Bodies and Blueberries
Page 1
Table of Contents
Bodies and Blueberries
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Bodies
and
Blueberries
Jams, Jellies and Murder
Book 1
Donna Walo Clancy
Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott Books
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.
**This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.
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Dedication
* * *
In today’s world of technology, nothing can be completed without a computer. In the writing world, a computer is a necessity.
This book is dedicated to my mom. She knew I was struggling with an outdated computer. As a combined Christmas and birthday present, I received a brand-new Dell computer from her. I’ve never had anything but hand-me downs and have since written and released two books using my new PURPLE laptop.
Every time I fire it up to work on a book, I can hear my mom saying, “I always knew you would be a writer.”
Thank you, Mom, for opening up this wonderful world for me. This purple computer will hold many words that will hopefully bring enjoyment to many readers.
Love you!
BODIES AND
BLUEBERRIES
Jams, Jellies and Murder
Book 1
Chapter 1
* * *
The town was quiet, even for Whipper Will Junction, off season. The sun came peeking over the horizon bathed in coral and pink. The only activity in town was at The Tilted Coffee Cup. Wes Garcia and Tommy Wilbur, the owners, made sure the doors were opened and the coffee was brewing by five-thirty every morning. Smells of fresh-baked pastries and exotic flavored coffees filled the air. Wooden two-top and four-top tables were available for those who wanted to order breakfast. Fresh flowers were placed on the tables daily. The locals filled the stools at the long silver and red counter every morning by six for coffee and gossip.
Tabby ordered two coffees to go. There was no time to waste gossiping with the locals today. They were still talking about Miss Evans being seen at the movie theater with Jamie Stokes in Larson. It was a true small-town scandal as Miss Evans was four years older than Jamie; oh, the shame of it all! Wes tried to pull her into the conversation as he returned her change but Tabby waved and rushed out the door. Plans had been made and there were things to do. It was a coffee on the run kind of day.
“I think you’re becoming as bad as your boyfriend,” Jenny said, as Tabby walked up to the car. “Collecting ‘stuff’ has rubbed off on you.”
“I get enough of that from my mother. Do you think I need to hear it from my best friend, too?” asked Tabby opening the driver’s side door.
Tabby and Jenny had been close since childhood. Their two totally different personalities made them perfect best friends. Jenny, five-two and a little over weight was an intellectual bookworm type who was afraid of her own shadow. Tabby, five-seven, slim and athletic, was always ready for an adventure.
“A frog fountain? Really? We’re making a three-hour trip to bid on a frog fountain?”
“It’s beautiful. I want to make it the centerpiece of my new shop. The bid could have been placed by phone, but it is so nice out I thought the ride would be fun,” Tabby stated, starting the car.
“It’s too bad the guy opening his shop now only rented it for the busy season. You’ll miss the whole summer and most of the fall tourist season, too.”
“That’s okay. My shop will be up and running before the Christmas holidays.”
“I love the name, Jellies, Jams, and Weddings. It’s kind of quirky. How in the world did you come up with a name like that?”
“I want to sell my gram’s jellies in the shop; her recipes are to die for! And since I went to school to be a wedding planner. I threw everything together, and that’s what I came up with.”
“If you get this fountain, where are you going to keep it until your shop opens?”
“My mom said I could store it at Mystic Happenings until I can get into my building.”
“Why didn’t Finn come with you? He could buy more junk that he doesn’t need,” Jenny asked, sarcastically.
“Why don’t you guys like him? Mom puts him down all the time, too.”
“We don’t like how he uses you. He’s not a bad person, just selfish,” Jenny stated. “You could do so much better.”
“Let’s change the subject, please. I finally figured out my store budget; I can afford to bid up to two hundred dollars on the fountain.”
“What is it with this fountain?”
“For some reason, when the auction catalog arrived, I felt this overwhelming need to look through it, as if something was calling out to me. The fountain is so classic! It has four levels and a lily pond at the bottom. Each level has two or three frogs in various positions that play in the cascading water. It has to be at least a hundred years old. The write-up says it was brought over from England.”
“Does it work?”
“The description stated that the working condition is unknown. I can always have a new pump installed if it doesn’t.”
“Do you mind if I open my window? It is so warm out for the beginning of April.”
“No, go ahead. I was going to do the same thing,” Tabby concurred.
They rode along the back roads towards Carson’s Bend. The warm weather had already turned the desolate landscape of winter into a fresh palette of greens that is associated with the rebirth of nature in the spring.
Carson’s Bend was an hour and a half away from Whipper Will Junction. It was a small town of about five hundred people. Once a month, during the mild weather, the Jaspar brothers, Jim and Jerry, held auctions at their farm. They were well attended with people from as far away as Canada.
Twice a year Tabby would drive to the barn. Usually she didn’t even look at the catalog of items up for sale but for some reason when the catalog arrived she felt the need to look through it. As a young girl, she had learned not to ignore those ‘hunches’ she sometimes got. The fountain was listed
on page two. She read no further once she saw the picture; she simply had to have it for her shop.
“How’s Damian doing at his new job? Does he like Scotland?” Tabby asked.
“He loves it over there. The promotion he got came with a huge raise.”
“It’s been three months so far, right? He’ll be home before you know it.”
“I don’t know. He called the other night and said there was a chance they might promote him again, this time to vice-president. That position would make the job permanent. He asked me if I would consider moving over there.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. That’s the problem. When I didn’t answer him, he told me to think about it. I’m almost certain he has already taken the job.”
“Don’t you want to travel Europe, see the world? You’ve been with Damian since high school. Everyone in town figured you two would get married.”
“I don’t think I am his priority. He never thought to discuss this job opportunity with me. He showed up at the bookstore one day and said he was moving. His first concern was definitely not for our relationship.”
“I’m sorry. Do you think he would break up with you to stay there?”
“If he did, I don’t think it would bother me as much as it would bother my mother,” Jenny laughed in reply.
“Seriously?” Tabby laughed.
“My mom and sister live here. I have my business and it is doing well. In less than a year I will be able to buy the building my bookstore and apartment are in. Instead of paying rent for two spaces, I will be paying a mortgage for one building. Mr. Wells already said he would sell it to me since he wants to sell all his properties and retire to Florida.”
“Maybe I can do the same thing with my building. He owns the one I am going to rent too, and the upstairs is empty. I already sent him a letter asking if I could rent the upstairs as well as the store space. I’m paying almost a thousand bucks a month for my one-bedroom at the Starling Apartments.”
“That’s kind of pricey,” Jenny commented.
“I know. They were affordable until Fink took over the rentals; the first thing he did was raise the rent. When I got back from school it was either live there or live with my mother who can’t seem to transition out of the sixties,” said Tabby, rolling her eyes.
Samantha Moon, Tabby’s mother, was a true hippie. Her waist length grey hair, parted in the middle, always had a beaded headband holding it in place. She wore floor length skirts, tie-dye peasant tops, sandals year-round, and lots of jewelry. She turned her nose up at using any kind of deodorant, believing it would cause her deadly harm.
Tabby was convinced her mother had done too many drugs in her youth and time-warped herself into a permanent fogged state of mind. True to character, her mother opened a shop called Mystic Happenings when Tabby was a little girl. The business did well. Surprisingly the unique shop had done so well that it had afforded them a comfortable life. To this day, it was still bringing in enough income for her mom to enjoy semi-retirement.
Tabby never knew who her real father was. Somewhere in the middle of peace marches, sit-ins, and the many bong parties her mother attended, she disassociated herself from the present. She stayed in the freedom of the times that were the sixties. She continued to sleep around while attending parties with others who hadn’t left that time period either. Tabitha Flower Moon was born in January of nineteen ninety-one. They had moved to Whipper Will Junction when Tabby was a year old.
“Earth to Tabby. Where are you?”
“Huh? What? Sorry. I was thinking about my mother.”
“The town hippie?” Jenny responded, smiling. “Only kidding; you know I love your mom.”
“I know you do, just like I love your mom.”
“So, why are you so deep in thought?”
“It’s funny; I swore to myself when I left for school I would never return here. My mom has always been the joke of the town. People still laugh at her behind her back after years of living here. They like her and respect her, but they still snicker. She has stayed here all this time. Your mom is the only one who never laughed at her.”
“My mom loves your mom like a sister. They spent so much time together when we were growing up it was natural that we would become best friends. What brought all this up?”
“I was thinking. Our moms have stayed here. You have a chance to go see Europe, but you would rather stay here. I came back after school. What is it about this town?”
“It’s not the town; it’s the people in the town. Plus, what we don’t have available here, Larsen has twenty minutes away.
“The people are nice. A little quick to judge, but nice,” Tabby agreed. “The tourist season does keep the town lively.”
“I think your business will take off, Tabs. Whipper Will Junction is a great destination spot for weddings. During the Summer, it has beautiful Fuller’s Point with two different beaches and the surrounding mountains dressed in their fall colors would make the perfect backdrop for autumn ‘I dos’.”
“That’s true. I should start making connections to put my packages together. There is so much to do before the store actually opens. I should make you my PR person.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough of my own work to do at the book store. Maybe you and Finn can lead the way showing everyone what a great celebration you could plan. It’s about time he stepped up and made a commitment.”
“I don’t see that happening any time soon,” Tabby laughed.
“Yeah, I believe that,” Jenny mumbled.
“Don’t start.”
“Exit thirty-two, one mile,” Jenny announced. “We’re almost there.”
“I figured we’d get here early so we could check out the other auction items. I want to look over the fountain before the bidding starts.”
“I hope there are some old books I can bid on for the bookstore.”
Tabby slowed down for the exit. At the end of the ramp, she took a left.
“There’s a coffee shop up ahead. Do you want another coffee or something to eat?”
“How long do you think the auction will take?”
“It starts at nine. We should be out between eleven and one, depending when the fountain comes up for sale,” Tabby replied.
“We should get a muffin or something. That will hold us over until we can get lunch on the way home.”
They pulled in to the local shop which was already buzzing with activity. Customers were enjoying breakfast while looking over the auction catalog. Many of them were placing check marks on the items they wanted to bid on.
“This is going to be a big auction since it is the first one of the season. I hope no one wants the fountain,” Tabby whispered. “I left my catalog at home, would you grab one off the counter for me?”
Fresh coffee and toasted blueberry muffins in hand, the girls climbed in the car to head to Jaspar’s Barn. Big signs posted on the side of the road alerted them that Jaspar’s was coming up on the right. A large field served as the parking lot for the auction house. It was already over half full.
The Jaspar Farm was a working farm until ten years ago. Now the only section of the farm harvested were the apple trees in the Fall. The brothers lived in an updated farmhouse at the rear of the property.
The large grain silo had windows cut out of the metal walls, electricity added, and large ceiling fans installed to cool down the inside in the summer. It was attached to a rundown barn where the actual auctions took place.
People were milling about waiting for the viewing room doors to open. Some were peering into the windows trying to get a glimpse of what was going on inside. Many were flipping through the pages of the auction catalog. Jenny was looking for the books.
“There are eight lots of books up for auction,” Jenny stated. “Three of the lots have old books that would look awesome in the front window of my bookstore.”
“Are you going to bid on them?”
“I brought the store charge card
just in case I saw something worth spending my money on,” Jenny answered.
“Come on, let’s hurry in and find a good seat.”
The grain silo was lined with make-shift tables of saw horses and old doors. Hundreds of items were displayed on the wooden door-tops for viewing. A small tent of cardboard with the corresponding number to the listing in the catalog was placed in front of each item.
“We have an hour to walk around. First, I am going to find the fountain. It must be at the back of the room where all the bigger pieces are. Do you want to come see it with me?”
“Sure. I can look at the books later. I have to see this fountain that can ‘call’ to people,” Jenny laughed. “Lead the way.”
They meandered to the back of the room. Bureaus, desks, beds, and other furniture were set up for people to inspect. The girls made their way through the space checking all the tables, but they couldn’t find the fountain. Finally, Tabby asked one of the Jaspar brothers where it was located.
“The fountains are out behind the barn. You go through those doors over there,” he said, pointing to the far corner of the silo. “There are six of them. Which one are you interested in?”
“I love the frog fountain,” Tabby responded.
“That one’s a big draw today. I know of at least four people here just for that item, plus we have three phone bidders registered that couldn’t be here. Good luck getting that one,” said Jerry, shaking his head.
“Looks like your fountain called out to a lot of people, not just you,” Jenny observed.
“Come on,” Tabby said, heading for the doors that led out back.
Once outside, they found the fountains set up to the right side of the barn. Several people were strolling around, stopping at each fountain to look it over. Tabby stopped abruptly as she saw over ten people peering at what she already thought of as HER fountain.
“This just stinks,” she said, frowning.
“Think positive,” Jenny suggested. “Maybe you have a bigger budget than they do.”