Death of a Coupon Queen

by Jenna Harte

  “Why would Ellie want Marla’s dead?” The idea was ridiculous. Ellie was a lonely woman trying to care for her husband. Plus, I wasn’t sure she was capable physically. She wasn’t frail, but she was in her sixties. I doubt she could move fast enough to stab Marla or swing a shovel hard enough to knock out Junior Junior.

  “I don’t know.” Vivie looked over at Ellie’s yard. “Maybe it was a land dispute. Marla’s garden is close to Ellie’s yard.”

  I remembered that Ellie had expressed some concern over a when the time came for her to sell the house, but she hadn’t been upset. “A survey and a fence would fix that. You don’t have to murder.”

  Vivie shrugged and pulled another carrot.

  “Why don’t you like Ellie?” My father didn’t have very kind words about her either.

  “Aside from the fact that she’s always in everyone’s business even though she never gets out of the house, is her fake devotion to Al. Everyone knows they despised each other.”

  “Really?”

  Vivie looked up at me. “You’re from this town, how is it you don’t know anything, Sophie?”

  “Because I was gone ten years?” I answered in the same snarky tone.

  Vivie shook her head. “Anyway, all that ‘my poor Al’ stuff is as fake as my blonde hair. She only keeps him alive because when he dies, all his money goes to charity or something and she won’t get a cent. She probably has him artificially kept alive with hoses and tubes and such.”

  I frowned at her. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

  “Only if it’s not true. I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

  I pulled the last beet from the row I was working on and moved to the next row. “Well, I still don’t see her killing anyone.”

  We worked in silence for a time. The silence was nice.

  “So, you and AJ Devlin. Is that serious?”

  “Yes.” I shored up my strength, waiting for whatever Vivie might say about AJ. If anyone had a prejudice against people from the Hollow, it was her.

  “A word of advice, Sophie. Men aren’t worth marrying. They’re good for taking care of a woman’s needs, like in the sack and heavy lifting. That’s about it. I should know.”

  I wanted to say that AJ was nothing like Randy, except I figured it wouldn’t sway her opinion. I also thought about telling her that Randy’s character was crystal clear in high school. She had to have known what she was getting into with him. However, I didn’t think that would matter either. Instead I said, “I’m sorry about Randy.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve known about him for a long time. But Tracy . . .”

  I realized that Vivie’s pain was less from Randy’s betrayal than Tracy’s, which made sense. Vivie knew he cheated. She had no idea her sister would betray her.

  “I’m sorry about that too.”

  Vivie looked up at me. “Do you think she’s been doing him ever since high school?”

  “God, Vivie. I don’t know. I doubt it.”

  “Why doesn’t she just get her own man? She may not be as pretty as me, but there are plenty of other men who’d have her.”

  “Jealous maybe?”

  “Yes!” Vivie pointed a glove-tipped finger at me. “I bet that’s it.” She reached down and pulled out another carrot. “Ah . . . Sophie?”

  “Hmm?” I looked up from my beets.

  “Look at this?” Vivie held up a malformed, discolored carrot. Vivie leaned in to study it. “Is that a ring?”

  I moved to where she was to examine the odd carrot. The carrot had definitely grown through a gold band. “Maybe Marla lost a ring while gardening.”

  “Then what’s this?” Vivie poked at the white part of the carrot inside the ring. The carrot broke, and the ring with the white section fell to the dirt.

  My stomach roiled. Without the carrot, the white part looked like a bone. A fingerbone. “Ah, Vivie. I think we should call Davis.”

  “Why?” She picked up the ring and the white bit fell out. She didn’t care about that part, making me think she didn’t realize that it was probably a bone. The bone of someone buried in Marla’s garden.

  “I think that’s a bone.”

  “A bone.” Vivie looked up at me horrified. “Whose?”

  “I don’t know. It might explain why Marla was killed.”

  “She buried someone in her garden?” Vivie dropped the ring and scooted away.

  That made the most sense. It also explained why Junior Junior was attacked. It didn’t explain why I was shot at, but not wanting to take any chances, I looked around to see if anyone was coming after us.

  “If she killed someone and buried him, who killed her?” Vivie asked.

  “I don’t know.” However, she did have a point. “Give me a glove.”

  “What?”

  “Give me a glove. Maybe the ring has an inscription and we can see who it is.”

  “Why do you need a glove?”

  “Prints, Vivie.” I wasn’t an expert in crime scene forensics, but I knew enough to keep my fingerprints off potential evidence.

  “Oh.” She pulled a glove off and handed it to me. I put it on and picked up the ring. Dirt coated the gold band. I wiped as best I could and found the inscription. It was faded and difficult to read. “My devotion . . . always . . .” I think that’s what it said.

  “It looked like a man’s wedding ring.” Vivie stood beside me, leaning over to inspect the ring.

  I adjusted the band, trying to get the right light on it. “There is a date. It looks like . . . 78 or 79?”

  “That’s a long time ago.” Vivie looked at Marla’s house. “Maybe it was her dad? He could have been married forty years ago.”

  “The family here before her wasn’t that old either. Unless it was a grandparent or something.”

  Vivie thought. “Wouldn’t we have noticed if someone disappeared from Jefferson Grove?”

  She had a point. “Since these are bones, he’s probably been here awhile.” I don’t know why I thought that. I don’t know the first thing about the rate of body decay. “Who haven’t we seen in a while?”

  “Nobody is missing, Sophie. Maybe it was someone visiting Marla or the family that used to live here. They had kids. Who’d commit murder with kids around?”

  “Any parent would if they thought the kids were in danger.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. Except why not call the sheriff’s office in that case?”

  I shook my head. We were just tossing out scenarios with no real clues. I read the inscription again. Devotion . . . always. The word hit on a memory, and like a network, hit on other memories. “Oh God . . .”

  “What?”

  “Maybe he’s not missing.” I jerked my gaze to Vivie.

  “Huh.”

  “Maybe no one thinks he’s missing because they think he’s sick.”

  Vivie’s brows furrowed. “Why would that matter?”

  “You said it yourself, Vivie. He’s worth more alive than dead.”

  “This guy is dead.” She nodded toward the ring.

  “Maybe no one knows he’s dead. Maybe everyone thinks he’s sick. Being cared for by his devoted wife. The wife who was upset the other day when Debbie was poking around here. And who could have attacked Junior Junior.”

  “Ellie?” Vivie didn’t seem convinced even though just a few minutes before she’d been accusing Ellie of murder.

  I nodded. Of course, that didn’t explain why I was shot at. Maybe it was unrelated. Either way, we had to call to Sergeant Scowl. I reached into my jeans pocket for my phone.

  “There’s no need for that, Sophie.” I flinched. Vivie grabbed my forearm. In sync, we turned toward the voice.

  “I have some cold tea and cookies. Why don’t you come visit me?” The gun in Ellie Tappen’s hand suggested the invitation
wasn’t something we could refuse.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Ithink we found who killed Marla and attacked Junior Junior.”

  “Why would she kill Marla?”

  I looked at Vivie. “Probably because she found Al in her garden.”

  “No,” Ellie shook her head. “She didn’t. Eventually she would have, just like you two did.”

  Vivie shook her head. “Why did you bury him in the Marla’s garden. That’s not very smart.”

  “Vivie,” I hissed under my breath. To Ellie I turned and asked. “What are you going to do?”

  “There was no garden here when I buried him.” Ellie turned her attention to me. “To answer your question, Sophie, unfortunately I have to kill you both.”

  I was afraid of that.

  “No, you don’t.” Vivie took a step back. “Everyone knows Al deserved it. We won’t tell, will we Sophie?”

  I didn’t think this would work, but I shook my head. “No, I won’t tell.”

  Ellie sighed. Her demeanor was calm, like this was a normal afternoon. “I tried to keep this from happening. I always liked you, Sophie, even though your father took all our money. He’s why I had to get rid of Al.”

  “I’m sorry.” How strange that this was the second time I’d run into someone wanting to kill because of what my dad had done. Conning people out of their money was bad, but it wasn’t his fault that Ellie killed Al.

  “You can’t just kill us, old lady.”

  I closed my eyes willing Vivie to not annoy Ellie.

  “People will hear the gun, and how will you bury us? You’re too old to dig a hole much less a grave.”

  “Stop antagonizing the person with the gun,” I snapped at Vivie.

  Ellie didn’t appear annoyed. She was cool as one of Marla’s cucumbers. “We’ll go have some tea, wait for it to get dark, and then go for a drive.”

  “People will notice we’re gone.” I looked around, hoping to see someone else in the neighborhood.

  Ellie waved the gun motioning us to start walking. “By then it will be too late.”

  “I have to be home for my kids,” Vivie’s tone turned from annoyed to worried.

  “I’ll make sure they’re fine.”

  “Don’t go near my kids.” Vivie lunged. I grabbed her just as Ellie lifted the gun.

  “Stop Vivie.” I pulled her back next to me.

  “She’s threatening my kids.”

  “I would never hurt children.” Ellie’s expression suggested she was horrified to be accused of such a thing.

  “I can’t just let her kill me,” Vivie said.

  “We don’t have a choice at this time.” I tugged on Vivie to walk with me toward Ellie’s.

  “There’s two of us and one of her. And she’s old.”

  “I might be old, but I’m not deaf. I can hear you.”

  “Neither of us is faster than a bullet, Vivie.” I tried to give her a look that said we had to bide our time and wait for a moment to get out this mess.

  “Listen to her, Vivie. She’s the smart one.”

  Vivie glared at Ellie.

  “Come on. Let’s have tea.”

  We went to Ellie’s house, on the way, I scanned for ways we might save ourselves. Nothing appeared. Inside Ellie’s kitchen, she had Vivie serve the tea and we sat at the table.

  “Isn’t this nice?” Ellie smiled at us like she had before. It was creepy that she could act like this was a simple afternoon tea and not her plotting two murders.

  “Not so much,” Vivie murmured.

  “At least you know your kids will have your sister to care for them when you’re gone.”

  “Now you’re just being mean, Ellie,” I said.

  She sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

  “So, what’s going to happen?” Neither Vivie nor I touched our tea. Instead we sat, ramrod straight in our chairs.

  “Like I said, when it’s dark, we’ll leave and go someplace private and quiet up one of the canyons.”

  “Why didn’t you put Al in a canyon and then none of this would be happening,” Vivie said.

  “I would have if he hadn’t made me kill him in a fit of anger. No, I had to think fast then. It wasn’t easy. It was a while ago . . . about two years, I guess. I wasn’t young then either.”

  “Two years? You’ve had people thinking you’ve been caring for him for two years?” I couldn’t believe she’d duped the entire town for that long.

  She nodded, the smirk on her face suggesting she was pleased with herself. “No one ever questioned me. The only downside was I had to stay home all the time to keep up the ruse. At least I had visitors. I’ve really enjoyed your visits, Sophie.”

  “How will you get us out of here?” I asked, hoping there’d be an opportunity to free ourselves.

  “Easy, we’ll take your friend Mrs. Naylor’s car.”

  Vivie and I looked at each other.

  “How do you have her car?”

  “She leaves the key in the hallway to the garage. We’ll go over, you’ll get in the trunk and we’ll drive out.” She smiled, pleased with her plan.

  “Won’t the gate notice you driving her car?” I asked.

  “The gate isn’t manned at night.”

  Oh yah.

  “The security will have a record of her car, but no one will see us.”

  I stared at Ellie realizing that she could have taken Marla’s car up to the Booty Burgo and shot at me. “Are you the shooter from the other night?”

  Ellie nodded. “I just wanted to scare you. Like I said, I like you Sophie. The problem is you’re too smart and I couldn’t have you nosing around.”

  “So, you took Marla’s car and drove up to the Booty Burgo?”

  “Yes.”

  I looked to Vivie again. “Aren’t there cameras at the gate.”

  “It was dark,” Ellie explained. “And the next day, the sheriff was back at the Naylor’s questioning her husband. I suspect they thought it was him, which turned out well for me, don’t you think?”

  “That’s why they don’t want him to leave town,” I said.

  “All you had to do was mind your own business. What were you doing out in the garden?” Ellie asked.

  “Tending to it.”

  “Well, that’s unfortunate. Would you like some cookies?” Ellie rose from her chair and went to the counter to get a plate of cookies.

  “Sophie, what do we do?” Vivie hissed under her breath.

  I shrugged, unsure of what we could do. “Wait for a better time,” I whispered back. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I quickly reached to my back pocket to hit the button to mute it.

  Ellie turned toward us. “What was that?”

  “What was what?” I asked.

  “That noise.”

  “Probably Vivie’s stomach. She doesn’t eat enough. Why don’t you have a cookie?”

  Vivie looked at me like I’d grown a third eye. Then she shrugged. “Sure, why not. I’m dying anyway. Doubt a few sugar calories will kill me at this point.” While Vivie took a cookie, I stealthily slid my phone from my pocket. Keeping it under the table, I tried to be nonchalant as I poked at the apps. My fingers shook, and I kept hitting the wrong option. I started to text Sergeant Scowl, but then decided to call. I turned the volume down hoping it softened what came out of the phone, while he’d be able to hear what went in.

  “Ellie, I don’t understand how my dad taking your money led you to kill Al. Why not just say his death was an accident? Why all this?” If I was lucky, Sergeant Scowl would hear all this.

  Ellie shook her head. “Maybe you’re not as smart as I think you are.” She leaned against the counter; the gun still pointed at us. “Your dad took our money, so all we had was that family trust of Al’s.”

  “It’s no
t smart to kill the Golden Goose,” Vivie said.

  “That was an accident. And because the money would go to the church at Al’s death, I couldn’t have him be dead.”

  “So, you made him sick.”

  Ellie nodded. “Worked like a charm until Mrs. Naylor moved in and decided to plant a garden.”

  “You should have buried him in your own yard.” Vivie shook her head. “Maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.”

  I closed my eyes, wondering if Vivie just bought her death.

  “I tried. The ground was softer on her side of the line. Plus, it was practically in the woods. Why she had to keep adding to her garden . . .”

  I glanced down at my phone, wondering if Sergeant Scowl had gotten any of this and if he was on his way. Then again, I wasn’t sure we’d said anything to indicate danger we were in.

  “Now, what shall we do to bide our time until it’s dark?”

  I stared at Ellie. She was talking like we were waiting for night fall to go trick or treating, not for her to kill us.

  “I know, let’s go to the basement. You’ll be comfortable there. And you can watch tv until it’s time to go.”

  Vivie looked at me. “She’s gone batty.”

  I shook my head telling her to be quiet.

  “Come on you two, down to the basement.”

  I discreetly slid my phone back into my pocket as I stood. I glanced down the long hallway toward Ellie’s front door. If we could knock her down, we might be able to make it.

  “The door to the basement is there.” Ellie pointed with the gun. Vivie and I started walking but Ellie kept enough distance that I didn’t think I’d able to knock her by surprise. Single file, Vivie and I through the door and down the basement stairs.

  The basement was finished in what must have been Al’s mancave. There was a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall, and recliners parked in front of it.

  “You two stand right there. Don’t try any funny stuff.” Ellie kept an eye on us as she went to another section of basement that had a large tool chest. Ellie opened it and pulled out duct tape.

  “Give me your phones.”

  Inwardly I screamed. I reached in my pocket and hit the button on the side to make the phone go to sleep. The one good thing was that I used a password, so she wouldn’t be able to see my call to Sergeant Scowl. If he called back, that might be a problem.