Danielle’s eyes said that this was one of her favorite topics of conversation. “Me and a couple of the other women who live here spin it into yarn.”
“You’re kidding. With a spinning wheel, like in the fairy tales?”
Danielle laughed. “You’d be surprised how many people spin nowadays. It’s really fun. I look forward to it every year.” She paused for a moment, then said, “You probably won’t be here in the summer, but once it gets hot enough that they don’t need their fleece to stay warm, the shearers will show up. Blanche hires them every year, and we always get a big crowd during that time to watch it. We end up with bags of the stuff.”
“That is really cool,” said June. “Archaic, but cool.”
Prince Albert watched her, leaning over his pen.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” said Danielle, a grin on her face.
June rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the fence. The alpaca took that moment to sniff at her. Once again, she found herself trying not to giggle. She reached out a hand and touched the alpaca’s neck.
He wasn’t as tall as she, barely making it up to her shoulder. As long as he didn’t start licking her face, they were going to be okay.
“If you come back in the summer, I’ll show you how to spin.” Excitement danced in Danielle’s eyes. “How far of a drive is it for you?”
“I’m from a suburb of Chicago,” replied June. She thought about driving back here by herself and couldn’t imagine braving the roads all on her own. Some of the terror that she felt at the prospect must have showed on her face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Danielle.
June shook her head. “I just don’t know if I’ll be back anytime soon. I have a job to go back to eventually. I’m only here because I was in an accident and I can’t work yet. My daughter had the reservation, and the old motorhome had been rotting in the side-yard for over a decade, so my son-in-law got it working and drove it down for me to have a bit of a vacation while I healed.” She shook her cane to punctuate the point.
Danielle frowned. “Healing from anything when you’re older stinks.”
June laughed. “You know, my daughter likes to remind me when I overdo it that I’m not in my twenties.”
“Oh, mine does that, too. Of course, I don’t see her too often anymore now that she has a fiancé.”
“Don’t stress about that,” said June. “She’ll need help soon enough. Once they start setting up house, she’ll call and ask for recipes or how to do something.”
“You know, that didn’t occur to me. I just figured that once they decide to have kids, she’d really have questions.”
“I haven’t reached that stage yet. My daughter just wants to travel and enjoy life and I can’t say that I blame her.”
Danielle nodded. “It’s not a bad life, being out in nature. Of course, I don’t travel like I used to. I came out here in hopes of finishing my novel, but it seems the more I work on it, the bigger mess it becomes.”
June glanced sidelong at Danielle. She’d had aspirations of writing something when she was younger, but life had gotten in the way and she had never bothered getting back to it. “A novel, huh? That sounds like a massive project.”
Danielle nodded self-consciously. “So, what do you do?”
June returned to the bench, limping heavily from all the walking she’d done so far today. “I’m a caterer. At least I was until I got in a car accident. I haven’t been able to be on my feet all day yet and so my partner has had to find people to fill in for me while I recover.”
“Catering sounds like a lot of work.”
“It is,” said June. “But I love it. We built the company from the ground up. It took a long time.”
“You don’t love it anymore?”
June stretched her leg out in front of her and felt a release of pressure. “I do. It’s just been so long since the accident and I remember all the stress that goes along with it. We were always working hard to meet deadlines. It’s either an overwhelming amount of work or just waiting for the next gig.”
“I guess I lucked out. When I won my permanent spot at this campground, I was so happy to retire from being a manager at a call center. A job like that drains the life out of you, you know? Coming out here and just living simply is one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
“I can imagine.” June took in a breath of the clean forest air, already feeling a little bit wistful. She, of course, wanted to go back to Chicago, back to her old life. She missed Alice and the kitchen, but she was still in too much pain to be able to be much help. While she had been on her feet for much of the day today, it wouldn’t be nearly as taxing as catering would be. That job rarely gave you a moment to sit.
Oh, June could do bookkeeping, but they already had an accountant for that. The real work was in the, well…work. Cooking and coming up with new recipes, testing them over and over on the easy days and frantically scrambling on the hard ones.
As apprehensive as she had been about coming out here, she was glad she had come. It was a nice change of pace. A small part of her wished she could just stay on vacation forever; leave all the stresses behind her. As much as she loved her catering business, she didn’t really need as much money as she made. Not that she didn’t have any bills, but she and her deceased husband had worked to pay off any debt they acquired.
The two women sat in companionable silence for a time.
As Prince Albert walked away, June’s thoughts returned to Penelope, “I can’t help thinking about that missing alpaca. It’s so frustrating that I don’t know where to look next. Was anyone angry at Melanie? I can’t imagine any other way for her keys to have gotten into the pen.”
Danielle grimaced. “I suppose the picture I painted of this being the perfect life isn’t quite true. Not everyone in the campground gets along. I know I said we’re like a big family, but well…you know how a family can be sometimes. I guess I could see someone trying to frame her, but to take the alpaca away from her home, I just don’t see anyone being that vicious. It would be more likely someone just wanted to hide her keys and they fell off the fence or something.”
June nodded. Every family had its problems.
“Do you know if she might have been fighting with someone recently? Or is there anyone in particular that she’s never gotten along with? It’s really the only clue I have to go with at this point. Since you are so adamant that Jameson didn’t do it, I don’t have anything else to go on.”
Danielle pursed her lips, leaning in and pitching her voice low, though there was really no one around to hear their conversation. “You didn’t hear this from me, but a few weeks back, she and Fran had a big argument. I don’t know what it was about, just that they were fighting. They were yelling at each other for so long that Ronald got called and had to break it up. Pretty much everyone here heard them fighting. If you ask me, Fran would most likely be the one to take the keys and set Melanie up.”
June tapped her lips with one finger. Clearly, there was another one of the campers she needed to visit.
Chapter Thirteen
June found Fran’s trailer easily enough, based on the directions she received from Danielle. It had been nice to meet someone else her own age and have a conversation, but now that she had rested and her hip felt better, the questions that nagged at her pushed her forward. What had the fight between Melanie and Fran been about and did it have anything to do with the missing alpacas?
Fran’s travel trailer was small but June quickly found herself admiring the clean lines and gentle curves of her Airstream. June had never been in one herself, but the American-built aluminum travel trailers were iconic. They had been around for probably at least as long as she had been, and she was surprised that they were still being made. This one was shiny enough to be brand new.
A large brown-and-white striped awning shaded the front of the rig and the small front yard outside the door. Tiny fairy lights were strung around the edges, but were current
ly unlit. Medium-sized potted plants grew on either side of the door, making the place seem more like a home than she expected. The philodendron, with its splotchy white and green leaves, looked to have overgrown the pot that it was currently in. A frayed broom rested against the side of the RV.
June stepped into the shade and lifted her hand to knock on the metal door, but it opened outward before she even touched it.
Large brown eyes peered out at her from within.
June froze.
There was something about the unblinking stare that unsettled her.
“June Winters, I knew you would come here with your questions.”
June crossed her free hand over the one that was holding on to the cane. As much as a part of her was terrified that this woman already knew her name and had opened the door the moment she raised her hand, the rational part knew that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
No sense getting all panicky over nothing. She cleared her throat. “Blanche asked me if I could look into the missing alpaca.” That wasn’t entirely true, and the owner had yet to figure out that she was related to Rebecca and Nathan, but Blanche had encouraged June’s curiosity.
With a swish of flowing fabric, Fran exited her trailer. She was surprisingly short and slender, with narrow lips and straight blonde hair. She had a stern and serious face, with a permanent crease between her brows, despite the fact that she was younger than June expected. She looked like she might blow away if the wind picked up, long skirts and all.
June pursed her lips to stifle a smile at the thought. She could just imagine the gypsy skirt working like a kite or maybe a parachute. But she had to admit, she wished she had the figure for a skirt like that.
Fran watched her with an unblinking stare. She was almost as bad as the alpacas. “I had a premonition last night. I knew something bad was going to happen.”
June opened her mouth to ask why Fran hadn’t informed anyone about the alpaca getting stolen in advance, but before she could say anything, Fran held up a finger.
“That’s all I knew. Usually my dreams provide me with more clarity. But when I woke up, it was too late to do anything about it, and I was absolutely horrified to find poor Penelope missing.”
June shouldn’t have been surprised to find that one of the campers thought she was psychic. Now that she knew more about her, the fairy lights and potted plants seemed to be right at home with Fran. It was elegant and cozy, with a touch of whimsy.
“To anyone gifted with the sight—” Fran made sure to slow down and emphasize ‘the sight’ “—we would have been able to feel it coming, like the heat before a storm, or a calm before a hurricane. Precious few of us have the gift these days. It might have been easier if someone else here had it. We draw on each other’s strengths, you know.”
“I did not know that,” said June, trying not to sound too skeptical.
Fran sniffed. “I shouldn’t have expected someone like you to believe me. You have the stink of the city all over you.” Fran gestured to the space around June. “It dampens your aura and makes you less attuned to what the universe is trying to convey. I will ask you this. How did I know that you would be knocking on my door?”
“You could have seen me through your window,” said June.
Fran pursed her lips. “And your name? How did I know that?”
“People talk. Anyone could have told my name to you.”
Fran shook her head slowly. “Or I could have sensed it, as I did. Your name is an odd one. I wonder why your parents named you both after the summer and the winter.”
June hid a smile. Despite her skeptical nature, she found this woman and her mannerisms intriguing. She’d had a friend years ago that had faith in everything there was to believe in. They’d had long discussions about how June should arrange her furniture and what was wrong with her aura and why she should go to several different churches until she found the one that resonated with her spirit—which was a nice idea in thought, but June had never seen it through. She brought her mind to the task at hand. “Winters is my married name. My husband died a long time ago.”
“It doesn’t matter how you came by your name. What matters is what your name means. Opposites are very powerful things! Hot and cold, dark and light, all mixed together in you. You might have had the gift if you had spent more time attuning yourself to the universe. Still, it’s never too late to learn. You should sit for a reading sometime. I would be quite curious to read your future.”
“You mean like a palm reading or something?” June asked.
“There are other ways, and it does help that I am very much in touch with the aura of this place. I have been here for a long time and attuned myself to it. I know that you have come to ask me a question, and I sense your curious nature. You seek truth, and you will find it, but not here. You must do it soon or your family will suffer.” Fran watched her with an intense unblinking stare that made June wish this conversation was already over.
June cleared her throat. Was that last bit supposed to be a threat or a hint of troubles? “Um…I did come in hopes of finding the truth. I came to ask you about Melanie.”
Fran scowled. The airy, mystical quality that she had moments before vanished. She shifted on the large, chartreuse rug. “Melanie is not here, but I assume you already know that.”
“Yes, but I found her keys in the alpacas’ pen this morning, the same place that Penelope went missing. No one seems to know how they got there, and since Melanie has been away for a week, I’m asking around to find who might have had her keys last. Someone mentioned that the two of you had a fight recently.”
Fran crossed her arms, one booted foot tapping rapidly under the flowing skirt. “Just because I had a disagreement with someone does not mean that I stole the alpaca. You have clearly not met Melanie. She’s a very disagreeable person.”
Someone who loaned her truck to the whole campground did not sound particularly disagreeable, but then, that was all June knew about Melanie. “So you didn’t take the keys?”
“Of course not! I may not like her, I may not have anything to say to that…that…woman, but I’ve got better things to do with my time than fret over Miss Melanie Morgan. The more I stay away from her, the better I am able to concentrate on the things that matter. The universe does not speak to people who are too filled with emotion to hear what it is trying to say.”
“If you stay away from her, how did you know she was gone?”
Fran rolled her eyes in an exaggerated movement that made June wonder if she had a fainting couch installed in her Airstream. “Everyone around here knew she was leaving. She made such a big deal about her next grandchild before she left. It was as if she was birthing the child herself. If you ask me, people like that are overpopulating the planet. Melanie’s always disappearing for one grandchild or the other.”
June clamped down on her desire to reply. She would love to be a grandmother. Of course, she was a bit too young for that just yet.
“And you have no idea who might have taken the keys?”
“Not a clue.” Fran spun back toward her trailer, her skirts swishing around her ankles. “If that is all the questions you have to ask me, I must return to my meditation. Seeing into the future takes intense time and focus.”
“Thanks for taking the time to talk to me,” said June. She paused. “Actually, I have one more question for you,”
Fran glared at her from the steps of her trailer.
“Do you think that Jameson might have had a reason to take the alpaca?”
The petite woman gave her a look like June had asked if alpacas laid eggs. “You couldn’t have picked anyone less likely. No, I can’t imagine him doing anything like that. If that man wanted money, he could charge once in a while for fixing things and I doubt he’d even know the first thing about taking care of one.”
“Well, thanks again,” said June. “If the universe tells you anything about the missing alpaca, I’d love to hear about it.”
; Fran’s eyes flashed with anger, looking as though June had insulted her. “The sight doesn’t work that way. I don’t get to choose what the universe shows me, I am merely a vessel.” She climbed back into her trailer with a swish of skirts and closed the door firmly behind her, but her hem got caught in the door.
June waited, curious how long Fran was going to pretend that everything was fine.
The door opened. Fran glared at her, snatched the fabric out of the doorway and slammed the door behind her.
June bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. There was nothing quite so good at ruining a dramatic exit as having your skirt caught. She wondered exactly what ‘the sight’ was useful for if it wasn’t any good at helping a lost pregnant mama alpaca get home to her flock.
With a long sigh, she turned and walked away.
Chapter Fourteen
June walked away from Fran’s motorhome, wondering if everything she had said was true. She hadn’t tried to hide the fact that she didn’t get along with Melanie, but June thought she was probably telling the truth about the alpaca.
The sun had begun its decent in earnest. A woman standing outside her fifth wheel was grilling brats, reminding June that the day was mostly over, and that she should probably whip up something before Rebecca and Nathan got back.
She tried to remain positive. At least she’d made a new friend, and that was always a good thing. Since all her clues seemed to be reaching dead-ends, she figured that she could at least put Melanie’s keys back. It really didn’t do her any good to hold on to them, and if someone at the campground needed the truck for some reason, she didn’t really have the right to keep them.
Besides, Melanie’s fifth wheel was right across the road from Fran’s and so it wasn’t that far of a walk. June pursed her lips looking over all the potted plants. Which one would Melanie hide her keys under? The one closest to the truck seemed the most logical. She hefted the dish, careful not to knock the whole plant over. Sure enough, there was a little indentation in the ground from where the keys had been before. June held the keys for a moment. If someone really was trying to frame Melanie, then giving them back the keys might not be the best idea. A person could do a lot of damage with a truck. She let go of the pot and it thumped back to the ground.
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