Southern Fried

by Tonya Kappes

  My eyes adjusted to the dark and big brown eyes stared back at me.

  “Duke?” I questioned. The animal jerked and shook as my eyesight adjusted completely. “Duke!”

  I pushed myself inside the doghouse and noticed he was chained up and muzzled. There was a padlock on the heavy chain. I unbuckled the muzzle and opened myself up for slobbery kisses all over my face.

  “Who did this to you?” I jerked the keys from my belt and used the bump key to get the lock off. Anger swelled up in me. It took everything I had not to rush into that house, guns blazing. “You’re safe now.”

  Both of us stopped when I heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. Then yelling.

  “I told you that this was not going down the way it was supposed to.” Sandy’s words were bitter. “You had to go and steal the damn dog when you knew damn good and well that I’d already stuck one of the knives in the seat of her cop car.”

  “Shhhh,” I whispered in Duke’s ear, remembering the training Finn had tried to do with him out of boredom at the office. The longer he stood there, the more treats he got.

  It was that little game Finn had taught him, only I didn’t have treats.

  “Shut up.” Stanley Godbey’s voice caught me off guard. I thought he was supposed to be in Michigan on a fishing trip. “No wonder my brother was going to dump you. You yammer on and on when I need to think.” “I’m telling you that your little idea of this staying quiet is all going downhill and the smear campaign you have against that nosy sheriff isn’t working. So you better figure this out, because I’m not going from one loser brother to another only to be thrown in jail because I was an accessory to murder,” Sandy threatened.

  “You listen to me. If it weren’t for me, you’d be slumming it,” Stanley threatened back.

  “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have the cookbook,” she said.

  “You don’t have the cookbook. Your sister couldn’t even keep Owen’s truck long enough to go through it. That dumb sheriff has it,” he said.

  “Simone did the best she could. She wasn’t about to let our tow company go under when you were only willing to give her a two-percent cut. Plus, that sheriff had a warrant,” Sandy said.

  Our tow company? I tried to think with Duke’s hot breath in my face waiting for me to give him a treat. S&S Towing had to stand for Simone and Sandy. That was how the truck got towed so fast.

  “All of that is under the bridge.” Sandy’s voice turned sweeter than a baby cooing. “Little Miss Sheriff thinks Rowdy killed Owen. She’s got no clue what is going on. Besides, I talked to Mr. Wooten and he said as long as I had Owen’s part, then we were good to go. Then you and I can move, get out of this hick town, and start our life rich in Colorado, baby.”

  My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I heard her call Stanley “baby.”

  The sound of smacking lips made my stomach hurt. The last thing I wanted to hear was the two of them making out. It wasn’t like I could ambush the both of them. There were two of them and one of me.

  I’d have to wait it out until either of them was alone. They obviously hadn’t fed Duke or even cared about him. I could tell that by the way they’d muzzled him and chained him up in the doghouse, probably leaving him to die.

  “Now, you go in there and you get her to sign over those papers before I knock her off the face of the Earth before we need to,” Sandy threatened Stanley.

  “She needs to calm down,” Stanley said. “She’s having a hard time believing we did this to her.”

  “I don’t care what she believes. Get her to sign over that crop. I could just kill your mama if she weren’t already six feet under.”

  “Don’t you dare talk about the dead or my mama that way. Don’t you know they will haunt you?” The anger I’d heard in Stanley’s voice before was there again.

  “Don’t you know that she knew me and you were having an affair? That’s why she set up the will like this. She left this crop to you and Inez. I knew I should’ve gone to the sheriff the day I discovered her smoking her own pot.” Sandy spoke with a confidence I was sure Stanley didn’t like in a woman.

  “I’m glad you didn’t because it was your brains, baby, that got her to thinking about making big money and here we are. That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he whined. “We’re almost at the finish line. I can taste it.”

  “The finish line is after you go in there and kill her. I’ll forge her signature and then we are out of here.” A few more lip-smacking noises later, the two of them stalked off into the house.

  “They got Inez all tied up at the kitchen table.” Poppa appeared, out of breath. Duke jumped up, forgetting about the “Shhh” game, and bounced out of the doghouse when he saw Poppa. “We’ve got to get a game plan.”

  “The game plan is this,” I whispered. “You’ve got to get in there and tell me where Sandy and Stanley are so I can get Inez out of there.”

  Poppa nodded.

  “You are doing good, Kenni-bug.” He smiled before he ghosted off.

  I was sure he was only trying to keep me encouraged by giving me a boost of confidence, but it helped.

  “Okay, Duke.” I took my cell out of my pocket and tried to turn it on again. Nothing. “It looks like you are my backup.”

  We crawled out of the doghouse. With my gun pointing down to the ground, I slid along the side of the house. I looked back at Duke.

  “Shhhh.” I played the game again and he sat, watching me. I poked my head around the corner of the house and looked into the backyard. The coast was clear. The closer I could get to the back kitchen door, the quicker I could get Inez out when Poppa gave me the go ahead.

  “Kenni.” Poppa appeared behind me and I jumped.

  “Don’t do that while I’m already on high alert.” I sighed deeply. “Don’t you have like a ghost bell or something to ring? Because I know hearing footsteps is out of the question for a ghost.”

  “No, I don’t have a bell. Do you want to know where Stanley and Sandy are or not?” he asked.

  “Of course.” My head bobbled side to side to make sure we were still alone.

  “They went into the basement. It looks like they are getting some digging tools. You better hurry.” He ghosted away.

  I ran up to the door and looked in. Inez was sitting in a chair with her back to the door. Her feet were tied on the front legs of the chair and her hands behind her.

  When I opened the door, she shuffled, the chair legs knocking back and forth on the floor. I noticed a similar metal tray with shoes in it by the door like I’d seen at Rowdy Hart’s house, along with a basket of socks. My eyes slid to Inez’s feet—they were bare.

  “Stop moving. They’ll hear you,” I whispered and, with arms straight out, cleared the room and walked over to her. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  I got down on one knee next to her and placed my gun on the floor. Quickly I untied her hands behind her. She pulled out the gag as soon as I got her legs untied.

  “Help!” she screamed. “Stanley!”

  “Stop it,” I shushed her and grabbed my gun. “They’re going to hear you.”

  “Help, Stanley!” she screamed louder.

  I grabbed her elbow to drag her out of the house, footsteps clomping up the basement steps. As soon as I got her to the kitchen door, I gave it a swift kick and threw her out before I heard the basement door bust open.

  “Hold it right there.” Stanley’s voice was stern and hard. “I swear I’ll shoot her.”

  The sobs behind me made me pause and I turned around. Stanley had Sandy in his grips with a gun stuck to her head.

  “You are never going to get away with this.” I knew I had to come up with some fast talking to get me out of there. I put a hand behind me when I heard Inez walking back up. “You stay back.”

  “So far I haven’t done so bad.” He jerked his
gun to the right a couple of times. “Put your gun down now and Inez will come in and get it.”

  There we stood. Me and Stanley Godbey in a standoff. I eyed Sandy to see if I could get a clear shot at Stanley’s hand, but she was shaking so much that it was making his hand shake. It wasn’t a risk I was going to be able to take.

  “Go ahead. Shoot and kill her.” His grip tightened around Sandy and when he jerked her to him, she winced. “This little hussy really played me. Didn’t you?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “No.” There was desperation in her voice. Her eyes bulged and she shook her head. “I love you, Stanley.”

  “Love him?” Inez scoffed from behind me. “He loves me.”

  “This is something I didn’t see coming.” Poppa stood between me and Stanley. “I’m a little confused about what is going on here.”

  “It looks like we are in a little love triangle.” I glared, my gun still pointed at Stanley.

  “It’s nothing like that.” Stanley’s eyes looked past my shoulder. “I love my wife. This,” he jerked Sandy’s arm up and she cried out in pain, “was a little fling to get my hands on that cookbook, but when she couldn’t produce, she became a liability. But today she was a good little girl and signed Owen’s name on the paper that gives me his half so Inez and I can go make a better life for ourselves just like Mama wanted.”

  “You liar.” Sandy found her voice. “If that was the case and Inez knew it was all in the game plan to get rid of me, why did she come and threaten me to stay away the other day?”

  “So you,” I said to Inez, “stole Sandy’s address from my police bag after Lulu gave it to you to give to me after the stained-glass party.” The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together. If only I’d figured this out before now, I’d be in much better shape. “You what?” Stanley spat.

  “Go on. Tell him what you told me.” Sandy was trying to pit Stanley and Inez against each other. Inez stood silent for a moment. “Fine. I’ll tell him how you came to me to make our own deal and knock him out of it,” Sandy said.

  “Baby, I love you. You know that.” Inez’s voice cracked as she talked to Stanley.

  “You love him so much you wanted to keep me playing along with him and then us take the crop and run.” Sandy winced as Stanley pushed the gun against her temple.

  “I oughta kill both of you. I’m holding all the cards now.” He turned his eyes back to me. “I swear I’ll shoot her and won’t care. After I shoot her, I’ll kill you and make it look like a murder suicide,” he snarled.

  I didn’t move from my stance. I was going to wait for the shot. I knew Inez didn’t have a gun and she wasn’t moving. Sandy had closed her eyes and clenched her jaw.

  “You know,” I stalled for time, “it wasn’t until I took the soil sample for myself that I knew what was really going on. But it wasn’t until this instant that I thought you were in on it. You think you are so smart.” My eyes narrowed.

  “I am smart. My mama screwed me. I took care of her all these years and my no-good brother gets part of the fortune she and I were building.” He adjusted his grip on Sandy. She squealed.

  “But you were sleeping with Sandy.” I recalled what they’d said outside.

  “You what?” Inez spat from behind me. “You said you were just wooing her.”

  “She’s lying, baby. She just wants to throw you off our plan.” Stanley’s lips were stiff from the anger spilling out of him.

  “If wooing means he was laying down with me in my bed, well, I guess you could call it that,” Sandy said. “Owen found out and that’s why we got divorced. He and I were going to figure out the soil ingredients and grow our own crop for Mr. Wooten. Then he got a little crazy.”

  Stanley let go of Sandy and back-handed her, letting her fall to the ground. She held her jaw, blood dripping from her mouth. He planted his foot on her head.

  “I told you to shut up.” He pointed the gun at her head.

  Duke darted through the door and jumped over me, knocking Stanley to the ground. A shot rang out and right before my eyes, Duke landed on the ground, motionless.

  “Duke!” I screamed and looked down at my dog.

  “Hold it right there,” a familiar voice rang out from behind me. “The jig is up, Stanley.” Finn walked up next to me. “Put the gun down.”

  Stanley looked between me and the dog. “It’s just a mangy mutt.” He threw the gun next to Duke’s head.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I couldn’t stop my legs from bouncing up and down as I sat in the waiting room of the Cottonwood Veterinarian clinic.

  “Finn, how did you know I was there?” I wrung my hands.

  “Toots called to tell me about Sandy, plus Tom Geary from the lab called. He told me about you taking a soil sample and I put two and two together and figured Sandy must be involved. I tried calling your phone, but it went to voicemail and Betty must’ve gotten her ears mixed up again because she couldn’t understand a word I said. So I hurried back.” He placed his masculine hand on my knee. Momentarily it stopped from bouncing. “He’s going to be okay.”

  I bit my lip and tried to stop the tears, but it didn’t help. They flowed.

  “There you are.” Mama and Daddy bolted through the door. “We came as soon as we heard.”

  Soon after they came in the door, the entire waiting room was filled with friends and Sweet Adelines. They’d transformed the counter into a food buffet.

  “If y’all want some good fried green tomatoes, Jolee is frying them up outside in honor of Duke.” She pointed to the On The Run truck parked in the parking lot.

  “I’ve got plenty of coffee.” Ben Harrison walked in with carafes of coffee. He and Jolee looked at each other. They gave a simple nod that put a truce between them, for the time being at least.

  My heart was bubbling over. This was what I loved about a small town. No matter how far apart in views each of us were, we all came together in a time of need. They loved Duke. He was as much their pooch as mine.

  “How was your trip?” I asked Finn.

  “It was good. I got what I needed to accomplished.” His lips curled into a smile. He left it at that and I let him. I didn’t care to know the details.

  It seemed like I waited for an eternity. Poppa would come out and give me updates about the surgery. The bullet had lodged in one of his ribs, next to his heart, and it wasn’t clear if it was too close to the heart to get out. There was some bleeding.

  Lulu had brought over a Derby Pie and served it.

  “Thank you.” Katy Lee squatted down between my legs. She looked between me and Finn. “I knew Rowdy didn’t kill himself.”

  “Kenni figured it all out.” He gave me the credit.

  “We figured it out.” I forced a smile. “We are the sheriff’s department, partner.”

  “That’s right.” Mama opened her big pocketbook and pulled out “Vote for Lowry” pins, pinning them on the people who’d gathered to check on Duke. Even if they already had gotten one from her earlier in the week, she gave them another one. “One for each outfit.”

  I looked at Finn.

  “Good job, Lowry.” He nodded. “I still can’t believe Stanley was going to kill Sandy once she signed off on the paperwork for the cannabis store, leaving him and Inez the fortune.”

  “I’m so shocked Rae Lynn was growing marijuana,” I said.

  “Wally Lamb showed up at the office when I took them down to the cell to wait for the state police to pick them up. He said that Rae Lynn had come to him about the crop because she’d heard it would help Owen with his terrible arthritis that he’d had since his late twenties and she hated to see him suffer. Stanley didn’t want anything to do with it being grown and Owen didn’t know about it. They thought their mama had gone crazy or smoked too much weed. Sandy had dropped by unexpectedly one night when Rae Lynn was sampling her pot and
Rae Lynn told Sandy about medicinal marijuana and how Owen might be able to use if for his arthritis. Rae Lynn had asked Sandy to keep it secret until she researched it more. Rae Lynn had sent off a sample to Mr. Wooten and then made the deal with the Can-B store herself. She had Wally draw up the paperwork. She left Owen the recipe book that specifically told him to use the soil from the first row which was the grade-A soil she’d cultivated for the best marijuana. She gave Stanley the land. She figured once they heard about the deal and how one needed the other and the secrets that each one held it was going to bring the boys together. The affair between Sandy and Stanley was just a sidebar, but Stanley built on that after he researched the money to be made. He knew he had to have the cookbook because even though it didn’t have any real value, once they presented it to Wally along with Inez’s signature, Wally would be able to seal the deal with Can-B, making the Godbeys millions.”

  “Why didn’t Wally come forward when he knew we were looking at Myrna?” I shook my head.

  “He claimed it was client confidentiality.” Finn shrugged. “If Stanley and Inez had skipped town and we subpoenaed him and his records, then he’d have come forward.”

  “Was I right on most of the puzzle?” I asked, because I’d refused to leave Duke’s side.

  On Finn’s way over to the Godbeys’, he wasn’t sure what was going on, so he had called an ambulance to meet him there. Luckily, they took Duke to the animal hospital with me in there with him.

  “Sandy kept Owen close to her side until the ruling that she didn’t get the recipe in the divorce and that’s when she let Owen in on the secret about the medicinal marijuana. That’s why they went to see Dr. Shively. Owen didn’t believe Sandy at first, but he did admit that he’d been smoking pot with Rowdy and was feeling better. That’s when he also snuck in to get the soil sample because he couldn’t believe his mom was growing dope.” Finn took a deep breath and continued telling the details. “Stanley knew about it and he started making deals on the side with Inez and Sandy, even sleeping with Sandy for her to fall in love with him. The plan to kill Owen was hatched between Inez and Stanley. When Sandy showed up at the house tonight, she was going to make her own deal with Inez, but she saw that Stanley was in town and had lied to her. From there tonight just spiraled.”