Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  Polly rolled her eyes at him. "You know what I mean. This conversation needs to happen in person. If you want to have a relationship with someone who lives that far away, you have to be creative and you have to be patient. Both of you." She patted his knee. "So don't be stupid."

  Mark turned the horses onto the highway and headed back to Sycamore House. "I don't know what I was thinking, but we had so much fun when she was here and I love talking to her. She's so damned bright and she laughs at my stupid jokes. She is interested in what I do and when she talks about the things she loves, her passion erupts. Polly, I could fall for this girl. Why can't she live here?"

  "Maybe she can someday. You just have to be patient."

  "I can't talk to anyone else about this. My friends think I'm insane, my sister thinks it is a stupid, little crush and my parents would have my head if they thought I was setting myself up to be in a relationship that fell apart. I know it isn't what you wanted to do today, but thanks."

  She smiled up at him. "That's what friends are for. Even when they yell at you.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Offering to help with cleanup, Polly and Henry stood in the corner of the auditorium as the kids and hosts finished their meals. Roy had invited everyone to join them, but both figured with the day he'd had, it might be better for him to spend time with the kids and families. They could eat in the kitchen anyway. Henry wasn't ready to leave his friend, but he told Polly he didn't want to act like he was hovering.

  After supper, Jason and Eliseo took off for an evening trail ride. The kid couldn't get enough time on Nat's back and Eliseo didn't seem to mind.

  Rachel had looked questioningly at him in the barn when Jason asked about the ride. Eliseo assured her that her time would come, but that he didn't want to worry about her if they didn't come back until dusk. Polly watched her try to accept direction from him and as soon as she processed it, she moved on. She still couldn't get over the girl's transformation. As soon as she walked into the barn, she turned into a different person. The corners of her mouth seemed to lift along with her spirits. She became more talkative and engaged with them.

  The girl was worried they would be upset when she told them the nursing home needed her to work extra hours because of Bellingwood Days. She wasn't going to be able to help in the mornings for the rest of the week. Both Polly and Eliseo told her that wouldn’t change anything. Her paying job was more important and the horses would be here when she showed up in the afternoon. She lamented a bit that she wouldn't be able to help out at the parade. But Eliseo told her she could help give the horses a bath the night before and get them all cleaned up.

  Polly had looked sideways at him when she heard him say that. She knew exactly what Demi liked to do in the morning when he hit the pasture. He wasn't likely to stop rolling around in the hay and dirt simply because they had planned to show him off in a parade. The others might be fine, but there would be another bath before they hit the parade route. Eliseo laughed at her and told her that the horses wouldn’t be allowed in the pasture until after the parade

  Sylvie and Hannah McKenzie served dinner to the boys and their host families. The Fosters had joined the group, sitting with Roy Dunston. Polly noticed the other boys whispering and nodding at them. She wondered what they thought of all this and how much they knew. As soon as the group began to eat, she followed Sylvie back into the kitchen and sat down with the kids and Eliseo.

  They were quietly waiting for the group to finish their meal. They tried to move as unobtrusively as possible throughout the group, clearing tables and refilling drinks. She rolled the first cart into the kitchen when Roy stood up to speak. His voice was clear and deep.

  "Folks, we have some difficult news. Jaleel and Mickey are gone. They took their host family's truck to Boone early this morning and we have no idea where they are."

  She walked back into the auditorium and watched him steady himself by putting his hand on the chair in front of him.

  "Boys, I've talked to several of you, but I need to know if any of you have heard from them. I’ve called their cell phones and they aren't responding. At this point, I'm worried sick. If you know anything about where they are, please tell me."

  Polly looked around the group and saw several of the boys drop their heads. Others pulled out their phones and began texting. She realized they were sending messages back and forth to each other. They would glance up at one another, then go back to their phones.

  "I wanted to spend time listening to you tell me stories about your first few days on the farm, hear what you think about all of this open space and if any of you got to drive a tractor, but I'm heartbroken. We've always been real honest with each other. I've learned to trust you and believe in each of you and I hoped you would trust me.

  "If any of you boys are in contact with Jaleel or Mickey, please ask them to reach out to me. Tell them I want to know that they are alive and well. Tell them I want to help them figure out what to do next. Tell them I'm not angry any longer."

  Polly focused on one young boy, who was furiously texting as Roy spoke. His fingers were flying across the keyboard. She tugged on Henry's sleeve and said, "Who is that family over there?"

  He followed her eyes and must have seen what she saw. "That's the Gregory's. Do you think something's up?"

  "I don't know. He's texting, but none of the other boys are paying attention to their phones right now. Look at them. They are all listening to Roy, but that one keeps sending texts."

  Roy was still speaking and Polly heard him say, "Let’s shift gears. I'm sending around pieces of paper. Everyone should take one."

  He put a stack on each of the six tables and followed that with pencils. There was shuffling as each person got paper and pencil in front of them.

  "I want you to write down two things that were new to you these last four days. Host families, it would be great if you wrote something down as well. I'm sure that these boys have brought new experiences to your homes. Take a few minutes and I'll come back to you."

  Henry motioned for Roy to join them and they stepped outside.

  "Polly wonders if one of the boys staying with Mr. and Mrs. Gregory might know something. All of the boys were texting back and forth with each other, but when they were all listening to you, he was still texting. None of them seemed to respond to him. I don't know if he is in contact with your two missing kids, but it might be worth a conversation."

  "You saw that?" Roy asked Polly. "You have quite the eye. No wonder Bellingwood talks about you as the Body Finder."

  "Oh come on," she said. "Not you too."

  He grinned. "Me too. You're good for Henry. If you hadn't come into his life, he was on track to become a boring old man. With you finding dead bodies all the time, he gets an extra dose of excitement on a regular basis."

  "It's not like I do it on purpose."

  "But, you do keep an eye on things. Noticing those boys and the way they were texting was a good catch. It might not be anything. A couple of the boys left girlfriends in Chicago, but it won't hurt for me to get a little more personal with them. Thank you."

  He ducked around the corner and turned back. "I think they're done, I'd better get busy."

  "Now I'm going to ask you to think about one more thing. Boys, before we left Chicago, I asked you to write down two things you hoped to gain from this adventure. Now that you are here and in the middle of it, do you think those two things are as important or is there something else that you have discovered?

  "Host families. We never talked about this, but would you write down why you agreed to host these boys in your homes? Was it because Jeff or Henry begged? Were you feeling philanthropic or is there something you wanted to learn about yourselves or boys from a different culture? If you would take a few minutes to write that down, it would help me. Be honest. It's not a test.

  "When you're finished, hand your papers to me. I'd appreciate having your names, but if you don't want to do that, it's fine."

  H
e glanced back and saw Sylvie and Hannah come in pushing two carts. "Mrs. Donovan has made us a special treat tonight for dessert. Have you ever had homemade ice cream?"

  Several of the women in the group smiled and a couple of the men nodded. But the boys' eyes were big.

  "You can come up and get a bowl of ice cream. She says you can have as much as you want, she made plenty. You won't believe it, but she also made some homemade chocolate sauce and a caramel sauce. You can decorate your ice cream with whatever you like. Be sure to say thank you. We'll start with the back table."

  The host families stayed seated and sent the boys to the front first. It astounded Polly to realize that these kids had never had something like homemade ice cream. She'd grown up with it in the summer time. It was her father's favorite thing to make on a warm Sunday afternoon. When she was little, he cranked the ice cream maker by hand, but by the time she was in high school, he'd purchased an electric machine. He said it gave him time for a nap. Her friends soon learned that there was ice cream on Sunday nights at the Giller's house and would make any excuse to come over.

  That would be a fun tradition to reinstate at Sycamore House. Nothing organized, just ice cream. "Stop it," she muttered to herself. "Get through this week and you can think about those things later."

  "What?" Henry asked. "Are you talking to me or to yourself?"

  "Whoops!" she said. "Talking to myself."

  "Was it an interesting conversation?"

  "I was thinking about my Dad making homemade ice cream on Sunday afternoons. Some days there was a crowd of friends at our house eating ice cream. Wouldn't it be fun to do that here?"

  "They sell ice cream up at the General Store."

  "I'm not talking about for sale. Just making it and having friends come over. If no one comes, I'm eating ice cream for a week. That would be a pity." She chuckled. "But if we had a crowd, it would be a blast!"

  Henry slipped his arm around her waist. "You are wonderful. You do add excitement to my life. I'll even put up with you discovering dead bodies as long as I get to have fun with the rest of what you do."

  She batted her eyes at him. "It's a whole package, sweetie. A whole package."

  Sylvie was making wild motions with her head, so Polly went over to stand beside her.

  "What's up?"

  "I need more crushed candy bars and M&Ms. They're on the counter. Would you mind filling up those bowls?"

  Both she and Hannah were up to their glove-covered forearms in ice cream and Polly scurried out the door to help them. Sure enough, everything was prepared and all she needed to do was bring out the containers. Some sauces had spilled and Polly went back to the kitchen to get a wet cloth in order to clean things up.

  The line of people was just beginning to thin out when some of the boys came back for seconds. One of the younger boys had ice cream all across his face. Polly desperately wanted to take the cloth and wipe him down, but he was having so much fun, she figured his family could take care of it.

  Sylvie sent Henry to the kitchen for another container of ice cream and then another. The ice cream had changed the tenor of the room completely. The boys had been quiet and reserved through dinner. With Roy Dunston's announcement and plea for help, they'd shut down, but now they were re-charged and began chasing each other around the auditorium. Hacky sacks came out and they circled up and began kicking them around.

  The adults in the room gathered up the bowls left on tables and cleaned things up as the kids played games with each other.

  One of the women stopped Polly. "Was it really you who found Cindy Rothenfuss today?"

  It felt like such a long time ago. Polly couldn't believe it had only been earlier that day. She nodded, "Yep. Me."

  "I'm sorry the woman is dead, but I can't say I'm surprised. Someone was going to do something horrible to her someday."

  "She wasn't very friendly," Polly agreed. She didn't want to get into a gossip session about the dead woman and wondered how long it was going to take before she could escape.

  "The boys were talking about how mean she was at breakfast the next morning. They couldn't believe it."

  "They were still talking about it?" Polly asked. "Roy seemed to think they would just file it away."

  "I don't think so," she said. "My two boys wanted to deal with it. They were really surprised that someone who had so much could be so mean. They all saw her car and were impressed at how fancy it was. A couple of them were outside looking at it and she screamed at them to back away and get their filthy hands off it."

  Polly looked at the woman in shock. "That happened Thursday afternoon?"

  "I guess," the woman shrugged. "We tried to explain to them that sometimes people are mean no matter how much money they have, and many times a lot of money makes people even meaner. Especially if they are greedy instead of generous."

  "It's really too bad," she continued. "Barry is such a nice guy. He would do anything for anyone. Especially after she'd tormented someone. He always tried to step in and make things right."

  "Let's go, mother," the woman's husband said as he came up behind her. "We need to get those boys to bed. Tomorrow morning comes just as early as this morning did."

  She smiled at Polly, "It was nice to meet you," she said and followed her husband. They stopped at one cluster of boys and two peeled off to follow them, one kicking back the cloth ball to the group.

  Polly ran over to Henry. "Who was that?"

  "Who?"

  "The couple who just left. She thinks she introduced herself to me and she didn't. I need to know her name."

  Henry laughed. "That was Miriam Dempsey. I love her. She used to work at the hardware store. They have two boys who help on the farm, but they're both college age now and I think they've convinced their parents they should live in the second house out there. She probably loves having these boys around."

  "Thanks," Polly said. "She told me that it was nice meeting me and I panicked."

  "You are quite the celebrity around here. Everybody knows who you are."

  "That's just wrong. If they know me because I own Sycamore House, that’s fine, but the first thing she did was ask me about finding Cindy Rothenfuss. You know it's odd. Everyone really likes her husband. He must have spent a lifetime covering her tracks. What's he going to do now?"

  "He'll probably find a nice young bimbo who tells him how wonderful he is and then have a heart attack and die because he isn't used to the kindness."

  "Don't even say that!"

  "You could be his bimbo. You'd give him a heart attack even if you weren't kind to him. You give me a heart attack most of the time."

  "I'm not going to be anybody's bimbo. That's just sick."

  "Bimbos? Why are you going to be a bimbo?" Sylvie had only caught the last bit of the conversation and was giggling. "I don't think you've ever been a bimbo."

  "I'm not. Henry thought he was being funny. He told me I could be Barry Rothenfuss' new bimbo and give him a heart attack."

  "He has a lot of money," Henry stage-whispered. "You'd be rolling in the dough if he died and left it all to you. Then you could marry me and keep me in the manner in which I could become accustomed. See. Bimbos are useful."

  "I don't think so, man," Roy said.

  "Oh for heaven's sake. This conversation is out of control," Polly laughed. "I'm going to the kitchen. Get over yourself, Henry Sturtz. There are no bimbos in your life."

  "Henry," Roy asked. "Could you take Jayden and me out to the Gregory home later? I've asked him to stay and talk with me for a bit and didn't want to make them wait."

  "Sure, buddy. I'll just help the womenfolk clean up the kitchen and when you're ready I'll either be there or upstairs with my bimbo. Text me and we'll go."

  Polly grabbed his sleeve and said, "You're in for it now." She winked at Roy. "Use any room you'd like. The conference room is open if you want to shut a door."

  "Thanks, we'll just sit in the lounge. I'll find you in a bit, Henry." He started out the
door and then stopped. "And don't give her too much trouble. She's the best thing that's ever happened to you."

  He left and Polly grinned up at Henry. "See? He knows."

  Henry kissed her. "I know too. Don't think I don't."

  Sylvie sent Hannah on her way, telling her that leaving Bruce in charge of three children two nights in a row was probably pushing it. Hannah just sweetly smiled and hugged Sylvie.

  "Thank you for getting me out of the house every once in a while. Bruce is wonderful with the kids and he doesn't mind. If it gets to be too much, he calls his mother and takes them over to see her. Now that we've moved out of their house, I think she misses having them around."

  They had finished cleaning off the tables in the auditorium when Eliseo showed up. "I'm sorry I wasn't back sooner," he said. "Jason was doing really well and I didn't want to shorten the ride."

  "You weren’t needed," Polly said. "We're done here. I don't know if you have to put the tables away or not. Do we have anything going on in here until Friday night?"

  "Other than the quilt show?" he asked, pointing at the quilts hanging on the walls. "I'll just take care of it. There are only six of them."

  "When do the judges show up?"

  "They'll be here on Wednesday, according to Jeff. There are a few more quilts that need to be hung tomorrow and then we'll be ready for them."

  He tipped a table over and snapped the legs in, then rolled it to the stage. She walked out of the auditorium and met Henry, who was coming in. With a quick movement, she swiped the wet rag she was carrying across Henry's face and he sputtered.

  "What was that for?"

  "Calling me a bimbo."

  "But I didn't mean it!"

  "Well then, I didn't mean that either."

  “You're a brat, Polly Giller."

  She sauntered away and looked over her shoulder at him, "And you love me. Don't forget that part of it."

  Sylvie was giggling when Polly dropped the wash cloth in the sink. "That man has the patience of a saint," she said.

  "I know," Polly laughed. "It's good for him. He's such a nice guy that he'd be really boring if someone wasn't around to stir him up."