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.”