6 Murder at the Art & Craft Fair Read online

  Murder at the

  Art & Craft Fair

  Steve

  Demaree

  Only one thing can convince Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock they need to attend the local art and craft fair. A woman. Actually two women. In the sixth book in the series, Murder at the Art & Craft Fair, the two homicide detectives realize that they would have been attending the event eventually, because before the weekend is over, one person is murdered. It is up to the two detectives to look at all the possible suspects, disgruntled customers and jealous vendors, to see who had both motive and opportunity to end the victim’s life, and then to make sure they have not overlooked anything or anyone.

  Copyright 2012

  Steve Demaree

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is dedicated to my wife, Nell, to all of you who have fallen in love with Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock over the years, and those of you who attend town festivals, and art and craft fairs across the state of Kentucky.

  And a special thanks to Kentucky authors Russell and Virginia Vassallo who found the mistakes I could not find on my own. Check out their books at bookstores, libraries, and art, craft, and book fairs across the state.

  Other Books by Steve Demaree Include

  Lt. Dekker-Sgt. Murdock Mystery Series

  The Hilltop Murder Mystery

  The Precipice Point Murder Mystery

  Murder In The Library

  The Parkway Arms Murder Mystery

  Murder at the High School Reunion

  Murder at the Art & Craft Fair

  Stand Alone Mysteries

  Photo Finish

  A Gated Community

  Murder in the Dark

  Aylesford Place Series

  Aylesford Place: The First Year

  Aylesford Place: The Second Year

  Aylesford Place: The Third Year

  Nonfiction

  Lexington & Me

  Reflecting Upon God’s Word

  Table of Contents

  Cast of Characters

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Cast of Characters

  Lt. Cy Dekker - The lead detective of the Hilldale Police Department

  Sgt. Lou Murdock - Lt. Dekker’s partner

  Lt. George Michaelson – Lt. Dekker’s good friend on the police department, who is constantly trying to get the best of him

  Frank Harris – Hilldale Police Department’s medical examiner

  Heather Ambrose – A young, attractive police officer

  Dan Davis – Another Hilldale police officer, and the love interest of Heather Ambrose.

  Jennifer Sharp – Cy Dekker’s love interest

  Thelma Lou Spencer – Lou Murdock’s love interest

  Heloise Humphert - Lt. Dekker’s irritating next-door neighbor

  Twinkle Toes - Heloise Humphert’s dog

  Bill O’Connell – Cy and Lou’s friend who sends Cy a note telling him that he, Bill, will be a vendor at the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair

  Tom Kincaid – A vendor at the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair who makes 3-D wooden puzzles

  Joan Arrington – The vendor on one side of Kincaid

  Delbert Cross – The vendor on the other side of Kincaid

  Lois Weddington – The vendor who told Kincaid about the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair many years ago

  Johnny Delmont – A vendor who hasn’t gotten along with Kincaid in years

  Earl Clements – A man who bought something from Kincaid

  Wayne Edmonds – Kincaid’s last customer of the day

  Vernon Pitts – A man who was upset because Kincaid reprimanded his son for rambunctious behavior

  Maureen Eidorn – The coordinator of the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair

  Cara Parsons – Maureen Eidorn’s assistant

  George & Myra Ingram – The couple who worked security each night after the Hilldale Art & Craft Fair was over

  Chapter One

  It’s been a long time since I was a boy, but I can still remember when I was one. I wasn’t your typical boy. Playing baseball, passing a football in the backyard, or shooting hoops in the driveway was too much exercise. Instead, I entertained myself by climbing up into our backyard hammock and resting under the shade of those two trees that held the ropes that secured our hammock. There I could sleep, daydream, or just lie there while a gentle breeze blew by, and I didn’t have to exert myself until it was time to climb out of the hammock and go in the house to eat.

  While I wasn’t a typical boy, I knew enough of them to know what most boys thought. I knew that most boys didn’t like girls, and vice versa. I could understand why we weren’t to like the ugly girls, but I thought the cute ones were all right. But time has a habit of passing, and eventually most of the boys came around to my way of seeing things, and somewhere along the line, boys noticed that girls were different, in a good way. Like one little boy said to his friend as a girl walked by, “I don’t like girls, but when I do, she’ll be one of the first ones I like.”

  Like I said, I liked girls when I was young. It was just that they didn’t like me. Well, part of that reason might have been that I was always afraid to let any girl know I liked her. I was sure that girls noticed me. Lou, too. We stood out. Back in those days before fast food became a staple in every family’s diet most of the boys were anemic. Well, at least they didn’t have the base Lou and I had. Lou and I had ballast, too. Mean people called it fat, but only because they were jealous. Still, girls didn’t throw themselves at the two of us. They were more interested in those boys who played baseball and football. We weren’t about to play either of those. What if I broke my arm? My eating arm? Besides, I never developed an interest in sports.

  But back to girls. Eventually I became a cop, and I developed a little self confidence after I heard that girls like guys in uniforms. I liked one enough that I was willing to take a chance. Actually, my Eunice wasn’t the first girl I dated. Just the first one I fell in love with. You know what I mean, provided you’ve ever fallen in love. It’s like you can’t do anything right, yet you’re still happy. The problem with Eunice is that we didn’t have enough time together. Cancer took her away from me after only a few years of marriage.

  For years I thought of no woman but my Eunice. Then I got a computer, and Jennifer Garner looked good to me. Actually, Jennifer Garner wasn’t the first woman who looked good
to me. We have an officer with the Hilldale Police Department named Heather Ambrose, whom I could take a liking to if I wasn’t old enough to be her dad. Instead, I did my best to hook her up with another officer, one closer to her age, Dan Davis, and that has turned out well for them. So, I had to be satisfied with a hug and an occasional kiss on the cheek from Heather, which means I returned to my computer to check out girls.

  The feelings I had for Jennifer Garner lasted only a couple of days, until someone told me about Jennifer Aniston. She was some babe. Still is. I could dream about her and still be faithful to my Eunice. Well, sort of. But like they say, things come in threes, and that seemed to be true of Jennifers, only the third one was in 3-D, in the form of a blind date, set up by Lou’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou. I felt Eunice telling me that it was okay for me to move on, to find someone and not be miserable, and on that one weekend when I was with my third Jennifer, Jennifer Sharp, I was far from miserable. We even kissed. More than once. I missed her so much that when she called me long distance after she returned home, that I went to see her. I found a motel close to her place, but I was only there to sleep, and to dream of Jennifer. But three days later, I was on my way home, smiling all the way.

  It was on my way home that day that I realized how much my life had stayed the same for years, and then how much it had changed just in the last year or two.

  For years, my life consisted of being the head of homicide for the Hilldale Police Department, Lt. Cy Dekker, assisted by the only other homicide detective, my friend from childhood, Sgt. Lou Murdock. Each time someone got murdered Lou and I went to work until we figured out who the murderer was, or murderers were, and arrested them. While Lou and I were the only members of homicide, Hilldale was not to be confused with New York, so we had our downtime, when everyone got along, at least well enough that they weren’t murdering their neighbors, or even their enemies. Those were the times when Lou and I were delegated to other forms of police duties, which were never as exciting as solving murders.

  Because no other police work gave us quite the feeling that solving murders did, there came a time, after thirty years on the force when Lou and I passed the big 5-0 (the age, not the TV show that takes place in Hawaii). That was when we made the first change in our lives in many years. We, along with the blessing of the hierarchy of the police department, agreed to retire, only to become unretired anytime someone in Hilldale was murdered.

  We soon realized that we had extra time on our hands, so we needed something to do that didn’t require sweating. Lou came up with the idea of going to Hilldale’s only mystery bookstore, Scene of the Crime, where we bought enough books to solve a few murders from the comfort of our homes. Before that, our only hobbies were watching classic comedies on TV (me) and working jigsaw and crossword puzzles and reading classic novels (Lou). We started out reading only whodunits, where people like Lou and me solved murders, but eventually ventured out into other types of mysteries, which included books about the FBI and CIA, and other letters of the alphabet. Early on we developed favorites written by the likes of Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Mary Higgins Clark, Carolyn Hart, and Martha Grimes, but in the last few months we’ve added authors Lee Child, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, and Nelson DeMille to our favorites list.

  When we worked full-time, we wrapped our detecting days around eating two or three fattening meals at the Blue Moon Diner and were spoiled by waitresses Rosie and Thelma. But a couple of things happened along the way. The Blue Moon closed, and Lou’s brain was taken over by aliens. At least that’s the only way I could see why Lou began an exercise program. Wii Fit. It sounded like Wo Fat’s female cousin. Instead it was some way of getting your muscles out of whack and Lou started melting away and began to resemble some of those boys we grew up with. No longer did Lou top the scales at his customary 292 pounds. I, on the other hand, had not been affected, and still maintained my finely chiseled body at 303 pounds.

  I had lost Lou, my compatriot when it came to fine dining. If it tasted good, Lou didn’t eat it anymore. I prayed for Lou, but I soon found out that God was upset with me, or He was on the aliens’ side, because Lou didn’t stop exercising, and he continued to stay away from good-tasting food. It got worse. Not only did the aliens take over Lou’s brain, but the brain of Dr. Littleton, the doctor who performs all the physicals for the Hilldale Police Department. Like that dreaded time of the year when we have to pay taxes, there came a time when I had to have another physical, and I couldn’t talk the doctor into passing me, again. He read me the riot act, and told me to lose some of my girth, or lose some detecting. It was then that those aliens took over my brain too, and not only did I start exercising and change what I was eating, but I liked the changes.

  It seemed like everything had changed in my life except my next-door neighbor, Heloise Humphert, and even she hasn’t been bugging me since that day she broke into my house and started harassing me and I had her arrested. Oh, she still looks at me when she sees me, but she stares daggers at me, instead of looking at me with stars in her eyes.

  Well, there is one other thing that hasn’t changed. Lightning, my canary yellow VW bug, is still my mode of transportation, making me the only owner of such a vehicle who isn’t young, female, and curvaceous. If I’d never met Jennifer, maybe I would have gone to the reunion of those who owned yellow bugs. Maybe one of them, probably someone named Jennifer, would have latched on to me because of my good taste in cars. But then I’m not complaining. The way I see it, a Jennifer in the hand is better than two Jennifers at a yellow bug convention. Particularly, when my Jennifer looks as good as she does.

  Chapter Two

  As time passed, I continued to make changes in my life. Just before I headed off to see my Jennifer, I anticipated that such a day might come, so I invested in Sirius XM radio for Lightning. Lightning seemed to perk up and feel better about herself. I considered getting her new floor mats too, but the ones she had still looked okay. I did see that she got washed and a good wax job, though. Nothing but the best for Lightning.

  Before I headed out to see Jennifer, I got on the computer and perused the channel listings for my new radio and found four of them that sounded really good to me, 40s’s on 4, 50’s on 5, 60’s on 6, and RadioClassics on Channel 82. I much prefer music the way it was back when you could understand the words in the songs, even if all of them didn’t make sense, when times were simpler and more minds were innocent. And many years ago I happened upon some cassette tapes of radio shows that were popular long before my parents met.

  When I backed out of my driveway that day, on the way to Jennifer’s, I hit the Favorites channel and zoomed in on RadioClassics. Even though I’d heard tapes of a few shows, I knew little about most of the shows of the 1940s and 1950s other than what an older person might have told me.

  I must admit that a trip to see the woman with whom I was infatuated was not the ideal time to christen RadioClassics, and I soon got Jennifer mixed up with Our Miss Brooks and Gracie Allen. I don’t know why. Jennifer didn’t sound like either one of them. At least I didn’t get her mixed up with Lum & Abner, the two funniest guys I happened across on the radio. An hour or so into my trip the programming changed, and comedy shows gave way to detective shows. Suspense, The Whistler, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar quickly became favorites of mine. And before I arrived at Jennifer’s I grew to love some of the old detectives, like Sam Spade, Phillip Marlow, and Nero Wolfe. I had gotten to know those guys through books, and suddenly I got to hear what they sounded like on radio. I listened to more shows on the return trip and soon learned that some people appeared on more than one show, and that seven or eight different men played Johnny Dollar during the running of the show, including the first man to play the insurance investigator, Dick Powell, whom I had seen in many old movies.

  +++

  It wasn’t until after I returned home and I was able to rid my mind of those sugarplum visions of Jennifer for a few minutes that I began to look at my life, and my futu
re. Did I want to make other changes? Or had I already made enough to last me a few years? My head began to spin and my thoughts turned to everything from completely retiring from the Hilldale Police Department after Lou and I had trained someone else to solve this burg’s murders, to traveling, to moving away from Hilldale, to getting married. Taking an occasional vacation was the only one that didn’t involve making some big decisions. Lou and I don’t live together now, but I certainly knew that he wouldn’t be moving in with us if Jennifer and I got married, and I couldn’t picture one of us solving murders if the other one retired, so I decided to call him, see what he thought of my mid-life crisis, or whatever it was that I was experiencing.

  “Murdock and Dekker Investigations. This is the brains of the outfit.”

  “Only if you tied up with some other Dekker while I was away.”

  “I can’t think of any Dekker I’d want to be tied up with. Now, a Spencer, that’s a different story.”

  “Thelma Lou hasn’t come to her senses yet?”

  “No, and neither has Jennifer, from what I hear. I don’t know what she sees in you.”

  “Less than someone used to be able to see in me, thanks to you and Doc.”

  “That reminds me of something, Cy. While you were gone I started Exergaming.”

  “Exer what?”

  “Exergaming. Google it! I’m checking out pole dancing, too.”