by Tonya Kappes
“I’ve got it.” I shot Finn a look. “I’m just waiting for Mr. Lamb to finish before I tell him how this is going to go.”
“Is that right?” Wally Lamb asked and folded his arms across his chest over his fancy suit.
“That’s right. I’ve arrested your client and if you’d like to stay for some questioning, you may do so per the law.” I grabbed a tape recorder out of my desk drawer. “This is my domain. I was elected by our peers and citizens to do a job. I’m going to do that job whether you, Mr. Lamb, like it or not.”
“Fine. Proceed,” he said with a smirk. “Don’t worry,” he assured Sean.
“If I was alive, I’d show that boy how to treat a woman and use good manners.” Poppa huffed and puffed.
“Scott, can you pull the desk closer to Mr. Graves?” I didn’t want it all to be so formal, but Wally left me with no choice. Finn helped him with the desk and finished up by putting the chairs next to the cell.
“Please state your full name,” I told Sean after I’d pushed record.
“Sean Howard Graves,” he said loud and clear.
“I think we can lose the formalities,” I paused to receive an agreement from him. “Can you tell me how it came to be that you adopted Leighann?”
“About eighteen years ago, Jilly had come to town looking for a job. She had an infant daughter. My daddy had an opening in the office and he gave her a job. Over the course of a few years, I’d grown fond of her and Leighann. She’d bring her to the office and my family tended to the baby like she was our own.” He took a gulp. “I fell in love with them. When I asked her to marry me, I swear it was the happiest day of my mom’s life. She and my dad were so happy.”
“I wish I could say that he’s putting on an act, but I clearly remember how much they loved her and Leighann. They were happy.” Poppa had softened on me.
“Yep, sounds like a killer to me.” Wally threw his hands up in the air.
I shot him a look. He turned away from me.
“How long have you been taking Ambien?” I asked.
“Recently after Leighann and I had gotten into a fight and she said she was going to move out, I couldn’t sleep because I wasn’t sure where she was, and I knew I had to let her fly in order to let her survive.” He looked down at his hands as he clasped them together. “I knew where she was the whole time. I would follow her around in my car so I knew she was okay. I even knew that Angela Durst had taken her in. I was waiting her out.”
“What about the night of the dance? I saw the look on your face when you saw her and Manuel cozied up next to the punch bowl. You didn’t look happy.” This was the beginning of the end from what I could tell.
“Leighann had come over to the table upset because Rachel had made fun of her for staying in Cottonwood. I was mad because this was the exact reason I wanted her to go to college and get an education. People made fun of me all my life for taking over my parents’ tow company. Even though they need me, they still turn their noses down. I couldn’t imagine a world where Leighann would live and her peers treat her badly,” his voice trailed off.
“That does make sense,” Poppa said and made me wonder whose side he was on. What happened to him telling me that he’d have my back when I was in the bathroom?
“When Leighann got home, you and she had a fight. She said she was going to find out who her real dad was and you got mad, slipped her one or two of your sleeping pills before you let her get into her car and drive off.” My voice escalated before I went in for the kill, “When you realized she didn’t die in the crash, you drove your tow truck, put her car in the river after you’d unbuckled her and put her keys in her pocket.”
“Are you crazy?” He jumped up and squeezed his face in between the bars.
“Sheriff, you have a very active imagination.” Wally clapped his hands. “I’m gonna have to give you an award for a big imagination.”
“How do you explain the fact that her car seat was pushed back to the exact height you’d be sitting down or the exact distance you’ve got between the pedals on your personal tow truck to the seat? It’s the exact same measurements.” I opened the folder and took out the photos and the measurements from both. “And how do you explain this?”
“What is that?” Wally picked up the photo I’d taken from the mileage log and the photo of the odometer from his tow truck.
“Mr. Graves’s tow truck that he uses wasn’t logged properly. The missing miles is the exact mileage it takes from his shop to Chimney Rock and back.” I smacked my hand on the desk.
“Wally? Aren’t you going to stop her?” Sean protested, shaking the bars.
“Sean Graves, you got mad at Leighann for wanting to search for her father. You got mad at Jilly for filing for divorce and you were seeking revenge. Jilly even said you two’d not been sleeping in the same bed. You killed Leighann Graves and you just need to save the poor citizens our tax dollars and just admit it.” I didn’t let up.
“Bravo!” Wally Lamb clapped and laughed. “Like I said, you have a very active imagination. Now, if you don’t mind. I think Betty said we’ve got a bond hearing.”
Betty sat bug-eyed and speechless at her desk with her mouth dropped wide open. Slowly she nodded. Her mouth closed, opened, closed and popped open again.
“That’s it?” Sean looked between me and Wally Lamb. “You’re not going to say anything?”
“I’ve got plenty to say. Before the judge.” Wally tipped his head. “See you in a couple of hours.”
There was complete silence until Wally Lamb walked out of the door.
“That’s it?” Sean shoved off the bars. “What kind of coo-coo lawyer is he?”
“He’s right.” I walked back over to the cell. “The judge will give you a bond and Wally will bond you out. Then he’ll start to put together a case for you.”
Not that I wanted to let Sean know anything, but he did still have rights.
“Kenni, do you honestly think I killed Leighann?” He eased down on the cot. “The night she went missing, I told you that I went to Chimney Rock to look for her. I didn’t go that night. I jumped into my tow that morning after Manuel came by saying she wasn’t with him. I’d completely forgotten to put the mileage in the log.” He bent over and rested his forearms on his thighs. “Jilly and I had been going to marriage counseling. She met with Wally Lamb at Ben’s Diner to tell him that we were staying together and not going through the divorce.”
“That’s good to hear.” Poppa was a sucker. He ghosted himself next to Sean on the cot. “Poor Jilly has been through enough.”
It took everything in my person not to just fly off the handle at Poppa, but I couldn’t risk everyone seeing me and thinking I was the unhinged person in the room.
“We left the dance and that night I slept in our marital bed. You can ask Jilly. I didn’t move until Manuel knocked on the door. I didn’t kill Leighann. I loved her. I raised her. And I’m not proud of the wrongful things I’ve done to my wife and daughter, but I am seeking help for that.” He wiped his hand across his face and dropped his chin to his chest. “I love my girls.”
“He didn’t do it.” Poppa hopped up. “Go back and talk to the Liberty boy.” Poppa tapped his temple. “Something ain’t right. Something’s off.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Sheriff, what are you doing here?”
I was surprised to see Beka Durst answer the Liberty’s front door. By the look on her face, she was as surprised as me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her back.
“I’m waiting on the Libertys to get back from the memorial. I told them I’d hang out here.” She shrugged.
“I’m shocked you’re not at the memorial,” I said and wondered why the Libertys were still at the memorial when Sean and Jilly had gone home and I’d arrested him.
“I’m not really good with all that dead stuff. I mean, I
loved Leighann and all, but it wasn’t like we were great friends.” Her eyes slid down to the casserole carrier.
“I’m dropping off one of Mama’s chicken pot pies.” I held the handles of Mama’s casserole carrier that she made during a craft night at Lulu’s boutique. “Do you mind if I put it in the kitchen?” I asked because if I didn’t take it out of the carrier and bring it back to Mama, she’d freak out.
“Not at all. They’ve been getting a bunch of food.” She walked away from the door and I walked in. “Everyone feels bad for Manuel. It wasn’t like they were married or anything.”
“Are you friends with Jonathan?” I asked, knowing that she was a senior and so was Jonathan, figuring they were in class together. Plus, I’d seen them at the tree farm.
“Ummm.” She shrugged again on the way to the kitchen. “Not really. I was more friends with Manuel than Jonathan. That is, before he started dating Leighann.”
Okay, I wondered to myself, did she have a thing for Manuel? I let the thoughts swirl around in my head like they were marinating while I sat the casserole carrier on the kitchen table and took out the foil pan with Mama’s chicken pot pie in it. There was book bag next to a monogrammed purse with Beka’s initials on it. Upon deeper inspection, something else in her bag caught my eye.
“It’s great that you’re here for Manuel,” I said, stopping Beka in her tracks. “Is that your purse?”
“Mmmhmmmm,” she hummed. “Juanita got it for me from Lulu’s Boutique. I mean, Mrs. Liberty.”
“I really like it.” I picked it up to disguise that I wanted to knock over the bag and see if I saw what I thought I saw. “I’m so sorry,” I gasped for effect when the bag went tumbling to the ground when I picked up the purse. All the contents fell out, even the emergency kit with Leighann’s initials on it.
She scurried over and tried to grab all the contents and throw it back in the bag. I snatched the first aid kit from her.
“Who knows, maybe the two of you can date now that Leighann is out of the way.” I held up the kit in front of her face.
My body language reading skills kicked in, but so did Poppa’s commentary.
“Did you see that?” Poppa appeared next to Beka. “Her jaw. It tensed. And... “he pointed at her. “Her chest is rising.”
“His mother would like that,” she said in a low voice as she stood up. “Juanita didn’t like Leighann. Neither did Manuel’s brothers. She really didn’t deserve him.”
“That’s why you killed her, so you could date him.” The pieces were falling into place, though when I sized her up, she wasn’t as tall as my calculation from where the seat in Leighann’s SUV had been moved. “You had access to Graves Towing and the Ambien prescribed to Leighann’s dad.”
“I don’t mean no disrespect.” Beka opened a counter drawer and shuffled through it like she was looking for something. “I don’t think you understand the connection me and Manuel had before Leighann came along.”
“Why don’t we head on down to the station and sort this out?” Now I wished I’d had on my uniform or at least my gun strapped on my utility belt instead of in my bag, which did me no good since I left it in the Wagoneer.
“No, I can’t do that.” Her eyes darted around the room. “I mean,” her head twitched, “you obviously know.”
“What do I know?” I questioned so she’d calm down. She looked like a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.
“You know I killed her.” Her shaky hand outstretched in front of her as she pointed at me.
“I’m not sure of it. And if you did, I’m sure we can work this out.” I took a step towards her. “I get it. You were, are, in love with Manuel. Trust me.” I put my hand in the air when I noticed she shuffled to the opposite side of me. I wanted to gain her trust. “If someone tried to take Finn away from me.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’d do.”
“She wasn’t taking him from me. I was taking back what’s mine. What we used to have before she flaunted herself at him at the towing company after he’d found out his mama was sick.” She started to cry. “Juanita had told me that she wished he’d dated me. All those times Sean kept Leighann away from Manuel, Manuel came to me.” Beka’s nose flared as the words came out of her gritted teeth. “He told me that we could go off to college and forget this town. I had it all planned out.”
“Did the two of you date?” I asked, trying to bide the time for her to get comfortable with me.
“No, but we would’ve if it weren’t for her. I’d given her a few months to show her nasty side to him. When she decided not to go to college, I knew that I had to get a plan to set him free. If she wasn’t around, we could get out of Cottonwood and begin our lives.”
She walked over to the window to look out.
It was a perfect opportunity to slip my phone out of my pocket and quickly hit Finn’s phone number. “Manuel and his family will be back soon. I need to be sure I’m here for him and continue my plan.”
“He’s going to need you.” I’d slipped the phone with the speaker side up in my front pocket. “The Sweet Adelines will probably be stopping by soon.”
“Those nosy old coots.” Beka rolled her eyes.
“They are, but they have a good heart, just like you.” I tried to soften my facial features, so she’d start to trust me, but the fact I was the law wasn’t helping none. “I just don’t understand how you did it.”
“Leighann was upset and I texted her to meet me at her house. I’d gotten my mom’s keys to the towing company and knew if I could get in there, I’d be able to get Sean’s sleeping pills.” She smiled, her eyes narrowed, and it made me sick to my stomach. “Kids nowadays are soft. You know? They like to take the easy way out. I knew if it came out that Sean was abusive, and she and Manuel were having problems, then it was a no brainer to look like she’d hurt herself.”
“So, she slipped her a mickey, huh.” Poppa swept up next to her and got real close. “How did she get the car in the lake?” Poppa asked.
“Exactly how did the SUV get into the water?” I asked.
“I’d seen her throw her phone at Manuel when she got mad and left the Moose. I knew she didn’t have it on her. I asked Manuel to get her a fountain Cherry Coke from Ben’s since it was her favorite and when she came to his house, she’d be all goo-goo eyed. Little did they know that I’d been to Ben’s earlier with my mom and gotten a Cherry Coke fountain drink with no ice to-go. Cherry Coke was Leighann’s favorite. When she showed up to meet me at her house, I’d already slipped a couple of the sleeping pills in her drink.” There was a certain look of pride on her face as if she’d completely gotten away with it.
“After we talked, I pretended to get a text on my cell and told her it was Manuel. He said that if I’d seen her to tell her to go to Chimney Rock like they used to when they were younger. It was their secret rendezvous place.” She crossed her hands to her heart. “It was a perfect place for her to die and now we can have our own rendezvous spot.”
“She drove there?” I still hadn’t connected how the back-side panel had been found so far down the road.
“I didn’t realize how fast the sleeping pill was going to work. My plan changed after I followed behind her to Chimney Rock. She fell asleep at the wheel and when the car went around one of the curves, it went off the road and bumped a tree just enough for the panel to fall off.” She rolled her eyes. “Her stupid car was stuck.”
“Did that kill her?” I asked.
“No,” she said abruptly. “If it had, I’d’ve left her there. But I had to make sure she was good and dead. That’s when I decided that I was going to have to put her in the river. I drove back to her house and used my mom’s keys to get into the tow company where I got keys to one of the tow trucks. It actually turned out better than my original plan because I loaded her car up on the tow and then just backed up on the boat ramp and dumped the entire car
in the river.”
“That’s why the car seat was moved so far back because this here nut job is taller than Leighann.” Poppa was standing next to her sizing her up. “You can take her. She’s a pipsqueak.”
“You moved her out of the driver’s seat?” I asked, hoping all the details were going on the recorder of the phone.
“I shoved her after I got the car towed to the boat dock.” Beka tsked.
“What is it with these young kids today? Just want what they want and take it,” Poppa said with a disgusted tone.
“How did the keys get in her pocket?” I asked.
“That was a bit of a rookie move on my end,” she said non-chalantly like we were just two buddies having an afternoon sweet tea. “Before I went to get the tow truck, I turned off the car so no one would see the exhaust because it’s so cold with that storm coming.”
“There’s not going to be a storm!” My voice escalated. I was sick and tired of hearing this junk about the storm. Apparently, my voice scared her and she ran past me, shoving me to the side.
“Don’t make me do this!” I yelled, running after her.
It was the worst thing in the world to get into a pursuit and with a kid.
Before she’d made it to the front door, I leapt into the air and tackled her to the ground.
She was sobbing, but I had to hold her like a tied hog or she’d run again. I flipped her over to her front and with my knee jammed deep in her back, I realized I didn’t have my cuffs. Quickly I looked around and saw the coat tree. I jerked a belt from one of the coats and used it to wrap around her tiny wrists.
She was just a kid. Too bad, she had her whole life in front of her until this crime of passion over took her sense of emotions.
“Beka Durst, I’m arresting you for the murder of Leighann Graves. Do you understand me?” I asked her. There was nothing but sobs escaping her limp body. “You have the right to remain silent, though I’ve got it all on my phone. Anything you say can and will certainly be used against you in the court of law.” I jerked her up to stand and continued reading her the Miranda rights. I grabbed my phone off the floor on our way out.