Chapter 38
38
“Buford always had secrets. I never worried about it. Not until… not until I was cleaning the area he used as his office. Then I found… stuff. I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t ask. He didn’t take kindly to me asking questions. I kept it to myself. But I watched.” Donna licked her bottom lip, then dragged her gaze from her hands clenched on the tabletop to Jeremy’s face. “See, the thing about disappearing… you know… being in plain sight yet not being seen? Well, it makes it easier to learn what’s going on.”
Jeremy watched her face, noting the ease in her expression as though the weight of the world had lifted. They were sitting in one of the interview rooms in the station, with her on one side of the table and he and Pete on the other. The recording device was running, and he had a file in front of him as he made notes.
“And what did you find that day, Mrs. Grissley?” Jeremy asked.
“Buford was always so particular about the church being clean, but he also demanded that I not mess with his desk. He said that if I moved anything, he might not be able to find his sermon notes. He hated the idea of me seeing any notes he had made. So I avoided his desk and just dusted around it.” She rolled her lips together as she inhaled through her nose, then blew the breath out slowly.
“One day, after he had left to do his visiting, I went past his desk and spied his half cup of coffee still sitting there. When I went to pick it up… I’m so clumsy… I knocked it over.” Her gaze darted to Jeremy’s. “I panicked. I grabbed the cup and began dabbing at the liquid with my cleaning rag. I cleaned it up without too much trouble. But some of the coffee had dripped over the side onto a box of his sermon tracts. The pamphlets he gives to Jed to take to his workplace.”
Jeremy prodded. “What did you find, Mrs. Grissley?”
She winced, and her gaze dropped to her hands still on the table. “I pulled out the top ones to ensure they were dry. There was another box below them. It wasn’t sealed, so I opened it to make sure those pamphlets were dry, but it didn’t have any inside it. Instead, there were several bags.” She lifted her gaze to him. “They were bags of pills. All kinds of pills. Every color. Every shape. I’ve never seen so many pills in my life!”
“Did you know where they came from?”
She shook her head. “I had no idea. I couldn’t imagine. But then I heard the church door open, and I was afraid. I shut the box lid, dropped the pamphlets back on the top, and grabbed my cleaning rag. Jed Harborrow walked in. He was smiling big and greeted me nicely. He was always so kind.” Blowing out another breath, she continued, “Anyway, he said that he was to get the box to take to work. He bent over and looked inside the box. My heart nearly stopped because I was afraid he’d notice I’d messed up the pamphlets. But he just picked up the box and said goodbye. I was so nervous about Buford noticing something, but I made sure to leave his desk just like it was and hurried over to the other side of the church to clean before he got in.”
“Do you think that Jed knew what was in that box?” Pete asked.
She lifted her shoulders, heaving another long sigh. “Detective, I have no idea.”
“What happened next?” Jeremy asked.
“I didn’t say anything to Buford because he would’ve been so upset that I’d been snooping. But I couldn’t help but notice it wasn’t long before another box—just like the first one—appeared under his desk, with pamphlets stacked on top of an inner box. I didn’t look. I was too afraid.”
“Then what?”
“Fred Rudolph came in and said he had something to give to the pastor. Buford had been gone all morning, and I didn’t know when he’d be back. I asked Fred what he had, and he looked confused for a moment, then held out a small plastic baggie with a few pills. He said, ‘I’m bringing these to Pastor Grissley to give to the poor.’”
“To give to the poor?” Pete asked, his head cocked, his pen halting over the pad of paper in front of him.
“I didn’t know what he meant. But I asked if he thought Buford would want him to just leave them. Fred shook his head. He said he didn’t want to leave medication where someone, especially a child, might find it.”
She winced and shook her head. “Detectives, I never even thought about that. We have children’s groups in the church, and they move around a lot. It never dawned on me that one of them might go looking for a box just for fun and find the pills. But I told Fred there were other pills here, and he could put his with the others.”
Donna sighed and looked back down at her hands, falling into silence. Jeremy prompted, “And what did Fred say?”
Her gaze jumped to his face. “He was surprised! He acted like he had no idea. He asked me to show him, so I opened the box, pulled out the inner box, and showed him another big bag of pills. And he got angry!”
Jeremy shot a glance at Pete, then turned back to Donna. “Angry?”
“Yes! He started muttering about how he thought he was the only one giving out a few pills to help poor people who couldn’t afford medication. But when he saw the number of pills in the bag, he asked me where they came from. I told him Buford put them there, and I had no idea what he did with them except that Jed would take them to Norfolk.”
Still shaking her head, she continued. “Fred was furious. He said he’d been hoodwinked. I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about, but he was livid. I asked what he meant, and he said nobody needed that many pills unless they were going to do something with them. I didn’t know what or who he was talking about, but I was afraid of how upset Fred was getting. Before I knew it, he grabbed the bag of pills and stormed out of the church. I chased him and called out, wondering what he was doing. He said he was going to the law.”
Jeremy looked at Pete. “Fred’s accident occurred between the church and the sheriff’s department. It sounds like he was on his way here with those pills to report what he found. Being off his medication and that upset, he ended up having a heart attack.”
He nodded, and they both looked back at Donna, who had grown very pale.
“Deputies, I’m afraid of something terrible that I have to confess.”
“What is your confession, Mrs. Grissley?”
“I lied to my husband. When he came in, I told him Fred had come by, said he had something to give to him, and went into the office. Buford hurried back there, then came out angry. He asked if Fred had anything in his hand when he left. I said he had some kind of bag in his hand. Buford asked if I knew what it was, and I told him I was on the other side of the church and had no idea. About an hour later, we got a call that Fred had died in a car accident. It scared me to death when I saw Buford looked pleased. He hid it well, but I saw it. The next day, I saw him talking to Jed, but I didn’t hear what they said.”
“Mrs. Grissley, when did you suspect something was going on?”
She turned her sad gaze to Jeremy. “Detective, I was brought up to honor my husband. Buford was a lot like my daddy… He ruled our household with a firm hand. My mama never spoke back to my daddy, and Lord knows, I never questioned my daddy, or he’d make sure I didn’t do it again. Buford never struck me, but I never questioned him either.”
A deep crease formed between her brows. “I didn’t want to think anything bad about him. Fred simply said he was bringing some of his pills for the poor, and I thought maybe that’s what Buford was doing—gathering up pills people didn’t need and giving them to others. But now I see how naive I was. You can’t just give pills to someone else… that makes no sense.” She rubbed her forehead and grimaced. “Detective, I was foolish to believe him.”
Jeremy knew she struggled to understand what she’d witnessed and tried to put it into the only context she’d ever lived with—her husband was only doing God’s work. Now she was having to discern what was real and what she’d been told. He wondered if she was at her limit for questioning, but they needed more. “What about Roy Parker?”
A tear rolled down her cheek, and Pete pushed a box of tissues closer. She wiped her face, blew her nose, and sniffled. She finally lifted her chin, her gaze unwavering.
“Roy Parker came in to go over the books. He sat at the desk for a while and began muttering. I confess I was hanging around, wanting to make sure he had what he needed, and he slammed the books shut and stood, glaring at me. I was scared, but Roy was such a good man he immediately apologized. He said, ‘I’ll need to keep looking, but something doesn’t add up.’ Just then, Buford returned to the church, and the two of them went into the office. Buford told me to go back to the house. I know Buford had visited him a couple of times at their house. That was the last I ever saw of Roy until I heard he’d died. And then I heard it was under suspicious circumstances. I didn’t know what that meant, but I had a bad feeling. You know… just one of those times you feel like you have a rock in your stomach?”
They continued questioning Donna a little longer but felt she had given them all she could for the day. Her shoulders sagged with exhaustion, her voice quieter with each answer, and her hands trembled slightly as she twisted a tissue between her fingers. Jeremy exchanged a glance with Pete, both silently agreeing to ease up for now.
Jeremy stepped out of the interview room, the air cooler and quieter in the hallway. Elizabeth, John, and Terry stood waiting, their expressions a mixture of curiosity and concern.
“I don’t think there’s anything else she can tell us,” Jeremy said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I’ll make it clear she needs to stay close. We’re bound to have more questions as we dig deeper.”
Elizabeth nodded, her calm demeanor tinged with the weariness of long hours. “We’ve already learned quite a bit from her. When we first interviewed Donna, she was shocked when we brought up the amount of money in the shared bank account. She had no idea where it came from—Buford kept her completely in the dark.”
John folded his arms. “The man ruled that house with an iron fist and a Bible in the other. It’s no wonder she didn’t realize how deep this ran.”
Jeremy glanced toward the Norfolk Police Department’s update on his phone. “Looks like they’ve arrested Jed. Their interview’s already underway. Turns out they’d been investigating the transfer of prescription pills on the docks for a while.”
John leaned in. “Anything solid on him?”
Jeremy nodded grimly. “They found several bags of pills in his locker, ready to sell to one of his managers, plus a trash can full of discarded religious pamphlets. When they questioned Jed, he admitted to picking up boxes from the church and handing them off. As it turns out, he had discovered what was happening with drugs on the dock. Don’t know how that ties in to Buford and him hooking up.”
Elizabeth’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “Who influenced who?”
“We’ll know more as the investigation continues, but my bet is that Buford figured out a way to steal the pills when he visited the elderly but had no idea what to do with them. Jed must have discovered what Buford was doing. It was perfect. Buford gathered, and Jed passed them along to the next in the chain. A match made in heaven—” Jeremy winced. “Sorry… bad pun.”
The sound of footsteps pulled their attention down the hallway. Jeremy turned and saw Cora being escorted toward him. Relief washed over him as he took in her steady gaze and calm expression despite earlier harrowing events.
Without hesitation, he raised his arm, and she slid into his side like she belonged there. He wrapped her tightly in a comforting embrace and pressed a kiss to her temple. “How are you?”
She greeted the others with a small nod before tilting her face up to him, her lips curving in a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. Still a little shocked, but fine.”
“Do we know when Buford’s leaving the hospital?”
Cora hesitated, glancing between the group. “I know it’s not my place to say, but I was told he’s still under watch. He’s been transferred to the psych ward for evaluation.”
Terry exhaled heavily. “Running quite the operation, wasn’t he? Hooking up with Jed, he was talking elderly folks into giving up their medication for the ‘poor,’ and swearing them to secrecy under the guise of humility. That’s twisted.”
Jeremy shook his head, his arm tightening protectively around Cora’s shoulder. He turned to Terry. “Besides the drug charges, what else do you think the Commonwealth’s Attorney will go for?”
Terry’s expression darkened. “Whatever we can get. If Buford confesses to Roy Parker’s murder, that’s one charge. But as for the elderly who died after stopping their medication? That’s going to be harder to tie directly to him. I’ve already been in touch with the DEA. Since the drugs ended up on container ships, they’ll likely take over the case. We’ll focus on nailing him down, then hand it off for prosecution.”
Elizabeth crossed her arms. “It might also depend on Buford’s psych evaluation. If he tries to plead insanity, it’ll muddy the waters.”
Pete’s voice broke the tension as he glanced at Cora. “You did good in there. Stayed calm, tried to reason with him. Hell, I was shocked when you threw that scalpel like a dart.”
Cora pressed her lips together, glancing sheepishly at Jeremy. “It happened so fast. I couldn’t remember all your instructions. I was too far away to do anything else but throw it.”
Pete shook his head in amazement. “You hit the arm holding the gun! That’s like hitting the bull’s-eye at the state fair.”
Jeremy puffed up, a teasing grin spreading across his face. “That just proves what an excellent dart teacher I am.”
Cora smirked, her eyes twinkling with humor. “Before you start crowing, you should know I aimed for his chest. It’s pure luck I hit him at all.”
It took a moment for her confession to register. Then Jeremy threw his head back, laughing. The sound was contagious, and soon, the entire group joined in, the weight of the day briefly lifting in shared relief.