Meat Lovers and Murder

by Patti Benning

  After they were done with the main course, they cleaned the dishes side-by-side in the kitchen. Ellie cut the brownies while Russell got wine glasses from the cupboard and the bottle of chilled, white wine from the fridge. Ellie piled a generous number of brownies onto a plate, and the two of them went into the living room together. She stepped back out for a moment to get Marlowe out of her cage and let the large parrot step off her arm and onto the back of a reclining chair before she turned on the television.

  Snuggling next to Russell on the couch, she grabbed a brownie and bit into it. It was the perfect end to a perfect meal.

  “So, how is Shannon doing?” Russell asked as the opening credits to one of their favorite shows began to play.

  “She is very pregnant,” Ellie said. “It's weird. I've known for months that she was going to have a baby, but it's just starting to feel real to me. There is an actual human being inside of her, and in a couple of weeks, he will be out and into the world. I'll be able to hold my little nephew and see him wiggle his fingers and toes. I'll be able to watch him grow up. I've never really been around kids that much before. I'm looking forward to it.”

  “I'm sure Shannon is glad that you feel that way,” her husband said, smiling. “I bet she'll be grateful for the occasional free afternoon of babysitting.”

  “I just hope he likes me,” she said. “I know it may seem silly, but like I said, I haven't been around kids much. What if I don't know how to talk to him? What if he hates me? What if he thinks I'm boring?”

  “Ellie, no one could think you're boring,” Russell said. “You are one of the least boring people I know. In fact, I would be happy if you were a little more boring. At least then I might not have to worry about your safety every time you step out of the house.”

  “I'm not that bad,” she said, wrinkling her nose and nudging him with her elbow. “I don't seek out trouble. I just don't like it when people get away with doing bad things.”

  “I know,” he said, resting an arm across her shoulders. “Neither do I. The difference is, I'm trained and know how to defend myself against dangerous people. You just jump right in, guns blazing… except, you don't have any guns.”

  “I try to be careful,” she said, trying not to feel hurt. “What happened in Florida wasn't my fault. I really am sorry that it took up so much of our honeymoon.”

  “You don't have to be sorry about that,” he said. “We did the right thing by staying there. Besides, we enjoyed the rest of our honeymoon, didn't we?”

  She snuggled closer to him, unable to deny that they had.

  A couple of hours later, the two of them had exhausted everything the television had to offer. Ellie returned Marlowe to her cage and said goodnight to the bird. She stepped out the back door to let the dogs do their business outside, then ushered the two of them back into the warmth of the house. Sawyer, the perpetually energetic lab puppy, opened his mouth and let out a huge yawn.

  “It’s bedtime,” she said. “When you're tired, then I know that means we’ve stayed up far too late.”

  It didn't take her long for her to complete her usual bedtime ritual. She was still getting used to sharing the house with Russell and was glad that they had this time before her grandmother returned to work out all the kinks. She really needed more closet space and was thinking of turning the spare bedroom upstairs into a storage area for their extra things.

  As she snuggled into bed next to Russell, she glanced at the clock. It was late, later than she usually stayed up, but it didn't matter. The next day was a Saturday, and she didn't have to go into work. She would probably stop in for a while anyway, but it was nice to know that she didn't have to if she didn't want to. Now that her vacation was over, she had a lot of catching up to do, but most of it she could do at home. She had to write up orders for food, answer emails, check in with Linda, who ran the Florida pizzeria, to see how they were doing down there, and reconnect with everyone that she hadn't spoken to in Kittiport since she left for her honeymoon. It would be a busy weekend, but she was determined to make the most of it.

  She clicked off the bedside lamp and laid her head on the pillow, pulling the comforter up to her neck as she closed her eyes. No sooner had she heard Russell's breathing settle into a quiet rhythm beside her when a sharp crack made her sit bolt upright.

  She was no expert, but she was certain that she knew that sound. Someone had just shot a gun, and by the sound of it, it had been very close by.

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “What was that?” Russell murmured, his voice close to her ear. “Did you put Marlowe in her cage?”

  “I did. I don't think it was an animal. It sounded like a gunshot.”

  “I thought so too,” he said grimly. “I was just hoping that there was another explanation. Stay here. I'm going to go and see what I can see.”

  “I'm coming with you,” Ellie said. “You're not leaving me alone up here.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “But be quiet and keep your eyes peeled. Leave the lights off for now. If someone is outside, we don't want them to be able to see in.”

  She heard him pull open the nightstand drawer and realized that he was probably grabbing his own gun. As the sheriff, he carried a firearm with him almost all the time. Ellie hadn't always been very comfortable around guns but knowing that her husband had one now made her feel more secure.

  He slipped out of bed and walked quietly to the bedroom door, which opened with only the slightest squeak. Ellie murmured to the dogs, making them stay on the bed as she edged out of the room behind him. She shut the bedroom door behind her; the last thing that they needed was for the dogs to go charging downstairs and start barking, which would just add chaos to whatever was going on.

  “Stay behind me,” Russell whispered as he moved down the hallway. She could see him in front of her, as nothing but a shadowed form. Her heart was pounding. What was going on? It was the middle of the night; she couldn't think of any good reason for someone to be shooting a gun.

  She followed her husband down the stairs, each of them taking care with every step that they made. The house was old, and the stairs tended to creak, but they managed to avoid the worst of it by stepping along the edges and letting their weight slowly settle on to each step.

  From the hallway, she heard the soft murmur of Marlowe muttering in her sleep. Besides that, the house was silent. Russell walked up to the tall windows beside the front door and pulled the curtain back a fraction of an inch, peering out. “What do you see?” Ellie hissed.

  “Nothing,” he murmured. “I'm going to go around to the back. Wait here. If you hear anything else, come and get me.”

  Ellie leaned against the wall, holding back the same curtain that Russell had moved so she could look out the window. It was dark outside, the only light coming from the slightly overcast sky. Her eyes darted around as she looked at every single shadow. What had happened? She was beginning to doubt herself. What if it hadn't been a gun? It might have simply been someone's vehicle backfiring, or maybe a tree falling in the forest.

  Russell returned just a few moments later. He leaned against the wall beside her. She could see the outline of the gun in his hand. “I'm going to go out there,” he said.

  “Russell, no,” she said. “What if someone's waiting with a gun out there?”

  “Ellie, I'm the sheriff and this is my job. If something is going on, I have to be the one to respond. Do you have your cell phone on you?”

  She shook her head. He sighed.

  “Okay. Here's mine. If you hear anything, anything at all that worries you, call the Sheriff's Department. I think Bethany is working tonight. I want you to wait inside and lock the door as soon as I leave the house. Don't turn on any lights. I'll be careful, I promise.”

  “We should call the Sheriff's Department now,” Ellie said. “I don't want you to go out there alone. Wouldn't it be better if Bethany was here to help you?”

  “I don't want to drag her all the way o
ut here just for this. It could've been anything. Someone might have been simply shooting at a raccoon that got a bit too close to their garbage bin or their chickens. We do live past city limits, and it's not illegal to fire a gun if you are defending your property or livestock from vermin.”

  “Do you really think that's what it was?” Ellie asked.

  “I have no idea what it was. But I promise I'll be careful. Stay here.”

  With that, he turned the deadbolt and opened the door, slipping outside and shutting it silently behind him. Ellie reached for the lock to turn it, but hesitated. Her husband was out there, all alone, running toward unknown danger. Yes, he was the sheriff, but that didn't mean that he was invincible. If he got hurt, she would never forgive herself. She had vowed to stand by him through thick and thin, through better and worse. How could it be right for her to simply wait in the house while he faced all the danger alone?

  Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. It might be spring, but it was still cold outside at night, and she shivered as the nighttime air slipped through the thin material of her bedtime clothes.

  Gripping Russell's phone, she stepped onto the porch. She let the door click shut behind her. It took her a moment to locate Russell in the darkness. He was heading toward their neighbor's house, the one to the right of them. She stepped off the porch onto the cold concrete of the walkway. She hadn't thought to grab shoes. Russell had gone outside in his socks, but she slept barefoot.

  Shivering, she followed him through the grass. Realizing that he had a gun and she probably shouldn't sneak up on him, she hissed his name. He paused, then turned to look back toward her.

  He waited while she caught up with him.

  “What are you doing here?” he whispered.

  “I'm not going to let you go alone. Especially without your cell phone. I'll be careful and stay behind you, but we’re doing this together.”

  She couldn’t see his expression in the dark, but she did see him nod his head once, then the two of them turned to face the neighbor’s house. She wanted to ask him why he had chosen this direction to go but knew that it was probably better for her to keep quiet. If someone was out there, she didn't want to draw attention to the two of them.

  They started forward again, but only got a few steps before they heard another loud sound; the sound of a door banging open. Ellie caught her breath as she saw a dark shape run across the lawn and into the state forest behind the house. She felt hyper aware of everything but would never admit to Russell that she liked the exhilaration.

  Russell began moving more quickly, heading toward the house that the person had just fled from. He went directly to the back door, which was the one that they had heard bang open just moments before. Ellie put her back against the building and kept her eyes on the state forest. It was far too dark between the tall trees for her to see anything, but if someone left the shelter of the trees, she would see them cross the lawn.

  Russell knocked quietly on the door. He waited a moment, then tried again. There was no answer. He exchanged a glance with her.

  “I'm going to see if it's unlocked,” he whispered.

  She nodded and watched as he tried the door handle. The knob turned, and it swung open without issue.

  Russell slipped into the house, his firearm at the ready. Ellie hesitated, then followed him. He hadn't told her to stay behind, and she was still worried about what he might encounter in there.

  She didn't have to wonder for long. She found him standing in the hallway at the foot of the stairs in front of a man lying sprawled on the floor. She could see something dark splattered across the stairs on the carpet at the bottom of the hall. Ellie’s hand flew to her mouth. She didn’t know her neighbor particularly well, but she had spoken to Holden a few times over the past year. She knew at a glance that it was him – and he wasn’t moving.

  As Russell knelt beside the man, putting his gun back in its holster, Ellie turned on the cell phone and dialed the emergency number. She didn't need him to tell her that it was time to bring in reinforcements.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Ellie sipped her tea, ignoring the fact that her hand shook as she lifted the cup to her lips. She wasn't thirsty, but the warm, slightly sweet liquid made her feel slightly better.

  “You don't remember hearing anything before the gunshot?”

  Bethany, one of the two deputies who served under Russell at the Sheriff's Department, was sitting at the kitchen table across from her with a pad of paper and a pen in her hands. She looked tired, and Ellie didn't blame her; it was the wee hours of the morning, and she had been called out of bed.

  “No,” Ellie said. “Everything was quiet and peaceful. Russell and I were in bed, about to go to sleep, when the gun went off. The houses aren't very close to each other out here, so it's very possible that there was some sort of argument beforehand and we just didn't hear it.”

  “Did you know the man well?” the deputy asked.

  “He was my neighbor,” Ellie said. “I've spoken to him a few times. I wouldn't say knew him well, but I knew him well enough to stop and say hi if we ran into each other outside.”

  “Did he live with anyone?”

  “Not that I know of. He and his wife got divorced before I moved here. He never mentioned any children.”

  “Was anyone staying with him this week?”

  “I have no idea. Russell and I just got back yesterday – well, I guess it was two days ago now. I can't believe it's Saturday morning.”

  “Oh, that's right. I hope the two of you enjoyed your honeymoon.” Bethany gave her a smile.

  Ellie was surprised to find that she couldn't help but grin back at the other woman even with the night’s terrible circumstances. “We did. It looks like our vacation is well and truly over now, though.”

  “Unfortunately, I'm thinking you are right. This is looking like a homicide, which means that Russell will need to take the lead on it. Is there anything else you can think of that might be helpful? For all our sakes, it would be nice to get this case cleared up as quickly as possible.”

  “I can't think of anything,” Ellie said. “Like I said, we were gone. I hadn't seen my neighbor since before we left. If he had something going on in his life, I wouldn't have known about it.”

  “Thanks. I'm sure this is probably the last thing you wanted to be doing tonight,” Bethany said, closing her pad of paper. “With all of the formalities out of the way, how are you doing?”

  “I'm shaken,” Ellie said. “I think I'll feel a lot better once we know why this happened. I can't stop wondering if it was just by chance that the shooter didn't come to our house instead. What if Russell was the one who had gotten shot?”

  “He wasn’t; there’s no point in torturing yourself with what-ifs. I'm sure Russell will let you know as soon as we figure anything out,” Bethany said. “We'll start by contacting anyone who might have known your neighbor to see if we can figure out if he was in any sort of trouble.”

  “Do you think there's any chance that they'll catch the person who ran into the woods?”

  “It's possible,” Bethany said. “We've got a team with dogs out there now, but that person is probably long gone. If he had a car waiting somewhere, he could be miles away by now. If we do catch him, that would make things quite a bit simpler.”

  Ellie heard the front door open, and a moment later Russell came stomping into the kitchen. He had managed to find the time to change into jeans and pull a pair of work boots on. He was still wearing the old T-shirt that he slept in.

  “How is everything going in here?” he asked.

  “Fine,” Ellie said, managing a smile for him. “Bethany and I were just going over what happened tonight.”

  “There really isn't much to tell,” he said, scratching his head. He pulled out a chair and sat next to Bethany, across from Ellie. “Trust me, I keep going over it again and again. I'm the sheriff; the fact that somebody got murdered in
their home right next door to me is going to haunt me for a long time.”