AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, Eddie, and that would work for me. Instead of loaning you the money, I could purchase half of the property. I would then lease back the hunting rights to you for $1.00. I would literally just be holding it until you get back on your feet. At that time, you could just repurchase the property from me for the same price, and everything works out for us all. From your perspective, the Roads End crew would still be hunting the same acreage as you have since Max bought it. I could help you without encouraging everyone in the county to chase after me for loans. I know you’ll be back on your feet in no time, and I would just let you repurchase your share then.”
“It seems like a Win/Win to me, Cyrus. I especially like your point about selling you the portion of Lands End adjacent to your farm. Jeff would retain the half that includes the cabin, which is the most valuable piece. If I can prove to the casino that I have a buyer, they will lay me off for a few months while Grant’s estate is settled and the partition action is completed. It’s funny how fate works. First, Grant wouldn’t loan me the money, and then he changed his mind. Now that he’s deceased, partitioning the property is viable again.”
“How is your brother Jeff going to take this when we do it?”
“He definitely won’t like it, but what can he do? I need to raise money, or else the casino will ruin me. My credit is not good enough to get a personal loan. Also, I can’t borrow money on my share of the camp because Jeff would need to sign off on it. There’s no other way. I love Jeff, and I love Roads End. Unfortunately, this is the only way out for me. I’ll just have to explain it to Jeff so he understands it’s only temporary. I really appreciate your willingness to step in and help me out.”
“Ok then,” Cyrus said, extending his hand. “Let’s shake on it. Where I come from, a man’s word is his bond. We have a deal.”
With that, Eddie extended his hand and shook hands with Cyrus. Cyrus pulled a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey from a cabinet in the barn, and they each had a drink celebrating their agreement. Eddie left the meeting and headed home, feeling relieved for the first time in months. He truly felt lucky to have a friend like Cyrus.
Chapter thirty-two
The short 30-second video Jeff stared at on his computer shocked him to his very core. At first glance, he hadn’t even noticed the most extraordinary thing. The video Jeff examined showed Turk and Eddie standing at the bar pouring tequila shots. It took place in the middle of all the hijinks in the cabin the night before rifle season. They had just completed the award ceremony with Cyrus and the Speedo. Jeff quickly captured the humorous activities for his documentary.
It wasn’t the two men and their drinking game that made it shocking. Something barely visible appeared in the far left corner of the frame that was so subtle he almost missed it. Grant’s jacket hung on a hook right next to the bathroom. The leather flask stuck out of his top pocket. A hand was visible in the video as it grabbed the flask. The face of the person remained out of the frame and couldn’t be seen. However, Jeff spotted a flash of lime green as a hand reached for the flask.
Jeff suddenly realized that Cyrus’ Speedo was the only lime-green object in the cabin. He’d tucked it in his jacket pocket with a portion hanging out. This must be the green object vaguely visible in the photo. With all the possible suspects, Cyrus wasn’t even on his list. More questions ran through his mind. Could Cyrus have been involved in his brother’s death? If so, what could be the possible motive? Cyrus was a great friend to Grant and all the Koehler boys. His relationship with the family went all the way back to Max. There wasn’t any logical reason Cyrus would want Grant dead. Maybe there’s another explanation for the video that didn’t implicate Cyrus at all. These were all questions that needed to be answered. As he thought about the revelation, he did remember Cyrus heading to the back of the cabin to use the bathroom. Jeff decided that he would not accuse Cyrus or even question him without more evidence. If Jeff went to the police and implicated Cyrus, he would lose a great family friend if it turned out to be a terrible mistake. This clue might turn out to be very important to solving Grant’s murder, but he needed to tread very carefully until he had more information.
After the revelation of the photo, Jeff racked his brain, considering the possibility of Cyrus’s involvement. Cyrus had access to the flask, where they discovered the poison. However, to Jeff’s knowledge, Cyrus had no access to cicutoxin from the rare water hemlock plant. He also had no motive so far as Jeff could ascertain. Jeff’s mind spun as he searched for answers that weren’t there.
Jeff left the cabin and drove into Granite Cove to the Cuppa Joe coffee shop. He picked his favorite table in the back and had only been there for about five minutes when Carrie walked through the door and joined him. “Carrie, thanks so much for meeting me this afternoon. I know you only have a little time before your next patient, but I need somebody objective to talk to since I know I’m too close to this stuff.”
They were briefly interrupted as the waitress came over, and they ordered two coffees. “I’m glad you called me. It worked out because I had an open slot this afternoon when Mrs. Chastain canceled at the last moment. What is it that’s making you look so stressed?”
Jeff told Carrie about what he found and the possibility of Cyrus being somehow involved. She seemed skeptical at first until Jeff showed her the short video of a hand touching the flask, with a flash of lime-green visible in the video. “You’re right not to jump to conclusions without further evidence. This is very suspicious but not conclusive. Maybe Cyrus grabbed the flask because he recognized it as your Dad’s. He might just have been admiring a relic from the past. You have no evidence he placed poison in it, nor can you even conclusively say this is his hand. I think you’re right in not reporting it without more information.”
They talked about all the other players in the investigation, and some seemed to have a stronger motive than Cyrus. Jeff then asked Carrie how Grant would have died, how long it would have taken, and if it was painful. He also shared his guilt about steps he could have taken to save his brother.
“You need to put any thoughts of guilt out of your head Jeff. Grant died almost instantly and likely felt little pain. The poison cicutoxin is so powerful it caused his heart to stop within minutes. Even if you were standing right next to Grant when he ingested it, you wouldn’t have been able to save him. With his underlying heart condition, nobody could!”
Toward the end of their discussion, Jeff relayed how he and all his brothers spent time at the Campbell farm as kids and that Eddie and Cyrus’s son Vince were best friends.
“Does Vince still live around the area?” Carrie asked.
“No. When he stopped by Roads End with his daughter, he said he lives in a town called Norton Shores. I have no idea where that is. I think it’s somewhere on the western side of Michigan.
“You’re close, Carrie said. It’s a suburb of Muskegon. My sister and her husband live nearby, and we’ve been to dinner in Norton Shores. As Carrie said the word Muskegon, a flashback entered her head. Someone else recently mentioned Muskegon. Then it came to her. “Jeff, remember our meeting with Myra Ellsworth and Dr. Haskins at the lab? They told us water hemlock still grows near Muskegon. The DNR has not yet been able to eradicate it in that area.”
“Oh crap, how did I miss that? This could mean that Cyrus or his son had access to water hemlock. Again, I realize this is circumstantial, but it’s another piece of the puzzle that points to Cyrus.”
An idea then came into Jeff’s head. “I gotta go now, and I know you need to get back to your office. I just thought of something I needed to do. Fill you in later. You’re a genius, Carrie! Thank you so much!”
Carrie returned to her office and wondered what Jeff needed to do so abruptly. She felt good she had been able to calm his concerns about Grant’s death and offer up a bit of information to help with the case. Carrie felt happy Jeff confided in her when he needed to talk it out. She continued to find herself thinking about him, probably more than she should. Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when her nurse Susan leaned into her office and announced, “Ralph Perkins is here for his checkup Carrie.”
Chapter thirty-three
Jeff needed to speak with Rich Wrobleski. He called him as soon as he left Cuppa Joe and left a voicemail that they needed to talk. Rich called him back that evening as he prepared to eat a Chinese carryout dinner of egg rolls, fried rice, and crab rangoons.
“Hey, Jeff, what’s up?”
“Hey Rich, I have a question that I hope you can help me find the answer to. You mentioned the court case with Superior Oil has not yet concluded. You felt they were likely to lose the case in the end. Has anything changed since we talked?”
“No, not yet, but it’s a decision that will come down very soon one way or the other. Why do you ask?”
“I think I may have figured out the information Grant sought when he left you that message before he died. You know, the one where he wanted information about directional drilling. You said there were a number of wells in the county that used that drilling method. Correct?”
“That’s right. Supposedly there are at least 17, according to the court documents.”
