They were of a much younger June, even younger than me, early twenties maybe. She looked a lot happier, downright cheerful, compared to any time I’d seen her in life. Whatever happened between then and now must have been tragic to turn her into such a sourpuss.
One photo stuck out to me because it was June with a man. She had her arms around him and was kissing his cheek, their body language suggesting a deep intimacy. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make out the man’s features. His face wasn’t fully in frame and the picture was a little blurry.
I sighed because nothing was easy, but what was there to do? I used my phone to take pictures of the photos, then I put them back in the drawer, hoping they didn’t look too disturbed. The rest of the house had nothing of interest, so I decided to head home. Hopefully tomorrow would bring better news.
Chapter Eleven
July 16th
My first day investigating didn’t get me too far, but there were other avenues to explore. I needed to start interviewing everyone involved with the restraining order hearing. Looking over the transcripts, Cindy and Doris both testified to times when Ashley ‘attacked’ June.
They were totally out of character for the sweet woman that I knew.
The busybodies said things like she would slap June, throw gardening tools at her, threaten her bodily. They made Ashley sound like an abusive monster. Clearly, the stories were outright lies. If Houston were a less experienced judge, I could have understood why he might, in haste, mistakenly grant the order. But he obviously had experience and should have been able to see through this amateurish performance. The granting of the order just didn’t make any sense.
I was going to have to speak with Doris and Cindy. I chose to start with Doris because she seemed to be the easier of the two i.e. she seemed like she might be a nice person. I tucked a baggie in my back pocket, leashed up Shortbread and headed over to her house. We both loved how you could walk everywhere in Appleton.
Doris’s house was only a few blocks away from my apartment building. It was a modest, but friendly looking, house that hopefully fit Doris’s personality.
I knocked on the door. Shortbread rested in the crook of my arm, having got tired two blocks ago from tripping over those giant paws. We waited until it opened.
Doris saw my puppy first and smiled broadly.
“My lands!” she exclaimed. “Who is this––”
Then she saw who was holding the bundle of sweetness. She was surprised to see me, but not frightened.
“Oh, hello.”
She wouldn’t fully open the door, blocking entry into her home. She was a bit flustered, clearly unsure what to do with me.
“Hello, Doris. I was hoping to talk to you a little bit. Ask about your testimony at the hearing for Miss June’s order of protection. This is Shortbread.”
Her mouth drew into a thin line as she mulled over allowing me into her house. In the end, she let us in and guided us to the living room. I had a brief chance to look around and nothing stood out. Doris had turned her house into a real home, making it warm and welcoming. We sat on the couches in the living room, a low table separating us. I gathered up the slack on the leash and tried to keep Shortbread in the vicinity of my Adidas.
“Let me get you something to drink.”
She left without waiting for my reply and I patiently waited for her return. I wouldn’t flub this interview up, not like how I did with Anderson or Duggie. Doris would probably be easier to talk to, though. I ran through the questions I wanted to ask and told myself to stay on track.
Doris returned with two cups of tea and some cookies. She placed a mug on the coaster in front of me before taking her seat across from me.
“Thank you.” I blew on it and then took a sip.
Though it was a hot day, the tea was wonderful. It had just the right amount of sugar and had been brewed to perfection. I knew Doris was June’s sister-in-law, but it still surprised me that the two of them hung around one another. Doris was such a lovely lady; she even reminded me of Angeline a little. Why would someone like her, someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, lie in court? Especially for a lady like June?
She drank her tea while I started talking.
“So, you know I’m here to talk about the things that were going on between Miss June and Ashley. I didn’t get a chance to hear about how Ashley attacked June and that was the crux of not only the restraining order, but it helped the police to pin her as a suspect. Could you tell me about that? What did she do to June?”
She put down her mug and nodded, folding her hands in her lap.
“Of course. Um, well…”
She was looking around the room as she tried to find her words, already floundering, so I offered a helping hand.
“Just tell me one of the stories. Maybe the first time Ashley attacked Miss June and we can go from there.”
She twiddled her hands while telling me something from her testimony. Something I remembered reading.
“So, um… June was in her yard and Ashley came out. She went over to talk to her about the property line. Bringing up how it had been awkward, but June just wanted to get everything squared away, you know, clear the air.”
I was trying to look impassive even though I knew this was a fake recount. Biding my time, I’d wait for the right moment to break through to Doris.
“She went to Ashley and things had already been kind of unfriendly between them. When June brought up legal action, Ashley took the gardening tool June had in her hand and threw it at her. Luckily, it missed, but it came very close to hitting her head.”
She was barely looking at me. She tried looking at Shortbread, but no one can lie to that face. Her eyes kept moving from the floor to me and back down.
“No wonder the judge granted the restraining order. If Ashley did that then…what tool did you say she threw at June?”
Her foot started tapping as she blurted out something. “A trowel, those little shovel things?”
“Are you asking me?”
In her testimony, it was kept vague. When it came to legal matters, it was all in the details. Someone should have questioned her more thoroughly. I wondered if Doris was this nervous during the actual hearing. The judge would have to be really dense to not notice. Or he had already made his mind up to rule in June’s favor and so what the witnesses said didn’t matter.
“Um, well, no.”
“So, Ashley must have ripped it out of June’s hands.” Doris nodded. “Or did Ashley bring the garden tool over with her?”
She shifted in her seat, the tapping foot, unyielding.
“What did they say to one another?”
“June said hi, Ashley said hi back. But kind of annoyed. June asked about her day, if she was headed out. I don’t remember where Ashley said she was going, but then June brought up the property line––”
“How did she bring it up?”
Off balance, Doris finally looked directly at me. The method to my madness was to ramp up the questions. Starting off nice and slow with a seemingly obvious thought process but becoming more erratic and fast-paced. Lying requires thinking. It’s easier to remember one thing instead of two and the hope was for Doris to forget the lies.
“Um… Something like, I tried knocking on your door, but you weren’t home. I wanted to talk about the lines separating our property?”
She, again, phrased her answer like a question which probably meant this was a lie she was thinking up on the spot. This was good for me. I motioned for her to continue.
“After that Ashley got really annoyed and told June to get out of her face or she’d make her. June tried to diffuse the situation, but that just made Ashley angrier and she threw the gardening tool at June.”
“That was the shears, right?”
She nodded. “That’s right.” Her first real slip up.
“Oh, wait a sec, I think you said Miss June had a trowel.”
Doris looked to the side nervously, realizing her mistake the moment I
spoke. I felt like a total piece of Shortbread’s business, confusing this sweet lady into telling the truth, but a woman’s freedom was on the line.
Her eyes began watering and I went over to the couch she was sitting on, dropping the leash. Head in hands, she cried for a little bit, expressing things I couldn’t quite make out through the tears. The turn to tears was sudden, but I was unfazed. She was in a delicate place and I knew I was stressing her out, but it needed to be done. I let her cry through it, offering a gentle hand to rub her back.
A little calmer, but still tearful, Doris exclaimed, “Ashley was always nice to me. I don’t know why I did what June told me to. I always did what she wanted.”
She bit her bottom lip, her eyes darting to the side. June must have asked Doris to do a lot of things she didn’t want to do.
“It was easier that way, but I regret not standing up for myself or Ashley.”
It seemed confessing got Doris to finally fully calm down. She gave me a sad smile and I was about to ask her some more questions, but she jumped up excitedly.
“Oh, I want to show you something. Just give me a second.”
She left the living room and I was alone for a few seconds, so I went to look for Shortbread.
I really looked around this time. The aesthetic was very kitsch, but cute. Pictures of her family littered the walls. Doris had a very happy life. And her house was cozy––it reminded me of a knitted blanket. I hoped things would get better for her, she seemed to be someone who let circumstances knock her around instead of taking control.
I found Shortbread in the kitchen, waiting like a little soldier at the fridge door where, if we’d been home, there’d have been puppy treats within. I gathered him up and went back to the sitting room.
She came back not too much time later with what appeared to be a photo album. She opened it up and started pointing out all the people in the pictures. She jumped right into a little spiel, not really explaining why she felt the need to show me all of this.
“We were all so happy then. Everything was simpler. This is me and my brother when we were in elementary school. It was my first year and he made sure I wasn’t scared.”
Even though the picture was over sixty years old, it was easy to tell it was Doris. The boy standing next to her looked as happy as she was. She flipped through a few more photos of her much, much younger years before we got to Doris in her twenties. She was beautiful, radiant, and remined me a little of the picture I found of June and the mystery man.
It was sad to see these women so ground down by life in their different ways. Miss June, rest her soul, had become a bitter old witch. And Doris, despite her age and experience, was so insecure and wishy-washy, she couldn’t help getting caught up in other people schemes. Were they ever like me? Or more to the point: would I ever be like them?
I could tell we’d be perusing the entire album and, even though I had places to be and things to do, I patiently waited for Doris to take me through her mini-town history lesson. I owed her that much for interrogating her to tears. Plus, I kind of liked her. Her perjury at Ashley’s arraignment could cause trouble for her down the road. I wonder if she’d let me represent her?
“Who is that?” I asked, pointing to a man next to one those bulbous 50s automobiles.
“Just an out-of-towner I used to know. He didn’t stay long, but we had fun while he was here.”
The wistfulness in her voice spoke to someone long-lost. Miss June had hinted at an unhappy marriage between Doris and her brother. Maybe he was a part of it. There were a few more pictures of them before we moved on to some of the people about town. I was amazed at how they all knew each other in one way or another. She had pictures of the young mayor.
“He was always a charmer. As a little boy, he would always convince anyone who would listen to give him some candy, not that he needed it.”
And the mayor’s wife Michelle.
“Appleton is named for her family. They used to own that big plantation a bit outside of town. She was always a bit spacy, but a nice girl.”
She talked about some people I didn’t know, then Judge Houston showed up in the book.
“James wasn’t always such a curmudgeon. But things happen, you know?”
No. And I didn’t want to find out unless it was absolutely necessary.
Seeing everyone when they were younger was interesting. It was easy to see them as all frozen in the moment I met them, but Appleton has a lot hidden under its surface, as I was discovering.
We ended on more pictures of June. Her fingers grazed the photo softly.
“June was the prettiest woman in town. I used to be jealous,” she chuckled at the thought. “She had her pick of men and they would go crazy trying to impress her. June wasn’t just beautiful, but back in the day she was a sweet gal. I remember once the boys had a race around the track and in the order they won, was the order they got to ask her to the dance. She turned them all down, one by one, except for Arty who was last.”
I had to giggle at that one. I could imagine June saying no to each boy at her school until the one no one thought would ever get a chance actually got a yes.
“Did she marry around that time?”
Surprisingly, Doris laughed. I wasn’t sure what was funny about my question, but she obviously found it humorous. She didn’t make me wait too long to let me in on the joke.
“She didn’t marry Joseph until much later. I mean, they knew one another in high school, but, for them, things were different. To be honest, I was never really sure if she loved him but she felt safe.”
There was definitely a hidden message in there and I wanted to uncover it.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, she was only able to marry Joseph after she divorced her first husband. It took a long time because he was controlling, and he used to…hurt her. That’s when June changed. She went from cheerful to a bitter shell of her former self. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen,” she sighed.
That explained the change between the photo I saw and the June I met. An abusive partner really does take a toll on a person and it seemed Miss June just broadcasted her misery to everyone.
“She must have loved her first husband to stay with him for so long, even though he was hitting her,” I said.
Even though the June I knew was wholly unlikable, I could feel for the woman she once was. But maybe my assessment had been wrong because Doris shook her head.
“She never loved him, she was just never good at keeping her legs closed.”
At her admission, Doris grew a deep shade of red and covered her mouth. She was spilling all kinds of secrets today and they were revealing the layers of this mystery.
I knew I had to be delicate if I wanted Doris to keep talking.
I thought about my words carefully before saying, “Don’t worry, Doris. I’m not going to judge you or her. I just want to find out what happened to Miss June. Could you explain what you meant by that?”
She slowly took her hands from her mouth and the red of her face softened. Twisting her mouth, she continued with what she was saying.
“The only reason June married him was because she got pregnant with Cindy and she didn’t want what happened last time to happen again. She just couldn’t go through with it twice.”
Last time?
“What do you mean by—”
Before I could keep our conversation going, Doris slammed the album shut, breaking me out of whatever mood we were in. It felt like that was the last time she’d reveal any secret to me.
She started nervously explaining, “Oh, goodness, look at the time. I’ve must be keeping you and Shortbread from something important. I’m so sorry. So rude of me.”
She was moving me closer to the door and I had to grab all my stuff before she hustled me out.
I tried to ask one last time about her vague wording, “I just have one more question.”
But Doris was talking a mile a minute trying to get m
e out of her house. While words were spilling out of her mouth, none of them were what I needed to hear. She got me to the door and with a quick “Goodbye,” I was thrown out.
I didn’t get all the answers I wanted, but my meeting with Doris was illuminating. There would be a lot more direction in terms of what I’d be looking for. While the investigation was slow moving, at least it was moving.
Chapter Twelve
July 16th 12:35pm
After getting thrown out of Doris’s house, I decided to go get my car and pay a visit to Cindy. Maybe she would know something. She would definitely be harder to crack than Doris. Cindy had a lot of her mom’s personality, meaning she was a tough cookie.
Again, I took Shortbread with me, like a puppy-shield, to the porch of Cindy’s house and knocked on the door, but no one answered. I tried a few times, but it didn’t take me too long to accept that no one was there. Since I didn’t know how long she would be and I didn’t think waiting around for her was a good idea.
Everything Doris said to me was still rattling in my head, so my next idea was to go back to the scene of the crime and look for more clues. Maybe now that I knew what I was looking for, it would be easier to find. Plus, it was daylight, so it would be easier to look around. There were so many hidden currents in town and I couldn’t even jump in to figure out what was going on.
I arrived back at the crime scene and I was surprised to see a black SUV parked in the front of the house. It didn’t look like anything from the Sherriff’s office which meant someone else was inside. I headed up the walk and knocked on the door. Shortbread, on his leash, sniffed the grass.
Once again, to my surprise, Cindy answered. Clearly, she was not happy to see me. She wasn’t even happy to see Shortbread because her face morphed into a scowl when she noticed him. I don’t think I’d seen her smile since meeting her. I didn’t want to cause a confrontation, so I became as pleasant as possible and asked.
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