The Mystery Sisters series Box Set

by Karen Musser Nortman

  That broke Max’s funk. She let loose a guffaw. “Please do. I’ll hold her for you.”

  ”What’s so funny?” Lil stepped out in denim leggings and a white blouse edged in lace that she had picked up in Mexico.

  Max related Janet’s call. Lil just shook her head. “She is never going to change. So are we ready to go?”

  Chapter Six

  The VFW was in the basement of the old five-and-dime and reached by an outside stairway descending from the sidewalk. Even though smoking hadn’t been allowed for years, the gray, dry smell still seemed to emanate from the walls. The bartender directed Max and Lil to a room at the back.

  Annie greeted them. “Sorry it’s not fancy.”

  Lil patted her on the arm. “We just appreciate all the work you’ve done to organize this weekend. I don’t imagine there’re many choices in town.”

  Annie smiled. “Thank you. No, there aren’t, but the food is really good here.”

  The long tables were covered with white paper. A couple of small flag arrangements provided the only decoration. Places were set with stainless flatware—probably obtained with Betty Crocker coupons, Max thought—and plain paper napkins.

  Soon after they got themselves seated, an older woman began serving salads. She was not tall, but large-busted with an imposing stomach under a Vikings tee shirt. Her mouse-gray hair was pinned back from a round face. She looked familiar, but Max couldn’t place her.

  The salads consisted of crunchy romaine and other greens, fresh red tomatoes, feta cheese, and a light oil and herb dressing. After the waitress passed, Max picked up her fork and leaned over to Carol. “Who is that?”

  Carol turned around to look and said, “Bonnie Webb—was Bonnie Johnson.” She grinned and got the reaction she expected.

  “Bonnie Johnson? You’re kidding me.” Max watched the woman efficiently place the salads and leave the room. Lil looked at her with raised eyebrows.

  “I never would have guessed,” Max said. Bonnie Johnson had been in her class, a cheerleader, and a Debbie Reynolds look-alike. She had been petite and bouncy and loved by everyone in the class, although many of the girls, including Max, were secretly jealous of Bonnie’s looks and personality. Max always felt like an Amazon next to Bonnie.

  “She never left town—like me—” Carol said, “and married Junior Webb, raised four kids—nice kids too. Junior lost his job when the plant closed and about a year later, got on at the meat packing plant in Prairie City. He retired at 65 and died of a heart attack six months later. She’s been working here ever since.”

  “Oh my,” Max said. “What a sad story.”

  “Well, it ended sadly, but they always seemed happy.”

  When Bonnie returned to pick up the salad bowls, Max said “Bonnie?”

  Bonnie’s smile became more intense. “Maxine? That is you, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is. It’s good to see you.” Max slid her chair out so that she could face Bonnie without craning her neck.

  Bonnie juggled the bowls she was holding and held out her right hand. “Where do you live now?”

  “Colorado.”

  “You never come back for the class reunions. I always hoped you would.”

  Max was surprised. She and Bonnie had never been close friends.

  “Several times I was tied down teaching summer school. And I was always a little worried about my reception after the plant closed.”

  Bonnie waved a hand and laughed—still the same infectious bubbling laugh. “That didn’t have anything to do with you, did it? You really should join us. We’ll have another one in two years. Do we have your address?”

  “Thank you. Maybe I’ll try to make the next one. I still get the mailings so you must have the correct address.”

  “Good. I need to get back to work, but will I see you at the picnic tomorrow?”

  “That’s the plan. Good to see you.” As Bonnie moved down the table, Max felt lighter than she had since they arrived. If Bonnie didn’t hold a grudge, maybe it was only a vocal few.

  The salad had been a pleasant surprise to Max who had expected a wedge of iceberg swimming in bottled dressing. The entree included perfectly grilled chicken breasts, slices of rare roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes, and tender early sweet corn.

  “I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Max said. “I haven’t had corn this good in decades.”

  Lil agreed. “The whole meal is excellent.”

  Annie smiled, as she grabbed a fork away from her youngest, who had been banging it on the table. “I’m glad you like it. Although a disclaimer—the corn’s from Missouri. It isn’t ready around here yet. The place isn’t fancy, but the cook is a hometown boy who returned from an upscale restaurant in Chicago to take care of his mother. You wouldn’t know them—they moved here after you left.”

  After the meal, Carol and Bob invited the group back to their house, but they decided instead to remain around the table visiting for a while. After the stressful day, they wanted an early night. Several ordered drinks.

  Max offered a toast to Annie. “Thank you again for organizing this. In spite of the problems—out of your control—it was a great idea.”

  “Hear! Hear!” the others chorused.

  “Thank you, Aunt Max. I just wish Uncle Donnie was here with us.”

  Sharon shook her head. “Poor Donnie—spending the weekend in jail.”

  “While I don’t believe for a minute that he is guilty of this charge, he’s gotten away with so much in his lifetime. It isn’t going to hurt him.” Max fixed Sharon with a firm stare, leaving no doubt where she stood.

  Lil jumped in to defuse things. “Annie, don’t get me wrong. This meal has been great. But aren’t there any other venues in town for gatherings like this, or wedding receptions, for example?”

  Annie shook her head. “Small receptions are sometimes held in the church basements, but if the couple wants a dance and a more elaborate meal, they go out of town.”

  “That’s too bad.” Lil turned to Carol. “You were asking what to do with the plant building. Is there any possibility of turning it into some kind of community center that could be used for meetings, receptions, that kind of thing?”

  “It would be expensive,” Bob said. “The heating would need to be updated, air conditioning installed, not to mention cosmetic upgrades.”

  “And the window fixed.” Annie grinned.

  “There is memorial money that we haven’t done anything with,” Carol said. “It might be worth exploring.”

  Lil twisted her napkin into a spiral. “Maybe a peace offering to soothe these old grudges.”

  Max wasn’t so sure. “The people who are still angry would see it as a bribe.”

  “You’re always so negative, Max.” Lil threw her napkin on the table.

  “There aren’t as many as you think, Aunt Max,” Annie said.

  Max sighed. “I admit, I was encouraged after talking to Bonnie, but then I keep seeing that scaffold.”

  She got up to visit the restroom in the front of the club. The tables in the barroom had filled up and the noise was deafening. On her way back, someone grabbed her sleeve.

  Startled, she looked down at an older woman sitting at one of the tables. Well, maybe not older than her. Thin with black hair but enough facial wrinkles to give away the dye job.

  “Maxine Jacobsen? Tess—Tess Browning. Remember me?”

  “Oh my Lord, Tess! I haven’t seen you in eons!”

  Tess pulled her down toward the next chair. “Can you sit a minute?”

  “Um, sure. How are you?”

  “Fine—I’m Tess Robinson now, though. And you?”

  “Berra is my last name but I’ve been divorced for years. No kids and it was amicable.”

  Tess smiled and put her hand on Max’s. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since about three years after we graduated.”

  Max laughed and nodded. “Patsy’s wedding. She never forgave us for the grass and straw we filled the back seat of he
r car with.”

  Tess literally hooted. They began to reminisce about trick-or-treating as kids and asking for money instead of treats, piling seven or eight friends in one car to go to basketball games, and staying up all night to finish English papers on Paradise Lost.

  “Remember when we broke into the school and made that stupid recording on the music department’s tape recorder? Changed our voices?”

  “Not well enough,” Max said. “Mr. Berg recognized us the next time he tried to record the boy’s chorus contest piece.”

  Tess put her hand on her chest, gasping for air. “Oh my! I haven’t laughed so hard since I don’t know when. So your whole family’s in town?”

  “Most of us. Some people aren’t too happy about it.” She told Tess about the incident at the plant and parade float.

  “You’re kidding! I didn’t get to the parade because my granddaughter had a softball tournament in Prairie City. Who would do such a thing?”

  Max shrugged. “I suppose you heard about Donnie being arrested for Dutch Schneider’s murder?”

  “No! I mean, I heard about Dutch, but we just got back to town a couple of hours ago. Why Donnie?”

  “They found him passed out this morning in Dutch’s car. And Dutch was stabbed with part of an old TV antenna, so I suppose that added to it.”

  “We wondered what had happened to you!” Carol came up behind Max’s chair. “Hi Tess, how are you?”

  “Great!” Tess said. “Max just told me about what a day you guys have had.”

  Carol nodded. “Not the kind of reunion we envisioned. I’ll leave you two to catch up. Max, most of us are going to be leaving soon. Lil can ride with us if you want to stay longer.”

  “Fine—or she can join us if she wants.”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  After Carol left, Max leaned in toward Tess, confident that the loud voices and music would cover her questions.

  “Do you know the mayor?”

  “Junie? She’s right up there at the bar—the blonde in the red tee.”

  Max looked over and was surprised to see a slim woman who appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties, perched on a stool between two men. She threw back her head in laughter, her shoulder-length hair whipped with the motion of her head, and then she turned to the man on her left and gave him a sly look. She batted him on the shoulder, but Max couldn’t hear what was being said.

  “So we overheard that she was having an affair with Dutch, but she looks like she’s forty years younger than he was. Did you ever hear anything like that?”

  Tess smiled. “That was the rumor, and I think there was something to it. And she isn’t that much younger.”

  “She doesn’t look like she’s in mourning or anything.”

  “No, she doesn’t. That’s her husband on the right side.”

  Max shook her head. “This is crazy. We heard that she was worried that Dutch was going to include her in his memoirs. We also heard that some guy—Cecil somebody—was mad at Dutch for not disclosing documents that he claims Dutch has about the sale of my dad’s plant.”

  Tess nodded. “Those are all possible. Dutch had made a lot of enemies by the time he sold the paper.”

  “What about this new guy? Comar?”

  “Charlie Gomar. He wrote an editorial accusing Dutch of covering up a lot of stuff.”

  Lil pulled out a chair on the other side of Tess. “It looks like you two are plotting something.”

  “The opposite,” Max said. “Trying to uncover a plot.”

  Tess greeted Lil and asked about her family. Lil had been two years behind Max and Tess’s class.

  “So,” Lil said, “have you got this thing solved?”

  “All we have is rumors,” Max said. “We need to find some concrete evidence. I’d like to see a copy of this memoir.”

  Tess grinned. “Dutch still lived in that upstairs apartment in Lareen Mantle’s house.”

  “Good Lord! Is she still alive?” Lil said.

  “Heavens, no. She died ten or fifteen years ago. No one’s lived in the downstairs apartment since. We always thought Dutch would buy the house or at least move downstairs, but he didn’t. He must pay enough rent that Lareen’s grandchildren never bothered to rent the bottom. What I’m saying is, now the house is empty.”

  Max leaned back in her chair. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

  Tess shrugged. “The Dastardly Duo rides again.”

  “Trio,” Lil said. “The Terrible Trio. You guys would never take me along in the old days.”

  “Because you were always a tattletale. So if you don’t tell the sheriff, you can go,” Max said.

  “Goody,” Lil said with a smile. “After only sixty years, you’ve forgiven me.”

  Chapter Seven

  Tess offered to drive. Her dark compact SUV would be much less noticeable on the streets than Max’s Studebaker. She drove to an older neighborhood on the west side of town and down a road that ended in a dead end. Dutch’s apartment was in a two-story, once-white house. A roof supported with wrought iron posts sheltered a small front porch in an ell formed by two wings of the house. There were no lights on anywhere.

  As Tess cruised by slowly, Max could see an outside stairway partially hidden behind one of the wings. A gravel driveway ran along the side and curved behind the house. All of these older homes sat on large lots with tall trees and shrubs.

  “Perfect,” Max breathed. “We can get in and out with no one the wiser.”

  Lil leaned forward from the back seat. “You guys are really going to do this?”

  Max rolled her eyes. “What did you think we were going to do? Tess, do you have a flashlight?”

  “Check the glove box.”

  “The door’s probably locked,” Lil said.

  “Probably.” Tess held up a credit card. “And if this doesn’t work we won’t get in. But we’ll give it a try. Coming?” She got out of the car.

  Max hurried around the front to join her and Lil crept behind.

  “This isn’t a good—” Lil started, but Max turned around to shush her.

  “You wanted to come so no complaining. You’re taking your purse?”

  “I’m not leaving it in the car.”

  Max rolled her eyes again, an ineffective gesture in the dark. “Right. Someone might break in. C’mon—let’s get this done.”

  The wooden stairway, devoid of paint, had boards so weathered they did not look like they would hold anyone.

  “We’ll be lucky if we don’t all break a leg,” Lil whispered.

  Tess shook her head and led up the stairs. “Can’t be that bad. Dutch was not a small man, and he used them until yesterday.”

  The steps protested, sometimes loudly, but held. Each time a step creaked or snapped, they stopped and looked around, but all else was quiet. Fortunately the steps ended in an oversized landing at the top, so they could all gather around the door under an extended roof. A plastic lawn chair stood in one corner of the porch. Next to the door was a high window.

  Max tried to peer in. “I can’t see anything,” she whispered.

  Tess tried the door first, but it was locked. She maneuvered her credit card between the jamb and the door, while Max held the light and Lil looked around as if expecting ghouls to jump out of the darkness.

  “Rats!” Tess stood back. “No luck.”

  Max shone the flashlight on the window. There was no screen and the paint was badly chipped. “This window doesn’t even have a latch.” She handed Tess the light and pushed up gently on the bottom sash. Nothing happened.

  Tess gave the light to Lil. “Let me help.” They both pushed, careful not to separate the disintegrating sash from the glass.

  “It moved! We need something to get underneath it,” Max said. She glanced back at Lil. “What do you have in that purse that would fit in this little gap so we can pry it up?”

  Lil handed her the flashlight and started digging in a bag the size of most
carry-ons. A tiny screwdriver was tried and rejected; nail clippers not even tried; and a table knife was also unsuccessful.

  “I won’t even ask why you have a table knife in your purse,” Max said.

  “I don’t like plastic. What about this?” She pulled an ice scraper out of the bottom.

  Tess grabbed it. “That should do the trick.” She wedged the scraper under the bottom sash and gently pried. The window edged up, screeching in protest. The noise caused them to glance around, looking for lights coming on or a stray jogger taking interest, but there was nothing. Tess got her fingers under the window and raised it as far as it would go.

  “Now what?” Lil asked.

  Max pulled the plastic lawn chair over. “I’m going in and then I’ll unlock the door.”

  “Are you sure?” Tess asked. “Lil is younger.”

  “Hell, we’re all over seventy. What difference does it make?” Max hefted herself onto the chair seat and stuck one leg through the window. “There’s a counter there—must be the kitchen.” She paused and pulled the leg back, opting to go through the window head and arms first. Halfway in, her butt and legs still hanging outside, she stopped again.

  Tess started to laugh, covering her mouth to keep the noise down and Lil soon joined in.

  Max grumbled, “Well, don’t just stand there. Help me back out. This isn’t going to work.” Tess grabbed her around the waist and tugged. She slowly emerged and stood on the chair again.

  “You have to go feet first so you can sit on the counter and then get down. Want me to do it?” Tess swatted a mosquito away from her face.

  “I can do it, but you two will have to hold me up so I can get my other leg in.” She put her right leg in and held her arms out, teetering precariously until Tess and Lil each grabbed an arm. Tess helped swing the left leg up into the window amidst grunts and groans from all three.

  “Yeow!” Max yelped, as they tried to slide her over the rough window jamb. The sound of fabric ripping brought another groan from Max. “My favorite linen pants!”

  She grabbed the inside of the window frame to pull herself in. Another ouch as she hit her head on the window.

  “At least it won’t hurt your hairdo,” Lil said.