by Tonya Kappes
“Gossip?” I shrugged his hand off of me. I jerked around. “Gossip leads to facts and evidence which leads to a killer.”
“According to her, you’ve accused anyone who even associated with Jay.” He reached out for me. “The bank robbery wasn’t done by Jay. You’re on the wrong trail, Mae. That’s why you need to stop.”
I put my hands up in front of me. “I’ve never been anything other than me since the day you pulled me out of the pond.” I reminded him of how we met. “If you can’t get past who I really am, then this isn’t working.” I gestured between us. Quickly, I turned back and hurried down the trail toward the house.
“Mae, I’m not trying to change you. I love that about you. That gives us the fire,” he said about halfway down the trail. “But I can’t let you get hurt. This is what we go over time and time again. You sticking your nose in the wrong place and getting hurt.”
“It’s my nose to stick into things!” I screamed and made the clearing of the trees.
In the distance, Agnes was getting out of the car. She looked across the yard and smiled. It faltered when I didn’t return it. I watched her say something to Hank’s dad, and he headed into the house without her.
“Don’t drag Granny into this,” Hank warned me like he was scolding me. “This is between me and you.”
“We need a voice of reason.” I knew Agnes would be on my side like always. “Agnes, can you please clear something up for us?”
“Hi, honey.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Are you two fighting over Jay Russel?”
“Yes. In fact, I understand that you took care of Glenda Russel when her parents went on a fancy European vacation.” I felt Hank’s body stop behind me. She nodded. “Could they afford such a big vacation?”
“No. And I was shocked they even went. I even told them not to pay me, but he insisted, saying he’d saved up.” She shrugged. “Gave me five thousand dollars. Who had five thousand dollars back then to giveaway?” She wagged a finger at Hank. “He never let me forget it either.”
“What do you mean?” Hank suddenly took an interest.
“After I started to work at the sheriff’s department as dispatcher, he would make calls about claims on the land. If I didn’t get a deputy out there or he didn’t like what the deputy had to say, he’d remind me how he’d given me five thousand dollars to help me out during a rough patch in my life. Five thousand dollars was a lot of money to me and your mom back then.”
“That sonofa…” Hank’s words connected together. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“After he got up in years, I just started to ignore him. He was in a pickle after Paulette had left him, and I did like Glenda. She was a baby, and your mom was getting married. Sometimes you just have to shrug off things.” She rubbed her hand down my arm. “If you’re wanting to know if he robbed the bank, I can’t say, but it’s rumored.”
“I know. And Hank is refusing to believe there’s money somewhere in the stables. Especially since there was a hiker in there who was probably the one who was in the campground that night before and it could be possible that he stole Jay’s gun from Dottie.”
“Stole Jay’s gun?” Hank asked in a stern voice. “What are you talking about? Are you saying the gun Dottie reported stolen is the gun we are looking for that we believe killed Jay?” He asked with an intense interest.
“Oh dear.” Agnes’s lines around her lips deepened when her lips flattened in a straight line. “It appears Mae knows a lot more than you care to believe.” Now she patted Hank. “It looks like you two need to talk.”
“Yeah.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Tell Mom I’m sorry, but we had to go.”
I stood there with my mouth gaped open, wishing I could take back what I’d said. My mouth always got me in trouble.
EIGHTEEN
The ride back to the campground was longer than normal. It was the silence that made it so. And when he dropped me off at the camper and grabbed Chester, I knew he was mad. Not the fact that I had my nose stuck in it, but the fact I’d left out the information about Dottie and Paulette stealing the gun five years ago. It wasn’t like I didn’t see his side and how it impacted the investigation, but I was also loyal to my friend. Dottie. Not Paulette.
My heart nearly stopped when I watched him from the window over top my sink. He drove away from his rented camper after he put Chester in there, and stopped in front of Dottie’s camper, the brake lights glaring. I knew Hank, and he was going to haul her in for questioning. He got lucky and took in a two for one deal. Dottie and Paulette got into his car.
A shadow walking in front of my camper did make my heart stop. I screamed so loud, Fifi screeched and ran to the bedroom. I fell to the ground so the shadow couldn’t see me and crawled over to where I kept my gun. If the hiker was back and had heard I was spreading rumors that he was the one who killed Jay, I had to protect myself.
“Mae.” I heard a whisper from outside. “Let me in.”
I crawled to the door and put my ear to it.
“Mae.” I heard the voice again. “It’s me, Abby. Let me in.”
I stood up and sucked in a deep breath to gather my wits before I opened the door.
“Hurry up.” She pushed the door open all the way and hurried inside. “Shut the door.”
“What’s going on?” I asked and looked out the door into the night before I closed the door.
“Ty. He’s got a date in his camper.” Abby chuckled nastily. “I’m going crazy.” She huffed and rubbed her hands together. “I’m following him. I’m obsessed.”
My head wasn’t wrapping around what she was saying. The images of Dottie getting into Hank’s car made me ill and just took up any space left in my head.
“Mae,” Abby stressed. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah. Ty? Date?” I blinked a few times to make myself be present and grabbed a bottle of water from my mini-refrigerator.
“Yes. But I’m losing my mind. I’ve become some sort of girl on one of those crazy tabloid TV shows.” She took the water from me and plopped down in one of the chairs at the small café table. “I even called that show Cheaters, only he’s not cheating. I just want him to know that I know.”
“Abby, get a hold of yourself.” I sat in the chair across from her. “Start from the beginning so I can understand.”
“It all started a couple of weeks ago.” She pulled a foot up under her. “He told me how I was nice, but he didn’t feel a connection with me. I asked him if it was because I wasn’t as wild as you.”
“Wild?” I jerked back, my jaw dropped. Fifi made her way back into the family part of the camper and lay in her bed. “You think I’m wild?”
“I think that you’ve gotten so much more experience in life, and you take every idea you get and run with it. Me.” She frowned. “I’m a boring person. I love to read. I’d rather spend time at my office instead of having parties like you. Going around and talking to people. I’m just not as outgoing.”
“Then he’s got the problem. Not you.” I reached across the table and patted her hand. “If he can’t see what an amazing person you are, then he’s got issues.”
“He told me it wasn’t my personality. He said that he wasn’t ready to commit to a relationship and needed to spend his time making sure his dad had recovered and that his brothers are taken care of. He was really nice, and I cried.” She shook her head. “I believed him. Until.”
“Until what?” I asked.
“Until I saw him with a woman through the diner window when we left the Laundry Club. I sat in the Laundry Club and watched them for a couple of hours. They were laughing, and she was touching him.” Abby stuck her tongue out. “It was gross.”
“Do you know who she is?” I asked and wondered why Abby didn’t know the woman.
“No. She could be from here, but Ty is older than me.” Abby reminded me how Ty and I were heading straight into our thirties while she was still in her mid-twenties.
She jumped up, m
aking Fifi dart back to the bedroom. Poor little girl. Abby was giving her a heart attack. “It’s them!” She pushed open the door and grabbed my purse. “Come on!”
“What?” I was so confused.
“They just left in Ty’s car. We are going to follow them.” She didn’t even wait for me to protest. She ran to her car with my crossbody bag, which she knew I never left home without. It was her sneaky way to get me in her car.
“You be a good girl, Fifi.” I glanced at the water bowl to make sure she had water and locked the camper behind me.
Abby had the car started and in gear before I sat in the passenger seat. She floored the gas as I grabbed for the seat belt. I hung on for dear life.
“This is not normal. This is how someone crazy acts.” I informed her. “You need to slow down before you kill us or someone in the campground.”
The words barely left my mouth when she took a sharp right out of the campground. Ty’s taillights would come in and out of sight as his car followed the curves.
“Abby.” I called her name a couple of times to get her to come back out of crazy land. “Abby.”
“I know. I look nuts.” She didn’t seem to really hear herself because she sped up. “I just want to know where they’re going. If he was such a good guy taking care of his dad and brothers, he should be at home taking care of them.”
My phone chirped a text.
“Don’t tell Hank.” Abby assumed it was Hank, and for a second, I thought it might be.
“It’s Queenie.” I ran my finger across my phone to bring up her text. “She wants to know what’s going on with Dottie.”
“Dottie?” Abby at least stopped her madness in her head to ask about our friend. She didn’t slow down, though.
“You’re not the only one with big problems.” I hit the call button. It was better for me to say it once to everyone then keep repeating how I’d betrayed our friend. “I’m going to conference call our friends in.”
I wasn’t sure if Abby heard me because she had turned into the parking lot of the Saddle Club, the bar that Dottie mentioned earlier. She parked where there weren’t any lights. She reached under the seat and pulled out a pair of binoculars. Ty had pulled up to the front. He got out and went around the car to open the door.
“It’s Glenda.” I gasped and squinted to make sure.
“What?” Queenie asked from the phone.
“Where’s Glenda?” Betts questioned.
“Glenda Russel? The killer?” Abby leaned over the steering wheel with the binoculars up to her eyes.
“What is going on? Why is Dottie at the police station?” Queenie asked.
“Dottie is at the police station?” Betts sounded so confused. “Where is Glenda? At the police station?”
“Everyone stop talking.” I had to stop all the madness. “I’m at Saddle Club with Abby. She’s been spying on Ty. Ty is apparently on a date with Glenda.”
“What does this have to do with Dottie?” Queenie asked. “I heard on the police scanner that she was being taken to the station along with Paulette Russel.”
“That’s why I’m calling. I accidently let it slip to Hank how Dottie and Paulette took Jay’s gun he had reported stolen five years ago.” It hurt saying the words.
“Mae,” Queenie whined, “you didn’t.”
“She did.” Betts snapped. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“I know. I feel awful. We didn’t even stay for homemade pizza at his parents because he said he had to bring them in. It was awful.” I couldn’t get the image of Dottie getting into Hank’s car. “She’s innocent and has the hoedown as the alibi, so she’ll be fine. I just don’t want him to bring charges against her from five years ago.”
“Do we need to go get her?” Queenie asked a great question.
“I can go to the Laundry Club and put on some coffee,” Betts suggested.
“I think you two need to go get Dottie and bring her to the bar. We need drinks.” Abby turned off the ignition of the car.
“You want us to go in there?” I asked her, knowing she’d lost her marbles. “No way.”
“It’s a free country.” Abby’s attitude was really starting to annoy me.
“Abby, nothing good can come out of this. I know. I’ve been here,” I said. “He’s not worth it.”
“Listen to her, Abby,” Betts said through the speaker on the phone.
Headlights from another car pulled in and parked in a spot underneath one of the pole lights. Lee and another person who looked a lot like Sarah Kaskle’s dad got out of the car.
“On second thought.” I put the phone up to my mouth and spoke clearly. “Go get Dottie and bring her to the Saddle Club. We need a girls’ night out.”
Abby looked at me with wide eyes and a huge grin on her face.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to me.
I gave her a sympathetic smile. I couldn’t tell her why I was really going in there.
“Mae, this is not a good idea.” Betts tried to be the voice of reason.
“Sounds good to me.” Queenie wasted no time. She hung up the phone.
“See you soon, Betts,” Abby said into the phone, leaning over into my space.
I clicked the off button and grabbed my crossbody bag, flinging it across my shoulder.
“Here are the ground rules.” I was going to go over some particulars with Abby, but she’d already gotten out of the car and was halfway to the front door of the bar. “I guess there are none,” I mumbled, picking up the pace a little.
The inside of the building was as smoky as Dottie’s camper. Old tunes were belting out of a jukebox that had seen much better days. There was a full bar along the right side of the building and the left was open with bar top tables. In the far back left were a couple of poker tables with no empty seats. Behind that was a lane for darts.
It was loud, rowdy, and smoky, making it difficult for me to see where Lee had gone.
“Mae!” Abby waved above the crowd and pointed to a couple of bar stools.
I weaved in and around people to get to her. She was leaning over the bar talking to the bartender. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I watched her gesture between me and her and then over to the far end of the bar.
I moved my gaze to where her finger was pointing and noticed Ty and Glenda talking intently.
“I got them a drink.” Abby had a look of pleasure on her face and eased down into the bar stool. “I got us one too.”
Her car keys were sitting on top of the bar counter. I took them and slipped them into my bag.
“I’m fine.” I waved my hand. I wasn’t much of a big drinker, and I wasn’t going to drink if she was going to. I had to get home somehow. It looked like I was the driver. “Do you really think it was a good idea to send them a drink?”
“He wants fun. I can be fun.” She took money out of her pocket and laid it on the bar when the barista dropped off the drinks she’d ordered. “Watch this.” She picked up her drink and nodded toward Ty and Glenda.
Ty’s eyes glanced past the bartender’s shoulder after Abby was pointed out as the one who’d paid for the drinks. Abby planted a big smile on her face and proudly held up her drink like she was toasting them. Ty’s face showed shocked. He didn’t seem like he knew what to do.
“Look at that guilty face. Jerk,” Abby said through gritted teeth, her mouth staying in a permanent grin.
“You look crazy.” I waved down the bar at Ty. Nervously, he waved back and so did Glenda. “I hope that was the reaction you wanted.”
Abby sat down in the bar stool. “It wasn’t that fun.” She took a drink and stared straight ahead. “Let’s face it. I’m not fun.”
“Stop it. You are fun.” I rotated the stool to face out and scan the crowd.
Lee had sat down at one of the poker tables. He was gabbing away and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. It was odd that he didn’t appear to mourn his best friend, which made him guilty in my eyes.
“I’
ll be right back.” I got off the stool and made my way over to him.
I stood for a second and watched the dealer go around the table, asking if anyone wanted a hit on their cards before I tapped Lee on the shoulder.
“Mae.” He stood up. “I had no idea you came around joints like this.”
“I don’t. I’m here with my friends, and I thought I’d come over and say hi.” I wanted to make him so uncomfortable. “Or do you know the bar owner and want them to kick me out like you had Coke kick me out of the stables?”
He lowered his eyes and tossed his hand of cards on the table.
“Fellers, I’m out this hand. Don’t let anyone take my spot.” He got up and grabbed me by the elbow, dragging me over to a dark corner away from prying eyes. “Listen, I don’t know what your problem is with me, but I’m telling you to back off.”
“Is the heat getting to you?” I asked and didn’t turn away from his glare. He wasn’t going to bully me.
“Heat?” An evil laugh came from deep in his gut. He threw his head back. “You? Heat?”
“You had the biggest reason to kill Jay, and I’m going to prove it.” I jerked my arm away from him.
“Geesh, are you kidding me? I’ve already been questioned by the police. I’ve got an alibi. I had no reason to kill my best friend.” He crossed his arms in front of him.
“Maybe for the title that Sarah Kaskle is going to win under your name as trainer. Or should I ask her dad about that.” I moved my gaze from him to the poker table. “That is her dad, right?”
“I want you to listen to me and listen to me good.” He uncrossed his arms and jabbed his finger in my face. “After Jay died, the Kaskles came to me. I don’t care about titles. Would it be nice? Yes, of course. I’d love to retire from my life’s-long work with a big win, but it’s not that important to me.”
“Did you kill him because you were the real robber from the bank robbery years ago, and he was going to come clean? You and your friends, Brownie and—” I had no idea where that came from.