Free Liz Marvin - Betty Crawford 03 - Too Long at the Fair by Liz Marvin

growl, really, but it was cut short.  There was only a sickening thwack.  It didn’t hurt. She didn’t think it hurt but her thoughts were jumbled.  She spun, stumbled, fell.  The last thing she saw were the shoes of her killer beside her purse.  Then the purse disappeared from view but she no longer knew the words for shoes or purse or purse or anything.  There were only shapes that quickly faded to darkness. 
     
    Marlee May’s body was found a short time later by a teen-age couple who, once they saw her, ran screaming for some adults.
     
    ~
     
    “The state police will be here soon. And the county coroner. Hell this is a mess.”  Bill stood with his hands on his hips looking down at Marlee May’s body which lay just at it fell some twenty feet away.  Achmed and Clarise were working crowd control, keeping everyone back.  Wes finished putting up yellow “Police Do Not Cross” plastic tape.  A flash went off. Someone was taking pictures!  Betty thought about taking the camera away and beating the photographer about the head with it.  “If that was your brother or sister would you do that?” She yelled.  “Sorry” came the reply. 
     
    Bill smiled at her.  Betty rested her hand on his shoulder and he patted it.
     
    “Wes has the area cordoned off.  Do you want me to find Danby?”
 
    “I wish you could.”
     
    “But I can’t because it’s your duty to break the news to him.”
     
    “And because as her husband he is a potential suspect.”
     
    “He wouldn’t have taken her purse.”
     
    Bill studied the body and the area around it.  “She did have a purse didn’t she?”
     
    “An expensive one.  Designer bag.  Those have serial numbers.”
     
    Bill snorted “A serial number on a purse?  Can you file them off?”
     
    “Laugh all you want but the purse loses all its value if that number is gone and it is easily traceable if it’s not.”
     
    Bill looked thoughtful.  “Any idea who the maker was?” 
     
    It was Betty’s turn to think.  “Ask Mr. Johnson and if that doesn’t work check with Thelma and the rest of the gossiping grannies.  They’ll be able to identify the make, model and year.  Probably want to tell you about every purse she owned and what fashion mistakes they were and which ones went with which outfit and which ones clashed -
     
    Bill held up his hand.  “I get the picture. Any chance you’d talk to them?”
     
    “Oh no.  That’s way too sensitive for me.  Besides it might be one of them.”
     
    Bill wasn’t laughing.  “Please.   They’ll pump me for more information than they’ll give me and it’ll take half the night.”
     
    Betty couldn’t resist him and she really didn’t want to.  The truth was she would do anything for him up to and including interrogating the gossiping grannies. 
     
    “I’ll meet you back at the cook tent.”
     
    Bill nodded.  Wes joined him, out of breath and avoiding looking at Marlee May.  “Achmed and Clarise have the crowd under control.  Want me to find Johnson?”
     
    “Yeah.  Take him to the cook tent.  Keep everyone away and don’t say anything to him until we get there.”’
     
    We.  Bill had said we.  Betty pondered it as she walked then it occurred to her.  He would wait for the county sheriff and state police to show up.  Each would assign a lead investigator and they’d fight about who would be in charge of the investigation and try to push Bill aside.  Suddenly dealing with the gossiping grannies didn’t seem like such a bad deal.
     
    But Betty didn’t have time to dwell on Bill’s problems for long.  Thelma was waiting just outside the tape.  “Waiting like a predator at the edge of a watering hole” Betty thought and immediately was ashamed.  For all her faults, Thelma was Marlee May’s friend.  Truth be told, Thelma did not have many friends and close family.  The news would be crushing.
     
    Clarise joined her before she reached the tape?  “What