Granny hung up the phone before Heather could say anything more. Granny checked the time on her cell phone before picking it up one more time and bleating into the phone, “Delight.”
“The Pink Percolator. Delicious, delightful and delectable coffee and confections,” Delight’s voice rang out in singsong fashion as she answered the phone.
“Can we meet?”
“Where?” Delight’s voice held a wary tone.
“My house. I need help.”
“Granny it’s Christmas Eve.”
“You’ll be back in time for the service. It’s about Delbert.” Granny hung up the phone before Delight had a chance to protest some more.
Granny threw on her bomber hat, coat and boots. Digging in her pockets for her gloves, she came across a hard object. She pulled out the object. It was the crystal from the watch that she’d found by the tree in the cemetery. Who did it belong to? She’d forgotten all about this clue. Looking at it carefully, turning it over in her hands, she decided to put it away for later investigation. Opening the bag of coffee beans on her kitchen counter, she stuck the crystal inside. No one would see it there.
It was still light outside, but the neighborhood appeared to be empty. Granny grabbed her shovel cane from its place by the front door and took off the cover. Delight pulled up in the driveway just as Granny reached the spot in the yard where Baskerville had dug up the purse.
“What am I doing here Granny?”
“The key. The key with the tag on it that matches the piece of paper in your crypt is buried under the snow. I forgot I found it last fall when Mr. Nail was murdered. Baskerville buried it in the snow. We’ve got to find it.” Granny stuck the shovel into the snow and began digging.
Delight got down on her knees and burrowed her hands into the snow, feeling around for something solid. “What if someone sees us and asks what we’re doing?”
“We’ll tell them Santa buried our presents and we’re trying to find them,” Granny answered sarcastically. “No one is going to see us. You worry too much, Delight.”
“I’ve got something.” Delight pushed aside the snow with her hands and grabbed something solid, holding it up in triumph. “I found it!”
“You found Baskerville’s bone. He must have buried that, too.”
Delight looked at the object she was holding up. “It could have been the key.”
Granny took a shovelful of snow and flung it aside. Something silver landed halfway across the yard. Delight and Granny watched as it landed on Granny’s snowmobile. “Bull’s Eye!” Granny yelled, trudging through the snow to the snowmobile.
Granny held up the silver object. It was an old key, similar to a skeleton key with a tag that had three Xs with a circle around them. “This is it.”
“Now can I go home? It’s cold out here.”
“This must be why someone broke into my house. How did they know I had it and what is it for?” Granny put the key closer to her eyes to see if she was missing something on the key.
“It looks like a big version of my key to the crypt,” said Delight. “Now can I go home?”
“That’s it! Let’s go.”
“You’re coming home with me?”
“No, we’re going to the cemetery.”
“The cemetery?” Delight’s voice quivered as she asked the question. Do you remember what happened the last time we were at the cemetery?”
“Yes, but it’s daylight and we’re not going to the mausoleum. We’re going to Delbert’s grave.”
“Why? He’s not there; they haven’t reburied him yet. Is that what they call it reburied?”
Granny shook her head. “Delight, we have a duty to solve this before Christmas and before my wedding and Thor’s wedding. Then, we can all rest in peace.”
“I don’t want to rest in peace. That’s what they say at funerals,” Delight commented in alarm.
“Get on.”
“Get on what?”
Granny pointed to the snowmobile.
Delight shrieked, “Snowmobile! I’ve never been on a snowmobile!”
“Well, let’s live dangerously before you get to take a nap in the crypt,” Granny suggested as she pulled Delight onto the snowmobile after her.
Granny turned the key and revved the engine. “Hold on,” Granny advised, as she took off heading for the ramp in her backyard.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Delight still had her eyes closed when Granny pulled up by Delbert’s grave. “We’re here. You can get off now and open your eyes.”
Slowly, Delight got off the machine. “What are we looking for here? There’s no place for a key.”
“Look at the tag. It looks like it could be a Roman numeral or something. Everything seems to happen out here these days and we haven’t been out here during the daytime. Maybe we missed something.”
Delight shuffled her feet in the snow. “Maybe it’s in the mausoleum.”
“We know it doesn’t belong to any of the crypts. It’s too big for that unless it’s an old key to the mausoleum door. Let’s check that out.”
“You go ahead; I’ll just sit here and talk to Delbert even though he’s not here.” Delight sighed and patted the little mound of dirt where Delbert should have been buried but now was left open until the police were done with the bodies.
Granny took a step in the direction of the mausoleum when Delight said, “I used to write love notes to Delbert and I signed them with three X’s. He would always put a circle around them and said it was his hug. I guess someone else did the same thing.”
“Delbert wrote this?” Granny stuck the key and tag in front of Delight’s face.
“No, that’s not his handwriting or the way we made our X’s.” Delight pointed to the tombstone in front of her. His writing looked more like this.”
Granny quickly knelt down and grabbed Delight’s shoulders. “Delight, that’s it. Why didn’t you tell me? You knew all along!”
Delight gave Granny a puzzled look. “I didn’t. I just saw that now on his tombstone. See, it’s almost hidden in the seam of the base and the stone.”
“You didn’t have it put on when you ordered his tombstone?”
“I didn’t order his tombstone, he did.”
“He ordered a tombstone when he was dead? Didn’t you think that was a little odd?” Granny quipped.
“Well, he was a tombstone salesman. That’s why he traveled so much. When we got married, he said his motto was ‘better wed than dead,’” Delight giggled, “I thought that was so romantic.”
Granny raised her eyebrows at Delights statement, “Did he have a big ego that he needed such a big and tall tombstone? It’s almost as big as Phineas Fuchsia’s statue in the mausoleum.”
Delight stood up and walked around the large tombstone. “He said he wanted a tombstone that had a tall stature to represent the person he wanted to be.”
“I suppose he picked out this saying on this large metal plaque on the back too. Jewels and money are in the past, just like marriages they don’t last. Don’t you find that kind of strange?”
Delight brushed a hand over the metal on the tombstone. “Well, he was married before and it didn’t last and he’s dead so I guess our marriage didn’t last either.”
“You didn’t tell me he was married before, and what about the jewels and money thing?”
“He didn’t like to talk about his first wife––something about her being a little crotchety and there was something about her taking him to the cleaners. He bought the tombstone before he married me and we had Ella. I didn’t think he’d need it for a long time.” Delight put her hands on the metal plaque and sobbed, pressing her head against her hands.
Granny, not usually being moved by tears, moved over to Delight to comfort her, putting her hands on Delight’s shoulders to move her away from the tombstone and turn her around to embrace her. Delight brushed her hands hard on the metal one last time before turning to Granny. Granny happened to be looking over Delight’s sh
oulder. “Delight, you did it!”
“Did what?”
“You found the lock for the key.”
“I did? Where?”
Granny turned the still sniffling Delight around to face the large tombstone. The metal with the saying had popped open to reveal a metal door. Granny moved Delight aside, pulled out the key, and stuck it in the lock. Looking around to make sure no one was watching them in the dwindling light, Granny turned the key. The door popped open.
Delight gave a gasp.
“You must have triggered something when you put your weight on the metal and moved away,” Granny concluded, reaching into the large cavern of the tombstone. She felt her hand hit something soft. It felt like a bag. Pulling the bag out of the tombstone, she saw that it was a medium-sized velvet pouch.
“Granny, we’re going to be late for church,” Delight whimpered in fear, “Don’t open it.”
“Don’t you want to know what your husband was up to?”
“He was a good man,” Delight stated vehemently.
Opening the bag, Granny stuck her hand in and came out with a couple of what looked like diamond and ruby necklaces. “A good man with a stash of jewelry.”
Delight stared at the jewelry in Granny’s hand with an open mouth, having a hard time getting the words out that she finally uttered. “He told me we had to live on love because tombstone salesmen didn’t make much money. What else is in there?” It was Delight’s turn to push Granny aside and dig into the large opening of the tombstone. When she did, she came out with handfuls of money. Looking at Granny with an astonished look, she held out the money for Granny to touch.
Granny took a few of the bills out of her hands. “First, two million dollars in Franklin’s casket and now this. Apparently jewels and money aren’t in the past.”
We have to go, we have to tell the police.” Delight took the jewels out of Granny’s hands and tossed them back in the tombstone, then she grabbed the money out of Granny’s hands and tossed the money back in the tombstone.
Granny slammed the door shut and put the metal plaque back in place. “Delight, we’re going to go. We’re going to church and we’re going to celebrate Christmas and I’m going to get married and then––we will tell the police.”
“But…but…but…” Delight muttered in protest.
“Get on the snowmobile. We need time to figure this out. Someone had the key; someone knew I had the key and someone murdered your husband. That same someone knocked us out in the mausoleum to keep us from learning the truth. They stole the plans. That means your husband had an accomplice and he, or she, big emphasis on SHE, is still out there.”
“You really think Gram Gramstead is back?” Delight asked, climbing on the snowmobile behind Granny.
“She liked her jewels and she liked to make her own rules. I put her away, I thought she was there to stay, but it looks like she’s back and she isn’t here for a snack.”
“Oh, Granny,” Delight giggled, “you should write a book of poetry. I bet it would be a best seller.”
Granny revved the engine and took off over the ramp into her yard, parking by the shed in the back.
“There’s just one thing I haven’t figured out,” Granny said to Delight when the snowmobile was silent. “Gram Gramstead didn’t live here when your husband and my husband were alive.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t tell the police?”
“And ruin Christmas and the wedding? The Tall Guy and Supercilious are leaving this afternoon for the holiday and I don’t want to ruin Thor’s wedding to Heather and––Franklin forbade me to get involved. What do you think? It’s Fuchsia; nothing happens over the holidays in Fuchsia except holiday cheer.”
As Delight headed for her car, Granny called out after her, “Mums the word, do you understand?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Granny kicked off her snow boots as she entered her house but kept her coat and hat on. Opening the hall closet door, she dug out an empty box that had been stashed on the overhead shelf and picked up the Christmas wrapping paper sitting in the corner of the hall closet.
Putting the box and paper along with the key on the kitchen table, she rummaged in her junk drawer and pulled out some tape, a piece of paper and a pen. Granny then tossed the key in the box and wrapped the Christmas paper around the box. She wrote a little note on the paper and stuffed it in an envelope writing Do Not Open Until the Day After Christmas on the front.
Stepping back into her boots, she opened the front door and trudged across the street through the snow to Silas Crickett’s house. Granny rang the doorbell.
“What do you want?” Silas queried when he saw who was on the other side of the door.
“I brought you a Christmas present. Do not open it until after my wedding! Promise.”
Granny walked back down the steps before giving Silas a chance to reply.
Silas called out to Granny, “Good thing you caught me. I was just leaving town. Remember, once you’re wed, you may dread, waking up and feeling stuck.”
Calling back over her shoulder, Granny yelled, “You never were any good at rhyming, Mr. Supercilious.”
Granny made it to her porch and into her house before Silas could counter with an answer. Granny checked her watch. She had just enough time to change and pack a bag before Franklin picked her up. They were all staying at Franklin’s place for Christmas Eve since he now had an enormous Victorian house. She would come back home Christmas night so she could prepare to become Mrs. Franklin Jester Gatsby the next day.
The overnight bag and Granny were waiting by the door when Franklin pressed the bell to let Granny know he had arrived. “Remind me to change the music on that doorbell, Franklin. Angel might get upset that Santa may get run over by a reindeer.”
Franklin chuckled as he took the bag from Granny’s hand. “She’s too excited to get upset. She can hardly wait to have a new Grandma. Both our families have arrived and are meeting us at church.”
“I haven’t seen the shysters, Baskerville, or Mrs. Bleaty,” Granny remarked, turning back to lock the door.
“They are all at my place frolicking in the big house. Mrs. Bleaty is enamored with the deer head on the wall in the study.” Franklin held open the car door for Granny.
“You have a deer head on the wall? You didn’t have that in your old house.”
“Didn’t have room to put them up. I also have an elk head and a fox mounted on the wall now.”
“I don’t like dead bambis hanging on my walls. I like live bambis peeking through my window. Mrs. Bleaty is probably scared that she’ll be next.”
Franklin pulled into We Save You Christian Church’s parking lot and left Granny off at the door so he could find a place to park. Thor was waiting and opened the church door for her while Starshine and Penelope were huddled to the side whispering.
“What are you two plotting?” Granny asked before noticing Penelope and Butch’s children talking to Angel. Without waiting for an answer, Granny moved to her grandchildren and gave them both a big hug.
Tweaking her grandson Bernard’s cheek, she asked, “How’s college? I see you’ve become your own man and have let your hair grow out.”
Turning to Penny, her granddaughter, she joked, “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Granny, that was cute when I was little, but I’m graduating from college this year with my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. I have to be professional.”
“Well, Penny Ann, is that better?”
“Granny, did I tell you I am going to study you for my thesis.”
“Your whatsis?”
“My thesis. I told my professors I had this forgetful Granny who didn’t know she was old and thought she was an undercover detective. I’m going to study you to see what happens in your brain when you leave reality and live in fantasy.”
Bernard, seeing his grandmother start to make funny faces to answer his sister, quickly interrupted, “It’s time to go in; everyone’s here. Have you met F
ranklin’s other daughter Miranda?” Taking Granny’s arm, he led her over to Franklin. Franklin took Granny’s arm, led her down the aisle and whispered, “The next time we walk down the aisle like this it will be our wedding.”
“No, the next time we walk down the aisle like this it will be for Thor and Heather’s wedding; don’t get ahead of yourself,” Granny reminded him.
The church became quiet as Pastor Snicks stepped up to the pulpit. Granny took a second to catch Angel’s eye as Angel stood in front of the church in her angel costume as part of the manger scene.
Pastor Snicks cleared his throat. “I would like to welcome all of you to this special time, the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus. As you listen to my sermon later on in the service, take yourself back in time and imagine you were present in that tiny manger the night our Savior was born. Close your eyes tonight, listen to the music and the words of Mary and Joseph and the Wise Men. It truly is a holy night.”
Franklin reached over and took Granny’s hand. Granny looked around at her family, feeling very blessed to share this night with those she loved. She sat back to enjoy the service, noting that she did miss Tricky Travis Trawler, especially on Christmas Eve. It was the one night he didn’t try and pilfer from the collection plate. He, too, was in awe of that which took place so many years ago.
At the end of the service, Angel sang Silent Night, and the entire church joined her on the last verse, candles lit and church lights out. Granny hadn’t known what a beautiful voice her new granddaughter had. A little tear uncharacteristically dropped from her eye. Hearing Angel’s pure voice brought memories of Christmas past with her own family and sharing that song in a solo with her twin sister. The lights switched back on, bringing Granny out of her memories.
Pastor Snicks stopped Franklin and Granny as they were exiting the church. “Are you ready for the big day? Any more instructions for me?”
“Nope, we’ve got it covered. Are you sure we can only use the music from Wedding Bell Blues and not the words?” Granny asked hopefully.
3 Granny Snows A Sneak Page 18