Tomorrow's Promises (Bellingwood Book 7) (3 page)

"I'm sorry, sir," Sarah said, simpering. "I'll do better next time."

"Go ahead and set Polly up with what she needs. I'm meeting the last inspector in fifteen minutes and will be back in a while."

"Thank you, Jeff," Polly said sweetly. "You rock."

"You're darn right, I do. We still need to talk about that raise."

"Come see me next week."

"Yeah. Even I know you'll be halfway to Arizona by then."

"Hmmm. Imagine that. See you later."

She ended the call and Sarah said, "That was fun. Now what?"

"Now I call Aaron and make him sweat a little."

Polly pressed another button to call
the Sheriff and switched the speaker back on. She hoped he wouldn't disappoint her. Sarah sat forward to listen, as Aaron answered.

"Polly Giller, you've done it again, haven't you," he said. "Bellingwood is going to run you out of town one of these days. I'm surprised more people aren't running and screaming when you walk down the street. Where's the body this time?"

She held her finger up and grinned at Sarah. "I'm in the same building as your wife, Aaron. Do you want me to get her involved?"

"You leave her out of this. In fact, if there is anyone else around you right now, tell th
em to get away from you."

"She's upstairs in my apartment, you rat. And there's no body. I have something else I need to ask you about."

"But you never call me directly unless you need me to come rescue you from the dead," he said, laughing.

"I'm investigating a missing person."

"I thought we talked about this," he said. "You aren't supposed to do that kind of work. In fact, you're not supposed to be doing anything this weekend except get ready for a party and then get the heck out of town."

"I know, I know. That's why Lydia is here. She's helping me
in my apartment. But I just had something come up and I need your help."

Polly stood and smiled at Sarah. Sarah waved her away and turned back to her work while Polly walked into her office and shut the door. She turned the speaker off and said, "An old friend of my father's showed up this morning and needs help finding his daughter. I told him I would make some calls. I don't know what else to do."

"Tell me what you know," Aaron said.

She gave him the little bit of information she'd received from Curt Locke. "I know it's not much and maybe there's more to the story from his side than he's telling me. But, he pulled the 'I knew your dad' card and I couldn't say no."

"I guess I can understand that. She's an adult now and can make her own decisions, but if we find her, maybe we can give the family a little reassurance. Let me do some digging. I might send Stu up to have a chat with him. He reads people well and can tell me what he thinks about the guy. Do you know where he's staying?"

Polly paused just long enough for Aaron to laugh at her. "You're putting him up at Sycamore House, aren't you?"

"Maybe," she said. She hated that her friends knew her so well.

"Got it. Let Sarah or Jeff know that Stu will be coming to talk to him and I'll sic Anita on this."

"Thank you, Aaron."             

"Are you going to let me do the Father-Daughter dance with you tomorrow night?"

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"Well, if I have to be kidding, I guess I am. I just thought it would be nice for you to have someone to dance with when Henry is dancing with his mother."

"We're not doing all of the traditional stuff, Aaron."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. Okay, tell my wife that ..." he stopped. "No, don't tell her anything. I'll tell her myself. Good-bye, Polly."

"Thank you. I really appreciate this."

"I appreciate that you didn't call with a body."

"Bye, Aaron." Polly looked at the time. There was none left. Her friends would arrive in less than an hour.

She went out to the main office. "Sarah, I'm going to find Curt Locke and tell him to see you about his room. Aaron is going to send Stu Decker up to talk to him. Will you have his details?"

"I'll take care of it, Polly. You go on. You've got people coming in this morning, right?"

"I have to hurry!"

Polly ran out the front door, looking around to find Curtis Locke. She finally saw him standing in the garden and ran over. He looked up as she approached.

"Hi Curt," she said, a little out of breath. "I have a room available here for you. Just go back into the office and speak with Sarah. I called a friend of mine who is the local sheriff. He will see what he can find, but is going to send one of his deputies up to ask you more questions. There might be something you know that you don't realize you know. Stu is a good guy."

He stood there nodding while she rattled on. When she took a breath, he stopped her. "Thank you. I don't know that I can afford to stay here, though. This is pretty fancy."

"Don't worry. That's why I have this place. It seems like most of the time the rooms are filled with my friends and family. I'm sorry I can't spend more time with you right now, though. I have a group of friends coming in from Boston and need to finish preparing for them. Take your time out here and when you're ready, Sarah will tell you how to get to your room."

"Thank you, Miss Giller. You are your father's little girl."

"I'd like to find a moment to talk to you more about him sometime," Polly said.

"I'd like that too."

She patted his arm and turned to go back to Sycamore House. Then, she realized she needed to call Henry and tell him what was happening. Things had been pretty quiet around here for a while. It was probably time for something to
erupt. He needed to be reminded that marriage to her was filled with craziness on a fairly regular basis.

CHAPTER THREE

Even though she'd only been gone for a short time, Polly's friends had done wonders. Henry's plans for transforming the upper floor of Sycamore House into a home included removing the entryway that he'd built when she first moved in, leaving the doorway open. The old living room was transformed into a media room for Sylvie's boys and Rebecca and they'd shifted the dining room table further from the kitchen, opening up the space.

Beryl was leaning across the peninsula, attempting to steal a muffin from Andy's hand and Lydia was at the sink washing dishes when Polly walked in.

Andy looked up and snatched the muffin back from Beryl. "Now you're in for it," she said, pointing at Polly.

"What?" Beryl spun around and laughed. "Well Mama Merritt made plenty. I don't know why I can't have one."

"You've already had one. How you stay so skinny with all the food you eat, I'll never know."

"It's called good livin', sweetie and I'm full of it."

"You're full of something," Andy muttered.

Beryl danced over to Polly. "Your house was in pretty good shape up here, Miss Thing. I call that needless worrying."

"I'm so sorry that I went away though. You three are amazing."

Lydia dried her hands on a towel as she turned around. "Who was that man in the garden?"

"An old friend of my father's," Polly said, smiling inwardly at the fact that Lydia missed nothing. "He asked me to help him find his runaway daughter. I called your husband."

"You don't have time to search for a girl who doesn't want to be found," Andy said. "Your friends are coming and you have a party and honeymoon to prepare for."

"I know." Polly hopped onto a bar stool and reached for a muffin. They were still warm. "I can't say no to him, though. How awful this has to be for their family."

"Why is he bothering you? He should have gone to the police."

"She's an adult and left home on her own. It sounds like this is tearing him to pieces." Polly breathed in the scent from her muffin and said, "The poor guy. He's one of those people who believes he's responsible for every bad thing around him, and then he does things to perpetuate that belief."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"Well, he got messed up in Viet Nam., When he came back, he decided not to contact Dad or his old friends because he thought he'd screw up their lives. It sounds like he just spiraled downward. When he finally met a woman, his job kept him away from home and when he was home, he wasn't easy to be around."

"And you're going to try to rescue him, aren't you, missy," Beryl said.

"Well, not him, exactly, but how could I say no to helping his daughter? He came to Iowa looking for my father and when he discovered Dad was dead, tracked me down. Dad would have helped him - I find that I can't say no to this."

Lydia gave Polly a quick hug. "And that's why we come over to help you out when you're in a panic."

"But you take care of more people than I ever will," Polly protested. "When do you just relax and spend time with your own kids?"

"My kids find me whenever they need me," Lydia said. "Honestly, I think they're glad I can't meddle in their business every day. You shouldn't worry about me."

"We worry all the time," Beryl
admonished her friend. "But it doesn't do us any good. You still insist on taking care of us."

Polly glanced at the time. "I'd love for you to stay and meet my friends. I have to take a shower and change, though. Will you let me take you all out to lunch?"

Lydia smiled and said to Beryl and Andy. "See, I told you this would pay off." She turned back to Polly. "We'd love to. We'll finish in the kitchen and eat more muffins."

Polly took another bite of the muffin in her hand. "I'll take Obiwan outside and be right back." The dog heard his name and followed her to the back door. As she passed the closet, she grinned at the boxes which had been neatly stacked and tagged. Yes, Andy had done her job quite well.

Leia and Luke were perched on the cat tree looking outside intently, barely acknowledging her.

"What 'cha seeing there?" she asked, joining them at the window.
Eliseo was bent over in the garden, pulling weeds. Beautiful rows of green sprouts were coming up through the dirt. It was exciting to see that immense space behind Sycamore House become useful. He and Ralph Bedford had enjoyed working with Demi and Daisy, preparing the ground and then planting. Eliseo promised her loads of sweet corn and tomatoes as the season progressed. This didn't look anything like the little vegetable gardens she remembered seeing in the city.

"Come on, Obiwan. I can't dawdle today. Too much going on." He followed her down the steps and out through the garage. When he saw Eliseo, he took off at a run.

"Obiwan. Stop." Polly commanded. The poor dog ground to a halt and turned around as if to ask what her problem was. She jogged to catch up to him and put her hand on his collar. "You can't get into the garden."

"Good morning, Polly," Eliseo said. He walked over to the two of them and knelt down to nuzzle Obiwan's neck. The dog wriggled with glee, even though he'd seen Eliseo early that morning at the barn.

"It's like he was never going to see you again," she said, laughing. "The garden looks beautiful."

"Stay right here," he said and waited until she put her hand back on Obiwan's collar. Eliseo strode back to the garden, bent over and pulled something out, then reached into his back pocket and drew out a handkerchief. He was polishing what he held as he walked back, then handed Polly a deep red radish. "Do you like them?" he asked.

"I love radishes! Mary used to make radish sandwiches for me all the time."

He handed it to her and she took a bite. "Oh, that's wonderful. These are ready now?"

"Jason and I are going to spend some time this afternoon out here. We have several things ready. Quite a few different greens and some lettuce. It's going to be a fun summer."

"I can hardly wait." Obiwan tugged at her hand and she said, "I'd better get him away from here. Thank you, Eliseo."

His face lit up with a smile and he turned back to the garden.

"Come on, Obiwan.
You have to hurry."

The dog looked back at Eliseo, and before she had to yell at him again, made an obviously conscious choice to follow Polly to the trees lining the creek bed. Rain had filled the creek, so they wandered through the trees down to the horse's pasture. All four horses and the two donkeys trotted to the fence line to greet her and she talked to them as they followed her around the perimeter. When she and Obiwan headed back to the house, she watched as Nat ran back to the fence at the tree line, rearing and neighing for the others to follow him.

There were a couple of balls in the pasture that the donkeys especially liked to play with. Some days she loved nothing more than watching her big animals enjoy themselves in the summer sun, but today wasn't that day. There was too much to do.

"Let's go back, buddy," she said. "I have to get all prettied up. The girls will be here soon."

"I'm back!" she called out when she opened the front door. "Gonna take a shower and be right out."

When Polly stepped out of the shower to get dressed, she heard more voices in the front room.

"Crap," she said to herself. "I knew it." She ran into the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief at her preparedness. Last night, she knew that today would be harried, so she'd laid out clothing to wear. All she had to do was dress. She ran back into the bathroom to put makeup on and blow out her hair. Giving herself a quick grin, she stuck her tongue out at the mirror image and took a deep breath. She was going to have fun.

She worried they might not
really recognize her. These last two years she'd discovered a new independence. Her friends in Bellingwood knew her as Polly Giller, independent business owner and finder of dead bodies. Even though it might be strange to those who had known her before, this was who she was now.

Drea and Bunny knew her as a very different person. Independent, yes, but so much had changed. Polly felt more certain of herself than ever before. This was her territory, these were her people. This was her life and she desperately wanted these girls to allow her to be the new person that she'd established.

"You've got this, Giller. You're married. You have your own home. You have friends who love you and animals who adore you. The girls will love it, too. Trust them."

Taking another deep breath, Polly entered the living room. Sal saw her first and jumped up to run across the room.

"I love you!" she cried, "and I love what you've done up here. Polly, you make me so proud." Sal grabbed her into a hug and whispered, "Bunny is terrified that you don't like her anymore. Pay no attention to her hysterics."

Polly pulled back and smiled up at Sal, "I love you too. I'm glad you're here."

Drea had stood as well and walked toward the two of them. Sal released Polly, who ran into Drea's arms. "I've missed you, my friend," Polly said. "It's so good to see you."

"You look amazing. Life in Iowa is good for you. I've never seen you so beautiful and happy," Drea responded.

Bunny was sitting on the cough with her back to the bedroom, glancing surreptitiously over her shoulder as Polly greeted her other two friends. Polly decided to ham it up completely and after letting Drea go, dashed to the sofa, rolled over the back of it and dropped her head into Bunny's lap. "You're here! I've missed you so much!" Polly smiled up at her friend.

"You silly goose." Bunny was giggling as she reached around Polly and pulled her into a hug. "I forgot how much fun you are."

Polly sat up and said, "Have you all introduced yourselves?"

"Yes, but they didn't have time to tell us any stories about your life in Boston," Lydia said. "You came out too
soon."

"How was your trip?" Polly asked. She gave Lydia a glare, then followed it with a smile.

Sal laughed. "Oh! It's such a small world!"

Polly raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"We brought one of your guests up with us. She was having trouble getting a rental car in Des Moines."

"Right when you were at the rental counter?"

"Well, it seemed like she'd been waiting for a while. When I was talking to the rental agent, she overheard and asked if she could get a ride. She seems like a nice young girl. Some photographer from Montana. I asked where she was staying and she told me Sycamore House. I couldn't believe it."

"That's crazy!" Polly exclaimed. "You flew in from Boston and she came in from Montana and you met at the same car rental counter?"

"Well, they're all kind of together in the same place. She was sitting on a bench, pretty frustrated."

"I can't believe she hadn't planned better. Who comes in to a little town in the middle of Iowa without having a car ready?" Bunny asked.

"Don't you dare get snotty about it, missy," Sal interrupted. "You didn't do the planning for this trip, I did."

"Whatever," Bunny snipped.

"And with all of your luggage, we were barely able to fit Polly's guest in the car."

"I was the one who had to sit in the back with her. You crammed me in there with her suitcases. She was dumping things all over the place."

"Girls, girls. The trip is over. Miss Wexler has been delivered, we're here and settling in. I think we can let it go," Drea said. "It's time to focus on Polly's marriage, don't you think?"

Bunny reached across and took Polly's left hand to look at the ring. "I can't believe you got married before me," she said. "Your ring is beautiful."

"Thanks," Polly said, smiling. "It was my mother's. Dad kept it and Henry had it cleaned and adjusted for me."

"That's total perfection," Bunny said. "I'll never find someone like your Henry."

Sal leaned over the back of the couch to interrupt. "When are we going to get to spend time with your honey-bunny?"

Polly took her hand back and looked up. "I thought we could all go out tonight. Is Mark free?"