Morning Glory Circle

by Pamela Grandstaff

  Ed noticed there was a light on in Phyllis Davis’s old trailer. The last he heard, she was living in a rented room out behind the Roadhouse bar near the highway, and was renting the trailer to someone. He thought for a moment he saw a movement behind the curtains, and thought about the break-in at the bakery.

  Mandy answered the door instantly at his knock.

  “You changed your mind,” she said.

  “I’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Ed said, and he and Hank went back inside.

  Hannah lay awake, alone in bed, while Sam tapped away on the computer keyboard in his office. He had been quiet and taciturn again on the way home. When they got home they argued, and he asked her if she was sorry she’d married a cripple.

  “I don’t think of you as a cripple,” she told him, “but you’re acting like an emotional one right now.”

  He barricaded himself in his office after their fight, and she knew he would probably sleep on the couch again. This was an old drama they played out, over and over. Sam was down and blaming himself for everything, and Hannah was fed up with comforting him over a bad thing that had happened to her.

  “You don’t understand how helpless it makes me feel,” he’d said, “when I can’t get to you and protect you.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me,” Hannah had responded, “but I do need you to quit making this all about you, and how it affects you.”

  “You don’t know what the world is really like, Hannah. It’s a dangerous, awful place, and you have to be on your guard all the time. The end can come out of nowhere in a split second. You aren’t careful enough.”

  “I know the war was awful, and you feel like the world is out to get us, but I don’t. I can’t live my life as if it’s a battlefield. It’s not healthy.”

  “I have to. I can’t help it. I’m sorry I can’t be what you want.”

  “I wish you could just this once get your head out of your own behind and stop whining about what you can’t do, and be there for me in the ways that you can be.”

  “You shouldn’t stay married to me if I can’t be the man you need.”

  “Oh, I think you can, Samuel. I think you’re just used to this one man pity party you’re always throwing, and you don’t know how to live life without it.”

  “I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment to you.”

  “Me too, buddy, me too.”

  Hannah felt lonely, tired, and sorry for herself. She hugged her pillow and cried until she fell asleep. She didn’t dream about finding Margie’s body, instead she dreamed about a baby that was so tiny she could hold it in one hand.

  Caroline Eldridge offered the joint she was smoking to Drew, who shook his head.

  “It’s organically grown,” she said. “I have an excellent source in South America.”

  “I think the contact high will be quite enough, thank you,” he said. “It makes me paranoid and jumpy when I’m high, and then sluggish and stupid when it wears off. I have never understood the appeal.”

  “It makes me happy and horny,” Caroline said.

  “Then by all means, have some more. Don’t let me stop you.”

  They were lying tangled up in the blankets on his bed, where they had spent much of the weekend.

  “I feel like I’ve known you all my life,” she told him, then licked two finger tips and pinched the lit end of the hand-rolled cigarette. “I think we may be soul mates or twin souls, and have shared many lives before. Maybe it was in Rome; I keep getting a visual of us wearing togas and walking among marble columns. I think maybe we were brothers. Or maybe it was in Atlantis. I had a past life regression once where I saw myself there doing something with healing crystals.”

  “Let’s just focus on this life right now,” Drew said. “I don’t think you should move out to the lodge. Stay here with me until summer comes.”

  “But the monks are coming. I have to get the place ready for them.”

  “Celibate monks, right?”

  “Don’t be silly, of course they are. I hope you don’t have any bourgeois hang-ups about sex. It has to be organic and free flowing between us in order for it to work.”

  “I’m not possessive. I won’t smother you or tie you down. As long as we can be together whenever we feel like it, that’s fine with me. I was getting lonely up here.”

  “You can come up to the lodge any time.”

  “I’m going to have to get a better car if I’m going to be running up Pine Mountain all the time.”

  “You can have one of Theo’s cars. He left me several.”

  “That’s very generous, rich lady, but I’d prefer to pay my own way.”

  “Why don’t we turn the barn into a veterinary clinic and you can move out there with me? There are already kennels there.”

  “It’s a long way to ask Rose Hill people to drive.”

  “But you’ll get the rich ski resort people from Glencora. They’ve probably all got spoiled pets. You could charge more and get paid what your work is worth.”

  “But don’t the people in Rose Hill deserve proper care for their animals as well?”

  “Sure they do,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attract wealth to yourself. The more money you have the more people you can help. If you were making lots of money, you could hire someone to work in the Rose Hill office. When I get Theo’s money I can invest in your practice and you can pay me back over time, or not. Material things really don’t matter to me.”

  “We’ll see. You aren’t even sure you’re staying in the country, remember?”

  “I can’t imagine leaving this bed right now,” she said. “Besides, there’s a lot of good I can do right here, with the monks staying at the lodge, and you setting up a practice in the barn. Maybe I could start a yoga studio in one of the buildings Gwyneth owns.”

  “There are lots of options, I guess, when there’s enough money.”

  “Stick with me,” Caroline said. “I’m all about attracting wealth and putting it to good use. The universe rewards that kind of thing.”

  “I’d like to reward you by exploring your South American region,” Drew suggested.

  “You’re in luck,” Caroline said. “There’s a boat leaving right now.”

  By the time Sonny left the bed and breakfast after changing Ava’s locks it was very late. Ava was sipping tea at the kitchen island. Scott joined her, but declined anything to drink.

  “I have too much caffeine in me as it is,” he said.

  “I can’t sleep,” Ava said. “I feel like as soon as I let down my guard something bad will happen.”

  “I can understand that. You ought to call Maggie; she’d be glad to come over and stay.”

  “No,” said Ava. “She’s even more exhausted than me. She needs her sleep.”

  “I would be glad to sleep on your couch if that would help. I could sleep on a bed of nails right now, I’m so tired.”

  “That’s so kind of you, Scott. You really wouldn’t mind?”

  “No,” Scott said. “Just throw a blanket over me and I’ll be out like a light.”

  Ava got him a pillow and a blanket while Scott unlaced his boots and took off his belt. It felt a little intimate getting semi-undressed in front of Ava, but she waited until he was down to his boxers and t-shirt, and as soon as he lay down she tucked the blanket in around him on the couch. She kissed his forehead and thanked him again.

  “Don’t worry now,” Scott said. “I’ll shoot anything that moves.”

  “If some of my guests wander into the kitchen looking for a midnight snack,” Ava laughed, “it may be the last thing they ever do.”

  Ava locked up, turned off the lights, and went up to bed.

  Scott, who was so sure he would fall right to sleep, now felt keyed up and wide awake. He went over all the Margie stories people had told him over the last couple days, and realized he had a town full of suspects, many of whom probably had stories about Margie they would never share. If she had been going around tow
n threatening to blackmail people, and sending poison pen letters, there would be more than one person who would have been glad to eliminate the threat she posed. In the wee hours of the morning Scott finally fell asleep, and dreamed about kissing a woman. It started out to be Maggie, but ended up to be Ava.

  Chapter Seven – Sunday

  Tommy woke up before his alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., after hearing what sounded like a baby crying next door. When he went down the hallway to get his breakfast he found Ed eating cereal out of his favorite bowl, and Hank eating dry cereal out of a tin pie plate on the floor. For a moment, he thought he might be dreaming.

  “If this bothers you,” Ed said, “I won’t do it again.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Tommy said. “Just leave me enough milk for mine.”

  Tommy had a hard time hiding his grin as he fixed his own breakfast.

  “Did you hear a baby crying earlier?” Ed asked him.

  “Yeah, I think Phyllis is renting her trailer to an old lady with a baby,” Tommy said. “I saw them yesterday morning with a cart of groceries. She’s shy, though, and didn’t wave back when I waved.”

  Ed felt better knowing it was a grandmotherly type living so near rather than some of the rough characters Phyllis ran with.

  At 4:30 a.m. Ed, Tommy, and the dog Hank walked to work together, and it felt completely normal to do so. If it bothered Tommy that Ed was staying all night with his mother, he certainly didn’t show it. Ed felt so out of his element, so confused, but so happy all at the same time, he didn’t know what the right thing to do or say was anymore. He could never have imagined he’d need to know what to do or say in a situation like this, because it was so unlike him to be in a situation like this. All he knew was that right now he felt good, and he didn’t want to ruin it by over-thinking.

  “Are you going to the pancake breakfast later?” Ed asked Tommy, who shrugged.

  “Yesterday was the Women’s Guild, but today it’s the Volunteer Firefighters,” Ed told him. “They aren’t as stingy with the bacon. I’m going up later, so you can go with me, if you want.”

  Tommy just nodded, failing to suppress another huge smile.

  When Scott woke up his friend Patrick was standing next to the couch in Ava’s family room, staring down at him in an unfriendly manner.

  “Good morning,” Patrick said.

  “Hey,” Scott stammered as he sat up. “What time is it?”

  “It’s 6:00,” Patrick said. “Why are you here?”

  “He’s my new bodyguard,” Ava said from the kitchen.

  She was fully dressed for the day and looked radiant, even with the little hint of shadows beneath her big dark eyes.

  “It’s part of a new service we offer,” Scott said, putting his feet on the floor and rubbing his face. “Personal security detail.”

  “Uh huh,” Patrick said.

  Ava smiled at them both and started the coffee.

  “I’m on my way to the Volunteer Firefighters’ breakfast,” Patrick said. “Just thought I’d check in.”

  Ava continued to smile and putter around the kitchen, and Patrick continued to loom over Scott and look back and forth between the two. Finally Ava shook her head and laughed at Patrick.

  “Patrick, stop it. He was here when Sonny left last night and I told him I was too scared to sleep. I coerced him into sleeping on that lumpy couch so I would feel safe.”

  “But Sonny changed your locks,” Patrick protested.

  “I know,” Ava said.

  “You could have called me,” Patrick said.

  “No, I couldn’t,” Ava said, pointedly.

  “I think I’ll give you two some privacy,” Scott said, scooping up his clothes and heading for the half bath in the hallway.

  “Not necessary,” Ava said.

  “Thank you, Scott,” Patrick said.

  When Scott came out of the bathroom, fully dressed, Patrick was gone.

  “Is he waiting outside with dueling pistols, wearing a cape?” he asked.

  “Don’t worry,” Ava said. “He’s fine.”

  Scott gratefully accepted the coffee she offered, and then ate two of the muffins she baked for her guests. Ava kissed him on the cheek before he went out the door.

  “Thank you, Scott. I know that was awkward, but it was such a blessing to me. I slept better than I’ve slept in several nights.”

  “No problem,” Scott said. “I’ll just be sure to tell Maggie about it before she hears it second hand.”

  Ava laughed and shook her head.

  “The hot-blooded, jealous Fitzpatricks.”

  “God bless ‘em,” Scott said, and went on his way.

  Fitz Fitzpatrick surprised everyone by coming to the Volunteer Firefighters’ breakfast at the community center. He sat in a wheelchair propped up with pillows, sweating profusely despite the cold. He wanted everyone to shake hands with his son Sean, and to brag about his job at a bank in the “big city.”

  Maggie watched her brother Patrick out of the corner of her eye, wondering if this big show of paternal pride would hurt his feelings. He seemed to take it in stride, though, flipping pancakes on a huge griddle and flirting with all the women within a five-yard radius.

  Ava was there with Timmy and Charlotte, keeping both children within reach.

  ‘Who could blame her?’ thought Maggie.

  Hannah was waiting tables and Sam was keeping an eye on her from a wheelchair parked next to Maggie’s father. Maggie was filling cups at the drinks table, watching everyone. Bonnie Fitzpatrick was in her element, serving baked goods she made herself, receiving many compliments, with her handsome and successful son Sean home for a visit. Maggie watched her go from table to table, beaming with pride.

  “Where’s the fatted calf, I wonder,” Hannah said as she returned to refill her tray.

  “Sean and I were just joking about that last night,” Maggie said.

  “I hear you may have another brother in town,” Hannah said.

  “Is that what the scanner grannies are saying?”

  “No,” Hannah said. “Patrick told Sonny, Sonny told his mother, and his mother told my mother.”

  “Looks like no one’s told Bonnie yet.”

  “That’s too near the fiery furnace for most people,” Hannah said.

  “Well, if he’s in town, he can’t stay hidden long.”

  “And what will happen if Patrick finds him first?” Hannah asked.

  “There won’t be much left of him for Bonnie to welcome home,” Maggie said.

  “Do you want the latest Margie gossip?’ Hannah asked.

  “Of course.”

  “The unofficial word is that the cloth found in the burn barrel was soaked in chloroform. Just like you thought, miss smarty pants, chloroform is no longer used as an anesthetic, hasn’t been for years. It’s a controlled substance that would not be that easy to get hold of.”

  “How’d you find this out?”

  “Skip talked to someone he knows in the coroner’s office.”

  “Scott would skin him alive if he knew Skip talked to you about the case.”

  “So don’t tell him.”

  “What’s their theory?”

  “The murderer thought he was destroying the evidence. The thing is chloroform doesn’t burn except at high temperatures; Skip found that out when he looked it up on the Internet. That’s why the part of the cloth soaked in it didn’t burn; it wasn’t hot enough. The dry part caught fire, and the murderer left it in the burn barrel, thinking the whole thing would burn, but didn’t wait to see it finished.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I’ve got. It’s still early.”

  “We have to get in that house.”

  “That’s covered.”

  “How?”

  “Ruthie got a key from Enid to get clothes to bury Margie in. I told her we would take care of it.”

  “You’re good.”

  “The police have been all over their place already, so they prob
ably have all the evidence.”

  “Still...”

  “We might be able to find something they missed.”

  “When are we going?”

  “The coroner is releasing the body tomorrow, so we have to go tonight.”

  “The festival lasts from 12:00 to 6:00, and then we have to clean up and break everything down. So we’re looking at what, 8:00?”

  “The goose flies at 8:00,” Hannah said.

  Gwyneth came in with the mayor and circled the room, offering two limp bony fingers as a hand shake. When she got to where Maggie stood at the drinks table, she pretended not to see her, and greeted the woman next to her instead.

  “Do you have any freshly squeezed organic juice?” she asked. “Or cappuccino?”

  The woman looked at Maggie, but Maggie just bit her lip.

  “I’m afraid not,” the woman said nervously, and Mayor Stuart Machalvie apologized profusely to Queen Gwyneth for the inferiority of the offerings.

  Maggie rolled her eyes but said nothing. She was trying to be good.

  Caroline and Drew arrived, and Caroline greeted Maggie with a little more reserve this time.

  “Hey,” she said. “How are you?”

  “Just fine,” Maggie said, pointedly not asking Caroline how she was.

  “Wow, this has been a crazy week, hasn’t it?” Caroline said. “We haven’t even had a chance to catch up.”

  Maggie just looked at Caroline steadily and said nothing, until the silence became uncomfortable for everyone.

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to work,” Caroline said, and she and Drew went to sit down at a table.

  Maggie felt her face flush, but she was determined not to feel guilty for being rude.

  ‘What do I care?’ Maggie asked herself.

  Someone arrived to relieve Maggie at her post, so she took a break. Connie Fenton, manager of the Eldridge Inn, was coming out of the restroom as Maggie was going in. She looked very pale and drawn. Connie had a brisk manner and was not one to show emotion, but she was suffering, Maggie could tell.