by T. G. Hanson
Why the all fired nerve of some people, thought Nyla, as she made her way back to her car. Putting her car in gear, she pulled out into the road and headed towards the Piggly Wiggly, forgetting all about wanting to visit the Sheriff. “I need to get my groceries then head home, have a glass of sweet tea and settle myself down. Then I should call Helen to come over and we can talk about it all. Maybe there will be something good on the TV to watch.”
Helen, hearing Nyla’s garage door opening, peered out the window. Sure enough, Nyla was getting out of her car. I need to walk over there and see what Nyla has been up to all day and just maybe get back my fly-swatter, she thought.
Hearing a door shut, Nyla looked up to see Helen coming out of her house and motioned for her to come on over. “I was just about to go inside and call you. Wanted to know if you would like to have a light dinner and watch some TV with me?”
Helen, glancing through the car window into the back seat replied, “Sounds good to me. Watcha been up to all day?”
“Oh nothing much, but I do have some things to tell you. How does a nice salad with chicken slices and some fresh watermelon sound?”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
Helen was about to open the door to the backseat of the car when Nyla grabbed her by the arm saying, “Come on then. You check the TV for something to watch and I’ll start dinner.”
Henry noticed Nyla’s car pulling in the driveway right away. He knew that she could probably see him through his front window but just kept staring in the direction of the TV. He saw Helen come out, cross the street, and both ladies walk into the house. A few minutes later he heard both women scream at the top of their lungs.
I guess they didn’t care much for my little surprise he thought, and laughed so much his side hurt.
******
Myra hadn’t heard back from Nyla, but she would just give her a call tomorrow and see if she found out anything more about what happened at Meg’s. For now, she needed to head home and get some dinner. She loved helping at the Sheriff’s as it broke up her day and gave her something to do. She had a hard time keeping herself busy these days, being retired and all.
******
Wade said goodbye to the Sheriff, climbed into his car, and drove on home. He wondered for about a second if he should stop by Meg’s and see how she was doing, but quickly changed his mind. Lynn was probably with her and he didn’t want to seem clingy or overprotective.
He stopped at the Piggly Wiggly and grabbed a few of those Hungry Man dinners. Not very healthy meals but when you can’t cook and the town’s only diner is closed, what else can a man do, he thought.
******
Sheriff Briggs had been searching online records, under Meg’s name, for most of the day, but so far he hadn’t been able to find anything before she arrived in Mystic Pines. When Wade announced he was leaving, John decided it was time to stop for the night as well if he wanted to see his wife before she retired for the evening. Wendy had a hard time waiting to eat on nights he was late, but she always saved him a plate and sat with him while he ate. She enjoyed listening to him talk about his day, which was rare for a cop’s wife.
He was half way home when his cell phone went off. Because they didn’t have anyone running dispatch overnight, he always switched the office line so it forwarded to his personal cell. Clicking a button on the car steering wheel, the call played over the car speaker. Helen Bells and Nyla Hanson were yelling their heads off about something being dead in the house. Oh, boy, please tell me not another one. Sighing, he turned the car around, told Nyla he was on his way, and headed in the opposite direction.
Pulling up outside Nyla’s house he made a quick call to his wife letting her know he’d be later than expected. The two women were sitting outside on the porch and came running as soon as they saw him, waving their hands in the air, and carrying on to no end.
Holding up a hand he climbed out of the car and walked toward the women. “Now ladies, settle down. What seems to be the problem here?”
“Inside,” Nyla said putting her hand on his back and pushing him forward towards the front door, “You’ll see - just look inside!”
The Sheriff opened Nyla’s door slowly and peered inside. He saw it right away, a huge bloody rat stuck to Nyla's living room wall with a note attached. Mind your own business or else! What on earth? Who would do such a gall darn awful thing to two little old ladies?
John turned looking for Nyla. “Nyla, get me a trash bag will ya.”
Nyla ran into the garage, grabbed one of the Hefty bags and brought it back to the Sheriff.
“I bet that old Henry did this Sheriff, I just betcha a dollar it was him” said Helen.
Removing the rat and placing it in the trash bag, the Sheriff looked down at Helen. “Now tell me why would Henry do such a thing dear? Is there something going on here I need to know about?”
Helen smiled and began to tell him all about Henry and how he’d been sneaking around Nyla’s house lately.
John looked over at Nyla who had grown very quiet. “Nyla, why have you not mentioned this to me before?”
“Well now Sheriff, he hasn’t torn up anything and I don’t think he means me any harm. He was just looking for something Frank had promised him for some collection he has. It was always easy to get him to go home by threatening to call you, especially after Helen here came over one day and chased after him with that huge fly-swatter of hers.”
The Sheriff’s brain stopped for just a second, long enough to store away the words huge fly-swatter but he wasn’t sure why.
“Okay ladies, the rat’s gone and I’ll go over and have a talk with Henry about all this. You going to be okay getting that wall cleaned up Nyla, or do you want some help with it?”
“Nope, go on Sheriff, I can handle it. You just go on doing what you need to do. And thanks for coming to the rescue of two old helpless gals.”
John stood and watched the two women walk inside. Laughing he thought . . . Helpless? Those two were anything but helpless.
Sticking the bag with the rat inside the garbage can he walked up to Henry’s front door and knocked. He knocked a second time but still didn’t get an answer. Peeking in the window the house was dark and Henry wasn’t in sight. I’ve got to talk with him tomorrow anyway so this can wait till then.
He pulled a sheet of paper off his notepad and wrote a quick note for Henry to stop by the station tomorrow. Then tacking the paper to the screen door, walked back to his car and drove off towards home. What a night he thought.
EIGHTEEN
Helen watched the Sheriff leave while Nyla cleaned up the wall. She had no stomach for blood and dead things so she couldn’t even watch, much less help. Instead, she stood at the window, watching the Sheriff.
She had thought for sure he would come back over and start asking her questions about the night of the murder. When he didn’t come back, she figured she had gotten lucky because it was dinner time, and he wanted to get on home.
Knowing, at some point, she was going to have to talk to the Sheriff, she knew that she had to get her story straight and quick. I’d better know what I’m gonna say by heart and truly believe it. Otherwise, when they hook me up to that there lying machine, I’ll flunk and be arrested.
“Helen!” Nyla yelled. Helen jumped and turned to look back at her friend. “Good lordy Nyla you scared the poopers outta me! What did ya go and yell at me like that for?”
“Dear, I’ve been talking to you for ten minutes and you’ve not heard one single word. You just stood there with your dang nose shoved up against the window, staring off into space. What in the heck is wrong with you these days?”
Helen looked at the floor and shuffled her feet, “Sorry I guess I just have a lot of things on my mind right now.” And with that, Helen walked out the door heading home. She did however, stop and grab the fly-swatter out of Nyla’s car on her way.
Nyla stood staring at the door thinking. What on earth is wrong with her? She just comp
letely forgot about dinner and the movie and went home. Goodness but folks here in Mystic Pines are acting very strange these days.
Sitting her salad and tea on the counter Nyla picked up her book, and set down at the bar to read while eating. She decided to enjoy her evening and stop wasting time worrying about others, who didn’t give a hoot about anyone but themselves.
Helen had just finished dressing for bed when she realized that she’d forgotten Nyla was fixing supper for them. Oh, well, I’ll just fix some soup and watch the shopping channel. She knew she shouldn't, that’s what got her into this mess to start with, too much shopping, but moving towards the TV she thought, maybe that will take my mind off things for a bit. All this worrying is beginning to get to me.
Turning on the TV she glanced at the large pile of mail sitting on top. She refused to open them knowing they were only more letters from those credit card companies, telling her she’d better pay her bill and soon.
She wondered, would they come take a house from a little old lady and put her in debtor’s prison? Surely not, but, As Scarlet would say . . . I’ll worry about that tomorrow.
******
Helen was not the only one glad to see the Sheriff leave. Having heard the Sheriff walk up the porch steps Henry had hid around the corner, in the hallway. For a few minutes, he thought that John might walk on into the house, but then realized his front door was still locked.
He walked slowly up to the front window and seeing the Sheriff’s car gone, opened the front door, to peek around at Nyla’s house. That’s when he saw the note on the screen door, removed it, and read the contents. Now what on earth would John want to talk to me about? Far as he knew the Sheriff didn’t even know he was at the diner the other night. But maybe nosy Helen had opened her mouth after all. He had hoped the rat on the wall was going to be enough to keep her quiet if the Sheriff decided to question her about the night of the murder.
Walking back to the kitchen to fix something to eat, he decided he was going to have to do something about the old gal and soon. It was at that moment his phone rang.
“Hello” he said slowly.
“Well now Henry, how are you doing these days?” a surly voice asked. “I think it’s about time we had a little “come to Jesus” meeting, if you get my drift. This thing has gone on way too long for both of us, don’t you think?”
Realizing who the caller was, he quickly hung the phone up without saying one word. He’d never been much for church going and had no idea why this guy would want to meet him at the church of all places. But he did know enough to understand it wouldn’t be a wise idea for him to go.
I’m gonna have to speed things up and find that tin quickly. It’s the only thing that will get me out of this mess, he thought. Grabbing paper and a pen from the phone table, he wrote a quick note then put the it in an envelope and slid the envelope into his pants pocket. He was going to eat, have a beer, and then pay a nightly visit to someone.
******
It was well past midnight and the two women were curled up on the couch, sound asleep. Henry could tell they had the TV on but it looked like just static to him, so he figured they had fallen asleep with it on.
Slowly, looking around, he crept up to the front porch and slid the envelope between the screen and front door. The screen was tight and slipped out of his fingers before he could get it closed properly, banging against the frame and making a loud noise. Chewy began to bark at the front door and the porch light came on. Quickly, Henry ducked down as low as he could and scrambled off the porch running around to the side of the house.
The sound of Chewy barking woke the girls up with a start. Walking over to the large front window, looking out, and seeing nothing, they decided Chewy was just barking at the wind that had picked up outside.
“Chewy, you scared us” Meg told the little dog. She and Lynn looked at each other and laughed. “Guess we were tired huh? I don’t remember seeing any of the movie” Lynn told Meg.
Meg was rubbing her neck. “Me either and now I’ve got a huge crick in my neck. Think I’ll head on to bed now and see if it will work its way out.”
Lynn settled herself back on the couch and mumbled to Meg, “Same here, see you in the morning.”
Turning the light out, Meg headed back to her bedroom hoping she could fall back asleep quickly. Chewy jumped up on the bed and curled up beside Meg. “I know little girl; mommy loves you too. You might not be the biggest girl, but you sure have one mighty bark.”
Laying there petting the little dog, Meg thought to herself, Danny Wise . . . that name doesn’t ring a bell to me at all and Florida doesn’t either. I don’t think Steve has ever mentioned the guy or talked about Florida either. Nothing makes any sense.
She turned over facing the doorway and snuggled Chewy closer. In only a few minutes, she was sound asleep.
Henry, seeing the inside light go out, crept out of the shadows and quickly made his way back home. He was in bed laughing at himself ten minutes later. Just call me Sneaky Henry he thought, as he fell asleep.
A few houses down the street from Henry’s, two men sat in a black sedan smoking cigarettes. One looked at the other saying “Wonder what that old coot is up to sneaking around this time of night?”
“No idea, but don’t think he will be doing much snooping for long, do you?”
The car lights came on as it pulled away from the curb and drove on down the road towards the old motel.
******
John arrived at home to find his wife, Wendy, setting a plate of food on the kitchen table. “How was your day dear and tell me, what was the emergency that caused you to be late? Your supper has now been heated up twice, so it’s not going to be as good as it would have the first time.”
Hanging his hat and gun-belt on the old antique hall tree. He ran his hands through his hair and headed for the kitchen sink. After kissing his wife and washing his hands, he sat down at the dinner table.
“Not sure it’s good for the supper table, but someone tacked a dead rat up on the wall inside Nyla Hanson’s house, with a not so nice note attached.”
“Goodness, now who would do something to such a sweet old lady?”
John looked at his wife and smiled. Wendy always saw the good in people, never the bad or their faults. It was one of the reasons he loved her so and one of the reasons he worried about her. With everything going on in town, talking to, or trusting strangers, was not a good idea and his wife, to his knowledge, had never met a stranger in her entire lifetime.
“Dear, Nyla might be nice and all, but she has a very bad habit of putting her nose into other people’s business. And right now, well, it’s just not a good time to be Miss nosy.”
“But she doesn’t mean any harm. She just does that because she cares about the people in this town. Can’t see how that could cause any problems.”
John smiled at his wife again and replied “You my dear, are much too nice and trusting. And on that note, you need to be a bit more careful yourself.”
“Why, whatever do you mean dear?”
“I mean that you need to be careful about talking to strangers right now. There are some funny things going on here in town and I’m not sure what any of it means just yet.”
Wendy looked at her husband. She knew he was often overprotective of her but she didn’t mind. How many other husbands, after many years of marriage still acted that way towards their wives? She bet not many.
“All right Hun. I think you’re being silly, but I’ll be careful, just for you.”
With his mouth full of food, John mumbled “Thank you dear” to his wife.
When he had finally stopped eating, and was leaning back in his chair, while rubbing his belly, Wendy began to clear the table and wash the dishes.
“So tell me John, what is it about all this, that has you so keyed up? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you worry so much.”
They sat at the table for an hour or so while he filled her in on everything that h
ad happened then asked her, “How much do you know about Meg Stinner? Does she ever come into the Herb shop?”
Wendy had always been into using herbs and organic things. A few years back, she decided it was time to convert the townsfolk of Mystic Pines and had opened the Little Potions Herb Shop in town. While she wouldn’t get rich from it, she did manage to do a fair amount of business, and it gave her something to do now that the kids were grown and gone. John decided if it made her happy, it made him happy.
“Well, she doesn’t come in that often, but I did speak to her the other day about a specialty coffee she likes. She wanted to know if I might be able to get it for her in the shop, so she doesn’t have to order it online.”
“Well, first the murder and then the break-in last night, it all seems to be centered around Meg. Thing is, I have no idea why and to top it off, I can’t find anything on a Meg Stinner before she moved to Mystic Pines. That’s kind of uncommon.”
“Sort of like she maybe didn’t exist before she moved here you’re thinking?”
“Yup, that is exactly what I’m thinking and it’s impossible. People don’t just appear out of nowhere and have no past. She had to come from somewhere.”
Getting up from the table Wendy took her husband’s hand in hers, “Whatever it is dear, I’m sure you’ll figure it out in time. For now, I think you need a little stress reliever.” Winking at him, she pulled John away from the table.
Catching her drift, John jumped up and ran up the stairs calling behind him “Oh yes. I’m VERY stressed out dear, VERY stressed indeed.”
Laughing, Wendy followed her husband up the stairs.
******
Outside of the Haunted Inn motel, the pay phone, in the run-down booth rang and rang. On the other end of the line, the man grew angry and slammed down the phone. Staring at it he thought, where is Danny and how come he hasn’t called to check in? He knows there is no way I can come to Mystic Pines myself. Emily would spot me right away!
