Lia Farrell - Mae December 02 - Two Dogs Lie Sleeping (6 page)

B
en showed up at Mae’s door at about ten that night, looking absolutely beat. He played with the puppy for a few minutes and then gave Mae a serious look.

“I talked to Katie on the way over here,” Ben said.

The name Katie was rarely followed by good news. She waited.

“I’m not going to be able to keep Matthew this weekend because of the case.” He carried the Tater to her crate and shut her inside
before sitting down heavily on a kitchen chair.

“Is she upset?” Mae inquired in what she hoped was a neutral voice.

He nodded. “Said she has plans, whatever that means.”

Mae had to laugh. “I think it means she has plans. Do you think she’d be comfortable with Matthew staying here? I’m
very
flexible this weekend. I have no boarders at all. Plus, I think my boyfriend is going to be busy, so Matthew could keep me company and play with the Tater.”

Ben gave her a grateful look. “You don’t have to do this, Mae. Katie and I can work it out.”

“I want to do it. We’ll have fun, and you can come over when you can get away and have some time with both of us. As long as she’s okay with it.”

He laughed. “I’m sure she will be, or she’ll at least act like she is while she’s here.”

“Here? Why would she be here?” Mae realized her voice sounded alarmed.

Ben looked at her with a little grin. “Don’t panic. She’ll have to pick him up from
nursery school and bring his clothes and things with him. I’m sure she’ll be pleasant.”

Mae wasn’t at all sure. The truth was
, Katie made her nervous and her housekeeping probably wasn’t up to the woman’s standards. It was tough to keep a perfect house with three, no four dogs inside. Ben’s son was a great kid, and it would be fun to spend some time with him. She told herself his mother being there for a few minutes was a small price to pay.

“Why don’t you call her and see what she thinks?”

Ben’s blue eyes darkened as he reached out and smoothed her hair. “I’ll call her later,” he said in a husky voice. “Give me a kiss.”

She gave him a short but thorough kiss. “Ben, did you find out the reason Tommy came back to Rosedale?”

“No, but Dory gave me a lot of background.”

“Did she tell you anything
that might help with the case?”

“She said I needed to bring Bethany Cooper in for questioning. Did she hear that from you?”

“Not exactly,” Mae looked away, “but I think Bethany knew that Tommy was in town when no one else did. At least that’s what I heard.”

Ben looked intently at her. “Did your
source
tell you why he was here? We’re checking out when Tom arrived at the airport and picked up his rental car, but he wasn’t in town long. Was it July who told you?”

Mae shook her head. “No. July would have been devastated if she knew Tommy was back in town
without telling her. When I talked to her today, I learned a little more about their relationship. She and Tommy only slept together once—right before he disappeared. They’d been a couple for more than two years. They kept seeing each other after they both went to college—he to Southeast Tennessee State, she to Ole Miss. I know she went and stayed with him whenever she could during freshman year and the first part of sophomore year, but they’d never actually made love. Then finally, while they were both home for vacation, she decided she was ready. Anyway, after that they both went back to college. She never saw him again.”

“Did July tell you anything else that might be relevant to the case?” The sheriff’s eyes were focused tightly on hers.

“No,” she said quietly. She wished she hadn’t given July her word not to tell Ben about what Tommy whispered just before he died. It bothered her to keep things from Ben, in particular things related to a case, but her loyalty to her sister was strong.

“So the poor guy dated July for two years before he got her into bed?
I can sympathize. God knows it took me a while to get you into bed. I wouldn’t be satisfied with one night.” Ben grinned.

“Well you’re certainly not getting me into bed while Matthew is here,” she said, trying to be strict.

“We’ll just see about that. I might be irresistible.”

“You are
impossible,
not irresistible.”

They talked a little longer, and she told him everything July had agreed she could share. It was getting very late when
Ben said he needed to go. He was reluctant, but Mae knew the drill. When he was working an important case, he rarely stayed over. She gave him a lingering good-bye kiss.

“Woman, have you no mercy?”
He nuzzled her neck, gave it a gentle bite, and headed out into the dark.

S
heriff Bradley arrived at the office so early the next morning that it was still dark. Using the white board in the conference room, he began working on a time line for the last two days of Tom Ferris’ life. Ben had informed the staff the previous day that all ongoing cases were suspended until they found out who murdered Tom Ferris. All staff meetings for the foreseeable future were canceled.

The car rental agent had picked up Ferris at the airport on August first, the day before he was shot. By calling all the nearby hotels, Ben found out that a man matching Ferris’ description stayed at a Microtel outside Rosedale that night
, paying in cash for the room. He glanced at his watch and noted that it was 8:00 a.m.

H
e buzzed Dory. “Dory, would you mind coming in here and writing things in this grid I made on the white board?” he asked.

“Sure thing,” she said. Dory was in a good mood. She came in smiling and
holding a sharpie.

“Okay, I divided the board into two columns—a column for August first and second. Tom Ferris arrived at the airport at three p.m. on August first, left the airport in a rented car at four-thirty and checked into the Microtel by six that evening.
His cellphone history tells us that he ordered a pizza at seven. After dinner he must have driven around town. There were close to forty extra miles on the car’s speedometer.”

Dory wrote while Ben concentrated on his notes for the timeline. Had Tom Ferris
driven to see someone late on the evening he arrived? Had he gone over to see July? He looked at the white board and said, “You can write ‘arrived at Booth Mansion in the late afternoon’ and his TOD at 5:57.”

Ben raised his eyes from his notes and looked at the board. He was dismayed by how sketchy it was.

“Thanks Dory, I’ll do the rest.”

Ben dialed Wayne’s cellphone.

“What’s up?” his detective asked.

“I’ve been working on the time-line. Want to meet at Donut Den or the office?”

“Donut Den,” Wayne said, sounding surprisingly alert. Knowing Wayne, Ben guessed that he had hardly slept since they got the case the previous day. He often did background work on the victim’s known associates late at night, prowling the streets and talking to the people he encountered.

They drove into the parking lot in the alley behind Donut Den at almost the same moment and walked in together. It was hot and humid again with a low cloud cover. After Ben paid for Dory’s blueberry donuts and an assortment for everyone else, he joined Wayne at their usual two-top by the window.

Ben summarized what he had found out about Tommy Ferris’ movements before he arrived at the mansion. “I stopped over at Mae’s last night after I got the lowdown from Dory,” he said.

Wayne shook his head and grinned. “Really? I’m amazed you still have a girlfriend, Ben. I was thinking since we were considering July Powell a suspect, Mae would drop you like a bad habit
.” His low-pitched laugh rumbled.

“No way. Dory told me that we should talk to Bethany Cooper. I got the feeling that Bethany knew Tom Ferris was in town before anyone else did. I’m wondering why.” Ben expected to surprise Wayne with this information, but he just nodded.

“We need to talk with her and her husband, Dan. And I think you should also talk to George Stackhouse, Miranda’s husband. Dory said Miranda really wanted that house and was crushed when it went to Ferris after their parents died. I had an idea that Miranda might have pushed her husband to get rid of Ferris, thinking she would get the house if he was out of the picture.”

“On it
.” Wayne was already picking up his car keys.

“Mae also gave me some helpful information. Tom Ferris had a high grade point average at Southeast Tennessee State, and at Christmas he told his parents and July that he intended to go to law school. Mae said his parents gave him a new car for Christmas that year—a red rag top. He return
ed to school on January third, and that was the last time July ever saw him.”

“Ah, the female network,” his detective said. “I’m puzzled by the fact that Ferris apparently fell off the face of the earth when he returned to college fifteen years ago. I suspect his disappearance way back then has something to do with his murder.”

Ben looked out the window at the hot morning sky. The temperature was in the low nineties already. Heat waves rose off the pavement.

“Just what I was thinking,” Ben said. “The kid heads back to school in his new car, his beautiful girlfriend on his mind
, and simply vanishes. Then on January fifth, Tommy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlins, were killed in a car crash. The opposing driver fell asleep, crossed the median, and ran right into them. Something happened on Tom’s way back to college, or in the two days between January third and January fifth that made him give up his whole life here.” Ben frowned and scratched his head. “Dory found out he didn’t even attend his parents’ funerals.”

“The motive for this killing goes back a long time,” Wayne said. “The Ferris murder might be a new case on top of a cold case.”

“Right, it’s like two sleeping dogs.” Ben grabbed the donuts and headed out the door.

On the way to the office, he called Dory. When she answered, he asked if she could look up the obituary for Mr. and Mrs. Rawlins.

“I want to know if
an obit was placed in the student newspaper at Southeast Tennessee State. Can you check?”

“You bet,” Dory said.

When Ben walked into the office, he noticed Dory was wearing a purplish top with a gray skirt and some shiny silver and purple earrings. He made a mental note to ask her where she got them. It would be nice to get something similar for Mae, to thank her for keeping Matthew for the weekend.

“Purple earrings,” he said, “very nice.”

“Aubergine,” she corrected him.

Ben sighed.

Dory mentioned she had been on Facebook and Twitter. She’d found a high school reunion search trying to locate Tom Ferris. She sent out an email to the organizer and got a reply saying that they hadn’t gotten a response from Ferris, but she had received two e-requests for his contact information. One was from Miranda Stackhouse and one was from Bethany Cooper. Both women wanted to know if anyone had heard from Ferris. The emails were dated July 27th and 29th respectively.

“Here,” Ben said
, handing Dory the donut box.

“I’m finally getting you trained,” she said.

“Where are the spikes this morning?” Wayne asked, referring to her usual stiletto heels. He had walked into the office right behind Ben.

“Under my desk,” she said. “They’re
fine
lookin’ but way too tight.” She was looking into the donut box. “Sheriff Bradley, I don’t see my blueberry donuts.”

“Right here,” he said with a cheerful smile, producing a small white paper sack from behind his back. “Just wanted to ruffle your feathers.”

“Would the two of you like to know what else I found?” she asked, looking at them indulgently.

“Sure would,” Ben said. “Come down to my office. I don’t want to be talking about this if anyone besides the staff walks in.” Taking the donut box, they went to his office.

“Please sit down.” Dory took the chair. Wayne remained standing.

“I checked the gun registry
, and neither July Powell nor Miranda Stackhouse owns a gun. But Fred Powell does—an assault rifle.”

“Good Lord, an assault rifle
.” Wayne started to pace. “Why not just buy an AK47 or a Kalashnikov? Well, it’s not important for this case, but what people who live in nice suburbs need with that kind of firepower is beyond me.”

“Well, the rifle is only used at a special shooting range
; apparently, he belongs to a club.”

“Good work, Dory
.” Ben tapped his pencil rapidly on his desktop.

“That’s not all. I also located the cabbie
who picked up Fred Powell from the airport. He dropped him off about four blocks from the Booth Showhouse at 4:45; that’s six miles from his home and ten miles from his office. The driver remembered, because Powell had him drive past the house first and then circle around to drop him at the corner nearby. He also tipped him very well.”

“So, if Fred stopped at the Booth Showhouse, maybe to see his wife, it could have been Fred that Mrs. Anderson saw coming out the French doors,” Ben said, thoughtfully. “July didn’t say anything about seeing him there, though.”

“We need to speak with him,” Wayne said. “It doesn’t sound like he has an alibi for the time of the shooting.” Turning to Dory he added, “Have I mentioned lately how much I appreciate you? And that you’re looking very lovely this morning? Good toenail polish.” Wayne wrapped an arm around Dory’s shoulders.

Ben stood up. It was time to end their little love-fest
.
“Dory, did you say that you were able to get Bethany Cooper to come in this morning?”

“Yes, she’ll be here at ten-thirty.”

“Can you check the gun registry for her and for Dan Cooper? And put some shoes on. Damn it, woman, I’d like this place to at least
look
professional.”

“Yes, sir
.” Dory rolled her eyes and padded out.