Читать книгу Cordi O'Callaghan Mysteries 4-Book Bundle - Suzanne F. Kingsmill - Страница 21

“You think it’s this Don guy?” asked Ryan when he and I had finally made it back to my place through a rainstorm. The fresh air of the farm was reviving my spirits, and I was coddling a drink in the hammock on my porch watching the lightning light up the fields in electric white. “He’s not the only one with a good motive for getting rid of Diamond. They all seem to have one.”

I fiddled with my drink. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. For a popular man he was in dicey water with lots of people. Lianna stood to gain financially, so does Shannon if the handwritten will is found. Leslie got his job and by the sounds of it had fought long and hard and bitterly for it. Is she the type of person to be vindictive? I think so. Is she strong enough to murder? I think so. Is she likely to have murdered him? I don’t know. Then there’s Roberta. If she’s guilty of faking data she stood to lose a lot. In this job climate that would have been suicidal. Even Davies felt that Diamond was the reason he might be passed over for university president. As for all the loggers, Cameron, Ray, the miller Donaldson — with Diamond out of the way they have their jobs. Any one of them could have done it.”

“But that doesn’t explain why someone tried to kill you. Certainly lets Roberta off, doesn’t it? After all, she saved you. Unlikely that she would, if she was trying to kill you.”

“Unless she was trying to make us think that.”

“So what are you going to do now?” My phone began ringing through the open porch door, and I glanced at Ryan. Neither of us made a move to answer it, and the answering machine clicked on. We listened to a low, sandpapery disembodied voice floating out to us, cutting the air with its menace like the lightning that streaked before us.

“Stay the hell out of it, O’Callaghan … or next time we’ll succeed.”

The click of the machine turning off was drowned out by a roar of thunder and the beating of my heart.

“It’s time I went up there to see for myself,” I said early the next day as I pored over the faculty’s directive for course material.

“Go where? See what?” asked Martha absently from her position on her little milk stool as she filed papers. I couldn’t see the milk stool but I knew it was there, strapped to Martha’s rotund figure, because there was no way Martha would be squatting in mid-air.

The milking stool had been Martha’s idea. She’d come out to the farm one Thanksgiving and watched Mac putting the tubes on the “girls,” as he liked to say. He was wearing a milking stool, a round seat on a metal peg that strapped to the waist and looked like a miniature pogo stick stuck to his rear. Martha was so excited about it she made him take it off and show her how to use it. The belt had been way too small, but with Mac’s help they later fashioned a custom-fitted one for Martha. She always wore it on the days she did her filing, moving from one cabinet to another and then squatting on her chair. Now she stood up and moved over to the next filing cabinet, her temporary tail waggling behind her.

“I’ve set up a meeting with the forester, that Raymond guy in the film. We know Diamond was killed in a cedar forest. Maybe I can find out where from him.”

“Mmm?” Martha rested her bulk on the tiny stool and began filing.

“The forester said he could show me maps of the area with tree types and stuff. “

“Oh, Lord love me, Cordi. You weren’t crazy enough to tell him you suspect Diamond was murdered, were you?”

“Of course not. I just told him about my disks and also said I was writing a paper on the logging issue and that I needed maps of the vegetation. He wasn’t too keen until I said the paper was going to deal with pure economics to see which side should win, so I’d be looking at the types of trees and what they would fetch on the market. I’m going up to the logging camp this morning to meet him there.”

Martha slowly swivelled on her chair, a shudder rippling through her face.

“You’re going with someone, right?”

“No,” I said, knowing what was coming and wondering with some amusement how Martha would resolve it.

“My dear Cordi. Surely you’re not going alone? After what happened the other day?” Martha’s eyebrows darted sky-high in disbelief and then plummeted precipitously toward her chin in alarm.

“Not on your life, Cordi. I’m not going to have your death on my conscience. This time I’m coming too.” She glowered at me, daring me to object, and when I didn’t she turned back to her filing, her whole body fairly jiggling with victory.

Half an hour later I manoeuvred my car out of the parking lot and we headed up to Dumoine, stopping off quickly at the farm for a backpack, some food, binoculars, and our Series 111 Land Rover.

“I got another good suspect for this ‘maybe murder’ theory of yours,” said Martha as I turned right onto Highway 148. “Did you know Diamond was worth a bundle? More than $1.5 million?

Startled, I turned to look at Martha. Where did a biology professor earn money like that, I wondered.

“Eyes on the road, please. I can’t stand it when you do that. It was in the paper two days ago.”

“Why didn’t I see it? I read the paper.”

“The Libelled Times?”

“Oh really, Martha. You read that rag?” It was Ottawa’s gossip paper and the first choice of dog trainers.

Martha fluffed out her hair and pouted.

“Really, Cordi, even gossip pieces are founded in truth. And at least they don’t pretend they’ve got all their facts right. Besides, it was in the other papers but not with quite the detail. Anyway, apparently the will was read and Lianna gets it all, including the insurance policy. Shannon comes up empty-handed. That’s why it was in the paper at all. Shannon was vowing to get what was her due, saying she would find the other will if it took forever. They had pictures of the two women looking like murder — you know, the human interest stuff they like. According to sources, Lianna laughed and said forever suited her just fine.”

“Where did Diamond get that kind of money?”

No biology professor I ever knew earned anywhere near that amount even over fifteen years.

“He didn’t. His father was some wealthy U.S. tycoon and left his sons a small fortune. Diamond was quite prudent with his investment and it grew nicely. He was independently wealthy. Nobody but his close family knew it, apparently.”

“So what you’re saying is that Lianna gets $1.5 million from him, and the life insurance policy makes it another million. Rather convenient for her that he up and died.”

“Too convenient by half. My bet is she was somehow involved in his death. A real Jezebel, she is. Mark my words. A painted lady like that has no good up her sleeve.” Martha’s face glowered darkly.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Martha. You’re starting to sound like the Libelled Times. On the other hand, if the other will shows up, she’s out of luck and Shannon comes into a small fortune.”

“Right, but Lianna didn’t know about the other will until after the dastardly deed was done,” said Martha, relishing her words and rolling the Ds off her tongue like a professional bowler rolling a strike.

“Remember, Cordi? You said Lianna’s lawyer contacted Shannon’s trying to find the black book. Of course, if my theory is right then Lianna will be trying just as hard as Shannon to find that will.”

“Whoa, Martha. The black book was found. I saw it at Don’s. There was no will in it.”

“So it was the wrong black book.”

I told her about the torn out pages, and we speculated that someone already had the will.

“What about Shannon?” asked Martha suddenly. “She did know about the will, and Diamond had promised to put it in the safety deposit box. She could have gone up there intent on killing him, thinking the will was safe in the deposit box.”

We fell into silence then, as we moved into rougher country.

The back roads were all washboard and bumpy, and Martha hung on to the Land Rover like a leech. The dust swirled up through the floorboards as we neared the turn off to the biology station and the portage trail into Diamond’s site.

“Who’s Patrick?” Even though I had known the question was coming ever since she’d taken the phone message from Patrick about the film, I wasn’t prepared for it and stammered around for an answer, like a guilty kid caught red-handed.

“Ooooh. Lord love you, Cordi. You’ve fallen hard.” Was there nothing I could hide from this woman?

When I tried to protest she just chuckled and asked me when she could meet him. Before I could answer I felt a strange vibration judder through the Land Rover, and I instinctively jerked it over to the right-hand side. As we came around the corner I watched in fascination as the monstrous snout of a tractor-trailer carrying a full load of logs came barrelling toward us, smack in the middle of the road. There wasn’t room for both of us. I pumped the brakes and jerked the wheel frantically further to the right. I could see the driver’s eyeglasses glinting in the sun, his mouth set in a scowl. The tractor-trailer swerved back to its side, its body groaning and wailing. A horrendous deep, continuous squealing scratched the air like nails on a board as the man at the wheel struggled to keep the truck on the road. It careened past us, missing us by centimetres, and roared out of sight.

I could feel the sweat standing out on my forehead and I gripped the wheel harder as I tried to control the shaking. I guided the Land Rover over to the edge of the road and stopped. I took a deep breath and looked over at Martha, who was frozen in a moment of pure terror, her eyes wide and bulging, her body still, and her face drained of all but its rouge. Still gripping the wheel I sank my head on my arms and breathed deeply. Was it my imagination or had that truck taken its own sweet time about swerving, my reflexes being all that lay between us and death. God was I being paranoid!

“You stupid fuckin’ idiots!” The voice was loud and menacing and unpleasantly familiar. I whipped my head off my arms and looked in my side-view mirror. Cameron was hoofing it toward the Land Rover from the direction in which the truck had disappeared.

“What the hell are you doing on this road? You could have got us all killed, you know that? The driver just managed to keep the rig on the road. He’s pissing his pants right now. Jesus.”

I rolled down the window. Cameron’s big red beefy face approached like a storm cloud.

Martha was squirming in her seat. “We did? We?” she croaked. “It was his stupid truck going too fast in the middle of the road on a corner that nearly killed us.”

I motioned Martha to be quiet and controlled my own seething anger.

“You both okay?” I asked. He stopped, bewildered by my question, his anger spluttering, but then he recovered.

“This is a logging road, lady. You shouldn’t be …” He stopped suddenly and peered at me more closely. “Hey, aren’t you the nosey parker who found Diamond’s body? Yeah, sure, you were the one pawing around in my truck that day. You were with those damn screaming greenies. What the hell are you doing here, anyway?”

“Trying to find out who murdered Diamond.” Why the hell did I say that? I thought. But it was too late. I couldn’t take it back, even with Martha’s face staring at me incredulously.

“Murdered?” Cameron’s voice rose an octave, but its loudness never varied. “Who the hell’s talking murder here?” He looked behind him quickly as if making sure no one was listening, his eyes darting around like worried marbles.

“Look, lady, we don’t need any more trouble around here. Leave it alone. It’s all in the past now. Whatever happened out there that night, it’s all over. The guy’s dead.”

“You hunt?” I asked on impulse. He looked at me, taken aback, and a look of pure calculation flitted across his face.

“What of it?”

“Bear?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Were you the one who shot the bear they say killed Diamond?”

“Damn right.” Bingo.

“How did you find it?”

“What the hell’s this got to do with anything?” he said.

I said nothing, and the silence lengthened until Cameron could stand it no more.

“We baited him. Threw out some old fish where we knew he’d be — near Diamond’s permanent camp there — and then waited until he came and then we nailed him. Easy as anything and they’re suckers for fish.”

“Is that how Diamond died? Someone baited him and threw him to the bear?”

Cameron leapt back from the truck as if he’d been bitten.

“Jesus, lady, are you nuts?”

I shrugged and took a different tack, aware that Martha was squirming beside me.

“Why didn’t you wait for the wildlife guys to shoot the bear? Why do it yourself?”

Cameron licked his lips and wiped the sweat forming on his brow, looked behind him and leaned forward.

“We’d had some trouble with a bear. A real rogue bear he was. One of the guys got mauled just before Diamond got nailed.”

“You?” I pointed to the scars on his arms. He kept quiet. I tried again.

“Who knew about the rogue bear?”

Cameron shuffled his feet and looked away. “We kept it pretty much to ourselves. Didn’t want any trouble up here.”

“Too bad you waited until the day after Diamond’s body was discovered to get the bear.” I paused. “Or was it?”

“What the hell are you getting at?”

“You were pretty angry at Diamond that night at the information meeting. You looked pretty damn smug after belting him one. You must have felt pretty good when his body was identified.”

“Sure, I was angry. You would be too. The fool was looking to take away my livelihood and couldn’t see my problems for his bloody trees. But that doesn’t mean I wanted him dead. Transferred somewhere far away would have suited me just fine.”

I could hear the sound of a chainsaw somewhere deep in the woods and a lone mosquito hovered around Cameron as he glared at me. I shrugged, feeling considerably less confident than I looked.

He gripped the side of the window and said, “If you’re fool enough to be thinking murder, leave me out of it. There’re people a lot happier than me that Diamond bought it. Go ask Raymond about his hot-pants wife. She couldn’t keep out of Diamond’s bed.” He gave me a lopsided leer and said, “Stay off these roads if you know what’s good for you.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Nah, just a friendly warning.”

With that he slapped the window and, suddenly laughing, strode back down the road. Martha and I exchanged glances.

“Busy man, that Diamond,” said Martha.