Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  "Uh huh. That's exactly what I heard you say."

  "Bite me."

  He leaned in to kiss her and nibbled her bottom lip. "I obey, ma'am."

  "Oh stop it, you nut. Plates, please."

  He held out two plates while she filled them with mashed potatoes and corn Sylvie had sliced off the cob from Jason's party. It didn't seem possible that was only last night. She scooped out some macaroni and cheese and then added two pieces of chicken to each plate. First one, then the other went into the microwave until Polly determined they were finished.

  Sylvie always had some napkin wrapped silverware in the drawer, so Polly grabbed two sets, lay them on top of the popcorn bowl, put two of the corn dogs on each plate and said, "That should feed them, don't you think?"

  "They aren't going to be able to eat all of that," he laughed.

  She picked up the two plates and said, "Could you get the popcorn and the ketchup and I'll bet you five dollars at least one of them completely clears his plate. Ten if they both do."

  "You're on," he said. "Neither of them will be able to eat all of this."

  "Whatever, loser," she taunted and sashayed into the hall in front of him.

  When they got to the office, she peered into the open door of the conference room. "Can we come in?"

  Roy took a deep breath and said, "Come on in, guys. I suspect the boys are very hungry by now. They've been telling us a pretty amazing story."

  Polly looked at his face to see if she could read anything, yet he was stoic.

  "A story?" she asked. "As in, fiction?"

  Roy stood up. "I need something to drink. Sheriff?"

  "I could use some water myself."

  The two of them got up and walked out, leaving Polly and Henry alone with the two boys. There had been more tears, as evidenced by the used tissues on the table in front of the boys.

  "Well, boys, it looks like you get a reprieve. How about some supper? My friend’s son had a birthday yesterday and she cooked up all sorts of wonderful food. Those corn dogs, though? They came from the carnival and are about my favorite fair food in the world."

  She put a plate down in front of each of them and then handed them each a set of silverware from the popcorn bowl.

  "Henry tells me he doesn't think you guys can eat all of that food. I told him he was nuts. Now here's the deal, he bet me five dollars each that you couldn't. If you both clean your plates, I'll give you the five dollars. Can you make a liar out of him?"

  The boys looked at each other and dove into the food. They hadn't eaten for a while.

  "Henry, could you go to the kitchen and get the boys each a couple of bottles of water? Those are in the refrigerator."

  "I saw them. Sure."

  He left the room and Polly sat down, pulling the popcorn bowl in front of her. She pushed the ketchup toward the boys and said, "Have you ever eaten a corn dog? You mush it in ketchup and then eat it. It's awesome. I've already had two tonight."

  Jaleel looked up at her, his brown eyes sparkling. He picked up a corn dog and bit the end off. "It's a hot dog!" he said.

  "I know, right?" Polly laughed. "It's a hot dog surrounded by cornbread. You really have to try it with ketchup though."

  He squirted ketchup on his plate, in a space he'd opened up by polishing off the macaroni and cheese, and tested the corn dog. "That's awesome. Mickey, you have to try it."

  Soon both boys were eating corn dogs and smiling at Polly.

  "So, what story did you tell Roy? It doesn't seem like he believed everything you said?" she asked.

  "It was totally the truth, though!"

  "So, what did you tell him?"

  Jaleel looked down. "We were stupid. Totally stupid. I thought we could drive Mr. Foster's truck. We were just going to go down the road and then come back, so we got up early on Monday, even earlier than we got up the other mornings. I saw where he put the keys and I swear, we were only going to be gone for a minute!"

  "Okay, so you were stupid. Then what happened."

  He looked at Mickey and the other boy shrugged. "I was driving," Jaleel said quietly. "I can drive. I really can. But that truck is big!"

  "I drive a truck," Polly agreed. "It was my dad's. You're right. It's pretty big."

  "I didn't see the guy and all of sudden, there he was, walking on the highway. I swerved and we ended up in the ditch. I was so scared."

  "Who was walking on the highway?" Polly asked. "Did you know him?"

  "No, he said his car broke down and he was going to Boone. And he was pissed at us, because when he thought I was going to hit him, he fell down and got his nice pants dirty. He was wearing a white shirt and a tie and it was dirty too."

  "How old a guy was it?"

  "I don't know. He was a little older than you, maybe, but not as old as the Sheriff."

  "So then what happened?"

  "He told us he could get the car out of the ditch, that he knew how to drive a truck and since it wasn't wet, we shouldn't have a problem, so I scooted over and let him drive. The next thing I knew, he was tearing down the road after this white Lincoln Navigator. The woman was driving like hell and he started pushing at her. He bumped her car a couple of times and Mickey and I thought we were going to die. We put our seatbelts on, because I knew he was going to wreck."

  Mickey stopped eating and she could see tears forming in his eyes.

  "Did he push her off the road?"

  "Yeah! She was going so fast, she plowed right into the corn. He stopped the truck and told us not to move. I thought he was going to help her, but he dug around in the back of the Fosters’ truck and took out a tire iron. There was some cans of paint back there because we were going to spray some tops of metal fences this week. He took one of those too."

  "You had to have been pretty scared."

  "When he came back to the truck, he was all red-faced and mad. He threw the tire iron in the back of the truck again and drove to Boone. Then he pulled over and told us to give him our phones. We didn't know what else to do, so we gave them to him. He told us that now we were accessories to murder and if we told anybody about what we saw, he knew who we were and he knew the Fosters and he knew you guys and he would find us and kill us. He gave us each forty bucks and told us to find our way back to Chicago and never tell anyone what we saw."

  Mickey's lower lip started to quiver. "I thought he was going to kill us right there. He took our phones and got the tire iron back out of the truck and smashed 'em to pieces, then kicked them into the gutter. He threw the keys down after them and told us to run our pretty little black asses off until we were in Chicago."

  "Oh boys," Polly said. "I'm so sorry! Where have you been all this time?"

  "We went into the library on Monday and just hid there. Then we walked to Taco Johns and stayed there for a while, but the police station is right down the street and we were afraid that they'd find us and we didn't want to die. We mostly hid. We found some trains that weren't going anywhere and slept in one of those Monday night," Jaleel said.

  "We wanted to come back here, but he also told us that he was going to tell the Sheriff and Roy that we'd killed that lady and they'd put us in jail. And who were they going to believe, a white man who lived in Bellingwood or a couple of black kids from Chicago who weren't worth anything anyway," Mickey seemed to continue his thought without paying attention to anything else.

  Polly jumped up and went over to hug him. He fell apart again, sobbing and crying while she held him. "We didn't do anything but take that truck out. We wouldn't ever hurt someone," he said through the tears.

  "Was that the same Lincoln Navigator that the mean woman drove?" Jaleel asked.

  "It was," Polly said. "She was the woman he killed."

  "She wasn't very nice, but she didn't deserve to die," he said.

  "No she didn't."

  "Will we have to go to jail? I have a big brother who is in for killing a guy. He's gotten really mean since he left. I don't even like to go see him anymore," Jaleel
commented.

  "The Sheriff is going to investigate what you've told them. Did you tell them everything that you just told me?" she asked.

  The boys nodded.

  "You didn't lie about anything? It was all the truth?"

  "I think so," Mickey said. "I don't think we forgot anything."

  "Then you aren't going to have to go to jail for any of this. Driving a truck into a ditch isn't anything people will arrest you for. You shouldn't have taken the truck without permission, but I suspect the Fosters won't do anything. Especially after they hear what you've been through. Mr. Foster could have driven that truck out of the ditch as easily as this man did."

  "Miss Giller?"

  "Yes, Mickey."

  "If he is from Bellingwood, is he going to know we told? Will he try to kill us?"

  At that, the three men returned to the conference room. Henry shook his head and smiled at Polly. He mouthed, "You were great."

  Aaron asked the two boys, "Can you help us figure out who the man was?"

  "We can try. Will we have to see him face to face?"

  "Let us do some work, first. We’ll do everything we can to keep you safe."

  Then he said, "Roy, I'd like to keep these boys out of sight for a while. Whoever did this thinks he got away with it and I'd hate for him to see them and get spooked."

  "Do you believe us now?" Mickey asked.

  "We believe you."

  "Roy?" Jaleel pressed.

  "I believe you. Both of you."

  Aaron put his hands on the table in front of him and leaned in. "I think you boys have had enough adventure for this week. I want you to stay here at Sycamore House and don't go outside. Can you do that?"

  They nodded, their eyes wide as saucers.

  "Polly, can you find them a place to sleep?"

  "I have an air mattress already set up in my apartment. Would you two boys like to sleep with a couple of cats and a dog? They're very friendly."

  "We can move the mattress over to my room and they can stay with me," Roy said.

  "Your choice," she replied. "I have a kitchen and a bathroom that you all can use. I won't be around much tomorrow anyway. Let me email you the key, Roy. You can go in and out whenever you want. I'll just text you when I'm going to be there, so no one tries to interrupt me in the bathroom, how's that?"

  "Thank you, Polly." He looked at Jaleel and Mickey and said, "Boys?"

  "Thank you, Miss Giller," said one boy and then the other.

  "I'll get your things from the Fosters tomorrow," Roy said. "I suspect you both really need a shower and a change of clothes."

  The boys looked at each other and grinned. "I told you that you stunk," Mickey said.

  "Not as bad as you!" Jaleel retorted.

  "I'm going to leave you to it," Aaron said, "and check in with you all tomorrow. We'll hope to have this wrapped up before you leave on Tuesday. It's good to have you back in Bellingwood, boys."

  He left and they all took a breath as they heard the front door close.

  "Let's get the bed moved over to Roy's room," Henry said," and you two can get a good night's sleep." He glanced at their plates. "Looks like I'm making some money tonight." He winked at Polly and left.

  "You don't have to finish a thing, boys," she said.

  "But, I'm not done!" Jaleel said. "Can I finish eating? I'm still hungry."

  "You two can eat whatever you like. I'll bet that Henry would make the same deal on the other side of mine. If you don't finish your meals, that means I pay up."

  "We'll finish. This is good." There wasn't much left on their plates, but in a few minutes, both plates were clean.

  Polly took out her phone and said, "Give me a smile, boys. I need proof." They put their arms around each other's shoulders and grinned - big, toothy grins over their empty plates. "Thanks. The cash is yours."

  She stacked the plates and left them on the table. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with that. Tonight she wanted to get them upstairs and tucked in.

  "You're pretty cool, Miss Giller," Mickey said as they walked up the steps. "And so is the Sheriff. I've never known a policeman to be so cool."

  "I'll tell him you said that. It will make him smile."

  The door to Roy's room was open, so she led them over. They'd set up the bed and the boys followed her in.

  "I have to be somewhere tomorrow morning, so my apartment will be clear by ten fifteen. Is that early enough for showers?" she asked Roy.

  "That will be fine. Thank you."

  "There's going to be a lot of activity around here tomorrow, but no one should be upstairs except for the other two guests. I might send Sylvie up with some breakfast, but other than that if you stay up here, you'll be out of the way. There are movies and video games in my apartment and feel free to use anything in the kitchen. I have food there the boys should like."

  "Thanks again. For everything. This means the world to me."

  Henry pulled his friend into a hug and Polly looked at the boys. "I'm glad you told me your story tonight. Now get some sleep. There are good people who will take care of this for you."

  They nodded at her.

  When she and Henry got back inside her apartment, she turned on him. "What in the heck was that all about? Why did you all leave me with the boys?"

  "I didn't know we were until I got to the kitchen. Roy had heard their story and he wanted to believe them, but he wanted to see what their reaction to you would be. He wanted to hear the story as an observer, not an interrogator. I guess Aaron bought into it, because they just let you roll. You did a great job, by the way. You are really good with kids that age.

  "How much of it did you hear?"

  "We were sitting outside in the main office. You just couldn't see us with the lights off. We heard everything."

  "Those poor boys. I can't believe what they've been through this week."

  "Roy was right, though, wasn't he? They're good boys. At least he knows now that his intuition about his kids isn't wrong."

  She dropped down onto the sofa. "This has been a weird week."

  "And I didn't get my romantic moment on the Ferris wheel."

  "No you didn't. What were you going to do with that moment?" she asked.

  "I was going to do this," he took her hands, pulled her back up and into his arms and kissed her. She felt her knees go weak and she sagged against him.

  "I think I must be a little tired," she said. "I haven't had enough sleep and you're making me swoon again."

  "Then we'll put you to bed and I'll drive away and promise to see you tomorrow. Remember, there's a street dance downtown and I want all of your dances."

  She smiled weakly at him. "I love you. All of these things I do are easier because you're around."

  They walked into her bedroom and the animals all followed. She held his hand and led him to the steps leading downstairs. "Good night, Henry. Thank you."

  "Good night, my crazy, beautiful girl. I love you too." He kissed her again and went downstairs. She watched out the back window as he drove off, then stripped off her clothes and dropped into the bed. A few swipes on her phone and she made sure the outside doors were locked and the lights off. She pulled the blanket up to her neck, waited for Obiwan to settle in beside her, and fell asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Opening the barn door Saturday morning, Polly found that the entire complement was already at work. Rachel saw her first and said, "Hi Polly! The horses were beautiful in the parade yesterday. I only got a few minutes off to run up and watch, but they were really something."

  "Thanks, Rachel. Maybe next time you can join us."

  "That would be fun."

  Jason stuck his head out of Daisy's stall. "Hi Polly."

  "Hi there, Jason. How's your brother this morning?" she asked.

  "He's nervous. Mom told me I should get out of there because he was so grumpy."

  "It will all be over soon." The Literacy Competition would be held at the Lutheran Church this m
orning. The kids were supposed to be there by nine o'clock to practice using the microphone. Andrew had memorized an excerpt from his story and she looked forward to watching him perform. He was very natural and seemed comfortable engaging the audience as he told his story, but as Polly knew from her utter terror the night before in preparing to play with a large group, his nerves would be overwhelming him this morning. Jason was much safer in the barn than at home.

  "My mom wanted me to tell you thank you again for putting me and Caleb up at your place the other night," Rachel said, shyly. "We're still pretty scared. She didn't have anything to do with that woman's death."

  Polly sat down on one of the benches in the alley of the barn and patted the seat next to her. The air in Rachel's lungs rushed out as she slumped down beside Polly.

  "How are you doing with everything this morning?" Polly asked. “That was a lot of stuff coming at you."

  "It's weird to think that my Dad ever had anything to do with that woman, especially when she was married. I wish I knew why he left. Mom doesn't believe he found another woman. She thinks Mrs. Rothenfuss threatened him somehow."

  "Does your mother know how to reach him?"

  "She said she heard from him a couple of times, but the last number he used to call her isn't in service any longer, so we don't know anything. I used to think it was my fault that he left. And even yesterday when I started hearing all of this stuff about him having to marry Mom because she was pregnant with me, that made it worse. At least when Caleb was born, they'd been married for a while."

  "He wouldn't have gotten married if he didn't want to," Polly said.

  "That's what mom told me, but now it makes sense why that old bat was always calling me and my mom whores. She was really mean. That's why the Sheriff wanted to talk to my mom. They knew that Dad had left and wondered if things had finally gotten so bad between my Mom and Mrs. Rothenfuss that it got out of control."

  "I can't tell you why, but you and your mom don't have anything else to worry about, Rachel. The Sheriff is looking at someone else and there is more evidence to tie them to the murder than there was with your mom."