“Summer? Ethan’s here.” Aunt Eunice’s voice ripped me from my covert studies.
“Be down in a jiffy!” I tossed my spy book into the small tote bag I used as my spy case—when I remembered to stick it in my purse, that is. Most of the time the black leather tote remained in the top drawer of my nightstand. Not tonight. I shoved everything into my purse. The bag contained my tiny flashlight, a notepad and pencil, and the sweetest little recorder that fit in the palm of my hand. I had my eye set on a camera next. The electronic store had one that would be perfect.
With the fair over, I was certain I could now put an end to the sinister dealings at Foreman’s Fair and Carnival. Whether Joe agreed or not, I knew with absolute certainty things were not over. Call it a detective’s intuition.
I let my jeans and turtleneck shirt fall to a puddle on the floor and grabbed the clothes hanging on my closet. Once dressed, I pulled a brush through my curls, tied my hair back in a ribbon, grabbed my purse, then darted down the stairs.
“Sorry I’m late. Time got away from me.” I planted a kiss on Ethan’s cheek.
“No problem, Tink. I’m used to it and you’re worth waiting for.” Ethan slid an arm around my waist. “See you later, Eunice.”
“Bye, you two.” Aunt Eunice disappeared into the kitchen.
“Ready?” Ethan smiled down at me.
“Ready.”
Once we’d eaten and discussed all the everyday things that lovers talk about over dinner, I decided to broach the subject of a stakeout while Ethan was pleasantly full and enjoying the aftereffects of his steak.
“Ethan?”
“Yes?” His dimple winked. “So, are you ready now to tell me what’s been on your mind all evening? Don’t tell me nothing. I know you.”
How did he do that? How did he always know? I filled him in on the details of my visit with Sally. “So, I’d like to do some spy work.”
“You don’t know the first thing about being a spy.”
I dug in my purse for the guidebook and slid it across the table. Ethan laughed. I sat straighter and clenched my teeth. He picked up the book and skimmed through the pages.
“I’m asking you to go with me, Ethan. I could go by myself, but I’m trying to respect your wishes.” I gripped my hands around my glass.
“I appreciate that.” He handed the guide back to me and crossed his arms, leaning on the table. “Joe is certain Grizzly Bob is the culprit. I’m sure Sally’s words are just that. Words of pain. But, if I can squeeze in a little time holding you, I’d be willing to sit in the dark, in the cold, on a stakeout with you.”
“Really?”
“For my own completely selfish reasons, of course.”
I dropped the book back into my purse and raised my hand for the restaurant bill. “Of course.” The glance he gave me melted my insides, and if the look was from someone else that I’d be sitting in the dark with, I’d be seriously concerned for my virtue. But not my strong-willed hero. He’d keep things on the straight and narrow, despite myself. Ethan paid the bill then steered me outside to his truck.
Fifteen minutes later he stopped before the open gates to the fairgrounds. No one stirred. The grounds sat in quiet shadows. Muted light glowed from behind drawn curtains. My gaze scanned the night, searching for a place where we could park unseen.
“Pull behind the arts and crafts building,” I whispered. “We’ll have a clear view of Sally’s trailer.”
“Why are we whispering?” Ethan turned the wheel.
“Because that’s what spies do.”
“Right.”
I soon grew bored and my eyes weary from straining to catch movement from Sally’s that didn’t come. Ethan glanced at me and grinned.
“Ready to give me a kiss?” He pulled me close and planted a kiss on the tender spot beneath my ear. I shivered, losing myself in the sheer bliss of his lips. “Your uncle would shoot me if he caught me nuzzling you in the dark.”
“Most likely. But what a way to go.” My words threatened to be swept away in the breathlessness of his kiss, and I lost myself in the arms of my soul mate. I turned my head to meet his lips. If this was what a stakeout with a handsome man and the world’s best kisser did to someone, I’d join the CIA in a split second. As long as Ethan could be my partner.
The door to Sally’s trailer opened. “Wait.” I planted my hands on Ethan’s chest and pushed. “Look.” Woodrow stepped out, glanced both ways, headed down the corridor between the buildings, then disappeared in the shadows.
I eased my door open. “Come on. Let’s follow him.”
“I’d rather stay here where you can keep me warm.”
“Come on.” I tugged at Ethan’s hand. He slid along the seat after me and closed the door with a muffled thud.
“Shhh.” I held a finger to my lips and glared.
“Sorry.”
I pulled him behind me in the direction Woodrow had gone. We caught up with the man outside one of the carnies’ trailers. Ethan and I darted behind one of the restrooms and peered around the corner. How I wished I had that camera I’d been yearning for.
Woodrow used his elbow and broke the window. He glanced around at the sound of glass shattering, then knocked out the rest of the pane before climbing inside.
“This doesn’t look good.” Ethan loped toward the broken window and pulled me with him. “Something else shattered inside.” Ethan shoved me around the corner.
“I can’t see anything,” I hissed. I shoved closer. From beneath Ethan’s arm, I caught a clear picture of Woodrow climbing back out the window, a plastic bottle of pills clutched in his hand. “He’s buying or stealing drugs. I knew it. I told Joe this was all about Sally being an addict.”
“You did?” Ethan glanced down at me.
“Well, words to that effect.”
“Uh-huh.”
Once Woodrow had sneaked back toward Sally’s trailer, Ethan and I stepped out, being careful to keep the man several yards ahead of us. Raised voices reached us before we approached the partially open window of Sally’s home.
“What took you so long? I’m dying here. You know I need my medication, Woodrow.”
“I hurried as fast as I could, dear.”
“Not fast enough. You know the pain I’m in. Hurry, hand me the bottle.”
My height was not an advantage to peering in windows. A quick study of the nearby ground yielded a battered milk crate. Ethan placed it beneath the sill, and I stepped up, keeping myself between the aluminum siding of the wall and the protection of Ethan. This position promised a clear view of the living room and kitchen where Woodrow prepared a drink for his lady.
“Oh no.” I glanced at Ethan.
Woodrow pulled a bottle from beneath his jacket and dumped a healthy portion of white powder into the glass of whiskey he’d just poured. He then shook out three of the red pills he’d given Sally earlier. “He’s going to poison her.”
My foot slipped.
The crate banged against the side of the trailer.
Woodrow whirled. The glass in his hand crashed to the floor where it shattered.
I fell backward, taking Ethan to the ground with me. The air left my lungs with a muffled whoosh. A scrap of fabric from my blouse hung from an exposed nail on the window frame.
“Who’s there? Woodrow, go see who it is.” Sally’s bellow burst from the open window. Her shrill girlie voice had been replaced with gruffness.
“Come on.” Ethan scrambled to his feet, hefted me in his arms, then darted around the corner of the trailer.
“We’ve got to stop him, Ethan. He’s going to kill her.”
“Shhh.” He clapped a hand over my mouth.
Woodrow’s shadow, complete with the silhouette of a hand clutching a gun, stretched around the building.
Chapter Thirty
The spy book never mentioned what to do if we get caught.” My heart beat with the pace of a thoroughbred, each thud like mighty hooves against the racetrack of my rib cage.
“Is that you, Miss Meadows? ’Cause I’m wondering who else would be sneaking around our place at this time of night.” Woodrow’s voice took on a singsong rhythm.
I shivered, not only against the night chill, but with the eeriness of the position I found myself in. The tone of his voice, his attempt at playfulness while trying to kill me, cast the situation in a surreal nightmare. I clutched Ethan’s arm. My fingers dug into the flesh of his bicep.
“Noisy, meddlesome woman. My life is full of wretched females who can’t leave a man alone. Can you hear me? Can you see me?” I couldn’t remember a time when Woodrow had spoken more than a few words at a time. Now the man seemed to spew words like a fountain.
If I had to be stalked by a madman, I thanked God for Ethan being with me. I tended to lose my head in extreme circumstances. Ethan disentangled his arm from my grip and steered me ahead of him around another corner.
Breathe, Summer. Deep breaths. Too deep. Danger of hyperventilation. Spots swam before my eyes. I swayed and Ethan steadied me.
“There’s the truck.” Ethan gave me a shove, and we dashed across the alley. My hands fumbled with the truck’s door latch until Ethan reached around me and opened it. Keeping low, he scooted to the driver’s side, climbed in, then turned the ignition.
“That was a rush.” Ethan grinned at me as we spun gravel out of the fairgrounds.
A nervous giggle escaped me. “Wasn’t it?” I laid a hand on his arm. “We need to let the police know that Woodrow is stealing from the pharmacy and planning to murder Sally.”
“We don’t know the powder is poison. It could be part of her medication.” Sometimes Ethan’s logical mind overshadowed his ability to see the possible what-ifs.
“What about his chasing us with a gun?” I tilted my head, glaring through the dimness of the truck’s cab.
“There is that.” Ethan remained silent until we pulled in front of my house. He turned to me. “Summer, this evening was fun. Adrenaline-rushing, in fact.”
“But?”
He pulled me to him and cradled my head on his chest. “I’m a teacher. You make candy. This is above our heads. No matter how much fun we have, we need to be responsible and let the police handle things.”
“Joe’s laid up in the hospital.”
“Why can’t you hear what I’m telling you?” Ethan set me back, one hand on each of my shoulders. “God, help me. Woman, you scare the living daylights out of me. I love you so much it frightens me. The thought of losing you—” He let go and ran his fingers through his hair. The moonlight coming through the windows highlighted his curls with silver, and my hands ached to follow the path his had left. “Eunice told me about your feelings of guilt about your parents.”
“Oh.” I loved this man with all my heart, but my aunt telling him something so confidential still felt like betrayal.
“I want you to be able to come to me with struggles like that.” His pain sounded so raw his words bled across the small cab.
“It’s not so bad anymore, Ethan. I’ve given it up to God.”
“Then why are you still so driven to solve this?”
“I thought you were having fun.”
“I was. Not so much when I saw the gun. You scare me. Back there, at the campground, you trembled in my arms. Fear oozed from you, yet here you sit, raring to go again.” He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the seat. His gaze rolled to mine. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Marry me?”
“What, you don’t want to wait until next fall? And don’t change the subject.” The porch light blinked on. “Looks like your aunt doesn’t want us sitting in the truck any longer.”
“When will she realize I’m almost thirty and stop treating me like some wild teenager?”
Ethan chuckled.
I punched his arm. “And don’t say it’s when I stop acting like one.”
“Okay, I won’t say it.”
I punched him again and he jerked me close, his lips claiming mine. For the next several minutes I forgot about the Sallys, Woodrows, and gun-wielding gorillas of the world. It wasn’t until the porch light blinked on and off in rapid succession that I pulled free from the intoxication of Ethan’s kisses.
“Tomorrow is Saturday. Feel like making a trip to Forrest Road and visiting Harvey?” I smoothed a wayward curl back from Ethan’s forehead.
“You’ll go either way, right?” He kept his arms around my waist.
“Not if you really don’t want me to.”
“What’s out there?”
I told him about Sally’s threat regarding Ginger. “And she’s threatening revenge against someone who supposedly killed her son. I can’t think of anyone else to question. Especially since Harvey already warned me about being in danger. I’m assuming he meant the elephant.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up at ten.”
He opened the truck door and slid out, pulling me with him. “This conversation isn’t finished, Tink.” I closed my eyes when he placed a kiss between my brows.
I sighed. “I have to go through with this. Yes, I’ve given the guilt to God. It won’t be something that is solved in a day. I’ll have to make the choice each morning when I wake and each night when I go to bed. I’ve lived with that burden for so many years, Ethan, it feels like a part of me. I’m standing on God’s promises, but I made a promise, too. I made a promise to a scared woman whose face I glimpsed through a speeding car’s window.”
The flickering of the porch light increased in intensity. “Kiss me again. Give Aunt Eunice a heart attack.”
Ethan smiled and lowered his head. His kiss lit up the night until I feared for my heart. The squeak of the screen door signaled that Aunt Eunice had gotten tired of waiting. “I love you.”
“I love you. See you in the morning.” I caressed his cheek and turned to meet my virtue-saving aunt.
“What are you thinking, necking in the driveway?” Aunt Eunice folded her arms. “What will the neighbors think? I raised you better than that.”
“You, Aunt Eunice, are a gem. A true gem. I thank God for you.” I hugged her and marched into the house.
“What happened to your shirt? If that boy got too rough, your uncle will have words to say to him.”
I glanced at the bottom portion of my blouse. Ethan’s kisses had kept me warm enough, I’d forgotten the missing section. The fabric fluttering from the window of Sally’s trailer announced to everyone that someone had been peeking in her window.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ethan and I sat in the cab of his truck and stared at the swinging screen door of Harvey’s house on Forrest Road. Everyone wasn’t as conscientious as my aunt and uncle, but I had a hard time believing the banging of the door wouldn’t attract the attention of someone inside.
I swallowed against the rising knot in my throat. “Do you think we’re going to find more bodies inside?”
“I hope not.” Ethan reached for his cell phone. “But I do know we aren’t going inside without the police.”
“Can we at least explore the surrounding area?” My gaze scanned the thick forest of trees around the property. “Maybe we’ll find some clues. The police won’t let us inside once they get here.”
“Look, Nancy Drew, in real life people don’t go barging around crime scenes.” He chuckled and clapped a hand to his forehead. “For a moment, I forgot I was speaking to Summer Meadows. Now she definitely gets enjoyment out of messing up crime scenes.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.” I crossed my arms and slouched against the seat. “We can’t just sit here.”
“Why not?”
“I—well. . . Give me a minute. I’ll think of something.” A cry drifted on the morning air. I straightened and rolled down my window. “Did you hear that?” It was a definite plea for help. Befo
re Ethan could utter another God help me, I bolted from the truck.
“Summer, wait.” I hadn’t closed my door before he appeared by my side and gripped my arm.
“Someone needs us. Listen.”
“I hear.” We paused. My ears strained to detect the direction the cry came from.
“This way.” I grabbed Ethan’s hand and sprinted for the trees.
He yanked me back. “Stay behind me.” Ethan clipped his phone back to his belt. His hand hovered over the black leather case like a cop with a gun. He caught me looking and grinned. “I might need to grab it quick. Besides, you ran from the truck before I could place the call.”
He led me fifty feet into the woods. We stopped beneath a large oak and stared up at a tree house. Harvey’s wife and a boy approximately eight years old peered down at us.
“Thank the Lord. Please tell me you’re the good guys. I can’t stay up here for another minute. Every bone in my body aches to high heaven.” The woman chattered as she shifted and climbed down the rope ladder. Her plump behind strained against the cotton pants she wore. I bit back a chuckle as she jumped the last rope knot, landing in an undignified heap at our feet. “I’m not made for climbing trees anymore.” She stood and dusted herself off. “I’m Ester and this is my son, Harvey Junior.”
“Where’s Harvey?” I asked. The boy climbed down much nimbler than his mother.
“I haven’t seen him since the fiasco at the fairgrounds.” Tears welled in the woman’s eyes. “I’m worried about him.”
As she should be from what Sally spouted off. “Why are you hiding in the tree house?”
“We’re hiding from the gorilla.” Junior stepped forward. “I tried to get my rifle, but Mom made me run out the back door and hide up there.”
“A gorilla?” Did everyone in this part of Arkansas think they could solve their problems with a gun? Redneck clichés ran through my mind of flannel-shirted, tobacco-chewing hillbillies grasping rifles. I almost expected a three-legged dog to romp around our feet. I shook my head to clear it. “When?”
“Last night.” Ester headed back toward her house. “Y’all come on in. I want to see what damage has been done. And it wasn’t a real gorilla, mind you. Someone in a suit.”
Candy-Coated Secrets Page 18
