Deserts, Driving, and Derelicts Read online

  “Tammy?” He looked back at me.

  “She passed out.” I blinked a few times and reality started to sink in.

  He stood up and twisted around. He pointed to the bar.

  “Grab a water and a towel,” he instructed me.

  “What’s going on here?” Norman Pettleman stood at the door of the office. He looked around the room and when he saw Camille in the chair, he turned white. Then his eyes floated down to Tammy Jo. “Tammy!” he gasped, dropping the briefcase from his grip and rush to Ty.

  “Mae, water,” Ty told me again.

  “Okay.” I felt like a robot and like I was having some out of body experience. I grabbed the water and unscrewed the top, dousing the towel on my way over to Ty.

  Ty took the towel and gently patted Tammy’s head and face with it. Norman held her hand in his and stroked it. The sound of footsteps thundered into the house.

  “Police! Come out with your hands up!” Hank’s voice was deep and boisterous.

  Ty and I looked at each other. He shrugged, and we walked out the door with our hands up. The police officers with Hank ran over to us with their guns drawn and pointing directly at our chests. One took Ty by the arm and one jerked me by the arm. The third officer ran into the office where Tammy and Camille’s body were.

  “What happened?” Hank looked at me, ignoring Ty.

  Detective Elmo Burke, Hank’s partner, entered the crime scene. He had the same black suit, round glasses, and shiny bald spot on the top of his head that I remembered from the first time I’d met him.

  “Listen, man. I just. . .” Ty started to talk.

  “I’m not talking to you, Randal.” Hank put his hand up. “Mae, you called me. What happened?”

  “Sir, there’s two bodies.” The officer stuck his head out the door of the office. “And we can’t get the other man to let go of the lady on the ground.”

  “Tammy Jo Bentley isn’t dead. She passed out.” Somehow, I was able to get the words out. “Norman is her. . .”

  “I know who Norman is. You stay here.” He instructed me. He looked at the officer who still had me by the arms. “You come with me.”

  “What about me?” Ty questioned, but Hank ignored him. “Jerk,” Ty muttered when he didn’t get a response.

  The sound of car doors shutting and feet pounding up the front steps of the house caused me to look back down the hall.

  Queenie and Dottie ran in. They both had on spandex, tank tops, headbands, and leggings. Queenie looked like a big sun in yellow and Dottie was wearing light blue.

  “What’s going on?” Dottie saw Ty and then glanced down the hall at me. “Mae!” She rushed towards me.

  “Ma’am, you need to stay right there. This is a crime scene.” The officer who had Ty by the arm had let go and made a barrier between Ty and Dottie.

  Norman Pettleman had been led out of the room and seated on the hall floor with his back against the wall. The officer was saying something to him and Norman just kept nodding with a blank look on his face.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked her.

  “Police scanner. Queenie and I were getting ready to go to her Jazzercise Dance Mix class and she was picking me up when I heard it come over the scanner.” That would explain their outfits.

  “Mae!” Hank Sharp called my name and looked out the door of the office. His brows rose an inch when he saw Dottie and Queenie. “Can I talk to you in here?”

  “Sure.” I nodded real fast and went back into the room, keeping my eyes off of that chair. The officer had Tammy sitting up. Next to her was a small vial that looked to be smelling salts.

  “Can you tell me what happened here?” he asked. He’d already put on white gloves on his hands and a pair of booties on his shoes. So had the other officer.

  “I. . . .” my voice quivered. My body started to shake a little.

  “Are you okay?” Hank snapped the gloves off his hands. He ran his warm hand down my arm and turned me towards him, using his finger to lift my chin to meet his eyes. “Look at me,” his words were soft, almost comforting. “Are you okay?” He asked with sincerity.

  I licked my lips and sucked in a deep breath. Looking only at him helped me find my voice.

  “I cleaned here yesterday for Betts Hager. I forgot to get the check for Betts and told her that I’d stop by for the check after I picked Ty up from the airport.” I looked over at Tammy Jo when I heard her sobbing. The officer was doing his best to try to talk to her, but she was getting louder and louder as the seconds ticked past.

  “Mae, what can you tell me about what happened here?” He asked.

  “She told me to follow her to the office. Harrison’s office.” I tried to recall every step.

  “Tammy told you or the nanny?” He asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Tammy asked me to come to the office because that’s where the checkbook was. When we opened the door, she flipped on the light and that’s when we saw Camille. Tammy Jo fainted and I called you.”

  “Ty?” He asked.

  “He came running into the house when he heard Tammy scream.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the county coroner walking in and heading straight to the body.

  “Did you touch anything?” Hank asked, still in a soft voice as if he were talking to a child.

  “No. Yes. No.” I shook my head and looked over at the coroner as she started to look over the nanny’s body.

  “Which is it?” He asked and touched my arm again, making me look at him. “Just keep looking at me.”

  “Ty came in and he saw that Tammy Jo had fainted or I told him that or something.” It was a little fuzzy to me. “He told me to grab a water bottle and towel from the bar so we could put it on Tammy.”

  “That’s all you touched?” He asked with an expression of relief on his face.

  “That’s all.” I nodded.

  “You did good calling me.” He offered a smile. “I want you to go on home and I’ll either stop by later or have you come down to the station to give a recorded statement.”

  “Why would someone kill her?” I asked.

  “That’s a good question. I don’t know yet. You weren’t the first person to call about the murder. Someone called it in anonymously, saying that a loud scream had come from Tammy Jo’s house. It was ten minutes before you called and I was already on my way.” He pulled his shoulders back when the officer came over and whispered something about the nanny not being dead for long. “You can join the others outside and send in Ty.”

  “Okay.” I looked back at the coroner and she was staring back at me.

  Ty had joined Dottie and Queenie in the foyer of the house. The officer had taken yellow crime scene tape and strung it across the beginning of the hall. I ducked down under it and walked over to them.

  “Are you okay?” Ty asked.

  “I’m fine. Hank wants to talk to you now.” I pinched a smile that faltered a little at the corners. Once again, I got Ty tangled up in a mess.

  This wasn’t the first time. Last time he was in town, I practically accused him of killing my ex.

  “Mmmmmm,mmmm.” Queenie’s lips were pressed together. “He’s all man.” She watched Ty walk down the hall.

  “His dad’s not bad either,” Dottie replied.

  “You two, stop it. Someone is dead,” I whispered and tugged on them to follow me outside.

  “What happened?” Dottie asked and patted her hands to her chest, taking out a cigarette.

  “What is that?” Queenie snarled. “You’re supposed to be quitting and we were going to Jazzercise.” Queenie’s voice got louder. “Were you going to take a puff between jazz hands?”

  “Shush your mouth. I’m nervous.” She found a lighter in there too.

  I wasn’t going to argue with either of them. My head was too busy trying to wrap around what’d happened in the last hour or so that we’d been there. It could’ve been longer, but I’d lost track of time.

  “Go on, Mae.” D
ottie encouraged me. “What happened?”

  “Tammy Jo and I found the dog nanny with a knife in her chest. That’s it. She clearly dead, but I did hear the officer tell Hank that she’d not been dead long.” I tried to recall if I’d seen something when I’d driven up, but there wasn’t anything I could remember that was out of the ordinary.

  “This is awful. Are you sure it was murder?” Queenie asked.

  “Nah,” Dottie said with a hint of sarcasm. “The nanny went into the office and shoved a knife into her own chest.”

  “Who would do this to her?” Queenie and Dottie asked all sort of unanswerable questions as they bantered back and forth until they’d decided they’d seen enough.

  “I guess this will be the talk of the town.” Queenie nudged Dottie. “Now that I missed teaching my class, do you want to go back to the Laundry Club for a cup of coffee?”

  “I am guessing we should. In case someone comes in to ask us about this.” Dottie gave a slight gesture to Tammy Jo’s house.

  It wasn’t too long after they left that Ty came back out.

  “What did Hank say?” I asked a flustered Ty.

  “He’s just a jerk. He wanted to know why I was in town and how long I was staying. Nothing that had to do with this.” He walked towards the minivan. “Are you coming?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I guess we can go.” I reached into my pocket for the keys.

  “Do you want me to drive? You seem a little unsteady still.” He noticed I was trying to keep my hands from shaking.

  Without even saying a word, I handed him the keys. He opened the passenger door for me and took my elbow to help me into the van. He shut the door and Hank Sharp was staring at me from the front door.

  As if dealing with seeing a dead body wasn’t enough, the chill between Ty and Hank was impossible to ignore.

  Ty started the van and put it into gear, stepping on the gas pedal. We didn’t say a word. On the way down the driveway, I noticed the gardener was mowing the pasture.

  “Slow down!” Ty jerked the wheel as a car barreled down the driveway, almost hitting us. For just a second, I saw the person driving the car. It was Ava Cox.

  “What on earth is she doing here?” I had a death grip on the door handle while Ty fought to keep the van on the driveway.

  “She’s going to kill someone.” He steadied the wheel then stopped the van, looking in the rearview mirror. “Who is that?”

  “That was Ava Cox.” I turned completely around in my seat to look out the back windows.

  “Related to Grady and Jr?” Ty remembered that my now-deceased ex-husband Paul’s killer was Grady Cox, Jr., the son of Ava and Grady Cox, victims of Paul’s ponzi scheme.

  “The one and only wife and mother,” My voice trailed off as I slowly turned around.

  “I wonder what she’s doing going to see Tammy Jo Bentley?” He asked a very good question that had my curiosity set on high alert.

  “I don’t know, but I want to.” I let out a deep sigh of relief as I felt calmness sweep over me once Ty had the van heading straight to town and away from the Bentleys.

  NINE

  Ty and I didn’t have much to say after we left Tammy Jo’s. I was too busy wondering who in the world would kill Camille.

  “Poor Tammy Jo,” I finally spoke after Ty had pulled into the parking lot of hospital where his dad should’ve been getting discharged from about now.

  “I can’t believe it. Was anyone else in the house when you got there?” He turned off the ignition and put the keys on the middle console.

  “No. She said it was just her.” I snapped my fingers. “There were two glasses of wine and a cheese plate on the deck where she was standing.” It was a little tidbit I’d forgotten to tell Hank Sharp.

  “And what does that prove?” Ty asked.

  “Maybe whoever she was eating with went into the house and killed the nanny.” It didn’t sound that farfetched.

  Ty laughed.

  “What?” I asked. “You asked me if anyone else was there. Obviously, there was.” I shrugged.

  “I’m not laughing at that. I’m laughing because there’s so much excitement in your voice when you’ve pulled this theory out of the air. It’s like you’re passionate about this. That’s all.” He unlocked the doors and put his hand on the handle. “Thanks for picking me up.” Slowly, his head turned towards me. “I’m also sorry that I didn’t get the opportunity to say goodbye before I left. I’d like to make it up to you and take you to supper sometime. And not a campground supper.”

  “You mean like a real restaurant or the Normal diner?” I asked, knowing that more than likely he was going to go back to work there. Especially now that his dad has been hurt.

  “That’s exactly what I mean. I’d like to make it up to you,” he said in a soft tone.

  “Are you taking me on a date?” I teased and narrowed my eyes. “Or you trying to get out of paying for any extras at the campground?”

  “Yep. That’s it. You got me.” He winked and got out of the car, leaving me hanging on his every word.

  I tried to stop the huge smile on my face and clumsily climbed over the console of the van, nearly falling face forward into the dash. When I finally got situated in the driver’s seat, I looked out of the windshield. Ty had watched me maneuver to the driver’s seat and was standing in front of the hospital, looking at me and shaking his head.

  On the way back to the campground, I tried like heck to remember things about Tammy Jo’s house and what’d happened, but all my thoughts were about Ty. I even looked at my phone a few times to see if he’d already texted me.

  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was bright blue with the sun beaming down on the town. The campground had a slight breeze due to all the big trees that help shield. Though it was smoldering hot, it would be gorgeous on the hiking trails of Daniel Boone National Park.

  The campground was starting to look like a desert. Literally. Dottie had gone overboard with the theme. She had blowup cactuses tied down around the lake. She’d turned the tiki bar into a desert bar by scattering cowboy boots and a few sombreros around. These parties had become very popular and it was nice that the campers had the opportunity to get to know each other.

  I’d learned that part of the camping community was learning where everyone was from. A few of the campers had made plans to travel to each other’s states and meet up at different parks around the country. I especially loved hearing about favorite national parks and locations. It was a fun atmosphere and I was honored to be part of it.

  I pulled the van around the lake and saw Henry and Bobby Ray talking to a few guests.

  “Howdy,” Henry greeted me.

  “Hey.” I motioned for him to come to the open window. “Do you mind jumping in and giving me a hand with Ty’s bags.”

  “Bags?” Henry poked his head into the van. “What’s up with all that?”

  “Before I dropped him off at the hospital, he said that he was moving back and brought some stuff with him.” I left out the part about the murder and the fact Ty’d asked me out.

  “I’ll be back.” Henry told the group he was talking to and got in. “So, did y’all reconnect that little spark between you?”

  “Spark?” I laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  “Mmhhh, there was no denying the spark you two had going the night before he left.” Henry knew everything about this campground and everyone in it. “But if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. I’ve got eyes.”

  When we got to Ty’s camper, I parked the car and got out without saying a word, letting Henry rely on his eyes.

  I used the key I had and unlocked the camper while Henry grabbed a couple of the bags.

  “Don’t mess with those,” Henry said when I went back to the van to grab a bag.

  “I’m good. I can help.” It sounded like I really wanted to help, but I really just wanted to touch Ty’s suitcase.

  “Here.” Henry took the bag from me, just as my phone rang in my b
ack pocket. “You go on and get done what you need to get done. I’ve got this.”

  “Okay. Fine.” I gave in knowing that Henry was too much of a gentleman to let me even take one step carrying something. “Ava Cox,” I whispered and read the name scrolling across my phone. “Henry, you have this?” I hit the answer button when he nodded and gestured for me to go on. “Hello?”

  I got into the van and put it in gear, turning the wheel back towards my camper.

  “Mae, this is Ava Cox. I know I’m the last person you thought you’d ever hear from, but I need to talk to you right now.” She left no room for a protest. “I’m on my way over to Happy Trails and I’d like a cup of coffee. The detective said you had a nice coffeemaker.”

  “Ava?” I pulled the phone from my ear when I noticed it went silent. “She hung up on me,” I said and pulled onto the concrete pad next to my camper.

  Before I got out of the car, I sent Betts Hager a text telling her I’d yet been able to go to the nursing home to clean the two apartments there, but I’d do them this afternoon. With a follow up text to let her know that we’d meet up and exchange cars after that. Now that Ty was back, Betts was free from babysitting his brothers and should be able to resume her cleaning schedule.

  After I filled the coffeepot’s carafe with water and scooped coffee into the basket, I quickly pulled my unruly hair into a ponytail and changed my clothes into a pair of shorts and tank top. It was way too hot to try to look cute, especially when I was just going to clean up after a couple little old ladies. I did have my eye on a cute jumper to pull on after I finished at the nursing home, in case I had a visitor. Like Ty.

  The coffeepot beeped to tell me that the brewing cycle was complete while I splashed water on my face. My eyes were closed as the cold water hit my face. They jerked open when the image of Camille’s eyes staring blankly back at me with the knife in her chest popped into my head. I stood in front of the mirror, staring back at myself with the towel over my mouth. There was a knock at the door and I swiped the towel across my face.

  “Come in,” I stuck my head out the bathroom door and hollered.