Hot on the Trail Mix

by P. D. Workman

  Terry was silent. He turned off the burner that the pasta was on and picked up the pot of pasta to pour into the colander already positioned in the sink.

  “You aren’t investigating this, Erin.”

  “I didn’t say I was investigating it. I’m just curious… about what happened. If you think that it was murder like Vic does, or something else.”

  “We’re investigating. A determination has not yet been made.”

  “Okay.” Erin sighed. She placed the salad bowl on the table and circulated through the kitchen, getting out plates, glasses, and cutlery. “And you think… it might be someone local to Bald Eagle Falls?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Someone local to Bald Eagle Falls… killed in a cave underground or dragged in there… I guess that means that if it is murder, then the murderer is local too.”

  “All the more reason to stay out of it. I don’t want you to walk into anything.”

  “Is this cave… who does it belong to? Is it on private land or public land?”

  “Why?”

  “I can ask Vic… I just wondered if it was on someone’s private property. If there was some kind of fight over who the cave belonged to or something like that.”

  “Leave that to us.”

  “It wasn’t one of Willie’s mines?”

  Terry finished draining the pasta and transferred it into the saucepan, where he stirred it to coat it with tomato sauce.

  “You’d have to ask him that.”

  “They weren’t trespassing on someone else’s property, were they?” Erin considered. That could be a problem. She didn’t want Willie and Vic to get in trouble for trespassing. They had called the police and cooperated with the questioning, so the police wouldn’t lay any charges against them for trespassing, would they?

  “Let’s eat,” Terry diverted. “This smells really good.”

  Erin got a couple of bottles of salad dressing out of the door of the fridge, thinking through the possibilities.

  Chapter 9

  Adele stopped by later in the evening. Usually, she didn’t come in when she knew that Officer Piper was there. Not because she had ever run afoul of the law—other than the unfortunate incident when her ex-husband had shown up in town—she just liked to keep things quiet. She lived alone in the summer cottage in the woods on Erin’s land, running trespassers off, performing whatever rites and rituals she did late at night where she would not be observed by anyone in town. But she did occasionally come over when Terry was there, or to participate in Thanksgiving or Christmas observances. She was obviously not comfortable doing so and preferred to be by herself.

  Erin swung the door open to invite her in. “Adele! How are you doing?”

  Adele nodded. “I’m just fine, Erin. And yourself?”

  “Can’t complain.”

  “Good.”

  Adele looked around. She lowered herself into one of the easy chairs. She nodded in Terry’s direction but didn’t address him. But she didn’t ask if she could talk to Erin alone, either.

  “I hear there was some excitement,” Adele said obliquely.

  Erin nodded. She looked at Terry to see if he would contribute anything, but he didn’t.

  “Yes… I don’t know a lot yet. I mean, I’m not involved in the investigation, but sometimes I hear things.”

  Adele smiled wryly and nodded.

  “Vic is the one to ask. She’s the one who found the body—the remains.”

  Adele wasn’t as comfortable with Vic as with Erin. There was that small matter of a kidnapping that got in the way of things. Vic understood that Adele hadn’t known anything about it, but Adele found it difficult to get past.

  “I know. But I figured she would have told you all about it. The police can’t disclose anything, obviously,” Adele looked at Terry, and then back at Erin. “I just wondered… about some of the details. Not that it’s any of my business, of course.”

  “There’s not a lot to tell. She found a skeleton in an underground pool. The police are trying to identify the victim and whether it was murder or not.”

  Adele nodded. “You don’t know who it was, then?”

  Erin raised an eyebrow at Terry. “I don’t know. I guess they have some leads. But they don’t release it to the public before they’re sure and then they have to talk to the next of kin first. Right, Terry?”

  “That’s about right.”

  Adele nodded. She looked out the window into the darkness of the night.

  “Do you know something about it?” Terry asked.

  “No. Just curious. Like any of the old gossips around here, I suppose.”

  Erin doubted that. Adele had always been different from the ladies who came to Auntie Clem’s. She wasn’t just interested in hearing the latest gossip. She had a reason for asking. Erin glanced at Terry briefly and saw that he too was wondering where Adele’s inquiry was going.

  “It’s kind of disturbing,” Erin prompted. “You know me, I hate the idea of going underground. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go into one of those caves and to find… bones or any other kind of human remains.”

  “Wouldn’t be my first choice,” Adele agreed. “I prefer the fresh air aboveground. It may be interesting to search through underground tunnels where so few have visited… but it’s not my cup of tea.”

  “You were just wondering whether the remains had been identified?” Terry asked.

  “I suppose so. I wouldn’t want to be wondering about a family member… waiting for them to return home, not knowing they never would…”

  “You don’t have any family in town, do you?”

  “I’m not speaking of myself. Just hypothetically. It would be very difficult, not knowing what had happened and whether you would ever see them again.”

  “We’ll do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen. We will inform the next of kin as soon as we are able.”

  Adele nodded.

  They all sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking about it. Erin wasn’t sure why Adele was there. Adele knew that Terry wouldn’t tell her anything and that Erin didn’t have the scoop on what had happened this time. Erin hadn’t been involved in even a minor way. It was all Vic.

  “Do you know what they were doing in that cave?” Adele asked eventually.

  “I have no idea,” Terry said firmly. “I have no way of knowing why he was in the cave or what he might have been doing there. Exploring, prospecting, meeting someone? That may become clearer during the investigation, or it may always remain a mystery. We don’t have a time-travel machine.”

  Adele nodded. She slid her hands to the seat as she prepared to rise. “Well, you folks have a good evening. I’ll be on my way.”

  Erin walked her to the door, said her goodbyes, and returned to sit with Terry once Adele was gone. She looked at him.

  “Do you have any idea what that was about?”

  He shook his head slowly. “It sounds like she knows something… but I don’t know what it is.”

  Erin tried to put the whole investigation behind her. It would probably be some time before the police had confirmed the identity of the body absolutely. Then they would be talking to the next of kin about it. Maybe they would release a name to the public and maybe they wouldn’t. How the man had died might always remain a mystery.

  “Do you remember when you were attacked in that mine?” Erin asked Willie as he drove them to Auntie Clem’s again later in the week. “When you hit your head and ended up in the hospital?”

  Willie looked sideways at her. “No, actually.”

  He’d had amnesia at the time, of course. But Erin thought he might remember more of it now. And he at least remembered that it had happened, even if he didn’t have any recollection of the event.

  “I was just thinking about that. I don’t know. I was thinking about how you were hit on the head when you were in the mine, and when you came out, you were disoriented and you couldn’t remember anything.”

&
nbsp; “So I’ve been told.”

  “And you don’t remember any of it happening.”

  “No. And I doubt I ever will. The doctors figured that it would all start to come back, but they were wrong. I’ve never been able to remember what happened that day. And maybe that’s a good thing, because I’m not sure I really want to.”

  “So with this guy, it could be the same thing. He might have hit his head—either he hit it himself on an overhang or took a fall, or someone hit him—and then he was disoriented and didn’t know what to do. He might not have been able to find his way out again. Or maybe he bent down to take a drink from the pool and then tumbled into it. We don’t really know.”

  “No.” Willie shook his head. “I can’t imagine anyone drinking from the pool without at least filtering the water first, but people do things without thinking. If he had hurt himself or was disoriented, I could see that happening. But where does that get us?”

  “I don’t know.” Erin sighed. “I just keep trying to construct it in my mind. What happened. How he got there. Why he was in the pool. I guess… trying to figure out how it might just be innocent. An accident.”

  Willie and Vic exchanged looks. Erin wondered if there was more to it that they had not told her about. Maybe because they were trying to protect her from the extent of what they had seen. Vic had edited herself when she had told Erin about it.

  “What is it, then?” she asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “It just didn’t look like an accident, Erin,” Vic said eventually. “I don’t think it was.”

  Chapter 10

  During a lull at Auntie Clem’s Bakery, Erin found herself watching a woman through the door and front window. A skinny, tattered looking woman with several children in tow, all looking similarly worn and thin.

  “What’s up?” Vic asked, noticing her distraction.

  “Oh… I was just watching that woman…” Erin nodded toward the window. “Do you know her? I don’t think I’ve seen her before.”

  Vic squinted toward the window. She nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ve seen her around. Not in here, but… around town.”

  “She looks like she needs some help.”

  “People are proud. She probably wouldn’t accept anything.”

  The woman shouldered a pack and, as she readjusted it, Erin realized she had a baby in her arms as well. A baby, a backpack, and the other children around her feet that she had to keep nudging forward and then grabbing if they got too far off track.

  Making a quick decision, Erin bent down to the display case and grabbed several different varieties of granola bars. She hurried across the street toward the little group, Vic calling something after her.

  “Hi,” Erin greeted brightly. “I’m the owner of the bakery over there, and I thought your children might like some granola bars.”

  “We’re not coming in there,” the woman said, her expression pinched. Her eyes darted in the direction of Auntie Clem’s Bakery and then back to Erin.

  “No, I brought some with me.” Erin displayed them. “We made too many today, so I’m giving out some free samples. Wouldn’t you like some?”

  The children immediately started to clamor for the granola bars. Erin grimaced, realizing that she might have made a mistake in offering them in front of the children before the woman could make a decision. What woman wanted to tell her children that they couldn’t have free treats?

  “Maybe I could get you something else instead,” she suggested. “Maybe… a loaf of bread? Some sandwich rolls?”

  “We don’t need your charity.”

  “No, it’s not charity.” Erin had never figured out why sometimes charity was good and sometimes it was bad. It seemed to her that if someone had a need and someone else was offering to fill it, that was a good thing. “Won’t you take anything?”

  Scowling, the woman finally gestured to the children. “Fine. Give them the granola bars, then.” As Erin passed them out, the woman spoke to them. “And don’t think this is a regular thing. You’re not going to get granola bars every time we come into town or see the bakery. Got it? This is the only time.”

  “Thank you, Mama,” one of the oldest of the children said politely. The rest took theirs without any thanks, snatching them out of Erin’s hands as if they were afraid she might change her mind and withdraw them.

  Erin tried to keep the smile pasted onto her face, to look friendly and non-threatening and not bothered by their behavior.

  “They’re good kids,” the mother said in a tight, clipped tone.

  Erin nodded reassuringly. “I’m sure they are. You certainly look like you have your hands full! I’m Erin.” She put her hand out, uncertain whether the woman would respond.

  The tired-looking woman nodded, but didn’t take Erin’s hand or respond with her own name.

  That, apparently, was all that Erin could do. The encounter was finished. She nodded, wiggled her fingers at the children as a goodbye, and retreated to Auntie Clem’s.

  A couple of the children said ‘bye,’ but mostly, their mouths were full.

  “What was all that about?” Vic asked when Erin returned. “Did you know them?”

  “No. I just thought… they looked like they could use a little pick-me-up.”

  “But they didn’t appreciate it,” Vic guessed.

  “No. I guess like you said, they’re too proud. I thought that just a few granola bars… it would be a way to break the ice. Find out who they were and start a friendship… then maybe I could help her with something else.”

  “You’ve got a soft heart,” Vic said, smiling. “I remember when you said you were going to help me out. I couldn’t believe it. You didn’t know me from Adam, but you helped me with the police and gave me a job, and even invited me into your home.” Vic shook her head. “That could have turned out very badly, you know. I could have been a serial killer.”

  “But you weren’t.”

  “How do you know that? Maybe I’m just very good at hiding the bodies.”

  “Well then, at least you’ve decided not to kill me.”

  Vic grinned. “Not yet!”

  They got back to work.

  Sitting in the living room that evening, Erin couldn’t help noticing Terry looking through the kitchen at the back window much more frequently than he normally did.

  “Is something wrong? Did you see something out there?”

  “Uh… no.” Terry pulled his attention away from the kitchen window and looked at Erin, focusing on her. Acting like he hadn’t been looking out the window to begin with.

  “What is it, then?”

  Erin’s brain started working a mile a minute, thinking about all of the things Terry might be worrying about. Had he heard something about someone he had arrested in the past? Or heard that Crazy Theresa was in town, looking for Erin or Vic? Or was it something else? A danger that she hadn’t even thought about yet?

  The world could be a dangerous place, and if something was making Terry nervous, then that made Erin nervous.

  “Nothing.”

  “There’s something. Why do you keep looking out there?”

  “Was I? No. Just thinking about something. Staring off into space.”

  But she knew that wasn’t true. She looked back down at the Bald Eagle Falls newspaper, pretending to be reading again. It was only a few seconds before Terry was looking out the back window again.

  This time, though, Erin saw Willie’s headlights as his truck pulled onto the gravel pad.

  Terry had just been distracted by the lights.

  Terry got up. “I need to talk to Willie about something.”

  Erin wanted to follow. She leaned forward in her seat, trying to decide whether to get up and act like whatever Terry wanted to talk to Willie about was her business. Or to pretend to be getting something from the kitchen and to see if she could overhear them. Or just to stay where she was, with the cat on her lap, and mind her own business.

  Eavesdropping won out.
r />   She didn’t want to be obvious about it, but she did want to see if it were anything that impacted her or Vic. The men might just be arranging another fishing date. Terry was busy with the investigation of the remains found in the cave, but maybe he had reached the end of the trail of clues and needed to wait until the lab got back to him with the results of some of their forensic testing. Or maybe he’d decided to listen to everyone who told him that he needed to take it easy and not work every day.

  But she doubted that.

  Erin shifted Orange Blossom to the couch beside her, but Blossom wasn’t too happy about this action and yowled in protest. He didn’t lie down where she put him and go back to sleep, but blinked owlishly at her, wanting to know why she was disturbing his nap time.

  “I just need to get up for a minute,” Erin told him. She went to the kitchen and ran water into the tea kettle. Orange Blossom followed her, nudging at his dish and looking at her significantly.

  “Are you hungry? It’s not time for bed yet.”

  He meowed loudly a couple of times, expressing his displeasure. First, she woke him up, and then she wasn’t even going to feed him?

  “Okay, fine,” Erin said. “I’ll get you a couple of treats, okay?”

  At the word ‘treats,’ the other animals put in an appearance. Marshmallow and K9 were much quieter and better-behaved than Orange Blossom, but they wanted their treats too. Erin got them all their snacks, straining her ears to hear what Terry was discussing with Willie. She couldn’t hear anything. She opened the window a crack, which helped, but she was still having a hard time hearing what was going on.

  “I’ve told you everything I know,” Willie said gruffly, raising his voice so that Erin could suddenly hear him clearly. “It isn’t like there is that much to tell. We found the skeleton. We left the cave and called the police. We weren’t involved in anything we shouldn’t have been. Just doing some spelunking.”

  “On land that isn’t yours.”