Murder At The Knife's Edge: A Mystic Pines Mystery

by T. G. Hanson

  She pulled over, got out of her car, and was looking through a broken window when she heard a little bark. Turning she saw Meg’s little dog Chewy standing in the tall grass wagging her tail.

  “Oh my little girl, what are you doing way out here. A bit far from home aren’t you.” One word was all it took for Chewy to come running and jump up into Sherry’s arms.

  “Your mommy must be worried sick about you. Let’s go see if we can find her and get you home.”

  With one last look, Sherry climbed into her car and took off with Chewy sitting happily in the passenger’s seat. Finding the diner closed and no idea where either Meg or Lynn lived, as well as seeing how late it was, she decided to not disturb them by calling and instead, checked in at the Motel. She would stop by the diner tomorrow and return the little dog to Meg.

  “Come on girl, you and I can keep each other company for the night.”

  Chewy barked and turned a circle on the seat in agreement.

  THIRTY-ONE

  It was after ten when Meg woke up. With eyes half closed, she stumbled into Lynn’s living room holding her arms straight out, like Frankenstein had in the movies. “Coffee, Meg needs coffee.”

  Laughing Lynn fixed a cup and sat it on the counter in front of Meg. “So how’s your head this morning?”

  “Actually, it’s not that bad. Maybe I should take only one of those pills Doc left. I’d rather not fall asleep while walking around.” Popping the pill in her mouth and washing it down with a big gulp of coffee she turned to Lynn. “So what’s going to happen to Daisy you think? She sure wasn’t doing to good last night.”

  “I’m guessing that she will be staying at Mercy for a few days and if those parents of hers have any sense, they will get her some help. I am sure the Sheriff will consider her mental state and call the murder an accidental death, trying to keep Daisy out of it. After all, she didn’t intentionally try to kill the guy.”

  “Well I’m not pressing charges on her either. I decided that about the time the Doc took off with her. It’s not like she tried to kill me and I’d much prefer she got some help.”

  “That’s very generous of you Meg, considering.”

  “Daisy hasn’t had it all that easy and I know what that is like. If I give her the chance, maybe she will learn from all this and come out better off in the end. After all, she was only after the tin because she wanted to get out of town. I think for some people; a small-town life can be suffocating.”

  “If it matters, I think you are making a wise choice Meg.”

  They finished up their coffee then took turns getting showered and dressed. It was after eleven when they walked out Lynn’s front door.

  Climbing into the car Lynn turned to Meg and asked, “I thought maybe we would drive around town for a bit and see if we could spot Chewy. Sound good to you?”

  “Great! I sure hope someone found her though and picked her up last night.”

  Lynn had just pulled out of the drive and put the car in gear when they saw a strange car pull up in Megs driveway. “Oh gosh now what Lynn.”

  Pulling up by the car they saw Sherry climb out. She noticed them and waved. “Fancy meeting you here!”

  Meg leaned out the car window to talk to her when she heard a little bark. “Lynn, did you hear that?” Seeing Lynn smiling at something out the window she turned around to see Sherry walking up to the car with Chewy.

  “Found this little lady out on the streets last night when I took a drive through town. We had a girl’s sleep over at the Haunted Inn Motel since it was so late and I had no idea how to find you.”

  Chewy literally jumped from Sherry’s arms and through the car window into Meg’s lap. Jumping up and down she began licking Meg’s face. “Oh Sherry thank you so much! She got thrown out of the bookstore last night and we had no idea what had happened to her!”

  “Well now, good thing I took that little drive then wasn’t it. But how on earth did she get thrown out of the diner?”

  Lynn parked the car and while Meg ran inside the house to get some things for Chewy, Lynn explained to Sherry what had happened last night.

  “So this Daisy, you think she was the one who might have called me to do the interview?”

  “Sure do” Meg said from behind them. “I recognized her voice from the tape. I just haven’t been able to figure out why she did it.”

  “I see. But even with that little mystery solved, there’s that other matter we discussed. Be sure you keep that in mind and figure out what you need to do about it. I don’t think I’d wait too long to take care of it either if I were you.”

  “Gotcha and thanks again Sherry. You have been a good friend to me. Someday maybe I can return the favor.”

  “Oh I’ll remember you said that, but you might regret it.” Smiling and walking back to her car Sherry stopped just before getting in, “Besides, us gals gotta stick together, now don’t we? And I have a feeling you’ll be seeing me again, maybe even sooner than you think.” Winking, she put the car in drive and drove off.

  Meg looked over at Lynn, “Now just what do you think she meant by that.”

  “No idea Meg, no idea.”

  ******

  Looking down at her watch Lynn suggested they head on to the diner and check out the damage. “We can at least start making a list of things you might need to replace, and you can stay with me till we can get your house back in order.”

  Hearing Meg sniff she turned to see a few tears run down Megs face. “I don’t know how to thank you for all you have done for me Lynn. You have been such a dear friend.”

  “Don’t give it another thought. However, what was the little matter Sherry was talking about.”

  “Oh that! I almost forgot and didn’t get a chance to tell you last night! Sherry figured out that the pay phone guy was most likely Steve. She checked the online subscriptions and found his name listed as a subscriber. She has a friend, I guess he is like a source, but he’s a computer whiz - hacker type guy. He managed to find out that Steve had subscribed to a ton of newspapers since I left. We never thought about those articles being online but they were and that’s most likely how he found me.”

  “But Meg, how did Lynn know who you were?”

  “Photographic memory, remember. She recognized me the very first time she came to do the article. She just couldn’t remember from where till she came back the second time. Once she connected me with the scandal in the papers, from when my parents died, it was simple to research and find me.”

  “So she knew all this time and never said a word. That’s amazing, huh?”

  “Yup. She said she thought I had enough problems, trying to hide out and all and she didn’t want to do anything to make matters worse.”

  “So one more thing Megs. What are you going to do about all the other stuff? I mean this time we managed to stay within the law and fit the victim in with the search for the tin but I think you and I both know he was here for you, not that tin.”

  “I’ve thought about that Lynn and think I’ve figured it out. I’ll let you know a bit later.”

  “Okay Megs. Just remember that, as long as Steve is out there and knows where you are, you are still in danger. And, not to beat a dead horse, but you need to think about confiding in both the Sheriff and Wade. Wade at the very least.” Lynn turned the car towards town and they headed to the diner.

  “I understand Lynn and I’ll be careful. I also understand about the guys but I need to figure it all out first. But just for now I’d like to put that all on hold and enjoy the day.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  As they drove towards the diner Meg smiled a little bit more. She knew she had a lot of clean up to be done with the shops and her house but when it came right down to it, she had a home and friends who cared about her. To her, that was worth more than anything.

  ******

  Pulling into the parking lot of the diner the girls saw Wade outside leaning up against the front door. He smiled and waved as he began
walking towards them.

  “Oh gosh Lynn, that smile. Makes my heart flutter every time he does that,” she sighed.

  Lynn put the car in park and climbed out laughing. “Ugh too much mush for me.”

  Wade had reached the car and was holding the door for Meg to climb out. “Morning sleepy heads! See you found Chewy, where was she?”

  Meg explained how Sherry had found her and met them this morning.

  “Well, I’m just glad you two finally showed up. Why a man could starve waiting on you two!” he teased.

  “Oh geeze Wade, I hope you didn’t hang around here waiting to be fed. I’m betting the diner is in such a mess that it will be days before I can reopen it.”

  Wade winked at her and taking her hand, began walking to the diner. “Maybe, maybe not,” he said while grinning.

  Walking through the door Meg stopped in her tracks. It wasn’t back to the shape it was in before but, it was darn close. The tables had been set back right with tablecloths on top. The floor had been cleaned up and not a speck of a broken object could be seen. It also looked like most of the vintage decorations had survived and were back in place on the walls and shelves.

  About the time she was going to speak she heard a group of people yell SURPRISE! from the back of the diner. Looking towards the sound she saw the Sheriff and his wife, Randy, Nyla and the other widowers walking towards her.

  “You guys did all this? Oh my gosh, when?”, Meg exclaimed.

  Wade laughed. “I called everyone last night and let them know what happened here. They all volunteered to come in early this morning while you were still snoozing your life away, and help do clean up.”

  Helen walked up and hugged Meg. “I’m afraid most of the dishes and glasses didn’t survive, among other things, but at least the place is clean and organized so you’ll be able to tell what you need to replace easily.”

  Nyla walked up to Meg as well. “I’m going to visit Henry again in the next day or two and if you want, myself and the girls can take you with us and we can make it a shopping trip to get what you need?”

  Myra smiled at Meg. “I can stay here and get Randy to help me out. We can get the bookstore put back in order while you all go shopping.”

  Meg could not believe her luck. All these lovely people had gone out of their way to help her out. Taken time out of their busy day, just for her. Mystic Pines is truly a wonderful place to live, she thought.

  “Thank you everyone. This would have taken me days to get back in shape. I feel bad though that I can’t put out a spread of food in return. But, I’ll be sure every one of you gets a meal on the house as soon as I’m back in business.”

  Randy popped out of the crowd pushing a cart full of food, “Who says we don’t have food!”

  Behind him were the widows, Janet,Sue, and Trixie also pushing carts of food.

  “Oh my goodness Randy, you must have been cooking all night long!”

  “Not all night, but I was so excited over the tin that I couldn’t sleep anyhow and when Wade called I sort of figured you’d want to thank everyone by feeding them. I just brought what I needed from my own house and picked up a few things at the Piggly on my way here.”

  Meg reached into her back pocket and pulled out the hundred-dollar bill from the tin. She tucked it into Randy’s shirt pocket and gave him a huge hug. “Your tip for the day fine sir!”

  Randy hooted, “Watch out Tin City, here comes good ole Randy and he’s loaded!”

  Everyone had a good laugh at Randy’s excitement and the story about the tin having only a hundred dollars inside. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking, laughing and just enjoying each other’s friendship.

  ******

  The group had a good old time and had begun to leave, off to do whatever it was they did most days at this time. Chewy ran around the diner, excited about being allowed such a freedom for the first time ever. She barked and turned circles, begged for scraps and spent a great deal of time underneath the table over by Helen.

  Lynn had noticed that Meg had pulled the Sheriff off to the side and the two had walked back to the kitchen. Seemed to her they had been back there for a while now. She was debating on going back there to see what was going on.

  About the time she stood up to head that way, Meg and the Sheriff walked out and back into the dining area. John patted Meg on the shoulder and yelled at Wade to come on. “We got business to take care of my son!” He gave Wade a little shove out the door and they took off toward the station.

  “Now, what was that all about may I ask?”

  Smiling Meg winked at Lynn and simply said “Trust. Friendship and trust.”

  She didn’t have to say anymore. Lynn realized that Meg must have confided in the Sheriff letting him know at least a little of her past.

  ******

  Henry had been released from the hospital and Nyla had gone to pick him up and drive him home. Grinning widely, he was happy to be home and loved how his house was all nice and spiffed up as he called it.

  He still didn’t have much of a memory of the night he was found at the station, or what it was that led up to that horrible night. The widows all agreed that in this case, the less he knew the better but they did tell him a few things about his past now and then.

  He still needed some physical therapy but Doc had managed to find a retired nurse who agreed to come once a week to do the job at half the normal rate and Helen had covered the cost of it with left over money from her sale.

  The widows saw to it that he got his exercise by unanimously voting him into the Book Club and making him walk them to and from the club meetings at the Who-Dun-It once a week. The group would sit in the diner for lunch and laugh through the entire meal. Henry appeared to enjoy the company of the widows as much as he did reading.

  Many an evening one could find Nyla and Henry sitting on one or the other’s front porch reading together. Nobody was sure though if they were truly reading or just pretending.

  Nyla had told him most of the story behind the murder in town and he had been helping her sort out all the facts for her book. To Nyla’s surprise, as well as Henry’s, he was very good at details and coming up with plot ideas.

  If any of the other widows happen to drive by and discover the two sitting outside they would honk their horn and make kissing sounds out the window at them. The two paid them no mind and just smiled at each other.

  EPILOGUE

  Almost a week had passed since the last events at the diner. Meg, with the help of all the widows had managed to restock the diner and get the bookstore back in order. Surprisingly, it had survived with very little damage. It also seemed, at least for now, Meg’s last secret was safe and she was out of danger.

  Wade and Lynn had helped her in the evenings to put her house back together and it turned out she was lucky there as well. No real damage had been done, and the few things that were broken were easily replaced.

  Daisy was now in a nice care facility her parents had found. They were sticking to home and truly trying to give her the parental guidance she needed. Doc had said she still wasn’t back to her old self but was making progress.

  The Sheriff saw to it that no charges were filed against Daisy, ruling that Danny’s death was accidental. And Meg, well, other than the fact that she had the tin at one point and that was what everyone was after, had been left out of it as well.

  The Sheriff had heard from Bill and Sally that the pay phone had stopped ringing all hours of the night. John seemed to think it might be a sign that Steve had given up. He and Meg didn’t see eye to eye on that one.

  Meg had fallen back to her old routine but with a little more time off these days. Myra helped almost full time these days and Helen, serving her sentence, came in three days a week to help in the diner. Finding that Helen was good with the customers, Meg offered her a permanent job working a few days a week and she had accepted.

  Meg had yet to open up to Wade. They were taking baby steps and he had promised not to
pressure her about it. It did seem to others that Wade was spending a lot more time at the diner these days though.

  She had just finished locking up the diner and was headed out the front door of the bookstore when she heard a familiar voice, “Hey sweets, need a ride?” Smiling, she turned around and her heart fluttered. There he was, with that big smile, leaning against his truck like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Why sure mister, a lady can always use a ride.”

  He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. “You wanna go straight home or should we drive down to the pond and watch the submarine races?”

  “Oh stop it you! Honestly, we aren’t sixteen.”

  “Says who?” laughed Wade as he climbed into the drivers seat.

  Ten minutes later he parked the truck in the driveway and came around to help her out and walked her to the front door. They had recently discovered they liked the same old movies and, on the nights he gave her a ride home, he’d come in and watch a movie before going home.

  “You coming in for a movie tonight?”

  “Not tonight I’m afraid sweets. Sheriff has me coming in early tomorrow for something or another. Afraid I’ll have to take a rain check for now. But, I’m all yours tomorrow night, same time, if you’re game? Supposed to be an Alfred Hitchcock festival on. Starts with The Birds I think?”

  “Sounds good to me. It’s a date.”

  He placed his hand over his heart. “Oh my, did the lady just say the D word? Looks like maybe I’m making progress!”

  She playfully smacked him on the arm then leaned into him and kissed him on the lips. “There’s one for the road Romeo.”

  Pretending to fall off the porch and faint, he stumbled to his car, blew her a kiss and drove off.