by Sheri Richey
A Bell in the Garden
A Spicetown Mystery
Sheri Richey
Copyright © 2019 Sheri S. Richey. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system now known or hereto after invented—except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper—without permission in writing from the publisher.
For further information, contact the publisher: Amazon Publishing.
The author assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that are inadvertent or inaccurate. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to reflect actual events or persons.
ISBN: 9781795787635
Cover art by Mariah Sinclair
CHAPTER 1
Cora Mae Bingham pushed the file cabinet drawer shut and yanked on her jacket lapels to straighten her collar. “Amanda? I can’t seem to find the Spicer grant file. Do you have it?” Turning around in defeat, she swiveled her desk chair to sit down.
“I’m so sorry, Mayor.” Amanda’s brow wrinkled. “I know I just had it and I can’t find it anywhere. I’m sure it’s got to be on my desk somewhere.”
Cora kicked off her shoes under her desk and glanced up at her assistant who was half hiding behind her office door. She stifled her urge to roll her eyes and smiled instead. “Why don’t you leave early today? I know you have to prepare for your big weekend and I’ll find the file. Don’t you worry about it.”
“I’m so sorry,” Amanda said as the lines in her brow deepened. “I know I’m a mess. Bryan acts like it’s just another day. It’s not. It’s important that things go right, and I want to make it a great grand opening for his new business.”
“I know you do, dear, and I’m sure it will go perfectly with you running it.” Amanda had a college degree in marketing but had never had the opportunity to use it. Making the most of her boyfriend’s grand opening meant everything to her right now.
“Thank you for your confidence in me. Not just for Bryan’s opening, but for everything. The job, the assignments you give me, I really do appreciate that you have faith in me.”
“You’ve earned all of it. I would be lost without you, just like the grant file.”
Amanda chuckled as she went back to her desk. “I’ll find it. It’s here somewhere. I know it.”
Cora could finally roll her eyes and smiled as the phone on her desk rang.
“Hey, Connie. How are you today?” Conrad Harris, the Spicetown Police Chief, called at the end of the day primarily for one reason.
“Hi, Cora. I’m fine. The reason I called is—”
“You’re thinking about dinner?”
“That, but I keep thinking I agreed to do something this weekend, but I have no idea what that was.”
“You did. It’s Bryan Stotlar’s grand opening for the nursery this weekend. Amanda is all aflutter about it.”
“That’s right. I don’t need a tree, but I should probably go.”
“They have more than trees, Connie,” Cora huffed. “That’s kind of the point of the opening. We’ll work it out tonight. Are you going to Ole Thyme Italian Restaurant?”
“Yeah, in about an hour.”
“I’ll see you there.”
“Found it!” Amanda charged through Cora’s office door just as she said her goodbye and hung up the phone. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were on the phone.”
Cora reached for the file, waving off Amanda’s concerns. “It was just Connie. He’s hungry.”
“Are you guys coming this weekend?”
“We are. I don’t know when exactly, but we will be out there sometime.”
“Great,” Amanda silently clapped her hands.
“Now, you go on. I’ve just got a few things to finish up and I’m done for the week. You go get ready for tomorrow.”
With clenched fists, Amanda mouthed the words, “Thank you” as she bounced on her toes and scurried from the room.
Sliding her reading glasses up, Cora saw why the file had been hiding from everyone. The papers were all in a folder labeled “grass seed”. Tossing her head back to laugh, she hoped once the opening was over Amanda would return to be her trustworthy right-hand assistant, because her thoughts had been somewhere else all week.
CHAPTER 2
Peeking in the greenhouse door, Amanda saw Bryan had his hands in dirt again. The opening was advertised to begin at 10:00am and the panic of it all was closing in too fast.
“Bryan,” Amanda yelled through the doorway. “The barbecue grill is here.”
“Just have Sam set it up over on the edge of the parking lot.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve got a few trees I need to put out. It’ll just take a minute.”
“You don’t have time for that now. We’re about to open! You should at least have clean hands!”
“It’s not like there’s a line at the door.” Bryan pulled out a large tub holding four small evergreen trees and it scraped across the floor. “I just need to get these out. I did the others yesterday, but it was raining too hard to finish. I’ll be right back.”
“But…” Bryan patted her back as he walked out of the greenhouse door carrying the tub of trees unaffected by her anxious huff.
As Bryan walked up the hillside to the acres of Christmas trees, Amanda hurried back to help with the barbecue. It was a beautiful spring day and she was relieved the weather forecast was good. The Spicetown spring had been cold and wet. Although Bryan had been open for business, the big grand opening event had been postponed to wait out the weather.
“Good morning, Sam. Bryan is planting something up on the hill, so you’ll have to tell me what to do with this. I’ve never worked one this big.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll start the fire for you and get everything going. I’m in no hurry.”
“Oh, thank you. I have a million things to do and… Well, hello Mavis.” Amanda held out her hands as Mavis Bell jogged up panting from exertion. She reached out to take the box from Mavis’ arms.
“Hi, Mandy. I just brought some treats over for your guests today. I know Bryan loves my biscotti and I thought you might have coffee set up so this would go nicely with it.”
“That’s so sweet, Mavis. Bryan is up on the hill, but he’ll be right back.”
“I didn’t know you were planning to cook. This is great,” Mavis said tapping the drum of the barbecue grill. “Hi, Sam.”
“Hey, Mavis. How are you?” Sam moved around the grill and grabbed a biscotto just as Amanda turned to take them to the table where the coffee urn was all set up.
“I’ll be right back,” Amanda called as she ran in the house to search for a serving platter to put them on.
“Amanda,” Bryan yelled through the screen of the kitchen door. “Are you in here?”
“In here,” she called back as she stretched up on her toes to pull down a large platter from the top cabinet.
“Here. Let me.” Bryan pulled out the platter and handed it to Amanda. “I was up there digging and—”
“Mavis Bell next door brought you some biscotti,” Amanda said in a sing-song voice, “your favorite. I’m just getting something to put them on and Sam said he would stay and set up the—”
“Amanda, I was digging up there and I hit something.” Bryan looked down at his dirt covered hands and shuffled his feet.
“Well, you can finish that later. I need you to move that long table from the greenhouse out to the front so I can set the plants up on it and—”
“Amanda.” Bryan reached out for her arms and turned her to face him. “I found something up the
re.”
“Found something? Found what?”
“Shhh,” Bryan put his finger over her lips and glanced at the screen door. “Bones.”
“Bones? What kind of bones?” Amanda whispered with squinted eyes. “Like an animal?”
“I don’t think so.” Bryan released her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter with a worried expression.
“Well, what else could it be?”
Staring at each other in silence, they both jumped as Mavis knocked on the screen door.
“Hey, kids. I don’t mean to interrupt but if you don’t have a platter, I can just run home and get you one. I should have thought of that and brought one myself. I’ve got several.”
“Oh, no Mavis,” Amanda grabbed the platter and raised her finger to Bryan that she would return quickly. “I’ve got one right here. This should work fine.”
“Well, here. Let me set this up for you. I know you have lots of other things to do.”
Handing the platter to Mavis, she pulled the screen door shut and thanked her before turning back to Bryan.
“They have to be from an animal. What else…,” Amanda said in a raspy whisper. “Are you sure?”
“Well, no. I’m not sure, but they’re big, long.” Holding his hands out to demonstrate and dropping his arms he searched the ceiling for an answer. “I think I need to tell someone.”
“Maybe it’s a horse! Your dad used to have horses out here and he might have had to bury one back before the Christmas trees were planted up there. You’re just finding it now.”
“No, I mean, horses have big bones, but this isn’t a horse. I think I need to tell someone.”
“The grand opening is starting any minute. You can’t deal with this now.” Amanda was determined to make this event special. She had worked on it for months and nothing was going to ruin it. “What did you do with them?”
“Nothing. I left them right where they were. I didn’t want to mess anything up, but—”
“We’re going to have people showing up here any minute.”
“I know, but--”
“But nothing. They must have been there for a long time already. Another day won’t matter. I need for you to focus on today.”
“Mandy,” Mavis called through the kitchen screen door. “Can I start the coffee for you?”
“Oh, Mavis,” Amanda patted Bryan’s crossed arms with a knowing nod and turned to open the screen door. “I don’t want to put you to work. I’m coming. I’ll do it.”
Amanda pushed through the screen door and across the parking lot with Mavis at her elbow. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Bryan looking at her through the screen and motioned for him to come outside.
“Mavis, I do have something I’d love to put you in charge of,” Amanda said with an apprehensive smile.
“Certainly, honey. I’m happy to help any way I can.”
“I have this list. Now I know we can’t make people sign up, but I was hoping to gather some email addresses. You know everybody so maybe you could chat them up and get them to sign up for a sales newsletter?”
“What a great idea,” Mavis said throwing her hands up in the air. “I’d love to do that. I want to be the first name on there.” Mavis took the clipboard and pen from Amanda to add her information on the top line. “You’re such a smart girl. I know that’s why you get to work with the mayor. Is Cora coming today?”
“I hope so,” Amanda said shrugging. “She said she would try.”
“I haven’t talked to Cora since the fall when she had that Thanksgiving parade. I used to see her in the drugstore, but I haven’t seen her all winter.”
Amanda patted Mavis on the back and thanked her just as she saw a car pull into the driveway. “Oh, I’ve got to get some plants outside and the table,” Amanda said pointing. “I need Bryan to move it.”
“Go on. I got this,” Mavis said waving Amanda on her way.
Amanda peeked in the kitchen door, but Bryan was no longer in the kitchen. Running to the greenhouse, he wasn’t there either. Muttering under her breath, “please don’t be digging”, she charged through the kitchen yelling his name.
“I’m here. I know you need the table moved. I’m coming.”
“What were you doing?” Amanda looked around him as he came through the living room.
“Just looking something up. Where do you want the table?”
“You were on the Internet? Cars are pulling in out there.”
“Let’s go,” Bryan said putting an arm around Amanda’s back. “You’ve really got to relax. This is just another day at the nursery. We might get a few more people here today, but even if no one comes, it will be okay. It’s not life or death, honey.”
“I want it to be nice,” Amanda insisted. “Lots of planning went into this and I want it to go right. I want people to remember this and come back. It’s important.”
“Okay okay,” Bryan said smiling and pulling the door closed behind them. “We’ll make it nice.”
CHAPTER 3
Conrad Harris pulled into Cora Bingham’s driveway and saw her opening the side door to run out before he even fully stopped his car.
“Ready, Mayor?” Conrad smiled as she got into the car and fastened her seatbelt, pushing her large purse down in the floorboard by her feet.
“Ready, Chief,” Cora said sitting up straight with her hands in her lap.
With a curt nod, Conrad slowly backed down the driveway glancing over his shoulder to see if the street was clear. Cora gasped and grabbed his arm. “No, wait, I forgot the cake.”
Conrad sighed to release the wasted adrenalin rush and put the car back into drive. “I didn’t know they asked you to bake a cake.”
“They didn’t. I just needed something to take. I don’t know why. I just felt like—”
“Okay. Okay. Go get your cake.” Conrad moved the gear to park and settled back in the seat. Slamming the car door, Cora rushed in the house and Conrad turned up the police radio to check on his staff. The spring had been dismal but today there was finally a ray of sunshine. Good weather usually meant more work for the police department.
Bouncing back into the car seat, Cora looked at him with eyebrows raised. “All ready now,” as he began backing down the drive again.
“Everything okay?” Cora pointed to the police radio.
“Yeah, it’s all quiet,” he said reaching to turn down the volume, “so far”.
“I hope everything goes well for the kids today. Amanda has been in a constant stir for weeks about this event. After the delay because of the weather, she has done nothing but plot and plan. Getting that added time just made her plans grow. She even has Sammy out there with his grill cooking food today. I’ll be glad when this is over so she can concentrate on city business again.”
Conrad grunted approval. “Sam’s cooking? Great. That will give me something to do. I don’t need anything to plant, but I can always eat.”
“Have you been out north of town in the last few weeks?”
“Not out to Bryan’s.”
“Well, I have only seen pictures, but Bryan got a new sign put up and it looks really good. Rodney Maddox painted it from a picture Amanda gave him of the new logo. It says Stotlar’s Nursery and there is a little Christmas tree in his name in place of the letter A. It’s brilliant.”
“Rodney that works for the city?”
“Yes, he’s with the street department working for Jimmy Kole. I didn’t even know he could paint. He wasn’t an artist in fifth grade when I had him in class.”
“An untapped talent,” Conrad said smiling. “Kids do change when they grow up sometimes.”
“And some don’t, unfortunately,” Cora said laughing. Her memories were full of every citizen in town frozen in time at age 10 when she had been their fifth grade teacher. She judged everything they did today by what they had been like as a child.
“I see a few cars up ahead,” Conrad said as they neared the Stotlar Nursery sign. “I see Sammy is mannin
g the cooker.”
“See the sign,” Cora said pointing. “It looks like he carved it in wood before he painted it. I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, it looks great. I see Amanda running around,” Conrad said as he drove into the parking lot. “I don’t see Bryan anywhere though.”
“He’s probably hiding in the greenhouse. I think Amanda has taken over the grand opening. She thinks he isn’t taking it seriously, so she’s anxious for the both of them.”
“Here, let me take the cake.” Conrad reached for the container once the car was parked and Cora pulled her bag from the floor.
“Thank you. I see Mavis Bell over there. I haven’t seen her in months.” Cora released the seatbelt and tugged her purse across her lap. “She’s never in Chervil Drugs when I go in. Does she still work there?”
“As far as I know,” Conrad said as he opened the car door.
“Mayor!” Cora’s head whipped around, and Amanda trotted across the parking lot to greet her. “Hey, Chief. So glad you guys could come.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Conrad said under his breath as he handed the cake to Amanda and waved at Sam. Amanda grabbed Cora’s arm and steered her to the snack table and Conrad was relieved no one noticed he didn’t follow.
“Hey, Sam. What are you cooking today?” The fire was burning, and Sam was adding wood to move it around evenly across the drum before shutting the lid.
“Chief!” Sam turned and shook Conrad’s hand. “I’m cooking whatever they give me.”
“Skipped breakfast just to be safe.” Conrad patted his protruding stomach and laughed.
“Excuse me gentlemen,” Mavis Bell said as she came up behind Conrad hugging a clipboard and smiling.
“Hi, Mavis. How are you?” Conrad said as she thrust the clipboard into his hands.
“I’m just great, Chief. The weather is beautiful, and I get to live next door to the best plant nursery around. I’m so excited for Bryan.” Mavis pointed to the line on the list and handed Conrad the pen. “Can you put your email address right there, Chief? Bryan will want to send you his sales newsletter.” Conrad dutifully wrote his name and email address on the line as Mavis paused to watch. “You know, his daddy would sure be proud of him if he could see this place today. I sure do miss Bryan’s folks. They were wonderful neighbors to have and I know Bryan misses them, too. Sam, I don’t think you signed my form.” Taking the clipboard from Conrad, she handed it to Sam. “Do you have a garden, Chief?”