Over Troubled Water: A Hunter Jones Mystery

by Charlotte Moore

  “We need some real proof,” he told T.J. “The rifle makes him look bad, but I can’t see this guy running up and down Foxtail Creek and through all those woods. Even if it turns out that his work alibi doesn’t check out, he’s an overweight office worker.

  “But he’s got a history of erratic behavior and not getting along well with his mother,” T.J. said. “He could have hired somebody to do it and provided the weapon.”

  Their troubles began when they contacted Robins Air Force Base and learned that Charles A. Chapman, as he was known there, had signed out from work and left through the main gate at a little after eleven a.m.

  “Maybe he got edgy and decided to come home and check on things. I’m going to call the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the State Patrol and send Skeet and Aaron out to watch the I-75 exits for him. And just in case he does arrive home, let’s have this place looking normal again. We don’t want to have a chase.”

  Ten minutes later, the street was cleared of any sign of law enforcement. Aaron had taken his truck and gone out to the watch for the Volvo, and Skeet Borders was about to follow.

  Skeet had just opened his car door when he was stopped by a faint call from the house two doors down from the Chapman place.

  “Young man! Young man!”

  It was a fragile-looking elderly woman who seemed to be struggling with her walker, trying to get from her front door to her porch.

  Skeet sprinted up her walk and onto the porch to help her.

  “Thank you so much,” she said after she was clear of the screened door and standing on the porch, “Now you might as well hold the door and help me get back inside. I was only coming out to try to catch one of you before you all left.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Skeet said, “Is there something we can help you with?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, “I just wanted to ask you not to leave yet. I called Andrew Chapman about Sunshine being arrested and all the people who were coming in and out of their house. I don’t know why it’s taking so long, but I’m sure he’ll be here very soon, and he’ll want to talk with somebody.”

  Mallory Bremmer was at Merchantsville City Hall trying to get a copy of the proposed city sign ordinance that Jaybird Hilliard had mentioned.

  “I don’t think I can give it to you,” Laurie Leigh Tookes said with a smile. “You know with Mr. Jordan having passed away, I’d have to ask the Mayor, and he’s having his day off.”

  Mallory had gone to high school with Laurie Leigh, who looked sweet, but wasn’t. She had the pink flowered dress, the perfectly matched lipstick and nail polish, the little bow in her puffy blonde hair, and the big eyes made larger by makeup. She even had the sweet smile, but she was not sweet.

  “Of course, you can give it to me,” Mallory said. “It’s public information. It’s the law.”

  “Well, I read the guidelines just this morning,” Laurie Leigh said. “You can write a request, and we have three days to respond to your request, and you have to pay for the photocopying.”

  “If it had been ready in time for the meeting, I would have gotten a copy with my agenda,” Mallory said. “I always get copies of everything the council members get.”

  She was well aware that Laurie Leigh was enjoying her temporary power.

  “Well, excuse me,” Laurie Ann said, “but I don’t see why you need this yet. They won’t even be having the first reading until the first meeting in March.”

  “Never mind,” Mallory said impatiently, taking out her phone. “Why I need it isn’t an issue. I’ll just call Mayor Washington at home and ask him to explain this to you.”

  She could almost see Laurie Leigh’s brain working through that scenario.

  “Oh, Mallory,” she said with a sigh. “Working at that newspaper has gone to your head, hasn’t it? If you’re going to make such a fuss, let me see if I can find an extra copy.”

  When she came back with it, she had apparently rethought the power play and decided to see what she could find out.

  She handed Mallory the thick document with a smile and said, “What have you heard about the investigation?”

  “Not much,” Mallory said.

  “Oh, don’t tell me that, Mallory Bremmer! I know you work with the sheriff’s wife. You probably know every single thing they’re doing over at the courthouse.”

  “No,” Mallory said. “I haven’t heard anything except that they’re all working overtime, and they’ve called in the GBI and the investigator from the District Attorney’s office.”

  That apparently didn’t interest Laurie Ann.

  “I mean who do they think did it?” she asked. “I heard that Taneesha whatshername and that cute Skeet Borders were out at the Carson place yesterday. Is Russell a suspect?”

  “They talk to all the family members,” Mallory said. “It doesn’t mean they suspect anyone. They’re just getting information.”

  “Can you believe China lost all that weight?” Laurie Leigh said. “Do you remember how adorable China and Russell were in high school – him so skinny and her so chubby? And she changed her whole look.”

  She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone and said, “Don’t say you heard this from me, but I heard she was getting a lot of attention from the guys and enjoying it too. She missed that kind of thing in high school, going steady with Russell the whole time, and being overweight and all.”

  “I’ve got to go,” Mallory said.

  Angelica Sampson had no doubt that she had done the right thing.

  “His mother gave me the number to his little cell phone almost a year ago,” she explained to Sam and Taneesha. “You know she was going with that tour group to London, and she said only to use it in a real emergency. You know, if the house caught on fire and Andrew needed to be contacted at work, or – I suppose – if her plane crashed.”

  “I see,” Sam said, as Taneesha gently pushed back a brocade drape to watch the street from the living room window, “Who else has this number?”

  “Nobody, as far as I know,” Miss Angelica said. “She made me promise not to give it to anyone because he was so persnickety about his privacy, and he wouldn’t even give her his work number. I used it for the first time the other day to reach him when they called from the church to tell me poor Annie had been killed. Pastor Hale wanted to know if I knew how to reach Andrew, and I was so glad that I could help. I did it myself, of course, and he came straight home.”

  She looked pensive.

  “I don’t know what’s taking him so long today because I don’t think it took much more than an hour the other day.”

  “Why did you call him today?” Sam said.

  “Well, for heaven’s sake,” she said. “Anybody would have. I looked out my window, and Sunshine was being taken away by this big man in uniform, and he put her into his car and drove off. Then I got Lucille, that’s my maid, to look and she saw all kinds of cars showing up and she said that people were taking boxes out of the house. I had no idea what was going on, but I thought he should know and come right home.”

  “What did he say when you told him?” Taneesha asked. “Can you tell us exactly what his words were.”

  “Well, of course, I told him that his sister had been arrested and that people from the Sheriff’s office were going in and out and carrying things – maybe his mother’s things. I’m not going to repeat what he said at first,” she said primly, “But I told him ‘Andrew Chapman, be ashamed!’ and he stopped. You know I gave him piano lessons when he was a little boy, and he knew better than to misbehave with me the way he did with his mother. That’s why she gave me the number.”

  “And what else did he say?” Sam asked.

  “To give him credit,” she said, “He said ‘Thank you for calling.’”

  “Miss Angelica,” Sam said. “Sunshine was not arrested. She’s staying over at Hilliard House because he hasn’t been willing to let her into the house. She was upset today, and I didn’t think she should be driving. That’s all there was to th
at. Now, we need to have that telephone number so that we can try to reach Andy in case he doesn’t show up soon. There’s a problem that we have to talk to him about right away.”

  “Why don’t I just call him for you?” she said. “I really can’t give you the number, since I promised Annie, and I certainly don’t want Andrew upset with me about handing it out. I’ll ask him if he’ll talk to you.”

  She made her way slowly over to the phone on the mahogany desk in the corner of the living room, took a seat, opened the center drawer, and took out a folded piece of paper.

  Taneesha was right behind her.

  “Oh, dear,” Miss Angelica said, “I left my reading glasses in the den.”

  “Here, I’ll read the number to you,” Taneesha said, reaching for the paper.

  “Oh, no, dear,” Miss Angelica said, keeping it folded. “Sheriff Bailey, would you please get my glasses? They’re by the reclining chair.”

  Sam came back in half a minute with the glasses. He was ready to take the telephone out of the old lady’s hand if she got Andy Chapman to answer, or to use the authority of his office to demand the number.

  It wasn’t necessary, though. She put on the glasses and adjusted them carefully. Then she unfolded the paper, picked up the handset, and began to glance at the paper and then back at the cradle of the phone, calling out each number to herself in a small, precise voice as she pressed her finger down. Sam committed it to memory while Taneesha wrote it down in her notebook.

  The phone rang five times and went to a recording. Miss Angelica looked a bit exasperated.

  “Andrew,” she said, “Would you please pick up the phone? This is Angelica Samson. If you’re not there, call me when you get this message. It’s important, dear. I was mistaken about Sunshine. She wasn’t arrested at all. They were just helping her, and the sheriff wants to talk to you.”

  “I have one more question,” Sam said before he left. “How did Andy react the other day when you told him his mother had died?”

  “I suppose it was shock,” she said, “but all he said was ‘Oh,’ and then he seemed to expect me to say something more, so I told him what to do. I said, ‘You must come home. There will be people coming to the house, and there’s no one there.’ Andy’s always been a bit odd, you know. He doesn’t seem to know what’s expected of him unless you’re quite firm.”

  A few minutes later, standing on Miss Angelica’s front steps, Sam left a message of his own for Andy Chapman.

  “Mr. Chapman, this is Sheriff Sam Bailey. It is urgent that you call me immediately at this number, or if you are in this vicinity, come straight to the Magnolia County Courthouse.”

  CHAPTER 7

  After Andy Chapman hadn’t shown up or responded to the phone call in a half hour, Sam called the Georgia State Patrol to be on the look out for the Volvo. He went back to his original plan with Skeet and Aaron watching the most likely Interstate exits and arranged for Bub Williston to stay at the house.

  “Pick up something for lunch,” he told them all, “This could be a long wait.”

  When he stopped by Hilliard House to bring Sunshine Chapman up to date, he took a copy of the letter from Abomination.

  They sat down together in the front parlor of the old antebellum mansion.

  “I’ve been thinking about it, Sheriff Bailey. I know that gun looks bad, but there’s no way he’d shoot anybody,” Sunshine said, “Just no way. He probably just bought it on an impulse. I overreacted because I hate those things. I won’t even let my fiance’ keep his in my apartment.”

  She paused and thought of something.

  “Was there any ammunition?”

  “No,” Sam said. “Just the rifle. We’re waiting for a ballistics report.”

  “I know he’s odd, and he’s high strung,” she said. “And he can be rude, but he’s not crazy. He’s never hurt anyone.”

  Sam planned to leave the question of Andy Chapman’s mental status to the experts.

  Sunshine sighed and said, “When you see him, please explain to him about the keys. I’ll give him one of the new keys if he promises not to change the locks again.”

  Sam decided that Sunshine Chapman had a great talent for denial.

  He took out a copy of the Abomination letter and showed it to her.

  “We’re getting a computer expert to see if this came from Andy’s computer,” he said. “Do you think he could have written it.”

  She read it and gave Sam an incredulous stare.

  “Of course he didn’t write this garbage,” she said. “Andy’s an educated man, and he’s always been a good speller and an excellent writer. This is ridiculous.”

  “Could he have misspelled the words deliberately?” Sam asked. “This was mailed before the shootings, so we know it’s connected to the shooter. Would your brother be capable of coming up with a plot to make us think it was some mentally ill fanatic who did the shootings?”

  “Andy wouldn’t kill anybody,” Sunshine said. “And he wouldn’t have paid somebody else to do it if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Sam’s look must have disclosed his doubts, because Sunshine, reached out for his hand.

  “I know him,” she said. “He’s a real pain, Sheriff Bailey, but he’s my brother.”

  When the sun went down over Magnolia County, Andy Chapman was still at large.

  Sam decided that he could wait at home as easily as he could wait at the courthouse and sent Taneesha to give Bub a break at the Chapman House.

  Home, as always, was a relief. Bethie, who had been thrilled to have two days out of school, was now thrilled that it would be open again on Friday. There was leftover ham. Hunter had made macaroni and cheese and insisted on making him a salad to go with it.

  He started telling her what he could about the situation with Andy Chapman and wound up talking about the house itself.

  “The best thing about it,” he said, “is the staircase… well, the staircase and the hardwood floors. I think they’re heart pine. And the windows. The windows are beautiful. Some of them have the original glass. There’s a magnolia tree in the back yard, just perfect for climbing.”

  “Something’s no doubt wrong with it,” Hunter said with a grin.

  “It doesn’t have central heat and air,” Sam said, “and there’s no room for a vegetable garden in the back yard.”

  At a little after nine Sam got a call from Aaron.

  “The Volvo just came off I-75,” he said, “Looks like he’s heading home. What do you want me to do?”

  “Follow him,” Sam said. “I’ll set things up. Taneesha’s at the house, and I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  In the end, it turned out to be remarkably simple.

  Andy Chapman never noticed the surveillance. He pulled into the driveway of the house on Clearview Circle, and Sam waited until he had stepped out of his car. Then he turned on his siren and lights and pulled into the driveway. Andy ran toward the back of the house. Taneesha stepped out and blocked his way.

  “Mr. Chapman,” she said. “We need to take you down to the courthouse to ask you some questions.”

  Andy turned to see Sam, with Skeet and Aaron coming up behind him, and decided he’d deal with Taneesha instead.

  “Whatever you’re doing, I have a right to an attorney,” he shouted at her.

  “You certainly do,” she said in a calm voice, “Now are you going to get in the back of the Sheriff’s car on your own with no fuss, or will I have to handcuff you?”

  When Andy was in the car, muttering but uncuffed, Sam asked Taneesha to call Sunshine at Hilliard House and let her know that her brother had come home on his own and that they were taking him to the courthouse for questioning.

  They had just gotten Andy seated in the conference room when the dispatcher told Sam that Dirk Wells from the GBI had left a message ten minutes earlier.

  Sam went to call him back.

  “Skeet called to let us know you’ve picked Chapman up,” he said, “I just w
anted to tell you that our guys say they can’t link his weapon with the shootings. They don’t think it has ever been fired.”

  “What about the computer?” Sam asked.

  “If he wrote the Abomination letter, he didn’t write it on this computer,” Wells said. “All he used this one for was to order some random things online – like books and underwear ,” Wells said. “And he was writing a lot. There’s this really long thing called The Five Moons of Modor. One of the guys who read some of it says it’s about this planet called Modor that has five moons and each time one of the moons is full, everybody changes except this one guy. Oh, and he did a search on it for the word ‘abomination’ and didn’t come up with anything.”

  “Are you sure this is something he’s writing?” Sam interrupted. “It could be some e-book he bought.”

  “Oh, it’s definitely him that’s writing it,” Dirk said, sounding amused, “Every chapter starts with ‘Copyright Charles Andrew Chapman.’ It’s like 180,000 words long— in three parts.”

  Taneesha met Sam in the hallway. She was looking annoyed.

  “He’s got an attorney,” she said, jerking her head toward the doorway, “His sister arranged it.”

  Sam stepped into the room and saw Jeremy Hayes huddled at the end of the table with Andy Chapman.

  “Better let me ask the questions,” he said to Taneesha. “Looks like we’re wasting our time, but there are still some things I want to know.”

  Jeremy seemed to have Andy’s cooperation when the questioning began. He told Sam that he was only there to advise Andy regarding any questions related to his mother’s death and would recommend that Andy obtain legal counsel from another firm if he needed it after this interview.

  “His sister was concerned that he might not be able to find an attorney this late in the evening,” he said.

  Andy was sullen but cooperative. He said he had gotten the call from Miss Angelica and thought he should go home, but then he changed his mind, because if Sunshine was in trouble, she didn’t need his help, and he thought probably the boxes being taken out were things she was trying to move into the house.”