The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  “Gate’s is in the vicinity,” Mel responded.

  “No pass yet. Tell him to keep his distance and keep me posted. I’ll be mobile in two.”

  He hung up and, as soon as the two vehicles were out of his line of vision, he turned away from the car he’d been standing beside and bolted for his own.

  While cranking on the under dash radio, he squealed out of the little lot and turned onto National Road himself.

  “Twelve, what’s your twenty?” he queried his back-up.

  “Twelve; Sand and Gravel. Have a visual. Headed northeast.”

  Shane passed the main entrance to the sand, gravel and mulch distributor and continued east. Just before the road curved to go more north and become Reihl Road, he spotted Gates in his cruiser, hidden partially behind a parked dump truck at the east side exit. He was in the perfect position to move out quickly but to anyone that might notice him, he looked like he was positioned to clock speeders. That made Shane grin.

  Harding rounded the sweeping curve of the road that he knew ended a mile away in a self-sufficient West Zanesville township. He almost missed catching the glint of light off of Erin Voll’s silver Ford [ ] as it approached the top of the long drive to a deep set cemetery.

  “Twelve; it’s about to go down in the cemetery off to the left, just around the bend to your east.”

  “Roger. En-route.”

  Shane whipped the Chevy around in a nicely paved driveway a couple of houses up from the cemetery entrance and went back the way he’d come. He turned right and zoomed up the fine gravel driveway that led to the final resting places of a few hundred of Zanesville’s former citizens. As he crested the top of the low hill, a glance in his rear view mirror told him Gates had turned onto the access road and was seconds behind him.

  Erin Voll and Floyd Donaldson had gone counter clockwise around the looped drive and were parked to the left, facing back toward the single entrance and exit drive. They were both out of their cars and looked his way.

  Instead of going around to the right as the circle was marked, Harding made a hard left and drove straight toward the front end of Donaldson’s car.

  The gangbanger was momentarily startled and stood frozen but then he jumped away off the gravel drive as Shane slid to a stop.

  Erin ran for her car, dropping a handful of money to the ground in the process. Donaldson pulled a gun out of his waistband and took a wild shot at the front end of the Chevy as he back peddled away.

  With Gates coming up right behind him, Shane jumped out and, using his door as a shield, leveled his own service weapon at the gangbanger.

  “Drop it!” Gates voice boomed over his loudspeaker as he brought his cruiser to a skidding stop alongside the Chevy.

  Floyd Donaldson started to level the gun to fire again but, still moving backwards, he tripped over a low tombstone in the first row and fell back, dropping the gun as he tried to catch himself.

  “Don’t move!” Shane ordered Erin. “Stay right where you are!”

  As Gates wrestled Donaldson into the back of his cruiser, a cuffed Erin, now leaning against Shane’s unmarked called out to her lover, “Don’t worry, they’ve got nothing on you! It’s Victor who’s going to fry.”

  “Just keep your damn mouth shut!” He called back to her as Gates unceremoniously assisted him into the vehicle.

  ###

  Mel

  12:42 PM, Saturday February 14th

  Interrogation

  Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department

  “Just call my grandfather! If you won’t let me call him, you call him! He’ll get me an attorney who will prove you’ve got nothing on me!”

  I watched through the one-way glass as Shane tried to interrogate Erin Voll. She’d given him nothing but grief but my gut feeling was, if Dana had gone and given Warren Brietland her report, Voll had better start talking to save her own skin or start demanding to call her father instead of her grandfather. Grandpa wasn’t going to be inclined to save her.

  Ducking my head through the door, I said, “Detective, a word.” Shane told Voll to sit tight and stepped out, closing and latching the door behind him.

  “She’s all but demanded a lawyer. You’re not going to get much further with her right now.”

  “You want me to go and start working on Donaldson, Sheriff?”

  “Not yet. Let him cool his heels a while longer and wonder what she’s telling us. Why don’t you go down and see what the techs have found in his car?” Erin Voll had dropped several hundred dollars at the bust when Shane and Gates had shown up but she didn’t have any drugs on her person and it didn’t appear Floyd Donaldson had made a supply pass to her yet. That’s the problem with having to work on the fly...

  Gates found a small amount of what appeared to be cocaine on Donaldson when he patted him down. It wasn’t enough to hang possession with intent to distribute charges on him. We needed more.

  ###

  1:13 PM, Saturday February 14th

  “He rolled out of the attached garage in a Lincoln Navigator about five minutes ago Sheriff. We’re headed southwest on Darlington now,” Treadway reported.

  Hmm, nice neighborhood... “Keep me posted.”

  “Roger, out.”

  1:19 PM

  “Sheriff, Dispatch just issued a call that there’s a body on one of the ranges at the gun club on Moxhala Ridge. I’m about 30 seconds ETA from there. Do you want me to divert?”

  When it rains, it pours. “You’re still following our suspect?”

  “Affirmative,” he replied.

  That was Joe Treadway. Always formal.

  “No; Dispatch can roll someone else and call the coroner. We need this guy. Stay on him.”

  “Well looky there,” Treadway all but exclaimed. “Guess who just turned down the access road back to the gun club?”

  “Be careful back in there, Joe. It’s back out of the way of everything else in the county for a reason.”

  Chapter 21 – Anointed

  Victor Voll

  1:47 PM, Saturday February 12th

  Morelville, Ohio

  “This is it? This is just fuckin’ sorry.” I waved a hand at the five men assembled in the room.

  “Yeah Chief. Most of the members are in the county lockup or in Zanesville custody for one reason or another.” Rat Tail looked pointedly at Juice.

  “Ain’t much of a club left to take over.” Disgusted, I shook my head.

  “Where’s Traveler? He still in the running?” one of the two foot soldiers present asked. I couldn’t even remember the dumb fucks’ name.

  “No he ain’t in the running. He’s gone...for good. If you’re a smart one, you’ll throw in with this guy right here.” I pointed at Rat Tail. “He’s the only one that managed to pull off any shit that didn’t get him or most of the rest of the club nailed. He’s the Chief now...of what’s left of this sorry ass group.”

  Major Foote smiled. “It’ll be big again. Recruiting for new blood begins today gentlemen.”

  The sounds of wood cracking and splintering pierced the air. I drew my piece and spat as Juice and the two newbies Rat Tail had just inherited hit the floor. I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

  A Sheriff’s Deputy entered the room his pistol held skyward; too high to get a shot at me before I took him out. I leveled my already raised pistol at his face but the sound of glass shattering to my right had me spinning toward a dusty old window instead. A shotgun was pointed through the broken pane at my own face.

  “Having a chapter meeting without me?” Sheriff Crane asked as she entered the club room behind her deputy.

  ###

  Mel

  2:50 PM, Saturday, February 14th

  Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department

  I personally paraded Victor Voll through the squad bay in handcuffs. By a lucky stroke of fate, Erin Voll was seated, cuffed, next to Shane’s desk as we walked through. I shot Shane a ‘what’s up look as the spouses glared at each other. He tip
ped his head toward his phone and then, rolled his eyes.

  Young Mrs. Voll isn’t getting any cooperation from the people she hopes will save her sorry ass... It took all I had not to smile at her.

  Thinking fast as I headed toward the open door of interview room one, I asked Shane over my shoulder, Where’s Donaldson?”

  “Two,” Shane called back to me.

  “Get him out here too.” I pointed to an empty bench seat we used occasionally for suspects that was a good thirty feet from where Erin Voll was currently sitting.

  Once I was sure the elder Voll was comfy in a room – as comfy as he could be cuffed to the leg of a table that was bolted to the floor, I locked him inside and went back out to the bay just as one of my deputies was bringing Donaldson out of room two.

  Joe Treadway was coming through with Major Foote. “Put him in two,” I told him.”

  Back at Shane’s desk, a curious Erin Voll was all eyes on Donaldson. Ignoring her for the moment, I instead pointed at Janet’s desk, “Mason?”

  “She’s still out on that Moxhala call.”

  “Any word?”

  He nodded. “Biker; shot. Had ID on him.”

  “Is that right?” I jerked a thumb back toward the interview rooms. “We confiscated pistols from both of those two and one of the other three losers we just collared. If Kreskie gets a bullet out of him, I’ll bet you a Coke, one of those three shot him.”

  I grinned at the wide eyed Erin as Shane replied back, “No deal. That’s a sucker bet.”

  Talking to Shane but looking back and forth between Voll and Donaldson, I said, “Well I’d bet that Foote took out a rival for her hubbies job,” I smiled again at Erin, “but I’ll bet you’re going to be very glad to be in police custody when hubby finds out that you two were plotting to murder him. He probably won’t be very happy at all when he hears that.”

  Erin Voll had the nerve to smile sweetly. “I’m not worried about him anymore,” she told us. “I have Conal now.”

  “You mean Floyd Donaldson over there?” I pointed at the sullen man chained to the bench, trying to stare me down.

  “His name’s Conal Floyd,” she informed me.

  Donaldson couldn’t stay out of the conversation. It was his turn to smile as he ground out through his teeth, “It’s Preacher, bitch, and all you got was laid. I don’t want you around anymore than he’s going to want you when he finds out what you’ve been up to.”

  Erin’s smug look turned to shock.

  “Poor you,” I told the conniving young woman. “No man, no drugs, no trust fund money either and you’re going to jail to boot. Ain’t that a kick in the teeth?”

  Chapter 22 – Date Night

  Dana

  12:05 PM, that Same Day

  Morelville, Ohio

  I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted a romantic evening just for the two of us as much as Mel did and she was working way too hard to pull anything off herself; anyone with sense could see that. The stress of one more thing on her plate and our mother’s both hounding her about it was something she just didn’t need.

  Putting my talent for scheming and plotting to better use, I started planning out a date night for us at home. I searched the kitchen and found most of what I needed to make chicken cacciatore, the dish that had Mel swooning the first time I’d made it for her.

  “Come on Boo,” I called to her. “We’re going for a little walk.” I hooked her to her leash and we headed over to the store so I could pick up some fresh mushrooms. Canned just won’t do for a fancy feast!

  It was warm for February and, since it was lunchtime on Saturday, people were out and about in the village. I looped Boo’s leash around the awning post at the front of the store where she was happy to entertain the two Mennonite children waiting patiently for their mother, whom I could see inside, talking with my dad at the counter.

  Mama wasn’t in view when I went in and I hoped that meant she was working on getting her nail salon ready to open and I could avoid her questions but my dad’s “Hi there Dana” brought her right out of the little store office.

  “Sweetie, what brings you in? I thought you and Mel would be off on some grand adventure today.”

  “Mel’s at work Mama.”

  “On Saturday? Again? But, it Valentine’s Day.”

  “You and Dad are working on Valentine’s Day,” I pointed out.

  She waved me off. “That’s different.”

  I didn’t see the difference but I really didn’t want to argue. “She’ll be home in a little while.” I changed the subject, “I need some fresh mushrooms. Please tell me you have some.”

  “Of course, but why? Are you cooking? Aren’t you two going out tonight somewhere special?”

  “Mama, please. Since Mel has to work, I’m making a special dinner for us tonight. I want to do this for her. We decided to take a weekend away together a little later when we can plan it all out properly.”

  She nodded. “I see. Well, I suppose that’s something.”

  Even though I was frustrated, I held my temper. “It’s just fine. Everything’s fine, really. Now, about those mushrooms?”

  “In the cooler case. I got some nice portabellas in yesterday, as a matter of fact.”

  “No, no. Just the regular buttons for slicing.”

  “You’re making cacciatore, aren’t you?”

  I smiled.

  His customer gone, Dad jumped into the conversation too. “Oh, Mel’s going to love that. I know I do!”

  “We’re not invited Marco. It’s for Mel,” Mama told him sternly. He stuck his lower lip out and pretended to pout.

  “Mel does love it and, don’t worry; I have plenty of chicken. I’ll make enough for you to have some...tomorrow.” He smiled and all but skipped back to the counter as another customer came in.

  Mama followed me over to the produce case. “Do you have candles?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Candles, you know; for romance.”

  Wrinkling my nose, I told her, “I don’t think Mel’s really the candle type.”

  “Baloney. She’s all about fire: the fireplace, the fire pit, the barbecue pit...”

  When I didn’t respond right away because I was thinking about how I could work the fireplace into my evening plans, she continued, “When I was decorating your place, I got a few tea light holders and I’m pretty sure you have candlestick holders up on a shelf in the pantry. I have tea lights and candles.”

  “Fine, Mama. Just add them to my bill.”

  “No charge. Consider it my contribution. Now, what are you making for dessert?”

  As I looked at the baked goods racks, I replied, “I was hoping you’d gotten in some good stuff from Amoretto’s that I could just doctor a bit.”

  “We did; yesterday. They did a whole Valentine’s line of pastries. They sold out of here like hotcakes.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle at the analogy. Still, that left me momentarily stumped. I walked around the grocery shelf that divided the store into two fairly long aisles. There was no cherry pie filling; only blueberry, which I knew Mel didn’t care for. I asked Mama if she had any cherry in the back.

  “No ma’am,” she said. “Sold the last one this morning. You’re a day late and a dollar short.”

  “Never mind then, I’ll think of something. I’ve got to get going. Boo’s outside waiting.”

  When we got home, I called Hannah and was happy when she answered the phone.

  “It’s Dana,” I told her. “I hope I’m not interrupting you at work?”

  “No,” she said. “I only work on Saturday’s once in a while. We did all the big baking for today already.”

  “Bet you had a busy week! Are you and Jamie doing anything special tonight?”

  “Ya, later,” she told me, her German accent seeping out. “She’s working until 6:00 though. What about you and Mel?”

  “That’s just it. Mel’s working too and I don’t know exactly when she’
ll be home so I’m making something that will just get better the longer it simmers.”

  “Good plan.”

  “I’m a little stuck for a good dessert though. That’s why I called. If tell you what sorts of things I have on hand here or that I can get at the village store, can you help me figure something out? There just isn’t time for me to run into Zanesville and pick up anything else up.”

  Hannah laughed at my off the wall idea but she agreed to play along. We spent the next few minutes going back and forth over recipes ideas and ingredients.

  “I’ve got it,” she said, “and Mel’s going to love it. In fact, so will Jamie. How about I come down there and we make enough for all of us together? I’ll pick up what you don’t have here in Zanesville.”

  “You don’t need to go to all that trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble. It’ll be fun.”

  Hannah showed up an hour later with white chocolate, good cocoa and strawberries. We got right to work making up what she called red velvet molten lava cakes.

  “Sweetie, these look amazing.” I said to her when we were nearly done and then I hugged her. “I’ve seen them all chocolate before but never red velvet. Great idea; thank you so much!”

  “My pleasure,” she told me shyly.

  Her muted response reminded me of the Hannah of old, right after she’d left the Amish order. I’d hugged her before, but I was afraid I’d somehow overstepped my bounds this time. Stepping back, I told her, “I’m sorry. Is something wrong?”

  “Just a friend on my mind, is all.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  She shook her head no. “Not really. She’s just struggling right now with...with everything. You and Mel are so happy and me and Jamie too and...”

  “And you want the same for her.”

  This time, she nodded.

  “You have a big heart Ms. Hannah. Listen, if you need me, call me. And,” I said as I crossed to the dry sink where I’d tossed my wallet, “I’m going to give you a little something for coming all the way down here to help me today and buying half the stuff we needed to do this to boot.”