“Nothing so far, but I can’t say he won’t later. He’s a vindictive little man. Has been since high school.”
“Let me guess. He wanted to date you and you wouldn’t give him the time of day, and he’s been a prick ever since?” David leaned against the door frame, glancing into Molly’s living room.
“Something like that. But I don’t dare cross him. He has the whole library board in the palm of his hand. If he wants me gone, they won’t stand up for me. So I’d appreciate it if you could try to avoid pissing him off in the future. Like, don’t sock him in the jaw again, OK?”
“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t even know I was going to do it until it was done. I assure you I’m not usually a violent person. But he had it coming.”
“Yeah, he did, but it still might end up costing me my job. I’ve been dealing with Matt Green most of my life. It’s better just to smile and nod.”
“He’s a bully.”
“He’s a bully who controls my ability to support myself and my children.”
“Point taken. I also wanted to tell you what I’ve found in my research.”
“Mr. Conrad, I don’t want to be rude. I appreciate what you’re doing for Tommy. I really do. I know you didn’t have to do this. But honestly, I think it’s best that we keep our interactions to the bare minimum.”
“I actually thought you and I were going to be friends. At least. Was I wrong to think we had a … rapport going? That night at the library — ”
“That night at the library I was unaware of Tina,” Molly said angrily.
“Now you just hold on a minute. Matt said something about that, too. Just what in the hell are you insinuating?”
“Look, I already know she was in your room half the night a few days ago. Everybody in town knows it. It’s fine. I don’t care what you do. But I would like to limit our interactions in the future to whatever conversation is necessarily to coordinate Tommy’s work for you.”
“You think I had some kind of … romantic interlude … with Tina? Are you serious?”
“Are you denying it?”
“I sure as hell am! I’ve been trying to tell you for days why I was talking to Tina. And it sure as hell wasn’t anything remotely romantic. She holds the key to the whole mystery I’m trying to solve. And I’m pretty damned sure you’d find it enlightening, if you’d give me a couple of hours to tell you about it.”
“I don’t know,” she said, uncertainly, but her heart was pounding. Nothing had gone on with Tina? She wanted badly to believe it.
“There’s only one woman in this town who has caught my eye. And it isn’t Tina.” His hand reached out and touched her hair where a few strands had come out of her bun. He tucked them behind her ear. She shivered at his touch.
“Mom! Come look at Clarence!” It was Beth, shrieking.
Molly turned away from David and ran around the house to the back yard.
“He’s breathing funny!” Beth said. Tommy was stroking him gently, whispering to him. “Take it easy, boy, you’re all right.”
David had followed her the the back yard. He squatted down and took Clarence’s head in his hands. “I think you’re just going to have to take it easy with this dog. He’s overdone it today. It’s going to take time before you can expect him to run and play. Get a couple of pounds off him and I think he’ll do fine. I’d put him to bed now if I were you, and don’t encourage him to exercise too much all at once. He’s had too much excitement for one day.”
“Do you really think he’s all right?” Molly whispered to him. If this dog dropped dead on his first night, it was going to break all their hearts.
“I think so. I think he just needs some patient care for a few weeks. Don’t feed him too much dog food. Give him a can of green beans a day. That’ll give old Clarence something to fill him up so he’s not too hungry. I bet you’ll find out he’s a whole new dog once he’s taken off some of this extra weight.”
“Do you want to stay to dinner?” Tommy asked. That surprised Molly; it wasn’t like Tommy to be so sociable. But David declined and made arrangements to pick up Tommy to following night. “I’ll call you later,” he said quietly to Molly as he walked away.
Chapter 7
Molly’s phone vibrated after dinner — causing a little thrill of excitement to run through Molly’s body. David had said he’d call. She picked up the phone — it was Lori texting her.
“Clipper tonight? I have news!”
Molly texted back: “OK. 8?”
Lori: “ASAP! I’m here now”
Clarence was sleeping deeply — judging by the snoring sounds coming from the old blanket they’d arranged into a makeshift dog bed. He sounded just like an old man. Both kids were supposedly doing their homework nearby, keeping an eye on the old dog. Molly judged that they’d be fine without her for a while and told the kids to call her if they needed her.
At The Clipper, she looked around, wondering if she would see David. He wasn’t there, but Lori was at the bar, chatting with Ashley. She had already ordered a drink for Molly, and was already holding both drinks and heading for a booth in the back.
“Hey,” Molly said.
“Hey yourself,” Lori said back. Lori was wearing an emerald green dress, a multi-colored scarf that matched it perfectly, dangly green earrings and a pair of creamy leather shoes with green trim on them. She could have stepped off the cover of a Vogue magazine. She looked like a peacock in full plumage. Molly was wearing a plain black dress with small silver earrings and looked, she suddenly thought, like an old crow next to Lori’s bright ensemble.
“You look sparkly,” Molly told her.
“Thanks. I hope I’m going to see Dr. Jacobs later tonight. That’s my news. That new cardiologist I mentioned? I think he likes me,” she finished up with a sing-song delivery.
“Dr. Jacobs? Does he have a son named Jeremiah?”
“Yep. I think he’s about Tommy’s age.”
“Yeah, we’ve met,” Molly said, recalling the kid who had apparently spurred the dare that had nearly led to Tommy and his friends being arrested. She quickly filled in Lori, who for once wasn’t aware of the gossip.
“I don’t think Steve knows about that little caper,” Lori said. “Or else he didn’t want to make a bad impression by telling me about it. So David didn’t press charges when he found out Tommy was involved, because he likes you, huh. You must have made quite an impression. But what about that Tina story? I mean, sorry to bring it up, but you were really upset the other night.”
“Well, I don’t know. He may have an innocent explanation for that. He keeps trying to tell me, but I haven’t heard him out yet. I guess I’m going to, though.”
“You like him.”
“I don’t know. He’s been awfully nice. Do you swear not to tell anyone if I tell you something?”
“Of course,” Lori said, sipping at her colorful drink.
“I’m serious.” She dropped her voice. “It’s something that could get me fired.”
“You can trust me!”
“OK, OK,” Molly said, and quietly filled her in on the whole story of Matt Green being a bigger ass than usual and David giving him the punch in the jaw he so richly deserved.
“Oh. My. God. He didn’t!” Lori said.
“Oh, yes, he sure did. You should have seen Matt’s face.”
“I would give my favorite Donna Karan dress to see that,” Lori said. “That kinda proves that David does like you.”
“Or it proves that he just doesn’t like bullies,” Molly said.
“Either way, you need to hear his explanation about Tina. Because that would be a deal-killer for me.”
“We’ll see. Anyway, tell me about this Dr. Jacobs.”
“Well, his name is Steve. He’s a cardiologist, and he’s divorced. He came here from Cleveland. They’ve been trying to recruit a cardiologist for a while now, since Dr. Parvesh left.”
Molly recalled Dr. Parvesh, a good-looking Indian doctor. Lori had
dated him as well, briefly developing an enthusiasm for Indian food before dropping that interest just as soon as Dr. Parvesh was out of her life.
“Anyway, he just got divorced. His wife sounds like a piece of work,” Lori said.
“Recently divorced men can be trouble, you know,” Molly cautioned. “And they always seem to have wives who were completely in the wrong, I’ve noticed.”
“I know, but he’s really interesting. He’s building a wine cellar in his house and has about a bajillion bottles of wine. He knows all about wines and last night we tasted some of them together. I’m learning all about French wine now.”
Molly smiled. It would do no good to remind Lori of her past enthusiasms for the pastimes of previous men and she didn’t want to spoil Lori’s happy mood.
“In other news, I have someone new in my life, too,” she said.
“Besides the Pirate Man? Seriously? How could I not have heard about this? Tell me all about him!” Lori drained the last of whatever foo-foo drink she had been working on. Molly had barely touched her drink and took a slow sip, the better to torture Lori a little.
“Well, he’s older. Pretty overweight. He has trouble getting around. But he’s super sweet and the kids love him. His name is Clarence.” Molly held a straight face as long as she could, until Lori’s look of horror made her laugh out loud.
“He’s half basset and half beagle. We got him from the pound after school.”
“Oh. My. God. You had me going there for a minute! You got a dog? What made you decide to get a dog?”
“I just realized the other night when the kids were with Hank and I was kind of lonely that it won’t be very long before the house is empty. A dog is good company.”
“Well, a dog is fun. But what you need is a man, honey. Clarence can’t give you everything you need.”
“True enough, but he also isn’t likely to stay out late drinking. Or to sleep with every female in heat. He’s been fixed. I probably should have tried that with Hank. If I’d just had him neutered, it probably would have saved me a world of trouble.”
“Ha, but it also would have ruined what was probably the main thing old Hank was good for, right?”
Molly laughed. “Well, that’s probably true enough.”
Lori excused herself to go get another drink and Molly looked around the bar. Just to see who was there — not specifically looking for David, she told herself. Her phone vibrated. This time, it was David.
“Is now a good time to talk?” the text read.
She texted back: “At Clipper with Lori.”
David: “Can we talk? I’m in same room.”
Molly: “Can I just call you when I leave?”
David: “I would like to show you something, if you’ll come around for a bit.”
Molly resisted the urge to text back, “I just bet you would.” Instead, she found herself agreeing to meet him later. She’d try to be discreet. Small town gossip was brutal, but she’d been seen here with Lori, and if she made her visit with David quick enough, nobody was likely to question seeing her car in the lot. She tucked her phone away before Lori returned, and listened to a long story about how Lori and Dr. Jacobs had chatted in the hospital cafeteria and how that had turned into an invitation for dinner and how he wasn’t that great of a cook but how he was better with wine and with certain other things. Lori’s phone buzzed and after she glanced at it a big smile broke out on her face.
“Would I be a terrible friend if I said good-night now? Steve just invited me to come have a glass of wine with him,” Lori said.
“I’m fine. But are you OK to drive?” Molly said.
“I’ve just had two. And these things are more fruit than alcohol. I’m OK. Sure you don’t mind?”
“You run along and have fun. Don’t be a naughty nurse, now,” she teased.
“He’s a cardiologist. I’m going to see if I can get his heart rate up,” Lori said. Then she whispered, “I’m wearing a fabulous new bra.” She slipped the shoulder of her dress off to the side. Her bra was as emerald green as her dress, and had little sparkly accents lining the edge of the cup. Molly laughed. “You seriously are the only woman I know who matches her bra to her outfit.”
“You oughta see the matching panties,” Lori said, raising her eyebrows suggestively and laughing. “I gotta go. Wine awaits!” She was off in a cloud of perfume. Molly downed the last of her own drink for courage and visited the restroom, where she took her time refreshing her makeup to ensure Lori would be out of the parking lot and wouldn’t notice Molly didn’t immediately get into her own car. Instead, she quietly made her way to the end of the building, trying to look like she wasn’t doing exactly what she was doing, which was sneaking to David’s room. When she got to his door, she nervously looked around but didn’t see anybody looking her way, so she quickly knocked and was relieved when he opened the door almost immediately, as if he knew she would not want to be seen standing there waiting.
“Hey, thanks for coming,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you would.” He was wearing jeans and a different t-shirt than the one he’d worn working at his house, and his hair was damp, suggesting he’d just had a shower. She made herself stop looking at the way it curled up around the edges.
“Well, you know I’m taking a chance here. There’s already gossip and I don’t want to add to it.”
“I’m sorry about that. But I really want you to see what my research has uncovered. This is a photocopy of part of Tina’s grandmother’s diary,” he said, handing her several sheets. Molly began reading. The handwriting was round and childish and full of little hearts and drawings — obviously the diary of a teenage girl. Half of the first page was pointless nonsense about things like boys and the unfairness of certain teachers. It was so inane it was torture to read. Then she reached a part that was different. The handwriting was the same, if perhaps a bit less neat, as if the writer had been upset:
“That man came by again. Daddy sent me upstairs but I could hear them arguing. I snuck into the kitchen so I could hear. It was the same thing they talked about last time. Daddy doesn’t want to sell the farm but the man was trying to talk him into it. They were cussing a lot, including the G-D word. I was afraid they were going to hit each other for sure, but they didn’t. I don’t like him. Last time he was here, he grabbed my rear end really hard when he left. I had a bruise all week.”
Molly went to the next page. More stupid teenage prattle, and then another bit about the unnamed man.
“So I guess Daddy finally decided to sell some of the land. Mama didn’t think he should but Daddy said he was going to anyway. We aren’t going to have to move. We are just selling part of it, not the house. So that part is good. I had just come back from Donna’s and I could hear them talking so I didn’t go inside. I sat on the porch and waited for him to leave. He was smiling real big when he left. He leaned over and told me I was lucky Daddy finally saw reason. He told me he always got what he wanted eventually. He said he hoped I wasn’t gonna grow up to be as stubborn as my Daddy. Then he told me I was growing up real pretty. He reached out and grabbed me right through my bra and pinched me hard. It hurt bad but I was afraid to say anything. Nobody would believe me if I told anyway. It still hurts. I am going to be real careful to stay away from him.”
Molly looked up. “It’s an ugly story, but what does it have to do with anything? She doesn’t even say who the man was.”
“This part of the diary was from the summer of 1951,” David said. “I looked up old real estate records. Guess who bought part of the Macintosh farmland in late 1951?”
“I give up. Who.”
“John Green.”
“Matt Green’s grandfather, right? So? Not too surprised if Matt’s grandfather was as big a jerk as his grandson, but that hardly means he was a murderer.”
“Hear me out. John Green already owned a lot of the farmland around here.”
“They still do. Most of it is in Matt’s hands now.”
“John Green
was well connected politically, as you probably know. Here’s what I think. He knew the state was planning to put in the highway. He already owned a lot of the land that the state was going to want. He bought up most of the rest of it in the late 1940s. He was missing two key parcels. One was owned by the Macintoshes. Tina’s dad was a drunk, and he had debts. It probably wasn’t too hard to talk him into selling. The other parcel was owned by — ”
“The Conrads,” Molly finished.
“That’s right. And you can imagine that they weren’t interested in selling. They had no reason to. I am guessing that old man Green did his best to talk them into it but they wouldn’t go for it. I am also guessing that they had enough influence that they might have been able to prevent the state from building that highway here, which would have meant old man Green wouldn’t be able to profit from selling to the state. He meant to make a killing. So he did.”
“Do you have any proof?”
“No. I have motive but no smoking gun, as it were.”
“Did your grandmother ever say anything?”
“Not directly, no. I was wondering why Green didn’t murder her, too. And I think I know the answer to that. We know she’d been having an affair with young Henry. She chose to give my father the last name Conrad, so I have every reason to think they were in love. The only thing I can remember her saying about him was he was a shy young man who didn’t talk much. I’m guessing they only felt free to talk when they were out of the house.”
“Your grandfather.”
“That’s right. Now, we can assume they weren’t carrying on their affair right under the nose of his parents. They hardly would have approved. What do you think they might have done instead?”
“I don’t know. Go to the attic? That’s where her bedroom was.”
“Do you have an attic? Ever walk around in one? You can hear every noise below. I doubt they did their romancing in the attic. Or in any of the other bedrooms. They’re all grouped together on the second floor. It would be risky to use Henry’s or any of the spare ones. But I do have a theory. The old barn is still standing out there. It’s full of junk and I’m probably going to tear it down eventually. But you can still clearly see there’s a little living area carved out in the second story. Old iron bed, old dresser. Most probably, that’s where the hired man would sleep when they had one. But they didn’t have one at that point. It’s in the old records. Sheriff at the time concluded they’d taken in a hobo out of pity and were going to let him take the room in the barn in return for doing odd jobs and the hobo killed them. But I am just betting my grandmother and Henry used to take advantage of that room being empty and used to sneak out there to be together. I think she was out there, waiting for him, and fell asleep waiting. He never came that night. And if she’d given up and gone back to her room, old man Green would have killed her, too, and I wouldn’t be here.”
Worth The Wait (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 1) Page 8