Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Walter must have finally realized what we were up to because he arrived quicker than I figured he would.
Rambo was excited to see Ida Belle but even more excited to see a new place to sniff.
I’d already asked Mildred if she had something of Kim’s for him to lock in on and she’d pulled out a pair of fuzzy socks from the front desk drawer.
“That girl always had cold feet,” Mildred said.
“Lucky for us,” I said. “Mildred, I know your back has got to be killing you. I’m sure Walter would be happy to give you a ride home. That is, if you don’t mind leaving us the keys to lock up. We might need a bathroom and potentially medical supplies before we’re done.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Walter said.
“Oh!” Mildred said. “Are you sure you don’t need me to stay then?”
“We can handle it,” Ida Belle assured her. “No one is coming back here except the police at some point to secure the cabin.”
I nodded. “Even if Zion had a whole collection of silly women to do his bidding, he’s not foolish enough to send anyone back after what went down here.”
“Do you think he knows?” Mildred said. “Surely Kim wasn’t stupid enough to use her phone call on Zion.”
“I’m sure Kim used her phone call on her attorney, but she could have asked her attorney to call him.”
“Oh, right. Well, I certainly can’t help you search the woods and I guess there’s no point sitting here wringing my hands. If I’m being honest, I’d feel better back at home all the way around.”
“If we find anything, we’ll let you know,” I said and gave Walter a nod.
We headed back to Eleanor’s cabin with the excited Rambo, who dodged from one side of the path to the other, smelling as he went, his tail wagging the entire time.
The front door to the cabin was still cracked, but there was no sign that anyone else had been there.
We headed to the back, and I located the entrance to the path I’d spotted from the bedroom window.
Ida Belle pulled out Kim’s socks and gave Rambo a sniff. Then she indicated direction so he wouldn’t head back to the cabin, and he set out.
“Isn’t he just going to follow her path all the way to the dock?” Gertie asked. “If she tossed something into the woods, why would he break off the path versus following where she walked?”
“If Kim threw something in the woods, the smell will be stationary, and therefore stronger than the one she left merely by passing,” Ida Belle said. “A good scent dog should direct to the strongest odor.”
“And if he never veers off the path?”
“Then there’s either nothing in the woods to find or Rambo’s not a good scent dog. Guess which one I’m going with?”
Gertie snorted.
“If Rambo doesn’t find anything, I think we’ll have to assume that Kim tossed whatever she found in the water,” I said.
“She’d have to have done it when she first got to the dock,” Gertie said. “Because she wasn’t too far away when Ida Belle and I got there and there was no paper in the air or on the water.”
“I got your takedown on video, by the way,” Ida Belle said.
“You did?”
“Yep. I figured if the shooter got away, at least I’d have video of them stealing the boat and maybe the size and frame could narrow down the suspects.”
“That leap was spectacular,” Gertie said. “I think you should put it on your website. For advertising purposes.”
“I’m not sure if that would be advertising or issuing a challenge,” I said.
“Hey, if that was Eleanor’s boat that Kim stole to try to get away, how did she get here?” Gertie asked.
“I assume she drove,” I said. “The cops will probably find her car stashed somewhere nearby.”
Rambo paused momentarily at the split in the trail then continued straight—the direction I didn’t go.
“I wonder if he smells the bear,” I mused.
“What bear?” Ida Belle asked.
In all the excitement, I hadn’t even told them about my literal run-in with the bear, so I did it now. They both looked surprised, then started chuckling.
“I wish I could have gotten the bear’s face on video,” Ida Belle said. “He must have been so startled he forgot to do bear things.”
“Good news for me,” I said. “He could have easily shaken me out of that tree. It wasn’t the sturdiest.”
Rambo came to a complete halt and we drew up.
He sniffed the air to the right of the trail, then whined and launched into the bushes, pulling Ida Belle along with him.
The little hound had a much easier time navigating the dense foliage than we did, and Ida Belle kept having to check him to slow down.
Not that it did much good. He strained at the leash, now baying as he went.
Then he stopped suddenly again, right in front of a giant thorn bush.
Ida Belle sighed. “It had to be thorns.”
“Walk the edges and see if you can see anything in it or under it,” I said. “I’ll find a good limb to use.”
I found a solid eight-foot stick with a burnt end, signaling it had likely been struck by lightning. But it wasn’t rotted and was sturdy enough for what I needed.
“I think maybe I see something over there,” Ida Belle said, peering into a section of the thorns directly facing the path.
“There’s some broken thorns at the top where something might have entered from above.
And on the ground, I see a straight line when there shouldn’t be any.
But it’s so dark, I can’t tell what’s making it. ”
I took a look and spotted the anomaly, then crouched and stuck my branch in. “Tell me when I’m over it.”
“About two inches back and a couple to the right. Okay, now.”
I dropped the far end of the branch and put pressure on it, then slowly pulled it toward me.
“It’s moving!” Ida Belle said.
It took a few more lift and drops to get the object within safe arm distance but finally, I pulled a FedEx envelope out of the bush.
“Addressed to Eleanor!” Gertie said and clapped her hands.
The envelope was already open with just a small piece of tape sealing it again at the top. I tore it off and pulled out the papers inside. Ida Belle and Gertie both leaned over me and we all stared.
“Eleanor was having Zion investigated,” Ida Belle said. “Of all the things we might have found, that one wasn’t anywhere on the list.”
“I can’t say I’d thought of it, but it does make sense,” I said. “It seems that Eleanor was starting to question Zion’s sincerity in the relationship. If she thought he was lying to her, especially about his marriage, then hiring a PI would be the way to go.”
“That might be what they fought about,” Ida Belle said. “This PI states clearly that Zion and Sapphire show every sign of living together as husband and wife and that he found no indication that either had filed or talked to an attorney about filing for separation or divorce.”
I flipped the page and felt my pulse tick up a notch.
“He found Zion’s most recent alias,” I said. “And it says right here that the cops in North Carolina want him for questioning.”
“Jackpot!” Gertie said. “Are you going to tell Carter?”
“Of course she is,” Ida Belle said. “He’s got to get that man in handcuffs before he flees and becomes Santa Claus or whoever else he has lined up.”
“What about Calahan and his ‘you’re interfering with an investigation’ nonsense?” Gertie asked.
“We were using a scent hound to determine if Kim stole anything,” I said. “And since the owner of the property asked us to do so and we didn’t enter the crime scene, what’s he going to say—arrest them for turning over evidence?”
“Probably,” Gertie said. “He’s like the male version of Celia.”
“Well, he doesn’t have a good argument on this one. We’ll call the sheriff’s department on the way and see if Carter is there and we’ll officially turn over what we found, like the good little citizens we are.”
Ida Belle snorted and started to say something, but her phone rang.
“It’s Myrtle,” she said as she answered.
“Good Lord, you won’t believe what’s happened down here,” she said.
“Down here where?” Ida Belle asked.
“The sheriff’s department. That new guy had a doctor’s appointment, so I switched with him and am working days today and tomorrow.
I knew there would be problems when that idiot Calahan called, demanding to know where Carter was.
Carter had already told me that I had to give him that kind of information when he asked, so I just clenched my butt and told him.
I’ve done so much butt clenching this week it might affect my regularity. ”
“I have something for that,” Gertie said.
“Might need it,” Myrtle said. “Anyway, I tried to call Carter and warn him about Calahan, but he didn’t answer. I know why now of course, and I know you guys were there because I heard an earful of complaining about it from that fool. I just knew he was going to show up there and make trouble.”
“He did show up but he wasn’t able to make trouble,” Ida Belle said. “He just showed his butt…in more ways than one.”
“You’re serious? Good Lord, the man’s a menace and a slow learner.
Carter pulled up in front of the sheriff’s department, and I could see Calahan in the passenger’s seat, just a-jawing, and since Carter had already told me he had a prisoner to be processed, I headed outside to see if I could help.
Calahan opened the door, griping like there’s no tomorrow, and Fortune’s name was in his mouth every other word.
Then he jumped out of the truck and his hospital gown got caught on the door.
Ripped the ties clean off the middle, and there it all was, flapping in the wind. The man mooned the entire downtown.”
We all looked at each other, grinning.
“Were there a lot of people out?” Ida Belle asked.