Into the Sweet Hereafter

by Kaye George

  As she drove away, she passed a white van with a blue sign on the side, going in the direction of Mrs. Gerg’s house. She didn’t get a good look and couldn’t read the whole sign, but the last word was Shop. Her neck prickled once more.

  12

  When Tally got home she called Yolanda. She was about to explode from everything around her being messed up and unresolved. What she wanted was a quiet, orderly life, making and selling candies and sweet treats. Her early childhood, spent with her traveling musician parents, had given her enough upheaval and chaos for a lifetime. She had never liked living like that, though her parents loved it. When Yolanda had talked her into coming back to Fredericksburg, buying the building next to hers, and settling down, she had known it was the right thing to do. It was what she’d been longing for her whole life, but hadn’t realized it until Yolanda’s insistence that she move back to Fredericksburg. She’d been lacking a stable location, people who stayed put. And much less hullabaloo, like she had had with her parents. She had now achieved all but that last one.

  The thought that she was being disloyal to her loving parents flitted through her mind. The fact was, they thrived on the life they led, while Tally would have wilted and shriveled leading a nomadic existence like that for her whole adult life. Her brother Cole seemed to live a life in between those two extremes. He traveled for his work, doing his artistic sculpture installations, but had a home base where he did his preinstallation work, a place he could go to, a place he could park his Volvo and call home. True, it was in Oklahoma and he wasn’t there very much, but their parents didn’t have a single place they could return to, except maybe, now, Tally’s place.

  “Tally? What’s going on?”

  Tally breathed a sign of relief hearing her friend’s voice. “I need to talk to someone sane.”

  Yolanda laughed. “And you picked me? You’re hard up, aren’t you?”

  “Everything’s a mess. Where are you? I need to see you.”

  Yolanda was at home in her Sunday House. The place had an interesting origin. Hers was one of several small remaining historic houses that had been built in Fredericksburg in the late 1800s by local German ranchers as second homes. Sometimes called Sonday house in the peculiar local German-ish dialect, they had been used by the original families on weekends when they came to town for church. Yolanda’s was typical in construction, two rooms downstairs and a third on the top half-story, which had sloping ceilings. Hers had an outdoor staircase to the upper floor that she used for storage. Of the Sunday Houses that still survived, some were tourist attractions, some were rented, and a few were lived in by their owners. These last, the ones now being living in, had usually been renovated to include built-on kitchens and bathrooms. All were pricey. Yolanda could only afford to live where she did because of her wealthy parents. Though Tally knew that it galled her to be so dependent on them, she also knew that Yolanda loved her beautiful, unique home.

  Tally stepped onto the small porch and rapped on Yolanda’s door.

  * * * *

  When Yolanda heard Tally’s knock, she threw the door open. Tally looked distraught, so Yolanda set about fetching wineglasses from the kitchen and a bottle of Kevin’s best red wine. As she worked the corkscrew, Tally perched on the edge of the brocade couch.

  They clinked glasses and each had a sip. “Okay. Spill,” Yolanda said. “I have some burning issues I have to talk to you about, too.”

  “Where to start?” Tally looked at the ceiling while Yolanda took a seat in her wingback chair.

  “What’s burning the hottest in your mind?” Yolanda asked.

  “The most recent problem, I guess. Mrs. Gerg. I’m worried about her.”

  Yolanda listened to her tell about the tension she’d perceived between Mrs. Gerg and Walter Wright.

  “Mentally abusive?” Yolanda asked.

  “Maybe. She’s at least dangerously besotted.”

  Yolanda considered that for a moment. “Dangerous? Just because she’s older doesn’t mean she can’t get besotted. It can be good for a person.”

  “You’re right. She has the right to be happy. It’s just that I don’t know anything about him. I’m not sure he’s treating her well. He might be taking advantage of her. I thought he was yelling at her before I knocked.”

  “She’s a big girl, Tally.”

  “He doesn’t seem to have any family who can take care of him. She’s doing it all.”

  “Does he have any friends?”

  Tally took a moment to think about that. “Well, there were the two guys who came to the door while I was there. That’s the only time I’ve seen Walter leave her couch.”

  “What guys?”

  “One of them had an odd name. Thet, Walter said. Maybe Thet Thorough? Something like that. The other one was a tall cowboy type with a chaw.”

  “Who are they? Are they from around here?”

  “Never saw them before. Thet is a short, darker-skinned Asian man. The tall guy didn’t say a word, but he seems American. I think they were asking about the crime watch thing. I don’t know why, but he gives me the creeps. Just now I tried to find out something more about them and Mrs. Gerg said Thet is from another country. When I asked which one, Walter cut her off. She said they brought over ‘some business things’ and I could swear Walter pinched her when she said that. She jumped! Then he told her to get him some pain pills and told me he had to take a nap. So I left. He’s taking up her whole life.”

  Yolanda took another sip of her wine, frowning. “You said that was a good thing. It keeps Mrs. Gerg from scrounging up yard-sale junk to give to yours truly.”

  Tally winced. “I didn’t put it like that.”

  “No, but that’s what you meant. Pinching her isn’t good, though. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to keep going over there to check up on her. I get the impression those other two guys are doing something shady with Walter. I wonder if they’re the people stealing things and since they’re on the crime watch, it would make it easier. It seems like Walter doesn’t want me to know anything about them and their dealings. That reminds me… there’s something else about that crime watch. You know Dorella is dating the fire chief’s son, Ira Mann, right?”

  Yolanda nodded. Dorella seemed almost as fickle as Tally’s brother. She thought Dorella and her brother Cole had made a good pair, but they weren’t together anymore. While they were, Yolanda had gotten over her longtime resentment of Cole for his past shabby treatment of her, at least. Yolanda had been one in a long line of his love-em-and-leave-em women.

  “A couple of things,” Tally continued. “I think I might have seen Ira on Mrs. Gerg’s block tonight. But maybe he was patrolling or something. If he is a member of the patrol.”

  “The other thing?”

  “A customer was in my shop today and practically attacked Dorella.”

  “Attacked her? What for? Was she hurt?”

  “Not physically. Just…she thought Dorella had stolen her ring, the one Ira gave to her. The woman even went to the police and reported that Dorella has her jewelry.”

  “So…” Yolanda put two and two together in her mind. “Do you think Ira stole it?”

  Tally shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to decide. Why would he? If he’s on the team that’s trying to prevent the stealing that’s been going on. Tell me again what you heard about the crutches and the dead guy.”

  “Raul says Mateo saw crutches in the room when he tried to deliver the pizza.”

  “How did he see into the room? If the guy was dead, he wouldn’t answer the door, would he?”

  Yolanda’s mind spun. “You’re right. Maybe he said the door was open. Or unlocked.”

  “If that guy was beaten to death with crutches, that makes two attacks. Him and Walter Wright. Walter was trying to stop a thief. What was this guy doing?”

&
nbsp; “Walter’s probably lucky to be alive, then.”

  “I don’t get it, though,” Tally said. “I don’t think it would be easy to kill someone with a crutch. Walter was beat up enough to go to the hospital, but he’s not really that bad. He didn’t stay long. A broken arm and a messed-up foot.”

  “Was the bad guy interrupted when he was with Walter, attacking him? Inside the motel room there would be more time and privacy.”

  “Maybe? All I know is that someone still has the jade that was smuggled and stolen from your window.”

  “Maybe this motel guy was beaten because he was part of the smuggling ring and someone was trying to get him to talk? Speaking of stealing, I need to talk to you about Raul and his cousin, Mateo.”

  “So Mateo found the dead guy and saw into the Motel Eleven room…” Tally thought out loud, not registering what Yolanda had just said. “Then he opened the door somehow. It was unlocked? But why would the murderer leave without locking the door? It seems unlikely.”

  “Tally! Let me talk!” Yolanda interrupted, her face full of concern but also a sense of affection for her friend and her busy mind. “Raul is very worried about Mateo, but I can’t get Raul to say exactly why. I know that he’s lost a couple of jobs lately, but it seems like more than that. Something…criminal.”

  “Does… Raul think he killed the guy in the motel room?”

  Yolanda shook her head, sending her big gold hoop earrings swinging. “I don’t know. He won’t say, but I can’t help but wonder.”

  “You don’t suppose—no, that couldn’t be right. But, with that door thing. That’s pretty strange.”

  “What? Tell me what you were going to say, Tally.” Yolanda was afraid Tally was going to voice the same dark thought she’d been having.

  “Well, Raul. His cousin was driving the truck that carried the smuggled jade. There has to have been more than one person in on that scheme.”

  “No.” Just no. Raul wasn’t doing anything illegal.

  “You said Raul is worried. Maybe not about his cousin. Maybe about both of them. Do you think they were together in this?”

  There, Tally had said what Yolanda hadn’t been letting herself think.

  * * * *

  As soon as Tally got inside her house, her mother called.

  “Where are you?” Tally asked. “Still in Gibraltar?” She glanced at the time, a little past eleven. She was so tired. In Gibraltar, it would be around five in the afternoon, being six hours ahead. She tried to keep track of her parents by noting what time it was wherever they were. It helped her to be able to picture them in their surroundings during their phone calls.

  “Not very much longer. We have tickets to fly out, but there’s some sort of problem. I’m not sure what it is. The whole airport is buzzing. No one seems to be going anywhere. We’ve been here since early this morning trying to rebook our flight.”

  “Is it something political?” Tally knew nothing of the politics of Gibraltar, but wondered what else would disrupt a whole airport.

  “No, no, nothing like that. Something with the bookings. Your father is talking to some people at the counter right now. I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

  “How did your shows go? Did they like you there?” Considering the many different countries they traveled to and the many different cultures they performed before, she always wondered how their act translated. Her parents never seemed to have any problems in that area. She wandered into her bedroom, ready to collapse.

  “We’re very happy about how it went. The place held four-hundred-fifty people and we filled it all but two nights. It was almost full those nights, too. And there aren’t that many people here. It’s a small place. Anyway, we’re ready to get to the next engagement.”

  “Where are you going next?” Her mother sometimes texted their itinerary, but it was so detailed—they went so many places, most of them places Tally had never been, some of them places she had never heard of—so she had trouble keeping their schedule straight in her mind.

  “We’re booked in Rome.”

  “That sounds great. Good Italian food, right?”

  “Not only that, you’ll never guess where we’re playing. The Circus Maximus!”

  “There’s a theater near there?”

  “No, no. We’ll be on a stage in the Circus Maximus. Right there inside it.” Her mother sounded more excited than usual about the next venue. Tally could hardly blame her. She couldn’t imagine performing in an ancient Roman site like that.

  “They let you do that?”

  “Oh yes. They have rock concerts there. All sorts of things. Wait a sec.” Her mother paused to listen to the speaker that Tally could also hear. “They just called our flight. We’re boarding now. Love you.”

  Tally looked up the news from Gibraltar on her phone after she hung up. She didn’t find anything specific to that one place, but it looked like there were problems with European travel all over the continent. A big vacation booking agency had gone bankrupt without any warning and stranded thousands of travelers throughout Europe and even beyond. The problems affected travelers in the US, the Caribbean, and other places. Should she be worried about her parents? If anyone knew how to get around, it was Bob and Nancy Holt, who lived on their performing circuit, wherever that may be for the day.

  It was time for her to call her brother, Cole.

  He surprised her by answering right away.

  “Hey, Sis. Everything okay in Eff Burg?”

  “Not really, but they’re worse in Gibraltar.”

  “Huh? Oh, are Mom and Dad in Gibraltar? What’s going on there?”

  “They’ve been stranded at the airport because a big tour company has gone bankrupt and flights are disrupted all over Europe. But Mom said they were calling their flight to Rome just before she hung up.”

  “Do you think they’ll be okay?”

  Tally had no idea. “I think so, but I’m not positive.” She needed to find out more about this tour company problem.

  “Speaking of Eff Burg—”

  “That was you, not me,” she said. “You spoke of it.”

  “Yeah, I’m speaking of it.” He laughed. “How’s Dorella? She doing all right?”

  How much should she tell him? Tally threw her head back and looked to the ceiling for the answer. “Um, she, um…”

  “What? What’s wrong with her?”

  “Did you know she’s been seeing the new fire chief’s son, Ira Mann?”

  “She told me that.”

  “You’ve talked to her?”

  “We call. Text sometimes. Just to keep in touch.”

  “She didn’t tell you about… well, Ira gave her a ring…”

  “They’re engaged? She did not tell me that.”

  Tally couldn’t tell from his tone if he was jealous or not. Probably not, since he had never yet gone back to a woman he dumped. “I don’t think it’s an engagement ring. Just a pretty ring. She’s wearing it on her pinkie. The thing is, one of my customers said it’s hers. That it’s been stolen.”

  “Little Ira is a thief?”

  Tally didn’t think he was all that little—in fact, he was built big, like his dad. But she did think he might be a thief.

  “I’ll have to get in touch with her,” he said. “See what’s going on. Hey, Sis, don’t worry about Mom and Dad. You know they always land on their feet.”

  They usually did. Except sometimes when they didn’t. At least she had shared the burden with her brother. It felt lighter. She plopped onto her bed, relieved their parents were getting on a plane on the way to their next destination, and hoping they would be fine.

  13

  Yolanda was pleased to see Raul already at work when she got there Saturday morning. She started to sing out a “hi” when she noticed some water spilled on the floor and went to the sink in the back
to get something to sop it up. She heard Raul’s voice around the corner, in the supply closet, and stopped to listen, wondering who he’d be talking to.

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I didn’t ask for a raise…Because I know I can’t get one…Everybody always needs more money, Teo. Just because I could use it doesn’t mean—Teo, you’re gonna have to get another job…”

  Yolanda held her breath. She didn’t want Raul to think she was eavesdropping on him. He must think he should get a raise. But he hadn’t asked for one. Surely he knew she couldn’t afford it yet. Maybe that’s what he meant.

  “Don’t worry about that. You didn’t kill Sutton, so they can’t get you for that…I know you worked together. That doesn’t mean you killed him…They don’t know you were doing that. Nobody knows who’s doing the smuggling, do they? Just keep quiet and no one will find out…You had better keep quiet. You know those people. They’ll kill you. The rest? What do you mean, the rest? There’s more?” A brief silence, then Raul said goodbye.

  Yolanda stood still and silent, shocked at what she was hearing. Raul and Mateo. And smuggling. She grabbed the roll of paper towels sitting on the counter and glided soundlessly to the front. She knelt and began mopping up the puddle before she called out.

  “Raul? Are you here? Did you spill something?”

  “I’m back here.” Raul appeared around the corner. “Oh no. I must have tipped the vase when I took out the flowers.” He held a bunch of lilies and a basket, his phone nowhere to be seen.

  Yolanda started sneezing as soon as the lilies were within five feet, even though she’d taken her new allergy pill that morning. So much for that. She would try to remember to always stay away from lilies in the spring when her defenses were being pounded by everything blooming outside. Maybe she would quit using lilies. There were lots of other flowers.

  She waited the rest of the day for Raul to ask her for a raise, if his cousin had talked him into it. But he never did.