by Tonya Kappes
“Let me get this straight. She asked you to cut Florence’s grass, and before you left, you were to take the painting and bring it to Courtney?” I asked. He nodded. “What happened after you walked out of the house?”
“I was walking home, and that’s when the sheriff stopped me. I was on the sidewalk on my way over to Little Creek Road when she pulled her car up next to me. She jumped out of the car and told me I was under arrest for stealing the picture. I took off. I didn’t know what was going on, and I figured if I could get to Courtney’s house that she’d straighten it all out.” He talked faster and faster. “I had no idea the sheriff was going to chase me and tackle me to the ground.”
“Why didn’t you stop when the sheriff asked? Or why didn’t you just tell the sheriff the truth from the beginning?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I got scared and I ran.” His eyes were as big as saucers. He gulped and eased back in the chair when Angela and Courtney came into the room.
“Have you no shame? You’re a teacher. You manipulated this young boy into stealing something for you.” I pointed my finger directly at Courtney and shook it. “I hope the sheriff throws the book at you.”
“Enough, Bernadette.” Angela using my full name got my attention enough for me to snap out of my anger toward Courtney. “I’ll take it from here.”
I looked between Wes and Courtney for a moment before I finally walked out.
“She’s not going to keep either of them long.” Vita stood over at the copier.
“Huh?” I questioned and veered right. Vita had some information, and I wanted to hear it.
“Before Angela was sent out on the burglary call, she got a call from evidence. The shovel they retrieved from the crime scene isn’t Courtney’s shovel. Courtney’s shovel was next to the shed, and she turned her shovel in. The hair sample from the shovel found at the scene came back as definitely Florence Gaines’s, but the fingerprints on the shovel aren’t Courtney’s and not in the database.” Vita lifted the lid of the copier and took out the paper so she could add it to the original stack.
“Which means the fingerprints belong to someone who’s never committed a crime.” The thought of them possibly being Julia’s sent my nerve endings on fire.
“And Courtney’s alibi cleared. She was on a video call with family in Minnesota. The records show it, and the family attorney had actually been on there too. They said Courtney got off when she said there was a knock at the door and a girl had come to visit.”
“The girl wasn’t Florence?” I knew it wasn’t, but I fished to see what exactly Vita knew.
There were so many versions of Courtney and what she’d heard, my mind was twisted. There was one thing for sure, and that was how Courtney said she didn’t do it.
“No, and I’m not sure who Courtney said it was. I’ve not heard.”
“Whose shovel?” I asked.
“Courtney said she didn’t know.” Vita quickly became tight-lipped when we heard Angela talking. “But you didn’t hear it from me. And they did call to report that Florence’s time of murder was around six p.m.”
That was just a little after Harriette had showed up at my door. I knew the time because Mac was going to come for supper.
“Of course not.” I shook my head and hoped I could get the shovel off my mind.
There was only one other person I knew who had a shovel at their house, and that was Grady.
With my head a mess, I stumbled out of the department and walked down Main Street toward Pie in the Face. I was still going to keep my promise to Iris, and she’d be ready to help me gather the clues I’d already learned.
The street had been cleared from the festival-goers, and the signs taken down until next week. It was strange being the only person downtown, though it was very normal for Sugar Creek Gap to be quiet on a late Sunday night. I thought about how whoever killed Florence was probably someone we knew. A part of the community. A trusted friend.
I curled my hand around the Pie in the Face doorknob and looked back and forth before I turned it. A chill crawled up my body.
“Iris.” I stumbled back into Pie in the Face. “Grab your keys. We’re going on a mission.”
Chapter 11
Iris talked the entire way over to the farmhouse. She carried on and on about various things ranging from cakes, to tortes, to the latest sermon at the Sugar Creek Gap Baptist Church. A sure sign she was nervous but trying to keep her mind occupied.
Iris was never one to keep her mouth shut when she was nervous. Not even on her own wedding day. I clearly remember how she was fiddlin’ with Bobby’s fingers as he repeated his vows after Brother Don. Not only did Iris mumble them to herself, but she rocked back and forth on the spikes of her wedding shoes, almost falling backward three times. I should know. I’d continued to step forward, bouquet in each hand—hers and mine—with my arms open in case she did come tumbling backward.
“Iris.” I boldly said her name. “We don’t have to talk. Besides, you’re like a squirrel, going from one topic to the next.”
“You know how I get.” Iris even knew her shortcomings.
“I do.” I tried to put both of us at ease, but if I were telling the truth, I was barely keeping it together as I sat in her passenger seat and stared out the window into the darkness.
We ended up driving the rest of the way in silence, but my head was a jumble of thoughts and conversations I was having with myself. None of my mental responses made me feel any better.
“You can park here.” I pointed to the end of the long driveway that took us up to the farmhouse. “We will just sneak up the field and look into his truck. He doesn’t park near the house, and that’s how Julia got out without him hearing her.”
Iris nodded. Her face was stern, and her body was stiff. She pulled the car to the side and turned off the ignition.
“Even though we are doing this for our peace of mind, I’m confident Grady’s shovel is in the back of his truck.” I’m sure she meant to give me a reassuring look, but it was a face riddled with worry.
I pinched a smile and nodded with a long sigh.
For some reason, both of us acted like ninjas, slowly tiptoeing and light on our feet. We walked hunched over as though there were lights or someone was around.
Like we were on some covert spy job, we relied on hand gestures—well…more like flailing of the arms—to communicate to each other on which way we thought we should go.
I used my arms like one of those airport employees with the glow sticks and motioned for us to move forward. That was met with a crunched-up disagreeable face from Iris and an arm flailing to indicate going around the barn, then a straight arm for going to where the truck was parked.
Again, but with a little more attitude, I stuck my arms out in front of me and bent them at the elbows a few times to let her know that just going straight to the truck was the quickest and best option.
She shook her head, bringing up two fingers to her eyes before she swept them toward the house. I looked to see what she obviously wanted me to see. The front porch light gave off a yellow glow, and there was a faint outline of Grady standing under it. I squinted my eyes to see if I could make out the second man, who was wearing a cowboy hat and standing on the porch with their back to us.
My eyes already weren’t good, but in the darkness, forget it. That’s why I let Iris drive and not me, or we’d have never made it here.
Iris and I stood up behind one of the trees, one over top the other to see if we could figure out who Grady was talking to.
“Who is it?” Iris peeked her head out from behind the tree.
“I can’t tell.” I peeked from the other side. “But we need to go see that shovel for my peace of mind, or I’m going to go nuts.”
“Okay, around the barn for sure now.” Iris was right. If we’d tried to make a beeline for the truck, Grady would’ve seen us, and I certainly didn’t want to make any cause for concern if there was no reason.
The excitement
of us sneaking around must’ve gotten to me. My heart was thumping so hard, and I was trying to keep my heavy breathing under control as I followed Iris around the barn, nearly knocking into her when she abruptly stopped and put her hand behind her for me to stop.
“What?” I whispered. “The truck should be parked right there.”
Slowly she turned around, and I could see the whites of her eyes were much bigger than before.
“Look.” She planted her body up against the old wood barn and slid behind me, making me the leader.
I tilted my head around the corner of the barn. Parked right next to Grady’s truck was a sheriff’s car.
I jerked around, and Iris threw her hand over my mouth.
“I..frjekmkfej…” I tried to mumble a few words under her hand, but it was all jumbled up.
“Shhhh.” Her hand pushed harder on my mouth. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose. She was right. I had to compose myself.
The rustle of grass and some gravel made both of us look around the corner. Grady and Angela were walking toward us. We jerked back.
My eyes must be bad because I had thought Angela was a man in a cowboy hat while she was talking with Grady on the porch, but she had on her official, big and round brown sheriff’s hat.
Did I mention official?
This was not good.
Iris didn’t have to say a word. I could tell by the look on her face that she was as scared as I was, both of us knowing this didn’t look good.
My eyes darted wide-open when I heard them talking. Iris grabbed my arm. We planted ourselves up against the side of the barn.
“Like I said, I sure do hate to get you out of bed, but you do understand I really need to make sure your shovel is in your truck.” Angela was talking to Grady very civilly, which did put me at ease a little bit.
“Sure. Like Courtney said, Wes Rogers was going to help her out with the mulch, and understandably he was too upset to think about it, so I went over to help her.” Grady sounded calm, which should’ve made me feel better, but it didn’t.
“She also mentioned how Julia had come to see her,” Angela said like it was casual chitchat. “She said that right before she heard something on the side of her house, Julia had come to talk to her about you spending so much time with her.”
Iris’s hand smacked my arm. I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t yell out. I slowly turned my head and glared at her.
“Sorry,” she mouthed, and we turned our attention back to Grady’s response.
“Julia? Went to see Courtney?” Grady was taken back. “I don’t think so. Courtney has to be lying. Julia and I were home that night. In fact, I made her a nice warm bath, and she was in there for a while.”
“Then how do you explain this video footage taken from the courthouse the night of the murder?” There was a bit of noise coming from them, so Iris and I looked to see what was happening.
Angela’s cell phone glowed, lighting up their faces as both of them watched the screen.
“Clearly that’s your old truck turning off Short Street to Main Street, heading back here.” Angela touched the screen with her finger. “I’m sure I can get some other security cameras through town if I need to.”
“I. . .” Grady took a step back and ran his hand through his hair. He looked our way. “Hello! Who’s there?”
Iris and I jerked back around to the side of the barn, trying to become one with the barn wood.
“Someone is over there,” I overheard Grady say, and I closed my eyes tight in hopes they’d just let it go.
I could feel Iris suck in her gut like that would help her avoid being seen before Angela and Grady appeared, with Angela shining her flashlight directly on us.
“Hi,” I chirped. “I was coming by to see if I could get some fresh eggs for one of Iris’s cakes, but we weren’t going to bug you.”
“Yes. I have a lot of graduation cakes due tomorrow, and I ran out of eggs.” Iris shrugged.
“Is that right?” Angela wasn’t buying it. “Then why are you hiding?”
“We weren’t hiding.” Iris nudged me. “Right, Bernie?”
“Right.” I smiled and looked at Grady.
“Then where’s your car?” Angela asked and shined the flashlight in my eyes.
I took my hand and held it up so I wouldn’t go blind.
“I drove, and she suggested we park at the entrance by the cattle gate so we wouldn’t wake Julia. You know, pregnant and all.” Iris did the whole gesture for a big belly.
“That’s thoughtful.” Angela had moved the light on Iris. “But isn’t the chicken coop over there?” The light suddenly shined across the grass, past the house, and on the opposite side of the property. “I guess you were taking the scenic route.”
“Fine.” It was time to come clean. “I know that you think the shovel at the scene belonged to Grady, which if it is the shovel, it really belongs to Richard. And I know that you know that Julia was over at Courtney’s right before Courtney found Florence, which makes it look like Julia killed Florence so Courtney would leave town.”
“Whaaaat?” Grady’s brows furrowed. “Mom, have you lost your mind?”
While Grady assessed me, Angela turned her attention back to Grady’s truck.
“Are you sure you left the shovel in your truck?” Angela asked Grady. “Because there’s not a shovel back here.” She was standing on the bumper of the old truck and shining her flashlight in the bed.
“Geez,” Grady groaned and uncomfortably fidgeted in his own skin.
“Why don’t we all go inside and have a little conversation.” Angela did her sheriff thing, and like little chickens, we followed her up to the farmhouse after she jumped off the bumper.
Julia joined us in her nightgown once she heard all of us come in through the back door and the legs of the chairs around the kitchen table scoot along the old farmhouse floor.
“What’s going on?” Julia rubbed her eyes. “Grady?” She looked at him for some sort of comfort. “Is everything okay?”
“We were hoping you could tell us that.” Angela pulled out one of the chairs and motioned for Julia to join us.
Julia looked at me.
“You told the sheriff what I told you?” Hurt hung in her eyes.
“No. No. No.” I shook my head. “The video cameras all over Main Street apparently told Angela everything she needed to come question you and look for the shovel.”
“What shovel?” Julia looked up at Angela, and she rubbed her belly in a slow circular motion. All I could think about was my grandbaby nestled up in there.
“Bernadette, I’ll take over now.” Angela gave me a hard-core stare before she took out her notebook and sat down across from Julia. She clicked her pen. “Julia, as you know, Florence Gaines has been murdered. It’s been brought to my attention how Grady has been a good friend to Courtney Gaines, Florence’s niece.”
“Can you get me a glass of water?” Julia looked at Grady. He jumped up to do what Julia asked. It was like she didn’t want Grady to hear what she had to say, but he was right behind her getting the water. “I did go see Courtney the night of the murder. I got Grady to run me a bath, and when he was busy, I slipped out the door and took his truck. Because he keeps it parked by the barn, he wouldn’t hear me drive off.”
Grady set the glass in front of her on the table. She looked up at him, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We can call Tim Crouse. He owes me a favor.” Grady named an attorney in town. Our family attorney.
“No. I don’t need a lawyer.” Julia reached up and patted his hand. I was taken aback at how calm she was as she came clean about her secret. “I didn’t do anything but tell Julia that you were my husband. You needed to be home with me and our soon-to-be baby. I told her she needed to find a new friend to lean on. Maybe a female friend.”
“How did she take it?” Angela asked.
“She didn’t say much after I told her that, and I had to go to the bathroom
. I was a little embarrassed to ask to use her restroom since I’d just told her to mind her own business. Then I thought I’d head over to Bernie’s to use hers, but then I knew I’d have to tell her why I was there. When I finished, I didn’t bother hanging around to see her anymore. I heard Buster bark, so I hurried up and got out of there before Bernie saw Grady’s truck parked outside when she let Buster in.” Julia stopped and took a drink.
“I bet when Buster was barking, Courtney heard him, and I bet that’s where her story picks up about finding Florence.” I had to make sure Angela didn’t think Julia had killed Florence and that Julia’s story would fit the timeline of Florence’s murder and go in line with Courtney’s.
This only confirmed what I feared…the killer was still out there.
“You heard Buster?” It was a little bit of light, and I wasn’t going to keep it to myself. “Which means that someone could’ve grabbed the shovel out of your truck while Julia was in the house with Courtney. The real killer hit Florence over the head with your shovel, and that’s when Buster barked because he didn’t recognize the killer. He wouldn’t’ve barked if he’d seen Julia.”
A huge smile crossed my face as a big sigh of relief settled in my gut.
“Julia is innocent.” I threw my hands up in the air as confident as could be.
“You think I killed Florence?” Julia looked at Angela for some clarity. “There’s no way I’d ever do that. Besides, I’m having a baby, and I’d never do anything to leave my baby with no mother.”
“Hormones can make people do awful things.” Angela looked up. When she saw the look on Julia’s face, she started to clarify. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just saying that strange things happen. In fact, since you are pregnant, I’m not going to take you in for questioning, but you do understand why I need to get your fingerprints.”
“Yes. Anything.” Julia blinked back the tears that’d formed on her eyelids. “See.” She shot her hard word at Grady. “I told you Courtney was no good for us, and now she’s telling everyone I killed her aunt because I’m jealous of your friendship with her.”