A Valley to Die For

by Radine Trees Nehring

  The large round table had five places set, and the red and white checked cloth was almost hidden under dishes filled with food. There was a beef pot roast with carrots and potatoes, and Carrie also saw applesauce and a big bowl of cabbage slaw. As Henry had said, it sure wasn’t TV dinners. Carrie thought of last night’s meal, her Hungry HE-MAN Roast Beef Dinner, and started to laugh. Even the smell of this food made her giddy.

  Whether she understood or not, Shirley smiled while adding a large bowl of gravy and a plate of biscuits to the loaded table, then she called the men. As she went to her chair, she gave Carrie a pat, saying, “We’ll talk later, but let’s enjoy this meal without thinking about problems.”

  Shirley directed Jason and Henry to chairs on either side of Carrie, and when they were settled, Roger bowed his head. His blessing ended by asking comfort for those in sorrow and included “those present around this table and all them who are absent.”

  Carrie added her own “Amen” after he had finished.

  Conversation centered on everyone’s children and, in Jason’s case, on the new grandson in Ohio. Carrie wondered if Henry was thinking about Susan and baby Johnny. She learned that only one of the Booths’ children was married, their oldest daughter, and that both Roger and Shirley were hoping at least one of their sons would eventually return to Walden Valley and take over the dairy farm.

  “It’s a shame to have to hire help when we have two grown sons,” Roger said, “but young folks today gotta try things out before they settle to the real world. Times past, they’d have stayed on at the farm or lived nearby.”

  “Now, Roger,” his wife said gently, “you don’t know that. They’re good boys, and if it’s right for any of ‘em to come back, they will. If not, well, we’ll just sell out someday and move into town.”

  Silence fell on the group. Carrie supposed all of them were thinking about how things changed as people got older.

  Roger broke the silence from his chair, which faced the window. “Sure is a peculiar amount of traffic on the road since we sat. I ain’t been countin’, but there’s been lots of headlights out there. Wonder what’s up?”

  Everyone turned to stare into the darkness just as a car zoomed past, lights flashing across its top. Even at a distance they could see the bounce of the lights as the car hit bumps and rocks. If there was a siren, which Carrie doubted since even the flashing lights seemed ridiculous on the little-traveled road, they could hear nothing inside the house.

  “Seems to be headed toward the old deserted farm,” Roger said.

  Shirley stood up. “Well, it’s none of our business, not yet, anyway. Let’s move to the living room. I’ll bring along coffee and cookies, I didn’t make a fancy dessert.”

  “Cookies are my favorite dessert,” Henry said as chairs scraped back on the worn vinyl floor.

  Carrie decided she’d bake cookies as soon as she had time. Susan would probably enjoy them, and she could share a few with Henry.

  “Well,” Jason said when they were settled in a comfortable half-circle around the fireplace. “So how much does anyone know for sure, and what has the sheriff found out? Seems impossible someone could really kill JoAnne unless it was a hunting accident after all.”

  Everyone looked at Carrie. She cleared her throat. Here goes, she thought.

  “This is what I know, and maybe Henry can add something since he’s spoken with the detectives, too.” She looked around at the group. “Have they talked to any of the rest of you yet?”

  Jason, Shirley, and Roger all shook their heads.

  Carrie explained minimum details of finding JoAnne’s body and told about going to JoAnne’s house “to take care of the cat.” She didn’t mention that the house had been searched carefully on Sunday morning before she got there, but only described the mess she and Detective Taylor and Sheriff Storm had found on Sunday afternoon. She said that, so far as she knew, the only thing missing was JoAnne’s address book. She didn’t add she’d missed it on Saturday.

  She took a deep breath and went on. “They did tell me a couple of things they’ve found out. One of them is very important. JoAnne never went to any meeting with the State Environmental Commission. No one there had ever talked with JoAnne or even heard of her.” She stopped and looked around again. She certainly had their attention.

  “But,” Jason said, “why? Well, what—” He sputtered to a stop.

  Roger studied Carrie’s face for a moment, and then he spoke, his words coming slowly as they followed his thoughts. “Didn’t you tell us JoAnne was pleased and excited about somethin’ when she talked to you Friday night? When the cat caused a mess, didn’t she say she’d save the surprise fer Saturday’s meeting? And wasn’t it your thinkin’, Carrie, that maybe she had some good news about the quarry?”

  “Yes.”

  “Any hint about what it might have been?”

  “None at all. She certainly acted like she’d have some good news for us at the meeting, though.”

  “Well, then, ain’t it likely she’d found out somethin’? She’d got ahold of somethin’ that she thought was big enough to stop the quarry and was gonna tell us all on Saturday. Wouldn’t it be likely she didn’t go see the environmental folks because she didn’t think she needed to? And what if the quarry owner found out she could put a stop to him? What would he do about that?”

  He halted, somewhat uncertainly.

  Of course, Carrie thought, that’s it, and I didn’t see it! I didn’t even think that JoAnne might have discovered something so very important on her own, but... kill her because of it?

  Jason spoke her thoughts aloud. “I can’t believe they’d care enough to kill someone... ”

  Henry said, his voice very low, “I know about a lot of people who have killed for much less reason.”

  “Well, then, whatever happened,” Jason said, “we need to find out what JoAnne found out—if anything—though I’m certainly not saying you’re not right, Roger. What you suggest does fit what happened. Doesn’t anyone have an idea at all what she might have discovered? If she found it, surely we can too.”

  “She roamed this valley a lot,” Roger said. “She even knew the caves and wasn’t afraid to poke about in them. You know about that, Carrie. Didn’t you go in some of the bluff caves with her? Couldn’t JoAnne have found somethin’ important there, way back in where folks wouldn’t be apt to go?

  “Guess we’ll have to start lookin’ around very, very careful! I do recall hearin’ talk there was Indian remains here in the valley, even maybe a burial place. I know we still find arrowheads around. Maybe we could get ahold of somethin’ those genealogy folks, or folks interested in history or savin’ Indian remains, would say needed savin’, whatever it is. Seems I read somewhere there’s laws to do with that. Shoulda paid more attention.

  “Maybe lookin’ at environmental stuff is the wrong track to be on. I’m gonna start talkin’ to all the old-timers. I kin do that pretty easy and not even make the quarry folks suspicious since,” he grinned, “us hillbillies is a close-mouthed lot. And besides, quite a few ’round here has Indian blood. Some may know more about the history of this valley than we do. We’ve only been on this place forty years.”

  Jason spoke up. “Carrie, do you really know something about the caves?”

  “Well, I have been in a few with JoAnne, but we didn’t see anything I think might stop a quarry, and I can’t say I’m anxious to go back in alone. Maybe Susan might enjoy taking time for a cave crawl with me when she comes.” She avoided looking at Henry. He was probably too large to squeeze in some of those caves anyway.

  “And I can keep her baby,” Shirley said. “I’d be pleased to do that anyway.”

  “Let’s get re-organized then,” said Jason. “I’ll go to the historical society, the court house, and the county library to see what I can find out about the history of this place. Maybe a lawyer will know about laws that govern the discovery of things like burial sites, but under the circumstances it might be safer for
me to talk to someone in Bonny instead of the lawyer in Guilford, especially if the quarry people are around here. Has any of you ever seen the owner or any of the rest of them close enough to recognize?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “I’ll call Rob,” Carrie said. “History, archaeology, and geography are his fields. Maybe there are some general laws he knows about.”

  Roger looked at Shirley. They were all getting excited, and his voice showed how he felt. “We’ll start talkin’ to old-timers here. Shirley can take the ladies. And we can easy walk over that abandoned farm. We just might lose a cow there. I kin get my lead cow Mary Belle to go with me just about anywhere, she’s that tame.

  “Carrie, let me know if you go into any of the caves, even with Susan. We oughta keep track of you if you’re gonna go on quarry land. It might not be safe, though you could probably explain you’re a spell... speel... you know, one o’ those people who likes to study caves. But, maybe that’s what JoAnne did too, so you got to be real careful!”

  Henry nodded in agreement. “If Carrie and Susan are going there, I’m going too.”

  “Good idea,” Jason said. “Now, shouldn’t we get in touch with the Bruners?”

  Roger’s quick response, “No need to, is there?” surprised Carrie, but he followed up, “They’re pretty busy right now. Jack has just got 80,000 baby chickens, and with this iffy weather, he sticks pretty close to home. They’ve also got a couple of steers that are doing poorly, accordin’ to the vet, so there’s plenty on their hands. Let’s just see what the five of us kin do.”

  Roger cleared his throat, looked around, then went on. “Uh, any of you folks know how to shoot? Probably wouldn’t hurt to think about that, especially you, Henry, if you’re goin’ with Carrie and the young lady to search the caves. I’m not sayin’ there’s a problem, but then, well, you never know.” He stopped and gave a small laugh. “Just can’t tell when you might see a copperhead, now, kin you?”

  “I have a gun,” Henry said, speaking the words so quietly that Carrie almost missed hearing them.

  So he did have a gun, after all!

  “What we got here is a rifle and a shotgun,” offered Roger.

  “Revolver, .38 Police Special,” said Henry.

  Roger looked at him. “Guess you got a permit to carry it?”

  Henry nodded.

  “Good, so you’ll go with Carrie and Susan. Jason?”

  “Never owned a gun, never shot one, never intend to.”

  “Okay,” Roger said, “we got what we need anyway, and you won’t be around where someone, some snake, might want to cause a problem. This is pretty important to all of us, and what happened to JoAnne sure puts a different light on the other side of the question and what they might do.

  “Now then, does anyone have anything else to say?”

  “Yes,” Jason said, turning to Carrie. “You said the police told you a couple of things they found out that we didn’t know. If one of them was the fact that JoAnne had never been to Little Rock, what was the other one?”

  He would ask, Carrie thought. She glanced over at Henry, hoping he would say something, but he was staring into the fire. Oh, well, news about the fingerprints would get around eventually anyway, so why not tell it now and get it over with.

  “Well,” she said aloud. “They found lots of fingerprints in JoAnne’s house. They’d already taken fingerprints from Henry and me, so they discovered pretty quickly that both of us had been in the house, and... ” She hesitated, wondering if anyone was remembering that Henry and JoAnne had said they barely knew each other.

  Jason’s expression showed he did remember and had been quick to assume exactly what Carrie had planned. Just as quickly, she realized she wasn’t pleased about it at all. This was her own fault, but then, what other story would have saved Henry? What else could she have done?

  “Um, ah,” she said aloud, glancing at Roger and then Shirley. It didn’t look like they, at least, were imagining anything at all. They just looked attentive, waiting for her to go on—though she thought she caught a flicker of sympathy in Shirley’s quiet brown eyes.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “JoAnne made it plain she didn’t think much of most men, you know, so she didn’t tell us that she and Henry had known each other for a long time. They sort of grew up together in Kansas City, so... well, it was natural his fingerprints would be in her house, and, um, they were.” She paused, feeling like a school girl who not only didn’t know the answer to a question asked by her teacher, but couldn’t even remember what the question was.

  I used to be able to tell any story without a problem, she thought. I should have taken more time to figure things out before I opened my mouth about this to Henry or anyone else. They’re probably wondering why I’m telling the stupid story instead of Henry himself!

  Shirley clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Well, we all have a lot to straighten out, don’t we? Which makes me think, Carrie—when you’re ready to put JoAnne’s house to rights, let me know. I’d be pleased to help.”

  Carrie decided Shirley must be the kindest woman she’d ever known and smiled warmly at her. Then she looked at Henry again. Was there the hint of a twinkle in his eyes? He was probably just laughing at her discomfort.

  “All right, then,” Jason said. “When shall we get together again? How long before you all will have time to do some checking and looking? I can spend tomorrow doing my research in town. If Susan is coming Wednesday, Carrie, aren’t you pretty busy?”

  “Tomorrow morning I’m going to the lawyer’s in Guilford to get legal things about JoAnne’s estate started, then I hope tomorrow afternoon the sheriff will let me... us into JoAnne’s house so we can begin to clear out the mess.” She smiled at Shirley again.

  “I’m to pick Susan up at the Fayetteville Airport Wednesday morning. She’ll probably spend Wednesday night with me, and Thursday we hope to begin going through things at JoAnne’s. Her husband comes Friday night, and the memorial service is Saturday morning. I don’t really know how long Susan and Putt plan to stay after that.”

  “Well, then,” Jason said, “why don’t we leave everything open-ended, and I’ll keep in touch with all of you to see how things are going. Let’s don’t talk about this outside our group for now. I’m sure we all agree with Roger on that. We already know we aren’t going to get much help outside our own little group anyway, so talk won’t help us, might even do harm, and,” he hesitated, “could put one or more of us in the same danger JoAnne ran into. You all understand that?”

  Before anyone could answer, a car roared into the yard. They sat in silence, looking at each other. Footsteps sounded on the porch floor, then someone began knocking.

  “If the quarry owner is arrested fer murder,” Roger said as he got to his feet, “then it’ll stop things in a hurry, won’t it? We may find out something about JoAnne’s murder, as well as about whatever it was she’d dug up. But we don’t want the sheriff to cut us off. Mostly now, we want to be free to find out as much as we kin about things. We should tell whatever we know that might help the sheriff find JoAnne’s killer, but let’s not be in any big hurry to say anythin’ about our other plans. Sheriff ‘n his people care nothin’ about the quarry, one way or another anyhow. So, is it okay with everyone that we kinda work on our own?”

  They were all nodding their heads as he reached to open the door.

  Chapter XII

  When Roger opened the door, Carrie heard a familiar voice say, “Mr. Booth? Sorry to interrupt your party.”

  That man should be on radio or television, she thought. What a voice!

  The voice went on. “I’m Detective Sergeant Don Taylor of the Spavinaw County Sheriff’s Office. I guess you know we’re investigating the murder of JoAnne Harrington. I’d like to talk to you, and maybe some of the folks inside, if you don’t mind. I saw the cars from the road. May I come in?”

  “Sure, just come on in out of the cold,” Roger said as he stepped back. “I’ll
be glad to talk with you. As fer the other folks, well, they’re our company, just here fer supper, so you’ll need to ask if they want to talk to you here. That’s their say, not mine.”

  Taylor entered the room, hat in hand. Jason and Henry rose to shake hands as Roger continued, “This here’s my wife, Shirley, and Jason Stack. Mr. Stack lives a mile north of the highway on the east side of Walden Road. I think you know Mrs. McCrite and Mr. King? Let’s pull up another chair by the fire. Would you like some coffee?”

  Shirley left to get coffee without waiting for Taylor’s reply, and Roger pulled one of the kitchen chairs into the semi-circle around the fireplace as Jason and Henry scooted their chairs sideways to make room.

  As soon as Taylor was seated, Shirley handed him a filled coffee cup, then put cream and sugar and a plate of cookies on the table beside him.

  Carrie watched the sergeant with interest as he took two cookies, then blushed and said, “Thanks. I haven’t had supper so this looks mighty good.”

  “Oh, my,” Shirley said, “I can fix you a plate. We have plenty left over.”

  “No, thanks, ma’am.”

  Taylor’s wistful look said he hated rejecting the offer. Probably, Callie thought, eating on the job in front of witnesses... or suspects... is considered unprofessional. How could he ask us questions with his mouth full?

  For the first time, she felt sorry for the man and wondered if he had a wife and, perhaps, children. She’d already noticed he didn’t wear a wedding ring.

  Taylor ate one cookie in two bites, swallowed some coffee, then set the cup and second cookie aside.

  “Mr. Booth, Mrs. Booth—can you remember seeing any cars or trucks on the road out there, especially on Saturday morning, or even Friday night?”