Read Between the Tines Page 2

  Even clad in a pickle body, Daisy's waif like appearance reminded me of Russian sage. I could easily have dubbed her a daisy, but she didn't embody the easygoing, sturdy nature. She fit Russian sage not only for its light, airy foliage and flowers, but her actions and motives were often so hard to understand, it seemed as if she were transplanted from a foreign country.

  I searched the area around her, but saw no dead body.

  "Daisy," I called out, "is this some sort of joke? Where's the body?"

  "Over there." She pulled her hands from behind and pointed to the right.

  Her Briny gloves were soaked in a red liquid. Was that blood? Anxiety mounting, I followed the line of her finger to the wooded edge of the clearing. Two large black shoes, soles scuffed, jutted from a pile of leaves. On top of what I assumed was the man's head, lay a thick log covered in blood.

  Hold up! This didn't seem to be a false alarm after all.

  I shot my gaze back to Daisy's blood-soaked hands. Had she indeed found the body or was this worse that I'd feared? Had she'd gone off the deep end and murdered a man and, if so, who in the world could it be?

  Chapter Two

  "Paige, thank goodness you came." Daisy's thin face cleared and a wide smile turned up her full and abundantly lacquered lips.

  What? She was smiling. Didn't she get that someone, namely me, might think her guilty of killing this man?

  She awkwardly lurched to her feet and took hasty toddler steps toward me. A few rapid plops of the big vinyl Briny feet and they tangled together, pitching her forward.

  "Oomph," she cried out as she landed on the large belly of the costume. She looked up, her face blanching, and stabbed a finger at me. "You called the cops. How could you, Paige?"

  "No I didn't." Following the direction of her shaking finger, I spun around.

  Someone did. Probably someone who heard the radio show. Big, burly Chief of Police Mitch Lawson with two officers tailing him charged through the trees. As if he had dead body radar, his focus zeroed in on the man partially covered with leaves. "Well, well, well, Paige. What do we have here?"

  I groaned at his implication. This was not happening. Not again. No way I'd let him accuse me of any part in this guy's death. Nor would I let him railroad Daisy as he'd done to me when I'd found Bud.

  Ignoring Mitch, I helped the disheveled Daisy to her feet. "Be careful of what you say to him, Daisy. In fact, you don't have to say anything without an attorney."

  Mitch glared at me. "Best not to get on my nerves today, Paige. I already have enough to run you in for obstruction of justice."

  My mouth dropped open. "Say what?"

  He clamped a large hand on his holstered gun, a habitual gesture I assumed he thought demonstrated power. "When your friend called to tell you about the body, you were obligated to report it. Instead, you came over here like you intended to help cover it up."

  I crossed my arms. This was crazy. He was crazy. "Okay, first of all, when Daisy called, I wasn't even sure there was a body. And second, if you were listening to the show, you would have heard me tell her to call you."

  Mitch gave us his practiced bad cop glare. "Ahh, but then you changed your mind and drove out here. How do you think your actions look? Your best bet right now is to cooperate, fully."

  I clenched my fists. He had us right where he wanted us. Just like bamboo, the plant name I'd assigned to him. The big ole stalks of disorderly-running-take-over-your-property type of bamboo had pushed through my barriers and gotten me all flustered. But I wouldn't give in so easily.

  I ripped my phone from the clip and dialed Adam. "Come. Now. To the ball field. Mitch is in a snit again."

  Adam sighed. "I'm already on my way."

  Instead of getting mad at him for ignoring my earlier request, I was happy his drive from nearby McMinnville had already begun. I thanked him, stowed my phone and clamped my hand around Daisy's fur-covered arm. Jerking a thumb over my shoulder, I glared at Mitch. "We'll be over there waiting for you. You can question Daisy when Adam gets here."

  Daisy, eyes wide, let her gaze dart between us.

  "Don't worry," I said to her. "I'll take care of everything."

  Mitch scoffed, but for once said nothing. He turned and strode toward his men who had rushed to the body as fast as deer would race toward freshly planted flowers.

  "The chief didn't seem too happy with us," Daisy whispered. "I'm not sure you should have made him so mad."

  "Listen," I said as we returned to the stump. "If you don't stand up for your rights Mitch will run all over you. I learned the hard way, and I can help stop you from being railroaded."

  She blinked her thick, false lashes. "I don't know."

  "Then why did you call me? You wanted help, right? So trust me." I dropped onto the edge of the stump and patted the spot next to me. As she sat, the Briny suit brushed softly against my bare legs. Though tickling my skin, I was in no mood to laugh.

  "Mind telling me how you got covered in blood?" I asked, trying to keep my suspicions out of my tone.

  "What? You think I killed the guy?" Mouth gaping, she jumped up and drew Mitch's attention.

  "Shh. Mitch is staring at you." I pulled her down. "Whether you killed the man or not, you'll have to explain the blood. If you tell me what happened, I can think about it until Adam gets here and maybe I can come up with something to help."

  "Oh. . .help. . .yeah, thanks." She rested her hands on her knees. The blood had dried on the edges of the gloves leaving a brown tinged ring. "When I got back here and saw the big log on the guy's head, I thought, oh no, the log fell off the tree and trapped him. I need to free the poor guy."

  Imagining her finding the man, I looked at the spot where he lay. All the trees in his vicinity were young saplings dreaming of the day they would produce a thick log like the one lying on the victim. Still, I was certain she was telling the truth no matter how bizarre the logic. That was how Daisy's mind worked.

  "So what did you do?" I asked.

  "I ran over there and picked up the log." She wrapped her arms around her middle and started rocking. "Oh, Paige, it was awful. Just awful. His head was so smashed, but I checked for a pulse anyway." She halted mid rock and looked at me with baffled eyes. "You know what? I don't think the log fell on him. I think someone hit him with it. Lots of times. They killed him."

  "Do you know who the man is?"

  "No, I couldn't tell. There was so much blood, I—" She started crying.

  I rubbed her back in small little circles I hoped would give comfort and decided to end my interrogation. She'd have to recount all of these horrific details as soon as Adam got here and, with my limited experience in murder investigations, it's not as if I really could help her. At least not other than providing moral support. So I continued to rub her back and watched the officers work.

  Taking small sure steps, the men thoroughly combed the area. One of them placed a tented card painted with the number one on the grass then snapped a picture. The shutter click ricocheted through the clearing, stirring birds overhead. Occasionally the officers picked up items and put them in plastic bags. Mitch held the wallet from the deceased and talked into his phone, probably calling the medical examiner.

  With Mitch holding the wallet, we'd soon know this poor guy's identity. Did I know the man lying there? Probably. As small as Serendipity was, I most likely had at minimum a passing knowledge of him. Soon his family members going about their day as usual would have their world thrown into turmoil.

  How horrible. Utterly horrible. I closed my eyes and offered a prayer for the family and their situation.

  "What're you doing?" Daisy asked after a few minutes.

  I opened my eyes. "Praying."

  She rolled her bluer than blue eyes. "Oh, yeah, I forgot you believe all that junk."

  Had she not been fresh from the discovery of a body, I might've snapped at having my faith called junk, but I cut her some slack. "Faith gets you through tough times."

  "I never
did get what the big deal was. Like when Mitch tried to send you to jail last month. If your god could help you why didn't he make Mitch back off?"

  I pondered the serious expression on her face. Now was probably not a time to get into this, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass. "God could take away our struggles and sometimes He does. Other times He lets us go through the difficulty so we can learn from the experience. But He's always there, ready to listen."

  Her face remained blank. "Huh? You lost me."

  "Think of how you felt when you found the body. You needed someone to be with you so you called me. I needed to remember God was with me just now and praying is just like calling Him."

  She raised penciled-in eyebrows. "Okay, I kinda see, but I still don't know why he doesn't just help you out."

  "Because He's like a father. He wants you to have a wonderful life, but sometimes it's better for you to work through the problem so you learn to cope with all life throws at you."

  Her skinny brows crinkled. "So what did you learn from that whole mess last month?"

  "Things happen and you have no control over them so why spend time trying."

  "I don't try to control things."

  I laughed at her literal interpretation. "I meant me, Daisy. I like to control things."

  She nodded rapidly. "Don't I know it. At work, you're always acting like the boss."

  I shook my head and laughed again. "I am the boss."

  "Oh, yeah, right." Her eyes drifted off, and she jabbed a fuzzy finger at the edge of the woods. "Look, there's Adam."

  My sweetie, wearing dark blue jeans paired with a deep green polo shirt, stood arguing with a uniformed officer who was turning red and seemed to want to keep Adam out of the crime scene. When I first met Adam, I didn't think he was super attractive. His eyes and nose were a little too large for his face. If you stared at him when he was still, the features seemed out of place, but when he smiled or grew animated like now, everything fit splendidly and my heart raced from seeing him.

  That first day I'd nicknamed him an iris for the plain pointed leaves shooting from the ground before a stunning display of flowers took your breath away, and I haven't changed my mind. Irises were, in my opinion, the most varied and useful genus in the garden. Like them, Adam was very low maintenance and trouble free. Oh, and very important in life recently, irises were quite pest-free, which came in handy when I needed protection from a pest like Mitch.

  Sadly, Adam wasn't trouble free right now. In fact, he was waving his fists and raising his voice, demanding to see me. Mitch took his time, sauntering over to his officer to authorize Adam's entry.

  As soon as Mitch stepped back, Adam brushed past him and charged across the clearing. "Are you two okay?"

  At the concern in his eyes, I smiled to ease his worry. "We're fine. But I think Mitch might try to pin this on Daisy."

  Adam gave Daisy a tight smile. A practiced lawyer's I'm-here-to-help-but-I'm-not-a-miracle-worker smile. He used the same one on me at our first encounter when Mitch thought I was a prime murder suspect.

  Adam clapped his hands together and peered at me. "Okay, first things first. If you think Mitch is trying to implicate Daisy then you also think the man was murdered. Who is he?"

  "We don't know yet. But I think Mitch does."

  "He didn’t mention it, but let me see if I can find out." Adam spun and marched with purposeful strides to Mitch.

  The pair talked, perhaps argued, as Mitch's face tensed and his gestures grew lively. Adam tipped his head in our direction. Mitch looked at us. I stared back and tapped a toe. Hours seemed to tick past as I waited for the news. Their motions grew more animated. Adam shook his head and pivoted. Looking disgusted, he rushed back to us.

  "What'd he say?" I peered into his troubled eyes. "Did he tell you who it is?"

  "No, but he did tell me he needs to talk with Daisy. I tried to get him to schedule an appointment at the station later. He won't hear of it. Said the blood all over her hands and suit are enough to take her in."

  "Arrest me?" Daisy jumped up, her vinyl feet clacking together.

  Adam shook his head. "He's taking you to the office for questioning."

  I placed a protective hand on Daisy's shoulder. "If he doesn't have enough for an arrest, why haul her down there when he could ask the same questions here?"

  More frustrated than I'd ever seen, Adam peered at me. "He said something about being tired of you interfering with his job."

  Adam's irritated scowl also said he was tired of me butting into these crimes. Shoot, Daisy had the same expression on her face. I was only trying to help. Maybe I was trying just a teensy bit too hard to control this situation and needed to lighten up.

  In defeat, I looked up. Okay, God, I get the point.

  "I'll talk to him," I said and crossed over to Mitch. I forced a smile. "Mitch, please don't take Daisy to the station. I'm sorry I've been pushy. If I promise to keep my mouth shut, will you talk to her here?"

  He made a big production of thinking it over—hemming and hawing, his finger tapping on his chin. "Not a word?"

  "Not a word."

  "I'm not sure I can trust you."

  My temper was flaring, and I wasn't sure I could trust myself much longer either. "Please, don't make Daisy pay for your frustrations with me. It isn't her fault."

  "Fine," he said, his eyes brightening from thunderous to mildly perturbed. "Let's get to it."

  He marched ahead, but I dragged behind. How was I going to follow through on my promise? Could I possibly stand by and watch him run through his tough cop routine with Daisy and not try to stop him? I highly doubted it, but only time would tell.

  Chapter Three

  As I approached, I heard Adam tell Daisy if she was uncomfortable answering questions to look at him, and he would nod if she should respond. He would also interrupt if she should stop talking. I wanted to rush ahead and tell Adam Daisy frequently misunderstood the subtleties that Mitch would surely use in his questioning and to provide her with more explicit directions, but the snarly lawman would interpret my words as interference.

  Besides our recent tussle over Bud's death, Mitch held a gigantic grudge against me from high school. At a class picnic, he'd bragged about making a dangerous jump off a train trestle into the river. Thinking he'd never do it, I called him on it in front of everyone. He couldn't back down without losing face so he jumped, blowing out his knee. He missed his senior year of football and any chance to go to college on a scholarship. He also blew off our friendship along the way and since I'd come back to Serendipity to live, he'd barely tolerated me.

  As if he could feel my thoughts, he gave me a practiced glare then took out a small note pad and looked down on Daisy. "Your full name?"

  Daisy pulled back her shoulders, her ample chest pushing free of the bright green suit. "Daisy Rose Plante."

  A flash of humor took over Mitch's face, which I didn't appreciate. Not only were Daisy and I sisters in the whole finding a body thing, but we both had mothers who didn't think twice before giving us double meaning names. I couldn't count the times Paige Turner nearly led to a black eye in my youth. Daisy fought a similar battle.

  "Okay, Ms. Plante, give me a detailed description of how you came upon the body."

  "Well, I walked out here and—"

  Mitch held up his hand. "Back up. Exactly why did you come here?"

  Face strained, she peered at Adam. He gave a barely perceptible nod. She shook her head. He nodded again.

  "I can't tell you," she blurted out. "It doesn't matter anyway. It has nothing to do with finding him. Honest. I promise."

  "I'm afraid answering my question isn't optional, Ms. Plante." Mitch looked at Adam. "Please instruct your client to answer."

  "I can't. I mean, I won't." Daisy turned to face me. "I'll tell Paige and then she can tell you."

  "I can't talk." I tipped my head at Mitch.

  Daisy crossed her arms. "Then we'll just have to move to the next question."
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  Mitch and Adam both seemed like they wanted to strangle Daisy. I wasn't far behind. What could she be too embarrassed to admit?

  Mitch cleared his throat. "Fine, tell Paige. But hurry up."

  Daisy grabbed my hand and dragged me out of earshot. "The suit was binding something awful, and I had to fix it."

  I laughed at what I thought I heard her say. "What?"

  She tugged on the inside of the costume molded to her body like a one-piece bathing suit. "This was riding up something fierce. Awful painful. I had to adjust it, but the principal locked up the school after I changed into the costume. I couldn't find him and say, 'excuse me, Mr. Principal but could you let me into the school. My suit is binding up.' I couldn't fix it in public, or I'd get fired for opening the costume in front of others. So I came out here where no one would see me."

  I forced back a laugh and giving my eyes an understanding scrunch, I nodded. "I see."

  "So, go tell them. I'll wait here until they know."

  "It's not a big deal, Daisy."

  She seemed ready to pour tears. "Not to you. You aren't the one the whole town will talk about when they hear."

  She had a point. This would spread through Serendipity like blight on a rose bush. I could empathize. When I'd found Bud, my name was bandied about and remained airborne until I solved the crime. I would do whatever I could to keep that from happening to Daisy. I gave her a quick hug then returned to the pair and explained her dilemma.

  Mitch howled. This was the first time I'd seen him laugh this earnestly since I'd moved back to town a little over a year ago. Who knew it took a simple clothing malfunction to make him laugh? Would have been worth the pain had I known. But I wouldn't downplay Daisy's discomfort. "This is embarrassing enough for Daisy without your chuckles. I hope you'll keep her reason for being out here just between us. Now, can we resume your questions so she can go?"