The Tamarack Murders Read Online Free PDF Page B

husband is a bank robber, but she’s now also a widow. You want to come along for moral support?”
    â€œFor her?”
    â€œNo, for me!”
    â€œNot a chance!”
    Tully rang the doorbell at 1204 W. Hemlock. The house was small and white with one scraggly tree alone in the middle of the yard, half a dozen brown leaves desperately clinging to it. A few neighboring lawns had toys scattered about, but this lawn was bare except for the tree and weeds. He hated reporting fatalities to the survivors, but at least this victim wasn’t a teenager who had wrapped the family car around a utility pole. A pretty young woman opened the door, her thick blond hair tied back in a ponytail with a limp blue ribbon. Tully held up his badge. Her mouth gaped. “Oh no! Vergil’s in trouble, isn’t he?”
    Tully identified himself and said, “Let’s go inside, Mrs. Stone, and I’ll tell you about it.”
    She led him into a small but comfortably furnished living room. Tully sat down in an easy chair and Mrs. Stone sat on a sofa across from him, leaning forward, her hands on her knees.
    â€œVergil’s been arrested, hasn’t he?”
    â€œWell, no, I wish it were nothing more than that, Mrs. Stone. He’s been murdered.”
    â€œMurdered!” She stared at him in disbelief, her mouth gaping.
    Tully didn’t know what to do. How do you handle this sort of thing? He thought maybe the department should hire someone who knew how to do it. The only way he knew was to blurt it out. Still, he thought he detected a sense of relief in Mrs. Stone. Perhaps murder was better than an arrest.
    â€œWhat happened?” she asked.
    â€œHe was shot,” Tully said.
    â€œShot! Why on earth would anyone want to shoot Vergil? Everybody liked Vergil!”
    â€œHe was shot from a considerable distance. It could have been a hunting accident, but I don’t think so.”
    Mrs. Stone seemed to be sinking into the couch, growing smaller by the minute.
    Tully asked, “Do you have children?”
    She shook her head no. She was pretty but seemed tired, already worn down by something other than the murder of her husband. Tully put her age at about twenty-five.
    â€œDo you work, Mrs. Stone?”
    â€œI go to the community college. I’m in my second year of the nursing program, and I work weekends at Evergreen Assisted Living.”
    â€œHow long have you and Vergil been married?”
    She thought for moment. “Going on three years. We did all right for a while, until Vergil lost his job at the bank. He was the last hired and first fired when they had to cut back. He didn’t like the job anyway. The manager said he would hire him again as soon as the economy picked up. Vergil hasn’t had a job since he left the bank. I’ve been supporting us with my meager salary, but I have a well-to-do friend who’s been paying my college tuition and books and even giving us some extra money. I had the feeling Vergil was going to do something stupid with some of those ratty friends of his. He was getting desperate. When he didn’t come home the last few nights, I knew something was up.”
    Tully was still stuck on the fact Vergil had worked at the bank. “I hate to tell you this, Mrs. Stone, but I think Vergil was involved in a bank robbery.”
    Her eyes widened. “A bank robbery! Vergil? I can’t believe it! Whatever faults he may have, Vergil is no bank robber. He doesn’t have the nerves for it, Sheriff. He won’t even set a mouse trap!”
    Tully held up his hands. “At this point, Mrs. Stone, Vergil is only a suspect. Right now we have no proof he was in on the robbery. The money has yet to be found, but he was spotted on a mountainside near what appeared to be the getaway car. Did he own any guns, Mrs. Stone?”
    â€œNo! Vergil hates guns!”
    â€œSome of his friends may hunt. They must have guns. Can you give me the names