Read Online Murder at Moot Point by Marlys Millhiser - Free Book Online Page B

to “stay put” again. Lights, flashing on the tops of the Bronco and the squad car parked a length or two ahead, bounced off the thick forest on either side of the road like a frenzied invasion of aliens.
    Charlie rolled the window down and the night filled with the sounds of sea wind and tree creaks. And of too many men standing around snorting and talk-growling. A woman deputy joined the melee and added a nervous giggle.
    They were on the road that swung down off Highway 101 to the village of Moot Point. Charlie could see the lights of the last retirement trailer in front of the squad car ahead of her. A section of the ditch and roadside had been cordoned off and was getting a good flashlight search. The air coming in the window was chilly and smelled a lot like Paige Magill’s greenhouse.
    Charlie was about to roll the window back up when a man marched into the various circles of light and demanded to know who was in charge. The uniforms present pointed at Wes as if cued. The civilian, nearly bald and dressed for success, had the nose and general shape of Frank Glick. He expressed his ire with jerky arm motions and volume rather than explicit language but his aim was clear. He informed everyone that he had some clout with the government in this state and was so appalled that an innocent old woman could come to such a mean end in Oregon, he had a mind to use his influence in Salem to see that pressure was applied where appropriate and justice speeded up. And where “for Christ’s sake” was the woman who had run over his poor old mother? This man was of an age to be a grandfather himself.
    â€œYour mother was not run over, Mr. Glick, she was shot. We are just now inspecting a weapon thrown in the ditch here that could be the murder weapon.” Wes was called away by an excited official and Georgette’s son began to pace.
    He was acting like a pompous ass, but Charlie felt for the son whose mother had been murdered. At Georgette’s age her offspring must have been all too aware of the statistics on life span, but they couldn’t have been prepared for a bullet.
    When Wes climbed back up to the road the man was at him again. “Well, Sheriff, where is this woman who did not run over my mother but who shot her then? I understood you had her in custody. I’ve already been to the county jail in Chinook and they claim she isn’t there.”
    Wes was rocking on his feet again. “As of this moment, we do not know the gender of the person who pulled the trigger, Mr. Glick. Your mother was shot. Her bicycle may have been run over—”
    â€œAll right then,” the male Glick said dangerously, “where is the woman who ran over my mother’s bicycle?”
    â€œAs of this moment,” Wes said, “we don’t know who ran over the bicycle either, only where it was found. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an investigation to conduct.”
    â€œYou will definitely hear more from me soon, Sheriff, and from Salem.” Georgie’s son pushed his way through milling cops and stalked off toward his parents’ home and presumably the telephone lines to the state capital.
    The sheriff of Moot County crawled in beside Charlie and gave her hand a fatherly bear squeeze. “Am I glad to see you sitting here behaving yourself. I was going through internal spasms out there worrying you’d do something stupid.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œIn that stuff my second wife reads you would have jumped out of here all holy-like to explain to Glick the second that you were the one under whose vehicle the dead woman was found and then go into tantrums about being innocent. And then he would have gone off like a regular guy, ignoring your explanations and then you’d have run off to solve the case while I was looking the other way doing something dumb.”
    â€œDid she tell you the plot lines? Did wife number two read her books aloud to you? How