Stranded In The Swamp E-Book

Jim Riley

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Murder can lead you down an unexpected path.

When Wade and Mindy find a body in a deer stand, the trek to find the killer begins. But neither of them could have imagined where it would lead them: the dangerous Atchafalaya Basin.

While tracking the killer, the two have to fight off alligators, moccasins and a black panther. Can they find the person responsible, and bring him to justice?

Leseprobe

STRANDED IN THE SWAMP

WADE DALTON AND SAM CATES MYSTERIES BOOK 3

JIM RILEY

CONTENTS

1. Saturday Morning

2. Saturday Morning

3. Saturday morning

4. Saturday Morning

5. Saturday Afternoon

6. Sunday Morning

7. Sunday Morning

8. Sunday Morning

9. Sunday Afternoon

10. Monday Morning

11. Monday Morning

12. Monday Morning

13. Monday Morning

14. Monday Morning

15. Monday Noon

16. Monday Afternoon

17. Monday Afternoon

18. Monday Afternoon

19. Monday Afternoon

20. Monday Afternoon

21. Monday Afternoon

22. Monday Night

23. Monday Night

24. Tuesday Morning

25. Tuesday Morning

26. Tuesday Afternoon

27. Tuesday Morning

28. Tuesday Noon

29. Tuesday Afternoon

30. Tuesday Afternoon

31. Wednesday Morning

32. Wednesday Morning

33. Wednesday

34. Wednesday Afternoon

35. Wednesday Night

36. Thursday Morning

37. Thursday Afternoon

38. Thursday

39. Thursday

40. Friday Morning

41. Friday Morning

42. Friday Noon

43. Saturday Morning

44. Saturday

45. Saturday

46. Saturday Afternoon

47. Saturday Night

48. Sunday Morning

49. Sunday Noon

50. Monday Morning

51. Monday

52. Monday

53. Tuesday Morning

54. Tuesday Night

55. Wednesday Morning

56. Wednesday Morning

Notes

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About the Author

Copyright (C) 2020 Jim Riley

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.

To the Most Beautiful

You Always Were and Always Will Be

1SATURDAY MORNING

EVERGREEN, MS

“Hello.”

“Hey, Kenny.”

“Who is this? Do you know what time it is?”

Kenny tried to focus his bleary eyes on his bedside alarm clock.

“Kenny, it doesn’t matter who this is. All that matters is that I heard you’ve been talking about the Evergreen Project.”

Kenny’s eyes popped wide open and his upper body sat erect in the bed.

“What did you say?”

“Don’t play dumb, Kenny. You’re not good at it.”

“Okay, I told a few friends over drinks. So why call me?”

“Because it was our secret, Kenny.”

“There’s nothing to it yet.”

“I know. But I also know what’s gonna be there once you guys take care of the Evergreen Plantation.”

“We shouldn’t be talking over the phone.”

“Don’t worry, Kenny. Mine is a throwaway. Untraceable.”

“But you never know who might be listening.”

“You’re right again, Kenny. I tell you what. Let’s meet.”

“Where?”

“Go down Burned Down Road right past the Evergreen Plantation. As soon as the high fence ends, there is an old logging road that leads down to the creek. We’ll meet at the creek.”

“When?”

“One hour.”

2SATURDAY MORNING

EVERGREEN PLANTATION

The aroma of the strong black Community Coffee permeated the den in the Lodge at the Evergreen Plantation. Wade Dalton loved that smell.

“Where are we going to sit this morning?”

Mindy Thomas put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

“Am I gonna hunt with you again? I thought it was my turn to sit with Mandy,” Wade nodded towards Mindy’s twin sister.

“We share almost everything, but I’m not sharing my hunting buddy with her. She’s gonna have to sit with Daddy again.”

She tightened the grip around his waist.

“Bruce! Help me. You decide which one I take hunting this morning.”

“I’m only the City Manager. I’m not paid to make big decisions like that.” Bruce laughed at Wade’s predicament.

“You girls decide which one goes with me and which one sits with your daddy. We’ve got plenty of time. Let us know in the next, oh, thirty seconds.”

“I already told you, Wade. I’m hunting with you and Mandy can hunt with Daddy.”

Mandy nodded her head in agreement.

“She can have you this time, Detective Ranger. But only if you promise you won’t do anything with her you won’t do with me later.”

Both twins laughed.

Wade grabbed a thermos full of coffee and a couple of Danish rolls.

“Just in case one of us stays awake this morning.”

“Last time, I fell asleep. But I woke up in time to shoot that big ol’ Axis buck.”

“I still don’t know if you were asleep or were faking it.”

“And you never will!”

After assigning stands to the other guides and hunters, Wade helped the twins load their gear onto the ATV. Mindy wedged next to Wade in the front seat, and Bruce sat in the rear seat with Mandy. With several thousand acres and over one hundred stands to choose from, Wade thought about where he picked for Mindy to find a big whitetail buck this morning.

We could go to the ridge behind the winter pea field. The deer usually travel along it to get back to cover to bed up for the day. We could sit in the stand in the narrow strip of woods between the winter oat field and the cornfield. Deer love getting the last bit of sweet corn before laying down. No, the best place is the one I’ve chosen. It’s above a white oak bottom at the edge of a deep swamp thicket, perfect cover for an old buck to chew his cud out of sight of any human predators. No matter where the old bucks eat at night, a lot of them prefer to retreat to the swamp for the safety it provides during the day. Their favorite route is through these white oaks that produce the sweetest acorns of all the oak trees. It’s quite a walk from the main trail for the hunters, but that’s also an advantage. Most of my hunters are way too far out of shape to hunt there, so we’ll have a stand that rarely gets hunted.

Slamming on the breaks, they saw a majestic elk standing in the middle of the four-wheeler trail. interrupting his thoughts. All four occupants of the all-terrain vehicle stared at the incredible animal.

“He’s not in a big hurry to move, is he?” Mandy whispered from the back seat.

“If I was as big as him, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to get anywhere until I was ready to go,” Mindy giggled.

“Man, he’s nice.” Bruce could not take his eyes off this magnificent animal.

“Which reminds me, Bruce. If you see that white elk, our deal is still on.”

“Fifty thousand, if I remember right.”

“That’s it. And I’ll throw in a whitetail buck for lagniappe.”

Bruce beamed. “I’ve already selected a spot over my mantle.”

Wade observed the old bull amble off the trail. After he completely disappeared, he steered the ATV deeper into the woods.

“You can’t ever tell about these old bulls this time of the year. Sometimes, the smell of a female, even a human female will set them off during the rut and this ATV is great, but it isn’t a match for an angry nine hundred pound bull elk.”

“I’m with you, Wade.” Bruce nodded from the back seat. “No use taking any chances.”

Wade grinned as Mindy’s eyes grew wider and wider as she searched the darkness along the trail for any angry bulls. Her hip squeezed almost underneath Wade’s in the small seat.

Wade put Bruce and Mandy in the same stand where they had previously seen a majestic white elk. Wade had not even known the white elk was on the ranch prior to that hunt, but a picture from Mandy’s phone provided all the proof needed. After dropping the pair at the stand, Wade and Mindy followed a meandering trail to the rear corner of the property in the lowlands next to the creek and the swamp. They parked the ATV in some brush on the other side of a ridge from the stand and eased through the white oaks in the veiled darkness before dawn.

Reaching the ladder leading up to the stand, Mindy handed Wade her rifle and most of her gear. As she climbed the stairs, she glanced back and smiled at Wade. He knew exactly what that smile meant.

Yes, I know you’re enjoying the view from right behind and right below me. Keep climbing.

Mindy reached the top of the stairs and slowly inched the door open, attempting to make as little noise as possible. Wade was still absorbing the pleasant view when Mindy let out a blood-curling scream and bolted over Wade down the stairs. Barely catching a hand on a rail, he hung on as Mindy tumbled on the ground, rose to her feet, and raced toward the ATV.

The blow temporarily knocked the wind out of Wade, and he struggled to get words out.

“What’s wrong, Mindy? What did you see?”

But Mindy did not slow down to answer questions. She crashed into small trees and brush in her frantic attempt to get as far away from the stand in as short of a time as possible.

What the heck did she see that spooked her like that? Whatever it is, I’d better be careful.

Wade’s nerves tingled, and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up as he chambered a shell in his rifle. He took a step up the ladder with his right foot, and followed with raising his left foot to the same step, always keeping the business end of the rifle pointed at the door of the hunting stand. Mindy had left the door slightly ajar in her haste to get away.

Man, this ain’t right! What could be in that stand? A bat? A snake? Squirrels? There’s no way a skunk could get this high. Must be a bat with babies. Uh-oh. The smell of death. That unmistakable smell of death. If I can just ease this door open a little more―

Wade stared at the object in the stand, and then almost leapt from the platform to the ground. He immediately grabbed his cell phone and hit the speed dial at the top of the list.

3SATURDAY MORNING

EVERGREEN PLANTATION

Luckily, my fiancée is the Sheriff of Evergreen County, or I wouldn’t have her at the top of my contact list.

“Sam, you awake?”

“I am now. What’s up?”

“Well, get awake and get some of your deputies awake. I found Kenny Thigpen dead in one of my stands. One of the twins, Mindy, found him.”

“Kenny Thigpen? Dead? That must have shocked her. Are you sure he’s dead?”

“Yes, so there’s no hurry with the medical examiner. Unless I need him for Mindy. She took off and there’s no telling where she’ll end up. Probably in the swamp unless I can find her soon.”

“I wasn’t expecting this kind of wake-up call this morning. So he’s in a stand along the creek bottom at the swamp?”

“It’s the old stand at the edge of the cedar swamp in the white oak bottom.”

“That’s one of my favorite stands. Those big ol’ bucks will sneak in and out of the swamp all day long. If I remember correctly, there is a gate in the fence not too far from the stand.”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Give me a few minutes to find a uniform and get dressed. I’ll call Gus and roust him, assuming he went to bed last night. We should be there in about thirty minutes.”

“If you don’t mind, come to that gate by the stand so you don’t disturb the other hunters. I’ve got to go find Mindy. She took off like a scalded cat.”

“No problem. Just don’t track up the scene like the hunters did last time. Did you determine the cause of death?”

“I didn’t stay up in the stand that long. Besides, you need to have something to do so you can tell the press about it.”

“We’ll have plenty to tell the press. Kenny is well known. He was the other City Councilman on the fringe of the Rachel Chastain murder, but he wasn’t as involved, if that’s the right term, as the others.”

“If you mean he was the only one that didn’t confess to having a relationship with a teenage girl, then that’s the right term.”

“All right, be safe until I get there. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

“Don’t worry. Mindy and I are the only ones back this far.”

“That’s what worries me, Dear.” Sam hung up the phone.

Wade followed the wide trail of debris Mindy left in her haste to escape. The upturned leaves, broken branches and patches of bare dirt where her boots slid going up the hill were as plain to Wade as exit signs would have been to motorists traveling on Interstate 10. Within four or five minutes, even in the morning darkness, he found her cowering next to a huge live oak on the other side of the ridge from the stand. Wade sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

“I wish I could offer you something stronger than coffee, but that’s all I have.”

“I―I’m sorry, Wade. I wasn’t expecting to find someone in the stand. Especially a dead someone!”

“If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t expecting to find anyone either.”

“He is dead, isn’t he? I mean, he looked dead and smelled dead, if you know what I mean.”

Wade tilted his head back until it rested against the oak tree.

“Mindy, that is a smell you will never forget no matter how long you live. Most people, fortunately, have never had the experience. But for those of us that have, we’ll never forget it.”

“How long does it take to go away, Wade?”

Wade sighed, exhaling almost all his breath before answering.

“I wish I could tell you, Mindy. With me, it has never completely gone away.”

Mindy laid her head on Wade’s shoulder and openly wept, no longer making any attempt to restrain the tears built up inside. Wade could think of nothing to say that would ease Mindy’s tension, so he held her a little tighter as they cuddled under the oak. Eventually, the tears ebbed, and Wade helped her daub the few remaining ones beneath her eyes.”

“Who is he?”

“Kenny Thigpen. He’s one of our City Councilmen. At least he was.”

“I know him. He used to stare at my butt. That didn’t look like him, though.”

“He won’t be staring at anyone’s butt anymore, Mindy.”

“How did he die, Wade?”

“I don’t know that yet.”

How long has he been there?”

“I’m don’t know that either.”

“Why is he in your deer stand?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one either, Mindy.”

“Boy, for a Detective Ranger or whatever you are, you sure don’t know much, do you?” She stared at Wade and then laughed through her tears.

Wade broke into a broad grin.

“Can we get out of here, Wade?”

“I called Sam, and she’s on her way. She’ll need to talk to both of us to find out what we saw and heard.”

As he finished the sentence, Wade could hear the sirens in the distant, drawing closer and closer. The morning sun rose over the horizon, bringing hope of a better day ahead for the pair leaning against the tree on the damp ground. Wade eased his grip on Mindy’s shoulder and let his own body relax a few seconds before rising to his feet.

Holding Mindy’s hand, Wade approached the hunting stand, watching Sam and the deputies gathering evidence from inside and around the blind. He motioned for Mindy to sit on the ground and he sat next to her in silence. Eventually, Sam noticed them and walked over and knelt beside them.

“I didn’t see you walk up.”

“We’ve just been here a minute. I didn’t want to disturb you and your guys while you’re working. What have you found?” Wade nodded toward the hunting stand as he asked.

“Not much.” Sam shook her head. “Somebody killed him in the middle of the logging road. It looks like he drove here to meet someone else because there’s another set of car tracks out there next to where Kenny’s car is sitting. From what we can tell he was taken out of his car, killed in the road and then dragged from the road to the stand. One set of footprints along the drag line, so we assume there is only one perp.”

“How was he killed, Sam?”

“Looks like one shot to the back of his head with the projection indicating he was below the shooter. You know, kind of in a kneeling position.”

“So it was an execution.”

“That’s how it looks right now.”

“I was hoping we were through with those.”

“Me too.”

They stopped the conversation as they watched the deputies bring the body of Kenny Thigpen down the stairs of the hunting stand in a body bag. Several of the deputies carried sacks of material back toward the logging road.

“Tell me what you guys saw when you first got here.”

“Mindy went up the stairs first. I didn’t see anything or hear anything until she discovered the body and―uh, let me take the lead.”

Wade winked at Mindy.

Mindy nodded.

“I got to the top of the stairs and opened the door and turned on my flashlight before going in. You know, in case there was a bat or a squirrel in there. That’s when I saw Kenny. Only I didn’t recognize him, slumped over in the chair. It was obvious he was dead and I kind of lost it and jumped back down the ladder and let Wade take over.”

“Okay, and Wade, I assume you went on up and opened the door again to see what frightened Mindy.” Sam so subtlety let Mindy know that she was aware how scared Mindy was.

“I eased the door open with my rifle barrel and peered inside. As Mindy said, Kenny was slumped over in the chair, but there wasn’t any doubt if he was alive or not. Neither of us went inside the stand, so nothing in there should be disturbed.”

“Excellent. We have an uncontaminated crime scene for once. I don’t know what to say.”

“A ‘Thank you’ would be appropriate, don’t you think?” Wade grinned.

“Yes, and thank you, if you need to hear it. I appreciate it you didn’t sit in the chair with Kenny.”

“Well, Mindy wanted to, but I talked her out of it rather quickly.”

Mindy nodded her head in agreement, still in a bit of shock and not fully comprehending the conversation between Sam and Wade.

“Oh, Wade. You have some animals to recover.”

“Do what?”

“Yeah, whoever dragged Kenny’s body in broke the lock on the gate and left the gate open a bit.”

“Man, that’s just great,” Wade said, shaking his head in sarcasm. “Why is it that animals only go one way when there is a gate open? None of them ever come in. They always go out.”

“Seems like it, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, could you tell how many got out?”

“From what I saw, it was at least one red stag and two blackbucks, probably bucks since the tracks had dew drops and were the same size.”

“Sam, you have more experience than I do with escaped animals. What do I have to do?”

“First, recover the animals, either alive or dead. It’s your choice. Then you have to file a report with the state describing what happened, how you dealt with it and what you’ll do to prevent it.”

“Let’s see. I can recover the animals. They won’t go very far, I’m guessing. I can tell the state what happened and what I did in response. It’s the last requirement I’m struggling with.”

Sam grinned. “Do you mean how you’ll prevent this? Put up a sign that says dead people can’t trespass or you’re going to shoot them again.”

Even Mindy could not refrain from giggling.

“What else did you guys find outside the gate, Sam?”

“The usual. We found the tire tracks from the vehicle and footprints from Kenny and another guy. No cigarette butts or anything we can get DNA from. No hotel keys dropped by mistake. No rental car receipts or anything else that’s going to make this easy to solve. But we found one thing in Kenny’s pocket that will need some explaining.”

Wade’s eyes arched. “What’s that, Sam?”

“It’s a piece of paper that says ‘one hour’ and has your name scribbled beside it.”

4SATURDAY MORNING

EVERGREEN PLANTATION

Wade gripped the steering wheel of the ATV so tight his fingers hurt on the way back to pick up Bruce and Mandy. Mindy was almost a puddle, molded as close to Wade’s side as possible. Neither said anything on the trip between the stands. Halfway between the stands, Wade’s mouth fell open when he saw Bruce and Mandy walking toward them along the ATV trail.

He pulled up alongside the father and daughter.

“I’m so sorry, Wade.” Bruce began. Then he saw Mindy still cowering beside Wade and turned to Mandy. “You were right, Honey. Something is wrong.”

Mandy leapt to Mindy’s side of the vehicle and the twins hugged and communicated in a telepathic sense beyond the capability of humans that are not twins to understand.

“Bruce, what happened to you guys? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, only it seems Mandy sensed something was wrong with Mindy right before daylight. I kept telling her she was okay, and you were with her, but she wouldn’t listen. We didn’t shoot anything because she kept insisting that we find Mindy because Mindy was in a stressful situation. I tried hard to talk her out of it, Wade. But when you guys were late picking us up, I gave in and we started looking for you guys. I wasn’t sure which way to go, but Mandy said she felt like you were in this direction.”

“Wow!” Wade eyed the twins closely. He had heard of the extrasensory ability of twins to feel each other’s stress levels and pain, but he had not believed it until now.

I’ll never question it again! This is amazing!

Wade explained the morning events to Bruce and Mandy, although Mandy was barely listening. He omitted the part about the piece of paper being found in Kenny’s pocket with his name on it.

“No wonder Mandy went crazy in the stand. She kept squirming in the seat and standing in the blind. Somehow she knew Mindy was in peril, although she wasn’t really in peril, but she was stressed to the max, I bet.”

“That would be a safe bet, Bruce. We’ll have to get her some counseling, I’m afraid. She’s pretty shook up.”

“I’m okay, Detective Ranger.”

The voice behind Wade startled him and made him jump in his seat. Mindy was speaking as coherently as he had ever heard her.

“Mandy and I decided we must accept this as a part of life and to make the best of it.”

The twins looked at each other and put their arms around the other one. Mindy continued. “I lost my focus for a little while, but Mandy helped me regain it. Now we can help you.”

“Unbelievable, but great. I mean, from just a few minutes ago until now, the transformation is unbelievable.”

Then he stopped and frowned.

“This doesn’t mean you plan to be a part of the investigation, does it? You don’t have any authority to help.”

“We’ve got just as much authority as you do, Detective Ranger. You’re not in the FBI anymore, and the appointment as a Federal Investigator was for Rachel’s case only. So we have just as much right to investigate as you do.” Mindy’s jaw clenched in her determination.

“Do you remember that you were kidnapped in that case and if I hadn’t figured out who had you, there’s no telling what would have happened. Besides, I’m still officially listed as a Federal Investigator.”

Mandy responded, “We knew you were coming. Besides, we would have figured out how to deal with him, eventually.”

I hate arguing with the twins. They come from right field, left field, the cornfield and the Field of Dreams all at the same time. How can I win this one? Probably can’t. The next best thing to do is pretend to go along with them and keep them busy on side issues far away from the main investigation.

“All right, but you have to do exactly as I tell you. You only communicate through me and not directly with Sam. If she gets a hint you’re helping me, she will skin all of us alive and throw us in the Pearl River for the turtles. Can you agree to that?”

Both twins nodded, but were looking at the ground when they did.

“Ladies, I need your assurance. I don’t want to impede Sam’s investigation and I don’t want you getting in the way of it either.”

The twins mumbled to each other in voices so low Wade could not discern the words. Mindy spoke for the pair of them.

“We agree, Wade. We won’t impede Sam’s investigation.”

“And you will do exactly as I say if you help me?”

“Yes, we will.”

“Good luck, Wade. You’ll need it with these two helping you.” Bruce laughed.

The quartet rode in silence back to the Lodge. While Bruce, the twins and the rest of the hunters and guides ate a hearty breakfast, Wade was on the phone with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife. He burst into the dining room and motioned for the girls to follow him. When they arrived in his office, he pulled out three rifles.

“These are dart guns, ladies. I never knew why they had more than one of these before, but now I do. I talked to the Department of Wildlife and told them what happened. They suggested we dart the animals that escaped. If, and only if, we can’t dart them, then we need to eliminate them.”

“Is that a fancy way of saying if we can’t take them alive, then we shoot them?”

“That’s what it is. We’ll take some corn down by the gate they escaped from and pour it out on the ground. Normally, hunting directly over corn is illegal in Mississippi, but we’ve got permission to use it in this case. My bet is that the two Blackbucks and the Stag will travel along the fence, trying to get back to familiar ground. When they reach the corn, they’ll recognize the gate and linger there long enough eating corn for us to get a shot at them.”

“Won’t they run off when we hit them with a dart?”

“Probably will, but I’ve planned for that. I’m loading the darts with a heavier dose of cocktail than usual.”

Mindy interrupted. “We might have some of that cocktail for ourselves.”

“It’s not that kind of cocktail. This is a combination of two drugs, Xylazine and Telozol. It’ll knock them out, especially with the dosages I’m putting in the darts. This cocktail is more like a super-sized dose of GHB. You know, the date drug.”

Both girls’ heads bobbed up and down, fully aware of the effects of GHB.

“I’ve heard of girls whose drinks have been spiked with that stuff. But from what I’ve heard, it has different effects on different girls.” Mandy shook her head and ran her hands through her strawberry-blonde hair.

“You’re right, Mandy. How much someone weighs, the amount of GHB used, the amount of alcohol consumed prior to being drugged, the girl’s immune system and who knows what else all cause the effects to vary. The same is true with animals. They all react differently.”

“What if they run off?”

“We’ve experienced some bucks that were all keyed up during the rut that ran off after being darted. Between the adrenaline and the built-up testosterone levels, it took a while for the drugs to take effect. Some of them went quite a way.”

“How did you find them?”

“We’ve got these.” Wade held up some of the longest darts the twins had ever seen. “In this end, we put the cocktail. In the other end is a transmitter. It sends out a signal that we can track with this receiver.”

He held up an antenna attached to a set of headphones.

“We can get a reading on their location from several hundred yards. Hopefully, the dart will stay in the animal until he or she succumbs to the drug.”

“Where do we aim?”

“Some folks like to shoot them in the neck to get the cocktail in the bloodstream quickly. I prefer shooting them in their big butts. It’s a bigger target with a bigger tolerance to prevent something bad happening. These darts are being propelled by a .22 caliber shell. They can cause a lot of damage if they hit in the wrong place on an animal. I’ve seen what they do when they hit a spinal cord or if an animal gets gut-shot with a dart. It’s not a pretty picture, so let’s make sure of our shots.”

“Okay, the butt it is. Do you want us to shoot the stag or the blackbucks first?”

“Why don’t you two try for the blackbucks and I’ll try for the stag? Okay?”

The twins nodded in agreement.

“Wade, one more thing.”

“What is it, Mindy?”

“Suppose we're successful and we get the animals back alive. What happens if a hunter shoots them? Won’t the drugs still be in the animals make them dangerous to eat?”

“Excellent question, Mindy. If we get them alive, we’ll put them in a side pen to recover. The retention time for this cocktail is about thirty days, but we’ll leave them in the side pens for around two months just to make sure all the drugs are out of their systems before we put them back in the hunting area.”

“Man, you’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“Not everything. I don’t know how I’ll solve a murder case with Sam on one side of it and you two on the other side.”

5SATURDAY AFTERNOON

EVERGREEN PLANTATION

Wade had second thoughts about involving the twins in the capture of the animals that escaped through the open gate. They were inexperienced and unpredictable. He could only guess how they would react to being on the ground twenty feet from a red stag that could easily kill them. Regardless, he invited them and now all three of them were sitting behind a huge fallen tree on the other side of the logging road from the gate. Wade poured out four buckets of corn on the ground in front of them, much more than he normally thought necessary. He figured the first chance would be the best chance to get the animals, so a little extra corn couldn’t hurt.

They sat behind the log for about thirty minutes without seeing any animals when Mindy squirmed. Wade motioned for her to be quiet, but she continued to squirm. Suddenly, she jumped up and began taking off her pants.

“I’m sitting on an ant bed,” she whispered, but not too quietly.

Sure enough, Wade saw the ants crawling up her bare legs after she removed her pants.

“I don’t blame you. They’re everywhere!” he exclaimed as he started helping Mandy brush the ants off of Mindy. When he reached her panties, he hesitated.

Mindy looked at him, and then Mandy laughed and pulled down her sister’s underwear. Wade turned his back to Mindy, wanting to help her but not wanting to embarrass her.

“You’ve already seen me naked, Wade. Now get these damn ants off me!”

Wade again started helping Mandy pick the ants off her half-naked sister.

“There aren’t that many ants on my butt, Wade. You can quit pinching me now.”

Wade stopped picking ants and stepped back, stammering in an unintelligible mumble.

“I’m just kidding you. Get them off of me. I don’t care where you have to pick them. Just get them off of me.”

After only a few minutes, they removed all the ants from her body and Mindy stood there in between them.

“Are you going to let me have my clothes back now, Wade? Or am I going to stand here naked beside the road for the rest of the day?”

Turning a little red in the face, Wade extended his arms holding Mindy’s pants.

“I was going to turn them inside out and get the rest of the ants off them before you put them back on.”

“You really can’t take a joke, can you? I was just kidding. I know you are trying to help.”

“Why don’t you girls go through the clothes and make sure you get all the ants? I’ll be right back. Don’t put these back on until I get back.”

Wade handed the pants to Mindy and hurriedly walked back toward the ATV parked a few hundred yards from the log.

When he returned, he held a small jar in his hands. He noticed that Mindy had put her panties back on, but not her pants.

“This is a balm we use for the animals for cuts and abrasions. It’s loaded with aloe and will help with the stings and the pains. Just rub in on every bite you can find. It’s heavy duty, so it shouldn’t take too long to take effect.”

Mandy laughed.

“They aren’t hard to find. She’s swelling up every place one of them bit her. Why don’t you let me put that on, unless you really want to rub it in real deep?” Mandy didn’t wait for an answer and held her hand out to take the lotion from Wade.

Wade pulled out another small container.

“What’s that?”

“It’s gas that I siphoned from the ATV. I’m going to pour it on that ant mound so we have no more trouble with them.”

“Won’t the Stag and the blackbuck smell it?”

“Mandy, as much as we’ve moved around and with the balm, they’ll know we’re here or at least that we’ve been around. I’m hoping they want a little corn more than they want to get away from us, at least for a minute or two until we can put a dart in them.”

Wade marveled at the unabashed manner of Mindy as she held her arms above her head as Mandy rubbed the balm all over her body. Mandy didn’t bother finding the welts of the bites, but applied the lotion in large doses everywhere, even inside Mindy’s panties.

“Enjoying the show, Detective Ranger?” Mindy was laughing.

“I was just wondering if it was working. We’ve used it on whitetails, elk, blackbuck, fallow and axis, but they all have one thing in common; none of them can tell us if it really helped or not.”

“It helps. I may have to get me some of that stuff. And you’re right. It is heavy duty. It didn’t take long at all to take the sting away.”

“Good, now you can get dressed before your dad or Sam shows up wondering what we’re doing.”

“They’d probably both have a few questions for sure.”

Wade turned his back toward Mindy.

“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that, Wade?”

“Maybe, but at least when you guys tell Sam, I can tell her I wasn’t watching.”

Both twins giggled.

Wade doused the ant nest with gas and then laid a piece of tarp over it. When he finished, Mindy had her clothes back on and was ready to resume their quest for the animals.

“Sorry, Wade. But I didn’t know what else to do.”

“There wasn’t much else to do, Mindy. But I’d prefer if we kept this between us three, if you know what I mean.”

“We understand, Wade. Sam might not see the humor in it like we did.”

Wade just nodded.

The trio settled behind the log, waiting for the surrounding woods to become quiet. Even the wind came to a halt. Suddenly, the red stag appeared at the gate, seemingly out of nowhere. He stared directly at Wade and took a step in his direction. There was no doubt in Wade’s mind that the stag knew he was there.

The stag took another step toward the log and then turned sideways and began eating the corn strewn on the ground. Wade slowly raised the dart gun and aimed right at the old stag’s rear end.

I can’t miss at this distance. Breath in. Breath out. Squeeze the trigger. Don’t jerk it.

Wade heard the distinct ‘thwack’ of the dart hitting the body of the stag before he realized he had fired the shot. Through the scope on the dart gun, he could only see a small fragment of the side of the animal, but he heard and then felt the reaction of the irate beast. In two steps and less than two seconds, the stag was soaring over the log that Wade and the twins crouched behind.

Wade instinctively rolled under the edge of the only cover available to him and pulled Mindy under the log with him. She grabbed Mandy and dragged her under the log. The stag, meanwhile, only ran ten yards past the log and turned around.

Wade’s body froze in anticipation of another charge from the European version of the North American elk.

Why did I leave the rifle in the ATV? Wow, that was careless. Do we have time to jump to the other side of this log? This pistol is just gonna piss him off more than he already is, but it’s all I have. I hope the twins will be okay while he’s mauling me.

Wade pulled his pistol while keeping his eyes on the now still animal. When the stag lowered his head and antlers down until the horns were only about six inches from the ground, Wade aimed for the back of his spine. He heard, ‘thwack, thwack’ and saw two darts sticking out of the big stag’s neck. The old bull raised his head and turned it slightly toward the twins, as if surprised by this sudden attack that he did not expect. He turned toward Mandy at the other end of the log from Wade, but his hind legs weren’t getting clear messages from his brain. One or two teetering steps toward the trio were the best he could do before all four of his legs gave way and he crumbled to the ground. His antler tip fell on Wade’s boot.

“Goodness gracious! You girls just saved my life!”

“I just peed all over myself!” Mandy exclaimed.

“I wish that was all I did on myself!” Mindy yelled in an equally loud voice.

“Damn, that was too close. I’ve never had one react like that before.” Sweat poured down Wade’s forehead and the back of his shirt was soaked. He had not realized how much the fear had gripped his body and then he was even more amazed at the twins’ ability to react so quickly in that situation. He pulled his wedged boot from underneath the antlers and tried to stand on unsteady legs. Only the support of his hand on the log kept him from falling. He opted to sit on the fallen tree to prevent further embarrassment.

When Wade shifted his gaze from the stag to the twins, he noticed they weren’t doing much better than him. Mindy collapsed against the log, still staring at the stag. Mandy closed her eyes with her head resting on the log.

“I want to tell you guys how grateful I am. That was amazing. What made you do that? Thank you once again.”

“You’re welcome, Wade. We didn’t have time to think. We just reacted. I hope he’s okay.”

“He’ll be fine,” Wade assured Mindy, although he wasn’t so sure himself. He had never hit one of his animals with six cc’s of cocktail, four of them directly in the bloodstream. He had no idea if the stag would make it or not.

“There’s some toilet paper in the glove compartment of the ATV if you really need it.”

“I do.”

“Me, too.”

The twins raced up the logging road toward the ATV, leaving Wade alone with the old stag. He pulled out a towel he had anticipated using under much calmer circumstances and wrapped it around the stag’s head, blindfolding him. Then he pulled two cotton balls out of his pocket and stuffed one in each ear of the bull, stifling his sense of hearing. Wade knew the stag was still aware of the movement around him, and muffling some of his sensory abilities would help keep him calm until they could call the other guides to bring the tractor with the front-end loader to move him to a holding pen.

“Now you behave while I get these darts out of you.” Wade reached the two in his neck with ease and gently pulled them out. He had to fight the brush to get the one out of his hip.

When he finished, he looked at the old stag with admiration.

“I’m going to call you ‘Marine’. You didn’t care what the odds were. You were going to charge ahead, regardless. Yes, Sir. You will be known as ‘Marine’ from now on around here.”

Wade dabbed a generous portion of balm on the two wounds in the neck and the one in the bull’s hip. The creamy yellow lotion helped clot the blood still oozing down the beast’s neck.

This will make you feel better, Marine. Who knows? One day you may forgive me for doing this to you. I’ll promise you this. I won’t let any hunter I’m sitting with take a shot at you. It’s up to you to avoid the rest of them.

Wade reloaded all three dart guns while leaning against the log, watching the old stag only inches from him. The clatter of the return of the twins made him glance in that direction. They stopped in the middle of the old logging road and froze, looking toward the gate. Wade’s gaze followed theirs to focus on the two blackbucks munching on the corn, unaware of the rest of the world.

Knowing that the bucks had an eyesight magnification over ten times that of humans, Wade waited until both were facing the other direction before bringing one rifle to his shoulder. He saw the dart hit the intended target right in the rump. The buck skipped twice and continued to feed, barely raising his head. Wade put the empty rifle down and picked up another one. He sighted on the second buck and gently squeezed the trigger.

The second buck took two big kangaroo hops to the edge of the woods. The first buck faltered and stagger, eventually succumbing to the cocktail mix and crumpling in a pile. The second buck unsteadily walked over to the first buck and sniffed him. When he got no response, the second buck prodded the first one with his horns. Within seconds, the buck fell directly on top of the first one.

The twins waited for a few seconds and then raced down the hill. Wade put his finger up to his lips and motioned for them to come behind the log with him. He handed them each a towel and some cotton balls and showed them how he had blindfolded the stag and stuffed the balls inside his ears. He motioned for them to do the same with the blackbucks.

When the twins finished with the blackbucks, Wade phoned the Lodge and asked for someone to bring the tractor down to pick up the animals. The trio then sat on the log and watched the sedated bucks and the stag.

“Been an eventful day, hasn’t it?”

“No, getting married, having a baby and getting divorced on the same day would be an eventful day. This one was WAY beyond that!” Mindy wasn’t pulling any punches.

“Maybe we should change our slogan to ‘Come experience the most fun you can have with your clothes on’ or something like that.” Wade was grinning.

“Except I didn’t keep mine on all day, if you remember.”

“We’ll have to change that to read, ‘Come enjoy the experience of a lifetime, with or without your clothes’.”

“That should get you more business, I'd think. Only I wouldn’t mention the dead body in the stand when you’re doing all of that advertising.”

“That might put a little damper on the excitement.”

Mandy joined the conversation.

“You could say something like ‘You’ll never match the thrills you will discover at the Evergreen Plantation’ and that would be the absolute truth. I doubt if any of the other ranches have dead bodies in their stands.”

“I hope they don’t.”

“If you let us, we’ll find out who put him there.”

“We don’t even know why he was put there. We could have gone weeks without someone hunting that stand. The wind has to be right, the hunter has to walk a good way off the trail to get to it and the timing has to be right. Come to think of it, nobody should have known Mindy and I would hunt that stand this morning. I didn’t decide on it until I walked out and checked the wind after I got up this morning. There is no way somebody beat us to the stand and stuffed Kenny in there after I decided we would hunt there.”

Wade ran his hand through his hair.

“How in the world would you go about finding out who put him there?”

“He’s a City Councilman. Everybody down at City Hall talks about the latest news, and this will far and away become the latest news. Don’t you remember last time? All we have to do is show a little skin to the computer nerds and we’ll get whatever we want.”

Mindy winked at Mandy. “Works with you anyway. But I have to show more than a LITTLE skin, it seems.”

Wade’s complexion turned red.

“I didn’t ask you to get naked. You could have let those ants eat you up, you know.”

“But how do I know you didn’t sit me on that ant hill on purpose?”

Wade looked away and then at the ground.

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me on that one.”

Mindy scooted right next to Wade on the log and put her arm around him.

“I trust you Wade. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have seen any skin today or any other day.”

“Thank you, Mindy. I hear the tractor coming.”