by T. G. Hanson
Lynn stood up and walked over to Sherry. “Maybe it’s just been misplaced or is out of order somehow. Hand me some of the files and you take the rest. Maybe one of us will find it,” suggested Lynn.
Sherry carried the box over to the glass top table and sitting down, handed Lynn a stack of files. “It should be one with M.D. Murder on the tab.”
The two looked through every folder and found nothing. “Now that’s just not right. I never misplace backup information for stories I do.”
In spite of herself, there was something about Sherry that Lynn liked. She seemed more down to earth than she looked, and she seemed trustworthy. “Sherry, you said earlier that you went to the Mystery Dinner to make up your mind about doing the article. But you never talked with Meg while you were there. At least not to my knowledge. Seems to me you would have said something to her.”
“Oh I made my mind up in the first half hour - plus I had another appointment. Once I decided to do the story I just snuck out right after the presentation. I had everything I needed for the article so there really wasn’t anything I needed to ask.”
“Okay, so that makes sense, but then why did you come back the second time, to another Mystery Diner?”
“That’s easy, I thought it was a blast! The whole idea of the Mystery Dinner was fun, but the people were interesting to me as well. I love the uniqueness of the town and I’m a people watcher. They always intrigue me, people, that is.”
“Since the Sheriff didn’t have you on his list to question, can I assume that you left early again? If so, did you leave before or after the murder happened?” Lynn watched the woman carefully. She hadn’t seemed bothered by any of the questions Lynn had asked, and hadn’t seemed fidgety about any as well.
“Oh, I was there for the murder for sure. Terrible thing. But since I didn’t have anything to offer about what had happened. I just waited a bit, then told the guy at the door, Kevin I believe it was, that the Sheriff had said I could go ahead and leave. I hate to admit this, but I sort of flirted a bit with him, and he was more than happy to let me out the door” she said laughing.
Lynn smiled, but then remembered another question she had. “Another thing I’ve wondered about . . . I’ve checked online and noticed that you didn’t write a story about the murder. I find that very strange, especially since you were right there when it happened.”
“Oh that. Let’s just say that I thought it might not be in a particular person’s best interest to bring any negative attention to the diner. It’s a great idea, the Mystery Dinner thing and I didn’t want to do anything that might cause it to fail.”
Sherry stood up and began putting all the files back into the box. “I’ve no idea where that file is, but it must be around here someplace. Sometimes I take things home with me. Why don’t you leave me your phone number and if it turns up I’ll give you a call?”
With her questions answered, and no other reason to stick around, Lynn wrote her number on the pad of paper laying on the desk. “Listen, thanks so much for your time, and being so nice about the little lie. I am interested to know if you find the file or not. I’m sure that it wasn’t Meg who called you or signed that release. Knowing who it was would probably help us figure out what is going on in town right now. So please do call me if, and when, you find it. Any time, day or night is fine.”
Sherry promised to call Lynn and walked her to the elevator. “By the way, don’t be surprised if you see me show up for some more of those Mystery Dinners. It’s a nice town and I happen to be a big Mystery fan. My shelves at home are lined with books.”
“Anytime Sherry, and thanks again.”
Sherry watched the woman walk into the elevator and then went back to her office. She picked up the box of files and placed them back in the closet then bent over to pick up the file she had purposely stashed on the box below.
Pulling the tape out of the folder, she turned it over in her hand. Something was not right here and if her hunch was correct, she had unknowingly put another person, or perhaps more, in harm’s way. This was the one thing she had feared most in her career, and the main reason she had begun to look for a way out recently.
She hadn’t told Lynn, but she had fallen in love with Mystic Pines the first time she sat foot in the town. Driving through the town, and doing a bit of research on her phone that night, she had discovered the town had no local paper.
It was on the second time she went back to the town, that she had begun thinking of moving there and opening a small home town paper. It was when she saw how much Lynn cared about her friend, and the elevator door closed, that she made up her mind and she was going to do whatever she could to see that the town was protected, in any way she could.
******
Meg called the Sheriff and let him know that the widows had agreed to go see Henry tomorrow. They had promised to stop by the bookstore when they returned to town, and let Meg know how it went. She would then get back in touch with him.
As soon as she hung up the phone she noticed Lynn walking into the bookstore, and motioned her back to the office. Lynn, hollered, “Just a second” and ran into the diner asking Randy for a glass of tea.
“Guess you didn’t fall in love with the big city, and decided to come back home eh Lynn?” teased Randy.
“You know Randy, it’s a nice place to visit occasionally, but nope, can’t say I’d wanna live there. Besides if I were there, I couldn’t come in here and flirt with you, now could I?”
Randy, looking like he was gonna run for the hills, sat the glass of tea in front of Lynn and just about all but sprinted back to the kitchen without a word. “Just teasing ya Randy, just teasing.” Lynn picked up the tea and headed back to Meg’s office.
She found Meg sitting at her desk with a bottle of wine and two chilled glasses. Lynn took one look at the tea, then the wine, and stuck the tea in the small fridge, Meg kept in the office. She sat down and took a large sip of the wine.
“Whew, what an afternoon! I simply hate all the traffic in the city. People are nuts and drive like maniacs. We’re only forty-five minutes away, but it was almost a two-hour drive getting back here. Who in their right mind would ever choose that, over this place?”
Laughing Meg sipped at her wine. “Some like it, some don’t I guess. Myself, I’ve never felt more at home than here in Mystic Pines. But tell me, how did it go with little miss reporter lady?”
Before Lynn could reply there was a knock at the door and Wade stuck his head inside the room. “Is this little party for girls only, or can any old body join in?”
Lynn winked at Meg. “Oh come on in, the way you hang around here, we just consider you one of the girls.” Meg snickered and picked up the phone dialing the number for the diner. She asked Randy if he would please meet Wade at the pass-thru with a cold beer and sandwich.
Hearing the word beer and sandwich in the same sentence sent Wade into a tizzy and he took off to meet Randy. Within a few minutes he was back with both and pulled up a chair. “I was thinking Meg, that supply closet of yours, is it big enough for a bed to fit into?”
Meg laughed. “Lord no! Then I’d have to feed you all the time, go broke and wind up on the street!”
Swallowing loudly, he asked Lynn how her interview with the reporter went. “Ah, Sherry, very interesting that one. She was a lot different than I thought she would be. Very approachable and more down-to-earth than I expected.”
With caution Meg asked, “Did you find out if she saw anything the night of the murder or not?”
Knowing what Meg was trying to ask, but that she couldn’t say everything in front of Wade, Lynn tried to be vague in her answer. “No she didn’t see anything more than anyone else. You were correct that she was here twice though. She said the first time was for her job, but, the second time was just because she had enjoyed herself and wanted to come back for the fun of it.”
“Goodness, never thought a big city gal would find fun here in our little town. Let alone at my diner.”
“I
got the sense that she isn’t too happy in her job and that she is looking for a change. Maybe she was testing the waters of the small-town environment.”
Finishing his sandwich Wade drank the other half of his beer and decided, since he was off the clock, he’d have another. Be back after a refill he announced and headed back to the diner.
“Wade, would you let Randy know that he can close up and go on home now please?”
“Sure things sweets.”
As soon as he was out of hearing range Meg turned to Lynn. “Spill it! How did she explain doing the article and my photo without my permission?”
“This you are not going to believe. She thinks that you called her and asked her to do the article. Says she has a taped recording of an interview with you, as well as a signed release for the photos.”
“But how could that be? I never did any of that!”
“That’s what I told her. We went back to her office to listen to the tape but then she couldn’t find it. The file with the tape and release are both missing!”
“You think someone could have stolen them from her office? Who would do that I wonder? Who would even know about it?”
“Well she seemed to think she might have left them at home and promised me that if she found them she’d give me a call.”
“And did you believe her?”
“Funny, but I did. I think she’s on the up and up and was not too happy that she might have been duped into doing the article. So, that’s about it for now, but I’ll let you know if I hear back from her.”
About the time Lynn finished talking, Wade walked back thru the door and sat down.
“So Megs, John said you were going to get the widows to go see Henry and that it might help jog his memory. How did that go over?”
Lynn perked up. “What’s this about? What’s up with Henry?”
Meg explained how Henry couldn’t remember anything and that John thought the widows visiting might help get his memory back. “They’re going up to Mercy tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will work because if not, those awful men will be released.”
“Well let’s hope then that it does help. The thought of those guys coming back here gives me the willies.”
“Speaking of the willies, has anyone seen Daisy lately?” asked Meg. “She hasn’t called or come by and hasn’t answered her phone for days. I don’t know if she’s still working here or not.”
Wade frowned. “Not a word for two days? I asked her to call you and let you know what was going on. I did talk to Kevin the other day though and according to him, the last time he saw Daisy on the night of the murder, was right after she brought the carts inside. Said he saw her bring them in, looked away for a minute and when he looked back she wasn’t there. After that he’s not sure where she was but he didn’t see her for the rest of the night.”
“Maybe tomorrow, we need to go have another talk with miss Daisy. Wade, what do you think?”
“Sounds like it might be a plan. Oh, and Meg, Kevin did say that he and Daisy broke up. Didn’t say why though. Maybe she is just upset and it could be why she hasn’t been around lately?”
Meg agreed and decided she would keep trying to get hold of the girl. Upset or not, she still should have picked up the phone and let me know one way or the other if she was not coming to work, she fumed.
The three sat joking around and laughing while they finished up their drinks. Soon after, they gathered up their things and headed out for the night. Wade offered to take Meg home so she told Lynn to go ahead, and she’d talk to her later.
Arriving at Meg’s house, Wade went inside first to check the house out. Determining it was all safe he pulled Meg inside and closed the door. He stuck around long enough for her to let Chewy out to do her business, then making her promise to lock the door after he left, he kissed her on top of her head and slipped out the door. “See ya tomorrow sweets and sleep well.”
Meg locked the door, turned out all but the small table lamp, and picking up Chewy headed to the bedroom.
Across town Randy had settled down for the night with some beer and the TV on. He was waiting for a big-time UFC fight to come on that he wanted to watch. When Meg had let him off work a bit early, he had come home and spent some time re-arranging his metal tin collection.
He had about a hundred tins now, and the Prince Albert one Meg had given him was one he’d been looking for. Meg was nice that way. Whenever she got a tin that she thought he might like, she always asked him about it before putting it out in the diner.
Most of the ones he’d found online were so rusted you couldn’t see the printing at all but not this one. This one was in good shape. The only problem seemed to be that the lid had rusted shut.
He walked into the kitchen and pulled some bottles of chemicals out from under the sink. Soaking an old rag in one of the chemicals he thought, If I’m careful, I think I can get the rust off here and then the lid to open.
TWENTY-FIVE
The widows arrived at the hospital just as visiting hours began. Walking into Henry’s room, they gasped at the sight of him. He was black and blue all over, with bandages everywhere. Nyla remarked that all clean shaven, and in a hospital gown, he didn’t even look like himself.
“Why look girls, he’s almost handsome. Not so Grisly Adams now.”
“Henry, having no idea who these women where blurted out, “What? I wasn’t handsome before? That’s a nice thing to let a man know!”
The girls all jumped and walked on into the room, gathering around his bed. They began to fluff his pillow, asked what channel he wanted the TV on, and set some soup down in front of him that smelled so good it made his mouth water. He had no idea whatsoever why these ladies were in his room but he wasn’t going to say a word. He kind of liked all this attention, and that soup sure smelled better than what they had been feeding him here.
Nyla and the others spent the next two hours explaining to Henry who he was, where he lived, and who they were, while Nyla spoon fed him the soup.
Janet and Sue left in search of the gift shop for some flowers, and magazines for his room, while Nyla talked and Myra watched TV. Try as they might, Henry didn’t seem to remember any of what they told him.
None of the ladies mentioned what had happened to him, other than to say he’d had a little accident and would be here for a bit longer.
When the nurse showed up and told them they should probably leave and let Henry get some sleep, Nyla promised to come back tomorrow and read to him for a bit. “If you behave yourself, I just might bring you some pie,” she told him on her way out the door.
Pie. Now that I remember, I do like pie! He also thought he liked that lady a bit as well. He wasn’t sure he cared much about being read to, but if it meant she’d come back and visit, well she could read the encyclopedia to him.
Arriving back in town, Nyla dropped the girls off and drove on over to the Sheriff’s office. She wanted to let him know how Henry was, and hoped she might get some information on the murder for her book at the same time.
Thinking about Henry she was surprised. Once he was cleaned up, he was a good-looking man and his demeanor had changed. He wasn’t surly like he normally was. Instead she found him very pleasant and almost boyish. She knew the Sheriff wanted Henry to remember what happened, but she wondered if that was such a good idea. Seemed to her this new Henry was nice to be around, and would benefit from not remembering. He might also not be inclined to do any more online gambling as well.
The Sheriff was sitting at his desk when she walked in. Seeing a glass of water beside him she looked over and found the coffee pot empty. Sighing, she walked over and started a fresh pot to brew.
“Hey there Sheriff. Coffee will be ready in a few. Black or with cream?”
“Did someone say coffee?”
Laughing Nyla promised it would be ready soon and then proceeded to tell him about the visit with Henry.
“Honest Sheriff, I don’t think he has clue about anything before waking up in
the hospital. Not sure it’s such a good idea for him to remember either. He’s a lot nicer this way.”
“Well now Nyla, that might be good except, without his ID, we can’t keep those guys locked up and I’m afraid once loose, they might wind up back here again.”
“Goodness I never thought about that. Wouldn’t be good would it.”
“Nope, not good at all.”
Nyla had brought a cup of coffee into the office and sat it down on his desk. He noticed she was staring at the large board. “Nyla dear, you really shouldn’t be in here reading all that.”
“Please Sheriff, I’m not a child, and anyway, it seems I just might have some information for you.”
“Just what exactly are you talking about Nyla. What kind of information?”
“This guy, the victim, you have his name as Danny Wise but that’s not right at all.”
John froze, coffee halfway to his mouth. “What are you talking about Nyla? You know this guy?”
******
Daisy had been lying awake all night in her bed. Try as she might, she’d been unable to sleep for several days now and it was truly beginning to get to her. She felt all wound up and fidgety.
She wasn’t ready to venture into town just yet, and had not answered the phone when it rang. Why do these people keep calling me? Why won’t they just leave me alone?
Dragging herself out of bed she padded downstairs and into the kitchen to fix some eggs and coffee. Two bites into the eggs and she threw them into the trash. The coffee she finished and fixed a second cup.
It was clear to her that Meg and Wade were just going to keep calling, or stopping by the house till she talked with them. Things couldn’t just keep going on like this and she had to come up with a plan. She needed that tin and she needed to get out of town.
One more day, maybe two, and then she was going to have to do something. The beginning of a plan formed in her head. One that she thought just might work.
******