by Tonya Kappes
“It’s me, Ava,” she called, and I heard the door click close.
Quickly, I put one pump of sunscreen in my hands and applied it to my face before I went out to greet her.
“I have to say I was shocked to see you at Tammy Jo Bentley’s house and now you’re here.” I took down two mugs from the hooks that were hanging down from the cabinet next to the sink. It was all about space consumption when you lived in a trailer. When I was going through the renovation, I knew I wanted to have a little cozy cottage feel.
“This is charming.” Ava looked around. She held up two fingers. “Two teaspoons of sugar.” Her petite frame looked smaller since the last time I’d seen her. Her long black, curly hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck. She still had perfect, million-dollar olive skin.
I got the creamer out of the small refrigerator and the sugar packets out of the cabinet, giving them to her so she could doctor up her own coffee. I took mine black and it smelled so good. I was looking out the window over the kitchen sink when I heard a car engine.
“Is your car running?” I asked.
“Yes. I don’t plan on being here long.” She took the coffee mug. “Let’s just get down to it. There’s no sense in making small talk when there’s business to be had.”
Ava stirred the coffee and set the spoon on the table. She had a briefcase with her. She placed it on the table and rummaged through the contents. I sat in the chair across from her. Finally, she took out a page from a legal size notepad, the kind that you have to flip at the top to get to the next page.
“I’m Tammy Jo Bentley’s lawyer.” She looked up at me with high brows. “She has been taken into custody for the murder of Camille.”
“Really?” I questioned.
“Yes. I don’t think she did it and I need you as a witness.” She rolled her shoulders back. Her jaw tensed. “I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s easy looking at you since your husband is the reason my son is in jail and my husband is dead.”
“Ex,” I reminded her, but bit my tongue about how her husband and my ex had been best friends for years. Her husband did give my ex the millions of dollars Ava and Grady had built up from their horse business, but my ex didn’t make her son, Grady Jr, kill her husband or my ex. That was all on him.
“Still, I do have to commend you for making an effort to fix his mess by paying people back and bringing the campground back to life, which helps the economy.” She tapped her pen on the pad of paper. “Anyways, I want to know a good time for us to meet so we can discuss today and previous days you’ve been with my client.”
“I can pretty much make up my own schedule. But I’m not sure I have a lot to add. I don’t really know Tammy Jo. I just cleaned for her the one time for a friend.” I took a drink of the coffee.
“Really?” She put the pen down and gave me a strange look. She threw the pad and pen back into her briefcase. She stood up. “Can you come with me?”
“Sure.” I stood up and followed her out to her car.
She opened the front door, sticking her briefcase on her seat and then opening the back door. She pulled out Fifi.
“Here.” She stuck the dog in my chest and out of reflex, I took her. “For someone who is just an acquaintance, Tammy Jo seemed pretty confident that you could watch after her prize-winning dog.”
“Me?” I adjusted Fifi so her nails wouldn’t tear me up like they’d done Tammy Jo’s arm. “I don’t think so.” Firmly, I held the dog out for Ava to take.
“She’s not got anyone else.” She shrugged and slammed the back door.
“Nope. She’s got the gardener and what about that insurance guy, Norman?” I asked.
“Those are all people who work for her.” She opened the driver’s side door, not listening to my protest. “Not trusted individuals.”
“Umm. No. I can’t take care of a dog. Especially a dog that looks like this.” I turned Fifi to me to look at her and her long tongue slapped against my cheek. “You! You can keep her. Tammy Jo is your client and you must be a trusted individual in her life.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Ava wasn’t going to take the dog.
“I don’t have a dog bed, food, or anything else. She’s an award-winning dog from what I hear.” I rolled my eyes. “That sort of class is not found here at Happy Trails. I don’t have a fancy watch to train her nor do I have the time to put her down for her daily naps, much less play with her.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine with a few days off of her vigorous schedule.” Ava wasn’t leaving any room for me to wiggle out of this. “I almost forgot.” Ava got back out of the car and opened the trunk. She took out a pink, bedazzled bag with Fifi’s name embroidered on the front in white thread. “Everything you need. Now, I’ve got to get going. I’ve got to go to the police station to talk to my client.”
What was going on here? I was at a loss for words. I stood there stunned and unable to say anything, not even noticing Ty and his brothers driving past Ava’s car in Ron Randal’s car.
Fifi continued to lick my face. I continued to watch Ava’s tail lights until the turned out of the campground.
“Did you get a dog?” Ty’s younger brother, Timmy, ran up to me and took Fifi right out of my arms. “Can I play with her?”
I still couldn’t bring myself to say anything. What was Tammy Jo thinking? Why me? I had to go see her, but I had to get those apartments at the nursing home cleaned too.
“I’m babysitting.” The strange words came out of my mouth as Ty walked up to me.
“Wasn’t that the car that practically killed us today?” Ty asked, watching Timmy play with Fifi. Sean kept his distance. Fifi yipped and barked, jumping around and biting at the hem of Timmy’s shorts.
“Yes. She’s a lawyer and Tammy Jo has been taken into custody for the murder of Camille Braun.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know Tammy Jo until yesterday,” Ty said.
“I didn’t. For some reason, she wants me to keep her dog until she gets out of jail.” I picked up the bag. “Ava wouldn’t let me decline. She just hopped in her car and took off. Just like that.”
“Nice bag.” Ty laughed. “Pink might be your color.”
“Hush.” I nudged him with my elbow. “I need a favor.” I gnawed on the edge of my lip, like he didn’t already have enough on his plate.
“I’m worried about what it might be.” He gave me the side eye.
“I told Betts I’d clean a few apartments at the nursing home too. I’ve still got to go do those and I know she doesn’t have your brothers, but I’m sure she’s so tired from keeping them busy.” I pointed to the dog. “I still want to clean for her, but I can’t take Fifi with me.”
“Huuuh…un.” His jaw dropped and he wagged a finger at me. “No way.”
“Look. Your brother loves her and it’ll only be like an hour. It’s a nursing home apartment.” I reminded him how small those were. “An hour, tops.”
He looked at his brother and then back at me a couple of times. I had my lips turned down in a frown with my hands together, batting my eyelashes.
“Fine. More than an hour, and we bring her there.” He finally gave in.
“Thank you!” I threw my arms around his neck.
“I could get used to this,” he whispered, sending goosebumps down my spine.
TEN
Many times I have let my mind wonder what was going to happen to me when I got older. There were so many stories about how expensive nursing homes were. When I married Paul, I thought my golden years would be taken care of. Walking into the senior living area of the nursing home made me sad. There was a real fear that I wasn’t going to have anyone take care of me or see to my needs.
Tilly Blake and Olga Watson didn’t seem to mind about anyone but the two of them.
“I’ve seen you here a time or two.” Tilly Blake had dyed black hair down to her shoulders. There was a small scar on her right eyebrow and her two front teeth were crooked. She was only five fe
et in height, but had a mighty boisterous voice.
“I’ve seen her at church.” Olga Watson’s black hair was cut to below her ear lobes. She didn’t have on makeup like Tilly. By her appearance, Olga didn’t get ready in front of a mirror. She was somewhat disheveled compare to Tilly. She stood about five feet seven and had a little more girth than Tilly.
They bantered back and forth at which one saw me first before they finally let me in the door of Tilly’s apartment.
“You know that we don’t really have Betts clean too much, right?” Tilly asked.
“I understand that you love to watch Wheel of Fortune.” I looked at the two best friends, thinking it must be really nice to have good friends at their age.
“We do love Vanna. She’s a snappy dresser.” Olga nodded to Tilly for confirmation and Tilly ho-hummed.
“Get in here before the first spin.” Tilly and Olga walked ahead of me.
“I think it’s great the two of you are best friends.” I did get all the trash in the kitchen like Betts had said to do while they told me how they’d become friends.
“We both protested coming here.” Tilly and Olga talked over each other. “We got here the same day. Both of us spitting vinegar.”
While they talked, I cleaned the kitchen sink, wiped down the counters, and quickly mopped the small kitchen floor when I noticed there were some spills that’d not been fully cleaned up.
“After we found each other, we realized we liked the same things. Gossip being one of them.” Olga was sitting on the couch and Tilly was sitting in a big, puffy recliner.
“Everyone likes a good tale,” I said on my way to the bathroom.
“Have you heard about anything new?” I heard one of them ask me while I emptied the trashcan in the bathroom and sprayed cleaner in the toilet.
“Nope. Not a thing,” I said loud enough for them to hear me and used the toilet brush to clean the inside of the bowl. There was some silence as I busied myself cleaning the sink, counter, and tub.
The tick of the wheel spinning on the TV show reminded me of the pocket watch. I almost told them about the gossip about the watch being worth two million dollars but decided that I didn’t want to get into how I knew about it.
“Did you see Ron Randal is back in rehab?” Olga said to Tilly.
“Why this time?” Tilly asked Olga.
“I don’t know.” Olga gave a slight shrug.
“That is something I do know,” I said after I’d combined all the trash into one bag and gathered all the cleaning supplies back into the bucket.
“Sit on down and give us the scoop.” Olga patted the seat next to her.
For the next half hour, I told them about Ron and how I ran the campground, knowing that before I left there, I’d made two new friends that I’d found out were in their eighties. I couldn’t help but smile the whole way home thinking that friends come in all ages.
I grabbed a quick shower before I went to Ty’s to get Fifi. He was busy trying to get Timmy calmed down. Sean was playing video games. Ty was busy with his family, so I left with Fifi.
Daydreaming about Ty Randal being a few campers away was better than any sleeping medication when I couldn’t get images of Camille Braun’s creepy wide-eyed face out of my head. I’d like to say the sun shining through the window or chirping birds woke me up from a nice dream about Ty, but it was a white fluff ball, yipping and scratching on the metal camper door, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
“Fifi, go to bed.” I dragged the pillow back over my head after I looked over at my digital clock. The blue LED bulbs read five a.m. My muscles were aching from all the bending down and cleaning I’d been doing.
I could have slept a few more hours, but Fifi continued to yip and scratch on the metal door, sending my nerves on high alert. Since my bedroom was located in the back of the camper, I’d gotten the idea to let her act up and I’d close the bedroom door, but when she started whining, I knew the poor thing meant business.
“Alright.” I threw the covers back and grabbed a Happy Trails Campground sweatshirt on my way to the front of the camper.
Dottie had insisted we sell tchotchkes with the Happy Trails logo on them in the office. I can say that I was glad she had insisted because I’d been pleasantly surprised at how many people liked to collect and purchase items from the campgrounds they visit across the US.
I dug through Fifi’s bag to get her leash. There was still a lack of trust between me and her. I wasn’t sure she’d even listen to me. According to the directions in her bag, she knew a lot of commands, started her day around this awful morning hour, and ate her special diet food, which was in my refrigerator, after her morning walk.
“Come on, Fifi.” I clipped the pink leash onto her diamond encrusted collar before picking her up.
The door creaked when I opened it and the two metal steps to the ground groaned under my bare feet. Fifi darted straight ahead when I put her on the ground. She stopped as soon as the leash went taut. The moon was still hanging high in the sky with the stars bright and gathered around it. Lightning bugs fluttered about, dotting the darkness with little drops of blinking light. The lake looked so pretty with their lights reflecting off the calm water. The humidity was thick and with the stars out, I knew that it wasn’t going to rain. This was a good thing since Dottie had worked so hard on the Summer Sizzler party.
The sudden realization Fifi was here due to a dead body and Tammy Jo Bentley being in jail on a murder charge made my heart heavy. Tammy Jo taking me into the office where Camille had been killed didn’t make sense. If she had killed her, why would she take me to the office and why would she faint?
It wasn’t a fake faint either. She was out cold.
“Someone is in deep thought,” Ty’s voice broke through the chirping crickets and the bullfrogs.
“Ty, what on earth are you doing out here?” I asked, knowing that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Fifi.
I tugged on the leash a little more so Fifi would follow me. Ty’s camper wasn’t next to mine but he was just a couple of lots down from me.
“I can’t sleep. The dog nanny is on my mind,” he said.
The closer he got, the darkness disappeared around him, exposing a shirtless and muscular Ty.
“Aren’t you burning up in that sweatshirt?” he asked.
“Not me.” About right now I was liking the fact the sweatshirt was covering up the goosebumps trailing along my arms. “What about Camille?” I asked, curious to know if we were thinking the same thing.
“While you were gone to clean at the nursing home last night, I watched my brothers playing with Fifi. I kept thinking about what Tammy Jo’s possible reason for murdering someone who took such great care of Fifi could be. I mean, it doesn’t make sense,” he said, making a good point.
Fifi continued to walk on the road that lead around the campground, going towards Ty’s camper and near the bungalows at the very back of Happy Trails. Ty and I let her lead the way, stopping when she stopped to smell or do her business.
“That’s not the only thing that doesn’t make sense. Hank said he was on his way to Tammy Jo’s when I called because someone had called it in anonymously. Plus, why would she take me in the office if she did kill Camille?” I asked. “And she fainted!”
“Yeah. She wouldn’t have fainted if she’d known because it wouldn’t have shocked her like that.” Ty was right.
“So what now?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” He stopped in front of his camper.
“Tammy Jo is accused of murder and in jail. Fifi doesn’t want to live in a campground. I can’t keep her.” I shrugged.
“Oh, no.” He wagged a finger in front of me. “You aren’t going to stick your nose in this one. I’m certainly not.”
“I don’t think it would hurt to look into things. You know, the front door was cracked when I went to her door.” It was a minor detail that I’d forgotten and should probably tell Hank. My jaw dropped.
> “What? I don’t like that look on your face.” Ty’s eye brows furrowed. “It’s telling me that you’re thinking way too much about this.”
“I completely forgot that when I walked into the house, I called out for Tammy Jo. She was on the back porch. There were two wine glasses. Both had lipstick on them. Was one Camille’s? Did something go wrong and she really did kill Camille?” I started to ramble about these conspiracy theories. “I mean, she said I’d not interrupted anything. Then there was the gardener and Camille. Camille was upset after they had this hushed conversation while I was there cleaning. And Tammy Jo had scratches on her arm.”
“Whoa. Whoa,” Ty whispered and looked around. “What was all that?”
“I need coffee.” I gnawed on the edge of my lip. I had an itching to write all of this down before I forget. “Come on, Fifi.”
She was resistant to the gentle tug from the leash. From the note, Fifi wasn’t used to a leash hooked on her collar, she wore a harness around her chest that had a place for the leash to clip to. When I held up the harness, I couldn’t tell which strap went where, so that’s why I fastened it to her collar.
“Let me grab a shirt and check on the boys, and I’ll be right down.” Ty headed in the direction of his camper.
“Let’s go, Fifi.” I continued to think about the gardener on my way back. I needed to recall everything they’d talked about.
I turned on all the lights in the camper and got out Fifi’s food. The smell was enough to gag me and there was no way poor Fifi liked it. I set the container on the ground instead of dividing up the portions. Just as I imagined, Fifi walked up to it, smelled it, and turned her nose up.
“I don’t blame you.” I picked up the container and put the lid back on before tossing it into the trash. I’d worry about the repercussions of that later. I opened the refrigerator and took out some leftovers from my week. There were hot dogs, chicken, spaghetti, and some rice.
“I know you probably shouldn’t eat hotdogs, but chicken and rice is what I think you might like.” I talked to her like she understood me.