Bunny Elder Adventure Series: Four Complete Novels: Hollow, Vain Pursuits, Seadrift, ...and Something Blue

by J. B. Hawker

  “Where’s the woman from the temp service, anyway? I told her to wait until I got back.”

  Looking at his watch, he realized that it was four-forty in the afternoon.

  “I must have gotten back to the office around four. I suppose she was hungry and got tired of waiting. Guess I can’t blame her for that. I’ll have to apologize to her tomorrow for making her wait so long.”

  He was impressed with the amount of work the woman had done, though. She had been a big help. He would need to tell her that, too. She was just a stopgap until he was able to hire someone, but he depended upon her in the meantime, so he had better keep her happy.

  

  In spite of the inauspicious ending to her job interview, Bunny was feeling quite cheerful.

  She was pottering about in her kitchen, throwing together a meal out of the odds and ends in her pantry.

  She had remembered giving her cats the last of the meatloaf the day before, and had made do with an apple for lunch.

  As she cooked, she thought back with pleasure about the work she had accomplished that day. She had received terse, sometimes incomplete, directions and had been able to finish her tasks to the editor’s satisfaction.

  Maybe her skills were not obsolete, after all.

  She felt so much more confident than she had just that morning.

  It might take her some time to find the right job, but Bunny was more hopeful tonight than she had been since Eustace died.

  She pulled crisply browned skin off the leftover roast chicken and dropped the delicacy into the cats’ dish.

  Her cats, who had been circling the kitchen, just in case, immediately began to gobble it down, growling at each other as they chewed the tasty treat.

  They did not have to worry about cholesterol, as Bunny did.

  Bunny began to hum as she washed her hands at the sink.

  Viewing the setting sun through her kitchen window, she soon began to sing “Heavenly Sunlight” in a voice filled with joy. She segued into ‘Sunshine in My Soul” as she went out back to bring in some fire wood.

  Tonight called for a celebratory blaze.

  Bunny ate her dinner in front of the fire, and then did the washing up before settling down to watch the local news.

  There were lots of stories duplicating those on the national networks and, toward the end of the broadcast, a mention of, “strange happenings in Clark’s Hallow this Halloween,” preceding the story of the discovery of a human body amongst the seasonal decorations in the small town.

  In spite of the macabre nature of the find, the Redding TV newscaster seemed to find some amusement in the item.

  “Really,” thought Bunny, “some people have the most execrable taste. How insensitive to the deceased person and his family. No matter where the corpse came from, or where it had finally turned up, it had once been a living human being.”

  She got up and changed to the other local channel, only to see a similarly light-hearted treatment of the story.

  Halloween certainly seemed to bring out the worst in some people.

  Bunny read a few chapters of her favorite “Miss Read” series and went to bed, comforted by accounts of the calm, sensible life in an imaginary English village of the 1950’s.

  Chapter Seven

  Be happy with the wife you married when you were young.– Proverbs 5:18

  Next morning, Max opened the office early in order to finish getting the paper out in time to distribute copies to the delivery people.

  He hadn’t gotten around to discussing working hours with the temporary worker from yesterday, so he hoped she would realize he needed her early on the day the paper came out.

  Eight o’clock came around and he listened, expectantly, for her arrival.

  When she still had not shown up by nine-fifteen, he called the temp service.

  “Hello. This is Banks at the Clarion Review. I’m calling about the woman you sent over yesterday. She didn’t show up this morning.”

  “What? Of course, you did. She came. She was here and she worked out just fine. I left her a little too long without lunch and she went home early, but I certainly expected her back here today. I need her...You’re sure? Well, then, who was the woman? She said she came from the employment service.”

  “Oh... I never thought of that... Yes, I will have to check with them. Thank you. Good bye.”

  The temp agency had been unable to send anyone until the following week. They suggested the woman might have come from the other employment service.

  Max decided to call and check. He had listed the job with the other agency, but never heard back from them.

  When he called this other employment office, Banks discovered they had indeed sent the woman. His machine must have dropped their message scheduling her appointment for an interview.

  That poor woman must think he was some sort of lunatic. She was a good sport about it, though.

  Banks got the woman’s name, LaValine Elder, and her phone number from the employment office.

  He would have to call, apologize, and arrange for a real interview.

  From the work she did yesterday, he thought she might work out just fine.

  It was another unusual name, but she had looked normal enough.

  When the phone rang, Bunny was just coming in from her morning walk.

  She had noticed yesterday’s unfortunate finding in the tree had not cooled everyone’s enthusiasm for the Halloween contest. If anything, she thought the decorations were even more elaborate.

  She hoped it was not some sort of perverse reaction to the mysterious body.

  Bunny paused to remove her gloves and jacket and by the time she picked up the phone, there was only a dial tone.

  “Probably just a telemarketer,” she shrugged.

  Banks was annoyed when no one answered his call. He double-checked the number then, in case he had misdialed, he tried again.

  This time someone answered after just a few rings.

  “Hello?” Bunny spoke in a distracted voice, while buttering a cinnamon and raisin English muffin.

  “Lava Line Elder?”

  A man’s voice inquired.

  Now Bunny was sure the call was from a telephone solicitor. Her friends seldom used her given name, fortunately. When they did, they pronounced it correctly.

  “Ye-es?”

  “Mrs. Elder, I want to apologize for my behavior when you came into the newspaper office yesterday. I’m afraid I thought you were the temporary clerical help I had requested. I only found out this morning you were here applying for the permanent job.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, that certainly answers a lot of my questions. Thank you for calling. I appreciate it.”

  Bunny hung up the phone with shaking hands and sat down.

  She was glad to have an explanation for her strange experiences of the previous day, but she was upset at having that horrible man know her name and phone number.

  What was she going to do, now?

  The phone was ringing again.

  Bunny wanted to ignore it. Unfortunately, that ability was not one of her gifts, so she picked up the phone once again.

  “Hello?”

  “Mrs. Elder, this is Max Banks, again. I’m afraid we were cut off before.”

  “Max Banks!”

  This man didn’t just look like her first husband. He was him!

  She hung up again from surprise.

  “Oh dear, that was rude of me.”

  Bunny saw the humor in the situation and began to chuckle to herself.

  How silly she had been to be so afraid. Max had not been a very good husband, but he certainly wasn’t dangerous.

  When the phone rang again, she was still laughing when she answered.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Elder, but I don’t see what is so funny about hanging up on a person who is offering you a job.” Max was definitely irritated.

  “You always have had a short fuse, Max, but I remember you with a better sense of humor,” she replied
with a giggle.

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand you, Mrs. Elder. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea, after all.”

  He was hanging up the phone, when Bunny said, “Max, wait, don’t hang up. It’s me, Bunny!”

  Had she said she was a bunny?

  The woman must be more unstable than he thought. He hung up the phone, relieved to make a narrow escape from another wacky employee.

  He was musing on the bizarre conversation when the phone rang.

  Bunny had looked up the Clarion in the phone book in order to call Banks back. She had to explain.

  “Banks here,” Max answered.

  “Bunny here,” echoed Bunny, “Bunny, your Hunny, remember, Max?”

  “What the f... Bunny Banks, you mean? My Bunny?”

  He was incredulous. He had not spoken to his first love since they divorced almost thirty years before.

  “Well, it’s Bunny Elder, now. I remarried about twenty years ago. Isn’t this a kick? We worked together all morning yesterday and never recognized each other.”

  “I did think you looked sort of familiar.”

  Max was smiling now, realizing the absurdity of the situation.

  “I thought that ridiculous name, “LaValine,” an apparent misspelling, rang a bell when I heard it from the woman at the employment office....but everyone always called you Bunny, or Hunny Bunny, in my case,” he chuckled.

  “You can hardly blame a gal for preferring even a childish nickname to something like Leveline, can you? The only people who ever called me by that name were my mother and my late husband. I never liked it from either one of them. So, Max, what in the world has brought you back to this area? When you left I thought you would never return.”

  “I almost didn’t. But, I’ll tell you all about it later. How about you get yourself down here and help me put out this paper? Or are you still holding a grudge? I don’t suppose I’d blame you if you never wanted to have anything to do with me again.”

  Max sounded serious.

  “Oh, phooey! I forgave all that a long time ago. Are you serious about wanting to hire me for the job, though? Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  Bunny wasn’t so sure it would be, but it felt so natural to be chatting like this with her ex-husband. Maybe it could work out, at that.

  “I think it is a great idea. Maybe that’s because I’m so desperate, but if we aren’t comfortable with it, I can always fire you.”

  “I’m not sure I would like that very much.”

  Bunny was sure she would hate it. The rejection would be too similar to the time he turned his back on her all those years ago.

  “Maybe you should get someone else,” she spoke more seriously.

  “Oh, come on, Bunny, I was just teasing. I won’t fire you. I promise. However, you can always quit if you aren’t happy. Come on down and give me a hand. Try it, you might like it.”

  Banks was being his most persuasive.

  He wasn’t sure why this was so important to him. Except he really needed some help. She did a good job, yesterday, and Bunny had always been a lot of fun to be with, too.

  It could be interesting.

  Bunny reminded herself of her urgent need of a paying job.

  “Well, I did enjoy the work yesterday, although the boss was scarcely civilized. Okay, I guess we can give it a try. When do you want me?”

  “How about now? I’ve got to get the paper to the distributors before lunch. Shall I come and get you?”

  “No, I can be there in fifteen minutes. See you. Bye.”

  She hung up, changed her clothes and dashed out.

  Bunny’s thoughts as she walked jumped from “I’ve got a job!” to “Max Banks! Whatever is he doing back here?” then moved on to the more mundane issues of planning her wardrobe for the week and adjusting her schedule to accommodate her new working hours.

  Arriving within the fifteen minutes she had promised, Bunny went straight to work.

  

  The officer finished his phone call, turned in his chair and spoke to his superior.

  “Lieutenant, that was the coroner. They just finished the postmortem on the body in the tree. He says the man was only dead a couple of days when we found him. He’s sending a full report around.”

  Lieutenant Fuchs nodded.

  “I thought the guy who found it was off-base with his stolen-body theory. I was sure it was no embalmed corpse in that tree. He was a murder victim and from the look of him, he didn’t go without a struggle. This sure isn’t the sort of thing I expected to see when I transferred to Clark’s Hallow.”

  Lieutenant Arthur “Foxy” Fuchs had come to rural Northern California from the Los Angeles area two years before.

  He was due for retirement in three more years and thought Clark’s Hallow would be a great place to settle for a man who loved to hunt and fish as much as he did. The slower pace was good for his health and his wife appreciated his more regular hours, too.

  He hoped this macabre killing would remain an anomaly and be cleared up quickly. This sort of thing did not do his blood pressure any good.

  He turned back to the report he had been working on.

  Fuchs was looking forward to getting home early tonight. He wanted to catch the latest episode of American Idol. Fuchs thought he knew who was going to get the ax that night. He wasn’t called “Foxy” just for his once-red hair and the pronunciation of his last name, after all.

  As it turned out, he was right about the television show.

  

  Walking home after her first day of work, Bunny was preoccupied with the events of the day. She was more tired than she had supposed she would be, but she had enjoyed herself more than expected, as well.

  As she walked, she began to notice fliers taped to every telephone pole and signpost on the street. She realized she had been seeing them without paying attention all along her route home.

  She walked up to the nearest posting so she could read it.

  The fliers seemed to be for an upcoming concert of something called Brutal Death Metal. It was taking place at the county fairgrounds with bands named “Knife in Head”, “Heaven Exempt”, “Hellusinit” and “SatanSpawn.” Admission was $5. “Fun for all ages” was the incongruous claim that shocked Bunny the most.

  She tore the poster down, wadded it up and crammed it into her pocket to burn later.

  “No wonder our young people are playing pranks with stolen corpses, when this sort of filth is considered entertainment. Fun for all ages, indeed!”

  She fumed the rest of her way home.

  

  Later that evening, a shabbily dressed man walked through the chill darkness into a public restroom near the deserted playground at River Park.

  Only the sound of the nearby playground swings creaking in the wind scratched the silence.

  Soon another man stealthily followed the first.

  After some time the second man peered out the door. He looked all around, and then disappeared, emerging once again, carrying something in a plastic bag.

  He carried this bundle along the riverbank until he came to a path leading out onto the exposed river bottom, where he picked his way carefully down the path and out onto the rocks.

  Approaching the narrow, fast running river, he flung his burden out into the deepest, swiftest part. Pausing only long enough to watch it sink, he hurriedly retraced his steps and returned to the restroom.

  A much longer interval passed before he once more appeared, this time with a larger bundle covered in black plastic.

  The man carried and dragged the awkward package to a battered Ford pickup parked nearby. He dropped it with a muffled thump into the truck bed, climbed into the cab and drove slowly away.

  

  In her snug little home, Bunny sat before the fire and scratched Betty under the chin. Her more aloof Siamese stretched out, languidly, on the hearthrug.

  Dinner was over, the washing up finished, and Bunny could begin to consider
the remarkable events of the day. She put the nasty concert notice out of her mind.

  Working with Max had been fine.

  They shifted easily into their old banter.

  It was as if the unpleasant years of their marriage, and all the time since, never happened.

  Bunny was embarrassed to admit it, even to herself, but being around Max again made her feel like a teenager. She almost forgot she was a middle-aged widow when they were teasing each other and reminiscing in the afternoon while they worked. Not that she was still in love with Max, or anything like that. She had gotten over him long before marrying Eustace. Still, it was nice to feel young, again.

  Max had lived a very different life from Bunny’s, a rougher, more sophisticated one. They had different outlooks and values. Nevertheless, they had a joint past and many happy memories from growing up together.

  Bunny wondered if all her happy days were behind her.

  She was beginning to indulge in a bit of self-pity, when she remembered she was starting a new adventure the very next day.

  She had a job, a real live, eight-to-five, paycheck-earning job.

  She needed to get up early, so Bunny readied her work clothes for the morning and went to bed.

  As she drifted off, she chuckled to herself about some funny happenings at the office, before her wandering thoughts turned to how good it was to laugh with Max, again.

  Chapter Eight

  Brutal enemies attack me like...dogs, tearing at my hands...–Psalm 21:16

  Early the next morning, Tyler Wohletz and Preston Ott were arguing loudly on their way to the middle school.

  “I did too know the hanged guy was real! I said how spooky it was and you said you bet you could make a better one, yourself!”

  Tyler gave Preston a punch in the shoulder as he spoke.

  “Ow! Cut it out, Tyler! Okay, I did say it was a pretty crummy-looking dummy but that’s only ‘cause I didn’t want you to know it was a real dead guy and get all scared. You’re such a wimp, you would have peed your pants.”