She pulled the van over to the barn doors and waited while Gloria shoved the barn door open and stepped to the side.
“You’re going to get rid of all of that?” Gloria asked.
Ruth stuck a hand on her hip and nodded at the pile. “Yeah. At first I had just a few things but then I got to thinking and I made this little rule for myself. This is how I decided whether to keep it or to junk it.”
Ruth held up an index finger. “One. Have I used this in the last year? Two. Can I still fit into it? If the answer is no, it’s got to go!”
Gloria chuckled. “Those are good rules of thumb. I’ll have to use that myself,” she decided.
The girls made quick work of pulling the boxes from the van and stacking them neatly off to one side.
“I ran into Margaret on my way through town and told her about the yard sale,” Ruth said.
“What’d she say?”
“Yeah. She seems real excited. I think she’s going to bring some stuff by,” Ruth answered.
If anyone had stuff to get rid of, it would be Margaret. Margaret and her husband, Don, had traveled all over the world through the years, visiting some exotic locations, including one Gloria herself had always wanted to visit. Israel. And Jerusalem.
Gloria made a mental note to sift through whatever Margaret decided to get rid of. She had some cool stuff Gloria wouldn’t mind having for herself.
Ruth brushed her hands on the front of her pants and waited while Gloria closed the barn doors and snapped the padlock closed.
Ever since the time the bank robber had snuck into Gloria’s barn to hide out, she’d added locks to all her barn doors - and she used them!
“I noticed Kenny stopped by with your mail,” Ruth said.
Gloria wasn’t sure how Ruth would feel about Gloria poking around in the post office investigation. “He said he missed you and that it was boring without you,” she answered.
Ruth’s face brightened. “He did?”
“Yep.”
Then her face fell. “I hope they wrap this thing up soon. I need to get back to work. I have no idea what people who don’t work do with all their free time!” she declared.
Ruth clamped her mouth shut when it dawned on Ruth that she was talking about Gloria. But Gloria knew she meant no harm. She just said the first thing that popped into her head. And she was sure others wondered the same thing.
But Gloria stayed busy. So busy, she wondered how she would survive if she did have a 9 to 5 job! Between her gardens, her friends and her investigations, her days filled up fast. Sometimes there didn’t even seem like enough hours in the day to get it all done!
“You’d be surprised,” Gloria answered. She linked arms with Ruth as they wandered across the yard and back to the house. “One day you’ll find out and then you’ll be just like me,” she promised.
After lunch, Ruth wandered from room-to-room aimlessly. There was no way Gloria could keep her busy at her house. They needed to get out. To go into town and make the rounds. “C’mon, let’s head into town.”
Ruth frowned. “But aren’t people going to start asking questions?” she asked. “What if they start whispering about me behind my back?”
Gloria planted her hands on her hips. “Ruth Carpenter! You know better than to pay any mind to the gossips in this town! We are going into Belhaven and you are going to hold your head up high!”
Ruth stiffened her back at Gloria’s pep talk. “You’re right! No bunch of busybodies are gonna make me hide out in shame!” she declared.
The girls climbed in Ruth’s van. “Let’s stop by Andrea’s first. I want to see how the place is shaping up,” Gloria said.
“Great idea,” Ruth agreed.
Andrea’s beautiful home - the town’s unofficial mansion - was almost finished with its spectacular renovation. Andrea bought the house and immediately began updating both the inside and out. It was fun to watch the transformation. The young woman had done a terrific job of keeping the historical charm, yet adding modern touches and her own personal flair.
There was one other vehicle parked in the driveway. It was parked next to Andrea’s expensive sports car. It looked to be some sort of handyman van. Ruth pulled her van behind Andrea’s car and the girls climbed out. The front door was wide open.
“Knock, knock.” Gloria peeked her head inside the door to announce their arrival.
From the corner of her eye, Gloria caught a glimpse of a black shadow as it darted across the room. “Woof!” A sleek, shiny black Labrador retriever pranced over to them, his tail wagging. He sniffed Ruth first, who patted his head. Then he turned to Gloria. Gloria bent down and rubbed his ears. “Well, hello there! Who are you?” she asked the dog.
Andrea barreled through the door that separated the dining room from the butler’s pantry as she emerged from the kitchen. “That’s Brutus,” she said. “I got him from the animal shelter this morning. The same one you got Mally from.”
Gloria was still crouched on her knees. “You did? Well, aren’t you a beauty! Wait ‘til Mally sees you!”
Gloria looked up at Andrea. “I thought you were going to hold off on getting a dog!” Andrea told Gloria everything. Even though they were just friends, Andrea considered Gloria to be more than that. She was more of a mother-figure to Andrea. One she didn’t have nearby since her parents lived hundreds of miles away in New York City. Her parents didn’t care for the country and as far as Gloria knew, had yet to come and visit their daughter in Belhaven.
“I was going to wait until the house was all done but I changed my mind,” Andrea told them.
Gloria lifted her eyebrows, “Oh? And why was that?” Andrea had enough going on with the major house renovations. She’d told Gloria more than once that as soon as the house was finished, she would adopt a dog, but taking one in now would be too much on her plate…
Andrea rubbed the tip of her toe back and forth along the marble floor, a telltale sign to Gloria there was something Andrea wasn’t telling her.
She rose to her feet and took a step closer to her young friend. “What made you change your mind, dear?”
Andrea shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes met Gloria’s then quickly looked down.
Gloria pressed the issue. “Did something happen?”
Andrea’s shoulders sagged. She knew Gloria well enough to know that she would hound her until a confession was forthcoming. Andrea took a deep breath. “Someone was in the house last night,” she confessed.
Ruth gasped. Her hand flew to her throat. “Were you home at the time?”
Andrea nodded sheepishly. “I was upstairs, peeling some old wallpaper from one of the spare bedroom walls. I heard a muffled noise. It sounded like it was coming from the library,” she explained.
“Then what happened?” Gloria prompted.
“I ran to my bedroom and grabbed the gun I keep in the nightstand beside the bed.”
Andrea had gotten the gun at Gloria’s insistence. Ever since a dead body was found in the shed out back, Gloria worried about Andrea’s safety and the wisdom of her living in the big, old house by herself. So Andrea and Gloria struck a deal: Gloria wouldn’t badger her young friend about living in the house alone if Andrea took a gun safety course and then bought one to keep with her.
Andrea lived up to her end of the bargain. She promptly took the course and bought a gun that was designed specifically for women. After she bought the gun, Andrea set up a small target practice in her backyard. She was even able to talk Gloria into doing a little shooting practice right after she got it.
Gloria herself was surprised at how lightweight the gun was and how easy it was to shoot.
For her Christmas gift, Andrea gave Gloria the exact same one. Gloria kept it in the nightstand beside her bed, too. Except hers wasn’t loaded. She was too worried that one of her grandsons would come over and she would forget to put the gun up and that they would find it.
Paul had promised to bring her a special case that was hard to unlock. At
least, hard to unlock for young boys, and then she could keep the gun loaded.
“By the time I grabbed the gun and made my way downstairs, whoever had been inside was gone. They were in such a hurry to get out of here, they left the back door wide open.”
Brutus flopped down at Andrea’s feet. He seemed to be attached to her. “I asked the woman at the shelter to recommend a dog. A good watch dog.”
Gloria knew a little bit about dogs. She started her research right after her daughter, Jill, brought Mally to her house and dropped her off. “Yes,” she agreed, “Brutus will be a good watch dog. Not so good for a guard dog, though, unless he can lick them to death.”
Andrea nodded. “That’s what the gun is for. If he can find ‘em, I can shoot ‘em,” she joked half-heartedly.
She motioned for them to follow her into the living room. The living room was one of the rooms Andrea had done the least amount of renovation in. It hadn’t needed a lot of work. The only thing she had done was put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, refinish the beautiful wood floors and polish the fireplace.
They passed through the French doors that connected the living room to the library. Andrea stopped in front of the bookcase. “The previous owners left all these books behind. I started to look through them last night. Some of them are quite old.”
Andrea plucked one from the shelf and blew the dust off the top. “Check it out!” She handed the leather bound book to Gloria.
Gloria held the book in her hand. This room was right up Gloria’s alley. She loved old books - and libraries! She pulled her reading glasses from her bag and studied the cover. 1877 Book of Poetry. Gloria opened the cover and fanned the pages. “Wow. I need to come by here one afternoon and sift through this place.”
Andrea nodded. “Whenever you want, you know you’re more than welcome!” Andrea motioned them to the kitchen.
Gloria slid the book back in the empty slot and followed Andrea.
Ruth brought up the rear as the girls wandered across the small hall and into the kitchen. The kitchen was a mix of sleek modern and vintage charm. Andrea had done a wonderful job of blending the two.
Gloria wandered over to the wall that connected to the hall and the library. “I thought you were going to take this out?”
Andrea nodded. “I am. It’s the last project on my list. I saved it for last because I’m still trying to decide what kind of bar area to put in. I’m torn between matching it to the granite countertops or installing something more edgy. You know. Like polished cement or stainless steel.”
“What about zinc?” Ruth piped up.
Andrea lifted a brow. “Zinc? I never considered that but it sounds interesting. I’ll have to check it out.”
The girls and Brutus wandered back to the front door. Gloria could hear a faint tap tap coming from somewhere upstairs. She pointed up. “What are they working on?”
Andrea grinned. She shook her head. “Can’t tell! It’s a surprise.”
Andrea walked the girls out to the van. Gloria opened the passenger side door. “The intruder the other night - do you think maybe one of the workers somehow got a copy of your house key?”
Andrea crossed her arms. “Hmm. I hadn’t thought about that but, yeah, it’s possible.”
“Maybe…” Gloria started to say.
Andrea finished her sentence. “I should change the locks.” She held up her hand. “Already got that covered. Brian is coming by after work tonight to put a new set of locks on both the front and back door!”
Gloria gave the thumbs up. “I’m glad you told me that. I was going to stop by the hardware store on my way back home and ask him to do just that!”
Andrea and Brutus wandered back inside while Gloria and Ruth backed out of the drive.
The next stop on their list was Dot’s place. They pulled into an open spot out front. Ruth slid out of the driver’s seat and stared behind her. At the post office. She sniffled and turned to Gloria. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t you worry, Ruth. We’re going to get this mess sorted out in a jiffy so you can get back to work,” she said. And I can have my place back, she thought to herself.
The restaurant wasn’t terribly busy. Gloria waved to a few of the regulars as she and Ruth wandered to the back. Ruth kept her head down and avoided eye contact with the diners.
There was no one in the kitchen but the back screen door was open. Gloria could hear voices coming from beyond the door.
The women wandered around the side of the butcher block island and out the back door. Dot was at the picnic table sipping a glass of water. Ray was seated across from her, his back to the door. He didn’t see Gloria and Ruth come up, but Dot did.
She jumped up from the bench seat and scooted around the side of the wooden table. She wrapped her arms around Ruth and gave her a big hug. Ruth sniffled one more time before she burst into tears. She buried her head in her hands.
Dot patted her shoulder. “I know just what you’re going through, Ruth,” Dot soothed. And if anyone did know what Ruth was going through, it was Dot. It wasn’t long ago that Dot and her husband, Ray, had a diner keel over right inside the restaurant. The authorities had shut the restaurant down until the investigation was complete and Dot and Ray had been cleared.
“I know, it’s just…” Ruth began to wail again. Gloria pulled a pack of tissues from her purse and handed one to Ruth. Dot continued to pat Ruth’s back. She stared at Gloria helplessly. “I’m sure Gloria’s trying to help, too.”
Ruth wiped her eyes, then blew her nose into the tissue. She glanced over at Gloria. “Yeah, she is. It’s just hard.”
Gloria was quick to change the subject. “How’re you doing on going through your things for the yard sale?”
That got Ray’s attention. His head whipped around. “Good heavens! The woman has the garage half-full already.”
Gloria swallowed hard. With everything Ruth had already brought over and half of Dot’s garage filled with stuff, she was going to run out of room in the barn to store it all!
Dot held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”
She disappeared inside the kitchen. The girls made small talk with Ray until she returned. Dot wandered back out but stayed by the door, one hand still gripping the handle. “I need to get back to work. I mentioned the yard sale to Margaret and Lucy and they said they had stuff to get rid of, too!”
Ruth and Gloria wandered back through the restaurant and out the front door. With one last look of longing towards the post office, Ruth climbed into the van and closed her eyes. She leaned her head back against the rest. “Please, God. Let them hurry up with the investigation,” she murmured.
Ruth lifted her head and put the van in reverse. She started to back into the street. “Can we stop by my place before heading home?” she asked.
Gloria nodded her head. “Sure. No problem.”
Ruth headed opposite of the farm as she drove to her place. She pulled into her narrow drive and put the van in park.
“I’ll be right back.” Ruth was out of the van and had slammed the door shut before Gloria could answer. She shrugged her shoulders. Guess this must be a quick grab something and go.
Ruth was gone only a minute. When she returned, she had a laptop computer tucked under one arm. Ruth set the computer on the back seat, then settled in behind the wheel.
“You could’ve just used my computer,” Gloria told her.
Ruth shook her head. “No. Yours won’t work. There’s stuff on my laptop that I need.”
Gloria lifted her one eyebrow but didn’t reply. She couldn’t wait to see what kind of “stuff” that Ruth had on her computer that she couldn’t live without for a few days.
It wasn’t long after they arrived back at the farm that Gloria found out what that “stuff” was. Ruth made a beeline for the kitchen table. She set the laptop on top and lifted the lid. She slid out a chair, plopped down and focused on the screen.
Gloria hung her keys on the hook. She took her swe
ater off and put it on top of the keys.
Gloria glanced over at the screen that Ruth was studying. It was a bit blurry so Gloria grabbed her glasses from her purse and slipped them on. She leaned over Ruth’s shoulder for a closer look.
Her eyes widened when she realized what she was looking at. It was the inside of the post office! “Is that what I think it is?”
Ruth was so absorbed in watching the screen, she didn’t notice Gloria was right behind her. She swung her head around. “Yeah. It’s the inside of the post office.”
Gloria narrowed her eyes. She could see Sharon, the detective, sitting behind the counter. Seth, the part-time college student, was there, too. “Is this live?”
Ruth nodded. “Yeah. A while back, I installed a little camera up in the corner to keep an eye on the place.”
Gloria frowned. “Are you sure you’re allowed to do that? I mean, isn’t that illegal? Government property and all?”
It was Ruth’s turn to frown. Apparently, the thought never crossed her mind that it was something she shouldn’t do…. “I only did it because I thought someone was trying to break in a couple months back.”
Gloria still wasn’t convinced. However, it wasn’t her place to question.
Ruth tapped the button in the corner and turned up the volume, which didn’t seem to help. All that could be heard was shuffling and mumbling voices.
Ruth reached into her purse, which was sitting next to her on the chair. She pulled out a set of ear buds. She popped the buds in her ears and plugged the other end in the side socket.
Gloria left her alone as she and Mally wandered out into the yard. The errands had taken up a good part of the day. Soon, it would be time to think about what to have for dinner.
She grabbed the handrail and made her way down the steps and over to her garden. She picked up the garden hose and turned the water on. It was nice to stand there in the solitude and think of nothing more than making sure her thirsty plants got watered.
Mally was on the other side of the garden, over by the strawberry plants. She watched as the dog tilted her head to the side and nibbled one of the juicy, red treats.
Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 05 - Eye Spy Page 4
