Authors: Susan Rogers Cooper
I pulled the meat tenderizer out of the bag with a gloved hand. The boy leaned closer to get a look, not touching it. ‘Dirt,’ he said.
‘Yeah, that’s what I’d say.’
‘Was the kitchen dirty?’ he asked.
‘No way,’ I said.
‘The dog came in from outside with this?’ he asked.
‘Through the doggy door.’
‘Do you know where he came from?’
‘No idea,’ I said.
‘Set it down please, Sheriff.’
I did as he asked and then stood back. The boy donned gloves, looked around at us and said, ‘Y’all can leave now.’
We did.
Sitting in Charlie’s office, I asked, ‘How long you think it’s gonna take him?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘An hour. Three days. It varies.’
I got out my cell phone and called Nita Skitteridge and told her about finding the tenderizer.
‘No kidding!’ she said. ‘I’m surprised. The dog had it, huh?’
‘That’s about the gist of it. Wonder if you’d go out there this morning and see if you can find where she dug it up from.’
‘Ah, I was just getting ready to go to church,’ she said.
‘Better change your clothes,’ I told her. ‘You wouldn’t wanna get your Sunday best all messed up.’
I hung up before she could respond. I’d heard the woman’s responses before and didn’t wanna hear ’em again now. Especially not aimed at me.
So I sat there in Charlie’s office, my chair tipped back on two legs, my feet resting on the front of his desk, thinking. I had more business over at the Hudsons myself. One, Carol Anne was going to say something last night, right before Lynnie came running in. Had something to do with Sister Mary butting into other people’s business, I was sure of that. And then there was that thing I really didn’t think about that I saw as I was leaving: Dennis Rigsby sneaking out – OK, maybe just coming out of – Sister Rene’s house. It was only about eight thirty in the evening, but still, a good Mormon wife wouldn’t be having male visitors over without her husband present, even in the bright of day. OK, so maybe Dennis was like family, being Carol Anne’s brother and all, but still.
And here it was Sunday. Would they all be in church? At the hospital with Rachael and her daughter? I set my chair upright and with my hands on my knees, pushed myself up out of the chair. ‘I got things to do,’ I told Charlie.
‘Like I don’t?’ he said.
I shrugged. ‘You gotta babysit this kid?’
He grimaced. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I promised his mama.’
‘I gotta murderer to catch,’ I told him and headed out the door.
I wasn’t pleased to hear Charlie snort as I left.
Nita Skitteridge – Sunday
Barry, my husband, was straightening his tie in front of the dresser mirror as I hung up my cell phone.
‘Shit,’ I said.
‘Such language and us on our way to church,’ he teased.
‘You may be on your way to church, but I’m not,’ I told him.
‘Was that the sheriff on the phone?’
‘Yeah. He wants me to go check out a scene,’ I said.
He came up behind me and put his arms around me. ‘Want me to record the sermon?’ he asked.
I laughed. ‘So I can go to sleep in the living room while I listen?’
He kissed my ear. ‘Told you when you went to the academy instead of that dental hygienist school that the hours were gonna suck.’
I elbowed him somewhat gently in the mid-section. ‘If you want me to tell you that you were right, it ain’t gonna happen,’ I said, pulling away.
I went in our walk-in closet to put up my Sunday clothes and change into my uniform. Barry yelled goodbye from the front door. Ten minutes after he left, I was in my car headed for the station and a squad car. Five minutes after that, I was in the squad car and headed towards The Branches.
Barry and I had a nice house in Longbranch, half an acre, three bedrooms, two baths, two-car garage. Nice covered patio with a good size gas barbecue pit. The furniture was fairly new and almost paid for, and the walls were painted in designer colors. Of the two extra bedrooms, one was set up as an office, and the other was a junk room, until such time as it became the nursery. Wasn’t sure when
that
was gonna happen. All this is to say that I was happy with my lot in life, but damn if The Branches didn’t set my millionaire fantasies off.
The landscaping alone turned me green with envy. And I could barely look at the houses without breaking the commandment on coveting. There was that one all glass and cement, three stories with walkways between buildings that didn’t get me all atwitter, but other than that, I’d take any one of ’em God chose to give me, if He so chose.
I got to the Hudsons’ cul-de-sac without committing too many sins and parked the car. The big van was just leaving with Dennis driving. His weirdo mama and Rene Hudson and a bunch of the kids were in it.
I wasn’t sure exactly what the sheriff wanted me to do – find out where the murder weapon came from, he’d said – or how I was supposed to go about doing it. So I just got out of the squad car and headed into the backyards, starting in the middle with the former home of the victim, Sister Mary Hudson. None of the backyards were fenced and just seemed to go easily from one to the other. Directly behind the center house was an above-ground pool, covered over now that it was getting on toward winter, and a large wooden playscape with slides and tunnels and swings and monkey bars. Going towards Carol Anne Hudson’s house was another playscape set up for smaller children, and a covered sandbox further on. Beyond that was what looked like a mini-racetrack set up for bicycles, with ramps.
The whole backyard area was a children’s paradise. Right outside the back door of Carol Anne’s house was the dog house. Butch was asleep, her big body inside the house, her head sticking out. When she heard me coming she looked up, and I swear to God she smiled. I could hear her tail thumping the sides of the dog house in her happiness to see me.
That’s when I heard a car pull into the cul-de-sac.
Milt Kovak – Sunday
When I pulled into the cul-de-sac, the large van that was usually in front of Sister Mary’s house was gone, as was the smaller one that was usually in front of Sister Carol Anne’s former house. I did notice, however, that Nita Skitteridge’s car was smack dab in the center of the cul-de-sac, like it had been abandoned. I pulled up neatly next to Sister Mary’s driveway (I guess I should start calling it Sister Carol Anne’s driveway, but then what would I call her other driveway?), and got out, calling Nita’s name.
I saw her come out from behind Sister Carol Anne’s former house. She didn’t look happy. ‘You looking for me?’ she said.
‘Hey,’ I said, trying out a smile. I didn’t get one in response. ‘How’s it going?’
‘You don’t trust me to do my job, Sheriff?’ she asked, hands on hips.
‘Now nobody said anything like that, Deputy,’ I said, letting the smile slip. ‘I came out to interview the Hudsons. Anybody left around that you know about?’
She nodded her head toward the middle house, the two-story that had once been Sister Mary’s. ‘I believe Mr Hudson and Carol Anne are still here. All the kids left for church with Mrs Rigsby and Dennis and the other Mrs Hudson.’
There’d been a bit of emphasis on the word ‘church,’ but I let it slide. ‘I’ll just go on up then,’ I said and turned away from her. The woman scared me a little, and I’m a big enough man to admit it.
I rang the bell and hardly had my hand off it before it opened. Jerry stood there. ‘Sheriff,’ he said.
Hell, nobody seemed glad to see me this morning. ‘Hey, Jerry. Sorry, but I got a few more questions.’
He opened the door wide and ushered me in. We went to the family room where Carol Anne was sitting with baby Mark in her arms, feeding him a bottle. The baby’s eyes were half-closed, and she was rocking him gently.
Jerry put his finger to his lips with a ‘shhhing’ sound, and we both tiptoed in. The three of us sat there for a few minutes, watching as Mark’s eyes finally closed all the way. Carol Anne took the bottle out of his mouth, but kept rocking her body back and forth for another couple of minutes, then stood and took the sleeping baby to the far corner of the room where a playpen sat, leaned down and nestled the baby in.
‘I’m sorry I have to keep bothering y’all,’ I said when Carol Anne came back. ‘But I got questions only the two of you can answer.’
‘We noticed your deputy wandering around the backyards, Milt,’ Jerry said. ‘Could you tell us what that’s about?’
‘That’s why I wanted y’all to keep the dog in last night. She’s looking to find a spot where the dog might have found the murder weapon.’
Jerry flinched when I said the words ‘murder weapon’ and I was sorry I’d said it but what could I do? You gotta call a spade a spade, especially when it is – am I right?
I continued. ‘Last night, before the dog interrupted us, y’all were going to tell me how Sister Mary might have butted into somebody else’s business once you got here to Oklahoma.’
The couple looked at each other then back at me and neither of ’em said a word. I sighed real big. ‘Come on, y’all,’ I said. ‘Carol Anne, you said you weren’t gonna lie to me. So I’m asking a question: what did she butt into?’
Carol Anne took a deep breath and said, ‘Lots of things.’
‘Jerry? Come on, man,’ I said.
Squaring his shoulders, Jerry said, ‘Mary never butted into anything. She had concerns for other people, that’s all. She felt a Christian’s job was to help her fellows. She never did anything that I didn’t agree with wholeheartedly.’
‘And what are the things she did that you agreed with wholeheartedly?’ I asked.
He shook his head. I looked at Carol Anne. She looked away.
I tried another tactic. ‘Last night, as I was leaving here, I saw your brother, Carol Anne, coming out of Sister Rene’s house. What’s up with that?’
The two of them looked at each other as I watched closely. Sister Carol Anne flapped her arms as she stared at her husband, while Jerry shook his head. Carol Anne stood up. Jerry stood up. I kept watching. Carol Anne sat back down. Still standing, Jerry shook his head again. Carol Anne folded her arms over her chest and looked away from her husband. Jerry sat back down. These two were having a doozy of an argument and I hadn’t heard a peep out of either of ’em.
‘So what’s the conclusion?’ I asked.
‘What?’ Jerry asked, finally looking at me.
‘What have y’all finally decided to tell me? I hope some of it’s true.’
‘I’m not telling you any—’ Jerry started.
‘I am!’ Carol Anne said with what seemed to be just a little bit of heat.
‘Carol Anne . . .’ Jerry started.
‘Oh, hush, Jerry!’ she said, standing, hands on hips. ‘I’m sick and tired of this! It’s been almost three years we’ve been covering for her, and now she’s after my brother? I won’t have it!’
OK, I thought. Now we’re getting somewhere. But I hated the thought that Sister Rene with the cute little butt was gonna be the bad guy in this scenario.
Jerry fell back in his chair, put his elbow on the arm of the chair, his chin on his fist, and stared off into space, a space far away from his wife and me.
Carol Anne sat back down, arms across her chest. And I sat there staring at the two of ’em. This went on longer than it shoulda.
‘OK, enough!’ I said, standing up. ‘Somebody start talking and I mean now!’
I was loud enough and it had been silent enough that they both jumped. Jerry let out a deep breath, like he’d been holding it for some time. ‘All right,’ he said, looking at Carol Anne. ‘This is family business and I’d prefer you not let this out.’
‘If it has nothing to do with the murder of Sister Mary, then it doesn’t need to go anywhere. But if it does, I’m not making any promises.’
‘It’s got nothing to do with Mary—’ Jerry started.
‘And how do we know that?’ Carol Anne demanded.
‘Stop! Just tell me,’ I said.
Jerry leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped. ‘About three years ago, when we were still in Oregon, one of our friends at church came to Mary with a problem. Her seventeen-year-old daughter found she was going to have a baby and she wasn’t married. She wouldn’t tell her parents who the father was and this friend needed her daughter married off quickly. We knew the girl, and Mary and Carol Anne and I had a family meeting about it, and it was decided unanimously,’ he said, giving a pointed look at Carol Anne, ‘that we should bring the girl into our family. I’d marry her, but she didn’t have to be a
real
wife if the two of us – the girl and I – didn’t agree that’s what we wanted.’
‘I take it,’ I said, ‘this knocked-up girl was Rene?’
He grimaced at the use of the term, but went on. ‘Yes. I . . . well, it just wasn’t something I was thrilled about, so we became man and wife in name only.’
So now I was confused. The two-year-old holding on to Rene I understood, but what about the baby that was always in her arms? ‘So whose baby . . .?’
‘That’s what we’d like to know!’ Carol Anne said with, again, a little heat.
Jerry shot her a look then back to me. ‘Sister Rene has decided not to tell us that, which is her right. But . . .’ He looked at Carol Anne with a sheepish look, then down at the floor. ‘She told Mary.’
‘What?’ Carol Anne all but shouted. It was loud enough to wake up baby Mark. She went to the playpen and stuck a pacifier in his mouth and came back. He quieted down.
Carol Anne stood in front of Jerry with her hands on her hips. ‘Who was it?’ she demanded. ‘Not Dennis!’
Jerry shook his head. ‘Mary wouldn’t tell me,’ he said.
‘Bull!’ Carol Anne said. ‘She told you everything!’
‘No, Carol Anne, she didn’t!’ Jerry said with his own heat. He stood up to face her. ‘Mary wasn’t perfect! OK? You keep thinking that, and thinking you can’t take her place and that’s not true! Mary was wonderful, but she was a flesh and blood woman, not something handed down by God! And no, she didn’t tell me who fathered Rene’s new baby! Hell, it could be Dennis! I don’t know who it is, but it could well be the person who killed Mary!’
Carol Anne turned to me. ‘It wasn’t Dennis! I don’t know why he was over at Rene’s last night, but he was probably borrowing something for Mama.’ She thought about that for a moment and smiled. ‘That’s exactly what it was! He was borrowing something for Mama! He saw your car over here and he didn’t want to disturb us, so he went to Rene’s to borrow whatever it was Mama needed!’