Murder by Serpents (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (28 page)

Wade pulled the evidence bag from his carryall and handed it over.

Tony watched Sally.

Sally watched the knife as it changed hands. Her expression could be described as haunted, but why? Was the sight of her husband’s knife the sign that her beloved husband would not return? Would fingerprints on the knife prove that she had wielded this knife and killed him? If so, why after all these years?

“That’s Possum’s.”

“It’s not a hunting knife.” Wade lowered the bag again.

“No.” Sally turned and pointed to a small shed that bore two heavy padlocks on the door. “He keeps his hunting stuff in there.”

“Do you have the key?”

“No. It’s all his stuff.” Sally looked surprised that they would ask.

“What did Possum use this knife for?”Tony thought he could guess. When she tried to cover the fine scars with her hands, he knew.

“I know you think he was bad, Sheriff.” Her voice barely made sound. “It was my fault that I provoked him. He didn’t want to hurt me.”

Tony shook his head. How could he convince her that what Possum had done was wrong? He hoped she hadn’t turned on him with his own knife or, if she had, she hadn’t left any evidence. “He was a mean bully, Sally.”

“No.” She shook her head. “You’re married, right?”

Tony nodded, wondering why she asked.

“You should understand or don’t your wife provoke you?”

Tony suppressed a snort. Theo provoked him every day of the year, usually without trying, but he’d never lay a hand on her. He guessed he provoked her as well, maybe even a lot. It was part of marriage. He doubted that Sally would understand. “I would never hit her, or slice her arm with a razor sharp knife. She only has a black eye if she has an accident. A real accident.”

Sally’s eyes went wide but her expression remained blank.

The world that he described must sound like a lunar landscape to Sally. He decided to change directions. “Was anyone angry with Possum? Did he have any enemies?”

“Well, Possum kept mostly to himself.” She held up a hand to stop him from speaking. “There was a man. I don’t rightly know his name but Possum did squabble a while back with that snake guy. You know who I mean?”

Tony shook his head. Did she mean Stan or Hub or someone else? “Did you see them argue?”

Sally nodded. “He had him a pickup the same color yellow as daffodils.”

Stan, he thought. Who else would match that description? “What did they argue about?”

“Dunno.” She started to laugh. “It was awful funny, seeing that fat little man jumping up and down, screaming at Possum. We was stopped down the road a piece, you know, where old man Ferguson sells boiled peanuts. His face turned as red as anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Did Possum say anything to you about it?” said Tony. “You know, later on.”

Sally just shook her head slowly, as if that little movement sapped the last of her energy.

It looked to Tony as if she might faint. “Would you like for us to take you somewhere? To stay with a relative? A friend’s house?”

“I think I’d best stay here. Possum don’t like me to go nowhere without him.” Speaking in a soft monotone, she swayed, almost falling from her perch. “Me ’n’ my sister Pinkie ain’t talked in years.”

Her blank expression chilled Tony to the core. She had no friends and she probably hadn’t seen a relative since her wedding. Possum had dominated her life so totally, she seemed not to understand that he wasn’t coming home. Tony didn’t feel he could leave her alone up here.

“I know just the place for you to stay tonight.”

Satisfied that he made the right choice,Tony left Sally in Ruby's office. He thought that Ruby took one look at the pitiful woman and recognized her former self. Within minutes, she had Sally wrapped in a clean apron, sipping a glass of milk. A nod of Ruby's head sent them into the hallway.

“If she needs a lawyer, Sheriff, I'll pay for one.” Ruby's voice sounded calm, but her hands trembled. “Are you going to arrest her?”

“I don't know that she's done anything wrong, Ruby. We'll just have to wait and see what evidence turns up.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You seemed the most likely person to get her through tonight. I hope it's not an imposition.”

“No,” said Ruby. “It's time for me to give someone else the same help I received. Sally will have to make the changes, and she will have to decide for herself the kind of life she wants. I can only offer support.”

Ruby's words replayed in his head as Tony stood in the deep purple doorway of the Klip ’n’ Kurl Beauty Salon. Prudence, the complete opposite personality from Sally, stood behind her client, apparently gluing pieces of aluminum foil in the woman's hair. She wore a denim jumper that didn't quite disguise the bulge of her latest pregnancy.

As he glanced around the room reading labels, Tony discovered myriad brands of tubes and jars and bottles of stuff that could be rubbed on, sprayed onto or washed in or out of hair. He wondered what they did. Since he had begun serious hair loss while still in high school, he hadn't spent much time in such an establishment.

The haircuts he remembered receiving were administered in the barbershop. The barber wielded a pair of electric clippers and never asked how his customer wanted to look. As Tony recalled, he had either been sheared like a sheep with all of his hair cut the same length or clipped like a hedge with the top left a bit longer.

He sniffed the air. The mostly floral scents of the shampoos and lotions brought a smile to his face. After the aroma of the decomposing Possum, the beauty parlor smelled a little like heaven. He thought Sally would be as lost in here as well.

Prudence paused when she saw him stroll in. “Sheriff?” She held a square of foil and a comb. She paled.

He smiled reassuringly. “Could I talk to you for just a minute, Prudence?” Tony backed outside and waited on what had been the front porch of the old house. The parlor had been converted into the salon. The rest of the house was her home. The hot pink walls hurt his eyes and he turned to look into the street.

Prudence trotted out right behind him, all but running into his back. “Has something happened to Darren?”

“No. He's fine.” Tony took time to reassure her. Any time he arrived in an official capacity to the family, or, in this case, the fiancée of one of his officers, he made sure their concern was eliminated as thoroughly and quickly as possible. “I saw him just a few minutes ago.” He didn't fill in the detail of seeing his deputy standing over the decomposing body of Possum Calhoun. “I actually need to talk to Karissa.”

Concern, mixed with a touch of anger, suffused the woman's lovely features. “What's she done?” Even as she glared at Tony, she led the way to a pair of lavender metal lawn chairs. With a grateful sigh, she sat down and buried her hands in her hair, elbows lifted, and began massaging her scalp. “Some days she's as wonderful as they come, and then the next day she's a real little pill. The joys of motherhood are seriously strained by puberty.”

Tony nodded. “As far as I know, she hasn't done anything bad, but it is my understanding that she might have been out fairly late Wednesday night. I just wanted to ask her a couple of questions about something she might have seen,” he said. “That is, if you don't mind. You're welcome to stay while I talk to her.”

“That's fine.” Prudence looked relieved. “She's already grounded for that little escapade and now I have her ironing for penance. She'd probably welcome a break and some fresh air right now.” A definite sparkle rose in her bright green eyes. “I can't very well put bars on her bedroom window, you know, just in case there is a fire. But, I can sure make her think twice about sneaking out.”

“Ironing?” Tony smiled. As far as he knew, Theo never ironed anything but her quilting fabrics and Sunday clothes. He had long ago learned to iron his uniform shirts or pay someone else to do it.

“She hates it.” The corners of Prudence's mouth tilted up. “So, of course, I told her that she has to iron every piece of laundry for two weeks. That includes the kitchen towels and the boys socks.” A timer inside the salon buzzed. “I'll send her right out.” She dashed up the purple steps.

Minutes later, watching as Karissa strolled around the corner of the hot pink house, Tony couldn't help but think that the girl would be drop-dead gorgeous by the time she reached high school. If her family didn't come to terms with her looks, personality and the effects of peer pressure, Prudence and Darren would be miserable. Right now, Karissa resembled a thoroughbred racehorse with long legs and sleek lines and a mass of red-gold hair pulled into a ponytail. It bounced and swung from side to side as she approached. Only the smattering of freckles on her nose and the mouth full of braces kept her looking like an almost teenager from a tiny Tennessee county and not a high-fashion model.

“Mom said you wanted to talk to me?” Karissa dropped into the chair that her mother had recently vacated.

Tony detected a hint of rebellion in her soft brown eyes as they met his. She stared at him briefly before her eyes dropped to examine the knees of her jeans. The “I'm an angel” design on her yellow T-shirt might not have been truth in advertising. Judging from her expression, he knew she had guessed that this was not a social call.

“I need to ask you a few questions about Wednesday night.” He watched as bright patches of color rose in her cheeks. She looked disappointed more than surprised.

“Did my mom call you and ask you to come over and give me the lecture about how stupid I was?” In the blink of an eye, she turned as prickly as a hedgehog. “Maybe it was ‘Darling Darren’?”

“You don’t like him?” Tony didn’t respond to her question.

The girl sat staring into space for a while. “He's okay, I guess.” The flash of rebellion seemed to ease. “It's just weird, you know, ‘cause Mama didn't marry my father or the boys' fathers either. I just never thought she'd get married.”

“Have you talked about this with your mother?” What Tony really wanted to ask was if she knew her father; and if so, what was his name? He would never have the nerve to ask her that.

Karissa nodded. “She says she
loves
Darren.” She examined her knees again. “The boys think that he is wonderful, and he really is good about playing with them.”

“I imagine it will take a while for everyone to adjust.” Tony offered. “Tell me about Wednesday night.”

“Well,” she said, dragging the word into three syllables. “Me and some of my friends planned to meet at ten-thirty and just hang out over behind Tommy Anderson's house. There's this kind of field back there. We packed flashlights and a portable CD player, and one of the girls said she could get some beer and another was bringing some cigarettes.” Her thin shoulders pulled forward and she slid down in the chair until she sat on her spine. “We just wanted to see what it would be like and figured that Wednesday would be easier than sneaking out on the weekend.”

“I'm guessing that it didn't turn out to be much fun on a cold evening.” Tony gave her credit for confessing the whole plan.

“It was awful.” Tears rose in her eyes, magnifying them. “I took two sips of a beer and smoked half a cigarette and then just wanted to throw up and go home. I never thought they'd taste so awful. I can't imagine why anyone would try that twice.”

Tony managed to keep from smiling. “How did you get there?” The Andersons lived maybe half a mile from the Okay, which would make it about two and a half miles from her home.

“Rode my bike.” After a glance at his expression, she elaborated. “I climbed out of the window because the door always squeaks, and I left my bike outside before I went to bed. I could see the road okay because of the moonlight, but since I don't have a headlight on it, I had a lot of trouble seeing the bumps and potholes.”

She showed him a vicious looking bruise on her elbow. It was a monster, red and purple with tinges of green, covering most of her forearm.

“I finally had to walk the last part. Anyway, we stayed for about an hour and none of us was having much fun so we started home. About the time I got to the pay phones at the Okay, I thought I was going to die and wanted to die at home.”The tears finally overflowed their banks and trickled down her cheeks. “Mr. Smith stopped and offered me a ride home, but only on the condition that I called my mom first and tell her where I was and how I was getting home. He put my bike in his trunk and waited until I got off the phone. I've never heard Mom say half of those words before. She was really mad.”

“Was there much traffic around the bar?” Tony leaned forward. “Did you see anyone else using the phones or hanging around while you were there?”

As she considered his question, she wiped the tears from her face with the heels of her hands. “I saw Mrs. Proffitt inside the bar. At first, it was all dark inside, and then the light came on. She had on her bathrobe. I thought that was pretty funny.” Like the flicker of a firefly, a grin illuminated her face and then vanished. “I think the parking lot was empty, but there were several cars going both ways. Sure surprised me.”

“Why's that?”

“I didn't think anyone in this one-horse town stayed up later than the eleven o'clock news.” She leaned forward, her expression more mischievous than concerned. “There's lots of programs that come on after that, but I don't think anyone but me knows about them.”

Tony had to laugh. Even on a busy night, Silersville was quiet. The girl was bright and a little feisty. “No wonder Chris and Jamie like it when you're their babysitter. You know what's going on.”

“Hey, you've got fun kids. I like them.” Karissa's face lit up. “Oh wait, I just remembered something.” Since she had confessed to everything that she'd done and the dreaded lecture from the sheriff had not come, the girl seemed to relax again. “First a motorcycle and then a pickup truck drove out of the parking lot, just before I called home. The truck was some dark color and had flames painted on the front, you know what I mean?”