1 Murder on Sugar Creek (3 page)

“Why not buy the black and the
gray?” Maggie suggested.

Edie furrowed her well-sculpted brows.
“Unless I plant a money tree, that’s impossible. Five hundred dollars for one
pair will –”

Maggie choked on the chicken. “Did
you say five hundred dollars? For one pair of boots?”

Edie nodded.

“Are they made of something special
like iguana skin?”

“No, I would never wear iguana. The
boots are cow leather.”

Edie continued to extol the virtues
of the boots to an astonished Maggie. Although they had been friends for more
than a decade, their unlikely bond continued to amaze Maggie. They had met a
year into Maggie’s tenure with the
Sentinel
when Edie started working in
the advertising department. Maggie regarded Edie as just another ditzy sales
rep until she saw her reading
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
in
the break room.

“It’s a good book,” Maggie had offered
small talk as she waited on the microwave to warm her lunch.

“It’s the best book,” Edie had
said. “It’s my favorite. I re-read it every six months.”

Out of that conversation, a
friendship formed and a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour followed
in Savannah. Maggie served as maid of honor at Edie’s doomed first marriage, encouraged
her to take a clerical job at the bank that led to her becoming a departmental
manager, provided a shoulder to cry on during her divorce, and watched as she
dated a succession of losers before settling on her dream man, Ben, a co-worker
at the bank. Maggie also witnessed Edie experiment with every shade of blonde
at her hair dresser’s disposal.

“This is the darkest I’ve seen your
hair. It’s almost light brown. What’s the shade?”

“Honey. For now.” She drummed her
fingers on the table, “So, Ben knows a guy who would be perfect for you.”

“Edie, no. I haven’t recovered from
the last guy you fixed me up with.” When Edie failed to respond, Maggie said,
“You know, the guy who repeated everything three or four times. We doubled with
you and Ben at the 4
^th
of July picnic.”

Edie slapped her forehead. “No
wonder I didn’t remember him. That was over three months ago.”

“It was traumatic,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, I was traumatized. Unh-huh, it was really traumatic.”

Edie flapped her hands like a bird
and said, “Okay, okay. We don’t have to talk about guys. We’ll talk about
anything. What’s going on?”

“Have you heard about the Mac
Honaker murder?”

 “Well, yeah, who hasn’t?”

Maggie proceeded to share her
knowledge of the crime as well as Mark’s friendship with Kevin Mullins.

“So, he was a childhood friend of
your brother’s? You know what this means? You grew up with a murderer. If this
case hits the big time, you could be interviewed by that creepy guy on
Dateline
.”

Maggie eyed Edie. “First of all,
Keith Morrison is not creepy. He possesses a distinctive voice that can sound
foreboding or soothing, depending on the circumstances.”

“Whatever you say. Didn’t mean to
criticize your imaginary boyfriend.”

“Second of all,” Maggie continued,
“just because Kevin’s been arrested doesn’t mean he’s guilty.
Dateline
and
48 Hours
cover overturned convictions all the time. Some of these
people languish inside prison for decades because of botched investigations. And
I know everyone in jail professes their innocence, but this morning when I talked
to Kevin –”

Edie’s mouth flew open. “You talked
to him?”

“Yeah.”

“In person?”

“Goodness, no,” Maggie reassured
her friend. “I hope to live a full life without ever setting foot inside a
jail, a detention center, or a prison. Kevin called me.”

Edie slapped her forehead again.
“So many questions, but we’ll start with this one – why did you take his call?”

“I guess I wanted to hear his side
of the story.”

“You wanted to hear him proclaim
his innocence?”

Maggie shrugged. “They don’t have
much on him, and Kevin’s always seemed too meek to commit a murder. Snort pills
and steal Christmas decorations, sure. But murder?”

“Why did he call you?”

“He wants my help.”

“Have you gotten a law degree
without my knowledge?”

“No. His dad suggested he call me because
I work for the paper. Kevin kept asking me to tell everyone he’s innocent. They’re
under the mistaken impression that I have clout, but I don’t know what I can
do. It’s not like I have connections.”

Edie smiled. “Yes, you do.”

“Who?”

“Your ex-fiancé, the police
detective.”

Chapter Four

Maggie sat in the lobby of the
Jasper Police Department. She couldn’t believe she had taken Edie’s advice and
called her ex, Seth. Mac Honaker’s murder had occurred out in the county and
the investigation fell outside the Jasper PD’s jurisdiction. She wasn’t sure
what advice Seth could offer.

More than that, contacting him made
her feel uncomfortable and she didn’t know why. They had parted on good terms
when she broke off their engagement five years earlier. In the ensuing years,
they had exchanged friendly greetings when running into each other at
restaurants or on the street. And it’s not as if she was jealous of the life he
had made with his wife, Jamie. Maggie had ended their relationship for a reason
and she didn’t regret her decision.

She did regret contacting him and
decided to ask the receptionist seated behind the bulletproof glass to tell
Seth she had another appointment. As Maggie collected her purse and rose from
her chair, the door opened and Seth suddenly stood in front of her.

“Hey, come on in,” he said. Before
Maggie could protest, she was following him down the hallway. “Your call came
as a surprise to me. It was a good surprise, though.”

When they reached his office, he
directed her to a chair beside his desk and offered her water. “I would ask if
you want coffee, but I know the answer.”

Despite her nervousness, Maggie
smiled and said, “Water is fine.”

“Be right back,” he said.

Sitting in his office reminded Maggie
of their first meeting eight years earlier. She had come to the police station
in early December that year to talk to the police chief for a story she was
writing about the department’s Shop with a Cop program. The chief had, in turn,
invited several officers to share heartwarming anecdotes regarding the
low-income children who had received Christmas presents in the past. Seth, a
patrol officer at the time, was the youngest man in the room and the first one
Maggie noticed. She considered him good looking enough and appreciated the
freckles that dotted his face and hands. She also approved of his grammar.
Unlike his fellow officers, he didn’t say “I seen” or “have went.” But it
wasn’t until he smiled that Maggie felt an attraction to him. When he offered his
crooked smile, she blushed. She had considered her behavior unprofessional and
she chastised herself for acting like a teenager. But whatever she had felt had
been mutual. Seth called her later at work on the pretense of making sure she
had gotten all the information she needed. He asked her out during that
conversation, thus beginning Maggie’s longest and most serious relationship.

Seth returned to his office with a
bottle of water and took his place behind the desk.

“On the phone, you said you needed
advice. I’ll help any way I can, but I can’t imagine that you would run afoul
of the law.”

Maggie twisted the cap off the
bottle. “No, it’s about the Mac Honaker murder.”

Seth leaned forward in his chair.
“That case belongs to the state police, but if you know something –”

“No,” Maggie said. “I know the
suspect. He was a childhood friend of Mark’s.”

“Oh, how is Mark?” Seth sat back in
the chair.

“He’s good. He has two little boys
now. They’re one and three.”

“That’s great, Aunt Maggie. I bet
you don’t spoil them at all.”

Oh, Maggie thought to herself, why
does he still have that smile? “Not at all. Of course, I don’t get to see them
as much as I want, but Mark told me last night that he and his wife are
planning to come in for Thanksgiving. But don’t tell Mom. They don’t want to
get her hopes up in case their plans fall through.”

“I’ll make sure I don’t spill the
beans to Lena during our weekly card game,” Seth teased. “Speaking of Lena, how are your parents?”

“They’re good, too,” Maggie
answered. “Yours?”

Seth frowned. “Mom’s been sick, but
Dad is as ornery as ever.”

“I hate to hear that about your
mom. Is she doing better?”

“Yeah, but it’s hard to see your
parents grow old and get sick. You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “You?”

“Eh, life is full of ups and downs.
When you think you have everything figured out,” he sighed, “you realize you
never knew anything. At this point, I’d consider it a success if I could lose
some of this gut,” Seth said as he patted his stomach. “I need to get back to
the gym, but between work and helping out with mom and, well, life, I’ve let
myself go a bit.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad. I didn’t
even notice it until you pointed it out,” Maggie lied. Although he was far from
being considered overweight, as soon as he had materialized in the lobby,
Maggie noticed he had packed on a few pounds to his medium frame. “But I know
where you’re coming from. If I don’t lose the weight I’ve gained during these
past few months, Daddy will have to saw off the sides of the doors and roll me
out of the house.”

“Uh, no,” Seth said. “I don’t think
you have anything to worry about.”

Maggie clutched her purse to her
body and allowed an appropriate amount of time to lapse before launching into
her doubts about Kevin’s guilt and giving a summary of their phone call.

“I know you enjoy true crime books
and TV programs, so I don’t need to tell you they record all the inmates’ phone
calls, even in a place like Jasper.”

“I figured they did, but I have
nothing to hide.”

Seth nodded. “So, why do you think
this guy’s innocent?”

“I’m not saying he is innocent, but
I’m keeping an open mind. After all, the evidence isn’t there.”

“Eh. People have been convicted with
less. He paid off his drug dealer minutes after the murder –”

“Alleged drug dealer and that could
have been a coincidence. Besides, it proves nothing.”

“Not by itself. But what about the
gun and the gunpowder residue on his hands?”

“He said he shot at a coyote that
was sniffing around the chicken pens. We’ll have to wait on the ballistics
report to find out if his dad’s gun fired the shots that killed Mac Honaker.”

“True, but what about his file?
He’s been arrested a couple dozen times for robbery.”

“That’s right, for robbery. I
checked his record. He’s never been arrested for a violent crime. And none of
those robberies were committed with a weapon. Where’s the escalation?”

“Escalation?” Seth smiled. “Maggie,
this is not TV.”

 “I realize that, Seth, but in
those true crime books I read and on the true crime TV shows I watch, the
real-life cops talk about escalation. Criminals have an m.o. and they don’t
graduate from swiping lawn decorations to murder overnight.”

“Some do.”

“How many?”

“I don’t have those statistics in
front of me.” Seth’s eyes wandered to a stack of papers on his desk. When he
returned his gaze to her, he asked, “Maggie, what are you hoping to accomplish
with this visit?”

Seth’s question confused her. “I
thought I made myself clear. I want to know what you think about this case.”

“Why? Regardless of whether I think
Kevin Mullins is guilty or not, what do you plan to do?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that he
asked for my help –”

“To clear him? And how do you plan
to do that? Are you prepared to scour Sugar Creek for clues armed with nothing
but a magnifying glass and a pair of binoculars?”

“Don’t condescend to me.”

“I’m sorry.” Seth ran his hands
through his closely-cropped sandy hair, which Maggie noticed had receded since
she had last seen him. “Listen, Maggie, you came here for advice, so here it
is. Let the investigation run its course. You’re right about the ballistics report.
That will tell the tale. Meanwhile, it’s not like Kevin is a stranger to a jail
cell. A few days in there might do him some good.”

Maggie recognized rational
statements when she heard them. Still, she added, “I hate to think an innocent
man – and one who asked for my help by the way – is being wrongly accused. I
also hate to think that a murderer is getting away with this.”

“That’s because you’re a good
person, Maggie Morgan. Kevin knows that, too. He could be playing on your good
nature. Drug addicts are experts at manipulating people. That’s something else
you need to keep in mind.”

“I guess you have a point,” Maggie
admitted with reluctance.

“Good,” Seth clasped his hands
together and leaned toward her, “promise me you’ll leave this alone. Promise me
you will not investigate this on your own.”

“Who said I was going to do that?”

“Maggie.”

Seth’s olive
eyes scrutinized her with an intensity that, in the past, Maggie had referred
to as his interrogation stare. The expression hadn’t always been successful in
winning her over to his side, but this time she considered his request and reluctantly
agreed, “I’ll leave it alone. I promise.”

When Maggie left the police
station, she checked her phone and saw she had missed a text from Edie that
read, “Call me. I have news about the murder.”

Chapter Five

Maggie tried to reach Edie several
times that afternoon, but to no avail. She finally got hold of her that evening
as she prepared dinner.

“What’s going on?” she asked when
Edie answered the phone. “What did you find out?”

“Well, as it turns out, when Ben was
in college, he worked at that shoe store Mac Honaker managed. And guess what?”

Maggie knew she needed to check the
parmesan chicken simmering in the oven, but she stopped short of opening the
oven door. She didn’t want anything to distract her from the momentous news she
was about to receive. “What?”

“Ben said Mac was fired for
embezzlement.”

“Oh,” Maggie said.

“I drop this huge clue in your lap
and all you can say is, ‘Oh?’”

“No, no,” Maggie pulled down the
oven door, peeked in at the chicken, and decided it could use a little more
browning. “I appreciate your news. I just don’t see how it helps.”

“Because it shows he was a crook.
At least he was back in the day. Maybe he made enemies. Enemies who wanted him
dead.”

Maggie closed the oven door and tossed
the potholder onto the countertop. “I guess that’s a possibility.”

“You guess? What’s wrong with you?
I thought you wanted to help Mark’s friend.”

“He and Mark haven’t been friends
in years.”

“What happened to the woman
proclaiming the innocence of her brother’s boyhood chicken-raising buddy?”

“I talked to Seth today.”

“Ah,” Edie hummed, “and how was
Seth?”

“His mom has been sick and he
seemed worried about her, but he was fine.”

“And how did he talk you into
letting this go?”

“I realized I
was being impatient. It will work out in the end, so I promised him I would let
the investigation run its course. And I can’t go back on my word.”

The following evening, Maggie
dropped off a bag of groceries at her parents’ house. After chatting with her
mom, she walked to the can house where she found her dad filing his toenails
with the file from his toolbox.

“There should be a nail file in
that grooming kit I bought you for Father’s Day,” she advised.

“That puny thing don’t get the job
done.”

Maggie looked at her dad’s
overgrown, gnarled toenails. “Maybe I’ll give you a gift certificate for a
pedicure next year. Then, again, Christmas is coming up. Why wait?”

“Did you get me some of those stand-up
chips?” Robert asked.

“Yes, Daddy, I bought you some
Pringles.” Maggie studied the Mason cans of garden food that lined the shelves
in the cinderblock building. She thought a can of corn salad might provide a
tasty snack. “Daddy, did you know Mac Honaker well?”

“No, not particularly.”

“What do you know about him?”

Robert continued to file his hardened
toenails as he spoke. “I know his daddy worked for the railroad and his mother
was my school teacher. She whipped me once, but I deserved it so I can’t hold
hard feelings against her.”

“Did they have money?”

Robert rubbed one of his toes. “No
more or less than anybody else on Sugar Creek. Why?”

“They said he built the store with
money he inherited from his dad. I know the building is not the size of Walmart,
but it’s not a shack, either, and you have to factor in his merchandise and
overhead. I was just wondering where his parents got their money.”

“I guess they did like everybody
else and saved it. Mac was an only child, so they didn’t have many mouths to
feed and they both worked. I’d say that Mac probably got a loan from the bank.
But people will surprise you with what they have and don’t have.” Robert looked
at Maggie and grinned, exposing a chipped front denture. “I don’t know if this
is true, but I’ve heard Mac wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up.”

“Like how?”

“He got in some sort of trouble
when he was managing that shoe store. And I heard that back when he was selling
insurance, some of his clients paid with cash –”

“They sent cash through the mail?”

“No. You were young, but you should
be able to remember that insurance lady that come to the house to collect the
premiums every month.”

“Oh, yeah,” Maggie picked a can of
corn salad off a shelf and selected a can of beets as well. “She always showed
up at supper time and Mom wouldn’t let us eat until she left. Mom said it would
have been rude to eat with her there, but you said it was rude of her to keep clattering
on about nothing while the fried potatoes turned cold and mushy.”

“That’s right.” Robert shook his
head. “I’m glad your mother finally started mailing in those payments. That
woman got on my nerves.”

Maggie couldn’t help but grin.
Robert usually displayed an easy-going demeanor and rarely spoke ill of anyone.
But he took trading livestock, working in his garden, and eating seriously, and
he didn’t like for anything to interfere with those three pursuits. “So, what
does this have to do with Mac Honaker?”

“Oh, your mother told me she heard
some money turned up missing.”

“Money from his clients?”

“Yeah, I reckon. Now, those are
just rumors. If he had done something bad, he would have served time. Right?”

“Not necessarily,” Maggie said under
her breath.

Robert put the file on the floor,
appraised his crude pedicure, and nodded. “Not bad.”

Maggie took
another glance at the toenails and grimaced.

Edie’s and Robert’s revelations
into Mac Honaker’s past bothered Maggie so much that she decided to go back on
her word to Seth. Not that she intended to search for additional clues. No,
Maggie planned only to pursue facts in the hopes of painting a more detailed
picture of Mac. And she elected to use her job as a means to that end. Fortunately
for her, it didn’t take much persuasion to convince Joe to go along with her
plan.

“You know, Joe, I was thinking
about Mac Honaker’s death and how, after the initial coverage, it’s almost like
we’ve forgotten about the victim.”

“That’s human nature. People
pretend that they care about the victim when they’re actually dying, no pun
intended, to know who did the deed. Just like everyone says they’re tired of
bad news, but they’re not. They’re only tired of it when it concerns the arrest
of a loved one or the indictment of an elected official who paved their
driveway with taxpayers’ money.”

“That’s true, but what if we could
give them good news and bad news at the same time?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was thinking that I could
interview the people who were closest to Mac for a series of columns. Of
course, it wouldn’t interfere with Tyler’s coverage of the investigation
because it would concentrate on the man instead of his murder.” When Joe didn’t
answer, Maggie continued. “Human interest is my forte and I could use my Sugar
Creek connections.”

“Which are?”

“My dad knows Mac’s cousin, Bug,
and both my parents know Dottie, the lady who worked for Mac. If they talk to
me, maybe one or both of them could help me talk Mac’s wife into giving an
interview. She’s been quiet so far.”

“Do you have time –”

“Yes.”

“Okay. It’s a go.”