“Sounds like a pretty normal thing to have happen. People are always falling in love with Sugar Grove on sight.”
“That’s exactly how it was. Glenda pointed to the notice board in the back of the Stack and told him to try there for something. When he said nothing seemed like it was a good fit she recommended he talk to Tansey.”
“So Tansey did know him, then?”
“She did indeed. Spooner waited around all morning for Tansey to come in for lunch. When she did he walked right over and told her he was the right man for the job.”
“What job was that?” I asked.
“That’s what Tansey asked, too. He laughed and said any job she might need doing. He’d heard she was a tough woman with a hardscrabble farm and he had a skillful and willing pair of hands if she would give him room, board, and a few bucks at the end of the week.”
“That’s pretty enterprising of him.”
“It sure was. Tansey may have been impressed at his gumption but she wasn’t no different in those days than she is now. She told him she was doing fine on her own and that she didn’t need any help from any strange men.”
“Then what happened?”
“Spooner gave her a little bow, thanked her for her time, and headed out the door.”
“That’s it?” I was expecting much more somehow.
“Of course it isn’t. Tansey had a bunch of errands to run in town that afternoon and it wasn’t until close to suppertime that she got back home to her place. When she pulled up the lights were on in her house.”
“Was she scared?”
“Tansey wouldn’t be scared of a T. rex running at her with a knife and fork clutched in its claws. No, she just pulled the shotgun out from behind the seat of her pickup truck and made sure it was loaded before hustling into her kitchen.”
“Was anyone there?”
“Spooner was there. He had a tea towel tied around his waist like an apron and he was bent over the stove, poking at some trout he was frying.”
“What did Tansey do?”
“What could she do? She hired him. Not only had he caught the fish for supper and cooked them, he had split and stacked a cord of wood, changed the washer in the leaking kitchen faucet, and recaulked her tub. He even dusted and vacuumed.”
“That still doesn’t explain how he came to be in the cellar of the town hall.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Or why no one wants to talk about him. He sounds like he was a great guy.”
“I haven’t gotten to that part yet. Spooner was real popular in town, especially with the ladies. He didn’t just carry spoons in his pocket for no reason. He played them. He was a regular feature at the music nights over in the opera house. Everyone loved to hear what he could do with those things. The novelty of it was just something else, I tell you.”
“I bet. So what happened to change public opinion?”
“The library.”
“The library got him ostracized?”
“Well, the fund-raising for the library. You know how the profits from the Sugar Grove Maple Festival go to a worthy project in town each year?”
“Of course.” For generations the people of Sugar Grove have raised money for one cause or another through their festival. The town opens its arms to tourists from all over and finds a lot of ways to entertain them. The festival has paid for an ambulance, an after-school program, and the local food pantry. This still didn’t explain the problem of Spooner becoming persona non grata.
“Monday morning after the festival was over the town clerk found the lock jimmied and all the money they raised over the weekend missing. No one ever saw Spooner again.”
“So everyone assumed he was the one who took the money?”
“They didn’t want to think so but it did look that way. The money was never recovered and when Lowell questioned Tansey about it she said he never came home that night.”
“Well that doesn’t look too good, does it?” I felt sorry for Tansey. And curious, too. I wondered how close they were and how bad she must have felt by the betrayal. I know it would have really hurt me.
“It won’t look good if a bunch of money is found with his body either.”
“Even if it is, he never made it out of town. He never used any of the money. How did he end up murdered in the basement if he was running off with the funds?” I asked.
“We won’t know that he was murdered until the results come back from the lab. He may have fallen and hit his head on something.”
“No. I saw the body. He was on his back and he had been buried,” I said.
“So you think someone else was responsible for his death?”
“I do. A dead man doesn’t bury himself. Who was here and likely to have had a problem with him back then?” I asked.
“No one that I can think of. Like I said, he was well liked by most of the ladies.”
“And it has been thirty years since it happened. Maybe you forgot something you used to know.” I hated to even mention it but sometimes the doctor got slightly duffer-headed.
“I suppose it could be possible. So many things have happened over the years some things might have slipped through the cracks. But nothing stands out. Other than the money being gone along with Spooner.”
“Tansey must have been pretty upset to have thought she was sheltering a felon all that time in her home.”
“She was completely silent on the whole matter, that much I do remember. It was like he had never existed.”
“That seems extreme. A lot of people would have wanted to vent their anger.”
“Not Tansey. She was as silent as the grave. Maybe more so.”
“So why do you think she got so upset when his body was found? Was it a delayed reaction, do you think?”
“That certainly would be considered delayed. Thirty years is more than your lifetime.” More than a lot of people’s. Which got me thinking. If I wanted some answers I ought to go straight to the source.
Seven
I pulled up at Tansey’s feeling in over my head. Tansey and I have a relationship complicated by competing agendas. It’s her top priority to marry me off to Knowlton and it is mine to thwart her efforts. We’re cordial, cooperative even, when the task at hand suits us both the same way but the rift about Knowlton is always there in the center.
I try to step round it whenever possible but Tansey wades in up to her neck and then shakes the topic all over me like a dog fresh from a bath. I promised Knowlton I’d help and I was concerned for Tansey’s welfare but this meddling could be perceived as something different than I intended. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and headed for the sugarhouse end of Tansey’s barn.
“Dani, what are you doing here? I’d’ve thought you’d be up to your eyeballs in sap right about now.” Tansey sat slumped in a tatty aluminum folding chair with frayed webbing. Her feet sprawled out in front of her and she hadn’t bothered to tie her boots.
“And I’d have thought you’d be busy, too. Is your evaporator broken down or something?” Tansey’s sugarhouse looked like it was the off-season. Her evaporator was empty, no fire heated the box. Tansey herself wasn’t labeling jugs while she sat in her chair. In fact, there were no jugs to be seen and Tansey, for the first time since I’d known her, was doing absolutely nothing.
“I’m not sure I’m gonna boil any sap this year.” She glared at me, her chin tilted up at me like she was daring me to chide her. When I looked closely I could tell she was biting the inside of her cheek. It was a technique I used when I was a kid and was trying not to cry.
Even though this was new territory for us I didn’t feel good about turning tail and leaving her with her thoughts. She looked like she could use a friend. The best thing to do for Tansey would be to just get straight on with it. She didn’t respect people who dithered. They annoyed her.
“Spooner Duffy? Who’s that?” Tansey bit back down on her cheek. If we didn’t hurry up this conversation she was going to need stitches.
“The odd-jobs guy who lived here and helped out with things about thirty years ago. The guy whose spoons knocked you for a loop. That Spooner Duffy.”
“Oh. Him.”
“I’m not trying to be nosy. I’m worried about the festival. People are counting on you to help organize things. Without you the whole thing will most likely fall apart.” I wasn’t just flattering her. Tansey was one of the few people in town who knew just about everything there was to know about the festival. If she was out of commission, my life and the lives of all my family members was about to get a lot less enjoyable. And there was already enough of that going around with Hazel and Jade in town.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll hold up my end of any festival business.” Tansey tried to sit up a little straighter but just sagged back against the chair webbing.
I hadn’t seen that kind of exhaustion in someone since my father died. My grandparents and my mother had looked exactly that same way. I probably had, too, but I really wasn’t in the habit of looking at myself in the mirror all that often.
“I’ve seen that look before, Tansey. You loved that guy and now you know he’s dead and likely has been for a good long time. It’s a terrible thing to find out and even worse when the news is delivered so tactlessly.” I watched as Tansey slumped even deeper into her chair. “I remember getting the news about my father. I’d just gotten back a paper I had worked really hard on. I remember I was still standing outside the classroom door staring at the A on the top of it, just swelled up with pride and relief when my cell phone rang. It was Lowell calling to tell me my father had died. My legs went out from under me and I dropped to the floor. I wasn’t expecting anything like that.”
“No, of course you weren’t. It was just a normal day and then it all fell apart.” Tansey leaned forward and patted my knee with her callused hand.
“That’s it exactly. One second you are going about your regular business and the next you’ve become unmoored. It’s a terrible thing to find yourself without a father.” I had really meant to be a comfort to Tansey but I felt a lump tightening in my throat.
I looked up and thought I had made things even worse because a tear was sliding down Tansey’s weather-beaten cheek. I never thought I’d see the day Tansey Pringle cried. The world must be tilting on its axis. Before I had a chance to say something comforting she spoke.
“It is a terrible thing to be without a father. My Knowlton has lived with that particular disadvantage all his life. I thought it was for the best that he not know anything about his father but now I’m not so sure.”
“What does this have to do with Knowlton?” A light was starting to dawn but I thought it best if I let her share the news instead of me grabbing at it.
“Spooner was Knowlton’s father.”
“And you decided not to tell anyone because everyone thought Spooner ran off with the money from the festival?”
“That’s right. It may be difficult to understand now but when I was pregnant with Knowlton the world was still hard on unwed mothers. It was gonna be tough enough on my baby to be raised up without a father but for everyone to say his daddy was a thief, too, was not something I was prepared to saddle him with.”
“Did you love him?”
“Lord, help me, I did. I loved that man like I didn’t know I could love anyone. When he up and left me my heart just went dead. Until I held our baby in my arms for the first time. I’ve spent thirty years giving all that love to Knowlton, trying to make up for his missing father. Hoping if I loved our boy well enough Spooner might feel it somehow and find his way back to us.” Tansey dragged a flannel-clad arm across her eyes. I was completely stunned. She had always seemed obsessed with Knowlton but now it all made sense.
“At least you know why he never made it back to you.”
“That’s something, I guess. But now the past is all dredged up again and I am worried everyone is going to know about Knowlton being Spooner’s son.”
“Would that be a problem if Spooner didn’t steal the money?”
“No. I can’t say it would. Now that’s an idea.” Tansey struggled up to the edge of the chair, a hopeful flicker in her eyes. I didn’t like the look of it any more than I had liked the way she had seemed so depressed. I liked Tansey best when she was her normal no-nonsense self. But I had to ask.
“What is?”
“You could poke around and ask a few questions about the investigation.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the police chief’s goddaughter. And, if it wasn’t for your renovation project Spooner would never have been found. You owe this to Knowlton.”
“How do you figure that?” I didn’t like to think of owing Knowlton anything. Just the idea of him having a hold over me made my skin crawl like I’d had accidentally taken an overdose of antihistamines.
“People are bound to talk and they may put two and two together about me and Spooner. If your project hadn’t unearthed him none of that would have happened. You’ve got to help clear Spooner’s name before Knowlton is connected with him.” Tansey stood up out of her chair like our business was concluded. I took my cue from her and followed her to the door.
“But what if I can’t? I’m not an investigator and I’m out straight between the sugaring and the festival.”
“You’re a born snoop, and I mean that in a good way. And if you don’t help me with this your schedule is about to get a lot busier because I won’t be able to show my face in town. And that means I won’t be able to help with the festival. You’ll be on your own.”
Eight
“Yup, the chief’s in. You got something special on your mind?” Myra asked, as eager as ever for something juicy to share at the Stack come lunchtime.
“Can’t a girl just want to stop in and say hello to her favorite godfather?” I pushed on past her desk and poked my head around Lowell’s office door. His back was to me and he had his chair tipped back, his fingers laced behind his head. I cleared my throat and smiled at him when he turned around.
“How’s your grandmother holding up with Hazel in the house?” Lowell asked.
“She’s spending a lot of time in the laundry room starching and ironing the sheets,” I said as I stepped in and closed the door behind me.
“That bad?”
“Hazel believes laundry is beneath her. Even though she grew up in the house I’m not sure she even knows where the laundry room is located.”
“Your grandmother is a smart cookie. But she’s not why you are here, is she?”
“Have you identified the body yet?”
“There hasn’t been much to go on.”
“Maybe this will help.” I pulled the napkin-wrapped spoons from my jacket pocket and placed them on the desk.
“What’s this?” Lowell reached out and unwrapped the small bundle.
“Something Russ found with the body.”
“Why didn’t he give it to me at the town hall?”
“He said he forgot he had it but I think he wanted to have a souvenir of his big adventure. You know, something to brag about to his wife and kids.”
“How’d you get it?”
“He headed to the Stack right after he left the town hall and was showing these off to Tansey and Piper. Tansey fainted dead away when she saw them.”
“Myra let me know Tansey had some sort of fit but no one said what brought it on. So Russ just left them there?”
“He left the restaurant in an awful hurry without them when he saw the e
ffect they had on Tansey.”
“You should have turned these in right away.”
“I thought about it. I came by to turn them in but you weren’t here and I didn’t want to give Myra anything else to gossip about.”
“I guess I can see your point.”
“I think I know who they belonged to, too. Do you remember a guy named Spooner Duffy?” I asked, watching Lowell’s eyes widen as he heard the name.
“Of course I do. There was a lot of flap when he and the fund-raiser money went missing at the same time.”
“Tansey and Grampa both identified these spoons as belonging to him.”
“Well that would explain how he never could be tracked down after the money disappeared.”
“So someone went looking for him years ago?”
“Everyone thought he made off with a whole lot of money. We certainly did go looking for him.”
“How much money are we talking about?” I was curious how much the fund-raiser made before I was born.
“All told, about twelve thousand dollars. Which would be somewhere around thirty thousand dollars now.”
“Did you work on the case?”
“Both the chief and I worked it for months. I’ve got the file on it right here somewhere.” Lowell spun in his chair to face a beat-up metal file cabinet. He yanked open a drawer and tugged out a file. “The chief was always sore that we never closed this one.”
“And you never found the money either?”
“No we didn’t. Not a trace of it.”
“How did you hear about the theft?”
“Here it is, March 26, 1984. We got a call from Karen Brewer. She was the town clerk at the time and when she got to work on Monday morning Jim Parnell was already standing at the door waiting for her.”
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