Murder at the Big T Lodge: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery by Dianne Harman Page B

Sam from
a guest who worked for a drug enforcement agency. Sam had been highly trained,
but he refused to lie down on command, and if a dog fails that test, he can’t
work for the agency. The guest thought Sam probably didn’t feel in control when
he was lying down. The guest wasn’t sure what he was going to do with him, and
Jack told him he’d been thinking of getting a guard dog for the lodge, and he’d
like to take him.
    “Secondly, and
what really concerns me, is that the murderer must be someone here at the
lodge, either a guest or an employee. Is that what you’re thinking?”
    “Unfortunately,
yes. In the short time I’ve been at the lodge I’ve discovered that several
people here could possibly have been responsible for Milt’s death. At least
they certainly qualify as suspects, because each of them appears to have a
motive for wanting him dead. I sent their names to Sean, and here’s what he had
to say about them.”
    She spent the
next half hour telling Wes what Sean had found out about Mac, Amanda, Emilio,
Mickey, and Cassie.
    “Amanda and
Emilio I’ve already discussed with you,” Wes said. “Yes, either one of them
could have reason to murder Milt. You remember the conversation or rather, the
argument, I heard hours before Milt was murdered. They certainly would seem to
qualify as suspects.”
    “That’s what I
thought, too,” Liz said. “Something else I remember reading is that women
murderers tend to use poisons and things of that nature rather than guns or
knives. If that’s true, Amanda may possibly be the murderer.”
    “I don’t know.
If she wasn’t going to leave her husband for Milt, that’s a big risk for her to
take just because the affair had been terminated by Milt. I find it hard to
accept. She would have an awful lot to lose if she were caught.”
    “That’s true,
but revenge is a powerful motive, and from what you’ve told me about her and
what Sean sent me, I don’t think she would like to be told that a man was no
longer interested in her.”
    “I’ve always
wondered about Emilio,” Wes said, “and whether his love of the grape wasn’t
overstated. Yes, he always had brandy after dinner, sometimes several, but he’s
a big man, and owning a vineyard, he may simply have developed quite a capacity
for alcohol. He could have feigned drunkenness, gone up to Milt’s room, and put
potassium cyanide into the bottle of beet juice sitting on the nightstand.”
    “Certainly
he’s a suspect, but let’s talk about Mickey. Is there anything you can add to
what Sean found out? I understand he’s been here several times before. What’s
your impression of him?” Liz asked.
    “I can’t tell
you much. He struck me as a typical politician, glad-handing everybody, and
trying to ingratiate himself with everyone, hoping, I suppose, to get a
political contribution. He’s likeable, but a bit too smarmy for my taste.”
    “Did you
notice whether or not there was much interaction between Milt and Mickey? I
would almost think there would have had to have been some, given they were both
in politics and from the same state. They must have known each other.”
    “Liz, I don’t
go on the hunts, since I’m here in the kitchen all day cooking the meals and
overseeing the kitchen activities. I really don’t see much of the guests. They
could have talked and had dinner together, but that’s strictly conjecture on my
part.”
    “Since Milt
usually came at the same time every year, at least that’s what I’m inferring
based on his affair with Amanda, that would mean Mickey would have known when
he was going to be here.”
    “Yes, that’s
true, but there’s another way he could have found out. Jack has quite an ego,
and he’s really into status and money. On his website he lists who the guests
are and when they will be at the lodge. He’s very careful to put something next
to each of their names that indicates status or money, such as so and so is a
state senator or the owner