Your Goose Is Cooked (A LaTisha Barnhart Mystery) (10 page)

“I’ve heard those rumors. Maybe you can convince him to talk to me. He’ll have to anyway.”

“Tried to before this but he’s . . . shy that way.”

Chief consulted his notepad. “There had to be a silencer on the gun, otherwise someone would have heard the shot. My guess is he’s been dead no longer than a half hour.” He motioned me to walk with him and I knew we were headed to the scene. “I’ll need to find William and ask some of the townspeople of their whereabouts.” He lowered his voice. “You’ll help, won’t you? I’ll hire you on as a consultant. No one can deny your knack with solving crimes, or your insight with people.”

“You know I’ll help.” And as much as I hated thinking William had done the deed, I had to shuck all my emotional attachments and approach the case as a professional. “I’ll find William and the mayor.”

“Even those who were inside the restaurant are suspect. I won’t know for sure how long Aidan’s been dead until after the coroner arrives, but people might be more willing to air their grievances toward him if they don’t know he’s dead.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

My thoughts tripped back to William. “I can tell you William was scared to death when he saw Aidan walk into the Goose.
You really thinking he could have done something without planning it first?”

Chief nodded. “Fear can drive a person to extremes. No one knows William very well,
LaTisha
.”

We rounded the bend. I kept my eyes on Chief, steeling myself. “I’ll go out to his house. I’m thinking I’ll just close the restaurant up for the night. Hardy won’t be worth much, what with his teeth, and the pork will keep.”

Chief’s face tightened. His eyes darted to something off to my right. “It’s not pretty. Take a deep breath and don’t go closer.”

Every ounce of spit in my mouth had evaporated. “Not a problem with that.” I turned my head and absorbed the scene in slow stages, as I had done once before, months ago, over the body of Marion Peters and then again over Polly Dent. A wide pool of blood marked the spot below Aidan’s head. He lay on his stomach, face to the side. I pulled air into my lungs and exhaled real slow. “When will the state police show up?”

“Within thirty minutes is my guess.”

“Found anything?”

“There’s a bullet lodged in the wall. It seems to line up with the projection of the exit wound. We’ll know more after the crime scene techs do their thing.”

Another voice piped up from behind us. “
LaTisha
?”

It was Mac Simpson.

“Hardy came back for you. He needs the key to open up the Goose.”

I eyeballed Chief Conrad and retraced my steps. “Maybe I will open up tonight. It’ll be a good time to do some questioning.”

Chief motioned Mac closer and whispered something to him. Mac moved off toward the entrance to the alley. Chief jotted something down,
then
met my gaze head-on. “I know where you were,
LaTisha
, but as a matter of routine, I’ll have to look into Hardy’s whereabouts. I’ll head over to check in with Doctor
Cryer
and meet you at the Goose. Don’t go anywhere until I’ve cleared Hardy.”

Chapter Ten

Chief returned to the Goose within twenty minutes. I had hoped the tap on the alley door might be William with an explanation, but the chief’s presence on the steps deflated that hope. “Dr.
Cryer
vouches for you, Hardy,” he grinned. “He told me to warn you that when the medication wears off, you’ll be wishing you were home.”

By this time I had the pork ready to go and was set to round up Hardy and head out. Hardy sat next to Chief at the prep counter. He’d been growing quieter, making me think his gums were feeling the bite of pain. His face was starting to swell too.
All the more reason to get him horizontal.
And quick.

I cast a knowing eye over everything one last time and headed toward Hardy. I ran my hand over his head and gave his neck a little massage.

“Feels good,” he arched his head forward, exposing the back of his neck and encouraging me to continue.

“Now you don’t get yourself all relaxed in here. I need to get you home so I can head over to William’s.”

Hardy cocked his head at me, eyes bleary. “I’ll go with you.”

“You’d be snoring away in the car in no time.”

“Might need me as protection,” he garbled.
Words slower than normal.
“Whoever done old Aidan in is on the loose.”

“Don’t you think I can take care of myself?”

Chief piped up. “I’ve got to get moving too. You two try to kiss and make up.”

Hardy managed a grin. It was like looking at the face of a stranger with those swelling gums and temp teeth.
“My favorite part.”

I crossed my arms. “You pick arguments just so you can get to the making up part.”

“My mama didn’t raise herself a dumb one.”

Chief shook his head at that and slapped Hardy on the shoulder. “Keep her out of trouble.”

Hm
! “He’s nothing but trouble.”

Hardy spilled off the stool to his feet. “I’m the sweetest trouble you’ll ever be in.”

His grin scared me.
“Can’t get used to looking at you with all those pearly whites.”

Hardy shut his mouth real quick. I could see his tongue bulge under his lip as he ran it over the teeth.
“Can’t get used to having them either.
Maybe I’ll have doc put in one coated with diamonds. That should make me pure irresistible.”

“To anyone over sixty.”

“You’re sixty.” His gold-flecked eyes smiled into mine. “Got you wrapped around my finger, don’t I?”

“It’s my hands wrapped around your neck that you need to be worried over.”

“As long as you’re
smooching
me.”

Hardy did some cajoling and I relented and took him along out to William’s house. He’d nodded off before I’d made it out of Maple Gap. As I turned the car onto William’s road, we began bouncing down the rutted lane.

Hardy let out a low snuffle. “Stop
shakin
’ me,
LaTisha
.”

“If you’d crack an eye open, you’d see that we’re almost there.
Headed up the driveway.”

He peered through one eye. “He needs to think on getting his driveway paved.”

“Not on the salary we give him, he’s not. This thing has got to be a mile long.”

I fully expected William to be here; we couldn’t find him anywhere in Maple Gap and he wasn’t at our house, though it had occurred to me that he might have hightailed it out of state. I doubted it. Wrapping my mind around the idea of William murdering someone just fell flat.

“So Aidan’s the guy William saw in the men’s room?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. He sure looked scared when he laid eyes on Aidan this afternoon.”

“What did he do?”

There was no way I was going to tell Hardy about my attempt to jump the counter. You think I’m crazy? He’d tell the story for years to come to all our grandchildren and great grandchildren. He might even write it in his last will and testament.
Testament to his wife’s foolishness.

“Aidan came in to the Goose.”

Hardy’s fingers massaged his lips, then the sides of his jaws. My guess is the anesthesia was wearing off. His words were becoming more garbled, like he was afraid to move his lips.
“Never seen him in there before.”

“
Which is what I thought.
” I went quiet as I maneuvered the car around a huge hole. “Man turns down my welcome-to-town
lasagna,
I’m
guessin
’ he’s not going to seek out my cooking in a restaurant.”

“I think someone said he was a vegetarian.”

“That makes him suspicious right there. What normal man eats bean sprouts and tofu?”

Hardy held on tight to the dashboard as we continued to bump along. Old Lou’s shocks had sprung their springs long ago. Hardy bounced harder than me on account he was a stick and I was a log. Finally, he released the dashboard and slid to my side. I slipped one arm around his shoulders and, with the other hand guiding the car, tried to avoid as many potholes as I could.

“They give you some samples, you should take them,” I admonished, pressing a kiss to his head. “Should have made you go home.”

“Aidan . . .” he prompted me to continue.

“Lester was in there this afternoon when Aidan came in.
Started talking Aidan’s ear off first thing.
I was talking to William when all the sudden his eyes got real big. Didn’t take much for me to see the drift of his gaze and I knew Aidan must be the man.” I eased up on the gas pedal in preparation for a serious dip.

“I’m not feeling too good,” Hardy moaned.

“We’re almost there. You want to hear more?”

He put his head on my shoulder. Our girls both had his tendency to get car sick, though Hardy hadn’t complained of it for years. I thought he’d grown out of it.

“What did William do?” he asked, turning his face into my shoulder.

“He went out the back door.”

“Was that before or after you got your leg stuck?”

I cast around for someone to blame for the leak. If it was Lester, that boy might have just lost his staunchest supporter. “Who told you about that?”

He peeked up at me, looking cuter than a kitten, even with puffy jaws. “Lester told me on the phone. He couldn’t stop laughing.”

“I’m going to have to burn that boy’s toast in the morning.”

I pulled up in front of William’s house; no sign of the scooter. The stillness after such a bumpy ride was a welcome relief. Hardy scooted over to his side of the car and hopped out faster than it took for me to get my seat belt unbuckled. I gave him a good once-over. “
You feeling
okay?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer before the door swung open. William motioned us in with a rapid, sweeping gesture. I caught him scanning his front yard before I squeezed past him. My dress got caught on a nail,
the rend
of material loud in the stillness. I bent and yanked. No use worrying over it. It’s not like I wore my Sunday best to work anyhow.

I turned to face my employee. “You ran out on me right when I needed you most.”

Hardy did a funny little choked sound. “Sounds like a line from a bad country song,” he muttered through his swollen mouth.

I frowned at Hardy,
then
returned my attention to William. “Where did you go?” I’d already thought it through and knew I shouldn’t start off with the news of Aidan’s body. If William had done the deed, it would show. He’d be nervous, for one, and I doubt a killer would have opened the front door for us. His glances around before he’d shut the front door seemed in keeping with the idea that he had no idea Aidan was dead. If he thought Aidan alive, might be he expected the man would turn up in his yard any minute.

Hands on my hips, I gave William my best dictator look. “You’d better start spilling.
Now.”

William sank onto the sofa opposite where I stood.
Either he
sank or his knees buckled, I wasn’t sure which. I noticed he no longer wore the clothes he had on earlier, and his hair was wet. By itself, that didn’t bode well, but a good investigator didn’t let that spell guilt. It could be that he was in the habit of showering after work. Not unusual since he slaved over steaming pots and sizzling griddles giving off all kinds of odors.

He held his head in his hands and remained quiet for a full minute. Because of his reluctance to speak, generally speaking, I decided not to push. He’d gotten the message.

“I got real scared. I ran down the alley, thinking I was going to feel a bullet any minute. I hid.”

Something about the way he said those two little words. Like he knew it was cowardly and was ashamed of it. “I would have hid too.”

“Where’d you hide?” Hardy mumbled, his words seeming even more slurred, though he appeared alert otherwise.

William sat up.
“In the Dumpster.”

My mind scurried to recall the mental picture I made of that alley and the position of Aidan’s body. There were three or four Dumpsters back there. It was my guess that the crime scene techs would crawl through all of them looking for evidence.