The Travelling Detective: Boxed Set Read online

  Elizabeth worried about leaving him to come on this trip, but he insisted she go, saying, “Life has to go on.” She wished he would take his own advice.

  Thankfully, her twin siblings, Sherry and Terry, promised to help Sally keep an eye on him. So, deciding she would phone him often, she continued with her plans.

  As soon as her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Elizabeth had gone to her own doctor with the information and had been sent for a mammogram. It had come back negative. Taking that as proof that the disease wasn’t hereditary, her younger sister, Sherry, refused to tell her doctor the news and have a mammogram herself. She’d said that according to all the facts, women her age didn’t get breast cancer. And, besides, she would start doing the monthly self-exams. No amount of pressure from her family could make her change her mind.

  However, when Elizabeth had made her goodbye phone calls to her siblings the night before, Sherry had said she was going to see her doctor on Monday for a check-up and to finally have the mammogram everyone was after her to get.

  She’d been so caught up in her leaving that it wasn’t until this morning she wondered what had made Sherry rethink her decision. Elizabeth was afraid she might have discovered something during one of her self-exams. She resolved to phone her first thing tonight and ask.

  As Elizabeth passed the junction with Secondary Highway (SH) 785 that went west to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, she focused on her trip again. Soon after, she crossed the sedately flowing Oldman River. At the Crowsnest Highway she turned left and drove into Fort Macleod. She had a room booked at the Prairie Bed and Breakfast just south of the town. She liked staying at B&Bs. She usually got a lot of information about the local area from the people who owned them.

  The Crowsnest Highway divided in Fort Macleod and Elizabeth followed it to the east end where she knew the tourist information centre was located. Shirley McNealy, co-owner of the B&B, had given her directions starting from the centre. Elizabeth also wanted to pick up some brochures and pamphlets to read before beginning her exploration the next morning.

  “Good afternoon,” the woman behind the counter said.

  “Hi,” Elizabeth answered, cheerfully. It felt good to be out of her vehicle after that long drive.

  “You’ve certainly picked a lovely day to visit our town.”

  “It is warm out there.”

  “Would you like to sign our guest book?” The woman indicated the open book on the counter.

  Elizabeth wrote her name in the name column and Edmonton in the residence column. Some places liked to keep track of how many visitors they had during the summer.

  The woman waited and when Elizabeth finished, asked. “Are you staying or passing through?”

  “I’m booked at the Prairie Bed and Breakfast. I just stopped in here for some information.”

  “Oh.” She looked at her watch. “My shift is almost over. If you don’t mind waiting until then, you can follow me out there.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to do that,” Elizabeth protested. She’d always found the volunteer staff at these small town information centres very helpful and friendly but this was being too nice. “Shirley McNealy gave me directions.”

  The woman shook her head at Elizabeth. “Shirley is my daughter and I’m going out there anyway.”

  While she waited, Elizabeth picked up a few brochures on the town. “Fort Macleod was the first North West Mounted Police outpost built in the west,” one of them began. She read on with interest, but was interrupted a few minutes later by the woman bustling out from behind the counter.

  “My name is Peggy Wilson,” she said. She was short, slightly overweight, with immaculately styled grey hair and a bit of rouge on her cheeks. She reminded Elizabeth of her favourite aunt.

  “I’m Elizabeth Oliver,” she replied, stuffing the brochure she was reading in her jeans pocket and gathering up the others. She followed Peggy out the door. As soon as she stepped into the sunshine, Chevy’s sharp barking erupted from across the parking lot. Peggy looked over at the sound.

  “My dog,” Elizabeth said.

  “He’s cute,” Peggy smiled. “My granddaughter is going to love having him there.”

  Shirley hadn’t said anything about children, but Chevy loved playing with kids, so the granddaughter would be a bonus.

  “How long are you staying at Shirley’s?” Peggy asked, as they walked in the hot sun.

  “It really depends on how well my research goes,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve booked a room until Thursday.”

  “What research is this?” Peggy looked up at her.

  It felt so good to be able to say this. “I’m a travel writer and I’m working on an article about the Crowsnest Highway.” Until this year, she’d been hesitant to admit what she did. She wasn’t sure if having a couple of magazine articles published was enough to qualify her as a writer.

  “A writer.” She stopped and scrutinized Elizabeth as if looking for a sign of proof. “I’ve never met a writer before.”

  Just then a vehicle entered the lot. It stopped beside them and the woman driver rolled down her window. Elizabeth could feel the cool blast from the air conditioning.

  “Peggy, I thought that was you,” the woman said then looked pointedly up at Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth had noticed that in small towns people want to meet anyone they see with a friend.

  “Corrine Duncan, this is Elizabeth Oliver,” Peggy announced. “She’s a writer.”

  “A writer? How exciting. What do you write?” Corrine asked, as she used her hand to shade her eyes against the sun.

  Before Elizabeth could answer, Peggy cut in. “She’s a travel writer and she’s doing an article about the Crowsnest Highway.”

  “Are you going to mention Fort Macleod?” Corrine asked.

  “Yes, it’s on my list,” Elizabeth said, with a smile

  “Well, make sure you include our museum and the Empress Theatre.”

  “I’m certainly going to visit them.” This woman seemed a little pushy.

  “Fort Macleod’s history is definitely well worth mentioning. I’m sure Peggy knows most of it but if she can’t answer all your questions, you can try me.”

  “We must be going,” Peggy said, abruptly, stepping back from the car.

  “Where are you staying?” Corrine asked, ignoring Peggy.

  “She’s staying at Shirley’s B&B,” Peggy answered, crisply. “I’m showing her how to get out there now.”

  “Nice to have met you, Elizabeth,” Corrine said and drove away.

  Elizabeth only had time to nod and step back from the window.

  “If I can’t answer your questions, there are other people I would recommend before her,” Peggy commented, as they continued to her car.

  I guess they aren’t very good friends after all, Elizabeth thought, a little surprised. Funny, how her first impression of Peggy had made her seem like the type of person who would get along with everyone.

  Peggy stopped at a blue sedan while Elizabeth carried on to where her Tracker sat in the shade of a large poplar tree. Chevy had his head out the window and was panting from all the barking he’d been doing. She patted him then shooed him over to the other side. With a flick of her wrist she flung the brochures into the back before climbing in and starting the vehicle.

  Elizabeth followed Peggy’s car onto Highway 2 heading south towards Stand Off and Cardston. It wasn’t long before Peggy slowed and turned left onto a gravel road. A short way along they came upon a car parked on the side of the road with two men next to it, waving their arms.

  One was tall and slim and looked to be in his sixties while the other was shorter and heavy set. He appeared to be around forty and seemed quite agitated. Peggy stopped and Elizabeth did the same behind her. The older man leaned over to speak to Peggy. She shook her head, but pointed back to the Tracker. Elizabeth rolled down her window as he came up to it.

  Chevy immediately began to bark and lunged at the window. Elizabeth grabbed h
im and told him to hush. He quit barking but emitted a low growl as the man, standing back from the window, asked if she had a cell phone.

  She took it out of its case and handed it to him. “Is something wrong?” she asked, but he didn’t answer as he made his call. With some cell phones, the speaker’s voice on the other end seems to echo in the receiver while with others, the person’s voice can be heard across a room. Elizabeth’s phone was the latter type and she could hear every word spoken.

  “Hello, Ace Developers,” a woman said.

  “I need to talk to Ed Bowman.” The man’s voice sounded tired and listless.

  “May I ask who is calling?”

  “Dick Pearson. Tell him it’s important.”

  Elizabeth looked around at the hay fields, and wondered what was so urgent out here in the middle of nowhere that this man would need to phone someone about it.

  Dick paced back and forth a few steps while he waited.

  “Hello, Dick,” Ed Bowman’s voice boomed. “What seems to be the problem?”

  “I’ve found a bone in one of the septic tanks.”

  “A bone? What kind of bone?”

  “I think it’s a human leg bone.”

  That would certainly qualify as an urgent problem! Elizabeth was suddenly attentive.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ed sounded irritated. “How do you know?”

  Dick looked over the hood of Elizabeth’s vehicle and she followed his gaze. A sewage suction truck sat in an overgrown yard with a hose running to what she suspected was the septic tank.

  He closed his eyes tight, as if trying to erase the memory, then opened them. “It looks like one to me.”

  “Is there only one bone?”

  “So far.”

  “Look, we don’t need any more bad publicity. Why don’t you see if there are any more and call me back.”

  “I think you should come now before the police get here.”

  “Have you called them?” Ed asked, hastily

  “No.”

  “Well, don’t call them yet. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  Chapter 2

  Peggy wrapped her hands around the top of the steering wheel and rested her head on them while she waited for Dick to come back and tell her what was wrong. She could ask Arnie but after what he and his group had done, she wanted nothing more to do with him.

  She was tired. It had been a long day and she’d been woken up late last night by a phone call. She’d let the answering machine pick it up and was disheartened to hear the person say, “Oink. Oink.” into the machine and then hang up. It had been almost two weeks since she’d heard that. She’d thought they had given up once the National Resource Conservation Board had pronounced that the sale could go through. Maybe they’d wanted to wake her up, harass her, let her know one last time that they were still against the barn. She hoped that was the only reason.

  Lifting her head, she watched in her rear view mirror as Dick handed the cell phone back to Elizabeth before walking up to her window.

  “Peggy.”

  She looked up at him. He was pale under his tan. This was not going to be good.

  “Peggy, I found what I think is a human leg bone in the old septic tank.”

  “A leg bone?” Peggy was puzzled. “Are you sure?”

  “Not one hundred percent, but close.”

  “How would a leg bone get in there?”

  “I don’t know. I just called Ed Bowman to come out and see it before I phone the police.”

  “The police?”

  “Why did you call Ed first?” Arnie interrupted rudely, coming up behind Dick.

  Dick straightened up. “Because the corporation he represents owns the place now.”

  “That doesn’t matter. If it’s a human bone the police should be called immediately. We could be talking murder here. They have to look for evidence.”

  Dick sighed. “If it is murder, any evidence is long gone.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Why were you draining the tank?” she asked Dick, when the argument was over.

  “The new owners want the tanks and the buildings removed so they can begin work.”

  “You’d think with all the stink they’ll be raising, two old septic tanks wouldn’t have mattered,” Arnie laughed.

  Neither of the others joined him.

  “Well, I’m going to call the police,” Arnie said, heading back towards Elizabeth’s vehicle.

  “He’s enjoying this, isn’t he?” Peggy said to Dick, after Arnie had walked away.

  “It looks like it.”

  “He’ll probably use it as another opportunity for his group to start protesting again.”

  “I don’t see why. They can’t stop the sale anymore.”

  “They’re still upset about it. Someone phoned me last night and did the ‘Oink, Oink’ thing.”

  “Again?” Dick asked, concern in his voice. He bent over and leaned his forearms on the frame of open window. “Why didn’t you call me? I’d have been there in minutes.”

  “It was only the once.”

  “Did you at least report it to the police?”

  Peggy shook her head. “They couldn’t do anything about it before.”

  “I wonder why they started again. It’s not as if it will prevent anything.”

  “I guess they just want to remind me that they didn’t like what I did.”

  “Are you going to stay here and wait for the police?”

  Peggy looked at her watch. She still had time and really she should find out for sure what was happening.

  “I’ll wait.”

  Elizabeth watched Dick go up to Peggy’s window and talk to her. When the second man followed and started laughing she took that as an indication that maybe it wasn’t as serious as she first thought. She changed her mind again when he came over, introduced himself, and asked to borrow her cell phone so he could call the police.

  Peggy drove her car over on the side of the road and Elizabeth, being curious, pulled in behind her. She got out and, putting Chevy on his leash, went to where Peggy and Dick stood in silence at Peggy’s car. It was still hot but a wind had begun to blow. Arnie came up and handed her the phone, and then walked off again. Dick excused himself and wandered away.

  “Whose place is this?” Elizabeth asked Peggy, as they rested against her car.

  “It used to be mine.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  She didn’t say anything more and Elizabeth couldn’t think of anything to fill the silence, so as they waited she studied the yard. The garage looked like it had once been a house. It had wood siding that long ago had been painted yellow. A section of the wall facing the road had been cut out and it looked like there was room for two vehicles inside. The windows were broken but the shingles seemed in good shape.

  Further back, a faded red barn slanted precariously to one side with its doors open at an odd angle, as if hanging off the hinges. Most of the roof had disappeared. Beside it were two sheds in similar condition. The yard was overgrown with heavy prairie grass and the lilac bushes, that once must have been a lovely trimmed hedge, were tall and spindly.

  She smiled at the sign on the side of the septic truck: Sucks To Be Me. Whenever the breeze blew in their direction she caught a whiff of the septic tank odour.

  She took Chevy for a short walk down the road and back then tied him to the fender where he could be in the shade. She gave him his water and food.

  A black Lincoln Continental arrived about fifteen minutes later. Must be Ed Bowman, thought Elizabeth. He was a large, florid man dressed in a gray suit and white shirt even on this warm day. He had gold rings on the third finger of each hand and a full head of dark brown hair. Elizabeth fleetingly wondered if it was real.

  Dick and Ed walked into the yard with Arnie right behind. Elizabeth, knowing it was none of her business, couldn’t resist following at a discreet distance, but Peggy remained by her car. They all stayed upwind of the tank, which
helped lessen the smell a little. Ed held a handkerchief over his face as he looked down at the bone. He sighed and swore under his breath. “Call the police,” he said.

  “They’ve already been called,” Dick said.

  Ed turned to him. “I asked you not to phone them until I got here.”

  “I made the call,” Arnie said, defiantly. “They should have been the first to know.”

  Ed looked at him then went to his car to use the phone. The others walked back to stand beside Peggy.

  “I’m sorry, Peggy,” Dick said. He put his arm around her shoulders.

  “How did you find it?” Peggy asked, leaning against him. “I thought that hose sucked up everything.”

  “While the hose was sucking I went and stood by the house. When I went back to check how much was left, I saw the bone. I was just wondering what to do when Arnie came along.”

  “Yes.” Arnie continued the tale. “And let me tell you it was a shock to see the bone. We were trying to decide who would go into town and get the police when you drove up.” He looked at her. “Do you know who it could be, Peggy?”

  Peggy shook her head. “No. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, this used to be your property.”

  Nothing more was said, but Elizabeth’s mind had kicked into detective mode almost without her realizing it as a number of questions immediately came to mind. For example, she wanted to ask if they knew of anyone who had disappeared in the past few years. It didn’t seem like a very busy town. If it was a human body, they’d probably have some ideas who it might be, but she doubted that anyone would answer her. After all, she was virtually a stranger.

  Then she snickered. Wasn’t it just this morning that she was telling herself she was going to stick to her plans this trip? But, then again, she didn’t have to get involved. She could just keep up with what was happening while she was here.

  Finally, Dick said. “I’ve decided to sell my business.”

  “Do you have a buyer?” Peggy asked, perking up a bit.

  “Yes. Ben Drummond wants to expand his trucking business. He made an offer for my truck but nothing else. If I don’t sell, he’ll probably just buy a septic truck and start his own business.”