Kari Jacobs Box Set

by Harper Harris

  While we passed through the back, Greg told me, “This back pasture was briefly for sale and I almost bought it, but when I went in to talk to the real estate agent, she said that Sylvia had changed her mind.”

  The back pasture had been for sale? That was something I didn’t know before. I wondered why Sylvia would have put it up for sale and then taken it down. I was about to ask Greg a few more questions, but the two of us saw a streak of Virginia’s gray hair in the woods.

  Greg took off running after her, yelling, “Virginia!”

  I followed suit, but we lost sight of her almost as soon as we had spotted her. She was just as fast and as tricky as before. I couldn’t believe she was running so quickly, especially given what Delilah told me about a car accident. Now that I was thinking about, that didn’t really add up. If she had hurt herself pretty badly, she shouldn’t have been able to run away from us with such ease.

  Catching my breath, I asked, “I’m surprised your mother can run so fast. I thought she was in a car accident a few years back?”

  “How did you know that?” he asked me.

  “Someone at Red Rivers told me.”

  Greg nodded. He looked more embarrassed than suspicious. He stopped walking and fully turned to me, saying, “My mother got into an accident because she has Alzheimer’s. She was driving, got confused about where she was supposed to be on the road, and got into a wreck with a truck.”

  Oh dear. No wonder Greg was taking care of everything and why he was so concerned about her being out by herself. Virginia could easily get hurt if he wasn’t careful.

  “We should go find her then,” I said.

  We started walking again, back up towards the house. We still had a little bit of ways to go, so I slipped in a few more questions.

  “Was your mother hurt in the wreck?” Greg shook his head.

  “Nothing too serious. Just a few cuts. The driver of the truck was also okay. We got lucky that the car was the only thing to really suffer any damage.”

  That didn’t align with what Delilah told me. If Virginia hadn’t gotten hurt, the doctor wouldn’t have prescribed pain pills, which meant that there wouldn’t be an addiction.

  I didn’t want to outright ask, so I tried to artfully squeeze in my suspicions about the pain medication, just to make sure whether Delilah told me was the truth or not.

  “My friend was in an accident and it was a mess. He hurt his leg and for months he had to do physical therapy and take these insane pain pills,” I told him— which was the truth. “It sounds like your mother really avoided the worst of it.”

  “She did. She left the doctor’s with only a few bandages. That was when we found out about her diagnosis, but, thankfully, there wasn’t anything more we had to sort out.”

  Greg’s answer sounded like Virginia wasn’t on any kind of pain pills or had ever been on any recently.

  Why would Delilah lie about something like that? I thought about it on our way to Red Rivers, but couldn’t come up with a reason. We made it to the front and then we found Virginia sitting on the porch, doing nothing in particular.

  He walked over to her while I stood off to the side. Virginia looked up at him, but there appeared to be no recognition in her face.

  Greg kindly asked, “Could you come back to White Oaks with me?”

  But she flat out refused. “No. I’d rather stay with my friends.”

  “Please, Ma. We can walk around the fields, if you want. I know you like to do that.”

  Virginia still refused to leave Red Rivers. Greg kept trying to offer incentives, but nothing seemed to catch her interest enough to get her to leave. I found it interesting that she was calling the people at Red Rivers her friends. If the feud between Virginia and Sylvia ran as deep as Sylvia suggested then why would Virginia remember Red Rivers as a friendly place?

  The front door opened and Henry walked out. He surveyed the scene and then politely asked, “May I inquire as to what is going on out here?”

  His question was mainly directed at me but, instead of answering, I said, “I know what happened to the Winters’ Family Bible.”

  Henry’s eyes went wide for a second and he came down the porch steps. Without any more inquiries, he started to usher us all inside.

  “Why don’t you and your mother come inside for some lemonade? And you too, Kari. I know you’ve walked a lot today.”

  Greg looked back at me and I just nodded. He seemed very confused, but he went along with the sudden change in atmosphere. We all went inside, and I got ready to lay out all the facts.

  Chapter Ten

  We were all in the living room, waiting for Henry to bring in the lemonade. Sylvia, Delilah, and Virginia were all seated, while the dogs were unleashed and laying at the foot of the couches. Greg was standing next to me, clearly trying to figure out what was going on and coming up empty.

  He leaned over next to me and asked, “What’s this all about?”

  Henry walked in with the tray of drinks at that moment, so I leaned a little closer and whispered back, “Sylvia hired me to sue your mother because she thinks that Virginia stole the Winters’ Family Bible.” I thought it best to let him know why he was there, since Greg was obviously worried. “It’s going to be fine, I promise.”

  He nodded but didn’t really seem reassured. And I couldn’t really blame him, after I had just broken that little piece of news to him. He went to take a seat by his mother and I rolled my shoulders back, took a deep breath, and then got everyone’s attention.

  “Hello!” The room turned towards me and I went straight into my explanation. “The reason we are all here is because Sylvia Winters has been looking for her family Bible and believes that Virginia Olsen had stolen it. But Virginia never stole it. She didn’t want to curse you, Sylvia, and she didn’t want to sell it to buy drugs. The real culprit is a Winters family member.” I turned to the member in question before saying her name, “Delilah.”

  Sylvia let out a louder than necessary gasp before turning to her sister-in-law.

  “Delilah! Is this true?”

  She looked down at her feet not wanting to answer the question. I knew Sylvia could commandeer the entire conversation, so I didn’t leave too much of a gap for conversation.

  Continuing, I said, “She didn’t take it for any nefarious reasons. In fact, Delilah wanted to keep the plantation from being sold off. Five years ago, she stole the Bible, sold it for its gold, and used the money to keep the plantation afloat. She was particularly worried about the back pasture, especially when you put it up for sale.”

  “But whatever for?” Miss Sylvia asked.

  “The back pasture holds the tree that has her and her husband’s initials carved into it and she didn’t want to lose that part of their history. But she was ashamed about what she had done, so she lied and told Sylvia that she saw Virginia with the Bible. She thought it was an innocent enough lie given their old feud. And, it’s likely that everything else that has gone missing around the plantation was also Delilah trying to keep it all from falling apart. It was the only way she could think of to save it all. Sure, Virginia technically stole Delilah’s delicious peach pie, but she didn’t mean to or know she was doing it— she was just confused and thought she was in her own house. But Deliliah decided to blame her for the theft of the Bible and the spoons while she was at it.”

  I took a deep breath once I was done and turned all of my attention to Delilah. Her face was still looking downward, but her cheeks were very, very red.

  Sylvia put a comforting hand on her sister-in-law’s back and softly said, “Delilah?”

  She looked up and tears were coming down her face.

  “It’s true. It’s all true,” she admitted. “I just wanted to make sure everything stayed the way it had been. That’s why I did it. We didn’t have the money to keep the plantation and I desperately wanted to save it. I couldn’t let it all slip through our fingers. It would have been too much.”

  She was crying pretty he
avily at this point, her shoulders shaking. Sylvia brought her into a big hug, patting her back.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she said, in a comforting tone of voice. “You were just doing what you had to do. I know you wanted to help and I understand.”

  They stayed like that until Delilah calmed down a little. She moved back some, and then wiped the remaining tears from her face.

  “Thank you, Sylvia,” she sniffled.

  Miss Sylvia said, “And once we sell Snickerdoodle and Macaroon’s puppies, we should be okay for a while.”

  Sylvia offered Delilah a small and sweet smile. They both took a deep breath and then returned back to the group.

  Sylvia looked up at me and said, “Thank you, Kari.”

  The room kind of settled for a little bit and it felt like it was all over, but then Greg piped up, “I have a few suggestions,” he said, holding up his hand.

  We all turned to him and he got flushed a little bit before continuing. He pushed up his glasses and offered his two cents’ worth. “For the tree, you guys could pay to have it taken down and preserved. The whole tree or just the part with the initials, whichever you want. And that way, once it’s off the back pasture, you can sell the land.”

  Sylvia was nodding and she looked over at Delilah, who seemed to also agree.

  “Perhaps,” Sylvia answered. “What’s your other suggestion?”

  “This one is also a bit to my benefit, but if you all are willing to watch my mother during the day, I’d be willing to pay you for your time. I figure she’ll be happier here with you rather than sitting in White Oaks by herself all day. And maybe she’ll stop running around in the fields.”

  Greg looked over at his mother, who seemed to be in her own world at the moment. Sylvia looked over too and took her hand. This got Virginia out of whatever daydream she was in and she focused on the woman next to her.

  “I’d like that very much. I do believe that it is time for me and old Ginny to become friends again.”

  Virginia smiled and put her other hand on top of Sylvia’s.

  “Yes, let’s,” she responded.

  It looked like everyone was happy and whatever grievances were previously held just vanished. I seemed to no longer be needed and was about to make my way out just to get some fresh air, when Greg stood up and walked over to me.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  He just stood there for a few seconds, not saying much, so I offered, “Do you want me to walk you out?”

  He nodded and the two of us left the living room. We made our way to the front of the house, not having any real conversation. Once we got to the porch, he finally said something.

  “I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done.”

  I shook my head, not sure what he was talking about.

  “I didn’t really do anything.”

  “No, you helped my mother in more ways than you could imagine. She and Sylvia have always had a bit of a rocky relationship, but they were always friends at the heart of it all. It was weird when she suddenly stopped calling. Now that it’s all been laid to rest, my mom will be much happier now.”

  “I’m glad I could help, Greg. I’ll make sure to check out the museum when it’s finished.”

  This mini detour had gotten me rather interested in the area and I thought I’d like to learn a little more about its history. Since I would only be living an hour away, in Appleton, I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to drive back here and visit.

  “Well, you can always get in for free.”

  I was about to say goodbye and head inside, when Greg started saying something else. “I wanted to ask you one more thing––”

  But before he could finish, I saw a large tow truck coming up the driveway. It said Bud’s Towing and I knew my saving grace had just arrived.

  “Oh, my goodness!”

  I got super excited, and I couldn’t even wait to hear what Greg was going to say, telling him, “I have to go, but we can talk later, maybe? It was really nice meeting you.”

  I gave him a quick hug and then ran over to greet Budrow. He had a huge smile on his face as he climbed out of his truck.

  “You must be Miss Kari.”

  “How did you guess?”

  I was standing in front of a very jolly looking man whose whole presence had very much eased all the anxious feelings I had from earlier.

  “The only time a lady as pretty as you is that excited to see me is because she needs a tow,” he said.

  I almost blushed at his compliment, but I was too giddy because my car was finally going to get towed into town, where it could finally get fixed.

  “I’m happy to see you, Budrow! And you fixed your truck earlier than expected. How exciting!”

  He didn’t seem to believe me, but he took my word for it and motioned over in a direction away from the house.

  “I saw your car on my way here. You can hop inside and I can give you a tow into town.”

  “Okay. Let me just grab my stuff and then we can get moving.”

  I also wanted to say goodbye to everyone before leaving. They had all been so nice and, even though I did end up working, I really enjoyed my momentary stay at Red Rivers Plantation. I wanted them all to know that before I left.

  I ran back towards the house to make the rounds. Greg had already left to go back to White Oaks and we had already said goodbye. I know he said he wanted to ask me something else, and I felt kind of bad for running off the way I did, but he could always just give me a ring with that question and whatever other ones he might have for me. I went back to the living room and found everyone still sipping on their lemonade.

  “Well, the tow truck got here early and I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for everything,” I told them. “I really enjoyed staying here.”

  Sylvia looked a little down, but she kept her voice sounding happy.

  “Oh, we really loved having you here, Kari. Come back anytime. You are always welcome at Red Rivers.”

  They all waved goodbye to me, Henry included. I think he even gave me a smile.

  I ran up to my room, made sure to clean up everything and grabbed my bag.

  As I left, Miss Sylvia called to me, “Leave me your forwarding address and I’ll send your payment along in the mail, Kari.”

  I wouldn’t hear of it. Breakfast was enough payment for me.

  Budrow was waiting in the truck, his arm resting on the door.

  He poked his head out and said, “Are you ready, little lady?”

  I nodded and he opened the door for me from the inside. I climbed in and we drove over to my decommissioned vehicle. Despite having a good time and being glad I could help solve the mystery, I was very glad to be getting on with my journey. I had a new life to start, in Appleton.

  Epilogue

  I had been in Appleton only a couple of days. Even so, Red Rivers Plantation had become a distant memory in light of an apartment full of boxes and a new job starting on Monday. I’d definitely hold on to that memory and hopefully get out there once in a while.

  I was taking a break after setting up some furniture for my living room when I got a call from an unknown number. These weren’t unusual given my line of work, so I picked it up, not really giving it too much thought.

  “Hello?”

  A man on the other end responded by saying my name, “Kari Jacobs?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Hi. I have a delivery for you from Red Rivers Plantation. They ended up mailing it straight to the post office since they didn’t have your address, but they put your number on the box.”

  I almost laughed at Sylvia’s clever thinking. When I had left, I couldn’t remember my address off the top of my head, and I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to my car, so I left a note with my number by the foyer.

  I didn’t really want payment for solving the mystery, but I was interested in keeping in touch with the people I had met while I was stranded there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Syl
via had also left a kind of cheeky note for the mailman as well.

  “Yes! Um, let me give you my address.”

  I rattled it off, now having committed it fully to memory, and he said that he would here in about a half hour. I wondered if Sylvia had sent me a check for my services. I’d basically decided that that wasn’t going to happen. If she sent me a check, I planned to tear it up. They’d let me stay with them and had fed me delicious Southern meals for free. I considered any debt to have been settled fair and square.

  I used the time before the mailman’s arrival to make myself lunch and waited until the doorbell rang. He was pretty spot on with his time estimate because almost right at the half hour mark, the mailman was there.

  I went to the door, and when I opened it, I saw that he had a large box in his hands. He set it down and held out a clipboard.

  “I need you to sign for it, Ma’am. Just right along the dotted line.”

  I took the paper and pen, not yet signing because I wasn’t sure what I had just received. I was a little disappointed that what Sylvia sent me clearly wasn’t a check to tear up. I was going to have a harder time turning down whatever was in this box.

  I considered just marking it “Return to Sender” but I didn’t want to be rude and not accept a gift. However, I couldn’t even guess at what it was. The box was fairly large, but I couldn’t pinpoint anything.

  I looked at the delivery man and asked, “Do you know what it is?”

  He gave me an amused smile and told me, “It’s a handful— that’s what it is.”

  I could tell he wasn’t going to give me any more information, so I just signed for the thing and handed back the clipboard. He left soon after and I kneeled down to stare at the box.

  That wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I took a full sit while I pondered what it could be. Before I could figure it out though, I heard whimpering from inside.

  What in the world?

  I saw that there were holes poked in the box, and a pink nose was trying to get through. I finally opened the lid. Inside, I found what I was beginning to expect but still couldn’t believe. Inside this box that Sylvia had sent was a little brown and black Great Dane puppy.