Fraidy Hole: A Sheriff Lester P. Morrison Novel Read Online Free

wore a simple cotton dress, pink with faded blue flowers , and long —the hem almost touching her shoes. Her thin black hair was streaked with more gray than her age belied. Eyes wet with tears, her haggard face sagged with fear and concern . Mr. Parker was nowhere in sight.
    “Good morning , Ma’am . I’m Sheriff Lester P. Morrison and this fella is Deputy Ledbetter. Have you heard anything from your daughter?”
    “Not a word and I am so scared. Something’s happened to her, something bad ; I just know it. I’ve never had a dread like this before. Can you find her for me, Sheriff?”
    “We’ll try , Ma’am. Now, have you looked over your entire property, the sheds, in the attic, your car, places where she might have crawled in and gone to sleep?”
    Imogene took a quick look around as if she might have missed something. “Oh yes, at least twice. I’ve looked everywhere. There’s no sign of her. It’s like an evil spirit took her from the face of the earth.”
    Lester added, “And her friends, you’ve contacted them?”
    “The only really good friend she has is Becky ; she lives just down the road.” The woman pointed south with a long bony finger. “I called over there, first thing this morning, but Becky’s mom said they hadn’t seen Melissa, not recently anyway. The family was in Boise City till late last night, gettin’ groceries and visiting an uncle. Becky said the last time she saw Melissa was yesterday afternoon on the school bus, coming home.”
    Lester said, “Does your daughter have a car?”
    “Oh no, we can’t afford two cars. We can barely keep the one we have running. Repairs and gas cost so much these days.”
    Billy Ray asked, “Could someone have met your daughter out front or up on the highway, a boy friend maybe?”
    The woman thought about that for a moment, her gaze swinging to the blacktop as if her Melissa might come walking down the road at any minute. “That’s possible I suppose. But if Melissa has a regular boy friend, she never told me about him. Thing is, we have only the one phone in the living room . I didn’t hear her call anyone and nobody called the house. Melissa doesn’t have a cell phone. Those things cost a fortune.”
    Lester asked, “What was the girl wearing , Ma’am, the last time you saw her?”
    “Just a simple t-shirt, white I think. I don’t recall if there was any picture or anything on the front. Maybe she took her sweater. I’m not sure. She was wearing a skirt, blue denim, and well, it was kinda short. That’s what started the squabble.”
    “Where does Melissa go to school , Mrs. Parker, Keyes or Boise City?”
    “Boise City, she’s a cheerleader on their football team, the Bobcats,” she said with a suggestion of a smile, a mother’s pride.
    Billy Ray spoke up. “Who was the last one to see Melissa, you or Mr. Parker?
    Imogene hesitated. Her eyes darted toward the house as her brow furrowed tight with an additional wrinkle. She swiped at a wisp of wind-blown hair and patted it into place. Then, “ It was my husband…Albert. I’ll tell him you want to see h im .”
    When the woman was out of earshot, Billy Ray said, “What do you think?”
    Lester didn’t answer immediately, intent on watching the front door, but then, “I think I find it a little strange that the father didn’t come out here to talk to us when his wife did. Off hand, I can’t figure why a man would have anything more important to do than to find out what’s happened to his daughter…unless he already knows.”
    “Maybe he was in the john.” Billy Ray said. “Oh, here he comes now.”
    Albert Parker stood five foot six, stocky with a tanned and wrinkled face ravaged by years of exposure to the sun, dust, and wind. He wore faded blue overalls, frayed around the edges, the legs coming an inch short of touching the top of his mud-encrusted boots. A dark green ball cap , stained with old sweat and sporting a John Deere logo, was jammed down tight to his