuary?”

“No. I never
got a call from Jack that morning. I suppose Cassie could have picked up the
phone if I was in the restroom or something, but that’s doubtful. I think she
would have mentioned it. She pretty much worships Jack. Liz, based on what
you’re telling me, I agree with you that Mickey had a lot to gain from Milt’s
death. Let me change the subject. You said Sean couldn’t find out anything
about Cassie other than the fact she’d been married. I don’t understand why you
even asked him about her. She’s simply my assistant.”

“That may be
true, but you did tell me she was furious about Milt’s stand on the Planned
Parenthood Clinics. Was she furious enough to kill him? It’s not the first time
someone has been killed over the abortion issue. What do you know about her?”

“Quite
frankly, not a lot. When I came to work here several years ago I obviously
needed to hire someone to be my assistant. I wanted that person to do the prep
work, like chopping and getting the ingredients ready for me, so I didn’t have
to bother with that stuff when I began to cook the meals. You know, the
time-consuming stuff. They didn’t have to be a chef. There’s a newspaper in the
area, The Riley Times, that comes out twice weekly. I posted an ad in it for a
chef’s assistant. Several people answered the ad, but Cassie was the only one
who had experience working in a kitchen. There’s a little diner in town, and I
mean little, but it does a fair business, because it’s the only one in town.
Cassie had been working there for several years. That’s why I hired her.”

“How has she
been as an employee?”

“She does what
I tell her, and that’s really all I expected from anyone I hired. I didn’t plan
on my assistant coming up with gourmet creations. She does her job well enough
that it frees me to be creative, which is what I wanted.”

“What do you
know about her personal life?” Liz asked.

“Not much. We
don’t have the kind of relationship where we tell each other what we did the
night before or things like that. It’s pretty much a straight up business
relationship. I don’t think she’s ever taken a sick day or missed work because
of personal reasons.”

“Evidently
she’s a widow and has two children. Do you know anything about her deceased
husband or her children?”

“No. Wait a
minute. I did have each of the people who applied for the job fill out an
application. There’s a large pantry behind the kitchen, and my desk is located
there. I’ll be back in just a moment.”

He returned
with a completed job application form in his hand. He sat down and looked at
it. “It looks like her husband’s name was Paul Sowers, and she has two grown
children by the names of Megan and Chris. Hmmm, this is interesting. On her
application she wrote that her husband was deceased. For some reason, I thought
she was divorced. Guess not.”

“Did she write
anything of a personal nature?”

“Not a thing.
That’s it, sum and total. There’s nothing on it other than her work background
and things like her address, etc.”

“May I see it?
I think I’ll check out her address. I want to go to town and see if the woman
who works at the FedEx, Cindy Lou, knows anything about her.”

“Sure,” he
said, handing the application to her. She took it from him and wrote down the
address.

“Liz, while
we’ve been talking I’ve also been thinking, and quite frankly, I’m not sure how
I feel about what I’m thinking.”

“I’m sorry, Wes,
but that makes absolutely no sense to me. Can you spell it out for me?”

He stood up
and started pacing back and forth. “I could lose my job over this, but I know
where the master key is to all the guest rooms. I don’t know how you’re going
to find out who did this, but maybe there’s some evidence in one of the
suspects’ rooms. What do you think?”

She looked at
him incredulously. “You’re asking me if I want to go into the rooms of the
various different possible suspects and search them without their permission?
Do you know what could happen to me if anyone finds out? I don’t want to even
think what Roger might say about this.”

“Roger
wouldn’t need to know, and if you don’t want to do it, I completely understand.
I just thought it was a way for you to possibly get more information.”

“I may regret
this the rest of my life, but I think I would like to do it. I probably better
do it right now if I’m going to do it, or I’ll lose my nerve. Anyway,
everyone’s gone, so it probably is the best time. Are you coming with me?”

“I know this
sounds like an excuse, but I really do need get things ready for dinner. I’m
afraid you’re on your own for this.”

“Thanks,” she
said sarcastically. “I guess I’m the fall guy here. What time do you expect
Cassie back?”

“She should be
here within the hour. She’s here for breakfast, and then she’s off for several
hours. She returns in the afternoon to help with dinner. I believe I mentioned
to you she’s quite religious. I think she spends her time off at church.”

“Actually,
that will work out well. I’ll go up to the rooms now and then drive into Riley.
I’d like to drive by Cassie’s house and get a sense of it after I talk to Cindy
Lou. Show me where the key is. By the way, do you have any plastic gloves? And
if not, plastic wrap will do fine. I don’t want to leave any fingerprints,
although from what I’ve seen, I don’t think anyone around here has
fingerprinting equipment.”

“Let’s hope it
never comes to that,” Wes said motioning for Liz to follow him. They walked
into the pantry, and he pointed to the wall where a key on a chain hung from a
peg. “Stay here while I get the plastic gloves for you. I’ll be back in a
minute.”

“Hurry up,
Wes, or I’m going to lose my nerve.”

A few moments
later Wes returned with the gloves. “Good luck. Let me know what happens.”

“I don’t want
anything to happen. I want to find evidence that someone murdered Milt. One
last thing, if someone comes back early could you do something to alert me?”

“Sure. I’ll
take a large metal bowl and drop it on the floor. That should make enough noise
that you’ll be able to hear it. With everyone gone it’s pretty quiet here.
Okay?”

“Yes. Wish me
luck,” she said as she put on the gloves and took the key from him. “Glad that
Jack has the name of each guest posted next to their room. At least I won’t
have to waste time trying to figure out who’s in which room.”

“Well, as they
say on Broadway, break a leg,” Wes said.

As soon as Liz walked out
of the kitchen she was joined by Sam. She looked around the downstairs portion
of the lodge to make sure no one had returned unexpectedly from the hunt. Not
seeing anyone, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing she had the whole upstairs
to herself on this, her first-ever time of committing the crime of breaking and
entering.

She wasn’t sure
what she should even look for. Since there wasn’t a murder weapon, per se, she
decided to look for anything that could relate to Milt. The first room she
entered was Amanda and Emilio’s. It was perfectly clean as Jack had two
cleaning ladies come in each morning as soon as the guests left for the duck
hunt. The rooms were clean by the time they returned from the hunt.

Liz looked
through the closet and glanced through their suitcases. She didn’t find
anything, nor was there anything in the bathroom. If Amanda had been having an
affair with Milt, Liz doubted there would be anything about him in Amanda’s
personal items. She gingerly went through Emilio’s briefcase and found only
items relating to the vineyard and winery he owned in Italy. She looked at her
watch and realized she’d used up fifteen minutes of the hour before Cassie was
to come back to the lodge. Although there was no reason for Cassie to come
upstairs, she knew she’d feel better if she could finish her search before
Cassie returned.

The next room
she entered was Mickey Roberts’ room. There were a number of papers on the
table that served as a desk. She began to go through them and realized she was
looking at the campaign timetable for Mickey and how he planned to spend the
next few months. His laptop computer was on the table, and she opened it. It
immediately booted up, needing no password. What popped up on the screen was an
email from a man she presumed was his campaign chairman, Rick, evidently the
man Mickey had called the previous day regarding Milt’s death.

In his email
Rick indicated he hadn’t found anyone in Sacramento who had heard of Milt’s
death, but that he’d been able to hire a number of the top campaign workers as
well as the campaign consultant that Milt had used for his previous campaigns.
Rick said all of them would need proof of Milt’s death, but if it was true,
they were ready to go forward with his campaign for governor. He ended by
saying it looked like the campaign would be a slam dunk for Mickey, and now
they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else having the political clout or the
money to seriously oppose Mickey.

None of that
particularly surprised Liz based on the phone conversation she’d overheard him
have with Rick. He remained a top suspect in her mind for two reasons. First,
with Milt dead, he was in a very good position to be the next governor of
California. Secondly was the disturbing thought that if Mickey was the one who
killed Milt, he would know that Milt was dead, which meant he’d never overheard
Jack asking his guide to call the lodge to see if Milt’s body had been removed
by the mortuary. Since Wes had told her he’d never received such a call,
although it wouldn’t stand up in a court of law, to her it seemed that Mickey
easily could have been the murderer.

Liz quickly
went through the stack of papers on the table. About halfway down were a number
of articles about Milt as well as a printout of the dates that Milt was to be
at the lodge. Once again, while it wasn’t proof that Mickey was the killer, it
was one more thing that pointed in that direction. She wished she could find
the tipping point. The rest of her search was fruitless, so she walked down the
hall to the third and last of the suspects’ rooms, that of Mac Ward.

Liz and Sam
quickly entered the room, closing the door behind them. She spent several
minutes looking through his clothes and other personal effects. She found
nothing. She opened the drawer of the table that also served as a desk and saw
an iPad in it. She pulled it out and turned it on. There was a long email from
a man who she assumed, based on the content, was a tobacco farmer. She scanned
it and saw that it was about an article the man had seen in a North Carolina
paper regarding Milt’s proposed cigarette tax increase.

The man was
extremely upset, saying that it could be the beginning of the end of tobacco
farming. He concluded his email by telling Mac he hoped Mac would take the
steps necessary to do whatever needed to be done to stop Milt from having the
legislation enacted. She heard a car door slam and looked out the window.
Cassie had returned. Liz put the iPad back in the drawer, quickly left the
room, and rapidly walked down the hall to her suite, her heart pounding. After
she was safely in it, she took several deep breaths to calm herself. She sensed
Sam’s concern and patted him on the head, “It’s okay Sam. We made it just in
time.”

Well, from
what I found it looks like either Mickey or Mac could have been the murderer. I
certainly saw nothing that would indicate Amanda or Emilio had anything to do
with it
.
She looked at her watch.
Perfect, I have just enough time to drive to town
and get back before Roger returns from the afternoon quail hunt.

Liz walked
downstairs with Sam at her side and knocked on the kitchen door. Wes opened the
door. “Wes, Sam and I are going into town. We should be back before the hunters
return. See you later.” He had an inquiring look on his face. Without saying a
word, she handed him the key and gave him a thumbs up.

When Liz got to Riley, she
noticed a small building with the words “The Riley Restaurant” printed on the
front window. She assumed this was the little diner Wes had told her about, the
one where Cassie had worked before he’d hired her. Liz had a hard time
imagining the small little building being a restaurant and was surprised that
whoever owned it hadn’t just called it The Riley Diner.

I’d really
like to go in there and see what the restaurant is like, but I don’t have time
if I’m going to get back before Roger and the rest of the hunters return to the
lodge. He gives me pretty free rein when I’m involved in things like this, but
I don’t want to push my luck. I definitely don’t think he’d approve of my room
investigation.

She parked in
front of the FedEx office and walked in, the overhead bell ringing. Once again,
she was the only customer in the office. Cindy Lou heard the bell announcing
the arrival of a customer and walked through the curtain that separated the
back room from the office.

“Well, what a
surprise! You bein’ here two days in a row. Got another bottle of somethin’ you
want to spend your money shippin’ somewhere?” she asked laughing. “Busts me up
every time I think ‘bout hard-earned money used to ship a bottle of juice by
FedEx, but guess the customer is always right. Leastways, that’s what I’ve been
tol’. What can I do fer ya’ today, darlin’?”

“I’m not
shipping anything today, Cindy Lou, but I have a question for you. You told me
if I needed to know anything I should talk to you, because you know pretty much
everyone around here. I’m curious about a woman who works at the hunting lodge
named Cassie Sowers. Can you tell me anything about her?”

“Maybe I can,
and maybe I can’t. Why do ya’ wanna know?”

Okay,
Liz thought,
don’t
really like to do this, but I have a feeling I’m being told she might tell me
something if I offer her money.
She hasn’t said anything, but my niggle
is up, and that’s what it’s telling me.
Liz opened her purse, took out a
$50.00 bill, and laid it on the counter.

Cindy Lou
looked at the money with a shrewd look in her eyes. “It must be important to
you, if yer’ willin’ to spend a Uly on it. Don’t see too many of them
hereabouts.”

“It is, and I
am,” Liz said, pushing the $50.00 bill with the face of Ulysses S. Grant on it
across the counter. Cindy Lou appeared to be having a war of ethics waging
within her, but she finally took the bill, folded it up, and put it down the
front of the checkered red and white blouse she wore.

“Okay, now
that we got that lil’ chore outta’ the way, what do ya’ want to know ‘bout
Cassie?”

“Anything you
can tell me. I’m particularly interested in her husband Paul. How did he die?
He must have been very young.”

Cindy Lou
didn’t say anything for a few moments, and then she began to speak, “Kinda go
fer the meat, don’t ya’, girl?”

“I have no
idea what you mean.”

“Lots of what
I’m gonna tell ya’ is rumor. Seems like Paul had himself a lil’ chicken on the
side, if ya’ know what I mean. Heard the lil’ chicken done come up with an egg
in her one day that was gonna be hatched in a few months. Cassie heard ‘bout it
and danged if Paul didn’t up and die in his sleep. Then a funny thing happened.
Chicken died in her sleep, too. Lotta folks around here thought it were some
kinda weird coincidence, I can tell ya’ that, but weren’t no signs of foul play
or nuthin’, so the sheriff said it was just a strange happenin’.”

“I’d say
that’s a very strange happening,” Liz said.

“Think one of
the things that saved Cassie was that she got religion right after that. I mean
I ain’t never seen no one get religion like that girl did.”

“In what way?”
Liz asked.

“Well, she
told people God visited her right after ‘the incident’ as she called it.
There’s a little fundamentalist church right outside of town, and she started
attendin’ it. Actually, that’s not the right word. She pretty much lived there
when she weren’t workin’ at The Riley Restaurant or at home with her kids. When
they finished high school they moved out and went to El Paso. Cassie did
whatever Reverend Benson wanted her to do, and it seems like Billy Bob kept her
right busy. From what I hear she still spends most of her time there, and it’s
been quite a few years now. Her kids are long gone, so yeah, it’s been a long
spell since it all happened.”

“Cindy Lou,
this may sound like a strange question, but do you have any idea how Cassie
feels about abortion?”

“Don’t take
one of ‘em Rhodesian scholars or whatever they call ‘em to answer that
question. All you gotta do is go out to her house and take a look-see through
her windows. Ever bit of wall space in that dang house is covered with posters
protestin’ abortions. Matter of fact, every time one of them abortion doctors
gets hisself shot and killed, she makes copies of the newspaper article and
passes it out to people. Guess that all comes with her gettin’ religion.”

“Thanks Cindy
Lou. I really appreciate the information. I’d like to ask a favor of you.”

“Shoot,
darlin’.”

“I’d
appreciate it you would keep this conversation just between the two of us.
Could you promise me that?”

“Sure. That’s
the least I can do when somebody gives me a Uly. You and I ain’t never had this
conversation.”

“Thanks again.
By the way, Cassie’s house sounds pretty interesting. Where does she live?” Liz
asked.

“Take the main
road out of town in the other direction from where you came in and follow it
down ‘bout three miles. You’ll see a mailbox with a straggly rose planted next
to it and Cassie’s name on the mailbox. Turn into the lane, and within a few
yards you’ll be there. Gotta tell ya’ it’s a far cry from where yer’ stayin’.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Jes’ go out
there and see fer yerself. Her old house looks like the flip side of a coin
from The Big T Lodge. Jes’ be a little careful. If’n Lex, that pit bull she
has, ain’t chained up, probably don’t wanna go in her yard. Coupla people still
have scars from that cur. Ya’ be careful.”

“Thanks, I
will. I have a healthy respect for dogs off leash,” Liz said as she walked out
the door and got into the hunt club’s car.

She turned to
Sam and said, “I want you to stay in the car and behave yourself if you see
Cassie’s dog. If the dog is off leash, I’ll be staying in the car with you.”