The Barrell, Bats and Bubble Gum

by N. L. Cameron

  I tried to saunter over like I was out for a day in the sunshine, but my throat hurt from tension racking me. “Hey, Marty. What are you up to these days?”

  He let the tape measure slither back into the handpiece. “Twenty feet. Eight feet per car. That only gives two spaces, maybe two and a half.”

  He walked away without saying anything else and started measuring somewhere else. I hurried after him. “What are you measuring?”

  He swept the site with his hand. “No one’s using this space. I can turn it into more parking for the diner.”

  I studied him. “You want to turn this into parking for the diner? This is the main thoroughfare for cars moving in and out of the filling station.”

  “We don’t need it, now that the station is closed down.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “It’s only closed down while the sheriff finishes taking care of the paperwork from Max’s death. Once that happens, the station will pass to Max’s next of kin. That will be someone local. They’ll probably want to reopen the station.”

  Marty shook his head. “It will never reopen. The best we can do is turn it to some useful purpose, like parking cars for the diner.”

  I picked my jaw up off the sidewalk. “Don’t you think you better check with Sheriff Mills before you do that? This is still a police cordon. You can’t cross it, and you can’t encourage others to cross it, either.”

  He muttered under his breath, “I’ll give him his police cordon.”

  I heard my voice rising, but I couldn’t stop it. “Did you hear what I just said? This gas station is private property. It belongs to Max’s next of kin, or whoever stands to inherit it from Max. You can’t just move in here and start parking cars all over the place.”

  He walked away without answering. He strode around the DoubleDown Diner, which stood on the other cross street around the corner. The diner and the gas station shared the alley that passed behind both of them.

  Marty walked over to the dumpster behind the diner and rolled it on its rusty wheels toward the gas station. He parked it right around the building from the front entrance. The smell washed into my face. “What are you doing now?”

  “I’m moving the dumpster away from the diner. It stinks, and every time I open the back door, the smell goes into the diner. I’m moving it here. No one’s using this place. We might as well put it to good use.”

  My eyes bugged out of my head. “It’s right on the main street of town, Marty. People driving through town are gonna see this.”

  He looked up. “So what?”

  “Don’t you care at all about the impression this will make on visitors? The gas station has been the main attraction for motorists to stop in Heather’s Forge. You can like Max Nash or hate him, but the gas station has brought more money into this town than any other business on the block. You’re turning it into an eyesore. You want to put your dumpster right out where every passing car can see it, and you want to pack the filling station with parked cars. That’s gonna look terrible. No one will want to stop here anymore. A lot of those people are your customers. Your business will suffer along with everybody else. You don’t want that, do you?”

  He finished shoving the dumpster into place and wiped his hands on the seat of his pants. I could just imagine those hands making someone a burger inside the diner in a few minutes. He fixed his beady eyes on me and mumbled under his bushy mustache, “I don’t give a rip about anybody’s business in this town but my own. I wouldn’t be much of a businessman if I didn’t look out for Number One, and that’s what I’m doing.”

  He turned on his heel and blasted straight through the back door into the DoubleDown Diner. I stared at the door banging shut. Well, that just took the cake. I never saw such blatant disregard, not only for the town itself, but for the law. Marty gave the police cordon the same consideration he gave Max’s heir’s property rights.

  I stood there fuming, as much in confusion as in righteous indignation. What should I do? What could I do? Should I report this to the sheriff? After so many failures, I already knew what happened to reports to the sheriff.

  Still, I couldn’t let this rest. Marty moved in on Max’s property when his death hadn’t even gone cold. No one knew who Max’s next of kin was. Whoever it was would have to deal, not only with all the legal problems of transferring ownership of the gas station and garage, but with recalcitrant neighbors like Marty. Poor person. I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with Marty as my neighbor.

  Levi’s words came back to me. This wasn’t my business. I had my own business to run twelve miles away on the shores of Lake Ashfield. I had a new gardener starting, not to mention finnicky guests and a whole staff of misfit maniacs.

  I turned to leave when I spotted a middle-aged man across the street. He waved me toward him, glanced right and left, then waved again. I had to stare at him and run through my internal Rolodex several times before I remembered who he was. It was Arthur Drilling, the goofy dentist who didn’t like working in people’s mouths.

  What did he want, waving me across the main street like that? The longer I stood there staring at him, the more wildly he gesticulated. He kept looking back and forth, but as long as no one else appeared to see him, he motioned me toward him with all the frantic energy he could muster.

  What did he want to tell me? Did Viki make a tragic mistake and use the cyanide poison instead of the cleaning paste when she cleaned my teeth? Was the new toothbrush she gave me part of a withdrawn batch of toothbrushes laced with some deadly virus, and he wanted to tell me to turn the toothbrush over to the authorities at the earliest possible opportunity?

  I could only find out by talking to him. I rallied my courage and crossed the street, but when I got near, he withdrew with more furtive glances up and down the street. He backed away into the alley between his office building and Potter’s Hardware.

  I paused on the sidewalk. I didn’t want to go down an alley with some obviously unhinged dentist, but overwhelming curiosity drove me forward. If I did nothing else in life, I had to find out what in the world was going on with him. I could only do that by hearing whatever he wanted to tell me.

  I took a step into the alley until the buildings shielded me from view. If anybody came down the street, they wouldn’t see me until they passed the alley opening. Even then, they might not see me at all.

  The moment I got out of sight, Drilling stepped toward me instead of away. “I have to tell you something.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “I heard you talking to Viki about that stranger creeping around.”

  “Yeah, I know who it is. It’s….”

  “They tried to break into my house last night,” he interrupted. “They’ve been casing my property. I saw them behind the hedge.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “‘They’?”

  He nodded faster than I considered healthy for the human neck. “I saw them. I saw them both. First one went around my house and slipped off into the forest behind my property. A few minutes later, the second one did the same thing. He went the same way, and they both disappeared into the forest.”

  I blinked at him. This was incredible. All this time I thought Fisk was working alone. Now it turned out he had an accomplice. He must be the killer—or, to be more precise, they must be the killers. Who was Fisk’s unknown compadre? What were they up to in this town?

  Drilling’s voice rasped from tension. “I have valuables in my house. If they broke in, they could ruin me.”

  I squared my shoulders. “Whatever they’re up to, I don’t think it’s robbery. They’ve been hanging around this town for days, and they haven’t broken into a single building or house. Fisk, at least, is staying at the Barrel Inn, and none of the other guests have reported anything stolen, either. There may be an innocent explanation.”

  Now he shook his head so fast he gave me whiplash. “They came around last night and the night before. I stayed up late to catch them at it again. They always follow the same pa
ttern: first one and then the other. They come from the same direction, and they leave going the opposite way. I’m in fear for my life.”

  “If you really feel that way, you should tell Sheriff Mills. He hasn’t taken reports of these people seriously before now, but maybe he will if he hears it from you. You’re a respected professional. If you’re really that concerned, you should make out a report. He can’t ignore that.”

  “You don’t understand! You’re the only one who can do anything about it. This is why I’m telling you.”

  “Me! What am I supposed to do? Sheriff Mills hasn’t listened to a word I’ve said.”

  “I’m telling you because you’ve got them right there under your roof. You’re sleeping with the enemy.”

  “I’ve got Fisk under my roof. I have no idea who the other man is.”

  “But I do. I saw him, and I can tell you who he is. He’s your handyman, Levi Stokes.”

  Chapter 5

  I sat on a wooden deck chair and closed my eyes to the late afternoon sunshine. The sun glinted off the lake. It formed a perfect visual contrast to Charlie whistling around the garden. In the few short minutes I sat there watching him work, he made himself right at home. He treated the grounds as if they were his own, and he handled every plant, tool, stone, and bed with expert hands. His very presence gave me a peaceful feeling, as if nothing could ever go wrong in the whole wide world.

  A loud cough woke me from my reverie. I looked up to see Levi standing over me, and the expression on his face did not give me a peaceful feeling—quite the contrary. I shrank down in my seat for protection from that face.

  “Enjoying yourself, Allie?” he snarled.

  I did my best to smile up at him. “Yes, I am. Charlie really knows his business. I want to thank you for recommending him the way you did. I’m very happy with him.”

  Levi bared his teeth, but no one could call that a smile. “I’m glad you’re so happy, because I have something to say to you.”

  I took that opportunity to stand up and face him. If we were going to do this, we might as well do it nose to nose, as equals. “That’s good, because I have something to say to you, too.”

  “Really? What?”

  “You have to be more careful when you’re following Fisk at night. Arthur Drilling saw you around his house. He thinks you and Fisk are working together. It doesn’t look good.”

  He chopped his hand through the air. “That doesn’t matter. I’m not following Fisk anymore, so no one will see us together again.”

  I froze. “What do you mean, you’re not following him anymore?”

  “I mean just what I said. I’m not following him anymore. I did what you asked. I followed him around town to see what he’s up to, but he’s not up to anything. I’ve never let him out of my sight in all that time, and from what I can gather, he hasn’t done one cotton-picking thing. He’s not up to anything.”

  “That’s impossible. He must be up to something. What could he be doing, out at all hours, if he’s not up to something?”

  Levi shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s walking in his sleep.”

  “You can’t back out now!” I cried. “We’re that close to breaking this thing wide open. You can’t just quit.”

  His expression softened, and he sighed. “Allie, dear Allie, we are not close to breaking this thing wide open, because there’s nothing to break open. There is no case. Do you understand that? Fisk isn’t doing anything. He hasn’t committed a single crime since he first showed up in town. He’s been extremely careful not even to trespass on private property. I checked. He skirted Arthur Drilling’s property. He’s got a very detailed map of the town and all the property lines. He’s what I call a model citizen. Whatever else he might be, he did not kill Max. I would bet everything I have on that.”

  I threw up my hands and spun away, but I couldn’t think of one intelligent thing to say to that. He was right. That’s what made Levi Stokes so all-fired infuriating. He was always, always right. Fisk might be uglier than sin. He might be stranger than fiction and weird on top, but he was no murderer. He wasn’t a criminal of any kind.

  I let out a heavy sigh. This could mean only one thing: I had to go back to the drawing board. “All right. I better get back to work. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

  Levi inclined his head. “Walk this way.”

  He headed into the bushes. He followed a path behind the garden shed that led into the forest. It wound through gullies. Levi stopped halfway to the lake. I looked around. “What are we doing here?”

  He bent over and lifted back a wad of blackberry brambles growing by the path. “Take a look.”

  I leaned over and immediately straightened up. One glance was enough. Ten fat marijuana plants grew in the center of the blackberry clump. The dense thorn-encrusted stems hid them from view.

  I looked at Levi for answers. He nodded at my reaction. “They must be Nathaniel’s. The FBI tore out all the plants we knew about, but they must have missed a few. Nathaniel must have had plots stashed all over the mountain.”

  I opened my mouth and closed it again. “We can’t leave them here. They’re too close to the inn.” The sound of whistling touched my ears. “Charlie! He’s bound to find them sooner or later. He has to go down this path to reach the gardener’s cottage. What are we going to do?”

  Levi cracked a grin. “Are you sure you don’t want me to cultivate them? You could earn some pocket money on the side and have something to smoke in your off-time. Better yet, you could use the money to pay your bail when the sheriff finds out you’ve been meddling in this case.”

  I found myself staring at him.

  “I’m just joking, Allie. You’re right. We can’t leave them here.”

  “How will we get rid of them?”

  “You leave that to me. I have my ways. You go back to the inn. I’ll deal with these, and no one will ever have to know they were here.”

  I could have kissed him then and there, but I was in too much of a hurry to get away from those plants. I wanted to forget I ever knew they were there, and that’s exactly what Levi let me do. Those plants ceased to exist, for me and forever.

  I hiked back up the trail. In a second, the whistling greeted me back into the garden. Charlie smiled when I appeared. I went back to my seat and sank into a heap. What was becoming of me? These last few days really tapped my energy. Now I had nothing with which to carry on my investigation.

  What was I thinking? I had a business to run. How could I neglect the inn to go running off on a wild goose chase? I better get my head back in the game, and fast.

  Charlie stopped right in front of me, but instead of talking, he bent over where Pixie tumbled and played on the grass near my feet. He circled his hand over her twisting, writhing form, and she pretended to follow it. She batted at his hand with her claws and bared her teeth.

  For the first time, I noticed what she was playing with. She clutched a tattered white and red rag between her four paws. She kicked her hind feet to tear it to shreds. She hugged it against her chest with her front claws and sank her teeth into it while she growled in mock ferocity.

  Charlie made a grab for the rag. Pixie hissed at him and snapped her fangs at his fingers. He made another dive for her toy. She whipped around the other way. Her kicking moved her in a circle on the grass.

  Charlie made one more quick movement and caught hold of one corner of the fabric. Pixie went ballistic. She hissed and spat and yanked to fight him for the rag. Charlie chuckled under his breath and fought back.

  Pixie couldn’t overpower him, though, and in the end, she would have lost her toy if Charlie hadn’t let go first. He swept his hand one more time around her head and made a dive. He caught her whole head in his big hand and wrestled her head back and forth before letting her go for good.

  He straightened up with another low-chested chuckled. He caught me watching him and broke into a grin. “Nice cat.”

  He walked away, but I couldn’
t help shaking my head in wonder over him. He’d been here a few hours, and he already made friends with Pixie. There wasn’t a living creature on God’s green Earth, animal, vegetable, or human, who wouldn’t be happy to have that guy around.

  I wasn’t getting my work done out here watching a grown man play with a cat. I better go inside and see how I could make myself useful. I heaved off the chair, but I didn’t want to go inside. It was too nice a day to molder indoors.

  At that moment, a short lady with orange-dyed hair shouldered her way through the hydrangeas. She wore a ton of makeup, but nothing could hide the pinched lines around her mouth and the frown lines on her forehead. Her heavy chest swung from side to side when she walked.

  She cast a sharp glance around the garden. When she saw Charlie, he smiled at her. She scanned him up and down, over his faded jeans to his dirty work boots. She made a disgusted face and turned away.

  She walked right up to me, but I spoke first. “Hello. Welcome to the Barrell Inn. I’m Allie, the owner. Can I help you with something? I’ll need to check you in at the front desk if you have a reservation.”

  “I don’t have a reservation,” she replied. “I’m Winnie Macglass, and I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Me! What do you want me for?” This was getting to be a familiar theme.

  “I heard you talked to Sheriff Mills about Max’s death.”

  “I talked to him about it, but I don’t have any authority over the case. I’m just an interested bystander, really.”

  “I hear on the grapevine you know something about these things. Maybe you can tell me about Max’s will.”

  “His will! What do you want to know about that for?”

  She threw out her chest at me. “I’ll have you know I was Max’s girlfriend for the last ten years. We were really basically married, even though he never went through with the actual ceremony. I’m sure he left the station to me in his will, but I can’t get near the paperwork. I’m so distraught, I don’t know what to do with myself.”