Open for Murder, page 16
When he was finished talking, members approached the telescope, careful not to touch it. Linwood had taken great care to find the constellation, and no one wanted to repeat the lengthy process.
“It does look like a lion,” said Max, peering through the telescope. “I can see how someone could get into this. I mean, I’ve always liked looking at the stars. I just didn’t know what I was looking at. It’s nice to know.” He glanced at Zo. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“Sure.” She was glad he was enjoying himself.
After she had her turn at the telescope, Hunter approached and asked her about the dream. Though he worked at the bike shop, Spokes and Stuff, he had a degree in psychology and had written his master’s thesis on Carl Jung. Unfortunately, Spirit Canyon didn’t have a lot of opportunities for psychologists, and he loved biking too much to relocate. She understood the dilemma; she just didn’t understand why he chose the major in the first place. She suspected it had to do with the exploration of his own id.
“So, the color blue,” said Hunter when she’d finished relaying the two dreams. “It connects them, and of course, so does the woman.”
“Lilly,” said Zo.
Hunter nodded. “Nobel laureate Francis Crick said ‘We dream to forget,’ but in this case, I think Violet is trying to remember something important.”
“Like what?” asked Zo. She wanted something specific. He probably wanted to quote another obscure scholar.
Max crossed his arms, waiting for Hunter’s response.
Hunter put a hand on her shoulder. “Patience, love. That’s always been your problem. The subconscious will reveal all if you just give it time.”
Max let out a small laugh.
Hunter tilted his head to one side. “We haven’t had a chance to meet. I’m Hunter Michaels.”
“Max Harrington,” he said, sticking out his hand.
“Max might join the club,” said Zo.
Hunter shook Max’s hand. “I think I’ve seen you at Spokes and Stuff. Maybe I helped you with a supplement?”
Max shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“A probiotic?” Hunter questioned.
“Do I look like I know what a probiotic is?” said Max.
Hunter blinked an answer. Zo thought it was Morse code for “Please don’t make me answer that question.” Hattie Fines entered the observatory and gave her a wave. Zo took the opportunity to sidestep the awkward moment. “Excuse us,” she said, grabbing Max’s arm.
When they were a few steps away, Max said, “I don’t know what he was driving at. Do I look unhealthy?”
Zo gave him a once over. Light hair, tan skin, strong muscles. He looked like the essence of health to her. “You look fine. That’s just Hunter’s way of engaging.”
“In a topic I know nothing about?” said Max.
“Pretty much,” said Zo. “As long as he knows what he’s talking about, he’s happy. Conversations with him were usually one-sided.”
“You dated him for the hair. Is that it?”
“And the leather jacket,” said Zo with a smirk. “I’ve got a thing for guys in leather jackets.”
Max sighed. “That settles it. I don’t have a leather jacket.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Zo chuckled.
“Sorry I’m late,” said Hattie. “Are you leaving already?”
Zo wanted to check out the science building before it closed at ten. “I think so.”
Hattie took off her red beret, which had a large gold buckle that matched the glint in her eyes. She shoved it in her windbreaker pocket. “Guess who kept me?” She didn’t wait for Zo to answer. “Allison Scott.”
“Really? Why?” asked Zo.
“She called the library and asked me to add an event to the community calendar,” said Hattie. “She just got the date for some announcement at the college—in July.” She moved closer, lowering her voice. “Cunningham said you’ve been asking questions about her. Putting your old journalism skills to good use.”
“I am,” said Zo. “That’s funny. A.J. mentioned something about an announcement, too. Did she say what it was?”
Hattie shook her head. “She was tight-lipped. Even though I said I needed her to fill out an event questionnaire, she wouldn’t tell me a thing.”
Zo puzzled over her statement. “I didn’t know the library had an event questionnaire.”
“We do now.” Hattie grinned and skipped off toward the rest of the amateur astronomers.
Chapter Nineteen
As they left the observatory, Zo glanced toward the main campus. Allison taught in the science department, so they might find out more about the announcement if she and Max did a little research of their own. They’d talked about the idea earlier, but it looked as if he would need some convincing. Taking a late-night tour of the campus wasn’t illegal, and the Zodiac Club met here enough for her to know that the buildings were still open. There was no reason they couldn’t take a little detour through the science building.
The idea was exciting. To be chasing a lead again felt good. Although she loved Happy Camper, her work at the store was relaxing. The only thing she had to track down was a model number or auction address. Now she was tracking Enid’s killer and was more convinced than ever that she was zeroing in on the murderer.
Zo told Max of her plan as they approached the parking lot.
“You mean, you want to break into Allison’s office?” Max asked.
Zo couldn’t read his face because they were surrounded by darkness. Not until they reached the main campus would the area lighten. But he sounded hesitant. He was probably envisioning them climbing over a hedge, sneaking into an open window, and stealing Allison’s papers. She set him straight. “Of course not. I’m not going to do anything illegal. I just want to check out the science building, and campus is open until ten.” When he didn’t answer right away, she added, “It’s no big deal if you don’t want to go. I can go by myself.”
That got his attention.
Max started toward the main campus. “I want to go. I just don’t want to go to jail. That wouldn’t help anyone, especially Beth.”
“We’re not going to break any laws,” Zo insisted. “Besides, you’re a cop. How can you get arrested?”
“Brady would like nothing better than to put me in a cell for the night. Can’t you tell?”
“What does he have against you, anyway?” asked Zo, walking quickly to keep pace. “I get the feeling he doesn’t want you involved.”
“He doesn’t,” said Max. “You heard him. He thinks I’m better off catching poachers and underage drinkers. He doesn’t want me involved with police business in Spirit Canyon. He sees the town as his turf, the forest as mine.”
“The guy’s a jerk,” said Zo. “Don’t listen to him. He thinks he runs this town. Patrick Merrigan was the same way.”
“He really forced you out of your first store?” They were under the lamplights of the campus now, and he gave her a sidelong glance. He must have wanted to see her reaction.
“You were there,” she said. “You carried the sign.”
“True,” Max agreed.
“Part of it was my own fault. I should have signed a longer lease.”
“He should have told you he planned to expand the hardware store,” he said. “He probably got the idea when Happy Camper took off.”
“Everything turned out all right, I guess.” Zo glanced at him. “As long as you don’t cancel my tours, I think I’ll be okay.”
He stopped walking. “I can’t cancel them. You know that. But I can advise caution, and that’s all I’m doing. It’s not safe for you to be out in the woods on your own.” He held up his hand. “This has nothing to do with your skills. I know you know how to handle yourself. It’s about taking the forest for granted. I see locals do it all the time. They become numb to its danger.”
She didn’t want to argue with him, not tonight. She wanted to get to the science building before it closed, which meant no more unscheduled stops. But just because she kept walking didn’t mean she agreed. Her tours were limited to Spirit Canyon, the nearby waterfall, and a couple of popular trails. She hoped one day they would take off and she could hire a designated tour guide. But for now, it was a good side source of revenue, especially when large groups came in.
The pathway split in two different directions. One led to the older part of campus and the other to the newer part. The trouble was deciding which path was the right one to the science building.
“This way.” Max gestured toward a brick three-story. “The science department is in Randolph Meyers. At least it was.”
They started toward the building, a large rectangle against a dark backdrop of trees. “You went to school here?”
“After I got my bachelor’s degree in Montana,” said Max. “I attended the National Park Service Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program here. It’s one of the few in the area.”
“What’s your degree in?”
“Environmental Science.” He gave her a smile. “Brady was right about one thing. I am a little bit of a tree hugger. But I also studied environmental literature, so I took a lot of English classes—like you.”
A chuckle escaped her lips as she envisioned him pondering Thoreau’s Walden Pond by the edge of Pactola Lake.
“Oh, sure, laugh it up.” He pulled open the door. “But I’ve got a brain—unlike mister surfer dude back there.”
“Hey, Hunter is actually really smart.” Zo rarely defended her ex, but in this case, it was valid. “He might be conceited, but he’s a bright guy.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Max looked around the dimly lit doorway. “I think the offices are on the second floor.” He pointed to the stairway at the end of the hall. “Maybe they’ll have something posted on the department bulletin board.”
Zo followed him down the cement-block hallway. To the right were labs with push-button-code-style locks and to the left, a small science library, standing open. They walked up the stairs. No lights were on. Lurking around in the dark, she had to admit Max was right; she was starting to feel a little bit like a criminal. She certainly wouldn’t want to meet up with one of her customers, anyway, or Brady Merrigan.
She took out her phone and pressed the flashlight button. Max did the same. As she shone the light in the office windows, she noticed a theme emerging: skeletons, skulls, and charts. One skull wore a pair of 3-D glasses, which made her smile.
Allison’s office was near the end of the hallway, and Zo tried the door, but it was locked. Through the door window, she noticed a large map hanging over Allison’s desk. It wasn’t a traditional map; it was a geologic map of the Black Hills with exposed rock layers. She took a picture so she could zoom in on it later.
“Did you find something?” Max asked, joining her.
“Just a map,” said Zo. “I took a picture. There’s an open door around the corner, though. Let’s check it out.”
Zo flipped on the light switch; the office was the faculty break room. It had a coffee pot, a half podium, and four tables. On the whiteboard was a meeting agenda dated May 15, probably the last one of the semester. The first item listed was Homestake Mine: Allison Scott.
“It looks like Allison had news to report at the last meeting,” said Zo. “Maybe it had something to do with what she found at Serenity Falls.”
“The white board doubles as a screen. Try the computer.”
Zo ducked behind the podium. The computer was connected to the monitor on the desk. She pushed the button, and the computer began to boot. Max looked on over her shoulder. She could smell his woodsy cologne, or maybe that’s how all forest rangers smelled: like poplars, pines, evergreens. She shivered.
“Are you cold?” Max asked.
Before she could answer, he was unzipping his sweatshirt and putting it around her shoulders. She focused on the screen, trying to ignore the chivalrous act. She could be a pushover for kindness, which seemed like a forgotten virtue these days. It always tugged at her heart when someone went out of their way to be nice.
The operating system was protected and required a username and password. She stared at the blinking cursor for a full minute before throwing up her hands and turning around. “So what do we do about the password? Any ideas?”
“Maybe my old student ID will work,” Max suggested. “They never had the best security.”
They switched places, and Max punched in the information on the keyboard. The ID was no longer valid.
“It was worth a try,” said Zo.
“Let me try something else.” Instead of entering a password, Max clicked on Cancel. The screen changed to solid blue, then populated with icons.
“That worked?” exclaimed Zo. “I can’t believe it.”
“I can,” he said, waiting for the pointer. “It’s an old campus. There isn’t a huge focus on technology. The professors are worse than the students, and this is a faculty machine.”
“Check out the date on that PowerPoint file.” Zo pointed to the icon on the desktop. “May fifteenth.”
The file must have been copied to the computer’s hard drive because when Max double-clicked, the file opened. It was the department chair’s agenda for the faculty meeting, and the first slide was identical to the outline on the whiteboard. The second slide was dedicated to Allison’s presentation. Although no text existed in the slide, it contained a map of the convergent tectonic plate boundaries near Lead, South Dakota. At least that’s what Max said they were. She had no idea what she was looking at. Max claimed only a vague understanding, but it was apparent he understood the map better than she did.
“When plates collide,” he said, “they don’t always create mountain ranges. They create the right conditions for minerals, too. Rocks from the earth’s mantle can find their way to the surface.”
“Minerals like gold?” asked Zo.
Max nodded. “Gold, silver, ore.”
“How would somebody know which mineral they’re dealing with?”
“They’d have to do a magnetic survey or a soil test to be sure.”
“But gold isn’t magnetic,” said Zo. “Is it?”
“No, but it doesn’t matter.” He shrugged. “The un-magnetized areas can tell you just as much as the magnetized.”
“Which probably explains why Allison wanted access to the land.” She considered the problem. “She needed to do more tests. Go to the next slide.”
Unfortunately, the slide moved to the following item on the agenda: professors’ final dates to enter grades. Max clicked on the other slides, but there was nothing else related to Allison’s research, so he closed the file.
“Maybe Allison found gold—or silver,” she said. “Something worth killing for.”
Max snapped his fingers. “Without testing Enid’s land, she couldn’t know for sure. The map isn’t conclusive, and she’d need proof before going public with her discovery. Evidence is mandatory—just like in police work. If I learned anything hanging around the science department, it was that.”
“And Homestake Mine is just a few miles away. Don’t they say if you find gold, it’s probably going to be around another vein?”
He smiled. “They do say that.”
“See?” said Zo. “Living here has taught me a thing or two about science—and gold.”
Max logged off and shut down the computer. “People think it’s everywhere. All they need is a pan and a crevassing tool, and they can strike it rich.”
“I don’t care about striking it rich, but I do care about catching Enid’s killer,” said Zo. “The sooner we do, the sooner Beth can get back to business at the lodge.” She started to shrug off his sweatshirt, but he stopped her.
“Keep it,” he said. “I’ll get it next time.”
Next time. It wasn’t such a bad prospect after all.
Chapter Twenty
Zo parked the bike at the store and skipped up the back steps. She and Max were one step closer to finding a motive, and what better motives than fortune and fame? Even if Allison didn’t get the gold, she would get the find. She would be credited with the discovery, and for a young scientist, there could be no better recognition. It would propel her career into new directions and maybe even secure her a position at the Homestake Lab or another distinguished research facility.
Everyone cared about making a name for themselves in some way. Like her, they wanted their work to matter. Zo was just glad her work wasn’t as competitive as Allison’s. She enjoyed contributing in a small way to the community, selling antiques, books, and memorabilia. She liked being the store that people came to when they needed a pick-me-up. Putting smiles on peoples’ faces was a great way to earn a living.
From the deck, Zo gave her backyard a quick scan. George was nowhere to be seen. So much for sainthood, she thought as she opened the deck door. She stopped short when she saw him lying inside on the kitchen counter, licking a large orange paw. He paused, paw in the air, and meowed.
She jumped at the sound, closing the door a second later. George was outside when she left; she would have never put him inside on a clear night like this. So, who’d let him in? She glanced out the window at Cunningham’s house. The lights were off, but it was the only explanation that made sense. None of the other neighbors would have been so bold as to open her door for the cat, and although George was smart, he couldn’t let himself in—unless he was performing miracles now, too.
