Chapter Five

Joe was told on Sunday afternoon that he had visitors. He assumed it must be his sister and possibly Bo, although he had convinced himself that Bo believed him to be guilty of killing Emil. He was taken to the visiting area, but to his surprise, it was Ron and Melia who had come to see him.

“You guys didn’t need to come,” Joe said, even though he was glad they had. “I’m just sorry I can’t be there to help you. What are you going to do, Melia? You can’t handle it alone and still keep up the house and meals.”

“I’ll do what I have to,” she said. But Joe knew how hard the work was and how much there was to do. He knew there was no way she could handle it by herself.

“Have you seen your sister yet?” Ron asked.

“No, I expected it was her when they told me I had visitors. Maybe she’ll still come,” Joe said. “Or maybe she won’t.”

“I’m sure she will,” Ron said. “At any rate, she and her friend Karmen insist that they’re going to come out and help Melia for two or three hours a few times a week.”

“But they both have part-time jobs and college classes,” Joe protested. “They don’t have time.”

“They insist that they do, that they don’t have a full load at school, so I showed them what we do on Friday when they came out, and then they came again yesterday. They both worked for several hours.”

“That’s great,” Joe said, not sure what else he could say.

“Have you got an attorney yet, or would you like me to find one for you?” Ron asked.

“The judge appointed one,” Joe said. “He seems like he’ll be okay. He says he believes me and that he will do what he can to prove I didn’t do it.”

“How is he going to do that?” Melia asked skeptically.

“I don’t know. He says he needs to figure out who actually did it. But I don’t know how he will go about that or if he was just saying it to make me think he could actually help me.”

“Honestly, Joe, my guess is that he was just saying that to make you feel better,” Ron said. “Something has to be done. I’m going to give it some thought and then get back with you. It might be best to hire a more experienced attorney, one with some background on this kind of case.”

After leaving the jail, Ron and Melia stopped at the store for a few groceries and then drove back to the farm. Melia put the groceries away, and then she headed for the barn to do some work. To her surprise, there was a piece of paper taped to the outside of the small barn door she usually used to enter the barn since the big door was latched from the inside. The note had been typed and left unsigned. She tore it down and gasped when she read it.

Miss Brady, you and your grandpa leave the matter of Joe’s murder charge alone. He is guilty, and if you do anything to try to prove otherwise, he could be hurt very badly.

She pulled the note from the wall with shaking hands and ran to the house, her heart pounding.

The killer was at his former spot with binoculars around his neck. He smiled wickedly to himself. He’d watched Melia (for he had done some quiet snooping around and learned that was her name) read the note and then rush for the house. He guessed officers would be coming, but there was nothing they could do. No one could ever catch him. He had worn latex gloves when he’d handled the note. It couldn’t be traced to him by fingerprints, so he wasn’t worried. He just hoped that Ron and Melia took the note seriously. If they didn’t, he knew someone in Carbon County Jail who could and would carry out the threat.

He didn’t wait to see officers come. He had someplace else to be and something else to do.

Joe was told he had more visitors. This time it was his sister and a friend of hers whom he hadn’t met before.

“Are you doing okay?” Rosina asked. “I can’t believe this is happening. Oh, and this is my friend and Bo’s, Karmen Ellison.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Joe said. “I’m just sorry you have to meet me in here. I hate it here. There are some guys that scare me.”

“We’ve got to figure out a way to get you out of jail,” Rosina said. “We all know you didn’t do it.”

“Detective Merianos thinks I did,” Joe said dejectedly. “Because of him, the sheriff won’t let Bo have anything to do with the investigation. I think I’m going to be stuck in here.”

“Hey, big brother, you hang in there and don’t think that way. You’ve got to be positive. You’re innocent, and somehow, someone will find a way to prove it.”

Joe doubted that, but after a little while, he said, “That’s nice of you guys to help Melia on the farm. But you don’t have to do that. Ron could hire someone else to take my place. He’s probably going to have to do that anyway.”

“Think positive,” Rosina reminded him, pointing an index finger at him and cocking an eyebrow.

“Joe, Bo wants to come see you, not as an officer but as a visitor. He couldn’t come when we did, but he’ll be here tomorrow for sure. He’s really worried about you,” Karmen said.

“I hope he can.”

“Joe,” Rosina began with a very serious look on her face, “there’s something I need to know: who hates you enough to frame you for murder? I assume you’ve been thinking about it.”

“I have,” he said. There was an idea in the back of his head, but he didn’t want to tell his sister, for he was afraid it would put her in danger, and there was no way he would do that. “I don’t know, but I’ll keep thinking about it.”

“You do that,” she responded. “I don’t know what I could do with a name once you think of one. Maybe I could tell your attorney.”

“Maybe, but I don’t have a lot of confidence in him,” Joe responded. “He’s a nice guy, but I don’t think he’s had much experience. I sure wish I could get out of jail. I’m scared in here. I know that sounds pathetic, but I really am.” He could feel his chin trembling as he spoke and was ashamed.

“Of course you are,” Rosina said. “Anybody would be. But I’m sure the officers will keep you safe.”

Their visiting time ran out, and Rosina and Karmen left. Joe was taken back to his cell. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told the girls that he was scared, and in all honesty, he didn’t trust the jail officers to keep him safe. There were some mean-looking dudes in here, and they were often together. He almost wished he could stay locked in his cell. He would prefer isolation to being around some of the men in the jail.

Rosina dropped Karmen off and then drove on to her apartment. She parked her car and headed for the door. She stopped when she reached it. There was a note taped there. Why? Her roommate, Nyree, was at home studying hard for an upcoming test; her car was parked in the spot next to Rosina’s.

Rosina reached for the note, and then she hesitated. Maybe she should read it first. She leaned close. It was typed.

Rosina, you and your friends leave the matter of Joe’s murder charge alone. He is guilty, but if you do anything to try to prove otherwise, he could be hurt very badly.

She felt sick to her stomach as the blood drained from her face and her knees began to shake. This was terrible.

Now she suspected Joe’s fear of the jail had a stronger foundation than she’d thought. Maybe he wasn’t safe there. Somebody was out to see that he never went free again. That somebody was probably the person who killed that Emil guy. That somebody had left a note on her door. With shaking hands, Rosina unlocked the apartment door and called out, “Nyree, are you home?”

“Yeah,” Nyree said, coming from her room. “Didn’t you see my car?”

“I did, but, Nyree, someone taped a note to the door. Did you see or hear anyone?”

“No, nobody rang the bell or knocked. What kind of note? My word, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. You are shaking like a leaf.”

“Seeing a ghost wouldn’t be as bad as this note. Come read it. It’s frightening. I’m going to call Bo,” Rosina said.

She pulled out her phone as Nyree read the note. Her face went white, and she said in a weak voice, as Rosina listened to her phone, hoping that Bo would answer, “Rosina, this is terrifying. What can we do?”

“I wish I knew,” Rosina said as the phone continued to ring in her shaking hands and finally went to voice mail. She left Bo a message telling him to call her as soon as he could and that she had something extremely urgent she needed to show him. When she hung up, she collapsed on the sofa and put her head in her hands.

The watcher chuckled as he drove off. He was certain he had both Joe’s sister and her roommate scared out of their wits. He had plans that would soon make Joe’s situation worse unless people kept their noses out of the investigation as he had warned them to do. Emil got what he had coming, and Joe was going to have to pay for it. He patted himself on the back for being so much smarter than the cops.

Bo was the officer who responded to Melia’s 911 call. He had no idea what was wrong as all she’d told the dispatcher was that she needed to see him right away. It worried him, and he’d gone lights and siren all the way out to Ron’s farm. When he got there, she and Ron had both been waiting in the house, worried looks on their faces. Melia had been crying. Her eyes were red, and her hands shook as she gave him the note. He read it, and anger flared to life within him. The real killer was out there, and he was playing games with Joe’s life. Unfortunately, that idiot Will Merianos would never believe it. He was out to make a name for himself, and he wouldn’t even think about looking for someone else in the murder investigation.

His phone rang while he was talking to Ron and his granddaughter, but he let it go to voice mail. It was not until he was almost back to the sheriff’s office with the note that he remembered the call. He pulled off to the side of the road and checked his phone. Rosina had left him a message. He listened to it with growing concern. Then he called her back.

“Bo, somebody put a note on my door while I was visiting Joe at the jail,” she said the moment he answered.

“This is unbelievable. Someone wants to make sure Joe is convicted!” he said. “I’m just coming from Ron Brady’s farm. Melia found a note on the barn door. Read me the one you have.”

“Just a minute. It’s still on the door. I didn’t want to touch it,” she said. “I’ll take a picture of it and text it to you.”

Bo had a feeling he knew what it contained. He quickly turned his car around and headed Rosina’s way. “You do that,” he said, “but read it to me anyway.” When she read it to him a moment later, the anger he’d felt over Melia’s note doubled. The killer was brazen, and Bo feared he would stop at nothing to make sure Joe was convicted of the murder that this scumbag, whoever he was, had most likely committed.

Whoever the guy was, he was apparently pretty sure of himself because he was clearly keeping track of Joe’s family and friends and harassing them. But what worried Bo the most was the fact that there was a chance Joe could be in real danger in the jail. He picked up the second note from Rosina and then drove to the sheriff’s office to find Detective Merianos. He reported what he’d found to him and gave him the notes.

“This does look fishy in a way, but then again,” Merianos said, “as much as I hate to say this, your cousin is almost certainly guilty. But don’t worry, I’ll look into this.”

Bo had tried to follow the sheriff’s orders and stay out of the case, but he couldn’t stop himself from arguing with the detective. And he doubted that Merianos would truly follow up on the notes. In the detective’s mind, he had a slam-dunk case and probably would not want to jeopardize it. “Why would Joe put the body in a trunk in his own house, leave blood around, and call me to come in if he knew the man he’d killed was hidden in his house? Detective, it just doesn’t make sense,” Bo argued. “And these notes should tell you something.”

“Bo, you should know by now that criminals are not the brightest people in the world,” Detective Merianos said flippantly. “Maybe the notes are someone’s idea of a morbid joke. They probably mean nothing.”

“This is my cousin we’re talking about, Will. I know him well, and he’s not stupid. I don’t for one minute believe he’s a killer, but if he was, he wouldn’t do something this idiotic,” Bo said.

“Bo, you need to back away from this case like the sheriff told you to. You are too close to Joe to be objective,” the detective reminded him.

“Okay, I will. But I did get the call on these notes here,” he said, pointing at the papers, which he had enclosed in evidence bags where Detective Merianos had dropped them on his desk. “I had to deal with them, and now, I’ve given them to you, but I think you should make sure that Joe is safe in the jail.”

“These are nothing to worry about,” the detective said dismissively. “Maybe whoever typed these notes was a friend of the victim and simply wants to make sure justice is carried out.”

“You may want to check them for fingerprints,” Bo suggested.

“Deputy, I know my job. But crooks aren’t always stupid. I’m sure whoever put these on the doors they were found on wore gloves,” Detective Merianos said.

Bo couldn’t help himself. “You just said criminals are stupid. Now you say they aren’t.”

Merianos glared at him. “Hey, Bo, leave it. I didn’t say the person who wrote the notes was a criminal. Just the friend of one: namely Emil Eifler.”

Bo knew he’d better shut up, so he simply turned and left Merianos’s office. He didn’t have any idea what Merianos would do with the notes, but as a precaution, Bo had photographed them both with his cell phone and then emailed them to his personal email account.

Back in his patrol car, he worried that he’d probably gone too far with Merianos, but then he was convinced the detective was being stubborn and extremely shortsighted by not wanting to consider that he didn’t have an open-and-shut case. But he didn’t want to make matters worse for Joe. He made up his mind right then that even though he was off the case officially, he could and would do some sleuthing on his own time, very quiet sleuthing.

In the meantime, despite knowing it would possibly jeopardize his career, he headed for the jail. He was turned away after being told that the jail staff had received instructions Bo was not to be admitted at the jail to visit Joe while on duty. When off duty, he could come only during regular visiting hours. Detective Merianos had left those instructions. Frustrated, Bo returned to his regular duties.

Monday morning, Joe was brought before the judge. His attorney, Mr. Tokery, requested that bail be set for his client. The prosecutor strenuously objected, and a hearing was set for the next morning during which both sides could argue the matter before the judge.

With discouragement written all over their faces, Ron, Melia, Rosina, and Karmen left the courtroom. Bo Buckley was on duty and was unable to attend.

The killer was a short distance from the courthouse, heavily disguised, watching who came and went. He shook his head. Clearly the notes he had delivered were being disregarded. Well, he told himself, they had been warned. What happened after this would be their fault.

The killer waited until visiting hours that afternoon and then went to the jail. Heavily disguised again and using a false ID, he visited an inmate by the name of Gus Hammond, a big, strong man with a very violent criminal history. They talked very softly as the killer applied pressure to the inmate without revealing why he was making the request or, rather, giving the order. The killer made it clear to Hammond that he had better do as he was told or there would be consequences. The inmate, a man who relished violence, readily agreed. Not that he had much choice. Gus was being blackmailed, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t enjoy what he’d been told to do.

Joe was in an exercise area with some other inmates who were awaiting trial on their cases. One of them, an inmate the others called Gus, began to taunt him. At first Joe ignored the taunts, but it became more difficult when the other inmates joined in with Gus. Gus was a natural bully. And he was a large man at well over six feet tall and at least two-hundred fifty pounds. The other inmates sided with Gus. Probably for their own safety.

They all crowded around Joe so that the cameras, if there were any pointing at them, wouldn’t catch any violence that might occur. Joe felt a shiver of fear. He couldn’t imagine why Gus would want to pick on him. But it didn’t matter. Joe could tell that Gus was trying to goad him into throwing the first punch. He resisted, but suddenly Gus shouted, “Hey, you guys see that? Joe hit me.”

Before Joe could proclaim his innocence, Gus hit him hard in the face. It felt like he’d been kicked by a horse, and he reeled back into the men crowded around.

He straightened up and tried to fight back, but that punch left him woozy, and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. Gus had no intention of allowing that, and he threw a flurry of punches that laid Joe out on the floor. He curled into a ball as Gus, joined by others, began to kick and stomp on him. Suddenly, someone shouted that the corrections officers were coming. Gus leaned low and hissed, “You tell them I did this, and next time, you’ll die.” Then Gus and the other inmates stepped back to the far side of the room, leaving Joe writhing in pain on the floor.

As he was being carried from the room, he could hear one of the officers asking the other inmates what had happened. They all spoke at once, blaming Joe for punching Gus. Joe knew that even if he told them what had happened, no one would believe him. He, on the other hand, believed Gus’s threat. He didn’t want to die, so he said nothing.

A nurse checked him out and reported that nothing was broken and that he would be okay. He was placed in an isolation cell after she gave him some pain pills. He lay on his bunk, curled up and in pain. He felt like crying, but he did not. He just couldn’t understand why he was in so much trouble.

Bo went to the jail that evening after his shift and asked to see Joe. He was told that Joe was in an isolation cell for starting a fight and would not be allowed to have any visitors. When Bo asked who he started a fight with, he was told that Joe had punched Gus Hammond. Bo knew who Gus was and so also knew this couldn’t be true. If Joe was stupid enough to start a fight, it wouldn’t be with a violent and tough man like Gus.

After leaving the jail, Bo called Dylan Tokery, Joe’s defense attorney. He explained what had happened. “I know Joe very well,” Bo said. “There’s no way he would start a fight. They won’t let me talk to him, but they can’t stop you.”

“I’ll go right now,” Dylan said. “I hope he’ll tell me what really happened.”

“I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t,” Bo said. “Please, will you call me as soon as you finish meeting with Joe? I’m worried about him.”

“I think I’m going to be able to get him out on bail tomorrow,” Dylan said. “His boss, Ron Brady, has agreed to do whatever he has to in order to raise what’s needed to pay a bondsman.”

“If the judge will agree to bail, you mean.”

“Yeah, there is that,” Dylan agreed. “But I think I can get him to. I’m sure going to give it my best shot. I’ll call you later.”

Bo answered his phone as soon as he saw it was Dylan calling him back. It had been over an hour, and he was tense with worry. “Deputy Buckley,” Dylan began, “I’m afraid this is more serious than I thought. Joe has been badly beaten. According to the nurse, he didn’t have any broken bones, but he is badly bruised and has a black eye, a bruised kidney, a bloody lip, and a hurt mouth.”

“Did he say why he started the fight?” Bo asked.

“He refused to talk about it, but I’m sure he didn’t start it,” the defense attorney said.

“He has a bail hearing tomorrow. Is he going to be able to be there?” Bo asked.

“He says he is, and he hopes he can get out. He may have been accused of starting the fight, but Joe is terrified. Frankly, Deputy, I believe his life is in danger in the jail. This will give me more ammunition to argue for bail.”

“What else are you going to argue?” Bo asked.

“Well, the killing took place in Joe’s own home. The victim had clearly broken in. If Joe killed him, and I’m sure he didn’t, it would certainly make an argument for self-defense possible,” Dylan said. “I will also point out that he has no previous record of any kind of crimes. His past is clean as a whistle.”

“I’ll be on duty, but I’m going to try to be there,” Bo said.

As soon as his call with Dylan Tokery ended, he called Rosina and told her what had happened. She was understandably incensed and extremely worried.

“I’m going to go help Mr. Brady and Melia this afternoon,” she said. “I’ll tell them what happened.”

“Then I won’t call them,” Bo said. “I’ll leave it to you.”