by Hagan,Anne
Opera House Ops
Episode 6 - Divided
A Morelville Cozies Serial Mystery
Anne Hagan
To Mrs. Rotunno for words of praise that sparked a lifelong passion for writing
PUBLISHED BY:
Jug Run Press, USA
Copyright © 2016
https://annehaganauthor.com/
All rights reserved: No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed or given away in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without prior written consent of the author or the publisher except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages for review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are actual places used in an entirely fictitious manner and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.
Chapter 1 – Money, Money
Monday Afternoon, September 28th
Crane Family Farm
“Mr. Hanson says I can’t raise money and start buying roofing materials and stuff, Papa,” Cole told Jesse. “I think I’m either going to have to find another project or give up on being an Eagle Scout.”
“What’s the problem, boy? I know people that would give to that.”
“There are but the building is privately owned and it can’t be for a Scout project. Mr. Hanson went to talk to the church about it – about them maybe buying it – the other night but they didn’t decide anything and I think that he probably didn’t push it very hard.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because if the church moves, that ruins his son’s project; that memorial garden.”
Jesse tapped his chin and thought about that. “Seems to me, they’d still be wanting a memorial garden no matter where the church was.”
“Hmm. I guess I didn’t think of it like that but Grandma said they laid everything on the table…or something like that, and she doesn’t know if they’ll ever talk about it again.”
“Don’t you mean they ‘tabled it’?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Faye!” Jesse called out. When his wife came into the living room from the kitchen, he asked her, “Does it look like the church is even remotely interested in that opera house building?”
“That’s a tough call, dear,” she answered. “They’ve talked about it before so it’s not a new thing. Aiden Quinn is definitely interested and I’d color Evan Brietland about half. Kent Gross, on the other hand, has his own designs on the building…or, I should say, the property so he’s a no.”
“What about Seth Scott?”
Cole looked back and forth between his two grandparents, hanging on every word.
Faye caught his interested expression and phrased her next words carefully. “I’m sure he’s given some thought to having a larger worship space for the congregation.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Jesse asked. “It’s at least three to one over Gross. Don’t that Secretary lady get a vote too as a member of the board?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Faye shifted her eyes toward the very attentive Cole but Jesse didn’t catch it.
“Spit it out woman! Any other time you talk a mile a minute about that sort of stuff.”
“Cole,” Faye said, “Please go into the kitchen and stir the pot on the stove and then I need you to go down to the barn and tell your sister to come up here for a minute.”
“I’ll just text her.”
Jesse finally caught on. “Do as Grandma asks you.”
“Yes sir,” came the swift but reluctant response.
Once Faye was sure the boy had left the house she told Jesse, “I’m worried about Seth. He’s not himself these days. He seems distant and out of sorts. His sermons these past couple of weeks have lacked their usual fire.”
“Just recently? Since all the mess with Proctor?”
“Even before that. He’s seemed mopey and out of sorts for a few weeks now.”
“You haven’t said anything to him, have ya’?”
“Heavens no; it’s not my place. Funny thing is, he’s fine around his wife and kids, normal, but any other time he just seems to be…how do the kids say it? Out there.”
“Something’s weighing on his mind,” Jesse said. “Let him be. He’s a good man; he’ll work it out.”
“Cole looks up to him. I didn’t want to say anything in front of him and have him worried too.”
“That probably doesn’t bode well for the church buying that building any time soon though does it?”
Faye sighed. “No. It has to be non-profit or publicly owned for it to work for what Cole had planned. He’s just going to have to figure out another project.”
“What about Aiden Quinn…Junior, not senior?”
“What about him?”
“Ain’t he the one you and Hanson went and talked to about the church buying it?”
“Yes,” Faye said, nodding.
“Maybe he can push the church with a little leverage.”
“I don’t know that he’ll get the support he needs with Seth being the way he is and Evan on the fence.”
“What’s Brietland’s beef?”
“He’s just concerned that it’s a lot of work and expense to gain a bigger space that has no kitchen facilities at all and only two small bathrooms when, if we need a big space, we can use the community center.”
Jesse stroked the two days’ growth of beard on his chin but didn’t say anything.
“I guess he has a point,” Faye continued. “It’s a crying shame. It’s one of the last pieces of our founding history…” She trailed off, an idea forming.
Jesse recognized the signs of his wife latching onto an idea about to burst forth. “Just what do you have in mind?”
“A historical society – one for the whole area, housed right there. I need to talk to Aiden!”
###
“You’d need to start a 501C3, Faye; a charitable foundation or something along those lines. There are different codes for different types of non-profits but that’s the gist of it.” Aiden leaned back in his chair, enjoying being able sit after being out and about checking on his oil rigs all day. The maintenance and servicing he could leave to others but when it came time for reporting, he went out and did the testing and pulled the numbers himself. He stifled a yawn. He was physically tired but mentally very much in the moment.
“How hard is that to do?”
“Not hard at all. It’s some paperwork and I can help you with that, even hook you up with my lawyer. It’s the least I could do.”
“Faye’s eyes grew wide. “How expensive is it going to be?”
Aiden waggled a hand back and forth. “Don’t even worry about that. I’ll take care of that and maybe even sit on your board…if you like, that is.”
“Board?”
“Yes. You’ll have to have a board. You might want to test community interest and see who else might want to sit on the board that could be helpful to the cause. That, or elect a board. But look, my dad is pretty interested in seeing that building stay right where it is, the way it is, for the most part. He’s told me about going over there as a young man when it was sort of a bawdy music hall before the town went dry and then to concerts and shows there later.”
“This is all so much. I guess I have a lot to think about.”
“Here’s the thing Faye; two things actually. One: you don’t have a lot of
time to think. If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to get started as soon as possible. It can take six months to get all your paperwork approved and back for your foundation or historical society – whatever you decided to call it. And, two: You need to figure out some sort of private funding that doesn’t rely on a mortgage in the name of your, as of now, non-existent organization to buy the building from the woman that owns it.”
“Kara Bradshaw.”
“Yes, her. You don’t have the luxury of waiting until you get your status and then applying for a grant to buy the building and waiting that out. Not for Cole’s sake for one, and not if Gross has anything to do with it.”
“But he doesn’t want to pay what she’s asking.”
“Faye, he’s already got that shop mess cleaned up and the ground leveled. Don’t think for a minute he isn’t trying to talk the Bradshaw woman into lowering her price and selling to him.”
Chapter 2 – Community
Monday Evening, October 5th
Cafeteria, Morelville Community Center
Faye looked around at the people assembled in the room and took a deep breath. She hadn’t expected such a large turnout. There were a couple of empty seats at a table up front that she’d reserved for the Quinns but elsewhere, with nearly ten minutes left until the scheduled start time, people were already standing in the aisle ways or leaning against the walls.
Jesse, Chloe and Marco were right up front; Mel and Dana too. Kris was at work but her husband Lance had managed to get a day run on the truck so he was there instead of traversing cross country. He sat with Beth and Cole, the only teenagers in the room.
Faye thought Cole looked great in his full Scout uniform, the one her and Jesse had paid for but that he almost never wore. She gave him a smile. He smiled back but she could see the nervousness in his face and in his demeanor.
He’d begged her not to make him get up and speak but his Scout Leader had talked him into it. Robert Hanson was in the room too, not far from Cole, for moral support, but, since he actually lived outside the village, he didn’t plan to speak himself unless it seemed necessary on Cole’s behalf.
Aiden Quinn stepped through the archway from the gymnasium, holding the arm of his father. The elder Quinn, now in his eighties, walked with a cane and, even with that, he was not steady on his feet. Faye waved to them and beckoned them forward to the seats she’d saved.
Kent Gross was there too, minus his wife. It was rare, Faye thought to herself, that she ever attended any community events or for her to been seen anywhere besides the church on Sunday.
Gross had chosen a seat next to the Pastor who was there without his own wife. She was likely at home, tending to the kids. Instead, much to her surprise, Doris had shown her face and was seated on the other side of Seth.
Faye started to smile at the thought of what Kent might think when he heard Cole’s proposal but then she quickly quashed it. Rumors had floated all about town about the church possibly buying the old opera house and everyone seemed to have an opinion. When they’d started posting signs about the meeting, they didn’t let on that the focus was going to be entirely different. Kent was in for a surprise.
Faye felt bad about the subterfuge she was pulling on everyone else but she hoped the presentation she and Cole had put together, with the help of Chloe and Dana, would sway the crowd in their favor.
Aiden Jr. and his father, after being stopped to talk twice, finally reached the front of the room. The elder Quinn held out his hand to her. “It’s a fine thing you’re doing Mrs. Crane, a fine thing.”
Faye gave Aiden the eye and, his back to the crowd, he gave her a quick wink in response. He’d told his dad the real story.
As Faye and Aiden helped the elderly man into a seat, Kent Gross called out from his place a couple of tables away, “I see whose side you’re on, Quinn!”
Jesse turned around and glared at Kent, just a few feet behind him. “No one’s taking sides of anything right now. Least ways not yet. Let these folks say their piece before you go spouting off.”
Faye was struck by her normally strong but silent husband calling someone out like that but she realized he’d been the one to push Cole the hardest and he was really hoping for a payoff the boy could be proud of.
“It’s almost time Faye,” Aiden whispered. “See if you can call them all to some kind of order.”
She nodded, swallowed then took a deep breath and called out, “Those of you that have seats, would you please take them? We’d like to get started.” When the room became a little quieter, she dove in with an apology.
“I’m so sorry. Had I known we were going to have this big of a turnout, I’d have gotten the supply keys to get extra chairs. I apologize. We’ll try and keep this brief.”
“Just who is ‘we’?” A man’s voice rang out from the middle of the room.
Faye wasn’t surprised to be questioned she was just surprised it was happening so soon. She hoped that most of the crowd was more open to her idea but things were already starting to look a little less bright than she’d hoped.
“We is myself, Faye Crane; most of you here know me, and my Grandson Cole Roberts, to begin with. Cole will be starting us off with a little presentation of his own tonight and then I’ll be speaking. Cole?” She held out a hand to him.
He got up slowly from his seat a couple of feet away and walked toward her. She watched as his shoulders rose when he sucked in a deep, deep breath. Giving him a quick hug, she whispered in his ear, “Just like you practiced it.”
He nodded to her, took another deep breath, turned and with a slight tremble in his voice, began. “I’m Cole Roberts. I’m a Life Scout in the Troop that meets at the church. Robert Hanson is our Scoutmaster.” Cole pointed Hanson out and then continued. “I’m a junior at the High School and I’ll be 17 next month. I want to be an Eagle Scout.” Several people in the room clapped.
Hearing that, Cole smiled and relaxed a little. “To become an Eagle Scout I need to complete a project that benefits the community or an organization within it and the rules are that it has to be done before my 18th birthday. It has to be a special project, not just ordinary labor or a task, and I have to demonstrate leadership of others during the project.”
“We have a historic building here in the village, the opera house.” Cole moved over to an easel and took the cover off of it that was hiding photos and plans from the crowd. “It was built in the late 1800’s. For its age, it’s in pretty good shape with a sound structure. All of its windows are intact. The original doors that go here,” he pointed at the slider at the front, “are stored within the building. They’re in good condition.”
“The interior of the building is in good condition but it does need wiring updates to bring it up to code.” He looked at Faye.
She stood up from her perch at the edge of her seat and added, “An electrician from Zanesville Electric volunteered his time to come out and do an assessment of it.” She nodded for Cole to continue.
The teen pulled the wide angle blow-up photo of the building off the easel. Under it, was a close up photo of the back part of the roof. “This, you can see, is the roof. This is the worst part,” he indicated the back side, to the right in the photo, “but all of it needs to be replaced. The Eagle Scout project I’d like to propose includes cleanup and overhaul of the inside of the building and replacement of the roof. The electric will be done by a licensed electrician.”
Heads nodded and hands went up around the room. People started talking and trying to fire questions at Cole. Faye started to rise to say something to try to quiet the crowd but Cole held his hands up and after a few moments, people started to settle back down.
“I know there are a lot of questions. My Grandma has some things to tell you but I need to say this before she takes over.” He turned and gave Faye a little smile. Turning back around he addressed the room more seriously. “This project is supposed to be a community service project, like I said before. It has to benefit the communi
ty, a charity or a non-profit like a church or a school. The opera house is privately owned right now but the owner of it wants to sell it. That’s what Grandma wants to talk about.”
Cole slid a step to his left and held a hand out toward Faye seated to his right. The room was quiet, most people waiting expectantly for whatever came next.
“Thank you Cole.” Faye said and then paused while he took his seat.
“Cole has a tight timeline to try and get this project accomplished, as he’s said. That means that a community group or a non-profit has to buy that building from the current owner soon and…”
Seth Scott stood and apologized for interrupting. Faye cringed. She had no idea what he was about to say but she knew it would have something to do with the church. Between his general demeanor and all of the hubbub over Doris, she hadn’t found a way to tell him that they were looking in a completely different direction. She looked over at Aiden and he spread his hands, an indication to her that he hadn’t talked to the pastor either.
Seth moved from his seat out into an aisle where he turned and faced the crowd.
“Reverend…” Faye tried to get his attention.
He looked back over his shoulder at her and asked, “Can I please just take a minute?”
She gave in and nodded her consent and then took her seat again.
“Robert Hanson, seated over there,” Seth held out a hand, “is a fine Scoutmaster. He’s done great things with many of the boys in this community and we owe him a debt of gratitude.”
Heads around the room nodded and several people clapped.
“And Cole Roberts,” Seth went on, “is a fine young man working on finding his way. He’s had some hits and a misstep or two along the way. We’ve all been there, myself included. This is a great project that he’s proposed and it deserves community support. This building, the old opera house, should remain in the hands of the community in some form or fashion.” Seth paused, shook his head and looked around the room at all of the faces staring back at him.
