Who Killed the Neanderthal

by Cheryl Zelenka

  Sadie nodded while brushing a stray hair from her face. “The hotplate is hiding under the table. I just need to find a place for it and plug it in. I also printed off some recipes that should help our Rosemary and Thyme sales.”

  “Great idea! I love your Lemon-Thyme Pound Cake.”

  “I know. That’s why I made eight cakes yesterday. Two are in the cooler Mandy and Lilly are retrieving from my car. I’ll hand out samples along with the chocolate-covered Mint leaves.”

  “As soon as word gets out that we are handing out yummy free samples, we’ll have a long line of customers.” Dora placed their moneybox under the table while Sadie messed with a large bouquet of cut flowers on the vintage tablecloth. She then reached below and put the hotplate on the far right of the table.

  “I’ll bring Timothy and Mary back to the park around 7 for dinner. Mary and Timothy love carnie-food. We’ll have to indulge in some deep-fried pickles, funnel cakes, and corn dogs.”

  “Sounds like a plan but you can have all the pickles!” Sadie was trying to contain her enthusiasm. She was nervous about meeting up with Timothy again, but the butterflies in her stomach were not going to ruin her evening. She was looking forward to seeing the twinkle in his Irish, blue eyes. Of course, Mark would also be at the carnival, but she hoped they wouldn’t run into him. Sadie had agreed to be her next-door neighbor’s date for the Memorial Day parade, but she was hoping for some quality time with Detective O’Cleary first.

  Sadie added, “Mandy and Teddy offered to take the night shift at our booth. Mandy’s mom is watching Beaker Polly.” The Goldens were die-hard Oregon Duck fans, thus accounting for the originality of their daughter’s name. “Let’s plan to stay late and watch the fireworks after dinner. Be sure to bring a blanket for all of us to sit on.”

  “Sure,” Dora replied. Then under her breath, she mumbled, “I’ll be watching two displays of fireworks if Timothy plays his cards right tonight.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing, Sadie. I was just talking to myself. Made a prediction.”

  “About how successful today will be?”

  “Uh huh. Si, Amiga. Today will prove to be a huge success…I think.”

  CHAPTER TWO: Snow Cones and a Dead Body

  “So how far did you get on your Koi pond, Dora?” Sadie was helping her best friend lay out the picnic blanket. They were fortunate to secure such a prime location to view the celebratory firework display. It was just 7:30 p.m., so Detective Pointman and Detective O’Cleary were off getting carnie-food for their dinner.

  “Well, as you know, I did a lot of prep work yesterday when I measured out things and used that orange landscape paint you gave me.” Sadie smiled and waited for Dora to continue. “Well, we, I mean,” Dora paused and shrugged her shoulders, “Timothy, mostly Timothy. Umm, O’Cleary excavated the 1,500-gallon pond.”

  Sadie’s expression turned into a giant question mark. “What? Are you telling me Timothy O’Cleary got that 15x10 hole dug in a single day? I know it isn’t very deep, but wow!” Sadie knew how hard it was to work with Oregon soil.

  “Si. Timothy’s a maniac, a real machine. He was finished by 6:45 p.m. He wouldn’t let us gals help with the digging. He said we’d get in his way. Mary and I decided not to argue with him. Instead, we used our shovels and your wheel barrel to move the excavated dirt over to my Dogwood tree. I’m going to make a rock garden to compliment the pond.”

  “Nice! So what’s the next step?”

  “We have to put all the underlayment and pond liner in the hole. We also have to add the skimmer filter and the pump. It won’t take us long to get that done. Then the underwater light system has to be installed. I’m hiring a professional landscaper to do that for me. I don’t want any of my Koi belly up in the Koi pond!”

  Sadie gagged. The image of floating Koi in Dora’s pond made her knees go weak. “Really? Do you have to bring up past memories? Electrocuted fish are not such a distant memory, you know.”

  Dora felt bad. She really hadn’t meant to torment Sadie. “At least there won’t be a dead body in my pond.”

  Sadie shifted her feet then answered, “Unless it’s my body! You know what a klutz I am. I’ll probably trip over something and fall into your pond. When the fish start nibbling my toes I’ll faint and…drown!”

  “You have quite the imagination.” Dora could see right through Sadie’s attempt to manipulate, but it wasn’t going to work. She had a big hole in her front yard and the liner and materials were sitting in her driveway. “Look, you know the key code to my garage. If you don’t want to knock on my front door, you can always open my garage door and knock on the inner door.”

  “Awesome,” Sadie responded with false enthusiasm. Her battle to dissuade Dora was hopeless. Her friend was determined.

  “Then I add the rocks and plants. I can do that myself unless you want to help. I don’t need Mary and Timothy for that job. The Koi won’t be added for at least a week. The water has to be tested and cleaned.”

  Glancing over her shoulder, Sadie was relieved to see Mary and Timothy walking toward them. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to help Dora with the water feature, so she didn’t offer.

  “Hey look, our dinner has arrived.” Sadie was sitting on one corner of the blanket. Timothy made sure to settle in close to her while Mary found a seat next to Dora.

  “Hey, Ms. Sunshine,” Timothy’s voice had a smile in it. “I hear you love deep-fried pickles and corn dogs.”

  Sadie pretended to gag. “Corn dogs yes, but you can give Detective Flores all the pickles. I’m not a fan. Did you also buy funnel cakes?”

  Mary handed her two cakes dusted with honey and powdered sugar.

  “Yum, I think I’ll have dessert first!” Just as she was about to take her first bite, a tremendous gust of wind blew the confectioner’s sugar into Sadie’s face and hair.

  Laughing, Dora pointed and said, “Look, La Llorona!”

  “Very funny, Dora. I’ll be over to haunt you real soon. Does tomorrow night work for you?”

  Timothy hid a smirk and grabbed a few paper napkins. Pouring some water on them, he handed them to Sadie so she could wipe her face. Before letting go he whispered, “Sadie, I already know you’re sweet. You aren’t trying to sugar coat something, are ya?”

  Sadie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The Irishman was funny and so easy to be around. It was good to get the Koi pond out of her head.

  “Oh Detective O’Cleary,” she cried in her best southern accent, “You’ve caught me! Yes, indeed! I was trying to sugar coat my humble appearance so you’d feel sorry for me.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Well, sir, I was hoping you would treat me to a snow cone to ease my melancholy.”

  “A snow cone? Melancholy?”

  “Yes.” There was an awkward silence so Sadie added, “How else am I going to get a moment alone with you? And for your information, my melancholy is your fault. You haven’t called recently and I thought you forgot we were friends.”

  Feigning shock, Timothy replied, “Lassie, I’m sorry I didn’t call this week but you don’t have to cover yourself with sugar or pretend your Scarlett O’Hara to get my attention.” O’Cleary inched a bit closer to Sadie. “A snow cone?” He raised his eyebrows, “That’s all you want? I can offer you so much more.” Another awkward silence pricked the air.

  “Timothy,” Sadie tossed her southern accent aside, “Let’s start with a nice walk and a snow cone. Who knows how the evening will end?”

  Mary and Dora tried to ignore the flirtatious conversation between their friends, but a giggle or two slipped out while they dug into the deep-fried pickles.

  Timothy watched as Sadie wiped the sugar from her face and nibbled at the confection now missing most of its sugar. She certainly knew how to steal his heart. He thought she was the most adorable woman on the planet.

  Earlier that day, while digging out Dora’s Koi pond, their neighbor, Mark stopped by to check on the landscape progres
s. Timothy now had a face to match the name of his competition.

  While working on the Koi pond, Dora told him Mark had been taking Sadie to church every Sunday, and that he was her date for the Boatnik parade. I’ve got tonight and tomorrow to get her attention back on me. Who knows, Mark might end up sitting next to me in church. I’m gonna ask Sadie if Mary and I can tag along this Sunday. With Dora’s help, I’m sure to pull that off. By Monday, with any luck, Sadie will see Mark as just another nice neighbor.

  By the time Timothy’s feet were back in the present, Sadie had finished her funnel cake. A local marching band was playing a lively number and Sadie was using her corndog as a baton to conduct the musicians.

  Dora threw a question her way. “What would your Pop say if he saw you playing with your food?” Sadie didn’t miss a single beat, even though her corndog was shifting around on her stick. Yelling back at Dora she replied, “He’d say, ‘Throw me one of those corny dogs, Butterfly! I’ll help you keep the beat.’”

  O’Cleary and Mary cracked up but Dora just rolled her eyes and said, “Estas loco!”

  When the band finished the marching number, Sadie detached the slipping corndog from its stick and devoured it in three very large bites.

  Craving alone time with Sadie, O’Cleary stood up and offered Sadie his hand. “Snow cone, dear lady?”

  Sadie was in a mood to flirt and was feeling silly. She wanted to keep things light between them, so she batted her eyes she gushed, “Only if you promise to sing songs from Frozen while we walk to the food court.”

  Timothy thought, this lass is hard to keep up with but I’m sure having fun trying! “Certainly, Miss O’Hara. Did you know I have a 6-year-old niece who calls me Olaf? We sing, ‘Let it Go’ whenever we don’t want to clean up our messes.”

  “Oh, that’s so mature! Tell me more, Detective Olaf.” Sadie loved that Timothy had a comeback line. Not only was he familiar with the movie Frozen, a favorite of students at Fort Follyfield, but he actually knew a character’s name from the movie. She accepted his hand and was soon walking up the grassy slope that led to the food court. All the while, she was serenaded with made-up lyrics from the musical.

  Upon reaching the top of the hill, Sadie noticed a middle-aged woman with blonde hair walking a very large dog with a thick golden coat. “Timothy look! I’ve never seen a dog like that beauty. Let’s see if we can give it a pet.” With that, Sadie chased after the woman while O’Cleary did his best to keep up.

  Unfortunately, the lady took a sudden turn and led the dog down the exact hill they had just climbed. Sadie stopped her pursuit and watched as they disappeared into the crowd.

  Turning to Timothy, Sadie remarked, “That dog was beautiful! I’m sure it was very expensive and hard to come by. It must weigh close to 100 pounds.” Pausing, she then added, “I wonder what my Bosco would think of that golden giant?” Then answering her own question, “Ha, the sheer size of that dog wouldn’t intimidate my Maltipoo. Bosco would boss a dinosaur around and make it a pet if they weren’t extinct. I guess that beautiful dog would have to submit to my little white wonder, should they ever meet.” Little did she know how soon her statement would become a reality.

  O’Cleary chuckled at the conversation Sadie just had with herself adding, “I love dogs. Sure hope I get to meet your fur-kids while I’m down here.”

  “Oh, I believe that can be arranged.” Sadie looked deep into the light blue eyes that were full of humor and intelligence. I sure hope this detective likes me as much as I like him. Timothy squeezed her hand then led the way to the snow cone vendor. It was just five booths down from Fort Follyfield’s herbal plant and tea booth, which Mandy and Teddy were manning.

  “Hey, Timothy. Can we poke our heads in on the booth we set up for Fort Follyfield? I want to say hello to the Goldens and see if we’re making any sales.”

  “Of course, Sadie. Lead the way.”

  As they neared the booth, Sadie noticed a line of five or six people waiting at the checkout table. Teddy was manning the cash box and Mandy was busy with a customer.

  “Hey there, Mandy.” Her friend shot Sadie a smile but continued helping the customer while noting the rugged Irishman next to her. Sadie left Mandy and stepped behind the vendor table to asked Teddy about the action.

  “So, how are things going?” Timothy was standing next to Sadie, but she neglected to introduce him.

  “Great! Really, really great! We have already cleared $267.00. We’ve sold all of the Mint plants you brought up today and the Mint tea is a big hit.”

  “That’s wonderful news. I’ll be sure to have Lilly bring up more Mint plants tomorrow morning. My shift isn’t until 4 p.m. How are you doing with the cake samples?”

  By now Mandy had escorted her customer over to the checkout table. She was holding several plants and two boxes of herbal tea. Mandy jumped into the conversation saying, “We cut the cake samples pretty small, so we still have one entire cake in the cooler. Just bring two or three cakes tomorrow when you start your shift. Tomorrow morning, Lilly will bring the fresh Mint and make more of the chocolate-covered Mint leaves. Thank goodness her husband is helping out tomorrow. Things are really hopping tonight and Teddy’s been a big help.” Teddy shifted from foot to foot, but it was obvious the compliment was well received.

  “I made eight cakes on Wednesday. I stuck six of them in my freezer. I’ll pull three out tonight and let them defrost. Have no fear, I’ll be sure to bring them tomorrow when my shift starts.”

  There was an uncomfortable pause, a silence in the middle of the chaos all around them.

  Teddy and Mandy were eyeing Timothy. Timothy was waiting for an introduction. Mandy gave Sadie a pointed look and nodded in his direction.

  “Oh! Oh, my. Sorry you guys! Um, Timothy, these are my dear friends the Goldens…Mandy and Teddy. Dear friends, this is Timothy O’Cleary. He’s the detective I met up in Portland when Lilly, Dora, and I had that girls’ weekend at the Portland garden show.”

  “Where you discovered a dead body in a Koi pond exhibit, right?”

  “Yes, Teddy. It turns out our fun weekend was spent solving a murder case.”

  “With the help of the Portland police department,” Timothy interjected.

  Sadie grinned at Timothy and replied, “Including this very handsome detective.”

  Timothy stood a little taller thanks to Sadie’s compliment then added, “And my partner, Detective Mary Pointman.”

  Teddy looked past Sadie to see if there was another off-duty officer nearby.

  Sadie realized he was looking for Mary and told him she was with Dora. “They’re waiting for the fireworks to start.” Teddy smiled then left the group to wait on a new customer who was checking out the herbal plants and tins of Ginger-Rosemary tea.

  Sadie said goodbye to Mandy and added, “Timothy is treating me to a snow cone!”

  Mandy waved but called after them, “You’re in for a surprise!” Sadie couldn’t imagine what her friend was implying and quickly walked with Timothy to the snow cone vendor.

  “We’re in luck. There isn’t a line,” Timothy chuckled as he stepped to the right and perused the flavor menu. Already knowing what she wanted, Sadie moved ahead of him to place her order. The minute she reached the window, her jaw dropped. A handsome 80-year-old, dressed in a bright turquoise apron, poked his nose out of the window to greet her. His incredible sea-blue eyes recognized Sadie and called out, “Hey there, butterfly! I didn’t expect to see you tonight. You want your regular strawberry-lime snow cone?”

  Still mystified, Sadie crossed her arms and asked, “Pop, what are you doing here? I had no idea you were helping Scott with his business. Are you okay? Why isn’t he here helping you?”

  “Relax honey. Scott is at the hospital. He’s about to become a daddy! I’m doing just fine. I came on duty about an hour ago and will leave in an hour. Scott said I could close early, so I’ll skip the fireworks tonight and hit the hay as soon as I get home.” Then looking at Timothy
he asked, “Say, who’s that nice looking fellow standing behind you, girlie-girl.”

  While her dad prepared her snow cone, Sadie introduced Timothy. Handing his daughter her sweet-and-sour treat, Jerry looked Timothy up and down. Hmm, I’d say you’re a one-flavor kind of guy. Solid and safe, but not too predictable. Orange is predictable. Grape. Right? Grape.” O’Cleary grinned at Jerry’s correct flavor assessment then paid for the treats.

  “Pop, can we do anything for you before we leave for the night?”

  Retying his apron, Jerry thought for a minute then asked, “Could your detective friend roll a huge ice chest on wheels into the trailer for me? It’s in the back. I’ll need to load up this here snow cone machine before the night is over. I don’t think I can lift that cooler or get it in the trailer on my own. It’s about the size of a refrigerator!

  Certain the old man was exaggerating, Timothy said, “Sure thing, Mr. Sunshine!” He wanted to earn some brownie points with Sadie and what better way to get them? He knew the father-daughter team were very close. “We’ll meet you around back, Jerry.”

  Sadie and Timothy walked to the other side of the trailer and saw the gigantic cooler. Shaking his head, O’Cleary scowled. “He really wasn’t exaggerating about the size of this cooler. I don’t care if this thing is on wheels, Sadie. Your dad shouldn’t be moving anything this big.”

  “I know, but try convincing my Pop he isn’t twenty and Superman’s twin.”

  “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s see if this thing is full of big bags of ice. If Jerry is only going to serve up snow cones for another hour, one or two bags should cover all the orders.”

  “Perfect! I knew you had great problem-solving skills, but now you’re using them to help my dad, and well, it’s very appealing.”