Toni Donovan Mysteries- Books 1-3

by Helen Gray

  Kyle studied her for a long moment. “This case belongs to the police. It’s not something you have a personal stake in.”

  “It feels personal,” she countered. “I knew the victim, and it was my students, participating in one of my activities, who found him.”

  “Okay, but please be careful,” he cautioned, climbing off the mower. “I needed a break, so I’ll check on the boys now.”

  When Toni pulled up in front of the local McDonald’s, she spotted the three boys in a booth at the back of the restaurant near the restrooms. She got a Coke at the counter before joining them.

  When she reached the booth, Q scooted over by the wall to make room for her. She slid onto the seat, directly across from Dack. Jeremy sat against the wall on the other side of the table. Each boy had a burger, fries, and a soda in front of him.

  “Okay, what have you guys been up to?” she asked, setting her Coke on the table.

  “Last night we went to a party a bunch of the seniors were having,” Dack began. “I guess you know about the hotel parties.” He waited for her response.

  Toni did know, which made her uneasy about where this conversation could be going. High school students wanting to party had discovered that some area hotels offered all the comforts of home, but without parental supervision. An eighteen-year-old could get a room on a Friday or Saturday night for less than fifty dollars and, so long as he and his friends didn’t make too much noise, they could do pretty much as they pleased until checkout time.

  To further the situation, it was not uncommon for older siblings or friends to book rooms for underage parties. Plus, where there was a hotel party, there was usually booze.

  Toni knew that some area hotels were adopting policies aimed at curbing such underage in-room partying, refusing to rent a room to anyone under twenty-one without proof that they were not from the area. But she also knew that rules are only as good as the people who enforce them.

  “Am I allowed to ask where this party was held?”

  Dack shrugged. “It was a high priced one, the Ramada Inn.” Meaning it wasn’t a Motel 6.

  Jeremy and Q were contentedly putting away their burgers and fries while Dack carried the conversation.

  “We were getting ready to leave when we heard a girl crying and talking to her friends,” he continued. “Anyhow, she was blubbering and saying how she had gotten pregnant when she was just a freshman and been sent to this home in the country somewhere to have her baby.”

  He paused. “She was getting kind of hard to understand by this time, but she said Reverend Goldman and Nurse Vickers had pressured her to sign papers to release her baby for adoption. She said she refused to do it, because she wanted her baby and had decided to keep it and run away.”

  Toni wondered who the girl could be. “Was this girl a senior?”

  Dack nodded and paused, apparently struggling with whether to reveal her identity. “It was Cindy Fuller,” he said, reaching a decision.

  Toni remembered something. Cindy had missed the first two or three weeks of school her sophomore year. Her excuse had been a serious illness or surgery of some kind. The only reason she even remembered that much was because Cindy Fuller had been in her biology class that year and had struggled to catch up with the class. Toni didn’t remember there ever being any mention of a child. “So what happened?”

  “Cindy said she remembers going into labor, but nothing about the birth. When she woke up, the nurse told her that the baby had died.”

  “Did you speak to Cindy personally, or only hear her talking to her friends?”

  Dack shot a glance at his pals. “Personally, but not right then. We waited around until she was leaving. She was with another girl and was having trouble getting to their car. I offered to help her.”

  “Did you ask her any questions while you helped her?” Toni felt as if she were conducting a classroom quiz.

  Dack grinned. “I sure did. I asked if she could tell me where the house was where she stayed. She said it was a big old house in the country, and her mom took her there one night right after school ended in May of that year. She was upset and crying at the time, and all she can remember is that they drove toward Poplar Bluff and turned off on a country road somewhere. She stayed there until right after she had her baby, which she said was the eleventh of August. She came back to school right after Labor Day.”

  Noisy slurping sounds came from Q’s drink cup. He held it up in a silent signal that he needed to go get a refill. Toni stood and let him out, and then sat again.

  “Jer?” Q extended a hand for Jeremy’s drink cup, indicating he would refill it also.

  “Sure.” Jeremy took a quick swig to finish emptying the cup, and then handed it to Q.

  “Tell her about this morning,” Jeremy prompted Dack as Q walked away.

  “We were out at the Country Club shooting some golf this morning,” Dack said, his eyes glinting.

  “Dack gives me and Q club memberships for Christmas,” Jeremy interjected.

  Dack shrugged. “Dad gives me a good deal for my friends. Anyhow, we were out there shooting, and at the eighth hole we caught up with Mr. and Mrs. Joyner. She’s the mayor, you know.”

  Yes, Carmen Joyner was their city mayor, a role everyone knew she relished. A robust woman with unnaturally dark hair and somewhat gaudy taste in clothes and jewelry, she was good at the job. But she was an autocratic administrator who rubbed some people the wrong way.

  “I remembered seeing her and her husband golfing one day when Reverend Goldman and his girlfriend were on the course,” Dack continued. “They got into a big argument right out there on the course, the preacher and the mayor, I mean. I don’t remember the details. I was coming up behind them for the last hole, and they were arguing, something about zoning. She, the mayor I mean, accused Goldman and Mr. Hudson of pushing through what they wanted, and said she wasn’t going to let them get away with it.”

  Toni stood as Q returned with drink refills, allowing him to scoot back into his seat.

  “I asked my dad about it when I went home for lunch,” Jeremy said. “Dad says he remembers that Goldman was an alderman and he and the mayor never got along. They were both too bossy and determined to be in control. But one of the things they were really fighting over along about that time was that the preacher had a piece of property that was located in a residential area, and he wanted to put a business in it. His attorney friend, Mr. Hudson, was helping him get it rezoned to commercial. The mayor was blocking it to prevent the preacher from putting in a business that would be competition for her sister’s business.”

  Damien Hudson was an attorney with a reputation for cutthroat dealings. Now that Toni thought about it, she remembered that he and the preacher had been close friends. At least they seemed to spend a lot of time together and participated in a number of the same civic organizations.

  “Anyway, when Mrs. Joyner and her husband finished the ninth hole this morning,” Dack continued, “they started putting their clubs away like they were getting ready to leave. I went up to her and introduced myself. I told her I knew someone who was looking for Reverend Goldman, and I wondered if she could tell me where he might be living. She snapped at me and told me to mind my own business, like I was a kid.”

  Which, come to think of it, he was not. Q and Jeremy were eighteen years old, and Dack would be in early June. That made them adults in the eyes of the law and society. They would be graduating in a few days and heading into the future on their own steam.

  “I had a little better luck,” Jeremy said, setting his soda cup on the table. “I asked Dad about Nurse Vickers. He remembers that, since she was the preacher’s girlfriend, the police questioned her when he disappeared. She said she didn’t know where he had gone. I looked up everything I could find about the man’s disappearance,” he explained, his face sober. “He was co-chairman of the Fall Festival, and he had collected money from all the people running booths and rides for the event that Sunday evening just before
everything closed down. He left with the money and was never seen again, so everyone decided he ran off with it.”

  “Was he in any financial trouble that you know of?” Toni asked.

  The boys looked from one to the other, their expressions blank. Each one shrugged.

  “I checked in the pro shop records,” Dack said after a long pause. “He had a single membership at the club, and he played a lot of golf. He was a big spender in the shop, too.”

  “He drove a roadster, and he spent a lot on it,” Q contributed suddenly.

  “But he’s the victim. We’re trying to make a list of suspects,” Dack pointed out, and then paused. “But maybe it does say something about his character. He spent a lot, and I don’t think many preachers would make that kind of money.”

  “So who do you have on your list of suspects?” Toni asked.

  “Well,” Dack said slowly, making a long word of the short one. “Mrs. Joyner, the mayor, obviously hated him. They could have had a really big fight.”

  “Everybody knows that the people closest to victims are usually the killers,” Jeremy added. “Nurse Vickers was his girlfriend, so she might have done it. I can’t find any trace of her.”

  Dack’s brow crinkled in concentration. “I just remembered something. Reverend Goldman was co-chair of the festival, not the chair. Wendy Rutherford was the other co-chair, and I remember my dad talking about what a fuss she made when they were appointed together. Then she really screamed when he and the money disappeared. Dad said she ranted about the man and what a crook he was. I think we need to check her out.”

  “Is that all?” Toni glanced at each boy in turn.

  Jeremy frowned. “I can’t think of anything else.”

  Dack shook his head. “Me, either.”

  “Well, guys, this has been interesting,” she said, getting to her feet. “But I still think you shouldn’t meddle. At least wait for a positive identification of the remains before you go any further.”

  They began piling their trash onto the tray, neither objecting to nor agreeing with her statement.

  When she arrived home, Toni found a note on the kitchen cabinet saying Kyle and the boys had gone for milk shakes. Smiling, she set about making a German chocolate cake, her brother Bill’s favorite. She figured her mother would invite him and Quint to Sunday dinner,

  “If you’d like me to barbecue some pork steaks for supper, I’ll fire up the grill,” Kyle offered when he and the boys got home.

  Toni welcomed the idea. “I’ll get some thawed.”

  Her conversation with the trio was relegated to the back of her mind.

  Chapter 7

  It began to rain as Kyle drove past the high school Sunday after church. About a mile outside the city limits, he turned onto a county lane that had been gravel for years, but had been paved this past summer. Toni’s parents lived a short distance off the main highway in a small subdivision. Their driveway curved up a hillside to an unassuming ranch style home with a white rock carport. The hill behind it was covered with a proliferation of trees—dogwoods, oaks, pines, and spruce—and more filled the yard. Yuccas and forsythia bushes lined the drive and backyard, and the yard boasted a number of flowering bushes, including a red rose bush in front of the kitchen window. It was total country living, but within easy distance of town, and only about a mile from the clinic where Faye worked.

  Faye met them at the door, her salt and pepper hair pulled back on the sides and secured with long narrow hair clips. She gave each of the boys a quick hug. Buck Freeman and Toni’s brothers, Bill and Quint, were in the living room watching the Cardinal baseball game with Russell Nash. Tantalizing aromas wafted from the kitchen.

  Six foot one, slender and dark haired, Bill was a mail carrier, his primary route being the downtown business district.

  Quint was five years younger and three inches shorter than Bill. His hair was lighter, like his dad’s, but he was dark eyed like his brother. He had been an MP in the army and recently discharged. For the present he was living with Bill while looking for work in law enforcement.

  Faye took the cake Toni carried. “I’ve got a ham and scalloped potatoes in the oven. You can make a salad while I get the table set and drinks poured. The game will keep the guys occupied until we have everything ready.” Her usual take-charge manner was maternal and inoffensive.

  Buck and Russell had gone to high school together. After graduation, Buck had joined the local police force, while Russell had entered the military. After several years as a deputy, Buck had finished his degree in criminal justice. When the town’s long time chief retired a few years ago, he had run for the office and been elected.

  After leaving the military, Russell had spent thirty years as a highway patrolman and recently retired. His biggest frustration was the fact that he was losing his hearing.

  By the time dinner was over, it had stopped raining, and Gabe and Garrett were able to go outside to play. The adults lingered over mugs of coffee and cake in the living room.

  “Do you want cake?” Faye asked Russell.

  “Huh?”

  She frowned and repeated the question, an established pattern of communication.

  “Sure, I want cake,” he said when he understood. “I checked my sugar and it’s okay.”

  His blood sugar was only one of the health issues he was juggling. His blood pressure had to be watched, and he was on cholesterol medication. Faye put a slice of cake before him.

  “They’re playing like they’re anemic,” he muttered, glancing at the muted television that showed the Cardinals were trailing by a run.

  “He sits here and talks to the players, telling them what to do, and complaining about the manager,” Faye said with a snort. “He frets so much over those games that I don’t see why he keeps watching them.”

  Bill chuckled. “If he did that he wouldn’t have anything to do.”

  Quint grinned at his dad. “Maybe I should take him to a game. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to St. Louis for one.”

  “He has plenty to do,” Faye corrected. “He spends hours a day hunting things.”

  Russell eyed her pointedly. “Who was it who couldn’t find her glasses this morning?”

  Faye shrugged and laughed. “I guess we’re both getting old and forgetful. But who can’t keep track of the phone?” She addressed the rest of the group. “Yesterday I went to use the cell phone and couldn’t find it. He claimed I had it last, but that he would find it. He went to the house phone and dialed the cell number, expecting to hear it ring and reveal its location. There was no such ring, so we decided it was actually lost. A few minutes later he went out onto the back porch, and there it was, right where he had left it.”

  Russell grimaced. “So I made a call out there.”

  Buck had been sitting quietly, taking in the good-natured bickering, his eyes dark under bushy eyebrows. He set his coffee mug down and sighed. “Listening to you two makes me miss Fern,” he said gruffly. “We were champions at that kind of squabbling.”

  His statement was met with silence. Her death several months earlier from cancer had been a big loss to all of them.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “We’re not uncomfortable,” Faye said gently. “We just miss her, too.”

  Buck nodded and forced a smile. “Thanks.”

  “Fern was a wonderful woman,” Kyle said quietly

  “And a good mother,” Buck added. “I wish our daughter lived closer, but I’m glad she married a good man and they have good jobs, even if they are in Tennessee. It’s nice having Tyler here in town.” His son was a programmer for the local software company and lived in one of the newer subdivisions.

  “Your children were fortunate to have had her.” Kyle’s voice was sincere—and wistful.

  While Toni’s mother was high-energy and nurturing, Kyle’s mother was prickly and self-absorbed. Barb Donovan had been a stay-at-home mom and considered herself the perfect mother, whe
n in reality she was finicky, critical and argumentative. Her weekly shopping trips and treks to the beauty shop had been more important to her than Kyle’s little league games or school activities.

  Toni was happy that he liked her parents and enjoyed being a part of get-togethers with the Donovan and Freeman families over the years.

  “Have you gotten any answers in your skeleton case?” Russell asked Buck, changing the subject. It had always been natural for work related topics to come up when they were together, and Russell still took an interest in Buck’s cases. They both felt that sharing facts could sometimes lead to fresh perspectives.

  Buck shook his head. “Toni and I have a strong suspicion as to who it is, but I haven’t gotten positive identification yet.”

  Russell’s eyes narrowed. “Can you talk about it?”

  “Here I can,” he decided after a moment of deliberation. “I’m hoping to keep a lid on it until I can confirm the identification and make next of kin notification.”

  “I’m not sure that’s going to be possible,” Toni said with a grimace. “You won’t believe what those three boys are digging up in the way of information. I’m referring to the boys who found the bones,” she explained to her family. “They’re determined to find out who it is and what happened.”

  Buck’s interest sharpened. “Have they been snooping around some more?”

  Toni related her meeting with them the day before and their story about the motel party. “They’re convinced at this point that the skeleton is Reverend Goldman, and I don’t know of any way to keep them from talking to their families and friends about it.”

  Everyone had listened quietly as she related the story. Russell rubbed his chin in thought. “It sounds like they’re hot on the trail. Is that who you two think it is?” He glanced from Buck to Toni.

  “I’m afraid so,” Buck admitted. “I sure wish I could confirm or disprove it before a lot of gossip circulates. Those boys seem to be on a tracking expedition parallel to my own.”

  “I remember Goldman,” Bill said slowly. “He was kind of a flashy guy and involved in a lot of events around town. I don’t know that I ever heard anyone say he wasn’t a good preacher, but when it came to relationships in the community…” He paused, letting the statement hang meaningfully.