Mel
6:15 AM Monday Morning, October 19th, 2014
I got into the office really early again but, this time, I didn’t have a jump on Holly who had the whole place ship shape and was leaned back, pretending to file her nails when I arrived.
After a bit of ribbing from me and then a brief rundown of the personal side of my honeymoon, we got down to business. Holly was in tune with my thought processes and my habits. She knew I wouldn’t have come in over the weekend or extra early this morning if I didn’t think there was something pressing that needed attention.
“There’s more that happened on our honeymoon that I haven’t told you about,” I began.
“Mel, I don’t really want to know all the nitty gritty details, that’s TMI territory right there, that’s what that is.”
“TMI?”
“Too much information.”
“Oh...No, it’s nothing like that!” I actually felt myself blush a little. Cut it out right now! You’re the Sheriff; you don’t blush! Holly grinned, adding to my pain.
Finally, taking pity on me, she said, “Relax. I know what you meant. What’s going on?”
I quickly sketched out for her what had happened in Tennessee. She listened without comment until I was done.
“Those guys down there sound like pricks, pardon my French,” she said and rolled her eyes.
“They’re not my concern any longer. Finding out if Sheila Ford was down there, gunning for Terry, for Dunkirk or for both of them is.”
“That’s going to be a tough one Mel.”
“Probably not as tough as you think. I’ll have Shane get on establishing a link between Ford and Dunkirk. There are certainly witnesses down there who could link them.” I thought about the rental office folks and the server at Bennett’s. “I need to get them linked locally too. Once we establish all that, I’ll have our DA or even the state AG go to theirs. I’m done dealing with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department.” Bunch of yahoos...
“Also, there’s at least one person here who’s already said Sheila went alone down to Tennessee and ‘caught Terry’ to my own mother. I haven’t actually said anything to her yet but I have no qualms having my mom make a statement pointing out where that info came from.” I smirked.
“None?”
“Not one!” We both laughed. “I know what you’re thinking; if my mom ever really had to come in and make a statement we’d end up with the history of Muskingum County.”
“Ain’t that the truth!”
“Seriously though Holly, we need to get on this quick. I need you to pull whatever info you can find on Patricia Dunkirk and give it to Shane. After that, we need to put our heads together and work up some warrants to get Sheila Ford’s credit card and bank card statements for September and her cell records for then and we’ll want to search her home, specifically for a .22 rifle or pistol and some jacketed rounds.”
When I finished up with Holly, I called the Columbus crime lab to talk to Izzy about the Steirs’ murder case. She was at her Monday morning meeting. I elected not to leave her a message. I figured I’d be hearing from her soon anyway.
###
Mama Rossi
Boston Terriers are smart little dogs. I’d had one myself when I was a teenager. I knew Boo would pick up fast but Dana and Mel didn’t seem to be so sure. I vowed to myself to look into some obedience training classes for her.
The girls didn’t have a phone book in their new house and I wasn’t sure about the whole idea of using computers like they were so fond of so I went next door just after 8:00 and, thankfully, found that Kris was up after getting the two kids off to school.
“I’m so sorry to bother you this morning but I have a question for you...”
Kris smiled, “It’s no bother at all. Come on in. Coffee?”
“Thanks, but not this time.”
“What can I help you out with?”
“My Dana has just fallen in love with little Boo...”
“She’s a cutie,” Kris interrupted.
I nodded, “That she is, but Mel doesn’t seem to be taking to her very well.”
“Mel will come around Mama Rossi; don’t you worry. She loves dogs...she’s just used to having bigger dogs.”
“That’s fine but...well, I really want to give her no reason to be frustrated with Boo and I want Dana to learn to work with the dog too because I think it will be good therapy for her with her leg problems and all.”
“So you’re talking about some sort of training?”
“Obedience training to start with, yes. Do you have a place near here or know someone who does training?”
“I know a guy that trains hunting dogs but...obedience? I don’t think he does that.” She shrugged, “I could ask him for you.”
I was skeptical, “How about a pet shop or a groomer? They’d probably know someone who trains dogs.”
“There’s both of those in Zanesville. I can get you some addresses.”
Armed with the addresses of the one local pet shop and two dog groomers that were within reasonable driving distance, Dana, Boo and I set out for Zanesville just after 9:00.
Stopping at the closest groomer first, Dana put Boo on a leash but the she seemed to prefer being carried over walking after turning a fearful eye toward all the traffic moving about.
When we entered the shop, the whir of a dryer sent the little dog climbing from Dana’s arms to her shoulder like she was trying to get away via actual flight. “She really does need training,” I remarked.
Dana picked her off her shoulder and cooed at her, “You’re fine baby girl. Everything’s fine.”
“I’ll be right with you,” a young woman running a dryer over a standard poodle told us. While we waited and watched her and another woman work with dogs up on tables, the door opened again and a man I’d peg as a few years older than me or so strolled in.
The other woman, who was trimming a cocker spaniel, looked round at him. She smiled and said to the man, “He’s almost done Mr. Majors. Give me just another minute.”
Hmm, could this be Art Majors? What are the chances? I looked the man over.
Catching me looking at him, he half turned away as if he didn’t want to be bothered by me or anyone else.
I turned to Dana who was looking at the man curiously. Unexpectedly, she spoke to him, “Nice to see you again, Art, is it?”
The man peered at her intently then shook his head. “I don’t believe I know you.”
“We met briefly last night. I was with Chuck and his group.”
The man had the nerve to harrumph loudly and turn away. I mouthed, ‘how rude’, to Dana. She half shrugged and continued to love on Boo.
The young woman working with the standard shut off the dryer and let the dog down from the table. Holding a single finger up toward us, letting us know to ‘wait one’, she led the poodle through a door at the back of the shop and then reappeared without it. “I’m Shae; how can I help you?” she addressed us, her eyes on Boo. She smiled a genuine smile as she watched the puppy whose curiosity was now overcoming her fear.
Dana spoke up, “We’re looking for some obedience training for this little girl right here. Can you recommend anybody we could work with?”
The man waiting for the spaniel harrumphed again, loudly this time. “Just train her yer’self like everybody else does.”
“Now Mr. Majors,” Shae cautioned him, “small breeds can be pretty feisty but they respond well to all sorts of training and purebred Boston’s like she appears to be can even do advanced agility. They’re very athletic.”
“Well now isn’t that something?” I looked first at my daughter. They could do agility training together and both benefit from it... When she didn’t respond right away, I looked at Major’s on her left who’s eyes were now boring into Boo. “So you’re Art Majors are you?”
Dana stared at me while the man himself grumbled, “I think we’ve already established that. What’s it to you?”
“It’s just that you were missed at the funeral for Terry Ford the other day, is all. Several people asked about you.”
My daughter was giving me the evil eye but I plowed on, “As I understand it, you two were great friends once. It’s a shame you didn’t make it to his send off.”
“Just who the hell are you lady?” He was angry now, his face red with his fury.
“Mama!” Dana was beyond annoyed. She gave me a look that could only be read as ‘shut up!’
“Can I have my dog please?” Majors demanded. “I don’t come in here to get harassed by people I don’t even know!”
The young woman working with the spaniel lowered the table and let him off of it, rang Majors out and sent him on his way with a ‘thank you for your business’ that he didn’t even acknowledge.
When the door closed behind him, Dana addressed the two women, “I apologize for my mother.” She shot me another look, “I don’t know what’s gotten into her!”
“No worries,” Shae replied.
“Yeah, he’s always grim and gruff,” the lady who’d been working with Majors’ dog told us.
While I got the name of a trainer and her number out of Shae, I had Dana have the other groomer trim Boo’s nails and pay her, even though I could have done her nails myself. I just felt bad for stirring up trouble that Art Majors might take out on them. I even had Dana buy her own set of nail clippers from them. They were twice the price they would have been at a big box store but I knew she could afford it.
“What the hell was all of that about in there, Mama?”
“You don’t have to shout dear.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Nothing at all. I was just making conversation.”
“You call needling that man ‘conversation’?”
“Okay, call it making an observation then, if that makes you feel better.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
###
Mama Rossi
I tried the number I had for the trainer but I got her voicemail. After leaving her a message, we headed back to the house. Dana was annoyed with me and we had Boo with us anyway so doing any furniture shopping was out of the question.
As soon as Dana was off in her room and out of earshot, I called Faye and told her about Art.
“I know him Chloe. He always has been a little rough around the edges but he’s not usually rude...not to that extent, anyway.”
“I may have been a little pushy...”
Faye laughed but then spoke in a more serious tone. “There are just too many people that we’ve heard about now that had something against Terry. Too many to believe his death was a chance accident, for sure.”
“Your daughter is adamant that Sheila didn’t kill him.”
“Not directly but what if she had someone else do her dirty work Chloe?”
“Who? Dingy Dale? Art? Rich Johnson? Why would any one of them risk getting caught to off him just for her? What would be in it for them, in that regard? I think, if one of them were going to do it, it would probably be for his own reasons, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but which one?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“There has to be something Mel’s deputies missed Chloe...there has to be.”
“I hear Dana stirring Faye, I better go...”
“Are you going to be right there?”
“Probably, why?”
“I’ll be by in five minutes to get you.”
We were in Jesse’s truck again. “Where are we headed?” I asked Faye.
“The pond that belongs to Chuck Knox...where Terry died.”
“You know where it is?”
“Sure; when I was a teenager, it was our swimming hole...me and my friends, that is. The Knox family didn’t own it then. Chuck bought the property shortly after he got married and struck his first well.”
“Is everyone in the oil business around here?”
“Oil or natural gas – lots of them are.”
We drove for a few minutes down one dirt road then turned down another that was more dirt track than road and eventually reached a rather large pond set deep in the woods.
“What are we looking for out here?” I asked Faye.
“Something the police missed. Tackle stashed somewhere, for example. They didn’t find any out here. Really though, it’s been years since I’ve been out here. I just kind of wanted to get a feel for it...see what’s plausible.”
“It’s really overgrown all the way around, except on this side.” We were parked on the track along where we’d come into the area of the pond. Other than on this side, where it was fairly smooth over to the bank, there was no real clearing. Everything the rest of the way around was wooded and, in some areas, thick with brush.
“There’s barely enough clear area on this side to turn a vehicle around. It doesn’t seem like Terry would have wandered far from here.”
We got out of the truck and walked over to the bank. The still water of the pond was green with algae but not yet overrun with it. Other than the sound of a few crickets, it was eerily quiet in the area.
“It’s changed a lot since I used to hang out here on summer afternoons,” Faye said. Of course, it’s technically posted as private property now. The family that owned the land back then had kids my age. Big groups of us hung out here. That kept the brush and the algae down.”
The hair stood up on the back of my neck, “I’m getting an odd feeling Faye.”
Before she could even form a reply, we heard a vehicle in the distance. We waited and watched. When it was obvious it had turned up the track to the pond, we retreated back toward the truck for a better view of whatever or whoever was coming.
“It’s probably just Chuck,” Faye said.
A pickup truck, driving slowly, finally came into view.
“Oh, oh. Not good.”
“What? What isn’t good?” I asked.
“It’s Art Majors, of all people.”
Now I shuddered. After our little dust up this morning, I didn’t relish another meeting with the man. “What’s he doing here?”
“He lives maybe a mile from here. He probably has permission to fish here too.”
Art rolled to a stop. Instantly, his door flew open and he climbed down out of the truck and strode toward us. Anger flared in his eyes.
“I thought I saw somebody headed down this way. Just what the hell do you too think you’re doing?” He started at Faye intently for a few seconds and then looked me over. “You again! I should have known your nosiness had something to do with this one,” he jabbed a finger toward Faye.”
We stood our ground but he wasn’t backing down either. “You two have no business being out here.”
Faye’s temper flared, “You don’t own the pond Art so back off. I’m just showing my friend here around.”
Art grabbed Faye’s arm. “You aren’t fooling anybody,” he said. “You’re just out here to stick your noses in where they don’t belong! Look, Terry’s death was an accident and it’s better left that way.”
Faye tried to shake her arm loose from his grasp. Failing she said, “You let go of me right now Art Majors or I’ll report you for assault and have Mel look at you real close.”
“For what? For telling you that you two are crazy? Terry’s dead. It wasn’t murder; now drop it and move on and let the rest of us move on too.”
He released Faye and we both scrambled into the truck. Before he could even get seated inside his, Faye was maneuvering Jesse’s Ford to get around Art’s, nearly taking off his still open door in the process, the maneuvering room was so tight.
Majors recovered and got his own vehicle turned around quickly. He followed us back down the dirt track and then onto the dirt road. I shot nervous glances at Faye as she white knuckled the steering wheel.
When we hit the paved road and turned to head to the right, I saw Faye breath a visible sigh of relief when Majors went left. “He must be headed back to his house,” she said.
Faye took us to the farm. When we pulled up, Jesse was standing there watching us climb out of his truck.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Where ‘ya been?” he asked his wife.
We told him all about what happened.
Rather than being sympathetic to our plight, Jesse took Art’s side. “Art and Terry were close until, in Art’s mind, Terry double crossed him. Terry was Art’s only close friend. Art’s been lonely since he stopped paling around with Terry and now that Terry’s gone, there’s no chance to make amends. The man is just feeling sorry for himself. You two just need to leave well enough alone.”
“Jesse,” Faye pleaded, “you had to see the man. He was on fire.”
“I don’t want to hear any more about it, now. Art can be a handful but he would no sooner hurt a flea than hurt Terry, no matter how mad at him he was.”
Jesse turned to me, “I have an errand to run. Hop back in and I’ll run you into town.”
He started around the truck without waiting for an answer. I looked at Faye. She just spread her hands in defeat. I got back into the dusty Ford.
Our short ride into town was a quiet one. As far as Jesse was concerned the case was closed. I wasn’t so sure.
Did Art come out there just to run us off? Why? He wasn’t intending to fish...he didn’t have a fishing pole or any bait or tackle that I could see when we passed by that truck of his getting out of there. What’s he up to?