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Cameron hit Stop on the video and shoved his hands through his hair in disbelief. “He works at a bar called Fuzzy Fridays on the other side of the mountain. He’s one of Rance Woodley’s hunting buddies.”
Rusty gasped. “Woodley again! And Fuzzy Fridays was the drop-off location for Danny Biggers. I need to get Howard on the phone. I want you to talk to him.”
Cameron nodded as Rusty grabbed her phone and made the call.
***
Jay Howard was away from his desk. Pickard was manning the phones and had just taken a big bite of chicken chow mein when his partner’s cell phone rang. When he saw who was calling, he quickly chewed and swallowed before he answered.
“Caldwell, it’s me, Pickard. Jay’s away from the desk for a minute. Will I do, or do you want me to take a message?”
“You’ll do,” Rusty said. “Cameron recognized the man on the trail cam video. Here, I’m going to let him talk to you.” Then she put the phone on speaker and laid it between them on the table.
“Okay, Pope. I can’t wait to hear how you identified anyone from that footage,” Pickard said.
“Because it’s somebody I’ve known all my life, that’s how,” Cameron said. “When the man walks out of the trailer carrying the laptop, if you pay attention to the way he’s holding it, you’ll see he’s missing his little finger.”
Pickard nodded. “Missing a finger? How the hell did we miss that?”
“Also, he has an odd gait when he walks, right?” Cameron added.
Pickard frowned. “Yes, we noted the gait but that may or may not have been a permanent thing…you know…sprained knee or ankle, something like that.”
“No. It’s because one leg is shorter than the other. I know a man who’s missing a little finger and has one leg shorter than the other. His name is Dewey Zane. He works at a bar called Fuzzy Fridays. It’s just over the switchback on the other side of Pope Mountain.”
Pickard was excited and they could hear it in his voice. “Fan-freaking-tastic,” he said.
“That’s not the best part,” Rusty interjected. “Drive in the last nail, Cameron.”
“He’s Rance Woodley’s hunting buddy,” Cameron said.
Total silence, and then Pickard whistled softly beneath his breath.
“Jay just walked into the office. I’ll fill him in. We’ll review the footage again and then get a search warrant on the Dewey Zane residence in hopes we find the murder weapon, and take an arrest warrant to go with it. Keep all this to yourself. We still don’t have enough to pick up Woodley, but if he gets word Dewey’s been arrested and he’s guilty of what we suspect, he’ll run.”
“Yes, sir,” Cameron said, and then he and Rusty heard Howard’s voice in the background.
“What’s happening? What did I miss?” Howard asked.
“We’ll be in touch,” Pickard said, and disconnected.
Rusty saw a look of satisfaction sweep over Cameron’s face and laid her hand on the middle of his chest. The heartbeat was as steady as he was.
“Good job, partner.”
He took her hand, lightly rubbing her knuckles and thinking how delicate she looked, yet how very, very tough she was. “You were right. We’re on the right track. We’ll get them out of Jubilee for good, won’t we, baby?”
Rusty nodded. “And we’re not going to let up until they’re all under arrest. This isn’t just a little gang. This is big business, and someone with a hell of a lot of money and clout is running it. So far we’ve been fishing the little floaters with cane poles and bobbers, but I want the big fish. The bottom feeder. I want the boss.”
Chapter 15
Liz Caldwell was a fish out of water, but she already knew she was going to love this job. Gerald Devlin was welcoming and patient and soon figured out that Liz wasn’t just playing. She was in the middle of setups for a thirty-member book club hosting a visiting author at the inn and not messing around, pulling folding chairs and tables off of racks and helping with the placement of them around the ballroom. Making sure the PA system was in place and live at the podium where the author would be speaking.
When Gerald realized the flowers had yet to be delivered, he gave her the job of a follow-up call to the local florist to see what was wrong. She handled it quietly and competently, and within the hour, all of the arrangements had arrived.
When one of the workers missed getting the legs locked on a folding table and it went crashing to the ballroom floor, she raced over and helped him right it, without making a scene. Despite the slight chill in the ballroom, by the time the setup was finished the room was comfortably warm, and Liz had beads of sweat running down her back.
“Good job!” Gerald told her. “I’m going to wait until the hostesses arrive and make sure everything is to their liking, so why don’t you take an early lunch, and when you come back, just come to the office. We’ll go over the way we take on clients, how we price, contact numbers within the hotel, and who we outsource to.”
