I scribbled notes as he talked, already planning a sidebar story on the busts. And a call to Bobbi. It might not do any good, but it would probably help if she didn’t get caught with it in the club. Joey hadn’t known enough about it to be traceable, so I wasn’t worried about him, for once.
I thanked Kyle and opened my laptop to start typing.
Mathews County Sheriff Zeke Waters arrested Norma Earlinger, 47, Saturday in connection with what the sheriff is now calling the double murder of Tony Okerson, Junior and his girlfriend Sydney Cobb, both juniors at Mathews High School.
“Obviously, the case has been reopened in light of recent developments,” Waters said as he accompanied Earlinger to the emergency room after she was injured while trying to stab a Richmond Telegraph reporter on Saturday.
Waters said the toxicity screen report on Okerson’s blood came back from the state forensics lab Saturday, showing that the star quarterback for the Mathews Eagles died of liver failure caused by an overdose of Glucotrol, an insulin-stimulating medication used for management of type 2 diabetes.
Earlinger, a secretary at the school, confessed to stealing the medication from a student’s gym locker. Lucas Bosley, a baseball teammate of Okerson’s, was diabetic. He was found dead in his home Saturday morning, of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Waters said the death will be thoroughly investigated.
“There’s nothing about this that doesn’t suck,” I told Kyle, sitting back in my chair as I finished the story with a plug for the suicide helpline. “Norma went off her rocker and killed TJ and Syd—and almost got away with it—using Luke’s medicine. Which no one would have known if you hadn’t pressed the lab to test his blood for something besides Vicodin and booze, so thanks.”
“Anytime.”
“But then Luke, who has parents who push him to the breaking point and a battle with depression he hides very well, buys the sheriff’s suicide story. He figures if TJ and Syd did it, maybe it’s not a bad idea. The medics said his mother told them he started a new antidepressant last week and was having wild mood swings. Crazy highs, like we saw at the dance last night, and lows…like this.”
“Why didn’t she tell anyone?”
“Afraid he’d get kicked off the baseball team. Which I don’t doubt. Sad, sad situation.”
“Amen.” He brushed his fingers over the gauze dressing on my arm. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Me, too. Thanks for coming in. And for everything else.”
“I’m always here,” he said.
“That’s good to know.” I leaned the chair back and kissed him, then sent my story to Les and stood. “I think I’ve earned a day off.”
“I’ll drive you home.”
Monday morning dawned bright and pollen-free. After a Sunday of sleeping in and letting Joey pamper me (his foot massages are almost as good as his kisses), I felt nearly good as new.
And ready to have myself a little chat with my favorite copy editor. I didn’t find Shelby in her cube, or in Les’s office. My head was on the verge of exploding when I walked past Bob’s door and heard her shrill voice, patting herself on the back for doing such a stellar job filling in for Les while he was out. He chimed in to agree often.
I stopped outside the door and listened.
“And Nichelle wasn’t even here most of the week, plus she leaked an important piece of information to the Post,” Shelby said. “I think Les is right. She’s overworked, Bob. Look how sick she got last week. It was a bad idea to give her the courthouse back last fall when we can afford another beat reporter’s salary. Put me on the courthouse. You know I’m good enough to handle it, and we’ll stand a better chance of staying on top of Charlie Lewis, too.”
She had some nerve, that Shelby.
“Shelby, who takes care of your flying monkeys when you’re here bothering me?” I asked, stepping through the door and smiling when she and Les both dropped their jaws on the tacky brown seventies carpet.
“I’d almost agree with you, myself,” I continued, “except I had a very nice chat yesterday with Greg Lidner at the Post. Name ring a bell?”
Shelby’s eyes widened for a split second before she arranged her face into a clueless expression.
“Why would it?”
“Well, it seems he called here last week, looking for a comment about my story on TJ. Someone answered my phone. On Monday, at eleven. When I was on my way to TJ’s funeral with Parker. A woman with a high-pitched voice who said she was me, and told him all about how I thought the sheriff was lying, reminding him three times to tell his editor where he got the information. Subtle, Shelby.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
“Sure you do. You hung around outside when Bob asked Parker and me to stay after the meeting.” I didn’t bother to inflect a question mark on the end of the sentence. “I’m just surprised you waited for him to call here instead of calling him. He got my cell number from Sheriff Waters and called me at home yesterday, quite surprised that I don’t sound like a cartoon character on my Blackberry. Nice guy.”
“I would never—” Shelby turned an imploring look to Les, but the look on his face said he didn’t believe her any more than Bob did.
“There’s a line, Shelby,” he said quietly, turning on his heel and walking out of the office. She tore after him and I dropped into a chair and grinned.
“I never believed it,” Bob said. “But Andrews will be very interested to hear this.”
“I’ll let you tell him,” I said. “He apologizes like a politician. It creeps me out.”
“So, the Post called you?”
“For an interview. Not the job kind. Though the guy did say his editor was impressed.”
“You can’t leave. You love me.”
“And I love Richmond. Right now, anyway.” I smiled.
The rest of the section editors filed in and Spence stopped next to my chair, eyeballing the dressing on my bicep.
“That looks nasty.”
“I’m sure you could handle it, just like everything else about my job, right?” I said.
“I could have written the suicide coverage,” he snapped.
“I think you ought to stick to your stat sheets and leave the criminals to the crime desk.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but Bob’s warning glare made him snap it shut.
He could stay mad ’til I left my house in garden clogs for all I cared. I sat back in my chair and pulled out a notebook as Bob started the rundown.
The meeting sped by in alternating throes of spirited discussion and laughter.
Halfway through, my scanner squawked. I turned it down, pressing it to my ear. Hostage situation in a bank building. “Holy Manolos.” I jumped to my feet, waving the scanner when Bob gave me a raised eyebrow. “I have hostages today, Chief. Save me some space.”
“Have fun,” he called as I ran for the elevator.
I got out of the garage and my phone binged a text. “Coming, Aaron,” I said, stopping to glance at it.
Kyle: “Dinner tonight? I’m dying to know why the ABC’s undercover guy says he met with a pretty brunette last week. Who looked just like you. And came and went with a Mafia big shot he met through a transport contact the moonshiners use.”
Holy. Crap.
Reader’s Discussion Guide
1. Did you grow up in a small town or a big city? What did you love about it? What did you think life on the other side would be like?
2. Have you ever dealt with a jealous co-worker? How did you handle it?
3. Nichelle’s relationships with Joey and Kyle are heating up. Who are you rooting for, and why?
4. Nichelle and Parker have become good friends, a big difference from the opening of FRONT PAGE FATALITY. Does the direction their relationship took surprise you? Have you ever discovered someone wasn’t what you thought?
5. Did you agree with Nichelle’s suspicions at first? Why or why not?
6. Who was on your suspect list throughout the book?
7. Who was on Nichelle’s list that you just knew couldn’t have done it?
8. Which character did you most identify with? Why?
9. If you had a relative who was running a criminal enterprise, would you report it, or look the other way?
10. Did Miss Dorothy give Bobbi Jo a fair chance before passing judgment on her? How would you have handled that situation differently?
About LynDee Walker
LynDee Walker’s award-winning journalistic work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the nation. After nearly a decade covering crime, courts, and local politics, she left full-time reporting for motherhood with a side of freelancing and fiction writing. Her debut novel, Front Page Fatality, is an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. Small Town Spin is the third in her bestselling Headlines in High Heels Mystery series. The fourth arrives January 2015.
LynDee adores her family, her readers, and enchiladas. She often works out tricky plot points while walking off the enchiladas. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is either playing with her children or working on her next novel (but probably not cleaning her house). You can find her online at www.lyndeewalker.com.
In Case You Missed the 1st Book in the Series
FRONT PAGE FATALITY
LynDee Walker
A Headlines in High Heels Mystery (#1)
Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke’s days can flip from macabre to comical with a beep of her police scanner. Then an ordinary accident story turns extraordinary when evidence goes missing, a prosecutor vanishes, and a sexy Mafia boss shows up with the headline tip of a lifetime.
As Nichelle gets closer to the truth, her story gets more dangerous. Armed with a notebook, a hunch, and her favorite stilettos, Nichelle races to splash these shady dealings across the front page before this deadline becomes her last.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR FRONT PAGE FATALITY
In Case You Missed the 2nd Book in the Series
BURIED LEADS
LynDee Walker
A Headlines in High Heels Mystery (#2)
When an Armani-clad corpse turns up in the woods, crime reporter Nichelle Clarke smells a scoop. A little digging, and Nichelle uncovers a web of corruption that stretches all the way to Washington, D.C. Politics. Murder. And a dead lobbyist. It’s everything Nichelle’s ever dreamed of.
The cops are playing it close, the feds even closer, and Nichelle’s afraid her boss will assign the story to the political desk any day. Her sexy Mafia boss friend warns her off the case, her TV rival is hot on her designer heels, an ambitious copy editor wants her beat, and victims are piling up faster than she can track them down. As Nichelle zeroes in on the truth, it’ll take some fancy footwork to nab this headline before the killer nabs her.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR BURIED LEADS
Don’t Miss Nichelle’s Novella Adventure
DATELINE MEMPHIS featured in
HEARTACHE MOTEL
Terri L. Austin, Larissa Reinhart, LynDee Walker
DINERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS by Terri L. Austin: When Rose heads to Graceland right before Christmas, she gets all shook up: the motel is a dump and an Elvis impersonator turns up dead. Rose discovers missing jewels tie into the death and her suspicious mind flips into overdrive, questioning her fellow guests, the staff, and even a cute impersonator who keeps popping up. Will Rose be able to find the murderer and get home by Christmas day? It’s now or never.
QUICK SKETCH by Larissa Reinhart: Sassy Southern artist Cherry Tucker and her poker-loving boyfriend, Todd, pop into Memphis to help Todd’s cousin who’s been hustled out of his savings, right before Christmas. Staying at the shady Heartache Motel, Cherry can’t tell a shill from a mark and fears everyone is playing them for chumps. Cherry and Todd quickly find themselves in a dangerous sting that could send them to the slammer or mark them as pigeons from cons looking for an even bigger score.
DATELINE MEMPHIS by LynDee Walker: Nichelle thinks she’s going home for Christmas. But a quick stop at Graceland proves news breaks in the strangest places. When the King’s home gets locked down with Nichelle inside, she chases this headline into the national spotlight—and the thief’s crosshairs. Christmas dreams of blue suede Manolos fade, and all Nichelle wants from Santa is to land the story before the thief cuts off her news feed for good.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR HEARTACHE MOTEL
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Henery Press Mystery Books
And finally, before you go…
Here are a few other mysteries
you might enjoy:
LOWCOUNTRY BOIL
Susan M. Boyer
A Liz Talbot Mystery (#1)
Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer.
She’s fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR LOWCOUNTRY BOIL
DOUBLE WHAMMY
Gretchen Archer
A Davis Way Crime Caper (#1)
Davis Way thinks she’s hit the jackpot when she lands a job as the fifth wheel on an elite security team at the fabulous Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. But once there, she runs straight into her ex-ex husband, a rigged slot machine, her evil twin, and a trail of dead bodies. Davis learns the truth and it does not set her free—in fact, it lands her in the pokey.
Buried under a mistaken identity, unable to seek help from her family, her hot streak runs cold until her landlord Bradley Cole steps in. Make that her landlord, lawyer, and love interest. With his help, Davis must win this high stakes game before her luck runs out.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR DOUBLE WHAMMY
BOARD STIFF
Kendel Lynn
An Elliott Lisbon Mystery (#1)
As director of the Ballantyne Foundation on Sea Pine Island, SC, Elliott Lisbon scratches her detective itch by performing discreet inquiries for Foundation donors. Usually nothing more serious than retrieving a pilfered Pomeranian. Until Jane Hatting, Ballantyne board chair, is accused of murder. The Ballantyne’s reputation tanks, Jane’s headed to a jail cell, and Elliott’s sexy ex is the new lieutenant in town.
Armed with moxie and her Mini Coop, Elliott uncovers a trail of blackmail schemes, gambling debts, illicit affairs, and investment scams. But the deeper she digs to clear Jane’s name, the guiltier Jane looks. The closer she gets to the truth, the more treacherous her investigation becomes. With victims piling up faster than shells at a clambake, Elliott realizes she’s next on the killer’s list.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR BOARD STIFF
PILLOW STALK
Diane Vallere
A Mad for Mod Mystery (#1)
Interior Decorator Madison Night has modeled her life after a character in a Doris Day mo
vie, but when a killer targets women dressed like the bubbly actress, Madison’s signature sixties style places her in the middle of a homicide investigation.
The local detective connects the new crimes to a twenty-year old cold case, and Madison’s long-trusted contractor emerges as the leading suspect. As the body count piles up like a stack of plush pillows, Madison uncovers a Soviet spy, a campaign to destroy all Doris Day movies, and six minutes of film that will change her life forever.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR PILLOW STALK
DINERS, DIVES & DEAD ENDS
Terri L. Austin
A Rose Strickland Mystery (#1)
As a struggling waitress and part-time college student, Rose Strickland’s life is stalled in the slow lane. But when her close friend, Axton, disappears, Rose suddenly finds herself serving up more than hot coffee and flapjacks. Now she’s hashing it out with sexy bad guys and scrambling to find clues in a race to save Axton before his time runs out.
With her anime-loving bestie, her septuagenarian boss, and a pair of IT wise men along for the ride, Rose discovers political corruption, illegal gambling, and shady corporations. She’s gone from zero to sixty and quickly learns when you’re speeding down the fast lane, it’s easy to crash and burn.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR DINERS, DIVES & DEAD ENDS
PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY
Larissa Reinhart
A Cherry Tucker Mystery (#1)
In Halo, Georgia, folks know Cherry Tucker as big in mouth, small in stature, and able to sketch a portrait faster than buck-shot rips from a ten gauge — but commissions are scarce. So when the well-heeled Branson family wants to memorialize their murdered son in a coffin portrait, Cherry scrambles to win their patronage from her small town rival.
As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Cherry faces more trouble than just a controversial subject. Between ex-boyfriends, her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring, and outwitting a killer on a spree, Cherry finds herself painted into a corner she’ll be lucky to survive.
Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon
CLICK FOR PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY
Small Town Spin Page 27
