Poison Branches

by Cynthia Raleigh

  “Sorry to hear that. I’m Nicholas Silver, Nick.” He extended his hand to Perri.

  Shaking Nick’s hand, Perri answered, “I’m Perri Seamore, and…this is my friend Nina Watkins.” Nick turned to shake Nina’s hand.

  “I’m glad to meet you. You were here last night.”

  “Yes, we were. We enjoyed it so much, we came back.” Perri grinned.

  “I’m glad.” As Nick spoke, an officer entered the tavern. Nick gave a crooked smile as he turned to the policeman. The officer noted the toppled furniture, spilled drinks, and general disruption. Nick said to the office, “It was Rodney Sauer, threatening customers and causing a disruption.” He jerked his thumb at the door, “He just took off, mad as a hornet.”

  The officer used a radio to ask for assistance in locating Rodney while he took a report at the tavern. All eyes were on Perri and Nina. Perri felt her face and ears burning and was sure they were bright red, but not entirely from the incident with Rodney.

  The policeman looked around the room, “Ok folks, what happened here?” This was Officer Harper, who had been at the cemetery the night before.

  All the patrons turned to look at Perri and Nina. “Apparently…Rodney is upset that my friend, Nina, and I made a report this afternoon that his father threatened us with a shotgun while we were in an old cemetery. He fired the gun, up in the air, but he fired it.” Amid gasps and whispers, Officer Harper asked Nick, Perri, and Nina to give him a rundown of what had happened. Nick righted the bench, hostess stand, and sign as they gathered in a knot to tell their story.

  “Alright, Nick, ladies, thank you. We’ll invite Rodney to spend the night in the jail again if we find him.”

  Nick excused himself, “I need to get back behind the bar.” He turned to Perri, “I’ll probably see you around again?”

  “Probably so,” Perri answered.

  Joe Harper went on to explain to Perri and Nina that when the police had visited the Sauer house, Milton had admitted he fired his gun but didn’t have a good reason. He said he just didn’t like people close to the property. He was given a citation and told he would need to make a court appearance, the gun was confiscated, and he’ll appear in court. Joe also told them they had talked with Mr. Freighley about it. He said he had no idea why Milton would be upset that someone was in the cemetery. He said he hadn’t been down there since at least the year before, so he didn’t know if Milton had something going on in the woods by the property line or not. Officer Harper left the tavern.

  “Well that’s twice in one day we’ve had to make a police report and I’ve never had to make one before. This is going well.” Perri turned a worried face to Nina, “I’m sorry, I hope this isn’t ruining the trip for you. I sure didn’t think some sourpuss old geezer with a shotgun and his caveman son would be popping up like Whack-a-Mole all weekend.”

  “Are you kidding girlfriend? This is the most excitement I’ve had for a long time.” She nudged Perri in the ribs with her elbow. “Let’s go have that wine!”

  Chapter 18

  Sunday morning dawned with a graying sky, fast moving clouds, and high humidity. The gabbling of the crows again greeted Perri as she woke. She dressed and sat down to organize her notes while Nina got ready for the day.

  After another excellent breakfast, provided by the incomparable Alice, Perri and Nina were relaxing in the gazebo next to the pond, drinking some coffee and enjoying the outdoors before it got too hot. Nina was curled into a wicker chair reading a book on her iPad and Perri was typing away, making notes on her laptop. The border around the gazebo was planted with chives, mint, and other herbs. There was a steady buzzing of bees from the blooms. The koi in the pond frequently came to the surface and made bubbles, then swished their tail, slapping the water as they retreated to the bottom.

  “If I had some crumbs, I’d feed the koi,” said Perri lazily. She stared at the pond for several minutes. Her face showed an expression of concentration. “Hey.”

  Nina looked up from her book. “Hey what?”

  “I was making notes and writing down everything that happened yesterday. Something doesn’t make sense.”

  “Ok, what doesn’t make sense?” Nina unfolded her legs and stretched.

  “Remember when Officer Harper was telling us that they talked to Mr. Freighley?”

  “Yes.”

  “And Mr. Freighley said he didn’t know what had gotten into Milton?”

  “Ye-es.” Nina leaned forward in her chair.

  “Well. Mr. Freighley also commented, apparently, that he didn’t know if Milton had ‘something going on’ by the property line or not because he hadn’t been there since last summer. He hasn’t been well since winter. He hasn’t been out on his property.”

  “Yes, I remember that, but I’m not sure why that matters?”

  “Because…if Mr. Freighley hasn’t been down that path since last year, then he couldn’t have made the tire tracks going in to the stone barn. Those were deep and fresh. So, who did? We assumed it was from farm equipment or a vehicle belonging to the farm. But it can’t have been.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t even think about that. The tracks were made at least in the last couple of weeks when the ground was sodden from all the rain.”

  “The Sauer’s lease out the pasture, but the pasture is clear on the other side of the farm. They’d have no reason to be running a tractor or anything.”

  Perri closed her eyes and tipped her head back for a moment, thinking. She raised her head and opened her eyes to see Alice hurrying across the yard to the gazebo.

  Alice seemed uncomfortable. “Sorry to bother you, but Sarah Vines is here.” Alice paused and said, awkwardly, “She’s from the police. Is there a problem?”

  Perri sighed. “Oh. Not really, I mean, not here or with us exactly.” Alice’s forehead wrinkled in dismay. Perri told Alice, briefly, what had happened the previous day as they shut off their electronics and followed her back to the house. Alice tsked and tutted, “Those Sauers have been a thorn in everyone’s side for a hundred years! Even my grandmother had a low opinion of that bunch. They are always causing trouble. If there’s a big stink around town, there’s usually a Sauer involved. Now they’re shooting at people?”

  “He didn’t shoot at us, just into the air.”

  “That’s bad enough. Because what’s next then?”

  They reached the kitchen door and Perri and Nina went through to the parlor. Sarah Vines was standing by the large front window, looking out over the hills across the road. She turned when she heard their footsteps approaching.

  “Hi, I’m Sarah Vines, we met yesterday at the police station when you were there to make a report about Milton Sauer.”

  “Sure, I remember. What can we help you with?”

  Sarah said, “I’m sorry to bother you with this, but I just have to make sure.” Perri and Nina nodded. “You told me yesterday you had come here to do some family research, including visiting several cemeteries in the area. You also mentioned you had been to Whippoorwill, while we were inspecting the scene.”

  “Yes,” Perri and Nina both looked at Sarah with worried faces. Nina felt her palms starting to sweat.

  “No, don’t worry, there isn’t anything wrong with that. I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions. Since you have been in other cemeteries this weekend, some of which are not visited often, I wanted to know if you saw anything in any of them that was unusual.”

  “Unusual. Not really, no. I mean, most of the cemeteries we went to were fairly untended with few visitors. We mostly saw bugs, tall grass, and lots of brambles.”

  Sarah nodded and made a note. “My other question concerns Whippoorwill Cemetery. Had you been to the cemetery prior to yesterday morning, when you told me you went by?”

  “No. It wasn’t on my list to visit, and I hadn’t even heard of it before Friday evening, when the story about Amy Barrow was being told.” Sarah looked at her. “We heard about it when we were out for supper in town, at th
e Arrogant Rogue Tavern. Well, the first we heard of it was in the Clerk’s office that afternoon. We were curious, so we did drive by it before we started on the cemeteries on our list.”

  “Ah, ok.” She bobbed her head up and down as she made more notes.

  “Can I mention something to you?” asked Perri.

  “Absolutely.”

  Perri and Nina looked at each other and nodded. “You asked if we saw anything unusual, and we haven’t, but I heard something that seemed unusual. After Rodney Sauer came into the tavern last night and made a big ruckus, Nina and I, and Nick the bartender, were telling Officer Harper what happened. After we finished telling him about the incident that had just happened, he brought Nina and I up to date on their interview with Milton Sauer as well as Mr. Freighley.

  Sarah was listening intently, “Go on.”

  “Officer Harper said that Mr. Freighley stated that he had not been down to that part of his property since last year. When we were there yesterday, there were deep tracks coming from the area of the road, across the path we were on, and into the stone barn that is just below the hill where the cemetery is located. The tracks were pretty fresh, and they were deep because of the recent rain. We had to pick our way over them so we didn’t sink in the mud or trip on the clods thrown up around them.”

  “I see. That is something unusual if Mr. Freighley truly hasn’t been down there, and hasn’t hired someone to do the work he can’t do right now. He may have though, since he’s been sick or ailing for several months. I’ll check that out with him. Thank you.”

  Nina asked, “Have you any idea who killed Amy Barrow?”

  “We haven’t made an arrest.”

  Nina smiled, “I understand, you can’t say anything.”

  Sarah hesitated. “I can’t give you any information about what we may or may not have found out, but I can ask for any information that might concern a motive for this crime.” She looked from Perri to Nina and back.

  “Since we don’t live here, we didn’t know Amy and have no inkling why someone wanted to kill her. We definitely will pass on any information we might come across.”

  Sarah pressed her lips together, nodding. She started to rise from her chair, but sat back down. She sat quietly, thinking, and appeared to make a decision. “One other thing.”

  Nina and Perri looked at each other and back at Sarah, “Of course, what else would you like to ask?” said Perri.

  “We have talked to everyone who knew Amy, even only casually. We’ve gone through her apartment, including all her paperwork.” Sarah hesitated, looking uncomfortable.

  “I’m sure you have been very thorough,” offered Nina.

  “Right. Let me back up a little bit. I take it that you were aware that Amy was visiting the grave of a school friend of hers when she was killed?”

  “Yes, we did hear that.”

  “Patricia died almost two weeks ago, and it isn’t far-fetched that Amy would visit her grave. What’s niggling at me about this is that, while Amy and Patricia hadn’t associated much, if at all, for the last few years, over the last six months or so, Amy appears to have been helping Patricia with some sort of document search.”

  “Document search? What sort of documents do you mean?” asked Perri.

  “Old documents, documents that are from the late 1800s, as well as a few from the early and mid 1900s. “

  “Oh, do you know what Amy was trying to find out?”

  “See, that’s the thing, I don’t know. It could be she suddenly became interested in family history; some of the documents are about her family, back several generations. But some of the documents don’t seem to have any relation to anyone in Amy’s family. I just can’t see a connection.”

  “What kind of documents are they, the ones that seem unrelated?” Perri asked.

  “Aside from the papers that related to her family, birth certificates, marriage records and such, there were stock market reports, partial printouts of what looked like a website about the history of the western expansion, that kind of stuff.

  “Maybe they are unrelated and just got mixed together,” suggested Nina.

  “Maybe, but they were together in a snapped folder in a desk drawer with rubber bands around the folder. And whatever Patricia was working on, it was important enough to her to ask Amy for help.” Sarah sighed and raised her left hand palm up. “I had heard you were here doing just this type of research; Emily from dispatch told us when we interviewed her, since she was the one who took the call in from Will Parker. I don’t know what your immediate agenda is, and I can’t bring you in on all the details of this case, but I am wondering if you would be able to review the documents we found and see if you can see a pattern. We’ll supply you with a list of Amy’s known relatives and their whereabouts to help find any connections.”

  “I’d be more than happy to help you with that. I only hope I can glean something from Patricia’s paperwork.”

  “Thank you. We will make any other documents you need available to you and get you set up over at the Clerk’s office, if that’s alright?”

  “Absolutely, not a problem. Will it be ok if Nina is with me, she can help read through documents? Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

  Nina spoke softly, agreeing, “Definitely, I’d love to help.”

  “Yes, yes, that will be fine.”

  “Perfect. I’ll let you get back to your morning. I’ll work on getting this set up. Can you come to the Clerk’s office tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there.”

  Sarah gave one firm nod, “Here’s my card, call me if you have any questions. Otherwise, I’ll see you both tomorrow morning.”

  Sarah let herself out, the screen door banging back into place.

  “That’s exciting!” squealed Nina.

  “It is. And it is definitely a twist to our trip. Are you going to be able to stay another day? Tom expects you home tonight. I kind of volunteered you, but you said you aren’t scheduled to work again until Thursday, right?”

  “Are you kidding, like I’d miss this? I’ll call Tom and explain. If he wants help with Aaron, he can call my sister.”

  “Ok, but only if it doesn’t cause any problems, I don’t want to cause a rift over you staying away longer than expected. I wouldn’t want any future trips to be a problem either.”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s made lots of business trips to exotic, fabulous places over the last couple of years – he owes me.”

  “Akron, Ohio is exotic?”

  “It is when you don’t get to go anywhere at all.”

  “Alright then, as long as you are sure. See what Tom says. If he objects, I can take you home and come back here.”

  “I’ll tell him, but you’ll see, he’ll be ok with it,” said Nina assuredly. “Tom’s pretty good about that sort of thing and I haven’t done anything but work at work and work at home for two years and more.”

  “I hope so.” They sat quietly, each thinking their own thoughts for a few minutes when Perri spoke up, “Ooh, we’d better check with Alice to make sure we can stay another night, or two, if needed.” Perri looked sideways at Nina.

  “Let’s do that now, before I call Tom.” They got up from their comfy chairs. “I wonder if they’ll go check out the barn,” said Nina.

  “I bet they do, if they aren’t already there.

  Chapter 19

  Detective Sarah Vines made a phone call to the station as soon as she was in her car in the little parking area in front of the Crow’s Rest. “Russellville police, Officer Petrea.”

  “Hey Norman, this is Sarah.”

  “How you doin’ Sarah? What’s up?”

  “I don’t know for sure. Has anyone been sent to interview Mr. Freighley yet?”

  “Yeah, I sent Brett Maddux out there about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Norman, call Brett and ask him to stay put. I’m heading out there.”

  “Sure, Sarah, you think you got something?” asked Off
icer Petrea.

  “I don’t know, but we need to check on it. I’ll be out there in less than half an hour.” Sarah ended the call and started her car.

  ***

  Sarah pulled the Subaru off the gravel road and stopped on the shoulder at the entrance to the seldom used grass and weed choked lane that led to the outbuildings on Alexander Freighley’s property. It was covered with growth, but she could see that the taller grass was mashed down in each rut like it would be if a vehicle had driven down the lane recently. The seeding plantain and grasses were tall and unbent in the middle and each side of the subtle tracks, and the foot-tall dandelion stems in the center were bare, the seeds having either dispersed or been knocked off. She could see Officer Maddux’s patrol car parked in the driveway of the farmhouse a little further up the road.

  Sarah got out and locked her car. She walked along the incline of the road to the house. The edge of the road was a loose mixture of large gravel, mud, and bits of trash that had been faded and torn by the wind. She climbed the stairs to the porch and knocked on the door, which was opened almost immediately by Officer Brett Maddux.

  “Hi Sarah, come on it. Norman said you had something to follow up on?”

  “Yes, I need to speak with Mr. Freighley.”

  “In here, youngin” called a voice from the kitchen. Sarah poked her head through the doorway. The farmer was sitting in a rocking chair in the large kitchen. Wearing faded denim overalls over a flannel shirt despite the heat; he looked frail. Sarah’s family had known the Freighleys for as long as she could remember; she’d grown up playing with their grandchildren when they came to visit.

  “Mr. Freighley, how are you doing?” Sarah smiled warmly as the elderly man took her hands in his and patted them.

  “I’m doin’ alright, Sarah girl. Had a hard winter with a cold but I’m on the mend. How’s that mother of yours?”

  Sarah replied, “She’s doing really well, Mr. Freighley, I’ll tell her you asked about her.”