Happier Days in Time

by Jenna St James

  I pounded on the bottom again and watched as the board moved up and down. I pressed down hard on the back of the board and the front of the board raised up…exposing the journal inside.

  “Would you look at this.” I ran my hand down the familiar black and white marbled cover. It was modern for the era, but old for my time. “I had no idea the composition notebook was a thing back in this day.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. What’s inside?”

  I carefully opened the notebook to the middle and proceeded to read down the page. “It’s her journal. Not exactly a daily diary, but close. I’d say she wrote in it at least once a week.”

  Rex did a little dance, turning so his backside was pointed at me as he gyrated. “I bet we find motive out the bootie in there.”

  I chuckled. “I bet we do too.”

  “You gonna start reading it tonight?”

  I glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was almost nine o’clock. “I don’t think so. I want a fresh, clear head tomorrow when I start reading.

  “You gonna tell Maggie you found it?”

  I thought about that a minute. “I don’t think so. At least not right now. Let’s just figure out what’s inside that may have gotten Sissy killed before we go telling people we have it.”

  “Good idea, kid!”

  Chapter 8

  Still dressed in the pink peignoir, I slipped downstairs early the next morning to make coffee. In a percolator. I’d never made coffee in a percolator before, but figured I could probably give it a go. Rex was sure I’d somehow set something on fire, so he was in a jovial mood scampering down the stairs ahead of me.

  “Have they invented smoke alarms yet?”

  “Shut up,” I grumbled. “And I don’t know.”

  Rex hunched his shoulders and laughed as we walked into the kitchen. I was suddenly having second thoughts. What if I did somehow manage to catch something on fire?

  “Chop! Chop! Get to work. You need—”

  “I know what I need.”

  I had no idea what I needed.

  I grabbed the percolator off the counter and set it down on the stove. Opening the gray top, I looked inside and saw a basket with tiny holes. I figured it was a good place to start and reached in to take it out.

  “You’re up awful early,” Maggie said as she sailed into the kitchen.

  It was seven o’clock, and she was already dressed, hair styled, and makeup on. I looked down at my bare feet and nightgown. “Um, yeah. I really needed the caffeine this morning to get me going.”

  She waved her hands in a shooing motion. “You go on upstairs and get dressed. You know it takes about ten minutes for the coffee to perk and be ready.”

  Rex laughed. “You probably consider that barbaric, Lexi! Don’t you?”

  He was right…I did. But I wasn’t going to let him know that.

  “I’ll be right back down,” I promised.

  Dashing up the stairs and into the bedroom, I quickly tossed off the nightgown and yanked on black cigarette pants and a black and white checkered top. Running a brush over my hair, I decided to leave it down for now. I shoved the pajama set under my pillow and jogged down the hall and into the bathroom.

  Ten minutes later, I walked back into the kitchen as Maggie poured the coffee. “The milkman delivered fresh milk this morning if you’d like some in your coffee.”

  I’d have given anything to actually see a milkman pick up and deliver bottles of fresh milk to houses. I’d heard about such things, but had never actually seen it.

  “Were you able to locate the journal last night?” Maggie asked as she set two pieces of toast down in front of me.

  “No.” I hated to lie to her, but it was for the best right now. “But I’m going to look some more this morning.”

  Maggie pulled out a yellow chair and sat down across from me. “We have a small grocery store and an even smaller library on Cedar Street. I was thinking of picking up some groceries for tomorrow.”

  “I can go with you,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to do that alone.”

  “Oh nonsense, Alexa. You stay here and search for Sissy’s journal. That’s far more important.” She set her coffee cup down on the table. “I wanted to ask you if you’d be okay if I invited Dr. Sterling out for a bite to eat on Sunday after church? Just something small and simple.”

  “Sure. I’d love to meet him. Can I ask why he doesn’t live out here in this area? I mean, surely a doctor could afford a house out here?”

  Maggie chuckled and took another drink of her coffee. “Oh, yes. But he’s holding out. He doesn’t want to drive back and forth every day. He’s a little old fashioned in that he has his doctor’s office downstairs in his home while he lives upstairs. And he says he’s happy there.” Maggie sighed wistfully. “But I suspect he’ll be ready to move out here soon. He’s taking Sissy’s death hard. Really hard. That’s why I want to invite him out here.” She laid a hand over mine. “He was really taken with your sister. Truth is, he’d met her a couple times previously, but Sissy never let on like she’d like to date, so I never said anything, and neither did Jack.”

  “What happened to change that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Not really sure. She just asked me one day if I knew whether or not he was single. I said he was, and she said she thought he’d be a great guy to get to know. So I had Jack set it up.”

  “Well, then, I can’t wait to meet him tomorrow.”

  “Good.” She scrutinized my hair with knowing eyes. “Your sister had some Spoolies in her room. If you want, I can help you roll your hair around ten this morning.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Spoolies. You put them in your hair, set them, usually sleep on them for perfect pin curls the next day. I assumed you’d wear one of her dresses upstairs tonight, and with it comes the perfect hairstyle. I say use the Spoolies for the pin curls. If you need help setting, just let me know.”

  “This is gonna be fun!” Rex said. “Torture time!”

  So much for just doing a quick glamour spell and hoping no one noticed. Who knew it took like six hours to do hair?

  We cleaned the kitchen and Maggie headed off to the local grocery store and library for the morning. I poured another cup of coffee and headed upstairs to start reading Sissy’s journal.

  ***

  “At first I thought I’d flip to the last entry and read a couple weeks prior, but now that I think about it, I think I need to just start at the beginning. Obviously there was a reason she kept the journal.” I fluffed up a pillow behind me and settled back against the headboard. “How does that sound?”

  “Fine by me. You want me to read over your shoulder or you read aloud?”

  I snorted. “You stay over there, and I’ll read aloud.”

  “Suit yourself!” Rex reclined back on the other pillow and propped his hands behind his head. “Ready when you are.”

  I opened the journal to the first page. “It looks like Maggie bought her the journal for her birthday in November of 1954. The first couple entries are just what she did for her birthday and the party Maggie threw for her. What everyone wore and gifts she received.” I flipped the page. “Oh, this looks good. It’s dated December 6. Sissy went to the bank that Cliff is president of, and she writes she overheard Cliff and his secretary flirting with each other. Intimate flirting. When he saw Sissy he got angry and told her if she said anything to anyone, he’d make sure any loan she ever wanted would be denied. Sissy writes she’d actually went to the bank to see about a car loan, so she didn’t approach Cliff about the loan, she just left.”

  “Cliff is a playa.”

  I rolled my eyes. “A playa? Really?”

  Still reclined, Rex wiggled his hips and butt. “A playa.”

  “Please don’t ever do that again.” I slid my hand down the page, quickly skimming. “A couple more bland entries about Christmas parties coming up, what she plans to buy everyone for gifts.” I paused and read silently. “This is a good one. It
says she and Peggy Sue went back to the bank three days before Christmas to get money out for last-minute Christmas presents. Sissy saw the same secretary crying. As she sneaked closer to the desk to eavesdrop, she heard Cliff yell something at the crying woman, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Peggy Sue asked Sissy what was wrong, but it looks like Sissy told Peggy Sue she didn’t know.”

  “Cliff can’t keep ‘em happy! That’s what’s wrong!”

  “More December entries for Christmas and fancy New Year’s Eve parties she attended. Same for the first of the year, just basic everyday journal entries. Oh, this is interesting. Sissy wrote on January 12th she went back to discuss a car loan with Cliff. The secretary that was there previously was gone, and a different secretary was present. Supposedly the old secretary, Janie, went to visit her parents at Christmas in Philadelphia and never came back. The new secretary was called up from the typing pool room until someone more permanent could be hired.” I looked over at Rex. “Sissy has a mark in here to find out secretary’s full name and where her parents live in Philadelphia.”

  “Is all this about Cliff?” Rex asked.

  “No. I got an entry in early February about Nancy. I guess Maggie mentioned to Sissy the same story she told me about Nancy having worked in a factory before marrying Cliff. Sissy says Nancy’s maiden name was Barclay. It’s actually a very famous last name in the journalism world, and Sissy wants to see if her contacts know if there’s any relation there.”

  “Interesting, but not really big motive.” Rex popped up and scampered over to the night table. A few seconds later he came back nibbling on a piece of hard cheese. “Keep going.”

  “Gross,” I said. “Where was that hidden?”

  “I got lots of goodies stashed under the alarm clock.”

  I suppressed a shudder. “The rest of February is just Jack’s surprise birthday party and…” I paused as I read the next entry. “It looks like Jack asked Sissy to find out information about a man he’s trying to prosecute. Sissy writes that Jack believes she could find Noah’s Ark if she just put her mind to it.”

  “That’s funny!” Rex belched and settled back into the pillow. “Wake me if I start to snore.”

  “You better not fall asleep!”

  “Yeah! Yeah!”

  “Here’s something. In March, Sissy has an entry that says she saw Walter leave his house around ten at night and return around midnight. Sissy has a special marking she does to note something important, and she says she’ll notice if he does it again soon.” I chuckled. “There’s an entry here toward the end of March that says Wanda is losing her mind. I guess Wanda stopped Sissy after one of the Saturday meals they do and said if Sissy didn’t give Wanda the gelatin recipe for the mackerel and blueberry Jell-O mold Sissy made, Wanda was going to pound her into the ground.”

  “Mackerel and blueberry? Yuck! Even I wouldn’t eat that!”

  “I’m pretty sure you would.”

  “True!”

  “I have one more important entry for March,” I said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I guess Sissy tracked down Janie from Philly and found out her name is Janie Alderman. Okay, now it looks like we’re in April. And I have an entry for Nancy. One of Sissy’s sources informed her that Patricia Barclay’s two daughters are Nancy and Shelly. Sissy says she knows Shelly Barclay because she worked with her for a few months in New York. Shelly’s a—whoa! Didn’t see that coming!”

  Rex sat up. “What? What?”

  Chapter 9

  I grinned at Rex. “Sissy says that Shelly is—well, would be like a feminist by today’s standards. She writes articles about women in the workplace, women electing not to get married and raise a family, women earning equal pay in the workplace, that sort of thing. And I guess the mother, Patricia Barclay, is also famous for this kind of writing.”

  “You’re saying Nasty Nancy’s family are a bunch of feminists in a time it’s not really popular?” Rex laughed. “And that she was raised that way? This just keeps getting better and better.”

  “Another entry in April about Walter. He was once again seen leaving his house at ten and returning at midnight. Sissy says it was a Sunday like in March, and both times have been the second Sunday of the month. She will check again in May before she decides whether or not to investigate further.”

  “It’s like this Sissy thought her neighbors were all leading double lives.”

  I shrugged. “Kind of they are. Or she was just really bored and hoped for an exciting story somewhere.”

  “True! True!” Rex hopped up again and scurried over to where he kept his hidden treasures. He pulled out a piece of toast and sat back down on the pillow.

  “You shouldn’t eat in bed,” I deadpanned.

  “Yeah, yeah! Keep reading. We got juicy stuff here.”

  “April 29 entry that says Janie Alderman is at her mother Mary’s house, followed by another entry about Wanda. She cornered Sissy and accused her of—” I gasped. “Wanda accused Sissy of sleeping with Cliff and Jack! Sissy writes that she told Wanda she needed to lay off the booze because it was really messing with her smarts. Wanda said at the next Friday afternoon cocktail, she was going to tell Peggy Sue and Nancy everything.”

  Rex sat up straight. “What happened?”

  I flipped the page. “I have a Friday, May 6 entry. Sissy says she worked until four o’clock, and then she rode home with Maggie. After dinner, Nancy came over to Maggie’s house around six-fifteen and asked to speak to Sissy. Sissy went outside and the two spoke on the porch. Nancy told Sissy what Wanda had said. Nancy then quietly told Sissy if it was true and she was sleeping with Cliff, that she would kill her!”

  “Ding! Ding! We have a winner!”

  I laughed. “Yeah, this is major motive right here. According to Sissy, Nancy stopped by around six-fifteen. So it’s completely feasible for Nancy to have slipped out of the house on the night Sissy died, hustle over here, kill her, and go back home and finish cleaning her kitchen.”

  “Cold!”

  “The last part of that entry, Sissy writes that she will save the mom and sister Barclay bombshell for a later date, but that she will be dropping it because no one threatens her.”

  “She’s in way over her head.”

  “Next I have a May 8 entry for Walter. Sissy observed Walter leave again on his monthly Sunday night adventure. She says she will confront him soon and ask him what’s going on.”

  “Probably not smart seeing as how Walter didn’t like Sissy.”

  “Here’s something nice under May 13. It’s her first date with Doc Sterling. She writes she had a wonderful time, and she really liked his company. Another date is planned in two weeks.”

  “That’s something positive.”

  “Here’s something about Cliff. May 25 entry, it just says secretary located, but when reporter friend tried to see secretary face-to-face, Sissy’s friend was informed that someone had picked up Janie.”

  “What? What does that mean? And why is this even important?”

  I shrugged. “No idea. But get this…I have a June 4 entry, Saturday night, about three weeks before Sissy is killed. It says she confronted Cliff outside after the dinner party and told him she knew about the secretary and that he’d better tell Nancy about Janie or she would.”

  “There’s motive all over the place now. Sissy’s about to get burned! She was playing with fire.”

  “Yep. Another entry of Wanda threatening Sissy. Wanda says they are all on to her, and the next chance they got, they were going to get that journal one way or the other.”

  “Why didn’t Sissy say anything to Maggie?” Rex asked.

  I sighed. “I guess she thought she could handle it. This is interesting…there’s a lot more writing a week to two weeks before she died.”

  “Hold on.” Rex sauntered over to his stash and handed me a thimble. “Can you put water in this for me?”

  “Sure.” I grabbed the thimble, jogged down the hallway, and f
illed it with tap water. Returning, I handed it to him and picked the journal back up. “Okay. Looks like on Sunday, June 12, she followed Walter out to some barn. It was too dark to tell what was going on, but Sissy is going to ask him next Saturday what he and ten other men were doing having a meeting in secret.”

  “My wife tells me anytime two or more men gather nothing good can come of it.”

  I laughed. “Do you agree?”

  He saluted me with his thimble before taking a drink. “I make it a point to never disagree with my wife!”

  “Smart rat.” I looked back down at the book. “On June 15 she got home from work and walked down and hung out with Peggy Sue on the porch. She writes Peggy Sue seems stressed. High strung. Sissy made a note to make a date with Maggie so the three of them could go for a day of shopping soon.

  “Future plans!” Rex said. “Surely when the police see this they’ll have to rethink their position on her death?”

  “You’d think, but who knows.” I flipped back a couple pages. “Only two more pages with writing. Okay, now at June 17. She took the day off from work to attend Friday afternoon cocktail hour. Waited until Wanda was good and sauced and dropped the bomb about Walter going out on Sunday nights and having secret meetings. She asked Wanda what they were about, and Wanda threw a drink on her!”

  “Wowza! Bet that was something to see!”

  “Later, she took Nancy aside in private and told her she knew who Nancy’s mom and sister were, what they wrote, and the types of magazines they wrote for. Sissy admits she flat-out told Nancy she was sure the others would be shocked to know her truth.”

  “Yeah, I’m covered in motive over here.”

  I snorted then continued to read aloud. “Nancy told Sissy to leave and never come back to Friday afternoon cocktails. Sissy says Nancy told her if there was a way to exclude her from Saturday nights without offending Maggie, that was next.”

  “Oh, the horrors! Not exclusion for Saturday night dinners!”

  “Okay, drama queen.” I read a little farther. “The next night, she confronted Walter after Saturday night dinner. He told Sissy that ‘her kind’ better stay clear if she wanted to keep breathing. She doesn’t know if he means female or because she’s from the Soviet Union.”