Southern Fried Read online

  After a couple of pieces of the okra, I took a nice long sip of the piping hot coffee.

  The strong coffee steam floated up in the air and curled around my nose as I tipped the cup, instantly making me feel better. I popped the pills in my mouth and took another sip of coffee. It was so good, my eyes closed automatically from the pure satisfaction.

  “At first when he picked you up and took you back to your bedroom, I was thinking he was going to take advantage of you.” Duke scratched at the door and I let him in. He immediately ran over to Poppa’s feet and sat down, staring up at him. “Then he put you on the bed and took the quilt off the quilt rack. He said something about Chicago and you and his life.”

  “What?” I asked, hurrying over to the table with the cup and plate of okra. “What did he say about Chicago?” I shivered, recalling that he was going to Chicago this morning and was going to be spending time with the woman on the other end of his answering machine.

  “I wasn’t listening to him. I was busy trying to pick up that framed picture of me and you sitting on your dresser so I could wing it at him when he tried to get fresh with you.” Poppa never liked it when I had a boyfriend. “Just so you know, that movie Ghost where the ghost can pick up the penny? Well, that’s not real-life ghosting.”

  “Thank you for making that clear.” I smiled at Poppa and devoured some more fried okra. “You thought MacGyver was real too.” I referred to the television show he loved to watch when I was a kid. Poppa talked to the television as though he was right alongside MacGyver solving crimes.

  “Anyways, that boy tucked you into the quilt and patted the side of the bed and told Duke to stay and keep you safe.” Poppa smiled.

  “Are you smiling at the image of Finn tucking me in?” I teased.

  “I’m thinking I can show up in Chicago and scare that girl off, because he just might be good for you.” Poppa disappeared.

  “Don’t you dare!” I shouted out into the air. After a moment without him showing back up, I shrugged and ate the last few pieces of okra. “Dang, that was good okra.”

  “Don’t you dare what?” Mrs. Brown, my neighbor, stood at the screen door. She shuffled inside and patted a very excited Duke. “What did I hear you say about some okra?”

  “Duke was trying to drink my coffee.” Coffee? What is wrong with me?

  “You like coffee?” Mrs. Brown asked Duke in a baby voice. Duke wagged his tail and sniffed the pocket on her apron. Her hair was rolled tight in pink sponge curlers underneath a hair cap. “Well, I’m not giving you any coffee or okra today.” She pulled a dog biscuit out of the pocket.

  “Mrs. Brown, what’s going on?” I asked, wondering why she was here.

  “I’m here because of this.” She handed me a sticky note. She tugged on a sponge curler sticking out and a perfect curl sprang up.

  It was from Finn. He’d asked her to take care of Duke for me today. Duke was used to Mrs. Brown. On days I knew I was going to be gone for a long time or had things to do where Duke couldn’t come, she always let him out and fed him for me.

  “I found it on my front door this morning.” She shuffled over to the table and eased down. “I’ll take a cup of coffee.”

  “Where are my manners?” I grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and poured her a steaming cup. It was the least I could do since I had accidentally pulled a loaded pistol on her a few weeks ago when I came home and thought she was an intruder when she was actually just letting Duke out. “Thank you. Finn is out of town today and I have to be a lot of places. He must’ve known I needed someone to take care of Duke.”

  “He is a hunk.” She winked and blew on the coffee before she took a sip. I sat across the table from her. “And someone is going to snatch him up if you don’t watch it. Now I told Polly to dump that old man because at his age I’m sure he can’t get it—”

  “Enough.” I put my hand up. Polly Parker was Mrs. Brown’s niece and Polly just so happened to be in her twenties and dating Mayor Ryland, who was a good thirty years older than her. I sure didn’t want to know anything about their private life.

  I had uncovered their love affair during one of my investigations and the community was horrified. Now that some time had passed, they were no longer the center of gossip. Apparently Finn and I had taken that spot.

  “You are young and so is he. Take it from an old woman, enjoy your life. And by that, I mean sex.” She reached across the table and patted my hand. “I heard what happened last night at the council meeting.”

  “Please stop,” I begged. “Owen Godbey is taking up all my time and if I don’t hurry up and solve this murder, what you heard about the council meeting just might happen.”

  “No, it won’t. Your mama won’t let anyone win against you.” She used her curled fists to help her stand up before I could get around the table to help. “You ready, Duke?”

  Duke ran to the door and wagged his tail, panting with anticipation.

  “Not too many treats today,” I said when I held open the door for them.

  “I can’t promise nothing.” Mrs. Brown shuffled out the door with Duke next to her.

  I shut the door and leaned up against it. Finn had me all confused. Why on earth would he do something so sweet like tuck me in? Or take the time to make my coffee? Or even go to Mrs. Brown’s and ask her to take care of Duke because he knew he wasn’t going to be here to help me with the investigation and Duke was just another thing off my plate? Why do all that when he had a girlfriend?

  Not that all of these things were boyfriend-type things, but they certainly weren’t the usual activities of a deputy sheriff.

  The calendar alarm on my phone chirped from my bedroom, reminding me to get to the office on time to meet Rowdy Hart.

  I quickly showered, put my uniform on, and pinned my poppa’s sheriff pin on my lapel. I headed to the office for my interview with Rowdy. I was curious to see what he had to tell me that he couldn’t yesterday when I went to the cemetery.

  “Good morning.” Betty said from her desk when I walked in.

  “Good morning.” On my way over to my desk I checked the fax machine to see if the lab had faxed over any new results from the evidence we’d sent in. A strange feeling swept over me when I looked over at Finn’s empty desk. It reminded me to send him a quick text and thank him for last night.

  “I hear you tied one on last night after the council meeting.” Betty’s accusing eyes stared me down. She was judging me.

  “Finn has a big mouth.” My brows lifted.

  “Not Finn.” Her eyes lowered. Yep, she was definitely judging me. “Mrs. Brown and I had a little chat this morning when she called dispatch all worried about what she’d heard about the town-council meeting.”

  In a small town like Cottonwood and with Betty Murphy at the dispatch line, everyone called her to get the scoop on what was going on around town since they assumed the sheriff’s office knew everything.

  “No need to worry.” I played off the idea that Lonnie would beat me in an election.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.” She held something up in the air. “This was stuck in my door when I left this morning.”

  “‘Lonnie is LOYAL to keeping Cottonwood safe,’” I read the bumper sticker with a snarled nose. “Who left it there?”

  “I have no idea.” She shrugged. “But they are getting an early start. And we are months away from the election.”

  “Years,” I grumbled. Lonnie was the last person I needed grief from right now.

  I crumpled the bumper sticker up in my fist and threw it in the wastebasket. I glanced up at the clock and noticed it was past time for Rowdy to be here and wondered if he forgot.

  “Did Rowdy Hart call?” I asked Betty.

  “Not a word.” She shook her head. “You expecting him to?”

  “Yes. Yesterday I went by the cemetery to talk to him about the stol
en flowers and he said he wanted to talk to me alone.” The look on his face tormented my mind. “I told him to meet me here first thing.” I glanced up at the clock.

  It was strange for him not to show up. In fact, Rowdy Hart was always too early for everything.

  “He wasn’t at the council meeting last night either.” There was a stabbing feeling of uneasiness in my gut.

  “I’m sure he’ll turn up directly.” Betty drew her lips into a tight smile.

  “I hope you’re right, or I’m going to have to go looking for him.” The door opened and in sashayed my mama.

  “There you are.” Mama stomped through the door with a great big smile on her face. “I’ve been all over looking for you.”

  “And by all over what do you mean?” I asked, because there were few places I frequented.

  “On The Run. Your house. Here.” Mama trotted over. She handed me a plastic five-point-star sheriff’s pin that read “Re-elect Sheriff Lowry” like the ones she had stuck up and down the lapel of her blue pantsuit.

  “What are those?” My jaw dropped. My face reddened. “Who has seen these?”

  “Everyone I have walked by this morning.” She put her hands on her hips and swung her leg to the side. “I about had to take to the bed last night when Stanley got up on that stage and gossiped about our family.” She rolled back her shoulders and stuck her chin in the air. “But you know what I said?”

  “No, Mama. What?” I didn’t know why I encouraged her, but the entertainment factor might help my mood.

  “I said, listen here, you can either lay down like a dog or you can jump up like a gazelle.” She leaned over and pinned a re-election pin next to my badge. “I chose gazelle.”

  “Do you even know what a gazelle looks like?” I asked.

  “Of course, I watch the National Geographic channel. I’m a gazelle and you are not going to let Lonnie Lemar, who just so happens to be a sloth, get a leg up on you.” Her brows wiggled. “We,” she gestured between me and her, “are gazelles.”

  Somehow I couldn’t picture Mama as a gazelle.

  “I happen to think sloths are cute.” Which they were. “And I’m not too concerned about being re-elected. Stanley Godbey is just upset about Owen. He wants me to solve the murder yesterday when he has no idea just how much work goes into it.”

  “Here.” She slapped a bag full of Re-elect Lowry pins on my desk. “While you are out and about today, you hand these out after you kiss all the babies you see.” She turned. “Bye, Betty. I’ll see you at Euchre.” She stopped shy of the door. “I’ll see you too, Kenni.”

  She waved her fingers in the air and was gone.

  “Oh man.”

  I had totally forgotten about Euchre tonight. It would be a great distraction from me thinking about what Finn might be doing with that woman in Chicago—but it would take time away from the investigation.

  “Betty,” I put the bag of pins on her desk, “I’m going to the cemetery to see Rowdy. He must’ve either forgotten or is running late this morning.”

  “I’ll hold down the fort.” She waved and pulled out some fingernail polish and shook the bottle as I walked out. “And I’ll hand out those pins over at Cowboy’s when I go over there to get my iced tea.”

  There was a crowd gathered around the Cottonwood Chronicle box on the corner of the alley. Everyone was in line to put in their quarter to get a look at what Edna Easterly had printed. I rubbernecked to get a look at the front-page headlines as I brought the Jeep to a stop at the red light. Poppa stood behind a couple of people who were pointing and discussing the feature article on the front page.

  “‘Catfight’ written in bold red print right across the top.” Poppa appeared next to me. “There is a picture of Myrna and Inez going at it at Lulu’s Boutique and you are standing in the background looking at them.”

  Damn Edna Easterly, my mind spat. “Why on earth would Edna print that?” I couldn’t wrap my brain around it.

  “She’s keeping the public aware of what’s going on,” Poppa said. But he and I both knew she was only stirring up trouble.

  “She’s making the public afraid, which isn’t going to help with my re-election. If the citizens of Cottonwood don’t feel safe under my authority, I’m done for.” I gripped the wheel and took off when the light turned green. “Did you read any of the article?” I asked, trying to satisfy my curiosity.

  He fidgeted in the seat like there were ants crawling all over him.

  “What?” I asked and continued through town, going north toward the cemetery. “Tell me.”

  “You aren’t going to like it, especially since you have Edna working for you.”

  Something flickered in Poppa’s eyes.

  “Tell me.” My voice was tight and so was my throat.

  “Stanley is interviewed in the article. Apparently, Edna showed him the photos and he gave a statement about the event according to his wife.”

  I looked over at Poppa and caught an unexpected concerned look on his face.

  “He also told them how you had left your sheriff’s bag unattended and Inez got a look inside, where you had your gun and holster with your Taser tucked in there, making it look like you’re sloppy with your work.” Poppa paused like he was chewing on the words that he was about to spit out.

  “Go on. I’m a big girl.” I wasn’t going to lie. It didn’t feel good to have an entire article make you sound like an imbecile and question your character and even your work ethic. Truth was that Stanley was right. I did leave the bag there and it was a big mistake.

  “He went on to say that the crime rate has gone up 100 percent.” Poppa’s voice cracked. “I’m sorry, Kenni-bug.”

  “Why are you sorry?” I acted as though I was paying a lot more attention to driving through the cemetery than I really was.

  “I honestly thought scaring off all the would-be crimes over the past few years would help you, keep you safe, but now it’s backfired and I’ve put more of a target on your back, only it’s from the citizens who should be supporting you.” Poppa disappeared.

  “Wait.” I slammed on the brakes of the Wagoneer, bringing it to a screeching halt. “I love you being here and this has nothing to do with you or me. It has everything to do with Owen.” My voice trailed off when I realized Poppa was gone. “If I had to choose between being sheriff and being haunted by you, I’d pick you every time.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Poppa’s voice answered, though I couldn’t see him. “If you didn’t need me, I might not have a purpose to be here. So we’ve got to find the killer and stop Stanley Godbey’s campaign against you.”

  Stanley Godbey was a thorn in my side. Thorns were meant to be pulled out. Stanley wasn’t going to bother me much longer. I was sure Rowdy had some answers that I was looking for.

  The city truck Rowdy drove was parked in the new section of the cemetery that had just been cultivated for new plots. The driver’s door of his truck was open. There was a shovel stuck in the ground next to a pile of dirt where it looked like he had been digging a grave.

  I pulled up behind his truck and parked. The sun was already coming out and the fresh air from such a peaceful place filled my lungs. The deep inhale and exhale of the air made the cobwebs in my brain from the night before seem to clear. My body was beginning to feel normal again. Poppa was right. I wasn’t able to drink wine. Aside from a next-day headache, it always made me tipsier or downright drunker than even moonshine.

  “Rowdy?” I called when I didn’t see any sign of him. “Rowdy, you hand-digging graves now?” I yelled even louder and walked over to the hole and looked down.

  A blood-curdling scream started from the bottom of my feet straight up through my body, leaving me shaking in my sheriff’s shoes.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I’m so glad you decided it wasn’t the right time to leave.” My
temples began to throb. Finn and I stood there as Max wheeled Rowdy’s body into the hearse. My legs felt spongy. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I couldn’t believe Rowdy would commit suicide.

  I was shocked to see Finn drive up as I was securing the scene and taking bullet fragments, soil samples from the shoe prints in the freshly dug dirt, and photos of the crime scene. The fragments from the bullet would help the lab and Max determine the distance of the gun—if it was close up for a suicide or farther away. The trace metals would also be able to help with forensics to determine the true cause of death and in this instance, whether Rowdy did kill himself or someone made it look like he had, even though the handgun was next to the body.

  “I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving while this investigation is going on.” Finn observed Rowdy’s death by bowing his head. Both of us stood silently until Max shut the hearse door. “When I heard you call Betty over the dispatch this morning, I was already on my way to the office.”

  “I’m sorry you canceled your plans.” I wanted to tell him that I was sorry he had to cancel the date, but I wasn’t ready to get into how I’d erased his message. After the town found out about Rowdy Hart, I had to have at least one person on my side other than my mama. “But great intuition.”

  “It’s no big deal.” He folded his arms across his chest while both of us stood staring at the back of the hearse. “Chicago isn’t going anywhere.”

  Max walked up with his clipboard and handed it to me with a pen for me to sign off on the release of the body from the crime scene.

  “It looks like a suicide.” Max’s eyebrows dipped as he frowned. “But I’ll do the preliminary tests to make sure.”

  I signed the paper and handed it back to him.

  “I appreciate it.” I fought for composure. I thought about Rowdy. Damn him. Did he really kill himself? Why? How was I going to tell Katy Lee and her parents?