The Devil's Bones Read online

  “Nothing. A lawyer was murdered during the sunrise service. The man suspected of killing him, Erik Ward, wants me and Tinkie to prove his innocence.

  “There’s a small complication. There’s been another death. A drowning, it appears. Tinkie and I should wrap this up quickly.”

  “What the heck is going on there, Sarah Booth?”

  “This is normally a quiet little community. I don’t really know anything about this victim, except that her name is Patrice Pepperdine. She’s Erik Ward’s neighbor. They were at odds.”

  “Is Erik still charged with the first murder?”

  “He’s out on bail.” How much better it would have been if he’d stayed in jail. “But he was going to his pharmacy so he should have a good alibi. I don’t think this woman’s been dead very long.”

  “It worries me that a killer is on the loose down there. You haven’t seen anything strange, have you?”

  “Other than two dead bodies at a religious site, you mean?”

  “Other than that. Anyone following you or acting suspicious?”

  “No. Is there a reason you’re asking that question?”

  “You and Tinkie have a knack for finding trouble, or sometimes it just finds you.”

  I had a sense that he wasn’t telling me exactly what was on his mind, but since he was right about what he said, I didn’t press it. “I just wanted to keep you posted and to let you know I’ll be home as soon as I can. I miss you.”

  “Maybe I should drive down.”

  There was a wistful note in Coleman’s voice that made me realize just how much I missed him. “Can you leave work?” The plan had been for a girls’ weekend, but with two murders, that had spiraled out of control and it would be nice if our men could join us.

  “Yes. I’ve got two burglaries in town. DeWayne and Budgie can handle it, but I need to make some calls to neighboring law enforcement. I’ll check in at Dahlia House, make sure the animals are good, and see what tomorrow brings. I hope I can get an early start. I’ll give Oscar a call and see if he wants to come. Jaytee, too. Maybe he can find a backup harmonica player for the band.”

  I loved the idea that I’d see my man by lunchtime the next day. “Perfect.” I caught movement down the trail. People with flashlights were coming toward us. “Here’s the sheriff. I need to go. And I need to get back to the B and B and change into some dry clothes.” I’d warmed up considerably, but it was still chilly.

  “Give Tinkie and Cece my best.”

  “Give the critters a smooch for me. And one for you.”

  Coleman hung up and I turned to face Sheriff Glory. She sighed heavily. “Before you came to visit, we didn’t have bodies all over the place,” she said.

  “Before I came to visit, I’d never seen a dead person in the Dead Sea.”

  Glory grinned. “I take your point.” She motioned for me to wait before I rejoined Tinkie and Dr. Reynolds. “I have some bad news. I checked on Erik Ward right after I hung up with Tinkie. You should know Erik never showed up at work and now he’s completely disappeared.”

  9

  Once the body had been removed and was on its way to the coroner’s examining table, Tinkie and I repaired to the B&B where Cece was waiting, sans Hans. The video reporter had left her to track down a Lucedalian he needed to interview for a story on the history of train lines in Southern Mississippi. Hans had learned the key to success was to maximize every location.

  Donna must have sensed we were in distress, because she found an alcove in the glassed and heated sunroom and brought a bottle of tequila, lime slices, salt, and shot glasses. For Tinkie, she brewed a cup of herbal tea. Boy, was I glad I wasn’t the pregnant one.

  “You look like you could use a drink,” she said as she pushed the shot glasses toward me and Cece. “To paraphrase William Hurt in one of my favorite movies, ‘Some days the crap comes down so hard you have to wear a hat.’ Drink up, ladies, as long as you don’t plan to drive anywhere.”

  I poured a shot for Cece and one for me, then handed her a slice of lime. We salted the junction of thumb and forefinger, licked the salt, threw back the tequila, and bit the lime. The rush of heat through my body was more than welcome. We each had another for good measure. And I hadn’t even told them Erik was out of pocket.

  I started with the good news. “Coleman is coming tomorrow, if he can. He said he’d bring Oscar and Jaytee if they can get away from work.” I thought that might cheer them up—before I revealed the lack of Erik Ward or an alibi.

  “Oscar has to go to Memphis tomorrow,” Tinkie said. “He’d dig seeing the miniature Holy Land, but we’ll have to come back after the baby is born.”

  “Jaytee is auditioning potential band members. You know, for those instances when someone wants to take a vacation. Like that’s ever going to happen for Jaytee and me at the same time.” Cece made a face. “I do have to get back to work soon. Ed has been pretty tolerant of my absence.”

  Ed Oakes was a reasonable boss, but Cece was his prime asset and he needed her on the job.

  “Can you send him some photos of the gardens? You know, kind of a society story?”

  “Two steps ahead of you. He ran an Easter story on the web about the gardens.”

  “Maybe Millie could do a guest column about Hollywood scandals.”

  “She’s already on the case.” Cece grinned. “Great minds think alike. She’s hot on the trail of a haunted mansion over in Greenwood. The house is up for sale, and I think she’s going with a team of paranormal investigators to check it out. Elvis’s ghost has been reported there. If she gets some shots with orbs or anything the least bit paranormal, it will be terrific.”

  It was fun to see Millie coming into her own with the newspaper. Millie’s Café was still her primary focus, but she loved investigating entertainment and odd stories for the Zinnia Dispatch. “Terrific.”

  Tinkie offered to pour another shot, but I passed. I had a small buzz going, and that was perfect. By all rights, I should have gone into town to look for Erik, but I was aggravated with our client. He’d been told to go to work where he would have had an alibi. Now we had a second body, no Erik, and no alibi. If he was arrested again, he could stay behind bars. If he’d done what he was supposed to do, he would have been off the hook for both murders.

  I finally told Cece and Tinkie about Erik’s wayward behavior.

  “That man won’t help himself,” Tinkie said, with more than a little aggravation. “He promised to stay at the pharmacy.”

  “Yep.” I sighed. “I’m exhausted just thinking about him.”

  “What about another massage?” Tinkie suggested.

  I could tell she was getting antsy to go home, but we were stuck. At least for another day. “Sure, let’s go get pummeled.” As we were about to head to the spa area, Hans returned.

  “I had a terrific interview,” he said. “How did the rest of your day go?”

  “Another dead body,” Tinkie said. “Erik is a suspect because he took off from the drugstore. Again.”

  “Let’s give him a chance,” I said.

  Tinkie only glared at me. Pregnancy made her short-tempered, and her feet weren’t even swelling today. Oscar was going to be in for some fun times as she got further along.

  “Should we look for him?” Hans asked.

  “He has our phone numbers. We’re going for a massage,” Tinkie said.

  “Maybe Hans and I will go into town and check him out,” Cece suggested. Hans nodded enthusiastically. It seemed he liked hanging around detective women and talented print journalists.

  “Suit yourself.” I needed to stay close to Tinkie. Her energy went up and down erratically. And she was emotional.

  “We’ll be back in an hour or two,” Cece said. Hans picked up his camera and they hustled out into the night.

  Tinkie and I went to the spa to see if it was too late to request a massage. The spa was dark and empty. The weekend was over and most of the people staying at the quaint inn had left. The only
guests were the three of us and Hans. A whole new batch of guests would start arriving Thursday, but if we could resolve our case, we’d be long gone.

  It seemed the spa staff had also gone home, and I was just as glad. The tequila had made me a little lethargic, and I wanted to curl up in the comfy bed with a good mystery and go to sleep. Tomorrow I’d find Erik—if Sheriff Glory didn’t beat me to it. Maybe I’d have more patience with the dawn. I was pretty aggravated at the moment.

  I went to my room and opened my laptop. I looked up Patrice Pepperdine plus Erik Ward, just out of curiosity. The first thing that popped up was a story in the local newspaper. Erik and Patrice had gotten into a heated confrontation on his back lawn. Patrice had called the law and both had been warned that any further misbehavior would result in a disturbing-the-peace charge.

  There was a photo of Patrice—with her lawn shears in hand, standing by a beautiful old camellia bush. All around her feet were branches filled with huge blooms. She’d attacked the bush when the flowers were the most beautiful, slashing away at any limbs that stretched even near a line of pink plastic tape she’d strung to mark her property.

  I started reading the story. “That stupid bush was growing across the line and into my yard,” she declared. “I hate camellias. I hate azaleas. I hate them all.”

  The shrub had been planted at least ten feet from the property line, but it was huge. It had spread out over the decades. But why in the world would anyone object to those beautiful flowers?

  I continued reading. “She’s a dingbat from Hell,” Erik said of her. “She’s anti-plant and poorly educated. She’s butchered a beautiful heritage plant that’s an important part of the town history, and because that wonderful foliage is destroyed, I’m left with an eye-bleeding image of her coming out of her house every morning in her bathrobe with these ratty pink foam curlers in her hair. She’s fodder for a horror movie. Trust me, she gives me nightmares.”

  Wow. That was a slam I hadn’t heard in quite a while.

  But the news reporter had done due diligence and had plenty of quotes from both sides of the story. Patrice shot back, “Erik Ward is a property thief. He tried to buy my place at the tax sale. He was sneaky about it, too. He didn’t even come over and tell me he was trying to buy it.”

  That was a claim I’d have to check out. Even if true, it wasn’t illegal to buy property that the current owner failed to pay taxes on for several years. But it could put a bad taste in someone’s mouth, especially if Patrice was having financial issues. Nearly losing one’s home stung—I knew that from personal experience.

  I looked up from my reading when Tinkie came down the hall. “I’m not waiting up for Cece,” she said. “We can try for a massage tomorrow.”

  “Me either, and it’s just as well because the spa is closed. I’m about to sack out.” We were tired. Cece, of the three of us, was truly capable of handling almost any situation. She’d be perfectly fine. We said our goodnights, and I closed and locked my door and hit the sack.

  * * *

  I awoke to a tap, tap, tap on the window of my room. “If you make me get up, Jitty, I will kill you twice.” I was in no mood for the shenanigans of my nemesis.

  The tap, tap, tap came again. I rolled over and stood up. I was going to kick some butt. When I went to the window, though, I dashed back to the bed and grabbed the comforter to wrap around myself. It wasn’t Jitty at the window—it was Erik.

  I unlocked the window and lifted it up. These were the old-fashioned windows with weights and sashes. “What are you doing standing outside in the middle of the night? Where have you been? Sheriff Glory is looking for you and she’s charging you with a second murder.” I was a little agitato, to quote my old friend Kinky Friedman.

  “I can’t go home. Glory has my house staked out. They’ll arrest me if I try to get in.”

  “And this is my problem why?” I was angry.

  “I know I should have stayed at the drugstore, but I had an appointment I couldn’t miss.”

  “Good. Then you have an alibi. That’s all that really matters.” If he had a solid alibi I would forgive him for worrying me.

  “I do have an alibi, but I can’t say what.”

  “Erik, do you have a death wish?” I said it very slowly.

  “No, why?”

  “Because I am going to kill you, right on that spot where you’re standing outside my window.”

  “Can I come in to talk?”

  “Sure.” I checked my watch and it was nearly five o’clock. I’d slept the whole night away and it felt like only fifteen minutes. Dawn would soon be breaking. “I’ll go get us some coffee.”

  10

  Donna Dickerson was always up early, and she put on a pot of coffee first thing. In fact, I could hear her stirring around, getting the day started.

  “I take mine with cream and sugar,” Erik said as he climbed in the window. “One spoon and about an ounce of heavy cream, if she has it.”

  I could tell by his unrepentant grin that he was having sport with me. He didn’t care that I was annoyed. “However you like it,” I said sweetly and grabbed my robe before I walked down the hall to the kitchen. I almost woke Tinkie up, but she needed her sleep. She wasn’t just eating for two, she was sleeping for two, too. Cece, on the other hand, was an early bird like me. I tapped on her door. It wasn’t locked and I looked in the room. No Cece.

  I had a lot of questions about that, but no time to pursue them. Whatever Cece and Hans were up to, they’d apparently hit a hot lead for a story. She’d either be back soon or would give us a call. I wasn’t worried about her and I had to wring an alibi out of Erik.

  I greeted Donna, who was in the kitchen and humming golden oldies. I poured two cups of coffee, putting in the fixings that Erik liked. When I got back to my room, he was on the sofa with my comforter around him. “It’s chilly outside.”

  “Boy, your mama must have raised a fool.”

  He just laughed out loud. “She raised a man with irresistible charm. Admit it, you know I’m dashing and … exciting.”

  The bad thing is that he was. No matter how outdone I was with him, I couldn’t stay mad. I took the chair across from him and we sipped our coffee. It was good on a chilly morning. “So where have you been?”

  “You don’t know what it’s like living in a small town,” he said. “I can’t buy groceries unless someone has a comment about the bread or fruit or vegetables.”

  “Yes, I do know what small towns are like.” And I did. Zinnia wasn’t much bigger, if at all, than Lucedale. “Everyone knows your business. Everyone makes your business their business. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

  “The Delta is different than here,” Erik said. “I have friends in the Delta. The parties are incredible. People know how to have some fun, and they don’t judge every little thing. Here, there are so many things that people find immoral or indecent or even illegal. Harmless little things anywhere else in the world, but here, it’s a capital offense.”

  I knew it was true that the Delta was more wide open. The rural areas of the state were far more constricted than the Delta or the Gulf Coast, where casinos had blossomed in the nineties and gambling was big business. “I don’t care what kind of pressure you’re under to conform, you need to tell me where you were and what you were doing.”

  “I didn’t kill Patrice, though I would have stuck her foot in a fire-ant bed if I’d gotten the chance.”

  There was no point asking Erik how he knew Patrice Pepperdine was the second body. “Tell me what you know about Patrice. There’s been no coroner’s ruling. Yet. It could have been a suicide.” That was cold comfort, but still a possibility.

  “I heard you found her in the Dead Sea. Kind of ironic.”

  He wasn’t going to get me to laugh about a death, no matter how hard he tried. “Brutus actually saw her. Dr. Reynolds dragged her in and I helped get her on shore.”

  “Did she drown?”

  That was the question. “I don’t
know. We’re waiting on the report.”

  “What was Patrice doing out at the gardens? She hated plants and I never thought she was all that religious.”

  “I don’t know that either. No one seems to know why she was there.” I had a terrible thought. “You don’t know, do you?”

  Erik stretched. “I told you, I was out of town. Since I got a court order making Patrice stay out of my yard and leave my camellias alone, I haven’t spoken to her. Now I think I’m going to take a nap, if that’s okay with you. I’m exhausted.”

  It didn’t appear that I had a choice. Erik had already pulled the comforter over his head and was snuggled in. I would have liked to go back to sleep, but I had things to do. I was tempted to see if there was a room at the B&B where I could lock Erik up—a prison of luxury, as it were. The fallout from that would be dragging the Dickersons into a series of murder cases that could impact their business.

  And to top it all off, Cece still wasn’t back. She’d likely run off on an assignment with Hans, but it wasn’t like Cece to leave without a text or call. The hot pursuit of a story was no excuse. Hans had said something about the barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi and Alabama. Cece might be doing that—and it was possible there was no cell reception on a barrier island. She and Hans seemed to be thick as thieves. I had to admit that he was giving her a wonderful opportunity. Cece was not only a terrific reporter, she was also beautiful and photogenic. She’d be a hit on his show, and it might lead to a real television contract. Not that I wanted Cece to leave the Delta, but Memphis was close enough that she could do a weekly show and still work at the Zinnia Dispatch. At least to my way of thinking.

  I turned to tell Erik to get up, but he was sound asleep. Happy and content. Even though I wanted to kick him, I didn’t have the heart to wake him. He could stay in my room until we figured out a plan. He would have to report to Sheriff Glory, but we needed to turn him in with the best defense we could muster. Which meant as soon as Tinkie was up, I’d send her in to work her magic on him. Erik was a charmer, a real rascal who got away with … murder? Because people wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. But Tinkie had her own skill set of man-manipulation tools. He would be putty in her hands.