Bloody Good Marmalade Page 7

  “She’s not making any friends in town,” Janice frowned.

  “I heard that,” Tabby confirmed. “It’s almost closing time. Do you want to head home early? I heard through the grapevine you have a hot date tonight.”

  “Man, nothing is secret in this town,” Janice complained. “I’m going to the movies with Eric Seaver; some hot date.”

  “Eric’s pretty hot. How’d you meet up with him?”

  “Don’t laugh, but we met at Bingo at the lodge. I was bored, so I went to try my luck at it and he was calling the numbers. We talked at intermission and he asked me to a movie. He seemed pretty nice, not psycho or anything, so I said yes.”

  “I’ve known Eric for a long time. I went to school with him. He’s a really nice guy,” Tabby stated. “Have fun.”

  Janice left and Tabby completed everything on the closing list. She locked the doors at five o’clock. Greg had things to do so Tabby was on her own for the night. She decided to go out to the old Pelton farmhouse and see what it looked like at night.

  Before she left for the farmhouse, she called Greg and left a message on his cell when he didn’t answer. The cats fed, fresh batteries in her flashlight, she donned her heavy sweatshirt and left for the up and coming haunted house.

  Tabby drove up the dirt road leading through the cornfield. A mother raccoon with two smaller raccoons following behind her crossed the road in front of Tabby’s car. She hit the brakes to avoided running over the wild family. As she waited for them to finish crossing, a large black car came zooming up the dirt road towards her from the direction of the Capri’s new house.

  The car switched on their high beams to blind Tabby as they approached; they obviously did not want to be seen. They sped past Tabby tearing the side mirror off her car as they went. She couldn’t get a license plate number as her eyes were still adjusting to the darkness after the bright car lights had passed her. She got out to survey the damage.

  “Unbelievable!” Tabby yelled, picking up her broken mirror. “Someone’s going to pay for this!”

  She tossed the mirror on the passenger’s side seat and drove up to the Capri house. The place was in darkness. Tabby got out and knocked on the front door; no one answered. She thought at least Isabella would be home waiting for her husband, but it appeared neither of them were home.

  Tabby gave up and went back to the old farmhouse. It was dark now so she would have a good feel as to what it would be like when people entered it to walk through the haunted house. She took out her flashlight and unlocked the front door.

  Boxes of Halloween decorations had been placed in the living room. Tabby assumed that Anthony had left them for her when he returned from Boston as he said he would be donating items. She walked through the house picturing where she would set lights for the best possible effects. Ropes would line the interior of the house to direct people where to walk.

  The kitchen would be the exit area out of the house. It would be the last room customers saw and Tabby wanted it to be spectacular. She needed six full size skeletons to sit at the dinner table with all kinds of gross foods on the dishes in front of them. Plastic rats would be crawling around the sink area and cobwebs would need to be spread everywhere. Pots would be set on the stove with dry ice and water in them to simulate cooking.

  There was a small pantry next to the back door where people would exit. A costumed local could pop out of this room as the final scare. Tabby opened the door to see if it opened in or if it opened out and would block the back door.

  It opened in which was perfect for what Tabby needed the room for. She shined the flashlight into the small room. A body was lying on the floor with its back to her, not moving.

  CHAPTER 8

  * * *

  Tabby ran forward to see who it was and if they were all right. As she turned the body over she realized it was Anthony Capri. She felt for a pulse; there was none. He must have been dead for a while as rigor mortis had set in. Tabby pulled out her cell phone and called the sheriff who was on her speed dial. He promised her he’d be there in fifteen minutes and reminded her not to touch anything.

  She looked around the pantry and it didn’t seem that anything was out of place. There was a piece of paper next to the body. Tabby took a fork out of a silverware tray that was sitting on one of the shelves and flipped over the piece of paper. She took a deep breath when she realized it was a bookmark from Jenny’s bookstore.

  How did that get here?

  Her first instinct was to hide the incriminating evidence to protect her friend, but she knew she couldn’t do that and live with herself. Tabby sat down at the kitchen table waiting for the sheriff to get there. She wondered how much the people in the black car that was speeding away from the Capri house had to do with Anthony’s death, if anything.

  Tabby heard the sirens approaching. Blue lights came into view as two cruisers pulled onto the dirt road. She went to stand at the front door so she could show them where the body was lying.

  “Again? You do realize you are a body magnet?” the sheriff asked. “What is it with you and deceased people?”

  “I don’t know. They just seem to show up wherever I am,” Tabby insisted. “It’s Anthony Capri and it looks like he’s been dead for a while.”

  “Where is he?”

  She led the sheriff and Deputy Small to the pantry. While they examined the body, Tabby told them about the black car that sped by her and ripped off her side-view mirror. She also explained that she went to the Capri house and knocked on the door, but no one answered.

  The coroner arrived ten minutes after the sheriff called him. After a preliminary examination, he estimated that Capri had been dead for at least twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Death would have occurred sometime on Friday.

  “That is so weird,” Tabby replied. “Mr. Capri was leaving for Boston; I watched him leave myself. I wonder why he came back to the farmhouse.”

  “Can I take the body?” the coroner inquired.

  “Let me know the cause of death as soon as possible. I don’t see anything that points to how he died,” the sheriff requested.

  “I will,” the coroner confirmed. “And Tabby, no more bodies. I have enough work as it is.”

  “Very funny,” Tabby said, sarcastically.

  “Why were you out here?” the sheriff questioned.

  “I wanted to see the farmhouse in the dark as people would see it when they visited the haunted house,” she explained. “I was laying out what I wanted to do in the kitchen when I opened the pantry door and found Mr. Capri.”

  “You shouldn’t be out here by yourself. Where’s Greg?”

  “Greg was busy tonight and I don’t need him to go everywhere with me,” Tabby insisted.

  “I beg to differ when everywhere you go you turn up a corpse,” the sheriff said, looking around the pantry.

  He bent over and picked up the bookmark that had been left on the floor after the body had been moved.

  “Bag this, Deputy Small,” the sheriff said, slipping the bookmark in the open bag held by the deputy. “Why would one of Jenny’s bookmarks be at the scene of a murder?”

  “I don’t know, but you know it wasn’t Jenny out here as she was on the way to Larsen yesterday with Greg,” Tabby answered. “That leaves Alex Keyes.”

  “May I remind you that he was murdered yesterday?”

  “But not until the afternoon; that leaves the whole morning left unaccounted for,” Tabby stated, thinking out loud.

  “Any customer who has made a purchase at Jenny’s bookstore automatically gets a bookmark stuck in their book,” the sheriff said. “Anyone could have dropped this here.”

  “There were other things going on out here on this farm that you don’t know about,” Tabby informed the sheriff. “Things that Anthony was going to come talk to you about when he got back from Boston.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “Anthony had been finding bones around the cornfield; human bones. He came to me last week
to ask if he could trust you. He was afraid of someone who was threatening to hurt Isabella if he said anything about the bones to anyone.”

  “You knew all this and you didn’t say anything to me?” the sheriff asked, obviously mad at Tabby. “If you had said something he might still be alive.”

  “That’s not fair. Anthony asked me to give him time before I came to you and I respected his wishes,” Tabby said, crossing her arms across her chest.

  “I think you need to lock up this place and head home. Don’t come out here by yourself anymore,” the sheriff ordered. “We need to go find out where Isabella is. Go home, Tabby.”

  “Just to warn you, Isabella doesn’t like outsiders and can be pretty rude.”

  “We can handle her,” Deputy Small replied.

  “Isabella trusts me; maybe I should go with you up to the house,” Tabby suggested.

  “And why does she trust you?” the sheriff asked.

  “Because her husband did, at least that’s what she said to me at my shop today,” Tabby answered confidently.

  “Fine; just don’t butt in too much when I am questioning her,” the sheriff agreed reluctantly.

  They arrived at the Capri house to find the front door open.

  “That’s funny,” Tabby stated. “It wasn’t open when I was here before.”

  The sheriff stood at the door hollering for Isabella. There was no answer. He reached inside and turned on the porch light. From what they could see without entering the house, it had been ransacked. The sheriff called out for Isabella again.

  “Let me try,” Tabby insisted. “Isabella, are you here? It’s me, Tabby. It’s safe to come out; I have the sheriff with me.”

  A figure rose up from behind the tractor that was parked alongside the house. As the person got closer, Tabby recognized Isabella. She was visibly shaking and looked like she had been crying. Tabby ran to her and put her arm around her. They walked back to the sheriff together.

  “Why were you hiding behind the tractor and not in the house?” Tabby asked.

  “I thought you were those men in the black car coming back again,” she answered tearfully. “They destroyed my beautiful house. I slipped out the back door and watched them through the window.”

  “Do you know what they were looking for?” the sheriff inquired before Tabby could.

  “I do not know. Anthony should have been here to protect me. He was supposed to be home this morning from Boston and I cannot get him to answer his phone,” she sobbed.

  The sheriff and Tabby exchanged glances. Isabella had no idea that her husband never left for Boston.

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we have found your husband and he is dead. It appears he never left for Boston,” Sheriff Puckett said, solemnly.

  Isabella fainted. Tabby had a hand around her waist so Isabella didn’t hit the ground, but she was losing her grip. Deputy Small picked up the unconscious woman and carried her into the house. They laid her on the couch and Tabby went to get a cold cloth for her forehead. She came to several minutes later and began flailing around, not knowing where she was or who she was with.

  “Isabella, you need to calm down,” Tabby said, holding her hand.

  “No, my Anthony. Tell me it is not true, Tabby. He will never know, oh, this can’t be. He was supposed to be home today,” Isabella lamented. “He was supposed to be home today…”

  “He will never know what, Isabella?” Tabby asked sympathetically. “Do you know who the men were in the black car?”

  “No. I have never seen them before,” she answered.

  “What is it that Anthony will never know?” Tabby asked again.

  “My Anthony was going to be a father. I just found out yesterday at the doctor’s and now I am alone in the world with this child,” she sobbed. “Why, Anthony, why did you leave me?”

  “You were at Doc Holden’s yesterday?” Tabby inquired.

  “Yes, do you not remember? I was mad at my husband for allowing strangers on our property. I passed you at the farmhouse. I stayed in town until it was time to go to the doctor’s,” Isabella explained. “Anthony was gone before I got home.”

  “Do you know who he was going to see?” the sheriff asked.

  “Oh, no, Anthony does not confide in me on any business matters. In my family, women are not told anything; we are not important enough to know such things. That is why we moved here; to get away from my family in Boston and to try to live a, what do you say, normal life.”

  “Do you know anyone else in town?” Tabby asked. “Do you have somewhere else you could stay tonight?”

  “No, I know no one else. I will stay here tonight,” Isabella replied.

  “I’m afraid we can’t allow you to stay here by yourself,” the sheriff stated. “The men in the black car may come back and I do not want you here if they do.”

  “I have nowhere else,” Isabella stated firmly. “I will stay here.”

  “What if you come to my house, just for tonight?” Tabby asked the distraught woman. “I have an extra bedroom and you will be safe there.”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Sheriff Puckett agreed.

  “My Anthony did say you were a good person to trust if anything happened. I will go with you tonight, but I will return to my own house in the morning. I will not run away scared anymore.”

  “Then it’s settled,” the sheriff said. “Deputy Small and I are going to go back to process the crime scene. Tabby, call me if you need anything.”

  “Can I talk to you outside a minute, sheriff?” Tabby asked. “Isabella, why don’t you pack a small overnight bag and I’ll be right back.”

  They stepped outside to talk so Isabella couldn’t hear them.

  “What’s rattling around in that brain of yours?” the sheriff asked.

  “I think this has to do with the bones that Anthony had been finding in the cornfields. He was very afraid the night he came to speak to me that something might happen to him or Isabella,” Tabby stated. “I think you need to get the two skulls and try to find out through DNA testing who they might be.”

  “Do you know where they are?”

  “Anthony told me where he hid them; he didn’t even tell his wife.”

  “After you leave, we will collect the skulls and any other bones we find and get them to the lab. Where are they?” Stan inquired.

  “They are in the barn behind the hay bales.”

  “Why didn’t he tell his wife about the skulls?”

  “Anthony was a closet horror writer and Isabella made fun of him when he wrote his stories. He told her about the bones he was finding in the fields and she told him he was just making up things for his writing. That’s why he didn’t tell her about the human skulls he had found.”

  “You can manage to find out so much information in just a short amount of time; sometimes, it amazes me,” the sheriff admitted.

  “He pulled me into the dark alley next to the bookstore when I was walking to the diner to meet Greg for supper one night last week. He didn’t want anyone to see him talking to me because he was afraid that they would come after me for knowing too much,” Tabby stated.

  “I’m going to sound like a broken record and you never listen to me anyway, but be careful. If they killed Anthony Capri because of what he knew, you might be next if they know you talked to him,” the sheriff warned.

  “I’ll be careful. I’ll have Greg with me from now on when I come out here to work on setting up the haunted house,” Tabby confirmed.

  Isabella and Deputy Small exited the house. She was carrying a small overnight bag in one hand and a set of keys in the other. She locked the front door and turned to Tabby.

  “I will take my own car,” she said, waiting for an argument.

  “That’s fine; you can follow me back to my place,” Tabby answered. “I’ll talk to you after I visit with Jenny, Sheriff.”

  “Mrs. Capri, we will need to ask you some questions tomorrow. Will you have returned home
?” the sheriff asked.

  “I will be here all day,” she informed him.

  “We will see you then,” he said, as he walked to his cruiser.

  The sheriff sat in his car pretending to talk on the radio as Tabby and Isabella passed the cruiser to leave. As soon as the rear car lights were out of sight, the two men exited the cruiser and went directly to the barn to find the two hidden skulls.

  They searched behind and around all the hay bales, but couldn’t find the skulls. They searched the rest of the barn, but couldn’t find any bones at all. After a half an hour, they gave up the search. They returned to the old farmhouse, processed the crime scene and left for the station empty handed.

  Tabby got Isabella settled in the spare bedroom. She insisted on going right to sleep and locked herself in without another word to her hostess.

  “Isabella, if you need to leave for any reason, please wake me up as I am setting the alarm and it will go off if you open any of the doors,” Tabby said, through the closed door.

  No response.

  She walked away from the door and her stomach growled. She popped a stuffed pepper into the microwave and sat on the couch to call Greg. She filled him in on all that happened and how Isabella was staying at the apartment with her. His first comment was to make sure the alarms were set. She assured him it was already done. They agreed to skip church and she told him she would meet him at nine the next morning at The Tilted Coffee Cup to go see Jenny at the hospital.

  As she ate her late supper, she rehashed the day’s events in her mind. She found it rather odd that Isabella did not even ask where her husband’s body had been found. She made a mental note to herself to try to get her house guest to talk in the morning over breakfast and went to bed.

  Tabby strolled out at seven the next morning to make coffee and breakfast for her guest. Isabella was sitting on the couch, fully dressed, clutching her overnight bag, ready to leave.

  “I couldn’t go home,” she said, standing up to leave.

  “Don’t you want breakfast before you go?”