Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (6 page)

“Wow, Polly, this looks awful! Who did it?”

Polly shook her head. “I have no idea. It’s disgusting, isn’t it?”

“Have you called the police?”

“Yep, Ken was here earlier. Now we just have to get it cleaned up.”

“If you need anything from the store, we’ll be up there after one o’clock. I’m sure Paul has some stuff that would help.”

“Thanks, Lisa. If I need him, I’ll let you know.”

“If we don’t hear from you, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She waved and drove off.
Paul Bradford ran the hardware store in town. Polly hoped that by the time he opened his store, everything would be clean and his assistance would be unnecessary.

She continued to the shed behind her garage, ignoring other cars that drove through to peer at the damage.

Polly hated being the subject of conversation, even though she knew there would always be some level of interest in her because she’d bought and renovated the old high school. Between the bodies she kept finding and the Percherons and now this, people had plenty to talk about. She sneered as she grabbed a couple of brooms, and thought, “Well, this ought to keep the lips of all the church biddies in town flapping. I’m sure they’re praying for my soul now. Next thing you know, they’ll tell me that if I’d been in church this would never have happened.”

“Hey, Polly?”

She turned around, relieved that someone would distract her from her nasty thoughts. Rachel and Jason were coming up from the barn.

“Yeah, Jason. What’s up?”

“Mom says I can stay if you need me.”

“I think we’re fine. You can go to church.”

“Please?” he begged.

“Nah. It’s probably bad enough I don’t go on a regular basis. You need to go.”

“Rats,” he said. “I finally get a good reason not to and you won’t let me get away with it.”

“Is it really that bad?” Polly asked.

“No. It’s fine. I just thought I could hang out here.”

“Call your mom and tell her Rachel is bringing you home. Okay Rachel?”

“Sure. Whatever,” Rachel shrugged. “I gotta go, too.” She looked up as Billy came out of the building. “Hey, Billy,” she said.

“Hi Rachel. Did you ride this morning?”

“Yes, we did. Jason and I were just polishing tack. I’m going to take him home. So, you aren’t going to church today?”

“No, I’m helping with this. Are you mad?”
             

Polly stifled a giggle. Kids were awesome.

Rachel said, “No problem. You’re probably needed here.”

“Okay.” He turned around and opened the front door again to go inside without saying anything else.

Rachel stood there looking at his back and watched the door close. She took a short breath and let it out, then said, “Come on, Jason. We’d better go.”

“Rachel?” Polly stopped her.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let it freak you out. Boys can be terrible communicators sometimes.”

“I know. He does pretty good, but sometimes I want to kill him.”

“I’m guessing that might be a pattern,” Polly laughed.

“Mom says I need to tell him how to talk to me. Doesn’t that seem like something
his
mother should have taught him?”

“Like he’d listen to her?” Polly asked.

“I suppose you’re right.” Rachel gave a quick shudder. “I don’t want to have to tell him how to be nice.”

“Here’s the deal,” Polly said conspiratorially, “You either talk to him when you guys aren’t mad at each other or you will be telling him when you’re having a huge fight.”

“We don’t fight,” Rachel responded.

“You will. Trust me. If you are frustrated with him now, you’ll fight with him later.”

“Yuck,” Rachel spat. “I hate talking about that stuff. And I know he hates it. He’d much rather talk about his computers or games or movies.”

“Rachel! We gotta go!” Jason called from the passenger door of her car.

“I gotta go,” Rachel said. “Thanks, though.”

“Have fun!”

Rachel waved and ran to her car. They drove out of the parking lot and Polly turned around to see Doug on the ladder, beginning to wash down the brick wall. She was relieved to see paint coming off the brick. They might get through this after all.

CHAPTER
SIX

Returning the casserole dish to the oven, Polly checked the time. Henry was stopping at his house before coming over. He wanted to unpack his things first. They planned to eat at six o’clock and she hoped he meant what he said when he told her he was hungry. She’d cooked hearty and she’d cooked plenty.

Everyone had worked until about two o’clock cleaning down the front of Sycamore House and she was fairly pleased with the result. Her beautiful front doors didn’t clean up quite as much as she’d hoped, and she was afraid that meant Henry was going to have to strip them down and refinish them. What a terrible time of year for that to happen, but at least they were no longer covered with bright yellow paint.

Her friends had stopped by after church with lunch. Lydia and Andy, Sylvie and Beryl had gone to the grocery store and picked up food to make quick sandwiches. When Polly had given Thomas Zeller’s flash drive to Aaron, he glanced through the files on her computer and agreed there was an awful lot of information. None of it seemed to have a flashing red light over it that said, “Here’s the murderer, read me.,” though.

Eliseo
had finally pulled Polly back into the parking lot and asked her to look up at the building. “I think we’ve done it, Polly. It looks good.”

She had thanked the others and was frustrated when they wouldn’t accept any money.

“It’s what we do, Polly,” Jimmy Rio had assured her. “This was a bad thing that happened to you. We like being able to help out.”

“At least let me send you guys to Davey’s for supper.”

The boys had all looked at each other and grinned. “We’ll take some of that action. Tonight’s prime rib!”

“I’ll make the call. Dinner with everything you want … even dessert … is on me.”

The four had walked away, making decisions about what time to meet up for dinner.

“Billy?” Polly had called out.

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a laugh, knowing how much she hated that term.

“Well, I was going to tell you that you could take Rachel, but maybe I shouldn’t be that nice to you.”

“I’m sorry,” he dramatically said and stuck out his lower lip. “I’ll be good.”

“Call her and if any of you other guys have figured out how to ask a girl on a date, feel free to invite them out tonight. You’ve been amazing today and I owe you.”

She watched Billy punch Doug in the shoulder and both of them laughed. Sam Terhune and Jimmy Rio looked at her and she said, “What? I wasn’t kidding. Invite your girlfriends. That’s good with me.”

“Thanks, Miss Giller,” Sam said. “Thanks a lot!”

“The horses won’t need much tonight, Polly,” Eliseo said. “We did good work this morning. Jason and I will get them in and fed. Henry’s coming home, isn’t he?”

“Yes. Thank you, Eliseo. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When Polly got up to her apartment, she pulled chicken out of the freezer and set it in a warm water bath in the kitchen sink, then ran down the back steps with Obiwan. They wandered through her back yard, and down along the creek. When they got to the fence for the pasture, they wove in and out of the trees until they came to where Nan and Nat were standing.

“Hi there,” Polly said, reaching out to rub Nan’s muzzle. Obiwan yapped at the two of them, then pulled the leash to keep moving. Polly felt Nat graze the top of her head with his lips. “I love you too, but it looks as if Obiwan is in a hurry. I’ll see you in the morning.” They continued down between the fence and the trees and the two horses followed.

“We have a parade,” she laughed. They followed the fence around the pasture to the highway and then she picked up the pace and they jogged back to Sycamore House.

“Can you believe those big guys live with us, Obiwan? How crazy is that?” They went in the front door and up the steps to her apartment.

“Okay, everyone,” she said. “We’re on a mission. We have two and a half hours to get a good meal on the table, the apartment cleaned and I need a shower. Who’s up for helping me get this done?”

Since she was standing in the kitchen when she made her grand announcement, all eyes were watching her. “I know, I know,” she said. “Treats it is.” She tossed a fresh rawhide bone into the living room for Obiwan and opened the bag of dental treats for the cats, giving them a few. “If you aren’t going to help me, the least you can do is leave me alone while I work like a crazy woman.”

Promptly at six o’clock, her front doorbell rang and she flung the door open.

“I missed you!” she said, ready to pull him into her arms, but then saw that his hands were full. He had a small bunch of mums in one hand and a plastic grocery bag in the other.

“I missed you, too.” He leaned forward to kiss her and she put her hands on his cheeks and held him until he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. When she finally let him go, he said, “I always like coming back to that.”

Henry had only been gone since Wednesday and they’d talked on video chat every night, but having him here was exactly what Polly needed.

“Come on in,” she said, but Henry stopped and gestured with his head across the hall. “Didn’t think I’d ever see another police seal at Sycamore House.”

“Oh Henry, I’m glad you’re here. I’m so tired of handling this without you around.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too.” He kissed her again and looked down at Obiwan, who had been sitting patiently beside Polly. “I’m even glad to see you, big guy.”

Polly closed the door and followed Henry inside. He held out the flowers and said, “It’s not much. They’re from my back yard.”

“They’re perfect. I have a vase in the kitchen.”

Then he held out the bag. “I brought ice cream treats.”

She chuckled. “Those might have to wait until later. I made a pie.”

“You what?”

“It’s just an apple pie, but it will be warm and I have ice cream.”

“These can go in the trash. Homemade apple pie?” he asked, astounded.

“I make great pie,” she laughed. “I just never do it. Mary used to let me help her all the time and she was one of the best pie makers I’ve ever known.”

“Do I have to wait until after dinner?”

“Dinner is going to be pretty good, too. I hope you weren’t kidding when you said you’d be hungry.”

“I’m starving. What are we having?”

“Come on in and get comfortable. Take off your shoes if you want and I’ll get it on the table.”

Henry looked around and his eyes got big. “What have you done here?”

“What do you mean?” Polly was a little offended.

“This place is so clean. What did you do?”

“The cats helped me. They wanted more treats.” Polly had spent a lot of time cleaning the apartment that afternoon. The table was set for dinner, candles were lit, and serving dishes were waiting on the kitchen counter. All she needed to do was serve it.”

“The place looks really nice, Polly and the table looks fantastic.”

“Maybe I wanted you to know how much I missed you. When you left last winter to go to your parent’s house in Arizona, I told you I wasn’t going to let you go away like that again. You snuck this one in on me and I hated it. I’m going with you next time.”

“The trip would have been much more fun if you’d been there. That drive today nearly killed me.”

“You shouldn’t have come back early. We took care of it. I know you helped me figure it all out, but you could have come back at a normal pace tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t have stood myself if I’d waited until tomorrow. I had to see you today.”

Polly put the ice cream treats in the freezer and pulled a vase out from under the sink. When it was filled with water and the mums were arranged, she placed it on the table.

“What did you think of the front door?” she asked. He grabbed her when she tried to return to the kitchen and pulled her onto his lap.

“Just a minute. I need to do one more thing before I think about that door.”

“What’s that?” she innocently asked.

“This.” He kissed her and she felt herself swooning as they prolonged the kiss.

“Are you in a hurry to think about the front door?” she asked.

“Nope,” and he kissed her again. “I’m just about ready to think about it, but I wanted you to know how much I really did miss you.”

“Uh huh,” she breathed. “I think I’ve forgotten. Can you remind me?”

Henry chuckled and gave her a quick kiss, then pushed her up. “Feed me, woman. I’m dying here.”

“So really, what do you think about the front doors?” she asked, walking into the kitchen.

“They’re all right if you don’t mind a yellow hue.”

“I hate it.”

“Then, I need to take them down and back to the shop. We’ll sand them and put a new finish on them.”

“How long am I going to be without doors?”

“I know. That’s the problem. I need to think about this. We won’t do anything until I’m sure you’re safe with them down.”

Polly put a basket of hot rolls and a dish of cheese encrusted asparagus on the table, then went back for the main dish.

“What’s this?” Henry asked.

“It’s a recipe I made up.”

“It smells amazing.”

“Anything that has bacon in it smells amazing. It’s a country chicken recipe I learned from Mary. This should have everything you need to stay alive for one more night,” she laughed.

She sat down and they began to eat. Henry smiled and nodded as he took a few bites. “You can cook for me anytime,” he laughed. “This is great.”

When they finished supper, he helped Polly take their dishes into the kitchen.

“While you serve up pie and ice cream, I need to run downstairs to my truck to get something. I’ll be right back.”

Before she could respond, he put his shoes on and went out the front door.

“I wonder what that was about.” She walked to the kitchen window and watched as he opened the passenger door of his truck and pulled out a large package.

“What has he done now?”
She cut the warm pie and dropped scoops of ice cream onto the slices she’d placed on plates. They were on the table when he came back in.

“I know you will think I’m crazy,” Henry said, handing her the package, “but I had to do this.”

“What did you do?”

“Just open it.”

The package was simply wrapped in brown kraft paper and she tore it off, then laughed. “This is cool! I love it!”

“It isn’t every day that you have a First Anniversary Celebration and I thought we should commemorate it. I was going to give it to you the night of the ball, but I thought maybe today would be better. I like to see you smile.”

Polly kissed him. “Oh, this makes me smile!”

Henry had framed the full page advertisement for the masquerade ball.
She couldn’t wait to hang in the outer office downstairs, where everyone could see it.

Polly had spent time one Sunday afternoon dreaming up the text and was proud of the invitation. Jeff’s eyes lit with possibilities when he saw it. He was friends with one of the costume designers at Iowa State and planned to ask for her help in rounding up costumes for the event. Some people in town had pooh-poohed the idea and others had jumped on board and begun planning their outfits right away.