Drizzled with Death(51)

“I never get over pretty young things following me back to my place.” Hanley leaned against his truck, one leg propped up on his running board like he needed to air something out.

“What would Connie say if she heard something like that?” That was another reason I preferred for Grampa to deal with Hanley. He had the nickname Handsey Hanley around town for a reason. Despite my close call back at Greener Pastures, he never had got his hands on me and I intended to keep it that way.

“Connie’s a good sport. She knows not to take my sense of humor to heart. Sounds like you didn’t intend this to be a social call, though.”

“I stopped by to ask you about checking some trees for me as soon as you can. Yesterday, I noticed a few trees that could use some attention before they get covered in snow load.” I wanted to ask him about his property but easing into it in a friendly fashion seemed more comfortable than acting like a terrier at a woodchuck hole.

“Sure. I’ll check my calendar and let you know. Or we could go into the office right now and set something up.” He grinned at me, his too full, too red lips stretching away from teeth scaled for the big bad wolf. No way was I going into a dark office alone with Handsey Hanley.

“So you wouldn’t have time this evening to stop by?”

“Nope. I’m already booked for tonight.” He widened his grin to car salesman proportions. Now was the time to get to the subject and head for home before things dragged on or dragged me into unpleasant territory.

“Oh, are you having a boys’ night out up at your camp or something?”

“Now how did you hear about my camp?” His grin slacked off a bit.

“Tansey told me you, Knowlton, and a bunch of other people like to head up to your camps on your snowmobiles. I thought you might be getting ready for hunting season.”

“Tansey’s big mouth was one of the reasons she had to fight Alanza for snowmobile club president.”

“Tansey said the election results were the reasons the club was going to lose access to Alanza’s land. She said people were really upset.”

“Uh-huh.” Hanley crossed his arms across his barrel chest. “She say who was all riled up? She mention any more names while you two hens was yakking away?”

“She said Knowlton was worried it was going to put his camp out of reach for him to be practical about it if she persisted in closing the trail. She didn’t say anything about your thoughts on the matter since I don’t expect you shared them with her.”

“And are you hoping I’ll share them with you?”

“I don’t expect you to do anything but check on the trees at Greener Pastures as soon as possible.” Hanley wasn’t just known for being free with his hands. He ran his mouth like a man runs a brand-new snowblower—loudly and even when it isn’t strictly necessary. If I just waited long enough, he wouldn’t be able to pass up the opportunity to sing about it if he felt Alanza had maligned him.

“Good, ’cause I’m sure not one of those guys who runs around howling about his troubles at the top of his lungs.”

“Never said you were.”

“I wouldn’t go around letting everybody and his brother know that Alanza closed off her property just for spite.”

“Certainly you wouldn’t.” Hanley’s mouth had a little spit building up in the corner like a Shakespearean actor’s.

“I wouldn’t mention to anyone within earshot that a hardworking man who just wants to spend a few precious hours relaxing with friends, hunting down all the animals God sees fit to toss in his path, would be denied the opportunity to do so by the vindictiveness of a high-handed woman.”

“I’d hate to be the sort of person who would have that kind of complaint to share.”

“Darn right you’d hate it.”

“Sounds like a cantankerous lunatic.”

“Spiteful’s more like it. It’s not like she didn’t know about people with the camps using her portion of the trail. When I first went to work for her, I told her all about it.”

“What kind of work did you do for Alanza?”

“Oh, just the regular stuff, checking trees and such, just like I do up at your place.”

“That makes sense. So when was the election?”

“About a month ago. The elections are always held early enough for the president to get a handle on things before snow’s likely. Tansey squeaked in a win in the end, but it was close for quite a while. If she hadn’t busted out gifts of her famous maple bacon fudge for every voting member, I’m not sure she would have kept her seat.” Tansey’s fudge had been known through the years to sway a lot of elections, but I had never known her to use its power on her own behalf. She must have been concerned about the outcome. It made me wonder if she hadn’t been satisfied with just beating Alanza at the election. Perhaps she poisoned her, too, just to be sure she never had to face her at voting time again.