Bone Is Where the Heart Is

by Maddie Sutton

  Her countenance changed quickly and she scowled at me. “And what business is that of yours?” Clare demanded.

  “I’m just...I mean you don’t seem very upset by it.”

  “I’ve got the mail, Clare.” A guy swung through the office and set the mail box on her desk. He smiled up at me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  I shrugged.

  “Great. More grunt work to do. Look, I was just a niece in name. It wasn’t like she gave two hoots about me other than making sure I didn’t ruin her reputation by my existence. Steve, can I borrow your letter opener?”

  “Where’s yours?”

  “Somewhere.” Clare waved her hand over her desk. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, looking up at me.

  Gone was the sweet smile. Obviously, I said something to make her mad. “No no, I just wanted to say I was sorry to hear about your aunt.”

  Clare started to sort through her mail, no longer looking at me. “Well, have a nice day.”

  Salty attitudes must be a common family trait in the Dufore family.

  The land records search yielded some interesting information. From what I could see, the house I bought once belonged to the Dufore family. Specifically, a Viola Dufore. The deed was signed over to Violet Pickering in the 60s and then sold to the current owner in 2010.

  And now, I would be the proud owner of an historic Harmony Grove home that used to belong to Violet. The old gal certainly had her hands in everything.

  Thankfully, there were no outstanding liens. I was satisfied but I would still get the lawyer to do a more thorough search, just to be sure.

  Once I was finished, I gathered my research and stuffed it in my purse. Clare was still at the counter and gave me a forced smile as I passed. For a moment, I wanted to stop and apologize for upsetting her. My gut told me to let it go. So I simply said, “Thank you for your help,” as I passed and left the office.

  Harry Stillwell met me at the door to the building, holding it open for me. “Miss Cooper. I assume you heard the news?”

  “Yes, I did. Thank you. I’ll want to talk to you at some point to coordinate our efforts of volunteers.”

  “Excellent. My office door is always open. Except now.” He waved an envelope in the air. “Car tags, you know.”

  “Right. I don’t have that problem yet.”

  “Well, when you do, you pay them at the end of the hall,” he said, pointing.

  I turned to see the small line that was forming at the window. “Good to know, thank you.”

  With a nod, he headed down the hall.

  I did have a fast question, just to make sure we were on the same page. Since he was right here in the building and would be held up in line, I ducked back in the door to chase him down. I couldn’t catch up with him before he stopped, then turned into the land records office. I slowed to a stop just out of sight.

  “...I know I should be sorry she’s dead.” Clare’s voice sounded very close to the door so I stopped just out of sight on the other side of the wall in the hallway.

  “I know, my dear—” That was Harry’s voice. “She ruined many lives. But you must put that out of your head. She can no longer torment you two.”

  “She owes us, Harry. She owes me. And when she last spoke to me, she swore I wouldn’t see a dime. She denied Grandmother and Mom...but it’s my legacy, too, the ungrateful, cheating b—”

  The sound of their voices grew louder. I was in danger of being caught eavesdropping and it was too far to run to the exit. Across the hall was the door to the ladies room and I darted in before anyone saw me.

  I hid out in a stall for a few minutes before hoping that it was safe to come out. It was. Neither Clare nor Harry was in sight when I stepped into the hall.

  Now that the way was clear, I raced for the exit and beat a hasty retreat.

  After nearly being caught, I needed something to settle my stomach. The Hole in One was just over on the corner. The decision for coffee and a donut or two was easily made. After all, the eggs hadn’t lasted long and my stomach was growling.

  Belinda was staring at her phone when I entered. The bell jingle made her jump. “Oh! Naomi, you startled me.”

  “Good morning, Belinda. Is my sister around?”

  “She’s off today.” With a flutter of her hand, she met me at the pastry case. “Something she and Robbie are cooking up for the dog show. That’s awfully nice of you to organize it.”

  Truthfully, I hadn’t done a whole lot of organizing up until now. I probably should do something about that.

  Right now, there were two chocolate glazed donuts with my name on them. “Is everything okay, Belinda? You seem a little off today.”

  Belinda set her phone down to pull my order together. On the screen was the picture of a couple, smiling.

  I recognized those two. Belinda and Kevin. The image was washed out a bit from the flash, as if it were taken in a dark place. They were both holding beers and smiling for the camera. She looked happy. Kevin? Well...maybe. There was something plastered about his smile. He clearly looked uncomfortable.

  Maybe that was because they were plastered.

  Belinda turned around and froze when she saw me looking at her phone.

  “Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I was snooping. But, you two look happy together.”

  She sat the coffee cup down and started crying. “I thought so, too.”

  Uh-oh. “Are you...do you need to sit down?”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine.” She waved her hands to motion me over to the register to ring my order up.

  I paid for my coffee and donuts and took them to the table. “Belinda, do you need to talk? I find it helps to talk these things out. It’s hard if you feel like you’re alone. I’m a pretty good listener.”

  We talked for a half hour as she poured her heart out to me. Her husband had been born and raised in Harmony Grove and she moved here with him when he got sick. After his death, she had a difficult time living here as a widow in a town where she was always an outsider.

  “Now, I’m stuck, you know? And I thought...oh, Naomi, when I first met Kevin, he made me feel so young. He was so dangerous and commanding and protective. All we’ve done lately is fight. I don’t know what’s happened. He’s avoiding me. I just know it.” The waterworks started again.

  I had made the offer to listen and I was good at the listening part. Not quite so adept at the consoling part. Helpless was a good word as I sat there while she cried.

  “He was supposed to be working at a job the other day but when I called his work cell, no one answered. I didn’t think anything about it at first. He was probably on the lawnmower. So I bought lunch and zipped down to where I knew he’d be for the day and his crew said he’d left before I got there.”

  “How did you know where to find him?” Not that Harmony Grove was that big but had she just driven around until she found him?

  “He has contracts with businesses and residences and has those contracts on specific days. I knew that day he was supposed to be in the Deerfield residential section—”

  “I don’t know where that is.”

  “Just off of Riverdale. Where the old landfill used to be?”

  “Right. I remember.” I didn’t but it didn’t matter. “So he wasn’t there.”

  “It was right before that huge storm. The one where you got struck by lightning, right?”

  “That would be the one. If he wasn’t at the jobsite and he wasn’t with you, do you know where he was?”

  She started crying again.

  In a panic, I dragged the napkin dispenser over and started pulling out wads of the cheap napkins stuffed inside. She took them gratefully and blew her nose. “I think he’s seeing someone else.”

  “Who?”

  Belinda clenched her teeth and snarled. “This little tart who works—”

  The doorbell jingled and a young couple entered the shop. Belinda made her apologies and went to take their order.

>   My phone buzzed. HGPD came up on caller ID. Chief Reed? My stomach did a little flip.

  “This is Naomi.”

  “Miss Cooper, this is Chief Reed. Can I have you come down to the station? It’s important.”

  Chapter Eleven

  When a police officer, no, when the Chief of Police tells you to come to the station, and that it’s important? Well, that’s not a summons you should actually ignore, right?

  But Belinda was in pain.

  Also, she was going to dish and it could be important.

  However the two customers multiplied to six in the span of a few minutes as more came in to get coffee and donuts and I didn’t think it was wise to keep Chief Reed waiting.

  A police officer escorted me to the chief’s office and told me he would be right with me. I felt like I had just been called to the principal’s office, drumming my heels like he wanted to soften me up by making me wait.

  Thankfully, I didn’t wait long. He came in with two coffees and set one down in front of me. Once he settled behind his desk, he opened a drawer and pulled out a ziplock baggie with sugar and creamer packets with a few of those useless wooden stirrers. I would take what I could get and added some creamer to the coffee he brought.

  It was a nice gesture. The officer who walked me probably gave him the idea because he was a jerk and jerks didn’t have generous ideas like that.

  We sat there in silence as he thumbed through a few folders. If he hadn’t brought me the coffee I would have been under the impression he forgot I was there. After what felt like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, he turned a folder around and pushed it towards me. “Does that look familiar?”

  On top of the paperwork was a small baggie. Inside was a mangled pink leather collar with heart-shaped settings all around it. Only, the diamonds were missing.

  “Yes, that’s Winston’s collar. Or was. Although the last time I saw it, it still had the diamonds in it. Where did you find it?”

  “We found that outside the vet clinic.”

  “In the parking lot?”

  “The small wooded area that separates the clinic from the farmer’s market. How long have you been volunteering with the animal shelter, Miss Cooper?”

  “I’ve been there once so far officially, to trim some rescue animals. Oh, and when I saw you there harassing the Handels.”

  He glared at me across the desk, then sighed. “Routine questioning.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Do you know of any other volunteers who work there?”

  “My sister. The good loo—mmm vet. The young one. Dr. Sawyer?”

  Chief Reed narrowed his eyes. “He’s a good vet, is he?”

  “I guess. He seems to have a nice temperament to work with animals but I only met him once.” I sighed at him. “You can’t mean to tell me you suspect someone at the clinic.”

  “I suspect everyone.”

  “Except me.”

  His eyebrow lifted but he didn’t respond. “Have you indulged in any more B&E lately?”

  “It wasn’t on the agenda today, no.”

  “Good. Well, that was all I had.”

  “Just for me to tell you that was the remains of Winston’s collar?”

  “Yes.”

  “So does that mean you have a lead?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  He did have a lead.

  “Thank you for coming in, Miss Cooper.” He stood and walked to the door to hold it open.

  Not exactly subtle.

  Sighing again, I stood and went to the door, stopping just outside. “Chief Reed?”

  “Yes, Miss Cooper?”

  “Is there a way I can get my mother’s umbrella back since it’s not a murder weapon anymore?”

  He pursed his lips in thought. That sorcery wasn’t going to work on me, Chief. I am immune to your attractive thoughtful expressions. You don’t have me fooled for one moment.

  He totally did.

  I was worried he would say no. It wasn’t an expensive umbrella and I could easily afford...strike that, my dad could easily afford a new one.

  It was the principle of the thing. The umbrella was my mom’s.

  To my relief, he said yes, he would have it ready for pickup by the end of the day.

  I got out of there as fast as I could.

  “Jolene?” I called her as soon as I was back in the car. “Today is a day off, right?”

  We sat in Jolene’s living room, painting our toenails. I hadn’t done that since we were kids. Every so often I’d splurge and get mine professionally done, fingers and toes. But being a groomer meant simple for fingernails and I didn’t wear open toe shoes while working so I could only show off my toenails when I went out.

  Which I never did.

  After Paul and I split, I didn’t have any interest in dating. I threw myself into my grooming business and was ready to hire on assistants before Hades hit the fan with a sickening splooshing sound.

  And of course, you can’t do your nails and not drink wine. Who would be so uncivilized? Jolene was well into the bottle by the time I got there. She had a much higher alcohol tolerance than I did, so she wasn’t as drunk as I would have been.

  She was still sober enough to follow the conversation as I filled her in on everything so far.

  “Wait,” she said. “That wooded area between the vet clinic and farmer’s market? Didn’t you talk to Kevin Spencer there the other day?”

  I paused to think through the past several days. “Yeah. I did, actually.”

  “And we know Violet owed him a lot of money. I mean, a thou is a lot of money.”

  She was right, it was.

  “And Belinda was dating him. She said he wasn’t where he was supposed to be on the day of Violet’s murder,” I said, snapping my fingers.

  Winston also verified that Kevin had been there, although it was hard to tell whether he had been there before Violet’s death. Nor could I say any of that. I mean, yeah, who is going to believe “my dog told me”? Even after a bottle of wine.

  “Oh my,” Jolene said. “We have to go see the chief.”

  “I think he may already know.” All it would take was finding whoever stole the collar and was now trying to sell the diamonds to know who did it. There weren’t a lot of places in Mississippi that could handle something like loose diamonds.

  Certainly not in Harmony Grove.

  Jolene let out a soft breath. “Well. I don’t know if I’m relieved or not.”

  “It’s all kind of surreal,” I agreed.

  Everyone was buzzing by the time I got home. “Did you hear?” Sarah said as she accosted me at the garage door.

  “Do I get any hints?”

  “They found Violet’s murderer!” she said. “Finally! After Chief Reed harassed poor Inge.”

  “Apparently, they went to arrest that yard man, Spencer,” Dad said from beneath the sink. After thirty years, Mom was getting a new garbage disposal. “Ted heard the BOLO for Kevin’s whereabouts.”

  “Oh! That’s good.” Right?

  Something about that didn’t sit well with me.

  Everyone was elated but there was something not right about it. Not anything I could put my finger on except Winston’s word that Kevin had been to Violet’s house at one point. It was a very confused story. Coupled with Winston’s inability to use any name but Mary, it would take twenty questions to try to figure it out.

  Everything pointed to Kevin, though. I had to trust that Chief Reed knew what he was doing.

  Gramma was asleep in her recliner with Winston curled up on her chest. I tiptoed by and headed for my room to take off my shoes and put my purse away, still going over in my head everything I learned.

  Winston appeared at the door and took a run at the bed before jumping expertly on top of it. “Hey, buddy. How was your day?”

  “It was quiet without you here. Mary fed me cheese sandwiches.”

  That was Gramma. Every day at lunch, she had a grill
ed cheese sandwich with tomatoes and pickles. I may yet learn Winston-speak.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t take you. I had a lot of stuff to do.”

  “It’s okay, Mary. You’re home now.”

  The entire time I lived in Charleston, I didn’t have a pet. Not a dog, cat or even fish. I never had time and was afraid I would neglect the poor thing.

  With Winston, I realized what I was missing.

  “What’s wrong, Mary? You have a frown face.”

  “A lot on my mind, Winston.” I played with his soft ears and he settled down on the bed. It almost sent him to sleep. Giving him up would be hard if Clare decided she wanted to keep him. She was entitled to him, being a relative of Winston’s previous owner.

  I should ask her straight up before I got too attached to him. Something to do in the morning.

  Already dread settled in my stomach.

  Now there wasn’t anything for me to do to catch Violet’s killer, I was a bit adrift when I woke the next morning. There was no time to dwell. I still had dog show activities to plan and a historic house to buy, which came with its own issues in planning.

  Gramma was already enjoying her breakfast when I headed down to the kitchen. I fixed Winston’s kibble before sitting down with a mug of coffee. He ignored it in favor of what Gramma was eating. “I was thinking.”

  “Too early for that,” Gramma said. She tossed Winston the corner of her toast which he expertly caught. It looked like someone was used to being fed from the table. I’d need to put a stop to that or Winston would end up big as a football.

  Today was not that day. It’s all about picking my battles.

  “Can’t be helped. I have a lot to do and the time to do it is closing in. Can I run my ideas by you, Gramma?”

  Her elbows hit the table heavily, making the sugar bowl and salt and pepper shakers jump. “What kind of fool question is that? You can ask me anything. You ought to know by now I have no filters.”

  “No, you don’t,” I agreed.

  “No use for them. They get in the way of the truth. Filters are the start to telling lies. When you lie, you have to start keeping up with lies. Now that’s a pain in the patootie. So. Tell the truth—”