Sudden Death on the Back Nine-Part II

“Oh my God!” the overall clad groundskeeper whispered when he saw the red haired woman with the lantern walk further down the trail with a shovel in her hand. He followed her a little way watching her as she threw the shovel into the ravine and then make her way back to the walking trail that skirted the country club’s back nine of the golf course. She had only looked around once but he knew how to keep to the trees and stay out of sight. He’d done it for forty years as lovers thought they were alone and he didn’t want to disturb them, so he had just quietly slunk away and gave them their privacy. This was something new. He knew the light was very dim, nearly dark, but he could swear he saw her dragging a body and then bury it.

He made his way back to where he thought she had been and dropped to the ground to the soft, freshly turned soil. He began digging with his hands as the ravine had been too steep to go in after that shovel. He found the body of a man and fell backward as a hand twitched. “Jesus, he ain’t even dead!” He dug faster and pulled the man from the would-be tomb and felt for a pulse. It was faint but it was there. He held up his own flashlight and shined it on his face. He knew him. He recognized him from the club. He had always tipped him at Christmas for doing such a good job with the golf course- something the other members had never done. It was Troy Becker.

The kindly man shook him and then slapped at Troy’s face. He patted his pockets and discovered he had left his radio at his office. “Damn! This man needs help.” He did a cursory check to see if Troy had any broken bones and finding none he slung him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and worked his way carefully through the woods back to his office which was away from the other buildings of the country club but nearer to the golf course than going all the way back to club. He laid Troy on a ratty sofa and propped his feet up on the arm rest. Just as he was reaching for the telephone Troy stirred.

“What the hell?” Troy said coming awake. “Gerald?” he said, recognizing the groundskeeper.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Becker. He ran to his little bathroom provided for him to shower off the fertilizer he used on the course and came back with a plastic tumbler of water.

“Thank you,” Troy said, accepting the offered beverage as he sat up.

“You should stay down Mr. Becker. You’ve had quite a shock to your system. I was about to call an ambulance.”

“What for? What happened?”

“I saw some woman dragging you through the woods and then she buried you. I don’t think she realized you were still alive, or she didn’t care; I don’t know which. But, she didn’t appear to care much one way or the other. She tried to pack the dirt down over you with the shovel.”

Troy sat straighter and then grabbed his now throbbing head. “You have any aspirin?”

“Sure.” Gerald said and pulled a bottle out of his desk and handed it to Troy.

He nodded his thanks to Gerald as he took a few of them. “Can you describe her?” he asked.

“Sort of, it was getting to be pretty dark out there,” he said. “She was about five-seven, thin but muscular, and she had red hair cut short. That’s all I have, sorry.”

“That’s good enough. It was Mrs. Becker. I wondered why she was being so nice tonight. I should have known she was up to something.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Gerald asked.

“I don’t know, but you can bet your last dollar it isn’t going to be pretty.”

“Shouldn’t you call the police and get checked out?”

“Probably…certainly,” he corrected. “But not just yet; I need evidence. As you said, it was dark, but I bet you could identify her in court.”

“I probably could. You can’t go home; she’ll just try again.”

Troy thought for a minute. He felt his pockets for his wallet. “Well, at least she didn’t take my wallet and she can’t cut off the cards because it will look suspicious. Besides, by the time the bill comes out, she’ll already be caught.”

Sudden Death on the Back Nine-Part 1

Archie and Troy sat at the Nineteenth Hole knocking back few beers after a hot and long afternoon of golf.  The place was well lit for a bar, a luminescence brought on by all the directional lighting showcasing the club's golf memorabilia. 

Archie glugged down another swallow of the cold amber fluid from his mug and belched. "Oh, excuse me," he said, dragging out the word 'excuse' and smiled. "This was an awesome day."

"Only because you won," replied his partner.

"Oh, please," Archie stated, rolling his eyes. "You should have taken up volley ball."

"Volley ball?" Troy questioned.

"Yeah, you're a beach bum; you're either in the sand or in the water." He laughed raucously at his joke.

Troy hung his head waggling it side to side. "Well, you had an advantage with those magnifying glasses of yours. How thick are they anyway? Looks like two inches."

"More like a quarter-inch, thank you," Archie replied. "Maybe you need some. At least I can see."

Troy laughed. "I see just fine." He looked at his watch and let out an expletive. "I'm going to be late for dinner – again. Polly will be irate."

"That what you call it?" Archie asked. "Last week she threw a potted plant at me as I pulled out of your driveway. She almost nailed me too. You should take her golfing; she's got a hell of an arm."

"That's because she was pitcher for her college softball team. The first time she tossed me an apple it was nearly applesauce and it bruised my head where I saw how fast it was coming and ducked," Troy recounted.

"Could have been worse," Archie countered.

"I don't see how."

"Could have been an egg."

Troy let out a chuckle and clapped his friend on the back. "This one's on me," he said grinning. He tossed a twenty on the bar and nodded to the bartender.

Troy's wife sat at their dining table, arms crossed, scowling when he walked in the door. He washed his hands in the powder room off the kitchen and quickly sat at the table.

"Good game?" she asked sourly. "I hope so; dinner is cold."

Troy sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. Time got away from me."

"It always does when you're with Archie," she replied. "Eat your dinner before it's frozen instead of just cold."

Troy dutifully ate the meal his wife had spent so long preparing. It tasted different in an odd way he could only attribute to it's being cold, but wouldn't have asked her to, or done himself, microwave the meal to reheat it.

"Troy, can we go for a walk later?" Polly asked.

"Sure," he answered, trying not to let the apprehension show in his voice. This wasn't something they normally did; at least not for years.

Forty-five minutes later they were strolling along the walk path around the back nine holes at the country club. Only a few miles from home it had been a favorite place for them after Troy became financially stable enough for them to join. The air was cool, but not cold, and filled with the scent of the pine trees. Small solar lights illuminated the path just enough to see where one was walking without drawing too many light-attracted insects.

"This is nice," Troy said patting his wife's hand, which rested in the crook of his elbow. He smiled hoping this was the beginning of a fresh start for his troubled marriage. It had been two years since their once close relationship had grown cold. He'd never understood what happened.

Polly smiled back at Troy, a rare event, and leaned on his shoulder. "So, how have you been?"

"What?" The question took Troy by surprise. She hadn't asked him about his day even in so long he couldn't remember anymore.

"How have you been? It seems like forever since we've touched base."

"I know." He yawned suddenly. "Oh, pardon me. I don't know what's come over me. I'm not usually tired this early in the evening," he said.

"It's this relaxing walk. We should head back," she suggested. "Maybe I can wake you up a little," she added, giving him a small bump with her shoulder.

Troy smiled as they turned to go. Suddenly the lights went out and he crumpled to the ground.

Polly let him go rather than going down with him. "Well, that took long enough," she exclaimed. She grabbed his feet and dragged his limp body into the dense trees off the path, struggling along the way as his arms snagged the tree trunks. Finally, she found the shining battery-operated lantern that marked the hole her lover had dug earlier. She rolled him into it and refilled the grave with the pile of dirt next to it and tamped it down with the shovel he had also left for her. Then taking the lamp she found the ravine she'd been told about and gave the shovel a toss, watching as it went down. She made her way back to the path and replaced the border stones she had knocked ajar when she dragged troy's body into the woods.

Glancing around, she dowsed the lantern and ran back down the path to their car. No one was around so she climbed inside and drove home. She picked up her cell phone and hit speed dial. "It's done darling," she said. "A real hole in one."

To be continued...