The Feed Store Floozy (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (15 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Before she crawled into bed, Penelope took a notebook and pen from her desk, the same one Jake had bought for her to do homework on when she started junior high school. It didn’t take long to recreate the timeline she’d drawn at lunch with Bradley and Darby Dolan.
So what’s missing here? There’s got to be something, although why I’d figure it out when the police haven’t, I don’t know.

On a separate sheet of paper, she jotted down the names of all the people, living and dead, who were involved, including Harry Hargrove. Then she wrote down Mary Lynn’s name.
She’s involved because she gave Harry an alibi for the night Wally Powers was killed. And of course, Bradley believed her. She’s his godmother. I believe her because she’s my best friend. But what if—

The sound of gravel against her window interrupted her thoughts. “What are you blessed doing down there this time of night?” she called to Sam. “Lose your key?”

“Nope, got it right here.” He held it up. “I just thought this might put you in a romantic mood.”

“You were wrong, so hush up! Do you want the neighbors to hear? Do you want Daddy to hear?”

He shrugged. “I’ll be right up.”

Penelope grabbed for her robe
before she jumped back into bed seconds before Sam—wearing his biker garb—strode in without knocking. When he bent to kiss her, she turned her face away.

“What’s with that?”

“It’s been three weeks and four days, Sam.”

“I know exactly how long it’s been.” He sat down on the bed and felt for her feet.

“So what’s going on?”

She told him, then thrust the timeline under his nose. He studied it for a few minutes. “And?”

“And something’s missing. Something doesn’t make sense.”

“Obviously, or else the police would’ve made an arrest by now.” He reached for her, and this time she let him kiss her. “Missed you, Nell.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” He fingered the collar on her robe.

She slapped his hands away. “Not there. Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a dirty old man?”

“I’ll admit I could use a shower, but I resent being called old.” He kissed her again. “What’s the room situation?”

“I’m empty for a while.”

“Good.”

“How long will you be here this time?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You never are.” Something in his eyes warned Penelope she was treading on dangerous ground. “I know, it’s not up to you.”

“That’s right. Tell me about Darby Dolan.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What do you think is important?”

“I think it’s odd she turned up on my doorstep the way she did.”

“Both times?”

“Yes. And I wonder if she really did find that envelope on her porch.”

“If she did, who else besides Brice might’ve put it there?”

“I can’t think of anyone.”

“What does she stand to lose if Brice is dead?”

“Nothing. She says the business is in both their names, so that would give her complete control.”

“You also said she said the money was hers.”

“Right, from an inheritance.”

“So she stood to lose something if they divorced.”

Penelope narrowed her eyes. “But not if he’s dead.”

“Bingo.”

“She took the inventory back to Little Rock. It came from there anyway, I guess.”

“What about the things she offered to the museum?

“I told you what Mary Lynn said.”

“So what will happen to them?”

“Darby just said she’d find another place for them.”

“They belong here in Amaryllis.”

“That’s what I think, too, but I’m not going to fight with Mary Lynn. I don’t understand why she’s gnawing Harry’s connection to that place like a dog with a bone, but she is.”

“That’s the missing piece then.”

“I guess it is.”

“I’m just playing devil’s advocate here, Nell, but could Harry have had anything to do with Wally
Powers’ death—or Jill’s?”

Penelope felt as if she were being crus
hed by an invisible weight. “I…” Her throat tightened, and she shook her head.

Sam moved closer and cradled her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Nell. Sometimes the answer is so obvious we miss it. Brad’s a good cop. He’ll figure it out.”

“Mary Lynn’s been my best friend since she moved here the summer before we started high school. I’ve known Harry since first grade.”

Sam stroked her hair. “I’m sorry.”

“She gave him an alibi that night, so that meant she had one, too.”

“What about the newspaper editor?”

“He found the body.”

“Right, but what kept him from being a suspect himself?”

“No idea. He told Daddy he was a suspect. Then he got that threatening letter. Maybe that’s what did it.”

“He could’ve forged that letter himself.”

“On city stationery?”

“It wasn’t locked up, was it?”

“It is now.”

“Harvey
Hadden is a
convenient
suspect.”

“He ran me off the road. I know it was him.”

“You were getting too close to something, but I don’t think it was what you think.”

“All he does out there is make shine.”

“More than that, I’ll bet.”

“He tried to run Bradley and me down outside the feed store, too.”

“You’re sure it was him?”

Penelope had to admit she wasn’t.

“Everybody wants the bad guy to be someone who already is, like Harvey Hadden.”

“I guess so.”

Sam took her face in his hands. “I want you, Nell.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I want you, too.”

“But you’re still going to send me down the hall.”

“I have to, Sam. Please understand.”

He scattered kisses over her face. “That’s the peculiar thing, Nell, I
do
understand, and, for now anyway, I accept it.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” He grinned at her. “I’m still a dirty old man, in spirit anyway.” His hands slipped down her shoulders but went no further. “Someday I’ll make it good for you, Nell.”

“Whenever someday is,” she murmured.

“Well, if you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.” His voice, hoarse and unsteady, brought a lump to her throat.

“I’ll make you clown waffles for breakfast,” she said, wincing at her own words.

“Sure. Sure, make me clown waffles for breakfast.”

She thought he left even faster than he’d come in.

****

“He said he had to see a man about a dog,” Jake said when Penelope came through the swinging door to the kitchen.

She stopped short. “Oh.”

“He’ll be back, Nellie.”

She squared her shoulders. “I don’t care.”

“Sure you do.”

She burst into tears. “He makes me crazy! I wish he just go and never come back.”

“Now, honeychild, you don’t mean that. Sam’s a good man—whoever he is.”

Penelope snatched a tissue from the box on the counter and mopped her eyes. “Don’t you mean
whatever
he is?”

“That, too.”

“I can’t keep on like this.”

“He’s not happy about it either.”

“Has he said anything?”

“No, but I can tell.” Jake motioned for her to sit down and filled two mugs with coffee. “When I was courting your mother, her parents weren’t any too happy about things either. She was the oldest. They depended on her to bring in a paycheck from the parachute factory and take care of the little ones, too. And she was just plain tired of it all.”

“That’s not why she married you, Daddy.”

“Oh, no, I made sure of that. One night I just sat her down and asked her if she wanted to get married, and if she did, why she wanted to. She looked me straight in the eye and said yes, she wanted to get married, but only if it would make her happy forever. So then I asked if she thought I could make her happy forever.” He blew on his coffee.

“And what did she say?”

“She leaned right over with her nose almost touching mine and said, ‘Yes, you can. Can I make you happy?’ And that was that.”

Penelope looked away. “It wasn’t easy, bringing a war bride home from England.”

“Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. You don’t know, I guess, that we weren’t able to get married until the day before I shipped out for home. I had to be back on base that night.” He tapped the table with his finger to make her look at him. “So we were married, but we weren’t, and it was five long months before she got over here.”

“Oh, Daddy, I didn’t know that. I just thought…”

“Sure, sure, most people did. Well, when she got here, I brought her straight home to meet my mamma and papa, and they fell in love with her just like I had. I was already working at the grocery store, so we didn’t have time for a honeymoon even then. We just moved in upstairs and started married life.”

Penelope moved restlessly. “What’s the point to the story?”

“No point. Just that things worked out for your mother and me, and we were happy every day until she went away. Until she died.”

Penelope reached across the table for her father’s hand. “Sam could make me happy every day for the rest of my life.”

Jake patted her. “One of these days he will, Nellie. One of these days.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“You need a computer,” Sam said after lunch when Jake had gone out to watch his programs and probably doze through most of them.

“Why?”

“You know how to use one.”

“That doesn’t answer my question about why I need one.”

“For information. Organize your business, like bookings for the B&B, menus, all that sort of stuff.”

“I get along all right with my notebook and calendar.”

“Sure you do, but a computer would be better. A laptop.”

Penelope grimaced. “I don’t think so.”

“You used that computer at the hotel in Little Rock to track down your mother-in-law’s questionable relatives, so I know you know how to use one.”

“I learned at the library. Somebody came in from
Little Rock to teach a senior citizens’ class, and there was an empty spot, so they let me in.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“All the more reason you should have one of your own.”

“Then I’d have to pay for internet.”

“You have cable television and a phone. Get a package deal.”

“Do you have a computer? A laptop?”

“Not with me.”

“I won’t even ask why not.”

“It should be obvious.”

“Business. And you’re not here on business.”

“Right.” Sam tossed the dishtowel on the cabinet. “Let’s drive over to
Little Rock this afternoon and get you fixed up.”

“Computers cost money.”

“What doesn’t? It’ll be worth its weight in gold, I promise you.”

“Give me an example.”

“Email.”

“You’d keep in touch by email?”

“I didn’t say that, but you never know.”

“Three weeks and four days, Sam. That’s how long I didn’t hear from you this last time.”

He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “I know.” He put his lips against her hair. “It’s hard for me, too, Nell, and I don’t need the distraction.”

“Oh, Sam.”

“Come on, let’s go to Little Rock.”

“In my car, I suppose.”

“Unless you want to ride on the back of my bike again.”

“No, thanks. I’ll go tell Daddy where we’re going.”

“I’ll tell him while you go get ready.”

****

Sam insisted on checking out three stores before he pointed out a laptop computer  he said was perfect for Penelope. “It comes with six months free internet service,” he said, reading from the attached tag. “Then you can switch to whoever you have your cable service with.”

“I don’t know if I can type on this.”

“You’ll get used to it, and if you can’t, you can always buy a separate keyboard.”

Penelope read the tag in Sam’s hand, then inspected the display. “This is it, huh?”

“This is it.”

A few minutes later, standing in line at the check-out desk juggling all the accessories Sam had told her weren’t
optional, Penelope saw Darby Dolan precede a man through the door.

“That’s her
,” she hissed at Sam, who had turned to look at a display of reading lights.

“Who?”

“Look behind you. Darby Dolan just walked in with some man, and they’re holding hands. I’ll bet Brice wasn’t the only one straying from the marriage fold.”

“Eyes front, Nell.”

“Why?”

“If it’s what you think, she doesn’t need to know you’ve seen her.”

“But…”

“Eyes front,” he repeated like he meant it.

****

“I’ve got to call Bradley,” Penelope insisted as Sam pulled her SUV out of the parking lot.

“I’m betting he knows.”

“How?”

“He’s a good cop, Nell. He knows folks and facts just like I do.”

“I still think I should call him.” She dug in her purse for her phone. “Darn! I left it at home.”

Sam unclipped his cell phone from the case on his belt. “All right, if it’ll ease your mind.”

Penelope punched in the numbers and waited. “Bradley? I’m in Little Rock, and I just saw Darby Dolan and some man. She didn’t waste any time.”

“I guess that’s her business, Mother.”

Penelope sniffed. “I just thought you’d want to know.”

“I’ll file the information.
What are you doing in Little Rock?”

“Buying a laptop computer.”

“Going to enter the twenty-first century, are you?”

“When it gets here, I’ll be ready.”

“Of course, you will. I never doubted it. Are you by yourself?”

“Not exactly.”

“Well, tell
not exactly
I said hello. Gotta go.”

“He said to tell you hello,” Penelope said, handing the phone back to Sam.

Sam grinned. “Okay. How about some ice cream?”

****

After supper, Sam took the laptop from its box and set it up on the kitchen table. “I might have to get myself one of those little jiggers,” Jake said. “That’s all right.”

“See what you started?” Penelope asked Sam.

“Start with a cell phone first,” Sam said to Jake.

“I’ve looked at those in a couple of stores
. I could keep in touch with Nellie that way.”

“Daddy, it’s five minutes from the house to almost anywhere in town. Why would you need a cell phone to keep in touch with me?”

“You have one.”

“Only because Sam…oh, never mind.”

“But it comes in handy,”Jake persisted.

“Sometimes. I don’t care what you get, Daddy. It’s your money.”

Jake sat back in his chair, nodding agreement. “That’s right, honeychild, it is.”

“You already know how to use the internet,” Sam said. “But you’ll need to decide where you want to use the computer so you can plug in the router to get it.”

“I’ll put it on the desk in my room.”

“Want me to go get it set up for you?”

Penelope nodded. “Thanks.”

Sam raised one eyebrow. “Any excuse to get into your bedroom.”

“Sam!”

Jake guffawed. “As long as you stay out of her bed.”

Sam shrugged. “She’s got a seven-foot fence around it.” He gathered up the laptop and the other boxes. “I’ll be back for seconds on the strawberry shortcake.”

“Daddy, we don’t…” Penelope began as soon as Sam had gone.

“I know, I know, Nellie. Don’t get your drawers in a wad. I was making a funny.”

She sat down and leaned her head in her hands. “Not that anybody would think anything about it. Not these days.”

“It doesn’t matter what people think, Nellie. It only matters what you know.”

“I’m not going to get burned twice, Daddy.”

“Good for you.”

****

Sam showed Penelope how he’d hooked up the internet and let her make a trial run before he said, “How’d you like to do a little breaking and entering tonight?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You never did get to see the upstairs. This might be your last chance if everything is going to be moved out.”

“How do you know everything isn’t already gone?”

He grinned.

“The man you went to see about a dog this morning, right?”

“Right.”

She sighed and shut down the laptop. “Every single time I go somewhere with you, there’s trouble.”

“Makes life interesting, doesn’t it? Besides, I wouldn’t have taken you out to Pembroke Point that night if I’d known about those men.”

“The point is, they were there, and we nearly got our
selves killed and I might have…”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “I told you not to think about that.”

“I can’t help it. I’m not as hardened to things like that as you are.”

The brief hurt in his eyes gave way to the cool, uncaring look that
always made her feel somehow unworthy. “Do you want to see where the feed store floozies operated or not?”

“I want to see, but if we get c
aught, I’ll swear in court you drug me there against my will.”

Sam laughed. “Who’ll believe you?”

“Everybody.” She straightened her t-shirt over her hips. “Let’s go.”

****

As Sam picked the lock like he’d done before, Penelope had second thoughts.
Disasters always come in threes. Two people have been murdered up there, and maybe there’ll be a third body waiting to be found. I am totally insane for coming along on this fool’s errand. Bradley might ignore the fact I was with Sam once, but twice? I don’t think so. He’ll put me away for life.

Sam held out his hand. “We’re in. Let’s go.”

Their steps echoed in the empty downstairs room. When they reached the stairs, Sam put her in front of him and handed her a flashlight. “Watch your step. The floors were only superficially damaged by the fire, and they’re safe enough, but watch your step anyway.”

The ancient lumber groaned beneath their feet. Penelope hugged the wall, almost expecting someone to rush past them like before and hoping it wouldn’t be Harvey
Hadden.

“Wait a second,” Sam said as they reached the second floor landing. The beam from his flashlight made a quick tour of the hall. “Looks okay to me. The room at the end belonged to Madeline
Hadden. Her clothes and personal items are there, almost like she just stepped out for a few minutes, expecting to come back.

Penelope shivered. “That’s creepy.”

“A little. And she’s not buried at the cemetery. I checked.”

“
Haddens are buried in Possum Hollow.”

“That’s as good a place as any, I guess.” He took her arm. “Right down there.”

At the end of the hall, he pushed open the door. The combined beams from their flashlights lit up the room. “A real brass bed,” Sam said, moving the light across the floor.

A wave of nausea swept over Penelope as the light fell on the bed. Harvey
Hadden, blood matting his tangled hair and beard, sat propped against the pillows, staring at them with vacant eyes. Penelope retched.

Sam pulled her back into the hall. “He wasn’t here this afternoon,” he said almost matter-of-factly. Penelope retched again. He pushed her head down a little. “Nell, I’m sorry. I’m so damned sorry.”

She crumpled onto the charred floor and lost her supper.