"Are you pouting, Polly?" Beryl asked. "Pouting Polly. Pouting Polly. Pouting Polly. Who knew those two words worked so well together."
Polly looked at the glass of water sitting on the table beside her and then back at Beryl, a gleam in her eyes. Before the woman knew what had happened, she was soaking wet. Not much of the water had hit the table, but everyone sat back, fully in shock.
"Nope. Not pouting. Just getting even. Go ahead, Joss," Polly said, grinning.
Joss' eyes flitted around the room, completely unsure as to her next move. Then Beryl burst out laughing. "I deserved that!" she howled. "But don't think for a minute this is over."
"I know," Polly laughed. "It's only just begun, but I fired the first salvo and that counts for something."
Joss put a card on the pile and they played a couple of rounds.
"So what's up with the quilt in the foyer?" Hannah asked.
"What quilt?" Lydia set her cards down on the table. "Is something wrong with one of the quilts?"
"I can't believe you didn't see it," Polly said. "Come on, I'll show you." Everyone followed her to the foyer and peered at the quilt block that had been defaced.
"Jeff talked to Marla Singer about fixing it. She knows whose quilt it is and was going to contact them before she did anything."
"Do you know who did this? Why didn't you call Aaron?" Lydia asked.
"Because until someone says they are going to press charges, we're not going to make a big deal out of it."
"What happened?" Andy asked.
"I'm sure it has something to do with Cindy Rothenfuss." When Polly said her name, a collective eye roll happened in the group and Beryl threw her hands up in the air.
"If there was going to be something wrong with this, it had her name written all over it. I should have known," she said.
"We don't know who could have done this."
"Oh, she probably did it herself," Beryl muttered. "The old bitch would do that just to gain attention. It's lipstick, right?" She scraped a little off with her fingernail and touched it to her tongue. "Yep. That's lipstick. It will clean up. I wouldn't put it past her to have done this just to get you or someone else in trouble."
"That doesn't make sense and I don't know when she would have been in here. We think it happened sometime Saturday morning. As far as I know, Jeff hasn't been able to reach her.
They wandered back in to the lounge and sat down again. Polly told them about the altercation on Friday.
Joss shuddered beside her.
"What's up?" Polly asked.
"When I first got to town, she was on the library board. She made my life miserable. Everyone was so afraid of getting rid of her because they thought that her husband wouldn't support the library after she left the board. She might have tried to get him to stop, but he actually stepped up their support.
"One night I had to ask her to leave the building. She was hovering over some children who were reading at a table. They were being quiet, but she swore to me one of them had a candy bar and was going to smudge the pages. They were looking at one of our expensive atlases, but I saw no signs of chocolate. I think she just came in looking for a reason to yell at someone.
"Whenever it came time to do a book drive or a used book selloff, she wanted to run everything. But, if she ran things, no one else participated, so I couldn't let her. That was an awful year."
She shuddered again.
"Do you have a pretty good board now?" Polly asked.
Joss smiled. "For the most part. We have a lot of work to do, though. This is the second year we've been involved with the literacy competition and that's done a lot to bring in the older kids. I have great people working with the children's programs and the board supports all of that. Most of the board members volunteer a lot. You should become a member, Polly."
"Maybe someday I will."
"Do you need more volunteers?" Andy asked.
"We always need more volunteers. I'd love to be able to staff the building from eight in the morning until ten or eleven every night so that more people could come in when they have time, but I can only do so much. Since I'm the only person they pay and they only pay me part time, we are limited in the hours we are open."
"I think I'd like to help."
"Oh, good heavens, she'd be perfect for you," Beryl said. "The woman is so stinking organized, she'd have everything filed and put away before you got out of bed in the morning."
"Can you come over tomorrow afternoon?" Joss asked.
Andy smiled. "I would love to.
"Why haven't you ever done this before, Andy?" Lydia asked, then said to Joss. "She was an English teacher."
Joss' eyes lit up. "Why haven't you ever asked before?" she repeated.
"It never occurred to me that you could use me. And then I got busy and probably a little lazy."
Beryl snorted out loud at that. "Lazy, hah. You're just busy with your new boyfriend and forgot that the rest of the world even existed."
"Hush," Lydia put her hand on Beryl's to stop her from teasing. Beryl shook the hand off hers and waggled it in front of Lydia. "I know you miss having Andy around all the time. You get stuck with me more often and I'm not nearly as nice as she is."
Andy looked at the two of them, "You don't think I'm spending enough time with you?"
"Nope. You're not. Because of that, Lydia drags me out of my studio so I will go to Boone with her and eat out for lunch and go shopping and see movies."
"And have a little bit of life so you have something to paint. You are a real pain in the butt, Beryl Watson." Lydia said. "If I had any more water in my glass, I’d toss it at you."
Polly looked around the table. Sylvie was grinning and Hannah simply looked confused. Joss' eyes were laughing as they took in the three best friends’ harassment of each other.
"Beryl, I don't think we have any of your paintings at the library. You should really put together a collection and let us display them," Joss interrupted.
Polly was impressed. The girl knew how to manage a room.
Beryl, however, wasn't quite as impressed, but laughed and said, “That was a nice try, Miss Librarian. I know when I've been redirected."
"Interestingly,” Beryl continued, “I actually approached the Library about donating some paintings several years ago and I think it was Cindy Rothenfuss who told me that she didn't think they needed anything like my work."
Joss shook her head. "I'm not surprised. She didn't want us to build up the young adult library either. Thought it would bring in the wrong type of crowd."
"This woman has created havoc in Bellingwood. Why won't someone stop her?" Polly asked.
"Because it's easier to just ignore her."
"But they aren't ignoring her. Beryl's paintings aren't at the library because she was in control. She bullies anyone who comes in contact with her and when she bullied a young woman yesterday, I was the only person who told her to stop it and get out. Has her husband ever refused to support something when she threatens to take away their money?"
The three older women looked at each other and thought about it.
"Honestly, not ever," Lydia said. "He's quite generous."
"Especially when she's been awful," Andy interjected. "Our church has handbells because he donated money for them. He was trying to apologize to the choir director, I guess. Cindy decided one fall to take it upon herself to organize all the special music for Sunday morning services. She didn’t like the choir director’s schedule. The poor man had to call her and tell her to stop making calls to the parishioners because it was confusing them as to when they were to perform. Barry didn't want anyone to know that he'd given the money, but I was on the board at the time and we approved the purchase."
"Does anyone know why she is so mean-spirited?" Hannah quietly asked. "Has someone hurt her or something?"
Lydia paused. "She's been this way as long as I've known her. They moved into town about twenty years ago and she was pretty quiet and innocuous at t
he time. As she got more and more involved in things, though, she also became more strident. I guess we all just figured that was in her nature."
"Does she have children?" Polly asked. "Because those kids would be seriously messed up."
"No, I don't think so. Andy? Were there any kids in school?"
Andy shook her head in the negative, "No, there weren't any kids."
"That's the problem, then." Beryl said. "No sex. No happy. The poor woman is probably all shriveled up. You gotta have a little fun once in a while."
Lydia rolled her eyes and said to Joss, "She's not usually like this."
"I'm usually much worse. I'm being kind of nice tonight. We have new girls. One more of these gatherings and then I'll let loose," Beryl sat back and put her arm on the back of Lydia's chair. "You miss the real me, don't you."
"No. You’ve never given me a chance to miss the real you, so no."
Hannah looked at her watch. "I think I've been gone long enough. Bruce should have the kids in bed by now and maybe I can get some sleep tonight. Thank you all for a wonderful evening."
Polly stood up and gathered a handful of chocolates from the table. "Here, eat these on the way home. They're good for what ails you." She hugged Hannah and walked out to the foyer with her. "Thanks for coming over. We'll do this another time and you'll come, right?"
"I'm so glad Sylvie asked me. Anytime. I'll be here."
Polly watched her leave and turned back to the lounge to see the rest of the women standing up and gathering their things.
Joss gave her a quick hug. "This was nice. I love your friends."
"Well, now they're also your friends. Trust me, one evening with this group and you'll never be rid of us."
"That would be wonderful. Anyway, thank you. I'll see you Tuesday night."
"Oh, that's right, we're selecting the finalists. I'll see you then."
Andy called out, "Joss? Wait a minute. I'll walk out with you." She hugged Lydia and Beryl, then gave Sylvie a quick hug and Polly grabbed one as she walked past. After Beryl and Lydia left, Sylvie asked if she could help clean up the lounge.
"No, I'll get it tomorrow,” Polly said. “There's not much here and it won't take a minute. I have to run down to Boone in the morning, but I'll get it when I come back."
"You're going to Boone? Would you mind taking Andrew?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"He's dying for some more books and you have given him money for taking care of Obiwan. I told him that one of these days I'd take him to the bookstore and he could spend ten dollars there. Would you mind taking him?"
"The bookstore on Story Street? I haven't been in there yet, but sure, I'd love to take him."
"Thanks. That would be great." She picked up her purse. "I'm going to empty the dishwasher and then I'll be gone."
"No, you leave it. I'll get it. You get your boys and go home. Thanks for everything."
Sylvie went out the back way and Polly finished putting things away in the kitchen, then ran up to take Obiwan out for a walk and head for bed. Tomorrow was going to be fun.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Savoring the quiet the moment, Polly felt like she was still catching her breath on Monday morning. The boys were upstairs in her apartment and Andrew was under strict orders not to come find her until nine forty-five. She knew he'd be watching the clock intently and would bolt out of the apartment right on time, so she hurried to finish up the last of the paperwork and make sure she'd put her hand on everything that needed to be dealt with.
Sure enough, he came tearing down the steps right on time. She pushed her desk drawers closed and picked up her keys and wallet. He was in her office before she could come around her desk to the door.
"Are you ready to go, Polly?" he asked, breathlessly.
"I'm ready, bud. Do you have your money?"
He pulled two five dollar bills out of his front pocket. "Mom said I'm supposed to look for used books since I read so many. Can we go to the library when we come back? They're only open in the afternoon."
How could she say no to that? "Of course we can. Do you have any books you need to return?"
"Nope. I put them in the return box last night so I wouldn't have to carry them around today."
She tousled his head, "You were certainly thinking ahead."
They got in her truck and started driving toward Boone.
"What books are you hoping to find today?" Polly asked.
"I don't care. If I can't find the series I'm reading right now, I will get them from the library. I just want to see what they have. I've never been there."
"You've never been to this bookstore?"
"Nope. Mom never took me. Don't know why, but I saw it last week when we went to look at phones for Jason. Oh," he turned to her, "that's supposed to be a surprise. Don't tell him, okay?"
Polly smiled. "I won't say a word. Why didn't you stop then?"
"Mom was in a hurry. She said we'd come back another day."
"Well, I haven't been in there either, so we can explore it together. Do you care if we go to the Farm and Home store first? I have to pick something up."
His face fell. "You won't run out of time, will you?"
"Absolutely not, Andrew. We'll have plenty of time at the bookstore. I promise."
"Okay. What are you getting at the Farm and Home store?"
"You'll have to wait and see. It's for the parade."
They drove through town and she watched as his little head turned when he spied the bookstore. They pulled into the parking lot and went into the Farm and Home store, where Polly went up to the customer service counter. She gave the young woman behind the counter her name and told her she was picking up an order. The girl came out with several flat boxes. Polly checked the ends of the boxes for the labels, opened one and pulled out a beautiful blue, Western-style shirt in Andrew's size.
"This one is for you, Andrew," she said. She held it up against him and he looked down at the front.
"It has my name on it!"
"It sure does," she said. "And the Sycamore House logo. I got one for all of us to wear in the parade. What do you think?"
"Cool!" He patted his chest where the logo sat and rubbed the embroidery. "I've never had a shirt with my name on it."
"Neither have I. Do you think Jason and Eliseo will like theirs?"
"They'd better!"
Everything was put into a couple of shopping bags and Polly and Andrew went back out to the truck.
"Can we go to the bookstore now?" he asked.
"Well," she said and looked at him.
"What?" he asked, fear lacing his tone.
"I was just teasing. Let's go."
They drove back into the downtown area and parked in front of the bookstore. Andrew was out of the truck and heading for the front door before Polly got her door open. She checked for traffic on the street, got out and followed him in. They were greeted by a large, black, friendly Labrador and Andrew immediately put his hand out and knelt down to get to the dog's eye level.
Polly greeted the woman behind the counter, "He’s good with dogs," Polly said, nodding at the two together.
"That's Zekey," came the response. "How can I help you?"
"Andrew is looking for some new books to read and I'll bet he will tell you which series he is reading. If you don't mind, I'm just going to browse while he's going through the shelves. He's never been here before and I'm afraid I might lose him to the books today."
The woman came out from behind the counter and listened as Andrew began describing his favorite books. They walked down one of the aisles together and when Polly no longer heard him talking, she guessed he found what he was looking for. She began looking through the books in the front section of the store, getting caught up in some history books on a rack. There was one about Story City and she picked it up and began glancing through it.
Several customers came in, some to pick up books and others to browse the shelves of used books and finally Polly heard And
rew's voice at her elbow. "I have to come back here a lot. I only have $10 so I'm getting these, but there are so many more that I want to read! Can we come back again?"
"Of course we can," she said. "I didn't get much time to go through the shelves either."
They went to the counter and Andrew paid for his books, then Polly purchased the two Iowa history books she had selected. He knelt down one more time and hugged the big dog around his neck.
"I'm coming back, Zekey."
"Thank you," they called out as they left and Polly winked at the owner. "We'll be back."
"Do you want some lunch in town or shall we head home?" she asked when they got in the truck.
"Can we get McDonald's?" Andrew asked, his eyes wide.
Polly nodded, "Sure. McDonald's. That sounds great." She sighed and drove back through town to get their lunch.
They ate in the truck as she headed for Bellingwood. Andrew kept pulling the books out of the shopping bag and flipping through the pages. He would put them all back in the bag and eat a little more of his burger, then pick the bag back up off the floor and look at his books again.
"This was awesome, Polly, thank you."
"You're welcome, Andrew. It was pretty awesome."
"Something caught her eye in a cornfield as she passed it and she slowed the truck.
"Why are you slowing down?" he asked.
"I saw something in that cornfield back there. I'm heading back." She checked her mirrors and made sure there was no one else on the road and backed up to where she had seen the sunlight glinting off something metallic.
"Do you see anything in there?" she asked him.
"It looks like a car," he said.
Polly pulled off on the shoulder, made sure her phone was in her pocket and said, "Stay here. I'm going to check on this."
She made her way across the ditch and into the field. There were skid marks in the ditch and the corn was trying to stand back up after having been driven over.
She got to the car and called out, "Hello? Are you okay?"
There was no movement in the car. She walked around to the driver's side and gasped. There was a woman slumped over the steering wheel. Polly tried to open the door but it was locked. She pounded on the door and got no response, then realized she had nothing with which she could break a window, so she returned to her truck.
Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) Page 13