Murder in Gatlinburg (14 page)

"Maybe I am a
little melodramatic, but I suspect that something has happened to her.  Have
you seen her since then?"

"No. Haven't heard
her, either. And her place is right above mine. And our building is the next
one up from yours."

I got Sylvia to tell me
which Deluxe One Bedroom belonged to Miss Friendly. Miss Friendly was on the
top floor right, just like I was. I wanted to find some way to see if she was
holed up in there, without being the one who went and knocked on her door.

I had learned all I was
going to learn about Miss Friendly. I could tell that Sylvia thought I was more
concerned about the old lady than I was Inez, so I shifted the conversation
back to Sylvia's traveling companion.   

Finally, there was
nothing else we could do, so we headed to where our vans were parked to see if
Inez was there. There was only one van left. There were three irritable-looking
people and a driver inside. And three empty seats.

Sylvia told the driver
her friend was missing and asked him if he could call the other drivers to see
if she was in another van. He called, got hold of all the other drivers, but
only one was in transit. The others had just let out the group they were
carrying. There was nothing for us to do, but go back to the bus and see if
Inez showed up.

This was the third day
of the trip, and so far there was good news and bad news. The good news was
that the sun had shined all day, each of the three days. Oh there were times
when it went behind the clouds, but we hadn't had any rain. No slick, winding
road as we drove up to Cade's Cove. No losing a shoe that got stuck in the mud
as we hurried from one place to another trying to find Inez at our lunch stop.
Which brought me to the bad news. We had been gone for three days. We were
missing three people. Had we really lost one person each day? And would we
continue to lose another person each day for the rest of the trip? In the end,
would either Lou or I have to drive the bus home?

+++

Sylvia was a nervous
wreck, and when one of the other passengers started to get out at the next
stop, Sylvia gave her a dirty look and the woman sat back down. The time we
took to look for Inez made us far enough behind any of the other vans that we
didn't see any of them until we got back to the bus. We saw a few deer. A
couple of them came almost close enough to us for us to reach out and pet them.
We saw a wild turkey, too. I wasn't sure what it was. I didn't even see it at
first. Our van driver pointed it out to us, midway back in one of the fields we
passed. Luckily, we didn't see any bears. The way our luck was going I was
afraid a mama bear might do more than paw the van and slobber all over the windshield.
We didn't see Inez, either. Well, not until we got back to where we had left
the bus. She was standing near the bus, frantic. When she saw our van pull in
and recognized Sylvia, it was all our driver could do to keep from hitting her
as she charged toward us. Saner minds allowed Sylvia to fly out first. The rest
of us got to experience a reunion that hadn't been that long in the offing. I
listened to the reunion as I stepped out of the van. Inez was bringing Sylvia
up to speed.

"So, you're okay,
too. I saw a guy back at that mill who looked like one of Ernie's henchmen. So,
I sneaked behind some cars and made my way to where the vans were parked. I
tried to call you, but I didn't have any bars. When we got to the next stop I
saw the guy again and realized that he only looked a little like Ernie's
stooge. By then, I thought the best thing to do was beat it back to the bus and
wait for you. I was beginning to worry about you, since it took you so long to
get here."

"We were looking
for you. We searched the mill area. We even looked in the water to make sure
you hadn't fallen in. And Cy even looked in the men's restroom," she said
laughing. "He said there was a woman in there bound in toilet paper, but
she didn't look like you."

The two women hugged again
and then Inez and those of us who arrived last joined the others on the bus. I
was glad that neither of them hugged Lou or me for our efforts. Well, it would
have been okay if they had hugged Lou. As it turned out, all was well and we
were about to head back down the mountain. I felt better about going down. As
long as the brakes continued to work. And I doubted if anyone was headed up the
mountain that time of day. It helped that I pretended that someone widened the
road while we were at Cade's Cove.

The sun was still
shining. Well, I assumed it was. It was hard to tell through the covering of
trees. And we had found one of our three missing people. I wondered if that
meant that Earl and Miss Friendly would be sitting in the dining room having
dinner when we returned. Somehow I didn't think so.

+++

I was right about one
thing. On our trip down the mountain we didn't encounter any late charging tour
buses on the way up. We arrived back at Westgate a little after 5:00. Sunday's itinerary said that dinner was included, as long as we ate it at Westgate.
And since we didn't have to eat dinner together, or at any certain time,  Lou
and I went back to our rooms to catch a nap until time to head down to dinner.

+++

Other than our search
for a missing person, Lou and I had been sitting most of the day. True, we got
out at most points of interest, but none of them were a long walk from where
the van was parked. So Lou and I walked to our rooms instead of taking the
shuttle. I was breaking out into a sweat when we passed one of the pools, but I
refrained from going over and taking a dip in the pool fully clothed. It only took
us about ten minutes to get to our rooms, even though each step was uphill. A
year earlier it would have taken me a couple of days, provided I lived through
the experience.

On the way up the hill, I
got an idea. I waited until Lou went inside to take his nap. I hiked up the
mountain some more until I came to the next log cabin on steroids and climbed
the steps. I wanted to get up and down quickly, without being seen by anyone I
knew, or looking suspicious to anyone who didn't know me. I climbed to the top,
walked over and looked at the unit number, then jotted it down. I hurried back
to my quarters and picked up the phone.

I asked whoever answered
if someone could take some more towels to Miss Friendly's accommodations. I
didn't mention her by name. Only by unit number. I was told that someone would
bring them shortly.

I went to the outside
door to keep watch. I wanted to catch housekeeping before he or she dropped the
towels off and left. I saw someone heading up the hill riding a golf cart, and
stepped out onto the walkway. I had gone only a few steps until I ran into a
familiar face.

"Having trouble
sleeping?"

"No more than you.
What are you up to, Cy? I saw you head up the hill and back, and now you're
going out again."

"I won't be long. I
just have to catch a guy on a golf cart. I'll explain when I get back."

Lou uttered his favorite
new saying about being retired and on vacation, then muttered something about
going inside to see if he had enough money for bail.

The person on the golf
cart had a head start on me and ended up being a woman. I hoped that improved
my chances of learning whatever I could about Miss Friendly. I didn't catch up
with her until she was coming out of the outside door.

"Did she say
anything when you handed her the towels?"

"We got a call that
someone was anxious to receive some more towels. Evidently they weren't in that
big of a hurry, because there wasn't anyone there. I left them on the counter."

"Listen, that's my
mother in there. She's getting up in age, and sometimes she wanders off. Could
you please go back in and check on the towels she already had, and see if it
looks like her bed has been slept in? I haven't been able to get hold of her."

The woman hesitated.

"Please. I'm
worried about her."

"Okay. But you
can't come in with me."

"That's okay. I'll
wait here."

She came back out with a
puzzled look on her face.

"What's the matter?
You didn't find her, did you?"

"No, nothing like
that, but there were plenty of towels. Only one of them has been used, and the
bed doesn't look like it's been slept in. When was the last time you talked to
her?"

"Friday. After that
every time I tried to call her she didn't answer the phone. She was mad at me,
so I didn't think anything about it at first, but now I'm getting worried."

"I would be too if
I were you. Do you want me to report this to security?"

I nodded my head and
walked away before she could ask me which unit was mine.

I made it back to my
home away from home without seeing Lou. As soon as my head hit the pillow, my
phone rang.

"What did you find
out? Did you stumble upon the first of your dead bodies?"

"Don't you
remember? We're retired. We're no longer in the dead body business. I was just
checking with housekeeping about some more towels."

"If you had
bothered to check the counter when you came in, you would have seen that they
left you more towels while you were out."

"How did you know?
Have you been in my suite?"

"No, but I don't
think it will be much longer before the police pay you a visit. If they ask me,
I'll tell them I've never heard of you."

+++

I had a nap followed by
a quick shower, and then called Lou up to see if he was ready to go to dinner.

"Dinner? Yeah, mine
was good. Too bad they're already closed for the night. Are you out on parole already?"

"I am. And I was
willing to let you dine at my table tonight."

"Won't Sylvia be
jealous?"

"She told me she
prefers the weak, silent type. Haven't you seen how she's been looking at
you?"

+++

We had a delightful
dinner, and since there was still a little daylight left when we finished, we
checked out the lobby and the store attached to it, and even headed down to the
indoor water park. When we walked in the door the average age of the people
there jumped by at least twenty years. I thought about going back to the room
and switching into my swim trunks and showing those kids a thing or two, and
then I remembered that I didn't bring any swim trunks. And I never learned how to
swim. That didn't matter. For the most part, none of the water inside the water
park was much deeper than the Little Pigeon River.

I looked around, checked
those lounging to see if any of them was carrying a knife or a gun. One of the
young women looked at me like I had looked at her a little too long. And when
some guy who might have been her boyfriend started walking toward me, I turned
and walked away. I didn't think he would be impressed that I used to be a
homicide detective. Used to be. It sounded weird to say used to be. I shook my
head back and forth and reprogrammed it to vacation mode.  

After strolling around
the grounds for a half hour or so, and realizing that Westgate would be a nice
place to spend a few weeks a year, Lou and I retreated to our rooms. I had read
the itinerary, and the next day, Monday, Lou and I would be off to Dollywood,
our first experience at an amusement park.

+++

The temperature was
perfect, so when I got back to my room I slid open the glass door, walked out
onto the balcony, and had a seat at the table there. It was a lovely evening.
It wasn't too hot. It wasn't humid. And no one had alerted the mosquitoes that
dinner was currently being served on the balcony. The balcony would have been a
perfect setting for cracking open one of the books I had brought. But I just
sat there and soaked up the experience. I would keep reading in mind in case
one day we decided to turn in early or Gatlinburg decided to trade the sun for
a rainy day.

The more I got used to
the place, the more I was sure I could retire to Westgate. There was
transportation and food nearby. The washer and dryer were two steps outside of
the inner door. There was a grocery, and a full-size kitchen in case I wanted
to cook. There were only a couple of stumbling blocks. One, while I had
invested my money well and had enough to live on back home, I was sure it would
cost more to spend fifty-two weeks at Westgate than it would at my house in
Hilldale. Plus, Jennifer and my other friends were back in Hilldale. I would
miss them if I were gone for long. Even George and Frank.

I turned the chair away
from the table and faced the trees. From what I could tell from the sounds
forty or fifty feet below was that our building ran parallel to the road
between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. But the trees that prohibited me from
seeing the road were also a buffer to the noise, and I could barely hear the
traffic moving. And when I went back inside and shut the door, it was
impossible to hear any outside noises. But I sat there for a few more minutes, and
once again I contemplated all that was happening in my life. I was enjoying the
vacation, and unless things changed I would want to take another one before
long.