CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Det. Miller arrived early at the police department and is surprised to see Chief Hudson is already there. Tapping lightly on the door frame, as the Chief’s door was ajar, he gets a hand gesture to enter from the Chief.
“So Frances, what brings you here so early?” Miller inquires as he sits down.
Chief Hudson looks up as he closes and lays the files down. “I’d say the same thing that brought you in early; trying to figure out these two confounded murders. Who would want to beat poor Martha Camp to death, and with a claw-hammer of all things?”
“Sounds like it might be a personal grudge, since she was bludgeoned to death in such a savage way. Seems somebody wanted her to suffer for what she done to them, I reckon? I don’t know much about that fancy psychology stuff; but someone was pretty fired up to use a hammer on her.”
“She have any enemies you know of?” The Chief asked leaning back in his chair.
“Nope, no one who’d want to do that to her; but she was seen by most as an uppity socialite. Looking down her nose at the average gentry is how I’d say most thought her to be. Not too many will miss her I’m sad to say.”
“True, she never had a kind word to say about most folks, me included.” Frances chuckled.
Miller smiled at his remark, for he too wasn’t on Martha’s list of so-called friends, “As it stands now, Earl says all he can tell from her autopsy is that she was killed sometime between 7pm and 9pm, and that she was struck with the bloody hammer that was found at the crime scene. Said she was hit some thirty times or thereabouts. Most likely he said the first blows were from behind, so someone came up behind her in the dark and laid into her, hot and heavy. Earl said the first several hits were enough to kill her; the rest were added for god knows what reason. No witnesses have been found or forthcoming so far. Martha was reported to be going over to Terri Helms place. Beau said they then rode together to the bingo hall. No one knows why she went to the park. Ellen Wellington found the body the next morning when she took Bubbles for his morning constitution.”
“Bubbles?” The Chief asked with an odd expression on his tired face.
“Her little cocker spaniel” Miller said amusingly.
“For heaven’s sake,” The Chief said rolling his eyes before continuing, “Well, any fingerprints on the hammer?”
“Well, yes and no. Earl didn’t find any prints except Officer Hendrix’s. Now, before you ask, Dick told me she picked up the hammer at the crime scene without gloves on and he gave her what-for. But she is still learning and as you know, we all made mistakes when we were young and just learnin’ the ropes.”
Frances laughed, “Boy, I can remember some of the dumbest things I did during my training days. I actually locked me and my training officer out of the squad car, and we were some five miles from the station. He chewed my butt as we walked all the way back to the station to get the other set of spare keys. I was so humiliated. I must have apologized fifty times.”
Both men were now breaking up with laughter.
“So, anything else to report?” Chief Hudson continued as the two old friends settled down.
“Well, to be honest, we haven’t a clue who would want her dead, nor why.”
“What about her husband, that goofy Beau, think he did her in? He’s missing a few marbles, if you get my drift?”
Miller paused for a moment as if pondering the likelihood that Beau murdered his wife, “Well, no, I don’t think he killed his wife. Deep down I feel he truly loves her, as much as any man could love a woman like that. No, I just don’t see it being him. She didn’t have all that much life insurance coverage, even though he sells it. Only four thousand, not so much to commit murder for.”
“So unless someone confesses, we got squat; that’s what you’re telling me?”
Miller simply nodded in the affirmative.
“Okay, so what about Terri Helms murder, anything there?” The Chief sat forward resting his elbows on the desktop as he positioned his chin in his hands.
“Earl said she was also murdered sometime between 7pm and 9pm. That’s as close as he can narrow it down. Said from the bruises and broken bones, someone used their fists and what looks like shoes or more likely boots to beat and stomp her to death. Earl said there were a lot of cuts from the barbwire, but not enough to kill her. The blows to her head were most likely the cause of death. Said she died at Darnell’s farm. Fairchild said the only tire tracks in the area seem to come from a pickup truck, but that Sonny Darnell owns a pickup himself. Dick said there were no witnesses so far, and that the body was found early the next morning when Sonny was out feeding his livestock.”
“You think whoever killed Martha could have also killed Terri?” The Chief asked.
“Well, it’s possible, with the two-hour timeline, maybe someone could have killed one and had time to find and kill the other; but I just don’t see it. I think we have two killers here.”
“All these years without a serious crime to speak of, and then ‘wham,’ two at the same time. I just don’t know what’s happening anymore in this country of ours.” The Chief said as he seemed to be staring right through Det. Miller.
“Frances?” Miller spoke softly to bring him back to the present.
The Chief now dropped his hands as he leaned back, “Sorry, I don’t know where I went.”
“In the Terri Helms case, there is an eyewitness of sorts.” Miller was hesitant to bring up Beau’s out-of-body malarkey, as he saw it.
“Really, who is it?”
“Well, Beau Camp said he was over at Miss Stella’s where the Monday Night Mystics were having a séance, and he had an out-of-body experience where he saw your brother, Johnny stomping Terri Helms while she was tangled up in the barbwire…”
“What?! That peckerwood said what?!” The Chief’s nostrils flared as his words blasted forth.
“Believe me, I didn’t want to say anything, but he says…” Again Miller was interrupted by the Chief’s outburst.
“I don’t care what that lunatic said, and I don’t want to hear another word about my brother! Johnny’s no saint, but he ain’t no killer either! That’s it! You understand Thomas?!” He hollered.
Miller knew there was nothing more to say to the Chief on the subject of his brother and Beau’s out-of-body sighting. “Yes sir.” Standing, Miller departed as a large throbbing vein appeared on the Chiefs flushed forehead. He’d wait a spell before broaching the subject again for he knew in his gut something didn’t feel quite right.