All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (25 page)

Polly knew he had three little boys. They were all
much too young to be in the kitchen yet.
"So, maybe an
Easy Bake oven for them?
You could
at least get a miserable looking chocolate cake."

"Hey, that's a good idea! I just
wish there wasn't so much pink,” he laughed.

Polly snorted. "Oh, that's hilarious. There were
even some of us girls who didn't like all that pink, but no one seems to have
ever figured that out. I spent more time in the dirt and in jeans than I did in
little pink, frilly dresses, but I loved being in the kitchen with Mary."

"What is that wonderful aroma? It smells like
someone baked this morning!" Sylvie walked into the auditorium followed by
Andy.

"Good morning girls. There are fresh cinnamon
rolls by the coffee. I ended up making six dozen this morning." Polly said.

"Six dozen what?"
Beryl had arrived on the scene. "
Wait,
let me see if I can tell." She wrinkled her nose
up and down and turned to face toward the kitchen as if being led by that same
nose. "Girl, you baked a little heaven this morning, didn't you!"

She actually skipped across the floor to the stage,
dropped her bag at Polly's feet and said, "I think I'm going to bury my
face in something with frosting. Should I brin
g any back for the rest of you?
Deputy
Stu will you eat another one if I bring it?"

He looked sideways at Polly,
then
smiled.
"Absolutely.
Everyone is already jealous that I'm here, thinking I
have the easy assignment this week. They're not going to believe this."

"So, my skinny little friends,” Beryl said,
“
Can I bring one for you or will you reject this
amazing gift Polly has offered us?"

"Wow," said Andy. "If you put it like
that, how can I refuse?
Even if I did just have breakfast
with the Queen of England."

"Oh, th
at's
your answer for everything,” Beryl said.
“
You spend wa
y too much time with that woman, but we’re glad you’ve
come back down to play us common folk.
How about you,
Sylvie?"

"I'm starving. It was a scramble to get two boys
out the door this morning. For some reason they decided to sleep late and hate
everything I offered for breakfast. It was joyous." Sylvie grumbled.

Beryl skipped through the door and was back in a few
minutes with napkins and a plate of rolls.

"I suppose we ought to stay down here and eat
these, then wash our hands, eh?" Andy said.

"Of course we should, Andy.
Wouldn't
want to get any sugar on the loot."
Beryl sounded a little sarcastic and Andy reacted.

"That would be awful, Beryl! Who knows what we're
going to find and we don't want to contaminate it with sticky fingers,"
she said.

Beryl rolled her eyes at her friend. "Andy?"

"Yes, brat?"

"Okay, just so we're clear who is the bra
t and who is the insane person,” Beryl said.

"I'm clear. Sorry," Andy said.

Lydia and Aaron walked in to the auditorium together
holding hands.

Beryl spoke first, "Good morning, you two! Don't
tell me you are just getting started on your day. Did you have a late
night?" The tone of her voice implied something fun might have occurred
last night
.

Aaron shook his head.
"Your friends are going to give me a heart attack someday, Lydia."

"Not if I can help it," she replied. "I
intend to keep that heart well-oiled and exercised."

"It's not right," he protested. "It's
just not right. I get no respect from any of you."

Lydia reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Oh,
we all respect you and love you. We simply aren't afraid of you!"

"Stuart Decker?" Aaron commanded.

"Yes, sir."
Decker came to attention.

"You've neither seen nor heard any of this. Got
it?"

"Umm, sir?"

"Yes,
Deputy
Decker?"

"That actually doesn't work for me."

"Why is that
,
Deputy
Decker
?"

"Because," and the
deputy
dropped
out of his attention stance, "they do this to you all the time."

"I know," Aaron sighed. "I know. It's a
good thing they don't spend any time at th
e
office or on the road with me.
I'd be
toast."

“Yes sir,” Decker agreed.

"How are things going here?" Aaron asked
around the room.

Lydia responded, "We're going to have a full day
ahead of us. We'll see how far we get into it. I'm sorry we took a couple of
days off. There were so many things that needed to be done. Beryl has a show
coming up in Kansas City and Sylvie had to work."

"Whoa,
baby." Aaron said. "No worries. I was only asking if anything had
popped up yet."

Everyone else laughed
and Lydia said, "Well, excuse me for feeling guilty for not doing the work
you asked me to do!"

"Whatever," Aaron responded. “I’m heading
down to Boone. If you need me, call." He bent over to kiss his wife and she
turned so he got her full on the lips. She threw her arms up around him and
kissed him until Beryl had to say, "Alright, already! Give it a rest,
girl. You'll see him tonight.
Sheesh!"

Lydia pulled away and smiled sweetly up at her
husband. "Have a good day, dear."

"Yeah.
I'll do that." He spun around and Polly heard
him sputtering as he left the room.

"You torment him, don't you?" Polly asked
Lydia.

"Every chance I get. I have fun!" she said,
then looked at Beryl. "Well, where's my cinnamon roll?"

"Umm," Beryl looked around at everyone else.
"Are you all as distracted as I am at the moment? Ah hell, I seem to have
lost my mind." Then she looked at the plate still in her hands.

"Here," she said. "Here is your
cinnamon roll. Get your own coffee." She looked at Andy, "Whew. I
think I need to splash some cold water.
How about you?"

"Cold water is a great idea," Andy replied.
"It's too early for that stuff, Lydia. You can't do that to us."

Lydia just smiled. "I'll be right back with
coffee. You girls settle for a moment."

She came back into the auditorium with coffee and they
sat on the edge of the stage drinking and eating. Polly gathered up the waste
and
took it
to the kitchen. She was in the middle of washing her hands as the
others came in and followed suit. It was time to get to work. They pulled
plastic gloves out of
a
box and
started
digging into crates
.

Each item received a number and tag; it was
photographed from several angles and then entered into the database, bagged and
returned to the original crate. They worked for a couple of hours while
chattering away about their week when Andy said, "Guys, stop. I think I
found something."

Beryl was photographing a TEEN magazine from 1969. Polly
entered the tag number and details and slid it into an evidence bag, handing it
to Sylvie who dropped it back in its
original
crate.

"What is it, Andy?" Polly asked.

"This doesn't fit at all. I'm looking at a crate
of things from the early
seventies
. Maybe 1971 or 1972 and this shirt and coat are in
here. She held up a t-shirt with Pearl Jam on the front. The coat was blue wool
and had Members
Only
on the side pocket. Neither item had existed in the seventies.”

Stu walked over and looked at the items. He snapped on
a pair of gloves and took the items out of Andy's hands. Looking closely, he
ran his thumb over a stain on the coat.

"Andy, I don't know what you've found, but I'm
glad you did. Other than this, are things in the other crates pretty much in a
logical order?"

Andy nodded. "So far it is. We haven't gotten
deep enough for me to say that with one hundred percent certainty, but yeah,
that's probably right."

"Thank you. I'll take custody of this. Let me
fill out the tag and get it photographed. Beryl, are you ready for me?"

"Oh, baby," Beryl said. "That was a
loaded question. But yes," she got serious. "I'm ready any
time."

She shot pictures of each item with their respective
tags. Polly entered the information into the database,
then
Stu
placed them into large evidence bags and made a quick
phone call. He picked up two more evidence bags, asking Beryl to pull the
memory card out of the computer and Polly to
unmount
the external hard drive.

"I've got replacements in the car," he said,
"but I'm waiting for someone to show up and take charge of these things.
Can you all keep yourselves busy until then?"

Lydia laughed. "I think we can handle that. Do
you want us to stay in here with you or do you care?"

"No, you can do whatever you'd like. I'd appreciate
it if you wouldn't say anything to anyone
,
though
."

Beryl gave him a scowl.
"Really,
Stu?
After all this time we've
been together? You still don't trust me? I haven't told anyone about those
quiet moments we spent together."

He shut his eyes and dropped his chin into his chest,
"I asked for that. Sometimes I forget you guys are not like the rest of
the people," he paused for effect, "in the world!"

"Would you shut the doors? Someone should be here
soon and we'll get you set up to go again right away.
Thanks, girls."

"Oh, isn't he sweet," Lydia said. "He
called us girls. Other than Polly and maybe Sylvie, he's the youngest person in
this room. Come on, 'girls,' let's see what damage we can do to Polly's
kitchen."

It was nearly noon and the building was starting to
get quiet as the workers stopped for lunch. Marv had obviously started one more
pot of coffee. Polly turned the hot water on in one of the deep sinks, and then
dropped the baking pans
in
after filling it with hot sudsy water. Lydia filled a
smaller sink while Andy gathered the platters. Sylvie sprayed the countertop
down and wiped it clean while Beryl pulled out some dish towels. Soon
everything was cleaned up and back to normal and Aaron walked in.

"You missed me so much you had to find a reason
to bring me back, didn't you," he teased. Sylvie was the closest to him as
he walked in the door and giggled. He pulled her into a side hug and said,
"I knew you girls couldn't live without me."

He went on, "Well, you're set up to go again on
the stage. That was a great catch, Andy. I guess that's why I'm glad you all
are doing this. You're making
good
connections. The things are on their way to the DCI
in Ames for testing. We won't know anything for a few days."

Lydia asked, "Why did you come back into town? I
thought you had to be in Des Moines this afternoon."

"Oh, any excuse I can get to see you, I will
take." He walked over and flicked Lydia's hair, "I just wanted to
tell you all that you'd done a great job. And I still have time to get to Des
Moines for my meeting." He checked his watch. "But, I had better go
now. See you later!" He kissed his wife again and this time she let him
get away with a quick kiss. He smiled at the rest of them, and walked out of
the kitchen toward the front door.

Two of the men who worked for Henry, Leroy Forster and
Ben Bowen
,
came down the stairs as the sheriff was leaving. They walked back to
the kitchen to fill their cups with coffee.

Leroy asked, "What was the sheriff doing here
again? Did you guys find something in the crates?"

Polly froze, hoping nothing showed on her face. She
wasn't quite sure what to say, but Andy broke in, "We were so busy this
morning, we needed a new memory card. I guess they're pretty choosy about what
they want us to use, so they brought one up. As for the sheriff, I think he
wanted another kiss from his honey!" She chuckled and waited for that
little bit of information to embarrass the man.

Ben
laughed
and poked his friend, "You want a honey to kiss,
don't you, Leroy."

"Uh huh.
I guess so." Leroy said and turned around to
head back up the stairs.

Ben followed him,
then
turned around.
"By the way, Miss Giller.
Thanks for the cinnamon rolls. It isn't every day I get to eat
homemade treats!"