Merry Wrath Mysteries Boxed Set Volume III (Books 7-9)

by Leslie Langtry

  It didn't matter. If he wanted to keep Fergus, that was fine with me. I was going to be very accommodating. No matter what.

  Speaking of which, where was he? The dog had gone out of my line of sight. I walked around the house until I found him hunched over. Gross. At least I don't see the cats do their "business."

  Maybe I should clean it up? Rex's yard was spotless, and maybe cleaning up his dog's mess would score some badly needed points with my fiancé. I searched the garage and found what looked like a dustpan with a long handle and a rake. Was this what he used? Where should I put it?

  There were some large leaf bags near the garbage can, so I snagged one and headed out to the yard. Fergus was dancing around now, seemingly ecstatic from "lightening his load." He trotted over to the pile and looked pointedly at me.

  "Yeah, yeah," I mumbled. "Rex has trained you well."

  I won't go into the details, but as I started to scoop, I spotted something. It was a white piece of paper. Fergus had passed a piece of paper. No wonder he was happy. But more importantly, was this a clue?

  Again, I won't tell you the horrific details, but I managed to hose off the paper, dispose of the "stuff," and was thrilled to find the writing still legible. I pulled out my cell and took a picture of what was written there before laying it on the floor of the garage.

  DM MOFA 1030

  "Rex!" I squealed when he answered his phone. "I took Fergus out, and he had a clue!"

  I filled him in on what an amazing girlfriend I was and told him I'd text him the image.

  "It could be nothing," he mumbled.

  "I don't think so," I said. "Fergus was at the site of the murders and where the coins were found. I think this is important."

  "Coins I still don't have…" He sounded grumpy.

  "I'll hand them over when you get home."

  Rex agreed to check out the image, and I skipped into the house and, after the longest handwashing session ever, gave the dog a treat. He took it into the living room, climbed onto the couch, and devoured it in one gulp.

  Back at home, the cats were dubious. One sniff and Philby hissed at me while Martini attempted to climb my jeans. We'd have our hands full getting these beasts together. I gave them some tuna as bribes and sat down with the image on my cell.

  What did it mean? DM MOFA 1030. How did it get inside Rex's dog? Who owned Fergus previously? Would Fergus eat more paper? Was that going to become a "thing"?

  My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn't had any lunch. Putting where the note came from out of my mind, I made a plate of pizza rolls and glanced outside. Yellow caution tape fluttered around the tree where Amber was found this morning. I'd have to ask my fiancé when I could take it down.

  At least we were getting somewhere with the investigation. I wasn't sure where exactly, but we had a new clue, which was something.

  There was a rumbling sound from my driveway, and I opened the front door to see Kelly's husband, Robert, backing the Midland Furniture flatbed into the driveway.

  And I had a parade coming up.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Kelly arrived right after Robert left. "The girls are on their way over."

  "What are we going to do?" I thought about the sad chicken wire skull in my living room.

  Kelly thought as she walked around the flatbed. "How about filling it with hay bales? The girls can sit on them and throw candy?"

  I grumbled. "Doesn't sound like a prize-winning float to me."

  "We are just going to have to give up on that idea." She sighed. "At least they will be doing something."

  We were still arguing when the first girls got dropped off. It happened to be the Kaitlyns. The four of them came screaming up the driveway while one of the moms drove away as fast as she could.

  The other girls arrived in a clump, and soon we had twelve little girls jumping up and down on the flatbed as if it was some form of aluminum trampoline. I had to admit—it looked like fun. But Kelly looked less than happy, probably imagining all those broken arms and legs she'd have to deal with if they fell off.

  I held up my hand, using the quiet sign. They clammed up immediately and sat down on the float.

  "Ladies," I announced, "the parade is tomorrow. We don't have much of a float, but Mrs. Albers has an idea."

  Kelly made a face. I shouldn't have thrown her under the bus, especially since this bus was driven by wild, pyromaniac fourth graders. But hey, maybe she'd come up with something on the spot.

  "The parade is tomorrow, and we don't have a float. Ava's father donated this flatbed, and we can use that." She neglected to come up with a brilliant idea.

  "Why don't we put a dead witch on it?" Inez asked. "Like the murder."

  Betty nodded. "It's topical."

  "I'll pose!" Lauren said, her hand raised. "We can squirt ketchup all over me!"

  The other girls squealed and began shouting suggestions, like using sausage for intestines and throwing out grapes as eyeballs. I put the kibosh on that. Who wants to get grapes at a Halloween parade?

  "We can't do that. It was a murder. It's in bad taste," Kelly complained. "I was thinking we put hay bales on top of it for a kind of fall thing."

  A chorus of no's went up, and I could see that this wasn't going to work.

  "Well then," Kelly said. "What do you suggest?"

  "What about," Caterina said, "if we're all murdered on the float?"

  "Yes!" Hannah squealed. "I want to be axe murdered!"

  "I want to be strangled!" Ava shouted.

  Kelly held up her hands. "No murder! We can't have a bunch of murdered children on the float!"

  I had to agree. "Murder isn't a very Halloweenish theme. I mean, murder is scary and all, but I agree with Mrs. Albers. The theme is Through the Ages," I added. "If we want the trophy, we have to use that."

  Kelly didn't look convinced that we could pull off a whole float in twenty-four hours. I knew she didn't want to get the girls' hopes up. But if there was something we could do at the last minute that would fit the theme, it would be a win-win!

  "What about murder through the ages?" Hannah suggested.

  This was met by a rousing cheer. Followed by a lively discussion on Lizzy Borden of all people. How did they know about her? One of the Kaitlyns suggested we have a talking dog for a Son of Sam scenario, and Lauren brought us back to the Salem witch trials. What were these kids reading on their own? I was pretty sure I was going to get blamed for this.

  "I'm not sure that's a good idea." Kelly scowled.

  Inez picked it up and ran with it. "Okay, how about Executions through the Ages? We could have someone stabbing someone else with a sword…"

  "And drawing and quartering!" Lauren said excitedly. "I have four stuffed horses we could use!"

  "We can guillotine Hannah's American Girl dolls!" Betty added.

  Hannah glared at her. "Why don't we just guillotine your Barbie dolls?"

  Betty's face grew red. "You take that back! I don't have Barbie dolls! I have collectibles!"

  "They're all Disney villains," Lauren added thoughtfully. "We could remove their heads and cover them in ketchup." What was this kid's obsession with ketchup?

  Ava tapped her chin, "How will people be able to see little Barbie dolls on that huge float?"

  "I don't have Barbie dolls!" Betty shrieked.

  "Ladies, please!" Kelly protested. "There will be children at the parade. Remember—you're handing out candy!"

  The girls went quiet for a moment, and Betty took deep breaths. I kind of wanted to see her doll collection now.

  "What's scary about Through the Ages?" Hannah asked. "It has to be scary."

  "If we can't do murder, how about monsters?" one of the Kaitlyns suggested. "I know! We could dress the monsters in clothes from each era!"

  "Poodle skirts on the werewolf!" Ava cried. Frankly, I was impressed that she knew what poodle skirts were.

  Inez chimed in, "The vampire could dress like the 1960s, maybe like a hippie or something."<
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  Ava nodded. "My dad has something called a leisure suit. A ghost could wear that."

  "What about the 1980s?" one of the Kaitlyns asked.

  We hit a snag there. These girls had no idea what happened in the 80s. I was born in the 1980s. The late 80s. I'd seen some old movies from that decade, so I probably was closest to that era.

  "I'll come up with something for that," I said.

  Kelly shook her head. "We still have the skeleton costumes from before."

  "I like this new idea better," one of the Kaitlyns said. The others cheered in agreement.

  The ten girls divided into teams based on the decades, from the 1950s through the 1980s. I wasn't sure why they stopped there, but I didn't ask. Each team would take a different decade. All of them would dress from that era, with one girl being a monster. The four monsters would ride on the flatbed with the other girls walking.

  "What about the float?" Ava asked. "How do we do that?"

  Kelly shrugged. "I guess we could get some poster board and write the decades on them. We can attach them to the edge of the float."

  After much deliberating, we decided that the monsters would sit on hay bales. I wanted to mention that we didn't have any hay, but Kelly shot me a look.

  "We don't have much time. Let's meet here for a few hours tomorrow morning. Say ten a.m. That way if we have any problems, we can fix them."

  "I'll bring donuts!" Kelly smiled for the first time during the meeting. "And Ms. Wrath and I will go to the Halloween store and get the masks for the monsters."

  After the girls had gone, I asked why we were doing that.

  "Do you really want the girls who wore severed doll heads to the Mud Run last month to select their own outfits?"

  The girls had gone a bit overboard at the fundraiser, but to be fair, we were up against older teams.

  It was getting dark as we drove across town to the seasonally opened Halloween shop. I hadn't been in here yet. It smelled like rubber and was very disturbing, with full-on dioramas of mass executions, beheadings, and chainsaw massacres.

  "They can do this," I said as I picked up a demon mask, "but we can't?"

  Kelly pulled a clown suit from a rack. "We have to have standards."

  "But we could borrow one of these scenes and have a great float," I protested.

  Kelly put her hands on her hips. "No. The girls came up with a cute idea, and we are going to do that."

  "I guess…" I said halfheartedly. "What did the girls pick for the monsters again?"

  "A witch, a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost," she said absently. "Easy stuff."

  I ran my fingers over a rack of togas. "Why don't I just buy the four complete costumes? It would be easier."

  "Because this is supposed to be done by the girls." She shook her head and walked off. I decided to give up and follow her.

  We passed a display of zombie Girl Scouts, and I lunged for the costumes, but Kelly pulled me back.

  "Are we dressing the monsters from those eras and as Scouts?"

  "I think that would be too busy." Kelly dragged me out of that section. "Here's werewolves. Let's start with that."

  For about twenty minutes we went through dozens of masks, finally settling on a very realistic one with faux fur and everything. I saw a pair of wolf hands and grabbed them.

  "We could use Rex's dog," I offered. "He's big and scruffy. He'd probably fit on the float."

  "How would we do that?"

  That reminded me, I hadn't told her the latest on the murder investigation. She looked at me in horror when I described how I'd found the note.

  Kelly's face crumpled in disgust. "That's revolting!"

  I felt a little defensive. "How is it different than changing Finn's diaper?"

  "Because it is! And if she had something in her poo, I don't think I'd take it out and read it."

  I tried to imagine Finn crawling around, seeing a piece of paper, and eating it.

  We moved on to the vampire section.

  "There are only male masks here," Kelly complained.

  I shrugged. "There's no reason the kid can't wear these."

  We had a literal stare down, which I won. It was the night before the parade, and we had a whole new theme. Kelly backed down without saying a word.

  I tossed one of the full-head masks into the cart with the werewolf mask.

  We wandered down an aisle of scary clowns.

  Kelly frowned. "How are we going to do the ghost?"

  I thought about this. "The old-fashioned way. Cut up a sheet. The girl can wear it under her clothes."

  "I'm impressed," Kelly said, "that they knew what a poodle skirt, hippie, and leisure suit were. I've never seen a real leisure suit."

  "Well, I'm not surprised Andy Andrews has one. He's probably worn it to work for years."

  At last we hit the witch section. I snagged a pointy hat and green makeup. I was just reaching for a broom and plastic cauldron when I saw it.

  "Wow! I can't believe it!" I gasped and pulled up a complete costume. "It's the one Didi Stoker was wearing when we found her!"

  Kelly squinted at the striped socks. "It sure looks like it."

  I began to dance in the aisle. "This means the killer bought it here!"

  "Maybe a lot of people bought this same costume?" My co-leader looked doubtful.

  I shook my head. "There are only two here. My guess is they didn't order in quantity. Let's ask!"

  I pushed the cart up to the checkout stand—the only one in the whole place. A short, pudgy goth girl with badly dyed, frizzy black hair started scanning everything.

  "I love this costume!" I enthused, holding up the witch costume. "I bet you've sold a lot of these."

  The girl, whose nametag read Tori, stared at the costume. "I think we've only sold one of those. Before you, that is." She stared off into space for a moment. "Now we've sold two."

  "Really? Gosh." I scowled. "I hope we're not going to the same party. That would be awkward."

  Tori shook her head. "Some chick bought it. I don't think she bought it for herself." She snapped her gum as she picked up the vampire mask.

  "Who was it?" This wasn't a strange question for anyone in a small town to ask. Besides, Tori didn't seem like a genius who'd figure that out.

  "I can't remember." Tori rolled her eyes as she scanned the last thing—the werewolf mask.

  "Was she young, old, short, or tall?" Kelly pressed.

  She looked at us with a bored expression. "No idea. That'll be $200."

  I stared at her. "That much?"

  Tori sighed. In all probability she heard this a lot. "It's not cheap crap made in China." She rolled her eyes again. "This stuff was made in Mexico."

  I pulled out my wallet and paid her. It wasn't a problem. I just wasn't sure how this latex junk was so expensive. I also couldn't think of a way to steer the conversation back to the witch-costume-buying chick, so Kelly and I scooped up the bags and headed to the car.

  "A woman bought the costume Didi was wearing," I said once in the car. "It could be Darlene."

  She nodded. "It sure seems so. But how can we know for sure?"

  "If she paid with a credit card, they'd have a record of that."

  "And how do we convince them to turn the receipt over to us?"

  This might be all we needed to nail Darlene. For a split second, I felt sorry for the woman. She really was a victim of Didi's malicious gossip. Still, a killer is a killer. And now it looked like Darlene might be that killer.

  I considered this. "I could tell Rex. He could request it."

  "Do you think Rex would tell you what he finds out?"

  I shook my head. "I don't really know anymore. Too bad we don't know a hacker."

  Kelly froze. She didn't say anything, but I'd be willing to bet that she knew a hacker.

  "Who is it?"

  She shook her head. "No one. I was thinking of something else."

  Had something I said triggered a clue? "Related to the case?"


  "No. Take me back to my car. I just remembered where I can get hay bales."

  We didn't speak on the short drive back to my house. She was thinking about hay. I was thinking that she'd gotten me excited over nothing. Parking on the street because there was an undecorated parade float in my driveway, Kelly helped me carry in our haul and then left.

  "Hey." Rex came through the door. "I came by for the coins."

  I handed them over, trying to decide if I should tell him about Darlene Haver. She probably wasn't on his radar. Or was she? He could be keeping that from me.

  Rex said nothing as he examined the coins.

  "Mom thinks they're from some exhibit they had at the Smithsonian a few months ago." I fidgeted, feeling guilty for not turning them in sooner.

  "They might be stolen?" he asked as he carefully put them in a baggie. "It's late, but I'll call them in the morning."

  An awkward silence hung in the air. The good news was, Rex wasn't chastising me. The bad news was, if he chastised me, it would be over, and we could make out.

  "I'm so sorry I didn't give these to you sooner," I said in one breath.

  He nodded. "When you do things like this, you aren't just interfering with my investigation. You're telling me you don't trust me."

  His words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. I hadn't thought about that. So far, I thought my meddling hadn't hurt our relationship. His words told me otherwise.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't think about it like that. It's just so exciting when I'm investigating."

  "Are you thinking of taking Riley's job offer?"

  My jaw dropped. "How did you know about that?" I hadn't told Rex about it. Mostly because I was sure I wasn't interested.

  Rex studied me. "Riley told me. He called me up a few weeks ago and said he'd started a private investigation business and he'd asked you to work for him."

  "Why did he do that?" I wondered.

  "Because he wanted to be up-front with me about it. Unlike you."

  Uh-oh. "I didn't think it was important to mention because I wasn't going to do it."

  Rex stuffed the baggie of coins into his back pocket. "Merry, you've been keeping a lot of secrets from me lately. It bothers me."