Sunsets, Sabbatical and Scandal: A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery Series Book 10
Date: 2020-03-17 00:00:00+00:00
Description: Welcome to Normal, Kentucky~ where nothing is normal.Who served up the murder of a local in the honey springs dinner?A beloved resident of Normal, Kentucky is found dead on the floor of the Normal Diner, leaving the entire town on high alert. Faster than the short order cook can say order up... the laundry ladies are in the scene. News spreads fast about the murder and Detective Hank Sharp is hungry for answers.Mae West along with the Laundry Club ladies come up with a list of suspects and the evidence is piling up faster than a juicy double cheeseburger.Who murdered the beloved citizen?Was it
Publisher: Independently published

SUNSETS, SABBATICAL, & SCANDAL

A CAMPER AND CRIMINALS COZY MYSTERY

BOOK TEN

BY

TONYA KAPPES

SUNSETS, SABBATICAL, & SCANDALS

“No one gets in the way of a grapevine.” She huffed, continuing to shuffle the other way. “Jazzercise corporate sent me new routines to teach, and I have to learn them before my class tomorrow.” Queenie was in her sixties and fit as a fiddle.

She taught Jazzercise in the undercroft of the Normal Baptist Church and served as the Historic Society president.

I tried not to laugh when she started to skip forward, making her headband fall over her eyes and nearly taking a tumble. But she recovered and skipped backwards, only to continue her moves.

“I wish I was as passionate about something as she is,” Betts Hager said from the back of the laundromat, making coffee at the coffee station she’d put in for customers.

“Right?” I questioned and did my best impersonation of the Jazzercise move Queenie was doing.

“Y’all make fun of me, but it’ll be this old lady pushing you in a wheelchair.” She grunted out the words.

“You know, she’s probably right.” Betts shoved her wavy, shoulder-length brown hair out of the way. She tried to push her bangs to the side, but they fell right back over her eyes. “Here.” She picked up a tray of cookies.

“That’s not going to help us either.” I laughed but took a cookie.

I nearly choked when I heard a bloodcurdling scream come from outside.

“What was that?” Queenie scrambled for the TV’s remote control.

“Help!” a voice screamed. “Mae! Betts!”

Betts, Queenie, and I bolted out the door to find Abby Fawn in front of the Normal Diner, pointing at it with her mouth flung open.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I ran across the street with Queenie and Betts on my heels. “Abby?”

“I-I—” She blinked a few times before finally spitting it out. “I think Trudy Bull is dead.”

“What?” I jerked my head to the side to look into the diner windows.

“I do.” Abby shook her head frantically. “Behind the counter.”

I hurried around Abby and into the diner.

“Trudy?” I cautiously called out to see if she would answer from inside. My eyes scanned all the booths for anything strange on my way to the back of the counter. “It’s me, Mae.”

When I walked around the counter, I found Trudy Bull laying in a pool of her own blood.

CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

RECIPES AND RV/CAMPING HACKS

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Also by Tonya Kappes

About Tonya

Copyright

ONE

I should’ve stayed in bed.

Really, if I’d known how today was going to end… I would’ve stayed at the campground.

HOURS EARLIER

“Uh-oh.”

I looked up from my phone when I heard Ty Randal’s voice.

He stood across the counter at the Normal Diner, looking at me with his arms crossed. “You look like you need a coffee this morning.”

“I’m on it, boss.” Trudy Bull had the pot of coffee in her grip and moved around Ty to get to my coffee cup that she’d already refilled umpteen times. “It’s her third refill.”

“And you still look like that?” Ty’s blue eyes danced with question, his shaggy blond curls hanging down his forehead.

I ignored his comment. “This.” I shook my phone and put it down on the counter, replacing it in my hand with the coffee cup. “My phone won’t keep a charge for nothing,” I said. “I’m waiting on a call from Betts because I told her I could help her with one of her house cleaning jobs, and I swear it was on charge all night.”

With my free hand, I waved down the counter at Buck, the owner of the Tough Nickel thrift store just a few doors down. He looked like he’d just eaten a big breakfast in preparation to open his store for the day. Buck waved bye, and off he went, but not before stopping to talk to Ethel Biddle and Otis Gullett, the fiddle player in her band, Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys.

I looked around the diner to see who else I’d recognize. One was Joel Grassel, owner of the local garage. Otherwise, pretty much all the regulars and a few tourists.

“We’ve got the solution for you,” Trudy said and nudged Ty. “We got fancy new charging stations.”

“What? Ty Randal has decided to bring the diner’s technology up to date?” I asked. He still kept a landline for the diner as well as one of those old cash registers instead of a newer one where customers could swipe their cards. Honestly, most people around here used cash.

“Mm-hmm.” Ty winked. “Look right under the bar.”

I twirled my stool to the side and bent down. Sure enough, there was a USB port for a cell charger.

“My, my. Ty Randal, you do amaze me.” I pulled my phone charger out of my bag and plugged it into the charging station and then into my phone. “Thank you, Trudy,” I called after her as she made her way down the counter to top off the other customers’ coffees.

“I had to do something,” Ty replied. He glanced over my shoulder and did a slight chin-raise toward a group of tourists who were probably in their early twenties. “They all have cell phones, and if I want to make sure they come here to spend any sort of cash on food, then I’ve got to start catering to them.”

I grinned and nodded.

Normal, Kentucky was set in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest. We were located right outside of the Daniel Boone National Park, which was great for business. It was the last place tourists could stop and get anything they needed before setting out into the park.

If they wanted a great meal, they’d stop here at the diner. If they needed their clothes washed after they left their camping or RV trip, they could head across the street to the town’s laundromat. Most likely, they were coming from Happy Trails, the campground I owned and also lived on. It was right at the base of several trails leading into the park, which, just like for the Normal Diner, made it a great spot for business.

Each trail was marked for a different skill level, so I was fortunate to have the perfect setup for people of all abilities looking to vacation. But today, I was helping out my good friend Betts Hager, who not only owned the laundromat but also did side cleaning jobs.

That’s the way it was in Normal. We all did what we could to help each other out. I wasn’t the best housekeeper—nor did I particularly like getting my nails chipped from cleaning someone else’s toilet when I had a hard enough time cleaning my own—but I set my needs aside to help out Betts.

“You’ve got a full plate at the campground,” Ty said, turning around when he heard his short-order cook ding the bell, indicating that an order was up. “What’s up with Betts?” he asked as he grabbed a hot plate of delicious biscuits and gravy in one hand and a Daniel Boone breakfast platter in the other.

“Dottie is holding down the fort at the campground so I can help Betts clean Mayor Mackenzie’s house,” I told him as he moved around the counter to deliver the food to a booth of customers.

Courtney Mackenzie was the female—and single—mayor of Normal.

Dottie Swaggert was the manager of my campground. She and Ty both lived there full time.  Ty knew that by this time of year, winter was long gone, and Mother Nature had painted the entire Daniel Boone National Forest with beautiful pops of wildflowers among the famous Kentucky bluegrass. It was a hiker’s and camper’s dream to come visit.

The weather was a nice, even sixty degrees during the day, and the nights were chilly enough for sitting around a campfire while telling stories or just enjoying the great outdoors. It was a popular destination for both the young and the old.

“Oh, yeah. The big wedding.” Ty walked back by me to his post behind the counter to cash out a customer. “It’s tonight, right?”

“Yep.” My phone chirped. I looked down. “The house has to be ready for out-of-town guests, and Courtney didn’t want Betts to come until today because she was sure it would have gotten all messed up again if we’d cleaned yesterday. So she needs all hands on deck.”

“I didn’t get an invite to the wedding. Did you?” he asked, leaning his hip up against the counter.

“No. Which means we didn’t have to buy a gift.” I smacked the counter. “I’m still trying to pay off all the people who donate to the campground. And Ava Cox.”

“It means we didn’t have to turn down the wedding invitation so we could watch the big fight on DirecTV.” Ty rubbed his hands together.

“Oh, yeah. You and Hank are watching it at your camper.” I had totally forgotten about the big boxing match. It was a big deal around here to get together and pay the premium fee to watch two grown men beat the heck out of each other.

“Ridiculous if you ask me,” Trudy said as she hustled past me. “You can go down to the bar and see all the fights you want for free.”

“You know…” Ty looked over and smiled. “You could get a big-screen theater-type addition to the campground.”

“What part of me saying ‘I’m working extra jobs to pay Ava Cox’ do you not understand?” Ava Cox was the lawyer who had helped me out of many situations when she really hadn’t needed to. Her life had been completely altered by my ex-, and now dead ex-, husband.

It’s no big secret how I came to be the proud owner of Happy Trails. My now-dead ex-husband, Paul West, and I had lived a fabulous and luxurious life in Manhattan. We’d even had us a house on the water in Hampton. It was a life I’d loved so much that I didn’t pay attention to what Paul was up to. In fact, he was a passenger on an airplane where I was a flight attendant when we first met, and it was is if he’d charmed me right off that plane and into the Justice of the Peace office.

I’d loved him even though he was much older than me. We’d had a happy life, or so I thought… until the FBI had raided our Manhattan apartment, taking him to jail for a Ponzi scheme that stole millions if not billions of dollars from our friends and community members.

It was only then, when our lawyer took the keys to my Maserati in exchange for a small rusty key dangling from a miniature plastic flamingo that belonged to a drivable camper in much need of a makeover, that I learned I was the owner of a campground in Kentucky. Ironically, it was the place I’d desperately tried to escape my whole life and finally had as soon as the clock struck midnight on my eighteenth birthday.

Regardless, that’s how I ended right back in Kentucky, where I was now the proud owner of a run-down campground.

“I’m sure everyone is fine with how you’re paying them back.” Ty smiled. It brought back a lot of memories of how kind he had been to me when everyone in Normal was not so accepting, most of them having been scammed by Paul.

“It’s taken me the better part of almost two years.” I exhaled. “And my family moving here to help me pay everyone off.”

“I got an invite to the wedding,” Trudy butted in, wiggling her brows as she grabbed a tray of food from the pass-through window.

“You did?” I questioned.

“Mm-hmmm.” She smiled so big when she passed by. “Plus-one.”

“You got you a date?” I teased. “Why, I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

“We won’t hear anything else but that tomorrow,” Ty hollered across the diner so Trudy could hear. “And you open!” Then he looked at me with a straight face. “She better be here to open. We are busy. And she better put that phone away. Geez, get off that dating app.”

“Dating app?” I questioned.

“Honey, men around here are slim pickins’. I’ve been known to go out with some men on the dating app.” Trudy giggled and tapped on her phone while she walked back toward us before slipping it into the front pocket of her apron. Her bright-yellow fingernail polish always made me smile.

I couldn’t help but laugh, but I stopped when I heard the familiar voice of my foster brother, Bobby Ray Bonds. He was standing and talking to someone in a booth, who I bet had to be traveling through for work. He didn’t have on any hiking gear and instead wore a nice short-sleeved shirt and khakis, but it was the open laptop in front of him that told me he was a businessman.

Tourists rarely brought a computer or tablet when they came to Normal. It was a place to get away and relax. Plus, there was very little cell or data service around.

“Do you remember May-bell-ine?”

I rolled my eyes when I heard Bobby Ray call me by my full name, but I turned around and waved. I had no idea who the guy was, but apparently, he was from the past I’d spent years trying to outrun.

“Yep. May-bell-ine West,” I heard Bobby Ray confirm. Unfortunately, he was acknowledging my legally married name, which was tainted with Paul’s illegal ways and the one thing that ultimately got him murdered.

“It seems like you’ve got someone here who knows you.” Ty offered a heartwarming smile. He knew how much I had struggled with what Paul did and how hard I’d worked to bring the economy back to life in Normal.

“I got to get going anyways.” I gathered my things, and as soon as I pulled the cord out from the charging station, a hiker hurried over and plugged in. “Thanks for the charge,” I said.

“No problem. I’ll see you tonight.” Ty grabbed the rag behind the counter and wiped my spot clean for the hiker.

Instead of heading right out to the laundromat parking lot where Betts was waiting for me, I ventured over to Bobby Ray so I could say hello to whoever he’d recognized.

“May-bell-ine, do you remember Gidean Ratimer?” Bobby Ray and I both moved out of Trudy’s way while she refilled Gidean’s ice water and sat down his ticket. “He was a grade ahead of you and behind me in school.”

“Hi there. How are you?” I had no idea who this guy was, but I tried not to stay too involved with anyone we’d gone to high school with.

“Mae.” Gidean had a nice head of hair. It was thick and brown. Even his side part was perfect and made me a little envious.

Heck, anyone with hair different than mine made me envious. I loved the color of my brown hair, but the curly part wasn’t so lovable. That’s one reason why I grew it long. The longer my hair was, the looser the curls. Today, it was pulled back in a ponytail so as not to fall down into Courtney’s toilet water when I scrubbed the toilets.

“You have turned out to be one beautiful woman.” Gidean eased back into the vinyl of the booth. “You can imagine my surprise when I heard Bobby Ray here call out my name.”

“Yeah.” Bobby Ray laughed and elbowed me. “Gidean is a travel blogger. Makes money at it on the internet.”

“Is that right?” Now that got my attention. I’d worked really hard not only to redo the campground to help the economy but to help other businesses in Normal revamp themselves as well. I even got a key to the city for an economic plan I used to stimulate a booming economy year-round rather than just seasonally. “Did you know I own Happy Trails Campground?”

“I’ve read all about it. And that’s you?” he questioned with amazement on his face. “Huh. Wow. I’d love to get a tour since it’s a one-of-a-kind place.”

“It was one of a kind back a couple years ago, but I think a lot of areas have started to embrace the glamping life.” I did bring a little sophistication to camping. “I’d love to show you around.”

“Now?” Gidean shut the computer like we were heading there.

“I can’t right now, but later.” I pointed to Bobby Ray. “You exchange numbers with Bobby Ray, and I’ll give you a text. Right now, I have to meet my friend.” I moved my finger to the window and pointed to Betts’s van she used for her cleaning jobs. “How long are you in town?”

“I was just passing through, but I’ll stay a few days. I can work from anywhere.” He smiled and nodded. “Gosh. Bobby Ray and Mae. I never would’ve guessed I’d run into either of you here, but both?”

It was funny how life turned out. I sure knew that, but I was going to have to look this guy up in my yearbook when I had time to go see Mary Elizabeth Moberly, my foster mother, at The Milkery. I was positive Mary Elizabeth would remember Gidean Ratimer. She never forgot anyone, even if she did only meet them once.

TWO

“Who?” Mary Elizabeth Moberly questioned when I asked about Gidean Ratimer at The Milkery. I’d stopped by on my way back to the campground after Betts and I had finished cleaning Mayor Mackenzie’s house. “Never heard of him.”

Mary Elizabeth’s southern accent made me smile. She dug out a handful of her special udder cream she made for milking cows and rubbed it into each one of my hands.

“Is he single?” Dawn Gentry, co-owner of The Milkery with Mary Elizabeth, had set down freshly baked blueberry muffins, made with freshly picked blueberries right here off The Milkery farm.

“I have no idea.” My mouth watered at the golden-brown muffins with their glistening buttery tops that I knew were for dessert for the couple of people they already had staying at the bed-and-breakfast. The fluted cast-iron muffin pan used to bake them made them look so pretty. It was small touches like these from Mary Elizabeth and Dawn that made The Milkery a nice bed-and-breakfast for people like Gidean who were just passing through.

“Well, you’re gonna have to go fetch one of mine or Bobby Ray’s yearbooks to look him up because I got a text from him saying he suggests Gidean stay here a few days.”

“Huh.” Mary Elizabeth continued to rub the udder cream on my hands until she finally said, “If this works good on the cow’s tit, it should work on your cleaning hands. But if it don’t, we can melt equal parts beeswax and coconut oil. It’d have to set up in a jar overnight, but I don’t think we’ll have to concoct that.”

“These look great.” I picked up a muffin and took a bite before they could take it back. “And delicious,” I mumbled on account of the mouthful.

“Use a fork.” Mary Elizabeth scolded me for using my udder-creamed-up fingers. “You were raised better than that. I declare.” She huffed. “Anyways.” Mary Elizabeth liked to use one-word sentences. “How was cleaning the Mayor’s house?” she asked. “I can’t believe how I could never get you to clean your room, much less a toilet.”

She was right. After my entire family had died in our house fire, I was sent off to the Kentucky Foster Care system and straight into Mary Elizabeth’s house, where she figured I needed to learn some manners. She’d enrolled me in manners school as well as etiquette classes.

At the time, I gave her a hard way to go. What young girl who’d just lost her family wanted to go and learn which fork to eat with, not to mention how to properly fold sheets or make a bed? I wanted to get out of that life and leave it behind.

If I acted out and skipped the classes she paid good money for, I thought she’d give up. She hadn’t. Not even after I skipped town one midnight hour and didn’t see her until a couple of years later, after she and Bobby Ray saw the interview I did with the National Parks Magazine.

Bobby Ray had shown up on the metal steps of my camper and ended up staying and inviting Mary Elizabeth for Christmas. It just so happened The Milkery had been up for sale, and she thought it was a good buy and ended up moving here.

Here we all were. Again. And she was still correcting my manners and etiquette.

“It was fine.” I ignored her comment about toilets. “They are very excited about her cousin’s wedding over at the Barn. You know it’s all the rage to rent it out now?”

“I’ve seen so many barn weddings on Instagram. And this time of the year too.” Dawn stood about five foot six and in her late thirties. She had a pixie haircut that matched her biker skinny-jean style. She’d been involved in the book publishing world when she first came to Normal.

She, too, ended up loving the small-southern-town life, which made her and Mary Elizabeth perfect business partners. Dawn was savvy in the social media and marketing department while Mary Elizabeth was amazing at the cozy touches and southern-cooking aspect of their joint venture.

“So, let’s get back to this Gidean.” Dawn wasn’t very subtle in her quest to find a man.

It was slim pickings around here. I was lucky enough I’d not only gone out with Ty Randal a few times before we realized we weren’t made for each other, but now had my hooks in Hank Sharp, the ex-forest ranger who’d turned full-time detective with the Normal Sheriff’s Department.

“There’s nothing to say.” I shrugged and drummed my oily fingers on the farm table while I watched Mary Elizabeth stir the homemade soup she had on the stove as the appetizer for the night’s menu.

She always served up a full-course meal at suppertime. For dinner, which some people might refer to as lunch, there was always some sort of delicious homemade spread—like pimento cheese, chicken salad, egg salad, Kentucky sin dip—you name it, Mary Elizabeth made it into a spread. And they were good.

“He seems fine. He travels for work and is passing through. Ate at the diner and Bobby Ray knew him.” I got up. “I’ve got to get going. I’ve got to grab Fifi and Dottie. We’ve got book club tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Dawn looked at Mary Elizabeth then back at me and groaned. “I hate missing. But you and the girls know this is our busiest time.”

“We do.” I walked over to the pot on the stove and took a big whiff of what Mary Elizabeth had in there. “Burgoo?” I asked when the combination of pork, chicken, mutton, and all sorts of yummy vegetables wafted up, bringing my smeller alive.

“I’ll save you some.” Mary Elizabeth hugged me goodbye. “I’ll drop it off on my way into town tomorrow.”

“I’ll be at Happy Trails all day since it’s my day to work the office.” I hugged her again. It was actually nice how we’d reconnected after all the years I’d spent running away. It also made me realize how lucky I really was to have gotten her for a foster mom. She truly had taken over the mother role without erasing my own mom’s memory. “Be on the lookout for Gidean Ratimer since he’ll be here soon,” I teased Dawn.

“Don’t let her fool you. She didn’t care about book club.” Mary Elizabeth called it like she saw it. “Heaven help her if the good Lord don’t strike her dead right here in front of us for lying.”

Dawn tried to talk over Mary Elizabeth, but I clearly heard Mary Elizabeth say something about a date.

“Date?” My jaw dropped. “Who?”

Dead silence. Dawn glared at Mary Elizabeth, but Mary Elizabeth kept stirring the burgoo.

“I joined a dating app, and I didn’t want to say anything until I checked it out.” Dawn Gentry of all people joining a dating app really shocked me. “See,” she said to me. “Your face says it all.”

“I’m fine.” I waved my hands in front of me. “But we can talk about this later. I hope it goes well.”

“Mama! We’re here!” Bobby Ray called from the front of the bed-and-breakfast.

Before I could hightail it out of there, he and Gidean were standing in the kitchen with us.

“You remember Gidean Ratimer, don’t you?” Bobby Ray asked Mary Elizabeth, who he always considered his mama.

“Hi do,” she greeted him with the best possible lying smile and up-toned voice I’d ever heard from her. She didn’t remember Gidean any more than I did. Only she was so much better at covering it up. “How’s your mama and them?”

“They are doing so good. Everyone is happy and healthy.” He nodded before his eyes slid over to Dawn. “Who might you be?”

Dawn turned all shades of red before she settled on a blush.

“I’m Dawn Gentry. Co-owner of The Milkery with Mary Elizabeth.” She grabbed the basket of blueberry muffins. “Muffin? Homemade.”

While Dawn and Gidean got better acquainted, Mary Elizabeth dragged me and Bobby Ray clear to the other side of the kitchen.

“Who on God’s green earth is that?” She gave Bobby Ray the look. “I know everyone you grew up with, but I don’t recall no Ratimers.”

“You know. They lived off Knob Creek Road down by them Seven Day Adventist.” Bobby Ray talked about a church we’d never stepped foot into. Of course we knew where it was, but Mary Elizabeth had me in the Baptist church before the ink could dry on the adoption certificate. That very day did she have me down in the baptizing pool before I could protest.

“That’s why you don’t remember him.” Bobby Ray looked between us. “He didn’t go to our church.”

“I need to study on this one.” Mary Elizabeth rubbed her chin.

“You do that,” I told her and took my phone out of my pocket. The charge was in the red. “I’ve got to go.”

“Tonight, me and Gidean are going to watch the fight with Hank and Ty, so I’ll see you later.” Bobby Ray hugged me.

I didn’t tell him he probably wouldn’t see me later since I had the book club meeting, but he didn’t really care. He was just being polite.

I gave them both hugs and headed out the door without Dawn or Gidean even taking notice.

It was so nice how bright it was at this time of night. That’s the way it was with daylight savings time. The winter days started to get dark around five thirty p.m. where the spring and summer days got dark around eight p.m. We could always tell that spring had sprung not only by the amazing foliage coming to life but by the sunlight.

Plus, I really loved seeing my guests at Happy Trails Campground enjoying the amenities we provided.

When I drove up the gravel road that dumped out into the parking lot of Happy Trails, I noticed the light was on in the entertainment room where a few children were playing video games. There were some people fishing around the lake and a few out on the water in paddleboats.

Even a few campfires had been started. The mingling always brought a smile to my face.

“Where’s my baby?” I called out to Dottie Swaggert when I drove past her camper, which was the first camper on the right side, right across from the campground office.

“She’s running around here somewhere.” Dottie took a long drag of her cigarette. “Fifi!” she called as the puff of smoke circled her red hair she’d tied up in a handkerchief. She pointed off into the distance with the cigarette nestled between her middle and pointer fingers. “In the lake with Chester.”

“Aw, Dottie,” I grumbled and brought the car to a slow stop. “I don’t have time to wash her up before our book club.”

My eyes fixed upon my little white poodle, Fifi, and Hank’s dog, Chester. They were in the lake swimming around, only Fifi was going after the geese. Not Chester. He didn’t care too much about the geese. He just followed Fifi around.

“Then don’t.” Dottie seemed to have an answer to everything. “Did you get a call from the bank?”

“The bank?”

“Yeah. Said something about your business account being compromised or you spent some money that was unusual. You know Ann Doherty and how she talks so fast. Well, it was her that called.” Dottie leaned over the picnic table and put her cigarette in the ashtray, snuffing it out. She meandered over like she didn’t have a care in the world.

“When did she call?” I asked and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat. I reached in and pulled out my phone. “Dead.”

“She’s dead?” Dottie’s head jerked up. She picked up the giddy-up in her step, peeping through my window.

“My phone is dead.” I threw it in the seat.

Dottie laid her forearms across the open window and crouched down to look in. “My goodness. It looks like the Mayor’s house did a number on your hands.”

“Tell me about it.” I held them out for her to see. “I’d gone over to The Milkery to get some of Mary Elizabeth’s udder cream, so it should all be good by the morning.”

“She’s got the best remedies.” Dottie turned to look over her shoulder, and I glanced past her when I heard Fifi barking. “Looks like she knows mama’s home.”

“She knows it’s feeding time.” When I opened the door, Dottie took a few steps back so the wet dog could jump in, Chester following a few seconds later. “Ann say anything else?”

“Nah. I told her you were working all day in the office tomorrow. She said the bank put the transactions on hold and would get in touch with you tomorrow.” Dottie had been the property manager long before me. She’d lived in Normal all her life, and it was just natural for me to keep her on as staff when I took over.

“All right.” I sighed. “If I still lived in Manhattan, the bank would’ve never called if there was a transaction out of the ordinary.”

“I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. The way I see it”—Dottie tugged the old pleather cigarette case from the waist of her jeans, opened the snap closure, and batted out a new cigarette—“around here, they are really just being nosy about what you’re buying when the alert goes off.” She’d stuck the cigarette in the corner of her mouth, and it bounced up and down as she talked. “I don’t want Ann Doherty knowing a thing ’bout me.”

I was sure Ann didn’t care what we did, and though she wasn’t above gossip, I was glad that something had caught her eye. I put it in the back of my mind because there was nothing I could do about it now. The bank was closed, Fifi was dirty, and both dogs were hungry.

“I dunno. I’ll be back down to pick you up in about fifteen for book club,” I said and waved out the window when I drove off. I gave slight waves to some familiar walkers and people gathered around the lake as I drove past them to my camper about midway down.

“Look at you, Fifi.” I spoke to her through a gritted-teeth smile. “You’re a mess, and you’re a purebred poodle with accreditation.”

The campground concept I’d brought to Normal was unlike anyone had seen at the time. Of course, the office and such were at the top of the campground, but I also had a storage unit on the property since some of the campers’ owners had yearly leases on the spaces. Most of the storage was rented out by them for outdoor furniture and the like.

The recreational room had the usual video games, Ping-Pong table, TVs, and a concession stand. There was a big lake in the center of the main campground area with a circle drive around it. Around the perimeter of the lake were concrete camping pads with various hookups that were included in the price of the rental space.

We offered a bunch of amenities, including waste disposal, and each concrete pad, where the camper sat, had its very own gravel parking spot instead of a grassy area like most campgrounds.

Behind those were marked trails by the national park services that led into the Daniel Boone National Forest, which was the main attraction for our little town.

In the part of the woods that I owned, I built little one-, two-, and three-bedroom bungalows to accommodate guests who liked the outdoors but not quite enough to sleep there. That way, they could enjoy the finer amenities of a home.

Those were also a lot of fun for hosting bridal parties and honeymooners. I also offered customized baskets that would wait for them in the campers or bungalows upon arrival. But what I loved most about being the owner of Happy Trails was seeing a community of people who had never met sit around a campfire or fish off the dock, coming together to enjoy a little bit of life—of the slow-paced life we had to offer in our slice of Kentucky.

I pulled into my parking space next to my camper and opened the door but not without giving Fifi and Chester the look.

Do you think they cared? Not in the least bit. Both of them leaped over my lap, out of the car, and up the metal steps of my camper. They looked back at me like they were telling me to hurry up.

The nerve.

But they knew me better. As soon as I unlocked the camper door, both of them ran to their bowls and stood over them, waiting.

“I should get ready and make you two wait,” I told them. They both danced around, wagging their tails. “Too bad you’re both so cute.”

Of course I gave in and opened the cabinet to get some scoops of food out for them. While they ate, I got my shower and tugged on a pair of yoga pants that’d never even seen a yoga pose, but they were comfy. They felt much better than they looked, but it was all fine since I wasn’t going to be with guests, just the Laundry Club ladies.

The Laundry Club was my group of gal pals and the heart of the book club. It included me, Dottie, Betts, Queenie French, and Abby Fawn. All of us had different jobs and were of different ages, but we found a common bond. Without them, I’m not sure where I’d be today. Probably most definitely not in Normal.

Mary Ann Moberly, my adoptive mother, and Dawn Gentry were honorary members of the Laundry Club, but they couldn’t make book club this month since the spring was a busy time at The Milkery, the dairy farm they co-owned.

They didn’t care what I wore, so yoga pants and my oversized Normal sweatshirt along with my hair wadded up in a topknot with no makeup was my choice of style for this month’s book club.

“Since you two had a long day of ripping and running, I’m leaving you here,” I told the two pups now curled up on the seat of the couch. With their bellies full, I knew they’d sleep until Hank got off work and was able to get them.

I grabbed my phone off the charger and sat down next to Fifi on the sliver of couch available. It was nice to know I had someone who truly cared and loved me like Hank. I loved him too and made sure I checked in to let him know that I didn’t take the dogs with me.

While I waited for him to text me back, I looked around the camper I’d made my home. I even laughed out loud when I looked down at what I was wearing. Happiness spread through me. My life now was a far cry from the Manhattan socialite, Gucci-wearing woman I once was.

Pride swelled up inside me when I looked around at the changes I’d made to my camper.

I’d used every bit of space possible since space was limited when you lived in a mini-RV. I’d turned it into an open-concept plan by removing walls to combine the kitchen and family room into one large space. I’d put up shiplap walls and painted them white. I’d found a cute café table with two chairs from the Tough Nickel, the local thrift shop, as well as the small leather couch that I was currently sharing with two dogs.

Throughout the camper, I’d laid a prefabricated gray wood floor and painted the kitchen cabinets and storage cabinets white. I’d transformed the little camper into a country farmhouse that I found adorable.

Twinkle lights strung everywhere, making it feel like the stars from outside had been brought in. The single bathroom was redone with a tile shower and upgraded toilet.

My bedroom was located in the far back of the camper, which I’d opted to buy a new mattress for and place that in front of a headboard fashioned of some wooden pallets painted pink and nailed together. The four-drawer dresser was also from the Tough Nickel, and it went perfectly with the farmhouse look I was going for. More twinkle lights added a bit of romance, and along with the fuzzy rugs and milk-glass vases full of in-season wildflowers that grew in the Daniel Boone National Forest, completed the cozy bedroom.

My phone chirped a message.

In true Hank manly man style, unlike Ty’s southern-gentleman style, he sent a thumbs-up emoji followed by a heart emoji.

“That’s your dad.” I rubbed Chester on the head and got up. Fifi stretched out, taking my little sliver of couch before I could stand upright. “You are a princess.”

Fifi had been a pedigreed show dog with a spotless lineage. She was destined to be a wonderful moneymaker from her previous owner… until I’d taken the odd job of babysitting her while her owner couldn’t, and Fifi just so happened to get taken up with a dog from the wrong side of the tracks while in my care. She ended up pregnant and of no count to her owner. Fifi was marked for life. Of course, the owner no longer wanted Fifi, so I took her. For never having cared for a dog before, I’ve made it work. We’re not perfect, but we try.

“See y’all later.” I grabbed my bag and threw my phone in, retrieving the keys to my car, locked the camper door, and off I went.

Downtown Normal was too far from the campground for my taste. The drive was all winding and unlit roads with deep forest on each side. Once you got to town, the road split into a one-way on each side.

In the middle of the split Main Street was a median with a combination of grass and stepping-stones with scattered picnic tables among large oak trees. There was an amphitheater with a covered seating area held up by thick white pillars. Real gas lanterns hung off each pillar, along with ceramic planters filled with overflowing wildflowers.

Cozy, locally owned shops ran along each side of Main Street. They ranged from the Smelly Dog, which was a pet groomer, the Normal Diner, the Tough Nickel, and Deter’s Feed-N-Seed to more boutique-type shops. Each shop’s display windows were decorated for the spring camper season. When it turned summer, they’d change their displays to cater to those needs.

The shops weren’t connected. They were free-standing cottage-style homes with small courtyards between them. Sometimes the shops used the grassy courtyards to house their various events. Trails Coffee was great at hosting coffee tastings or even just monthly gatherings.

Normal was a wonderful town, and I was proud to live there.

I parked in the laundromat’s parking lot and noticed the diner’s light was still on. That was unusual because it was past time for the diner to close, and I could’ve sworn I’d seen Ty’s car at his camper when I left the campground. I knew Trudy was at the big wedding with most of the town folks.

Shrugging it off, I headed into the laundromat, where Queenie had put her latest Jazzercise tape on the TV and cleared out the furniture to make space to practice.

“Whoa.” I ducked when she pushed toward me in some sort of move.

“No one gets in the way of a grapevine.” She huffed, continuing to shuffle the other way. “Jazzercise corporate sent me new routines to teach, and I have to learn them before my class tomorrow.” Queenie was in her sixties and fit as a fiddle.

She taught Jazzercise in the undercroft of the Normal Baptist Church and served as the Historic Society president.

I tried not to laugh when she started to skip forward, making her headband fall over her eyes and nearly taking a tumble. But she recovered and skipped backwards, only to continue her moves.

“I wish I was as passionate about something as she is,” Betts Hager said from the back of the laundromat, making coffee at the coffee station she’d put in for customers.

“Right?” I questioned and did my best impersonation of the Jazzercise move Queenie was doing.

“Y’all make fun of me, but it’ll be this old lady pushing you in a wheelchair.” She grunted out the words.

“You know, she’s probably right.” Betts shoved her wavy, shoulder-length brown hair out of the way. She tried to push her bangs to the side, but they fell right back over her eyes. “Here.” She picked up a tray of cookies.

“That’s not going to help us either.” I laughed but took a cookie.

I nearly choked when I heard a bloodcurdling scream come from outside.

“What was that?” Queenie scrambled for the TV’s remote control.

“Help!” a voice screamed. “Mae! Betts!”

Betts, Queenie, and I bolted out the door to find Abby Fawn in front of the Normal Diner, pointing at it with her mouth flung open.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I ran across the street with Queenie and Betts on my heels. “Abby?”

“I-I—” She blinked a few times before finally spitting it out. “I think Trudy Bull is dead.”

“What?” I jerked my head to the side to look into the diner widows.

“I do.” Abby shook her head frantically. “Behind the counter.”

I hurried around Abby and into the diner.

“Trudy?” I cautiously called out to see if she would answer from inside. My eyes scanned all the booths for anything strange on my way to the back of the counter. “It’s me, Mae.”

When I walked around the counter, I found Trudy Bull laying in a pool of her own blood.

THREE

Forever.

It seemed like forever between the time I called Hank to get to the Normal Diner as fast as he could and the time he showed up. Realistically, it was a couple of minutes, if that. The feelings of sickness, sadness, anxiousness, and adrenaline all mixed up into one seemed to make time stand still.

I knew Hank was at Ty’s getting ready for the big game, and I probably should’ve just dialed 911, but when your boyfriend was the homicide detective who would be called by the sheriff anyway, it seemed more efficient to skip the step.

“I know,” Hank said to Abby. He had gotten much better at consoling people during his on-scene interviews, a far cry from my first encounter with him. “Why don’t we get you a drink of water so you can rest and try to get a clear picture of what you saw when you came into the diner?”

Hank gave a chin-nod to one of the deputies on the scene, who headed back to his car to retrieve a bottle of water. I continued to rub Abby’s back as the other ladies gave various accounts of what we’d heard from across the street, which really wasn’t much: A scream. Someone yelled my name. We ran out of the laundromat to find Abby. The rest was history.

“You didn’t see anyone?” Hank asked me while Abby had some water.

“No. No one.” I was reminded of the first time he’d asked me that same question in a much different tone. I’d never forget the day—it was the exact moment that truly changed my future.

My now-dead ex-husband had left me with a run-down campground that I was planning to sell before getting back to my fabulous New York life. As I stood on the broken pier on the campground, the wood had given out, plunging me into the nasty water. Soon afterward, Hank and his buddy had driven like a bat out of you-know-what right toward where I was standing covered in slimy lake moss. Hank asked if I’d seen my ex because Paul had escaped from prison, and I told him that he’d better hope they find Paul before I did because I’d kill the… well, let’s just say my words weren’t fit for a southern lady’s vocabulary. But of course, Paul West had gotten the last laugh, because right at that moment, his dead body had floated to the top of the lake, leaving Hank to believe I’d killed Paul.

That was the rocky start to our relationship and how I knew firsthand that his compassion skills had come a long way.

“I did think it was odd the lights were on,” I added, “but didn’t question it too much.” I glanced up to watch the officers doing a full sweep of the diner. “I just headed into the laundromat for our book club meeting, and it wasn’t until I heard Abby screaming that we all ran out.” I pointed to Queenie and Betts. Dottie was standing next to Queenie, getting the full scoop. “Dottie hadn’t gotten here yet.”

The screeching tires of a truck suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the one-way. Ty Randal jumped out. “I got here as fast as I could get someone to watch my brother.”

Ty had a couple of brothers and a father. His mom had passed away, and that was how his career as a pretty big chef had found its way back to the family diner. Ty had told me how he couldn’t bear to let his aging father raise the two younger brothers and run the family diner on his own, so he’d moved home.

“Your brother and his friend agreed to do it.” Ty’s eyes grew. Though we both knew the severity of the situation we were standing in, we couldn’t help but offer each other a smile since we both knew that we couldn’t even try to predict how his younger brother would fare with Bobby Ray.

Not that Bobby Ray wouldn’t make sure Timmy was safe, but sometimes Bobby Ray didn’t use the best judgment. He went by how things felt. If something was no doubt going to be fun but dangerous, Bobby Ray would go for the fun.

“What is going on?” Ty’s smile took a quick turn when Colonel Holz, the coroner, walked past us on his way to his hearse, pushing the church cart carrying Trudy’s body in a body bag. “Who is that?”

Ty jerked around when no one responded, looking between me and Hank. “Who is that?” he demanded. “I thought you said something was happening at the diner, like a robbery.”

“Man.” Hank put his hand on Ty’s chest. “I didn’t really know anything when Mae called, so I wasn’t going to get you all jacked up about something, but now that I’m here, I hate to tell you—Trudy Bull has been shot execution-style in the diner.”

Ty ran his hand through his hair before letting out a deep sigh of hurt, forcing him to double over.

I reached out to put my hand on his back, but he shrugged it off.

“Who did it?” Ty looked around and paced a few steps. “Where is he?”

“We don’t know who did this. But I’m going to have to ask you to check the register, your safe, anything that might be of value.” Hank was going through the list of items that could’ve made this a robbery gone bad.

“I don’t keep money here at all. In fact, I don’t even know why Trudy was here.” Ty looked away as if trying to recall something. “She was off. I closed—that’s why I was late letting you in the camper for the fight.” He blinked several times. “In fact, she was going to that wedding.”

“Oh yeah.” My eyes shot open when I remembered Trudy in the diner earlier saying she was going as a plus-one. “She had a date with some guy from a dating app.”

“Dating app?” Hank questioned.

“Yeah. Trudy and her boyfriend broke up a while back. He moved out of state, so recently, she started using a dating app. Said she was lonely.” Ty took a few deep breaths. “I think this guy was new. The last one she had, they apparently went on a few dates and didn’t work out.” Ty snapped his fingers before he pointed directly at Hank. “They got into some fight. He came into the diner, and they had words, but she wouldn’t tell me why she didn’t want to date him anymore. It was a scene, not just some little under-the-breath back-and-forth.”

I wondered what on earth their fight was about. If it was just about her not wanting to have another date, it seemed a bit over-the-top for him to show up at her work.

“It was really disruptive. He started yelling, then she yelled.” Ty looked concerned. “I should’ve said something to him, but Trudy stopped me. She assured me he wouldn’t be back.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if he had gotten to her somehow and they fought again, only this time, he killed her.

“This could be our killer,” I blurted out. “I mean, if this guy really liked Trudy, and she called it off with him, maybe he saw her at the wedding or something. Maybe, somehow, she agreed to meet him here.”

“She does have full access to the diner. She’s got a key.” Ty shook his head before he burst into tears. “I should’ve called the cops when I had to remove him from the diner.”

“How long ago was the fight between this guy and Trudy?” Hank had gotten his pad of paper out to make notes.

“I don’t know. If I had to guess, maybe six, seven days ago.” Ty ran the sleeve of his sweatshirt across his face, wiping away tears.

“Detective!” one of the uniformed guys called Hank over.

“I’ll be right back.” Hank flipped the pad shut and stuck it in his pocket, hurrying over to see what they’d found.

“I can’t believe this.” Ty searched my face for a plausible explanation I simply couldn’t give.

“Me either.” I sucked in a deep breath, and as I breathed out, I told him how Abby was the one who had found her.

Ty headed over to the curb where Abby was sitting. He sat down next to her, and I followed.

“You’ve not taken one drink of this water.” I squatted down in front of her.

“I can’t, or I might throw up,” she said in a shaky voice. Her body shivered.

“Here.” Ty took off his sweatshirt, leaving him in a T-shirt. He helped Abby put the sweatshirt on. “I know this isn’t a blanket, but it might help.”

“Thank you.” Abby laid her head on Ty’s shoulder.

I was glad to see him comfort her. They’d been dating on-again, off-again, and they clearly had a connection.

There was silence between the three of us, but the chatter in the background kept our attention.

“They found Trudy’s purse. There doesn’t seem to be anything taken from her wallet.” Hank had come back with a list of items that a robber would’ve taken if it were a robbery. “She had jewelry on since I guess she was at the wedding. It was still on her. Her wallet has over three hundred dollars in it, and her car keys were in it.”

“The money is her tip-out.” Ty gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “She was really excited about how the tourist season is changing and bringing in more people, meaning more money in tips…” His voice trailed off.

“We didn’t find a phone.” Hank’s words made all our heads jerk up. “And by y’all’s reaction, it seems that’s a bit odd?”

“Yeah. Every time I seen her, she always had her phone,” Abby said, and I agreed.

“Every free minute during her shift, she pulled that thing out of her apron and looked at it.” Ty scratched his head and stood up. “I wonder if it was that guy from the dating app because he drove her nuts with texts.”

“And if he texted her something, or there were some back-and-forth between them on her phone…” I stopped talking when Hank looked at me with that expression. “What?”

“I can see what you two are doing.” He wiggled his finger from me to Ty then back to me. “You two cannot go off and look into this. She was shot. Execution-style.” Hank’s lips overexaggerated. “This person meant business.”

“We are just helping you out.” I shrugged, knowing I was going to get a good talkin’-to when Hank and I were alone. He hated when I stuck my nose into his investigations like I’d done with Paul’s murder.

It had been the only way I was able to prove myself innocent, and I had to admit I was pretty darn good at finding things out. And I wasn’t half bad at figuring things out either.

“Just find him.” Ty didn’t even bother trying to say he wasn’t going to snoop around. I could see in his eyes that he was—like I was—going to help out any way he could.

We just wouldn’t let Hank know.

“Can you come in and check out the register and your safe now?” Hank was tired of us playing amateur sleuth.

“Sure.” Ty put his hand on Abby’s shoulder. She looked up. “You going to be okay tonight?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’ll be fine.” She started to take her arms out of the sleeves of his sweatshirt.

“No.” He stopped her. “Keep it.” He offered her a smile and then headed toward the diner.

“I mean it, Mae. Do not snoop around,” Hank warned before he followed Ty back inside.

“We need to find that phone.” Abby pushed herself up to stand, both of us ignoring Hank.

“Yes, we do. And the only way to get more clues as to who killed Trudy is to get the Laundry Club gals involved.” I looked at Abby, and both of us turned to looked at Queenie, Betts, and Dottie, who were all staring back at us.

It was like we were reading each other’s minds.

FOUR

There was no way anyone wanted to continue with the book club meeting. We only wanted to talk about who would kill Trudy and why. If it was the dating-app guy, why would he kill her? Over a rejection? Did she find something out about him when they went on their dates that he didn’t want to come out?

There were a lot of unanswered questions that we’d come up with, and I wrote them down as soon as I got back my camper. The girls and I kept a notebook of clues from the past few incidents we’d stuck our noses into.

“We have to find the phone,” I told Fifi and tapped the ink pen on the page I’d been writing on. “And you need a bath.”

I’d like to say the midnight hours were a time for me to sleep, but the last conversation I’d had with Trudy was playing in my head. Even when I decided to give Fifi a bath at three a.m., I still could hear Trudy’s voice.

There wasn’t anything that stood out. I just wished I’d known it was going to be the last time I’d talk to her. She had always been so sweet and kind to me.

Instead of waiting around until seven a.m. to go to the campground office, I got dressed and ready early.

The moon still hung in the dark, six-a.m. sky over top the campground. The big round reflection rippled into the lake. Fifi knew where we were going and darted up the road. Me, I still liked to take the long way around and make sure all was well with my guests.

Hank’s car wasn’t parked in his camper lot, which told me he was at the department all night going over everything. That was his normal when he was doing an investigation.

I was sure he’d taken Chester with him. After I got a few cups of coffee in me, I’d text him to make sure.

Ty’s truck was at his camper. I wondered what time he’d made it home. I knew Bobby Ray was home, and I would check in on him later.

The rest of the campground was fast asleep. Soon, the hikers would be up and at ’em, getting ready for their days.

I stopped at the recreation building to unlock it and flip on the lights. Gert Hobson, the owner of Trails Coffee, would be around soon to drop off some coffee for the guests, and Christine Watson would be dropping off some cookies or sweets.

I loved showcasing local merchants so that guests could get a taste—literally—of what the shops in Normal had to offer. It was one of the ways we had helped get Normal’s economy back on its feet.

Fifi was patiently waiting at the door to the office, and she darted in right when I opened it. The first things I did were make coffee and then plug in my phone to make sure it had full battery. After all, I was sure it would be blowing up with texts in light of what had happened to Trudy. And as soon as the sun came up, gossip would start circulating. That was part of being a citizen in a small town. Sometimes the gossip held truth, so I would listen to it and see if anyone knew anything about this guy Trudy had met on the app.

“Mornin’!” Dottie Swaggert burst through the door. Her arms were full.

“What on earth?” I started to ask when I saw that one of the items she held was her leopard-print makeup bag.

“Are you crazy enough to think I can sit at home sippin’ coffee and watchin’ the mornin’ shows when I know you’re over here workin’ on Trudy’s killer?” She shook her head full of soft pink sponge curlers. “No siree Bob.” She headed straight to her desk and dropped everything there.

“Well.” I stared at her in a bit of shock given what she was wearing. “You in a pink silk-and-feather robe is about the last thing I wanted to see this morning.” My eyes drifted down to her shoes. “And matching slippers.”

“Mae West, you live in the south now, and you need to get used to that.” She opened her desk drawer and took out a treat for Fifi, a habit she’d created for my dethroned pedigree pup.

“No. I think I know where I live.” The coffee pot beeped done. I walked over to get us a cup.

“Not if you’re not ready at all times for company to drop on in.” She patted her hair full of curlers and started to unclip them one by one.

“Mm-hmm. Here.” I sat her coffee mug on the desk and picked up the hot-pink racerback tank on her desk, giving her an inquisitive look.

“When people come by, you’ve got to let them in, and I don’t want to be wearing a ratty T-shirt or sweatshirt like someone I know but will not name.” She gave me a good once-over. “And Queenie invited me to do Jazzercise.” She ripped the tank out of my hands. “My doctor said it would be good for me.”

“What would be good for you is to stop smoking.” I’d never really harped on Dottie for smoking, but when she left room for me to do so, I took full advantage.

When she didn’t say anything, I let it go… for today. I had other things that I wanted to fuss with and make progress on, like Trudy’s killer. I wouldn’t make a dent in Dottie’s decision to quit smoking, so we moved on.

“You are right about one thing.” I eased down in my desk chair with my cup of coffee in hand. “I’ve been up all night thinking about Trudy.”

“And?” What was left over from Dottie’s painted-on brows yesterday rose, and she gave a slight chin-nod.

“We need to find her phone. She’s been on a date with a guy from a dating app, and according to Ty, he came in the diner where they had a public fight.” I sat my coffee down and dragged my bag off the back of my chair to dig out the notebook. “I started to write down the usual things.”

Dottie jumped up, the feather-trimmed robe losing a few feathers on her way over to the whiteboard used to list the campground’s daily and monthly activities.

“Don’t worry. I’ll rewrite them on the one in the recreation room.” She went to town wiping down the board with the eraser and then flipped the top off the dry-erase marker. “Shoot.”

“Bad choice of words,” I reminded her. That was exactly how Trudy had died.

In response, she wrote Trudy’s name in the middle of the board, drawing a big circle around it with lines extending from that. It looked like a big fat spider to me, but I went with it.

“I’ll write date-app guy on one.” She wrote it at the end of one line and underneath it prepared to write clues.

“Well, for starters…” I stood up and paced. It helped me recall anything said last night. “All of Trudy’s money and her wallet was in her purse. Ty said nothing looked out of place, so I’d rule out robbery, which makes me think Trudy knew the killer.”

I opened the blinds to the office windows and unlocked the front door. It was finally almost seven. In the distance, I saw some smoke coming from various campsites. That’s how I knew campers were up and starting to brew their morning coffees, even though they could easily come to the recreation center for a cup. They loved the routine of making coffee over a campfire.

It was usually fun to walk around and see if they needed help, but today, I couldn’t waste time on that.

“Henry!” I knocked loudly on the window when I saw Henry Bryan, the campground handyman, walk by.

He jerked around as if I’d frightened him. I waved him in.

“Henry can do it.” I looked back at Dottie, who looked all sorts of confused. “I was talking in my head,” I clarified.

“Huh.” Dottie’s fake brows furrowed. “Do you do that often?”

“Henry.” I grabbed a cup of coffee to start buttering him up.

“This isn’t going to be good.” He reluctantly took the cup.

“It’s great, and if you do it, I’ll give you an extra paid day off whenever you want.” I watched him closely.

His wide smile showed his missing two front teeth. His scraggly hair jutted out from underneath his dirty Daniel Boone National Park baseball cap.

“Whenever I wunt?” His accent fell out of his mouth in spades.

“Mm-hmmm,” I ho-hummed. “I know you don’t really like to converse with the campers, and I know it’s not your job, but I need you to walk around this morning and make sure everyone…”

“I already dropped off the kindlin’.” Henry was basically a hermit by choice when it came to the campers. He loved working around Happy Trails and fixing it up, but he didn’t like interacting with them.

Now, if someone from Normal was here, he’d talk their legs off.

“Yes. Thank you for that.” I put my hands together and gave a slight bow. “But I need you to greet them and ask if they need anything.”

“Aww, Mae,” Henry whined, pulling the ball cap off his head. “You know them people don’t know much about camping, and I’ll be spending all day trying to make them learn.”

“Don’t do it for Mae,” Dottie chirped up. “Do it for Trudy.”

“Trudy Bull?” Henry curled his big nose. “What’s wrong with my favorite waitress?”

“You haven’t heard?” My eyes grew big. I looked back at Dottie. “He doesn’t know.”

Dottie jumped up, grabbed the back of the chair sitting in front of her desk, and dragged it over to him.

“Sit,” she demanded and pointed to the chair.

“Henry, I know you go to breakfast at the diner every morning and sit at the counter because you adore Trudy.” I paused.

“Go on, Mae, rip it off like a Band-Aid.” Dottie gave a few fast nods to encourage me.

“Trudy was murdered last night at the diner. I’m not sure who did it, but I have some leads.” I stopped talking when I noticed the blank look on his face.

“I’ll get to the campers.” He pushed himself up to stand and put the coffee cup on the small table that held the coffee pot, putting his cap back on and pulling it way down over his eyes. “I’m not thirsty anymore.”

Dottie and I stood in silence until he shut the door behind him.

“I knew he was going to take it hard, but not that hard.” The chair screeched across the old tile floor as Dottie dragged it back across.

“As long as I’ve lived here, he’s gone every morning.” I sighed and watched him out the window walk slowly down through the campground.

“Let’s get to it.” Dottie didn’t let any grass grow under her feet. She was at the board with the marker. “Maybe Trudy rejected the date-app guy.”

“Right. Or maybe he saw her at the wedding with someone else.” I shrugged.

“Wedding? You mean the mayor’s cousin or whoever it was getting married?” Dottie asked. Before I could answer her, she wrote “wedding date” beside another line.

“I’m not sure who invited her. She only said plus-one when we talked about it yesterday at the diner.” I didn’t recall her saying anything about the date. “Ty teased her, saying it would be all she talked about, meaning today. And she was supposed to open.”

“If she was supposed to be at the wedding, why was she at a closed diner?” Dottie asked the question that’d been going over and over in my mind.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Do you think she saw something going on inside and that’s when she went in?”

“Where was her car?” This time, Dottie asked a question I hadn’t even thought of.

“I don’t know. I guess these are all good questions to write down.” It was a great question. How did Trudy get from the wedding to the diner?

“While you ponder all that, I’m going to get changed.” Dottie scooped up all her belongings and headed into the small bathroom while I curled an arm around my waist and stood in front of the board.

I looked at it and continuously reread what Dottie had written in hopes something would jump right out and enlighten me as to who was the killer. Honestly, we had no leads.

“Welcome to Happy Trails.” I gave my natural response when the door opened even though my back was turned.

“Good morning. And the coffee is ready.” Bobby Ray and Gidean had come in.

“Oh, it’s just you two. How was the big fight?” I asked.

“Between me and Ty’s little bro?” Gidean pretended to do some sort of boxing move, reminding me that Ty had left his little brother with Bobby Ray.

“How was Nathan?” I asked.

“He’s a good kid for now, but I’m telling you.” Bobby Ray shook a finger at me and looked to Gidean for confirmation. “He’s gonna be a handful in a couple of years.”

Bobby Ray helped himself to the coffee pot.

“Don’t say that.” I couldn’t imagine how Ty and his dad were going to handle a teenager. “He’s a good kid.”

“Talking about teenagers getting into trouble.” Bobby Ray handed Gidean a cup of steaming hot coffee after nudging him in the ribs. “This guy right here is going to have lunch with Dawn Gentry.”

Bobby Ray brought the cup of coffee up to his lips, but the steam curling up around his face didn’t hide his big smile.

“Oh man, you still kiss and tell,” Gidean joked and drank some of his coffee.

“Yeah. He’s not grown out of that fifteen-year-old boy,” I said and smiled, but my thoughts went back to Trudy. “I hope you know the only diner in Normal isn’t open today. Remember… Trudy?”

“Ty didn’t open?” Bobby Ray asked.

“I’m sure the scene hasn’t been released.” I wasn’t really sure, but I’d been around the block with Hank and the Normal department before. He was meticulous when it came to a crime scene, much less a murder scene. “I guess you can check it out, but it’s not been twenty-four hours since she was murdered.”

“That’s crazy.” Gidean’s eyes dipped. “When Ty got home, he was pretty upset.”

“Trudy had worked for him and his dad for a long time. She was so friendly to everyone. I’m having a hard time believing it.” I gulped back tears.

“That’s why Mae has that board up there.” Bobby Ray pointed his cup at the whiteboard.

“You’re a detective now, Mae?” Gidean looked so impressed. “I thought you just owned the campground.”

“No, but she should be!” Dottie came out of the bathroom. “Better than anyone on Hank’s team. Already helped solve a handful of crimes. Even though she and Hank are a big item now.”

“You did? You are.” Gidean’s jaw dropped.

“I did only because I was in the wrong places at pretty much the wrong times. I just have a good sense of snooping,” I joked. “We are an item, but he’s not really happy with me when I snoop.”

“That’s awesome that you’ve got a keen eye for detective work. Maybe you should go back to school for that,” he suggested. “If I remember correctly, didn’t you get out of dodge as soon as the clock turned midnight on your eighteenth birthday, no help to this guy?”

“I wouldn’t be standing right here today if it weren’t for Bobby Ray giving me the money to hop on that Greyhound bus to New York. I’m sure my life would’ve been a whole lot different.” I fondly recalled Bobby Ray giving me that money because he knew I wanted out of our small town so badly and needed to see the world.

Even though my marriage to Paul West wasn’t what I’d dreamed it was going to be, without meeting him and marrying him, I wouldn’t be the owner of Happy Trails, and for that, I was grateful.

Bobby Ray took a few steps toward the board, and Gidean went back to the coffee pot, where he not only refilled his cup but proceeded to make another pot since he and Bobby Ray had drained what was left of it.

The phone rang, and Dottie answered it.

“Dating app?” Bobby Ray stood with his legs apart, chin tilted to the side, lips pursed as he stared at the board.

“Ty said she’d been using an online dating app, and she didn’t deny it when he told me in front of her yesterday.” I walked up and stood next to him, looking at the board and again waiting for some sort of epiphany to jump out. “She was going to a wedding last night with a guy, but we don’t know who it was yet. I’m guessing Hank will check that out.”

“Mae, phone.” Dottie held out the receiver of the old phone that sat on her desk. “It’s Betts.”

“Ooh. She might have some information.” It wasn’t unusual for Betts to hear things from the community more quickly than me or even Hank.

Betts had previously been married to longtime Normal Baptist Church Preacher, but sadly they divorced. He was no longer living in Normal… it was a story for another time, but she was still active in the community and in the church. There was nothing better than going to a Normal Baptist Church potluck because the gossip slid off churchgoers’ lips like butter off a hot baked biscuit.

“Good morning,” I greeted her. “How did you sleep?” I didn’t want to immediately jump in and start questioning her.

“I’m going to cut the chitchat and get to the chase.” She knew me all too well. “Coke Odgen had hired me to clean the Barn today. It didn’t dawn on me until I was refilling the van’s cleaning supplies that it might be a good idea for you to come and help. Maybe poke your head around, ask a few questions.”

“I’ll be there in five.” I handed the receiver back to Dottie.

“Now what?” Dottie asked.

“You think you can hold down the fort again?” I asked her, knowing she’d already worked a full day in the office yesterday.

Dottie looked at me like she was going to go off.

“Fine.” I lifted my hands in the air before she started in on me.  “I’m going to help Betts clean the Barn.” I grinned.

“Smart girl.” Dottie knew exactly what my underlying intent was. “Meet up at the laundromat later?”

“Mm-hmm. Call the girls and see what they can do to help find out who this guy might be or if they’ve heard anything.” I pointed to the board. “They could be the same person, but we won’t know until we find out.”

“What on earth are y’all talking about?” Bobby Ray asked. He turned to Gidean. “They have a weird secret code or something.”

“All women do.” Gidean shrugged.

“Trudy was going to the wedding that was at the Barn last night. I can go and snoop around.” I grabbed my bag off the back of my chair and my phone off the charger to throw it in.

“Aren’t the cops supposed to do that?” Gidean had no idea what he’d stepped into this morning.

“See…” Bobby Ray sighed. “This is what I meant by ‘detective.’”

FIVE

Betts Hager’s cleaning van was literally bare-bones. It was just a steel box on wheels with screwed-in shelves for her cleaning products. The guts of the van stored her vacuum, mops, brooms, carpet cleaner, and various other brushes and gadgets she used on the job.

Even though it was spring, the mornings still held a chill in the air, and dew hung off the tips of the grass, which meant her van would be cold.

“Why don’t we stop at the Cookie Crumble and grab a donut and large coffee?” I suggested even though Trails Coffee was right across the street from the laundromat. I needed a sugar rush to jump-start my brain so I could ask the right questions while I was snooping around at the Barn.

“Good idea.” Betts was in the office of the laundromat. “Let me double-check all the machines.”

That meant she needed to make sure there was plenty of detergent, softener, bleach, and other items on hand for the customers to use while she was out. We headed out the door and into the parking lot, where we got into the van and headed north, out of town and in the opposite direction of Happy Trails.

The Cookie Crumble wasn’t located in downtown Normal and neither was the Old Train Station Motel. Both were on the way out of the center but still in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

“Why do you think Trudy was at the diner?” I asked Betts. “To me, that’s the number one question Hank needs to figure out.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure. But I know Hank had mentioned he was going to go see the mayor and see what she observed with Trudy.” Betts had turned on the heater in the van, but it was blowing out cold air.

The Cookie Crumble Bakery sign flashed OPEN. My mouth watered at the thought of what I was about to eat. Christine Watson made so many delicious pastries, I just might get two.

Betts pulled the van into an empty spot.

“Good morning,” Christine greeted us from behind the counter with a nice, warm smile on her face. Her cheeks were plump and made her eyes squint. Brown strands of hair flew out from her ponytail in silky wisps. “I’ll be with y’all in a minute.” She turned back to the customer she was helping.

She was always so polite. Betts and I took the time to look down the glass counter and see what Christine had for sale today. Betts tapped on the glass and looked at me.

“Yummy.” She licked her lips. “Apple-pie donut.”

“You got here just in time.” Christine walked over. “Those just came out of the oven.” She plucked one of the parchment papers from the box. “They’re amazing, they are. Want one?”

My phone chirped from inside my bag. While Betts finished her order, I walked over to the community corkboard and took my phone out. I had a text from Hank. After I replied, I scanned the community board. Pam Purcell had put up flyers about preordering her homegrown peaches and all the food items she makes with them. I took one of her extra flyers off the corkboard and slipped it into my bag so I could give it to Mary Elizabeth for The Milkery.

Though The Milkery was a dairy farm, it was much more than that, selling homemade jams, jellies, and bread made by citizens like Pam. Mary Elizabeth used them in the bed-and-breakfast of The Milkery and even sold some of them there to help stimulate the Normal economy.

My phone chirped: a heart emoji from Hank.

“Dang.” I shook my head when I noticed the charge-bars on my phone were red again.

“What?” Betts asked and pointed to even more donuts for Christine to add to her bag.

“I need a new phone. I barely have a charge to text Hank back.” I had to make it a point to drive to the phone store and get rid of this dinosaur.

“I have a charge station over there,” Christine pointed out.

“Must be the latest and greatest addition to all the shops in Normal.” Happily, I headed toward where she’d pointed and plugged my phone in.

“Mayor Mackenzie had a big thing about it and how young hikers love the green earth but also love their phones.” She laughed. “Then she had someone talk to the Chamber of Commerce about adding phone-charging stations to help with business.”

“It makes sense, and I’m so grateful.” My phone chirped again. I opened my texts in order to read Hank’s full message.

Sorry I didn’t call you last night. It’s been a long night. Ty had Timmy get Chester. They are going to keep him today. Diner is closed. At least for today. Let’s grab supper tonight. Talk later. Going to see Mayor about guest list and who Trudy was with.

“Then I’ll get two dozen of those. I’m on my way to clean up after the big wedding at the Barn last night.” Betts had ordered chocolate glazed.

Christine plucked another sheet of parchment paper from the box with one hand and grabbed a cardboard box with the other. “Speaking of wedding, I heard Trudy Bull was killed there last night.” She handed the box over to the top of the display counter to Betts.

I texted Hank back: I’d love to meet for supper. Call me when you can. I’m going to help Betts with cleaning the Barn this morning.

Hank quickly texted back: Cleaning? Mae.

His text told me everything I needed to know without hearing the tone in his voice. He was giving me a slight warning not to get involved. Hey, it’s just a warning, I thought and unplugged the phone from the charger.

“No. She was murdered at the diner.” I walked over and tapped the glass. “Can I get a chocolate donut for me?”

Her nose curled up, squishing all of her freckles together. “Diner?”

“I’m not sure if she even made it to the wedding.”

“You two.” Christine’s jaw dropped. “I know why you’re with Betts now because I know you don’t love cleaning. Especially this time of the morning. I’ll be sure to keep my ears open.”

“Perfect,” Betts mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate glazed donut.

“Really? You love that I’m going to listen to see if I hear anything? Because I can ask questions too.” Christine was all excited.

“No. I meant this donut is perfect.” Betts held up what was left of the tasty treat.

All three of us laughed.

“What did Hank say in his text?” Betts asked once we got back on the road to the Old Train Station Motel, where the Barn was located.

“How did you know it was Hank?” I asked.

“The smile on your face as you text him back,” she said.

“I don’t have a very good poker face when it comes to him.” I held the Cookie Crumble Bakery coffee cup between my hands to warm them. “He and I are having supper tonight. The diner is still closed, and he’s going to see the mayor to get a wedding guest list and ask about Trudy.”

“You know, I didn’t think of it until you mentioned it back at the bakery, but did Trudy even go to the wedding?” Betts pulled the van into the parking lot of the Old Train Station that was located on Fawn Road.

“Look at that sunrise.” I nearly wept looking out over the pink-and-blue morning sky.

The Old Train Station was beautifully framed by the dramatic backdrop of the mountains of the national park. It had the best views of the sunrise and sunset. That was why the Barn made such a beautiful wedding venue. Coke Odgen had a lot of vision when she bought the run-down train station and turned it into a ten-room motel.

“They are probably going to the peak to get some good photos.” Betts was pointing out the early-morning hikers with camera equipment strapped around them. The Old Train Station property had some of the hardest trails and climbs of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Those were the most appealing to tourists who came to Normal for rewarding views at the tops of the hikes. From what Coke had said, many photographers would stay at the motel just so they could get amazing shots of the sunrises and sunsets.

“We aren’t here for the sunrise, so let’s get going.” Betts got out of the van with coffee in hand.

I met her around the back of the van and took the handle of the cleaning bucket she pointed out for me.

“We’ll start by picking up trash and see what we need to clean.” Betts gave me all sorts of ideas and instructions as I followed her into the middle of the circular, domed courtyard.

Coke loved using the courtyard for various intimate events. The area was gorgeous, with its six original massive concrete pillars holding up a dramatic patina metal roof with a rooster weather vane.

We walked through the courtyard and past the restaurant. Through the window, I saw the regulars lined up at the counter, where they all appeared to be enthralled with some sort of story Coke Odgen was telling. The edges of her flipped-up, shoulder-length hair didn’t dare move when she told the animated tale, her hands moving as fast as her lips. The overhead lights of the diner made her blond hair shiny and her small nose appear to be even more slender than it was.

She caught a glimpse of me when I passed and immediately gave a halting gesture to her audience and hurried herself through the restaurant.

“I think Coke is coming out,” I said to Betts to stop her from going any farther. I took a step back and watched Coke weave in and out of the few tables she had for her guests. She probably should’ve made the restaurant bigger, but it wasn’t the most convenient to get to, so who knew it would become such a bustling hangout spot?

“I’m so glad y’all are here.” Save for her blond hair, Coke reminded me so much of Mary Tyler Moore from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a show my biological mother used to watch. “Can you believe what happened to Trudy? It’s awful. And to think I might be the last person she talked to.”

“It is awful. Terrible if you want to know the truth.” Betts pinched her lips together and looked up at the sky.

Even though she didn’t say anything out loud, I’d bet she was praying. It was Betts’s way. Somehow, she always tried her best to stay positive during tragedies.

“You were the last one to talk to her?” I asked Coke since this was the exact reason I was here.

“I believe I was.” Coke rubbed her hands together. “But I can’t be sure.”

“Why would you think that?” I asked.

“Because she was dancing the night away with that cute cousin of Courtney’s.” Coke had a big smile on her face. “He’s a politician too.”

“Local?” I couldn’t recall ever meeting any cousin of Mayor Mackenzie, especially one that held an office like her.

“Oh, no. None of her people were local.” Coke waved a hand. “Her cousin—the bride—loves it here, and she wanted to have a southern destination wedding.” Coke’s shoulders raised to her ears. “Lucky me. Courtney told them about the Barn, and viola.” Her smile faltered. “But news of Trudy did dampen the guests’ spirits this morning.” She glanced back over her shoulder into the restaurant window, where I saw some citizens I didn’t recognize who I assumed were family members.

“Which cousin did Trudy dance with?” I asked.

“Oh, he left. He had to get back to his office. Busy man.” Coke clasped her hands together and sighed. “I’ve got to get back in there and get things cleaned up before I head down to the sheriff’s department. Agnes Swift called early this morning asking if I could come down and give an account of anything I could remember about the wedding.”

“You tell Agnes hello.” I smiled while storing all the information Coke had just shared.

“You.” Coke wagged a finger. “I’m sure you talk to Agnes all the time.” Coke reached out and grabbed my forearm. “But I’ll tell her anyways.”

Agnes Swift was not only Hank’s grandmother, but she was also the eighty-year-old sheriff’s department secretary. It helped that she loved me because when I needed a little bone thrown my way for an investigation, Agnes was always willing to help out.

“Anything in particular you want me to do, or just the usual?” Betts asked.

“I’d said early in the week I was going to have you polish up the baseboards, but they look good. Maybe before the next event, I’ll have you do a deep clean.” Coke and Betts were talking about what needed to be done, but I barely listened. I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to get the name of Mayor Mackenzie’s cousin who Trudy had seemed to have a good time with. If that was the case, maybe she’d said something to him about being in trouble or fearing for her life.

“Coke, wait a minute.” I stopped her when she was halfway through the restaurant door.

She turned.

“You said Trudy was with the mayor’s cousin. Is that who she came with? The plus-one?” I questioned.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but…” Coke looked around before she leaned in. “I don’t want to spread no gossip, you know.”

Betts and I both shook our heads.

“No. Of course you don’t.” I knew better.

“But apparently, Courtney’s brother went into the diner on his way into town, and he and Trudy hit it off. That’s when he asked her. But that’s not all.”

“It’s not?” I questioned, giving her the full attention she needed to keep carrying on.

“No. I don’t know if it’s true or hearsay, but I was dolling out the cake when I overheard a few of Courtney’s other family members saying how it wasn’t Hunter’s first time to stray. The only difference this time, they said, is that they are just newly separated.”

“Who is newly separated?” Betts asked.

“Courtney’s brother and his wife.” She waved her hand again between me and Betts. “You know, the guy Trudy came with.”

“I thought you didn’t know his name?” I questioned, recalling she blew it off earlier.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but you know.” She used her fingers to zip her lips. “I don’t want to gossip.”

“What if he killed Trudy?” I blurted out.

“Honey, if anyone killed Trudy, it was Hunter’s wife.” Coke’s lips duck-billed, and she gave a hard nod and crossed her arms.

“His wife?” None of what she was saying made sense.

“She showed up during the bouquet toss.” She drew her lips inward, teeth clenching down. Her eyes darted back and forth as she looked at me and Betts. “It wasn’t pretty to say the least.”

“I thought you said he and his wife were separated.” I was having a hard time sorting out all the details.

“That’s what he told his family, not figuring his wife was going to show up.” She winked and turned to head back inside.

“I couldn’t make heads or tails of that story.” Betts sighed loudly and took off walking toward the Barn, leaving me standing with more questions than I had before Coke started her gossip session.

“I thought I’d run into you somewhere,” I heard a stern voice say beside me.

I recognized it and turned. “Hello, Violet.” I had a love-hate relationship with Violet Rhinehammer.

“Oh, Mae.” Her southern tone gave me the notion she wasn’t here to ask me to lunch. “We can skip the pleasantries and just get to the point.”

“And what would that be?” I questioned. “You need me and Betts to clean your house?” I held up the bucket I was still carrying. “Because we are booked solid.”

Violet tilted her head. Her hair hung down the sides of her face, framing it nicely and making me jealous of it as usual.

“I know you saw Trudy’s body, and you know I want the scoop for Channel 2. Not to mention I’ve been contacted by the national press to do a story.” Violet was a local celebrity.

She was the news anchor of Channel 2. She and I had once decided to put our skills together to help solve a crime. I was good at the snooping around, and she was good at getting into places and having contacts I could never get.

“I’ll even throw in a plug for the campground,” she teased, knowing I would take any press I could get.

“Fine.” I sat down the bucket and dug into my purse for my notebook. “I want a big plug for the upcoming summer season, like a segment on Good Day in the Park.”

It was a new segment Channel 2 had started that featured various events happening in the Daniel Boone National Park towns, and I wanted to be in on it.

“Deal.” She stuck her hand out for me to shake because around these parts, a handshake was stronger than any sort of contract.

“Here’s what I know so far.” I rattled off how I knew Trudy had been asked to the wedding. I also told Violet how Trudy had been using a dating app and how one date had come into the diner like Ty had said. “But here’s the kicker.” I proceeded to tell her how Trudy’s death didn’t appear to be a robbery. “All her money was in her wallet, but her phone is missing.”

“The dating-app guy?” Violet asked.

“That’s what I thought, but come to find out, the guy who asked her to the wedding…” I hesitated a moment before I told her all the stuff Coke had told me, but I knew if anyone could find out who this Hunter guy was and where he held his elected office, it would be Violet. “If we find him, maybe he has some answers.”

“What makes you so sure Hank hasn’t already talked to these people?” She gave me the side eye.

“Not that I want to go against Hank, but he’s got all the red tape he’s got to jump through.” Without saying it, she knew I meant warrants and various paper trails. “We don’t. I want justice for Trudy. You want the scoop.”

Violet stood there for a second, looking at me but not really looking at me. It was as if she were playing what the advantages would be for her before she agreed.

“I’ll go run a few things through the system on the Mackenzie’s clan while you do whatever it is that you do to find things out for me to check on.” Violet turned on the balls of her high-heeled shoes and walked back through the courtyard to the parking lot.

I hurried down to the Barn to help Betts.

“Garbage bag right there,” she hollered when I pulled open the barn-style doors, letting the sun trickle in behind me. “First, we will just pick up any trash that was left on the floor and any paper decorations. Some of the plastic decorations Coke likes to keep, so we will pile them up on the stage for her to go through later.”

“Sounds good.” I gave her a captain’s salute and grabbed the garbage bag she’d left near the door.

“What did Violet say?” Betts asked.

“She wants to join forces to get to the killer faster.” I worked my way down from the back, collecting trash while Betts worked her way down from the front.

“And what did you say?” Betts asked as we worked.

“I told her about Hunter and asked if she can find him.” I picked up a plate off the floor that had a bit of leftover cake on it. “I wonder if Trudy had a piece of the cake?” I asked Betts as I put it in the trash bag. “That’s something she’d’ve told me about.”

Trudy was so sweet, and I’d loved going into the diner to talk to her about silly things. Like cake. Cake from a wedding.

In the next couple of hours, Betts and I had the Barn spick-and-span. There were only a few plastic items that were in good shape, which we put on the stage for Coke. They ranged from plastic horseshoes to vases.

“What now?” I asked Betts and grabbed a few of the garbage bags on our way out the door.

“I guess we are done.” Betts and I hauled all the garbage bags to the Old Train Station Motel dumpster and put all the cleaning supplies back into the van.

My phone rang from the bottom of my bag.

“Hello?” I answered when I didn’t recognize the number.

“Mae, it’s Ann Doherty from down at the bank. Did Dottie Swaggert give you my message from yesterday?” Ann asked.

“Oh my goodness. She did. I forgot all about it.” Dottie had mentioned something about my account getting hacked, and Trudy’s murder made me forget all about it.

“I’m glad she did. She isn’t good about relaying messages. Anyways, do you think you could come on down to the bank at some point today so we can get this all straightened out?” she asked.

“Sure. I’m on my way into town now.” I got in the passenger side of the van and put my seat belt on.

“Great. I’ll be here.” Ann and I hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Betts asked.

“Ann Doherty. My account was hacked, so I’m going to the bank to see what it’s all about.” It occurred to me to pull my phone out of my purse again, and I held my thumb on the touch ID of my bank account app. “Huh.”

“What?” Betts questioned, driving the van back toward downtown Normal.

“My bank app has been disabled.” I’d never had that happen before.

“Even if your account was hacked, that’s not normal.” Betts gripped the wheel and made a quick glance my way.

“Betts,” I said flatly. “Nothing is normal in Normal.”

SIX

“Here is what we have so far.” I took the time I had with Betts on the drive back into town to go over what clues we’d discovered so far about Trudy, her last hour alive, and possible reasons someone would kill her. “Trudy went back to the closed diner after being at the wedding. She wasn’t robbed.”

“You still have to consider she might’ve driven by and seen a robbery in progress.” Betts reminded me to ask Agnes about Trudy’s car.

“Yes. But did she have a car? Was she dropped off by the date? Did Hunter drop her off? Did she and Hunter go in and he kill her?” I wrote down questions to explore and hoped Violet Rhinehammer had gotten some information on him.

“Or did his wife have something to do with it?” Betts asked.

“Good one. I didn’t even think about that, because she did show up at the wedding, according to Coke.” I wrote down “Hunter’s wife” as a suspect until I got her name. “She definitely needs to be interviewed.”

“Hank will not like the idea of you taking this on.” Betts drove down the one-way Main Street.

The grassy median had started to fill up with tourists who seemed to be enjoying the picnic tables or simply popping squats on the grass. The sun was high and shining bright over the national forest, which made it feel warmer than it really was, but I wasn’t complaining.

“If Hank doesn’t follow up, you know I am.” I didn’t give her time to craft a rebuttal, continuing with my list. “We also know Trudy had been using a dating app. One of the men she’d gone on a date with had come into the diner. Ty said they had an argument. But Trudy assured him the guy wouldn’t be back or it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Ty had said something along the lines of that, but I couldn’t really remember his exact words. Regardless, this guy was my number one suspect, and Hunter was my second.

“Are we going to reschedule book club?” Betts asked, putting the van in park after pulling into the parking lot next to the Laundry Club.

“Sure. Tonight I’m having supper with Hank.” I smiled. “Like a date night.”

“He’s not going to be too busy with the case?” she asked, knowing when he had a big case like a murder, he’d get wrapped up in it.

“Maybe he’s got more information than we know, and all leads are getting wrapped up.” I shrugged. “And I’m heading on over to the department to see just what he knows right now.”

“You be careful,” Betts warned before we got out of the van and both went our separate ways.

My phone rang as soon as I’d fastened my seat belt in my own car, and I answered it immediately when I saw it was her. “Hey, Violet.”

“I found out Hunter Mackenzie was served divorce papers a couple of days ago. They specifically say his wife filed for divorce because he had cheated on the marriage. According to the papers, they’ve been married for three years, and he’s the mayor of—get this—your hometown.”

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

“Mae? Are you there?” Her voice came through the phone, but it was like I couldn’t fully comprehend what she said. “Mae?”

I blinked a few times to bring myself back to the present.

“Yeah. I heard you.” I sucked in a deep breath.

“It’s going to be easy for you to go back home and ask around, right?” Violet questioned.

“I’m going to have to get back to you on that.” There was no way I was going to commit to going back home since I’d not been back there in years. “I don’t recall the Mackenzie family being from there, so did you look into his history?”

Violet and I both knew that it was virtually impossible for someone who wasn’t born and bred in a small town in Kentucky to become its mayor. Politics were a family tradition in the bluegrass state. If he did move into my hometown and become mayor, the citizens must’ve loved him.

Not impossible, but I’d never heard of it happening.

“How long is it going to take for you to think on it?” Violet wanted a commitment.

This was where we butted heads. Two strong women who knew what they wanted apparently had a hard time finding a compromise. There was no way I was going to give her an answer, so I pulled the ole southern “bless your heart” without saying those words. Avoidance.

“Hey, Violet, Hank’s calling. I’ll get back to you,” I lied and hit the end button. “I’ll call you back tomorrow,” I muttered to myself and put the phone on the passenger-side seat. “Maybe we’ll get this murder wrapped up before I even have to think about going back home.”

As much as I wanted to be happy with how I was handling Violet’s suggestion about going home to snoop—by ignoring her—the thought of driving back had literally made my stomach hurt. By the time I’d driven to the department, I felt so nauseous.

“You look a little green around the gills,” Agnes Swift said when she saw me. This petite older woman with soft gray hair and saggy jowls was the first person you interacted with when you came into the department. She looked all sweet and innocent, but she knew more about what was going on in and around Normal than the sheriff did.

“Murder got you all in knots?” she asked and leaned over the threshold of the open slider window between me and her. Agnes, though I dearly loved her, was the typical old person who felt like they could just say anything they wanted. Trust me, when her comments weren’t directed toward me, they were funny, but not today.

“Sort of.” I looked over her shoulder to make sure no one, particularly Hank, was back there and eavesdropping. I tapped my finger on the brass nameplate that had Agnes’s name engraved on it. “If Hank doesn’t get this case wrapped up soon, I’m going to be forced to go back home.”

“To live?” Anges’s voice shrilled so loud that she curled her lips in with wide eyes like she’d surprised herself by her reaction.

“Sshhh.” I put my finger up to my lips. “No. To look into a suspect.”

“Which one?” Agnes questioned, which told me she knew something.

“You tell me who is on the list, and I’ll tell you which one.” I smiled at our little game of cat and mouse—the one where if someone found something out, it’d be all my fault for snooping around and not Agnes’s.

She slid the window shut. The door next to the window opened with Agnes standing on the other side.

“So, Mayor Mackenzie called me this morning and said something about her cousin. But my noggin sometimes forgets little details—”

“The bathroom is right back there,” she informed me mid-sentence and pointed down the hallway as a man passed us in order to mask our true conversation. When they passed, she continued, “I’m sure Hank put it in the file he left on my desk. In fact, he and the mayor, along with the mayor’s lawyer, are in one of the interview rooms right now.” She shuffled past me to where the bathrooms were located. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom, but I think I can trust you not to move or nose around.”

“Mm-hmmm.” Agnes was the cutest thing. She stood only five feet tall and wore a simple button-down dress and thick-soled white shoes. I tried not to smile by curling my lips under my teeth, but my squinting eyes revealed the truth.

When Agnes was out of sight and out of mind, I headed straight over to her desk. My hand ran over the stack of files before I used the tip of my finger to leaf through the tabs on the stacked files, stopping at the one with “Trudy Bull” written on it.

I slipped the file out while keeping a close eye and ear out for anyone coming. The file was thin. Like, super thin. It contained a photo of Trudy along with the preliminary autopsy report ruling Trudy’s death a homicide, which gave Hank the authority to investigate it as such.

There was very little evidence written in his notes, but there was a list of people to question. Hunter was on it, as well as the mayor and a list of guests who’d come to the wedding.

“Waste of time.” I groaned and flipped the file closed, putting it back where I’d found it so no one would notice it was out of place and get Agnes in trouble.

I eased down in the chair next to Agnes’s desk to wait for her. She was deliberately giving me a few minutes to check out the file. As soon as my mind reverted to the notion that I might have to go back to my hometown to snoop, a shrill yelling came from the hallway.

“I will not have you make a spectacle of my family! My brother did not kill anyone, and you can’t make me think otherwise.” The quick clicks of a woman’s heels moved faster and faster toward me. “He will not have time to come back here and give you any statement. Do you hear me?” Courtney appeared in her blush-pink skirt-suit, long nude legs leading down to her tall hot-pink heels. Her hair flowed down her back, and she turned to face whoever was walking behind her. “I said, do you hear me?”

“Yea.” Hank turned the corner along with the man Agnes and I had encountered earlier.

“I’ll be in touch with you after I talk to my client,” the man told Hank, and they shook hands.

“Client? Hunter is not your client. He is not a killer.” Courtney was telling them what was what, and Hank’s face said it all.

His jaw was set, the muscles flexing as he gritted his teeth. He didn’t like anyone telling him how his investigation was going to go down. Not even me.

“Mae.” The mayor gave me a hard nod when she passed.

“Mayor.” I gave her a head tilt.

The man and I exchanged polite waves before they exited the department.

“How are you?” I asked Hank when he walked over.

“Exhausted. I feel like Chester running around trying to catch my tail.” He laughed. “I really wish we could find Trudy’s phone.”

“I’m sorry.” I stood up and hugged him. “I hope we are still on for our supper date.”

“We are,” Hank assured then said to Agnes as she emerged from the bathroom, “Look who’s here.”

“Yes. I know.”

Agnes should not have said that, because Hank looked between us and shook a finger.

“Don’t even think about it.” He looked around her desk but apparently didn’t notice any files out of place, so he dropped whatever it was he was trying to scold us about, even though Agnes and I already knew it.

“What?” I shrugged and played innocent. I wasn’t sure what my face looked like, but I felt like I played it off better than normal. “I helped Betts clean up the Barn, and I was going to stop here and tell you what I found out from Coke about Hunter, but from the mayor’s words just now, I can see you already knew about him.”

“That’s my job. Your job is to run the best campground in America, not just around here, so why don’t you go do that, and I’ll pick you up around six tonight.” Hank let me know without hesitation that he didn’t like me snooping around by talking to Coke, telling me to stop without outright saying so in his usual Hank way.

“Is Hunter your main suspect?” I asked.

“Mae.” The tone was a bit off-putting.

“He should be,” I continued, “but I think you need to find the dating-app guy or even Hunter’s wife.” My suggestion was met with a stern face and a blank stare. “You do know Hunter is the mayor of my hometown?”

Agnes looked as shocked as I had when Violet had laid the same bit of information on me earlier, breaking the stare down between me and Hank when she finally asked, “Did you know him and Courtney?”

“No. Not from there. Strange he was elected, right?”

“I’ll see you tonight.” Hank gave me a kiss on the cheek before Agnes could answer, my cue that he was done, and I was to leave. “I need you to come back here and type up the statements I took from the wedding guests,” he told Agnes, his way of telling her that she was also to be done with me.

“Fine.” I held my hands up in the air. “I get it. No snooping around.” I waved goodbye.

No snooping around here, anyway.

When I got back into my car, I reached over and clicked on the messaging app, bringing up Violet’s message.

I’ll do it. I’ll head back to my hometown tomorrow.

As much as I didn’t want to go back there, I knew in order to help Trudy’s death come to a close, I was going to have to rely on people from my past to paint me an exact picture of just who Hunter Mackenzie was. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

SEVEN

The sun was shining, and the temperature was warming back up for the afternoon. Tourists would be up and around getting ready for their various hikes, which were mainly in the middle of the day, when they could enjoy all the natural sunlight and waterfall features in the forest.

The waterfalls were the hidden gems, and most of the time, they ended in a cool pool of water perfect for relaxing before the hike back. One of our hardest trails led through a couple of waterfalls, and at the base of the trail were canoe rentals and white-water rafting excursions. This was one of the many attractions I was able to promote to campers at Happy Trails and one of the main reasons the campground was booked this time of the year.

“It’s been all sorts of busy around here.” Dottie had just gotten done taking the mid-afternoon stroll through the campground where we made sure everything was good. “I ain’t seen or heard anything more about Trudy.”

I took my bag off and sat it on my desk so I could dig through it for my phone and the notebook.

“Same, really. I think Hank is just trying to get one lead to go anywhere.” I plugged my phone back into the charger next to my desk and tossed the notebook over to Dottie. “I think we need to call a Laundry Club meeting and see who can help us figure out who did this to her.”

“I can do that. When?” Dottie flipped through the pages. I watched her eyes skim down to the part about Hunter and the divorce papers. “Wee-doggie.” She shook her head. “We need to put his wife on the board.”

Dottie jumped up and grabbed the marker to write down “wife of Hunter” along with scorned wife under it.

“Is she really a suspect?” I questioned. “I mean, she is the one who filed for divorce.”

“Why would she drive here from your hometown to confront him if she still didn’t have feelings for him?” Dottie was good at playing the devil’s advocate part of our sleuthing. “Think about it.” She walked around the room, crouching down, speaking in a hushed whisper like she was telling a scary story over one of the campfires. “Scorned wife shows up at a wedding, maybe thinking the romantic setting is just what she needs to win back her husband and keep her life as the mayor’s queen. She’s driving to Normal with visions of reuniting only to find her husband in the arms of another woman. He rejects the wife. Then she follows Hunter and Trudy back to the diner, where Trudy is going to sweeten the deal with a homemade slice of Ty’s apple pie.” She smacked her hand on the top of her desk. Fifi and I jumped. “Boom! Kills Trudy. Hunter takes his wife, and they flee town.”

“Dang.” I held my hand to my chest, and when the office door flew open, I jumped out of my chair.

“Whoa. What’s up with you?” Bobby Ray and Gidean stood at the door.

“I just gave her the circumstances of Trudy’s death.” Dottie was so proud of herself. She picked up her cigarette case, snapping it open and sticking one of the cigarettes in her mouth.

“You know what happened?” Bobby Ray came in and opened the guest supply closet. He rummaged through it until he found a bag full of marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.

“I know what happened, but the cops sure don’t.” Dottie moseyed on out of the office for her smoke break.

“She doesn’t know what happened.” I shook my head. “What are you doing?” I asked Bobby Ray. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

Bobby Ray was the best car mechanic I knew. He was up to all the latest technology that seemed to be taking over our cars and very good at the old-skill mechanic jobs. When he decided to stay in Normal after he’d found me here, I knew I had to get him a job. Joel Grassel from Grassel’s Garage in downtown Normal had an opening for a mechanic. I’d told Bobby Ray to apply, and he was perfect for the job.

Fifi had made friends with Gidean, who picked up the jar of treats on Dottie’s desk and held them up to me. I nodded.

Fifi danced and wagged her tail at the mere sound of the lid coming off the treat jar.

“Since we’ve been a little slow at the garage, I knew it’d be okay to take a couple of days off with Gidean to show him around so he could write in his travel blog about us.” Bobby Ray had the biggest heart and was always thinking of others.

“Are you really going to blog about Normal?” I asked Gidean.

“I was writing specifically on the Daniel Boone National Park when I stopped through, but I didn’t realize Normal was even here when I arrived. Let me clarify: I knew Normal was a town, I just didn’t realize all it had to offer and the charm. I think we can get my article in Southern Today if we play our cards right.” Fifi looked up at Gidean with her big brown eyes like she was just in love with him.

“That’s great, Gidean. Any sort of publicity we can get is a win for our state.” I was so happy to hear this. “But it still doesn’t explain what you are doing,” I pointed out to Bobby Ray and the supplies he’d taken from the supply closet.

“I want Gidean to eat some of the chocolate fondue.” Bobby Ray loved sweets and anything over a campfire. “It’s a good afternoon snack before he goes on his big date.”

“Big date? You’re in town for a few hours and already have a date?” I smiled at Gidean.

“Just taking Dawn to supper. No big thing.” He brushed it off.

It might not be a big thing to him, but it was really a big thing to Dawn if I knew Dawn… and I did. She rarely got close to anyone.

“Come on, Casanova.” Bobby Ray playfully punched Gidean in the arm.

“Wait. Before you leave, I wanted to ask if you knew Hunter Mackenzie.” I wanted to be well prepared before I went back home to snoop around. The more I knew now, the less time I’d have to stay there.

“Our mayor. Sure.” Gidean’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

“Trudy was on a date with him the night she was murdered, or at least she was his plus-one to his cousin’s wedding.” I could tell I was totally confusing him. “Hunter’s sister is our mayor, and their cousin got married here. I know his sister moved here right out of high school to be a tour guide, and he moved to our home, where he apparently became mayor just like his sister.”

“He’s just like any mayor from what I gathered. He does all the appearance, but you know nothing ever goes on around home.” Gidean continued to refer to the place I grew up as home, but it wasn’t home.

Far from it.

“Is all that up there about him?” He pointed to the whiteboard.

“Yeah. His wife showed up at the wedding and created all sorts of mess.” I left out all the details because Bobby Ray was fidgeting around, wanting to get out of the office.

“Jami has been known to stir up a little trouble.” Gidean snapped and pointed to me. “You remember Jami Burkfield, don’t you?

“Hunter’s wife is Jami Burkfield?” My jaw dropped.

“Yeah. She dug her claws into him as soon as he got into town. You know, her dad ran that coal mine when we were growing up.”

“Yeah. I do know that.” My mind circled back to all the holidays my dad wasn’t home because Mr. Burkfield needed him to work or come in for an emergency. “My dad worked for the coal mine.”

“Oh man.” Gidean’s shoulders slumped, his chin fell. “I’m so sorry, Mae. I see you’re doing so well here, and I completely forgot about your family.”

“It’s fine. I don’t talk about it much.” I sucked in a deep breath. “The thought of even having to see her makes my stomach hurt.”

“See her? Who? Jami?” Bobby Ray asked.

“I have to get some answers from Hunter about the wedding. Courtney is making it really tough on Hank to get Hunter to cooperate, which to me says he’s hiding something.”

I ignored his question. I really didn’t want to revisit the past, but I knew when I did go home, if people recognized me, they’d ask then give me that look—the “poor little Mae” look. I hated that look. It got to the point I could tell what people were thinking when they saw me after the fire.

The look had two different meanings. One came off more sad, as if the person wanted to ask me how I was doing. The other emphasized the big fake smile in an effort to pretend they weren’t thinking about my situation, though they really wanted to ask me how I was doing.

Ironically, I knew others were just as uncomfortable as me during one of these interactions. That was probably why I was so desperate to get out of there. I had become the image they gave me. Orphan. Sad little Mae who lost her entire family to a house fire.

“You okay?” Bobby Ray came over and rubbed my back. “I can see it on your face that you’re thinking entirely too much about your past.”

“I’m fine.” I swallowed hard. “As much as I don’t want to go back there, I think I need to for Trudy.”

“Does Hank know?” he asked. “I should’ve known better than to ask,” he said after I didn’t even bother answering his question. “Maybe you should ask Mary Elizabeth to go with you. She can be a good cover-up, and she loves these little sleuthing things you do.”

The office door opened, and Dottie came back in.

“What’s going on in here?” Her eyes shifted from me to Bobby Ray to Gidean. “Looks like I walked into a funeral.”

“I think I need to drive home tomorrow and see exactly what Hunter and Jami Mackenzie are up to.” I curled in my lip and tried to play out the scene where Jami Burkfield—er, Mackenzie—would see me back on our home turf while Bobby Ray filled Dottie in on what we were talking about.

“I can hold down the fort with no problem whatsoever.” Dottie folded her arms. “I’ve taken care of this place way before you got here. Now, get on out of here and go see Mary Elizabeth about packing up and hauling out of here first thing in the morning.”

Dottie came over and put the notebook back in my bag. I unhooked my phone from the charger and threw it in there too.

“We are going to make some chocolate fondue.” Bobby Ray smacked the bag of marshmallows into Gidean’s chest, and they giggled out the door.

“They are two big man-babies.” Dottie’s lips twisted into a wry smile.

“Yes they are.” I put my bag over my body. “Let’s go, Fifi, to see Granny.”

“Mary Elizabeth would die if she heard you say that.” Dottie made me laugh at even the thought.

With Fifi in the car, I drove on out to The Milkery to talk to Mary Elizabeth. I loved going to see the working dairy farm.

Mary Elizabeth and Dawn had kept The Milkery the exact same as far as the aesthetics of the dairy farm but added the bed-and-breakfast. They had the same staff to care for the milking cows and the same sales representatives to help sell their brand around Kentucky. “The Milkery” was printed in big white letters on the large silos around the property.

On the pasture side of the driveway leading up to the big farmhouse, behind a Kentucky-post fence, were cows grazing who didn’t pay a bit of attention to Fifi yipping out the rolled-down window. On the other side of the drive were the enclosed chicken-houses along with the extravagant henhouse where the free-range chickens and hens lived and where I noticed Mary Elizabeth’s gold cart was parked.

Fifi knew better than to run after the cows or the hens after one of the hen’s had gotten after her, scaring her to death.

“Little did she know, she was going to the ice cream shop. And what a happy little girl she was.” I heard Mary Elizabeth talking to someone in the henhouse.

It wasn’t a coop. It was a little house with heating and air conditioning along with nice nesting beds. The chickens lived better than me and Fifi.

“Hello?” I called and knocked on the little door to the house.

“May-bell-ine.” Mary Elizabeth got up from her rocking chair. “You’re here at a strange time of day.” She looked at her watch.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked.

“The girls.” She gestured to the hens. “Nap time. I was telling them a bedside story.”

All “the girls,” as she referred to them, were in the nesting boxes and looked to be dozing off. I gave Mary Elizabeth the “you’ve lost your mind” look.

“They’ve been laying very nice eggs lately. If they are happy, their bodies are happy, which produces amazing eggs.” Mary Elizabeth put her arms out. “Now, get over here and give me some suga’.”

I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. She sat back down, and I took a seat on the little bench where she had the wire baskets stacked up for the eggs she would gather from her girls.

“What do you want?” She used the toe of her shoe to rock herself back and forth in a steady rhythm.

“Can’t I just come by?” I asked, feeling bad that she knew I’d only stopped by because I needed something.

“Sure, anyone can, but you are Mae.” She smiled then brought her hands up to the pearls around her neck.

“Fine. I need to drive home in the morning, and I want you to go with me.” My words brought her rocking chair to an abrupt halt.

“What on earth for? There’s just nothing there for you to see, unless…” She curled her pink-lipsticked lips together and bit down on them. Her brows furrowed.

“I’m not sure if I’ll stop by the cemetery or not, but it’s for Trudy Bull.” I knew Mary Elizabeth thought I was going to visit my parents since it was around the time of year of their death.

It was a time I tried not to remember. Funny thing nowadays, people around here celebrated people’s heavenly birthdays on an annual basis. To me, that seemed odd because it was a day that I wanted to forget and keep the only good memories of my family I had. That was not a good day to celebrate.

“Back home?”  Mary Elizabeth drew back like she’d just sucked on a dill pickle. Her face contorted in all sorts of ways. “Why on earth would you think the killer had anything to do with back home?”

“Hunter Mackenzie is definitely a suspect. He’s the mayor of Perrysburg.” I hesitated so I could brace myself for her reaction. “He’s married to Jami Burkfield.”

“Jami Burkfield as in your high school friend, Jami Burkfield?” Mary Elizabeth blinked a few times as if she were trying to process what I was saying. “Perrysburg as in our hometown?”

“Yes.” I nodded and waited to see exactly what her reaction was going to be since I was no longer a child.

“And you need to see her why?” Being questioned by Mary Elizabeth made me feel like I was that teenage girl once again.

“Because she filed for divorce from Hunter, then she showed up at the wedding. I think she had words with him though the details are sketchy, but I know she made a scene. If she saw him with his plus-one, Trudy, then maybe she confronted him and Trudy at the diner.” I knew I sounded ridiculous, but there were crazier things than this.

“Gosh.” Mary Elizabeth pushed her toe into the floor and continued to rock in her chair. “I don’t know. Perrysburg?” she questioned, as if she just really realized I mentioned our hometown.

“You don’t know if you want to go with me? You don’t know if you want to see her? You don’t know if she could’ve killed Trudy?” I pressed the various possibilities.

“Maybe all of them,” Mary Elizabeth said.

“I’m sorry I’m asking you to do this, but I don’t think I’d have the courage to go back there without you next to me. And you don’t even have to talk to her. Or see her. We’ll take the RV and park in the Walmart parking lot.”

“Did you forget about how she treated you in high school? What that did to you?” Mary Elizabeth was going to shake that southern rug and bring up all the things I’d tried to bury under it.

“I remember it all. I do. Trust me. But I also love Trudy enough to put all that history aside and truly find out if Jami did kill my friend.” I knew all the forgiveness I’d grieved through over the years would be a hard pill for me to swallow once I arrived, but I was going to try my hardest to do so. “I guess I’m going to need you to help me through it. I’ve not been back for over twelve years, and I need you as my mother.”

Mary Elizabeth’s nostrils flared. She fanned her hand in front of her like she was batting back the tears. She couldn’t resist me when I called her mom.

“You did that on purpose to get me to go.” Mary Elizabeth smiled through the tears.

“Did it work?” I joked.

“Of course it did.” The words were barely out of her mouth before I had rushed over to her, bending down to hold her hand. “When do we leave?”

“I’ll pick you up about eight a.m.” I hugged her. “I do need you by me. That wasn’t a joke.”

“I know.” She hugged me tighter. “I know, honey.”

“Okay. I’ve got to go to the bank because someone has hacked my account.” I straightened myself up. “You keep telling the hens their naptime story, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“How long will we be gone?” she asked on my way out.

“I’m planning just tomorrow night.”

We said our goodbyes.

“Let’s go, Fifi!” Fifi was across the field where the cows were sniffing all around. “Let’s get a treat!” I yelled to coax her more quickly, and she darted toward the car.

The day had started to get away from me, and there wasn’t a lot of time between going to the bank and getting ready for my date with Hank.

EIGHT

Hank had texted that we were going to the Red Barn for our dinner date. It was the fanciest restaurant in Normal. It would be good for me to get a little more dressed up than usual in some of the clothing items I’d stuffed into my bag before the FBI had seized my assets and walked me out of my Manhattan skyrise.

Normal Trust Co. had one teller window and one office.  The only teller was Ann, and the office belonged to Alvin Deters, also the owner of Feed-N-Seed.

The inside of the bank was very simple with a small table in the middle of the essentially one-room building. On the table were deposit and withdrawal slips like you’d find at a regular bank but on a much smaller scale.

When I walked into the bank with Fifi next to me, Ann pushed up on her elbows to lean over the counter and get a better look.

“My, my, Mae West, you are much different than the first day you walked in here.” Her eyes drew down my outfit. “And Fifi could stand a day at Smelly Dog.” Her nose curled, and she eased back down into her teller stool.

“I’m not sure, but I think you not only insulted my dog but me too.” I took anything Ann said with a grain of salt, including the hack job.

“Well, Alvin was about to give up on you stopping by.” She tapped her watch. “Which you said you were on your way a few hours ago.”

“I was on my way, and I did go to town, but I had a few errands to run.” I took an orange sucker from the basket that was sitting on the counter, plucked off the clear plastic wrapper, and shoved it in my mouth.

“He is on the phone with someone, so he’ll be right out.” She clicked away on the computer in front of her. “But it’s been a little crazy with all the hacks.”

“All the hacks?” I asked. “What do you mean all the hacks?”

“You’re not the only one.” She leaned in and whispered, “Joel Grassel, Edith Biddle, Otis Gullett, Buck, and…” She hesitated and started to count on her fingers, renaming the folks who had been hacked. “Let’s see, there was Joel Grassel, Edith Biddle, Otis Gullett, Buck, and… and… there was another one.” She looked up at me and smiled. “You. And you. Joel Grassel, Edith Biddle, Otis Gullett, Buck, and you.”

“Really? All their bank accounts?” It suddenly became a little more urgent to me. “I thought it was just me.”

“Nah. Alvin has been on the phone with Jerry Truman about it, but you know they got their hands full with Trudy Bull’s murder.” Ann shrugged.

“I was at the department earlier, and I didn’t even see Jerry.” I hadn’t thought about not seeing the sheriff until this moment. “They are busy down there.”

“Can you believe that about Trudy?” Ann gasped. “I heard from Pam Purcell, who heard from one of the Bible-thumpers, that Trudy had a fight with some girl a few nights before she was killed.”

“Really? What did Pam say?” Suddenly, I got a hankering for some of Pam’s delicious peaches that were advertised on that flyer for presales on the wall of the Cookie Crumble Bakery.

“She said at their Bible-thumper meeting they were talking about Trudy and how Trudy’s been keeping company with people she don’t need to keep company with.” Ann wagged a finger. “You know what they say.” I didn’t know, but I knew she was about to tell me. “Tell me who you run around with, and I’ll tell you who you are. And if Trudy was running around with people no count, then she was beginning to be one of them.”

“It still doesn’t mean she deserved to get murdered,” I told Ann.

“I didn’t say she deserved it, but I’m not shocked if she was running around fighting with people.” The back of Ann’s stool groaned when she eased back, folded her arms, and stared down her nose at me with pursed lips. “She and that girl were fighting so much, the neighbors called the law. Apparently, when Jerry went over there, the woman was gone, and Trudy already had her night cream on. Then I heard she and some man got into a fight at the diner.”

“Where did Trudy live?” I asked since I’d never been there.

“She lives—well, lived out of Henpeck Road in that new subdivision they stuck way out there. With all the tourists coming to town, many locals have been redoing their houses and putting them on Airbnb. Renting them out.” She nodded toward the computer. “Makin’ a killin’ off of ’em too. Not that I pay no attention to the bank accounts or anything.”

“Mae.” Alvin Deters interrupted us just as we were getting to talking. “I can see you now.” He waved me back into his office.

“Hold that thought.” I tapped the counter to let Ann know I’d be back. She wiggled her brows at me before I headed toward Alvin’s office.

“I don’t even want to know what you two were talking about.” He shook his head and tugged his jeans up while pushing his plaid shirt into them. His belt buckle was the size of a cantaloupe. The bigger the belt buckle, the bigger your status in the community.

I was ever so thankful Hank didn’t wear one.

“Anyways, I guess you heard about your account.” He gestured for me to sit down. “I’ve done called Jerry about it, and they don’t seem to think it’s anything local, so I’ve also got some calls into the FCC. I’m hoping to hear back from them soon because I wonder if it’s the lending company we use that’s been hacked.”

“I don’t have any loans here or anywhere else,” I told him. “The only money I got is in this bank.”

He looked up at me with a stunned look before he started to tap on his computer, where he’d apparently brought up my account.

“Huh. I thought you had a loan for Happy Trails.”

“I didn’t qualify for a loan, and no one would give me a loan because the campground wasn’t of any value at the time—and because of Paul.” I gave a little jab at him and all the locals who had hung me out to dry when they judged me because of Paul. “When it came to all the fundraising and small changes I made, I was able to fund everything through cash.”

“Yeah. I remember giving you some things.” He had given me some good discounts from the Feed-N-Seed like gravel, straw, and a few grass seeds, but it wasn’t on my own merit. Dottie Swaggert did a lot of talking to the town folk to help me out. “But you know I couldn’t do anything here since it’s a bank.”

“Sure.” I gave a blank agreement when I knew he could’ve done something, but that was in the past. “But now that we are here. At the moment, what’s next?”

“Your money is federally insured, so we are working hard on trying to get back what was taken. The seven thousand.” He turned all shades of white.

“You mean someone stole all of my money?” A sheer panic ripped through me. I started to shake.

“Like I said, we are working on getting the insurance to kick in. Rest assured, you’ll have all your money back soon.” He looked as nervous as me.

“I was actually going to stop by the Feed-N-Seed after this because I’m taking my camper out for a night, and I need propane, gas, and a few things to stock up on because I’m not hooking up at a campground.” I inched up on the edge of the chair. “How am I going to pay you for those?”

It wasn’t like I didn’t believe my money was going to be put back into my account, but this was really bad timing.

“Not to mention me needing to take out a few dollars to pay for my trip.” The panic had set in. My heart was pounding. My palms started to sweat.

“Don’t worry. I’ll comp everything you need from the Feed-N-Seed. I truly hope you know it’s not the bank’s fault this happened. It happens every day.”

“Are you trying to convince me this isn’t the fault of the bank’s security somehow?” I asked him.

“I can’t say much more than what I know. The police have been informed, and I’ve turned everything over to Jerry along with the FCC.” Alvin’s hands were tied, and I knew it, but it still didn’t make me happier.

“When Dottie told me Ann had called and left that message, I figured it was a small amount, not my entire bank account.” It was no big secret how I’d had to pull myself up from no money, and all I had was in that account. “I know it’ll be returned, but it’s a hassle to everyday life. I guess I can borrow money from Mary Elizabeth until this all gets straightened out.”

“As far as the propane and items you need for your vacation, I’ll be more than happy to front you the items from the Feed-N-Seed.” Alvin was really a good guy. He was just in a bad position, being the bank president.

“I understand, and I know it’s not your fault. I’m just venting out loud.” My nerves had started to calm down. “I’ll pay you back for the propane, and I might need a new water tank.”

“I’ll drop them off at the campground tonight.” Alvin was going above and beyond, making me very appreciative of how this community really came together in times of need. He didn’t have to do all of this, and it was what kept me in the small town.

A sense of belonging.

“Going anywhere fun?” Alvin asked.

“I wish,” I muttered and stood up after I noticed the time. “I’m going back home for some business.”

I wasn’t about to tell him I was going there to snoop around about Trudy’s murder because it would get around town faster than a forest fire.

“Hank going with you?” Alvin was creating small talk on our way out of his office.

“No. I’m actually taking Mary Elizabeth.” I shook Alvin’s hand. “I think she’ll get a kick out of seeing her old friends.”

“Toodles, Mae!” Ann hollered from the teller window with a little wave.

Fifi trotted out the door of the bank next to me and darted straight to the car.

“Great,” I mumbled and put the keys in the ignition of the car. “I can’t believe this.”

Fifi stood in the passenger seat with her paws on the door, looking out the window.

“Going home is never easy, is it?” I reached over and patted my dirty little poodle. “And you need a bath.”

As soon as we got back to Happy Trails, Dottie was waiting for me on her picnic table out front of her camper. She waved her cigarette in the air, motioning for me to stop.

I pulled over and got out, and Fifi darted out from behind me and took off toward the other campsites where people were already grilling out.

“I got the Laundry Club gals together. Everyone is so busy, but we can meet up in a couple of nights.” Dottie tried to fiddle with her phone with the cigarette still in her fingers but finally gave up, snuffing it out on the ground. “Tomorrow, Betts has her Bible-thumping group, Queenie is teaching Jazzercise, and Abby is hosting a Tupperware party.”

“That’s good because I’m going home with Mary Elizabeth tomorrow and staying the night in the camper, remember?” I watched as the dirty little poodle went from camper to camper, begging for food as if I never fed her.

“Perfect.” Dottie typed on her phone. “I’ll tell the gals we are on.”

“I’m expecting Alvin Deters to drop off some supplies from the Feed-N-Seed tonight. If you see him, and he drops it off in front of my camper, can you get Henry or Bobby Ray to move them inside for me?” I knew she’d be sitting outside past sundown since it was a perfect spring night. It was nice sweatshirt weather, and the sun was descending and creating a pink glow that screamed the sunset was going to be colorful once it started to make its appearance.

“I sure will. He get all the bank stuff worked out for you?” she asked.

“Not so much.” I had to bite my tongue not to carry on. “It appears it’s county wide, and a few more citizens than just me got all their money taken.”

“Unbelievable.” Dottie patted her bra. “That’s why I keep my money on me.”

“Not all your money.” I knew better. “Maybe I should keep all my money in the safe in the office.”

“Might do it.” Dottie nodded.

Fifi barking in the background caught my attention.

“Oh my goodness,” I groaned when Fifi took a big running leap into the lake to chase the ducks. “I’m never going to keep that dog clean. I’ve got to get going. Hank is going to be here to get me for supper.”

“You two kids have fun.” Dottie waved goodbye.

Fifi was so gross, I stuck her in the shower with me and just let her air dry while I got ready for my date. Because of her, I didn’t have time to go and look through my storage unit for something Hank hadn’t seen on me, and I opted for the little black dress and strappy heels he’d seen a million times.

When he saw it tonight for the millionth-and-one time, he was as smitten as he was the first.

He drove us to the Red Barn, which was nestled in a wooded area situated inside the Daniel Boone National Park. The purple sunset was slowly sinking behind the mountains and the faint white moon outline becoming more visible by the moment.

“It’s going to be a gorgeous sunset.” Hank reached over and took my hand. “Do you want to take a walk when we get home?”

“I’d love to.” I didn’t tell him that I really wanted to go get the camper ready for my quick trip back home with Mary Elizabeth.

I knew the investigation would keep him busy enough that I could be gone for twenty-four hours without him questioning my whereabouts. Going out on a date was a rare thing during one of his big investigations, and that’s why I’d jumped at the chance to see him tonight.

He put the truck in park.

“You know you mean the world to me, right?” He looked at me from his seat with his green eyes. I could see the sincerity.

“Are you okay? Have you been talking to your family or something?” I questioned him since our relationship had endured a few hiccups here and there with his parents. Not to mention Ellis, his sister, who believed there were better women for Hank out there.

Hank had lived on his family’s property until recently. The real reason he’d moved was because of me, though he’d never truly admit it. That’s how he got to Happy Trails, where he rented one of the seasonal campers from me. It made it nearly impossible to keep things from him, like Alvin dropping off propane tanks and various things for my trip. But Hank was so busy with work, I hoped he wouldn’t see if Alvin did drop something off while we were out to eat.

“You mean a lot to me.” I smiled and leaned over, kissing him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just that this case with Trudy and how much she wanted to find a companion, who could’ve possibly gotten her killed, just really puts things into perspective.” Hank was in his roundabout way telling me that he loved me, which was hard for him.

No wonder. He was practically raised by Agnes while his parents were off traveling the country for Ellis’s modeling career that got her nowhere.

“And tonight, we can celebrate how lucky we are to have found each other.” Not that I didn’t like the mushy talk.

On a normal evening, I would’ve sat there all night looking into his green eyes and getting lost in them, but I had to hurry this shindig up because I had a full night ahead of me to get ready for the big trip home.

I jumped out of the truck and met him in front of it.

“Wow.” He laughed and took my hand. “You must be hungry.”

“What makes you think that?” I asked and let him open the door of the restaurant.

“You’re hurrying up to get out of the truck. Unless you’re trying to hide something.” As a detective, he was so good at reading people.

“Starving.” I sucked in a deep breath and let him tell the hostess we were here.

The Barn was actually an old barn that’d been converted into a restaurant. It’d been completely gutted of the old stalls, hay lofts, and dirt floor, and was now all open. The entire middle was taken up by tables with white linen tablecloths and lantern centerpieces, each of which had a candle inside. They’d tried to keep as much as the wooden interior as possible—I wasn’t sure if the wood beams on the ceiling were original, but it appeared so. Small round light bulbs hung down from them and created a soft glow around the barn. It was beautiful and so romantic.

The hostess had us follow her to a two-top near the front, next to the band stage.

“Blue Ethel is playing tonight,” I read off the poster next to the stage and pointed at it.

I loved hearing Ethel and her band play their bluegrass music. Once a month, I hosted a Happy Trails town party at the campground where everyone was invited, and Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys usually provided the entertainment. They weren’t free of course, but they were worth every dime.

“What do you want to drink?” Hank asked and gestured toward the back of the barn where the long bar was located. The entire wall behind the bar was floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with any type of Kentucky bourbon or wine you could ask for.

Bourbon wasn’t unusual in the bluegrass state, but recently, there’d been several wineries opening up around Kentucky, proving that our bluegrass and limestone weren’t just good for producing fast racehorses.

“I’ll just have water tonight.” I shrugged. I should’ve just ordered something and sipped on it because Hank gave me a strange look. He didn’t say anything and just walked toward the bar.

My behavior was a sign to him something was amiss, so I was going to have to work really hard not to keep acting strangely. I couldn’t lie to him if he did ask, but his line of questioning would have to be very specific.

“Hey, Mae,” Ethel Biddle called from the stage while the other band members filed on and picked up their instruments. “How’s it going? I heard Fifi is a mess.”

“Let me guess, Ann?” I asked and rolled my eyes. “She mentioned something about me making an appointment to get Fifi cleaned. And she’s right.”

“I might have a couple openings this week. Call down at the salon and tell the gals I told you to fit Fifi in.” Ethel wagged a finger. “Roscoe sure does miss his girlfriend.”

“How is the stinker?” I asked since Ethel’s dog, Roscoe, was the dog who made Fifi lose her pedigree status.

“He’s as ornery as ever.” Ethel smiled when Hank walked up. “And you’re as handsome as ever.” She winked. “If you ever want a mature woman, come see me.”

All the old women in Normal loved to hit on Hank. Secretly, he loved it.

“What is going on down at the Trust Company?” she asked me. “I heard you got all your money stolen too.”

“You did?” Hank’s jaw dropped, and he looked at me.

“Me, her, Otis up there who didn’t have a pot to piss in in the first place.” She flung a finger toward her fiddle player. “Who else? I remember Alvin mentioning more names.” She curled up on the toes of her tennis shoes as if to graze the crowd. “I saw him somewhere here tonight.”

“Alvin?” I questioned and gulped when she nodded. He was the last person I wanted to see tonight. “I’m sure it’s all being taken care of.”

“Whoever did it plucked us clean. That’s why me and Otis had to take this gig tonight. Quick cash.” She frowned and hopped on stage.

I was so glad to see her leave and stop looking for Alvin.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were one of the bank’s fraud victims?” Hank asked and scooted his chair closer to mine. He rested his arm on the back of my chair.

“We haven’t had time to talk too much, but I’m fine. I don’t need any cash.” I picked up my water and took a sip. “I’m sure Jerry is on top of it.”

“He did mention something about it, but he sure didn’t mention you.” Hank sipped on his bourbon.

“Alvin Deters, can you come see me if you’re in here?” The loud boom of the band’s microphone echoed throughout the barn. “Alvin Deters, you in here?” Ethel had the microphone pressed up to her lips and her other hand covering her brows so she could see from underneath the stage lights.

“I’m coming!” I heard Alvin holler from the other side of the room.

“I’m going to the ladies’ room,” I stood up, hoping to escape any sort of conversation that had anything to do with Alvin.

Too late.

“Mae, where you going?” Ethel had already hightailed it over to our table with Alvin in tow.

The men greeted each other with handshakes.

“I was just talking to Mae about us getting hacked.” The back of Ethel’s hand smacked Alvin in the arm. “We were wondering if there were any new developments?”

I waved my hand in front of me.

“I wasn’t wondering anything.” I pinched a look at Ethel.

“I’m going to drop off the propane tank and extra water tank tonight on our way home for your trip, but if Hank brought his truck here, I can just give it to him.” Alvin pointed behind him. “I’ve got it in my truck outside.”

“Propane tank?” Hank gave me an odd look before his eyes narrowed, which told me the puzzle pieces suddenly clicked in his mind. “No problem, Alvin. I’ll put them in my truck.”

“Then you and Mary Elizabeth are all set for your trip home.” Alvin was pleased as one of Pam Purcell’s peaches.

“And me too.” Hank planted a big grin on his face and curled his arms around my shoulder, squeezing me to him. “Isn’t that right, suga’?”

My brows rose. Hank never called me suga’. Needless to say, dinner was very quiet.

We weaved through the tables on our way out of the restaurant. Hank was always stopped by the locals on any given night, but tonight, everyone wanted to ask him about Trudy’s murder.

“You know I can’t tell you nothing about that,” was Hank’s standard answer. People didn’t take that answer as the end of the conversation. They’d just keep on peppering him with questions.

When I saw Dawn Gentry and Gidean Ratimer all cozied up in a corner table near the entrance, I excused myself from Hank and walked over to them.

“How did you get rid of Bobby Ray?” I teased Gidean. “He’s been stuck to your hip since you got here.”

“Aw.” Gidean used his cloth napkin to wipe his mouth and then put it right back on his lap. I was happy to see he had good manners. Especially since he was with Dawn. “He’s a good guy. I sure am going to miss him when I leave town.”

“But you won’t be gone for long, right?” Dawn was blushing. She was smitten with Gidean.

“I’ll be back. I promise.” He looked like he was enjoying her just as much.

“Well, I’ll let y’all get back to eating.” I tapped their table to excuse myself, but Dawn stopped me.

“You be careful driving home tomorrow. I assured Mary Elizabeth I’d be fine all alone.” She gave Gidean a huge grin.

“All alone?” I looked between them. “When did you say you were leaving town?” I joked with Gidean, knowing Dawn wasn’t going to be alone.

“You’re headed back home?” Gidean asked.

“I told you Mae loves to investigate, and since Trudy was our friend…”

I interrupted Dawn when I saw Hank was done talking. I sure didn’t want him coming over here to hear us talking about it. It’d only fuel the flame he already had about the idea.

“The Laundry Club in two nights. The girls are getting together to discuss all the clues,” I quickly told Dawn since she was an honorary member of the Laundry Club.

The both of them waved up at Hank from afar, and I said my goodbyes.

“Did you honestly think you were going to get away with leaving town without me knowing or without knowing the reason you’d go back to your hometown when you hate it there?” Hank continued to scold me the entire way back to Happy Trails without taking a breath between sentences. “It doesn’t take a detective to realize your friend’s killer could be the mayor of your hometown. Don’t you think I’m on it?” he demanded but didn’t want me to answer. “Of course I am, but no, no. Mae West has to take matters into her own hands and put herself at risk…” He stopped.

I looked over at him. The moon was so bright, it was like a spotlight shining through the windshield of the truck that focused on Hank’s face. His jawline tensed.

“Mae, I love you.” His nose flared. “What if Hunter Mackenzie is Trudy’s killer and you are off three hours from here with no help? He could kill you, dispose of your body, and I’d never find you.”

“Hank,” I whispered and unhooked my seat belt. I slid across the truck’s bench seat and fastened the lap belt around me. I put my hand on his thigh. He kept his hands gripped the wheel. “I’m not going to do anything that’ll endanger me. Mary Elizabeth and I are going together.”

“And me.” Hank didn’t even glance my way. “I’m going too.”

“What?” I asked. “You can’t go.”

“I already planned to go see Hunter since he won’t come back here to me, so I’m going to go, and you two can drive me.” Hank’s words were firm, and I knew it.

“I love you too.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

NINE

As much as I wanted to protest Hank going with me and Mary Elizabeth back to my hometown, I had to say it would make for great company. After supper, Hank and I had gotten the RV as prepared for moving as we could. All the items in the cabinet were securely tied down with various things like bungee cords, tape, and even some rope.

There were only a few knickknack items I normally kept around to make the RV homey, and those were easily stored in the kitchen sink or bathroom shower. While Hank had replaced one of the old propane tanks with a new one Alvin had dropped off, I sat down with my notebook and wrote out a summary of my exact purpose of going back home. I didn’t want to lose sight of why I was really going back there.

“You mean to tell me they took all your cash?” Mary Elizabeth licked her thumb and used it to roll through the stack of cash she’d pulled out of her Lily Pulitzer handbag.

“I don’t need your money.” I pushed her hand away after she held out some of the dough. “Alvin not only assured me the bank will pay me back, but he also gave us the water tank and supplies we need for our little outing along with everything you see back there.”

I had to put down the café table and push back the chair and couch so I could fill the space with all the extra propane tanks, straps, bins, and buckets full of various camping things we would never need.

“That’s a bunch of stuff.” Hank was crammed on the couch with Fifi and Chester.

“I think Alvin felt bad about the bank, though it’s not his fault it happened.” I drove the RV up the entrance ramp to the highway. Though home was about three hours away, most of the drive was interstate.

“Jerry has been trying to get it all figured out. The FBI is involved, and they are trying to trace down the hackers, but sometimes those people aren’t even in the United States, so they said it might take a while.” Hank picked Fifi up from his lap and tried to put her down, but she was insistent on sitting on him. “Fifi, it’s too cramped.”

She didn’t care. She hopped into his lap and sat, her back straight as an arrow. She might not have been living the pedigree life, but she sure was still the picture-perfect statue.

“Don’t be complaining.” Mary Elizabeth looked back from the passenger seat of the RV and fiddled with the pearls around her neck. “You’re the one who needed a hitch. Me and May-bell-ine were just fine going back home by ourselves.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be gone from Mae that long.” Hank knew the words that would make my foster mom swoon.

And swoon she did.

“Can’t you two get engaged right now? I would be thrilled to show you two off to the girls in the society.” She reached over and gently touched my arm. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m very proud of you, but I had to tell all sorts of lies about you when you ran off and then when you married the millionaire. You don’t want to know the kind of lies I told after he went to prison.” Mary Elizabeth had left out the time that’d passed between my departure at midnight on my birthday and her entrance into Happy Trails just about two years ago.

“I can only imagine.” I gripped the wheel. “But Hank and I are not going to be getting engaged. Especially not in front of you.” I glanced in the rearview mirror and looked at the goofy, entertained look on his face. “At least, he better not,” I warned with a raised brow.

“Who are these women of the society?” Hank knew better than to egg her on in front of me.

“They are my friends who have the same interests as I do.” Mary Elizabeth shifted back in her seat to face the front. She’d put on her powder-blue polyester pants and white blouse with mini embroidered flowers along with her powder-blue cardigan neatly tied over her shoulders.

And she didn’t forget her pearls. Those things never left her neck.

I’d never forget the first time Mary Elizabeth had given me a set of pearls that’d been passed down from her family.

Mae, we southern girls love our pearls. Don’t get me wrong. Diamonds are fine, and rubies are precious, but pearls reek of class and stature. We have that obligation as a southern woman.

Now, I found myself wishing I’d not sold those to a pawnshop in New York City as soon as I’d gotten off that Greyhound bus.

“She means they had girls my age, and we all took manner and grammar classes while they sipped tea, coffee, and outspent each other at the local boutique so their daughters would have the primo items.” It was simple for me to understand, but Hank wore a confused look on his face. “Like your mom and dad when did all they could for your sister and her modeling career.”

“Look where that got them,” he groaned and shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

“It didn’t work well on me either.” I felt bad for all the times I’d skipped the classes or smoked cigarettes in front of Mary Elizabeth’s friends when I didn’t even like smoking. Or the time I’d gotten drunk and put some rocks through the windows of a local furniture store when the owner had come around to court Mary Elizabeth.

“Are you kidding me?” Mary Elizabeth jerked around to look at me. “I’m so proud of you that I can’t wait to brag on the businesswoman you’ve become.”

“Spoken like a true mother.” Hank smiled so big.

“Thank you.” I glanced in the rearview and looked at her. “I’m sorry I gave you such fits when I was a terrible teenager.”

“Honey, you had the right to be with losing your family in that fire. I was bound and determined to give you a life, even if you didn’t see it then.” She shifted back in her seat and clasped her hands, carefully placing them in her lap.

“What did start the fire?” Hank’s question socked me in the gut. This was clearly why I didn’t want to go back home.

The idea of facing the place I had loved as a child, hated as a teenager, and was now unsure about gave me high anxiety as I drove in that direction.

“I have no idea. I was a kid. We had a wood-burning stove.” I’d always assumed it was the stove since that was probably my last memory before I’d gone to bed that night.

“What exactly happened?” Hank asked.

“We don’t need to talk about this.” Mary Elizabeth turned around and looked at him in no uncertain terms with a set jaw and beady eyes.

“It’s fine,” I whispered loudly enough for them both to stay silent. “Not that I want to revisit what happened, but I love both of you, so I should be able to talk about it.”

“You don’t have to.” Mary Elizabeth gave Hank one more good stare before she leaned over and patted me again.

“My mama had made us chicken tenders for supper because dad was going to be working late at the coal mine. She’d made him some stew and told us that she’d be back after Dad had called. She needed to take Dad his food because he was on a break.” I smiled at the fond memories of my parents together.

We weren’t rich by any means, but we had a lot of fun times. We’d driven to Florida once and slept in the old station wagon when we got there because my parents had no idea how much money a hotel on the beach cost. Dad called it an adventure.

We’d even had taken showers in the public bathrooms at the public beaches. My siblings and I thought it was a ton of fun, but I could hear my parents arguing when they thought we were asleep. Not arguing with each other but Dad fussing about how he’d not been able to provide much whereas Mama argued he was a great provider.

We’ve got a roof over our heads and food on the table. I could still hear her twangy voice trying to make him feel better. Still, he’d come back with some sort of put-down on himself to which Mama would argue back.

They had a love that was unbreakable, and when they all died in the fire, I was jealous they’d gone and left me here alone. For years, I’d pictured them going on family outings and having a good time in heaven while I was here in hell without them.

That was when Mary Elizabeth made me to go church with her, and after I’d mentioned to her how much I missed my family, she said, “May-bell-ine, God’s got a plan for you. He needed to keep you here on this earth to make sure you carry out your special plan.”

I wondered if I was still trying to figure out what that plan was, because I still longed to be on those family outings no matter where my family was.

“Mae.” Hank’s soft calling of my name brought me out of my thoughts.

“I’m sorry. It’s gotten harder and harder to remember.” I shook my head, and the thing I’d feared most seemed to be happening.

I never wanted to forget how my family sounded. Their laughter. Their voices. Even their faces were starting to fade with time.

“I guess I’ve not really tried to think about it since I never figured I’d be going to back to Perrysburg.” I hadn’t let the name slip through my lips since I’d left.

“Perrysburg. I’ve never heard you call it by its full name. I knew Hunter was the mayor of Perrysburg, but you always just called it ‘my hometown’ or ‘where I’m from.’” Hank pinched his lips closed after Mary Elizabeth gave him another hard look.

“It’s fine. It’s just that I can’t remember much. Just that I put a log on the fire when I saw the headlights coming up the gravel driveaway, figuring it was my mama, but it wasn’t. I wanted the house to be nice and warm for her since we kept the heat low as possible without freezing the fishbowl water because it was hard for them to pay the electric bill.” I laughed, remembering how Dad would ask about the fishbowl. “My dad would say, ‘Mae, check the fishbowl, and if it’s still got some water that hasn’t turned to ice, we are doing good.’”

“What about the fish?” Hank warmed my heart, thinking about a little old fish.

“There was no fish. It was just Dad’s way of measuring the temperature.” I laughed because I knew Hank had no idea what life was like in Perrysburg. “So Mama was late. My siblings went to bed upstairs, and I stayed on the couch waiting for her. I woke up with a quilt on me and pushed it off because I was so hot, then I realized it was the blaze of the fire that was burning my face. I yelled for them, but the fire from the woodburning stove had made it straight up to the top floor where the bedrooms were. When I looked up, the entire second floor was on fire, and the fire had already burned a big hole in the roof.”

The silence in the RV nearly killed me. For the first time, recalling the story didn’t stab my heart, soul, and gut as much as it had before.

“You would’ve liked my dad.” This was when the harsh reality of how my parents weren’t there to see all my life’s milestones set in. “But if they’d not died, then I wouldn’t’ve been adopted by Mary Elizabeth then moved to Normal to meet you.”

“You were always good at looking at the bright side of things.” Mary Elizabeth smiled. “I’ll never forget how Kenny Jolly’s parents and I had fixed you two up for the cotillion. You two looked pretty together, and we knew your photos would make the society page.” She turned around so Hank could hear her. “I’m telling you, they looked like models together. And we put them two together.”

“I hated it. Every time I went to his house for rehearsal, she made me take my shoes off.” I rolled my eyes. My hands began to sweat because I knew after the next bend in the road, there would be a big green interstate sign advertising two miles until the Perrysburg exit.

“Don’t you know, the Jollys had those imported rugs from the Orient. They didn’t let anyone walk in their home with shoes, which brings me back to my story.” She laughed. “Mae had skipped their class, and Mrs. Jolly called me. I’d found Mae underneath the Perrysburg railroad bridge. Do you remember what you told me after I scolded you?”

“Mm-hmm. Look at the bright side. You don’t have to spend money on getting me pedicures now.” I laughed.

“She always hated getting pedicures.” Mary Elizabeth shook her head. “She didn’t like going barefoot like most girls in Perrysburg, and I should’ve been grateful for that.”

“I still don’t like pedicures. Nails. I love my manicures, but feet…” I shivered thinking about the ugly things.

“There we are!” Mary Elizabeth pointed at the sign. Her tone and claps exuded enthusiasm. “I’m thrilled to be getting together with the girls while you two do a little snooping around.”

“What is our game plan?” I asked Hank, thinking he’d concocted some elaborate scheme.

“I have no idea. I was going to show up at the mayor’s office and demand to be seen,” he said.

“No plan?” Mary Elizabeth’s brows furrowed. “I know Mae, and she’s always got a plan.”

“Right. I do.” I nodded and pointed to the glove box. “The notebook is in there.”

Mary Elizabeth knew exactly what notebook I was talking about. The notebook with all the snooping that we’d already done written down.

“I should arrest you and all the Laundry Club ladies for interfering in a homicide investigation.” Hank sighed. “Don’t even read it out loud. If I don’t hear it, I won’t feel obligated to haul you two in.”

“Plug your ears.” Mary Elizabeth flipped open the cover and started to read, “Our victim is Trudy Bull. Trudy was a waitress at the Normal Diner. On the night of her death, she was the plus-one of Hunter Mackenzie, mayor of Perrysburg. Hunter is going through a divorce from Jami Burkfield.” Mary Elizabeth dropped the notebook from her eyes. “Jami Burkfield? Isn’t she a little young to be married to Hunter?”

“Isn’t Trudy a bit too young to have gone out with him?” I questioned her further.

“Jami Burkfield always gave you trouble. Remember how jealous she was of you when you looked so pretty at the cotillion I almost couldn’t force you off to?” Mary Elizabeth had the memory of an elephant. She never forgot anything or anyone.

“I remember.” I sighed. “Just another reason I wrote all of that out, so we can get in and get out, questioning Hunter before I even have to run into Jami.”

“I certainly want to talk to Jami.” Hank moved Fifi off his lap again and stood up, positioning himself between my and Mary Elizabeth’s two captain’s chairs. “She has insight on her husband’s behavior, and I need to know exactly how he is when it comes to women and their rejections.”

“Why do you think Trudy rejected him?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve got a witness who said Trudy was having some major words with him at the wedding about how if he thought she was going to ask him back to her place, he was crazy.” He was giving me some detail from some interviews he’d done that I wasn’t aware of.

Mary Elizabeth caught on to what was happening and got a pen out of her pocketbook to take notes.

“What if Jami was so jealous that she killed Trudy?” Mary Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at Hank.

“Like I said, we’ve got a few possibilities, and talking to her is on my priority list while I’m here.” He bent his head down and watched through the windshield as the RV took the exit. “Big city of Perrysburg.”

“Yep.” I sucked in a deep breath and took a right at the end of the ramp, going toward the town.

“What’s our game plan?” Mary Elizabeth asked. “Because I’m hungry, and I figured we’d stop in Three Sons’ Bistro for a quick bite.”

Mary Elizabeth didn’t really want to know a game plan. She wanted to eat and then worry about what we were doing next.

“You can even park over at the First Methodist Church while we eat,” she told me, and I wondered how long she’d been concocting this plan of action in her head. “I might stop in there and see Brother Rob.”

“I could eat.” Hank nodded and went back to sit down on the couch. “Then I think we need to go to the courthouse for a little pop-in with the mayor.”

“While I go to the courthouse with you, Mary Elizabeth can go see Brother Rob.” I slowed the RV down as we approached the city limits because I knew there’d be a Perrysburg cop sitting next to the broken-down wooden sign that welcomed everyone at the border.

I’d been stopped many times at that exact point.

Mary Elizabeth grabbed her pocketbook and took out her compact. She held it up at all angles with one hand while she ran her fingers through her hair, touched up her lipstick, and added a touch of powder to her nose.

“Here you go.” She handed me the bright-pink lipstick.

“No thank you. I’m good,” I declined. Lipstick was the last thing I could think about. It was my beating heart, sweaty palms, and the empty feeling in my stomach that made me want to turn this big rig around and hightail it back to Normal.

Mary Elizabeth must’ve sensed my anxiety because she didn’t keep nagging me about fixing myself up. This was normal behavior for her when I was a teenager. She always wanted to make sure I was presentable to society, and lipstick was her answer to everything.

The RV took up three parking spots in the back of the church parking lot but at least was out of the way in case the church did have some sort of afternoon function. Hank got out and made sure the RV was parked the way it needed to be. Mary Elizabeth didn’t wait. She jumped out and scurried across the parking lot, crossing the street before I could get the flamingo key chain into the pocket of my jeans.

“Are you okay?” Hank asked me, rubbing my back as we took Fifi and Chester for a quick potty break along the tree line.

“I hate that saying about how it’s easy to come home, because this isn’t easy for me.” I looked up at him and smiled.

He bent down to give me a kiss, but Chester must’ve smelled something. He tugged on his leash and jerked Hank away from me. We laughed.

“Let me have her, and you go in to get their things ready.” Hank took Fifi’s leash.

By ‘things,’ I knew he meant get their doggie beds, kibble, and water bowls out, not to mention run the air conditioner. The temperature most likely didn’t warrant the RV overheating, but one could never be too cautious when it came to our fur-babies.

Hank’s phone rang. He put the leashes in one hand and grabbed his phone out of his pocket with the other.

“It’s Colonel. I bet he’s got the final report done. I need to take this.” He answered the phone, and I went to the RV.

While I was in the RV, I checked all the things we’d secured down to make sure they’d not shifted in the RV while we were driving. That was when RV-ing was a pain in the heinie. When you moved from place to place, everything had to be secured. Once, I forgot that, and my shampoo bottle had fallen from the shower, spilling out into a little pond on the bathroom floor.

“Are you sure you want to go eat?” I called out to Hank from the RV when I heard them coming back in.

“I’m hungry. You’re not?” he asked and took the leashes off the dogs.

Fifi and Chester ran to their bowls.

“You know. I’m not sure who we’ll run into.” I smiled and tried to remind myself this was a temporary visit. “What did Colonel say?”

“He put Trudy’s death between 11:10 and 11:30 p.m.” Hank gave a few disbelieving shakes of the head. “It amazes me what Colonel can read off a dead body.”

“Yes. Very sad.” I frowned, and we stood there for a second. I was thinking about Trudy’s smiling face. “I guess we better go look for her killer. Or killers.”

I quickly looked around to make sure the dogs would be okay, and we left, locking the door behind us.

“Was this your church?” Hank asked when we walked past the front of the church before we looked both ways to jaywalk over to the diner.

“It wasn’t. We went to a little country church near our home.” I stopped talking when Hank opened the door to Three Sons’ Bistro.

Mary Elizabeth had a big smile on her face and pointed directly at me while a tableful of her friends stared at me.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked inside before I took a step back into my past.

TEN

“May-bell-ine! Over here!” Mary Elizabeth flailed her arms in the air as if I couldn’t see her in the small diner. She pointed to one of the women. “Look here, it’s Ruth Ann Jolly! Kenny’s mom.”

I smiled and walked over to the table, with no idea Hank hadn’t followed me.

“She says Kenny is a big-time pharmacist. Owns his own drugstore.” Mary Elizabeth nodded with pride, and Mrs. Jolly did too.

“I’m bet you’re so proud, and I’m sure he’s great at it,” I said.

Of course Kenny Jolly was great at it. He had been great at combining all sorts of drugs when we were in high school. The no-shoe rule wasn’t the only reason I didn’t care to be Kenny’s cotillion date. “I’m glad to hear he’s doing well.”

I heard Hank’s familiar laugh from across the room where he was standing in front of the Hall of Fame wall. The Hall of Fame wall included taped-up photos of locals who made the local paper or did something nice for the community.

“Here you are.” Hank pointed to a photo.

“Me?” I questioned and hurried over, wondering exactly why my photo was there.

“And here. And there. And…” Hank continued to point to newspaper clippings.

“I get it,” I groaned. The Hall of Fame wall had literally turned into a photo album of my rags-to-riches life.

“Honey, you have no idea how famous you made Perrysburg. We’ve even put up a sign on your birth home’s land so everyone knows that’s where you grew up.” Sheila Bistro, owner of Three Sons’ Bistro, stood behind me.

Her short brown hair was still the same, and there were a few more wrinkles around her eyes. She wore the same logoed Three Sons’ Bistro T-shirt and half apron tied around her fluffy waist as I remembered.

“I’m sorry.” I gulped. “You did what?”

“Oh, Mayor Mackenzie has gone all out to let everyone know this was where the world-famous Mae West got her start in life.” She pointed to one article on the wall. “Now, we’ve not done economically as well as Normal, but your name carries some big weight.”

I took a step closer to the wall to get a better view of the article. The photo was of Hunter Mackenzie standing in front of what was left of my family home, just bricks from the fireplace where the insert once stood.

The caption: “From Small Town to Big City: an heiress’s redemption journey from poverty to wealthy and back again as she saves one small town at a time.”

“Look there, I’m dating someone famous.” Hank put his arm around me and snuggled me close to him. “Now, if you’ll excuse us,” he told Shelia and guided me out the door.

“May-bell-ine! Honey! The girls want to…” Mary Elizabeth’s voice faded once Hank had me safely outside on the sidewalk.

“No wonder you escaped this place.” Hank held me close to him. His warm breath filtered through my hair. Gently he kissed the top of my head. “We will get what we came here for and get home.”

“Okay.” My voice was weak. When I looked up at him, a tear fell from my eye. He used the pad of his thumb to wipe it away. “I had no idea how hard it was going to be to come back here. Now that they’ve used my awful past with Paul West as a tourist trap, I just can’t stand it.”

“They actually seem pretty proud of you and how you’ve turned Normal around and brought tourism back to that part of the Daniel Boone National Park.” Hank was right about one thing. The national forest was huge. Normal was just a sliver of the park, and before I’d brought the campground back to life, the economy had been dead.

Along with a very forgiving community, the Laundry Club gals and I had worked together to bring not only tourism back to Normal but a mutual sense of responsibility and kindness back to life.

Hank’s stomach growled.

“Let’s get you something to eat.” I patted his belly and peeled myself out of his arms to head back inside the diner.

“I’m not hungry for that food.” He dug his hand down into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change. “I’m sure the courthouse has vending machines.”

“They sure do. And Funyuns.” I couldn’t resist those onions rings. “And Ale 8.”

“Good ole Ale 8.” Hank took my hand and looked up. “There she is.”

In the downtown area of any given small southern town, the tallest point was always the top of the courthouse followed by the steeple of a church. The courthouse was about a block away. I told him a few stories about various shops that we passed.

“Right here was the very spot Pharmacist Kenny had his first arrest for drugs.” I laughed even thinking about Kenny being a pharmacist. “I should’ve known he’d be good running a drugstore.”

“Well, I’m thrilled the no-shoe policy turned you off, otherwise, you’d be Mrs. Dr. Kenny and not my girlfriend,” Hank teased in an attempt to comfort me.

“Lucky you.” I squeezed his hand before I let go to walk up the cement steps in front of the courthouse. “If I recall, the mayor’s office is located down the first hall on the right.”

Various people hung outside the family courtroom and other trial rooms. The sounds of heels clicking, voices echoing off the marble walls, and muttering chitchat took up the rest of the space in the courthouse.

There was a punch in my gut as I passed the family court session and couldn’t stop myself from looking in. There was a young boy sitting in the front pew with a woman dressed in sensible shoes, brown pants, and a jacket.

“Sensible shoes,” I muttered under my breath.

“What did you say?” Hank asked when we turned the corner.

“Back there was family court. There was a kid sitting in the front pew. The woman beside him had on sensible shoes.” Hank was lucky he had no idea what I was talking about. “When you’re in the foster care system, you know the woman who comes in wearing sensible shoes is the woman who is going to tell the judge you need to be put in foster care.”

“Really?” Hank’s brows furrowed, then they relaxed. “Well, you don’t have to worry about sensible shoes anymore.” He looked down at the leopard-print flats I’d worn. “I love your non-sensible style.”

“Even on sweatshirt days?” I teased and nudged him when we walked through the mayor’s office.

Hank was right. I only wore sensible shoes when I was walking around the campground, but other than that, I tried to wear something stylish with my sweatshirt attire and jeans. Occasionally, I still went to my storage locker and pulled out the few pieces of clothing I’d chosen not to sell to get money for Happy Trails.

“I feel bad for the boy though.” I wasn’t expecting any sort of comfort from Hank because there were no words that could achieve that at this point. I was just talking to get it out. “After we question Hunter, we’ll go raid the vending machine.”

“We?” Hank’s face suddenly turned into that detective face. Stern. Serious. “You sit here.” He pointed to the wood bench in the office. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“But…” My jaw dropped, and by the look on his face, I knew he wasn’t going to let me go with him. “Fine.” I sat down and crossed my arms in front of me.

I watched while Hank showed his badge to the lady at the desk and watched her face contort into all sorts of emotions before it settled on shock.

She picked up the phone and hit a button before she turned in her chair away from Hank’s prying ears and whispered something underneath the receiver covered up by her hand.

Hank forgot I was from this town. I’d been in this office and this courthouse more times than I could count on my fingers and toes and Hank’s fingers and toes. There were many ways for the mayor to escape other than the main door to his office.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I whispered, excusing myself from the office.

Really, I didn’t need to go to the bathroom, but it was by the escape door for the mayor’s office, where I’d linger for a few seconds before I’d force myself to go to the bathroom so I wouldn’t fully lie to Hank.

“I told you.” A lady exiting the mayor’s back door practically ran over me while I was lollygagging in front of it. “Oh! I’m sorry!”

The woman was wide-eyed, and her mouth was fully open when she realized she’d almost mowed me over.

“Mae? Mae!” Her expression turned from shock to excited on a dime. “What are you doing here?” There was a look of fright in her eyes. She blinked a few times. “I mean, you are from here, but…”

Jami’s red hair was nicely curled and laid right below her shoulders. She had on a tweed pink coat with a fine thread of red woven throughout and a pair of red trousers form-fitted to her still-perfect shape.

She rested her elbow on her other arm slung across her body, putting the edge of her phone up to her chin as she pondered why I was there.

“I have some unfinished business here.” My eyes drew past her shoulders to the man standing behind her. “Mayor Mackenzie.”

“So, you’re the famous Mae everyone in town comes to see.” He popped a big politician’s smile on his face and stuck his hand out, a wedding ring clearly adorning his ring finger. “I’d love to get a photo op with you while you’re in town.”

“She’s living in Normal now.” Jami smacked the hand with the cell phone against his fancy black suitcoat, jarring the phone out of sleep mode to reveal its screensaver, a photo of a pie that I recognized very well.

“There you are.” Hank had come out of the mayor’s office and looked down the hall where the three of us were standing.

“They have Trudy’s phone,” I said and pointed to the phone Jami was holding.

“What?” Jami questioned with a nervous laugh and smile on her face.

“That’s Trudy Bull’s phone. I know because that photo is Trudy’s homemade silk pie that only she makes for Normal Diner. I’d know that pie anywhere. It’s got her signature T scrolled on the top in fudge.” I shuffled from side to side to block Jami from getting past me.

“May-bell-ine.” She loved making fun of my name. “You’re still as crazy as you were back then.” She looked over at Hank. “Poor girl. Went crazy after losing her family to a fire. One she probably set.”

“I dare you!” I screamed, and Hank ran over and stopped me from throwing a punch just in time with his hand. “How dare she accuse me of killing my family. I’m old enough now to know that I don’t have to take this anymore. Hank.” I desperately needed him to look at the phone. “That’s Trudy’s phone.”

“Can I see the phone?” Hank positioned himself between me and them. “I’m Hank Sharp, detective on the Trudy Bull murder case, and you two are under suspicion. So either you can give me the phone now, and we can go talk, preferably near the vending machine, or I can call your local chief. You do have a police department here in Perrysburg, not a sheriff’s department if I recall.”

“We aren’t going anywhere with you or that,” Jami spat, lifting her chin at me.

“I dare you call me ‘that,’” I snarled back, just wanting to get in one good lick on her. My hands fisted.

“Ca-razy.” Jami wiggled her pointer finger around her ear.

“What are you, ten years old?” I asked. “No, wait. You’re a murderer.”

“Hunter, call the lawyer,” she demanded of her husband.

“No. I think we can answer the detective’s questions without involving the lawyer and without creating any more of a scene here. Give me the phone.” Hunter put his hand out for Jami to give him the phone.

It took a few “gimme” gestures from him and some big huffs and puffs from her before she smacked it into his hand. He gave it to Hank.

Hunter took the first steps out of our little circle. “This way to the vending machine.”

ELEVEN

“I told you they killed Trudy and hightailed it out of town.” I didn’t bother talking quietly while we followed the mayor and first lady of Perrysburg down the hall.

When they passed by people, they were treated like royalty. They smiled, waved, and shook hands as they walked. It was sickening.

“We didn’t kill anyone. If anything, Trudy helped save our marriage.” Jami pointed to the protein bar in the vending machine.

Hank was a good boy and got me my Funyuns and Ale 8. While Jami watched her weight, I watched her try to eat a protein bar with a straight face. By the looks of it, she didn’t like the taste. The four of us sat on a bench across from the vending machine as Hank took notes and questioned them. When I tried to speak up, Hank would either shush me or put his hand out.

“Trudy left the phone in my car. I was going to return it, but we’d gotten news that she was killed. Jami said that if we returned it, it would look like I killed her. When I dropped Trudy off at the diner, she was alive and well.” Hunter didn’t appear to be nervous. He was cool as a cucumber.

“How long had you known Trudy?” I let a question slip past Hank. He didn’t interrupt, so he seemed to be interested in Hunter’s answer.

“I came to town for my cousin’s wedding, as you know. I went into the diner to pick up some desserts my sister had ordered, and Trudy was telling me about her famous silk pie. She was full of life and kind. Jami had filed for divorce.” He put his hand on Jami’s knee. I watched as she placed her hand on top of his. “Trudy said that I’d have to let her know what everyone thought of her pies, and I said why don’t you see for yourself and come as my plus-one.” He shrugged. “She was nice enough to spend a little time with, and no one wants to go to a wedding alone. She didn’t care one bit that my family was so put off because I’d not even signed the divorce papers.”

Then it was Jami’s turn to speak. “Courtney called me, and since Normal is only three hours away, I got myself a car service and made it to the reception about midway through. I’m not happy with the scene I caused, but it made enough of an impression that Trudy wanted to leave. I waited in Hunter’s room at the Old Train Station Motel where I ordered room service to arrive when he got back.” Jami let out a long sigh. “I’m not going to say that I’ve forgiven Hunter for all of his little indiscretions, but I know I love him, and I want to try to make it work. We’ve hired a therapist, and I think we can do this.”

“Do you have proof of room service and where the two of you were at the time of Trudy’s death?” Hank asked such a good question that I inched up on the edge of the bench to get a look of their faces.

“I’m not sure when she died, but I dropped her off and went back to the motel.” Hunter looked at Jami and smiled. “I had some time with my wife, we snacked on the room service, and we actually decided to drive back home.”

“I found the phone when we stopped for gas. We were already an hour and a half away from Normal, so I suggested we drive back the next day to take it to Trudy, but that’s when we heard on the news that she’d been murdered.” Jami looked down at the phone in Hank’s possession. “We didn’t kill her.”

“No,” Hunter echoed. “She was alive and well when I dropped her off. In fact, I even watched her go into the diner so she was safe. She even waved out the window.” Hunter seemed pretty confident in his statement. “I have the gas station receipt if you need it to prove where we were.” He leaned over and grabbed the wallet from the back pocket of his suit pant.

He opened it up and thumbed through a bunch of receipt papers in the bill section until he produced the gas receipt that was dated Trudy’s death.

“Trudy’s time of death was eleven fifteen p.m.” Hank looked at the receipt. “You got gas at eleven twenty-five p.m.” Hank glanced over at me. “They have an alibi and pretty solid.”

“You know we can get any sort of video footage from the gas station, right?” I threatened them.

“Go right ahead.” Jami glared at me.

“Can I keep this receipt?” Hank asked

“Sure, but please return it after you’re done. The city pays for my gas, and I have to turn in all receipts,” Hunter said.

He might not be a killer, but he sure was tight.

“Yeah, I will after I check out all the footage.” Hank handed me the receipt. “In the meantime, I want to make sure I have all of your information so I can get in touch with you if I have any questions.” He handed his little notebook and pen to Jami.

“Wait.” I had plenty of questions. “Did Trudy say anything to you about her life? Dating?”

“She was nice enough to ask about me and Jami. It wasn’t like we were intimately involved. Actually, she was really nice, and it was refreshing to have a nice companion at the wedding and what little of the reception we did talk.” He looked at Jami. “She even told me I should try to talk to Jami, so she didn’t seem too upset when Jami and I dropped her off.”

“I even apologized to her for the scene I’d made.” Jami appeared to be remorseful, but I still wasn’t letting her off the hook for being an unkind person. Though people did change. Maybe she had, but I wouldn’t be staying around long enough to notice.

“Trudy did say she’d been on a couple of dates with this guy.” Hunter might have some really great information on this mystery dating-app man I had on my suspect list.

“What did she say?” Hank directed his question at Hunter, but Jami answered.

“She said we should work things out because trying to find someone was a lot more difficult, and the guy she had recently gone on a few dates with ended up not being what he’d posted on his profile.” Jami handed the notebook back to Hank.

Hank scribbled down some notes.

“Did she say his name?” Hank asked.

“No, but I guess you’d find the app on her phone.” Jami pointed to Trudy’s phone next to Hank. “If you knew her password.”

Hank nodded and sighed.

“Why did she have you drop her off at the diner?” Hank asked. “Her car was at her house, so I know she didn’t have a ride home unless she was meeting someone.”

“You know, I did pick her up at her house, so I’m not really sure. I didn’t really know her, so I just did what she asked.” Hunter shrugged.

“She wished us luck and said she’d keep up with us through Courtney, and off she went.” Jami looked at Hunter. “Like he said, we watched her get safely into the diner.” Jami snapped a finger. “You know, I remember she locked the door behind her.”

“Which means she must’ve known the killer,” I said and looked at Hank. “There was no signs of a break-in or even a robbery, so…”

“It’s awful. Just awful.” Jami shook her head and reached over to hold Hunter’s hand. “But we really do have her to thank for us working out our differences.”

“I’ll be in touch.” Hank stood up. He appeared to be satisfied with the answers Hunter and Jami had given. “If there is anything else you can think of that Trudy might’ve said, give me a call.” He took one of his business cards out of his wallet and handed it to Hunter. “I mean anything. Even the smallest of information can lead to big clues in a murder investigation.”

“She did mention one thing about the guy’s girlfriend,” Jami spoke up. “But since Trudy said she wasn’t going to go on any more dates with him, I thought it was insignificant.” She let go of Hunter’s hand and vigorously rubbed hers together. “She said his girlfriend was insane and how those dating apps should have a box that men could check off for crazy ex-girlfriend.”

I smiled. It was just like Trudy to say something so funny.

“Sounds like her,” I said and nudged Hank.

Hank looked at me with soft eyes and a gentle smile on his face. This wasn’t just any murder investigation for him. Trudy had been a friend and not some acquaintance, and though I knew Hank didn’t want me to stick my nose into things, I also knew he was glad I was here, even if just for moral support.

“There you two are.” Mary Elizabeth had rounded the corner and set her focus on the Ale 8 and Funyuns. “You mean to tell me you forfeited some of Sheila’s homemade meatloaf and mac-n-cheese for that and them?” She pointed between the fattening snack and Jami.

“Good to see you too, Ms. Moberly.” Jami’s southern politeness was shining bright. Let me clarify, it wasn’t really authentic, just engrained in our brains to be nice to our elders even if it killed us.

“Mm-hmm.” Mary Elizabeth’s lips pursed. “Well, I sure did hate to hear about your daddy’s passing. How is your mama? You be sure to tell her Mary Elizabeth Moberly sent her well wishes.”

“Thank you.” Jami looked at me then quickly back at Mary Elizabeth. “Mama has a full-time nurse in our home. She’s got Alzheimer’s, but I’ll still pass along your message.”

“I hate to hear that. You be sure to tell her now because we sure did have a lot of discussions about you that I’m sure she’ll remember.” Mary Elizabeth was a grudge holder, and though time had passed and she was being somewhat courteous to Jami, she’d not forgotten how Jami had continually called me the “fire starter” since I was the one who had put the extra logs in the wood burner on that fatal night.

Jami stood up and walked off, Hunter following closely.

“I don’t have to be nice to that little twit.” Mary Elizabeth’s head twisted my way. Her eyes narrowed, and she pointed a finger directly at me. “Like I always told you, you are kind and smart. Look at you. Look at her. She’s got no future. What she gonna do after he’s no longer the mayor? Nothing.” She gave her finger a good hard shake. “She’ll never amount to nothing compared to you.”

I couldn’t stop the smile from curling up on my lips remembering how Mary Elizabeth had spent so much time and energy always trying to make me feel better about myself even when I gave her fits.

“Are we finished here?” Mary Elizabeth asked. “Because I’m starving, and I told Sheila to get us a plate of her meatloaf ready while I set out to find y’all.” Her eyes moved past me and Hank before they settled on the Funyun bag. “Unless you’re full from the processed food.”

“No way. Are you kidding?” Hank patted his belly. “You’ve got me hankering for some of this meatloaf.” He put his arm around Mary Elizabeth’s shoulders as they strolled down the hall in front of me. “It better be good too. You’ve built it up to be something fantastic.”

And fantastic it was.

Not only did Hank gobble up one plate, he had two and a piece of Sheila’s Kentucky Derby pie with ice cream on top.

Mary Elizabeth had gone over to the shelf where Sheila Bistro kept all the Perrysburg High School yearbooks from years past until present. It was one of the things the restaurant was known for. They used to be kinda fun to look at as a kid but not with Hank.

“I still can’t believe that’s you,” Hank teased and pointed to my freshman yearbook photo.

“I was so awkward.” I couldn’t bare looking at it. Not only was my hair nice and frizzy, but my teeth were crooked because my parents couldn’t afford braces. Plus my glasses were scratched.

“You’re adorable.” He craned his neck to look at it again when I pulled it across the Three Sons’ Bistro table while I finished my coffee.

“But it was this year she had new glasses and a new smile.” Mary Elizabeth pointed to a newer yearbook.

“Put those away,” I instructed Mary Elizabeth as she piled all of my yearbooks up on our table.

“I will not. I’m proud of you.” It was like she’d memorized every page I was on because she’d flip right to them. “Oh, I want to look up Gidean Ratimer because I sure don’t remember him, and Dawn sure has taken a liking to him.”

“Well, he’s Bobby Ray’s age, so he’d be in one of his yearbooks.” It was a logical place to start.

Mary Elizabeth headed right back over to the yearbook shelf. While she dug through them, looking for Bobby Ray’s ones, she took some time to say hi-do to some folks she recognized. A couple of the ladies would look at me and wave when Mary Elizabeth would point me out. A few times I heard her mention something about a detective boyfriend—probably her way of getting out of explaining what happened to me and Paul.

“Now have you had enough?” I asked Hank when he pushed his plate a little away from him and finally shut the last yearbook.

“That was delicious.” He reached over and took my hand. “I know we are here on business, my business,” he reminded me. “But I’ve really liked coming to your town and seeing where you grew up.”

“It’s not much, and I’m still not a fan,” I said and put my napkin on the table to let Mary Elizabeth know we were ready to go. Mary Elizabeth had taught me it was good manners to keep your napkin in your lap until you were completely finished with your meal.

At the exact same moment Mary Elizabeth arrived back at the table to get her purse, I heard a voice from behind her.

“Why, I think my eyes are deceiving me. If I weren’t standing here breathing, I’d think you are Mary Elizabeth Moberly in the flesh.” Fire Chief Judd Tripoly moseyed over to our table.

Judd’s big belly protruded between the red suspenders holding up his jeans. His white T-shirt was tight over his stomach. There was a toothpick stuck in the corner of his mouth that wobbled when he spoke.

“Why, Judd Tripoly,” Mary Elizabeth gushed and lightly touched his arm. “Take that out of your mouth. Don’t you know it’s bad manners to pick your teeth at the table?”

“Honey, I ain’t at your table.” He circled his arms around her, and they had the best reunion hug I’d ever seen. “How the hell are ya?” He held her out at arm’s length. His eyes took all of her in. It didn’t go unnoticed either. She grinned and winked at him, egging him on. “Because ya ain’t looked so good in years.”

“Stop it.” Mary Elizabeth blushed. She tucked her hand in his elbow and snuggled right on up to him. “You remember my daughter, Maybelline, don’t you?”

“Of course, how could I forget.” He gave me that sympathetic smile I was used to that told me how he thought about my family when he looked at me. “You, young lady, have made a name for yourself. Good for you. And I’m sure this pretty young lady helped you all along the way.” He patted Mary Elizabeth’s hand and looked at her with a little wink.

“Oh, Judd.” She blushed.

“This is my boyfriend, Hank Sharp. Detective Hank Sharp.” I couldn’t resist adding the detective part in when I introduced him. I might’s well give ’em all something else to gossip about since I could see all eyes were on us and open to listening.

“Detective?” Judd eyeballed Hank. “I’m guessing y’all are here about the fire, then? I sure hate that we weren’t able to find out who set fire to your house.”

“Judd, it was so good to see you.” Mary Elizabeth shuffled him away from the table and whispered something in his ear. He glanced back at me with a serious look before his eyes took after the sympathetic smile.

My mind raced as I tried to process his words. I watched him nod as Mary Elizabeth continued to tell him something apparently so secretive that he’d spurred from his own words to me.

“Did he just admit that someone set fire to your house?” Hank spoke up, halting the hamster wheel in my head.

“I’m not sure.” I blinked back to the present and looked at Hank. My jaw hung open.

“Did you even know that was a possibility?” Hank put his hand on mine. “Because if it is, then we need to get to the bottom of this. Not only to bring justice, but to help you heal from thinking your family’s deaths were your fault.”

“How do you know I think that?” I snapped at him.

“Mae, you might think you’re some big tough woman who can hide her feelings from the world, and you might, but I love you. I can read you like no one else can.” Hank squeezed my hand.

Mary Elizabeth came back to the table and sat down.

“It’s been so good catching up with dear old friends.” She picked up her sweet tea and took a sip. “But it’s gonna be good getting back to our new life.”

“Don’t go and act like I didn’t hear what Judd said and sweep this under the rug,” I warned her. “This is not something I can just wash down with a swig of sweet tea. Not even Sheila’s sweet tea.”

“Now, Mae. The fire was a long time ago. There were rumors, but nothing ever came of it.” Mary Elizabeth tried to pass right on over it.

“You are looking at what came of it.” I slammed my fist on the table, uncomfortably aware of how everyone in the bistro was staring at me. “I have thought all these years that I killed my family by putting more logs on the fire. I’m the one who has been in therapy for years trying to accept what I’d done. I’m the one who left this town to escape all the rumors about me. I’m the one. Not you or anyone in this town.”

I jumped up, knocking the chair off its legs. It crashed to the floor.

“Mm-hmm,” I heard someone ho-hum under their voice when I walked past them to get out of there. “She’s still the same troublemaker she was years ago.”

I needed some time away from Mary Elizabeth and Hank after I left the bistro. So instead of going to back to the RV, where I knew they’d go looking for me, I decided to hang a right and head behind downtown Perrysburg to the cemetery.

My family had been buried underneath a couple of big oak trees donated by my dad’s employer, James Burkfield—Jami’s father and who she was named after.

Even though Jami was a complete pill to me, she had really taken care of anything I needed financially since I had no way of paying for all the funeral needs.

“Hi there. Long time, I know.” My eyelids tried to hold in tears from coming out, but my grief was too much for them to be dammed up. “I had to leave here. I hope you understand.” I ran my hand along the edges of the big family stone with everyone’s names and dates engraved on it.

The dried leaves fell onto the ground.

“Now that I can afford it, I should probably hire someone to clean up around here and bring flowers on a weekly basis.” I talked to the stone like my family could hear me. I’d not been back here since before my eighteenth birthday.

I sat down on the grass and could feel what was left of the day’s sunlight on my back.

“I guess I don’t have to tell you everything I’ve accomplished over the last few years. I’ve really tried to make something of myself so y’all be proud of me.” I really had tried to overcome my situation and do things right by the people in Normal. “Like you always said, it’s up to me to take a bad situation and turn it around for good. I’ve really tried to do that since Paul did all those people wrong.” I knew my parents wouldn’t’ve approved of my marrying Paul.

Heck, I wouldn’t approve of my daughter marrying someone like him, but he was my ticket out.

“And if it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” My parents always taught me to see the bright side. “But here I am. Back at square one.”

I sat there a couple of minutes and let the situation wash over me, feeling the warm sun on my back.

“I need to know if someone set our house on fire and why.” I broke the silence between me and the grave marker. “I need your help. Give me something,” I begged.

I wiped away the tears when I heard some grass shuffling. I was no longer alone up here on the hill.

“How did you find me?” I asked, knowing it was Mary Elizabeth who was walking up behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Hank hanging back.

Mary Elizabeth sat down on the ground next to me.

“Oh, honey.” She used her hand to push my hair behind my ear. “I might not be your real mom, but I know you like a real mom does. I know when your heart hurts, you want to be near your real mom.” She gently rubbed my back. “It was either here or underneath the railroad bridge that I’d find you every time you were upset.”

“I’m sorry. I know I should be old enough to hold my temper, but you have no idea how much bottled-up anger, shame, and guilt I’ve felt all these years thinking I killed them.” I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry. “I know there’s no evidence yet to prove someone set fire to our house, but now that I’m an adult, I can explore the possibility.”

Hank quietly walked up behind us.

“Are you sure you want to open up that can of worms?” Mary Elizabeth asked. “What good would it do? It’s been so long ago that I’m sure there’s some law out there claiming some sort of statute of limitations.” She looked back at Hank. “Are there any statute of limitations on arson?”

“And if there is, fine.” I shrugged. “But I’ll know. I’ll be able to move forward and know that I didn’t kill my family.”

“There is no limit to a felony, and arson is a class D felony in Kentucky, so if we did find someone, we can certainly get some justice. You know whatever it is that you want to do, I’ll use all my resources to help you,” Hank assured me as he walked over to the gravestone and ran his hand along the top.

TWELVE

“You mean to tell me you didn’t get nothin’.” Queenie French pushed the lime-green headband up on her forehead. She was practicing a new Jazzercise move while the rest of the Laundry Club ladies got situated for our big meeting.

“We did get a receipt from a gas station to help give Hunter and Jami an alibi. When we got back this morning, Hank had already called the station to get a warrant for the cameras at the gas station.” I sat down on one of the couches, plopped my bag on the floor, and took out the notebook. “They had Trudy’s phone, but apparently, Trudy had dropped it when they let her out at the diner.”

“Why on earth did she go back to the diner?” Abby asked and picked up the notebook. She clicked the pen and got to taking notes.

“That’s the million-dollar question.” I took a coffee from Dottie, and Betts walked up with a tray of coffee mugs for Queenie, herself, and Abby.

“Did Hank see if anything was on the phone?” Abby asked.

“He said he’s got someone who can hack into the phone, but I’ve not heard.” I took a drink of coffee. “For now, we’ve got to assume Hunter and Jami are innocent, which leaves me with the guy from the app and what Pam Purcell had mentioned about Trudy fighting at her home with a woman. Who was that woman?”

“Pam didn’t say?” Queenie was in mid-chassé, a step behind the Jazzercise move, and stopped abruptly.

“Ann told me that Pam said she’d heard from a Bible-thumper about a neighbor hearing the fight.” I glanced at Betts since she was a Bible-thumper.

“Stop calling us that.” Betts glared then smiled. “Besides, Pam is Trudy’s neighbor.”

“What?”

All the Laundry Club ladies looked at me with furrowed brows.

“You didn’t know?” Dottie asked.

“No,” I said. “I don’t know where anyone lives but you, but I did get Trudy’s address, and I think I’ll just stop by and place an order for some of Pam’s peach items.” I bent down and pulled out the flyer I’d taken off the community bulletin board at the Cookie Cutter and waved it in the air. “It’s time to place our orders.”

“Take her a couple of the Cookie Cutter’s Campfire S’mores cookies. She loves those. That’ll get her lips flapping.” Betts gave a great tip.

“Did you hear anything about Pam hearing Trudy fighting with someone?” Abby asked Betts.

“I didn’t make it to the meeting. I went to clean up Mayor Mackenzie’s guest bedroom, and I did my best to try and snoop around to see if anyone knew anything, but they didn’t. All I got was Trudy had knocked some sense into Hunter’s wife, and they were going to get back together.” She shrugged.

Abby wrote down everything we were saying. Sometimes it just took one of us to reread the information we’d collected to spark an idea.

“What are we going to do now?” Dottie had finished her coffee and looked at me.

The bell over the door dinged.

“I told him you’d all be here,” Dawn said as she walked in with the biggest grin on her face and Gidean’s hand in her grasp.

“That girl’s got it bad. Take a look at that face,” Dottie muttered under her breath.

“Mm-hmm,” Queenie hummed. “Young love. Something you need to take notes on, Abby.”

“I’m doing just fine.” Abby had been seeing Ty Randal on and off.

“At your speed, the two of us will be dead before you make it to a kiss,” Dottie joked.

“You’re the only one gonna be dead, smokin’ them cancer sticks.” Queenie wagged her finger at Dottie. “I’m gonna outlive all y’all because I keep my ticker good and healthy with Jazzercise.”

“Now you did it.” Betts let out a long sigh when Queenie jumped up and started what looked like a sequence of Jazzercise moves right there in the middle of the Laundry Club.

Poor Gidean looked petrified.

“Aren’t they the best?” Dawn gushed. “I told him how the Laundry Club ladies meet here and discuss the crimes in Normal.” She looked at Gidean. “Not that we have a lot.”

Who was she kidding? The Daniel Boone National Park was the perfect place for anyone to commit a crime and hide away, never to be found. But we all went with what she was saying.

“I heard Mae was a good sleuth.” Gidean smiled. “How was your trip home?”

“Oh, you know.” I rolled my eyes and held my cup up for a refill when Betts walked over with the coffee carafe. “Same old same old. Hank got a kick out of all the old yearbooks Sheila Bistro keeps at Three Sons’ Bistro.”

“Did he?” Gidean laughed.

“What?” Dawn asked. “Yearbooks?”

“Mae can tell it best.” Gidean gestured to me before he ran his hand through his hair.

“There’s a restaurant in Perrysburg where the owner keeps some of the past yearbooks from our high school, dating back into the forties, as in 1940.” I jogged my memory. “Mary Elizabeth was in the process of looking you up when Judd Tripoly came in and got all excited to see her.”

Dawn spoke up. “You know Mary Elizabeth. I’m sure she dropped everything to greet him.”

“She did. He was the chief of the fire department when I was a kid.” I didn’t have to tell my friends much more than that. They knew what happened to my family, so there was no more talking about Judd.

“Well, how is the investigation?” Dawn questioned.

“The Perrysburg Mayor and his wife are cleared.” I groaned. “For now.”

“Any other suspects?” Dawn asked.

Abby flipped back a few pages in the notebook.

“We have two.” Abby began to read: “The guy from the dating app, and Trudy had a fight at her home a few nights before she was killed, but we can’t seem to figure out why she’d go to the diner so late.”

“Yeah.” I shook my head and picked up my bag. “I think I’m going to have to sleep on it and go see Pam in the morning to try and find out if she actually heard something.”

“What about Hank? Does he have any insight?” Dawn asked.

“You know, after we made it back to the campground this morning, he and Chester went home. He took off for work to make sure Hunter’s alibi checked out, and it’s the last I heard from him.” I shrugged. “But he did find Trudy’s phone, so maybe he got something off of it.”

“That would be great. Especially if she went on a date with a whacko.” Dawn nodded.

“Good luck, ladies,” Gidean said. “Dawn, we should probably get you home before Mary Elizabeth calls the law on me.” He gave me a glance underneath his brows since that was a jab at my childhood behavior.

“Bobby Ray,” I growled. “He always tells everything he knows.”

Gidean started to laugh.

“What? Tell us?” Dawn begged along with the rest of the Laundry Club girls.

Then I spent the next hour telling the gals and Gidean about all the times I went on dates, and if I didn’t make it home in time, how Mary Elizabeth would call the cops to go looking for me. It was so embarrassing.

“We are going to be late.” Betts looked up at the time and became a little frantic.

“Late for what?” I asked.

“While you were gone, the city council and Sheriff Jerry Truman called an emergency meeting on what they discovered about the bank hacks.” Abby handed me the notebook. “Apparently, some new people have been hacked, and the meeting is over at the amphitheater.”

“It better be quick too.” Queenie tapped the face on her watch. “I’ve got a seven o’clock Jazzercise class tonight.”

“Are we going?” Gidean asked Dawn.

“Nah.” She scrunched up her nose. “We can go grab a coffee from Trails Coffee and a sweet treat before you take me home.” To us ladies, she said, “Gidean leaves tomorrow.”

“You do?” I asked but looked at Dawn. I wondered how she was taking the news.

“Mm-hmm.” She frowned. “But he promised he’d come back soon, ain’t that right?”

“Yes.” He smiled at her.

“You won’t be going to Trails Coffee,” Betts called to Dawn from the office, where she was shutting off the lights and locking the doors. “Apparently, Jerry was able to trace back the roots of some information on Trudy’s phone, and Trails Coffee is one of the locations. So Gert is going to be at the meeting.”

“We better go.” Dawn looked concerned. “I should make sure The Milkery is safe from the cyber thief.”

“Okay.” Gidean didn’t seem to mind. He looked just as happy as her.

The seven of us left the laundromat and headed across the street to the grassy median where the amphitheater was located. Betts was right. Practically the entire population of Normal was there. Every time I turned my head or looked around, I was waving at someone I knew.

“Ain’t this to beat the band?” Pam Purcell of all people had walked up to Betts. “Trudy murdered and now someone has hacked into everyone’s bank account.” She tsked and sucked on a big straw sticking out of some sort of iced-coffee drink from Trails Coffee.

“Pam, did you hear Trudy arguing with someone?” Betts straight up asked her.

“Umm.” Pam looked a little frightened. She gnawed on her straw. “I… um… I haven’t told Hank yet, so I probably shouldn’t say anything. And besides, I don’t like to stir up any trouble.”

Sure you don’t, I thought to myself and pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t vocalize my thoughts.

“Oh, Hank won’t care.” Betts poked my arm. “You can tell Mae, and I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to tell him. If he needs you to come to the station, I’m sure he’d call. Right, Mae?”

“Yes.” I gave a hard nod but looked up at the stage when I heard the buzz of a microphone come across the speakers.

“I’m not sure what the woman’s name was, but I do know she was giving Trudy the business about this guy Alec.” She leaned in to whisper because people around us started to shush her. Jerry was on stage trying to calm the crowd so he and the city council could start their public meeting. “Apparently, Alec is the guy Trudy had been going out with. His girlfriend wasn’t happy about it, and I heard Trudy telling her to get out of her house.”

“Can I come over after this and get your statement for Hank?” I asked in a hushed voice. “I’m sure he’d want to know the name of this guy. Plus, I wanted to get some jellies for the campground recreational room.”

“Sure.” She nodded with wide eyes.

We all turned our attention to Jerry. I couldn’t help but notice Violet Rhinehammer was standing up near the stage in full makeup and her fancy news-reporting clothes. She held a microphone out to the stage, and the cameraman stood next to her with his camera pointed at Jerry.

“Good evening.” He spoke into the microphone. “I’ll make this quick so we can all get home in time for supper.”

There were a few nods and moans from the crowd.

“As many of you are aware, our small community has fallen victim to a cybercriminal. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the charge back at the station while I report some of the findings.” Jerry’s voice echoed throughout the crowd. “Everyone who has fallen victim to this crime has been local businesses around the same time and date. The criminal may be someone who is not in our town.”

Several murmurs blanketed the crowd. Almost everyone had confused looks on their faces.

“This type of crime is what the FBI is calling juice jacking.” Jerry’s words were met with echoes from the crowd in a questionable tone. “Yes. Juice jacking. It’s fairly common in airports or bigger cities that provide cell-charging stations.”

Coke Ogden, a member of the city council, held up a sign with a photo of a charging station on it. She walked around the edge of the amphitheater so everyone could see.

I let out a gut-wrenching sigh.

“What?” Betts jerked her head to look at me.

“I used the new charging stations at the Normal Diner and the Cookie Crumble.” Speaking of Cookie Crumble, I wasn’t going to have to get Pam those Campfire Cookies now that she’d readily agreed to talk to me at her house after this. “I bet I was hacked at one of those places.”

“These cyber thieves can get into these charging stations without being anywhere near Normal. They could be clear on the other side of the world.” Jerry pushed his hands away from himself like he was gesturing to the other side of the world. “They can get everything off your phones. Your photos, your logins to any app, and your bank account, like what we’ve seen here in Normal.”

Jerry went on to explain it into further detail, but all I could think about was how I simply needed a new phone and not to plug into those charging stations.

“Deter’s Feed-N-Seed has ordered a shipment of a small device that will plug in between your charger cord and the charging station that’ll block your data and only charge the battery.” Jerry waved Alvin Deters up to the stage.

Alvin was holding up what must’ve been the small device everyone needed, but I couldn’t see it as far back as we were. He handed it to Violet, who held it in the palm of her hand while the camera man panned the camera down to get some footage of it.

“Do you think this juice jacking has anything to do with Trudy Bull’s murder?” Violet turned the microphone and the heat of the situation onto Jerry.

“We do not—do not—have any evidence the two are connected. We are working alongside of the FBI and Detective Hank Sharp to make sure, but as of right now, there are no connections between the two.” Jerry was very confident in what he was saying, but something hit me in the gut.

What if Trudy knew someone had hacked the diner’s charging station? Was she going to expose them? Cybercrime came with a very heavy prison sentence… only if you didn’t get caught.

“I’m not buying it.” I had found my way up to the front of the crowd after Jerry had said all he was going to say. I was trying to grab him and ask him about how Ann had told me he’d gone over to Trudy’s the night she got into an argument with a woman. I wanted to know if he’d told Hank about it.

It was too late. By the time I weaved through the crowd, he was long gone. Still, I got to grab Violet.

“I have a gut feeling Trudy knew something,” I told her.

“I asked Jerry, and he seemed pretty darn confident that there was no connection.” Violet handed the mic to the cameraman. “But it’s totally worth exploring.”

“And I think our first exploration would be to find the mystery woman who confronted Trudy at Trudy’s house about a man name Alec,” I said. I watched as Violet’s eyes lit up. “Yep,” I continued, “Pam Purcell is Trudy Bull’s neighbor. She overheard them arguing. I’m going to Pam’s right now to get the full statement and might try to get into Trudy’s house.”

“You do know that’s considered breaking and entering as well as tampering with a crime scene?”

“Not if we don’t get caught.”

We stared at each other for a few more seconds until we found ourselves in her Jeep, heading straight to Henpeck Road.

THIRTEEN

Ann was right. These houses were brand spanking new, and if I were looking for a great home in the Daniel Boone National Park, I’d definitely move here. They even had a community pool.

I’d considered putting a pool in at the campground, but according to my insurance agent, my rate would hike up too much for me to even let it simmer in my mind. My guests were just going to have to enjoy the lake along with the ducks.

Violet had already pulled up the list of people who had deeds on her phone. She was very resourceful, like Abby Fawn. And of course, Violet had her informants and contacts who fed her information for stories.

“I just can’t believe I didn’t find any dirt on Hunter Mackenzie.” Violet seemed more upset about that than excited about our possible lead on Alec or more importantly, the woman who fought with Trudy.

“These houses are adorable.” Violet was busy looking out the windows of her Jeep, admiring the two-story shotgun homes that lined up like soldiers down the street. “I wonder if you get to pick the color?”

The homes were super cute and modern. They were painted various colors that actually looked really good. The roofs of the homes were slanted, and each home had a balcony off the front from the second story. The modern look had an industrial feel.

“That’s her house.” I pointed a few homes ahead. “And there’s Pam. Stop here.” I put my hand on the dashboard to steady myself when Violet came to a complete stop.

Pam was sitting on the small front porch of her home in a chair. There was a table beside her with a glass of what looked like tea and various plants sitting around.

Before she’d gotten the Jeep in park, I was already hopping out of door.

“Lordy, bee.” Pam’s face contorted when she saw me, and then she smiled wide when she saw Violet. “Am I going to be in the paper?” Pam patted around her hair.

“Maybe,” Violet said in the charming southern tone that got her everything she wanted.

“No.” I looked between the two women.

Both of them looked back at me with disappointed faces.

“Depends.” I changed my tune. “We are doing a story on Trudy Bull. And it’s to my understanding that you heard Trudy and some woman fussing over someone by the name of Alec.”

Pam picked up the glass of tea on the table. She took a sip as though it gave her time to ponder something. I knew that look, and she was going to milk us for anything she could.

“I thought you were here to place an order for my delicious peach items.” She sighed. “Or tell me I’d won something from the paper where I get a free ad or a story about how delicious my peaches are—because we know mine are the best.”

There was rumor around town that various ladies in Normal competed against each other by claiming each of their gardens produced better than the others. Pam was apparently one of the more vocal ones.

“Not that I’m looking for a handout, mind you.” Pam ran a finger along the corner of her mouth as though she were fixing lipstick that’d gone outside the line.

“Of course Violet is here to give you a free ad in the newspaper and do a little segment on the news.” I nudged Violet. “Ain’t that right?”

“Ain’t isn’t proper.” Violet scowled.

“It ain’t?” Pam asked with a dumbfounded look on her face. “I guess I better not use it in my interview then.” Pam smiled and shimmied her shoulders. “Now, what was it you were wanting to know about Trudy?” Pam bowed her head like she was saying a prayer. “Poor girl. God love her.”

“Yes.” I nodded and cut to the chase. “As you know, Trudy was a dear friend to us.”

Well, to me. Not so much to Violet, but Violet seemed to be the pawn I had to dangle in front of Pam to get any answers.

“And you know I’ve helped Hank out on a few cases.” Though not this one, but I didn’t say that. “We’ve been doing a little investigation so as not to tip off any murderer.”

“Yeah, because you know murderers are always looking to see if the police is looking.” Violet seemed to throw that in for good measure. “Tell us about the fight.”

“I was sitting here minding my own business.” Pam looked up under her brows at us.

I bet you were.

“And I saw this girl in one of them environmental cars pull up. You know, them electric kinda cars.” Pam’s nose curled, and she batted her hand in the air. Apparently not a big fan. “And she marched right on up to Trudy’s front door.” She slid her eyes over to Trudy’s house. “Now, I’ve got that big plant there, so I’m sure neither of them knew I was sitting here.”

I surveyed the landscape she mentioned.

“Anyways, that girl, in that weird car, started in on Trudy as soon as Trudy opened the door. Carrying on like she’d lost her mind.” Pam created a visual of an ambush to me.

“What did she do?” Violet asked.

“She called Trudy all sorts of names like home-wrecker and a few names I’m not going to say out loud, on the account I’m a Christian and all.”

Mm-hmm, I bet you are. You big gossip. I gave her a blank stare.

“What? I am, Mae West. Are you judging me?” she asked then looked at Violet. “Is she judging me?”

“Oh no.” Violet’s lips opened wide in an exaggerated way. “She’s just taking it all in, right Mae?” She shoved me with her hand.

“Go on.” I encouraged Pam to keep going though I was totally judging her.

“Ahem.” Pam cleared her throat and continued, “Anyways, it was the awfullest language you’d ever heard. Trudy tried to get a word in, but the woman smacked Trudy right across the face and twisted around like a tornado to storm back to that car of hers. It’s a scandal for sure.” She gasped. “I’m sure going to miss watching the sunset from her two-story balcony.”

Pam started to recall the fond memories between the two neighbors. Violet and I let her talk.

“She’d bring home a piece of pie from the diner, and I’d bring some of my sweet ice tea, peach infused of course.” She smiled. “Or I’d bring over a piece of my peach pie, and she’d make coffee. The sun sets right in front of us.” Pam looked off into the distance. “Our little get-togethers made for a nice nightly routine.”

“Gosh. I want to live here.” Violet broke the memory, giving me the chance to ask more questions.

“Who is Alec?” I asked, knowing we needed more information. Just because being a scorned woman was a great motive to kill someone, it wasn’t evidence or even language that threatened Trudy.

“Oh yes.” Pam snapped a finger. “That’s the man the woman kept referring to, which I guess is the man Trudy had gone out with.”

“Did you see Trudy go out on any dates?” Violet asked.

“I never seen anyone come pick her up, but I did see her leave a few times all fancied up and not in her diner uniform.” Pam smiled. “She cleaned up real good too.” She picked her ice tea back up. “Shame too. Such a young girl with a bright future.” She took a drink and sat it back down. “I hope someone good moves in because we all exchange keys to each other’s houses in case we get locked out. If someone moves in that aren’t as open to a tight community like our little neighborhood, then I don’t know what I’ll do. Hard to find good neighbors.”

“Key?” I asked.

“Trudy has my house key.” She gestured to the houses. “Just like I’ve got Trudy’s house key. Now, those two houses over there have exchanged house keys. It’s all neighborly.”

“Can we get Trudy’s house key?” I asked.

“Well, my stars, Mae West.” Pam drew back and sucked in a deep breath. “You want me to go to jail for tampering with evidence?”

“No.” Violet shook her head and took her phone out of her pocket. She lifted a finger. “One sec. It’s my boss at the National Park Magazine.”

Pam and I sat there watching as Violet answered her phone. It was rude she didn’t walk away. I didn’t even hear the darn thing ring. She probably had it on silent or vibrate or something.

“Oh no. They pulled out. No refund for them?” Violet’s tone dripped with sincere sadness. “I guess I can find someone to give that big ad space to for the spring issue for free. Let me look around, and I’ll let you know.” Violet stuck her phone in her pocket and smiled at us. “Sorry about that. There’s a big camping store that bought this full-page ad in the biggest issue of the year of National Park Magazine. Apparently, they are going out of business before the magazine hits all twenty thousand stores. They don’t get a refund, so some lucky person I know will get that space and all that advertising for free.”

“Me!” Pam leapt to her feet. “I need it for my peaches. Spring is perfect time for me to advertise.”

“What about that key?” Violet went in for the kill, and what she was doing finally hit me.

Little sneak.

Pam stuck her hand down in her shirt and pulled out a key on a string from her bra. She dangled it out in front of us. “Deal.” Pam extended her hand to Violet.

Violet gave a chin-nod and said, “Give it to Mae.”

I glared at Violet because I didn’t want to touch any part of Pam’s chest sweat any more than she did, but it was for the good of Trudy.

“Thanks.” Barely taking the key by the edges, I stuck it in my front pocket. “Anything else about this woman or Alec?”

“She kept saying, ‘I know where you work and where you live. I will watch your every move to make sure you stay away from Alec.’” Pam shrugged. “Or something similar to that.”

Now that was some hard-threatening evidence that could give this woman motive to have killed Trudy.

“Did Trudy say this woman’s name or this woman say Trudy’s name?” I asked.

“Nope.” Pam eased back in her chair. She leaned around me and Violet to wave at a neighbor walking past. “It lasted maybe four minutes tops.”

“You never mentioned it to Trudy?” Violet questioned.

“What part of ‘I told you they didn’t even know I was here because of them plants’ didn’t you understand?” Pam was a testy old lady. “If you two go over there and get caught, you didn’t get that key from me. Besides”—she pushed herself up to stand and picked up her glass—“I didn’t see anything in there when I went in this morning after they took the police tape down, so good luck.”

“I’ll get with you on the ad,” Violet called out to Pam before Pam shut her front door on us.

“Twenty thousand stores?” I questioned Violet on our walk across the lawns and wondered if I should do an ad.

“I don’t know how many stores, and neither does Pam, but we got this.” Violet had lied, and it shocked me to my core.

“You little…” I was going to call her a name, but she put her finger up.

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. So, when you get back to the campground, you’re gonna have to write me a check for two thousand dollars to cover the price of her ad.” So maybe Violet wasn’t giving Pam an ad, and I had to pay for it, but she was right.

Without the ad lie, we wouldn’t be standing in the middle of Pam’s living room.

“So.” Violet looked as pleased as someone who just ate a slice of Pam’s peach pie. “Where do we start?” she asked, looking around the room.

“You start here and work your way to the first floor, and I’ll make my way through the second floor.” The stairs were ahead of us. “Do not move anything out of the way. Disturb anything. Just look through papers or anything that might give us a clue to dating-app stuff.”

“We need her phone.” Violet suggested something I already knew. “Or something electronic.”

“I’m sure Hank took all that.” I had no idea what I was looking for. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

The two of us parted ways. I went upstairs like we’d planned and found that the bedrooms were up there. While I looked through Trudy’s bedroom drawers and walk-in closet, Violet kept shouting up to me about how sad it was to see Trudy’s photos that were sitting around and how she felt creepy in a dead person’s house.

When I walked into the other room upstairs, it appeared as if Trudy had made it into a small office instead of a bedroom. There was a desk next to the door that led out to the second-floor balcony. I pulled out the chair and sat down, wondering if I could put myself in Trudy’s state of mind.

Her iPad was sitting on top of a stack of bills. I opened the iPad, and there was a touch-ID or password screen that popped up.

“Did you hear me?” Violet asked loudly from behind me and nearly gave me have a heart attack right then and there. “Gosh. Why so jumpy?”

“I had no idea you were up here. You scared me.” I pulled the iPad to my chest.

“I was talking to you the entire time.” Her eyes zeroed in on the iPad. “You didn’t hear me?”

I tuned you out, I thought.

“No.” I shook my head. “Found her iPad.”

“Did you find anything on it?” Violet seemed awfully excited.

“Touch-ID code, and my thumbprint isn’t going to do it.” I started to put the iPad back.

“Stop. You and I can’t do the touch-ID, but Trudy can.” There was an evil grin that passed over Violet’s lips. “I do need to go see Colonel Holz to see if he’d like to give a statement for the article I’m doing on Trudy’s murder for the news, if you’d like to come along.” Her finger wagged between me and the iPad. “And bring the iPad.”

“Just when I couldn’t love you any more.” I jumped up from the desk and scurried out of Trudy’s house behind Violet.

Honestly, what we were about to do was sickening, but I had to have answers, and maybe there were some on the iPad that Hank and his team had missed. There was no way he’d leave the iPad there if he’d seen it and it had something valuable on it.

“As soon as you get the iPad open using Trudy’s finger”—Violet was all hush-hush after we made it into the funeral home where Colonel Holz, the coroner, worked—“you quickly get into the settings and change the password to something we can remember.”

“Violet Rhinehammer, who knew you were so sneaky?” I loved it.

“You don’t get far in this business without some sort of cutthroat actions. It’s my southern charm that gets me one leg up.” She winked.

When Colonel came through the steel double doors that led into the morgue, he waved Violet to follow him into his office.

“Mae, you coming?” he asked.

“Oh no.” I shook my head.

“She’s going to read.” Violet rolled her eyes. “She’s always got that iPad with her to read for her book club with the Laundry Club ladies.” Violet tucked her hand into Colonel’s elbow. “You know, they’ve never invited me.” She gave a little sniffle.

“Well, that’s a shame,” I overheard Colonel tell her on their way into his office, from which Violet looked at me over her shoulder before he shut the door.

I let out a long sigh.

“What are you doing?” I asked myself aloud and tried not to think about my current situation.

There were three metal tables, and only one had a body on it with a sheet covering it. I gulped and walked over.

“Hey, Trudy.” I talked as though it was going to make the situation any better. “I am so sorry for what happened.” I gulped and reached out to pull the sheet off a little to see if it was her. “But I know you want me to find your killer, so I’m so sorry for breaking into your house and now disturbing…” I jumped back when an arm fell down from the body and dangled from underneath the sheet.

I didn’t have to pull back the sheet to know the sun-bright fingernail polish on the body’s nails was indeed hers.

“I’m sorry,” I squealed, reaching out to grab her hand. I firmly placed her thumb pad on the iPad’s small button, bringing the machine to life.

Just like Violet suggested, I quickly entered 1-1-1-1 as the new passcode before I darted out the door and waited in the Jeep for Violet to return.

FOURTEEN

“I’ll take two slices for myself,” I told Ty Randal and walked into the bathroom of the Normal Diner to wash my hands.

When I came out of the bathroom, Violet was already drinking a cup of coffee and noshing on a piece of pie with whipped cream on top.

“Two pieces?” Violet eyeballed the plate Ty had put down in front of my stool at the counter.

“You didn’t have to go through what I just went through. Pie helps.” I grabbed my fork and took a few bites before I came up for air.

When I told Violet about how Trudy’s arm fell out from underneath the sheet, she giggled the entire time. It was infectious. I started to laugh too. Before you knew it, we were so loud and were practically crying.

“Are you two okay?” Ty asked.

“We are fine.” I waved it off and wiped off the laughing tears that had streamed down my face.

“Enjoy that pie. It’s one of Trudy’s last ones she made.” Ty killed the mood. “In fact, I know why she came in that night.”

“You do?” My heart nearly stopped.

“You know Trudy made all the pies for the diner.” He tugged the dish towel that was draped over his shoulder and began cleaning up the crumbs around my plate. “She always put the freshest ones in the back of the freezer, moving the older ones up. She also dated them. Well, I went into the freezer to see just how many pies were in there before I needed to contract out the pies to the Cookie Crumble, and there are some dated from the day she died.”

“How do you know she made them that night and not that day?” Violet questioned.

He looked down at what remained of the two slices on my plate.

“She put the time on the last ones she made. Date and time was the night she died.” He frowned.

I pushed it away. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so appetizing.

“Whenever Trudy was going through something emotional, she made pies.” Ty frowned. “I haven’t seen her make pies any other time.”

“Maybe she was emotional about Hunter?” Violet suggested.

“Or Alec. Or Alec’s woman.” I knew it was more important than ever to get down to figuring out who this woman was. “Thanks, Ty. The pie is good.”

“It’s the best.” He pushed off the counter and went to check on the customers in the diner.

Violet and I decided to meet up the next day before we each went on our way. I told her I’d let her know if I found anything on the iPad that would give us some more clues, but I couldn’t help but think that Hank already had all the clues any electronics would have.

Instead of heading back to my car where I’d left it in the Laundry Club parking lot after the city council meeting, I headed inside the laundromat, where Abby and Betts were sitting at the table scattered with puzzle pieces.

Both of them were hunkered over looking at the pieces and didn’t even notice I’d come in.

“Hey there.” I moseyed up to them and picked up one of the pieces.

“Hey,” they both muttered.

“Started a new one, huh?” I asked and looked at the box cover to see exactly what they were piecing together. “Hard one. Four thousand pieces. Yikes.” I put the puzzle’s cover back on the table, not wanting any part of this activity.

“Keeping our minds off the hacking and the killer. Agnes Swift told us they had zero leads into Trudy’s death.” Abby sat back on the heel of her foot in the chair that was butted up to the table.

“I even asked about Trudy’s phone you found in Perrysburg.” Betts knew I’d want that information. “She said the app was there, and they are looking into Trudy’s dating history, but no voicemails or emails lead to anything.”

“Great.” I sat down in the other empty chair and took the iPad from my bag. “I took Trudy’s iPad from her house, hoping there’d be some sort of clues on it.”

“Really?” Abby reached over and took the iPad. “Dang. Passcode.”

“One-one-one-one,” I said.

“Huh?” The lines between Abby’s eyes deepened.

“You ain’t gonna believe the all-time low I did.” And that’s when I came clean about how Violet and I had conned Pam Purcell to get the key, illegally enter, and mess with a corpse.

“I think all of those are punishable in the court of law.” Betts was good at pointing out the illegal activity I’d committed all night long. “And for what? Nothing.” She pointed out how all of the snooping I’d done didn’t get me any closer to solving Trudy’s murder.

“Not so fast,” Abby said with a smile on her face. “Did you know that you can erase text messages and phone calls, including voicemails, from your iPhone? But if your devices are synced, it doesn’t erase across the board—and it sure does look like Trudy’s were synced.”

Abby put the iPad on the table and hit a button.

“This is Georgia Sullivan. I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re trying to split up a family. I have a child with Alec and one on the way. We may not be happy at the moment, but it doesn’t give you the right to answer any sort of dating service he used years ago. I’m not even sure how his profile is on there, but let me tell you something, I’ve looked you up and know where you live. Do you understand me? I know. And I will go to any measures to keep my family together.”

There were several phone messages from Georgia Sullivan that followed the first message.

The three of us sat there stunned. Abby played them again before we broke the silence between us.

“I know Georgia Sullivan. She is a Tupperware client. She uses the environmentally friendly line.” Abby looked at me with a steady gaze. “And she does have a child and one on the way.”

“Are you telling me this Georgia Sullivan is your Georgia Sullivan?” I wanted to clarify.

“Sure does sound like her.” Abby gulped, her eyes wide open. “I had no idea she was a little coo-coo.”

“You would be, too, if someone was coming after your man.” Betts didn’t have to tell us that she was referring to her ex-husband who’d also had a mistress.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and texted Violet.

Alec Sullivan. Look him up. Let me know what you find out.

“Do you have any reason to go by Georgia’s house tomorrow to show her some new Tupperware?” I questioned.

FIFTEEN

Abby and I had made a plan to meet after my morning shift in the office of Happy Trails, which coordinated perfectly with her half-day shift at the library. Plus, meeting in the afternoon would give me time to go through Trudy’s iPad to see if there was anything else I could use for more clues.

The sun was popping up over the trees in the campground when Fifi and I finally made it to the office. With a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the iPad open, I started to dig into all of Trudy’s little secrets. None of them were too surprising.

It was the photos that ripped my heart to shreds. Most of them were photos of the pies she’d taken out of the oven at the Normal Diner. A few were selfies of her eating those pies. But the ones that stuck out were from her balcony. She’d taken a photo of herself and Pam in front of the sunset then another one with a slice of pie and coffee cup as the focal point in front of the sunset background.

Though I shouldn’t have, I did anyway: I shared the photo through AirDrop to my phone. It would be nice to get a print framed for Pam.

“Good morning.” Bobby Ray and Gidean walked in.

“Good morning.” I put the iPad on the desk. “What city are you off to next?” I asked Gidean.

“I’m heading to a small town in West Virginia.” He and Bobby Ray helped themselves to a cup of coffee.

“Dawn is going to be sad to see you off this morning.” I gestured for the two of them to sit.

Fifi had other plans for Gidean. Clearly, she remembered him funneling treats to her the other morning.

“She’s already said goodbye.” Gidean handed a treat to Fifi before he sat down next to Bobby Ray.

“Yeah.” Bobby Ray gave Gidean that good-ole-boy slap on the arm with the backside of his hand. “He’s not really leaving today. He told her that so he’d have some time to himself without her nagging him.”

“Nagging you? Dawn?” I asked because it was totally out of her character to nag anyone.

“She didn’t nag me.” Gidean was quick to correct Bobby Ray. “She really wanted a relationship, and I’m in no way at a place with my career or my life where I want that.”

“Are all of us from Perrysburg like that?” I asked.

“Speaking of Perrysburg…” Bobby Ray reached into his blue mechanics jacket and took out an envelope. “It looks like you got something from Perrysburg High School.”

I took it and ripped it open.

“By the look on your face, you don’t seem to happy about it.” Gidean was observant and right.

“They want me to come back for a planning committee for our reunion.” I rolled my eyes and put the letter down.

“Reunion? Who’s having a reunion?” Dottie waltzed in with her pink housecoat, fuzzy slippers, and pink sponge curlers knotted around her head. She yawned while pouring herself a cup of coffee. “I saw the lights on, so I figured I’d come get me a cup of coffee. We are hosting a family reunion? I love those.”

While we did have several fun family reunions here at Happy Trails, the thought of going back to Perrysburg was not.

“Nah, May-bell-ine has to go to plan a high school reunion, seeing it’s part of her prom queen title and all.” Sometimes Bobby Ray had the biggest mouth.

“You were prom queen?” Dottie’s jaw dropped wide open.

“She sure was. Beat out Jami Burkfield.” He nodded with pride. “Even sent Jami’s mama into the mental ward.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” I tried not to make it sound that bad, but it was.

Jami’s mama about died. Accused Mary Elizabeth of sleeping with the principal of the school to fudge the election votes. Even went as far as calling a recount, which actually made me win by even more than before the recount. It was awful.

“Now, we don’t know if her mama went to a mental ward or just took to the bed.” I wanted to make it clear.

“She disappeared for about three months. I think the rumors were true.” Bobby Ray’s brows rose.

Gidean was laughing the entire time.

“I can’t believe you were prom queen. I mean, you do like to look nice, and when you rolled up in Happy Trails a few years ago, you were a little highfalutin, but prom queen? With that hair?” Dottie shrugged and carried her mug over to her desk. “I was just coming for a cup of coffee, but I’m stayin’ for this intriguing conversation.”

“See what you started?” I shook my finger at Bobby Ray. “Now she’s going to tell everyone I was prom queen.”

“Are you going to go to the meeting?” Dottie asked.

“I don’t know. Being back there the other day really made me sad. I went to visit my family’s grave.” I tried to take a few deep breaths to steady my heartbeat.

Just thinking about going back made me super anxious.

“There are just so many ghosts I’m not sure I’m ready to face.” Without saying it, I still wasn’t entirely convinced I’d started the fire that had led to the death of my family. Though I’d lived with that idea for a long time now, there were so many weird things that’d popped up over the past couple of years. Especially recently when the ex-fire chief had implied otherwise at Three Sons’ Bistro and tried to brush it off. “I can’t think about that now.” I reached around and took my bag off the corner of my chair, sticking the envelope in there. “I’ve got too many other things to look at.”

“Is that the iPad?” Dottie questioned.

“You know?” I hadn’t even had time to talk to her about it.

“If you checked your text messages, you’d know Abby has been all over it.” Dottie reminded me of how my phone probably was dead.

“I need a new phone.” I dug back down into my bag and retrieved my phone. “I charged the darn thing all night, and it’s already on red,” I groaned and plugged it into the charger I kept behind my desk.

“What about the iPad?” Bobby Ray asked.

“It’s Trudy’s.” I quickly told him and Gidean and Dottie about how I’d committed the worst act. I checked out the text messages on my phone instead of looking at their faces. I didn’t want to see their expressions when they realized I’d taken Trudy’s thumb to open it. “Gack!” I yelled when I saw Violet had found Alec Sullivan.

Her text read: Alec Sullivan works at the Best Purchase over the hill in Culiver City. If anyone knows about video equipment and hacking, it’s those techy guys at those big-box electronic stores. I can head right on over there after work tomorrow and snoop around.

“You’re sick,” was all Bobby Ray had to say. “Let’s go enjoy our day.”

“You’ve been taking off a lot lately.” I picked up the iPad so I could snoop in the dating app to see if I could find a photo of Alec. According to his wife, it seemed like Trudy had gotten in touch with him through an old profile that hadn’t been taken down.

Both men shrugged, and out the door they went.

“I thought he was leaving today.” Dottie turned in her chair and watched the two men walk past the office toward the campers. “Check your messages. Dawn is a mess.”

“He wanted some time here without Dawn. He said she was nagging.” I hit the dating app with my finger, and it popped open. “It doesn’t sound like Dawn.”

“I don’t know. She was pretty upset in her message to our group.” Dottie sighed and got up from her chair. “Not much interesting around here now. I’m going home.”

“Okay.” I was too busy looking around the app and trying to figure it out to stop her. “See you for the afternoon shift.”

I sent a photo of Alec to Violet, or at least the photo that was on his dating app profile. In fact, the app said he’d not been active for six years. Which probably meant Georgia was right. He wasn’t actively looking for someone, but how was Trudy supposed to know?

Did she reach out to him and he contact her back?

The only thing on the iPad I could find to support it was a message Trudy had sent to the number provided on Alec’s dating profile. The message had a read receipt, and it just so happened to be from the day Pam said she’d seen Georgia show up at Trudy’s.

SIXTEEN

“There’s Miss America,” Abby teased when she came to Happy Trails to pick me up.

“Let me guess: Dottie.” I climbed into her car and locked the seat belt in place.

“Didn’t you see all the texts flying around?” Abby asked.

“No,” I muttered and made a mental note to head to the Feed-N-Seed to get a new phone since it was the only place in Normal that sold them. “Give me the CliffsNotes version.”

Abby told me how Dottie claimed to our group that I was really from royalty and needed to be talked into going back to Perrysburg and stand up to Jami.

“A lot of laughing emojis and crown emojis flying around in the text thread.” Abby put the car in park when we pulled up to a little cabin located off one of the windy roads leading into the Daniel Boone National Park. “We’re here. This is where the Sullivans live.”

The cabin wasn’t anything extravagant. It was small like most of the cabins in the area generally were. Most people who lived in the park were those who enjoyed the outdoor lifestyle, so they didn’t need all the luxuries of a big home.

“Georgi has been a great client, so she won’t think too much of me stopping by for her to try this new salad-mixing bowl.” Abby reached into the back seat to retrieve the box with the salad bowl.

When she got out, I followed her lead. I had so many questions but wasn’t sure how I was going to throw those into Abby’s sales pitch.

“Abby!” a voice called before we reached the door. “Over here in my garden.”

We both looked around until we found a woman who was very much pregnant and wore overalls, a big straw sun hat, and a pair of gloves. She had weeds in her grasp, and a child sat on the ground next to her, digging in the dirt with a spade.

“Hey, Georgi.” Abby had walked over with me by her side. “What’s going on?”

“Getting a jump on harvest. You know I love my organic vegetables.” Georgi smiled then looked at me. “Hi.” She peeled her gloves off. “You must be a new Tupperware salesperson.”

“Oh no.” I shook my head. “I’m a friend of Abby’s. We are headed to a friend’s memorial and…” I was going to lead into whose memorial, but Abby had other plans.

“I wanted to pop over and show you the new salad bowl that is not only made of recycled plastics but also guaranteed to keep your veggies fresh for over two weeks.” Abby held the bowl out. “I hope you don’t mind we just stopped by. I was going to leave it on your door if you weren’t home.”

“I’d love to try it out.” Georgia took off her hat and exposed the most gorgeous and flawless skin I’d ever seen. She wasn’t too pale but seemed to naturally have an olive skin tone. Her long black hair was in two low ponytails. “The more time I can save with veggies not spoiling, the more I can rest.” She patted her belly.

“When are you due?” I asked and tried to figure out a way to throw in Trudy.

“Three weeks.” She sighed. “It’s been a tough pregnancy. I’ve had a lot of stress, so working in the garden really does help.”

“You’ve got a great little helper.” I looked down at the child.

“She’s a big help and a lot of company to me. My husband works in a different town, so it’s hard to stay awake at night to visit with him. I’ve got some crazy hormones right now.” A smile tugged at the edges of her lips. “I even went crazy on a woman who I thought was having an affair with Alec.”

“Well, it’s probably all hormones.” Abby reached out and touched Georgia.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know you, and you probably are thinking that I’m crazy.” Georgia seemed genuinely exhausted. “Abby and I go way back. In school even.”

I gave Abby a look. She just smiled. I glared.

Why didn’t Abby tell me she was really good friends with Georgia?

“Why would you ever think Alec would cheat on you?” Abby questioned like Alec was the best guy in the world.

I kept my mouth shut because I started to see the path Abby was taking to get the answers we wanted.

“You know how Alec and I broke up for those six months between college graduation and real life?” Georgia continued when Abby nodded. “It was when those dating apps were popular. He actually joined one. I was devastated then. But he deleted the app off his phone, and we got married, had Blaire”—she looked down at her little girl—“and are now having the baby.” She rubbed her belly. “His phone chirped one day after work. He was in the shower, and I looked at the text message. It was from a woman who contacted him through that dating app. I couldn’t believe it. He told me he’d not had the app but forgot to delete his profile after all these years. I didn’t believe him but let it go because I was going to confront the woman and show her my big belly. I got into the app by using his password that he uses for everything. I found the woman and googled her name. It wasn’t too hard to find. She’d just bought a house on the PVA.”

“Oh, Georgi. Was he?” Abby truly looked concerned.

“No. The woman, Trudy is her name—was her name—ended up telling me how Alec never responded to her message request, but he did go to her work and let her know he wasn’t available.” She frowned. “Apparently, he was so mad that she’d contacted him that they got into an argument. I tried to explain to him it wasn’t her fault but instead his since he never deleted the profile. But Alec can be a hothead after a long day of sitting in front of his computer at work.”

Blaire put the spade down and stood up. She curled her little arms around her mother’s leg and squeezed her cheek up against it.

“I’m sorry. You said Trudy, as in Trudy Bull?” Abby asked.

“Yes. I feel awful. I heard she was murdered. Did you know her?” Georgia asked and ran her hand over her daughter’s hair.

“She was a very good friend of ours.” Abby gestured between me and herself.

The distant sound of tires took our attention off our conversation, and we turned to watch as Hank drove up to the cabin. Our eyes caught. I could see from here how quickly his jaw tensed.

“Uh-oh.” Abby had a scared look in her eyes.

“What? Who is that?” Georgia asked.

“My boyfriend, Detective Hank Sharp,” I muttered and watched Hank get out of the car.

“Ladies,” Hank greeted the two women then looked at me with a hard stare. “Mae, can I talk to you over here?” he asked though he didn’t mean it as an option. It was an order.

“What are you doing here?”

“Abby was delivering Georgi her salad-keeper bowl or something like that.” I didn’t technically lie, but I could see he wasn’t happy. “Fine,” I conceded. “I found her message on Trudy’s iPad, and I did a follow-up. You should’ve gotten it off the phone.”

“The phone was swept clean. Nothing on it. Not a single photo, message, no history, nothing. How did you get the iPad?”

“A key.” I tried to keep to as few words as possible.

“A key?”

“From Pam.”

“Pam?” he questioned. “Okay. These one-word answers aren’t cutting it. I need to know right now what you’ve discovered.”

Hank and I excused ourselves from the prying ears and took a little walk around the cabin for some privacy.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the iPad?” he asked after I’d told him everything from Pam having the key to finding out about Alec working in Culiver City to the answers Georgia admitted about confronting Trudy.

“Because of this. Right now. You getting mad at me for sticking my nose into it when you need me. You have to admit I’m pretty good at snooping.” I gulped. “One problem. If Hunter and Jami Mackenzie have alibis, and Georgi can prove they have an alibi, then we don’t have any suspects.”

Hank ran his hand through his hair before his green eyes settled on mine after a long, deep sigh.

“First off, yes, you are good at snooping. But we are still dealing with a killer, and I care about you. It makes me nervous to think that something can happen to you and I wasn’t there to protect you.” Hank made valid points.

“Don’t you think I’m smarter than to put myself into a situation that would kill me? Look at her, she’s a pregnant woman. What is she going to do? Throw diapers at me?” I questioned.

“Really? Do I need to remind you of the last situation you were in where you were in danger?” He just had to bring that up, didn’t he?

“Excuse me, detective?” a man called from the side of the house. “I’m Alec Sullivan. This is my home. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes. I was just telling my girlfriend here goodbye.” It was Hank’s way of telling me to leave.

“Fine.” I stalked back around the house to where Abby and Georgia were waiting for me and left Hank there to talk to Alec.

“Sorry about your friend,” Georgia called out to us when we were walking back to Abby’s car.

“You need to tell your husband to change his password. Everyone in Normal is getting hacked.” I threw that fact out there in case Violet was right about Alec being such a tech guy and he was the one hacking the accounts.

Alec just so happened to be a link that could tie the murder and the hack together. If only I could get Hank to see it. Was Alec the killer? Had he been lying all along to Georgia?

But for now, it appeared Georgia wasn’t the killer.

“Thanks for the tip.” Georgia waved us off.

SEVENTEEN

“I just don’t get it.” I stared into the campfire.

The orange and red flames danced in the air. They reminded me of how I danced with all the clues surrounding Trudy’s death. Nothing made sense.

“Sometimes robberies happen and innocent people get killed.” Bobby Ray held a s’more rod out to me with a burnt marshmallow stabbed onto the end. “Just the way you like it.”

“Thanks.” I pulled it off and stuck the gooey treat in my mouth.

“Hank said this Alec had an alibi?” Dottie asked.

She was sitting on the stump between Bobby Ray and Gidean. The dark shadow of the trees from the Daniel Boone National Forest was like an eerie painting behind them. Stars dotted the sky. The crescent moon gave off little light, leaving the glow of all the campfires to light the way around the campground.

Someone’s strumming on a guitar filled the air and echoed into the night.

“Yeah. Hank said after Abby and I left, Alec and Georgia told him all about the dating app and the argument at the diner. Alec was worried Georgia didn’t believe him and didn’t want her to leave him. Georgia admitted to the harassing messages and showing up at Trudy’s doorstep with her protruding belly.” I could picture Trudy’s face now. “The night of Trudy’s death, Alec’s mom had stayed at their cabin with Blaire, their daughter, while Alec and Georgia went to Gatlinburg for a few nights. Hank said it all checked out, and they weren’t even in town when Trudy was murdered.”

“Back to what I said about how robberies happen all the time in the forest and sometimes they just don’t get solved.” Bobby Ray wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know.

“Yeah, but she was my friend. Our friend,” I reminded him. “Her life mattered.”

“Why don’t y’all do some sort of park memorial?” Gidean suggested. “Some of the little towns I’ve traveled to for my blog have some of those memorials.”

“Really?” I thought it might be a great idea. “Like what?”

“I’ve seen some raise money and do a nature preserve in honor of their loved ones or even give loans or grants to a local high school. But from what I’m hearing about Trudy, she loved to bake, so maybe give a home economics student a scholarship to college.” Gidean’s face glowed when he stared at me from over the fire as he talked. His phone lit up in his lap, and he turned his attention there.

“That’s not a bad idea.” Dottie nodded and pulled a cigarette from her case.

“I do have an in with the school since I did teach the business class,” I interjected. After I had received a key to the city, the principal of the school had asked me to teach a class in business and how I’d helped bring in some economic growth back to Normal. “I could meet with them.”

I tugged my phone from my pocket and read Violet’s text.

Call me.

I put it back in my pocket, figuring I’d wait since I’d already told her what happened at the Sullivan house.

“Who was that?” Dottie asked.

“Violet. I’m sure she’s just following up on how dead-end our leads are.” I laughed. “I don’t get great reception here, so I’ll call her back in a few minutes when I go close up the office for the night.”

“I thought it might be Hank.” Smoke rolled out of Dottie’s mouth. “I’m guessing he’s pretty upset with you.”

“Yes. He’s just pretty upset because none of the leads have turned out. I handed over Trudy’s iPad with all her photos and text messages on them.”  I bit the inside of my cheek and tried not to talk. I knew I sounded crazy with my thoughts on how Trudy was killed on purpose and for a reason, not just in some random murder like Bobby Ray suggested.

“Don’t give up hope yet. I’ve seen where they’ve solved crimes through cyber stuff before, so maybe your boyfriend will be able to pull something from it.” Gidean shrugged and started to type on his phone.

“Dawn?” Bobby Ray asked him.

“Yep. I’ve got to let her down gently.” Gidean leaned back in the camping chair. The seat groaned along with his own.

“Where you goin’?” Dottie asked when I stood up.

“I’m going to go close the office. Call Violet in there in case she might’ve got some information from her informants. She said something about finding out the IP address of the hacker, so maybe we can bring that person to justice for stealing my money. Then I’m going back to my camper, where Fifi and I will go to bed.” I took one last marshmallow from Bobby Ray. “It’s been a long few days without sleep, so I’m due for some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

“You got your spray? Coyote mating season.” Dottie reminded me of how coyotes loved to roam the campground at night for food during active mating season. We gave out pepper spray to the campers along with warnings about keeping their small pets safe.

“I have it in the office. I’ll be sure to carry it home with me, Mom,” I teased.

“Somebody has to keep looking out for you,” Bobby Ray chimed in.

I called Violet right when I got back into the office. She didn’t answer, so I left a voicemail. “Hey, Violet. It’s me. No sense in calling me back. I’m closing the office for the night and turning in. I’m going to sleep in tomorrow, so I’ll call you when I get to work around lunch. Talk to you soon.”

Tomorrow was Dottie’s turn to open the office, and I did plan on sleeping in. If I didn’t sleep in, I would fix me some coffee and read the book for the next Laundry Club meeting. Regardless, I wasn’t going to look any more into Trudy’s murder. I’d exhausted all my leads and had no idea who else would be a suspect.

I sat down at my desk and flipped off my computer. I liked to shut everything down when we closed. I tidied up the desk files and quickly looked through the incoming contracts for the upcoming week. Most were longer-term contracts for people who’d come for a week or two. The wildflowers would be in full bloom, and the stars would be out and maybe a couple of lightening bugs. It was the time of year that brought the most tourists and the most dollars.

The hum of the printer was the only noise left in the room. I got up to turn it off and remembered how I wanted to print off Trudy’s photo for Pam. It would be a nice way for me to end my part in trying to figure out who killed Trudy and let her rest.

“Stupid phone,” I murmured when I realized it was dead as usual. I let out a long sigh and headed back to my desk to plug it in to charge it enough to print the photo.

After it turned on, I brought up the photo of the sunset with the pie and coffee. “Pam is going to love this.” I hit the print button, and the wireless printer kicked to life.

The door opened, and Gidean popped his head inside.

“Hey.” I smiled and walked over to the printed page. “Isn’t this pretty?” I showed him the photo.

“Where is that?” he asked, and I gave him the photo to look at more closely.

“From my friend Trudy’s balcony.” I couldn’t help but smile and tell him about it. “Another friend of mine, Pam, is Trudy’s neighbor. They would have after-work pie on Trudy’s balcony every night. This is one of the photos I found on her iPad and thought I’d make a copy for Pam.”

“That’s kind of you.” Gidean handed me the photo back. “I just wanted to stop in and say goodbye. I’m really leaving tomorrow.”

“Bobby Ray will be more upset than Dawn.” I laughed and flipped the printer off. “He’s not taken off work since he moved here. You must be pretty special to him.”

“Yeah. We’d get into a bit of trouble when I’d come home from school to visit.” Gidean smiled, obviously recalling a memory.

“Where did you end up going to college?” I asked.

“I didn’t.” He gave me a strange look.

“You just said back from school. I thought you meant college.” I unplugged my phone and grabbed the keys off the desk to lock up behind us when we left.

“I meant technical school.” He put his hand on the doorknob to open to go outside. “I didn’t go to Perrysburg High. My parents sent me off to military technical school. You know, to get me straight and all. Little did they know the things they were teaching me were to…” He stopped. “Never mind. Let’s just say Bobby Ray and I got into a few things we shouldn’t’ve when we were younger.”

“I can only imagine.” I stopped shy of the door. “Say, what is your blog going to be about? The Normal Diner, since I saw you there first? Or maybe about the cute stores we have. Or maybe about my awesome campground, where I can always use the free publicity?” I frowned. “You aren’t going to talk about Trudy’s death, are you?”

“Oh no, not about that. It’s a travel blog. Not a crime blog.” He opened the door.

“Wait, you could talk about the hack and how this juice jacking can happen anywhere when you travel… and how tourists can prevent that from happening.” I thought I’d made a good suggestion.

“Maybe.” He nodded. “Do you have a minute so we can bat around a few ideas? I’d give Happy Trails a review while I’m at it.”

“Yeah. Sit down.” I was more than happy to get some free publicity going into the spring and summer.

“I do best walking and talking.” He pointed to the printer. “Can I steal a piece of paper to write down ideas?”

“Of course.” Then I started to rattle off ideas he could use and mentioned the data blocker Jerry, the police chief, had told everyone to get from Deter’s Feed-N-Seed. “Don’t forget the address to the campground.”

“Here, you write it down.” He sat down in the chair and pulled his cell from his back pocket, handing me the piece of paper. “I have terrible handwriting that I can read, but just to make sure it’s clear to what you want on the blog.” He pointed to the bathroom. “Do you mind if I use the restroom?”

“No, I don’t. I can see why Dawn and Bobby Ray have a crush on you. You’re too polite,” I said loudly enough for him to hear from the other side of the bathroom door.

When I was done writing, I slid the piece of paper back across the desk, hitting his phone in the process and bringing it to life. The photo caught my eye. I stood up and walked around my desk to get a better look. The screen shut off, so I picked up the phone to get another look.

I gasped. “That’s Trudy’s sunset photo.” My jaw dropped.

“I liked that photo too.” Gidean had opened door and seen me with his phone. “Trudy took some nice photos. I had no idea she had an iPad synched, or I’d’ve broken into her home to steal it.”

Shock forced my mouth to hang open and my legs to feel like cement. My eyes tracked Gidean as he walked over to the door of the office and locked it.

“I guess we have a problem here.” He smiled. “I sure wanted to simply leave town and never to be seen again.”

“I don’t understand. I mean, I thought you were here as a travel blogger.” Images of him sitting at the diner along with Ethel Biddle, Otis Gullet, and Buck played in my head. All of whom were hacked. “You. You are the hacker.”

“I don’t like to call myself that. I like to think of myself as a Robin Hood. I take from the rich and give to the poor.” He grinned.

“And Trudy caught you. So when she was at the diner that night, making her pies, you knew she was there via GPS location. You killed her to keep her silent.” It was all falling into place.

“You are one smart cookie for being from Perrysburg.” He winked. “But it’s gonna cost you.”

“Are you threatening me?” I couldn’t get my legs to move as he walked closer and closer to me.

I tried to walk, but I wasn’t quick enough for the back of Gidean’s hand to connect with my jaw, sending me flying across the top of my desk with such a force that I landed on the floor. The breath was knocked out of me.

“See how the prom queen falls so quickly. You might’ve gotten out of Perrysburg, but you brought the gossipy nature with you.” He stood over me.

I heaved short little intakes of air, trying to get my lungs to fill up. I closed my eyes when I felt the sole of his boot press down into my chest. Ugly thoughts wiggled in the back of my brain about my demise and how anyone might find me.

“Poor May-bell-ine.” He laughed, pressing his boot a little deeper into my chest, making it harder for me to even get little whiffs of air. “There’s not going to be a prom queen at your little reunion. Maybe they will set up a memorial in your name like I suggested y’all do for Trudy.” He let out an evil laugh. “Do you know how easy it is to travel to these small towns and hack into any charging station and get all the data from hillbillies who are too stupid to know? I can just tap in and completely access their photos, passwords, and money in a blink of an eye. Then I’m gone. I don’t even have to go into the place. But I was hungry when you saw me at the Normal Diner. That was my one mistake this time.”

“Mae? Hello?” Violet was beating on the door of the office. “Are you in there? Dottie said you were in here!” She beat on it again.

Gidean turned to look, his foot a little lighter.

I took the opportunity to try and get one good breath.

“Open up! I think your friend Gidean is the hacker!” Her voice made him smile more.

“Oh, goody.” His voice curled with an evil tone. He slammed his boot into my chest one good time, expelling any breath I did have. “Two for one.”

Somehow, I slid up against the wall as gasps came from deep within me. I tried to call out to Violet before he could open the door, but nothing came out.

“Oh crap.” Violet’s mouth fell open when she saw Gidean had opened the door. “I was looking for Mae. Bye.”

“Not so fast.” Gidean had grabbed a handful of Violet’s gorgeous long hair and flung her into the office, slamming the door with his boot. With Violet dangling from one hand, he used his other hand to lock the door.

I was able to suck in two quick breaths and reached over to my desk.

Violet’s eyes frightened me more than my current state. I had to do something. With what little energy I had in me, I flung the drawer of the desk out, completely knocking it to the floor. The contents flung out, the pepper spray within reach.

Gidean scrambled to get it, dropping Violet in the process. His boot slammed down on my hand just as I went to grab the pepper spray. I screamed out in pain.

“You piece of…” was all I could hear before I heard Gidean yelp and felt his boot lift.

I held my hand close to my chest and helplessly watched Violet grab the pepper spray and use it on Gidean. He flailed around like a fish out of water.

“Come on.” Violet grabbed my good hand and lifted me up to my feet, helping me out of the office. “He’s down for now,” she said and dialed 911.

EIGHTEEN

“Are you okay?” Hank had walked over to me.

I was still propped up against brick wall on the outside of the office.

The dizziness had faded, and the pain was just an ache, but my heart still pounded just enough to cause my whole body to shake. I kept my head down between my knees.

“No.” I shook my head. “I still need to catch my breath.”

“Medic!” Hank hollered over.

When I looked up, Jerry was taking Gidean out of the office in handcuffs. Gidean’s eyes were bright red, and his face looked to have third-degree burns from the pepper spray.

“I got him good,” Violet said through gritted teeth.

“Ouch.” I hugged my ribs. “Don’t make me laugh. I think I have broken ribs.”

“You for sure have a broken hand,” the medic informed me. “We need to take you to the hospital.”

He waved over to the ambulance to bring a gurney.

“I can walk.” I tried to stand, but the pain shot down and around my core, sending me right back down.

“No, you can’t.”

The medical team put a brace around my waist and around my neck as well as a splint around my arm and hand, all to keep me stable during transport.

“Wait!” I could hear Mary Elizabeth from a distance but couldn’t move my head to see her. “I want to see my daughter!”

Mary Elizabeth stood over me when they stopped rolling me to the ambulance.

“Mae, I love you. Are you okay?” she asked as Dawn appeared over her shoulder.

“She’s going to be fine.” Hank bent down and kissed me on the lips. “The ambulance is going to take her to the hospital to see if her ribs are broken. I think her hand is broken. You can ride with her.”

“I can?” Mary Elizabeth looked at Dawn. It was weird for me to watch the three of them have a conversation when I couldn’t interact or sit up. “Dawn, you meet us there.”

“Wait.” I lifted one finger. “Dawn, I’m sorry.”

“I guess you were right about him not coming back anytime soon.” Dawn bit back the tears as she joked about Gidean.

“No. Not anytime soon.” I offered her a smile.

“We can’t sit around here dillydallying. We’ve got to get our prom queen all fixed back up so she can be held before she goes back to her big meeting.” Hank had joined the group standing over me. “Ain’t that right?”

“You’re going to go?” Mary Elizabeth gushed with pride.

“It might be a good idea to take a little vacation and stop by Perrysburg to put in your two cents.” Hank ran his hand over my hair.

“Are you taking me on a vacation?” I was still in pain yet suddenly felt much better.

“I think we both need one after this.” He bent down and kissed me on the lips. On his way to stand back up so the medics could take me away, he whispered, “I told you I love you, Mae West,” leaving me breathless one more time before they whisked me away.

RECIPES AND RV/CAMPING HACKS

FROM MAE WEST AND WOMEN OF

NORMAL, KENTUCKY and THE HAPPY TRAILS CAMPGROUND

RV/CAMPING HACK #1

Campfire Fire Bombs
supplies:

- toilet paper tube (empty)
- dryer lint
- newspaper

1. You’ll need an empty toilet paper tube.

2. Then stuff it with dryer lint.  We usually keep a trash bag next to our dryer to place all the lint in it so this is what we used.

3. Then wrap it with newspaper

4. After you get your wood ready to start your campfire, place one of these on it, light and go!

CAMPFIRE FRENCH DIP SANDWICH

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

- 1 package au jus gravy mix, separated
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- Heavy Duty Foil
- 1 long/large (or 2 smaller) baguettes
- 1 pound deli roast beef

- 1 package pre-sliced provolone cheese- 12 slices

Instructions

1. Preheat a grill to medium-high heat or you can bake in the oven at 400 degrees F.

2. Start by making the butter mixture. Combine the softened butter, 1 tablespoon of the au jus gravy mix, Worcestershire sauce, dried minced garlic, and onion powder in a bowl. Stir until ingredients are completely combined and set aside.

3. Cut the baguette into equal parts of about 6-10 inches in length. Next, make an ODD number of thin slices (1pprox.. 1/2 inch wide) into each piece of the baguette, cutting only about 3/4 the way through. It’s important there are an ODD number of slices so that each sandwich has 2 pieces of bread.

4. Separate the butter mixture created in step 2 into 2 equal parts. Using a butter knife, spread a small amount of the mixture inside each slice of bread. Save half of the mixture for later.

5. Slice the individual pieces of cheese in half and place 1 piece, along with 1 piece of roast beef, in-between every two “slices” of bread. (These will be individual pull-apart sandwiches, so you don’t want cheese and meat in-between each slice because you won’t have bread on each side like a sandwhich.).

6. Take the other half of the butter mixture and brush it along the tops and sides of each of the sandwiches with a pastry brush.

7. Wrap each baguette section completely in foil. Make sure none of the bread is exposed.

8. Place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or the preheated grill for 6-9 minutes (turn a few times so it won’t burn) or until bread is toasty and cheese is melted.

9. While the sandwiches are cooking, prepare the au jus. Take the remaining au jus mixture and place in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 cups cold water and whisk. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer to allow it to slightly thicken. (This can be prepared on the side burner of a grill or even over a campfire OR make ahead of you bring these sandwiches camping.)

10. Remove foil packs and open carefully to let the steam escape. Pull apart the sandwiches and enjoy with the au jus sauce.

RV/CAMPING HACK #2

Ticks are very common in the RV parks and camping areas. It’s not fun trying to get one of those little buggers out of your scalp, so we can prevent it before it happens.

Combine 1 part tea tree oil to 2 parts water in a spray bottle and spray onto your shoes and socks. That will keep those buggers away and NO sitting by the campfire having someone checking your head!

CAMPFIRE VEGGIES

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 medium zucchini, sliced

- 3 medium corn on the cob, sliced into thirds

- 2 medium bell peppers, deseeded and chopped
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 1 TBSP olive oil

- 1 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes, or less depending on spice preference

- 1 TBSP parsley, chopped

- 1/2 TBSP paprika

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat your grill over medium-high heat.

2. Place all veggies into a large skillet. Drizzle with olive oil OR butter.

3. Sprinkle with spices and stir to coat well.

4. Place on the grill for 10-15 minutes (stirring occasionally) or until your veggies start to brightened in color and become tender.

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About Tonya

Tonya has written over 65 novels, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists, including the USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband and a very spoiled rescue cat named Ro. Tonya grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown men, Tonya writes full-time.

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Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The cover was made by Mariah Sinclair and edited by RED EDIT PUBLISHING.

Copyright © 2020 by Tonya Kappes. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information email Tonyakappes@tonyakappes.com