Murder at the Art & Craft Fair
Read Murder at the Art & Craft Fair Online
Authors: Steve Demaree
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Humor & Satire, #Humorous, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Cozy, #Crafts & Hobbies, #Culinary, #General Humor
Murder at the
Art & Craft Fair
Steve
Demaree
Only
one thing can convince Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock they need to attend the
local art and craft fair. A woman. Actually two women. In the sixth book in the
series, Murder at the Art & Craft Fair, the two homicide detectives realize
that they would have been attending the event eventually, because before the
weekend is over, one person is murdered. It is up to the two detectives to look
at all the possible suspects, disgruntled customers and jealous vendors, to see
who had both motive and opportunity to end the victim’s life, and then to make
sure they have not overlooked anything or anyone.
Copyright 2012
Steve Demaree
All Rights Reserved
This book is dedicated to my wife, Nell, to
all of you who have fallen in love with Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock over the
years, and those of you who attend town festivals, and art and craft fairs
across the state of Kentucky.
And a special thanks to Kentucky authors
Russell and Virginia Vassallo who found the mistakes I could not find on my
own. Check out their books at bookstores, libraries, and art, craft, and book
fairs across the state.
Other Books by Steve
Demaree Include
Lt.
Dekker-Sgt. Murdock Mystery Series
The Hilltop Murder
Mystery
The Precipice Point
Murder Mystery
Murder In The Library
The Parkway Arms
Murder Mystery
Murder at the High
School Reunion
Murder at the Art
& Craft Fair
Stand Alone
Mysteries
Photo Finish
A Gated Community
Murder in the Dark
Aylesford
Place
Series
Aylesford Place
: The First Year
Aylesford Place
: The Second Year
Aylesford Place
: The Third Year
Nonfiction
Lexington
& Me
Reflecting Upon God’s
Word
Table of Contents
Lt.
Cy Dekker - The lead detective of the Hilldale Police Department
Sgt.
Lou Murdock - Lt. Dekker’s partner
Lt.
George Michaelson – Lt. Dekker’s good friend on the police department, who is
constantly trying to get the best of him
Frank
Harris – Hilldale Police Department’s medical examiner
Heather
Ambrose – A young, attractive police officer
Dan
Davis – Another Hilldale police officer, and the love interest of Heather
Ambrose.
Jennifer
Sharp – Cy Dekker’s love interest
Thelma
Lou Spencer – Lou Murdock’s love interest
Heloise
Humphert - Lt. Dekker’s irritating next-door neighbor
Twinkle
Toes - Heloise Humphert’s dog
Bill
O’Connell – Cy and Lou’s friend who sends Cy a note telling him that he, Bill,
will be a vendor at the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair
Tom
Kincaid – A vendor at the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair who makes 3-D wooden
puzzles
Joan
Arrington – The vendor on one side of Kincaid
Delbert
Cross – The vendor on the other side of Kincaid
Lois
Weddington – The vendor who told Kincaid about the Hilldale Art & Craft
Fair many years ago
Johnny
Delmont – A vendor who hasn’t gotten along with Kincaid in years
Earl
Clements – A man who bought something from Kincaid
Wayne
Edmonds – Kincaid’s last customer of the day
Vernon
Pitts – A man who was upset because Kincaid
reprimanded his son for rambunctious behavior
Maureen
Eidorn – The coordinator of the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair
Cara
Parsons – Maureen Eidorn’s assistant
George
& Myra Ingram – The couple who worked security each night after the
Hilldale Art & Craft Fair was over
It’s been a long time since I was a boy, but I can
still remember when I was one. I wasn’t your typical boy. Playing baseball,
passing a football in the backyard, or shooting hoops in the driveway was too
much exercise. Instead, I entertained myself by climbing up into our backyard
hammock and resting under the shade of those two trees that held the ropes that
secured our hammock. There I could sleep, daydream, or just lie there while a gentle
breeze blew by, and I didn’t have to exert myself until it was time to climb
out of the hammock and go in the house to eat.
While I wasn’t a typical boy, I knew enough of them to
know what most boys thought. I knew that most boys didn’t like girls, and vice
versa. I could understand why we weren’t to like the ugly girls, but I thought
the cute ones were all right. But time has a habit of passing, and eventually
most of the boys came around to my way of seeing things, and somewhere along
the line, boys noticed that girls were different, in a good way. Like one
little boy said to his friend as a girl walked by, "I don’t like girls,
but when I do, she’ll be one of the first ones I like.”
Like I said, I liked girls when I was young. It was
just that they didn’t like me. Well, part of that reason might have been that I
was always afraid to let any girl know I liked her. I was sure that girls
noticed me. Lou, too. We stood out. Back in those days before fast food became
a staple in every family’s diet most of the boys were anemic. Well, at least
they didn’t have the base Lou and I had. Lou and I had ballast, too. Mean
people called it fat, but only because they were jealous. Still, girls didn’t
throw themselves at the two of us. They were more interested in those boys who
played baseball and football. We weren’t about to play either of those. What if
I broke my arm? My eating arm? Besides, I never developed an interest in
sports.
But back to girls. Eventually I became a cop, and I
developed a little self confidence after I heard that girls like guys in
uniforms. I liked one enough that I was willing to take a chance. Actually, my
Eunice wasn’t the first girl I dated. Just the first one I fell in love with.
You know what I mean, provided you’ve ever fallen in love. It’s like you can’t
do anything right, yet you’re still happy. The problem with Eunice is that we
didn’t have enough time together. Cancer took her away from me after only a few
years of marriage.
For years I thought of no woman but my Eunice. Then I
got a computer, and Jennifer Garner looked good to me. Actually, Jennifer
Garner wasn’t the first woman who looked good to me. We have an officer with
the Hilldale Police Department named Heather Ambrose, whom I could take a
liking to if I wasn’t old enough to be her dad. Instead, I did my best to hook
her up with another officer, one closer to her age, Dan Davis, and that has
turned out well for them. So, I had to be satisfied with a hug and an
occasional kiss on the cheek from Heather, which means I returned to my
computer to check out girls.
The feelings I had for Jennifer Garner lasted only a
couple of days, until someone told me about Jennifer Aniston. She was some
babe. Still is. I could dream about her and still be faithful to my Eunice.
Well, sort of. But like they say, things come in threes, and that seemed to be
true of Jennifers, only the third one was in 3-D, in the form of a blind date,
set up by Lou’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou. I felt Eunice telling me that it was
okay for me to move on, to find someone and not be miserable, and on that one
weekend when I was with my third Jennifer, Jennifer Sharp, I was far from
miserable. We even kissed. More than once. I missed her so much that when she
called me long distance after she returned home, that I went to see her. I
found a motel close to her place, but I was only there to sleep, and to dream
of Jennifer. But three days later, I was on my way home, smiling all the way.
It was on my way home that day that I realized how
much my life had stayed the same for years, and then how much it had changed
just in the last year or two.
For years, my life consisted of being the head of
homicide for the Hilldale Police Department, Lt. Cy Dekker, assisted by the
only other homicide detective, my friend from childhood, Sgt. Lou Murdock. Each
time someone got murdered Lou and I went to work until we figured out who the
murderer was, or murderers were, and arrested them. While Lou and I were the
only members of homicide, Hilldale was not to be confused with New York, so we
had our downtime, when everyone got along, at least well enough that they
weren’t murdering their neighbors, or even their enemies. Those were the times
when Lou and I were delegated to other forms of police duties, which were never
as exciting as solving murders.
Because no other police work gave us quite the feeling
that solving murders did, there came a time, after thirty years on the force
when Lou and I passed the big 5-0 (the age, not the TV show that takes place in
Hawaii). That was when we made the first change in our lives in many years. We,
along with the blessing of the hierarchy of the police department, agreed to
retire, only to become unretired anytime someone in Hilldale was murdered.
We soon realized that we had extra time on our hands,
so we needed something to do that didn’t require sweating. Lou came up with the
idea of going to Hilldale’s only mystery bookstore, Scene of the Crime, where
we bought enough books to solve a few murders from the comfort of our homes.
Before that, our only hobbies were watching classic comedies on TV (me) and
working jigsaw and crossword puzzles and reading classic novels (Lou). We
started out reading only whodunits, where people like Lou and me solved
murders, but eventually ventured out into other types of mysteries, which
included books about the FBI and CIA, and other letters of the alphabet. Early
on we developed favorites written by the likes of Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley
Gardner, Mary Higgins Clark, Carolyn Hart, and Martha Grimes, but in the last
few months we’ve added authors Lee Child, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, and
Nelson DeMille to our favorites list.
When we worked full-time, we wrapped our detecting
days around eating two or three fattening meals at the Blue Moon Diner and were
spoiled by waitresses Rosie and Thelma. But a couple of things happened along
the way. The Blue Moon closed, and Lou’s brain was taken over by aliens. At
least that’s the only way I could see why Lou began an exercise program. Wii
Fit. It sounded like Wo Fat’s female cousin. Instead it was some way of getting
your muscles out of whack and Lou started melting away and began to resemble
some of those boys we grew up with. No longer did Lou top the scales at his
customary 292 pounds. I, on the other hand, had not been affected, and still
maintained my finely chiseled body at 303 pounds.
I had lost Lou, my compatriot when it came to fine
dining. If it tasted good, Lou didn’t eat it anymore. I prayed for Lou, but I
soon found out that God was upset with me, or He was on the aliens’ side,
because Lou didn’t stop exercising, and he continued to stay away from
good-tasting food. It got worse. Not only did the aliens take over Lou’s brain,
but the brain of Dr. Littleton, the doctor who performs all the physicals for
the Hilldale Police Department. Like that dreaded time of the year when we have
to pay taxes, there came a time when I had to have another physical, and I
couldn’t talk the doctor into passing me, again. He read me the riot act, and
told me to lose some of my girth, or lose some detecting. It was then that
those aliens took over my brain too, and not only did I start exercising and
change what I was eating, but I liked the changes.
It seemed like everything had changed in my life
except my next-door neighbor, Heloise Humphert, and even she hasn’t been
bugging me since that day she broke into my house and started harassing me and
I had her arrested. Oh, she still looks at me when she sees me, but she stares
daggers at me, instead of looking at me with stars in her eyes.
Well, there is one other thing that hasn’t changed.
Lightning, my canary yellow VW bug, is still my mode of transportation, making
me the only owner of such a vehicle who isn’t young, female, and curvaceous. If
I’d never met Jennifer, maybe I would have gone to the reunion of those who
owned yellow bugs. Maybe one of them, probably someone named Jennifer, would
have latched on to me because of my good taste in cars. But then I’m not
complaining. The way I see it, a Jennifer in the hand is better than two
Jennifers at a yellow bug convention. Particularly, when my Jennifer looks as
good as she does.
