A Murder State of Mind Boxed Set

by Jude Pittman

  Krystal opened the door as much as the length the chain allowed and peered through the crack at the two men outside.

  "Miss Krystal Davis?" Gus held out his identification card.

  "Yes." Krystal released the chain and swung open the door. "Come in, please."

  "Thank you, ma'am." Gus stepped past her. "I'm Detective Graham and this is Kelly McWinter. Perhaps you recognize him?"

  "Yes." She closed the door. "From the flea market."

  "That's right. I brought him along in case there's anything we need to clarify about what happened on Saturday."

  "I see." She turned and led the way along the hall into the living room. "This is Penny, my roommate."

  "Ma'am," Gus acknowledged the introduction.

  Penny nodded and quickly averted her eyes.

  "Will you have a seat?" Krystal offered.

  Kelly selected a straight back chair.

  "There's no need to be nervous about this, Miss Davis." Gus sank into a large armchair. "We'll just have a little chat about what happened out at the flea market."

  Kelly’d always admired the way Gus handled an investigation. He had that “Y'all-just-set-yourself-down-a-spell-and-chat” kind of atmosphere down pat. It worked every time. If someone had guilty knowledge, Gus' approach put them at ease and made them careless. If they were innocent, it kept them happy and made for good police relations.

  "Do you want to know why I was out there?" Krystal asked.

  "I've heard what the lawyer said but I'd rather hear it from you. Just take your time and tell us what you remember."

  "I suppose you've already found out she was my mother?"

  "I understand you were estranged." Gus smiled to soften the remark.

  Krystal glanced over at Penny then turned to speak to Kelly. "You must think I'm a fool after what I did out there."

  Kelly shook his head. "You looked like you were having a rough time of it."

  "We both understand your feelings," Gus said, pulling her attention back to his question. "Don't worry about what we think. Just tell us in your own words what happened after you decided to try and find your mother."

  "It's a long story and hard to explain but I'll try."

  Speaking softly, dragging the memories out of her past, Krystal told them about her father's suicide and her mother's disappearance, her attempts to trace her mother, her uncle's refusal to discuss the past and her decision to hire a detective. Finally, she talked about her trip to the flea market and her abortive attempt to speak with her mother.

  "It was horrible." Her hands clenched into fists. "This nasty, little man came in the shop while I was watching. He bumped into me and nearly knocked me off my feet. Then he went up to my mother and gave her this brown paper bag. And then my mother opened the bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. I was horrified. And every time I think about my mother guzzling out of that whiskey bottle, it makes me sick to my stomach."

  She shivered and Kelly felt it in his stomach. God, she reminds me of Lynda. He gave himself a mental shake and focused his attention on Gus.

  "I understand," Gus said. "You don't have to go into any more detail. I take it seeing your mother drinking out of the bottle was what prompted you to rush at her the way you did?"

  Krystal nodded. "I wanted to get the bottle away from her. Like that would’ve changed anything."

  Gus scribbled rapidly in his notebook. "Okay, I don't think we need to go into that any further. What about after you left the flea market? Did you come straight back to the apartment?"

  Krystal nodded. "I didn't want anyone to see me. I drove home as soon as I’d pulled myself together enough. I talked to Penny for a few minutes. And then I took a couple of sleeping pills and went to bed."

  "You were home when she got here?" Gus turned to Penny.

  She nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor. "Krissie come home, cry long time. She take pills. Sleep all night."

  "I see." Gus turned back to Krystal. "I wonder if you can help me fix the times. Kelly here thought it was about five when you had your encounter with Anna. Does that seem right?"

  "I guess so. I didn't really notice. It was after four when I got to the flea market but it took me awhile to get the courage to approach my mother. Why? Is it important?"

  Gus ignored the question. "Do you remember what time you got home?"

  "I don't know." She shook her head. "I couldn't drive at first. I sat in the car and cried."

  Gus looked at Penny.

  Keeping her eyes on the floor she said. "I look at clock very much. Seven o'clock, Krissie come home."

  Gus sat forward in the chair and spoke to both of them. "Then you spent the evening at home, is that right?"

  "I think it was about eight-thirty when I went to bed." Krystal's voice was strained but she answered without hesitation. "I got up once to go to the bathroom. Penny was watching television."

  "Is that right?" Gus turned to Penny. "You spent the entire evening watching television?"

  Penny bobbed her head up and down. "I am quiet. Watch television very late. Maybe three in morning."

  "Then you confirm Miss Davis' statement that she was home all night."

  "Krissie sleep long time. No get up."

  "Well, you've both been very helpful. Now, there's just one more thing. I wonder if you could identify this." He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and removed the bright red scarf.

  "That's my scarf!" Krystal stretched out her hand. "I lost it at the flea market. How did you get it?"

  Gus pulled his hand back. "It's difficult to tell you this but it can't be helped. I'm afraid I'll have to keep the scarf for a while because the murderer used it to strangle Mrs. Davis."

  Krystal gasped and dropped her head. Blond hair spilled forward and covered her face. She didn't make a sound but her shoulders started shaking.

  Penny jumped up and ran to her side. "No, Krissie. Not your fault. You lose scarf."

  Krystal lifted her head and stared at Gus. Her eyes were watery and her voice trembled. "That filthy little man who was talking to my mother—the one who gave her the whiskey. Maybe he took it."

  "What man? Can you describe him?"

  "I didn't really look at him. He smelled like fish. He was short and his legs were bowed. I don't remember his face. I just didn't notice. I was looking at my mother."

  Gus shifted himself out of the armchair. "You've been very helpful. I'm sorry we had to stir up unhappy memories but I appreciate your frankness. I'll leave my card and if you think of anything else, I'd appreciate a call."

  Kelly stood. "I'm sorry." Krystal raised her eyes. "Maybe I can give you a ring later. I knew Anna pretty well. If you'd like to talk about her, I'd be happy to share what I know."

  "Thank you," she said. "I'd like that."

  "You know the guy she was talking about?" Gus asked as they walked back to the car.

  "Bubba. But if you think he had anything to do with strangling Anna, you can forget it. Bubba couldn’t lie worth a damn if his life depended on it. Shows all over his face. I’ve talked to him about it a couple of times, not just once. If he was hiding something about Anna's murder, I'da damn sure known."

  "Greed does strange things to people," Gus said. "We're already checking him out anyway. One of your Creek people told us Bubba had a falling out with Anna over some fish camp he wanted to buy."

  "Frank Perkins, of course." Kelly sighed. "If there's any shit to start you can always count on Frank. Sure, Bubba and Anna’d been talking about buying a fish camp for a long time. They had words that night but it was booze talk. Anna was temperamental when she got to drinking and Bubba knew it."

  "I'll keep that in mind." Gus pulled his car up beside Old Blue and turned to face Kelly. "I'm running a check on everybody out there, especially the ones hanging around the Hideaway that night. If I come up with anything, I'll give you a call. In the meantime, keep your ears open and let me know what you hear."

  "Will do," Kelly said. "And thanks for the
ribs. Next time, they'll be on me."

  Kelly didn’t hit Indian Creek till after ten but he knew Cam would be waiting for news, so he stopped at the Hideaway. Leroy and Marty played cribbage at their usual table. Otherwise, the bar was empty. Kelly sat on a bar stool and Cam reached in the cooler for a Budweiser.

  "Anything new?"

  "Gus found the mystery woman." Kelly propped his arms on the counter. "She wasn't much help though."

  "I see." Cam's face dropped.

  "It's not hopeless. She gave us a couple of leads I'm going to follow up. That's more than I had before I went there. Krystal—that's her name—is Anna's daughter and from what she had to say, I' got an idea Anna's past could stand some looking into."

  "I'll be damned." Cam's eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief. "I never figgered Anna for having a kid. How come she never came around before?"

  "Seems Anna took off when Krystal was seven and left her with her grandmother. Krystal hired a detective a couple weeks ago and he tracked Anna down."

  Cam frowned. "There was a fella named Boscon nosing around out here. He claimed to be writing a story for some fishing magazine. I wondered about him at the time. He asked a lot of questions and most of them had nothing to do with fishing."

  "That's the guy. He told Krystal about Anna's stall at the flea market and she came out to look. She was waiting for a chance to talk to Anna when Bubba showed up with a bottle of whiskey."

  Cam grinned. "Sounds like Bubba."

  "Yep! You know how Anna was. She tipped the bottle right there in her stall and started guzzling. Seems Krystal snapped when she saw that. She tried to grab the bottle and fell into Anna's chair."

  "Do you believe her?"

  "Yeah. Her story pretty much jives with what I saw. It's her family situation that's got me curious. Krystal always wondered what happened to her mother, I mean, who wouldn’t? But nobody in the family would talk about it. All she knows is that her father committed suicide and her mother disappeared the same night."

  "Sounds like a can of worms."

  "Got a nasty smell all right. So I'm planning to dig around in the past a bit and I think I'll start with her husband's suicide."

  "Maybe Anna killed him."

  Kelly shook his head. "I doubt it. The police are damn good and thorough when one of the rich crowd commits suicide. What I can't figure is why Anna walked out on his estate the way she did."

  "That doesn't sound like Anna."

  "That's what I mean. She was tight about money. I'd have expected her to fight like a tiger to hold onto what was hers."

  "I always had a feeling there was something strange about Anna moving here."

  "What do you mean strange?"

  "You weren't around when she first came to the Creek. She was a real looker then. Lots of class. Most of us thought she was running away from a bad marriage. Funny! I knew her damn near eighteen years and she never talked about her past."

  "Anna knew how to keep her mouth shut." Kelly set his beer can back on the counter. "I'm going to call it a night now but don't give up hope. I offered to meet with Krystal and tell her what I know about Anna. She seemed to like the idea, so I’m hoping we can get together."

  Chapter Nine

  First thing Wednesday morning, Kelly called Krystal's number.

  “Krystal, Kelly McWinter. If you’re sure you’d like to talk about your mother—I was thinking dinner? Tonight?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Where’d you like to go?”

  “Surprise me. Seven?”

  “See you then.”

  Kelly turned to Jake after he hung up and grinned. "Looks like I've got me a date. I wonder where I ought to take her. Maybe Martini's out on the lake. They've got a great view and the tables are set up nice. The food's good too."

  Jake shoved his head against Kelly's leg to keep him scratching and Kelly laughed. "You'd pay more attention if it was a female shepherd I was talking about, wouldn't you, boy? I'll give Martini's a call, then we'll go for a walk. And remind me I still gotta talk to Frank, okay?"

  There was a crisp chill in the air and they set a fast pace toward the Hideaway. The grass along the roadside had faded to brown and the trees were in full fall finery. A couple of pickups honked as they passed and Kelly waved. At the top of the hill, a car pulled up beside them and stopped.

  "Getting your exercise?" Gus leaned his head out the window.

  "Good for the paunch." Kelly grinned and patted his flat stomach. "What are you doing out this way?"

  "One of the boys searching Anna's cabin turned up a metal box. Looks like it's been rifled pretty good, too. I'm going over to take a look. You want to come along?"

  "You bet. Okay if Jake rides?"

  "Sure. Let him in." Gus motioned to the back seat.

  Kelly settled Jake and folded himself into the passenger side. "Any sign of a break-in?"

  "Nope. Whoever did it was real good or had a key. Know any possibilities?" Gus took his eyes off the road and gave Kelly a sharp glance.

  "Well, Bubba, of course, but I can't see him searching her cabin. Maybe she left the door unlocked. That's not uncommon out here."

  "Could be but it still gives me one more reason to have a little talk with your friend Bubba."

  "Why don't you let me talk to him? Bubba's always been straight with me. If he knows anything, I'll let you know and you can pull him in for an official grilling."

  "I dunno. I'll think about it. Let's take a look inside first. Maybe you'll notice something out of kilter. You been inside before, haven't you?" Gus pulled up in front of a small pine slab cabin. The front door stood open, a deputy framing the doorway.

  "Sure, but I never paid much attention to what she had in the place."

  "Howdy, Fred," Gus greeted the deputy. "Where's the box?"

  "Over here, sir." The deputy led them into a small, wood-paneled bedroom. The bed was shoved aside and a floorboard was pried up, leaving a hole in the floor. A green metal ammunition box sat on the floor next to the hole. "You can see the lock's been pried off." Fred pointed to a small padlock hanging, still locked, on the lock plate of the box. "Looks like somebody used a pry bar on it."

  "What's this stuff?" Gus indicated a pile of papers stacked alongside the box.

  "The thick one's her will. The rest of it's all financial stuff—stock reports, bonds, the works. There's a couple of bank statements. Wait'll you get a load of the balances on them suckers."

  "Have the lab boys finished going over the place?"

  "Yep. They wrapped it up just before I called you."

  "Okay. I'll take things from here. You and Mike head back in. I'll bring the papers along when I'm done."

  Gus picked up a thick envelope stamped as 'Last Will and Testament’ in dark fancy calligraphy. He pulled out the Will and scanned the pages.

  "Take a look at this." He handed the will to Kelly. "Except for a couple of bequests, she's left the whole lot to Krystal. Of course, since we know she's the daughter, that's natural enough but read the third paragraph."

  Kelly scanned the page to find the passage Gus had indicated. "In the event that my said daughter, Krystal Marie Davis, is not living at the time of my death, or is prevented for any reason whatsoever from claiming the proceeds of my estate, I designate my good friend and companion, James Bubba Tate, to be the recipient of the residue of my estate."

  "Nothing strange about that." Kelly handed the document back to Gus. "Bubba and Anna been together a long time."

  "Looks like she left a nice chunk of change." Gus swept his arm across the stack of papers spread out on the floor.

  "Yeah, well, there's always been talk about Anna having money hidden away out here. I knew she was smarter than that." Kelly picked up one of the passbooks. "Seems she was a pretty shrewd investor."

  "I wonder if Bubba knew about this."

  "What difference does it make?" Kelly shrugged. "Krystal's very much alive and she gets the bundle. Now if Krystal had been th
e one murdered, you might be justified in wondering about Bubba."

  "Providing nothing happens to Krystal between now and when they probate the estate."

  "Horse shit."

  Gus let out a chuckle, then folded the will and put it back in the envelope. "Don't get your tail in a knot. I'm just looking at all the angles. I'll tell you something I am wondering about. I don't see any sign of that note your friend Cam was so het up about. That strikes me as odd. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to find with the rest of this stuff. You got any ideas?"

  "I don't know." Kelly frowned. "Maybe Bill Shipton's got it. Do you want me to ask Cam?"

  "No. You stay away from him. I'll take care of that end. Go have a talk with Bubba. Find out what he knows about this will and that scarf. I'm going to dig around here awhile. I'll get back to you later tonight or in the morning."

  "Okay. If it's tonight, you'll have to leave a message on the machine. I've got a dinner date with Krystal."

  "Didn't waste any time, huh?"

  Kelly blushed. "She's a nice kid. Besides, I want to find out a little more about the Davis clan and what happened between them and Anna."

  "Just watch your step. The Davises are in a position to cause me a few headaches and I don't need that right now."

  "Don't worry. I won't cause any flack. I'll slip a few pointed questions into the conversation and watch her reaction. If she gets skittish, I'll back off."

  "Yeah, you make sure you do that. Now get the hell out of here and let me do some work."

  Kelly stepped out the door and whistled. Jake bounded out of the woods and they headed down to the creek.

  The bait house was deserted but the door was open, so Bubba wouldn't have gone far. Kelly leaned back in a chair and propped his feet against a fish tank. It was relaxing inside. Once you got used to the smell.

  Before they'd found the metal box, Kelly hadn't been too concerned about what Bubba was holding back. Now he needed to know what it was but Bubba was inclined to be touchy when you questioned his word. Kelly pondered his approach while he waited.

  Bubba walked in and stepped over to the fish tank with a large pail in his hand.