Dogs and More Dogs, Another Murder

by Christa Nardi

“I know. Ms. Walker, can you call one of them? I’ll try to figure out how to differentiate them.”

  She chuckled. “No need. Look at the paws. Plaid’s paws are black, brown and white, almost in stripes. Paisley’s are black and brown with only a smidgeon of white breaking it up.”

  I studied their paws and smiled. Other than the paws, these two girls looked identical. Who needs fingerprints with such different paws? “I’ll make a note on that. Any chance you could take them back?”

  “I will once they’re cleared there and here. I’m pretty sure I know a foster. Are you able to give me the name of the person who passed away? I’m part of a group of shelter owners and I can post and see if anyone else adopted out to this person – assuming she used her real name, of course.”

  “Justine Stoneham. If you could let them know to contact Chief Peabody here in Clover Hill, I think he’d like to know.”

  After giving her Peabody’s number, I finished the walk through. Lacie had disappeared and Luke had come in. He’d listened to the commentary and gave me a ‘thumbs up’ when he realized what I was doing. He was more alert than the day before, but still tired. And school would be back in session on Monday – only one more day of lots of help at Pets and Paws.

  He walked over as I disconnected. “Any luck?”

  “One rescue said they’ll take Paisley and Plaid for sure – the two beagles over there. She recognized them. She’ll see if she can make room for at least a couple more of the smaller ones. One way or the other, she’ll come by tomorrow afternoon and take as many as she can find fosters or has room for. I don’t see Rosco. Did Marcy Jenkins come for him?”

  “Yeah. Yesterday.” He laughed. “You’d have thought we’d given the boy a steak. He was sure glad to see her.”

  I cringed as I realized how little time I had to help. “Which ones need the most right now? I only have about an hour left.”

  CHAPTER 10

  It was perfect timing. Nedra arrived as we finished getting dressed. A few minutes later, Kim and Marty arrived. After hugs with Maddie and introductions, we were on our way to dinner. The Steak Place was the closest nice restaurant, and reservations were a must. On the other hand, it didn’t look fancy or different than what anyone would expect from a steak place. Lots of wood and simple.

  “Sure smells good. I’m hungry.”

  Kim poked Marty. “You’re always hungry. But you’re right. The smell makes my mouth water.”

  “We’ve eaten here before and the food definitely tastes as good as it smells.”

  Brett nodded in agreement and then moved forward to speak with the hostess. After we were seated, I asked, “Kim, what’s happening with the Department Head position?”

  Jim Grant, the Department Head at Cold Creek College either decided to retire or was told to, so there would be a new person in charge by next fall. When I left, Kim became the unofficial Assistant Department Head.

  “I told you Max was applying, right? He’s convinced he’ll get the job. He tries to tell Ali and Terra what to do and they remind him he doesn’t have the job yet. He was hard to live with before but now? Unbelievable.”

  Max was overly enthusiastic and highly excitable. He’d shown that he had a heart of gold, but most of the time he wore us out and made us crazy. A bit condescending and erratic, he was hard to deal with. I chuckled as I pictured him with his black hair, always mussed and sticking out, chasing his rats when they escaped his cages. He’d certainly lost it if he thought he could tell the two administrative assistants what to do. Ali and Terra were indispensable in the department.

  “Has he come up with a plan to put more emphasis on research?”

  Kim snorted. “He tried. Met with the Chancellor believing he was going to be the impetus to change the sleepy little four-year college into a research university. Only he apparently didn’t realize that it cost the college money every time he submitted grants – five that didn’t get funded, mind you. The Chancellor put a kibosh on his plan and told him to stop wasting money on grant applications.”

  I shook my head. “I bet he was fuming and sad all at the same time. I’m surprised he didn’t push harder to go to one of the bigger universities. He always talked of doing that. I feel bad he can’t realize his dream.”

  Kim hesitated. “Terra got mad at him, his ‘I’m so much better than you’ attitude and his attempts to bully her into doing things. She put him in his place. Apparently, he had her generating the cover letters or addressing the envelopes or something for positions all these years. She ranted on in front of anyone around about how many positions he’s applied for in the past few years, every year.”

  We all grimaced. No one would want that kind of information shared. As key staff in the department, Terra had a strong personality for sure. She wasn’t hateful though and he must have really pushed her limits.

  Our food arrived and conversation stalled, replaced by sounds of pleasure, smiles, and nods at the great food. I was ready to ask about other news from Cold Creek, when Marty asked a question.

  “Kim filled me in a little and, of course, I heard about the bodies and all the dogs… What’s the latest on that?”

  I looked at Brett and he nodded. “There were more than twenty dogs found in various states of health. And some others that didn’t make it. That doesn’t count at least four mamas and pups. Another mama went straight to the vet clinic.” As I spoke, I realized I hadn’t heard the status on them.

  “We’re trying to find rescues to take some of the dogs. Mrs. Chantilly is convinced the pups will be adopted easily and she’s probably right.”

  “And the bodies?” I turned to let Brett answer Marty’s question.

  “The woman appears to have been hit on the back of the head and subsequently died. The man, her husband, was found buried in a shallow grave in the backyard. You may not know this yet, Sheridan, but the coroner concluded that he died of natural causes. No indication of foul play and every indication of heart damage. He was buried in his Sunday go-to-church suit. Best guess was about a year or so ago.”

  “How did she manage to dress him, carry him to the backyard, and bury him?”

  “Good questions. The only explanation is that she had help. She was thin and shorter than him. No one thinks she could have dragged him any distance.”

  “How old were these people? Old enough to collect social security?” Marty asked, his finger on his chin.

  “In their seventies. I think he worked all his life and may have had both social security and a retirement account.” Brett shrugged. “They’re looking into the finances and how bills were paid. Not sure what they’ve found so far.”

  Marty nodded. “I’m not an estate attorney or financial wizard by any means, but here’s my thinking.”

  He hesitated. “As long as no one knew the man was dead, the checks would still be issued – whether from retirement or social security or both. If he was a veteran, he’d possibly get still another check. That could be motive for keeping his natural death a secret. His wife might have thought she’d make out better with the monthly checks than with the payoff at the end, what with taxes and all. Anyone look at the tax return for last year and the year before? How’d he sign it if he was deceased?”

  Brett nodded. “All questions the chief is going to have to deal with. What with the bodies and dogs, I’m not sure anyone has gotten far in looking at finances. I saw pictures of the inside of the house.”

  He rolled his eyes for effect. “Boxes and books and papers stacked as high as Maddie is tall in some places. Barely enough room to walk and a maze to get from one room to another. And I stopped by. The smell? Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

  Kim shuddered. “I heard she was a hoarder. Hoarding is associated with anxiety and depression. It probably got worse after her husband passed.”

  We were all silent. Discussions of death and mental illness can have that effect. The waiter came with the dessert menu and that seemed to cheer us up. Apple pie with vanilla
ice cream all around.

  “Next time it’s our turn to come to Cold Creek.”

  “I know it’s not far off, but how about the third Saturday in February? We can go to North Shore like old times?”

  “As long as we don’t get hit with snow storms, that sounds good. I miss hanging out with you guys.”

  I’d made some friends in the past six months. It wasn’t quite the same though, not yet. This time the dinner date went on both our phones.

  CHAPTER 11

  The phone ringing woke me out of a sound sleep. Calls early in the morning or late at night always gave me a sense of foreboding. “Hello?”

  “Sheridan. Chief Peabody here. Sorry for the early call, but I wanted to catch you before church. Would it be okay to stop by after lunch? I’d like your opinion on something.”

  “Morning, Chief. I think we’ll be here around lunch time and early afternoon.” Brett nodded, his head cocked to the side.

  “I’ll see you then.” He disconnected.

  “What did he say?”

  “He wants my opinion on something?” I shrugged. “He sounded cryptic.”

  Brett grunted. “Guess we might as well get up. No telling what he wants you to look at.”

  He made breakfast as I showered. We talked more about Justine, Herman, and the dogs. Online I found a newspaper clipping of the Stonehams at some church event five years ago. Herman was a stocky man, not tall, yet much taller than the petite woman at his side. According to the brief article, he retired at age 67 and this was a celebration. Maddie appeared as I shared this with Brett.

  “Did you find anything else about them?”

  “No. I stopped when I found this. Have some breakfast.”

  She ate and quickly volunteered to see what else she could find. I smiled and Brett shook his head. “I guess we get to do the cleanup – again.”

  I smiled as I picked up the breakfast dishes. Once they were done, Brett was ready to run out and get what we still needed for dinner and Maddie came running.

  “You’ll never believe this. There was a big rivalry in the past between the Buchanans and the Stonehams. I found stuff on fights between the families. I think it must have been Mr. Blake’s grandparents or something. It’s all fuzzy and hard to read.”

  She handed me a print out and it certainly fit with what I’d expect from the early offset printing presses. I passed it to Brett, thinking it was not surprising Blake didn’t know what was going on over there. Maddie continued to explore, ignoring my directions to get the laundry done. Brett left with the grocery list and I disappeared into the home office to work on my courses. The morning flew by and I jumped when Brett returned.

  “Lots of talk going on about the Stonehams. I got the feeling the family was not well accepted in Clover Hill. No one seemed to know why and it didn’t seem to be specific to Justine and Herman. Odd, don’t you think?”

  I nodded. “Why would one family be ostracized to such an extent? Herman obviously worked and they must have gone to church, at least as of five years ago for that event. Didn’t anyone notice when they weren’t there?”

  Brett shrugged and massaged my shoulders. I felt a melancholy sinking in. The mood shifted with the doorbell. “I’ll get it.”

  Brett nodded and added, “And I’ll check on Maddie.”

  I opened the door and found Chief Peabody holding a box filled with paper, crumpled and messy paper.

  “Hi Chief. Come on in.”

  “Thanks, Sheridan. I can tell from your wary expression you figured out what I need help with.”

  “All that paper?”

  He nodded. Brett joined us as he explained.

  “This is all the paper we found in the Stoneham SUV – well, maybe not all of it. Some of it was too, uh, soiled to salvage. There are emails and flyers and announcements. Many related to animal shelters and rescues. Since you’re helping identify rescues to take the dogs in, I figured… Could you sort through this and identify anything that seems important for me to follow up on? There are pictures of dogs and you may recognize some of them.”

  He exhaled and waited for my answer.

  “I’ll do what I can. Did they have a computer? A printer?”

  He shrugged. “Not that we’ve found so far. If you find anything I might need to see, please put those aside and give me a call. Otherwise, at least you may find some additional places to call to re-home dogs.”

  I nodded. “Do you know anything more about them? How she was killed? Who helped her bury Herman?”

  “I had a long talk with the pastor at the small church in the south of town, Pastor Pete. He called and asked about funeral arrangements. He said Herman and Justine were church-goers. He wondered what happened to them, but they didn’t tend to share information. Kept private most of the time. The pastor said they usually made church at least a couple times a month, then stopped. Pastor guessed the last time he saw Herman or Justine was about over a year ago.”

  The chief chuckled as he continued. “The pastor laughed as he told me, ‘Herman always wore the same suit, with the mustard stain on the lapel. Man did like mustard on his hot dogs.’ The pastor’s time frame fit with the coroner’s and the way he was dressed in the suit. Still, Herman was twice the size of Justine. Someone had to have helped her dig the shallow grave and lay him to rest. Why didn’t she tell anyone?” The chief shook his head.

  I shrugged, pretty sure the answer was not in the box of papers. Brett walked the chief out. At the kitchen table, I started to glance through the stack and gasped.

  “What? Did you find something already?”

  “Brett, look at this. These emails are to Lacie; she must have printed them out and given them to Justine.”

  He shook his head. “Not looking good for her. See if you can find anything else before we call him. I’m going to check on Maddie and the laundry.”

  I spent the next hour weeding through the stack of paper, separating flyers from emails. The flyers didn’t indicate where they were printed. The emails did. Two different email addresses for Lacie on two different mail services.

  The flyers were all inviting people to come view dogs ready for their forever homes. I recognized Paisley and Plaid right off. The emails asked for information on dogs seen on social media and if they were still available, and who to contact. Most of these were more than six months old. The email with Rosco’s foster home was the most recent. When I was done, I had the emails for forty-five different rescues or foster homes, only eight of which I had already contacted. I finished sending the last email to the new ones when Brett cleared his throat.

  “You about done there? Maddie’s ready to go shopping and use her Christmas money from my mother and yours.”

  “I’m done. This is amazing. Unbelievable. Could one person really set out to adopt forty-five dogs? Her hoarding extended beyond the stuff in the house. She hoarded dogs, potentially as pets, but unable to care for them. With all the people helping at Pets and Paws these last few days, we had trouble making sure they got what they needed. No way could she care for them.”

  I shuddered. “How’d she think she could take care of all these dogs, see to their needs? It’s disturbing on so many levels. Give me a few minutes to call Chief Peabody and fill him in. Maybe we can drop off my spreadsheet and return all this to him at the same time.”

  “Give him a call and I’ll fix lunch. At least by now everyone will have already completed all the gift returns. It shouldn’t be too crowded.” To say shopping was not Brett’s favorite thing would be an understatement.

  A brief phone call, lunch eaten, spreadsheet printed, and we were on our way. Maddie found two nice sweaters in record time, and we left the box with the chief. Then Maddie modeled the sweaters with Facetime for each of the grandmothers. They were thrilled.

  CHAPTER 12

  Brett off to work and Maddie to school, Monday was to be my day to work on the courses I’d be teaching at Millicent College spring semester – I had one more week. I planned t
o work until noon and then go over to Pets and Paws for a few hours to help out and share the news from my emails. Several of the shelters confirmed Justine had adopted a dog or a pair of dogs. They were most willing to take the dogs back once the vet cleared them.

  I was so engrossed, I jumped when the doorbell rang, not expecting anyone or anything. A quick check and it was Chief Peabody.

  “Hi Chief. Come on in.”

  “Thanks, Sheridan. I hate to bother you, but you seem to have a good head and Hirsch had a lot of positive things to say about your ability to make connections. Plus, you have the advantage of not being overly familiar with all the parties. I need some objective input, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  I smiled as I thought of Hirsch, the chief back in Cold Creek and a friend. “Happy to be of help, if I can. Coffee? I have some cinnamon coffee cake, too.”

  “That would be great, but don’t go to too much trouble. I have to tell you, I’m not sure where to start.”

  “It might help if you could give me some background on Herman and Justine and the rest of the Stoneham family.”

  “Okay, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. I touched base with some of the elderly citizens. It seems several generations back there were some issues regarding the land and where the boundaries were between the Buchanan and the Stoneham properties. The records show that a line was drawn and codified that separated the two large plots of land, and at the same time put the Stoneham property outside of Clover Hill jurisdiction.”

  “What does that mean? On a practical level at least?”

  “It means that accessing any services was not automatic. In order to have access to water, sewer, electric, and so on, there were additional fees attached. There were also some questions as to whether police or fire from Clover Hill would cover the property.”

  My mouth dropped and he held up his hand.

  “At some point later, that was all straightened out with Herman’s grandfather signing off on the next document. Herman was the only son of an only son. I found no record of where Herman or his father went to school, probably private. Herman attended a private college and got a degree in finance. He came back to the area, lived in the family home until his parents died, and worked in the main office of the bank in Appomattox.”