The Traveling Corpse (21 page)

The officer replied, “We'll turn it in to the
lab. There are no hairs in it, but they may find fingerprints on
it,”

Verna asked again, “May I please search the
field?”

The Sarge answered, “Again, I normally would
say, ‘No.' However, you have contributed evidence before; so if you
want to conduct your own search, go ahead. But that big ‘gator just
came back. He's sunning himself in the field. Don't think you'll
want to go near him.”

“Oh, but I do,” Verna exclaimed. “That
alligatah isn't going to eat an adult. He won't bothah anything as
big as me.” They all were surprised at the bravery of this plump
little woman. “I want to walk in there,” she said pointing to the
field. “I need to look around with my own two eyes!”

Joe Juarez summoned up his courage and asked,
“Do you want me to go in with her?”

“Yes, she should be accompanied.”

Annie swallowed down her fears and asked
Verna, “Do you want us to help you too?”

“Thanks, but the fewah people trampling down
the grass, the bettah. Having Joe go with me will be fine.”

“Those big birds moving around and being
herded out of there probably already trampled the grass,” Annie
observed.

Verna patted Annie's arm. “You all stay here
on this side of the fence. I'll be fine with Joe's help.”

Annie nodded, relieved and filled with
admiration for her friend.

Juarez undid the temporary wires twisted
around the cut fence, pushed it apart, and he and Verna climbed
through it into the field. Verna took her mission seriously.
Looking at the ground, she walked slowly away from the fence and
across the field. At the other side, she moved over five feet and
very slowly walked back. She continued pacing up and back, up and
back. Deputy Juarez stayed close to her, keeping one eye on her,
one eye on the big alligator, and one hand on his revolver. He
figured they were safer if the two of them were very close
together—the larger the mass hopefully would be more intimidating
to the beast. Near the pond—and too near the alligator for Juarez's
comfort—Verna squatted down by the fence and studied a large
Bouganvillea bush; its trailing vines spread along the wires of the
fence. Juarez watched her try to break off some of the thorny
plant. Reaching in his pocket, he found his jack knife and offered
it to her. She cut off a piece of the bush, held it up and called,
“Look! Look!”

Bending down, Joe saw a few threads of light
blue denim material. Verna told him, “These match the scrap of
cloth that I found on the air-conditioning unit; I'm sure they do.
And, if they do, then we'll know that that body was here. Right
here in this field. It had to be. But,” she hesitated, “where is
that body now? It has disappeared
again!
That body will not
stay in one place!”

After they crossed back to the golf course
side of the fence, Joe handed the branch with the denim threads on
it to his sergeant. It was evidence to add to that which the four
seniors had already collected. Menendez and Juarez thanked the four
women for their help and watched them drive away, amazed at the
courage and vitality of those older women.

 

* * *

 

“You do have sharp eyes!” Barb complimented
Verna. “It was such a little bit of material; I don't know how you
ever saw it tucked behind those vines! Those deputies had both been
over that field before you, and they didn't find it, and they're
young enough to be your kids if not your grandkids!”

Her other friends praised her, too.

Verna answered, “Because they were so afraid
of that ‘gator,' I doubt that they evah got close enough to look at
that bush.”

DeeDee said, “Ya certainly are a lot braver
than I am. That ‘gator opened one of his eyes. He was a watchin'
ya.”

“He certainly was.” Annie agreed. “My teeth
were on edge when you were so close to that big animal. Thank you,
Verna, for finding another piece of the puzzle, but it still isn't
solved.”

“You might as well come on back to my place,”
Verna offered. “We've got more to add to ‘Our Mystery', and we can
finish the doughnuts.”

“I'll come,” Annie said, “but, please, don't
tempt me with more food.” As she got into DeeDee's cart, she asked,
“Will you stop and let me change the note I left on Art's golf
cart? The men play 18 holes; so they won't be finished for a while.
I'll tell him I'm still at your house, Verna.”

 

* * *

 

As DeeDee sipped her coffee, she said to her
three friends, “Do we dare tell anyone else ‘bout all this? It's
about killin' me ta have ta keep quiet ‘bout it all. It's so
excitin', an' I can't say a word ta anybody except ‘Our Gang'.”

Barb took charge, “We don't know if Annie is
safe or not, and maybe I'm in danger too. So, for our sake, I think
we should all just keep this among ourselves for a little longer.
The world outside may buzz about it, but they don't know the
details like we do.”

The others agreed, even DeeDee, “Oh, I knew
I'd have ta keep it quiet. I was jest blowin' off a little steam.
Ya know that I can keep a secret as good as any of y'all.”

Annie thanked them, then said, “You know what
I think? We should go talk to Twila's brother and sister-in-law. Is
it okay to call them, Verna? To see if they're home?”

“Fine with me.” Verna pointed to the phone.
Then she added, “It's probably a good idea for us to go visit them,
but let's practice first how we are going to
not
let on
about Karl's being in that field. His connection with all this mess
is part of our secret.They don't need to know that stuff yet; so
let's not mention anything about it.”

Barb praised her, “You are so right, Verna.
None of us is to mention Karl Kreeger to the Tuckman's. Okay?”

 

* * *

 

Tony and Tilley Tuckman, a couple in their
late 70's, welcomed the four women and invited them inside their
double-wide. He was balding and showing the beginning of a paunch
above his sagging belt, but his wife, Tilley, was a little woman.
Annie marveled that the older woman didn't seem to be carrying one
ounce of extra weight. “How does she do that?” Annie, who struggled
with her weight, asked herself. “How can you get to be old and
still be thin?”

At first they talked about the weather and
how glad they all were that the temperature was back in the 70's
where Florida residents thought it belonged in the winter months.
Finally, the conversation drifted to the missing Twila. “It breaks
my heart to think something happened to her right after she moved
to BradLee. We thought she'd be safer here than alone in a big
Northern city. And, and … she didn't get to enjoy her
retirement at all!” Tilley Tuckman said, biting her lower lip to
keep it from quivering. “She's Tony's sister; but I felt very close
to her. She was more like a sister than a sister-in-law. That's why
we were so looking forward to her moving to our park. Twila didn't
have any children, and we only have one daughter, and she's way out
in Missouri. We thought it was going to be wonderful to have some
family living close by. And now… and now,” she covered her eyes
with her hands, and Tony put his arm around his tiny wife to
support her.

He picked up the story, “We didn't get
alarmed at first when she didn't come home on Monday. We figured
that she was having a good time with her friends and decided to
stay longer. She didn't leave us a phone number. We don't even know
the name of her friends. You see, she wasn't used to checking in
with us.”

“Plus,” Tilley continued, “we didn't know she
had a meeting planned for Tuesday afternoon. If we had known she
was supposed to be back in BradLee on Tuesday, we would have gone
to the Sheriff sooner and filled out a Missing Persons report. Then
that woman officer and her deputy came to see us. They wouldn't
tell us much of anything, but we did find out that they were trying
to identify a woman's body. But now they can't find it. Now isn't
that something for the books? Can't find a body!”

Annie thought,
Tell me about it! She's
talking about the body that travels.

Tony said, “As long as they can't find her
body, then I can hope.”

Annie grimaced inwardly; she hated to see his
agony drag on.

The Tuckmans next told the women that the
officers had asked for DNA material; so they took them over to
Twila's house where they found some hair in her brush.

DeeDee asked Tilley, “What color was Twila's
hair?”

“She had the most glorious deep auburn hair
when she was younger. She's been dying it the past few years,
though, trying to keep it the same color.”

Tony said, “Please, if you know anything… anything at all … The police said a body had been found and
then lost. Do you know anything about any of it?”

The girls exchanged glances. DeeDee
nodded.

Annie said, “It was me, actually, that first
found … something amiss.”

The Tuckmans were distraught, but they were
anxious to hear Annie's story. So she began the tale with her going
to the drawer to look for Valentine decorations and feeling a dead
arm in there. She mentioned seeing a gold bracelet.

“Was it a heavy gold link bracelet?” Tilley
Tuckman asked.

Annie nodded.

“Twila's husband gave that to her on their
35th wedding anniversary, not long before he died. It meant so much
to her; she wore it every day. That's
not
good news for us,
though. It sounds like that body was … was our Twila, doesn't
it?” she asked helplessly.

“Was there a charm hanging on it?” Tony
asked.

Tilley exclaimed, “That's right. Did you see
a heart-shaped charm on it? It was yellow gold, like the bracelet.
The charm wasn't quite an inch long, and it was puffy—pillow-like
with etchings all over it. It wasn't a locket; it didn't open.”

“That describes what I saw, but I couldn't
say if the heart opened or not. I didn't dare take time to examine
it that closely.”

“And you say the bracelet had just the one
charm on it?

“I only saw one; there could have been more
tucked up under her arm. Come to think of it, I don't think I told
the officers about that charm when I first reported the crime,”
Annie stated. “I guess I was almost in shock. I didn't remember the
charm until you mentioned it now.”

“It sounds like Twila's. Oh, dear, that arm
you felt in that drawer must have been our Twila's.” She leaned
into her husband's chest and began to cry.

He held his sobbing wife and asked, “But why
would she be in that drawer? She was such a kind and giving person.
Who would want to kill her? Who in BradLee would kill her? Who
would ever think there is a killer living in BradLee?” He bent his
head down into his wife's and cried too.

 

* * *

 

After they said good-byes to the Tuckmans,
the four friends parted. Each headed to her own home to make lunch.
On a whim, Annie decided to pedal a few blocks out of her way and
ride past Kreeger's house. As luck had it, Kitty was in her front
yard, weeding furiously. Annie braked, then stood with her feet
straddling her bike and called a greeting. Kitty looked up. There
were tears in her eyes. Annie drew her left leg over the bicycle
frame, hurriedly laid the bike down on the grass, and went to
Kitty, asking, “What's wrong?”

“What isn't? Nothing's right anymore. Karl's
doing the strangest things. And the Sheriff's deputies were here.
When they left, they took our golf cart with them. I think they
said they were ‘impounding' it. Had a court order. We couldn't do
anything to stop them, and it is practically brand-new.”

“Why'd they do that?” Annie asked, although
she had a good idea why.

“They didn't give us a good reason. Something
about checking it over. I don't know why.”

“What did Karl say?”

“Not much. But he was fuming. We just had to
stand here and watch them drive it up on a trailer and take
off.”

“Where did they take it?”

“I think they said to a lab someplace in
Tampa.”

“Where's Karl now?”

“Oh, he's inside reading the paper. He's
acting like nothing has happened. I don't know how he can be so
calm. When I'm upset, it helps me to come out here and weed.
Working with my flowers helps me when I'm upset.”

“Kitty, has something happened?”

“So much has happened these last few days
that I don't know what to tell first.”

“Let me ask this question. Was Karl home last
night?”

“That's funny; those officers asked me that
same thing.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I said that last night was Thursday. So,
right after supper Karl took off in the golf cart. He and Jiggs
usually play poker on Thursday nights at seven o'clock with some
other men over in the Little Clubhouse.”

Annie sensed that Kitty had not yet heard
about Jiggs' death. She decided
not
to be the one to tell
her; so instead she asked, “When did Karl come home last
night?”

“What time? I don't know. He wasn't home by
ten o'clock because I turned to FOX to hear the news broadcast. I
usually listen to that while I get ready for bed. Then I read for
awhile before turning off the light.”

“What time was that?”

“Probably a little before 11 p.m.”

“And Karl wasn't home yet?”