Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 07 - Missing Milt (6 page)

The man turned to look behind him.  “Between you and me, he mentioned owing some money and he didn’t know how he was gonna come up with the cash.”

Gloria dropped her purse on the passenger seat and stared over the top of the jeep.  This was taking an interesting turn! 

The man went on.  “I gave him the name of a good quickie loan place.” He shrugged.  “Not sure if he took me up on it but he seemed pretty concerned about some mafia-types coming to track him down and break his legs – or worse.”

“Do you recall the name of the place you suggested?” Gloria asked.

“Sure.  Integrity Loans.  They’re up there in Lakeville.” The man turned to Lucy.  “Tell em Max sent ya.  Max Field.” He was giving Lucy googly eyes.

Gloria leaned against the passenger side of the jeep while Max leaned closer to Lucy.  “Say, you wouldn’t happen to wanna.” He paused. “You know…maybe have breakfast sometime.”

Lucy’s face turned the same bright red shade as her hair. “I-I…” She looked at Gloria as if to say, “What do I do?”

Gloria was more than happy to oblige.  “Why Lucy, here, would
love
to meet you for breakfast. Right, Lucy?”

Lucy swallowed hard and shook her head.  “I-I…”

“How does Thursday sound?” Gloria was setting Lucy up on a date.  “We live over in Belhaven and have a great restaurant in town.  It’s called Dot’s Restaurant and it’s on Main Street.” 

Max turned to Gloria and smiled.  He was a fine looking fellow.  She didn’t see the harm in having him meet Lucy there for breakfast.  That way, Gloria and girls could kind of “scope him out” so to speak.

Max cleared his throat.  “Great.  How does 9:00 o’clock Thursday morning sound?” He was talking to Lucy but asking Gloria.

Gloria grabbed the door handle.  “Sounds perfect.  She’ll see you then.”

Max gave Lucy a goofy smile and then sauntered off down the sidewalk.  They watched as he climbed into a silver Audi convertible.  He backed out of the parking spot and then drove past them, waving as he went.   

Gloria slipped her sunglasses on and climbed into the jeep.  “Will ya’ look at that.”

Lucy slid into the driver’s side.  “You just set me up on a date!” Lucy huffed. “Wh-what if I don’t want to go?”

Gloria lowered the visor and peered at her reflection in the mirror.  “Oh, Lucy.  It’s just a little breakfast.  What’s the harm?”  She glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye.  “He was kinda cute and he drives a nice sports car.”

Lucy frowned and grabbed her sunglasses from the center console.

Gloria dropped her purse on the floor.  “Don’t worry. The girls and I will stick close by.  Make sure things don’t get out of hand.”

Lucy pounded the steering wheel in frustration.  “You set me up on this ‘date’ and now you’re gonna
spy
on me?”

She stopped pounding and put the jeep in reverse.  “He was kinda cute, huh,” she agreed.

A small smile turned the corner of Gloria’s lips.  This was turning into a productive day!  Not only did they have a lead, Lucy had a hot date!

Lucy pulled up to the stop sign and looked first to the left then to the right.  She glanced over at Gloria. “Do you want to run by that loan place tomorrow?”

The loan place was in Lakeville, on the opposite side of the county.

Gloria glanced down at the clock on the car radio.  Paul would be by in a few hours.  They wouldn’t have time to go today. It would be cutting it too close.  “Yeah, I think tomorrow would work out better.”

The jeep rolled down Main Street, Belhaven.  The small town was packed and they had trouble finding a parking place. 

Lucy swung into a parking spot near the end of the block.  The girls climbed out and headed to Dot’s Restaurant.  Since they had just eaten, the girls ordered a couple Diet Cokes and waited for Dot take a breather. 

Dot set Lucy’s Diet Coke in front of her.  “What? No hot chocolate today?” she teased.

Lucy reached for her drink.  “I just had some,” she mumbled.

Dot placed Gloria’s drink in front of her.  “Let me guess.  You’re working on Frances’ missing beau.”

Lucy nodded.  “Yeah.  We have a few leads now, huh Gloria.”

Gloria nodded. “We’ll follow up on one tomorrow over in Lakeville.”

“Well, lookie who we have here.” The girls’ friend, Margaret, wandered over to the table. She clasped her purse in front of her and folded her hands over the front.  “I haven’t seen either one of you in days now.”

Gloria wiped the sweat from the bottom of her glass with her napkin.  “I’ve been trying to do a little early fall cleaning.”

Margaret pulled out a chair and plopped down. She looked at Dot.  “I’ll have a coffee but only when you get back around this way.”

Margaret turned her attention to Lucy.  “How you doin’ Lucy?” 

“Oh…fair,” she answered vaguely. 

Gloria held her tongue. She wasn’t sure if the others knew that Bill and Lucy had split up. 

Margaret dropped her chin in her fist.  “How’s Bill?  I haven’t seen his car around your place in a while now.”

Lucy fidgeted in her seat.  “We, uh, mutually agreed to part ways.”

Margaret raised a brow but kept silent.  Although no one had ever said nary a bad word about Bill, they all shared the same opinion.  That it was mostly a one-sided relationship.

“Yeah,” Lucy sighed.  “I’m in a good place, though.”

“Which reminds me,” Gloria attempted to take a little heat off her friend.  “Lucy and I were just discussing that cruise we’ve been talking about for ages.  We need to pin down some dates.”

Dot shoved her hands in the front pockets of her apron and nodded her head.  “Man, I sure could use a vacation.  I’m ready to go now!”

“I bet you are,” Gloria answered wryly.  “My cousin, Millie, started working on a cruise line.  I’ll have to find out which one.  Maybe we could try that one out.”

“Sounds good to me,” Margaret said.  “Of course, I’m free whenever.  The only one we’ll have to check with is Ruth.”

“My ears are burning,” a voice behind them answered.  Gloria swung around.  Ruth, the postmaster, was bearing down on them.  “What exactly are you checking on?”

“A cruise,” Dot answered.  “You know…the cruise Gloria and Lucy have been talking about forever.”

Gloria watched as Ruth reached for the last empty chair.  “We’re ready to start looking at dates.  What works for you?”

Ruth slid into the seat.  “Any time before November 15
th
.  That’s when the holiday season kicks into high gear and I can’t get any time off until after New Year’s.”

“Well,” Gloria did a few mental calculations.  “It’s September now.  That would only leave October and that might be too short of notice.  How does January sound?”

“Sounds wonderful!” Lucy exclaimed.  “We can escape the gloomy Michigan winters, not to mention snow and ice.”

“Ah.  Warm sunshine, ocean breezes,” Lucy murmured dreamily.

The girls all agreed January would work best, that they’d all need a nice, long vacation after muddling through the holidays with busy schedules and family get-togethers.

Gloria looked down at her watch.  “I better get going. Paul’s coming by later to pick me up for a dinner date.”

Lucy slid out of her seat.  “I’m ready.”

“Are you gonna mention…” Gloria jerked her head at Lucy, who violently shook her head as if to say “absolutely not!”

Gloria plowed ahead.  “Lucy has a hot date here Thursday morning.”

“I do not have a date!” Lucy gritted through her teeth.

Gloria ignored her comment. “His name is Max.  We met him this morning when we were working on Milt’s case.”

“We’ll be sure to be here to scope him out,” Margaret teased. “What time?”

“I don’t need an audience,” Lucy protested.

“9:00 a.m.” Gloria answered. 

Dot placed a light hand on Lucy’s shoulder.  “Lucy, we’re just trying to watch out for you.  We won’t embarrass you in any way,” she promised.

Lucy’s shoulders drooped.  “This is all Gloria’s fault.  She’s the one that told him yes!”

The girls all agreed they wouldn’t put Lucy on the spot so Lucy relented.  “I guess I might as well get this over with.  After all, it’s just breakfast.”

“What if you really like him?” Ruth pointed out.  She looked over at Gloria.  “Gloria seems to think he shows promise.”

“But I’m not sure I’m ready to date yet,” Lucy argued.

“You just gotta get right back in the saddle,” Margaret encouraged. 

Lucy pulled a five from her pocket and handed it to Dot.  “I guess I’ll see you Thursday morning,” she said.

Gloria winked at the girls and followed Lucy out the front door and they headed back to the farm.

Lucy pulled up next to the house and put the jeep in park.  “What time you want to leave in the morning?”

Gloria grabbed the door handle and stopped.  “Will right after lunch work?” She wanted to take a run by her friend, Andrea’s place, in the morning. She hadn’t heard from her in a few days, although she knew Andrea was hard at work, getting her Magnolia Tea Room ready to open for business. 

Lucy nodded.  “Sounds good.”

Gloria pushed the door open and slid one leg out.

Lucy grabbed her arm.  “Gloria.”

Gloria twisted back around.  “Hmm?”

“Thank you for being such a great friend.  I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Sudden tears sprung to the back of Gloria’s eyes.  She loved Lucy.  Loved
all
of her friends.  There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for them…including giving them the shirt off her back. 

She leaned across the seat and hugged her friend.  “Same here. That’s what friends are for.” When she pulled back, she could see Lucy’s eyes brimming with unshed tears.  “You alright?”

“Yes! Yes, I’m fine.” Lucy waved her out. “Go on.  Get out of here before both of us start bawling like babies.”

Gloria stepped out and leaned her head in.  “See you tomorrow then.” She didn’t wait for a reply.  Instead, she softly closed the door and slowly walked to the house.

Gloria had a few minutes to kill before it was time to get ready for her date with Paul. 

She wandered over to her computer and turned it on.  Her cat, Puddles, had curled up on the computer chair, his favorite spot to hang out.

She picked him up and settled into the seat.  She set him on her lap where he promptly began to purr. 

It was time to do a little more Milt investigating.  She logged into her Worldbook account and typed in “Milton Tilton.”

Seconds later, a picture of Milt popped up.  Much to Gloria’s surprise, he had hundreds of friends, mostly women, she noted.  Or maybe she wasn’t surprised.

She read several of the messages posted on his page.  Some of them nearly singed her eyebrows.  She shook her head.  This Milt was a real player!

She wondered if Frances was aware of all the female friends he had and all the racy posts they left on his page.  She scrolled through his friends list to see if Frances and Milt were friends.  She couldn’t find her name anywhere. 

A few of the women looked familiar and Gloria could only surmise that they were Dreamwood residents. 

The last few posts were panicky women who wondered where Milt had gone and begged him to call them asap. 

She almost clicked away when one message in particular caught her eye.  It was from someone named “Raven Fair.” Her text message read “Milt, baby.  We need to get together again after you get back.”

Gloria’s eyes narrowed.  She wished she knew who “Raven Fair” was. She clicked on Raven’s profile.  A picture of a black bird popped onto the screen.  Did this “Raven Fair” know something that no one else did?  Maybe that Milt had gone somewhere of his own free will?

Gloria wandered to the bath and drew a tub full of warm water.  She poured several capfuls of her homemade rose scented oils in the water.  Gloria stripped off her clothes and sank into the fragrant waters.  She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. 

Instead of a nice, relaxing soak in the tub, she spent the entire time bouncing between thoughts of Milt and Lucy. 

Perhaps she had overstepped her boundaries when she set Lucy up on that date. 

But what the heck. It was a harmless breakfast.  The worst that could happen was that Lucy would end up with a new friend, someone to hang out with…or maybe it would turn into something more.

After all, the girls weren’t spring chickens anymore.  Life was too short to spend it pining over someone like Bill.  On top of that, Lucy didn’t seem all that upset.  She even thanked Gloria for being such a good friend.  That’s what friends were for. Picking you up, dusting you off, setting you up on dates…

Satisfied that Lucy was on the right track, Gloria mulled over the Milt issue.  The men at breakfast had mentioned a woman – Francine - that seemed to be a bit of a stalker.  It was obvious they were talking about Frances.  Maybe Milt was trying to escape Frances and the only way he knew how was to “disappear?”

The fact that Frances knew so many intimate details of Milt’s daily schedule was disturbing.  Who did stuff like that?  Unless of course they were obsessed, which Gloria was beginning to think maybe Frances was a bit unbalanced.  She made a mental note to discuss the possibility with Liz.

Then there was the small problem of Milt’s gambling debts. 

The bath water was beginning to cool.  Gloria lifted her foot, flipped the dial and turned it all the way to hot. 

Gloria still hadn’t had a chance to question Trudy, who was supposedly one of the last people to talk to Milt before he vanished. 

Her eyes narrowed. Something about Clyde Ward was bugging her.  She got the feeling that maybe he was holding something back.

She wondered if Frances had tried to contact Milt’s family, possibly his children, to see if maybe they had heard from him.  Although she was almost 100% certain that Frances had tracked down every lead out there.

Gloria climbed out of the tub, relaxed and ready for her date with Paul.  Her pulse quickened at the thought of seeing him.  He had been working long hours and she hadn’t seen him in several long, lonely days. 

Gloria slipped into a pair of tan slacks and a white cotton blouse.  The day was sunny and warm but the evening would be cool.  She wasn’t sure where they were going for dinner and Paul had told her it was a surprise.   

Now all she had to do was wait!