Toni Donovan Mysteries- Books 1-3

by Helen Gray

  “Where are you?”

  “We’re in Poplar Bluff, not far from the Industrial Park, and we’re getting ready to head home. Dana Smith is at her mother’s house, and we’ve talked to her.”

  There was a heavy silence before he spoke. “Toni, you’re going to land yourself in more trouble if you aren’t careful.”

  “I am being careful,” she retorted. “I didn’t come alone.”

  “You wanted to talk to her before we caught up with her.” Buck barked the accusation.

  A guilty silence was her answer.

  “Okay, okay, give me the address.”

  Toni recited it. “Dana says she’s coming home to face the music.”

  “We’ve heard that before. Maybe she will and maybe she won’t. I’ll get someone on the way right now.” The phone went silent.

  Toni winced, tossed the phone back in her purse, and backed out of the driveway. Once they were across town and rolling north on the highway, John spoke. “I feel kind of sorry for Dana.”

  “I can’t let myself do that. I think she killed Marsha.”

  John swiveled his head around to stare at her. “You do?”

  Toni nodded without taking her eyes off the road. “Dana was right about one thing. Marsha was getting ready to hang her out to dry—and did. I think the pressure was getting to be too much for her, and Marsha knew it. When she left the Christmas party, Dana probably met her with the intent of telling her she wanted to end the arrangement—or maybe even quit her job. But Marsha was an aggressive person and probably threatened Dana.”

  “So you think Dana panicked and hit her, and it ended up in murder.”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “But what about her alibi? She said she was with her ex.”

  “Who’s totally unbelievable as a witness or alibi,” Toni pointed out. “Dean Smith won’t want to admit hitting her, and he may clam up altogether. I seriously doubt that the timeline will fit. They were probably together sometime that evening, but it’s only fifteen miles from his house to the school. My guess is that the fight with Dean left her more upset and stressed than ever, and she came to see Marsha in a state of extreme agitation that resulted in violence.”

  “Do you think she’ll come back on her own?”

  Toni shrugged. “I don’t know. I think she’s defeated and ready to tell her story. On the other hand, if she gets packed and in the car, she might just take off in the opposite direction.”

  “Well, we’ll never know what she would have done on her own, because there’ll be someone down here to pick her up before she can pack and get out of there with a handicapped child. She won’t leave him behind.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  Big loose flakes of snow began to fall and stick to the windshield. Toni turned on the wipers. “I’m already tired of winter and being cold.”

  “But you have to admit this is a beautiful scene.” John scanned the hillside.

  “It is.”

  The barren forests each side of the highway glistened with a powder of white snow. Predominantly oak and hickory, interspersed with cedar, elm, and ash, those tall barren monuments would fill the air with green in the spring. Dogwoods and redbuds sprouting and blossoming below the taller growth would create a breathtaking panorama.

  Toni glanced over at John. “How about brunch when we get home?”

  “Sounds good.”

  About halfway home, they met a Clearmount police car speeding south. They exchanged glances of acknowledgement but said nothing.

  A sense of relief washed over Toni. Now that it looked like the murderer was caught, Garrett would be safe. But that relief was short lived. As she drove, second thoughts rose to plague her.

  Under stress and panicked, Dana had done something she would never have been capable of doing in ordinary circumstances. But what about the later incident in the parking lot? Could Dana really have done that? Certainly she could have committed the murder, but did she have the cold-blooded determination to have carried out such a lowly attack on a child, or attempt to shoot someone? Toni couldn’t see Dana in that light, couldn’t shake the doubts that niggled at her, weakening her theory.

  After brunch, John and Jenny left, and Toni made the boys help her tidy the house. They weren’t thrilled about it, but they cleaned their room, took out the trash, and helped her put away their clothes from the laundry she had managed to get done.

  “How about running over to see Grandma and Grandpa for a little while?” she suggested when they finished. Restless and needing to get out of the house, she knew Kara would call before coming over. She could be back home in ten minutes or less to meet her.

  As expected, her suggestion brought an enthusiastic response. And of course her parents were pleased to see them. They had a pleasant visit and returned home about five o’clock.

  Still restless, Toni went to the kitchen and mixed up a chocolate cake while the boys took their showers. She was putting it in the oven when the doorbell rang.

  Toni was startled when she found Chief Freeman standing in the doorway. Apprehension shot through her. Was she in big trouble for locating Dana and talking to her before notifying the police? “Hello, Buck. Come in.”

  He stepped inside the foyer. Solemn faced, with hat in hand, he followed her silently into the living room and eased his tall frame down onto the sofa. Toni sat in the rocker facing him.

  Gabe bounded into the room. “Hey, we’ve got company.”

  “Hello, young man,” the chief said, his smile seeming forced.

  Garrett joined them. “Hi, Mr. Freeman.”

  “Hi, yourself.” Buck extended a hand to Gabe, and then to Garrett.

  “You two go on back to your games,” Toni instructed after the greetings, her gut tight at the sure knowledge that the chief had not knocked on her door on a Saturday afternoon with good news.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as the boys left, dreading an answer but needing to get past whatever was bothering him.

  Buck inhaled slowly, his face grim. “I have some bad news. Toni, I don’t know what’s going on at the school, but…well…”

  “What is it?” she demanded, his hesitancy terrifying her now.

  “Dustin Guthrie is dead,” he said raggedly.

  Toni was too stunned to speak. “No,” she wailed in harsh denial. “He’s just a kid. He can’t be dead. What happened? Was there a wreck?”

  “It looks like he committed suicide.” The words were torn from him.

  Toni covered her mouth with a hand as horror filled her. A sob worked its way up through her insides and shook her body. “This can’t be happening,” she whimpered. “I don’t believe you.”

  “It’s true,” the chief insisted. “He left a note.” He pulled a plastic bag from his pocket. “I haven’t been to the station yet to submit it as evidence. It says he killed Marsha Carter.” He waited for Toni to regain her composure.

  She struggled to keep from fainting and blinked against the tears already leaking down her cheeks. “Maybe it’s my fault.” Her voice was as ragged as Buck’s.

  His brow furrowed. “How could it possibly be your fault?”

  Toni took a deep breath and released the chair arm to swipe at her eyes, fighting to remain steady. “I saw an e-mail someone sent to some students. I should have done something.”

  “What e-mail?” he demanded gruffly.

  Haltingly she explained about the e-mailed picture.

  “What more could you have done?” he asked when she finished.

  “I don’t know,” she moaned, shaking her clenched fists in the air.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Gabe peered around the doorway, Garrett behind him.

  “I had to tell her that someone has died,” the chief explained.

  She swallowed and spoke to the boys as calmly as she could manage. “I’ll be all right. Go ahead with what you were doing. I’ll talk to you later.”

  They hesitated.

  “It’s okay,�
�� Buck assured them. “I need to talk to your mother some more. Then she can talk to you.”

  With reluctance they went back to their room.

  “Tell me about it,” Toni ordered, her voice a tiny bit steadier now as she fought for composure.

  Buck exhaled heavily. “Dustin got out his rifle this morning and told his parents he was going squirrel hunting, which was not an unusual thing for him to do on a Saturday morning.”

  Toni knew that to be true. Kids around here hunted from the time they were big enough to hold a gun. In fact, hunting was so popular in the area, among both men and women, that their school was one of the few that still closed for the beginning of deer season. During turkey season they also had a high rate of absenteeism. Many locals paid no attention to those seasons, but hunted whatever and whenever they wanted. They didn’t consider it poaching. To them it was just survival and everyday living.

  “Dennis said Dustin usually comes in about lunch time,” Buck continued, professionalism taking over and clearing his speech. “Today the boy didn’t show up by noon, but they weren’t concerned. When he hadn’t shown up by three o’clock this afternoon, they began to worry. Fearing that he could have had an accident, they went searching for him.”

  “They probably know his favorite hunting spots.”

  The chief nodded. “They do, and they went to the usual places. At the third one, about four or five miles out of town on the highway, they found his black Ranger pickup parked next to the Bressler barn. The boy was about a hundred yards from the truck, sitting…” Buck’s voice strangled and failed.

  Toni waited for him to regain his composure.

  “He was sitting up against a tree with the rifle in his hands. It’s a terrible thing, but I thought I should give you an early notification.”

  “What about the parents? How are they?” Toni asked.

  “The mother is in the hospital under sedation. She was hysterical.”

  “And Dennis?”

  The chief shook his head. “He’s just sitting there next to his wife, like he’s frozen. He’s the one who called us to the scene. He had his cell phone with him.”

  “Who found the note?”

  “I did. It was in the pocket of Dustin’s jacket.” He held the plastic bag so that the words were visible. On a half sheet of paper Toni read two short sentences.

  I killed Mrs. Carter. I’m sorry.

  Dustin

  Toni's heart bled as she thought of poor Dennis and his wife. “Dustin was spoiled and troublesome in class,” she stuttered aloud, “but he shouldn’t have ended up like this. For that matter, Marsha Carter—demanding, autocratic and manipulative as she was—didn’t deserve to die the way she did either.”

  Startled by the dinging of the stove timer in the kitchen, Toni bounced to her feet. “I have a cake ready to come out of the oven.”

  Buck stood as well. “I have to get going.”

  Toni hurried to the kitchen and pulled the oven door open. Tapping the cake lightly with her finger, she determined that it was done and set it on top of the stove burner to cool. She rushed back to where the chief stood at the door, his hand on the knob.

  “Thanks for taking time to come by and give me an advance notification. I appreciate it.”

  “I know how close this whole thing has been to you. And you’ve kept me informed. I thought you deserved the same.” He put his hat on and left.

  Toni pulled herself together enough to go tell the boys that one of her students had been found in the woods dead of a gunshot wound. Thankful they hadn’t known Dustin personally, she was able to tell them about it without details. Sensing her state, they didn’t ask too many questions, and she let them assume it was a hunting accident. They would soon hear differently, but maybe she would be better able to talk about it by then.

  After their talk, Toni fixed sandwiches, frosted the cake, and fed the boys. But she couldn’t eat. Sitting there watching them, it suddenly hit her that she should call her parents and John and Jenny Zachary. The story would spread quickly, but she knew they would appreciate a personal call. She picked up the phone, but before she could call, it rang. It was Kara.

  “I’m on my way out,” she said when Toni answered.

  Toni gripped the phone so tight that her knuckles whitened. She wanted very much to see her friend, but she didn’t know if she could control her emotions enough to visit. “Great,” she said, forcing the word past her numb lips, and relieved when Kara disconnected immediately.

  She sat down and dialed her parents.

  “We know about Dustin, if that’s why you’re calling,” her dad said when he answered.

  “Yes,” was all she could say. As a retired law enforcement officer, he had seen and heard so much over the years that he knew how to put up an emotional barrier when necessary, an ability Toni had not learned.

  “Try to get some sleep,” he ordered, his voice gruff.

  That would be impossible, but Toni didn’t argue.

  “We’ll talk later,” he said and disconnected, understanding her inability to speak.

  She dialed the Zachary’s number. John’s shock equaled her own when Toni haltingly told him what had happened. They only spoke a couple of minutes, since they both found it hard to talk without crying.

  Toni debated whether to call Kyle. She needed to hear his voice, but he would be home later tonight, and she didn’t think she had the strength to make another call right now. The sound of a car pulling up outside made the decision for her. She would wait and talk to him in person. Toni took a deep breath and did her best to compose herself before going to the door.

  “How was the auction?” she asked Kara as soon as she opened the door, speaking fast over the lump in her throat.

  “Great.” Wearing a warm smile, Kara stepped inside and caught Toni in a warm embrace. “It was held inside the big building behind the home where the Richardsons used to have their family business. Most auctions are held in the summer, but Mr. Richardson died last spring, and Mrs. Richardson in September. Their kids wanted to go ahead and get the house emptied and sell it, rather than have it sit vacant through the winter.”

  Kara’s rush of words stopped abruptly as she backed up and got a good look at Toni’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  Lips trembling, Toni placed a hand over her mouth. As the tears spilled from her eyes, she shook her head, unable to speak.

  Kara took Toni’s cold hands in her own and squeezed them. “Let’s sit down.” She led Toni to the sofa and guided her down onto it. “Now tell me about it,” she ordered tenderly.

  Toni heaved a steadying breath. “Police Chief Freeman came by a few minutes ago to tell me that Dustin Guthrie committed suicide this morning.”

  Kara froze in shock, and then her arms came around Toni. “That’s more terrible than I could have imagined. Dennis and his wife must be beside themselves.”

  With Kara still holding her, Toni choked out the story. When she finished, Kara was crying with her.

  “Thanks for listening,” Toni said finally, giving her eyes a wipe. “Now it’s your turn. I detected on the phone yesterday that something is bothering you. Can you talk about it?”

  Chapter 13

  “It seems so trivial in light of this,” Kara said with a wan smile. She released Toni’s hands and went to stand in front of the entertainment center and stare at Toni and Kyle’s wedding picture. “I’m getting really scared,” she said in a soft voice.

  Toni understood now. Kara feared another breakup near her wedding date. “Are you questioning your love for Logan, or are you afraid he’ll change his mind at the last minute?”

  Kara turned to face her. “I know I came close to making a huge mistake ten years ago. But now I’ve been independent so long that I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle the give and take of marriage. I thought I loved Logan so much that we could handle any problems, but now that our wedding is only weeks away, I’m scared silly.” Her gray eyes filmed over with tears.

&nbs
p; “Come here.” Toni patted the cushion beside her.

  Kara resumed her place. “Yes, Momma,” she said in an attempt at levity.

  Toni managed a slight grin. “Will it make you feel any better to know that you’re not the only one to ever go through this?”

  Kara stared at her. “Not you. You and Kyle were sweethearts forever.”

  Toni bobbed her head. “That’s right. But when the wedding got close, I developed the shakes. At this point I can’t even remember why I was so scared. I knew I loved Kyle and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but taking that big step into marriage was still scary.”

  Kara considered Toni’s words. “But you went through with the wedding and found happiness with him.”

  “I did. I won’t try to tell you that it’s always been easy, but we’ve learned to work through our problems and learn from our mistakes. At least most of them,” she qualified, thinking of their current lack of togetherness. “Marriage is work. But it’s worth it.”

  For the next hour they talked, sharing their thoughts and feelings. The visit seemed to provide something they each needed. It lifted Kara’s spirits and helped Toni hold thoughts of Dustin’s death temporarily at bay.

  “How long has it been since you talked to that fiancé of yours?” Toni asked when the conversation came to a lull.

  “A couple of days. He was going to come see me last week, but something came up at the fort and his leave got cancelled.”

  Logan was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood and thinking of making a career of the military. He and Kara had met when he attended a workshop on fingerprinting that Kara had conducted at the college about four years ago. He had stayed after class to ask some questions, and a conversation had developed. Logan was a Springfield native, and, since the town was within the fifty-mile radius he was allowed to travel from the post when on leave, he was able to visit his parents and some of his old high school chums regularly. He had begun to contact Kara during those visits.

  Their friendship had been interrupted by a year’s deployment to Korea, but when he returned, it had blossomed into romance.