by Tonya Kappes
“Natalie?” I jerked my head up. “What about her?”
“She and Ellis are friends. Now that Ellis is back living under Mommy and Daddy’s roof and spending any money they have left, she’s inviting Natalie over and they hung out at Hank’s all night. If that boy don’t get eight hours sleep, he’s cranky. Add on top of that this murder that is clearly related to Scott Goodman’s case and that makes for a Cranky Hanky.” She joked, but I found nothing funny about the first part of it. “Lighten up. I’ve got some news about Adrienne Goodman.”
“Scott’s wife?” I asked.
“Yes. Hank brought her in for questioning yesterday. She did have bruising on her and told Hank they been going to counseling with Alena Russell, the school’s counselor.” She wrote something on a piece of paper. “Hank said that it feels like Adrienne is keeping something from him, but he doesn’t know what. I keep telling him it’s his you know what.” Her eyes dipped to the ground.
“His. You know what?” I questioned.
“He’s a man. If she was beaten by her husband, she clearly don’t trust men. I keep telling him to get a woman detective, but he won’t listen,” she mumbled.
Woman? Detective? For some reason that sounded very appealing to me.
“I’m a woman,” I blurted out.
“That you are.” Hank rounded the corner and laughed. “I should know because you’re my girlfriend.”
“You seem happier.” I glanced at him and then at Agnes.
“Mmmhmm,” Agnes’s chin lifted up and she looked down her nose at him. “What gives, kiddo?”
“I was thinking about what you said about needing a woman detective. And I think I’ll send in Natalie. I gave her a call, so she should be in here soon.” Hank gave me a kiss. “Send her back to my office,” he told Agnes.
“Why Natalie?” I questioned.
“We need someone to go to the school and she can do that and talk to Adrienne about the death.” He made it sound like he’d figured it all out.
“I’m already in the school. Why not me?” I could feel my gut pinching my innards, making me start to fume and get mad.
“Yeah, Hank.” Agnes backed me up. “Not only do all the teachers like her, they trust her.”
“Granny.” he shot a look to Agnes.
“I’m with Mae.” Agnes shifted on her stool. “She’s already on the inside. It’s a no brainer.”
“Of course you’re on Mae’s side because you’ll go against anything that has to do with Mom.” He shook his head. Natalie walked into the room like a high dollar filly. “This is not the time to discuss this.”
He gestured for me and Agnes to stay put while he walked over to greet Natalie. They exchanged a few words. She glanced over his shoulder and gave me a good hard look before she said a few more words and turned around to leave.
“Fine. I’ll let you keep your ears and eyes open. But I’m telling the resource officers and Principal Bass you’re snooping around so they know to keep an eye on you,” he said.
“That’s stupid.” Agnes snorted. “What if one of them blabs and whoever is doing all this people hunting gets word?”
“Parents are all over that school. And if the resource officer or Principal Bass slip up, then we may find another murder on our hands.” I have no idea where I pulled that out of, but I liked it.
“Okay. But at any sign of danger, you pull out. Understand?” Hank’s voice had the concern of the beloved boyfriend and I could tell he was worried.
“I promise.” I put up my scout’s honor gesture before wrapping my arms around his neck, giving him a big hug.
“I’m going to let you get out of here before I question you because we’ve got a lot of evidence to process at the school. In the meantime, school is shut down the rest of today and tomorrow, giving us the weekend to get the kids to see the school’s counselor and parent concerns answered.” It felt good that he was including me and telling me the plan. “Now go write in that little notebook of yours. Why don’t you come over to my place tonight to discuss the case? Bring Fifi.”
“Perfect.” I looked at Agnes. Both of us gave a little squeal.
NINE
“We have two bodies now.” I sat at the table in the office corner of the Laundry Club where customers could fax, make copies, work on a computer, and do anything else their jobs required. A lot of people on vacation with their children would stop in and ask if there was any sort of Staples or Kinkos nearby where they could send a fax.
It was a shame that people couldn’t just camp or hike or just relax on vacation without having to work.
“Where are Mary Elizabeth and Dawn?” Betts asked from the door of her office.
Mary Elizabeth, my foster turned adopted mother, and Dawn, her business partner, ran The Milkery, a bed and breakfast just outside Normal’s city limits.
“They are swamped with work. It’s time for them to harvest some of the garden and the flowers in the greenhouse are going nuts. They put a help wanted ad in the newspaper.” Saying newspaper reminded me of Violet and how I hadn’t yet caught up with her today. She would for sure be tracking me down to see if I had any clues. “Once they hire some help, it’ll free up some time for them.”
“Back to the victims.” Abby put us back on track.
“Both of them work at the high school. There was a red Mustang at the school this morning that took off speeding and I saw the same car in the back of the school during first period. Both times the janitor was near it.” I wrote red Mustang under Orlando’s name.
“Red Mustang?” Dottie asked. “There was a red Mustang at your ceremony at Happy Trails.”
“You’re right!” I smacked my hand on the table, making everyone jump. “I forgot all about that. And it was coming from the camper where Scott Goodman was staying.”
“So the killer had to have known Scott and Orlando and they drove the red Mustang.” Abby reached across the table and took the notebook, drawing an arrow between the two victims’ name and writing “red Mustang” above it. “If we find out who owns the red Mustang, we find the killer.”
I wondered how I was going to do that. Maybe this was something I needed to tell Hank.
“Then we have Adrienne Goodman.” I pointed to the notebook for Abby to write this down. “She has bruises. Agnes confirmed that for me. She also had a fight with him about his rank. But according to Mathew, Scott wasn’t in the military.”
“Who’s Mathew?” Dottie asked.
“He’s a teacher at school. I really need to see Alena Russel, the school counselor.” I looked at Abby as she was writing all of our clues down. “According to Agnes, Adrienne and Scott were seeing her for counseling and meeting after school hours with Ken Patterson, who I heard with my own ears threaten Scott.”
“Why aren’t they going after the Patterson guy?” Queenie asked.
“I don’t know, but I met his son and I think I can get more out of him tomorrow at school.” I made a quick mental note to go to the front office during Sam’s office aide time.
“What about this Beth Lambert?” Abby circled Beth’s name that I’d written on the paper.
“She is the best player on their club team. Shoo in for scholarships if she had grades to get into the colleges, but she can’t seem to get high enough scores on her ACT. Get this.” I leaned over the table. “She had someone take the ACT as her but got caught. She’s retaking it this weekend.”
“Gosh, I’m glad I don’t have kids.” Betts shook her head. Abby agreed.
“Well, it seems like not only Scott Goodman wasn’t very well liked by the parents, but he knew something and so did Orlando Banks.”
“Is that all for now?” Abby asked and looked up from the notebook.
“I think so.” I put my hands in my back pockets and pulled out the ink pen. “Wait!”
I held the Lypsnk pen up in the air.
“Have y’all ever heard of Lypsnk?” I asked.
“It’s a bar, I think.” Abby grabbed her phon
e. “Hashtag Lypsnk.”
“Yeah. One of those karaoke ones I think.” Dottie grinned. “I use to love to go sing at them places.”
“You mean you liked to screech.” Queenie put her fingers in her ears. “You dragged me to a few of them.”
“It’s not just any karaoke bar, it’s this new age one.” Abby turned her phone around. “Looks fun. How was it?”
“I didn’t go, but I think Scott and Orlando went there because I found a Lypsnk pen under the bed at the camper Scott had rented and another on the floor of Orlando’s janitor closet.”
“So. Pens are handed out everywhere. Especially in a school.” Betts made a good point. “Lester used to drop off hundreds of pens to different places,” her voice trailed off.
It’d been a long time since she’d mentioned Lester in a friendly sorta way.
“Have you been to see him?” Dottie had no couth. She was always wanting to know what was going on.
I walked over to the notebook and took it from Abby. I wrote down Lypsnk and a note to maybe stop in there to see if anyone knew or recognized Scott or Orlando.
“No.” Betts shook her head. “I heard some of the Bible thumpers had seen him.” She giggled.
“You knew we used to call you Bible thumpers?” I asked since the rest of us Laundry Club gals tried not to call Betts’s do-good prison ministry group our loving name in front of her.
“Of course I did.” She laughed. “You guys aren’t very quiet or discreet.”
“That’s why I need your social.” Queenie sat at the desk with the computer.
“Why do you need Betts’s social?” I asked, looking up from my notebook where I’d been writing down all the clues I’d come across so far.
“Because if you’re going to apply to get a detective’s license, we are all going to do it,” she said.
“This is going to be a lot of fun.” Abby tiptoed over to us. “I can be very sneaky.”
“I’ve got good listening skills.” Dottie left out that she had a big mouth too.
“I’ve got the moves.” Queenie made jazz hands that I was sure she used with her students in her Jazzercise classes.
“This is ridiculous,” I told them and looked around. “Y’all aren’t serious.”
“As serious as a bad case of the gout.” Dottie was looking over Queenie’s shoulder. “five hundred, twenty two,” she rattled off what I assumed was her social security number.
“But Hank didn’t say all of us. He just said for me to look into it.” I was trying to stop whatever it was that Queenie was doing.
Betts walked over and with her cleaning binder in her hand.
“Why aren’t y’all listening to me?” I asked.
“We are. But if you think about it, we’ve all helped out with solving the crimes that have happening around here.” Betts hugged her cleaning binder to her chest. “You take on extra jobs to get more money all the time.”
“Yeah, but you need the help. Take Coke for instance. She’s going to call you about the old train station she’s fixing up as a motel. That’ll keep you busy.” I really hoped Coke would call Betts now that I said it out loud. “And you have the library.” I pointed to Abby. “You’ve got your hands full with your Jazzercise classes. And you.” I pointed to Dottie. “I can’t run a campground without my manager.”
“We do have our other jobs to think about.” Dottie, of all people, was going to be the rational one. “I’m not sure what we’d do at Happy Trails.”
“I do have a lot of new cleaning clients now that I’ve been advertising,” said Betts.
“I don’t have a lot of help at the library.” Abby was finally seeing clearly too.
“Then we need to come up with a solution because if you think that I’m going to let you get hurt,” Dottie had gotten serious. “Then you’ve got another thing comin’. I know you’ve got Mary Elizabeth here and all, but I’ve taken you on as not only a good friend, but as a daughter of sorts. We five,” she twirled her finger around all us, “are as tight as bark on a tree and we stick together.”
“I think we can all work together and get different clues if we keep our eyes and ears peeled,” I suggested. “Just like we did before. We’ll keep our clues in the notebook and we can come together and put different scenarios together.”
“Guys.” Queenie looked up from the computer screen. “In Kentucky, you need a degree from the police academy, and I don’t think they can handle my moves.” She laughed.
“I don’t got no time to go to no academy when I can use my smarts.” Dottie tapped her temple.
“We don’t need a degree or detective license to help Mae keep the campground running and the economy healthy.” Abby pulled out her phone. “Hashtag discount. Hashtag Happy Trails. Hashtag campers.”
“Wait.” I tried to stop Abby before she sent it. “Did you say discount?”
“Too late. Send.” She shook her phone at me and put it back in her pocket.
“That sounds like a plan.” Betts smiled. “And now that you have four others helping, it appears you still have time to clean for me. Starting with Alena Russel.” Betts opened her binder and flipped a few pages. “I’ve got her on the schedule for tonight.”
After all the hooting and hollering settled down, the reality of it was that I had to still help out Hank, which really was helping me out since we had had so many cancellations. I had to prove there was no danger at the campground and that it was a safe place to stay.
“Tonight?” I didn’t want to turn it down, but I also didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to go see Hank at his place and show Ellis that I am his girlfriend no matter how much she flaunts Natalie around.
“I only clean her office once a week. Afterhours.” She patted herself. “I’ve got the keys somewhere.”
“You have keys to the school?” I asked.
“No. Alena Russel has an office over in Swamp Canal.” She walked into her office and came back out with a big ring with several keys on it. “Do you think she sees couples at the school?”
Without her even saying it, we all knew what Betts was up to and we all knew what Alena might have in her files. Especially regarding the marriage of Scott and Adrienne Goodman.
TEN
Abby was going to check military records she had access to using the library’s database, Queenie was going to go check on Lypsnk and what that was all about, Betts was going to call Alena for a cleaning gig so we could get into her office, and I was on my way to see Adrienne Goodman. Later me and the Laundry Club gals were going to reconvene by the campfire at Happy Trails since we had so much leftover food after the party was interrupted by a murder.
It was a perfect time for me to stop by Scott Goodman’s house and give my condolences to his wife. At least, that’s the way I was going to play it.
“Can I help you?” The woman at the door was young. She glanced right and then left as if she were looking for something or someone.
“Are you Adrienne Goodman?” I asked, thinking I could see a bruise mark on her left cheek when she’d looked around. But the screen on the door made it hard to get a good look.
He must’ve done a number on her because the makeup was so heavy.
She nodded.
Adrienne Goodman was much shorter than I’d pictured her. She had a short blonde bob, parted on the side. She wore a Normal High School Archery sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants.
“I’m Mae West.” That I should be honest dawned on me all of a sudden. “Your husband rented a camper from me.”
“You’re the one who found him.” Her eyes drew up and down my body.
“I did. I’m so sorry.” I felt the need to apologize right off the bat.
“Were you having an affair with him?” she asked me.
“Oh, no.” I shook my head profusely. “I’m dating someone,” I immediately responded. “Hank Sharp. Detective Hank Sharp.”
She looked around again before she shoved open the screen door.
�
��Come in.” She hurried me inside. “I’ve already told Detective Sharp everything they need to know. So I’m assuming you’re a detective?”
“No. Actually. I’m just the Happy Trails owner.” Coming out of my mouth it did seem really silly that I was here. Snooping.
“Then what are you doing here?” she shut the main door behind us and locked it.
“I was given an honorary degree in economics from the city and I’m doing a six week teaching class in your husband’s economics class. I actually took over as substitute today. I wanted to drop by and give my condolences.” I stepped in a little more to the front family room and noticed there were moving boxes all over the place.
There were empty bookcases, the end tables were cleared, and there was nothing on the mantle.
“That’s kind of you. I hope you don’t mind the mess.” She gave a faint smile. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked and had me follow her to the kitchen. She had a kettle on the stove and a mug on the counter with a tea bag string draped over the side of it.
“A Diet Coke would be good.” I really needed something to settle my stomach.
“Sure. They’re out in the refrigerator.” She pointed to the door. “It’s in the garage. Help yourself.”
In the kitchen there were moving boxes filled with dishes on the floor.
“Thanks.” I walked over and opened the door.
“You know,” she said to my back as I was going out the door. “You’re the only person from the school who’s been by here.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Mae?” I heard her call my name, but my eyes were too busy focusing on the red Mustang convertible I’d seen leaving my campground, squealing out of the parking lot of the school, and sitting at the back of the school just under an hour before Orlando Banks was murdered. “Mae?”
“Your car.” I turned around, rubbing my hands down my pocket to grab my phone. “I’ve seen it before.”
“I do drive it.” She laughed and walked out into the garage.
“Yes. But I saw it leaving my campground before Scott died. Yesterday morning you were talking to. . .” I gulped and took a few steps back when she took a couple towards me. “Stay right there.” I jerked my phone out. “I’ve got Hank on speed dial.”