“Was that necessary?” Granny quipped when Thor and the Tall Guy came within hearing distance of the group. “You’ll wake the dead. Of course, if we woke the dead, he could tell us who he was.”
“Hermiony Vidalia Fiddlestadt, you are going to have to explain yourself,” Franklin admonished, appearing out of the darkness behind Thor and the Tall Guy.
Scowling at Franklin, Granny said, “What are you doing here, Franklin? Can’t a woman celebrate her birthday with a few girl friends in peace without her fiancé following her? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
“I called him,” Thor told his mother, “After what Silas told me, I thought we could use his detective expertise and his expertise with you.”
The Tall Guy broke into the conversation, speaking to Silas, “Suppose you show us where this body is. Franklin, keep an eye on this crowd of zombie hunters.”
“Why don’t all of you go and sit in your van while they take a look at what you found,” Franklin suggested. Then, taking Granny’s arm, he said, “I’ll take the keys first and I’ll take Granny to my car.”
After confiscating the keys from the van and seeing that the women and George were comfortably settled, Franklin led Granny back to his car. He handed her a cup of coffee from a thermos that was in the vehicle. “I just happened to have made a new pot of coffee and was going to have a cup when Thor called. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the events of the day.”
Granny took the cup of coffee. “You aren’t going to ask what I was doing out here?”
Franklin sighed, “No, you drive me crazy. First there’s a sister you don’t tell me about and then there’s a farm you don’t tell me about. Then there’s a dead body on your farm you claim is the love of your life––someone I’ve never heard of. What could top that?” He poured himself a cup of coffee, held the cup up to Granny’s cup and toasted, “To the many surprises of Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt, soon to be Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt Gatsby. May I survive them!”
They sipped in silence waiting to see movement to announce that Silas, Thor, and the Tall Guy were out of the basement. Soon, more police cars and a van pulled into the driveway. The occupants of the vehicles got out and headed toward the falling down house. Another fifteen minutes passed before they saw Thor and the Tall Guy headed their way.
Granny scrambled out of the car. “So do you know who it is?”
“The wallet we found under the body indicated that it’s Robert Blackford.” Thor watched the face of his mother closely.
“Robert Blackford! That’s not Robert Blackford. Robert Blackford is the man I found yesterday. I mean it was yesterday, isn’t it? It’s after midnight. I’ve never seen this new dead guy before in my life.”
“We’ll get into that later,” the Tall Guy said. “We need you all to come down to the police station. We’ll follow you this time.” The Tall Guy then instructed Franklin, “You take Granny and don’t let her out of your sight.” Turning to Silas who’d just walked up behind them, he said, “You’ll need to come down too, Dad.”
“You need to find out why he was here,” Granny piped up, pointing at Silas. “He wasn’t invited.”
“Why, Hermiony,” Silas said, smiling sweetly, “I’d follow you anywhere.”
Franklin glared at Silas, took Granny’s arm and led her back to his car. Opening the car door for Granny and settling her into the front seat, he muttered to himself as he moved around the car to the driver’s side, “Silas needs to go back to Alaska. There must be a serial killer somewhere who’s missing him.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Is it necessary to put us all in a different room?” Granny questioned as Franklin led her to Thor’s office. “We could at least chat while we were waiting.”
“Hermiony, you should know the drill by now. You’ve been here enough times. They want to make sure all your stories match.”
“Didn’t you know matching is not the style anymore, Franklin?” Granny batted her eyes at Franklin, trying to distract him.
“Hermiony, all this has to stop! You can’t keep putting yourself in danger––and you won’t once we’re married.”
At the words, you won’t, Granny’s back stiffened. Just as she was about to reply, a young policeman entered the room. “Do you know what time it is, young man? I should have been in bed hours ago. I demand to speak to your superior.”
“Uh, I’m just here to offer you some coffee.”
“You want to ply me with drink so I’ll talk, don’t you?” Granny used her most threatening voice.
“Uh, ah, would you like some coffee, ma’am?”
“No, I want my lawyer!”
“Uh, um, ok. I’ll tell the chief.” The young policeman backed out of the room.
Granny turned to Franklin, “I want my lawyer.”
“You don’t have a lawyer.”
“I don’t? I should. There have been enough times they’ve harassed me––my own son too! I need to get one. Maybe Silas knows a good lawyer.” Granny eyed Franklin with a wicked grin.
“If you need a lawyer, Granny, I’ll get you one,” Franklin declared.
Granny walked over to the window that opened into the station and peered out. “Why aren’t they questioning me so I can go home? They appear to be talking to everyone else first. Do you suppose they’re listening to what we’re saying so I’ll incriminate myself?”
Franklin shook his head and a loud bellowing laugh shook the room.
“What are you laughing at, Franklin Jester Gatsby? Are you laughing at a scared old woman?”
“No, I’m laughing because life with you is never dull, just like it was with my momma. She drove me crazy. You drive me crazy, but you keep it exciting. I’ve got to admit that. Now, sit down until they get here to question you. Why don’t you take a nap in the chair?”
“After all that coffee you fed me out on the farm? You plied me with coffee so I’d stay awake and now you want me to sleep? I can see why New York retired you.” Granny paced back and forth.
The door finally opened and the Tall Guy entered the room. “Okay, Granny, it’s your turn. Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
“What’s there to tell? The bump turned out to be a lump. I thought it was a joke, so I gave him a poke. He was cold, but not too old.”
Franklin threw his hands up in the air and walked out of the room.
“Something I said?” Granny innocently asked the Tall Guy.
“I’m going to let you off the hook this time, Granny. Everyone’s story matches––except yours. However, since you were with the others, I will overlook your little story.”
“Can I go now? A girl needs her beauty sleep, you know. Besides, it’s my birthday! Do you know how old I am?”
“How old are you?”
Granny looked at the Tall Guy with disbelief. “You have the nerve to ask a girl’s age? Didn’t that Mr. Supercilious father of yours teach you any manners?”
The door opened and Thor, Franklin, and the others came into the room.
“Are we continuing the party?” Granny asked sarcastically.
“We now know who the victims are. We ran their fingerprints,” Thor continued. “The first body you found was, indeed, Robert Blackford. The second body you found was Dickey Lee Hatchet.”
“I told you that the first one was the love of my life, Robert Blackford. Did you arrest my sister? Did she do it?”
“Why would you think Aunt Amelia killed these two men, Mom?” asked Thor.
“She was the last person I saw with Robert Blackford all those years ago. She stole Robert Blackford from me. So who’s to say she wasn’t the last person to see him now. After all, why would they both show up in Fuchsia after all these years? Tell them, Pastor Henrietta. I know you’re in cahoots with Franklin and Silas. Tell them what you saw when you were there?”
Pastor Henrietta’s eyes widened as she looked at all the expectant faces in the room. Silas’s face had a mischievous grin on his face, while Frankl
in’s had a look of guilt. “Now, Hermiony,” Pastor Henrietta patted Granny’s hand as she took it between her two hands. “I know you’re upset, but Franklin and Silas were just helping a poor, sweet, innocent old woman. Amelia’s your sister. Why, when I left, she was crying in Franklin’s arms. My dear Hermiony, let’s take a breath and meditate on this.” Pastor Henrietta looked Granny straight in the eyes and winked. Turning to the others, she said, “I think Granny has had enough for one night. She just found out that the love of her life died. What a birthday surprise! Let me take her home and pray with her.”
Granny gave Pastor Henrietta a skeptical look, then said, “Yes, I need to go home. Pastor Henrietta is just what I need right now.” Granny gave a fake little sob.
As Pastor Henrietta led Granny from the room, Mavis piped up, “Happy Birthday, Granny!” She turned around and gestured for everyone to follow her lead.
“Happy Birthday, Granny!” rang out through the room. Only Silas was silent. He would wish Granny a Happy Birthday later. He was sure she’d want to hear what he had to say.
CHAPTER TEN
The sun was coming up on the horizon when Pastor Henrietta dropped Granny off at her house. “Get some sleep, Granny. We’ll see you in church on Sunday. Thanks for sharing your birthday with a stranger. If all your birthdays are like this, I’m in.”
Granny waved Pastor Henrietta on and wearily headed up the sidewalk and up the steps to her house. Noticing Baskerville’s window pet door was open a sliver, she reached over to push it all the way shut. It was stuck on something. On examining it closer, she found a small necklace wedged in the crack of the door, stopping it from entirely closing. Granny surmised that Baskerville had dragged the necklace home from the farm. George must have brought him home with him when he returned from the farm and dropped him off before going down to the police station. Lifting the necklace to eye height, Granny noted a V carved into the necklace.
All was quiet as Granny entered her house. It was 6:00 a.m., the shysters were gone for the day. Baskerville and Mrs. Bleaty must have headed out too, Granny decided. Rubbing her eyes, Granny knew she needed a long summer’s nap. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been out all night. Part of her expected that her daughters would have been waiting for her when she got home after hearing of the events of the day. It was strange she hadn’t heard from them. Usually, they would have been threatening to put her in the wrinkle farm by now. But…since Thor and Penelope now lived in town, they were able to watch her every move. And Starshine and her fiancé, Lars, were looking for a place to live when they got married. They too would be living in Fuchsia. The thought crossed Granny’s mind that maybe she should move. Her entire family living in Fuchsia might cramp her style.
Yawning, Granny headed to her bedroom to take a short nap. The house was so quiet it would be easy to sleep. Entering her bedroom, she saw Mrs. Bleaty and Baskerville both sleeping in front of her closet door. The door was open a few inches. She remembered she’d left it open yesterday morning in her hurry to help Angel. Usually, she kept it tightly closed so no one would snoop and find the hidden door in the closet.
“What are you two doing here? Isn’t it your time to be at Silas house?” Granny asked the sleeping animals as she tried to nudge them aside so she could get into her closet to change into something more comfortable for her nap.
Baskerville lifted an eyelid but did not budge. Mrs. Bleaty moved her head closer to Baskerville, blocking Granny’s foot.
“Okay, you two, move it! You never sleep here. I need to get into my closet.”
Baskerville moved closer to Mrs. Bleaty. Mrs. Bleaty lifted her head and nudged Granny gently back.
“I need to get into my closet. Move it!” Granny instructed in a loud voice.
Both Baskerville and Mrs. Bleaty stood up together and backed Granny away from the closet.
“What is wrong with you two?”
Then Granny heard a movement in the closet. She stared hard at the small crack at the opening to her closet, backing up carefully to reach for her umbrella, only realizing that it was still in the basement where she’d left it the previous midnight. She looked around the room looking for a new weapon.
“You’re protecting me. That’s it!” she said to the animals.
Picking up her flip flop on the floor, she held it in her hand, ready to throw it at whatever was in the closet, when the door to the closet suddenly popped open and, quick as a flash, a creature bounded out of the closet and attacked Granny knocking her to the floor.
“What….ugh!” Granny managed to squeak out as slobbery kisses from a snout, peppered her face.
Pushing the medium-sized creature away, she looked into a piggy face. “Mr. Porky, what are you doing here? Baskerville, did you bring this creature home with you?” Granny asked as she got a hold on the pot belly pig that was greeting her. “Is this the pig from the farm?”
Taking her cell phone out of her pocket with one hand, while holding the exuberant pig at bay with the other, she belted into the phone, “Mavis!”
“Mavis and George, Detective Agency,” came the response on the phone.
“Mavis, let me talk to George!”
“He’s busy on a case, Granny.”
“Mavis……I need to talk to George, now!”
“You stabem, we slabem,” George answered, coming on the line.
“George, that slogan is for a funeral parlor not a detective agency and, besides, you and Mavis are not detectives!” Granny yelled. “Why did you bring this porker home with Baskerville? I have enough animals!”
“Porker? Animals? Baskerville?” George countered.
“George!”
“We didn’t bring Baskerville home, Granny,” said George on the phone, “Silas and I looked for him but he was long gone. We knew he’d find his way home. What porker are you talking about or did you say New Yorker?”
Granny slammed down the phone and picked it up again, paging through her contacts.
“Woodly!” Granny belted the name into the phone.
“Ah, ah,” a yawn could be heard on the other end of the phone.
“Woodly, I need you to build me another building next to my house. When can you start?”
“Granny?” Woodly had been the contractor on her new garage and he recognized Granny’s raspy, crotchety tone. “Do you know what time it is? It’s 6:00 a.m.”
“Time for young men like you to be up working. I’ll meet you at Rack’s at 5:00 p.m. to let you know what I want.” Granny hung up the phone. Her eyes were feeling droopy. She’d deal with Baskerville and the porkster later. Having calmed down, the pig had followed Baskerville and Mrs. Bleaty into the kitchen while Granny had been on the phone. Now Granny returned to her bedroom, lay back on her bed and promptly fell asleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A wet nose woke Granny up as she was dreaming that Gram Gramstead had her down in a headlock on her basement floor. Furball moved her nose from Granny’s nose to Granny’s head and began grooming her hair.
“Think my hair’s messed up, do you? It must be late if you shysters are back from your investigations.” Picking Furball off her face and head, Granny set her down next to her as she sat up. Picking up her cell phone that was by the bed, she noted that it was 4:30. She’d better hurry if she was going to meet Woodly Spackle at Racks.
She heard a sniff by her bedroom door and saw that the rest of the shysters were watching her. “Are you hungry?” The animals reacted to her question. Furball pawed her arm, Fish tickled her ankles with his paws, little white poodle jumped on Granny’s lap and licked her face, and Tank stayed by the bedroom door, growling at some unknown entity down the hallway.
Standing up and gently dislodging the shysters from her body as she spoke, Granny said, “Have you seen a porky pig, Tank?”
Turning to Granny, Tank answered with an “aaarfgruff.”
Shuffling past Tank, she indicated for them all to follow her.
Baskerville and Mrs. Bleaty
were waiting for her in the kitchen watching Mr. Porkster try to open the refrigerator door. Granny bent down and got eye to eye with the pig. “Who are you and why were you locked in the basement? And…..who taught you how to get your own dinner by opening the refrigerator?” Mr. Porkster snorted at Granny and backed away from her hand.
Granny opened the refrigerator and got out the yogurt and the greens for the shysters, along with a tuna treat and a steak for Baskerville. Looking at Mr. Porkster, she murmured, “What do Pot Belly Pigs eat? I’ll have to look that up. I think you like greens. I’ll give you some for now.”
Mr. Porkster snorted at Granny again and moved over to take the steak Granny was holding for Baskerville out of her hands.
“You want to eat a cow?” Granny asked perplexed.
Mr. Porkster grabbed the steak out of Granny’s hand and ran to the trash bin, nudged it open and dumped it in. Baskerville let out a loud howl and followed Mr. Porkster to the trash bin. Mr. Porkster, blocked Baskerville from getting to the trash can to remove the steak.
Granny laughed. “Don’t you want Baskerville to eat Mr. Cow? Okay, Baskerville, you’re going to have to change your diet and eat like the shysters until I figure out new food for you.”
Granny moved to the door and picked up her pocketbook. “I have to meet old Woodly. You’re all going to have a new house. Have a good night on your rounds and don’t bring me any more creatures. Got it?”
Closing the door after stepping out on her porch, Granny took a moment to gaze at the neighborhood. It was close to five in the afternoon and all seemed to be quiet. Her daughter Penelope and her husband Butch, who lived across the street and over a house, lived in George’s old house. When Penelope and Butch had moved back to town, they’d bought Nail’s Hardware Store, and they were probably still at work.
Mavis and George could be seen through their picture window re-enacting a cooking reality show. Mavis was always re-enacting something and now George was hooked too.
Glancing over at Silas’s house on the other corner, catty-corner from her house, Granny could see no movement there. Cantankerous Silas, was probably out plotting against her again. He really knew how to get Granny’s ire up. Some woman would be very unlucky to have him for a husband, and she was glad it wasn’t her. Franklin was the guy for her.
Granny Forks A Fugitive (Fuchsia Minnesota Book 4) Page 5