Chapter 1 - It Was Murder-2
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“ANDREA ANDERSON, SHERIFF. The Coroner ruled Owen Lafferty’s death a homicide. I’ve been assigned the case.” She offered a handshake across Mel’s desk.
“I’m sorry,” Mel said as she looked up at the other woman with narrowed eyes. “You are?”
“Andrea Anderson...the uh, the Deputy District Attorney.”
“Didn’t know we had one.” Mel offered her hand and shook Anderson’s briefly.
“I just started a couple of weeks ago. Devon needed help. He says you’re keeping him pretty busy.”
“So, he can just appoint help for himself?” Mel waved the hand the DDA let go of at the one visitor’s chair she allowed in her office.
Andrea moved toward it as she answered, “No. Not exactly. There was a process to get the funding and such...so he tells me.” She sat down, perching on the edge of the chair.
Mel made a mental note to ask Willis about the ‘process’ his DDA referred to. She’d had to fight with the county hard just to replace a detective with someone more junior and who was paid less than the disgraced detective she was replacing. “Looks like you have a case file started, there. What do you need from me?”
“It’s s pretty skimpy file, Sheriff.”
“You may as well call me Mel.”
The younger woman nodded. “There’s your notes in here from the crime scene, of course. A witness statement from a Dana Rossi-Crane; any relation?”
Mel nodded. “My wife.”
“Pardon?”
“She found Owen Lafferty who, incidentally, is my Uncle.”
“I see.” The DDA dropped her head and studied the old, tiled floor.
“Is there a problem?”
Andrea looked up. “Not for me but maybe for you.”
“How so?”
“Oh...I don’t know!” Her tone changed. “That seems all a little strange and...and convenient...coincidental, even? Don’t you think maybe you ought to distance yourself from the case?”
“That’s all it was, Ms. Anderson, a bunch of coincidences; I assure you. An odd set of coincidences that can only happen in Morelville.”
“Why in Morelville?”
“It’s just one of those places where everybody knows everybody, and everybody is always in everybody else’s business. No matter what happens down there, someone I’m related to in some way is usually involved.”
Andrea wrinkled her nose.
Mel shrugged. “I’ve lived in that area my whole life. I’m used to it. As for Dana, she writes. She was working on a story. She was at that cabin that day to interview the owner of it, Chuck Knox. He wasn’t there when she got there but she found Owen, barely alive. And, for the record, she had no idea who she found.”
“So, Knox; he’s a suspect?” She paged through her file, scanning it quickly.
“Now that it’s been ruled a homicide, yeah. He’ll have to be.” She pointed at the file the DDA had just been skimming. “Did you find a statement from him in there? There should be one.”
“There is. It’s pretty vague. He says he wasn’t at the cabin most of the day. Claims he was hunting.”
“That’s what he told me when he brought himself in here the other evening.”
“Where’s he at right now?”
“At home, I imagine.”
“Not in the lock up?” Andrea looked surprised.
Mel shook her head. “Look, I suspected foul play as soon as I saw Owen lying there but I didn’t have any reason to hold Knox. The man came in to make his statement voluntarily.”
“What if he runs...disappears?”
“He won’t. I know where to find him, but I don’t think he’s our man anyway.”
“Got any idea who is, then?”
“Horace Bailey. He’s already in the lockup for...for an old murder he’s admitted to. We’re just waiting on a sentencing hearing for that.” Mel thought she better not tell the new DDA that it was Dana who had gotten him to confess. She’d deal with the fallout from that, if and when it ever came out.
“You think the two murders are related?”
“I’m sure they are.”
“What evidence do you have?”
“Nothing physical, though I suspect the cane Bailey uses to get around with may have been the murder weapon in this case. I’ll have to talk to the coroner about that and then get a warrant to search his property for it.”
“That’s it? What have you heard?”
“Not much. Horace claims he wasn’t there at all. Says he was at medical appointments all day. I have to get that information out of him and follow up on it now that Owen has passed. Knox claims to not know anything at all. Says he was out hunting all day and had no idea Owen was at his cabin or anyone else.”
“You believe that?”
“No, but I had no probable cause to hold him either. It’s already been 48 hours.”
“I want to interview this Horace Bailey character, for starters.”
Mel raised an eyebrow. “Now?”
“No. Do your due diligence first. Get your warrant for the search and run down his alibi today then get him up to interview from the lockup tomorrow.”
“Yes ma’am!” Mel said, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
“Look, Sheriff...Mel. I’m not here to tell you how to do your job. I’m sure you know what needs to be done...who you need to talk to. I just...it just needs to happen yesterday. I can’t sit on this one for long.”
“Guess I better get started then,” Mel said.
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* * * *
Owen Lafferty Family Residence
Dresden, Ohio
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* * * *
“I’M SORRY FOR YOUR loss, Aunt Gladys.”
“I appreciate that.” She swiped at the tears falling from her eyes. “This is all so...so...I don’t even know what to say.”
Well, what I’m here to talk with you about, I’m sorry to say, is probably not what you want to hear.” When her aunt just stared at her, Mel asked, “Can we sit for a minute?”
“Oh, sorry. Sure. This way.” She walked slowly, leading the way into the family dining room and indicated Mel should take the seat at the head of the table.
Assuming that was where her great uncle had always sat, she went around to the far side and took the seat opposite the one her Aunt Gladys was taking.
“You have a lovely home,” Mel said.
Gladys nodded. “Thanks. It’s a shame you’ve never been here before now. Our families...Owen...it was just so awkward, what 30 some years ago - maybe 40 - and then it always seemed to late to try and make it right...make amends.”
Mel just nodded. She wanted to talk with Owen’s widow about the family rift but that could wait. “Aunt Gladys, I’m actually here to tell you that the Coroner did an autopsy. He ruled Uncle Owen’s death a homicide.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Like...like murder?”
Mel nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Who would want to kill Owen?”
“That,” Mel said as gently as she could, “was what I’m hoping you can help me with.”
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