by Tonya Kappes
“We just had the coolest lesson on fingerprinting and how to lift them off with wart cream.” Kelly’s voice was bursting with excitement.
“Science class?” I asked.
“Yeah. My teacher used to be a cop and he’s got all sorts of fun stuff up his sleeve. I love it so much that I just might go into law enforcement after I graduate high school.” The enthusiasm poured out of her as she went on and on about the wart cream experiment.
“So we could do this at home?” My mind swirl with so many ideas.
“Mmmhhh.” She nodded. “Crazy.”
The bell over the door dinged. Low-retta Bebe trotted in. She had on a long tapestry coat with cream colored pants. Her black hair was freshly dyed and she wore bright red lipstick.
“Roxanne Bloom, Maxine has made you look low rent. Honey,” she waved the newspaper in the air. “I don’t care if you can’t pay your rent, you should never look low rent.”
Loretta Bebe was the last person I needed to deal with before I drove Bunny to Lexington. Low rent was something a southern gal never wanted to be called.
“What on earth are you babbling about now?” Bunny jerked the Honey Springs Tribune from her hands.
“Turn to page six, Sticky Situations.” Loretta dabbed her finger in the air.
I looked over Bunny’s shoulder and gasped when I saw the photo Aunt Maxi had taken of me when my head popped up from the bucket as I was bobbing for apples. Mascara ran down my face, my wet hair was plastered to my head, and my wedding dress was a total mess. Patrick’s picture wasn’t any better. His shirt was soaked plum through and a big apple was stuck in his teeth. The two men who worked for Ron were standing behind us, laughing.
“It’s about time, no matter how it happened,” I read the headline and inwardly groaned.
Bunny handed me the paper after I melted down into a chair at one of the café tables. The article talked about my past in Honey Springs and my current situation. How I’d met Patrick Cane when I was a teen and how our love endured after all these years. I’m sure she meant well, but the photo was not flattering at all. As much as I hated to admit it, Loretta was right. We looked like we’d just come from the mudflat.
“I can’t deal with this now.” I got up.
“Roxy, there’s nothing to deal with. The paper is out for the world to see. And I, Low-retta,” she referred to herself in third person in her slow southern draw, “Am mortified for you.”
“Why don’t you go on and go,” Kelly suggested. “You look like you could use some fall fresh air.”
“Thank you.” I mouthed to her and grabbed my coat. I also took the newspaper off the café table and stuck it in my purse. “I’ll be back for Pepper and Sassy.”
“No one for Norman?” Kelly asked and looked over at the fireplace where all three dogs were snuggled together next to the warm fire on a big dog bed.
“Not yet, but I do have someone in mind.” I turned to Bunny. “Are you ready?”
“Mmmhmm.” She waddled behind the counter and grabbed the bag Mae Belle had left with the costumes in it.
Loretta was still looking at the bakery case as though she were trying to decide what she wanted with her afternoon coffee. It was a regular thing for Loretta to come in this time of the day. She liked to keep an eye out for all the things the Beautification Committee had done since she was the president.
“Are you okay?” I asked Bunny and took the bags from her when we started walking down the boardwalk to the parking lot. Since I mostly drove my bike to work, I’d let my car sit in the lot for a week now. I probably needed to take it home.
Home.
There was that word again. Where was my home? Something I’d have to explore later.
“I’m tired today. Last night I was up too late.” She shuffled along side of me. “Me and Mae Belle couldn’t stop talking about that man’s murder.”
“Why don’t I take you home and I can run to Lexington and back in no time,” I suggested. It was the least I could do. She’d always been so good to me.
“Are you sure?” She asked.
A few short minutes later, I’d dropped off Bunny at her little cottage home right off Main Street. When I was driving back down Main to take the back-country road to Lexington, I couldn’t help but see through the windows of Honey Springs National Bank that Evan Rich was in his office.
I whipped my car into the parking lot and pulled into the first open space.
“Roxy, I hear congratulations are in order.” Evan Rich met me out in the lobby of the bank. “Emily told me the good news.”
“Thank you. I know everyone is a little stunned that we did it that way, but there will be a reception soon that I hope you’ll be attending.” I smiled.
“I read that in the Tribune today.” He laughed.
“About that.” I opened my purse and took out the paper. “I know Ron Harvey came in here the other day to open an account.”
“The Bee Farm. We do have many donations coming in. Not that I want to lose the big business the Harvey Company will bring to the bank, but like you, I love our small community.” He rambled on about how the explosion in technology hadn’t really touched our small town.
“Yes. Thank you for doing the fundraiser for me. But that’s not what I came here to ask you about.” I opened the paper to the Sticky Situation article. “Can you tell me if either of these men standing behind my oh-so-flattering wedding photos was with Ron when he came in?”
“And why am I not surprised you are looking into this?” Evan asked.
“I know.” I rolled my eyes. “Camey Montgomery is Spencer’s number one suspect and the lawyer in me won’t let it die. I know that you’ve been so great helping in the past few cases I helped out in but now I need to know about these guys.”
Evan took the paper from me and stared at the photo. He shook his head.
“No. I’m about ninety-five percent sure neither one of them was with Ron that day.” He glanced up at the bank’s security system. “In fact, I can’t even pull it up on the security cameras to see the transaction because we had the security company in here switching us to a better system that day. Our cameras had to be down while they were working.”
“That’s okay. As long as you’re positive neither of these two was with Ron Harvey the day he came in to open the account. Do you remember a name? Is it on the paperwork?” I asked.
“No. And no,” he replied. “In fact, they didn’t even open an account that day. They came in here and inquired. They couldn’t agree to disagree.” He shook his head with a smirk. “I’ve never seen two men in business that hated each other so much.”
“How do you know they hated each other?” Now I had to find out who this guy was.
“They argued from the time they walked through those doors until they left. I watched them leave and they were still arguing on their way to the car.” He handed me the paper back. “The only reason I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty that it’s not him is because the black and white photo is a little grainy.”
“Thanks, Evan. You’ve been a big help.” I waved goodbye.
I sat in the car for a few minutes looking at the unflattering photo. The only employees of Ron that I knew were his daughter and the two men that’d stopped by the Bean Hive’s booth at the festival.
“Unless. . .” I whispered and glanced out the windshield, wondering if there was a last minute guest that’d checked into the Cocoon Inn that we didn’t know about.
I knew who would know. Camey.
Fifteen
The boardwalk was only about a seven minute bike ride from downtown Honey Springs and an even shorter trip by car. The revitalization of the boardwalk had helped boost Honey Springs’ economy as well as the spirits of the community’s residents. The clean country air swept through my hair in a cool breeze. The fragrant smells of fall in the bluegrass curled my nose and put a big smile on my face. There was nothing better than clean air.
The downtown area of Honey
Springs was compact like the boardwalk.
The first building was the Honey Springs Church. Next to that was the firehouse and police station where I’d needed to go to talk to Camey. Across the street from the fire and police stations was the Moose Lodge, which was right before the big circle in the middle of downtown - Central Park. Central Park hosted events like the Farmer’s Market and our annual Christmas festivities, just to name a couple.
Along Main Street were Brandts’ Fill ‘er Up, Klessinger Realty, where my mom worked, the courthouse with city hall, Donald’s Barber Shop, and the local community college. There were other shops around Central Park, and I was so happy to see they’d gone all out with decorating for the festival.
It was the perfect time to stop by the police station and make good on the little visit I told Spencer I was going to make.
There wasn’t much to it. A couple of cells located behind a few desks and Camey Montgomery sitting in a chair butted up to one of the officer’s desks playing cards.
“You look like you’re a hardended criminal.” I joked when I noticed Camey wasn’t as distressed as I’d pictured in my head.
“Excuse me, that’s my lawyer.” Camey laid her cards down. “Now, don’t you be looking at my hand. I’ll be right back.”
“Spencer said you’d be by.” The officer nodded.
“What on earth?” I asked with big eyes when Camey walked over, taking me by the elbow and dragging me into the corner of the station.
“Seriously, I’m not saying Ron didn’t have it coming to him, but I didn’t do it,” she whispered. “You’ve got to help me.”
“First, stop saying things like Ron had it coming to him. In fact, stop talking entirely.” I knew it was going to be difficult for her, but she had to do it. “Sometimes talking makes you look guilty.”
“But I didn’t kill him,” she muttered.
“I know that and you know that.” I began watching her body language to confirm it. “I’m working on it. I have to know if anyone with the Harvey Company had checked in that night that wasn’t his family or the two other businessmen.”
“No one.” She had bright eyes with hope in them. “Ron had paid up front for a room for each of the businessmen he’d brought with him. One for his daughter when she got there. Our only other suite - besides the honeymoon suite - was for him and Bev.” She smacked my arm. “How’s that honeymoon suite? Great, huh?”
“I love it, but we’ve got to talk about Ron.” I changed the subject back. “Are you sure because Evan Rich said a man came into the bank with Ron to open an account but it wasn’t either of the businessmen I met at the festival.”
“I’m positive.” She was certain. “Do you think the man from the bank is the killer?”
“Maybe. I’m considering anybody other than you at this point. Do you recall anything else that you might’ve remembered about his interaction with his family?” I was grasping for anything.
“Unfortunately, nothing.” She curled her lips together.
Hearing that the number one suspect didn’t have any leads herself wasn’t something her lawyer wanted to hear. I was hoping for some sort of lead that I could explore. But Camey had nothing.
By the time I’d made it to Lexington, I’d almost convinced myself the mystery man was innocent and the facts against Camey were enough evidence to at least get a conviction.
“Maybe I just need to stick with making coffee,” I said to myself and put the car in park after I pulled up in front of the costume shop where Bunny had rented the costumes.
“Good afternoon. Returning?” The woman behind the counter was barely visible.
There were hundreds of costumes hanging from the ceiling and along shelves.
“There you are. I couldn’t find you.” I laughed and carried the bag over to her. “My friends Mae Belle Donovan and Bunny Bowowski asked me to return these for them.” I slid the bag across to her.
While she took them out and looked through her computer, I looked around.
“You’ve got every single costume imaginable in here,” I noticed.
“We do a lot of the school’s theater productions as well as the Lexington Playhouse’s. They go through a lot of different costumes.” She looked at me over the tip of her glasses. She looked like the thespian type. Her black hair was cut short, like Twiggy. She wore a black turtleneck and black tights. “How did that guy’s wig turn out? Was it funny?”
“Wig?” I jerked around. “What guy? What wig?”
“There was a guy that came in here, plopped down five hundred dollars to buy a used wig.” She laughed. “I figured since Honey Springs is so small, you might’ve known the guy. He said something about Honey Springs.”
I opened my purse and took out the Tribune.
“Can you tell me if it was one of these guys?” I asked and handed it to her.
“No, neither of them. Is that you?” She looked between me and the paper.
“Yeah. I got married that afternoon and we celebrated at the festival.” I stopped talking, wondering why I was explaining this to her. “Can you tell me what he looked like?”
“He had on a ball cap and gray jogging pants. I can’t really remember any features, but he was younger than the two in the paper,” she added. “He said something about how his mom would think it was funny.”
“His mom?” I questioned.
Did Ron Harvey have a son? There was only one way to find out.
I thanked her for her time and hurried back out to my car. I pulled my phone out of my purse.
“Spencer, did Ron Harvey have a son?” I asked him.
“Hello to you too, Roxy.” There was a pause. “No. He didn’t have a son. Why?”
“I went to return Bunny’s costume to the shop in Lexington.” I quickly told him about the conversation I’d had with the young woman at the costume shop before I noticed the time.
If I didn’t hurry back to Honey Springs, I would be late for my dinner date with Patrick and I couldn’t let that happen.
“Can you text me the costume shop information and I’ll go check it out. We’ve got photos of all Harvey Company employees.” It was a relief to hear Spencer say he’d check it out, making me for sure know that he too doubted Camey had anything to do with Ron Harvey’s murder.
Sixteen
The man underneath the wig and the man that’d gone to the bank with Ron had to be the same person. How was I going to find out? It was going to have to wait. It was time to let Spencer do his thing while I changed into newlywed mode. It was the least I could do for Patrick.
The boardwalk was filled with the vendors that were there for the Neewollah Festival. There were specialty popcorn and caramel apple vendors, and the pumpkin carving station was in front of the Bean Hive.
“Hey, Roxy,” Jean Hill greeted me. “Are you here to carve a pumpkin?”
“I wish I could.” I loved seeing all the kids and their parents working so hard on their pumpkins. Some were big and some were bigger. The smaller ones were being painted by the little ones. They were getting more paint on them than on the pumpkins. “But I’m going on a date with my new husband.”
“That’s right!” She clasped her hands. “I keep forgetting. But I hear there’s a big reception being planned.”
“I hope they called you to do the flowers.” I looked for a hint.
Jean moved her fingers across her lips like she was zipping them.
“I do have some good news,” her voice escalated. “I raised over four thousand dollars for the Bee Farm in donations and am still going strong.”
“Oh, Jean.” I hurried over to her and hugged her. She tried to push me away because she had paint all over her, but I didn’t care. I was changing anyway. “You’re the best. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Do you want me to drop it by?” She asked.
“You know, I need to get some new flowers and some of your jam for the coffeehouse. Why don’t I stop by tomorrow?” I suggested. There was no sense in her comin
g back to the boardwalk tomorrow if she didn’t have to. According to Low-retta’s tight schedule, she planned to be here last night for the hayrides and today for the pumpkin carving.
“You are a doll. I’m just beat.” She lifted her hand to her head like she was going to faint. “I might put my head on my pillow tonight and not wake up for days.”
“It’s all for a good cause now.” I nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I took a stroll around the pumpkin carvers one last time before I headed back into the coffeehouse where Kelly was tending to the last customers of the day. It looked like she’d already restocked the salt and pepper shakers on the tables as well as the coffee and tea bars. The floors needed to be swept and the bakery cases needed to be wiped down, but I knew she’d do those last.
Ron Harvey’s businessmen walked into the shop right behind me with Sharon, Jimmer, and Mike.
“Can I help you?” I asked and stepped up to the counter. Sassy, Pepper, and Norman danced around my ankles for attention.
“I’ve got them, Roxy,” Kelly said. “You go get changed. I saw Patrick walking down to the Watershed and he looked very handsome,” she squealed.
Oh, to be her age again, I thought.
“You can take their order and I’ll take their money.” Truth be told it was their fingerprints I wanted. Sure, I bet there were tons of prints on money, but if I could lift one and it matched any of the ones on the candlestick, then maybe, just maybe, we’d have a killer.
“Sharon, how’s Bev?” I asked and gave each one of the dogs a treat. I also handed Jimmer a couple of the dog treats to feed the dogs. He was so cute and I hated that he was in the middle of the fight between his mother and her family. You couldn’t have too many people love you and Sharon just didn’t understand that.
“Gone.” She gave me a blank stare. “I hope I never see her again.”
“Honey, we are going to have to deal with her and the company.” Mike stepped up, placing his hand on her lower back. He held up two fingers. “We’ll get two coffees, one hot chocolate, and the last three scones you have.”