Murder Welcomes You to Buxley

by Maddie Cochere

  Arnie’s words about Susan popped into my head. Did this happen because she was here? Did she have something to do with the girl’s murder? Was she really cursed?

  I only half smiled. That was absurd.

  Arnie’s words to be observant came to me now. I couldn’t help muttering my own expletive as I killed the ignition and left the barely warm car to run back over to the body.

  The girl was young, and a bit of a plain Jane. Nothing about her stood out. She wasn’t wearing a ring, so I assumed she wasn’t married. I scanned the ground around her. There weren’t any distinguishable footprints. The snow was trodden down with patches of ice showing through.

  There was a cigarette butt a short distance away, but that didn’t mean it belonged to the killer. Anyone who smoked could have come out here for a quick break. Not far from the butt was an empty matchbook. I hadn’t seen one in ages. Public smoking had been banned in Ohio years ago, and I didn’t think anyone used matchbooks for advertising any longer. This one was from a diner up in Hapsburg – The Sunnyside Up. I left it on the ground.

  Sirens finally sounded in the distance. They could be for the hospital, but the timing was right for them to belong to Sergeant Rorski and some of his men.

  I studied the girl again. She had come out with her cell phone, but I didn’t see it now. If it wasn’t under her, whoever killed her had taken it.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a few pictures. I noticed her name tag sticking out a bit from under her hair. I looked around for something to move her hair aside and spotted a piece of stiff cardboard beside the dumpster. I picked it up and moved her hair to snap a picture of the tag. It read, Reggie Jones, Manager.

  When I pushed her hair back, I accidentally poked her shoulder with the cardboard. She fell over onto her side.

  Two squad cars pulled in and turned bright lights on the girl and me.

  “Ravens! Get away from that body!” Sergeant Rorski yelled as he jumped out of the car. “If you’ve touched anything here, I’ll have you brought up on charges.”

  I had already tossed the cardboard aside. I raised my hands in the air and said, “I haven’t touched anything.” I moved across the alley to watch.

  Within minutes, Jackie pulled up. Glenn was right behind her and quickly by my side. Jackie hurried to look at the body.

  “What do you know, Jo?” he asked.

  “She’s the manager. Pepper and I were in a consultation room when her cell phone rang. We heard her answer it, tell someone she’d be right out, and she came out that door.” I pointed to the back door of the center. “There wasn’t anyone else in the back hallway to see her leave, and I’m sure no one in there knows what’s happened. Glenn, I don’t want Pepper involved in this.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” he said.

  He walked over to talk with Sergeant Rorski. I heard the sergeant tell him to take Officers Collins and Taylor around to the front to keep anyone from leaving.”

  Jackie stood over the girl while jotting notes in her notebook. When she snapped a picture with her camera, Sergeant Rorski barked, “Ryder, no pictures of the body in the paper. Got it?”

  She stepped back. “Got it.”

  The back door opened, and the police department’s most recent hire came out. He looked too young to be on the force. He left the door wide open.

  Another squad car pulled in at one end of the alley. An EMT vehicle wasn’t able to pull in past the police car. One of the officers jogged over to me and asked, “Is this your car?”

  “It belongs to my sister.”

  “It has to be moved,” he said.

  There was no way I could maneuver Pepper’s car through the maze of vehicles in the alley. I’d hit something for sure. I pulled my purse out of the car again, handed the car keys to him, and said, “There you go. You move it.”

  He looked up and down the alley before hopping in and backing the car out. He turned toward the front of the building. I assumed he would park it in the weight loss center’s lot.

  I was freezing but too fascinated with the activity around me to move. I watched for several minutes as orders were shouted, officers went in and out the back door, and everyone took a few moments to look over the body. I noticed Glenn standing a short distance from me down the alley. Jackie came over to stand beside me.

  “What do you think of this one?” she asked.

  “Mark my words. They’re going to go after the boyfriend,” I said. “His name is Duck. I don’t know his last name. She got a phone call right before she came out here. I don’t know if it was a man or a woman, but she wasn’t happy about it. She said she’d be right out, and she never came back in. Glenn said he was called here yesterday, because her boyfriend showed up to break up with her. He accused her of stealing his phone, and they were arguing. He’ll be their number one suspect. The phone call makes it apparent she knew whoever was out here.”

  Jackie wrote the information down as fast as I could give it to her.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sergeant Rorski move away from the body and yell, “Get back in there and shut that door.”

  I looked up to see Susan standing in the open doorway. She jumped back at his words and slammed the door shut. I couldn’t hold back a slight smile. It was nice to have the sergeant yell at someone other than me for a change.

  A few minutes later, Glenn came over. “You’re turning blue. Go sit in my car. I started it, and it’s warm. I’ll send Pepper home, and then I’ll take you to the station to write your statement. You might as well do it tonight while everything is fresh in your mind.”

  My adrenaline had been so high, I hadn’t realized just how cold I was until Glenn mentioned a warm vehicle. I was grateful to head over to his car. I deliberately walked past the body and looked toward the cigarette butt and matchbook. They must not have been deemed worthy clues, because they had been trampled and were barely noticeable now.

  Behind me, I head a familiar gah sound of contempt followed by my name. Howard Sanders, the city coroner, had finally arrived on the scene. His dislike for my intrusion into police matters was well known, but Jackie was always able to smooth his ruffled feathers with a smile or a pie.

  I climbed into Glenn’s patrol car and saw Jackie sidle up to Howard. I knew she was laying the groundwork for getting information from him tomorrow after he had an opportunity to examine the body.

  It was another half hour before Glenn hopped in beside me.

  “Are you warm yet?” he asked.

  “Everything but my feet,” I said. “I don’t know if they’ll ever thaw out. Was that the girl who was fighting with Duck yesterday?”

  “Yeah. Killing her over a stolen phone seems a bit harsh, but he’ll definitely be the number one suspect. Did you hear her say anything on her phone call that might help identify who she was talking to?”

  “No. She only said a few words. She wanted to know what the caller was doing here, and she said she’d be right out. She was in such a hurry, she didn’t even grab her coat. Did you find her phone? Was it under her body?”

  “No phone. Whoever killed her took it. That makes Duck even more of a suspect. He’ll be brought in for questioning, and then we’ll go from there. Don’t get any ideas about getting mixed up in this one, Jo. I think we’ll be able to button it up pretty quick.”

  I knew he was thinking more of my safety than he was trying to dissuade me from getting involved in a murder investigation.

  “My plate is full as it is,” I said with a smile. “You go right ahead and solve this one.”

  But I knew full well I’d be adding everything I knew about the murder of Reggie Jones to my whiteboard as soon as possible.

  Chapter Seven

  What did a person have to do to get any sleep around here?

  The pounding on my front door for a third day this week was enough to make me rush out and buy a gun. I needed one anyway. I might as well get one today. A big one.

  My movements were becoming r
outine - throw covers back, slide feet into fuzzy orange slippers, put on robe, stumble down stairs with smoke coming out of ears, and yank door open with intent to kill.

  It was Pepper’s turn to blow in today.

  I didn’t even look at her. I slammed the door shut and shuffled my way into the kitchen where I fumbled my way to making a pot of coffee.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

  “It’s six-thirty. I didn’t get home from the station until late, and I planned to sleep in today. What’s wrong with you that you’d come over here so early in the morning?”

  “With all the excitement last night, I thought you’d be up and working on the murder already. I banged extra hard in case you were in your murder room. When are you going to get your doorbell fixed?”

  There were quite a few things that needed fixed around here. At present, they were all small things, but I knew if I didn’t start keeping up with them, they would turn into big things.

  “I don’t know. Maybe when I get the blinking light fixed on the answering machine.”

  It hadn’t worked for a couple of weeks now, and I had to remind myself to check it at least once a day.

  Pepper laughed. “You can buy another one at the flea market for a dollar.”

  I rummaged in the cupboards for a bagel or a donut. There wasn’t anything in the carbohydrate department.

  “Here,” Pepper said, reaching into her coat pocket. She pulled out a baggie with a blueberry muffin in it. “I come in peace. And I have this, too.” She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a business card. “Susan gave this to me last night. She’s really nice. Didn’t you think she was sweet? I think I’m going to like it at Slimmers.”

  “Susan’s only in town for the opening. The other employees are probably tyrants who will berate and humiliate you if you don’t lose weight.” My irritability was on full display.

  I looked at the card. It had the name Duck Hutton and a telephone number handwritten on it. The writing was masculine. I assumed it was Duck’s.

  “Where did she get this?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. She said to tell you that Duck was Reggie’s boyfriend until yesterday when he confronted her at Slimmers about stealing his cell phone. They had a big fight, and he broke up with her right then. Susan called the police, and Glenn showed up and ran him off. I know he doesn’t always tell you everything you want to know, so I wanted to tell you right away this morning.”

  She was so excited to share her information with me, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I already knew about the fight.

  She suddenly looked shocked. “If Duck murdered her, that means I had a killer at my Halloween party. I thought he was loud and unpleasant then, but I had no idea he was a murderer.”

  “He probably wasn’t a murderer last October,” I said.

  I poured a cup of coffee and offered one to Pepper.

  “No thanks, I have to get home. The kids need to do their paperwork this morning. We’re meeting Darby, Mama, Aunt Bee, and their gang at Chummy’s for lunch, and then we’re going to see Barry White perform at the Buxley Playhouse in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

  I assumed she was mistaken about Barry White and asked, “Who’s Darby?”

  “Susan’s husband. He came in to pick her up last night when Barry was there signing up to lose weight. We made our plans then.” She fanned herself and made an ooh noise. “Talk about eye candy. That Darby is one handsome man. I’m going to sit by him today.”

  She had a gleam in her eye. Pepper was a happy and faithful wife, but I knew she liked to look at other men. I never did understand that – until I saw Susan’s husband this week. It was hard not to stare and appreciate his good looks.

  Pepper left, and I made my way upstairs to a hot shower. I knew Arnie would already be schmoozing with the early morning regulars at the flea market. I decided to go in early myself and see what he had heard about last night’s murder.

  Susan and Darby were sitting at the counter when I walked in. Susan looked like she just lost her best friend, which was understandable under the circumstances. Darby had his head buried in a newspaper.

  I sat down next to Arnie and talked low, so they couldn’t listen in today.

  “Any news on last night’s murder?” I asked.

  “The boyfriend didn’t do it,” he said.

  “Of course he did it. She had a fight with him the day before, and it was obvious she knew who was in the alley before she went out there. She took her phone, but the police didn’t find it. He took it.”

  “Did you get a good look at the scene?”

  “Yeah. She was definitely strangled. There wasn’t much to see, but I did notice something the police ignored. There was a single cigarette butt nearby and an empty matchbook not too far from it. The matchbook was from a diner up in Hapsburg.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Hapsburg? That’s where the dame had her car accident. Do you know where she was when the girl was murdered?”

  I shook my head. “No. I asked her to leave Pepper and me alone for a few minutes so we could talk. I don’t know where she was when Reggie was killed.”

  “What about her husband? Do you know where he was? Maybe he did it?

  My wheels started spinning. Could Susan have had time to go out into the alley and kill Reggie before I went out to the car? After she left the room, the next time I saw her was when she stuck her head out the back door, and Sergeant Rorski yelled at her.

  “Are you serious?” I asked. “Do you think they could be working as a team, and they came here to murder her?”

  “I don’t know. I told you yesterday that broad is one hot mess of trouble, and now there’s a murder on her doorstep not twenty-four hours later.”

  He actually had me thinking Susan or Darby could have killed Reggie, but I wasn’t yet ready to give the theory serious thought.

  “Arnie, I’m telling you. It’s the boyfriend.”

  “He’s already been cleared.”

  My eyes opened wide. “What? When? How?”

  “Police caught up with him late last night. At the time of Reggie’s murder, he was sitting in his truck waiting to offload at a grocery distributor in Parkersburg. He was already signed in at the guardhouse, and he wasn’t unloaded until after nine o’clock.”

  Well, that threw a monkey wrench into the works. Even though Arnie had cast suspicion on Susan and her husband, I simply couldn’t believe they were involved.

  “You might want to get out of town today,” he said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  I thought I noticed a hint of a smile when he said, “Sergeant Rorski has word out he wants to see you.”

  “What’d I do now?”

  Arnie flat out smiled this time. “He’s under the impression you moved the body.”

  My mouth fell open. “I didn’t move her. I never laid a hand on her.”

  “He thinks you did something to her, so you might want to clear it up with him, or get out of Dodge.”

  “Shit!” I muttered under my breath.

  “I thought you were done swearin’?”

  “I am. Don’t tell Pepper.”

  I walked over to Susan and said, “Thanks for the card and the information about Reggie’s boyfriend.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “He was really angry with her on Tuesday. She might even have a bruise on her left arm from where he grabbed her. He was the first person I thought of when I heard she was murdered.”

  I stared at her for a few moments. I couldn’t help thinking she was casting blame on the boyfriend to deflect from her own murderous actions. I wished Arnie hadn’t planted the thought in my head.

  “He has an alibi,” I said. “He was sitting in the loading dock of a grocery warehouse in Parkersburg at the time of Reggie’s death. It wasn’t him.” I pulled my card out of my purse and placed in on the counter. “If you think of anything else, give me a call.”

  She nodded and said, “Ok.”

&nb
sp; I walked out past Roger’s tables. He had fishing equipment on prominent display today. I figured our things were safe from this round of inventory - until I spotted the child-sized Snoopy fishing pole Dad bought for Pepper when she was seven. It was probably the last thing he had given to her before he left us.

  Roger walked over with a big smile on his face. He threw his hand up in front of me and said, “High five, Jo! Woo-hoo, you found another body. That makes eight now, right?”

  I shook my head in disgust. “A murder is nothing to celebrate, Roger. That poor girl was young. She had her whole life ahead of her, and someone took that away.” I snatched the Snoopy fishing pole off the table. “I’m giving this back to Pepper.”

  I ignored his protests and left the building. I knew I was being unpleasant, and I knew it was because I was tired and rundown. Too much fast food, not enough fruit and vegetables, and not enough sleep were contributing to my misery. Being cold all the time didn’t help much either. I sat in my car for a few minutes and debated what to do next. Breakfast at Chummy’s sounded like the best option.

  As soon as I pulled out, a police car was behind me with lights but no siren. I smiled and my heart beat a little faster. Seeing Glenn this morning would lift my black cloud. I put the window down and waited for him to walk up and lean in for a kiss.

  “Sarge wants to see you down at the station. Now.”

  It wasn’t Glenn. It was Officer Collins.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t give me any flack, Jo. Just go, or I’ll put you in my car and take you there myself.”

  I put the window up and pulled away from him. The last thing I needed was for Sergeant Rorski to be screaming at me this morning. I begrudgingly headed for the station. Officer Collins followed to be sure I didn’t veer off course.

  The new officer I had seen last night was at the desk in the small lobby. His eyes widened when he saw me.

  “Is it that bad?” I whispered.

  He ran a finger across his neck in a slasher motion.