Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel)

by Marts, Jennie

  As if on cue, a dark blue Chrysler pulled into Walter’s driveway, and he got up and hurried toward the car.

  A tall, thin woman emerged from the vehicle wearing denim capris, walking sandals, and a mint green t-shirt covered by a patchwork quilt vest. She had a short cap of curly white hair, a small nose, and bright, intelligent eyes. She had a beatific smile that she presented to Walter as if bestowing him with a gift as she squeezed his hand. She was close to his height and looked to be in her mid-seventies. They were a handsome couple as they made their way into Sunny’s yard where the rest of the party waited.

  Walter beamed proudly as he introduced her. “This is my beautiful new wife, Helen.”

  He moved her through the yard, and Helen shook hands and made comments as he introduced each family in turn. “This is Matt and Cassie Bennett and their children, Tiffany and Tyler.”

  “Nice to meet you. How cute.”

  “This is my dear friend, Edna Allen. She has been a neighbor and good friend to Betty and me for many years.”

  “I’m delighted to meet you,” Helen said. “Walter has mentioned you often.”

  Edna introduced Roy who removed his hat and charmingly kissed Helen’s hand. Walter raised an eyebrow to Edna who laughed and waved him off. “He’s a harmless old coot. Flirts with anything female and breathing.”

  Helen removed her hand, smiled at Roy, and moved on to where Maggie stood with Jeremy.

  “This is my lawyer, Maggie Hayes. She and Cassie are good friends of my other neighbor, Sunny.”

  Maggie shook hands with Helen, then turned to introduce Jeremy. He stepped forward to shake the hands of Walter and Helen. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “You as well,” Walter said, giving Maggie a questioning look, which she ignored. He nodded across the yard. “Those two strapping young dark-haired boys kicking the soccer ball around over there are her sons, Drew and Dylan.”

  “Hey,” Drew called, and he and Piper came across the yard to greet Helen.

  Walter absently looked at the smiling, happy blonde teenage girl, and then a slow recognition crossed his face. He brought Piper to him in a clumsy embrace as he leaned down and said, “You look lovely, my dear. Just lovely.”

  He pulled back to look at her once again, then turned to Helen. “This beautiful girl is Piper. She’s Cassie’s niece, the one I told you about, who helped me with my flowers this spring. She’s become quite a gardener.”

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Piper said, in a rare moment of affection. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry about that. I am okay though.”

  “I see that.” Piper looked approvingly at Helen.

  “It looks like you’re doing okay too,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’m okay too.”

  The two generations looked fondly at each other, both sending up silent prayers of thanks that the other one was going to be okay.

  A pitiful whine broke the moment, and Walter looked down to see Beau standing patiently by his side. He bent to ruffle the dog’s neck.

  “And this is Beau,” Sunny said, as she and Jake, still hand in hand, approached Helen.

  “Oh, I love dogs. I have one of my own. He is just a gorgeous fella, isn’t he?” Helen bent to stroke his back, and Beau shook with excitement at all the adoration he was receiving.

  “I’m Sunny, Walter’s west-side neighbor. This group is our weekly get-together for our book-club, the Pleasant Valley Page Turners.”

  “Oh, how wonderful. I love to read,” Helen said. “I was a high school English teacher for thirty years.”

  “I’m a teacher as well. I teach second graders,” Sunny said.

  “What a fun age.”

  Walter ignored Beau as he continued to nudge his hand in an effort to get him to resume his head-petting. “And this young man is my grandson, Jake,” Walter said proudly, grasping Jake by the shoulder.

  “I’m so glad to meet you,” Helen said warmly. “Your grandfather has told me so much about you, and how excited he is to have you in his life.”

  “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Jake nodded and took a step back, obviously a little shy about gushy, family reunions.

  “Everyone, please sit down,” Sunny directed. “Have you folks eaten? There’s plenty of food. Can I get you something to drink, Helen? Iced tea or lemonade?”

  “Or a shot of brandy?” Edna added. “I think that’s what I’m having. What a day.”

  “Iced tea would be lovely, dear,” Helen answered. “I’ll keep my options open on the brandy though,” she added and winked at Edna, earning a mischievous grin in return.

  “Walter was just going to tell us about how you two met.” Sunny poured the amber liquid over a pile of ice cubes and handed Helen a red Solo cup.

  “Well, we’ve known each other for years through church and a bridge group we both belong to. It was just a coincidence that I ran into her on a dock in California as she disembarked from a cruise. We got to visiting, and she told me she was renting a car and traveling up the coast for a few weeks before she returned to Colorado. She offered to give me a ride if I didn’t mind going the long way home,” Walter said.

  He stopped and took her free hand gently in his. “Well, I didn’t have any ID to rent my own car, and all I had was time on my hands and a stash of rainy day money, so I agreed to go along.”

  “Oh, we had a wonderful time.” Helen’s voice was low with a slight Southern grace to it. “We talked, and laughed, and listened to talk radio. We stopped at some beautiful cities along the coast, and Walter would take me out to dinner as if we were on a date. And every place we ate that had a band, we danced.” She nodded at Jake. “Your grandfather can really tango.”

  Jake chuckled, and Walter cut in. “She means I can barely tango. We did visit some amazing places though. We stopped in national parks and hiked to waterfalls. One night we built a fire on the beach and stayed up all night talking. After the first two weeks, we realized we had fallen in love, and we’re both too old to waste any more time being alone. So we got hitched.”

  “On the beach?” Piper asked, entranced by the elderly couples love story.

  “Right on the beach,” he answered. “The hotel we were staying in offered a wedding package, and we had a little ceremony in the sand by the water. We’ll have to make it official here at the courthouse, after I get another drivers license. But the beach ceremony meant something to us. We stayed there a few days then called the last weeks of the trip our honeymoon.”

  “We also stopped to visit my daughter and her family for a couple of days so I could introduce them to Walter,” Helen explained.

  “Well, why didn’t you ever call?” Edna asked. “Did they not have any phones at any of these beach side resorts you stayed in?”

  “Of course they did,” Walter said. “But why would I need to call anyone? I had left my neighbor a phone message, or at least I thought I did. And I was having the time of my life. I was living life in the moment and having a great time. I’m sorry that I worried everyone, but I had no idea any one would even be missing me.”

  “So what happened to Mona?” Jake asked. “No offense, but right now, I’m more interested in tracking down this woman than I am in your romantic seaside nuptials.”

  “Last I saw,” Walter answered, “she had her sights set on another fellow, a Toby something or other, runs some kind of oil corporation. We parted ways at the dock as she boarded a Princess Cruise Line for a month of traveling through Europe with him. That’s where I ran into Helen.”

  “A month? How long ago was that?”

  Walter looked skyward and scratched his head. “Oh, I’d say about a month ago.”

  Jake jumped from his chair and started for Walter’s house. “I’ve got to make some calls. This might be the break we’ve been looking for.” He stopped and looked back at Walter. “Is it okay if I still use your house?” he asked, awkwardly.

  “Of course,” Walter said. “You’re welcome to use an
ything.”

  “Thanks.” Jake loped to the back door and stepped inside.

  Walter looked at Sunny. “What does he want with Mona?”

  She explained to Walter and Helen that Jake worked for the FBI and had been searching for this Mona woman for months. Walter’s face registered pride for Jake, then blanched pale as she got to the part about Mona being an alleged serial killer known as ‘The Black Widow’.

  Helen gasped. “You spent weeks with that woman.”

  “I told you I thought something was off with her,” Walter said.

  “I’m still confused about something,” Sunny said. “What about the bloody shirt? Beau found a flannel shirt with your blood all over the sleeve. That’s another reason why we were sure something had happened to you.”

  “Well, the night before I left, I was out in the garage pulling my stash money from its hiding place and I cut my arm on a piece of metal. It bled like the dickens,” Walter explained as he ran his finger over a thin white scar on his forearm. “I remember I got blood all over the shirt I was wearing. I bandaged up my arm and I threw that shirt in the trash. It was an old flannel I’d had forever and that must be the shirt your dog found.”

  The screen door slammed, and Jake came back across the driveway, a look of triumph on his face. “We got her! Her alias is listed on the passenger log as being aboard the cruise ship, and she used a handprint to board, so we can positively ID her.”

  “That’s great,” Walter said. “I’m sorry I didn’t contact you sooner. I probably could have saved you weeks of being here. And I missed out on time I could have spent with you. If you have more time, I’d like you to consider staying for a while longer so we have a chance to get to know one another.”

  “You just got married. Don’t you think you should hang out with your new wife?” Jake asked.

  Helen waved a hand. “We have plenty of time. We haven’t even really figured out where we’re going to live. I think Walter should stay here and spend some time with you.”

  Walter smiled and squeezed her hand. “See why I married this one? She’s beautiful and smart.” He looked at Jake. “I really would like it if you stayed. I’ve got plenty of room.”

  “I pretty much took over your guest bedroom, and I’ve been living in your house for over a month now anyway. It’s going to take some time to wrap up this case, and I have more that I would like to explore here in Pleasant Valley.” He looked at Sunny and winked before he turned back to Walter. “Thank you. I would like to stay awhile longer.”

  “Great. Helen and I can still spend time together. I know you’ve been here so long already. I’m sorry my actions disrupted your life so much.”

  “Not a problem.” Jake moved back to sit with Sunny on the chaise lounge. He gave her one of his naughty grins as he took her hand. “I found ways to amuse myself.”

  Sunny watched him look around at the collection of people scattered in the yard. “What are you thinking?”

  Jake shook his head. “I’m thinking about this group of women I’ve come to know over the past month and a half. You’ve all come into my life and disrupted my investigation. Your friends filled your head with suspicions of me, and now they’re serving me plates of baked beans and potato salad. The Page Turners are one crazy group, but they definitely make me laugh. They kind of make me nuts, but I think they’re growing on me.”

  He smiled at Sunny, and she knew a shift had been made. She had yearned for excitement, and it had crashed into her in the form of a scruffy-headed FBI agent and a missing body. She was so tired of sitting still and letting life happen to her. With her new resolve sitting on her shoulder, she knew she was now ready to take charge of her own life, including her own love-life, which now seemed rich with possibilities.

  Sunny raised her hand to get the group’s attention. “I have an announcement to make to the Page Turners,” she declared. “Project Sunny and the Six Blind Dates is now over. No more snobby stockbrokers, hunky cowboys, or health-food-fanatic fishermen. This Saturday night, I get to choose my own date, and I’m going out with Jake.”

  “Don’t you think you should ask him?” Edna asked, around a bite of half-chewed hamburger. Her plate balanced on her knees, piled high with potato salad, grilled shrimp, and red, juicy hunks of watermelon.

  “Good point.” She turned to face him on the chair beside her. “Jake, would you like to go out with me this Saturday night?”

  As if he knew what they were talking about, Beau padded over to lay his head on Jake’s knee, looking up at him with sad, brown eyes.

  “Change that,” Sunny said. “Jake, would you like to go out with Beau and me this Saturday night?”

  “Arf!” Beau barked and nudged closer to Jake.

  Jake laughed. “I guess that’s a yes… from both of us.”

  “Great.”

  “Great,” he agreed. “Now let’s eat.”

  29

  The rest of the week dragged as Sunny waited for Saturday and her date with Jake. She spent most of the day Thursday cleaning up after the party.

  Friday afternoon arrived, and Sunny, Cassie, and Maggie sat in their favorite Starbucks indulging in an early afternoon caffeine fix when the door opened and in walked Phil the Fisherman. He was followed by a cute, petite blonde who wore Columbia shorts, a white tank top and a flannel shirt tied at her waist. Thick wool socks bunched at the top of her well-worn hiking boots. With her ponytail swinging, she practically bounced through the door, her melodic laughter carrying through the store.

  She and Phil had their heads bent together, deep in conversation. When he spotted Sunny, a sheepish grin crossed his face. He made his way to their table with Perky-Girl following in his wake. “Hi, Sunny.”

  “Hey, Phil. How are you?”

  “Good. This is my date, Stephanie.”

  Sunny held her hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Steph, this is my friend, Sunny.”

  Steph pumped Sunny’s hand enthusiastically. “Oh, hi. It’s great to meet you.”

  “Thanks, you too. These are my friends, Cassie and Maggie.” Sunny gestured to the girls, and a look of dawning realization crossed Phil’s face.

  “Drunken Frisbee players?” he asked.

  Maggie shrugged. “We couldn’t let her go out with a stranger from the internet all by herself.”

  “Understood.” Phil looked toward the barista line. “We better get going.”

  “Oh yeah, the line’s short,” Stephanie said. “We’re picking up some non-fat Soy-Chai-Teas for now, then Phil made us some awesome energy shakes for later.”

  “Spirolina?” Sunny asked.

  “How did you know?” Steph laughed. “You must have tried them. Aren’t they sooo yummy?”

  “They sure are,” Sunny agreed.

  Stephanie waved as she headed for the counter. “Nice to meet you all.”

  The happy couple finally got their drinks and headed toward the door. Phil turned and gave Sunny a smile and a head nod while Stephanie wiggled her fingers and called, “Bye-ee”.

  “Excuse me while I barf into my non-soy, mocha triple shot latte,” Maggie said.

  “Oh, stop it.” Cassie swatted playfully at Maggie. “They were cute.”

  “They were cute, and I’m glad Phil found someone to share his interests. He is a great guy.” Sunny raised her glass in the air. “As for us, let us toast to red meat, caffeine, and real chocolate.”

  Cassie and Maggie bumped their cups against hers. “Here! Here!”

  * * *

  What in the heck is that racket? Sunny slammed the passenger door of the car. Maggie had given her a ride home from Starbucks, and Sunny gave her friend a wave as she headed toward the house.

  Weaving between the extra cars in their shared driveway, Sunny followed the sounds of hammering and power tools to Walter’s backyard. The yellow ribbon of caution tape had been ripped away from where it had surrounded what was left of the garage, and a loose end flapped in the breeze.

 
Jake and Walter, clad in soot covered jeans and t-shirts, were cutting away the last pieces of structure and tossing burnt up material into the bed of an old pickup. Their thick work gloves and plexiglass goggles gave them the appearance of strange aliens from Planet Construction Guys.

  Jake threw what looked like used to be a weed-eater into the pickup, and must have noticed Sunny standing in the driveway.

  He lifted his goggles, revealing his tan skin with a perfect dark soot outline left behind. His teeth were ultra-white against his black smudged face as he grinned and waved. “Hey there. Wanna grab a pair of gloves and help?”

  Sunny stepped closer, but not close enough to get the black dirt on her outfit. “What’s going on? You guys look hard at work.”

  “We are. Now that Walter is actually alive, and arson has been eliminated, they cleared the garage as a crime scene, and gave us the go-ahead to clean it up. We’re tearing all this out and we’re gonna rebuild a new garage.”

  Sunny was glad to hear Jake using the term we when he spoke of himself and his grandfather. “Great.”

  Walter’s back screen door slammed, and Helen emerged, carrying a tray filled with icy glasses of lemonade. “Who’s thirsty?” she asked. “Oh, Sunny, hi. Can I get you something to drink?”

  Jake and Sunny walked over to the deck where Helen had set the tray on the table. “No, thanks,” Sunny said. “I just finished a coffee.”

  Walter had thrown a last load of rubble into the pickup and pulled off his gloves as he approached the table. “Thank you, dear. This looks delicious.” He leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving behind a gray smudge of soot against the side of her nose.

  She smiled adoringly at Walter. “Oh heavens, it’s the least I can do. Making drinks is easy. Are you sure you won’t let me grab a pair of gloves and haul some of the smaller stuff to the truck? I would love to help.”

  Walter looked skeptically at Jake, who just shrugged. “She’s your wife.”