“Looks like it’s Ella’s turn to be worried,” said Granny as she observed the scene. “Delight has certainly had her sleepless night worrying about Ella not being at home. At Christmas time, Ella went to visit her boyfriend but didn’t tell her mother where that visit would take place or with whom.” Granny smiled. “Yup. Ella’s getting a taste of her own medicine.”
Silas got out of the car, circled around the front, stopped by Granny’s door and opened it for her. Granny looked skeptically at Silas and the open door, contemplating his gesture. “I’m not that weak that I can’t open my own door. Has your lawyer got you brainwashed with that weak old woman idea he has in his head about his older clients?”
Silas raised his eyebrows and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “I’m wooing you, Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt.”
“Well, woo hoo!” Granny answered. “What do you want, Silas? I’m already taken.”
Silas chuckled as he again held a door open for Granny, this time, the door to the Pink Percolator. “Wouldn’t you rather have horseradish over honey?”
Delight bustled to the door to greet Granny. “What did the police want, Granny? Did they handcuff you? What did you tell them?”
Granny winked at Delight so that Silas didn’t see. “Delight, we need some refreshment. Let’s talk about something more pleasant.” Granny sat down at the nearest table. Silas followed her lead.
“Okay, I’ll get you some specialty Boneyard Coffee and a Grannylicious Chocolate Fudge Whipped Cream Fluffy Nut.” Delight turned to Silas, “Same for you?”
“Why not? I like to live dangerously.”
The front door opened and Amelia and Franklin walked in. Seeing Granny and Silas, they waved and came over to the table. Amelia gave Granny a piercing look. “Hermiony, what did you say at the police station? Did you tell them that we were at my house all night?”
With an innocent air, Granny answered for Franklin’s and Silas’s benefit. “Well, yes, Amelia. We have nothing to hide, right?”
Delight called from the kitchen, “Granny could I see you for a minute? I need to check on a topping for your dessert.”
Granny left the table to join Delight in the kitchen as Franklin and Silas were debating where the shysters and the cohorts had been during the night. Amelia raptly listened to their conversation.
“What is it, Delight?” asked Granny.
“Could you check on Ditty Belle? She didn’t come with us last night and the receiver at Persnickety’s Book Store must be off the hook. Her cell phone goes straight to voice mail. Or…have you heard from her?”
“Keep those guys busy out there, Delight,” said Granny, “and I’ll sneak out and check on her. In fact, I’ll walk home. I’ll be there before they know it. I need to do some thinking about this entire mess.”
Granny snuck out the side door of the patio. It was a block or so to the book store. On her way past the Ecstatic Emporium, she noticed a big barbeque fork in the window of the kitchen store. She popped in the door and hollered back to Hotdish Herringbone who was the owner of the store. Hotdish was the nickname for Hazel Herringbone. She’d gotten the nickname not because she loved to cook and make hot dishes, but because she was good-looking, and thus the name, hot dish. Hazel didn’t mind and took the joke about her name with a laugh.
“Hotdish, send me a bill for this fork.”
“Will do, Granny, ya going to do some barbequing?”
“You never know what you might run into that needs a fork. Some things are just too hot to handle.”
Granny had no need any more to walk slowly since her undercover days were over. The treadmill in her basement kept her old legs moving. Taking the back way through the alley, she moved quickly, finally arriving at the back door of Persnickety’s. The door was unlocked and Granny entered the bookstore. It was unusual for the door to be unlocked if Ditty Belle wasn’t open for business. She steadied her new BBQ fork in front of her as she called to Ditty Belle.
“Up here, Granny!” Ditty Belle answered from the front of the store.
Granny carefully entered the front of the store, but it was dark and empty. She tightened her grip on the fork.
“Where are you?”
“Up here.”
Persnickety’s Bookstore was an unusual building. Ditty Belle had remodeled it by taking out the upstairs floor and leaving part of the floor as a loft on one end of the building. The rest of the store had high ceilings reaching into a glass wall and glass-domed ceiling at the front of the shop. Bookshelves lined the walls all the way up to the ceiling except on the end with the dome. If one needed a book from one of the top shelves, they used the tall movable ladder to reach the shelves. The top shelf was standing height near the ceiling level and was left empty and used as a walkway to the domed glass that ended at a loft so that at night, Ditty Belle and her friends, or special customers, could climb up and look at the stars or look down upon the streets through the dome.
Granny looked up to where she heard Ditty Belle say “Up here.” Sure enough, Ditty Belle was on the top level in the loft surrounded by the glass dome. Granny lowered her fork.
“What are you doing up there and why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“I spent the night up here.”
“We spent the night at Amelia’s and the morning at the police station. You should have been with us. Can’t believe you missed all that fun because you stayed here reading.”
“Why were you at the police station?”
“Long story, why are you still up there?”
Ditty Belle pointed to the floor. “You do need new glasses or your eyes are older than you are.”
Granny looked down at where she was pointing and saw that the long ladder that had fallen to the floor. With a glimmer of mischief in her eye, Granny turned toward the door. “Hmm, don’t see a thing. Well, have fun reading. I’m sure I’m supposed to be home by now.”
“Wait! Get me down!” Ditty Belle pleaded. “I have some information. That’s why I’m up here in the first place. I was calling you when I dropped my phone.”
Granny set her fork down and picked up the ladder, propping it up with the hook catching the top shelves. Granny put her foot on the first rung of the ladder. “I’m coming up. I want to see what it looks like from up there.”
Ditty Belle moved over onto the seat under the domed skylight.
Granny plopped herself down next to Ditty Belle and looked down. “Quite the view you got up here. This would be a good place to drop the paper snow that we shower the town with during Polar Bear Days. Do any of the windows on the side of the dome open?”
“Yup; great idea. I’ll pass that along to the committee.” Ditty Belle shook her head in agreement.
“Didn’t you have any customers this morning? Why didn’t they find you?” Granny asked.
“The front door is locked and no one thought to check the back door and the lights were out,” Ditty Belle explained.
“So what is the news?”
“I knew we had a book in here that listed all the families in Fuchsia back in the days when you were growing up, Granny––even the ones in the country. Here it is. I found it. I got so excited at what I’d found in the book when I crawled up here to read it, that I accidently kicked the ladder off the shelf and it fell to the ground.”
“Tell me what it says since my eyes are older than I am,” Granny snapped.
“Well, it appears that the Blackford family did live in Fuchsia. When they were here they had two children, one of whom was Robert. The family moved out of town when Robert was eighteen. Robert stayed behind. Wasn’t it wonderful that back then the town kept track of its citizens? We should write a book just like this about the good citizens of Fuchsia today,” Ditty Belle suggested, “although, I don’t think anyone knows this book exists or they would have known about Mrs. Shrill.”
“Why don’t I remember who Robert’s relatives were?” Granny wondered aloud. “Maybe Amelia knows. He told me his parents
were gone. I thought he meant dead and I was eighteen and I didn’t want to think about that.”
Ditty Belle frowned. “Didn’t you wonder where he lived?”
“He was an older man, at least two years older than me. He told me he had an apartment over in Allure and I had no reason to doubt that. I asked to see it once but he told me it wouldn’t be proper. That was before my proper days and I didn’t care about proper, but I let it go. I thought it was a strange remark for someone so free and loose.” Granny’s voice trailed off as she thought back to the days when she was with Robert.
The back door slammed, “Granny! Ditty Belle!” Silas’s voice could be heard from their perch.
Granny grabbed Ditty Belle’s arm and put a finger to her lips, motioning Ditty Belle to be quiet. She motioned they should both lay flat on the loft so Silas couldn’t see them from down below.
Ditty Belle mouthed the word, “Why?” to Granny, but Granny just shook her head.
Silas looked around the bookstore, glancing once up at the loft but not seeing Ditty Belle or Granny. He picked up his cell phone and punched a number. “She’s not here. Ditty Belle is missing too. The back door was unlocked. You’d better call Franklin. He’s keeping watch on Amelia. Granny and Amelia have no idea their lives may be in danger. Maybe we should tell them so they will at least let us keep an eye on them. I’ll keep looking; hopefully, they aren’t really missing.” Silas hung up his phone, took another glance around and left by the back door.
Granny and Ditty Belle sat up. Ditty Belle grabbed Granny’s arm. “Someone’s trying to kill you.”
Granny shook off Ditty Belle’s arm. “No, he said my life was in danger. There’s a difference. He didn’t use the word kill. It could mean I drive too fast or––I’m not getting enough exercise and going to have a heart attack or––my kids are going to put me in the wrinkle farm. I didn’t hear the word kill and neither did you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ditty Belle let Granny out of the back door of Persnickety’s Bookstore before going back to the front and unlocking the door to open her business for the day. Granny made sure the coast was clear before she left the building. She strolled out of the alley to the street and began her walk home, stopping by AbStract on the way.
Jack Puffleman himself was behind the jewelry counter. “Granny, Silas Crickett and the Tall Guy are looking for you.”
“A gal can’t even shop without the men in this town trying to stop her from spending her hard earned money.”
“Well, they said I should call them if I saw you.” He started to pick up his store phone.
Granny still had the fork she’d bought from the Ecstatic Emporium which she’d made sure not to leave Persnickety’s. You never knew when it might come in handy. Raising the fork, she gave Jack a little poke. It was enough to make him drop the phone.
“Ouch! Why did you fork me?” the AbStract owner whined.
“Just so we’re clear, Jack Puffleman. I don’t tell the police what you were doing coming out of AbStract at midnight on the night Justine was killed, and you don’t tell my kids that I’m here now.”
“You don’t think I killed Justine?” he asked.
“Did you?” Granny held the fork in front of her, threatening him with another stab.
“Why would I kill Justine? I loved her.” Realizing what he’d just said, he backtracked. “I mean I loved her like a daughter.”
Granny screwed up her face and made a disbelieving sound.
“No, really, Granny. I would never have hurt her. I did see her that night though. We met right here. She said she had something to tell me. She’s my daughter.”
“Puffy, can’t you come up with a better alibi than the old I-just-found-my-daughter routine?”
“She told me that night and now she’s dead.” Jack Puffleman put his head in his hands, sobbing as he spoke, “She’s been working for me the past few years and I never knew she was my daughter. She just found out herself. We wasted so much time because we didn’t know.”
“Do the police know?”
“No, I haven’t told anyone but you. And Granny, no offense, if you tell anyone they’ll think it’s just the ranting of your imagination. My wife and family don’t know I was married before. Justine’s mother never told me about her, and I see no reason now that she’s dead to tell them.”
Granny shook her head. “I’m going now, Jack. Remember our pact. You don’t call Silas and the Tall Guy, and I don’t tell your secret.”
Jack Puffleman wiped his brow at Granny’s words and nodded his head. He didn’t hear Granny’s last words as she left his building, “For now.”
Granny walked slowly, making sure not to step on the cracks of the sidewalk. She still held on to her superstition of the little ditty she’d learned during her childhood. She always enjoyed the walk, though she did miss the exchanges that she and Mrs. Shrill used to have every time Granny walked by her house.
Angel was in the front yard of Mrs. Shrill’s old house playing with Baskerville and Mr. Porkster. It looked like the pot belly pig might be here to stay. Thor and Heather, along with Angel, now lived in Mrs. Shrill’s old house.
“Granny, Granny, you’re here!” Angel jumped in excitement.
“I’m on my way home.”
Angel’s face puckered up in a thoughtful expression. “Granny, I thought you were lost.”
“Lost? Angel, when have you ever known me to be lost?” Granny asked.
Angel thought for a moment, “Well, your cars have been lost, and you’ve been kidnapped, so that’s kind of like being lost.”
“Why did you think I was lost?”
“Cause my dad, Thor, said he had to keep an eye on you so you didn’t disappear. Then they couldn’t find you, so I thought you were lost. But I suppose a magician could make you disappear. Is that what happened? A magician made you disappear so they couldn’t see you?” Angel whispered the last sentence, looking around to make sure no one heard.
Granny laughed. “How is your mom, Angel?”
“She’s resting. She says the new baby needs to rest because he kicked up a storm last night, but I didn’t see a storm, did you, Granny?”
A car pulled up alongside the curb where Granny and Angel were talking. “Angel, could I borrow your Granny?” Silas Crickett inquired.
“Yes, Grandpa Silas; she’s not lost anymore. I found her.”
“Grandpa Silas?” Granny’s tone was guarded, not wanting to blow her stack in front of her granddaughter.
“Yes,” replied the child. “He’s going to be my new Grandpa!”
Granny gave Silas a piercing look.
Angel continued her explanation. “Grandpa Franklin said that isn’t going to happen unless hell freezes over. I didn’t know what that meant, but if Grandpa Franklin said it, then it must be true because he never lies.”
“Angel, I think you’d better go in and check on your mom. I have to go somewhere with Silas.”
“Okay. Can Baskerville and Mr. Pigster still stay and play?”
“For a little while, but send them home soon,” Granny instructed.
Granny watched Angel take the two animals into her house while she checked on her mom. Turning to Silas, she hesitated, walked to the car, opened the passenger door and got in. “Take me to Amelia’s.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Granny raised her hand to knock on Amelia’s door. As her hand was coming down to hit the wooden door, the door opened, and Granny’s hand knocked on Amelia’s nose.
“Again!” Amelia said, turning to Franklin who was sitting in Amelia’s living room, “At least she didn’t use an umbrella this time.” She motioned Granny and Silas in as she rubbed her nose.
Franklin stood up and came over and shook Silas’s hand, “Crickett, good to see you.”
Granny stepped back at the congenial welcome Franklin gave Silas. “Gatsby, are you ill? You just shook Silas’s hand.”
Silas moved closer to Franklin and patted him o
n the back. “We’ve decided to bury the hatchet. Not good for the blood pressure, you know.”
Granny looked from Franklin to Silas, trying to decide if their friendship was a charade or if she was missing something.
“Isn’t it great, Hermiony?” asked Amelia. “Now we can all be friends. I’ve been talking to Franklin and explaining that it’s a waste of energy to hold a grudge.” She turned to address Franklin. “Isn’t that right, Franklin?”
Silas coughed while Franklin had a look of guilt on his face. “That’s right, Amelia. After all, Silas has agreed to take Baskerville, Mrs. Bleaty, and now Mr. Pigster after we’re married. The shysters will live with us in my Victorian house.”
“What?” Granny yelled. She was about to add to her exclamation when Amelia stepped in and cut off the tirade that was on the tip of Granny’s tongue.
“Why are you here, Hermiony?” asked Amelia. “I thought Silas was taking you home to rest. It was very nice of Franklin to come and get us from the police station. I thought he’d be the one you wanted me to call. I knew you’d be too stubborn to call him, but you already had Silas picking you up.”
“I didn’t call Silas!,” cried Granny. “He just showed up with his lawyer, Snowshoe Notorious. Don’t you know he’s always interrupting my life, but that isn’t why I came over here.”
Granny indicated that Franklin should sit next to her on Amelia’s couch. She cleared her throat. “Um, Franklin, I realized today at the Police Station that life is too short to put things off. Let’s set a date for our wedding.” Granny leaned over and kissed Franklin on the cheek.
Amelia was quiet as she observed Granny and Franklin together on the couch.
Silas broke the silence. “Great! Now that we have all this sentimental hoo ha taken care of, this taxi’s leaving. If you want a ride, Mrs. Persnickulous, you’d better say your good-byes.”
Franklin took Granny’s hand. “I’ll book the church for a day in August, Hermiony. This is just what I’ve been waiting to hear.”
Granny Forks A Fugitive (Fuchsia Minnesota Book 4) Page 12