Deadly Secrets (3 page)

“Whereabouts were you when this happened?”

“About half way down that aisle.” Kelly pointed toward the last row of tables. “At first I couldn’t see anything but when I trained my flashlight on the refreshment stand, I spotted what looked like a bundle of rags dropped in the aisle. I clicked the beam on high and that’s when I recognized Anna’s poncho.”

“Did you hear anything?”

 “Nope, not a sound, except Jake here. He was riled something fierce.”

“Okay, then what?”

“Well, like I said, I recognized that old, black poncho of Anna’s. She wore it all the time. So I took off down the aisle like a bat out of hell. The poncho was wrapped around her face and I pulled it off. That was tough.” Kelly squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Then he continued. “There was a red scarf sunk so deep in her neck, I thought she’d been slashed.”

“Did you touch the scarf?”

“Just the edge. I pulled her skin back a bit, to make sure but there wasn’t a chance.” Kelly shook his head and shuddered. “After that, I headed for the phone, got the county dispatcher and gave her the details, then Jake and I went to the cabin to wait for your deputy.”

“You got any ideas who did this?”

Kelly shook his head. “Just the obvious one that comes to mind from seeing her cash box broken open and coins scattered around the ground.” Kelly leaned across the table and fixed his eyes on Adams’ face. “It don’t make a lot of sense, y’know? If all he wanted was money, why kill her? For that matter, what was she doing prowling around down here at that time of night?”

“He?” Adams questioned.

“He…her…whatever. I guess strangling’s kind of fixed in my mind as something a man would do.”

“Do you know of anybody who might’ve had it in for Ms. Davis?”

“Hell, no. Anna was kind of an eccentric. She drank like a fish, ate like a bird and God only knows how old she was. I liked her a lot but she was a bit of a tartar—especially when she’d been hitting the bottle. Still, I can’t see any of the Indian Creek folks having it in for her. They pretty much took Anna in their stride.”

“We’ll be wanting a list of her friends and associates from you. Deputy Johnson will attend to that. In the meantime, it’d help if you could think of someone who might know about anything out of the ordinary happening around here.”

“Well, these folks are pretty closed-mouthed with strangers but you might talk to Frank Perkins — you’ll find him either up at the Hideaway or down at the bait house. If anybody so much as farts on the creek, Frank knows all the details.”

Adams
looked up from his notebook and nodded. “We’ll talk to him. What about strangers? Was there anybody who paid particular attention to Anna or asked a lot of questions about her?”

“Anna had a bit of a ruckus with one of the shoppers over at her stall this afternoon.”

Adams
lifted his head and fixed his eyes on Kelly. “Suppose you tell me about it.”

“There was a young woman showed up here about four o’clock. She was a real looker.” Kelly gave Adams a teasing grin but the officer kept his eyes on his notepad. Kelly shrugged and continued. “For some reason, this woman rushed into Anna’s shop and flung herself right on top of Anna’s chair. I don’t know whether it was deliberate or not. All I know is when I got there, both Anna and the woman were tangled up on the floor and the woman was out cold.”

“Did you recognize her?”

“Nope. She wasn’t from around here—not the flea market type. I figured she might’ve been an antique collector. Anna had a lot of collectibles in her stall.”

“Can you give me a description?”

Kelly nodded. “She was around twenty-five, about five-six, around a hundred and ten pounds I’d say with plenty of curves in all the right places. Her hair was something long and silky and so blonde it was almost white. She wore it straight down her back, held in place with one of those silk scarves.”

Adams
scribbled in his book. Finished, he looked up and nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I spotted her soon after she came through the front entrance. She was a knockout—that’s what drew my eye—but then I noticed the way she acted. It was kind of funny.”

“What do you mean by funny? Did you get the impression she might be intoxicated?”

“No, nothing like that. It was more like she was trying to hide from somebody. She kept looking back over her shoulder and when she realized I had my eye on her, she scooted into the crowd like a flushed quail. Her whole manner was suspicious. That’s why I followed her down to Anna’s.”

“Did you happen to notice if anybody was paying any special attention to this woman? Is it possible she was being followed?”

“Nope. Nobody paid her any more attention than what she’d normally get, given her looks and figure.”

Adams
jotted a few more lines in the book then twirled his pen again.

Kelly grinned.

“The woman?” Adams nudged.

“I was keeping my eye on her but I wasn’t making it obvious. When she got next to the refreshment stand, she stopped for a bit and stood there looking kind of nervous. She’d pulled the scarf out of her hair and was kneading it with her fingers.”

“What color was that scarf?”

Kelly nodded. “I know where you’re going with that,” he said. “It was red and yes, it could’ve been the one that’s wrapped around Anna’s neck. I’d have a hard time swearing to it though. I didn’t give it more than a casual glance at the time.”

Kelly paused and Adams tapped his pen on the table. “What happened next?”

“Not much. I got there right after she and Anna went down. The fall knocked her out and after I got Anna back in her chair, I turned my attention to the young woman. She’d gotten to her feet by then.”

“Did you get her name?”

Kelly shook his head. “She took off before I had a chance.”

“You let her go without asking any questions?”

“I wasn’t thinking about questions at that point. I needed to check Anna out and make sure she was okay. Besides, she hadn’t done anything except fall into a chair.”

“What did Anna have to say?”

“Not a damn thing. I picked her up, brushed off her dress and asked her what happened. She wouldn’t say a word, just looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, set her teeth on her lip and tuned me out.”

“Did you get the impression Ms. Davis knew the young woman?”

“I don’t know. There was something going on between them but as to whether it was recognition or just plain shock, I couldn’t say.” Kelly stood up and shook down his pant legs. “That’s all I can tell you. I’d never seen the woman before and I don’t expect you’ll find anybody around here who had. Now, if you’re through with me I’d like to get back to my cabin. I need to call the owner and let him know what’s been going on.”

Adams
closed his notebook. “Okay, go ahead but keep yourself available.”

Kelly nodded, signaled Jake and they headed up the hill.

Kelly’s first priority was a pot of coffee. That done, he picked up the phone and dialed Shorty.

“I’ve got one hell of a mess out here,” he said when Shorty’s voice came on the line.

“Wad’ya mean, mess?”

“Someone’s murdered Anna.”

“Murdered. What’re you talking about? I thought you were supposed to be down at the barn making rounds?”

“Where the hell do you think I’ve been? I found Anna’s body in there about two hours ago. Some son of a bitch had taken a scarf and damn near squeezed her head off.”

Kelly’s hands tightened on the phone. The events of the night had taken their toll. He moved the receiver away from his mouth took a deep breath, flexed his shoulders then put the phone back to his ear. “Sorry, Shorty. I guess I’m stretched too tight.”

The anger in Shorty’s voice had been replaced with concern. “Not a problem, Kelly. Sounds like you’ve had one hell of a night. Do you want me to come over and give you a hand?”

“No. There’s nothing you can do now. The place is crawling with cops. I’ve already told them everything I know. I’ll just grab a coffee and wait until they’ve finished up down below.”

“You’ll make sure they lock up once they get done in there?”

“Don’t worry about that. They’ll seal the place up tight. I’ll make sure though.”

Hanging up the phone, Kelly eased out of his chair and stretched. His hands grazed the ceiling and he flexed his fingers against the tile.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll get much sleep tonight,” he muttered to Jake. “Guess we might as well make ourselves comfortable while those boys take care of business.”

Coffee mug in hand, Kelly pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and parked himself at the scarred, old oak table he kept in front of the window. Several cars had arrived while he was on the phone. Fingers wrapped around his mug, he leaned against the window and watched an old geezer unload a stretcher out of the back of the coroner’s wagon.

Jake curled up at Kelly’s feet. Ears perked, he rested his snout between his paws but he kept a close eye on the front door. A lot had happened tonight and the dog’s senses were on full alert.

Time dragged. Kelly moved across to the black leather couch and stretched out to wait for Adams to let him know when to lock up again. Kelly drifted into a restless sleep. Several hours later, Jake’s bark startled him awake.

“What’s up?” His feet hit the floor and he was off the couch in one smooth motion.

Knuckles rapped against the door and Jake started to growl.

“Easy, boy,” Kelly soothed the dog as he strode across the room and opened the door.

“Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch,” a loud gravely voice greeted Kelly’s stunned face. “I called Adams a damn liar when he told me who’d called this one in.”

Kelly stood and gaped at the large black man filling his doorway. “Gus!” Finding his tongue, Kelly reached out and threw his arms around the solid, burly form of his old friend and former partner.

Augustus Graham—known to only a few very good friends as Gus—returned the hug. “I knew you’d moved out of the city but we hadn’t heard from you in so long, I’d given you up for lost,” he said.

Kelly nodded toward the table. “Have a seat. I’ll grab you a coffee.”

Gus moved across the room and took a chair, while Kelly stepped into the kitchen. 

“Coffee’s been on for awhile, so it ought to be just right for you.” Kelly set a large mug on the table and pulled out the other chair. “Damn it’s good to see you.”

Gus took a swig and propped his elbows on the table. “Some of the guys were hurt when you dropped out of sight the way you did, but I understood.  Like as not I’ve have done the same if it had been Betty instead of Lynda.”

Kelly flinched at Lynda’s name but Gus kept talking. “I always figured you for a city boy, never expected to find you down here with the Creek rats. What’s it been? Four or five years?”

“Five. Sometimes I can’t believe it myself. I guess I needed to get clean away from everything once the trial was over.”

“That rough.”

 “It’s not that I was trying to duck you guys. I just couldn’t help it. Every time I saw one of you guys with your wives, I went nuts. There were just too many memories. I had to buy myself some time to deal with them.”

“I know.” Gus’ voice caught and he coughed, loudly clearing his throat. “I’ve missed you,” he said, fingers drumming the table.