Murder

by Maddie Cochere

  He was mad, but there was a slight softening to the look on his face. “Just doing my job, Jo. It was never personal. Matt’s a good attorney, and if there’s no evidence to support the charge that you shot Barbie, then a trial should go your way. What am I supposed to do now that you’ve shown up with bullets matching the ones that shot her?”

  “Nothing. Haven’t you figured this out yet? She originally shot herself to frame me. She shot Tony Lucas for revenge and to frame me a second time. I missed it at first. Tony came here from Portsmouth. Barbie was on the force there before going up to Youngstown. Tony was only volunteer fire and police, so when I vetted him for Chummy last January, I wasn’t thinking of him as a former police officer. Barbie broke up his marriage. I don’t know what she does when she destroys a relationship, but something went wrong, and Tony wouldn’t have anything more to do with her. She must have been surprised to find him working in Buxley when she transferred here. She shot him with the same derringer she used on herself.”

  The sergeant seemed to be listening, so I kept going with my story.

  “I don’t know how she did it yet, but Barbie made sure Pepper was in the office with Tony when she shot him from the window. To top it off, she left the gun in the room. That was one more step to have me put away. She could say I was avenging Pepper’s honor by killing Tony, because he was sexually harassing her at work. Her plan would have worked if Pepper had called you, but instead, Pepper got scared and ran off with the gun.”

  I almost laughed at the look on the Sergeant’s face, but it was so frightening in its intensity, I remained perfectly still.

  He jumped up and slammed his fist on his desk. “Dammit, Ravens. Where’s that sister of yours? Do you have any idea how much money the two of you have cost this city? Every man has been working overtime looking for her.”

  “Not as much money as if Pepper and I had lengthy trials.” I said defensively. “You didn’t ask me about the other murder.”

  He sat down and rubbed both hands over his face. “The bullets match the murder of the officer’s wife in Youngstown.”

  I nodded my head. “Barbie’s derringer.”

  “Do you know where the gun is now?”

  I knew I shouldn’t torture the man, but I still blamed him for what happened between Glenn and me. If he had allowed Glenn to tell me everything from the beginning, we would have never broken up, and we would have been able to handle Barbie together. I smiled and said, “I gave it back to Barbie. The last I knew, she was on her way to kill Glenn.”

  I’d never seen the man move so fast. He bolted from the room, his footsteps pounding down the hall. His orders commanding the entire force to find Glenn and Barbie went out with lightning speed. I waited a few minutes before getting up from my chair and walking into the dispatcher’s office.

  “Out!” Sergeant Rorski shouted and pointed to the door.

  I ignored him. “I know where Glenn and Barbie are.”

  Enough time had gone by that something had to have happened at Jean Young’s house. If by chance things weren’t under control, the police needed to show up in force anyway.

  Sergeant Rorski’s face turned so red, I was afraid he’d have another heart attack. I opened my mouth to tell him where Glenn was, but he rushed past me before I could get the words out.

  I followed him from the room and saw Glenn pushing Barbie past the front desk. She was in cuffs for the second time tonight.

  When he spotted me, a smile spread across his face. When Barbie spotted me, she let loose with a string of swear words far better than the ones Sergeant Rorski used. She then made a hissing noise before yelling, “I should have killed that stupid sister of yours when I had the chance. Who doesn’t call the police when someone’s murdered right in front of them? And I’m suing your mother and those old women. Kidnapping at gunpoint is a federal offense. You’ll all get yours.”

  Glenn handed her off to Clay. Clay shoved her into the first interrogation room. My heart soared with joy.

  Sergeant Rorski hadn’t simmered down at all. Glenn moved over to stand beside me, and the sergeant turned on both of us. “Ravens, I’m not going to tell you again. Out!” He pointed with authority to the door. “Wheeler, you, too. Get out! You’re fired!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Glenn and I were on our way to the cabin to get Pepper and take her home. It was late, but she wouldn’t mind our waking her if it meant going home to Buck and the kids. I used the lighted mirror above the visor to brush my hair and add a little makeup to my face. No one was going to see me, but I felt better knowing I didn’t look so rough.

  “That didn’t go the way we thought it would, did it?” I asked.

  “Not with Sarge, but I’m not too worried. He’ll eventually calm down.”

  “Do you think he really meant it when he said you were fired?”

  He looked uncertain but said, “Nah. You had a good plan back there, and it worked, but geez, Jo, couldn’t you have sent your text any sooner? Jean and I were barely in position at the table when we heard Barbie on the porch.”

  “Sergeant Rorski got the results back on the bullets and had Clay haul me in. I had to threaten Clay with being an accessory to Barbie’s murder if he didn’t let me send the text to you.”

  He smiled. “It was close.”

  I shoved him. “Give me details! What happened?”

  He laughed. “Ok, hold on.” He adjusted the speed and set the cruise control. “There are a couple of lights at the back of the yard and one over the garden shed, so it wasn’t pitch black out there. The minute Barbie hit the porch, those dogs took off running for her. They’re a couple of scary beasts, aren’t they? Barbie saw them coming and fired her gun. I was hoping it was the derringer with the blanks and not her service weapon.”

  “Mama and the Blue Hat Society did a good job, so Barbie only had the derringer. She didn’t go back into her house, and I doubt she would have found her gun if she did.”

  “Jean turned on the porch light and stepped out when the dogs were only about ten feet away. Barbie was screaming at the top of her lungs. Jean did that thing with a command and her arm to stop them.”

  “Yeah. If she puts her arm down, you become dinner for the dogs.”

  He nodded. “I stayed inside. Jean was wearing a wire, and I rigged her with an earpiece, so I could feed questions to her. We have everything on tape. Barbie confessed to the murder of Wade Locke’s wife, the murder of Tony Lucas, and shooting herself in the arm. I didn’t tell Jean to ask, but she was so shocked that Barbie would shoot herself, she asked her how she did it.”

  When he didn’t tell me right away, I gave him another shove. “Tell me. How did she do it?”

  “She rigged the derringer on the end of a selfie stick and used a metal rod to push the trigger. I suppose when her house is searched, they’ll find the evidence, and that will further prove your innocence.”

  “The charges against me will be dropped, won’t they? I won’t have to go to trial to prove what we’ve already found out, will I?”

  “I think they’ll be dropped. We’ll ask Matt later.”

  “Where’s the wire? Do you have a tape or something?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “I left the equipment at Jean’s. I’ll have someone from the department pick it up tomorrow, but I put all the audio files on this drive.”

  We were at the Treehorn Lake exit. Glenn dropped the flash drive into the cup holder and flipped the turn signal.

  We pulled up to the cabin. I was concerned when yet another strange vehicle was parked out front. This time it was a black minivan.

  “Do you want me to call in the plates?” Glenn asked.

  “No. Do you have your gun?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then let’s barge in and meet trouble head on,” I said with a smile.

  He laughed. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, huh?”

  “Sort of, but I need a gun. What’d you do with t
he derringer?”

  He pulled it from his jacket pocket. I grabbed it from him. “Is it loaded?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t have any ammo other than the blanks we put in it earlier.”

  We crept to the door and listened. A loud squeal came from inside. It sounded like Pepper and a stuck pig all rolled into one.

  Glenn drew his gun and threw the door open.

  Pepper squealed again, but it was a squeal of fright. She stood so fast from the kitchen table, her chair fell over behind her. “Doggone you and the horse you rode in on, Glenn! Would you stop doing that!” she yelled.

  “Aunt Jo!” Keith called out. “Are you under arrest again? Is Glenn going to arrest all of us?” The kid was positively jubilant at the thought.

  I looked around the room and burst into laughter. It was an absolute miracle that we had pulled this off. I hated to think Buxley’s finest were this inept, but maybe it was as simple as everyone in the room doing a good job of keeping their mouth shut.

  Floyd was in his usual seat in the upholstered chair. Aunt Bee, Rita, and Lucille were lined up on the sofa. Mama, Pepper, Buck, Kelly, and Keith were squeezed around the kitchen table playing a game of Clue. Jackie sat on a footstool at the end of the coffee table. Her laptop was open in front of her. I assumed she was trying to get an article done before a deadline. The only people missing were Hank and Nancy.

  “I’m not here to arrest anybody,” Glenn told Keith. “We came up to get Pepper and take her home. Barbie’s in custody. She confessed to shooting herself and Tony Lucas, so we can start getting things back to normal.”

  Everyone started talking at once. Other than Keith whooping and hollering a bit, most of the noise consisted of expressions of relief.

  “Did you guys all come in one car?” Glenn asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the minivan.

  “We always come up in one vehicle,” Mama said. “We figured there was less chance of getting caught that way. The minivan belongs to Lucille’s dead husband, so he didn’t mind we took it.”

  “It was crowded,” Keith said. “I had to squish up against Jackie.” His face turned beet red, but he had a huge smile on his face.

  Kelly was by my side and slipped her arms around my waist. She hugged me tight. “I’m glad you’re ok,” she said. “Are you and Glenn back together? Is he still going to be my uncle?”

  “You bet I am,” he said, reaching out and giving her a hug.

  Floyd stood and said, “Jo, come have a seat. You don’t look so good. Let me take a look at that arm and make sure there’s no infection.”

  “I keep saying she looks sick,” Mama said. She turned to the ladies on the sofa. “Don’t you think Jo looks sick? She’s got the scurvy. Do we have any orange juice?” she asked Pepper.

  I took a seat in the chair but protested at the same time. “I’m fine. I don’t have scurvy. I just need to start eating regularly again and get some sleep. I need a vacation.”

  I slipped off Glenn’s hoodie and rolled up my t-shirt sleeve. Keith leaned against the chair and watched intently as Floyd uncovered the wound.

  “That doesn’t look like a gunshot,” Keith said. “It’s a dent with stitches.”

  “It’ll fill out,” Floyd said. “These look good. You can have your doctor remove the sutures in the next day or two.”

  I looked up to see Glenn talking with Jackie.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Mama called over to them. “I know Jackie’s writing her scoop, but you have to tell us what happened, too.”

  I remained seated in the comfortable chair and let Glenn tell the story of what happened at Jean’s place. When he finished, I asked Mama, “How hard was it to get Barbie to Glenn’s house?”

  Lucille scooted up to the edge of the sofa and said, “It was easy-peasy. I brought Dead Bill’s gun with me, and when Barbie raised a stink, I aimed it right at her head.”

  A loud poot sounded beneath her. Aunt Bee sprayed her with air freshener. Keith complained loudly, “Hey! You said I could spray her next time.”

  “Who’s Dead Bill?” Buck asked.

  “He was my third husband,” Lucille said. “He had lots of guns. I took the biggest one with us to get Barbie. Too bad I didn’t have any bullets. I would have shot her.”

  Pepper’s mouth dropped open. She looked at Buck and then to Kelly and Keith. Buck only shrugged his shoulders.

  “Lucille, don’t say things like that in front of the kids,” Pepper said. “You know full well you wouldn’t have shot Barbie.”

  “Sure I would have. I’m old. What are they going to do to me? They caught me with a gun and the wacky weed tonight, and they let me go. I’m an invincible superhero.”

  I wasn’t irritated with anyone anymore. I allowed the nonsense to unfold before me. It was Glenn who looked to Mama and attempted to get the story back on track. “How did you get her to my house?”

  “We showed up with our blue hats on and told her the Blue Hat Society was officially welcoming her to the community.”

  Rita spoke up from the sofa. “I brought cookies and one of my prettiest teapots from the inn, so we could have tea and cookies.”

  “We could tell she didn’t want us to come in,” Aunt Bee said, “but we wouldn’t take no for an answer. I led the charge when we pushed our way in. We might have run off her company though. I thought I heard the back door close when I took the cookies to the kitchen.”

  “We stood around making that first chitchat like you do with someone new,” Rita said. “When I saw Bee coming back from the kitchen, I handed Barbie my teapot and asked her to put water on. Lucille swiped Barbie’s legs out from under her when she walked by, and Bee sat on her. There’s no getting up when Bee’s sitting on you. I don’t think the poor thing could even breathe.”

  “That’s when I slapped the cuffs on her,” Mama said.

  “I hit her with the smiley tape,” Rita said.

  “What happened to the teapot?” Kelly asked.

  “Shattered,” Rita said, looking gloomy. “I should have known to take one of the chipped ones.”

  “What happened next?” Keith asked. He was hanging on every word.

  “We checked her house real good,” Mama said. “We found two guns and hid them so she wouldn’t find them if she came back before going out to Jean’s house.”

  “Where are they?” Keith asked.

  “In the freezer, of course,” Lucille said. “You always hide guns in the freezer. Money, too. Everyone knows no one looks in the freezer.”

  “It was easy after that,” Aunt Bee said. “She doesn’t weigh hardly anything, so we dragged her to the car and hauled her over to Glenn’s house.” She looked at Glenn and said, “You did a real nice job of remodeling the basement.”

  He gave her his most charming smile, his dimple giving him a sexy, irresistible look. Aunt Bee almost seemed flustered. He had that effect on women.

  He came over to stand beside me and grasped my hand. I gave his a squeeze. I was ready to leave. I wanted to go home – home to Glenn’s house.

  Jackie looked up from her laptop. “Ten more minutes, and I have to submit this if I want to make the morning paper. I have one more question. How did Sarah Powers know to send Pepper up to Tony’s office? Why did she think Tony wanted to fire Pepper when he obviously didn’t?”

  “I have that answer,” Glenn said. “You know that Malloy guy who went around and contracted business owners to pay for additional police protection? He had a couple of regulars collect the payments, but Barbie went to Tony and said she was making a courtesy call about Chummy’s protection arrangement. When she left, she lied and told Sarah that Tony wanted to see Pepper. He’d had enough of her smart attitude and was going to fire her.”

  Jackie nodded. His explanation tied up the loose end nicely.

  I stood from the chair. “Are you guys staying up all night? We’re leaving. I’m beat, and I have to get some sleep pretty soon, or I really will be sick. Anybody want a ri
de back to town with us?”

  Everyone looked at each other. Mama said, “No. I think we’re good.” Even Jackie smiled and told us to go ahead and go. She was going to file her report from the cabin and would go with the others when they were ready.

  It was nearly three in the morning when Glenn and I tumbled into bed. As much as I wanted to enjoy him, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Stress finally left my body, and I felt like a rag doll.

  Glenn held me close and whispered in my ear, “Do you really need a vacation?”

  I had an answer ready for him. I opened my mouth, but I was unsure if any of the words came out. Sleep came quickly.

  ~ ~ ~

  I rolled over and found the space beside me empty. The clock on the nightstand indicated it was shortly past eight. I had wanted to be in the office by nine. It was already the third day of May, and I hadn’t done any of my paperwork since the seventeenth of April – the day I fell out of Barbie’s tree. Arnie was a stickler for having reports in by the end of the month, and I didn’t want to fall behind any more than I already had.

  I dressed quickly and ran down to the kitchen. The notepad on the counter held a note from Glenn. Need to see if I’m really fired. Be back soon.

  I left a reply for him. Running to my house to shower and change. Have to go to office for a few hours. See you for lunch?

  I could have called him, but I didn’t want to disturb him if he was already talking with Sergeant Rorski.

  I grabbed his black hoodie from the coat rack next to the front door. It felt heavy, and I realized Barbie’s derringer was still in the pocket. It was another gray day, and rain was coming down in a steady drizzle. I put the hoodie on, ran to my truck, and checked to see if Glenn had picked up the flash drive from the cup holder. He hadn’t. I held it in my hand for a few moments.

  There was no way I wanted to have this much evidence in my possession. I could slip into the police station and leave both the gun and the flash drive with the desk officer. Sergeant Rorski would never know I had been on the premises. I shoved the flash drive into the pocket with the gun.