The Ashford Place

by Jean Copeland

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “It’s easy to be sympathetic toward him now that he’s a frail old man in a convalescent home, but what if he was the one who sexually assaulted Judy? The DNA identification is as much about solving that crime, too.”

  Belle bowed her head, feeling ashamed for momentarily forgetting about Judy. “Do you think if Chloe isn’t sleeping over at her friend’s we could hang out with her tonight?”

  “Sure,” Ally said with a surprised smile. “She’ll be home. She has summer reading group tomorrow.”

  ***

  After dinner at an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet, an enthusiastic suggestion by Chloe, Belle’s digestion was grateful for the movement afforded by Chloe’s other suggestion, miniature golf. She and Ally took their time as Chloe and her best friend were ahead of them by two holes.

  Belle enjoyed the cool evening breeze as she ate an ice cream cone and putted her ball around with one hand.

  “I don’t think this game was meant for multitasking,” Ally said. “Want me to hold that cone?”

  “This isn’t the LPGA.” She swirled her tongue around the vanilla ice cream.

  “You better be accurately marking your strokes on that card.”

  “Are you the part-time mini-golf police, too?”

  Ally laughed and gently swung her club into Belle’s rear end. Her phone then chimed with a call. She put a finger in her ear and answered.

  When Ally turned back, the jocularity of the moment had been wiped from her face.

  “Everything okay?” Belle said.

  “That was Shirley. Bob wants to see me tomorrow morning,” she said with a frown. “He’s declining faster than expected.”

  “I’m so sorry, honey. You really are close to him, aren’t you?”

  “He’s the closest thing to a father figure I’ve had. And like I said, he was a great professional mentor when I first came on.”

  “You don’t see your own father?”

  Ally shook her head bitterly. “My parents divorced when I was in sixth grade. My dad moved to Florida for what was supposed to be a temporary job but never came back. There were occasional phone calls and summer visits, but he wasn’t real great with follow-through, so my siblings and I basically gave up.”

  Belle’s heart ached for Ally. She treasured her relationship with her father. They were best buds. She couldn’t imagine having grown up without that connection to him.

  “Ever thought of calling him?”

  “Not really.”

  “Maybe he’d like to have a relationship with you now, but he’s afraid you don’t.”

  “Then he’d be right.”

  Ally’s face tightened, and her brown eyes became storm clouds warning Belle to take cover if she planned to pursue the conversation.

  “Well, I’m sorry about Bob. My shoulder is available day or night if needed.”

  Ally melted into a warm smile. “Thanks.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  A few days later, the moment Ally seemed to have been dreading arrived. At the sheriff’s office, surrounded by Ally’s colleagues, neighbors, friends, and Chloe, Belle watched as a county judge swore Ally in as Danville’s first female sheriff. Sheriff Bob held himself high in his wheelchair, a frail ghost of a figure using all his energy to smile with pride for his protégé. His wife Shirley stood behind him, patting his shoulders, stoic, yet seeming equally proud of the woman they’d treated like a daughter for so many years.

  Belle flicked a tear away from her eye as she clapped and cheered fanatically beside Chloe. She’d known this woman barely three months, yet she felt as connected to her as if they’d been family forever. She put her arm around Chloe and smiled when Chloe’s arm slipped around her waist, and they fell into a half hug.

  The entire scene had Belle feeling part of something much larger than herself.

  “I can’t thank you all enough for your support,” Ally said, her face a tightly wound combination of excitement and sorrow as she glanced over at Bob and Shirley. “Although I’ve lived in Danville only a dozen or so years, this community has felt more like home than any other place I’ve been. You welcomed me and, later on, my niece, Chloe, like family right from the start. Ethel, as long as I live I don’t think I could ever repay all the home-cooked meals you’ve sent over to the station for me, and I’ve worn out the soles of more sneakers than a marathon runner trying to work off your peach cobblers.”

  Ethel and the rest of the group roared with laughter.

  “But most of all, I’d like to thank Sheriff Bob Morgan for teaching me everything there is to know about what it means to be a sheriff in a close-knit community like ours. If I can be even half as dedicated and compassionate as you, Bob…”

  Too choked up to complete her thought, she paused for a breath.

  “Anyway, thank you all so much for your support, and I look forward to continuing to serve my community to the best of my ability.”

  “We love you, Ally,” a male voice called out.

  “I love you all, too,” she replied with a chuckle. “Now, Ethel would like to invite everyone to the café for a little lunch and a lot of peach cobbler. Please come and help me eat it.”

  As the official gathering broke up, people began filing past Ally, offering their congratulations before heading down the street to Ethel’s.

  Belle whispered in Ally’s ear as she received her well-wishers. “I’ve never experienced anything sexier in my life than you getting pinned with that sheriff’s badge.”

  Ally grinned and muttered back, “I’ll have to get a neck chain to hang it from for those occasions when there’s nothing to pin it to.”

  “Hashtag ‘winning,’” Belle replied.

  ***

  Ethel had a buffet of various farm-to-table chicken and vegetable dishes made from raw materials like breads with zucchini from Shirley’s garden and grilled chicken and frittatas from Perkins’s poultry farm. Belle and Chloe wasted no time digging in as Ally remained hung up in conversations with local muckety-mucks, including the mayor, the selectman, and the ladies’ auxiliary, which was much bigger in number than required even for a larger city.

  “How’s your summer reading club going?” Belle asked as she shoved in a mouthful of spinach and goat cheese frittata.

  “Today’s the last day, but I finished my reading last week,” Chloe replied, picking apart a piece of zucchini bread.

  “You’re amazing. In my day, I’d leave summer reading till the last week of vacation, and then I’d have to BS my way through the book reports. Kind of incredulous that I became an English professor.”

  “Not really if you’re using words like ‘incredulous.’” Chloe grinned like a smart-ass. “And don’t remind me that vacation’s almost over.”

  “Why not? You should be excited. It’s eighth grade. You’re gonna rule the school. Then next year it’s on to high school.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. But Auntie and I have already fought over where I’m gonna go. I want a magnet school, but she wants me to go to a private college-prep school.”

  “Well, you still have time to sort it out. It will all depend on what you want for your future. Have you given it any thought?”

  “Yeah. I’m gonna be a veterinarian.”

  “Then that’s easy. A college-prep school’s the way to go.”

  “But the magnet school I want is an agricultural one where we work hands-on with livestock and stuff.”

  Belle raised her free hand in surrender. “Ooh, okay. I’m out of this one.”

  Chloe narrowed her eyes in disappointment. “Chicken.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Belle said and headed over to the buffet of food trays arranged on the counter.

  Just then Ally was freed from her conversation with the mayor, a portly man with a shock of black hair, a booming voice, and eyeglasses that dug into his plump cheeks.

  “Have you eaten anything yet?” Belle asked, gnawing at a fried chicken leg.

  “
Not yet,” Ally said somberly. “Bob and Shirley are getting ready to leave. Where did Chloe disappear to? This could be the last time she’ll see him.”

  “She probably went out front with the other kids.”

  “I’m gonna walk them out. Come with me?”

  “Sure.” Belle caressed her back as they accompanied Bob and Shirley and helped them into their Suburban.

  They’d kept the good-byes as short as possible, everyone trying not to tear up again. Ally and Belle returned to the reception inside Ethel’s.

  “This must be so bittersweet for you,” Belle said. “It makes me sad to see you upset when this is such a big moment in your career.”

  “Thanks. I am proud and excited and all that, but it bothers me so much that their daughter hasn’t flown home at a time like this.”

  “Daughter? Bob and Shirley have a kid?”

  “An adopted daughter,” Ally said. “They’ve been estranged for years. As far as I know, she’s been back here to visit only once in the twelve years I’ve lived here.”

  “I can’t imagine not seeing or talking to my parents. What happened? Did they ever tell you?”

  “It had to do with her husband. He was undocumented when they first met, and they didn’t want her marrying him, so she ended up taking off with him to Florida.”

  “Are Bob and Shirley racists?”

  “No. They’re not racists. They just envisioned a more secure future for their only child than to marry an undocumented factory worker who didn’t speak very good English. Shirley said Debra was always a stubborn kid, and if you ask me, pretty ungrateful.”

  “That’s a shame. She’s going to regret all that wasted time when he’s gone.”

  Ally smiled at her. “You’re lucky you don’t have family drama. I admire how whenever you talk about your family, it’s always positive.”

  “I guess I’m lucky in that regard. I’m going to have them up for a cookout soon now that the house is almost done. I can’t wait for them to meet you and Chloe.”

  “We’re at the ‘meet the parents’ stage already?” Ally said with a smile.

  Belle fluttered her eyelashes. “I think so. But if you think it’s too soon…”

  “No, no. It’s great. I’d love to meet them.”

  “You’ve made a wise decision. Every person should have the chance to taste Patricia Ashford’s homemade baked macaroni and cheese at least once in their lifetime.”

  “Then how could I refuse?”

  “You can’t,” Belle said. “Just like I can’t refuse anything you offer.”

  They shared a sweet kiss outside before returning to the celebration.

  ***

  The next morning Belle made sure she was up and out early. It was Ally’s first official day on the job as sheriff, and she wanted her to start it off with a breakfast of one of her favorite guilty pleasures, Ethel’s cheese-and-apricot Danish, and coffee.

  Bob was also being transferred into the hospice facility, so it was going to require a lot more than pastries to help Ally get through the day.

  “Looks like we got ourselves a new sheriff in town,” Belle said in her best Sam Elliot cowboy drawl. She placed the tray of coffees and bag of Danishes down and dropped into the seat by her desk.

  “And it’s gonna be my pleasure to serve.” Ally gave her a peck on the lips and tore into the bag. “Camiotti, get out here. If you’re gonna be the new second-in-command, you gotta learn how to eat like one.”

  After a moment, an olive-skinned kid with a five o’clock shadow at eight in the morning came out of the bathroom straightening his belt buckle.

  “Sorry. First-day jitters.” He grabbed his coffee and Danish, and bit into it with a nod to Belle. “Thanks. I’m gonna take it to go.”

  “Have at it, Deputy.” Ally saluted as he headed out the door.

  “So,” Belle said with a smile. “How’s it going so far?”

  Ally looked at the wall clock as she chewed. “It’s 8:05.”

  “I know. I want to make sure you’re settling in okay.”

  “You’re adorable.” Ally reached across her desk for another peck on Belle’s lips.

  “What’s on your agenda for today?”

  “After Shirley gets Bob settled in, she’s coming by, and I’m going to help her with his arrangements. He’s already told me he wants a wake first, then to be cremated.”

  Belle grimaced. “Ugh. What a job to have when your loved one’s still alive.”

  “It’s not going to be much longer. Bob insisted that we get it all done before he’s gone. He doesn’t want Shirley worrying about any of that afterward.”

  “He’s a good husband,” Belle said with a smile.

  “She’s a great wife,” Ally added. “They got lucky finding each other so young.”

  “I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter when you find the right one, as long as you find her.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  They exchanged warm smiles.

  “How are you doing—you know, about Bob?”

  Ally shrugged. “What can I do? It’s happening. Right now my main focus is being there for them, whatever that entails.”

  “Have they heard from their daughter yet?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. At one point I’d asked Shirley, but she just shrugged, and then it got really awkward, so I haven’t asked again.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job at being a daughter right now than you. Danville is in stellar hands with Sheriff Ally Yates at the helm.”

  Ally smiled with the warmth and attentiveness that were constant reminders she was the one for Belle.

  “In the meantime, I have to do some paperwork and sort through this mail, so that will keep my mind occupied until I hear from Shirley.” Indicating the mail with a wave of her hand, she knocked over a stack of envelopes, then grabbed one from the pile. “Ooh, it’s from the crime lab. This must be Olivia’s DNA results,” she said, tearing into it.

  Belle pressed her palms together. “I hope it’s positive. No, wait. I hope it isn’t. I don’t want it to be Olivia’s mother’s. It’ll devastate her.”

  “Relax. It’s not hers.”

  “Are you sure?” Belle said.

  Ally glared at her. “Zero point zero, zero, one, three is as sure as I’ll ever be about anything.”

  “Then old Phil is the last hope. Did you hear back on his yet?”

  “I’ll get it by the end of the week, if not sooner.”

  “If he comes back a negative too, does that mean you’ll exhume Judy?”

  “We’ll have to anyway, but in that case, I’m gonna call the local TV news. Bob had advised me not to because of the negative attention it would draw to the town and especially to your house. He’d said lotsa luck trying to sell it if you have some grisly murder attached to it.”

  “He has a valid point. Then I’ll be known as the Morticia Addams of the Ashford Place. No, thanks.”

  “Or we could skip the circus and exhume Judy’s body. My gut tells me that even if Phil’s sample isn’t a match, Judy’s DNA will be.”

  Belle glowered. “Then we’ll never find out who molested her.”

  “The chances of that were slim from the start, babe. If nothing else, at least the baby will have an identity…sort of.”

  Belle was quiet for a moment, her gut telling her Ally was right. “Were they able to determine if it was a boy or a girl?”

  Ally gazed at her with eyes sparkling with humanity. “A boy.”

  Belle managed a wan smile. “Hmm. He’d probably be around your age today.”

  “Just about.”

  “I’m gonna take a ride down and see my parents. Talk to them about exhuming Judy.”

  “Good idea. We could start to get the ball rolling on that.”

  Belle gave her a kiss, then headed out on the road.

  ***

  Belle sat on the sofa in her parents’ family room watching the Yankees game with her father aft
er dinner while her mother finished cleaning the kitchen.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to take any leftovers home?” Her mother wiped her hands on a dishtowel in the archway of the family room.

  “No. I’m all set. Sit down now and watch the game with us, Mom.”

  “Who’s winning?” She tossed the dish towel at her husband in his recliner and sat next to Belle.

  “Nobody. It just started,” Belle said.

  Her mother picked up her iPad and opened the Candy Crush app. “Are the authorities really going to exhume your father’s cousin?”

  “They have to if they’re ever going to find out whose baby it was. Believe me, I wasn’t too keen on it at first—I mean the idea of disturbing someone’s final resting place—but Ally’s gone through almost every lead.”

  Her mother looked unnerved.

  “Dad, you’re okay with it, right?”

  “Yeah, I suppose. They gotta do what they gotta do.”

  Her mother shivered. “I’ve seen them do it on those crime documentaries. It’s so gruesome.”

  “The whole situation is gruesome,” Belle said. “I can’t wait till they close the case.”

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do with the house?” her father asked.

  “Not yet, but the scale’s tipping toward keeping it.”

  “You’re going to live up there?” Her mother sounded alarmed.

  “I’m thinking about it.”

  “Why would you want to move up there when there’s so much down here along the shore?”

  “There’s a lot up there, too. It’s just different.”

  “You mean that deputy sheriff,” her mother said, suspiciously.

  “Yeah. She’s a big part of it.”

  “Oh, Belle, haven’t you learned anything from Mary? It’s not wise uprooting your entire life for a woman you met a few weeks ago.”

  “But Mom, she’s not like any…Dad, you wanna jump in here?”

  “Nope. I’m good.” He waved his hand while his eyes remained glued to the TV.

  “She has a child, too. You want all that added responsibility?”