Melted Memories: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 6)

by Constance Barker

  We sat stunned not knowing what to do or say. The fact that Abby said she didn’t know anything wasn’t all that surprising, but the way she reacted was. Her response to the question said volumes. And not in a good way. It was as if her soul light had been extinguished. The person that walked out of the room was not the Abby we met in the courtyard.

  Mr. Strickland got up and gathered us to walk outside. Once we got to the vehicles he said, “I think we all know that Miss Abigail knows something that she’d rather keep to herself.”

  “The look on her face when you asked about your son was so strange,” Paige replied. She looked at Mr. Strickland. “What do you think is keeping her from revealing anything.”

  Mr. Strickland leaned against his Crown Victoria. “Hard to say, but she knows what happened to your son Trixie.”

  Trixie was holding up better than I was. My heart was racing.

  “Why would she keep it to herself?” Trixie asked. “I mean I can take whatever she has to tell me. I’ve prepared myself for the worst, like he may be dead or in jail. I have one kid in jail, what’s one more.”

  I could tell the exasperation in Trixie’s voice. To come this far and then be turned away by a woman she trusted a long time ago had to be frustrating. Trixie opened the door of Paige’s SUV and sat down.

  “I have a feeling Abby is looking out for me by not revealing what she knows. However, she doesn’t really know me. She knows the girl I was, not the woman I am now. I’ve half a notion to go back in there and try again.”

  “Let’s give her some time to think things over,” Mr. Strickland replied. “She’s been hit with quite a load in just one hour. If we give her time to mull it over, say we come back in a few hours, she may feel more like talking.”

  Paige pulled the car keys from her purse. “I think that’s a good idea. Why don’t we go get something to eat and then come back this afternoon. If she still doesn’t want to talk then we may have to pursue plan B.”

  We all knew what plan B was…Margaret Kreinhagen. No one wanted to resort to that but we decided Mr. Strickland would take care of her. I didn’t want Trixie anywhere near this she-devil.

  Paige had seen a restaurant on the way into town so we stopped there to get something to eat. Mr. Strickland excused himself and sat at a separate table. I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to be included with a bunch of women or didn’t want to disturb us with his cell phone calls. We concluded it was both.

  The restaurant was locally owned and had that family feel to it. None of us were really hungry so we ordered half sandwiches and bowls of soup. The waitress brought steaming bowls of potato and broccoli and cheese soups along with ham and turkey sandwiches with all the dressings. Although we weren’t hungry we ate like we were. The food was delicious. We even decided to have coffee and a slice of their fresh made pies. Stormi and I had the peanut butter pie while Paige got coconut cream. Even Trixie ordered a slice of lemon meringue.

  Over coffee we discussed the strange reaction from Abby when Trixie’s son was mentioned.

  Stormi held her cup of coffee in the air. “It was like she saw a ghost or something. What could have her that spooked?”

  We paused for a second while the waitress refilled our coffee cups. Paige added more cream to her coffee. “I think we can all agree that whatever she knows is not good.”

  Trixie nodded in agreement. “Yes and I’ve prepared myself for the worst, but she doesn’t know that. Hopefully we can get her to open up. She raced out of the room so fast that I didn’t have a chance to explain that to her. I was simply floored the old girl could move that quickly.”

  Stormi snorted. “She’s in good shape and so are you Miss Trixie.”

  Trixie took a sip of coffee. “Thank you my dear….Ben and I walk two miles every day. Which reminds me. I need to give him a call and let him know what’s going on. Excuse me girls.” Trixie got up and walked outside to make her call.

  I could tell Paige wasn’t keen on us investigating this any further. “I really think we should let sleeping dogs lie at this point. Whatever that woman knows is bad and it could mean another dagger to Trixie’s heart.”

  I agreed in part. Finding out devastating news concerning a son you gave up long ago might be the crushing blow to the Trixie we’ve known and come to love. But another part of me wondered if the not knowing was just as damaging.

  I set my coffee cup on the table and looked at my two friends sitting across the table from me. “How would you all feel if you were in her place? For myself, I would have to know even if it’s bad. At least if I knew I could somehow come to terms with it. Maybe not for awhile, but eventually. The not knowing is what would kill me…the what if that happened or what if this happened to him. The scenarios running through my head would be constant and debilitating. But I know everyone is different in how they handle certain situations. Paige, maybe you’re different.”

  Paige nodded as she swallowed a gulp of coffee. “True, everyone handles situations differently. For me, if I had given up a child for adoption, the case would have been closed in my mind. I made my decision and I’d have to live with it. I’d close the door and not look back. That would be the only way I could live with it. Sometimes, to protect your heart, you have to build that wall, otherwise you’d languish in guilt and regret. I wouldn’t want to live like that or put my loved ones through it either.”

  Stormi leaned back in the booth. “You both make good points. I can see why Trixie recruited us to see our differing opinions. For me, there’s no question. I could never give up my child no matter what the circumstances.”

  Stormi looked back to ensure Trixie wasn’t walking up. “That’s not to say I’m against it, and Lord knows most of these women are committing a selfless act by giving up their child…trying to give their baby a better life than the mother thinks they can offer at the time. But for me, I don’t think I could even consider it.”

  So there it was. Three very different scenarios of how three independent and strong women would react to the situation Trixie found herself in. But it wasn’t our decision to make as we kept trying to tell ourselves. As much as we wanted to shield her from pain and sorrow, we couldn’t make the choice. And now it looked as if the information Abby was keeping from Trix was devastating.

  Trixie approached the table and sat down next to me. “I spoke to Mr. Strickland after making my call to Ben. He’s ready and said we might as well try one more time with Abby. If she doesn’t respond then he’ll go visit Madge.”

  Stormi looked confused. “Wait…what? Who’s Madge?”

  A smile flickered across Trixie’s face. “Oh that’s what we called Margaret Kreinhagen. She hated it so of course we wouldn’t call her anything else.”

  We paid for our lunches and met Mr. Strickland in the parking lot. “I was able to talk to Ms. Wainright.”

  Trixie moved towards Mr. Strickland. “Oh my, you were?”

  “Yes…she apologized for her behavior earlier. She said she was simply taken by surprise and didn’t mean to upset you or your friends.”

  “So she’s willing to talk with Trixie again?” Paige asked.

  Mr. Strickland removed his car keys from his pants pocket. “Yes, she said she’d meet us in the same common room at the nursing home if you wanted to talk with her.”

  “I definitely do,” Trixie said. “I don’t care what she knows, even if it’s bad, I’d rather know than not.”

  So with that we piled into Paige’s SUV and followed Mr. Strickland back to Sunny Acres nursing home. What we would learn that day was nothing we expected.

  *****

  A cool wind had picked up by the time we reached the nursing home. A cold winter system was moving in and it chilled me to the bone. At least that’s what I thought it was. Later I would remember that chill and liken it to the news we were yet to hear.

  We met Miss Abby back in the same room she raced out of only a few hours prior. She looked better than the last time we saw her. At that time her fa
ce had turned white and she couldn’t wait to leave, but now she appeared as we’d first met her. The pink in her cheeks was back and she was smiling. Trixie walked over to where she was sitting at one of the small circular tables.

  Trixie took her hand. “I’m so sorry Abby…I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Abby patted her hand and motioned for her to sit. “No it is I who should apologize. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I suppose seeing you out of the blue brought back so many memories of you girls at the home and it made me sad.”

  We stood apart from the two women, allowing them some privacy although we could still hear the conversation. Mr. Strickland remained on the far side of the room talking into his cell phone.

  Trixie sat down and pulled her chair closer to Abby. “Why did it make you sad?”

  Abby sighed and then continued. “There was much laughter when you girls were there, but there was also sadness, especially after each birth. You girls had made up your mind while pregnant to give up your child for adoption, but after the birth and when it came time to actually do it…well that’s when the tears came.”

  I could see the pain in Trixie’s face emerge as Abby continued.

  “Some of the girls wept openly, even screamed for them not to take the baby away. Those were the worst. Others would cry privately. We nurses could tell because their eyes would be red and swollen. And then there was you Miss Trixie. You were one of the strongest girls I’d ever met inside those walls. You would help those girls who gave birth to get through those awful first days.”

  Trixie nodded but didn’t speak.

  “It was that rush of remembering those times that overwhelmed me. I’d stored those memories in a locked room in my mind. Sometimes you have to do that in order to get by with the business of the day. When I first saw you I remembered the good times, and there were many of those fortunately. But when you mentioned your boy…well that unlocked the door and flooded my memory of the pain and anguish that I didn’t dare ponder in these later years.”

  “I’m so sorry I’ve brought this torment to the forefront once again,” Trixie replied.

  “It’s alright. After our conversation I’ll place it back where it belongs.”

  “Do you have any information on what may have happened to my son? Even if it’s bad Abby, I can take it. You don’t have to protect me. I’m stronger than you may think.”

  Abby smiled. “Oh I have no doubt of that. You were strong back then and I can tell you’re the same feisty lass. However, I’m sorry, Trixie, I don’t know what happened to your son.”

  Trixie sighed and patted Abby’s hand. “That’s okay.”

  At that moment I could feel a change in the air, as if the atmosphere became stagnant or all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. It was as if a dark force had entered. I’m sure you’ve been around people who tend to suck the life right out of a room. Maybe your personalities clash or the other person is a perpetual Debbie downer. This wasn’t like that. I felt the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stick straight up and a shiver run down my spine. I looked at Stormi and Paige and realized they appeared like I felt. Then I heard the voice.

  “You’re such the liar Abby.”

  I will never forget that tone of voice. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, raspy and shrill at the same time. It gave me a start when I first heard it and my heart didn’t want to turn to look at where it came from, but you know in your mind you have to see. We all turned at once and looked at the door to the common room and there she was. She sat upright in a wheelchair with an old and faded blanket strung across her lap. Stitched on the blanket appeared kittens which seemed absurd seeing to whom the blanket belonged.

  The woman whose voice echoed across the room had dyed her hair a severe brown color, although you could see wisps of grey around the temples. Apparently she tried to color it herself and missed areas. The wrinkles on her face looked like crevices. Two deep lines sat between her eyebrows and many wrinkles etched across her cheeks and forehead. I supposed from years of setting her face into frowns that never left. Now they were engraved on her face and she couldn’t get rid of them if she wanted to. It didn’t appear that she did.

  None of us spoke as the elderly woman slowly pushed the wheels of her wheelchair to enter the room. I knew instantly this must be Margaret Kreinhagen, also known as Madge and the she-devil administrator of the unwed girl’s home. Small glasses with brown frames hung from a chain around her neck. She grabbed the glasses and put them on the end of her pointy nose to get a better look at us. She completely ignored Mr. Strickland who was sitting at a table on the other side of the room. She came to a stop four feet from where Paige, Stormi and I were standing, but she looked at Abby and Trixie.

  It was Trixie who spoke first. “I couldn’t be lucky enough to get through this visit without seeing your charming face, huh?”

  Madge grinned but there was no humor there. “Evidently not Miss Trixie. You see, these walls have ears and gossip travels fast, but you already knew that didn’t you?”

  It was as if she spit out each word. Not really talking like you’d have in a conversation with another individual. Her tone was accusatory, no matter what passed by her lips.

  She turned to look at the three of us, likely with our mouths hanging open.

  “So who are you?” Madge asked condescendingly.

  Trixie immediately piped up. “No one who cares to be introduced to you Madge.”

  Her eyes turned into slits. Obviously because of the name she hated so much. She turned back to look at us.

  “My name is Margaret Kreinhagen not Madge. Although Trixie and her minions loved being disobedient and calling me that. In fact, the year Trixie stayed at the unwed girl’s home was the worst disobedience I can remember.”

  “Actually it was the most fun any of the girls and nurses had.”

  We turned to look at Abby who had risen from her chair to glare at Madge.

  “I heard you were here, but thank God this facility is so large I never had to lay eyes on you until today. I knew there would come a day though that it would end and I’d see you again.”

  Madge looked over the top of her glasses at Abby. “Your tongue is as incorrigible as it ever was. You haven’t changed a bit.”

  “And neither have you,” Abby seethed. “You weren’t invited to this conversation so move on.”

  I rather liked this bold new Abby. She had many sides to her and while the earlier Abby ran away when faced with past demons, this Abby was ready to take one on.

  “You don’t tell me where I can go,” Madge replied.

  “Fine, then we’ll leave,” Abby said as she started for the door.

  “That’s right, go ahead and run. Stick your head in the sand. But from what I hear, Trixie is searching for some truths. And all you’re doing is lying to her.”

  We looked at Abby in confusion. Nothing was making sense. Did Abby know something after all and was keeping it from Trixie. This Madge woman seemed to know information as well.

  Abby shook her head and motioned for us to follow her. “Don’t listen to her. She’s full of spite and she’d love nothing better than to pull us down into her hate pool. Let’s leave while we can.”

  We all started to follow Abby when Madge spoke again.

  “But Trixie, don’t you want to know the truth about your son?”

  Trixie stopped. We were following her so we had to stop as well. We all slowly turned around to look at Madge. Trixie walked past us and sat down at a chair that was next to Madge.

  “All these years I’ve done much like Abby described. Taken the bad parts of my life and locked them away in a faraway place in my mind. You were one such appalling memory that I hoped I’d never have to revisit.”

  Madge looked as if she had won an award as the corners of her lips lifted. She actually got enjoyment out of other people’s torment. I wondered how she’d become like this. Was she born this way or did she turn out to be this type of person because of
her own past. I didn’t know. All I knew was that Trixie was my friend and it was her that needed our protection. Even from a 90 something year old woman who still had the venom of a poisonous snake.

  “You girls…you all thought you were above it all. Like having a baby was nothing. Just spread your legs, get pregnant, and then pawn your spawn on someone else.”

  “Woman, are you mad? I don’t know who you’re talking about. The girls that were there with me were some of the brightest and most wonderful women I’d ever met. But you were too busy searching for the bad rather than the good. You wanted to hate us…I’m not sure why. Maybe you were jealous.”

  Madge let out a loud harrumph. “Jealous? Now you’re the one who’s mad. What was there to be jealous of? A bunch of whiny brats who didn’t deserve their children. I relished each time one of you girls cried when your baby was taken away.”