Marcia Talley - Daughter of Ashes

‘Anyway,’ Rusty continued, ‘Clifton junior told Kendall that his dad got him a summer job at the county tax office so that the kid was in on the ground floor, so to speak. Not sure how they managed it, but Kendall told me that the farms went to auction before the owners knew what hit them.’

‘The son of a bitch.’ The words just fell out of my mouth. I couldn’t help it. That certainly explained why Clifton junior was so interested in what records were stored in the courthouse basement.

‘Clifton senior allowed most of the former owners to stay on as tenants, like at your place, but there were a bunch of farms up north of town…’ Rusty paused. ‘That’s where Clifton Farms built their processing plant.’

‘I see.’

‘After they broke it off, Kendall used that information to get “loans” from Cliff, but I don’t think any of them were ever repaid.’

That figured, I thought. ‘And Cliff’s marriage to Nancy Hazlett?’

Rusty’s eyebrows shot up under his bandage. ‘That was a shocker, wasn’t it?’

‘Why on earth did you share that information with Kendall?’

‘Insurance?’ He closed his eyes, massaged his eyelids with his fingers then said, without actually looking at me, ‘I didn’t think she’d actually use it. I’m really sorry about that.’

‘Look, Rusty. I think there’s a very good chance that either Clifton Ames or his son, Jack, murdered your mother. There’s also the possibility that Clifton murdered Nancy Hazlett back in 1952 to stop her from telling anyone about their marriage or the baby.’

‘Shit,’ Rusty said, stretching the word out into two syllables. ‘Are you telling me that Clifton Ames was the father of the baby up your chimney?’

‘I believe so, and I think you can help me prove it.’

‘How?’

‘I want you to promise me that you’ll call Andy Hubbard and tell him what you just told me. Got that?’

‘Yeah,’ he said, sounding like he meant it. ‘But how does that prove that Ames fathered that baby?’

‘I have a plan, and it involves making Clifton Ames believe that the cops are going to exhume Nancy’s body to test it for a DNA match to the baby.’

‘Are they actually going to do that?’

‘No, they don’t have to. Nancy’s brother, Thomas Hazlett, submitted a sample of his DNA for analysis. They already have a positive I.D.’

Rusty looked relieved. ‘So what’s the point?’

‘If Nancy didn’t die a suicide, then there may be evidence that her neck had been broken, just like Kendall’s.’

Rusty lowered his head, wrapped his arms around himself in a bear hug and was silent for a long time. When he looked up again, he said, ‘I feel sick.’

I patted his knee. ‘I think we all do.’

‘A female interviewer – a reporter in petticoats? I am very curious to see her,’ Ralph declared.

Henry James, Portrait of a Lady , 1917

After leaving Rusty, I headed home, stopping first at the grocery to pick up something for dinner.

When I plopped a couple of rib eyes and a bag of Caesar salad on the conveyor belt, Penny said, ‘Have you heard the news?’

‘What news?’ I asked as Penny dragged my steaks over the scanner.

‘Tad Chew has been arrested!’

I’d been rummaging in my handbag, searching for my credit card, but that got my attention. ‘What for?’ I asked, looking up, although I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

‘They say he’s the one who ran Rusty off the road. My boyfriend works for the towing company that took Tad’s car away to the police garage.’

It was wrong, I knew, to rejoice in anyone going to jail, but the news fit in perfectly with my plans.

After Penny bagged my items, I hurried back to Our Song where I stored my purchases in the fridge and went out looking for Paul. I found him at the end of the dock preparing to install the outboard – which he had finally agreed to consign to the care of a professional engine mechanic – on the runabout.

‘Quick,’ I said. ‘What was I wearing the day that reporter came calling?’

Paul considered my question while I admired the greasy black smear on his cheek. ‘You’re asking me ?’

‘The reporter, Madison Powers, gave me her card. I tucked it into the pocket of whatever I was wearing, but I can’t remember what that was.’

Paul looked blank.

‘The day the water pump was delivered?’

An eyebrow lifted. ‘Ah! I think it might have been your black jeans. I remember admiring the way they stretched over your…’

I silenced him with a death ray. ‘The dirty clothes bag!’ I shouted in triumph, and hurried off to find and rummage through it.

Madison’s business card finally in hand, I made the call. It went to her voicemail, of course – doesn’t anyone answer their telephones these days? – but when she returned my call fifteen minutes later, she seemed pleased to hear from me. After some small talk – during which I learned it was her birthday – I gave her the scoop about Tad Chew, explained the situation and told her what I wanted.

When the article came out in the Maryland section of the Washington Post several days later, I was having a cappuccino with Kimberly at the High Spot.

A suspect has been arrested and charged with hit and run in the accident which nearly claimed the life of a Tilghman County building contractor, Dwight ‘Rusty’ Heberling. Heberling was on a job-related errand when his motorcycle was struck by a late-model Mustang allegedly being driven by Thaddeus Chew of Elizabethtown, who fled the scene. Chew is the grandson of poultry magnate, Clifton J Ames II and a nephew of Tilghman County Council president, Jack Ames, who is running for Congress in Maryland’s Ninth district this fall. A source close to the Ames family said, ‘Whatever the outcome, Tad has our full support.’

Heberling remains hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery.

In a related story, it was Heberling and his father, contractor Dwight Heberling, who discovered the mummified body of an infant girl hidden in the chimney of a Tilghman County house they were renovating.

Responding to reports that state police were planning to exhume the body of a former resident of the house to determine if she was the mother of the dead child, a police spokesman said, ‘We continue to explore our options, but no decision has yet been made.’

‘I could kiss the woman,’ I told Kim. ‘This is a masterpiece.’

‘It’s true?’

‘Every word. Tad is cooling his heels in the local hoosegow, isn’t he, and as for the other…’ I flapped a hand. ‘The “police spokesman” could be anybody.’ I winked. ‘Or nobody.’

‘Tad was actually arrested?’

‘Yesterday, I understand. Everything she says in this article is true, including the unidentified police spokesman. Love it!’

‘What do you hope to accomplish?’ she asked, handing the newspaper back to me.

‘Honestly? I don’t know. But if Clifton Ames did murder his first wife, Nancy, and he thinks there’s a possibility that Nancy’s body will be exhumed…’

Kim nodded. ‘I see, but you have to admit it’s a long shot. The man didn’t get to be the Chicken King of the Western World by being stupid.’

‘True, but smart men aren’t always smart when it comes to using and maintaining their power. Consider Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, or that South Carolina governor who spent so much time “hiking the Appalachian trail.”’ I made quote marks in the air with my fingers.

‘What I don’t understand,’ I said, changing the subject, ‘is how the two of them could have married so young without their parents’ consent.’