Murder For Lease

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Murder For Lease - book excerpt

One

“Why don’t they make things simple anymore?” Wilbur muttered to himself. The engine in his new tractor looked more like a computer than the engines he was used to working on in his dilapidated barn. He peered at the part in his hand and couldn’t find a place for it to go even though he took it off the engine less than an hour before.

Wilbur never heard the blow coming. He felt the tire iron strike his skull just above the temple. Blood gushed from the open wound. He tried to cry out, but the words wouldn’t transmit from his addled brain to his mouth. When he rolled over, he recognized his assailant.

“You sorry—” No more words would form.

The assailant struck him once again. This time the blow indented Wilbur’s forehead, knocking him flat on his back. The assailant sprinted out of the barn.

Wilbur tried to reach out to an item lying on the ground beside him. In his last seconds on the earth, he circled his fingers around an old familiar can of oil.

Two

“Who in the world would want to kill Mr. Wilbur?” Sam asked to no one in particular. Several of her county deputies were milling around Wilbur Barrow’s old barn. Her fiancée, Wade Dalton, assisted her in the search for clues. He answered the rhetorical question.

“Somebody that didn’t like him, I reckon.”

“Wow. You went to the FBI Academy to reach those sorts of conclusions? What else did they teach you?”

“I haven’t been with the Agency for a while now.”

“Maybe you should take a refresher course.”

“Nah. I’d rather watch Evergreen’s finest work the crime scene. I’ll go over in the shade and stay out of the way.”

“Wade, we need all the help we can get. I don’t know anyone in the county who had anything against Mr. Wilbur. He was one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.”

“I’m gonna help. I just like to rile you now and then.”

“A murder riles me enough. You don’t have to add to it.”

“Have you spoken to Mrs. Barrow yet?”

“Not yet. Want to go with me?”

“Sure.”

The couple followed the twisting trail from the barn to the wooden house. Several neighbors were already there, comforting Martha Barrow. Sam didn’t bother to knock. She went directly to the recent widow seated on the soft couch.

“Miss Martha, is there anything I can get you?”

The elderly lady stared at Sam with blank eyes. She did not respond to the question.

“Perhaps you should try a little later, Dear.” One lady standing next to the grieving lady suggested.

“Okay. Tell her I’ll be back again tomorrow.”

“That went over well.” Wade said on the way back down the trail.

“She just lost everything near and dear to her. I understand how shocking it must be to find your husband of more than forty years lying in a pool of blood in your barn. I hope I never find you in a similar circumstance—unless I put you in it.” She started laughing, breaking the tension of the afternoon.

Wade was glad to see her relax a little. The seemingly random killing was unsettling for the entire community, especially for Sam, the county Sheriff. After a quick survey of the scene and watching the Medical Examiner load the body into his van, Wade and Sam left in his pickup truck.

“Want to get something to eat?”

“Sure. How about the Evergreen Café?”

Wade grinned. “No problem. We haven’t been there since yesterday.”

“Was it yesterday? I must be getting old.”

“Yeah. Losing it all at twenty-three. Almost a quarter of a century. I don’t know how you get around anymore without your walking cane. Want me to carry you into the restaurant?”

Sam picked up a bottle cap from the truck seat and threw it at Wade.

“I’ll manage somehow.”