Over Troubled Water: A Hunter Jones Mystery (18 page)

“Somebody trying to sound crazy,” she wrote, “But is crazy really in some way nobody knows. Funny writing style.”

She picked up her cellphone and called Miss Rose Tyndale who answered on the second ring.

“Could I come over for a few minutes,” she asked. “I need your opinion on something.”

“Why, of course, Hunter,” Miss Rose said, sounding very pleased. “And you can certainly stay for more than a few minutes. I heard today was your last day at work.”

“Well, an hour at the most,” Hunter said, looking at her watch. “Bethie gets home from school at three thirty, and she’s bringing a friend with her.”

Ten minutes later, Miss Rose Tyndale was studying the copy of the letter from Abomination, having promised to keep it confidential.

“This is abominable writing,” she said. “This has to do with that shooting, doesn’t it?”

Hunter explained briefly.

“Did you ever have an English student who wrote like that?” Hunter asked.

“I’m sure I’d remember if I’d had one who tried to make himself sound like some kind of self-righteous monster,” she said, “Of course, I had plenty who scattered adjectives and adverbs all around like this, and I’ve had some of these terrible spellers.”

“Funny thing is that the big words are all spelled right,” Hunter said.

“Well, of course,” Miss Rose said, “Probably because the writer used the dictionary for those. Some bad spellers just worry about the longer words and don’t know what poor spellers they really are. They haven’t picked up anything from reading, the way most of us do. Look where the writer has used r-o-d-e for r-o-a-d and r-a-i-n for r-e-i-g-n.”

“I noticed that,” Hunter said, “and you know this was done on a computer, so the writer could have used the spell-check on the computer, but it wouldn’t pick up a homonym.”

“To me it has a fraudulent feeling” Miss Rose noted, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “We used to call it ‘putting on airs.’ It’s as if the writer were trying to copy some better style by a better writer. I think the writer meant to sound frightening, but I don’t think that the stupidity of it is deliberate or that the bad spelling is deliberate.”

Hunter left in time to be home when Bethie arrived with Amelia.

At four p.m. Tim Watkins showed up at Sam Bailey’s office, edgy and nervous.

“I know whose avatar Abomination is,” he said to the sheriff behind closed doors. “But I hope you don’t have to tell anybody or talk to his parents. It’s a kid in our school who’s just 12 years old. He’s kind of a genius. His sister told me.”

“Kyle Pickard?” Sam asked.

Tim nodded. “You know him?”

“He was in some of my daughter’s classes,” Sam said. “I don’t think he’s our villain.”

“You don’t have to talk to him about it, do you?” Tim asked. “His sister already thinks it’s funny enough that he’s beating all of us.”

“We’ll just forget about it,” Sam said with a grin, “But thanks for coming over to tell me.”

Another letter from Abomination arrived the next morning.

CHAPTER 15

Postmaster Henry Burberry called Sam just after eight.

“I have a letter to you like the earlier one,” he said. “Same envelope and handwriting. Same insufficient postage. Would you like to come pick it up.”

“I’ll be right over,” Sam said, and got Taneesha to ride with him.

As soon as they had the letter and were back in the car, he opened it and read it aloud.

To Sheriff Bailey,

The media hath ignored my warnings. My rain of terror turned to a wildly raging inferno of fire, but I mercifully spared lives by hurtling my bolls of lightning at a time when none would parish. If I strike again lives will be absolutely sacrificed Beware of lust.

Abomination

“A little shorter this time,” Taneesha noted.

“And mailed this morning,” Sam said. “So maybe he’s not our arsonist, but just wants credit.”

“Definitely looks like the same person,” Taneesha said, studying the envelope.

“Yes. Are we getting anywhere with the Abomination avatar?”

“I meant to tell you about that,” Sam said. “The avatar in the computer game belongs to a completely harmless high school kid. Total coincidence.”

“Harmless high school kids have been known to commit crimes,” Taneesha said.

“Trust me on this,” Sam said. “This kid is only a little older than Bethie, and a size smaller. He’s just very precocious.”

Taneesha laughed out loud.

“I won’t tell Jeremy,” she said. “He just got to Level 14 last night, and Abomination has moved ahead.”

“What’s worrying me,” Sam said, “is that we know that this character either did the shootings or knew they were going to happen, and he could have set the gym on fire as well, and in both cases Ricky Richards was a victim. I think we need to focus on Ricky, and I want to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.”

“Get him away from Sasha,” Taneesha said. “Maybe he’ll know what that reference to lust is about.”

Hunter was still in her nightgown, tired and restless at the same time, but mostly bored. She tried thinking through the shootings again, and wound up back at her computer.

Annie Chapman
, she wrote down,
Nice harmless woman with nice daughter, bad crazy acting son. Daughter doesn’t seem to think he could possibly do harm..

She stared at the computer a while, and thought about Sunshine Chapman’s staying at Hilliard House because her brother wouldn’t let her into the house she grew up in, changing the locks, and then letting him right back in.

She went and took a shower, got dressed, and called Robin Hilliard.

“Hey, Hunter,” he said, “Mallory just called about doing our feature story. Aren’t you off work?”

“I am,” she said, “but I really want to talk with you about something. Are you busy?”

“We just pushed last night’s guests out the door, and Colin’s gone grocery shopping. Come on over.”

Twenty minutes later, she was at Hilliard House – just a few feet from the butler’s pantry where she had found the dead body of one Mae-Lula Hilliard and in the kitchen where she had her first head-on encounter with Sheriff Sam Bailey.

Robin, who was Miss Mae-Lula’s nephew, had changed things so much that it was hard to imagine it was the same place. Hunter didn’t believe in ghosts in any case. She was there with a purpose.

“Can you explain the Chapman family to me?” she asked Robin.

He burst out laughing.

“Who can explain?” he asked. “Annie rode a bicycle and practically lived on tofu and lentils. Andy yells at people and behaves like a lout, and Sunshine will put up with almost anything to keep the peace, including having a fiance’ who was late to her mother’s funeral and has the manners of a porcupine.”

“And no,” he added after a brief pause, “I don’t think Andy Chapman killed his mother, but the only reason I don’t is that it would have made him late to work.”

“You are not explaining,” Hunter said. “You are describing.”

He poured boiling water into the teapot, put the lid on, and sat down.

“So we start back with Willis Chapman,” he said. “Willis was Annie’s husband. He was President of the old Merchantsville Bank, and pleasant enough to his business friends, but we always heard he believed a man’s home was his castle. In other words, he was the king, and everything was done to keep him from being displeased.”

“You know this how?” Hunter asked.

“Their cook and our cook were sisters,” Robin said. “Is that good enough?”

“Quite,” Hunter said. “I think the tea is ready.”

Robin poured.

“So, when he was home, everybody tiptoed around, and the meals had to be things he liked, but not the same thing twice in a week, there couldn’t be any disorder, and the children were barely seen and not heard. Just your typical paterfamilias. I’m sure he never raised a hand to any of them, but they all lived by his rules, and then when he died – really quite suddenly, and I think in his early 40s, Annie became the person she really was all the time.”

“I can see that,” Hunter said. “What about the children?”

“Andy grew bigger but did not grow up. Sunshine grew up and ran away to Macon, but apparently the freedom was too much for her, so she found a loutish control freak and let him move in with her.”

“Do you think Andy would have paid somebody to kill his mother?” Hunter asked.

“It wouldn’t make any sense for him to do that,” Robin said. “He had a good arrangement. As far as Sunshine could tell, he had no idea about his mother’s will, but even if she had been leaving it all to him, he would have had the maintenance and taxes to pay and the utility bills. Of course, maybe they had some kind of terrible fight that Sunshine didn’t know about.”

“What about her fiance’?” Hunter said.”

“He wasn’t here but about a half hour,” Robin said, “And Colin and I didn’t much mind that he barely spoke to us . We just wanted him out of here so he wouldn’t scare our other guests. It did bother me that he was ill-tempered and impatient with Sunshine right after her mother’s funeral and with her having dealt with all that craziness from Andy. Maybe I’m missing something, but I have never understood people choosing to live with unpleasant people.”

He thought about it a while, as Hunter sipped her tea.

“Maybe it makes her feel like a saint,” he said. “Is this any help at all? Are you trying to solve this shooting on your own now that you’re not working?”

“Yes, it’s a help,” Hunter said. “And I guess maybe I’m trying to sort it out in my own head. Oh, and I meant to ask you something else. Do you know if Jim Jordan was gay?”

“Taneesha asked me the same thing,” Robin said. “No. I don’t think so. Colin and I both spent a lot of time with him while we were trying to meet all the requirements for getting this lot rezoned for commercial use. I thought he was probably good at his job even if he drove us crazy with the details, but as for his personal life, I think he was just shy. You know, the kind of person who’s good at academics and at work, but shy when it’s just social. No small talk. No sense of humor that I ever noticed.”

“I never saw him at R&J’s,” Hunter said.

“So there you go,” Robin said. “He probably took his lunch to work in a brown paper bag.”

“I met his parents,” she said. “His father was angry with everybody that day, which I can kind of understand. His mother was really sweet. I felt so bad for them.”

“It was awful,” Robin said. “I just hope Sam and his gang catch whoever it was so it stops being a cloud over everything.”

“That’s how I feel, “Hunter said, “Like it’s a cloud over our baby’s arrival.”

“Well, give Sam an ultimatum,” Robin said. “Tell him you refuse to have the baby until he catches the shooter.”

“I will,” she said, laughing, “Now tell me about this antiques show you two are planning.”

They were still chatting a half hour later. Robin had explained that the antiques show would include refreshments on the grounds of the Conservatory across the street. After that he asked her if Sam was really as interested in the Chapman house as Sunshine seemed to believe.

“Oh, yes,” she said, “He loves that house. Remember how he loved the Roland house?”

“Both Queen Anne,” Robin said. “I know everybody calls is Victorian, but it’s Queen Anne. I think the Chapman house might have been built about the same time as the Roland House. I like that Clearview Circle location, but it doesn’t have the space around it that the Roland house does.”

“Or the bad memories, either,” Hunter said.

Her phone buzzed.

“Hi,” Hunter said, seeing that it was Sam. “Where are you?”

“I came home and brought lunch,” Sam said, “Where are you? I want to show you something.”

“At Hilliard House. I’ll be right home,” she said.

Over take-out lunch from R&J’s, Sam showed her a copy of the second letter from Abomination.

“Do you think he set the gym on fire?” she asked.

“Maybe he’s just trying to take credit for it,” Sam said, “Do you want those sweet potatoes?”

“You take them,” Hunter said, still studying the letter, “I wonder if you could give a spelling test to everybody you’re questioning.”

“If we could arrest people on the basis of bad spelling, we wouldn’t have enough jails,” Sam said.

“I’m serious,” Hunter countered. “If I asked you to write down that somebody was born during the reign of Queen Victoria, would you spell reign r-a-i-n? He did that in both letters.”

“I see what you mean,” he said, reaching for a second piece of fried chicken, “but a jury wouldn’t buy it. Do you know what I wish you would try to do?

“You want me to stay at home and rest,” Hunter said. “I know, but I’m not good at that, and women don’t have to rest when they’re pregnant. Think of all the women who have three and four children, or used to have seven or eight.”