The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  Sheila, as my son Vince puts it, suddenly became a person of interest to me. In my mind, this was starting to become a curious case after all.

  ###

  I was trying to arrange items attractively on a couple of book cases in the living room when a horn sounded in the driveway. When I stuck my head out the door, Faye yelled, “Come on! Grab a little cash. I’m taking you to the ‘Bent ‘n Dent.”

  “What in the world is a bent and dent?” I asked, as I climbed into Jesse’s pickup yet again.

  “An Amish run grocery that’s just what the name implies. Everything is dirt cheap, just watch your dates.”

  Twenty minutes down a couple of old dirt roads later, we pulled into a gravel parking lot with plenty of room for cars and hitching posts for horse and buggy outfits. Yet another adventure with Faye!

  Half an hour and fifty dollars later, I walked out of there with two Amish boys trailing me, each of us carrying a box load of stuff to fill Dana and Mel’s cupboards. I was pretty pleased with myself and even happier that Faye had introduced me to this out of the way treasure of a place.

  Faye placed her own single box of items in the bed of the truck and then hopped back in behind the wheel. “Girl; you did good!”

  I smiled. “That was quite the experience.”

  “You’re about to get another one; if you don’t mind, that is?”

  “Lead on. Where are we going?”

  “Just over to the feed store. Jesse needs me to pick up something but they have kennels with lots of puppies to look at and play with usually...” Faye trailed off but raised her eyebrows at me and grinned.

  I thought of my own little dog Lady, back at the house, all alone. Back in McKeesport, she went wherever I went.

  When we arrived, Faye pointed out the kennels and I headed straight back there while she went inside the busy looking feed mill to conduct her business. By the time she came out, I’d fallen head over heels for a cute little Boston terrier pup that was the runt of her mama’s litter. She was weaned and ready to go. I just had to have her for Dana.

  Faye walked in as the young Amish girl was writing up my bill of sale. She’d agreed to take my check so we were in business.

  “Chloe, what are you doing with that dog?”

  “I’m buying her. Isn’t she precious?”

  “Adorable, but you already have a dog.”

  “Well this one will keep Lady company while I’m here but she’s not for me.”

  Faye raised an eyebrow, “Who, pray tell, is she for?”

  “Dana, of course. Oh, I hope Mel won’t mind but Dana loves dogs and this is just what she needs, an energetic little girl like this to get her up and moving on that leg of hers.”

  “Mel likes dogs too but she likes big dogs like labs...not...not little foo foo dogs.”

  “Faye! A Boston terrier is hardly foo foo! They’re very playful dogs. Those two will have great fun with little Boo here.”

  “Boo?”

  I nodded and grinned at the dog I was now cradling, “Boo.”

  Chapter 12 – Positive ID

  Thursday Afternoon, October 15th, 2014

  Gatlinburg, Tennessee

  I was grilling a couple of great looking steaks we’d bought at a market we stopped at in Sevierville on our way back to the cabin from a day at Douglas Lake when my cell rang. I checked the number before I bothered to answer it.

  “Sorry babe. It’s Izzy from the lab.” Dana was standing at the table by the deck rail. She stopped breaking up lettuce for salad and nodded for me to go ahead and take it.

  “Izzy?”

  “Yeah Mel; it’s me.”

  “I sure didn’t expect to hear back from you so soon.”

  “Your prints came in on the early FedEx run this morning and it’s been a slow business day here.”

  “Really? Slow?”

  “No. I lied but I worked you in. You owe me Mel.”

  “Gotcha. Any hits?”

  “Yeah; like I said, you owe me.”

  “I know it and you know I’m good for it. What did you find?”

  “What are you really doing down there in Tennessee?”

  “You know I’m on my honeymoon. Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

  “You didn’t head down there on purpose to work a case, honestly?”

  “No; I didn’t.” I was suspicious now, “Tell me what you found.”

  “Mel, the prints came back as belonging to a Terry Ford, last known address, Morelville, Ohio. He’s in AFIS due to a DUI arrest way back in February of 2003.”

  Dana was incredulous, “What are the odds?”

  “Slow down babe; way, way down. Look, I got the cabin company recommendation for down here from Terry. I told you that. You know this area but I didn’t and he’s originally from around here. He has family, including his brother Pete, still in the area somewhere near here.”

  I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts. “I wasn’t sure exactly where but I knew Terry would come down here to hunt and sometimes, when family stuff was going on, he said he would even bring Sheila down if she wanted to come. It’s plausible that he or both of them may have stayed in this cabin at some point in the very recent past. I’d have to look at that a lot closer.”

  “Let’s look at it logically: what would Terry have come down here to hunt for in September? We’ve already checked, nothing was technically in season. Don’t you think if he was coming to hunt he would have just waited until bow season opened in October or gun season in November? Is he the type that would he risk taking game out of season or is he the type that would have come here just for the coyote hunt?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t answer any of that. On the flip side, maybe him being here wasn’t about hunting at all. Maybe Sheila was here and they were having a little get-away before Patricia came along and rented this cabin too.”

  “You know, I don’t buy it. It’s very odd that an Ohio woman died here; a woman that, may I remind you we know was often seen around here with a man and that Terry’s prints are here – very near to the Jacuzzi tub where the woman died – and now, on top of it all, Terry’s dead back in Morelville.”

  “It could all be a very strange coincidence.” I shrugged. Without access to anything that had been found back in Morelville, I was at a total loss.

  “Do you think it’s a coincidence Sheriff Crane?”

  She has me there. I sighed, “No; I have to admit, it seems pretty fishy. Where would we even begin though? The local yokels are no help. Sad to say, but I don’t trust Sheriff Trainor as far as I can throw him. And now, given Terry’s death, all signs would seem to point toward Sheila Ford. That said, for the record, Sheila’s a good woman. I can’t picture her doing anything untoward. There has to be an explanation for Terry’s prints being here that doesn’t involve anything more sinister than maybe an extramarital affair and his death now is probably just a freak accident.”

  “Mel, think about what you just said.”

  I spread my hands, “What...what did I say?”

  “If Terry was here, having an affair with Patricia, he may have killed her, staged the scene and then left before Trainor and crew got here. Hell, maybe he was in some sort of cahoots with Trainor and that’s why their ‘so called’ investigation was so botched.”

  “Any way we slice it, what a mess...”

  Chapter 13 – The Sordid Side

  Mama Rossi

  Thursday Evening, October 15th, 2014

  Morelville

  Faye and I were sitting at the table in Mel and Dana’s newly decorated kitchen having a little coffee and conversation about the things I’d done to the house.

  “You haven’t gotten into Zanesville or Columbus yet for living room furniture though, I noticed.”

  “No; there just hasn’t been time. Maybe tomorrow...do you want to go?” I looked at Faye hopefully.

  “Sorry but I’m all booked up. Jesse has errands for me to run for him in the morning and then the varsity
plays tomorrow night. Cole has to be there even though he’s just on the JV team right now. I’ll be running around like a mad woman trying to get everything done in time to corral him and Beth from school, get them fed and then get him back there.”

  “That’s okay. I probably should let them have one room to decorate themselves, anyway. Do you need some help tomorrow with all of the stuff on your list?”

  Before she could answer me, her daughter Kris’s kids Beth and Cole struggled through the door from the driveway between this house and their own home just across from it. Boo yipped at them and attacked their ankles as they tried to maneuver with the piles of hoodies and jackets Faye had run them into town to get. She was getting an able assist from my five year old dog Lady. Boo had brought a sense of playfulness out of Lady in just a few hours with her that I thought was gone.

  We laughed over the dogs for a few more minutes and chatted a bit more then Faye drained her cup and got up to rinse it. “We best get going. They have school in the morning and, like I said, I’ve got a million things to do. I have to remember to make something for Terry’s wake too, now that I think about it.”

  “I, uh, met his granddaughter Emily this morning. She told me the funeral is Saturday.”

  Faye shook her head, “Yes, the viewing is tomorrow evening and then the funeral is at 2:00 on Saturday. I suppose I should call Mel and let her know. She may want to come back tomorrow and...”

  Beth interrupted her grandmother by addressing me, “You met Emily?”

  “Yes, today. She was sitting on the bench outside of her Papaw’s store.”

  “I wish I had seen her. She’s pretty messed up about the whole thing. I called her because she hasn’t been at school all week.”

  “Emily and Beth are very close; they’re in the same grade,” Faye supplied.

  “I see.” Smiling softly at Beth, I told her, “It’s normal for children to grieve when they lose loved ones.” I knew from Dana that Beth and Cole had recently lost their father. I was trying to be gentle in my response.

  “It’s not that. Emily’s other grandpa, Grandpa Art, and her Papaw Terry used to be best of friends. Now her other grandpa is saying he won’t even go to the funeral.”

  “Really,” Faye asked, “Why is that?”

  “They were fighting over something stupid like you’re always telling me ‘n Cole not to fight over...some fancy fishing reel or something. Emily said her Papaw Ford bought it cheap at some yard sale and said he would sell it to her Grandpa Majors but then he didn’t. Emily said it was a Garcia something or other and it was actually worth a lot of money. Mr. Majors called Mr. Ford an old conniver and said he wasn’t going to his funeral.”

  “He’ll probably change his mind sweetie,” Faye told Beth. “He’s just angry right now.”

  “Emily told me that happened months ago and they haven’t spoken since, so I don’t know. I don’t think he will.”

  I questioned Faye, “Did Terry use the reel?”

  “Not that I’m aware of but I wouldn’t know anyway. I don’t fish. Jesse would know better than I.” She paused, seeming to be thinking, “Knowing Terry, he probably sold it for more money than Art was going to give him for it or maybe he just put it away for another time.”

  “Maybe he taunted Art with it?”

  “Not if they weren’t speaking like Emily told Beth, which, with those two, was pretty likely. They would have avoided each other...the two stubborn old fools.”

  “You know what? That reminds me of something else Emily told me today.” I told Faye about Terry having his rod and his creel basket with him at the store on Sunday. “Sheila probably saw it Faye because Emily sure did. She had to suspect Terry was going fishing at some point that day so why didn’t she say anything about that when he disappeared and she reported him missing?”

  Faye shifted her eyes to Beth and Cole waiting by the door, soaking in every word and then she shifted them back to me. I shut up and let my mind run.

  Pointing at the pile of clothes and coats the kids had dumped in a chair I had temporarily sitting where the dry sink was going to go, she said, “Take those to the truck. I’ll be out in a minute.” She handed Cole the keys.

  She watched them until they were both in the truck and out of earshot and then she said, “Chloe, Terry was married before. He’s only been with Sheila for about 10 years and he hasn’t always been faithful to her, to hear it told. What we heard from Lucy Sharp yesterday about him hitting on Amy was news to me but it wasn’t a real surprise either and Jenna Mae telling us she heard them arguing supports that. He probably did something to tick Sheila off and, when he left, she just blocked everything else out.”

  She continued, “True or not, Sheila has still had other ups and downs with him but, through it all, she’s stuck by him. I give her a lot of credit for that.” With that, Faye said goodbye, told me she’d call me in the morning, and took her leave.

  Her statements cemented Sheila as a suspect in my mind but, in deference to Faye, who was obviously fond of the woman, I kept those thoughts to myself.

  Chapter 14 – On the Road

  Mel

  Friday, October 16th, 2014

  Gatlinburg, Tennessee

  I cut a bite out of the stack of pancakes with fruit topping and popped it in my mouth. The zing of the cherries sent a shiver down my spine. Dana watched me, amusement lighting her eyes.

  “Usually I’m the one clamoring for the next meal. It’s funny to watch you get so into your food.”

  “These are amazing. You should try them.”

  “No thanks. I felt like having an omelet today.”

  “Omelet at a pancake house, that’s...that’s,” I searched for the word, “blasphemy! That’s what that is.” We both laughed. “Seriously though, I’m really going to miss this...all of this. Just you and me, the mountains, doing what we want, eating what we want...no work...”

  “Mel, you have more than a hundred grand socked away and, with my settlement I have a million plus and a lifetime pension. We don’t ever have to go back to work if we don’t want to.”

  I chuckled and then reminded her, “You had a million plus. You let your mother have free rein with your bank card, remember?”

  Dana rolled her eyes. “I know but she promised to stick to working on the house and, I’ll deny I ever said this, but I trust her. She’ll do right by us.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt it for a minute.”

  “Back to my original statement; work? No work?”

  “Baby, I love what I do and I just stood for election. I have a chance to make some real changes to the way policing is handled in Muskingum County. I at least want to see one term through.”

  “Okay, fair enough.”

  “Is it though?”

  “Is it what?”

  “Fair? I want to be fair to you too, to us as a couple too.”

  “I’ll be honest; I’ve thought a lot about what I want to do next over the past couple of months and, believe it or not, even this week, down here, away from everything else. And, well, I don’t think I want to go back into law enforcement or security. In fact, I know I don’t.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “First off, I’d like to do more of this...just getting away, relaxing, recharging. I was thinking maybe we could look into buying a little place near a lake in Ohio or even...even a cabin down here in the mountains or along Douglas Lake that we could maybe get away to once in a while.”

  I grinned. “Baby, I’m all for either one of those. I love it down here and my immediate gut feeling is to get a place around here but, on the other hand, I also have to consider how much we can be here given the distance. We might make it down for a few long weekends a year these next four years, if we’re lucky. Maybe somewhere in Ohio would be better...not so far so we could get there more often, huh?”

  “Mel, I’d be okay with a few times a year for just a couple of days or we could even fly into Knoxville once in a while, cut the trip down to
just a couple of hours of flying and driving. We’ll figure it out. There’s time for that. I have our first house to finish first.”

  “Yeah, but something tells me your mom isn’t leaving you a lot to do. Either way, setting up housekeeping in a couple of places isn’t going to keep you busy forever. What else did you have in mind?”

  Dana’s eyes shone. “I’d like to write a little...I’ve always wanted to do that. I have a lot of ideas for stories; I’ve been jotting them down for weeks and...well, beyond that, I don’t know.”

  “Write, as in writing books and stuff?” She nodded. “I had no idea you wanted to do that but I think it’s great.” I smiled as my mind whirled, “We could set you up a nice little writer’s retreat out on the back of the lot where you could be away from all the hubbub of my crazy family and just write your little heart out.”

  “Or, since I’m only talking about a part time writing venture here, we could share the office we already have in the house that you’ll hardly ever use...”

  “True,” I told her, “but my piebald mount stays.”

  “Deal!”

  I smiled. “I love you Dana.”

  “I love you too.”

  My phone buzzed in my pocket as we were combing through the little gift shop in the restaurant after breakfast. I glanced at the text from Beth and then showed it to Dana:

  Beth: Grandma said to let you know that Terry’s funeral is Saturday at 2:00.

  Me: Okay. Thanks kiddo. Now put your phone away before you get caught!

  I grinned at Dana, “They’re not supposed to use them in school except at lunch time.”

  “Do you want to head back today so we can go to the funeral?”

  “I don’t want to short change our honeymoon Dana. Who knows when we’ll get to get away again? It may be a while.”

  “It’s okay; really. We can come down here again, just like we talked about. Right now, you should be there and I’m on pins and needles to see what my mother’s been up to myself. And, if we go back, you can kind of get a little jump on Monday too so you’re not so stressed.”