"Yeah, well, he has every right to be wary. He's from Dubuque." He winked.
"I see. I've been told repeatedly they don't like Dubuque."
The chair creaked as he leaned back in it. "No, ma'am. They don't. Now, I'm not from Behold, but I did know Aunt June. Fascinating woman. You would've liked her."
I studied the man's hands to see if he was married. No ring. Was the sheriff one of the three suitors? He seemed too young, but I hated to rule anything out. Well, except for Jared. I was pretty sure that not only wasn't he a suitor, but that he was also most likely single.
Time to put on my game face. "Sadly, I didn't even know the woman existed until I inherited her house. I'd like to know how she died."
The sheriff steepled his hands and stared off into space, as if looking for those aliens everyone mentions but never expands on. In fact, it was starting to seem like a town slogan: Behold, Iowa—Home of the World's Largest Human Tooth and Possibly Aliens, and Oh Yeah, We Don't Like Outsiders, and Screw You, Dubuque.
"I am sorry for your loss. Maybe I can put your mind at ease. I got the coroner's report. He says it was a spider bite that got her. Found the bite marks. The brown recluse was the culprit. I don't know why she had that menagerie. Very dangerous."
I clutched my chest in fake shock. "She was poisoned by venom?"
Carnack had confirmed what Dr. Morgan had said. I mentally filed that away.
"Yes, ma'am." He reached into the desk and pulled out a baggie with a dead spider. "Got him right here. He was found squashed next to her."
"So she had two brown recluses," I mused. "The inventory the lawyer gave me said one."
The sheriff scowled. "Why would you think she had two?"
"Well, I haven't given the enclosure a lot of attention." I thought of my race through the house to find my missing troop. "But I know I spotted that same spider inside. At least, I think I did."
Sheriff sat forward on alert. "She only had one." He pulled a file from a desk drawer and riffled through it. "It says right here only one brown recluse."
I tried to placate him to give him a false sense that I was on his side. "They are native to the area, right? Could one have crawled in?"
"That's a possibility." The lawman's body seemed to relax, but he still frowned.
"Is that typical for a spider bite to kill someone?" I bit my lip. "That's kind of scary."
He didn't let down his guard. "It is if the victim is old, very young, or their immune systems are compromised. But I don't know for sure. Aunt June was in her seventies but very active."
Time to drop the bomb. "Did you know that she wrote me, saying that she expected to be murdered?"
The sheriff laughed. "She was such a kidder! Looks like she got you good!"
I responded immediately, "You just said that the folks in Behold were strange. Is it so hard to believe?"
He stopped laughing and narrowed his gaze. "Yes."
His mood had changed quickly. My spydy senses were tingling.
"Okay, then. Thanks for your time!" I got up and headed for the door.
"Mrs. Ferguson." His voice was pure steel. "My cousin might not mind you snooping around, but here we do things a little differently. Stay out of this."
I turned, hand on the doorknob. "Oh, he minds, alright. Thanks again, Sheriff."
Jarod watched me come out of the office. "Watch out for those people," he said before going back to scribbling on his notepad.
I climbed into the van and texted Kelly, letting her know I was on my way. As I drove out of the parking lot, my mind ran through the reel of my visit here. Sheriff Carnack was all laughs until I suggested Aunt June was murdered. Was he just a lazy law enforcement official who didn't want to deal with an investigation? Or was he hiding something?
Or was it like he said—a bad accident where she was bitten by her own spider? Too bad he hadn't shared the file with me. I'd hate to have to break in to get it. Wait, didn't he say there was a coroner? Or was that Dr. Morgan? Somebody did, which meant I had a second chance at the file. I just had to find out who he was and sweet talk him out of the results.
Like I wasn't able to with the sheriff. If only I hadn't rubbed him the wrong way—I could still be in his office, pumping him for information on Aunt June. But nooooo. I had to jump right to murder. And I was pretty sure I wouldn't be welcome in his office again.
I missed the other Sheriff Carnack. While he probably didn't like my involvement in all of the murder cases in Who's There, he didn't turn down the help either.
And what was with the suspicion of the townspeople of Behold? If he and Jared were suspicious of the people in his county, he was probably a lot more suspicious of outsiders. Like me.
Kelly and the girls were outside waiting for me. A vein in Kelly's neck was throbbing, and the girls were uncharacteristically quiet.
"What happened?" I asked, not really sure I wanted the answer.
"We weren't here five minutes before the girls took off to the burial mounds," Kelly said. "I went inside to charge my phone, and when I came out, they were gone. Fortunately, I found them at the bluffs, where Betty tried to climb down the cliff!"
"You did what?" I turned to the child in the back.
"Relax," she said. "We had harnesses. You've showed us how to use them dozens of times."
I pressed my fingertips to my temples and closed my eyes before speaking. "For the zip line. Not for rock climbing. I'm not even certified in that."
"It's the same thing." The girl sniffed.
"No, it's not. You guys have never been rock climbing." I
