THIRTY

I’m never eager to jump out of bed at five in the morning. This Tuesday was no exception. But, as soon as I walked outside, I could tell the day would be a beauty. Last night’s lightning and thunder theatrics cleared the heavens for a Carolina blue sky, no wind, and warmer temperatures. Even our randy billy goats seemed in a mellow mood; no morning stunts as I delivered Duncan and Jordan their special feed.

I whistled as I tackled my chores. My evening excursion contributed to my cheer, though I wasn’t certain what made me happier—Kate flying the coop or Paint as thoughtful escort, a taste of what a real date might promise.

With essential dairy and farm duties completed by mid-morning, I worked on a grocery list while Eva phoned the hospital to see if she was breaking out one patient or two. If she needed to bring both Zack and Carol home, we’d swap vehicles. She’d take my Prius; I’d drive her truck to fetch supplies.

Eva looked puzzled when she hung up the phone. “Zack says the sheriff will deliver him and his mom to Udderly around one o’clock.”

“Did he say why?”

“Nope, he was very guarded. Maybe the sheriff was in the room. Go ahead and run your errands. I won’t need your car. I’ll use the break to whip up a batch of cheese.”

I headed to the nearest big box superstore, a forty-five-minute drive, to buy two blow-up mattresses. One for me, one for Eva. Better than the cramped love seat. I also needed to stock up on provisions to feed our houseguests. I loved being with people, but it also felt really good to be alone. Silence. No one talking. I didn’t even turn on the radio until I was half an hour into the drive. Then I tuned into a local station to see if there was news on any of our mystery fronts.

The pretend sounds of a clattering teletype alerted me, and all other listeners, that a news bulletin was about to begin. “This just in,” said a breathless reporter. “This morning the body of a local man, Mick Hardy, was discovered in the trunk of a Cadillac found abandoned near Winding Creek. A knife wound to the chest was the apparent cause of Hardy’s death. His body has been taken to Greenville for autopsy. Ardon County Sheriff Mason said it appeared that Hardy, an employee at Jameson Quarry, was killed sometime late Sunday or early Monday. The autopsy should help narrow the time of death.

“The sheriff declined to confirm if the Cadillac containing Hardy’s body belonged to gubernatorial candidate Carol Strong. WSSL has learned that Mrs. Strong is the owner of a Cadillac Seville. She was found Monday afternoon walking in the rain near where the car containing Hardy’s body was discovered. WSSL will bring you updates as soon as we know more.”

Moldy Muenster. Was Eva listening to her radio? No point calling. She wouldn’t have taken her cell phone to the barn. Too bad. She’d want a heads up before the sheriff brought our houseguests.

At least Sheriff Mason would now believe my friends and I really saw Mick’s dead body. Of course, finding the corpse in the trunk of a Caddy wasn’t good news. Carol’s car had a roomy trunk. There was no doubt in my mind: Mick’s body had been stuffed inside.

But who did the stuffing? I rejected Carol as culprit, and Chester seemed an unlikely candidate unless he’d killed his own brother-in-law. I sure hoped Carol would regain some memory of those missing hours. Looked like she might need to in order to defend herself.

Once I reached the superstore’s parking lot, I stayed in the car to phone Mom. While she didn’t practice criminal law, she really was Carol Strong’s family attorney. Mom hadn’t fibbed about that when Kate Lemmon tried to bully us into surrendering Zack’s phone. Mom would want to know about the new developments. Then she could decide if Carol needed to talk with an attorney sooner rather than later.

Mom’s answer? Sooner. Said she’d try to reach the farm before the sheriff arrived with Carol and Zack.

While I sat with my Prius securely in park, I replied to concerned texts from Mollye, Paint, and Andy, letting them know Mom was on the case to protect Carol’s legal rights. I finished my shopping as quickly as possible, buying two queen-size air mattresses along with groceries. While I like to frequent local shops that carry fresh farm-to-table produce, the speed of one-stop shopping trumped my fresh-over-frozen preference.

Back home, I found Eva in the barn. She hadn’t heard the news, but was glad I’d called in Mom. We quickly put away the groceries, and wolfed down a quick lunch before we got any more surprises.

At five till one, Mom led a vehicle parade to our cabin. She’d beaten the sheriff to the turnoff by a hair. At least I assumed the unmarked sedan glued to Mom’s bumper belonged to the sheriff. I wondered if Mason’s incognito ride was designed to spirit the Strongs away without alerting the media. A girl can hope.

Eva and I went outside to greet the newcomers. We weren’t sure if the sheriff was offering a drop-off taxi service or planned to stay. Mom exited her car and paused at the bottom of the cabin steps. I figured she wanted to see if Zack or Carol needed help and who would come inside.

Sheriff Mason and Deputy McCoy helped their passengers out. Carol, looking—and acting—more like the take-charge woman I knew, shook off the sheriff’s arm as soon as she steadied herself. Though Zack’s right arm was in a sling and he wore a huge boot to immobilize his broken left ankle, he also waved off assistance. He used a cane, rather than a crutch, to maneuver with his cast-boot.

Eva hugged Carol and awarded Zack a smile. “I’m not gonna hug you and topple us both. Delighted you’ll be staying with us.”

My aunt turned to the sheriff and deputy. “Did you want to come in?”

“Yes,” Mason answered, his tone ominous. “I need to make certain everyone understands the situation.”

The cozy cabin wasn’t designed for hosting parties. The main living area seated four people comfortably on one love seat and two recliners. Any additional guests had to park their fannies on chairs scavenged from the dining nook. Eva insisted Carol and Zack take the recliners and motioned Mom toward the love seat. My aunt wasn’t giving the lawmen preferred seating.

“I’ll bring more chairs,” I offered. Deputy McCoy, Mollye’s beau, followed me to the dining nook and carried two straight-back chairs. I got the third.

Eva settled next to Mom on the love seat. That left the sheriff, the deputy, and me with the hard-bottomed imports. Eva’s way of encouraging brevity?

The sheriff cleared his throat. “I think we got Mrs. Strong and her son out of the hospital without any reporters realizing they’d checked out. But sooner or later, they may show up here. I don’t have the manpower to keep a guard at Udderly’s entrance twenty-four seven. But Mrs. Lemmon informed us that she is making arrangements with an outside executive protection service. We’ll have a cruiser do a check every couple of hours. Needless to say you can call 911 any time you need us.”

“Thank you, Sheriff,” Carol said. “We appreciate your concern.”

“You’ll be less thrilled with what else I have to say.” Mason paused as his gaze bounced between Carol and Zack. “We matched Mick Hardy’s fingerprints with ones lifted from the pitchfork. This appears to confirm Mick was Zack’s attacker. We also matched your fingerprints, Mrs. Strong, with the knife plunged into Mick’s chest. The knife was in the trunk of your Cadillac under Mick’s body. That makes you a suspect in his murder. And then there’s your very real motive. The man attacked your son.”

“What? You’re kidding!” Eva blurted.

The sheriff held up a hand. “Let me finish. Please.”

Mom put a restraining hand on my aunt’s arm to keep her from jumping up.

“We’re not charging you, Mrs. Strong, because the urine samples taken when you arrived at the hospital proved positive for Ketamine. That lends credence to your story of waking in your Cadillac and not knowing how you got there.”

Carol nodded. “I was so disoriented. Rain pounding on the windshield. I could hear rushing water. I was terrified the car would be swept away. I tried to start it; nothing happened. I saw my body floating outside the car. I thought I was losing my mind. I had to get out, start walking.”

Mom broke in. “Is this the appropriate time to question Mrs. Strong? Might she still be feeling lingering effects of whatever drug she was given?”

Mason shrugged. “I’m not a doctor, but I believe your client has told us all she can at this time. I’m not here to question her. Just wanted you to know that some parties are bound to argue that, given the evidence, we should arrest Mrs. Strong for the murder of the man who attacked her son. Her motive was revenge, and she was clever enough to ingest some quantity of Ketamine to fabricate an alibi.”

The sheriff stood. His eyes locked with Carol’s. “You understand you need to stay in Ardon County, right?” Carol nodded.

“We’re hoping the autopsy will pinpoint the time of Hardy’s death,” he added. “That will be an enormous help in determining a timeline.”

“When is the autopsy scheduled?” Mom asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon. We’ll share the results as soon as we have them.”

Once the lawmen left, Mom said she wanted a few minutes alone with Carol. I knew why. Anything Carol said to Mom was privileged, but if Eva, Zack or I listened in we could be compelled to testify about what was said.

Aunt Eva turned to Mom and Carol. “You’re welcome to use my bedroom for your talk. That’s your room now, Carol. Zack’s staying in Brie’s room. Brie and I are sleeping out here. Nice and cozy on new air mattresses.”

“Don’t be a horse’s patoot,” Carol snapped. “We’re not going to kick you out of your bedrooms. Zack and I will sleep out here.” She waved her arm to take in the room’s love seat and chairs.

Eva hooted. “You really think Zack can fit on that love seat? Sure as heck he can’t get up and down from a blow-up mattress on the floor. Not with that arm and boot. Nope, you two are taking the bedrooms. Besides Brie and I get up at dawn and we need coffee. No sense in us trying to tiptoe around sacked-out guests with our eyes half open.”

Mom held her hands up like a traffic cop. “Enough. I already know who’s going to win. Right now I need to speak with Carol.”

Carol let Eva have the last word and followed Mom to the bedroom. The door closed. Eva excused herself to check on the animals.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Zack. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?”

“I’m fine. Well, except for finding out my attacker was an old high school teammate, and my mother, who’s been drugged, is suspected of murdering him. Oh, and we can expect press, since the sheriff can’t run interference.”

“My head’s spinning, too,” I agreed. “Do you have any idea why Mick attacked you?”

“Afraid I do.” Zack used his left hand to try to fish something out of his pants pocket. A right-hander, he awkwardly seized the object only to have it slip from his fingers. A cell phone fell to the floor. I jumped up to retrieve it.

“So the sheriff gave your phone back to you?” I asked as I handed over the cell.

“Not exactly. Kept the phone as evidence. But one of Mason’s techies copied everything to a new phone. Hard to use the blasted thing one-handed. I was going to read you Mick’s last text, but his exact words don’t matter. He’d bet big on our team winning the last game. We didn’t, and he blamed me. He was hopelessly in the red. Don’t think he saw any way out. Guess he needed to take his frustration and anger out on someone. I was home, a handy target.”

Looking at the cell phone in his hand made me remember Sala. “Do you want to call anyone? Doug? Sala?” I asked. “I can key in the numbers and leave to give you some privacy. I know Sala wants to visit today if you feel up to it. Same for Paint, Andy and Mollye.”

“Yeah, I should call Sala,” he answered. “For Mom’s sake, I’m glad she’s offered help with security. Would you mind finding Sala’s number in the directory and calling?”

“No problem.” I found the entry, hit Send, and handed the phone back to Zack. Then I headed for the door.

“It’s okay,” Zack said. “You can stay. Don’t want to run you out of your own house every time I use the phone.”

I shook my head. “It’s your home, too. And everybody needs some privacy.”

I took a seat in the sunshine on a front-porch rocker and closed my eyes. Relax, I told myself. I was dying to pester Carol and Zack with a boatload of questions. But they deserved a little peace and quiet—for as long as it lasted.

I chuckled to myself wondering if Zack would need any help dressing or undressing. Maybe I’d get a peek at his bare buns to confirm his innocence once and for all.