by Anne Hagan
“I think Mathis was probably blackmailing him too, back then, but I don’t know why” I said. “According to the old police reports, he wanted nothing but to get out of your parents house that day and he raised quite a stink about it.”
Faye said, “I remember that, now that I think about it. He was like...like a caged animal, pacing around...”
“I don’t think,” Mel said, “that Uncle Owen wanted to give the police any chance to peg him as a possible suspect, especially in front of his wife and children.”
Faye shuddered. “You don’t think he was...was in some sort of illicit relationship with my mother too; his own brother’s wife?”
“No Mom. At least, I don’t have any idea but no one has said any such thing, if that helps ease your mind any.”
“Why’d he come back here then?”
“I’m pretty sure someone - Horace or Chuck or someone else we’re not even thinking of called him and told him they needed to meet and clear the air or something. Horace has a lawyer already though and he’s zipped his lip.”
“Someone,” I chimed in, “wanted to meet out there to talk about something...possibly me nosing around and what that might turn up or what they should do about it. I don’t think Horace is physically capable of hitting Owen hard enough to do the damage that was done though.”
“But Chuck is,” Mel said. “He’s still climbing up into tree stands and bow hunting, after all.”
Faye nodded. “I’d have to agree there. He’s several years younger than Horace and quite a bit more spry.”
“Anyway, they must have gotten into an argument and someone’s rage got the better of him,” I said.
“What’s going to happen to Horace now?” Faye asked.
“He’ll be tried for the Mathis murder at least,” Mel told her. “If the court thinks he’s able to stand trial, that is... unless he pleads out. He’s pushing 80. He’s not very likely to go to prison at his age. If he does, they’ll send him to one of those country clubs.”
Faye ran a hand through her hair then pulled at the strands as she asked, “What do I tell my mother?”
As gently as I could, I said softly, “She’s so far gone, Faye; it won’t mean anything to her, whatever you tell her...at least, I don’t think so. And, if she is lucid enough to understand, it will embarrass her. We probably should just leave it all lie.”
“Even about Owen’s death?”
“Especially about that.”
###
“There are still some things that don’t ring true in the story Horace told us,” I said to Mel as we made our way home.
“Like what?”
“The other day at the farm, when your mom told us about the missing carving set, she said your grandmother told her she went for it in the china cabinet just before the turkey was due out of the oven that day and when she couldn’t find it she set her about looking for it. If your mom was running around looking for that knife within minutes of them calling everyone for dinner, that doesn’t jive with Horace’s story that he saw it in the cabinet as he walked out to the kitchen to get a beer. Someone’s not telling the whole truth and I think it’s Horace. If he took it earlier and had it on him or he had it stashed to use later, then the murder was premeditated.”
“Or, maybe Grandma found it and put it back and in all the hullabaloo never thought to tell Mom she found it, especially after Horace came along and found it.”
“Mel, seriously! Do you really believe that?”
“I honestly don’t know what to believe.”
“Do you think your grandmother knew who killed Tanner that day, when it happened?”
“Probably.” She let out a heavy breath.
“Just between you and me babe, did you pull her statement to the Sheriff out of that file before you gave it to me?”
Mel didn’t take her eyes off the road as she answered and asked a question of her own. “No. Did you happen to notice that her name wasn’t even on the interview list let alone that there was no statement from her?”
She had me there.
About the Author
Anne Hagan is an East Central Ohio based government employee by day and author by night. She and her wife live in a tiny town that's even smaller than the Morelville of her Mystery fiction novels and they wouldn't have it any other way. Anne's wife grew up there and has always considered it home. Though it's an ultra-conservative rural community, they're surrounded there by family, longtime friends and many other wonderful people with open hearts and minds. They enjoy spending time with Anne's son and his wife, with their nieces and nephews and doing many of the things you've read about in her books or that will be 'fictitiously' incorporated into future Morelville Mysteries and Cozies series books. If you've read about a hobby or a sport in either series, they probably enjoy doing it themselves or someone very close to them does.
Anne and her wife are the co-owners of a haunted house: Hagan's House of Horrors. Much as her dream has always been to write fiction, her spouse's dream has been to create it through the medium of horror. They took their haunt operation fully commercial in 2015. Watch them as they grow!
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Also Written by the Author
The books of the Morelville Mysteries series; Anne’s lesfic themed mystery/romance series:
Relic: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 1 – The first Dana and Sheriff Mel mystery and the first book in the Morelville saga. Please click the link above which will take you to Anne’s site where you can obtain links to get this book.
Cases collide for two star crossed ladies of law enforcement...
Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi was forced to start her life anew after a bad breakup with her former girlfriend and the loss of a job that she loved. These days, she spends life on the road, moving from one case to another until one day when runs run right into the path of Sheriff Mel Crane. The feisty, sexy butch cop is as determined to uncover a counterfeiting ring in her county as Agent Rossi becomes to stop a stalker obsessed with Mel and hot for her company. Dana is under the added pressure of conducting an undercover investigation of her own with a tight deadline: finding and then stopping a ring of smugglers bringing high end designer knock-offs into the states.
Could their cases be related? When repeated vicious attacks on Mel and on her home accelerate the danger for her and also their attraction to each other, they become desperate to find the truth and solve the two mysteries. Can they find a way to work together to resolve both cases while coming to terms with their growing feelings for one another? Can Dana move beyond her jilted lover past and find true happiness with a small-town Sheriff?
Busy Bees: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 2
Romance and Murder Mix in the Latest Story Featuring Sheriff Mel Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi!
Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi is down but not out after being shot and seriously injured during her previous assignment. Will romance blossom or will sparks fly when she agrees to shack up in Morelville with the beautiful butch Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and her extended family while she recovers?
Will murder get in the way of love? If murder doesn’t, will life in a house with children or a political campaign keep them apart? Can Mel solve two major crimes and keep her former job on the road loving girlfriend happy in a tiny town?
Dana’s Dilemma: The Mo
relville Mysteries – Book 3 – The relationship matures between Mel and Dana in an installment that features a breaking Amish character, an ex-girlfriend, a conniving politician and murder.
Elections and Old Loves Combine with Deadly Results in a Romantic Mystery Featuring Sheriff Mel Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi!
What happens when Mel runs for Sheriff, an Amish girl runs away from home and Dana runs – er, limps - for cover? Can anything else possibly go wrong for these two ladies of law enforcement? Sure it can and it will!
Can the two sometimes lovers work it all out once and for all and finally have a happy life together or will more crime, murder and mayhem get in the way?
Hitched and Tied: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 4
Mel and Dana attempt to bring their growing romantic relationship full circle but family, duty and family duties all conspire to get in the way.
A victim with close ties to the Cranes escapes a deadly assault with his life only to die from his injuries minutes later. Mel has few clues to find the fighter turned murderer and the further she goes with her investigation, the more the situation deteriorates. Meanwhile, Dana’s trying to plan their wedding but the family is resisting both her efforts and the wishes of the couple while focusing more on her sister and her traditional relationship.
Family angst, violent crime and more than a few Holstein steers abound as Dana and Mel fight against the odds to solve Mel’s case and find their own happily ever after.
Viva Mama Rossi!: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 5 – The 5th tale in the Morelville Mysteries and the book that gives fans a full introduction to future Morelville Cozies series sleuths Faye Crane (Mel’s mom) and Chloe Rossi (Dana’s Mama). The two series stand-alone but they’re certainly better together. For just the back story on Faye and Chloe and how they came to team up to solve mysteries, Viva Mama Rossi! is a quick and entertaining read. The synopsis:
A delayed honeymoon getaway takes a deadly turn for newlyweds Mel and Dana; meanwhile, two meddling mothers won't let sleeping fisherman lie in the latest Morelville Mystery.
Does an unsolved shooting death far away from Morelville have local ties? Did a fisherman really drown or was there something more sinister afloat?
All Mel and Dana wanted was to enjoy a nice, relaxing honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains, away from the strains of life in the public eye. Instead, they end up involved in a case local law enforcement has completely written off. Things are no better back home where their own mothers are stirring up an all new hornets’ nest that they think Mel and her own department have written off.
If there is going to be any rest for anyone, something is going to have to break in one case or the other...
A Crane Christmas: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 6
Is it the Christmas season or the ‘silly season’?
All Sheriff Mel wants to do is close out the year and spend a joyful first Christmas with Dana and with their extended families. She’s even hired a new detective, Janet Mason, to ease some of the workload for her and her only other detective, Shane Harding. Things were shaping up great for her and Dana for a relaxing holiday season. Too bad it just wasn’t meant to be...
The local criminals want it all too and a string of burglaries in high class county enclaves have Mel and both of her detectives stymied. Throw in a bunch of disappearing dogs, some designer sheep, a lonely woman and an unsolved murder case, and the good guys are at their wits end. Meanwhile, back in tiny little Morelville, things aren’t much better; the village is buzzing over Dana’s family taking over the store but Dana herself isn’t so sure that’s a good thing.
Can Mel and her team resolve everything before Christmas dinner comes out of the oven? Will Janet Mason fit in at all? Will Dana find a balance between work and family that works for her in time to enjoy her first Christmas with Mel?
Mad for Mel: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 7
Rival gangs will stop at nothing to gain sole control of the drug trade in Muskingum County and they’ve picked Valentine’s week to create a firestorm of murder and mayhem as they battle each other for supremacy.
Sheriff Mel Crane is blindsided by looting, murdering and marauding bikers at a time of year when most Harley’s are tucked safely away from the effects of Ohio winters that come rife with snow and ice. They’re rolling out, they’re out of control and she can’t stop them. On the home front, she’s feeling guilty about spending so much time working and hardly any time with Dana, especially when she knows Valentine’s Day is right around the corner...or so her mother-in-law keeps reminding her.
Dana just wants Mel to be safe; she has her own problems to worry about. Her attempt at novel writing isn’t going as well as she hoped and she’s bored. She got a little taste of what it was like to be an investigator again and she misses it. What to do?
Hannah’s Hope: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 8
A young mother with a troubled past seeks help from Mel and Dana but is their effort to assist her too little, too late?
Hannah Yoder appears on Dana and Mel’s doorstep late one night with her teenage friend Katie and Katie’s newborn baby in tow telling the couple the girl and child are in trouble and have no place else to go. Dana and Mel offer refuge for the night and a firm promise to talk about the future. Plans are barely made when first one mysterious tragedy strikes and then another leaving Mel, Dana, Hannah and the Crane and Rossi families with few clues and little hope.
Mel knows there’s a killer out there; she just doesn’t know where to start looking. She’s stonewalled at every turn and running out of time. Somebody knows something that will unlock the mysteries swirling all around, but who?
The Turkey Tussle: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 9
The old-fashioned country village of Morelville holds a secret.
Faye Crane has the perfect life as a homemaker, farmer’s wife and grandmother...or she did until her daughter-in-law Dana went and stirred up a mysterious murder, never resolved and long buried in the Lafferty family lore – before Faye ever became a Crane. Now she’s been reminded of some startling questions about her families past that she’s not sure she wants to know the answers to.
Dana knows to tread lightly around Faye. Their relationship is far from perfect but she just can’t help herself; she’s certainly intrigued by the unsolved case. The down to earth, gentle residents of the village are more than happy to fill her in on all of the old gossip too. She even gets an education in oil drilling and backroom poker along her way to trying to clear the Lafferty family name and bring some closure to her mother-in-law. The question is, can she figure it all out and, if she does, will the Lafferty’s and the Crane’s be better off or far worse?
~~~
A spinoff from the Morelville Mysteries series, The Morelville Cozies series feature meddling mother sleuths Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi getting mixed up in mysteries all their own.
The Passed Prop: The Morelville Cozies – Book 1
Chloe Rossi wants to retire with her husband and move away from suburban sprawl to bucolic Morelville; the only trouble is, Morelville is experiencing its worst crime wave ever and Marco Rossi wants no part of a move there. What to do?
Faye Crane would like nothing more than to have her good friend Chloe move closer to her and to Chloe’s own daughter. She’s got Chloe convinced it’s a smart move but Marco is a tougher nut to crack. A string of brutal crimes around Halloween with no witnesses and little evidence to work with has her own Sheriff daughter and her entire department stymied. Marco is second guessing even taking his retirement since Sheriff Mel can’t get a handle on it all and bring peace and well-being back to the tiny village.
Someone has to root out a killer. Can Faye and Chloe nose around and figure out what the police can’t to solve the crime? If they do, will Marco still waver or will he consent to move?
Opera House Ops: The Morelville Cozies – Book 2
Murder and other sinister goings-on at a vacant 1800’s era ope
ra house in Morelville and a modern-day property developer that wants to raze the historic building for his own gain have the residents of the village all tied up in knots and Faye Crane trying to play savior to history.
Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi are back in a second Morelville cozy mystery. This time, sinister goings-on including the discovery of a dead body at a vacant late 1800’s era opera house in Morelville have the residents of the village all tied up in knots. When what first appears to be an accident turns out to be murder, the duo of meddling mothers quickly gets enmeshed in another round of crime solving. It doesn’t help that, everywhere they turn, a property hungry developer with more money than sense, wants the land the building sits on and he’ll seemingly stop at nothing to get it.
Is there really another killer in their midst? Is the same person responsible for all of the strange occurrences? What will it take to make the crimes stop, make a developer go away and to save the historical building for future generations?
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Three multi-eBook boxed sets of the first 8 of the Morelville Mysteries works by Anne Hagan are also available for purchase.
The Morelville Collection is an eight eBook set that includes all of the full length Morelville Mysteries novels featuring Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi.
The Morelville Mysteries Full Circle Collection is a five eBook set that contains the first four Morelville Mysteries novels and an exclusive Companion Guide that is only available with this set.
The Morelville Mysteries: Books 5-8 Collection is a four eBook set that contains the most recent additions to the ongoing Morelville Mysteries series.
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Anne also writes romance...lesfic romance!
Broken Women
Can two women, unlucky in love, find solace in each other?
Where do you go when you lose everything? Who do you turn to next when nobody seems to want you for more than a causal fling?