by Tonya Kappes
“This is Mae West. She found the Coach with an arrow in him that killed him.” Gracie talked so fast, I wondered if she ever got tongue-tied.
“You did?” The woman put her hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry. I’m here to listen if you need someone.” She pulled a card off the secretary’s desk and handed it to me.
“Alena Russel, school counselor,” I read. The hairs on my arm stood up when I recognized her name. She was the one I overheard Scott Goodman mention to Ken Patterson. “I didn’t really say all that.” I pointed to Gracie and gave her a puzzling look. “Not sure where she got it. I would like to talk to you.” I slipped the card in my bag.
“You said it.” Gracie looked at Mathew for confirmation, while Alena told me to come by anytime. “Didn’t she say it?”
“I wasn’t listening.” He sneaked a glance my way. “Anyways, did I overhear you say that you got a key to the city?”
This was a clear opportunity to get far away from Gracie Willey, who was the school secretary according to the nameplate on the desk.
“Thank you,” I gushed when we rounded the corner and entered the teacher’s lounge.
“No problem. Being the new kid is hard and you have insider information that Gracie will be talking about all day” He walked over to the coffee pot. “Nice nails. I’m in my planning hour. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“I’d love one.” I curled my fingers in a fist, slightly embarrassed. “Are you from here? Normal, I mean.”
“No. I’m from a little town in Tennessee. I came to Kentucky to go to college and fell in love with the state and all the hiking.” Now I knew why he was in such great shape. “I never left. I continued my education and now I’m heading to Western Kentucky to take a superintendent of schools position.”
“Wow, that’s great.” I took the cup from him.
“There’s sugar and cream on the table.” He pointed. “What did you do to get the key to the city?”
As I talked to him about how I turned around the campground, I felt like he took a vested interest in what I had to say. It was nice.
The bell rang, startling both of us.
“Oops, gotta go. I’m still the performing arts teacher.” He laughed and grabbed an armful of papers on his way out. “I’ll see you later, Mae,” he called over his shoulder as he left through a different door, spilling out into a sea of students.
“There you are,” Donald Bass hurried into the teacher’s lounge. “As you can imagine, everything is crazy here.”
“So I hear. Would it be better for me to come back another day?” I asked.
“The sub didn’t show up for Coach. I guess they are scared of getting killed or something. I’m in bit of a pickle. Do you think you can just start today?” He asked in a wobbly voice as though he were preparing himself for me to say no. “I’ve got all Scott’s lesson plans here. He was very organized.”
“Sure. Why not?” There was a rattle in my gut that told me I’d probably jumped the gun.
“Great!” He clapped his hands. “Gracie has the lesson plans. I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Six weeks, right?” He stuck his head out the door. “Gracie! Lesson plans,” he barked, not really listening to my answer to his question.
“Yeah.” I guess I was going to jump right into the frying pan of teaching when I really just wanted to snoop around a little.
“Here you go.” Gracie, who I’m sure was close by eavesdropping, suddenly appeared “Right here. Archery practice after school.”
I gave them a what the heck look.
“Cancel it.” Donald looked at Gracie. She nodded and rushed out. “You okay?”
I quickly opened up the lesson plan book. A piece of paper fell out. Donald bent down and picked it up, handing it to me.
“I’ll be just fine.” I looked up from the paper with the student rooster of the Archery and Rifle Club on it, with a smile on my face. “Just fine.”
FIVE
“You did what?” Hank’s expression wasn’t what I thought it would be to be when I gave him a copy of the Archery and Rifle Club roster.
“I started teaching a little earlier than expected since the substitute for Coach Goodman’s position didn’t show.” There was so much excitement stirring inside of me that I couldn’t get it out fast enough. “You can imagine my surprise when the team roster magically fell out of his lesson plan book and landed at my feet.”
“Mae…” There was a tension in his calm voice as though he was trying to keep from blowing up. “I’ve got this already and there’s no need for you to worry about Scott’s murder. It’s a formal investigation and I’ve got a lot of officers working the case.”
He cut the engine of his car and slightly adjusted his body towards mine. He reached over and pushed a strand of my curly hair behind my shoulder. His green eyes searched my face. I sure hoped he saw the disappointment I was feeling.
“Remember what happened last time?” He looked at me like he was waiting for my face to tell him he was right. But I didn’t. My right brow cocked.
“Of course I remember it. I solved it.” I knew he was referring to the last murder we’d had in Normal.
“You were knocked unconscious.” Did he have to remind me? “Remember the big goose egg on your head?”
The red front door of his parents’ house swung open. A woman in her mid-thirties ran out of the house with her arms wide open.
“Hanky panky!” She screamed. “There’s my Hanky panky!”
Before my mind could process that, another woman that I’d say was in her sixties hurried out the door followed by a man that looked like a much older Hank. My heart pounded. My palms started to sweat.
“Hank?” The woman’s mouth turned down as she knocked on the window of his car. “Aren’t you getting out?”
She bent down and looked over at me and then back to him.
“We’ll have to discuss this later.” Hank was talking about my snooping. His jaw was tense and there was stress on his face that I’d never even seen before. Not even in an investigation.
When Hank opened his door, I opened mine. He was greeted with a flurry of kisses and hugs from the woman. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She had on a pair of black Capri pants, a body hugging black V-neck long sleeved shirt, and a pair of black flats. There was no denying she was beautiful.
All I could think about was how today, of all days, my curls had a mind of their own. I could hear Bobby Ray Bond, my foster brother now. ”It looks like you’ve got struts all over your head,” he would say. He’d laugh and explain to me what car struts were because he was a genius mechanic. I never found funny, especially as a teenage girl.
“Hanky panky,” the woman crinkled her nose to him. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” She curled her arm around his elbow and tugged him as tight against him as her shirt.
“Ellis, this is Mae West.” He barely got my name out before she fell into an all-out squeal that pierced my ears and made Chester, Hank’s new dog, howl from inside Hank’s camper. “As in the,” she emphasized, “Mae West?”
“Ummm. . .” was all I could think of at the moment. Just like the movies, and in slow motion, she dropped Hank’s arm and jogged around his car. Her ponytail twirled like a propeller to get her to me fast. I took a step back.
“You know, I’ve met Mae West’s real family.” Ellis stood a little taller than me and was much prettier close up, which didn’t make me feel any better. “It’s when mama and daddy took me to my first hair commercial read. They owned the company. It was fabby.”
“I do remember that.” The older woman, who I knew had to be Hank’s mom, walked over to him and gave him a hug. “Hi, baby boy.”
“You’re Hank’s sister?” I looked at Ellis. There was a lot I didn’t know about Hank Sharp and this was one of them.
“Yes.” She gave me the side eye with a slight smile. “Are you trying to be as funny as Mae West is in some of her movies?” She gave me a slight shove. “My favorit
e Mae West line is,” Ellis started to wiggle her hips and she changed her voice, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” She smiled with pride.
“I. . .” I wasn’t a huge Mae West fan and wasn’t sure how to tell her that.
“West is Mae’s married name,” blurted Hank.
“She’s married?” Hank’s mom gasped and looked at me like I had the plague.
“Was, to a felon who was murdered!” The tiny voice of Agnes Swift came from the front door of the house. She stood by Hank’s dad and she had a big smile on her little wrinkly face the size of the Daniel Boone National Park.
“Felon? Murdered?” Ellis was pleased as the words trickled out of her mouth and her eyes sparkled. “This sounds like a wonderful movie plot. Have you talked to a producer about it? If you haven’t,” she now had her fingers curled around my elbow, leading me towards the house, “I know a few that I can tell them about your story. I mean, come on.” Her jaw dropped. “Who better to play Mae West than me?”
I glanced around my shoulder and looked at Hank. He gave a slight shrug and walked behind us.
“Welcome to the family,” Agnes Sharp said with a sarcastic tone when I walked past her. She had a curious grin on her face.
“You wanted to get to know them,” Hank whispered in my ear once we made it into the house.
The house was a modest farm house. Nothing fancy. A family room with a wood-burning stove, a small kitchen with a round table, a bathroom off of the kitchen, and a long hallway with doors along each side, I assumed leading to the bedrooms.
“You’re divorced?” his mom asked before I was even asked to sit down.
“And an orphan.” Agnes Swift sure didn’t seem like she was on my side.
“Granny,” Hank gasped. He gave her a pointed stare.
“Orphan?” Hank’s mom’s eyes grew wide.
I realized the little digs Agnes was giving Hank’s mother weren’t to put me down, but to irk her. There was tension in the room and I could tell they weren’t close.
“I love Mae,” Agnes saddled up to me and sat down on the couch, patting the space next to me. “We’ve had a lot of fun.” She winked.
A lot of fun as in she gave me information that would be help me solve cases having to do with Happy Trails and my livelihood., not because I enjoyed running around looking for a killer and putting my life in danger. I really liked her, but I was not happy she was using me in this little pawn game.
She patted my leg.
“I’m glad someone does,” Ellis muttered, making this entire situation clear as a sunny day.
“Ouch,” I gasped, my hand immediately rubbing out the pinch Agnes just gave me.
“Mae just got the key to the city.” Agnes saggy jowls lifted a smidgen when she smiled at me.
“How sweet.” Ellis’s head tilted to the side like she was looking at me as if I was a child. “I got a Best Supporting Actress Emmy.”
“When you were in that PBS kids show.” Agnes snorted. “Years ago.”
“You know what, Mom,” Hank’s mom jumped up from her chair. “You’ve always loved Hank more than Ellis. We all know,” she spat and gestured around the room.
“That’s not true.” Agnes popped her eighty-year old self up. “You spent all your money following her around the country, getting her an acting job here and there. You left Hank here for me to raise. Then when you,” Agnes pointed her crooked finger at Hank’s dad, “decided to retire, you didn’t even let Hank live in the house. He had to stay in that yucky camper out there.”
“Whoa,” Hank put out his arms to stop this family information dump. “I’m fine. And I don’t blame Mom and Dad for helping out Ellis.”
“Helping out? They paid for everything for her. Down to those extensions in her hair. I know they are expensive because Helen down at Cute-icles told me!” Agnes had worked herself up to yelling.
“Granny,” Ellis panted with a frown, giving Agnes blinking eyes until she ran out of the room.
“Okay.” Hank ran his hand through his hair. “Let’s go.” He pointed to Agnes and me, snapping his fingers before gesturing to the door. “I’m not doing this anymore.”
“Hanky,” his mom scurried over and put her hand on his chest. “Won’t you stay and let Mae take Agnes home?”
“Unbelievable.” His jaw dropped, and he slowly shook his head. “Come on, Granny. Mae.”
“More than happy to leave.” Agnes grabbed her pocketbook and hung it on the crook of her arm, sashaying out the door.
“It was nice to meet you.” There was a tightening in my chest telling me this wasn’t the right thing to do, even though his mom’s feelings about me were very clear.
“Mae,” the way Hank said my name meant business. He held the door. Agnes had already made it halfway to the car when I walked out, leaving Hank’s parents inside.
The insides of the car rattled when Hank had gotten in and slammed the door. I’d seen Hank Sharp mad plenty of times, but this time there were beads of sweat across his forehead and a flush had crept across his cheeks. “I’m sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’m not.” Agnes put her pocketbook in her lap and wrapped her arms around it.
“Enough, Granny.” He looked in the rearview mirror at her. “I should’ve known better.”
The silence from his parents’ house to Agnes’s house made my mind numb. I couldn’t process anything that’d just happened. The only thing that was perfectly clear was the lack of parenting they’d given Hank. Given my situation, no wonder we got along so well. We were made for each other.
When Hank got out of the car to open the door for Agnes like a good southern gentleman, I turned around in my seat.
“I’m not sure what happened back there, but I’ve got some questions about Scott Goodman’s case, I’ll bring you something good from Cookie Crumble Bakery if you. . .” I clamped my mouth shut when Hank had opened the door for her.
“See you in the morning,” she winked and got out of the car.
My racing heart fueled by Hank’s family slowed down as a blanket of calm swept over me as I watched Hank help his Granny into her house, giving her a hug and kiss at the door.
“I’m sorry about all that. I should’ve just. . .” he started to apologize as soon as he got into the car.
I put my hand up to his lips and leaned over, kissing him on the lips.
“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” I ran my hand down the back of his head and looked into his eyes. “There’s no sense in retelling the past. Not that my parents didn’t love me. They died, but I understand what it’s like to sorta be left without parents. Like you said, I’m an orphan.” I smiled and continued to talk, although hank tried to speak. “I see that Agnes raised you.”
“She did and I guess I should be darn proud of that, but my parents putting Ellis’s acting career above my basic needs didn’t sit well with Granny.” In my heart, I felt like he was using his Granny to cover up his feelings. “She only said things that I’ve said to her and have been unable to say to them.”
“Well, I’m sorry. Maybe we should meet outside of their house from now on.” I smiled, getting one in return. “I do have a question.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” He put his car in gear and pulled off the curb, heading towards the campground.
“Did you hear that Scott Goodman beat his wife?” I asked.
“Mae.” There was a sudden lightness to him. My question wasn’t about his family and I could see the relief on his face. “Where on earth did you hear that?”
The entire way back to the campground, I used his vulnerability about his family situation and the fact that he was willing to talk about the case instead of warn me to stay away like he’d done just over an hour ago to tell him about the case and all the things I’d learned over the course of the day.
SIX
“What a night,” I grumbled to Fifi while she did her business the next morning.
The morning
s were still a bit chilly. The dark sky was filled with stars. In an hour, they’d be long gone with the sun overhead. But for now, I gripped the edges of the quilt I’d grabbed off the couch while I let Fifi out to door to do her business and curled it around my neck to ward off the goosebumps.
I glanced over at the travel camper Scott Goodman had rented from me and noticed that the police tape was gone and so were the police Hank had stationed there over the past forty-eight hours. For the investigation, this meant it was no longer off limits and they’d already gotten everything they needed. For me, it meant I had to clean up the place and see if I could rent it again.
“Come on, girl.” The back of the quilt floated behind me with each step I took closer to the camper.
Fifi scampered from camper to camper, getting a good sniff at the tires and surrounding grassy areas. Some of the guests who drove their campers or RVs had dogs and Fifi made sure she got to know each one.
The camper door was unlocked. I ran my hand up the wall of the travel camper and flipped on the switch. The inside of the camper was exactly as I’d fixed it up. The only things missing from the last time I’d been here were the rug on the floor and Scott’s body.
Upon closer inspection of where Scott had fallen, I did not see the stain I expected to find. “No blood.” I walked around to see what how much cleaning I needed to do and how long it would take, it didn’t look like it required more than my standard, thorough cleaning. The camper did need new sheets, since the sheets were missing. If I had to guess, I’d say they were taken as evidence. I remember the look on Hank’s face when Colonel Holz said the killer was probably standing in the bedroom.
Had the coach been having an affair? Was that why he was living here? What about his wife? Did she kill him?
Scott’s duffle bag with the school’s logo was in the bedroom with his clothes still in it. I grabbed it. I stopped on my way out when I felt a light breeze on my neck. I turned around and noticed the window was slightly open and the rubber lining holding the screen in was popped out of the corner.