We hustled to the car and moments later I pulled out onto the road without attracting any notice. I drove straight to the hospital. Sheriff Glory had relayed Betsy’s recounting of her attack, but I had some basic questions. Like how tall was her attacker? Or did he smell of anything? Surely she would have some clue as to who’d tried to kill her.
The hospital was busy, which meant our entrance didn’t draw too much attention. I had a cover story ready, but a young nurse gave me Betsy’s room number without blinking.
Tinkie and I walked in and closed the door. I had to admit, Betsy looked a lot better than she had at our last meeting. She was no longer green and struggling to breathe. Her color was better, but she looked terrified when she saw us.
“Don’t kill me!” She held up her hands and was about to set up an ear-splitting screech before I clapped a hand over her mouth.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” I said harshly in her ear. “Unless you make us. Will you shut up?”
She nodded vigorously and I removed my hand.
“We’re the people who found you, almost dead,” Tinkie told her. “Erik Ward saved your life and we helped.”
“Fat chance of that.” Betsy’s mouth drew down in an ugly line. “He’s not a nice man. Not at all. He pretends to be all fun and charming, but he’s a bad man.”
“I don’t think he killed Johnny Braun,” I told her. “The police reports said Braun’s disappearance was an accident.”
“The cruise line made them say that. They didn’t want the bad publicity. And Erik went right on to dance in the competition and win. They should have canceled the competition. By all rights, that crown and the prize money belonged to me and Johnny.”
This was a refrain that would grow old very quickly. “Do you know who attacked you, Betsy?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see the person.”
“Someone tried to poison you and you didn’t see who it was?”
“He clamped his arm around my throat and then forced something into my mouth. I didn’t swallow it. I bit his finger and spit most of it out. That’s when he hit me hard with a flashlight.”
“He? So it was a man?”
“Had to be. He was strong. And tall.”
“Any distinctive smell to him?” I asked.
“Yeah, he smelled like a pharmacist. Like Erik Ward,” she said. “Or maybe I should say he smelled like a skunk, because that’s what Erik is.”
“It couldn’t have been Erik,” Tinkie said. “When you were attacked, he was with us.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well I’m not convinced. That’s what I told the sheriff.”
“You said you bit his finger? Hard?”
“I chomped down on it pretty good.”
“Erik has all of his digits in working order,” Tinkie said. “He didn’t try to harm you.”
“Tell it to someone who cares,” Betsy said.
She seemed willing to ruin a man without any evidence because she carried a grudge. “Why do you hate Erik so much?” I asked. “Surely it isn’t just a dance crown and some money.”
“No. It’s a lot more than a dance competition and some money. He paralyzed my best friend.”
Tinkie looked at me and blinked. “What?” she said.
“Ask him. I told you about Claudia Brooks, but you didn’t bother looking for her. Erik was her dance partner and he dropped her. She landed wrong. She was paralyzed from the waist down.”
Tinkie and I didn’t say a word. Betsy had mentioned another dancer when I first interviewed her. But she’d never mentioned an injury or that Erik was involved. And Erik was clever at omitting pertinent facts, but it seemed he would have said something about this.
“You don’t believe me,” Betsy said, turning away to face the wall. “I don’t care. It’s true and I know it.”
“Do you really think Erik would deliberately drop someone?” I asked.
“He pushed her into performing that lift. She didn’t want to do it. She wasn’t confident, but he told her they had to have that lift to win. And he really wanted to win. Claudia wanted Erik to have whatever he wanted. She could never say no to him.”
“Where is Claudia now?” Tinkie asked. “Stop stalling and tell us the truth. If she’s pertinent to what’s going on here now, we need to talk to her today.”
“She left Mobile. She went to live with a family member. She was only in her twenties and the rest of her life she’ll be in a wheelchair.” Betsy was crying now, hard and ugly. “I’ve tried to find her but she’s disappeared. And it’s Erik’s fault.”
I handed her the box of tissues. “I’m sorry for what happened to your friend.”
“He took her future. That’s why I hate him and why I’m going to see he’s punished, however I have to do it.”
I looked at Tinkie and I realized we were likely thinking the same thing. Friendship taken to this extreme was bordering on psychotic. Was Betsy Dell someone who could kill innocent people just to frame a man she hated? She was tall and athletic, and she could have faked the attack on herself.
“Can you tell us anything else about your attacker?” Tinkie asked.
“He was smooth-shaven. Like Erik. Short hair, unless he had it tied back. He meant to kill me for sure.”
“Why were you in the gardens?” I asked.
“I got a call from someone who said they knew about the ad I wanted to run in the local paper. The caller was male and he said he had evidence to prove Erik was guilty of killing Johnny. I knew Erik would never be punished for what he did to Claudia, but I wanted that evidence that showed he murdered Johnny. I took a risk.”
“And you almost died.”
“And I’ll do it again if I have to. Erik Ward is going to pay for what he did to my best friend. Claudia believed in me when I went out to Hollywood. She was the only person who ever believed in me.”
“We’re going to look for Claudia. If we find her, we’ll tell her to get in touch with you.” Tinkie was far more compassionate than I was.
“Good luck with that.”
Betsy was so bitter, I just stared at her. “You know where Claudia is. Tell us.”
“She’s dead. She killed herself a month or so ago. In Dubuque, Iowa, where she was living.”
Tinkie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Betsy. I am. But you can’t blame Erik for something that happened in the past and was an accident.”
“Check into it. See if you can look me in the eye and say it was an accident once you know the details.” She rolled over to face the wall.
* * *
It turned out a search of Cece’s Prius was futile. Tinkie and I combed over it, while Sheriff Glory looked out the window watching us. We found zip. About the time we finished examining the car, Deputy Mixon showed up, only a little annoyed that we’d given him the slip at the B&B. We apologized, and he shook his head and walked inside, grumbling. When we were finished, Glory came out the door and called us inside.
“I thought you might want to take a look at her cell phone,” she said.
“You could have told us you had it,” Tinkie said.
“You could have come in here and asked,” Glory said, unwilling to take the blame for Tinkie’s pique.
I thought Tinkie would stamp her foot, but instead she burst into a full-blown laugh. “You’re right, Glory. We should have done that. And mea culpa to Deputy Mixon for sneaking off.”
“May I see the phone?” I asked.
“Do you know her password?” Glory held up the phone. “I’ve called a state expert, but he won’t get here until late today.”
“I do.” Tinkie, Cece, Millie, and I had all exchanged phone passwords and other critical online data. I took the phone and opened it, going straight to the camera roll. “Can you track where the phone has been?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. We just don’t have the capability,” Glory said.
I opened the photo file and stopped. There were a dozen pictures of the interior of Cece’s car, of the
ground, around the area, and of Hans, in the passenger seat looking very upset.
“Where in the heck could Cece and Hans be?” I asked. I hated to do it in front of Tinkie, but the photos, with the crazy camera angles and the photos of the car’s headliner and other nonsensical things, made me think the two of them had been swarmed and attacked. Surely one older woman—old enough to be my mama—couldn’t have taken both Hans and Cece alone.
“There was no blood or any indication of anyone being wounded,” Glory said. “No one has seen Gertrude Strom in this area since the shootings yesterday. Coleman believes she may be headed back to Sunflower County in preparation for your return.”
“Coleman believes Gertrude has Cece, doesn’t he?”
“He does, and he thinks she means to make an example of her, to draw you out, to bring you home and within her reach.”
Tinkie stepped to my side. “Maybe we should go home.”
I nodded. It was time to do that. I’d never walked away from a case—and neither had Tinkie. This, though, was circumstances beyond my control. I filled Glory in on what I’d learned from Betsy Dell about Erik’s dance past and the sad story of his former partner Claudia Brooks.
“Let me check that.” Glory went to a database. “There were no criminal charges filed against Erik in a dance accident. If it happened the way Betsy said it did, it seems this Claudia would have filed charges or at least a civil suit.”
She was right about that. “Check the obits in Dubuque, if you don’t mind.”
She went through some clicks and clacks and turned the computer screen for us to view. It was a death notice for Claudia Brooks. She’d died in January. Glory checked another database. “The death was ruled accidental, but the elements of suicide were there. Looks like an overdose. Could have been accidental.”
“This only gives notice of her death. Could you check and see if there are any relatives? Maybe we can call a family member and get more information.”
“Sure. She has a brother who was a teacher at a local high school, and I’ll make the call,” Glory said. “Folks will talk to a lawman quicker than a PI.”
She was right about that. In a moment she was talking to the principal at the school where Charles Brooks taught. The conversation wasn’t long or in depth. She hung up. “Charles Brooks quit teaching several years ago to care for his sister full-time. The school doesn’t have any contact information on him.”
“Charles would have a very good reason to hate Erik, if he believes the same thing Betsy believes—that Erik was responsible for her accident. The death of his sister could have been a trigger.”
“You’re right about that,” Glory said. “I’ll see if I can’t track him down. It couldn’t hurt to at least check in with him. Thanks for the lead. Now you two, if you’re going to Zinnia, you should get on the road.”
30
We were still standing on the courthouse steps when my phone rang. It was Jaytee, Cece’s fiancé. Dread overtook me at the thought of telling him what had happened.
“Coleman and Ed have already told him Cece’s missing,” Tinkie said, reading me perfectly. “Talk to him or give me the phone.”
She shamed me into answering. “I’m so sorry, Jaytee.”
“I know. It isn’t your fault, Sarah Booth.”
“Yeah, it is. Gertrude is after me.”
“Not because of anything you did. She’s insane. That’s no one’s fault. Not really even hers.”
Jaytee was just that kind of person. He didn’t cast blame. I wasn’t nearly that forgiving. I wanted to get my hands on Gertrude and rip her head off her shoulders. “Tinkie and I are heading home soon. I swear to you, I won’t rest until we find her.”
“Could you hold off on coming home? At least until tomorrow?”
I was confused. “Hold on, let me put this phone on speaker so Tinkie can hear, too.” I clicked the appropriate buttons. “Okay, tell us why we shouldn’t come home yet?”
Jaytee didn’t hesitate. “I got a really weird message from Cece. I haven’t been able to make any sense of it, but I thought maybe you could. I think she’s still down in George County. I think she’s being held there. I don’t want you to leave her. She has to know you’re looking for her.” His voice broke and Tinkie blinked away tears.
“Sure, we’ll stay here and keep looking. Coleman has Sunflower County sewn up and he doesn’t need our help. The sheriff here is great and she’s looking for Cece, too.” I wanted to give Jaytee as much comfort as I could.
“Cece told me a story when I last talked to her. She’d been researching with that TV guy, Hans, and she said there was something else about the gardens and why they’re called the Devil’s Bones.” Jaytee was trying hard to be factual and not emotional. I could hear the strain in his voice.
“What did she say?”
“According to the local lore, Devil’s Bones is a nickname because of the spotted water hemlock growing there. But there’s more to it. Cece said it was supposed to be a cemetery for Confederate soldiers. Ultimately, only two soldiers were buried there, but they were Union. It seems the fellows were executed by a mob and buried out in the woods to hide the murders. Rumors grew up around the graves, which no one could ever find again. The local folks said the cemetery contained only devil’s bones.”
I’d heard the Garden of Bones referenced as the Devil’s Bones, but I hadn’t dug into the folklore of it. “Okay.” I still didn’t see where this was going to help us find Cece. “Why is this helpful?” I asked Jaytee.
“Cece sent me a text just before she disappeared.”
My pulse increased, and Tinkie’s eyes widened. “Tell us!”
“It’s cryptic, and that’s not like Cece. She’s pretty plainspoken,” Jaytee said, and he was correct. Cece didn’t mince her words.
“Tell us.” I was going to have to jump through the phone line and pull the words out of his mouth.
“She said that we’d all been dancing with the devil’s bones.”
That was cryptic as hell. Tinkie shook her head. “That’s the whole message?”
“There’s one more line of it. She said she needed to explore the source and to never forget how to salsa.”
“Jaytee, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know, but it makes more sense down there than it does up here. At least you know where the devil’s bones might be located.”
The Garden of Bones probably covered sixty acres. And I seriously doubted a grave site of two Union soldiers would be marked, if it even existed in the first place. “We’ll look.”
“Maybe ask that historian fellow who runs the gardens. Cece said he was really smart.”
“It couldn’t hurt. We’re on it.” My plans to head home had been blown to smithereens.
Jaytee chuckled and it was good to hear it. “Coleman’s going to be mad, but I’ll smooth it over because you’re doing me a favor. Do you think I should come down?”
“No. Stay there in case Cece shows up. We’ve got it handled down here.”
“Thank you, Sarah Booth and Tinkie.” Jaytee’s voice broke again, and I knew the strain he was under.
“We’re on it.”
We hung up and Tinkie nudged me in the ribs. “Let’s get out to the gardens. If Daniel Reynolds knows anything about the grave of two Union soldiers, he’s going to tell us. And while we’re there, maybe we can track that Cosmo down. Somehow, I have a feeling he’s in all this up to his eyebrows.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s been out in the gardens every time a body was dumped there. He’s known everyone who was killed. He’s supposed to be Erik’s friend, but I haven’t seen him show any real concern for what’s going on with Erik.”
She was right on all counts. “What if he has Cece out there tied to a tree somewhere? Think about those photos on Cece’s phone. Didn’t it look like she was struggling with someone?”
Tinkie had a point.
* * *
Jaytee had done the d
irty work of letting Coleman know that I wasn’t heading home. Tinkie managed a chat with Oscar, and whatever she told him—likely that we’d been ordered to stay in Lucedale—persuaded him not to press her to come home.
“All good?” I asked.
“Not totally good, but Oscar isn’t mad at me. He’s worried. To be honest, so am I. Every time we go to the Garden of Bones, we find someone dead or injured. I’m almost afraid to go there.”
To be on the safe side, I called the Best Buy Drugs on Main Street. Erik answered. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Never fear. I spoke with the sheriff. She relented about locking me up, and I swear I won’t go anywhere without an alibi. If I go over to the Coffeepot Café for a cup of java, I’ll take someone with me. I swear it.”
At least the need to protect himself had penetrated Erik’s skull. “Thank you. Erik, we need to talk to you about your dance partner. Tinkie and I are stopping by the drugstore right now.”
“Sure. See you in ten.”
We left the Roadster at the courthouse and walked down to the pharmacy. Erik was behind the back counter, again with a gaggle of young women hanging on to his every word.
“He seems to have the magic touch,” I said to Tinkie. “I wish I knew what that was. I could bottle it and sell it.”
She laughed. “He can dance, Sarah Booth. Every woman alive wants a dance partner who can make her shine. Erik can do that. Hans, too. I’m surprised both of them are still single.”
We waited at the soda fountain with another Coke float for Tinkie until Erik’s posse of hot young women had disbanded before we went back to talk to him. “Tell us about Claudia Brooks.” I watched his reaction closely.
“That was such a tragedy,” he said. “I still feel terrible about what happened.”
“Did you drop her on purpose?”
He was pouring some liquid into a smaller bottle and he stopped. “I’ve thought about that moment ever since it happened. Everything that led up to that lift haunts me. I still have nightmares about it.”
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