A Finder's Fee

by Joyce

  It couldn’t be true. I’d known La Donna all of my life. She couldn’t kill anyone. She was hysterical and only said whatever she thought was going to close down the argument that was ruining the council meeting.

  Chief Michaels scooped his nearly incoherent sister into his arms and strode out of the meeting room with her. No one got up or said anything after that, including Pam, who had a look of total bewilderment on her face.

  I asked Councilman Efird to make a motion to continue the meeting at another time. Nancy asked for a date, and I glared at her. “We’ll announce that later, thanks.”

  I knew she liked to have everything neat and tidy for her records, but I didn’t think this was the time to worry about it. It was all I could do not to run out after the chief and La Donna to try and protect her from the things she’d said.

  She didn’t mean it. She was overwrought by all the anxiety. She couldn’t kill anyone. We’d find out what she was talking about as soon as we could get out of the meeting room. It would all be explained.

  I dismissed the meeting and headed for the door, feeling like a porpoise leaping and diving over the slower-moving people in front of me. A few of those people tried to stop me and talk. My focus went past them, ignoring them, until I found myself outside in the parking lot.

  I saw the chief get into his SUV, La Donna in the passenger side. The door closed, and the vehicle left, headed away from their homes.

  I looked around to see if anyone else was going. All I had at hand was Gramps’s golf cart. It was raining and people scurried to their cars and trucks. No one seemed intent on going with La Donna and the chief.

  Kevin put his hand on my shoulder, and I jumped. “Are you okay?”

  “No. Do you have your pickup here?”

  “Sure, but—”

  “Let’s go.”

  We climbed in his pickup and Gramps pushed me in the middle as he got in behind me. “Ronnie said they’re on their way to the hospital.”

  Kevin turned the key, stepped on the gas, and we were gone.

  “What happened?” Kevin kept his eyes on the road. “Did she have a nervous breakdown? Why did she start yelling about killing Joe?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she was trying to take the burden away from Mad Dog.” I didn’t know what to say. “She wasn’t herself this evening. Maybe she’s ill.”

  It was the only conversation we had between Duck and Kill Devil Hills when we reached the hospital. We jumped out and ran inside, hoping there would be some word on her condition. We met Chief Michaels in the emergency room.

  “I don’t know anything yet.” He took off his hat and smoothed his black hair back from his anxious face. “She kept repeating it all the way here. I don’t know what she’s talking about. I know she didn’t kill Joe. We all know La Donna could never do such a thing.”

  We huddled together in the waiting room on the god-awful orange and green plastic chairs. The nurse told us there was coffee on the sideboard. No one had any idea how long it was going to take to figure out what was wrong with La Donna.

  “She’s been real depressed about this thing with Mad Dog.” Chief Michaels held an untouched cup of coffee I’d made for him. “Sometimes she takes things to heart, you know? I’m always teasing her about being such a softy.”

  “I’m sure she couldn’t take that disruption at the meeting.” Gramps was sympathetic. “That woman won’t wash a spider down her bathtub drain. You know she didn’t kill Joe, or anyone else.”

  I went back to get Gramps a cup of coffee too. Kevin came up behind me and stood there, shielding us from the two of them.

  “You know I like La Donna, right?” he whispered. “And you know I like and respect Ronnie. Dae, this is the perfect storm. We’ve already been asking questions about Ronnie’s badge. You know La Donna was one of Joe’s groupies. The only question I’d need to ask in this scenario—if she killed Joe—who buried him?”

  “That’s crazy.” I made sure the chief couldn’t hear the conversation. “They didn’t double-team Lightning Joe. That didn’t happen.”

  “You were okay accusing the chief of losing his badge at the crime scene. You said you thought a woman was involved and a deputy threatened Joe before he died. Do you see a pattern here or are you too close to admit it?”

  “Not now.” What he’d said made too much sense to me. I was heartsick with it. “We’ll have to talk later.”

  Chapter 24

  The doctor came out a short time later and told us they were admitting La Donna. “She’s severely dehydrated and exhausted. Do you know if she’s been eating the last few days? She’s going to need a complete workup to help determine the problem.”

  Chief Michaels tried to answer his questions as best he could. He seemed so distracted that it was hard for him to concentrate.

  La Donna’s husband, Chad, had died a few years back. They had no children and she lived alone. Gramps asked if Ronnie should call their mother and let her know. He wasn’t keen on that idea, at least not until they knew something definite. “No point in kicking that hornet’s nest.”

  As they talked about their family, I thought about Marjory, Chief Michaels’s wife, and gave her a call to let her know what was going on. She thanked me and said she’d be at the hospital as quickly as possible.

  The doctor told Chief Michaels he could wait upstairs in La Donna’s room while she was admitted. He told us to go home and come back tomorrow during visiting hours. They might know something more about her breakdown in the morning.

  We decided to leave. Gramps and Kevin shook Chief Michaels’s hand, and Gramps clapped him on the shoulder. It was weird, but I hugged Chief Michaels (and he let me) and told him to call the minute he knew anything else about La Donna.

  I wanted to do something more. “Marjory is on her way. Do you need anything done at home? What about La Donna’s cat?”

  “Thanks for thinking of that, Dae,” Chief Michaels said. “Marjory will take care of that.”

  “All right. Have Marjory call if you need me.”

  I hugged him again for good measure and hoped some of it would rub off on La Donna. I wished I’d had a chance to say something to her. What good were my abilities when I couldn’t tell that a dear old friend was about to fall apart?

  It was probably the dehydration and not eating that had made her think she’d killed Joe. It had to be a shock to her when we found her teen idol in the car. Even more of a shock when she heard that Mad Dog was responsible.

  She’d be in good shape again in no time. We’d all look back on this as something strange that happened. She’d come home, and everything would be fine.

  Gramps, Kevin and I went out to the pickup and left the hospital in silence. I was thinking over everything that had happened that night. I knew Gramps probably was too.

  I was worried about what Kevin was thinking after his remark in the hospital. I hoped he wouldn’t bring up his theory about La Donna again on the way home. I clenched my hands nervously in my raincoat pockets, hoping for once that I’d think hard enough about something to prevent it from happening. It had never happened before, but it was worth a try. It would be great if Kevin and I had a stronger psychic bond. He’d had that bond with Ann when they were engaged.

  I didn’t want to know what Gramps’s response would be to Kevin practically accusing La Donna and Chief Michaels of killing Joe. I didn’t allow for a lawman’s train of thought.

  “Well, isn’t anyone else going to say it?” Gramps asked.

  “Say what?” I darted a murderous glance at Kevin that I wasn’t sure he could see inside the darkened pickup.

  “La Donna has confessed to killing Lightning Joe. I talked to Ronnie today about losing his badge. He didn’t know what happened to it and refused to talk about where he was the night after Mad Dog’s wreck.”

  “I thought the same thing, Horace.”
Kevin’s voice was pained.

  I nudged them both in the sides with my elbows. “This is no time to think of that. Gramps, you were so sure Chief Michaels couldn’t do anything like this. What happened?”

  “I told you that people are capable of doing crazy things when the need arises,” he replied.

  Kevin nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Just listen to the two of you,” I complained. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. La Donna is overwrought, not to mention all those other things the doctor said. It’s a coincidence that we were looking into Chief Michaels’s badge.”

  “I don’t like coincidences,” Kevin said. “They usually end up having some strings that were left untied.”

  “He’s right.” Gramps was as pragmatic as Kevin. “Dae, don’t think I like this any more than you do. You’re the one who’s so sure that Mad Dog isn’t guilty. Someone killed Joe. You said it was someone with a woman in their life that they were trying to protect. La Donna was crazy about Joe. If she killed him and called Ronnie, what do you think he’d do?”

  This would be a good place to fade away and let Maggie rattle on about anything in her head. One problem—I couldn’t feel her inside of me at all. “I don’t want to think about this. Let’s at least not pronounce sentence on them until we find out all the facts.”

  Gramps and Kevin both shrugged. I wished this had come from Tuck Riley. At least I’d be able to understand how he could be so calm and objective about it. Gramps and Kevin were infuriating.

  Kevin stopped to let Gramps out to retrieve the golf cart at the Duck Shoppes parking lot. I stayed in the pickup. Not that it mattered. I was already soaking wet.

  “There can always be mitigating circumstances.” Kevin followed Gramps to the house. “If you called me to come and bury a body, do you think I’d pick up the phone and call the police?”

  “I don’t know. I understand what you’re saying. I’d feel the same way about you. I can’t take it all in right now. I refuse to believe La Donna was that much different forty years ago because she adored a race car driver.”

  Kevin pulled the pickup into the driveway, stopping fast when Mad Dog’s face was picked out by the headlights. He was standing there in the rain with his hand on his cane, insolently glaring at Kevin, as though daring the pickup to hit him.

  Gramps had pulled to the side abruptly and left the golf cart where he stopped. “What the hell are you doing out here? You could’ve been killed. This is why God created telephones, you idiot. If you wanted to know what was going on, you could’ve called.”

  Mad Dog didn’t look at all sorry for scaring us to death. “Is it true? Did La Donna kill Joe? Is it over?”

  “I’m not standing out here talking to you in the rain.” Gramps started toward the house. “Come inside like a civilized person or go home.”

  Kevin and I exchanged glances as we got out of the pickup. “I didn’t know Horace could talk like that.”

  “Use your imagination.” I walked toward the house at a fast clip. “He was the county sheriff for twenty years.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  Gramps disappeared to change his wet clothes. I put on some coffee then excused myself to change when he came into the kitchen.

  “I might have something you can put on, Kevin.” Gramps still sounded a little cranky. “Nothing for you to wear, Randal, but you’re welcome to a hot cup of coffee.”

  Gramps got the clothes out of the dryer for Kevin while I found the muffins he’d brought home from the firehouse bake sale yesterday. I found a towel for Mad Dog. It was the least I could do.

  He sat down with his cane in front of him, his bad leg out to one side. Just thinking about the accident that had done that damage made me wince.

  “You haven’t answered my question yet, Horace.” Mad Dog pushed his luck. “Is it over? Did La Donna kill Joe?”

  Before anyone could speak, there was a knock on the front door. I went to answer and found Sheriff Tuck Riley on the step.

  “Hello, Dae. Heard you all had some fireworks out here tonight. Is that coffee I smell?”

  “Sure. Come inside.” He was already walking past me and into the kitchen. It appeared as though it was going to be a late night.

  Everyone sat around the table with mugs of coffee as they talked about what had happened to La Donna.

  I didn’t want to listen, but I wanted to know what they were thinking. I could imagine that news was already traveling through Duck about La Donna’s confession. By morning, as many people who were sure that Mad Dog had killed Joe would believe that La Donna had done it.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if those same people would also tie Chief Michaels to the murder. Everyone knew how close he and La Donna were. It seemed horribly possible.

  “Quit teasing, Horace! Was there anything to what Mrs. Nelson said at the meeting or not?” Tuck got down to the real question between bites of blueberry muffin.

  “I don’t know,” Gramps said. “She wasn’t herself. How can we count anything she said as gospel?”

  Tuck looked at Kevin. “You got any ideas, Brickman?”

  Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know La Donna well enough to say.”

  Tuck sat back in his chair, obviously frustrated by their answers. He glanced uneasily at Mad Dog. “I don’t know why you’re even here, Mr. Wilson. This doesn’t change a thing for you yet.”

  “Maybe it has.” Mad Dog stared at him defiantly. “Maybe La Donna killed Joe. And I do know her that well. What’s that everyone’s been saying about me? Maybe she just lost it.”

  “Let’s say she did.” Tuck warmed up to his theory. “How’d she get the car in the ground with the body in it? You”—he pointed at Mad Dog—“I can see you using a backhoe to do the deed. I don’t see a young girl knowing how, or carrying it out.”

  Gramps swallowed hard and looked at Kevin.

  “What’s up?” Tuck intercepted that look. “What are you all thinking? Do you think someone helped her?”

  Tuck Riley’s good-old-boy act was mostly a ruse. He wasn’t slow-witted. It only took him a moment to put it together—even without knowing about the badge I’d found.

  “Of course.” He brought his hand down dramatically on the table. “Ronnie! He’s her brother. Who else would she call?”

  “Her parents were alive.” I wanted to muddy the water. “What about a cousin or uncle? And she was probably already seeing Chad. Maybe he came when she called and buried the body for her. I’m sure there are other possibilities too.”

  “What’s your point?” Tuck asked. “Are you saying that Ronnie didn’t do it? Do you have some word from the beyond that confirms your conclusion?”

  “I’m saying that all of you are assuming that La Donna killed Joe then called her brother to take care of the problem. You don’t have any proof besides her crazy confession.”

  “They have less than that on me, but that hasn’t stopped them,” Mad Dog complained.

  Gramps gave me his “you’ve said enough” look. “First of all, no one is accusing anyone of anything. This is only speculation.”

  Mad Dog puffed out his chest. “They not only accused me on less, Horace, they put me in jail.”

  “I’m talking about La Donna here, Randal,” Gramps said. “Something snapped in her tonight. We have to wait until we find out what happened.”

  “I don’t have to wait.” Tuck not-so-subtly reminded them that he was the sheriff. “As soon as she wakes up, I’m going to question her.”

  “That gives Mr. Wilson’s attorney grounds to ask for a dismissal.” Kevin pointed out the legal ramifications. “Either he’s your suspect or not.”

  “Whose side are you on anyway, Brickman?” Mad Dog demanded.

  “No, he’s right.” Tuck played with his coffee cup. “Mrs. Nelson will have to answer some questions after dozens of peopl
e heard her confession.”

  The matter seemed to be settled, and the group began to break up. Kevin offered to drive Mad Dog home. Tuck said he’d keep in touch, and Gramps did his best to stand in front of the giant sticky notes we’d forgotten were on the wall.

  When everyone was gone, we locked the door and turned off the light outside. Gramps leaned against the door. He looked tired and not as animated as usual.

  “It’s a bad business when friends are in trouble with the law. I’m glad I’m not sheriff right now. Tuck can have this whole mess.”

  “I know what you mean. I wouldn’t want to have to decide if La Donna or Mad Dog killed Joe. I’m sorry I caused all of this by digging up the car. Sometimes I don’t find exactly what I’m looking for, or what I want.”

  Gramps laughed and hugged me. “Isn’t that the truth? You remember that time when you were about eight and you insisted on digging for something in the backyard. You were sure it was pirate treasure.”

  “I remember.”

  “There wasn’t any treasure there—just some old fish heads I’d buried the day before. It was a while before you dug up anything else.”

  I smiled. “I wish this was as easy to fix. Good night, Gramps. I hope another alternative to Lightning Joe’s death comes up.”

  “I hope so too, honey. Joe didn’t get in that car and bury himself. Whoever is responsible—their lives will be ruined after all these years they’d thought they got away with it.”

  I understood what he was saying about someone having to pay for the crime. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I hoped it wasn’t someone I knew.

  • • •

  The next morning, word was all over town that Mad Dog might be innocent of Joe’s death. Even the media had picked up on it and were at the hospital, waiting to hear whether or not La Donna’s outburst had been a true confession.

  The phone rang as I was leaving to go to Missing Pieces. It was Pam Walsh wanting to know if she could meet with me again. I invited her to the shop for tea.

  I was fairly sure she wanted to talk about the possible new developments after her outburst had triggered the chaos that had ended the town council meeting. I found out I was right after she got to the shop.