by Tonya Kappes
“I’m sure you’ve already realized that Luke could name the exact tire from the marks. And if this whipper-snapper is right about Summer of Sam, you can ask Luke about it too. I bet he’d have a copy of the movie.” Poppa discussed the evidence with me like he did when he was living. Even when I came home for a weekend visit from college, he loved to go over his cases with me. It became a sort of game between us. Only back then everyone could see him, not just me.
“I also saw what looked to be a video camera on the side of the barn behind Doc’s house.” Finn looked up over top his plate. He was definitely enjoying Ben’s food. “Did he have a security system?”
“Funny you should ask.” I had to admit, Finn was very observant. “I’m meeting with Art Baskin in the morning at Doc’s to discuss that very thing.”
“Art Baskin? Who is that?” Finn asked.
“Sorry, I keep forgetting you aren’t from around here.” I smiled. “He owns the only security system in Cottonwood and would be the likely company anyone around here would use. I want to ask him about White’s and why Viola never used a security system.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Alright! Alright!” Mayor Ryland stood behind the podium in the basement of Luke Jones’s house, beating the wooden gavel and calling the emergency meeting to order. “Let’s get this meeting started.”
I looked around. Everyone was there. Rowdy, Wyatt, Camille, Ben, Viola, and Ruby were just a few of those standing in the back. The Kims sat in the second row, Mrs. Kim staring straight ahead.
“What is this?” Finn leaned over and whispered in my ear. He craned his neck in all directions, looking around.
I made sure we got a seat in one of the folding metal chairs in the front row so Finn could get an up-close look at how things in Cottonwood worked. He was fitting right in with the outfit and everyone came by to greet him before Mayor Ryland banged the gavel.
“Luke is gracious enough to let us use his basement, a.k.a. movie theatre, for town meetings.” I pointed to the pull-down screen for the movies. “On good days, the screen is used. When the screen gets jammed and won’t pull down Luke uses an old sheet.”
On the wall was a movie poster of To Catch a Thief, the featured film for next week’s showing, something I was definitely going to put on my calendar because I could probably use a tip or two. I wasn’t sure what this week’s movie was.
“Thank you for coming. Now we all know about the crime spree that is spreading like wildfire through our humble town.” The mayor spoke very loudly. A collective groan filtered through the room. His eyes found me and they narrowed.
A sudden sob blurted out from the third row. I turned back to see who it was. Polly Parker. Her pretty little blonde head was buried deep against her father’s chest. Inwardly I groaned, silently telling her to grow up. I couldn’t help myself. I looked to see if her belly had a bump. She looked the same as she always had. I’d be sure to do a little more digging. “I’m going to turn it over to our sheriff, Kenni Lowry.”
A lackluster round of applause didn’t make me feel good.
“I called this meeting because we are a tight-knit community. I love our town and I think you need to know about its security.” I looked out into the crowd. “I feel it is my duty to keep you informed.”
All eyes stared at me. My palms began to sweat and palpitations started. I was clearly not ready to be a public speaker. Especially one whose audience had fear on their faces.
“First off, the festival is still on as planned.” The crowd erupted in applause.
Edna Easterly wasn’t hard to spot. The feathered fedora choice for tonight’s emergency meeting was a lime green number. The feather was twice as long as the one she had worn yesterday, sticking out a foot taller than any head in the crowd. The darn thing waved in the air as her head bobbled back and forth trying to get her handheld tape recorder as close to me as possible. I was happy I was able to deliver good news. It was nice to see all the smiling faces after a few long, sad days.
“Take your time. Shine, Kenni-bug.” Poppa gave me a double thumbs up and a toothy grin. I lifted my hand and touched his pin. I had accepted the fact that Poppa was here to comfort me through this stressful time.
“I have several leads in both cases, and since I cannot be in two places at once, Officer Finn Vincent has been sent by the Kentucky State Reserves to assist.” I gestured for Finn to stand and wave to the group.
Heads bobbed and people propped up a little more in their chairs to get a look at the handsome man in the front row. A few mothers nudged their single daughters, nodding grins toward him.
“If you see him in town or he stops by to ask you any questions, it’s okay to talk to him.” Then I pointed to the right side of the room where Wyatt was leaning against the To Catch a Thief poster. “I also want to see if the council will take a quick vote to let Wyatt Granger become deputy sheriff since Lonnie Lemar has retired.”
Wyatt’s shoulder pushed off the wall and he stood up straight with his hands crossed in front of him. My eyes slid over to the front row where Finn was sitting.
Doolittle Bowman was busying herself flipping through some papers.
“This way,” I sucked in another breath and got a little louder, “Wyatt can work on the recent,” I made sure to stress the recent part, “crimes instead of hanging out in the back of Cowboy’s Catfish.”
“What’s wrong with Cowboy’s Catfish?” Bartleby Fry, owner of Cowboy’s Catfish, chimed in.
“Nothing, Bartleby. I’m just saying that—”
“I’ve got this, Sheriff.” Wyatt galloped onto the stage in front of the podium, and, caught off-guard, I lost my footing.
“Whoa.” My arms twirled around like a whirly bird as I tried to balance on one leg before I tumbled off the stage, right into Finn’s lap.
“Are you okay?” Finn asked, his face way too close to mine.
“Yeah.” I gulped and looked into his big brown eyes.
A head crept over Finn’s shoulder, blocking any and all light from the track lighting Luke had designed for his movie nights.
“Kenni-bug.” The head slowly swayed back and forth. “I’ll be. I see it in your eyes. You got a hankerin’ for this boy.”
My eyes closed. I opened them. Poppa was standing over Finn’s shoulder. He had the biggest grin on his face. The warmth radiated from Finn’s arms as they cradled me.
“Sheriff?” Finn asked. “Kenni?” The way he said my name was music to my ears. “Is there a doctor in here? I think…”
“I’m a doctor!” Camille Shively’s voice came shrieking from behind.
Poppa made a kissy face.
“Poppa.” The word came out of my mouth, making me sound like a six-year-old. I giggled and then realized what I had said. I threw my hand over my mouth.
“Poppa?” Finn’s face contorted. The shadowy head moved and Luke’s track lighting briefly filtered over Finn’s shoulder right into my eyes until Camille’s round face peeped over.
“Kenni Lowry, are you okay?” She held a small flashlight, darting it between my eyes.
“God,” I held my hand up in front of my face, “I’ll be blind if you don’t stop shining that thing in my face. I’m fine. Just lost my footing, that’s all.”
I pushed her hand aside and myself up and out of Finn’s arms, though they were strong and for some odd reason I felt really safe in them.
“Now that Sheriff Lowry is back on her feet…” Mayor Ryland stood next to Wyatt on the stage and cocked a brow toward me. He let out a long heavy sigh. “I want to bring us all to a vote. Those in favor of Wyatt Granger becoming Deputy Sheriff, raise your hand.”
“Wait! Wait!” I waved my arms over my head and stepped right back up to the podium. I glared at Wyatt, who didn’t seem to apologize for nearly killing me by knocking me off the st
age. “This is a temporary position,” I reminded them.
“Yes, temporary,” Wyatt repeated.
“All in favor?” Mayor Ryland lifted both of his hands.
“Stop!” Doolittle Bowman tugged on the edges of her short brown hair and pushed her glasses up on her long nose. She held one of the pieces of paper she was shuffling up in front of her face. “The jailer can’t hold any more than one elected position.”
A low rumble of mumbling came from the crowd.
“Ya know, if Wyatt can’t be appointed deputy because he is jailer,” I heard Poppa’s voice above the hushed whispers of the crowd, “you seem kinda fond of that young whipper-snapper. Maybe he should be appointed temporary deputy. Y’all seem to talk over the evidence pretty good.”
Poppa was right, even if he was joking around about me thinking Finn was cute. If Wyatt couldn’t do it, I might as well see if Finn could.
“Finn.” Why not? He was there. He was already helping out. He might as well stay.
Finn asked. “Are you sure you are okay?”
“Mayor.” I walked up to the stage and motioned for Mayor Ryland to bend down. “What about Finn Vincent? He is already here from the Reserves and he knows the case.”
The banging gavel shushed the crowd back down into their seats.
“What about a Reserve Officer?” he asked Doolittle.
She flipped and flipped some more. Finally, she looked up and shrugged.
“That’s it.” Mayor banged the gavel again. “I hereby appoint Finn Vincent interim Deputy Sheriff of Cottonwood.”
“But…” Finn stumbled. “I can’t…”
“We’ll have you out of here in no time.” I patted his arm and smiled.
Chapter Eighteen
“Listen up, y’all!” Jolee stood on one of the folding chairs in the back row after the council was finished voting on the new appointed deputy. Since they had called the meeting, they figured they’d discuss more of whatever it was they discussed in regular meetings. They convened for a break, giving Jolee the opportunity to sell some food.
She screamed, “I’ve got the truck outside so come on out and get a little pick-me-up!”
Like herds of cattle going to slaughter, everyone filed outside.
“Does she have a permit to do that?” Ben Harrison rushed up to the front of the room. “I want to file a formal complaint.”
“Unfortunately, Ben…” I knew what I was about to say was not going to make him any happier. “Jolee has put in permits all over Cottonwood to be able to serve food, and Luke Jones’s theatre is one of the places she’s allowed.”
“We aren’t having movie night,” Ben protested. “We’re having a town meeting.”
“It’s not the event, it’s the address.” I hated to inform him because that meant no one would be hungry and head over to Ben’s for after-meeting gossip and coffee.
“This is a disgrace to the community.” Ben stomped, fisting his hands. “I’m going to file a complaint with Doolittle Bowman tomorrow.”
“I need to talk to you.” Max sidled up between Finn and me. “I found something very interesting on Ronald that I think you need to know.”
“What is it?” Edna Easterly was eavesdropping.
“You field questions and I’ll take this outside.” I gestured between me and Max, leaving Finn to Edna Easterly, who had planted her feet firmly on the ground with her pen and paper in hand.
“Thanks,” Finn groaned. “What do you want, Edna?” I heard him ask when I walked off with Max. I couldn’t help but giggle. Yep, Finn was already fitting in.
Outside, Jolee’s truck was packed. She had a line clear down two blocks. Everyone in Cottonwood loved to gather and eat, especially if there was gossip to be had.
Max and I walked to the side of Luke’s house where we were out of earshot and sight of the food crowd. They would know we were discussing Doc Walton if they saw us, and I wasn’t ready to defend my actions. Even though I didn’t really need to, I always felt like I had to.
“You aren’t going to believe what I found on him.” Max took out his phone and showed me a picture. “I took a picture so you could see it. Do you know what that is?”
The picture was clearly of a piece of skin on Doc’s body. I couldn’t tell where, but the skin was clearly broken. Not from a knife, but from something else. I didn’t know what.
“That’s a bite mark.” He poked the screen with his finger and dragged it along the wound as he explained what each part was. “This is the bruise from the teeth.”
I bent down a little farther and got a good close look. Who on earth would bite an old man?
“I see it.” The marks came into view like one of those pictures you have to stare at for a really long time before the squiggly lines start to make sense. “The bottom teeth are there.” I pointed to four straight lines. “And the top isn’t straight, the two canines really stick out.”
“It’s like some kind of vampire teeth.” Max drew his phone away. Fear was set deep in his eyes.
“We don’t have vampires in Cottonwood, or anywhere for that matter.” My eyes slid over to Jolee’s truck. The crowd had died down and people were making their way back into Luke’s side basement entrance.
Underneath the shadow of the big oak tree, I could see Mayor Ryland and Polly Parker in a heated discussion. They were being very careful not to be seen. Both of them looked paranoid and skittish. When someone would walk by, Polly would step back into the shadow even more as Mayor Ryland greeted the passerby who wouldn’t even know Polly was there.
“I know, but this isn’t the only bite.” Max put the phone up to my face to get my attention back. He swiped the screen, showing another bite with a full set of straight teeth. He swiped again.
My forehead wrinkled. I took another look. I glanced back over at the tree to send Polly some bad juju, but they were gone.
I gestured for the phone and Max gave it to me. I continued to look between the two photos.
“Two different people?” The teeth were similar, but different.
“I ran a quick DNA test. They have matching DNA, which means…”
“False teeth,” I interrupted. A grin crept up on my face. “Doc Walton fought off the killer after the first bite, knocking the teeth out.”
“Brilliant, Kenni.” Max smiled just as big as me. “I thought the same thing. I was hoping you’d come up with the same scenario.”
“This means there are some false teeth somewhere out there with Doc’s DNA and the killer’s DNA on them.” I made a mental note to go back to Doc Walton’s and scour the office for a set of partials, four teeth on a dental plate.
“I took some sample tissues and sent them to the lab to run more DNA tests to see if we can find the killer’s identity,” Max said. “There is a specific test for saliva that I sent off to the lab.”
“Great job,” I said. “Finn.” I called him over when I saw him turn the corner.
“There you are. Mayor Ryland asked me to find you because they’re about to start the meeting again.” Finn looked between Max and me. “What?” he asked. “Did you find out something on the autopsy yet?”
“I’m going back in.” Max nodded toward Finn and me. “I’ll let you know about that DNA test.”
“DNA?” Finn looked around. He put his hand on my arm. It warmed me all over.
I backed up, allowing a moment for my heart arrhythmia to get back to normal.
“Max found bite marks on Doc.” My brows furrowed. “He sent some tissue from around the marks to get DNA tested.”
“Bite marks?” Finn asked. He looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. “No offense, but that seems like a woman’s move.”
“No offense taken. I was thinking the same thing.” The post-mortem stab wounds came to mi
nd. “Plus the stab wounds weren’t deep with force.” Finn’s eyes lowered and a faint grin crossed his lips. “Oh.” I remembered the one detail that could be important. His teeth reminded me. “False teeth. The two canines were the same but on one of the bites, the front teeth are missing.”
“And he did have a lot of old people, especially women, as patients.” Finn recalled the list of patients I’d given him.
“Tomorrow I plan on visiting Luke to talk to him about the tires and that movie.” I snapped my fingers.
“Summer of Sam.” Finn smiled. I couldn’t resist smiling back. “And we need to see about Viola’s insurance policy.”
“Since you are the low man on the totem pole,” I pointed to Luke’s basement, “you get to go back inside while I go home and get some much-needed sleep.”
I’d had enough for one day. My stress level was through the roof and I needed Duke and my comfy bed.
I had several people to pay a visit to tomorrow, starting with Art and Wyatt at Doc’s house. I needed to be in tip-top mental shape to ask Art how he fit into the circumstances of Doc Walton’s murder.
Chapter Nineteen
The stress level must’ve really gotten to me, because I barely remembered coming home and letting Duke out to potty before I fell into my bed facedown, clothes and all. Poppa didn’t make another appearance.
It took a second cup of black coffee in the morning before I could even get up off the couch and get a shower to start the new day of investigative work.
I put a couple of scoops of dog food in Duke’s bowl, and with my third cup of coffee and pen and paper, I sat down in the chair and scooted it up to my table. There were people who’d caught my attention involving Doc Walton’s murder and I needed to make a list. I planned on going to see each of them to try and figure out if any of them knew something, big or small, about Doc Walton and why someone would want him dead.