The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  The vet didn’t waste words, “Nevil Harper Jr’s steer tested positive for Clenbuturol which, for show livestock is considered a performance enhancing drug, if you will. It allows them to quickly gain lean muscle mass. It’s a dangerous drug for human consumption and so it’s been banned in this country for use with livestock raised for meat.”

  Dana queried him directly, “How would he have gotten a hold of it then?”

  “It is legal for other uses including in the birthing process for cows so it does have limited market availability. Harper’s steer has the drug in his system far beyond any conceivable allowed amount, period. It can’t be sold for meat.”

  The Director took over the discussion again, “Before you showed us this, the board was contemplating removing the steer from the grounds only. The competitor attested that he knew nothing about the drug and his mother swore to that fact on his entry forms. Your photograph proves otherwise. This has now become a sanctioning matter and,” he looked pointedly at me, “it has legal ramifications as well.”

  I rubbed my temple, “I’ll confiscate the refrigerator immediately if they haven’t already removed it.”

  “The boy and his mother are under strict orders not to touch anything until there is a decision of the board. Other Fair Board members are in place at the barn.”

  “I see. Well, not to add fuel to the fire but there are other ‘improprieties’ as you put them as well.” I told the board about the halter and the other missing items.

  “Very well.” He turned to the vet, “Please see that the new sample from the Roberts steer gets tested immediately. If the rest of you will reconvene here in thirty minutes, we’ll bring the Harpers in for a hearing.”

  He stood, “Sheriff, Ms. Rossi, if you’ll accompany me to the barn.”

  Big Boy was giving a nice stream of urine to a vet tech as we passed by his stall in the barn. Dana dropped off of our little group and hung back with the family while I continued through the building with the Fair Board Director and the board member who’d been posted outside on the end where we’d entered.

  We pulled up short at the edge of the Harper’s area. The refrigerator was still there. Bloomin’ idiots, they are!

  I stood idly near it. Elizabeth Harper was sitting, cool as a cucumber, on a ‘70s era folding mesh lawn chair. She actually smiled as we approached.

  “Got it all figured out Director? I told you this was all just a misunderstanding.”

  In a tone that was more polite than I would have used he told her, “I’ll need you, your son and also your daughter Nina to come with me to the Fair Board office.”

  “Whatever for?” She shaded her eyes to look up at him as if she was looking into the sun.

  “For a hearing Mrs. Harper to determine your children’s status at this fair and your culpability in the matter.”

  “My what?” She was yelling now and others in the barn were staring.

  He lowered his voice further, “This is on the verge of becoming a legal matter ma’am.” Nodding toward the refrigerator he said, “Sheriff if you’ll take possession of that please and, also, search these stalls and return anything you find that’s labeled to the rightful owner.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  His tone was ice now, “Oh, but I can. This is county property, not yours Mrs. Harper, and the Sheriff and I are representatives of the interests of the county.”

  Chapter 11 – Sold!

  Thursday, August 14th, 2014

  I sat up in the bunk that was supposed to be equivalent to a queen size bed and stretched my arms as wide as I could. I really couldn’t open them very far without rapping my knuckles against something. I’d loved this older camper when I bought it used and I’d gotten a great deal on it. Now, half a dozen years later and with a lot more police work under my belt, I missed the comforts of a real bed when I was using the camper.

  I picked my watch up off the stand that doubled as a counter top when the bed was stowed away. 5:32 AM; time to get up. Shifting around carefully so I didn’t wake Dana, I looped my legs off the edge of the bunk.

  She stirred. I looked back over my shoulder at her.

  “Go back to sleep babe. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “What time is it?”

  “5:33”

  “Uggh! Why are you up so early? I thought you didn’t have to work today.”

  “I don’t have to work at the station today. This is the biggest day of the fair for the kids though. There’s lots of work to do here.”

  She sat up too and scrubbed her face with her hands. “Where are they? Did they really stay in the barn all night?”

  “Probably in the barn, and yes, really. That’s one of the things they look forward to about fair week. It’s like a big slumber party down there with cows.”

  “Like you always tell me, they’re not cows, they’re steers.”

  I twisted around and pulled her into an embrace then rubbed her head noogie style. “You know what I meant.”

  “And you know what I mean when I call them cows...” She poked me in the ribs.

  “Ooh, you’re feisty this morning. I like it!” I claimed her lips in a searing kiss. She let me have my way with her lips for about ten seconds then she pulled away and pushed at me with her hands.

  “We must get to work!”

  “We? Babe, you don’t have to do anything at all; just watch if you want to.”

  “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss any of this for the world...not after last night.”

  “It was pretty crazy, wasn’t it?”

  “I still can’t believe they completely removed all of Nevil Junior’s animals from the fairgrounds and banned him from all future competition.”

  “That’s what happens when you cheat. Really though, he would have only had one more year to show anyway since he graduated this year but that’s a blow that’s going to stick in his father’s craw for a long time. He was the golden child, so to speak.”

  I stood up and started rooting for my clothes. Dana shifted over to the edge of the bed and waited her turn in the cramped space.

  “Mel, do you think they’ll really be charged criminally?”

  “That’s what will be hard to prove. Elizabeth Nevil signed the form declaring no veterinary or any other drugs of any kind were administered to the steer. She claims no knowledge of the Clenbuturol. She may be telling the truth; she may not have known.”

  I held my hands up, “To me it’s plausible that she didn’t know. Her husband does what he wants to and he walks all over her and those kids. Mama Harper is just the keeper of the schedule and the one who moves the kids from event to event. It will be really hard to prove who administered it unless we get good fingerprints off of something from inside that fridge.”

  Dana and I walked into the barn just after 6:00. Cole was lying prone on a folding cot snuggled down in a sleeping bag despite the already oppressive morning humidity. Beth was sitting up on her cot, texting from her phone.

  I ruffled her hair in greeting. “Hey kiddo, how’d it go last night?”

  She shuddered visibly. “Oh Aunt Mel, the Harpers were pissed!”

  “Beth Anne! Language!”

  “Sorry! But it’s true, they were. They had to get Nevil and Nina’s steers and feeder calves out of here and all of their other animals too. Nina kept saying they were set up. It was bad.”

  “They didn’t say anything to you guys, or try anything did they?”

  “No. Nina and Junior kept looking down here but they didn’t do anything. There were too many people around. Mr. Harper was really mad though. They still have Nora and Nate’s calves and steers down there. I don’t know if they’ll show them or not with Mrs. Harper gone and all.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough. Now get up and shake a leg. The feeder calf show starts at 9:00.”

  I shook Cole awake. “Some watchman you are! Let’s get a move on buddy.”

  It was a long wait trying to keep two feisty six month old cal
ves clean and ready to show. The beef calves were shown first and then the dairy market feeders that Cole and Beth had were called up.

  By the time 9:00 AM rolled around and the beef feeder classes started getting called to the show ring, word of the Harper cheating scandal had spread throughout the fairgrounds. Everyone we ran into seemed to be talking about it.

  On top of everything else, buyer traffic into the barn to get a look at Cole’s dairy steer and the Grand Champion dairy steer further up the aisle was non-stop. Dana volunteered to stay in the barn during the kids classes in the feeder calf show so someone would be there at all times with Big Boy.

  The dairy market feeder calf show finally started about 11:30. Beth and Cole both had decent sized calves in upper weight classes so several lower weight classes showed before them. They stayed back in the barn while Dana and I sat for a while in the stands with mom and Kris.

  We listened to the hubbub going on all around us about the Harpers and their drug tainted steer. The Sale of Champions would start later in the evening and the rest of the show animals offered for sale would go on the auction block after that. By the sounds of what I was hearing, it wasn’t shaping up to be a good sale night for the remaining Harper children. People were saying they wanted nothing to do with animals raised by the family. I tried to remain neutral but everyone wanted to hear about Cole’s steer and I was as proud as his mother was over the opportunity before him.

  Calves are such unpredictable beasts. A crazy one in practice walking on a lead can be as docile as a lamb in the show ring while one that handles wonderfully for months before the fair can seem stark raving mad in front of a crowd. A scruffy looking calf that barely makes the minimum weight to be shown one year can come back the next year as a fine looking Grand Champion contender. You just never know with calves.

  Cole walked into the show ring with his 590 pound calf, his chest puffed out due, I’m sure, to having the Reserve Grand Champion back in the barn, only to have his calf try to mount the one in front of and have its neutered way with it during the parade around the ring, before the judge. The stain of acute embarrassment over not being able to control the feeder crept up Cole’s cheeks. Standing at the exit gate by dad, who’d managed to make it just minutes before Cole’s turn, I just had to roll my eyes.

  Dad hung his head and shook it slowly. Looking back up, he proclaimed, “That boy is going to be the death of me!”

  When the round was said and done, Cole’s calf had placed an unimpressive third in its weight class. It was back to the farm to grow for a year and hopefully do much better the next time around as a steer.

  I walked back over to the barn with Kris and Cole. It was a bright day out so I was wearing sun glasses. I was glad I had them when we entered the barn. As we moved past the now only half full Harper stalls I noticed that Nevil Jr. was present and that he was preening before a seemingly appreciative Olivia Stiers. I tried not to gape at them open mouthed as I went by.

  When we got to our stalls Beth nudged me with an elbow and whispered, “Did you see that Nevil’s here?” I just nodded and looked at Dana.

  “He hasn’t been stirring up anything Mel. He’s been too busy playing kissy face with that girl.”

  “Is that so?”

  Kris had walked right by them in her own little world. Now she was helping Cole tie off his calf. I motioned her out of the stall. “Did you see Junior over there,” I asked, tossing my head in his direction.

  She nodded. “Nobody said he had to stay off the grounds. Somebody has to watch those two other steers and make sure no one tries to get some sort of crazy revenge.”

  “I take it that you didn’t notice who was with him then?”

  Kris craned her neck and tried to see up past the middle of the long barn to the Harper area.

  “Quit! I’ll just tell you; it was Olivia Stiers.” At her blank look, I continued, “JD’s supposed girlfriend?”

  “Oh...” A lightbulb came on, “Oh! From the morgue? Wanted his death certificate?”

  “Shh! Keep your voice down! Yes, that’s the one.”

  “She’s hanging out with Nevil Jr.?”

  I’d forgotten Beth was even right there until she said, “It’s more than hanging out mom. They’ve been sucking face for an hour!”

  Kris and I went back over to the Coliseum with Beth when her calf’s weight class was called. Dad beamed when he saw the judge take a really long look at it as she entered the ring with him and her fellow competitors.

  “Best one in the class! Just look at him!”

  “Whoa there dad; let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

  “Just look at it, I tell you. That’s a fine looking young-un’ that’ll make a great steer next year.”

  “I think dad’s right Mel. He looks pretty darn good out there.”

  The calf proved them both right when he won the class.

  ###

  5:30 PM, Thursday, August 14th, 2014

  Sale of Champions

  Cole was a bundle of nervous energy. He was pacing the walkway outside the coliseum, as we waited for the sale to start.

  Every year he had to be poked and prodded to send out letters to potential buyers inviting them to come to sale night at the fair and bid on his charge. Last year he’d sent only three letters and, after a short round of bidding, he eked out about $.15 cents a pound over market price. Not having learned his lesson, he’d only sent out five letters for this year. I knew in my heart that now that he had a reserve champion he was just praying for a bidding war among the grocery and butcher shop buyers in present to try and get their hands on a champ and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

  Beth didn’t help matters, she dug under his skin as she waited with us, “You should have sent more letters Cole. You know how many I sent Cole? Twenty-two. I sent twenty-two.”

  “Good for you Beth! Leave me alone.” He swatted at her half-heartedly.

  “Come-on Beth. Let’s all go in. Your grandma’s been saving seats but it’s getting awful crowded in there,” Kris tried to convince her. She hugged her son. “I love you. Good luck!”

  Dad shook his hand and I cuffed his shoulder then did the same to Beth. “Wish your brother luck!”

  All of the Champions in each breed of livestock sold first. The Grand Champion Dairy Steer fetched a whopping $5.65 a pound after some heavy back and forth bidding done by several buyers in the front rows on the floor around the sale ring who’d tried and failed to win the Angus beef steer that was sold just before it. The young man Cole was runner up to was going home with an $8,000 plus pay day for his dairy beef steer.

  The Reserve Grand Champion Beef Steer was now on the auction block in the tighter ring made out of what had been the show ring all week in the center of the Coliseum floor.

  Cole stood just behind the smaller ring with Big Boy. He was tugging at the collar of his dress shirt like it was chocking him. The look on his face when bidding dropped off at $3.00 a pound for the beef reserve champion spoke volumes to me but I knew he really wasn’t thinking things completely through. Big Boy was short and stalky but he had the even shorter and less stalky beef steer by nearly 300 pounds. Even a slightly lower price would get Cole several hundred dollars more in earnings for his efforts.

  Cole led Big Boy slowly into the sale ring. The gate was barely closed when the auctioneer began his patter, “This is Cole Roberts of Morelville with his fine Reserve Grand Champion Dairy Steer, ‘Big Boy’ who weighs thirteen hundred and fifty-seven pounds! Who’ll start me off at ten dollars a pound, ten dollars, ten dollars? Who’ll give ten, give ten, give ten?

  Cole smiled his brightest and Big Boy stood there silently but, as I fully expected, there were no takers at ten bucks a pound.

  Undaunted, the auctioneer dropped down to five dollars a pound and Cole continued to sweat as there were no takers.

  Finally, from back in the grandstands several seats down from where we were all gathered, a bidder threw a single finger in the air and bellowed ou
t “One dollar!” to open the bidding at a dollar a pound. I recognized the voice and elbowed Kris, “That’s your boss.”

  “Well, now we know one of his buyer letters paid off!”

  Mom chimed in, “The market price is only $.63 cents a pound. At least he’s going to do way better than that!”

  Dad shushed us all as the auctioneer continued on. Once the first bid was in, bidder numbers started to pop in the air to bid. I watched as Cole swallowed hard when the price climbed to $2.50 a pound with three bidders biding. After that, it got intense with bidding a nickel more at a time between the owner of the station Kris works at and a grocery store buyer before the store buyer finally won out at $2.85 a pound.

  We all cheered. Cole was going home with over $3,800 after all of his hard work. That almost paid the feed bill for the two steers and the calves combined but the money was all Cole’s to put away for a car and for college.

  We had a long wait during the auctioning of various sale livestock before they got around to the rest of the Dairy steers and Beth’s number eight finisher. When Nevil Harper Junior was eliminated, Beth had been only too happy to find, not only did Cole move up but so did all the other placed competitors as well. There would be no 10th place finisher. Trophies traded around in the barn as everyone that had a steer that placed moved up a position.

  When it was finally time for Beth and Hunter to line up for the sale ring, she wasn’t happy. She was directed to line up by the competitor number she was assigned rather than by Hunter’s placing.

  “I’m like 20th in line,” she wailed. All the steer buyers will be gone by the time I get in there. It isn’t fair!”

  Annoyance came through in Kris’s voice, “Relax Beth Anne! You sent out nearly two dozen buyer letters. Several of those people are here and still sitting in on the sale.”

  Beth was not convinced and continued to whine. I just walked away. I’d had enough of her bellyaching.

  Passing near the front of the waiting line, I spotted the two Harper children that remained on the grounds, Nate and Nora. They were sixth and seventh in line for the sale ring. Mama Harper was hovering nearby in sunglasses and a headscarf as if she was fooling any of the people around still talking about the family. I didn’t see Nevil Sr. anywhere. Probably didn’t dare to show his face.