Three Dog Day (31 page)

Deputy Cam Gomez agreed to come to Mae's house and then follow her out to Travis Pritchett's. She had also, after consulting with Dory, reluctantly agreed that Mae could go to the door alone. “I'll give you ten minutes in there. If you're not back out by then I'm coming in. We don't want to spook anyone with the patrol car or my uniform, but Dory's right. Anybody with a still probably has guns around.” She looked Mae over with a smile. “At least they won't think you're law enforcement. And the cast makes you look harmless. You could get in and out without a problem.”

The two young women decided that Cam would park the patrol car at the small convenience store near Travis Pritchett's place, get in the back seat of Mae's Explorer and stay out of sight when Mae went to the door.

“
What reason will you give for being there?” Cam asked from the back seat. When Mae looked in her rearview mirror, a little frown disturbed the smoothness of Cam's forehead.

“
I think I'll just say I'm lost and my cellphone died. Maybe ask for directions or to use their phone.”

Cam smiled in the mirror. “That works. And speaking of your cellphone, let me have it for a second. I'll call my phone from yours and we can put yours on speaker. Put yours in your coat pocket and I'll be able to hear what's going on when you're inside.”

Mae glanced at Cam in the mirror once more. “Good idea. Hang on a minute and I'll pull over and get it out of my purse. I've gotten pretty good at one-handed driving, but hands-free is another story.”

She pulled onto the side of the narrow, twisting lane and pulled the phone out of her purse. Mae handed it to Cam and gave her the code to unlock it. Cam quickly punched in the code and called her own phone, looking down in concentration. Mae watched her accept the call and put Mae's phone on speaker.

“
There.” She handed the phone to Mae, who carefully placed it in the front pocket of her red winter coat. Cam nodded her dark head in approval. “It's like you're wearing a wire.”

Mae pulled back onto the road and drove through a grove of cedar trees and down a hill. She glanced at the directions taped to her console. “You better lie down,” she said. “We're almost there. And since you can hear me, can you wait longer than ten minutes?”

Cam disappeared from the rearview mirror. “Okay, how about this? You say ‘It's snowing again' if you need my help.”

The man who answered the door had to weigh 300 pounds. He wore a blue and gray flannel shirt, overalls, and a greasy Braves ball cap on his stringy dark hair. When Mae looked in his pale, almost colorless eyes, she felt a twinge of fear.

“
What'dya want?” The man spoke around a wad of chewing tobacco inside his lower lip. He gave Mae a slow, unsmiling inspection from her boots up to her face.

“
I'm lost. And my cellphone died. Do you have a phone I could use?”

The huge man continued to stand so the bulk of his body blocked any view of the room. “I figured you was lost,” he said, and spat into a plastic cup he held in his meaty hand. “Travis,” he called over his shoulder. “Got a pretty lil' gal here. Don't nobody know where she is.” He gave Mae a mean grin, showing a brown and crooked set of teeth.

“
Let her in, Parnell.” Mae heard another male voice from behind the oversized man. “It's cold out there.”

Parnell stepped aside and Mae squeezed past him, trying not to breathe through her nose. Apparently Parnell was not a frequent taker of showers. It was a little too warm inside the house, and dimly lit. There was a woodstove in the corner and the window blinds were all down except for one.

“
Need a drink?” Parnell indicated a half-empty bottle of Bud on the stained side table.

“
Uh, no thanks,” Mae said, taking in the squalor of dirty plates and empty cans and bottles. Now that she was there, she wasn't sure how to buy time.

“
We don't get many visitors out here, do we, Parnell?”

The huge man laughed, wheezing and shaking his belly. “Not in the daytime we don't. Should I let 'er use the phone?”

Parnell was standing between her and the door. Travis
, a smaller version of Parnell,
shook his head. “I am lost.” Mae gave
him
a pleading look. “Please, can I just use your phone?”

He put the footrest of the recliner down and got to his feet. “No. Phone lines are still down.”

“
Are there any gas stations in the area? If you could just direct me there—”

“
Not much in this area, and that's a fact. Where did you say you were on the way to?”

“
Rosedale.”

“
From where? Maybe you need to get one of them there GPS things.”

Mae looked past him out the window into the backyard and saw dogs in stacked up cages around the muddy, trampled ground. She saw Cam dart around the side of a dilapidated shed.

“
You really lost, or just nosy?”
Travis
walked over to stand right in front of Mae, who froze. He stared into Mae's eyes. “What are you really up to?”

She swallowed, willing herself not to show fear. “I'm just trying to get to Rosedale,” she said loudly. “I got turned around on these winding roads and then I noticed that it's snowing again.”

“
Doesn't look like it's snowing to me,” the man said. She turned away to avoid his foul breath.

Mae heard a loud knock at the door.

“
Open up, police!”

“
Grab her,” Travis said to Parnell in a low, urgent voice. “Take her in the other room.”

More banging on the door was followed by a raised male voice. “Open the door right now, Pritchett, or we're breaking it down.”

She heard Travis saying, “Hang on, I'm coming,” before Parnell grabbed her hair and pulled her into a small bedroom. He closed and locked the door and swiveled his huge bulk to look at her.

“
My friends are out there,” Mae told him. “You better let me go.”

The hulking man looked her up and down. “You better keep quiet or you and me're gonna have a little fun before your friends can save you.” He reached toward her as she backed away, fighting down a surge of nausea.

“
You sure are pretty.” He trapped her against the wall and put his mouth next to her ear. Mae wriggled, frantically trying to escape his grasp. “That's good,” Parnell's voice roughened. “You're lively too.”

There was a crash and the bedroom door caved in, falling in splinters at the feet of a man in a Nashville police uniform. Parnell stepped away from her and Mae could breathe again. Cam came in on the heels of the officer, who was busy reading Parnell his rights.

“
I'm sorry, Mae.” Cam gave her a concerned look. “He shouldn't have had time to grab you. Are you hurt?”

“
No, I'm fine.” Her heart was pounding, but she was okay, she realized. “And don't apologize. I've never been gladder to see someone in my life than you and ….” She trailed off, watching with interest as yet another Nashville officer helped the first man cuff Parnell and remove him from the room.

“
That's Billy Cornell.” Cam smiled. “He's a friend of mine—works narcotics in Nashville. His partner's Sam Baxter. I'm sorry I called in the cavalry. I was a little worried when you suggested we take on this mission by ourselves and alerted Billy and Sam earlier that there might be trouble. They said they'd be glad to drive this way on the chance that something went wrong. I found evidence of dog fighting and a still back there right away. Then I found a huge
stash
of marijuana. I was on the car radio when I heard your signal, which is why they could move in so quickly. I'm just glad that guy didn't hurt you.”

“
He didn't.” Mae gave an involuntary shiver. “He was going to, though. I'd like to go home now and take a shower.”

W
ayne got to the office still feeling cheered by the news Attorney Lawton had given him the night before. Not even Ben's text saying he needed to wear a suit and tie today brought down his spirits. He arrived to a chorus of congratulations for Dory, Cam, and George, who had located and brought in the auctioneer, Junior Barnes. He had been stealing architectural elements from homes in the area—a lucrative scam. All Barnes had to do was remove any identifying marks, distress or repaint and sell the item at one of his auctions. Logan Yancey's fireplace surround, clearly marked on the back as his property, was in Ben's office with a big red bow on it. Wayne chimed in with his own congratulations.

“
We're going on a field trip this morning,” Ben told the group. “I have the contact information for Anthony Puglisi's parents. They live in Benton, that's down in Polk County in the southeast corner of the state. It's about a three and a half hour drive. Wayne and Rob are going with me on this one.” He asked George to bring the car around. While they were waiting, Ben turned to Wayne, saying, “You look different today. What's up?”

“
Counselor Lawton has a strategy that could work for my foster mother's release. We'll know in a couple of days.”

“
That's great, man. Really great. Let's get Rob and go.”

Wayne was wearing a new navy suit, a white shirt, and a striped tie. He had purchased several pieces of clothing recently, because none of his old things fit anymore. Rob met them in the front office, also wearing a suit and tie. It looked much more expensive than Wayne's. It was standard when a suspect in a serious crime might be arrested to dress the part. Deputies wore uniforms, but detectives were expected to look professional.

Cam came into reception and stood by Dory's desk to see them off. George left the sheriff's car running outside and came back into the office, shivering a bit from the cold.

“
Any instructions while you're gone, Sheriff?” Cam asked.

“
George, you're on prisoner duty today. If anyone has a visitor, have them meet with family members in interrogation, rather than in the jail cells. You may wear your sidearm,” Ben said.

George made no attempt to disguise his amazed pleasure. “Thank you, Sheriff.”

“
He doesn't mean you can
use
it,” Dory said. “Just carry it.”

“
Cam, I'd like you to write a report on the arrest last night, and you can respond to any routine complaints that come in.”

“
What about me, boss?” Dory asked.

“
I'd like you to hold down the fort, Investigator Clarkson,” the sheriff said with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

“
I believe I can do that,” Investigator Dory Clarkson replied. “Thank you, sir.”

“
And Dory?”

“
Yes.”

“
Don't ever go off on your own like that again. I appreciate that you had good information and needed to act quickly, but there
'
s no excuse for not notifying me in advance. Given the result, I'll let it pass this time, but I can't have any rogue investigators on my force. Understood?”

“
Yes, sir,” she said, looking at the floor.

Three hours later, Rob drove the patrol car across the Polk County line. The town of Benton was situated at the confluence of the Ocoee and Hiwassee Rivers just at the base of the Unicoi Mountains. Wayne had looked up the population and details about local law enforcement on his iPhone. The small town of just over a thousand people had a sheriff's department that they would contact as a matter of courtesy. As is usual, the sheriff's office was responsible for keeping the peace in all of Polk County, not just the village of Benton. Wayne was surprised to see that it was a bigger operation than their own. Sheriff Jeremy Davis was assisted by two detectives and several deputies. In addition, they had a drug unit.

Ben punched the speaker button on his phone so Wayne and Rob could hear the conversation with the local lawman.

“
Hello, Sheriff Davis? This is Ben Bradley, Sheriff of Rose County in Tennessee. We're here in Benton looking for Anthony Puglisi. We want to talk to him in connection with a murder in Rose County.”

“
What can I help you with, Sheriff?” Davis asked. Wayne had looked Sheriff Davis up on his iPhone and handed it to Ben. They saw a picture of a good-looking fifty-something man with white blond hair and a pleasant smile.

“
We need to talk to Anthony, but since this is such a small town, I thought you might ask him to come into your office. We could meet you there.”

“
Certainly, I'll send Lewis to pick him up. Anything I should tell him?”

“
No, let's keep this very low key. I'm sure you know him and his parents?”

“
Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Puglisi have two married daughters in addition to Anthony. They're a fine family. Mr. Puglisi manages the Family Dollar grocery store. Mrs. Puglisi is head of the community library in town. With you coming all this way, I hope it doesn't mean Anthony's a suspect in this killing. We're all proud of Anthony. Very few of the local kids here even go on to college, so it's rare to have one of ours go on to graduate school.”