by Tonya Kappes
“Over such a silly bet.” It was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard of.
“My wife and I lived on the campground, I opened the diner and enjoyed every bit of my life until I looked up one day. Ten years had gone by, we had a couple more boys that we didn’t intend to have because we were getting up in age, and then my wife was diagnosed with cancer. Ty had gone off to culinary school and everything we had saved was used to pay medical bills.” He paused.
“Dad, you don’t owe Mrs. Westerheimer any explanation.” I looked back at the door where Ty stood. His brow cocked. “The nurses told me dad had a visitor. A Mrs. Westerheimer. Besides, she thinks I killed Paul West.”
“Nah.” Mr. Randal tapped his chest with his finger. “She knows deep down that you didn’t do it. She just needs to hear everything herself. Her life has been turned upside down too. The two of you are more alike than y’all want to admit. Stubborn. He’s always been like his mama.” He pointed to the bed. “Sit down, boy.”
Ty did what his father had told him to do. It was cute in a little boy kinda way.
“Anyways, Paul would come to town every now and then, with big ideas of how he was going to build the campground back up. He needed investors in his latest project. He’d done well for himself, so I put up the diner since I owned it free and clear. After the Ponzi news broke, I headed straight down to the bank and took out enough of a loan to keep my diner. That’s when I had the heart attack and Ty had to come home to help.”
“If it weren’t for your. . .” Ty started to say.
“Ex!” I said a little too loud.
“No, no. Paul might’ve given me a little extra stress, but my arteries were all clogged up from all that fried food I cook and eat, so you can’t blame him for all of it.” Mr. Randal was too kind, and I didn’t blame Ty for his bitterness. “Every waking moment Ty isn’t at the diner cooking or taking care of the boys, he’s here with me. I told Detective Sharp that and he checked it out.”
“I’m sorry that I even thought such a thing.” I stood up. “You are a kind man, Mr. Randal. But you’re wrong about me leaving. I’ve already made the decision to stay in Normal until I got the campground back to the way it was when you owned it.” I put my hand on his arm and squeezed. “When you’re up and running, I’m going to need some advice.”
“You’ve got it.” He put his hand on mine and returned the squeeze.
“Knock, knock.” Betts Hager stood at the door with a white casserole dish in her hands and a big smile on her face. “Mae,” her voice escalated. “What are you doing here?” She looked between me and Ty and Mr. Randal.
“She’s here because her nosiness extends beyond Happy Trails. It appears she’s already spent too much time with you ladies at The Laundry Club,” his accents came out in spades.
“Why, Ty Randal, what ever are you talking about? Our Mae here was born and bred in Kentucky.” She walked into the room and bent down to Mr. Randal’s level. “I brought your favorite cherry pie to help you get better faster.”
I gulped. Did I have to tell them my past or could I just let her comment float right on by? I choose the latter.
“You’re just tired of cleaning my house and want me to get better.” He licked his lips.
“No such thing.” She winked and sat the dish on the stand next to the TV. “Do they know when you’re going to blow this joint? You look a lot better today.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Ty walked over and lifted the tin foil off of the pie. “The doctor called me and said that they were going to release daddy tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Mr. Randal questioned. “I guess I better start pretending I’m sicker,” he joked.
“Don’t worry. I’ve made a place for you in the trailer. You’re going to stay with me and the boys until you are really on your feet.” Ty turned to Betts. “Do you mind cleaning the house one more time?”
“Ty, there’s really nothing to clean. No one has been there and I feel like you’re wasting your money.” Betts clasped her hands in front of her.
“No. A deal is a deal. Since I’m going to the camper for a few, can you clean there?” Mr. Randal wasn’t letting her off the hook.
“Alright now. Don’t be going and getting all upset. I’ll make arrangements with Ty.” She patted Mr. Randal on the shoulder. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“I’ll go with you.” I gave a nod. “Now that you’re coming to Happy Trails, I look forward to hearing your ideas about how I can get that campground up and running.”
Betts and I said our goodbyes to the Randal men.
“Thank you for the car.” I turned to my friend.
“You are welcome. Does it drive well?” she asked.
“It’s great. Actually, I drove it all the way to Lexington to see Grady Cox, Paul’s best friend from college.” I sucked in a deep inhale.
“Really? Why?” She asked and pushed open the door to the outside world.
The fresh air rushed into my lungs, relieving me of the stale smell of the rehabilitation center.
“Long story short, he and Paul have ties to Normal from way back and I found out today that he gave Paul so much money, like millions, for his investment.” I put air quotes around investment, so I didn’t have to say the word scheme. “Grady disappeared off the face of the earth the day Paul was killed.”
“Then he’s the killer.” Betts threw her hands up in the air. We continued to walk to the parking lot.
“You’d think so, but Detective Hank isn’t so sure. And,” I glanced over my shoulder at the rehab facility. Ty was standing outside with his hands on his hips, glaring at us. “Grady doesn’t have a strong motive like Ty Randal. That’s why I was here. To talk to Mr. Randal. Ty has a strong alibi. Here.”
We stopped at the front of the Ford. She looked at me and the corners of her eyes dipped.
“Ty did get the short end of the stick since his mama died, and it continued with his daddy making a deal with the devil.” She didn’t have to say Paul’s name for me to know that she was talking about him. “But, Mae, you aren’t going to find any better people than the Randals. They are salt of the earth folks.”
“It appears that way.” I glanced back at the front of the building. Ty was still there with that stare. It sent chills up my spine. “I just hope we can find Grandy Cox.”
“We?” She gave a nervous laugh. “I wasn’t going to say anything because I don’t know you well, but Mae, you need to let Hank Sharp do his job.”
“If I let Hank Sharp do his job, he’d have Dottie Swaggert down at the country jail behind bars and I’m not going to let that happen. Say,” I stopped her as she was on her way to her van. “I meant to ask you about the thing you and the church women do with the prisoners.”
“We have some openings, I’d love for you to join us.” She got excited with her bright eyes and big smile.
I hated to let her down, but that was the last thing I wanted to volunteer for.
“That’s very admirable of you and the ladies. In fact, everything you do is admirable, but I understand that you go to the prison where Paul had been sent.” There was such a fine line between talking about Paul and not talking about him. He was definitely the elephant in the room wherever I went.
“I don’t think we ever had him or I’d remember.” Her expression stilled. “You know that they keep records of who goes in and out of the prison. There’s a list of visitors per inmates because we have to list the prisoners we visit.”
“I got a list from the prison website that listed the groups that went to the prison and I wanted to contact those groups to see if they had lists of the people they’d bring because someone had to have gotten in there and somehow gotten Paul out.” There had to be some connection.
“I know that when we went the other day, they were very strict on the places they let us go. We were able to go to a few of the buildings, but this time, they made us meet with the inmates outside.” She put her hand on her chest. “As the preacher�
��s wife I shouldn’t be gossiping, but I am a young woman who doesn’t mind a tale or two.”
“What does that mean?” I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to learn their lingo.
“I did overhear a couple of the inmates talking about a prison escape. They didn’t call Paul by his name, they called him by his inmate number, but I know they were talking about him.” Her brows lifted. “They said that it had to have been an inside job because the day he escaped, they didn’t go outside because it came a Georgia flood there.”
“Really? When I got here, the dirt was dry.” I recalled how disappointed I was not having the beautiful Kentucky Bluegrass and that terrible lake.
“Just because it didn’t rain here, doesn’t mean it didn’t rain in Lexington,” she said. “They also said that the FBI had been going through all the cells and interviewing everyone. I had to giggle when one said that he had to put away his extra cigs because he’d won them in a poker game. The guards don’t like them gambling and he’d been questioned.”
“Is the prison like a real prison?” I asked and suddenly felt sorry for Paul.
There was no way I couldn’t. He was human like the rest of us. Was he trying to get to me when he came back to Happy Trails? Surely, he knew that it was the first place the police would look for him.
“It’s a prison, but they aren’t hard time criminals, more white collar, like Paul.” She shrugged. “I know that you want to help everyone in Normal, but I think you just need to be you and let all this play out with Paul. You can only do what you have control over and that’s Happy Trails.”
“Thanks, Betts. You are very kind and you’ve gone above and beyond to help me.” I smiled over at her while I got the car keys out of my pocket. “One day I’ll pay you back.”
“That day will be Sunday,” she reminded me with a little skip in her step. “Sometimes I need someone to help me clean. I’ll let you know.”
SIXTEEN
“I guess we can strike the Randal’s off the list,” I told Dottie.
“Is that so?” She held onto the base of the ladder while I used Henry’s staple gun to staple the party lights Betts had given me to use around the Tiki bar. “I didn’t think Ty did it anyways, but Mae, I’m finding that you’re one of them people who has to try it for themselves to believe it.”
“He was with his daddy around the time Hank said Paul had been shot.” I ignored her complimentary comment of me and continued to tell her what I’d learned. “I’m still so worried that he’s going to try and pin it on you.”
“Didn’t I tell you that I found me an alibi?” She took a step back, letting go of the ladder and looked up at me.
“No.” I handed her the nail gun before I climbed down. “That’s wonderful news. Who was it?”
Alvin Deters and his crew was putting the finishing touches on what he called the irrigation system in the middle of the lake, which looked like a pineapple fountain to me. The sound of the water feature was actually soothing and relaxing.
“I got to thinkin’.” She tapped her temple. “I was having me some trouble with the satellite dish up on the roof of my camper. I had placed a call to them and was fussin’ with them around the times Paul was killed. It wasn’t until I got my bill in the mail this mornin’ that I remembered. I was as happy as a peacock as I took my bill right on down to the station and handed it to Hank. He did whatever magic they do with phone records and calling people and confirmed they had me on hold several different times, adding up to almost two hours on the phone with them.” She stuck up two fingers in the air. “That means two hours I won’t get back in my life. Can you believe that?”
“I’m so glad. Not about the wasted life thing but the fact you have an alibi.” There was a relief that swept over me that made me feel like I wasn’t in a huge hurry to find out who killed Paul now. Though my curiosity was still up, the only people on my list and that I’d started to care about had solid alibis. “I still think that Grady Cox did it. I mean, he disappears the day of and they’ve not heard or seen from him?”
“Now you need to stop snooping now that I’m not a suspect and we can finish up with the decorations for this fundraiser.” She jerked her head to the side. “Come on, I need to show you something.”
“What?” I asked.
“It’s a sir-prise,” she said in a slow southern twang. “So you’re gonna have to come with me to find out.”
“I do love a good surprise.” I looked around the campground as I followed her towards the building I thought would make a great office one day instead of her camper.
The campground was coming along. The sod had started to take, the muck from the lake was gone, and all the camp sites had been cleaned up, weeded, and ready for RV’s. There was a fear of getting too excited and the expectation that we were going to be able to get some reservations.
“Do you think people are going to come?” I asked Dottie and followed her into the building.
“With all of Abby’s social media and the ads you put out in the paper, I think we will have a handful of people.” She flipped on the light. “Well?” She rocked back on the heels of her shoes. “Whatcha’ think?”
“Dottie,” I gasped and looked at the desk, filing cabinet and computer. “Is this the new office?”
“Yes, ma’am. You said we needed a real office space and I figured we’d clear out this building. That sign over there,” she pointed to several metal signs, “it says office. Henry is going to hang that later today. Those are some signs I thought he could hang in the recreation center.”
“That reminds me. I need to call someone I met the other day to come and get the video games in the recreation center up and running.” I made a mental note to call Jr. It could be his first job for me.
“Here we got the files from my camper all in order of the lot numbers. The computer isn’t all working yet, but I thought you could do that.” As she talked, I had an idea I’d have Jr. do that too. “The phone is hooked up and ready for reservations.”
“This is great, Dottie.” My eyes filled with tears of joy.
“Don’t be going and getting all soft,” Dottie warned. “You said we need to run like a business and we do. I’ll be working here during the day and you can work at night.”
“I think we can work something out. Thank you.” I gave her hug.
“Yep, you’re going soft on me,” she joked.
“Don’t you know that we hug around here,” I repeated everything I’ve been hearing.
“Goodness gracious. Mae West, I think we’ve started to rub off on you,” she teased.
“I just think you have.” I couldn’t stop the smile from growing ear to ear. “What do you say we head over to my storage unit. I think there’s some clothes in there I can sell or find someone to buy. I’ve gotta find some extra cash to pay someone to get those video games up and running along with this computer.”
“Sounds good.” She walked over to the wall where there were some hooks. “Here are the keys we need. I’ve got them all labeled on this little round piece of cardboard on the tag, so any of us can find what we need.”
When we walked outside, Alvin was walking around.
“There you are.” He pointed to me and we met in the middle. Buck down at the Tough Nickle sent over some lawn chairs and a couple Adirondack chairs along with a couple of bourbon barrels and a popcorn machine for a donation. He said he got some in for the shop, but they are used and he figured you could use them around the lake.” Alvin pointed to his pick-up truck. The white chairs were stacked up and looked like they were about to tumble right on out of there.
“That’s great.” It took everything I had not to cry. “Alvin, thank you so much. First the lake, the fish, the sod and now this. I’m so grateful. You’re kindness has really touched me.”
“Your dedication to this community has really made up for what your husband has done. The good preacher and Betts is right. You were just as much a victim as we were.” He didn’t have those hard-fa
cial features I was used to seeing when he talked to me before. There’d really been a shift. “I’m sorry I didn’t see that the day I met you.”
I knew it was hard for him to apologize, so I let it slip on through the wind.
“You’ve got to come in here and see the new office Dottie fixed up,” I encouraged him to come in.
“I’d love to, but I’ve got to get down to the bank. I’ve spent too many afternoons off.” He declined my offer. “Next time I see you, we’ll have us a cocktail underneath that palm tree over there.”
“I hope it makes it until then.” We both looked over at the blow up palm trees Henry had spaces apart around the lake and used rope and stacks to keep them from blowing over.
“Everything looks great and from what I hear, all the social media you’re doing is getting the word out. I’m gonna put these chairs out and then I’m gone.” He waved and headed back to his truck.
“Come on,” Dottie waved me over. “You’re burnin’ daylight.”
The storage units were right behind the new office and it didn’t take long for us to get there. I took the opportunity to put a call into Grady Jr.
“Hi, Jr, it’s Mae West,” I greeted him after he answered the phone. “I wanted to know if you wanted to do a couple of jobs for me.”
After explaining to him what I needed, he was more than happy to come by later in the day after his shift at the BBQ diner and we hung up.
“Here you go.” Dottie handed me the small key to the storage unit. “You’ll just put the key in the lock, turn and pull up on the handle. Like a garage door.”
I did exactly what she said. When the sun poured into the storage unit it exposed everything in it.
“What in the name of. . .” Dottie started to walk into the unit.
“Dottie stop!” I screamed and took out my cell phone, dialing 9-1-1.