Discombobulate

Chapter Sixteen

Unlike Greg Sullivan, Prescott's Funeral Home picked up on the first ring. Within a few sentences, Sheriff Winston ended up on the phone with the funeral director. 

"They were buried along with the bodies." 

Winston's mouth dropped open. He yanked the office phone away from his ear trying to comprehend the situation. He placed the phone back to his ear after a few seconds. "Excuse me, could you repeat that?"  

"The clothing that Susan and Jennifer Houghton were wearing, it's buried along with their bodies. One outfit is in Jennifer's coffin and the other outfit is with Susan." 

"On whose orders?" Winston pressed on trying to get more information. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I made sure they were placed in the coffins myself. One of Sheriff Sullivan's deputies dropped them off. He said there wasn't room for it at the sheriff's department. They needed to know where it'd be, so they gave it to me. It was all neatly wrapped in evidence bags."  

Winston was dumbfounded. Anyone with a brain would know clothing evidence would go along with other evidence. Everything would be put together until the case was over. 

Sullivan lied about the whereabouts of the clothing. For some reason, he left them somewhere Winston could find them. Perhaps he didn't plan on Winston questioning the funeral home director. None of it made sense. 

After a few more minutes, Winston ended the call. Erratic thoughts rattled around his brain. The questions he had would remain unanswered. 

He pushed his thoughts away and turned to his calendar. If he moved fast enough, if the judge worked in his favor, he could have Susan and Jennifer exhumed before Thanksgiving. He wouldn't have to worry about it and neither would Denise. 

It gave him a little less than a month. If things went well, the case could be wrapped up by the end of the year. 2007 would have a bittersweet end.

The office door slammed open. Winston jumped a foot in his seat. He spun around to see Detective Mullen in the door frame. Mullen apologized and shut the door behind him. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

"Can I help you?" Winston asked.

"Sullivan's deputies were fired!" Mullen blurted out. "It turns out they helped him cover things up." 

This wasn't a shock to Winston. He figured if Sullivan was being incompetent, the deputies were too. Deputies worked underneath the sheriff. 

"Speaking of Sullivan, I went to see him yesterday. He wasn't too happy to see me. Are you friends with him?" 

Mullen scoffed, "friends with that guy? We worked together and barely talked during work. Everything we talked about was work-related." 

"Good call. He told me to go back to the south and threatened to kill me." 

Detective Mullen stood with his mouth dropped open. His blue eyes widen in shock. "You didn't arrest him?" 

Sheriff Winston shrugged, "I figured I'd let him be arrested for lying under oath first. Besides, I can't prove he said it. His wife might have heard him say it, but I'm not sure." 

"I feel sorry for his wife. Before all this came out, he was a dick. There were times when we'd be working on a case and he'd make suggestive comments about some of the women. As a married man, I'm not sure how he could sleep at night." 

"He snapped at her while I was there. I couldn't do anything about it. I went there to ask a question about the case and it became messy." Winston picked up a bright blue stress ball. He started to squeeze it to release some of his displeasure.