Candy-Coated Secrets (17 page)

“I wanted to let you know that Aunt Eunice and I are closing our booth. With the fair almost finished, we’d like to be able to enjoy ourselves a bit.”

“That’s fine. I’ll dismantle everything tomorrow.” Washington’s eyes never left my face. “Would you like a look around inside? I’ve managed to acquire quite a few nice things.”

Had he guessed my true intentions?

“Uh. Well, I was, uh, actually wondering how you could afford such nice things on your salary.”
Please, God, don’t let him think me a snob, but I promised You I wouldn’t lie. And the man did ask.

He laughed. The warm sound washed over me like faraway thunder on a summer day. “I’m the king of Dumpster diving, Miss Summer. Also, I’ve staked my claim as the carny’s shaker. I make quite a bit doing that.”

“Shaker?”

He squeezed onto the stoop with me and closed the door before taking a seat on the top step. He patted the narrow space beside him, inviting me to sit. “A shaker is someone who scours the rides at closing time. It’s amazing how much money falls out of pockets. Especially near the rides that go upside down. Why so interested? Looking for part-time work?”

My face must have turned the shade of a cherry. “I’ve noticed you passing things on to others.”

His laugh boomed across the alley. “You thought I was dealing!” Washington clutched his stomach. “That is priceless, Miss Summer. Totally priceless. I just sell some of the things I find. Stuff I don’t want. Jewelry mostly. I have no need for that kind of thing.”

“I’m sorry.” Okay, I’m a dunce. A snobbish dunce. There was absolutely no way I would share this particular investigative interview with anyone.

“No need for apologies. I’ve been questioned by the cops more times than I can count. There’s plenty of money to be found, if a person knows where to look. Most people are just too lazy.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You move on now, Miss Summer. I’ve got work to do. Come by anytime. Might be I could find a pretty little trinket for you.”

I rose and extended my hand. “Thank you for overlooking my rudeness.”

He laughed again and shook my hand.

I stepped off the stoop and turned. “I’m looking for Lacey Love. Have you seen her?”

“Not since yesterday.” He opened his door and ducked inside.

Well, that didn’t reveal any new information. Except that maybe I had barked up the wrong tree. Washington didn’t appear to be guilty of anything but keeping what others had lost. As far as I knew, that wasn’t a crime.

At a loss of where to go from there, I headed back up the aisle of painted trailers. A bubble gum pink one drew my eye. It screamed Lacey Love if anything did.

Chapter Twenty

Since no yellow crime scene tape surrounded the pink monstrosity, I felt no compunction about knocking on the door. No one had officially reported Lacey missing. I only hoped I had the right trailer. I didn’t want to be surprised by an irate owner arriving home as I snooped. Joe’s warning about any further breaking of the law rattled in my head. How do I solve things if I can’t snoop?

A man wearing dirty coveralls and driving a beat-up golf cart stopped behind me. “Go ahead and go on in. Lacey won’t mind. We got an open door policy around here. She ain’t home anyway.” And with those words, he sped away as fast as his four wheels would take him.

At least I knew I had the right place. Was everyone around here one big happy family? Then why did people keep disappearing or getting murdered?

The door squeaked as I pushed it open. A musky incense hung in the air of the dark room. Shades covered the windows. Déjà vu struck me. If I found another body in the shower, I’d be out of here faster than a fox after a chicken.

Dishes were stacked in the sink. A half-full can of soda sat on the table. A chair lay overturned on the worn linoleum. The remainder of the kitchen was spotless. Nothing appeared out of place. It was almost as if the woman who lived here had left in a hurry.

Nosy radar antennas quivering, I headed to the bedroom. If I had something important to hide, that’s where I’d stash it.

The trailer was laid out identical to Millie’s, minus the squeaky floorboard. Please, God, don’t let anyone sneak up on me. Instead of a door, a brightly striped bedsheet with button tabs over a curtain rod divided the closet from the room. I pushed the fabric aside and pulled the chain on a bare lightbulb above my head.

The chaos belied the neatness of the rest of the woman’s home. Clothes hung rumpled on hangers shoved tight together. Shoes lay jumbled on the floor among bulging bags and crushed boxes. Aunt Eunice would’ve died from the mess. Dismay flooded through me. Where should I start? Especially considering I didn’t know what I was looking for.

I decided to start with the less messy section of the closet: the shelf above the clothes. Shoe boxes were piled with no semblance of order. It made sense to start at one end and move down.

The first box held love letters. Once glance at the letter on top set my face on fire, and I hurriedly set the box on the floor. The second held personal mementos like movie tickets and receipts. I lost count of how many boxes of paper, jewelry, hair ties, and other unrecognizable things I riffled through until I found something that made me catch my breath.

Holding a nondescript brown cardboard box in my shaking hands, I stared at a detailed accounting report. I detested math, having dropped out of algebra in high school as soon as was feasible. But even my number-challenged brain recognized the dollar amounts didn’t add up. Here was the proof Joe searched for. That something else. Here might just be the proof of embezzlement.

Hot, dusty, and excited, I restacked the boxes on the top shelf, neater than when I’d found them. I couldn’t take the brown box with me, not wanting to be caught with it. I clutched the papers in my hand. I’d read over them in my room tonight before turning them over to my cousin. I wanted to reassure myself I didn’t grasp at straws, running to my cousin with something that actually was nothing. Another thing for him to laugh at me about.

The front door of the trailer squeaked. Not again.

I clicked off the closet light, let the curtain fall into place, and darted into the bathroom. I folded the papers and shoved them into the best hiding place I could think of—my bra—then flushed the toilet. Joe was going to kill me. I was pretty sure stuffing evidence was walking a fine line on breaking the law, but I couldn’t be caught with papers from someone’s closet, could I? I’d look and then return them. My cousin would be none the wiser. It’s not like I broke into Lacey’s home or anything.

“Who’s there?” a voice said from the opposite side of the door.

I took a deep breath and stepped out. “Summer Meadows. I needed to use the restroom.” The papers in my cleavage scratched and served as a reminder that I could easily end up with the same fate as Millie and Lacey.

The bearded man from Sally’s trailer, Grizzly Bob, glared at me. “What are you doing here? Lacey ain’t home.”

“A man on a golf cart told me I could come in and wait.” I held my breath against his body odor. He smelled strangely similar to cat urine. “Said y’all had an open door policy.”

“Outsiders don’t get the same treatment as carnies. You git out.” He pointed a stained flannel-covered arm toward the door.

 
“No need to be rude.” My breath released in a rush. “I’m going.”

The man followed me out the front door. I turned and stared into red-rimmed mocha-colored eyes. “You tell Lacey I came by, okay?”

He glared and gave me the tiniest nod. His eyes flicked to my bosom. Did he know I had something hidden, or was it my own guilty conscience? Surely this old, unwashed caretaker of animals didn’t find me attractive? I flashed my brightest smile and tossed him a wave. “Nice to see you again.”

Grizzly Bob’s grunt followed as I headed up the alley. My heart thudded a heavy-metal beat, not slowing until I’d passed out of eyesight of the socially inept man. Bursting to share my discovery, I headed for the candy booth.

Aunt Eunice had marked the last of our product to half price and leaned against the counter, a bored and dazed look on her face. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into a corner.

“I’ve got something that ought to perk you up.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

I pulled the papers from my hiding place. “Joe mentioned there was more going on here than met the eye. Look what I found in Lacey’s trailer.”

“Who’s Lacey?” She peered over the crumpled sheets. “Did you steal these?”

“Lacey is the woman I saw in the car last night. I’m positive.” I held the papers to my chest. “And, no, I didn’t steal them.” Just borrowed. I had every intention of turning them in.

She grabbed them from my hand. “Joe is going to be furious. And for your information, taking something without asking is stealing. You’re going to have to go back to jail.”

My heart leaped into my throat. “Here. Never mind, I’ll give them to Joe and confess my stupidity.”

Aunt Eunice smoothed the sheets flat on the counter. “Whoo-eee! I’m no expert but someone has been taking quite a bit of dough from somewhere. Where did you say you got these?”

“From Lacey’s trailer. In the closet.” Pride in my investigative skills rose.

Aunt Eunice shoved the papers at me. “Put them back. I don’t want to go to jail again.”

“Joe will be so excited about us finding them, he wouldn’t dare arrest us again.” Would he?

“There was no us in your filching those papers. At least make a copy and put the originals back.”

“Okay.” I folded the papers and restuffed my bra. If someone did know that Lacey had taken the papers, they’d be looking for them. If they didn’t find the evidence and knew I’d been in her trailer, they’d suspect I had them. For my own safety, I decided I shouldn’t disappoint them. “I’ll go home and scan a copy right now.” What if I was onto something? I couldn’t stop the grin spreading across my face.

“Don’t forget the Miss Mountain Shadows pageant tonight. You promised to help April with her hair. She passes on her crown. I still say it’s too bad you’re too old.”

“So you’ve mentioned before.” Pageants weren’t my thing, but it still pained me to know thirty was the magical age of being considered too old to enter. And my birthday wasn’t for a month! I only had April beaten by a couple of months.

I stood before my full-length mirror and twirled from front to back, side to side. Almost thirty, but I thought I still looked pretty good. Good enough to win some county fair princess title, anyway. But April’s cute blond curls and big sapphire eyes had won last year’s crown. Seemed people preferred that over an unruly auburn mess, highlighted with red or not, and eyes that couldn’t make up their mind whether to be blue or green. Having a voice like an angel probably didn’t hurt either. I wouldn’t have had anything to do for the talent program.

Aunt Eunice always said vanity was a sin. Now I knew why. It depressed a person.

I sighed and headed downstairs to the den. The completed scan of the financial documents waited in the printer’s tray. Truly growled from her favorite spot under the desk.

I whirled and spotted a hairy arm as someone ducked around the corner. Heavy footsteps pounded down the hall. I grabbed Truly as she tried sprinting after the intruder.

If there was anything I learned from the past summer’s escapades, it was that a person didn’t go chasing people who entered their homes uninvited. And not to leave my cell phone where I couldn’t easily grab it. I’d left mine on the front seat of my car. Again.

Truly’s sturdy body trembled with her growls. With my foot, I slammed the den door. Once Truly was back on the floor, scratching like mad against the painted wood, I engaged the lock. I knew before I lifted the receiver the house phone wouldn’t be working. Sure enough, the drone of emptiness reached my eardrums.

Overhead, the scrapes of someone snooping through my bedroom reached me through the ceiling. Glass shattered, and I gnawed my lower lip. He’d better not have broken my new crystal lamp base.

What was he looking for? Surely he realized I’d have the papers they wanted on me. Why hadn’t he attacked me in the den? While my back was turned? If Truly hadn’t alerted me to his presence, I’d have been at his mercy.

Maybe he wasn’t searching at all. But hiding. Waiting for me to enter unsuspectingly into their clutches. I could almost feel his icy fingers lock around my neck and shook my head against my overactive imagination. There was no way I would go upstairs until someone stronger, and braver, said the coast was clear.

Fright tickled at the nape of my neck. It wasn’t the first time someone had paid me an uninvited visit, but it was the first time I’d been alone.

Okay, God. Here I am again. In trouble. Asking for Your help. My brain is empty. There are no ideas rattling. Sheer panic has driven all thought away. Could You please yell loud and clear what You want me to do?

The doorknob rattled.

I hurled myself over the desk, scattering papers. The ledgers! I grabbed the original and the copy, stuffing both down my shirt. The sheets poked upward and scratched at my chin. I reached for the nearest thing to a weapon I could find: a sharp-pointed letter opener shaped like a sword, with a fake jewel-encrusted handle. I might have a chance if the perpetrator got within six inches of me.