Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 02 - Apple Pots and Funeral Plots (23 page)

“That’s my boy.”
Kate got up and turned to Tom.
“It was nice meeting you.
Are you staying for a while?”

He glanced at me and then back to Kate. “Probably.”

Ted was already half way to the door and Kate strolled behind him.

“What’s the top of the hill?
Is it a local place?”

“I don’t know.
But I suspect it’s a make-out place.”

“Ah.”
Tom smiled.
“I’d eat a ton of French Fries if you’d take me there.”

I rolled my eyes.
A few minutes later Tom’s food arrived.
I helped him eat his potatoes.
They weren’t as good as Rogan’s fries but they were okay if you put enough ketchup on them.

A few minutes later, the waitress brought our apple pots.
I pointed to Tom’s.
“Here’s that million dollar apple pot.”

“I can’t wait.”
Tom ate his entire apple pot without saying a word.
When it was empty, he put down his fork and leaned back.
“Okay, I have to admit that’s the best apple cobbler I’ve ever eaten.”
He picked up the pot and turned it around in his hands.
“But a million dollars?”

“Oh, that’s a cheap pot.
The expensive ones have gold, silver, and jewels inlaid into the handles.”

“How much do those cost?”

“I don’t know.
You can’t buy them.”

“Wait a minute.
You can’t buy them, but they sell them and make millions of dollars.”

“Yes.
They’re only distributed through wholesalers.”

I sat back in the booth and picked up my apple pot.
“Do you think there’s any way to smuggle something in an apple pot?”

“Like what?”
Tom asked as he took a sip from his Coke.

“I don’t know.
What’s small and worth millions of dollars?”

“In my experience, the only way you can make that much money consistently every year is with drugs.”

“That’s what I thought.”

The waitress came back and I asked her to package up the two pots and send them to the inn.

“You get to keep the pot?”
Tom asked.

“Sure.”
I handed him a napkin.
“The recipe for the cobbler is printed on everything in this town.

“How many do you have now?”

“Eight, including these two.
I also bought one at the fair.
It’s fancier but it’s flawed, so you can’t put it in the oven.”

“Are you going to make apple cobbler for me?”

“Sure.”
I smiled.
“You cook the entire meal, I’ll do dessert.”

“Sounds good to me.
How about a tour of Clainsworth?”
Tom suggested as he pushed his plate away.

“Sure, it’s not a huge place.
I can give you the highlights and we can still make it to the preliminary event for the French fry contest.”

“What time is the event?”

“
Three o’clock
.”

The corners of his mouth pulled up slightly and his eyes sparkled.
“I guess that leaves out a nice long afternoon nap.”

“One of them where we don’t sleep?”

“Yeah, I was thinking along that line.”

“I think I can do the tour in an hour and we can go back and have lunch in bed.”

Tom grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the table.
“Best idea you’ve had all day, honey.”

Tom paid the check as we left the café and we walked up and down
Main Street
.

“This is the most well kept town I’ve ever seen.”
Tom remarked as we passed each business with its freshly painted exterior and sparkling new window decorations.

“It’s all from the apple pot
sales
.”

“You think they’ll let me invest in the pots.
They yield a much higher gain than my CDs do in the bank.”

“I don’t know.”
I shrugged.

Tom wasn’t interested in going into too many of the shops.
He had other things on his mind.
But I did take him into the card shop and show him the beautiful journals.
He picked up two small journals for the daughters of his coworkers back in Gainsville.

“Dave’s daughters are going to just love these.
They’re twelve and fourteen.”

“That’s a good age for writing in a journal.”

As we walked up
Main Street
, I showed Tom where Doc Gordon’s office was and some of the other businesses I’d visited.
We passed several families eating ice cream at the ice cream parlor and also several groups of eating contestants wandering around the street.

Tom glanced at the contestants.
“Those don’t look like family men?”

“Oh those are contestants.
Do you know they come from all over the world to participate in the contests?”

Tom shook his head and we continued down the street.

When we passed a small deli, I asked, “Do you want to pick up some sandwiches for lunch?”

He put his hand on his stomach.
“It hasn’t been that long since I had breakfast.
I’m still stuffed.”

“Well, I’m going to need
sustenance
soon.”

“There’s always room service.”

“You are just full of good ideas today, Sheriff Tom.”

We went back to the inn, climbed into bed, and spent the rest of the morning there.

Around one, my stomach made a horrendous noise.

Tom laughed.
“We forgot to feed you.”

“Yes, we did.”

I called the front desk and ordered two deli sandwiches.
Joe said it would be about a half of an hour before they arrived.
I thanked him and lay back in bed with Tom.

“So what’s next in your investigation, Liza?”

“I want to take a look at the mayor’s tent.”

“The mayor has his own tent?
Where?”

“At the festival.
It’s used to house the adult contestants while they’re waiting for their turn at the eating contest.”

“Why would you want to go in there?”

“Because he wouldn’t let me in when I was doing the children’s contest, that’s why.”

“Why don’t you just go in when Ted goes in this afternoon?”
Tom suggested and started to kiss my neck again.

“That’s a good idea.”
I said and then gasped when Tom got to that little space next to my ear that always makes my toes curl.

“Glad to help.”
He raised his head and winked at me.

A few minutes later, I pushed Tom gently away from me.
“We need to get dressed.
I don’t want to miss the contest.”

“Okay.
I think I’ve had enough for a few hours.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I try.”

We got dressed and Joe arrived a few minutes later with our food.

About half way through the sandwich, Tom stopped eating.
“Is all the food in this town this good?”

“I haven’t had a bad meal, yet.”

“I hope there’s nothing to your idea about the town being involved in drug running.
This is a good place for a vacation.”

I smiled and we continued eating.
Tom was a great chef and it was quite a compliment that he felt the food met his high standards.
Usually he’d rather cook than go out.

When we finished, I got up.
“Let’s go and watch Ted eat fries.”

“Can we walk to the festival?”

“No, the fairground is on the other side of town.
It’s probably three miles from here.
You might be in good enough shape to walk there, but Shelby and I are too sore after everything that has happened in the last few days.”

Tom put his arms around me and pulled me close.
Then he kissed me long and hard.

“What was that for?”
I asked when I pulled away from him.

“Because I’m glad you and Shelby are okay.”

“Me, too.”
I grabbed his hand.
“Let’s go to an eating festival.”

I let Tom drive Kate’s car.
I gave him directions and within minutes we
pulled
into the festival’s parking lot.
He followed Shelby and me over to the contest tables.
The mayor stood
at the podium talking to the crowds about the apple pots and the other events for the week.

I handed Tom Shelby’s leash.
“I’m going to go into the tent and wish Ted, good luck.
Would you hold her for a minute?”

“Sure,” Tom said, although he wasn’t really paying attention to me.
He was too busy looking at the contestants and frowning.

I went around the crowd, bypassed the tables, and headed directly into the tent.
No guards, no dogs.
I spotted Ted with four other men and figured they were finalists too.
I went over to him.
“Good luck, Ted.”

“Thanks, Liza.”
He leaned over toward me and whispered, “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

“I know.”
I patted him on the shoulder.
“I just wanted to wish you luck.”

“Thanks.”

I waved and walked toward the front flap.
When I glanced back, Ted was busy talking to the other contestants.
I took a quick right turn toward the back of the tent.
There were five tables set up.
I went behind the first table and moved toward the back of the tent.
There were two vertical zippers about six feet apart that extended ten or twelve feet toward the top of the tent.
Big enough to load a truck with items on the tables.

Under the fifth table was a box.
Drugs?
I quickly ran by the other tables and reached under the table and pulled out the box.
That’s when I heard the snarling.
I slowly turned around to face the two Dobermans.
They were growling and snarling.
And no one was around to call them off.

Chapter 22

I froze.
As long as I didn’t move, the dogs didn’t either.
They just snarled and drooled.
What a terrible thought, but I wished the mayor was here.
What had he said to the dogs to get them to back off?
If my memory was better, maybe I’d be able to get out of this.
I took one step back.
The dogs moved forward too.
Okay, moving definitely was a bad idea.

I heard the mayor announce the contest and the crowd cheered.
Great, Ted would be eating fries while these two beasts ate me.

The dogs moved another step closer.
“That’s not fair, I didn’t move,” I said to the dogs, but they kept moving forward.

Suddenly one of the zippers at the back of the tent opened and a guard stuck his head in.
He
carried
some type of pillowcase and when he saw my predicament, he just smiled.

“Do you want to call off your mutts?”
I said.

“Maybe.”
He stepped through the zipper door and walked toward me.
He yelled at the dogs and they sat.
“What are you doing in here?”

“Ted is in the finals for the eating contests tonight and I came in to tell him good luck.”

“Then why are you in the back of the tent?
The contestants always wait by the front flap until they’re called to the eating table.”

“I saw the box under that table.”
I pointed under the fifth table.
“I remembered what the mayor said about the apple pots he distributed out of this tent.
They were very expensive, right?
I didn’t want anything to happen to the box, so I came to pick it up and take it to him.”

“How nice of you,” the guard said, sarcastically.

“Just trying to be helpful.”
I met his sarcastic tone with one of my own.
“But since you’re here now, I guess I’ll go and watch the eating contest.”
As I stepped away from him, the dogs stood and moved closer to me.

“Hold on a minute, lady.
I want to ask the mayor what I should do with you.”
He opened his cell phone, pushed some buttons, and held it to his ear.

That didn’t sound good.
What kind of accident could they come up for me?
I already had an auto accident and fallen into the mine.
And they had already used fire.

I stepped back from the dogs.
The guard yelled, “Behind!” and the dogs went around me and sat right behind my legs.
Slowly, they
nudged
me toward the guard.
Just then I heard
Shelby
bark.

Tom and Shelby came through the front flap.
“Hey, honey.
You’re missing the contest.”

“I know.
I was just talking to this nice gentleman.
I’m coming.”
I waved at the guard.
“See you later.”

He yelled, “Return” and the dogs came back to him.
That’s the word the mayor had said earlier.
I needed to remember it in case I ran into those two dogs again.

When I got to Tom, I grabbed his hand and we walked to the front of the eating contest tables.
Ted was doing well.
He seemed to be keeping up with all the other men in the contest.

Tom leaned over.
“Have a little trouble in the tent, honey?”

I shook my head.
“No, not really.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Liza,” he whispered.

I turned my head and we watched the rest of the contest.

Tom glanced around the crowd.
“My police senses are going nuts here.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.
But an awful lot of these contestants look like gang members and felons.
I see prison tattoos and gang colors.
I didn’t know they were all involved in eating contests, too.”

“I thought they looked strange too when I first saw them, but I was told that the contestants come from all over to compete.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

At the end of the contest, Ted had come in third.
He
jumped up and down and yelled
when the mayor announced his name.
We screamed and cheered for him, too.

The guard that I’d encountered in the tent went over to the mayor and whispered in his ear.
The mayor glared at me and then spoke to the guard again.

Ted rushed up and screamed.
“I’ve never made the finals in the fries, before!”

“Congratulations, Ted.”
Tom shook his hand.

“Thanks.”
He glanced around us.
“Have you seen Kate?”

“No,” I told him.
“That’s right, you two have a date.”

“Yeah.”
He went running off.

Tom glanced over at the carnival rides.
“Want to take a chance?”

“No way, those are accidents waiting to happen.”

“And with your luck,” he said, laughing, “you’d probably have one.”

I laughed, too.
“That’s true.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened in the tent?”

“It’s not that important.
I looked around, met two dogs, talked to the guard, and then you came in.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that simple.”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay, what’s next?”
Tom asked.

“I don’t know.”
I started to walk toward the car.
“Let’s go back to the inn.”

Tom smiled.
“That works for me.”

“Oh brother, that’s not what I meant.”

“A man can only hope.”

When we got back to the inn, Shelby and Tom went directly to the bed.

I sat at the table.

“Aren’t you going to join us?”

“Not yet.
Why don’t you see if you can find something to watch on the TV?”

“I doubt there’s anything as good as playing with you.”

“Give it a try, Tom.”

He huffed.
“Okay.”

He started clicking through the stations and making comments about the programs.

I tuned him out and opened my journal.
Last time I’d written everything I knew about Danielle’s death.
Tonight I did the same thing with Sally and James’s death.
Then I wrote what I knew about the apple pots and the people who lived in Clainsworth.

I glanced over and Tom and Shelby were asleep.
They both looked cute lying together.

I heard a knock at the door.
Shelby went nuts, barking and running toward the door, and Tom reached for the gun he had strapped to his ankle.
Sleeping with a cop is a strange experience.

“It’s just the door,” I yelled at both of them.

When I opened the door, Ted
stood
on my doorstep.
He had his arms wrapped around his body and stared straight ahead, his eyes were full of water and he looked on the verge of crying.

I reached over and touched his arm.
“What’s the matter, Ted?”

“Kate never showed up,” he lowered his head and then said, pleadingly, “Why wouldn’t she show up?”

I pointed toward the wooden chair next to the small table in my room and said, “Why don’t you come in and sit down?”

“Okay.”
Ted walked slowly.

Tom stepped forward.
“Did you try her house?”

“Yeah, she wasn’t there.”

Tom walked over.
“When was the last time you saw her?”

“At the café.”

“Didn’t you both go back to the festival?”
I asked.

“No, she said she wanted to check something and that she’d be back when the contest started.
I didn’t see her, but I figured she was just behind the crowd.”
He turned in the direction of the festival.
“She said she was coming, but why didn’t she come?”

Tom turned Ted around to face him.
“Tell me what you did after the contest, after you left us?”

“I went looking for her, but she wasn’t anywhere.”

“Where’d you check?”

“At the top of the hill and then around the carnival rides.”

“Has she ever done this before?”
Tom asked.

“No, Kate’s very dependable.
If she says she going to do something, then she does it.”

“I can vouch for that, Tom.
She does seem like a very responsible girl,” I said.

Tom sat in the chair opposite Ted.
“Okay, the place to start is where she went when she left you.
Do you know what she wanted to check out?”

Ted shrugged.
“No.”

“You probably do.
Let’s go back to the beginning of today.
What were you guys up to?”

“I went over to Kate’s house and she fixed me Eggs Benedict.
It was really good.”

“Okay, then what.”

“I had to go home and mow my mom and dad’s lawn and do some other yard work.”

“And
Kate
?”

“She said she
would go and explore
the mines again.
I told her to be careful, but she said I was a fuddy-duddy.”

Tom looked at me.
“Does Kate know how to climb in the mines?”

“Oh yeah, she was taught by James and he was a really good spelunker.”

“That’s the guy that got caught in the cave-in?”
Tom asked.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.
“Supposedly.”

“Okay,” Tom turned his attention back to Ted.
“When did you see Kate again?”

“Around
noon
, when we saw the two of you at the café.”

“And then?”

“We walked over to the festival.”

“What did you do there?”

“We just walked around.
Kate said she needed to think.
I was hungry, so I suggested we go and get my hamburger.
I always eat a hamburger before the French fry contest.
It helps for some reason, but I don’t know why.
It really helped this time.”
Ted was starting to babble.

Tom put his hands on Ted’s legs, bringing him back into focus.
“Did Kate go and eat with you?”

“No, she said she needed to check something and would see me at the preliminary trials.”

“Kate didn’t want anything to eat?”
I asked.
This was certainly not in her character.

“No,” Ted shook his head.

Tom leaned back.
“Okay, let me see if I’ve got it.
Kate went to the mines today, came back, and needed to think.
Then she went off to check out something.
You never saw her again.”

“That’s it.”
Ted lowered his head into his hands.
“Where is she?”

Tom looked at me.
“Do you think she went back to the mine?”

I shook my head.

“Why not?”
Tom asked.

“I don’t think there would have been enough time.
If she said she’d be back for the contest, then she would be there.
There wasn’t time to gear up, go to the mine, and then get back to the finals between the time they were at the café with us and the finals began.”
I stood up.
“I’m going to call Bill.
He should be told that his daughter is missing.”

“We should inform the local cops, too.
They can get a group together and start looking for her.”

I rolled my eyes.
“If you think they’ll actually look for her…”

Tom frowned at me and picked up his cell phone.
He stepped outside of the room and made his call.
I called Bill.
He was frantic by the time I finished.

“We’ve got to find her, Liza!”