The Passed Prop--The Morelville Cozies--Book 1 Read online

  I made the right turn onto the road that led to the farm. Even though I know the curvy, hilly road well, I slowed down quite a bit. Sure enough, I caught site again of Lee’s truck in the rearview mirror. I knew Frank Lee would have no reason to turn out my road on a typical day, so I was pretty sure that we were being followed. I aimed to find out for sure.

  “Hang on Chloe!”

  Chapter 21 – Chased

  I floored it and took off over the road I’ve driven so many times I could drive it in my sleep. Chloe yelped in surprise and clung to the center console to keep from sliding around.

  “I’m so sorry; Frank Lee, one of the Quadvillians is following us. He has been since we passed him parked on that side road in town. He’s the most out there of that group of guys.”

  “You’re sure he’s following us?”

  “Almost positive.”

  “Why?”

  “I Don’t know, but I don’t like that he is and I don’t want to find out why.”

  We traversed a couple of miles in about a minute and a half when I saw the first split in the road coming up. Normally, I’d take the left fork but today I whipped the truck onto the semi paved road to the right.

  Fifty yards ahead on my right, just before the broken pavement and gravel turned to dirt, was a small homestead that I knew wasn’t currently occupied. I pulled in there, turned the pickup at the top of the drive to face the road, killed the engine and sank low in the seat. Chloe followed suit just as Lee rattled by in his own truck and took the left fork.

  “He’s headed toward the farm,” I whispered, as though he could hear me.

  “Do you think he’ll circle back and try to track us down, if he sees we’re not there?” Chloe asked.

  “Actually, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  “So what do we do now? Sit here and wait?”

  I thought about it for a minute and then said, “No. We’re investigating so we bite the bullet and we investigate.” I started the engine, backed up, turned the truck around and headed back up the driveway to the road. Turning left out of the drive, I went back to the main road and chose to take the left fork this time.

  Chloe looked at me with wide eyes but she didn’t say a word.

  A few miles later, I chose the left fork again and, 100 yards from the second split, I turned left up the long, rutted dirt driveway to the farm house. Sitting at the top of the slight incline was the pickup truck of Frank Lee.

  As we passed between the lower pastures and neared the end of the driveway, we spotted Jesse standing where the access drive to the barn met the main driveway talking with Frank. I blew out a heavy breath. I was relieved he was there.

  Faye and I got out of the truck. Jesse smiled and waved, so we walked over. I did my best to put on a neutral face.

  “Frank,” I said, “What a surprise.” But not a nice one... “You haven’t come by to see Jesse in a long time. I thought that was you in town. I’m happy you decided to stop out.”

  He eyed me up and down while Jesse and Chloe looked on; Jesse none the wiser and Chloe doing her best to appear only mildly interested in the new face as she studied it.

  When he didn’t offer a reply, I said, “Chloe, this is Frank Lee, an old high school chum of Jesse’s. Frank, Chloe’s our daughter Mel’s mother-in-law. I’ve just been showing her around the area.”

  Chloe stuck out a hand, “Nice to meet you Frank.” He took it and grunted a reply.

  Jesse, for his part, looked more than a little taken aback by Frank’s gruffness. Despite my dislike for the man’s always rough and tumble attitude, he and my husband had always gotten on well.

  Not wanting to push my luck any further with Frank and risk blowing our slim hold to a cover story, I changed the subject and asked Jesse, “Will it be the two of you for lunch? We’ll just go up and get things started...”

  Jesse looked at Frank who promptly begged off and blathered something about just happening through and having a minute so he’d thought he stop. I picked up Chloe’s hand and tugged her toward the house while saying my goodbyes over my shoulder.

  Chapter 22 – The Plot Thickens

  Faye Crane

  Saturday Afternoon, November 8th, 2014

  Crane Family Farm

  “I have to admit,” I was saying to Chloe later, “at first, I was suspicious of Blake but, like we talked about, he has no known ties to either victim and he has barely the means to do much of anything. I can’t fathom that he’s some sort of ritualistic killer...well I can, sort of, but not of those two. I mean, what on earth would be his reasoning for that?”

  “You know him better by far than I do. If I’ve even met anyone named Blake around here, I don’t recall it.”

  “You wouldn’t have unless you needed a gun repaired or something. It’s not like you could run into him in the store right now, after all. Other than an occasional visit there or the gas station, he keeps pretty much to himself unless the community is having some sort of meeting or event. Then he usually shows up and makes us all wish he hadn’t.”

  “That brings me to my own question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Could Frank following us, after we went by him where we did to start with, have something to do with Blake? Could he have been watching him?”

  I smacked the kitchen table. “We’re quite the team, you and I Chloe! I was starting to feel the same way. There was no earthly reason why he would have been just sitting in his truck where he was.”

  I leaned back a little in my chair and drummed my fingers on the edge of the table while I let the wheels turn in my head. Finally, I said to Chloe, “Frank had to be scoping something out. When there’s something going on at the township maintenance building and their little lot is full, I could see him parking where he did, but it was the middle of the work day and only the township crew guys were parked in the lot across from where he was. There was plenty of room there if he had business at their building. He sure did have a good view of the maintenance shop though and of the next few houses in either direction on the other side of the street.”

  “So he could have been watching Blake’s house?”

  “Yes, he could have...or a few others. But, again, the question becomes, why?”

  “Does he have some sort of grudge against any of the folks that live on that side of the street?”

  “Only Blake, and I don’t know that it’s any specific thing, just a general dislike of the guy. I’m telling you, the man isn’t well liked in town....” I stopped talking, the wheels turning in my head some more.

  “Faye? Faye, what’s wrong? The look on your face...”

  “I just had a thought.”

  “What; tell me!”

  “Give me a minute...let me think this through.”

  Chloe nodded and got up to pour herself another cup of coffee.

  I pushed away from the table myself and went to dig out a phone book.

  My grandkids always got on me for even bothering to keep phone books around but I knew full well a certain gunsmith business wasn’t listed online anywhere. Blake Wagner was too cheap and too old school to do anything like that. He relied on word of mouth for his business and he kept a home phone as his so called ‘commercial line’.

  I found what I was looking for and called his number. I got a recording so I hung up without leaving a message. “I just called Blake’s phone,” I told Chloe.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “I wanted to see if he was home. He didn’t answer but it is bow season so he’s out hunting, I’m sure. The guy lives off of what he shoots in season and what he catches out fishing. He’s also been known to do a little spring mushroom hunting and late summer ginseng hunting in the hills and hollers too for quick, untraceable cash and he’s not always law abiding about who’s land he’s on when he does any of it.”

  “Okay, I get it; he’s a real dirt bag. That still doesn’t make him a killer.”

  She was back in her chair but I was
still standing. I put my hands on the top of the table and leaned toward her, “Don’t you see? You’re right; none of that indicates killer. It does indicate loner that just doesn’t want to be bothered but who doesn’t always play by the rules to get by either.”

  “So?” She looked confused and she still didn’t see the big picture.

  I pointed out, “The problem is, he’s annoying to others and often downright disrespectful of their rights and their property.”

  Light started to glow in Chloe’s eyes, “Old Man Purcell was annoying to others too,” she said.

  “Yes,” I prompted, “and Ginny, the local ‘Cat Lady’?” I leaned back and held my hands up outspread.

  “Also a local nuisance!” She practically shouted.

  “Exactly.” I waved a pointed finger at her, “Someone is targeting certain local people for these ritualistic slayings and I think Wagner may be the next intended victim.”

  “Okay, so then do you think Frank Lee is a part of that?”

  “That, I don’t know but we need to find out.” I was firm in my reply.

  “Don’t you think we should give this information to Mel and let her and her department take it from here?”

  “What information Chloe? A business card we found in a field that’s one of the few things a known cheapskate has ever had done to promote his business? A guy who may or may not have been watching his house who then seemed to follow us home? That’s all we have.”

  She was quiet for several long seconds then she told me, “I suppose you’re right; so what do we do?”

  “We need to figure out if Wagner is really being watched and tagged for one of these gruesome executions and by whom.”

  “But, we know ‘by whom’ if watching him is what Frank Lee was actually doing.”

  “He couldn’t have acted alone Chloe. Oh, maybe with Old Man Purcell but not with Ginny. Getting her out of her house had to take some finesse. Getting her out into the middle of a hayfield on a quiet Amish farm took a good story.”

  “What would get her out there?”

  “I don’t know,” I cast about. “Hmm, maybe a story about a cat mill?”

  “Huh?” Chloe asked.

  “You’ve heard of puppy mills right?”

  She nodded.

  “Silas Yoder has been accused in the past of running a puppy mill out there. Now, you and I have seen his operation and we know that isn’t true but, Ginny, bless her, wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. If she paid any attention to the news or the gossip around here when she was occasionally out and about, she would have heard about that. If someone were to, say, tell her that they guy was running a cat mill, she might just believe it.”

  “And, if they tried to convince her they needed her help,” Chloe picked up my train of thought, “she might just go for it.”

  I nodded. “It’s the most plausible thing I can come up with.”

  “Do you think she’d buy it from this Lee guy?”

  “Maybe not him but maybe from Pierce King, one of his cohorts in that little Quadvillian foursome.”

  “Why him?”

  “Because she’d know his wife Belinda very well. She was a vet tech for years in this area that only recently retired.”

  “So the two of them are in it together?”

  “Or all four of them.”

  “And what about this Belinda?”

  “On that, I don’t think so. Pierce is a control freak who runs her life but I can’t see her doing anything to physically hurt anyone or anything.”

  Chapter 23 – Ulterior Motives

  Late Saturday Afternoon, November 8th, 2014

  Morelville, Ohio

  We went into the village and parked at Dana and Mel’s place. Mel’s truck was missing so I assumed she was still at work and Dana’s car was gone too. I didn’t know where she was but I prayed she’d be away for the next half hour or so. I wasn’t ready for questions until I had a few things cemented in my mind.

  Chloe and I walked about a block up the street to the well-kept Victorian of Pierce King and his wife Belinda. “You’ll like Belinda,” I hurriedly told my sleuthing partner. “She’s such a sweet lady and a great animal lover. I hope Pierce isn’t here though; he’s a different story entirely.”

  Belinda King was home and she greeted us as graciously as I knew she would.

  “Faye, you know I’m always ready for company!” She swatted a hand at me and then held the same one out, pointing us toward the kitchen.

  “Pierce is gone again,” she told us. “You’d think retirement would have slowed him down but not that one, oh no! He’s always on the road or out and about.”

  “Belinda, do you remember Chloe?”

  The slightly older woman studied my sidekick for just a second and then replied, “Yes, of course, from the receptions. You’re Dana’s mother.”

  “Wow!” Chloe told her, “Great memory.”

  “Oh, in the business I was in for years you learned the face of every customer that walked in and you knew all of their animals on site too.” Still, she beamed at the compliment.

  “I was just taking a little tea in the nook. Would you like some or I have coffee too, it won’t take but a minute.”

  “Tea would be wonderful,” Chloe told her. We both took seats in the nook while she collected it.

  “So, what brings you by...not that I mind at all, you understand?”

  “Chloe and her husband Marco are thinking about maybe buying some property in the area and moving here. He’s getting ready to retire himself. I just thought I’d show her around a bit, let her meet some of the people here, so we were out taking a walk around the village.”

  “I see,” Belinda replied nodding. She turned to Chloe, “So what do you think so far?”

  There’s her cue; jump on it Chloe!

  “This is a lovely area and the lifestyle here is just the right change of pace from what we’re used to dealing with living in the Pittsburgh area.”

  “Ah, but it must be hard to leave a place you’ve put roots?”

  “You’re right; it is but we always said we’d like to slow down just a little when we retired. We’re talking about taking on the store and operating that for a little extra income but still, it will be quite the change of pace for us...that is, if I can get Marco to settle down about all the things that are going on that just aren’t...what’s the word I’m looking for, Faye?”

  “Normal?” I supplied.

  “Yes, that fits. He’s concerned about these strange murders, you see.”

  Belinda nodded, “He must understand that those are highly out of the norm. This is quite the quiet little village. We’re actually pretty boring folk hereabouts, unless you enjoy talking about farming, gardening, fishing and hunting that is...oh, and mushrooms, we mustn’t forget the mushrooms!”

  “I feel so badly,” I put in, “especially for poor Ginny.”

  That remark got the conversation a little more focused in a hurry.

  “You know,” Belinda said, “I probably dealt with her more than most. From my perspective, she could be tough to take, what with not wanting to get her animals spayed or neutered an all, but she really was a kind hearted soul. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

  Nodding somberly, I replied, “It takes one to know one and you’d certainly know a kind hearted soul if you ran across one.” I spoke the truth but Chloe caught my eye and gave me a stern look.

  “We were just devastated when we heard about her,” Belinda said. “We’d been to a family birthday party and we didn’t get back until late in the evening. Pierce said he had a headache and I wasn’t feeling much better...sinuses this time of year you know? Anyway, we went right to bed when we got home. We didn’t get the news right away.”

  That information took me by surprise but I decided to press on. “It’s so odd where they found her, isn’t it?”

  “On that Amish dog breeder’s farm, wasn’t it?” Chloe asked.

  “You know Silas Yod
er, the breeder?” Belinda shot back at her, a look of fire in her eyes.

  “Um, yes,” was Chloe’s timid reply. “I bought my daughter a dog from him.”

  “Well, I honestly hope your dog is a healthy one and I’m thankful that your daughter is giving it a good home but I’d advise you against buying any more dogs from him.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  “I’m not one to talk bad about people, you understand, but the vets around here and I have all had our ups and downs with him. He might run a very clean operation as everyone is quick to tell us, but he’s still running a puppy mill out there.” Seemingly trying to calm herself, she sucked in a heavy breath and blew it out.

  “Not only that,” I leaned into the table in a manner I hoped appeared conspiratorial, I heard a rumor that he’s actually cross breeding cats and passing them off as more rare, purebred breeds to unsuspecting people around here. I mean, how wrong is that?”

  “You know, Pierce said the same thing! He told me he heard something like that from a guy he knows.”

  I congratulated myself on my guessing prowess. “You don’t suppose Ginny was getting any of her cats from him, do you?”

  Belinda shuddered and then admitted, “Pierce said that too and that really worried me.”

  “Why is that?” Chloe asked gently.

  “Because she could ill afford to care for the ones she already had. Getting cats from his little operation, even if he gave them to her outright, was just asking for all kinds of trouble. Pierce and I thought we should go and try to talk with her; find out what was what...see if we could, I don’t know...help maybe or get her to listen to reason.”

  “Did you go?” I asked.

  “We both did, a couple of days before she died. She knows me but she wouldn’t talk to me at all with Pierce there. He...he left...went back to the car. Regardless, I barely got inside the door...not that you could stand the cat urine stench anyway. It’s wrong to say this, I know, but it’s probably best that she’s gone. Her life would have had to have been hell in that house.”