by Tonya Kappes
“I’ve not heard anything about the drought. I thought Alison might’ve been investigating it and that’s what got her into hot water, but now that I’m thinking about it, I think she might’ve been investigating the grant money Skip Toliver. . .” My mouth slammed shut.
“Are you okay?” Helen covered my eyes with her hand and sprayed the hairspray all over my hair.
“Skip Toliver. S.T.” I gasped. “Is Skip married?”
“Heck, no. Who’d want him?” She twirled me around to look in the mirror. “Well, what do you think?”
“I think Alison Gilbert wanted him.” I looked at my reflection in the mirror, not recognizing that the beauty with long, straight hair was me. The depths of my eyes confirmed it was me and also told me that Alison Gilbert’s every Friday night date was with Skip Toliver.
THIRTEEN
The more I thought about Skip being the S.T. in Alison’s calendar, the more my brain calculated exactly why Mayor MacKenzie would kill her.
Because of the Mayor’s own words, that I’d heard with my own ears when she and Corbin were trying to get William Hinson under control at the Happy Trails party, when she implied there was not going to be a shutdown. If Alison was dating Skip, she’d have firsthand knowledge of any and all information about the grants since he was the one applying for them and ultimately the Mayor was the one who had to sign off on them. Since the year was almost over and we all knew the economy slowed down in the winter months, if she could force Corbin to hold off on declaring the drought, then we’d be past the economy’s busy seasons and at the deadline for Skip’s canoe business to really be taking off. But, the grant sure would help him get some marketing set up over the winter months for a big spring campaign that’d bring in even more money for Normal. More money than any other sort of shop since it was the hiking and outdoor activities that initially brought the tourists here. Alison’s calendar with the crossed-out hearts added up. The first crossed out heart was the week before last. Was it a coincidence that Skip came into the Happy Trails office and said that his Fridays had been freed up? I didn’t think so.
Alison had to have caught on to the idea that the Mayor was abusing her powers and started to investigate. Of course, Alison shared it with Skip who in turned told his sister. They are family and around here. . . blood was thicker than thieves. The Mayor couldn’t risk it coming out, so the only way to silence Alison’s determined drive was to silence her permanently.
The courthouse was only open until noon on Saturdays but didn’t even open today since it was Labor Day weekend, which meant that the Mayor wasn’t going to be in her office. Skip’s business was open. He even said he was open seven days a week.
There was a lot of accusing in my theory and it could bring down the entire Normal government if not handled properly. This I knew was something that was over my head and I was going to have to tell Hank about it.
I whipped the Escort back around and headed out of town towards the police station. Even though it was included in the courthouse, they didn’t close. I probably drove faster than I should’ve, but was relieved to see Hank’s big black car parked up to the building. I parked in the space next to him.
“Can I help you?” Agnes pulled the window open.
“Agnes? You’re working on the holiday weekend?” I asked.
“Mae, is that you under that fancy straight hair?” Her jaw dropped. “Why you look like one of them fancy models.” She jerked her head around. “Hank, you better get over here and get a gander at Mae West before she turns the head of every man, married or eligible, in Normal.”
“Granny,” Hank said her name with an exhausted sigh before he looked through the window. “Mae,” his voice trailed off.
When his green eyes looked at me, there was a softness in them I’d never seen before that made my pulse skitter alarmingly. My skin prickled.
“Umm. . . He gulped.
“Don’t she look so pretty?” Agnes nudged him.
“What’s up?” He ignored her. Again, one of those manners he could’ve used, which he didn’t. A girl likes to be complimented.
“I’ve got some information I’d like to share with you about Alison Gilbert’s murder.” I drew my shoulders back. My voice was strong.
The buzz of the door sounded to the left of me, signaling that Agnes had unlocked the door to get into the station from the entrance.
Hank met me on the other side and gestured for me to walk down the hall towards the interrogation rooms. Silently and once we made it to the first room, he opened the door and walked in, me behind him.
He could’ve opened the door for me, telling my flip-flopping heart that he wasn’t the gentleman Ty was.
“I hope you didn’t go snooping for it and it somehow fell into your lap.” He did actually pull one of the chairs out for me before he walked around the table to take a seat in the chair facing mine.
“You aren’t going to like it, but,” I said and took my phone out to show him Alison’s calendar. “I’m not sure if Alison had a calendar on her computer or phone, but I do know that her handwriting says a lot.”
I slid my phone across the table for him to look at. He swiped the screen, blew up the photos, and after a few minutes sat the phone down.
“Tandy the receptionist at the park office,” I started to say.
“I know Tandy. I work there when I’m on Ranger duty.” His face was still and serious.
“Anyways, she was making calls to the appointments on the calendar to cancel since Alison won’t be attending.” I tried to honor her in my words the best way I could. “If you noticed the hearts around the initials S.T. and then they are scribbled out.”
“I did.” He nodded.
“I think Alison was going to uncover some corruption with the Mayor and her brother.” My words were met with an uneasy wiggling from him in his chair. After all, the Mayor was the boss of the police department and the detectives, making this a very serious accusation on my part. “Hear me out.”
Over the next twenty minutes Hank sat there silent and emotionless as I told him what I’d uncovered. The more I heard it out loud, the more it made complete sense.
“It might not be big corruption, but enough that if Alison uncovered it, the Mayor wouldn’t be elected next term and we all know Courtney MacKenzie wants to be re-elected,” I said, sitting back into the chair and waiting for him to say something.
Anything.
My face reddened as the silence went on between us. My hands started to sweat. I tapped my fingers on my legs just waiting.
“I’ll look into it,” was all he said about my theory before he stood up. “Do you have a hot date with Ty?”
“What?” I snorted. “You mean to tell me that I’m handing you the killer and all you can think about is Ty?” Unbelievable. I stood up and threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know what beef you and Ty have other than Nicki Swaggert, but you’re a grown man that needs to move on with his personal life.”
I continued to shake my head in disbelief. I’d completely wasted my time coming to talk to him when I should’ve just gone to the police and not to the detective. But I thought I was doing the right thing.
“Before you go, I think you should know that Jamison and Penelope’s alibi checks out. They said they went out to eat, that was verified through bank statements because he used a credit card, and Bobby Ray Bond saw them go into the bungalow and not come out until the next morning when they saw William,” he said to my back as I was walking down the hall.
“I thought you said Corbin’s death was accidental.” I jerked around and glared at him.
“I’m not talking about Corbin. I’m talking about William Hinson. He’s still missing and the ranger station sent out search and rescue on him overnight near the downtown trails since it was where he was last seen. I couldn’t help but wonder if Jamison and Penelope had something to do with his disappearance since they are in love.” He chuckled. “You know how that whole three-person love triangle
gets a little messy.”
I blinked a few times wondering what on earth he was talking about, but he left me standing there at the end of the hallway.
“Mae West,” Agnes chirped from behind me. I turned around. “Three-person triangle. You, Ty and Hank.” She winked. “You just might get more than a coffee date out of him yet.”
FOURTEEN
“Was he talking about me?” I asked myself over and over again about what Hank had said about the three-person triangle.
There was no making sense of that man. If he wasn’t going to check out my theory. I was sure going to hike right on down to the river off Red Fox Trail and confront Skip Toliver myself.
I’d never in my life driven so fast to get back to the campground. I was rushing against the clock for daylight hours to hike down the trail, talk to Skip, and get back up the trail.
“Can I help you?” Dottie Swaggert didn’t recognize the newly coiffed straight hair that Helen had actually worked magic on.
“It’s me, Mae!” I hollered back from where I’d parked the car up to the trail. “New hair! I’m going down to see Skip. If I’m not back in an hour, you come get me!”
“Wait!” She walked across the campground. “I’m supposed to tell you to meet Ty at the waterfall.”
“Waterfall?” I asked.
“Yes.” She bent over to catch her breath from her hurrying over to me.
“See there.” I shook a finger at her. “That’s from smoking.”
“Your rowdy friends from Bungalow Five left this afternoon.” She was getting really good at ignoring my jabs at her smoking habit. “I guess they went from search and rescue for William to just a rescue mission.”
“Hank told me he released them.” I turned back to the trail.
“Listen, Ty didn’t want me to tell you, but he planned a romantic picnic at the waterfall for the two of you. I went into your camper and got your bathing suit. He’s got it.” She grinned. “He’s trying to woo you, Mae.”
I was trying to solve a case, though I didn’t tell her that.
“The waterfall is just across from where Skip has set up one of the checkpoints for his business, so after you see him for whatever it is you want, just walk over there. Don’t leave that poor boy alone and waiting.” Dottie didn’t say it, but I could tell she knew I was struggling with something or someone that I couldn’t bring myself to even comprehend.
“How’s Fifi?” I asked.
“She’s fine. I did give her some chicken from the campfire when she didn’t want to eat her kibble. She goggled it right up.” Dottie patted me on the back. “Now, go have fun. Let loose. You deserve it after the few days you’ve had. And that hair is great.”
“Helen really did a good job.” I filled my lungs with a big deep breath of the fresh fall air and headed up the trail.
As much as I wanted to be excited for what Ty had done for me and what was waiting for me at the waterfall, I was actually angry at Hank for not even giving me a compliment on my hair. It was such a girl thing, but he knew. Where were his manners?
The more steps along the trail I took, the angrier I got, and the beautiful fall foliage couldn’t even bring me out of it. It wasn’t until I noticed Skip sitting in a canoe on really dry land did I see that there was a big drought.
“No customers?” I asked from the top of the trail that descended down to him.
“Can’t you see that it’s a bit dry?” He gave the two-finger wave over his head. “Corbin Ashbrook was right. The drought is among us. I had to give back all the deposits from tourists because the water isn’t deep enough for even a canoe.”
“I hate to hear that.” This was the first time that I truly got scared about Happy Trails and the reservations. I gulped back the thoughts and got to the matter at hand. “I’m actually here to talk to you about all of this.”
I pointed to the few canoes and rafts for the rapids he’d put on the banks in his makeshift business.
“I’m listening.” He patted the space in the canoe next to him for me to sit down, but I wanted to stand.
“Where you dating Alison Gilbert?” It seemed like a good place to start before I accused his sister for killing her.
“Yep. She went to great lengths to make sure we had really fun Fridays together. It was her only day off because she said big news always broke on the weekends. She was a lot of fun. I even thought she was the one until she dumped me a couple of weeks ago,” his voice cracked. “Now she’s gone.”
There was visible pain in his eyes as they teared up. My heart sank.
“I know this is going to sound awful, but Alison was my friend. I feel obligated to find out who killed her and why. She told me about the grant money and how your sister wanted Corbin to drag his feet on closing down the park due to an impending drought.”
“She told you that?” He stood up and used the back of his hand to brush away the loose tears down his cheek. “I filled out that grant paperwork like everyone else who filed for it. My business would bring in young people, not just lifetime RVers and families that like to camp. If the millennials come here, they will come for generations. Normal has nothing like this to cater to them.”
“You’re a millennial.”
“That’s why I know. I’m so bored around here. All my friends have moved away. On to better things. When I went out to Colorado to visit my buddy, he opened one of these and it’s thriving in their state parks.” He had a point. “That’s what I want to bring to Normal. Is my sister wrong for wanting the same thing? A great life for all the citizens here? So maybe my paperwork went to the top of the pile? So what.”
“You don’t think Alison’s uncovering that would hurt your sister’s status as our Mayor? Giving favors to family?” I asked, seeing both sides of the argument.
“Are you saying that you think my sister killed Alison because Alison was trying to become some big investigative reporter who thought she had some sort of story on corruption in the Mayor’s office?” He asked and laughed at the same time.
“It’s possible.” I shrugged, not finding him so funny. “Alison was passionate about her job. She told me that something big was coming down the pipeline.”
“That was Alison’s problem. She’s. . .was a millennial like the rest of our friends. One big story that’d get her noticed and she was out of Normal too. Do you honestly think she wanted to write for the Normal Gazette and spend her life sending articles to the National Parks of America Magazine in hopes they print her article? No. She had bigger plans. She didn’t care how all the facts fit together, just as long as her name got noticed.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Besides, my sister and I were at my father’s eightieth birthday party all night. She rented out the Normal Diner for it. Ask your boyfriend.” He nodded to the right where Ty had appeared.
“Mae, you coming to find me?” Ty had a big smile on his face.
“I am.” I smiled back, though I was sorting out all the accusations I’d told Hank and now Skip about the Mayor.
“Did your family have a good night at your dad’s birthday?” Ty asked Skip. “My dad said it was fun.”
“We had a great time. We thanked your dad, but please let him know again how much fun it was.” Skip looked at me with a blank stare.
I walked over to Ty.
“What was that about?” He asked about the cold shoulder Skip was giving me, the one I so rightly deserved.
“Nothing. Just talking about the drought,” I looked up at him. “Dottie sent me to look for you,” I said, looking over at him.
There was a slight hesitation in his hawk-like eyes.
“Your hair.” He ran his hand down a few strands of my hair. “Where’s your curls?”
“You don’t like it?” I asked, figuring I’d get the same reaction from him as I’ve gotten from everyone else I’ve seen since I got it done.
“It’s pretty. You’re pretty no matter what you do to your hair, but your curls make you stand out. That’s all.” His hand s
lipped past my shoulder and down my arm, taking my hand in his.
All of my emotions had found a spot right at the base of my throat. I wanted to scream. I’d gone from investigating Corbin’s murder to it not being a murder, to finding Alison’s murdered body and trying to investigate that, to a totally different hair style that would stay this way for weeks until the solution washed out, to accusing our Mayor of corruption, not the mention the emotions I was battling between a really nice guy and a gruff one.
I swallowed hard a few times as Ty guided me along the banks of the river into the clearing of Red Fox Trail waterfall, the destination for all the hikers that took this trail.
With the first sign of dusk and the last little bit left of the sun’s rays, the waterfall had the perfect small rainbows of color starting at the base where it landed in the pool of water. The drought had yet to touch it, but soon this magnificent feature would be dead too until the drought was over.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Ty asked.
“Amazing.” The grass around it and the wild ferns were still vibrant along the banks. The limestone in the water was perfect fertilizer.
“I know you’ve been busy and we’ve not really gotten to have a real date. Since it’s Labor Day weekend, the campground is full, and you’re working, I wanted to give you a little dinner before the rush.” He knew what it was like not to get to celebrate holidays in our business. It was something we’d gotten used to.
He’d be at the diner cooking while I was making sure the campers had a great holiday vacation.
“I made some shrimp foil packs over the campfire. I know you’re going to love it.” His words made my mouth water.
“I’m starving. I’ve not eaten all day.” I decided to not even talk about my day and Alison or what I’d found out. None of that seemed important anymore.
Skip all but confirmed that I wasn’t a good amateur detective and Ty showed me what life could be like with a pure gentleman.
He’d laid a blanket down on the ground. There was a bottle of wine and two wine glasses nestled inside the picnic basket. While he poured the wine, I opened one of the foil packs. The warmth of the flavors filled my soul. My shoulders fell from my ears, my heart beat normal, and my breathing was back to steady. I was relaxed for the first time all day.