Half Past Dead

by Meryl Sawyer

  “I didn’t think Elmer drank,” Justin said.

  “He doesn’t,” Buck said, his voice low. “He had a root beer.”

  “Why were you meeting?”

  Buck hesitated, then said, “I wanted to break the news to Elmer easy-like. I’m expanding the drugstore. Elmer expected me to get the loan from Mercury, but Jackson Mutual offered me a better rate.”

  For a moment Justin thought about what Filpo had said about Mercury having the lock on loans to whites. Apparently, their grip had weakened. “What did Elmer say?”

  “He was upset. Real upset. Said he thought he could count on my business.” Biting his lower lip, Buck looked away. “Now he’s dead. I can’t believe it.”

  Justin let the silence hang there for a few minutes, broken only by the cicadas chanting outside the library window. Finally, he asked, “What time did Elmer leave the bar?”

  “’Bout eight-fifteen or so.”

  “Did he say where he was going?” Justin hadn’t mentioned the riverboat. Since it was an unlikely destination for Bitner, Justin wanted to know if he’d told anyone where he was going or why.

  Buck vaulted out of his chair. “You worthless shit! Why make you sheriff? You haven’t even found out he was going to the riverboat to meet Kat Wells.”

  Like a knock-out punch, Justin almost doubled over at the revelation. Kat? Why? It didn’t make any sense at all. Justin kept his voice level, determined not to reveal his inner emotions. “Did Elmer say why they were meeting there, of all places?”

  “She called him and insisted they meet at the riverboat.” Buck spat out the words contemptuously. “She didn’t want to be seen with him.”

  It made sense, Justin decided. Once the riverboat pulled out, the area was usually deserted until just before the Lucky Seven returned. That’s why there had been no witnesses to the crime.

  “I told him to stay away from the scheming bitch. Damn Elmer wouldn’t listen. He said he was afraid of her, but he went anyway.”

  A bitter ache of disappointment arced through Justin. He’d been so sure she’d been framed for the bank robbery. Now he didn’t know what to think. It could still have been another setup designed to frame Kat for murder.

  He was far more emotionally involved in this case than he should be. His feelings for Kat impaired his judgment. Don’t jump to any conclusions—one way or the other. Analyze every detail. Stick with the facts, he cautioned himself.

  But the fact was, this didn’t look good for Kat.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  IN FRONT OF All Washed Up, Justin parked his pickup behind David’s immaculately restored Thunderbird. He’d spotted the Trib’s editor out at the riverboat but they hadn’t spoken. What was he doing at Kat’s?

  Justin glanced up and down the street lit only by the gas lamp at the corner. Kat’s blue Toyota wasn’t anywhere in sight, but there was a light on up in her apartment. From the dim glow, he decided it was the small lamp on the end table.

  He rounded the corner of the building to take the steps up to Kat’s place and saw a man coming down. Justin tensed, then the light caught the man’s silver hair. “David?”

  “Justin?”

  “Yes. What are you doing here?”

  David had reached the bottom step now, and they were standing eye-to-eye. “I’m looking for Kat, but she’s not home.”

  “It’s nearly midnight. Where could she be?” Justin didn’t want to believe she’d gone to the riverboat to meet Elmer, but Buck had been more convincing than Justin cared to admit. Investigate this as if you don’t know the woman, he thought.

  “I don’t know,” David replied in a troubled voice. “Her car was spotted on the road to the Lucky Seven.”

  Justin’s body stiffened in shock. “Where did you hear that?”

  “I called Highway Patrol. They make a run by the riverboat a couple of times a night. At eight-twenty-seven a patrolman logged in a blue Toyota with Kat’s license number driving toward the casino.”

  Christ! Justin cursed his own stupidity. Buck could be right about Justin. He was next to worthless—a real amateur hour sheriff. Why hadn’t he thought to check with Highway Patrol? “Why did HP run her plate?”

  David shrugged, his shoulders hunched over. He stepped down from the last stair onto the sidewalk. “No real reason except she was going slower than normal. You know how folks speed out in the unincorporated area.”

  Justin fell into step beside David. “Did you find anyone who actually saw her at the riverboat dock?”

  No one Justin had talked with had reported any woman out by the dock, but David might have picked up on something he’d missed.

  “No one I interviewed saw anyone until the grounds crew in charge of docking the Lucky Seven arrived and found Elmer Bitner slumped over at a picnic table. They thought he was a drunk sleeping it off until they were close enough to see half his head had been blown away,” David replied, verifying what Justin had learned when he’d spoken to the men.

  “My source doesn’t work the late shift, but in the morning I’ll check to see if Elmer frequents the place.”

  The knowledge that Kat had been out there twisted inside Justin. Until now, Justin hadn’t quite admitted to himself how much he wanted her to be innocent. Needed her to be innocent. Evaluate the facts; don’t jump to any conclusions. Keep your personal feelings out of this.

  “Did Kat mention meeting Bitner to you?”

  “Not a word.” David stopped beside his T-Bird. “Bitner was shot. Kat doesn’t have a gun. Her furlough specifies no weapons.”

  Justin wanted to believe someone else had killed Bitner, but common sense told him Kat was somehow involved. He didn’t quite trust Buck—not after the way he’d hounded him for Verity’s death. But the bartender at the Rebel Roost verified Buck’s story. He had been there with Elmer early that evening. Why had she wanted to meet with Bitner?

  “A gun’s easy enough to get,” Justin responded, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

  “I think Kat will come home soon and settle this,” David said. “I’m going to wait in my car until she returns.”

  “No. Go home and get some sleep. I’ll have one of my deputies stake out her apartment.”

  David hesitated a moment. “Will you call me the minute she shows up?”

  “Yeah.” Justin stood on the sidewalk and watched David drive away. He didn’t call a deputy to watch for Kat’s return. He sat in his pickup, Redd at his side, and waited for her himself.

  NORMALLY TORI DIDN’T “do” breakfast. She usually gulped a Chocolate Royale Slim-Fast and relied on the pot of coffee at the office to get her through to lunch. At noon she would have a salad—no dressing. That way in the evening she could enjoy a meal with Clay and not worry about gaining weight.

  This morning was different. Tori was meeting Doris Purtle at the Bits N Grits Café for breakfast. The elderly widow had a mansion not far from the Kincaids. Doris had been toying with selling it and moving to Atlanta to be near her only child. Tori had drawn up the papers twice and each time, Doris backed out at the last second.

  It would be a real coup if Tori could list the place. The way the house was situated on the vast grounds, it could be sold and the rest of the property subdivided into at least two, maybe three lots. She’d already contacted a developer in Jackson who was anxious to take on the project. Of course, Doris didn’t have to know anything about this. The estate had been in her family for generations. Subdividing was an ugly word to old-timers.

  “Doris, you’re early.” She greeted the widow with her brightest smile when she walked into the café. She signaled the waitress for coffee and inhaled the aroma of their homemade cinnamon rolls. Fattening but heavenly. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

  “I just got here,” the widow replied. Doris had beautiful silver hair that glistened in the morning light. It made Tori think of her mother. Her hair had had the same sheen before the chemotherapy. “I wanted to tell you in person.”
<
br />   Tori asked, “Tell me what?”

  The waitress delivered Tori’s coffee and a piping-hot cinnamon roll to Doris. The short hairs along the back of Tori’s neck bristled. Something was wrong. Doris had that imperious look that May Ellen got when she was about to criticize someone.

  “I want you to know I truly like you,” Doris began. “You’re smart and you’ve made something of yourself despite…”

  Despite my sister, Tori silently finished the sentence.

  “When I got the news…well, I just couldn’t…”

  “What news?” Tori asked as calmly as possible.

  “You don’t know?” Doris plunged her fork into the cinnamon roll and broke off a ladylike bite. “Elmer Bitner was shot and killed last evening. Fayrene Weston called me just after midnight and told me.”

  “Elmer? He’s harmless. A sweet guy. Who would shoot him?”

  Doris thoughtfully chewed the roll and swallowed before answering, “Fayrene’s cousin’s son-in-law is a deputy. She says Elmer went out to the Lucky Seven to meet your sister.”

  “Kat? That’s ridiculous! After what happened, Kat wouldn’t go near—”

  “As I understand it, the Highway Patrol saw her car on the road to the casino.”

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.” But Tori couldn’t think of one. If what Doris said was correct, Tori was finished in Twin Oaks.

  Doris helped herself to another forkful of cinnamon roll. “Look, I’ve decided to sell. My daughter has found me a condo in Buckhead near where she lives. But I can’t give you the listing. With all this scandal…well, I’m sure you understand.”

  Tori managed to gracefully leave Doris to the cinnamon roll. Outside Bits N Grits, she tried to reach Clay at his office. She’d forgotten that he was going into Jackson today. If he had his cell phone on, he wasn’t answering.

  DAVID HOVERED outside the sheriff’s station for almost an hour before Justin Radner appeared.

  “Justin,” David called as the sheriff emerged from his pickup.

  Justin halted, the red-colored dog at his heels. “Yeah?”

  “Kat didn’t come home, did she?”

  Radner shook his head. “No. I’ve put out an APB on her Toyota.”

  “No results?” David asked, walking closer.

  “I did it less than an hour ago. What can we expect?”

  David detected the bitterness in Justin’s voice and knew he had counted on more from Kat. Who could blame him? David had had faith in her as well. Even now, Kat’s denial of her role in the bank robbery echoed in his ears with haunting truthfulness. It didn’t seem possible she would have lied. To him. To Justin.

  “I’m worried about Kat,” David said.

  Justin shook his head. “Forget it. She fooled us both. We’re nothing but suckers. I’m the law. It’s up to me to find her now.”

  David shuffled back to his T-Bird. Max was in the passenger seat watching him with baleful eyes. Something’s wrong, David silently told the dog. I feel it. Kat couldn’t have shot a man. It’s not like her. The pup licked his chin.

  “Did you contact your source?”

  “Yes. Elmer wasn’t a regular visitor to the casino. I did get a list of license plate numbers. I’ll run them through Lexis-Nexis and see what comes up.”

  Justin gave him a curt nod and walked away. He obviously knew better than to ask for confidential information provided by a source.

  David stared at the dark clouds hanging low in the sky. Rain was on the way. He needed to work on tomorrow’s edition of the newspaper. What could he say? One of the Trib’s own was the prime suspect in a murder case?

  BY LATE AFTERNOON, Justin was more than a little disturbed. All day his deputies and the Highway Patrol had been searching for Kat’s Toyota. Nothing. How could such a distinctive car disappear without a trace?

  “Special Agent Wilson is on the line,” Nora told him.

  Justin had been trying to reach the agent in charge of Kat’s furlough all day. He was finally returning the call. “Wilson? Sheriff Radner here.”

  “Is there a problem?” Wilson asked in a lazy drawl typical of Bureau types stationed in the South.

  “Kaitlin Wells has disappeared. She’s wanted for questioning in connection with a murder that took place by a riverboat casino.”

  “Murder? Who was killed?” asked Wilson.

  Justin gave him the details including the link to Kat’s robbery conviction.

  “What about her mother? Her sister? Have they seen Kat?” Wilson sounded interested but not particularly disturbed.

  “Tori Wells hasn’t seen Kat lately. Her mother has but she’s so out of it with cancer drugs that she can’t remember when she saw her daughter last.”

  “Lemme contact a few agents in the field. They may be able to help,” Wilson said. “I’ll call you if I find out anything.”

  Justin hung up and stared down at his knees. Redd was curled up beneath the desk the way he’d been all night in the pickup while Justin had waited for Kat. By now she had enough time to be across the border in four different directions. He should have put out the APB last night, right after Buck had told him Bitner was meeting Kat.

  Why? Why would Kat shoot Bitner? It didn’t make any sense except for revenge.

  Something Wilson had said kicked in. Agents in the field. What did Wilson mean? Did the Bureau have other agents in the area? Or did Wilson mean Jackson, where he was located? The guys in the Bureau were a tight-ass bunch. You never knew what they were doing. Sure as hell they weren’t paying much attention to a con on a work furlough.

  IT WAS ALMOST SIX O’CLOCK when Tori walked into her mother’s condo.

  “A deputy sheriff was here earlier,” the nurse informed Tori. “Asking if your sister had been around.”

  “She wouldn’t dare,” Tori said, her tone clipped. She’d heard all she ever wanted to hear about Kat today. Her sister had cost her a valuable property listing. Everyone was whispering behind Tori’s back. Worse, she hadn’t been able to reach Clay. He’d know what to do at a time like this.

  The nurse stopped. “Your mother says Kat came to see her. She just doesn’t remember when exactly. It’s probably the drugs.”

  Kat wouldn’t have come here, would she? Tori had warned Kat about visiting their mother, but Kat wasn’t the same easy-to-manipulate girl she once had been. Obviously not, now that she was being sought in a murder investigation.

  “Mother,” Tori called. “How are you doing?”

  “The…same.” She was staring at the television. A weatherman seemed to be forecasting rain.

  “Did Kat come by to see you?” Tori asked as casually as possible.

  After a long silence, her mother replied, “She…mighta’. I…don’t rightly…recall. I think…it was…a long time ago…before prison.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.

  A comforting thought. With Bitner on ice, they had one less problem. Not that Bitner was a threat exactly, but since the dickhead had been born again, he’d become less reliable. Bitner had insisted on being cashed out—claimed he was starting a mission in Guyana. The candy-ass probably planned a Jim Jones-type commune where he could be king.

  Shit on a stick! Had Bitner seriously believed he could just walk away? Maybe. Times changed and so did people. He needed to remember this. He’d been operating the same way for years but things evolved. People developed different agendas. He easily manipulated everyone it was necessary to control, but he didn’t like becoming too involved and risk exposing his position. Things should be okay now. Smooth.

  His business had been running like a well-oiled machine until lately. When Kat Wells and Justin Radner had returned to Twin Oaks, things started to go south. He couldn’t blame them directly, but their return marked a change.

  You had to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, he reminded himself. This time he’d done neither. He’d pulled a card out of his sleeve.

  An ace. He�
�d trumped the sons of bitches. They’d be in a tailspin now, sniffing around—sniffing around Kat Wells.

  THE RAIN BLASTED downward in hot, steamy torrents. Justin stared out his office window at the cascading water. It was almost time to go home, but he didn’t intend to leave the office. Why bother? There was nothing for him at the place he’d leased except stacks of unpacked boxes.

  “I’m leaving,” Nora called from outside his office.

  “See you tomorrow.”

  One of the deputies would be working dispatch/front desk, but Justin didn’t bother to ask who was on duty. It didn’t matter. Kat was long gone. Her handler at the Bureau hadn’t been able to locate her and neither had the Highway Patrol.

  Revenge. That’s all Justin could figure. What else would make Kat kill a man? Bitner had done something—possibly framed her—and Kat wanted revenge for the time she’d spent in prison.

  There was a knock on his doorjamb. As usual the door was open. His deputy Phil Lancaster stood there. “David Noyes is here to see you.”

  “Send him in,” Justin said even though he didn’t feel much like talking. Noyes had been as close to Kat as Justin. Maybe closer. What did a few kisses count for?

  David walked in, looking exhausted. His new puppy, Max, was on a leash beside him. “Any news?”

  “None,” Justin responded as Redd sidled out from under his desk to get a peek at the puppy. “Did you find out anything?”

  “I spoke with Lola Rae. She hasn’t seen Kat since yesterday about closing time.”

  Justin nodded. He’d interviewed the owner of All Washed Up this morning when she’d arrived at the beauty shop. She’d told him the same thing. “Was Maria in?”

  David shook his head. “No, but I doubt she knows much. Her English is limited. I can’t imagine Kat telling her anything that she wouldn’t have shared with Lola Rae.”

  “You’re probably right, but Lola Rae was surprised Maria hadn’t shown up for work. I drove over to her place, but she wasn’t there.”