Your Goose Is Cooked (A LaTisha Barnhart Mystery) (28 page)

“Who?”
Chief barked.

“They didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know.”

“Tell me about the money,” Chief prompted.

“Aidan was running it through the jewelry store business. I didn’t ask where it came from, and when I did they said they had connections in Chicago. In exchange I would let them have certain privileges around town.”

“It got out of hand,” I guessed.

Eugene looked miserable. “After Aidan got shot, they panicked. They wanted to get out. Said things were too messed up, but Molly stood in their way.
And me.
Getting rid of Molly wasn’t hard, but getting my signature on the withdrawal slip . . .” He touched his cheek.

A question popped into my mind. “Did you know their lady friends?”

Eugene sucked in a breath. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d had some cracked ribs. “It was part of their cover. They brought the girls in to pose as their wives hoping to keep suspicion off them long enough for them to get me to sign over the money.”

“Someone in a blue car like those ladies drove almost ran me over.”

Eugene grimaced. “I don’t know anything about that,
LaTisha
. I promise.”

Applause carried to us from the outside. Chief got up and crossed to the window. “Are you ready to make your speech? Then I’ll take you down to the station. I have some more questions for you.”

Eugene got to his feet, acting nothing like the pompous lout that was his normal persona. “Lester will do Maple Gap proud.”

Chief waved Mac over as soon as they got outside, and they whispered back and forth. The crowd gasped seeing Eugene, some calling out questions. Eugene held up his hand for silence.

“I’m withdrawing from the race. That’s all I have to say for now.” A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. A few staunch Riley supporters cheered. In the front row, Molly looked pleased, but sad.

My cell phone rang. I went back inside to get some quiet and pushed talk. Caller ID told me it was Hardy. “You’ll never guess this,” I began, but his words ran right over mine.

“
LaTisha
. I got a match! Hop in Old Lou and pick me up.”

Chapter Thirty

“What you talking about, Hardy Barnhart? You mean the fingerprints?” I couldn’t believe it. My head splintered in a thousand directions and the familiar feeling scratched at my head. The Dumpster dive, finding the weapon, Hardy hearing the men argue, and the phrase “get the roughs from the posse.” Then there was our talk with Carl, his fight with Flossie and his disappointment in her. But the phrase kept repeating itself, and that’s when everything clicked together.

I hustled myself through the crowd, congratulating Lester, doing my best not to run over anyone. When I broke through, Mac was helping Eugene into the patrol car. Chief stood on the passenger’s side, a phone stuck to his ear.

I waved at him.

His brows lowered at me.

“I know who did it! Hardy got a match on those prints.”

Chief’s lips formed a firm line. “I’ve got something,
Sergeant,
I’ll call you back in a minute.”

He snapped his phone shut as Mac started the car. “Get in and we’ll talk.”

I pushed him toward the open car door. He jackknifed his body onto the seat and must have seen me coming, because he slid over real fast to make room for me. No way was I sitting in the back.

Confession time.
“I had Hardy follow Eddie and Roger the other night. Only he was closer to them than Mac and heard them talking about getting some ‘roughs to a posse.’ It didn’t make sense to me.”

Mac turned onto Gold Street and barreled toward the station, lights and siren blazing.
Made me want to laugh.
I think it was the first time I’d heard the siren blasting.

I didn’t miss the disgusted look Chief sent Mac. Mac’s head seemed to sink lower between his shoulders.

“It bothered me, that phrase. Then when we heard Carl, how broken up he was, how he said he wasn’t there last night and the fact his door opens onto the alley—”

Mac jerked to a halt. My hands flew out to brace myself. Eugene mumbled something uncomplimentary. I spied Hardy on the steps. He skipped down those steps like a man drinking from the fountain of youth, and practically ran up to the cruiser.

Mac helped Eugene from the back, a solid grip on his arm.

Hardy’s eyes went wide. “You don’t look so good, Eugene. Did they boo your speech?”

Eugene seemed to choke, a half laugh-half sob. Mac gave him a little push forward.

Chief unfolded his body from the car. “What do you have, Hardy?”

“I came over to check the prints I found against the ones the state took from the gun. Officer Nelson said they were a match.”

“It goes back to that phrase, Chief,” I pointed out. “‘Roughs from a posse’ is what Hardy heard one of them say.
Which also makes me think I need to get Hardy’s hearing checked.
”

Hardy bristled. “I was real far away.”

Chief held up a hand, brow creased in concentration.
“‘Roughs from a posse.’”
His mind fingered the phrase. I savored the moment, but felt a need to move fast. Chief’s eyes flashed to mine. “Not posse, but—”

He cut himself off, swinging to the driver’s side of the car. “Get in.
Hurry!”

Hardy was already halfway inside. I shoved up next to him on the seat and barely got my door shut before Chief peeled tires out of the parking space and swung the car around.

We zipped past Sasha’s boutique and Betsy’s office building, then turned onto Goat’s Trail Road and passed our house. Chief slowed as he came to a four-way intersection that led into another tree-lined street. He made a quick right and slowed.

“She’s not here,” Hardy broke the silence.

I scanned the windows. Heavy curtains covered the downstairs. All was still and quiet.

“These houses have those garages around back,” I reminded Chief.

“I always wanted a garage around back of our house,” Hardy added.

“Hush.” I motioned him to silence.

Chief parked the car shy of Flossie Monroe’s driveway and got out. Hardy elbowed me hard. “I know you’re not going to let him handle this alone.”

“Weren’t you just the one saying you’re not a cop?” I popped open the
door,
and Hardy slid out behind me. Chief was standing real still. He made a motion pointing to his ear.

Betsy
Taser’s
shrill voice broke the silence. “It’s all you’re going to get.”

A car door slammed. Chief motioned us down behind the lush hedge that separated the front yards of the properties. Within seconds, Betsy’s car revved up and appeared around the corner. She paused at the end of the driveway, not even seeing us, though her brake lights flashed when she spotted the cruiser. The thought crossed my mind to chase her, but I didn’t figure she was the one we really wanted.

“You two stay back,” Chief warned.

“You’ll scare her. If I go back there and play it down, it’ll give you time to call Mac in to block the road.”

Chief didn’t like the idea.
Didn’t like the fact that he was sending in a civilian.
I didn’t like it either.

“Play it cool. See if you can get her out in the open more. Hardy, you follow this hedge down and keep an eye on things. If
LaTisha
gets in too deep, you run for me. Don’t wait until the situation is out of control. I’ll radio Mac and post myself at the corner. Don’t try anything too soon,
LaTisha
. Give me a few minutes. Got it?”

I got slid between the hedge, the branches yanking on my clothes until I thought I’d come out naked. I straightened myself out on the other side, casting an eye over the hedge and following the vague blur that was Hardy making his way down the line of shrubs. I gulped air and started up the driveway.
The electronic roll of a garage door but no sound of a car motor.
I quickened my pace.

Flossie’s car sat outside in the sunshine, several boxes packed into the front passenger’s seat. She was hanging over a box in the trunk, her back to me. I did my best to put together what I was going to say.

“Flossie? You back here, honey? There you are.”

When she tilted her face my way, I could see the strain there.
The fatigue, much like I’d seen earlier, but worse now.
I fell into the part with ease, letting my eyes trail over the boxes in the trunk.

“You must be headed on vacation. No wonder you beat it out of the Goose so fast.
Carl going with you?”
I almost bit my tongue. Why did I mention Carl?

“I was getting ready to pull out for a little trip into New Mexico. My grandparents live down that way. Is there something you
were needing
?”

“I hope you won’t be gone long. I’ve been cooking up a plan to have a fund-raiser for the
Buchanans
.
I’m needing
some volunteers.”

Flossie leaned over the box again.

I relaxed. She didn’t perceive me as a threat and thought I’d accepted her whole vacation excuse.

“I don’t know. I’m pretty busy.
Why the
Buchanans
?”

“Someone said Betsy was talking about the medical bills they still had from Sara’s treatments.”

Flossie pulled a turquoise sweater from a basket at her feet and folded it. “Betsy’s always talking.” She stood straight, her gaze shot off over my shoulder and her expression shifted, became crafty, a side of Flossie I’d never seen before. “She wants George to buy this house so she can make commission. And she was getting money on the side to keep people away from buying that property by the school too. Make sure and tell Chief about that. She’s been doing it for months. Anyone who expressed curiosity, they would suddenly lose interest.” Flossie fluffed her hair and tugged on the gray tank top she wore.

“Come again?”

Flossie was warming to her subject. “She was getting nervous though. Something was going wrong. She was getting nervous and those guys kept showing up at the office. Then Eugene fired Molly.” She pressed her lips together as if realizing she was saying too much. I suspected there might be another, more incriminating side to this story.
One that involved Flossie Monroe.
“She says she wants to get away from Eugene,” she shrugged, to emphasize how much she disbelieved the notion.

I eyed the
basket,
there was one more sweater in it, the arms hanging over the sides of the basket. I had to smoke her out now, while she wasn’t pushing to leave yet. Trying to slow her down when she was in the car would be suspicious.
And impossible.

I wanted real bad to look over my shoulder and see if Chief was in place, but knew I wouldn’t be able to see him whether he was or not.

“I heard rumors she was after George, but I think she was really after Aidan.” I made my eyes real wide. “She’s just crazy enough to do something like shoot someone.”

Something in Flossie’s eyes went cold. She leaned to pick up the last sweater and made quick work of folding it before smoothing it and folding down the flaps on the box.

I tensed. I knew what I had seen. Flossie understood my question wasn’t casual. “No. Betsy wouldn’t shoot someone. She uses her tongue to kill.” Her words came out flat, matter-of-fact. She picked up the empty basket and fit it into the only open space in her trunk.

“Don’t you stay away too long.” I took a step back. “Oh, and you missed the action over at the library. Eddie and Roger roughed up Eugene
Taser
. They were trying to get him to sign a withdrawal from his bank account so they could make off with the money. He said that Aidan was laundering money through the jewelry store and into Eugene’s account.”

“That’s terrible.” Her tone belied her words. Flat.
Humorless.
Tough.

I continued.
Pushing while I had the chance.
“We’re thinking Carl was in cahoots with Aidan on a scheme to steal jewelry, make a fake, and sell the real pieces.”

Flossie’s eyes flicked over the landscape behind me. She licked her lips. “Carl might need money if he wants to buy this house. You know how much he loved this place.”