The kittens met her at the door rolling and meowing as they had fallen in the habit of doing. They followed her to the bedroom. Ghost settled on the spare pillow and Marmalade crawled onto Tabby’s chest. The family fell into a contented sleep.
At two a.m., an alarm sounded.
Chapter 12
* * *
Tabby jumped out of bed as the shop alarm was going off. She grabbed the baseball bat she kept next to the bed and headed for the door connecting the apartment to the downstairs shop. Opening the door ever so slightly, she reached in and turned on the overhead lights. The back door closed with a bang as the phone started ringing in the back room.
She turned off the alarm and answered the phone. It was the alarm company responding to the signal that her alarm had been activated. They wanted to know if she needed the police. Assuring them she was all right and that the intruder was gone, she hung up the phone. The sheriff’s car pulled up to the front of the store ten minutes later. Tabby let him in.
“The alarm company called me. What’s going on?”
“I told them I didn’t need the police and that I was fine. I didn’t want to get you out of bed this time of the morning,” Tabby said, shaking her head. “Someone broke in. They smashed the window in my work room, but I think the alarm scared them off. Whoever it was is long gone.”
“Is anything missing or disturbed?” asked the sheriff.
“There is only one thing missing,” she stated firmly.
“One thing?”
“After I gave you the key out of Jelly Bear, I figured it was safe to put him on top of the register. Mr. Wells wanted him to be a mascot for my shop. Guess what one thing is missing?”
The sheriff looked at the register- the bear was gone.
“Someone is going to be mighty upset when they don’t find the key in the bear,” the sheriff said, chuckling. “I’d like to be a fly on that wall.”
“Me, too,” Tabby agreed.
“How did they know the bear was there?” the sheriff asked.
“The front door has been propped open for deliveries this past week. Anyone could have walked by and seen it on the register,” Tabby confirmed.
“I’m glad you had the alarm in place. Mr. Stone is going to be a good influence in your life. He still is in your life, right?”
“You’re getting as bad as Gladys Twittle,” Tabby chided.
“On that ultimate insult, I’ll be leaving,” the sheriff mumbled. “Be extra careful from here on out. Whoever it was knows you have found the key. They may come after you next.”
“Sheriff Puckett, have you found out who the woman was in the cellar wall yet?” Tabby asked as she walked him to the door.
“Not yet. We are working on matching dental records. Her fingerprints weren’t in any data base. I promise I will let you know when we have some answers.”
The front and back doors of the shop were locked. The alarm couldn’t be set because of the broken window. She took a large empty box, flattened it, and crammed it into the window frame. Tabby figured whoever broke in would not return as they got what they had come for: the bear. In the morning, she would call someone to replace the window. The alarm company would have to install another sensor on the new glass.
She couldn’t think about crawling into bed again. Tabby didn’t want to be sleeping upstairs without an alarm in the shop and a broken window. She made a pot of coffee and started to empty boxes. The kittens were running up and down the stairs, jumping in the emptied boxes, and spreading the packing materials all over the shop. She was able to have the entire wedding area of her shop set up and arranged by seven o’clock. Exhausted, she sat down on the floor and closed her eyes. Marmalade crawled up on Tabby’s lap, laid down, and stared at her. Ghost was still jumping in and out of boxes.
Tabby fell asleep. The next thing she remembered was someone knocking on the front door of the shop. Jolted out of her sleep, she stared at the front door while trying to remember where she was and why she was sleeping on the floor. Greg was looking in the window. Marmalade jumped off her lap. She unlocked the door for Greg.
“Are you okay? Sheriff Puckett came by the shop and told me what happened,” he asked, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“I’m okay. What time is it?”
“It’s noon. I was on my lunch hour and decided I had better come check on you.”
“I fell asleep on the floor. Crap. I wanted to call early this morning to get the window fixed. I needed to call the alarm company, too. Half the day has been wasted,” Tabby sighed.
“I think the sheriff went by the hardware store early this morning to tell them you needed a new window. The alarm company is only twenty minutes away. I am sure they can get the alarm back up for tonight.”
“I know. I guess I’m just frustrated.”
“The other reason I am here is to tell you that Jenny has to pass on tonight. She wants to know if we can get together tomorrow night instead. She has a meeting after the store closes with some big-time author about setting up a book signing.”
“That only leaves us one night to read all the entries. I guess with four of us we can get through them. I’ll go talk to Jenny later; I haven’t talked with her much lately since I have been so busy with the shop.”
“I won’t come visit you tonight after work; you need to get some rest. I’ll call you in the morning,” Greg said.
“I so agree. My bed and I are going to be best friends tonight. I’ll be at your shop in the morning with coffee and muffins,” Tabby promised.
“All right. Be careful,” Greg added as he headed for home.
She called the cats and they followed her upstairs. While they inhaled their food, Tabby crawled into the shower trying to wash away some of the exhaustion. She stood under the stream of hot water, thinking. What was she missing? What was the clue that was not clicking in her brain? She prided herself on being able to solve the mysteries on television before the end of the show. But now in real life, she was failing miserably.
Showered and dressed, she made a fresh pot of coffee. She relaxed in the recliner, sipping her coffee, watching the kittens play hide-and-seek with each other. As she watched them play, Tabby knew she had to go back to the drive-in. After she was done talking to Jenny, she would go there and finish looking around.
Luke arrived at one-fifteen to install the new window and was done in thirty minutes. She called the alarm company and they promised to send someone before five o’clock. The same guy who installed the original system showed up at four-thirty. The entire afternoon was wasted; Tabby didn’t get to the bookstore or the drive-in as she had hoped. She decided on a light supper of just a salad and then fell into bed exhausted.
Waking up refreshed the next morning, Tabby put in six more hours in her shop. The inventory was set-up and the shop shelves were full. Gift baskets lined the walls closest to the front door. Eight hundred jars of jelly were carefully displayed on the shelves closest to the register. Blown-up pictures of her bridal bouquets and wedding arrangements lined the back wall of the shop. She was so excited to finally be ahead of schedule for her grand opening.
Over the next week, she would cook up more batches of jelly. Closer to the opening, she would bake her Gram’s homemade biscuits so they would be fresh. Feeling accomplished, she decided to visit Jenny at the bookstore to see what they wanted for supper. Tonight was the night for speed reading through all the compositions and deciding the winners.
“Hi, stranger,” Jenny said, smiling, looking up from her computer.
“Hi, yourself,” Tabby commented. “What’s new, besides some famous author gracing your store with her presence?”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah, who is it and why are they in Whipper Will Junction?”
“Her name is Tricia Gracious. She’s a best-selling author who’s vacationing here. You know the old Gregson house on the road to Fuller’s Point? Tricia bought it and is going to restore it. She agreed to do a signing
, here in the shop, on Saturday morning during the Summer Kick-Off Weekend. I met with her last night and finalized all the details. She is bringing me some of her books so I can make a display in the front window telling people she will be here.”
“I hope she draws a ton of customers into your shop!” Tabby exclaimed, giving her best friend a hug. “This will be the first summer festivity I am not looking forward to.”
“Why not?”
“It’s almost Friday and I am no closer to finding Mr. Wells than I was the day he disappeared. I admit, the shop has preoccupied my time and I haven’t done as much as I should have done to find him,” Tabby lamented.
“The sheriff hasn’t had much luck either. They formed search parties and covered the woods around his house, and have called in the surrounding towns to help look for him in their jurisdictions. He could be anywhere, you don’t know.”
“He’s always been a big part of Summer Kick-Off.”
“I know. He always gives the opening speech at the gazebo.”
“What am I going to do, Jenny? I know the answer is buried somewhere in my head. I just can’t get it to surface.”
“I have been playing the conversation over and over in my head since you recited it to me. Nothing stands out except for one thing.”
“What is that?” Tabby inquired.
“Fink said the demolition will wipe out all traces of evidence.”
“Oh, Jenny, I could kiss you. That’s what I kept passing over in my mind. I have to run,” Tabby spouted excitedly.
“Glad I could help,” Jenny yelled, going back to her work on the computer. “Be careful.”
Tabby ran all the way to the town hall. The town clerk came out of the back stacks with a large pile of papers in her hands.
“Bertha,” Tabby hissed, trying to catch her breath. “Have any demolition permits been issued in Whipper Will Junction in the last month or so?”
“Just one,” the pear-shaped woman answered, looking over her glasses at Tabby.
“Where? Where was it issued for?”
“The Whipper Will Drive-In is being torn down to make way for condos. I couldn’t believe it myself, but they had all the right paperwork for the permit. I didn’t even know it had been sold.”
“Bless you, Bertha. You are a life-saver,” Tabby exclaimed as she hustled out of the office.
She ran to her car as quickly as she could. She knew exactly where Mr. Wells was being held captive; the drive-in! If she had only gone back earlier like she planned to, he would have been home already. Tabby reached for her cell phone only to discover that it was not in her back pocket; it was still in the kitchen being charged.
While driving like a mad woman, Tabby formed a plan in her mind. She would check out each building until she found her elderly friend. There were five buildings on the property. The projection booth was the farthest away from the entrance to the property; she would start her hunt there.
The place was deserted. There was a notice posted at the entrance warning people to stay off the property because of the upcoming demolition. She climbed out of her car and moved the saw horses to one side. Tabby drove to the back of the snack bar building where her car couldn’t be seen from the entrance. As she knocked on the door, she could hear a faint groan coming from inside. She turned the knob and the door opened easily for her.
Across the room, Mr. Wells was strapped to a cot; under him was the duffle bag containing the stolen money. He looked at Tabby, tears forming in his eyes. She ran to him and knelt down next to the cot.
“I knew you would find me,” he whispered in a hoarse voice.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Tabby assured him, undoing the straps that held the old man down. “We need to get you to the hospital. Crap, I wish I had my phone with me.”
Mr. Wells eyes grew round in horror as he stared past Tabby. Before she could turn around, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and everything went fuzzy. Her friend’s eyes were the last thing she saw.
Tabby woke up several hours later, her head throbbing. She looked around the room for her attacker, but no one else was there. Mr. Wells had been strapped down again on the cot and was fast asleep; Tabby assumed he had been drugged. She realized that she was tied up by her hands and her feet; no matter how hard she struggled she could not seem to loosen any of the knots. They were tight and cutting into her wrists. Her feet had no feeling left in them.
It was almost dusk; Tabby realized that soon they would be thrust into total darkness. She looked under the cot her elderly friend was laying on. The duffle bag with the money in it was gone. Her only saving grace was that her friends would be showing up at her place for dinner and she wouldn’t be there. They would know that something was wrong and come looking for her. She closed her eyes trying to will away the pain in her head. Tabby knew she had to try and stay awake because the blow to her head had probably resulted in a concussion. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stay awake when the booth went dark.
*
Greg arrived at Tabby’s apartment at six-thirty. Jenny and Alex arrived fifteen minutes later. Her place was in darkness.
“I don’t like the look of this. I think something has happened to Tabby,” Greg surmised.
“I have a key and know the alarm code. I hope she’s not up there hurt,” Jenny lamented, leading the way up the back stairs.
She opened the door, shut off the alarm, and turned on the lights. The kittens met Jenny at the door meowing loudly for their dinner.
“Tabby, are you here?” Jenny yelled.
Greg pushed past her and searched the bedrooms.
“She’s not here,” Greg confirmed.
“Where could she be? She knew we would all be here tonight,” Alex questioned.
“I told her to be careful,” Jenny complained. “She didn’t listen to me, once again.”
“What are you talking about?” Greg asked.
“We were talking about the conversation she overheard listening to Fink. I said the only thing that didn’t make sense to me was how he used the word demolition instead of destroy when he was talking about the evidence. She got this funny look on her face, thanked me, and ran up the street.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“No, she just ran out the door,” Jenny stated.
“Try to call her,” Alex suggested.
“It won’t do any good. Her phone is on the kitchen counter charging,” Jenny stated.
“You said she reacted to you talking about demolition?”
“Yes. I think she figured out where Mr. Wells was being kept.”
“We need to call the sheriff and get him over here,” Greg insisted, taking out his cell phone.
Minutes later, three cruisers pulled up in front of Tabby’s place. The sheriff, followed by his two deputies came up the back stairs.
“Where is Tabby?” the sheriff demanded.
“We don’t know. She was supposed to be cooking dinner tonight and when we arrived the place was in darkness,” Greg answered, the worry showing on his face. “Jenny seems to think she knew where Mr. Wells was being kept and went to get him.”
“What? Are you kidding me? Doesn’t that girl listen to anything anyone says?” said the miffed sheriff. “Jenny, think about the exact words you used when Tabby left.”
“We were discussing the conversation she overheard at the gazebo. I told her I didn’t understand why Fink used the word demolition. He could have said destroyed when he was talking about the evidence. She got all excited and ran out the door.”
“Demolition set her off?”
“Yes. She ran up through the center of town but I don’t know where she went after that. She had to have come back and gotten her car because it’s not over there where she parks it.”
“Clyde, do either of you know anything that is set to be demolished in Whipper Will?” the sheriff queried.
“Nothing that I know of,” Clyde replied.
“Me, neither,” Bil
ly said.
“Sheriff, wouldn’t the town clerk know of any permits pulled for a demolition job? I bet that’s where Tabby went,” Greg stated.
“Let me call Bertha at home and see if Tabby visited her at the office,” the sheriff said, walking away from the group to make the call.
The sheriff was only on the cell for a few minutes when he walked back to the group, frowning.
“Bertha is in Larsen, at the movies with her sister. Charlie can’t get hold of her right now. He promised to have her call me immediately when she got home.”
“All we can do is wait for the call from Bertha,” Greg said, pacing. “Sheriff, don’t you have a key to town hall?”
“I do, but it wouldn’t help us. Everything is on a computer now and I don’t know any of the passwords. Bertha is the only one with that information.”
“What if something happened to Bertha? No one else knows the passwords?” Alex asked in astonishment.
“You have a point there. I’ll have to ask her for future reference,” Sheriff Puckett replied. “Right now, we have to sit tight and wait.”
*
Tabby woke up in the pitch black. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been there. Mr. Wells was groaning and talking incoherently from the cot.
The ropes that bound her hands had cut off her circulation; they were completely numb. She couldn’t make her fingers work to undo the knots. Tabby rolled to what she thought was the direction of the door. She rolled into a solid wall. Trying again, this time she found the door.
She inched her torso up the door until she was sitting up. Trying to get to a kneeling position, she fell back down on the floor. Her feet were as useless as her hands. All the moving around had made the pounding in Tabby’s head almost unbearable. She lay still, closed her eyes, and prayed for sleep. Mr. Wells was still babbling from the other side of the room. Once in a while she could hear him call out her name with a raspy voice. Tabby would answer him, but he wasn’t coherent enough to understand that she was right there in the room with him.
*
It was a little after midnight when Greg decided to stay at Tabby’s apartment. There was still no call from Bertha and Jenny and Alex had gone home. The sheriff promised to come get him the minute he got the call. He dozed off in the recliner.
Bodies and Blueberries Page 15