The Barrell, Bats and Bubble Gum

by N. L. Cameron

  No one else in the room paid any attention to him. Winnie bellowed louder than ever. “Tom Potter! I saw you behind the NightHawks bar the night Max was killed.”

  Tom Potter spun around from the French onion dip. “I never went near the NightHawks bar in my life! I don’t know what you’re talking about. Ask Roger. He’ll tell you. I was home in time for dinner the night before Max was found dead. I’ve got half a dozen family members who will vouch for me.”

  “You could have snuck into the garage and made it home in time for dinner. No one knows when Max died or even how.”

  Tom turned away. “Then you don’t know he was killed at all, do you?”

  Levi snorted under his breath. “I’m out of here. I’ve got better things to do than babysit this bunch of cranks.”

  I hated to see him go, but I couldn’t argue with him. This was bordering on the ridiculous. He slipped out the back door once again when Marty lifted his head. Tears streamed down his cheeks, but he laughed and nodded and winked at nobody. He showed no sign of noticing the spilled tumbler on the floor next to his foot.

  Things settled down when the commission chairman called the meeting to order. The delegates discussed topics of general interest. The subject of Max’s death fell by the wayside. I took the opportunity to sneak off to my apartment for a few minutes’ peace and quiet before things heated up again for lunch.

  Delicious almond and cardamom smells drifted out of the kitchen. They infused the whole inn with a warm, contented, homey feeling. I took several nosefuls and started to relax. I could smell that smell for the rest of my life. Who cared about how Max Nash died with that smell out there to be inhaled again and again?

  I sat down on my couch and leaned my head back. Life was good. Owning the Barrell Inn was good. I was one lucky girl to have this life.

  I pulled my computer toward me and started again on the website and the local-food content to promote our new gardening efforts. I still had to take pictures of the chicken operation, but that could wait until Charlie finished the chicken tractor. The pictures and content would improve over time, the further our operation developed. It could take years to get a regular rotation of crops, menu items, and events surrounding our market position.

  The kitchen door swung open and woofed shut. Camille must have finished icing her cakes. I got up to congratulate her and see the grand result when she burst into my apartment. “Allie, come quick!”

  I hurried after her. “What is it? Have the delegates gotten into a fight and wrecked the dining room?”

  “No, it’s Winnie!” Camille raced ahead. “She’s drunk!”

  I froze in the doorway. Across the dining room, half a dozen delegates surrounded Winnie. She drooped in their hands and moaned aloud. “Max! Max! My beloved Max!”

  The others led her toward the door, but her legs bowed with every step. She moaned and whimpered while they guided her out of the room.

  Arthur Drilling scowled at the scene from the platform. Several out-of-towners stared wide-eyed. I would bet nothing like this ever happened in their towns. Only in a backwater like Heather’s Forge could people develop into such oddities.

  Just as her helpers got her to the doorway, Winnie broke free and whirled around. “No! No!” She ran across the room and hurled herself across the drinks table. The bottles rattled, and an empty wine jug toppled with a thud.

  Most of the delegates sat and stared at the spectacle in shock or amusement. The Good Samaritans returned to collect Winnie. They guided her out of the room more despondent than ever, and I showed them into the library. They dropped her onto a couch and retreated. I covered her with a blanket and left her alone in the quiet.

  Chapter 11

  I sat at my kitchen table and read the news on my computer over a cup of hot coffee. The sun glinted over the horizon and lit up the lake in a golden highway to the mountains.

  In the middle of reading the news, I remembered the work I did yesterday on the website. I shut down my Internet browser and opened the local-food content document I started during the meeting. I’d just gotten into a decent flow when a shout broke into my thoughts. I turned around to see Charlie barging into my apartment. “Charlie! What are you doing in here?”

  He waved toward the entrance. “Come quick! It’s an emergency!”

  He raced out of the room before I could say anything. I never saw him so excited before. If he called something an emergency, it must be something serious. I grabbed the phone and ran after him. I got outside just in time to see him ducking into the greenhouse. Now what could be an emergency in there?

  I threw back the door and almost had a coronary. Charlie knelt next to the fallen figure of Winnie Macglass. Her arms and legs splayed in all directions, and blood caked her hair. Her skin shone sickly white, and her glazed eyes stared up at the ceiling.

  I dropped on my knees at Charlie’s side. “How long has she been out here?”

  “I have no idea,” Charlie replied. “Whatever happened, it’s a good thing it happened in here. She would have frozen to death lying out on the ground outside last night.”

  I studied her head. A nasty gash cut into her scalp from her temple to the back of her head. Dried blood crusted all around it, but there was nothing nearby she could have hit herself on. Only plants and piles of compost filled the greenhouse.

  My thoughts raced faster than my heart. Something hit her on the head, and a hard sharp implement didn’t just jump up off the ground and happen to bang into her head. Someone hit her. Someone either followed her or lured her into the greenhouse when neither Charlie nor Levi was around. They hit her, and they left her here, half conscious.

  I grabbed the phone and hit 911. I told the operator we found a woman lying on the ground with a head injury, and she dispatched an ambulance and the local sheriff—Sheriff Mills. Spectacular.

  I hung up and found Charlie staring at me. I laid my hand on his shoulder. “You did good, calling me the way you did.”

  He let out a shaky breath. “I never found anybody hurt in my greenhouse before. That’s what I love about working with plants. Nothing like this ever happens.”

  “Sorry this has to be the first time. We all know you had nothing to do with this.”

  He passed his hand over his forehead. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just duck down to the cottage and give Shirley a kiss good morning.”

  I had to smile. Shirley was one lucky lady. “Go ahead, but you’ll probably have to come back here and explain to the sheriff how you found her. He won’t be able to claim this was an accident.”

  He nodded and strode out of the greenhouse. I gazed down at Winnie. Her eyelids fluttered, and her pupils focused on my face. She groaned, and her hand went to her head. “Ooohh…. what happened?”

  I helped her sit up. “Maybe you can tell me. Do you know how you got out here?”

  She looked around and frowned. “Where exactly am I?”

  “You’re in the greenhouse at the Barrell Inn. Don’t you remember? You were at the county commission meeting. You had a few too many to drink, and I put you to sleep on the couch in the library. That was yesterday morning. Now you’re here. Do you remember how you got here? Did you come out here with anybody?”

  She rubbed her neck and shook her head. “I don’t remember anything. I don’t even remember the meeting.”

  She started to stand up but sank back in the dirt. “You better sit still,” I told her. “You’ve got a nasty bump on the head, and the ambulance will be here soon. Just take it easy until you can get checked out.”

  She tried again to rise, but she collapsed back on the ground. I kept my hand on her shoulder to steady her, but already I heard the sirens roaring into the parking lot. An ambulance crew rushed in with Charlie and the sheriff on their tails.

  I stood back and let the medics tackle Winnie. They fired questions at her and loaded her onto their stretcher. They wheeled her to the ambulance and took off for Hunterville Hospital. They left me alone with Charlie and S
heriff Mills.

  Charlie shuddered and drew the sheriff’s attention to him. “So, which one of you wants to tell me what happened?”

  Charlie shot me a stricken look, so I took over. “I will. You saw yourself how Winnie tied one on at the commission meeting yesterday. When she got too drunk to stay in the dining room, I put her in the library to sleep it off. She was still there, sound asleep, when I went to bed last night. I had no idea she was in any danger, but this morning, Charlie found her here in the greenhouse with a severe blow to the head. That’s all we know. Charlie called me the moment he found her, and I called you. End of story.”

  He shifted from one foot to the other. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is. I just asked her what happened, and she said she doesn’t remember. She said she doesn’t even remember the meeting. I believe her, too. She’s obviously got a serious drinking problem. She probably doesn’t remember half the stuff she said yesterday when she accused everyone of killing Max.”

  He turned to Charlie. “How about you, Mack? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “Who, me?” Charlie looked back and forth between the sheriff and me. “I don’t have anything to do with this. I never laid eyes on that woman before in my life.”

  Sheriff Mills pooched out his lips. “Really? So, if I look into your criminal record, I won’t find any history of assault and battery?”

  Charlie gasped. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any criminal record.”

  “Charlie’s a law-abiding citizen, Sheriff,” I put in. “Don’t you think you would do better to start looking into who might want to hurt Winnie? It may have been someone at the meeting yesterday. No one else knew she was here.”

  “You knew she was here,” he countered.

  I shoved my annoyance down hard. I had to remember who I was dealing with. “I knew she was here, but I had no reason to hurt Winnie. If I had wanted to hurt her, I certainly wouldn’t have done it here, on my own property. Use your brain, Sheriff.”

  Charlie’s eyes widened, and the hint of a smile touched his cheeks.

  Sheriff Mills didn’t get mad, though. He hunted around the greenhouse for nonexistent clues. He strode all the way to the far end of the greenhouse and came back. The longer he spent inspecting the microscopic grains of dirt in the compost pile, the more Charlie fidgeted until I said, “Why don’t you take the day off, Charlie? Go home to your family. You can build the chicken tractor tomorrow.”

  His eyebrows went up. “Really?”

  “Really. Get out of here. I’ll handle this.”

  Sheriff Mills cocked his head. “I’ll be the one to decide if he’s free to go.”

  I waved my hand. “If you come up with anything you want to ask Charlie about, you can call him back for questioning. He’s not doing anything now, so he might as well go home.”

  “He could be a flight risk.”

  I laughed out loud. “I’ll give you my personal guarantee Charlie’s not going anywhere. His wife and kids are right down on the other side of the property. He’s not leaving them anytime soon.” I turned to Charlie. “Go ahead. I’ll cover for you.”

  He slipped out, and I turned to face Sheriff Mills. “Now what do you want to know?”

  He pulled his best frown. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I know a lot more than Charlie does about whatever Winnie did in the last twenty-four hours to wind her up in this greenhouse with her head caved in. You’ll only make him nervous.”

  “If he’s that nervous, maybe he’s guilty.”

  “Charlie couldn’t hurt a fly if he stepped on it. He’s the most harmless guy on the planet. Winnie, on the other hand, could have made someone mad at the meeting the way she was ranting and raving. You should look into that.”

  He shook his head. “There’s nothing to see here, anyway. I’ll go back to the office and fill out the paperwork. Maybe Winnie will feel well enough to stand some questioning later today.”

  Chapter 12

  I stopped by the police station the next morning to see Sheriff Mills. “Did you question Winnie yet?”

  “Not yet. I haven’t heard anything from the hospital, so I was going to drive down there and see how she is.”

  “She should be fine to answer your questions. She was perfectly conscious when she left the greenhouse.”

  He heaved out of his chair. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

  “Let me come with you, Sheriff,” I offered.

  “What do you want to do that for?”

  I shrugged. “I’m just curious. She got hurt on my property. I want to find out if she’s okay now.”

  He eyed me. “You’re worried about your insurance not paying out.”

  I set my hand on my hip. “How can you accuse me of that?” At least he wasn’t accusing me of investigating Max’s death.

  “I’ll be the one to question her. You can visit her any time after I get finished.”

  I hurried to walk at his side. “Aw, come on, Sheriff. Just let me tag along. I won’t make any trouble. I promise.”

  He pointed in my face. “Don’t make promises you know you can’t keep. You know you’ll make trouble the first chance you get. You always do.”

  “Please, Sheriff. Let me come with you.”

  He sighed. “Oh, all right. I’ll probably regret it later, but you can come. Just don’t take over like you usually do.”

  “I promise.”

  He frowned at the delighted smile spreading over my face. “Yeah, right.”

  He headed for the door. “You drive down in your car, and I’ll take the squad car.”

  I got into my car and followed him out of town. I kept a respectful following distance until we parked in front of Hunterville Hospital.

  We found Winnie sitting up in her room. She showed no sign of surprise when I walked in with the sheriff.

  “Now, Winnie,” he began, “I think you know why I’m here. What can you tell me about what happened?”

  She sat up straight against the pile of pillows behind her. Her eyes flashed around the room, and she waved her hand. “I was walking out of the inn after I woke up in the library. I was on my way to my car to drive home, but I must have slept later than I thought, because it was already dark. All of a sudden, a tall figure stepped out of the bushes and grabbed me. He must have been seven feet tall if he was an inch, and I couldn’t believe how strong he was. He overpowered me in an instant, and he dragged me back to the greenhouse.”

  Sheriff Mills took out a notebook and started scribbling. “That’s odd. No one at the inn reports hearing any voices or scuffle.”

  “I couldn’t make a sound,” Winnie exclaimed. “He covered my mouth with his hand. I kicked and fought, but it was no use. He dragged me into the greenhouse, and the next thing I knew, everything went black.”

  “Did you get a look at his face? Can you describe him?”

  Winnie shook her head. “It was too dark. I didn’t get a good look at him.”

  “What about his clothes? Any detail will be a big help in tracking him down.”

  Winnie pinched her chin and squinted at the ceiling. “Hmm. Let me see. There was one thing that I remember. He was wearing a heavy metal watch. I remember because I touched it when I tried to pull his hand away from my mouth. I thought if I could get out one good scream, I could wake someone from the inn to help me.”

  She shot daggers at me, like this whole made-up story was my fault. I couldn’t stand there listening to this anymore. “You said when we found you that you didn’t remember anything. You told me you didn’t remember anything after the meeting. Now you’re changing your story.”

  Sheriff Mills held up his hand. “I’m doing the questioning here, young lady. You remember what I told you.”

  I rounded on him. “You can’t believe this story of hers, can you? There’s no other evidence to indicate a stranger was anywhere near the inn. She’s making it all up to throw you off.”

  “Why would I want to
throw him off?” Winnie asked. “What reason could I have to make it up?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “Maybe you don’t want everyone in town to realize what a hopeless lush you really are.”

  Sheriff Mills moved his hand between our faces. “That’s enough of that. I’m here to question the victim about the incident. You said you wouldn’t make trouble, and that’s exactly what you’re doing. Now don’t say another word.”

  I pulled my head down between my shoulders, but I had heard enough.

  “I have to get back to town now, Winnie,” Sheriff Mills told her, “but rest assured, I’ll be searching for this stranger. We’ll find him, and then maybe you can identify him.”

  “How can she identify him when she didn’t even see him?” I blurted out.

  Sheriff Mills only shook his head one more time. He patted Winnie’s leg under the blankets. “You get yourself well, now. Have a good morning.”

  He sidled out of the room. When I looked at Winnie, she fixed her piercing eyes on me. Her mouth twisted into a wolfish sneer. I quaked under that hideous glare. She knew exactly what she was doing, sending the sheriff off on a wild goose chase like that after someone who didn’t exist.

  I beat it out of the room as fast as I could. I didn’t bother to say goodbye or wish Winnie a speeding recovery. In fact, I wished she would stay in Hunterville Hospital for a long time—forever would be best. I never wanted to see her again on the streets of Heather’s Forge.

  I got into my car and drove home, shaken. Winnie had the sheriff wrapped around her little finger. He didn’t believe a word I said about Winnie’s admission when she first woke up in the greenhouse. He didn’t see through her drama about the stranger.

  Maybe he wouldn’t believe me about Charlie being harmless. Maybe he wouldn’t believe me, either, when I said I left Winnie in the library. Maybe he would take it into his head to think I lured Winnie to the greenhouse. If she started spinning tales about that, he would believe her over me any day of the week.