Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 07 - Missing Milt

by Hope Callaghan

  “Yeah, maybe I should just have you make it. I’m probably going to have my hands full.”

  It had been years since all of her kids – and grandkids – had been home for the holidays at the same time. Gloria was excited. Not only would she get to see them, they would get to meet Paul. Of course, Jill had already met him.

  Gloria grabbed her purse from the floor and stood. “I should get going. Lucy promised to come over for pizza and help me clean out my clothes closet.”

  Gloria had several close friends who lived in the small town of Belhaven: Ruth from the post office, Margaret who lived up on the lake and of course, Dot.

  Gloria was closest to Lucy. Lucy was the most adventurous of her small group of friends and more times than not, she ended up in the middle of Gloria’s adventures. Gloria had dragged all of the girls into her misadventures at one time or another, but Lucy was her main sleuthing sidekick.

  “You want me to take a piece of the pumpkin pie for Lucy to try?” Lucy had the biggest sweet tooth in town. She was a bit of a confectionary connoisseur and Dot usually bounced her new dessert recipes off Lucy.

  Dot shook her head. “She was in here earlier to pick up some cookies and such and she tried a piece.”

  Gloria wasn’t surprised. It probably would’ve surprised her more if she hadn’t shown up. Gloria waved good-bye to Dot and Ray and headed out the front door.

  Chapter 5

  Lucy’s little white ranch was on Gloria’s way home. She swung in the driveway and pulled in behind her friend’s yellow jeep. She made her way up to the front door and tapped lightly on the glass pane as she peeked in the window. Lucy was nowhere in sight.

  She waited for a few minutes before wandering around back to the storage shed. The single side door was closed and the padlock in place.

  Mally and Gloria made their way over to the garage. The garage door was open but no Lucy there either.

  Gloria started to grow concerned. It wasn’t like Lucy to leave the garage door open and not be around. She headed to the car to grab her cell phone and give her a call. Hopefully everything was alright.

  She was halfway back, phone in hand when what sounded like a dull roar echoed from the field directly behind Lucy’s house.

  Gloria stopped in her tracks. The sound grew louder. Mally backed behind Gloria, her ears flattened out and she growled. Gloria patted her head. “It’s okay, girl.”

  A bright flash of red careened around the corner of the shed. On two wheels. It was a four wheeler. The ATV skidded to a stop. A cloud of dust swirled around the machine and drifted toward Gloria.

  The driver shut off the engine, then reached up and unfastened the helmet, lifting it off a head of red hair. Lucy’s red hair and it was standing straight up in the air.

  Gloria stuck a hand on her hip. “What in the world?”

  Lucy lifted her left leg and hopped off the quad. She set the helmet on the seat and peeled off a pair of black leather gloves.

  Lucy patted the windshield. “Well, whatcha think?”

  “What do I think? I think you have officially boarded the crazy train and lost your ever lovin’ mind, that’s what I think!” Lucy had done some crazy things in the past.

  Well, now that Gloria thought about it, Lucy had done a lot of crazy things in the past. Skydiving, building small explosives, hitchhiking to the Upper Peninsula by herself. Of course, that had been years ago when they were a lot younger.

  Lucy held out the keys. “Here, give ‘er a spin! It’s fun!”

  Gloria took a step back. “No siree, Bob. I think I’ll pass.”

  Lucy slapped the leather gloves across the front of her leg. “Oh, c’mon! Please?” she pleaded.

  Gloria looked from her friend, to the menacing red machine, then back to Lucy.

  Lucy could see she was starting to cave. “Then let me give you a ride. I’ll go slow, I promise.”

  Gloria sucked in a deep breath. She led Mally over to the open garage and wrapped her leash around the leg of a work bench.

  She bent down to Mally-level. “Now, if I don’t come back in 15 minutes, call Paul and tell him to come look for me.”

  Mally let out a low whine before she yawned and slumped onto the cement floor. She closed her eyes. “Good watch dog you are,” Gloria grumbled.

  Lucy grabbed a helmet from the shelf and handed it to Gloria. “Strap that on.”

  Gloria pulled the helmet on her head and fastened the Velcro strap under her chin. Lucy had already pulled her helmet on. She reached forward and turned the key. The quad fired up. Lucy squeezed the handle and revved the motor.

  “Climb on.” Lucy reached behind her and patted the seat.

  Gloria straddled the back of the seat and plopped down in the center. She gingerly placed her feet on the footrests before closing her eyes. “Dear God. Please protect me in my moment of insanity.”

  Lucy turned her head. “Hang on.”

  Without warning, Lucy pressed the throttle with her thumb and the quad lurched forward while Gloria jerked back. She grabbed the back of Lucy’s shirt and pulled herself upright. She wasn’t kidding!

  Lucy made a sharp U-turn and the quad zipped by the shed to the open field out back. When the girls reached a semi-flat patch of ground, Lucy pressed down on the gas and the ATV raced across the field.

  A couple of times, the quad hit a bump and Gloria flew off the seat. The girls made three trips up and down the long, open field before Lucy steered it back to the side of the shed. She killed the engine and Gloria slid off.

  Lucy’s eyes lit up as she pulled the helmet off. “That was fun, huh.”

  It was fun. Gloria enjoyed it much more than she thought she would. Her grandsons, Tyler and Ryan, would LOVE a ride.

  Lucy took the helmet from Gloria and set that, plus her own helmet, on the garage shelf. She dropped the key in her pocket and waited while Gloria untied Mally.

  The three of them walked to the house and stepped up onto the porch. “You think I could bring the boys by for a ride next time they’re over?” Gloria asked.

  Lucy grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open. “Sure. Yeah! Of course.”

  Lucy dropped down in a kitchen chair and slipped out of her work boots. She set them by the door before she shuffled over to the cupboard. “Tea?”

  Gloria nodded.

  Lucy pulled a pitcher from the fridge and filled two glasses. She reached to the back of the counter and grabbed a box of goodies. “I picked these up at Dot’s earlier.”

  She opened the lid and slid the box towards Gloria.

  Gloria eyed the contents. She had just eaten the piece of pumpkin pie. Of course, she’d also walked around Dreamwood so that had to count for something. She chose a small peanut butter cookie. “Thanks.”

  Lucy grabbed a peanut butter cookie, a lemon bar and a chocolate macadamia nut cookie before closing the lid and sliding it back on the counter. “We still on for dinner?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yeah, I really need to get rid of some of those old clothes.” She eyed Lucy critically. Although Lucy’s main staple was sweets, she was thin…almost too thin.

  Gloria wasn’t big herself, but she had a lot more curves than Lucy and none of her old clothes would look right on her friend.

  Lucy nodded. “I heard about the guy that’s missing over at Dreamwood.”

  Gloria nibbled the edge of her cookie and sipped the tea. “Watch the 6:00 evening news on Channel 8. Frances chained herself to the entrance to Dreamwood Eats.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Lord have mercy! That woman is crazy!” She tasted her tea before reaching for the sugar bowl. “This needs a little sugar.”

  Gloria watched as Lucy dumped several large heaping spoons of sugar in her glass of tea and stirred. She lifted it to her lips and sipped. “Much better,” she decided.

  “How’s Bill?” Bill was Lucy’s boyfriend. Gloria had meant to ask about him the last time she’d seen Lucy. Gloria hadn’t seen his truck in the drive for at least a couple
weeks now.

  Bill and Lucy had been dating for over a year now. Gloria liked him well enough, although she felt that it was a bit of a one-sided relationship. The one side being all in Bill’s favor. Whatever Bill wanted to do, Lucy did it.

  Lucy’s lowered her eyes and shrugged. “Uh, I dunno.”

  Gloria paused, cookie mid-air. “Is everything okay?”

  Lucy lifted her gaze. “We had a bit of a falling out. I haven’t seen him for a couple weeks now,” she confessed.

  “Whatever happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  Lucy looked out the window. “I told him I didn’t want to go bow hunting this year. That I wanted to hang out with you girls, maybe head to the outlet malls and do some shopping and such.”

  “And?” Gloria prompted. She could feel her face starting to grow warm at the thought that Bill was angry just because Lucy wanted to do something other than what he wanted!

  “Well, he said if that was the case, that maybe he would give me a lot more free time to spend with my friends.”

  Gloria opened her mouth to speak and promptly closed it. What she really wanted to say was that Lucy was too good for Bill, but she knew if the two of them patched things up, there would always be that hanging in the back of Lucy’s mind. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to think that she didn’t support her 100% - no matter what choices she made.

  “I’ll pray about it,” Gloria simply said.

  Lucy nodded. “I appreciate that. In the meantime, I’m free to do – to hang out or whatever.” Her voice trailed off.

  Gloria finished the last bite of cookie and crumpled her napkin, envisioning Bill’s head as the crumple. She squeezed it extra hard. “Great, you can help me with the missing Milt case,” she said.

  That suggestion seemed to brighten Lucy’s mood. “You think so? Really? I mean, you know I’m all in.”

  And, indeed, Lucy was all in. Lucy was a good little sleuth and Gloria was glad they had something to work on together, to take her mind off Bill.

  Romance and love was a tangled affair. Her mind drifted back to earlier that day when Brian showed Gloria the stunning engagement ring. Who wouldn’t feel like a princess getting a ring like that?

  She wondered if Paul would ever pop the question. She glanced at her friend and stiffened her back. Who needed men anyways? They had survived just fine all this time without them!

  That resolve lasted until Gloria got in her car and glanced down at her phone. Paul had sent her a text. “I miss my girl.”

  There was a second text: “Dinner tomorrow night?” Although Gloria felt bad for Lucy, she texted back that dinner sounded lovely. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing her Paul.

  Gloria parked the car in front of the garage. Mally followed her up the steps and into the kitchen. She set her purse on the chair and hung her keys on the hook. The afternoon had flown by. Lucy had promised to come down after she cleaned up, which gave Gloria just enough time to wash up herself and call her daughter, Jill.

  Jill picked up on the first ring. “Hi Mom.”

  “Hello dear.”

  “Aunt Liz called earlier looking for you. She was in a bit of a tizzy.”

  Gloria grinned. “She found me.”

  “It was something about Frances’ boyfriend.”

  Gloria sighed. “Yep. I guess I have a new investigation.”

  Jill snorted. “That’s kinda what I thought.”

  Gloria could hear screams in the background. Her grandsons. “How are the boys?”

  Jill groaned. “Driving me C-R-A-Z-Y,” she said. “They have an in-service teacher day and the boys are off this Friday. I’m trying to figure out what to do with them.”

  Gloria nodded into the phone. “Good. That’s why I’m calling. The tree fort is ready to put together. Brian dropped the pieces off earlier and I was wondering if they could come spend the night.”

  “Yes! A thousand times yes!” Jill groaned. “You are a lifesaver, Mom! I don’t even have to ask the boys. I know the answer already. In fact, I think I’ll wait to tell them until Thursday night. Otherwise, they’ll drive me even crazier than they already do.”

  Gloria talked to her daughter for a few more minutes then hung up the phone. She couldn’t wait to see how the tree fort looked when it was done. They would need more nails and maybe even some cans of paint so the boys could customize it. Visions of painted walls and painted hair filled her mind.

  Gloria wandered out to the front, screened-in porch, which she rarely used anymore. The porch was large and it ran the entire length of the front of the house. On one end was a deep freezer where Gloria kept all the frozen stuff that she harvested from the garden each summer: strawberries, corn, broccoli and green beans.

  She headed to the opposite end – to the metal storage cabinet that had been a fixture on the porch for as long as Gloria could remember. She lowered the lever and opened the cabinet. Inside was everything the boys would possibly need for camping out. Sleeping bags, flashlights, bug spray…

  She closed the door and watched through the front porch window as Lucy’s yellow jeep pulled in the drive. Gloria and Mally met her at the back door.

  After placing an order for pizza, they headed to Gloria’s small walk-in closet in the corner of her bedroom. The last time she’d cleaned the closet was after her husband, James’ death.

  Those had been some dark days and Lucy had come to her friend’s rescue. The two women had painstakingly gone through all of his belongings.

  Gloria donated most of it to charity. She kept a few items that had sentimental value to pass down to her kids and grandkids.

  Gloria switched on the light and stepped to the side.

  Lucy eased around her and stood in the center. “Good grief, Gloria!” She plucked a shirt from the hanger and studied it. “This has to be from the 70’s!”

  “I told you I needed help,” Gloria pointed out.

  Lucy shook her head. “Help? You need an intervention.”

  Lucy began pulling shirts from the hangers left and right, tossing them in the center of the floor. Soon, there was a small mountain.

  Gloria grabbed Lucy’s arm. “If you toss much more, I’ll be walking around naked.”

  Lucy stopped her cleaning frenzy and glanced at the empty racks. “True.” She looked at the pile on the floor. “I’ll stop right here but we need to go shopping.”

  Gloria trotted to the kitchen and brought back a brand new box of heavy-duty lawn bags. The girls filled the bags – three in all – and carried them out to the kitchen. “I’m going to Green Springs tomorrow. I’ll drop them off if you want,” Lucy offered.

  She changed the subject. “Where do we go from here on this missing Milt case?”

  Gloria told her all that she knew so far. How Milt had commented he thought someone was lurking around outside his apartment and shortly after, he disappeared. How Frances was convinced he was somewhere in the vicinity.

  “What do you think?” Lucy wondered.

  Gloria wrinkled her nose. “Well, my next stop is Del’s Diner in Green Springs. Milt and his cronies ate breakfast there every morning. I thought maybe I could head over there, do a little investigating and get his friends’ take on his disappearance.”

  The pizza had arrived. Gloria paid for the pizza since Lucy had so generously offered to help de-clutter her closet.

  Lucy cleared the table while Gloria grabbed paper plates and napkins. The girls munched on the pizza and talked about the upcoming holidays and the welcome relief from the summer heat.

  Gloria was careful to avoid the painful topic of Bill. She lifted a mushroom from the top of her slice of pizza and popped it into her mouth. “Why don’t we drop the clothes off together in the morning and then have breakfast at Del’s?”

  Lucy picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. “Sure. Sounds good to me.”

  After they finished eating, Gloria took a leftover piece of pizza, sliced it into bite-size snacks and put them on two
paper plates – one for Mally and one for Puddles. She shut the lid on the pizza box. “The leftovers are yours.”

  She walked Lucy to her jeep. The sun had set and it was dark out. The croak of bullfrogs filled the night air.

  Gloria waited for Lucy to climb into her jeep before handing her the pizza box.

  Lucy pulled the driver’s side door shut and rolled the window down. “What time you want to leave in the morning?”

  Gloria crossed her arms. If she remembered correctly, according to Frances’ meticulous notes, Milt and his pals ate in the restaurant early. “Would 7:30 be too early?”

  Lucy was a morning person. She nodded. “Okie Dokie. I’ll be here at 7:30 with bells on.”

  Gloria watched Lucy’s jeep until the tail lights disappeared in the dark. She stepped back into the kitchen and locked the door behind her. She looked down at Mally. “I guess I better head to bed if I’m getting up at the crack of dawn.”

  Chapter 6

  Gloria had just finished her first cup of coffee when Lucy arrived bright and early the next morning.

  She was happy to see that Lucy was a bit more chipper than the day before. Gloria didn’t dare ask if perhaps she and Bill had talked.

  Traffic was light and the drive to Green Springs flew by. On the way, the girls discussed the possibilities of what might have happened to Milt.

  Del’s Diner was packed and Lucy had to drive around the block a couple times to find an open spot. The inside was just as busy. The girls wandered around the maze of packed tables and squeezed into a corner booth.

  Lucy studied the menu while Gloria studied the crowd. It was mostly men, which made it difficult for Gloria to try to figure out which group was Milt’s buddies.

  “Good morning, gals. Can I get you a cup of coffee?” A young woman wearing a black uniform and dark blue apron approached their booth.

  Gloria nodded. Lucy shook her head. “I’ll take a hot chocolate, please.”

  “Coffee for me,” Gloria told the woman. When she walked away, she turned to Lucy. “You still on that hot chocolate kick?”

  Lucy nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m addicted to it,” she admitted, “chocolate, that is.”