“Those four men shot at the sheriff,” Betty pointed out.
“Those four men picked on a sheriff who knew his stuff.” Mary smiled. “Those four men picked a fight with a sheriff who fought in World War One, a sheriff who knew how to hunker down and win a battle.”
Betty nodded. “You can never judge a book by its cover.”
Mary smiled. “Well said,” she told Betty and worked on her coffee. “The bodies of Dylan Roltdale, Tom Mintson, and Mitchell Rideback were found, along with the body of Jennifer Mintson. Sheriff Graydale said his people haven’t found Roy Delston yet. I’m sure they will in time.”
Betty felt a cold shiver walk down her spine. “The letter Roy Delston left lying beside me was very cruel.”
Mary nodded. She had read the letter before giving it over to Sheriff Graydale. “Roy ordered everyone to the lake in the letter, claiming he had the entire camp rigged with hidden dynamite that he could set off if they didn’t obey. Andy and Stephanie would have obeyed...I’m not so sure John Cunningham would have.” Mary looked down at her coffee and drew in a tired breath. “In the note, Roy Delston threatened to kill me if everyone didn’t obey his orders...so maybe John would have obeyed.”
“Mary,” Betty said, “by the time they debated among themselves, tried to decide what to do with the three...what did Stephanie call them...oh yea, trail rats...tried to decide what to do with the three trail rats they had to keep watch over...the dam would have already been destroyed and then floodwaters set loose.”
“True,” Mary agreed. “I know Stephanie, and I understand how much she loves me. She would have insisted they stay at the lake. Andy would have agreed. John...I suppose he might have? I’m not sure. I wonder if John would have tried to locate the phantom dynamite.” Mary shrugged her shoulders. “I’m too exhausted to think about this case anymore,” she said, fighting back a yawn. “Tomorrow we have to buy a car and begin preparing for our trip back home.”
Betty sipped at her coffee. “I hope William isn’t under too much pressure managing the paper while you’re away,” she said, struggling to change the subject and latch onto the land of normality.
“William will be fine,” Mary assured Betty and decided to take a bite of her cheeseburger. “I’m just wondering how your mother is doing with Mr. Steen.”
“Oh, don’t start,” Betty fussed and tossed a kind smile at Mary. “I suppose we’ll find out when we get home. And when we do get home,” Betty said in a pleading voice, “we’re never driving over the county line ever again.”
“Well, maybe over into Whitfern County to attend their pumpkin festival. As much as I hate to admit it Whitfern County grows better pumpkins than we do.”
“Farmer Wallace grows better pumpkins than we do,” Betty corrected Mary. “If Farmer Wallace lived in Pineville, we would have the best pumpkins in the state.”
“True.” Mary glanced down at her robe again. “I feel like a pink marshmallow,” she tried to joke.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Betty exclaimed and nearly dropped her coffee. “Did I pick out the wrong robe? I tried to choose a good color for you, Mary, but—”
“The robe is just fine,” Mary promised Betty, “and so is the lovely dress you bought me. I’m not used to wearing pink, that’s all.” Mary smiled at Betty. “I’m grateful that John Cunningham gave us the money we needed to buy us a dress apiece, two sleeping robes, and food. I’m also grateful he’s buying us a car to get home in, giving us gas and food money, and sending us on our way in peace.”
“I didn’t know John was a wealthy man,” Betty told Mary. “I would have...well,” she said in a shameful voice, “assumed he was a poor farmer.”
“Instead of a wealthy farmer,” Mary agreed and then fell silent. She took a bite of her cheeseburger and, against her will, felt her mind turn to the one question she and Betty had both been avoiding all day. “Honey—”
“The gold, I know,” Betty said and quickly took a bite of her own cheeseburger. “I was wondering when you were going to ask about the gold. I’m...very curious, too.”
“The men who shot at Sheriff Graydale didn’t have the gold,” Mary told Betty. She slowly put down her cheeseburger and then pointed at the window. “Somewhere out there in all of that rain is a truck filled with gold.”
“John will spend the rest of his life trying to find that truck,” Betty told Mary in a sad voice.
“I suppose he will,” Mary agreed and then pondered: “How did Roy Delston locate the gold? That is one question my mind can’t be at peace with.”
“According to Stephanie every single citizen of America has searched her land for that gold.”
Mary bit down on her lower lip. “I know,” she said. “Andy has searched the land...even John admitted he didn’t know where the gold was hidden.” Mary picked up her coffee and took a sip. “I suppose we’ll never know the answer. I sure wish I did.”
Before Betty could speak Stephanie knocked on the room door. “It’s Stephanie,” she called out. Betty smiled, hurried to the door to let in Stephanie, who was carrying a white cup of coffee and a brown bag full of hot dogs. “Thank you,” she said and whiffled a little rain water off the deep blue dress she had bought. The dress made Stephanie appear as a beautiful princess instead of a wilderness woman who understood how to get along with sore feet and blistered hands. “I brought hot dogs.”
“We have cheeseburgers, too.” Mary smiled and complimented Stephanie on her hair. “Nice and free.” Mary cleared her throat. “Andy hasn’t seen your hair, has he?”
Stephanie blushed, hurried to the table, and sat down next to Mary. “Andy liked the way I did my hair,” she confessed. She set down her coffee and the bag of hot dogs and looked around the warm room. “It’s going to take a while for the MacNight Dam to be prepared,” she told Mary and Betty. “The flooding will go down in time...but...”
“But what?” Betty asked, sitting back down at the table.
“Daddy has agreed to buy me another camp,” Stephanie explained, fighting back excitement. “I...well, girls, I agree that my land might be cursed, and I have agreed to sell it. I thought John would buy the land, but he claims that he is forbidden to buy what rightfully belongs to his people. A buyer will come along.” Stephanie let the tension build. “In the meantime, I have a new camp to start...in...Tennessee,” she exclaimed and began clapping her hands in joy. “Daddy has agreed to buy me a camp that’s for sale in the northeastern part of the state. He really likes my plan for a camp for kids who otherwise couldn’t afford it and wants me to have another chance.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mary told Stephanie in an excited voice. “You won’t be very far from us.”
“I know.” Stephanie beamed. “Daddy has been planning to move back to Tennessee but when I bought my camp, he delayed the move. Daddy doesn’t like Portland as much as he used to and told me he’s hungry for the sweet Tennessee air.”
Betty smiled. “Does this mean...Andy will be moving to Tennessee?” she dared to ask.
Stephanie blushed from ear to ear. “Andy needs a job. I told him he could help me manage my camp...and even live at the camp if he wanted.”
“And?” Mary asked in an anxious voice.
“Andy has agreed to move to Tennessee,” Stephanie said, reaching out and squeezing Mary’s and Betty’s hands. “I was so wrong about him, girls. Andy is a good man...and I think...I believe...he might be falling in love with me.”
“Oh, Stephanie, we’re so happy for you,” Mary said and squeezed Stephanie’s hand back. “You deserve love—real love.”
Stephanie thanked Mary and hurried to dig out a hot dog. She was starving but felt too nervous to eat. “I told Daddy that Andy and I will be driving back to Tennessee with you and Betty. I would like to have that time together,” Stephanie explained as she unwrapped a chili dog stuffed in a white napkin. “Daddy has agreed to meet me in Pineville. He’s going to buy me a new truck in Pineville and then follow me and Andy to camp with Mother
.”
“Oh, a road trip.” Mary beamed. “Stephanie, how fun! Why, we’ll have a blast!”
Betty felt happiness enter her worried heart. “Oh my goodness yes,” she exclaimed. “The drive from Tennessee to Oregon was absolutely beautiful. On the drive home we’ll stop and see many beautiful sights and eat at many wonderful diners...oh, it’ll be so much fun. Why, Mother would be jealous.”
“The sooner we leave the better.” Stephanie took a bite of her chili dog. “I told Daddy we would be on the road no later than noon tomorrow. John will be by first thing in the morning to take you girls car shopping.”
Mary could clearly see that Stephanie was anxious to leave a cursed land and a cursed town. She felt the exact same way. “We’ll leave just as soon as we fill the tank of our new car with gas,” she promised and squeezed Stephanie’s hand again. “Oh, we’ll need snacks for the road...and...oh, we’ll make Andy do most of the driving.” She giggled. “We girls will have a lot of talking to do.”
“A lot of talking.” Betty beamed and ate her cheeseburger, feeling like life was finally returning to normal and the nightmare at “Camp Spooky,” as she called it, was over.
As Betty began chatting away with Mary and Stephanie about the trip back home, a shadowy figure moved away from the room door.
“Pineville, Tennessee,” Roy Delston hissed under his breath, slithering away on water-logged legs, “is my next stop. And Mary Holland is going to learn that fate can be very...very...cruel. Yes, Mary Holland is going to learn that Roy Delston doesn’t forgive.” Roy slithered away into a light rain, crawled into a black truck loaded with gold, and drove away.
“Oh, this trip is going to be so much fun,” Mary laughed, not knowing what dark nightmare was waiting for her back home. “I can’t wait to get on the road.”
Chapter Nine
Mary parked the 1939 Chevrolet Sedan John Cunningham had bought her in front of the newspaper, under a bright tree dripping with autumn leaves. “Oh, home sweet home,” she said, beaming at Betty.
Betty smiled from ear to ear. “The sight of the newspaper fills me with happiness,” she told Mary and quickly checked the white and yellow dress she had chosen to wear for the day. The dress made her look like a sunflower but she didn’t care. She felt happy, free, and very festive.
Mary turned off the car, glanced down at her white dress covered with autumn leaves, smiled, and then looked around. Familiar faces were walking up and down the sidewalk, going here and there, all in a rush to get somewhere. She spotted old Mrs. Mills carrying a bag of freshly baked bread from the bakery and Mr. Hillmore leaving the hardware store holding a new hammer in his right hand. All the stores looked the same—and of course, they would look the same, Mary reminded herself; after all, she had only been away from Pineville for a few days. The street, the trees, and even the cars and trucks that were slowly riding up and down the street all seemed to wave at her with happy hands.
“Oh, it’s so nice to be home.” She smiled with joy in her eyes. “I have to admit that I thought I was going to....write my last sentence...when I fell and hurt my ankle. And when the water started rising...oh my,” Mary giggled to herself, feeling able to smile at herself now that the danger was over. “I felt like I was going to burst with fear.”
“I...” Betty blushed. “I accidentally let my bladder loose.”
“Me, too,” Mary laughed. “I don’t think I had ever been so scared in all of my life.”
Betty continued to blush, but let out a sweet laugh, nonetheless. The danger had passed, and it felt good to be alive. “Me, neither,” she told Mary and locked her eyes on the front door of the paper. Oh, how she wanted to be inside at her desk. “I’m never leaving Pineville ever, ever again.”
“Well, maybe if Mr. Steen marries your mother you will?” Mary teased.
Betty rolled her eyes. “Oh, Mary, don’t get me started. That old man is still trying to make Mother marry him.”
Mary grinned, forgetting all about the nightmare she had faced in Oregon, and continued to tease her best friend. “Why, Betty Mavery, your mother would make a lovely bride.”
“Oh...you,” Betty fussed and hurried out of the car and made her way to the front door of the paper. “I hope William and Millie aren’t behind,” she worried.
Mary climbed out of the car, drew in a deep breath of fresh autumn air, studied her sweet, cozy town, and let her heart relax. “I called William last night. He assured me that the paper is right on schedule. That’s why I decided to come to work later than usual. We all needed the sleep, and I knew William could manage.”
“Let’s go make sure,” Betty urged Mary and hurried into the paper. She found William sitting at his desk, wearing his usual brown suit, chewing on a pencil and staring at his typewriter. “Hello—”
“Not now.” William held up a hand at Betty. “I’m in the middle of a story.”
“Story?” Betty asked and glanced over her shoulder at Mary. Mary shrugged her shoulders, closed the front door, and looked around for Millie. Millie was nowhere to be seen. “Where is Millie?” Betty asked.
“I sent her to the fairgrounds to take statements from all the folks who are going to be entering the pumpkin festival,” William explained and went back to his story.
“But the pumpkin—” Betty began to speak.
“Isn’t until next week, I know,” William said. “But you know as well as I do that the town is already setting up for the festival and folks like to come and watch. And you know as well as I do everyone who enters the pumpkin contest always shows up to watch Henry build the prize-winning pumpkin platform. Besides, Millie was bored, and I needed to get her out of my hair.”
Mary grinned. “Well, we always do take statements from the folks who enter the pumpkin contest,” she pointed out to Betty and looked toward her office. That’s when she saw that the office door was partly opened. “William, why is my office door opened?”
“A man is waiting to see you. Said he’s an old friend? Knows your husband? Who knows?” William said, looking up at Mary. Mary frowned at him. “Sorry...sorry,” he apologized. “I’m struggling to write a front page story about our mayor.”
“Mayor Bosley?” Betty asked.
“Mayor Bosley fell and broke his leg two days ago,” William explained. “On top of that he hurt his back. Poor guy can’t walk. Edward Young is temporarily taking over for Mayor Bosley.”
“Oh my,” Betty gasped. She ran to her desk, snatched up her writing pad, and hurried back to Mary. “I need to go see the mayor, Mary.”
“Why?” William asked and tapped his own writing pad. “I have—”
“Mayor Bosley and Edward Young aren’t the best of friends, William,” Mary explained and glanced toward her office door again. “I wouldn’t put it past Edward Young to try and weasel his way into Mayor Bosley’s seat on a permanent basis.” Mary looked at Betty. “Go talk with Mayor Bosley and asked him how he got hurt, when he might be returning to office, and what his concerns are. We’ll run William’s story first and if Edward tries anything funny, we’ll run a second story featuring your interview with Mayor Bosley.”
"I’m on it...boss.” Betty smiled and rushed away.
William looked up at Mary. “You really think Edward Young might try something, Mary?” he asked. When Mary nodded, he continued, “Edward Young just doesn’t come across as being the type of guy who might try some underhanded trick. Guess I should have thrown more questions at the mayor.”
“We can’t always assume small-town living means easy living,” Mary warned William.
William focused his eyes back on the typewriter sitting on his desk. “Tell that to my typewriter,” he said.
Mary smiled. She glanced at her office door, drew in a deep breath, and said, “Well, I better go see who this old friend is.”
“Okay.”
Mary wandered off toward her office, expecting to see a familiar, friendly face. But when she walked through the office door and spotted Roy De
lston standing in the middle of the office holding a gun, she froze. Roy put his left finger up to his lip. “Not a word,” he whispered. “Inside...shut the door.”
Mary, feeling her legs turn weak, eased forward a few steps and then reluctantly closed the office door. “You...drowned.”
“I nearly did drown,” Roy hissed at Mary. “I managed to catch hold of a fallen tree limb that was stuck between two rocks.” Roy motioned for Mary to go sit down on the couch in the office. Mary hesitated, looked into a pair of vicious, deadly eyes, and then did as she was ordered. “I managed to get to my truck just as the floodwaters started arriving. I nearly didn’t make it out alive.”
Mary locked her eyes on the gun. “What do you want?” she asked, forcing her voice to sound calm, rather than scared.
“Revenge,” Roy growled. He glanced toward the office door, thought about William, and then focused back on Mary. “You’re going to go for a swim, Mrs. Holland, the same way you sent me for a swim.” Roy motioned at the fancy gray suit he was wearing with his left hand. “But as you can, I’m still the winner.”
And still a fat blob, Mary thought, who should have drowned. “William—”
“Such a nice man.” Roy grinned. “Listened to me tell him all about how I knew your husband years ago and how you and I had become good friends.” Roy widened his grin. “Small-town minds are so easy to manipulate.”
Mary stared up at Roy with fear and disgust. “You’re—”
“The winner,” Roy claimed. He kept his gun pointed at Mary but eased up on his voice. “Mrs. Holland, I have my gold parked right here in your hometown. I killed off all of my enemies. The four men I hired to destroy the dam, whom I planned to kill, are locked in jail cells.” Roy beamed with arrogant pride. “I’m considered dead. I suppose I should thank you for that. You actually did me a grand favor by kicking me into the river. Now the authorities won’t be searching for me.” Roy flashed a poison smirk at Mary. “You, Mrs. Holland, are a loose animal that I need to cage...in your own town, of course.”
Murder at Camp (Pineville Gazette Mystery Book 5) Page 13