Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4

by Denise Grover Swank

  Neely Kate’s eyes grew wide. “Oh.”

  “She claimed it was an accident, that she plum forgot, but he fired her on the spot. Then she said it didn’t matter anyway. She was about to give her notice to go work for that new vet. Well, Dr. Knight… he was doggone ticked and said she couldn’t quit after he’d already gone and fired her. So she didn’t finish out the day. Just left.”

  “Huh,” Neely Kate said, shaking her head. “So were all y’all sad to see her go? Did she have friends here?”

  Christine tapped her mouth with the tip of her ink pen, leaving tiny blue polka dots on her lips. “She was friendly to the patients, but she wasn’t all that friendly with the staff. She hadn’t worked here all that long, not really. Only about eight months. She kept to herself, and by the end, most everyone was ticked at her for takin’ all them smoke breaks. She was takin’ up to five or six a day.” She shook her head and tsked.

  “Are you certain she was takin’ smoke breaks?” I asked. “Could she have been doin’ something else?”

  Her brow wrinkled, and it was clear she thought I was a fool. “What on earth else could she have been doin’, girl?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Meetin’ someone out back?” I wasn’t sure what possessed me to ask, but that seemed like an excessive amount of smoke breaks.

  “Who was she gonna meet? Her only friend is that Nina girl, who is nothin’ but trouble if you ask me, and her good-for-nothin’ boyfriend.”

  “Do you think we could talk to some other people in the office?” I asked.

  Christine’s mouth puckered. “Oh dear. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “We won’t ask them about her gettin’ fired,” Neely Kate assured her. “We just need to see if they noticed anything strange about her before she left.” She quickly added, “Other than bringing the pistachio cake.”

  “And tryin’ to kill the good dentist,” Christine said with a nod. “But I’m still not sure it’s a good idea.”

  I gave her a sad smile. “The fact is, Christine,” I said, lowering my voice, “Sarah Freestone is missing.”

  She gasped and sat back in her chair. She looked horrified at the news, but there was a hint of glee in her eyes. This was juicy gossip, and she was privy to it. “How horrible. What happened to her?”

  “We’re not sure,” Neely Kate said, matching my somber tone. “She left her mother’s house a week ago and no one’s seen her since. She hired us to look for her.”

  Her eyes widened with horror. “And you came here? You think one of us did away with her?”

  I gave her a blank look. “No, actually, we were hoping someone here might know something that’ll help us find her.”

  “Shouldn’t you be askin’ her momma and her friends?”

  “We have,” Neely Kate assured her. “But we also wanted to talk with the people who dealt with her professionally.” She paused, then added, “I’m sure you understand.”

  Christine nodded as though she were part of our investigation team. “We need to get you talkin’ to the other girls, but it’s like I said, she didn’t share much. We tried to get more out of her about her boyfriend, but she kept mostly quiet about him. Especially after we asked her about her bruises.”

  That perked me and Neely Kate right up.

  “What bruises?” Neely Kate asked.

  “The last few months, she’d show up with bruises on her arms. A few times on her neck. She’d try hidin’ them with long sleeves and high collars, but it’s summer and Dr. Knight’s not too fond of wastin’ money on the a/c, you know what I mean?”

  Dr. Knight sounded like a butthead, but I kept that to myself.

  “Did she say where she got them?”

  “No, but a bouquet of flowers would usually show up later that day. Like the jerk was tryin’ to buy her forgiveness.”

  I frowned. Had Digger been hitting her? After his display of anger, I wouldn’t put it past him, especially since he was friends with Stewie. I wished we could call Nina and ask her if she knew.

  Neely Kate leaned forward with a tiny smile, her eyes lit up with mischief. “What did the cards say?”

  “Oh my goodness!” Christine protested. “However would I know?”

  “Surely one of those cards just fell right out of the envelope onto your desk,” Neely Kate said conspiratorially.

  “Oh my,” Christine said, clutching the huge pendant hanging from her neck. “I…”

  “This could be very important, Christine,” I said. “Sarah’s missing, and we think it might be foul play.”

  The woman immediately sobered. “What?”

  Neely Kate shot me a glance, and while we’d agreed to act like we didn’t expect foul play, I could see she approved of my decision.

  “That’s right,” Neely Kate said. “We have reason to believe Sarah is in danger, so anything you can tell us could mean the difference between life and death.”

  Christine’s face said she no longer thought this gossip exchange was fun. “The cards never had a name on them. They only said one word. Sorry.”

  “Did she ever take any phone calls at work?” Neely Kate asked.

  “She did for a while,” Christine said, “but Dr. Knight got mad and told her he wanted her to put them on speaker and let us all hear them. She refused.”

  “Punishment for taking a call on the job?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Oh, no,” Christine said. “He just likes to know what’s goin’ on. The calls stopped after that.”

  “And was that around the time she started takin’ more smoke breaks?” Neely Kate asked.

  She tapped her chin with the pen, leaving behind another batch of blue polka dots. “You know, it is.”

  A woman in scrubs walked through the door to the back. Her shoulder-length hair was dull and lifeless, and her scrubs looked faded. Her relatively youthful face put her in her forties, but everything else suggested she was in her sixties. I could see Neely Kate practically salivating with the desire to make her over.

  “Christine,” said the new woman, whose name tag read Rita. “Dr. Knight is ready for his clothes to be laid out for him to change. It’s your turn.”

  They laid out his clothes?

  Christine waved her hand. “He’ll have to wait. These two young ladies are askin’ about Sarah.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to the newcomer. “They think she’s been murdered.”

  So much for her previous horror.

  Rita’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

  “Actually,” Neely Kate said. “We don’t think she’s been murdered.”

  “You said you suspect foul play,” Christine protested.

  “True,” Neely Kate said, “but there are lots of types of foul play.”

  “She’s right,” Rita said. “There are.”

  “Like what, Rita?” Christine asked.

  “I don’t know.” Rita flung her hands up in frustration. “Do I look like the police?”

  “Then how can you be the judge?” Christine demanded.

  “She could have been kidnapped,” Rita blurted out as though it had just come to her. “Or…” she said in excitement, “she could have been robbed.”

  Christine scrutinized her as though considering her suggestions.

  “Where are you, Christine?” another woman asked as she walked out of the back. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and her huge pregnant belly stretched the top of her scrubs. “I’m not puttin’ out his clothes tonight. It’s your turn.”

  “Sissy, we’re talkin’ to these two young ladies about Sarah’s murder.”

  “What?” Sissy shouted, taking a step back and bumping into the wall.

  “She hasn’t been murdered,” I protested, beginning to regret my previous decision.

  “That’s right,” Rita said. “She’s met with foul play.”

  “We don’t know that either,” Neely Kate said. “We only suspect.”

  “Oh dear,” the pregnant woman said, looking like she w
as close to fainting.

  “She could have driven off the side of the road,” Rita said, lost in her thoughts. “She could have driven off County Road 85 at that sharp curve and plunged right into Shute Creek.”

  “Christine,” Neely Kate said. “She needs to sit down.”

  Christine shot Rita a disgusted look. “She’s always like that. We don’t call her One-Track Rita for nothin’.”

  “Not Rita,” I said, gesturing frantically toward the pregnant woman. “Sissy!”

  “She could have been driven off the road by a band of mountain men,” Rita said, her face beginning to flush, “who took her to their mountain lair.”

  Christine took one look at Sissy’s pale face and clambered out of her chair, tripping on Rita’s shoe. She stumbled forward onto the floor, but Rita ignored her.

  “Where they showed her the pleasures only five brothers can give her,” Rita said in a dreamy tone.

  Sissy stepped around Christine, who was now on her hands and knees, and sat in the newly vacated chair.

  “They worship her and pleasure her day and night,” Rita said, beginning to fan herself with her hand. “Her own reverse harem.”

  “What’s a reverse harem?” Sissy asked, completely ignoring Christine, who had turned over and was struggling to get to her feet. I wanted to rush over to help her, but the only access behind the desk was the back door. Instead, I was forced to watch helplessly.

  Rita blinked and glanced down at Sissy as though surprised to see she’d replaced Christine in the chair. “It’s when multiple men service one woman.”

  “You mean like rub her feet and get her a glass of tea?” Sissy asked. “And move the laundry into the dryer?”

  “And make dinner?” Christine asked hopefully as she grabbed the wood on the doorframe and pulled herself to her feet.

  “Oh, no,” Rita said with a pleased smile. “Sexual servicing.”

  Sissy’s head jerked back, and she gave her coworker a disgusted look. “How many men?”

  “Five.”

  “Five men?” Sissy asked, kicking her swollen feet up on the desk. “Ain’t nobody got time to be havin’ sex with five men. I can barely find time to pee, and I have to do that every hour or so.”

  “Multiple men have sex with you at the same time,” Rita said, her face glowing.

  “How on earth do you have sex with five men at the same time?” Christine asked in a disapproving tone.

  Rita held up one finger. “One has you suck his—”

  Christine held up both hands, looking more horrified than when she’d presumed Sarah had been murdered. “We don’t need to know the gory details, Rita!”

  Sissy gave her a grin. “Speak for yourself.” She turned to us and winked. “I’m genuinely curious. There are only so many holes. Am I right?”

  “We just want to ask some questions about Sarah,” Neely Kate said, trying to hide a grin. “Then y’all can get back to your discussion about holes.”

  “Christine!” a man’s voice called out from the back. “I need my clothes!”

  “Oh my word!” Christine exclaimed. “You’re a grown man! Get your own damn clothes!” But she disappeared into the back anyway.

  “Sissy,” I said, directing my question to her. “Sarah Freestone’s missing and we’re trying to figure out what happened to her by talking to the people who knew her.”

  Sissy crossed her ankles on the counter. “You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree. We worked with Sarah for nearly a year, but none of us ever really knew her.”

  “Christine mentioned that she kept to herself?” Neely Kate asked.

  “I guess you could say that. She never seemed interested in gettin’ to know us.” Then she added, “She tried to be friendly in the beginning, but Christine and Dr. Knight are just too damn nosy, and it was obvious she wasn’t particularly interested in sharing her personal affairs, so she just clammed up.”

  “Did you ever notice her comin’ to work with bruises?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Sure I did. We all did. We tried to ask her about them at first, but she nearly snapped our heads off, so we just let it go. A new bouquet of flowers showed up nearly every Friday, toward the end.”

  “Friday?” I asked. Conrad came home on Thursday nights while Marsha was working late hours at the convenience store.

  “Yeah. Weird, right?” Sissy said. “My father always beat up my momma on a Friday or Saturday night, after drinkin’ a bunch of beer. Not on weeknights.”

  “Huh,” Neely Kate said, trying hard to sound noncommittal.

  “Do you happen to know which florist sent the flowers?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Sissy said. “The one next to the beauty shop. Anne Marie’s.”

  “Anne Marie’s Florist?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Something like that,” Sissy said. “It might be Anne Marie’s Floral and Gifts. I just remember the Anne Marie part.”

  “Did Sarah ever mention any other friends besides her best friend Nina and her boyfriend?” I asked.

  Sissy made a face. “She barely talked about them, and when she did, she acted like it was painful to mention it.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “I dunno. She acted like they’d done her wrong, you know, a pained look filled her eyes like it made her sad to think about it.” She shrugged. “It seemed like a sore subject. But by then she already had one foot out the door. She only talked like that to me. I think she figured I’d understand since we’re close to the same age and we were both with assholes.” She rubbed her swollen belly.

  “How long ago was that?” I asked.

  “Her last week or two. Rita walked in on us one time. She might remember,” Sissy said, turning toward Rita. “Ain’t that about right?”

  Rita was staring off into space, her gaze on the ceiling while her lips moved. She was barely speaking above a whisper, but I was fairly certain she’d said, “Take me, Raphael.”

  “Rita!” Sissy shouted, and her coworker jumped, snapping out of her daze.

  “What?” Rita asked.

  Sissy sighed. “Sometimes she gets like that. It’s really bad when she’s cleaning someone’s teeth and forgets where she is.”

  Neely Kate and I stared at them in shock. What kind of place was this?

  “What did you say?” Rita asked.

  “We’re talkin’ about Sarah,” Sissy said.

  “We are?” she asked.

  Neely Kate gave her a strange look, then reminded her, “You were thinkin’ of all the different ways she could have met with foul play.”

  She blinked. “Oh… yeah.”

  I pulled a business card out of my purse and set it on the counter. “If any of you think of anything that could help us find Sarah, would you please let us know?”

  Sissy reached over and picked up the card, looking it over. “Sure thing.”

  I wasn’t going to hold my breath waiting for their call.

  Chapter 15

  A patient walked out of the back, looking somewhat bewildered, and Neely Kate and I simultaneously took that as our cue to leave.

  When we got out to the car, I turned to Neely Kate. “Well, that was… interesting.”

  She laughed. “I’ll say. Do you want to go by the florist?”

  “Yeah. I hope they’re still open.” But I suspected they weren’t. It was 4:12, and in a small town like Sugar Branch, the businesses probably closed shop at four.

  Sure enough, when we drove past Anne Marie’s Florist Shop, a closed sign hung on the door. The same was true of the Cut and Curl.

  “I say we head over to the nursery and pick up Carly,” Neely Kate said. “She’s probably ready to relax.”

  “Let’s swing by Marsha’s house first,” I said. “I’d like to ask her additional questions and see if she’ll give us Sarah’s laptop.”

  “Good idea.”

  “But I still don’t think we should tell her about the purse.”

  “You don’t trust her?” Neely Kate asked in sur
prise.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust her, in particular,” I said. “It’s that I don’t think we know enough to trust anyone just yet.”

  “Agreed.”

  Marsha’s small house was less than ten minutes away. I was worried she wouldn’t be home, but the car she’d driven away from the diner was parked in the driveway.

  The exterior of Marsha’s house was everything Nina’s house wasn’t. The house paint was in good shape and the yard was neatly trimmed. Flowers bloomed in flower beds and pots. Marsha cared about the appearance of her home.

  She looked surprised when she answered the door. “Did you find her already?”

  My brow wrinkled. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might assume we were showing up to tell her we’d completed our job. I hated to disappoint her. “No, Marsha. I’m sorry. We talked to a few people and wanted to ask you some additional questions.”

  She took a step back, disappointment turning her mouth downward. “Okay.”

  The smell of something delicious hit my nose—tomatoes and garlic. “I hope we didn’t interrupt your dinner,” I said as I crossed the threshold.

  “Oh, no. The sauce is still simmerin’.”

  We walked into the small living room containing older, gently used furniture. Family pictures of her and Sarah filled one wall, arranged artistically. Neely Kate and I automatically took a step toward the display to get a closer look.

  “Those are of me and Sarah,” she said wistfully.

  Sure enough, there were no other people in the photos, just Sarah and/or her mother, spanning from when Sarah was a baby to now. Sarah in Disney princess costumes. Sarah in a soccer jersey, her two front teeth missing. Marsha and Sarah on the beach at Lake Fenton wearing swimsuits. Sarah in middle school and high school, looking like she was dressed up for school dances. Sarah in her high school graduation cap and gown. In most of the pictures, Marsha was standing next to her, beaming with love and pride.

  Neely Kate must have picked up on it too. “None of Conrad?”

  I silently applauded her for her tasteful way of asking if there was a reason none of them contained any of the men who had paraded through their lives.

  “No,” she said, offering no further explanation.