Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
The phone in Kenneally’s pocket rang, drawing his attention away from the news magazine he’d been reading. He put it down and fished his phone out to answer, a smile spreading across his face. “Well, I hope this call means you’re coming to Dixie after Christmas?”
“I’ll be down there the day after with my fishing gear. Go ahead and make arrangements for a boat,” Hank Patterson said. “How’s the weather holding up?”
“Sunny and warm. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any snow.”
“It could turn any second,” Selena called from her desk.
“What was that?” Hank asked.
“The mayor’s secretary. She said the weather could turn anytime and we’d have snow for Christmas,” Kenneally explained.
“We’ve got enough of the white stuff in Eagle Rock if you want some of it. I’ll be glad to ship it to you,” Hank offered.
“Are Sadie and the children coming with you?” he asked.
“They are,” Hank replied. “I found a quaint house, the kind she loves to rent between Dixie and Mambaloa, so I can visit with the boys out that way while I’m down taking in the fishing with you.”
“About that…”
“What?” Hank asked.
“You know how you sent me down because we thought the mayor was in danger?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s been three more people killed since I arrived,” Kenneally said. “And we believe there will be another one before it all ends.”
“Hells bells, Ken. What kind of a place am I bringing my family down to?” Hank demanded. “Why didn’t you call me and let me know things had escalated?”
“You’re right,” Kenneally said. “I’ve just been shocked by it unfolding before us that I didn’t stop to think how it would impact you.”
“Damn right. Sadie will rethink coming now. Forget the alligators and the snakes.”
“But even if there is another murder, we think we know why the person is going to be killed,” Kenneally told him.
“You do?”
“There was a note left at the last crime scene claiming there was one last debt to be paid,” he explained. “We just don’t know what that is or who has to pay it.”
“So, these murders all are connected somehow?” Hank deduced.
“Except for Gertrude, the mayor’s next-door neighbor. She and her little dog got in the way and possibly saw the killer and was taken out,” Kenneally said. “We know this because there was a note left with her body that said stop meddling and the handwriting was the same.”
Hank abrupt chuckle reassured Kenneally. “Oh man. I bet you have been loving this mission.”
“Beside all the murders, the food has been great,” Kenneally told him. “Ami is a wonderful cook, exceptional company, and pleasant to be around.”
“Really?” Hank said. “Tell me more.”
“I’ll let you see for yourself when you meet her. She’s looking forward to when you and Sadie come down. She enjoys fishing and has talked about us going out on the bayou soon. She might join us. Does Sadie like to fish?”
“Sadie?” Hank’s voice pitched an octave. Then he chuckled. “Not that I know of.”
“Too bad.” Kenneally, shook his head even though Hank couldn’t see him. “I could see the four of us having a good time on the boat.”
“Could you?” Hank said. “I’m intrigued and I can’t wait to meet Ami Novak and see what kind of woman she is to have turned your head like this.”
“Who said she’d turned my head?” Kenneally asked.
Hank chuckled again. “Isn’t it obvious by the way you are talking of bringing her and my wife on our fishing trip when you know Sadie is all set to head off on a shopping spree instead. Not to mention that we’re bringing the kids down with us. I can’t take them out on the water for the day.”
“I remember,” he assured his friend. “But I can’t see Sadie taking them shopping with her either.”
“Touché,” Hank admitted. “She’s bringing an au pair with us for the trip, not that I agree with having someone watch the children during a family vacation, but it does help when we are both busy. The au pair has worked for us before, and she is great with the kids, tailoring fun activities they enjoy. And I never know when I’m going to get called away on business.”
“I’m hoping things will be wrapped up here before you come down and Ami will not be so preoccupied with keeping the community safe,” Kenneally said.
“I’m sure the authorities have everything under control where these murders are concerned,” Hank said. “Listen, I’d like to keep discussing this, but I have a meeting in a few minutes. Let’s talk more later. I want to hear what you’re doing to keep Ami safe and offer any advice.”
“Sure. I feel like I’m sitting on the sidelines here and could be doing more.”
“That doesn’t sound like you at all,” Hank said. “I’ll call you back later for sure.”
“Later.” Kenneally put his phone away and noticed the time. He was tired of sitting waiting around all day while Ami worked. But that was what security detail required sometimes.
He got up and made himself a cup of coffee. “Do you want a cup?” he asked Selena.
“I’m good, thank you,” she said from her desk without looking away from her computer screen.
“I need to get out of here and stretch my legs,” he told her. “If Ami is looking for me before I return have her call me.”
“Will do,” Selena said.
Kenneally headed out thinking about the last murder scene. He couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something about it that bothered him. He hadn’t mentioned it to Ami because he didn’t want to raise alarm, especially if he couldn’t even figure out what seemed off about it. And then it dawned on him. How had Connor and Becky Simmons died? Sure, they had been found face planted in their respective dishes, but that couldn’t have been the actual cause of death. Something had to have killed them prior to Connor having his penis severed and Becky having her tongue cut out.
He wondered if Harold had finished the autopsy and called Ami with the cause of death. If he had, she’d not emerged from her office to tell him yet.
On the ride in, she’d said she had a full plate this morning and a late meeting that would take up most of the afternoon. She wasn’t even sure if she would be able to have lunch with him today. So, he might be on his own and if he was, he’d manage just fine.
When he arrived at the bed and breakfast, he wasn’t surprised to find yellow crime scene tape roping off the perimeter to keep a curious public from going too far up the sidewalk or around the side of the house.
But that didn’t stop Kenneally from finding a way to snake inside so he could figure out how the killer entered the Simmons’ home Sunday night.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out his lockpick toolset and unzipped the pouch and used the tools necessary to pick the lock on the back door. Then he slipped into a pair of latex gloves he kept in the pouch as well and opened the door, discovering a mudroom right off the kitchen. A good location for anyone to hide without being spotted. And then there was the curtained pantry that allowed anyone to step inside and hover in the darkened recesses without being seen, but giving a clear view of the stove from the slit where the curtains came together. But the question remained how would the killer get past either Connor or Becky without them catching him or her in the act?
That was the big question. Who did the cooking at the bed and breakfast? From the one conversation he’d had with the couple, he knew that Connor made cookies for the cookie crawl so it stood to chance that both of them cooked meals. And how would they have not heard the back door from opening?
Kenneally careful walked from the kitchen into the dining room where the murder had taken place. The blood stains on the floor from where Connor had bled out were still visible even though it was obvious someone had tried to clean it away. The chairs were pushed away from the table and the tablecloth had been removed while the other tables in the room looked ready for guests to be seated.
He doubted if anyone would ever eat in this room again unless after probate a family member decided to reopen the business or sold it and the new owners did the same. It really was a shame.
Looking around the room once more, he didn’t see any evidence that would give him a clue to who the killer might be so he returned to the kitchen and looked more closely at the stove. He was about to give up in frustration when he spotted what looked like a stray hair. He was certain that the CSI team had been there and dusted for stray evidence all over the surface so where had that come from?
Using his handkerchief, he opened several kitchen drawers until he found a Ziplock baggie and a spool of packing tape. He used the tape to pick up the hair and then bent down the ends of the tape and folded in the sides of it as well keeping the hair visible before slipping it into the baggie.
Knowing he needed to get this new evidence to the medical examiner to test immediately, he prepared to leave when the back door opened, and sheriff Tom McManus entered.
“What are you doing breaking into my crime scene, Kenneally?” he asked, putting his hands on his waist. “You know I should arrest you.”
“I was looking for clues as to how the killer kept from being detected by Connor and Becky before they were murdered,” he said. “You brought Ami and me through the front door. I never saw the kitchen and I never saw the mudroom. That was the perfect place for someone to hide.”
“I don’t give a damn what you were trying to do. You could have seen all of that from outside the backdoor, you didn’t have to cross the crime scene.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But if I did, I wouldn’t have discovered this.”
He held up the baggie for Tom to see.
“What’s that?”
“A hair,” Kenneally said. “I don’t know how the crime scene team missed it on the stove when they dusted for evidence, but it was lying there plain as day.”
Tom grabbed the bag and held it up in the light. “What did you pick it up with? Is that packing tape?”
“Rudimentary, I know, but it works.”
“Was it a clean–”
“Yes,” he cut Tom off and showed him he was wearing latex gloves.
“Meticulous of you.” Tom shook his head. “I guess this is what you call cutting corners when you’re in the field.”
“I have a question for you,” Kenneally said. “It’s bothered me since I came in the back and discovered possible hiding spots that the killer could have used to prevent Connor or Becky from seeing him. But wouldn’t they have heard the door opening. I sure heard you come in.”
“They were out front decorating the front yard. They always did it on that Sunday evening every year,” Tom said. “I’m sure they left the gumbo and etouffee simmering while they worked. And not knowing who would eat what, the killer laced both pots with the same amount to cyanide.”
“So, it was the same as what killed Judson,” Kenneally said.
“Yep,” Tom said, shaking the baggie. “Come on, you can ride over to the Harold’s office with me.”
“Mind my asking how you knew I was in here?” he asked.
“A nosy business owner spotted you going around the side of the building and not coming back around,” Tom explained.
“I could have been out for a walk and cut through to next street over,” Kenneally protested annoyed that he’d been spotted.
“I know and I get calls like this all the time from citizens who mean well, who let their imaginations run wild,” Tom explained. “But one day they could be on the money, like today. I caught you red handed, but for the right reasons.”
Kenneally shook his head. “How do you think that hair was overlooked by the CSI team?”
“Not sure and I’m not going to dwell on it,” Tom said. “We’ll test it and see if we can identify it. Then we’ll worry with it. But let’s keep this between you, me, and Harold for now. This could be the DNA evidence we have been needing to crack this case wide open. Ami has enough on her shoulder’s right now. No need to mention it if this doesn’t pan out.”
“Agree,” Kenneally said.
“And no more going into my crime scenes or I will throw you behind bars.”
“Understood.”
“You look like you could use a cup of tea,” Selena observed as Ami returned from her late afternoon meeting.
“You’ve got that right,” Ami sighed. “And it was a long one. All I want right now is to get out of these shoes.”
“One cup of tea, coming up,” Selena sang as Ami headed into her office. Once the door was closed, she sank onto the sofa, eased out of her heels, and began to gently massage her aching feet. It had been a long day, and all she really wanted to do was go home, but she still had one more phone meeting before that could happen.
And where was Kenneally? He hadn’t been in the reception area she’d ask Selena when she brought in the tea. Selena always knew everything. With a sigh, she stretched out on the sofa and closed her eyes.
The door opened and Selena came in wearing a cheery smile. “Here’s your tea. I also brought you a Christmas cookie to go with it. I baked them last night.”
“Thank you,” Ami said. “Have you seen Kenneally?”
“Not since before lunch. He had a phone call from someone and then he said he had to go out and stretch his legs. That if you were looking for him, to call him, and you had his number.”
“Was he talking to a man?” Ami took an appreciative sip of tea.
Selena nodded. “They were talking about a boat and fishing. Said you’d like to go too. I wasn’t eavesdropping, but Kenneally’s voice is so deep and clear, I could hear him from my desk as I worked.”
“Oh, I know,” Ami said. “He has a lovely voice.”
“That he does. Nice southern drawl to it. Where is he from originally?” Selena asked.
“South Carolina.”
“Ah,” Selena said. “That explains it.”
“But he didn’t give any indication where he was going except out for a walk?” Ami asked.
“Afraid not.”
“He’s been gone a long time, then,” Ami said slowly, a sense of worry beginning in the pit of her stomach. Frowning, she asked, “Do you suppose he got lost?” At her friend’s shrug, “I better call him just to check in.”
“Of course,” Selena left the office be her expression was worried.
Ami took her phone from her jacket and dialed his number. It rang a few times before he finally answered.
“Kenneally speaking,” he said.
“Ami here,” she returned.
“Hi.”
“Are you nearby?” she asked.
“No. I’m with the sheriff out on a call.”
“Tom?” she asked. “How’d you end up with him?”
“He caught me trespassing on his crime scene earlier and I’ve been with him ever since,” he said.
“You did what?” The cup wobbled in Ami’s hand and she quickly set it on the floor. “I don’t believe this. Did he arrest you?”
“I’m not in custody,” he clarified with a laugh. “But he threatened to put my butt in jail if I did it again. When we were on our way back to your office when he got a call to work a wreck out near the high school. A little fender bender as school was getting out. Shouldn’t take too long.”
“Some detour,” she said. “Selena tells me you left before lunch for a walk.”
“Long story.”
“I can’t wait to hear it,” she said, dryly. “But later because I have a phone meeting. As long as you aren’t lost somewhere in Dixie and you’re safe, then that’s all that matters. I’ll see you later. I know sitting looking through magazines in reception while I work each day has to be boring”
“If it keeps you safe, then I’m happy to do it,” he said.
“Think about what you’d like for dinner tonight. I’ve got to go,” she said.
“I can pick up something if you don’t feel like cooking,” he suggested. “That way we don’t have to clean up the kitchen.”
“Good idea,” she agreed. “Have Tom swing by Josie’s since you are out that way, and he can drop you off at my house. I’ll see you there.”
“Will do.”