The Tamarack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Read Free Book Online Page A

at all. Oh, this lady gobbling down your wife’s banana bread is FBI Agent Angela Phelps.”
    Angie stood up, smiled, and stuck out her hand.
    â€œFBI! I must be moving up in the world.” Shanks shook Angie’s hand.
    â€œHow did it go at the school?” Sil asked.
    â€œThat first grade teacher is a mousy creature and didn’t have a clue about handling little Grid. So I had a chat with the principal, and he moved the boy up to second grade, even though he’s just turned six. That second-grade teacher has some steel in her, and she and little Grid hit it right off. I think I’m done with that problem. You got any children, Sheriff?”
    â€œNo, my wife died ten years ago, and I never remarried.”
    â€œSorry. I knew that and forgot. So what brings you out here to the wilderness?”
    Tully sat back down and took a sip of coffee. “A piece of flagging tape we found tied to a tree not too far from a murder victim.”
    â€œOh, oh. What did the murder victim look like?”
    â€œA young fellow. Vergil Stone by name. Lost his job a while back. We think he was involved in the bank robbery, but we can’t be sure.”
    â€œWhat about the flagging tape brought you out here? There are strips of the stuff strung all over the county.”
    â€œThis one had your fingerprint on it.”
    Sil sucked in her breath.
    Shanks frowned and thought for a moment. “I’ve got pieces of property all over Blight County. But I don’t mark them with flagging tape. Hey, this tape didn’t happen to be hanging from a tree limb out on Canyon Crick Road, did it?”
    â€œThat’s the one.”
    Shanks laughed. “That tape does mark some property I own. A couple fellows I met the other night asked if they could hunt elk there. I told them they could. I own about two hundred acres on the side of Chimney Rock Mountain. I put up the piece of tape to show these fellows the middle of my property, which reaches up to the crest. I told them to make sure they hunt that part of the mountain, because the owners on either side of mine get a little upset with trespassers. Anyway, there’s a game trail up near the chimney. Elk use it sometimes, when they get run out of the canyon on the other side of the ridge. If these two fellows went over the ridge and dropped down into the canyon, they would be on Forest Service land. It’s a hellhole down there and the elk love it. Just about anybody could shoot an elk there, but it would take a real hunter to pack it out. These two talked the talk of real hunters.”
    â€œYou think they might have been hunting on the mountain yesterday morning?”
    â€œThat was the plan. I ran into them the other night over at Slade’s. That’s a bar on the north side.”
    â€œI know it well,” Tully said.
    â€œI bet you do, Sheriff. Anyway, we got to talking elk, and I told them a herd had been hanging around my property. They asked if they could hunt it. I don’t have anything against elk, mind you, but I told them they could hunt there and that I would mark the middle of my land with flagging tape. And that’s what I did.”
    Tully said, “If they were out there yesterday morning, they might have noticed something useful to us. We don’t have much. Those two hunters, they hang out at Slade’s on a regular basis?”
    â€œDon’t know. The other night was the first time I’ve seen them there. Only talked to them the once. They’re not from around here, but I don’t recall they mentioned where they did come from. They said they would see me back there tonight to let me know how the hunt went.”
    â€œMaybe you could meet me there and arrange an introduction, if the two of them show up again?”
    â€œYou buying, Sheriff?”
    Tully laughed. “No, Grid, the county’s buying.”
    â€œExcellent! I’ll get the use of some of my tax money. I think they