Fall Girl (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 9)

by Hope Callaghan

  Gloria narrowed her eyes and surveyed the house and surrounding yard. Maybe they would be walking into some sort of trap!

  She tried to remember everything she’d ever watched on Detective on the Side, and how police set up a sting. If they thought Lucy was hiding something, wouldn’t they want to keep her under surveillance…watch her every move?

  Ruth snapped her fingers. “I’ve got a plan!” She darted up the side steps and disappeared inside. A few moments later, she motioned them in.

  When they got inside the kitchen, she shut the door behind them and pulled the shade. “Stay here and out of sight,” Ruth instructed.

  Gloria had no idea what Ruth was up to but had to trust she had a plan, which was more than Gloria had. It seemed like they sat there forever and Gloria was getting anxious. “What…”

  Tap, Tap. There was a light tap coming from the back of the house.

  “Be right back.” Ruth zigzagged around the table and out of sight.

  “I wonder what she’s up to,” Lucy said.

  When Ruth returned, she wasn’t alone. Judith Arnett, a Belhaven local and motor mouth to boot, stepped into the kitchen.

  Gloria’s eyes widened at the sight of Judith. She was wearing a bright red wig on her head as she followed behind Ruth.

  “Oh my goodness!” Gloria’s hand flew to her mouth. “Where did that wig come from?” she gasped.

  “Just some extra costume stuff I had boxed up in the basement.” Ruth pointed to Lucy. “You two need to swap clothes,” she said.

  Lucy pointed at herself. “Me?”

  “Let’s go.” Ruth waved them into the other room.

  On the dining room table was a row of mannequin heads. On each of the heads was a different colored wig with different hair shapes and lengths. Some were short while others were long. One of the mannequins was bald. Gloria correctly guessed that the missing wig was now on Judith’s head.

  Gloria was dying to know where the wigs had come from. She didn’t buy the “boxed up in the basement” story.

  “Here.” Ruth grabbed a medium length, light colored wig and handed it to Lucy. “Put this on.”

  Lucy stared at the wig in her hand, her mouth open. “Why, I…”

  “Okay. I’ll do it for you.” Ruth snatched the wig from Lucy’s hand and stuck it on her head. She tugged on the sides and stood back to inspect her handiwork.

  “That red hair. We have to hide it.” Ruth shoved her hand along Lucy’s hairline as she pushed strands of red hair under the rubbery shell of the wig. “You’ve got some wiry hair there, Lucy,” she commented.

  Gloria hid a grin as Ruth circled around to work on the other side of Lucy’s face.

  Ruth stood back and studied Lucy. “Yep. I think this will work.”

  Lucy traipsed off to the bathroom. She flipped the light on and examined her new “do.” She turned her head from side to side. “Not bad. I think I could pass for a blonde.”

  Ruth waited for Lucy to emerge from the bathroom. “Judith is the decoy. She’s going to walk out of this place pretending to be you. If the cops are trailing you, they’ll go after Judith instead.”

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” Judith argued.

  Ruth gave her a hard stare. “You want me to tell everyone about…”

  “No! I do not!” Judith cut her off. She wrinkled her nose.

  Ruth narrowed her eyes as she studied Judith and Lucy critically. The women looked to be about the same size. “Time to swap clothes.” She motioned at Lucy to follow her to the bedroom.

  Judith headed into the bathroom and Lucy to a bedroom next door.

  Lucy shut the door. Moments later, the door opened. Lucy snaked her hand around the partially closed bedroom door and handed her pants and shirt to Ruth.

  Ruth took the clothes to Judith, who was waiting for her behind the bathroom door.

  Next, Judith handed Ruth her blouse and slacks through the crack in the door.

  Ruth took the clothes to the bedroom door. “Knock-knock. Your pretty princess attire has arrived,” she teased.

  The door opened a fraction. Lucy snatched the clothes from Ruth’s hand and shut the door.

  Gloria could hardly wait to see how they looked!

  When Lucy emerged, Gloria giggled at the sight of her friend, who was now wearing a pink frock with a thick layer of ruffles along the front. Her slacks, a shiny, polyester brown, hung loosely on Lucy’s thin hips and scrawny legs.

  Lucy thrust her hand on her hip and pouted. “You have no sense of style, Judith.”

  Judith, who had emerged from the bathroom, looked none too happy with the sudden turn of events. She tugged at Lucy’s plaid, flannel shirt. “You call this style? Why even Carl wouldn’t wear this outfit,” she declared. Carl was Judith’s husband.

  There were several unflattering bulges in the too tight pants but at least Judith had managed to get them on.

  Ruth stood between the two warring women and extended her arms. “Now ladies.” She stressed the word “ladies.”

  “So now what?” Judith snapped.

  “Lucy, give Judith your car keys,” Ruth commanded. “Judith will have to drive your Jeep home. We can call her later to bring it back.”

  “How did Judith get here?” Gloria asked.

  “Carl dropped me off out back,” Judith mumbled. “How do I get myself into these messes?”

  Lucy plucked her keys from her purse and dropped them into Judith’s outstretched hand. “Please be careful with my baby. I hope you know how to drive a stick shift,” she added.

  Judith’s eyes widened. “A stick shift?” She narrowed her eyes and turned to Ruth. “Ruth…”

  Ruth crossed her arms in front of her. “Surely you know how to drive a stick.”

  Judith clutched the keys in her hand. “Thirty years ago. No one drives a stick anymore!”

  “I do,” Lucy argued.

  Judith, fed up with the entire situation, adjusted her wig, marched across the kitchen floor and stomped out the door and down the steps. The girls peeked out the window and watched as Judith hopped into Lucy’s jeep.

  The jeep jerked out of the drive and stalled in the middle of the road. Gloria could see Judith’s lips moving and would bet the farm that she was cussing them out.

  Ruth leaned over Gloria’s shoulder and watched Judith. “She’ll get over it,” she predicted.

  Finally, Judith was able to get the jeep moving forward and it lurched to the corner. Judith squealed around the corner and disappeared from sight. “I hope she’s careful with Beep,” Lucy whispered.

  Gloria stood upright. “Beep?”

  “That’s my jeep’s name. Beep.”

  Gloria thought she was the only one that named her vehicles. She turned to Ruth, the master planner. “Now what?”

  “You and I head out smooth and easy, then we circle around and pick Lucy up in the alley,” she said.

  Lucy frowned as she glanced at the pink pumps…Judith’s pink, sensible pumps that were now on her feet. “I-I’ve never walked in heels before.”

  Gloria patted her on the back. “You can do it Lucy. Think of them as barn boots with a small heel,” she suggested.

  Lucy took a few tentative steps, her ankles turned as she attempted to balance. “I don’t know about this.”

  “You’ll be fine,” Ruth waved an arm, grabbed a cardboard box from the table and headed to the door.

  Gloria followed Ruth out the front door while Lucy stumbled to the back. Lucy wasn’t kidding when she said she wasn’t used to heels!

  Gloria hopped in the passenger seat of Ruth’s van while Ruth opened the rear door and slid the box in the back. She closed the door and made her way to the driver’s side. “Looks like the coast is clear,” she said.

  Ruth backed out of the drive, circled around the block and pulled into the alley where Lucy was hovering behind a large evergreen bush.

  She slid into the back of the van, or maybe it was more like tripped into the back of the van. She
yanked the door shut and crawled across the floor.

  Lucy wrenched the pastel pink shoes from both feet and dropped them on the floor. “I’d rather walk on shards of glass than spend one more second in those toe pinching, heel grinding weapons of agony,” she moaned dramatically.

  They had just made it past the village limit sign when Ruth’s cell phone beeped. Gloria glanced down at the screen. “It’s Judith.”

  “Answer it,” Ruth said.

  “Hello?”

  “Ruth?” Judith gasped.

  “No. This is Gloria. I have you on speaker. Ruth is driving,” she explained.

  “Yeah. Well, I just wanted to let you know that a four-door sedan with tinted windows followed me home. They’re parked across the street from my house. What should I do?”

  “Stay there until I tell you to come back to my house,” Ruth instructed.

  “But I planned to meet some friends at Dot’s for breakfast,” Judith whined.

  “Judith…” Ruth warned.

  Silence.

  “Okay, but you owe me one!”

  Judith hung up before Ruth could reply.

  She shrugged as she turned the corner at the stop sign. “She can be such a baby.”

  Lucy directed Ruth out of town, past the Montbay County line and onto a dirt road, that Gloria was certain she’d never noticed before. “Bill lives…err, lived out here?” The place was desolate.

  “Yep. I think we have another quarter mile to go,” Lucy guessed.

  The road quickly turned into a narrow, rutted path that jostled the van and caused Gloria’s stomach to feel queasy. She clutched her middle section. “I hope we’re almost there.”

  “Turn in here.” Lucy pointed to an even narrower road, which was more like a two track or dirt path.

  Ruth peered through the front windshield “Are you sure?”

  “Yep. This runs along the back of Bill’s property. Not many people know you can get to his place from here.”

  This would work out perfect to stay incognito.

  Ruth drove until the van couldn’t move forward without taking off chunks of paint. She shifted the van in park and shut the engine off. “End of the road. Literally.”

  Lucy shoved her feet in Judith’s shoes. “I can’t believe I have to put these back on,” she grumbled.

  Gloria grabbed the passenger door handle. “Time to roll.”

  Chapter 11

  The cold November morning air nipped at the tip of Gloria’s nose. The dusting of snow that had covered the ground earlier had disappeared. In its place was a blanket of wet, sticky leaves along with some downed tree limbs and branches thrown in for good measure.

  “This way.” Lucy pointed to a row of tall pine trees. She led the way with Gloria close behind. Ruth brought up the rear with her box of goodies.

  Gloria hadn’t asked what all Ruth had determined was necessary for their mission. She figured she would find out soon enough.

  The girls wound their way around the trees. A light breeze rustled through the trees and it made a low, moaning sound that Gloria decided sounded like, “Whoa…”

  Gloria shivered involuntarily. “You sure we’re headed in the right direction?” It seemed as if they were going in circles.

  Lucy nodded but didn’t slow her pace. “We’re almost there,” she promised.

  Moments later, they reached a large clearing and a brick ranch house. On the front porch were a couple of old wooden ladder-back chairs. In one corner was a planter, the plant inside shriveled and limp.

  Gloria stepped into the clearing and stood next to Lucy.

  “Wait!” Ruth said. “We need to make sure the coast is clear.”

  Her eyes studied the house and then traveled upwards as she scanned the tree line. Her shoulders slumped. “It’s not safe for the drone. Not sayin’ it’s gonna happen but I’m afraid it’ll get caught in the trees.”

  She set the cardboard box on the ground, lifted the flaps and folded them back. Ruth peered inside the box and pulled out what looked like a small satellite dish. The base was solid black. The front part, shaped like a cone, was a frosted white color.

  Ruth carefully set the device on the ground and then reached inside the box again. She pulled out a headset, slid it over the top of her head and adjusted the earpieces snugly against her ears.

  With her index finger, she spun the dial on the side. Next, she flipped a small switch on the side of the dish and held a finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

  Gloria and Lucy watched quietly as Ruth fiddled with the headpiece. Moments later, she slid the headphones down so they rested against the nape of her neck. “The coast is clear. I heard a few birds and maybe a couple squirrels but that’s all.”

  Gloria pointed to the cone. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Ruth ran her finger along the rim of the cone. “It’s a supersonic listening device. This baby can pick up noises up to 100 yards away, even inside a house.” She tapped the top. “Just got this in the mail yesterday.”

  “I think you missed your calling.” Gloria grinned. Ruth was accumulating quite an arsenal of spy equipment. “What will they think of next?”

  Ruth’s eyes lit. “I’m waiting on this handheld fogger device. It masks the human scent, say for example, if you were being chased by a K9 unit.” She rubbed her hands together. “It should be here next week.”

  She went on. “My goal is to cover the five senses. I haven’t been able to nail down taste.” Ruth wrinkled her nose. “So far what’s out there on the market hasn’t worked for me. I’m waiting for something good to come along.”

  Gloria wondered how it “hadn’t worked” for Ruth and who exactly Ruth had tested it on. She frowned. Why in the world would Ruth need to try to hide her scent and avoid the police?

  Gloria handed her the portable monitor. That was a question to save for another day. First things first.

  Ruth set the monitor and headphones inside the box and closed the lid. “I’ll pick this up on our way out.”

  Lucy waved them forward. When they reached the front porch steps, she came to an abrupt halt and lowered her head. Her hand shook as she reached for the knob.

  Gloria put a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  Lucy nodded. “Yeah. Bill wouldn’t want me to have to go through this, no matter how badly our relationship ended.”

  Lucy pulled a key from her front pocket. She inserted the key in the lock and turned. It wouldn’t budge. “Uh-oh. It doesn’t work.” She pulled the key back out.

  “Here, let me try.” Gloria took the key from Lucy and slipped it inside the deadbolt. She jiggled it back and forth and finally, it turned. “It was just a little sticky.”

  The door creaked loudly as Gloria gingerly pushed it open and stepped inside. Lucy was right behind her. Ruth brought up the rear.

  The house smelled musty.

  Gloria wrinkled her nose. “Do you smell that?”

  Ruth nodded. “Yeah. Smells damp.”

  Gloria took a tentative step forward. The floorboard creaked and Lucy jumped. She pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh my gosh!”

  Gloria took another step. The hair on the back of her neck bristled.

  A sudden, muffled thump echoed through the house.

  “Wh-what was that?” Lucy whispered.

  “It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen,” Gloria murmured. She rubbed her sweaty palms on the top of her jeans. Should they high tail it out of there or press on to the kitchen?

  They had come too far to turn back now. She took a firm step forward, determined to see this mission through, no matter what the outcome!

  They finished crossing the living room floor.

  Gloria stopped in the doorway that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was modern and spacious. She wasn’t sure what she expected since Bill was pure outdoorsman. Maybe a faucet shaped like a grizzly bear.

  The kitchen was far from rustic. In fact, it was a little too modern for Glo
ria’s own taste with its sleek lines and flat cabinets. The walls were a light gray. The backsplash a pale green subway tile. “This wasn’t at all what I expected.”

  Lucy had to agree. “Yeah. He was kind of a stickler for cleanliness.”

  A small movement over the kitchen sink caught Ruth’s eye. “The kitchen window – it’s open.”

  Sure enough, the window above the kitchen sink was wide open.

  Lucy slipped past Gloria and approached the sink. She leaned across the sink, put both hands on the sill, pulled down and snapped the lock in place. “Bill would never have left the window open.”

  Gloria stepped over to the sliding glass door and peered out. “You think someone else was in here?” It was possible that someone in Bill’s family had opened the window and forgot to close it before they left.

  She glanced down at the expensive oak floors. Humidity and moisture had warped several of the boards. Gloria rubbed her shoe over the bumpy surface. “What a shame. These will have to be fixed.”

  Lucy led them from the kitchen, across the dining area and into the hall. “Bill used the first bedroom for storage and the second one was his office.”

  Lucy grasped the handle on the first door they came to. She turned the knob and pushed the door open.

  Gloria peeked over Lucy’s shoulder and gasped when she looked inside. The room was in shambles. In one corner were floor-to-ceiling boxes. Strewn across the floor were piles of wrinkled clothes. The closet doors were wide open and shoved off to one side was a row of wire hangers.

  Pushed up against the far wall was a black futon. On top of the futon was a navy blue sleeping bag, unzipped. It looked as if someone had been sleeping on it.

  A camo-patterned strip of material caught Gloria’s eye. She stepped over to the bed, reached underneath and tugged on it. It was a backpack. Something a hunter or possibly a college student might use to carry supplies.

  Gloria held the backpack in her hand. “You said this room was for storage? It looks like someone was sleeping in here.”

  Lucy frowned. “Yeah. Last time I was here, Bill used the room for storage. I’ve never seen that futon before.”

  Did that mean that someone had been living with Bill? Gloria vaguely recalled that Bill had divorced his first wife years ago and that they had had two daughters. She couldn’t remember their names. “What about Bill’s daughters?”