Missy pulled her hair back into a ponytail yet again and headed out the door. She really needed to see Mom and take Cody to the vet. She hoped to get both things done before she had to be at work at ten.
Daphne Roberts was sitting on her porch when Missy pulled up. They had graduated the same year in high school and run in completely different circles, but these days they were good, if not close, friends. Daphne had gone to veterinarian school in Ohio, earning her medical degree before coming back to Grove City about five years ago to take over Dr. Sleeper’s old practice.
Missy parked in her gravel driveway and hopped out, Cody in tow. The Irish setter raced to see Daphne like they were old friends.
“Well, hello, Cody.” Daphne crouched so her face was just about even with Cody’s, and she petted the dog. “Glad to see you’re in good hands.”
Daphne stood to greet Missy. She wore a t-shirt and scrubs and looked like she’d lost some weight recently. Missy couldn’t help but feel envious and almost wanted to ask her if she was on a diet, but she had more important things to worry about.
Like exonerating her mother.
Missy gave Daphne a hug. “Thanks for seeing us on short notice, it means a lot.”
Daphne smiled. “It’s the least I could do. I’m so sorry to hear about your mother.”
“Yeah…” Missy didn’t really know what to say. Twenty-four hours ago she would have sworn Mom wouldn’t have been capable of hurting anybody. But after her own near-assault yesterday, she wasn’t so sure. If pushed hard enough, people were really capable of anything. But it still didn’t make sense for Mom to wait twenty years to murder Albert when it was Loretta that she really blamed.
Daphne squeezed her shoulder. “Everything will be okay. Your mother is the nicest woman in the world.”
Missy smiled but said nothing.
“Now let’s get Cody inside, okay?”
Missy and Cody followed Daphne inside the house. Daphne used most of the first floor as her office and led them through a waiting room filled with doggie treats into an exam room. With her stethoscope, she listened to Cody’s breathing and heartbeat. Then she checked the dog’s teeth.
“Okay, Cody, looking good.” Daphne looked up at Missy. “Where did you say she was hurt?”
Missy stooped and pointed. She could tell that Cody was tensed up.
Daphne gently touched the dog’s side near her back hip, and Cody whimpered.
“Oh my,” Daphne said.
“Is it bad?”
Daphne didn’t answer. Her fingers continued to softly probe the dog’s flank for a moment. Then she stopped and sighed.
“I’ve only practiced ten years but I’ve seen more than enough of these to last a lifetime,” Daphne said.
“What?”
Daphne reached into her pocket for a treat and offered it to Cody. The dog gently took it and swallowed it one gulp. Daphne petted her and ran a hand down her spine, careful not to go near the injured area.
“Missy, somebody hit her. My guess would be a foot.”
Missy covered her mouth. It had to be the killer. Obviously Cody had intervened, hoping to save Albert’s life. Her bravery had earned her this injury.
“Is anything broken?”
“I won’t know till we take an x-ray.”
Daphne and Missy took Cody into another room and got her set up on a metal table. The vet explained she needed Missy to keep Cody very still. She stayed right next to Cody while Daphne set the machine up. The dog barely moved, even when the machine started making loud noises as it snapped pictures of her.
“Just give me a moment,” Daphne said.
Missy gave Cody a couple more treats while they were waiting and rubbed behind Cody’s ears.
“I wish you could talk, girl. Then you could just tell me who the killer is.”
Cody barked and thumped her tail against the metal table. She had bad dog breath, but Missy didn’t mind. She’d never had a dog but was getting used to this. She was surprised to find how much she enjoyed taking care of a living thing and for the first time in her life she felt sad about not having any children yet. The emotion totally blindsided her. Missy wasn’t even married, wasn’t even close to married.
Daphne returned with two films. She walked to the other side of the room and turned on the light boxes then hung the films. Waving Missy over, she turned to study the x-rays.
Missy watched over her shoulder, studying the dog’s bones. She’d broken an arm in grade school and remembered her own x-rays. Dog bones looked no different than human bones, really.
“Here.” Daphne pointed. “You see that tiny black line on the rib?”
Missy would never have noticed it if Daphne hadn’t pointed it out. But once she saw it, she could tell it was bad.
“Broken?”
“Hairline fracture in one of Cody’s ribs.”
“Oh-my-God. She has a broken rib?”
Daphne nodded. “Poor girl.”
“But she’s been up and down on all the furniture, in and out of the car…I mean, you’d never know she had a broken bone.”
Daphne turned off the light boxes and pulled down the x-rays. “Dogs are very stoic compared to us humans. They don’t exhibit too many outward symptoms of pain or trauma.”
“What can we do?”
Daphne offered Cody another treat, which the dog lapped up greedily. “Give her some meds to ease the pain. Unfortunately there’s not much I can do about a hairline fracture in one of her ribs. She just needs time to heal it herself.”
Missy felt awful. Here she’d had Cody all over the last couple of days and the dog had been in serious pain.
“Come on,” Daphne said. “I’ve got what you need in the store room. Let’s get her started right away.”
Chapter Fourteen
Missy drove very carefully to the police station and tried to avoid any and all bumps in the road. Cody was stretched out on the seat next to her, and she didn’t want to jostle the dog now that she knew about the broken rib. Poor girl.
She made it to the police station around nine-thirty. It wouldn’t give her much time with Mom, but at least she could squeeze in fifteen minutes. Then on her first break, she could call a couple attorneys she knew to get Mom out of here.
Grove City’s police station was tiny. It was basically a wide open floor, two offices, one room for questioning, and a cell in the corner that constituted the jail. Missy didn’t know what the police did when they had to arrest several people—it looked like there was no space for it.
She rolled the windows down and asked Cody to stay put in the truck. Fully expecting Cody to disobey her command, Missy was surprised when the dog didn’t move a muscle and stretched out even more on the front seat of her truck. Must have been the meds kicking in.
Missy strode into the police station. Small town, so she knew everybody that worked here. Renee was staring at her cell phone when Missy came in. She had been a few years ahead of Missy in school and had been a bully. When she looked up from her phone, she wasn’t surprised to see Missy.
“I’d like to see my mother now.” Missy looked past Renee into the back. She could see the two glass offices along the side of the floor. One belonged to Chief Brody, the other to Tyler.
“Have a seat, Melissa.”
Missy didn’t sit. “And when I’m done with her I’d like a word with the chief.”
Renee smirked. “I’ll see if he’s available.”
Missy was pretty sure the chief was available. She could see him sitting in his office, kind of zoned out in front of his computer.
Next thing she knew, her mother emerged from the back of the station. Tyler followed along behind her. Missy noted she wasn’t wearing cuffs and was carrying her jacket. If Missy didn’t know any better, she would have thought Mom was leaving.
“Okay, Mrs. DeMeanor, you’re free to go,” Tyler said, loud enough for Missy to hear.
Her jaw dropped. “Mom, you’re getting out?”
Her
mother didn’t look too happy about it. “Yes. Would you mind driving me home, dear?”
Missy was ecstatic but Mom looked like she wanted to die. “Of course, Mom. I’m just going to have a word with Tyler first.”
“I’ll be outside.”
Missy waited till her Mom had left the station before addressing Tyler. This morning he hadn’t shaved, and Missy noticed that some of his stubble had grey in it. It aged him but looked good on him.
She felt Renee’s eyes on them both. “Uh, can we talk in your office?”
Tyler nodded. “Sure.”
She followed him back there. Through the glass windows of his office, Chief Brody watched her the whole way. She could tell he suspected her of the murder. Once they reached Tyler’s office, he stepped aside to let her go first then closed the door. His office was neat and had some pictures of his parents in it. She noticed a few old newspaper clippings, all of them probably articles about some of his athletic feats in high school.
“Melissa, what would you like to talk about?”
She sat down opposite him. She had come here looking to raise hell, but Mom’s release had kind of taken the wind out of her sails.
“You didn’t, uh, have to arrest Mom.”
“Melissa.” He sat forward and shook his head. “She gave me no choice.”
“So why are you letting her go?”
Tyler hesitated. “Her story checks out.”
“I see.” He clearly wasn’t going to provide any details. “And what about my story?”
“Yours?” Tyler stared deep into her eyes. “I know you’re not a killer, Miss. I know it in my heart. And if it were up to me, I wouldn’t think twice about you. But the chief thinks you did it.”
“What?” She looked over her shoulder, through the glass and caught the chief openly staring at her from his office.
Tyler nodded. “He’s the one that arrested your mom all those years ago and also your father.”
“My father?”
Tyler made a face. “Guess you didn’t know about that.”
“My father was arrested?”
Tyler took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you have to find out this way, from me.”
“Better I find out from somebody.”
“It was not long after he got—after he lost his job. He and Switzer happened to be in the same bar one night. One thing led to another.”
“So lemme guess, the chief thinks the apple doesn’t fall far?”
“Something like that.”
Chapter Fifteen
The longer she sat in his office, the more Missy found herself wanting to ask Tyler all these questions that were totally inappropriate given the context. Why had he left the job in Philadelphia? What was his marital status? Why had he come back here, now? But she drove those thoughts away and focused on the issue at hand.
"Have you talked to Cooper Merritt?" Missy asked.
Tyler shook his head. "I can't discuss an open investigation with you."
"Because I'm a suspect?"
"Because you're not a member of this police department."
His eyes briefly gave her a onceover. Had he just checked her out? It made her feel good and self-conscious all at once. They had been together a long time ago and she had looked very different back then. Sure, she had always been bigger than the other girls but back then it had been marginal. Squirming in her seat, she chewed on her bottom lip.
"Why did you come back?" she blurted out.
He smirked. "Why did you stay?"
Because you never asked me to come with you, she didn't say. "It just felt wrong to leave Mom all by herself."
He nodded and leaned back in his seat. "There are a lot of reasons why I came back."
Missy looked down for a moment. She wasn't used to this Tyler. He was so guarded, shut off to her. The boy she had dated had been always honest and kind and very easy to read. The man sitting across from her was bottled up. It must have been the job that had done this to him. She couldn't see Tyler progressing to this state on his own.
"Do you have any other suspects?"
"Melissa, I can't discuss this with you." He sat forward and looked deep into her eyes. "And I have to advise you not to take matters into your own hands here."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
He sighed. "This is police business. Let me do my job."
"I'm supposed to sit back and do nothing while the chief thinks I'm the killer?" Her anger rose. "That's not fair."
"If it looks like you're interfering with the investigation, people will think—”
"Will think I'm unduly influencing you?"
"No." The skin around his jaw hardened. "They'll think you're the killer, trying to make herself look innocent."
She looked away. "I think you're just worried about how you'll look if I help. Or, heaven forbid, if I solve this crime myself."
His ears turned red. "Melissa, there is a killer out there. What do you think that person is going to do when they realize you're trying to find them?"
Her blood ran cold. He was right. Up until this point she hadn’t been worried about those repercussions because she'd been most concerned with clearing her mother's and her own name. But still, Missy didn't want to appear weak in his eyes. Since college she’d been able to take care of herself and she hadn't needed Tyler Brock of all people. Why was this any different?
"I'm not going to sit around and do nothing."
Tyler sort of smiled. "You haven't changed much, Melissa."
"You have."
That sort of smile slipped away and the wall came back up.
Chapter Sixteen
“I'm running late, Mom. Can you drop me at the bookstore and take the truck?"
"Sure."
Missy got into the passenger side, gently nudging a half-comatose Cody over. Her mom got behind the wheel.
“I miss this old thing,” Mom said.
It had been Dad’s truck. After he’d passed away, Mom had gifted it to Missy.
The first five minutes of their ride had been silent, with Missy mulling over her conversation with Tyler and all its implications. She couldn't get a read on him. Part of her suspected he still had feelings but any time he started to open up he just as quickly withdrew.
And more importantly, what did she feel? She hadn't been with him since high school and, like she'd pointed out, he was a different man now. In her mind she still expected him to be that handsome young man with an open smile and carefree manner. But he wasn't that anymore. In fact, he was significantly different now.
And did she want to date a cop? She had nothing against the police. They had one of the most difficult, demanding jobs in the world and whenever some horrid story of brutality was reported, they were all painted with the same broad strokes. She didn't know if she could be a police officer’s girlfriend, let alone wife.
Whoa, where did the w word come from? Wife. She had never imagined herself as anybody’s wife before. She was alone, but not lonely and fiercely independent.
Mom broke the silence. "So what happened in there? Did he confess his undying love for you?"
Missy decided to dodge that question. "I should ask you what happened in there. Why did they let you go?"
Mom looked back out the windshield. "He didn't tell you?"
"He said your story checked out."
Mom nodded. "Well, that's why."
"How did he confirm you were out for a drive?"
Mom stiffened. "Don't worry about that, it's not important. What's important is that man still has feelings for you."
"Yeah, when he isn't trying to arrest me." Missy came to a stop at a light. There was little traffic on the country road. She drummed the steering wheel with her thumbs. "And P-S, he doesn't have feelings for me still. That was a long time ago."
"Missy, you never give yourself enough credit."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're a beautiful, strong, independent woman. Men like that."
Translation: she shouldn't worry about her weight. But Missy didn't feel like getting into that. There was too much to deal with already.
"Thanks, Mom."
Mom dropped her at work. Missy gave Cody a pat and waved goodbye before walking into the bookstore. She was twenty minutes late to work on account of her stop at the vet and then the police station, but she’d called her boss ahead of time to let Brett know. He was understanding and she’d always been a good employee, never taking advantage of his kindness.
Books and Crannies was busy when she stepped inside. The Little Old Ladies were in their usual spot, sitting in the three high-backed chairs Brett kept along the near wall. By quick count, she estimated there were twenty people browsing, an unheard of number of people in the store at the same time. When all eyes shifted her way, it only took a moment to realize why it was so crowded. Grove City didn’t see too many murders and the people were all morbidly drawn to the investigation, wanting to get a good look at the prime suspect herself: Missy DeMeanor.
Noreen was working the register and winked at her. Missy smiled politely as she made her way through the crowd to drop her bag in the back of the store where Brett’s office was.
Her boss was back there, reviewing something on his computer. “Hey, Missy. Everything alright?”
She fake-smiled. “Other than the fact I’m suspected of murder, my mother spent a night in jail, and my dog has a broken rib, everything is alright.”
He grimaced. “Sorry to hear that. But I’m glad you’re here.” He quickly perked up. “This is as busy as we’ve ever been.”
***
The customers browsed for longer than usual, not so patiently waiting for their opportunity to sidle over to Missy and express their condolences or ask probing questions about the murder scene. At first she gladly answered their questions, at least, what she thought she could answer, but after an hour of non-stop inquiries mostly around the same things, Missy had had enough. She pulled her boss aside.
Flea Market Fatal Page 7
