Arrest of the Heart

by Judy Kentrus

  “It’s a black diamond. The white diamonds on either side remind me of bat wings.” Tears glistened in Lisa Kay’s eyes. “Please be happy for me. I love him and he loves me. I know he’s only a carpenter, but he’s a hard working, wonderful man. He came to dinner the other evening and brought mom flowers. She was thrilled. Just think, if something breaks, I have my own personal fix-it man. And he’s sexy as hell.”

  Jess still had reservations about a man she had yet to meet. “Have you slept with him?”

  When Lisa Kay’s face turned pink, Jessie got her answer. “That good?”

  “I know you should never kiss and tell, but OMG. The man’s a sexual dynamo in bed. He’s got this sexy little ring on his…” Lisa Kay blushed further. “We only had one night together. I came three times, or maybe it was four, but holy shit.”

  He couldn’t be as good as Linc. Jessie kept her delicious thoughts to herself. “If this is what you want, I’m very happy for you. Please, do me a favor. Don’t rush into anything.”

  “I promise, but one other thing. Will you be my maid-of-honor?”

  “I’d love to,” Jess replied, and hugged her friend. “We better check on Edie.” Her daughter was playing with the yellow caution tape around the playground area that was off limits to the children. “Edie, lets go. I have to make dinner.” When Edie didn’t budge, Jessie pursed her lips and walked across schoolyard. “Unless you want to eat cold sandwiches, we have to go.”

  “Mommy, what’s that?” Edie pointed to the elongated hump in the abandoned field bordering the playground area. The entire area was protected by a six-foot high cyclone fence. Unfortunately, man-sized holes in the fencing allowed access to the field, creating a perfect haven for teenagers to hang out.

  Jessie approached a large jagged opening, and the smell stopped her dead in her tracks. A tornado of flies hovered above the mound. No, not another one, she silently determined, and walked back to Lisa Kay. “Can you take Edie home? I have to notify headquarters of a situation.”

  “Sure,” Lisa said, with a questioning frown.

  “Mommy, does it have to do with the big hump and all those flies?”

  “Yes, but I want you to go with Lisa Kay. Grandma should be home by now.”

  “She might not be home yet. She had a meeting with Mr. Lincoln and Chief Charles at the Spoonful at four o’clock. Mommy, that really stinks like someone buried yucky garbage,” Edie said, pinching her nose. “I saw Mr. Lincoln with a shovel, but I don’t think he would bury garbage.”

  Jessie cupped Edie’s chin and turned her face away from the mound. “How do you know?”

  “I saw him with my own two eyes.” Edie blinked a couple of times to emphasize her point. “We were just going inside after lunch and I saw the Linc Mobile in the parking lot. That’s what I call his truck because it’s so cool. Do you know it can shoot up to ninety miles per hour in ten seconds? Then I saw him take the shovel out of the back of his truck.”

  “Back up here. What meeting?”

  “Mommy, pay attention,” Edie said in frustration. “Grandma wrote a note on the pad we keep on the counter next to the phone. When I started to read it, she took it out of my hand and said it was private.” Edie tilted her head to the side. “If it was private, why would Grandma leave it out for me to read?”

  Jess tried to think up an acceptable answer, but was more concerned about the mysterious mound that smelled all too familiar. “We’ll just have to ask her,” Jessie said, punting the problem for the time being. “Now, tell me again about Mr. Lincoln.”

  “He was walking around, carrying a shovel over his shoulder. Then we went into school and I didn’t see him anymore.”

  “Okay, go with Lisa Kay.”

  “Edie, how would you like to meet Lucifer, my friend Sam’s little kitten? I’m sure Grandma Gerry would love you to have supper with us.”

  “I hope she made walnut almond puff cookies,” she said, and ran toward Lisa Kay’s blue car.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Lisa tried not to gag, and didn’t envy Jessie her job.

  “I’m afraid so. Keep it to yourself. Thanks for taking care of Edie.”

  “Glad to do it for my maid-of-honor,” she grinned and headed for her car.

  Jessie reached for her cell phone. “Headquarters, this is Sergeant Taylor. I have a situation in the field behind the elementary school. Send two units. Contact Detective Catcher and have him call me ASAP on my cell.”

  “Should I notify the chief?”

  Jess wanted to say he wasn’t available because he was in a “private” meeting with Lincoln Adams and her mother, but remained professional. “Not until we’ve made a determination of the mass of freshly disturbed dirt.”

  “Dirt?” the dispatcher repeated then followed up with, “headquarters received.”

  She stepped through the hole, and the closer she got to the elongated hump, the stronger the offensive odor. She’d come to associate the revolting smell with spoiled Brie mixed with rotten eggs. She took pictures with her cell phone, dreading what was under the mound and did a scan for footprints. When a radio car pulled into the parking area closest to the rear of the building, she turned away from the crime scene.

  “Sergeant, you have a situation.” Patrolman Grote adjusted the ponytail she’d pulled through the opening in her cap.

  “A heap of dirt and thousands of flies. You and Lynch will recognize the odor. Just stand by. I’m about to call the hardware store for a couple of shovels, so prepare for the nosy bodies.”

  “Whipper Hardware,” a friendly voice answered.

  “Northrup, this is Sergeant Taylor. I’ll be sending a car over for two, long- handled shovels and a half dozen wooden stakes I need to attach yellow caution tape.”

  “This must be the day for shovels,” the store owner laughed.

  “Why?” Jessie was afraid of what his answer was going to be.

  “Lincoln was here this morning and bought a long handled shovel and a big box of those industrial-sized black garbage bags.”

  Jessie heart was racing. “Did he mention what he was going to do with the bags?”

  “Said he had to get rid of the evidence, whatever that meant.”

  “Okay, thanks,” she replied, and called headquarters to have unit eight pick up the items before they reported to Jessie’s location. It took all of her self-control not to call Lincoln and demand to know what the hell was going on, but that was personal. Right now, she had a job to do.

  Everyone had just agreed to end their secret meeting, when Sallie Mae’s cell phone rang. Margaret’s followed, then the chief’s.

  “There has to be some kind of crisis if all of your phones rang at once.” Lincoln felt left out when his phone remained silent.

  “That was Northrup,” Sallie Mae reported. “Jessie needs shovels to dig up something in the field adjacent to the playground by the elementary school.”

  “Mrs. Schmidt said there is a dead body by the school.”

  “My wife just told me the same thing,” Joe stated and called Jessie directly.

  “Chief, how did you find out already? I was waiting to see what we have before I contacted you, but apparently the nosy bodies are already on the scent.”

  “I’m just finishing up a meeting and will be at your location shortly. Is there a dead body?”

  “All I can tell you is, the smell is horrendous, and we’ve got a hoard of flies, but don’t have actual confirmation of a body.”

  “Make sure the scene is secured.”

  “Already done.”

  “See you in a few minutes.”

  “I know that parcel of land once belonged to Buford, but who owns it since his death?” he asked Margaret.

  “I do,” Lincoln volunteered.

  “Your problems have doubled. It appears someone used your property as a burial site. You might as well come along, as an observer, until you’ve spoken to Jessie. Understood?”

  “Understood.” He looked at Sallie Mae. �
�Do you want to ride with me?”

  “Nah, Northrup is on his way over to pick me up.”

  Jess and Patrolman Bowll cordoned off a wide area around the crime scene with yellow caution tape. She wasn’t surprised when cars started pulling into the parking lot on the other side of the school. The chief arrived, followed by her mother and Lincoln. Edie hadn’t been wrong about their clandestine meeting. Jess was sick of all this secrecy.

  “Fill me in,” the chief said, as he approached Jessie.

  “We’ve finished taping off the area. Detective Catcher was just leaving Stevensville and will get here as soon as he can. I’ve photographed the scene and observed one set of prints. What are my mother and Lincoln Adams doing here?”

  “I had a consult with them on town business. The property is part of his inheritance.”

  “He’s the owner?” Jess tried to hard swallow the lump in her throat.

  “Yes.” Joe felt guilty confessing a half truth, but until Lincoln spoke to Jessie, the chief had no other recourse but to shade his explanation. “Let’s see what we’ve got, Sergeant.”

  Lorenzo and Bowll manned the shovels. The minute they touched the mound, a blizzard of black flies swirled around. They didn’t have to dig deep. The tip of the shovels met with something solid trussed up in two large plastic bags, tied with wrapping twine. Jess recognized the hemp cord her father had used to secure some of the boxes in the garage. Joe used a pen knife to slit the plastic, giving freedom to hundreds of additional flies. The deceased’s lips appeared to be moving, but it was the maggots under the surface of the skin. Two holes, dead center in the chest were caked with dried blood, indicating how Leon Price had died.

  “Oh, my God,” Jessie said, through the hand covering her mouth. They all recognized the town treasurer and member of the town council. He was naked, but for one article of clothing.

  The victim had been buried in a pair of Lincoln Adams’ tie-dyed briefs.

  Chapter 16

  Jess was utterly speechless, and it took a few moments to collect her composure. A few crass remarks passed between the officers, until she gave them a warning glower.

  “We’ll take our photographs, and I’ll notify the county medical examiner,” Joe said. “There’s very little blood, so he had to have been shot someplace else, no more than a couple of days ago, considering the flies. Maggots have already hatched under the skin.”

  “Did anyone report him missing?” Jess asked.

  “According to my sister, who is an accountant at his CPA firm, he was going to Atlantic City for a week long conference,” Officer Grote supplied. “Her manager asked her to pick up the slack while the big boss was away.”

  Joe tried not to look at the festering body of his friend. ”Between you and me, I never figured the staid CPA to wear fancy briefs. But, then again, I never knew the mayor liked ladies’ undies. I better let the medical examiner know we’ve got another body.”

  Jess had to speak to Linc, privately. “Excuse me, Chief. I’d like to apprise the judge and the property owner of the situation.”

  Lincoln leaned against one of the lamp posts that bordered the parking area and observed the meddlesome snoops that whispered among themselves. He was relieved when Jessie headed for the gawkers with her ‘don’t mess with me’ swagger. They converged on her like a pack of wolves on the scent. “What’s going on?” someone shouted.

  “If you will all take a step back, I will tell you,” she said in a forced, diplomatic voice. “We’ve discovered the body of Leon Price, and before you ask, I’m not at liberty to answer any of your questions.” Jess wasn’t surprised when the conjectures started.

  “There’s a murderer among us!”

  “The police aren’t doing their job.”

  “This all started when Buford’s bastard came to town.”

  Linc wasn’t surprised to see who’d spouted the accusatory comment. Harvey Thornton, the bigmouthed bully from the church. Jess had also heard the derogatory comment and spied the threatening challenge on Linc’s face. He wasn’t happy when she shook her head to discourage him from going up against the councilman.

  She put a hand to her mother’s arm. “Would you please address these issues with the good people of Laurel Heights? I need to speak to Mr. Adams, privately.”

  Jess approached Linc and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “Come with me,” she whispered hurriedly.

  “Always,” he said, and let her pull him away from the hullabaloo. They stepped into the deserted arched entranceway to the school. She didn’t bother to sugarcoat her question. “What did you do with your tie-dyed underwear?”

  Lincoln stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Excuse me?”

  “This is no time to be modest. I’ve seen your cute ass, remember? When and how did you dispose of your ruined undies?”

  “You’re serious?”

  “I’ve got a dead body over there, and he is wearing your underwear.”

  “Oh, shit!”

  “Oh, shit, is right. What were you doing here earlier this afternoon?”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “Edie saw you. Now, answer the question.”

  Lincoln sighed deeply. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Can’t, not at this time.” He had an idea that needed exploring.

  “Why did you purchase a shovel and plastic bags?”

  “You don’t miss a trick, Sergeant Taylor. Again, I can’t tell you.” Linc wrapped his arms and braced them on his chest. “Let me get this straight. You’re accusing me of murdering Leon Price and dressing him in my underwear before I buried him?”

  “No, of course not, but you are pissing me off, avoiding my questions!” Jess tossed a hand up. “This is what I was talking about. So many damn secrets! And you want to know why I don’t trust you!” Jess stepped away from the personal issue that was constantly on her mind, trusting Lincoln.

  “How did they find out about the washing machine disaster?”

  “Do you actually think it was something I bragged about?”

  “No,” Jessie sighed, and then remembered. “I know someone who probably did.”

  They looked at each other and said the name at the same time. “Edie.”

  “So, we’re back to my first question. What did you do with them?”

  “I put them in a black plastic bag and threw them in the garbage.”

  ‘Oh, that’s right, you were commando Sunday afternoon.” Jess glanced down to the front of his jeans. Stop, wrong time, wrong place.

  “You certainly didn’t miss any of the details,” he chuckled, catching where her eyes had wandered. He leaned close to her ear. “The answer to your questions is, yes, I’m wearing underwear. I picked up a new supply earlier today from the post office. Want to search me to be sure I’m telling the truth?”

  “Smartass,” she answered, holding back a grin as she shoved him away. “So, who went through our garbage?”

  “Who knows? The underwear thief?”

  “Right, I’ll put out a BOLO for an individual who gets their jollies rifling through garbage looking for discarded underwear! That is gross! By the way,” she said, jabbing his chest with her finger. “How is it that my daughter knows your truck can accelerate to ninety miles an hour in ten seconds?”

  “It was early last night when we finished our pizza, so we went for a little ride around the old warehouses by the train depot. It was the first time I’d visited the area since I returned to Laurel Heights. The blacktop surface of the parking area is still in pretty good shape, and Edie asked me how fast the truck can go.” He kept it to himself that he was curious to see if there was any questionable activity going on around the exterior of the brick and cinderblock buildings. He also wanted to get a closer look at the warehouse he was purchasing from Sam Morlock.

  “Don’t do it again!” Jess ordered, and walked away, trying to erase the picture of his cute dimpled ass from her mind. It was a much happie
r place than the crime scene she still had to face. She stayed along side the white-haired coroner while he did a cursory examination of the body. The stench had gotten so bad, they donned white breathing masks.

  “Can you give me an estimate as to how long Leon Price has been dead?”

  “It usually takes about twelve hours, more or less, before a body is engulfed with flies. They’ve laid their eggs in his hair, beard, and eyelashes, even in his chest hairs. The hatched eggs, or maggots have already started crawling under the skin. I’ll determine the time of death after I complete the autopsy. This is going to be a messy one.” He stared at Jess through mature eyes protected by goggles. “What’s going on in this town? Two bodies in a week?”

  “Good question, Doc. I hope this will be the last one for a long time.”

  When the hearse pulled away, the nosy bodies reluctantly returned home. Jess was surprised to see Lincoln, leaning against the rusting support beam that once held a row of swings. He looked so damned sexy she wanted sink her teeth into his bottom lip.

  “I thought you might have left with my mother.”

  “She had her hands full. More members of the town council arrived. Thornton stirred them up, and she suggested they all go to Delancy’s to discuss to things over a drink. Hopefully, she got them drunk and they’ll all be arrested for DUI.”

  “Like that would ever happen.”

  “I’d like to take a look at where you found the body.”

  “Why? Looking for the rest of your underwear?” A hint of sarcasm laced her voice.

  “Now who’s a smartass? I’m just curious. I promise not to touch anything.”

  “Come on.”

  They ducked under the yellow caution tape and avoided the man-sized hole. Die-hard flies still lingered, but most had taken off when the body was removed. “What time were you here?”

  “I pulled into the parking lot on the other side of the school after one. A few kids lingered in the play area, but then I was alone.”

  “So, you didn’t see anyone or anything unusual.”

  “No. I never came back here.” Linc studied the rear of the two-story brick building. “Unless you were the Jolly Green Giant, no one would be able to see out those gym windows, and there isn’t direct access to the playground area. Anyone could have walked across the field from the other side, dumped the body, and left the way they came. Beyond the field is a short copse of trees and the back street dead ends.”