Over Troubled Water: A Hunter Jones Mystery (9 page)

“Yes,” she said, “and then… and then… well, I just can’t believe Andy. He had a lock put on the outside of the old nursery, and he had a gun in there, a big ugly gun.”

Robin and Colin looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Maybe he was going to take up hunting,” Robin said, to fill the silence.

“It wasn’t a hunting gun,” Sunshine said. “It was one of those big black military rifles. I know because Garth has one, and I make him keep it in the trunk of his car.”

“Garth?” Robin asked.

“My fiancé,” Sunshine said, managing a small smile. “He’s coming down for the funeral if he can get off work in time.”

CHAPTER 6

Clearview Circle was, in fact, a circular street, although no one remembered why it was named Clearview. The street was too narrow for more than one car at a time and had long ago been designated one-way.

It wrapped around a small island with two ancient oak trees, some poorly tended azaleas, and a historical marker. It was one of the oldest residential areas in Merchantsville, within walking distance of the two oldest churches and the downtown business area.

By noon that Thursday, residents of Clearview Circle were well aware that something big was happening at the Chapman house. It wasn’t just the vehicles from the sheriff’s office, but two from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as well. They had been seen coming out with numerous boxes and also with what appeared to be parts of a computer.

After seeing the rifle, Sam wanted to know if the “Abomination” letter would be found filed in Andy Chapman’s computer. They hadn’t found it on a quick search while it was still plugged in and hooked up, but the GBI investigator had assured him that if his suspect had written it and deleted it within the last few weeks, they could still find it on the hard drive.

“We need some real proof,” he told T.J. “The rifle makes him look bad, but I can’t see this guy running up and down Foxtail Creek and through all those woods. Even if it turns out that his work alibi doesn’t check out, he’s an overweight office worker.

“But he’s got a history of erratic behavior and not getting along well with his mother,” T.J. said. “He could have hired somebody to do it and provided the weapon.”

Their troubles began when they contacted Robins Air Force Base and learned that Charles A. Chapman, as he was known there, had signed out from work and left through the main gate at a little after eleven a.m.

“Maybe he got edgy and decided to come home and check on things. I’m going to call the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the State Patrol and send Skeet and Aaron out to watch the I-75 exits for him. And just in case he does arrive home, let’s have this place looking normal again. We don’t want to have a chase.”

Ten minutes later, the street was cleared of any sign of law enforcement. Aaron had taken his truck and gone out to the watch for the Volvo, and Skeet Borders was about to follow.

Skeet had just opened his car door when he was stopped by a faint call from the house two doors down from the Chapman place.

“Young man! Young man!”

It was a fragile-looking elderly woman who seemed to be struggling with her walker, trying to get from her front door to her porch.

Skeet sprinted up her walk and onto the porch to help her.

“Thank you so much,” she said after she was clear of the screened door and standing on the porch, “Now you might as well hold the door and help me get back inside. I was only coming out to try to catch one of you before you all left.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Skeet said, “Is there something we can help you with?”

“I’m fine,” she said, “I just wanted to ask you not to leave yet. I called Andrew Chapman about Sunshine being arrested and all the people who were coming in and out of their house. I don’t know why it’s taking so long, but I’m sure he’ll be here very soon, and he’ll want to talk with somebody.”

Mallory Bremmer was at Merchantsville City Hall trying to get a copy of the proposed city sign ordinance that Jaybird Hilliard had mentioned.

“I don’t think I can give it to you,” Laurie Leigh Tookes said with a smile. “You know with Mr. Jordan having passed away, I’d have to ask the Mayor, and he’s having his day off.”

Mallory had gone to high school with Laurie Leigh, who looked sweet, but wasn’t. She had the pink flowered dress, the perfectly matched lipstick and nail polish, the little bow in her puffy blonde hair, and the big eyes made larger by makeup. She even had the sweet smile, but she was not sweet.

“Of course, you can give it to me,” Mallory said. “It’s public information. It’s the law.”

“Well, I read the guidelines just this morning,” Laurie Leigh said. “You can write a request, and we have three days to respond to your request, and you have to pay for the photocopying.”

“If it had been ready in time for the meeting, I would have gotten a copy with my agenda,” Mallory said. “I always get copies of everything the council members get.”

She was well aware that Laurie Leigh was enjoying her temporary power.

“Well, excuse me,” Laurie Ann said, “but I don’t see why you need this yet. They won’t even be having the first reading until the first meeting in March.”

“Never mind,” Mallory said impatiently, taking out her phone. “Why I need it isn’t an issue. I’ll just call Mayor Washington at home and ask him to explain this to you.”

She could almost see Laurie Leigh’s brain working through that scenario.

“Oh, Mallory,” she said with a sigh. “Working at that newspaper has gone to your head, hasn’t it? If you’re going to make such a fuss, let me see if I can find an extra copy.”

When she came back with it, she had apparently rethought the power play and decided to see what she could find out.

She handed Mallory the thick document with a smile and said, “What have you heard about the investigation?”

“Not much,” Mallory said.

“Oh, don’t tell me that, Mallory Bremmer! I know you work with the sheriff’s wife. You probably know every single thing they’re doing over at the courthouse.”

“No,” Mallory said. “I haven’t heard anything except that they’re all working overtime, and they’ve called in the GBI and the investigator from the District Attorney’s office.”

That apparently didn’t interest Laurie Ann.

“I mean who do they think did it?” she asked. “I heard that Taneesha whatshername and that cute Skeet Borders were out at the Carson place yesterday. Is Russell a suspect?”

“They talk to all the family members,” Mallory said. “It doesn’t mean they suspect anyone. They’re just getting information.”

“Can you believe China lost all that weight?” Laurie Leigh said. “Do you remember how adorable China and Russell were in high school – him so skinny and her so chubby? And she changed her whole look.”

She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone and said, “Don’t say you heard this from me, but I heard she was getting a lot of attention from the guys and enjoying it too. She missed that kind of thing in high school, going steady with Russell the whole time, and being overweight and all.”

“I’ve got to go,” Mallory said.

Angelica Sampson had no doubt that she had done the right thing.

“His mother gave me the number to his little cell phone almost a year ago,” she explained to Sam and Taneesha. “You know she was going with that tour group to London, and she said only to use it in a real emergency. You know, if the house caught on fire and Andrew needed to be contacted at work, or – I suppose – if her plane crashed.”

“I see,” Sam said, as Taneesha gently pushed back a brocade drape to watch the street from the living room window, “Who else has this number?”

“Nobody, as far as I know,” Miss Angelica said. “She made me promise not to give it to anyone because he was so persnickety about his privacy, and he wouldn’t even give her his work number. I used it for the first time the other day to reach him when they called from the church to tell me poor Annie had been killed. Pastor Hale wanted to know if I knew how to reach Andrew, and I was so glad that I could help. I did it myself, of course, and he came straight home.”

She looked pensive.

“I don’t know what’s taking him so long today because I don’t think it took much more than an hour the other day.”

“Why did you call him today?” Sam said.

“Well, for heaven’s sake,” she said. “Anybody would have. I looked out my window, and Sunshine was being taken away by this big man in uniform, and he put her into his car and drove off. Then I got Lucille, that’s my maid, to look and she saw all kinds of cars showing up and she said that people were taking boxes out of the house. I had no idea what was going on, but I thought he should know and come right home.”

“What did he say when you told him?” Taneesha asked. “Can you tell us exactly what his words were.”

“Well, of course, I told him that his sister had been arrested and that people from the Sheriff’s office were going in and out and carrying things – maybe his mother’s things. I’m not going to repeat what he said at first,” she said primly, “But I told him ‘Andrew Chapman, be ashamed!’ and he stopped. You know I gave him piano lessons when he was a little boy, and he knew better than to misbehave with me the way he did with his mother. That’s why she gave me the number.”

“And what else did he say?” Sam asked.

“To give him credit,” she said, “He said ‘Thank you for calling.’”

“Miss Angelica,” Sam said. “Sunshine was not arrested. She’s staying over at Hilliard House because he hasn’t been willing to let her into the house. She was upset today, and I didn’t think she should be driving. That’s all there was to that. Now, we need to have that telephone number so that we can try to reach Andy in case he doesn’t show up soon. There’s a problem that we have to talk to him about right away.”

“Why don’t I just call him for you?” she said. “I really can’t give you the number, since I promised Annie, and I certainly don’t want Andrew upset with me about handing it out. I’ll ask him if he’ll talk to you.”

She made her way slowly over to the phone on the mahogany desk in the corner of the living room, took a seat, opened the center drawer, and took out a folded piece of paper.

Taneesha was right behind her.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Angelica said, “I left my reading glasses in the den.”

“Here, I’ll read the number to you,” Taneesha said, reaching for the paper.

“Oh, no, dear,” Miss Angelica said, keeping it folded. “Sheriff Bailey, would you please get my glasses? They’re by the reclining chair.”

Sam came back in half a minute with the glasses. He was ready to take the telephone out of the old lady’s hand if she got Andy Chapman to answer, or to use the authority of his office to demand the number.

It wasn’t necessary, though. She put on the glasses and adjusted them carefully. Then she unfolded the paper, picked up the handset, and began to glance at the paper and then back at the cradle of the phone, calling out each number to herself in a small, precise voice as she pressed her finger down. Sam committed it to memory while Taneesha wrote it down in her notebook.

The phone rang five times and went to a recording. Miss Angelica looked a bit exasperated.

“Andrew,” she said, “Would you please pick up the phone? This is Angelica Samson. If you’re not there, call me when you get this message. It’s important, dear. I was mistaken about Sunshine. She wasn’t arrested at all. They were just helping her, and the sheriff wants to talk to you.”

“I have one more question,” Sam said before he left. “How did Andy react the other day when you told him his mother had died?”

“I suppose it was shock,” she said, “but all he said was ‘Oh,’ and then he seemed to expect me to say something more, so I told him what to do. I said, ‘You must come home. There will be people coming to the house, and there’s no one there.’ Andy’s always been a bit odd, you know. He doesn’t seem to know what’s expected of him unless you’re quite firm.”

A few minutes later, standing on Miss Angelica’s front steps, Sam left a message of his own for Andy Chapman.

“Mr. Chapman, this is Sheriff Sam Bailey. It is urgent that you call me immediately at this number, or if you are in this vicinity, come straight to the Magnolia County Courthouse.”

CHAPTER 7

After Andy Chapman hadn’t shown up or responded to the phone call in a half hour, Sam called the Georgia State Patrol to be on the look out for the Volvo. He went back to his original plan with Skeet and Aaron watching the most likely Interstate exits and arranged for Bub Williston to stay at the house.

“Pick up something for lunch,” he told them all, “This could be a long wait.”

When he stopped by Hilliard House to bring Sunshine Chapman up to date, he took a copy of the letter from Abomination.

They sat down together in the front parlor of the old antebellum mansion.

“I’ve been thinking about it, Sheriff Bailey. I know that gun looks bad, but there’s no way he’d shoot anybody,” Sunshine said, “Just no way. He probably just bought it on an impulse. I overreacted because I hate those things. I won’t even let my fiance’ keep his in my apartment.”

She paused and thought of something.

“Was there any ammunition?”