Miss Dimple Suspects by Mignon F. Ballard

Author:Mignon F. Ballard [Ballard, Mignon F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Asian American, Cozy, Mystery & Detective, Fiction, Women Sleuths, Historical, War & Military, General
ISBN: 9781250009678
Google: Rc4WcvprJD8C
Amazon: 1250009677
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2013-01-22T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Willie Elrod, that’s not funny!” Annie leaned down to speak to him face-to-face, although as short as she was, she didn’t have far to lean.

But Charlie could see by the child’s expression he was genuinely frightened and tightened her grip on his hand. “Where is he, Willie? Show us.”

“Over there—in the creek.” Willie pointed but still hung back.

“He might be hurt,” Annie said, moving closer. “We have to make sure.”

“Be careful!” Charlie warned, following her. “Willie, you stay right there!”

The man lay facedown with his head and shoulders submerged in the muddy waters of a shallow creek, and Charlie knew as soon as she saw him, he was beyond help.

Annie knelt beside him and pulled at the wet, rough cloth of his jacket. “Oh! I can’t…” Turning her face away, she tugged once more and with Charlie’s help, managed to drag the inert body from the water. The man’s dark hair was plastered to his head with mud and water and Charlie hesitated before touching his face, but what if there was a chance he might still be breathing?

He wasn’t. The dead man’s face was cold and blue, and mud and debris from the creek had become lodged in his nose and mouth. His eyes were open and covered in a bluish film, but even with the distortions of death, Charlie recognized Mae Martha’s handyman, Bill Pitts.

“Oh, please, Miss Annie, let’s go!” Willie called. “I done got the heebie-jeebies! They’s haints around here—I just know it! Everybody knows ole’ Raw Head and Bloody Bones hangs around water, and he’s probably got his eye on us next. Come on, Miss Charlie! It’s almost dark.”

“Don’t pull that on me, Willie Elrod! You know that’s not true.” Charlie was familiar with the story of the frightening specter who carried off children who misbehaved, and while she knew it was only a folktale meant as a warning, she didn’t like the way darkness was closing around them, either. Bill’s face had abrasions from the bottom of the creek bed, where the water was only a foot or so deep. What or who had kept him from standing?

Annie was probably thinking the same thing. Without speaking, she called Charlie’s attention to a half-empty bottle of whiskey that had been tossed to the side under a nearby tree. Had Bill had too much to drink and then passed out while washing his face in the creek? Surely he hadn’t tried to drink water from the same source the Curtises’ cattle waded in, drank from, and sometimes even defecated in upstream. And even if he had lost consciousness momentarily, the cold water and frantic need for air would have brought him around. Had something or someone held him down?

Charlie felt a tug at her back. “Miss Charlie? I don’t like this!”

“I don’t either, Willie.” Putting an arm around him, she led him away. “We’re leaving right now, but we had first to find out if there was anything we could do to help. I think the poor man must have had a heart attack and fallen into the water.

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