Page 82 of The Aura Answer
“Sorry if I’m stealing your thunder, mate. But maybe you can find the modern equivalent in some of Rhodes’ bank accounts.” Nick passed the ledger to Jax. “Judging by these ledgers, every third Monday of the month since the Barn opened, Judge Rhodes has been in to pay cash for sterling silver flatware. Even if Sammy was finding the most expensive flatware in existence, a single set would not cost that much. And if he’s buying a twelve-place setting on account, he’s paid for it twenty times over. No matter how I juggle them, the numbers don’t compute. The total per year isn’t substantial for someone moderately well off, but to Sammy, it was probably what kept this place afloat.”
“Evidence that Sammy blackmailed Rhodes?” Gracie leaned to look over his shoulder. She smelled of sugar and spice and everything nice that Nick was not.
“Sammy doesn’t appear to carry silver, so that sounds right to me,” Toby added from a table in the back where he and Verity had returned to examining the contents of boxes.
“What could Sammy possibly have known about a judge to make him pay through the nose?” Pris asked, grimacing at the ink on her fingers from the newspapers.
Apparently remembering something, Gracie rummaged through their piles of Sammy’s clutter to produce certificates and photos. “Might these be related? If Sammy said proof of his blackmail was in his books... ?”
“And he said he was stopping acheaterfrom evicting his mother,” Evie reminded them. “Sounds like Ralph was a bit of a cheat in school, although what that has to do with eviction I can’t say.”
Nick spread out the photos and tried to see what Gracie was seeing. She was good at putting two and two together. “Certificates for winning some rifle award. Score sheets. Images of the targets with bullet holes. Photos of the shooters.” He lined target photos on top and certificates and score sheets below.
“Look at the target numbers,” Gracie suggested. “They should match the score sheet and identify the shooter.”
Jax joined them, reading upside down. “Score sheets identify the contestants by number. Certificates are given to those with the highest score.”
Nick saw the problem instantly. “Names don’t match. Numbers do but not the names on the certificates. Look, target #16 in the photo belongs to Sammy Walker. Score sheet #16 has the best score. But the certificate for #16 goes to Ralph Rhodes. Target #12 for Ralph is pretty sad.”
“For three years in a row,” Gracie whispered. “Sammy and Rhodes were cheating?”
Mrs. Satterwhite rocked in her rocker. “That’s how it was those last years I taught. Those who knew they weren’t smart enough to earn the scholarship competition sold their other talents to the students who had a chance. It was dreadful. We finally had to put an end to it. I believe Ralphie and Larraine were the top scholarship contenders and both were expelled for cheating in their final year. I don’t think anyone else came close.”
“Are we saying Sammy was blackmailing Rhodes over ahigh school rifle competition?” Evie asked, not bothering to look at the photos. “Everyone around here probably knew about it. So why would it matter?”
“I didn’t know about it. Sammy must have kept real quiet,” Judge Satterwhite said. “Rhodes earned a partial scholarship to play on the university rifle team based on his scores. His supposed prowess earned him an invitation to an exclusivecountry club where he met the men who helped him obtain his current position. I imagine it’s a matter of pride at this point, and that he’d pay good money to prevent his cheating from being known.”
“Chances are good he cheated on the university team too,” Jax added dryly. “If Sammy threatened to talk to the university coach...?”
“Block claimed that Rhodes wants to be seen as a big man in town.” Evie poked through the rest of the pile. “He wouldn’t want his record besmirched.”
“Not enough motive to kill,” Nick argued, having been there and done that. His record for juvie car theft was far worse than cheating. “Pressure and stress might push him if there was another underlying cause...”
“Would Rhodes be involved with Teddy Jr. in any way?” Evie asked. “Because Sammy’s ghost said he wanted to punish thedrug dealerswho hurt Bertie and the cheater who threatened his mother with eviction. Rhodes may be a cheat, but there’s no connection to drugs or eviction. He just seems to be a pathetic loser.”
Frowning, the former mayor’s son settled down to study the pile of memorabilia. Nick handed him the stack of target photos.
Tobias flipped through them dismissively. “My dad would have pressured his lawyer, not Judge Rhodes, into doing whatever he could to acquire prime property along the highway. Judging by dates and Bertie’s sketches, looks like Turlock Sr. may have had Teddy and his friends harassing Mrs. Walker and Patel so they’d move out and give Mrs. Satterwhite a reason to sell. Not sure how that applies to Rhodes.”
“But Iownthis land. I certainly didn’t file eviction notices,” Mrs. Satterwhite said with confusion.
“Would there be any way to make Sammy think you did?” Evie sat back on her heels and hugged her puppy.
Nick grimaced. “Back home, no one budged unless an officer of the law brought an eviction notice and started hauling out the furniture.”
“A formal eviction notice!” Judge Satterwhite leaned over Reuben typing at his computer. “I can get you into courthouse records... if you haven’t already hacked them,” he added dryly, glancing at the screen.
“Say you just gave me permission.” Reuben turned the laptop so everyone could read.
Nick whistled in shock. “An eviction notice signed byRhodes.” Did that mean they were finally onto something? His luck never ran toward hundred-grand rewards.
The white-haired judge slammed his hand against the desk. The genial Santa didn’t look so genial now. “Filing an eviction notice onour propertyis enough for me to bring him up on charges.Our property!What gave him that right?”
“Turlock Sr. would be my guess,” Jax suggested. “He knew Rhodes’ from his rifle team days. He might have known about the cheating. Rhodes may have helped him get Teddy off on drug charges. They knew each other’s secrets and would have used each other as needed.”
Toby nodded agreement. “My father and Turlock would have contrived some document, if only as a backup for whatever they wanted to do. It’s one of the ways they threatened everyone out of the mobile home park. Rhodes provided the rubber stamp.”
“If Rhodes’ signature was on the eviction notice, Sammy blamed him for that, at the least. He knew Rhodes as a cheat, but that’s still not sufficient reason for blackmail.” Evie sat back and let the puppy lick her nose. “How soon will the sheriff have a ballistics report?”
