by Tonya Kappes
I picked up a pot to dry off.
“You’re not going to deliberately go in harm’s way, are you?” Iris had settled down a little bit. Her eyes softened with relief.
“I do have a grandbaby on the way.” I put the pot back in the drawer and walked over to her. I tapped her hand. “And you are going to help me.”
“Mmmhmmm. . . What’s our plan?” she asked.
I got out the thermal food bags to put the meal in so all the dishes would stay nice and warm.
“I think we need to set up a base camp at Pie in the Face so no one but us will know what is going on with all the people I think had motive to have killed Florence Gaines.” I couldn’t risk any of the Front Porch Ladies just waltzing in the house, or even Mac, if I kept my informant information out for anyone to see. Even Courtney Gaines or Grady.
“Then you go to supper, and when you and Mac get finished going around saying your hi-dos to all the people at the clogging festival, you come to the shop.” She untied the apron from around her waist and hung it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.
I didn’t tell her about me and Mac. I wasn’t even sure where we stood. Were we broken up? Dating others? Me, no, but him? Specifically Lucy Drake? I threw that image of her laughing at whatever he said in the very back of my mind.
“I’ll go to Pie in the Face because I’ve got to make some cakes for a few clients to be delivered this week. While I’m there, I’ll get the whiteboard ready like you see in those crime television shows.”
There was a disturbing giddiness in her tone that made me laugh.
Chapter 9
I rubbed my hand along the old farmhouse table Julia had kept when they moved in. It had so many memories from when I was a child and from when Grady was a child.
“All of this smells so good. Anything these days smells good.” Julia was busy unpacking the thermal bags of food while I helped set the table. “Bernadette, you with me?”
“Oh sorry.” I put the next place mat down and carried on. “What did you say?”
“I said. . .” She walked over to me and took my hand, placing it on her belly. “Your grandbaby is moving.”
My heart leapt when I felt a little body part move along the pressure of my hand. Julia and I kept our eyes locked, smiling the entire time.
“Gosh. Amazing. Thank you.” My eyes teared.
“What on earth is going on with you today?” she asked and looked out the kitchen window at Grady, who was walking down to the barn while he waited on Mac. Mac was doing whatever it was Grady had asked him for help with.
Mac always came to Sunday family supper, and I wondered if he wasn’t tonight.
“I don’t know. Just emotional.” I wiped the tear that’d fallen from my eyes. But I knew this was the perfect opportunity to ask Julia if she was okay. “I’m guessing the baby is all healthy.”
“Yes. Baby Butler is right on track.” She rubbed both her hands over her belly, which was really shaped like a ball. “I think I got bigger overnight.” She peered out the window. “Oh good. Mac is here.”
“You are glowing.” I couldn’t help but continue to cry. Now I started to cry about Mac showing up, but she didn’t need to know that. For some reason there was a bit of relief that he’d come.
“Bernie, what’s wrong?” She waddled over and pulled out a chair to sit down in and patted the table.
“I don’t know.” I took her offer to sit down. “I guess I’m a little worried.” I had always treated Julia like a daughter and had always been honest with her. It wasn’t Iris and her feeling, not that Iris’s feelings were always bad.
In fact, Iris had a feeling about Julia a few months ago, and we found out Julia was pregnant.
“Coming here and sitting at the table holds so many memories. Most great ones, but some not so great. Like when I sat here after Richard died. I comforted Grady here and fed him. Then when we found out about Richard’s real life. The other woman our entire marriage.” There was a sudden look of concern on Julia’s face as I talked. “I don’t want you to mention it to Grady, but he said something funny to me a couple of days ago, and I just have to make sure you two are okay.”
“What did he say?” she asked.
“Truthfully not much. He mentioned how he worried he was going to turn out like his father when you and I both know he’s nothing like his father. He was very upset Wes Rogers didn’t get the church scholarship.”
“Then what did he say?” It was apparent Julia was fishing to see what I knew.
“We were interrupted by Florence.” My thoughts went to Florence.
“It’s awful what happened to her.” Julia reached over and patted my hand. “Grady, well, what can I say. You know how much he loves his students and players, not to mention his job. I adore that about him, but he’d sell the farm to help anyone out. We’ve had a few disagreements about where we use any extra money. I want to save it for the baby, but he keeps saying there are others out there who need it more. Like Wes.”
She didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. I’d always been so proud of Grady and what a loving spirit he’d always had.
“You know he gets that trait from my father.” I grinned, and a little laugh escaped me. “My mom used to have this same argument with him at this very table.” I rubbed my flat palm over the top again.
“I just don’t know. And that new teacher. He is always helping her.” Julia’s facial expressions turned completely different when she didn’t mention Courtney by name. “I have to tell you that I even went over there in the thunderstorm to tell her not to call him to help her with mulch.”
“What?” I shook my head a few times and blinked.
“Don’t tell Grady I did that, or he’d be so mad. I even took his truck, which is always parked down in the driveway, so he wouldn’t hear me. He was watching ESPN and thought I was taking a bath. He never checks on me when I’m taking a bath because he knows I enjoy that alone time right now.” She stood up, swaying back and forth on her way over to get some of the dishes to put on the table since it was almost time for my parents to get here. We would start supper soon.
“Did you talk to her?” I asked.
“Barely. She didn’t know who I was, and she was upset about something.” I watched Julia move around the kitchen as I tried to read her body language to see if she was tense. “I don’t even think she comprehended who I was until…”
“Did she tell you what she was upset about?” I questioned, trying to dig deeper knowing I had to get my answers before the men came back in and my parents got here.
“No. She didn’t realize who I was until I told her three times I was Grady’s wife and she needed to butt out using him as a lawncare boy, or else.” Julia put the homemade biscuits in the middle of the table.
“Or else what?” I asked.
“I don’t know, it was just a blank threat. I don’t even think she heard me because the thunder was so loud. She just said ‘whatever.’” Julia rolled her eyes. “She said ‘whatever’ because she didn’t plan on being in town for long.”
“Really?” That made me wonder if Courtney really did kill Florence, especially if she’d planned to leave town.
“I felt bad for threatening her because then I had to pee, so I asked if I could use her bathroom.” Julia rubbed her belly with one hand and took a bite out of a biscuit with the other. “Your grandbaby sure does love to lay on my bladder, and with the heavy rain, my body had to go.”
If it weren’t for my brain in overdrive thinking about Courtney’s leaving town, I’d have laughed at Julia’s story.
“Not even a cracked smile. Wow, you are deep in thought.” She continued to eat the biscuit. “But don’t worry. Grady and I are fine. I’m just hormonal, and I do things that I would never do when I wasn’t pregnant. It’s like someone takes over my body and just does whatever. Grady and I call her Judy.” She laughed. “He’ll say, uh oh, Judy is here.”
Again, normally I’d have thought th
is was funny. But nothing was funny at the moment.
“How did you leave it with Courtney?” I asked.
“I left. It was like she disappeared. I came out of the bathroom, and she was gone. The front door was open, and it was like she left.” Julia shrugged. “I doubt she went out in that storm. It was crazy.”
“Yeah, crazy.” I looked up when I heard the back door open.
“You’re lucky it didn’t take out the barn.” Mac was talking to Grady. He didn’t bother looking at me.
“I know, or we’d be working instead of about to eat this amazing-smelling supper.” Grady patted Julia’s belly and gave her a kiss before he helped himself to a biscuit. “What’s going on?” He looked at me funny. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Julia spoke up and opened the door for my mom and dad. “Your mom is so grateful the trees didn’t fall on the house from the storm.”
“I think we can get them all chopped up before next weekend if you’ve got the time this week after work.” Grady didn’t seem fazed by Julia’s big fat lie.
But I was.
Why would she make up a big lie? I looked at her, wondering why she just didn’t say I felt the baby move and got emotional, because that wouldn’t have been a lie. Not the full truth, but still not a lie.
She stared at me for a moment before she clapped her hands together.
“Everyone ready to eat?” she asked everyone but directly looked at me with a stone-cold expression.
It made me more silent during supper than normal. And all the talk was about Florence Gaines.
Grady did mention how he felt terrible for Courtney. He even said how he’d been there that day to help her with the mulch and probably should’ve waited until there wasn’t rain in the forecast.
Julia did a great job of changing the subject and moving the rest of the evening’s conversation to talk of the baby. She even told us how she and Grady were going to start working on the nursery. Before I knew it, it was time to go to the Sugar Creek Gap’s Summer Clogging Festival downtown.
“We need to get downtown to get a spot for the opening of the clogging festival,” was my good excuse to leave so Mac and I didn’t feel or seem so awkward.
Supper hadn’t been pleasurable with both of us dancing around conversation from my family. At least I could make an appearance at the festival, then I could get to the bakery to put a sleuthing plan together with Iris.
Really, there were so many things I wanted to tell her. What bothered me tonight about Julia and her going to see Courtney were a couple of them.
Mom and Dad said they weren’t going to the festival because they’d been up all day and Monday morning was always so busy. Instead, they’d decided to go back to their condo at the senior living facility. Julia said her feet were hurting and she needed a bath, which made me wonder how many times she’d used that line on Grady and slipped out of the house like she’d done to see Courtney. Grady jumped up to tell her he’d rub her feet, which made me feel better. He still seemed the doting husband.
“You didn’t say much about the baby and the baby’s room when they were talking about design.” Mac had stopped shy of his truck when we went to get in our separate vehicles. A first in a long time.
“I’m worried about Grady and Julia. I’m not so sure they’re really stable right now.” I fiddled with my keys, trying to hold back on asking what he and Lucy had talked about. The more I’d thought about it all day, the more I knew it was her flirting with him.
“Are you kidding? He’s like a kid in a candy shop.” Mac smiled. “You’re going to be a wonderful little granny,” he teased.
“Listen here, buddy,” I teased, not sure what I wanted to be called as a grandparent. I wasn’t sure why I was telling Mac all this, but maybe we were okay. “Seriously though. Julia told me her hormones take over, and Grady calls her Judy when she isn’t herself.”
“Obviously I’ve never had a wife or a baby, so I wouldn’t know, but I do remember when you were pregnant with Grady.” He caught me off guard. “I thought you were beautiful. You had a glow, and that smile was bright. Your eyes sparkled when you talked. I remember telling Richard what a lucky man he was to have you. There were many nights I was so envious.”
“If you don’t mind, when you go over to help him cut up the trees the storm took out, could you talk to Grady? He mentioned something the other day about how he worried he was becoming Richard. I’m not good at guy talk.”
“He’s nothing like Richard, and you’re good at changing the subject, Bernie.” The disgust in Mac’s voice set my insides all a-jumble. “I’m more than happy to talk to him.”
“Thank you.” I sighed.
“I’ve got to get going.” He lifted his truck key up in the air. “I’ll see you around.”
Around? What was that supposed to mean?
Of course I had turned that word, “around,” upside down to Sunday to come up with what exactly he meant, and before long, I had pulled into my driveway. I quickly let Buster out to potty and checked on Rowena, who didn’t need checking on, before I left to make my appearance at the festival before going to Pie in the Face.
Big round spotlights circled the sky from downtown. It added to the excitement of the first Sunday of the festival. There were triangle banners strung across Main Street and some street vendors in their little pushcarts selling hot dogs, popcorn, corn on the cob, and cotton candy.
The flatbed was set up at the end of Main Street where the sheriff’s department had blocked off any driving. A bluegrass band plucked away while the Doubletoe Cloggers were doing one of their routines in front of them. The crowd was watching them while I ate their festival food and chatted with the locals.
With a few nods and how-do-you-dos, I joined a few of our neighbors up near the band. I’d plucked a piece of elephant ear pastry off Harriette’s plate when I got a glimpse of Mac and Lucy Drake doing a two-step right in the middle of the cloggers. Lucy, in her little twirling clogging skirt, whipped around. She had a hold on Mac’s hands as tight as a vise.
“I was thinkin’ you weren’t gonna make it.” Gill Tillett, the owner of the general store, had walked up to me. “I wanted to let you know I got the circular saw in that you ordered.”
“I’ll come by and pick it up tomorrow,” I told him, and I leaned around to see Mac and Lucy.
“I don’t see your folks. How are they doin’?” Gill continued to talk to me. Couldn’t he tell I was busy?
“We just had supper with them, and they are doing fine. You know they get up awfully early for the diner, so they decided to head on home.” That’s what I loved about our small town, even though right now I had no time to talk. Everyone genuinely cared about each other, some more than others, which made me realize he wasn’t going to leave. “How’s empty-nesting?”
Gill and Vivian had become empty nesters last year when their last daughter headed off to college. Vivian was the director of the Sugar Creek Gap Nursing Home and Senior Living, where my parents lived.
“Drucilla is back home, and she and her mama are going to kill each other. Dru thinks she’s just an adult who can galivant all night long when we got to work, and she’s going to work at the general store all summer. I don’t care if I have to drag her there.” Gill looked frustrated with his daughter.
She was the youngest of four, and if I recalled, Grady would talk about some of the trouble she’d get into. I even remember something about her schoolwork declining, but at least she got into college.
“They all think they know more than us. Too smart to be human,” I teased, remembering what my dad used to say about me and what I used to say about Grady when he got a little bit sassy with me, which was often. “She’ll grow out of it. It’s hard to go away from home and have all the independence then come back. It’s an adjustment period for sure.”
“I’m gonna adjust her.” He lifted a fist and smiled.
“Yeah. Right.” I rolled my eyes. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger.�
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“Guess you’re right.” A big smile grew on his face.
Who did he think he was fooling? Dru might’ve given him the most trouble, but she also gave him the most joy. She was a true daddy’s girl, and there was no doubt in my mind she’d be in that general store all summer long by his side.
“Stop!” the screaming voice rang out. “Stop right there!”
“Sorry, Mrs. Butler.” I heard then was shoved to the side. I fell into Gill, making us both tumble to the ground.
Shocked, I tried to figure out what was going on. Mac had rushed over and extended a hand. I reached up, only for someone to run right through us.
“Sorry!”
I glanced up as soon as the person passed and noticed it was Angela Hafley in her sheriff’s uniform darting through the crowd. “Stop!”
“Are you okay?” I asked Gill after Mac had helped both of us to our feet.
“I am. Are you okay?” he asked me back.
I took an inventory of myself. “I seem fine, just wondering what on earth that was about.”
It’d gotten eerily quiet. The band had stopped playing, the cloggers’ taps were silenced, and the crowd was rubbing-necking to see exactly what Angela was doing.
“Who’s she got?” I heard someone in the crowd say to another person.
“I can’t see over people’s heads,” I heard another respond.
“I think it’s the Rogers boy. It looks like she’s tackled him to the ground.” Another spectator had gone to giving a play-by-play. “Oh boy, it is the Rogers boy, and she’s got him cuffed.”
“Cuffed?” I looked at Mac. “Wes Rogers?”
“It appears so.” Mac was taller than me so he could see better than I could, but the crowd had moved in and made it more difficult to see. “She’s got him cuffed, and it looks like he had something he was running with, but she’s got it now.”
The crowd parted and made a pathway for Angela and the young boy. His hair was no longer neatly parted to the side like I’d seen it in church the other day when he was waiting to hear about the scholarship winner. It was hanging down in front of his face. His white t-shirt was filthy dirty, and he had on a pair of carpenter jeans with the utility tool holder loop torn and dangling down.