Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) by Jennie Marts Read Free Book Online

Piper chimed in.
    “Gross,” Sunny said. “Why would you say that?”
    “Edna said she hadn’t seen him around in awhile. Maybe this Jake guy killed him and chopped him up and is taking his body parts out a few at a time to dispose of them.”
    “Girl, you watch too much TV,” Maggie said, shaking her head.
    “Hey, it could happen. Maybe Walter was secretly rich, and Jake murdered him for his money or to get his house. He is living over there now. Maybe he just made up that story about being related to him.” Piper’s words all came out in a rush.
    Sunny thought about the strange look that crossed Jake’s face as he talked about his family relationship with Walter.
    “I think we need to get rid of cable,” Cassie said. “What kind of late night television are you watching to give you these ideas?”
    “I watch that stuff too,” Edna said, coming to Piper’s defense. “On all those true-crime shows, it’s always the nice neighbor guy who everyone thought was so great until they began digging up skeletons in his backyard.”
    They all jumped as a fist banged on Edna’s back door. Letting out their collective breath, they laughed uneasily over getting caught up in Edna and Piper’s ideas.
    Speaking of the handsome devil himself, Jake stood outside Edna’s door, accompanied by a light-haired man wearing khakis and a wrinkled suit coat.
    “Sorry to bother you ladies, but we need to ask you a few questions,” Jake said.
    “Have a seat,” Edna offered, always the gracious hostess. “Want some cake?”
    “No, thank you,” Jake answered s omberly. “This is Tom Mansfield – he’s a detective looking into Walter’s disappearance. You may have seen him out here the last few days.”
    Tom no dded to the women. “Afternoon, l adies. Sorry to interrupt your visit. Jake tells me you all are pretty close with Walter. We still don’t know what or if anything has happened to him. We did find some things in the fire, and since Walter has no family around here and you all seem to know him pretty well, we hoped you could take a look at them.”
    The detective pulled three plastic baggies from his pocket and placed them gingerly on the table.
    Edna gasped and reached for the center bag that contained a charred belt buckle with a soaring eagle etched into it. “This is Walter’s belt buckle. His wife, Betty, gave it to him for one of their anniversaries. He loved the Bible verse about soaring like an eagle, and she found this for him in a shop downtown. He wore it every day and showed it to everyone. He loved to joke about trying to soar like an eagle while surrounded by turkeys. I’m sure this was his.”
    “And I definitely recognize this as Walter’s,” Sunny said softly, as she lifted a bag that held a pearl handled pocket knife. “He got it on a vacation to the Grand Canyon with Betty when they were first married. He used it to cut string or slice through the tape on a box or when he helped with little things at my house. One of the blades is a screwdriver head.”
    Tears sprung to Edna’s eyes as she fingered the bag closest to her. It held what used to be a gold wedding band, now grayed and covered in ash. “What does this mean?”
    “We’re not sure yet, ma’am,” Tom replied. “We found some other odd things in the debris, but we haven’t identified them yet. We still have a lot of unanswered questions. The explosion caused the fire to burn hot and fast so we haven’t ruled out anything at this point,” he said.
    They all sat in stunned silence.
    “We’re still investigating the cause of the explosion, and the whereabouts of Mr. Mead. Nothing is conclusive yet, but we appreciate your time and help in identifying these items.”  Tom collected the baggies and placed them back into his pocket.
    “Have any of you noticed anything suspicious in the neighborhood or with Mr. Mead’s behavior of late?” the detective asked.
    They all looked at each other, then Piper cried, “He’s