Tomorrow's Promises (Bellingwood Book 7) (28 page)

"You should call the Sheriff," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. But she knows where Ralph's house is and it's not that far from here. She could have walked there in the middle of the night last night. No one would have seen her on those back roads."

"Call the Sheriff," he repeated.

"She doesn't have her own car. I'll bet she tries to steal Ralph's truck."

"Good luck to her. Unless you know how to start that thing, it's not going
anywhere."

"If I ride Demi over there, she won't hear a vehicle coming down the road."

"You're not taking one of these horses into danger. And you shouldn't even be thinking about going yourself. This is what makes Aaron crazy and drives your poor husband to ... well ... he doesn't drink."

Jason was starting to laugh.

"What?" she demanded. "What are you laughing at?"

"You're going to go over there and if she's there, you're going to get yourself nearly killed until someone shows up to rescue you."

"When did you get so all grown up?"

"Call the Sheriff, Polly," Eliseo repeated again.

"Fine. I shouldn't have come down here in the first place." Polly sat down on the bench beside Jason and dialed Aaron once more.

"I haven't had a chance to get anything going yet, Polly."

"Eliseo won't let me go over to Ralph Bedford's house."

"I'm sure he has a good reason. Why do you want to go there anyway?"

"Because if Lois Wexler is looking for money, she didn't get any from him and she didn't get anything from Russ Gourley and Bunny has her stash. She doesn't own a car and has no way to leave town."

"Don't you dare go over there. I'll call Stu."

"How long is it going to take for him to get there? What if she leaves?"

"We'll deal with that. It's our job. Now, thank you very much for putting some pieces together, but stay away!"

"Fine. Can't I even watch?"

"Polly ..."

She heard the warning in his voice.

"Fine. Bye." She slumped back on the bench.

"You know, Polly, the Sheriff and his deputies solve crime every day without you," Eliseo said.

She lifted her upper lip at him and growled, then stood and headed for the front door. Before she walked out, she turned around and said, "You're no help."

Polly slowly walked to the main building and up to her apartment. She sat on the couch and pulled her laptop close and did a quick search. Something wasn't right, but at this point she didn't feel like bugging Aaron one more time. She ran down the back steps and out to her truck. She opened the garage door and saw Henry pulling into the driveway, so waited for him to stop.

"Where are you going this morning?" he asked.

"Out. Do you want to come with me?"

He shrugged. "I can drive. Get in."

Polly climbed into the cab of the truck and pulled her seatbelt on.

"Where are we going?"

She showed him the address and he turned around and headed out on to the highway. The house they were heading for was just beyond the hotel and winery.

"Why are we going here?" Henry asked.

"I need to check on someone. Don't ask too many questions or you're going to get mad at me."

He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and stopped the truck. "No. We're not going anywhere until you tell me why."

"I want to make sure that Russ Gourley is okay. He got caught up with Lois Wexler last night and even though Aaron warned him to be careful, I just want to make sure that he's still safe."

"Why are we doing this and not one of Aaron's deputies?"

"Because they're going over to Ralph Bedford's place to make sure she isn't there robbing him blind."

Henry let out a breath. "You do know that if we are going to Gourley's place, that's where she'll be, don't you?"

"So if I'd gone to Ralph Bedford's house, she would have been there? Is that what you're implying? That I'm the linchpin? Whatever I do is how she made her choice? Because I was on a tear to get over there first, but Eliseo and Aaron wouldn't let me."

"It sounds crazy when you say it, but Polly, I absolutely know that's what will happen. If you and I show up, this woman is going to find some way to try to hurt you."

"Then it's a good thing I have you with me."

Henry took out his cell phone and made a call. When Polly heard his first words, she huffed.

"Aaron? Yeah. I'm with Polly. We're going over to check on Russ Gourley. She says that she wants to make sure he's okay. I figure that if this is where Polly is trying to go, that's where the woman is going to be."

He listened and said, "Okay. Thanks. No worries."

Henry set the phone down on the console and looked at her. "Aaron already thought of it and has someone heading over to check on him. Polly, you are going to make me die a young man!"

"I know you guys are right, but damn." Polly got out of the truck. She had to pace. Things were happening and she was frustrated to be so far from all the excitement.

Henry joined her and put his arm around her waist. "I want you to be around for a very long time. You have to stop putting yourself in dangerous situations."

"I know, I know," she said and wriggled out of his embrace. It was too constricting. "Just let me walk off the adrenaline," she said. "I worked up a pretty good head of steam."

Henry chuckled and leaned back on the truck. "I'll stand here and watch you walk, then. It's not a bad sight at all."

Polly walked toward the far end of the parking lot, looking up at the empty sign. The insert for Sycamore Inn
was ordered. That had been a fun purchase. She and Henry decided that they were going to stick with some of the colors and kitsch from the fifties. They'd found a company to reproduce the bright teal and red sign, with chasing white lights around its perimeter.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Henry watching her, so she swung her hips a little and grinned when he let out a wolf whistle. When she arrived at the sign, she turned around and walked back. Polly considered an attempt at being sexy, but the last time she'd done something that silly, she'd bounced off a bathroom door sill and she didn't want to do that again.

Renovating this old hotel had been a great idea. Two of the homes across the street had cleaned up their yards this summer, one of them had even painted the exterior. She looked back at the hotel. They'd chosen to paint the outer door and window trim of each room in a different color. Henry hadn't been quite ready to acquiesce, but once it was finished, he agreed that it was a good idea. She winked at him.

"What?" he asked, leaning forward.

              "Oh nothing. I was just thinking about what a good guy you were. You put up with my crazy ideas."

             
"Uh huh." He leaned back and leered as she approached.

"Henry?" she said.

"What, honey?"

"Something moved in that room."

"Which room?" He stepped forward and walked toward her.

"Room six. Right there." Polly desperately wanted to point, but knew she shouldn't.

"Don't look," he said and grabbed her arm. As soon as he touched her, he pulled her to him and walked her back toward the truck. They were nearly there when a shot rang out, shattering the glass window of the room.

"Damn it," he yelled and pulled Polly to the other side of the truck. They crouched behind the tire and he patted his pockets. "My phone is in the truck. Do you have yours?"

Polly took her phone out of her back pocket and swiped it open, then went to the last call she'd made and redialed.

"Polly, what now?"

"She's here!"

"Where?"

"At the hotel. Room six. She just shot at us. We're hiding behind Henry's truck."

Another shot rang out. This time it hit the ground in front of the truck, spitting gravel at them.

"My boys are on the way."

The call ended and Polly looked at Henry in shock. "I didn't do this!" she said.

"I should have known. If this is where you are, this is where she was going to be."

"Why didn't she just wait until we drove away? I had no idea anyone was in there. She could have gotten away cleanly."

Another shot skittered off the top rim of the bed of his truck.

"Are we safe?" she asked him.

"As long as it doesn't take very long for Aaron's boys to get here."

Polly heard glass shatter as one of the truck's windows exploded.

"I'm going to wet my pants," she said.

Henry pulled her tightly to him. "I love you, Polly Giller. More than life itself. We're just going to hover here like the cowards we are and let the authorities deal with the serial killer psycho woman in Room Six.

"What if she comes out and tries to steal the truck?"

"She can have it."

Sirens sounded. Polly couldn't tell where they were coming from, but was thankful to hear them. She and Henry clutched each other while they waited. First, one deputy's vehicle entered the lot, then another. A third drove to the back of the building. In all the chaos that accompanied their arrival, Polly realized she was shaking. Three more vehicles arrived, blocking the highway, and soon, she heard Stu Decker's voice ordering the person to leave the hotel room. There were no more shots and things grew quiet.

Vehicles continued to pull in from both the sheriff's office and the local police force. Polly couldn't believe what she was seeing. Just as one of them attempted to approach her and Henry, they heard a voice call out, "We've got her. She went out the back door and was heading for the vineyard."

All movement stopped and Polly and Henry stood up and watched two well-armed deputies haul a petite blond out to the front parking lot.

Polly's knees wobbled and she grasped the bed of the truck to steady herself. Henry put his hand on her back and she took a deep breath, trying to draw oxygen back into her body.

"Well, Miss Giller, it looks like you were in the middle of it once again," Stu said as he strode over to them. He stuck his hand out to shake hers and then Henry's. "Did you have any idea that she was here?"

Polly looked up at Henry, then back at the deputy. "No! I swear I didn't."

Henry sighed. "You all will learn someday that no matter where you think the murderer is, you're wrong unless you follow Polly around. Wherever she is - that's where they'll be." He turned to her. "The death of me. You're going to be the death of me."

"You don't have any guests in these rooms, do you?" Another of the deputies had joined them.

"No, we used them last week for temporary housing, but they're empty," Polly said.

"We'll need to close off that last room for a while. It's a crime scene now."

"I know. I know," she said and threw up her hands. "Whatever you guys need, just tell me."

Stu had stepped back to speak with some of the other law enforcement men and women, releasing most of them.

As they dispersed, Henry asked the young deputy. "Do you need my truck? The girl tried to shoot it up, but I'd like to get Polly home."

"We need to get the bullets out of it. Let me run you two back to Sycamore House and we'll let you know when we're finished.

"My phone's in the cab," Henry said.

"Just a sec." Stu went over to the cab of the truck and opened the door. It took a few minutes and he came back and handed the phone over to Henry. "I had to do some searching. That cab's a mess. Sorry about that."

Henry hugged Polly to him again. "At least we're safe. Thanks for showing up as fast as you did."

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

For the last five days, poor Henry had complained about missing his truck. And this evening he looked dejected as he pulled the passenger seat belt on. Polly was driving them to dinner.

He drove her truck when he needed to haul things and they'd brought the Thunderbird over so there were two vehicles, but Polly didn't feel comfortable driving his baby. The first time she needed it, he spent twenty minutes going over everything in the car with her. She'd finally reminded him that he had two more speeding tickets in his history than she did and that she'd never totaled a vehicle - something he couldn't say.

He stroked the car every time he walked past it. Polly was desperately afraid she would scratch it or bump something and knew that she was driving like a little old lady around town. She was going to be glad when his truck came home, too.

The week had sped by and here they were at another Friday evening. All of the people who had come into town to help were heading home again and few would be returning. All Polly could think was that people in the Midwest rocked. They helped when they were needed.

This afternoon Aaron had asked Henry and his family to meet at Sycamore House. When Betty and Dick arrived, Aaron explained that Loren's death could not be attributed to Lois Wexler. She had admitted to murders around the state and to trying to kill Ralph Bedford, but she had no idea who Loren Sturtz was. He was prone to believe her, especially since the bullet they'd recovered from Loren's body was not the same caliber as those used during the rest of her killing spree.

"Do you have any idea who might have done this then?" Betty had asked. "Are we in any danger?"

"I don't know," Aaron had replied. "We have no leads right now. You've told us everything you know ..."

"And that's not much," she said. "The old buzzard didn't want us around at all."

"He used his shotgun to scare me off the land once," Bill Sturtz said. "You did find that gun, didn't you? Just to be sure the man didn't kill himself with it?"

"Yes, we have that. It wasn't what was used to kill him," Aaron said. "I just wanted to
let you know where we're at."

"Is that because you haven't let Polly loose on the case yet?" Bill asked, grinning across the table at his daughter-in-law.

Aaron looked over his glasses at the older man. "Don't you get her going. It's bad enough that she gets involved in solving these things on her own. She doesn't need encouragement from you."

"I'm right here," Polly said. "Sitting right here.
It's not like I ..."

"Don't even," Henry interrupted. "You were the one who was hell-bent on getting to Ralph Bedford's house and then to Russ Gourley's. At least I was with you when the psycho murderer showed up."

"Whatever. I don't have any good ideas about this anyway. I was perfectly fine with it being the same person who was killing older men around the state. That would have wrapped things up quite nicely. Now people are going to worry." She reached over and put her hand on top of Henry's.

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't think any more about it, Polly Giller." Aaron had given her a glare. "You don't have any idea what my life was like this week after Lydia heard about you caught in gunfire at the hotel."

"Oh, I had lunch with her on Wednesday. She was just fine." Polly looked for support from Marie Sturtz. "Wasn't she?"

Marie just nodded and smiled. "You do keep our hearts pumping, Polly."

"I didn't know she'd be in that hotel room," Polly protested. "How could I have known that?"

Henry's Aunt Betty laughed at them. "I think it's a good thing that this family has a spitfire running around causing trouble. We were getting too comfortable and set in our ways. I, for one, am glad you make Henry's life exciting."

"You're not helping, Aunt Betty," Henry said.

"Of course I am. Any time you need someone to give you support, just call me, Polly. I'll tell this stick in the mud to get over himself."

Polly laughed and Aaron had finally stood to leave. "I know that you all probably had better things to do this afternoon, but I wanted to tell everyone at the same time that we weren't any further along on the case than we were last week. Stu Decker would have been here today, but he's busy working with departments around the state, trying to coordinate everything with Lois Wexler's arrest. I may not be able to keep him after this case. He's going to be quite a hot commodity."

He walked to the door of the conference room, "Thank you for coming, and I am truly sorry for your loss. If you think of anything else or want to talk about this, feel free to contact me."

"We really like your hired man," Betty said to Polly after Aaron left. Eliseo had actually moved into Loren's house yesterday. They hadn't cleared Loren's things out, but Eliseo was so ready to get out of the little house in the middle of town, he was perfectly amenable to having Henry's family in and out of his new home during the day while he was at work.

"I'm glad. He's going to be happy out there."

"We invited him over for dinner tonight. Dick here thinks he's found a new fishing buddy."

"Don't you be stealing him from me," Polly said.

Betty's husband smiled. "I don't think we can do that. But everyone needs time at a fishing hole and I've got just the place to take him. If he gets tired of people in town, he can hide in the woods and never see a soul."

"Last night he was already working in the yard, gathering up all of that junk that Loren let fall to pieces. If the weather stays nice, he and Dick are going to do a big burn pile this weekend. You won't recognize the place before too long, Henry."

"It's going to take a while to deal with it all," Bill said. "I told him I'd bring the trailer up next week and we could load that metal out. Might even make a few bucks scrapping some of it."

Henry leaned over to Polly and said, "It's not enough that you are restoring Bellingwood, now you're sending your minions out into the country to start restoring things
there."

"You give me more credit than I'm due," she said. "Stop it."

"I'm just glad that old house is going to get some tender loving care," Betty said. "At least I can finally get my hands on mother's things. There are a few antiques in there that she had had marked for you to have, Marie, and one or two that I'd hoped to share with my kids. I'd pretty much given up on it all, though. It will be nice to rescue them before they've completely fallen apart."

She had looked up and around the table. "It sounds like I'm glad he's gone." Betty's eyes filled. "I miss my brother, but I lost him a long time ago. This poor man wasn't the boy we grew up with, was he, Bill?"

Her brother had given her a warm smile. "No he wasn't. It's too bad our kids will never know the playful prankster you and I knew. And you're right, it will be good to get into Mother's home and rediscover her treasures." He touched his wife's arm and stood. "Henry, Monday starts another busy week. I think we should take the rest of the afternoon off and relax before the real world takes over again. Marie and I are going to take a little vacation this weekend. It's surprising how much I miss her when I'm not hovering around the house all day. We're packed and ready to go. Don't bother me until Sunday night, okay?"

Henry gave his father a surprised look and stood to shake his hand, "Okay then. I'll leave you alone until you come home. You are coming back, right?"

"Just as soon as I remind your mama why she married me."

Marie stood up as well and swatted her husband's shoulder. "You old reprobate. We're going to the gardens in Ames this afternoon and then heading over to Decorah and maybe Dubuque tomorrow and Sunday. We'll stay in touch."

Betty and Dick followed them out, leaving Henry and Polly alone.

"We're going to be like that when we get older, aren't we?" she asked.

"Oh lord, I hope not," he said. "They're just embarrassing."

"I like it."

"I'm going to be too busy keeping you alive to act like an old reprobate," Henry said. "But I like the idea of taking the rest of the afternoon off."

They hadn't ended up taking any time off. Since Eliseo had moved out of his little rental home, Polly had ridden over with Amanda Bowen to clean it while Henry and Ben packed up the few belongings the couple had left. They got them moved in and settled and then gone home.

Jessie had offered to help Sylvie and Rachel prepare for the wedding rehearsal dinner that was being held in the auditorium and then had agreed to spend the evening with Rebecca and Andrew. Sarah and Polly had gone to Boone yesterday for another chemotherapy treatment and the poor woman was absolutely worn out. Rebecca checked on her regularly, but Sarah was just as glad to have her daughter spend time upstairs.

Eliseo and Jason had driven to Ames to see Ralph Bedford every afternoon this week. He'd finally come awake on Wednesday, much to Eliseo's relief. He would be transferring to a rehabilitation center before he was able to return home. More than anything, he was mad as a wet hen that he'd been caught off guard by a pretty little girl. He identified Lois Wexler as the person who had shot him and was glad to find out that she'd been caught. Eliseo told Polly that when Stu asked if he would be willing to testify, Ralph managed to come fully alert, as if the morphine that filled his body wasn't even there. His eyes had been as clear as ever when he promised to do whatever it took to put that little hussy in her place.

~
~~

Polly pulled into the parking lot at Davey's and Henry asked, "When are Joss and Nate supposed to come home?"

"Sometime this weekend. I talked to her last night. She's ready to be back."

"And she won't tell you about the baby? I can't believe she didn't send pictures."

"It's the weirdest thing," Polly said. "She won't tell me anything. I don't know if it's a girl or a boy or even what hair color the child has. Nothing. She keeps telling me that since they were surprised, I should be too."

"Okay," he said. "That's weird, though. Right?"

"I think so."

They were meeting Mark and Sal for dinner. Sal was flying to Boston on Sunday to close down her life and ship it to Bellingwood. She'd given her boss two weeks' notice and he was glad to let her use her vacation.

When they got inside, the hostess smiled and said, "They're already here, waiting for you." She led them into the dining room and Polly looked around to find Sal waving.

"We've got it. Thanks," she said and went on ahead.

"Hey sweetie." Sal jumped up and met Polly with a hug. "We ordered appetizers and a couple bottles of wine. Is that okay with you?"

Sal was the person who had taught Polly everything she knew about wine. That was more than okay.

"If you'd rather have a beer ..." Mark began.

"No, wine is good," Henry responded. "We're on vacation this weekend. My dad informed me of that this afternoon."

"Are you doing something special?" Sal asked. "Going away somewhere?"

"No way," Polly said. "We're staying home. I don't want to pack bags, I don't want to find sitters for the animals. I just want to be a slug."

"How is it with Jessie living with you?"

Polly gave Henry a sideways glance. He'd been wonderful about having a houseguest. Jessie wasn't intrusive, but she was always there. "It's been okay. I think that when she gets a job and isn't in the building all the time, it will be better for everyone."

"That poor girl. I thought my mother was tough to get along with," Sal said. "I can't imagine having a mother who didn't care whether you lived in the house or not."

"I had friends whose parents kicked them out of the house when they turned eighteen," Mark said. "The ones I felt terrible for were the kids who hadn't graduated from high school yet."

"That really happened?" Polly was aghast.

"To one of my classmates. It wasn't like they hadn't warned him. So, the day after his birthday, his things were neatly packed up and in the front hallway."