DEAD AS a DOORNAIL

by Tonya Kappes

  “Jarrett as in the rifle company?” Finn asked.

  “Yeah. He sent in a shot of a ten-point buck he caught last fall to the company using one of their rifles. They contacted him and did a big spread in their magazine,” Art said and took the bottle of whiskey being passed around. He took a drink and passed it to Finn. “The article got picked up by many more hunting magazines and they did a big photoshoot with him and Alma. Bosco was so knowledgeable about hunting and guns they started paying him to write articles for them. It was good money too.”

  “Were Bosco and Lucy Ellen having an affair?” I asked.

  “Hell no,” a few of them men said collectively.

  “What about Darnell and Alma?” I asked.

  “Never. Darnell and Lucy Ellen were having financial problems, but nothing such as cheating.” Art looked at Danny. “Lucy Ellen was caught taking money from the fund. We didn’t press charges, and that’s when Bosco had asked me and Danny to come down here and put in a few Lift cameras.”

  “Those cameras hunters put in the woods on trees and stuff. They’re disguised and designed to work in any condition.” Finn was surprising me for a city boy. “I saw something about that on the local public television station.”

  “They’re pretty neat, but expensive.” Art nodded.

  “Do you have the footage for the camera?” I asked.

  “Cameras. There’s several. But yes, I have the technology to bring it up on my phone.” Art pulled out his phone from this camouflaged jacket.

  He used his finger, tapping his phone a few times before having everyone pass the phone down to me.

  “Those are six cameras and you can click on the one you want to watch or watch all them at once,” he said.

  “Can we go back to the night Lucy Ellen was killed?” I asked.

  “Yep. Just hit the three bars in the right corner and adjust the calendar to when you want. Technology is crazy nowadays.” He wasn’t lying.

  “Do you mind showing Finn all of Darnell’s stuff you’ve bagged as well as the cabin he and Bosco shared?” I asked.

  The next hour or so, I played with his phone and went back to the times Max had narrowed down Bosco’s time of death. My eyes might’ve been tired, but I didn’t see anyone leave the camp the entire time. Which made me believe that if Bosco didn’t kill himself or his wife, whoever did this had nothing to do with the hunt club.

  While I watched the camera footage, Finn got a lesson in hunting and a tour of the cabins. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Darnell and Lucy Ellen had been having financial issues.

  “Did you find anything?” I walked over to Finn.

  “Nothing with Bosco.” He took an envelope out of his back pocket. “I did find this in the cabin. It’s a letter from the bank saying their account was overdrawn by one thousand dollars.”

  “Bosco’s account?” I couldn’t read it in the dark.

  “No. It’s addressed to Lucy Ellen and Darnell Lowell.” He leaned in. “Do you think Darnell killed Lucy Ellen over money?”

  Our eyes met. We stared at each other for a second before I decided it was time to wrap this up.

  “Did any of you see Bosco or Darnell leave the night Lucy Ellen was murdered?” I asked and handed Art his phone back.

  All of them shook their heads and a few of them yawned. It was getting late.

  “Gentlemen.” I walked around and gave each one a firm handshake. “Thank you for your information. Again, we are sorry for your loss.”

  “Can you send us a copy of the camera tape that the sheriff watched?” Finn was so good at collecting evidence.

  “Sure will.” Art nodded.

  The flashlight showed us the way back along with a few lingering lightning bugs. In a couple of weeks, those cute fireflies would be long gone and not show up again until next summer.

  “It’s sad that Lucy, Bosco, and Alma will never see another firefly.” My words disappeared into darkness and broke the silence on our walk back. My phone rang out and nearly scared me to death. “It’s Max.”

  We stopped shy of the clearing where the cars were parked.

  “What’s going on, Max?” I noticed the time was well into the night.

  “Some of the forensics came back, and I’m sorry to tell you that there’s no way Bosco Frederick killed himself. From the path of the bullet, I can tell it wasn’t from close range, nor was it from his gun.” Max only confirmed what I was thinking.

  “Thanks, Max. Can you send over what you’ve got so far?” I asked.

  “What’s up?” Finn asked on our way across the clearing to get back in the Wagoneer.

  “He just confirmed that Bosco didn’t pull the trigger. He was shot from afar.” My mind went back through the crime scene.

  The pictures in my head clicked between the kitchen table where Alma was found with wet nails and where Bosco was found lying halfway out the back door with the gun stuck in his hand. “Duke digging up the fingernail polish,” I said.

  “Are you doing that whole talking to yourself thing?” Finn questioned me as I started up the Jeep.

  “Darnell and Alma were having an affair. She knew he killed Lucy, but she was still in competition with Lucy Ellen even after Lucy’s death. He gave her the polish.” My words trailed off. Then I looked up. “He killed Alma because she was going to come forward that he killed Lucy Ellen.”

  “And Bosco came home early from hunting, catching them off guard. Darnell keeps a gun on him with his conceal and carry. He pulled his gun and shot him, while Alma was sitting at the table dying,” Finn suggested.

  “On his way out, he buried the nail polish. Duke has been to the salon with me and he’s been scratched on the head by Tina so much that he knew to find the familiar scent.” I gulped and picked up my phone.

  It was nearly midnight.

  “I think Darnell killed Lucy Ellen because of money,” Finn hit a nerve in my intuition, making me stiff.

  “I went to the bank and Vernon told me Darnell had come in to check on his retirement account, but after Lucy Ellen died, he came in to get some money out of their savings to pay for a funeral for her. Vernon said Darnell was shocked to learn that Lucy Ellen had cleaned out that account a few weeks prior.” I took a left off the dirt road and headed straight down Cottonwood Station Road.

  Finn took out the envelope and opened it.

  “This is dated a week ago.” Finn continued to read. It had to be the account Vernon was talking about.

  “I think our version of mine and my poppa’s what-if game is turning into what happened.” I looked at the big moon hanging overhead, hoping Darnell was looking at it because it was the last night that he’d be standing under it as a free man.

  Chapter Twenty

  The Wagoneer was the most uncomfortable place to try and sleep or at least rest my eyes. After the late night in the woods and after I’d dropped Finn off, I just couldn’t sleep. I’d even stayed outside throwing Duke his ball into the fresh night air.

  The thoughts about Darnell killing Lucy Ellen and the Fredericks made so much sense. The conversations I had with him over the past four or five days continued to haunt me. The things he’d say about how much he loved her and how was he going to survive without her made me think it was all a ploy for me to feel sorry for him. It scared me when I found out from the guys that he was going to skip town, so I decided I was going to do a stakeout.

  Duke was my sidekick and we’d sat out in front of Darnell’s house all night long. There was a U-Haul parked out front and a few lights on in the house. I’m not sure when he turned them off because I did doze off and got a crick in my neck.

  Duke perked up and so did I when I saw his front door open.

  “I dare you to get in that truck and take off,” I warned him under my breath.

  He walked straight past the truck and headed right
to me. His eyes bore into the Jeep. I almost reached in the back to grab my rifle off the backseat because I was stupid enough to have left my utility belt at home.

  “Sheriff.” He handed me the cup of coffee in his hand. “Thought I’d bring you a cup of coffee. You deserve it after sitting here all night long.”

  “That obvious?” I shook my head in fear he’d poisoned the cup like he did the fingernail polish.

  “I figured it was a matter of time before you thought I killed Lucy. Especially since there was tension between me and Bosco.” He took a drink of the coffee, making me regret not taking it.

  “So you don’t mind if I call Deputy Vincent here to sit with you while I check a few things out?” I knew I wanted to go to the bank when they opened at nine this morning to check out his 401(k) and see if he’d cashed it in.

  “Not at all.” He held up the cup again. “You sure you don’t want me to get you another cup while you wait?”

  “No thank you.” I was suspicious of how nice he was being.

  As he walked away, I called Finn.

  “Good morning.” His voice made my heart skip a beat. “Want to come down for a cup of coffee?”

  “I’m sorta not home.” I knew he was going to be mad on a boyfriend level that I’d been on a stakeout, but happy that I’d thought of it on a professional level.

  “You what?” His words were drawn out after I’d told him what I’d done and why I’d done it. “I’ll be right there.”

  And he was. In no time I was on my way to the bank, only I knew they wouldn’t let me in. Duke had his appointment with Bloomie at ten and I knew they opened up around seven thirty on Saturday. I’m sure Faith wouldn’t mind if I dropped him off and then went to the bank.

  Duke hopped out of the Jeep and ran straight up to Pet Patch’s door. When he heard the moo come from the bell, he howled. I heard Faith laugh from the back.

  “Hey, Kenni.” She waved to me with a pair of shears in her hand. “Back here in the grooming department. Come on back.”

  Duke darted around the shop looking for Bloomie and decided Faith was good enough for right now. With another good scratch, he headed back into the shop.

  “I’m a little early,” I said.

  “That’s fine. Duke’s a good boy. He’ll just hang out in here with me and Bobo.” She pointed to the mini-poodle and walked over to the counter. She opened the cabinet. “Just the regular wash, flea bath, and dry?”

  My eyes focused on the contents of the cabinet.

  “Is that fingernail polish?” Poppa appeared next to Faith. “I swear that’s the same fingernail polish that Tina Bowers makes.”

  “Kenni?” Faith called my name. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I snapped out of the stare and watched as she opened the polish and started to paint Bobo’s fingernails. “I didn’t realize you painted dog nails.”

  I walked over to the framed license on the wall. There was one for her and one for Bloomie. The dates caught my attention.

  “Didn’t you say that your license was expiring soon and you just went to the pet expo to renew it?” I recalled what she’d told me when I asked her about Lucy. “It looks like Bloomie’s was just renewed and you did yours a couple months ago.”

  When I heard the glass of the nail polish knock against the steel counter Bobo was standing on, I turned around.

  “I think I’d like to see those airline tickets with your name on it.” I watched her reaction with a keen eye.

  “I…um...” She hem-hawed around for a second and then opened a drawer up. “It’s in here somewhere.” She shuffled papers and reshuffled them. When she looked up at me, her face was as white as I thought a ghost’s face would be. But not Poppa’s.

  I knew right then and there that she was the killer. I felt for my holster and realized for the second time this morning that I’d left my holster at home. “Why did you kill her? Why did you kill Alma and Bosco?”

  I kept my eyes on her hand as she slid it across the table and grabbed the shears, the very pointy shears.

  She brought her hands to her sides.

  “Do you know how hard it is to make a go of a business in a small town? When someone like Lucy Ellen Lowell decides to get mad, she takes out her anger on me and my business. I had to listen to whispers and deal with people staring at me. People who bought animal products from me started going to Dixon’s Foodtown to purchase items.” Nervously, she took the shears and dragged them back and forth at her thigh, cutting her khaki pants and drawing blood. “The last time I’d gone to Tiny Tina’s, Alma Frederick was in there. She apologized to me for Lucy’s behavior and she told me how they’d stopped being friends. When I went to the Chamber of Commerce meeting last month, I overheard Vernon say that Lucy Ellen Lowell was spending money like crazy.”

  She lifted the scissors up to Bobo. My immediate reaction was to pummel her to the ground, but without my own weapon I stayed still.

  “Don’t hurt Bobo.” My voice was stern.

  “Idiot. I’m grooming him.” She cut a big chunk of fur and it floated to the counter. She cut another chunk.

  “Why did you kill them?” I asked in a very calm voice.

  “When you came around here the other day questioning my whereabouts, I knew you weren’t on the trail of Darnell. I’d planned it so well. But you were so stupid. I can’t believe I voted for you.” She snarled. “I knew I had to kill Alma too. With all the rumors going around, I knew if I killed her it would appear that the rumors about Darnell and her were true. It was her husband that I didn’t expect to come home.” She took a step back from the grooming table and pointed the sheers at me. “I don’t even know if Tina remembers telling me how to make polish because it’s been so long ago. Years in fact. When I told her I was painting my clients nails, she gave me her little tip on making nail polish. It was perfect for me and easy to break into her shop and make the nail polish. After I put just enough cyanide in my Perfectly Posh, conveniently I left the bottle in Tiny Tina’s. There’s so much junk back there, I knew she wouldn’t notice an extra bottle, much less the cyanide bottle.” There was a very satisfied smile growing across her face.

  I heard Duke’s nails clicking on the tile floor of the shop getting closer and closer.

  “Ah, Duke.” Her eyes lowered as she looked towards the sound of the clicking. “I never figured he’d find the polish I’d buried at the Fredericks. He’s a hell of a lot smarter than you.”

  “Here boy.” Poppa came in ahead of him and called for him. Duke was the only one other than me that could see my Poppa. “Get it!”

  “Glad I got this little guy.” She bent down and lifted up the hem of her pant leg, exposing a small handgun. She unclipped it out of the ankle strap and when she stood up, she put the gun on the counter with her hand positioned perfectly for firing.

  Duke walked in. His nose went straight up in the air and I could tell his eyes focused on that nail polish next to Bobo. My instinct kicked in and so did Duke’s. Both of us lunged at the same time. He went for the nail polish and I went for gun.

  Faith scattered after it too, but I grabbed it before she got it, and Duke grabbed the polish. Poor Bobo was yipping and yelping, shaking in fear.

  “Hold it right there!” I yelled and pointed Faith’s gun at her. “Don’t you move a muscle because I have no problem putting a bullet in your leg, arm, or chest.”

  Duke looked between Faith and me. He dropped the bottle and stiffened, giving Faith a low growl.

  “Good boy. Good boy.” Poppa danced around behind Faith.

  Little did she realize that Duke was growling at Poppa to play with him even though he looked like he was going to attack her.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Faith dropped her head and began to sob.

  One week later. . . Wedding Day

  The week leading up to Polly’s wedding wa
s one filled with forgiveness and fluff. The forgiveness was between Tina Bowers and me. By all rights, she’d been a fraud for many years under the fake certificate that said she was a massage therapist. Like I told her I would, I went before the judge with her charges. Luckily, she was only given a hefty fine and had to prove that she was now a legal therapist. Unfortunately, the judge also took away the shop’s certification to do massages for one year, but she could still do manicures and pedicures. On the upside, she wasn’t going to the state pen.

  Then there was Darnell. He was sad and lonely. He’d not only filled Lucy’s big shoes at the SPCA, he ended up adopting a dog that seemed to keep him busy. He named her Lucy. He even stepped in to fill the open president’s position at the Hunt Club. He was going to be okay after all.

  We’d all gone to Faith’s sentencing, where it was decided she’d spend the rest of her life in the state penitentiary for the murders of Lucy Ellen Lowell, Alma Frederick, and Bosco Frederick. She said at the sentencing that she’d done all of Cottonwood a favor by getting rid of Lucy Ellen and that we should thank her. I thanked the judge for locking her up.

  Another person I had to make amends with was Mama. She’d worked so hard to have such a nice bridal supper for Polly the night I’d skipped out. This week nothing made Mama more happy than going with me to my final fitting at Blanche’s, a girl’s day at Tiny Tina’s getting the manicure I’d missed the night of her house, and fixing supper for me and Finn a couple of nights that included things that didn’t feed my happy fat.

  Finally, I made amends with Polly Parker. With the murders solved, I made sure that I was at her disposal all week long. I took every single phone call from Tibbie and every text message from Polly.

  Even the frantic one the afternoon of the wedding.

  “You’ve got to get over here right now.” Polly was crying on the other end of the line.

  “On my way.” I groaned and got up from the couch.

  It was so hot today, the squirrels were putting suntan lotion on their nuts, as my poppa would say if he were here. He’d not been around all week, which told me he still was only my guardian ghost during an active murder investigation.