Yeah, things had been going good for the two of them. Then, one day out of the blue, Tara walked out on Kenny. Rumor had it that Tara had run off with her boss. Not that Kenny ever shared with Gloria what exactly had happened. But Ruth knew. Ruth had taken Kenny under her wing and Gloria knew he felt an unwavering sense of loyalty to Ruth, who was also his boss.
Gloria pulled in the paved drive and climbed out of the car. She made her way down the small sidewalk and up the three steps to the front door. She lifted her hand and started to knock when the door flew open. Gloria’s mouth opened at the same time the door opened.
Even though there was a screen separating them, she got a good look at Kenny’s disheveled state. A day old beard framed his face and dark stubble covered his upper lip. Part of his hair was matted to the side of his head while other parts stuck straight up in the air. This was not the neatly-groomed Kenny that Gloria knew.
He pushed the screen door open. “You can come in.” He stepped aside and watched as Gloria made her way past him and into the cozy living room. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. At least his house was still in order.
Gloria stepped over to the antique rocker in the corner. The one that faced the floral sofa. Tara had done a beautiful job decorating the place. It was a shame she wasn’t around to enjoy it. But that was her loss.
Kenny plopped down on the sofa. He cupped his head in his hands and looked at Gloria with drooping eyelids. “You heard, huh.”
Gloria nodded. “I just stopped by the post office and found out you were let go until the investigation is complete.”
“Just like Ruth,” he said. “Remember when I told you I thought the DEA thought it was an inside job?”
He went on. “So I guess they suspect Ruth or me?”
Gloria nodded. “But what about Seth?” Seth was the college kid that worked a few days a week sorting boxes and packages to load on the trucks.
Kenny shrugged. “He doesn’t have access to stuff. You know, like Ruth and I have.”
True, but Gloria couldn’t rule him out. Gloria remembered the mysterious dumpster diver from the night before. The one that she and Ruth had spotted during the stakeout. Maybe it wasn’t an inside job. Maybe it was an outside job.
“Before I got the boot yesterday, I overheard the two agents. They said they had who they thought was the ringleader of the group in custody, but he wasn’t talking.”
Gloria tapped the side of her cheek. “Then they’re after the middle man. The one in between that has some connection to the post office.”
“They brought Tammy Dillon over to fill in since Ruth and I are gone.”
Tammy Dillon ran the post office over in nearby Fenway. It was a lot smaller than the one in Belhaven. At one time, the building had been a gas station before it was converted into the post office.
Gloria wondered what Ruth would think about Tammy being her temporary replacement. Ruth had told Gloria a while back that she heard Tammy was being considered for Belhaven’s postmaster position when Ruth eventually retired.
Kenny stood up. “You want some coffee or something?” he asked.
Gloria shook her head. She stared out the window and waited for Kenny to return. She glanced in the direction of the kitchen. Of course, Kenny was still a suspect.
It wouldn’t hurt for Gloria to get a peek inside his house. She jumped out of her seat and followed him into the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Kenny. I changed my mind. I’ll take that cup of coffee if you have any left.”
Kenny nodded and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. Gloria wandered over to the kitchen sink. She looked to the left, past the kitchen and down the hall. It was empty. Her gaze drifted to the backyard.
There was a large storage shed in the corner, right next to a garden. “Your garden looks like it’s shaping up,” she said.
“Thanks.” Kenny handed her the mug of steaming coffee. Her eyes wandered to the right. One of the shed doors was open and she could see inside. There was stack after stack of white boxes. Post office boxes. They lined both sides of the shed. A narrow aisle ran through the center.
Kenny set his coffee cup down. “Now I know I shut the shed door!” Kenny darted down the back steps and over to the shed. He slammed the door shut and flipped the latch in place. He snapped the padlock in place.
Gloria watched as he headed back up the steps. “I hope no one’s been messing around out there,” he said.
Kenny grabbed his coffee and a box of donuts off the top of the fridge and headed back to the living room. Gloria trailed after him.
She studied Kenny as he reached inside the box of donuts. “Want one?” He handed her a napkin and passed the box to her. She plucked out a chocolate covered donut and nibbled the edge.
“Maybe there doesn’t have to be a middle man. You know. Maybe you just innocently delivered narcotics to a drug dealer…”
Kenny reached for a second donut. “That’s what I thought,” he said.
Gloria polished off the last of her donut and drained the last drop of coffee from her cup. “I better get going. I have some more stops to make.”
She added Seth Palmer to her list of people to talk to. The investigators at the post office might be a little loose at the lips when Seth was around, thinking of him as just a kid. Seth was young, but he was smart as a whip. Gloria knew better than to just write him off.
Gloria headed back into town. Andrea’s sports car was parked in front of the hardware store. She pulled into the empty spot beside her and headed inside. Maybe one of them had heard chitchat about the case.
Gloria opened the door and stepped inside. She heard the tinkle of laughter coming from the back. Brian leaned over and caught a glimpse of Gloria. “Uh-oh, we’ve been busted,” he teased.
Andrea giggled. Her head popped into view. A smile warmed her pretty face. They both turned and faced Gloria. “How’s the washer holding up?”
Gloria hopped up on the barstool and plunked her purse down beside her. “Just dandy, thanks to you!”
“You get the locks changed on Andrea’s place?” she asked.
The smile left Brian’s face. “Yes, ma’am. Did that the other day. Right after Andrea told me what happened.”
Andrea wandered around the side of the counter and jumped up on the chair beside her friend. “I heard you were having a yard sale.”
Gloria must’ve gotten that “deer in the headlight” look on her face. Andrea touched her arm. “No, no. I’m not bringing anything over. Dot told me your barn is already quite full!”
Gloria sighed. “Yeah, this thing has taken on a life of its own. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff…”
“Cool stuff, I’m sure. I want to be one of your best customers,” Andrea said. “I still have lots of spots to fill in my place.”
The previous owners had left all the furnishings in Andrea’s house, with the exception of a few personal items. Andrea had kept some of the furniture that was in good shape, and what she had kept fit the décor to a “t” but there were spots that still needed to be filled.
“The plan is for next Monday. We’ll open early. You can come by the night before or first thing in the morning to shop if you want,” Gloria replied.
Brian held up the pot of coffee and cup. “Want some?”
She shook her head. “No. I just had some over at Kenny’s place.”
Brian poured two cups. He slid one towards Andrea and cradled his own. “So you must be here to see if we heard anything.”
Brian lowered his voice, although there was no one was in the store to eavesdrop. “I’m keeping my ear to the ground for you,” he assured her. “The detectives suspect an inside job,” he added.
Gloria was frustrated. “That’s what I heard – but why? Why does it have to be an inside job?”
Brian drummed his fingers on the counter and stared up at the tin ceiling panels. His eyes met Gloria’s and he shrugged. “Well, it’s possible someone tipped them off. Or another possibility is that, depending on
how long the investigation was going on before they tipped their hand, they may already have a suspect in mind.”
Gloria remembered Kenny’s shed. How it was crammed full of post office boxes. Was he running an illegal drug ring from his place? she wondered.
She thought about Ruth’s spy cam she had installed in the post office. “Say, hypothetically speaking, someone installed a surveillance camera inside a government building. Like a bank or a post office, for example, and they didn’t have,” Gloria raised her hands and made the quote signals with her fingers, “‘permission’ to do it, is that a federal offense?”
Brian leaned forward, his brilliant blue eyes honed in on Gloria. “I would have to tell you not to do that. You could get in big trouble,” he warned.
Gloria swallowed hard. That was the sternest reprimand Brian had ever given her. She didn’t take the warning lightly. She stood straight up. “I would never do such a thing,” she replied. No, she wouldn’t, but Ruth had!
Andrea swiveled around in the chair. “Why don’t you do your own stakeout?” she asked.
Gloria smiled sheepishly.
Andrea nodded. “Ohhh…so you already have….”
“Ruth and I caught someone sneaking around the dumpster out behind the post office last night. Dumpster diving. Isn’t that what they call it?”
“Then what happened?” Brian wondered.
“They disappeared without a trace,” she admitted. Gloria glanced at her watch. “I better go. I need to stop by Dot’s before I head home,” she said.
Gloria stepped out of the hardware store and headed down the sidewalk. The weather was nice so she decided to stretch her legs and walk to Dot’s Restaurant.
The phone in her pocket vibrated. She veered off to the side and perched under the drugstore awning. She pulled her glasses from her purse and glanced down at her phone. There was a message from Paul.
“Sending out an SOS! I need to escape my own house!” The frantic text continued. “Can I take you to dinner?” Gloria grinned. Paul was in the midst of his own crisis and unexpected houseguests. She missed him, but what with Ruth underfoot, a yard sale in full swing and a mystery to solve, Gloria didn’t know if she was coming or going anymore.
Yes, an evening with Paul was just what she needed. “That would be wonderful,” she texted back. She couldn’t wait to see what he came up with. Guests in his house, guests in her house. They’d have to plan a rendezvous!
Dot’s place was packed with the lunch crowd. Dot nodded to her a couple times as she hustled back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room. Holly, Dot’s part-time waitress, was there, too. She was running back and forth like a chicken with her head cut off.
Gloria rolled up her sleeves and headed to the pass-thru window. “How can I help?”
Dot looked up from the fryer. She swiped a long strand of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. “If you don’t mind, can you make the rounds with coffee and ice water?”
Dot didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, she grabbed the pot from the burner, shoved the full coffee carafe in Gloria’s hand and disappeared. Gloria set the coffee pot down, grabbed a spare apron off the hook by the door and slipped it over her head. She picked the pot back up and headed to the front.
She wandered from table-to-table refilling coffee cups and picking up empty plates. Carl Arnett and Al Dickerson were in the corner. They both had empty coffee cups. Gloria headed to their table. She refilled their cups and Al looked up. “Dot put you to work, huh?”
“I offered,” Gloria answered.
Carl spoke up. “Heard Ruth’s staying out at your place,” he said.
Gloria nodded. “For a few days.”
Al leaned back in his chair as Gloria grabbed his empty soup bowl. “That’s a shame ‘bout Kenny,” he said.
Gloria raised her eyebrows. She didn’t want to let on she knew anything about Kenny. Maybe Al heard something Gloria hadn’t.
Al went on. “Yeah, my cousin, he works in some kind of intelligence agency there in Lansing.” Al lowered his voice. “He heard they were bringing down a big drug cartel here in this area and they were about to take down the ringleader.”
Al had Gloria’s undivided attention. She heard they already had the drug ringleader and were looking for the middle-man now. She didn’t mention that to Al or Carl. Instead, she said, “You don’t say…”
Carl wiped the edges of his mouth and threw the napkin on top of his empty plate. “They need to get the riff-raff off our streets. Can you imagine what this is doing to our property values?”
Gloria had the exact same thought. She nodded. “I know! I better get back to work,” she said.
By the time she refilled all the coffee cups and water glasses, the place started to empty out. She wandered back into the kitchen where Dot was stacking plastic containers full of pickles and tomatoes inside the refrigerator. She spied Gloria carrying an empty coffee pot. “Thanks for helping out!”
Gloria untied the aprons strings and lifted the apron over her head. She hung it back on the hook where she’d found it. “You know I don’t mind.” She eyed Dot. “I have to say, though, doing it every day - day in and day out, would wear on me after a while.”
Dot shrugged. “You get used to it.” She changed the subject. “How are you and Ruth surviving each other?”
Gloria picked up her purse and fiddled with the clasp. “Not bad. She’s no problem. But she’s chomping at the bit to get back to work.” That was an understatement.
Dot shut the refrigerator door. “Maybe we need a Garden Girls meeting. We can put our heads together like we did when someone got poisoned here at the restaurant.”
Gloria nodded. It was true. The girls were great at helping Gloria solve her mysteries.
Back at the farm, Gloria found Ruth in the kitchen. At the table. Glued to the monitor. She didn’t look up as Gloria let herself in. She probably hadn’t even heard her. An earbud was firmly planted in each ear. But she did notice Gloria.
“They think its Kenny,” Ruth whispered.
Gloria’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten yet, except for the donut. She pulled roasted turkey, sliced cheddar cheese and a jar of mayo from the fridge and spread them out on the table. Next, she pulled a loaf of bread from the bread box and a knife from the silverware drawer. “Are you hungry?”
Ruth shook her head. “No. I ate a little while ago.” She pointed at the turkey. “That’s some good stuff.” Gloria looked down. It was good stuff. Her favorite and one of her splurges at the grocery store. She pulled two slices of bread from the wrapper and laid them on a clean paper towel. She spread a thick layer of mayo on each side of the bread and then placed a slice of cheese on top.
Puddles and Mally knew it was lunch time. They wandered into the kitchen and plopped down at her feet. Two furry faces stared straight at her. Without blinking. She sighed and grabbed a slice of meat for each. They sure did have her trained!
With her sandwich assembled and her blessing whispered, Gloria took a big bite. The food reminded her of Paul’s text. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. There was a message. “I’ll pick you up at 6 p.m. sharp.” She texted a smiley face then set the phone down on the table.
“Paul’s taking me to dinner,” Gloria announced. She wasn’t sure that Ruth had heard her. The earbuds were back in place.
But Ruth had heard. She nodded. Gloria made a mental note that Ruth’s hearing was pretty sharp.
Ruth kept one eye on the monitor and looked up at Gloria with the other. “Steve Colby called a little while ago and asked me to dinner.”
Gloria raised her eyebrows and took a bite of sandwich. So Slick Steve was interested in Ruth. Gloria did a mental scolding. She really needed to stop calling him Slick Steve. He was a nice guy and the nickname was a bad habit. “That’s nice. Where’s he taking you?”
The other eyeball was off the screen and both were focused on Gloria. Color crept into Ruth’s cheeks. “I don’t
know. He said it was a surprise. He told me he thought I could use a little cheering up.”
Gloria nodded her approval. The more she got to know Steve Colby, the more she liked him. She pushed aside the small voice that told her he wanted to add Ruth as another notch on his belt…
Gloria spent the rest of the afternoon upstairs sorting through more stuff. She had finished sorting clothes and was now sifting through boxes of paperback books. She finished just in time to get ready for her date with Paul. She nodded her head in approval as she did a final walk-thru of the upstairs bedrooms. This was a project that had needed to be done years ago. No - decades ago.
She was proud of her accomplishment as she shut off the lights and headed downstairs. Her heart fluttered as she thought about seeing Paul. It had been days now. It seemed even longer.
Gloria soaked her sore muscles in the tub. She’d sprinkled the water with rose scented bath oils. The smell of lilac was her favorite but roses came in a close second.
She fussed with her hair and makeup, then headed to her closet to pick out an outfit. She settled on a pair of black dress slacks and a pink blouse. She slipped a heart-shaped locket around her neck - the one that had all her children’s birthstones framing the front. A quick splash of her favorite perfume on her wrists and neck and she was ready to go.
It was 5:30 now. She wandered into the kitchen. Ruth was in the exact same spot, staring at the computer screen. “You’re going to burn your retina staring at that screen,” Gloria kidded.
“Huh?” Ruth’s head craned around.
“What time is Steve picking you up?” Gloria asked.
“Oh, around six,” Ruth answered.
“It’s already 5:30,” Gloria pointed out.
Ruth’s eyes shot up to the clock. “Oh my gosh!” She jumped out of the chair and ran from the room. Seconds later, Gloria could hear water running in the bathroom.
Gloria bent down and stared at the computer screen. She slipped into Ruth’s chair and scooched it forward. The post office had been closed for half an hour now. What could Ruth possibly be looking at?
Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 05 - Eye Spy Page 6
