Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (3 page)

Chapter Four

Doc did everything he could, under the circumstances, and we waited for the paramedics. A
little under fifteen minutes went by before we heard the wail of the sirens.  The sound echoed through the countryside, sounding forlorn.

“There’s nothing else we can do right now,” Doc said, checking Roy’s pulse. “He needs to be in the hospital.”

“Will he live?” The tension on Jimmy’s face was clearly visible. His uncle had a heart attack and he’d helped with CPR. It hadn’t been a typical day so far.

“He’s too ornery to die,” Doc replied.
“I told him he needed to change his habits, but he’s not one to let a good meal and a cigar afterwards get away.”

“I’ll live,” came a weak voice from the man lying in the dirt. “Jimmy, get back to work.
Doc, shut up.”

“Uncle Roy, I’m not
moving until you’re on your way to the hospital.” Jimmy stood with his feet apart and his arms folded across his chest.

Chief Stubbin turned his head slightly, looking at the hole in the ground.
“I think that’s Henry Rosebutz in the hole. You need to check it out.”

Jimmy’s eyes widened and the poker face was gone. “Old
Henry
?”

Mikey snickered and Chris gently bopped the back of his head. “But he said Rose
butts
, Dad.”

“I don’t care what he said.”

“Henry Rosebutz?” I glanced at Jimmy, knowing the name meant something to these men.

“Later,” Jimmy said, kneeling down by his uncle.

“I said back to – ” The chief was beginning to sound angry again.

“No, Uncle Roy. He’s not going anywhere and we need to take care of you.” I could hear pain
and determination in Jimmy’s voice. He and his uncle must have a close relationship.

The chief
tried to sit up, but Doc gently pushed him back down. “You just stay where you’re at, old man, and wait for the EMTs.”

Roy closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He didn’t seem to like being told what to do, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The sirens were closer and I watched as the EMTs pulled up to the house. Doc told all of us to go wait by the house while they took care of Roy, Jimmy included.

Chris placed his hand on the young cop’s back and urged him away from the scene of his uncle’s heart attack.
“He’s in good hands. Let Doc and the men do their jobs.” Chris pointed to the barbeque table benches and we all sat down.

While the EMTs took care of Roy, Doc pulled out his cell phone and made a couple of calls.
I could see concern on his face.

“Who’s Henry Rose butts?” Mikey asked.
He held back a giggle that seemed to be just below the surface of his question. “Why would someone call the bones a butt?”

I started to shush him, but Chris shook his head. Maybe he was right. Maybe Jimmy needed a distraction at the moment.

Before he could answer Mikey, Doc hurried over to the table. “Jimmy, I think your uncle will be okay, but they’re going to have to run some tests at the hospital and start treatment. Yes, he had a heart attack, but at least it wasn’t the Widow Maker.”

“Widow Maker?” Mikey asked. “What’s that?”
He was learning all kinds of new things.

“
It’s a major heart attack the knocks you down and kills you right then and there. You’re done, no chance for survival.” Chris has such a way with words sometimes.

“Oh.” Mikey seemed to think that explanation over for a moment.
“I didn’t understand how sick the chief is. I’m sorry for wanting to laugh.”

Doc sat across from Jimmy. “I’ve called ahead and they’re taking your uncle to the clinic where a helicopter will meet them and Roy will be flown to a hospital in Reno. I also spoke to a heart specialist, an old friend of mine, who’s going to take good care of your uncle.”

“Okay.” Jimmy didn’t sound any less worried than he had a few minutes ago.

“Trust me, Jimmy. I’ve seen
much worse. The last thing Roy said before they loaded him up was that he wants us to finish what we were doing. Does that sound like a man at Death’s door?”

“But –  ” Jimmy wanted to follow his uncle
, I was sure.

“You can’t fly to Reno with him, so let’s do what he asked. He’s got his reasons. And everyone along the line said they’d keep me updated. We might as well keep busy.”

The EMTs loaded the chief in the ambulance and left with sirens once more blaring.

Jimmy stood and walked to the hole without a word. He picked up his shovel and began working around the edges of the hole,
taking his time and enlarging it carefully.

“Who’s Henry Rose butts?” Mikey asked. “Nobody will answer me. I just want to know who Rose butts was
and why they call him a butt.” This time a little of the giggle escaped, but I had a feeling it was part nervousness after learning about the Widow Maker.

“It’s one word, son,” Doc said. “R-o-s-e-b-u-t-z.
He’s a legend around here.” Doc glanced over at Jimmy. “I’ve got to help dig before the hole caves in.”

“I’ll help, too,” Chris said. “Just tell me what to do so I don’t
cause
the cave in.” The two men left Mikey and me at the table.

“Don’t they have crime scene investigators?” Mike
y asked.

I swallowed hard. The fact that he’d even asked that question made me realize what terrible parents we were for letting him become so involved in the wrong side of our lives. “We’re not in Los Angeles anymore, Mikey. They have a very small police department here. I guess they could call the county sheriff, but it doesn’t appear they’re going to.”

“Oh.” Mikey left me sitting at the table and joined the men.

When Jimmy picked up the pouch and put it in his car, he’d neglected to also pick
up the smaller bag. I fingered it while I watched the men digging. What could it hurt if I took a peek inside? The bones had been in the ground a long time, probably a very long time. Maybe there was something of importance in the small pouch. Or maybe there was more treasure – diamonds?

Picking
up the bag, I held it in my hand and shook it slightly. Nothing seemed to move or rattle. It was light, so I figured there wasn’t any gold in it.

I glanced at the men and Mikey, and they were totally engrossed in uncovering the rest of the body.

I set the pouch down, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Chris would probably be upset with me if I opened it. This was none of my business. But wait! The body was found on Bill’s property, and my son had been the one to find it. Didn’t that put me in a position of… I didn’t know what position it put me in.

Counting to ten, I tried to distract myself while I watched Mikey and Chris step back
to let Doc take more pictures. I hummed America the Beautiful, making sure I remembered all the words. I thought about
Bogey Nights
and hoped things were going well while we were gone. We’d left Phyllis in charge, our Marilyn Monroe lookalike. I knew we didn’t need to worry. I even went so far as to twiddle my thumbs.

Nothing worked. My right hand seemed to have a mind of its own when it picked up the pouch. My left hand, a partner in crime, pulled on the leather string at the top of the bag.
When it wouldn’t open I reluctantly ordered my fingers to pull harder.

The string broke. I sat and stared at the pieces of leather string lying on the table.

“What’s the matter with me?” I mumbled. I’m normally such a law-abiding, rational woman.

I reached for the bag
, unable to stop myself.

“Mom? What’re you doin’” Mikey asked.

I jumped and hit my knee on the underside of the table.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you going to open the bag?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not my pouch. I should let the police take care of it.”

“Jimmy wouldn’t care, Mom. He said he’s curious, too.”

That’s all it took. I snatched up the pouch and pulled the top open, looking inside. No diamonds, no gold, nothing but a yellowed, folded piece of paper.

Pulling it out, I carefully unfolded it and set it on the table.

“What is it?” Mikey leaned across the table in front of me, trying to get a better look.

“It’s someone’s handwritten will.”

Chapter
Five

“What’s a will?” At eight years old, Mikey was full of questions. I supposed I should be glad he was so curious. I took that as a sign of intelligence.

A simple explanation would be the best.
“A will tells what someone wants done with their possessions after they go to heaven,” I explained. “It explains what they want done with their money and any valuables they own.”

Again, Mikey took a moment to absorb the information.
“I wonder if Chief Stubbin has a will.”

I lifted my shoulders and shrugged. “Let’s not worry about his will. Let’s just hope and pray he
’ll get well and lead a good and happy life.”

“Okay, Mom. I’ll talk to God about him at bedtime tonight.”

“You’re a good boy. Now, why don’t you go tell Jimmy what we found?” As much as I hated to admit it, I wanted a moment to read the will. I was being nosey and didn’t want my son to see me since I spent so much time trying to set a good example. Ha! This thought coming from the mother who’d earlier been thinking what a terrible mother she was because of Mikey seeing dead bodies.

Watching Mikey run over to the men, I looked past him and saw Watson lying quite still next to the hole. She acted like it was her duty to guard the body.
Sherlock had moved to my side, at the end of the barbeque bench.

Turning my attention back to the will, I saw i
t was a short will, handwritten by none other than Henry Rosebutz. It was dated August 14, 1904. Okay, that gave me one clue. I knew the body had been buried sometime after August of 1904. I wondered briefly why the chief thought the body could be Henry’s without having seen the will.

I didn’t wonder for too long because I wanted to
read this piece of paper. The writing was only slightly faded.

I, Henry Leroy Rosebutz, being of sound mind and feeling good, want whosoever finds my body to know what I want done after my death.

First off, if I ain’t dead of a heart attack or something like that, then the Sheriff should take a good look at Melvyn Snider, because he’s the only onst who might want me out of the way. That blaggard has had his eye on Frannie for some time. I think he’d be happy to have me out of the way, and I think he’d like to help me meet my Maker.

Second, all my earthly goods
, including my gold, are left to my wife Frannie because I know she ain’t having any part of Melvyn’s attentions and she’s been a good wife.

Third, i
f my body ain’t found until after me and Frannie are both gone, then I leave everything I have to whosoever finds me. Being there’s no children and no other family except that dirty scoundrel nephew of mine, that seems fair.

Last, please tell Frannie she’s the only onst I ever was sweet on.

                                                        Henry Leroy Rosebutz

I sat still, unable to quite comprehend what I’d just read. There were a lot of questions. Why was Henry buried under the old oak tree? Had he once lived on this farm? Had Melvyn Snider killed him or had he died of natural causes?
Why was his nephew a dirty scoundrel? Uh, had my son just inherited a whole lot of gold?

Sherlock
nudged my leg. I looked at him and back at the will, blinking rapidly. “
Chris
,” I yelled, “
I think you’d better come here
.” My voice shook ever so slightly. It was the second time that day I’d yelled at Chris that he’d better come a’runnin’.

“You don’t need to yell, Pamela.” Chris stood behind me.

I cracked my knee on the underside of the table again. Rubbing it, I turned and looked behind me. The men had come to the table when Mikey told them what I’d found and they were looking over my shoulder reading the will.

I settled my gaze on Doc. “Is there any way you can tell for sure if that’s Henry in the grave?”

“I’ve heard
Henry walked with a limp because one of his legs was shorter than the other after a bad break. I’ll be able to make a good guess once we uncover the rest of the bones.”

“Is this thing legal?” Jimmy pointed at the will.

“You’ll have to ask an attorney,” Doc replied.

“Who’s Henry Rosebutz?” Mike
y asked, once again.

“I’ll tell you what,” Doc said, settling his hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “You and your folks go into town and look up Stuart Kimball. He runs the little store in town. Henry was his uncle, many times over, and he can tell you the legend of the feud between Melvyn and Henry. It’s quite a story.”

“I’ll just take this will and put it in with the gold as evidence.” Jimmy reached for the will.

Chris placed a staying hand on Jimmy’s arm. “No one is going anywhere with that will until I make a copy to show to a lawyer.” My husband could imitate Bogey quite well, but even better than that, he could
be
a protective father. The gold we’d found could belong to Mikey.

Jimmy looked surprised, but didn’t argue with Chris’s no-nonsense tone of voice. “When I go back to town, why don’t you and your family follow me? Stu has a copy machine in his store. We’ll have him make a copy of the will and you can stay and ask him about old Henry. I’ll lock the gold and the will in the safe at the office.”

Chris nodded. Folding the will, he slipped it back into the smaller pouch and handed it to me.

“Let’s get back to work,” Doc said. “It’s getting late and I’d like to take the remains back to town with me.”

The doctor and the copper walked back to the hole in the ground, talking in soft voices. Being the suspicious woman I am, I took note that they did
not
look conspiratorial, which relieved my mind.

Chris held back. “Let’s see what an attorney has to say about all of this. Maybe Mikey will have a good start on a college fund.” He kissed my cheek before joining the men who were once again digging.

Mikey stood nearby and watched every move they made. He was fascinated. With everything he’d seen as a young boy, maybe he’d study forensic pathology when he went to college. He’d sure had an education so far, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

It wasn’t long until I heard the tone of the men’s voices changing. I tore myself away from the pouch with the will and walked over to see what was happening. They were finally beginning to bring up the bones. Doc had spread out a sheet on top of a gurney type apparatus and he was laying the bones on the sheet just as they were while in the hole. He placed the fibula and tibia
bones on the sheet and even I could see that one set of bones was shorter than the other. I had a feeling this was Henry Rosebutz.

“I believe we’ve just found Henry,” Doc said. “God rest his soul.”

Chris and Jimmy stood aside while Doc did a cursory examination of the remains. Mikey stood by Doc’s side.

“Come stand by me, Ace.” Chris held his hand out toward our son, knowing as I did that he was probably in the way.

“Let’s do a little more digging,” Doc said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll find at least one bullet in that hole.”

Mikey stepped forward. “Really?”

Doc nodded. “There’s some damage to an upper rib that I believe may have been caused by a bullet. I think Henry was shot and killed. Jimmy, go to the van and get my screen so we can sift some of this dirt.” He turned to Mikey. “I think you can help this time. You’re small enough to get down in that hole and it sure would help an old man’s back if you could sift through the dirt.”

Mikey grinned and turned to Chris. “Is it okay, Dad?”

“Sure. Just let me get a couple of boards to shore up the sides of the hole.” Chris left us and headed for a shed behind the house.

“
So maybe old Henry was right about Melvyn going after him. It would fit right in with what we know,” Doc said.

“And what
do
you know?” I asked.

“I know it seems like we’re putting you off, but hold your questions for Stu. He can answer everything you want to know.” Doc put his hands on his lower back and leaned backwards, groaning slightly.

Although we were only staying in the farmhouse on vacation, we’d become involved in a possible murder – once again.

I had questions.