Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3) (32 page)

Andrew was up and out of his chair before Henry had fi
nished his question.

Jason stood up and said, "Thank you Polly." He reached over and hugged her, then whispered in her ear, "I want to talk to yo
u tomorrow after school, okay?"

She hugged him back and winked at him.

Releasing Polly so that he could go home had been difficult for Henry after everyone left. He had gone home quite late and hadn’t let her do anything. When Eliseo and Jason went out to bed down the horses, he went out to help them, insisting that Polly stay in. Sylvie thought it was sweet; Polly figured she'd let him get away with it for one evening.

He had cleaned things up and made her stay on the sofa while he said good night to everyone, then after they were finally alone, he pulled her close, looked into her eyes and said, "You nearly killed me this evening. I didn't even know you were in trouble. If anything truly awful had happened to you, I don't know what I would have done, Polly."

She had patted his hand and said, "But, nothing did. I'm alright."

He took her hands in his and she watched his eyes fill, "I was so shook up when you two walked in and I realized you had been beaten. If those boys hadn't been here and Ken hadn't already sent those two away to his jail, I don't know what I would have done. It took everything I had to force my fury down and be pleasant. You scared me to death."

Polly had leaned in to his chest and said "I was pretty scared, too. But, it all worked out and I'm here and I'm okay."

She'd fallen asleep while he watched a movie and then taken Obiwan out for a final walk. After he came back with her dog, she had come awake as he was trying to lift her from the sofa.

"What in the hell?" she'd asked.

"I was going to put you to bed."

Polly had laughed out loud and sat up. "Oh, Henry. You're wonderful. I'm not that breakable and I'm going to be fine." She had kissed him and then said, "But, you're right - it is time to go to bed. Tomorrow morning is going to come whether I've been punched or not and you need to go home and get some sleep. The bad guys are in jail and I'll be safe."

"Are you sure? I can sleep on the sofa again."

"I'm absolutely positive. But, thank you for taking care of me."

She had walked him to the front door, kissed him good night, swooned a little as he walked down the steps, then had run back inside and to the kitchen window to wave at him as he got in his truck and drove away.

"There's a man worth keeping around, Obiwan," she had said to her dog as he followed her into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed.

The next morning, she and Eliseo were cleaning out stalls when she said, more to herself than anything, "Huh. I wonder if that would work."

"What's up, Polly?"

"Well, I was thinking about Harry Bern's house. The man who owns it has a big mess to clean up with all the destruction your buddies did in there. He saw Henry last week at the diner and asked about someone to do the work. All of Harry's stuff is still there. I wonder."

"What do you wonder?"

She stepped into the stall he was raking and leaned against the wall.

"Doesn’t it make sense for you to move in, trade labor you can do in your free time for rent until it's fixed up? You could use Harry's furniture and household stuff until you want to replace it. Then I wouldn't have to hold a sale, you wouldn’t have to buy much, you wouldn't have to look for a place to live and if there was anything you needed help re-building or fixing, Henry is around."

"You never stop thinking and plotting and planning, do you?"

"Tell me that doesn't sound like the perfect way to manage everything," she grumped.

"Do you think the owner will go for it?"

"Before I ask, are you on board?"

Eliseo nodded, "It's not a bad idea. I could do the work."

"Then I'll call him when I get to my office. If he doesn't have someone else interested, it should be perfect."

"I'm not comfortable with you doing all of this for me. You know that, don't you?"

"But, if it makes sense, why would you fight it?"

"It does make sense, in a strange way."

"Then let me make the initial call and you can do the rest. When I finish speaking with him, I'll email you the details and you can contact him later on today."

"Fine,” he agreed. “I'm going to spend some time working with Nan this morning. Jeff said there is a delivery of furniture scheduled this afternoon for the middle room upstairs and there's a dancer from Dallas coming in on Wednesday to spend time with Mark Ogden's sister and her dance school as they prepare for the end of the year."

"Really!" Polly said. "No one tells me anything."

Eliseo pulled his phone out and showed her the calendar. "It's all on here," he laughed.

Polly pushed his hand away. "Crap. I was supposed to get the Computer Room scheduled for Doug and his gang Friday night. I forgot."

Eliseo looked at the calendar again and said, "It's been taken care of."

"I'm afraid Doug knows me too well," she laughed.

Polly looked at the man she had hired to work with them at Sycamore House. He was more than a custodian. He had begun to insinuate himself into the family she was creating; loving her animals, protecting her from the bad guys and now he was even keeping her on track with their schedule. She still saw his scars every time she looked at him, but they were part of who he was.

"If we get you a home address today, will you fill out all the paperwork for Jeff so we can make everything legal and keep you around for a while?" she asked.

"Even if I have to use this address, I'd like to do that," he replied. "I look forward to settling down in Bellingwood for a long time. Thank you for the opportunity."

"You earned it and it didn't even take us a month to get to this point. I'm glad." Polly walked up to him and put out her hand. He took it in his scarred hand and looked down at them.

"Thank you," he said again, looking up into her eyes.

Polly went back to her apartment, took a quick shower, dressed and headed to her office. She looked out and her parking lot was filling up with vehicles. That was exciting. She went outside and looked around. There were ten or fifteen people working in the corner lot on the garden. She walked to the side of the house and saw walls going up on the garage. Henry had told her it would be ready for interior work in a few weeks. She could hardly wait. Then, she saw a large truck come in, loaded with trees.

The driver pulled up and jumped out. "Polly Giller?" he asked, peering at her a little strangely.

She wasn't sure what was up, but said, "That's me. Are these my sycamore trees?"

"Yes ma'am. We have the plan you discussed with our manager, would you check this out to make sure we do what you expect?"

She looked at the plans and watched as another truck with equipment on the back pulled into the lot. She signed off on the paperwork and stepped back as he re-entered his truck. Jeff came outside and joined her.

He looked at her, wrinkled his forehead and finally said, "This is a big deal day, isn't it!"

"I didn't realize they were showing up today to plant the trees. I suppose they need to do it while they've got the weather."
             

"When did you plan on them being here?"

"Later in the week, but the forecast looks terrible for Thursday and Friday. It’s supposed to rain; maybe even snow. I'll be glad to have these in."

"What's up with all the gardeners over there?"

Polly giggled. "They're more excited about that park than I am, so I'm going to let them have fun. I have no idea what is happening today. I suppose I should make sure there's plenty of hot coffee."

"I already turned the pot on. It's brewing as we speak."

"I'll be back," she said and walked across the lot.

"Good morning!" she called as she approached.

Nancy Burroughs looked up and her mouth got big, but she said, "Hello, Polly. How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine. You look as if you have a big crew today!"

"We are finishing the hole for the pond. Deb's husband is installing it tomorrow. I'm mapping out the pathway, so they can excavate that next. We have grass pavers to install. It will be so pretty."

"I'm excited about watching the progress. This is fun!"

"It is fun and they enjoy working together." Nancy nodded at the group behind her.

"There is a big pot of hot coffee in the kitchen. Please feel free to come in and warm up or take a break. Would you let everyone know?"

"Thank you, Polly. We'll surely be in. I see your trees are here today! That will change the look of this corner."

"I know that Eliseo won't think that picking up all the sycamore leaves is a great deal of fun in the fall, but one day this will be beautiful!"

"Now ..." Nancy pointed at the side of the building, "what are you building there?"

"I'm putting a garage in with an apartment overhead on this side and then later on, we will build a matching structure on the other side which will offer me four rooms, at least two of which will be accessible."

"You've got quite the venture here, don't you? I hope that everything goes as well as you hope."

"I can only do what I believe to be the right thing and hope for the best."

"You are certainly the talk of the community. Actually, you're the talk of several communities around here. I think people are a bit envious and astonished that you are investing so much effort and money into this place."

Polly recognized an interrogation when she was in the middle of one and decided it would be easier to answer the woman's questions. If she could get good information out there, then at least they might not make up strange stories about her.

"The investment is already beginning to pay off. The auditorium is filling up with quite a few events and I know that Jeff is getting requests from artists who want to spend time at Sycamore House. Once we have activities to fill the classrooms on the main floor, we're going to be busy around here. Sylvie Donovan is creating a name for herself as a caterer and there's no reason to think her business won't grow. I have great people who are working here with me to make this place successful."

"There is some talk that you have hired a new janitor and he was involved with the one who was murdered."

"They knew each other back in Desert Storm, but Harry was killed before Eliseo got to town. He is going to fit in very well with the family here at Sycamore House. It's pretty wonderful to see it continue to grow. Now, please let everyone know they are welcome to come in any time for coffee. Thank you so much for all your work here. It is going to be beautiful and a terrific addition to this corner," Polly said and turned around to walk away before she had to answer any more questions.

Back in her office, she looked up his phone number and dialed Dave Steery, the owner of the home Harry Bern had been renting.

"You've got Dave. Go," he said when he answered the phone.

"Mr. Steery? This is Polly Giller from Sycamore House. How are you today?"

"Hello, Miss Giller. Ken Wallers said you were cleaning out your employee's things from my house. Thank you. When do you expect to have that finished?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to speak with you about," she said. "I have an idea that might benefit you."

"Is it going to fix my walls and my ceiling?"

"Yes, in fact, I think it will."

"Then I'm listening."

"I have an employee who needs a place to live. He has some skill with carpentry and is a very hard worker. Would you consider allowing him to live there for one year rent-free in return for his labor as he renovates the house? You would provide all the supplies he’ll need. He would do the work in his off hours and would have support from Henry Sturtz when necessary."

"Would Henry provide him with tools?"

"How about you provide the pneumatic nailer, dry wall knives and pans and Henry will make sure he has a saw."

"I won't pay for the utilities and I'd like him to pay for the property taxes on the place each month."

"Can I tell him this is the deal you will make?"

"It sounds reasonable to me. But, if he leaves before the house is fixed, I'm not going to be very happy with either him or with you."