The Stubborn Schoolhouse Spirit (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (6 page)

CHAPTER NINE

When Penelope hadn’t heard Sam come in by two o’clock, she went down the hall and knocked on the door of the front bedroom. “Sam?” No answer. She turned the knob and cracked the door. “Sam?” The name echoed in the emptiness of the room.

So why isn’t he here? And what would he think of you checking on him? Probably that I was ready to give him what he wanted.
Closing the door, she went back to her room.
Where is he? Has something happened? And why is he interested in Marlo Howard and the new farm manager? Why does he want Mary Lynn to wait to get started on turning the old school into a community center? What does he know that we don’t? Whatever it is, it probably doesn’t bode well for anybody.

When daylight filtered through the blinds, she was still awake and full of questions—but empty of answers.

****

On New Year’s Day, Bradley and
Rosabel came for the obligatory black-eyed peas. Penelope made cornbread in her Grandmother Kelley’s iron skillet and put a maple glaze on some ham left-over from the party. Jake said a pot of turnip greens would make the meal perfect. Bradley rolled his eyes, and Rosabel wrinkled her nose.

“What did you think about Millie’s friend
Marlo?” Rosabel asked as she helped Penelope clean up the kitchen while Jake and Brad watched the pre-game show on the television in the parlor.

“Not much.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“Brad ran her through the computer this morning. He came up empty though.”

“Why did he even check up on her?”

“It’s the art gallery she plans to open. There’s been a rash of art thefts from galleries all over the Midwest and clear to the east coast. Some of the pieces have been recovered from so-called antique shops in small towns.”

“They’re using small towns to hide out in?”

“Something like that.”

“So now what?”

“Now nothing unless she gives Brad a reason to dig deeper.”

“What about Chuck Runyon?” Penelope turned to study
Rosabel’s reaction to the name.

“I like him, and so does Bradley.”

“Well, obviously, he hired him.”

“The references from his professors at Ole Miss were outstanding.”

“Art and agriculture don’t quite go together, do they?”

Rosabel
laughed. “In his case, yes. Like he said, it’s a hobby, but he knows his stuff, and Brad is definitely going to get those paintings appraised and insured.”

For a split second, Penelope debated whether or not to tell
Rosabel about Sam’s so-called advice about the old school and his curiosity about Marlo and Chuck. But if something was going on, Sam knew he could trust Bradley. He’d done it before.

“I’m glad you and Shana have gotten to be friends,” she said instead.

“I like her.”

“So you know she’s not looking to pick up with Bradley where she left off.”

Rosabel laughed, showing the deep dimples Penelope loved. “Brad said they had a good talk on the way to the airport. I’m glad they got things straightened out. And now there’s Peter Taliaferro.”

“I hope she had a good time with him last night. I want to hear about it.”

“I’m sure she’ll clue you in. It took guts for her to come back here.”

“She’s got a good supply. I found that out while we were on the run.”

Rosabel nodded. “She’d have made a good undercover operative.”

Operative. There was that word again. Penelope frowned.

“Did I say something?”

“No, of course not.” Penelope patted
Rosabel’s arm. “I wasn’t cut out for that sort of cloak and dagger stuff. Shana’s pretty philosophical about it, but not me.”

“Well, it was
a shock seeing your ex-husband killed like that.”

“It wasn’t just that. It was always looking over my shoulder, not knowing who to trust.”

“I only met Mr. Pembroke once. I can understand how he could convince Shana to shack up with him. Oh, I’m not judging her—and that’s the term she used,
shacking up
.”

“He was a charmer all right.”

“Now he’s gone, and you have to move on, and so does Brad.”

“Do you think he will?”

Rosabel smiled. “I think he’s made a good start. He’s like you, Mrs. Pembroke. Steady, grounded, caring, and very firm about decisions he makes.”

“Don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me Mrs. Pembroke?”

“If you think it is.”

“I do. Try something else. Penelope. Nellie. Pen.”
But not Nell. That’s reserved.

“I like Penelope. It’s a good name.”

“I’m stuck with it, I guess.

“That’s who you are.”
Rosabel took off her apron and hung it in the pantry. “Now tell me what’s going on out at the old school—besides Shana and Peter hooking up. I really meant it when I said I wanted to help.”

****

Penelope spent the rest of the week readying the B&B for the expected guests who would be attending the Amaryllis Crystal Rainbow Convention. Somehow Harry Hargrove and the town council had located almost a hundred vendors who collected the old-fashioned glass prisms which once hung from chandeliers and lamps. Every January the high school opened its gym to a large crowd for the booths and displays, and every year Mary Lynn said, “I swear he got the idea from that old movie,
Pollyanna.
Remember how Haley Mills and Adolph Menjou strung those thingamabobs and hung them in the window to catch the sun?”

“Who’d have thought the idea would catch on like that?”

“Harry did.”

“Harry’s done a lot to save this town, Mary Lynn.”

“I know he has, and I’m proud of him. But sometimes I have to laugh at how some of his craziest ideas have been the most successful.”

Penelope recalled the annual conversation as she hung her own prisms in all the front windows of the B&B. Whatever brought business to town was all right with her. She was hanging the last bunch when Mary Lynn charged through from the kitchen.

“The boiler’s on the fritz again. I went out there with some paint samples this morning, and it was freezing.”

“You left it on?”

“I went by and turned the heat on low last night so it would be bearable when I got there.”

“Did you call Peter Taliaferro?”

“He’ll be here this afternoon.” Mary Lynn tossed her purse onto the loveseat. “I don’t have time for all this.”

“Simmer down, Mrs. Mayor.”

“That’s why I don’t have time for it. I have to be at Harry’s beck and call this weekend.”

“The school’s been there for over a hundred years. It’s not going to walk off before next week.”

“It might.”

“You didn’t, uh, hear anything while you were there, did you?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. When I got mad and started cussing out the boiler, I heard somebody laughing.”

“Oh, come on, Mary Lynn.”

“It’s true.”

“I’ve finished up here, so I’ll go with you this afternoon if you want me to.”

“Sure, why not? By the way, did you get a report from Shana on her big New Year’s Eve with Peter?”

“At least twice.”

“That bad, huh?” Mary Lynn ran a hand through her curls. “Figures.”

“The girl’s smitten.”

“Are they going out again?”

“His little girl came home from visiting her grandparents the day after New Year’s, so that’ll curtail his social life a bit.”

“Grandparents? Her mother’s parents? I thought they didn’t get along.”

Penelope nodded. “They don’t. Shana says Peter wouldn’t let Tabby out of his sight with them. These are his parents. They were here for Christmas and took Tab
by home with them to their place in Mountain View. He called her every night.”

“So Shana hasn’t met the kid.”

“Not yet. She wants to, but she’s also a little nervous about it.”

“It’s none of my business, but has she told Peter about her ill-fated interlude with Travis?”

“She says she’s going to.”

“Better sooner than later.”

“That’s what I told her.”

“Do you think it’ll make a difference to him?”

“I think it depends on how interested in her he is.”

“Let’s hope he’s interested enough.”

“Let’s hope.”

****

The white truck parked near the school steps had
Taliaferro Heating and Air
stenciled above a silhouette of a modern air conditioning unit. When the man behind the wheel opened the door and stepped out, Penelope’s first thought was that Shana’s description of him had been correct. A hunk. A definite hunk.

“I don’t understand why the boiler isn’t coming on,” he said as Mary Lynn unlocked the front door. “It was working perfectly when I was out here before Christmas.”

“Well, it’s not working now.” The door creaked as she shoved it open.

“Those hinges need some oil,” Peter observed.

“The building needs some heat,” Mary Lynn retorted. “By the way, the light is out in the basement again, but I brought another bulb.”

Peter held out his hand. “I’ll fix it.”

After he disappeared into the back room, Penelope said, “I’ve never been on the second floor.”

“There’s nothing up there but empty classrooms. We’ll go take a look if you want to.”

“You can almost imagine the desks lined up and full of children,” Penelope said as she stood in the middle of the first room. “And look at those tall windows. I think we need more natural light in the newer schools today.”

“Fluorescent light always gave me a headache.”

“Natural light and fresh air, that’s what kids need today.”

“Not according to the school board.”

“What do they know?” Penelope’s sneakers made no sound on the wide hardwood planks as she crossed floor to look into the long narrow room where students had hung their coats and stored their lunch pails. “Spooky,” she said.

“Don’t say that,” Mary Lynn snapped.

“You don’t want me to stir up the spirits of students past?” Penelope looked over her shoulder and snickered.

“Hush
up, Pen. You heard the same thing I did the other day. So did Shana.”

“It was our imagination.”

“It was not. And that flashlight went out just like the fire did at the Sit-n-Swill. Bang!”

“You’re really into this, aren’t you?”

“Hush up, Pen.”

Downstairs, they ran into Peter just as he came up from the basement. “It’s purring like a kitten, Mrs. Hargrove.”

“It wasn’t working.”

“I don’t know why. Are you sure you had it turned on?”

Mary Lynn narrowed her eyes. “I know how to flip a switch, thank you.”

He shrugged. “It’s working. If it gives you anymore trouble, call me.”

“You can count on it. How much do I owe you for the service call?”

“Nothing. I stand behind my work. But you can tell me how to get to the library.”

“Going to check out a book?” Penelope asked. “Or check out the librarian?”

Pete
r grinned. “The latter.”

“Straight down Cedar Street past City Hall. You’ll run right into it.”

“Thanks.”

“Are your intentions honorable?” Penelope asked, only half joking.

“Absolutely not.” Peter winked again, hitched up his tool belt, and headed for the door.

Seconds after he left, the basement door opened half-way and then closed again.

Mary Lynn grabbed Penelope’s hand and all but dragged her down the hall to the front door, outside, and down the steps.

CHAPTER TEN

With the Amaryllis Crystal Rainbow Convention behind them, and the February Cupid Convention a month away, Penelope, Mary Lynn, Shana, and
Rosabel, tackled the old school in earnest. Mary Lynn rented professional vacuums to suck up years of accumulated dust, and when that was gone, they painted the walls of two downstairs rooms a soft robin’s egg blue with cream woodwork. “Someday we’ll refinish the floors,” she said, “but that’s too expensive right now. They’re scarred up but otherwise in good shape.”

The boiler came on and off like clockwork, although the radiators—painted silver instead of cream because Peter said they’d work better that way—whistled and groaned as if protesting being rousted from retirement. The four women discovered that as long as they stayed away from the two original schoolrooms and the basement, the voices and laughter stayed away, too.

Penelope felt grateful for the physical labor which helped her fall asleep at night without too many errant thoughts of Sam. Maybe she felt more yearnings than she had thoughts, but being tired was a boon. She almost wished he’d throw gravel against her window again or knock on her door—which she didn’t lock anymore—but wherever he was, it wasn’t around Amaryllis. She did think the least he could do was call, but that didn’t happen either.

Chuck Runyon moved into the quarters above the old carriage house at Pembroke Point and continued running the farm, Brad said, like he was born to the role. “It’s a load off my shoulders, that’s for sure.”

“What about the financial end?” Jake asked.

“Chuck keeps the books, but he said he’d like everything audited once a quarter, so I made an appointment with the same CPA Dad used in Little Rock.”

“Not a bad idea, Brad. I mean, the boy’s young. This is his first job.”

“Funny you should say that, Pawpaw. He said the same thing. Said he didn’t want to screw things up because he missed anything.”

“Good for him. Well, as long as you’re satisfied, that’s all that counts.”

****

At the end of January, while she was touching up some paint on the woodwork in the main room of the school, Shana announced to Penelope and Mary Lynn that she was finally going to meet Tabby Taliaferro. “I’m driving over to Little Rock on Saturday, and we’re taking her to the zoo.”

“That’s a good neutral place,” Penelope said.

“The weather’s supposed to be good.”

“That will help.”

“I’m scared to death, Penelope.”

“I know you are, but it’ll be okay.”

“What if she doesn’t like me?”

“Maybe you won’t like her.”

“I love children.”

“The
n go with the idea in mind it’s going to be mutual love at first sight.”

Shana pushed her hair out of her face. “Peter’s wonderful.”

“You’ve only known him a little over a month.”

“Long enough.”

“Maybe not.”

“We’ve done a lot of talking. He calls two or three nights a week after Tabby’s in bed. We have a lot in common.”

“I probably shouldn’t ask, but have you told him about…”

Shana slumped against the warm radiator. “Not yet.”

“You’re going to have to tell him before some old biddy around here gets her jollies out of doing it,” Mary Lynn said.

“He’s not here much and then only to work on the boiler.”

“He came with you to the Crystal Rainbow Convention.”

“We didn’t stay long.”

“Don’t risk letting him find out from somebody else, Shana. And don’t go into the conversation beating yourself up. You made a mistake, and you fixed it.”

“Not really.”

“You were going to leave Travis before everything happened,” Penelope reminded her.             

“I still feel ashamed of what I did.”

“That just shows you were brought up right—that you’re the right kind of girl.”

“What if Peter doesn’t think so?”

“Then it’s his loss, Shana. Trust me.”

****

On Saturday, Penelope ran into Millie Dancer on the square. “I haven’t seen you since New Year’s,” Millie said.

“One Reuben goes a long way with Daddy.”

“I didn’t mean I hadn’t seen you because you hadn’t been to the Sit-n-Swill. Where have you been keeping yourself?”

“Well, the B&B was full for the Crystal Rainbow Convention. Mary Lynn and I have been cleaning and painting at the old school.” Penelope hesitated. “Has your friend
Marlo found a place for her shop?”

Millie frowned. “She’s really close-mouthed about it, but I think she’s negotiating with a realtor about a house on the corner of Sandalwood and
Amaryllis Avenue.”

“That’s the old Barnes place. I didn’t know it was on the market. Have you and Mike known
Marlo a long time?”

“Not really. She was only in
Fayetteville about two years, but she biked with our club.”

“A biker? She’s a biker?”

Millie frowned again, this time more directly at Penelope. “We were a group who liked to travel around on our bikes and camp out, that’s all. We weren’t like the ones who used to come into the Sit-n-Swill.”

“They don’t come anymore?”

“Not since New Year’s Eve. I guess the word got around that we’ve upgraded some.” The irritation faded from Millie’s expression. “I know people don’t understand that there are bikers and bikers.”

“I guess not. No offense, Millie.”

She shook her head. “I’m just crabby today. We’re still having trouble with the fireplace, so Mike’s afraid to light it when we have customers. I’m scouting some antique shops today to find things to set in it just to fill up the empty space.”

“It’s a shame you can’t use it.”

“It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s not worth the risk.”

“Right.”

“I’ll get out to the school one of these days and see what you and Mary Lynn are up to.”

“Things are taking shape. We haven’t had
anymore trouble with the boiler.”

“Maybe I should have your heating and cooling guy look at the fireplace.”

“Well, he knew about old-timey boilers. It’s Taliaferro Heating and Cooling in Little Rock. He’s in the phone book.”

“I’ll talk to Mike and possibly give him a call. Don’t be a stranger, Penelope.”

“I’ll ask Daddy if he’s interested in a Reuben tonight.”

****

When Penelope came in from town, she found Jake cleaning up the left-over lemon pie. “Marlo Howard is looking at the old Barnes place,” Penelope blurted.

“It’s been empty awhile. Guess the kids finally got tired of paying taxes on it.”

“I’d swear I haven’t seen a sign in the yard or anything.”

“Houses sell without signs in the yard.” He scraped the last of the filling from his plate and placed the fork across the top. “You and Mary Lynn run across anymore
hants
at the old school?”

“No.”

“Staying out of the basement, huh?”

“Yes.”

“That must satisfy old Jeremiah.” He cackled at his own joke.

“It wasn’t an old man we heard,” Penelope snapped. “I ran into Millie, which is how I knew about her friend and the Barnes place. I told her you might be interested in a Reuben tonight.”

“I could eat one.”

“And have one beer.”

“One beer.”

“She said they’re still having trouble with the fireplace.”

“Can’t figure that one out.”

“Daddy, I never asked you, but you had to hear that sound when the fire went out.”

“Wind.”

“There wasn’t even a breeze that night.”

“Not even a small one off Short Creek?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you drive out to Rosedale Bridge to
rondayvoose
when you left the bar?”

“So you heard that much anyway.”

“Yep.”

“It wasn’t a rendezvous. Not exactly. I swear, Daddy, that man is so infuriating.”

“What did he want? Besides the obvious.”

“What do you mean, the obvious?”

“Nellie, a man doesn’t meet a woman at Rosedale Bridge to play marbles in the moonlight.”

“Oh, Daddy.” She took a soft drink out of the refrigerator and sat down across from him. “He asked about
Marlo Howard—her name, what she was doing in Amaryllis. And about the new manager Brad hired to run the Point.”

“Well, well.”

“I asked Millie today how long she and Mike had known Marlo, and it seems she was in their biker club in Fayetteville.”

“She’s a good dancer.”

“You danced with her?”

“Once. Why not?”

“There was something about her that turned me off from the beginning, but then I thought she must be okay if she’s a friend of Mike and Millie.”

“They’re relative strangers, too.”

“Not really, not anymore.  Shana told me Mike’s singing in the choir at he Methodist Church, and Millie fills in at the piano sometimes.”

“She’s in Little Rock at the zoo with that Taliaferro fellow and his little girl today, isn’t she?”

“Yes, and I hope it’s going well. She was nervous about meeting Tabby. And she still hasn’t told Peter about Travis.”

“Can’t be easy to ‘fess up about something like that.”

“No, but she has to do it before he hears it from someone else.”

“I agree, but it’s still not an easy thing to do.”

“If we’re going to eat at the Sit-n-Swill tonight, then I don’t have to cook. I think I’ll call Mary Lynn and see if she needs help at the school this afternoon.”

“I’m going to take a nap. Eating lemon pie is hard work.” He pushed back from the table and winked as he rubbed his lean midsection.

****

Penelope edged her SUV close to the left brick wall of the porch steps and got out.  Almost immediately, she
felt her feet flailing in midair as an explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Scrambling up again, the broken edge of the bottom step cutting through her jeans, she rushed up to the door screaming Mary Lynn’s name.