Murder in Gatlinburg (15 page)

But once again my brain
kicked into its detective mode. For some reason my thoughts changed to Miss
Friendly, whom I hadn't seen since we arrived. I wondered what had happened to
her, and if she would be accompanying the rest of us on our short trek to Dollywood.
My guess was no. Either by her choice or that of someone else, I doubted if she
would take part in the rest of our trip. Also, I doubted if there was any
chance I would see Earl again. And I wondered if  the missing persons report would
grow any more before our vacation was over. Were these two people dead? Could
one of them be dead and the other one be responsible? Or was all of this merely
a coincidence?

I looked at my watch and
decided to pop open one of my books. But instead of reading outside under the
dim porch light that would soon attract flying insects, I headed back to the
air-conditioning and the comfortable couch. I read for almost an hour, then
turned in. I lay in bed for a few minutes, looking out at the trees that would
be gone from my life in a few days. I wondered if Lou or anyone else in our
group was having as good of a vacation as I.

Having aced the
itinerary final, I knew that Monday morning we would eat breakfast at Westgate,
and then board the tour bus at 9:30 to head to Dollywood, where we would remain
until 5:00. At 5:00 we would head to Mellow Mushroom to enjoy pizza, or
whatever else we wanted to order, before returning to Westgate. I wondered what
percentage of Americans have never been to an amusement park. Well, it wouldn't
be long until that percentage went down slightly.

Once again we enjoyed a
delicious buffet breakfast, and I had time to return to my suite to brush my
teeth before boarding the bus.

A few minutes later, Lou
and I boarded the bus and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw we didn't have
our third bus driver of the trip. I counted the number of people already on
board and added two more. Lou and I brought the total to fourteen. I counted
each person that boarded after we did, and when the bus took off our number
totaled twenty-two. I was sure something had happened to Miss Friendly. It was
time to find out what her name was, and to do some investigating. So, I stood
up and got the group's attention. I hoped doing so wouldn't agitate the
murderer, if he or she was on board.

"May I have your
attention please? Is Mildred Jenkins or Agnes Trueblood on board?"

One woman stood and
looked at me.

"I'm Mildred Jenkins.
Is something wrong?"

"No, before I left
home I made it a point to meet all of my traveling companions, and you were the
only one I hadn't met."

"So, who is Agnes
Trueblood? And how did you know my name and I not know yours?"

"Agnes Trueblood
was a woman I met the other day, but I didn't get her name. As for your name, I'm
psychic, but after my concussion I get names mixed up sometimes."

"So is Agnes
Trueblood a member of our group? If so, where is she?"

"I'm not that
psychic."

I was getting dirty
looks from Harlan, our bus driver,  and I had no answer for Mildred Jenkins, so
I sat down and hoped everyone would forget my faux pas by the time we got to
Dollywood.

+++

"Are you scared or
excited?"

"What are you
talking about, Cy?"

"Today will be our
first rollercoaster ride."

"I guess I'm game
to ride with you, but I'm not starting with one that goes upside down, and I'm
not riding right after I eat."

"I have no problem
with your rules. And if I get sick while I'm riding, I'll remember to turn in
your direction."

+++

A few minutes later we
arrived at Dollywood, and I waited to be the last one off. I told Harlan that
we were still missing one tourist, and he informed me that it was a tie,
because they were still missing one bus driver.

A tram took us close to
where we were to pick up our tickets. While I could tell as we returned from
the national park on Sunday that a lot of people had already left Gatlinburg to
go back to work, a new batch must have shown up because we had to wait in line
for a few minutes to pick up our tickets. After we did, we walked inside and
studied the map. What should we do first?

We felt that the safest
thing would be to look around a little first. There were rides, shows, a gift
shop, and craftsmen making their wares. But I forgot about what I wanted to do
first when I saw Jack and Angel stroll by. They seemed to be following Sylvia
and Inez, but when Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Lou and me watching
them, he whispered to Angel and they broke away from the two women. I was going
to have to be more discreet in my surveillance. When Lou noticed what I was
doing he whispered two words to me, vacation and retirement. I could remember
when Lou's favorite word was "food" and then later when it was "Wii."
I wondered how he would act when we got back home and I twitched if I heard
that another body had fallen. I was sure that he would remind me that Heather
and Dan could handle it.

Lou and I walked, looked
around, tried to decide what to do first. From what I had heard, most people
arriving at an amusement park either make a mad dash for a certain attraction
or take their time and look around. We were of the taking our time persuasion. Besides,
we were rookies. We were more likely to dip our toe in the water rather than
dive in.

As we walked by a show that
had just begun, where the music sounded professional, Lou and I stopped to take
it in. Once the show was over, I knew that we needed to go ahead and try a
rollercoaster, or we would never do it. I knew the wooden coasters didn't do
loops, and Lou said he wasn't starting with something that turned him upside
down. Someone in charge of Dollywood thought Thunderhead was a good name for
the ride. I had mixed emotions as we stood in line, and I was anxious when the
ride took off and headed slowly up the hill. I knew enough about rollercoasters
to know that they don't go slow forever. What goes up must come down. As we
plummeted to our graves below, I think Lou reached for the cord to pull to get
off. He said he was only gripping the support in front of him because he had to
put his hands somewhere. Days later the ride ended and Lou and I walked like two
drunk men as we tiptoed down the ramp. Lou smiled as he pretended that he had
had the experience of his life. Evidently, whoever runs Dollywood knew that Lou
and I were coming. They had put benches near the end of the ride. Lou and I
stumbled over to recover and talk about our first rollercoaster experience.

"Cy, I forgot to
tell you about my clue of the day earlier, because I thought it might unnerve
you. Since you are already unnerved, I will share it with you now. It was
heart
attack.
"

"Are you trying to
tell me that Earl wasn't murdered?"

"No, I'm just
sharing today's clue with you."

"Well, I think I've
learned its meaning. Dollywood might call that ride Thunderhead, but I think
Heart Attack Waiting to Happen is more appropriate."

"Cy, just in case
your first rollercoaster ride turns out to be your last, can I have your
house?"

"I knew it. I knew
you've always had eyes for my next-door neighbor. I guess you can have the
house, but I'm leaving Lightning to Mrs. E. No one else would appreciate
her."

"You don't think
Jennifer would appreciate her?

"Yeah, but it might
make her sad to drive it. She might think of me and cry."

"But it might make
Mrs. E think of you and cry, too. Just think of all the money she will be
losing out on with you not there to buy a new stash of books every few weeks.
I'll tell you what I'll do. If it turns out that the rollercoaster was your
last ride, I'll make Mrs. E feel better by buying a second copy of each book I
buy. And if you like, I'll even scatter your ashes throughout the pages. Too
bad you didn't keel over when there would have been more ashes to
scatter."

"Lou, remind me
when I get home to find a new best friend."

We both laughed, patted
each other on the back, and headed off to see where we would make our next memories.

We didn't know what we
would do next, but we knew what we weren't going to do. God didn't intend for
someone to ride two rollercoasters in a row, so we looked for something where
we didn't move. We had two non-moving choices, to eat, or to take in another
show. In times past, it would have been a no-brainer, but we had changed, and
so we took in another show. Of course in times past we wouldn't have been able
to ride the coasters because only people who weigh less than 270 pounds will
fit on those rides. After losing a lot of weight, we didn't even rub against
the restraining bar. Little did I know that the first rollercoaster we rode was
the tamest. If Lou had had a free hand when we rode the Tennessee Tornado, he
would have made out his will. We made so many loops that we needed to sit for a
minute when we came to a stop. I think they cut us some slack because we had
thirty or more years on most of the crowd. But the Mystery Mine, where we took
a ninety-five degree drop in the dark, and were thrown every way imaginable,
was the ride where we said enough was enough.

After that the most
dangerous thing we did was get soaked. We rode something much tamer, where
machines were programmed to shoot water in our direction. Well, part of them
shot water. One of them dumped water on us, and the other people in our round
tub. I'm not sure we were totally dry when we left for the day.

I wish someone had been
along to take pictures of us on the coasters. I only knew that if either  of us
had tried to take a selfie, there would be a good chance that that dumb and
brave soul would have had to go to the nearest store and buy a new phone to
replace the one he had dropped. All I knew was that no one at home would
believe that Lou and I had actually done this.  I know George would have to be
convinced that Lou and I mounted the horses on the carousel, which we did, even
though we didn't do so gracefully. But a few months earlier I didn't think I
could have lifted my leg higher than the horse's hoof.

In between death defying
feats I looked around to see if I saw any of our group, and if so to see if any
of them looked like they were in peril or about to decrease the population. From
time to time we saw some of them, but the ones we saw were the less violent
type, who nodded to us in recognition as they passed.

By the time we arrived
at Mellow Mushroom, my blood pressure was approaching normal again. However, I
didn't know about Earl's or Miss Friendly's blood pressure, because neither had
rejoined our group.

Several of us were
seated at a large table at Mellow Mushroom, and all of the conversation was on
Dollywood and what each of us had done. Lou and I became heroes to most of our
traveling companions because we were the only ones in the group who had tackled
three coasters. The two kids in particular held us in high esteem, and the
little boy told his mother than they were coming back next year, when he should
be tall enough to ride any ride in the park. One guy did steal part of our
thunder before dinner was over, because he was the only one in our group to zip
line at the park. The ones who admitted to doing nothing more challenging than
ride the train and the Ferris wheel were roundly booed. It looked like we were
bonding. Snidely Whiplash and Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale didn't appear to
be at our table. I was sure that our murderer was elsewhere. Was it one of our
group who decided to eat at a smaller table, maybe by himself or herself, or
with only one other person? Or could it be the two guys in suits with
sunglasses, or the shifty-looking man with a limp? Or could it be that Earl or
Miss Friendly was in hiding, with plans to pick off our group one at a time?

Before I went to bed on
Monday night I thanked God for providing a vacation  for us and letting us live
through the first part of it, and I told Him I'd be willing to try another one
after I got home and rested up from this one.

I knew that Tuesday was
a free day for us. That meant I could sleep late, and if Lou would let me I
would also do a little sleuthing. I didn't care for Miss Friendly, but I didn't
want her dead. I still thought of her as Miss Friendly. I just couldn't think
of her as Agnes Trueblood. I just hoped that none of Agnes's true blood had
escaped from her body, but with her gone from us for this long I feared the
worst.

And then I remembered
that Earl was missing, too. Had something happened to him? Or had he murdered
Miss Friendly and then ran away? Or could someone have murdered both of them?
And then I remember Inez, who was missing for a while, but then turned up.
Could it be that both Earl and Miss Friendly had gone somewhere other than
where they were expected to be and would turn up eventually?