Chicken Culprit

by Vikki Walton

  “Oh, okay. Where should we meet?”

  “Where else does everyone meet when the crime is going to be solved—in the library!”

  Sorcha had agreed to let them to use the library’s alcove. Anne set to work attaching the information she’d collected from her dining room wall. She’d also gone to Sheriff Carson and asked if he’d be willing to allow her to present her ideas before he took Eliza off to Denver. Reluctantly, he’d agreed to attend and listen, even though Anne guessed it was more to see her make a fool out of herself. However, he wouldn’t allow Eliza to be present at the meeting. When Anne told Eliza she’d be allowed to connect to the meeting online, Eliza informed her reluctant lawyer that she would attend.

  Sorcha had lit a fire in the room and provided herbal tea, coffee, and cookies. The cozy atmosphere made it difficult to envision a discussion of murder. Anne glanced nervously at the group as people entered and took their seats. Kandi walked in with Jeff whose demeanor announced he didn’t want to be there. Kandi found a seat next to Hope, who set down a bag close to a chair she’d pulled up for her mother. Sam sat in a chair next to the fireplace munching on one of Sorcha’s chocolate cookies. Missy had begged to stay but had been shooed off by Sorcha. Stewart made his way in, quickly glanced around, and stood with his shoulder resting against the wall. He sat down when a chair was procured from the other room. Finally, in strode Carson and a deputy.

  As the sheriff passed Sorcha, the woman touched her hair, lowered her eyes, and provided him with a sultry sounding hello.

  Carson and Sorcha? Who would have guessed? No time to consider local romances now. Stay focused.

  While everyone settled, Sam set up the computer’s online meeting software. After ensuring Eliza and her attorney could hear and see the room, Anne spoke. “First, thank you all for coming. It’s of utmost importance since Eliza will be entering her not-guilty plea in the next few weeks.” Murmurs went around the room at her last statement. “I’d also like to say thank you to Sheriff Carson who allowed me to present my thoughts to you.”

  Everyone turned to look at Carson. He said, “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

  Anne set out to present her case calmly and clearly. “As you may have heard, Eliza confessed to murdering Ralph.”

  Eliza’s lawyer objected, but she silenced him.

  Anne smiled. No way could she deal with a seasoned lawyer constantly interrupting her. “As you also know, I’m new to this town. Kandi’s the first person I met, and she was a lifesaver when I injured myself right after arriving. I’ve gotten to know most of you in the last few months. However, I’m still an outsider. And being an outsider sometimes allows you to hear or see things others may miss. So that’s why I’ve called you here today. I want to prove that I have good reason to believe,

  unequivocally, that Eliza did not kill Ralph. And neither did Kandi.”

  Eliza’s lawyer relaxed back into his chair. Carson continued to gaze at Anne with a doubtful expression on his face.

  Anne straightened. “When Kandi was arrested for Ralph’s murder, we all came together to consider anyone who could have caused his death. I took the information you all had provided. As you can see, I’ve recreated it on this wall. What you see are the names of almost everyone here. I removed other names mentioned before after confirming their alibis through local sources. So what we have left are the following people: Kandi, Jeff—”

  “I wasn’t even in town when it happened,” Jeff interrupted.

  “Please. I will get to everyone in turn.” “Stewart…”

  Stewart harrumphed and crossed his arms over his chest. Under his breath he said, “Waste of time.”

  “Hope, Faith, and of course, Eliza.” “What about you ?” The sheriff interjected.

  Anne sighed. Why was he trying to rile her? “I was sleeping. I’d dropped into bed after painting the front rooms. I also sleep with a white noise machine. This accounts for why I didn’t hear anything. Also, I have absolutely no motive. None. Nada. Of course, you can certainly keep me as a suspect. Now, please, may I continue?”

  Carson pursed his lips to hide his smirk. He nodded for her to continue.

  “Okay. First we have to start with the victim. Ralph,

  by all accounts, was lacking a bit in people skills. This left many people angry or at least not happy with him, but it doesn’t account for anyone wanting to murder him.”

  She pointed to a diagram of the area of Ralph’s back yard. “The scene of the murder.” It showed the house, the compost pile, the wood pile, the lilac bushes separating their yards, the path to the forest trail, and the way to Kandi’s house, including the garage and coop.

  “Does this look accurate to everyone?”

  They all nodded.

  Carson stood motionless. Watching.

  “Okay. Here is where Ralph’s body was found.” She pulled a translucent sheet over the white paper. This page had been marked with the location of Ralph’s body on the compost pile. Several in the room cringed.

  “Now let’s begin with the timing of the events according to what has been shared thus far. Right after I moved in, I heard screaming coming from the next yard. When I arrived, I found Ralph telling Kandi to keep her chicken out of his tomatoes. He held an axe in one hand and Rusty’s neck in the other. Kandi was holding Rusty and also clutching the axe. Her pushing back against Ralph explains how Kandi’s fingerprints got on the axe handle. However…”

  Anne threw a marker toward Kandi. “Catch!” Kandi grabbed the marker with her left hand.

  “Kandi’s left-handed. She was holding Rusty in her left hand and pushing on the axe with her right. If she had attacked Ralph with the axe, she would have most likely used her dominant hand.” She took the marker back from Kandi.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Carson threw a piece of crumpled-up paper at her. With her right hand holding the marker, she reached out and caught the paper with her left hand.

  Drat. That man.

  “Okay. Yes, technically you will use whatever hand is available but it’s still something to consider, right?” She queried the sheriff who responded with a miniscule nod. “Now let me continue. The thing was…Ralph had no intention of killing the chicken. He was simply finishing his morning’s wood chopping.” Anne took a quick look round the room, then continued.

  “Then I arrived. As I backed up, my foot hit the moist compost. It was extremely slippery and before I knew it I’d fallen into the pile. Ralph set the axe down and he and Kandi helped me up. Well, for a bit, anyway.” Kandi grinned at Anne’s unspoken admonition.

  Anne twisted to face Stewart. He scowled at her. “I’d spoken with Stewart about his uncle and he’d told me Ralph enjoyed his visits with Kandi. Truth be told, he could’ve easily put up a fence. Or used another method to stop the chicken from coming into his yard. But this was a way to interact with Kandi. Stewart said Ralph thought Kandi was a strong young woman. He was proud of her.”

  “Really?” Kandi turned to Stewart. “Is this true?”

  Stewart nodded. “He thought you had a steel spine to have made it after your mama did what she did. He used to tell me, ‘That girl has gumption. She’ll achieve anything she wants if…’”

  Kandi goaded him. “If what?”

  “Um…I can’t recall,” Stewart stumbled.

  Anne caught Stewart’s poor attempt at an obvious lie. “Let me refresh your memory, Stewart. Might it have been something like, ‘…if she wasn’t married to Jeff?’”

  “Hey!” Jeff jumped from his seat. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  Stewart nodded.

  Kandi patted Jeff’s arm, but he swatted her hand away. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

  Carson stepped forward. “Take a seat.” Jeff reluctantly obeyed.

  Anne continued. “Store surveillance worked on Stewart’s behalf. He’d parked his vehicle in a parking lot that captured him and his van on the night Ralph died. So Stewart is cleared.” Anne drew a red X over his name. Turning to
face the computer screen, Anne addressed Eliza. “Eliza, I’m going to continue with you. You told me the other evening that you’d been taking a sleeping aid, then stopped. I looked it up on the internet. You can readily find that it’s known to cause anxiety, walking and driving in your sleep, hallucinations, even homicidal or suicidal thoughts. That’s also why you continued to carry out your morning jogging routine. It was an ingrained habit imprinted on your subconscious.”

  Eliza started to say something before her lawyer motioned her to stay quiet.

  Anne went on. “Now, on the day in question, you rose at your normal time around five for your run. As usual, you had on your jogging outfit, a balaclava on your hair, and your gloves. As you ran on the forest path, a noise cut through your slumber-jog, for lack of a better word.

  It was Ralph chopping wood. As an early riser, he liked to get in some work before the sun came up. Another habit. But this day was different.”

  She paused. “Because someone else was there that morning.”

  All eyes followed her as she turned toward Faith. Anne bent down in front of Faith. The elderly woman’s eyes were bright.

  Anne’s voice was soft and soothing. “Faith, did you go visit Ralph?”

  Faith took Anne’s face in her hands. “He loved me, you know. He always loved me.”

  Anne nodded. “I know.” She took the woman’s fragile hands and placed them back in her lap. Hope edged closer to her mother.

  Anne addressed Eliza. “I wish you could recall your entire ‘dream’”—she made quotes in the air with her fingers—but this is what I think really happened. She grabbed a pencil and drew a dotted line on the vellum paper. “Faith was walking across the yard. She wore a felt cloche hat.” She turned and spoke softly. “Hope?”

  Hope lifted a brown paper sack from inside the bag she’d brought with her. Hesitating for a brief moment, she opened it to reveal a dark red hat. It lay crumpled, stained, and stiff. Underneath was what appeared to be a bloody cotton nightdress.

  “I contacted Hope yesterday with my theory, and she shared with me about these items. She hadn’t shared them before because she figured it had been an accident, and she had faith that Kandi would be proven innocent of the charges.”

  Carson immediately ordered the deputy to take the items from Hope. The deputy stood behind Hope and her mother. Hope addressed the group. “I’m sorry. We can’t bring him back. What would it serve…I’m sorry, Kandi, I didn’t—”

  Anne interrupted. “Wait, Hope. As Paul Harvey used to say, we need to hear the rest of the story.” She got the nod from Carson to continue. “As you can see, Faith is a very petite woman. It was dark, and she wore a hat that covered her gray hair. In a dreamlike state and at a distance, Eliza could have easily mistaken Faith for someone much younger. Maybe even, depending on the tricks of the mind—a younger sister.”

  Eliza let out a sob and brought her fist to her mouth in dismay.

  “So Eliza, you’re running. Through the opening into Ralph’s yard you see a white man holding an axe. A young woman advancing. He moves toward her. You won’t let him hurt her—not this time. You sprint to him. There’s a struggle. Ralph, who’s already in ill health, has a hard time fighting you off. He either throws the axe in the compost pile or it falls during the struggle. He pushes you away or you both collapse. From your description, the struggle resulted in you both being knocked out. However, for you, it may have actually knocked you into some wakefulness.”

  Anne faced Sam. “Am I correct that during your autopsy you found Ralph had also experienced a heart attack?”

  Sam addressed the group. “Yes. It looks like he’d been having myocardial infractions for some time, but he must have simply disregarded them. During our investigation his doctor said he’d been complaining of chest pains. But he’d refused more testing.”

  She paused and looked at Carson. “Now I know that all of that is pure conjecture.” He nodded an affirmative. Anne turned and spoke. “So with your lawyer’s permission, Eliza, I’d like you to tell me and the others what you saw after you came to.”

  Eliza brushed off her lawyer’s call to silence. “I don’t know if it woke me up, but I certainly became conscious. Ralph was lying on the ground. His eyes were closed. Fear coursed through me. I was afraid I’d killed him. I ran.”

  “Thank you.” Anne turned to Kandi. “Kandi, the next morning I came running over when I heard you screaming for help. Correct?”

  Kandi swallowed and nodded.

  Anne pulled another vellum sheet down over the other clear sheet. “Here’s where I found Kandi kneeling by Ralph. Her hands were covered in blood. Kandi, please tell us what happened that morning. And this is already on the record. Right?” Anne spoke to the sheriff.

  Carson nodded. “Correct.”

  Kandi gulped, and then steadied her voice. “Rusty had gone missing. I went to Ralph’s to collect her before he got mad again. I saw Ralph lying on the compost pile.”

  “Wait. Stop there. How was he lying?” “What do you mean?” Kandi tilted her head.

  “Face up, facedown?” Anne flipped the palm of her hand.

  “Oh, facedown.”

  Anne nodded. “Continue.”

  “I said, Ralph, did you do a face plant? You know, like what you did the other day, Anne.” She chuckled, then became sober. “But he didn’t respond. I turned him over and…that’s when I saw all the blood. I must have tried to help him, but it was no use. He was dead. Then you showed up. I have a hard time remembering clearly after that.”

  “That’s okay. What did you do with the axe?” Anne asked.

  “The axe?” Kandi stared up at Anne.

  “Yes. Why did you move it? Why put it in your own yard?”

  “I didn’t. I’ve said this over and over. There was no axe!”

  Anne spoke to Eliza. “Did you take the axe?” Eliza shook her head. “No. I just ran.”

  Anne saw she now had the sheriff’s undivided attention, but his eyebrows were raised. He wasn’t sold yet.

  She turned back to Faith. “Faith, you loved Ralph very much.”

  Faith looked up at her. “Yes.”

  Anne hunched down next to the frail woman. “Faith, did you kill Ralph?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hope bristled. “Don’t talk to my mother that way.”

  Faith patted Hope’s hand. She raised her daughter’s hand to her lips and kissed it. “He loved you so much.”

  The elderly woman smiled at Anne. “He was going to take me home. That woman in the TV”—she pointed at Eliza’s face—“ran away. He was on the ground asleep. But then he woke up. He saw me kneeling next to him. He kissed my hand.” She stroked her hand. Then she stopped.

  The room was quiet when she continued. “He got up from the ground. He said he’d take me home. But he didn’t. He kept moaning. He fell on the pile. I waited. But I started getting so cold.” She paused. “I like cold ice cream.”

  Anne had to get answers quickly before Faith faded away. “Faith, what happened next?”

  The woman gazed up at Anne. “I turned him over. He was so heavy. I saw the axe. I pulled my hat off and tried to stop the bleeding. It wouldn’t stop. I used my hat and pulled the axe out.”

  Anne turned to Sam. “I think if you take that hat in for testing, you’ll find Ralph’s blood on it. It’s also the reason Faith’s fingerprints weren’t on the axe.”

  Sam nodded. “May also confirm the unidentified fibers we found on scene.”

  She turned back. Faith gaze was unfocused.

  Oh no. Please let her stay lucid a bit longer. She took the woman’s hand. “What did you do with the axe, Faith?”

  “I turned him back over so he could sleep on his stomach. He could sleep there forever.” She smiled. Faith’s thoughts were becoming jumbled between fantasy and reality.

  “What about the axe, Faith? Did you move it?” Anne implored.

  “He uses his axe every day. I left it so he could chop wood. He
likes to chop wood. Sometimes I go visit him while she’s”—she motioned at Hope—“asleep.” She bent her head and put a finger to her lips.

  Anne stood up and stretched her back. She moved to the front of the room. “This is what I believe happened. Eliza, in a hallucination, thought she was saving Faith from a slave trafficker.” Others in the room sucked in their breath at these words. “Eliza and Ralph struggled. Both fell, but neither was seriously hurt. Eliza came to first, thought Ralph was dead, and ran. However, when Ralph woke, he spied the axe in the compost pile. He either reached for it or then had a heart attack or both happened concurrently. He slipped, which I can tell you from firsthand experience is very easy to do when you’re close to that pile. He then fell on the axe. It was a fluke accident that Ralph fell and hit the sharp edge.”

  She turned to Sam. “As our coroner, is this scenario plausible?”

  “Yes. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen. People have all sorts of strange ways of killing themselves. I remember this one time—”

  “Thanks, Sam.” Anne didn’t want to hear about the coroner’s gruesome find. “So, Faith pulled the axe from Ralph, but he was mortally wounded. The axe had missed his chest and he’d fallen on his stomach. Sam can concur if the fatal wound hit one of Ralph’s vital organs.” Sam cleared his throat and spoke clearly. “The wound penetrated Ralph’s soft tissue as well as his intestines, kidney, and liver.” He patted his abdomen. “As you all heard, Ralph had already been experiencing some heart issues. Since he didn’t receive aid quickly, he succumbed to his injuries. Though I seriously doubt Ralph would have survived anyway. I’m fairly confident he would have had a fatal heart attack within the next few days. Big blockages in his arteries.”

  “Thanks, Sam.” Anne turned back to the group. “As you just heard, Faith had taken the axe and put it next to the woodpile. She swiveled to face Hope. “When you went to get your mother that morning, was she in her bed?”

  After taking a deep breath, Hope responded. “No, she wasn’t in her bed. She was out on the back porch, rocking back and forth. She was crying and holding her hat. Her feet and gown were covered in mud and muck. At least I thought it was mud at the time. I stripped her clothing and put her in a bath. Then I heard mom saying strange things about Ralph. I ran over to see if he’d been hurt and that’s when I saw everything. I realized then that her clothes were covered in blood. I knew she couldn’t have killed him. So I stuck the items in a bag, and I haven’t touched them since. Later, I wondered if she had killed him because of his rejection of her all those years ago. But no matter what, I knew it would do no good for them to prosecute her.”