“He just isn’t the same guy I used to know.” His brow ridge was predominant, and his eyebrows furrowed over the thickness. He looked at Ryan and said, “And Mark, what was it we used to call him?”
“I don’t remember,” Ryan said.
“Sparkles!” Adam said. “Markles Sparkles.” He laughed.
“Yeah, that was it.” Ryan sounded miserable. They’d been close friends. I wondered what changed that. Age and distance, I supposed. It had a way turning friends into strangers.
Chapter 14
When I got back to work, Keith told me that Parker had come back but went out again to assess a couple who wanted to become fosters for rescue dogs. It looked like I was going to dodge an emotional bullet with him today. Was I disappointed? Maybe.
Theresa Simmons walked into the shelter near the end of my shift. She gave me a brief hug. “Lily, how are you feeling today? I heard you almost got shot last night. How terrible!”
“I thought you had the day off,” I told her. “Thanks for covering for me yesterday. I really appreciate it.”
“You’ve had such an awful week. My mom said that Dad hasn’t slept hardly at all since Merl Peterson was found. They were friends, you know.”
“I didn’t know. Merl was a nice man.”
“He really was. He didn’t have any kids or a wife. It’s sad that he doesn’t have anyone to mourn him. I guess Greer is making the arrangements for his funeral.”
“Greer?” Parker had said they were good friends, even so, most of the time family took care of those kinds of arrangements.
“Yes, he’s the executor for Merl’s estate. Merl already had his plot and stuff paid for, but Greer is taking care of everything else.”
“Parker didn’t tell me.” I felt bad I hadn’t reached out to Greer since Merl had been killed. Greer was the only reason Merl even considered selling the house and land to me.
“Just between you and me, Jock says that Merl left the bulk of his estate to the Moosehead Lodge. It’s a tidy sum.”
“How much?”
Her eyes lit up. “Over a million dollars in cash and properties.”
“That’s a tidy sum.”
She grinned. “Right?”
“So he didn’t have any family?”
“He had a sister who died six years ago from breast cancer.” Theresa shook her head somberly. “She had a son from her first marriage. But Merl wasn’t close to him. At least that’s what my dad says.”
Sheriff Avery sure did a lot of talking around the dinner table. I wondered if he knew just how much Theresa liked to gossip. He definitely wouldn’t like the fact that she was sharing all the personal information with me.
“He must have been a lonely man.”
“Not hardly,” Theresa said. “He was completely immersed in the lodge. Plus his friends took turns inviting him around for dinners and such. I’d never seen anyone so content with their life.” A wistful expression crossed her face. Her tone turned bitter. “He stayed busy during the day, and at night he got to go home to a quiet house without anyone bossing him around or making him feel like the worst scum humanity has to offer.”
I couldn’t help but think about Theresa’s husband Jock. Did he make her feel like the worst scum of humanity? “I’m sorry, Theresa.”
Her expression changed from angry to blank before she allowed a smile to light her face up again. “For what?” she asked, doing a decent job at hiding her personal pain.
I gave her hand a squeeze. “Thank you again for working for me yesterday.”
“For you…” she said, “…any time.”
* * * *
I drove to The Rusty Wrench, which was two streets over from Parker’s place. Greer had his garage door open and a Volkswagen Beetle up on the rack. I parked. Smooshie saw Greer in his coveralls by a monitor just inside the garage, and she excitedly barked.
“Excited to see the G-paw,” I said. “Just hold tight.” I clipped her leash onto her collar.
Greer craned his head back and smiled.
I got out of the truck, Smooshie in tow. Well, more like she was towing me. “She can’t wait to see you, Greer.” I laughed as he fished a treat out of his pocket.
“Sit,” he told her.
Smooshie obediently sat. She looked up at him with love and expectation.
“Good girl,” Greer said. He put his palm out and Smooshie took the nibble, happily chomping away.
“She really loves you.”
“Then my plan is working,” he said. Although he was smiling, I could see the exhaustion on his face. His skin looked a little duller, the lines around his eyes a little deeper. Greer’s hair was graying. When I first moved here, I’d never really spent much time with humans before, so I thought he must be really old to have gray hair, but it turned out Greer was forty-eight. Which meant, he was only thirteen years older than me. It put a lot into perspective for me.
“I’m really sorry about Merl,” I said. “I know you two were close. I hate that this happened to him.”
Greer’s blue eyes were stormy. “Why would anyone want to kill Merl? He would give you the shirt off his back. Everyone who knew Merl liked him. He was that kind of guy.”
“How did you two become friends?”
“When Amy died, I started attending grief counseling. Merl was in my group.”
That’s right. Merl and Greer were both widows. I hated that I was dredging up the painful past and the painful present all at the same time. “So, you can’t think of anyone who’d want to hurt him?”
“Not a soul.”
Smooshie got on the trail of something that led her in circles around my legs. I braced myself to keep from falling when she wrapped us up tight, and then turned to get unwrapped.
Greer smiled. “I’m glad you stopped by, Lily. You always make the day a little brighter.” He patted Smooshie on the head, and she sniffed his hand for more treats. “Both of you.”
“I’m glad. I should have come by sooner. It’s been a crazy week.”
“Yeah, I heard about the body in your wall. I can’t believe you’re staying out there after that. Parker would gladly put you up for a while longer until things get sorted. You guys make a good team.”
All Greer needed to add to the end of that sentence to make it any more blatant was a nod-nod-wink-wink. “I know he would let me stay as long as I needed, but I have to have my own place. My own space. You understand, right?”
“Not really,” Greer said. “I’d give anything to not have my own space again.”
He put his hands in his coveralls. Smooshie sat and readied herself for a treat. Not this time, I thought.
“I didn’t mean to be careless with my words, Greer.”
“I know you didn’t.”
“I came by for a little work as well.”
“You have truck problems again? Martha ran great at her checkup last month.”
“She’s still running good. I wanted you to take a look at a hole in the door frame on the driver side.”
“How’d that happen?”
I guess Parker didn’t tell his dad everything. Hopefully that meant he hadn’t told his dad about our middle-of-the-night kiss. I didn’t want Greer getting dreamy for a wedding. “Someone shot it last night.”
Surprise replaced sadness in his expression. “What idiot did that?”
“You tell me and we’ll both know. The police didn’t find him last night. He shot once and took off.”
Greer walked with me out to the truck and looked at the damage. He put his finger inside the hole. “I can pull it out, seal it and paint it. It doesn’t look like it hit anything important. I’d say it was a .22 hole and probably shot from a good distance, since it didn’t penetrate more than the body.”
“Is that significant?”
“Not really. It was probably some kids.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Kids can be dumb. Like shooting-a-gun-in-town kind of dumb. And a .22 has the cheapest rounds t
o fire. It was probably a case of accidental stupidity that got your truck shot.”
“Do I detect personal experience in your observation?”
He grinned. “I might have shot out a light or three when I was young.” He narrowed his gaze at me. “Don’t go telling Parker on me though. I’m happy for the boy to think I’ve never been anything but perfect.”
I laughed, locked my mouth, and then threw away the key. “Can I leave Martha with you tomorrow morning? I can pick her up after work.”
“Sure, and if I don’t get it finished, just drop her back again on the next day you’re at the shelter.”
“That will be Saturday.”
“You’re not going to the sport’s banquet with Parker?”
“No.” I tried for incredulous and failed miserably. “I’m going to watch the shelter for him while he goes. Why would you think I’d be going?”
“I thought he might take you as a date.”
“He’s going with Naomi Wells.” Saying her name made me feel surly.
Greer shook his head. “I told you kids are dumb.”
* * * *
I had to get home. Nick Newton had called. He said he could come out this evening and look at the place for me. It was the soonest he could work it into his schedule, and I wasn’t about to say no. Mark Stephens was coming out to look at the wiring as well. If I could get electricity going to the house, it would make the work a little easier.
Nick arrived in a white pickup that had a sticker on the door panel with the words “Handy Contractors” and a website and phone number. The bed had a large metal toolbox near the back window. Mark pulled in right after him. His truck was red, no label.
“Hi, Nick. Mark,” I said when they got out of their trucks. Smooshie said hello by ramming her wide head between Nick’s thighs.
Nick wobbled back as I grabbed Smooshie by the collar. “She aggressive?”
“With her love,” I said. “I’ll put her in the trailer while you work.”
“What’s going on with your yard?” There were five or six holes now in the yard, a couple deeper than the others.
“She likes to dig. I think there’s a gopher or something underground, and she’s not going to rest until she finds it.”
“You should break her of that.”
I liked Nick, but I didn’t want his advice on how to treat my pittie. “She’s fine. I don’t really mind, and if she’s happy, who does it hurt?”
“All right.” He shrugged. He put on a toolbelt he’d grabbed from his passenger seat. “I’ll go ahead and get started.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate this.” I looked at Mark, who carried a bag with some equipment, most likely voltage testers and such.
“No problem. Happy to help,” Nick said perfunctorily.
“Me too,” added Mark.
I put Smooshie up and joined the two men in the house. The police had done a number on my walls in the living room. I sighed. More money. More work. I wondered if I had dreamed too big, thinking I could get this place livable. I imagined myself twenty years from now still living in Buzz’s trailer while this place rotted to the ground.
“Is this where they found the body?” Mark asked, pointing to a side wall. He hadn’t changed much from his high school pictures. Still a nice-looking guy, maybe a little thicker in body, but he had a wide mouth, angled cheekbones, and soft brown eyes that contrasted with his short blond hair in a way that made him look interesting.
“No,” I said and gestured to the wall across from me. “In there.”
“That’s the darnedest thing I’ve ever heard of.” Nick shook his shoulders. “Gives me the willies.”
“Me too,” I said. “Do you know who put up the walls in here?”
Mark shrugged, but I didn’t expect him to know. He had left Moonrise his senior year, before the body had been put there.
Nick ran his hand down an intact seam. “Too rough to be professional. It’s not bad, though.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it didn’t smell completely of the truth either. “Well, whoever did it packed a corpse inside. Is there a way to find out who?”
“Unless it was a professional contractor, probably not. Lots of people do this kind of work under the table. They get paid in cash, no paper trail.”
Mark nodded. “Lots of high school students get hired for summer work and such. Though I can’t imagine anyone killing someone and sticking them in the wall.” He shivered as if the idea repulsed him. “I best get started. Sarah wants me home for dinner by six. My folks are coming over.” I could detect a whiff of acrid distain when he talked about his parents. He wasn’t happy about seeing them.
I left Mark to do his thing with the fuse box and the outlets and followed Nick around the house. We went room to room, even upstairs. I wanted to take down several of the upstairs walls and create a large bedroom-slash-sanctuary for myself up there. The windows gave a bird’s-eye view to the beautiful surroundings.
“Your roof is pretty good. Mills must have had that replaced not too long back. There are a few water stains, but nothing fresh, and with the storm the other night, this place would have leaked like a sieve if the roof hadn’t held up.”
“That’s great news.” Less money. Less work. “Do you think I could tear down some walls up here? I’d like to combine the two bedrooms and make them into one big one.”
“You can take out the inside walls if you leave the one that runs down the middle here. It goes down into the inside corner of the living room, and,” he made a straight-line swing with his arm, “leave the beams up going that way, on both top and bottom. Those are important to keeping your upstairs upstairs and the room over your head.” He grinned.
“Gotcha.”
“You can wall up the second bedroom door, and it wouldn’t be hard to open up the space to the upstairs bathroom as well. Just remember, the thicker the beam at the end of the wall or if you run into a metal girder, don’t try to take it out. You can always call me if you have a question.”
“Do you have a smartphone?”
“It’s smarter than me, but yes.”
“You may be getting some texted pictures from me,” I said.
He laughed. “Keep them clean or the old lady will have my ’nads.”
I laughed. “They’ll probably be dirty, but only in a dust-and-cobweb kind of way.”
“Deal,” he said.
I went downstairs to find Mark. He was in the living room looking inside the walls where they were open. He had a flashlight and was looking toward the base of the wall.
“Is there wiring down there?”
He jumped a little.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay.” Mark took a deep breath. “I don’t see any electrical lines on this wall. You might want to run some before you replace the walls. Some outlets over here will be convenient.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Mark still seemed a little shaken. I hadn’t meant to sneak up on him. He gave me a shaky laugh.
“How come you moved away?”
“It’s a long story,” he said while he moved around the room.
“I’ve got time.”
He gave me a tight smile. “My parents decided I needed a change of scenery.”
It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth. Why would his parents send him away? Was this the reason for the change in his scent when he talked about them?
“And you came back?”
“My wife and I wanted to be in a small town to raise our kids. And since my parents were still here…” He shrugged again. “I don’t think you’ll have too many problems with the electricity over here. The fuse box is in good shape, and it looks like the outlets have been updated over the years. I didn’t see any loose wires in the exposed walls. It’s a little harder to tell on the plaster ones, but I think you’ll be fine.”
“You think?”
He smiled. “If things spark, shut it down.”
I smiled remembering lunch with his friends. “Sparkles.”
Mark’s smile faded fast. “What’s that?”
Ouch. “I’m sorry. Ryan and Adam said your nickname had been Markles Sparkles in high school. You’re an electrician. I thought it was fitting.”
I watched his fist clench at the mention of Ryan and his nickname. Sheesh. They must have had a serious falling out for him to react with so much anger.
Mark narrowed his eyes on me, but Nick came down the stairs and put a stop to whatever he was going to say.
Nick tapped his clipboard. “I’ll write up a few things that I noticed, Lily. Just remember—”
“If it’s thick, metal, or connected to a joist, leave it alone.” I looked at the wall of the living room he told me to leave alone. “And don’t take down the beams in this wall.”
Nick winked and nodded. “You got it.” Nick and Mark left together, and I went to the trailer to fix some dinner for Smoosh and me.
My phone beeped. There was a message from Reggie. I’d forgot that I’d exchanged numbers with her last night when we’d been waiting for the police to arrive after the shooting. I clicked on it. There was a picture attached, and the message said, this was in his hand.
I clicked on the picture to download it to my phone. It was a large file and came up slowly. When it finally downloaded, it was showed a rectangular bar with the number 400 engraved in the middle. My house was on 400 road. Was this a coincidence? Or did the number have something to do with my address?
I texted her back. Weird.
Right?
What is it?
Some kind of pin, I think. Two prongs on the backside.
What does the number mean?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Thanks. Talk to you soon.
Welcome. Don’t tell anyone you got this from me. Remember, snitches get stitches, and since I’m the doctor…
I laughed. LOL. Mum’s the word.
I tried to think about what I knew for sure. I still didn’t know if the two deaths were connected, but I had a gut feeling. Merl was an upstanding guy in the community. Everyone liked and respected him. James Wright was a low-life criminal. He wasn’t even from this area. I had a niggling feeling that the pieces to the puzzle were mostly there, but I just didn’t know how to put them together.
The Money Pit Page 12