The Buried (Sarah Armstrong Mysteries Book 4) by Kathryn Casey

Author:Kathryn Casey [Casey, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, Fiction
Publisher: Kathryn Casey
Published: 2018-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

“I’m not letting you in!” Edith Mae screamed from behind the door. “I told you Sheriff, leave me alone! I don’t know where Beau is. I got no idea!”

“Mrs. Whittle, you don’t have a choice,” I shouted back. “As we explained. We have a search warrant signed by a judge. Your son is wanted on a murder charge. Did you know that this morning he lit another church on fire? This one filled with people?”

For a moment, silence. “Beau wouldn’t do that. I know he wouldn’t,” Edith Mae scoffed. “I don’t care what you’ve got. I’m not letting you in here.”

The sheriff frowned. “Edith Mae, with or without your permission, we’re coming in. If you don’t open this door of yours, you’ll be at Home Depot buying a replacement, because I’m ordering my men to get the battering ram and we’re going to…”

The door creaked open, and I saw one eye surrounded by wrinkles. “Are you going to let us in?” the sheriff asked.

“I guess I don’t have a choice,” the old woman answered. “But I’m not telling you anything. You understand?”

Moments later, the sheriff and I had Edith Mae with us on the front porch while the forensic team moved into the house. “Let me tell you about what happened at St. Peter’s Methodist this morning,” I offered. “The place was pretty full, when –”

“I saw it on TV,” Edith Mae cut me off. “I’m telling you Beau wouldn’t do that. Just like he wouldn’t kill Pastor Wilson.”

“You don’t think so, huh?” I asked. “But you’re not denying that your son likes to set fires?”

“Well,” she started. “That may be. Beau burned down a shed once and a dead tree. But he never hurt no one.”

I nodded. “You know, Edith, I kind of agree with you.”

Del looked surprised and gave me a quizzical look. “Jimi Jo said that Beau didn’t plan to kill anyone at Lord’s Acre, that they were there to burn the church not murder Pastor Wilson. He just happened to still be inside. She called it an accident.”

Edith Mae leaned toward me, closed one eye and looked at me through the other, suspicious. “Jimi Jo told you that? She said my boy burned down Lord’s Acre and killed the pastor?”

“Yes, she did,” Del said. “And, like the lieutenant said, she called Pastor Wilson’s death an accident.”

At that, Edith Mae walked over and sat in a metal rocker, one so old the paint had worn thin and rust crept up the back. “So she says Beau was the one who burned the church. You’re not lying to me about that?”

“No, we’re not lying to you,” I answered.

Edith Mae chewed on that for a few minutes, and we let her. We wanted it to penetrate all her objections. “What happened this morning?” she asked.

Del told her all of it, the church members listening to the sermon when they smelled smoke and saw the flames. Someone shouted, “Fire!”

“There were little children in that church. An old woman with a walker,” I said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.