Murdered in Argentina: A Jack Trout Cozy Mystery by Dianne Harman

away from the door and looked at each other.
    “Well,” Jack said, “most married couples have arguments from time to time and from what we’ve seen of those two, I’m not particularly surprised. Sounds like one of them decided to leave for a while and cool off. I’m sure everything will be fine in the morning. Now, I really do need to get some sleep. Loves.”
     
     

CHAPTER 11
     
    Jack and Carola were abruptly awakened shortly after midnight by loud pounding on their door. It was followed by a woman’s voice crying and screaming at the same time, “Jack, Carola, open up. It’s me, Lisa.”
    “Coming,” Jack yelled as he put on a pair of jeans, while Carola hurriedly pulled her robe around her and scooped up Cayo who was hissing, his back arched, and his body puffed up. He looked like a caricature of a Halloween cat, and it was obvious he didn’t like what was happening. Carola put him in his carrier.
    Jack opened the door a moment later and Lisa immediately ran into the room, shaking and sobbing. “He’s dddeead,” she stuttered over and over. She had a hysterical look in her eyes, and her face was streaked with eye shadow and mascara from tears that were running freely down her face.
    “Lisa, I don’t understand,” Jack said, putting his hands on her heaving shoulders. “Who’s dead? What’s happened?”
    “It’s Rrray,” she said gulping for breath. “He’s dead. He’s been strangled. It’s all my fault. I never should have left him alone tonight.” Jack could barely understand what she was saying because she was crying so hard. “What will happen to me? I don’t have anyone else,” she wailed.
    “Carola, Lisa, stay here. I’m going across the hall.”
    Jack walked into Lisa and Ray’s room and stopped. Ray was lying on his side in the large king size bed with his body turned away from the door. Wound tightly around his neck was a whip, and Jack’s first thought was that it looked exactly like the gaucho’s whip that had hung on the wall in the hallway. It was such a bizarre sight Jack had trouble accepting what his eyes were seeing. He took a deep breath and walked over to the bed. He stood next to Ray’s body and listened. There was no sound of breathing coming from Ray, and his face had turned blue. Jack lifted his wrist and felt for a pulse, but there was none. Ray was clearly dead. Jack stood in shock for several moments and then pulled the sheet up to cover Ray’s face. He walked back across the hall to his room and said, “Carola, stay here with Lisa. I need to get Santiago, the ranch manager. His house is next door. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
    Jack knocked on the door of the nearby ranch manager’s home, and a moment later a voice asked who was there. “Santiago, it’s me, Jack Trout. I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s an emergency at the lodge.”
    Santiago flung the door open and said, “Senor Trout, what is it?”
    “One of the guests is dead. It looks like he was murdered. There’s a whip wrapped around his neck, and it looks like he was strangled to death with it. I didn’t know if I should call the police or what I should do, so I came here.”
    “Come in, Senor Trout. I will get dressed and call the police. They have jurisdiction over matters such as this. I will be back in a moment.”
    He returned a few moments later and said, “The police are on their way. The chief of police is my brother-in-law. I will walk with you to the lodge, and we can wait there until they arrive. Who has died?”
    “Ray Martin. He’s the owner of the company that all of the guests at the lodge work for. They’re going to be in shock when they hear about it. I don’t know what we’ll do about their fishing trip. I suppose they’ll want to cancel the trip, since their boss is dead. I need to tell them before they hear it from the police.” He looked at Santiago who had a strange look on his face.
    “What is it, Santiago? You had a very strange look on your