Murder Talks Turkey

Chapter 2

“FIRST HE ROBS THE CREDIT UNION,” I said, rehashing the event with Cora Mae while we sat at her kitchen table drinking coffee and eating sugar doughnuts. “Then he doesn’t take the bank’s money. Why would anybody do that? Why risk prison to steal thirty bucks from Pearl, then fill the rest of the sack with play dollars?”

“What if Pearl was his target?” Cora Mae said. She’s always brightest when she has her sights on a man. Right now, the pasture was empty, which explained her dense question.

I laughed. “Pearl’s ninety years old. Who would hurt her? And why go to the bank with a gun just to steal thirty dollars from her?”

Cora Mae draped an old towel over my shoulders and clipped the ends together with a clothespin. “Pearl’s been burning up the phone lines, telling her side of the story to anyone who’ll listen,” she said, mixing the color she was about to put on my head. “She claims she hit him with her purse. Did you see that happen?”

“Pearl probably thinks she did. Her mind isn’t what it used to be. Fred should have been inside with us instead of waiting in the truck. He’d have handled the situation.”

Fred, my police trained German shepherd, raised his head from the floor when he heard his name. He looked at me with adoration in his eyes. Devil Fangs, as I used to call him, was a solid-built black shepherd with red eyes and teeth made for ripping. When the cops retired him, he came to live with me. Give Fred a scent, and he can find anybody or anything. He’s proved his worth ten times over.

I bit into another doughnut.

Cora Mae started griping about the red hair dye I chose.

“The first time your hair turned red was a mistake on my part,” she said. “But why on earth do you want to keep on dying it red?”

I plopped a piece of sugar doughnut in my mouth and chewed on the question.

The truth of the matter was that the red hair changed my personality for the better. I used to be drab and lifeless exactly like my gray-streaked hair. Now I have more pep and vigor. I wake up every day and look forward to whatever new adventure comes my way.

“Remember how I used to be before I went red, Cora Mae? Quiet and retiring?”

“No,” Cora Mae said, squirting color on my head and splashing a dab of it too close to my eyes for comfort. “You never were like that. Not since I’ve known you. You’ve always been bold and bossy.” Then she gave me an affectionate smile. “But you sure are fun.”

Cora Mae and I have been friends for a long, long time. I was there when she buried her husbands in the Trenary Cemetery, and she helped me two years ago when I lost my Barney.

We are almost as tight as the black knit sweaters she likes to wear every since she discovered how great her boobs look in Wonderbras.

I wiped around my eyes with the old towel and thought about the dead robber while Cora Mae worked the gooey mess into a lather on my head. I finished my doughnut.

Cora Mae checked the dye, then snapped off the pair of latex gloves she wore. “There. Sit for awhile.” She poured more coffee for each of us. “Kitty called from Paradise. Her car broke down.”

“She’s supposed to be following Tony Lento,” I said. “Our first paying job and she goes for a joyride? Unbelievable. Tell her to turn around and head home once she gets the Lincoln fixed. She beats that car to death with her crazy driving.”

Lyla Lento had hired the Trouble Busters after her husband forgot to come home one night and couldn’t produce a plausible excuse. It was Kitty’s turn to tail him. Since Kitty was halfway across the state, he’d been loose without supervision for the entire morning.

It’s tough being the boss.

“She’s waiting for them to fix her car,” Cora Mae said. “The mechanic said it would be another hour or so. And for your information, she was following him.”

“Was he alone?”

“He was, right before she lost him?”

“Did she call Lyla before taking off?” Tony Lento’s work took him out of town periodically. His wife had expressed reluctance to pay travel expenses.

“Lyla told Kitty to stick with him this time.”

The timer went off. I rinsed my hair and towel dried it. “Looks good,” I said putting a lot of compliment in my voice.

Cora Mae humphed. “What are we getting paid for the Lento job? You’re very closed-mouthed about the fee. I have to think you don’t want to tell me.”

“Of course we’re getting paid,” I said, dodging the question even though my friend would be ecstatic when she found out. However, Kitty might not be quite as enthusiastic if she learned that we were getting paid in trade. That meant free manicures for all three of us for one year at Lyla’s beauty salon.

Since Kitty chews her nails down to the quick and mine chip and break, Cora Mae would be the only grateful beneficiary. But it was worth it for the referrals that were bound to come pouring in after we busted Lyla’s husband.

“Tony Lento is one of Stonely’s finest upstanding citizens,” Cora Mae said. “Lyla must be going through her change. Tony would never cheat on her.”

“Did you ever hear of a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” I replied. Tony was fortyish, a handsome man with a constant grin that said he knew how terrific he was and he wanted to spread his greatness around.

“He’s never looked twice at me. That’s how I know.” Cora Mae is three years younger than me. At sixty-three she looks like a million bucks. She eats nothing but salads and wears slinky black pumps and tight tops that display her perky wonderbra-ed boobs. Every man in Tamarack County notices Cora Mae.

“No way,” I said in disbelief. “He had to have.”

“Not once.”

“Ever?”

“Never.”

It was good to know that Cora Mae had one holdout. Two, if you counted George. But that sweet man was a daydream for another time. Right now we had work to do.

I had to figure out how to reconnect with Tony Lento somehow. And Kitty would have to explain to his wife why she lost him. Until she returned from Paradise, I had time on my hands. I hopped into the Trouble Buster truck with Fred, dropped Cora Mae at her house, and headed for the jail. Hopefully, Dickey Snell had some answers by now.