Mr. Cooter's Bowling Ball

by Harper Harris

  “Why? Do you want to learn how to dance? Not that I’m judging you if you do. It just seems a little out of left field, you know?”

  I almost laughed at Ashley’s reaction. She went from incredulity, to acceptance of my potential newfound interest.

  “No, I mean that’s not why I want to talk to him. Maybe dancing, but I’m thinking maybe he’ll know something, right?” I shrugged.

  Ashley shrugged right back, but it was like a ‘yes’ shrug. It was tenuous, but what the heck? It couldn’t hurt and it would give me something to do regarding Cooter’s case. So, yeah, I was going to look into this Gustavo French character and see what shook out of it. If nothing did, then what had I really lost?

  Chapter Twelve

  Saturday

  It was finally the weekend. Saturday!

  Of course, that didn’t mean I’d be getting any kind of break. I found Gustavo French’s website last night and did some digging. He typically held classes on nights and weekends, citing his desire to consider his clients work-lives. He felt that ‘a balance between the necessary and the fun was always needed, and life was at its best when one did not get in the way of the other or, better yet, they melded together.’ It was a bit preachy, but the message was a good one and I could appreciate it. Plus, it meant I could easily crash one of his sessions.

  The site also said that he had a class today from four to six. I wasn’t going to actually go to a class – that would have been too much of a commitment.

  Instead, I suggested to Ashley, “We could maybe walk the dogs, hang around outside the church, we look at our watches and – oh my goodness, it looks like the dance class is about to let out. We may as well go talk to that Gustavo French since we’re already here? Huh? Huh?”

  I gave Ash a look like the idea I just presented was amazing. She narrowed her eyes at me, but said, “Okay, I see where you’re coming from. I like your presentation and I am very much down to help you with the execution. The added level of intrigue has also piqued my interest.”

  I got very excited and ran down a quick plan.

  “So, the church is the one that’s a few blocks down, so well within walking distance. We can take the puppies. They’ll get some exercise and I’ll get some information from Gustavo. It’s a win-win.”

  It was still a couple of hours until we’d have to be down there, so Ash and I busied ourselves to pass the time. I got through some work, mostly stuff that I had brought home from the office to catch up on. Time flew by and soon we were leashing up the pups, who were very excited for their walk. It didn’t matter how many times we took them out, every time they got their little customized collars around their necks, they’d just start to do a little four-pawed happy dance.

  Once everyone was ready for our little excursion, the four of us headed out the door and down the street towards the nearby church. There were, it seemed, more churches, given Appleton’s square mileage, than were needed to serve its population, but that was just the town’s thing.

  Shortbread and Biscotti were ahead of us, but content to follow our lead. They really liked walking side by side and I would never begrudge the siblings some quality time together.

  “Do you know what you’re going to say to this Gustavo when we meet him?” Ashley asked.

  I’d been thinking about conversation openers the entire time I was working in my room. I didn’t want to say anything that would scare him away, but I also could just go in and hope for the best. I'd need to get a read on him first. Thankfully, I brought a little something to help out.

  “Well, I have this,” I said as I pulled out the ‘Bowling Ball’ flyer. “I could maybe ask him about it? I’m not sure what else I could go in with. I don’t have a lot of other material.”

  Ashley mulled over what I said.

  “I think that could work. I mean, there isn’t much else. We don’t even know what this Gustavo French guy is like. The only thing I am sure of is that his name is fake. He probably thought it would make him sound more Parisienne but it just makes him sound like a poser in my opinion.”

  I laughed at Ashley’s joke and not too much later, we were at the church. We got there a few minutes before the class ended, just like I had planned. I didn’t want there to be any chance of me missing out on this potential moment.

  While we’re waiting for the class to let out, Shortbread began to tug on his leash.

  “What is it, boy? Are you okay?” Obviously, he didn’t quite understand what I was saying to him, but he did continue to pull. “Maybe he wants to –”

  I didn’t finish what I was saying to Ashley, but she got the hint and waved me away to let Shortbread take care of any potential business. He was pulling me towards the woods behind the church, so the explanation I had in my head felt like the right one.

  We got to spot where he felt comfortable plopping down and I looked at him, realizing just in time that my little guy was about to go to the bathroom in what looked like a large pool of dried blood.

  “Oh dear god, not there Shorty!”

  He jumped a little at my sudden rise in volume and looked up at me with those big puppy eyes. I felt a little bad for scaring him, but I guided him away from the suspicious puddle and he got it done somewhere else. While he was going, I took out my phone and took a couple photos of the large pool. I sent them to Sheriff Cranston along with a few details.

  A few seconds after the pictures were sent, I got a call and it was Beau.

  “Kari, are you still by the church?”

  He sounded very authoritative; more than I’d ever heard from him before.

  “Yeah, I’m here with Ashley. We were on a walk with our dogs.”

  I wasn’t about to reveal all the details of my late afternoon walk. Beau had told me to leave the investigating to his department and I hadn’t totally done that, so I didn’t want him getting upset with me. I was going to present this current discovery as a total coincidence.

  “Okay, I want you to stay right there. I am on my way. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

  I promised the Sheriff I’d make sure to stay close by and the two of us said goodbye to one another and then hung up. I didn’t want to make Shortbread wait around so close to what could be blood, so I decided to take us back to the front of the church where Ashley was waiting.

  As I was gathering up Shorty, I noticed a few cigarette butts on the ground near the back of the church. Most of them were totally smoked all the way down, but one of them looked like it was lit and then immediately dropped.

  Shortbread and I made our way back to Ash who was right where we left her. When she saw us approaching, she knelt down slightly to talk to Shortbread.

  “Did you do what you needed to do back there? You look like you’re feeling good, aren’t you boy. You're a good boy, yes you're such a good boy!”

  When she was done praising Shortbread for being a good boy, she stood straight up and looked at me.

  “Don’t think I forgot about you. You’re very good too, Kari.”

  “Why, thank you, Ashley. I do try my best. I have some news for you, though.”

  Ashley moved even closer to me. “Ooh, what is it?” she whispered.

  “When I was taking Shorty back there to do his business, he almost sat in what I think was a pool of dried up blood. I took a picture and sent it to Sheriff Cranston. He’s on his way over now.”

  Ashley scrunched up her nose. “Ugh, Kari. I’m going to stop leaving the house with you. Sometimes you find the grossest things.”

  Before we could continue talking, people began filing out of the dance class. Ash and I watched them in their various dancing outfits walking over to their cars. There were so many different colors and hues of leotards. They all at least looked comfortable. As we watched the learning dancers leaving, a very familiar face popped up.

  “Kari? Ashley?”

  “Gladys?” the two of us responded in unison.

  “Oh my goodness, what are you doing here?” Ashley asked. “You n
ever mentioned you were a dancer.”

  I loved how excited Ash was getting about this little revelation. I was pretty excited, too. I loved learning new things about people and Gladys was just one of those particularly fascinating ones.

  “Oh, it’s just something that I do for fun. John and I actually started coming here together a few months ago when Gustavo came into town. We thought it would be a fun couple’s activity. I was having a lot of fun, but John got bored pretty quickly and stopped coming.”

  Ashley’s shoulders visibly deflated. “Aw, that’s unfortunate.”

  “Kind of, but we found other things to do together and ballroom dancing just wasn't his thing. I still get to come, though, and do some fun dance moves. Gustavo is simply the best. If you’re ever thinking of learning, you should definitely take his class. He'll make sure to teach you everything you need to know.”

  I was even more excited to meet this Mr. French after Gladys’ glowing endorsement.

  “Maybe we will, if we ever get a hankering,” Ashley answered.

  Gladys floated away as she typically did, and we just waited for Gustavo to make an appearance. He wasn’t too far behind, exiting the school while talking to a couple of students. He was very much a character. Larger than life, some might have said. He was very hard to miss.

  I didn’t want to miss out on a chance to talk with him, so I ran over to his little crowd of groupies. He looked at me as I approached.

  “Gustavo French?” I asked.

  “Yes, that is me,” he had a suspicious sounding French accent, but I wasn’t going to question it. Not yet anyway. “I’ll see you all in classe en semaine prochaine.”

  He even peppered in some French phrases. Interesting. Very interesting.

  The group of students dispersed, and Gustavo turned his full attentions towards Ashley and me.

  “And how may Gustavo help you lovely ladies?”

  I really wanted to laugh at his overly affected accent, but I knew he would not take well to that, so I externally ignored it while putting away jokes in the back of my head to tell Ashley later.

  “Um, I actually have something I wanted to show you.”

  I pulled the Bowling Ball flyer out of my back pocket and handed it over. Gustavo glanced at it and then held it up for Ashley and me to see.

  “How did you two get this?” he asked or more like demanded.

  I didn’t understand his reaction. It was just a piece of paper.

  “I just–” I tried to answer.

  “These cards were only sent out to the students of my dance classes and I can tell from your innate lack of grace that you have never taken one of my dance classes.”

  “Now, just a minute, buster, I was on drill team,” Ashley said, very much insulted.

  I’d say I was more amused. He was goading us, charging that Ashley and I weren’t graceful enough for him and challenging us to take his class. Not a very meek approach to getting customers. I liked it.

  Otherwise, I had no idea how he could make an assessment of our grace. The most movement we had done was walking up to him, but it seemed Mr. French thought rather highly of himself. Unsurprising, if all of students treated him the same way Gladys did.

  But that was beside the point, so I responded, “I got this from a friend of mine. Actually, that friend is Cooter Prescott. Was he a student of yours?”

  That would be a revelation. All these people I had no idea were into dance were all throwing me for a loop. And, if Cooter really could dance, I would consider letting him pay me back with opportunities to see him on a dance floor. That would be something to see.

  Gustavo got suddenly solemn and nodded. “Oui, oui. Coo-tair is one of my students,” he said, emphasis on the is. “He has paid up for the month, so he can come whenever he is available.”

  I was pretty sure that he knew Cooter was in jail, but not totally. Like everyone in town knew. I just put it up as Gustavo taking a contract very seriously.

  “I am teaching him and all of my students the beautiful ways that one can move their body.”

  It sounded nice.

  “Was Lonny Krump another one of your students?”

  There was no way for him to insinuate that Lonny was still enrolled. That would be quite a stretch. There was no way, no matter how wacky this guy was, that he would expect or pretend to expect that a corpse would dance its way into class.

  “Ah, mais oui. It is a tragedy, non? I just hope he is a better dancer in the afterlife.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just agreed.

  “Actually,” Gustavo continued, “Lonny and Cooter were preparing for that Bowling Ball that you have that invitation for. It is next week. Very soon. In fact, all of my students are going. A fun way to show off. You Americans like that, non?”

  It did sound kind of fun, even if Gustavo had to add that insult at the end. I could see myself going.

  We finished talking with Gustavo. I felt like this wasn’t the last time I’d be speaking with the bizarre (alleged) Frenchman. But I also kind of hoped it wasn’t. Not too long after that conversation ended, Sheriff Cranston showed up. He parked his squad car and came up to Ashley and me.

  “Kari, Ashley. How are you ladies doing today?”

  “I’d say we’re doing pretty good, Sheriff,” Ashley answered. “It’s been a pretty relaxed day. Except all the blood. But, the sky’s blue, the weather is nice, so, all-in-all, it’s been a good day.”

  Beau looked like he wasn’t expecting such an elaborate answer. He just turned to me and said, “Could you show me where you found it?”

  “This way, Sheriff.”

  There were still people milling about, so I was guessing he didn’t want them knowing that there was maybe a pool of dried blood just hanging out behind the church.

  I led him to the back where Shortbread had taken me a little earlier.

  Pointing it out, I said, “This is it. That’s blood, right?”

  What else could it be?

  Cranston tilted his head back and forth as he looked down at the blood stain.

  “It does look iffy. I would say it’s worth investigating. Since Coot has been in jail for a week and we're itching to get this thing solved, I could probably have the blood test expediated to see if it matches Lonny’s. It’ll for sure help with the investigation if we know where Lonny was actually killed.”

  Yours and mine, I thought. We’d have a better timeline and then we could get a better handle on what actually happened.

  I riffled through my bag and took out the pieces of the postcard I found.

  “While you’re getting that done quickly, maybe you could have these tested as well.”

  I handed over the baggie and he took it.

  Looked like coming over to meet Gustavo really worked out for me a lot better than expected.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sunday & Monday

  I decided to pay a visit to Cooter today. It was Sunday and the jail normally was closed to visitors, but I had an in with the weekend guard.

  Elmer Grooms was a major fan of Judge Jacobs. He was one of the few people whose questions I answered concerning Aunt Tavey. He was actually somewhat tasteful and knew when he needed to pull back a little, so I didn't mind indulging him from time to time.

  I pulled into the parking lot and parked my car. I got Shortbread out of the backseat and the two of us walked into the station. Elmer was the only one there since Appleton was small enough that one person could watch the entire place on the weekend, so, when I walked in, I went to the one desk that was manned.

  “Hi, Elmer.”

  “Kari! Oh, it’s so nice to see you. It was getting too quiet in here.”

  “I’m glad I can be of some company. How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing pretty good. Nothing too exciting going on, just working and working.”

  I smiled because I had a little present for Elmer that I thought would make his day a little better.

  “Well, I ha
ve a little something for you that I hope will make you feel good.”

  I took out a small box of cookies that Ash and I made. I wrapped it up nicely for Elmer since he was always nice to me. I handed him the little package and loved the smile that ensued.

  “Thank you so much! You really didn’t have to do this!”

  “I wanted to. They’re chocolate chip. I hope you like them.”

  “I’m sure I will. Coot is still in the back and he just had lunch. We got him Pizza Hut today, he loved it.”

  The food selection at the Appleton local jail surprised me. Back in San Francisco, people being held in jail would get the blandest of food. No wonder Coot was so cool with staying here. He was being fed on someone else's dime and didn't have to worry about work for a bit.

  “He isn’t expecting anyone,” Elmer continued, “so just be careful going in there, so you don’t scare him. He’s got his headphones in.”

  It was cute how concerned about Coot Elmer was. I hadn’t seen a lot of people in town caring this much.

  Elmer’s concern piqued my interest, causing me to ask, “What do you think about Cooter, Elmer?”

  I had already asked a few people around town this question because I wasn’t sure if Coot was being targeted because of some kind of mob mentality. I had a sneaking suspicion, but nothing concrete enough to outright accuse anyone of something like that.

  “Well, I guess I’d say it’s a real shame what’s going on here. There isn’t much I can do about it since I’m more of a glorified security guard, but I really think Coot’s only in here because he’s a bit different from the rest of the town and it’s real easy to target the different people. And, the department looks better if they find a suspect quickly. I think he’s just filling the space,” he shrugged.

  I could feel that. It made me feel kind of bad that he was stuck in there, but I tried not to get all caught up in my feelings because Coot seemed to also be having a good time.

  “I’ll go check on him then.”

  Elmer let me walk to the back, and Shortbread and I headed deeper in. Cooter finally came into sight, making me stop short because what I saw was very unexpected. What I saw was a very unaware Cooter dancing with the iPod I gave him. He was dancing like a college girl at a rave, like a child listening to The Wiggles, like someone unconcerned with impressing anyone, like no one was watching. This was a sixty-year-old man with an eyepatch getting into the groove of whatever he had blasting into his ears – like really into the groove. It was one of the most wonderfully bizarre things I’d ever seen, and I didn’t want to be the reason it stopped. So, what did I do? I turned myself right around and left him to it. I couldn’t interfere with an expression of such unbridled joy.