Having a Great Crime- Wish You Were Here Page 4

  I’m not sure if I said anything to him. I may have just moaned.

  He whipped the blankets off of me and a blast of cold air woke me up.

  “Thanks a lot.” I mumbled a few things, but he’d already left the room.

  The hot shower did me a world of good, and my mood improved considerably. I was anxious to eat and get busy searching for a murder weapon. Of course, it might not be on the property. It could have been disposed of anywhere. I combed my hair and pulled it into a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in my way. A drawback of long hair is that when you bend over it falls in your face.

  We were finishing breakfast when Kimberly and Sasha arrived, with a man in tow.

  “Morning,” Sasha said. “This is Sam Lincoln, my fiancé. He wants to help us this morning.”

  Pete stood and shook his hand.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “The girls have told me about what you’re up to, and I’m in. At least it’s something different to do.” Sam was quite tall, probably six foot three or four, and muscular. With dark hair and a shadow of whiskers on a square chin, he was handsome.

  He and Sasha made a cute couple.

  “I’ll get the metal detectors out of the car. My parents have two, so we brought those along, too.” He turned to Kimberly. “Sorry, Kim, but I couldn’t come up with a fifth one. You and Sasha will have to share. I did bring five trowels and a shovel, though, so if we find anything we can dig.”

  “Of course you only brought four detectors.” Kimberly didn’t sound too happy, but she shook it off and smiled. “Doesn’t your brother have one you could have borrowed?”

  “He wasn’t home.” He excused himself and walked outside to get the equipment out of the car.

  Pete walked out with him.

  Kimberly sat down at the table. “Sorry if I sound moody. I had to get up early and I haven’t had breakfast. Not a good combination.” She rested her elbows on the table and slumped forward.

  Bea walked out of the kitchen carrying a tray with three breakfast plates. “Your Auntie Bea will take care of everything.”

  She set one of the plates in front of Kimberly, who immediately sat up straight and smiled.

  “Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite aunt?”

  Sasha laughed. “She’s your only aunt, but who’s counting?”

  Pete and Sam returned, empty-handed.

  Pete read the question on my face. “We left them on the porch.”

  Bea set Sasha’s and Sam’s plates on the table. “Sit and eat. You can’t go hunting for something around the property on empty stomachs.”

  Sam gave her a hug before he sat down. “My kinda woman.”

  The stout little woman was racking up points all the way around the table.

  While the three newcomers ate, we discussed our search. Pete had been involved in grid searches before, being an ex-cop, so he was able to give us some direction.

  “Sandi and I will take one path while you take the other. We’ll have to fan out and search away from the trails, too.” He spoke to Sam and Sasha before turning to Kimberly. “You can take your pick of who you want to work with, so if you have a gut feeling, take that path.”

  “A gut feeling? As a matter of fact, I have had some thoughts, but they don’t involve the paths.”

  She had our full attention.

  “Last night I thought about what Bonnie must have gone through, and it was horrible. Then I thought about the killer and how he might have acted when he realized what he’d done.”

  She took a bite of toast, chewing and taking a drink of milk before continuing.

  “Okay, this is silly, but I pictured him running out of the house with the knife and remembering you’re not supposed to run with something sharp in your hand. In my mind he slowed down and pussy-footed out to the forest and dug a hole to bury the knife in. I don’t think he took a path. I think he quietly looked for a spot covered with wild-growing plants because he didn’t think anyone would look there.” She forked a bite of egg and stopped talking while she continued to eat.

  A grin slowly grew across Pete’s face. “You’re not silly, and you just could be right. We have to look at this from the killer’s point of view. The weapon was never found, so I don’t think he ran down a path and threw it into the underbrush. I can’t picture him walking tippy-toe though, trying not to fall on the knife, assuming it was a knife. You know, we don’t know what weapon he, or she, actually used.”

  “Thank you,” Kimberly said. “Sasha said I have an overactive imagination.” Her sister was the recipient of another one of The Looks. “I told her my idea while we were getting dressed this morning.”

  Sam sat back in his chair and tapped his thumbnail against one of his front teeth. “You might be on to something, Kim. Don’t listen to Sasha. Everything is black and white to her.”

  Sasha looked insulted. “Kimberly can walk with you, Sam. I’ll go with Pete and Sandi.”

  Sam laughed. “No you won’t.”

  Sasha looked embarrassed. “No, I guess I won’t.”

  I poked Pete’s arm. “Do they remind you of anyone?”

  He didn’t take to the time to think about it. “Us?”

  I winked at him instead of saying anything.

  When everyone was done eating, Bea shooed us all outside so she could clean up and we could start our search.

  Sam started to show me how to use the metal detector, but Pete stopped him. “Unless they’ve updated these things, I’ve used them before. I can show Sandi what to do while we search.”

  Sam nodded. “Just remember, and this is the voice of experience speaking, this house has been here for a long time. It used to be part of a farm. The detector is going to beep at you so often you’ll get sick of listening to it. We’ve done some detecting in other areas where there were farms.”

  “Good point,” I said.

  Pete nodded. “Let’s get busy. Holler if you find anything.”

  Sam grinned. “I came prepared for anything.” He handed Pete a walkie talkie.

  Pete turned it on and tested it to make sure it was working. Static told us it was.

  We took the path to the right while they headed off to the left.

  Kimberly followed in our steps. “Remember, we’ve got to look off the beaten path, so to speak. In the underbrush. And thanks for sticking up for me, Pete.”

  He smiled at the young woman. “My pleasure.”

  We started up the path and within a minute I heard some mild beeping. “Something here,” I said.

  I’d stuck the trowel in my back pocket and pulled it out to start digging. After a moment of digging I picked up a bottle cap. Oh well… “Never mind.”

  We each walked a few feet and then veered off the path to check the underbrush and around trees, then turned back to the path. After walking a few more feet, we veered off the path again, Pete going one way and me the other.

  “This is boring,” Kimberly said. “Let me use the detector for a while.”

  I had a feeling it was going to be a long, hot day.

  I handed it to her and she took off down the path.

  “Slow down,” I said, “or you might miss something.”

  “Sorry. I get too excited sometimes.”

  I liked Kimberly, but her sister obviously had a maturity that she lacked. She reminded me of a kid out for a good time who didn’t realize this was serious business.

  I walked with her, pointing out places where the dirt formed small mounds and suggesting she check them out. There were plenty of pine needles and leaves on the ground, so we used our feet to brush them out of the way.

  Nature had had a lot of years to cover up whatever might be waiting for us in the ground.

  Kimberly closed her eyes and clamped her lips together for a moment. “This really is boring.”

  “I guarantee you that you wouldn’t enjoy being a private investigator,” I said. “There’s a lot of tedium in what we do. We can sit in a hot car on a surveill
ance for hours with nothing happening. It’s part of the job. There’s a lot of research in what we do. We have to study records and search for hard to find information.”

  “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t like it. Here’s an idea. While you two are searching, I’ll go to the house and bring back water and snacks.”

  “Good idea,” Pete said, walking up behind us. “How could we have forgotten water?”

  Kimberly practically skipped down back down the path toward the house.

  Pete chuckled. “You just have to humor some people. She’s a good kid, although kind of immature.”

  We started searching again, and each time we met on the path we talked about what needed to be done.

  “I’m going to contact the newspaper to see if they have an archive I can check for stories from the thirties.” You can learn a lot about a time period from old newspapers.

  “We need to find out how to get in touch with… What was his name? Brandon Singleton?”

  “I think it was Bradley,” I said. “I wrote it down and stuck the note in my purse.”

  “Bea and the girls have lived here for a long time. They should know who he is.”

  Pete did some quick calculating in his head. “I have a feeling this guy must be in his mid to late nineties if he was old enough to remember what happened in the thirties. I hope he’s still sharp.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but the walkie talkie hissed out some static and Sam’s voice.

  “Found something.”

  Chapter Seven

  “So fast? I can hardly believe they found something already.” It seemed like we’d only been at it for half an hour or so.

  “Let’s go see what they’ve found.” Pete piled a few rocks on the path so we’d remember where we’d left off. Actually, we hadn’t gotten very far. It was a slow process.

  We retraced our steps and hurried down the other path.

  Sam and Sasha stood together, studying something he held in his hand. They looked up when they heard us coming.

  “What’d you find?” Pete’s face registered curiosity, not hopefulness.

  “The detector pinged and I dug up an old sack.” Sam held out his find to Pete, but it wasn’t the sack. “Kind of interesting. The bag fell apart when I tried to pick it up. It had this gun, an old coin purse, and some cash in it. It was all wrapped in some kind of animal hide.” He handed his find to Pete.

  “That’s odd,” I said. “Bonnie was stabbed, not shot. I wonder who might have buried a bag like that out here.”

  “Someone who might have wanted to remain anonymous.” Pete looked the items over carefully. “This is an old gun, but it’s in good condition. The hide must have protected it.” He opened the coin purse. “ID was skimpy in the old days, so there wouldn’t be a driver’s license.”

  He squatted on the path and laid everything out, except the coin purse. He opened it to see if there was anything in it. There was a piece of paper, folded in fourths, and some coins. There was a small photo, too.

  “The money is very old.” Sasha picked up a bill. “We haven’t counted it. I don’t know if it would even be worth anything today.”

  Pete studied the items he’d laid out. He unfolded the paper and read what was written on it before counting the cash and smiling. “I believe you’ve found the remains from an old-time bank robbery.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  “Yeah. The note says ‘noon, July 21st’ and includes the name of a bank. The picture is of a woman, and if I had to guess, I’d say she was from the late eighteen hundreds. The cash adds up to a little over seven hundred dollars, which would have been a small fortune in those days. Someone buried this and never had a chance to come back to dig it up.”

  He looked up at Sam and Sasha, still grinning.

  “I believe the two of you just found the evidence to solve an old bank robbery. If you can narrow down the year and check some old newspapers, you might find out exactly what happened. Look at the dates on the coins, too.” He checked the gun to see if it was still loaded. It wasn’t.

  Grinning, I thought about once finding my own treasure, but it was gold and silver coins. “You’ll have to research to find out if the money is worth anything. The coins could be worth a bit, but the bills might only be worth something to a collector. You never know. Check it out.”

  Sam picked up a dollar bill and studied it. “There’s a year on the money, but it’s kind of faded. Eighteen something. I’ll have to use a magnifying glass to get a better look.”

  “I’ll do some research on bank robberies in the area.” Sasha was excited. “Imagine if we solve an old crime. I wonder who the robber was.”

  I was excited for her. She was having fun without really trying. “For the moment, let’s set these things aside. You may have solved a crime, but it’s not the one we’re interested in.”

  “True.” She wrapped everything in the buckskin she’d found it in and set it by the side of the path.

  “There you are.” Kimberly trudged down the path lugging a bucket filled with water bottles. “What’s going on? Did you find the knife?”

  Sam took the bucket from her and set it on the path before pulling out a bottle of water and opening it, handing it to Sasha.

  In the meantime, Sasha explained what they’d found to her sister. She opened the buckskin and showed off their unexpected find.

  Pete and I excused ourselves, grabbed a couple of bottles of water, and headed back to the other path, talking while we walked.

  “Can you believe that? Are you sure it was from a bank robbery?” In my heart, I knew he was right.

  “I’m ninety-nine point nine percent sure.” He reached over and lightly tugged my ponytail.

  “You know, Pete, this isn’t what we had planned, but it’ll sure be a honeymoon to remember.”

  “That it will.”

  We started searching the path and the woods again. I found myself stooping as I walked with the metal detector and my back began to ache. I stood straight and stretched.

  “I wonder if there are still police records about the murder after all these years.”

  “It’s hard to say.” Pete stopped and stretched, too. “We don’t even know who policed this area in the thirties.”

  “I’ll make some calls to see what I can find out. Maybe one of those books I checked out at the library will have more information, too.”

  We continued our search, too involved in mole hills, so to speak, to talk. I found an old quarter, another bottle cap and what appeared to be parts from old farming equipment. How they made their way to the path, I’d never know.

  I heard Pete grunt a few times and figured he was coming up with the same types of things I was finding.

  I heard static on the walkie talkie, so I turned and headed toward Pete.

  Sasha’s voice came through loud and clear. “We found something else. You’re not going to believe this.”

  “We’re on our way,” Pete replied.

  He raised his eyebrows at me and we turned and headed for the other path.

  As we approached them, Kimberly said, “This isn’t so boring, after all.”

  “Don’t tell me,” I said. “You probably found another buckskin-wrapped bundle of money.”

  Kimberly looked surprised. “How’d you know?”

  My mouth dropped open. “Really? I was only joking. More money?”

  Sam grinned. “Yep. Another five hundred dollars wrapped in hide.”

  Pete took a look at what was lying on the ground. “Well, I’ll be a son-of-a-gun! I think you really have solved an old crime, or at least you’ve found the booty.”

  Kimberly was practically jumping up and down. “I’m going back to the house to see if I can find anything on the Internet about unsolved bank robberies around here. I’ll take both packages with me.”

  She picked up the wrapped bundles and hurried back down the path, toward the house. “Aunt Bea will be beside herself,” she called ov
er her shoulder.

  Sasha chuckled. “It doesn’t take much to excite my sister.”

  Sam put his arm around her shoulders. “Your sister? You’re just as excited as she is.”

  She reached up and took hold of his hand. “I guess I am.”

  We talked for a few minutes in an effort to take a break.

  I knew we had to get back to work. I didn’t want to spend my entire honeymoon digging around. “I’d say we’ve had a profitable morning, but I doubt that the cash is worth anything today, other than maybe historical value. Let’s get back to work.”

  I rubbed my lower back while we walked in an effort to loosen some tight muscles. Pete stopped me and rubbed my shoulders.

  “Having fun yet?” he asked. Sometimes he couldn’t hold back his sarcasm.

  “Of course. But when we get back to the B&B, I’m sending my mother one of those postcards.”

  He laughed and took my detector out of my hands, carrying both of them.

  We worked doggedly for another hour without coming up with a murder weapon.

  Pete met me on the path. “Let’s take a lunch break. You need a rest.”

  “Uh huh. So do you.”

  He took hold of my detector after talking to Sam on the walkie talkie, and we headed back to the house.

  “They’ll meet us there,” he said.

  We found both Bea and Kimberly hunched over the laptop computer.

  Pete and I took turns washing our hands in the downstairs bathroom before we plopped onto a couple of chairs at the dining table.

  “Find anything?” he asked.

  Bea straightened up and smiled at Pete. “We think so. I’m shocked at what you found. Just shocked. I can’t believe it.”

  “Sasha and Sam get the credit,” I said. “Now if we could just find what we’re actually looking for.”

  “We will.” Pete tried to sound positive, but he knew there were no guarantees.

  Sasha and Sam joined us at the table.

  “I thought you two were supposed to be on a belated honeymoon.” Sam ran his fingers through his hair, looking tired.