Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) (15 page)

"Okay. It will take about twenty minutes. I'll leave right away."

"Thanks Polly," he said. "Sorry."

She stared at the phone after pulling it away from her ear. She was never coming to Hickory Park again. It was always something. Every single time.

Polly went back to their table and salivated at the plate in front of her. "I have to go," she said.

Henry looked up. "You're kidding."

"Nope. Now you can be sure of two things about me. First, if there's a dead body, I'm the one who will find it and second, if I try to eat at Hickory Park, some crisis will occur."

"What's going on?" Andrew asked. He put his fork down on the plate and scooted out of the bench.

"No, you stay here," Polly replied and turned to Henry. "Can you two bring him back to Bellingwood? And either enjoy my meal or bring it home with you?"

Nate put his hand on Andrew's shoulder before the boy could stand up. "You'll have as much fun with us as you will with Polly. I promise."

"But my books," Andrew said.

"I'll put your backpack in Henry's truck," Polly said.

He relaxed and slid back in front of his food.

Polly leaned over to Henry. "I promised him ice cream."

"Of course you did. We'll take good care of him. Let me know what's going on."

She nodded and ran out of the restaurant to her truck. One quick stop to drop Andrew's backpack in the back seat of Henry's truck and she was on the highway heading for Bellingwood.

One of the first things she'd learned to do in the truck was how to pair her phone to the main system. She pulled up Sylvie's phone number and placed the call.

"Hello, Polly," Sylvie said. "Is everything okay with Andrew? Is he being respectful?"

"He's fine. Where are you?" Polly asked.

"In the kitchen. Why?"

"Jeff just called and told me to hurry back to Sycamore House. What's going on?"

"Oh that," Sylvie said. "Yeah. He needs you. We're in the middle of a perfect storm here right now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's got a furious bride and her mom and there's a mess going on with that boy who is moving into the addition with Mrs. Morrow. Aaron's here, the boy's mother is here. There was yelling and screaming. The bride is screaming and crying and Jeff's alone. Well, I'm here. But it's not much better in the kitchen. The oven quit working and I'm waiting for a repairman. They didn't deliver the right meat this morning and Rachel's on her way to Ames to pick up what we need. I'm sure I could tell you more if you'd like."

"What about Eliseo and Jason?" Polly asked.

"One of the donkeys is sick. Mark is here."

Polly shook her head. How could so many things have fallen apart in just a few short hours?

"I have to go," Sylvie said. "I think my repairman is here."

The call ended and Polly shuddered. She pressed down on the gas pedal, pushing it as fast as she dared. Thank goodness they were as close as Ames. She turned on the radio, hoping that music would help her tune out all of the questions swirling in her mind. But that didn't help. The last thing she wanted to do was listen to DJs hawking a new product.

Once in Bellingwood, she sped past the winery and the Inn, giving a fleeting thought to how Grey was doing today. She really liked him. He made her smile even though she was worried about him. She pulled into her driveway and parked in the garage, jumped out and ran inside to the kitchen.

Sylvie looked up. "That was fast," she said.

"I was already on my way. How are things in here?"

"There isn't much more I can do unless I move everything up to the bakery and I'm not ready to do that yet."

"You can always use my stove if you need it," Polly said.

"That's okay," Sylvie said with a laugh. "It wouldn't fit. But Emmett will have me up and running pretty soon."

The man with his head in the oven waved a free hand.

Polly patted Sylvie's shoulder. "I'm going to see how I can help Jeff. Where do you think I'll find him?"

"The screaming and flailing about moved into the office. I think he tried to hide them in the conference room. Aaron is back in the addition and today's wedding party is in the auditorium decorating."

"So. Chaos?" Polly asked as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen into the main foyer.

"Pretty standard," Sylvie called behind her.

Jeff and Sylvie were good at keeping things moving without falling apart, so even though Sylvie tried to make a joke of it, chaos was not the usual order of the day at Sycamore House. She walked into the office and didn't see Jeff anywhere, so knocked on the conference room door and opened it. Two women - a young bride and her mother were seated at the table, the bride sobbing with her head down in her arms. The older woman's face was furious, her arms crossed in front of her.

She looked up at Polly and snapped, "Who the hell are you? Do you want to make this situation even worse?"

Polly shook her head, backed up and shut the door. That situation wasn't going to be fixed in a jiffy.

"Yeah, she's pissed," Jeff said, coming into the main office.

"What happened?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out, but the girl is getting married in two weeks and while they say that they scheduled things with us, I can't find any information to verify that."

"Did we miss something?"

"I can't tell. There aren't any emails and I don't have a signed contract. There's a beginning of a contract in Stephanie's pending file, but nothing was ever completed. I haven't met either of these people and when I asked Sylvie if she'd talked to them about catering, she drew a blank."

"What are you going to do with the crazy people?" Polly asked. "I assume they don't care whether or not you get to the bottom of whose fault it is they aren't on the schedule, they just need a location for the reception."

Jeff took a deep breath and let his shoulders fall back into place. "You know what? You're right. They just need me to fix this for them. I'll call J. J. over at Secret Woods. They're still trying to expand their wedding receptions."

"How big is the reception?" Polly asked.

"It isn't even that big," Jeff said, rolling his eyes. "You'd think it was six hundred people the way they're carrying on. But the numbers on the contract show fifty."

"The coffee shop is another possibility. Think about how fun that could be. A coffee bar and jazz on the stage."

More of his body relaxed. "Thanks. I've got this. I'll help them fix it and none of us have to search for blame."

"That might be most of the mother's anger," Polly said. "If she knows her daughter hasn't been dealing with the details, she is probably out-of-control furious."

"Thanks."

"Have you talked to Eliseo?" Polly asked.

"The donkey? Jason came up when Sylvie freaked out in the kitchen. He didn't want to tell her that Eliseo couldn't run up and take care of her stove, but Mark had just gotten to the barn."

"She freaked out?"

Jeff nodded. "It was ugly. Seriously Polly, when I called you, I felt like I was on a firing range. Everything fell apart at the same time and I didn't know where to start, so I stepped into your office, shut the door and made the call."

"I'm glad you did. Okay, the Sutworth's?"

"There's something bad happening over there." Jeff visibly sagged. "I didn't want to get involved in it, but Leslie was crying, Evelyn tried to keep them all calm, the Sheriff wanted to speak with the boy. It's something to do with Julie Smith's death."

"What?" Polly asked. "How are they connected?"

"I have no idea. I had my own crises to manage."

She glanced toward the side door.

"You're going to get involved, aren't you?" he said with a sly grin.

"Would I be the Polly Giller you know and love if I didn't?"

"That's my girl. Thanks for coming back."

"I haven't done anything yet."

"But you came. That was all I needed to know."

"I'll always come," she said.

"By the way, what were you doing?"

As soon as she thought about it, her stomach growled. "Believe it or not, ordering lunch at Hickory Park. It's the last time I ever even try. I'll do takeout, but I can't risk our sanity."

He laughed. "I can always count on you."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Run away,” Polly muttered to herself when she opened the door to the addition. Loud wailing coming from the room Evelyn Morrow would use announced the fact that Denis Sutworth had moved in. His mother was letting everyone know that she was present. Polly quietly tapped on the door, hoping no one would hear her.

But the door opened immediately and Aaron Merritt looked at Polly, frustration evident on his face.

"Polly," he said, taking her arm. "Please come in."

"Miss Giller," Leslie Sutworth wailed. "Will it never end? How much more should Denis have to suffer?"

Polly held her finger up to the woman and silence fell. She turned to Aaron. "Where's Evelyn?"

He tilted his head to the other room. "She's in with the EMTs getting Denis settled."

"And why are you here?" Polly asked.

"He has questions about that girl's death," Leslie cried. Her voice went up and down the pitch register. In just a few moments, Polly's nerves were on edge. She couldn't imagine what Aaron was feeling. Leslie went on. "Denis was in the hospital fighting for his life when she was killed. How could he think that my poor boy would be involved in something so awful? Denis wouldn't kill someone."

Polly put her hand back up, silencing the woman once again. "How is Denis connected to Julie Smith?" she asked Aaron.

"That's why I want to speak with him. This morning Stu discovered the two had been dating..."

"But that was over," Leslie wailed. "They broke up. It nearly destroyed him. That was probably why he went off his medication. He has been so distraught. But you can't think that he had anything to do with her death. You just can't. I've spent all my free time with him. He can't walk, much less drive. This is the worst thing that could happen today, when everything is supposed to be so joyful. My boy is out of the hospital..."

"Please stop talking, Mrs. Sutworth," Polly said, interrupting what promised to be an unending flow of words from the woman's mouth.

"But..." Leslie whined.

"No. You aren't helping." Polly stopped before she said anything more. Words like 'incessant whining' and 'helicopter parenting' were swirling around, but she didn't think that she needed to escalate the situation any more than it had been.

Leslie Sutworth sat down in a wing chair and dropped her head into her hands, snuffling and snorting. Polly walked over to the desk, picked up the box of tissues and put them in the woman's lap.

"You've been here for the last half hour?" she asked Aaron.

He took her arm and led her outside the room and pulled the door closed. Once they were alone, he drew her into a bear hug and chuckled when he released her.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I wanted to put cuffs on that woman and duct tape her mouth shut. But since that's totally inappropriate, I just let her wail. I assumed she probably had a good reason for it, since so much has happened to her this last week."

"It happened to her son. She's just living vicariously through his pain," Polly retorted. Then she felt guilty. "No, that's not nice either. This is going to be a long recovery for all of us if she decides that she needs to spend all of her waking moments here. I wonder how long Evelyn will put up with it."

Aaron leaned on the door frame. "Probably longer than you. I should think about hiring you, though. You don't put up with much crap from people like her."

"I can't bear whining.'

He looked at her and smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I whined when Joey and his serial killer friend were in town. I tried to contain it to just Henry, but sometimes it crept out in front of other people."

"The man's a saint," Aaron said quietly, a wicked grin on his lips.

"Henry?" she asked. And then she laughed with him. "He really is. I don't know anyone else who would put up with my particular brand of insanity."

"I guess we each have our own crosses to bear."

"Lydia is a cross you have to bear?" Polly asked.

"Good lord, no," Aaron said, putting his hands up defensively. "I'm her cross."

"What are you thinking about this connection between Denis and Julie?"

He shook his head. "Whenever I discover coincidences like this, I find that it's important to ask more questions. Having two strange occurrences happen in the same week and then finding that the two subjects not only knew each other, but were intimately involved..." His voice trailed off.

"I get it," Polly said. "I was beginning to wonder if anything was happening. I hadn't heard from you and things have been quiet around town. Do you have any idea who might have broken into the coffee shop? Any idea of the timeline from that evening at all? And what about Grey's walking stick. Were there any fingerprints on it other than his?"

"You watch too much television," Aaron said. "I wish we were given fingerprints and other evidence on a silver platter. The only fingerprints on the stick belonged to Alistair Greyson."

"Do you suspect he was involved?"

"No." Aaron shook his head again. "But the absence of anyone else's prints tells me that someone took care to cover their tracks."

"And inside the building?" Polly pressed.

"Nothing to tell us who it was. Unless it was one of the other employees. But we've talked to all of them and they either have very solid alibis or, in the case of Sylvie, I'm pretty sure she didn't beat a young girl to death."

Polly chuckled. "I don't know. You might want to stay out of the kitchen if you don't want to have to revise that consideration."

"Things were a little chaotic when I arrived today," Aaron said.

The door opened and Leslie stood there. "Why won't they let me see my boy?" she whined. Her voice was much quieter, but it still made Polly want to grit her teeth.

"You must be patient," Polly said. "They will come get you when he is completely settled. You don't want to make this any more difficult on him than it already is, do you?"

"No." Now she sounded like a beaten puppy.

Polly put her hand on the woman's arm. "Go on back in and relax. Evelyn will be out soon."

The door closed again and Polly took a deep breath, doing her best not to roll her eyes. "Have you talked to Ken Wallers?" she asked.

Aaron looked at her quizzically. "About what? I usually see him a couple of times during the week."

"About this case."

"Does he know something?"

"Well, he knows about Denis. That accident is his case."

"Of course," Aaron said. "I haven't yet. We just got the information about an hour ago. Stu was in Boone and stopped at the hospital to see if he could talk to the kid and discovered he'd been released to come up here."

Polly lowered her voice. "I can't believe they let him out of the hospital so early."

"Insurance," Aaron said with disgust. "Rehab is less expensive than hospitalization. They patched him up as well as they could and there's no reason to keep him any longer. Insurance forces everyone to make interesting decisions."

"Then I guess I'm glad she got in touch with Evelyn."

"I didn't know you were opening a nursing home," he said with a smile.

"Neither did I," Polly responded. "But it fits right in with what I'd originally hoped for Sycamore House."

The door to the other room opened and two EMTs came out.

"Is everything okay?" Aaron asked.

"He'll be fine," the young woman said. "They sedated him for the ride up here. He's starting to come around again. Mrs. Morrow has it well in hand."

Aaron shook her hand and clapped the young man who was with her on the back. "Thanks for your work. It's good to see you both."

"Nice to see you, too, Sheriff," the young man said on his way out the door.

"I haven't seen much of the girl, Sarah," Polly said to Aaron. "What happened to her?"

"She's moved on. She went to the University of Iowa for a nursing degree. She wants to go to med school, too."

"So young," Polly said. "Big dreams and the energy to make them happen."

Evelyn Morrow came out of the room and smiled at Polly. She didn't carry the smile on to Aaron. "He's exhausted, Sheriff. Surely this could wait until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Sunday, Mrs. Morrow," Aaron said. "If I can avoid working, it keeps Lydia happy."

Polly grinned. "And if Lydia is happy, everyone is happy."

"Please keep your visit short, then," Evelyn said. "He's going to have enough to deal with..." She stopped herself. "That was out of line. But don't spend too much time with him. I'll keep his mother busy with paperwork until you're finished."

She slipped into the next room and more wailing erupted from Leslie Sutworth. Evelyn gently closed the door behind her and the sound was muffled.

"Do you think you're coming in here with me?" Aaron asked with a smile.

Polly looked up at him, giving him as innocent a face as possible. "Do you mind? I really want to know what I've got going on here. I haven't even met this kid and now you're here to talk to him."

"One of these days..." Aaron shook his head. "No. I'm being foolish. I didn't say anything."

"What? What one of these days? What were you going to say?"

"I was going to tell you that you should apply for a private investigator's license, but then I realized what was about to come out of my mouth and stopped myself."

"But you failed," Polly said. "Don't worry. That's a terrible idea. Then I'd have to be involved in things I don't want to know about. Can you just see me sitting outside a hotel with my camera waiting for illicit lovers to leave? Talk about a bad idea."

Aaron chuckled. "It is a bad idea." He put his hand on the door handle. "You can come in with me, but stay quiet. I'm not accusing this kid of anything. I just need to find out if there is a connection between his accident and Julie's death."

"Okay," she said. "I'll do my very best to be good." Polly waved him in. "I promise."

Aaron strode into the room and stepped in front of the bed. It had been angled so Denis could look out toward the horse pasture. Polly had been worried that seeing him here in a hospital bed would bring back memories of Sarah Heater, Rebecca's mother, but the room was nothing like it had been when Sarah and Rebecca were living here. Their lives had filled every available space and this was sterile. Maybe over the next few months it would become more his room, but for now, it was simply an accommodation for a young man who needed help.

"Denis Sutworth, I'm Sheriff Aaron Merritt." Aaron put his hand out, reaching across the bed so Denis could shake it. "And this is Polly Giller. She owns Sycamore House."

Polly nodded and smiled. "I hope you are comfortable here. Evelyn knows that we will do everything we can to make your stay a good one."

"Thank you," Denis said weakly. "Am I in trouble for the accident with you, too?" He turned to Aaron. "I've already talked to the police and they said the man I hit wasn't pressing charges."

Aaron shook his head. "That's not why I'm here. You'll work that all out with Chief Wallers. No, I'm here about Julie Smith."

"Julie?" the boy asked. "What about her? Did she do something wrong? She's a nice person." He craned his neck toward the door. "Is she here to see me?"

Polly and Aaron glanced at each other. A look of surprise crossed his face and Polly felt helpless. There was nothing she could say.

Aaron sat down in the chair beside Denis's bed. "Son, I'm sorry to tell you that she is dead."

"Dead? What do you mean, dead?" Denis gave his head a quick shake. "I know what you mean, dead. But how could this happen. Was she sick? I just talked to her the other day."

"You did?" Aaron asked. "She came to see you in the hospital?"

Denis slumped back in the bed. "No. I've lost track of time. It was before the accident. But a couple of days after we broke up. I saw her down in Boone. She worked at Kentucky Fried. I went in to get lunch."

"Why did you break up?" Polly asked, then pursed her lips when Aaron scowled at her.

He dropped his head down and shut his eyes. "No reason. It was just time. We were moving on."