Kill Devil Falls

by Brian Klingborg

  Helen closed her eyes, mentally ran through scenarios:

  Rita knows the heat is on. She ditches Larimer, flees to Kill Devil Falls.

  But Kill Devil Falls is the one place where Rita was sure to be recognized by almost everyone, even after sixteen years away. She must have had some reason for coming here, other than seeking a place to hide out.

  Okay. Rita heads to Kill Devil Falls with some plan in mind. But before she can complete it, she’s discovered, placed in custody. Larimer follows. Fearing that she will testify against him, he springs her and kills her.

  But then, afterwards, why doesn’t he just leave?

  Helen dug through Jesse’s pockets. She examined his hands, his shoes, inside his shirt. That mark on his neck was bizarre. Two hemispheres, purplish punctured flesh, definitely looked like a bite. Was Larimer a biter? There were no similar bite marks on Rita’s body. Weird.

  She sat on the edge of the bed by Rita’s feet. Think. Why did Larimer go to the trouble of dragging Rita into the woods instead of just killing her in the jail? Did he mean to take her with him, but she fought and then he killed her? Maybe.

  Or maybe he was buying time. A few minutes with Rita, without the threat of being seen.

  Yes. That made sense.

  Helen left the guard room, closing the door behind her.

  Teddy was sitting behind the desk, boots propped next to the lantern. Lawrence sat cross-legged in the doorway of his cell.

  “What were you doing in there?” Teddy asked.

  Helen opened the front door. “Just a sec.”

  “Where you going?”

  She descended the porch steps, walked to the Charger. She opened the passenger’s side door, retrieved the plastic bag from the car seat. She carried it back into the jail, shut the door, dumped the contents of the bag onto the desk.

  Marlboro Reds; a cheap lighter; a gold ring; a gold crucifix on a chain; a Samsung cell phone; a pair of sunglasses; a watch; a small plastic flashlight; a roll of bills held together with a rubber band.

  “This is what she had on her when you caught her?”

  “That’s right. You and I filled out the paperwork together.”

  Helen removed the rubber band from the roll of bills, fanned the cash.

  “About eight hundred bucks,” she said. “No more?”

  “That’s it.”

  Helen pushed the bills together into a stack, rolled them up, slid the rubber band around them again. She put everything back into the bag.

  “Let’s say you’re Rita. If you’re going to run out on your robber boyfriend, with whom you’ve stolen thousands of dollars, do you just grab a wad of eight hundred bucks before you head out the door?”

  “Hell, no,” Lawrence said. “You take it all.”

  “No one asked you,” Teddy growled.

  “He’s absolutely right,” Helen said. “You take it all. What have you got to lose?”

  “Nothing, I guess,” Teddy said.

  “So where’s the money, then?”

  Teddy shrugged. “In her car?”

  “I think Rita came up here to hide it,” Helen said. “To stash it where she figured it would be safe. And she did just that. But then got caught before she could get out of town.”

  “Maybe. Could be.” Teddy scratched his beard. “So then, Larimer follows her—”

  “He’s after the money.”

  “Right.” Teddy said. “And when he gets here and finds Rita locked up, he hauls her off into the woods to smack the location of the money out of her!” Teddy popped up from his chair, bobbed with excitement. “Then he kills her and cuts the electricity so he can grab the money under cover of darkness.”

  “A logical scenario,” Helen said. “Except that Rita wasn’t beaten before she was murdered.”

  “Okay,” Teddy said. “Maybe Larimer still had a soft spot for her and couldn’t bring himself to hit her. Or maybe she told him right away, so he didn’t have to.”

  Lawrence chimed in. “If she told him where the money was, why didn’t Larimer just go get it? Why’d he make a detour to beat on Mr. Patterson?”

  “Shut up, Lawrence,” Teddy said. “This is official police business.”

  “He’s right again,” Helen said. “I have the exact same question.”

  “Well … ” Teddy shrugged.

  “Do you think … ” Helen started. “Is there any way Mr. Patterson might have known Rita and Lee Larimer? Any possible connection?”

  Teddy snorted. “No way. Not that I can think of, anyway. I mean … far as we know, Rita ain’t never been back since she left sixteen years ago. And Larimer … well, don’t think he’s ever been to Kill Devil Falls before today.”

  “There’s obviously something linking them,” Helen said.

  “I don’t believe so, Marshal. Can’t see how that’s possible.”

  “One way to find out. Let’s go ask Mrs. Patterson.”

  Teddy sighed. “My dad told us to stay here.”

  “Aren’t you getting sick of not knowing what the hell is going on? Don’t you want some answers?”

  “I doubt Mrs. P has any answers for you, Marshal.”

  “Worth a try,” Helen said.

  “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

  “I’m doing it anyway.”

  Teddy spat in the can, wiped a dribble off his beard. He drummed his fingers on the desk.

  “If you’re going, I need to go, too.”

  “Why? To keep watch over me?”

  “If my dad catches us running around, I’ll catch hell. But it’ll be lots worse if he finds out I let you go alone.”

  “My goal isn’t to get you in trouble, Teddy.”

  “It’s gonna happen anyway.” He pushed himself up from his chair. “I’m gonna insist, if we ain’t here to watch him, we lock Lawrence in the cell.”

  Helen looked at Lawrence. Back at Teddy. Teddy was not going to budge on this one. “Okay.”

  “No, no way!” Lawrence protested.

  “I’m sorry, Lawrence. We won’t be long,” Helen said.

  “You’re gonna leave me here with two dead bodies?”

  “Easy, Lawrence.”

  “No!”

  “Take a deep breath.”

  “No fucking way!”

  “Tell you what.” This was a horrible idea, but Lawrence appeared on the verge of completely losing it. “You wanted a drink, right? We’ll get you one. Something to calm your nerves.”

  The fear in Lawrence’s face shifted to something else. A lean, predatory look.

  “Can you get … can you get some Wild Turkey?”

  Helen turned to Teddy. “Teddy … Could you grab a bottle from your house?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  “We don’t got no Wild Turkey.”

  “Whatever you have is fine,” Lawrence said quickly.

  “Marshal … ” Teddy said.

  “Please, Teddy,” she said.

  “Good lord!” Teddy drew the flashlight from his belt, opened the front door, slammed it behind him.

  “Go sit on the cot, Lawrence.”

  “Don’t lock me in! Not until I get that bottle.”

  “I won’t. Promise.”

  Lawrence went into the cell and sat down, the springs on his cot squeaking.

  “And don’t leave me in the dark. Let me keep the lamp.”

  “Deal. But it has to stay outside the cell.”

  Helen moved the lantern to the floor in front of the cell door. After a long wait, Teddy returned, his fingers curled around the neck of a Jack Daniels bottle. He brusquely handed it to Helen.

  “Here.”

  “Thanks.”

  She gave the bottle to Lawrence. “Let me get you a cup.”

  “I don’t need a cup,” he said, hugging the bottle to his chest.

  “All right.”

  She took the key from the wall, closed the cell door, locked it. She hung the key back on its hook.


  “Lawrence wants us to leave him the lantern,” she told Teddy.

  “We’re supposed to walk around town with just our flashlights?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Helen picked up the plastic bag with Rita’s belongings and they went out onto the porch. Teddy locked the jail door, snapped the key back onto his gun belt.

  “Think you could open up the lockbox in the Explorer?” Helen said. “I’d really like to get some ammo for this gun.”

  “Sorry, Marshal. If my dad wanted you to have the ammo, he’d have given it to you.”

  “Come on, Teddy. What’s the use of having a gun if you don’t have any bullets?”

  Teddy shrugged.

  “Teddy … ”

  “Don’t worry, Marshal.” Teddy patted his revolver. “I got you covered.”

  “Great,” Helen said through clenched teeth.

  She returned the bag to the passenger seat of the Charger. She tossed her cell phone on the seat next to it. The phone was of no use up here. She and Teddy set off down Main Street.

  The jingling of Teddy’s keys was beginning to wear on Helen’s nerves. She fumed silently about his refusal to let her load the Taurus during the long, cold walk to the Trading Post. When they reached the entrance, she flashed her light across the street, up and down the length of the transformer pole.

  “Wasn’t your dad supposed to be working on the electricity?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t see him. Or Frank or Mike.”

  “Maybe they finished.”

  “If they were done, Teddy, the lights would be on.”

  “Well … got me.”

  Helen tried the front door of the Trading Post. As before, locked.

  “I’m going to go in through the back. Why don’t you wait here while I talk to Mrs. Patterson—see if your dad or Frank and Mike show up?”

  Teddy tugged at his chin. “We should stick together.”

  “Suit yourself. Hope you like dead bodies. Lee Larimer’s sitting right at the top of the stairs, reeking like a county fair porta-potty after a chili cook-off.”

  “Ugh.”

  “Just warning you.”

  “I’ll wait here. Be quick.”

  “Will do.”

  Helen trotted down the alley, around to the back door. She slipped inside the vestibule. As she started up the stairs, her foot brushed across an object on the floor. It was the paper bag, filled with the items for the bushing. The sheriff hadn’t even come by to collect it. What was he doing if not fixing the lights?

  Helen climbed the stairs, skirted Larimer, stood at the end of the hall. Candlelight glowed from the open doorway of Mrs. Patterson’s room on the left. Broken bits of bathroom door still littered the floor. Helen knocked lightly on the closed door to her right.

  “Mrs. Patterson?” She opened the door.

  A shapeless lump lay on a sagging brass bed. Candles flickered.

  Helen tiptoed over to the bed. Mrs. Patterson was tangled in the coverlet, dressed in a white gown. She snored softly. A line of drool trailed from the corner of her mouth.

  “Mrs. Patterson?”

  No reaction. Just snoring. Helen saw a nearly empty glass of wine and pill bottle on the nightstand. She picked up the bottle, read the label. Valium, as the sheriff had mentioned.

  She set the bottle down, leaned over, pressed two fingers against Mrs. Patterson’s neck. She felt a strong, rapid pulse. The old gal was out cold but seemed to be fine.

  She jiggled Mrs. Patterson’s shoulder. No response.

  “Mrs. Patterson?”

  It was useless. Short of having a bucket of cold water dumped on her face, Mrs. Patterson wasn’t going to be answering any questions for quite some time.

  Helen left the bedroom, shut the door behind her. She navigated around Lee’s body, back down the stairs. She passed through the restaurant and market, unlocked the front door, exited onto the sidewalk.

  “How is she?” Teddy asked.

  “Sound asleep. But listen—I found the bag of stuff I collected for the transformer. I don’t think your dad bothered to come by here at all.”

  “That’s strange. Where is he, then?”

  “Let’s go ask Frank and Mike if he stopped by.”

  Teddy bit his lip. “I think we should get back to the jail.”

  “Aren’t you worried? What if something happened to him?”

  Teddy hitched his gun belt. “All right, Marshal. Let’s talk to Frank and Mike.”

  As soon as Helen left, Alice Patterson sat up and wiped the drool from her chin. She’d been fully conscious the whole time the marshal was poking and prodding her. Just didn’t feel like talking.

  She picked up the bottle of Valium, tapped two tablets into her palm. Her hands still trembled. She’d lived anything but a sheltered existence, but Lee Larimer’s attack was by far the most terrifying experience of her life. She upended the tablets into her mouth, washed them down with the dregs of her wine.

  She opened the bedroom door, checked to make sure the coast was clear. She couldn’t help but glance at the landing where Lee Larimer’s body sat, head covered with a tarp, blood and brain matter crusted against the wall. Goddess, what an ordeal. The house was ruined now. Tainted.

  She made her way down the hall, poked her head into the second bedroom.

  “I’m sorry, my loves,” she told the snakes on the floor. “Give me just a moment and I’ll have you back in your homes.”

  Alice shut the bedroom door and continued on to the kitchen. She peered out the front window, just in time to see Helen and Teddy walk off down Main Street.

  She should have considered the possibility that Larimer would know where to find Rita and come after her. But she hadn’t, and now it was chaos out there. Big Ed, Teddy, and the marshal scurrying like rodents around in the dark; Frank and Mike unsupervised, like a couple of dogs who’d dug their way out of the kennel and were too dumb to stay off the highway; Jesse pistol-whipped and carted away.

  She was troubled that it was Helen and not Teddy who’d come to see her. That meant one of two things. Either Teddy did not have sufficient control of the situation. Or he was winging it.

  In Alice’s opinion, Teddy was about as sharp as a marble. If he was putting himself in the driver’s seat, it was only a matter of time before the bus went over a cliff.

  As Helen and Teddy marched toward Frank and Mike’s trailer, breath steaming in the cold, a suspicion began to take root in Helen’s mind. She glanced at Teddy. He kept his eyes focused on the circle of light from his flashlight playing along the ground in front of his feet. He wasn’t going to like it.

  The generator outside the double-wide trailer chattered noisily and a bright light leaked through the window blinds. Teddy halted.

  “Hey, give me a second with them, okay? Can you wait here?”

  Given their last interaction, Helen assumed Frank would be less than pleased to see her.

  “Okay,” she said.

  She stood with her hands in her pockets while Teddy walked over to the trailer, banged on the door. She heard him say, “It’s Teddy.” The door opened. Frank looked out, glared at Helen, down at Teddy. They had a quiet but intense conversation. Mike appeared in the doorway over Frank’s shoulder. They spoke for a long while. Teddy hitched up his belt, looked back over his shoulder at Helen, then shook hands with Frank. Frank shut the door and Teddy trudged back.

  “My dad didn’t come by here,” Teddy said.

  “It took you five minutes of discussion to find that out?”

  “They wanted to know what was going on.”

  “Did you tell them?”

  “Not much. Just enough to convince them to stay in the trailer for now.”

  “So where do you think he is, Teddy? Big Ed?”

  “No idea. I hope nothing bad … ” His voice trailed off.

  Helen took a deep breath. This was going to be tricky.

  “Teddy, let’s think about this. Right now, we’ve got two s
uspects for Rita’s murder. Lawrence and Lee Larimer.”

  “Yeah. And you don’t believe Lawrence did it.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “What about the knife in his car?”

  “Until we get forensics to test it, we don’t know anything about the knife.”

  “He says it ain’t his. That’s kinda suspicious, right?”

  “Yes, it is. But what if … whoever killed Rita planted it there? As a red herring.”

  This was met with silence.

  “You know what a red herring is?” she asked.

  “Yes, Marshal. I ain’t stupid.”

  “I know you’re not stupid, Teddy.” She rubbed her hands together nervously. “I just don’t think Lawrence had sufficient time or motive for killing Rita. And aside from the knife, we didn’t find any evidence implicating him. So let’s put him aside for a moment.”

  Teddy zipped up his jacket, shuffled his feet in a bid to stay warm.

  “Now, if Lee Larimer was the killer, how would he know to plant the murder weapon in Lawrence’s car?” Helen continued.

  “Maybe he saw Lawrence leave the Trading Post before the rest of us and thought he could pin it on him,” Teddy said

  “Possible. That’s a good thought. So how did he get into the jail when it was locked?”

  Teddy shrugged. “Key’s missing.”

  “Yeah, but it’s unlikely either Lawrence or Larimer had any idea where to find the key.”

  “I don’t know the answer, Marshal.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t Lawrence,” Helen said. “And it wasn’t Larimer. Maybe it was someone else. Someone who was aware Rita was in town, had access to the jail key, knew Lawrence well enough to set him up as a potential suspect. Someone who wasn’t present at the restaurant when the murder occurred.”

  “But we was all there, except for Lawrence, Larimer, and … uh … ”

  She let him process it.

  “No,” Teddy said. “No way.”

  “It fits the facts, doesn’t it?”

  “No!”

  “Sure it does.”