The Sounds of Home

by Greenwood Muir, Diane

  "The thing is, I don't think he's ashamed of the place. Come on in with me. He'll be glad to see you." Henry took the casserole dish from her after they were out of his truck and they walked up the front sidewalk together. It was still light out, though the sun was setting in the west. There were no lights on in the living room and the two of them stood on the stoop after Polly pressed the doorbell.

  When enough time had passed that they were uncomfortable, Henry nodded and she pressed the doorbell again, expecting lights to flood the house and stoop any minute.

  "Weird," Henry said. "You heard it ring, right?"

  She nodded. "You don't think."

  "No," he said. "I don't think. One murder case at a time is enough. Donnie has nothing to do with Brad Anderson and his psychotic, counterfeiting wife and mother-in-law. Let's go around back and make sure he hasn't hurt himself. Even if he was working in the shed, he should have heard our truck pull in."

  They went back down the three steps and took the broken sidewalk around the side of the house. There was one lone light on in what Polly assumed was the kitchen.

  "Donnie," Henry yelled out. "Are you here? It's me. Henry Sturtz. Polly and I brought a casserole out for you. Donnie? Hello!"

  Polly pointed off to the far corner of the house. "What's that?"

  The area was shaded from the setting sun, but she realized she was looking at an open door that led down to an old storm cellar.

  "I'm terrified he's dead," she whispered, "but we have to look. How about you go down and I'll stay up top."

  Henry thought about it for a minute and handed the casserole dish back to her. "If I go, he's not dead, right? It has to be you that finds him."

  "Exactly, and I'm not going down there. Turn your phone’s flashlight on. It looks kinda dark."

  "Don't move around. Don't wander off. You hear me?" Henry asked.

  "I'm standing at the top of the steps. I promise I won't move an inch."

  He whispered as he put his foot on the top step, "I really don't want to do this."

  "Anyone down there is alive. Trust me," she whispered back.

  "Fine." Henry held his phone out in front of him as he traversed the rest of the stairs. It grew dimmer when he turned a corner at the bottom.

  Then Polly heard him curse. "Hey," she yelled. "Is he there?"

  "Yes, damn it. And so is everything he's stolen. Even Leroy’s motorcycle. He's got a workshop down here. Do you have a signal? I don't. We need an ambulance and the cops. He's alive. I think he knocked himself out."

  Polly was already dialing the local number for the police station in Bellingwood. She felt oddly satisfied that they'd found the thief, though she was sad it had to be Donnie Raymond.

  After she gave the dispatcher the necessary information, she sat down on the top step and yelled out, "They're coming. You don't think someone else hurt him?"

  "No, he was messing with an old car battery. I think he gave himself a bad shock. Polly, it's all here. I can't believe he did this by himself."

  "Lift his legs," Polly yelled.

  "What?"

  "Elevate his legs. Is he breathing?"

  "Yeah. I don't want to touch his legs. He did bad things to himself."

  "The internet says to elevate the legs and keep him warm. Do CPR if necessary and treat any obvious injuries."

  "Fine. I put a stool under his legs. I feel bad for the guy, Polly, but I'm not highly motivated to put my jacket on him. Things smell really bad." Henry showed up at the bottom of the steps. "If I ever get knocked out, don't let anyone come near me. This is embarrassing."

  "I shouldn't be laughing."

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why did he do this?"

  "Desperation, maybe."

  "He should have just talked to me. I would have done what I could to help."

  "How would he know that? You're his boss, not his buddy." The sound of sirens echoed in the distance. "I'm going to go out front and wait for the emergency vehicles."

  "You're leaving me alone down here," Henry said. "Thanks, tons."

  "Better you than me. At least yours is alive."

  "Please don't leave me."

  She stood up. "I promise to be back with all kinds of help."

  "There are plans and sketches and maps on the workbench down here."

  "Who was next?" Polly knew he was trying to keep her close. They had a minute or two before the emergency vehicles arrived.

  "Can't tell for sure. He's got some sketches of houses and garages, but I can’t tell who they belong to."

  "Keep an eye on him," Polly said. "The ambulance is here."

  "Hurry. I'm going to need a shower."

  She jogged toward the front of the house and stepped off to the side as the first emergency vehicle pulled in. "Back there, to the west of the house there's an old storm cellar. My husband is with the victim, whose name is Donnie Raymond. Henry thinks he may have electrocuted himself on a car battery."

  "Still breathing?"

  "Yeah. Henry said he didn't need to do CPR."

  There was plenty of room for him to pull forward and the ambulance to follow. Bert Bradford, followed by Ken Wallers, drove in, then got out of their cars and headed for Polly.

  "What did you find?" Ken asked. "I assume that Donnie's alive since you didn't call Aaron."

  "I'd have called you since you guys are working on this. But yes, he's alive. Down in a storm cellar. Henry is there with him."

  "You didn't go down?"

  "Nope. Henry and I decided Donnie had a better chance if I stayed up top and didn't move from the entrance."

  "That's awesome," Bert said. "You two are a riot. Henry found the stolen tools?"

  "Yeah. He says there are a bunch of sketches, too. Like layouts for people's houses. But Donnie's out cold."

  Ken pointed at the casserole that Polly was holding. "You bringing me dinner tonight?"

  She'd forgotten about it. "That's why we're here. I made an extra today and thought that since things had been so rough, Donnie might like something homemade to eat." She held it out. "Would you like to take it? I know Maude has to be whuppered since school is in full swing."

  "That's okay. We're fine."

  "I'm serious. If I could feed every teacher in the school, I would. Tell her I love her and that I'm thankful for what she's done for my kids. I should have done this much earlier."

  Ken peeled back the aluminum foil. "Tater tots? She never makes casseroles."

  "Do you want it?"

  Henry came around the side of the house.

  "Henry, is your wife any good as a cook?"

  "She trying to pass her extra casserole off on you?"

  "Hey," Polly said. "Remember who you're married to."

  He slid his arm around her waist. "She's a great cook. Take the dish. Give your wife a break."

  "I need a wife," Bert Bradford muttered.

  "Give it to my boy, here," Ken said. "He's feeling pitiful. Not like his mother never feeds him."

  "Don't fight over it," Polly said. "How about I put it in your car, Ken. You two can fuss with each other later."

  Bert took Henry's arm and walked with him back toward the storm cellar.

  "Thank you, Polly. I’ll send it with Bert. He got dumped last weekend."

  She blinked. "I didn't even know he was dating."

  "A girl from over in Ogden. She didn't like the long distance."

  "What is it, twenty miles?"

  He nodded. "She wasn't right for him, but he's hurting. A nice casserole will be like a warm hug. We'll have people log everything we find tonight. Give us a few days and then Henry can come in and see what matches up with what he lost. I told Bert this morning that Donnie's stolen items didn't seem quite as expensive as anyone else's. I thought maybe he just didn't carry quite as much in his truck. This afternoon we realized that he hadn't lost anything personal. It all belonged to Henry."

  "I can't figure out why he'd go after Henry," she said.

  "It’s not about your husb
and. After all this boy's been through, he couldn't see the forest for the trees. All he could do was steal from people he knew. With everything else that has gone on in town, this is just about as pathetic as it gets, though. You two available for interviews tomorrow sometime? We're going to be out here late tonight. Gonna have to call in some help to get this all out of here and cataloged."

  "We'll make time. I didn't do much except make a casserole and stand at the top of the steps, but I can describe it in great detail if you want."

  He chuckled. "That's fine. We'll call Henry first. Doubt that we need much more from you, then." Ken put his hands out. "I'll take this if you're serious."

  "Thank you. The pan is aluminum. I don't need it back."

  "You're a smart girl."

  "I learned from Lydia. How long do you think Henry will be?"

  Ken nodded. "He's coming back now. You two go on. Thanks for this."

  They didn’t speak until Henry was back on the main road.

  "You doing okay?" she asked.

  "Yeah. Can't figure out why Donnie came after my people. That has me perplexed."

  "Ken said he probably went after what he knew. Did he work on all those sites you identified?"

  "I'd have to check. We have the list. Bert has it too. I wouldn't be surprised, though."

  "He'd been there. All he had to do was watch to see what their habits were. Donnie doesn't seem like someone who would move too far outside his comfort zone."

  "I hate to think that stealing from his employer is in his comfort zone."

  "Amazing what a desperate person will do when he doesn't see any way out of his situation."

  "There's always a way."

  She put her hand on his knee. "I know that. You know that, but we've been lucky. We don't know what it's like to be at the bottom of our barrel and think that's all we have left."

  "I just wish he would have talked to me. We could have come up with a better way for him to live."

  "Look at you, trying to rescue your employees. You've been around me too long."

  "You're a good influence. I need to have a talk with my guys. I don't want anyone else to think that they have to resort to something illegal in order to live. Donnie was making okay money, but …"

  "But if his wife was taking everything, he didn't have much left. You aren't going to be able to make sense of this, Henry. He was in a mess and wasn't thinking straight."

  "I should have seen it."

  "I love you."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The recital wasn't until four o'clock, but Elijah was up early and moving before anyone else, Polly and Henry included. She rolled over into Henry when the sound of the piano came wafting upstairs.

  "He's at it again," she muttered.

  "I know."

  "After this recital, if he gets up in the middle of the night, he's relegated to headphones and the digital piano."

  "Uh huh. Shh."

  Han jumped onto the bed. Rather than curling up beside Henry, he stepped on Polly's hip and climbed over her to get to the cats.

  "What are you doing, dog?" she asked.

  "You aren't shh-ing."

  "Your dumb dog is walking on me."

  Henry opened one eye. "It's going to be that kind of a morning, isn't it?"

  "Your son. Your dog. Not my fault."

  He chuckled. "What do I need to do to help you today?"

  "Are you awake now?" Polly sat up, pushing Han toward the end of the bed.

  "Do I have a choice?"

  "We need to rearrange the living room. Put the sofas along the outside and we'll set the chairs up in rows."

  "What chairs?"

  "The ones you’re picking up from Eliseo at Sycamore House."

  "Does Eliseo know about this?"

  "Yes. Do you think I'd forget something that important?" She nearly had until Eliseo asked her yesterday how many she'd need. "Lydia, Andy, and Beryl are coming over after lunch to help me set up the refreshments."

  "More excitement to look forward to."

  Polly gave him a shove.

  "I didn't fall out of bed this time. I knew it was coming. What else?"

  "I don't know how many little kids will be here," Polly said. "I made sure to extend the invitation, but who knows what Joss and Sal will do. Hayden is going to mow the yard this morning. I asked Shelly if she'd like to make some money and keep an eye on the kids. Cat would have done it, but she's barely back to normal and I hate to push. Kayla and Cilla will be here and so will Andrew."

  "He'll hover over Rebecca. That means he's useless."

  This had been such a strange week. Once Henry was able to set aside his worries over the tool thefts, he'd gone back to work with a vengeance. They hadn't seen much of him the last two days. When he got home at night, he grabbed something to eat, spent a little time with the boys before bed and fell asleep before Polly had a chance to talk to him.

  The swelling on Rebecca's ankle had gone down and she'd made a heroic attempt to be at school on Thursday. By lunch, she called Polly, absolutely exhausted, begging to come home. She'd gone again on Friday and made it through the day. Cilla had been driving her car all week and made sure she got home and inside. Again, Rebecca had been exhausted and landed on a sofa in the kitchen nook, wanting to be part of things. The noise of dinner preparation and kids tearing through the house hadn't stopped her from sleeping soundly until Polly woke her to eat.

  They hadn't seen anything more of Jon Renaldi. He went back to Des Moines after his meeting in Kansas City and stayed overnight to meet with the Secret Service agents on Thursday morning. Polly had almost hoped he would stay through the weekend so they could enjoy time together without outside stress, but there would be other opportunities. They were nowhere near finished with the investigation that she'd kicked off this summer. Now he was involved in another mess that had begun in Bellingwood. He thought it was hilarious and his mother couldn't believe that her youngest son was part of Polly's life in Bellingwood.

  "I'm taking a shower," Henry said. He sat up and Han leaped across Polly again to get to him. "You'll direct traffic once everyone is up?"

  She glared at him. "What do you think?"

  "I think I'd better hurry."

  ~~~

  Kayla, Cilla, and Andrew showed up at noon. Rebecca felt guilty that she wasn't working at Greene Space like she usually did on Saturdays, but she couldn't have done it. Mary Francis was still there. Though Polly had contacted everyone about making changes so Mary could work for Sycamore Enterprises, Reuben wasn't ready to pull the trigger to let her go. Polly wished she had a better answer for him. That conversation would come later.

  With Kayla and Cilla there, Andrew offered to help with the boys. Instead, Polly sent him to get Agnes. Cassidy was going to feel left out and Polly didn't have the wherewithal to keep an eye on the child. Not with everything else going on. How did people do this without additional help in their lives?

  Cilla kept ducking out of Henry's way which made Polly laugh. Henry didn't even realize she was in the house and if he had, he'd already forgotten about their encounter the other evening.

  Lunch was sandwiches and she let the boys take theirs to the basement with strict orders to bring their dirty plates and anything they didn't eat back to the kitchen. They'd been through this several times and knew how Polly felt. They knew how loudly she felt about it. She didn't want mice in the house because her kids were slobs. The first time she found a plate with bread crust and peanut butter down there, she nearly came unglued. Luckily, they weren't in the house and she had time to calm down before she discussed it with them … still loudly, though.

  Kayla waited on Rebecca, making sure she had everything she needed. The girl was a gem. Once Rebecca had her lunch and was settled in the dining room with Cilla, Kayla came back into the kitchen.

  "Stephanie said I should ask if I can help you get ready," she said quietly. "Especially since Rebecca can't walk and Cat has been sick. I can do anything. If you wa
nt me to clean or vacuum or dust, I'm really good at that."

  "You are a sweetheart," Polly said. "We're in good shape, though. It's just a few friends."

  "I counted the chairs in the living room. That's a lot of people. You have a lot of friends."

  "I suppose we do. As long as you and Cilla help with the children when they're here, I couldn't ask for anything more."

  Kayla took the plate from Polly. "If you need me, just ask."

  Polly walked around and gave the girl a hug. "You are wonderful. Keep an eye on Rebecca for now."

  "I'll do that," Kayla said, nodding. "I'm just glad I wasn't the one who fell on top of her. I'd have broke her ankle for sure."

  "Stop it," Polly said. "Everything is fine. Go on in and eat." She was on her way to the pantry to find a bag of potato chips for the girls when the side door opened.

  "Those boys you send to pick me up keep getting younger and younger," Agnes said. "When JaRon is driving the car, I'm going to worry."

  "I'm glad you're here," Polly said. "Cassidy's in the dining room with the girls. She's looking forward to seeing you."

  "You aren't going to respond to my dig?"

  "What should I say? Andrew is a good driver."

  "I didn't say he wasn't a good driver, just that he's young."

  "I'm sixteen, ma'am," Andrew protested.

  Agnes pushed at his shoulder, an effort for the tiny woman. Andrew was still getting taller. "I'm nobody's ma'am. And I know how old you are. You're going to have to learn how to keep up with me, sonny."

  She snatched the bag of potato chips out of Polly's hand and marched toward the dining room.

  "Sonny?" Andrew asked Polly, who was laughing and laughing.

  "That's right, sonny. Sandwiches are on the counter. Put one on a plate and take it in for her. Take whatever you want for yourself."

  "Sonny?" he asked again.

  ~~~

  Len Specek stood in front of the group gathered in Polly's living room and waited for the room to quiet. "I know many of you are surprised to see me standing here, speaking in public …" A few giggles came from Beryl and Lydia. Polly was seated on a sofa beside the door and sent them a glare. It was considerably less intense than the glare Andy sent their way.