by Tonya Kappes
“Roxy, you are amazing.” Her eyes teared. “Thank you.”
We gave each other a quick hug because the sound of voices came from the coffeehouse. I left Emily in the kitchen and found a few customers at the register.
After I made them each an Americano and I made myself one, I walked over and sat down on one of the stools that overlooked the lake. There were so many things that weren’t adding up.
Jean Hill knew everything about her husband and their business, which by ignorance I thought was just his. Literally, Jean stood in the background and was probably the brains of the business while Fred spent all his time in the fields making the crop as good as he could.
I watched as the boats zoomed up to the wake zone and geared down, barely putt-ing across the no wake zone.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Louise. When she didn’t answer, I left a message on her machine.
“Hi, Louise. It’s Roxy. Listen,” I tugged the phone closer to my mouth, “I know you’ve got an alibi for Fred’s death. But I do have to question you about Bertie’s eggs. Where are those eggs? Did you sell them?”
If she did sell them and told them that Fred had the bird, it was enough motive for someone to confront Fred and kill him. I couldn’t help but think that Fred was taken off guard because he didn’t seem to fight back; he was working on the orchard and not with Bertie. From what I understood, she was in her shed. Or was she?
“Hey, Jean.” I quickly dialed her up. “Do you know if Bertie was in her shed after Fred had died?”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know.” Her voice quivered. “I’d gone to my sister’s house. When I got back, Bertie was the last thing on my mind and when you stopped by, it was then that I remembered her. I knew he had enough feed in there for her for a lifetime.”
“I wonder if the person took Bertie at the same time they killed Fred.” I was thinking out loud.
“I’m not sure.” She fell silent.
“I’m sorry to bug you. I just can’t stop thinking this whole thing has to do with Bertie.” I hung up the phone and knew it was time to call Spencer.
“It’s me,” I left on his voicemail, sure he didn’t pick up because he was tired of me trying to investigate his case. “I went to see Jean and she knew all about the IRS emails. Apparently, she and Fred paid taxes, so I can’t help but think someone was trying to scam him for money. Do you think the person who showed up in black was behind the emails? They came to collect on the IRS payment because they thought Fred was stupid or something. Then Fred shooed them off, so the next morning they came back and that’s when they confronted Fred and took Bertie.” I took a breath. “Because Jean has no idea if Bertie was taken when Fred was killed or not.”
I pushed the end button and tucked my phone back into my pocket. My thoughts were more rambled than ever. TJ Holmes and Louise Carlton had both motives and alibis, but where did Doris Blankenship fit in. I dragged the cup of Americano up to my lips and took a sip. When the bell over the coffeehouse door dinged, I got up off the stool and headed back toward the counter to wait on the customer.
“You.” I rudely pointed to the man in the suit that I’d nearly knocked over at Doris’s real estate office.
“You.” He grinned. “You need to stop drinking coffee.” His eyes drew down to my cup.
“It’s hard when you’re the owner. Let me get you a cup. It’s the least I can do since I really did almost knock you over.” I walked around the counter. “So you don’t live in Honey Springs.”
“No, ma’am, I don’t. Here on business.” He nodded. “How do you like having a coffeehouse here in Honey Springs?”
“I love it. What type of business?” I asked and poured him a cup of Mom’s lavender coffee.
“I’m afraid to tell you.” He took the coffee. “You might have a shotgun back there for all I know.”
“Try me.” I coaxed him and held up my coffee mug to give him a little cheers.
“I’m looking to buy land for tobacco crops. Contrary to popular belief, tobacco is still the biggest legal crop in Kentucky and with all the limestone and bluegrass here in Honey Springs, it’d be a premium spot.” He took a sip of the coffee, his eyes still on mine.
“It’s none of my business, but I’m sure Doris told you there wasn’t any land for sale around here.” At least I didn’t know of any that Cane Contractors hadn’t snapped up.
That was one thing I loved about Patrick’s family company. They were in the business of preserving our small town and keeping the land exactly that. Land.
“According to our mutual friend, Doris Blankenship, she said there’s some orchard about to come up for sale because of some sort of IRS back taxes not paid.” His words were music to my ears.
“Did she?” I asked, lowering my eyes.
Now I could say Doris had what I called. . . motive.
Twenty
Spencer hadn’t called me back yet. He was probably busy following up on leads that I’d given him earlier and if that were the case, Doris Blankenship would be on his radar. Right now Louise was on my mind and if I’d had enough time to drive by her house and check on her before Jeremy had to go to his class at the community college, I would have.
“Let’s go, Pepper.” I opened the door.
Happily, Pepper jumped out of the car and took every opportunity to sniff and leave his mark on all the bushes along the walkway of Pet Palace. His little ears perked up when he saw Jeremy at the door. He ran to Jeremy, giving Jeremy all sorts of kisses.
“You got a good one.” Jeremy gave Pepper a few more scratches behind the ear before he stood up.
“Are you talking to me or him?” I asked.
“Both.” He laughed. “I’m not sure what’s going on with Louise, but I do appreciate all you’re doing for me. I’ve really got to get these classes finished and get my degree.”
“I’m so proud of you for that. Even though I don’t use the degree I went to college for, it did prepare me for dealing with customers and customer service. My mom always told me that jobs can be taken away in a heartbeat, but no one can take away my education.”
“Your mom is smart.” He nodded. “I heard she’s in town.”
“Not only in town, but I think Honey Springs has a new member of society. She’s already joined the Beautification Committee. And she and Aunt Maxi just might have a relationship after all.” It was so strange to say that out loud. Never in a million years would I have thought it.
“Anyway, I’m worried about Louise. Even though she has an alibi, do you know anything about the eggs and Bertie that Fred adopted?” I asked.
“That was a strange pick-up call and I’d gone with her in the van to get the birds.” He put his hands in the pockets of his pants. “They shut down a poultry farm and called us to pick up the hens and chickens that’d survived. We took the van because from what we understood, there were so many of them.” His jaw tensed. “It was awful. All the birds were sick and we couldn’t save any of them. We found Bertie in the office area. Louise and I took her. She’d called Fred on our way home because she said that he’d showed her a photo of a bird his dad had when he was a kid.”
“Then what?” I asked.
“Nothing. Fred came to get her. It was a week later that he came back raising all kinds of hell about eggs or something.” Jeremy shrugged.
“Do they know who broke in here yet?” I asked about the other night I was here by myself.
“Nah. They don’t know nothing. I bet you know more than them, just like last time.”
“I did find out that Fred had an unannounced visitor the night before his death and we think that same person killed him and took Bertie,” I said and patted my leg for Pepper to come out of the bushes.
“Someone took Bertie?” Jeremy’s jaw dropped.
“Yeah. It’s awful. I just hope she’s okay because I always think about people using her for cock fighting or to
keep selling her eggs to make a lot of money.” I shrugged. “So where am I tonight?”
“I’ve already got the cats completed because I knew you’d already done that for me and you love being with the dogs. So don’t go into the cat section.” It was kind of him to remember. “If you don’t mind feeding the dogs and taking them out again, that’d be great.” He tugged on his backpack strap that was over his shoulder. “The other volunteers will be here to relieve you. If they aren’t, call Louise.”
“I’ve called her and left a message. She’s not called me back.” I wanted to let him know.
Pepper and I walked into Pet Palace but not before I locked and double locked the front door. Evidently, I wasn’t careful enough the other night. Hopefully the intruder found out there was nothing there and I certainly didn’t bring the laptop back.
“What did that laptop have on it that the intruder wanted?” I asked Pepper. He wagged his tail as if he was answering me. “You are so cute.” I scratched his head and walked behind the counter to check the volunteer schedule to see when the next group would be in. It wasn’t like someone was there all night, but Louise generally had two people come in around eleven to make sure everything was good and all the animals were ready for the night.
Aunt Maxi loved to volunteer but I didn’t want her here when there’d been an intruder, which in my gut I knew was the killer.
The volunteers on the schedule had been crossed out over the past couple of days. My name was written into the time slots Jeremy had asked me to work. Had the volunteers decided not to come because of what had happened to me? Or was it the fact that they’d heard Louise was a suspect in the murder of Fred Hill, which we knew wasn’t true. People were funny when they didn’t want to be associated to a crime. Poor Louise. I didn’t blame her for going into hiding while this got cleared up. But if she really wanted me to look into things, she really should be answering my calls.
I picked up the line and dialed her number in hopes she’d see it was Pet Palace on her caller ID and pick up. This was her life as well as her pride and joy. When her answering machine picked up, I left another quick message to call me about the case. I threw in there something about my license so it would freak her out to call me back.
“I know we don’t have to see the cats,” I said to Pepper, “but we need to make sure the back door is locked because I swear the intruder came in through an unlocked back door.”
I flipped off the lights in the entrance area of Pet Palace. The last of the summer day sun was streaming its orange rays through the front doors and giving a little warmth to the air-conditioned room. Louise kept it nice and cool inside. She claimed that most of the animals had lived in such harsh conditions that she could at least provide them with comfortable nights. She did way more than that. If it weren’t for her and Pet Palace, all of the animals would be out living on the streets or who knew where.
“Come on.” I snapped toward Pepper who really wanted to go see the dogs. “Fine. You stay here.”
When I got to the door that led to the cats, I opened it and the lights were still on. The cats stood at their kennels and meowed.
“Hey, guys.” I looked into the first few kennels and noticed their litter boxes hadn’t been changed and some of the water had hair floating in it. “This can’t be right.”
Jeremy did say that I only had to do the dogs because he’d done the cats.
“Oh well.” I let out an exhausted sigh when I realized he’d told me wrong and meant the opposite. “It looks like you’ve got me tonight.”
None of the litter boxes had been cleaned nor the water bowls refilled, I noticed when I walked down the kennels to the end where on the other side of the door Louise kept the litter bags, food, cat toys, extra blankets, beds and anything else they could possibly need.
I flipped on the light after I opened the door.
“Errr, errr, errr!” Bertie screamed from a car kennel that was sitting on the floor. The door to the outside was open and there stood Jeremy.
Twenty-One
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you.” Jeremy shoved me back into the first set of cat kennels.
I grabbed my elbow and winced at the pain.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” My head swirled with what was happening. “Did you find Bertie?”
He grabbed me by the arm and jerked me closer to him.
“You know I didn’t find Bertie.” He dragged me down the hall.
“Where is Louise?” I asked when I remembered the volunteer list that’d been scribbled out.
“She’s not going to be joining us anytime soon.” His voice didn’t quiver. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I really didn’t.”
“Then why are you?” I asked. “I don’t care about a dumb bird.”
“No, but you care about Fred Hill and getting Louise off the hook. It was perfect. I should’ve known you were going to screw it up and get all nosy and involved. Why do women do that?” he asked and pushed open the door to the front of the building.
“I’d say it’s in our DNA to wonder about. . .” I winced when he gripped the little fatty part on the underside of my arm closest to my armpit.
“Just shut up,” he groaned. “I’m not good at this. None of this was supposed to happen. Fred, Louise, and now you.”
He shoved me down into the chair behind the desk.
“Where is a pen when you need one?” he asked.
While he searched the desk, I reached into my back pocket to get my phone and dial 9-1-1. With one swipe of his hand, the phone skittered across the floor and landed underneath the filing cabinet.
“Really?” He smacked a piece of paper and a dull pencil in front of me on the desk. “Do you honestly think I was going to let you call someone?”
“Jeremy.” I tried to talk in a calm voice, not the shaky voice that came out high pitched. “You really don’t have to do this. I understand the money from the bird and the eggs is very appealing.”
I was shooting in the dark, but if I was a betting woman, I’d put all my money on the idea that he’d found out the money he could make and it was all she wrote, meaning all over and done.
“You don’t know nothing about life around here. You claim you do because you were a summer citizen, but growing up here and being poor was not fun. I’ve been working here for years. These animals live better than me and when I finally wanted an animal, Louise gives it to an old man that doesn’t have much more life in him. He was old.” Spit came out of Jeremy’s mouth with each angry word.
“Take the bird. I won’t tell. No one knows it’s you. I didn’t even know until I just saw you.” Could I really talk him into just taking off? He did seem to stop and listen.
“You don’t get it. I have to go to college. I can’t afford it working here, but the animals need me. It was perfect. I could work here, Bertie would lay eggs every few months when tuition is due and I’d give the bird back. I went to Fred and told him I’d let him have her back in a few years. The old man wouldn’t hear of it. He told me to get a real job to pay for college. Work hard. He claims people my age want things handed to them.” He scoffed. “I’ve never had a dime handed to me. That old man was out of his mind and. . .”
His hand shook as he pushed the paper toward me.
“I even went to Louise and asked if I could go in on half the eggs if I found someone to buy them. Which I knew I could.” His eyes darkened. His face hardened. “She said Pet Palace needed the extra money because winter was coming. Winter. Six months away.” He shook his head.
He continued to mutter something under his breath. I danced the chair around to follow his every move. There was a shadow on the glass and suddenly Spencer’s face was pressed up against it peering in at me. I tried not to stop looking at Jeremy as he continued to rant and rave, which I should’ve listened to so I could remember what he was saying, but I didn’t. I barely motioned my finger for Spencer to go around the building because the cat kennel bac
k door was still open.
“I understand.” I agreed in hopes he’d just let me go and danced my chair back around as he stood in front of me. “Why don’t you go on and take Bertie while I go clean the dog kennels. I’ll just volunteer and that’s it.”
“You’re working to get Louise off. I’m not stupid.” He pointed to the paper. “Now write.”
“Write what?” I asked and reached for the pencil.
If I’d not seen Spencer, I might’ve grabbed the pencil and took a swing at Jeremy but with the dull end, it probably wouldn’t have made a mark.
“You have to say that you’re leaving town with Bertie. You have to say something about the coffeehouse going under because it’s a new business or something. God, I don’t know.” He nervously ran his hands through his hair.
“Hey you two.” Spencer strolled in from the door of the cat kennel as if he were on a Sunday stroll. “What’s going on up here? I was just driving by and I noticed the back door open. Since I did the same thing a few days ago, I’ve made a point to drive through.”
“Thank God you are here.” Jeremy pointed to me. “I just caught her trying to steal Louise’s eggs and she had the bird with her.”
“What?” My jaw dropped. “Do you really think you’re going to get away with this?”
“It’s okay, Jeremy. I’ve seen your bank records. There was a check that went through Honey Springs National Bank. I called the name on the check and they told me that you sold them some sort of very precious eggs that are sought after all across the Asian markets and it just so happens to be from the bird Fred Hill was murdered over. Bertie is it?”
“Don’t come another step or I’ll stab her.” Jeremy jerked the pencil out of my hand and put it up to my neck.
“What are you going to do with a dull pencil? Give me lead poisoning?” I shoved hard on the floor with my toes and the chair went sailing back giving Spencer time to go for his gun and focus it on Jeremy while I got the heck out of the way. Within seconds the entire room was filled with officers and Jeremy was pinned on the floor by one of them.