The Sounds of Home

by Greenwood Muir, Diane

  "There you go," Polly said. She looked up at the small gold clock hanging on his wall. "Oh my, I need to be on my way. I have an appointment in Boone and Henry will kill me if I'm late."

  "I'm so sorry to have kept you." Simon stood and waited for Polly. His cat leaped from the perch she'd taken on the counter and stood in front of his left leg. "She thinks I need to carry her wherever I go."

  "They train us to do their will, don't they?" Polly asked as she turned to walk out.

  Simon followed her, Crystal tucked into his arm. He took Polly's hand in his free hand and stopped her. "Thank you for your time this morning. I am grateful for your friendship."

  "Simon, you are such a good friend." Polly scratched Crystal's neck and grinned as the cat lolled her head back in pleasure. "Thank you for the tea."

  "The client who asked for these chairs will be glad to see them. I should have a check for you soon."

  "Thank you," she said. "I hope you have a good day."

  "I will." He held the back door for her and stood there watching as she went down the steps and got into the Suburban. As she backed out, he waved, and after a quick rub down Crystal's back, he turned and went inside.

  Polly wasn't late, but if she hadn't left when she did, she could have gotten herself in trouble. She wasn't sure what to do with the information he'd given her about the family's concerns regarding Brad Anderson. If the Secret Service hadn't interviewed Lillybeth over and over regarding her husband's activities, she'd be very surprised. It wasn't up to Polly to solve their case for them. She was much more focused on ensuring that Tab was able to find Brad Anderson's murderer. She pursed her lips. And somehow, they needed to figure out exactly who was stealing things from Henry's clients and employees.

  There was no reason she should spend so much time worrying over things like murderers and burglaries. She had enough to deal with. From her businesses to her large family, every day was filled with ups and downs. Fortunately, the boys had done their best to stay on her good side these last two days. That would change by the end of the week. Having Rebecca stuck at home with a bad ankle wasn't much fun for the girl, but at least it was still interesting. Boredom would set in soon. Polly sighed at the thought of Cat and her miserable cold. It would make sense to everyone as soon as she told them that she was pregnant, but of course, that secret had to stay secret for now. Why? Polly had no idea. Well, she did. She just didn't love being the holder of something like that. They hadn't talked much about it lately other than to acknowledge Cat's trips to her doctor.

  Her phone rang and Polly hit the button, connecting it to the console of her car. Henry.

  "I'm on my way."

  "I drove past Sycamore House and you weren't there."

  "I was at Simon Gardner's shop. He invited me in for tea."

  "You don't drink tea."

  "I do when I'm with Simon. He has no coffee. We talked about Brad Anderson. There's something going on, but I haven't put my finger on it yet. I don't want to talk about it in this interview unless they ask a specific question."

  "Like what?"

  "Like if I knew that Brad Anderson was having an affair."

  "Did you know?"

  "Not before today. I don't actually know it now. I just think it."

  "What if the woman was his contact to the mob?"

  "The mob?" Polly asked with a laugh.

  "That's my theory."

  "He was gambling."

  "See. Mob."

  "Well, I don't love the idea of that going on in Bellingwood, but we'll see what comes of this meeting. Is Al Dempsey on his way?"

  "I talked to him before calling you."

  "Are you nervous?"

  "Are you?"

  "My stomach feels like it's having a butterfly convention."

  Henry laughed. "Do I have to be the strong one?"

  "Nah. I'm going to make Aaron stand beside me. He can be strong."

  "I love the way you think."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  "Boy, I don't want to do that again," Polly said as she and Henry walked out to their vehicles. "I have never been that nervous."

  "You did fine."

  She glared at him. "That's because I kept my mouth shut. After Al told me to answer only direct questions and look to him if I didn't know what to say, I decided to be quiet. You and he did most of the talking."

  "The thing is, we don't know anything," Henry said.

  "Well, other than what Simon told me this morning. Since it didn't come up and they weren't about to tell us what they knew, I didn't figure it should be part of the conversation. I'll tell Aaron and Tab later. Maybe everyone already knows about the gambling and the possible affair."

  "So, I didn't get a chance to tell you what happened to me this morning."

  They stopped beside the Suburban. "What?" she asked.

  "Donnie Raymond's truck was hit last night."

  "No," she moaned. "He doesn't need that right now. What did he lose?"

  "It wasn't as bad as some of the others, but the thief did the same thing to his garage. He doesn't have a lot of security, but they cut around the door lock. The door is on the far side of the garage and no one could have seen anything since there isn't any light out there. The thieves broke into the tool chest in his truck. Most of what they took belonged to the company, so our insurance will cover it."

  Donnie Raymond and his wife went through a nasty divorce three years ago and she was hitting him hard for child support. They'd been back to court last spring and the judge increased his child support payments, while decreasing the amount of time he spent with his two girls. Rumor had it that his wife had met another man and wanted to move out of state.

  All of this while he was trying to help his mother, who fell and broke a hip while working in her garden in June. Henry gave him as much work as he could handle and when he needed time off, there were no questions asked. The other guys on his crew offered to work so that when he had to be gone for a few hours, he didn't have to take it as unpaid. It was such a sad situation, but his friends were doing their best for him.

  "What can we do?" she asked.

  "Nothing that I can think of. Conyers went out to his place this morning and I'll replace the tools. Polly, if we don't figure out who is doing this, I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Do I make my guys empty their tool chests every night into a warehouse? That's ridiculous. I can't make them come to a central location every night. It wastes a huge amount of time. No one works like this, but I'm about to have no other choice."

  Polly slipped her arms around his waist and held on while he hugged her tight. "It feels like we're right in the middle of all sorts of ugly, doesn't it."

  "I know that this isn't our entire life. We have good stuff going on, but I'm tired of going to sleep at night and wondering what's coming next." He rested his head against hers and she took a slow breath, trying to calm them both.

  "Hey, you two. It wasn't that bad."

  Henry jumped and backed away, then put his hand out as Al Dempsey approached. "Thank you for being there this morning, Al."

  "That was a new one for me, but I was glad to help. Agent Sand wanted to ask more questions about some of Polly's other adventures."

  "He scared me when he asked about me finding that guy in Boone last summer," Polly said. "Especially since Jon and Ray were involved in that one, too. And then about Joey Delancy? Are you kidding? That was years ago."

  "Jon and Ray were involved then," Henry said.

  She nodded. "I'll call Jon later and tell him what happened. He should know. If he has to reach out to his friends in the Secret Service, he should."

  "I spoke to Agent Paris after we were done," Al said. "They're finished with you both. You won't hear from them again."

  "Unless she finds another body related to this case," Henry said.

  Al looked at Polly over his glasses. "Let's not do that, okay?"

  She laughed, glad for the relief of it. "I'll try. That's all I can promise."<
br />
  "I'll call you later," Henry said, leaning in to give her a quick kiss.

  Polly nodded and watched him walk away with Al. She didn't know how to help him. At least it was only tools. No one had been hurt yet and she hadn't found any bodies, but Henry wouldn't see the humor in that.

  When she got into the Suburban, she turned the air conditioning up. The temperatures weren't that warm, but it had been sitting in the sun and she could barely breathe. Her phone had buzzed a couple of times while she'd been in the meeting, but there had never been a good time to check.

  The first one was from Jeff, wondering how things had gone. She sent a quick message back telling him that she'd lived through it and would see him later. The second was from Rebecca. The girl was starving to death. When was Polly picking her up?

  "I'm on my way back from Boone," Polly sent. "Do you need help getting down the stairs or would you like me to bring food home for you? If you want me to spoon feed it, I can do that, too."

  "Aren't you funny," Rebecca sent back. "Do you remember teaching Noah how to sit on his butt and go down the steps? Well, I do. I'm going to throw my crutches down first."

  "Don't throw your crutches."

  Her daughter sent back a laughing emoji. "JK. I can carry them. They'll be good for balance. Right?"

  "You could wait until I'm home."

  "I'm bored. I need some excitement in my life."

  Polly shook her head. If she had to take that girl back to Doc Mason because she broke something, she was going to be angry. Then she laughed at herself. Since when did she look for the worst to happen? Even if Rebecca landed on her bad ankle, all it was going to do was hurt her. She wasn't going to end up in the emergency room. At least Polly hoped that wouldn't be the case. Henry didn't need one more thing to worry about.

  She was driving past Sycamore House when her phone rang. The number on the console wasn't familiar, but Polly tapped the button. "Hello, this is Polly."

  "Polly, this is Loretta Nesbitt."

  "Hi. What's up."

  "I’m sorry about my friend in Boone. She told me that you two had talked and I realized she had no idea who you were."

  "That's okay," Polly said with a laugh. Seriously, who was she to warrant that kind of reaction? "No worries."

  "Well, I'm guessing she was kind of rude. I told her that you were a big client of mine and she'd just missed out on a great gig, but I have another idea."

  "Okay."

  "So, I'm in Ames having lunch with my sister-in-law and she's looking for a job."

  "Your sister-in-law?"

  "Yeah. Remember, I told you when we first met that she and my brother know Jeff. They lived in his apartment building."

  Polly did remember something like that, but it hadn't been a big thing.

  "Yeah, they really liked him. They babysat his new puppies that he rescued?"

  "Okay, sure. What about them?"

  "Well, Ellie is looking for something to do right now. She finished grad school, but if she wants to work in her field, they have to move and Jared doesn't want to leave Iowa. He likes his job."

  Polly set her jaw. If she remembered right, Jared worked in a restaurant in Ames and was only doing that until his wife finished school. It wasn’t hers to worry about. Oh, she couldn't help herself. "He doesn't want her to have a career?"

  Loretta had started to speak and caught her breath. "It's not like that." She paused. "Come to think of it, I guess it is like that. Anyway, she'd be willing to talk to you about cleaning."

  "What was her degree?"

  "I hate to even tell you now."

  "Ah, go ahead. I'm game."

  "Computational Fluid Dynamics."

  Polly burst out laughing. "Oh dear. What in the world does she do with that?"

  "Rocket science. It's an engineering degree."

  "And her husband wants her to clean my house? She's a little overqualified." Polly took in a deep breath as she turned on Beech Street. "Loretta, I'm glad to talk to her, but how long do you think they'll be in the area? Is she looking for another job?"

  "I'm going to have to kick my brother's behind, aren't I?"

  "Why isn't Ellie kicking it?"

  "Because she's too nice. He loves his job."

  "Give her my number. I'll talk to her."

  "Thank you, Polly. I am sorry about my friend from Boone. And maybe you'll be good for Ellie."

  "Where do they live?"

  "They moved into a house on the west side of Ames. It's closer to his restaurant."

  "I look forward to her call." Polly took another deep breath. Sometimes men were dumb. Sometimes women were dumber.

  She went inside and found Rebecca sitting on a stool at the counter. "You made it downstairs."

  "I even let the dogs out for a few minutes. They came back in when I shook the treat container."

  "You're so smart."

  "I didn't want to wait any longer to get out of here. I haven't sat inside this house for this long in forever. Where are you taking me?"

  "Sweet Beans? The diner? Barbecue?"

  "Ames?" Rebecca asked. "Someplace new and different?"

  "You don't want to go to Boone in case you see your friends."

  Rebecca hitched herself to her good foot and slung her arm over the crutch. "Duh."

  Polly had to contact Jeff and make sure he didn't need her, but there was no reason not to take Rebecca wherever she wanted to go. Freedom was the name of the game. Especially when the world seemed so upside down.

  She got Rebecca situated in the front seat of the Suburban. "Do you need anything?"

  Patting her purse, Rebecca said, "I'm ready. Thank you for taking me away from the house."

  "I didn't check on Cat," Polly said sheepishly.

  "I did. I told her we were going out for lunch and asked if she needed anything. That poor girl looks horrible. She's so miserable. Anyway, she said that all she wanted to do was sleep. She had two fresh boxes of tissues and Hayden put a pitcher of water in their fridge for her. She isn't hungry. He’s coming home early again. We’re safe to leave."

  "Okay." Polly looked over at Rebecca. "You're sure?"

  "Totally. She told me to go. She's lying on her couch with the television on. Text her if you're worried, but let's go."

  Polly laughed. "Fine. We're going." She backed out of the driveway and headed back past the partially built house on the corner, slowing to look in at it.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Someone was wandering around in here this morning. I just wanted to make sure they hadn't come back." She waved at Albert Lynch, who was out on his front stoop again. He waved back.

  "Why would anyone be in there? I heard Henry say that the lady who was building it is selling it. That's because her husband was murdered, right?"

  "I guess so."

  "Maybe it was someone else who wants to buy it. Wouldn't it be great if another family with kids moved in? Maybe you wouldn't always have to have the house where everyone came to play."

  "I like having the kids over. At least I know where ours are."

  "You're okay when they go over to Cilla's house."

  "That's because I trust Andrea to keep an eye on things. I don't know who the mom is at that house."

  "Nobody's bought it yet, silly."

  "Exactly."

  Polly drove past the elementary school and then through the downtown. She headed for the highway and turned east.

  "So, can I ask a question?" Rebecca asked.

  "Do you mean a second question?"

  "Whatever."

  "Go ahead."

  "What did Henry say to Cilla last night? She wouldn't tell me."

  Polly wrinkled her forehead. Last night seemed so far away. "I don't remember."

  "She came into the family roo …"

  "Oh, now I remember. She got really weird with Jon, and Henry made her stop before she walked into a world of trouble."

  "Weird like how?"

  "Weird like she was saying t
hings to him that weren't appropriate."

  "Like what?"

  "Like how he was hot. She started down the path of men thinking with their … uhh … lower parts."

  "She did not!" Rebecca said. "No wonder she wouldn't tell me. And Henry made her stop? Not you?"

  "Yeah, he surprised me."

  "She's been acting all adult-like lately. I kind of ignore it because, well, we're all trying to figure it out. But she's been different."

  "What do you think is going on?"

  Rebecca shook her head. "I don't know yet. It started when we got back to school. I know she thinks the manager where Justin works is cute, and I heard her talking to Dierdre about this guy they used to know. He's in college and he's been texting her. She won't talk to me. Probably because she knows I'll tell you and then you'll tell her mom and then she'll be in trouble. But it's like she doesn't think any of the boys in high school are good enough for her, so she's trying to be all grown up." Rebecca laughed. "From watching you guys, I think we have plenty of time to be grown up. I want to have fun. You don't have fun anymore."

  "I don't?"

  "No. All you do is work, clean, feed us, and keep everybody in line. Sometimes you drink coffee with your friends, but you hardly ever do that anymore either. I don't want to be you until I have to."

  "I love my life."

  "Do you remember when it was just us at Sycamore House? You were always doing crazy things. You had fun dating Henry and you had weird parties with the ladies. Then you got all responsible. You worry about us kids all the time. I know that. I can't believe I hurt myself this week. Look at you, taking me out to lunch after a meeting with the Secret Service. You should have called Beryl and made her get you drunk or something."

  "I don't think so."

  "Well, even I know we can't be gone very long because you have to make sure the littles are safe after school."

  Polly felt tears well up in her eyes. Rebecca shouldn't be seeing any of this. It wasn't her responsibility to make sure that Polly had fun. "You can't worry about me."