Hidden Secrets

by Madison Johns

  I hurried into the shower and dressed in cotton slacks and an aqua peasant shirt afterward. I changed into my much looser tennis shoes because my feet had swollen throughout the course of the day. I wore the sandal straps indentations on my skin like a badge and should have known it was important to have suitable footwear with an ongoing investigation.

  I leisurely watered my houseplants that had sprung to life now that Duchess was too preoccupied with her offspring to rip them to shreds.

  After that, I drove to Eleanor's house, where I found my partner engaged in a conversation with Elsie and Marjory.

  “It’s about time you got here, Agnes,” Elsie said. “I thought you might want to hear the news from me first.”

  Eleanor’s brow shot up and she sighed, which sounded much closer to a groan.

  I gave my full attention to Elsie’s pale face. “Bernice has flown the coop,” Elsie gasped.

  Silence was deafening as each of us were in shock at this revelation.

  Eleanor elbowed her way between Marjory and Elsie, who thus far had remained silent. “I already told the girls that Bernice had assured us she’d stay in the hospital until Dr. Thomas released her,” Eleanor said. “Isn’t that right, Agnes?”

  “That’s what I thought she said, but this is Bernice we’re talking about. You can’t expect a cat lady to stay away from her felines for long,” I said.

  “Don’t let Bernice hear you call her that,” Elsie said.

  “I call her Bernice,” I said defensively. “All I was doing was … oh never mind, we have more important matters at hand.”

  “How can you say that? Bernice is our friend,” Marjory said with a shake of her head.

  “That’s what I meant.” I shot Eleanor a look. “Didn’t you tell them yet?”

  “Tell us what?” Elsie asked.

  “I thought I’d leave it up to you, Agnes,” Eleanor said.

  “I really wouldn’t have minded, dear. I know you can’t hold your tongue.”

  Eleanor crossed her arms defiantly. “It appears you’re wrong … again.”

  Marjory threw her arms heavenward. “Would someone tell us what’s happened.”

  “Eleanor and I found remains on Wilber’s property.”

  “I think we should sit on the deck. I’m feeling rather faint,” Elsie said.

  We congregated on the deck, and when everyone took a seat I asked, “Are you okay, Elsie.”

  Elsie fanned her face with a newspaper. “Of course. Do go on with what you were about to say.”

  “We found remains in a barrel on Wilber’s property.”

  “Hidden in his backyard,” Eleanor added, “next to his shed.”

  “However did you find it there?” Marjory asked.

  “Well, it wasn’t easy, and we had to call for reinforcements,” I said.

  “Andrew came over to help us,” Eleanor added.

  Elsie roared in laughter. “You mean he actually helped you? I can’t believe it.”

  I gripped the arms of my lawn chair. “And why wouldn’t he?”

  “Because he’s a little on the stuffy side,” Elsie said.

  “Look who’s talking,” I countered.

  “Now girls this is no time to act like this,” Marjory said. “What happened to poor Bernice should have taught all of us how fragile life really is.”

  “Shouldn’t we be heading over to check on Bernice?” I asked.

  “I don’t know if Bernice needs to hear about what you found at Wilber’s house while she’s recovering.”

  “There’s no keeping it from her for long. I expect the sheriff to question Bernice.”

  “He can’t do that in her condition,” Elsie gasped. “We’d better get over to Bernice’s house before someone has the poor dear falling out.”

  “Only if you’re feeling better, dear,” I said.

  I hopped out of the car at Bernice’s house with Eleanor, Elsie and Marjory following me across the closely-cropped weeds that had overtaken her front yard. I hurried to her front door and barged inside.

  Bernice lounged on the couch with a startled Callie at her side.

  “What a surprise,” Bernice announced.

  “Elsie said something about you flying the coop and I had to find out if this was the coop she was referring to,” I said.

  Bernice slightly narrowed her eyes, but otherwise remained silent.

  “I can’t believe you told Elsie instead of us you were leaving the hospital,” Eleanor complained.

  “I knew if I told you, Agnes, that you’d interfere with my flight.” She cackled. “You should have known that I can’t stay away from my cats.”

  “Where are they? I didn’t notice them when we drove up.”

  The color left Callie’s face. “Well, th-that’s b-be —.”

  “Spit it out, Callie,” Bernice ordered.

  “Angelo thought it might be a good idea if your cats were elsewhere when you returned.”

  “What did he do with them?” Eleanor asked.

  “I-I’m not sure.”

  “You’d better call that brother of yours and get those cats back here,” Eleanor shouted.

  Bernice battered Callie back as she struggled to stand. “I can’t believe Angelo has the muscle to take my cats anywhere.”

  “I have a hard time believing he wasn’t mortally wounded trying.” I said.

  Callie made a call, which ended with her shrugging. “It went straight to voicemail.”

  “Should we take Bernice to the pound?” Elsie asked.

  “We should check to see if Angelo is in the emergency room,” I said. “It would teach him to take one of Bernice’s beloved felines.”

  Bernice walked through the house and out the back door. Eleanor and I hurried after her.

  Bernice’s hands slipped to her hips. “My cats are over there.” She smiled as she sat on a lawn chair. “His evil plans have been thwarted. Taking my cats would be the only motive for murder if I ever killed anybody.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t say that,” I said.

  “Especially after the find on Wilber’s property,” Eleanor said.

  Bernice cocked a brow.

  “Bernice isn’t healthy enough to get stressed again,” Elsie said.

  Bernice rolled her eyes. “What finding is this?”

  I explained to Bernice about what Eleanor and I found at Wilber’s house.

  Bernice’s lower lip protruded. “What does the sheriff have to say about it?”

  “He’s just like us, confused,” I said. “There were bloodstains on Wilber’s living room carpet that didn’t belong to him.”

  “Agnes, that’s too much information for Bernice,” Marjory cautioned.

  “I’m hardly a fragile flower,” Bernice protested. “What do you make of it, Agnes and Eleanor?”

  “How well do you know Wilber, I mean really? Since you reconnected with him, has he done anything that set the alarms off inside your head?” I asked.

  “The only alarms that man set off are in my heart,” Bernice admitted. “I know you think I’m a hardened woman and it must be strange hearing me talk like this about my ex-husband, but despite our past that man was the love of my life.”

  “Oh, Mother,” Callie called out as she hugged Bernice.

  Bernice stiffened and pushed her daughter away. “It’s not that easy, daughter. You can’t expect me to forgive you so easily after the way you and your brother treated me just the other day. I didn’t see either of you at the hospital.”

  “That was because we were arrested,” Callie said as she staggered back.

  “They were held for questioning,” Eleanor clarified. “Did you give your mother a ride from the hospital, Callie?”

  “Sophia brought me home,” Bernice said.

  “I didn’t see her car in the driveway,” I said.

  “Bill dropped her off after he received a call to report to work.”

  “Probably to the crime scene at Wilber’s house.”

  “Sophi
a is upstairs cleaning. Bill dropped the baby off at Martha’s.”

  “That’s a relief. This place is too dangerous for a baby.”

  “You might be right. There is nothing baby-proofed in this house.” Bernice forced a smile. “I had hoped to have grandchildren of my own someday, but my children don’t want anything to do with me.”

  “I’m here now,” Callie protested.

  “Guilty conscience.”

  Callie walked back inside, and I asked, “Are you sure you haven’t misjudged Callie?”

  “You weren’t here that day.”

  “We were after the fact,” Eleanor said.

  “And Callie seemed very concerned about you,” I said.

  “Don’t let her fool you like she’s fooled me. One minute my children were fine with me and the next they wanted nothing to do with me. They only came over that day to accuse me of murdering their father.”

  “They overreacted,” Elsie said. “But we all make mistakes. Give Callie another chance.”

  “I don’t know if I have enough time left for second chances.”

  “There’s always time for second chances,” I said. “I’m living proof of that when my daughter Martha showed up. Sophia can tell you all about how she didn’t want anything to do with Martha when she came to town.”

  “Grams is right,” Sophia said as she walked outside and took a load off. Her dark hair was held back with a handkerchief. “My mother left town without telling me where she went after my parents divorced.”

  Martha had been off the grid and none of the family had been able to contact her. I felt just as bad about Martha’s absence. I felt as though I had done something wrong. I had been kept in the dark about Martha’s disastrous marriage, but my daughter allowed me to pick up Sophia for the summers. In many ways I lived for those summers.

  “Who cut your lawn?” I asked.

  “Lawn?” Elsie laughed.

  “Bill had the weeds bushwhacked,” Sophia said. “He said it’s not safe for Bernice to be walking around the yard in thigh-high weeds.”

  “Weeds? They’re like trees,” Eleanor said.

  “Do you think Wilber was capable of killing anyone, Bernice?” I asked.

  Bernice’s eyes met mine. “Do you think Wilber killed that woman?”

  “I didn’t say anything about the remains being male or female.”

  “It had to be female with Wilber’s background,” Bernice said with tears in her eyes.

  “I can’t believe you. My father was not a murderer,” Callie shouted as she stomped outside. “Even if he happened to have been in relationships with a crazed woman at one time.” Her face lit up. “Maybe she was the one who killed those women.”

  “Those women?” Eleanor asked.

  “I think you need to explain yourself,” I said.

  “My dad was questioned in the past for the disappearances of female hitchhikers when Angelo and I were younger.”

  “Was he a truck driver?”

  “Salesman,” Bernice said. “Wilber wasn’t living in Tawas back then.”

  “That doesn’t make him less a murderer,” I said.

  Callie came running at me. “My father didn’t —.”

  Bernice quickly separated us. “Wilber didn’t own that property back then, isn’t that right, Callie?”

  “That’s what I was trying to say.”

  “You go at my grandmother like that again and I’ll box your ears,” Sophia said as she menacingly walked toward Callie.

  “Try it and I’ll call the cops,” Callie said.

  “I’m married to the cops,” Sophia retorted.

  “Settle down, ladies,” Marjory said. “Not that I’m not enjoying the friendly exchange. I had no idea you knew how to box, Sophia.”

  “Bill taught me.”

  “Why would you even mention your father’s possible involvement with missing female hitchhikers?” I asked. “Do you think it was a woman’s body found on your father’s property?”

  “So it was a woman?” Callie asked.

  “We don’t know who it was for certain,” Eleanor said. “And we might not for some time. We really came here to see how Bernice was faring.”

  “I think I should leave. All I’m doing is causing problems,” Callie said.

  “You can’t run away now, not unless you want your mother to think you’re not worthy of a second chance. She needs you now.”

  “Keep that brother of yours away from here,” Sophia said. “Your mother needs to rest.”

  “She’s right. Eleanor and I didn’t mean to upset you, but we had to ask you about Wilber.”

  “I imagine the sheriff will be back here soon asking questions. If there was a bloodstain on Wilber’s carpet, you can’t be suggesting that he murdered someone and hid the body on his property. He was murdered in his sleep,” Bernice said.

  “We haven’t worked it all out, but I can’t help wondering if someone might have caught wind of the murders Wilber was accused of and caught up to him.”

  “Why would they hide the other body if they killed my father?” Callie asked.

  “That’s a good question,” I said.

  “My father was a smart man. He’d get rid of the body if he killed anyone.”

  “Are you talking from personal experience?” Eleanor asked.

  Callie met Bernice’s eyes briefly before focusing back on Eleanor and me. “I would think you’d be more concerned with finding out who murdered my father, not worrying about some body that might have been found on the property.”

  “It was definitely found on your father’s property,” I said. “If your father was a person of interest in missing person cases in the past, it might have come back to haunt him.”

  “Someone might have gone to prison for the crimes and recently was released,” Eleanor added.

  “I hope we haven’t upset you further, Bernice. We really are concerned about you,” I said.

  “Bernice, I think under the circumstances you should come and stay with me and Jack until the killer is found,” Elsie said.

  Bernice’s eyes widened. “You and Jack? I can’t imagine he’d want me over at your place.”

  “We’re staying at my house and I have a spare bedroom.”

  “We’ll bring you over every day to check on your cats,” Marjory said.

  Bernice thumped her fingers on her stomach. “That sounds like a right good idea.”

  “Mother, I told you I’d stay with you until you felt better,” Callie said.

  “Under the circumstances I’d feel safer at Elsie’s house.”

  Callie’s face fell. “I’d never do anything to harm you, Mother.”

  “No, you and your brother just want me in jail for killing your father. You’ve both said as much the other day when I had my episode. I’d never kill Wilber. He was the only man I’ve ever loved.”

  Callie’s eyes narrowed. “If you really loved him you would never have driven him away.”

  “And I suppose it’s your mother’s fault your father was a no good cheat?” Eleanor asked. “I would think after all these years that you’d open your eyes to the truth. Your father prevented you from knowing your own mother while you were growing up.”

  Chapter 10

  I pulled next to Sheriff Peterson’s cruiser at Nieman’s, and Eleanor and I waited by his car until he returned, carrying two plastic store bags.

  His brow furrowed as he asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “Did you ask the manager about Faith Fleur?” I asked.

  “Yes, and he confirmed what you told me. I’ll have you know nobody has filed a missing person report yet. And then I did a little shopping.”

  “I have some interesting information to share.”

  Peterson put his purchases in the squad car and then gave me his full attention. ”If you can be brief. I have ice cream.”

  Eleanor cocked a brow. “Aren’t you on a diet?”

  “It’s for a birthday party.”

  “Wh
ose birthday?” I asked. “Are we invited?”

  “No. Neither of you are.” Peterson put a hand on his open door. “I really need to get going.”

  “Fine. We paid Bernice a visit. She went AWOL from the hospital.”

  “Agnes, tell the sheriff what we came here for,” Eleanor prodded.

  “Callie was at Bernice’s house. She let it slip that her father was a suspect in a string of missing female hitchhikers when she and her brother were children.”

  Peterson’s eyes widened. “Did she mention how long ago?”

  “I’d imagine the late nineties.”

  “Not too many women hitchhikers in the nineties.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Eleanor said. “Is there any way you can check for cold cases?”

  “Sounds like a crapshoot, but I’ll relay this to the state police. They might have more resources to search cases you’re referring to.”

  “And you don’t have the time to do it yourself?” I asked.

  “I’m busy enough handling the active cases in this county. What are you hinting at?”

  “Well, we just thought that if Wilber was involved in those disappearances someone from his past might have tracked him down.”

  “And whacked him,” Eleanor added, drawing a finger across her throat.

  “A victim’s family member?” Peterson asked.

  “Or someone might have wrongfully gone to prison for the crime and was just released,” I added.

  Peterson crossed his arms. “Then we would be talking about cold cases, which are even more of a needle in the haystack.”

  “Did the coroner give you a preliminary report yet?”

  “I don’t even know if forensics removed the body from the barrel yet. They have custody of it now.”

  “So how long will it take to find out if the victim is male or female?”

  “You’ll have to ask the coroner.”

  “Are you encouraging us to question the coroner?” Eleanor asked.

  “Not at all, but you two seem hell bent on doing whatever you want.”

  “Do you have any other suspects right now?” I asked.