The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  “That’s the wrong word to use, ‘packing’. She was pushed out with nothing but the clothes on her back.”

  Dana winced, “That seems pretty harsh. I mean, throwing a woman and a child out too. How old was Priscilla then, Faye?”

  “If I recall correctly, she’d of been about six. Her family is still in the area so they’ve been back a time or two for weddings and funerals and such but they’ve had it bad.”

  Dana played dumb, “Whatever happened to get them both tossed out like that?”

  Her question was all the launching pad mom needed, “Oh, Stanley Chappell originally married very young...all the Chappells’ seem to do that. His first wife Cynthia died in childbirth and they lost the baby too. He didn’t re-marry until he was nearly 50.”

  “Angelica was Stanley’s second wife and she was much younger than him. She came from money too but on a lesser scale than he did. They met at some horsey thing though and he was smitten. She was a darn good horse trainer back in the day. She took over some of the saddle training at the Chappell horse farm after they got married.”

  Mom paused and sipped her coffee but made a face because it was getting cold. I signaled our server and told her to go on. I didn’t want her to get out of her flow now that I had her in it.

  “Everything was going fine see, until Nevil Harper came along.”

  “Nevil Harper?” Dana and I both cried out in unison.

  “Um hmm, Nevil Harper. “He was working for Chappell’s horse farms at the time while saving up for his own spread. It was early in his marriage to Elizabeth, who was called Lizzie back then. Nevil and Lizzie tried for a couple of years to get pregnant but she couldn’t seem to.” The poor woman, the doctors thought maybe she was barren.”

  “Anyway, after a year or so of trying with no luck, Nevil started sowing his seed all about town in some sort of vain effort to prove his manhood. Rumor has it that there’s more than one Harper bastard child out there.”

  I shuddered at the thought. The look in Dana’s eyes told me that she was thinking the same thing.

  “Angelica and Nevil had a brief fling while Stanley was out of town, delivering a race horse. Don’t know what she saw in him...or what any woman did for that matter but, there it is. Priscilla was apparently the result. Two years later, Stanley Jr. came along as what Stan Sr. saw as another very late in life baby for he and Angelica.”

  “So Stan didn’t know about the affair?”

  “No one did until years later.”

  “Priscilla would have been around two when Stan Jr. was born, right?” I asked. Mom nodded. “And she would have been about six when Stan Sr. threw them out. What triggered that? By then Nevil Harper had at least one or two kids of his own and, I would assume, he’d settled down.”

  “Oh, it was all about protecting the Chappell name. I don’t know the exact details but the gist is that Priscilla needed some sort of medical attention when she was six and something tipped Stanley Sr. that she couldn’t possibly be his. He divorced Angelica very quickly after that.”

  “Her and the girl showed up on Nevil’s doorstep but he didn’t want anything to do with them either. By then Nevil Jr. was two years old and the Harper’s had another baby on the way.”

  “Angelica didn’t have any money to fight either man and, though her family had some, they weren’t about to go up against the Chappells’. There’s bad blood now between all of the older Chappells’ and Nevil Harper Sr. They don’t get along with him at all.”

  I laughed, “I bet it really sticks in Stanley’s craw that Nevil owns land right next to his.”

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it; Stanley Sr. sold Harper that land before all of this came out!”

  Chapter 23 – Meet the Rossi’s

  Wednesday Morning, August 27th, 2014

  I was beating my head into my desk when Shane Harding walked into my office.

  “Got the forensics and Coroner’s reports back on the Stiers crime scene Sheriff.”

  “Anything we can use?”

  Shane shrugged, “Not much. There’s a good thumbprint on the phone that doesn’t match the victim but whoever left it isn’t in AFIS.”

  “That could be Nevil Jr.”

  “True. We lifted three partial fingerprints from the bedside stand that don’t match to anything either.”

  “Damn! We just can’t catch a break.”

  “Place was too clean and, whoever the perp is, he’s not in the database.”

  “Any luck finding anyone who saw anybody going in and out of there?”

  “Sorry Mel, there’s nobody. Everybody we did talk to that lives around her condo claims to have been away from home when it happened. There just aren’t a lot of condo’s there. I have an APB out on her car and we’ve been beating the bushes for the boy. It’s like he’s disappeared.”

  “We’ve got to find him. My gut tells me he didn’t kill her but, because he’s running, I think he knows who did.”

  “Does your gut tell you anything about who that might be?”

  “I just don’t know. He had a fight with his father about the baby and his father’s having a real fit about it. Nevil Sr. is capable of a lot of things but I just don’t know that he’s capable of something like that.” I thought about the baby the senior Harper had denied years before.

  Shane was still talking, “Yeah, about the baby?”

  “What about it?”

  “There wasn’t one. She wasn’t pregnant.” He waved the Coroner’s report toward me.

  I felt my jaw go slack.

  ###

  I called Dana looking for a little dose of sanity after my meeting with Shane.

  “How’s it going babe?”

  “So-so.” She sounded drawn and tired.

  “What’s going on there? Is something wrong?”

  “Nothing I need to trouble you with while you’re working.”

  “Listen, I’m not making any progress here, just running into walls. Is there something I can do to help you?”

  “I’m running into walls here too. How about if we just run away and elope?” Her tone had turned serious.

  “What did mom and Kris do now?”

  Dana sighed. “It’s okay. I’ll keep working on things.”

  “Honey, tell me what’s happening, please...”

  “I’m just not getting anywhere with them Mel. They’ve taken complete control over the planning of the party...reception...whatever you want to call it, after Kris and Lance’s wedding. They don’t want any input from me other than a guest list of my family. I don’t even think they’re going to let Hannah do a separate cake for us.”

  “You know, I’ve had it with this from them.” I was exasperated and angry.

  “This is why I didn’t want to tell you...”

  “Do you want me to talk to them?”

  “And say what, Mel? It’s your sister’s wedding day they’re planning. No matter what, we’re going to be second fiddle to that.”

  “Dana, you’re forgetting that this is her second wedding. The first one was all about her. This time, she’s not the only one.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “I’ll have to think about that.”

  “Well, think fast! It’s less than eight weeks away. We’re already up against deadlines to commit to vendors.”

  “What have you come up with for us to get married before that?”

  “I’ve got calls and emails out to several places in Pennsylvania and a few officiates in D.C. just trying to see who and what’s available. It’s looking like D.C. is the way to go.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because most of the people who can officiate can do all the license stuff by mail. We just have to show up and get married. It’s just a matter of picking a day and time when the officiant is available. In P.A., we have to appear ourselves to get the license and then wait three days before we can even pick it up.”

  “Oh,” I rubbed my chin, “that’s too bad. When do you th
ink you’ll have something firmed up? I’ll need to juggle some things here.”

  “Let me make a couple of calls and get back to you.”

  “Okay then. I’ll let you go. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Holly cleared her throat as I hung up the phone.

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough. You know, we can hold down the fort here if you wanted to, oh say, drive to P.A. tomorrow and, I don’t know, meet her folks and maybe apply for a marriage license?”

  Thursday, August 28th, 2014

  4:30 AM

  “Dana, wake up.” I whispered softly while shaking her gently.

  She opened one eye and looked up at me. “What time is it?”

  “4:30”

  “What?” Both eyes open now, she eyed me up and down. I’d showered and dressed in khaki’s and a polo. “Why are you leaving so early and why are you dressed like that?”

  “We’re taking a road trip, just you and me. We’re leaving early because Beth and Cole will be up in an hour since they started back to school this week, and I don’t want to answer a bunch of questions.”

  “Where are we going? For how long? Do I need to pack?”

  “Questions, questions. Get in the shower and put on something decent. I’ll gather up what you need.”

  I heard my sisters alarm going off as I quietly closed the door behind us. I’d left her a note that simply said we were going to meet Dana’s folks so she wouldn’t worry. The bags were already loaded in the car and I had some idea of the general direction of travel so I was keeping Dana herself in the dark until we stopped breakfast.

  The sun was coming up as we headed east. It was a beautiful morning and not yet too hot but summer wasn’t nearly ready to give way to fall. After trying and failing to get me to divulge our destination, Dana gave up, donned her sunglasses and sat back to enjoy the ride. I figured when we crossed out of Ohio on I-70 into West Virginia she’d figure it out but she was content to relax and take it easy for a change.

  We weren’t in the northern finger of West Virginia long when we left it and rolled into Pennsylvania. My fiancé turned and peered at me over the tops of her sunglasses and then smiled. She knew.

  “Let’s stop and eat and you can give me directions the rest of the way.”

  “How about we eat and then I drive the rest of the way? Do they know we’re coming?”

  “I talked to your mother yesterday afternoon.”

  “You did, huh? How did that go?”

  “Does the word ‘squee’ mean anything to you?”

  “I guess it has been a while since I’ve gone home to see everyone...”

  “Ya think?” I laughed.

  We pulled into the driveway of a nice but modest family home in McKeesport, south of Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh police cruiser was parked out front. I pointed at it and looked at Dana, a question in my eyes.

  “My brother Vince is a Pittsburgh cop.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know. I’m realizing that, other than all of their names and the fact that you have two brothers, I don’t know much about your family at all.”

  “Ten minutes with this bunch and you’ll know more than you ever wanted to know.” A smile lit up her eyes, “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.” By the time my feet hit the top step to the front porch, all hell was breaking loose. Dogs were barking; people were trying to crowd out the front door. It was bedlam. Dana needs to visit her family a little more often...

  In a flurry of introductions I met her mother Chloe, her dad Marco and her brothers Nick and Vince, both names short, I’m sure, for something. A giant Chihuahua, unable to contain his excitement at having visitors everybody went to the door to greet, peed all over the hardwood living room floor. Chloe hustled out of the room for a mop and swished dog pee around amid the melee.

  When the hugging, the handshaking and the mopping was done, we all moved to the kitchen for a second round of breakfast presided over by an insistent Chloe. We ate with everyone talking at once but Vince who was wolfing down a plate in a hurry.

  “What’s your rush?” Dana elbowed her brother.

  “Gotta go. Got a task force meeting in 20 minutes but I wanted to see you all this morning. I’ll be back with Shannon tonight for dinner.”

  “His wife,” Dana said for my benefit.

  I nodded and then whispered, “Dinner?” She just tipped her head and shrugged at me.

  Dana’s other brother Nick looked up from the smart phone he kept checking, “Dinner and a game...if you want. The Pirates are in town and they’re having a pretty good season. We have a couple of extra tickets if you two want to go,” he said, as he pointed to Vince. “We’ll leave here after dinner and head over there.”

  “Are you sure,” Dana asked her brothers.

  Vince jumped up to rinse his plate but said over his shoulder, “They’re in contention this year.”

  Nick broke in, “Yeah, ‘On ice or grass we’ll kick your ass!” I didn’t get the reference but everyone else laughed.

  “Anyway,” Vince continued, “we split a season four pack. Shannon and Jenny like the games but they don’t always want to go.”

  Dana looked at me, “It’s up to you.”

  “I’m game.”

  “We’re in then.”

  “Good,” Vince said, “it’s a plan. Now I really gotta run sis.” Everyone waved their goodbyes but he was already out the door.

  Dana looked between her father and her youngest brother, “Don’t you two have to work today too?”

  “Your dad took a couple days off,” Chloe answered Dana’s question for him. “It’s too hot in the mill in the summertime.” Marco simply nodded. Unlike my own father, he didn’t seem to mind his wife taking the lead or speaking for him.

  Nick winked, “As for me, it’s good to be king. The boss just has to be accessible,” he held his phone up, “but I will go in here shortly.”

  Dana rolled her eyes as she turned to me, “My brother’s the IT Director for PPG.”

  I didn’t know what PPG was but, before I could ask the question, they were off on another topic.

  “So, are you two really just visiting or are you here for some ‘other’ reason?” He looked back and forth between the two of us, eyebrows raised.

  Dana deferred to me. I cleared my throat, “Well, actually, I did want to meet you all but I had another motive. I, uh, asked Dana to marry me a few weeks ago and she said yes.”

  The kitchen became mini bedlam again as Dana showed off her ring and there were smiles, hugs and congratulations all around. Before I could say anything else, Chloe was off and running.

  “So, you can’t get married in Ohio right?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You can get married here, you just have to go and apply for a license. The courthouse is open today. You should go today because you have to wait a few days – business days, I think – to pick it up but then you can get married if you wanted to do it right away. Oh, I guess that depends on how soon you want to do it and...”

  “Mom, stop for a breath!” Dana made the timeout motion with her hands.

  I jumped back in, “My other reason for coming here was to get a license going and then to maybe come back in a few weeks or so and get married, that is, if it’s all right with Dana?” I paused and waited for my fiancé’s response.

  Chloe didn’t bother to wait for her daughter’s input, “Why wait a few weeks? Why not get the license and come back next week? One of our good friends is a JP. If he’s available, he could marry you anywhere you wanted next weekend, no problem.”

  “JP?” I was puzzled.

  “Justice of the Peace,” Dana answered. “They’re like a judge. They preside over minor things like a Mayor’s Court might do in Ohio and they can officiate at weddings.”

  “Nice!” I picked up her hand from my seat adjacent to hers at the table, “What do you think?”

  “It solves a logistical problem for us and...
” she trailed off.

  “And it doesn’t involve my crazy family and their half-baked notions of what’s a real wedding and what isn’t.”

  “That isn’t what I was going to say, Mel. I love your family.”

  “I know you do but that’s what you were thinking and I don’t blame you. You’re just too nice to say it.” Dana’s cheeks tinted with a slight blush.

  Marco finally got a word in edgewise, “So it’s settled then?” We both nodded. “Good. Your mother can call the judge when we’re done here and get that set up for you for next weekend. Is that good?”

  We all three nodded at that.

  Chloe came right back with, “Where do you want to have it? Do you want to do it here? Do you want to get a hall...something might be available. Do you want to do it at the park? We could do it by the pond there; that would be pretty...”

  “Mom, right here is fine. Let’s just do something small, okay? The two of us, the two of you and Nick and Vince and their wives, and Nick’s daughter if they all want to come.”

  “Of course we’ll come. Why wouldn’t we?” Nick looked a little put out that his sister would suggest that he might not want to be at her wedding.

  “Well, I just thought, it’s the second time around and all and not, uh...not uh so traditional this time, and...”

  “Dana we’ll be here, all of us.”

  Such a change from my own family. I smiled my thanks at Nick and then addressed Chloe, “It seems to be settled; I guess you can do your thing!”

  The J.P. had a prior commitment on Saturday but he agreed to perform the ceremony on Friday evening so Dana and I set out for the Allegheny County Court House after breakfast to get a marriage license. After that, we spent a whirlwind weekend planning a small ceremony, eating, laughing, joking, seeing a ball game and losing money in a casino – all except for Chloe, that is. Chloe won. To hear her tell it, she always wins. Her children and daughter’s-in-law all agree that it’s true.

  Chapter 24 – Back to Business

  Monday, September 1st, 2014

  Labor Day

  Dana’s cell phone buzzed. She glanced at the number, shrugged to herself and answered it. “Hello?”