Her heart beat fast and she was breathing hard as she walked along the sidewalk to the corner, then away from her house. The night was beautiful. The sky was awash with stars and Jean could pick out the major constellations. It was about eighty degrees so she didn't have on a sweater or jacket. Sneaking out of the house was quite exciting.
Karen spoke. "We must be at her house. She pulled into the garage and shut the door."
"I'm out of my house. Where are you?"
Karen gave her the address. "Be careful. Get out on the corner of Chestnut and Pine. Walk up. I'll be parked on the right side of Pine before you get to her house."
"Gotcha. I'll call a cab and be there as quick as I can."
She called the only taxi company in town and waited. Ten minutes later a cab pulled up to the street. Jean got in the back and gave him the address. He pulled out. "Nice night," he said in a conversational tone.
Jean nodded. She didn't expect the guy would chat, but why wouldn't he, trapped in the car for hours on end? "Yeah, nice night, especially after the heat of the day."
He looked at her in the rearview mirror. "You're not dressed for a party."
Her heart thumped. "No. My car's in the shop and a friend is sick."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah. Nothing bad but she needs a hand."
"Nice of you."
Jean felt sick about the lie. "Just trying to help."
The taxi let her out on the corner and she gave him a five as a tip to soothe her conscience about the lie. She waited until he drove off to walk up Pine Street. Karen was in her car, a short distance away, the driver and passenger windows open to the soft night air. Jean knocked on the car door.
Karen jumped. "Oh my God, you scared me."
"Sorry." Jean got in the car and pulled the door closed until she heard the latch click. "What have you seen so far?"
"The lights were on when she got here." Karen looked from the house to Jean in the dim light of the street light on the corner behind them. Analise lived about the middle of the block. Another street light was two corners away in front of them.
Jean mulled that over for a second. "You think someone was already in the house?"
"I do. I have no idea who it might be. There's no rumor around town that Analise is seeing anyone."
Jean looked at the house. It was a modern ranch-style home. A gabled roof covered the front entryway. The pillars and the front of the house were covered in a rough stone facing of local rock. Like the majority of houses in Greyson, the yard was covered in one-inch sized pieces of local granite; a big Manzanita tree was the centerpiece of the small front yard. A six-foot-high wooden privacy fence ran from the front left corner of her house to the neighbor's fence. Another one ran from the right front corner to her other neighbor's fence. Light showed dimly in the living room picture window.
"Do you think she has the blinds drawn or is she at the back of the house?"
"Back of the house, the kitchen, most likely."
"I wish I could see what's going on. There's no shouting that I can hear."
"I know."
Jean pulled the can of soda out of her daypack and handed it to Karen. "Oh, here's your drink."
The can snapped and fizzed when Karen pulled the tab. Jean could smell the beverage and Karen drank. "Oh, that hits the spot."
"Glad I could make your night." Jean studied the fence. "There's a gate on the left."
Karen turned to look at her. "You want to sneak into the backyard?"
"We're here to see what she's doing, right?" Jean wagged her eyebrows. "Well, let's do it."
It took a minute for Karen to agree. "This is going to end badly, I can just feel it."
"Nonsense. We'll be quiet as little church mice on Sunday. I just want to hear what's going on in there and maybe find out who else is in there."
"Fine." Karen drew in a deep breath. "Let's do this and go home."
Jean opened her door and slipped out onto the sidewalk, cursing the dome light for coming on. Karen slipped out too and both women closed their doors as quietly as they could. "Come on," Jean whispered as she came around the car.
The women hurried across the road and onto Analise's yard. The rock crunched under their feet. It sounded very loud to Jean. Her head swiveled in every direction to spot trouble. They made it to the gate and paused to still their racing hearts. "We're going to get caught," Karen whispered.
Jean examined the gate. "No we're not. There's no latch on the outside."
Karen rose up on tiptoe and reached over the top. They heard a metallic click. "It's on the inside. My gate works like this, too." The gate swung out toward them. Jean went in with Karen following. "I'll just pull it almost closed. We can get out in a hurry if we have to."
Rock covered the yard at the end of the house and Jean silently groaned. They'd be crunching every step of the way. She could see a bit of light at the back of the house. There were no windows at the end except a bathroom window fifteen feet up the wall. That was a relief. She waved to Karen and they crept toward the back yard. Jean peeked around the corner. Light was streaming out of a kitchen window onto a stone-paved patio. She eased around the corner.
It seemed that Analise used the square-foot gardening method. The backyard was a maze of garden beds. Tomatoes overran one four-foot square. Squash vines spread out from another. Rose bushes lined the fence at the back of the yard. Everything was trim and tidy. She moved under the kitchen window, the light streaming out a foot over her head. Karen moved behind her.
"I can hear voices," Karen breathed.
Past the kitchen window the patio extended out into the yard; light came from there, too, illuminating redwood patio furniture. Jean inched to the corner and looked around. The patio blinds were open. Analise was inside the breakfast area sitting at the table with Josh Marlow. Jean ducked back. "It's Analise and Josh at the table."
In the dim light Jean could see Karen shake her head. "This is a bad idea."
"The door is open, just the screen door is closed. We can hear them." Jean was excited. Despite her racing heart and sweaty palms, she was having fun. She eased closer to the corner, Karen right behind. The two women, Jean low and Karen high, inched their heads around the corner so they could see and hear.
Analise had a glass of iced tea in front of her on the table. Josh had a bottle of beer. "So that's all you've done all day? Watch TV and drink beer? What about Miss Nosypants, Jean Hays?"
"Don't know," he snarled. "The cops have been calling my phone all day. I stayed here, out of sight. If you want something done about her, do your own dirty work." He raised the bottle and drained it, then scraped the chair across the sand-colored tiles and went to the kitchen.
Jean and Karen could hear the fridge open and a bottle top get twisted off and tossed onto a counter. He sauntered back to the table and sat down, sprawled in the wooden chair as though he owned it. "What did you do all day? You're at the fair where she is."
"I worked. Something I recommend for you. You're never going to amount to anything."
Josh slammed the bottle on the table. "Watch your mouth!" He pointed at her nearly all the way across the table.
She laughed. "Don't threaten me, bucko." Analise took a sip of iced tea. "What do the cops want?"
"I don't know, now do I, since I didn't pick up." He sat back and took another pull on the beer. "But I bet it's about Ina. White came out to see me once already. I'll just bet he has more questions."
Analise sighed. "This is not working out."
"No kidding."
That's when Karen sneezed. Jean saw both heads swivel toward the door before she yanked her head back around the corner and ran as quietly as she could after Karen, who was already around the end of the house and running to the gate. Jean could hear the sliding screen door open and Josh come out onto the patio. She rounded the corner to the end of the house just before the patio light came on.
Karen was already through the gate and half
way across the front yard when Jean cleared the gate and shut it as softly as she could. Karen was starting the car when Jean reached the street. Jean opened the car door, jumped in and whispered, "Go!" She shut the door as Karen hit the gas. Jean turned to look behind them as the seatbelt bell dinged insistently. "Make the first turn, Karen, I don't care where it goes."
She rolled a little as Karen made a left. Jean could see Josh out on the street staring at the car. Jean turned to face the front and put on her seatbelt so the damn bell would stop pinging. "Josh came out to the street but I don't think he could see anything but taillights. Hoo, that was close."
"Sorry about the sneeze. Something in that garden set my allergies off." Karen had a death grip on the steering wheel as she looked straight ahead, shoulders hunched forward.
"It's okay." Jean settled into the car seat. "I just wish we'd heard something important."
Karen took a deep breath and tried to relax her shoulders. "We heard that they're working together."
"True." Jean nodded. "There is that." She gave what she'd heard some thought. "Also, the police are trying to find him. That's an interesting fact as well."
Karen eased her grip on the steering wheel. "I think I've reached my limit for tonight's adventure. Ready to go home?"
"Yeah." Jean was thinking about Josh and Analise and what they could be up to. "Drop me a block away. I have to sneak back into the house."
The two women were silent the rest of the ride to Jean's house.
Chapter Forty-Six
The next day Jean was in the large livestock barn taking pictures of cattle when she ran into Arris. "Hello!" She beamed as she gave him a hug. "I'm so glad to see you."
"Nice to see you, too. How's the fair going?" He leaned against the gate of a cattle pen and put his boot up on the lower rail.
"I'm good. It's good. There seems to some sort of major problem every day but so far, it's nothing I can't handle. How are you?" The two pressed in against the gate as a 4-H girl dressed in her show uniform—a white shirt with green ribbon tie—walked a Black Angus cow down the aisle.
"I'm fine. My grandniece is showing today. I came down to cheer her on."
Jean nodded at the steer in the pen, lying down and half asleep. "This hers?"
He nodded. "She's worked so hard on her handling skills. I think she'll get a Grand Champion ribbon and a belt buckle this year."
"I wish her luck."
She fidgeted, a little uncomfortable about the question she wanted to ask, but since he was right here, she went ahead. "May ask about your break-up with Analise?"
A look of resignation crossed his face. His eyes focused on the other side of the barn where two young men in FFA jackets were cleaning out a pig stall. "Sure, why not?"
"I'm sorry, Arris. I'm just trying to make sense of this."
"That's all right. I'm not sure what you want to know. We've been divorced for years. No kids."
"Forgive me for prying, but who's your beneficiary?" She grew hot with embarrassment. "You know, in case of…" she struggled to find a polite way of putting it, "…an accident."
He nodded. "Analise. I keep meaning to change my will and give the ranch to my nieces and nephews." A sigh escaped. "But that's not something a mortal man wants to think about so I keep putting it off."
"I apologize for bringing up something so personal. I keep going over everything in my mind and nothing makes much sense. I wondered if there was a money angle."
"Ina had some money. Less than most people think because of the gambling."
He took his foot off of the bar and shifted his weight, putting the other boot up. He sighed. "Anyway, I have the ranch, and a pension from the power company. I received an inheritance a few years back. I'm comfortable but not a millionaire. Wouldn't be anyone interested in what I have."
Jean itched under her scarf, a sky blue cotton one today, the last day of the Fair. The gash on her head itched all of the time. She supposed that meant it was healing well but it was maddening. It occurred to her that she didn't suspect him of the murder. "I wish I could think of something, Arris. It's been a distracting week."
He wiped his forehead with his arm and reset his hat. "That it has." He looked at her scarf. "I was sorry to hear about the attack on you. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. It itches though."
He laughed. "I had a steer gore me in the head back in my younger days, big gash right across my skull. Bled like nobody's business."
A grin spread across her face. "I'm in good company then." She gave him another hug. "I've got to get back to the Exhibits building. You take care of yourself."
He tipped his hat to her. "I'll do that."
#
Jean left the livestock barn and decided to walk around the fair through the midway to the Exhibits building. She bought a cup of iced tea from a vendor and sat down at the same picnic table she'd sat at the day before. Analise was doing a moderate business selling breakfast sandwiches as Jean sipped her tea. She pulled out her phone and dialed the Police Station.
"I'd like to speak with Chief White, please. Jean Hays."
"Ms. Hays, the Chief isn't in the office right now. May I take a message?"
"Yes. Ask him to call me when he gets a chance, would you?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll give him the message."
She clicked off and sighed. She wished she had asked Arris about any near misses or accidents that happened to him recently. Then she wondered: would Analise kill for Arris's assets? She didn't know how big the ranch was but an acre of land in this area was going for five to twenty-five grand an acre depending on its location and ease of building. A nice ranch halfway up the rim might make a good development for vacation homes or something and be worth top dollar. She'd never been to his ranch but it seemed a shame that good farmland be built over for homes only used a few weeks a year.
Did Analise, crabby as she was, seem capable of killing someone? The bit of conversation Jean had heard between Analise and Josh the night before was inconclusive. They had something going on and they thought she knew something about it. Jean wished she did know what they were doing. Had Analise been talking to Josh when she'd said, "Take care of it," on the phone two days ago? It would make Jean feel a lot safer if she could predict what was coming next.
Jean rattled the ice around in the drink. It had been foolish to go to Analise's house last night. If they'd been caught and Josh and Analise were killers, well… She shuddered. She'd put Karen in a hell of a spot and only luck got them out. But, if Analise was after her ex's money, why didn't she kill him? Why Ina? Jean drank more of the tea as she watched Analise take orders and prep for lunch, just an hour away. She wondered what the laws in Arizona were for inheriting from someone convicted of murder. Her phone ringing made her jump. "Hello?"
"Jean, it's Nick White returning your call."
"Hi, Nick. Yes. I have a tiny bit of information to share."
"Go ahead."
She detected a bit of reluctance but she decided to ignore it. "I was talking to Arris this morning. His niece is showing her steer today."
"Yep."
"Well, he mentioned that Analise is still his beneficiary."
There was a pause on the other end. "For his estate?"
"That's what he said." She had to put a hand over her open ear to cut the music from the carnival so she could hear Nick.
"Interesting. Anything else?"
Now she felt as though she was on rocky ground. "I heard Analise and Josh Marlow talking last night."
He came back immediately. "Where'd you see Marlow?"
"Uh," she hesitated. Nick was going to be upset. "Uh, at Analise's house."
"You were at Analise's? Alone?"
"Oh, no. Karen was with me."
"Why'd Analise invite you to her house?"
Here it comes. Jean braced herself. "Well, she didn't exactly invite us."
"What do you mean, exactly?" He had the same tone of voice he'd used the day he called he
r to tell her about Marlow's stalking complaint.
"We… snuck into her backyard and overheard a conversation," she blurted out fast to get it over with.
"What?" Nick yelled into the phone.
Jean jerked it away from her ear. "We followed her home. Noticed the lights were already on when she got there. So we went to the backyard to see who she was meeting with."
"Are you crazy? Didn't I specifically tell you to leave the investigating to the police?"
She squinted her eyes shut, regretting the stupid move. "I know. We were almost caught when Karen sneezed."
"Oh for…" There was a long pause. Jean could hear him take a deep breath.
His voice was almost calm when he asked, "And what did you hear?"
"Two things." She was glad she didn't have him in person in front of her. "We heard Analise ask about Miss Nosypants. Meaning me. Josh said he stayed at her house all day."
"The second thing?" Nick's tone of voice brooked no nonsense.
Jean felt as though she were standing in front of her commanding officer or First Sergeant for a bad project. "Well, he said the cops had been calling his phone all day. That's why he didn't do anything about me."
The pause on the phone went on for so long Jean thought the connection had been lost. "I'm looking for Josh Marlow now," Nick finally said. "Don't do anything stupid today." He clicked off.
After a flash of annoyance about being told not to do anything stupid, a wave of both relief, then embarrassment washed over her. He's right, we could have messed up his investigation. She got up from the picnic bench and got two lemonades, one for herself and one as an apology to Karen. She started to walk by Analise's truck then thought better of it. No sense teasing the dog, she thought. She walked the long way around the fairgrounds, Officer Williams trailing behind her.
Chapter Forty-Seven
It was mid-afternoon and the day was not only hot but sticky, too, as moisture built up in the atmosphere. "We may get a monsoon storm before sundown," Karen said. The two women were at the east end of the building, just outside the door, looking at the black thunderclouds building up in the sky over the Mogollon Rim to the north. "I hate it when it gets this humid."
"Better than the east coast. I've seen days back there the humidity was over ninety percent."