Lia Farrell - Mae December 02 - Two Dogs Lie Sleeping Page 3

  “Are you sure about the location? As I understand it, the sheriff usually cedes jurisdiction over a murder if it happens in one of the cities with a police department. And since Mont Blanc has a police department, it should be yours.”

  “Nice try, Ben. You’d be right in most cases, but you’re wrong this time. It’s yours unless you want to give it to the state boys. I’ve never handled a murder before and you were successful with the Ruby Mead Allison case last spring, so I’m bowing out.”

  Ben thought for a moment. “Have you heard from the Medical Examiner yet? Is it possible it was a suicide?”

  “I just talked with him. The guy was shot only once—in the back.”

  “Damn it. Well then, it’s murder. I definitely don’t want the state cops in here. They could dance around this one for months. They don’t know the local history or people. Hang on a minute.” Ben looked at Dory. She wasn’t even pretending not to listen. He put the call on hold and walked down the hall to his office.

  He walked in, closed the door and picked up the phone. “Are you still there, John? Okay, here’s my problem. I’m dating July Powell’s sister, which might complicate things.”

  “Oh, man.”

  “Yeah, I talked about Ferris with my girlfriend yesterday. She said her sister and the deceased were high school sweethearts who still dated in college. I can’t see July killing him, but stranger things have happened.”

  “Well, the good news is that my deputy secured the crime scene, sealed the room with crime tape and the CSI Team worked the scene last night—photos, room dimensions, Luminol, searched for bullets, the works. I got their preliminary reports this morning.”

  “Did they find anything?”

  “Not much. It was right before the public viewing of the house and the cleaning service went through yesterday afternoon. Even if we do find some prints, they’ll probably be from the designers or cleaning crew. Apparently, about twenty designers have been working on the place for months—not to mention painters, tile installers, and landscapers. Other than ballistics, the scene won’t tell us much.”

  “Okay, but I’ll still need all that information. I assume the CSI guys were at least able to eliminate the ambulance crew.” Ben indulged in a little sarcasm.

  “Yep, and they were able to lift a print from the victim’s hand using that new technology. It’s probably the Powell woman’s print. She said she held the man’s hand until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance took the body to the hospital, where he was pronounced DOA. I understand that the victim owned the mansion where he was found. Anyway, while you wrestle with your personal and jurisdictional issues, I’ll ask Doctor Estes to call you.”

  “I’ll need your report, too, John. Can you have the deputy who was on site come over here? I want to talk to him.”

  “I’ll get on it. Good luck.”

  “Yeah, right. I thought we were friends, John.”

  He heard John laugh and then hang up.

  Ben went back to the conference room to update his staff and give assignments for their current investigations. He dismissed them from the meeting without mentioning anything about Tom Ferris’ murder. He figured it was probably okay to see the body and read the reports, but he wouldn’t interview anyone until he got clearance from the Chief of Police in Nashville.

  When the Medical Examiner called, Dory buzzed him. She always screened his calls, and although Ben found this frustrating when he first took office, he now knew better than to try to wrest control away from Dory.

  “Hello, Doctor Estes? Are you calling about the Ferris case?”

  “Sure am. It wasn’t an accident. The angle of the shot was straight, and the victim took a single bullet in the back.”

  Ben knew Doctor Estes well. He was exacting, fussy and somewhat touchy about his findings. He doubted he would tell him anything more without seeing the body, but he tried.

  “Can you tell me anything else?” Ben asked.

  “Certainly not,” he said, crisply. “If you wish to know more, I’ll be in the morgue.”

  “Do you have the bullet?” Ben asked.

  With the supercilious air of one enlightening the ignorant, Dr. Estes declared that he did.

  “Could you send it to our lab for analysis?” Ben asked, ignoring the ME’s sarcasm.

  “Yes. When do you want to see the victim? I have other work to do, you know.”

  “I’ll come over in about an hour if that will work with your schedule.”

  “It will. See you then.” He was gone.

  Ben looked up to see his detective standing in the doorway. Wayne Nichols was a big man, quiet and intense. He had hazel eyes with dark eyebrows and thick, graying hair combed back from his forehead. Pushing sixty, as compared to Ben’s age of thirty-two, he was very experienced, with an intuitive understanding of the darker recesses of the human mind. Originally Ben had resented Wayne’s attempts to be a mentor. However, over the last year they’d grown closer and for the most part worked well together.

  “Looks like you have another case, Wayne.”

  “How so?”

  “A man named Tom Ferris was found near death from a bullet wound in the Booth Showhouse yesterday. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Mae’s sister, July, found the body.”

  “Here we go again.” Wayne gave a slight shake of his head. “Did this one have the sense to call 911?”

  “She did, right away. Dispatch sent over an ambulance, since she reported that he was still breathing. Ferris was taken to the hospital and pronounced DOA. The emergency dispatcher sent a deputy from the Mont Blanc station and the crime scene guys, so I assumed it was their case.”

  Wayne waited. It was one of his strengths as an interrogator. Most suspects quailed and caved in that silence.

  “But John just called and said that 911 really should have called us. It’s in our jurisdiction. Apparently the Booth Mansion is just outside the Mont Blanc city limits.”

  “Boss, you have to stay out of this one.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too, but the house is in Rose County, so it’s ours. And you work both sides of the street, my friend, so it’s yours in any case.” Ben referred to Wayne working with both Rose County and the Mont Blanc police station when there was a serious crime to investigate. “If I reject it, John’s going to call in the state cops because he’s never handled a murder before.”

  “I’m not talking about jurisdiction. What about your involvement with the December family? Or should I say lack of objectivity about the family?”

  “I know. I really don’t need this. I’m going to call the Chief of Police in Nashville and go over it with him.”

  “Okay. Just to clarify, do we know for sure it was murder?”

  “One shot in the back, so murder definitely. The ME also found something else of interest. He wouldn’t tell me what it was. I’m going to go see the body. Want to go with me?”

  Wayne nodded, and they went out to his car. He was quiet, and Ben was lost in his own thoughts.

  After viewing the body, Ben and Wayne left the cold of the morgue in silence and headed for the car. The scent of disinfectant could never quite cover the smell in what Ben thought of as “the dead zone.” Doctor Estes had flipped on the bone saw just as they were leaving. Ben was pretty sure he did it just to see if he or Wayne jumped. The whining sound was horrific. Ben tried to shake off the image of the saw cutting into human flesh.

  Enjoying the air conditioning, which gave them relief from the sweltering heat, Wayne drove to the Donut Den on the town square for coffee. Rosedale had changed very little in decades and looked to be the perfect picture of small town charm on this sultry August morning. Two-story brick buildings surrounded the traffic roundabout, which circled an island of green grass. A statue memorializing Civil War casualties stood on the grass. Three flags—U.S., Tennessee, and Rose County—hung limply from the pole in front of the Courthouse. Wayne found a parking space just off the square on a side street nea
r the Donut Den, and the two lawmen went inside.

  They found an empty table and sat down with their coffees. Ben looked at Wayne across the scarred Formica surface. He was still dealing with his feelings about the autopsy. As usual, Wayne’s demeanor was inscrutable.

  “That was rough,” Ben admitted. Doctor Estes had told them that Tom Ferris would not have lived very long in any case. He had cancer with advanced tumor progression and residual Hodgkin’s in the lymph nodes.

  “I wonder if he knew he was dying,” Wayne said quietly. “If so, it might have some bearing on his murder. What do you know so far?”

  “Mae told me that Tom Ferris was her sister’s boyfriend in high school and college. They were crazy about each other and July expected he’d give her an engagement ring the summer after his sophomore year, but he disappeared in January. That was over fifteen years ago.” He thought about the body lying naked on the cold, stainless steel slab, and winced slightly at the thought of the surgical “T” incision and the way the man’s skin puckered around the stitches.

  “If July Powell found the body, she’s a suspect.” Wayne was calm but adamant.

  “Ferris was alive when the emergency techs got there. He died in the ambulance. They put in their notes that she was sobbing uncontrollably.”

  “So that eliminates her?” The detective raised his eyebrows. “Come on, Sheriff, you said they were in love. Then he stays away for fifteen years. Then she finds him dying at the Booth Mansion where she just happens to be doing a final check on the space. I have serious doubts about her whole story.”

  “I can’t believe July would kill him. She’s a happily married woman with three kids. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with her since Mae and I got together. She’s just not the type.” He wondered why he was defending her. Mae had admitted that July never really got over Tom Ferris. Was she as happily married as she seemed?

  “Boss, I think your bias is showing. July can’t have killed him because you know her and she’s nice?” Wayne Nichols shook his head. “Let me give you an alternative scenario. What if July knew Ferris was back in town? She was furious he disappeared so long ago. She asked him to come to the Booth house after everyone left, brought a gun and that was that.”

  “He was shot in the back. We saw the point of entry.”

  “And a woman isn’t capable of shooting a man in the back?” He looked incredulous. “What if Ferris rejected her again, turned his back on her and she pulled out her gun and shot him? Then, realizing what she’s done, she calls 911 and breaks down.”

  Ben was definitely not enjoying this. “If July was coldblooded enough to do that, I doubt she’d have called 911.”

  “We still have to rule everything out, boss.”

  Ben sighed. His detective had a point. “I had Doctor Estes send the bullet over for ballistics testing. We need to know anything they can tell us about the gun. I’m also going to talk to the techs who took the fingerprints from John’s shop. How about you take your suspicious mind and go question July. Draw your own conclusions.”

  The big man was on his feet and headed toward the door. Over his shoulder he called, “Sure thing, boss. You can be a Southern gentleman and leave the down and dirty to me.”

  As he followed his detective out to the parking lot, Ben admitted to himself that Wayne might be right about his seemingly inbred sense that women needed protection. He knew he had shortcomings as an investigator. He was better with non-violent crimes and administrative work.

  I probably should have gone to law school. Would have made lots more money and never had to visit the morgue.

  Autopsies still made him sick. The scent of pine disinfectant mixed with the smell of formaldehyde never completely covered the odor of death.

  On his way back to the office, Ben called Dory to tell her that they would be investigating Tom Ferris’ death.

  Chapter Six

  Mae December

  For Mae, the day started with a whimper. When she opened her eyes there was a cold wet nose touching her cheek and two puppy feet planted firmly on her chest. She remembered taking the puppy to bed with her the night before. The Tater was awake and crying to go outside. Mae swung her legs out from under the covers and snatched the puppy up before she could fall off the extra high bed. She pulled on shorts, and holding the puppy under one arm, hurried downstairs. After slipping her yard shoes on, she carried the puppy outside and set her down in the damp grass. The Tater looked up at Mae expectantly, wagging her tiny stump of a tail; then she sniffed around in a leisurely manner. The air was already heavy.

  “I thought this was a matter of some urgency,” she told the puppy. “We’re not out here to entertain ourselves. Hurry up!”

  Tater tilted her head at Mae inquiringly and sat down. Sighing, Mae returned to the kitchen, where she poured herself a cup of coffee and called the other three dogs before going back outside. She held the door open for Thoreau, who was the last one out as usual. He was getting old, she noticed with a pang. The fur around his face was all white. Titan and Tallulah bustled over to investigate the new arrival, while Thoreau sat down close to her. She nudged the big dog toward the grass.

  “Dogs, hurry up.”

  All three of the older dogs began to take care of business as the Tater looked on with interest. Mae praised them all and gave them each a treat before herding them back inside the house. Walking back to the puppy, she issued the “Hurry up” command for the third time and light dawned in the Tater’s eyes. When she was done, Mae praised her lavishly, gave her a treat from her pocket stash and carried her back inside. She put Tater in her crate and refilled her coffee cup.

  Knowing she would be working intensively on training the new puppy, Mae had asked the owners of the dogs she was boarding to pick them up before the Tater arrived. She’d blocked out two weeks, so the kennels were empty. She was glad not to have to go out to the barn and do chores on such a steamy morning, but her own dogs still needed feeding. She filled the food and water bowls and went upstairs to shower and dress.

  Mae loved her bathroom, with its robin’s egg blue walls and claw-foot tub. The bathroom, one of the first remodeling projects she did after moving in, had turned out even better than she hoped. She took a quick shower but didn’t linger over hair and makeup; instead she put her curly blonde mop into a ponytail and swiped on a coat of mascara. Stepping on the scale, she noted once again that she hadn’t lost ten pounds overnight. Not even one measly pound.

  Back in her room, Mae put on her loosest, most lightweight sundress. She was on her way down to the kitchen when the back door opened, narrowly missing her nose, and Mae’s best friend Tammy blew in. As usual, she looked like a blonde waif, albeit with perfect hair and makeup.

  “What’s shakin’, Mae-Mae? I’m not interrupting any torrid love scenes, am I?”

  Mae shook her head. “You must not be too worried, or you would have knocked.” Relieving her of the bakery bag she carried, Mae ushered Tammy into the kitchen. “Thanks for the pumpkin cream cheese muffin. Did you come to see the puppy?”

  Her eyes widened. “No, I forgot she was coming this week. Of course I want to see her.” She paused to pour herself a cup of coffee and then continued, “I came to ask you about July finding a body yesterday at the Booth Showhouse.”

  “How did you already hear about that?” She should have known. Tammy’s grapevine was impeccable.

  “Small town, you know how it is. Three of my mother’s ladies came in for early hair appointments today and they were all talking about it. Mom called, and I decided to bring you some breakfast and get the news from a more reliable source.”

  Tammy’s mother Grace owned and operated Birdy’s Salon in the historic district of Rosedale. Tammy had her own business—Local Love, a dating service—in the same building. Between the two of them, not much went on that they didn’t hear about in a hurry, but this was quick even for them.

  “Did you hear it was Tommy that she found?”

  “Tom Ferris
?”

  Mae nodded sadly.

  Tammy walked over to Mae’s kitchen table and sighed as she took a seat. Shaking her head, she looked out the window and said, “I had such a crush on him when I was fourteen.”

  Mae sat down across from her. “Who didn’t? He was just so sweet.”

  “Not to mention charming and handsome. Oh, your poor sister. What an awful thing.” Tammy rubbed her forehead with a circular motion. They both sat quietly for a few moments. Mae’s friend looked like she was going to say something but then thought better of it.

  “Tammy?” Mae looked at her, “Did you know Tommy was back in town?”

  A wary look crossed her friend’s face.

  “Did you?”

  Tammy put her hand over her mouth. Sometimes she knew things she didn’t tell Mae. According to her, it was for Mae’s own good. Mae could hear the wall clock ticking and a very faint snore coming from the Tater’s crate.

  “All right,” she capitulated. “I did know he was back. I heard it from Bethany—I mean, a friend of mine—but it’s complicated.”

  “Bethany Cooper?”

  “Don’t tell Ben, please Mae.”

  Mae looked at her, frustrated. Her best friend looked like she was about to cry.

  “You didn’t tell me, I guessed, but I should really tell Ben. For all I know, he and Wayne are about to arrest my sister.”

  “Please don’t, Mae. I promised Bethany. And July didn’t even know he was here.”

  Mae gazed at her steadily for a moment, until Tammy looked down. Mae went to the crate, let the puppy out and put a tiny bit of food in her dish. Tammy got out of her chair and crouched down beside the Tater.

  “She’s so precious,” Tammy said, glancing up at Mae. “I’ll take her out when she’s done eating if you need to call Ben.”

  “I have a better idea. I’ll call Dory later and she can tell Ben. Then it won’t come back to you.”

  “I have to tell you something else, Mae, before I lose my nerve.” Tammy bit her lip and got to her feet.