Murder by Serpents (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (32 page)

Theo straightened but looked happier. “What's the stuff on the table?”

“Work. You and the boys can help.” He pulled on a pair of gloves and handed others to his wife and sons.

“Do we get paid?” said Jamie. He tried to blow the glove up like a balloon but failed.

“Do we get a badge?” said Chris.

“No to both of you.” Tony reached into the box and pulled out a sheaf of papers. “As your mom and I go through these, I want you to put them in piles.”

Theo pulled a handful from the box. “How do you want these to be separated?” She flipped through the pages. “I have a real assortment in this bunch.”

“Let's start by separating them by name. You know what? Let's put all the Mize papers by that chair.” He waved in the direction of an unoccupied chair in the corner. “All of the Brown papers by the window, and anything that doesn't have a name on it or has a different name in a pile next to the chair.”

“Are we looking for anything specific?” Theo pulled a couple of empty envelopes from the pile and handed one to each boy.

Watching the boys scurry to place them in the designated pile brought a grin to Tony's face. “No.” He shook his head. “But if you find one that says ‘meet me at the parking lot behind Ruby's at midnight,’ you might separate it from the rest.” Suddenly he felt so tired that he knew he would have fallen if he wasn't already lying down. His eyelids lowered and he drifted off to sleep.

Accompanied by the sound of Tony's steady breathing, Theo and the boys continued to sort and stack the papers. She read a couple of letters that made her feel unclean and mumbled to herself, “I can't believe no one has killed you before this, you rotten, creepy man.”

Most of the postmarks were from places in North Carolina and Georgia. There were a few from Tennessee and one from Phoenix. The mail itself was a mixture of handwritten letters and receipts for things he had ordered on the Internet. She found receipts for everything from rattlesnakes and mice to male enhancement medications.

By the time they had everything sorted, each pile had a sizeable number of papers. After Tony dozed off, Theo started another stack. It was made of Hub's notes to himself. The bulk of them seemed to be girls' names and phone numbers. Some of his personal notations were merely lewd, and some of them were outright perversions. A few sketches detailed roads or directions.

Toward the bottom of the box she discovered a letter addressed to Harold Brown. The words seemed to grab her, jumping off the paper. “Tony, look at this.” Theo's hands shook as she held the typewritten note.

“What?” Tony's body jerked as he woke up. “Read it to me.” His eyes flickered open for a moment and closed again. “I promise I'm listening.”

Theo read, keeping her voice low. “Someday I will deliver you to the devil or return you to hell. You have destroyed our dearest love. Since you are not capable of love, I cannot deprive you of your own. Your death will be my retribution for the wounds that can never heal. If I must accompany you to hell, it will be worth it. Only your damnation will ease any of the limitless pain that you have caused. Watch for me.”

By the time she made it halfway through the reading, Tony sat at attention on the bed. Wide-eyed, he stared at Theo. When she finished, he reached to take it from her. “Was there an envelope with this?”

“No. It wasn't in one.” She lifted a couple of torn envelopes and waved them back and forth. “We have a lot of empty ones that don't seem to have any letters to match.”

Tony intently read the letter again. “Our dearest love? Wounds that never heal?” He carefully placed the letter in an empty file folder and left it open on his lap. “What does that sound like to you? What could never be forgiven?” His eyes searched hers.

Theo's eyes flickered to the corner where her children, having lost any enthusiasm for the project, were now making up a card game. Her stomach tightened and she could feel the color leach from her face as she turned to face him. Tears filled her eyes. No words were necessary.

Tony's heart mirrored her fear. “He took Ruby's baby.” He gazed out the window.

To Theo, it looked as if he was trying to separate his emotions from the facts.

After a few moments, he announced, “It wasn't Ruby. She didn't write this.”

“How can you be sure?” Theo moved to sit on the edge of the bed and leaned against Tony as she reread the letter. The solid strength of him pressed against her back, reassured her. Having her children at her feet gave her peace.

“Look. It says ‘our’ dearest love.” He tapped the paper with his thumbnail. “If ever there was a single mother, even though she had a husband, it was Ruby. I don't know who I despise more, her mother or her husband.” He rested his chin on her head as if he too needed the contact. “I would expect a letter from her to be a clear threat, you know, like, ‘return my baby you scheming pervert, or else.’ ”

“True.” Theo sighed. “There are some other notes that express a hatred for the man, but nothing else so threatening.” She added a couple of papers to the file. “I can't imagine how he could hide such a ruthless side from so many people.”

“Unfortunately, the price of faith is that it sometimes blinds people to the truth.” Tony pulled her closer against his side. “How many times have you wondered how cheating spouses get away with it for so long?”

“That's no joke.” Theo studied the letter. It looked like it could have been printed by any computer in the world. “Why would he keep this?”

“And how long has he had it?” He reached for the pile of empty envelopes and handed some of them to Theo. “Let's see if any of these have local postmarks and if so, what was the mailing date.”

A handful of envelopes had local postmarks, but they were all addressed to John Mize instead of Harold Brown. At the end of their search, three were addressed to Harold Brown in care of John Mize. A couple had Atlanta postmarks and one came from North Carolina.

“I've got an idea.” Tony reached for his phone and punched the buttons that would connect him with his deputy. “Wade, I need you to check something.”

“That's it.” Through the earpiece came Wade's excited voice. “You want me to pick him up?”

“Wait fifteen. I'll call and get a warrant.” Tony looked up as the doctor arrived. “Hang on. I'll call you right back.”

Dr. Morse examined the chart, poked at the receding swelling and finally pronounced Tony fit to go home. “You'll need to use crutches or a cane for a while, but you're not likely to improve any faster here. Stay off it as much as possible, and call Doctor Nash or myself if you develop a rash or anything new. Allergic reactions to the anti-venom can be worse than the bite. I'll see you for a follow-up visit next week.”

The minute the doctor was out of the room, Tony called Wade. “Pick up the warrant from Archie and swing by my house in two hours. Don't worry, our guy's not going to run.”

Theo and the boys played cards while they waited. “What happened?”

“Payback.” Tony was not happy about being right.

Red Smith lived in a recently completed house just down the road from Nina. The dark green steel roof blended with the trees. The home's exterior was a combination of wood siding and native stone. A pair of young crepe myrtles flanked the front sidewalk and a clump of dogwoods had been planted near the road. The yard and garden were spotless, ready for the arrival of spring. Tony thought it looked beautiful but impersonal.

The curtains were tightly closed. Flocks of tiny birds gathered at the assortment of feeders in the yard. There was no sign of human life anywhere.

Tony struggled to walk with the unfamiliar crutches, feeling unwieldy and awkward as he and Wade approached the blond oak front door. Before they could knock the door opened.

Red invited them inside like honored guests.

They entered a tiny foyer. From it, they could see the large kitchen and small den to the left, the living room ahead and a short hallway to the right. Nothing hung on any of the walls. The off-white paint looked and smelled fresh. The floors were bare as well. There was no furniture, no sign that anyone lived here except for a small cardboard box sitting in the center of the living room.

Red lifted his empty hands toward Tony and pressed his palms together like a child learning to pray. A wry smile played across his features and his eyes twinkled. “I suspect you'd like to use your own handcuffs.”

Tony almost refused, but the expression on Red's face stopped him. Red wanted this. Tony carefully explained Red's rights as he closed his handcuffs around the man's thin wrists.

Red looked at Wade. “Would you please bring the box?”

Seated across the steel table from them, Red looked so frail that Tony almost called to have Doc Nash standing by. It looked like a mere breath of air would flatten him.

“If you don't mind, Sheriff, I'd just like to tell you my story and then you can ask me all the questions you want.” With trembling hands he adjusted his jacket, pulling it closer to the loose skin of his throat.

“That would be fine.” Tony felt sorry for the man but couldn't let sympathy stop him. “I am going to ask Carl Lee to sit in. You might find a lawyer is a handy thing in a situation like this.”

“You might as well get Archie down here.” Red shifted restlessly on his chair. “The prosecutor ought to hear this, and I only want to tell it once, Sheriff. If you hadn't come for me, I planned to come in on my own.”

Luckily, Carl Lee was not busy. Only minutes later he loped down the hall to meet with his newest client and the sheriff. “Give us a few, okay?”

“No problem.” Leaning heavily on his crutches, Tony eased out the door and closed it behind him. Most days, he received great satisfaction in sniffing out the bad guys. This was not one of them. Even without knowing the details of Red's motivation, he guessed that Harold Brown had deserved what had happened to him.

Archie arrived from the prosecutor's office and sat in the chair by Ruth Ann's desk. No one spoke. Only a few minutes passed before Carl Lee opened the door and waved Tony, Archie and Wade inside. “He'd like to make his statement now.”

“We read him his rights when we picked him up,” said Wade. “I always like to read them again.” Setting a small bottle of water in front of Red, he said, “I thought you might need this.”

Nodding his thanks, Red sat quietly and listened politely as the young deputy spelled out everything he was entitled to under the law. He reached for the bottle of water and took a sip. “That was fine, Wade. Your voice gives those words a noble sound.

“I'm not sure where to start, so forgive me if I tell you more than you need to hear.” He laced his fingers and rested his hands on the surface of the table. “Raeleene and I got married right out of college and settled in Atlanta. We wanted lots of children but it didn't happen. We'd been married for almost twenty years and had long since given up being parents when Raeleene became pregnant and Louise was born.”

Tears filled his eyes, but his smile was luminous. “It was a miracle. She was the sweetest, most beautiful baby you ever saw. I guess everyone thinks that, but our Louise, she was just like Shirley Temple, you know, pretty and smart and sassy.”

Unlacing his fingers, he spread his hands before him, holding them up as if to stop anyone else from speaking. “After high school, she still lived with us while she went to college. Raeleene said Louise was a slow bloomer and that's why she was content to stay with us. I didn't care. I loved having her there.” He stopped and gazed unseeing into the distance.

“But that changed, didn't it?” said Tony.

Red nodded. “She got herself a beau. Oh, don't get me wrong. She had always been popular and there were young men calling for her all the time, but this was different. This was not a young man. He was a middle-aged man with cruel eyes and tattoos on his hands. Frankly, he scared me.” Shivering in his chair, Red gripped the water bottle with both hands. “Soon she took to staying out to all hours every night, and the college sent a letter saying she'd failed her classes. Until he came along, she had been on the Dean's list.” He shook his head. “When I tried to talk to her about it, she sneered and said that she didn't need to take classes any more because she'd found something better. Her eyes looked funny and her personality changed. She was my baby and I guess I didn't want to see the truth, but Raeleene found pills in her room.”

Lifting the bottle of water to his lips, Red gulped down half of it. “We tried to talk to her about it, but she wouldn't hear. She was always out with that boyfriend of hers. He came into the house only once, but I saw him lots of times. Her skirts got shorter and she started dressing like trash because he liked her to. She moved out of the house. It wasn't long after that that she was arrested for prostitution and drug possession.” Wiping tears from his face with the backs of his hands, he kept talking.

“He turned my beautiful baby girl into a drug addict and a hooker. One night, the man he sent her to, her client . . .” Red's lips twisted as he forced the words out. “He killed her. That man beat her and strangled her and left her to die in a filthy little room. The cops didn't know if he was on drugs like her or if he was just some sicko. They never did find him. Her so-called boyfriend didn't even come to her funeral.” Suddenly he dropped his face into his hands and began to sob. “I couldn't help her.”

Carl Lee squeezed his shoulder and looked into Tony's eyes. “Do you think that my client can have a moment to compose himself?”

Unable to sit so close to the agonized man,Tony nodded and stood. Wade and Archie sat motionless, like statues on chairs. Tony believed in divine retribution and sincerely hoped that the late Harold Brown had begun his stay in hell. Moving to the door, he stood with one arm propped up on the wall and stared through the tiny window into the hallway. At her desk, Ruth Ann's fingers flew across the keyboard even as she talked into the telephone.

Behind him, Red's tear-clogged voice began again.