Money & Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

alone?”
    “My deputy’s outside poking around. It appears you weren’t all that good at this here security business.”
    “Would appear so, Sheriff.”
    “Along with PQ, maybe this town’s dead, too, now. That man’s doings mostly kept Copper City alive.”
    “Sheriff, I believe PQ wanted to be killed.”
    “That your opinion, Mr. big-city detective?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, your opinion and two bucks’ll get me a towel at the local YMCA.”
    “It’d take a five in the gym near where I live.”
    The sheriff jerked his lips toward the side of his face. Then back again. “So, where does this here opinion come from Big City?”
    “No need for being formal, Sheriff. You can just call me Big or my real first name, Matt.”
    “Okay, Matt, just where’d you get this cockamamie idea you’re feeding me?”
    “PQ had terminal cancer. His pain was worsening and he didn’t want pity.”
    “PQ tell you this, did he?”
    “No. His wife, Robyn. No one else here or at his company knew. Well, Cord probably knew. I’ll tell you about that in a minute. I expect his doctor will confirm his condition. Other than myself and the ranch staff, there have been no visitors for two days, so the shooter’s likely in the living room or out in the bunkhouse.”
    “A family job, eh. Hell, Matt, this whole family’s goofy. It could’ve been any of ‘em. Cord’s got hisself a record. We pinch Quentin now and again for shoplifting. PQ always pays up, but that might change from now on. Robyn, before marrying PQ, was a real floozy. Probably still is, only she dresses better now. As for Tedy, the closest to normal one in the litter, there’s an unconfirmed story that she runs over to Vegas once a month to work the high-end call-girl circuit.”
    “Tedy goes there to volunteer at a shelter for battered women,” I told the sheriff. “I made the call. It checked out. As for the punk, he doesn’t figure in this.” I told the sheriff about Robyn and Cord’s thing and explained why there’d be no percentage in them knocking off PQ.
    “The two of them were quite an item in this town back before Cord went in lockup. Then, with the young stud out of the way, Robyn set her spurs in Cord’s rich daddy.”
    “That confirms my guess about the two of them. Her marriage to PQ only drove her relationship with Cord underground.”
    “The way you’re sizing up this murder, you’ve eliminated the wife, Cord, Tedy, and the delinquent runt, so just who you figuring to be good for this here killin’?”
    “The cook.”
    “I see. Sorta like the butler did in the old movies, only PQ didn’t have a butler or a maid for that matter, so all we got ourselves is a cook. One who, as far as I know, has only been employed here for a short while.”
    “True. But I figure she came here just to kill PQ, so she didn’t need to stay on the job long.”
    “And what makes you suspect Gretchen?”
    “Bits and pieces.”
    “Such as?”
    “Can you tell me PQ’s ex-wife’s first name?”
    “Rebecca,” the sheriff said, “Rebecca Jean if I recollect. I’m not all that sure on the first name. The skinniest woman I ever saw. Now what supports this here Gretchen theory? Those bits and pieces you referred to.”
    “Stuff like Gretchen giving PQ an icy stare when she thought no one was looking. The way she watched Quentin, I’m betting she’s his momma and doesn’t like the way he turned out.”
    “His mother? Rebecca is his mother. I saw Gretchen when I just came in. No way could that woman be PQ’s ex-wife. Rebecca could stand sideways in a cornfield and get lost in the shadows. Gretchen is built more like a nose tackle for the Phoenix, Cardinals. Besides, don’t you think her own children would have recognized her?”
    “No, Sheriff, I don’t. Quentin was an infant when Rebecca left for Brazil. Cord was away in the military those years. I don’t think Tedy was even a teenager. The older two’s memories are of their mother as a small,