Fixin' To Die (A Kenni Lowry Mystery Book 1) (14 page)

“Teeth marks?”

Wyatt stared at me, baffled.

“Doc Walton had two sets of bite marks on him.” The words made my stomach curl. Who on earth could have done this to him? “I’m thinking the killer bit Doc while Doc fought them off and the killer had some sort of partial that Doc knocked out of their mouth.”

Wyatt’s face contorted. “I think you’re going to solve these crimes. Where is Officer Vincent?”

“Yes, I am. I’m not sure where he is this morning.” I looked at my watch. It was still pretty early and I hadn’t told him a specific time to get to the office. “I imagine he had some calls to make to the Reserves about him taking the part-time deputy position.”

“It’s good to have him onboard. He seems very thorough. I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to take the position.” The corners of his eyes sagged. “I feel like you’re investigating like your Poppa and it sure would’ve been fun solving some crimes with you.”

“You are.” I patted the evidence bag. “You’re helping me out more than you know.”

I really wasn’t sure why he hadn’t sent off the evidence we had collected the day of the murder yet. It was of the upmost importance. All law enforcement knew that the first forty-eight hours in a murder case was the most important. The longer time went on, the harder it was to solve a crime. I wasn’t about to let my first murder case become a cold case. But I decided to let Wyatt off the hook. He was only looking out for me. After all, he’d been around my whole life. 

“Anything new, gang?” Betty sashayed in, the phone tucked under her armpit and her coffee in her hands.

I grabbed the form I needed to get a warrant. If I gave it to Betty now, she’d be able to get it down to the courthouse and in front of the judge by day’s end.

“Betty, I’m filling out this warrant request to get my hands on Camille Shively’s files.” I signed the form and handed it to her. “Can you get this over to the judge ASAP while Wyatt sends off the evidence? I need to go interview a couple of more people.”

“I sure will.” She put the phone on the charger and took the paper. “Do you think she had anything to do with it?”

“I don’t know. But they were in public discussing something in a very heated manner and she’s not saying much to me right now.” I knew the warrant would speak volumes.

“I’ll keep my ear to the ground with the women in my sewing circle. They always have some good gossip about rumblings,” Betty noted and went on to fill out the paperwork.

Chapter Twenty-One

I left Duke at the jail. It wasn’t like he wanted to come with me anyway. His belly was full and he was happily sleeping on his big pillow Ruby Smith had gotten from one of the estate sales she had attended. Today I had a lot of stops to make and leaving him in the car wasn’t something he would want. Wyatt said he’d be at the office working and he’d let Duke out to potty and make sure he had plenty of water.

Duke liked Wyatt. Wyatt was known to take Duke on little trips with him. Everyone liked Duke. His name even made it on a write-in ballot against Mayor Ryland in the last election. Something the mayor wasn’t too happy about. I had no idea who had written Duke in, but I loved the idea.

“Where to now?” Poppa rubbed his hands together in the front seat.

“Well, I am going to go see Beverly Houston, Katy Lee, and Luke Jones,” I said without looking at my list. That should take up my day until I had to be at my weekly Euchre game.

Beverly Houston’s dental office was located on the north side of town past Lulu’s Boutique in a little strip mall. Jolee’s food truck was once again set up along the side of the boutique and the line was down the street.

I did a double take and gripped the wheel when I saw Finn in the front of the line. I turned down the street, pulled in front of the food truck, put my hazards on, and got out.

“Are you cutting line?” Finn nudged me. He had on a solid t-shirt, jeans, the same big belt buckle, and now a pair of cowboy boots.

“One day in Cottonwood and we turned this Yank into a country boy.” Jolee winked from behind the window. “The usual?”

“Nah.” I waved her off. “I’m not staying. Give him the usual.”

He shook his head. “I’m going to have country ham biscuit with a dollop of gravy and eggs sunny-side up. A little oozy, but a whole lot of goodness.” He grinned. I momentarily lost all sense of what I was doing there. “I think those were your exact words.”

Jolee cocked her head to the side. “And to think I wasn’t gonna raise my hand last night to vote you in as deputy. Shame on me.” She winked and went back to making his order.

“No food?” he asked. We stepped to the side so the others could order.

“I already had enough coffee for everyone in this line,” I joked. “I’m going to go to the dentist’s office to show Beverly Houston those teeth marks and see what I can find out. I already told Katy Lee Hart I’d be by to talk to her. She’s the insurance agent in Cottonwood. She’d know if Viola would’ve had insurance on the store.”

“Sounds good. What if I grab my breakfast and meet you at Hart’s?” he asked.

“You know, I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s a good idea.” I snapped my fingers. “Two heads are better than one.”

“Maybe.” He laughed. His smile reached his eyes and my heart thumped a little too hard.

“I’ll see you in a little bit.” I left before I couldn’t hide the awkward attraction I was feeling for him.

I’d head on over to Beverly Houston’s office first. That would give him plenty of time to eat and give me enough time to feel out Beverly.

Within a couple of minutes, I was sitting in Beverly’s parking lot glancing in the rearview mirror. I liked to get a good view of my surroundings. The strip mall had the dentist’s office, Tiny Tina’s, The Pawn, Cottonwood Federal Savings, Hart’s insurance office, and a Subway. A few of the rockers that lined the front of the strip mall shops were occupied by customers. They were probably waiting for their turn at Dr. Houston’s.

Katy Lee didn’t look like she was at the insurance office yet, which meant she was probably still sitting with Tibbie at Cowboy’s Catfish.

I got out and headed into Dr. Houston’s office.

The smell of fluoride and the buzzing sound of some sort of drill made the hairs on my arms stand to attention. The only thing that really scared me was the dentist. Not even the thought of Poppa’s ghost scared me as much as standing where I was at this moment.

“Hi.” I smiled at the receptionist. “I’m here on official business to see Beverly Houston.”

The receptionist’s eyes popped when she looked up and noticed my sheriff’s uniform. She gave a quick nod and scurried out of the office. The sound of the drill stopped and a few whispers floated through the hall, followed by the sound of footsteps.

Beverly Houston appeared with the receptionist in the office. Her curly brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and a blue mask dangled from a string off her left ear. She wore blue scrubs and blue latex gloves.

“Sheriff.” She tossed the gloves in the trash and stuck her hand out. We did the official business shake. “You can come back here.” She nodded for me to follow her back to her office.

“Ding, ding.” Poppa stood by the door of her office pretending to shake invisible bells. “My presence is known.”

I glared at him. He was always good at making smart-aleck remarks and making me giggle. Then again, I was never at the butt of his jokes until now.

“She sure is smart.” Poppa looked at all the framed diplomas hanging on the walls. I did my best to ignore him and keep a poker face.

“It’s good to see you.” Beverly smiled. She was ten years older than me and I really didn’t know much about her. Other than seeing her every six months for a cleaning, I steered clear of her. She wasn’t the prettiest of women in Cottonwood, nor the ugliest. She was just average, with a little more girth around her stomach. “I understand you are here on official business.” She tucked a loose strand of hair back into the low ponytail at the nape of her neck.

Her hair was brown with natural curl and a little dry. She could stand to get a hot oil treatment from Tiny Tina. I wondered if I should give her my prescription from Camille. I had never seen Dr. Houston do anything to her hair other than the low ponytail. Her bangs hung to her brow in waves. She pushed them out of her face. She could have used a good consult from Katy Lee in the clothing department too.

“Yes.” I pulled out the camera from my bag. “I’m not sure how you can help me.” I flipped the camera on. “But I just knew I needed to see you when I got this lead in the Doctor Ronald Walton case.”

“Is that about his murder?” she asked, easing down into the chair behind her desk. “It’s awful. Just awful.” Sympathy hung on her words, her head dipped.

“Actually, murderer.” I took a step forward, the photo screen on the camera held out for her to see.

“I’m sorry, Doctor.” The receptionist stood at the door with Finn Vincent towering over her shoulder. “Officer Vincent said he’s with Sheriff Lowry.”

“Excuse me.” Finn moved around the receptionist and walked into the office. “I ate in my car on the way over, so I hope you don’t mind me joining.”

“Not at all.” I encouraged him to come on in. He was definitely a sight I could get used to looking at first thing in the morning. “Officer Vincent, this is Doctor Houston.” They greeted each other. I watched how he handled getting to know new people and how at ease he was.

“I was just about to show her the bite pictures.” I put the camera on the desk.

Beverly’s eyes grazed over Finn. She smiled. She ignored the camera and stood up, straightened her shoulders, took the dangling mask off her ear and threw her hand out in front of her. “Your teeth are amazing.”

“Thank you. My parents would be happy with your comment.” He smiled. She was right. His teeth were just the icing on his cake. I gulped.

“You have a thing for him.” Poppa stood next to Beverly with his mouth gaped open. “Kendrick Lowry! Do you?” Poppa asked, like I was going to answer him right then and there.

I swallowed hard.

“I heard about the meeting last night. Congratulations on your new post.” She dropped his hand and went back behind her desk.

“Thank you. I’m happy to be here to assist Sheriff Lowry.” He took a seat next to mine.

“I’d love to take a look in that mouth of yours.” Beverly’s head darted back and forth, trying to get a look into his mouth.

“If I’m still in town when I need my next cleaning, you can take all the time you need.” His words sounded more seductive than official. A brief shiver rippled through me and my brain seemed to freeze.

Beverly and I both stood there, in a daze.

“Kenni-bug.” Poppa clapped his hands. I jumped and focused on the task at hand.

“How can I help you?” Beverly sat down in her desk and folded her hands neatly on the top.

I flipped the camera back on and shoved it toward her. “This has to do with Doc Walton’s death. Max Bogus found two sets of bite marks on him. One has teeth marks all the way across and the other seems to be missing teeth.”

Beverly looked at the camera.

“I was wondering if you could tell if they came from the same mouth.” I pushed the button to forward the frame to the next picture. Even though I already knew it was one person, I was curious to see if she came to the same conclusion as I had or if she would recognize the dental work or patient. “I don’t know anything about teeth and I couldn’t tell you what these are called. But I’m thinking by the size of the bite, the distance between the teeth, you could tell me in your professional opinion if they’re from the same mouth.”

“Do you agree these aren’t the same bite marks?” Finn drew back and squinted like he was trying to get a different angle.

“I’m wondering if there was a dental plate, and after the first bite Doc Walton flailed or fought back, knocking the killer’s teeth out.” It was a long shot, but it was all I had to go on. And it seemed pretty reasonable.

She gestured her finger. “Go back.” She squinted before she held her hand out. “May I?” She wanted to hold the camera.

“Only these two photos.” I made sure she knew not to flip through anymore.

“Why don’t I hold it while you take a good look?” Finn took the camera from me, walked around Beverly’s desk and held it close to her face. “Here is the full bite set.” Her head bent down a little. “Here is the other one.”

I watched her intently. Her chest slowly moved up and down, her face paled, she swallowed hard, and she closed her eyes for a long second.

“This one is missing the front two teeth, which makes it look like two different people. Go back.” Her voice trembled. Closing her eyes must’ve helped her gather her wits about her because her voice sounded stronger. “Really, it’s one person.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“In the first one with all the teeth, the canine on the right side has a chip out of it.” She pointed to the tooth she was talking about. “Next one,” she ordered Finn. “This canine has the same chip out, which tells me the other bite was first because this person does wear a dental appliance.”

“So it is possible Doctor Walton hit the person, knocking out the appliance, but the person bit again?” Finn asked, painting a picture of how the killer could’ve possibly lost his teeth.

“In my professional opinion, that is very much possible.”

She smiled, pleased with her analysis.

“What type of dental appliance?” I asked.

“Probably a partial denture. Nothing too terribly exciting.” She shrugged. “You see these types of partials in older people.”

“Older people,” I repeated.

“Can you give us a list of patients who have partials?” Finn asked.

“I can’t do that.” Beverly pushed her chair back. Her face had gained a little bit of color back in her cheeks. “I’m sworn to client confidentiality. That whole HIPAA law thing. Plus, you don’t have a warrant, do you?”

“No,” I chimed in. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to bother the judge for that and you’d comply with us.”

Something told me Beverly knew someone with this same kind of partial and chip on their canine, but she had buttoned up on me.

“You do want to help us find the killer and get him or her off the streets of Cottonwood, right?” Finn smiled, his teeth gleaming.

“Of course I do.” She grabbed the mask off of her desk, avoiding eye contact. “But I have a life to live and if there is no warrant…The law is the law and I have bills to pay. I can’t help you any further.” She put the stretchy straps around each ear. “Excuse me.” She walked past us, putting the mask over her mouth. “You know the way out,” she said in a muffled voice.

With tucked tails, Finn and I walked out of the office, but not without the eyes of the receptionist and a couple of patients watching us.

“That didn’t go as planned.” Finn stopped outside, rocking back on his heels.

“Oh, I don’t know.” I turned toward him. The sky was blue. Hopefully the sun would stay out and help dry out the fairgrounds even more. “I think it helped narrow down Doc’s patient files. And with a warrant, we can cross check them.”

I looked around for Poppa, but his ghost wasn’t there.

Finn slid his aviators out of the front pocket of his shirt and slipped them on his face.

“I…” I hesitated and looked away. He looked so hot in those glasses, it was hard to concentrate on being a badass sheriff. It bugged me that I found him disturbingly attractive. So much so that I was getting angry with myself.

“I think we need to go see Katy Lee now.”

“I’m here to help.” He took a few steps forward, turning to face the strip mall. He looked to the left, and then to the right. “That’s the insurance company you said White’s Jewelry held their policy?” Finn asked, and took a step toward Katy Lee’s office.

“It is.” I followed behind him.

“Listen.” Finn ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. Oh, how I wished he didn’t do that. His charm confused me. “Are you going to get a warrant or not? I’m sure you can just push in that button,” he plucked the walkie-talkie from my shoulder, “and call in the warrant. You need it for that patient list you were talking about.” He pointed to Beverly’s office.