In Harm’s Way - Ch. 29

Excerpt from rough draft of In Harm’s Way by Pat Otterness

?CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

????????????It was too late to go in search of Betty and Carmen that day. We had decided that Hiram, rather than Wolf, would accompany me, and Hope would speak with Fletcher Fox. I was expecting Jordan to show up again after the mortuary van carried away its second passenger of the day. Sure enough, he turned up right after the van pulled away.

????????????“What can you tell us? I asked. “Anything to identify who it was? Male of female? Age? Ethnicity?”

????????????“Nothing definite yet,” said Jordan. “Do you remember any strangers hanging around in the last month or so? Say, three to six weeks ago?”

????????????“I was still digging out compost from that hole six weeks ago,” I said. “Putting it on some of my garden rows. I didn’t start filling it with new material until … say, three or four weeks ago.”

????????????“That gives us a time line, then.” Jordan glanced up the hill. “But can you remember if there was anyone … friend or stranger … who was hanging around out here? On foot, especially.”

????????????It was true that strangers did sometimes show up at my door, usually lost and looking for someplace else.??I tried to remember. “Someone in a car,” I remembered, “looking for the Shifflet graveyard. He parked down the hill and was walking all over, looking. Lots of old family graveyards are scattered around this area. If they haven’t been tended, they’re hard to find.”

????????????“Did he give you his name? Can you describe him?”

????????????“Balding. Grizzled. Kind of sloppy clothes. I didn’t like him.”

????????????“Caucasian?”

??????????“ I think so. And there was a woman,” I remembered. “I thought she might be a Jehovah’s Witness, so I didn’t go to the door.” She was youngish. Twenties, maybe. Latina, I think. I didn’t get much of a look.”

“Anyone else,” Jordan looked at Hope and Hiram.

“Not me,” said Hope. “I haven’t been around much lately.”

“There was a man,” said Hiram, “ … a man looking for his dog, but I don’t remember how long ago it was. An older guy, maybe in his fifties. He said his dog had a radio collar, but he wasn’t responding. He was afraid something had happened to his dog.”

“Did he find the dog?” Jordan asked.

“I don’t know. I never saw him again. He went up into the woods, looking.” Hiram pondered that for a minute. “An odd place to lose a hunting dog, now that I think about it. The land around here is posted NO HUNTING, because it’s mostly iris gardens these days.”

“There used to be lots of hunters looking for lost dogs,” I said, “before the gardens came.”

“Keep thinking,” said Jordan. “Ask Chance, too,” he told Hiram. “Surely someone saw this person. You’re outside a lot, Chat. Wouldn’t you notice if someone was walking around out here?”

“Not if I was busy,” I said. “I get lost in my own thoughts when I’m working in the garden. The only time I’m hyper-alert is during bloom season.” I chuckled to myself. “Now if he … or she … came up to the garden and threw themselves in the compost hole …”

“You would probably throw a heap of rotting iris stalks on top of them without even noticing,” said Hope.

“I was thinking,” said Hiram. “There are other people we see all the time but don’t think about. Meter readers, the exterminator, UPS and FedEx drivers. Can we rule all of them out?”

“The postman, too,” I said, “but I know he’s alive and well.”

“Maybe we should ask Ralph,” said Hiram. “He’s up and down the road every day. He might have noticed something.”

“ Good idea,” said Jordan. “I need to get back to the office. I’m expecting a new detective to replace Vaughn. I hope they’ve given us someone competent this time. Fivush is filling in for Wiggins, so he’s out of play right now.”

“I have to ask,” I said. “What is her real name? Wiggins, I mean.”

“Oralee … Oralee Dove,” said Jordan. “Wiggins is a nickname. I guess you know why.”

“I do,” I said. “Really funny.”

“ I don’t,“ said Hiram. “I thought it was her real name.”

“Did you ever watch the Carol Burnett Show?” I asked him.

“We didn’t watch much TV,” said Hiram. “I’ve heard of her, though.”

“There used to be a skit she did with Tim Conway,” I explained. “Wiggins was this curvaceous but ditzy secretary. It was hilarious.”

“I’m sorry I missed it,” said Hiram.

“It really was amusing,” Hope said. “Tim Conway was her boss in the skit. Everything Tim Conway did was funny.”

“ I should probably call on her. Oralee, I mean. She might know what Vaughn was up to. And of course, offer my sympathy on her loss,” I added.

“If she knows anything, you should leave that to us,” said Jordan. “Why do you think she would know what Vaughn was up to?”

“Fivush said she was taking the week off to mourn him,” I said. “It sounds like she might have had some feelings for Vaughn.“

Jordan shook his head in disbelief. “Kind of hard to wrap my mind around?that,” he said. “But you leave her to us. I mean it, Chat.”

I smiled. Noncommittal. I would do what I thought best. A sympathy call, at least. I’d bet she was mourning alone.