Bully in the Burbs (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 8)

by Hope Callaghan

  When she reached the front door, the music abruptly stopped. She raised her hand to ring the bell when the door swung open.

  Behind the screen door stood a tall, gangly teen with ear buds draped around his neck. He had a tight grip on the collar of a large German shepherd that looked none too happy to see Gloria. He bared his teeth, lowered his ears and let out a low warning growl.

  Gloria glanced at the flimsy screen that separated them. If the dog wanted to, he could burst through the screen as if it wasn’t even there.

  “H-hi. My name is Gloria Rutherford and my daughter is buying the house next door.” Gloria pointed to the house. “I was wondering if you could tell me about the neighbors…the Acostas who recently moved out.”

  The dog leaned forward and gave another warning growl.

  She glanced at the dog. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for Jill and the boys to move next door. What if the dog got loose and attacked one of her grandsons?

  The first thing they would need was a fence. She made a mental note to discuss the matter with her daughter.

  From a distance, somewhere in the back of the house, Gloria heard another bark. She could tell from the bark that it was a much smaller dog.

  The boy shrugged. “Yeah, they moved out kinda fast. Like overnight. They had a ton of dogs out back.”

  “Did you ever see the dogs?” Gloria was curious.

  “Yep. My mom and dad bought one before they moved.”

  The house phone began to ring. “I gotta go.”

  Before Gloria had a chance to reply, the boy closed the door in her face. She heard the lock turn. The large dog barked until Gloria was off the porch and back on the sidewalk.

  She wandered around the side of the empty house and into the back yard. She hadn’t noticed before, but the rear yard was partially fenced. Well, maybe partially wasn’t quite accurate. There was a haphazard fence. Several boards were missing and it tilted at a precarious angle, as if a good, strong wind would knock it over.

  She glanced over the top of the rickety fence and into the neighbor’s yard. There was nothing to prevent the puppy mill dogs and the neighbor’s dogs from wandering into each other’s yards.

  Obviously, the neighbors got along if what the boy said was true, that they had purchased a dog from the Acostas. What if they had purchased a dog and it had died?

  Gloria needed to get someone back inside the puppy farm, to try to glean more information out of the owners and check on the dogs…

  She also needed to set up some sort of surveillance at the house. Gloria stepped onto the back deck. She shaded her eyes and peered into the rear slider. She needed someone who could loan her some sort of surveillance equipment for a day or two…

  Gloria took a step back. She knew just who to ask!

  Chapter 13

  Ruth Carpenter clicked the end of the ballpoint pen and studied Gloria. “So you need me to loan you my surveillance equipment?”

  Gloria nodded. “It will only be for a couple days. I promise.”

  Ruth turned her gaze to the SP5500 Series spy camera she had recently purchased with the garage sale money she had made at Gloria’s house. It was her prized possession…her baby. She used it every night after work.

  Since the drug bust at the post office, things had been quiet, but Ruth knew that could change at any moment and nothing was ever gonna get by her again. Not on her watch!

  “Okay, you can borrow it but only for a day or two,” Ruth relented. “How soon?”

  “Now?” Gloria knew Ruth wasn’t big on having surprises sprung on her, especially when it involved her spy equipment.

  Ruth frowned.

  “I have a better idea.” Gloria changed her mind. “Why don’t we head over there after work tonight?”

  It sounded perfect until Gloria remembered her date with Paul. “I mean, tomorrow night after work and you can help me set it up. You know, make sure it’s installed correctly.”

  Gloria knew that would pacify Ruth somewhat, to know that no one would be handling the equipment except her.

  “Okay. We can do that,” Ruth agreed.

  Gloria told Ruth she would pick her up at 5 o’clock sharp the next afternoon and then headed out of the post office.

  Next on her list was finding someone to make a trip out to the Acosta’s new place, pretending to be interested in a puppy. She had just the person for the job.

  Gloria headed up the hill to Magnolia Mansion and Andrea’s place.

  ***

  Gloria pulled in the drive and rounded the small bend. Andrea’s luxurious Mercedes sports car wasn’t in the drive. In its place was a four-wheel drive pick-up truck. It looked new.

  Gloria slid out of the car and slowly closed the car door.

  Behind her, a construction crew was hard at work on the walls of Andrea’s new detached garage.

  Andrea had told her she wanted to have the garage finished before the first snowflake hit the ground. It looked like she was going to make that deadline.

  Gloria eased past the pick-up truck. On closer inspection, the truck was a beautiful metallic dark blue color. From what she could tell, it was a roomy four door.

  “Checking out my new ride?” Andrea called from the doorway. She didn’t wait for Gloria to answer. She shoved her feet into a pair of clogs that sat just outside the door and shuffled over to the truck.

  Andrea pressed the button on the clicker in her hand and unlocked the driver’s side door. She grabbed the handle and swung the door open. “Hop in.”

  Gloria had, on and off, thought about buying a pick-up truck. It would come in handy during the winter months when snow blew across the flat farm fields creating large snowdrifts on the roads. There were days it was nearly impossible to get around during a snowstorm, not that Gloria liked to drive around in snowstorms in the first place!

  She climbed into the driver seat and wiggled around on the leather seat. She reached over and rubbed the gray strip of cloth that covered the spacious center console.

  Andrea smiled. “You can see pretty good from up there, huh?”

  Andrea was right. Gloria could see a lot more in the truck than she could when she was behind the wheel of Annabelle. The seats were large and, for a truck, luxurious. This was no cheap run-of-the-mill truck. Gloria was certain Andrea had paid a pretty penny for it.

  Gloria could afford to buy a new vehicle with her windfall, although it didn’t seem like a necessity. Still, it would be nice to have something that got around in the winter better than her car.

  She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The smell of brand new vehicle filled her nose. It had been years since she’d been inside a new vehicle, let alone driven one.

  Gloria eased out of the driver’s seat and slid to the ground. “I’m sure this set you back a pretty penny.”

  Andrea nodded and then closed the driver’s side door. “Yep.” She shrugged. “The Mercedes wasn’t practical, at least not living out here.”

  The girls made their way to the house. “You should think about getting one,” she added.

  Gloria grinned. She stopped in her tracks and turned back. “Nah, I can just call you to come pull me out of the ditch now,” she teased.

  The girls wandered inside. Alice, Andrea’s new housemate and former housekeeper, met them in the hall. “You like Miss Andrea’s new truck?”

  Gloria smiled at the petite woman. “Yes. Are you going to drive it?” Now that Gloria thought about it, she wasn’t sure if Alice knew how to drive.

  Alice waved her hands in front of her. “No! No! Not me!”

  Andrea patted Alice’s arm. “Alice would like to learn how to drive but I’m afraid now that I have the truck, she thinks it’s too big.”

  Gloria adjusted the purse on her shoulder. “Do you think Annabelle – my car- would be too big?”

  Alice glanced uneasily over Gloria’s shoulder, past Andrea’s new truck at Gloria’s car. “Well…”

  “I-I think…” Alice said nervously.
<
br />   Gloria interrupted. “Great. It’s settled. We can start your first driving lesson today.”

  Gloria had enough on her plate, but what if there was an emergency and Andrea wasn’t home – or worse yet – something happened and Alice needed to drive somewhere? At the very least, she should be able to get help!

  Gloria could tell from the look on Alice’s face that she was starting to waffle. “Go grab your purse.”

  Alice opened her mouth and then closed it. She turned on her heel and headed up the steps.

  Andrea and Gloria watched until she disappeared from sight.

  Andrea turned to Gloria, her eyes wide. “You’re going to teach her to drive? I’ve been trying for weeks now to get her behind the wheel and she keeps coming up with excuses.”

  Gloria grinned. “No time like the present.”

  Alice returned a few moments later. The first thing Gloria noticed was her olive complexion was pale…just a tad. The second thing she noticed was that Alice’s hand trembled as she nervously shifted the small handbag in her hand.

  Gloria swung her arm around her shoulder. “You’ll do fine.”

  The girls marched out the front door and over to Annabelle. Gloria clicked the key fob to unlock the doors and then opened the driver’s side door. She waved her hand at Alice to slide into the driver’s seat. “We’ll start slow,” she promised.

  Alice swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, too terrified to speak.

  Andrea climbed in the back seat while Gloria made her way to the passenger side. When the women were safely inside the car, she told Alice to start the engine.

  Two terror-filled eyes gazed at Gloria. “Now?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yes. Now,” she urged.

  Alice started the car. She made a cross sign using her hand. “Protect us, Jesus.”

  Slowly, step-by-step, Gloria instructed Alice on how to back the car out of the drive. Alice took a very wide turn and only one of the construction workers had to dive for cover when she panicked and pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake.

  They crept out onto the road. “Turn right,” Gloria told her when they reached the end of the long, gravel drive.

  The car, as if in slow motion, turned onto the road and started down the steep hill. It was a dead end road and it ended near a small public access beach and boat launch.

  Alice turned the steering wheel and made a large swooping circle. The front bumper grazed one of the metal guardrails that lined the edge of the road as the car careened to the side.

  Alice turned terrified eyes to Gloria. “I’m sorry!”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Gloria assured her, “Annabelle is tough.”

  After the car was back in the drive, safely parked behind Andrea’s new truck, Alice shut the engine off and dropped her forehead on the steering wheel.

  Gloria patted Alice’s back. “Great job, Alice!”

  The woman lifted her head. “You think so, Miss Gloria?”

  Andrea unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward in the seat. “Yes! Next time we can drive into downtown!”

  Alice groaned and Gloria grinned.

  The girls headed back inside the house. Brutus, Andrea’s dog, waited by the door, as if wondering why he hadn’t been invited for a ride. Gloria reached down and patted his head. “I’m sorry, Brutus. I plum forgot about you!”

  The girls wandered into the kitchen. Andrea stepped over to the back counter and grabbed a coffee cup from the cupboard. “Coffee?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yes, thanks.”

  Andrea poured a cup and set it in front of Gloria. “So what brings you by?”

  Gloria wasn’t one to show up unannounced, unless, of course, she had a specific reason. Andrea knew her friend well enough to know there was a reason.

  “I have a favor to ask.” She went on to explain everything that had happened and ended with: “Can you take a run by the Acosta’s place and scope out the puppy mill?”

  Gloria had done so much for Andrea, her friend could ask her to fly to the moon and she would tell her yes. “Of course,” she replied.

  Alice, who had settled in at the bar, sat silent.

  Gloria turned to her. “Would you mind going with her?” she asked.

  Alice brightened. So far, she had never been involved in one of Gloria’s investigations. “Yes!”

  Gloria slapped the palm of her hand on the gleaming counter. “Great! It’s settled!”

  Andrea jotted down the address and Gloria gave them instructions on where the puppy mill was located. She looked up from the notepad and frowned. “What do I say if they ask how I found them?”

  Gloria gazed out the window thoughtfully. “Well, you can tell them that your friend came by the other day and Jessica helped them purchase two of the dogs. Maybe they will think they have another easy sale.” Not that Andrea needed another dog…

  “You don’t have to take one of the dogs,” Gloria went on, “tell them that you have to think about it.”

  Andrea nodded. “Sounds good.” She changed the subject. “A little birdie told me you were thinking about having your wedding here at the house.”

  Gloria had almost forgotten! “Yeah. One of the girls suggested it.”

  Alice piped up. “Yes, Miss Gloria. That would be beautiful. I can prepare some of my famous Mexican dishes for the reception!”

  Gloria loved Alice’s spicy dishes but they didn’t love her back. The last thing she needed to do was eat a bunch of spicy food on her wedding day. “Uh…”

  Alice’s firehouse fajitas + Gloria’s wedding night = recipe for disaster!

  Andrea patted Gloria’s shoulder. “We will definitely have Alice’s world famous fajitas but probably some other dishes to go along with them.” She winked at Gloria who breathed a sigh of relief.

  The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Alice’s feelings. “Great. Maybe we can go over some sort of menu.”

  “The wedding will be here before you know it,” Andrea pointed out.

  The way Gloria’s life was going, ten weeks would fly right out the window and before she knew it, she would be walking down the aisle, or in the case, across the sunroom. “We can do a tentative menu now, if you want.”

  Andrea grabbed a notepad from the back counter and a pen from a small penholder nearby. The three women came up with the perfect menu. Not only would they have Alice’s firehouse fajitas, they would include some dishes from Dot’s restaurant: stick-to-your-ribs foods like baked chicken, sliced beef, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

  “This won’t be too much work for you?” Gloria asked.

  Alice interrupted. “No, Miss Gloria. Andrea and I already talked about having my sister from Texas come help.” She pronounced “sister” as “seestar” and Gloria smiled. “We will take care of everything.”

  Gloria tipped her head back and swallowed the last of her coffee. “When you come up with an estimate of how much it will cost, let me know and I’ll write a check,” she said gratefully.

  She suddenly remembered Dot’s cancer. What if Dot wasn’t up to catering a wedding? They would need a back-up plan.

  As Gloria explained Dot’s situation, Andrea teared up. She reached for a Kleenex and dabbed her eyes. “Oh…I had no idea.”

  Gloria hadn’t meant to upset Andrea. “We have to believe that the Lord is going to heal Dot.”

  Andrea nodded. “I’ll add her to my prayers.”

  “Me too,” Alice whispered. She didn’t know Dot as well as some of the others, but any friend of Andrea’s was a friend of hers.

  Alice and Andrea walked Gloria to the front door. “We’ll head over to the Acosta’s place as soon as I shower,” Andrea promised.

  Gloria hugged them both and headed to her car. Things were falling into place.

  Gloria’s wheels were spinning on the way home. She needed to convince Jill to move forward with that house! Whoever was trying to scare them off would make another move soon and Gloria hoped to catch them in the act! />
  Now all she had to do was convince Jill.

  Chapter 14

  “Are you one hundred percent sure?” Jill asked.

  “Yes, I am.” Gloria had finally convinced her daughter to move forward on the ranch house at 726 Pine Place. “If something happens and you have to back out, I will replace the lost deposit AND you, Greg and the kids can stay at the farm until you find another house.”

  “I need you to call Sue Camp and tell her that you’re bringing a home inspector through the house,” Gloria added.

  Gloria hung up the phone and twisted the engagement ring around her finger nervously. The pressure was on! If ever there was motivation to solve a mystery, this was it!

  She spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house. There were two bedrooms upstairs that the boys could use and then the guest bedroom downstairs where Greg and Jill could sleep.

  Ben, Gloria’s middle child, his wife Kelly and their twins, Ariel and Oliver, would be here a few days before Christmas. Their flight home was the day after Christmas.

  Gloria’s oldest child, her son, Eddie, and his wife, Karen, planned to come for the same days, but it was only the two of them.

  Gloria mentally counted eleven people shacked up in a four-bedroom house. The adults could get the bedrooms and she could turn the living room into a huge sleepover for her grandchildren. The boys would outnumber poor Ariel. Gloria hadn’t seen her granddaughter in almost a year now.

  It would only be for a few days, she tried to convince herself. A few days to house her entire family, marry Paul and celebrate Christmas. The idea of getting married when everyone was in town had seemed like a brilliant plan at the time. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  Remain positive, she told herself. We need to get Jill in that house, safe and sound!

  The afternoon flew by and Gloria had just enough time to take a bath and change into a clean outfit before Paul arrived.

  Mally saw Paul first, her excited bark announcing his arrival. Gloria opened the door as he reached the top step. He was holding a bouquet of beautiful fall flowers. Gloria reached for the flowers and lifted up on her tippy toes at the same time for a kiss.