Free One Dog Too Many (A Mae December Mystery) by Lia Farrell Page B

the names of everyone on her cellphone list, her entire calendar, and her Notes to Self section. I was also able to see all the Internet sites she searched the week before her death. Plus, I figured out how to see her texts. There may be more clues on that phone, and I’ll keep looking while I’m here.”
    “Thank you, but I think my staff is up to it from this point on. Johns, please take the phone and get the fingerprint information. Then I want it returned to Dory so she can make copies of all this information for Chief Nichols. Got it?”
    Dory nodded.
    “Certainly, Sheriff.” Mae smiled. “I have some more information which might help , too. Before she died, Ruby talked to a realtor about selling her property to a big developer. Apparently, she also planned to change her will.”
    Ben turned to Dory who had entered the room with Mae. “What did you find out about the will?”
    The sheriff seemed to be overlooking Mae for the moment. She sat very still, trying not to call attention to herself.
    “She planned to leave everything to her brother, Silas, unless she had children. The land and the house came to her in trust from her father. If she died childless, the whole property went to Silas. The only thing she left to her husband was the dog.”
    This news earned a few laughs, quickly stifled.
    Dory went on. “The property was free and clear. No mortgage. I also found out that her doctor is a fertility specialist.”
    “Lord have mercy,” Hadley Johns muttered. “She was trying to get pregnant? How old was the woman anyway?”
    “Thirty-seven,” Mae said. “She’d never been pregnant. Not for lack of trying.” The corners of her mouth raised.
    “Thank you again, Miss December,” said Ben, firmly . “I need you to leave the meeting now. Dory, can you go with her and track down the other items we talked about?”
    They did but Dory left the door slightly ajar , probably by accident. Mae said she needed to go to the ladies’ room, but as soon as Dory walked around the corner to follow the sheriff’s instructions, Mae slipped back down the hall to the conference room. She stood outside the door and listened.
    “All right , everyone,” Ben said, “let’s get down to business here. The purpose of this morning’s meeting is to get everyone’s input and settle on a list of tasks. As all of you know, murders are usually solved within the first forty-eight hours, if at all. Since Ruby had been dead for four days when Miss December found her body, we are already starting with a handicap.
    “Just as a reminder, everything discussed in this meeting, as well as the detailed reports, are confidential. The press is pushing very hard for answers, but only Detective Nichols and I will be meeting with them. Nobody else is to say anything. Understood?”
    Section by section, Ben received reports. Mae waited fascinated and completely silent. She did feel a little guilty for ignoring the sheriff’s directive to leave. She knew whatever she heard by eavesdropping would have to kept completely confidential. She wouldn’t even be able to tell Tammy. Listening in on the meeting was rash if not illegal, but the open door proved too much of a temptation to resist. She learned that Ruby had sued Lucy Ingram a few months before her death. Even Mama didn’t know that! Ruby apparently died sometime after eight p.m. on the night of March fifteenth. The cord that Mae had seen with her body was a piece of vehicle counting equipment.
    “What was the actual cause of death?” Emma Peters asked.
    “Ruby died from blunt force trauma caused by a blow to the back of her head. The murder weapon is still missing,” Ben said his voice was low and angry.
    “Why would the perp leave her body outside in a grove of trees, instead of hiding her more carefully or burying her?” someone asked.
    “Good question.” The voice sounded like Detective Nichols. “We think the perp chased Ruby and then clubbed her near the grove. He probably