Death By Rodeo Part X

My name is Sunny Alexander. And I’m Henry James and we’re writers for Dark Sides of the Truth Magazine.

The ride back to Damen’s house was odoriferous to say the least. Had it not been raining like something out of a Noah’s Ark tale we would have rolled the windows down.

Instead we had to breath through our mouths and hope neither of us would pass out.

After parking in the driveway and retrieving the garbage bag from the trunk we let ourselves in.

“Henry, you need to take a shower before we start going through this bag.”

“Don’t you think I’m already wet enough?”

“Smelled yourself lately?”

“Thought that was the garbage bag.”

“Uh no. And ask Damen to show you how to use the washing machine and dryer. I’d opt to just burn your clothes and be done with them, but I know how you are.”

“Damned straight. Don’t start the party till I get back.”

Thirty minutes later we all converged on the trash bag. None of us wanted to just plunge our hands into the bag and rummage around. Too much chance we’d accidentally brush against whatever had been used to deliver the poison into Randy’s system.

We devised a plan where Damen spread an old bed sheet out on the kitchen floor. Then using a butcher knife we sliced the bag open and carefully dumped the contents on the sheet.

Using tongs we sifted through the garbage.

Didn’t take long to find what we were looking for.

Damen held up a strap of webbing about ten inches long. In the center of the strap several wide strips of duct tape were wrapped around it. In the center of the duct tape we could see a noticeable bulge.

“This what you guys are looking for?”

“Yeap.”

“Here’s the other one Henry.”

“Okay Sunny, let’s put them on the island and clear away the rest of the garbage. Damen, we’re going to need your surgical expertise on those straps. We need to cut away at the duct tape to get to what’s underneath without destroying it. Think you can handle it?”

“Yeah, just let me get a few things.”

We stood by and watched as Damen cut the duct tape away on the first strap with a scalpel to reveal a small, clear plastic bladder. When Damen extracted the bladder we all saw the short needle attached to the top. With precise movements Damen quickly excised another bladder from the second strap.

“Damn.”

“Damn is right Henry. This is actually pretty low tech, but when you stop to think about it, a very sophisticated dispensing method we’re looking at.”

“How so Damen?”

“Well the bladders are nothing more than plastic squeeze containers you can buy at the store. You know, for condiments.”

“Like mayonnaise and mustard? Stuff like that?”

“Exactly. Who ever made these loaded the poison in the containers then attached syringe needles to the tops. Did you notice how the containers were upside down, bladder up?”

“Yeah so whoever did this, built up the area around the strap, pushed the needle through so it was barely sticking out the other side, then wrapped it up so it couldn’t be seen.”

“Exactly.”

“Wow, Damen this means when Randy jumped in the barrel and grabbed those straps he self administered the poison.”

“On the nose Henry.”

“I’m not quite getting the concept here guys.”

“Okay Sunny, let me show you. I’m going to use my belt as an example…So, see the loop below my hand?”

“Yes.”

Okay imagine the bladder is on the outside of my belt right about here okay and the needle is sticking through my belt barely visible on the other side. Seeing the picture?”

“Got it.”

“So let’s say this loop is the strap inside the barrel and I’ve only got a couple of seconds before a bull is about to ring my bell. What do I do?”

“You grab the straps and hold on.”

“Right so I slide my hand into the loop and curl my fingers around the outside of the strap, the outside of my belt just like I’m doing now and I do what?”

“You tighten your…Oh my God Henry, he tightened his grip around those straps where the bladders were and drove the needles into his palms.”

“Exactly young lady. Randy Culpepper injected the poison into his own system.”

“So we know the how, but we don’t know the who or the why.”

“Well Alexander we know some of the how. You remember what Doc Struthers said about the poison in Culpepper’s system?”

“The part about coming from a frog?”

“Not just any frog, but an extremely rare frog only found in Columbia.”

“Very good Henry. I’m surprised at your age you can remember what you had for breakfast this morning.”

“Bite me. At least I wasn’t so hung over I could eat breakfast. Damen, are you sure Doc Struthers is going to release the information to Houston PD tomorrow?”

“Yeah I don’t believe she’s going to hold it much longer Henry.”

“No problem. Monday me and Sunny are going to pay Charles Throckmorton a visit. He certainly had the motive, and as part owner of the rodeo he definitely had the means.

“That’s true Henry. People have no problem looking the other way if somebody flashes enough money at them. Also, as part owner he could come and go to the arena anytime it suited him.”

“Exactly Sunny and when we tell him what we know I’m thinking it’s going to spook the hell out him. My guess is the moment we leave his office he’s going to try and skip town. Damen Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, what?”

“Tell Doc Struthers to release the info like she intends to but to be sure and let Houston PD know Throckmorton’s a prime suspect. They’ll probably want to put a tail on him pretty quick.”

“Consider it done. Oh by the way you guys never told me how you found out the straps were cut off the barrel and dumped in this garbage bag. How’d you two pull that off?”

“Let’s just say Sunny has an old friend in the clown business.”

“Yeah an old dead friend.”

“What?”

“Tell you later Damen. Trust me you probably won’t believe it anyway.”

READ ON — DEATH BY RODEO PART XI

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Conclusion

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