by Tonya Kappes
“Not another word about the weather while you are in my department because we’ve got to focus on solving what happened to Leighann Graves.” I sucked in air to fill my lungs and slowly let it out. A relaxation tip that Tina Bowers had given me a few months ago when she said I needed to get rid of stress.
“Then let’s get started.” Finn and Scott gave each other a strange look but I chose to ignore it because it wasn’t worth getting into. “What’s your thoughts?”
“My thoughts are that she was placed in her car after she’d passed out or died. Something. Her Mama insists that she always wore her seat belt.” I talked as Finn wrote under Leighann’s name. Duke realized we weren’t leaving and he got back in his bed for another nap. “The keys were in her pocket.”
“Did she have a reason to end her life?” Scott asked.
“That’s what I was saying before.” I hated for this motive to leave my mouth, but I couldn’t help but remember that in the academy they always said that more times than not, people were murdered by the hands of a loved one. “Leighann had a very rocky relationship with her dad.”
He moved his hand over to the motives section under Sean’s name.
“Jilly confessed that Sean did use some physical attempts to get his point across.” I didn’t want to say it. It was so hard for me to wrap my brain around.
“He was an abuser.” Scott did a much better job getting it out. “Jerk.”
I proceeded to read off my notes, so my words wouldn’t be biased. The internal feeling I was feeling for Sean Graves was not kind. I wanted to make sure this investigation went by the book and me not be accused of harboring hard feelings towards him.
“You mean to tell me that he admitted to striking his daughter?” Finn asked. “I’d never thought it.”
“Me either, but I could tell something was off. I mean all those times we went there. Manuel once said to me that he had to get her out of the house. That stuck with me. I wonder if that’s what he was talking about.” I had to see Manuel again.
I would question him when I went back out to question Juanita.
“I want you to put Manuel’s brother on the list too. Jonathon did pull that gun on Sean.” I didn’t like hearing how he’d used a gun to get a point across and I’d make sure he had gun permits.
Most of the residents of Cottonwood packed heat. That wasn’t an issue at all, it was the ones that didn’t have the right permits that bothered me most.
I wrapped up the information I’d gotten from the Sean and Jilly and that included the confrontation with the Graves.
“This is like modern day Hatfield and McCoys.” Scott rubbed his hands together. “Dude, why didn’t you tell me this was the good stuff instead of how we sit around the reserve.”
“You never asked,” Finn replied.
It never dawned on me that the two of them knew each other until this exact moment.
“You two know each other. Huh.” I felt my jaw drop and my eyes lower before I quickly brought them back to their normal position.
“We would pass each other in the halls but never worked a case until now.” Scott was a lot more excited than Finn.
“Glad you are here. We expect you’ll be just fine while we are gone.” I turned back to Finn and smiled. This had been a long time coming and I couldn’t wait to meet his family.
“We ready to go?” Scott jumped to his feet.
“Whoa, buddy.” Finn put the top back on the marker. “It doesn’t work that way around here.”
“Right. First, we have to get the report back from Max that proves Leighann’s murder is a homicide. If the report comes back, which I expect that it will, then we go and start asking questions.” It was the small-town way of policing. It took Finn a lot of months to figure that out when he was hired to be my deputy. I too believed in my gut and followed my instinct, but since my Poppa was here, I really trusted my gut.
“On my rounds in the morning, I’ll go back the funeral home and see if Max has anything unless he calls first.” Sometimes he did call first, but I’d yet to hear from him. “Depending on if he has any new information will determine my day and who I see. For now, I’ve got to get to the church and Finn’s got to get Duke home.”
“What do I need to do?” Scott asked.
“I’m guessing you can go on back to the hotel.” I knew we’d put him up at the Tattered Book and Inn down the street. “Or you can go help us set up.”
“I think I’ll grab a to-go dinner from Bartleby and go get some sleep.” He pushed himself up to standing. “I’ll be here in the morning.”
“Thanks for all your help today. You got thrown into the fire and I really appreciate you taking care of Sean.” It was hard for me to even think we were so nice to him now, but I stood by the innocent until proven guilty.
He was guilty of that since he admitted to it and that didn’t make me happy.
“No problem. I kinda wish I wasn’t so nice now.” He only said what we were all thinking.
While he got his stuff together, Finn and I both cleaned up our desks and did a few here and there chores to tidy up the place to get ready for tomorrow.
“Do you really think Sean did it?” Finn asked as soon as Scott closed the door between the department and the restaurant.
I walked over and locked the door.
“I think the families had a feud between them and given time, I’m not so sure Leighann and Manuel would’ve stuck it out.” I walked up to him and put my arms around him.
“Do you think she was tired of being in the middle? She was tired of trying to figure out where she was going to rest her head next?” He looked down at me. “She put the SUV in neutral. Once the car was somewhat submerged in the front, she put the car in park and took out the keys.” He acted out the movie playing in his head. “Then she climbed in the back of the SUV in a little bit of a panic because she realized what she was doing wasn’t right and climbed to get out and stuck the keys in her pocket, it was the point of no return and she drowned.”
“You big dummy.” Poppa appeared. “No. That’s not what happened.” He put his hands under each armpit and started to walk around like a chicken, flapping his elbows in and out. “He’s lost his mind. We hear you cluckin’ boy, but we can’t find your nest.”
Poppa walked around Finn and me in circles, clucking and doing his chicken dance. My nose started to flare like it did when I tried not to laugh out loud. My lips pinched in between my teeth, but I let go on his last cluck and busted out laughing, taking a step backwards.
“Kenni, honey?” Finn cautiously asked. “Are you okay?”
“Don’t you honey, my Kenni-Bug.” Poppa’s clucking and chicken dance had stopped, and I got my composure together.
“Finley Vincent.” I forced myself not to laugh. “It’ll be our luck if this darn weather system does dump on us.” I turned it around to make him think I was laughing like a crazy person.
“Now you’ve got that stinkin’ thinkin’.” Finn used my own phrase on me. “Where’s my little optimistic girlfriend?”
“I guess I’ve heard everyone that I’ve encountered today say something about this snow and it’s starting to sink in my soul.” Now I was back to thinking about that dumb weather forecast.
“We will be able to drive to the airport and get on that big bird that’ll take us all the way to Midway Airport.” He was good at trying to reassure me. “They won’t ground the planes.”
“You are my hero.” I curled up on my toes and took his promise with a sealed kiss.
My phone chirped from my back pocket and I grabbed it. It was a text from Max Bogus.
“It’s Max.” I showed my phone to Finn. “He’s got a preliminary report ready.”
“Let’s go.” Finn read my mind. He patted his leg. “Let’s go, Duke.”
Chapter Eight
“Is Max
working late?” Finn asked when we turned down Main Street towards the one-stop shop funeral home.
“I recon.” As sad as it was, death still came without being murdered and from what I’d heard last night, the grim reaper had come to take a few of our elder citizens during the holiday. “Seems that he’s all full up with funerals, so he must be doing the autopsy when he has moments throughout his day.”
Finn stared out the window. He had his left hand planted over Duke’s body. My goofy dog had positioned himself between the front and back seat of the Jeep.
Finn put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to love my family. They are already going to love you. My sister has told them all about you.”
“I’m excited too.” I sucked in a deep breath and tried to ignore that I suddenly realized I wasn’t going to be home for the tree lighting. My stomach started to hurt.
“Feeling sick?” Poppa appeared in the back seat of the Jeep. Duke squirmed his way back next to poppa. He wagged his tail with glee. “Home sick?”
My eyes slid to the rear-view mirror and I stared at my Poppa. His eyes were soft. He always knew when I wasn’t feeling well, even emotionally.
“What’s wrong, boy?” Finn turned around in the seat and snapped his fingers for Duke to come so he could pat him. When he continued to bounce on Poppa’s lap, Finn looked all sorts of confused. “Is he feeling okay?”
“He’s fine. I swear he does weird stuff like that all the time in here and at the house.” I watched in the rear-view mirror as Poppa pat on and scrubbed up under Duke’s chest, sending the dog into a full-on howl. “Maybe he sees my Poppa’s ghost or something.”
Poppa’s head jerked up and he looked at me in anticipation that I was going to tell Finn our little secret.
“I’ve heard dogs and kids can see things we can’t. I’m not sure I can get behind that concept or not.” Finn shrugged it off, letting me know that he wasn’t quite ready for my secret life. I swallowed the lump in my throat, wondering if he’d ever be ready.
Poppa’s shoulders slumped, and I peeled my eyes away from the mirror.
“I believe in spirits.” It was a topic we’d never brought up. “I think...”
“Alright. Seriously? Right before we go into a funeral home full of dead bodies. I’m getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.” Finn grabbed his thermal mug out of the bean bag coffee holder and flipped the lid to take a drink. “You bringing this up now is just going to make me more on edge.”
He reached up and turned the knob on the radio to make it a little louder.
“Good morning, Cottonwood. DJ Nelly coming at you this morning with some sweet sounds of this time of the year. The hustle and bustle can bring out the worst in us, so be sure to be kind. After all, Christmas is only a few days away and it looks like it’s gonna be white.” DJ Nelly had to’ve planned playing “White Christmas”.
I hit the off button on the radio.
“You don’t love ‘White Christmas’?” Finn looked at me. “You sure are getting cranky. Are you sure you want to go to Chicago? Because you don’t have to.”
“No. I’m fine.” I shook my head. “It’s just that I don’t want to jinx our trip and all this talk of snow and all the memories of how much fun a white Christmas around really is,” I shook it off. “It’s all just getting to me. That’s all.”
I put the shift into park after I pulled up behind Max’s hearse.
“Kenni,” Finn put his hand on my leg. “Really, honey. If you want to stay here, we can.”
I bit the inside of my jaw so I wouldn’t say anything.
“I know you want to go to Chicago. But I also know you love tradition. I truly think it’s born and bred in you Southern women.” His gaze softened and he smiled, making my insides explode with how lucky I was to have him in my life.
“Puh-leeeeeese,” Poppa’s sarcasm dripped. “I used that old song and dance on your granny.”
“You were saying?” I asked and ignored Poppa.
“Why don’t we have a nice romantic dinner tomorrow night and you tell me all about the traditions you love. This year you can experience my traditions. Then next year, me and you decide on what traditions we want together.” His words were so sweet and kind, my heart fluttered.
“That sounds really good, but I’ve got my weekly Euchre night with the girls. They’re already mad I’m not doing our annual White Christmas movie. If I skip out on Euchre night, I might not have any friends when we get back from Chicago,” I said.
“Okay. That’s fine.” He got out of the car. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Does that mean he’s going to be around for a while?” Poppa asked.
“I hope so,” I said back to Poppa before I got out of the Jeep with my bag in one hand and Duke trotting alongside of me.
“Right there.” Poppa pointed to one of the windows of the outside of the funeral home.
“Yes. Right there you laid in corpse.” It was something that I wrestled with every time I came to see Max, even on unrelated issues.
“You know that every Sims before me was right there in that window. You’ll be there too.” He tapped his temple. “Do you think if you asked Max, he’d agree to put a plaque up underneath that window with our name on it?”
“I don’t think so. All the Harrisons have laid there, not to mention the Ramseys and Browns.” It wasn’t like we were special. “When there’s no other competition in town and there’s only a couple of windows where the casket will go, it’s not that special.” I muttered with my head looking down at the ground so Finn would think I was talking to Duke.
“Hhmmm.” Poppa stood outside the window and looked at it like a shrine. Duke sat down next to Poppa.
The two-story brick home had been an old house that’d been transformed into the only funeral home in Cottonwood. There were two large, ceiling to floor windows in the front and our family had always been laid out in that one particular window.
“We better get in there because I’m limited on time.” I tapped my watch.
“Come on, Duke,” I called when I got to the steps. He wasn’t budging from sitting next to Poppa in front of that darn window. It looked as if Duke was paying some freaky homage to that window. “Come on,” I called a little bit louder and clapped my hands together.
“Woooooo.” Finn wiggled his fingers at me and did some sort of ghost call. “Maybe he sees one of them spirits you believe in.”
“Stop it.” I smacked his fingers away in a joking manner. He stepped inside the funeral home and I left Duke outside. It wasn’t like he was going to go anywhere. Everyone around town knew Duke and he would find his way around the town or sit on the porch to wait for me.
We headed inside, and a chill swept over me. No matter how many times I’d come in here, and the fact that I actually had a relationship with a ghost, this place still gave me the heebie-jeebies. Going to the morgue wasn’t at the top of the list of things I liked to do as Sheriff.
The morgue was in the basement. The upstairs of the funeral home was worlds different than the morgue. The funeral home had warm carpeting, richly painted walls, antique furniture and the large crown molding. The morgue had concrete floors, swinging metal doors and steel tables. The entire thing was just one big, cold room.
I looked through the small port window in the swinging doors that stood between me and Max. He was standing over Leighann’s body.
I tapped my fingernail on the glass. Max’s head jerked up and when he noticed me, he waved us in.
There was no denying that there was something so strange and eerie when you were in the presences of the deceased all laid out in their Sunday best clothes.
Finn’s shoulders shook, and he did a little jump in the air when we passed the first room on the left.
The sound of a drill and clink of metal told me that Max was hard at work.
<
br /> “Are you going to be okay?” I asked Finn before we stepped into the room where I could see Max from the little port-hole window in the door.
“I’m fine.” Finn’s man-ego appeared, which was rare. “I saw Leighann yesterday. Like all the others.”
Seeing a dead body at the scene was much different than on the table at the coroner’s office, cracked wide open and with all sorts of tubes draining all that fluid.
“Good evening, Max,” I said and pushed into the door with Finn behind me. I plucked a couple of gloves from the box and snapped them on my hands. I held the box out to Finn for him to get some. “Finn?” I waved a hand in front of his blank face. “You’re white as a ghost.”
I took a quick look around to see if Poppa was there and Finn had seen him.
“Finn!” Max dropped one of his metal instruments on the tray next to him and ran over, catching Finn right before his head smacked the floor. “Finn?”
Max shook him by the shoulders.
“I’m guessing he’s still not used to being in a morgue,” Max said with a bit of entertainment.
“Remember the reserve officers are pampered men of the law,” I joked and grabbed the smelling salt for Max to crack open and swipe under Finn’s nose. “Here,” I took off my jacket, though I knew Max kept the temps in here nearly freezing, but poor Finn needed a pillow. “Wad this up and put it under his head. He’ll be fine.”
About that time something beeped. It was like a cow poker to Max’s back-end, and he jumped. He almost dropped Finn’s head on my flat coat.
“I’ve been waiting for this report.” He scurried over to the fax machine. “I contacted Tom Geary last night and wanted to get his take on it.”
“On what?” I asked and walked over to Leighann.
Finn had gotten to his feet and was drinking a glass of water Max had gotten for him.
Outside of the V cut Max had performed on her and the tubes draining out of her, she looked like she’d been sleeping. Her long red hair had dried since she had been pulled out of the river. It laid around her in long waves. The kind of waves women paid a lot of money to get from a fancy salon. I rested my hand on her hand that was lying at her side and said a little pray to myself. I noticed a small heart tattoo on the fatty part of the underside of her thumb.