Murder by Kindness

by Barbara Graham

  Tony thanked the doctor for giving them an easy answer to solving at least part of the timing mystery. Any information would help him decide if he needed to close the area as a crime scene or not. Carrying a small bag containing an emergency change of clothes and hoping to remove some of the stench, he walked around the outside to the kitchen. There he found Theo sitting on her perch, spreading personal papers and pictures out to dry on the counters. “Did you call the plumber?”

  Theo shook her head. “The county came out and turned off the water. The postman knew there was flooding. I didn’t even think about calling in a plumber. I was interested in having less water, at least until now. No water means no plumbing, and I really need a bathroom. I do know Nina has used DuWayne’s plumbing services in the past.” She grabbed her keys. “I’m going down to Kwik Kirk’s before I embarrass all of us. Keep an eye on things.”

  Tony nodded his understanding and called DuWayne Cozzens on the phone. “Would you come out to Nina Crisp’s home and see if you can tell what caused the water to destroy so much and about how long ago it might have started?”

  DuWayne agreed to make it his first priority. Well, second. He’d drive up right after he reassembled Mrs. Purdy’s toilet. “First things first, you know.”

  “I believe we can wait that long.” As he unbuttoned his shirt, Tony was impatient but realistic. He’d lived around women most of his life. There wasn’t a single one of them who was forgiving of a non-functioning toilet.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Vince from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation took Tony’s call. “Don’t tell me, Sheriff, but let me guess. Someone has perished in your fair county, and other than wringing your pasty little hands together; you can’t decide what to do next.”

  Tony admired Vince for his ability to find minute evidence and his ability to inject a bit of humor into an otherwise grim situation. “True, so true. You up for a little evidence collection, on a case that’s maybe an accident and maybe something more serious?”

  “Body still there?”

  “No.” Tony knew he couldn’t shove it back into the hole and refill it with the water from the tanker. “It’s headed to Knoxville, but I’ve got all of the water neatly packaged in a tanker truck.”

  “No way.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Tony laughed. “You’ll love it. The body was found in a storm shelter during a flooding situation. We think the water problem was caused by a water heater leak. The body is definitely the ex-husband of the homeowner. She’s out of town, and our body is not super fresh. After hauling him out, I had to change my clothes.”

  “Okay. I’m hooked.” Vince began humming the tune for a game show finale. “I’ll be there with some guys in maybe a couple of hours. Can you keep that tanker? It might be interesting to do some tests, even though I’m sure the water wasn’t spotless to begin with.”

  “Sure. How about the home’s interior cleanup? You want me to stop it?”

  “You have any reason to believe he was killed in the house?”

  “Nope.” Tony felt confident now. “The ex-wife had every lock changed and an alarm system installed when she threw him and his stuff out a couple of years ago. The alarm was not triggered, but frankly, I’m not sure the death wasn’t an accident.”

  Vince sounded positively jovial. “Unless, the ex-wife killed him.”

  “I suppose it is possible.” Tony leaned his forehead against the door frame. “Okay, I’ll stop them doing anything besides running their fans.”

  “Maybe your handsome sidekick can check the alarm keypad for fingerprints and save some time, laddie.” Vince mangled his attempt at a British accent.

  “Laddie?” Tony waited until he’d disconnected to groan. As far as Tony knew, Sherlock Holmes never called Inspector Les-trade anything resembling “laddie.” If Vince was having one of his Sherlock Holmes–impression days, this investigation could go on for a long, long time. Tony warned Wade and sent him on the fingerprint hunt.

  When he explained the situation to the cleanup crew and gave permission for them to continue drying, but only the interior of the house, they were less than pleased. They had a procedure and he was messing with it.

  Curious about the extent of the flooding, Tony climbed the stairs to the bedroom level of the house. The carpeted stairs crinkled under his feet because a type of plastic wrap had been spread across them to protect the carpet from messy foot traffic. In the small utility closet, water spread out from the upstairs water heater. He guessed the kitchen was directly below. Nothing else upstairs seemed wet.

  He sat down on Theo’s abandoned perch to wait. The sight of soggy pictures, coupled with the sound of a host of fans, dehydration machines and the pounding of dampness meters, gave him a headache in record time. He decided being wet and cold worked better for him and headed toward the front door, avoiding stepping on the hoses.

  He arrived at the front of the house at the same time as the plumber. To Tony’s limited knowledge, formed by the few plumbers he’d actually met, they came in tall and stocky, and small and muscular. DuWayne Cozzens was one of the second category. When DuWayne had installed a new hot-water heater in the Abernathy home, it had been like watching an ant carrying a hot-dog bun up the steps and into its tiny closet. Amazing.

  “Sheriff?” DuWayne extended a hand. “How can I help?”

  Tony gave the plumber a quick tour, including the water-damaged ceiling in the kitchen. He explained what DuWayne could and couldn’t do before the TBI arrived. They stayed away from the storm shelter and Tony suggested the plumber use the kitchen door from now on. “There’s a hot-water heater in there.” Tony pointed to the utility area. “The one upstairs has to be the cause of the flooding.”

  “Thanks, Sheriff, but I know my way around the plumbing in this house.” DuWayne led the way. “The one upstairs is a brand spanking new hot-water heater.” All traces of humor vanished from his face. “It can’t be over two months since I installed it.” He grabbed his tool box and headed up the stairs at close to a dead run.

  Feeling large and clumsy, like Frankenstein’s monster, Tony followed, lumbering behind the more agile man. Much more slowly.

  In the manner of all experts, what was hidden to an amateur was glaringly obvious to the professional. “This is a piece of trash. I’ve never had a problem with this brand before.” DuWayne tapped the cylinder with a fingertip. “There’s no way this should have happened.” He pulled a notebook from his tool box and wrote down the manufacturer and the model and a series of other numbers. Pulling out a wrench, he stopped water from flowing into the broken tank. “With this turned off, we can turn the rest of the water in the house back on.”

  Tony started to say something but heard light footsteps behind him. Theo was back.

  “Miz Theo.” DuWayne’s eyes gleamed and he smiled. “Always a pleasure.”

  “Hi, DuWayne.” Theo greeted the man warmly. “I’m glad you were able to come so quickly. What should I tell Nina?”

  DuWayne’s expression clouded. “You kin tell her this piece of junk was what has caused the flood.”

  “Any way to tell how long it’s been leaking?” Tony rolled his shoulders, trying not to visualize the bobbing body.

  “Nope. I did see a fair amount of runoff as I was driving up.” DuWayne looked like he wanted to ask a question but held off. “The water department might be able to tell when she started using more water than usual. They should at least be able to narrow it down to their last reading. Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

  Tony looked at Wade, remembering the blond Theo had described. “While we’re waiting for Vince and the gang, let’s go find the girlfriend.”

  “Cherchez la femme!” Wade grinned. “I finally get to say it.” The blond bombshell was easy to spot. Almost as if she enjoyed being onstage, she sat at a table in the center of Ruby’s Café, calmly reading a magazine and sipping a cup of coffee. When Tony and Wade approached her, she gave them a wide smile and leaned slightly forward, making it ea
sier for them to enjoy her assets.

  Not being particularly interested in her bosom, Tony kept his eyes on hers. “May we join you?”

  The woman looked surprised, then waved them toward the empty chairs. “Sure, why not?” She stared openly at Wade.

  Over the years, Tony had used Wade’s exceptional good looks to his advantage. Women usually, but not always, and some men, stared openly at his deputy. Wade knowingly aided and abetted Tony’s interview plans by drawing the focus away from questions. All it ever took was a smile to get someone’s attention. Tony said, “I believe you came to Silersville with Daniel Crisp.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” She kept her eyes trained on Wade.

  Wade smiled again. “Would you please tell me your name and address?”

  Staring back at him, she looked like she was going to melt. “Nancy Crisp. I live in Chattanooga.”

  “Do you know where we might find Daniel?” Tony asked, making himself a mental note of her answer. He wondered if she was a cousin. He knew Daniel had no sisters.

  Her eyes flickered to Tony’s face and back to her perusal of his deputy. “I kinda thought he would meet me here.”

  Tony believed she was telling the truth. She didn’t seem to be aware of her Daniel’s passing. He wasn’t sure what to tell her. “Did you have plans to meet today?”

  “Sorta.” She looked bewildered. “He says Ruby’s is the only place in this town with decent food so I figured he’d come here for lunch. He didn’t, so I came back for pie and coffee.”

  There were a few other dining options in Silersville, but Tony had to admit preferring Ruby’s Café to other restaurants like the Riverview. He thought he would try a different tactic. “Did you go out to his ex-wife’s house with him?”

  Nancy straightened and looked directly at him. “Oh, sure, a couple of days ago. He said he wanted to get something from his ex.” She ran a finger over the handle on her coffee cup. An assortment of inexpensive rings sparkled on her hands, but none on her left ring finger. “I thought he was talking about getting money to buy a nice ring for me. You know, since we’re married and all.”

  “Married?” Tony hadn’t heard Daniel had remarried.

  “Yes.” Her wide smile creased her face into some unflattering wrinkles.

  Thinking the woman was older than she looked at first, Tony delayed delivering the bad news until he learned a bit more. “He thought his ex-wife would give him money so he could buy you a ring?”

  “I know. I told him it wouldn’t work.”

  Wade was busy taking notes, but looked up frequently and smiled just to keep her focused on him. “What happened with the ring?”

  “His ex-wife wasn’t home. Then he started talking about the house and how nice it was and all, and how he’d like to look around for a while for old times’ sake.” Nancy’s face took on a decidedly unhappy expression. “I got bored so I said for him to just walk back to town if he wanted to stay, and he could look around the place all he wanted. And then, he said he knew where he could get ahold of some money and would I wait for him while he went inside.”

  “And did he?” Amazed by her ability to deliver the whole jumbled statement while pausing for breath only once, Tony was jotting down more questions to ask Nina. Since Nancy claimed Daniel didn’t have a key or the alarm code, what reason might Daniel have to think he could enter her house? Could he have been given the code to get inside, maybe by one of the children? Tony knew Nina’s sophisticated alarm system had not gone off.

  “No. He didn’t get into the house, at least not while I was there. I sat on the porch until I got tired of waiting for him. He opened the lid to some dark hole by the front door and climbed down into it. I was not going in some place like that for nobody, so I left.” With one bejeweled hand, she flipped her curly blond hair out of her face. The expression in her heavily mascaraed blue eyes reinforced her irritation. “I thought he was fun or I wouldn’t have married him, but it was always promises, promises and no action.”

  “You weren’t concerned when he didn’t return to town?” Tony sighed. “Where were you staying?”

  “Well, you see, I didn’t have a room. When I left, I drove back to our place in Chattanooga. I figured he’d stay with one of his old friends. He does that a lot because of his travels. We hadn’t planned on an overnight trip, and I needed to get home and feed my little angel.” A genuine, delighted smile erased years from her face. “Here’s her picture.” She whipped out a spiffy new cell phone and started pushing buttons until a photograph of a black, white and brown teacup-sized dog smiled at them. “Taffy.”

  “Very nice.” Wade spoke softly and smiled at Nancy. “I’ll bet she was happy to see you. What time did you get there?”

  Nancy laughed and showed them another picture of the dog. “Taffy was dancing and barking, running in circles, she was so excited. It was just exactly six o’clock. That’s what time she eats.”

  “As Daniel’s wife—” Tony paused and exhaled sharply. He rearranged his expression to one more somber than pleasant. “I’m afraid we need to give you some sad news.”

  Nancy’s head tilted and she stared into his eyes. “Me?”

  Tony thought they should break the news outside. The interior of a busy café was not his preferred location for a death notification. “Would you step outside with us for a moment?”

  Reluctantly she led the way into the parking area and stopped by her car. “What’s the matter?”

  “It is our sad duty to notify you that your husband, Daniel Crisp, has died.”

  “No!” Nancy shook her head. “That’s not possible.”

  Tony didn’t have any particular reason to believe she wasn’t surprised. He was sure she was lying about something. “Did you talk to him after you got home? You know, check in and let him know you got there safely?”

  “No.”

  “Did you come back the next day to pick him up?”

  “No.”

  “But you’re here now, waiting for him?” Wade managed an expression verging on disappointment.

  “Sort of.”

  “You drove away and left him with no transportation and no plan to return for him?” Tony was seeing a less than perfect marriage. He’d guess Daniel either had alternate travel plans or she really didn’t care if he ever got home. “Was he already dead when you drove away?”

  “Of course not.”

  Tony and Wade simply stood near her and waited.

  Her lips turned down into a pout. “He was acting all funny ever since we drove into this one-horse town. Sometimes it was like he didn’t want anybody to recognize him or he didn’t want to be seen with me. Next thing, he’d act all different. I’d thought he’d be proud to introduce me to his friends.” Real tears pooled in her eyes. “It hurt my feelings, so I left him alone up there so he’d miss me. He was standing on the front step looking in that hole instead of chasing me or even waving good-bye. Like he didn’t care I was gone.” She sniffed and wiped her streaming eyes with her fingers.

  Theo sat alone in Nina’s house. The restoration squad had departed for the night, leaving the heat cranked up warm enough to bake cookies on the counter and the fans and dehumidifying equipment running. Blocking out the noise as best as she could, Theo started writing a note of explanation to Nina, detailing everything she had seen and heard. A thud and a thump preceded her best friend and her children stepping through the utility room doorway carrying their travel bags.

  “Oh, Nina, I’m so sorry.” Theo jumped up, hugged her best friend and said, “I’d hoped to get some of this cleaned up for you.”

  Nina looked like she’d been slapped. Her eyes went kind of jiggly and out of focus. “I talked to Tony. He came and met me at the school when we got back.” Her voice cracked. “It looks even worse than I expected.”

  Theo hugged the kids. “Your bedrooms are fine if you want to go upstairs.”

  They needed no further encouragement. After a few amazed exclamations about the mess, they ch
arged up the stairs.

  “Do they know about their father?” Theo hadn’t like Daniel’s treatment of Nina, but he’d at least tried to be a good father.

  Shaking her head, Nina sank down on a kitchen chair, staring at the drywall tape hanging from the ceiling. Water dripped from it into a plastic tub. “I’ll tell them in a little bit. I’d like to be able to explain what happened. Why was Daniel out here? And alone? No car?” She buried her hands in her auburn hair, pulling it away from her face. “It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  Boiling water to make tea, Theo had nothing to add. Like Nina, Theo would be surprised if Daniel ever even bothered to walk across the street. He was, or had been, happiest when someone was waiting on him hand and foot. “So you didn’t expect him to come out here?”

  Taking the mug of hot water and adding a tea bag, Nina frowned. “No. I haven’t heard from him in several weeks. Not since he hinted he’d like me to give him some cash so he could take the kids to the movies and I told him I wouldn’t ever give him money. He’s supposed to give us money but he’s months behind in the support payments. He swore at me and said he’d find a way to turn the kids against me.”

  Theo hoped her friend wouldn’t tell Tony that. It sounded like motive for murder. Until they knew when Daniel arrived, hopefully long after Nina left for D.C., Theo herself probably had the next best motive. A good alibi for Nina would move Theo up in the suspect list.

  Sipping their tea, Theo and Nina stood to one side watching the fans drying the house, and then went out onto the porch and stared down at the open storm cellar, still surrounded by yellow tape. Theo found it disturbing and tried not to think about the body that had been down there. It was futile. Theo tried to pull Nina back into the house but her friend resisted. “I’ll bet you were surprised to see Tony.”