All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  "What were you processing on about the case, Aaron?" Lydia asked.

  "Was there any time during those years that the school was closed up long enough for someone to work on the ceiling? That would have taken some work. He would have had to get supplies and haul everything in, then work without discovery. I thought the custodians or someone was always in the building."

  Lydia said, "I don't honestly know. As soon as school was out for the summer, I was gone. They could have held bonfires on the playground and danced naked around them and I would never have known.

  "Doug Leon is still around town. He was one of the custodians when I was there. In fact, I think they even interviewed him at the time, but he didn't have any motive. And now, he's an old, lonely guy. You should probably talk to him about when the school building was closed up."

  Lydia thought about it for a moment.

  "You know, I was one of the weird ones who left school behind when I was done in May every year. There were a lot of kids who had to go to summer school and others were hired by the school to do yard work. I think there were even a few hired to wash windows those summers. Andy helped out with a couple of tutoring and day care experiences for the younger kids, but I don't know if she worked at the elementary or the high school. You'd have to ask her."

  She paused and thought again, then said, "How in the world are we supposed to remember things from forty years ago?"

  The timer on the oven chimed and she pulled out a breakfast casserole. Aaron grinned at Polly. "I never get fed like this unless someone is here. She makes me suffer with oatmeal or toast."

  Polly shook her head and laughed at him. "You look quite deprived."

  "Doesn't he though? His mouth tells you he's a terribly abused man. His eyes tell you he is easily amused by himself." Lydia chuckled as she cut the casserole and brought it to the table. She went back to the counter to get the muffins and brought those over.

  Polly felt her phone buzz in her back pocket and pulled it out. "Geez, it's not even seven o'clock here. Who's calling me?"

  She stepped out of the kitchen into the living room and said, "Hello?"

  She heard Joey's voice on the other end. "Polly? Did I finally find you?"

  "Hello, Joey." Her voice lost its luster. "How did you find me?"

  "Oh, I badgered Janet until she finally gave me your new number. Why haven't you contacted me? It's been six months. I've been worried sick."

  "I'm sorry, Joey. I've been busy and are you kidding me, we broke up. It didn't occur to me you would want to, much less need to know my new number."

  "I can't believe you did this to me, Polly! This isn't like you at all. It's like you dropped off the face of the earth."

  "Joey, I'm in the middle of breakfast with some friends."

  "Is it a new boyfriend? Is that why you left me? Did someone tell you he was better than me? Because I've been working on it, Polly. I've been seeing a counselor and taking the anger management classes like I promised."

  "Joey, there is no one else. I'm glad you're doing better. But, I have to go now. I will call you later when I have time."

  "No, Polly. Don't go! I want to talk to you for a minute and tell you how much I miss you and how I know that I screwed up badly. Dick says I've come a long way since last February. I'm a whole new person."

  Polly took a breath, "Joey. I have to go. I said I would call you later and I will. Good-bye."

  She cut him off when she ended the call, then walked back into the kitchen and sat down. She felt sick.

  Lydia put her hand out and touched Polly's arm. "Are you alright, dear? We couldn't help but overhear."

  "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to hear my garbage. You've got enough going on. I'm alright. It's just something I thought I put behind me."

  "What we have going on or not going on doesn't make a difference right now. You've got this going on. Are you alright?" Aaron's concerned eyes made Polly's lip quiver and before she knew it, she was crying.

  "I'm sorry," she said again. “It's been a weird year and I hoped when I moved back to Iowa, some of the weirdness would stay in Boston. But, he found me and I'm pretty sure he's going to make it weird all over again. He called last night and I missed those calls. I saw them before I went to bed, but hoped it was someone else. I didn't have the energy to even look. And now, he has found me."

  "Polly," Lydia said, nodding to her husband, "He's the sheriff. We can help. Did this guy hurt you?"

  Polly looked at them, startled. "Oh no! Not me. I'd kick his ass." Lydia chuckled and Aaron snorted with laughter.

  "Of course you would, dear," Lydia said. "So, what's wrong?"

  "Well, it wasn't me. Joey was ... is ... quite jealous. At first it was sweet. He kind of swept me off my feet. He didn't want anyone else looking at me or taking care of me. He swooped in and did everything for me.

  "Then, after a few weeks, it got bad. I couldn't talk to a taxi driver or a doorman without him asking what was going on. I told him he couldn't harass me about the men who were at the library. It was my job to help anyone who was there. I tried breaking up with him a couple of times, but he always promised he would be good."

  She looked at the two of them. "Oh, I know now that is classic victim talk. But, damn, he was hot and he was sweet to me.

  "One night we were in a club to hear one of my favorite bands. I left the table to go to the bathroom and somehow I tripped. A guy on the dance floor caught me before I hit the ground, then when he pulled me back up; he spoke into my ear asking if I was okay. He had to get that close because the music was so loud. Well, Joey had a little too much to drink. He'd never done anything completely stupid before, but that night, he attacked the guy and beat the hell out of him. Security broke it up and called the police. The guy pressed charges and Joey was in jail for the rest of the weekend until I could get him bailed out on Monday.

  "I was so pissed off. But, he calmed me down. I stuck around through his trial and then he had to serve thirty days. Part of his sentence was taking an anger management class along with seeing a counselor. As long as he was doing something positive, I was fine with staying with him. I thought I loved him.

  "Then, one day, he showed up at the library. One of my regulars stopped me in the aisle to thank me for recommending a book. He was kind of cute and we laughed about something. I was supposed to meet Joey for lunch at a cafe down the street, but didn't know he had come in to the Library. The guy left and Joey stopped him outside and threatened him, shoving him up against the building.

  "I walked out to go to lunch and saw the whole thing happen. I pulled Joey off, apologized to the guy and then the two of us went to the cafe. He admitted he'd quit going to counseling and the anger management class had ended. I broke up with him. I was done. I told him I had taken it for long enough and that he and I saw the world differently. Then I told him if he ever tried anything again, I would contact the police myself.

  "He was like a hurt puppy. He sat there and cried. He begged and begged, promising he'd fix it. Finally, I got up and walked out.

  "I called my boss and took the rest of the day off, called a locksmith, who met me at my brownstone, changed the locks and changed my telephone number. There were a couple of nights I was pretty sure he was outside my house. I found flowers the next morning. He sent me long letters, pleading with me to come back. I ignored it all.

  "One day, my boss called me in and asked if I was doing alright. She told me I had lost weight and looked miserable. I went into the bathroom and took a long look at myself in the mirror. I decided I didn't have to live like that, so I went home, figured out what was important; decided my life was important and I had enough money to start dreaming big. I quit my job, packed my stuff, put it on a truck to Iowa, rented an apartment in Ames and left town. I gave my phone number and address to my boss and it sounds like Joey convinced one of my coworkers into finding it.

  While Polly told her story, Lydia had placed a section of breakfast casserole on her
plate and had opened a blueberry muffin and spread butter on it. She picked Polly's fork up and put it into her left hand. "Eat something. I promise it will help."

  Polly giggled, "You sound like my Grandmother Giller! Food fixed everything for her. There was never a time we were at her house when there wasn't food being cooked or cleaned up. She annoyed my mother so much because Mom always felt like she had to be in there helping and she hated being stuck in the kitchen while there were other things going on."

  Polly looked at the fork in her hand and took a bite.

  "Oh, that's good. You're right. I don't need to think about him while I've got all this other stuff going on." She broke off a piece of the muffin. "I wish it were that easy. I've kept pushing him to the back of my mind for so long, I think I believed it was behind me and he would forget me. I can't believe this is going to start all over again." She dropped the food back onto her plate.

  "It's not going to start all over again, is it Aaron?" Lydia said.

  Aaron looked up from his plate. "Polly, we can do a lot of things to protect you. The first thing you can do is contact your cell provider and block his phone number."

  "Oh, that won't do any good. He goes through cell phones all the time. He'll get another one. I suppose I could get another number. It doesn't matter for the Library any longer. I'm done with everything there now."

  "I tell you what. Why don't you and Lydia head over to Boone for another phone. I'll take yours and will manage your calls today. As soon as you get a number, let me know and I'll forward the local calls to you. Anything coming in from Massachusetts, I'll answer." Aaron said.

  Lydia chuckled, "Well, that ought to scare the poor kid to death." She mimicked answering a phone using a deep voice, "Polly Giller's phone, this is Sheriff Merritt. Can I help you?"

  Polly giggled along with her and whether it was from nerves or relief, she began laughing so hard tears streamed down her face. Lydia joined her and soon the two of them could barely breathe. Every time either one of them could gasp in enough air to speak, they spoke in deep tones, "Sheriff Merrit," and burst into laughter again.

  Aaron looked at them helplessly. Then, shook his head and ate his muffin. With a few big gasps, the two women stopped laughing and held on to their sides.

  "Oh, that was painful," cried Polly.

  "I haven't done that in years," Lydia agreed, still bubbling out a few giggles.

  "You two are a little scary. I was afraid I might have to call for help!" Aaron admonished.

  "Yeah. You look terribly frightened with your mouth full of muffin." Lydia said.

  "I was a little scared. But, as long as you weren't turning blue, I knew I could wait." He stood up from his chair, taking one last drink of coffee. "Since I got such a nice, early start, I am going to head over to the schoolhouse before heading into Boone. Stay in touch with me today, okay?"

  Polly handed him her phone and then stood up. She hugged him and he let her. "Thank you so much,” she said. “I do appreciate this."

  "No problem. Give me a call when you get your phone.” Aaron went downstairs and they heard the door close.

  Lydia said, "Polly, I'm not leaving until you eat more than one bite of breakfast. So, eat what you can, then we'll head in to Boone and get you set up."

  Polly obeyed and ate a few more bites of the breakfast casserole. She drank her coffee and absentmindedly ate the muffin while Lydia cleared the table and began putting food away.

  "Do you wonder if life will ever be normal again?" Polly mused out loud.

  "Life is what you make it,” Lydia replied. “I know it seems like Joey has had power over you in the past and is in power right now, but Polly, you can do anything with your life that you like. You're building a pretty good support group here. Take advantage of us and be strong like your parents taught you."

  Chapter Nine

  No more waiting! It was Saturday morning and Polly was ready to go out of her mind. Thursday had been fun, traveling around with Lydia. They'd gotten a new phone and yes, Aaron had taken one call from Joey. He was pretty sure he'd freaked the young man out. Polly contacted nearly everyone who needed to know what her new number was, so now she was headed back to Boone to get the new number programmed into her old phone, since they had a seventy-two hour replacement policy for something like this. She was glad to get all of her contacts back and was also glad to quit worrying about any more calls coming in from Joey. It was time to let that chapter of her life be finished.

  At breakfast, she'd asked Aaron about getting back to work on the school. He thought they'd be able to have access to most of the building on Monday and if Polly wanted to move back in, she could. They planned to keep the bathroom closed off from remodeling until they were completely finished. He didn't know how long it would take.

  She really wanted to be able to get everyone back to work, though. Now that things were moving along, she was chomping at the bit to keep them going.

  While she was driving, her phone rang. It was Beryl.

  "Are you ready for another sleepover tonight?" she asked.

  "Oh, good heavens, no!" exclaimed Polly.

  "Well, that's good. At least I don't have to plan that. I don't have nearly as many friends as Lydia."

  "That doesn't sound like you, Beryl." Polly responded.

  "Oh, trust me, it does. I don't like people as much as she does and they seem to sense it when we're in a small room together. They think I'm nuts. They might be right."

  Polly laughed. "They just might! So, what's up?"

  "Well, Sylvie is free tonight and we found a babysitter for her. Would you like to come over to my house for dinner?"

  "You cook?" Polly asked.

  "Of course I cook! I'm a great cook!" Then, Beryl stopped. "I make a helluva salad. I'm wicked good with a knife. Sylvie is bringing dessert, Andy is bringing vegetables and Lydia is doing something. I have no idea what, but it will be wonderful, I'm sure. I can heat up an amazing spiral cut ham. I've got this all figured out.

  "So, what are you going to bring, Polly?"

  "Oh, Beryl," Polly snorted as she laughed. "I'll bring bread and …" Polly drew the thought out for a few moments.

  Beryl interrupted, "Oh, and I've got the liquor covered. I saw you enjoying my red-headed slut the other night."

  "You know, Beryl. I looked it up on the internet. It's also called the red headed princess!"

  "Yeah. I'm never ordering it using that terminology. It's not nearly as much fun," Beryl retorted.

  "You bring bread and anything else you come up with that might be fun,” she continued. “We're only going to sit around and fingerpaint, so be at my house around, oh, say, 6:30. We’ll have plenty of time to eat and get ourselves in trouble."

  "Alright. Wait. Fingerpaint?" Polly wasn't sure what she was getting into.

  "Trust me, you'll have fun. Bring yourself and your food! Tra-la-la!" Beryl hung up and Polly caught herself staring at her phone.

  "I have the weirdest conversations with people," she thought and realized she was coming to a stop. If she remembered correctly, a right turn and then a left turn onto Story Street would get her downtown and to the telephone store.

  All of a sudden she realized she had no idea where Beryl lived. She dialed the number right back and she heard Beryl’s voicemail, "Polly, you have no idea where I live do you? My address is 928 North Walnut. It's the cute little brick house on the south side of the street. Wait, they're all cute little brick houses. Well, anyway. You'll find it. See you tonight. OH, leave me a message so I know you got this and can erase it."

  Polly said, "I got this. Erase the message."

  "Thanks girlfriend!" Beryl said.

  "You're absolutely insane, Beryl!"

  "I know, it's my best quality. I'll see you tonight." and Beryl was gone again.

  When Polly got back to her school, she went upstairs to check on the bathroom. Sure enough, the door was closed and there was a new lock on the door. Crime scene tape stretched across it and s
ealed the door closed.

  "Cool," she thought and pulled out her telephone, shooting several pictures. "This is definitely going in my scrapbook!"

  She opened the door to her bedroom and found everything as she had left it. Dumping her bag on the bed, she flopped down and looked around. "I've got to get more of this place put together so I can bring in more furniture.” Patience wasn’t her best thing.

  Polly poured things out of her bag at the end of the bed and put the toiletries back in the bathroom. That didn't take long, so she went downstairs to the kitchen, the only fully finished room in the place. It was actually in pretty good shape, though she supposed no one had spent much time in there since Lydia cleaned it up on Wednesday.

  First things first. She measured ingredients into her bread machine and turned it on. Two hours and then she could shape it and let it rise once more before baking. She had plenty of time.

  Sitting down at the table, Polly flipped her laptop open and decided to respond to a few emails. It was a pain to do it on her phone and nothing had been urgent. A few of her friends out east were asking questions about all of her exploits in the middle of the country.

  No one understood why she had wanted to come back. They couldn't imagine living without the excitement of the city around them day and night. Polly wasn't sure she wanted to tell them she'd had more excitement since she moved back to Iowa than in all the years she'd lived in Boston.

  Sal Kahane had been her roommate in college. Sal didn't like Joey at all and if Polly was leaving Boston to get away from him, she was fully behind the decision, though she told Polly she missed her like crazy. Things weren't the same out there any longer. Polly thought about it. They had known each other for ten years and Sal hadn't said a word when Polly called her and told her she was leaving Boston behind. She came over and helped her pack her stuff, and then hugged her good-bye on the morning she left the city.

  Bunny Farnam wasn't quite as supportive, but then she wouldn't be. That poor thing always needed to be the center of attention. Polly was fine with letting that happen. Bunny could draw a crowd and she knew Polly would be there to take care of her, cheer her on and tell her she was the greatest girl ever. The last email from Bunny had been filled with all of her woes and tragedies. Her work was so hard, her boss hated her, her mother had set her up on yet another blind date and he was totally disgusting! Nothing new there.