Tied With a Bow and No Place to Go (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 3) (11 page)

“Keep your knees together! Synola yelled. “We’ve seen enough
manhood this week. We can’t take anymore.”

Tizzy sat and fanned smoke from her face. “You’re going to
get Nana in a lot of trouble. She says you’ve got a crop of this stuff.” She
pointed to the smoldering mound. “Having that much will up the charges from
possession to intent to sell. Have you lost your mind?”

Om nodded, heavy-lidded. “Girls, chill out. It’s all
copacetic.”

Synola sat next to Tizzy. “We brought Jinx with us and he’ll
copa-your-cetic. You better be glad Dan’s not here. He would arrest your ass.”
Synola tugged at the neck of her shirt and undid the first button. “Man, it’s
hot in here.”

Tizzy’s head lolled to one side. She sputtered and wagged a
finger in Om’s face. “We’ve got to get rid of this stuff.” The smoke got
thicker, heavier, and she weaved back and forth trying to get a better view of
Om. “All of it.” Tizzy reached into the air and tried to catch smoke swirls.

Synola bobbed her head, hypnotized by Tizzy’s motion.

Om’s eyes crossed. “I was just beginning to purify. Chant
with me, girls. Ay-ee-ay-ay, Ay-ee-ay-ay, Ay-ee-ay-ee-ay.”

Tizzy faced Synola and extended her palms. Synola slapped
hers against Tizzy’s as if playing Eenie Meanie Sassaleeny, then chanted.
“e-i-e-i-o.”

Tizzy joined in. “e-i-e-i-o.”

“What the hell?” Jinx said, from behind them.

“We’re getting purified,” Tizzy said.

“All you have to do is chant to Chief Old McDonald.
e-i-e-i-o,” Synola said. “C’mon. Join us.”

Jinx clasped Tizzy and Synola by the arms and hauled them
out of the hut. Once outside, he said, “God, I can’t leave you two alone for a
single minute. Take deep breaths.” He led them to the porch and pushed them
onto the top step. “Stay right there. Don’t move. I’ll talk to Om.”

Thirty minutes later with her head clear again, Tizzy said
to Jinx, “So you have someone coming to get rid of the pot, and you’ve warned
Om not to grow any more, right?”

Jinx nodded. “Right. By this time tomorrow, the
incriminating evidence will vanish. I’m not sure Om will. You may have to
accept the fact Nana plans to keep him.”

“Oh man. Everything will be gone?” Synola whined, pupils still
glazed. “Are y’all sure we don’t want to take those brownies with us? I mean,
what could it hurt? They’d be sooo good with tequila shots.”

“I’m way ahead of you, Sweet Cakes. I already had Nana sack
them up along with the herbs she had in the house,” Jinx said. “Hell! That’s
prime weed and after she went to the trouble of baking them, it’s a shame to
let them go to waste.”

“Oh, Lord. Who says life in a small town is dull?” Tizzy
said. “We got little old ladies cooking with pot and mushrooms and men tying
ribbons around their wee-wees.”

~~*~~

Back in town, on the way to the station, Ridge recited his
to-do list. Even though nine former classmates attended the luncheon, six more
arrived today. Two members from Jay Roy’s class weren’t attending, but to cover
his bases, he’d add them to the list. A timeline needed to be established to
make sure none of them slipped in early, offed Jay Roy, and slipped out again.
The killer didn’t have to be a woman from his class, but until the
investigation lead in another direction, Ridge planned to concentrate his
efforts on them.

Then there were the husbands to consider. If anymore of the
women were having an affair with Jay Roy and a spouse found out, the
investigation could swing down a different path.

Both cruisers, along with Sheriff McAlister’s car, were
parked out front. Ridge angled next to them. When he pushed open the door, Rita
spun around in her chair. Her pink eye patch made her look like the pirate
spokesperson for Susan G. Komen. She pointed a finger at him and gave a
warning. “Don’t say it.”

“Say what?”

“Whatever pirate talk you had ready.”

Ridge grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it. If you don’t mind I
have some things for you to do today.”

“Sure. Shoot.”

“Set up separate interview appointments with the mayor and
her husband. Oh, and see if you can get wife number one and wife number three
in today. That’d be . . .” his voice faded as he flipped through his spiral.

Rita finished his sentence. “Kassie and Deborah.”

“Right. You may as well work on the rest of the list and
schedule as many as you can over the next few days. Before noon is best for me,
but I’ll work around their schedules if necessary. Any word on a funeral?”

“Not yet. The family wants a service with the body present,
but the autopsy isn’t finished.”

“I’ll check on that. I want to get footage from the toll
road and first two Highway 31 traffic cameras going into Tyler for the day
before yesterday.”

Rita glanced up at him. “That new toll road is nice. I love
that it doesn’t have booths. They depend on cameras for billing.”

“Also, contact police departments and probation offices in
surrounding counties with a suspect description.” Ridge tore a page from his
notebook and handed it to her. “It’s vague, but maybe the tattoos will get us
something on the mystery man who bought the strawberries and had Pattiecake
deliver them to Jay Roy.”

“Okay. Will Henderson, Van Zandt, Smith, Cherokee, and
Anderson counties be enough?”

“Let’s add Navarro and Kaufman.” He walked away, then called
over his shoulder, “Perchance the scallywag will show up on their radar.”

“You can’t help yourself, can you?”

He chuckled. “Nope.”

Dan and Police Chief Earl Dean Ramsey glanced up when Ridge
entered. “Damn, it seems Dan’s always here and you’re not. What’s that about?”
Ridge asked Earl Dean.

The chief shrugged. “I’m retiring in three months and I have
so much vacation accumulated, I’m only working on Bubba’s off days. I check in
ever’ day, but then head back to the house. Its hay season and I’ve been baling
for a week.”

Dan nodded. “I have the whole county to protect. Since I
live here, I start my day here.”

Ridge removed his hat and placed it on the table. “Earl
Dean, any word on who will take your place?”

“I’ll recommend Bubba. Hell, the boy’s been with the
department long enough and he’s a lifetime resident, so he’d be happy to stay
in the position until retirement. That means a lot in a small town.”

“Great choice. He’ll do a good job,” Ridge said.

“I hear you had a good time at Sweet Thangs yesterday.” Dan
laughed.

“Not the way I’d describe it. It’s crazy. This is the first
time I’ve investigated a case with fifteen women involved and none are
hookers.”

From the next room, Willie Nelson squawked.
“If you’ve
got the money honey, I’ve got the time.”

“That is one smart parrot.” Earl Dean’s round body shook
with laughter.

“How’s that possible?” Ridge asked. “He makes a connection
between the word hookers and money? That’s crazy.”

“Maybe his original owner taught him the connection,” Earl
Dean said.

“Still, it’s kinda spooky,” Dan said and stood. “I’ve got to
get going. Ridge, holler if you need me for anything.”

“Okay. I’ve sent a partial description of a person of
interest to your office. You may have him in your files. Today, I start
questioning all the girls involved with Jay Roy.”

“To all the girls I’ve ever loved before.”

The men burst into laughter.

Rita appeared in the doorway. “Ridge, Mayor Patton will be
here in thirty minutes. Husband Doyle is scheduled at ten, and I’ve got Kassie
Shields scheduled for one o’clock. Is that okay?”

“Perfect. Thanks.”

“I couldn’t get in touch with Deborah.” Rita stuck a pencil
behind her ear. “I’ll keep trying and work on tomorrow’s line-up. How early do
you want the first interview?”

“We’ve started sending Gracie to the Mother’s Day Out
program at the church. It’s my day to take her, so let’s say nine.”

Rita retrieved the pencil and made a note. “Nine. Got it.
That’ll be good for Gracie.”

“It’s just one day a week, but she loves it and Annie Mae
gets an extra day off.”

“Well, I’ll let you know when Lounell arrives,” Rita said
and headed to her desk.

Earl Dean rose from his chair. “I’m running radar on High
School Hill to slow those eighteen wheelers coming into town. Call me if you
need me.”

“Will do.” Once alone, Ridge shuffled through papers and organized
his thoughts. He couldn’t help but wonder how forthcoming the women might be
when it came to their relationships with Jay Roy. How many would admit to
taking a turn with him back in high school or more recently? That brought to
mind another question. He slid his phone from his pocket and texted CSI Ted
Mitchell. Within a few minutes, he got a reply with the ribbon information.

He studied the screen of his iPad. Fifteen colors listed.
The numbers didn’t add-up. According to Pattiecake, she and two others didn’t
give in to the victim. With seventeen classmates, minus three, there should be
fourteen ribbons. He shook his head and re-added the numbers again. Damn.
Finding out who belonged to what ribbon might not be much help. Unless, he got
a match to the blue ribbon found on the victim. The extra color could belong to
anyone.

Four hundred sixteen green ribbons: Kassie Shields, wife #1.
Holy crap, Jay Roy. You were a busy man. One thousand two-hundred four red
ribbons for Molly Hix? Wow. One hundred fifty-six yellow ribbons, wife #3,
Deborah Hessler. He walked back down the hall again. “Hey Rita, do you how long
each of Jay Roy’s marriages lasted?”

“Mama and I were discussing that last night. Kassie and Jay
Roy, only two years. Deborah lasted three. Mama wasn’t sure about Molly,
because they married twice. She said the first time they stayed together for
three, but didn’t recall the length of the second union. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.” When he returned to the break room, he
entered numbers into this calculator and focused on the totals. Kassie’s amount
figured out to four times a week. My God! That can’t be right. Then he moved to
Deborah, wife #3. Three years equaled one hundred fifty- six weeks. He went
back to the list. Same total of yellow ribbons. That averaged once a week for
their entire marriage. More reasonable. Wait a minute. It’s been thirty-five
years. It didn’t all have to occur during a marriage, and he could have used
the same color for more than one woman. That makes more sense. He glanced at
the numbers on the page. As he started to add them up, Rita announced the
arrival of Lounell Patton.

“Send her on back,” Ridge said.

Lounell swished in, hips swaying, bright red skirt rustling,
breasts rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. She waved her
hands in the air and multi-colored bangle bracelets clanked. “Let’s end this. I
have a Beautify Brownsboro meeting in an hour.”

Ridge pulled out a chair for her and she sat. He claimed the
seat across from her. “Let’s get an alibi out of the way. Do you have one for
Wednesday night between nine and midnight?”

“At home with Doyle. He’ll verify.”

“Okay. Now, this loan your husband gave to Jay Roy. Can you
give me the details?”

“You’ll have to speak to Doyle. I didn’t know about it until
Molly made that scene at Sweet Thangs. I played along, because I didn’t want
her to get the best of me. When I got home, I asked Doyle and he said Jay Roy
came to him, not the other way around, as Molly implied.” Lounell sighed. “I
think Molly had the most motive to kill Jay Roy. You’ve witnessed her temper
first hand. The woman was obsessed with him.”

“Miss Molly. Dammit. Miss Molly.”

Lounell snapped her head toward the wall. “What in the world
was that?”

“A parrot. He’s here until Rita finds him a home. Back to
your statement. What do you mean by ‘obsessed’?”

“Consumed. Fixated. Addicted. The woman stalked him. His
marriage status didn’t matter, she made herself available to him.”

“You’re saying she continued an affair with him even after
their divorce?”

“Absolutely. She’s nuts. I can’t believe you didn’t come to
that conclusion yesterday. She was fooling herself if she thought they were
getting back together.”

“You got this information how?”

“Give me a break.” Lounell pressed a hand to her bosom. “You
can’t keep secrets in this town. I know she’s separated from her husband. Jay
Roy married that idiot twice. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Why
should he? He could have her anytime. All he had to do was call.”

“I see. Did you ever make yourself available to Jay Roy?”

Lounell straightened and smiled. “Of course I did. It was a
long time ago, but once word got around, all of us girls were curious. Besides,
birth control pills became popular.
The Joy of Sex and Everything You Always
Wanted to Know about Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask
, flew off the shelves. I’d
say girls of the seventies were just waking up sexually. I was.”

Her candor was more than he expected. Ridge cleared his
throat and leaned back in his chair. “Well, anything unusual with him?”

“Oh, you’re referring to the ribbon. I was orange.”

“Uh-huh. And the meaning?” He poised a pen ready to write.
This should be good.

Lounell stuck her chest out. “It means energy and stimulates
activity.”

Ridge fingered his iPad and read. Orange. Three hundred thirteen.
He gave his attention back to Lounell. “That’s ribbons—plural.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, uh—Jay Roy used a different orange ribbon each time
with you—and kept them.”

The color drained from her face. “Oh my God! Are you
foolin’?”

How do you feel about foolin’ around!

Ridge stifled a laugh.
Thanks, Willie.

At ten o’clock, Doyle Patton arrived, right on time. After
introductions, Ridge motioned for him to take the same seat the mayor occupied
earlier. “Do you know why you’re here?”