Murder by Serpents (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (24 page)

“They never told us about the snakes.” Martha jumped in. “We didn’t rent the cabin. Whoever left fingerprints didn’t have our permission to stay there. We only agreed for them to use the office.” She gave up dealing with her oversized salad and handed it to a passing waitress. “We wanted to wait until we had our plans laid out, and then we were going to tell you all about it.”

“We had to tell Gus but we didn’t tell anyone else.” Jane patted his arm. “It’s so exciting. We’re going to turn it into a folk art museum and a sort of camp for learning the old crafts. We originally thought the old motel rooms would work okay for classrooms and that eventually we could build a dormitory building. Gus said we will have to tear all those cabins down and start over.” Once she began her description, she rattled on for a couple of minutes without coming up for breath, until she blurted, “Please don’t tell anyone until we are ready to make our announcement.”

Whatever he had guessed, he had never come close to their plan. It left him speechless. Thank goodness, Theo wasn’t. She leaned forward and pumped the older women for details. “You mean like the museum over in Norris with the old buildings and the garden and all that other great stuff?”

“Sort of.” Martha beamed. “We don’t expect to have buildings like that, but there is a lot of good old stuff piled in local barns and attics. A lot of treasures are just rotting in rickety old sheds. We just want to borrow them and put them on display.” Folding her hands together, she gave Theo a tentative smile. “We weren’t going to bring it up for a while, but we thought that maybe you could teach people how to make quilts in the old way. You know, hand piecing, and using scissors instead of a rotary cutter.”

Tony recognized the ploy as a diversionary gambit and didn’t give his wife a chance to respond, but continued his questions. “Did you ever go out and check on your property after you gave Pops the go-ahead?” Tony almost asked where they had come up with the money, but was pretty sure he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Once.” Jane looked to Martha for confirmation. “Only a week or so ago, we drove out there and we were pleased by the way it looked. The office looked spotless and the ground around the buildings had been just raked. You could see the rake marks in the dirt. The man working out there seemed quite nice.”

“He wasn’t working when we talked to him.” Martha corrected her sister. “Remember, we weren’t even sure he had been doing the raking because he was sitting on the stoop, eating potato chips.”

“That’s right.” Jane’s head began bobbing. “Didn’t you think he was pleasant though?” She waited for her sister’s nod of agreement then looked back to Tony. “We chatted for quite a while and I remember thinking that he acted sort of vague, mentally that is.”

“One of his eyes didn’t focus right either,” said Martha.

With sense of foreboding, Tony reached into his pocket and produced a copy of the most recent mug shot of Sammy Samson. “I don’t suppose that either of you have ever seen this man?”

“That’s him.” They looked quite pleased with themselves. “Do you know him? He didn’t tell us his name.”

“His name is Sammy Samson. Not only is he heavily involved with drugs, taking them and selling them, but he shot Sheila and intended to kill her. He’s probably the person who bashed Nellie Pearl in the head, and he might have killed the preacher.” Tony mentally pulled out the last strands of his nonexistent hair, but he found the stupefied expressions on their faces somewhat gratifying. “Now tell me, what day and what time did you see him? Exactly.” He wasn’t smiling when he asked his questions.

Martha had the sense to keep her mouth closed,

Jane responded as if she was checking off the ingredients for her favorite recipe. “Mm? Today’s Sunday, so it was the Friday before last Sunday.” Jane beamed at her youngest child, but she was careful to keep her eyes from meeting his. “We went out there after I got off work and it was already almost dark.”

Tony wanted to cry.

The day improved. The Cubs won. The boys didn’t fight, and the three of them managed to play catch and do a little batting practice in the park. For dinner, Theo cooked his favorite casserole, and he got almost a full chapter written in his novel set in the old west.

Tony checked his calendar. Only one more month until they would fly to Montana for a brief visit. Theo would teach in Billings for a few days before she headed to Paducah. He planned to go along for a bit of a vacation and to do some research. So far he had a list of about sixty things he wanted to see in four days. He suspected that something would have to be thrown out, but he was content to lean back in his chair, eyes closed, and contemplate a break from his everyday routine.

First thing Monday morning, Tony and the county prosecutor, Archie Campbell, decided to have little visit with Sammy Samson. Returned to Park County for his formal arraignment, they hoped spending some time in jail for shooting Sheila might make him a bit more conversational. Tony doubted it, especially if he had been involved with the now-deceased Harold Usher Brown. The two men shared several indisputable connections besides their former status as cellmates. Both had been at the old motel, they had both touched the Focus and they both possessed more than a small stash of drugs.

A couple of nights in the Sevier County Jail couldn’t touch serving time in prison.

Tony carried coffee in a mug with a lid. Archie carried an open mug. The tag on his teabag swayed with each step. At last, they settled into the greenhouse with Sammy’s attorney.

When Kate Wyatt parked her silver BMW in the parking lot, she attracted admiring glances. Inside she drew even more, at least from the males. Kate fit the television image of a well-groomed woman making it in a man’s world. For her, success meant driving a Beemer and wearing a five-hundred-dollar suit. Forest green and fitted to perfection, it complimented Kate’s freckled complexion and flame red hair. So many of the residents of East Tennessee lived in poverty that her attire screamed that she did not. Sammy’s bank account had to be full to pay for this woman’s services. Maybe someone else was footing the bill. But who?

“How did you come to be Sammy’s lawyer?” said Tony. He kept his tone conversational. “Somehow I doubt that he’s a personal friend of yours. He doesn’t look like your type.”

“I thought he came from Atlanta.” Archie interjected before she could respond. Archie’s smile was frankly admiring as he lifted her fingers to his lips and checked her left hand for wedding rings. There were none and his lips pulled away from his teeth, exposing their dazzling whiteness. “How did he end up with one of the finest defense lawyers in East Tennessee? Not to mention that you are easily the most beautiful one in the state.”

“I’m not sure who is paying. His attorney in Atlanta contacted my office and presto chango, here I am.” Kate graced Archie with a warm smile even as she eased her hand out of his. Tony might not have been in the room for all the attention she paid to him. This woman was not going to waste her ammunition on a married man.

“Have you already met with him or do you need some time to do that?” Archie was going into total meltdown.

Tony thought he might ooze down into his socks. His close-cropped gray hair had been almost the same color as Kate’s only a few years ago. His freckles were less distinct than hers were because over the years, he spent enough time outside to develop a permanent tan. If he smiled any wider, he would look exactly like a shark, lots of teeth in a really big mouth. “We can give you a few minutes to confer with your client.”

“We’ve already talked.” Sammy’s arrival interrupted them. “I don’t believe we need any privacy.”

There was an almost desperate quality in her expression as she took a step closer to Tony. Her freckles had either gotten darker or her milk white skin had gone about three shades lighter. Two more steps and she would be standing behind him.
Interesting
, thought Tony.

Dressed impeccably in the Park County issued orange and white striped jumpsuit, Sammy shuffled into the room in handcuffs and leg irons. While he barely glanced in the direction of the sheriff and the prosecutor, his eyes focused on Kate’s chest.

“Hey there, sweet thing. I was lookin’ forward to seein’ you again.” He headed toward her.

Lank, medium-brown hair covered one eye. The eye Tony could see was mud brown surrounded by bloodshot white. His mustache grew a shade darker than the rest of his hair, including the stubble on his unshaven cheeks. Untrimmed, it extended from his nostrils to cover his lower lip. He parted it in the center to expose his teeth. They were huge, square teeth that looked like he had stolen them from a horse. He licked his lips without disturbing the tiny bits of food clinging to the strands. Rising onto his toes, he used the extra height he gained to peer into the vee of flesh exposed by Kate’s tailored lapels.

Tony made a bet with himself that the next time she met with Sammy, Kate would be wearing a turtleneck.

Archie jumped to pull a chair away from the table for Kate. He acted as if they were arriving in an expensive restaurant instead of a room that resembled a bunker. Sammy plopped onto the chair next to hers.

“When do I get out?” Sammy addressed everyone in the room. “I don’t want to stay in that hick jail any longer, and I don’t like this one any better. Everyone around here acts like that bitch cop is something special.”

Kate looked as if she would like to slap her client if she could do it without actually touching him. She had to settle for poking him with her pencil and hissing in his ear. “Shut up.” The words bounced around the room. “You will not say one more word unless I say you can.”

Tony and Archie were speechless. The level of Sammy’s stupidity amazed them. Even the dullest mind seemed capable of grasping the serious problems created by bragging about shooting a cop. For a couple of stunned minutes they just sat and stared at him.

Archie recovered first. “Those charges are not why we are here today.” Blinking furiously, he shuffled around in his briefcase. Since the papers he needed were already on the table, this was clearly a stall. “We are here to decide what charges relating to the death of Harold Usher Brown and what drug-related charges we intend to add to your indictment.”

“Who is Harold whatever you said?” Sammy’s eyes returned to Kate’s chest. His shackled hands rested on his crotch. He smiled.

Kate moved her chair nearer Archie’s.

“You can’t have forgotten your old cellmate? I think you must remember Hub?” Tony leaned forward. “Your fingerprints were found, along with his, at the old motel where you probably slept in one of the old cabins. They were also on the car where his dead body was found under some peculiar circumstances.”

“Never called hisself Harold.” Sammy looked a bit shell-shocked but didn’t deny anything. “What was that peculiar circle thing?”

“His death was odd,” said Tony.

Sammy seemed to understand that. “I don’t know what happened to him. I didn’t have nothin’ to do with it.”

“How did your fingerprints get on the door of his car?” said To n y.

“He give me a ride.” Bobbing his head up and down, he leered at Kate, as if checking to see that she was impressed by his speedy answer.

“Where did you go?” Tony toyed with the pages of his notebook, flipping back as if to check a previous notation and returning to the blank page. He sat with his pen poised.

“Around.” Sammy grinned as if he was proud of his quick wit.

Tony didn’t return the smile. “What day was that?”

“Dunno. There was a couple of times.”

“Did he show you where Quentin hid his stash of drugs and money, or did you find that on your own?”

Kate thumped her client with the pencil she held. When he looked at her, she shook her head. His lips slammed together like a door blowing shut.

“Okay, let’s try this.” Tony would have been stunned if Kate had allowed him to talk about the scene of his arrest. She had the reputation of being an excellent attorney. “Why were you camping out in that motel cabin?”

Uneasy, Sammy watched Kate, eyeing her pencil with suspicion. Only after she nodded her consent did he answer. “Didn’t cost nothin’. Hub said it would be okay.”

“Did you tell your parole officer in Atlanta that you were leaving the state?” Unsurprised, Tony watched Sammy shake his head. “I had a little chat with her this morning. She did not sound pleased to hear that you have been up here shooting my deputy. In fact, I heard her say she would check on how many violations of your parole you committed before you even left Georgia. I have to tell you that she said that she would love to research if she could nail you for possession of a firearm in another state.” Tony picked up his pen and stared at Sammy. It pleased him that Sammy’s attitude improved. “Now tell me, how long have you been staying out there?”

Sammy glanced at Kate. “A few days.” Shifting around on his chair, he rattled his chains. “How long before I can leave? I answered everything you asked me, didn’t I?”

No one said a word. Tony and Archie stared at him for a minute and then leaned together, conferring over the papers in Archie’s file.

Sammy scooted his chair closer to Kate, creating a loud, scraping sound of metal on linoleum. The noise brought everyone upright. “Don’t I get bailed out?” The rising whine of his voice was worse than the scraping. It rated right up there with the fingernail-on-the-blackboard sound for fraying nerves. “I didn’t kill nobody.”

“We’re on our way to the hearing right now.” Archie jumped to his feet and as he picked up his files, he gave Kate a courtly bow. “We’ll see you in there.” He didn’t bother looking at her client again.

Tony paused at the door and glanced back at them, but he directed his question to Sammy. “Then tell me why did we find your fingerprints on the handcuffs?”

The expression on Sammy’s face was easy to read. The man was simply not an actor.

“I guess I must of touched ’em when I lifted his cell phone.” The sharp point of Kate’s pencil drew his attention and he turned to face her. “It wasn’t like he was going to be making any more calls on it.”