The Traveling Corpse (18 page)

Annie stressed, “This is a complete surprise
to all of us. None of us ever suspected that Jiggs was involved in
‘Our Mystery'.”

The officers were anxious to search the field
to see what was there besides big birds, but neither of them wanted
to tangle with that fierce ostrich. They thought it wise to wait
until someone who knew about ostriches was there to help them. They
desperately wanted to get into that field, and they also wanted an
answer to the question: Why was Jiggs cutting the fence from the
farm side? How did he get there?

The medics arrived. They said what Annie and
Doc already knew—Jiggs was dead. They loaded Jigg's sorry body into
the ambulance and drove off. The friends felt terrible; they were
upset and saddened, for they all liked Jiggs—at least the Jiggs
they thought they knew. He had always been so happy and made others
feel happy when they were around him. He was like sunshine.

DeeDee voiced the question they were all
asking themselves, “How could this possibly have happened? How
could Jiggs have gotten himself involved in such a horrible
tragedy? Was he tha one who was skimmin' tha bingo money? Do ya
suppose it was Jiggs an' not Karl who was stealin'?”

The seniors shook their old heads in
disbelief.

Annie rubbed her left temple and bowed her
head. “Lord, it's Annie down here. Jiggs is on his way up to you.
Forgive his sins, and help us to forgive him too. That's all for
now. ‘Bye and Amen.”

Doc said, “Thanks, Annie, we needed that.”
Then he added, “I'm not surprised that Jigg's died after being
kicked by an ostrich. Those ostriches have a karate-like kick; I've
heard that they have the force of two hundred fifty pounds; that's
a lot of kicking power!”

Officer Menendez walked over to Annie, “Your
hunch was right. It paid off.”

“But it's not over yet,” Annie responded.

“We got the killer,” Art said. “Aren't you
pleased with yourself?”

“We may have
a
body, but we still
don't have
the
body! It isn't over until we find
the
body,” Annie declared.

“Who do you think it is? Twila?”

“Probably. It's probably Twila,” Annie
agreed.

Joe Juarez asked, “Where did those two other
couples go? We saw them leave you in the golf parking lot.”

“Ya saw us in tha parkin' lot?” DeeDee
exclaimed. “We never saw y'all!”

Juarez answered, “We didn't want you to see
us.”

“I would have felt safer if I'd have known
you were here,” Doc said and added, “Thanks for coming.”

“We all thank you,” Art added.

Menendez repeated the question, “The other
two couples?”

“Oh,” Annie answered, “We asked them to go
around to the street entrance to this field. They went to see if
there was a car or golf cart in there. I asked them to go check it
out because we figured that the man digging the grave would have to
drive off that way when he got through burying the body.”

Juarez cut in, “I hope they're safe. For old
people, excuse me, but you can sure get into the darnedest
situations!”

“I thought they'd come back here by now,”
Annie said. “I hope they're all right. I don't want anything to
happen to them. We're too old for this kind of thing.”

Art and her friends agreed
wholeheartedly.

“But it's not over yet,” Annie continued.
“We're in this thing, whole hog, whether we like it or not.”

Art groaned, then said, “The killer is dead.
Aren't you pleased with yourself?”

“No, oh, no! I didn't want Jiggs dead; I
didn't want him kicked by an ostrich.”

“But you found that he was the killer. You
are the one who said we needed to come on this stake-out. Aren't
you happy about that?”

“Yes, and no. Of course I'm glad about
finding the killer, but something doesn't seem right to me.” She
rubbed her left temple.

“Listen!” DeeDee said. “I hear
something.”

“It's a motor,” Juarez said. “I sure hope
it's that farmer.” He waved his flashlight to direct the
driver.

The farmer pulled up beside them on the golf
course in a battered blue pick-up truck. When he eased out of the
cab, they saw a middle-aged man with tight abs and muscles that
rippled under his denim jacket. He wore a red baseball cap with
‘Buccaneers' stitched in pewter on the front. Art and Doc
unconsciously responded to his trim physique by pulling in their
stomachs.

The two officers approached him, introduced
themselves, and shook hands. He told them his name was Gerald
Gilbert and added, “But everybody jest calls me ‘Gilly'—been known
as Gilly since I played high school football right here in this
same town.”

“Okay, It's Gilly.” With a sweep of her hand,
Menendez pointed to the seniors. “This is Mr. and Mrs. Andersen and
Mr. and Mrs. Davis.”

Gilly said, “Glad ta meet ya. Kindda late for
you all to be out on the golf course, isn't it? Kindda late.”

The sergeant explained, “They're helping us
with a case. Juarez and I wouldn't be here ourselves if it wasn't
for them.”

The seniors were pleased to hear her
praise.

Menendez asked, “Gilly, we need to check out
that field. Do you think it's safe for us to go in there?” She
looked back at the seniors and said, “Not you guys!” She turned
back to the farmer, “Is it safe for Joe and me to go into your
field now? Do you think those birds will allow us in there? Seems
like they've settled down.”

Gilly shook his head, “Wouldn't do it
tonight. Too dangerous even fer me to go in there now. Them birds
can be mighty mean. Mighty mean. Guess you noticed I didn't come
through that field. Don't know what upset the birds. Could be that
fellow made some motion toward one of the females—got too near to
one of ‘em is all it would take durin' matin' season. That male is
awful jealous. Males are ‘specially mean durin' breedin' time. They
know me, but even I wouldn't take a chance of goin' in there with
them jest yet. We'll have ta wait until they're all calmed down.
When they sleep they jest sit down on the ground—usually hold their
head up straight. They don't remember much, ner fer long
neither—their brain's smaller than their eyeball. Yep, smaller than
their eyeball.” Gilly shook his head. “You'd be takin' your life in
your hands if you try to go in there now. You saw the power of jest
one kick from that big ole male. That center toe of his is six or
seven inches long an' then he's got that razor-sharp toenail on it
that's prob'ly two an' a half inches long. Quite a weapon. No,
you'll have ta wait fer daylight. I'll move the birds to another
pen; then you can go in there. It'll be safer for you to go in that
field when it's empty.”

“Before you leave,” Maria Menendez asked,
“Would you mind pulling your truck over here beside my squad car?
If we put our headlights on, maybe we can see something that could
be helpful.”

“Be glad too.”

Standing near the fence, the seniors could
see patches of sandy soil where the birds had worn the grass away.
There were some weeds that grew taller than the pasture grass, a
scrubby bush, and a plant growing up on the fence. The crescent
pond was on their left; its water still and dark, but in front of
the pond two eyes glinted from the headlights. “Whoa!” exclaimed
Doc. “There's more than big birds in that field; the alligator's
back, and he's a big fellow, too.”

They stared at this prehistoric-looking
creature. Then DeeDee, whose vision was better than the others,
pointed toward a scrubby bush, “Look over there; I wonder if maybe
a vehicle of some kind hasn't turned ‘round there. Tha grass looks
like it's matted down.” The officers looked, too, but from a
distance and with only dim light, they could prove nothing.

Gilly drove off after promising to move the
birds first thing in the morning.

Disappointed not to be able to search the
field, Menendez and Juarez flashed their lights all around, but
they could see little from the fence line.

Joe radioed again for more backup personnel
to stand guard the rest of the night. He looked at his watch. “I
wish we'd get some back-up out here soon. I'd like to tape off this
scene before it starts to rain.”

Menendez agreed. “I've had a long day. I hope
I don't have to stand guard all night. But we can't leave here
until we get some relief.” She spoke to the seniors, “Looks like
all that's happened is all that is going to happen tonight. Thanks
for warning us about this situation. Why don't you all head for
home before the rain starts? We can't look for that other dead body
tonight.”

Juarez said, “If it's dead, it's dead. It's
not going anyplace.”

“That's what we thought before,” Annie
reminded him. “Remember how many times that body has moved? We know
of at least six times,”

Menendez nodded in agreement.

Juarez said, “Yes, ma'm. I'm ashamed to admit
we didn't quite know what to think when you first contacted us. By
now, me and my sergeant are well aware how much you four smart and
very alert senior couples have helped the Department. You kept
plugging away at the mystery—in spite of us. You showed real
tenacity as well as reasoning powers.”

Menendez added, “Again, I want to tell you
how glad I am that you phoned the department and didn't come out
here by yourselves unprotected. You used good judgment in that.
Now, go home and get a good night's sleep. We'll watch this field.
Somebody will be here on duty until we can get in there to search
that field.”

“I hope it doesn't rain on you,” Doc
said.

“I do, too. I don't mind getting wet so much
as I don't want it to rain because it might wash away some
evidence,” the deputy said.

“You know this isn't the end of the mystery,”
Annie said. “You will still keep working on it, won't you? It
certainly isn't solved yet.”

“It's in good hands now, Honey,” Art tried to
convince her.

“But we still haven't found the body,” she
insisted. “It's still missing, for heaven's sake!”

“At least you've got the full attention of
the Sheriff's Department, Annie. They believe you now. Let's let
them take it from here. I'm ready to go home and get warm. In fact,
I want Florida to warm up; I'm tired of winter.”

“You're spoiled,” Annie retorted impishly.
“We only get three or four cold days a year down here. In fact,
it's supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow; it will be lovely
again.”

“Good-night,” Joe Juarez said to the seniors,
expecting them to leave.

“We can't go yet.”

“Why not?”

“We can't go until the Bradkowski's and
Vigeaux's come back.” Annie explained, “We either wait here or some
of us go and look for them.”

“They could be in trouble. Seems like they
should have come back here by now,” Doc said.

“Speak of the devil!” DeeDee yelled, “I think
I see them. Ya, they are comin', fer sure. They must see our lights
and know it's okay to use theirs.”

A collective sigh of relief went up from the
friends and officers.

“We've been worried about you,” Doc said as
the B and Vs drove up.

Art added, “Where have you been so long?”

“Annie's hunch paid off,” Barb said. “Brad
knew what side street outside of BradLee to take to get to this
field.”

“I found the gate,” Brad added, “and we
waited there, off to one side, kindda out of sight in behind some
shrubbery. We got to see the shuttle go off. Then we waited and
waited.”

Verna jumped in, “We didn't know how long we
should stay there. We were about to give up and come back here when
Von saw Karl in his golf cart coming towards the gate.”

“Yes,” Von said, taking up the story. “A golf
cart was coming fast. A big man, I thought it was Karl, but I
couldn't be sure at first, was driving it. Anyway, he sure was in a
hurry. He yanked open that gate and drove through. At first, I
didn't think he was going to stop to shut it. That wouldda been bad
with those big birds in there, to leave the gate open.”

“Fortunately, he did back up, get out, and
latch the gate,” Barb said. “He really slammed it shut.”

Brad said, “There was a night light on a pole
by the gate; so we got a good look. It was Karl all right. He had
on jeans, a BradLee golf windbreaker over a turtleneck sweater and
a stocking cap on his head. It was his golf cart—the new one, blue
with gray rain curtains.”

“He took off as fast as he could go,” Verna
finished.

Doc asked, “Did you see the body?”

“No,” Barb answered. “There wasn't
anything—not on the passenger seat and not strapped on the
back.”

“Oh, no!” cried Annie. “It's disappeared
again. Is this Number Seven?”

The others groaned.

Brad said, “The reason we are so late getting
back here is an interesting story.”

“Y'all know how curious I am,” DeeDee chimed
in. “Keep on with tha story. Don't make us wait.”

“We followed Karl. We were pretty sure he'd
drive straight to his house; so we could hang way back. He never
saw us.”

“No, he never turned around to look behind
him,” Barb added. “I suppose he never suspected that he was being
followed. We didn't turn our headlights on. His cart is newer and
goes a little faster than ours. We couldn't have kept up if we'd
wanted too.”