Iris Avenue

by Pamela Grandstaff

  “Well, they are!” Caroline said. “Studies have shown that it’s true. Cellular waves interfere with the bees’ ability to navigate.”

  “So putting up a cell phone tower on the protected property your family owns squares with that belief in what way?”

  “How did you find out about that?”

  “Everyone knows about it, Caroline. We all know you’re doing Knox a big favor by taking Ann Marie out of his way so you can get your cell phone tower request approved through his political connections. You can twist your spiritual beliefs to fit any self-serving thing you want to do. I wish I’d never wasted one minute caring about you. I don’t intend to waste one more.”

  “Be careful, Maggie. Words can be dangerous weapons. Your toxic negativity bounces off my crystal shield back onto you. You’re probably being influenced by lower plane disembodied entities.”

  “That’s right, Caroline. I think you’re full of crap so it must be the spirit cooties talking. Take your shield of craziness, get out of my bookstore, and don’t come back,” Maggie said, pointing at the door. “You are now officially banned.”

  “You shouldn’t treat people like this,” Caroline said. “You’re creating horrible karma for yourself.”

  “This is your family’s karma, not mine. I banned your brother and sister, and now I’m banning you.”

  Caroline held her head up and tried to leave the bookstore with some dignity, although it was difficult with the loopy Anne Marie in tow. Maggie slammed the door to her office.

  Mitchell, who was tending the café counter, went over to the dry erase board of shame, where Maggie kept the names of those she’d banned from the bookstore. Theo Eldridge’s name had been written so long ago it was faded, with parts of the letters missing. Gwyneth Eldridge’s name was the latest addition, written in dark black caps at the top. Mitchell added Caroline’s name up the side of the board in the only white space left.

  “I heard she banned people but I’ve never actually seen it done,” a college student said to Mitchell. “Does she ever let them back in?”

  “No,” Mitchell said. “Maggie’s what you might call a gifted grudge keeper. We’re just glad she doesn’t rule an unstable country with nuclear capabilities.”

  Hannah came in and Mitchell filled her in. She went back to Maggie’s office and tapped on the glass. Maggie’s face was flushed in what Scott would have called a code red threat status.

  “I came in to congratulate you on the Eldridge family banning trifecta,” Hannah said.

  “I can see why they get murdered so often,” Maggie said.

  Hannah closed the door behind her and sat down. She told Maggie all about the incident at the Roadhouse.

  “And the reason this devil man looked so familiar,” Hannah concluded, “was because he had these snake tattoos down each arm.”

  “Like the man in the blackmail photos we found in Theo’s safe.”

  “It was him,” Hannah said. “He was in cahoots with Theo, Phyllis, and your brother.”

  Hannah and Maggie had snooped around Theo’s house after he died, and had discovered his stash of blackmail photos, many of which they subsequently burned. The man with the snake tattoos had been a recurring player, but his face was never shown.

  “We need to tell someone,” Hannah said.

  “And explain we know this how?” Maggie said. “We’re lucky we didn’t get caught when we did it; why would we confess now?’

  “This guy was in those pictures with Phyllis and your brother. He was freaked out that I might look in the dumpster. He probably killed Ray and threw the murder weapon in there. I told Scott about the dumpster, but Tiny Crimefighter’s the one in charge. We need to get this information to her.”

  “As awful as I know this will sound, Hannah,” Maggie said. “I don’t care that some drug dealing loser murdered another drug dealing loser.”

  “When I took my oath as a crime fighter,” Hannah said, “I promised to uphold the law whenever it was most convenient to do so. What you’re saying is this isn’t one of those times.”

  “You’re the masked mutt catcher,” Maggie said. “You do the math.”

  “I’ll have to put my super powers to work and figure out a way to get this information into the right hands without serving jail time.”

  “Leave me out of it.”

  “I’m off,” Hannah said, with her hands on her hips in her best super hero stance. “I have scanner grannies to prime and gossip to pump.”

  After Hannah left, Maggie sat at her desk and thought about what Anne Marie had said during her trance in Maggie’s office. Could the serpent she warned Maggie about be the horned man? He certainly hadn’t reminded Maggie of any angel she’d ever seen. As much as she believed Anne Marie had experienced some sort of mental breakdown, Maggie had felt something very disturbing as the woman held her hand and spoke in that weird voice. Maggie shivered, just thinking about it.

  Maggie found Jeanette re-alphabetizing the fiction section.

  “You’re into all that new age stuff, aren’t you?” she asked her.

  “I’m interested in it,” Jeanette said. “I like to think I keep an open mind.”

  “You know that thing Anne Marie did in here the other day, that trance thing in my office?”

  “I knew something happened,” Jeanette said. “But I didn’t hear what she said.”

  “Do you think someone can be crazy and psychic?” Maggie asked her. “I mean, she’s obviously got a screw loose, but some of what she said was so specific to me, and it felt so weird in there, all of the sudden. It was like the barometric pressure in the room changed, or something.”

  “I think the line between genius and madness is sometimes perforated,” Jeanette said. “Maybe that goes for being mentally ill and psychic, too. Maybe she’s both.”

  “My mother said that the gypsies used to tell her grandmother’s fortune back in Scotland,” Maggie said. “She believed they had second sight.”

  “What would your mother think of Anne Marie?”

  “That she needs her head examined,” Maggie said.

  Ava was looking out the window in her bedroom when she was startled by a noise behind her. It was Jamie.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I called up the stairs but you didn’t answer. I heard you went to the doctor earlier today. I came up to make sure you were alright.”

  “This part of the house is off limits,” Ava said. “There ought to be somewhere I can go to have a little privacy.”

  “I’m not your enemy, Ava,” Jamie said, and to Ava’s consternation, he entered the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. “I’m here to protect you and your family.”

  “I appreciate that, I do,” Ava said. “But Scott’s here most of the time. You don’t need to hover.”

  “I know I don’t have to,” Jamie said. “I want to.”

  He was giving her a meaningful look; it was the kind of look Ava had been deflecting all her life.

  “Do you always make passes at the people you’re supposed to be protecting?” Ava asked him. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to your supervisor?”

  “I’m not trying to coerce you into anything, Ava; I’m just here to say what we both already know. You and I have a spark between us. I feel it every time you’re near me. I know you feel it too.”

  “I’ve got enough going on in my life without you complicating it further, Agent Brown.”

  “We didn’t plan for this to happen, but it did. You want this, you need this, and you know it.”

  “You’re not the first man who’s only known me for ten minutes but thinks he knows what I need,” she said. “It’s a common delusion. It can be painful to realize you’ve fooled yourself, but you’ll eventually get over it.”

  “I’ve never done anything like this before,” Jamie said. “I’m risking my job being up here right now, talking to you like this. I want to know you, Ava. Let me know you. You won’t be sorry.”

  “You’re very sure of yo
urself,” Ava said. “I find handsome, overconfident men often turn out to be the biggest fools.”

  “Is it Patrick? Are you still in love with him?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “I can see you’ve got Scott wrapped around your little finger, but he’s not right for you. He’s in love with Maggie Fitzpatrick.”

  “Scott’s a good friend to this family, that’s all.”

  “So you’re not attracted to me, is that it?”

  Ava hesitated, and Jamie took that as encouragement. He jumped up and came over to where she stood at the window. Ava looked past him to the door.

  “Scott took the older kids to their grandmother’s house and Theresa has little Fitz in the parlor,” Jamie said. “No one will hear us.”

  He took Ava in his arms and she smiled at him.

  “That’s a wicked smile,” he said, and for a moment she could see a glimpse of the vulnerability beneath his confident charm.

  He kissed her, and the chemistry was as good as she thought it would be, had imagined it would be. She was lonely for that kind of passion, and he had it to give, she could feel it.

  She broke away, saying, “I’m a married woman.”

  “That’s never stopped you before,” he said, and winked at her.

  Ava tried to slap him across the face but he caught her hand and held it.

  “How dare you,” Ava said. “Get out of here.”

  Jamie smirked at her and walked out of the room, saying, “When you change your mind, Ava, you let me know. I’ll be waiting.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN - Friday

  When Scott woke up Thursday morning, Ava was standing next to the sofa in her family room, looking down at him.

  “Is everything all right?” he said, as he struggled to sit up in a tangle of blankets.

  “Everything’s fine,” Ava said, and sat down on the edge of the sofa, turned toward him.

  She was dressed for the day and had on her coat.

  “Where are you going?” he asked her.

  “I’m going to see Lily,” she said. “I need you to stay here with the children until I get back.”

  “Why are you going to Lily’s? What time is it?”

  “It’s five o’clock, and I’ll be back in plenty of time to wake up Charlotte and Timmy. Here’s the baby monitor. Little Fitz should sleep, but if he wakes up, change his diaper. If you give him his pacifier afterward, he should go right back to sleep, but you might have to rock him a little. You can handle it.”

  “Wait for me to get dressed and I’ll take you. You shouldn’t be out alone. It’s not safe.”

  “Agent Brown’s taking me. He’s outside warming up the car.”

  “Oh,” Scott said.

  “I want to talk to Lily and I need you here with the children,” Ava said. “You’re the only person I feel safe leaving them with right now.”

  She kissed him then, not on the cheek but right on the lips. It was a brief, light kiss, but it was definitely more intimate than the cheek kisses Ava usually gave him.

  “You’re my rock, Scott. I couldn’t get through this without you.”

  She smiled that warm smile and she was so beautiful. Scott felt his body react and he almost reached for her, but she stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

  “I knew I could count on you. I’ll be right back.”

  As she closed the back door behind her, the cold wind whipped around the corner and made Scott shiver. Through the baby monitor he could hear Little Fitz snoring softly.

  ‘What just happened?’ he thought.

  Lily was expecting Ava, and swung open the door to her sunroom as Ava walked up the shoveled flagstone path. Jamie stayed in the car with the motor running. It was still dark out and bitterly cold.

  “Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Ava said, feeling awkwardly formal, even though she’d known Lily Crawford since she was a child.

  Lily was a round, soft woman with white hair and wire rim glasses. She was dressed in jeans and a pink sweater over a pink pinstriped blouse. Ava thought she looked like a Sunday school teacher.

  “Ava, you’re always welcome here, you know that. I’m an early riser, so I’m always up this time of the morning.”

  Ava followed the older woman into the kitchen, where Lily’s basset hound Betty Lou was curled up in a basket by the gas heater, with a small cat nestled in next to her. Betty Lou wagged her tail but didn’t get up, and the small striped cat curled itself into a tighter ball and covered its nose with its tail.

  “She’s lazier than ever,” Lily said. “She didn’t even run out to greet you.”

  “How are they doing?” Ava asked as she took off her coat.

  “Happy as two peas in a pod,” Lily said. “They can’t bear to be separated.”

  Ava sat down at Lily’s kitchen table and accepted the cup of coffee Lily offered.

  “You have some questions for me,” Lily said.

  “You need to tell me how you know Mrs. Wells,” Ava said. “I saw her here a few weeks ago when I brought the children out to go sledding.”

  “I’m sorry to say I’ve known Mrs. Wells for many years,” Lily told Ava. “I hate to speak ill of anyone, but that woman is truly evil.”

  “She came to my house and threatened me and the children,” Ava said, with tears welling up in her large brown eyes. “She’s demanding half a million dollars she says Brian stole from her. I’m hoping if I repay the debt she’ll leave us alone. Do you think that’s possible?”

  “Once you’ve dealt with her,” Lily said, “she never leaves you alone. That I know from experience.”

  “But how do you know her?” Ava asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Lily said. “It may not make you feel any better, but you deserve to know the truth.”

  Lily wrapped her hands around the heavy mug on the table before her, as if to warm her hands, and began.

  “Simon and I were high school sweethearts. He got drafted, went to Vietnam, and somehow managed to survive the experience. Afterward he went to Clemson University on the GI bill; they have a good agricultural program there. After he graduated we got married. He said when he was over there, in Vietnam, that our dream of living on a farm was all that kept him sane.

  “His family was dirt poor, but I have a small trust fund, and my parents were willing to help us buy the property. They were sure we’d get tired of it and move back to Greenville, S.C.; that’s where both our families are from. Both sets of parents are gone now. I was an only child. Simon lost touch with his brother Paul, who went to Canada to avoid the draft. Simon respected Paul’s choice but Paul did not return the favor. Anyway, we were not hippies but definitely into the idea of living a peaceful, rural life.

  “Simon’s degree was in horticulture. He worked as a county farm agent for a long time, but the politics and bureaucracy involved made him unhappy. We had my trust fund, but he wanted to support us through work he did with his own hands. Farming is hard, and there was very little support for organic methods back then. We could barely break even when the weather did cooperate. Without me knowing about it, Simon planted a little plot of cannabis, at first just to smoke himself or share with our friends. He’d learned to like it in the service, said it calmed his nerves. I didn’t like it but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. It didn’t seem to hurt Simon, and it helped when he got to remembering too much about the war.

  “What he grew was very good, apparently, and when it became clear that it could be a small business, he sold some of it. Our friends smoked it like some people drank wine, just socially, but weren’t into drugs in a major way. Simon built a lab in the loft of the barn, experimented with different strains, and developed a hybrid that was extremely potent plus resistant to drought and infestation.

  “We belonged to a Harley riding club, and while most of the people we met through the club were harmless weekend bikers like Simon and me, we occasionally crossed paths with some shady characters. Mrs. Wells’ father was the
local drug dealer, and a dangerous man, but we naively thought that we could have dealings with him and not get our hands dirty. Simon made a deal with Mr. Wells to sell him everything we grew as long as Simon agreed not to sell it to anyone else. We could hardly keep up with his demand. Simon devoted a whole mountaintop to it on a remote part of our property. He planted it among the rows of corn we grew for the cattle.

  “It seemed ideal until we found out the kind of business Mr. Wells was actually running. He was the kind of man who would sell heroin to children. He killed people who tried to move in on his territory. He was paranoid and suspected Simon of selling to others even though he wasn’t. He would show up at our house, high out of his mind, making crazy accusations and threatening to kill us. We wanted to get out, but we were so far into it we didn’t know how. Simon finally came up with what he thought was the perfect solution. He offered to sell Mr. Wells the hybrid formula and train someone else to grow it and process it like he did. In exchange Mr. Wells would let us out of the business.

  “Mr. Wells agreed. Simon went down to Mexico and trained a farmer there. After he came home, he destroyed what was left of his source stock, plowed up and razed the ground that had been used to grow it, and locked up the lab. We thought we were home free, and were relieved to be. We had enough money to see us through the rest of our lives, and we were out of danger, or so we thought.

  “Mr. Wells was eventually murdered, some say by his own daughter, who is now referred to as ‘Mrs. Wells.’ She took over his business, so of course she knew of our connection. Soon after Simon died, Mrs. Wells came to me, and threatened me. She wanted money, and she knew I had it. If Simon had been alive, we may have been able to handle her, but alone I felt there was nothing I could do but cooperate. I’ve been paying her a substantial amount every month since then.

  “I’m down to almost nothing now, and she wants the farm. She’s threatened to have me murdered if I don’t deed the farm over to her. I don’t care about my reputation any longer. I don’t even care about losing everything. I’d go to jail if I thought I’d be safe there, but she has people everywhere, people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill you for money.”