by Tonya Kappes
That was what I was hoping for when I pulled up to find Dottie and several small business owners gathered around a campfire having a conversation or some sort of meeting. Going by the look on Joel Grassel’s face and the deep lines around his eyes, it was an intense conversation.
I parked in a vacant spot near the office, which was located at the front of the campground, instead of going on down to my RV. The group turned when they heard my door slam and watched me as I walked up.
“It looks like something is wrong.” I decided to cut to the chase.
“Mae, this is my brother, Darnell.” Joel’s hands were in the pockets of his greasy overalls. The wrinkles on his forehead multiplied.
“Hi, Darnell.” I gave him a smile and a nod when I noticed he was sitting in the same position as Joel, but rocking back and forth on his heels. “Are you a mechanic too?” I asked, wondering if he worked at Grassel’s gas station along with Joel and my foster brother, Bobby Ray Bonds.
“No, ma’am,” he shook his head. “I’m an HVAC man.”
“What’s going on?” I asked and went around the circle, looking at Dottie, Henry, and Alvin Deters.
“We are in a pickle here.” Alvin Deters, owner of Deters Feed-N-Seed, rubbed his hands together. His shoulders lifted and fell a few times as he took in deep breaths. It appeared as though he was gathering up courage to say something. “Greaser Gadie has escaped from prison.” He tugged his jeans up a little more as he tucked in his plaid shirt and adjusted his big metal belt buckle.
“Who?” I looked over at Dottie. The skin around her eyes was pulled so tight from where she’d put in her pink curlers, it looked like she had cat eyes.
Dottie dragged her cigarette up to her mouth and took a long drag, exhaling a stream of smoke. The implacable expression on her face was unnerving.
“Greaser Gadie.” The smoke came out in puffs with each symbol of Greaser’s name. “He was convicted a little over two years ago of killing them two hikers near here in Normal. It was bad.” She felt around the back of her head and unclipped one of the pink sponge curlers.
She wedged the cigarette in the corner of her lips and used two hands to twist the loose strand of her red hair back into the roller.
“Really bad.” Alvin’s expression stilled and grew serious. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“When did he escape?” I asked and gnawed the edge of my lip as I made the connection to Hank. I imagine the phone call he’d gotten at the library was about the prison break.
That was how we’d met. Paul, my dead ex-husband, had escaped from prison. Hank Sharp came to Happy Trails to see if I’d had a visit from Paul after he’d escaped. I insisted I hadn’t, but when Paul’s murdered body floated to the top of the lake that was in the middle of my campground, it didn’t look good for me. It gave Hank Sharp all sorts of motive to pin Paul’s murder on me. We had had what you’d call a turbulent start to our relationship. Now he couldn’t resist me.
My eyes scanned across everyone’s shoulders until they rested on the lake where Paul’s body had appeared.
“I’m sure they’ll catch him,” I assured them. “Hank was called away and I bet they are hot on this Greaser guy’s heels.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Darnell’s voice trembled. He ran his shaking hand over his military tight haircut, the exact same cut at Joel’s.
“Are you kidding?” I tried to smile to ease the seriousness of the situation. “Why would he stay around Normal and risk getting caught? I’m sure he’s long gone by now.”
“Not if he lives up to his promise.” Henry, my handyman, said somberly as he patted Darnell on the back.
Darnell gave Henry a sad look. Henry squinted his big nose, opening his mouth just enough to expose the space where he was missing his two front teeth.
“Promise?” Clearly, there was something I was missing. After all, it’d happened before I even lived in Normal.
“Mmmhmm.” Dottie took one last puff before she threw the butt of the cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of her shoe.
“Yep.” Alvin stood up from the big rock he was sitting on. He adjusted the big belt buckle on his blue jeans before tucking his plaid shirt deeper into his waistband. “When the judge read the death sentence verdict, Greaser looked at each jury member for what felt like an hour.”
“It was only about five seconds,” Joel chimed in.
“I said felt like,” Alvin snapped back. “Anyways, if you’d let me finish the story. Or you can.” There was a hint of anger in Alvin’s voice.
“No, you go on. I was merely a spectator. But I saw the look in his eyes.” Joel let out a deep sigh.
“What look?” I was all sorts of confused trying to get to the bottom of what was going on.
“Greaser looked me dead in the eye,” Darnell said, taking his hands out of his pocket and pointed to his eyes with his pointer and middle finger in a dramatic gesture. “He said, ‘I’m remembering your face so when I escape, I can come back to town and kill you before I disappear.’”
I wasn’t sure if it was his intense stare or his words or both, but chills crawled up and down my body, making the hair on my head feel like it’s standing up. All the rational thoughts I’d had a few seconds ago about Greaser leaving town went in all sorts of wonky directions.
“Honestly, he was just saying that to put fear in you.” I tried to make them feel better by brushing off this crazy notion. “I bet you’ve even changed in those two years.”
“Nope. He still looks the same.” Dottie at least took a moment to give Darnell a good onceover before she confirmed, “Yep, still looks the same.”
“I’m sure he is long gone by now.” I nodded.
“I don’t know.” Alvin crossed his arms over his chest. “I was on the jury too. Greaser looked and sounded serious.”
“Think about it. If you escaped from jail, wouldn’t you be thinking about getting as far away as you could?” It seemed like a perfectly logical question. “He’d be stupid not to.”
“Paul West was a very smart man, took all our money.” Alvin did a good job reminding of what my dead ex-husband had done. “He came right back here to see you before someone offed him.”
It was a very logical response to my logical question that left me speechless.
“I guess you ain’t got nothin’ to say to that?” Dottie asked in a very condescending voice. “Look at Darnell and Alvin.” She pointed to them. “They’re as scared as a cat in a dog pound and by rights they should be.”
“Mmmhmm, that’s right.” Darnell, Henry, and Joel all said in unison.
“Listen, I got a good idea.” Dottie’s ideas weren’t always the greatest. “Why don’t you call your man and see which way is up so we can get on with our lives.”
“What do you mean our lives?” I asked. “I didn’t do anything to Greaser.”
“But you might be in his way right now.” Alvin moved close enough to me to give me an elbow. “He might be in them woods right over there.” My eyes followed his nod. “He might be taking aim right now at me, miss, and take you out.”
“Oh, stop it.” I smacked his arm. I looked back at the woods. “You think so?”
“See, even Mae West ain’t so sure now.” Dottie’s drawn on brows rose plum up to the middle of her forehead.
“There’s nothing I can do right now,” I assured them and took my phone out of my back pocket. “Hank hasn’t texted or called. I’m not going to bother him.”
“We can’t even begin to put up the decorations and the work stations for the big party here if we don’t get some assurance that Greaser has left town, either by gunfire or on his own.” Henry’s big wide smile that showed off his front two teeth missing was nowhere to be found.
It was probably the first time I’d seen him without that big smile underneath his wide nose, giving me an unsettled feeling.
He was taking a stand and all the others were behind him with their arms crossed, backing him up.
<
br /> “Fine.” I huffed and marched over to the lake to get a little privacy in case Hank did answer.
The thought of Greaser being around here really had affected me more than I thought it would. My fingers shook as I tried to scroll through my phone to find Hank’s number.
“You okay?” Hank answered immediately with more of a demand in his voice.
“I’m fine, but a few citizens are a little unnerved…” my voice faded when I heard his sigh drop on the other end.
“Mae,” when he said my name like that, I knew he meant business. I hated to admit it, but I wasn’t good at taking orders. “I really need you to stay out of this one. The other cases were local and crimes of passion. This one is different.”
“So you’re telling me this Greaser guy is on the loose and he really might make good on his promise to kill the jurors?” I asked.
“He’s a very dangerous man. He was wanted in four other states for murder and was being transferred to Texas to stand trial for a murder there. He’d requested to see the preacher.”
“Oh, no! Is Lester okay? What about Betts?” I gulped, tears filling my eyes. “Abby said it was their day to go to the prison.”
“They are fine. He knocked down Lester and the prison guard with the guard’s own Billy club and took it with him.” Hank sounded so frustrated. “I really shouldn’t tell you this, but I’d say, Greaser is headed straight out of town.”
“What am I supposed to tell Alvin and Darnell? They are on pins and needles and scared to death, like a cat in a dog pound.” I glanced over my shoulder back to the group. All eyes on me. I gave a slight wave.
“You sound like Dottie.” Hank stopped talking and I let the silence linger to give him a minute to think. “You need to tell them we have some good leads and everyone in Normal is safe. In fact, tell them we will be putting officers in front of their houses to make sure they have no unwanted visitors.”
“Oh, Hank. That’s good. I’m so glad you’ve done that.” I was relieved to be able to reassure them a little. “That’ll make them feel so much better.”
“And don’t you worry.” The tone of his voice changed. “I’ll make sure you’re safe tonight.”
“You better.” It was his way of telling me he’d be at my house - um, camper - when he got off work.
“And Mae,” Hank’s voice changed back to that detective tone. “Not a word about nothing I just told you. Just tell them we’ve got them a detail until this is all taken care of, which won’t be long.”
Three
“I don’t know, Mae.” Dottie Swagger shook her red, curly hair side to side after she took out the last curler. She leaned back in her chair inside the office we shared at Happy Trails. “I’m telling you, Queenie needs to cancel the reenactment until Greaser is found and Normal is safe again.”
“Normal is safe.” I pushed my long curly brown hair behind my shoulders and looked up from the paperwork of campers coming into town today. “Didn’t you hear what I said Hank told me?”
There were many things you could say about Hank Sharp. One was how he didn’t have the best southern gentleman manners that I had so desperately thought I wanted in a man, but he did have that protection factor. No matter how unsafe a situation, Hank was always there to protect. It didn’t matter if it was as trivial as a swim in the lake or a walk along the trail, he was a protector. This time he was determined to protect me and Normal from this Greaser guy.
“I heard.” Dottie still wasn’t satisfied.
“We need to check on Betts.” I looked out the window at the fifth wheel coming up the drive.
“What’s wrong with Betts?” Dottie’s chair screeched when she sat up.
“Nothing.” I shook my head, forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to say anything. “It looks like a new camper is here.”
“You think I’m gonna let you get away with not telling me what Hank Sharp really told you, you’ve got another thing coming.” Dottie jabbed the top of the desk with her finger. “I’ve known you for long enough to know you’re keeping something from me. And if it has to do with one of our Laundry Club gals, you better confess.”
There were a few huffs and puffs before I took a deep breath and prayed Hank wouldn’t kill me.
“The only reason I’m telling you this is because the Laundry Club took me in right from the start when I came to Normal. Y’all pitched in and helped me get this campground up and running. Y’all have become my best friends and I just can’t forget that.” The sound of the big dually truck that’d pulled up with the fifth wheel turned off. Quickly, I told her, “Greaser asked for one of the church people to come see him. Lester went in and did that whole ministering gig he does. When he got up to leave, Greaser knock him and the prison guard down with the guard’s Billy club. That’s how he escaped.”
“Git your things.” Dottie jumped up. “We’ve got to go to the Laundry Club.”
“Afternoon,” A couple who looked to be in their early 60s walked through the office door. “I’m Frank and this is my wife, Barbara.”
Barbara pinched a grin that made her eyes squint.
“We have rented a lot for a couple of weeks.” He looked happy to be here, but she clearly was not.
“Yes.” Dottie grabbed the file with their name on it and practically threw it at him. “Here’s your paperwork, we’ve got to go. We’ll be back later to get it from you.” She grabbed him by the arm and shuffled him out of the office, shutting the door behind him. “Well?” She jerked around and looked at me. “What in the blue blazes are you waiting for?”
“I don’t think that’s a very good way to handle a tenant.” I might be wrong since I was still a little new to the campground owner stuff, but I sure wouldn’t’ve wanted to be treated that way.
“Don’t you worry about it.” Dottie grabbed one of the baskets off the wire shelf near the coffee pot. “I’ll give him a detergent basket, free of charge. Old people love free stuff.”
Dottie hurried out the door, hooting and hollering to the guests about their free basket while I took the time to shut down the computers and close down the office.
The Laundry Club was the laundromat located in downtown Normal. When I first drove into Normal in my small RV, I desperately needed to clean some clothes. At the time, the washer and dryer at the campground were broken, along with everything else. Since then, I had them up and working, but the Laundry Club was where I continued to go.
It was there that I’d met Betts Hager, Abby Fawn, and Queenie French. It wasn’t like any other laundromat you’d ever seen. Or at least any laundromat I’d ever seen, although I hadn’t spent a lot of time in laundromats before coming to Normal.
Betts was the owner and she made it a home away from home for the customers who did their laundry there. She had a family room type setting on one side with a few couches situated around a television. There was a section for games and puzzles. But my two favorite spots were the coffee bar and the book club spot where we held our monthly book club meetings that Abby Fawn spearheaded.
When we opened the front door of the Laundry Club, the smell of freshly brewed coffee curled around me and gave me a big hug of comfort.
Dottie rushed over to the coffeepot where Abby had already started to line up the coffee mugs that had our initials on them. I wasn’t too far behind her.
“While we wait for it to finish brewing,” Abby said and smacked Dottie’s hand away when she tried to get a cup “tell me what’s going on.” She stood over the pot like a guard until it beeped.
“I’m not real sure about the details, but I’m assuming you heard Greaser escaped from jail.” I watched Abby go down the mugs and fill them up. She handed each one of us our cup. “He had been getting religion from Lester when it happened. Somehow, Greaser got the guard’s Billy club after he knocked down Lester and the guard.”
“Lester is in the hospital?” Abby headed over to the couch and sat down, pulling her feet up under her.
I followed her and sat down
.
“We aren’t sure what’s going on!” Dottie was still at the coffee bar, doctoring up her creamer- and sugar-filled mug with coffee. She yelled loud enough to be heard over the washers and dryers going in the laundromat. “Betts hasn’t answered my calls or texts.”
Dottie pulled her phone out of her pocketbook and scrolled through it on her way to the sitting area, spilling a little coffee on her way over.
“Nothin’.” She sighed and sat down.
“Maybe we should just go over there and check on him.” It was a suggestion and I’m sure Betts would appreciate it. “I was told Betts and Lester are fine,” I said without disclosing what Hank told me, though they could read between the lines. “They probably are a bit shaken up and need some space.”
“I’m sure the police are all out in force looking for Greaser.” Abby jerked her head, her ponytail swinging to the side. “I’ll message Betts and see if I get a response, unless Hank has told you something.”
She was fishing for some intimate police insider information. I shook my head and took a sip of the coffee.
“We’ll give her ten minutes to respond. Enough time to drink our coffee.” Abby scrolled through her phone with one hand and used the other to drink her coffee.
“Do you remember what Greaser said to the jurors? It was awful.” Abby looked up from her phone at Dottie. “I wrote a piece in the Normal Gazette about it.” Abby face clouded with uneasiness. “I sure wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.”
She shifted in her seat.
“I think Greaser is long gone by now. I know if I was him, I’d get out faster than a speeding bullet.” Dottie gave a hard nod.
I was glad to hear that Dottie had actually listened to my theory about Greaser leaving town that I’d told her, Darnell, Alvin, and Henry at the campground. It did make a lot of sense.
“That doesn’t mean we all shouldn’t be looking over our shoulders,” Dottie finished her thought and slowly glanced around.