Pit and Miss Murder

by Renee George

  "What are you doing?"

  "I'm calling Nadine."

  He looked as if he would protest for a second, then bowed his head and nodded.

  I opened my contact list and touched Nadine's avatar. She was sticking out her tongue and flipping me off. We'd laughed when I took the picture.

  The phone rang once, and Nadine picked up. I could hear voices in the background

  "Hey, Dad," she said. "What's up? Is Mom okay?"

  "Deputy Booth, who are you talking to?" I heard Sheriff Avery ask.

  "My dad. I'm sorry. My mom's sick with the flu and dad took her to the doctor this afternoon. I'll tell him I'll call him back."

  "Personal calls on personal time," he groused then his tone softened. "And tell Jen I hope she gets to feeling better."

  "You got it," she said. Then more quietly, she said, "Did you get that, Dad?"

  "Yep," I replied. "Buzz is here. He's with me at the trailer. He didn't do this."

  "I never believed he did," she said, but her voice was shaky.

  "How does it look for Buzz?"

  "Not going to lie," she said. "It doesn't look good." The background noise had grown distant so I could tell Nadine had walked away from the crowd of cops, paramedics, and whoever else happened to be on the scene.

  “Buzz said he got a call from the police saying there had been a break-in at The Cat’s Meow. Do you know who called that in?”

  “I haven’t heard there was a burglary in progress call. We arrived on an anonymous tip.”

  “Can you check? Maybe Jock startled whoever tried to break in, and they killed him.”

  "I've been told I can't have any part of this case, but I won’t sit idly by while my guy gets railroaded.” She wrung the bottom of her t-shirt, stretching the hem until it curled. “They've already sent some uniforms over to our house to search the place. I'm afraid your place will be the next stop. You have to get him somewhere safe, at least for tonight. We can make a plan tomorrow."

  "No," Buzz said. "I don't want Nadine involved on the wrong side of this. Her career is important to her."

  "Tell him I heard that, and he is more important to me than some badge."

  "Deputy Booth!" the sheriff shouted.

  "I got to go. Tell him...Tell him, I love him."

  Before I could respond, she hung up.

  I glanced at Buzz. "You heard her, right?"

  "She's going to blow up her world for me." He banged the bottom of his fist against the arm of the sofa, an action that sent Smooshie scrambling off the couch and tucking in behind me.

  I knelt next to my girl and made a soothing sound as I scratched her head.

  "I'm sorry," Buzz said. "I didn't mean to startle Smooshie. I just don't want Nadine to ruin her life for me."

  I directed my gaze at Buzz. "That's what you do when you love someone."

  He stood up and staggered as if his legs were made of liquid, cussing the five steps it took to get to the door.

  "Where are you going?"

  "To turn myself in?"

  My eyes widened. "Why?"

  "Because," he said, with a glint in his eye. "That's what you do when you love someone."

  "What are you going to tell them?"

  "The truth and I'm going to hope they don't crucify me with it."

  "Do you want me to go with you?"

  "I don't want to involve you any more than I already have."

  "You're my family," I told him. "I'm involved."

  Buzz forced a smile at me. "If you want to help, you can find me a decent lawyer. Preferably alive."

  I snorted a laugh, mostly to keep from crying. Jock might have been a good lawyer, but I'm not sure he'd ever been decent. "I'll start making some calls."

  Chapter 7

  I picked up my cellphone and made my first call. Parker picked up on the first ring.

  "Hey, Lils. This is a nice surprise. Are you coming over?"

  "Yes." I wanted to blurt out what was happening, but my fear for Buzz stole my words.

  "What's going on?" Parker asked when I didn't say more.

  "Do you...do you." I took a deep breath. "I need a lawyer."

  "Why?"

  "Jock Simmons is dead."

  His tone sharpened. "Have you been arrested?"

  "No." I clutched my phone with both hands. "Not me. Buzz is turning himself in. He needs a good lawyer, and I just don't know any."

  "Buzz killed Jock?"

  "No." This time my tone sharpened. "He was there when Jock died, and he ran when the police arrived."

  "I can see how that would be suspicious."

  "But he didn't do it," I added rapidly. My palms were sweaty, and the phone slipped out of my hands. Smooshie yipped a bark as the phone whacked her head. "Oh! I'm sorry, girl." I scrubbed one hand on my pants to dry it and grabbed the phone. With my other hand, I rubbed Smooshie where the device had dented her noggin. "I'm so sorry!"

  "Is she okay?"

  "Yes. I dropped my stupid phone on her."

  "Pack a bag, and you and Smoosh get on over here. I'll start making calls and see who I can find for Buzz."

  While I am normally a decisive, independent woman and not a lot gets me flustered, the idea of losing Buzz, whether he went to jail or, later, decided to run away, scared me stupid. So, when Parker took charge of the situation, I gratefully let him. "I'll be over soon."

  I drove with the windows down, allowing the cooler night air to wash over me. Smooshie stuck her big head out the passenger window, her tongue flapping in the breeze. Between the wind and the sound of the engine, I finally managed to quiet the panicked thoughts crowding my head. I had to find a way to help Buzz and finding him a lawyer wasn't it. My specialty lay in my ability to sniff out clues, question suspects, and find killers. Real killers. I needed to pull myself together and be the niece Buzz deserved. One that would fight to keep him out of jail at any cost, not the one that falls apart at the idea of losing, again, another family member. My lungs felt congested with grief as I thought about everyone I'd lost. Mom, dad, brother...Buzz was the only relative I had left in this world.

  I fumbled in my bag and grabbed my phone. I opened the screen, touched my contacts, and made the call I should have made ten minutes earlier.

  "Is he safe?" Nadine asked when she answered the phone.

  "He's on his way to the Sheriff's Station," I answered. "He doesn't want to run or hide."

  "Damnit, Buzz," Nadine hissed. "This looks really bad, Lily. I'm afraid if Buzz is arrested, the sheriff will find a way to force the case closed."

  "We won't let him," I said. "Parker is finding him a lawyer. Are you still at the crime scene?"

  "No. The sheriff sent me off to patrol so the other deputies would be free to process the parking lot."

  "Did they call in Reggie, yet?" Reggie, or rather, Regina Crawford, M.D., was a family practice doc here in Moonrise, and she was also a certified medical examiner. She also happened to put the dream in our BFF Dream Team.

  "Yes, she was coming when I was going. I didn't get a chance to talk to her."

  "How long do you think the scene will be covered?"

  "You mean how long before everyone leaves."

  "Exactly."

  "Probably two more hours."

  "Crap."

  "But, and I mean, I would never advise you to enter an active crime scene, but I can't tell you how many family members have shown up out of nowhere. It's not hard to imagine a cousin who happens to drive by, seeing a bunch of lights and sirens and stopped out of sheer worry. You know, if you get caught."

  "Good. It's a plan. What about you?"

  "I'm going to the station. There is no way I'm going to let them railroad Buzz through processing. I'm staying with him until his lawyer arrives."

  I flipped my right blinker on, turned onto Main Street, and headed into town. "I'm about five minutes at the most from the diner. I'll text you later."

  "Lily, I don't know what I'm going to do if..."

  "W
e'll make sure you don't have to figure it out," I said with more confidence than I felt. "Give Buzz a hug for me." I hung up. I couldn't believe I was heading to the scene of a murder. Willingly. This would be the fourth one since I'd moved to Moonrise, a town steeped in secrets and intrigue. The sheriff already disliked me. I glanced at Smooshie. "At least, we didn't discover this body, right?" It would be hard for Avery to blame me this time, but I'm sure, under the right circumstances, he'd find a way.

  I saw the flashes of red and blue when I was a block away. I rolled the windows up on the truck until Smooshie could only poke her nose out as I parked across the street from the diner. For a half a second, I considered letting Smooshie out to cause a distraction, but the idea was bad on so many levels. First, having a massive pit bull running into a crime scene full of police officers would scare them and possibly get my baby killed. Secondly, see the first reason. Smooshie was a lover not a fighter, like most of her breed, but their reputations in the media painted a more dangerous picture.

  I scratched her ear. "Sorry, girl. You're going to have to wait here for me." When I got out of the car, she moved over to occupy the driver's seat. "I won't be long." Especially since I expected to get kicked out as soon as the sheriff saw me. Two deputy vehicles, one ambulance, Buzz's truck, and Reggie's black sedan formed a semi-circle near the street side of the diner's parking lot. A wall to prevent onlookers from getting too big of an eyeful.

  A group of about ten people had gathered on the south end, some with phones out and pointed at the diner. The news of Jock's death would be big talk in Moonrise. My stomach knotted. This would be all over the news and social media, and in this age of guilty until proven innocent, everyone would believe Buzz was a murderer. The thought put more determination into my step as I walked toward the ambulance since it was the closest to Buzz's truck, and that meant, the closest to the body.

  "Get those rubberneckers out of here," I heard the sheriff yell. "We're not selling tickets to the show." His voice was higher than normal and strained.

  "We're trying," I heard someone say.

  Good. The sheriff was distracted, opening an opportunity for me to sneak right in. I pressed my back against the side of the ambulance and inched toward the front.

  "What are you doing?" a woman asked.

  I jumped and spun at the same time, startled that anyone had managed to catch me off guard. Robyn Pattersen, the paramedic who had taken care of me last year when I'd been exposed to carbon monoxide, sat in the driver's seat of the ambulance with the window down. We'd become friendly, and a couple months later, she'd started volunteering, along with her partner Steve, at the rescue.

  I clutched my chest, waiting for the anxiety to release. "I didn't see you there," I said.

  She chuckled. "Obviously." She pointed at her extensive set up of side view mirrors on the rig. "But I saw you."

  "Are you going to tell the sheriff?"

  "Not if I don't have to," she said. "I'm just waiting on the doc to give me the thumbs up to take the body to the hospital morgue. There's no hurry at this point."

  "Did you see him?"

  "Simmons?" she asked.

  I nodded.

  "Yes. Steve and I were first on the scene with the police. After we determined he was deceased, we were told to wait until after Doctor Crawford arrived." She pointed toward the other side of the cab. "Steve is waiting out there." She looked at me, her brown eyes soft. "I prefer living patients."

  I gestured to the step at the base of the door. "May I?"

  "Sure," she said. "I won't tell if you don't."

  I grabbed the door and pulled myself up and looked past Robyn toward the scene. Paramedic Steve stood with his arms crossed over his chest while Reggie knelt beside Jock's body. I felt the blood leave my face.

  "You better sit," Robyn said. "You look like you're about to pass out."

  I gulped as a wooziness took hold. "That's unexpected."

  "Death has a way of taking hold."

  It wasn't death, though. I'd seen plenty in my lifetime. It could be that I'd just seen him this afternoon, alive and spitting nails. "It's strange seeing someone you know like that," I said. "Even when that someone is Jock Simmons."

  "He hit on me once at Dilly's Bar," Robyn said. "He hadn't even bothered to take off his wedding ring." She shook her head and patted her tight curls. "And I wasn't the only one. He was a real piece of work."

  I gave her that knowing smile that passes between women sometimes. "That's a nice way to put it." I peered past her again. Reggie was standing now, and she was talking to the sheriff. I tuned out everything else and allowed my cougar to surge the tiniest of bits to the surface as I stretched my hearing to listen in.

  "A single stab wound to the right upper abdominal area, a few centimeters below the ribs. I can't say for certain about the weapon, but the incision is right at two centimeters and clean, almost surgical. I'll have a better notion of depth when I get him to the morgue for the autopsy.

  “Get on it tonight,” he ordered. “I want a cause of death on my desk in the morning.”

  “I plan to do the preliminary autopsy tonight, Sheriff. But I can’t promise a cause of death by morning."

  “A blind man can see he was stabbed.”

  “A blind man can also see that there isn’t much blood.”

  The sheriff’s expression soured. He narrowed his gaze at Reggie, one that said, I’m an imposing man. Don’t mess with me.”

  Reggie rolled her eyes. “I’ll do what I can do, Sheriff Avery.”

  "How long ago did Jock die?" he asked her.

  "There's no livor mortis, so under two hours, by my estimation," she told him.

  Livor mortis was when gravity settled blood into the lowest areas of a deceased body. Since Jock was face up, the discoloration would have happened in his back, buttocks, thighs, and heels.

  "Did the stab wound kill him?"

  "On the surface evidence alone, I'd say, maybe. But the blood volume doesn't indicate exsanguination."

  So, there wasn't a lot of blood. Not enough for the loss to kill him. Maybe the knife had nicked an organ, or the bleeding had been mostly internal.

  The sheriff's voice grew quieter as he moved closer to Reggie. I leaned in, closing my eyes, and stretching my senses even farther.

  "I know you are friends with Nadine and that Mason girl," Sheriff Avery said.

  "So?" Reggie responded.

  "Just a reminder to do your job," he told her.

  "And I know this man is your soon to be ex-son-in-law, a guy who abused your daughter and has slept with a dozen women in town. So, maybe we both need a reminder," Reggie hissed.

  I smiled at her fierceness.

  "What are you doing?" Robyn asked.

  I opened my eyes and turned my head. Our faces were inches apart. This close, I could see a tiny pox scar near her nose. In other words, way too close for friendly acquaintances. "I'm so sorry." I backed my head out of the opening. "I felt a little faint for a moment," I lied.

  "It looked like you were thinking about pooping. You were making the I'm-full-of-it face."

  I giggled. I'd seen Smooshie get that face once or twice daily. "Thanks for letting me have a look. I better get going."

  Robyn nodded. "I hope things turn out okay for your cousin."

  "Me too."

  Chapter 8

  Smooshie didn't make a peep when I climbed into the driver seat, forcing her to take a position on the passenger side again. Her tail wagged hard enough to break glass though, so I gave her a quick scruffy petting around the neck and head. "Such a good girl. A good, good girl." I patted the seat. "Now, settle down."

  My phone, which I'd left on the seat, had five missed calls. Whoops. I hadn't told Parker I was going to make a detour. One of the calls was from Nadine. That's the one I returned first because I wanted to know what was happening with Buzz.

  "Hey, Nadine. What do you know new?"

  "The sheriff isn't back, yet, but he told the on-duty,
Jack Davenport, to start processing Buzz for arrest. This is so stupid, Lils. Buzz is a good man. He's not a murderer. I know it in my bones."

  "I agree," I said. "We're going to fix this. Where's Buzz now?"

  "They took him down for fingerprinting. The sheriff has banned me from the case. He told Jack to arrest me if I so much as put a foot inside the in-processing area. Right now, the only place I want to put my foot is up an old pompous prick's rear end."

  "Nadine!" I snorted a laugh. "Hang in there. I'm on my way to Parker's, and we'll make sure Buzz has a lawyer. He knows not to say anything to anyone without representation."

  "I wish you were here," she said. "I could sure use the hand holding. Maybe even a Smooshie cuddle or two."

  Smooshie, hearing her name, shoved her nose next to my ear and tried to lick the phone. I gently nudged her with my elbow. "Smooshie is sending you all kinds of kisses. If you want me to come down there, I'll drop off the baby with Parker and head over."

  Nadine sighed. "Don't. There's nothing you can do. Heck, there's nothing I can do. I feel so freaking helpless."

  "Buzz loves you, and he knows you're on his side. That's plenty."

  "I hope you're right," she said. "Tell me again."

  "It's going to be all right. We'll fix this."

  "I believe you."

  "Good. Because it's the truth." I really wished I felt as confident as I sounded. I put the phone down after I hung up. I was only a few blocks from Parker's house, and it was quicker to drive there than to call him back.

  I knocked on Parker's door before letting myself in. He'd told me many times it wasn't necessary, but I hadn't been able to break the habit. Smooshie took off in a run, skittering into the kitchen where Parker kept the bowls for food and water for both dogs. I heard her loudly lapping up water from the other room, and if I knew my girl, she'd started in Elvis's dish first. She liked to eat his food and drink his water whenever he wasn't around, tricky girl.

  "Parker?" I put my keys and bag down, checked the kitchen and the bedroom, the bathroom door was open. Elvis, on his long legs, came trotting out from the utility room. I gave his face a cuddle. "Where's your man?" I asked him. Over the past year, I'd noticed Parker needing Elvis less and less for his PTSD. He said that having me around kept him calm, but he still took Elvis most places. Except when he was at the shelter.