Walter came in just as we finished eating the sausages. “I got one of the vehicles running. Blue truck. I pulled it out next to the house. Here are the keys.” He handed me two keys dangling from a key chain made from a loop of hanger wire. “And I took care of the sheriff’s truck.”
“Where did you leave it?” I asked, hoping Walter had moved it someplace where Dickey would stumble over it sooner or later.
“Thunder Lake,” he answered.
“I stifled a screech. “Thunder Lake,” I repeated. “Over by Cooks?”
Walter nodded. “Yup.”
“Please tell me you didn’t run Dickey’s truck into the lake. Did you?”
“That’s what you do, when you don’t want something found,” Walter said, looking at me like I didn’t know the first thing about ditching a truck. “In the lake. On the deep end.”
I was in so much trouble. All through Blaze’s battle with meningitis, I’d wanted him to recover. I wanted my boy back just the way he’d been before he was struck down. Now, considering the latest development, I wished for the first time that he wouldn’t recover anymore than he already had. It was a selfish wish. I knew that. But if Blaze got his job back and found out I was responsible for that truck on the bottom of the lake, there was no telling what he’d do to me.
That was, if Dickey didn’t get to me first.
“I need a ride into Stonely,” Kitty said to George while she adjusted her wig. “I’m working at Herb’s Bar tonight.”
“You’re not expecting to still go to work?” I was shocked. After all that had happened, she wanted to prance around town, risking detection. “Besides, I don’t like the idea of involving the Red and Ed.”
“It’ll be fine,” Kitty said, waving away my concerns. “I’m going to work the bar for information. Once I explain to the boys how I’m trying to help their uncle, they’ll go along. And I’m not going to get caught.”
“Our mugs were spread through the entire U.P. How are you going to manage that?”
“I’m posing as Kitty’s sister. My cousin’s getting me a fake ID. His forgeries are just as good as the real thing. Even if Dickey asks me for identification, he won’t be able to tell the difference.”
So that’s what she was drumming up outside with her cousin. False identification. I wish I’d thought of that. “Can you get me one, too?”
“I had a hard enough time getting the one for me and I’m family. He usually charges a lot of money.”
Cora Mae licked sugar off her fingers and chimed in. “Gertie, I’ll fix you up so no one will recognize you.” She dug in her purse and came up with a cosmetic bag. “Come over here.”
I did what she said. When she was through with me I looked like a big city hooker with…well…never mind.
Chapter 17
THE PLAN WAS SIMPLE. George dropped Kitty at Herb’s Bar after I made a call to warn my grandsons about Korky, the new blond addition to their staff. They must know their grandma wouldn’t put them up to something like this unless it was really important, because they didn’t ask any questions or complain about hiring a wanted woman impersonating someone else. Kitty, I mean Korky, would keep her ears open, stir up conversation, and see what rose to the top.
Fred would stay with Walter, since he was the most recognizable member of the outlaws. An enormous black German shepherd with red, devil eyes would be hard to miss coming at you. Fred seemed to like Walter and especially appreciated the wealth of snacks on Walter’s kitchen floor.
Cora Mae and I decided to do some surveillance work over at Dave and Sue Nenonen’s house. Since Dave was the credit union manager and Sue worked for him, doing the books, they were at the top of the suspect list. And if June was right, Sue had been talking about condos and had been seen wearing expensive jewelry.
Along with counting on gut feelings, an investigator has to know a lot about human behavior, has to zero in on anything out of the ordinary. Any little nuance (one of last week’s words for the day) can be important. Dave and Sue had my full attention at the moment.
We stood next to an old blue truck in Walter’s driveway. It was the rustiest thing I’d ever seen in my life. When I opened the driver’s door, it creaked and resisted, and I thought it might fall off any minute. The bench seat was shredded, probably by the same squirrels that trashed the trailer, and even the floor boards were rusted away.
“Don’t start in on me,” I warned Cora Mae, who was scrunching up her mouth to give me grief about our transportation. “We have to make do with what we’re given.” She slid in without a single word, but her face said it all.
The truck started right up. When we left Walter’s house behind, we could see the road through the holes in the floor.
Dave and Sue had a big house compared to many of Stonely’s homes. That meant they had two living rooms and a dining room. Most of us had kitchen/dining combinations. All-in-one. And their separate family room moved them up to the upper-crust level. They even had a two-car, attached garage. Dave was an important citizen with a responsible position, and I always thought he worked hard for his money, so I wasn’t as offended by his display of wealth as some were.
I knew all about the interior of their home from my part-time seasonal job as census taker. What a dangerous job! Almost more hazardous than the investigation business. I’ve been chased by vicious dogs, had doors slammed in my face, and even faced a few shotguns and threats to my life. I wasn’t sure I’d continue in the position when census time came around again.
“Mortgage must be pretty high,” I said, while we watched the house from the truck.
“Now what are we supposed to do?” Cora Mae wanted to know. “This isn’t going to get us anywhere. What are we waiting for, sitting in this smelly, dirty old truck? Something died in here and I don’t want to know what. I suppose you think someone with orange shoes will come out of Dave and Sue’s house and we’ll walk right up and make a citizen’s arrest?”
I felt like I was with Grandma Johnson.
“The census badge won’t work,” I said, thinking out loud. “It has my name on it.”
Cora Mae’s eyes widened like platters. “You aren’t going up to the door, are you? That would be crazy.” Then she started laughing, easing up a little. “But look at you! Nobody would recognize Gertie Johnson under all that makeup.” She peeled off her black rain jacket, jiggled around in the seat until she had it out from underneath her and handed it over. “The hunting jacket is a dead giveaway. Put this on.”
Cora Mae is taller than I am, so when I stood up outside of the truck, the coat came down to my ankles, making me feel very private eyeish. Blond hair, black raincoat, a pair of Blublocker sunglasses to complete the disguise. The only thing missing was still in my purse. My friend watched me palm the sheriff’s badge I’d purchased from Blaze’s law enforcement catalog. She shook her head.
Brash, bold, full of bravado. That was me. I felt like Lana Turner or Lauren Bacall. Not quite as tall, or thin, or young. But an investigator has to do what an investigator has to do. I would walk into their house and meet them eye to eye, without a clue as to a plan of action. What else was new?
“I’m with the Soo police,” I said to Sue, trying for a husky voice to go along with the new me. “I’d like to ask you a few questions about the robbery and murders.”
“My husband isn’t home,” she said, squinting at the badge as I waved it quickly past her.
“You’re the one I need to talk to.”
“You can’t come in without a warrant. I saw that on television. And I’m certainly not inviting you in. I don’t even have to talk to you without a lawyer present. And…” Sue stared at my face. My heart did a flip. Had she recognized me? “…you have a glob of lipstick on the corner of your mouth. Right here.” She brushed a finger across her own lip to show me where it was. Of course, I slid my fingers along the wrong side. “The other side.”