In Harm’s Way - Ch. 7-8

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

CHAPTER SEVEN

????????????The message light was blinking on my phone when I entered the house, but I ignored it until I’d made myself a tall, frosty glass of unsweetened ice tea. This was always my beverage choice, summer or winter. I made it up a quart at a time, using one family-size?Lipton?tea bag, and one single-serving size bag of a?Twinings?black tea blend. Sometimes the flavor was?Peach, sometimes?Black Currant, and occasionally?Four Red Fruits?or?Cinnamon Apple. Today’s tea had a hint of peach.

????????????I carried my glass with me to the phone and sipped while the messages played. The first was Hiram, looking for Wolf. Next was Chance, looking for Hiram. His enquiry into Hiram’s whereabouts was followed by speculation that thegol-durn-dog?must have rolled in something dead, and by the declaration that it would be Hiram, not Chance, who would do the dog-washing.

????????????I moved on to the third and last message:?Hermione. Before the name change she had been just plain Tammy Tucker. Back then she babysat my kids, who were not much younger than she was. Now she was Mrs. Hermione Kace, the young and pregnant wife of my ex-husband, Harrison.

????????????“Charity … I mean, Chat,” she began, adhering quickly to The Tammy Rule: If she called me Charity, which she knew I hated, I would call her Tammy … in public. As the new wife of a respected dentist in Amherst, she desperately wanted to leave her trailer park past behind.

????????????“I’m supposed to have a sonogram tomorrow, and Harrison won’t … I mean, Harrison can’t … he?can’t?come with me,” she continued.

????????????You had it right the first time. I grinned to myself. Harrison hadn’t wanted this baby. If anything, Harrison wanted to?be?the baby, or at least be the center of Hermione’s adoring attention. Sharing the spotlight was not a social skill he possessed, or even wanted.

????????????“I was hoping you could come with me tomorrow,” Hermione said. Hesitant. Hoping. Knowing full well it was outrageous to ask Harrison’s ex-wife to be a stand-in for him like this. “The appointment is at ten o’clock, at Dr. Garrity’s clinic in Amherst. We could meet there …?”

????????????Dr. Garrity was?my?doctor, too. Jordan Hunt had wished us on each other after I’d taken a damaging leap from a barn loft a few weeks ago. It wouldn’t hurt to renew his acquaintance. Besides, I’d never had a sonogram. My kids were born before the advent of diagnostic tools of this kind. I was curious to see how it was done, and how the images looked on the screen. I dialed Hermione’s number and spoke to the inevitable answering machine.

????????????“Tammy … I mean Hermione,” I said. “I’ll meet you there, but if I do you this favor, if it’s a girl, you have to name her after?me.” I laughed to show I was kidding. Otherwise an innocent little child might have to go through life known as Charity Kace, a fate I’d avoided by keeping my maiden name when I married Harrison.

????????????I hung up the phone, then dialed 411 for information. No, it seemed there was no new listing for Chance Cassidy, but … after a long pause and the rustle of paper that indicated an operator with a brain, she said, “We?do?have a new business listing at that address. New Dimensions Gardens? Does that help at all?”

????????????“Yes, it certainly does. Can I have that number, please?” I copied it down, then added it to my speed dial. Someone was going to get a middle-of-the-night wake-up call. A surprise! I grinned an evil grin.

I could hear the rumble of a large vehicle approaching, and looked out the window in time to see a state police forensic wagon pull onto what little grass in my yard was not already covered by deputies’ cruisers. I decided not to go out. Captain Morris had everything under control. I had learned my lesson from my involvement in the previous murder last month, and I was staying out of this one.

????????????It was early for lunch, but since none of my earlier meals had stayed down, I was feeling a little peckish. I ruled out anything green. That was a no-brainer. I settled for a nice bacon and tomato sandwich, in spite of the annoyance of having to wash the pan I’d left soaking in the sink a few hours earlier. No lettuce. Not because it was green, but because I didn’t much care for lettuce on my BLT’s. Go figure! No mayo, either. Mayo made me barf, and I’d done all I wanted to do of that for one day.

????????????I took my sandwich, a handful of potato chips … okay, two handfuls … and my tea out onto my tiny patio. There was a light breeze, and from where I was sitting I could see all the comings and goings around the forensic wagon. It was this convenient location that allowed me to witness the arrival of Sheriff’s Investigator Vaughn.

????????????He roared up at startling speed, then stood on the brakes, causing his cruiser to skid on the loose gravel and very nearly slam into the forensic van. I watched with interest, hoping there would be reprisals from the state guys, but they seemed to favor the?miss-is-as-good-as-a-mile?philosophy.

????????????Vaughn left his car blocking the road, and climbed out with attitude.?What the hell were they doing at his crime scene? Who had called them? Who the hell was trying to lead this investigation in his absence??Red-faced and fuming, Investigator Vaughn vented his anger at every State Police officer on the scene. Then he looked around for fresh meat – and spotted me.

????????????“You!” said Vaughn. “You!?You’re the one, aren’t you?”

????????????“Excuse me?” I didn’t rise to his bait.

????????????“You brought these people here without my permission. Well, didn’t you?”

????????????I didn’t like his tone. “What people?” I said.

????????????“These?people,” said Vaughn, sweeping his arm in a wide arc to embrace the deputies’ cruisers and forensic van, including the forensic technicians. He loomed over me, pointing an accusing finger.

????????????“I found a body,” I said. “I dialed 911 to report it. Isn’t that the proper procedure? What do you think I should have done differently?” I barely stifled a grin as Vaughn struggled to find a response.

????????????“I’m not through with you. I’ll be back,” he said through clenched teeth. He turned on his heel and without another word to anyone, headed up the hill towards the woods.

????????????Well, isn’t?that?special, I thought. I wonder what has?his?panties in a twist. Maybe with Jordan Hunt out of the picture, he just needed to assert his authority. I wished I could be a fly on the wall when he found himself nose-to-nose with Captain Morris. I allowed myself a happy grin of anticipation as I finished the last of my chips and carried my paper plate back indoors.

????????????Yesterday’s stack of iris orders was still on the table, waiting to be mailed, so I found the correct combination of postage stamps and affixed them to the envelopes. Postage rates were going up so fast I had to keep a supply of one and two cent stamps to upgrade whatever stamps I had on hand to the current rate. Just one more hassle in a crazy world.

????????????I walked the stamped envelopes out to the mailbox, avoiding eye contact with the one member of the forensic team still manning the wagon. I knew he was watching me. But in what context, I wondered. He was an attractive man, after all, and I was not immune. He had light brown shoulder-length hair pulled back behind his ears, leaving only white locks at his temples to fall forward from beneath the billed cap he wore. I wondered if he was bald. So many guys who are bald on top tend to wear caps and grow the rest of their hair longer.

????????????Not that it mattered, I reminded myself. I’d probably never see this guy again. I cast a quick sideways glance at his lean, wiry frame before disappearing back into the house.?Not bad. Not bad at all.

????????????Captain Morris wasn’t a bad-looking guy, either, I thought later when he knocked on my door. Raven-dark hair, brown eyes, and a square, rugged face. Morris was very married, though. He was the kind of grandfather who always carries photos of his whole family in his wallet. Some woman was lucky, I thought. I led him into the living room and offered him a chair.

????????????“Or maybe you’d rather sit in the dining room,” I said, noticing for the first time that every chair other than my own was filled with clutter.

????????????“No, this is fine,” said Morris, cheerfully shifting a pile of papers from one chair to another and settling his big frame in the fuzzy comfort of cat-hair. “We need to talk,” he said.

????????????Tape recorder in hand, Captain Morris took me through the entire story this time, even including the midnight ride I was sure my Demon had experienced. Morris shook his head from time to time in disbelief, but he recorded it all for the record.

????????????“So you went up into the woods on a hunch?” he said. “You thought the dog might have gone back up there to dig? And taken the cat with him?” He raised his eyebrows.

????????????I nodded. “I know it sounds weird. Everything about this dog is weird. But it happened. I swear it.”

????????????“You said you didn’t know who the woman was,” said Morris. How did you know it was a woman?”

????????????I thought for a moment. “The long hair, partly,” I said. “But mostly it was the fingernails. I don’t know if you noticed, but whoever she was, she’d recently had a very nice set of acrylic nails applied. I think that was it. I’ve never seen a guy with brightly colored acrylic nails.”

????????????We were interrupted by a knock on the kitchen door, and a voice called out to Captain Morris. It was my barf-buddy from this morning, looking very much the worse for wear. His uniform was soaked, with huge muddy paw-prints marking the shoulders.

????????????“I see you’ve met Wolf,” I said, letting him in. “Would you like a towel?” He nodded and I went to fetch one.

????????????“Were you able to interview the dog’s owners?” Morris asked him. “Cassidy and Jones?”

????????????“Yes, sir … sort of. Jones was washing the dog … it’s a really?big?dog, sir … and Cassidy was blessing them both out. Apparently the dog … his name is either Woof or Wolf … was supposed to be a gift for Cassidy.” He paused for breath, and handed me the damp towel with a smile of gratitude. “Anyway, Cassidy said the dog had rolled in something dead … he seemed to think the body in the woods was a dead Rottweiler. When I mentioned the woods, he started rattling on about the dog dragging a drainpipe off his house into the woods …”

????????????“I think I get the picture,” said Captain Morris. “It sounds chaotic. Write down what you can remember. I’ll go down and talk to them a little bit later.” He dismissed the young deputy, and turned back to me. “Drainpipe?” he said.

????????????“I guess I didn’t go back far enough,” I said. “Maybe we should start from the very beginning.” This time I told him about adopting Wolf from the Almost Home Pet Adoption Center, and all the events that had followed, as best I could remember.

????????????“You lead a very colorful life, don’t you?” said Morris when I was finished.

????????????“You have no?idea,” I said.?No idea at all.

CHAPTER EIGHT

????????????By the time Sheriff’s Investigator Vaughn arrived on my doorstep, he had mastered his emotions. Calm and cool, that was Vaughn – back to his usual smarmy self.

????????????“Hello, Ms. Chance,” said Vaughn, looking in through the screen door at me with sultry eyes. He wasn’t a bad-looking man. In his mid-forties, he was really tan and buff, with thick brown hair untouched by gray. It was his manner that grated on my nerves.

????????????“Investigator Vaughn,” I said, acknowledging his presence. I opened the door. “Would you like a beverage?”

????????????“A cold beer would go down great,” said Vaughn, “but I’m on duty now. Maybe?later.” He winked suggestively.

????????????“Maybe not,” I said, handing him an icy Coke instead. “Take it or leave it.”

????????????He took it, absentmindedly shook it, and popped the tab.

????????????“Nice?head?on it,” I said, watching the fizzy carbonated drink spew all over his uniform.

????????????Vaughn said something unprintable, and tried to suck the spewing froth from the top of the can before it could do more damage.

????????????To my credit, I didn’t laugh. Instead I handed him paper towels, and when the worst was mopped up, I provided a damp washcloth to remove the stickiness from his face and clothing. My efforts earned me a scowl rather than a thank you. He wanted to blame it on me, but he knew I had seen him shake the can.

????????????I offered him a seat at the kitchen table, and placed myself across from him. Then I sat in silence and waited for him to speak.

????????????“How did you happen to be way up there in the woods, Ms. Chance?” said Vaughn.

????????????“I was looking for my cat,” I said. Full stop.

????????????“Your?cat?”

????????????“Yes.”

????????????“Why did you think your cat might be up in the woods?” Vaughn tried a little aggressive eye contact.

????????????“Call it a hunch,” I said. I didn’t like to be bullied.

????????????“A hunch, Ms. Chance? A?hunch??This is the?third?body you’ve found this year.”

????????????“Second,” I said, shaking my head.

????????????“This is the third body …” he began again, but I interrupted.

????????????“Three bodies is right,” I said, “but I found only?two?of them. Hermione Kace found the other one.” I stuck out my chin defiantly. “I found Buddy Tucker’s body in the creek last month. And I found another body in the woods today. That’s all -?two.”

????????????“Three on your property, then,” said Vaughn, not willing to back down.

????????????“No,?two,” I said. “That piece of woods belongs to Chance Cassidy and Hiram Jones. This new body is on their property.”

????????????Vaughn took a big swig of his Coke, and viewed me with distaste. “It won’t help to be difficult,” he said. “If you had something to do with that body … if you know anything about how it got there … you’d be advised to tell me now.”

????????????I just looked at him. I sighed. “I found the body,” I said. I found it by falling in the grave on top of it, while I was looking for my cat.”

????????????“The grave was?open,?then?”

????????????“Yes. I think Wolf dug it up. There were claw marks everywhere.”

????????????“A?wolf?”?Vaughn looked at me in disbelief.

????????????“No, not ‘a’ wolf - a?dog. His?name?is Wolf. The dog you saw here yesterday …”

????????????“Shh!!! I told you not to mention my being here. Top secret. You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

????????????I shook my head. “But that’s the dog that dug that hole. Or I think he did.”

????????????“Didn’t you tell me the dog wasn’t yours? You said he was just visiting. Is he still here?” Vaughn emptied the can of Coke, then crushed it in his large palm.

????????????“He’s back with his owner now. No longer my problem.” I took the crushed can and tossed it into my recycling bin. Was it my imagination, or had Vaughn breathed a sigh of relief?

????????????“Did you find your cat?” he asked.

????????????“As a matter of fact, I did,” I said. “Would you like to see him? He might be a witness.”

????????????“Very funny,” said Vaughn, not laughing.

????????????Investigator Vaughn had left, summoned by deputies from the crime scene, and I was eating the last of my evening meal when I heard a snicking sound at the kitchen door, followed by a creak. I looked around in time to see a visitor push open the door and slip inside.

????????????“Woof!” he said.

????????????“How did you?do?that?” I demanded, but got no reply other than a wet tongue across my face. I pushed the dog away and wiped my face with a napkin. The last thing I needed was a dog that could enter my house at will.

????????????“I?taught?him that,” said a proud voice at the door. “He’s really smart.” Hiram showed me that he, too, could open the door and come in without being invited. He pulled out a chair and sat down across from me. I guess he hadn’t taught Wolf to do?that?yet, since the dog remained standing on the floor, eyeing the greatly depleted bag of cat food he had sampled the day before.

????????????“Hello, Hiram,” I said. “You two make yourselves right at home.” There was no sign that either guest recognized the sarcasm. “Why did you teach your dog to open my door?” I said. “I don’t?want?your dog to open my door. I don’t even want your dog to come in my house.” My voice wasn’t friendly.

????????????Hiram looked surprised. Wolf inched closer to the cat food. “I didn’t teach him to open?your?door,” said Hiram. “I taught him to open?our?door … so he can let himself in if we aren’t around. He learned really fast.” Hiram reached out to pet Wolf, who reluctantly abandoned the cat food bag and came to sit at Hiram’s side. “I rewarded him with those liver treats you got him. You’re right. He does like them.”

????????????“Do you have any with you?” I asked.

????????????Hiram felt in the pocket of his shorts. There were telltale lines of red welts on his legs that said I’d been right yesterday about the chiggers. “Yes, I still have some left,” he said, holding the liver treats out on his palm. Wolf watched closely.

“Good!?Now let’s teach him how to go?back outside,” I said. I took the liver treats from Hiram and pointed towards the door. “OUT!” I said to Wolf in a loud, harsh voice. He responded rapidly, nudging the door with his nose and departing, tail between his legs.

?“Good boy!” I said, tossing him a few liver treats to ease his humiliation.

????????????“Did you just come to show me Wolf’s trick, or is there something else?” I said, putting my dishes in the sink.

????????????“Umm … Captain Morris came to see us,” said Hiram. “He said you found some woman’s body in Raja’s grave.” He looked at me for confirmation, and continued. “He said Wolf must have smelled it and dug it up.” He paused and looked at me with a smug expression. “I told you so,” he said.

????????????“What? Told me?what?”

????????????“I told you Wolf was smart,” said Hiram. “I told you he might be after?something?else?in that grave.”

????????????“Yes, you did,” I said, tacitly admitting that Hiram was right, but not that Wolf was smart. “Does Chance know that Vaughn is the lead investigator on this case? The three of us are bound to be his chief suspects. I think we can count on it.”

????????????“Uh-oh!” said Hiram.

????????????“Jordan Hunt is off teaching some course in Richmond,” I explained.

????????????“I know. Alan … Alan Cook … is taking the course, so he’s away, too.” Deputy Alan Cook and Hiram had struck up a friendship soon after Hiram’s arrival on Dancing Creek. Hiram had been doing some housework lately for Alan’s mother, Blanche, who ran a Bed-and-Breakfast in the area.

????????????“Does Chance … do you … know who the dead woman could be?”

????????????Hiram shook his head. I didn’t see her, so I don’t know. All I heard is that she has black hair, and looks Latina. I know a lot more people now that I’m working all these jobs, but I’d have to see her face …” He broke off, maybe imagining how her face might look at this stage of decay. “Maybe they’ll just show us?pictures,” he said, as if trying to reassure himself that he wouldn’t have to look at the actual body.

????????????“She had acrylic nails,” I said. “New ones. Maybe some local manicurist will know who she is.”

????????????“Really??Acrylic nails?” he said with heightened interest. “What color?”

????????????“What do you mean, what color?”

????????????“Her nails. What color … what shade … were her acrylic nails?”

????????????I held out my own, stubby, unpolished nails for him to see. “Do I look like someone who knows the colors of acrylic nails, Harm??Do I??I thought they looked … sort of …?red.”

????????????Hiram had been a manicurist in Texas. He knew everything there was to know about acrylic nails. He shook his head at my ignorance. He knew he was on firm ground with?this?clue. “Maybe you could go in and look at some samples,” he said. “LaTanya and LaZanya have a card with samples of all the acrylic nail colors they offer.”

????????????“Lasagne? There’s a person in Lovingston named Lasagne? Like with noodles and sauce?” I said

????????????Hiram laughed. “That’s what I thought at first, too. It’s spelled L-A-Z-AN-Y-A. She and LaTanya are twins,” said Harm. “Identical twins.”

????????????“Do they work at Angela’s?” I asked, naming the establishment that did my cuts and perms most of the time. I knew Angela did acrylic nails.

????????????“No, this is a new place,” said Hiram. “They mostly cater to African American and Latina customers. I’ve started working for them, part-time. They’re really nice.”

????????????“Where are they located? I guess I could drop by tomorrow and look at their nail samples, if you think it would help.”

????????????Hiram gave me the easy-to-find address, and got up to leave. “Umm … Chat?’ he said.

????????????“What?”

????????????“Maybe … umm … maybe you ought to keep your doors locked for a while,” he said. “At least until the killer is caught. I mean … um … Wolf and I were able to walk right in.”