The Mystery Before Christmas

Chapter 9

As I did every Friday, I showed up for my volunteer shift at the animal shelter early so that I could work with the dogs currently going through the training class. The dogs I was asked to work with tended to rotate depending on which dogs needed extra practice, but the techniques used were much the same. When I’d first started as a trainer, the dogs tended to ignore my commands in favor of doing their own thing, but I’d learned a few tricks of my own along the way, and I felt I was beginning to get the hang of things.

“It seems like Koko has improved a lot in the past couple of weeks,” Naomi commented after entering the room where I was taking the husky through his lesson.

“He does seem to be getting the hang of it,” I agreed, as I motioned for him to sit and then stay. “It was rocky in the beginning, but I feel like the two of us understand each other at this point. Any luck finding someone to adopt him?”

“Actually, I do have a man who is interested. I’m not quite ready to let Koko go, but I did process the guy’s application, and it seems like he might be a real possibility. If Koko does well this week, I think I’ll set up an appointment for the dog to spend some time with the man to make sure they are compatible. It will be important that Koko respects whoever adopts him since he has such a dominant personality.”

“I hope it works out. I’d love to see him in a real home for the holiday.”

“That is my goal, as well. I’d love to get as many animals placed as possible, but we are already into December, so I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to place. But not to worry, the dogs and cats who will spend the holiday at the shelter will be given special treats to celebrate.”

“I agree that it’s better to find the right home than to rush it.”

“That has been my philosophy from the beginning. Is Cass coming today?”

I rewarded the dog and then asked him to lie down. “He is. At least that is the plan. I spoke to him earlier, but he got a call while we were chatting. He said he had to go and would call me later, but I haven’t heard from him. The plan we worked out was to play with the dogs until about five-thirty and then head over to the tree lighting.”

Naomi opened a cupboard and began sorting vitamin bottles. “I forgot that was tonight.”

“I’m hoping there is a decent turnout. First, it was canceled, and then it was back on. I’m sure that there will be some folks who might not know things were worked out, and that the event is going to happen. And then there is the weather. It’s positively frigid.”

Naomi laughed. “That’s a Rocky Mountain winter for you. The secret to surviving is layers. Lots and lots of layers.”

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

She closed the cabinet. “Hancock is waiting for me over at the house, so I guess I should get back. Maybe I’ll see you at the tree lighting. Hancock is flying out in the morning, and I want to hang out with him while I can, so I guess I’ll see what he wants to do.”

“He’s leaving before Christmas?”

She shrugged. “He may be back by Christmas. Sometimes he is only gone for a week or two, while other times, it is a month or two, but I try not to have any expectations. That way, I’m not disappointed. I guess it will work out however it works out. If Cass does make it, can you ask him to stop by the house? I have the information on Rupert he was looking for.”

“Rupert?”

“Rupert Wooly. He’s an old prospector I’ve known forever. Like Hancock, he tends to come and go with the wind, but according to Cass, he happened to have been in town when Buford died, so Cass wants to chat with him.”

“So, did he know anything?”

Naomi shrugged. “My assignment was just to track the guy down. I’ll leave it to Cass to interview him.”

I had to hand it to Naomi, she was about as easy going as anyone I’d ever met. She obviously cared deeply about the animals in her care, but beyond that, it seemed like she just drifted with the current going wherever it might take her. I supposed that was a good quality to have, but I was sure that simply floating through life without really needing to take control was something I would never be able to do no matter how hard I tried.

By the time I finished my training duties, Cass had shown up. I passed along the information that Naomi wanted him to come up to the house, and then I began gathering balls and toys for the play session. It was really gratifying to see how excited the dogs became once they realized that Cass and I were there to entertain them.

“So, did you get the information you needed?” I asked Cass after he returned from speaking to Naomi.

“I did. I’m not sure that Rupert will know anything, but he tends to hang out with the other old-timers that can usually be found at the bar, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to talk to him. I’ve spoken to everyone else I can think of but, while everyone has an opinion as to what might have happened on the night Buford died, no one seems to actually know anything.”

“It sounds frustrating.”

“It has been.”

“Did you speak to Ford?”

He nodded. “I did speak to Ford. Tom wasn’t wrong when he said that Ford has been acting oddly. He was polite when I showed up at his home. He invited me in and even offered me some really bad coffee. I asked about his health since his house was a total mess, and it looked like he hadn’t cleaned up in weeks. He said he was fine. Tired, but fine. I asked him if he knew anything about Buford’s death, and he said he didn’t, but I’m not sure he was telling the truth.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He lowered his eyes when I brought up Buford’s name. He answered my questions, but the entire time we were speaking about Buford, he stared down at the floor. I even asked him point-blank if he had something he needed to tell me. He said he didn’t, but like I said, he just wasn’t himself.”

I furrowed my brow. “Do you think Ford killed Buford?”

“Intentionally and with premeditation, no. But Ford and Buford did get into it at times. I have to admit that by the time our conversation was over, I found myself wondering if Ford and Buford hadn’t engaged in a tussle that led to Buford’s death.”

“Do you think Ford would lie about that if he had killed Buford?”

He shrugged. “I’d like to think he wouldn’t, but I suppose if he is scared enough about the consequences of his actions, he might lie to protect himself.”

I supposed Cass had a point. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Just keep an eye on him. I don’t have a single lick of evidence that Ford killed Buford, so it’s not like I can bring him in or ever get a warrant to search his place. But I can watch him and see what he does next. If Ford is guilty, I suspect he’ll slip up at some point, and when he does, I’ll be there to bring him in.”

I tossed a thick rope for the dog who had brought it to me. “So, do you have any other suspects?”

“A few.”

“I heard that you arrested Dennis Feldman for fighting with Vern Tidwell after Vern accused Dennis of being the one to hit Buford over the head.”

He nodded. “That’s true. I did have to arrest Dennis for punching Vern, but what I found the most interesting is that Vern knew that Buford died from a blow to the head. Neither the mayor nor the sheriff’s office has made that fact public yet, so how did Vern even know that was what happened?”

“I had the same thought. It occurred to me that Vern accused Dennis of hitting Buford to divert attention from himself, but in reality, all he did was bring attention to his own actions. Have you spoken to Vern?”

“I have. He swears that he didn’t kill Buford. He swears that he heard about Buford being hit over the head during a discussion with a group of guys at the bar. I suppose that might be true, word does tend to get around in a small town, especially with the bar crowd, but I’m keeping my eye on Vern as well as Ford.”

“And Dennis?” I asked.

“Dennis told me that he and Buford did argue on the evening he died, but he swears he went to his girlfriend’s house directly after the argument. I checked with the girlfriend, who lives in Aspen, and she confirmed that Dennis was with her for the entire night and into the following day.”

“So, it sounds like Dennis is in the clear. Is there anyone else on your list besides Ford and Vern?”

“I have one other lead, and it might actually turn out to be a good one.”

“And what is that?”

“Darby Willis told me that Buford recently inherited a pretty good chunk of change from his sister after she passed away this past summer. Darby didn’t know how much Buford had inherited, but he was pretty sure it was a significant amount, whatever that means. The really interesting thing about this inheritance is that Buford and his sister, Hilde, were estranged, and as far as Darby knew, the two hadn’t spoken in forty years.”

“It seems odd that the woman would leave money to a brother she hadn’t spoken to for all that time.”

“I thought so as well, so I did a little digging. It turns out that Hilde has a son who was expecting to inherit her entire estate. When the son, whose name is Jason, found out that his mother gifted more than a quarter million dollars to his uncle, a man he’d never met, before she died, he retained an attorney and tried to challenge the gift.”

“Why would she do that?”

“She’d been ill. I think she knew that she only had a matter of days or maybe weeks to live, so she went ahead and gifted the money to her brother. Maybe she knew her son would challenge the gift, so she wanted to head him off. It’s hard to say.”

“So, what happened when the son challenged the gift?”

He was successful in getting a judge to agree to temporarily freeze the account his mother had put the money into after making the case that his mother was dying and not in her right mind when she made the gift. When the court attempted to freeze the account, they found that there was only a hundred dollars left. Apparently, the bulk of the money had been withdrawn the day after Hilde gifted it to Buford.”

“So, Buford must have anticipated a problem and withdrew the money.”

Cass nodded. “Apparently. The thing is that no one has been able to figure out what he did with the money. He didn’t open additional bank accounts, nor does it appear he made any investments, at least not any that can be tracked. He hasn’t made any large purchases, nor was the money found in his house after he died.”

“I didn’t really know Buford, but based on what I’ve heard, it seems like he was the sort of guy who might have stuffed the money in his mattress.”

“He was totally that sort of guy,” Cass agreed. “But we’ve looked in the mattress, and in the root cellar, and even in the oven. The money simply is not on his property.”

I had to admit the fact that Buford had come into a significant amount of money before he died did lend an interesting twist to the situation. “Okay, so if Buford had the money at his home at one point and someone found out about it, maybe someone killed him and stole the money.”

Cass tossed a thick rope for the dogs to chase. “I suppose that is as good an explanation as any, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions, beginning with why this woman left such a large amount of money to a brother she’d been estranged from for forty years.”

“That does seem odd,” I agreed.

“And even if we can figure that out, we need to figure out why Buford withdrew all the money from the bank, and what he did with it once he liquidated.”

“And, of course, you’ll want to know if all of this is related to his death.”

“Exactly.”

I squatted down to greet a pair of terriers. “Have you spoken about the money to the people who were closest to Buford? Had he told anyone about his inheritance?”

Cass began picking up the toys in anticipation of wrapping up the play session. “I just found out about this today, so I’ve only had time to speak to a couple of Buford’s friends. Those I’ve spoken to swear they had no idea that Buford had come into any money. As I already mentioned, after he withdrew the cash, it seems to have simply disappeared. Buford didn’t change his lifestyle, nor did he make any large purchases.”

“So, if someone killed Buford in such a way as to make it look like an accident and then stole the money as we’ve speculated, who even knew about it to carry out that plan?”

“That is a very good question.”

I stood up, crossing my arms over my chest. “What about the nephew, Jason? We know he knew about Buford’s inheritance, and we know he was unhappy that his mother left all that money to her brother rather than to him. We know he tried to freeze the account that was left to Buford, but the money was already gone. What if he came to Foxtail Lake to confront Buford, and when he got here, he found all that money just stuffed in a drawer in Buford’s home? Could he be the one who killed him and then took off with the money he considered to be his in the first place?”

“I think that is a good possibility. I’ve been trying to track the guy down. He lives in Denver, so I may have to have the Denver PD go to his house and talk to him. I guess I’ll see if he calls me back.”

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, I’m going to speak to Rupert now that Naomi has tracked him down for me, and I plan to continue to dig around in the memories of the guys who hang out at the bar and the lodge. I’ve got someone looking for money or correspondence relating to an offshore account, but to be honest, money in a mattress seems more Buford’s style than something as sophisticated as an offshore account.”

“Based on what I’ve heard about the guy, I agree. Are you going to be able to go to the tree lighting with me?” I asked.

He nodded. “I’ve been looking forward to it all day. Do we need to pick up Gracie?”

“Aunt Gracie and Tom are picking up Ethel and Paisley. They’re going to meet us there. I thought maybe we could get something to eat after.”

“That sounds good. I’m starving. The actual tree lighting only lasts fifteen to twenty minutes. There are a few speeches, the tree is lit, and then everyone sings a couple of carols. Still, it can be crowded, and parking is an issue at times, so I suppose we should head in that direction.”

“Should we tell Naomi that we’re leaving?”

“Based on my observation when I went up to the house to talk to Naomi, I think she and Hancock might be busy. We’ll lock up, but I don’t think we need to bother them.”

I called the dogs and headed toward the kennels. “Naomi said that Hancock is leaving again tomorrow.”

“That’s what Naomi indicated to me as well. I guess that is the package that comes with his job. It’s not a lifestyle I would enjoy, but it seems to work for him. Did you already fill out the training log?”

“I did. I think we’re good to go once we return everyone to the kennel.”

After being exercised, the dogs seemed happy to return to their beds, where they had plenty of fresh water. I had to hand it to Naomi; she seemed to know exactly what needed to be done to ensure that each animal in her care was as happy and healthy as they could be in the absence of a special human that belonged only to them. There were times when I considered adopting one of the dogs, but I wasn’t sure how Gracie and Alastair would feel about that. Volunteering allowed me to spend time with the dogs without making a long-term commitment. Then I would see how Milo and Cass interacted, and I’d find myself envying the bond they seemed to share with each other. The relationship between a man or woman and their dog really is a pretty special thing. Of course, the relationship I had with Alastair was pretty special as well, and I liked the fact that he was independent most of the time, but in the end, he was Gracie’s cat. Maybe one day, I’d want to have a pet who was just mine.