Sheriff Medrano threw his hands up. “Jeezus, did I say something?” By the time Lieutenant Romero reached the door, Jemimah was running down the hallway. She almost knocked a janitor over as she lunged toward the bathroom. She leaned over the sink, wet a towel and wiped her eyes. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before re-entering the hallway. Romero was standing by the water fountain. He put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Jem. What’s the matter? You all right?”
“That condescending son of a bitch. Such a damn know-it-all. He was belittling everything I said. And what’s this ‘Miss Hodge’ bullshit? Maybe I should have brought my diplomas with me.”
“That’s just the way he is. Always tries to rattle everyone’s cage. We just let it slide off our backs. He meant nothing by it, Jem. Maybe I should have warned you, but I figured you had already picked up on that. Come on, let’s get back in there and finish this meeting off.”
Jemimah was a little embarrassed. Romero kept his hand lightly touching the small of her back as they walked back into the office. Sheriff Medrano was on the phone. He motioned them to sit.
Jemimah spoke first. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. This case seems to have made me a little emotional. Where were we?”
“You were about to tell us where you’re going with these findings of yours,” he said.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve narrowed it down to one suspect, who wasn’t on the original list. Cooper had an on again-off again live-in girlfriend for over a year. I spoke to the barmaid and the bartender at the Madrid bar. According to them, Brenda Mason was insanely jealous. Every time Cooper even looked at another woman, she made a scene and stomped out, madder than hell. Charlie would hang around, keep drinking and dancing, and leave with the new woman. Brenda tended to show up at closing time, subdued and apologetic, looking for Charlie.”
Medrano flipped through the file. He made a note on his yellow pad and looked at Jemimah. “How do the murdered women fit into this?”
“These women were all Charlie’s type. Small-boned, petite, and ready to get it on. Brenda fits in the looks category, but she’s strong and athletic, works out at a local gym, runs marathons and is in better shape than most men.”
Romero sat up. “I tracked down one woman who was at the ranch when Anaya went out to talk to Charlie about some loose cattle. She decided she didn’t want to miss her class at the Community College and got a ride back with Anaya—you know how horny he is.”
Medrano laughed. “I’ve called that old buzzard to task a couple of times. He’s going to get us into a discrimination suit yet.”
Romero walked over to the Formica sideboard and refilled his coffee cup. “Tiny woman with big brown eyes and a shapely figure. Good things come in small packages.”
Romero returned to the table, sat down and reached across Jemimah for the sugar and cream, his arm brushing hers. She picked up the creamer and banged it down in front of him, sloshing some of it onto the table. It was clear to her why these two got along so well. She clenched her teeth and spoke slowly.
“Something like that. The point is, it wouldn’t take much to drug these women, carry them out to the barn, kill them and drag them down into the tunnel.”
“Charlie could have easily done that,” Romero said.
“Yes, but Charlie was an easy-going, lovable druggie,” she said. “He was really only interested in the sex, and he could always find another woman ready to get it on at the drop of a hat.”
“So where does that leave us?” said the Sheriff, visibly annoyed at the tit-for-tat between these two.
“The girlfriend, Brenda,” Jemimah said.
Romero looked at the Sheriff. “Sounds plausible to me.”
“You’ve almost convinced me,” Sheriff Medrano admitted.
Jemimah pushed on. She wanted to get this over with. “I interviewed a couple of guys at the bar who said Charlie was bragging about pulling off a big deal and heading down to Mexico. Alone. Wanted to spend his time drinking, fishing, and courting senoritas.”
“So how did Brenda get the women into the barn?” Romero asked. “Force them at gun point or what?”
“No, I figure she drugged the bottle of whiskey that Charlie always kept around with a slow-acting date rape drug, maybe Burundang or Ketamine—”
“Special K,” Romero supplied.
“You would probably know,” Jemimah said. “In the cupboard you found a bottle that was sent off to be tested. The remaining whiskey had an odd smell to it. The ME has sent off tissue samples to see if a drug screen can be run on them. That’s still possible even where there’s decomposition.
“If Charlie and a woman were unconscious on the bed, Brenda could have carried the woman out to the barn. There was an old red Radio Flyer wagon that could have also been used to transport bodies. It’s being tested for blood. Once she got the victim into the barn, she could have slit her throat, dragged the body on a plastic tarp for a short distance down the ramp and left her stashed in the tunnel. I don’t think she ever intended to move the bodies. That’s why she shot McCabe, because he was getting too close. He was bound to find the shaft and the bodies, particularly if sophisticated geological probing tests were conducted beforehand.”
Rick admired Jemimah’s tenacity. Medrano was quiet, a sure sign that he was listening to every word. He said, “So she knew that, in the natural course of events, the bodies would be found; that’s why she wanted to get rid of McCabe.”
“Exactly,” Jemimah said.
“All right, Lieutenant.” Medrano stood up “Seems like the ball’s in our court now. Let’s figure out where we want to go from here.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Romero said. “Jemimah’s looking into Brenda Mason’s background. She needs to make a trip to Denver to interview a psychiatrist there. Once she’s back with her findings, we can set up the arrest warrants. When we get our sights on Mason, we’ll bring her in for questioning.”
“Here’s the approval form for that Colorado trip, Doctor Hodge. Get it over to accounting and they’ll run it through. Good work. Now get out of here, both of you.”
Jemimah shook his hand firmly. She knew their next meeting wouldn’t be as unnerving as this one.