Chapter 8
Liz hopped the fence and zigzagged over the uneven terrain until she reached the deep indentation.
Gloria, who was closest, caught up with her first. “Good find.”
Lucy, Ruth, and Dot joined them.
“It sure looks like something big hit the ground,” Lucy said.
“You can see where whatever it was got dragged.” Ruth pointed out the marks where something large had been recently removed.
Gloria placed her hands on her hips and shifted her focus skyward. “Based on the path you showed us, Keller’s plane came around from that direction, past your neighbor’s house. It flew over the top of your house, veered to the right, flew past Echo’s mobile home, made another right turn and this is where it ran into trouble and crashed.”
Liz slid her cell phone from her pocket and began snapping pictures. “It hit hard. Keller is lucky he’s alive.”
Ruth adjusted her headphones and turned the metal detector on. Swinging it back and forth, she made her way along the drag lines toward the large indentation.
Liz noticed a pale red pile roughly five feet from where she suspected the plane went down.
“What is it?”
She turned to find Dot peering over her shoulder.
“It looks like more rotting tomatoes, probably the ones the cop said Keller still had inside his cockpit.”
“I wonder where they took the plane,” Dot said.
“Good question.” Liz waved them over. “Check it out.”
“You found the tomatoes,” Gloria said.
Lucy nudged her friend. “Let me check out your nifty new toy.”
“You break it, you buy it.” Ruth handed her the detector and headphones.
“I’ll be careful.” Lucy slipped the headphones on and began waving the wand over the loose soil. “I bet there’s a ton of cool stuff buried in these fields.”
While Lucy tinkered with Ruth’s detector, Gloria and Dot slowly circled around the perimeter of the disturbed soil, searching for clues.
“This could be a waste of time.” Dot rubbed the tip of her nose. “It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“Or a clue buried beneath piles of dirt,” Gloria said.
“Lucy is having fun.” Dot watched as Lucy bent down, picked something up and slipped it into her pocket. “Let’s all chip in and buy her a metal detector for Christmas.”
“Hey!” Gloria spun around and found Margaret trying to get their attention. “What is Margaret trying to say?”
“I don’t know.” Dot squinted her eyes. “She looks like she’s swatting at flies.”
“No.” Gloria shook her head. “It looks like she’s motioning at us and saying something.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Liz watched a vehicle approach, traveling at a slow speed along the dirt road, heading in their direction. It was a pickup truck with only one occupant. “Someone’s coming!”
“Margaret.” Lucy pivoted. Holding the detector over her head, she raced across the uneven ground.
“Let’s get out of here!” Gloria and Ruth made a mad dash in the opposite direction.
Dot and Liz, either frozen in fear, unaware of the implications of being caught or unconcerned, weren’t moving as fast.
Gloria ran back and dragged her sister across the open field while Ruth whisked Dot through the trees to the other side of the property.
“Like an idiot, I jelled,” Liz said. “By the way, we left tons of tracks in the dirt.”
“To go with the other tons of footprints already there,” her sister pointed out. “Let’s keep moving.”
Liz slowed. “What about Margaret and Lucy?”
“They’ll figure it out,” Ruth said. “It’s probably the owner.”
“The owner?” Liz groaned. “We were trespassing.”
“I’m sure they’ll think of something,” Gloria said.
“If you say so.” Liz cast a hesitant glance in Lucy and Margaret’s direction before reluctantly following the others.
Cutting through the center of the field, they made a diagonal jog and reached the road only mere steps away from Christi’s property.
With a fearful gaze to the right, in the direction they had just left, Liz said a silent prayer their friends would think up something quick and the owner wouldn’t call the cops on them.
Gloria noted the concerned look on her sister’s face. “Don’t worry about Margaret and Lucy. They’ll be fine. We’ve been at this sleuthing gig for years now and found ourselves in more than a few tight situations.”
Dot snorted. “You can say that again.”
“Remember the time the crazy killer was shooting at my van when we were in Nantucket?” Ruth pursed her lips. “As picturesque as that place was, I think Nantucket was a one and done for this chick.”
“Having someone fire shots at your beloved spymobile traumatized you?” Dot teased.
“Sure as sugar. My baby doesn’t like to dodge bullets.”
“Back to Margaret and Lucy.” Liz couldn’t help but feel guilty about abandoning their friends, leaving them behind to fend for themselves. “I hope they figure out a way to talk themselves out of this.”
“I know one thing for certain…Lucy had better not lose my detector,” Ruth said.
*****
“You’re holding the detector. I’ll let you do the talking,” Margaret whispered.
“Thanks.” Lucy sucked in a breath and tightened her grip on the metal detector, mentally berating herself for not tossing it back to her friend before rushing to Margaret’s aid.
As the truck drew closer, she could see the driver, his arm draped over the side of his open window, appearing not at all concerned at the sight of two women.
He shut the engine off, eased the door open, and climbed out. “Afternoon.”
“Good afternoon,” Lucy said.
“Beautiful day.”
“So far.” Margaret attempted a smile.
“Beautiful day for doing something.” The man motioned to the detector.
“Yes. Uh.” Lucy swallowed hard, her mind scrambling. “Our friend lives nearby. She told us about an old ghost town somewhere near here. We figured we would check it out.”
“The old railroad depot?” The man arched a brow. “It’s down by the covered bridge. It ain’t here on my property.”
Lucy mustered up an incredulous look. “This is…your land?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Ivan Gregware. This land has been owned by my family since the early eighties.”
Margaret tapped Lucy’s shoulder. “I told you we weren’t even close.” She grabbed her friend’s arm and whisked her toward the road. “Thank you for the tip.”
“You out hunting for treasure in that getup?” The property owner was much more observant than he appeared, noting the fact Margaret was not properly dressed for a tromp through the fields and forests.
“It was a…spur-of-the-moment decision,” Lucy answered honestly. “We got a bee in our bonnet, thought it sounded like fun, and here we are.”
Gregware’s brows knitted. “Where’s your car?”
“Our car is…”
“Way back over there.” Margaret pointed in the general direction of Liz’s place. “We’ve been wandering around for a while now.” She glanced at her watch. “Look at the time? We should get going.”
“Yes.” Lucy forced a laugh. “We got so caught up in finding the place, we lost track of how long we’ve been at this.”
The farmer tucked his hands in the sides of his suspenders. “You ain’t here snooping around because of Tristan Keller, are you?” His jaw tightened. “Did he send you over here?”
“Tristan Keller?” Margaret blinked rapidly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lucy tapped her arm. “Oh my gosh. I remember hearing something about a plane going down.”
“See the big crater? His plane fell right on out of the sky.”
Lucy’s eyes grew round as saucers. “How horrible to be flying around, minding your own business, and someone shoots at you. He could have been killed.”
“He wasn’t minding his own business,” Gregware growled. “In fact, he was doing the exact opposite. Tristan Keller is a ruthless money-grubbing, property-grabbing scumbag.”
Margaret, surprised by the anger in the man’s voice, stumbled back. “He was flying around because he was interested in your property?”
“Mine, Floyd Rasmussen’s, the Kravitz’s next door. I heard a rumor that the Rasmussens are sitting on a natural gas goldmine. Stands to reason some might also be on this side of the road.”
Lucy’s mind whirled. Tristan Keller had been harassing others, including this man, possibly even Christi and her husband.
“Tristan Keller is nothing more than a spy in the sky,” Ivan Gregware said.
“Do you have any idea who may have shot at him?” Margaret asked.
The man shrugged. “Could’ve been Floyd. Could’ve been Christi or her husband.”
Lucy didn’t miss the fact the man hadn’t included himself in the list of potential shooters.
Margaret’s cell phone pinged. She glanced at the screen. “We…should get going, Mr. Gregware. Thanks again for the tip about where to find the old ghost town.”
The women hurried off, heading toward the covered bridge.
“Did you see what I saw?”
“The rifle rack and rifle mounted in his rear window?” Lucy asked. “You couldn’t miss it. Something tells me it was loaded and ready to fire.”
“Maybe even at a pesky plane flying overhead.” Margaret abruptly stopped, wincing in pain.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have a rock in my shoe.” Balancing with one arm and holding onto Lucy, Margaret removed her shoe and tipped it upside down. “I’m ready to head back to Liz’s place.”
“Something tells me Mr. Gregware is watching us,” Lucy said. “We need to stop by the old bridge.”
“You think?” Margaret slipped her shoe back on. “I can’t blame him for being suspicious. I mean, we were standing in his field holding a metal detector. By the way, I noticed you slipped something in your pocket right around the time Gregware showed up. Did you find something?”
“It was a shell casing.” Lucy patted her pocket. “I found it when I was using Ruth’s detector.”
“There was a deer stand only a few feet away. I’m sure there are hundreds of shells nearby.”
“I suppose. Still, you never know.”
“That was smart thinking how you remembered there’s an old ghost town around here.”
“I find I work well under pressure,” Lucy said. “Who was texting you?”
“Liz. She wants to know if we’re all right. I’ll text her back as soon as we’re out of sight.” Margaret limped along until they finally found a small path leading toward the creek at the far end of Liz and Floyd’s property.
They stopped when they reached a large pile of field stones. Margaret let out a low groan and plopped down on a flat spot. “I’ll text Liz.”
Lucy hummed under her breath, her eyes scanning the banks of the creek. “It’s so peaceful and tranquil back here. Maybe Floyd and Liz should’ve started from scratch and built their dream home alongside the creek.”
“Liz loves her house. There’s no way you’ll get her to move now.”
“True.” Lucy perched next to Margaret. “Are you still texting her?”
“Yeah. I’m asking her to come down here on the four-wheeler and pick us up so we don’t have to walk all the way back to the house. I also told her we have some new information.”
“Yes, we do. We can add Ivan Gregware to the list of potential suspects.”