by Crissy Sharp
When Lotty looked up, Jason put his hands to his neck and stuck out his tongue before Ty looked back. Her eyes widened and she mouthed, “how?”
Jason shrugged. “Ty, can you help Mom put laundry away?” he asked while motioning to Lotty that he’d take care of the hen. He jogged back outside as Ty protested. Now what? He’d never had to deal with disposing of a chicken. It must have been sick, so he didn’t want to touch it. He grabbed some gloves, dug a hole in a corner of the yard, and buried it. It felt callous to run off to work after burying an animal, but it’s not like the family had had time to grow attached. In fact, he was hoping Ty wouldn’t even notice one was missing. He’d just think the sleeping chicken had finished her nap. Still, Jason took a moment of silence to honor their pet of two days before returning to the shed.
He duct-taped the napkins to his bike, creating an ugly, but incredibly comfortable seat. He ducked back inside and told Ty goodbye, but Lotty wasn’t there. “Where’s Mom?”
Ty pointed at the bathroom.
Jason yelled, “Bye, Lotty” to the bathroom door, but there was no response. “Tell Mom goodbye for me, okay?” Jason said as he kissed the top of Ty’s head. Ty nodded.
Jason hopped on his bike and took off. A childish part of him wondered if Lotty had heard and ignored him. She was obviously upset with him for taking off the night Doll had said such horrible things. It probably wasn’t the best reaction, but it had frustrated him to think of Lotty confiding in Doll. To think that she’d left him and ran off to her mom to complain. Doll said he’d ignored the fact that Lotty had been depressed. He hadn’t even known anything about it. It made sense now, but at the time he thought she just wanted a little space. She’d gone through childbirth, and was taking care of a brand-new baby and a toddler, so when she’d shut herself up in the bedroom constantly, he’d let her be alone. He thought she needed to catch up on rest. Why hadn’t she told him what she was going through? He could have helped if she would have let him in. As it was, he’d been completely ignorant.
He rode past Berry Beach and toward the square. A large banner with the words “Strawberry Days, A Walden Tradition since 1961,” now hung over the street. Vendors were beginning to set up their booths and the road that ran along the north side of the square was blocked off. Strawberry Days was a much smaller celebration than The Huckleberry Festival, which would take place in July, but it still drew most of the community and a large number of tourists. He rode his bike right up to his office and parked it around the corner. He figured the worn-out frame and seat made of napkins would be a better deterrent to any potential thief than a bike-lock would.
He straightened his tie and brushed off his pants as he opened the main door to his firm. Before he stepped inside, his eyes locked with Cade Warner’s. Cade sat in the lobby, hands tapping on his thighs, eyes glued to Jason.
Those menacing eyes took him back seven years to when he’d first met Cade and Lotty. He’d been working down by the marina one afternoon when Cade and his date loaded bags and coolers onto a boat. She had long, dark hair and eyes he couldn’t help but notice. She’d smiled at Jason, turning his insides to mush. However, the feeling didn’t last long when he caught Cade staring at him as if to say, stay away from her. Jason pushed the memory aside and walked passed his lobby.
“Hey, the garage and mud room look great. We appreciate the work your crew did,” Jason said, wondering why Cade was there. Was he looking for praise? He and Cade had never spoken to each other one-on-one. The few times words had been exchanged between them, they’d been curt. Jason grabbed a bottle of water and offered one to Cade, who declined.
“Oh, right, your garage, good.” Beads of sweat formed on Cade’s forehead.
Things were always awkward between Jason and Cade, but today it was more than that. Jason couldn’t figure out what it was, but he wanted Cade to leave as quickly as possible. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Is there somewhere we could speak privately?” Cade’s voice was barely above a whisper. He nodded toward Gabriella, who was busy reapplying lipstick in a compact mirror.
“Of course, yeah, let’s go to my office.” Jason gulped down the last of his water and threw the bottle toward the trash can. It went directly in. Jason held up his arms in excitement, but quickly stopped his celebration when Cade didn’t crack a smile. Brent would have appreciated the level of difficulty of that shot.
Jason sat behind his desk and motioned for Cade to sit. He perched uncomfortably on the edge of the chair and resumed tapping his thighs. Jason waited for him to explain his visit.
Cade leaned forward like he was going to speak, but stopped. Then he did it again.
“What’s going on?” Jason asked.
“I, uh, I think I need your help.”
“My help?”
“I know. I hate asking for it as much as you hate giving it.”
“What do you need?” Jason leaned forward, curious what had Cade so upset.
“Well, possibly legal help.” Cade jumped up and began pacing. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think I’m being framed. The stuff going on in your neighborhood...it looks like it’s me, but it’s not.”
“Okay...”
“I mean, they can put me near or at your neighborhood during every event that happened: the robberies, the bodies, the arson. And some of the evidence really makes me look guilty.”
Jason’s eyes followed him.
“But I’m not,” Cade said. “Brent said he’d try to help clear my name, but I don’t know if it will be enough. What if I get arrested? I might need you...to...you know.”
“Cade, I’m a civil litigation lawyer.”
“But you know a lot more than I do about this stuff.”
“I’ll help where I can, but I can’t represent you. It’s not my area, plus it would be a major conflict of interest.” Jason couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d never been a fan of Cade, but not because he was a criminal.
Cade nodded. “Okay, thanks.”
“I’ll help you find a good lawyer if it comes to that, but maybe it won’t. If we could just figure out what’s going on. You know? Like why this stuff is happening, how it involves Lotty, and why you’re being set up.”
“That’s a long list of stuff to figure out.” Cade ran his fingers through his hair.
Jason nodded. It was, but he knew it would all come out. It had to.
“Well, I better take off and let you get to work.”
Jason stuck his hand out and shook Cade’s. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He tried to inject as much confidence as possible into his voice. He hoped he sounded much better than he felt.
Cade gave a weak smile and nodded before walking away.
Chapter 16
As the computer powered on, a soft glow filled the room. Lotty hoped it wouldn’t wake Aiden. He’d been teething and couldn’t seem to fall asleep anywhere but in her arms. She’d held him for almost an hour, since just past two a.m., but was anxious to set him down and resume her research online. She wanted to find any information she could about the three people whose bodies had been dug up and dumped in Strawberry Lake Estates. Jason’s friend hadn’t contacted them about the underground site yet and this research was the only thing she could think to do to help.
She slowly bent down toward the sofa in the office and Aiden’s long breaths held steady. She set him down and inched her arms out from under him. He whimpered and she froze, arms still halfway under his little body. When the wrinkles in his face relaxed, she wiggled her arms free and inched back to the computer.
She’d already searched one name, the only woman, Patty Henderson. Patty had sold insurance for the past twenty years and had plenty of friends and family, but beyond that, Lotty couldn’t find much. She looked up another name, Scott Willard. There was more information about him, but most of it had to do with his job as a project inspector. She saved several articles, determined to read them all later. It was difficult to make her eyes f
ocus this time of night. The third name, Jerry Masters, turned up nothing except for his obituary. He was a retired English teacher from Texas, who’d moved to Montana with his wife five years ago. Since Jerry didn’t seem to have any social media accounts, Lotty decided to look up his children. As she opened Facebook, Aiden began to whimper. Lotty sighed as his cry escalated into screams within seconds. She walked to the sofa and picked him up, frustrated that she’d found nothing helpful. She settled into the rocking chair in Aiden’s room and he snuggled against her as her eyelids grew heavy.
AIDEN CLUNG TO LOTTY. He’d been attached to her since she woke up in his rocking chair. He nestled his face in next to her neck and gripped her stomach with his chubby legs. She tried to set him down so she could change out of her pajamas, but he screamed and held tighter. Taking a deep breath, she slowly lowered herself into a chair in the bedroom. She tried to avoid sudden movements that would start the screaming again. It seemed as if Aiden’s teething was never going to end. At least she’d have a break from it on Monday. Nikki had offered to watch the boys so Lotty could go to the dentist to have a cavity filled. The thought of laying quietly in a dentist’s chair without anyone climbing on her had her almost giddy.
Aiden noticed they were sitting and didn’t like it. He lifted his head and pointed for her to get up. “Aiden, do you want to go see Daddy?”
He stopped whining and watched her.
“We’re going to meet Dad at his office and then we’ll all go to Strawberry Days together.”
“Go.”
“Yeah, we’re going to go. So, I need to get dressed while you sit here by yourself, okay?” She opened her door and hollered at Ty. “Did you get dressed like I asked, Ty?” She could hear him playing airplanes. “Ty, get dressed so we can go to Town Square, okay?”
“Kay.”
Aiden walked over to her and grabbed her leg. “Up.” She changed shirts while he maintained a death grip on her leg. Then she tried to pry him off so she could change pants, but was unsuccessful. She decided to stop fighting him and picked him up and snuggled with him for several minutes.
“Does your mouth hurt?”
He nodded so she headed to the bathroom to get him some baby Tylenol. She passed Ty’s room, where he was busy running in circles, wearing only his Batman underwear. She sighed, trying to control the outburst she was about to have. If she’d learned anything during her mom’s visit, it was she didn’t want to criticize her own children. By the time Doll had left for the airport, Lotty couldn’t even look at her. The criticism and insults were too much. “Ty, I need you to –”
The ring of the doorbell interrupted her. “Get dressed, Ty,” she said, before opening the door for Nikki and Brent. “Sorry,” Lotty started. “We’re not quite ready yet.”
“Nikki!” Ty yelled, running down the stairs.
Lotty shook her head. Ty had added a tool belt over the underwear. “I don’t know how it is that when I say, ‘get dressed,’ he hears, ‘please run around the house in Batman underwear and a tool belt.”
Brent laughed while Nikki gave Ty a hug. “Ty, why don’t you show me what shirt you’re going to wear today?” She led Ty back upstairs and Brent pointed to the backyard through the kitchen window. “I heard all about your chicken coop.”
Lotty rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I don’t think Jason’s too much of a fan.”
Brent laughed. “Well, it was actually Nikki who told me about it, not Jason.” He got closer to the window to get a better look. “Uh, what’s wrong with your hens, Lotty?”
She looked at him questioningly and moved over next to him. Three hens lay on the ground. “Oh no.” She put her hand over her mouth. “Not more of them.”
“This has happened before?”
“One died yesterday. What do you think is doing it?”
Brent shrugged. “I don’t know. My grandpa used to raise chickens, but I don’t know a whole lot about it. I’ll go have a look around and see if I can find anything.”
“You don’t think this is related to the other stuff in the neighborhood, do you?”
Brent seemed to consider it. “Maybe, but I doubt it. It doesn’t seem like someone would go from arson and grave robberies to chicken slayer. Doesn’t make much sense.”
“None of it makes sense.”
“That’s true.” Brent headed to the back door. “Let me see what I can find.”
Lotty hauled Aiden back upstairs, where she found Ty perfectly outfitted in jeans and a shirt, with socks and shoes, and his hair fixed. She smiled at Nikki who smiled back and took Aiden from her arms. He whimpered for a couple of seconds before becoming distracted with the train Nikki was holding. She waved Lotty off and continued playing with both boys. Lotty took the opportunity to disappear into her bathroom and finish getting ready.
Within ten minutes, everyone was ready. “Michael and Emma are coming too. They said they’d watch for us to come out,” Nikki said, speaking of two of her children.
“Okay, just one more minute.” Lotty pulled Nikki away from the boys. “There’s something wrong with the chickens. Brent went out back to check it out. Let me see what he found and then we can go. Can you distract Ty for a couple of minutes? I don’t want him to see the hens like that.”
Lotty went out back. “Did you know this wood was pressure-treated?” Brent asked.
Lotty’s stomach sank. Did everyone have some sort of a code to not use pressure-treated wood?
“Uh, yeah. It was priced really well and it will protect against rot and insects. Plus, it’s stronger.” Lotty repeated what the employee at Dixie’s had told her.
“Is all of the wood pressure-treated?”
Lotty nodded.
“I think that could be your problem. Pressure-treated wood is full of chemicals. It’s toxic. That’s how it keeps insects away.”
“Uh...”
“I can’t find any other explanation for it. The chemicals in the wood must have made them sick.”
So much for feeling good about completing a project. She’d used pressure-treated wood mostly as a way of ignoring Cade’s friendly advice and now she had four dead hens. It was hard to believe that she was trusted with raising two humans.
“You really think the wood could have killed them so quickly? I mean obviously I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve only had them for three days.”
Brent shrugged. “Looks like it.”
“What am I going to tell Ty? He’s in love with the chickens.”
“Why don’t you guys go ahead and go to Strawberry Days?” Brent picked up the shovel that was leaning on the crooked post. “I’ll dispose of these and join you there. At least then he doesn’t have to see them like this. He’ll be so excited by the three that are still alive, maybe he won’t care.”
“That’s really nice of you, Brent, but I hate for you to miss out on time with your family.”
“Oh, the kids will run off with their friends as soon as we get there and Nikki will be talking to you the whole time anyway. I’m happy to do it, Lotty. Just tell Jason he owes me.”
Lotty smiled. “Thank you.” She went back inside and found Aiden sitting contentedly on Nikki’s lap with Ty cuddled up next to them. They were a picture of bliss as they looked at a book together. If she tried to read a book with the boys, Aiden usually tore the pages while Ty cried.
“Ready?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah. Brent’s going to meet us there in a bit,” Lotty said. She got closer and whispered, “He’s helping me. I’ll explain later.”
Nikki gave her an inquisitive look, but headed to the van, where Michael and Emma were waiting.
They circled Town Square twice before finding a parking spot down near the beach. A three-legged race and volleyball match were underway and several people were preparing their paddleboards for the obstacle course.
Nikki, Michael, and Emma decided to watch volleyball while Lotty led the boys up to the square. Mrs. Becker was laughing with several other women her age as s
he handed out samples of her baked goods. She spotted Lotty and called her name. Lotty hugged the small woman.
“I’ve missed you something fierce, Lotty Brooks.” Mrs. Becker smiled and hugged Lotty a second time. “You don’t come around here nearly often enough. I have to get all the details about your life from your husband.”
“I’ve missed you too. I stopped by your bakery a few days ago, but Janice said you were out running errands. I was going to introduce you to my mom.”
“Oh, darn it. I would have loved that.”
Lotty highly doubted love would be the proper word to describe Doll and Susan Becker meeting, but she smiled and nodded anyway.
“Now, tell me about that crazy neighborhood of yours.”
Lotty shook her head. “If only I had more to tell than what this whole town is already talking about.”
“I heard the bodies all had tattoos on their left arm that was the sign of gang initiation. What do you know about that?”
Ty grabbed Lotty’s arm. “Mom, there’s a bounce house. Can we do it?”
Lotty turned back to Mrs. Becker. “I’m pretty sure they didn’t have tattoos. I haven’t heard anything about that.”
Mrs. Becker started to ask another question, but Ty interrupted, “Please, Mom.”
Then Aiden joined in, pointing at the bounce house and saying, “go, go.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Becker, but we’ll have to talk later.”
“Nonsense. Your boys just need white chocolate strawberry cookies.” She handed each of the boys a pretty, light-pink cookie and they were instantly quiet. “And you need some of this huckleberry bread. I know it’s not strawberry and we’re at Strawberry Days, but the huckleberry is so much better.” She gave Lotty a swirled purple and white slice of bread with a crumb topping.
“Oh, yum. Thank you.” Lotty inhaled the wonderful aroma of the bread and brought it to her lips just as someone grabbed her. She turned around where Jocelyn stood with her daughter.
“Hey, Lotty,” Jocelyn said excitedly. “Hi, Mrs. Becker.”
