Page 19 of Beneath Still Waters

“You didn’t know him well? We’ve talked to others who say they heard everything they know about him from you. Where would they get the impression that you know him well?” Duke pulled out his phone and opened the notes app.

She stilled her movements as the towel dripped back onto the table. “Uhhh, I’m not sure. Who did you talk to?” She slowly patted the table while focusing on them.

“A few people. All of them said you were the one who told them he was a drunk all the time. If you never saw him, how did you know that?” He set his phone on his leg and focused on her.

Her hand stilled then she sat back against the sofa, straight in her seat. “I never said he was drunk. I don’t know who would tell you I said that. They lied.” Kelly looked away her cheeks turning a little pink.

Ferd leaned closer. “Did you ever see anything in his apartment that would lead you to believe he struggled with alcohol abuse?” She focused on keeping her face relaxed. No judgement. Calling Kelly a liar now would make her clam up. They needed whatever she could tell them.

“Well . . .” She squirmed. “He had a lot of beer cans that I cleaned up every week. I never saw him drink them and as far as I know, he didn’t have friends. So, who else could have left them?” She looked between the two of them but landed on Ferd. “You would believe the same, wouldn’t you?”

Ferd didn’t answer her question. “Is it possible he knew people or had friends over who you didn’t know about?”

She shifted in her seat and avoided eye contact. “I suppose. I was only there once a week and during the day, so he was at work.

He shrugged a shoulder. “Did you ever see anything in his apartment that made you question why it was there? Drugs? Electronics? Anything?”

Kelly frowned. “Bailey hated drugs. That was his one rule for me when he hired me. No drugs. Ever. Not in his apartment or parking lot. He told me if he found out I was doing anything, he’d fire me. I didn’t love the guy or anything, but he always left me a nice tip from the week before, so I wasn’t about to risk losing that money. I didn’t do anything wrong. Gossip isn’t a crime.”

Her statements matched what they’d found in the preliminary examination of Bailey’s apartment. While there had been enough cocaine in the hull of his boat to land federal charges, his apartment was completely clean. Not even a full can of beer, much less an empty one. No prescriptions. The hardest thing Bailey had in his medicine cabinet was Icy Hot.

Ferd lowered her voice and kept her tone neutral. “Is it safe to say that it’s possible he was misjudged for drinking?”

Kelly frowned. “Maybe . . . but those cans had to come from somewhere. He did go to the bar once a week, too. At first, I was mad about cleaning up all of them after what he’d said to me. Then, he left me tips, so I got over it.” She looked back and forth between them. “Am I in trouble, or are we done?”

Tips? He was able to have a cleaning ladyandtip her? “One last thing. What was he doing all day while you were here?” Ferd asked.

She looked between them quickly and popped her gum like a gunshot. “He worked for a logging company in CottonwoodBluff. The poplars grow pretty fast. They plant whole sections, then harvest them to sell. He told me about it before he applied for the job.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a paper mill around here, or is it mainly for logging?” Ferd asked Duke.

Duke shrugged, then stood and pulled his card from his pocket. “We’re done for now. If you think of anything more, please call me.”

Ferd held out her hand to shake. As soon as Kelly took it, Ferd held on a moment longer than necessary. “Hey, quick question. We heard a rumor he was seeing a woman from Cottonwood. Any idea who she is?”

Kelly’s mouth dropped open. “He was seeing someone?” She yanked her hand free and backed away a few steps. “No. I don’t know her. Excuse me.” She whipped around and dashed deeper into the apartment and slammed her bedroom door behind her.

SIXTEEN

Ferd pulled up a map on her phone. “Cottonwood Bluff is only thirty-ish minutes from here. Is that our next stop?” She fanned the front lapels of her jacket to cool herself.

“That’s probably the best place to start. Until that guy who called in wanting Bailey’s body makes a move and tries something, there’s nothing to go on.”

She settled into the car and turned on the AC. “We’ve talked to the mortician who has no motive, the bartender who has no motive, the cleaner who we thought might have a motive in the form of some vendetta but doesn’t, so no one so far is a genuine suspect. Then there’s the brand new nav system in his boat that’s as old as three of me and a hull full of nose candy, but the guy was never seen with any kind of drugs, and his home was cleaner than a lab. Can I say I’m confused?”

He gave a short laugh. “I think that about sums it all up. Hey, thanks for picking up for me in there. Kelly is the kind of person I struggle to talk to.”

“You?” Ferd laughed. “Everyone we’ve met until Kelly has been your best buddy. I just assumed you had all the charisma. What is it about her that gnaws at you?”

He reached over and turned up the AC until the fan was loud enough to sound like a jet engine. “She’s a little too much like all the people I grew up with. Plus, gossip hurts people. And it seems like, nine times out of ten, the gossip wasn't meant to actually hurt the person. It was only meant to make the one spreading it look informed wise or funny. But that's never the case.”

Ferd settled in. Letting him talk was a great window into Duke the person, not Duke the cop.

“Kelly spread information about Bailey that literally everyone in town believed. Even when she should’ve questioned what she saw, since he’d told her he hated drinking and drugs. She didn’t. She still told everyone he was a drunk.” He rested his elbow on the narrow ledge of the closed car window. “I hope her gossip had nothing to do with his death. That would be a very traumatic lesson for her to learn.”

Duke really cared about the people in town. Maybe he was just nice to everyone. “She’s young. I doubt her story had anything to do with it. In fact, in the three years I lived here and in the three weeks I’ve been home, I haven’t seen any hint of drugs in Piper’s Ridge. So, I have to assume Bailey either knowingly or unknowingly acted as a transport for drugs from one town to the next. Did he even actually work for a logging company, or was that a ruse so he appeared to have a job?”

Duke furrowed his brow. “Good questions. I don’t know. I liked him. He was nice to me and respectful all the time. It bugs me that he was doing this right under my nose and I didn’t see it.”