Bone Is Where the Heart Is Page 4

Jolene beat me to the canister. She slapped my hand away. “I’m glad. I hope you keep him. I think he’ll be good for you.”

  Well, nuts. I shot Jolene a glare that warned her it was the first of many attempts. “Did anyone notice how weird his bark sounded? Yesterday, at the hospital I mean.”

  She smiled and tucked the canister under her arm. “He sounded a little hoarse but that could be from all the barking he did while they were transporting you.”

  Right. Of course. That was it.

  “So, girl. Dish!” Jolene made her tea and sipped at it with the canister securely under her elbow.

  “About what?”

  “What the delish Chief Reed talked to you about yesterday.”

  “Oh.” My good mood soured quickly. “He’s not so delish, you know. If I didn’t know better, he thinks I was the one who killed her.”

  “What?” Mom whirled from the counter, the mayonnaise knife dripping everywhere.

  “With your umbrella.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Jolene scoffed into her mug. “That’s...insane. He didn’t say that, did he?”

  “No. Not in those words, but he said there was no murder weapon at the scene except Mom’s umbrella I borrowed out of the trunk of her car. Sorry, Mom. I guess it’s in evidence right now.”

  Mom waved that off and sat down in the chair next to me. “Was there a murder weapon there?”

  “Yes. I’m positive. It was a slim knife sticking out of her chest.” I mimicked it with my hand.

  “And you didn’t imagine it?” Jolene asked.

  “Nope. I remember it clear as day. It had this very detailed design on the handle and I remember the shaft of it being a bright, shiny silver.”

  Mom and Jolene were quiet. Mom got up and went back to finishing lunch.

  “You know,” Jolene said, straightening in her chair. “Maybe the EMTs dropped it in the grass while they were bagging her up.”

  “It was a crime scene.” Mom set a plate of sandwiches on the table. A fresh bag of chips joined it before she sat down again. “And Chief Reed is a competent officer. I’m sure that’s not something they would have overlooked.”

  I scoffed.

  Jolene harrumphed.

  Mom looked displeased.

  Fortunately, we were saved from any lectures about respect by the phone ringing. Mom went to answer it.

  “We should go look for it,” Jolene and I said at the same time.

  “Jinx.” Also said at the same time.

  We hooked pinkies and called it even. “We’ll go after lunch,” I said.

  It wasn’t that I thought the police couldn’t do their job. I just found it hard to believe they didn’t find the knife. A knife I knew was there. I didn’t imagine it.

  “Galen called, said he and Mother are on their way back,” Mom said. “I think this is a bad idea, ladies,”

  “Probably,” I agreed. Jolene nodded.

  We were still going.

  Right after I bought a new phone.

  Chapter Four

  “Tell me again why you sold your car?” Jolene turned down the county road that took us out of town and towards Violet Pickering’s house.

  I looked up from playing with my replacement phone. Luckily, I was smart and kept my information backed up. It was only a matter of downloading it to my new phone and I was back in business. Still...new phone, you know? There were new bells and whistles. “Because I was already a nervous wreck and didn’t want the added stress of trying to pull a car behind the moving truck. Turn up here.” I pointed to the road off to our left.

  “Oh, of course. The old Meridian Horse Farm was out this way, right? I didn’t remember Mr. and Mrs. Pickering buying it.” Jolene took the turn a little too fast for my comfort. Nor did she give her turn signal before whipping across the road.

  “Me either. I don’t think they had when I left here.”

  “Whatever. We can look it up later.” Jolene thankfully slowed down as we looked at all the homes along the road. This was the part of Yazoo County where the people with money settled. Farm country with big stately houses sitting on acres far back from the road dotted the land. Some properties had full fences; others had deep ravines that bordered their front lawn with only a cursory iron gate to keep trespassers out. All of it screamed keep out.

  “That’s an odd thing to do. A gate with no fences. Someone could drive around it.”

  I craned to get a look at the house we were passing on the left. “Nah, that ravine is too deep. You’d never get a car across it.”

  Jolene flashed a mischievous grin. “Wanna bet?”

  “No.”

  “Hm...you’ve lost your sense of adventure, being away from home so long.”

  “I developed a sense of responsibility is what happened. We’re coming up on it.” I pointed to the entrance gate to Violet’s house.

  Jolene’s lips pursed in thought.

  “What?”

  “I just remember the house being bigger.”

  I laughed. “You were just smaller. Everything’s big when you’re ten.”

  “That’s true.” Gravel crunched when Jolene turned up the drive. “I thought you said the gate was locked?”

  The wrought iron gate was pushed open. The Police Crime Scene tape flapped in the gentle afternoon breeze. Someone had already been there after the police left.

  “It was when I came by. I guess they had to force it open to get to us. Stop here really fast.”

  When the car came to a stop, I jumped out to get a look at the gate mechanism, then the physical lock. “Yep,” I said as I got back in the passenger’s seat. “I’m betting the emergency responders had to jimmy that to get up to where we were.”

  As we drove up the driveway, there was a second car sitting next to Violet’s Cadillac.

  “Whose car is that?” Jolene asked.

  “I don’t remember everyone who ever lived here, Jolene. Plus, I’ve been away. For, you know, just a decade or so. Do you recognize the car?”

  “Obviously not.”

  She parked next to it and we both got out to see an elderly man come from the back of the house. He looked very familiar. He was much older now but he still had the same dark bushy eyebrows and milk-white hair. He even wore his trademark bow tie. “I think that’s Mr. Stillwell.”

  Jolene groaned softly. “Noooo...I hated Geography. Especially local geography.”

  He was such a nut for Mississippi geography and how it tied into local history.

  I actually enjoyed his classes in high school.

  The moment he saw us, he stopped walking. He seemed to be taken off guard. I waved. “Mr. Stillwell!”

  It took a moment but he recognized me. “Miss Cooper, how delightful to see you. I had heard you headed for the great city of Charleston.”

  “And I’m back now.” I hoped he didn’t ask for details. That’s information I’d just as soon keep close to family.

  “So it would appear. Miss Dyson, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, Mr. Stillwell,” Jolene said.

  “Well.” He patted at his trouser pockets. Was he nervous? “Horrible business with Violet and everything, hmmm? Tragic, yes. And you, of course. How are you feeling, Miss Cooper?”

  “Oh, you know, getting struck by lightning tends to suck the life out of one’s day.” Jolene winced at my choice of words. It took a moment for me to realize why.

  “What brings you by?” Was I too obvious? Maybe that was too obvious. After all, why would he be wandering around her house if he knew she was already dead?

  Mr. Stillwell glanced around. He was nervous about something. He kept patting at his pockets. “Ah...her little dog. Right. Little dog. I was worried. You know. Who would care for him, that sort of thing.”

  “That’s awfully nice,” Jolene said. “Actually, Naomi has Winston right now.”

  “Good. That’s good. Well. I’ll be off then. You two young ladies have a good day now. Come by the museum when you get a chance. We have a new
exhibit of Prohibition Era items. Yes. Right. Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye, Mr. Stillwell,” we said in unison.

  We waited until he was gone before we both started laughing. “Good heavens that was tedious. I had no idea what to say to him.” Jolene was wiping at her eyes.

  “You and me both. That’s the thing that bugs me, though.”

  “What part?” Jolene asked.

  “He acted like we caught him doing something suspicious.”

  “We did. He was nosing around a deceased woman’s house.”

  True. Just like we were doing now. “Yes, but why? And why was he patting his leg?”

  Jolene held up her hand and laughed. “I don’t want to know.”

  “Pervert.” I started around the side to see where he had been. The grass had been worn down in a track leading completely around the house. Once I got to the front on the other side, I reversed course and noticed there was a larger area of grass flattened down just beneath a window. On my toes, I couldn’t quite reach it but I could see where it had been left slightly open. “Jolene, come see this.”

  She looked up at the window. “Hmm.”

  “Do you think he snuck in?”

  “How?” Jolene gestured around us. “He must be in his eighties. There’s no way he climbed up in there without a boost.”

  She was right. To reach the window, I would need a step stool at a minimum.

  “Okay. Well, let’s look around where I found her body and see what we can find.”

  “Then we can leave? It’s too quiet around here.”

  A soft breeze picked up and rustled the copse of trees at the back line of her property. There was less acreage in the back than at the front. Off to the right and set further away were dilapidated stables and the remnants of a horse training ring.

  The lack of background noise was actually very peaceful. Wind rustled through the leaves. Birds sang from the safety of the trees. A dog barked from a neighbor’s yard.

  “Sounds plenty lively to me,” I said.

  Jolene punched my shoulder. “You’re a freak but we always knew that. Someone died here. And you were almost killed yourself.”

  We spent a while searching where Violet had been killed and where I had been struck by lightning. The ground was still pretty saturated but the grass was dry. There was a patch of ground scorched to black in an almost perfect circle. I stared at it, a strange feeling creeping down my spine. “This was where I was standing when I got hit.”

  Jolene kept her distance. “How much do you remember?”

  The evergreen magnolia tree was split almost down the middle. Black scorch marks cauterized the wood and many of the branches and dark green waxy leaves exploded from the strike. A deep, blackened scar extended two feet down the trunk. “Wow,” I said.

  “Yeah. To be honest, Naomi, I think you’re lucky to be alive. This was a bad one. I’m not sure the tree will survive.”

  That was a shame. It was a lovely tree and the standard of our fair state. Jolene snapped a few pictures of it.

  “Well...I’m not seeing anything, are you?” I tore my gaze away from the tree to look around at the ground again. Nothing. No pink remnants of a sweater, nothing.

  My frown must have caught Jolene’s attention. “What?” she asked.

  Before I could answer, the whoop of a police car made us both jump. The cruiser came to a stop and Chief Reed stepped out. “Afternoon,” he said curtly.

  “Chief,” I said with a bob of my head. “What brings you out today?”

  “I was just going to ask you the same thing.” He strolled up, his hand resting on his belt. Maybe I should have been intimidated.

  Okay, I was intimidated. His hand was resting near his gun. The intimidation was mixed with a healthy dose of realizing just how good the man looked in uniform. Let’s be real, we all have those images in our head of the swaggering southern police chief, with his charming accent and a paunch to indicate he hadn’t missed too many meals in his day.

  That was not the description of Harmony Grove’s police chief. Tight and fit would be very good descriptors.

  “I wanted to see where it happened,” I answered honestly. “To see if I remembered anything else.”

  He nodded, not saying another word as he looked us both up and down. Attraction rating went down the drain as he made me feel like I was being inspected and found lacking. It was a look the Charleston elite honed to perfection and wielded like a weapon of disapproval.

  I really hated that feeling.

  “Do you?”

  “No.”

  Jolene was the one who finally broke. “You can’t honestly tell me you think Naomi killed Mrs. Pickering.”

  Chief Reed broke his pose of authority and went to stand at the edge of the scorch mark. “She was alone when she found Violet Pickering. She claims there was a weapon which was not found here at the scene by investigators or the ME. The only weapon that fit the profile to cause the puncture mark in her chest was the golf umbrella she carried.”

  “I had no reason to kill her. I mean, she was annoying and a bit of a bully, if you ask me. But she didn’t threaten me.”

  “No?” He looked up and lifted his eyebrows at me. “Who did she threaten?”

  Fudge.

  “Talk to half the town, Chief,” Jolene said, in a rush of anger. “She was notorious for threats of lawsuits. She certainly never passed an opportunity to ruin good people with venomous gossip.”

  You’re a godsend, Jolene.

  “I am capable of doing my job, thank you.” The chief strolled back to stand in front of me. “So I’ll ask that you kindly not go whizzing around other people’s private property. That makes neighbors nervous. When they’re nervous, I have to leave my open investigation in order to pay a personal visit.”

  Standing so close, I could smell his aftershave. Wow. He knew how to put just the right amount. It was subtle, so you had to be close to catch the scent. It was very pleasing. Like...leather and gun oil and cedar.

  I stared into his blue eyes and felt like I was diving in the Galapagos Islands. Not that I had ever been. But I had seen the pictures and was always struck by how the blue the ocean was.

  It was that kind of blue.

  His brow twitched as he appeared to be searching my eyes. Was that a moment of hesitation?

  Whatever it was, it was gone when he stepped back and turned to head to his cruiser. “That’s me politely telling you, once, to go home. Miss Cooper, Miss Dyson.”

  Welp. Spell broken and Captain Jerk was back.

  “I do believe our dear chief of police works out,” Jolene observed as he drove away. She wasn’t looking at him, though. She was looking at me.

  I made a face.

  “I hate him.” I didn’t. But he did unnerve me.

  “He certainly fills out a uniform well enough.”

  “You’re shameless.”

  “Please. Like you didn’t notice.”

  I did notice.

  And that was a problem.

  “Jolene. Take me by the square, would you?”

  “Anything so that I don’t have to go home.” Jolene made a sharp turn at the light that would carry us down Main Street towards the downtown area.

  Not that there was a whole lot of downtown to Harmony Grove. The old courthouse sat as the tourist centerpiece with all four sides of the square lined with shops. Parking was just a short stroll away as the town didn’t like to have cars parked along the streets.

  However, we could cruise.

  “What are we looking for?”

  “I wanted to get a feel for the business health of the city.”

  “You’re looking in the wrong place.” Jolene tapped her finger on the steering wheel at a red light. “Rent along the square is astronomically high.”

  “It always is. Empty storefronts will tell me a lot, though. What’s worked, what hasn’t.” Unless there was a building for sale, there was no way I would try to lease.

  We made a quick tu
rn around the square. Jolene drove slowly so I could make a mental catalogue of the businesses open. Jewelry store, art and decor, a couple of lawyers, DMV and Chancery Clerk’s offices, a couple of cafes, antique store, consignment right next to it, a donut shop, the Hole in One, where Sarah worked...all pretty much what you’d expect in any small downtown area.

  Interestingly enough, there were no empty store spaces for lease or sale. That meant business was healthy in the area.

  Next, we headed to the new bypass. It was a recent addition, built to direct heavy tourist traffic heading to the Mississippi River around the historic downtown area to the other side of the town. Development was booming with mega gas stations and convenience stores, fast food restaurants and a big grocery store in a brand-new shopping complex.

  There were a few new stores still waiting for business. We stopped the car and I got out to peer in the storefront of an empty one. I mimed for Jolene to snap a photo of the realtor’s names, Gary and Rebecca Cole. Just for later.

  “So, are you going to open shop?”

  “I’m still thinking about it.” No, no I wasn’t thinking about it. I was seriously considering it, actually. Not that I wanted to rush into it, but reestablishing my grooming business was a given.

  Plus, I hated to be idle. Volunteering at the shelter was fulfilling emotionally but didn’t do so much for the bank account.

  “There’s still so much to do to even get started and I’m just...” I sighed softly and let my head fall against the passenger’s window. “I want to make sure I do it right, you know? Make absolutely sure before I commit.”

  We climbed back into her car and she pointed us in the direction of home.

  “I get it.” Jolene rested her hand on my forearm. “And you’re not alone in this, okay? So don’t try to take it all on by yourself.”

  Did she mean opening a business or this whole Violet Pickering thing? Maybe both. She was that kind of friend.

  I covered her hand with mine. “Thanks. I don’t even have a name for the shop yet. If I do it.”

  “Me, Sarah and LaLa? We got you covered. We’ve been brainstorming.”

  Oh boy.

  It was a family reunion when we got back to the house. Mom, Dad, Gramma, and Sarah crowded around the kitchen table. Robbie held Winston and stood behind Sarah, leaning in to say a comment to the assembly. The conversation buzzed with excitement. Gramma scribbled furiously at her yellow legal pad, several pages already torn off and stacked messily to one side. They were covered in her neat penmanship.