Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
He smiled when he saw me. “Your curiosity brings you here, Pepper?”
I returned his smile. “Definitely.”
Stan stepped closer to me and lowered his voice. “Orders are that no one but law enforcement is allowed here… straight from the mayor himself.”
“Dad informed me. Mayor Barrett wants his dad proved right and given credit for this case.”
Stan scanned the area and kept his voice low. “Don’t think he’ll get that.”
“You found something?” I asked, my heart thumping anxiously for any news I could get.
“The others won’t say it, but I have enough experience to know that the bones found beneath Travis are from a body buried at the same time as he was. I believe the burial was a rushed job since the two bodies weren’t buried that deep. I’m surprised they weren’t found before now since Willow Lake Lodge was an active place thirty-five years ago.”
Stan was right. The lodge was in its heyday back then and Max hired many of the locals, quite a few high school kids, to work from spring through fall, the cabins closed in the winter, though not the lodge, since they had no heat.
“Do you know if Travis or Rita ever worked here at that time?” I asked, a question Ian and I had put on our long list of questions that needed answers.
Stan scrunched his brow as if trying to remember. “I don’t recall, but then I’m not the one to ask. I barely had extra time between school and work, to pay for school. Your dad and I would meet for a beer from time to time so I could pester him about police work.”
“Is there any indication at all of what might have killed either of the victims?”
“Not a hard guess since Travis’s skull had been smashed in on one side,” Stan said.
“How about the other victim?”
“That’s going to take a bit more time. We haven’t dug out all the bones yet, then there’s reconstructing them, and examining them closely to see what they tell us.”
“Are you going to help with that?” I asked.
Stan grinned. “I already put in a call to Mayor Barrett to tell him I would be honored to offer my expertise to solve this case his dad had worked so diligently on. He gladly accepted. I’m to keep him updated.”
“Talking to me might get you kicked off the team,” I cautioned, not wanting that since Stan could be a well of information as the bones were examined.
“No worries, Pepper, I know how to handle Jim Barrett.”
“Stroke his already large ego,” I said.
“Got that right,” Stan agreed. “I can’t completely fault him as a mayor. He has done right by the town in some cases, but I don’t know how he doesn’t collapse from the weight of his ego.”
The image of an oversized head on Mayor Barrett wobbling back and forth, too heavy to hold, had me chuckling.
“That boyfriend of yours has been great to the team. He’s supplied us with hot drinks and soup. I was concerned for his generosity since he has a brood of models and others to feed, and he proudly informed me that you had prepped the lodge and it could feed a small army.”
I grinned. “I made certain the place was ready for the winter. There is still more prepping work to be done there, but they could survive the entire winter without worry.”
“Max was prepping before you were born. He always kept the lodge well-stocked. There were plenty of good times had here.”
“You frequented the lodge?” I asked.
“My college friends came here when they wanted nothing more than to fish and relax. Max kept them in a separate area from the families. I stayed with them when they were here. We’d fish, talk, and relax.”
“Were you and your friends here when Rita was found murdered?” I asked.
Stan grinned. “Looking for suspects, Pepper?”
“Need to rule out anyone who was here at the time.”
“That would mean Max as well.”
“He’s on the list,” I said, though I didn’t think he’d prove a top suspect.
“You have women on that list as well?”
“I’m not ruling a woman out, but that would depend on the way the victim was murdered.”
“You’re right,” Stan said. “Knives, striking out recklessly with a blunt object, poison is more a woman’s style.”
“So, then a woman could have killed Travis since he was struck in the head.”
“I can’t rule it out right now. I’ll know more when I get the skull cleaned and examine it more closely,” Stan said.
“What are you doing here, Pepper?”
I turned to greet Josh with a smile, though I was annoyed it meant my time with Stan was done with my brother showing up.
“Talking with the doc,” I said.
“Something you’re not supposed to be doing,”—Josh’s hand shot up to silence me before I could get a word out— “if you don’t want Dad to lose his job.”