by Tonya Kappes
“Hi.” I smiled at the receptionist. “I’m here on official business to see Beverly Houston.”
The receptionist’s eyes popped when she looked up and noticed my sheriff’s uniform. She gave a quick nod and scurried out of the office. The sound of the drill stopped and a few whispers floated through the hall, followed by the sound of footsteps.
Beverly Houston appeared with the receptionist in the office. Her curly brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and a blue mask dangled from a string off her left ear. She wore blue scrubs and blue latex gloves.
“Sheriff.” She tossed the gloves in the trash and stuck her hand out. We did the official business shake. “You can come back here.” She nodded for me to follow her back to her office.
“Ding, ding.” Poppa stood by the door of her office pretending to shake invisible bells. “My presence is known.”
I glared at him. He was always good at making smart-aleck remarks and making me giggle. Then again, I was never at the butt of his jokes until now.
“She sure is smart.” Poppa looked at all the framed diplomas hanging on the walls. I did my best to ignore him and keep a poker face.
“It’s good to see you.” Beverly smiled. She was ten years older than me and I really didn’t know much about her. Other than seeing her every six months for a cleaning, I steered clear of her. She wasn’t the prettiest of women in Cottonwood, nor the ugliest. She was just average, with a little more girth around her stomach. “I understand you are here on official business.” She tucked a loose strand of hair back into the low ponytail at the nape of her neck.
Her hair was brown with natural curl and a little dry. She could stand to get a hot oil treatment from Tiny Tina. I wondered if I should give her my prescription from Camille. I had never seen Dr. Houston do anything to her hair other than the low ponytail. Her bangs hung to her brow in waves. She pushed them out of her face. She could have used a good consult from Katy Lee in the clothing department too.
“Yes.” I pulled out the camera from my bag. “I’m not sure how you can help me.” I flipped the camera on. “But I just knew I needed to see you when I got this lead in the Doctor Ronald Walton case.”
“Is that about his murder?” she asked, easing down into the chair behind her desk. “It’s awful. Just awful.” Sympathy hung on her words, her head dipped.
“Actually, murderer.” I took a step forward, the photo screen on the camera held out for her to see.
“I’m sorry, Doctor.” The receptionist stood at the door with Finn Vincent towering over her shoulder. “Officer Vincent said he’s with Sheriff Lowry.”
“Excuse me.” Finn moved around the receptionist and walked into the office. “I ate in my car on the way over, so I hope you don’t mind me joining.”
“Not at all.” I encouraged him to come on in. He was definitely a sight I could get used to looking at first thing in the morning. “Officer Vincent, this is Doctor Houston.” They greeted each other. I watched how he handled getting to know new people and how at ease he was.
“I was just about to show her the bite pictures.” I put the camera on the desk.
Beverly’s eyes grazed over Finn. She smiled. She ignored the camera and stood up, straightened her shoulders, took the dangling mask off her ear and threw her hand out in front of her. “Your teeth are amazing.”
“Thank you. My parents would be happy with your comment.” He smiled. She was right. His teeth were just the icing on his cake. I gulped.
“You have a thing for him.” Poppa stood next to Beverly with his mouth gaped open. “Kendrick Lowry! Do you?” Poppa asked, like I was going to answer him right then and there.
I swallowed hard.
“I heard about the meeting last night. Congratulations on your new post.” She dropped his hand and went back behind her desk.
“Thank you. I’m happy to be here to assist Sheriff Lowry.” He took a seat next to mine.
“I’d love to take a look in that mouth of yours.” Beverly’s head darted back and forth, trying to get a look into his mouth.
“If I’m still in town when I need my next cleaning, you can take all the time you need.” His words sounded more seductive than official. A brief shiver rippled through me and my brain seemed to freeze.
Beverly and I both stood there, in a daze.
“Kenni-bug.” Poppa clapped his hands. I jumped and focused on the task at hand.
“How can I help you?” Beverly sat down in her desk and folded her hands neatly on the top.
I flipped the camera back on and shoved it toward her. “This has to do with Doc Walton’s death. Max Bogus found two sets of bite marks on him. One has teeth marks all the way across and the other seems to be missing teeth.”
Beverly looked at the camera.
“I was wondering if you could tell if they came from the same mouth.” I pushed the button to forward the frame to the next picture. Even though I already knew it was one person, I was curious to see if she came to the same conclusion as I had or if she would recognize the dental work or patient. “I don’t know anything about teeth and I couldn’t tell you what these are called. But I’m thinking by the size of the bite, the distance between the teeth, you could tell me in your professional opinion if they’re from the same mouth.”
“Do you agree these aren’t the same bite marks?” Finn drew back and squinted like he was trying to get a different angle.
“I’m wondering if there was a dental plate, and after the first bite Doc Walton flailed or fought back, knocking the killer’s teeth out.” It was a long shot, but it was all I had to go on. And it seemed pretty reasonable.
She gestured her finger. “Go back.” She squinted before she held her hand out. “May I?” She wanted to hold the camera.
“Only these two photos.” I made sure she knew not to flip through anymore.
“Why don’t I hold it while you take a good look?” Finn took the camera from me, walked around Beverly’s desk and held it close to her face. “Here is the full bite set.” Her head bent down a little. “Here is the other one.”
I watched her intently. Her chest slowly moved up and down, her face paled, she swallowed hard, and she closed her eyes for a long second.
“This one is missing the front two teeth, which makes it look like two different people. Go back.” Her voice trembled. Closing her eyes must’ve helped her gather her wits about her because her voice sounded stronger. “Really, it’s one person.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“In the first one with all the teeth, the canine on the right side has a chip out of it.” She pointed to the tooth she was talking about. “Next one,” she ordered Finn. “This canine has the same chip out, which tells me the other bite was first because this person does wear a dental appliance.”
“So it is possible Doctor Walton hit the person, knocking out the appliance, but the person bit again?” Finn asked, painting a picture of how the killer could’ve possibly lost his teeth.
“In my professional opinion, that is very much possible.”
She smiled, pleased with her analysis.
“What type of dental appliance?” I asked.
“Probably a partial denture. Nothing too terribly exciting.” She shrugged. “You see these types of partials in older people.”
“Older people,” I repeated.
“Can you give us a list of patients who have partials?” Finn asked.
“I can’t do that.” Beverly pushed her chair back. Her face had gained a little bit of color back in her cheeks. “I’m sworn to client confidentiality. That whole HIPAA law thing. Plus, you don’t have a warrant, do you?”
“No,” I chimed in. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to bother the judge for that and you’d comply with us.”
Something told me Beverly
knew someone with this same kind of partial and chip on their canine, but she had buttoned up on me.
“You do want to help us find the killer and get him or her off the streets of Cottonwood, right?” Finn smiled, his teeth gleaming.
“Of course I do.” She grabbed the mask off of her desk, avoiding eye contact. “But I have a life to live and if there is no warrant…The law is the law and I have bills to pay. I can’t help you any further.” She put the stretchy straps around each ear. “Excuse me.” She walked past us, putting the mask over her mouth. “You know the way out,” she said in a muffled voice.
With tucked tails, Finn and I walked out of the office, but not without the eyes of the receptionist and a couple of patients watching us.
“That didn’t go as planned.” Finn stopped outside, rocking back on his heels.
“Oh, I don’t know.” I turned toward him. The sky was blue. Hopefully the sun would stay out and help dry out the fairgrounds even more. “I think it helped narrow down Doc’s patient files. And with a warrant, we can cross check them.”
I looked around for Poppa, but his ghost wasn’t there.
Finn slid his aviators out of the front pocket of his shirt and slipped them on his face.
“I…” I hesitated and looked away. He looked so hot in those glasses, it was hard to concentrate on being a badass sheriff. It bugged me that I found him disturbingly attractive. So much so that I was getting angry with myself.
“I think we need to go see Katy Lee now.”
“I’m here to help.” He took a few steps forward, turning to face the strip mall. He looked to the left, and then to the right. “That’s the insurance company you said White’s Jewelry held their policy?” Finn asked, and took a step toward Katy Lee’s office.
“It is.” I followed behind him.
“Listen.” Finn ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. Oh, how I wished he didn’t do that. His charm confused me. “Are you going to get a warrant or not? I’m sure you can just push in that button,” he plucked the walkie-talkie from my shoulder, “and call in the warrant. You need it for that patient list you were talking about.” He pointed to Beverly’s office.
“She went completely silent and pale. She knows something.” There had to be a way to get the patient list without going for the warrant. But how? “Let me see if I can get her to change her mind at Euchre.”
“Euchre?” Finn let out another sigh, longer this time, as though he was losing his mind.
“What?” I asked, snarling.
“I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. When I say get a warrant, I mean now.” He threw his hands in the air. “Not next week. Now is the time to solve the murder. The first couple of days in a murder case are the most crucial and you think you can sweet-talk her over a hand of Euchre?”
“No, but the power of the other women can be better than a warrant.”
I knew I was right. The Euchre women had a way of getting others to do what needed to be done and I was confident I would have the list later tonight.
“You seem a little off today.” His eyes lowered. “I think Jolee was right.” He laughed and shook his head. “She warned me. She said you were pretty private, but I thought you were a lot more professional than that. I guess you aren’t like your Poppa.”
“Listen here.” I grabbed his arm, bringing him closer to me. He towered over me, his face bent down, nose to nose. I curled up on my toes, my nails still dug in his arm. Being this close to him was almost too much. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to smack him or kiss him. His arresting good looks captivated me, but I had to keep a clear head.
“You don’t know a thing about my Poppa.” I pushed his arm away from me, trying to get him to back away, but he wasn’t moving. His smell made me dizzy. I clenched my teeth, my jaw tensed. The air leaving his nose breezed across my lips. “You leave him out of this.” I had to take a step back in fear of him hearing my rapidly beating heart.
“Fine,” he said in a whisper, sticking his hands in the air, taking a step back. “The way I see it…” The edges of Finn’s lips tipped up. Poppa appeared next to him. He continued, “You’ve spent all your life trying to make your Poppa proud, and from what I hear he worked well with his deputy. I get that you’ve had Lonnie for the past two years to drink coffee with and not solve crimes, but you’ve got to get on the ball and follow up on these leads. Euchre, gossiping women or not, you need a warrant.”
He brought the walkie-talkie that was still in his hand and still tethered to me up to his mouth. “Betty, it’s Finn.”
“Finn? Where’s Kenni?” Betty questioned. “Don’t tell me something happened to her.”
“Nothing like that. She’s here with me. We need you to fill out a form for a warrant for Doctor Beverly Houston’s patient files,” he said.
I grabbed my walkie-talkie.
“Betty.” I glared at him. “Please take it down to the courthouse ASAP.”
“I just got back from there filing Camille’s warrant. You got any more so we can save time?” she snarked.
The glass door of Katy Lee’s office swung open.
“Well, you might as well fill one out for Hart Insurance too.” I took my finger off the button and Velcroed it back on my shoulder.
“Kenni?” Katy Lee stuck her head out of the open door. “What are you doing?”
I gulped, swallowing my pride. As much as I wanted to punch Officer Vincent in his gorgeous face, he was right. I was going to have to go with the law and not rely on a little gossip and Euchre.
“You’ll be a hero if you solve the case,” Poppa said. “He’s right. It takes an army to fight crime, Kenni-bug. You have the brains, he’s the brawn.” Poppa put his scrawny arms in the air, making muscle poses. “You two could make quite the pair.”
I laughed out loud.
“Kenni?” Katy Lee stepped out on the sidewalk of the strip mall.
I bent over in a fit of giggles and placed a hand on one of the rockers before I sat down in it. I looked crazy and I knew it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What was that about?” Katy Lee asked me once we got into her office.
She and I stood by her coffee maker filling up three cups with her fresh brewed coffee. The space was one large room with an emphasis on cozy. There was a large cream-colored fuzzy rug in the middle of the room, surrounded by a couch, coffee tables, and two end chairs. I was sure they used this room to sign clients up. Katy Lee had a knack for making everyone feel welcome.
Sometimes she used the space for her sample sales of Shabby Trends. It was a lot of fun to get together with girlfriends, eat, and try on fun clothes.
“Nothing.” I couldn’t stop smiling. Poppa had me tickled like he used to do when I was a child and pouting. He always knew how to bring me out of a hissy fit. “I think Finn might be making me crazy.” I poured powder creamer into my cup.
“Because you have to be around him and be professional?” She wiggled her brows up and down. She leaned over and whispered, “He’s so hot.”
I nudged her with my elbow.
“What? Did you smell him?” She moaned and let out a happy sigh. “No wonder you seem to be dragging your feet on this investigation.” She smiled.
“Who said that?” I jerked back, irritated. “I’m doing no such thing.”
“Relax. Geez.” She picked up her coffee and Finn’s. She arranged them on a white wooden tray along with a few cookies on a plate and carried it all over to the sitting area, but not before saying, “Maybe you do need a good romp in the sack with him. You’re testy.”
She flipped her head, her hair swinging behind her shoulder, and sashayed her way back to Finn. She sat the tray on the coffee table and gestured for Finn to take a seat.
“It’s nice to see a friendly face around her
e.” Finn gave me a quick look before he took a drink from the tray and sat down.
“I’m friendly,” I groaned. “Katy Lee and I have been friends a long time and I know she’ll help us without a warrant. Right, Katy Lee?”
“Right.” She blew on her coffee and eased down in one of the chairs. I sat in the other. “Wait. Help with what?”
“We’re investigating the break-in at White’s.” Finn didn’t tell her all the details. I was glad he stuck to just the break-in. “We’re looking into all possible suspects, and we know Ms. White keeps an insurance policy on her property with you and your business.”
“Are you telling me that you think Viola killed Doc and broke into her own business?”
I planted my palm on my head. “No, no, no. The two probably aren’t related.”
Katy Lee might be one of my best friends, but any information about the cases was off limits to anyone in Cottonwood. No one could keep his or her mouth shut. No one.
“We are investigating one crime at a time. We need to see Viola’s insurance policy. Police procedure.” I had to clear up the big spill, but knew she wasn’t buying it. There was no way I was going to tell her about the Chinese symbol and how it connected the two crimes.
Her eyes lowered, her long lashes creating a shadow on her cheeks. She smiled.
“You’re going to have to give me more than that if you want me to just hand it over.” She crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.
“We don’t have a reason she’d kill the doctor, but insurance is a good reason to break into your own business. And there wasn’t any clear point of break-in. It was like someone had a key.” Finn continued to flap jaw and spill the beans.
He had so much to learn about small towns and gossip. I looked at him under furrowed brows.
My mouth dropped.
“What?” He shrugged. “Sometimes you have to be straight up.”
“Yeah, Kenni.” Katy Lee laughed. “It is true Viola keeps her insurance with us, but she only insures the jewelry since she doesn’t own the building.” Katy Lee stood up and walked over to the big gray filing cabinet across the room, near the “office” area of the room. There were two desks, one for her and one for her dad. She ran her finger down the front of the cabinet and jerked one of the bottom drawers open, sliding it to full extension.
