by Tonya Kappes
I watched as Colonel Holz and Hank inspected Jay’s body. Jay’s upper half of his body was resting on one of the wires of the electric fence. The half I’d tripped over lay on the grass. I noticed how odd it was that he was between two wires instead of just the top one.
Casually, so no one would notice, I twisted my body a couple of times, as though I was falling, to try and figure out just exactly how he’d fallen. When I couldn’t come up with something quick, I decided to let it go and leave it to the experts.
The dark clouds had blown to the east, and the rain had moved to a drizzle and then stopped all together. A few stars started to show in the black sky, letting all of us know the bad weather had practically left our region.
The officer took down the umbrella and moved on to something else in the investigation, leaving me and Coke alone to assess the situation ourselves.
“What on earth was Jay doing?” I couldn’t move past death by electrocution.
“It appears as though he’d come into the barn, let out Rosa for some reason, and fell on the fence.” Coke had already figured out what happened. “That’s what made the electricity go out, I bet.” She nodded.
“I didn’t even know there was an electric fence out here.” A wave of gratefulness that I’d not tripped into an electric fence swept through my body, sending tears to the edge of my eyelids. “That could’ve been me.” I gulped back.
“Not unless you shot yourself.” Natalie Willowby walked up to Hank. She looked between me and Coke.
“Shot?” I questioned.
“It appears as though Jay had fallen on hard times.” I could tell Hank thought Jay had taken his own life. He lifted up what looked like a journal. “This was in Rosa’s stable. He wrote all about the stables and having to find a new place for his clients.” His gazed suddenly focused on Coke. “All about Rosa.”
Coke looked down at her feet. Was she hiding something? My gut tugged. It was like I could read his mind. He didn’t think Jay killed himself. He thought Coke knew something.
“Jay would’ve never done that to himself.” Coke was quick to snap and bring me out of my thoughts.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I went to take it out, feeling the pin of the compass.
“I found this before I tripped over him.” I held it out to give to Hank. Natalie took it. I glared at her. “I swear it’s the same compass the guy Jay had shot at had on his backpack and the same one I saw last night at the campground. You know, the one you chased.”
“You chased someone?” Natalie asked as if she had authority to do so.
“He had no business snooping around the campground.” He made no big deal out of it.
“What about the compass?” I asked. “There was a person here fighting with him. Jay shot at him. That’s where he got that cut on his head.”
“Alvin Deters has a wall of these things down at the Feed-N-Seed. We’d have to interview everyone from here to Timbuktu if we went on finding that compass.” Natalie laughed at me.
I glared at her and decided to look at my phone instead of giving her the satisfaction of me talking to her.
The text was from Abby. She wanted to tell me to meet the gals at the Laundry Club after I was done at the stables. They were going to meet there after the police were finished interviewing everyone at the hoedown.
Colonel Holz called Natalie over while another officer took Coke back into the stables to finish interviewing her.
“Do you really think he did this to himself?” I asked Hank. “I mean what about that Lee guy?”
“Lee Wells?” Hank shook his head. “I doubt it. They’ve been best friends for years.”
“Do best friends spit on each other’s shoes?” I asked. “I saw them yesterday. Lee was taking over Jay’s clients.”
“Why would he do that when Coke gave him an extension to stay through the summer.”
“She did? The last I heard, she told him he had to find a new place so she could turn the stables into a wedding venue.” It didn’t make sense to me. “Lee told me he was here to look at a potential client.” I gnawed my lip. “Maybe Lee had counted on all the new clients and just today Coke gave Jay the news. The clients stayed with Jay and that made Lee mad.”
“Lee Wells runs a hell of a business.” Hank looked under his brows at me, overtop of his notebook where he’d taken some notes. “He didn’t need anything from Jay Russel. Trust me.” Hank put an arm around me and kissed me on the temple. “It’s cute how your adorable brain works. You playing detective and all when Colonel has already declared a self-inflicted wound.”
“But why would he kill himself if Coke had given him a few more months?” I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“A lot of times these things don’t make sense.” Hank gave me a brisk rub up and down my arms. “I’ll see you in the morning. Coffee.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled and watched as Colonel and Natalie rolled Jay’s covered body on the church cart past me. “Coffee.”
Jay Russel didn’t seem the type to run away from life. There was more to it, and I couldn’t help but wonder what.
EIGHT
Even though a nice summer breeze came in the window of Henry’s car driving down through the holler and into the Daniel Boone National Park, there was still a chill that goose bumped its way along my arms. I gripped the handle of the door.
“You seem awfully quiet since we left.” Dottie glanced over her shoulder to the back seat where I was sitting.
“I think it’s odd that Jay would kill himself. Even more so now that I know Coke Ogden had extended the time he needed to be out of the stables.” I let out a long sigh.
Henry followed with a long sigh and pressed back into the seat. He had both hands on the wheel.
“Thank you, Henry, for giving me a ride.” I had no idea where Ty had gone. “One minute Ty was standing there, and the next he was gone.”
“Now that you bring it up, I don’t think Abby was too happy that you were with him.” Dottie caught me off guard.
“That’s goofy.” Hank gave Dottie a side glance. He looked at me in the rearview mirror. Was he checking to see my reaction?
“Why? Abby and Mae are friends. We could’ve given her a ride.” Dottie shrugged and repositioned herself when we drove into the downtown limits.
The streetscape was so pretty in downtown Normal. The Main Street was divided by a grassy median, each side of it a one-way street. There were carriage lights, like most small towns, that were strategically placed and glowed a cozy ambience no matter the time of day or night.
The grassy median had its own little park with an amphitheater, picnic benches, a covered space for reunions or get-togethers, and plenty of trees. It was a perfect place to host celebrations even though Coke was going to be providing those types of events at the Old Train Station Motel.
The shops were stand-alone charming cottage-style homes with picket fences around them and a courtyard. They ranged from The Smelly Dog Groomer to Cookie Crumble Bakery and every store one could think of in a small town. Each one was locally owned and not some big corporation. It only added to the charm.
In fact, there was a city ordinance that stated no big box stores. That included chain restaurants of any kind, including fast food joints. Citizens and visitors had to drive out of the Daniel Boone National Park to get any of that. That’s why Mary Elizabeth’s Milkery was popular. Although it was located on a farm out of the downtown area, people loved the fresh products she offered.
The Laundry Club was the laundromat located downtown, but it was much more than just a bunch of washer and dryers. It’d become a place for my friends and me to hang out while we visited. Betts was the owner and had made it very cozy and welcoming by adding a coffee station, book club meetings, puzzles, and TVs. Those perks just weren’t for me and the Laundry Club gals. They were for anyone using the facilities.
Laundromats were very popular in hiking areas. Some campgrounds didn’t o
ffer a washer and dryer, but Happy Trails did, which meant that my guests didn’t have to come to a laundromat to do their laundry. The Laundry Club was always filled and not even the rain had stopped customers from filling the joint up.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come back and get you two?” Henry asked after he stopped his car in front of the laundromat.
“No.” I shook my head. “One of the gals will bring us home. Thank you.” I leaned forward and patted his shoulder “You’re the best.”
“Yeah.” He laughed and waved us out.
“Thanks,” Dottie said to Henry.
Queenie French walked up the same time I got out of Henry’s car. She held the door open and waited for me and Dottie.
“I heard you got a ride from Ty to the hoedown.” She looked at me with amused wonder. Her short blond hair was matted down to her scalp, a testament to her fight with the rain. The rain had won.
She was wearing a knee-length square dance skirt where the panels alternated between a solid blue fabric and one with flowers instead of her usual silky skin-tight dance leggings and a Jazzercise tank. She had her signature fanny pack snapped around her waist and a white blouse tucked under the fanny pack. There was a hot pink scarf tied around her neck and a pair of white, tap-like shoes on her feet.
“I’m sure you did.” I knew Abby was mad, and she had no reason to be. It would all be good once I explained Ty had taken me as a favor since I was going to meet Hank at the hoedown even though that hadn't panned out exactly as planned. Really, nothing tonight had turned out as planned.
“You were getting it out there on the dance floor.” I smiled and walked next to her to the couches where Betts already had cups of coffee waiting for us.
“Not too shabby for sixty years young.” Queenie winked.
“Heck no. You were doing better than anyone younger out there.” My attention drew to Abby.
She greeted me with a tight thin-lipped smile.
“We are going to get this out in the open right now,” I told her and sat on a different couch. I picked up a coffee cup and held it in my hands. “He offered to take me when I told him I was waiting on Hank. Hank couldn’t come because of the break-in at Deter’s, and Hank told me to get a ride with Ty and meet him there.”
“See.” Betts was sitting next to Abby. She patted her on the leg. “I told you there was a good reason.”
Abby blinked a couple of times. I wasn’t sure, but she looked like she was about to cry.
“Why did he bring you here?” she asked as she tried to hold back the tears.
“He didn’t. He ghosted.” I pointed to Dottie. “I hitched a ride with Dottie and Henry. There is nothing between me and Ty. I’m head over heels crazy about Hank.”
“I understand.” She brushed off my reasoning. “I’m fine.” She looked at Dottie. “How are you?”
Abby cut off any more conversation about Ty, still leaving me with unanswered questions. When he said they were different, did he mean he was different? He sure did make it seem like they were in agreement. By the way Abby was acting, I knew that wasn’t right.
Ty and I were good enough friends that I felt comfortable with asking him about it even though Abby and I were much closer. It was a subject that was still raw with emotions as her shaking hands told me. Plus, it was between me and Abby, not me, Abby, and all the people in the laundromat.
“This is Violet Rhinehammer reporting live from the grand opening of the Old Train Station Motel located in the Daniel Boone National Park in Normal, Kentucky.” Violet was on TV giving a special report from the regular television schedule. “It appears the body of local horse trainer, Jay Russel, was not murdered as previously reported. There is an ongoing investigation according to Detective Hank Sharp.” The camera panned over to Hank and Natalie.
The door opened, and we all turned to look from the TV to see who it was. Coke Ogden walked through the door. Her face was blotchy, her nose was red, and her eyelids were swollen, evidence of her crying.
“This is not a murder investigation. Preliminary reports from the coroner’s office shows it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound that led to Jay Russel’s death. We won’t be holding any sort of special press conference at this time.” Hank gave one good nod to the camera before it panned back to Violet, but not before I saw Hank’s hand touch Natalie’s arm to gesture her off camera.
That made my blood boil. I knew it shouldn’t, but when Ellis and Hank’s parents had come back to town, Ellis tried her hardest to get Hank to go out with Natalie. Something I didn’t take lightly.
“I don’t care what Hank Sharp or that goody two-shoes coroner Natalie whatever-her-name- is says.” Coke waved a hand in the air, then rubbed it under her nose, giving it a big sniff. “Jay Russel didn't kill himself.”
She went around making eye contact with each of us but stopped at me.
“I’m telling you, after the deal we made, he was happy as a pig in slop.” She pointed at me. Her jaw set. Her eyes froze. “And, Mae West, you’re just the person I’ve come to see.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything.” I drew back and gulped. “I just met the man.”
“You know stuff. You know how to get to the bottom of stuff, and I want to pay you to get to the bottom of this.” She stomped her foot in anger. “Jay Russel was murdered, and you’re gonna find out who done it.”
Yep. Nothing tonight turned out as planned.
NINE
There were no promises made last night after Coke Ogden had asked me to help get to the root of Jay’s death. Though I couldn’t say the evidence she provided wasn’t enough to give me a second thought to what the coroner had initially determined as the cause of death.
Coke had brought up a good point. Jay loved his horse. Why on earth would he let her out of the stable when it was about to downpour? According to Coke, Jay even played music in the stall if there was the slightest hint of gray clouds lingering because Rosa was scared of storms, especially lightning.
If he loved Rosa so much, why would he put her in a situation where she would be frightened and run off? Wouldn’t he give her to someone he loved? Which made me wonder if he had family or someone he loved?
Then there was the fact that I’d seen him not only get into one but two arguments. One with the hiker hiding out in the stable and the other an altercation with Lee after I’d watched a little of Jay’s class. Not that either of them killed Jay, but both would have reason.
Let’s face it, people kill people over the slightest things nowadays, and when a person shoots at someone several times like Jay had the hiker, the hiker might’ve come back for revenge. Then there was the greedy side of things which would give Lee a good reason to knock Jay off. According to Hank, Lee had his own little empire in Normal with his own clients, but he could have all the business if Jay wasn’t around.
All of these questions must’ve been rolling around in my head because I woke up at four a.m. with Jay on my mind. Fifi was right there with me, sitting up in our bed, staring at me.
“You can read my mind.” I picked her up, holding her close and giving her extra special kisses. “You know exactly what I need. Walk?”
Her eyes popped up, and her back end started to wiggle, forcing her out of my arms. She darted off the bed and headed straight to the front door of the RV.
“I’m coming.” I rolled out of bed and tugged on sweatpants over top my sleep shorts. “Hold on,” I called to Fifi when I heard her nails scraping the door in anticipation.
Quickly I looked at the outside temperature on my phone and decided to grab my hoodie on my way out of the room. The coffee pot was already to brew. I hit the on button and knew it’d be hot and ready for me after a brisk walk around the lake.
“I’m going to put your leash on because I don’t want you swimming with the ducks or wake them up.” I snapped the leash on her collar.
The line went taut as she bolted out the door as far as she could, and I locked the door behind me. Four a.m. was pi
tch black, and if it weren’t for the fireflies out and about, the only light would be the bright moon and stars.
It was a catch-22 in a campground when it came to lighting the place up. True campers came to Happy Trails to get out of the city lights and enjoy what nature had to offer. As stunning as camping in the Daniel Boone National Park was, I still had to consider the safety of the campers and the campground.
We had lights around the campground that were on a timer until nine thirty p.m. Most people who camped or hiked around here were already back at the campsite and winding down from the day around the fires. They were also early to bed and early to rise.
There was a small pole light on the small dock that led out to the lake. I insisted we do that since it was around water, and I never knew what people who drink might be thinking. Late night swims weren’t uncommon around here. Though we discouraged it, and there were Swim at Your Own Risk signs that my insurance agent made me put up, people still did it.
The splashing around that was going on now was more than just ducks. I was going to check it out. Fifi and I walked toward the office, stopping a couple of times so she could do her business. I deliberately went that way to get the best view of the pond from where the moon was positioned. I knew if I walked with my back to the office, the moon would be positioned in the sky, shining down on the pier of the pond where the splashing was coming from.
I passed Dottie’s camper, and it was dark. When I passed the office, I noticed a light was on. In my mind, I replayed shutting down the computer and leaving for the night. I distinctly remember locking the office door.
As I got closer, I could see through the window. Dottie Swaggert was sitting in her office chair, her head resting on the desk. The door was locked. I tapped lightly on it so as not to scare her from her sleep, but that didn’t work. The sound of a chair crashing on the floor came from inside.