A Bell in the Garden
Page 8
“No,” Conrad said emphatically. “Not in the slightest bit. Does Howard Bell have any other family around here?”
“Maybe you should ask the Sheriff that,” Cora said smiling.
“I’m not going there.”
“I assume you are ready to talk about DNA?” Cora raised her eyebrows in question.
“Yeah, I need to see if there is anybody to test. I get a lot of people making suggestions, but nobody giving up any proof.”
“You know, everyone says Andy Gentry is Howard’s son.
“Yes, but unless a paternity test was done years ago to establish that, he’s not a candidate either.”
“Well,” Cora said propping her elbows on her desk. “They had a messy divorce. It’s possible there was one.”
“Does Andrew pay Carmen child support? Did he claim the boy? I thought officially he was Andrew’s child. He has his name.”
“Yes, he has his name and Carmen says he belongs to Andrew, but Andrew doesn’t live around here anymore. I don’t think he even kept in contact with the boy. Perhaps Carmen kept up the lie for appearances.”
Conrad scowled. “I need to see if I can pull that court record.”
“That’s what I would do,” Cora said smiling. “He’s an adult now. He can make up his own mind about things.”
Returning to his office, Conrad decided it was best to handle this the way he had with Miriam. He left a voice mail on Karen’s phone that he’d like her to stop by his office. He left a message at the Chamber asking Miriam to call him with her sister’s contact information and he started looking online at the county’s website to see if he could obtain court documents. All this running around was exhausting him without anything to show for it.
Although he couldn’t get the actual court documents, the court docket sheets were available to view, and he saw Carmen’s divorce took over two years to complete. A paternity test was ordered on two different occasions but no results to the test were posted. There were several subpoenas issued for Carmen’s medical records from various doctors without explanation. To make sense of all this, he would have to drive to Paxton and see the full file. Just having a paternity test ordered must mean the town gossip had reached Carmen’s husband or his attorney because usually a child born during a marriage didn’t have a question of paternity. This time it may be more than gossip.
§
“You’re already here,” Cora said in surprise when she saw Conrad waiting at their usual table. Conrad had called her office earlier to say he felt like a steak, so they had set a time to meet for dinner.
“Yes, I’m making a Cora Mae list.”
Laughter trickled out as Cora pulled out a chair and sat down. “I do love a good list.”
Conrad motioned to the waitress so she would see Cora had arrived. After giving the waitress her drink order, Cora wiggled out of her jacket and dug her glasses from her purse.
“What kind of list are we making?”
“I’ve got several people I need to see, and I have to keep all this straight. I want to make sure I ask all the questions I need to when I have them available. It seems I have trouble finding people lately,” Conrad said scowling.
“Well, it is spring, and folks like to flit about when the weather is nice.” Cora slipped her reading glasses on and took the paper Conrad offered.
“You may know some of these answers yourself, and if so, I’d appreciate your input.”
“Hmm.” Cora perused the list and tapped her finger on the name Dixie Martin. “My neighbor knew this girl. She came over to my house the day after it was in the paper and she was fretting about it.”
“Her mother called me after the news came out about the bones,” Conrad said glancing at the name Cora tapped. “I’ve got a copy of the report she filed.”
“I’d say my neighbor may know more about her than her mother would.”
“Well, that’s less urgent since we know now that the victim was male.”
“Maybe not,” Cora said peering at Conrad over the top of her glasses. “She was allegedly in a relationship with Howard Bell when he disappeared.”
“Oh,” Conrad said leaning back in his chair. “Is this town gossip, too?”
“I hadn’t heard it before. Sandy Nash lives across the street from me and she was Dixie’s roommate back then. She’s the one that told me.”
“Speaking of Howard, he’s the one I’m most concerned with. Do you know what you want?” Conrad said as the waitress approached.
“Welcome to the Barberry Tower.” The young waitress gave them an anxious smile and lowered her head over her order pad. “Are you ready for me to take your order?”
Cora turned the list over on the table until the young woman had their order information, waiting until she walked away to resume.
“Do you know that young girl?” Conrad’s eyes narrowed as he watched the waitress get drinks for another table. “She seemed pretty curious about what was on that paper.”
“I can’t remember her name. Alexa or Alyssa, something like that. She’s Karen Goldman’s step-daughter.”
“Ah,” Conrad said nodding.
“So why is Howard your main concern?”
“He’s the only one Bobby has actually asked me to get involved in. He’s worried about appearances because he has the same name. The others are just things I’m following up on because I’ve had citizens call in.”
“So, the Sheriff is okay with you interviewing people in regard to Howard?”
“Yes,” Conrad said lifting his water glass. “I’m doing my job, responding to general inquiries.”
Cora gave him a quirky smile. Returning to the list, Cora pointed to another name. “Have you talked to Carmen?”
“Not yet. I’ve got a deputy running over to the courthouse tomorrow morning to pick up her divorce order from Andrew Gentry and I want to read that first.”
“Well,” Cora bellowed. “That will be a book. That drama lasted for years.”
“I saw the docket and it was over two years long.”
“Yes, with more drama even after it was final.”
“So, where is Andrew Gentry? Does he live around here? I’ve never met him.”
“I’m not sure,” Cora said. “You know, I heard he was in West Virginia when the divorce was going on. He might be from there. He didn’t grow up here in Spicetown. He moved here because of Carmen so when that fell apart, he left.”
“He’s not keeping in touch with the boy?”
“Not that I know of,” Cora sneered. “Most people around here don’t think it is his son. That’s what ended the marriage.”
“But the boy has his name.”
“Yes, but I figured Carmen did that to save face. It was pretty common knowledge back then that their marriage was having trouble and Carmen began running around without Andrew. She liked to party, so her drunken exploits became beauty shop gossip. Later, the gossip started to involve Howard Bell, which surprised everybody.”
“Why was that?”
“Well, Carmen was drawn to men with money. Andrew was well off and she had tried to fit in with the town’s elite. She was pretty flashy. She liked to brag and show off what she had. Howard Bell didn’t have anything,” Cora said pausing to take a drink of her tea. “Except a family he couldn’t afford to feed. He wasn’t working and that’s when Mavis took the job at Chervil’s Drugstore to make some extra money. They were pretty stretched.”
“Howard would have been a lot older.”
“I think Carmen thought she’d get Andrew’s money. She thought the baby would be her ticket, but she didn’t get anything in that divorce. Andrew’s money went toward a fancy lawyer, not to Carmen.”
“So, if they were both married, how did everybody in town find out about it?”
“This is Spicetown,” Cora said chuckling. “We have no secrets.” When Cora saw their waitress returning, she turned the list over again and leaned toward Conrad. “At least none that escape the beauty shop.”
“Tell me what you know about Howard,” Conrad said as he put his napkin across his lap. “You said he didn’t work?”
“He did when he married Mavis. For years he was a coal miner but then there was an accident in ‘98, I think,” Cora said taking a quick bite of her chicken piccata.
“Was Howard injured?”
“Not that I know of, but after some people died in the accident, the mine closed. I think he’d worked there his whole life and that’s all he knew.”
“So, he was what? Forty-five back then? Too young to retire.”
“I heard he had health problems, but I don’t know any details. He may have had benefits from the mine, but I know the family needed money and that’s why Mavis started working. She hadn’t worked when the kids were young.”
“But they aren’t Howard’s kids, right?” Conrad said slicing a piece of steak.
“No, Mavis was married before.”
“Did he disappear, too?”
Cora laughed as she patted her mouth with her napkin. “Heavens, no. She was married to Clarence Ferrell when she had the kids. He died of cancer really young. Pancreatic cancer, if I remember right. The kids were little. They were only married about ten years before he got sick.”
“So, Howard raised the kids?”
“I guess you could say so,” Cora said sipping her tea. “I don’t think it was very harmonious. Howard wasn’t a good family man as it turned out. I rarely saw him. Mavis was the one that took care of the kids, came to all the school events and such. I had them both in class. Daniel was a bit surly, but Leanne was a bright girl. She’s the oldest.”
“Mavis told me at Bryan’s grand opening that her daughter might move back here. She said she was hoping to have her grandkids close, but she didn’t say where they were. She did say Daniel lived in Paxton now,” Conrad said.
“Daniel is around all the time. I see him in town so he may live over there, but he still has ties here. I think Leanne moved to St. Louis when she got married. She married Jack Summers and they moved when he got a job there. They were high school sweethearts and have a couple of kids, I think.”
“Yes, two girls she said. Mavis didn’t report Howard missing,” Conrad said pushing his plate to the side and reaching for his coffee.
“No? Well, who did?”
Conrad chuckled and hesitated a moment. “Miriam Landry.”
“Miriam?” Cora shrieked. “I can’t believe she cared enough to even claim him. Everybody knows he is her brother, but she doesn’t like to admit it.”
“I didn’t know it,” Conrad shrugged. “She said she did it because Mavis didn’t. She won’t give a DNA sample though. I’m not sure why she filed the report because, like you say, she doesn’t seem to care about him.”
“Yes, that’s peculiar. I would have never guessed she would involve herself in something so tedious.”
The plates were gathered, and cups refilled as Cora pondered the list again. Conrad stretched back in his chair to push down his belt buckle and groaned.
“Are you planning to interview Carmen Maddox?” Cora said when the waitress left the table.
“Only if the divorce doesn’t resolve the paternity issue. If there was a test and the father wasn’t Andrew, I may need to ask some tough questions.”
“Well, if you do, I’d recommend you do it with Rodney present.” Cora threw her hands up in front of her to deflect Conrad’s objections. “I know you think I’m biased because I don’t care for the woman, but I’m here to tell you she will lie to you for no reason at all. Rodney seems to be a rational person and you need a witness to what she says. If Bing were still here, he’d tell you the same.”
“I take it you are speaking from his experiences?”
“I am,” Cora nodded emphatically. “He had to interview her on more than one occasion, and she exhibits traits of a pathological liar. His words, not mine.”
“Bing did give me some advice related to her,” Conrad said looking down at his coffee. “He indicated she couldn’t be trusted.”
“He probably told you she’d flirt with you, but it’s a bigger problem than that.” Cora tipped her teacup up to get the last taste and then pushed the cup and saucer aside. “The problem is she will fabricate her interaction with you and you always need a witness. She made a lot of really inappropriate claims about Bing that he couldn’t refute back in the day. I never believed them for a minute, but they tarnished his character in some eyes and he never put himself in that position again.”
“I appreciate the warning.”
“I can talk to Mavis for you, if you like,” Cora offered. “She may be a little ticked with my prying right now, but she will talk to me candidly. I don’t think I can help you with Miriam though.”
Conrad laughed as the waitress brought them their checks.
CHAPTER 14
Before Conrad could get his coffeemaker dripping, Georgia was giving him more phone messages. The Sheriff’s Department held a press conference the previous afternoon regarding the status of the Stotlar Nursery bones, which was the name the press had coined. This had stirred up the whole town again and now they were even calling him about missing friends and family members who had never been in Spicetown. Fortunately, Georgia handled these calls well and they rarely needed a call back.
“Chief, Karen Goldman is out here to see you.” Officer Tabor looked at Conrad warily.
“Okay,” Conrad nodded approval. “You can send her back here. Thanks.”
Turning his coffeemaker on, he pulled out his desk chair and smiled as Karen entered the office.
“Thanks for coming in, Karen. Please have a seat.”
Her eyes were darting all over the room, but she swiftly picked a chair. “I’m sorry it’s so early, Chief. I’m shorthanded this week so I have to open the store.”
“That’s quite all right. I’m glad you were able to get in this quickly. I didn’t want to bother you while you were at work.”
“I guess this is about Uncle Howard? I saw the news last night.”
“Yes, I have a few questions I need to ask you. We are trying to gather details about every possible missing person that could fit the description of what we have so far. They don’t really have enough to make an identification yet. Any little detail might help.”
“I want to help any way I can.”
“Good. I hoped you’d say that,” Conrad said smiling, as he opened his interview folder. “Let’s get right to it because I know your time is limited.” Conrad picked up a pen to make notes and sensed Karen was nervous, so he started off easily. “Can you tell me about your relationship with your uncle? Did you see him often?”
“I did when I was small. My Grandma Bell used to invite us to Sunday dinners, and we did all the holidays with her. Uncle Howard was always there then, and I remember when he married Mavis. Her daughter, Leanne, was my age and so we played together some.”
“Is your grandmother still living?”
“Oh no,” Karen said blowing out air through pursed lips. “She died when I was sixteen.”
“So, is that when you stopped seeing Howard regularly?”
“It stopped a little before that,” Karen said playing with the hem of her skirt. “We still did Christmas at Grandma’s, but we didn’t go visit much otherwise. When I was about thirteen, I guess, my mom and Howard had a falling out. They were arguing about something. I don’t really know what, but I know we stopped going because of that. Then when Grandma died, that’s when they stopped talking all together.”
“But your mother is the one that filed the missing person report in 1999. Are you saying they weren’t even speaking to each other at that point?”
“He was still her brother,” Karen said in explanation. “I know she was upset Mavis hadn’t reported it and she thought someone needed to.”
“How did she know he was missing if she wasn’t spe
aking to him?” Conrad tapped the end of his pen against the paper impatiently.
“Oh, the whole town knew. Everybody was talking about him disappearing because of Carmen Maddox. Well, she wasn’t Maddox then. She was Carmen Gentry, but there was a lot of gossip about them having an affair. Leanne and I were seniors in high school back then and although we weren’t really close, I know even the kids gave her a hard time about it. Mom was embarrassed.”
“Did your mom try to talk to Mavis about it? See if she knew where he was?”
“I don’t know,” Karen said shrugging her shoulders. “Mom didn’t really like Mavis, but she might have. I know she was really mad about all the gossip.”
“Okay,” Conrad said tapping the pad again and deciding to change direction. “Were you aware of your uncle having any specific health problems?”
“No, he seemed okay to me when I was a kid. You know, nobody really tells you anything when you’re young. My mom would know,” Karen said hesitating. “Maybe.”
“What about children? I know he didn’t have children with Mavis, but was he married before or do you know of any cousins…”
“Nope. As far as I know, Mavis was his only wife. I remember them getting married because it was the first wedding I had ever been to,” Karen said smiling. “It was a big deal for me.”
“To help us determine whether the remains could be your uncle, we will need some DNA to compare. Are you willing to take a DNA test? It’s not a blood test or anything—”
“No,” Karen said dropping her head to look at her clasped hands resting in her lap. “My mother, I know you already talked to my mother.”
“Yes, and she wasn’t willing to help us.”
“I know,” Karen said squeezing the fingers on one hand with the other. “She won’t let me do it either.”
“But Karen,” Conrad said removing his reading glasses. “You are an adult and it’s your decision.”
“Yes, I mean no. It really isn’t, Chief. She forbids it and I can’t go against her. You see, I just can’t do that. She insists and, well, it will just have to be someone else.”
“Who should it be, Karen? Do you know how to contact your aunt? Your mother mentioned she has a sister.”