The Litter of the Law by Rita Mae Brown

“Remember when Hester declared that black gum trees were conspiring against humans? Well, everyone gets a free pass for a few crackbrained ideas. Hester’s seemed more imaginative than most.”
    “I can’t believe this!” exclaimed Harry. She, too, cried a bit.
    Rick was as surprised as they at the victim’s identity. “Dorothy, get the body out of here as soon as you can. We’re lucky it’s night.”
    “Sure. I’ve done what I can do without disturbing the rest of this Halloween scene.”
    “Here’s Ted. Excuse me.”
    Rev. Ted Foster had driven over as soon as the sheriff’s office called him. He lived about twenty minutes up Route 810. Along the way, he’d had the presence of mind to pick up Bunky Fouche, the church groundskeeper.
    Seeing Hester laid out in the witchy garb, Bunky had to be steadied.
    Rick escorted both men directly to the corpse.
    Bunky shook uncontrollably. “Oh, Sheriff, I can’t look at dead bodies.”
    “Bunky, tell me who this is.”
    “It’s Hester Martin, God rest her sweet soul. She was good to me.”
    “Reverend Foster.” Rick turned to the minister, who also appeared shaken by the grisly sight and rank odor. “When did you put up this Halloween crèche, for lack of a better word?”
    “Three days ago,” answered Reverend Foster, his voice low. “The witch was a manikin and she had straw hair.”
    “And did you look at the display each day?”
    “No, sir, I didn’t. From a distance, it all looked fine to me.”
    “It was fine.” Bunky’s voice quavered.
    “So, neither of you has any idea when Hester Martin’s body was placed here?” Frustration edged into the sheriff’s tone.
    “No,” both answered.
    Rick put his hand under Bunky’s elbow to steady him, walking him away from the eerie but all-too-real vision.
    Cooper watched the men’s departure, then said to Dorothy, “It’s a lot of work to carry a body, dress it up, place it on the broom.”
    Harry had inched closer from the parking lot, and piped up. “Maybe Hester’s body was already dressed up when it was brought here. The killer first observed the manikin’s witch outfit and dressed her just the same. I mean, it makes sense the killer would make it easy on himself.”
    Cooper stared at Harry, thought a moment, then replied, “A possibility.”
    Susan said, “If Hester’s body had been here for any real length of time, dogs would have already gotten at it, crows, flies. We’re all country people. We know the stages of death.”
    The three women stood silent.
    “We’ve got a real sicko,” Cooper replied simply, saying what they were all thinking: The killer had kept Hester’s body somewhere else and placed it here once rigor mortis decreased and the muscles relaxed.
    “Coop, let me get poor Hester out of here.” Dorothy motioned for the stretcher and the body bag. “I need to get her in the cooler at the morgue before there’s more damage. And maybe when I get the costume off, I’ll know how she was murdered.”
    “If the modus operandi is the same as our scarecrow accountant, we’ve got a major problem,” said Coop.
    Dorothy whispered, “No matter what, we’ve got a major problem.”

F air ran out to the drive at 11:10 P.M. , when his wife finally drove up with Susan.
    “Why didn’t you let me come to you?” Harry’s husband asked, his voice betraying his concern.
    Harry opened the door to get out as Susan rolled down the window. The dog and the two cats also ran out of the house at Harry’s arrival.
    “Honey, there was enough confusion,” she said. “Susan and I were together. We’re all right.”
    “We are,” Susan reassured Fair. “I mean, as all right as you can be after finding something like that.” She took a deep breath. “Let me get on home. My dog needs to go to the bathroom.”
    “Where’s Ned?” Fair asked.
    “In Richmond.”
    “Why don’t you stay here?” he invited her.
    “I appreciate that but Owen needs to go out and I’ll feel better with