One Dog Too Many (A Mae December Mystery) Read Online Free

she’s dead.”
    “I’ll get him, honey. Sit tight.”
    While she waited for Sheriff Bradley to come to the phone, Mae distracted herself from the image of Ruby’s pitiful body by thinking about the ageless Dory. Her mother’s friend was single now, but she had been married to Elmer Clarkson for many years.
    Mama always said that Elmer had enormous charm and charisma. He left Rosedale years ago, but he and Dory were still in touch. Elmer was a talented bass player. According to Mama, he continued to play small gigs all over the middle south.
    Mae glanced over at Patrick. He was standing very still, looking out the kitchen window. With his back to her, he could have been Noah’s double. Making a marriage work with a musician had proved impossible for Dory and Elmer. Would her marriage to Noah have worked out? As a songwriter and musician, he would have been on the road many months of the year.
    When Sheriff Bradley’s voice came on the phone, Mae quickly told him about Ruby’s body.
    “Go back to where you found her. I’m going to call the medical examiner and we’ll meet you there.” He sounded very calm, a lot calmer than she felt. Mae hung up and turned to Patrick.
    “He said to go back to where I found her.”
    “C’mon. I better drive.”
    They went out to Patrick’s car.
    “Go right, down past Ruby’s house.”
    He nodded wordlessly.
    Patrick pulled to the side of the road at the spot she indicated and shut the car off. They sat silently near the small grove of trees where Mae had found Ruby’s body.
    “Where is she?” he asked.
    Mae pointed to the spot where she had found Ruby earlier. She couldn’t walk back to the body, but Patrick did. She watched from the car as he went quickly to the grove of trees and looked down. He froze for a second then walked back to the car with a look of horror on his face.
    “Well, did you see her?”
    He got back in on the driver’s side and sat staring down at his hands, which were clenched tightly in his lap.
    “You didn’t tell me she had a cord around her neck. Mae, Ruby was murdered.”
    Within minutes, Sheriff Bradley arrived with several other officers. They immediately surrounded the grove of trees with yellow crime-scene tape. Mae and Patrick watched from the car as more vehicles arrived, including a van with a “Crime Scene Investigations” side panel. An elderly man in a coat and tie got out.
    Mae could tell, parked on the edge of the street, that she and Patrick were making Little Chapel Road even more of a hazard than usual. Patrick walked over to the sheriff, spoke with him for a few minutes and then returned. “The sheriff said we can go, but he wants you to be available when he’s ready to talk to you.”
    They went back to Mae’s house and sat down at the kitchen table.
    “So it’s possible she was murdered?” Mae’s hands involuntarily went to her throat.
    “There’s nothing possible about it,” said Patrick. “She had a cord around her neck. Somebody strangled her. I wonder why?”
    Mae went through the recycling bin and pulled out some of her mother’s columns, entitled “Suzanne about Town.”
    “I have to take off, Mae. Will you be okay?”
    “I think so. Thanks for coming when I needed you.” She dropped into a chair cluttered with old newspapers and a blanket. Maybe reading would distract her from the awful vision of Ruby lying in the damp grass, her wet nightgown twisted around her legs, splayed out like a rag doll. Mae got queasy again just thinking about it.
    The sheriff knocked on her door an hour later. After a brief greeting, he stared at her intently. “You look awful. Would you like a drink of water before we get started?”
    She laughed. “Where did you learn how to talk to women? You never start by telling them how bad they look, even when it’s true. Yes, thank you, I’d like some water before you interrogate me. I’ll get some from the fridge.”
    He shook his head. “I’m not going to interrogate you. I