Easter Eggs and Shotgun Shells

by Madison Johns

  “I suppose it will have to do since you already have them in the bag,” Eleanor said, “but I have a feeling the sheriff isn’t going to like it.”

  “Are we still looking for shells at the hospital?” Eleanor asked.

  “Across the road from the hospital, you mean.”

  “We better get gloves unless you’re not afraid of touching things in the ditch.”

  “If I’m digging in the ditch, so are you.”

  Eleanor chuckled. “Maybe it won’t hurt if we look in the field first.”

  I expected as much. Eleanor didn’t want to search in the ditch any more than I did, but would the search leave us empty-handed? I know one thing for certain: we needed to find the shells to determine if the person who killed Constance took a shot at us.

  I bought latex gloves and sealable plastic bags from the drugstore, and the pinched-nose cashier gave me a strange look.

  Eleanor shrugged. “You were all out of shovels and garbage bags.”

  “They don’t sell shovels here, Eleanor,” I scolded. “But remind me to check for rolls of plastic at Walmart.”

  The cashier frowned when I paid, and Eleanor and I left.

  “She’s probably calling 911 right now.” Eleanor laughed.

  “What did she think I was planning to do with latex gloves and small plastic bags?”

  “I’d rather not think about it.”

  Eleanor and I parked at the credit union and made our way inside where I walked up to the only available teller.

  “Is the manager here?” I asked.

  “How can I help you?” a jovial man asked as he peered from his office.

  We walked over and I smiled. “We wanted to ask you a few questions if we could,” I said. “We were wondering if you had any cameras that could pick up the cars parked on the west side of your parking lot?”

  “And that might pick up any activity near the entrance to the hospital over there,” Eleanor pointed out.

  The man frowned. “Those are odd questions.”

  “I know it sounds that way,” I began, “but you see, I was parked in the hospital parking lot earlier and someone shot out the window of my car.”

  “We’re not asking you to show us any tapes. We just were wondering if you had any camera that would pick up the area Agnes mentioned.”

  “I’m not at liberty to tell you the specifics of our cameras.” He frowned.

  “Okay, thanks anyway,” I said. “We’ll ask the sheriff to speak with you about it.”

  “Could we have your card?” Eleanor asked.

  The man’s already red cheeks turned even redder, and I took the offered business card and left.

  I handed the card to Eleanor, who tucked it in her purse without looking at it. We huffed it from the credit union parking lot and squeezed between the tall weeds to enter the empty lot. I frowned when I saw that most of the weeds were too tall to see much of anything. We then walked to the ditch, and it was the same case there.

  “No wonder the sheriff didn’t look over here,” Eleanor said.

  “We don’t know for sure if he did or didn’t, but the weeds are certainly an obstacle,” I said.

  I climbed back in the car and drove slowly past the hospital.

  “I bet the shooter fired from inside his car,” Eleanor said.

  “How could he do that and escape before anyone noticed him? I imagine the barrel of a shotgun protruding from inside a car window would draw attention,” I countered. “Unless someone was happening past at the time and were in too much of hurry to notice.”

  “As it stands, we won’t be able to match the shotgun casings we found at Constance’s house to any located here because we didn’t discover any.”

  “You’re right about that, but maybe the sheriff had better luck than he’s told us about. We hardly were able to speak to him after Peterson caught Bobbie Sue trying to choke Misha out.”

  Eleanor and I were able to head to the sheriffs department without a police escort, meaning the credit union manager didn’t call the cops on us. Because to tell you the truth, I would have.

  I pulled into the sheriffs department, and Eleanor and I followed Deputy Danworth through the door that led to the guts of the department. Danworth was about thirty and good-looking enough that a woman wouldn’t fuss even if he wrote her a ticket.

  We knocked on Peterson’s office but turned at his approach.

  “Hello, Sheriff.”

  “I should have expected you two would show up here after the call I just received from the manager of the credit union.”

  He opened the door, and Eleanor and I took our usual seats across from Peterson’s desk. He sighed as he heavily sat in his chair.

  “You look stressed,” I said.

  “Yes, now I have to get a judge to sign an order so I can look at the credit union cameras. I’m glad you thought about it.”

  “You would have I’m sure if you didn’t have to save Misha’s life.”

  “Oh, and about Misha, he’s missing from the hospital,” Peterson said.

  “I can’t say I’d blame him,” Eleanor said. “I mean he might be afraid that Bobbie Sue would come after him again.”

  “I put out an APB for him all the same. He’s a material witness in Constance’s murder.”

  “Do you think he’s involved?”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “That someone hit him from behind and he didn’t see who it was. You?” I asked.

  “I didn’t get a chance to question him.”

  I then gave Peterson a heads-up about Misha’s denial that he was personally involved with Constance.

  “Misha is having an affair with a married woman,” Eleanor added.

  I then gave Peterson the details. “We’re worried about questioning Erin’s husband about the affair.”

  “We don’t want to be responsible for a murder,” Eleanor said. “I imagine the husband won’t be happy to learn his wife is cheating on him.”

  “He could be the killer,” Peterson offered.

  “We thought about that,” I said. “But there are a few other things we think you should know.” I sighed. I pulled the plastic bag out of my purse and set it on Peterson’s desk. “We found these under a tree stand in the woods behind Constance’s property.”

  “Tree stand?”

  “Yes. I climbed up there to look, and there’s an unobstructed view of the field behind Constance’s property from that vantage point.”

  “Sounds like you two have been busy.”

  “We knew your hands were tied up with the twins.”

  “I suppose you want to take a crack at them?” he asked.

  “If you’re offering,” I said.

  “I don’t see why not? I haven’t been able to get a straight story out of either of them.”

  “Did you find any shotgun shell casings near the hospital?” I asked.

  “No, you?”

  “Nope,” Eleanor said. “There’s a field across the street.”

  “The weeds are too high to find anything,” I said. “Including the ditch that Eleanor wanted me to check.”

  Peterson leaned back in his chair and laughed. “I would have loved to have seen that.”

  “That where we came up with the idea that the shooter might have taken a shot from inside his car.”

  “I doubt it, but it’s worth checking out if we ever find the vehicle.”

  Peterson walked us to the interview rooms, and Eleanor and I shouldered open the room to find one twin, Bobbie Sue according to the paperwork we were given.

  “Hello again,” I said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Bobbie Sue frowned. “I could say the same about you two. You better leave before the sheriff finds you in here.”

  “I hardly think we could sneak into an interview room.”

  “We were looking for you and your sister,” Eleanor said. “We had a few more questions for you both.”

  “But it’s irrelevant at this poin
t.” I sighed.

  “Did you push Misha in front of a semi?” Eleanor asked.

  Bobbie Sue smiled. “Not recently.”

  “If not recently, then when?” I asked.

  “When my sister was divorcing him.”

  “Why would you do something so drastic?” I asked. “Misha could have been killed.

  “No such luck.”

  It was Eleanor’s turn to gasp. “That’s a horrible thing to say. Even if Misha was a no-good cheater, it doesn’t mean he deserves to die.”

  “I have to agree with Eleanor.”

  “You don’t understand. He was trying to sweet talk my sister out of divorcing him. Said he's changed, blah, blah, blah.”

  “Did you push your sister into getting the divorce?” I asked.

  “So I might have nudged her in the right direction, but it was for the best. It tore me apart watching my sister agonizing over Misha’s betrayals.”

  “I imagine so, but ultimately it was her decision to make, not yours.”

  “It’s easy for you to say. You didn’t have to listen to Bonnie Sue cry over that jerk one minute and go back to him a day later.”

  “How long did that go on?”

  “About a year.”

  “I’m sure that took a toll out of you, but is it worth spending time in jail over?”

  “Misha is a lucky man,” Eleanor said. “Were you arrested over the incident?”

  “Misha didn’t press charges.”

  “No? I bet he left town in a hurry.”

  “It didn’t come to that. I finally convince my sister to come downstate with me until her court date for the divorce.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Eleanor said.

  “Did she have any contact with Misha after the court date?” I asked.

  “Not until recently.”

  “When did Bonnie Sue see Misha?”

  “She met him for lunch.”

  I leaned back in my chair. “If you were so worried about Misha, why would you come back to Tawas?”

  “Because my sister insisted that she was over Misha. She had no interest in seeing him again. She sure had me snowed.”

  “I had a feeling Bonnie Sue still had feelings for Misha when she found out he was unconscious in the hospital,” Eleanor said.

  “I believed it was a normal reaction,” Bobbie Sue said. “Until she admitted she’s spent time with him recently.”

  “Seeing her ex doesn’t mean she planned to get reacquainted with him, and Misha is in the middle of an affair with a married woman.”

  “See, he’ll never change, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t able to con my sister into getting back with him.”

  “Is that why you went to the hospital?” I asked.

  “I had to go with my sister for emotional support, but when I saw him, something snapped.”

  “And you attacked him,” Eleanor said.

  “Yes, but I didn’t plan on killing him. I only wanted to scare him.”

  “He only just regained consciousness, and he’s too weak to defend himself,” Eleanor said. “I’m glad we brought the sheriff upstairs before you injured Misha.”

  Bobbie Sue sighed. “I am too. I won’t be any help to my sister if I’m locked up in prison. I had no plans on choking Misha. All I could think about was how much pain he caused my sister.”

  “Did you have anything to do with knocking out Misha at Constance Shaklee’s house the day she was murdered?”

  “No.”

  “How about Bonnie Sue?” Eleanor asked.

  “She would never hurt Misha.”

  “No, but she isn’t above harming a woman she considers a rival for Misha’s affections.”

  “Not that Constance was romantically involved with Misha,” I said.

  “She wasn’t the married woman you mentioned?”

  “No. Constance was divorced and offered Misha a place to stay.”

  “That equates to being personally involved with Misha.”

  “You don’t know that for certain. As I was trying to tell you, the married woman Misha is involved with wasn’t Constance.”

  “Who was it then?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  “It makes sense that this other woman killed Constance and rendered Misha unconscious because I know my sister isn’t a murderer. If she was, she would be a serial killer.”

  “That many affairs?”

  “Yes, and I’m certain there are other women that Bonnie Sue didn’t find out about.”

  “I don’t blame you for convincing your sister to divorce Misha,” I said. “But anything past that wasn’t justified.”

  “It was in my eyes, but I can see how that might be hard to believe.”

  “We checked out your alibi for the time Constance was murdered, and it appears there was a gap in time that couldn’t be accounted for by my daughter.”

  “I went to lunch with my sister,” Bobbie Sue said. “You can check it out.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “Augie’s on the Bay. Stella was our server.”

  “We’ll check it out, but it won’t help you out of your current predicament. The sheriff saw you choking Misha out with his own eyes.”

  “I was about to let go of him.”

  “Then why did he have to wrestle you to the ground?”

  “You should know how overzealous cops can get.”

  “Our Sheriff Peterson wouldn’t get his uniform dirty unless he had to,” I said.

  “We don’t believe Bonnie Sue killed Constance,” Eleanor said. “But we have to check it out. We’re simply hoping that the sheriff doesn’t focus the investigation on you and your sister. Especially after the incident at the hospital.”

  “Do either of you own a shotgun?” I asked.

  “Yes, but we didn’t bring it with us to town.”

  “We appreciate your help.”

  “Tell the sheriff my sister didn’t have anything to do with what I did today.”

  I nodded as Eleanor and I left the room.

  “Did you get that on tape?” I asked Peterson who was waiting outside. “Yes, but I’ll go back in there, and hopefully she’ll be ready to give me a statement.”

  “I don’t believe her sister was involved, but we’d like to speak to her with your permission.”

  “You have it.”

  Peterson walked into the room we vacated, and Deputy Danworth nodded to another door. Eleanor and I walked inside and Bonnie Sue glanced up at us with tears in her eyes.

  “I swear I only wanted to see how Misha was doing. I-I didn’t know Bobbie Sue would attack him.”

  “She told us as much.”

  “I was just so happy that he was awake. I’m still in love with him, and I know my sister doesn’t understand.”

  “Your sister is concerned about you. So what happened exactly?”

  “I slipped into Misha’s room, but he wasn’t happy to see me.” She sniffled. “I tried to stay calm, but my whole body trembled and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. And that’s when Bobbie Sue jumped on Misha, and t-tried to attack him.”

  “She didn’t try; she attacked him,” Eleanor said.

  “I screamed for her to stop, but it was like she didn’t even hear me.”

  “She might not have in the state she was in,” I said.

  “I hope the sheriff doesn’t throw us both in jail.”

  “I suppose that depends on whether you killed Constance or not.”

  “We were with Martha that day,” she insisted.

  “I know, but you and Bobbie Sue left for lunch.”

  “I forgot about that. We had fish dinners at Augie’s on the Bay.”

  Eleanor and I exchanged a look.

  “We’ll be checking your alibi,” I said.

  “Go ahead. I don’t have anything to hide.”

  “Did you have lunch with Misha?” I asked.

  “I was supposed to, but he canceled at the last minute. I didn’t tell Bobbie Sue bec
ause I didn’t want her getting all worked up about it.”

  “Well, apparently it didn’t help,” I said. “She found out about it.”

  “Only that I was supposed to meet Misha for lunch, not that he canceled.”

  “And when were you supposed to have lunch with your ex?”

  “The day before Misha was injured.”

  “The day before Constance was murdered, you mean,” Eleanor said.

  “Yes, but I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “You didn’t go over there in a jealous fit because Misha canceled plans with you? Possibly murdering Constance to teach Misha a lesson?”

  “That certainly wouldn’t endear me to him,” Bonnie Sue said.

  “You’re right about that,” I said. “But I hope at this point you understand that you need to stay away from Misha.”

  “Agnes is right; that ship has passed,” Eleanor added.

  “I-I wish I had never gone to the hospital today.”

  “You can’t undo what happened, but hopefully your sister isn’t charged with attempted murder.”

  Eleanor and I left and headed to Augie’s on the Bay.

  Augie’s had been in business for eleven years and had tasty cod dinners, among other menu items.

  I waved at Stella, the server who waited on Eleanor and me whenever we come here. She walked over with a smile.

  “Hello, ladies.” She reached for menus.

  “We’re not here to eat,” I said. “We need information.”

  Stella’s brow raised. “Oh?”

  Did you happen to wait on two forty-year-old women with unruly red hair about one o’clock on Tuesday?” I asked.

  “They’re twins,” Eleanor added.

  “Now that you mention it, yes. I’ve never seen twins look so similar. I couldn’t even tell them apart.”

  “That’s all we needed to know. Thanks,” I said.

  “Is this related to the body found on Tuesday?”

  “Yes, and it appears those ladies are no longer on the suspect list.”

  “I’m glad to be of help.”

  “Oh and keep this to yourself if you would.”

  Stella saluted us. “Consider my lips zipped.” She made a motion of closing a zipper over her lips.

  13

  I turned in to my driveway, and the car backfired as I shut the engine off. The curtains moved aside, and Andrew opened the door, his eyes widening as he glanced at my excuse for a rental car.