Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (10 page)

“Wait. What? You’re coming for Christmas too?”

“Didn’t I tell you that?” Sal asked coyly.

“No, you never tell me anything. Especially since you got hooked up with that hot veterinarian. You talk to him and not me. I’m a little jealous, you know.”

“You have your wonderful boyfriend, you can’t be jealous of me with Mark.”

“No, silly. I’m jealous of him. I want more of your time and you’re much too busy getting all googly-eyed over Dr. Hottie.”

“Well, tough tiddlywinks. Live with it,” Sal laughed. “I can hardly wait to surprise him.”

Polly was absolutely certain this had the potential to be a bad idea. Mark was head over heels for Sal, but she didn’t know if he
was planning to come by himself to the ball. “Are you sure you want to go ahead with this surprise?”

“He told me that he was going
by himself, if that’s what you’re worried about. So, do I get my favorite room?”

“If the mattress shows up, you can have the room across the hall. Otherwise, you
get my couch.”

“What mattress are you talking about?”

“Oh, crap. I haven’t talked to you and told you what happened here. One of my guests was killed Saturday morning.”

“Polly!” Sal cried out. “What happened?”

“He was stabbed in the middle bedroom. I haven’t been in there, because the Sheriff has the room sealed, but it sounds like the mattress needs to be replaced and I think some furniture is broken. It was Thomas Zeller. I told you about him, didn’t I?”

“The author? Yeah. I’ve read his books.”

“He managed to get to my apartment and died in front of me.”

“Polly, no! Not again.”

“Don’t you start with me,” Polly warned.

“But how are you handling this?”

“Well, I don’t have time to do anything but handle it. Things keep happening around here and I just deal with them.”

“I’m so sorry. You should have called me.”

“Oh Sal, you’re right. But I was a mess and then someone threw paint all over the front of Sycamore House and Henry came home early from Michigan and then Thomas’s agent showed up today and someone is sending me threatening emails.”

“Stop it. All of this happened in the last couple of days? Maybe you should hop on a plane and spend time with me instead.”

“To be honest, there was a moment when I thought that my life was quieter and simpler when I lived in Boston. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but sometimes my head starts to spin.”

“I guess so. Is Henry being a good boyfriend?”

“He is. He was in Michigan visiting his sister and rushed back yesterday. He hates it when he’s gone and bad things happen.”

“Well, I hate it too. What did your trusty Sheriff say this time?”

“Not much. It was three in the morning and I woke him up.”

Then Polly chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Would you believe that Henry won the pool at the local elevator? He put money on one of my guests dying.”

“That is really funny, in a sick and twisted way. Are you really doing okay?”

“I don’t have a choice. Eliseo made me take a ride yesterday morning and that was good, but then we had to come back and clean up the front of the building and I cooked a big dinner for Henry and oh, Sal … I’m really glad you are coming to Iowa. I could use a friend who remembers what I used to be like before bodies started piling up in my life.”

“Well, I will sleep on your couch or on an air mattress or wherever you find room for me.”

“Hopefully we’ll get the room opened up before you’re here. That would be the best option.”

“I’ve made my reservation and rented my car. I’ll see you soon and don’t tell Mark, okay?”

“Mum’s the word. I promise.”

“I love you sweetie. Call me if you get overwhelmed.”

“I will. See you soon.”

Polly hung up. It was going to be fun watching Mark’s reaction at the ball.

She looked up and saw Natalie Dormand in the doorway. “Can I help you with something, Natalie?”

“I told the delivery guy to come in the main door. I wanted to check out your place here. Thomas would have loved it.”

“We enjoyed having him here. He was really an interesting man,” Polly said. “Let me show you to the kitchen. Follow me.”

She led Natalie to the kitchen and offered her a cup of coffee.

“Thank you.” Natalie peered out the window into the foyer. “I think my food is here. Thanks again for your hospitality.”

“No problem,” Polly said. Natalie left as Sylvie came in the back door.

“Hey there,” Polly said. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Where’s Jason? We need to talk. I got a message from school that he is in detention for hitting someone.” Sylvie was furious.

“He told me about it. I think he did the right thing, but it was misinterpreted,” Polly said.

“This is one of the things I absolutely hate about being out of reach,” Sylvie growled. “I barely feel like I’m parenting my kids any more. You’re here for them more than I am.”

Polly didn’t say anything.

“I shouldn’t be upset that he told you. I should be glad that he’s got someone else in his life he can trust.” Sylvie slammed her bag on the prep table. “But, damn it. He’s in trouble, I’m busy, and you’re the one who knows what’s going on.”

“I’m sorry,” Polly said and crossed the room to hug her friend. “I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you.”

Sylvie looked at her and said, “Grrr.” She patted Polly’s hand and then said, “Okay, tell me what he told you.”

“He overheard some kids talking about beating Andrew up.
When he threatened to tell an adult, the three of them came at him. He punched one to get him to back off and a teacher walked in. The other two accused Jason of attacking for no reason.”

“Did he at least defend himself from the accusation?”

“I think he tried,” Polly said. “He has detention and you have to sign some letter.”

“Well, I’m not going to class tomorrow morning. If my boy has been set up, I’m going to fix it. I’ll
sit in that principal’s office all morning if that’s what it takes, but they aren’t going to get away with this. And threatening Andrew? Why would anyone do that?”

“Jason says he’s a bit of a nerd
and they’re bullies. Andrew is lucky to have his brother there paying attention.”

“I know he’s smart, but we try to make sure he dresses like the other kids and he’s really social and outgoing.”

“And he’s nice to other kids who aren’t as social and outgoing and he has never pretended to be cool.”

Sylvie sat down on a stool. “I knew these years weren’t going to be easy.” She looked at Polly. “And I’m sorry. I couldn’t ask for a better
friend to help me. The boys love you and so do I.”

“I get it. You have a lot going on right now. I’m not upset,” Polly assured her. “Don’t worry. You have two really great kids.”

“Thank you. You’re sure Jason didn’t do something awful?”

“I’m pretty sure. He’s terrified you won’t let him help Eliseo with the horses. That worried him more than anything.”

“Oh, I’d never do that to him. He lives for those hours in the barn,” Sylvie thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Oh, I don’t know what to do. If I step in and make a huge scene, Jason loses all credibility. He’s trying so hard. And that’s another reason I’ll never stop him from spending time with the horses. It’s the one time that he can be a kid.” She sighed. “I’ll call the principal and find out what’s going on and what I need to do to make sure this is fixed. Jason can do his time in detention. It won’t kill him.”

“That’s probably the right thing to do,” Polly agreed.

“Sometimes being a parent is the worst job ever,” Sylvie said. “It’s such a fine line between protecting them and letting them grow up on their own. I’m never sure if I’m doing it right.”

“Anyone who knows your boys very well knows you are doing it right.”

This time Sylvie reached out and hugged Polly, “Thanks for letting me fall apart and letting me figure it all out. I love you.”

Polly squeezed her tight, “I love you too and I love that you trust me with Jason and Andrew. They mean the world to me. You know that, don’t you?”

By now, there were tears in both women’s eyes. “I know they do,” Sylvie said, “and you are so important to all of us. We’re lucky you moved into town. So lucky.”

They heard Andrew’s feet running down the back stairs and were watching for him when he dashed into the kitchen.

“Mom, did you hear that Jason got detention?” he asked when he saw her.

“I did. And did you hear that it’s not nice for little brothers to tattle on their older brothers? You are supposed to have his back.”

Andrew looked down at the floor. “But mom!”

“No buts. The world is always going to look for ways to pit the two of you against each other, but I’m going to love both of you and your job is to take care of me and each other. Always. Get it?”

“Got it,” he said. “Are you going to ground him from the horses? Because that would be bad.”

“I’m not going to do that to him,” she said. “Now, have you taken Obiwan outside for a walk?”

Polly grinned.

“No, do I have time?” Andrew asked.

“You do. Make it quick, but make sure he is done with everything, okay? Scoot.” Sylvie said.

Andrew turned around and ran back for the doorway to Polly’s apartment. They heard Obiwan come down the steps and then the garage door slam shut.

“Like I said,” Sylvie said. “I never know whether I’m doing it right or not.”

“You’re fine, Sylvie Donovan. Just fine.” Polly replied
.

CHAPTER TEN

Eager to
be done for the day working with the hundreds of files on Thomas Zeller’s flash drive, Polly was glad to see Jason and Andrew arrive the next afternoon. So far, nothing made sense and she wasn’t sure whether or not to involve Natalie Dormand. Thomas had been insistent that Polly was the only person he wanted to see the information and she’d already betrayed that request when she gave the original drive to Aaron Merritt.

She’d looked for a copy of his current book, but hadn’t found it yet. Thomas had named his folders with strange titles and so far all she could do was dig
into them one by one. She hadn’t gotten very far at all, since she was afraid that if she didn’t read a document closely enough, she’d miss something. She ended up reading through long, involved research notes he’d taken and at this point, Polly felt like a complete numbskull.

Jason seemed to have survived his in-school suspension. He was no worse for wear, but was a little more subdued than usual. They walked upstairs to her apartment together.

“How’d your day go?” she asked.

“It was really boring, but it was okay. I had to sit in one room by myself all day long. I got my ho
mework done, so that was good, but I didn’t like it.”

“I don’t suppose it would be a lot of fun,” Polly acknowledged. “They probably don’t want kids choosing to do that.”

“Can I take Obiwan out for a walk while Andrew does his homework? I’m tired of sitting on my …” he looked up at her and gave a small smile. “I’m tired of sitting.”

“Sure. You two haven’t been out for a while. He’ll be glad to spend time with you.” She opened the door to the apartment and glanced across the hall. Just as she turned to go inside, she caught a glimpse of Grey Linder peeking out his door at her. He caught her eye, pulled back quickly and shut the door.

“That was weird,” she said.

“What was?” Jason asked.

“Nothing. Go on and take Obiwan.” Jason walked through the living room into her bedroom and calling the dog, then left by the back steps to go outside.

“I don’t have very much homework,” Andrew said. “Can I play a video game first?”

“You know the deal,” she reminded him. “Do your work and then your time is free. I’m going to make pumpkin bars. How does that sound?”

“Can I lick the frosting bowl?” he asked.

“Sure. You get busy and maybe we’ll finish at the same time.”

Andrew set his backpack on the dining room table and took out several workbooks. Soon the apartment was quiet except for the sound of the mixer. Polly looked out the window at the front parking lot, thinking about the person who had sent the email the other morning. Things had been quiet since then and she was grateful. There hadn’t been any other signs of vandalism and she was hoping that maybe the problem would resolve itself.

She sprayed the jelly roll pan and poured the pumpkin mix in, then put it in the oven to bake. This was her favorite fall recipe. There was nothing better than the scent of cinnamon and pumpkin to get her ready for crisp leaves on the ground and a brisk chill in the air.

Jason and Obiwan were running in and out of the sycamore trees lining
her driveway and Polly smiled at their energy. A school bus passed by on the highway and cheerleaders were hanging out the windows, yelling and cheering. Tuesday night - JV football. What wonderful memories these kids would make. Friday night football had been one of her favorite high school events. The band had so much fun together. The colder it got, the more layers she put on under her band uniform. As it got to late October and early November, blankets filled the bleachers so the kids could huddle together after the pre-game show and before half-time. Those were great times.

Jason had found Obiwan’s tennis ball and was throwing it to him. Obiwan was just figuring out how to play fetch. It took some doing to get him to bring the ball back to be thrown again, but he was learning.

“How are you doing there, Andrew?” she asked.

“Look at these words, Polly.”

She bent over to look at his paper. “What about them?”

“Illustrate and illuminate. Did you know they sound kind o
f alike? At least the beginning of the words do. We talked about that today.”

“What did you decide?” she asked.

“They came from the same place.”

“That’s probably right. Do you understand why?”

“I suppose,” he said, nonchalantly.

“Here, let me show you.” Polly went to the coffee table and picked up her laptop, triggering it on while she walked back to the dining room table. They waited while it booted up and she typed in ‘illustrate etymology.’

“What’s etymology?” he asked, slowly sounding out the word.

“It means the study of where words came from.”

“Etymology,” he said again. “So you’re looking up the etymology of the word illustrate.”

“I a
m and look at this,” she pointed to the screen. “See how both of the words come from the same Latin word?”

“They do! That’s what my teacher said.”

“They both come from a word that means light.”

“That’s so cool! Can I look up more words?”

“Are you finished with your homework?”

“I have my spelling done. I did my math in class today. Mrs. Walker gave a quiz and I finished it early.”

“How did you do on it?”

“I don’t know. I think okay.”

“No science or social studies?”

“Not really.”

“What does ‘not really’ mean?” Polly grinned down at him. She wasn’t going to make it easy.

“I d
on’t have anything due tomorrow.”

“Are you sure or
will I be in trouble for letting you be a slacker?”

“I’m not a slacker!”

“Okay, then. Type in any word you think of, then type the word etymology after it and this information will show up.”

“Will you write the word down in case I forget how to spell it?”

“Sure. But, shut your eyes and think about the word. Can you see it on the screen?”

“Yes.”

“How do you spell it?”

“E t y m o …” he spelled through the first letters slowly, then spun through the last letters, “l o g y.” Is that like biology or zoology?”

“Of course it is, you bright boy,” she laughed. “ology is the study of something.”

“Zoology is the study of animals, then.”

“Yep and Biology …”

“Is the study of bio … I don’t know.”

“Bio means life. You keep looking things up. Words are fun.” Polly’s heart was aflutter with excitement. She loved watching someone fall in love with words. Andrew was soon clicking through pages on the screen.

Jason came in through the bedroom. “Obiwan is getting good at fetch,” he said.

“I saw you guys out there. Thanks for doing that. He needs all the practice he can get.”

“It would be cool to use a Frisbee sometime. We have a bunch at home. I’ll bring them over.”

“That would be great.”

The timer on her phone rang out and she opened the oven door to pull the pan out. It smelled wonderful.

“What are those?” Jason asked.

“Pumpkin bars. When you get back from the barn, they will be cooled and frosted.”

“Can I go down early? I know Eliseo won’t be there yet, but I’d like to hang out with Nat.”

“Of course,” she said. “Would you do me a favor and snuggle Demi a little for me?”

“Thanks, Polly. I will.” Jason bent over and hugged Obiwan around the neck and ran for the front door. It slammed behind him and he was gone.

Andrew looked up from the laptop. “I know what he did, Polly. Everybody is talking about it at school.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Some seventh graders were going to beat me and my friends up and Jason told them not to. They’ve been bragging about how they got him in trouble with the principal.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know why they want t
o beat me up. It’s not like I ever did anything to them.”

“Sometimes kids are bullies. There’s nothing we can do. You’re pretty lucky to have Jason around.”

“I’m going to hate it when he goes to the high school next year. He won’t even be in the same town.”

Bellingwood had lost
its high school in the nineties. In fact, she was living in the old high school building. The kids were bussed to Boone now. It was going to be difficult for both boys. Even when they didn’t get along, they were still each other’s best friend.

“Don’t think about it too hard right now, Andrew. You have practically a whole year before that happens.”

“I know. But, I’m not going to like it.”

“I probably won’t either. Maybe we’ll go down and
get him every once in a while so we don’t have to wait for the bus to drop him off. If we have time, we’ll go to the bookstore. How’s that?”

Andrew loved Boone’s bookstore and its
long shelves of used books. They were becoming regulars and Polly’s bookshelves were overflowing again.

“That would be awesome!” he said. “Thanks.”

She held her hand over the top of the pan of bars to see if they’d cooled enough. Not yet, but she could start the frosting. She measured cream cheese and butter into the mixer and let it whip. A teaspoon of vanilla and she turned it to the lowest speed before adding powdered sugar. A little milk and the texture was perfect.

“Can I taste it?” Andrew asked.

“I thought the deal was that you got to clean the bowl.”

“But you
‘ll scrape it clean. You won’t leave much,” he complained, but not too exuberantly.

“I’ll leave you enough,” she laughed. “If you’re done with homework, you should pack up your
things.”

She slathered cream cheese frosting across the top of the bars and scraped the excess off the whip and the edges of the bowl. With a smirk, she handed the nearly empty bowl to Andrew.

“I knew it,” he said, dejectedly.

Polly ran the spatula across the pan of bars, filling it with some of the excess
and handed it to Andrew. “I’m not that mean.”

There was a knock at her front door and Sylvie walked in. “How’s my boy today?” She saw Andrew licking the spatula. “What are you doing?” she asked.

He looked shocked. “It’s not very much. Polly cleaned the bowl.”

“Let me see that.” Sylvie strode over and took the spatula
from hand, then over his head, she winked at Polly and licked it clean.

“Hey!” he cried.

She ruffled the top of his head, “Hey, what?”

Andrew’s shoulders drooped and he said, “I didn’t get any extra frosting. That’s not fair.”

Sylvie had watched Polly run a spoon across the bars and nodded at her.

“You know we love you. Right, Andrew?” Polly asked.

“No,” he moaned.

“Then you don’t want this?” she pushed it in front of him.

“Thanks!” he brightened up and clutching the spoon close to his body, slipped past his mother. “I’m eating at the other end of the table,” he announced.

“Pumpkin bars,” Polly said, to explain what she’d baked.

“Cool. Is Jason down at the barn?”

“Yes. He said he spent all day in detention.”

“I called the principal this morning. They were fully aware of what really happened, which is why that’s all he had to deal with. They aren’t putting it on his record, but had to do something since the other kids wouldn’t back off their story. That behavior makes me so angry. It doesn’t seem fair that my boy should have to be punished when everyone knows he did nothing.”

“He could have made a big deal about it if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He sucked it up and learned a good lesson,” Polly said.

“That bullies get their way?”