Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 06 - Magnolia Mansion Mysteries

by Hope Callaghan

  She went on. “After that, he retired. Course he was into woodworking. Some sort of custom cabinetmaker.”

  Eleanor got up. “Sure you don’t want some tea?”

  Gloria shook her head. She waited as Eleanor fixed a cup of tea and sat back down. “What about his wife, Barbara?”

  Eleanor sipped the tea. “She was a bit of an odd duck. Never really came out of that house, except for when the two of them would get in the car and go somewhere. They even had their groceries delivered to their door. Every Monday morning like clockwork.”

  Gloria remembered that part. She remembered her mother telling her a similar story. One time Gloria herself caught a glimpse of the deliveryman outside the front door, handing the bags to someone just out of sight.

  “Do you remember anyone ever visiting them? Family? Children?” Gloria was curious.

  Eleanor shook her head. “No. Not even once.” She squished her eyes together thoughtfully. “I don’t believe they ever had children.” She shrugged. “At least not that I can remember.”

  It was Eleanor’s turn to ask questions. “Did something happen over there at the place? Wasn’t there a body found out back in the shed not long ago?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yeah.” She wasn’t sure how much she should say. Eleanor wasn’t the gossiping kind. At least not that Gloria knew of. Plus, everyone in town would find out what happened soon enough. “We found a human skeleton inside the dumpster out in front of the house earlier today.”

  Eleanor’s eyes grew as round as saucers. Her hand flew to her throat. “You don’t say!” She picked up her teacup. “They always said that place was haunted. That ghosts roamed around inside.”

  The place sure did seem to have a lot of odd occurrences and bodies. Gloria stood. “Thanks so much for talking to me, Eleanor. You’ve been very helpful.”

  Eleanor got to her feet. She grabbed her walker and followed Gloria to the door. “If I think of anything else, I’ll give you a call,” she promised.

  “Thanks. I really appreciate that.” Gloria paused. “You look good, Eleanor. I hope I’m half as healthy as you when I reach your age.”

  Eleanor tapped the side of her forehead. “Still sharp as a tack.” She lowered her hand and opened the door. “The Lord blessed me with good health and I’ll be here as long as He sees fit.”

  Gloria smiled. “Which is precisely how long any of us will be on this earth.”

  Eleanor watched Gloria climb into her car. She waved at her before closing the door.

  Gloria pulled her notepad from her purse and grabbed a pen. “Wellness visits to Eleanor,” she jotted down on the pad before slipping it back into her purse. Eleanor was a sweet lady and it would be a shame if anything happened to her.

  Gloria headed up the hill and away from the lake. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to head over to Doc Decker’s place or wait to do that some other day.

  She drove through town and at the last moment decided to stop in the post office to see if Ruth had heard anything. Gloria’s friend, Ruth Carpenter, was head postmaster at the Belhaven post office. She was on top of all the happenings in town. Gloria was certain Ruth had heard all about the remains.

  Gloria squeezed Anabelle into one of the tight parking spaces near the door and eased out of the driver’s seat. The parking lot was half-full, but that didn’t mean all of the people were inside the post office. A lot of them took care of their business inside and then headed across the street to run other errands or have lunch at Dot’s Restaurant, which was directly across the street.

  Gloria opened the front door and stepped inside the air-conditioned lobby. She was the only one in there besides Ruth.

  Ruth whirled around when she heard the tinkle of the front door. When she saw who it was, she rushed over to the counter. “Did you hear about the body found in the dumpster at Andrea’s place?”

  Gloria nodded. “It wasn’t really a body. Just a skeleton,” she told her.

  “How did you….?” Ruth’s eyes narrowed. She slammed an open palm on the countertop. “Let me guess! You were there when they found it!”

  Gloria walked over to the counter and set her purse on top. “Yep. We found it under a pile of old paneling. The stuff that Andrea took out of the kitchen.”

  Ruth raised an eyebrow. “Do they think the body was behind the wall?”

  “It’s a possibility,” Gloria admitted. “After all, it was in with all the other stuff that came out of the kitchen.”

  Of course, the remains were intact. It was possible that someone had put it there, believing that no one would notice it. That it would be hauled away to a landfill and covered in tons of trash, never to be seen again.

  Actually, the more she thought about it, the more that theory made sense. Of course, Gloria wasn’t ruling anything out yet. There was still the possibility it had been behind the wall. Hidden away.

  And then there was the painting, which was as much a mystery as the skeleton was. Last but not least, there was the small, locked area in Andrea’s basement.

  Gloria didn’t mention the painting. “So is anyone talking? Any theories on who the body might belong to?”

  Ruth shook her head. “All I’ve heard so far is,” Ruth raised her index finger, “One. The place is haunted and should’ve been condemned years ago.”

  Gloria interrupted her. “Let me guess. Judith Arnett said that.”

  Ruth nodded. “Two. Andrea is cursed and dead people are following her around.”

  Gloria burst out laughing. That was ludicrous. She doubled over as gales of laughter took over. She finally stopped laughing and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. “That’s a good one. Next they’ll be saying I’m planting bodies just so I’ll have a mystery to solve.”

  The smile disappeared from Ruth’s face. She swallowed hard and studied the floor. Gloria stuck a hand on her hip. “Did someone say that?”

  Ruth fiddled nervously with the ink blotter on the side of the counter. “Well…”

  Gloria leaned in. “Who had the nerve to say such a thing?” It took a lot to get Gloria ticked, but when she did…Whoa! Watch out!

  Ruth recognized that look! She clamped her lips tightly together and shook her head. There was no way she was going to set off 4th of July fireworks between Gloria and a certain unnamed party.

  “You don’t believe it, do you?” Gloria demanded.

  Ruth stiffened her back. Her lips formed a thin line. “Of course not! If not for you, I’d be in prison right now!”

  Gloria relaxed a little. “True.” If not for that handy-dandy little spy camera Gloria had set up and caught Ruth’s nemesis red-handed, she probably would be in prison…”

  Ruth leaned forward. “Sour grapes, Gloria. Nothing but sour grapes. Remember that.”

  Ruth was right. Gloria glanced down at her watch. “I better head home. Let me know if you hear anything else,” she added.

  Ruth stopped her when she got to the door. “Hey! I heard Andrea’s parents are in town and that her mom wore a surgical mask and gloves into Dot’s.”

  Gloria opened the door. “Yeah. She’s uhhhh.. different. Let’s put it that way.” She didn’t wait for an answer before she stepped outside.

  She stomped over to the car, a scowl on her face and her feathers still a bit ruffled by the idea that someone thought she was somehow responsible for coughing up dead bodies.

  Gloria yanked the car door open and slid inside. I guess that meant she was also responsible for the drug trafficking, not to mention bringing bank robbers to town…. she decided.

  Gloria started Annabelle and headed towards home. When she pulled into her drive, her friend, Margaret, pulled in right behind her. Margaret was waiting on the sidewalk by the time Gloria finished parking the car in the garage. “I heard you found another body.”

  “Skeletal remains,” Gloria corrected.

  Margaret waved a hand dismissively. “Body. Skeleton. It’s all the same,” she said.

  The two women wan
dered up the steps. Gloria turned the key in the lock and pushed the porch door open. “You want a glass of tea or lemonade?”

  Margaret flopped down in the rocking chair on the porch. She dropped her purse on the floor next to her. “Sure. Bring me whatever. I’m not picky.”

  Gloria nodded and headed indoors. Mally was waiting in the kitchen, her tail thumping hard on the linoleum floor. Gloria opened the kitchen door. “Go say ‘Hi’ to Margaret,” she told her.

  Gloria pulled two glasses from the cupboard and slammed them on the counter. She wandered over to the freezer and grabbed a tray of ice cubes and pitcher of lemonade from the shelf. She was still stewing a bit about the comment Ruth had made.

  After she put the lemonade back in the fridge, she carried the glasses to the porch. She handed one to Margaret before sliding into the chair beside her.

  Margaret eyed her friend as she sipped the cool drink. “You look fit to be tied,” she commented. The two had been friends for more years than either of them could count and Margaret knew Gloria well enough to see she was stewing.

  “Someone told Ruth they thought I was creating mysteries for attention,” she admitted.

  Margaret snorted. “That’s crazy! Where on earth would you find bodies?” She set the glass on the small table beside her. “Sounds like something Sally Keane would say.” Sally worked part-time at the Quick Stop grocery on the corner of main street. She was also dating Officer Joe Nelson. Of course, she would already know about the remains in the dumpster!

  Gloria’s eyes narrowed. She never had been a huge fan of Sally’s. Every time Gloria stopped in the grocery store, the woman moaned and carried on about something. Her feet hurt. She wasn’t making enough money. The lights in the store were too bright. They made her eyes burn…

  “Or it could be Patti Palmer. I heard she’s not very happy with you these days.”

  Gloria hadn’t thought about that. Yeah, Patti probably did hate her. Of course, it wasn’t Gloria’s fault that her son was a criminal.

  Gloria popped out of the chair. She opened the kitchen door and reached inside to grab her cell phone from her purse. She slipped her glasses on and scrolled through the screen until she came to the picture that Andrea had taken of the painting.

  She handed the phone to Margaret. “We found this stuck to one of the sheets of paneling that had been in Andrea’s kitchen.”

  Margaret squinted at the picture on the screen. “This looks like an oil painting.”

  Gloria nodded. “You know anyone who might be able to take a look at it?” Margaret and her husband, Don, had an extensive art collection. “The police took the painting as evidence but Andrea should be getting it back soon.”

  Margaret handed the phone back. “I have a friend who’s an art dealer in Grand Rapids. Let me know when she gets it back and we’ll take a run down to his gallery.”

  Gloria set the phone on the small side table and grabbed her glass. “Thanks, Margaret. I had no idea where to even start with this…”

  Margaret picked up her glass of lemonade and took a sip. “Aren’t you wondering why I stopped by?”

  Gloria nodded. Come to think of it, it was more than a little odd for Margaret to just “pop in” unexpectedly. “I talked to Liz earlier. She said David had left her a message, telling her that the judge was getting close to a decision on the coins.”

  The “coins” were coins that Margaret, Gloria’s sister, Liz, their cousin, David, and she had found at her Aunt Ethel’s farm in the Smoky Mountains. From everything they’d been told, the coins were worth a lot of money.

  The government had filed a motion to take possession of the coins. Gloria’s cousin, David, who also happened to be an attorney, was fighting them. If allowed to keep the coins, they would all become millionaires!

  “Why didn’t Liz call me?” she grumbled.

  “She tried to,” Margaret pointed out. “In fact, you probably have a message on your answering machine.”

  Gloria sighed. Her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today,” she groaned.

  If Gloria was honest with herself, she’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak.

  Margaret paused. Gloria was normally upbeat, happy-go-lucky, and ready to take on the world. “Is everything okay with Paul?”

  Gloria shrugged. “Haven’t heard from him lately. What with his kids living with him and all.” Maybe that was it. Maybe she was just aggravated with the world and someone spreading rumors that she was “creating” mysteries was the last straw.

  After Margaret left, Gloria wandered around the house aimlessly. Mally followed her from room-to-room. She glanced down at her dog. “Let’s go for a walk!” Mally’s tail thumped the wall. Woof! Mally loved walks!

  Gloria grabbed her sweater off the hook near the door and stepped out onto the porch. She and Mally wandered down the sidewalk, past the garden and headed down the path that ran between the farm fields.

  Soon, it would be harvest season and the dull hum of the tractors as they traveled back and forth across the fields would fill the air.

  Fall was a beautiful time to live in Michigan. The changing color of the trees. The crisp, cool air. It was a welcome change from the muggy summer heat.

  Her son, Eddie, had called the other night. He and his wife, Karen, lived in Chicago. They were planning an October color tour to Michigan and had asked Gloria if they could stay at the farm for a couple days. It was just the two of them.

  Eddie and his wife had decided years ago that they didn’t want children. Instead, they wanted to focus on their careers and each other. Gloria supported them in their decision but secretly wondered if someday they might not regret it.

  Gloria’s other son, Ben, lived in Houston with his wife, Kelly, and their twins, Ariel and Oliver. The family tried to come home every summer to visit, but for the second year in a row, the children were too busy. Instead, Ben promised they’d be home for the holidays.

  If Gloria had to choose between a summertime visit and the holidays, she’d rather have them around for the holidays.

  Last but not least was her daughter, Jill, and Jill’s husband, Greg. They lived in nearby Green Springs with their two boys, Tyler and Ryan.

  She and Mally headed in the direction of the woods and the creek that ran along the edge of the property. She shoved her hands in the pocket of her sweater as she walked. “What do you think about having Tyler and Ryan come spend the night?”

  She reached down and patted Mally’s head before she continued walking. She liked that idea. The last time the boys had stayed over had been right after Ruth’s crisis and the yard sale. School would be starting soon and then they’d be too busy to spend time with her.

  She decided to call her daughter when she got back in the house.

  The two of them stepped into the woods and wandered over to the creek. There had been a lot of rain the last few weeks and the creek was overflowing. Mally didn’t seem to mind. She wandered over to the water’s edge and dipped her head to take a drink.

  Gloria settled in on the log near the bank and reached down to pick up a leaf that had fallen. She twirled it between her fingers and studied the pattern. God’s creation always left her in awe.

  She wondered how Andrea was faring with her parents. She didn’t want to judge them, but had to admit to herself they were a couple of odd ducks. At least Andrea had Pierce. He seemed like a nice guy. More like what Gloria had envisioned Andrea’s father to be like.

  Her mind wandered to the remains. She wondered whose they were. The investigator had put the body in the bag rather quickly, but from what she could see, it looked as if there was some kind of clothing still on the body.

  She pushed herself off the fallen tree and brushed the dirt off her backside. She wandered over to the stream.

  Had Andrea or Pierce noticed the clothing? she wondered.

  Mally was back from her wanderings. Gloria reached over and tickled her ears. “You ready to walk
back?”

  She let Mally in the kitchen first, and then followed her inside. She found Puddles curled up on a kitchen chair. He lifted his head when he heard them come in. Gloria reached down and stroked his back. “I’d take you on our walks but I’m afraid you’d run off and I’d never be able to find you.”

  She hung her sweater on the hook and glanced over at the counter. The light on her answering machine was blinking. She pressed the button.

  “Hi Gloria. It’s Liz. I wanted to let you know David called. The court is getting close to making a decision. He said we should hear something in the next couple weeks.”

  She heard a muffled noise. Like Liz was covering the phone. “Look, I gotta go. Al’s here.” The message ended abruptly.

  Gloria hit the “erase” button. Al. She must mean Al Dickerson. Gloria had played a bit of a matchmaker at her last get-together. A cookout. Liz and Al had hit it off. She was happy for Liz and happy for Al, whose wife had passed away a little over a year ago.

  She frowned. Her own love life was in the tank. She remembered Margaret’s words. Maybe she was cranky. And lonely.

  She grabbed her cell phone. Before she could change her mind, she sent Paul a text message. “Lonely girlfriend, looking for a date. Please call if interested in helping.”

  She hit the “send” button before she changed her mind.

  She set the phone on the table and headed to the living room. She made it as far as the dining room when the cell phone chirped. Maybe it was Paul!

  She ran back into the kitchen and squinted at the screen. Her heart sank. It was Andrea. “Hello, dear.”

  “They’re driving me crazy!” Andrea whispered. “Hang on.” Gloria heard a commotion, as if Andrea was moving.

  “Can I come over?” she begged.

  Gloria grinned into the phone. “Yes, of course. I’m home.”

  “Great! I’ll be right over.” Gloria set the phone back on the table and shook her head. It made her wonder if maybe she didn’t drive her own daughter, Jill, crazy!