Ax to Grind

by Tonya Kappes

  “Imposter,” I read the word that was written across the top in red, dripping down as though Beryle had tried to make it look like blood.

  “What’s it of?” Poppa’s eye squinted, and his nose curled up like something smelled really bad.

  “I can’t tell.” Both of our heads tilted to the left and the right trying to figure out just what was on the canvas beside the word “imposter” and Beryle’s signature on the bottom left corner.

  “It’s some sort of billowy wave.” Poppa’s head was nearly sideways, his ear stuck on his shoulder. “This isn’t anything like what she painted before.”

  “What did she paint before?” I asked, standing up. Maybe a different angle would make something come into focus.

  “Flowers. Fields. Happy faces.” Poppa pushed himself up to standing. “Nothing this disturbing.”

  The flowy-looking thing was wispy, with deep black and maroon as the focus colors. The top of it was a light brown and shaped in curlicues as it hung down the flowy image. In the middle of the flowy design were two identical oval green shapes a couple of inches apart and a black round hole underneath them. The flowy design ended about three inches above the bottom of the painting, which had been faded into what looked like abstract book covers, which would make sense since she was a writer.

  “I get the books, but the shapes? Is it a figure?” I took a step back and looked harder, deeper.

  “Maybe it’s a character from one of her books and that’s why people are trying to get their hands on it.” Poppa posed a really good point.

  “Okay, maybe. But what is so important about this car that would make Cecily swallow the key?”

  My phone rang again.

  “I better see who’s trying to get in touch with me.” I reached in my pocket and took out my phone. It was Finn. “Hey.” I couldn’t wait to tell him about the key.

  “You aren’t going to believe this.” He sounded out of breath. “Someone took Paige Lemar right out of the hospital.”

  “What?” I gulped. “What?” I asked again.

  “Paige Lemar is missing. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m in the process of getting the hospital video. All I know is that the reserve officer called and told me. I figured he was mistaken, so I rushed back over there. The nursing staff can’t find her, and Lonnie is gone too.” He talked so fast my head was spinning. The beeps of equipment and voices in the background told me he was near the nurses’ station.

  “Did Camille discharge her?” I took my phone from my ear and hit the speaker button. Maybe one of the calls I’d missed was from Camille, since she said she’d call me when she was about to discharge Paige. But no, all three were from Finn.

  “No. The nurses said that Dr. Shively had said that she was going to start the discharge paperwork tonight, but not this early because they were going to get some blood results back from the lab to make sure she was still stable. Listen, once I’m done here I’ll head to their house to see what’s going on. Lonnie’s car isn’t here.”

  “Then he probably broke her out. But before you go, I found out the key goes to an old model MG car I found in Beryle’s barn,” I said.

  “You found?” Poppa’s jaw dropped. He jabbed his chest. “I found it.”

  “I’m going to finish going through the car to see if there’s anything in it that’d make Cecily Hoover want to swallow the key.” I looked back down at the painting, not telling him about it since it didn’t seem important. “Any news on Sterling Stinnett?”

  “Nothing. It’s like he vanished.” Finn’s voice faded off. “Let me get out there and I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay. Bye.” I clicked off the speaker and hit the end button before I put the phone back in my pocket.

  “Why would Lonnie take Paige out of the hospital?” Poppa asked. As if I knew the answer.

  I shined the flashlight all over the inside of the car and patted my hands under the seats.

  “I have no idea. More importantly, why would Cecily swallow this key?” I asked and dragged my eyes down the car. “What secrets are you hiding?” I patted the car. “And where did Sterling vanish to?”

  The same key opened the tiny trunk. There was nothing in it. I felt around to see if there was a secret compartment where a tire was kept, but there wasn’t anything. I made my way over to the passenger side of the car and did the same routine. The glovebox had the owner’s manual in it but nothing else.

  The rain that accompanied the thunder and lightning began to beat down on the old barn. Trickles of water were coming from the loft where the rain was getting in the sunken roof. The sky had completely given into the dark gray afternoon storm, making it even harder for me to see.

  “I think we’ve looked through the car as much as we can in the darkness. I’ll give Mr. Graves a call and see if he can get his tow company over here so we can get a good look at it in the daylight. I’m marking it as evidence, along with all the photos I’ve taken.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The rain beat down on the pavement so hard, I could see the raindrops explode.

  “Where are we going?” Poppa asked.

  “I’m going to head on over to Graves Towing to see if I can get him over to the Stone estate quick.”

  “I thought you were going to call them?” Poppa asked.

  “I’d rather drive. It helps me think.” I kept my eyes on the road and my hands on the wheel.

  “It also gives us time to talk some things through without being disturbed.” Poppa rubbed his hands together.

  This was one of our favorite things to do together when he was among the living. I had fond memories of us discussing his cases, sitting at the kitchen table in the house I lived in now. He’d have a steamy cup of coffee, and I would have a big mug of hot chocolate with a pile of marshmallows on top. It was like a game to me, a puzzle of sorts. Throwing out ideas of what could’ve happened sometimes turned into great leads. As I got older, I began to take our clue games more serious, and eventually, I decided to go into law enforcement, which sent Mama straight over the edge without a rope to cling to.

  In fact, Mama took to the bed. The Sweet Adelines took turns visiting her and enticing her with her favorite dishes, but she insisted nothing was going to help her come to terms with the fact that her only daughter was out to sabotage her dreams of me taking over the ladies groups, sitting around doing our nails, and god knew whatever else the women in Cottonwood did with their time.

  “Here is what we know.” I gripped the wheel, careful not to take the curvy turns back into town too sharply because the fallen leaves got slippery when they were wet. And today had turned out to be a gully washer. “Which isn’t much.” I let out a long unhappy sigh. “Okay, Beryle Stone’s assistant claimed there was a tell-all manuscript already contracted with a publisher. Apparently, Beryle had many secrets.”

  “One, Hattie is her sister, and she’s been paying for her this whole time.” Poppa held up his finger. “Two, Paige Lemar worked for Beryle all those years as her housekeeper, and when Beryle moved after her fame took off, she made a deal with Darby to keep Paige on at the Inn, but in charge of Hattie and her needs.”

  “Don’t forget Darby, though I’m not entirely certain that I think she’s the murderer. But I did see her arguing with Cecily, and she’d have an inherent reason to make sure the money kept coming in.” I hated to bring up the fact that maybe Darby’s good deed of keeping Hattie in the Inn all these years turned into a misunderstanding, leading to a fight, and then to death. “Which is what Preacher Bing was in charge of.”

  “Yes, he was in charge of Hattie’s fund. There has to be more to it. Beryle wouldn’t have been so embarrassed about her sister being alive. There has to be more to this than keeping Hattie a secret.” Poppa looked out the window of the Jeep as we headed into town. Graves Towing was on the north side, past Lulu’s Boutique. “I have a
suspicious feeling that Beryle knew something was about to go down.”

  “Why do you say that?” I questioned, driving straight down Main Street.

  The downpour of rain didn’t seem to hinder tourists from visiting the shops along Main Street. I’d also noticed the store owners had put out some specials, using the estate sale to their benefit.

  “I find it interesting that there’s this tell-all that no one can find. Beryle wasn’t one to hide things. She was very open and free-spirited.” Poppa craned his neck as we passed through town, looking at all the people.

  “She wasn’t open about Hattie. Maybe it was because she had a busy schedule. Then she came down with cancer, so maybe she figured why let it out now,” I said. “That’s a huge secret. It might taint her squeaky-clean image. Still, why would someone kill Cecily?”

  “There has to be more about Hattie. Something that doesn’t make sense, because you’re right. She did keep it a secret for a long time, since she found out right after her father died.” He pointed across my body and out the window. “Isn’t that the Jenny girl from the Inn?”

  My foot let up off the gas pedal and I coasted by, looking at Jenny. She was standing on the porch of Lulu’s Boutique with Lulu McClain. They were gabbing away, and it piqued my curiosity.

  Enough so that I jerked the wheel to the left and decided to stop. I pulled up behind Jolee’s On The Run food truck, which would make for a good cover to stop and check out the scene.

  “Have you heard back from Betty yet about Jenny’s background?” Poppa asked.

  “Not a word.” I pushed in the button of the walkie-talkie and noticed they’d watched me pull up. “Betty?”

  “Go ahead, Sheriff,” Betty answered back.

  “Have you gotten the background check on Jenny?” I asked.

  “I got something back a couple of minutes ago and was just going over it. She’s just a kid from Kentucky. Graduated high school. Worked at the dental office. That’s about it. There’s no arrest record, no record of her living any other place than the foothills of Kentucky.” Betty clicked off the radio.

  “So that seems to clear her of anything out of the ordinary. Unless we do some kind of intensive background check with her and Beryle.” Doubt that Jenny had anything to do with Cecily and Beryle Stone set in. “She just seems like a young girl trying to find her way.”

  “I knew a girl like that once.” Poppa gave me a sympathetic smile. “Look at her now.”

  “Thanks, Poppa.” A lump formed in my throat. Though I loved being with the ghost of my poppa, it wasn’t exactly like having the living Poppa.

  I got out of the car and gave a wave before I knocked on the side door of On The Run. It seemed like the thing to do since I didn’t want it to be so obvious that I’d just stalked a probably innocent girl.

  “Kenni,” Jolee greeted me and waved me in. “Get out of that rain. I was cleaning up and getting ready to pull on out.”

  The truck was so cute. She’d done such a great job. The inside was just like a kitchen you’d see in a restaurant, only Jolee used pink pans. The motif was light green and pink, and when she rolled out the awning, it was striped in the same colors and had a picture of her truck on it with the name.

  She wiped her hands down her food-covered apron.

  “I’ve got some leftover stew. How about a bowl?” she asked.

  “That’d be great.” I rubbed my hands together realizing that I was hungry. I sat down on a stool and realized just how much of a toll this investigation had on my mental health and how much I missed my girlfriends. It wasn’t like they needed to know all the clues or even any clues; it was the sounding board that I missed. The interactions with just girl things during investigations.

  “This case has really got me stumped,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah.” She took the lid off the steaming pot and used the ladle to scoop and pour the stew into a bowl. “I think it’s some crazy fan of Beryle’s. Maybe Cecily was rude to the fan and now that Beryle’s dead, they are seeking revenge. Or they thought Cecily killed Beryle.”

  “And that’s why you’re a chef and I’m the sheriff.” I laughed out loud at Jolee’s crazy idea. I wished it was that easy to solve. “I needed that.”

  “Good. I’m glad to see you smile.” She set the bowl down in front of me. “You’re going to love it.” She pushed a piece of French bread across the counter.

  “What are you doing tonight?” I asked. “Maybe we can go to Luke’s and see a movie. He loves playing those scary ones. Right now, I could use some fattening popcorn and a Diet Coke.”

  “I’m working.” She stood over the sink and washed the dishes up.

  “Working?” I asked. “Party on a weeknight?”

  It wasn’t unusual for people to hire Jolee to bring her truck to their homes or businesses for parties. The bridal parties had really gotten big.

  “Mmm-hmm,” she sing-songed above the running water.

  I looked at her. She glanced up at me and quickly looked away.

  “What is it?” I asked. “I’ve known you all my life. We’re closer than sisters. Something is going on.”

  “No,” she tsk’d and slowly shook her head with a scrunched-up nose.

  “Yes.” I nodded. “What is it?” I asked as her cell phone rang right next to me.

  “I got it!” she yelled and leapt across the tiny interior of the truck with her hand jutted out, covered in soap suds.

  I grabbed the phone when I noticed Ben’s smiling photo pop up and held it over my head.

  “Ben Harrison?” I asked with a smile.

  She jumped for the phone and grabbed it out of my hands.

  “You have a date tonight with Ben!” I gasped. My eyes popped open. “You weren’t going to tell me?” I pointed at her.

  “Shhh.” She put a finger up to her mouth and curled her head away from me. “Hello?” she answered in a voice she never used when I called her. “Can I call you back?” she asked and said a few mmhmms, yeses, and okays before she hung up.

  “You are something else,” I said. “I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me.”

  “We’re just testing the waters. You’ve been so busy that I didn’t want to put something else on your plate.” She shrugged. She picked up a dishtowel and started to dry the pans. “And we are working. I’m going to show him how to make my famous wilted lettuce.”

  “You don’t have to sugarcoat your date with me. I’m just happy you two have finally realized what everyone else around town sees.” I couldn’t believe it. It was finally happening. My two good friends, together at last.

  “What?” She drew back as though I’d insulted her.

  “That you two do have chemistry outside of your jobs. Everyone sees it,” I said, taking a bite of the bread.

  “You mean like how everyone sees the chemistry between you and Finn Vincent, but y’all don’t?” She stuck her hands on her hips.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jolee sure did have a good comeback after I’d caught her about her secret little rendezvous with Ben Harrison, which made me happy since I knew they were perfect for each other.

  “Hey there.” As I left the food truck, I put the feelings that Jolee had stirred in me about Finn Vincent aside and walked up to Lulu and Jenny. “Did y’all get your afternoon cup of coffee?”

  “I did earlier.” Lulu smiled. “Jenny here tells me that you’ve been out at the Inn.” Lulu put her hand on Jenny’s back.

  My eyes lowered to Jenny’s face. She reddened from the forehead down to her neck. No, don’t become one of those henny-hens, I wanted to scream, but I put on a thin smile.

  “Anyways,” Lulu waved her hand in front of me, “I did give her a Re-elect Lowry pin from your mama after she signed my new lease.”

  “New lease?” I asked.

  “Deputy Vincent has d
ecided to keep Cosmo, and I just can’t have a cat in the apartment over the shop. Some of my customers are allergic to cats and the air ducts are connected, so I’m scared the cat hair will float around. I can’t afford to lose any customers.” She shook her head. “It’s a shame too. I did love going to get my rent every month.” She winked. “I timed it perfectly. If I showed up there around six a.m., Finn would answer the door with his jeans on, his hair wet,” an evil grin tipped up her lips, her shoulders rose to her ears, and she gingerly closed her eyes, “and shirtless.”

  Her eyes snapped back open.

  “But you know all that.” Her button nose crunched. “At least that’s what I’d heard.”

  “No.” I laughed it off. “We’re just partners.”

  “Yes.” She wiggled her brows.

  “Seriously, work partners,” I insisted.

  “Yes, dear.” She gave me the ultimate “bless your heart” without actually saying it. She agreed in the demeaning way that only an elder could get away with. “Of course you are. And I also hear that he’s looking at buying a house next to you.”

  There she went again with that smile. I glared.

  “I’m not sure. We don’t discuss our personal lives outside of the office.” I sucked in a deep breath and turned to Jenny. “So you’re planning on staying a while?”

  “I am. I like the Inn. I wasn’t sure I’d like cleaning, but it’s not bad and there’s not too many rooms,” she spoke with a soft voice. “I’m busy now, but from what I hear it’s just because of the estate sale, and we usually aren’t that full.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Lulu hurried up into the boutique after the phone started to ring.

  “I’m glad you are staying.” I nodded. “And living here will be a lot of fun. I hope you decide to come to a craft night.”

  “Lulu was telling me about it. I think I’d like to come.” She glanced over my shoulder, watching Jolee’s truck drive off. “Tonight I’m going to the council meeting. This is a nice small town. Not that where I came from was huge, but everyone there’s known me all my life, and there weren’t many men there.”