"Look, though," Henry said. "His clothes are all out here by the washer and dryer in this little chest of drawers. I wonder if he left Grandma's things in place."
"Do you think he slept on the couch or in here on the bed?"
"Oh Polly, do you think that he just existed out there?"
"There is a pile of sheets and blankets beside the couch and a couple of pillows there. I'll bet he didn't use anything else."
"That's so sad." Henry opened the door of a wardrobe standing at the end of the room. "Look at this. Here's his uniform, still in the plastic from the dry cleaners. And here are his boots, polished to a shine."
"This is really a wonderful house. It would be too bad if it just sat here empty. If someone fixed up the outside, it would be awesome for a family."
"Don't even think it. I'll never have time for this."
"I know. But still." Polly sat down in a chair at a secretary. "Have you guys looked through this stuff yet?"
"Not really. We haven't had time."
She pulled the top down, creating a desktop. There were papers and receipts shoved in every nook and cranny of the top. "Umm, wow. Do you guys even know what kind of money he had?" Polly started drawing out old savings records. She flipped one open. "Henry, the last deposit date on here is in May and there's forty-two thousand dollars in the account."
He huffed a chuckle and shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me. Aunt Betty was paying him rent to farm the land. He didn't have anything to spend it on, so he socked it away. At least he put it in the bank. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised to find it stuffed in mattresses and buried in the back yard in coffee cans."
"Do you suppose that's what the killer was looking for?"
"Money? Maybe."
"If they thought he was hoarding money and didn't find any, all of that time they spent in Bellingwood would be wasted. What if they're not done yet?"
"Oh come on, Polly. They wouldn't stick around after killing someone."
"They would if they didn't get anything from your uncle. There are other old men living by themselves around here. Old men that don't have the Sturtz OCD tendency. No one would look at the outside of this house and think Loren was organized. His truck was old and beat up and you said he was a mess."
Henry was nodding as she spoke. "But what can we do about that?"
"I want to call Stu Decker tomorrow."
"It's Saturday. What if he isn't working?"
"Then I'll call and find out who is working. It wouldn't hurt for Aaron to think about some of the old guys who live in Bellingwood. If this person doesn't leave right away because they don't want to draw attention to themselves, maybe they aren't planning to leave until they get what they want or need."
"You have a crazy vivid imagination. Sometimes you freak me out when you think like a criminal."
"I don't think like a criminal. I'm not that creative, but if nothing's missing, then this other is a possibility. Am I right?"
"I suppose."
"And you'd be destroyed if something happened to someone else."
"You are right about that."
"Hello!" and a knock came from a doorsill in the living room.
"Aunt Betty?" Henry called out. "Is that you?"
"Hi Henry," she said, coming into the room with them. "We saw lights on and thought we ought to check it out. With everything that's happened, I didn't want to take any chances."
"Is Uncle Dick with you?"
She glanced over her shoulder and Polly stood up when Dick walked in carrying a shotgun.
"I guess so," Henry laughed.
"I recognized your truck when we pulled in, so I felt safe enough."
"Polly and I were just looking around. Now that I can get in here again, I wanted to remember this place before it all changed again," Henry said.
"Can you believe that old Loren kept everything the same?" she asked.
"Even the bedspreads upstairs."
"I haven't done anything with those yet because I suspect that the first time they go into a washing machine, they'll fall apart."
Betty and Dick Mercer were only a couple of years older than Bill and Marie Sturtz. Loren had been the oldest of the three. Betty was comfortable in her jeans and boots, while Dick, a red-cheeked, pale Norwegian, looked most at home in a pair of bib overalls. Both had infectious grins.
"We should have called," Henry said. "I didn't mean to interrupt dinner."
"That's okay. It's just sandwiches, but I didn't want to make a mess down my front," Betty said, laughing as she gestured to the flowery apron she wore. "I don't always wear my aprons when I go out, but Dad here thought we should get moving and didn't give me time to even take it off. Would you two like to join us?"
Henry glanced at Polly and she shrugged. "Another time, Aunt Betty. Polly and I have a date tonight."
"And you started it out here?" Dick stepped forward. "Son, this is why it took you so long to find the right woman."
"At least I found her. If I'd let this one slip away, I might have turned into Uncle Loren."
Betty drew the back of her hand up to her forehead dramatically and said, "Heaven forfend! Your poor mother would have signed you up for dating websites before she let that happen."
"We'll let you two enjoy the rest of your date. Come on, Mother. Leave them alone." Dick put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Maybe we should have a date tonight."
"Oh you." Betty swatted his hand away. "It's nice to see you both. Come out some time when it's not so busy. We'd like to get to know you better, Polly." She turned and pushed her husband backward, then crossed in front of him and walked to the front door. Dick winked at Henry and Polly and then followed after her.
"They're really something," Polly said when she heard the door close.
"She can be tough as nails when she needs to be. Uncle Dick is a pushover, so she handles the business end of things. No one in three counties wants to face Betty Mercer when she's negotiating for a new piece of equipment. And that woman knows when to sell corn - it's like a sixth sense or something for her."
"I like them. We should have them over sometime."
"That's a good idea. Are you ready to head into town and get dinner?"
"Anytime," she said. "I just want to be with you."
"Then let's get going. It's prime rib at Davey's tonight. That sounds really good." He let her go out the door first and turned the lights off.
"You haven't said anything about a funeral," Polly said when they got to the truck. "Are you going to do that?"
"I don't think so. Loren didn't know anyone in town and it seems silly to make a big production out of his death. Mom and Dad said something about scattering his ashes later this summer. If Betty and Dick's kids can be there and Lonnie can come, we'll have a family memorial."
"Okay. I was just wondering. You know Lydia is going to ask, too."
"She probably already has. I'll make sure with Mom, though."
Polly reached out and put her hand on his arm while he drove down the gravel road. "Thanks for bringing me out here tonight. It was fun to see you like this."
"I just needed to get in there one more time. I think I can let it all go now."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Even though rain was pouring down, this was the first morning in what felt like a year, that things seemed normal. Henry hadn't gotten up before dawn to work and there were no extra people in the building. Polly was in the kitchen scrambling eggs, watching lightning flash across the sky. She wouldn't mind it if no one called or knocked on their door or needed anything all day long.
Sylvie's car drove by, heading for the barn. Polly smiled when she realized that her friend was in the passenger seat. Jason had turned fourteen and the first thing he'd begged for was his driving permit. How in the world could time be passing so quickly? He was heading to Boone this fall for his freshman year in high school. It was good that Andrew had Rebecca, otherwise he would desperately miss his older brother.
Hen
ry came into the room, smelling fresh from a shower. "What's up for you today?" he asked.
"I don't know. I feel like hiding up here with you. Will that work?" She pulled two plates out and set them on the counter.
"Uh. I. Uh."
Polly poked him in the ribs with her elbow. "I'm kidding. I want to spend some time in the barn and whether she wants me there or not, I'm scooping Joss up for lunch. Andrew and Rebecca will probably be around and who knows after that. What about you?"
"Ben and I were going to head over to his place. I think he just wants someone there to listen while he works out his plans."
"I'm sorry, and I know he's a friend of yours, but that wife of his is zippety ki yi yay in the head. I know they lost their house, but so did a bunch of other people in town and she is acting like her life is over. All of her life."
"Some people don't handle tragedy like you do, Polly."
"I know. You're right. But still."
"You have such a pragmatic outlook on life. It's kind of incredible and sometimes a little intimidating."
"Really?" Polly filled their plates with eggs and bacon and slices of buttered toast. "Do you want jelly this morning?"
"No, this is fine." He took a plate and a cup of coffee over to the peninsula. "And yes, really. You know that tomorrow will bring something new and if today sucks, all you have to do is wait. A lot of people get stuck in the suck and don't have faith that tomorrow is coming. Amanda can only think about what she's lost and doesn't see that she'll get a new home without all of the problems the old house had. She doesn't know that it will be fun to look for new furniture. She's still thinking about how comfortable that twenty year old chair was. She doesn't do change like you do."
"I suppose. Ben's a saint, then."
"He's a good guy." Henry chuckled. "But you gotta know that some of those guys think the same thing about me." He laughed a little maliciously.
"That you're a saint for living with me? But I'm fun!" Polly tossed a dish towel at his head.
"Yes you are, but you're also opinionated and nearly always right. You don't back down from anything once you get a good head of steam going."
"Damned straight," she said. "A girl's gotta go through life with a little bit of confidence. Right?"
He nodded his head up and down with eyes wide open. "Absolutely, sweetie pie, absolutely."
"Yeah. That one doesn't work either."
"Man, I'm never going to find the right words, am I?"
"It's kind of cute."
"That's me. Cute. Let's not tell the guys that, okay?"
When they were finished, Polly and Obiwan headed down to the barn. The dog wandered through the pasture, but decided rain wasn't what he wanted to play in, so came inside immediately.
"Good morning!" she called.
"Hi Polly," Jason said, coming out of Nat's stall. "What are you doing down here today?"
"I missed everyone, so I thought I'd come help. Is that okay?"
He just smiled at her.
"I saw you driving with your mom this morning. How does that feel?"
"It's great. But I can't believe I have to wait another two years to drive by myself."
"I can't believe you're already driving. It took six months before I was allowed on the road."
Jason nodded back toward the feed room. "Eliseo helped me. He takes me over to the school parking lot so I can practice."
"Good morning, Polly." Eliseo came out of the feed room, followed by two donkeys. They picked up speed when they saw Polly and soon she was surrounded by big floppy ears and wet, smelly donkeys.
"They don't much like being cooped up," he said. "And a little rain won't hurt anyone. Jason, do you want to let the horses out? It's not coming down hard enough to stop them from playing. There's no reason for any of them to be inside."
"Sure," Jason said. He walked through Demi's stall to open up an outside door and then led everyone out to the pasture.
"I guess I'm a little late to be helping," Polly said. "Sorry."
"It's no problem. I got started early this morning and Jason helped me finish up." He picked up a broom and began sweeping phantom dirt from the floor of the alley.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
Eliseo stopped, put his hand on the top of the broom and looked at her. "I think so. I feel restless for some reason."
"Restless how? You aren't leaving me, are you? Do you need more money, more free time? You can't go." Polly's heart clenched inside her. Eliseo was the only reason she was able to have these animals in her life. Without him, she couldn't handle this.
"Oh no, no, no," he said. "For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm missing something important."
"What do you mean by that?"
He swept his arm around the barn. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me and yes, I feel part of it. You've given me a lot of freedom, but it's still all yours. I have nothing that is truly mine."
"What do you think you want?" Polly swallowed. She didn't know what else to say.
He sat down on the bench across the alley. "This is a terrible time to be thinking about it, especially while there are so many folks in town trying to find a safe place to live. But I'm ready to find my own house. Maybe a house with a little land. I could get a dog and have room to breathe at night. If I want to sleep under the stars, no one will come out of their homes and find me, then call the police because they think I've gone off the deep end. I've been in that little house for a year and I'm tired of renting and neighbors and noise. I want something that is my own."
"Wow." She breathed an audible sigh of relief. "That's a big deal. Did you ever imagine settling in Iowa?"
"Not on your life." He chuckled, a grin lifting his cheeks. "The winters are terrible here. I've never been so cold as I was this last year. The bugs in the summer are enough to make a sane person fly off the handle. That's one of the reasons the horses like the rainy days, no flies to bother them. I need to get another set of fly sheets next week for them. Those help. The flies are awful."
Polly nodded. "They look kind of funny all dressed up out here. My horses are all fancy and stuff."
"It really helps them, though."
"What kind of house are you looking for?" she asked.
"I don't know. Something bigger than what I have."
"That is a pretty small little house. You've done great work putting it back together."
"We've gone over the year mark and I certainly don't mind paying full rent for the place, but I'd like to start building a home."
"I'm really excited you plan to stick around," Polly said. "You should talk to Henry. After everything that has been going on this week, he's going to know more about the real estate in town than anyone. And, he can tell you who the good agents are."
"I'll talk to him. This isn't anything I'm in a hurry to do, but when I start looking, I don't want you to be surprised."
"Say something to Jeff, too. That man knows everyone."
"Do you think he'll ever move to Bellingwood?"
Polly laughed. "No. I doubt it. He's a city boy at heart. Fortunately, Ames is less than a half hour drive. Can you imagine? Living in Ames and commuting to Bellingwood? What a hoot. Most of the time it's the other way around."
"I guess he has his own life to lead."
"Yeah. I guess."
The donkeys had wandered back outside and Obiwan was sitting on the floor in front of her.
"So ...," she began.
"Are you going to ask about me sleeping here last Sunday?"
"Well, maybe."
He chuckled. "You don't let much go, do you, Polly?"
"I think it's one of my failings."
"I'm fine. The idea of being in the basement with all of you and wondering if the place was going to come toppling down on my head was more than I could handle. Being out here with the animals, even though they were upset, was a much better place to be. And then, I just fell into one of my slumps. I couldn't move. I couldn't do a
nything."
"And Nan helped?"
He gave her a weak smile. "Would you believe they all helped? Even the cats. When the worst of it was over, I opened the stalls so the donkeys could move in and out and before I knew it, Tom and Huck pushed me into Nan's stall and Tom lay down with me until I could breathe again. Nan stood over us until the next morning. Hansel and Gretel were both in there, too. I had my own therapy session."
Polly felt tears come to her eyes. Dang, she had to quit crying at everything all the time. "You can never leave us," she said.
"No, I don't think I can. I've never gone this long without an episode and I've never come out of one so quickly."
"Wow, I just don't think any of us get that."
"I hope you never do."
"Is it flashbacks?"
"Yes," he said. "I have those all the time and most of the time I breathe through them, but sometimes I get stuck in them."
Polly and Eliseo's relationship had grown over the last year, but he'd never really confided in her about these things.
"I was talking to a man who had been in Viet Nam," she said. "He told me that he came back all messed up. Is it the same thing?"
"Those poor guys didn't have anyone around to tell them what they were dealing with. They were expected to drop back into civilian life and deal with it. The army was barely ready to admit that PTSD was a real thing when I got out. And I hate to say it, but at least I had physical scars that made what happened to me real. Some of my buddies were completely screwed up from the things they saw and experienced, but because they looked normal on the outside, no one believed they were falling apart. So what if they got drunk all the time. And if they freaked out and beat on their wives or became immobilized by all of their emotions, it was their problem and they had to just deal with it."
Jason slipped in and sat down beside Polly on the bench. "Do you wish you hadn't gone into the army?" he asked Eliseo.
"No Jason, I don't. If I hadn't gone through all of that, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't know you and Polly and your mom and Andrew. I wouldn't have these big old animals in my life and I wouldn't be living in Iowa. Our lives are made up of the choices and decisions we make and to look back and regret any of them is to miss out on what they teach us."
Tomorrow's Promises (Bellingwood Book 7) Page 16
