by R A Wallace
Megan hadn’t seen Liz since she’d discovered the truth behind the death of Liz’s brother, Jonah Simms, a man that had been killed at the elementary school over forty years ago. She wasn’t certain what her reception would be. She was relieved to see Liz smile warmly when she turned and saw Megan.
Megan and Liz sat in a room in the rear of the house as Megan explained the reason for her visit. Three of the walls had windows that also had screens. At this time of the year, the windows were open, and the warmth of the day felt good.
“Is this another of your puzzles?” Liz asked.
Megan nodded. “Do you remember Alice?”
“Oh, yes. Jonah had a crush on her.” Liz smiled at the memory. “Alice never did anything to encourage it, of course. She was such a nice girl. She wouldn’t have led him on that way, you know.”
Megan nodded in agreement. The woman in the journal was kind. She would not have toyed with a young man’s affections. Megan wondered again what had happened to turn Alice into the near monster her fellow residents at the retirement community had described.
***
Archie Travis was taking a break when Megan rang his doorbell. In his seventies, Archie was a small man with a big personality. He led Megan to a chair and offered her a drink. She declined and commented on his garage. It looked crammed to the gills.
Archie scratched his bald head covered in dark spots. The remaining hair rimming his head curled wildly around his ears. “I’m not sure when it got away from me, but it definitely did. I guess I just brought too many things home over the years. No real use for some of it now and I don’t remember a lot of it anyway.”
“Are you planning to sell some things in the community sale?” Megan asked. She assumed that was why his garage door was open.
“Well, I don’t know. I was looking around in there and found some interesting stuff. I might want to keep it,” Archie said, his bushy eyebrows dancing as he laughed at himself.
Megan smiled back. She had first spoken to Archie when she was working on the puzzle of the Swindell twins. She knew he was of the right age to know Alice. She explained the situation to him.
Archie sat and rubbed at his chin as he thought back. “They say she was mean?”
Megan nodded and was about to speak when Archie broke in.
“That just can’t be.” He shook his head.
“You remember Alice?” Megan asked.
Archie let out a chuckle. “Very well, yes. She was a looker, that’s for sure. The two of them both were.”
Megan wondered if the older gentleman was getting confused. “Two of them?”
“Sure. Alice and Ginger. They resembled each other quite a lot. You would have thought they were twins.”
“Ginger? Do you remember her last name?” Megan asked.
Archie’s eyes became unfocused for a moment before he turned back to Megan. “Sturdivant. Ginger Sturdivant. My, that brings back memories.”
***
Megan found Mr. and Mrs. Givens sitting in their driveway just outside of their garage. They explained to Megan that Bella had been doing most of the work after she got home from school. They were just sorting through the things they had already agreed to sell and tagging them with prices. They were able to perform most of the work from the comfort of their chairs. Bella had everything lined up for them.
“What brings you by?” Joni asked.
Ava had explained the help that Megan had given when Ava feared the old elementary school was haunted. The older couple knew that Megan had cleared up the mystery of the ghost. Megan explained the death of Alice Durant and the journal.
“Oh, yes. We knew Alice. She was a lovely girl,” Joni said as she glanced at her husband. Ham Givens nodded in agreement.
“Can you tell me anything specific?” Megan asked.
Joni looked over at Ham for a moment then smiled. “Well, she loved to quilt. She won the blue ribbon at the fair for one of her quilts.”
“That’s right, she did,” Ham smiled back at Joni. “She won for her cookies too, remember?”
“Did you know Ginger Sturdivant?” Megan watched the smiles turn to frowns.
“Yes, she was the same age,” Joni said.
“Did you think they looked alike?” Megan asked.
“Oh, everyone saw the resemblance,” Ham said. “Funny thing though.”
“What’s that?” Megan asked.
“Alice loved ginger cookies, that’s what she won a ribbon for. But Ginger hated them. You would think with a name like that, she would have liked them.”
Chapter Twenty
A typical day of programming for Brad would fly by without much awareness of the time or anything else around him. Today had not been like that. Brad had been watching the clock all morning. He wasn’t certain how he would possibly make it through many more days like this one. He glanced at the time again and sighed. He could hear Erica flipping through the channels on the television in the room down the hall. She had comments for each new channel she switched to. None of them were positive.
“Another food show?” Erica asked in exasperation. She had never understood why people would want to spend hours in the kitchen.
Brad looked back at his monitor and tried to focus. He had hoped that him working from home would be a good thing once Erica had gotten to the point where she could no longer work during her pregnancy. He was wondering now what he had been thinking. There was no way he was going to be able to focus long enough to write a few lines of code, let alone an entire program.
“Seriously? Do people really watch this stuff?” Erica grumbled.
It wasn’t that Erica was purposely annoying him or that she even tried to interrupt him on a regular basis. Somehow, the simple fact that he knew the woman he loved was down the hall, stewing because she was unable to do the work she loved, was enough. It just drove him crazy.
“I can’t believe they even made a movie about this!” Erica made another noise of exasperation and turned off the television.
Brad got up from his computer and walked down the hall. Erica was in the living room, resting on the couch. Brad had propped up as many pillows as he could to make her comfortable. It hadn’t really worked. At this point, no position was comfortable for longer than a few minutes.
“Is it time for lunch yet?” Erica asked.
Brad smiled. The twins were voracious eaters. “Not quite yet, but if you’re hungry I could make a snack.”
Erica struggled to sit up. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just wait for lunch. I’m always hungry but mostly I’m just bored.”
Brad quickly moved to help her reposition herself. “Better?”
Erica let out another sigh. “Am I driving you bonkers yet?”
“Oh, yeah.” Brad grinned at Erica.
She smiled back and patted the seat next to her. “Next time, you’re carrying the baby.”
“There’s going to be a next time?” Brad asked as he carefully bent his long form to sit on the couch without jostling her.
“We’ll see how it goes with these two first,” Erica answered. She looked back at the television. “I should have planned better. I’m going to drive us both crazy between now and then. There’s absolutely nothing to do.”
Brad was nodding in agreement when the doorbell rang. He glanced at Erica, but she only shrugged. He rose and went to answer the door.
“Marcy?” Brad looked down at the box she was carrying and quickly reached for it. “Let me help you with that.”
“Oh, thanks,” Marcy smiled in relief. It was heavy. She followed Brad into the living room.
“Marcy, what brings you here?” Erica asked as she pointed to a chair.
Marcy shook her head. “I can’t stay, I have to get back to work. I was asked to drop these off for you.”
Brad glanced down at the box then carried it over to Erica. It looked like it was full of folders.
“There’s another one out in the car,” Marcy said.
Erica glanced in
the box and recognized the folders immediately. She flashed surprised hazel eyes at Marcy. “Case files?”
Marcy nodded. “Jerry thought they would help keep you entertained. They’re cold cases from the archives.”
Erica should have guessed. Marcy worked in the office with the files. She looked down at the box and felt like crying. It was like the best gift ever.
Brad watched his wife’s reaction and smiled. He turned to Marcy and offered to carry the other box in. Brad waved goodbye to Marcy, set the second box next to an ecstatic Erica, and went back to his computer. Before he settled down to write some serious code, he pulled out his phone and texted a thanks to Jerry.
***
Marcy drove away from the Henleys, her mind returning to the time that her own son, Ethan, was born. Even then, she’d known her marriage was in trouble. Marcy had struggled through with the marriage for several years after Ethan was born. But by the time he was seven, she hadn’t been able to take it anymore and had returned home to her father. It had taken several more years after that to actually finalize the divorce.
It wasn’t that her husband didn’t want a divorce. He’d simply taken off to parts unknown. For a long time, Marcy was so happy to be away from him that she hadn’t wanted to rock the boat. Over time, she grew more worried about his legal rights if she didn’t divorce him.
Now, here she was, on the wrong side of thirty five. She wouldn’t say that she was alone, she still had Ethan. But she knew that he would be starting college before she knew it. He had grown up so fast. She hadn’t lied to her dad, not exactly. There was someone new in her life. But she wasn’t yet sure what he thought about her. And she didn’t want to make another colossal mistake. She would rather live the rest of her life alone than end up with someone like her husband.
She’d first met Jack a few months ago while she was away on a training session. She hadn’t seen him again until recently when he’d shown up in Teaberry unexpectedly. He’d met her for lunch a couple of times since then. He’d hinted about seeing her more often, but Marcy wasn’t sure yet how she wanted to proceed. Dating when you have an impressionable teenager is a lot trickier than she’d imagined. She didn’t want her son to watch her skip through men like candy.
The light in front of her turned red. Marcy braked and waited for it to change. She glanced over at the water fountain in the town square. She loved it here in Teaberry and, from the number of people enjoying the park-like area of the town square, she wasn’t the only one. While she waited for the light, she absently checked out the people to see if she knew anyone.
She was surprised to see Jack walking on the sidewalk around the square. She was about to wave and get his attention when a woman got out of her parked car and walked over to him. Jack bent down and kissed her, then the two of them turned and walked back the other way.
A horn sounded. It took Marcy a moment to realize it was behind her. The light had turned green. Blindly, she accelerated and drove the rest of the way back to work. She wondered the entire way who the woman with Jack could have been.
Chapter Twenty-One
Megan parked her truck in the lot at Dan’s feed store. As she walked toward the front door, she saw Dan holding the door open for Mrs. Belker with one hand. He was carrying some potted chrysanthemums in the other hand. Megan said hello to Mrs. Belker when she got to the building. Dan held up a finger to Megan and then walked Mrs. Belker to her car.
Megan could hear Mrs. Belker thanking Dan for the free flowers. Dan assured Mrs. Belker it was his pleasure and reminded her to stop by again for new flowers for her garden in the spring. Mrs. Belker promised that she would and then got into her car. Megan watched her drive away as Dan returned to the store.
She raised her eyebrows at him when he stopped in front of her. “What was that about?”
“Mrs. Belker was my troll,” Dan said.
Megan felt her mouth drop open. She turned and looked at the sixty-something driving away.
“Mrs. Belker posted all those nasty things about you? Why?” Megan asked in shock.
“She bought some plants here this past spring and they all died. She’d picked out shade lovers because she liked the look of them but then planted them all in full sun.” Dan shrugged as he turned to walk back into the store.
Megan followed him. “She seems to have gotten over it.”
“She was pretty annoyed that you weren’t posting her comments in public anymore, so she came to give me an earful in person. We ended up having a nice talk. She understands now that she needs to match the plant with the location.” Dan walked through the store and out the back. At this time of the year, he still had quite a few pumpkins for sale along with the chrysanthemums.
“Are you suggesting that it’s safe to post her comments again?” Megan asked with a grin.
“Maybe we’ll wait a bit and see how it goes,” Dan said. “What brings you in?”
“Just stopping along my way. I talked to some people in town who knew Alice.” Megan looked around at the pumpkins. “I like that one.”
“I’ll bring it home tonight. Where are you headed next?” Dan picked up the pumpkin.
“I’m going back to the retirement community. I have some more questions to ask.”
***
Megan remembered from her previous visits how to get to some of the villas. She parked her truck in one of the lots near the villas and went to Laura Davidson’s first. Laura invited her in and offered to call the others to make it easier for Megan. Josie Klingerman was at home. Laura suggested that she take Megan to Josie’s in the golf cart.
Josie met them at her door and invited them in. “What did you learn?”
Megan took the seat that Josie indicated. “Actually, I have some more questions.”
Laura and Josie shared a look, then both nodded to Megan to begin.
“What can you tell me specifically about Alice?” Megan asked. She saw the confusion cross their faces. “For example, what kind of interests did she have at the retirement community? You must have a lot of different activities here. Which ones did Alice participate in?”
“Oh, I see what you mean.” Laura narrowed her eyes as she thought. Then shook her head. “I can’t really think of any. I belong to the quilt club here. I tried to be friendly with Alice and I stopped and asked her to join. More than once, actually. But she said she didn’t like to sew anymore.”
Megan looked over at Josie. “Can you think of anything?”
“I help out at the pot lucks and holiday events. You know, where everyone brings a dish?” Josie waited for Megan to nod her understanding. “Alice never participated in those either. Several of us asked her.”
Megan thought for a moment. “Did you ever bake any Christmas cookies here for one of the events?”
Josie and Laura chuckled. “Every year. We have a lot of sweet tooths living here,” Josie said.
“We even deliver trays of them for people who don’t get out,” Laura added.
“Did you ever deliver them to Alice?”
Laura looked over at Josie. Josie nodded. “I did, a few times. She was a little picky about them though.”
“She didn’t like Christmas cookies?” Megan asked.
“Some of them. But one year, I made a lot of gingerbread men. She almost threw the tray at me. That was the last time I delivered cookies to her.”
***
Megan thanked Laura for the ride and rang the bell at Victor Muncie’s villa. She’d known him as a child. He had been the larger-than-life superintendent of the schools when she was very young. It still surprised her to see that the man standing in front of her now was barely an inch taller than she was.
“Megan, it’s good to see you again,” Victor said as he led her into the living room. “You remember Silas Granger?”
Megan nodded her greeting. She’d spoken to Silas and Victor when working on previous puzzles.
“And this is Sam Whittaker and Kevin Upton.” Silas motioned for Megan to take a
seat.
The men were scattered around the room. The villa had an open space design. The living room and dining room were basically a shared space. The kitchen was on the other side of a counter. You could see everything from each of the three rooms.
Sam and Kevin were seated at the dining room table. Silas and Victor took a seat in the living room closer to Megan.
“Were you able to learn anything yet?” Victor asked.
“I have a few questions, actually.” Megan looked around at the four men and explained that she wanted to know about Alice’s interests.
Victor spoke first. “I’m not sure that I knew of any. I tried to be friends with Alice several times over the years, but she never responded to any of my attempts.”
“Do you have any idea why Alice may have been so different from what you remembered once she moved back to Teaberry?” Megan asked.
Victor shrugged. “I just figured she’d had a difficult life.”
Megan looked over at the two men sitting at the dining table. “Do you know of any activities here that Alice was involved in?”
Sam and Kevin exchanged looks. Both men were thin and were dressed warmly. Although the October sun still offered some warmth in the afternoons, that warmth fled quickly with a passing cloud.
Sam turned to Megan. “You mean, like at the gatherings here? We have dances here a couple of times each fall and spring.”
“You like to dance?” Megan asked with a smile.
Sam smiled shyly back. “I do. I’m not the best at it. Alice always danced with me when we were in school together though.”
“She wouldn’t dance with you here?” Megan asked.
Sam shook his head and drew his brows together. “At first she said she didn’t know how. I finally reminded her that we used to dance in school together.”
“What did she say then?”
“She claimed she’d forgotten how to dance.” Sam shrugged. “I just figured she didn’t want to dance with me.”
