by Tonya Kappes
“I didn’t know he was like that at all. I’m assuming Ardine is his wife?” Alison confirmed with a nod. I tried to think back if I’d ever heard the girls from The Laundry Club say something about Corbin Ashbrook or his wife. “That’s so hard to believe. He never appeared to be that way.”
“All I can think of is that I pushed a button and was on the trail of something bigger than just the drought.” Her words turned my curious side on.
“Do you have any clue what it is?” I asked.
“I have an inkling.” Her brow rose.
Ahem, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught our attention. Hank Sharp was standing at the door of the station with his hands on his hips, staring at us. He pulled the sleeve of his button-down shirt up and looked at his watch. He glanced back up at us and tapped the face of the watch.
“Can I stop by and see you after this?” I asked Alison.
“Sure. I’ve been ordered not to leave town.” She rolled her eyes so hard.
Poor Penelope was so scared that she was visibly shaking. It was like she was walking the gang plank to her death.
“For someone who is so sure she’s innocent, you’re awfully nervous.” I made the observation. “Hank can smell fear a mile away. If you didn’t do this, I suggest you get it together.”
There was a slight shift in her posture as we got closer to the door to the police station, where Hank was patiently waiting.
“Ladies, I have comfy seats for both of you. If you’ll follow me.” He thought he was being so funny. It didn’t amuse me. We followed him into the station and through the door without having us go through the check in process at the window.
“Mae West!” Agnes Swift sat behind the window on her perch. She clapped her hands in delight. Her saggy jaws tightened slightly when she smiled. Her short grey hair was curled around her head. “I keep telling my grandson to stop letting his pride get in the way and get on over to Happy Trails to ask you out on an official date.” She snickered. “Like a coffee pot is a date.”
“Granny, don’t you have some work to do?” Hank quickly stopped Agnes from telling me anymore.
“The coffee pot was a date?” I asked her, ignoring him. “I thought he brought me that coffee pot because he felt sorry for me since I couldn’t offer him a big cup from the Keurig.”
Here was my quandary in the love life department. I just adored Agnes and if Hank wasn’t such a hard person, we might’ve gotten together long before I had my feelings for Ty.
“Mae,” Hank said my name in a low southern draw that would make any gal tingle. “Seriously. I have a job to do and you aren’t making it easy.”
It just so happened, all the officers in the station had turned around and were watching us in amusement. Granny Agnes must’ve let everyone know how she felt about me and Hank getting together.
“Who do you want to talk to first?” I asked, making it more official.
“Why don’t I talk to you first,” he suggested. “Penelope, you can sit right here.”
Hank and I passed another interrogation room on our way back to where he was going to question me. Jamison was in there with a couple of different officers and a ranger. All of them towering over him. His face looked out the window and our eyes caught. I gulped and continued walking.
“You obviously know Jamison and Penelope are an item, right?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He opened a door for me and let me walk in first. “Just sit anywhere. I let all of William’s friends go home but Jamison.”
He went over the piece of paper that had my statement on it from earlier. I signed it to make it an official document to be put into the case file. I couldn’t help but see the evidence sheet.
“What did you collect at the scene?” I asked and watched as he sat on the edge of the seat and gathered the papers into the file.
“We got that sweatshirt. We also combed the bungalow for any DNA of William’s and the DNA around the neck of the sweatshirt matches the DNA we collected from his other things. His friends did say it was his sweatshirt. There’s no blood or any DNA of Corbin’s on it.” He rubbed his hand through his hair.
“When will the autopsy be back?” My jaw dropped.
“I’m hoping to get an initial report soon.” He looked at his watch. “We found an inhaler.” The lines around his eyes deepened.
“Inhaler?” I gulped. Thoughts of Alison’s story swirled in my brain.
“What? Do you know someone with an inhaler?” He asked, pulling his shoulders back into a tall, erect position.
“Just odd.” I didn’t answer the question. There was good reason for that. Just a few short hours ago he’d asked me to help him with the investigation. Though Alison had used the inhaler a few minutes ago, she’d not tried to cover it up and besides, I truly wanted to know what she thought she’d uncovered with Corbin. When I talked with her later tonight and I felt like she truly did kill him, I’d let Hank know she had an inhaler.
“We need to find William. Do you think she knows where he is?” He referred to Penelope.
“I don’t think so, but I had no clue she and Jamison were an item until one of the tourists at the campground apparently had a good chat with them downtown.” All of this was adding up to my theory that William had killed Corbin out of anger. “Penelope did say that William has a temper and I wonder if he killed Corbin after he’d gone back to the campground. Maybe he and Corbin had words and William followed him up to trail. They fought and somehow William killed Corbin?” I asked in a suggestive way since we’d yet been told the way he’d died.
“We’re looking at all angles. I found out about the affair between Penelope and Jamison after I looked through Alison’s photos. I recognized her instantly and then him when I went to the crime scene. They were just a little too lovey-dovey to me.” Hank pulled out a couple of photos of the two lovebirds Alison had taken. “Here is one of William seeing them. He’s got on the sweatshirt. So we know he’d been wearing it. The coroner said that Corbin died this morning. So where was William all night and where is he now?” He held the photo up to his face and stared at it.
“I talked to his family. They are getting his medical records, but they said he didn’t use an inhaler. We are in the process of testing the DNA on it, and we have a call into the doctor who is on the prescription label. We are working on a subpoena.” He turned when the door opened.
“Sir, you’ve got a call from Corbin’s wife,” he said. “And we also just got this over the fax.” The officer handed Hank a piece of paper. I recognized the stamp at the top of the page. It was from the coroner’s office.
“Okay. We are done here.” Hank turned back to me.
“Is that the initial autopsy report?” I asked.
Hank paused, as though he were studying on whether to tell me or not.
“Yeah. Time of death is around eleven a.m.” He gnawed on the inside of his jaw. “Corbin died of anaphylactic shock. Seems the inhaler might be his.”
“Peanuts,” I gasped.
“How did you know?” Hank’s brows hooded over his eyes.
“Yesterday at the campground party, he was offered a peanut butter cookie. He refused it because he said he was allergic to peanuts. So why would he eat peanut butter?” There was something wrong with this picture.
“Let’s get together in the morning over coffee to discuss all this and I’ll let you know what I’d like you to listen out for because I agree with you. Something doesn’t seem right.” He rocked back on his heels.
“Okay.” I nodded. “Since Jamison is in the bungalow alone, Penelope can stay with him.”
“How is Fifi?” Hank asked.
“She’s about to bust.” I laughed.
“Granny Agnes wants a puppy.” He smirked. “I’m sorry about what she said earlier. She’s always sticking her nose in places it doesn’t belong.”
“Ah, it’s okay.” I brushed it off. “The family always likes me, it’s the men that don’t.” I clamped my mouth shut,
shocked I’d even said that.
“I’m sure you have no problem with men, Mae West.” His face softened and his eyes lingered on my face.
“Sir?” The officer stuck his head back into the door.
“I’ll see you in the morning.” Hank brushed past me and out the door. His cologne brushed past my nose, filling my lungs and teasing my heart.
When I left the room where Hank had questioned me, I found Penelope sitting next to Jamison, waiting for her turn in the interrogation room. Jamison told me he’d wait for Penelope and bring her back to the campground since they weren’t allowed to leave town, which made this a perfect time for me to question Alison Gilbert alone.
Her office was located in the Daniel Boone National Park office in the neighboring town. Since the police station was on the outskirts of town, it was close to her office and a quick ride.
The building was a typical brown brick building built in the sixties. The parking lot had only one car in it and it belonged to Alison. The last two windows on the side of the building were illuminated and I remembered those were the windows in the conference room where she’d interviewed me.
The front door was unlocked but the sign posted the hours. According to the time, the building should have been closed.
“Alison?” I hollered as I entered the building. There was a deserted welcome desk with all the literature you’d ever need about the Daniel Boone National Park and surrounding towns. “It’s me, Mae West.”
My eyes scanned down the brochure holder and a smile crossed my face after I’d seen the new brochures for Happy Trails Campground that Abby Fawn had put together. They were gorgeous with the photos of the lake, recreation center, bungalows, and few campers. The families in the photos sure were having a good time. I remember when Abby and Alison had come to the campground to take those pictures. Abby had hired Alison to do them for us. It was a pretty reasonable fee too.
“Alison?” I called down the hall where I’d seen the lights coming out of the conference room. I headed on down the hallway. The place was big. She was probably going to the bathroom and would be back shortly.
The other office doors were shut. There were two skinny and long windows on each side of the doors, showing the darkness inside. It was deeply silent and eerie. The quiet had engulfed me with each step and I was a bit relieved when I made it to the light of the conference room. Until I stepped inside.
“Alison!” I screamed and ran over when I saw her lying on the floor with her arms in football goal position and her legs bent to one side. “Oh my God, oh my God,” I panted as I took her into my arms and blood rushed out the back of her head.
I put her back down and rubbed my temples. My heart raced as I started to panic. I flailed my hands at my wrist as I paced back and forth, trying to gather my wits.
“Hank!” With trembling hands, somehow, I dialed Hank’s number. “Hank, Alison is dead.”
“What?” He gasped from the other end of the phone.
“Alison Gilbert is dead. Just come to the Daniel Boone National Park office,” I told him to hurry up in a shaky voice.
There was no way I was staying inside with Alison. I ran outside to sit down on the curb in front of the building and wait for Hank.
EIGHT
Not that I had a lot of time to wait until Hank and the slew of police cars pulled up, but to my brain, it felt like a long time to sit there on the curb and think about the dead woman in the building behind me. A woman with a secret.
“She said she had uncovered some things that Corbin didn’t like. What were those things?” I asked myself and sat on my hands to keep them from trembling out of my skin. “Who else would know?”
The lights of a car blinded me like a spotlight, followed by the swirling blue and red lights of the cruisers.
“Mae, are you okay?” Hank jumped out of the first car and rushed over to me. There was a sincere look of concern on his face. He sat down next to me and peeled off his suit coat and draped it over my shoulders. The other officers ran past us with their guns drawn. Hank must’ve seen the look on my face. “They are going to clear the scene.”
“You mean?” I jerked back and looked at him. “You think the killer is still in there.” I gulped. “I didn’t even think of that. I just ran out here.”
“We don’t know if there is a killer.” He smiled.
“Huh? She was shot. In the head. I picked her up.” It was then that I realized I probably shouldn’t have picked her up in case it was a murder scene.
Hank looked at my shirt and I looked down. Alison’s blood smeared all over it.
“We need to make sure it wasn’t a self-inflicted gunshot.” Did he think she killed herself? He continued, “I made it clear that she was a suspect in Corbin’s case. Maybe she realized she was caught and her only way out was to kill herself.”
“No. No.” I shook my head. “She knew I was coming over here to meet with her.”
“You were?” His expression grew still and serious. “You didn’t mention that at the police station.”
The coroner’s white van pulled up along the curb to the left of us.
“I wanted to hear what she had to say.” There wasn’t any need to explain it to him since I’d not gotten the chance to ask her all the things I was keeping from him.
“What else are you keeping a secret in there?” He reached up and tapped his finger to my head.
“She uses an inhaler.” I stood up to avoid looking at his reaction.
“Geez, Mae.” There was an edge of anger in his voice. “You mean to tell me that you knew she used an inhaler and didn’t say anything after I told you we found one at the scene?”
“I . . .” I searched for the words, but nothing seemed to come to mind
“You nothing. This could’ve been avoided if you’d told me that because she’d be in custody right now answering even more questions until the DNA results from the inhaler came back.” He had stood up by the time I turned around to face him.
“Sir,” the officer came out of the building. “It’s all clear. The deceased is down the hall and in the last conference room on the right.”
Hank glowered at me and turned away to go into the building.
There were so many unanswered questions that I needed to answer. What did Corbin know so he had to threaten Alison? What did Alison have in that file? Where was the file?
Hank was wrong. Alison didn’t kill herself. Someone knew what information Corbin and Alison had and killed both of them to keep them quiet. Someone wanted them to stay silent and there was no surer way to silence them than killing them.
Another set of car lights brought me out of my head. Queenie French and Abby Fawn jumped out of the car.
“There she is!” Abby yelled and the two ran over to me. “What’s going on?”
My brows knitted and my jaw dropped as I looked between them.
“Police scanner,” was all Queenie had to say.
“Come on,” Abby encouraged me to walk forward from where my shoes felt like they were filled with concrete. “Let’s get you back to The Laundry Club. All the girls are there.”
“Yeah. We called them on the way over here to get over there and put on a pot of pumpkin spice coffee,” Queenie said.
Pumpkin spice was my favorite. Especially this time of the year and it would for sure make me feel a tiny bit better.
This situation was like Christmas for these ladies. They couldn’t wait until they got the scoop.
“She’s in shock.” Abby put her face in mine.
I wasn’t sure if I was in shock or I was just so happy they were there and I wasn’t alone.
“You drive Mae’s car back and I’ll drive her back.” Abby tucked her fingers in my front pocket where my keys to the Ford Escort were and she tossed them to Queenie.
Queenie did some sort of Jazzercise grapevine dance move and caught them in her hand on the last back foot cross move.
I laughed.
“All the moves come in
handy.” Queenie wiggled her brows and grapevined back the other way on the way towards my car.
“Yeah. She said she needed to get her steps in and was on her way to a Jazzercise class when the scanner picked up the news about Alison.” Abby guided me towards the car.
“The coat. Hank.” My mouth was dry.
“You keep that coat on. This fall weather is crazy and it’s cold out here tonight.” She wrapped her arms around my shoulder and patted them. She opened the passenger door of her car and helped me in.
The cool breeze swept in when she shut the door, sending a chill up my legs and leaving my arms with goosebumps. I curled the lapels of the suit coat around me and looked out the window. The moon was high in the sky, even though it was only about seven p.m. Some of the tree branches looked like spikes without their freshly fallen leaves, while some of them were still full and vibrant with color. The faint smell of Hank was imbedded in the fibers of his coat and somehow it make me feel safe. I snuggled it a little closer, warding off the goosebumps all over my body.
It was the strange time of the year when it was cool in the morning. When you left the house, you’d need to carry a light jacket or sweatshirt. In the afternoon, the sun was out and heated up the world around us, making us peel off that outer layer, only for the cold to return once the sun set. It was a cruel joke Mother Nature played on Kentucky, but I enjoyed every season. Especially the fall.
Abby got into the car and she assured me that everything was going to be okay, but I wasn’t sure of it. Especially since she’d yet to hear what I had to say.
While she drove, she must’ve known I needed the space and silence. She did look over a few times at my shirt where Alison’s blood was smeared. I continued to look forward, still gathering and processing what had happened since I’d talked to Alison in the police station parking lot.
My mind was like a hamster wheel. The same images of me holding Alison played over and over, almost making feel as if I were going nuts. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get off the wheel of the image.
“Mae,” Abby said my name and gently touched my arm. “We’re here. Do you want me to take you home instead?”