Murder in Wax

by Holly Copella

  “Two are missing?”

  Ross nodded with some irritation.

  “If he saw someone in the phantom costume, it could have been just about anyone,” she insisted.

  “Yes, but there aren’t many people in town who know Brant,” he insisted. “Out of those few people, who’d really want him dead?”

  “Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have,” she deducted. “Someone slipped Jamie’s body in the basement. Perhaps the killer came back for some reason, and Brant caught him.”

  “Let the phantom thing go,” Ross firmly insisted while glaring at her. “Brant doesn’t remember anything that happened about the attack. The police will come up with their own information.” He indicated the display. “Can we get back to work?”

  Ross returned to his work and refused to comment further. Devon stared at him with some surprise, uncertain what to make of his reaction. Why was he so defensive? Why did he think he’d be the prime suspect? It didn’t make any sense.

  §

  The dark jungle display had an almost romantic rainforest appeal. Devon turned on the speakers for the jungle sound effects as mood music while she worked. At first glance, the display appeared void of life. She used the wall controls to begin the animatronic sequence. The tall grass moved from several directions as something stalked the walkway, which would contain visitors. Several creatures leaped out of the tall grass, which would hopefully scare the visitors. Devon pressed a button on the wall panel and stopped the creatures, so they were exposed. The four-foot tall, nearly black creatures were a cross between a velociraptor and a sea monster. They had reptile eyes, sharp teeth, and long claws. Devon approached the exposed creatures while attaching her tool belt. She paused before one of the amazingly lifelike creatures and held up a long, pointy tooth.

  “Don’t worry,” she announced. “The dentist has arrived. Just say ah.” Devon was about to replace the wax creature’s tooth when she hesitated and gave it a serious look. “And no biting.”

  She placed a little cement glue on the end of the tooth and stuck it into the creature’s mouth where the tooth had broken off. Devon held the tooth in place while waiting for the glue to set.

  “Honestly,” she announced. “How did you break your tooth in the first place?”

  She eyed the creature then considered the question. How had it happened? The display was actually the one scene that didn’t involve wax men or women. In this scene, the visitors were the intended victims. A cheap scare, perhaps, but it was actually rather ingenious. Since the displays weren’t set to motion detection mode, it was unlikely the frightening alien creature somehow managed to take a bite from Brant’s attacker while passing through. Although impossible, if that had been the case, it certainly would have been karma at its finest.

  §

  Monday afternoon. Ross and Devon stood by the back counter within the workshop and watched Tyler apply paint to the male wax head. Tyler appeared to be enjoying himself while whistling a lively tune. Ross and Devon looked from the unrealistic wax head to each other and raised their brows in silent question.

  “Someone has to tell this guy his work sucks,” Ross muttered.

  “You go right ahead.”

  The phone rang near where Ross stood. He was quick to snatch it from the wall.

  “Hello, Wax Motel,” Ross announced cheerfully into the phone.

  “Ross,” Tyler scolded.

  They heard someone outside the workshop. Both Devon and Tyler turned toward the door as it opened to see Sheriff Carter within the doorway.

  “I’m sorry to intrude, but I knocked upstairs, and no one answered,” Sheriff Carter announced. “I guess you didn’t hear me down here.”

  “Good afternoon, Sheriff Carter,” Tyler announced as he stood. He wiped his hands on a rag and approached the sheriff. “How can we help you?”

  “We’re looking for your partner, Brant Sheffield,” he announced while showing little emotion.

  “Brant?” Tyler practically gasped with surprise. “He’s still in the hospital.”

  “His parents took him home yesterday, but they told us he’d left this morning without saying anything to them,” Sheriff Carter replied then raised a skeptical brow. “We tried his house next door, but there was no answer. Had he returned here?”

  Devon stared in silence, concerned as to why the sheriff was looking for Brant. They’d questioned him extensively about his attack, but this felt different. Ross remained on the phone but listened to the conversation with Sheriff Carter.

  “No,” Tyler replied and appeared curious. “What’s this about, Sheriff?”

  “We found some new evidence,” Sheriff Carter announced. “We’ll need to search his house and the museum.” He extended a paper. “We have a search warrant.”

  “New evidence?” Tyler asked with surprise. “If you remember correctly, someone tried to kill him Friday night. Surely you don’t think Brant had anything to do with killing those women.”

  Devon held back her horrified gasp. Ross stared at Sheriff Carter as well and nearly dropped the phone. He turned, cut his phone conversation short, and immediately hung up.

  “Brant picked up dinner at the diner the night Marlene disappeared. Annie said Marlene was flirting with Brant from the moment he walked into the diner,” Sheriff Carter informed them. “Just before closing time, a witness claimed to have seen the phantom running through the alley near the diner. If I’m not mistaken, this museum has a phantom display.”

  “That’s not much to go on, Sheriff,” Tyler informed him.

  Sheriff Carter cocked his head and glared at Tyler. “That’s because I wasn’t finished,” he announced while placing his thumbs in his gun holster. “Marlene’s car was found stashed in the cornfield not far from here. We found a paint pen like those you use here in the museum with a bunch of fingerprints on it. I’m willing to bet they belong to Brant.”

  “We all use those paint pens,” Tyler insisted. “I’m sure you’ll find all our prints on it.”

  The comment didn’t sway Sheriff Carter’s opinion. His expression remained emotionless. “We’ll start with Brant’s house next door,” he informed them.

  All three watched Carter leave the workshop.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Ross proclaimed. “Brant couldn’t have murdered those women.”

  “He certainly didn’t stab himself,” Devon remarked and insecurely rubbed her chilled shoulders when she thought about the way she found Brant in the church display.

  Brant’s wound was nearly critical. The plan was for her to return at six o’clock that night. Had she been on time rather than early, Brant would have died from his injury, so it certainly hadn’t been self-inflicted.

  “Of course, he didn’t kill those women,” Tyler insisted while attempting to hide his irritation. “They won’t find anything to support that outrageous theory.” He shook his head and sneered. “Pompous sheriff wouldn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Blame the outsider. All these small towns are the same.” He frowned and shook his head in disgust. “Let’s break for lunch. I need a drink.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  Sheriff Carter and his two deputies had been searching Brant’s house for a better part of the afternoon with little to show for their effort. It was starting to look like a witch-hunt. Deputy Havens stepped out of one of the second-floor bedrooms and looked down the hall where Sheriff Carter was jotting notes on his tablet.

  “Sheriff, you’ll want to see this,” the deputy announced.

  Sheriff Carter approached the bedroom and stepped inside. The bedroom was void of furniture and was mostly empty except for a few boxes on the floor. To Sheriff Carter’s surprise, black and white, 8x10 glossy photos were taped to the wall, lending a creepy mood to the room. They were professional headshot photos of the women who had applied for the acting job with Burt Danson. On each of the dead women’s photos was a bold, red ‘x’, possibly drawn with a paint pen. The deputy handed Sheriff Carter the empty, lea
ther folder containing the initials B.D. embossed in gold. Sheriff Carter accepted the folder and stared at it.

  “This belongs to Burt Danson. He reported it missing when I questioned him about the murders,” Sheriff Carter remarked then immediately frowned.

  “I also found this in the closet,” Deputy Havens announced and picked up a plastic bag containing the phantom cloak, mask, and hat. He held a second bag in his other hand containing the bloodstained hunting knife. “The knife has blood on it.”

  The sheriff frowned. “Get that to the boys in forensics after we finish searching the house,” the sheriff ordered then shook his head. “We’ll need to put out a warrant for Brant’s arrest.”

  Sheriff Carter left the room already in a foul mood and headed down the main stairs. As he reached the bottom, his second deputy appeared from the basement stairs looking flustered.

  “Sheriff, down here!”

  As the deputy ran back into the basement, Sheriff Carter ran after him. He thundered down the rickety steps and reached the old, dimly lit basement containing a low ceiling and a dirt floor. The deputy led him across the basement to the old coal furnace with a coal storage stall alongside it. The stall was now being used for split wood for the fireplace. The old coal chute was big enough to dump the firewood into the stall from the outside. The deputy had already removed several pieces of wood to reveal Marlene’s decomposing body with a single knife wound to her midsection.

  The sheriff shut his eyes and shook his head in disgust. “I was really hoping we’d find Marlene alive,” he remarked.

  “Looks like she’s been dead a couple of days,” the deputy reported.

  “Probably killed shortly after she disappeared,” the sheriff remarked.

  The deputy shined his flashlight a few feet away to an old, wooden chair. There was dried blood on the chair and a small dark stain on the dirt floor beneath it.

  “I’m guessing she was murdered there and then dumped in here to hide the body,” the deputy informed him.

  Sheriff Carter shook his head with anger. “We need to find this bastard and stop him.”

  §

  Half an hour later, Sheriff Carter stepped off Brant’s porch and approached his police blazer parked in the driveway. Devon hurried across the museum parking lot, crossed the lawn, and cut off the sheriff’s path to the vehicle.

  “I heard you’re issuing a warrant for Brant’s arrest,” she gasped with surprise.

  Sheriff Carter seemed stunned by how quickly she’d learned about the situation. “Gossip in this town certainly travels fast,” he muttered then nodded in response. “Yes, we’re going to bring him in for questioning.”

  “He didn’t kill them.”

  “We’re dealing with a sick man, Devon,” the sheriff announced while giving her a stern look. “If you see him, call us immediately.”

  “What possible motive would he have?” she demanded and folded her arms across her chest. “He didn’t even know those women.”

  “Sexual frustration, feelings of inadequacies, rejection,” Sheriff Carter replied. “Paula embarrassed him at the tavern in front of several witnesses. Now she’s dead. We also found a phantom mask and cloak in a bedroom closet along with the knife he used to stab his victims.”

  “Someone planted that stuff there to frame him,” Devon insisted without hesitation. “Why would he hide the phantom costume and knife in his own house, implicating himself, when he could simply return them to the museum where they could implicate just about anyone?” She shook her head in disbelief. “Come on, Sheriff. Think about it. You’re being played.”

  He stared at her with surprise then shook his head. “What’s gotten into you? Why are you so defensive about him?” Sheriff Carter demanded then considered the question as his eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh, that’s right. The flowers and champagne.” He cocked his head while staring at her. “You and your boss were romantically involved.”

  Devon felt her cheeks redden, but her mood turned foul as she folded her arms across her chest. “Except for his run-in with Paula, he’d never even met the other women,” she insisted. “What would he even know about the acting job, the women who auditioned for it, or Burt Danson?” She then threw her arms in the air. “The guy spent most of his time either in his museum or at his parents’ house in the city. Only ten people in town have ever even met him. Hell, even Ivy and my own brother haven’t met him, and they pick me up and drop me off just about every day. You expect me to believe a guy who doesn’t know anyone has a grudge against them?”

  “Tell that to Marlene,” Sheriff Carter snapped in anger and pointed at the house. “We just found her body in the basement.”

  Devon’s eyes widened as she placed her hand over her mouth to hold back her terrified gasp.

  Sheriff Carter drew a deep breath and attempted to collect himself. “Do yourself a favor and stay out of this,” he informed her.

  He walked past her, got into his blazer, and drove away. Devon watched him leave then ran trembling fingers through her hair while cursing under her breath. The coroner’s wagon pulled up just moments after the sheriff had left. It was true! They found Marlene dead in Brant’s house!

  Chapter Forty-two

  It was late afternoon. Devon sat on the sterile counter in the funeral home prep room alongside Ross, who leaned against the counter. They watched Tony prep the deceased, elderly client on the metal table.

  “What makes you so sure your boss didn’t do it?” Tony asked as he carefully applied makeup to the dead man’s face. “As an objective party, I think it’s possible he could be a killer.” He glanced back at them. “Neither of you know him that well.”

  “He’s not the killer type,” Ross insisted a little defensively.

  “Neither was Norman Bates,” Tony countered in all seriousness.

  “He’s not some closet psychopath,” Devon announced with frustration. “This sexual frustration theory just doesn’t come into play.”

  “Be realistic, Devon. The man can’t even look a woman in the eyes,” Tony remarked. “When it came right down to it, he couldn’t even take the town slut to bed. What more proof do you need?”

  Devon hesitated and drew a deep, nervous breath. “Brant and I were becoming very familiar that morning before he was attacked.”

  Tony suddenly stopped and stared at her. “You and Brant?” he gasped.

  “There was no reservation,” she insisted. “If it hadn’t been for Tyler interrupting, he wouldn’t have hesitated to take me right there.” She shifted uncomfortably. “He’d planned a romantic evening for us the night he was stabbed.”

  Tony wiped his hands on a rag and leaned against the metal table. He was surprised and suddenly engrossed in the conversation.

  “I think she’s right,” Ross remarked. “He went through a lot of trouble setting up a romantic interlude in that church display.”

  “Sounds more creepy than romantic to me,” Tony muttered then turned serious. “Have they picked him up yet?”

  “No one knows where he is,” Ross announced with a sigh. “His mother said they had an argument, and he walked out.”

  “Kind of odd that he didn’t return to his house or the museum,” Tony remarked.

  “I doubt he knew the police were looking for him. He probably went somewhere to recover from his ordeal and escape his mother,” Ross remarked. “I certainly wouldn’t be in any big hurry to return to the place where I’d been stabbed.”

  Devon eyed Ross and sank into thought. A strange smile crossed her face, which she immediately hid from her friends.

  “Well, I think if he’s innocent, he should turn himself in and explain the mask and knife they’d found in his house,” Tony informed them. “Finding Marlene murdered in his basement isn’t helping his case either. He has to come forward or people will assume he’s guilty. On vacation or not, if they post it in the paper that he’s wanted for questioning, he should return if he’s innocent.” Tony returned to his client.

/>   Ross peered at the dead man then gently cleared his throat to the uncomfortable subject. “So, uh, you doing Marlene?”

  “Just the prep,” Tony replied with some discomfort. “Her mother said it had always been her wish to be cremated.”

  “Doesn’t this job give you the creeps?” Ross asked. “I mean, you asked Marlene out the other day, and now you’re going to be prepping her dead body.”

  “They’re just people who’ve passed on,” Tony insisted then cast a look at Ross. “Creepy is displaying life-like wax bodies in scenes of horror. That museum has all the appeal of a morgue.”

  “I’ll gladly take that as a compliment,” Ross replied while laughing.

  “You would.”

  §

  Devon and Ross left the funeral home and headed into the empty parking lot. She abruptly stopped him halfway to his car. Her strange smile had returned as she stared at her friend. He noted her grin and gave her a puzzled look.

  “That phone call yesterday was Brant, wasn’t it?” she demanded, mildly excited. “You told him the police were going to search his house. You warned him.”

  “Be serious, Devon,” he announced while fidgeting. “I could get into a lot of trouble if I’d do something like that.”

  “I’m not going to turn you in. I want to find Brant the same as you,” she announced. “I think he’s innocent too, remember? Where is he?”

  “I don’t know,” Ross insisted and groaned. “I didn’t want him to tell me where he intended to go. That would be aiding and abetting a fugitive.”

  “You’ve done that already.”

  “Acht, not technically,” Ross announced while raising a clever brow. “They had nothing to really go on when I spoke to him.”

  Devon fidgeted while running her fingers through her hair. “I hope he’s all right.”

  Ross stared at her and the lost look on her face. He seemed oddly serious. “You were really going to turn in your virgin card, huh?”

  She drew a deep, nervous breath and forced herself to meet Ross’ gaze. “I know he’s kind of shy and maybe a little nerdy,” she remarked gently. “But something about him turns me on.”