The Huckleberry Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (23 page)

“All good, sir, all good. It’s a pleasure to talk to you! We could use some of your Blight ways here in New York. I’ll get Etta for you.”

She came on. “Bo! What a pleasant surprise!”

“Etta, I just had to tell you—we found human remains in the crawl space of a house two blocks away from yours!”

“Oh, Bo, that’s terrible but wonderful! Maybe I am a psychic! You don’t mind hanging out with a psychic, do you?”

“Not at all, if that psychic is you.”

“Are we still on for that trip up through Idaho next summer?”

“You bet, Etta. Just the thought of it will keep me warm all winter. See you then.” He could hear her laughing when he hung up.

Brian Pugh walked in carrying a cup of coffee. “You were right, Bo. The Slade gang was staying at the old farmhouse on the other side of Cow Creek. Marge Poulson had rented it to them. She was probably headed out there to collect the rent when they killed her. Just down from the bridge we found tracks on a little side road where they waited for her. The tracks match those on the pickup. You think they killed her to keep from paying the rent?”

Pugh sat down, brushed some papers aside on Tully’s desk, and set his coffee cup down.

Tully leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his neck. “I doubt they were concerned about the rent, Brian. It was meant to get her off Ray Porter’s back. She was calling too much attention to Ray and the ranch, and they
were afraid the whole operation would fall apart if we started poking around looking for Poulson’s body. We would have found the marijuana instead.”

Brian said, “So Craig will testify the three of them murdered his friends and wounded him. Kruger and Quince are goners, don’t you think, boss?”

Tully smiled. “That’s exactly what I think, Pugh. And we can make a pretty good case Ray Porter was the brains behind the whole operation, including the murders. Angie will be ramrodding the murder case, of course.”

“What about Porter?” Pugh asked.

“Angie may get Ray, too, if Kruger and Quince turn on him and claim he was the mastermind behind the murders. We’ve already got him for cashing Orville Poulson’s Social Security checks. As soon as I found out Orville had left his driver’s license at the ranch, I knew we had Ray for the checks. That was the money he was living on. I have no doubt Orville’s hours, if not his minutes, were numbered when he showed up back at the ranch. We’ve already got Ray for storing the marijuana at the ranch he was managing. So I think we can say good-bye to Ray Crockett alias Porter for a long, long time.”

“Oh, I almost forgot something,” Pugh said. He took a sip of his coffee.

“What’s that?”

“We found three .22-caliber revolvers at the farmhouse and three silencers. I just gave them to Lurch to check for prints.”

Tully stared at him. “Gee, thanks for telling me, Pugh!”

•  •  •

The following week, the weather cooled and Tully took nurse Scarlett O’Ryan fishing and camping on the Saint Joe River. The camping produced the first rain of the season and finally reduced the threat of forest fires. Scarlett turned out to be a terrific fly caster and taught Tully a whole lot of things he had never tried before. Not only was she beautiful, she was a nurse, and all nurses know CPR. When you’re a forty-three-year-old man out fly-fishing the Joe for a week with a beautiful young woman, it’s reassuring to know that if CPR should suddenly be required, you’re with someone who can perform it.

© DARLENE McMANUS

P
ATRICK
F. M
C
M
ANUS
is a renowned outdoor writer and humorist, and was a longtime columnist for
Outdoor Life
and
Field & Stream.
He lives in Spokane, Washington. Visit him at
www.patrickfmcmanus.com
.

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A
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ATRICK
F. M
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M
ANUS

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Whatchagot Stew

Never Cry “Arp!”

How I Got This Way

The Good Samaritan Strikes Again

Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink!

Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip

Never Sniff a Gift Fish

The Grasshopper Trap

The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw

Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs

They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?

A Fine and Pleasant Misery

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Copyright © 2010 by Patrick F. McManus

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

McManus, Patrick F.

The huckleberry murders : a sheriff Bo Tully mystery / Patrick F. McManus.

p. cm.

1. Tully, Bo (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Sheriffs—Idaho—Fiction.

3. Ranchers—Crimes against—Fiction. 4. Idaho—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3563.C38625H83   2010

813’.54—dc22

2010008667

ISBN 978-1-4391-9084-5

ISBN 978-1-4391-9085-2 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4391-9086-9 (ebook)