Leg Up Read online

“No can do. Need to ask you some questions. Investigate and all that. Detective Hernandez is on his way.” He watched as I slumped, resigned that I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Can’t you do the interview?” I pleaded. “I mean, it isn’t like I know anything. Do we really have to wait for Hernandez?”

  “And step on the toes of my favorite detective after I worked so hard to get him? Nope.” He patted my shoulder. “Should have left for work after the call, honey. Would have been able to get some work done before we had time to go find you.”

  “Isn’t it illegal to leave a crime scene?”

  “Everywhere else, yes. Here? Well, I know you aren't stupid enough to kill someone and then report finding their leg.”

  I turned and walked away.

  “Lark? Where you off to? I’m afraid that now that I’m here I need you to stay.”

  “I’m going to go clean.”

  “Clean what?”

  “What do you think? My garage. So karma doesn’t give me another leg up.”

  Chapter 2

  It ended up taking several hours for the coroner to get here, and Benny stayed with me the whole time.

  Being a resort town, winding down for our off season in September, there wasn’t much to do in the police department since most of our issues stemmed from tourists. It always amazed me how people would go on vacation and lose all sense of decorum. We had more than our fair share of drunk and disorderlies, vandalism, and even assaults. From the crime logs during the summer months, I would have guessed that we were in a resort town somewhere exotic. Not on the coast of Northern California with little more than a few quaint stores, a few nice bars, and the beach to recommend it.

  We managed to get quite a bit of the garage cleaned out, at least enough to get my truck in. It was amazing how loathe I was to get rid of old bits and pieces of tack, but when faced with a severed limb, I snuffed out my hoarder instincts and ended up throwing away a trash bin of old broken pieces. My truck bed was now filled with items I should have brought to the barn ages ago, and I had moved a few boxes inside to unpack later. By noon I pulled my truck into the garage with a happy cheer, and Benny and I were eating lunch from leftovers I had found in my kitchen. I had long since given up on going to the barn and texted Missy to turn out everyone who wasn’t ridden so I had a chance of decent rides tomorrow.

  “So how is the barn going?”

  “Can’t complain. Knew it would be hard to start a business in a town as small as this.” I threw a chip in my mouth to make sure I didn’t complain. Benny had warned me it would be a hard move, but I had waved off his concerns. Nothing like having to admit he was right when I had been the person telling him it would be ok.

  “Any more of your fancy clients follow you?”

  I frowned at the reminder. When I had decided to move out here, I had six absentee clients that paid exorbitant fees to have me train their over-bred, overpriced, ego-dream horses. Most had promised that they would come with me and I had happily moved here thinking I would still be a big-name trainer. Only two did. As it turned out, ego bragging worked a lot like real estate. Location, location, location. And Barrow Bay was not a location to brag about. But, one of them was unhappy with their new trainer and had been playing around with the idea of bringing the horse to my barn. The new trainer couldn’t get it to show the way I had before. They were still flirting with the idea, and I wasn’t pressuring them too hard about it. I was trying not to seem desperate.

  “Maybe. I have another who is thinking about following after all.” I admitted, hoping we might move to another topic.

  “What is it you do again?” He rubbed his forehead as he asked, so I couldn’t tell if he was serious or teasing me. Either way, my answer was the same.

  “I prance around on pretty ponies to music.” We had repeated this conversation so often I no longer tried to be technical or professional. No one here understood what dressage was or why anyone would want to pay extra for it. As far as the town was concerned, I danced on pretty ponies. I rolled with it now.

  “Ahh, yes. Like in the Olympics.”

  “Like in the Olympics,” I agreed.

  “You going to go to the Olympics? You were a big shot trainer down in the Bay area, right?”

  “Always hopeful.” I ignored the last comment. I didn’t want to think about how well I had done when my name was tied to my ex-husband’s. My only consolation was that he was struggling without me, too. As it turned out, separately, neither of us were the trainer we thought we were.

  “Well, that would be something. How’s your Gran doing?”

  “Good. She won last night at Bingo and decided to buy a scooter.”

  “Please tell me she’s buying one of those scooters you push with your leg.”

  “Nope. She showed me the pictures. It’s the ‘classic’ scooter model, white body with a gray seat. Gets 127 miles per gallon.”

  “127? No kidding?” He scratched his chin thoughtfully.

  “Yep. How long before your wife will want one?” His wife and my grandmother were in the same sewing group, although I had yet to see any sewing being done. Drinking and gossiping, however? They were masters at that.

  “Probably by Christmas. With my luck, by then, all of them will be riding around on scooters, getting tickets left and right. I keep reminding Alice we’re pillars of the community, but she doesn’t seem to care.”

  His wife, Alice, was my hero. When she started to gray, she dyed her hair different colors until she settled for an amazing light purple that looked fetching with her blue eyes and light skin. She also had insisted on buying one of the new Volkswagen Bugs when they came out in the same color purple as her hair. I wanted to be like her when I grew up.

  “I haven't seen her at the coffee shop recently. How's Alice doing these days?”

  The coffee shop, Topped Off Coffee Pot, or Tops as the locals called it, and the Dough & Nut shop were the places to see and be seen in Barrow Bay. Tops sold fabulous coffee, and decent pastries and sandwiches. The Dough & Nut shop sold the best doughnuts I had ever tasted, and gourmet roasted nuts, which I didn’t think was a thing, but I was wrong. After a month, I was addicted to their honey-roasted almonds just like the rest of the town. It was absolutely a thing.

  “She’s good. Bitter about the Bingo loss, but I keep telling her it’s just like gambling, and if she’s going to get mad every time she loses she shouldn’t play.”

  “Does she ever listen?”

  “She pats my cheek and tells me she loves me, then goes to Bingo the next chance she gets.”

  I laughed because I’d had similar conversations with Gran. Both hated to lose but loved to gamble. I didn’t understand. He shared my laughter before sobering up and giving me a long look.

  “Thinking about retiring next year,” he said, sitting back in his chair as he watched my reaction.

  “No! Who would be Chief?” It shocked me. Benny had been the Chief since he came home from ‘the war.’ I had to look it up because history wasn’t my thing, but I had narrowed it down to likely Vietnam. The look in his eyes when he talked about it stopped me from ever asking to confirm.

  “I don’t know. Hernandez laughed his way out of my office when I suggested it. He told me that this was his retirement, and he doesn’t need the headache.”

  That sounded like him. Detective John Hernandez was in his mid-forties, with the dark black hair that he always kept neat and tidy, and dark skin that made him stand out in a town with mostly European descendants. He and his wife, Judy, had moved here a few years ago from L.A., where he had been a homicide cop. Burned out and needing a change of pace, they came up here on a vacation to the resort, and somehow Benny had convinced them to stay. The way I heard it, Judy had joined the Sewing Circle and packed up their things in Los Angeles before John even had time to turn in his resignation. Benny acted slow, but he had a sneaky, manipulative side to him. I would know. He ‘helped’ me see all the reasons to stay, too.

  “You w
ill find someone. You have a talent for it.” I smiled as I said it, and he winked. Just then, we heard a honk outside. Please let that be the coroner.

  “Benny? You in there?” We peeked our heads out the door and saw the county coroner, Robert Johnson, calling out to us before he even got his head out of the back of his van. “I heard something about you having a leg?”

  “Yep. Right here on the porch,” Benny said, coming out the front door, careful to move around the leg. I stayed inside. The smell was getting worse.

  “Now why would anyone deliver a leg on the porch? I would think they would at least wait for a signature,” Robert joked.

  Funny, guys. Funny.

  “Okay, the coroner is here. Can I go now?” I asked Benny, fingers crossed.

  “We’re still waiting on John. He was out talking with the Sheriff's department in Santa Rosa about a drug issue, but he should be back soon.”

  Yeah, maybe in a few hours. Santa Rosa was over an hour and a half away from here.

  “A drug issue?”

  “We’ve been seeing more drugs going through the resort than normal. We’re thinking there might be a second supplier.”

  “We have a first supplier? Benny, there couldn’t be more than a thousand people in this town. How do we have a drug dealer?”

  “Is there a size requirement for drugs now?” Benny answered, shaking his head. “Because that would be nice. We’ve had a low-level dealer for a while, mostly here in town, but there might be someone new. We reached out to the sheriff's department recently to see if they could send some resources to help with it.”

  “Wow. I feel… less secure now.” I shuddered.

  “Interesting,” Robert interrupted. “The leg this morning didn’t affect your sense of security, but knowing we have two low-level drug dealers does?” He looked at me, waiting for an answer.

  I paused. “Yes?” He examined me like a bug under a microscope.

  “But the leg didn’t bother you?”

  “No? I mean, yes? I don’t know.” I looked at Benny since he had the most experience with Robert. “How do I get out of this conversation?

  “Leave her alone, Bob. She doesn’t know you’re kidding.”

  In fact, I was pretty sure he wasn’t. A smile erased his strange expression, but it still looked forced. Like he was mimicking a learned reaction. It was creepy.

  “Of course! Sorry, Larklyn. I was just kidding.”

  “Oh, okay.” My manners wanted me to say it was fine, but my mouth refused to form the sentence. Just then, John pulled up in his car and I rushed over to meet him.

  “John! How was your drive?” I asked as we met halfway in between the house and his car. I didn’t wait for him to respond. “So where do you want to interview me?” I continued.

  “Well, I guess we can do it here. I was kind of hoping we might do the interview in the kitchen, though. Maybe over some coffee?” He tipped his head down, giving me his best puppy-dog eyes.

  Sigh. I would not get to avoid the creepy coroner and I would lose more coffee. Today was not my day. Also, I needed to order more coffee.

  “Yeah, sure. Come on in. Watch the leg as you go through the door.” We walked back to the house, staying clear of the leg-sized lump under the sheet. “Did you want any creamer to go with it?” I asked as I went to the coffee maker to pour another cup of coffee.

  “Nope. Like it black. Got used to it that way and now I just can’t adjust back.”

  “Easier and cheaper. Do you want to go back to using creamer?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Not really. So, what happened this morning?”

  “Well, I got ready for work like usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until I walked out the front door and there it was.”

  “‘It’?” he deadpanned.

  “The leg. Are we going to be literal the whole conversation? Because I’m finding out I don’t do literal very well.” Nope, I was a sarcasm girl through and through.

  “Just teasing you.” He was at least polite enough to cover his smirk behind a hand.

  “Ahh, you heard the call?”

  “Sweetie, it would surprise me if that isn’t on the internet by dinner time. It was pure gold.”

  “Shouldn’t you be more worried about who the leg belonged to and what happened, than teasing me about my stupidity?” I snapped, unhappy with the thought I might be an internet star for a 911 fiasco.

  “No need to be mean about it.” He put his hands up as if to fend me off. “So, let's go over what time it was when you found the leg?”

  “7 a.m.”

  “Exactly?”

  “Yep. With Hailey gone, I was right on time this morning.”

  “What did you do after you opened the door?”

  “I stood there staring at it.”

  “What else? Did you scream? Jump? Call 911?”

  “Those are all good, solid reactions, and I wish I could say that I did, but I just stood there staring at it. Oh! Then I texted everyone to tell them I wasn’t coming in this morning.”

  “After you called 911, right?” He looked up at me for a confirmation. I looked down at the table.

  “Yeah... no. Before. I kind of forgot to call 911 for a little while. I was focused on covering my lessons and—”

  “You waited to call 911? How long?”

  “I don’t know. Five, six minutes?”

  “Lark!”

  “I thought I had called them! I assumed that I had until I looked at my phone and realized I hadn’t actually done it.” He shook his head at me, but let it go.

  “And after the call?”

  “I stayed in the doorway and watched the leg until Benny got here. He covered it with a sheet and then we cleaned my garage.”

  “Garage?” Another smirk.

  “Does it matter?” I snapped.

  “No, probably not since you had police presence with you.”

  “You mean criminals don’t invite you over to help them clean up their garages? I thought that was a service you boys over at the Barrow Bay Police Department offered to all the criminals.”

  “Not a bad idea, actually. You think we could get criminals to do it?” He looked kind of intrigued.

  “With the right advertising, who knows.” I smirked at him, and he chuckled again.

  “Did you notice anyone around this morning that seemed out of place or unusual?”

  “Nope.”

  “Anything that seemed off? Or weird?”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay, then. I think that’s everything for today. You’ll need to stay with someone else for tonight, or at least until we can get all the evidence collected. This will be a crime scene.”

  “Wait. Isn’t just my porch a crime scene? I can’t use the house at all?”

  “Just for tonight. I’m sure we’ll be clear tomorrow.”

  “Can I go get a change of clothes?”

  “Sure. I can go with you.” We both got up and walked back to the master bedroom. “How is Hailey doing at her dad’s?”

  “She called last night and said it’s going okay. She says she misses me but she is having fun with her dad. Seven-year-olds aren't the best conversationalists.”

  “Nope, I imagine not.”

  “Can I ask why you and your wife didn’t have any kids?” I couldn’t believe I asked that. Stupid. I must have lost my brain when I found the leg. “Oh, gosh! That was rude. I’m sorry. You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to.”

  “It’s fine. We couldn’t. Well, I couldn't. I’d seen so much pain and death, I couldn’t risk bringing another life into this world. We’ve thought about adoption, but it’s expensive and we aren’t sure they would take a couple as old as us.”

  “You should! You and Judy would make great parents.”

  He smiled at me and shook his head while turning his back to me as he looked around. The conversation was over. I worked to throw clothing and toiletries in the overnight bag I usually took to shows.

  “Okay, I
have everything. Let me text Jen and see if she can put me up for the night.” I pulled out my phone and texted.

  Me: Can I crash tonight?

  Jen: Is there wine in this conversation?

  Me: White or Red?

  Jen: Rosé. Also rum.

  Jen: Maybe two bottles of the wine.

  Me: Bad day at work?

  Jen: I am a CPA, right? Like with the numbers and shit?

  Me: Umm, I don’t know if I feel qualified to answer that question, on account of the fact I don’t actually know what a CPA does. Other than my taxes.

  Me: And on that note... Have I told you lately that I love you?

  Jen: Never mind. How’s the leg going?

  Me: Stupid Lindsey. Inconvenient. Next time you get the leg and I’ll go to work.

  Jen: Hmm, pass. See you tonight. With alcohol.

  Jen was the first friend I made after moving here, and she made town life manageable. She did something, hopefully with ‘numbers and shit’ for several companies from her house. All I really knew was that she hated it, but it paid too well for her to leave. Plus, the job market in Barrow Bay, home to two drug dealers, was almost nonexistent. I checked the time. It was almost three. Missy would have already turned all the horses out and ridden all that she could. I was done for the day. Getting a leg delivered should be enough to count for a sick day.

  If I left now I could miss the crowds. Grabbing my bag, my clutch, and my keys, I skirted the leg and all the people working around it as I left my house in search of comfort food and enough wine to make us both forget the day.

  ***

  The town of Barrow Bay was a collection of houses, all crammed behind the main street which ran along the beach. On the north side of the town, Main Street ran into the resort, a sprawling facility that was almost the same size as the town. The resort catered to the rich, almost rich, and people who wanted to pretend for a few days. It was surprisingly full all summer. I wish I knew who did their advertising, because it was fantastic.

  My house was on the first street back from Main, a cute three-bedroom cottage, complete with a picket fence and roses. Hailey and I fell in love when Gran drove us past it the first time, and the ‘For Sale’ sign seemed like fate. I learned later that it was more manipulation, and some well-planned timing, but by then it was too late. We had to have it and our new life was born. I walked almost everywhere unless I was going to the barn or Hailey’s school, both of which were on the border of the town where land was cheaper.