by K C Hart
Jessa’s hair was tangled and messed up. A bright red fake fingernail was hung up in a knot of the long blonde tresses. This nail definitely didn’t come from Jessa’s hands. There were also a few strands of hair tangled in the giant gaudy pink diamond ring on Jessa’s right ring finger. Katy squinted her eyes in the muted light. Most of the strands of the tangled hair were blond or silver but mixed in were also a couple of strands of a bright, bright blue.
She placed the palms of her hands on the soft, cool earth to steady herself as she leaned even closer to take one quick last look at the woman’s body. At least Jessa died smelling nice. Her perfume was heavenly, soft and clean smelling which really seemed out of place right now. The heel of her left boot was missing, but everything else looked normal.
It was a good thing they’d found her. Even though she was lying on the ground in the shade, it wouldn’t take long for her body to start decomposing in this Mississippi heat. She backed out from under the trailer, rear end first, and leaned against the hay bale.
“Looks like you won’t be playing tonight Aunt Katy,” Todd said, putting his phone back in his pocket. “The sheriff ‘s on his way over and I’m supposed to keep everybody away from this area until he gets here. He doesn’t want to mess up the crime scene.”
“Yeah, that sounds like what they do on TV. I never thought we’d be doing that here in Skeeterville. Do you want me to guard the body while you secure the perimeter?”
“I don’t think so,” Todd said as he scanned the field. He turned back towards Katy. “I appreciate your offer of help, but I’m going to need you to clear out from here too.”
Katy arched one eyebrow and tilted her head to the side. “Now Todd, I don’t think I’m the ‘everybody’ that Sheriff Reid is talking about keeping away. I practically discovered the body. I checked her pulse to make sure she was dead. The sheriff won’t mind me helping you out until he gets here.” She tried to stare him down, hoping she could bluff him into letting her hang around.
“I don’t think he’ll see it that way, and besides, I told you to not touch the body,” Todd said, looking Katy in the eye. “What if you messed something up already?” A fresh cloud of dust appeared across the field as a small parade of cars made its way toward the make-shift parking area. “Hey, here comes Misty and the rest of your crew. The best thing you can do for me is go head them off before they get any closer. And Aunt Katy,” Todd paused as he scanned her face, “don’t tell anyone what you saw.”
Todd ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his stubbly chin. “We don’t know what happened here and we don’t need to start any more rumors than necessary,” he said, as he glanced around the back of the stage. Heaven knows this will be the main topic of conversation in every Sunday school class tomorrow without you or me fanning that flame.”
Katy poked her lip out but didn’t argue. Todd knew she wasn’t a gossip, but guessed he was just trying to do his job. She grabbed her guitar and folder and quickly headed to meet her band who had parked their cars and were walking down the dirt path. She needed to write down everything she’d noticed about Jessa before it got fuzzy in her head.
The sheriff’s car turned into the makeshift path with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing just as Katy reached her friends. They quickly moved to the side to keep from getting mowed over. “What’s gotten him in such an all-fired hurry?” Misty asked, coughing as the dust flew up in all their faces. “Somebody stealing the peanut money, or worse yet, somebody stealing the peanuts?”
The other three women Sarah, Heather and Vickie looked to Katy for an answer. Everybody would know what had happened within the hour, but she knew that she did not want to be the one that let the cat out of the bag. Oh well, she would just give them the short answer. Maybe they would be satisfied with that. “Todd found a body under the stage,” she said. “They don’t want anybody going up there to muck up the crime scene.”
That was all it took. The women all began talking at once, like a bunch of excited chickens, each one trying to be a little louder than the other. Two more cars came racing by, probably some of the sheriff’s people. One was Ted Morse, the coroner and owner of the funeral home. She didn’t recognize the other car. The sheriff’s car then came back from the crime scene with Todd driving. He parked the enormous Crown Victoria sideways at the entryway to the festival and turned back on the flashing blue lights. Katy shook her head as she stared at the car. They would attract more attention to the field with all that commotion instead of keeping people away. She turned and looked back toward the stage. The sheriff and a couple of the other men were putting up the crime scene tape and shewing away the ten or twelve vendors who had walked up when they heard the sirens.
“Come on ladies,” she said, “we won’t be playing tonight. Let’s head over to The Burger Barn and get out of this heat.” She threw her guitar and folder in the back seat one more time and led her small caravan of cars into town to the local hangout. The Burger Barn’s parking lot was empty, but she figured that would change once the news got out that the Peanut Patch festival was canceled for the night.
Skeeterville had a fast-food chain restaurant, a fish house, and the Burger Barn for the locals to gather and that was about it. If you didn’t want to watch high school football, basketball, or baseball on the weekend for entertainment in this town then you were going to be pretty bored. That’s why the Peanut Festival was such a success every year. To go to the movies, you had to drive forty-five minutes into the neighboring big city.
The ladies crowded into a booth and diet cokes were ordered all around, except for Sarah. She still drank the real thing. She probably weighed one hundred pounds in her birthday suit. Katy pulled out the little green notebook she kept in her purse that she used for writing her grocery list. She began jotting down all the details she had gathered from her assessment. The skin on her neck grew warm as everyone stared at her. She ground her teeth together without looking up and continued to write. They could wait for just a second while she got her thoughts on paper.
“Well Katy,” Vickie leaned across the table and tried to read the upside-down writing. “Don’t think you’re going to sit there and write down your to-do list after what you told us a few minutes ago” She looked around the nearly empty restaurant and whispered loud enough for the whole group to hear. “What do you mean Todd found a body under the stage? Was it a human body? I bet Sarah a burger that it’s just a big dog or cow or something and has the place all stunk up and that’s why they’re calling off the concert.” Sarah and Vickie had ridden to the hayfield and then to the Burger Barn together and apparently had already started exploring scenarios for the Peanut Patch festival’s cancellation.
“I told you it had to be more than that,” Sarah exclaimed. “When has the coroner, or the sheriff for that matter, ever come out with lights flashing for a dead cow? Come on Katy, you might as well tell us what’s going on. Everybody will know in a couple of hours.” The other three women nodded their heads.
“Katy, you know as soon as the coroner gets home and tells his wife who it is, she’s going to blab it to every person who’ll listen,” Misty said. She paused and took a quick sip of the diet coke. “I’m not being mean, but the woman just can’t help herself. She loves to tell folks about who died, why they died, when they died, and then give all the details about how the family reacted. If Mr. Morse had any competition for business with the dead folks in this town, his wife would have done caused him to lose his income. People just ain’t got no other way to bury their dead around here so they have to put up with her mouth.”
“I guess you’re right,” Katy sighed. She looked around as the restaurant door swung open. Probably half the town already knew about it anyway. The Burger Barn was starting to fill up and people were talking. “Okay ladies,” she said, “but don’t spread around what I’m going to tell you. I promised Todd I wouldn’t add to the gossip.” Four heads bobbed up and down in agreement. “Todd found Jessa William’s body unde
r the stage while he was helping me check a loose plug connection.”
Katy watched as the women digested the information. Misty and Sarah both opened their eyes wider than Katy thought possible and began shaking their heads back and forth in unison, kind of like trained seals. Sarah’s hand went over her mouth and tears began forming in her eyes.
“Bless her heart,” Vickie said, speaking first, as usual. “I just can’t believe it, bless her heart.”
“Shhhh Vickie, not so loud.” Katy reached across the table and squeezed the younger woman’s arm. “Remember, keep this to yourselves.”
Katy began to slide out of the booth. She needed to be alone to mentally digest what she had observed. She could see that she was not going to be able to write anything down while she was here. If she didn’t get away from her friends, they would continue to pick her bones until she’d told them everything. They didn’t mean anything by it, that’s just the way it was in a small town. Everybody felt they had the right to know everybody else’s business.
“Oh, sorry,” Vickie said, looking at the other ladies and again whispering, “bless her heart.”
“Where are you going, Katy?” Misty grabbed her hand as she started to stand up. “John’s out of town so why don’t you stay and eat dinner with us? Mike will be here in a few minutes and we can try to sort this out.”
“Thanks, but I’m going to head on home,” Katy said. “I need to just sit and think for a while. Besides, we have church tomorrow and I need to make sure I’m ready for my class. You know I’ll have a hard time trying to talk about Jesus walking on the water with all of this going on.”
Katy said her good-byes and walked to her car. The parking lot was almost full of people who had planned on eating a supper of fried festival food but now would have to settle for fried fast food. She jumped in her car and pulled out before anybody could come over to quiz her down. Being a nurse in a small town meant she knew everybody. Over the years she had gone into a lot of these folk’s homes to care for their sick. She just couldn’t imagine any of them killing someone.
Lord, please help me not to get all worked up and scared over this while John’s out of town. I know I’m in your hands Lord, but you know how big my imagination is and sometimes I get a little carried away. Katy turned into her drive as she finished her prayer. Oh, and Lord please be with the Browns and whoever the rest of Jessa’s family are as they deal with this situation. Be with our little town too Lord. Protect us from whoever this is that has hurt one of our people.
Chapter Three
Katy fluffed up the throw pillows behind her back. She had showered, fixed hot chocolate and cranked the air conditioner down to North Pole level. Now she was ready to think. The foot of the recliner eased her legs up as she pulled the lever. She looked at the new yellow legal pad she found in John’s office. Her tiny green note pad was always getting lost in her purse. She wanted to keep up with this information a little bit better than that.
The first thing on her list was the pool of blood behind Jessa’s head. She thought back to the last time she had seen Jessa alive…Friday night. The Moonlighters had finished their last set at 10:30 and The Wildcats had returned to finish up the night. Jessa had been having a rather heated conversation with Marissa Holmes, one of The Wildcats’ guitarists and back-up singers, and the only other female in their band. Katy hadn’t bothered to speak to the women. Both were very focused on their conversation. She had been focused on getting a diet coke.
No, that’s not right, she thought. She had seen Jessa on stage right before starting home later that same night. That would have been about midnight. She had left at eleven-fifty before The Wildcats’ last song was over so she could beat the traffic out of the field. She jotted this down. That means Jessa was killed sometime after eleven-fifty, probably after midnight on Friday night, she thought. Well, that’s not much, but it’s a start.
For some reason, writing this stuff down on paper helped to make what happened seem real. It also made it feel personal. Goosebumps popped up on her arms as she pulled the afghan off the back of the recliner and put it across her legs. She would be snuggling deep under the covers tonight. Even if the light bill was three hundred dollars, it would be worth it if it helped her sleep alone in their house until John got home on Friday.
The breath caught in her throat as “Hello Darlin”, John’s ringtone, blared from her phone. She glanced at the screen. Ten-thirty-five, John was calling thinking they had just finished their last set at the festival. She answered the phone and began to fill her husband in on what was going on.
“So, you and Todd were the first people to see her body?” John asked.
“Yep.”
“And she was under the flatbed and the hay bales had been put back in place?”
“Yep,” Katy answered again.
“Well, one thing is for sure, she didn’t get there by accident,” John said. “Somebody put her under there, or she put herself under there. They’ve kept the bottom of that stage closed up tight for the past several years. I guess ever since those junior high boys set off firecrackers under there during the mayor’s speech that time on the opening day of the festival.” John paused, concern evident in his voice. “Look, why don’t you fly on up to Missouri tomorrow and spend the rest of the week with me. I don’t like you being home by yourself with all this going on. What if some serial rapist or murderer has wandered into town? You don’t need to be there alone.”
“Oh John, I’ll be fine. I really don’t want to leave town tomorrow.” Katy pushed back the yawn that was rising in her throat. “I have lab results to follow up with on Monday and band practice. Besides, you know I hate flying.” She adjusted the afghan on her legs. “I don’t think Jessa was raped anyway. Her body was not just thrown under the flatbed, it was kind of placed there very neatly and she didn’t look like she had been molested.” She paused, “I mean, I haven’t seen a lot of rape victims, but Jessa’s make up was still neat and her clothes were straight except for her shirt being a little rumpled.” Her eyes roamed around the empty living room and a shiver ran across the back of her neck despite her brave words.
“But you’re right,” she sighed, “she didn’t get under there by accident. If that big, shady spot under her head was blood, and I’m sure it was, that means she bled out from a head wound after she was placed under the stage.” Her eyes roamed toward the front door. The chain was in place and the lock was on. “Somebody must have knocked her out and then put her under there. Maybe they thought she was dead and left her body there and then she died from blood loss. Or maybe they didn’t think she was hurt that bad and were trying to scare her and she died from blood loss. Either way, I don’t think the person who put her there thought the whole thing through.”
“That doesn’t make me feel one bit better,” John said. “So, the guy was kind of dumb, or drunk, or high, or whatever. I still don’t like you being by yourself.”
“Honey, I’m fine. I just feel so sorry for that woman. If we hadn’t found her tonight, her body would have stayed there until Monday when the county convicts clean up the festival site. By then she would’ve started to have an odor. I’m glad that didn’t happen.” She stopped and began to mumble, half-way talking to herself. “If the killer didn’t want her body found, he, or she picked a sorry place to stash it. But if they did want the body found, then why there? Nobody looks under the stage, so she would not have been found until three days later. No, I don’t think the person who put her there thought this through.”
“Katy listen, this isn’t CSI Mississippi.” John’s voice became a little deeper, stern. “This really happened, and I don’t want you by yourself until the law figures this out. I think I can wrap things up early and be home by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I’m gonna call Todd and see if he can come sleep in the spare bedroom until then.”
“Oh no you’re not. Todd’s going to be too busy with all of this to have to babysit me.” Katy stopped. Maybe that’s not a bad i
dea after all, she thought. If Todd stays here, I can find out what he knew without being an obvious nosey old aunt. John took her silence to be second thoughts which it was, but the thoughts were motivated by curiosity, not fear.
“Look,” he said, “I’m going to call Todd. Don’t buck me on this. I won’t get any sleep, or any work done because I’ll be worried about you.”
“Well, alright, if it’ll make you feel better, give him a call. But if he can’t do it don’t make him feel guilty,” she said. “I don’t think I’m in any danger. If there’s a rapist or crazy woman-killer roaming the streets and backroads of Skeeterville I don’t think I’m his type.” She looked down at the worn afghan laying over her lower body. My wrinkled Peanut Patch tee-shirt and varicose veined legs are a far cry from Jessa William’s miniskirt and low-cut blouse…uh, bless her heart.”
“Yeah, bless her heart,” John chuckled, “don’t be talking ill of the dead sweetheart, it’s not nice. Let me give Todd a call and I’ll call you back.”
John was right. That did sound sort of catty. Oh well, she would ask forgiveness in a little bit when she said her prayers. She studied over her notes while she waited for him to call her back. “Hello Darlin” sang out again in about five minutes.
“Todd sounded a little shook up,” John said, when she answered the phone. “He said he was already planning on offering to come over after he got off work. I guess that’s probably the first dead person he’s ever seen that wasn’t in a casket. It’ll do him good to have you to talk to and will do me good knowing you have someone in the house with you until I can get home.”
“Poor Todd, of course, he can stay with me,” Katy cooed. “I’ll get the spare bedroom ready.”