Stillborn Armadillos (John Lee Quarrels Book 1) (21 page)

Chapter 41

Dixie Landrum looked up when John Lee came into the newspaper's office. "I heard some woman tried to rip your face off the other night. Looks like she did a pretty good job of it."

"She did put some effort into it," John Lee said.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I really don't know. I'm trying to come up with something on the skeletons we found out there on Turpentine Highway, but I'm not making a lot of progress."

"How can I help?"

"I was wondering how far back the newspaper records go. I was thinking that maybe there might be something about those men coming up missing or something."

"Do you know when they might have gone missing?"

"Not really," he admitted. "The best the folks over at the crime lab in Tallahassee could say was at least 50 years, maybe more."

"Nothing like narrowing it down, is there?"

"I know it's a pretty tall order. I'm just grasping at straws here, Dixie."

She opened the wooden gate at the end of the counter and said, "Come with me."

Leading him back past a couple of desks with computer monitors on them, then past the office of Arnold Kelly, the newspaper's editor and publisher, she opened the door into a large bay of a room that was a warren of stacks of old newspapers piled chest high.

Waving her hand, Dixie said, "There you go, help yourself."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Well I damn sure don't have the time to sort through all of them for you."

"How far back do these things go?"

"At least back to the 1940s, maybe even the 30s or 20s."

"How would I ever find anything back here?"

"Well the good news is, Arnold does have them semi-organized. These stacks here? Those are from the last five years. The ones behind them go back another five years or so."

"It would take forever to find anything back here."

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know. I thought maybe you had things on file on a computer or something that you could look up."

"For the last five or six years we've done everything on a computer and we have searchable PDF files of those. But before that every issue was pasted up by hand, then they took it over to Lake City to get printed."

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," John Lee said, disappointed.

"I wish I could help you more, but with Arnold in the hospital getting his hip replacement and then going to a rehab facility, it's all on me right now to get the next couple of issues out. But even if he was here, I just don't have the time John Lee. I'm sorry."

"Well, it was worth a try. Thanks anyway, Dixie."

He was back out on the sidewalk and opening the Charger's door when an idea hit him. He went back into the office and Dixie looked up from her computer.

"We're going to have to stop meeting this way. People are starting to talk."

"People have to have something to talk about," he said. "I just had an idea. What if I had somebody helping me? A couple of volunteers who would go through those old newspapers? Would that be okay?"

"I guess," Dixie said. "As long as they were careful and didn't rip the pages up or anything like that, and they put things back in order when they were done with them. But it's going to be dusty, boring work, so I don't know how many volunteers you are going to be able to find for something like that."

"Oh, I know where I can find a couple," John Lee assured her. "I'll be back in touch."

***

"John Lee. What's up?"

"How's your boy doing, Dave?"

"I think if his knee was hinged in the other direction he'd be kicking his own ass. I really am sorry about all this, John Lee. How's your face?"

"It only hurts when I eat, drink, or sweat."

"Lorraine is just... she's a bitch. I don't know how Gene puts up with her. Is she still in jail?"

"Yeah. The judge wanted to let her go yesterday but she had to be stubborn and she earned herself another 24 hours."

"Gene called and told me about that."

"Hopefully she'll be in a better mood when she goes back to court this afternoon."

"I hope so."

"Listen, the reason I'm here is I've got an idea. You know that D.W. said the boys have to do some kind of community service?"

"Yeah, they're not looking forward to that. Not doing the work, I think they both know they're getting off light. Just having all the other kids in town walking by and seeing them picking up trash or whatever."

"Then this might work out good," John Lee said. "Let me tell you what I've got in mind."

***

By the time she was led into court for the second time, Lorraine Matthews appeared to have learned her lesson. She kept her head bowed and only looked up when the judge asked her for her plea.

"Guilty, Your Honor."

"Before I pass sentencing, is there anything you'd like to say to the court or the victims. Victim, I guess, since Mr. Atterbury isn't here. But Deputy Quarrels is."

"I made a mistake. I got scared when I thought about my little boy being shot and I overreacted. I'm sorry."

The judge studied her for a moment before he passed sentence. "I have to tell you, Mrs. Matthews, yesterday I was inclined to give you some serious jail time after the way you acted out in this courtroom. However, Deputy Quarrels has asked me to be lenient with you. He thinks you deserve a break. I can't say as I agree with him, but if he's willing to turn the other cheek, literally in this case, I'll let it be. I'm fining you $1,500 and I'm putting you on one year's probation. I'm going to defer the payment of the fine and order you to get some anger management counseling. If you can bring me proof of completing a six week counseling program, I'll waive the fine, assuming you stay out of trouble for the duration of your probation."

"Thank you, Your Honor."

Judge Taylor studied her for a moment longer, as if he still wasn't sure he was doing the right thing, then he rapped his gavel and said, "Court is adjourned. See my clerk to handle the paperwork."

***

"If you asked me, those little bastards and that bitch all got off way too easy," Flag said.

"I don't recall askin' you," D.W. said.

"There was a time when we had chain gangs to deal with shit like this."

"There was a time when the Klan lynched anybody that got in their way. Those days are gone, too. What's your point?"

"My point is, you're too damn soft, D.W. You're soft on crime and you're soft on deputies, too. Lettin' those kids and that woman get off like that! And now you got Obie ridin' the gravy train claimin' he's got stress or whatever. You should'a canned his ass a long time ago."

"Did ya' just come in here to bitch and complain about what a terrible job I'm doin' Flag, or did ya' have somethin' else you wanted to talk about?"

"It ain't right D.W.! You need to let me start handlin' a lot of this stuff. That's my job."

"No, your job is to do what I tell ya' to do."

"Then what am I supposed to do? You keep take'n stuff away from me. I'm the friggin' Chief Deputy, but you override me on everythin'."

"That's because I don't trust you any further'n I can throw ya', Flag. You and I both know you're just bidin' your time and tryin' to work up the courage to run against me come election time."

"I haven't decided that, one way or the other."

"See, that's what I mean, right there. That's bullshit and you know it and I know it. You ain't man enough to look me in the eye and say it, because you're a chickenshit backstabbin' son of a bitch. I'd have a lot more respect for you if ya' had the balls to tell it like it is. But ya' don't. Only reason I don't fire you is I don't want to sleep on the couch. But I'll tell you right now, Flag, for you to run against me, you've got to resign your position first. It's written right in the county ordinances that way. And when you do, and when you lose that election and come back here tryin' to kiss ass and get your job back, it ain't gonna happen. Now get outta' my sight."

"You're a joke, D.W. You know that? You got one daughter who's supposed to be a married woman, but she's livin' with a dyke instead of her husband. And the other one ain't nothin' but  a tramp who's sleepin' with her sister's husband. You ain't got the balls to put a stop to that, but ya' want to threaten me?"

"I said get out of here! That's an order, Deputy. And as long as I'm sittin' at this desk, you'll damn sure follow my orders. So either take that star off your shirt and drop it on my desk, or get on about your business. Either way, I'm done talkin to you."

They were almost nose to nose, both men leaning over the sheriff's desk, eyes locked on the other. Dispatcher Sheila Sharp was sure they were about to come to blows when she appeared at the sheriff's office door with a handful of reports she needed him to sign off on. But finally Flag backed down. For the moment at least. He brushed past her without a word as he went down the hall and back to his office

Chapter 42

"Most people have the courtesy to call for an appointment, not just show up unannounced," Charlotte said, looking at him with disapproval.

"I guess I'm not most people," John Lee told her.

"Mr. Somerton is a very busy man, I can't be interruptin' him every time you want to drop in and chat."

"Sure you can. You just push that little button on your phone and you tell him I'm here."

"Would you like to make an appointment, Deputy Quarrels?"

"No, ma'am, I'd like you to do what I said and push that little button and tell him I'm here. What's so hard about that?"

She folded her arms and glared at him. "My job is to see to it that Mr. Somerton is not bein' disturbed all the time by people
without
appointments!"

"I'll tell you what, I'll just do your job for you, since you don't seem to be up to it today."

He walked past her desk and knocked on Troy's door.

"You can't do that!"

"Sure I can! Didn't you just see me do it?"

"Stop that!"

He knocked again, then opened the door and said, "Troy, you got a minute. I wanted ask you about..."

He stopped abruptly when he saw his old friend hastily pulling up his pants while a very flustered and red faced Jolene Thompson held her blouse over her naked breasts.

"Excuse me," John Lee said, closing the door.

"What in the world is wrong with you? Don't you have a brain in your head? You're probably goin' to get me fired!"

"What do you want me to say, Charlotte? You could've said he was busy or that he had somebody in there, or something."

"And you could've called for an appointment!"

"Well I guess we both learned a lesson today, didn't we?"

Before she could reply, the office door opened and a very red faced Jolene walked out, averting her eyes.

"John Lee, how you doin? Come on in."

John Lee followed Troy into his office. The other man closed the door behind them and came around his desk. " I'm afraid you caught me at a bad time."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Troy laughed nervously and fiddled with some papers on his desk. "John Lee, it isn't what it looked like."

"None of my business, Troy."

"No really, we were just..."

"Troy, I don't give a shit," he said raising his hand in dismissal. "I'm not your preacher."

"Yeah, I guess not." Troy laughed again. "What can I say? It's not a serious thing, it's just..."

"What part of
its none of my business
didn't you get, Troy? If you want to boink one of your employees during lunch hour in your office, as long as she's willing and neither one of you is worried about your respective spouses finding out, have at it. I'm not exactly an altar boy myself."

Troy laughed, relief overcoming his embarrassment and worry about his illicit affair becoming local gossip. "Yeah, I guess that's true. You're livin' every man's fantasy."

"What you mean?"

"I hear tell you're doin' that wife of yours and that good looking kid sister of hers, too."

It was John Lee's turn to be uncomfortable, and he said, "People do like to gossip."

"Oh look at you, gettin' all red faced on me! This is Troy, John Lee. I know all your secrets and you know all mine from back in the day. Back then you'd diddle a rattlesnake if somebody held its head down. And so would I. Guess some things never change, huh?"

John Lee wasn't really interested in a trip down memory lane to relive all of their teenage conquests, of which there had been many. So he went to the subject of his visit.

"Anyway, I'm still looking into those skeletons we found."