Mr. Cooter's Bowling Ball

by Harper Harris

  “Okay, first off – Gus offered those dance class. No threats from us. We just said yes and it’s not like he has to go out of his way. We just show up and participate.”

  That was true. We weren’t doing anything malicious to him and he was a bit shady, so I shouldn’t feel bad about accepting his offer.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

  “Because I’m right. Also, we are technically Gus’s or Gustavo’s students and I think that means we have an open invitation to the Bowling Ball. He did say it was for all of his students.” That was another good point. “Plus, you said you thought that the murderer was in the class. This will be the perfect opportunity to see them all in one room, see them all in their natural element.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll go. You’ve convinced me.”

  Ash clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Yay!”

  Friday rolled around, and it was time to get ready for the Bowling Ball. I was in my room with Shortbread, the two of us staring into my closet. Maybe I should have let Ashley help me out then I wouldn’t have had to bother with all this picking and choosing myself.

  “What should I wear, Shorty?”

  He didn’t seem to have an opinion. He just continued to stare into my closet with me. I ended up picking a pair of shiny leggings and a vintage bomber jacket. I was trying to go for a look that was kind of eighties. I was like half sure I got it. I looked myself up and down in the mirror and thought it looked okay. I was about to leave, but felt the pants were too loud and went for regular leggings, but ones that had a bit of color. I felt like I hadn’t just fallen back on my usual comfortable clothes.

  I went downstairs, Shorty on my heels, and sat on the couch waiting for Ashley. She came down a couple of minutes later and her outfit blew mine of the water.

  “How do you do it, Ash?”

  She went for the total retro-50s look and totally pulled it off – unlike my sad attempt. She was in capri pants and a vintage bowling shirt. She was really dressed for the Bowling Ball.

  “Do what?”

  “Look so good all the time.”

  “Oh, you’re just sweetest. I just try and always have a look ready for any and all occasions.”

  She sat down next to me and we relaxed for a bit as we watched the puppies play. I heard the doorbell ring and got out of my seat to check the door.

  “Tammy, you’re here!”

  Ash and I clearly wouldn’t be able to bring Shortbread and Biscotti to the dance, so when I asked Tammy if she could watch the dogs, she jumped at the chance. It had been such short notice, so I was worried she might say no, but that was far from her answer.

  “Of course I’m here. I would never miss a chance to hang out with the cutest guys in town.”

  I led her to the living room where everyone was hanging out. Shortbread and Biscotti ran over from where they were to come and greet Tammy. They wiggled their tails in excitement as she knelt down to pet them.

  “We’re going to have so much fun!”

  Ash and I thanked Tammy and let her know where everything was that she would need for the night. Ash got in the driver’s seat and we started our journey to Jasperville.

  “Ugh, I’m so excited! I haven’t gone dancing in so long. Well dancing somewhere that wasn’t a family function, that is. Every time the Butler clan gets together, we love to do a little jig.”

  I really wanted to go to one of Ashley’s family gathering. I felt like I would learn so much and, also, I just really wanted to meet her family. I’d have to bring it up to her another day.

  “I’m a little excited, too. I never really went to anything like this before.”

  “What about when you were in high school or middle school?”

  My school did have a few of those.

  “Sure, I went to prom and stuff, but I didn’t really care about it. Then I kind of just went so I could say that I went. But this, this seems like it’ll be even more fun.”

  I knew I was doing this for a case, but that didn’t mean I could like a minute to enjoy myself.

  The drive to the Ten Pinz Bowling Alley took less than an hour, but I was sure Ashley felt like it was a lot longer than that. I had decided to put on some tunes after we’d been driving for about ten minutes and my music selection was not to her liking.

  “Why do you like this music so much? It sounds like someone didn’t know what beat they wanted to include, so they just included all of them.”

  I’d never heard EDM described like that, but I did like Ash’s breakdown.

  “I’m playing it because I don’t want to fall asleep. I know it’s a short ride, but I’m like never out this late and if I fall asleep in this car, I won’t have the energy to do any investigating.”

  I’d probably be able to wake up, but then I’d be like a walking corpse for like an hour and be of use to no one.

  “Well then, what about some country. I know you’re not partial to it, but I prefer it and I’m sure I could find something you would like.”

  Country music was Ash’s favorite, but I’d only heard a handful of songs that I’d actually liked and, typically, it put me to sleep.

  “I know you like it Ash, but if you put that stuff on I am going to fall into a Sleeping Beauty like slumber. Trust me.”

  Ash shook her head but didn’t change the music. After about five minutes of my cool tunes, my fellow car rider started to kind of bop along to the music as well.

  “I will admit that it’s not totally horrible.”

  We listened to my mix all the way to Jasperville. Jasperville was a larger town than Appleton. I hadn’t really travelled to it much since I moved to North Carolina, but a lot of the locals would go there if they wanted to do something that wasn’t offered in town – like go bowling. But Jasperville was different from Appleton. It was seedier. That was why I didn’t really go often.

  “You know, I’m not the biggest fan of Jasperville either,” Ashley commented.

  “Huh, what?” I had zoned out a bit listening to EDM and staring out the window.

  “I said I’m not the biggest fan of Jasperville either.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I can tell you’re a little turned off by the town. It’s understandable. Jasperville’s not quite as warm as Appleton. It does have its perks, though.”

  We got ourselves to the dance and everything ended up being okay. I wasn’t particularly worried about our journey there. Maybe it was leftover anxiety from the city.

  We had just both stepped outside of the car and I could hear some of the music coming from the bowling alley.

  “It looks like it’ll be a lot of fun in there.”

  Ashley just rushed ahead of me and I did my best to keep up. There was no one at the door checking invitations, so we had zero trouble getting ourselves inside. Everyone from Gus’s dance class – minus the deceased and incarcerated – was there. I could see the Goodstones.

  “Ashley, look!” I pointed over to them.

  “Oh, Gladys looks happy…”

  Gladys looked like she was floating on cloud nine. She’d probably been looking forward to this dance for a while, but Ash’s remark was more directed at her husband.

  “But John doesn’t.”

  He looked absolutely miserable. I’d guess he was roped into coming after he and Gladys had their heart to heart. I was happy because that must have meant that they were working on their marriage.

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Ashley said waving her hand in a dismissive fashion.

  All I could say was that at least he was trying, and it looked like he was trying very hard. I started looking through the crowed and that’s when I spotted the Red Rivers crew.

  “Ashley, it’s Sylvia and she’s with Delilah and Ginny.”

  They were dressed like a scene out of Golden Girls. They all looked so cute – if only they had a fourth member, it would round out the cast. Not too far away from them was Greg. It looked like he was their chaperon for the evening. He w
as kind of awkwardly standing the corner, kind of like what I was doing just then.

  “Ooh, I see Greg. You know, I’d let a man who takes care of his mama that well buy me dinner – if he asked that is,” Ash remarked.

  I couldn’t tell if she had some kind of crush on Greg or if she was just saying these things for my benefit. He was a good-looking man, sweet, awfully nice, but I didn’t think the two of them knew one another that well. Also, the last time we saw him, she made a somewhat similar comment. But then again, Ash was a very bold person and it could just be her way of saying whatever.

  I knew she had been in the mood for a date for a while. If she really did want to maybe date Greg I would definitely be willing to help out. I may not have been much of a dater, but I did love to help set my friends up.

  “I’m going to go and see what’s going on on the dancefloor. You enjoy yourself now!”

  Ash shuffled away and into the crowd of moving bodies. I wished I had her level of confidence. I definitely had it in my work life, but I could use a dash of it in my personal.

  And then, I wasn’t super sure what to do with myself. I kind of just stayed off in the corner and watched everyone mingling. I was worried it would look a little weird if I just stood there. No one was really looking at me right then, but I was sure if I kept standing there then I’d draw some unwanted attention.

  “Hi, Kari.”

  I turned to see that Greg had made his way over to me. I hadn’t even noticed him leaving his post by his mother and her friends. I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked up at him.

  “Hey, Greg. I didn’t know you’d be here.”

  It was like everyone in Appleton took this dance class. I hadn’t realized just how popular Gus was. I was even more excited for those dance classes now.

  “Yeah, Sylvia, Delilah, and my mom all signed up a couple of months back and I got roped into coming with them today. I was told it would be a good time.”

  He widened his eyes a little and smiled.

  “Are you having a good time?”

  “I haven’t been here very long, but I think I could say that it was a good night if I had a chance to dance with you.”

  He looked down at the floor when he asked. I held back my smile at his sweet gesture. Greg really was the cutest.

  “Are you asking me to dance Greg Olsen?”

  A deep blush crept up his cheeks. He took a small breath.

  “Uh, yeah. Is that okay?” I twisted my mouth to the side and considered my answer.

  “Well, I haven’t had a lot of time to learn things like dancing, so I can’t say I’ll be any good.”

  I hadn’t really danced much at all in my life. I was worried I might look a little dumb out there with my clumsy feet. Also, honestly, I hadn’t found much of a chance not be awkward around guys. I felt like I may have been saying a lot of the wrong things around not just Greg, but maybe also Ted sometimes. I just had a hard time realizing when someone was flirting with me and therefore acted like a fool quite a bit. But then when I did realize someone was flirting with me, I got all tongue-tied so there was no actual winning for me.

  “I’m sure you’ll be fine, if you actually want to dance with me that is.”

  I nodded.

  “Yes, I’ll dance with you.”

  He smiled, and I followed him over to the dancefloor. We had a few awkward moments in the beginning – mainly because I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I had watched tons of movies where characters would do this kind of dancing together, but, even with all that information in my head, my hands just kind of did whatever they wanted. I was in the general vicinity, though. Greg helped me out by showing and telling me how to position my arms.

  He had me put one hand behind his neck and held my other one. Maybe this was why I didn’t dance a lot – it was rather intimate. He did keep some distance between our bodies, so I wasn’t pressed up against him. Soon I was simply following his lead. Greg was a surprisingly good at this. It made dancing with him easy.

  While we swayed back and forth, I thought he might want to talk to me about… whatever, but, instead, he just moved me around with a decent amount of grace. It was the small mercies I was grateful for because this gave me the perfect cover to look around the room and identify and observe the people from Gus’s class.

  I hadn’t really taken the other two opportunities I had gone to a dance class to scope out the clients. Ashley was right when she said that I thought that someone in this class did it. Yeah, she was probably using it as a way to actually get me to come to the Bowling Ball, but I was one hundred percent sure that one of these dancers killed Lonny Krump.

  Hopefully everything would fall into place once I got a new suspect. Motive and opportunity would just present itself and then I could finally get Coot out of jail. He’d been in there a while and I was starting to feel bad about how long. It was just time to find out which jitterbug was the culprit.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Friday

  Greg and I continued to dance, and I was actually having a really good time even though I was still technically on the clock. Everyone really seemed to be having a good time. I remembered thinking that this whole Bowling Ball thing was really cheesy, but not only was it a good pun, it was really fun. The mood was infectious, and it looked like we had all caught the bug.

  Gustavo was the center of attention. He had certainly dressed the part, looking like a bit of a discount Elton John – maybe an ounce less glittery. Almost every single woman from his class wanted to dance with him. Maybe it was because I knew his secret that I didn’t understand the fervor, but they were clamoring.

  “Gustavo’s pretty popular,” Greg commented.

  He must have noticed me watching him since this was the first thing he had said since we started dancing.

  “Yeah, he’s quite the charmer, I’ve heard.”

  There was a small crowd around him that was trying to get a dance in. He wasn’t really picking anyone, just telling everyone to settle down in that super fake accent of his. His eyes moved away from the people around him and I saw them settle on Ashley. She was off on another part of the floor, dancing by herself. She looked really good – her outfit and moves on point.

  Gustavo moved around his fan club and walked over to my friend. She saw him approaching and I thought I might have saw a bit of a twinkle in her eye.

  “Ashley! You made it!”

  They were close enough that I could hear their conversation. Plus, the music wasn’t too loud.

  “Yes, I thought I’d take full advantage of being one of your students as soon as possible. Plus, I needed to see if you are actually as good as you claim to be.”

  Gustavo smiled.

  “How about I show you, huh? Dance with me, Ashley!”

  A look of amusement passed over Ashley’s face and she tilted her head. I could see her really considering his proposition.

  “Let’s dance!” she hollered.

  The two of them got into the middle of everyone – I could see the jealousy on the faces of the people who had wanted to dance with Gustavo. It felt like he purposefully zeroed in on someone who wasn’t trying to get his attention.

  Either way, the two of them were fire together. The term cut a rug came to mind, but it was more than just that. The rug was on fire. Burned. Whoever was jealous before was now watching them in awe. I didn’t think Ashley even needed any lessons. She really undersold her abilities.

  “Wow, they’re really good,” Greg commented.

  It felt like the two of us were watching everyone else more than we were watching one another. It seemed he was just as awkward as I was.

  “Ash is a woman of many talents.”

  The two of them continued to draw the gazes of the rest of the attendees, but I kept my scanning eye out. Nothing had jumped out at me as particularly suspect yet. I knew it was still a little early, but I was starting to feel just a tad antsy.

  As I was looking over the crowd and I saw Mayor Har
per-Lewis and Michelle arrive. This party really was in full swing. Michelle walked over to Gustavo and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and saw her, Michelle leaning closer to tell him something. He nodded, and he and Ashley seemed to give one another a small goodbye. Michelle took over as his dancing partner, and the heat turned down a little bit.

  Ash ran over to Greg and me.

  “My goodness, that Gustavo really can cha-cha. Did you guys see us out there?”

  “We did, you’re amazing,” I answered.

  “Oh, I can’t wait to start class. I’m going to go find another partner.”

  And then she ran off again. Greg continued to lead our dance and more and more people from Appleton showed up.

  After a while, I noticed John Goodstone. He’d moved away from the corner he was hiding in and stalked towards a door marked Designated Smoking Area. I hadn’t known John was a smoker. In fact, this entire week I’d been learning so much about him on accident.

  He seemed to just be a centerpiece of something that seemingly had nothing to do with him, but the day I’d moved – the day Lonny was killed – he had left early. He said it was to go teach a class, but I hadn’t known what time the class started or ended. He would have more than enough time to commit murder.

  The whole thing with the bank mural – that showed he was willing to let others take the fall for him. The entire plan ended with Lonny and Cooter in jail and John’s hands would be nowhere near the crime scene.

  And his jealousy. It was so bad Gladys had considered divorcing him. He was almost all over the place, popping up where I least expected it. He was a former member of Gustavo’s dance class and – if he smoked as well – then he would have known that was the perfect way to catch Lonny alone.

  It all just about fit. The final question was why? Why would John Goodstone kill Lonny Krump. They had once been friends and, even with the fallout from the vandalism, there wasn’t enough motive.

  I needed to follow him which meant breaking up this dance with Greg. While I liked it, we’d need to pick it up another time.

  “Greg?” He looked down at me. “Um, I’m really enjoying this dance, but there’s something I have to go do.”