Joan Hess - Arly Hanks 13 (17 page)

I bumped Bonita out of the way. "I need to examine whatever this woman called Ruth brought with her."

"You won't find anything. Her instructions were to dispose of any personal items that might identify her."

"Instructions from whom?" I demanded.

"Deborah, of course."

I wasn't sure if all this was silly, surreal, or supernatural. Most likely, all and none of the above. "Just show me her things, okay?"

"As you wish," Judith said, heading for the nearer cabin. "The women sleep here, and the children in the other cabin. Unlike most families these days, the older ones have learned to share responsibility for the younger ones."

I whispered at Bonita to locate the children, then went inside. The iron bunk beds were much the same as we'd found farther down the hill. Attempts had been made to create a cheerier decor, with potted plants on the windowsills and drawings taped to the walls.

"Quite a comedown from the lodge," I said. "You must have been annoyed when the church groups began to arrive."

"One might think that, but we celebrate all demonstrations of faith. We've accepted the fact we'll be living here until fall. After that, Deborah is confident we can return to the lodge, where we will be warm and dry."

"Mrs. Robarts said you do community service in Dunkicker in exchange for being allowed to live here."

Judith looked back at me. "Is that a question?"

It was a struggle not to imagine her with normal hair and makeup; she might have been a reasonably attractive fortyish woman, working as a real estate agent or moving up the corporate ladder at a bank. I glanced at her feet to make sure she wasn't wearing pantyhose beneath her robe.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Since God called me to serve as a Daughter of the Moon. I have erased all memories of my former life, as have the other women. We have dedicated ourselves to prayer and good deeds. When the skies explode and the earth splits apart with fiery fissures, we shall be prepared to cast aside our physical shells and ascend to heaven."

"No men allowed, huh?"

"If one is to purify her soul, she must denounce all pleasures of the flesh and focus on her inner spirit." She produced a fleeting smile. "So, as you said, no men allowed."

"Corporal Robarts comes here."

"Anthony hardly qualifies, does he? Here is Ruth's bunk. Her possessions are in a suitcase under it. I will leave you now."

I waited until I had the cabin to myself. The suitcase contained nothing much more than dingy cotton underwear. Beneath that layer was a crumpled sundress and platform sandals, which she must have been wearing when she arrived. No purse or wallet, however, or so much as an envelope.

I took out everything to examine it more carefully. A few hairs on the dress indicated she'd been blonde before receiving her buzz cut, but the darker hue on one end suggested her coloring had come from the beauty aids aisle of a discount store.

I put it all back, replaced the suitcase, and pulled a similar bag from beneath the next bunk. It too held mostly underwear, but this Beamer had arrived in jeans and a faded T-shirt. I checked the pockets of the jeans. This time I did better, finding half a pack of flattened cigarettes and a matchbook from a glitzy bingo establishment just across the state line in Oklahoma. I found no other evidence that might help me identify the owner of the suitcase.

I was having no better luck with a third suitcase when Bonita came limping into the cabin. Her pants were torn and splattered with mud, and one elbow was bloodied. Dried leaves clung to her hair. Her face was scratched, her lower lip already swollen, her nostrils discolored with congealing blood. I could see she was going to have an impressive black eye within an hour.

"Are you all right?" I asked as I helped her to the nearest bunk. "What happened? Did they attack you?"

"Might as well have, the little shits. I finally found the so-called schoolhouse along a path behind the cabin just below us. I went on in. It's hard to say how many children were there. A few were in diapers, but most of them appeared to be between six and fifteen. All scruffy looking, with clothing that didn't fit well and bad haircuts."

"Take a guess at how many."

"I don't know -- maybe a dozen. Naomi, who looks just like the other spooks, herded the smaller ones into a corner and somehow managed to keep them still. I told the older ones that I wanted to talk to them. They bolted out the door and into the woods. I was so pissed that I went after them, thinking I could catch at least one of them. Well, it seems like one of their homework assignments was to boobytrap the woods. Holes, hidden by twigs covered with leaves. Vines stretched between trees. Branches tied back with trip wires. I could hear them whooping every time I fell, which made me all the madder."

"And then you lost them. Stay here." I went into the bathroom and found a washcloth. I dampened it and took it back to her. "Police work's not as glamorous as they make it out to be in the movies."

"Where were you when I decided to enroll in the academy?"

"Start talking loudly if you see any of the Beamers heading this way. I doubt it'll do any good, but I might as well search the rest of the suitcases."

I found nothing more incriminating than a romance novel in one and a half-eaten chocolate bar in another. Deborah's dictum had been observed, with only a few misdemeanors.

I pushed the last suitcase back where I'd found it and stood up. The washcloth Bonita had been holding to her elbow was bright with blood. "We'd better get that seen to," I said. "Surely there's a local doctor who can put a few stitches in it."

"Don't rush off on my account. It's not like I'm bleeding to death."

"Poor choice of words," I said as I gestured to her to follow me out the door. I took her to the station wagon, put her in the passenger's side, and made her promise to stay there for a few more minutes.

Judith was observing this from the middle of a vegetable garden. "Would you like an herbal cream for her elbow? It'll fight off an infection."

"I don't think her health benefits would cover that. I'm going to take her into town to be treated by a doctor. Afterward, I'll go by the PD to find out if we've made any progress identifying the body. I can assure you that before the moon comes up tonight, I'll be back with arrest warrants and a social worker to take all the children into protective custody."

"You can't do that."

"I don't know if I can or can't, but I'll try -- unless you and the other Beamers are willing to be candid with me. Will you promise to have them here, along with Ruth's children?"

"Rachael's working at the cafe, and Sarah is at a church, preparing hot meals to be delivered to the homebound. I have no way to go into Dunkicker and fetch them. Naomi and I will be here."

"What about Deborah?"

"I don't know."

I tried not to sound as frustrated as I felt. "Not much of a leader if she's never here. Maybe you all should take a vote and demote her."

Judith tossed aside a handful of weeds. "Naomi and I will be here, as well as the children. You should have no problem finding Rachael and Sarah in town. There's nothing else I can do, Arly, and little else we can tell you. Ruth never spoke about her former life. I don't know why Deborah considered her a likely candidate to become a Daughter of the Moon."

"Okay," I said. "I'll deal with Bonita, talk to Rachael and Sarah, and then come back here. As unpleasant as it may be, you're going to have to do better with the details of your former life. A woman has been murdered. I don't care if you want to play dress-up in the woods, but I will get to the bottom of this."

She crossed her arms and glared as I got into the station wagon and headed for Dunkicker. Bonita was sucking on her lip and doing her best to pretend her elbow wasn't giving her serious grief. A shadow below her left eye was already turning greenish-yellow; classic black and blue would appear shortly. She'd be lucky if she could get a straw through her lips to suck a milkshake.

"Those little pissants," she lisped as we reached the pavement. "As soon as I'm patched up, I'd like to go back and wallop all of them until they howl."

"You're out of commission for a few hours. Once you've been stitched up, I'll take you to the motel so you can lie down."

"I don't need special treatment."

"And you're not getting it."

"Would you treat Les or any other male deputy this way?"

I pulled into the lot outside the municipal building. "Please note that we are of the same sex, Bonita. I experienced all kinds of discrimination when I was at the academy, as I'm sure you did, too. The slope's a little steeper for us. Get over it."

I ordered her to stay in the car, went inside, and found Corporal Robarts, Les, and Brother Verber playing cards. "Is there a local doctor capable of patching up a deep cut?"

Corporal Robarts flushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, but he won't be in his office on Sunday morning. You want I should track him down?"

"That would be the idea," I said. "Brother Verber, did Duluth say anything?"

"He was disinclined to open his heart to me. Many a time I counseled him and Norella, but he was skeptical of the power of prayer. There were moments when I was obliged to rebuke him for his profane language. You'd think, in the house of the Lord, that he'd observe -- "

I took Les aside. "Take Brother Verber to the lab in Little Rock to see if he can identify the body."

"You think it might be Duluth's wife?"

"This woman showed up at Camp Pearly Gates about the time Duluth said she left town. She brought children. Now she's dead and he was damn near drowning in a ditch. If nothing else, we can eliminate the possibility."

"What's wrong with Bonita?"

"She needs a few stitches and a pain pill. I'll take her back to the motel to sleep it off, and then Corporal Robarts and I are going to have a chat with the various members of Daughters of the Moon. I'm not putting up with any more bullshit from them."

"Maybe Anthony should take Brother Verber to Little Rock. You may need backup."

"Corporal Robarts knows more than he's telling," I said softly, "and, trust me, I'm not about to go scampering into the woods at the first sign of a softball bat. It's going to take some doing on your part to determine if Brother Verber can make the identification. He'll be wetting his pants before you open the door to the morgue. Stay with him, force him to focus on her features, have the lab people drape her head with a sheet to hide the baldness and make her look more normal. I think it's Norella, but we have to know."

"So Duluth killed her?"

"Let's make a positive ID before we jump to conclusions. Do the best you can with Brother Verber. Don't so much as turn your back on him to buy a candy bar out of a machine unless you want to chase him all the way back to Maggody. He's haunted by some personal demons from his childhood. Given the slightest opportunity, he'll take off." I took a deep breath. "Brother Verber, you need to go with Les. He should have you back here before too long."

"Go where?" he quavered, groping his pockets for a flask.

"Les will tell you the details. I should be here when you return. We'll go back to the lodge and find out if Ruby Bee's making chicken fried steak and cream gravy, or pot roast with potatoes and carrots. I think we can count on buttermilk biscuits in either case."

"Her biscuits are real light," he bleated as Les dragged him out the door.

Corporal Robarts hung up the phone. "Doc Schmidt will meet us at his office. He wasn't real happy about being interrupted on a Sunday morning."

"Then let's hope Bonita hasn't bled to death, therefore inconveniencing him for nothing," I said. "Your prisoner is secured?"

"Of course," said Corporal Robarts, strapping on his belt and holster in case Doc Schmidt turned unruly and needed a bullet between his eyes to get him back on task. "No prisoner has ever escaped under my watch."

I thought about asking him how many prisoners had ever been under his watch, sighed, and flipped off the light switch as we left the Dunkicker PD.

"Say what?" croaked Earl Buchanon, gaping at his daughter-in-law. "You think you're moving in next door to the Beverly Hillbillies? That was nuthin' but a television show. Ain't nobody from Maggody buying a fancy mansion."

"Now, Earl," Eileen said as she passed him the hashbrown potatoes, "Dahlia's just talking about what might happen. She just thinks that because Kevvie Junior and Rose Marie are twins -- "

"They ain't hardly identical."

"They most certainly are," Dahlia said as she forked open a biscuit and picked up the gravy boat. "They was born no more than three minutes apart."

Kevin twitched nervously. "They have the same adorable button noses and little pink toes. Kevvie junior likes to kick his legs, while Rose Marie is fond of sucking on her fingers. But they're still twins."

Earl slammed a spoonful of potatoes onto his plate. "But they're not identical, fer chrissake!"

"I will not allow blasphemy on the Sabbath," Eileen said. "Just because we aren't going to church this morning doesn't mean that -- "

"They're not identical," growled Earl. "Any idiot'd know that."