by Nancy Naigle
“I’m going with Scott Calvin.”
The smile stretched across the bony man’s face, making him look a little like a rubber toy being pulled beyond its capacity.
“What’s that look for?” Savannah suddenly felt like she was in over her head. Did he know something she didn’t?
“Nothing. He’s a great guy. Best dancer in town too. All the local girls will be jealous.”
“Jack, are you gossiping?” She’d never seen Jack like this. Normally, he was a man of few words.
“No, I’m not gossiping. I’m just sharing local news.”
“That is not news.”
“Sure it is. You ever looked up ‘news’ in the Webster’s?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, I have.” He tapped the side of his head. “Got it committed to memory too. News: A. A report of recent events. Check. B. Previously unknown information. Check. C. Something having a specified influence or effect.”
“Point taken.” Savannah smiled. “Check.”
“You’re going to have a good time with Scott. I’m glad you’re going. I’ll be taking pictures, but with you there with the sheriff, you’ll be narrowing down my picture opportunities.”
“Why is that? I brought back the camera exactly like it was when you gave it to me. I can take some pictures too, if you need my help.”
Jack shook his head. “Oh, this has nothing to do with the camera. I usually can fill up a page with pictures of Scott with half the ladies in town. They practically fight over getting to dance with our sheriff.”
“They can still dance with him. We’re just going as friends.”
Jack shook his head. “No. If it was friends, he’d have just told you about it. Ever since his dad died, he takes his momma dancing over at the Moose Lodge in Hale’s Vineyard once a month. He’s a good son to make the time to do that. Some people drive over there just to watch them dance, but he never takes anyone else. This is special.”
“Really? I can’t picture him dancing. Couldn’t really picture Daphne dancing either.”
“Well, I guess you’ll have the best seat in the house for it tonight.”
“I guess I will.” Only she wasn’t feeling so good about that. Making all the girls jealous was never a good spot to be in. Maybe she should fake a twisted ankle or something. A yoga injury?
“What else can I do for you this morning?” he asked.
“I was just wondering, do you have your old papers on microfiche or in some kind of an archive?”
He nodded. “Yeah. There was a grant last year. Ms. Huckaby down at the library helped us apply for it. All of our back issues are actually on CD and coded so you can search through them. It’s pretty easy to use. Why? Do you need to research something?”
“Yeah. If you don’t mind.”
Jack stepped down off his stool. It was the first time she’d ever seen him off that stool. The little guy wasn’t more than five feet standing. “I’ll show you where everything is. You can help yourself. It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for us.”
She followed him back to an office that had wall-to-wall dark pine paneling. She imagined this would be how it felt to be in a coffin. “It’s a little gloomy in here.”
Jack looked around. “I guess it is. Maybe that’s why I never come back here.”
“I don’t blame you.”
He pulled a stepladder from behind the door and climbed it to reach a cabinet. Inside were six boxes of archives. Each was labeled with the years it contained. “You can take some back to your apartment as long as you promise to bring them back.”
“That would be great. I’ll be careful.”
“We have an offsite copy of them, so it’s not like it’s the only copy, but I know you’ll take the right care with them.”
“Thanks for trusting in me, Jack.”
“That’s what neighbors do.” He smiled gently. “You belong here in this town, Savannah.”
It was so simple for him to say, and so welcoming to hear.
He helped her bag up the years she’d asked about, and she felt empowered armed with that local information and her access to the GINN database. If there was something about Frank Gotorow that would help decipher those images in the mural, she would find it.
She couldn’t get back to her apartment fast enough. She sat on the couch and took the top copy off the stack of papers Jack had given her. She’d sent him a couple of pictures to choose from. She was glad that he’d picked her favorite one. Scott looked handsome in it. She tried to picture him two-stepping or shagging, even ballroom dancing, but not one image made its way to her head. She’d just have to wait and see what a good dancer looked like tonight.
But not until after she got to the bottom of what was going on with that mural. She was convinced there was a story there. It could be her big break. This was the kind of story she’d always dreamed of. Her heart raced a little as she thought about digging into the details and pulling the threads that would unravel the cloak of mystery.
She searched through the archives awhile and then made a list of the things she needed to pick up from the store to take to Scott’s tonight.
There was a certain amount of excitement about that, and she was looking forward to being in the kitchen with him, although it had been a long time since she’d done any real cooking and she hoped she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.
She made the quick trip down to the grocery. On her way back, Jenn was outside on the sidewalk in front of Happy Balance setting up a smoothie specials board.
“Hi, Jenn.”
“How’ve you been, Savannah? I was afraid I’d spooked you off after your last visit and all that talk about the paintings.”
“Quite the opposite. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Got time to come in for a smoothie? I’m testing out a couple new flavors this morning.”
“Sounds great, but I have some perishables in here.”
Jenn glanced at the Piggly Wiggly bags in Savannah’s hands. “No problem. Those bags will fit in my fridge.”
The two girls walked inside, and once the groceries were safely tucked into the refrigerator, Jenn pulled out a spiral notebook and plopped it on the bar in front of Savannah.
“While I’m mixing up a Banana Balance Blast for you, would you mind looking at the notes I’ve written up and seeing if there’s anything I’ve missed that you saw, or if you saw anything differently?”
Savannah laughed out loud. “You’re not going to believe this.” She pulled a notebook and her phone out of her purse. “I made a list too. Mine’s on my phone.”
“You and I are two of a kind, aren’t we?”
“I think we are!” Savannah took a pen from her purse and rewrote her notes, checking off the things that matched up and adding things that she’d remembered that Jenn hadn’t listed.
Jenn poured a murky brown smoothie into two glasses and took the chair next to Savannah. “Anything?”
“Maybe. Here,” she said, twisting her notebook page toward Jenn and then taking a sip of the drink. “I know this isn’t going to sound nice, but this drink is way better than it looks.”
“Yeah, the color is a little off-putting, but I refuse to use artificial colors.”
“I don’t blame you.” Savannah marked up the list with some stars and checkmarks. “Okay, here’s our combined list.”
“Let’s go look at the mural together.”
They abandoned the smoothies and marched into the men’s locker room.
After an hour of staring and lying in different positions around the room, then climbing on the benches and looking again, they’d gathered what they thought might be more information, but the truth was they were both beginning to feel like they were looking too hard.
“I don’t know what any of this means,” Jenn said.
Jenn shook her head. “Maybe there is no sense to be made of it.”
“I’ve been doing the police blotter report for the paper. Usually there’s not much to it, but last week there was an entry that Scott told me to take out. It was about a homeless guy telling people there was evil in a painting in the yoga studio.”
Jenn’s eyes widened. “Jelly. I told you about him.”
“Right. I bet he sees what we see.” Savannah put the top of her pen in her mouth and bit down on it. “Do you know how to find him?”
“I think so. I mean, it’s common knowledge that he stays near the creek off of the jogging path in the park. Rumor has it that he’s nuts for jellybeans, so I’d buy him bags of them from the dollar store. He’s really a sweet old man. Do you think we should go talk to him?”
“He mi-might be able to fill in some blanks for us.” Savannah stammered a little. “I guess I need to tell you that Scott told me to leave this alone. If he finds out he might be mad.” She was treading on thin ice. She’d already kept one secret from him, but this one was different. This story could change her career, set it on a whole new path, and this might even help him too.
Jenn shrugged. “Who cares? It’s in my studio. It’s my information to deal with.”
“I just thought you should know.”
“We can go tomorrow. Why don’t you come by and take the afternoon class, then when I close up for the day we’ll go over to the park?”
Savannah gave her a hug. “I think we’re doing the right thing. I don’t know why, I just do.”
“I know what you mean. I feel it too.”
“Well, I’ve got to run. I’m meeting Scott for dinner before the dance.”
Jenn helped Savannah get her groceries together, and Savannah hiked back down the block to her apartment. She was in a great mood. She had no idea what she was going to do with all this information or where it would take her, but for the first time in her life since her parents died . . . she felt like she belonged to something. And she liked it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
She separated the groceries for tonight from what she’d gotten for the rest of her stay and put those items away in the small kitchen. She showered and changed, and just as she put her shoes on, there was a knock at her door. He was right on time, like she knew he would be.
“Coming.” She grabbed the bag of groceries and carried them with her.
When she opened the door, Scott pushed forward a small bouquet of wildflowers.
“Thank you.” She swapped him her bag for the flowers. “Let me put these in some water real quick, and then I’m ready to go.”
He stepped inside and waited.
She came back with the flowers tucked in a nubby white milk-glass vase. “Perfect. This was under the sink.” She set them on the table by the window and fluffed them so they fell into a nice rounded arrangement. “I love them.”
“I’m glad.” He swung the door open again. “Ready?”
She ducked under his arm and out the door. “Waiting on you.”
At the bottom of the stairs she waited for him to catch up and lead the way. He opened the door for her and they stepped out.
An old pickup truck was parked at the curb. The shiny chrome sparkled in the sunlight.
“I like it,” she said. “And it’s not blue.”
“Actually, it is.”
They walked to the passenger door. “Now that I’m closer I can see it. So blue it looks black, except from the right angle.”
He pulled the door open and helped her in, then set her bag on the floorboard next to her feet.
“I like it.”
He slammed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. “Glad you approve.”
“I guess it’s a good thing my car is blue or I wouldn’t fit in.”
“Well, there are a lot of shades of blue. What can I say? I know what I like.”
She looked perfectly comfortable riding shotgun in the old truck. Right now, he was liking that.
When they got to his house they both went straight to work on the dishes they’d planned to prepare.
She didn’t even ask where things were, just opened cabinets in an instinctive way to find what she needed. He loved how at home she seemed in his kitchen.
“What did you do today?” he asked.
She answered with her back to him. “This and that. Talked to Jack this morning. He might be selling the paper.”
“I wondered if that was a possibility. They’ve been at it a long time.”
“It would be a shame for it just to close down, but I think he and his sister are doing the right thing. I heard about the little girl.”
Scott nodded. “Yeah. I’ve followed every lead, the few that there were.”
“That would have to be hard, to not be able to solve something like that.”
“You have no idea. But let’s change the subject. The paper would be missed around here. I really hope someone will take it over and bring it into the twenty-first century.” He wondered if she might consider taking it over at the right price.
“Maybe. It would take some work, but you never know.”
“Not so different from when I took over the sheriff’s department. Everything was still done in triplicate back then. Thought I’d never get it computerized, but things work a lot more smoothly now that it’s done.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that was a big job. I had to shop for this stuff. Errands. The day flew by.”
He went outside to put the steaks on the grill, and when he came back in, it was so natural to see her standing at the counter with a towel tossed over her shoulder.
“I’m all set. Nothing but to wait now. Can I set the table?” she asked.
“I already set the table outside. It’s cool enough under the shade of the tree, I thought it might be nice.”
“Great.”
Savannah pulled a casserole dish out of the oven and set it on top, and then slid out the muffin tray. One quick stir of a pot on the stovetop and she gave Scott a nod. “I’m ready when the steaks are.”
“Mine’s done. Yours, however, will take another five minutes.”
“Thank goodness,” she said. “You remembered.”
“Moo,” he said playfully.
“We can dish up this stuff in here and let the flies drool from the window.”
He nodded and heaped the food on his plate.
They carried the plates outside. Maggie was lying under the table. She looked ready to snag any scraps they might drop.
Savannah sat down and Maggie laid her head on Savannah’s knee. Her tail thumped until Savannah patted her head. “I never had a dog growing up, but I always wanted one.”
“I’ve always had a dog. My dad loved little dogs, though.” He checked the steaks and then took her plate. “Maggie sure has taken a liking to you.”
“Maybe one day I’ll have a good girl like you,” Savannah cooed as she stroked the dog’s head.
Scott scooted her plate in front of her and sat down next to her with his own.
“Looks good.” She slid her knife through the center.
Scott watched. Not a sign of pink. It looked perfectly cooked, if he did say so himself.
She took a bite of the steak first. “Scott. You lied.” She looked serious, then she laughed. “You aren’t just the best barbecuer in Adams Grove; you might just be the best barbecue-griller-guy in the whole nation!” She took another bite and nodded. “Yeah. I’ve eaten in some of the best steakhouses in DC, and they don’t hold a candle to this.”
“Thanks.”
They ate and shared childhood stories about being on the lake with their dads.
“You’re leaving town soon,” he said.
“Yeah. The time has flown by.”
“You gonna come back so I can take you out on the river?”
She scooted her plate to the center of the table and put her napkin on top of it. “Is it as pretty as the one in that mural at the yoga studio?”
“Savannah?”
“What? I’m just asking. It’s beautiful. Come on. You have to admit it.”
“Are you dodging my invitation to go fishing?”
“Was that an invitation?”
“Yes.”
She pressed her lips together. “Set a date.”
He glanced down at his watch. Being in the kitchen together had been easy and the time had flown by.
She glanced at hers too. “I can’t believe it’s almost time to go,” she said.
“I know. That went by quick. I guess I should’ve picked you up earlier.”
It would have had to have been last night, she thought, because being with him was so easy that even then it still wouldn’t have been enough time.
“My mom is going to flip over those little apple thingamabobs. I’m glad there are a couple left.”
“I had a feeling you’d like those. They were my daddy’s favorites. My mom’s special apple teacakes. I can make her some.”
“She’s going to want the recipe.”
“I don’t know. Family recipes are pretty special. Isn’t there a law against sharing them with outsiders?”
“Maybe you could just pretend we’re family.”
“Or maybe you could persuade me into it.”
Was she flirting with him again? Sometimes this sweet little lady turned into a sex kitten right before his eyes—except there wasn’t anything kittenish about her; she was more like a puma ready to pounce. Yeah, that more described the feeling she gave him. He knew he should be afraid of the huntress, but she was too damn captivating to run from. He raised a brow. “Sounds interesting.”
“Think about it.” She got up and cleared the rest of the dishes.
“You can leave that. I’ll get it when I get back home tonight.”
“Or we can make short work of it right now and you won’t have to worry about chores later.”
He jumped to his feet and helped her rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He handed her the foil so she could wrap up the leftovers and put them in the fridge.