A Body in the Backyard: #4

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen 

"Charles persuaded Hugh he should do some funny business with the billing," said Buddy, studying Myrtle carefully as if assessing how much she really knew about the whole business. 

Myrtle nodded. "That's right," she said. She hesitated, trying to think how this might have been done. "So Dr. Bass started billing insurance companies for work he hadn't actually done on the patients?" It was a wild guess. 

But it was an accurate one. Buddy nodded again. "Yep. Billing for fillings and crowns when he'd only done a cleaning. That kind of thing. Of course it caught up to him eventually." 

Miles shot her a look. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to soon forgive her for forcing him to get his teeth looked at by a criminal. 

"Jail time," she hazarded.  

"Exactly. He owned up to everything and had a clean record up to that time, so he got off with the bare minimum," said Buddy.  

"But his dental license would have been revoked in West Virginia, of course," murmured Myrtle in sudden, horrified realization.  

Buddy gave her a quick sideways glance and shrugged. He appeared to be searching for something to say, probably on a completely different and distracting topic. 

Miles continued glaring at Myrtle, momentarily forgetting his hiccups. 

Myrtle said, still following the previous train of thought, "So when Charles came back into town, was he here to make trouble? Could he have been trying to blackmail Dr. Bass? Have you any idea what he was doing in town, Buddy?" 

"I'm not a hundred percent positive," drawled Buddy, "but my general impression of Charles is that, if he was heading your way to talk to you, you probably ought to quickly cross to the other side of the street. I haven't known him not to try and stir up trouble. I know he never visited Hugh while he was serving time and split out of West Virginia just as fast as he could. He didn't own up to the fact that he'd been the one to hatch the fraud to begin with. He was just an all-around bad egg."

Miles was very quiet as he drove away from the barbershop. He'd insisted on driving his own car, even if it meant blowing his cover. Myrtle's teacher radar had gone off as he followed her to his car-she was sure he was making faces at her back. 

Miles courteously, or out of habit, pulled up into her driveway instead of making her walk from his. Reviewing the case would be better than this silence. She did want to get Miles's opinion on some of the things that had happened. But it seemed as if he were waiting for her to get out of the car. 

Myrtle cleared her throat. "I thought that was a very interesting field trip, Miles. Buddy sure made a case for Hugh Bass having a motive, whether he thought he was doing that or not." 

Miles didn't respond, so she hurried on. "I still like Silas Dawson for the murderer, too. After all, crimes of passion happen all the time and he sure is wild about Annette. Then we have Peggy Neighbors, who is another crime of passion example. She must have been devastated when her advances to Charles were rejected; it must have reminded her of when she was back in high school and he left town without ever looking back." 

Miles made a grumbly sound that Myrtle could distinguish as agreement or disagreement.  

She kept talking. "Peggy's father, according to Silas, was very upset with Charles for hurting his daughter again. Lee could have killed Charles and then someone else took revenge on Lee for the murder. Maybe even Peggy!" 

This time there was a definite eye-roll from Miles. And now, Myrtle was ready to get any kind of a reaction from him. "So that's our suspect roundup right now. Dr. Bass, Silas Dawson, Peggy Neighbors, and Lee Woosley. Or...and you, of course."