by Amy Lillard
Not willing to be left out, Camille did the same.
“Where’s everybody going?” Jayden wailed.
Arlo looked from the boy to the three elderly women heading down the hill clearly on a mission. She shook her head.
“Go on,” Sam said. “We men got this.” He winked at Jayden, who seemed a little relieved that Sam, the strongest of them all, was still by his side.
“And Pops is here now.” Chloe nodded her head toward the Dodge truck that had just pulled in behind Sam’s red Chevy.
“I’ll be right back,” she said. Then with a sigh and an apologetic look to Jayden and Chloe, she trailed behind her Friday night book club.
Fern went straight to Jason as the other ladies beelined after her.
“You are never going to guess,” Fern said when Arlo finally caught up. Jason had moved away to talk to one of the workers. At least that’s what he acted like he was doing. Arlo was fairly certain he was merely trying to escape before Fern could ask him any more questions.
“They’re draining the lake.”
“Draining it?” Arlo squeaked. “Why?”
“Jason believes Pam’s statement is true.” Helen nodded as if that explained everything.
“Hold on.” Arlo shook her head as if trying to get her thoughts rattled back into place. “What did Pam say?” And when did she say it?
“Pam recently told Jason that she saw Dylan Wright out here and that he tossed something into the lake.” Camille looked to the other ladies for backup. They nodded accordingly.
“So, they’re draining it,” Arlo almost asked. Even with all the equipment confirming Camille’s story, she wanted to hear it once again.
“Apparently they’ve been out here all day,” Helen started. That explained the crowd, Arlo supposed. “They sent divers down, but since the lake bed is so muddy, they weren’t able to see much so they decided that draining it was the best option.”
“They say it could be the murder weapon.” Fern’s eyes were wide with intrigue. Or maybe just a morbid kind of fascination.
Arlo looked back over the water. The machine on the far side of the lake was sitting on the back of a flatbed, a large, cloudy-white hose attached to the back end.
One of the workers called something to the truck driver, and the racket that followed was deafening.
A few chugs and a gurgle later, the water splashed from the hose and over the hill.
“Let’s go back to the cottage.” Arlo had to yell to be heard over the noise of the water pump.
“What if they find something?” Fern hollered in return.
“It’ll be a while, and we’ll be close enough to see.” She pointed to the cottage where everyone was still visible. It looked as though they were making progress on the move.
“Arlo’s right,” Helen yelled. “And I can’t hear myself think.”
Camille nodded, and the four of them headed back to the cottage—to help Jayden move and give their ears a little rest. Though Arlo knew the respite wouldn’t last long. Not if there was a murder weapon to be found.
“When did Pam tell Jason all this?” she asked when they were far enough away they could talk without screaming at one another.
Camille shrugged. “A couple of days ago. When she was at the police station.”
“I thought she said that she saw Dylan and Haley arguing.”
“I guess she saw this too. Anyway, she told them what she saw, and Jason got a warrant to drain the lake.”
“Just that quick?” Arlo asked.
Fern nodded. “Amazing, huh? I wonder if he thought up the idea himself…”
“Wait.” She said the word but kept walking. “If Pam saw Dylan throw something into the lake, that would have been days ago. Why is she only coming forward now?”
“Who knows?” Fern said.
“Maybe she only now remembered that she saw him,” Camille mused.
But to Arlo that was a long shot. A person you work with is killed, and her boyfriend tosses something into the nearest lake. Well, that seems sort of suspicious. Or was she reaching for it?
“I thought Jason said that Dylan was seen a day or two later at the lake,” Camille added.
“Like he knew he was going to get into trouble, so he had to get rid of the evidence?”
Arlo shook her head. They were almost at the cottage now, and she stopped. She didn’t want Jayden, or even Chloe’s father, to hear what they were talking about. “If he was going to confess, why would he bother getting rid of the evidence?”
“How should I know?” Fern grumbled.
“Maybe he didn’t plan on confessing,” Helen pondered. “Maybe he thought he was going to get away with it, so he tossed the statuette, then his conscience got the better of him, and he had to turn himself in.”
“Maybe,” Arlo said. “But if that’s the case, why didn’t Dylan himself tell Jason where the statuette could be found?”
* * *
The thought stayed with Arlo the rest of the evening as they unpacked boxes, made the bed, and hung Jayden’s sports posters on the walls.
He was in his room rearranging things to his satisfaction and otherwise basking in his new living quarters. Sam and Pops had left earlier when their truck services and lifting muscles were no longer needed. Now Camille and Chloe lingered in the kitchen, making tea and discussing the true differences between Earl Grey and oolong, while Helen and Fern stared out the front window. Until they had started removing all the water from it, Arlo hadn’t realized just how big the lake was. The lake level had seriously dropped, and a large mass of dingy white was slowly becoming visible toward the middle of the lake. The ladies watched in awe as the mystery was revealed.
“I think it’s a refrigerator,” Fern said with a decisive nod.
“Why would there be a refrigerator in the middle of the lake?” Helen asked.
“There are lakes with whole towns underneath the water,” Fern returned.
“Towns, yes,” Helen said. “Refrigerators, no. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, it’s something,” Fern replied.
They lingered at the window just waiting for the object to surface, if even just a bit more. Enough to show what it really was. Camille and Chloe finished their conversation, or put it on hold, and moved into the living room to look out the window with the others.
For Arlo, watching the water being pumped from the lake and waiting to see what it revealed was a little like watching paint dry, but she found herself staring at it all the same.
“It’s some kind of ball,” Camille said. “A big metal ball. Or maybe plastic.”
“What kind of ball has holes in it?” Fern demanded.
“A Wiffle ball,” Helen replied with a shrug.
“Well, that’s a darned big one if it is.” Fern frowned. “Wiffle ball,” she grumbled.
“Wait a minute…” Camille said.
Arlo turned her attention to the woman. She had moved to the other side of the room to the second window that looked out over the Lillyfield property. She held a pair of binoculars to her eyes as she gazed through the glass. “It’s not white,” she said slowly. “It’s baby blue.” Her voice grew with each word she spoke, until she finally exclaimed, “That’s a car!”
“What?” Helen and Fern screeched. Neither one asked where she had gotten the binoculars—they had obviously come from Camille’s mysterious, magical white handbag—or if they could look through them. Helen wrenched open the door, and she and Fern rushed out into the fading sunlight.
Left with no other choice, Arlo started after them. She heard Chloe call behind her for Jayden to stay in his room and that she would be right back, but Arlo herself kept jogging down the hill toward what was left of Lillyfield Lake.
For three women well past retirement, the book club ladies were spry. They m
ust have been fueled by a strong, nosy curiosity, she supposed—not allowing herself to think that she had to be in really bad shape if she couldn’t keep up with them any better than this—and Arlo didn’t reach them until they were almost to the lake.
“It’s Mary Kennedy’s car,” Camille exclaimed, jumping up and down in apparent glee. “We found it! We found Mary Kennedy’s car!”
Chapter 15
“I still can’t believe we took a whole week to get me moved into that little room,” Jayden complained the next morning.
Chloe shot Arlo an apologetic look, but Arlo just shook her head. She had arrived early—well, early for a Sunday—to Chloe’s bungalow with a box of doughnuts, sausage rolls, and cups of coffee and hot chocolate to go around.
There had to have been more of the little cottages, built sometime after the war to house the paid servants, but now only one remained. It was tiny with only a bedroom and a bathroom off the main, living, dining, and kitchen area. It suited Chloe and was cheap enough that she could afford it and their start-up business, and still maintain some of her independence.
“Honey wanted you to stay with her last week, remember?” Chloe asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I remember.” He slid from his barstool and wandered over to the window to check on the car still there in the mud. It was perhaps his fifth trip to look at it since Arlo had been there. To a nine-almost-ten-year-old boy, a car sunk in a lake recently drained to find a murder weapon was a pretty cool thing to see.
“Awesome!” Jayden exclaimed.
“What is it?” Chloe asked.
Arlo and Chloe moved to the window to see.
Workers had arrived at Lillyfield Lake-turned-mud-pit and were assessing the small vintage car stuck in the middle.
“Are they going to pull the car out of the mud?” Jayden asked.
Arlo was amazed at how enthralling the idea was to him. It seemed everyone could find something interesting in the discovery of the car. In fact, several people had already gathered at the scene once again.
Last night, after the lump in the water could be identified as a car, the police made everyone clear the scene. Not that there was much to look at, just half a lake and part of a car, but apparently they needed some measure of privacy to continue draining all the water. Or maybe Mads and Jason were simply tired of holding back the masses in order to get a little police work done. Though in the bright light of a new day, looking out the window at the tiny car still plopped in the middle of a lake of mud, Arlo had to wonder how much of anything was accomplished in the dark hours.
Jayden turned to his mother. “Can I go? Please, please, please! Can I go look?” He took her hand in his and jumped up and down.
Chloe hesitated.
Then Arlo spotted a familiar floppy hat among the townspeople who were milling around at the edge of the mud.
“I can take him if you want to finish unpacking.” Arlo gave a pointed nod toward the crowd, but Chloe wasn’t paying attention to that. She was too busy trying to determine if she should give in or hold her ground. It seemed full-time parenting was going to be a bigger adjustment than either of them thought.
“Please.” Jayden pulled her arm harder, like he was ringing a bell for the servants to come.
“We’ll all go,” Chloe finally relented. “Get your shoes on.”
But Jayden was already seated on the tiny bench by the door, pulling on his rain boots. “Come on, Manny.” He whistled for his dog.
He-Man, the snow-white bichon frise, was immediately at his side, and the pair were out the door before Chloe and Arlo even had time to breathe.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Chloe chewed on her lower lip. “Manny needs to be on a leash. And sometimes I think Jayden does too.” She slipped into her garden clogs as Arlo tied her running shoes.
“He’s just excited,” Arlo soothed. “And there are enough townspeople down there that one dog in the mix shouldn’t cause too much ruckus.” She stood and looped arms with her best friend. “Full-time parenting is tough. It’s gonna take a little time.”
“I hope you’re right,” Chloe fretted as they walked from the cottage arm in arm.
The expanse of the Lillyfield estate was lush and green. Given the Mississippi heat, Arlo wondered what the water bill was. Probably more than her mortgage. And it surely cost a mint to keep the kudzu curtailed at the edge of the property.
It looked as if half the town had gathered on the public side of the lake. Huge security guards in black suits with sunglasses and earpieces shielded the property line and kept any would-be strays on the correct side of the water. Arlo had never known Lillyfield to have its own private security. She figured Baxter must have hired them out of Memphis after the murder investigation was underway.
“Arlo!” Helen caught sight of her and waved.
“You watch them,” Chloe murmured with a small laugh. “I’ll keep an eye on Jayden.”
Divide and conquer.
“Isn’t it exciting?” Camille eyes sparkled like sunlight off glass.
Arlo wasn’t sure exciting was the right word, but it was something to see.
Murphy Jones, the town’s one and only salvage man, had brought out his tow truck. It was parked with the bed toward the lake edge, even with the spot where the car rested. Unfortunately, that was on Lillyfield land, and Arlo was certain someone would be getting a bill to resod the grass where his big tires had already chewed it up.
Murphy Jones himself stood talking to Mads and Jason and a couple of volunteer firemen in full uniform. They had even brought out the truck for this special occasion. That was Sugar Springs—one fire truck and a handful of volunteer firemen. Heaven knew what they would do if two places caught on fire at once. But she wasn’t about to ask the question and jinx the town.
The men seemed to be in a heated discussion on the best way to hook up the car and pull it from the mud. Arlo figured since that was Murphy’s job and his dad’s before him, everyone should just let him do his thing.
“I didn’t expect so many people to be here,” Arlo said. Truth be told, she hadn’t expected anyone to be there. Then again, what had she been thinking? Not much happened in little bitty Sugar Springs. This was better than a free matinée.
“Wonder what the problem is?” Helen asked, using her height to peer over the crowd at where the men stood still debating.
“It’s the mud,” Fern said. “There’s a lot of tricks to pulling a car like that out of the mud. Plus this one’s been in there for fifty years. You’ll have to raise the chassis, and Lord knows you can’t pull it out from the bumper. That will just pop right off.”
Arlo, Helen, and Camille stared at Fern with their mouths practically hanging open.
“How do you know all that?” Helen asked.
That’s what Arlo wanted to know.
“I used to date a mechanic.” Fern shrugged as if it were no big thing.
“You dated?” Camille asked.
“A long time ago.” Fern frowned at her friends’ obvious interest. “About a year or so after Charlie died.” She waved hand around as if to dispel their curiosity.
“I bet you’re right though,” Helen said. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“How are they going to get it out?” Arlo asked. If it took as long as Fern’s explanation seemed to indicate, the crowd would be out there for the balance of the day.
“Dated,” Camille mused. For some reason the thought of Fern dating totally discombobulated the woman.
“You’re dating,” Fern countered.
Camille sniffed and shifted her purse to her other arm. “I believe that’s different.”
“I don’t see how.” Fern propped her hands on her hips.
“It just is.” Camille raised her eyebrows as if daring Fern to continue. Arlo figured it was time for some intervention.
> “So where is your guy, Camille?”
“He has some business to attend to today.”
And that wasn’t suspicious sounding at all.
“So when are we going to get to meet him?” Helen asked.
“Soon. Maybe. I don’t know.” Camille shifted her purse again. It was obvious she was uncomfortable. Arlo didn’t know if it was from being put on the spot or if she understood how worried her friends were going to be when they caught sight of this new man in her life. Arlo wasn’t even sure if she herself was over the shock.
Maybe she would call Sam today. He might have some more information on Joe Foster.
“I know I would like to meet him,” Fern said. Her tone clearly indicated that she thought he was a figment of Camille’s imagination.
“That would be fantastic.” Helen nodded enthusiastically. “Maybe we could all go out one night.”
“After you’ve already cooked and cleaned for half the bachelors in the county?” Arlo protested. Not to mention whatever guests she had at the inn.
Helen patted her on the cheek. “I can count on you for help, right?”
“Of course.” What else was she supposed to say?
“It’s all settled.” Helen smiled, Arlo was certain in pride over her brilliant idea.
“Bowling,” Fern said. “We should go bowling.”
“Joe would like that,” Camille said with a small nod. Arlo wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or trying to appease her friends.
“And Arlo could bring Sam,” Helen added.
Arlo sighed. If it wasn’t Mads, it was Sam who Helen was trying to set her up with. Arlo wasn’t sure how she felt about it either way except to note that she had ruined it for all of them so long ago.
Manny reached them first, barking and running around between their legs as Jayden tramped up. Chloe trailed behind. She looked tired, most likely from the move and adjusting to having an almost ten-year-old underfoot.
“They’re gonna start trying to pull it out!” Jayden said. He practically jumped up and down in place. “It’s going to be so awesome.”