The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series)

by Nickles, Judy

  At first she couldn’t identify the low rumble coming from the direction of Pembroke Point, but as it grew louder, she recognized the sound of motorcycles. Oh, great, that’s all we need now. Bikers. They’ll probably join this mangy mob and try to drown out what’s going on inside by revving their motors the whole time.

  The people carrying the signs stopped circling as a sea of leather-clad bikers roared up the street and stopped in front of them. Penelope retreated to the curb in front of the school. “Nellie, get in here!” Jake called from the porch.

  I can’t take on this bunch. Maybe Parnell will call for back-up and run them off. As she turned toward the steps, she caught sight of a leather jacket with metal studding the sleeves in a way that seemed familiar. The man edged his bike closer to the protestors, making them retreat to the sidewalk across from the school.

  “Go find some dark dingy place to match your souls, that is, if you have them,” he growled.

  Penelope’s heart climbed to her throat. Sam! Oh, Sam, my knight in shining armor!

  He moved closer until the front tire of his bike almost climbed the curb, then revved his engine. “Outta here, you bums!”

  The picketers scattered. Penelope laughed aloud as Snively pushed his way past his so-called supporters, his coat-tail flapping around his legs.

  The bikers spun around and, with ballet-like precision, parked their vehicles in a neat line from the parking lot entrance to the end of the property, effectively blocking access from the street, then cut their engines. “You need tickets for this gig?” a bearded man asked Penelope.

  She shook her head. “Absolutely not. And please stay for refreshments after the program.”

  ****

  All the bikers, including Sam, stood at the back of the auditorium. Penelope thought they applauded louder than the rest of the audience combined, especially when the angel on the stepladder draped with cotton batting proclaimed, “Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy!”

  But as the program ended with the audience lifting lighted candles and joining in singing Silent Night, the unexpected visitors filed out.

  “They must’ve rolled their bikes a block away before they started them,” Mary Lynn said to Penelope as they circulated among the refreshment tables. “That was thoughtful of them.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “I wonder what prompted them to do what they did? Not that I’m ungrateful they showed up.”

  Penelope bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Oh, I don’t know. But I hope they have a very merry Christmas.” She lost the battle to look neutral. “God bless them every one.”

  ****

  As soon as they got back to the B&B, Jake said goodnight. Penelope locked the door and slipped through the swinging door to the dining room, hoping to feel familiar arms reach for her, but the room was empty. Disappointment slowed her steps on the stairs. Oh, Sam, I wanted to see you. I want to tell you that you’re my hero for what you did tonight.

  On the landing, light from the room at the end of the hall flooded the darkness. “Hello, Nell.”

  Sweet joy filled Penelope as she turned and ran into his waiting arms. “Oh, Sam, I’m so glad you’re here. You were wonderful tonight.”

  He stroked her hair. “It was a nice program. Would’ve been a shame if anything had spoiled it.” He led her into his room and closed the door. “You look beautiful tonight.”

  “The sweater’s new. I thought you’d like it.” She noticed he’d changed his biker garb for a pair of flannel lounging pants and a T-shirt. “Did you come to stay a while?”

  “A while.”

  “Like for Christmas?”

  “I hope so.”

  “I hope so, too.”

  He held out his arms again, and she laid her face against his chest. “Missed you, Nell.”

  “Missed you, too.” He led her to the bed and sat down. “I heard what happened this afternoon.”

  “I won’t even ask you how.”

  He grinned. “Good girl.”

  “Bradley won’t flush whoever-he-is-Hadden out of the Hollow though.”

  “Probably not. But I guess you’ll go back to the school after the holidays.”

  “We’ve got to keep the school going. It’s the only chance the children have.”

  “How many have taken the chance they’ve been offered?”

  “One child makes a difference.”

  He traced her lips with the tip of one finger. “You’ve made a difference with me.”

  “Have I? How?”

  He shook his head. “Just take my word for it.” He kissed her then, and she knew there were more to come. But she noticed that this time his hands didn’t wander into places they shouldn’t go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Penelope found Sam standing inside the open pocket doors between the main parlor and the foyer when she came downstairs the next morning. “I was admiring the decorations,” he said, not turning to face her.

  She thought he sounded sad. “Do you like them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mum brought some of the Christmas tree balls from England after her parents died. They’re old and fragile, but I love to use them.”

  “They wouldn’t do anyone any good sitting in the box.”

  “That’s what she always said.”

  He glanced up at the mistletoe hanging from the door facing. “I like that, too.”

  “I expect you do.” She went to him and lifted her face.

  “So this is what’s keeping your poor old daddy sitting at an empty table.” Jake walked out of the dining room just as Sam was working on Penelope’s lips for the third time. They sprang apart. “Oh, don’t mind me. I can always go uptown. In the cold.”

  “Stop it, Daddy.” Penelope smoothed her hair and straightened her sweater. “I’m coming right now.”

  The wall phone by the pantry shrilled as the three of them entered the kitchen. Penelope answered it, then frowned. “Slow down, Mary Lynn. They did what? Are you sure? How do you know? Now wait a minute, before you and Harry go off on a wild goose chase, you ought to…I know you’re worried about them, but surely the police are looking…okay, all right, whatever. I’ll keep my cell phone with me. Call me.” She hung up. “Tonya Cisneros just called. Ellie and Evie have run away from their foster home. She told Mary Lynn and Harry where the girls were, and now they’re driving up there.”

  “Where?” Sam asked.

  “Harrison.”

  Jake’s shaggy brows came together. “Shame.”

  “That’s up near Eureka Springs, isn’t it?” Sam asked. “In the Ozarks.”

  “That’s where it is. The social worker just called to let Mary Lynn know what happened in case the girls showed up here.”

  Jake snorted. “Now how does that woman think a ten-year-old and a four-year-old are going to get from Harrison to Amaryllis? Sprout wings and fly?”

  “Is she sure they’ve run away?” Sam asked. “Or did somebody take them?”

  “They couldn’t have. Nobody knew where they were.”

  “Somebody always knows,” Sam said. “Call Mrs. Hargrove back, and let me talk to her.”

  Penelope dialed the number and handed the phone to Sam. “Mrs. Hargrove? Yeah, it’s the Gray Ghost. It’s none of my business, but I strongly suggest that you and your husband don’t get yourselves in the middle of a police investigation. Yes, I understand how worried you are, but you can’t help things by going up there.” He listened for a minute. “I don’t expect you to do anything. I’m just recommending you sit tight for a while.” He listened again. “No, it’s not official. I don’t have any official jurisdiction. I’m just making a suggestion. Right. Okay.” He hung up. “She said she and her husband would discuss it more.”

  Penelope nodded. “They got attached to those little girls.” She walked to the refrigerator. “Who wants what for breakfast?”

  “I don’t care,” Sam said. “Just call me when it’s ready.”

  Penelope wat
ched him reach into the pocket of his jeans and pull out his cell phone as he left the kitchen.

  ****

  Sam came back as Penelope served up scrambled eggs and sausage. “I talked to Brad,” he said, pulling out his chair. “Jeremiah Hadden knocked a trooper in the head on the way to the courthouse in Little Rock for a hearing and got away.”

  Penelope barely set down the plate in front of Jake before it slipped from her fingers. “Got away? Wasn’t he cuffed? Shackled?”

  “Brad doesn’t know the particulars yet.” Sam didn’t meet her eyes.

  She leaned against the cabinet. “He got away and went after Ellie and Evie. But he couldn’t have known where they were…could he?”

  Jake’s jaw tightened. “Poor little girls.”

  Penelope roused herself to fill a plate for Sam and one for herself. “The whole thing stinks,” she muttered as she sat down. “Do Mary Lynn and Harry know?”

  Sam unfolded his napkin. “Brad said he was going over there.”

  Jake bowed his head. “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Bless us, oh, Lord, and these Thy gifts we are about to receive from Thy bounty.” He hesitated. “And bring those babies back safe. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

  Penelope felt sure she heard a whispered “Amen” from Sam, too.

  ****

  Sam left after breakfast, saying he had something to do. Mary Lynn, her eyes red-rimmed, came in soon afterwards. “I know,” Penelope said, putting her arms around her friend. “Sam called Brad after he talked to you.”

  Mary Lynn sobbed into Penelope’s shoulder. “I can’t stand it, Pen. I just can’t.”

  “It’s blessed unfair.”

  “He’ll kill them—if he hasn’t already.”

  “But they’re his flesh and blood, his own children.” Penelope murmured, taking two clean mugs out of the cabinet.

  “Their testimony could send him to Death Row.”

  “Maybe they really did run away,” Penelope suggested, sliding a mug of hot coffee in front of Mary Lynn. She uncovered the plate of leftover sticky buns still in the middle of the table.

  “You don’t believe that.” Mary Lynn wrapped her hands around the mug but didn’t lift it to her lips.

  “Ellie’s savvy beyond her years. Maybe she had a feeling about things and took Evie.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Tonya told her in front of me that her father was locked up, and you could see the relief on her little face.”

  “Where would two little girls go off to in the middle of the night? Think, Mary Lynn.”

  “They didn’t go off, and you know it.”

  “I don’t know it. The police are out hunting Jeremiah Hadden. They’ve already decided he’s got the girls.”

  “He does.”

  “But if he doesn’t, where would they be?”

  “It’s cold,” Mary Lynn said. “Even colder up there than here. They’d have to find some sort of shelter.”

  “Where would Ellie feel they were safe?”

  Mary Lynn shook her head. “A school? They’re closed for the holidays. A library? Not open all night.”

  “Did Tonya drive up there?”

  “She was on her way when she called us.” Mary Lynn dropped her forehead to the table, narrowly missing the mug of hot coffee. “She thought they’d be safe out of Amaryllis.”

  Penelope rested one hand on her friend’s hair. “It’s going to be okay, Mary Lynn. I don’t know how I know but I do.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Jake returned from his daily conference with the Toney Twins, followed by Brad and Rosabel. Sam’s failure to appear by the time Penelope banged on the chili pot to call everyone to dinner, made his presence greater. “I don’t know where he went,” Penelope said, a question in her voice as she glanced at her son.

  Bradley took his bowl to the table and sat down. “I couldn’t tell you,” he replied with a telling vagueness.

  “Maybe the social worker should’ve left the girls here,” Jake said.

  “Wouldn’t have been a good idea, Pawpaw.”

  “Seems like it wasn’t a good idea to put them where she did either.”

  “Nothing’s guaranteed,” Bradley said.

  “It should be.” Rosabel crumbled crackers into her chili. “For children anyway. Children should have a guarantee of safety at the very least and being loved most of all.”

  “I think for the most part that the children in the Hollow are loved, at least as much as the parents know how,” Penelope said. “It’s just a different world out there.” She pulled out her chair to sit down just as the phone rang. “Go on and eat before it gets cold,” she said as she skirted the table.

  She picked up the phone. “Sam? Where are you? Supper’s on the table. He’s here. Wait a minute.” She handed Bradley the phone.

  “What’s up?”

  Penelope tried to read her son’s face as he listened to Sam, but his expression remained set. Travis could look blank like that, especially when I confronted him about one of his bimbos.

  “Okay. Thanks.” Bradley reached behind him and hung up the phone.

  Rosabel touched her husband’s arm. “What?”

  “Jeremiah Hadden was picked up on I-40.”

  “Coming or going from Harrison?” Penelope asked.

  “Going.”

  “So he didn’t have the girls.”

  “Nope.”

  Penelope slumped in her chair. “They really did run away.”

  “Looks like.”

  “Maybe he wasn’t after Ellie and Evie,” Rosabel said. “He could’ve been headed for the state line.”

  “What’s happened to us, to Amaryllis?” Penelope asked. “Murder, drug-running…this used to be such a nice quiet little town.”

  “No place is nice and quiet anymore, Mother.”

  “We blessed well should be!” The spoon flew out of Penelope’s hand and landed on the table beside the bowl of shredded cheese. “Damn!”

  “You know better than to talk that way, Nellie.” Jake peered at her over the rim of his glass of milk.

  “I know better than a lot of things,” she retorted. “But when I see the world I grew up in and felt safe in changing like this, I forget. Or maybe I just don’t care anymore.”

  Rosabel’s eyes were wet as she turned them on her mother-in-law. “You’ve got to care, Penelope. People like you—the older women who’ve got some life experience under their belts—you have to teach the rest of us how to survive.”

  Penelope reached for her spoon. “You’ll survive, Rosabel,” she said. “I didn’t have any choice, and neither do you.”

  Bradley slipped an arm around his wife. “It’s about more than just surviving, Mother, and you know it. It’s about living. You didn’t just survive after you left Dad. You made a life for yourself. You made a life for the two of us together, even if I didn’t want to admit it at the time.”

  Penelope chewed her lip. “You were so angry with me when I left Pembroke Point.”

  “I was twelve then, and I’m not angry anymore.” He blew out his breath. “You did what you had to do, and you probably should’ve done it a lot sooner.”

  “You mean that?”

  Bradley nodded and put his lips against Rosabel’s smooth olive cheek. “If you’d stayed, I’d probably have turned out like him, but I didn’t. I meant my marriage vows. I’ll always be faithful to my wife.” He addressed his chili again. “Pass the cheese, please.”

  ****

  Sam came in while they were eating blackberry cobbler. “The chili’s still warm,” Penelope said. “I’ll fix you a bowl.”

  “Thanks.” He sat down. “Rumor has it that Jeremiah Hadden’s on his way back to Little Rock.”

  Bradley’s mouth twitched. “Rumor, huh?”

  Sam grinned. “Right. Rumor.”

  “Thanks for the tip.”

  “Any time.”

  “Any news on the girls?�
� Penelope asked as she set the steaming bowl in front of him and went back for the crackers and cheese.”

  “Not yet, but at least their father doesn’t have them.”

  “We’ll hope St. Anthony’s on the job,” Jake said. “He won’t mind doing a little overtime for two lost babies.”

  “I’ve been talking to him all day,” Rosabel said. “I have a feeling he’s busy out there somewhere.”

  ****

  The only light in the darkened parlor emanated from the Christmas tree lights and several strategically placed candles as Penelope and Sam retreated to the long sofa after dinner. “I can guess what you’ve been doing all day, but what I don’t understand is why you can do all of it.”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  “Will I ever know?”

  “I hope so.”

  “So meanwhile I just have to trust you.”

  “Yes.”

  She lifted her face from his shoulder. “Then I will, as long as you keep coming back.”

  “I’ll keep coming back.”

  “Forever?”

  “For as long as I can.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a reason to go back anywhere.”

  “Were you happy growing up? I mean, you had a good family and all that?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you don’t have them now.”

  “No.”

  She pressed her face into his shoulder again. “You have me, Sam. And Daddy and Bradley and Rosabel.”

  She couldn’t interpret the sound she thought she heard coming from far back in his throat—or maybe from the depths of the soul he claimed not to have anymore.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  When Penelope came downstairs the next morning, she found a note from Sam propped against the napkin holder in the middle of the table. I’ll try to get back for Christmas. No promises.

  She sat down and held the paper against her lips. Oh, Sam, why do you come and go like the wind with no warning at all? Did you know last night you’d be gone this morning? When you were holding me with such gentleness—and keeping your hands in check—did you know?