The Body in the Bookmobile

by Connie B Dowell

  14

  Chapter 14

  Millie and Peter arrived at Abby’s apartments—a first floor studio place on the other side of town—around noon the next day. She had been discharged that morning, and Flor had taken her back home.

  “My parents live in California,” Abby explained as she showed them inside. “They caught a red-eye flight this morning and will be here in a few hours. They’re pretty freaked out.”

  Millie took a seat at Abby’s kitchen table. “I can imagine. All I did was find Martin, but I haven’t told my folks anything about it. They’d flip.” She looked to Peter. “Have you said anything to your parents?”

  “No way. Can you imagine what my mom would do if she knew any one in her family had found a murder victim?” said Peter. He flinched. If Detective Allen thought Millie and Peter were being nosy, she hadn’t seen anything. Millie’s Aunt Daisy would descend on that town like a tornado if she knew.

  “Here are the maps of the area around Winding Creek that you wanted,” said Abby. She pointed at the stack on top of her yellow pine table. “What’s the plan?”

  Peter leaned forward and held his head in his hands. “We’ve got several questions to address. First, why kill Pauline? The detective thinks Frank believed she knew something, but she didn’t know anything.”

  “Next,” said Millie, “where did the container for the poison go? I’d love to search the meeting room. And I should probably do a deep search of the bookmobile too just for good measure, but the library won’t be open until tomorrow. I’ll have plenty of opportunities then.”

  “Today we’re going to go talk to Pauline, Sam, Sadie, and maybe even Ricky, too,” said Peter.

  “Okay,” said Abby. “What are the maps for?”

  “All of this revolves around the hiking club,” Millie explained. “We thought—”

  Peter cleared his throat, loudly. “Excuse me?”

  “Okay, okay. I thought maybe we should do a little hiking ourselves. Be stealthy. We can go and visit these folks without the noise of the car giving away our approach. Catch them by surprise.”

  Abby looked Millie and Peter up and down. “Are you going to go home and change first? Y’all aren’t exactly dressed for a hike.”

  Millie glanced down at her own clothes and over at Peter’s. They were in jeans, T-shirts, and worn sneakers. Could it really be that bad?

  “This is what we’ve got,” said Peter. “You’ve seen our apartment. We’re not exactly rolling in dough.”

  “Let me help,” said Abby. “I can’t help you on the clothes, Peter, but you can borrow some, Millie. And I’ve got backpacks and water bottles for each of you.”

  ****

  About an hour later, Millie and Peter—again in Jody‘s car—parked near the head of a hiking trail on the outskirts of Winding Creek. They climbed out of the car and headed for the trail, but they weren’t the only ones out for a hike on a fine summer day. Ricky and Jack emerged from the trail, heading toward the parking lot.

  Ricky and Jack waved. “Hello there,” said Ricky. “Did you hear they caught him?”

  “We heard,” said Millie. No need to go into more detail.

  “We can all drink our coffee in safety,” said Jack. “It’s quite a relief, I’ll tell you. Not only was it scary, this whole thing has been incredibly bad for business.”

  “It’s over now, at least.” Ricky patted Jack on the shoulder.

  “Frank’s been building to something like this for years,” said Jack. “I just wish it hadn’t come out this way.”

  “Us too,” said Peter. “Ricky, did you ever ask the police about your stolen stuff?”

  “With everything that happened, it was wiped from my mind,” Ricky replied. “Maybe I’ll follow up with it next week, but to be honest…” He dropped his voice to a whisper, even though there was no one to overhear besides the squirrels in the trees. “Nothing has disappeared since Martin passed away. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I think we all got the feeling he had secrets. Maybe that was one of them. If so, I don’t want to stir things up and make it harder on Sam.”

  “That’s fair,” said Millie.

  “Anyway,” said Jack. “It’s been nice talking to you, but I’ve got to get back to the hotel.” Millie and Peter waved them goodbye and headed out on the trail.

  The trail was quiet and peaceful, gently sloping upward. The world around them was a tranquil bubble of greenery, brown bark, leaves, and pebbles crunching under their feet. The air up there was cooler than in town. Though the world still hung onto its late summer colors, Millie could feel that fall was only a few weeks away. “This is nice,” she said. “It’s just what we need after the past week.”

  “It is kind of pleasant,” Peter agreed. “I should’ve tried this hiking thing before. Look at this little flower.” He pointed to a tiny violet at the base of a tree. “It’s adorable!”

  About half an hour later, they changed their tune. The mountain trail grew steeper, and they struggled to maintain balance. After such a long time walking, the air didn’t feel so cool, and they started to notice the bugs. Bugs biting their arms and legs, bugs swirling around their faces, bugs trying to crawl their way into their ears. Bugs, bugs, bugs.

  Peter plopped himself down on a large rock. “I gotta get in shape,” he said. “This hiking thing, is it working? Have you found the killer underneath a fern or something?”

  Millie rolled her eyes. “Very funny.” She flopped next to him on the rock. “I’m starting to wonder if the killer was one of these mosquitoes.”

  Peter pointed. “That’s a pretty steep drop over there. We had better watch our step.” He pulled out his water bottle from his backpack and took a swig. “Maybe it really was Frank.”

  Millie took a swig from her own bottle. “Talking to Jack earlier makes me even more convinced that it wasn’t.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He said Frank had been building to something like this for years.” She took another drink. “Everybody says Frank is violent, but poisoning—I mean it does result in death—but it isn’t violent if you know what I mean. It’s not like hitting somebody or stabbing them. It’s more calculated than that. Poisoners are planners. Does Frank sound like a planner to you?”

  “No,” Peter agreed, “he doesn’t.” Peter pulled out one of Abby’s maps and had another look. “I think we’re almost to the turn off where we can cut around to Sam’s property.” He refolded the map. “If you’re rested enough, let’s get going.”

  Sam’s house—and they supposed Martin’s house too—-was a well-kept older house on the outskirts of the tiny town, right where the woods began to meet again with civilization. Feeling it would be inappropriate to cut through Sam’s yard, they made their way through the woods to the street and approached that way.

  “You mean we could’ve parked down by the hotel and walked here?” asked Peter.

  “Hush,” said Millie. “We’re almost at the door.” They climbed the porch steps and knocked on Sam’s door, tired and thirsty.

  “Just a moment,” They heard called from somewhere within the house. Then footsteps. Sam opened the door. “Hello,” he said in a tone of surprise. “You’re the bookmobile girl, right?”

  “I am,” said Millie. “This is my cousin Peter. We’ve been doing some hiking in the area, and we thought we’d stop by to offer our condolences.”

  “Thanks,” said Sam. “You guys look tired. Why don’t you come in for a glass of water?” He showed them through to the kitchen and poured them each a glass.

  “Thank you,” said Millie, taking her glass. “This must be a hard time for you.” She looked into his deep blue eyes. What was it about eyes?

  “It has been,” Sam admitted. “Martin was my grandpa, but he was also my mentor, my only parental figure since my father died.”

  Millie cast a glance around the kitchen. Sam might’ve been living here, may have lived here for years, but the decor was clearly Martin’s: wallpaper that ha
dn’t been changed in decades, old photographs on the walls, even daguerreotypes, curtains that Martin’s wife—Sam’s grandmother—must have picked out back in the seventies.

  “It’s hard to know he won’t be there to ask for advice anymore,” Sam continued. “And then to have the cops think I could’ve hurt him in order to inherit…” Sam hammered his fist on the countertop, and both Millie and Peter jumped. “Asking me about debts,” he muttered. “I don’t owe anyone anything.” The dark mood passed, and he seemed to come to himself. “I’m sorry. I haven’t even asked about your coworker. How is she doing?”

  “We saw her this morning,” said Peter. “She’s doing better.”

  “We don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Millie set her empty glass on the counter, and Peter did the same. Millie was still feeling a little jumpy after Sam’s mood swing. Time to skedaddle. “Thanks for the water.”

  “Thanks for stopping by,” said Sam. He walked them through to the foyer and held open the door. Then shook hands with each of them before they stepped out, holding Millie’s just a little longer than was strictly necessary. He looked into her eyes with his intensely blue ones. “I’ll see you around.”

  * * *

  The walk to Pauline’s house was much shorter and not nearly as rural. They followed the path along the creek for which the town was named, which took them partly through the woods, but also through a good section of town. Despite the easier walk, Peter still found opportunities to complain.

  “Abby was right about these shoes. I think I’m getting a blister,” he whined as they crossed the road near the bridge to continue following the creek. “I’m glad she enjoys this hiking stuff, but I think I’m a city slicker at heart.”

  “City slicker? You do know that the college town of Sorrelville isn’t exactly much of a big city, right?”

  “It’s a big enough city for me,” said Peter. “You owe me a growler of the most expensive beer they’ve got at The Witch’s Brew. No, wait. I heard they’re doing mini kegs now. That’s what I want.”

  Eventually, they arrived at a little blue house with a tin roof and an extremely overgrown garden. They picked their way through the weeds to climb the steps and knock on the door. Pauline opened it.

  Her face was drawn and pale. Millie’s pulse quickened. Something was not right in this house. Pauline took a long time before she spoke. “You’re the bookmobile girl.” Her voice was quiet and shaky, quite unlike the knowledgeable speaker’s voice that she had used at the library. “Do you want to come in?”

  They stepped inside. And then they merely hovered in the foyer. Pauline didn’t show them through to any room or ask them if they’d like to sit down. “Have you heard from Abby?” Pauline asked. “How is she?”

  “Doing better,” said Millie. “She got out of the hospital this morning. She’s grateful for your help.”

  “Just did what I could,” Pauline muttered, staring into space and fiddling with the hem of her clothing. “I—I’m glad you came.”

  Panic began rising in Millie’s chest. Something was indeed very wrong with Pauline. “Pauline? Is there something we can help you with?”

  “I’ll have to call the police.” She continued to stare at nothing in particular. “I need to confess.”

  A chill went down the length of Millie’s spine. She locked eyes with Peter. He was as pale and bug-eyed as she was sure that she was herself. How? Why? A million questions burbled to the surface of her mind.

  Pauline came back to reality. “I’ll get the phone. I shouldn’t ask you to stay, but maybe it will help to rehearse this before I have to tell the authorities. You see, I know it wasn’t Frank who killed Martin and tried to kill me. It was Ricky. And that is partly my fault.”

  15

  Chapter 15

  “Maybe we should sit down,” Millie suggested.

  “Of– of course,” Pauline replied. She led them into the living room where she took a seat on the couch and Peter and Millie sat in the wing-back chairs on either side.

  “Ricky moved here maybe about seven or eight years ago,” said Pauline.

  “Yes,” said Millie. “He told me that.”

  “Did he tell you why he moved out here?” Pauline asked. Millie shook her head.

  Pauline continued, “He inherited his mother’s house when she passed away in a hiking accident, but he did not know the truth of how his mother died.” Pauline swallowed, and Millie held her breath waiting for her to tell the story.

  “Look at this house,” said Pauline. “Nature and plants. It’s what I’ve devoted my whole life to.” The decor in Pauline’s living room did remind Millie of the dining room at The Ramp Grove, botanical prints and preserved specimens on the walls, potted plants in all the windows. Even the rug on Pauline’s floor had a leaf pattern. “Conserving plants, eating plants, medicinal benefits.” Millie suddenly had an idea where this was going, and she had a feeling it had something to do with a certain plant with five leaves.

  “We started by playing it safe, Frank and I, small plantings on our own land. Always being careful not to disturb the ecosystem any more than was necessary. Just growing enough for ourselves. We should’ve kept it that way.

  “Frank got both ambitious and scared. He’s a farmer. He didn’t want to sacrifice too much farmland, and he worried about employees discovering his plantings. But he also why to scale up. He started a few scattered plantings on parkland without consulting me first. I never would have agreed to it if he asked me to help him start, but he already had patches growing. All I needed to do was help harvest. Frank planted far too close to the trails.

  “Ricky’s mother, Lynne, was out hiking on the day we were harvesting. We heard her approach, and we were as quiet and concealed as we could be. Maybe she heard us anyway, and that’s what made her stop and get so close to that ledge. I guess we’ll never know. Whatever the reason, she got close enough to slip and fall. We ran to her. She was unconscious and dangerously close to the patch of marijuana. I’m wilderness first aid certified. I did what I could, and I told Frank to hike back to civilization and call 911 while I stayed with her. That’s when it all went really wrong.

  “Frank said we couldn’t leave her where she was, leading authorities so close to the planting. He insisted that we move her to a location farther away. And that’s the trouble. When someone has a fall like that, you’re not supposed to move them. Moving them can cause damage to the spinal cord that might not happen if you keep them still and in place until paramedics arrive. I refused to move her, but Frank refused to call for help if we kept her where she was. I begged him. I explained that even if someone noticed the marijuana, this was a park. Anyone could’ve been growing it. As long as we got rid of the harvest we currently had on our persons, there was nothing tying it back to us. He wouldn’t listen. Precious seconds were ticking away to save Lynne’s life. Finally, I agreed, and we moved her.

  “Perhaps I should have gone for help myself, leaving Lynne there alone. I’m sure Frank would’ve fled rather than staying with her. I suppose deep down I caved in because I was afraid of being caught, too. I’ll never know if the move is what killed her or if she would’ve died anyway. We thought no one would ever be the wiser, but somehow Martin found out.

  “Maybe Martin was hiking those woods that day as well, unseen. Maybe it was something either Frank or I said or did that gave it away. Martin approached each of us a few months ago, asking for money in exchange for his continued silence.”

  “If Martin was blackmailing you,” asked Peter, “why do you think Frank couldn’t be the one who killed Martin?”

  Pauline stared at Peter with a fierce intensity in her eyes. “I thought he had until Abby drank the poison that was meant for me. Frank loves me. We’ve kept it quiet because of his wife, but he loves me more than anything in this world. He would never do that.”

  Millie wasn’t so sure he could love Pauline that much if he still hadn’t left his wife after all those years, but now was not
exactly the moment to point that out. “You think Martin must’ve told Ricky. Why would Ricky kill Martin then?” she asked.

  “Maybe Ricky discovered the blackmail. He would know that all three of us have been keeping a secret from him for years. Or maybe Martin did tell him. Don’t you think he’d be angry that Martin had known this information all that time and never told the police? Either way, it’s the three of us he would want revenge against. And it’s the perfect revenge, poisoning me and Martin and setting up Frank for the murders.”

  Millie had to admit to herself this explanation made a lot more sense than the brash, violent Frank suddenly turning into a calculated poisoner. Yes, she believed Ricky could be a planner. And all of his chats with her, all of his helpful information was only to convince her that he was on her side, the side that wanted the killer revealed.

  * * *

  When Detective Allen and several other officers arrived, the detective had an odd expression on her face, like she couldn’t decide whether to smile or frown. She gave an exasperated sigh when she saw Peter and Millie. “It’s you two again. Of course.”

  “You’ll get the real killer now,” said Millie. “That’s something to be happy about. I’m guessing Frank still hasn’t confessed.”

  “No,” said Detective Allen. “He hasn’t. But please don’t let your guard down. This new information only gives us a new lead. It means that the case is more complicated and dangerous. Ricky has a motive, but we don’t have physical evidence pointing to him. so please. Go straight home. Right now.”

  Peter shot Millie a surly look. “Please, tell me we can take a shortcut to the car and not do that hike a second time in the other direction.”