Death is Long Overdue

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SIX

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled in behind a patrol car. I spotted yellow crime scene tape circling the yard. My vision grayed, and I felt a little light-headed. Huey Long was dead, and I was involved in a criminal investigation. I grasped the door handle and steadied myself. I took a deep breath. If Miss Marple could handle a crime scene, Ophelia Jefferson could. I walked towards the house with a determined, yet innocent, look on my face. At least I hoped I looked innocent.

“ Whoa! Cool your engines there, Phee.” Clint grasped my arm to stop me. “I need you to take me step-by-step through your movements. I want to exclude anything belonging to you. But first I need to go talk to Mark and see what he’s discovered inside the house. Right now you should get back in the truck and wait for me to come get you. Understand?”

I nodded my head and climbed back in the passenger side. I wasn’t going to argue with him at this point. Why poke the bear when the bear was already awake and hungry. The short reprieve gave me time to steady my nerves. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing the body again.

The Addams Family theme song boomed out in the truck cab. Startled, I hit my head on the window. I cursed and rummaged in my messenger bag for my cell phone.

“ Where are you?” Juliet hissed at me.

“ Thanks for abandoning me,” I answered. “I thought you were following me to my house. I turn around and no Juliet. I did find Clint standing in my driveway waiting for me. Nice back up, Juls!”

“ I did follow you. I followed you and kept right on driving when I saw you and Clint heading into the house. What’s going on? You answered your phone, so I guess you aren’t in cuffs. Let me know if I need to go ask Mom and Dad for bail money. Glad it’s you and not me who needs it. How much do you think bail for murder is? One million? Two?” Juliet could never be serious. I could be bleeding to death on the side of the road and somehow she’d find a way to c***k a joke.

“ Ha ha. Funny. Do not say a word to anyone about this. Remember that I know where you live and have a key to your apartment. You breathe a word, and I will replace your tie-dye with polyester! I didn’t tell Clint you met me at the crime scene. As far as he knows, it was me all by my lonesome and let’s keep it that way. If Mom and Dad find out about this they will kill me. Better only one of us is in jail. Someone needs to stay free to feed Ferdie. I’m at Huey’s house waiting to go through things with Clint and Deputy Thompson. Go home and keep your lips zipped. If you spill the beans, I’ll tell everyone all about your weekend stay in the county clink when you went to Florida for spring break,” I threatened. “I’ll call you tomorrow morning and give you an update. Remember what I said. Not a word.”

“ Sheesh. Give the threats of non-cotton clothing a rest. I won’t say anything. I’m not the one who broke into a house under dark of night with a mask on, my jail bird sister. I am an innocent bystander,” Juliet said. “Just teasing. All kidding aside, I love you, Flea. If you need me, call and I promise I’ll be there.” She hung up before I could respond. Juliet might be a bit of a granola-eating hippie, but I knew she would stand right by my side in a fight. I tucked the phone back into my bag. I glanced up and saw Clint striding towards the truck. He did not look happy. In fact, he appeared downright grim. I stepped out and headed his way.

“ I need you to walk me through from the time you left Velma until the time you got back into her,” Clint said as he walked up next to me. We headed towards the backyard. He turned on his large flashlight and skimmed it over scene.

“ I came through Mrs. Grimes’ yard and then walked up to the window right there.” I pointed to the window with the squashed tulips. Huey prided himself on his beautiful flower beds. I felt a pang of remorse for stepping on them. “The window was open a c***k. I pushed it up and climbed through.” I reached over to demonstrate. He grabbed my hand to stop me.

“ Hold on! Touch nothing. What is that caught on the window?” He reached over and plucked red fabric from the frame. He held it up to inspect it under his flashlight. I felt a crimson tide wash over me as I realized it was a piece of the red lace thong I wore. I guess I caught more than just my pants when I got stuck.

“ Um…that’s from me. I, uh, accidentally caught myself on the frame as I climbed in,” I stammered.

“ Your pants are black.” Clint peered down at me with a grin on his face. “When did you find time to change?”

“ Those are from my panties if you must know. My pants came off because I my rear wouldn’t quite fit when I tried to squeeze through,” I said with as much dignity as I could muster. Please let the great god of sinkholes take pity on me and suck me into the bowels of the earth right now.

“ I’ll make a note of that in my report.” His eyes twinkling, he walked towards the back door and motioned for me to follow. “I don’t want you to climb back through the window and moon Deputy Thompson. Let’s use the door, okay?”

“ Thanks,” I said. I tossed my hair to look like a composed and cool woman rather than nervous murder suspect. I marched through the door and towards the living room. I stopped when I saw Deputy Thompson leaning over the body.

“ Well, Ms. Jefferson, you landed yourself in a heap of trouble tonight.” Deputy Mark Thompson first met me when I begged him to take me to a crime scene so I could try out my Junior Girl Detective Kit. I was eight years old then. Twenty years later and he finally let me behind the crime scene tape. He’d retired a few years ago but realized fishing wasn’t enough to keep him occupied and out of his wife’s hair, so he returned to work part-time. At least it was Mark investigating me and not Sheriff Dawes, my dad’s close friend. I would be mortified if Dad found out about my escapade tonight.

“ Hey there, Mark.” I smiled weakly at him. “It’s nice to see you but not very nice to be here next to a dead body.”

“ What’s the verdict, Mark?” Clint knelt down next to the body. Now that the lights were on in the house, I could see a belt buckled tightly around Huey’s neck causing his eyes to bulge. His Mr. Winky was now standing at half-mast. I felt queasy at the sight of him.

“ Based on what I’ve found so far, someone strangled him. We’ll wait for Doc to make the official determination though. His laptop was open on the desk and from what I saw he had some interesting taste in p**n. Don’t you look over there, Ms. Jefferson. Ladies shouldn’t look at that kind of trash. The killer must have walked in the unlocked back door and somehow sneaked up on him while he was at the desk. I saw some scuff marks in the carpet. They must have dragged him over here and laid him out. I also found some footprints in the dirt next to the back door. I marked it with an evidence flag and took a photo. Whoever was standing out there was wearing a pair of sneakers. It looks to be a small-sized shoe. I’m not sure what brand.”

“ Thanks, Mark. Phee, did you touch anything in the room? See or hear anything when you were in here?” Clint interrogated me.

“ No. I was wearing gloves. I touched the library books I came to get. I’m sure that was it. It was dark and with my little penlight, I really couldn’t see much.” I felt my gaze drawn back to Huey. At that moment, I wished I hadn’t listened to Juliet. I should have stayed a nice girl with her nose buried in her books.