Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (4 page)

“Because I won the latest pool at the Elevator.”

“You what?”

“It was a whim. I said that one of your guests would die at your front door. Polly, I’m so sorry!”

“How much did you win?”

“It’s not much. Only fifty bucks, but it will take us to Davey’s.” He continued to laugh. “I know this isn’t funny. It’s horrible, but I can’t believe I won the pool.”

“Well, I’m certainly glad you were in Michigan. At least you have an alibi! I’d hate for someone to accuse you of murder just so you could win the pool.”

“I am never going to live this down. You’re my girlfriend. I shouldn’t be setting you up to find dead bodies.”

“That’s right. This is your fault. I’m going to blame you.”

“That’s fine. I deserve it.
I’m so sorry, though, Polly. I hate that you keep facing these things when I’m unavailable. I was going to say that someday I would be there when you found a dead body, but I would certainly like for this to be the last time it happened.”

“So would I. I can’t believe that it has happened again
. Andrew thinks it is going to be cool to tell his buddies and my friends all just think I’m a wackadoo dead body magnet.”

“No one thinks you are wackadoo. We don’t get it, but we don’t think you are
a crazy person.”

“Thanks. I’m not sure if I believe you, but thanks.”

“Will you be able to sleep tonight?”

“I think so. I’m exhausted. Eliseo is taking us on a trail ride in the morning. He told me
I should spend time with Demi.”

“He’s probably right. Those horses do wonders for your soul.”

“I’ll copy this to my laptop and then go to sleep. Thanks for spending time with me tonight, Henry.”

“Thank you, my pretty girl. Do me a favor? Call me in the morning before you head for the barn?”

“It’s going to be early.”

“That’s okay, I’ll be up. Will you do me one more favor?”

“What’s that?”

“If you wake up all freaked out tonight, will you call and let me calm you down?”

“Really?”

“Really. I want to hear from you.”

“Thank you, Henry. I love you.”

“I love you too, pretty girl. Now get some sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Polly hung up, dragged the folders from the flash drive onto her laptop, then watched as they finished copying. She thought about starting through them, but her eyes were drooping and all she wanted to do was sleep. She powered the laptop down, pulled the USB drive out and dropped it into the drawer in her bedside table. She’d deal with it later. Tonight, she slept.

CHAPTER FOUR

There was something wonderful about a good night’s sleep. Polly felt much better when she woke up at five thirty. After getting dressed, she put a new hat on, one that Eliseo had given her for her birthday in September. It was a perfect fit and she felt pretty country in it. Her work boots were at the barn, so she slipped into her tennis shoes.

“Come on Obiwan, Eliseo says we won’t be gone long today since it’s Sunday. You can tag along.”

She went down the main steps and ducked into her office to offload the flash drive to her desktop computer before calling Aaron. While she waited for it to copy, she checked email and social networks to see if anything interesting was going on.
When she leaned back in her chair, something caught her eye in the window and she turned around to see what it was.

There was something on the window. That was strange.

“Come on, Obiwan. Let’s check this out.” He followed her back through the office to the front door.

She pulled the door open and was shocked to see yellow paint splattered all over it.

“What in the hell?”

A quick glance to her left and right told her there was paint splattered everywhere. They’d hit the door with yellow and then splashed other colors up the walls and across the windows.

“What’s going on?” she asked and dropped to her haunches. She held Obiwan as she crouched and looked up at the horrible mess. “Who would do this and how do I fix it?”

Eliseo, Jason and Rachel weren’t due to be at the barn until six thirty
and she didn’t want to wake Aaron up. The last thing she needed was for him to think she’d found another body, but this was more than she knew how to handle. She was damned tired of dealing with these things by herself.

Well, he had told her to call when she woke up. She pulled the phone out of her back pocket and dialed Henry.

“Good morning!” he said. “You called. I didn’t think you would.”

“Henry?” was all she could get out before she began to cry.

“Polly, what’s wrong?”

“Henry, someone threw paint all over the front of Sycamore House. It’s a horrible mess and I don’t know what to do.”

“They did what? Is it spray paint or paint paint?”

“It’s like they flung buckets of the stuff. They got the door, it’s on the windows and the bricks. It’s all over the sidewalk.”

“Is it still wet?”

“What?”

“Is it still wet?” he repeated.

“I don’t know.”

Very patiently, he said, “Would you mind touching it? Has it been on the building all night or did it just happen?”

“Oh!” She walked back to the front door and swiped her index finger through the paint. “Still wet.”

“If there is one time of the night when they might get away with this, it would be between three and four thirty.”

“Maybe that’s what woke me up,” she said
to herself.

“What?”

“Well, I was surprised when I woke up so early, but I assumed it was because I’d had plenty of sleep.” She tried to avoid it, but couldn’t get past the catch in her throat.

“I can’t believe this.” Henry sounded furious.

“I can’t either.” She cried again.

“I also can’t believe I’m not there to help you. I’m cancelling my plans with Lonnie and I’ll be
home later today.”

“No. Don’t do that. I have plenty of people here to help
me.”

“You need to call Ken Wallers.”

“I’m not going to wake him up.”

“Call the police station. They’ll send someone. Do that first and then we’ll start dealing with the next steps.”

“I will in a minute. Obiwan needs to go.”

“I’ll get the phone number while you walk with him. Don’t hang up on me.”

“I won’t. Henry, this looks awful. My beautiful home!”

She heard him clicking away in the background as she walked toward the north side of the building. Obiwan followed, bouncing into the grass. When they got near the row of Sycamore trees, he dashed off to make sure they’d all been properly marked. She followed him to the creek and waited while he pranced in and out of the trees.

“Polly?” Henry said.

“Yes?”

“I have the number. Call the station and tell them what’s happened. After you hang up, go back around front and take pictures. I want to see what has happened, so email those to me.”

“Okay.” They ended the call and she quickly dialed the number he gave her before it was forgotten. A woman’s voice on the other end asked what she could do to help.

“This is Polly Giller over at Sycamore House,” Polly said. “Someone has flung paint all over the front of my building and I need to file a report.”

“Yes, Miss Giller. I’ll call Ken. He’ll be over in a little bit.”

“I didn’t mean to wake him up,” Polly protested.

“That’s fine, Miss Giller. He’s on call this morning and I think he’ll be relieved to hear that you don’t have a body for him.”

Polly couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud. “Oh, thank you. That made me feel better. I’m glad I don’t have one for him, too.”

“He’ll be over soon and I’m sorry this has happened to you.”

“Thank you.” Polly hung up and said, “Come on, Obiwan. It’s time to head back inside.”

She called Henry. “I’m sorry I messed with your morning.”

“Don’t be sorry. I feel terrible that I’m not there.”

“I’ve called the police.
Ken Wallers is coming over. I’ll take Obiwan upstairs and feed him before I take pictures for you.”

“When Eliseo gets there, ask him to call me. I have some ideas on how to clean it up. Don’t worry, okay?”

“I won’t. I’ll send the pictures over and talk to you a little later.”

“I love you, Polly. Does that help?”

She smiled. “It does right now and I love you too.”

“Talk to you later.”

“Bye, Henry.”

She opened the garage door and went inside to the back stairs. Obiwan followed her up the steps and into the apartment. The cats were already moving toward the kitchen for breakfast. Polly filled their dishes and made sure water was available. She took her hat off and put it on the table in the entry way, saying “I’m not going to need you today, am I?”

When she got back outside, her heart sank at the mess. She walked far enough out into the parking lot to take an all-encompassing photo, then moved closer and took more pictures, emailing each to Henry. She turned around as she heard a car pull onto the gravel in the parking lot. She was expecting Ken Wallers and was surprised to see Lila Fletcher get out of the passenger side of the car that pulled up in front of the building.

“What happened?” the woman asked.

“I don’t know,” Polly said. “It’s been a crazy weekend here.”

“It has? I was gone. What was the excitement?”

“Well, this,” Polly pointed to the front of Sycamore House, “and there was an incident Saturday morning with Thomas Zeller.”

The woman stopped in her tracks and demanded, “What happened?”

Polly explained that he had been killed and that the Sheriff wished to speak with her. Lila said nothing more and went inside.

“Well, that was odd,” Polly muttered to herself.

Ken Wallers drove in next. He got out of his car and came over to stand beside her, looking up at the front of the building. “What in the hell?” he asked.

“Those were my words,” she commented. “Hi there.”
             

“Do you have any idea who might
be angry enough to do this?”

Polly thought about it. “Angry with me? I don’t have a clue.”

“Have you had any other vandalism around here lately?”

“Other than the murder the other night?”

“Yes. Other than that.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You’re going to want to make sure things are locked up tight and put away for a few days. This isn’t an accident and if someone has gotten it in their head to hurt you, they might try other things.

“Do you want to come inside?” she asked. “I can turn on the coffee pot in the office.”

“That would be great. I need to start a report and then I’ll be out later with my camera. Are you cleaning this up today?”

“As soon as I can. I hate the idea that everyone will see this.”

“You could always put a ‘Pardon the Mess’ sign out front,” he chuckled.

“Aren’t you helpful,” she grinned. “I talked to Henry and he and Eliseo will come up with a plan for cleanup.” She flipped the coffee pot on in the outer office and followed him into her office.

“You’re up awfully early this morning.” He pulled a notepad out of his jacket pocket.

“I slept so badly the other night that I went to bed early.”

Ken scratched notes and asked about her insurance.

Polly heard the coffee pot end its cycle and said, “Excuse me,” then left the room. She poured two cups and brought them back into her office, setting one in front of him. He was pondering something he’d written and automatically picked the cup up, blowing on it as he thought.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“We haven’t had any vandalism in town for quite a while. I’m just thinking about who my regular offenders are.”

“Do you think this was done by a regular offender?”

“It won’t hurt to check them out.”

“Polly?” Eliseo came in the door to the office. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt.”

“That’s all right,” Ken said. “I need to get the report finished and come back with a camera. Come on in.”

“You two have met, haven’t you?” Polly asked. “Oh, sure,” she said. “What was I thinking?”

Earlier that spring, Eliseo had been living in her barn as he looked for a former army mate who had stolen a priceless vase and large amount of cash when they were stationed in Iraq. Two others from their unit were also looking for the vase and money and had killed Harry Bern, who had just begun working as the custodian at Sycamore House. When Polly discovered the vase in the hay loft, Eliseo had come to her rescue
when the two former soldiers tried to steal it from her. Just as she and Eliseo were getting the two men under control, Ken Wallers and his team arrived on the scene and ensured everyone was safely dealt with.

The two men shook hands and Ken asked, “How is that old place coming along? Are you getting it fixed up?”

“I’m nearly finished,” Eliseo said. “Henry asked his friend, Len Specek, to help me with the cupboards in the kitchen. Once those go in, that room will be done.”

Eliseo was living in the house Harry Bern had been renting. The landlord had agreed to let him live there rent free for a year. In return, Eliseo provided the labor to renovate the home which had been torn to pieces by the two men who were searching for the vase and cash. To Polly, the mess seemed daunting, but Eliseo had dug in and was creating a nice home for himself.

“It’s good to see you,” Ken said and left the office.

Eliseo took the vacated seat and turned worried eyes toward Polly. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I found it when I came down this morning.” She shook her head. “You haven’t seen any other signs of vandalism around here, have you?”

“No.” He thought for a moment and then repeated himself, “No. I haven’t seen anything.
When can I clean it up?”

“Ken is returning with a camera and then we can do whatever we want. I’ve already talked to Henry. He wants you to call him before you start.”

“The kids are going to be here in a little bit. Do you still want to go out riding?”

“I hate to take that away from them and I’d hate for Demi to be left home because I’m feeling sorry for myself.” She looked down at the desk and then back up at him. “The vandals won’t come back during the day, will they?”

“Polly, anyone who does something like this relies on the cover of darkness. They’re cowards. If you want to go riding with us, you should. Let Demi carry you for a while. This has been a tough couple of days for you.”