Polly watched as everyone else started clearing the classroom. They filled carts with dishes and food. She had every confidence the place would be cleaned more quickly than Sylvie realized.
"Good night, everyone. I'll see you tomorrow at the parade."
She started out the door. "Oh!" she said. "I almost forgot! I have shirts for all of us from Sycamore House." She handed out the beautiful blue shirts which had been embroidered with her logo and a name on each person's pocket. "We'll look great!"
Polly handed a box to Jeff. "Will you make sure Mark gets this? I know he doesn't work here, but he's as responsible for those horses as anyone and he'll be riding in the parade with us."
"I will," he said. "Now go upstairs and rescue your man before he leaps out of a window."
She felt a little guilty about leaving everyone else to help clean up, but felt even more guilty about letting Henry deal with a wailing girl. Billy had to figure it out, Henry was just being a good guy. She ran up the steps and into her apartment.
Sure enough, Rachel was sitting on the couch surrounded by a dog and her boyfriend, eating an ice cream sandwich. Henry met Polly at the door and she whispered to him, "Is ice cream your go-to fixer upper for women?"
"It works. I go with what works. She's not crying anymore."
"Has she said anything else?"
"Not yet. Can I go back downstairs and help them?"
"You're leaving me?"
"If you'll let me. Haven't I been through enough emotional drama for one day?"
Polly elbowed him in the side. "Fine. But don't you dare go very far."
He escaped out the front door and Polly smiled when she saw the panic in Billy's eyes relent a little.
"Tell me what happened, Rachel," Polly said, moving to sit in the chair beside the sofa. Obiwan sat up to sniff at Polly and she rubbed his neck, then he lay back down and put his head in the girl's lap. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his fur.
"Rachel?"
"I was going to come over here and have dinner with you, but just before I left, this guy from the Sheriff’s office knocked on our door. Caleb answered it and he came in and asked if our mom was there. She was in the kitchen making supper for her and Caleb. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I was afraid someone had died. I was even afraid it was Billy and they were going to tell Mom so she could tell me.
"Then, he asked her a couple of questions about her relationship with Mrs. Rothenfuss. She looked confused and didn't answer him right away. He told her that she needed to go with him because they had to question her about that woman's death.” She turned her red-rimmed eyes to Polly. "Why would they be questioning my mom?"
"Let me see what I can find out, Rachel. Where is Caleb?"
"Oh crap! I don't know! I just ran out of there and came over here to find Billy. He's probably all freaked out at home and he's alone!"
"Billy, would you try to reach Caleb for me?" Polly asked.
She got up and went into her bedroom and closed the door and dialed a very familiar number. When he answered right away, she said, "When you left tonight was it because your people arrested Mrs. Devins for the murder of Cindy Rothenfuss?"
"Hello, Polly. Dinner was wonderful tonight. How are you?"
"Hi, Aaron. I have a very emotional Rachel Devins here at Sycamore House. Is there anything you can tell me about your people arresting her mother?"
"I can't tell you much, Polly. It's an investigation and we're doing what we have to do to find who murdered Mrs. Rothenfuss."
"What am I supposed to do with this girl? And honestly, I think I'm also going to have to deal with her brother."
"The first thing you can tell her is that we didn't arrest her mother. We brought her down to ask some questions. We aren't going to lock her up tonight, there isn't enough evidence to suggest that she did anything, but we are asking questions because there is the possibility of a very strong motive. She will probably be home later on, so the girl doesn't have to worry."
"Does she have a lawyer with her?" Polly asked. "I'd hate for her to say something stupid and get herself tossed in jail."
"Now come on, Polly. You know me better than that. I don't want to lock someone up for saying something stupid. I want the truth."
"Does she have a lawyer?" Polly repeated.
"As a matter of fact, she does. He's advising her now and when we are finished, she will be home. That's all I can tell you."
"That's good enough. Thanks for answering my questions. Would you do me a favor, though?"
Aaron sighed. "What's that, Polly?"
"I'm going to send Billy Endicott to bring Caleb over here to Sycamore House to be with his sister. Would you let their mother know where they are? They shouldn't be alone tonight while they're waiting for her to come home."
"I'll be sure she knows where to find them. If you don’t mind, let them sleep there tonight and she'll be home by morning unless something awful comes up. If it does, I'll let you know."
"Thanks Aaron. I appreciate it."
Polly walked back out into the living room. Rachel looked at her expectantly.
"They didn't arrest your mother, Rachel. They took her in for questioning. Apparently, she has a motive for wanting Mrs. Rothenfuss dead. Now, what did you find out about Caleb?" Polly asked Billy.
"He's pretty upset. He's only a young dude."
"Can you take Rachel's car and go get him? Bring him back here. I think it would be best if everyone stayed at Sycamore House tonight until Mrs. Devins comes to get them tomorrow morning."
Rachel shoved her hand in her pocket and took out a set of keys.
"They can stay in our apartment, Polly," Billy said. "We have extra couches and Rachel can have my bed."
"Don’t forget. Jason and his friends are also staying with you tonight. I'll work something out here."
He left by the front door and Polly sat down beside Rachel, "Honey, I'm so sorry this has happened. Do you know any reason why they think your mom has motive to kill Mrs. Rothenfuss?"
The question brought on another bout of tears. Through them, the girl said, "She hated my mom. I told you that. She was always trying to hurt us."
"Do you know why?"
"Mom never talks about it. She says I shouldn't worry about it. But, now she's gone and I don't know what to do!" Before the girl could start wailing again, Polly pulled her against her shoulder and held her for a moment.
"Will you be all right here with Obiwan?” Polly asked. "I need to go downstairs and round up some air beds."
"I can sleep at Billy's."
"No. You can sleep here. Billy and Doug are going to have a houseful of boys after they're done playing games and I think you and Caleb should be here instead. I told the Sheriff to let your mom know that you were with me and that's where you're going to be."
Rachel nodded and wrapped her arms around Obiwan again.
"I'll be back," Polly said and left by the front door, closing it gently behind her. She ran down the steps and found most everyone in the kitchen. They were nearly finished with cleaning up and the dishwasher was running.
"Hi guys?" she said as she approached the door.
"How's Rachel?" Lydia asked.
"Settling down. I spoke with Aaron and he said they hadn't arrested her mother, they were just questioning her and she'd probably be back by tomorrow morning. Does anyone have a couple of air beds I could borrow tonight? Billy went to their house to get Caleb and I don't think those two need to be at his apartment when the game night ends and the boys want to be up chattering."
Sylvie nodded her thanks.
"I do," Henry said. "I can run home and get it. It's a queen size and one kid can sleep on your couch and the other can have the bed."
"You're going to do everything possible to get out of dealing with them, aren't you?" Polly teased.
"I'm coming back, aren't I?" He turned to the rest of the room. "I'm a little afraid she won't let me leave once I get upstairs with th
at bed. She doesn't want to be with emotional kids any more than I do."
He kissed her on the cheek and went out the back door. He'd taken to parking his truck in her back driveway. She thought it felt a little proprietary and it made her smile. He had the code to unlock any door on the property, she guessed it made sense.
Lydia and Beryl walked back out of the kitchen with her. "Can we do anything?" Lydia asked.
"You guys have lived in town forever," Polly said, "Do you know why Aaron says she has a motive for killing Cindy Rothenfuss?"
They looked at each other and Lydia sighed. "It's only a rumor. I didn't want to say anything because I don't know whether it is true or not, but the grapevine says that Cindy Rothenfuss had an affair a long time ago with Rachel's father. He wasn't married to her mother at the time. Just a young single man who got caught up with something he couldn't control. Then he met Martha and she got pregnant and he was in love with her, so he told Cindy that he was done being her plaything and did the right thing. They got married before Rachel was born. A few years later, Caleb was born."
"So where is he now?"
Lydia inhaled and said, "Now the rumors get all sorts of crazy. Some people say that Cindy Rothenfuss never got over him and one day she threatened to tell his kids all about them if he didn't leave his wife. He got scared and ran away. Other people say that he found yet another woman and left town to be with her because she got pregnant. There are so many rumors, but the truth is, only Martha Devins probably knows for sure why he left."
"How long ago did he take off?"
"It was a few years ago, wasn't it, Beryl?"
"Yeah. He was driving a truck, I believe. It was like he drove off into the sunset and never returned. Maybe two thousand nine, the year of the big snowstorms.”
"That's right. Aaron caught that little boy trying to shovel his driveway with his mom and went over with the snowblower to help them out."
"Rachel told me that Cindy Rothenfuss tried to get her husband to buy their house so she could evict them."
"That wouldn't surprise me," Beryl said. "The woman was a selfish, self-centered bitch. She probably thought that Martha Devins stole her man on purpose and it wasn't like she wasn't already married to a nice guy. How many men does one woman need in her life? I could barely stand to have one around."
"She was pretty horrible to Rachel the day I separated them," Polly said. "I guess she tormented her at the nursing home."
"I'm sure the poor woman blamed Rachel as much as she blamed Martha. If he hadn't gotten her pregnant, he might have stayed with Cindy for a long time." Beryl sneered.
"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," Lydia said. "She wasn't as nasty back then as she has been lately, but she wasn't ever a nice person. Her husband always had a lot of money and I expect that she was buying things to keep her boyfriend happy. But, he wouldn't have put up with that for very long. Sooner or later he was going to get bored with her and move on."
Beryl snickered at her friend. "Apparently he got bored easily. He's moved on a lot."
"Do you think the kids have heard these rumors?"
"If they haven't before, they will certainly hear them now. Little towns like this love to wallow in the pain of its citizens." Beryl said. "That's why I hate going to funerals. There are people who show up just so they can get their little pain-high by watching the grief of the family. It's sick."
Polly giggled. "You're a little weird."
"Haven't you ever seen it?" Beryl asked. "Pay attention when you go to your next funeral. There will be these people with big, round concerned eyes. They hover around the family, sucking up all their grief. Then they cry and draw attention to themselves about how awful this death was. They had nothing to do with the person when they were alive, but now that they're dead, it's a free-for-all to get as much substance out of the death ritual as they can." She shuddered. "It's gross."
Billy came in the front door with Caleb and took him upstairs.
"I'd better go," Polly said. "Thanks for telling me what the town knows and I don't. When you see Henry come back with that bed, tell him he better come up with it himself and not pay someone else to do it for him."
"Goodnight dear. Thanks for taking care of the kids," Lydia said.
Polly ran up the steps and caught up to Billy and Caleb as they were going in the front door. She put her hand on Caleb's back and when he turned to look at her, she saw that the boy had been crying.
"I'm glad you're here, Caleb."
"I didn't want to leave my dog, Abe. But Billy said he could go to their apartment and hang out with Big Jack."
She opened the front door and saw that Rachel had fallen asleep with her arms still wrapped around Obiwan. His eyes and ears perked up when they came in, but he didn't move.
Polly put her finger to her lips and pointed to her bedroom. Billy and Caleb followed her in and she shut the door.
"Henry Sturtz is bringing an air bed over for you to sleep on tonight, Caleb. I think Billy and Doug's place is going to be busy enough, don't you?"
He shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not going to sleep anyway."
"Billy, did you tell him what I found out from the Sheriff?" Polly asked.
"I told him. I don't know if he believed me, but I told him."
"The Sheriff is just trying to get to the truth. You know him, don't you Caleb?"
He nodded.
"You know he is fair and honest. Right?"
He nodded again.
"You know he won't arrest your mother for something she didn't do, right?"
He took a deep breath and let it out, then nodded once more.
"You have to trust him. If he has questions she can answer, then that's what needs to happen. I've told him to let her know that you and Rachel are staying here tonight."
He nodded.
Billy pushed his shoulder. "Come on, dude. Talk. Polly is being nice to you."
"I don't feel like talking. My mom went to jail."
This was going to be more difficult than she imagined.
"She's not in jail, Caleb. Do you understand that?"
"Then why did the Sheriff take her away?"
"Because they need to ask her some questions and it has to be official so that no one can say they did it wrong."
"Okay. Fine."
"Did you eat any supper?"
"No. They took her before we could eat."
Henry called from the main level, "Can I come up?"
"Come on up. We're in the bedroom." Polly called back. "Billy, would you go downstairs and ask Sylvie if she would make up a plate for Caleb and Rachel? If they don't want to eat, that's fine, but there is plenty of food and I think they'll like it."
Billy gave her a look of gratitude and passed Henry in the hallway and tore down the back steps.
"Hey Caleb," Henry said.
"Hey."
"Caleb and I know each other from Boy Scouts. That was a long time ago though, wasn't it."
"I quit after you left. It was boring."
Polly looked at Henry and said, "You never cease to surprise me."
He smiled. "Good for me!" Pulling the bed out of its box, he said to Caleb, "Do you want to help me get this thing blown up? And is there a reason we're in here and not the living room?"
"Rachel was sleeping when we came upstairs. I wanted to give her a few minutes of quiet," Polly said.
"Oh. Should we let her keep sleeping?"
Billy had returned with several containers in a bag.
"Nope, let's wake her up and see if she wants something to eat. Caleb, are you hungry?"
"I could eat," he said.
"Let's get this party going," Polly smiled and opened the door to the living room.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Very early the next morning, Polly received a text from Sheriff Merritt that he was dropping Martha Devins off at Sycamore House. Polly unlocked the main door from her phone and woke the kids in her living room.
The woman looked exhausted and haggard, da
rk circles under her eyes and her hair desperately needed a brush. Both kids hugged their mother when they saw her.
"Would you like me to make some breakfast?" Polly asked.
"No. I just want to go home and take a shower." The woman shuddered. "I feel as if all the grime in Boone crawled onto my skin. That place is awful."
Rachel and Caleb began asking questions, one after another, often talking over each other.
"Stop," Martha said. "After I get some sleep, I'll tell you everything. I'm not under arrest and I didn't do anything wrong."
She scowled at Polly, "Except end up on the wrong side of that woman's ire."
Polly nodded.
"Thank you so much for taking these two in last night. I figured they could take care of themselves, but the deputy didn't give me much time to make any plans for them."
"We're old enough. We could have stayed at the house alone," Caleb said.
"I'm glad that with everything that was happening, you had a safe place to sleep." She turned him toward Polly. "Tell Miss Giller thank you - both of you - and we'll get out of her hair."
Caleb said the words and Rachel hugged Polly. "Thank you so much," she said. "I didn't want to be by myself last night."
"I'm glad we could work this out."
"Mom!" Caleb cried out. "Abe is at Billy's with Big Jack. We have to get him."
"He can wait until they've gotten up. We won't bother anyone else this morning."
"Now, fold up your blankets and stack them neatly and make sure you have everything."
Martha took Polly's hand. "Again, thank you so much. When Sheriff Merritt told me the kids were here, I knew that you would take care of them and make them feel safe."
"Are you okay?" Polly asked.
"Not really, but it's nothing a hot shower and a nap won't fix."
"Do Caleb and Rachel have any idea what is going on?"
The woman sighed, "Probably not. That will be a long conversation we get to have today. They know a little about their father and have made some assumptions about why he left, but it's time to tell them everything. I think they are old enough to know the truth."
Polly nodded and though she was desperately curious, she couldn't figure out a good way to ask the woman what the truth was.
Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) Page 23
