The Huckleberry Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery

The Huckleberry Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery by Patrick F. McManus Page A

Book: The Huckleberry Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery by Patrick F. McManus Read Free Book Online
Authors: Patrick F. McManus
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the two of us. If you breathe a word of it to anyone, it could get me in a lot of trouble and we might never find out what happened to your husband. So give me your word.”
    “You have it, Sheriff.”
    “I went out and met Ray Crockett the other day. He’s a pretty smooth customer and seems like a pleasant enough fellow. Nevertheless, I suspect he did Orville in, just as you suspect. More likely, he had somebody else do it. But we have to find the body. And a body can be hard to find if the person isn’t even dead.”
    Marge took out a hanky and dabbed at her eyes. “Oh, Orville could be buried anywhere out there. That ranch is over a thousand acres. Do you even have a clue where he might be?”
    Tully didn’t want to tell her he had a lead, because he didn’t even know if he had one. “No, I don’t,” he said. “Crockett told me he mails Orville’s Social Security checks to a post office box in Spokane each month. If, in fact, Orville has been murdered by him, Crockett must then go to Spokane, pick up the checks, and cash them. I’m not sure how difficult it is for someone to cash Social Security checks belonging to someone else. By the way, Marge, are you having any financial problems because of Orville’s disappearance?”
    She laughed. “You don’t have to worry about me, Sheriff. I’m well off. Orville gave me half the money from his sale of the stock. Then I rented out the old farmhouse I inherited from my folks. The renters don’t farm but say they like the isolation. There aren’t any neighbors within miles.”
    “Where’s the farmhouse?”
    “It’s a few miles down the road from my own little house, on the other side of Cow Creek. As for cashing Social Security checks belonging to someone else, I have no idea.” Margeput her hanky back in her purse. “His Social Security checks didn’t amount to that much.”
    “How much?”
    “About fifteen hundred dollars. Not enough for somebody to murder a person for.”
    “Marge, people get murdered for a whole lot less than fifteen hundred dollars. Take my word for it.”
    “Really? It seems so little for a human life.”
    “Yes, it does. I guess the value goes down pretty fast if it’s somebody else’s life. In any case, Marge, I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I know something.”
    “Thanks, Bo. Is it okay if I call you Bo?”
    “You bet. You can call me anything you like, Marge. Oh, I understand Orville was quite the fisherman.”
    “Good heavens, no! Orville hated fishing. Said it was the most boring excuse for a hobby he could ever imagine. Why do you ask?”
    “No reason. Just something I heard.”

10
    AFTER MARGE LEFT, Tully drove over to Crabbs. Etta was just getting out of her car when he arrived. She was dressed in what, to Tully, looked like sailcloth pants, the legs spreading into little flares slightly below her calves. She wore a little black jacket that also seemed to have an ancient naval look to it, although maybe it was just basic New Yorky, something she had picked up at Saks Fifth Avenue. Ever since Susan, he had made a point of being attentive to what women wore.
    “Hey, Bo!” Etta cried. “We have perfect timing!”
    As with almost everything Etta said, Tully wondered if there weren’t something subliminal he was supposed to pick up on. He had never known a woman who made him quite as nervous as this one. Having enough trouble with his present world, he had little tolerance for people who claimed aknowledge of some other world. He hoped Etta wasn’t one of those. She had impressed him as a person of few pretensions. The outside of her house displayed only cracked and peeling paint, a rickety porch, a yard that made Lennie Frick’s beer-can pile look like a landscaper’s display piece, and a set of stairs and handrails in serious need of warning signs. If she ran a business out of her house, she needed a visit from OSHA. Now he noticed that she drove a rather modest Buick LeSabre with several dents and

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