Misalignment and Murder

by Cathy Tully

  “What are you doing?” Susannah asked.

  “Is that loaded?” Larraine raised her eyebrows.

  “Uh, not anymore.” Hitting the magazine release, Bitsy pulled back the slide. “I reckon this could fit in that hidey-hole.”

  “I bet mine could too,” said Susannah. Glancing into the living room, she located her purse. As she picked up her bag, she noticed Tina staring at her phone. “Are you okay?”

  “No.” Tears streaked her face. “Keith’s been arrested.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Off-Duty Debacle

  Susannah embraced Tina as Larraine rushed over, wrapping her arms around both of them. “Tell me what happened.”

  “I didn’t want to say because I couldn’t believe anything was wrong.” Tina inhaled, hiccupping, as Angie and Bitsy also came to her side, Susannah relaxed her embrace and Bitsy took her place.

  “Give the girl some air.” Larraine shooed them all away. “Go on, sugar.”

  Angie handed her a box of tissue, and Tina sat on the couch and blew her nose. “Right before you came to pick me up, Detective Withers stopped by the house. I don’t like her, you know?” Tina paused. They all knew what she meant. Detective Withers had questioned her and Keith several times over the summer, trying to pin a murder on Susannah. “Keith went out to talk to her, and he didn’t come back in.”

  “Where is he now?” Susannah asked.

  “He’s at the Peach Grove Police Department,” Tina said, tears coming again. “They’re holding him for questioning.”

  “For what?” Susannah said, her voice a little higher than she intended.

  “He wouldn’t say.”

  “If that Detective Withers is involved,” Bitsy jumped in, “then you know she’s probably barking up the wrong tree.”

  At the word barking, Apollo lifted his head.

  “I’ve been telling myself that,” Tina said, wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand as she gave Bitsy a weak smile. “That’s what worries me. Keith’s been acting a little weird since our Halloween party. I’ve asked him a few times to tell me what’s wrong, but he keeps telling me it’s nothing.”

  At a loss for words, Susannah glanced at Bitsy, who was tapping on her phone—contacting Little Junior, she hoped. Keith was a gentle giant and had always been somewhat transparent, for a cop. There was no way Susannah could imagine him doing anything that would negatively affect his family.

  “Oh, darlin’.” Larraine lowered herself onto the couch next to Tina and patted her thigh. “It’s gonna be okay. It must be a mix-up of some kind.”

  Tina leaned into Larraine, and Susannah could not help but fixate on her pregnant belly. It had to be a mistake. With a baby on the way, it just wasn’t possible that he would do anything wrong.

  “It might be a mistake.” Tina looked at Larraine. “But he asked me to get him a lawyer.”

  A few minutes later, Tina left, supported by Larraine, who promised to get her in to see her attorney, Winston Norris. Over the summer, Larraine had offered the same assistance to Susannah, but she had stubbornly refused the help. Today, Susannah thought Tina should take it. Susannah closed the door and ran back to where Bitsy and Angie were at the kitchen table, heads together, looking at Bitsy’s phone.

  Elbows on the table, Angie was kneeling on her chair and peering at Bitsy’s phone. She glanced up. “Little Junior’s on it.”

  Susannah chuckled, noticing a similarity between her sister and her best friend. That was a phrase she had heard Bitsy use many times. “What did he say?”

  “He said that Randy and Detective Withers have been in closed-door meetings all week.” Bitsy’s phone vibrated again.

  “He said that when they brought Keith in, it looked friendly,” Angie filled in while Bitsy read. “It wasn’t until Little Junior went on his coffee break that he saw them fingerprinting Keith.”

  “Fingerprinting?” Susannah swallowed. She sank into the chair next to Angie and found herself stroking her sister’s hair. Angie leaned in and gave Susannah a hug. Did this mean that her sister was no longer a suspect in Gus Arnold’s murder? “Does this have to do with Gus or Travis?”

  Bitsy put the phone down and tapped a long orange nail on the table. It made a sharp sound. Click, click, click. She looked from Angie to Susannah. Susannah felt her stomach sink. It wasn’t like Bitsy to be at a loss for words.

  “This is all my fault,” Bitsy mumbled, her nail clicking a slow rhythm. “I really didn’t think that Apollo was a superhero search dog. I just took him because I wanted the matching costumes. That deerstalker hat is dope.”

  “What is she talking about?” Angie whispered to Susannah.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You know I can hear you.” Bitsy looked up, her huge brown eyes filled with tears. The clicking stopped. “The gun we found at the cemetery belongs to Keith. It’s his off-duty weapon. A nine-millimeter Glock.”

  Stunned, Susannah said nothing. Angie slid down into a sitting position.

  “Randy identified it at the scene because of the serial number.” Bitsy curled her hand around her coffee mug and brought it into her chest, her thumbs stroking the ceramic. “They already sent it to the ballistics lab, and they’re arresting Keith for both murders.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Evasive Evidence

  Susannah gave Bitsy a squeeze. “This is not your fault.”

  “I can’t believe it.” Pacing back and forth across the kitchen, Angie grabbed a sponge and began scrubbing the stove. As quickly as she’d started, she stopped. “Madonna, it’s staring right at me, and I didn’t see it. We walked right into it.”

  “See what?”

  “Suzie, you been outta Brooklyn too long.” Laying the sponge on the stove, Angie looked her sister in the eye. “It was a plant.”

  “What kind of a plant?” Bitsy sniffed.

  “The gun was planted.” Angie rushed to the table and took Bitsy by the shoulders. “It was a setup. Someone didn’t put the gun there to hide it—they put it there so it would be found. And we were the mamalukes that found it.”

  “Mama what?”

  “Idiots, morons.” Plopping into a chair, Angie slapped her palm on her forehead. “We walked right into it.”

  Bitsy rubbed the tears off her cheeks and sat up. “But how would anyone know we would be there?”

  “They didn’t know we would find it,” Angie said. “But it’s a cemetery. Even if they didn’t know that Travis was going to be buried nearby, someone would have eventually found it.”

  There was a knock on the door. Apollo began to howl.

  Susannah looked from Angie to Bitsy. “We don’t talk about this to anyone, got it?”

  At the door, Susannah peered through the peephole and shocked to see Varina Withers. She sped to the kitchen. “It’s the detective.” Deftly plucking her sister out of the chair, she whispered, “Go to your room and stay in there.”

  Angie ran down the hall, followed by Apollo, who barked loudly. Smoothing her hair, Susannah sailed to the door. Detective Withers gave her a semi-serpentine smile and held out her hand. “Dr. Shine.” Her kinky blond hair spilled onto her shoulders, and she wore the windbreaker that she never seemed to be without.

  “Detective Withers. Can I help you?”

  “Yes. As a matter of fact, I was hoping I could ask you some questions.”

  As she entered, the clacking of dog nails heralded Apollo’s arrival. He gave a weary woof and sniffed the detective’s khaki pants.

  “Oh, you have a dog.”

  Despite Susannah’s effort to reroute the canine, he followed the detective into the kitchen, barking.

  “He’s my dog.” Bitsy patted Apollo’s head. “Kind of.”

  “I’m glad you’re here too.” Maneuvering around the animal, Detective Withers addressed Bitsy. “I wanted to ask you both a few more questions.” The detective pulled her notebook out, and Apollo leapt at it.

  “Down, boy.”
Removing a few pieces of leftover sausage from a dish on the table, Bitsy enticed Apollo away. He fell on the sausage and ate with gusto.

  “Chief Laughton was first on the scene because he had been in Tussahaw Junction at the time,” Detective Withers continued, “but I have some questions.”

  “I don’t know what I can tell you.” Butterflies caused a maelstrom in Susannah’s stomach. Little Junior had seen Keith being fingerprinted only a few minutes earlier. Accusing Keith must mean that Angie was no longer under suspicion, but Susannah bristled at the thought that this woman wanted her to implicate Keith. “Apollo found the gun and dumped it into the open grave. Randy got there pretty fast after that.”

  “I’m trying to get a better understanding of what was happening before you…er, Apollo, found the gun.”

  Bitsy returned for another piece of sausage with Apollo at her heels. The thought of dog slobber and sausage grease on her carpet made Susannah recoil, but she said nothing. “Uh, well, we were at the First Methodist Church in Tussahaw Junction for Travis Keene’s funeral service early this morning. Randy knows all this. He was there too.”

  “I understand that. But I’m after more specific information.” She pointed the tip of her pen at Susannah. “Why were you there? Did you know the deceased?”

  “Not very well, but he was a member of the Peach Grove Business Association and B—” Susannah turned to point to Bitsy, who was wiping Apollo’s mouth with a napkin. “Uh, Ms. Long is president. So I went with her to represent the association.”

  As the detective jotted some notes, Bitsy tossed the soiled napkin in the trash and went to the sink to wash her hands. Raising her voice to compete with the sound of running water, Detective Withers shot Bitsy a look and asked, “How long did you stay at the church?”

  “Maybe ten or fifteen minutes.” Susannah glanced at Bitsy. What had Apollo done that caused Bitsy to scrub her fingernails with the vegetable brush? She opened her mouth to ask, but was interrupted by the detective’s next question.

  “Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”

  The room went silent as Bitsy shut off the water and picked up a towel to dry her hands. She said, “If you call a woman wearing a red dress with black-and-white spiky sandals at a funeral out of the ordinary, then yes, we did.”

  The detective shifted her gaze back to Susannah. “I understand Ms. Hibbard showed up somewhat inappropriately dressed for a funeral.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Bitsy mumbled, with a look of admiration on her face.

  “And her attire caused a disturbance between Ms. Hibbard and the widow, Mrs. Crystal Keene?”

  “It was more like cage match with accessories,” Bitsy said. “That Crystal is a hot mess.”

  “But beyond that,” the detective continued, “did either of you notice anything else? Anyone who you think shouldn’t have been there?”

  “No,” Bitsy replied quickly, but now that Susannah thought about it, Randy was out of place. She supposed he was there waiting to see if the murderer would show up like they always do in detective shows on TV.

  “Like I said…” Susannah trailed off as Apollo lumbered to the sink and looked up at Bitsy, his droopy eyes supplicating her. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “I don’t think he liked Angie’s Italian sausage,” Bitsy replied. “He’s probably more used to Jimmy Dean brand. Aren’t you, boy?” With a sigh, Apollo lay down with his paws on Bitsy’s feet, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

  “He’s probably thirsty,” Detective Withers observed.

  “I was just getting to that.” Snatching up a mixing bowl, Bitsy again ran the water. At the sound of the water coming on, Apollo lifted his head.

  “Finish your thought, Dr. Shine,” Detective Withers said as Bitsy placed the bowl on the floor and Apollo began lustily lapping.

  “Oh, well, I was just saying that I didn’t know Travis very well.” Susannah glanced down at the dog who was still drinking, his jowls in the water. “So I wouldn’t have really noticed anyone out of place.”

  Detective Withers nodded, tapping her pen on her chin. “Chief Laughton says you all left the church with Ms. Hibbard, is that correct?”

  “Yes, we followed her out.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Susannah was stumped for a moment. “I suppose I sort of chose sides when I helped Maggie pick up her stuff, and I didn’t want to get into a confrontation with Crystal.”

  “I second that emotion.” Bitsy held up a finger until the hound’s lapping had slowed significantly, and then she directed her gaze at the detective. “I went to show my respect as the president of the Peach Grove Business Association, seeing as how our members had chipped in and bought a floral arrangement. But I didn’t have to stick around for the abuse.”

  “I see.” Detective Withers was quiet for a while. “And the three of you went to the cemetery together?”

  “No,” Susannah said. “I drove with Angie, and Bitsy met us later after she picked up Apollo.”

  “How long did it take you to pick him up?”

  “Only a few minutes,” Bitsy answered. “My cousin Kiara lives right there in the Junction. She’s lending Apollo out to me for our Growl-A-Ween contest.”

  “So you drove separately. You and your sister got there first,” Detective Withers observed. “Did you see anyone else in the cemetery?”

  Susannah shook her head. “Only the gentleman who was setting up the chairs for Travis’s funeral.”

  “No one else?”

  “No, uh,” Susannah paused. “Well, I did notice one person outside the cemetery on the sidewalk. It was a bit odd because he was wearing a ghost costume.”

  The detective blinked, and Susannah thought she saw her eye twitch. She immediately looked down and jotted something on her notepad.

  “Oh Lord,” Bitsy said. “First doppelgangers, now ghosts.”

  “It was a man.” Susannah looked at Bitsy and then at Apollo, who had slumped onto Bitsy’s feet. “Is he all right?”

  “Kiara says when he’s tired, he likes to snooze on shoes.” Bitsy grinned.

  Susannah rolled her eyes.

  “It was a man?” Detective Withers asked.

  “He or she was wearing a mask and long black robes, but from the height and build, yes, I thought it was a man.”

  “What kind of mask?”

  “One of those Ghostface masks. Like from the movie—”

  “Scream,” the detective finished.

  At the word scream, Apollo began to snore.

  “Do you think that’s important?” Susannah asked.

  The detective shrugged. “It seems to be a popular costume this year.”

  Susannah mulled that over as Apollo’s snoring got louder. To Bitsy, she said, “That dog must have sleep apnea. You should get him tested.”

  “No, he’s exhausted. He’s had a busy day and it’s only two o’clock.” Bitsy nudged the hound with her foot, and he continued snoring. She rummaged in her purse and found a dog treat. She waved it in front of the hound’s face and he opened his eyes. Slowly getting to his feet, he followed Bitsy to the door like the proverbial horse reaching for a carrot on a stick. “We’re gonna go.”

  “A very amusing animal.” The detective turned to Susannah. “On a side note, thanks to the discovery of the pistol in the cemetery, your sister’s firearm is no longer considered evidence in the case.” She handed Susannah a slip of paper. “Angela can call this number to arrange to pick it up.”

  “You don’t really think Keith had anything to do with these murders, do you?”

  “I don’t base my arrests on what I think. I base them on what the evidence tells me.” With that, she turned and headed for the door. “And the evidence tells me he’s in deep. I’ll let myself out.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Border Business

  Angie stamped her feet and blew into her hands.

  Susannah asked, “How can you be cold? You’ve lived in New York your whol
e life. It’s much colder than this in Brooklyn.” She lowered herself onto a bale of hay on the sidewalk in front of Peachy Things. Situating herself between a big jack-o’-lantern and a well-dressed scarecrow, she hunkered down in the autumn decorations to wait. Several painted pumpkins sat on the ground, and the tip of her shoe touched the stem of one.

  “We’ve been standing in this doorway for twenty minutes.” Angie wrinkled her nose at Susannah. “I don’t know why we couldn’t have just gone to Bitsy’s house. Even if the Peach Grove PD is watching us, we’re not giving them any evidence they can use against Keith.”

  “No, but if they know we’re doing our own investigation, they’ll try to stop us.” Susannah slapped her fist into her hand in exasperation. After Varina Withers had left her house, Susannah noticed a car parked down the road from her house. A call to Bitsy had uncovered the same thing. “Besides, Randy thinks you put the gun there, so I’m not so convinced by the detective’s story.”

  “But where would I have gotten Keith’s gun?”

  Susannah shook her head. “You’ve been to Keith and Tina’s. You could have stolen it.”

  “Mannaggia!” Raising her hand, she backed into the doorway.

  “Someone’s coming.”

  They stared as a figure crossed the street and headed their way. It was barely six o’clock, and the sun was beginning to set; in the twilight, Susannah wasn’t sure if the person in a long, dark hooded jacket was Bitsy or not. An energetic wave gave her the answer.

  “Hey, y’all,” Bitsy said, unlocking the door as two bells jangled against the glass. She snapped on the lights as she entered, then turned around. “Whatcha you waiting for? It’s cold.”

  “No foolin’,” Angie grumbled.

  “I decided to walk,” said Bitsy

  They piled into the store and Bitsy shut the door.

  “How did you get by the squad car without them seeing?” Susannah asked, watching Bitsy carefully.