by Misty Simon
I heard an engine roar to life and wondered if the murderer was getting away. I debated running after the noise, but there was no way I was going to catch the person on foot, and it made more sense to stay where I was. Or did it? The person on the four-wheeler could always come back and try to run me down.
At this point I just needed to get the authorities out here and make them admit Eli had been murdered and that I hadn’t been hallucinating.
Of course, cell service out here sucked. I waved my arm up high to see if it would make a difference, but it didn’t. Dammit. I was not leaving the body behind. The last thing I needed was to have found him and then either have something drag him away or for the creek to decide to dislodge him from the bank.
How was I going to do this?
I tried sending the picture via text to Burton with a message about finding the guy. The police station didn’t exactly have a cell phone number I could call. I also tried emailing the photo to the police and Gina with a disclaimer about what it was before anyone opened the attachment. My phone said they went through, but I was doubtful. When I tried to call Burton the call would not connect. Thank goodness I didn’t have an emergency out here.
I needed clearer skies and less trees. I considered climbing one of the oaks and seeing if that made a difference, but in the end I had to do what I dreaded. I waded into the middle of the creek and watched the body from the water that didn’t even come above my rain boots. See? Why was I scared of the water? Nothing bad was going to happen for wading out to the middle.
My call went through this time. When Burton answered he sounded groggy but there was nothing I could do to help it.
“I found another one.”
“What?”
Yep, decidedly groggy. I hoped he wasn’t on pain medication that would make him forget this conversation.
“I found a body, Eli’s brother to be precise, down by the creek, he’s tangled up in some weeds or something. I didn’t check anything, but I know for certain he is dead. Can you call the police and ask them to come down here?”
“Tallie. What am I going to do with you?” Now he sounded far more awake.
“I was trying to take this monstrous dog for a walk and sort through the facts.”
I turned around in the water to give Burton some idea of exactly where I was and spotted Peanut trying to gnaw her leash off the tree I’d tied her to. The last thing I needed was for her to get loose and romp around in the forest. There was no telling where she’d go or how I’d get her back.
“Burton, I have to go. The dog is trying to get loose and I’m not having her run nor am I leaving the body. Have someone come down here ASAP.”
“Fine. But don’t touch anything.”
“Do you ever get tired of saying that?”
“You’re the only one I’ve ever had to say it to, so, yes, I get tired of saying it to you. If you’d stay out of things I might never have to say it again.”
“I’ll remind you that you’re the one who got me in this time. If people would stop doing bad things, I might not have to get involved.”
“Touché. I’ll call the station and have someone down there soon.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
And wait I did. Since I hadn’t been able to give a precise location and the woods were big, I’d told Burton to have them find my Lexus, go to the creek bank and just start heading south.
Matt found me first. I met him on the bank with Peanut at my side.
“Jesus, Tallie, I can’t keep doing this.”
“Where’s Hammond?”
“He was out on a call so I’m it for the moment. I have to call this in to tell people where to find us. Don’t move from this spot.”
“As if I would.”
Gina texted me back and yelled at me to which I replied that I had been walking the dog and did not go searching for this.
She sent me a picture of a macramé potholder. I texted her back that I did not need a freaking hobby.
“Tell me everything.” Matt stood next to me looking around.
“I was walking Peanut and I heard something on the bank. When I looked I found the body and then I heard a four-wheeler engine start up. The person took off but with the trees I couldn’t tell in what direction.”
Matt’s face tightened and he made notes furiously in his notebook.
“Did you touch anything?”
“No, not even the dead body. From the weeds and the blank stare, I figured there would be no pulse, so I didn’t try to even get close.”
“Well, at least there’s that.”
Another engine sounded in the forest, but this time it was an ambulance carrying Hammond. He gave me one look after getting out of the back of the ambulance, grunted, and walked away.
“Not a big fan,” I whispered to Matt.
“None of us are.”
I didn’t have time to ask if he meant not a big fan of mine, or if we all weren’t big fans of Hammond’s.
Hammond stayed far away from me, even going so far as to beckon Matt over instead of coming to where we stood on the bank.
“Are you going to want a statement?” I yelled, and Peanut howled.
“What Matt has is enough. You can leave,” Hammond yelled back, and Peanut howled again.
I wasn’t going to argue with that. I had to look over my list of people again and find out why the two brothers were dead. Was it the scheme with the taxes? Had someone finally gotten fed up? Had someone wanted in on the action and the two had stonewalled him? Why bring the brother out here to kill him instead of somewhere else?
If nothing else at least this put my mind to rest about Rhoda or Arthur being the killer, even if it was very close to their property. Rhoda never came out here—she didn’t like the forest. And Arthur couldn’t make it out here. Neither of them drove a four-wheeler. They didn’t even own one. So, two off the list, thankfully, but who had just made it onto my short list?
* * *
I’d been sent home after the police had secured the scene. Not having to answer any other questions left me at odds. I passed Annie on my way out of the woods and she hadn’t even waved to me, just turned her face away in disgust.
I went by the Bean and Gina gave me a coffee. Back at home, I called my mom’s cousin, Velma. She worked at the hospital where they had taken Marianne. Maybe I could get her to give me some personal information so I could see if there was a next of kin who might want a huge dog. Peanut was growing on me, but the apartment felt smaller and smaller every time I walked in.
Velma had nothing to say except that Marianne had had a visitor who claimed to be her husband. I asked to be notified next time he came in. Who was this guy and was it true? Why hadn’t she mentioned a husband? Where did he live? Was he involved? Why wasn’t he looking for his dog?
As I thought about what to do next, my phone rang.
It was Velma. “I know I shouldn’t tell you this, but the husband just showed up. He tends to stay for about thirty minutes. Get down here now.” She hung up.
I let Gina know where I was going and asked her to take Peanut back to the apartment so I could get to the hospital. Mama Shirley shook her head, but there was nothing I could do.
I was careful to stay just under the speed limit so as not to draw attention to myself. I still made it to the hospital in record time since for once the lights worked in my favor.
Velma snagged me as I reached the third floor.
“Don’t go storming in. Let’s at least get you into a candy-striper outfit so it makes sense for you to be in there.”
I had worked as a candy-striper for community service hours in my senior year to graduate, but not since then. I couldn’t remember what they did. And why did I have to have a disguise when Marianne, or whatever her name was, would recognize me the second I walked in anyway?
But I played along. Velma wouldn’t let me near the room unless I did.
I donned the apron and let Velma tie it around my waist. Pulling my hair b
ack into a ponytail, I pushed a cart in front of me to collect trash. Another cleaning job. At least this role I didn’t have to stretch myself much to ace.
In short, I felt ridiculous in my red-and-white-striped pinafore, but when I saw the cop outside the woman’s door, I was very thankful that Velma was able to lead me right in as her assistant.
Peeking around Velma, I scoped out the scene. Marianne was in the bed, hooked up to monitors, looking wan. She reached out to a man who sat to her right. When Velma entered the room, he turned and looked up.
I identified him instantly from looking at his picture on the internet. This was the man who had been Eli St. James’s partner before Eli had run off with all the assets and their business: Mick O’Rourke.
* * *
Marianne clapped her hands on her head as soon as I cleared the door.
“Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear.”
“Marianne, you know Mick?” What in the world was going on? Was this her freaking husband? No way!
“I, um, well . . .”
“Is Mick your husband? How many other lies have you told me?” I propped my hand on my striped hip.
“It’s not her fault,” Mick said.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for answers for her. I’ve taken her dog in. I talked with my uncle about her unpaid rent. It might not be her fault, but from where I’m standing she’s not exactly innocent, is she?”
“I’m so sorry, Tallie. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of here with my feelings of betrayal. But I couldn’t leave before I got what I’d come for. “I’m not here for anything but some answers. Another body was just found so you couldn’t have killed both of them, but I want to know if you killed Eli.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d say anything at all. As time dragged on, her husband put his hand on her arm to encourage her to tell her story. Or at least I thought it was her husband. They had different last names unless she’d changed hers. But Velma had said he called himself Marianne’s husband. I was going to go with it since I didn’t have any other information.
“I’ve been working for Eli to get his secrets and hopefully get my husband’s business back. We had been so good, all of us together, but then Eli got greedy and left and took everything with him. It wasn’t fair.”
“Now, honey, there was no need to do that. I was working on it through the legal channels. You risked a lot in case he had recognized you.”
Marianne snorted. “He wouldn’t notice.”
“Is your real name Marianne?” I had to know so I could add her to my list of search engine searches.
Her husband closed his eyes and she clamped her lips together.
“The police are going to want to know. I want to know, and Hammond is going to come looking for you now that Eli’s brother is also dead. You had files that most certainly did not belong to you in with your Better Homes and Gardens magazines.”
“The police.” Her voice shook as she said that last word.
“You have nothing to fear. So you took some files,” her husband said. “In light of the current situation, I’m sure that’s small potatoes compared to two unexplained deaths.”
Marianne’s mouth trembled. Was there something more going on here? From the info Matt had given me, she wasn’t talking about who had hit her. She refused to speak about it or when asked simply said she hadn’t seen anyone. Why?
She had to have seen them coming, let them in. Per Matt’s information, there hadn’t been any damage to the front door, no forced entry. So, she must have let whoever it was in. She didn’t appear to be afraid of her husband, so I doubted it was a case of domestic violence.
“Who beat you up, Marianne?”
She shook her head.
“Who beat you up enough to put you in the hospital?” I asked more forcefully. “I have to know if you want me to help you. You know I’ve already done a lot for you, from helping with your rent situation to taking your dog so she didn’t have to go to the pound while you’re in here. Tell me who did this to you.”
Her face turned green, and the heart monitor in the corner of the room went haywire.
“Hammond,” she whispered, just as the room was overrun with three nurses and a physician’s assistant. Velma waved me out of the room behind her back and I took the cue.
Hammond had roughed her up! Now he was mine. I would be able to go to Burton now, and with some more information maybe I could figure out who had the most to lose in Eli St. James’s files or the most to gain by his death. Did he have a file on Hammond? Was Hammond working with him? Was Hammond the one who’d gotten greedy and had taken Eli out? So many possibilities.
Scrambling out to my car, I sat in the front seat and placed the most gleeful call to Burton.
“Hammond?” he crowed after I dumped my info on him.
“Yep. And then her machines went haywire. That might be why Peanut kept howling at him every time he spoke in the woods. She knew who he was.”
“But he has a solid alibi for Eli’s death.” Burton sighed. “I can have him pulled in for assault, but I’m not going to be able to get him for the murder.”
“At least not the first one,” I reminded him. “He could have killed the brother. He wouldn’t come close and his hair was wet. Maybe he hadn’t just jumped out of the shower. Maybe he’d been tussling with the second victim in the creek to get a file. Or all the files.”
“I like that. If nothing else, I can have him kept in holding while we figure things out.” He paused and blew out a breath. “I might regret saying this in the future, Tallie, but good work.”
And now it was me who was crowing. Good work, Tallie. I liked those words immensely.
* * *
“I told you I didn’t deliberately find him, Max.” This was the third time he’d cautioned me against looking into these deaths. To be honest, I was tired.
“I’m not saying you deliberately found him, but I’m asking you to deliberately stay out of this.”
Should I tell him about Burton’s request? Was it still even valid now that the police had no choice but to look into Eli’s death, and now his brother’s, as murders? It could have been possible that Eli had a heart attack and fell very neatly and precisely onto a bed at an inn where he was not supposed to be. But there was no way to explain the brother also dying not a hundred yards away in the creek. He had not accidentally fallen in. His neck was broken and his lungs were not filled with liquid. My dad was the acting coroner at the moment and actually shared that piece of information with me without me having to beg for it. Go figure.
The coroner who had signed off on Eli’s death had been pulled in for questioning. I so wished I could be a fly on the wall for that one. But that was not to be. My dad had started that whole process when Eli’s body was released to him and he was able to very quickly confirm that the coroner had lied on his report. The man’s neck was broken, no doubt about that. He might have also had a heart attack, that would take longer to determine, but his neck was most definitely broken and it wasn’t an accident. Dad didn’t go so far as to apologize to me for doubting my word on the cause of death, but he did take the opportunity to tell me I would be invaluable in the business if I could spot a broken neck from outside the window. I highly doubted that. I still gave him points for trying, even if it wasn’t swaying me to take him up on his offer.
I hoped that Matt would honor his word to keep me informed about the coroner and the deaths. Speak of the devil and he rang.
“Babe, I have to go. Matt is calling.”
“Keep me updated and please stay safe.”
“Will do.”
I pressed the screen to disconnect with Max and picked up the next call.
“Yes, cousin of mine.”
“I need you to meet me in the blue parlor. I’m downstairs waiting for you.”
He hung up and I looked at my phone. Why were we meeting here and why was he already in the building?
No way to find out but to run down the stairs. It was more of a trot with a stumble or two, but no one could see me except me, so I didn’t worry too much about it.
Until I got to the bottom of the stairs.
My father stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “I agreed to the dog and can even handle the barking for the moment, but I will not tolerate you running down the stairs like a herd of elephants.”
Matt stood in the doorway of the blue parlor with a slight smirk on his face. My God, I was tired of being treated like a child.
“Dad, I love you, and I appreciate you wanting things to be the way you always saw them, but I can’t continue to work with you and live here if every single thing I do is a disappointment to you. Think about that, and let’s talk some more later.”
Did I just invite him to lambast me more? Maybe he would let up instead. I wasn’t holding my breath, but I was going to see Matt. Now.
I breezed past my dad and shut the door behind me, forcing Matt to back up.
“Was that smart?” he asked.
“I don’t care. He keeps trying to convince me to join Jeremy in running this mausoleum and I’m not going to do it if I never do anything right.”
“I get it. It’s one of the reasons I’m not throwing pizza down the street.”
I peered at him. “I thought your father didn’t want you to throw pizza and wanted more for you than to work in the service industry.”
Matt snorted out a laugh. “That’s the story my mom tells so my dad can save face. I didn’t want to make pies. I wanted to make a difference.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And now I need you to help me make a difference, too.”
I should have liked the idea of helping to make a difference, but to say I was leery would have been an understatement. “I’m listening.”
“I need you to go back and talk to Marianne. She won’t talk to us—she won’t even let us into her room, and since we don’t have any evidence that she did anything truly wrong just yet, I can’t force her hand. See what you can find out.”
Baffled, I stood there with my mouth hanging open and my hands on my hips. What alternate universe was this? Had I laid down to take a nap and didn’t realize I was sleeping? With my hands clasped behind my back, I pinched the inside of my wrist and barely resisted the urge to yelp. Real and very much awake. First Burton and now Matt asking for me to play mole. What was next? Uncle Sherman wanting me to run point on the next fire?