Melissa shuttered at the term “homicide”. Last year’s events flashed in her mind again. If Mr. Hawkins had been murdered, then Logan would be put under closer scrutiny since he had found the body. It wouldn’t help that he had been involved in the murder investigation of Mrs. Stevenson last summer. “Seriously,” she thought, “can’t we have one normal summer vacation without all the drama?”
Up ahead, Logan had encountered his buddy, Tanner Wiggins. The two were catching up from last summer and making plans to ride the waves early tomorrow. Tanner was the son of the town’s coroner. He used his familiar connections to keep himself out of trouble when he snuck beer inside his cooler instead of sodas. Melissa and Jason were aware of the other boy’s inclinations, but trusted Logan to not partake in any of Tanner’s cooler supplies. Aside from the occasional beer, the boy was a good kid. Despite looking like an extra reject from a “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” movie, he was truly a nice kid with a lot more common sense than most teenagers his age. Jason was well aware of the trouble other kids were getting into these days. His gut told him that Logan was smart enough to avoid that kind of trouble.
As the sun set over the famous North Carolina dunes, Melissa and Jason continued to stroll down the beach. Logan stayed behind with Tanner. “Dude, heard about Mr. Hawkins today!” Tanner began. “You found another dead body, dude! What’s up with that? We need to find you another pastime or something.” Rolling his eyes at the other boy’s beach bum attitude and constant use of the word “dude”, Logan explained what transpired that morning. He cringed at the memory.
Tanner half-listened as he watched the incoming waves. He could not decide whether he should tell the younger boy something he found out from his dad about Mr. Hawkins’ death. Honestly, he never understood what he could tell others and what he couldn’t about his dad’s work. The tidbit was intriguing enough that Tanner thought it would at least surprise Logan. “Dude, so everyone thinks the old man croaked from a heart attack or something, right? But my dad said that this crazy cop ordered him to perform autopsies on a bunch of dead birds he found at the scene since the dead dude’s wife didn’t want an autopsy performed on her hubby. That’s weird, right?” Logan agreed wholeheartedly. His smile faded as a sinking feeling hit him in the stomach. He couldn’t place a finger on what bothered him, but he knew enough to be wary that maybe things weren’t as cut and dry as he wished. If Mr. Hawkins hadn’t died of natural causes, that meant he had discovered yet another murder victim.
When Melissa and Jason walked back by the boys, he rejoined them. He remained troubled and silent on the walk back. Not wanting to upset his aunt, he determined to ask Jason about the situation with the dead birds as soon as he could manage to get him alone. The moment came just as Jason was leaving for the night. The older gentleman did not seem surprised by the question at all. Placing his hand on Logan’s shoulder, Jason assured the young man that there was nothing to be concerned about. It was just a crazy hunch by his crazy partner. Nothing for them to worry over. Somehow, Logan wasn’t comforted.
Chapter 4
The next day Jason walked into the precinct hoping his partner had reconsidered his “gut feeling” and the Hawkins case could be closed. After almost a year with his new partner, he was still surprised every time the younger man tried to turn something simple into a bigger deal. He understood. He was once a young buck in the police department with dreams of being a hero as some cops were portrayed on television and in the movies. Working all these years in a small seaside community didn’t lend to lots of action-packed excitement on the job. His work mostly consisted of disorderly conduct complaints (mainly tourists), pickpockets, and an occasional stolen vehicle. Last year had been quite the exception with the murder of Mrs. Stevenson in the Kill Devil Delicacies bakery. That one had been one for the ages. Personally, that was quite enough excitement for this cop. Jason preferred the calm days now.
His hopes were dashed as his partner, Cory, rushed over to him as soon as he walked in the door. “Not a good sign,” he thought with an inward cringe. His overzealous partner was in more of a tizzy than usual. The young detective was short in stature but broad-chested with dark blonde hair prematurely thinning, most likely due to overuse of baseball caps throughout his lifetime. Melissa had thought he was handsome when Jason introduced them late last summer. Good thing he wasn’t the jealous type. He remembered her saying it was too bad he hadn’t come to town a couple years earlier. Maybe her former assistant Britney would have hooked up with a good guy cop instead of a self-centered trust fund baby. That would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Cory’s blue eyes were blazing as he began telling his partner what he had discovered about the dead birds. Strolling past him to the kitchen to fetch some horrible coffee, Jason took a deep breath for patience. Despite the chief of police’s insistence to leave well enough alone, the young man had managed to convince the coroner to perform an autopsy on at least one of the dead seagulls. Jason thought Cory must have promised Mr. Wiggins, the coroner, something of value to get him to go above and beyond his assigned duties. The man wasn’t known for his initiative. “What’d that cost ya, partner?” he asked. Jason was right. The young cop had to pony up tickets to an Atlanta Braves game later that summer.
Arriving back at his desk, Cory pulled up a rickety office swivel chair and continued his story. The autopsy revealed that the bird had ingested a chemical poison. Jason began to argue that with all the litter pervading the ocean and shoreline, that wasn’t really a major finding. The younger cop interrupted him to explain that the stomach contents of the bird did include some garbage, but what was interesting was that it also contained chunks of bread. Again, Jason didn’t think that was anything unusual until Cory broke the last piece of news. The undigested bread appeared to be the same bread Mr. Hawkins had with him along with his fishing supplies – Melissa’s lemon sage bread. He planned to request the chief approve autopsies on all the birds to see if they all died from the same poison and if the poison came from the ingested bread. If his hunch was correct, he intended to order an autopsy be conducted on Mr. Hawkins regardless of his wife’s wishes.
“Whoa. You wish to go against the wishes of his grieving wife? Seriously? The poor woman is going through enough right now, don’t you think?” Jason continued, “There is no indication of foul play and we have no motive why anyone would want Mr. Hawkins dead.” Detective Bronson was not to be dissuaded. That feeling in his gut told him he was onto something. Jason was simply afraid his partner’s gut was going to stir up a lot of trouble for no real reason.
The conversation was cut short when the chief hollered from his office for them both. They past Peter Andrews, lead legal counsel for Johnson Shipping International, as he exited the chief’s office. Jason overlooked the man’s presence as being of interest since lawyers were in and out of the chief’s office all day long.
Chief James Monroe was a normally cheerful man in his early sixties, but today he was far from smiling. Before the two detectives sat down, he glared at the younger man. “Can someone please explain to me why I have a coroner performing autopsies on birds? Last time I checked, as cops we were concerned about crimes against humans, not animals,” he railed. Jason decided to let his partner do the talking. He simply sat back in his chair and listened. As much of a case Detective Bronson could make, Jason could tell the chief wasn’t buying it. The more animated the younger detective got as he explained his reasoning, the more annoyed the chief seemed to get. Out of breath, Cory pleaded with his boss to allow him to order autopsies on the other birds, and on Mr. Hawkins.
By the expression on the old man’s face, Jason knew it was a losing battle. In the end, Chief Monroe instructed Cory to never order forensic tests, and particularly autopsies, unless approved by himself. He also strongly suggested that Jason talk some sense into the young man and keep a tighter leash on him. The bird autopsy hadn’t been performed for free. It was considered a waste of the coroner’s time and
the department’s money. Also, the mayor wasn’t too happy to hear about it. If the consensus was that Mr. Hawkins died of natural causes, then so be it. He didn’t want to hear of the department overstepping its bounds and harassing innocent citizens, and most importantly voters. Last year’s ordeal with the now retired Detective Reynolds going after Mrs. Maples for a murder she didn’t commit had not set well with many locals. There had been a brief uproar from the community, but thankfully it had died down after the elder detective apologized.
Officially chastised, Detective Bronson made to leave the room, but not without a warning from the chief to “drop it”. “Besides”, he informed them, “Mrs. Hawkins claimed her husband’s body this morning. He is on his way to the funeral home as we speak to be cremated. Memorial services will be held tomorrow evening at the Main Street Baptist Church, if you would like to offer your condolences.” With that, he waved them out of his office.
Later that afternoon, Jason called Melissa to let her know he was running late for their dinner date. His partner had been a handful all day after the scolding he took from the chief. He let her know about the memorial service for Mr. Hawkins as she would want to be there. Mrs. Sophie Hawkins was one of her best customers. Also, Logan would want to be there for the Hawkins’ granddaughter, Emily. Thinking of the young girl reminded Jason of how sad his own daughter had been when her paternal grandfather had pass away a couple years ago. Jason made a mental note to call his daughter on the way home after work.
Although surprised at how fast the memorial service was planned, Melissa cleared her schedule for tomorrow afternoon. Everyone would understand if the bakery closed early in honor of Mr. Hawkins. She passed along the information to Logan, so he could call his female friend to see if she needed anything. Normally in the south, folks prepare meals for families in mourning or with loved ones in the hospital. Since Melissa was not really good at cooking, she decided to bake some bread for the family. Knowing Sophie preferred her lemon sage bread over any of her other offerings, she immediately went to work in her kitchen preparing several loaves to deliver the next day.
Chapter 5
Logan and Melissa arrived at the church early the next day. The family was already there greeting guests. The young man ran over to Emily and they hugged tightly. Apparently too tightly as Emily’s father, Joseph (a.k.a. Joey) looked on disapprovingly and cleared his throat loudly to get his daughter’s attention. Embarrassed, Logan attempted to introduce himself, but was cut off by Emily’s mom Katie who gushed, “This must be your young man, Logan. Am I right? My, my. He is as cute as you said, sweetheart.” Emily and Logan blushed bright red as Joey’s expression turned grimmer. Next to Emily was her older brother, Joey Jr. who was now in college. The young man seemed more bored than sad to be standing in a small church for his grandfather’s memorial service. He didn’t even pay attention to the guests coming in as he was too busy texting from his phone. Katie tried to apologize for his inattention, but Joey Sr. took that opportunity to smack the phone out of his hands and ordered him to “stop screwing around.”
Melissa embraced the elder Mrs. Hawkins who dabbed at tears streaming down her face. She thanked everyone for coming to honor her dear, sweet Willie. Her son gave her a questioning look as she had not referred to his father as “Willie” since their early days of marriage. Piano music started to play in the background as other mourners filed in to pay their respects, including Edward Johnson Sr.’s attorney. Melissa recognized the man as Peter Andrews, the attorney Johnson, Sr. had sent to the police station last summer to help out Britney Williams. He had also worked with an entire team of high-powered lawyers to get Eddie, Jr. out of the manslaughter charges from the incident with Mrs. Stevenson. Funny how when push came to shove, the Johnson family had not attempted to provide help to Eddie’s girlfriend, Britney once the truth came out.
Melissa’s chain of thought was then interrupted as Logan began to speak in a hushed but heart-felt tone. Logan vowed to Emily to be there for her no matter what and he would catch up with her later after the service. She smiled shyly and squeezed his hand as he moved towards the pews with his aunt.
Melissa sat down beside her dearest friend she’d gained since moving back to Kill Devil Hills a few years ago – Cheryl Lankford. The slim, brunette owned the local soup and salad shop across the street from Melissa’s own bakery. Besides being a wonderful friend, Cheryl was one of her best clients as her bakery provided the bread bowls and breadsticks for Cheryl’s restaurant. Logan took out his phone to entertain himself until the service started until he saw his friend Tanner enter the church. The two boys chatted while Melissa and Cheryl talked in whispered tones.
Leaning close to Melissa, her friend inquired how Logan was doing since she heard he had been the one to find Mr. Hawkins. “Poor boy,” she said, “two summers in a row he finds a dead body. He’s not going to want to visit anymore.” His aunt sadly agreed that perhaps it was too much for the young man. She called his parents to let them know, but once again they seemed ambivalent to whether he stayed or not. Figuring he would get more attention here with her, she decided he should remain for the rest of the summer.
Melissa asked, “Anyone know why the rush for the memorial service?” Cheryl didn’t understand it either. Neither woman had ever heard of someone dying one day and being laid to rest within a couple days. It seemed the entire town was talking about it as well, according to Cheryl who was more of a town gossip than her more reserved friend, Melissa. The two women concurred that it was odd, but thought it even stranger that Mrs. Hawkins had Mr. Hawkins cremated. Being a typical southern town, most deceased persons were buried in family plots behind their respective churches or interred in concrete tombs at the local cemetery. Neither had been to just a memorial service with an urn perched on the small wooden table in front of the pulpit along with a picture of the deceased.
Just a few feet away, Tanner mentioned the same thing to Logan. He thought it especially peculiar since his dad had found poison in one of the dead birds found on the beach along with Mr. Hawkins. “Poison?” Logan asked. He had not heard about the seagulls. Tanner explained about the crazy cop who pestered his dad into performing an autopsy on a dead bird. According to Tanner, there had been several dead seagulls brought in with the dead dude’s things for examination. Both boys thought it was weird, but their conversation was cut short when the pastor approached the pulpit to ask everyone to be seated so the service could begin.
Throughout the service Mrs. Hawkins let out several wails of sorrow as her husband was memorialized by the pastor and a touching eulogy was given by their son, Joey. Logan felt horrible as he watched Emily’s slender body shake as she cried. He wished he could be with her to offer her comfort, but he was restrained to watch with sadness a few rows back. After a moving rendition of “Amazing Grace” from the church choir, the service ended with the pastor welcoming everyone to congregate in the church recreational building for a potluck lunch organized by the ladies of the church. Mrs. Hawkins picked up the urn with her husband’s ashes and carried it with her into the other building.
During the luncheon, Cheryl’s husband joined the two women. He had been busy at the office and had been unable to get away in time for the service. Ronnie worked at Johnson Shipping International his entire career. He knew Mr. Hawkins well as they saw each other every day until just the other day when the older man had suddenly announced his retirement, effective immediately. “It’s so sad,” Ronnie began, “William just retired and had his whole life before him. All he wanted to do was spend the rest of his life fishing and spending time with his grandkids. It’s just horrible that he passed away his very first day away from that blasted office.”
Cheryl asked her husband, “Why did he retire so suddenly? I remember Sophie squawking about it in my shop after he told her. She was less than thrilled.” Ronnie assumed the old man had enough of Johnson’s dirty deeds in the business world and longed for a simpler life, like they all did. According to Ronnie,
all Mr. Hawkins did for the last thirty plus years was keep the boss man out of the fire. Actually, he was surprised Mr. Johnson accepted his resignation at all. Glancing over at Mr. Andrews, the Johnson’s attorney, as he spoke to Mrs. Hawkins at length, Ronnie shook his head. Although the sudden retirement was intriguing, the trio decided the true tragedy was that the sweet man had not been able to realize his dream.
Tanner left Logan with Emily while he went in search of more brownies or cookies in the back kitchen of the church. Rummaging through the plates and platters on the counter, he heard the sound of voices arguing just outside the side door. Intrigued, he decided to check it out. What he heard shocked him. Mrs. Hawkins and her son were bickering rather viciously for a family that just lost a beloved husband and father. Joey lashed out at his mom for rushing everything along after his dad had been found dead. Angry that she had simply accepted his father had died of natural causes, he berated her for not allowing the cops to perform an autopsy at the very least. And that wasn’t even the most interesting part of the argument. According to the son, dear dad never wanted to be cremated. The family had a large family plot right behind the church. The son even had a copy of his father’s will that was given to him years ago because he didn’t trust his wife to follow ‘simple’ instructions. Apparently, Mrs. Hawkins wasn’t in the least concerned about her son’s reaction or the fact that she went completely against her husband’s last wishes. She stood there stoically clinging to the urn as she sternly told him she did what was best.
Sage Advice to Cover Up a Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 2) Page 2
