Death at the Trade Show: Target Practice Mysteries 3 (11 page)

Tony slammed the table with a hand, and I almost fell out of my seat as I jumped. He pointed at me. “I knew it. I knew there was something off, but no one believed me.”

I had a hand at my chest. “Sorry, you startled me.”

“I thought something was off but couldn’t prove it. I don’t have time to watch every episode of every show, but I started hearing about these unbelievable animals he was getting during public-land hunts, and after seeing the pictures, I started to think that maybe they literally were unbelievable.”

“What’s a public-land hunt?” I looked between Mary and Tony. “Sorry, I don’t hunt.”

Mary shook her head. “Super, super-simple explanation of hunting. You get a tag for a particular kind of animal, like a bull elk, for a certain section at a certain time. In the section is public land like national forests and BLM rangeland, and there’s private land, which is just that, land owned by people. Anyone can hunt public land if they have the proper tag, but you need landowner permission to hunt private land. Otherwise you’re trespassing, which is a huge deal.”

I nodded along. “And why is a big animal on public land unbelievable?”

Tony answered, “Anyone can hunt on public land, so you have a lot of people trampling through the woods, looking for a few animals. The pressure often pushes the animals off public land onto private, where there might only be a couple of people. You
can
get monsters on public land, but it’s a lot harder and doesn’t happen as often. A private hunt doesn’t guarantee you anything unless it’s a canned hunt, which we don’t allow, but your odds are better, especially at these places that are charging five or ten thousand for a hunt.”

“Ten thousand?”

“Yep, though for a hunting show they normally lower the fee and/or trade exposure on the show. How do I explain this?” He tapped his fist on his chin while staring off into the distance. “It wasn’t just that he got his huge bucks on supposedly public hunts; something just felt off. His early seasons were all really typical animals, then there was a season with one monster, then the next season everything he killed was a monster. Every animal was bigger than the last, every time. The episodes felt choppy. Sometimes the areas where he shot the animal looked really different than the camp, or he wouldn’t show the camp at all. I can never prove it, but the whole thing made me think something was off or wrong. And we’re not even getting into the difficulty of drawing tags for certain areas; that’s a whole different situation.”

Mary nodded along. “Yeah, I just gave the most general description I could. The reality is far more complicated than I can explain in a few sentences, for sure. So
Hunting with Cash
moved to another channel?”

“Yes, he came into negotiations and tried to play hardball. He wanted the best timeslot. Said this next season was going to blow the last season away, which only made me more nervous. In the end, I couldn’t give him the timeslot or price he wanted, and I was pleased when he said he’d be here negotiating a new timeslot with other channels. I think that was supposed to intimidate me.”

There was a knock on the door, and the blonde stuck her head in. “So sorry to interrupt, but, Tony, your next appointment’s here and waiting.”

Mary shut her notebook and packed it away. “We’ll get going. Thank you so much.”

Tony shook our hands. “Did you get everything you need? We got a bit off track at the end. If you need any more information, stop on by or email me.” He handed a card to Mary.

We left the booth and headed outside to give Moo a chance to stretch his legs. I mulled over what Tony had explained.

“Watson, I think Cash was killed because of this whole TV show business, but I’m not sure who or why. I just don’t know enough about hunting shows. ”

I smiled at her. “I still think Hannah is suspect number one, but you could be right, Sherlock. Let’s try to logic this out. If he lied, I’m sure people would be pissed, but who would want to kill him?”

“Sponsors of the show? It would make them look bad if one of their hunters was caught being unethical, but killing still seems extreme. What about someone on staff?”

“Wasn’t Cold his camera person last season? Oh man, I would love if it was Cold; he’s such a huge jerk. Maybe it was Hannah and Cold together?”

“Could be, and that would get a thorn out of my side, but… I wish I knew more. What we really need is someone that could really explain what would happen if he really did do what Tony thinks he did.”

I stopped and pointed at a camo booth we were passing. “Ask and you shall receive. Look.”

CHAPTER SIX

Jillian was in a camouflage booth, listlessly poking at a row of fluffy socks.

Mary rubbed her hands together. “Perfect.” She walked over to Jillian. “Hey, Jillian. How was the rest of your morning?”

She looked up with a smile. “Hey. Good to see you both. I’m”—she stepped in a bit closer and looked around—“about to lose my mind. I’m not used to standing around for hours, doing nothing.”

“Don’t you have people to talk to?” I wondered. “Making deals and such?”

She shrugged. “We’ve finished all our meetings. Now we are just looking at products or potential sponsors; you always need more. That’s not really my job, which is good because most people want to talk to Jack and Vinny anyways. I’m awful at small talk.” She poked at some long underwear.

“Mary and I were just heading outside to give Moo a walk for a few minutes. Why don’t you come with us?”

“Oh…” She dragged the word out and looked at her husband and Vinny in a conversation with a salesman. “I probably shouldn’t…” She looked at me with raised eyebrows, her head tipped to the left.

“Yes, you should. It’s cold outside, so we won’t be long. You’ll be back in no time. Plus, you can help us with another question with the article.

“Perfect.” She turned, darted over to her husband, and returned. “Ready to go.”

We fell into step as we moved toward the front entrance. A few dozen yards later, Moo barked loudly. Jillian leaped in the air and landed a few feet away, a hand on her chest. “Good gracious, he’s loud.”

I looked, and sure enough, Karma was visible. “Shhh, Moo. No barking. Sorry about that. Moo’s a bit freaked out by that big white yeti target over there.”

Jillian turned around to see Karma towering over the trade show floor. “Oh. I imagine that’s pretty terrifying to a dog.”

We walked out and grabbed her coat then stepped into the crisp winter air. She took a deep breath. “Feels nice not to be inside for a bit. Did you say that you had more interview questions?”

I looked at Mary and nodded my head toward Jillian, urging Mary to ask the question while I gave Moo a long leash to sniff the small patch of grass.

“We’re trying to get a feel for how this all works, so we have a hypothetical question. What would happen if a TV hunter said he was hunting on public but was really on private land?”

Jillian’s eyebrows scrunched up, and she frowned at Mary. “What would happen?”

I volunteered, “Like ramifications in the industry? Who’d be mad at him? How would it affect the show? That kinda thing.”

Jillian nodded. “And this is a hypothetical situation?”

I jumped in, wanting to be accurate without revealing our thoughts about Cash’s show. “We were talking to Tony Moore at Real Outdoor Adventures, and the topic came up about shows misrepresenting a private hunt as a public hunt. We don’t know enough to understand.”

Her eyes lit up when we mentioned Tony. “Tony’s great. He’s our contact at the channel as well. So, hypothetically”—she looked each of us in the eyes before continuing—“it would depend on the exact details, because what he… or she, I suppose…did could be illegal. All the outdoors shows edit to put their best foot forward, but you are asking about flat-out lying, right? Saying that the animal was shot in the national forest but really it was shot miles away at a private-land hunt?”

We nodded.

“It’d probably ruin their reputation if the news got out. Without knowing the exact situation, I’m just guessing, but this is the kind of thing that sends the industry into fits. Photoshopping. Poaching. Basically anything that doesn’t fall under the category of ‘honest, ethical sportsmanship’ can just kill a career. They’ll lose their sponsors and timeslot. It seems to be happening more and more, but it might just be that with the Internet these things are easier to discover and spread the word about.”

“Why do people risk it?” Mary wondered.

“Greed, I assume? People get away with it and figure that if it worked once, then they can do it again. But that’s ridiculous; people usually notice but don’t say anything. Sometimes we hear things. Just that a deer is too good to be true for a certain location, or the story doesn’t add up, that kinda thing. But I’m not going to risk my reputation accusing someone without proof. Actually, I’d never accuse someone personally, but others will. I never want to get in the middle of a mud fight; everyone gets dirty, even those in the right.”

I removed a blue plastic bag from Moo’s backpack as he started his complicated potty dance. We moved farther away so he could carefully sniff each blade of grass while I kept my attention on the conversation.

“Geez, it’s getting cold.” Jillian looked over at Moo. After a few seconds, she continued. “On top of everything else, it would be expensive.”

“How so?” Mary rubbed her arms with her hands and bounced lightly on the balls of her feet in the brisk air.

“We film some of our episodes on private land. We normally trade the hunt for publicity for the outfitters, the people that run the hunt. We might say, ‘We’re here at the beautiful Such-and-such Ranch, where we are guided by the amazing So-and-so Outfitters.’ We don’t pay for the hunt, and they get a free commercial. But if you weren’t going to advertise for them, then you would need to pay for the hunt. For ten episodes, that would be quite a lot of money. Plus, the risk’s huge that the outfitters would recognize the hunt and out you. I don’t know how the situation could work out long term. It would cost a ton of money.”

Moo finished up his business, and I threw away his mess then joined them. “Couldn’t you use money from the sponsors to pay for the hunts?”

She shook her head. “You need that money to pay for your timeslot, editing, salary, and such, unless the persons had a ton of money of their own to spend. But let me tell you, the money you get from companies is pretty tight. They’ve a very specific idea of what they are willing to pay, and it’s virtually impossible to get them to budge. We couldn’t get by on the TV money alone. Jack’s a tax accountant, so he busts his butt from January to about May. That helps balance out the money we get from the show.”

We pulled the doors open to the convention center and followed Jillian over to the coat check, where she dropped off her jacket. We kept ours since we were in and out so frequently with Moo.

She checked her watch and sighed. “I better go find Jack and Vinny, but thanks for the break. You know, we have a hunt planned in Wyoming this year. Maybe we can swing by the center and grab a meal together.”

I grabbed one of Jess’s cards from my pocket and handed it to her. “We’d love to grab dinner, but also get in touch with Jess, and through her, Robbie, the director of the center. They’re both looking for ways to promote the center.” We exchanged hugs and headed in through a different entrance.

Three burly, bearded men stopped us as we entered the exhibit hall. “Are you Di and Mary?”

Mary and I exchanged a surprised look before I turned back to the men. “Yes, we are. Can I help you?”

The man chuckled. “We’re the three Billy brothers. Sarah told us that you wanted an interview for an article and to keep an eye out for the gigantic black-and-white dog. I’m Tuff, that’s Buff, and he’s Gruff.”

We shook hands, weaving in and out until everyone had met. With a jolt, I realized that I didn’t know who was who.

The one with the largest beard hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Do you have a few minutes? We’re heading out tonight, and this is our only chance to talk.”

We exited and moved toward the tables near the food stands. People crisscrossed the area, balancing plates of food or mountains of brochures. A group of coworkers in matching shirts sat with their feet up on chairs. It was one of the few places at the trade show where you could sit and rest.

Mary slipped me her phone and mouthed the words “crime photos” then explained to the brothers what the article was about.

We sat down, and she started the interview. I pulled my chair back away from the table, out of the men’s direct line of sight, and made a great show of patting Moo and not being involved in the interview. Mary started asking questions about individual roles on the show and the show in general. Quickly, their entire attention was on her.

I opened the phone and tapped to the photos. Scanning past the photos of Orion, Moo, and herself that she had taken in the car this morning, I found the crime scene photos. There was Hannah crying on Lex’s shoulder. In the handful of people behind Lex and Hannah, grabbing their pint glasses of beer, were the same three bearded men that sat in front of us now.

I studied the pictures, looking for any other people I recognized. There was a tall gal that seemed familiar though I couldn’t place her. No one else in the pictures looked familiar. Two older women, a couple of younger guys and one older man but no one that we had encountered so far. Unless they came up soon in the investigation, they could be ignored.