Dog Gone Lies (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 1) (9 page)

“That’s pretty quick. But free beer ought to have some appeal, so why not? I guess we’d need to invite 300 or so people to get a good number who actually show up. Have some ideas on a flyer or something we can hand out?”

Tyee said he had worked up a simple flyer and thought they should concentrate their distribution on the lake area. They could pass them out and then have the people talk to their neighbors about it. Ray looked at the flyer and was impressed with Tyee’s skills once again. They talked about calling Clayton and getting some more people to hand them out the next day.

“What’s going on out there in the store—you said there were customers?”

“Yeah, surprised me. When I showed up there were three cars out front and maybe ten or more people in the store. They’re not local, so not sure what it was about.”

Ray and Tyee went into the store and found there were now even more customers than before. Big Jack was smiling and ringing up sales on the old cash register. When he had a break, he joined Ray and Tyee.

“Seems there was an article in the El Paso paper about the fishing tournament week after next. These people were in El Paso on some kind of church mission, saw the article, and decided to come up and see the lake. They didn’t know there was such a large lake in New Mexico. Anyway, just a freakish thing. Normally we only get about twenty or so fishermen entering the tournament, so it’s never attracted much attention from the press. Also looks like I have about thirty messages on my machine, presumably something to do with the same article.”

“What would you do, Big Jack, if you had this kind of business all day long?”

“Lock the door.”

Big Jack wasn’t a devoted business man. Part of his daily routine was an afternoon nap on the dock, weather permitting, and it would be absurd to have it interrupted by customers. As it turned out, the church group could probably have been trusted to make their selections and leave the money, but the next group to come in might take all the beer. Big Jack didn’t seem too concerned one way or the other, though.

After the invaders had satisfied their curiosity they loaded into their cars and headed back to El Paso. Ray suggested they stop at La Posta in Old Messila to have dinner, highly recommending the food.

Once the quiet of the store returned, they went back to the plans for the meeting on Sunday. Tyee started printing flyers, and Ray called Clayton and told him their plans. Clayton was excited and said he would get his wife, as well as Cindy and her boyfriend, to distribute the flyers the next day.

Pretty soon Big Jack suggested it was time for a beer. Ray and Tyee joined him on the dock and sipped their beers. Well, Ray and Tyee sipped—Big Jack was doing something closer to gulping. Happy was well pleased to have the company and settled down as close as he could get to the group.

“I think Big Jack’s should sponsor you in the Elephant Butte Fishing Tournament—what do you think Ray?” This was Big Jack speaking in between gulps of beer and chews on his cigar.

“Do you ever light that cigar?” Tyee seemed curious about the ever-present, disgusting cigar.

“That’ll teach me to give an Indian a beer.”

Ray thought this was good natured banter, but decided it was best if he changed the subject.

“Exactly what would that mean, Big Jack, if you sponsored me in the tournament?”

“Mostly it would mean I’d provide you with a Big Jack’s hat and vest. If you win I would get half your earnings and free publicity. If you lose, I’d be out a hat and vest and the fifty dollar entry fee.”

“If I win, what’s the prize?”

“First place prize is three thousand dollars.”

“Why not sponsor Tyee?”

“Well, he won the first three tournaments, so the executive committee, which is actually just me, decided on a new rule the next year that doesn’t allow professional fishing guides to enter.”

“White man fuck Indian once again.”

“Yeah, doesn’t feel right, just because he won to stop him from entering.”

“Okay, maybe it wasn’t right, but nobody else would enter if Tyee was fishing. So the tournament wouldn’t exist. So what do you do? Piss off one guide or stop the tournament? I went with pissed off guide. Hell, he was already pissed off about something all the time, so what was the harm?”

They pondered the complications of fishing guides in fishing tournaments for a minute. “Okay, I’ll enter the tournament—and I’m going to win!”

Tyee didn’t look too convinced about the last part. “You’ve only caught one fish in your life—how are you going to win?”

“I’m going to use old Indian wisdom and cheat.”

“White man very wise.”

From this point on, most of their attention went to drinking beer.

Saturday

Ray woke up a little groggy. He decided he’d probably had a couple of beers too many the night before—but he’d sure had a good time. He enjoyed Big Jack and Tyee’s company in a way he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He got up slowly and let Happy out for his morning activities, then headed toward the kitchen and coffee.

Ray fixed a cup of instant coffee and decided to get dressed, a fairly simple process for Ray since he wore basically the same thing every day. He washed his clothes often, it was just that everything he had looked the same. This wasn’t an issue for him, and so far nobody else had mentioned it. While he was showering, Ray decided he would head into town and treat himself to breakfast at the Lone Post, very much aware that Sue would be working that morning.

After dressing, he exited the bedroom and realized there was no sound at all in the cabin—Happy hadn’t returned. He felt a sudden fear. Happy wasn’t used to all the things he might encounter around the cabin. Each time Ray let him out he felt concerned. He started out the door to see if he could find Happy, when the dog appeared on the porch of his own accord. Ray noticed that as time had gone by, Happy had become a little more disheveled than when he’d first arrived. He felt bad that he wasn’t brushing him as much as he should, but it was reality: the days of getting show dog treatment were over. He gave the dog a good rub, went back in the cabin to get his jacket, and then locked the door. As he was turning to leave, he noticed something. Reaching down, he realized it was a woman’s shoe.

This felt like an ominous sign. It could belong to Ms. Jackson. Ray figured that Happy had found it somewhere and brought it home. What seemed odd to him was that Happy wasn’t acting like it was his owner’s shoe. Ray decided he was going to search the area immediately around his cabin that day and see what he could find. With that in mind, he headed toward Big Jack’s to see if Tyee might be there and to ask if he’d assist in the search.

He and Happy got to Big Jack’s quickly. It was apparent that Big Jack was having another good business day, which would put him in a foul mood for sure. Ray and Happy went around back and looked to see if Tyee’s boat was there, but it wasn’t. No boat, no Tyee. Ray decided they would head into T or C and have breakfast—he was starving.

Ray parked in front of the café and made sure Happy was comfortable and had plenty of air. The Lone Post was also doing a brisk Saturday morning business, so there weren’t any tables or booths available, but there was a small counter and Ray took a stool. He’d barely sat down before Sue appeared.

“Good morning, Ray.”

“Good morning, Sue. Looks like you’re busy today.”

“Yeah. Somebody said there was an article in the El Paso paper yesterday, and now we have a few more visitors than normal.”

Ray placed his order with Sue, then went out front and got an El Paso paper from the box. He read the sports and glanced at the rest of the news. His breakfast was served and he enjoyed every bite.

“Well, we didn’t have much time to talk today.” Sue was looking disappointed.

“Sue, this may be an oddball question. I’m going to do some searching for a body that may be up around my cabin later on this afternoon and I was wondering if you’d like to help?”

Sue laughed. “Well yeah, that’s an oddball question.”

“Sorry, I guess that was more like stupid than oddball.” Ray couldn’t believe he had just tried to make a date to search for a dead body. Even for him that was bizarre.

“What time and how do I find your cabin?”

Ray was a little surprised. He told her Tyee would probably be there part of the time, but maybe after they searched some he could fix her dinner. She smiled. Ray wasn’t sure what he was doing, he was just doing it. He gave her a map and said that three o’clock would be great. He said they would wait until three to start the search, and if she arrived later to just wait on the porch. She continued to smile and said she would take off a little early and be there by three. He hadn’t realized he’d asked her to take off work early—now he was embarrassed all over again.

“Look Sue, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Why don’t you just come for dinner? I’m such an idiot about some things and just didn’t realize I was asking you to leave work early.”

“Ray, it’s okay. I’ll be there at three—if I’m not I’ll be there at five—how’s that?”

“That’s great Sue. See you later.” Ray got up and paid his check at the register. The lady there gave him an I-know-what-you’re-doing look while she counted out his change. Ray couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Back in the Jeep, he let his breath out while petting Happy. He felt like a teenager who’d just asked a girl for a first date. Well, hell, maybe that wasn’t such a bad feeling. He was grinning.

Ray stopped by the market in town and picked up some things: bread, wine, and one of those pre-made salads. He had steaks in the refrigerator. He also got more food for Happy. Then headed to the far side of the lake to drop by Tyee’s camp. This took a bit of time, but soon he was parked just above the campsite. He went down, accompanied by Happy, and yelled out to Tyee. There was no response. Ray found some paper in his truck and left a note explaining that at around three he was going to do some searching in the vicinity of his cabin to look for clues about the missing woman. He mentioned the shoe and asked if Tyee could join him.

After a brief stop to get gas, Ray decided to bypass Big Jack’s and head home. He was still deeply embarrassed that he’d invited Sue to search for a body—what in the world had he been thinking? He’d wanted to see her and that was what he’d been planning on doing so he’d invited her—it just didn’t occur to him how stupid it sounded until he’d said it.

It seemed like a really long time before he finally reached home. For the first time since he’d moved to the lake, he wished he had a phone so he could call Sue and cancel their meeting. That sounded very businesslike. It wasn’t a date, it was a meeting. Ray sat in the Jeep for a while, debating what to do. He could run down to Big Jack’s and call. How had this day gone so wrong? He headed back to Big Jack’s.

Pulling in, he found there were no cars—the busy day was apparently over. Ray and Happy entered. As usual, there was no one around. Ray looked out back and saw Big Jack asleep on his cot, enjoying the warm day. Rather than disturb him, Ray would use the phone and leave—no need to even mention it to Big Jack.

“Hey, what’s going on?” It was Tyee.

Ray jumped. “Gave me a little start there—I didn’t see you.”

“Yeah, Indians are sneaky.”

Ray tried to pull himself together. He needed to use the phone but didn’t want to discuss why with Tyee. Within a single day Ray had turned into a bumbling moron.

“I was going to do some searching around my cabin in a while to see if I could find anything that might link to the missing woman—care to help?”

“Sure.”

“Happy found a woman’s shoe that doesn’t look that old, so I thought it might make some sense.”

“Something wrong, Ray? You seem nervous.”

“No nothing. I went by your camp earlier and left a note. So when you get back just ignore the note.”

“Come on, Ray, what the hell is going on—you’re sounding goofy.”

“Oh jeez. For some stupid reason I invited Sue at the café to go searching for dead bodies like it was a date. I don’t know, it was like my mind wasn’t working. It makes me feel like an idiot. So now I’m going to call her and tell her not to come.”

“A date to look for dead bodies—is this some kind of zombie thing?”

“No. It’s just some kind of stupid old man thing.”

“Indian sensing romance in air.”

Ray called information and got the number for the café. It was answered as always by the lady at the register. Ray asked for Sue but was told that she had gone home early with a headache. He asked for her number and was told that they couldn’t give out employee’s private numbers. He hung up. He called information again and asked for the number for Sue Lewis—they said they didn’t have a Sue Lewis. He hung up again.

“Come on, Ray, it’s not that bad. So you made kind of a silly date—she was the one who said yes. I think you just need to go with the flow here, see how this turns out. What time was she supposed to be there?”

“Either three, if she could get off work early, or five if not.”

“Well let’s head up to your cabin. You can clean up some and then, if she shows up, we can do some searching and you can go back to normal date mode. If she doesn’t show up you and I can search some and see if there’s anything obvious in your area, okay?”