Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  Polly stood and followed him into the outer office. He was on his way to the kitchen when the three women entered, planted their feet and stared at Polly. No one said a word.

  "I'm fine," Polly finally said.

  They continued to stare at her.

  "Oh, come on!" she pleaded. "I'm fine!"

  Beryl pointed at Polly's face. "That's a most creative makeup job. Purple, green and black and only on one side."

  Lydia and Andy continued to stare silently.

  "I didn't do anything wrong and I'm fine. What more do you want from me?"

  "March," Lydia said and pointed to the conference room. Polly marched and the women followed her in, taking seats around her when she sat down.

  "Now tell me why I had to wait until this morning to find out that you had been beaten up?" Lydia asked.

  "I don't know! I would have assumed that you heard the activity on your police scanner or Aaron would have told you," Polly countered.

  "I should have heard from you. If I had heard it on the police scanner I would have worried all night long."

  "So it's better that you didn't hear anything until this morning, right?"

  "Wrong! Polly, we're your friends. Even if you don't need us to take care of you, we want to know what is happening. Especially when someone hurts you!"

  "And leaves a mark," Beryl interrupted. "That's gonna be glorious!"

  Jeff came in with the coffee and quietly set it down on the table, then pulled up a chair. He looked around at the group of women and said, "I want to hear the story, too. Can I stay?"

  Polly chuckled. "First they have to beat me up a little, then I'll tell the story."

  "Oh, I want to watch this, too. Sometimes you're my greatest entertainment."

  "We aren't going to beat you up, Polly," Andy said. "We're sick that you were hurt."

  "I'm fine," Polly assured them. "I promise. Now, if you will pour yourselves some coffee and sit back and relax, I'll tell you what happened yesterday so you don't have to hear exaggerated stories from anyone else."

  Polly began her story by admitting to finding the vase on Saturday and hoping to wait until the weekend was over to tell anyone in case Eliseo was involved. She had a great deal of fun watching her friends react to her retelling of the events and made sure to emphasize Eliseo's heroic intervention. When she described being hit in the face and punched in the stomach, Lydia's face fell and she could see that the woman was near tears, so she rushed ahead to recount her superheroine actions with a manure shovel and then the delivery of a good, swift kick to the poor man's privates.

  Beryl interrupted, "That's the second time you've kicked a man when he's down, Polly."

  "And if someone threatens me again, it won't be the last time," Polly announced. "He certainly didn't care how much he hurt me and I was going to insist that he remember that came with a price."

  Andy shuddered. "I don't think I would remember to do any of those things in a crisis. I hope you're around if I ever have to face that," she said to Polly.

  "Ladies," Jeff said, "you can never allow Polly to own a gun. It's bad enough she aims down there with her foot, but if she ever got angry enough and aimed a gun at a man, she wouldn't aim for the heart, she'd aim much lower. That's frightening!"

  Polly gave him an evil grin and continued, telling of Ken Waller's arrival and the arrest.

  "Eliseo and I need to go to the police station today to give our statements, but I think this chapter is finally closed," she said.

  Lydia was shaking her head, "Why would you have gone out to the barn alone?"

  Polly was taken aback. "Why not? It wasn't dark. I had no idea that anyone was around. It's my barn and this is Bellingwood, for goodness' sake. That would be like telling you not to go out to your garage alone, or telling Andy she couldn't walk over to the cemetery."

  "I know. You're right. It's just that in hindsight ..."

  Polly interrupted her. "In hindsight, everything is clear. In hindsight, I would have called Ken or Aaron on Saturday, but I didn't know then what I know now and I didn't make any poor choices. In fact, given what has happened, I think I made great choices all around. I have friends who love me, a boyfriend who cares about me. I've hired great people - I hired one man who played the hero last night. I trust law enforcement here and know that when I call they will show up and help me out and I think that the good far outweighs the bad in this scenario."

  Lydia sighed. "You're right. I keep thinking of you as my daughter and you're my friend. I was so upset when Aaron told me what had happened and when I saw your face it devastated me."

  Polly wheeled her chair closer to Lydia and reached out to hug her. "I love you very much. You know that, right?"

  "I do know that," Lydia said.

  "Me too?" Beryl asked.

  "Oh, I love you girls so much. I'm sorry I scared you. I will try to be better about telling you things so that you don't hear them from someone else. I can't make any promises, but I will try."

  "That's all we can ask for," Lydia assured her.

  Polly sat back. "Are you going to be here this afternoon when the furniture is delivered?"

  "Jeff said he'd call me, right?" Lydia responded.

  Jeff nodded yes.

  "Then I will be here."

  "If I'm finished with my statement and whatever else Ken Wallers needs, Eliseo and I will be here as well. I can hardly wait to see this come in!" Polly exclaimed.

  "This room will be as beautiful as the Walnut Room," Lydia said. "Do I get to work on the front room next?"

  "You sure do and by the end of September, Henry thinks there will be four more rooms to decorate in the addition on the south side of the building."

  "That's a lot of guest rooms. Are you going to be able to keep them filled?" Andy asked quietly.

  "It may take a while, but when I realized that we didn't have anything available that was accessible, I panicked," Polly said. "It was also difficult for me to sort through the fact that I didn't have room in my apartment when Sal came to visit and then I didn't have a place for Eliseo to stay while he was waiting to have enough money to afford an apartment. If this is supposed to be a place of hospitality and safety, I needed to get a few more options in place so everyone feels welcome."

  "You don't have to take care of everyone, Polly," Jeff chided.

  "Why not? Sycamore House should be available for everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Mother Teresa's poorest children." Then she giggled. "They can't all show up at the same time, though. I would run out of room."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  "Noooo! Watch out below!"

  Polly jumped back as a hammer fell out of Ben Bowen's hand. She wasn't sure why she jumped; he was across the room on a ladder.

  "Sorry, Miss Giller," he said. "I must have taken clumsy pills this morning instead of my regular suave and debonair medication. My wife mixes 'em up all the time."

  She waved and turned back to Henry. She had returned from the police station after giving her statement and was surprised to see him, but he had stopped by to check on the progress of the garage after having been at Beryl's studio for most of the day.

  "Are you going to get her back in there in two weeks?" she asked him.

  "The base cabinets are installed, the floor to ceiling cabinets are going in. Len is cutting shelves and drawer pieces tomorrow. All he has left is the doors and the countertops. That's most of it. There will be quite a few odds and ends, but before spring has fully arrived, she'll be back in her space."

  "I didn't tell you about my brainstorm with Harry Bern's place yet," she commented.

  He looked sideways at her, "What have you gotten into this time?"

  "I don't think it should be too bad. I negotiated a year's rent for Eliseo if he provided labor to fix the damage and renovate the place."

  "That's not a bad idea," Henry agreed. "Steery talked to me about the house last week, but I'd rather see your custodian living off site and he sounds as if he has the skills to
do the work. It will be a good deal for both of them."

  "You know what that means, don't you?"

  "I'm almost afraid to ask," Henry said, "What does that mean?"

  "When we're done with everything out here this summer, I'm going to ask you to look at possible renovation plans for the basement."

  "Of course you are."

  "It's dry and clean."

  "You're right, it is and there are quite a few things we can do down there to make it more useful."

  "See," she said and nudged his chest with her shoulder, "I knew you'd be positive about it."

  Henry shook his head and smiled, "It's either that or think you are insane. I prefer the idea of being positive."

  "So, what are you thinking about the stairway in here?" Polly asked and walked in the side door to the storage room situated behind the auditorium's stage.

  "You're going to lose your closet," he began.

  "I'm what? I already have trouble keeping things clean."

  "We'll figure something out, but the stairs come up to your back wall and you need a hallway. I'm going to leave the walls up down here and put a door at the end. I'll knock out all of the walls that have been built upstairs and I'm sure you'll design a beautiful railing. There's also another window hidden in there."

  He walked back outside and pointed up. "See, it's been covered. We can expose that and add even more light to your room."

  "So I'll have even more light to see my mess," she lamented.

  "I'm confident you will get past this and see what a good idea it is."

  "Henry, it is going to be a great idea, but I'm a slob."

  He chuckled. "It's good to know you have a couple of faults."

  "Oh, I have plenty of faults. Lydia, Beryl and Andy came over this morning to harass me because I didn't call them last night."

  "Oh, I should have thought of that," Henry said as he clapped his palm to his forehead. "I'm sorry."

  "It's not your fault!" Polly exclaimed. "You'd think that after this long, I'd be more aware of my responsibilities. I'm not. I felt horrible."

  "Did they forgive you?"

  "What do you think?" she smirked. "But, not until they'd thoroughly guilted me."

  They walked around the outside of the structure and watched as another tree was being planted. The tree spade was simply immense and Polly was fascinated as she watched them work.

  She was thankful for a nice day. So far there had only been a few of those.

  "Hey Polly!" she heard and looked to see Andrew and Jason crossing the highway. They ran across the lawn to where she and Henry were standing.

  "You look funny," Andrew giggled.

  She couldn't help it and reached up to touch her face again. "It's pretty ugly isn't it?" she asked.

  "No, it's not ugly," Jason assured her.

  "Do you want to go up and get Obiwan?" she asked Andrew.

  "Yes! Do you think he'll be glad to see me?"

  "He'll be very glad. He's been cooped up in that apartment all day long. I bet he would love a nice long walk today."

  "I've been cooped up too. We had a substitute teacher and she got mad at our class so we didn't get recess today," Andrew complained. "And it wasn't my fault. But some kids thought they would talk when she was talking and then wouldn't answer her questions. We all got into trouble."

  "Then it sounds as if a walk would be good for both of you," Polly said. "Why don't you take your things upstairs and then, Andrew, you can take Obiwan all over the property."

  The boys ran inside and Polly said to Henry, "Jason told me he wanted to talk to me. I don't know what's up with him, but he's been off for a few days. Would you keep an eye on Andrew out here?"

  "Sure. We'll watch them plant some trees and help in the garden and we might even make some more holes in the plaster. Text me when you're ready for him to be back in your world."

  Polly took his arm and pulled him close, "I'm a lucky girl. Don't ever let me forget that."

  She was walking to the front door when Andrew came tearing out with Obiwan on a leash. He pulled up short in front of her.

  "Jason has a secret he wants to tell you," Andrew whispered. "He won't tell me what it is, but he's upset about it."

  "How do you know this?" she asked.

  "I'm his brother!" Andrew announced. "I know these things."

  "We'll see if we can't fix it all now. You and Henry and Obiwan are going to hang out here watching trees get planted. Is that alright?"

  "Cool!" he said and took off at a dead run for the side of Sycamore House, pulling on the dog's leash until he caught up and trotted along with the little boy.

  Polly went inside and found Jason sitting on the main stairs.

  "Do you want to come in and sit down in my office so we can talk?" she asked.

  He raised his shoulders as he took in a deep breath and said, "I may as well get this over with."

  Jason stood up and began walking dejectedly to her office. She caught up with him and put her arm around his shoulder as they walked. Jeff was standing at the copier and looked up when they entered, but saw Jason's demeanor and said nothing, just turned back to his work.

  Polly followed the boy into her office and shut the door as he slumped in a chair.

  "Alright, Jason, what has upset you so much?"

  "This isn't easy for me," he said. "It's going to change everything and just about the time things were starting to go good, too."

  She could tell he was serious, but couldn't imagine what had happened to make things so dire.

  "Why don't you dive in and start somewhere," she said.

  "After I tell you this, Doug and Billy are never going to want to me play games with them again. I hate being a snitch. And I'm the little kid in the group, too."

  "Doug and Billy?" she asked, very confused. "What do they have to do with this?"

  "I know you like them a lot and you trust them ..." he started.

  Polly's heart sank. If those two boys were involved in something that had Jason this upset, she was never going to be able to forgive herself. This was nearly more than she could stand, but she kept quiet so he could continue.

  "Last week when we played games here, everyone wanted to go down and see the horses and you said it was okay."

  "I remember," she said.

  "While we were down there, I showed them the new saddles and the collars and harnesses that had come in. I was so excited about the possibility of hooking up teams. Eliseo has been talking about it and he told me that I could help him. So, I was bragging on the horses and talking about everything.

  "I should have known better," he said. "Mom always tells me that I'm not supposed to brag about things, but they were talking about their cars and their trucks and I wanted to talk about something in my life that was that cool."

  "It's alright, Jason. You have a right to be proud of the work you are doing with my horses. Not very many kids your age spend time doing something like that. Go on."

  "I didn't think anything about it until the other night when you talked about the truck that had driven off. Polly, I know whose truck that was."

  Polly came fully alert. "You do? How do you know?"

  "Because his brother was at the school that night bragging about how he was going to get the truck when he turned eighteen. He was helping his big brother fix it up and then he said that his brother about had enough money to get a new truck."

  "Are you sure, Jason?"

  "It's the same truck. His brother picked him up in it that night. I saw it."

  "But don't you suppose there are a lot of trucks that look like that?"

  "Nope. They are painting it themselves. Doug is going to be so mad at me for tattling on his friends."

  "I'm pretty sure Doug would be proud of you for stepping up, Jason. He's not going to be mad at you."

  "But the other kids will know that I've snitched. That's the type of thing that never goes away."

  Polly knew exactly what he was going through. This
was the age where peer pressure began to chew a kid up and she had to help him get through this with his integrity and his reputation intact.

  "Here's the deal, Jason. I'm going to call Sheriff Merritt. This is his case. You know him and trust him, don't you?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "I'm also going to call Doug. I want him to tell you that what you are doing is the right thing to do and we'll see what he says about it all. How does that sound?"

  "Not great, but okay."

  "In fact, I'm going to call him first and see if he'll be here when the Sheriff comes. Sit still and we're going to take care of this."

  She placed the first call to Doug Randall.

  "Hey Doug," she said. "Where are you?"

  "Hi, Polly. I'm headed back into town. We were over in Stratford on a job today."

  "Who is we?"

  "Me and Billy. Duh. Oh, I texted Jeff this morning about Friday night. I heard about your big fight last night and figured that you had better things to deal with than my game night."

  "That's cool. I did remember this morning, but it was late, so I'm glad you took care of it."

  "What's up?"

  "I need you and Billy to come be Jedi Knights for me and Jason. Could you stop by here when you get into town?"

  "Do we need our light sabers and robes?" he asked.

  She chuckled. "Nope, just your noble selves."

  "We'll be there in ten minutes."

  "Thanks."

  She hung up and dialed again.

  "Polly Giller, if this is about another body, I'm going to lock you up in my attic," Aaron Merritt said when he answered.

  "Nope, no body this time, but I think we might have solved your farm theft mystery. Do you happen to be in Bellingwood?"

  "Really!" he said. "I'm not in town right now, but I'm on the road. I could be there in fifteen or twenty minutes. Can I stop by your office?"

  "That would be terrific. I appreciate it."

  After they hung up, she said to Jason, "Do you want me to call your mom? Would you like her to be here while you talk to Sheriff Merritt? You haven't done anything wrong at all, but I want you to feel completely comfortable."

  "No, it would just upset her that I haven't already told you about this," he said.