Chapter Twenty-Three

Lucas was conscious and agreed to talk when Bo and Jim entered his room. He said, “I know you guys think I shot Emil Eifler. I was mad at him—that’s for sure—but I am not a killer.”

“Let me read you your rights,” Bo said. “You are not under arrest at this time, but I want to make sure you understand what your rights are in case it becomes necessary. And I will need to record our interview.”

“Read them,” Lucas said almost flippantly for a man who had undergone surgery to remove a bullet from his chest the previous night. “I guess I should be relieved that this is an interview, not an interrogation.”

Bo made no comment to that but turned on the recorder, read Lucas his rights, and asked him if he understood them. Lucas said he did and that he would tell them whatever he could.

“Okay. So where were you on the night Emil Eifler was killed?” Bo looked at his notes and stated the date.

“I was sort of hiding behind a tree watching Joe Whalen’s house,” he said.

“Why in the world were you doing that?” Bo asked, taken aback by the answer. “Did you have something against Joe?”

“Well, yes, but that wasn’t why I was there. My beef that night was with Emil. I followed him there and then hid a short distance away and watched. I figured Emil was probably going to do the same thing to Joe that he had to Nattie and me.”

“And what was that, Lucas?”

“Steal from him, of course.”

“Did you go in Joe’s house?” Bo asked.

“Not until the other guy left,” he said. “But I didn’t have to break in; Emil had already done that. Before going in, I waited and thought Emil would be leaving too, but I thought I’d heard a gunshot in or near the house before that other guy had left. So when Emil didn’t come out after a while, I went in. I didn’t stay long. Something didn’t feel right in there. I wanted to be gone before Joe came home.”

“Okay, Lucas, let’s back up a minute. First, did you see someone do something to Joe’s dog?” Bo asked.

“Emil sprayed him with something. I figured it must have been Mace, so I got me some. I had to use it on that dog of Brady’s right after it bit me,” he said. “Do you want to see where it bit me?”

“No, that’s okay. So after Emil sprayed the dog, then what happened?” Bo asked.

“He went inside. He busted that little square of glass out to get in, but you probably know that,” Lucas said. “Anyway, pretty soon this other guy comes along. He must have been watching like I was because he headed right to the back door and went in. He’d been in there for several minutes before I heard that shot. When he left, he went back the same way he’d come.”

“Can you describe him?” Bo asked.

“Not much, Detective. He was a big man, a lot bigger than me. He was dressed in black just like I was. That’s about all I can tell you about him.”

“So you believe that man, the big one, shot and killed Emil?”

“Yeah, no doubt about it.”

“So Joe didn’t?” Bo asked.

“He couldn’t have done. He wasn’t even home then. He was with you.”

“You didn’t see Emil in the house?”

“Nope, but I saw a little blood. I was looking for it, you know, because of the shot and all. I couldn’t figure out what had happened to Emil. I sort of wondered if he hadn’t been hurt bad and had left after the other guy because I had started to leave and then came back, so he could have left then without me seeing him.”

“Lucas, when did you learn that Emil had died in Joe’s house that night?”

“The next morning. I was curious then, and I went back and watched again. I saw you come, and that made me wonder what was going on. Then more cops came, and then there was that hearse, and a body was carried out. ’Course I knew then it was Emil. I just can’t figure why I didn’t see his body when I was in there. But I didn’t look in any closets or anything like that, so I guess that was how I missed it.”

Bo intentionally threw a question at Lucas that he didn’t think he was expecting. “Lucas, where is Joe now?”

“What do you mean? I don’t know. I just know he wasn’t at the farm last night or I would have seen him,” Lucas said.

“You didn’t kidnap him and take him somewhere?” Bo asked.

Lucas’s eyes popped open wide. “No! No! Why would I do that?”

“Somebody took him, Lucas. Would you have any idea who that might be?”

“Well, I suppose it might be the man who killed Emil, the big guy.”

Lucas started tiring, so Bo said, “How about we come back later and talk some more, Lucas.”

“That’s fine. But there’s one more thing I think you should know. I knew Joe hadn’t killed Emil, but since I’d been in his house, I got to worrying that you might figure that out and arrest me for the murder. But I didn’t do it. I didn’t like Joe, and I sort of figured that if someone was going to get arrested for that murder, I wasn’t going to let it be me. That’s why I didn’t say anything about this earlier.”

“Thanks for explaining that, Lucas. There is one more question before we go. Did you see the vehicle that the other guy, the big man, might have driven there?”

Lucas said he hadn’t, and Bo and Jim left a minute later. They then returned to the sheriff and reported their conversation with Lucas.

Rosina had cut class to work at the Brady farm. Her best friend, Karmen, was doing the same in order to be with Melia at the hospital in Salt Lake. Both girls had agreed on the phone earlier that they were missing for a good cause and that they’d just have to find a way to make it up later.

She and Nattie were busy trying to catch up on the chores that had not been done the day before. The deputy sheriff who was supposed to be guarding them pitched in and helped. But he came to attention when a couple of pickup trucks drove into the yard. He sent the girls into the barn and then approached the trucks. Three men in work clothes and heavy coats got out of each of the trucks and stood looking around.

They informed the deputy that they were there to do Ron Brady’s chores. Rosina, upon hearing them, came running out. Within a couple of minutes, there was a crew of knowledgeable and hard-working men at work. Rosina only had to show them what still needed to be done.

“I can’t believe people will do something like this, Rosina,” Nattie said. “They must really like Ron.”

As Bo and Jim were leaving the office, they met Will Merianos coming in. One look at his face was all it took for Bo to steer around him. Will looked like he was mad enough to chew nails. After they had passed him without a word, Jim said with a grin, “I think he’s upset.”

“If you think he’s upset now, can you imagine what he’ll be like when the sheriff delivers the bad news? Can you imagine how he’s going to react when he finds out he’s fired and that the county attorney is considering charges against him?” Bo asked.

“I don’t want to be around him after that,” Jim said. “So are we going to Castle Dale now to see if we can find the gardener?”

“Seems like a good idea to me,” Bo responded.

Once they reached Castle Dale, they drove directly to Leonardo’s home. Jim let the local sheriff’s department know they were there just as they were pulling onto his street. They parked, got out, and approached the house. There was no answer to the doorbell or to their repeated knocks.

They went to the house next door and rang the bell. Lucy Gibbons answered after a short wait. “If you fellows are looking for my neighbor, I’m afraid you won’t find him at home. We haven’t seen him since you were here before.”

“I guess you wouldn’t know if he’s gone away somewhere, would you?” Bo asked.

“I couldn’t tell you that. It’s like I told you before—he isn’t very neighborly. If you could catch his gardener or his cleaning lady, they might know.”

“It’s hard to believe he has both a cleaning lady and a gardener,” Bo said. “He must have a good-paying job.”

“I guess, but no one knows what he does. My husband and I can’t afford a cleaning lady or a gardener, and my husband has a pretty good job,” she said.

“Do you know the cleaning lady’s name?” Jim asked.

“I’ve seen her before in the post office and the store. I don’t know her name, but someone will. She’s probably fifty years old or maybe even younger and is slightly heavyset with short brown hair. She wears glasses and walks with a slight limp,” Lucy said. “Oh, and she drives an older car. I think it’s a Buick, and it has a lot of rust on it and a few dings. It was blue at one time, I’d say.”

“You’ve been a big help. If either of them comes around, would you give us a call?” Bo said. “It is very important that we locate Mr. Augur.”

She agreed, and they gave her both of their cell phone numbers. Then they proceeded to drive around the city, looking for the white pickup with snow removal shovels and large brooms in the back and the older, rusted Buick. About thirty minutes later, when they were about to give up, they spotted the truck they believed could belong to the gardener.

It was parked in front of a white frame house with a yard and lawn that looked like they would be gorgeous come spring. Empty flowerpots were lined neatly below the windows, waiting for flowers to be planted. “I think this is where the gardener lives,” Bo said. “I wasn’t sure it would be a nice place. You know, like he uses his skills on other people’s yards but not his own. Still, I suspect that this is his home just because the house is so old, and I can’t imagine he would make all that much money gardening.”

They stepped up to the front door and waited after ringing the doorbell.

“You fellows looking for me?” a short, stocky fellow of around fifty asked as he came around the side of the house.

“If you are the man who takes care of Leonardo Augur’s yard and shovels his snow, then yes, we are,” Bo said.

The fellow beamed. He was wearing a floppy, soiled brown hat with earflaps pulled down over his ears. He took off a pair of leather gloves and stuffed them in the back pocket of his striped coveralls. “I’m Tom Lensky, and I’m the man you’re looking for. I ain’t done nothing wrong, have I?”

“No. We’re just looking for information about Mr. Augur,” Bo said.

“I don’t think I’m a lot of help. The guy is reclusive. He hired me, and he pays me, but he doesn’t talk too much,” Tom said. “You fellas want to come inside so I can warm up?”

They followed him inside where he took off his light winter jacket and hung it on a peg beside the door. The inside of his house was as clean and neat as the outside. He offered them a seat on a sofa and sat near them on a large recliner.

“Okay, fellas. What do you want to know? I’ll see if I can help or not,” Tom said. “I don’t have a lot to do today, but when it snows, I shovel walks, clean out driveways, and even shovel off roofs if it snows too much. Those days, I’m way too busy, but it keeps me in groceries.”

“Sounds like you have a good job,” Jim said.

“I like what I do. I just worry about when I get too old to do this kind of work. But I’m putting money away for when that day comes. Now about Leonardo, I suppose you’ve been by his place already and discovered that he isn’t home.”

“That’s why we came looking for you,” Bo said. “Neighbors mentioned you.”

“That’s nice,” he said. “Well, you won’t find Mr. Augur for a while. He told me he was going on a trip and asked if I’d keep a close watch on his place. So I drive by at least once a day, more often twice.”

“How long has he been gone?” Jim asked.

“I’m not sure. Just three or four days. He didn’t say where he was going,” Tom told them.

“What does he do for a living?” Bo asked.

Tom shook his head. “I don’t mean to start a rumor, so please don’t pass this on, but I think he’s into something illegal. Whatever it is, he seems to make good money at it, and yet he drives that small Nissan pickup. I’d think he could afford any car he wanted.”

Bo grinned. “Maybe he likes small pickups.”

“He must.”

“What kind of illegal stuff do you think he does?” Bo asked.

“Again, fellas, I don’t want no trouble with the guy. He’s a good customer, but . . . I kind of think he might deal in illegal drugs, stolen goods, or something like that. I asked him once what he did for a living, and he told me it was none of my business. That’s when I got to wondering. I’m just guessing. I could be way off track.”

“He has a cleaning lady too,” Bo said. “Do you know her?”

Tom’s face went red, and he grinned. “Yeah, I guess I do at that. She’s sort of my gal, if you know what I mean. Look how good my house looks in here. Sarah helps me, but she don’t charge nothing, and I help her with her snow and her yards. We sort of have an arrangement that works well for both of us.”

“You called her Sarah. What’s her last name, and where can we find her?” Bo asked.

“Her last name is Lerner. She’s a nice woman and not bad to look at either. I tell you what I’ll do, fellas; I’ll let you follow me to her house. It gives me a good excuse to see her, you know,” Tom said with a grin.

Sarah Lerner was in her late forties, and she was short and round with a pretty face and big smile. Although the smile, Bo thought, was mostly for Tom. They asked her much the same questions they’d asked Tom, and her answers were about the same.

“Are you sure Leonardo didn’t mention to you where he was going for this trip he claimed to be going on?” Bo asked her.

“He didn’t. He took a fair amount of luggage. I know that because I was there cleaning when he carried it out to his pickup,” she said.

“Could he still be in the general area?” Bo asked.

“I guess it’s possible. But it looked like he wasn’t planning to come back anytime soon.”

“So you’re saying that he packed like he was leaving the area?”

“Looked like it to me,” she said. “I don’t expect he’ll be back very soon.”

“Do you ever see the people who come to see him?” Bo asked.

“Well now, that’s a good question. Some of them don’t look like people that someone with his kind of money would hang out with. Some of them are . . . well . . . not the kind of people I’d want to be around,” she responded. “I wouldn’t want them in my home. That’s for sure.”

“Do any of them transact business with him when you’re there?” Bo asked.

“I wouldn’t know that. He has a nice office in his home. When people come, they go in there, and he shuts the door. I know I’m not supposed to interrupt when he has guests, as he calls them.”

“Sarah, would you be willing to venture a guess as to what kind of business he might be transacting in his office?” Bo asked.

She looked at Tom, who said, “I already told them what I think. You and I think alike on this.”

“Okay, so we do,” she responded and turned back to Bo. “I think it’s something illegal. I told Tom that sometimes I think I can smell marijuana on the people who come in. I do know that smell.”

Tom was nodding. “Most of the people must come at night. At least that’s what a couple of neighbors have told me. Sarah sees them more than me because even in the summer when I’m there quite a bit, I may not see them because I’m working in the backyard. It’s very big and requires a lot of my time to keep it to the standard that Leonardo likes.”

“I just thought of something,” Sarah said, her eyes growing slightly wider. “A couple of times I’ve been there when a guy in a fancy car came to see Leonardo.”

“What kind of car?” Bo asked.

“I don’t know. You tell him, Tom. You saw the car once. You told me what it was,” she said.

“It was a Mercedes,” Tom said. “A silver one.”

Bo exchanged a glance with Jim, who nodded and gave a tiny smile.

“I don’t suppose you heard the man’s name?” Bo asked.

She slowly nodded her head, and a mischievous smile appeared. “I wasn’t supposed to hear this, but I did. They were just going into the office, and I heard Leonardo call him Mr. Bundra. The other guy spoke rather sharply just as the door shut, but I heard him say, ‘My name is Grillo. Don’t you ever call me by anything else.’ After that, the door was shut, but even though their voices were raised for a minute or two, I couldn’t tell what was being said.”