Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers: A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery
Date: 2019-03-24 00:00:00+00:00
Description: Welcome to Normal, Kentucky~ where nothing is normal. A Campers and Criminal Mystery Series is another brainchild of USA Today Bestselling Author Tonya Kappes. If you love her quirky southern characters and small town charm with a mystery to solve, you're going to love her new cozy mystery series! When the principal of Normal High School asks Mae West to teach a semester on small town economics, since she helped bring the thriving economy in Normal, Kentucky when she used her brilliant ideas to bring the Happy Trails Campground back to life. Mae is thrilled and happy to teach the young people.
Publisher: Independently published

Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers

A CAMPER AND CRIMINALS COZY MYSTERY

Book Six

BY

TONYA KAPPES

Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers

“Scott? You awake?” I knocked on the door of the little traveler camper, feeling pretty confident he was since the light inside of the camper were on. “It’s Mae West. I brought you something to eat and wanted to discuss my plan for the six weeks in your class,” I said to the closed door.

Fifi stood next to me, wagging her little tail and looking up at the door too.

I put my ear up to the door and I could hear the record player. It was another touch I added to the vintage camper. I’d gotten a record player and bought a selection of music genres to add to the collection, so each camper had their taste represented. The record player was always a hit on the surveys from the past guests that stayed in the camper.

“Scott?” I knocked a little harder, so he’d hear me over the music.

The door slightly cracked, Fifi pushed her way in.

“Fifi, no!” I scolded her and watched her little fluffy white body run in, knocking the door open more. “Fifi, come back!”

The music was much louder after the door opened and was no longer a shield. Fifi’s bark was loud and piercing.

I took a step inside.

“Scott!” I screamed. All the muscles in my body relaxed, the plate of food dropped and splattered all over body of Coach Scott Goodman and the arrow stuck in his back.

CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

RECIPES AND CLEANING HACKS

SNEAK PEAK OF SCENE OF THE GRIND

About the Author

Also by Tonya Kappes

Copyright

ONE

“Welcome!” Mayor Courtney Mackenzie wore a t-shirt with the logo of Normal, Kentucky, and a pair of capri-length khakis, appropriate attire for the warm spring night we were having in our tourist town embedded deep in the Daniel Boone National Park. “I’d like to welcome everyone to the Happy Trails Campground on behalf of Mae West. We are here to honor her with a key to the city for her hard work over the past year to boost Normal’s economy.”

My chin dropped to my chest, causing my long, curly brown hair to fall over my shoulders and shield my red face from all the eyes on me.

“ “I know that we usually have these at our Tuesday Chamber of Commerce meetings, but I wanted to host this ceremony here at the campground since not all of our local town folk have had a chance to visit Happy Trails since it was renovated.” The Mayor was doing a great job talking up the campground that I’d spent a lot of time – and money – fixing up and modernizing in the short time I’d owned it. “Mae has opened up a few campers for your viewing pleasure and to show you that Happy Trails isn’t just a campground anymore, but a glampground.” The Mayor laughed at her own joke. “Get it? Glamour and campground mashed up .” She shrugged and moved side to side before continuing. “Mae has taken your basic mini-campers and RVs and transformed them into a very glamorous experience, whether or not you like hiking and camping.”

Hank Sharp put his arm around my shoulder, resting it on the back of the chair. He leaned over and whispered, “You should be enjoying this.”

I lifted my chin and looked at him. He smiled. His beautiful bright teeth were perfect and so were his green eyes. I couldn’t stop smiling back at him. He curled his hand around my arm, tightening his arm around me and squeezing me to him. His lips met my temple with a soft kiss that made this day even more perfect than it already was.

“Mae West!” The Mayor had finished her speech.

The crowd of locals that’d come to the campground to see me receive the key to the city were clapping from the rows of folding chairs behind me. When I stood up, I turned around and waved to them.

I took in the lake behind us and all the campers and the manicured lots the campers sat on that were situated around the lake. The fountain in the middle of the lake spilled over in a magnificent water feature as it aerated the lake. The Tiki Hut next to it was open for business to the campers. This is where campers could pick up some food from Normal’s local restaurants.

“Mae, if you would join me and Principal Bass from Normal High School up on stage, we’d like to present you with your key now.” The Mayor waved me up.

On my way up to the stage, I glanced over at Mary Elizabeth Doyle, my adopted mother. She was tapping her index fingers on the corners of her mouth, which was her way of telling me to smile.

“Shoulders back,” she mouthed, still trying to get me to use all the techniques I was taught in etiquette school over twelve years ago.

“Mae West!” The Mayor put her hands out towards me like I was a prize on the Price Is Right show. “Mae,” she said my name again when I stood next to her. “Principal Bass is here not only to help me honor you with a key to the city, but to also invite you to teach a six week class to economics students about the economies of small towns and how small businesses can bring so much to small rural towns like Normal.”

“I’m so honored.” I looked back and forth between them. “But I don’t have a teaching degree.”

“That’s okay.” Principal Donald Bass stepped up to the microphone and handed me a diploma. It was something they gave to all the people who received the key to the city, even though I didn’t graduate from there. “As Principal of Normal High School, we are giving you an honorary diploma.  We are truly grateful for your knowledge and business sense that you’ve brought to our town. It gives our children encouragement today that will help bring change to Normal tomorrow.”

I stood there in shock and it must’ve shown on my face because Mary Elizabeth got my attention by clearing her throat. I looked at her and she used her hand to gesture to me to shut my gaping mouth.

“On behalf of the citizens of Normal, I’d like to honor you with the key to the city.” The Mayor handed me a wooden plaque with a small gold key fastened to it.  A small gold plate was inscribed with my name, the data, and the name of our town.

I faced the crowd and smiled as I looked out at all the applauding people that I had come to know and love since coming to Normal. There were a few faces I didn’t recognize, but based on where they were sitting they had to be teachers from the high school. I was grateful they had come out to the campground to see me receive this honor.

“Thank you,” I spoke into the microphone once the applause had died down. “There are so many people I’d like to thank.  This wouldn’t have been possible if Normal’s shop owners hadn’t taken a chance on me and donated goods to the campground for me to promote their shops.” I named off the key people who took a chance on me when they had absolutely no reason to trust me.

In fact, they had all had a reason to want to run me out of town when I drove my rundown RV across the town limits.  Today I could look in the eyes of all the people who didn’t want to trust me and stand proud of what I had accomplished.

Of course, this ceremony wasn’t as quite as simple as I’ve made it out to be. Mayor Mackenzie had agreed to hold the ceremony at the campground and not the courthouse under one condition. This was how she got elected, by wheeling and dealing and playing nice.

“We’d also like to take a moment to honor another wonderful citizen in Normal who has also had a great impact on our community. If it weren’t for her, our little town would’ve taken an economic hit if the world had thought Normal was unsafe.” The Mayor wasted no time knocking me out of the limelight when my fifteen seconds of fame were over.

Although, I have to say those fifteen seconds were glorious and that I was really looking forward to six weeks to whip the minds of these little hooligans into shape. I zeroed in on Principal Bass’s son, Davey. Davey and I had a little history together. At the beginning of spring, Davey and his friends stole an RV from guests at my campground and did a little partying in it at Kissing Point, a remote area in the national park where kids went to do what kids like to do.

The judge had ordered Davey to do community service and all of his work was at the campground. Now I’d be able to keep an eye on him at school.

I’d made it a mission to not make his life so easy because his little joyride had nearly caused me to lose my campground and go bankrupt.

“Violet Rhinehammer is not only the new Editor in Chief at the Normal Gazette, she has been awarded the National Park Magazine Reporter of the Year Award with her coverage of the prison break that put Normal in the national spotlight.” Mayor Mackenzie smiled at Violet.

Yep. In order for the ceremony to be held here at the campground, I had to agree to share the limelight with Violet Rhinehammer, a big pain in my you know what. At least I wasn’t likely to see her after today unless she was doing a segment on Channel 2, where she was a regular contributor.

“As the principal of Normal High School, we’d like to honor you by giving you an honorary degree in journalism and extend an offer for you to mentor our young adults on the NHS Telegram for six weeks.” He was talking about Normal High School’s student-run newspaper.

“I’m just so shocked.” Violet flipped her long blonde hair to the side, letting it cascade down one shoulder in dripping curls. Her perfectly lined red lips exposed gleaming teeth that exuded charm. Her bright eyes twinkled as she bounced with giddiness.

Although I wasn’t paying much attention to her, I thought it sounded like she got more applause than I did.

“Did he just tell her she’s going to work at the school too?” I leaned over and asked Mayor Mackenzie, gripping my key to the city and diploma so tight that my hands started to hurt.

“Yes.” Mayor confirmed with a nod and then shushed me like I was ten.

I jerked around and put a smile on my face while they gave their closing remarks.

“Be sure that you stay for the reception. Just like Mae always does, the local restaurants and business have graciously donated not only their products, but their time to come out and support our two wonderful citizens.” Mayor stepped back and gave us one last round of applause.

As soon as everyone stopped clapping, I high-tailed it down the steps of the stage, passing Ethel Biddle on the way down.

“I hope you don’t mind” was how Ethel started her conversation with me, “I took Rosco down to your RV and your door was unlocked.”

“You opened my door?” I questioned.

“Mmmhhh,” she ho-hummed, seeing nothing wrong with her actions. “Rosco wanted to visit with the mother of his children. So I let him go right on in.”

Rosco was Ethel’s dog. He and Fifi, my former prize-winning poodle, had done the unthinkable and Fifi had gotten pregnant, stripping her of her award-winning heritage.

At the time it seemed like one of the worst things that could have ever happened, but in the end and like most things, it all turned out fine. Fifi came to live with me and Roscoe and Fifi became parents to the cutest babies.  Soon after I made sure that wouldn’t happen again and had Fifi spayed.

“If you’ll excuse me, my public awaits.” She picked at her neck skin. “Me, me, me, me.” The pitch in her voice moved up an octave with each me. “Me, me, me.”

I moved out of the way of the banjo player and fiddle player to make room for them on the     stage. Ethel wasn’t just the owner of Smelly Dog Grooming, the only pet groomer in Normal, she was also the lead singer of Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys.

They were actually pretty good and everyone who stayed at the campground loved them, so it had been a no brainer to book them for the monthly themed party I had at the campground. Since we were celebrating my – I mean, my and Violet’s – honor, I had decided to hold the monthly party today.

“Congratulations, May-bell-ine.” My foster brother turned adopted brother Bobby Ray Bonds gave me a good smack on the back with his free hand while the other gripped a beer can. “Can you believe it? From the foster care to the key to the city. You sure have done well for yourself.”

“Thank you, Bobby Ray.” I noticed his thinning hair covered by a ballcap and that he was still wearing his greasy mechanic overalls. “Just getting off work?” I asked.

There were small clusters of folks gathered around, eating and drinking. In the background I could hear the band plucking on their instruments to get in tune.

“Yep. I didn’t have time to change.” He gestured down to the far side of the lake where I had small bungalows for rent for those that didn’t like to stay in campers. “I went home to change, but someone was parked in my spot. I figured it was a guest, but come to find out it’s that archery feller from the school.” Bobby looked down at me from underneath his brows, looking for an explanation as to why the high school economics teacher, who was also the coach of the Rifle and Archery Club, wasn’t living at home with his wife.

“Bobby Ray, you lived with Mary Elizabeth too long.” I tsked, referring to how nosey and gossipy Mary Elizabeth was.

“He didn’t live with me long enough.” Mary Elizabeth came out of nowhere. “You did mighty fine up there with your speech, but you’ve got to remember, tits up and shoulders back,” doing the motions as she said it.

“Thank you for coming,” I reached over and hugged her, ignoring her critiques. “I’m going to get me some food.” My stomach grumbled from the delicious smells coming from the campfires in the stone firepits that I provided at each lot. “Want some?”

“I’m so hungry my belly thinks my throat’s been cut out.” She snickered, nudging me.

On our way around the campground, I made a quick pit stop at my little RV and let out Fifi and Rosco. Both darted out with their noses up in the air as if they were running to the smell of food. They were on a mission.

Even though today was a day of celebration, I kept the rules of the monthly theme party the same. If you were staying at the campground and wanted to participate, I asked you to make some sort of food to share with the group. Each person got a plate and walked around the campground, taking a little from each campfire stove to fill a plate.

Along the way, they got to know their fellow campers so they wouldn’t know just me and Dottie Swaggert, the campground manager.

“Campfire chili.” My mouth watered just saying what the first camper had made. “Do you want some?” I asked Mary Elizabeth as I took a bowl for myself.

She was too busy talking to the campers and bragging on how I was her adopted daughter, so I left her behind and started making my way around the campground. When I got to the bungalows, I noticed Coach Scott Goodman and a few of the students in his club were having target practice with foam targets for their arrows. His Normal High School Archery and Rifle Club track suit showed he was proud of his job as a coach.

Coach Goodman stood about six foot one inch tall with a nice head of blond hair that had a wee-bit of a wave to it. By the way he filled out the track suit, I could tell he took care of himself.

“Hi, Coach. Do you want some chili?” I asked him, holding out the bowl for him to take. I noticed that he was wearing his wedding band.

“Nah. I’m not hungry. Just enjoying the kids. But I might have to get some of that later.” He nodded and eyed my bowl. “I guess we will be working together for a few weeks. Congratulations.” He folded his muscular arms across his chest and stood with his legs spread in a stance.

“I’m excited. I’ve got a few ideas. Maybe I can run those by you later.” I watched as one of kids drew her bow back. She used a steady hand and carefully looked down the arrow at the target.

When she let go, the arrow whizzed through the air with ease, hitting dead set in the center of the target.

“She’s one of the best.” He shook his head. “Got a good chance for a scholarship.”

“Is that right?” A deep voice came up from behind us. “Ken, Ken Patterson.” He stuck his hand out for me to shake. “My son is Sam Patterson. He’s the one who should be getting scholarships.”

“Mr. Patterson, I’m not going to talk with you about Sam’s future outside of school. I’m more than happy to talk to you with Alena Russell present, but not here,” Scott said sternly, very clear about where he stood.

“You’ve not heard the last of me, Goodman,” Ken warned him before stalking off.

“I can never escape the classroom.” Scott sighed, staring Ken down as he walked away. “Some parents think their kids deserve the world when they don’t.” He leaned in a little closer. “Between me and you, I’m not planning on being around here long enough to care what happens to Sam.”

“Mae! Skillet brownies!” Mary Elizabeth bounced on her toes in delight and pointed to another camper’s delicious treat over their firepit. Vigorously, she waved me over.

“I guess you must love brownies.” Scott smiled, trying to put on a good front, but I knew it was a cover for something deeper going on in his life.

I knew. I’d done that for a long time myself.

“If you need anything while your renting the camper, let me know.” I pointed to the small white travel trailer that I’d converted a single camper.

I made it cozy by upgrading the kitchen and installing gas heaters in each room for really cold nights. The living room had a large leather couch, a reading chair, a fireplace, and a TV from the 1980s. This particular trailer also had both an indoor and outdoor shower, beautiful antique decor, and heavy vintage flannel blankets and bear skins for staying super cozy. From the looks of it, Scott Goodman felt right at home.

“And for future reference,” I pointed to the car pad that went with Bobby Ray’s bungalow, “that’s for the bungalow. You can park on the other side of the camper.”

“Oh, I know. That dude made me well aware of where he parked his heap of junk and chewed me a new one.” The nice side of him suddenly disappeared.

“That’s my brother and he works hard. It’s his parking spot. Thanks for listening.” I didn’t need to say much more. As nice as I thought Scott might be, there did seem to be a dark side to him that I didn’t plan to get to know.  “I’m going to get my brownie now.”

“Looking forward to hearing your ideas,” he said before he went back to the students.

“Who was that?” Mary Elizabeth asked.

“He’s the economics teacher I’m going to be working with.” I left it at that, deciding that I wouldn’t make any snap judgements about my new renter.

Mary Elizabeth and I stepped aside as a red convertible Mustang came around the lake going faster than the fifteen miles per hour posted speed limit.

“Slow down! There’s kids around here!” Mary Elizabeth yelled and lifted her fist in the air. “Who is that?”

“I have no idea. Must be a local.” I shrugged, happy to see nobody was hurt on the Mustang’s way out of the campground.

I spent the rest of the evening thanking people for coming who then congratulated me on the key to the city.

As much as I didn’t want the evening to end, it was still a work night for everyone and I was planning to go to the school tomorrow to plan my six weeks of teaching.

“Are you sure you don’t mind watching the campground for six weeks straight?” I asked Dottie as we were stacking the folding chairs after the party had died down. The smell of BBQ drifted in the air and past my nose, making my stomach growl.

The sun had set long ago and the moon was high in the night sky, but there were a few campfires still glowing in the darkness. I eyeballed the one with the BBQ and decided to grab a plate and take some down to Scott since I’d not seen him since I stopped by there to tell him about the parking spot.

“What on earth do you think I did all those years before you came?” Dottie asked with a snarky tone.

“I like to think you need me.” I winked. “But you’re right. I’d never be able to run this place without you.”

Dottie Swaggert was the manager of Happy Trails when I came around to claim the campground that had been put in my name. Illegally. It was the only thing the government didn’t seize when they threw my ex dead – specifically, murdered – husband Paul West in jail for running a Ponzi scheme.

It wasn’t Dottie’s fault Happy Trails was all run down when I got here. Paul hadn’t paid any attention to the place.  But things work out in mysterious ways. I never could have imagined living in a camper, never mind running a campground. It’s truly been a blessing.

“I do need you.” Dottie was a softie at heart. She didn’t look at me when she said it since she was too busy fooling with the top snap on her cigarette case. “Listen, you tell them kids that they can’t expect things to just be handed to them. They need to work for it.” She pointed her pointer and middle finger at me with the cigarette in between.

“I’ll leave that up to their parents.” I wasn’t about to go on over and tell kids how they needed to be. I wasn’t a parent and had no idea how to be one. “I’m going to get Scott a plate of food to help break the ice.”

“Break the ice?” she asked. Her face glowed from the light on her lighter.

“Bobby Ray had a fit when he came home and found Scott’s car parked in his spot. I had to tell Scott and he was fine, but I felt some tension.” Or maybe it was the tension of that father who confronted Scott, but I kept that thought to myself. “I don’t want anything to be weird between the real teacher and me while I’m teaching them about how I got the campground up and running.”

“That’s what you’re going to teach them?” She asked as a puff of smoke barreled out of her mouth. “Heck, I can teach them that.”

“No. I thought I’d teach them how I created a business plan to bring the campground back to life and how I went around to all of Normal’s shop owners to help them too.” It sounded so simple when I said it out loud. “Gosh,” I said, gnawing the edge of my lip. “I hope I’ve got enough to fill six full weeks.”

“Sounds to me like you’ve got enough for a day. You need some plannin’.” Her brows lifted.

“That’s why I’m going to see Scott.” I gestured toward his travel trailer. Fifi made a couple of yipping noises when she saw me from a distance and ran my way, with her tail up in the air, wagging. “I’ll see you in the morning before I go to the school.”

“Sounds good.” She snuffed her cigarette out on the bottom of her shoe. “Don’t worry about a thing. Not even Fifi. I’ll be sure she’s all taken care of.”

“You’re the best, but don’t give her any hot fries.” I wagged a finger at her as I started to walk away and make my way around the lake.

Dottie loved those hot fries from the vending machine. I’d caught her giving some to Fifi several times and the crazy pooch loved them.

“I’m serious, if Principal Bass doesn’t do something about Goodman…” I overheard from a woman sitting around the public campfire near the pier on the lake with a group of women. She had on a Normal High School sweatshirt. “My husband is going to have to take matters into his own hands.”

“Goodman has no idea what Ken is capable of.” Another woman held up a beer can and the group of woman held theirs up and gave a cheers.

“I hope they don’t treat me like that,” I said to Fifi and walked over to the Dutch oven where guests of Happy Trails were still enjoying the aftermath of the party. “Smells good.” I leaned over the pot and took a nice long whiff.

“Help yourself.” One of the men handed me a plate. “We really are enjoying ourselves.”

“I’m so glad. I hope you take the time to head into town after one of your hikes and visit all the shops.” I took a bun from the card table and added some BBQ along with a scoop of coleslaw to top it off.

“If my wife has any say in the matter, we will,” he joked, followed by a round of the other men agreeing with them. Fifi took her turn running around the group of men and sucking up all the dropped food up like a vacuum. “Let us know if you need anything.” I wanted to make sure every guest knew we were always there for them. It was little touches like this that made the campground feel like a cozy home away from home. “Good night!” I called over my shoulder.

As my eyes glanced around the lake, I noticed the group of women still sitting around the public campfire with their beers. The back of one of the sweatshirts read PATTERSON’S MOM.

I rolled my eyes, remembering those parents from high school.

“Squeaky wheel gets the oil,” my mom used to say when I’d come home crying about something someone got that I didn’t. Things like the lead in the choir or the school play. Granted, it was elementary school, but she was right.

“Scott? You awake?” I knocked on the door of the little travel camper, feeling pretty confident he was since on the lights inside the camper were on. “It’s Mae West. I brought you something to eat and wanted to discuss the plan for my six weeks in your class,” I said to the closed door.

Fifi stood next to me, wagging her little tail and looking up at the door too.

I put my ear up to the door and heard the record player. This was another vintage touch I’d added to the camper. I bought a record player and a wide variety of records so every camper would be able to find something they liked. According to the surveys from campers who had stayed in this camper, the record player was a big hit.

“Scott?” I knocked a little harder so he would hear me over the music.

The door opened slightly, and Fifi pushed her way in.

“Fifi, no!” I scolded her and watched her little fluffy white body run in, pushing the door open more. “Fifi, come back!”

The music was much louder with the door open and the sound clashed with Fifi’s loud and piercing bark.

I took a step inside.

“Scott!” I screamed. All the muscles in my body relaxed, the plate fell, and food splattered all over the body of Coach Scott Goodman and the arrow in his back.

TWO

“The murder weapon is an Easton Full Length Aluminum Arrow,” Hank told the officer next to him who was writing down what Hank said about Scott Goodman. Hank was bent down over top of the body, wearing blue latex gloves and using a pointer to move things around on Scott’s person.

“How do you know that?” I probably should’ve been more focused on the dead body in my camper, but I was impressed with Hank’s knowledge. I wedged myself between him and the other officer. Fifi was snuggled in the crook of my arm.

“I’m reading the arrow.” He looked up glanced over his shoulder at me. “Mae, you should be outside.”

“Why? I’m fine. I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies now. With you.” I shrugged. “This one isn’t so bad. Not a lot of blood like the last ones.”

“What do we have here?” Colonel Holz had pushed his way into the tiny camper, making us all stand up with all of our shoulders folding forward, something Mary Elizabeth would have a heart attack over.

Colonel was a short stocky man in his early seventies. He had short gray hair that required a combover, wire-rimmed glasses, and a little belly. He wore khakis and a light blue button down under his white coroner’s coat that had his name embroidered on the chest pocket.

“Archery and Rifle Club coach from the high school. He’s been renting from Mae for,” Hank glanced back at me, “how long?”

“Two weeks.” See, I knew he needed me here. I squeezed my way into the corner of the trailer where the record player had been playing and noticed Scott’s choice of music was the 80s. Fifi wiggled a little. I held her closer to my chest.

“What’s that?” Colonel looked at the chili all over the floor. By the way his nose curled, he must’ve thought it was something that could’ve come out of Scott’s body.

“It’s chili. I dropped the bowl when I found Scott.” I blushed. “Muscle control went completely out the window.” My hands flailed around before I gained control of them and stuck them in the front pockets of my jeans.

“His license says he’s forty-five and lives over on Race Run Trail Road.” Hank and Colonel looked back at me.

“Fine.” I knew they wanted the dirt. “He’s married. I’m not sure why he’s here. I haven’t gotten that much information from him yet. He gets up around six a.m. He leaves for what I assume is work around seven-thirty-ish and is back by around five p.m. unless they have practice, which is on Monday and Wednesday. Then he’s usually driving back into the campground around 8 p.m.”

So what if I watched everything everyone did around here. It was my campground and I had to make sure everything was good.

“Have you talked to his wife yet?” Colonel asked Hank.

“How’s it going in here?” A woman that I’d seen once before popped her head into the camper. “Hank.” She greeted him with a big smile and did that whole French thing where they kiss both of each other’s cheeks.

She didn’t bother acknowledging me.

“Hi, I’m Mae.” I took a step forward to make sure she knew I was there because the last time I’d seen her at a crime scene, I thought she was the coroner and that she had flirted with Hank.

Since then, I’d found out she was the assistant county coroner and mostly worked at the morgue. Still, she worked directly with Hank on some cases and I knew that look she gave him when she greeted him.

“Nice to meet you.” Her eyes went from me to Fifi and back to me as she unclipped the flashlight from her utility belt and shined it in the corners of the camper. Her hair was long and black to just below her shoulder. It was parted on the side and had a nice wave to it that looked natural. She wore a fitted black suit with a crisp white shirt underneath. I could tell because the collar was standing up and stiff. Her heels were sensible and not too high, but high enough to make her look like she had longer legs than she really did.

“You called in the murder?” She asked me without even giving me her name. Not a very southern attitude.

She stepped aside to let the cop finish taking photos of Scott.

Fifi squirmed when the camper door opened, and an officer walked in. I let her down and she made it out the door just in time before it shut on her.

“Are you French?” I asked and put my hands back into my pockets when I realized I was doing that nervous flailing with them when I talked.

I watched the officer use scissors to cut Scott’s shirt up the middle, exposing the wound. I looked away when I saw a little more blood trickle down his side as the cop bent down and touched the skin to get another photo.

Ahem, Hank cleared his throat. A sure sign to tell me he wasn’t happy with my attitude.

“I did call in the murder, but I thought you worked with the bodies at the morgue, not at the crime scene.” I was just trying to find out what she really did.

“I work with the crime lab and estimate time of death based on what the body tells me.” She clicked off the flashlight and bent down to look at the body with Colonel. “Shot with a Genesis Bow. Interesting.” Her brows rose.

“What does that mean?” Hank had bent down next to them and they were studying the arrow in the poor man’s back.

“The Genesis Bow is the only bow approved by the NASP.” Colonel stood up and the others followed. “It appears he was facing this way.” He pointed to the front of the trailer. “The killer was pretty close.” He looked back towards the bedroom. The little camper was so tiny that there was a clear view of the bed and it looked like it had been slept in.

The Colonel started to write on his clipboard. I scooted a little closer to get a better look at what he was writing. Next to the body outline on the paper, he wrote “NASP” by the arrow.

“The NASP is National Archery in the Schools Program and it’s the only association approved for the schools, Normal High School being one of them. We know because his granddaughter and my niece are both on the middle school archery team,” said the still nameless assistant coroner. She opened her crossbody bag and plucked a pair of gloves from it.

Without saying a word to anyone, she bent down and pulled the arrow from Scott’s back. It was like she and Hank had some ESP thing going on. He had an evidence bag waiting for her.

“If we take Scott out of here with the arrow in his back, the little crowd gathered outside will all pass out.” She slipped off her gloves. “Natalie Willowby.” She put her hand out towards me. “I might be asking you about some timelines. I’ll get your information from the police report.” She turned to Hank. “Can I see you for a second?”

“Sure.” He nodded and put his hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I gave him a blank stare. The jealousy coursed through me and I hated it. My phone buzzed, saving me from saying something that wasn’t appropriate. It was Abby Fawn texting me, asking me what was going on.

“We will finish up here and I’ll stop by your place to ask you a few questions.” It was his standard way of telling me to get out of way so they could finish up.

“Okay.” I nodded and waited for him to kiss me, but he didn’t. He walked off to meet Holly in the corner. “Gonna go check on my friends.” I waved the phone in the air, like he even cared.

Holly was a little modest when she said a small crowd - it was more like a large mob. All the guests from the campground had gathered in the side yard between Scott’s rental and Bobby Ray’s bungalow. Bobby had lit his firepit and they were all hanging around talking.

The local residents that’d come for the ceremony were gathered closest to the lake in a cluster, including the Patterson kid’s parents.

My heart sank when I saw Ken Patterson down a beer while looking toward the crime scene. He didn’t seem to have any emotion on his face whatsoever.

Then there was my group of friends from the Laundry Club.

“Over here! Mae!” Queenie French jumped, at least a foot in the air, using her arms to pump her up and landing on her feet with a hand clap. It had to be a Jazzercise move for sure. She was an instructor and no matter how she moved around, there was a dance feel to all of it. “Over here!” she screamed again, adjusting the neon green headband around her short blonde hair.

My head jerked as a light flashed right into my eyes, leaving me blinded for a few seconds.

“What’s going on in there?” I recognized Violet Rhinehammer’s chipper voice.

It was exactly how she sounded when she got a great scoop.

“I heard the coach was offed by an angry parent.” She had all sorts of theories. A camera hung around her neck and she had a notepad and pen waiting to write down what I was saying to her. “What about his wife? Does she know? I did put a call into her. She didn’t seem to know yet, but still.”

“You what?” I blinked away the light spots the best I could and looked at her.

She still looked gorgeous with a black light spot taking up half of her face.

“Are you telling me and my paid newspaper subscribers that Scott Goodman isn’t the victim?” A snide smile curled up on her lips. Her perfectly white teeth glowed in the darkness of the night like Queenie’s neon outfit.

“I have no comment.” I took a few steps towards my friends.

“Did you find him?” Violet asked, following me on my heels.

“Go away,” Dottie shooed Violet. “I’m telling you to get off our property.”

The office phone hooked on Dottie’s back pocket rang. Both of us stopped and stared at each other.

“Happy Trails Campground, are you ready to book your fun vacation to the Daniel Boone National Park?” Her chipper voice made my insides cringe since I knew what was about to go down. “You have a reservation for next week?”

There were a lot of uhhuhs, mmms, umkays, while she listened to the guest that I’m sure had already heard about the murder of Scott Goodman and was canceling their reservation. News travels fast on social media and most of our guests were younger and quite media savvy during  hiking season. We also got a lot of older RV lovers who traveled the states in their retirement years who weren’t as familiar with social media.

Violet took a step closer to Dottie, writing something on her notepad.

“I assure you the campground is safe and you’ll. . .” Dottie pulled the phone from her ear. She pushed a button and shoved the phone in her back pocket just as the phone rang again.

When she answered, she didn’t try too hard to convince whoever was on the other side of the line to keep their reservation. She simply said, “We didn’t want you at our campground anyways.” She looked at Violet. “What are you lookin’ at?”

“You.” Violet dropped the notepad. “And the good scoop that our key to the city recipient has just lost some business because of the murder that’s taken place.”

The phone rang again. Dottie pushed the off button to silence the calls coming in, but it didn’t help. It was call after call of campers cancelling their reservations. We had to quickly get the word out that Happy Trails was safe.

Wasn’t it?

THREE

Violet drew the notepad up and wrote, “In an ironic turn of events, Mae West, recipient of the Key to the City for her economic contribution, finds herself in an economic spiral as Coach Scott Goodman was found dead in one of the rented campers at her Happy Trails Campground.”

“Fake news!” Queenie adjusted the fanny pack around her waist. “You don’t know what all those calls are about.”

The door of the camper opened. Colonel held one end of the church cart with Scott’s body on it, hidden by a sheet. He walked backwards down the one step from the camper. Natalie held the other end and carefully stepped down the one step.

They both gave a little jerk, knocking the steel arms of the gurney down and clicking into into locked position with wheels down.

“If you report anything that’s not true, you’ll be getting a call from my lawyer.” It was time I stepped in and said something to Violet.

“Fine. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Violet twirled around on the balls of her feet, her hair swinging around as she sashayed over to Colonel Holz and Natalie.

“That girl’s got some nerve.” Dottie snarled, a cigarette bouncing with each word. “It’s clear what we have to do.”

“What’s that?” I wondered what Dottie had up her sleeve because I was all ears.

“We’ve got to find Scott’s killer and fast.” Dottie snapped the top of her old cigarette case.

“It shouldn’t take too long.” I lifted my head towards Ken Patterson. “I think he killed Scott.”

“Why would you say that?” Abby Fawn, the Normal Library’s head librarian,  jerked her head to look at me. Her brown ponytail swung around and hit her in the eye. She lifted her hand and wiped the sting away. “He and the coach are tight.”

“Umm, I don’t think so,” I corrected her. “I heard him threaten Scott with my own ears. He told Scott that he hadn’t heard the last of him.”

“Hey.” Betts Hager shoved her way in between us. “What did I miss?”

“Ken hasn’t heard the last of Scott. But Scott is dead.” Abby said, getting it all wrong.

“No.” I shook my head. “Ken told Scott that.”

“Told Scott what?” Hank had come up without me even noticing.

“Nothing.” I didn’t want to correct anyone right now because everyone was confused and now they all turned their attention to the hearse as Colonel and Natalie put the front end of the church cart up to the bumper.

When Colonel gave it a good push from the other end, the legs of the gurney unlocked and folded underneath.

“It looks like we have a murder on our hands.” Betts vigorously rubbed her hands together. “I’ll hurry over to the Laundry Club and get on a pot of coffee.”

“I’ll grab the notebook and meet y’all there,” I said with excitement.

“I’ll drive.” Dottie put her finger in the air.

“What is going on?” Hank stood there in the same plaid shorts and gray shirt he had on from the party with a confused look on his face.

“I’m going with my friends.” I pointed towards them as they were walking away. “You did say you’d stop by later after the scene was cleaned up. Right?”

“Yes, but I clearly heard Betts say we have another murder on our hands.” Hank didn’t miss a thing. He had ears like an elephant. “What exactly did that mean?”

“It meant nothing.” I played it off knowing what was going to come next.

“Mae, I’ve told you a million times not to get involved or stick your nose into things,” he warned, looking down his nose at me.

“Do you really expect me to sit around here and not stick my nose into a murder that’s happened to one of my campers? Clearly, I have an invested interest. Not only for the safety of the other campers.” I looked over his shoulder at all the campers drinking over at Bobby’s.

“They look like they’re in danger,” Hanks noted sarcastically. “I’m telling you and you need tell your friends to stay out of this.”

“Umkay.” I ho-hummed and rocked back on my heels. “I’ll see you later. Come on Fifi,” I called for her.

“I’m not kidding.” Hank called after me when I started to walk away. “I’m not kidding!” He yelled for good measure.

“You aren’t going to listen to him, are you?” Dottie asked. She sat in the front passenger seat of my car.

I had to drive since she didn’t have a lot of gas and she claimed she needed to conserve her money if the campground was going to go under, putting more panic than fear in my gut.

“Dottie, I’m in an odd position.” I gripped the wheel of the old car that I’d purchased from Grassel’s Garage when I moved to Normal because I couldn’t drive the camper everywhere. “I obviously have to save the campground from any bad publicity, but my boyfriend happens to be the lead investigator.”

“I’d tell you to throw some southern charm at him, but that’s something you didn’t learn from all the schooling Mary Elizabeth put you through.” Dottie was being mean, and I knew it was because she was stressed. “Until he puts a ring on that finger of yours, you better worry about what’s keeping you livin’. The campground.” She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her.

The silence between us on the short ride into downtown Normal was deafening. Dottie was rarely a loss for words, and the worry lines around her eyes that merged with her smoking lines had deepened.

“Okay.” I had to break the silence before we went into the laundromat. I pulled into a parking space right in the front of the building. “You’re right. I do have to live and Hank doesn’t pay my bills, but what if we come up with a compromise?”

“What are you yammering about?” Dottie drew back.

“What if we just look around and give Hank the clues we find out.” It sounded like a good plan. “That way, I won’t directly be upsetting him. If we all find out something, we can tell him. You and I both know that gossip spreads around here quicker than a controlled burn and that we’ll hear something before he does.” I picked up my phone from the cup holder. “Did you see how fast word got around that there was a murder in Normal at the campground?”

“You might be onto something.” Dottie was thinking on what I’d suggested. There was a far off look in her eyes. “Maybe we should reach out on social media like they FBI does. Like a tip line.”

“That’s not a bad idea!” I smacked my hands together. “Abby can help us with that since she runs the Happy Trails Facebook page.”

Both of us got out of the car happy, having found a solution to our problem.

The Laundry Club was the name of the laundromat located in downtown Normal. Betts Hager, my friend, owned it. She also had a side hustle of cleaning houses. That side job had started to kick up to full time since she was down an entire income now that she was getting a divorce from Lester, the ex-preacher of the Normal Baptist Church.

The Laundry Club was the first shop I’d stopped at when I drove into town. I was looking for a place to clean my laundry since the facility at the campground didn’t work, one of the many things that wasn’t working when I took over.

It was a day that changed my life. I remember walking in and seeing Queenie sitting at a table with one of those electric glass balls that shoots lightning to the tips of your finger at the touch. She was pretending to be some sort of psychic to freak me out even though she’d just bought the darn thing from the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop across the street.

Anyways, it was different from any other laundromat that I’d ever seen. There was a sitting area with a TV, a jigsaw puzzle area, a reading nook complete with comfy chairs and a book library, and a coffee bar, which was where I found my friends.

“It’s not snooping. We are just talking about it.” Betts had lined up all of our coffee mugs and went down the line with the freshly brewed coffee, filling them to the rim.

“Yeah. We’re gossiping.” Abby said it as though it made it sound any better.

“Just a few gals, talking about yet another murder.” Queenie lifted her cup in the air with a nod of her head before she took a sip.

“I’m not. It’s a murder and it happened at the campground where I work.” Dottie didn’t hold any punches. She sat cross legged on the floor with her plastic bag of pink hair curlers, a nightly ritual. “I swear, whenever there’s a murder in this town, our guests cancel and then it takes up a couple weeks to pick back up. I have to make a living. Besides, Mae and I have come up with a solution.”

I sat down on the couch and noticed everyone was looking at me.

“Y’all know this puts me in a weird position with Hank.” They all agreed. “I think we should go about it by keeping our eyes and ears open and collecting clues. We can give Hank the clues we get to help him with the investigation. We’ll be like his personal tip line.”

“And we would like Abby to put something on our social media accounts that encourages people who might’ve seen something or know something about the case to call us.” Dottie took a strand of her red hair, tightly wrapping it around the pink sponge before clipping it into place. She’d sleep in these and have a head full of curls.

“I can do that!” Abby blurted out.

“As much as I don’t like keeping things from Hank, I’m not trying to solve the case, I’m just going to offer a few suggestions about who it could be.”  I reiterated what I’d said, probably to make me feel better about our plan. I took a notebook and pen out of my bag. “He’s going to come over and ask me all sorts of questions. I might’s well write them down.”

“Sounds perfectly normal to me.” Betts sat on the couch next to Abby. She tucked a piece of her brown wavy hair around behind her ear and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Start from the beginning where Scott threatened whoever you said.”

“I didn’t say that.” I stood up, giving Betts the notebook so she could write notes while I paced back and forth. It helped me think better.

“Just start from the beginning, when Scott moved in.” Abby curled her leg up under her. She leaned on the arm of the couch, pushing herself a little forward.

“A couple of weeks ago he showed up at the campground. I didn’t think anything of it since I’d heard from Davey Bass that the Archery and Rifle Club was looking for a new place to practice to get ready for the state competition. He said the nature sounds helped them learn how to tune out all the noise inside of a gym when they are competing.” I gestured to Betts to write all that down.

“Oh, okay.” Her head bobbed up and down a few times before she started writing.

“When he asked me about a rental, I assumed it was for a family member coming into town. I told him about the Milkery Bed and Breakfast, but he said he needed something more long term.” I left out the fact that he seemed really upset and looked like he’d not slept in days. “That’s when he told me it was for him.”

“I cleaned for him and Adrienne once.” Betts nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “I was in the bedroom cleaning their tub in their en suite when I heard him come in and slam the door. He was yelling something about the military and testing. Something about failing grades and how she was giving those kids a free pass.”

“Is Adrienne a teacher?” I asked, taking the notebook from her. I made a few bullet points under his name and wrote military, testing, and failing grades next to three of them.

“Yes. She’s the choir teacher. And from what I heard, she puts on really great concerts.” The voice came from the door of the Laundry Club. “He also hit her.”

We all turned and looked over our shoulders. No one commented on what Violet said about Scott hitting his wife. Was I the only one who heard it?

“I’m looking forward to having the school newspaper write about the upcoming concert.” Violet Rhinehammer’s heels clicked on the tile floor on her way over to us. “May I?” She pointed to the coffee pot.

“No,” Abby jumped up. “We are closed.”

“We?” Violet laughed. “I thought it was a twenty-four-hour laundromat?”

“Do you have anything to launder? I don’t see anything,” Betts chimed in. “It’s not a place to loiter.”

“Fine.” Violet peeled off the sweater over top her camisole, trotted over to one of the machines, and tossed the sweater in.

“Stop!” I yelled over at her. “Put your clothes back on.”

It was bad enough that she was gorgeous, but the matching body was something I didn’t really want to look at while she washed her sweater.

“Mae,” Dottie groaned through gritted teeth. “She’s an enemy. Remember how much she made Happy Trails look bad in the news?”

“It’s all business.” Violet tried to pat down the static electricity in her hair after she pulled the sweater over her head.

It was the little things that made me happy and if she looked ridiculous for only a second, it was worth it.

“Plus, I have the ability to immediately tell the world the murder had nothing to do with Happy Trails and I want a great story for the Normal Gazette that might get recognized…”

“Yeah, we know. Your mama always bragged on you on our way to the prison.” Betts rolled her eyes.

“Listen,” Violet pointed directly to me and then slid her finger to Betts. “You two have no right to throw stones.”

My eyes narrowed as I stared at her. The nerve of her bringing up our misfortune.

“You certainly aren’t any better than I am. We are all just trying to make it around here.” She put her hands on her hips. “I think we can all agree that we all want to see Normal thrive. You give me what I want, I give you what you want.”

“We can offer you coffee.” I pointed to the coffee station. “Along with insider information on the murder since I date Hank. As well as what I heard and saw at the campground today.”

“Yeah, Mae knows Ken did it.” Queenie had no idea what she’d just said.

“Ken Patterson did it?” An evil grin curled along Violet’s face.

“No.” With my mouth gaped open, I gave Queenie a good hard look.

“Sorry,” Queenie’s brows pinched with worry. “I was just saying she doesn’t have anything we need.”

“Ken isn’t a suspect, just to be clear.” There was no way I wanted her to think Hank told me that. I’d not even told Hank. “I just know there was some tension between the two of them.”

Why couldn’t I just shut up?

“Listen, I have access to databases, and I know a lot of people on the inside. Like I said, I can help you as much as you can help me.” She looked me square in the eyes. “I won’t report anything about Ken or the tension between him and Scott as long as you promise me that you’ll think on working with me.”

She must have taken my silence as confirmation.

“Great.” She waved her fingers in the air. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Meet me at Cute-icles at 9 a.m. I’ve got to get my nails done.”

“That girl has no shame.” Dottie gave Violet an eyeful as she left. “You ain’t gonna tell her nothin’, Mae. Right?”

“I don’t know. Do you think she’s got some information that’ll help solve Scott’s murder?” I looked over at Abby. She was always the voice of reason because she understood people and how gossip worked around Normal and wasn’t in the middle of the gossip like Dottie and Queenie.

“It’s true that the press has a lot of contacts. As far as databases go, I’m not sure what she’s talking about.” Abby didn’t shed any light on the matter.

I gave Betts back the notebook.

“Write that I need to get a list of the kids in the Archery and Rifle Club and that I need to go see Ken Patterson. He definitely had something against Scott and I need to see if anyone saw him going in and out of Scott’s place, starting with questioning the kids that were there for target practice.” I think that sounded like a good start.

“I don’t think you can question kids,” Queenie pointed out. “At least not without their parents present. And if Ken Patterson did it, he certainly isn’t going to come right out and tell you.”

“No, but as a teacher of a six-week long economics course, I just might have the opportunity to talk to them.” I glanced around and met all of their smiling faces with my own grin. “Also put on there to go see his wife.”

“Sounds good.” Betts rubbed her hands together before sticking the notebook out in front of her. “The Laundry Club is on the case.”

One by one, we all put a hand on top of each other’s until there was a big pile of hands in solidarity.

FOUR

“Any more cancellations?” I asked Dottie.

She was sitting at her desk, typing on the computer, with a pen in her mouth. She briefly stopped to pat Fifi on the head and give her a treat. One of the reasons Fifi loves her so much. She went back to typing.

“Violet Rhinehammer fell for your lie and printed a big article in today’s Normal Gazette and online. In fact, all the news stations in Kentucky picked it up.” Dottie took one hand off her computer and pushed the copy of the Gazette towards me. “We have had a couple more cancellations, and I think that she had something to do with it. You look nice, by the way.”

“I’m glad you noticed. I got into the storage unit and found it packed away in all the stuff Stanley sent here. I wanted to make a good impression when I go to the school this morning to plan my class.” I was wearing a pink pant suit with a black and white polka-dot shirt underneath. I fondly remember buying it at Barney’s back in the day when I didn’t have to worry about guests cancelling their vacations or about money at all, as a matter of fact.

Paul’s – my now-dead, convicted criminal, ex-husband’s - lawyer had sent all my belongings to the campground before I even knew I was coming here. There were storage units on site, used mostly by the campers who rented yearly spots and only came every once in a while.

I sat down in the chair in front of Dottie’s desk. Fifi ran over and stood up on her hind legs with her front paws on my legs. I picked her up and scooted over to make room for her in the chair before I settled in to read Violet’s article.

“It’s believed the killer took advantage of the crowd at the campground’s party to blend in and murder the beloved coach,” I read out loud. “She sure can spin a theory.”

“Did you see where it goes on to say the coach had many enemies?” Dottie’s right brow rose and she glanced up and over the top of the computer monitor. I nodded, finishing up the article. “I looked online and the Gazette is running it as their feature. It’s been shared on social media over three-hundred times.”

“Did you get on our Facebook?” I asked, wondering if Abby had posted the status we’d talked about.

“Ummmhmmmm,” Dottie sounded funny. “We have over one-thousand comments on Abby’s post.”

“One-thousand leads?” I jumped up, causing Fifi to jump down and yip at me with excitement. I jogged around the desk and pointed to her computer. “I didn’t think we had that many people at the party! Pull it up.”

“We didn’t.” She clicked away on the keyboard. When our Facebook page came up, she pushed her chair back and let me look at the screen.

“An all-expenses paid vacation for one week at Happy Trail for the best tip that leads to the killer?!” My jaw dropped, “When I said give them something, I didn’t mean nothin’ like that. I was thinking a gift card for a free coffee or something!”

Dottie laughed.

“I can’t believe these.” I used her computer mouse to scroll down and look at the comments. “A rogue bear did it. You’re joking, right?” Yes, there had been over two-thousand shares, but most of the comments weren’t serious.

I clicked on the shares and saw how many news media outlets had shared it.

“It all can’t be bad with this many news outlets sharing it. At least we are getting the word out.” I shrugged. “I’ve got to go. Meeting Violet at Cute-icles before I head to the school.” I wiggled my nubby fingernails in the air. “Are you sure you’re okay until I get back?”

“Yep. Fifi and I will be just fine.” The sound of the treat jar lid coming off made Fifi scurry over to Dottie. “Here you go, baby girl.”

Fifi stood up on her hind legs and did a little dance. Dottie flipped her a treat. Fifi caught it in her mouth and ran over to her bed with it.

The sun was already high in the sky for a spring day. That meant it would be warmer than normal, which would bring out the  hikers. This would be great for all of Normal’s shops and hopefully people would have an itch to camp too. If RVers and anybody else who liked the outdoors was on social media, I hoped they’d see Violet’s article and Abby’s post and deciding it was safe to stay at Happy Trails. Yep, this was a big logical leap, but it made me happy.

“Good morning,” I answered my phone on my way out of the campground when I saw it was Hank.

“Good morning? I’m fielding all sorts of calls from whackos that have never even been to Normal or even the Daniel Boone National Park, telling me they know who killed Scott Goodman because they want a free vacation at Happy Trails Campground. Whose bright idea was it to say that?” Hank was definitely not happy with our social media post.

He rambled on and on about how this makes the officers work overtime because they have to follow up on all leads, including the rogue bear one.

“Are you going to let me speak?” I asked, trying to interrupt him.

“What?” His tone was sharp and already assessing. “You’ve got some sort of deal with Violet Rhinehammer of all people?”

I hesitated.

“Good grief. Tell me you don’t.”

I hesitated again.

“Mae, what have you done?” He asked. “You know what. I don’t want to know. Just remember to be at my parents’ house tonight at five. They eat early.”

I hesitated.

“You forgot.” He laughed. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t forget, it just slipped my mind. I’ve. . .” I didn’t want to make excuses. “I’ll be there. I hope you have a good day.”

“Are you going to the school to see when you start teaching your class?” He was trying hard to change the subject and I knew it.

“I am. I’m excited.” True, I was more excited to snoop and find out what was going on at the school that might help me find Scott’s murderer, but I was excited about teaching too. “I have on my pink power suit.”

“Oh. My mom will love that.” He was trying to butter me up now. “Mae, I’m sorry. I know that you aren’t doing anything any other business would do under the circumstances. I just ask that you think about me before you do things like that.”

“Okay,” I said.

I wasn’t giving in. He didn’t realize that every thought and every decision I made had him and his job in mind. We had only told each other ”I love you” a couple of times, but I was falling hard for him and only had his best interest in mind. But I also had to look out for my well-being and if he didn’t realize that, then we had a problem. One I would discuss with him later because I’d pulled up to Cute-icles and Violet was already in there, judging by her car parked in front.

The beauty parlor, like the rest of the shops in downtown Normal, was an old house. In front of the shop was an old-fashioned wooden sign with the shop’s name and a spotlight positioned below it. The pale yellow house had cute gingerbread lattice work along the top. which made it very cozy and welcoming.

“Hello?” I called when I stepped into the shop. “Hello?”

I looked around and saw a family room on the right and a dining room on the left. I jerked back around and looked out the door to make sure I wasn’t in someone’s home because it sure looked as if I was.

“Back here for Cute-icles!” Someone yelled. “In the back!”

I walked down the small hallway and the closer I got, the familiar smell of hair products and the sound of chatter drifted towards me.

“Hi,” I greeted the four women in the eat-in kitchen.

I recognized them as Helen Pyle, the owner of Cute-icles; Violet Rhinehammer; Coke Ogden; and Lib Tuttle. I knew Helen and Violet, but had only seen the other two around town.

“Girls! Girls! Am I alive? Am I dreaming?” Helen Pyle drew her hand up her chest, resting it against the colorful gem-beaded shirt I was sure she’d bedazzled. She stood behind a client in a salon chair. “Is this Mae West standing in front of me?” She put her arm out, gripping a pair of scissors. “Coke Ogden, pinch me now.”

Coke took advantage of the opportunity, reaching out from under her black apron to give Helen a good pinch.

“Ouch!” Helen danced around, flailing her arms all around.

“Careful with those scissors.” Lib Tuttle was in the next chair over, her hair tucked up under a plastic cap. She held up a Southern Living Magazine as a shield. “You’re gonna poke someone’s eyes out.”

“I didn’t mean for you to literally pinch me,” Helen said to Coke and stuck the scissors up in the orange, bouffant hairdo she still sported even though it was way past its time. “Mae, what are you doing here? I’ve been dyeing  – get it, like dyeing hair - to get my hands on that head of hair of yours since you drove that rundown RV into Normal.”

“Don’t be going and getting your panties in a wad.” Violet sat at the kitchen table with her hands emerged in a watery mixture in two soup bowls. “She’s here to see me. She needs a manicure more than getting her hair done. Is Sally Ann Dean coming in this morning?”

“Let me see.” Helen walked over and grabbed my hands. “Mmmhmm, yep.” She eyeballed them with a disgusted look on her face. “Sally Ann is the only one who can save these, honey.”

“I clean houses and run a campground. I don’t have time to worry about keeping my nails painted.” I jerked my hands back and tried to let the insult run off me, but she didn’t stop.

“It’s more than a paintin’ you’re gonna need. You need a soaking and a treatment.” She pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and looked at the big jeweled watch on her wrist. “You go sit down at the kitchen table next to Violet and dip your hands in those bowls. By the time Sally Ann gets in, your dried up cuticles will be soft enough to have something done to them.”

“Did I hear you say that you clean houses?” Coke Ogden put her leg out from the chair and nearly tripped me on my way over to the kitchen table.

“I work for my friend, Betts Hager, when she’s in a pinch. Do you know her?” Everyone knew Betts.

“Know her, huh.” Coke snarled. “I’m a member of the Normal Baptist Church and we just can’t get over the scandal.”

“Betts had nothing to do with that,” I reminded her. I remembered what it was like to be an innocent bystander of the Ponzi scheme my dead ex-husband had created. “She’s got an excellent cleaning service. Have you tried her?”

Betts really needed more business now that she was on her own.  A hair salon filled with older women who didn’t look like they cleaned much seemed like a good place to find Betts new clients.

“I’m interested. I own the motel on the North side of town, right as you come in off Fawn Road,” Coke went on to give directions to it.

“Motel? You call that four room building on the side of the road a motel?” Helen laughed and continued to cut Lib Tuttle’s hair.

“It used to be a train station for a railroad that ran right through Normal years ago.” Lib looked back at Helen as though she were confirming Coke’s claim. “It’s really neat.”

“I had no idea there was a place out there,” I said and walked past the two salon chairs in order to get to the other side of the kitchen.

“No one does, but Coke saw Violet’s article and thinks she can get it up and running.” Violet waved the scissors in the air. The TV hanging on the wall was on the Price Is Right and turned up so loud.

“I can if she can.” Coke snapped her fingers towards me. “Get to cutting.”

“An old train station, huh?” It sounded interesting. I sat down across from Violet and looked at her fingers in the bowls. I stuck mine in there with hers. She smiled across the table at me.

“You’re just in time.” Violet wiggled her perfectly waxed brows. “We were just talking about Adrienne Goodman. She gets her hair done by Helen.”

“Everyone in Normal gets their hair done by me now that you’re here.” Helen boasted on how Violet brought in new customers with her ever growing fame.

“Helen noticed a lot of bruises on Adrienne, in line with the rumors.” Violet had mentioned last night that she’d heard Adrienne had been abused by Scott, but nobody said anything. “That would give her a great motive to kill her husband.”

“Are you doing one of those expo-says on it?” Lib put down the Southern Living Magazine. “I heard that he was having an affair over in Copper Ridge.”

“Copper Ridge?” I asked.

“It’s about fifty miles outside of the Daniel Boone National Park going towards Louisville.” Lib nodded. “I hear he’s been seen over there a few times.”

“You heard it was an affair?” I wanted to make sure I’d heard her right over the Price Is Right announcer.

“Why else would he be going over there?” she retorted quickly.

“Yep. I bet he was, and Adrienne had the good sense to kill him. Good for her.” Coke nodded, Helen grabbed her head.

“Stay still or I’m gonna give you a man’s haircut and it ain’t barber day.” Helen huffed and moved Coke’s head into position.

Coke, Lib, and Helen continued to gossip about the murder, and I took the opportunity to talk to Violet.

“Why did you want me to meet you here? We can’t talk here. Is this Helen’s house? ” I asked, looking around.

There were kitchen appliances. The coffee pot was brewing, and the dishwasher was on a cycle.

“Yeah. She and her husband, Walter.” She looked over her shoulder to see if she could talk before she leaned over the table. “He’s the night security guard over at the school. He said that there has been a handful of times he’s seen parents coming and going after archery and rifle tournaments. Long after. If you know what I mean.”

“I don’t.” I shook my head.

“Why would parents be going to see Scott after hours? Why haven’t they gone home for the night?” Her head twisted sideways like Fifi’s did when she was trying to figure out what I was saying to her.

“I don’t know. All sorts of things. Maybe turning in equipment, getting a schedule, checking rankings,” I rattled off a few things.

“Those aren’t things to argue about.” She leaned back as though she’d gotten some big break in the case.

“Did Walter tell you who the parents were?” I asked.

“Oh, Walter didn’t tell me.” She shook her head. “Helen did.”

I glanced over at the women.

“They have Adrienne already pegged as the killer,” I reminded her.

“They’ll have another suspect tomorrow. That’s why we are coming to get our hair done tomorrow morning.” Violet smiled. “There’s a lot of truth in gossip.”

Over the next hour, Sally Ann came in and not only made my cuticles raw, but painted my nails with sparkly purple polish after she spent thirty minutes trying to get me to get fake nails. I didn’t say anything about the polish, figuring I’d just take it off later.

Violet and I didn’t really have a chance to make a plan.. She did ask me what I thought about the article in the Gazette about the campground and reminded me that she was holding up to our end of the bargain, which meant anything I found out at school today was to be shared with her.

Although she never said I had to share everything…

The school was just a couple of blocks from downtown. The parking lot was full, so I pulled into a visitor’s parking space since I was still just visiting.

“It’s Mae West. I’m here about the economics class,” I said into the microphone before the front desk buzzed the door open. “That’s good security,” I muttered when they let me in even though they had no clue why I was really there. They just thought I was the substitute.

I glanced up at the security camera above the door and wondered if Hank had had talked to the school yet. If Walter Pyle’s claim had any merit, wouldn’t it be on the security footage?

“You’re late.” The secretary was standing by the office door waiting for me. “The first bell rings at seven-forty and the last bell rings at two-forty. You get the one hour for lunch. You have one planning hour” She slapped a lesson plan book in my hands.

“I’m starting today?” I asked, a tad bit confused.

“That’s what I said this morning when I called you.” She inspected me a little closer. “You’re not the sub, are you?”

“No.” I slowly shook my head. “I’m Mae West. I was given the key to the city by Principal Bass and Mayor Mackenzie.”

“I thought you were starting after. . .” She glanced at the wall calendar. “Shoot. I’ve got my dates crossed. Come on in.” She took the lesson plan book from me and waved me in. “It’s a bit of a mess around here today. I’m sure you can imagine.” She stooped and gave me another look-see. “Wait. You’re the Mae West, owner of that campground where Coach Goodman was killed.”

“I’d like to be thought of as the Mae West that received the key to the city for helping Normal’s economy grow,” I offered her as a suggestion, but she decided to run with her own.

“Tell me, did you see the killer?” She asked. “I know you’re not supposed to tell since you are dating the lead investigator. Who, by the way, is a fox.”

“Yeah. I don’t know any details other than he was killed by that arrow from the school.” I shrugged.

“Arrow from the school?” A man came out of a back room of the office. “Dr. Tillman.”

“School physician?” I asked.

“No, no.” he laughed. It was cute how he blushed. His red cheeks matched his strawberry blond hair. He had on a pair of light green khakis, a light blue button down, and a brown jacket. Very stylish and young. “I have my doctorate in education.”

“Dr. Tillman is going to be leaving us soon.” The secretary frowned. “We are going to miss his spunk.”

“Thank you, Gracie. You can call me Mathew. She does too,” He said with a twinkle to his smile and pointed to Gracie. “Did I hear you say that there was an arrow involved?”

Gracie gasped.

“They didn’t mention anything like that on the news.”  I realized that this was probably something Hank wouldn’t want the public to know.

“Did I say arrow?” A nervous laugh came out of me. “When I found him . . .”

“You found him?” Gracie gasped even louder this time, throwing her hand over her mouth.

“Is Principal Bass here?” I looked around, trying to avoid anything I wasn’t supposed to say. “I’ve got some paperwork to fill out.”

“Principal Bass is in a meeting with a parent. Can I help you?” A woman in an A-line skirt with a cherry print and a red blouse walked around the corner.

“This is Mae West. She found the Coach with an arrow in him that killed him.” Gracie talked so fast, I wondered if she ever got tongue-tied.

“You did?” The woman put her hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry. I’m here to listen if you need someone.” She pulled a card off the secretary’s desk and handed it to me.

“Alena Russel, school counselor,” I read. The hairs on my arm stood up when I recognized her name. She was the one I overheard Scott Goodman mention to Ken Patterson. “I didn’t really say all that.” I pointed to Gracie and gave her a puzzling look. “Not sure where she got it. I would like to talk to you.” I slipped the card in my bag.

“You said it.” Gracie looked at Mathew for confirmation, while Alena told me to come by anytime. “Didn’t she say it?”

“I wasn’t listening.” He sneaked a glance my way. “Anyways, did I overhear you say that you got a key to the city?”

This was a clear opportunity to get far away from Gracie Willey, who was the school secretary according to the nameplate on the desk.

“Thank you,” I gushed when we rounded the corner and entered the teacher’s lounge.

“No problem. Being the new kid is hard and you have insider information that Gracie will be talking about all day” He walked over to the coffee pot. “Nice nails. I’m in my planning hour. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“I’d love one.” I curled my fingers in a fist, slightly embarrassed. “Are you from here? Normal, I mean.”

“No. I’m from a little town in Tennessee.  I came to Kentucky to go to college and fell in love with the state and all the hiking.” Now I knew why he was in such great shape. “I never left. I continued my education and now I’m heading to Western Kentucky to take a superintendent of schools position.”

“Wow, that’s great.” I took the cup from him.

“There’s sugar and cream on the table.” He pointed. “What did you do to get the key to the city?”

As I talked to him about how I turned around the campground, I felt like he took a vested interest in what I had to say. It was nice.

The bell rang, startling both of us.

“Oops, gotta go. I’m still the performing arts teacher.” He laughed and grabbed an armful of papers on his way out. “I’ll see you later, Mae,” he called over his shoulder as he left through a different door, spilling out into a sea of students.

“There you are,” Donald Bass hurried into the teacher’s lounge. “As you can imagine, everything is crazy here.”

“So I hear. Would it be better for me to come back another day?” I asked.

“The sub didn’t show up for Coach. I guess they are scared of getting killed or something. I’m in bit of a pickle. Do you think you can just start today?” He asked in a wobbly voice as though he were preparing himself for me to say no. “I’ve got all Scott’s lesson plans here. He was very organized.”

“Sure. Why not?” There was a rattle in my gut that told me I’d probably jumped the gun.

“Great!” He clapped his hands. “Gracie has the lesson plans. I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Six weeks, right?” He stuck his head out the door. “Gracie! Lesson plans,” he barked, not really listening to my answer to his question.

“Yeah.” I guess I was going to jump right into the frying pan of teaching when I really just wanted to snoop around a little.

“Here you go.” Gracie, who I’m sure was close by eavesdropping, suddenly appeared “Right here. Archery practice after school.”

I gave them a what the heck look.

“Cancel it.” Donald looked at Gracie. She nodded and rushed out. “You okay?”

I quickly opened up the lesson plan book. A piece of paper fell out. Donald bent down and picked it up, handing it to me.

“I’ll be just fine.” I looked up from the paper with the student rooster of the Archery and Rifle Club on it, with a smile on my face. “Just fine.”

FIVE

“You did what?” Hank’s expression wasn’t what I thought it would be to be when I gave him a copy of the Archery and Rifle Club roster.

“I started teaching a little earlier than expected since the substitute for Coach Goodman’s position didn’t show.” There was so much excitement stirring inside of me that I couldn’t get it out fast enough. “You can imagine my surprise when the team roster magically fell out of his lesson plan book and landed at my feet.”

“Mae…” There was a tension in his calm voice as though he was trying to keep from blowing up. “I’ve got this already and there’s no need for you to worry about Scott’s murder. It’s a formal investigation and I’ve got a lot of officers working the case.”

He cut the engine of his car and slightly adjusted his body towards mine. He reached over and pushed a strand of my curly hair behind my shoulder. His green eyes searched my face. I sure hoped he saw the disappointment I was feeling.

“Remember what happened last time?” He looked at me like he was waiting for my face to tell him he was right. But I didn’t. My right brow cocked.

“Of course I remember it. I solved it.” I knew he was referring to the last murder we’d had in Normal.

“You were knocked unconscious.” Did he have to remind me? “Remember the big goose egg on your head?”

The red front door of his parents’ house swung open. A woman in her mid-thirties ran out of the house with her arms wide open.

“Hanky panky!” She screamed. “There’s my Hanky panky!”

Before my mind could process that, another woman that I’d say was in her sixties hurried out the door followed by a man that looked like a much older Hank. My heart pounded. My palms started to sweat.

“Hank?” The woman’s mouth turned down as she knocked on the window of his car. “Aren’t you getting out?”

She bent down and looked over at me and then back to him.

“We’ll have to discuss this later.” Hank was talking about my snooping. His jaw was tense and there was stress on his face that I’d never even seen before. Not even in an investigation.

When Hank opened his door, I opened mine. He was greeted with a flurry of kisses and hugs from the woman. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She had on a pair of black Capri pants, a body hugging black V-neck long sleeved shirt, and a pair of black flats. There was no denying she was beautiful.

All I could think about was how today, of all days, my curls had a mind of their own. I could hear Bobby Ray Bond, my foster brother now. ”It looks like you’ve got struts all over your head,” he would say. He’d laugh and explain to me what car struts were because he was a genius mechanic. I never found funny, especially as a teenage girl.

“Hanky panky,” the woman crinkled her nose to him. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” She curled her arm around his elbow and tugged him as tight against him as her shirt.

“Ellis, this is Mae West.” He barely got my name out before she fell into an all-out squeal that pierced my ears and made Chester, Hank’s new dog, howl from inside Hank’s camper. “As in the,” she emphasized, “Mae West?”

“Ummm. . .” was all I could think of at the moment. Just like the movies, and in slow motion, she dropped Hank’s arm and jogged around his car. Her ponytail twirled like a propeller to get her to me fast. I took a step back.

“You know, I’ve met Mae West’s real family.” Ellis stood a little taller than me and was much prettier close up, which didn’t make me feel any better. “It’s when mama and daddy took me to my first hair commercial read. They owned the company. It was fabby.”

“I do remember that.” The older woman, who I knew had to be Hank’s mom, walked over to him and gave him a hug. “Hi, baby boy.”

“You’re Hank’s sister?” I looked at Ellis. There was a lot I didn’t know about Hank Sharp and this was one of them.

“Yes.” She gave me the side eye with a slight smile. “Are you trying to be as funny as Mae West is in some of her movies?” She gave me a slight shove. “My favorite Mae West line is,” Ellis started to wiggle her hips and she changed her voice, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” She smiled with pride.

“I. . .” I wasn’t a huge Mae West fan and wasn’t sure how to tell her that.

“West is Mae’s married name,” blurted Hank.

“She’s married?” Hank’s mom gasped and looked at me like I had the plague.

“Was, to a felon who was murdered!” The tiny voice of Agnes Swift came from the front door of the house. She stood by Hank’s dad and she had a big smile on her little wrinkly face the size of the Daniel Boone National Park.

“Felon? Murdered?” Ellis was pleased as the words trickled out of her mouth and her eyes sparkled. “This sounds like a wonderful movie plot. Have you talked to a producer about it? If you haven’t,” she now had her fingers curled around my elbow, leading me towards the house, “I know a few that I can tell them about your story. I mean, come on.” Her jaw dropped. “Who better to play Mae West than me?”

I glanced around my shoulder and looked at Hank. He gave a slight shrug and walked behind us.

“Welcome to the family,” Agnes Sharp said with a sarcastic tone when I walked past her. She had a curious grin on her face.

“You wanted to get to know them,” Hank whispered in my ear once we made it into the house.

The house was a modest farm house. Nothing fancy. A family room with a wood-burning stove, a small kitchen with a round table, a bathroom off of the kitchen, and a long hallway with doors along each side, I assumed leading to the bedrooms.

“You’re divorced?” his mom asked before I was even asked to sit down.

“And an orphan.” Agnes Swift sure didn’t seem like she was on my side.

“Granny,” Hank gasped. He gave her a pointed stare.

“Orphan?” Hank’s mom’s eyes grew wide.

I realized the little digs Agnes was giving Hank’s mother weren’t to put me down, but to irk her. There was tension in the room and I could tell they weren’t close.

“I love Mae,” Agnes saddled up to me and sat down on the couch, patting the space next to me. “We’ve had a lot of fun.” She winked.

A lot of fun as in she gave me information that would be help me solve cases having to do with Happy Trails and my livelihood., not because I enjoyed running around looking for a killer and putting my life in danger. I really liked her, but I was not happy she was using me in this little pawn game.

She patted my leg.

“I’m glad someone does,” Ellis muttered, making this entire situation clear as a sunny day.

“Ouch,” I gasped, my hand immediately rubbing out the pinch Agnes just gave me.

“Mae just got the key to the city.” Agnes saggy jowls lifted a smidgen when she smiled at me.

“How sweet.” Ellis’s head tilted to the side like she was looking at me as if I was a child. “I got a Best Supporting Actress Emmy.”

“When you were in that PBS kids show.” Agnes snorted. “Years ago.”

“You know what, Mom,” Hank’s mom jumped up from her chair. “You’ve always loved Hank more than Ellis. We all know,” she spat and gestured around the room.

“That’s not true.” Agnes popped her eighty-year old self up. “You spent all your money following her around the country, getting her an acting job here and there. You left Hank here for me to raise. Then when you,” Agnes pointed her crooked finger at Hank’s dad, “decided to retire, you didn’t even let Hank live in the house. He had to stay in that yucky camper out there.”

“Whoa,” Hank put out his arms to stop this family information dump. “I’m fine. And I don’t blame Mom and Dad for helping out Ellis.”

“Helping out? They paid for everything for her. Down to those extensions in her hair. I know they are expensive because Helen down at Cute-icles told me!” Agnes had worked herself up to yelling.

“Granny,” Ellis panted with a frown, giving Agnes blinking eyes until she ran out of the room.

“Okay.” Hank ran his hand through his hair. “Let’s go.” He pointed to Agnes and me, snapping his fingers before gesturing to the door. “I’m not doing this anymore.”

“Hanky,” his mom scurried over and put her hand on his chest. “Won’t you stay and let Mae take Agnes home?”

“Unbelievable.” His jaw dropped, and he slowly shook his head. “Come on, Granny. Mae.”

“More than happy to leave.” Agnes grabbed her pocketbook and hung it on the crook of her arm, sashaying out the door.

“It was nice to meet you.” There was a tightening in my chest telling me this wasn’t the right thing to do, even though his mom’s feelings about me were very clear.

“Mae,” the way Hank said my name meant business. He held the door. Agnes had already made it halfway to the car when I walked out, leaving Hank’s parents inside.

The insides of the car rattled when Hank had gotten in and slammed the door. I’d seen Hank Sharp mad plenty of times, but this time there were beads of sweat across his forehead and a flush had crept across his cheeks. “I’m sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m not.” Agnes put her pocketbook in her lap and wrapped her arms around it.

“Enough, Granny.” He looked in the rearview mirror at her. “I should’ve known better.”

The silence from his parents’ house to Agnes’s house made my mind numb. I couldn’t process anything that’d just happened. The only thing that was perfectly clear was the lack of parenting they’d given Hank. Given my situation, no wonder we got along so well. We were made for each other.

When Hank got out of the car to open the door for Agnes like a good southern gentleman, I turned around in my seat.

“I’m not sure what happened back there, but I’ve got some questions about Scott Goodman’s case, I’ll bring you something good from Cookie Crumble Bakery if you. . .” I clamped my mouth shut when Hank had opened the door for her.

“See you in the morning,” she winked and got out of the car.

My racing heart fueled by Hank’s family slowed down as a blanket of calm swept over me as I watched Hank help his Granny into her house, giving her a hug and kiss at the door.

“I’m sorry about all that. I should’ve just. . .” he started to apologize as soon as he got into the car.

I put my hand up to his lips and leaned over, kissing him on the lips.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” I ran my hand down the back of his head and looked into his eyes. “There’s no sense in retelling the past. Not that my parents didn’t love me. They died, but I understand what it’s like to sorta be left without parents. Like you said, I’m an orphan.” I smiled and continued to talk, although hank tried to speak. “I see that Agnes raised you.”

“She did and I guess I should be darn proud of that, but my parents putting Ellis’s acting career above my basic needs didn’t sit well with Granny.” In my heart, I felt like he was using his Granny to cover up his feelings. “She only said things that I’ve said to her and have been unable to say to them.”

“Well, I’m sorry. Maybe we should meet outside of their house from now on.” I smiled, getting one in return. “I do have a question.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” He put his car in gear and pulled off the curb, heading towards the campground.

“Did you hear that Scott Goodman beat his wife?” I asked.

“Mae.” There was a sudden lightness to him. My question wasn’t about his family and I could see the relief on his face. “Where on earth did you hear that?”

The entire way back to the campground, I used his vulnerability about his family situation and the fact that he was willing to talk about the case instead of warn me to stay away like he’d done just over an hour ago to tell him about the case and all the things I’d learned over the course of the day.

SIX

“What a night,” I grumbled to Fifi while she did her business the next morning.

The mornings were still a bit chilly. The dark sky was filled with stars. In an hour, they’d be long gone with the sun overhead. But for now, I gripped the edges of the quilt I’d grabbed off the couch while I let Fifi out to door to do her business and curled it around my neck to ward off the goosebumps.

I glanced over at the travel camper Scott Goodman had rented from me and noticed that the police tape was gone and so were the police Hank had stationed there over the past forty-eight hours. For the investigation, this meant it was no longer off limits and they’d already gotten everything they needed. For me, it meant I had to clean up the place and see if I could rent it again.

“Come on, girl.” The back of the quilt floated behind me with each step I took closer to the camper.

Fifi scampered from camper to camper, getting a good sniff at the tires and surrounding grassy areas. Some of the guests who drove their campers or RVs had dogs and Fifi made sure she got to know each one.

The camper door was unlocked. I ran my hand up the wall of the travel camper and flipped on the switch. The inside of the camper was exactly as I’d fixed it up. The only things missing from the last time I’d been here were the rug on the floor and Scott’s body.

Upon closer inspection of where Scott had fallen, I did not see the stain I expected to find. “No blood.” I walked around to see what how much cleaning I needed to do and how long it would take, it didn’t look like it required more than my standard, thorough cleaning. The camper did need new sheets, since the sheets were missing. If I had to guess, I’d say they were taken as evidence. I remember the look on Hank’s face when Colonel Holz said the killer was probably standing in the bedroom.

Had the coach been having an affair? Was that why he was living here? What about his wife? Did she kill him?

Scott’s duffle bag with the school’s logo was in the bedroom with his clothes still in it. I grabbed it. I stopped on my way out when I felt a light breeze on my neck. I turned around and noticed the window was slightly open and the rubber lining holding the screen in was popped out of the corner.

Fifi ran in, grabbing my attention. She scurried under the bed.

“Hey, girl.” I smiled at her heinie sticking up in the air while the rest of her was under the bed. “I wish I had your energy.” I looked at the window one more time. “I’ll tell Henry to fix it.”

Fifi and I headed back out into the early morning after I locked the door. Fifi darted ahead of me. The sky was a little brighter on the other side of the mountains of the park. There was a light blue tint that would soon turn to a light pink as the sun greeted our little place in the Daniel Boone National Park. This was a sight that never got old.

“Drop it,” I told Fifi, who was standing at the top of the steps leading up into our RV. She had a little stick in her mouth. “You know you can’t eat sticks.”

She dropped it, eagerly wagging her tail since she knew it was breakfast time. The stick fell, making a clicking noise on the steel steps and grabbing my attention.

“Go on in.” I opened the door and took the two steps down to look at what she’d dropped. It wasn’t a stick - it was an ink pen. “Lypsnk.” I held it up a little closer to make sure I read it right. “Lypsnk. What on earth is that?” I wondered and headed back up the steps into the camper.

I put the ink pen in the counter, gave Fifi a scoop of her kibble, and grabbed a cup of coffee to take back to the bathroom with me while I showered.

I was quickly running out of morning and I had a lot to do before school started. I wanted to stop by and see if Agnes knew any information and I also was supposed to meet Violet at Cute-icles.

I decided on a more casual outfit than the pant suit. I wanted to mingle with the students and pick their brains. I was hoping they’d be more open with me if I wore was an outfit that was younger looking, but still appropriate for teaching. I opted for khaki pants, a light blue sweater, and a pair of brown flats. With a fist full of hair, I pulled it all back at the nape of my neck. I didn’t need that getting in the way.

“You be a good girl,” I told Fifi. “Dottie will be here to get you when the sun is up.” I glanced out the window. “It won’t be long.” I bent down, giving her a little rub on her curly head, and laughed when I realized we did have the same hair. “They say a dog and their owner start looking alike.”

Fifi danced around as though she knew what I was saying.

The lesson plan book and my notebook were on the café table, I grabbed them along with the ink pen Fifi found and threw them in the old attaché case I’d pulled out of my storage bin. It must’ve been Paul’s and Stanley had put it in my stuff by mistake. Regardless, I needed it now.

I started the car and pushed the Bluetooth phone feature.

“Call Hank,” I told the voice activated feature.

“Good morning,” he answered the phone. “I’m sorry again about last night.”

“In the past,” I said, letting him off the hook. It was how I had learned to live my life. If I’d continued to carry around the baggage of my past, I’d be even more tired at the end of the day than I already was. “I noticed when I let Fifi out that the camper has been released.”

“Yeah. I meant to tell you that last night, but with everything going on, I forgot.” He sounded like he hadn’t gotten any sleep either. “We took the bed sheets and the rug.”

“Did you notice the rubber around the screen in the bedroom window was pulled out of the frame just a little?” I asked.

“What did I tell you about leaving the investigation to me?” He was back on his tantrum about me not getting in the middle and how he just couldn’t bear it if I was to get hurt.

“I just noticed it, that’s all.” I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. “Anyways, did you want to come over tonight?”

“Let me see what’s going on with work and I’ll get back to you. Are you headed to school?” he asked.

“I am.” I wasn’t headed there right now, but would be after a few stops. He didn’t need to know my entire schedule. “What time do you go in?” I asked to know if the coast was clear this morning to make good on my donut run promise and go see what Agnes knew.

“I have a meeting at the coroner’s office in about an hour and after that I’ll be going to the station.” The all too familiar sound of kibble getting put into a dog’s bowl came from his end.

“You feeding Chester?” I smiled at how Hank had become a responsible dog owner.

“You don’t miss anything, do you?” He laughed.

If he only knew. . . then he’d for sure use me on cases when I offered it to him.

“Just checking in,” I said.

The Cookie Crumble Bakery sign flashed OPEN. My mouth watered.

I pulled the van into an empty spot. There was no better place to take donuts than a police station. It was perfect treat to sweeten them up and distract them if I did get a chance to see Agnes and what she might know.

“Good morning,” Christine Watson greeted me with from behind the bakery’s counter.

The freckles on her face scrunched together on her plump cheeks as her eyes squinted from the smile on her face. Her brown hair was pulled back in its usual ponytail.

“You got here just in time.” She walked down the long, glass case with rows and rows of different kinds of donuts and stopped at a full rack of sweet treats she’d not taken off the pans.

“It smells so good in here.” I sucked in a deep breath of cinnamon, chocolate, lots of sugar, and a little hint of coffee that was dripping from the coffeemaker, filling the pot.

“You can try my new spring lemon drop cookie.” She had plucked a piece of white parchment paper from the box. She pulled one of the pans from the cooling rack and looked around. “This one has the most icing.”

She used the paper to take the cookie off the pan and pushed it back on the cooling rack.

The bell over the door rang.

“Good morning,” Christine called out and quickly glanced at the door. She handed me the cookie over the counter.

My teeth sank into the buttery cookie with a hint of citrus, bringing all of my taste buds to life.

“I’ll take a dozen,” I sighed.

“Told you you were going to love it.” She moved down the counter to help the other customer, letting me stand there enjoying this moment with my eyes closed.

“Mae West? Is that you?”

My eyes flew open and my head twisted to find Ellis and Natalie standing next to me.

“Ellis.” I gave a good ol’ Baptist nod. “Natalie.”

“You two know each other?” Ellis’s chipper voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Fun.” She clapped her hands together. “We are old pals.”

“I’m going to grab my donut so I can get to a meeting with Hank.” Natalie tapped the glass display with her fingernail. Her long, perfectly manicured nail. “Nice purple.” Her eyes focused on my fingernails before she moved down the donut display, leaving me and Ellis alone.

“I have no idea what she sees in Hanky Panky, but she’s had what I’d call a burning desire for that boy since he hit puberty.” Ellis rolled her eyes.

Was she trying to get my goat or was she simply letting me know that she approved of Natalie over me?

“I’m sorry about last night. Agnes and I’ve never seen eye to eye on things.” She didn’t call Agnes Granny, which I found a little strange. ”Personally, I think she’s jealous that she and Mama have never been friends like me and Mama are and she’s taking it out on me. You know, that mother and daughter relationship?” She stuck her finger in the air. “Wait. You don’t know that. Orphan, right?”

“Why don’t you go pick out your donut?” I suggested to Ellis.

“Heavens, no!” She waved off my suggestion. “There’s no way I’m putting that in my body. I have to stay in shape. My agents get me gigs all over that I may have to jump on a plane at any given moment to get to.”

“Here you go, Mae,” Christine called me over to the register.

“I’ll see ya.” Ellis scrunched up her nose in a dismissing way.

Natalie and I passed each other on her way out the door, neither of us looking at the other.

“Don’t mind her and Hank.” I overheard Ellis say, but not the rest due to the chatter of new customers coming in the door. When I turned around, I noticed it was a group of kids with high school letter jackets on. On one sleeve of each jacket was bars with a bow and arrow.

“These are so good.” I handed Christine the cash. “Be sure you add them to the Happy Trails consignment.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” The Cookie Crumble Bakery was one of the shops that donated something to the guests at the campground in order to get them to stop by the shop. “Congrats on the key. I’m sorry about the you know what overshadowing your day.”

“It’s no big deal.” I looked at the high school girl next to me. She had straight brown hair parted down the side like most of the girls in the school. “Are you on the archery team?”

“On the team?” One of the boys with her laughed. “Dude, she is the team.”

“And only one of a couple getting out of this town on a full scholarship,” another boy said.

“Nothing is guaranteed.” The young girl said.

The way she said it, I wasn’t sure if she was being modest or if there was something more to it.

“I’m sorry to hear about your coach.” I watched her point to the sprinkle donut when Christine walked over to us.

“Yeah. Shame.” She shrugged and didn’t sound so upset.

“I guess you were close, since you’re the best on the team. I’m sure you spent a lot of time together.” I made the observation.

“Something like that.” She handed Christine the exact change over the counter. “See you tomorrow, Christine.”

“Have a good day, Beth.” Christine walked back down the line.

“How did the coach get along with the team?” I asked, trying to figure her out.

“You know what, lady? I’ve gotta go. If you want to find out what kinda team we’ve got, I think our record stands for itself.” She took a bite of her donut. “If anyone should take credit for the success of our team, it’s our parents for showing us how to use a bow and rifle at a young age by taking us hunting. Not some guy. . .” She stopped talking after the group of other kids came up to us. “I’ve got go to school. It’s an early day.”

“Early day?” I questioned.

“Yeah. A few times during the spring, we start school an hour early, that way we can help out our parents with the tourist season.” She shrugged.

They all pushed out the door. I trailed behind, wondering what on earth she was going to say about Scott Goodman’s character before the others interrupted us. She definitely wasn’t going to say anything in front of them. At least, it appeared that way.

I stood on the sidewalk and watched them all walk away, towards the school.

“Lambert,” I read the name on the back of her letter jacket. “Beth Lambert,” I said her name to remember it so I could look her up in the school database now that I had access.

SEVEN

There was no time to go see Agnes Swift or the gals at the Laundry Club. I had to get to school and be in the classroom before the bell rang. Though it was only a couple of blocks from downtown, I still had to hoof it across the one way streets around the grassy median and cut through Smelly Dog Grooming before I could get to a sidewalk that’d take me straight to the school.

The parking lot was packed. Idling cars were lined up along the front of the school as parents waited for the school resource officer to flag them on so they could drop their kids off at the door.

“Morning,” I was greeted by a man in a one piece gray work outfit. Janitor was stitched on the front pocket. He was standing in the parking lot when I crossed.

“Good morning.” I smiled and passed him by. “It’s going to be a great day.”

“If you say so.” He snickered.

With a few honks and beeps and students hollering for each other in the background, I finally made it to the front door, where I still had to be buzzed in.

“Hi, Gracie,” I greeted the school secretary. “Am I going to have to be buzzed in every morning?” I asked, though I guess I could’ve entered through the student entrance.

“You probably shouldn’t’ve stopped to get donuts.” She eyed the donut bag. “See the Janitor about a key.”

The opening of the bag was crumbled up in my fist. I shoved it in my bag with Coach Scott Goodman’s planner that Principal Bass had given me. And more importantly, the team rooster.

“I have a confession.” I smiled, thinking I was going to be witty. “I had no idea until I saw Beth Lambert at the bakery that school started early today.”

“I’m not a priest,” Gracie said flatly.

“I’m sorry, huh?” She had me all confused.

“You said you had a confession and I’m sick and tired of everyone telling me their little secrets.” She huffed off. leaving me standing there.

“What was that about?” Mathew Tillman walked out of the teacher’s lounge with a couple other teachers. Each of them had a Styrofoam cup in their hand.

“I made a joke, but I don’t think she took it that way.” I was so happy to see at least one happy face.

The sound of squealing tires caused both of us to turn around and look outside. Puffs of black smoke came from the tires of a red Ford Mustang zooming out of the school’s parking lot.

“Whoa.” My jaw dropped as I looked out the front office window. “The poor janitor almost got hit.”

“Carl. Nah. He’s a tough guy. Here.” Mathew gave me the coffee cup. “Teaching a bunch of high school students is tough, but the parents are worse. You’re going to need a lot of coffee.”

“Great,” I groaned and took the coffee. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He gave a student a high five when the young man walked into the office. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“No.” I patted the bag. “I’ve only got the planner.”

“Sam. Mrs. West.” Mathew introduced me to the young man that was now sitting behind the counter.

“Miss West.” I guess I should probably change my name since I was divorced, but that required too much effort.

“I’m sorry. Miss West.” Mathew put his hands together. “Forgive me.” He bowed. “Sam, can you take Miss West to Coach Goodman’s class?”

“Sure, Dr. Tillman. Let me hang up my jacket.” He peeled off his letter jacket, hanging it up on the coat tree near the desk. The name on his letter jacket read Patterson.

My eyes grew and I silently gasped, almost squeezing the Styrofoam cup in half.

“Good luck, Miss West.” Mathew made a fist and gave me the go get ‘em.

The excitement of having Sam Patterson to myself was stronger than the fear I felt about teaching.

“I’ve never seen you sub around here before.” Sam lead the way down the hall, weaving in and out of students, most of them holding fancy coffee drinks.

“I’m not a sub.” I shifted my shoulders left and right to get through the crowd. “I mean, I am. I’m teaching a six week course about economics in Normal.”

“You’re the campground lady. Move it, Beth.” He put his arm out to scoot Beth Lambert out of the way of the classroom door.

“You wish I’d put the moves on you, Patterson.” She joked and stopped laughing when she saw who he was with. “Ma’am.” She nudged the boy next to her to move.

“Davey,” I grumbled.

“Mae,” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”

Kids, I groaned as I remembered how a few kids, including Davey Bass, had stolen an RV from Happy Trails a few months ago.

“What’s up, people?” Another male student walked up, giving everyone a high five. “Looks like we all get As. A dead teacher means lot of stress and automatic As.”

“Shut up!” Beth shoved the kid at the shoulder. When he fell into me, Beth’s eyes grew wide. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

“Guys, be cool.” Sam put his hands out. “This is Miss West.”

“I’m the sub.” I patted my bag and walked into the room. “Sam,” I called after him before he left. “Can I ask you a few questions about the coach?”

“It’s shocking,” Sam’s voice cracked.

The bell rang and the students shuffled in.

“I know, but do you know why anyone would want to kill him?” I asked, trying to speak over the conversations the teenagers were having.

“Why would I know that?” He shrugged, his face had a smirk on it. “He’s the one who was mean to everyone.”

He turned to walk out the door and I called after him, but the students were shuffling around and getting into their seats and he didn’t hear me.

I put the coffee cup on the desk and hurried out of the classroom, shutting the door behind me.

“Did he do something to you?” I asked, remembering overhearing his mom tell the others at the campground that if Principal Bass didn’t do something about the coach, her husband would be taking matters into his own hands. “To make your parents mad?”

“Did he?” Sam laughed. “You do know why we are here an hour early, right?”

“Why don’t you tell me,” I suggested, ignoring the bell that signaled the start of class.

“We are here because most of our families have some sort of business related to tourism. It’s spring, the beginning of our busiest season. If I can’t go home early and help my parents clean out a couple of the rental cabins or weed the flower beds or whatever they need me to do, then we won’t have a top cabin rental review. That’s how we keep food on the table.” He paused. “My parents want me to get out of Normal.”

I could relate to everything this kid was telling me.

“You, you stayed and somehow made it. But me, what’s there for me? I don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t want to work just for the tourist season, but I also can’t afford to go to college without a scholarship.” He looked down at his feet. “I don’t get the best grades. I especially don’t get good grades in this class and missed out on a scholarship because Coach wouldn’t let a few grades slide so my GPA would go up a tiny bit.”

“Are you telling me that you or your parents asked him to give you some leeway?” I asked.

“You know if you’ve been around here long that this community helps each other out. He didn’t want to help no one for nothing.” Sam shook his head. “But you wouldn’t understand.”

“I understand more than you know.” I glanced down the hallway when I heard the janitor come around the corner pushing his cart full of cleaning supplies.

“Yeah, well, I’ve got to get back to the office. I’m the aide this hour and I’m sure Mrs. Willey has something for me to do.” Sam hurried back towards the office.

“You taking over for Scott?” The wheels on the cart stopped squeaking as the janitor brought it to a halt.

“I am.” I clasped my hands together in front of me. “Gracie told me that you could get me a key to the front door so I don’t have to have her buzz me in each morning.” I dragged my finger between the two of us. “Between you and me, I think she’s sick of me already.”

“Between you and me,” he leaned in, “There’s a lot of between me and yous, him and hers, her and hims, if you know what I mean.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You will.” He started to push the cart down the hall. “Stop by my closet during your lunch break and I’ll give you a key.”

The sound of yelling from the behind the closed door of the classroom cut my thoughts off. I wanted to ask him what he was talking about and if it had anything to do with Scott, but the unruly classroom needed my attention more.

“Good morning!” I hollered over their voices, walking back into the room. “I’m Miss West, your substitute teacher.” I sat down on the edge of the desk and waited a few long seconds until they all returned to their seats. “I remember sitting in your seat not too many years ago.” Over ten to be exact. “I couldn’t wait until I turned eighteen and could get out of Kentucky. That’s just what I did.”

I told the story about how at midnight on my eighteenth birthday, I had hopped on a Greyhound bus to New York City. All of them listened intently and I knew I had their ear.

“Little did I realize, I would one day be back in Kentucky, running a campground, of all places,” I groaned to meet their laughter,  “and helping to bring Normal’s economy back to life.”

I decided to walk around and stretch my legs. I tried to get a look at all of the kids, but the full wall of windows and the sunshine day distracted me and made me miss gabbing with Dottie while we complained about the campground.

“I’m not telling you that you can’t move out of Normal, but while you’re here, you can make an impact on your community.” I looked at Beth. “Some of you may be getting scholarships.”

“Don’t look at her. The Coach caught her cheating on her ACT exam.” One kid snickered.

“Shut up, JB!” Beth jumped up and shoved him, knocking him sideways in his chair. “I’m retaking it on Saturday. That scholarship is mine.”

“Okay, settle down.” I hurried over and pointed to her chair. I couldn’t help but notice that the red Mustang from this morning had pulled up to the side of the school where my classroom was located. “Now that you know some more about me, why don’t we talk about you? What does your family do in Normal?”

While each student told me what their family did, almost all related to tourism, I walked over to the window to get a better look. The janitor had walked out of the school and over to the car. The same car that’d practically hit him this morning.

I’d turned around to acknowledge the next student’s story. When I looked back out the window to check out the little meeting outside, the car was gone and so was the janitor.

The hour flew by and before I knew it the bell had rung for the students to switch class. According to the planner, it was time for my planning period.

“Can I help you?” I asked Beth Lambert.

She stood at my desk with her backpack flung over one shoulder and looked as if she needed something.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“I just want everyone to come up with a couple ideas about how they can help our community. Just like I wrote up there on the board.” I was beginning to see why she hadn’t passed her tests.  Not that I was judging her, but she’d clearly not listened.

“I got that,” she said with a smirk and sarcastic tone that ran through me like hot water on a brutally cold day. “I’m talking about for your planning period. I’m the student aide.”

“Oh, gosh.” I looked down and flipped through the notebook to see if Scott had written that down. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“I’m guessing you have no idea about a lot of things.” She dropped her shoulder, and the backpack landed with a thud on the old tile floor. “Like what that loser said about my test scores.”

“I don’t think we need to call anyone a loser.” I felt the need to correct her as her teacher and it was just plain good manners. “But I was a little curious.”

I had to be careful how I phrased questions about her and tie them in with what Sam had told me.

“From what I’ve been hearing, Coach Goodman took a lot of pride in his athletes’ grades and a lot of the Archery and Rifle Club seniors aren’t getting scholarships because of grades.” I walked around the desk and sat on the edge of it, giving her my full attention.

“What you said today made me feel better about my circumstances. I mean, I know my parents are disappointed that I cheated, but. . .” she stopped when the door opened and Mathew had popped his head in.

“I’m sorry.” He put a hand inside the door and started to back out.

“Come on in.” I waved him in. “I’m talking to Beth about her test scores and I’m sure you’ve got some great advice to give her seeing you’re the doctor and all.”

“Sure.” He smiled and opened the door.

“That’s okay. I’ve got some homework to do if you don’t need me today.” Beth grabbed her backpack and flung it over her shoulder, taking a step back to steady herself. “I’ll be in the library if you need me.”

“Okay.” I didn’t want to push the topic with her. She reminded me of myself when I was her age. I didn’t want anyone knowing anything about me and if I did, I’d go to them in confidence like she did me. “Hold on a sec,” I told Mathew.

I followed her out the classroom door and into the empty hall.

“I’m sorry if I said something to Dr. Tillman that you didn’t want me to.” I put my hand on her arm. “I understand and actually see myself in you when I was your age. I probably should’ve just kept things between us.”

“It’s fine.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just. . .”

“You don’t have to explain.” I gave her arm a squeeze and dropped my hand. “I have an open door policy. You can stop by anytime if you need me.”

“Thanks. I just might take you up on it.” It was nice to see her tense jaw relax into a smile.

I waited until Beth had walked around the corner of the hallway before I went back into the classroom.

“I hope I didn’t disturb something.” Mathew was sitting in one of the kids’ desk.

I laughed out loud.

“What?” He asked.

“You look hilarious stuffed in that desk.”

“Think about how our basketball players feel. In fact, I need to look into this exact thing when I take my new job as superintendent.” He pointed to the lesson plan book. “Did Scott have it all filled out?”

“He did, but I’m kinda doing my own thing since I was going to do that for six weeks anyway.” I smiled. “Me. A teacher,” I laughed.

“Can I see his lesson plans? I’d like what an economics lesson plan looks like so I can see if my new school district is up to snuff.” He groaned as he maneuvered his way out of the desk.

I glanced up at the digital clock on the wall.

“Can we do that another time? I’ve got to get down to the janitor’s closet to get a key to the front door. If I get on Gracie’s bad side she’ll gossip about me.” I grabbed the planner and my bag.

“Oh, no. She’s already drawn you into her web of gossip?” He asked in a mysterious voice.

“No, but I’ve been warned about it. I just want to do my six weeks and go back to my little campground.” The irony of my words made me giggle on the inside. I truly never thought I’d say that.

“I was just stopping in to see if you need anything, but clearly you are in control.” He walked to the door. “The students are already coming to you for advice. That took me years.”

“It’s a girl thing,” I said, not knowing if that was true or not, but it seemed to make him feel better.

After he left, I did a quick erase of the chalk board so the next class wouldn’t see my assignment before they got the full story behind it. With my bag in my hand, I headed down the hallway to the janitor’s closet.

“Knock, knock,” I said in a jovial voice, pushing open the slightly ajar door a little more. “It’s me. Mae West. I’m here to get the key to the front door that we talked about.”

The door caught on something and didn’t open any further. The light was on and when I pushed a little harder, the cart that was blocking it moved enough for me to pop my head in.

To be fair, it was much larger than a closet. There was steel shelving on each side of the room and a large open area in the middle, enough to put three of his janitor carts. I walked down the row and turned the corner to find a washing tub, hanging mops, brooms, and various other cleaning tools that were much too large to put on a shelf.

“There you are,” I said when I noticed there was a desk. The chair was turned away from it, facing a gray door that had a photo of a woman on a beach. The door was cracked.

I took another step closer and my shoe grazed an ink pen. I bent over and picked it up to put back on his desk.

“Lypsnk.” I laughed and wiggled it in the air. “I just saw one of these at. . .” I stopped talking when I noticed he wasn’t turning around. “Am I interrupting something?” I asked.

Just then, one of Kentuckey’s big spring winds whistled outside, pushing the door open and knocking me into the janitor’s chair, swiveling it around.

“Oh, no!” A blood curdling scream escaped me as my eyes settled on the arrow sticking out of his chest.

EIGHT

Principal Bass cleared out all the students in a fire drill type setting, making sure the hallway in front of the Janitor’s closet was blocked off. Even though the body of Orlando Banks, the janitor, couldn’t be seen, we all knew it was in there.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mathew Tillman asked me while I waited for Hank to get there.

“I’m fine.” I shook my head. Little did Mathew know that this wasn’t my first dead body rodeo. It was starting to become a regular occurrence and I wasn’t too happy about it. “I just don’t understand. First Scott and now Orlando.” I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

“Both with school arrows. Which makes me wonder if it’s one of the crazy parents around here,” said Mathew. There was a certain disdain in his tone that I completely understood.

“You know, I think you might be right.” I didn’t want to speak too loud since Principal Bass and Gracie were walking the hall to make sure no one was going to walk down it. “I overheard one parent talking about how Scott better straighten up or her husband. . .”

“Sounds like the Patterson.” Mathew already knew before I even had to tell him.

“You know about that?” I asked.

“Everyone does. Scott talked many times about how the parents wanted him to change their kid’s grades and he didn’t back down.” He looked down the hall as if to see if the coast was clear. “One time Principal Bass wanted him to change some kids’ grades in order for the school to get some grants or something like that.”

“He told you that?” I gasped.

“Scott didn’t, but Orlando did.” He looked back at the janitor’s closet. “Orlando told me that he could practically walk around here tooting a horn and no one really saw him. He said that he was such a fixture here that people talked freely when he was around. His janitor’s uniform was like a cloak of invisibility. He claimed he’d heard it all. From affairs to cheating to anything else you can imagine.

I blinked a few times and wondered if my hunch about the Pattersons was right and they’d gotten mad at Scott over a scholarship or grades. That would be a good motive to be mad at someone, but to kill them?

“I’m assuming Scott’s funeral will be a military one.” I reached around and rubbed my back. Sitting up against the concrete wall didn’t feel so good.

“Military?” Mathew looked at me funny.

“I’d heard Scott was in the military?” At least Betts had thought so since she’d overheard Adrienne and Scott fighting about it when she cleaned for them.

“Not that I know of. I guess he could’ve been in some sort of guard, but not that I know of,” he said.

“Mae,” I heard Hank call my name as soon as he laid eyes on me. “Are you okay?”

“She’s fine.” Mathew stood up and he reached out his hand to help me up. “I keep asking if she’s okay and she keeps saying fine.”

“Who are you?” Hank didn’t jump right into his usual line of questioning. There was a different, more protective tone to his voice.

He did motion for the other officers to go into the janitor’s closet to assess the scene while he stayed with me.

“Hank, this is Mathew Tillman, Dr. Tillman. He’s the . . .” I paused. “I’m sorry. I’m so new I have no idea what you teach.”

“I’m the performing arts teacher here at Normal High.” Mathew put his hand out. “You must be the police.”

“Detective Hank Sharp.” Hank reached around and pulled the black wallet out of his pants pocket and flashed his badge. It felt like he was peeing around me like I was his territory. Very odd. “Mae’s boyfriend.”

“Nice to meet you.” It didn’t seem to faze Mathew when Hank told him that. “I was just telling Mae that I can’t help but wonder if Orlando overheard something he shouldn’t’ve. Because he did say he heard a lot of things while cleaning.”

“If you don’t mind stepping right over there. Someone is going to be taking your statement.” Hank snapped his finger and pointed to Mathew.

“I don’t really have a statement to give. I haven’t even seen the body.” Mathew fidgeted a little, appearing to be uncomfortable. “You aren’t going to have me look at the body, are you?”

And by the way he was acting, I could tell why he was a performing arts teacher. Very dramatic.

“No, I’m not, but you somehow made it from your room to staying here with Mae. That’s what they will ask you about.” Hank nodded to the officer.

The officer came over and tried to take Mathew to the side.

“I only heard her yelling, so I came running. That’s all.” Mathew was now sweating along his brow. “This is all making me a little. . .” he gulped. “Lightheaded.”

“I’ll get you a drink.” The officer took Mathew a little more forcibly by the arm over to where they had water bottles.

“He’s a strange one.” Hank had no problem telling me that right off the bat.

“He’s harmless. He’s been super nice, checking on me and making sure everything is all good. He is leaving the school and from the rumblings in the teacher’s lounge, they’re really going to miss him around here.” I looked over at Mathew and he appeared to have settled down and gotten some color back into his face.

“He seemed pretty chummy with you.” Hank hadn’t even mentioned poor Orlando.

“Hank, are you getting jealous?” I teased.

“Stop it. So tell me what happened.” Hank’s detective voice came back, and I knew that play time was over.

“Orlando told me to come get a key to the front door of the school during my planning period. When I did, that’s when I found him dead.” It was pretty simple. “The door to the outside was cracked open and. . .”

“Sir, you want to take a look before Colonel Holz takes him.” The officer popped his head out of the door.

“Holz is already here?” Hank questioned.

“Yeah. The Principal wants it all cleared out before the parents start freaking out and coming here to get their kids. Holz pulled up to the back of the building so he didn’t have to cart the body out the front door of the school in view of the kids.”

“Is it all clear?” Hank asked.

“Yeah.” The officer shrugged. “Nothing. Not a fingerprint or anything else. It’s spotless. Strange really. But I think the shot came from inside of the building. Maybe the killer went out the back door. But there’s no prints or nothing.”

“Why don’t you head on down to the station,” Hank suggested.

I did what Hank said. Maybe if Natalie was there instead of the coroner, I would’ve hung around a bit, but this gave me a chance to apologize to Agnes for not bringing her donuts this morning.

The police station was a little bit outside downtown in the business district. The white courthouse was the tallest building and right in the middle. The police station was attached to the
courthouse.

“These are a little late.” Agnes opened the bag with the Cookie Crumble donuts from this morning. “And a little stale.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea school was on early arrival and dismal for spring. Whoever heard of such a thing?” I asked and leaned on the windowsill using my elbow. “I was going to come here on my lunch break, but then I went to get my key from the janitor and found him dead and Hank hauled me down here.”

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

“Orlando Banks.” Agnes’s head shifted slowly side to side as she looked around her. “Plus, Ellis has been on Hank’s nerves.” Agnes took one of the donuts from the sack and took a bite. “She’s all over him about getting a new place to live. Not to mention that Natalie.”

“Natalie?” I jerked my head up. “What about her?”

“She and Ellis are friends. Now that Ellis is back living under Mommy and Daddy’s roof and spending any money they have left, she’s inviting Natalie over and they hung out at Hank’s all night. If that boy don’t get eight hours sleep, he’s cranky. Add on top of that this murder  that is clearly related to Scott Goodman’s case and that makes for a Cranky Hanky.” She joked, but I found nothing funny about the first part of it. “Lighten up. I’ve got some news about Adrienne Goodman.”

“Scott’s wife?” I asked.

“Yes. Hank brought her in for questioning yesterday. She did have bruising on her and told Hank they been going to counseling with Alena Russell, the school’s counselor.” She wrote something on a piece of paper. “Hank said that it feels like Adrienne is keeping something from him, but he doesn’t know what. I keep telling him it’s his you know what.” Her eyes dipped to the ground.

“His. You know what?” I questioned.

“He’s a man. If she was beaten by her husband, she clearly don’t trust men. I keep telling him to get a woman detective, but he won’t listen,” she mumbled.

Woman? Detective? For some reason that sounded very appealing to me.

“I’m a woman,” I blurted out.

“That you are.” Hank rounded the corner and laughed. “I should know because you’re my girlfriend.”

“You seem happier.” I glanced at him and then at Agnes.

“Mmmhmm,” Agnes’s chin lifted up and she looked down her nose at him. “What gives, kiddo?”

“I was thinking about what you said about needing a woman detective. And I think I’ll send in Natalie. I gave her a call, so she should be in here soon.” Hank gave me a kiss. “Send her back to my office,” he told Agnes.

“Why Natalie?” I questioned.

“We need someone to go to the school and she can do that and talk to Adrienne about the death.” He made it sound like he’d figured it all out.

“I’m already in the school. Why not me?” I could feel my gut pinching my innards, making me start to fume and get mad.

“Yeah, Hank.” Agnes backed me up. “Not only do all the teachers like her, they trust her.”

“Granny.” he shot a look to Agnes.

“I’m with Mae.” Agnes shifted on her stool. “She’s already on the inside. It’s a no brainer.”

“Of course you’re on Mae’s side because you’ll go against anything that has to do with Mom.” He shook his head. Natalie walked into the room like a high dollar filly. “This is not the time to discuss this.”

He gestured for me and Agnes to stay put while he walked over to greet Natalie. They exchanged a few words. She glanced over his shoulder and gave me a good hard look before she said a few more words and turned around to leave.

“Fine. I’ll let you keep your ears and eyes open. But I’m telling the resource officers and Principal Bass you’re snooping around so they know to keep an eye on you,” he said.

“That’s stupid.” Agnes snorted. “What if one of them blabs and whoever is doing all this people hunting gets word?”

“Parents are all over that school. And if the resource officer or Principal Bass slip up, then we may find another murder on our hands.” I have no idea where I pulled that out of, but I liked it.

“Okay. But at any sign of danger, you pull out. Understand?” Hank’s voice had the concern of the beloved boyfriend and I could tell he was worried.

“I promise.” I put up my scout’s honor gesture before wrapping my arms around his neck, giving him a big hug.

“I’m going to let you get out of here before I question you because we’ve got a lot of evidence to process at the school. In the meantime, school is shut down the rest of today and tomorrow, giving us the weekend to get the kids to see the school’s counselor and parent concerns answered.” It felt good that he was including me and telling me the plan. “Now go write in that little notebook of yours. Why don’t you come over to my place tonight to discuss the case? Bring Fifi.”

“Perfect.” I looked at Agnes. Both of us gave a little squeal.

NINE

“We have two bodies now.” I sat at the table in the office corner of the Laundry Club where customers could fax, make copies, work on a computer, and do anything else their jobs required. A lot of people on vacation with their children would stop in and ask if there was any sort of Staples or Kinkos nearby where they could send a fax.

It was a shame that people couldn’t just camp or hike or just relax on vacation without having to work.

“Where are Mary Elizabeth and Dawn?” Betts asked from the door of her office.

Mary Elizabeth, my foster turned adopted mother, and Dawn, her business partner, ran The Milkery, a bed and breakfast just outside Normal’s city limits.

“They are swamped with work. It’s time for them to harvest some of the garden and the flowers in the greenhouse are going nuts. They put a help wanted ad in the newspaper.” Saying newspaper reminded me of Violet and how I hadn’t yet caught up with her today. She would for sure be tracking me down to see if I had any clues. “Once they hire some help, it’ll free up some time for them.”

“Back to the victims.” Abby put us back on track.

“Both of them work at the high school. There was a red Mustang at the school this morning that took off speeding and I saw the same car in the back of the school during first period. Both times the janitor was near it.” I wrote red Mustang under Orlando’s name.

“Red Mustang?” Dottie asked. “There was a red Mustang at your ceremony at Happy Trails.”

“You’re right!” I smacked my hand on the table, making everyone jump. “I forgot all about that. And it was coming from the camper where Scott Goodman was staying.”

“So the killer had to have known Scott and Orlando and they drove the red Mustang.” Abby reached across the table and took the notebook, drawing an arrow between the two victims’ name and writing  “red Mustang” above it. “If we find out who owns the red Mustang, we find the killer.”

I wondered how I was going to do that. Maybe this was something I needed to tell Hank.

“Then we have Adrienne Goodman.” I pointed to the notebook for Abby to write this down. “She has bruises. Agnes confirmed that for me. She also had a fight with him about his rank. But according to Mathew, Scott wasn’t in the military.”

“Who’s Mathew?” Dottie asked.

“He’s a teacher at school. I really need to see Alena Russel, the school counselor.” I looked at Abby as she was writing all of our clues down. “According to Agnes, Adrienne and Scott were seeing her for counseling and meeting after school hours with Ken Patterson, who I heard with my own ears threaten Scott.”

“Why aren’t they going after the Patterson guy?” Queenie asked.

“I don’t know, but I met his son and I think I can get more out of him tomorrow at school.” I made a quick mental note to go to the front office during Sam’s office aide time.

“What about this Beth Lambert?” Abby circled Beth’s name that I’d written on the paper.

“She is the best player on their club team. Shoo in for scholarships if she had grades to get into the colleges, but she can’t seem to get high enough scores on her ACT. Get this.” I leaned over the table. “She had someone take the ACT as her but got caught. She’s retaking it this weekend.”

“Gosh, I’m glad I don’t have kids.” Betts shook her head. Abby agreed.

“Well, it seems like not only Scott Goodman wasn’t very well liked by the parents, but he knew something and so did Orlando Banks.”

“Is that all for now?” Abby asked and looked up from the notebook.

“I think so.” I put my hands in my back pockets and pulled out the ink pen. “Wait!”

I held the Lypsnk pen up in the air.

“Have y’all ever heard of Lypsnk?” I asked.

“It’s a bar, I think.” Abby grabbed her phone. “Hashtag Lypsnk.”

“Yeah. One of those karaoke ones I think.” Dottie grinned. “I use to love to go sing at them places.”

“You mean you liked to screech.” Queenie put her fingers in her ears. “You dragged me to a few of them.”

“It’s not just any karaoke bar, it’s this new age one.” Abby turned her phone around. “Looks fun. How was it?”

“I didn’t go, but I think Scott and Orlando went there because I found a Lypsnk pen under the bed at the camper Scott had rented and another on the floor of Orlando’s janitor closet.”

“So. Pens are handed out everywhere. Especially in a school.” Betts made a good point. “Lester used to drop off hundreds of pens to different places,” her voice trailed off.

It’d been a long time since she’d mentioned Lester in a friendly sorta way.

“Have you been to see him?” Dottie had no couth. She was always wanting to know what was going on.

I walked over to the notebook and took it from Abby. I wrote down Lypsnk and a note to maybe stop in there to see if anyone knew or recognized Scott or Orlando.

“No.” Betts shook her head. “I heard some of the Bible thumpers had seen him.” She giggled.

“You knew we used to call you Bible thumpers?” I asked since the rest of us Laundry Club gals tried not to call Betts’s do-good prison ministry group our loving name in front of her.

“Of course I did.” She laughed. “You guys aren’t very quiet or discreet.”

“That’s why I need your social.” Queenie sat at the desk with the computer.

“Why do you need Betts’s social?” I asked, looking up from my notebook where I’d been writing down all the clues I’d come across so far.

“Because if you’re going to apply to get a detective’s license, we are all going to do it,” she said.

“This is going to be a lot of fun.” Abby tiptoed over to us. “I can be very sneaky.”

“I’ve got good listening skills.” Dottie left out that she had a big mouth too.

“I’ve got the moves.” Queenie made jazz hands that I was sure she used with her students in her Jazzercise classes.

“This is ridiculous,” I told them and looked around. “Y’all aren’t serious.”

“As serious as a bad case of the gout.” Dottie was looking over Queenie’s shoulder. “five hundred, twenty two,” she rattled off what I assumed was her social security number.

“But Hank didn’t say all of us. He just said for me to look into it.” I was trying to stop whatever it was that Queenie was doing.

Betts walked over and with her cleaning binder in her hand.

“Why aren’t y’all listening to me?” I asked.

“We are. But if you think about it, we’ve all helped out with solving the crimes that have happening around here.” Betts hugged her cleaning binder to her chest.  “You take on extra jobs to get more money all the time.”

“Yeah, but you need the help. Take Coke for instance. She’s going to call you about the old train station she’s fixing up as a motel. That’ll keep you busy.” I really hoped Coke would call Betts now that I said it out loud. “And you have the library.” I pointed to Abby. “You’ve got your hands full with your Jazzercise classes. And you.” I pointed to Dottie. “I can’t run a campground without my manager.”

“We do have our other jobs to think about.” Dottie, of all people, was going to be the rational one. “I’m not sure what we’d do at Happy Trails.”

“I do have a lot of new cleaning clients now that I’ve been advertising,” said Betts.

“I don’t have a lot of help at the library.” Abby was finally seeing clearly too.

“Then we need to come up with a solution because if you think that I’m going to let you get hurt,” Dottie had gotten serious. “Then you’ve got another thing comin’. I know you’ve got Mary Elizabeth here and all, but I’ve taken you on as not only a good friend, but as a daughter of sorts. We five,” she twirled her finger around all us, “are as tight as bark on a tree and we stick together.”

“I think we can all work together and get different clues if we keep our eyes and ears peeled,” I suggested. “Just like we did before. We’ll keep our clues in the notebook and we can come together and put different scenarios together.”

“Guys.” Queenie looked up from the computer screen. “In Kentucky, you need a degree from the police academy, and I don’t think they can handle my moves.” She laughed.

“I don’t got no time to go to no academy when I can use my smarts.” Dottie tapped her temple.

“We don’t need a degree or detective license to help Mae keep the campground running and the economy healthy.” Abby pulled out her phone. “Hashtag discount. Hashtag Happy Trails. Hashtag campers.”

“Wait.” I tried to stop Abby before she sent it. “Did you say discount?”

“Too late. Send.” She shook her phone at me and put it back in her pocket.

“That sounds like a plan.” Betts smiled. “And now that you have four others helping, it appears you still have time to clean for me. Starting with Alena Russel.” Betts opened her binder and flipped a few pages. “I’ve got her on the schedule for tonight.”

After all the hooting and hollering settled down, the reality of it was that I had to still help out Hank, which really was helping me out since we had had so many cancellations. I had to prove there was no danger at the campground and that it was a safe place to stay.

“Tonight?” I didn’t want to turn it down, but I also didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to go see Hank at his place and show Ellis that I am his girlfriend no matter how much she flaunts Natalie around.

“I only clean her office once a week. Afterhours.” She patted herself. “I’ve got the keys somewhere.”

“You have keys to the school?” I asked.

“No. Alena Russel has an office over in Swamp Canal.” She walked into her office and came back out with a big ring with several keys on it. “Do you think she sees couples at the school?”

Without her even saying it, we all knew what Betts was up to and we all knew what Alena might have in her files. Especially regarding the marriage of Scott and Adrienne Goodman.

TEN

Abby was going to check military records she had access to using the library’s database, Queenie was going to go check on Lypsnk and what that was all about, Betts was going to call Alena for a cleaning gig so we could get into her office, and I was on my way to see Adrienne Goodman. Later me and the Laundry Club gals were going to reconvene by the campfire at Happy Trails since we had so much leftover food after the party was interrupted by a murder.

It was a perfect time for me to stop by Scott Goodman’s house and give my condolences to his wife. At least, that’s the way I was going to play it.

“Can I help you?” The woman at the door was young. She glanced right and then left as if she were looking for something or someone.

“Are you Adrienne Goodman?” I asked, thinking I could see a bruise mark on her left cheek when she’d looked around. But the screen on the door made it hard to get a good look.

He must’ve done a number on her because the makeup was so heavy.

She nodded.

Adrienne Goodman was much shorter than I’d pictured her. She had a short blonde bob, parted on the side. She wore a Normal High School Archery sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants.

“I’m Mae West.” That I should be honest dawned on me all of a sudden. “Your husband rented a camper from me.”

“You’re the one who found him.” Her eyes drew up and down my body.

“I did. I’m so sorry.” I felt the need to apologize right off the bat.

“Were you having an affair with him?” she asked me.

“Oh, no.” I shook my head profusely. “I’m dating someone,” I immediately responded. “Hank Sharp. Detective Hank Sharp.”

She looked around again before she shoved open the screen door.

“Come in.” She hurried me inside. “I’ve already told Detective Sharp everything they need to know. So I’m assuming you’re a detective?”

“No. Actually. I’m just the Happy Trails owner.” Coming out of my mouth it did seem really silly that I was here. Snooping.

“Then what are you doing here?” she shut the main door behind us and locked it.

“I was given an honorary degree in economics from the city and I’m doing a six week teaching class in your husband’s economics class. I actually took over as substitute today. I wanted to drop by and give my condolences.” I stepped in a little more to the front family room and noticed there were moving boxes all over the place.

There were empty bookcases, the end tables were cleared, and there was nothing on the mantle.

“That’s kind of you. I hope you don’t mind the mess.” She gave a faint smile. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked and had me follow her to the kitchen. She had a kettle on the stove and a mug on the counter with a tea bag string draped over the side of it.

“A Diet Coke would be good.” I really needed something to settle my stomach.

“Sure. They’re out in the refrigerator.” She pointed to the door. “It’s in the garage. Help yourself.”

In the kitchen there were moving boxes filled with dishes on the floor.

“Thanks.” I walked over and opened the door.

“You know,” she said to my back as I was going out the door. “You’re the only person from the school who’s been by here.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Mae?” I heard her call my name, but my eyes were too busy focusing on the red Mustang convertible I’d seen leaving my campground, squealing out of the parking lot of the school, and sitting at the back of the school just under an hour before Orlando Banks was murdered. “Mae?”

“Your car.” I turned around, rubbing my hands down my pocket to grab my phone. “I’ve seen it before.”

“I do drive it.” She laughed and walked out into the garage.

“Yes. But I saw it leaving my campground before Scott died. Yesterday morning you were talking to. . .” I gulped and took a few steps back when she took a couple towards me. “Stay right there.” I jerked my phone out. “I’ve got Hank on speed dial.”

“I was getting your Diet Coke.” She flung the door of the refrigerator open and stuck her head inside, pulling out a can. “Didn’t you want one?”

“Yes. But did you come by the campground the other day?” I asked.

“I came to the campground a lot.” She handed me the can and I followed her back inside.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket because Adrienne didn’t seem to think anything of me seeing her car.

“He was my husband. We were trying to work things out.” She shrugged and poured the hot water from the kettle over the tea bag in her mug. “Just because we needed space didn’t mean we weren’t trying.”

“Were you at the school this morning?” I asked.

“Yeah. You saw that?” she frowned and brought her mug over to the table. “Sit down. I like the company even though I know you’re here because you think I killed Scott.”

“I’m I that obvious?” I asked.

“At first, no.” The steam from her cup curled up into the air. “But your questions tell me yes.”

“Honestly, I stuck my nose into it because after word got out about his death at my campground, we have had so many cancellations. It’s not that I don’t trust Hank to get the job done, but they take their time and if I want to stay in business, time isn’t on my side.” The fizzy noise came out of the can when I popped the tab open. “Why did you speed away from the school this morning? And why did you come back?”

“Gosh. You see everything. Maybe you should be the detective.” She circled her finger around her mug.

“Listen. I know you don’t know me, but I can see all the makeup piled on your cheek. I know Scott knocked you around and I’m sure if there was a reason for you to kill him, it would be that, but if not, I’m trying to figure this out and any help you have would be great.” I paused to give her a moment to digest what I was saying to her.

“Scott had a way of sticking his nose into other people’s business. He always claimed he was doing it for the good of society.” She scoffed. “I went to the campground to tell him to come home, but he couldn’t stop talking about that darn Patterson kid.”

“I overheard them fighting.” I wanted her to trust me, so I gave her little bits of information to encourage her to tell me more.

“It wasn’t the first time. Their son isn’t the best at anything. He’s a good kid, don’t get me wrong, but all of these parents think their children are the best. They live in illusion dream world and Scott told the Pattersons that their son wasn’t going to get a passing grade during parent and teacher conference. The dad went nuts. I told Detective Sharp about it too.” She rolled her wedding band around on her finger. “That’s the type of person who killed my husband.”

“The bruise?” I asked.

“I accused him of cheating again when he said he wasn’t ready to come home. We’d had a great session with the counselor, and I had time to think about it. When I went to the campground, all he did was talk about the students and how he wanted to go back and get his rank one.”

“Again?” I asked and realized the bruise had only gotten bigger as we’d sat there.

“Scott Goodman wasn’t the most faithful husband and we moved here to get away from it all.” She lifted her hand to her face. “This was the first time he hit me in a few months.”

“What happened a few months ago?” I asked.

“He was passed over for a job.” She shook her head.

“At the school?” I asked, figuring it’d be easy to find out which one.

“No. In Swamp Canal where we’re from.” She said the name of the town where Alena had her private practice. “We go to counseling there too, so no one around here would know.”

“Did you say rank one?” I asked going back to her previous statement. “I didn’t know Scott was in the military.”

“Oh, gosh, he’s not.” She laughed. “That’s what you get when you’re a teacher and want to move up. It comes with a pay increase and since...” She stopped and looked down, placing her hand on her belly.

“Are you?” I didn’t have to ask if she was pregnant because when she looked up at me with big tears in her eyes, I knew.

“That’s why all the boxes are here.” She had a far off look in her eyes as the tears rolled down her face. “I can’t raise a baby alone now that Scott’s not here.”

“I’m sorry. I really am.” Her story was a tragic one all the way around. It broke my heart to look at her face and know he’d hit her when she was pregnant. It made me wonder if the world was a better place without Scott Goodman in it.

“It’s fine. Nothing new around these parts.” She patted her stomach. “Just another statistic. Beaten woman, goes back to husband again and again, stuck because he knocked her up. But now he’s dead. Looks like I’ll be living in a double wide the rest of my life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” I winked and she laughed when she realized I lived in my RV. “I’ve got to get going, but can I ask you another question?”

“If you’re looking for an alibi, I left the campground and headed straight to Alena’s house for a shoulder to cry on. Detective Sharp already checked it out.” She leaned back in her chair.

“No. It has to do with Orlando Banks. I saw you with him a couple of times at the school,” I said.

The tensing of her jaw didn’t go unnoticed.

“Orlando knew something, but I don’t know what. Scott kept mumbling about it at the campground when he was fussing about the Patterson kid. After Scott was killed, I figured I had to help, so I went to the school to talk to Orlando. This morning he told me to come back with five hundred dollars and he’d give me some information. I went back with two hundred and fifty because I pawned our old TV. He laughed and said that I was short on cash and told me to go sell my car.” She gnawed on the edge of her lip. “I don’t have anything else to sell. But he wouldn’t tell me what he knew.”

“Did you tell Hank this after Scott was killed?” I asked.

“No. I wanted to know for myself what he knew.” She eyeballed me. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No.” I confirmed. “I’m from Kentucky, but not here.”

“Well, around here, you don’t tell the cops nothing. As you can see, two people are dead now and there’s something bigger going on than an angry parent.” Her words confirmed exactly how I’d felt earlier.

An angry and protective parent might have a good motive to harm someone, but to kill them?

ELEVEN

“How much further?” I asked Hank, who was at least ten steps in front of me. Fifi and Chester, Hank’s dog, had long ago ran ahead of us on the trail.

“It’s just a little more.” Hank didn’t bother turning around to see if I was okay. “You’re going to love it, trust me.”

“Trust me,” I groaned. “I’ve heard those words before.”

This trail started on his parents’ property that just on the outskirts of the part of the Daniel Boone National Park that the government owned. He’d talked about his trail all winter long and how he made it as a kid. He talked about the most spectacular view in all of Normal. Now that it was spring, he wanted to show me. If I had to pinpoint why he wanted to go tonight, it was that the cases were on his mind and he wanted to walk and think. It was how he processed things. It was fine. A good hike with the dogs was good for the soul.

The sticks underneath my footsteps started to echo. I knew we were getting closer to a clearing when that happened. It was part of learning how to survive in a wooded climate. Sound was very important. The trickling of water was off in the distance and as I made the bend around the trail, I saw that I was right.

I stood there with my mouth wide open. Not only were we at the end of the trail, we were at the edge of the most beautiful rock formation overlooking a big canyon with a waterfall that was surrounded by lush Kentucky ferns, moss, and limestone. There were a few sprigs of spring on the trees, just enough to make them green. I could only imagine how gorgeous it was in full bloom.

“I told you.” Hank turned around with a huge smile on his face. The setting sun hit him just right, showing off the five o-clock shadow that’d crept up around his jaw line. He put the small cooler on the ground next to his feet and stuck his arms out to the side. He lifted his face up to the sky and inhaled so deeply I could see his back rise. “Take it in, Mae. That fresh air smell.”

Fifi and Chester were still running around the end of the trail trying to sniff every creature that had crossed its path.

“It’s amazing.” I took a few steps up to him and barely looked over the ledge, getting a sinking feeling in my stomach. “I’ll look from back here.”

I had never been a big fan of heights.

“How about a beer?” He sat down, his legs hanging over the edge, making me nervous.

“Why not have that back here?” I asked and took one of the bottles from him.

“Do I have anything to worry about with that teacher?” Hank asked. “When the officer interviewed him, he said that Mathew seemed intrigued by you and that most of his statement was about checking on you.”

“Absolutely not.” It was a ridiculous question, but oddly flattering. “He’s a nice person. But I’m no way interested and if I gave him that impression, I’ll be sure to fix that tomorrow.”

“Now that we got that out of the way.” He took a big swig of beer. “What did you find out this afternoon? I’m sure you went to the Laundry Club and told the gals everything.”

“I went to see Adrienne.” I took a drink and watched as the sun made its last appearance for the night behind a few of the park’s mountains. “Did you know she was pregnant?”

“Yes. It’s part of her alibi. I thought maybe she killed him because of his abuse, but she didn’t.” He put the beer down and leaned back on the palms of his hands, still facing the canyon.

“She has a red Mustang too. I’ve seen that car three different times.” I told him about the school incidents, and he didn’t seem to know about those. I also told him about Orlando sorta blackmailing her into giving him money in exchange for information.

“I’ll have to check on that, not that I think she killed Orlando but, you know, all the Is and Ts.” He was very thorough, a good thing given his job, but I preferred the shorthand version myself. “We did find a wad of cash on him, but I have to check the evidence sheet to see how much because I can’t recall the exact amount off the top of my head.”

“She said she’d been to pawn shops to get that money, so I’m guessing you can check their security footage to see if she was there at Scott’s estimated time of death.” I was surprising myself by how much I sounded like one of those TV investigators. “What did you find out about the Pattersons?”

“I looked into the boy first. He wasn’t even at the campground when Scott was murdered. He and another student, Beth something...”

I interrupted him.

“Beth Lambert?” I asked, knowing that she too was on my list to talk to again.

“Yeah. Those two kids are supposed to be the best and neither do well in school. Apparently, they’re transferring to another school for the rest of the school year.” This was news to me. “They were taking some sort of entrance exam.”

“They are? They were?” I tried to remember what all Beth had told me and then I remember she got cut off when we were in the class. “They don’t have to with Scott dead.”

Fifi and Chester finally joined us. Fifi curled up in my crisscrossed legs while Chester went to sit by Hank near the edge, also unaffected by the drop into the canyon.

“Huh?” He bent his elbows and twisted around to look at me.

“Rumor has it, if a teacher dies during the school year, the students in the class get an automatic A.” As bizarre as it sounded, you never knew about Kentucky education laws. They were all over the place.

“I don’t think that’s true.” He had a smug look on his face. “But I stopped by to see the Pattersons and they are the ones who told me that. I also stopped by to see the Lambert family, but they weren’t home.” He pushed off the palms of his hands and brushed them together. “I’ll stop by there tomorrow.” He picked up his bottle and took a drink. “In the meantime, do you think you could snoop around about Orlando? I’m not finding anything about him. He’s not married. No cell phone. I’ve got the phone records from school being subpoenaed, but I have no idea if any of the calls on there will be from him. His apartment has a couch, bed, and TV. That’s it.”

That’s not it. I ran my hand along my pants, feeling the Lypsnk pen still tucked in the back pocket.

“Yeah. I’ll snoop around.”

Only it wasn’t going to be only at school. but he didn’t need to know that.

We spent a few more minutes there talking about nothing, really. I didn’t want to ask about his parents because when I’d done that earlier, he’d mumbled something and it put him in an instant bad mood. Plus, I had no need to ask about Ellis. Those conversations left me thinking about Natalie and I really had no patience to hear about her. Now that I knew Hank was a little on edge about Mathew, I knew he had no interest in Natalie or he wouldn’t have asked me if he should be worried.

By the time we made it back to Hank’s trailer, the sun had set, and I knew the Laundry Club gals were probably already at the campground, ready for our fireside chat.

Dottie, Queenie, Abby, and Betts were sitting around the main firepit nearest the lake that was pretty much always lit. It was like an eternal campfire because I realized when one was going, people gathered. Having a place to gather built community, and I wanted to make Happy Trails a community for people who were tourists or lived in town.

In Scott Goodman’s case, he needed a place to live.

I beeped and waved as I drove past them to let them know I would join them soon. Fifi was worn out from the hike and trying to keep up with Chester. Competitive like her mama. She was happy to have some fresh kibble along with a stuffed toy and her cozy bed to settle in before I even finished changing out of my clothes and into sweats.

“Any news from anyone?” I sat down next to Abby with the notebook and got right to the point.

“Scott Goodman was definitely not in the military.” Abby started us off.

“Yes. I know.” I used the glow of the fire to see what I was writing in the notebook under Scott’s name in the victim column we’d already made. “I stopped by and saw his wife.”

“You did?” Betts gasped. “What did she say?”

“Let’s go around and see what everyone found out before I get into that.” There was so much to say that I didn’t want to miss anything now that Hank had truly given me full investigation privileges.

“I got all his belongings together and I can get those to Adrienne.” Dottie had stayed behind and worked in the Happy Trails office for me.

“Thank you. That’d be great.” Just another thing off my plate of to-dos.

“I went to Lypsnk and I really think we should go there.” Queenie jumped up from her chair and did a grapevine move in front of us. “Y’all sing and I dance. Plus, you won’t believe how they serve drinks.”

“Did you find out anything about Scott or Orlando?” I asked the most important question.

“They did know Orlando Banks because he’s a nightly regular. But didn’t recognize Scott Goodman’s photo that I had from the school Archery and Rifle Club calendar I’d bought for a fundraiser last year.” She sat back down.

“Betts?” I asked. “Anything about Alena?”

“Yes. She’d like me to clean tomorrow during the memorial service they’re having in the cafeteria.” She wiggled her brows. “I’m assuming you’re going to the memorial? There’s a luncheon the day after. I’m on the Bible thumpers telephone list still.”

The Bible thumpers were a group of women from the Normal Baptist Church who were involved in a lot of different things in and around Normal. Cooking food for families in a time of need was one of their tasks. Betts was on the telephone chain. Apparently, she’d gotten a call to make something.

“No. I’m going to go with you to Alena’s and I’ll definitely be going to the reception.” I gave a hard nod and continued to write down everything they were saying because I didn’t want to miss a thing.

My stomach growled thinking about the good homemade food.

“Adrienne is pregnant and moving back home to Swamp Canal. She and Scott were in counseling. He was going to start working on his Rank One license as a teacher. That’s what you overhead them talking about.” I pointed to Betts. “She didn’t say why they were arguing, but she did say that he’d cheated on her once before and that’s why they moved here. To get a fresh start.”

“Just because the scenery changes doesn’t mean he’d change. Scenery here is a lot more attractive than Swamp Canal.” Dottie pulled a cigarette from her pouch and put it in her mouth. “Why was he here?” She flicked the metal roller on the lighter. Her face glowed as she puffed the cigarette to life.

“They were trying to work out their problems. Apparently, he was obsessed with kids getting good grades and the crazy parents they have who want the teachers to fudge all the test scores so their kids will get scholarships.” It truly boggled my mind how these parents’ moral compasses were all out of whack. “When she came here during the party after my key to the city ceremony, she was going to ask him move back in, but he was so mad about the Pattersons that they got into another fight. That’s when he hit her.”

“He sure didn’t seem the type.” Dottie put her chin in the air and formed an O with her lips, pushing out smoke circles into the night air.

“She’s moving home so her parents can help with the baby.” I continued to write down everything in the notebook. “Hank told me that they are baffled about the two cases. There was no forced entry into the janitor closest and no fingerprints. It’s like the person knew to clean up everything or knew exactly where to stand and do the job without being discovered.”

“Sounds like an inside job to me. What about the parents? They are always in and out of that school.” Abby made a good observation.

“I can check the school log in the morning to see if any of the archery parents came, but Hank said that he already talked to the Pattersons. During the time of the murder, Sam Patterson, the son, and Beth Lambert were taking a test to transfer to a different school. Beth was in my class and Sam was the office aide when Orlando was killed, so they both have alibis, even though both have reason to kill Scott. But Orlando?”

The more I talked, the more the idea that Orlando was killed over something he knew made sense.

“Orlando knew a lot of things and Adrienne said she went to see him about something he knew about her husband’s death. He told her to bring him five hundred dollars for information the first time she showed up at school. When she came back in the afternoon, she only had two-hundred and fifty dollars, he told her it wasn’t enough and to come back when she had the rest.”

“Awful man!” Queenie snarled.

“It’s still no reason for someone to kill him.” Betts always saw a different side to everything.

“Hank did say Orlando lived a very basic life. He had very few things in his place.” I added to the conversation.

“Then what was he going to do with the money he was blackmailing Adrienne for?” Abby asked.

“Obviously, Orlando didn’t spend much time at home. We do know that he was at school for most of the day and his night was spent at Lypsnk, then maybe we need to look deeper into Lypsnk to see if he’d met someone there or something.” Queenie suggested and looked at her watch. “It seems to be that right now is a great time to go.”

“Anyone got a little Gloria Gaynor in them?” Dottie snuffed out her cigarette. “A little I Will Survive just might be what we all need.”

TWELVE

Lypsnk was nothing like I thought it would be. Neither was Swamp Canal. They were both much bigger than I expected.

Swamp Canal actually had a few buildings with some height. I wouldn’t call them skyscrapers, but several tall buildings dotted the skyline. It was a nice sized city with several independent restaurants, but mostly the chain ones found in every city. Lypsnk was one of many bars. A mural of vibrantly colored lips and microphones had been painted on the outside brick wall. There was a man sitting on a stool outside of the blacked out glass doors checking IDs for the over twenty-one bar.

“Welcome to the Swamp Canal crawl.” He used the flashlight to look at my license. “Mae West, really?” He shined the light between me and my ID a few times. “You don’t look like Mae West, but you do look over twenty-one.”

“It is me and my name is Mae West.” I jerked the license back, unsure if he had just insulted me by saying I was old.

“Go on in.” He waved all us in.

The hallway was painted black, but the same mural on the outside of the building had been painted on the inside but with iridescent paint, making it stand out and glow. There were purple lights everywhere and flashing all around. The howl of what sounded like a sick cat got louder and louder as we got to the main section of the bar where someone was on the stage, trying to belt out some song I didn’t even recognize.

“Booth, bar, or room, ladies?” the young woman dressed in a red cat suit and cat ears stood at the end of the hallway. Her face was painted white and there were diamond jewels around her eyes and down her nose where the painted on cat whiskers started.

“What’s the difference?” I asked, trying to get a better idea where we could not only talk, but make a plan to see who we needed to talk to about Orlando and his actions here.

“The booth is out there in the open. Drinks are served by various waitresses, and you have to pay attention to the screen to see when it’s your turn to sing. The bar, well, just sit at the bar. And the rooms are private, and you get to practice your singing as well as have a private waitress.”

“We’ll take the room,” Abby said and pushed her way to the front, making the decision for us.

“It’ll be fifty dollars.” She pointed to the sign. “We take cash only.”

“Ante up, ladies.” I turned around and stuck my hand out as we all dug into our purses to get the money we needed.

After we gave her the cash, we followed her across the main floor and down another hallway where she opened a door with a couch that ran along the entire wall.

“You’ll be attended to shortly.” She shut the door behind her.

“This is nuts.” I went over and stepped up on the mini stage with the microphone and TV behind me. There was a little sound system with directions on which buttons to push to order up a song to perform to the private group.

“Good evening, ladies.” The TV popped on and there was a man talking to us. “I’m Bo. What drink can I start you off with tonight?”

“I’ll have a Diet Coke,” Abby waved at him.

“I’ll have a water.” Betts seemed a little uneasy as she sat down on the couch with her purse hugged against her.

“Heck, I’ll have me four fingers of bourbon on the rocks.” Dottie lifted four fingers in the air.

“My kinda gal.” He winked and smiled.

“I’ll have whatever you’ve got on tap.” Not that I wanted to drink, but maybe a little sip would do me good if I was going to have to sing.

“Coming right up!” He danced on screen to the music playing through the TV before he disappeared again.

“Who’s up first?” Dottie was already on her feet.

“You look like you are.” I plucked the microphone off the stand and gave her the book that was labeled songs. “You tell me the song number and I’ll be the DJ.”

Dottie took the book and started to thumb through it.

“This would be a lot of fun for a private party.” Betts got up off the couch and seemed to be letting loose a little. “I’ve never been to something like this and it’s nice and private. Not everyone staring at you.”

I couldn’t help but think what she said had deeper meaning. It was hard to go through something so public like she’d just done with Lester and not feel like everyone in town was either judging you or keeping a close eye on you to see what your next move was.

“Then you can sing next.” I wiggled my shoulders and shook my hips.

“I’ll do number thirty one.” Dottie put the book down and flipped the button on the microphone on. “Testing, one, two.” Her lips were practically touching the thing.

I punched in the number and YMCA by the Village People popped up on the screen.

“We can all sing!” Dottie was so good about getting everyone involved.

All of us started to dance around in our own private room like we’d do at the Laundry Club since no one was watching, at least we didn’t think they were, and we each took a turn with the microphone singing part of the song.

We all fell on the couch in a giggle fit as part of the ceiling opened up above us. We jumped off the couch to avoid whatever it was coming out of the ceiling.

“Ladies, your drinks have arrived.” The man came back on the TV and this round tray on a cable slowly came down from the ceiling with our drinks on it. “Are there any appetizers I can get you?”

We tiptoed back over to the couch and looked at the tray.

“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Abby couldn’t resist. She snapped a photo and immediately started hash tagging every word, throwing it up on social media.

All of us stood there looking down.

“Ladies?” He trilled through the TV. “This is much better than the YMCA,” he teased.

“Wait! You saw that?” Betts jerked around.

“Not just me, ladies. The entire bar!” He winked and the TV switched to a view of the main bar where there was a wall of TVs that were numbered with the private room numbers. Our performance was on auto play.

“I’m gonna need something strong than a water.” Betts snapped her fingers and we all laughed.

“Listen, Bo. We need to see someone in here.” I knew we wouldn’t get anywhere with our questions about Orlando unless we talked to somebody in person.

“Sure thing, doll.” The screen went blank.

While we waited for someone to come to our private room, we laughed about the performance and enjoyed sipping our drinks.

“Bo said you’d like to see someone. Is there anything wrong, ladies?” The woman from the hallway that showed us to our room had come into the private room.

“Yeah.” Queenie grabbed her phone. Abby grabbed the notebook. “We are wondering if you ever saw this guy?”

“Orlando. Yeah. He’s usually here, but not tonight.” Her brows furrowed like she just realized he’d not shown up. “Actually, that really odd since he’s in the big contest.”

“What contest?” I asked, nudging Abby to write it down.

“The big karaoke contest where he can win five thousand dollars.” Her voice rose as she said the dollar amount. “He’s even been taking voice lessons.”

“Maybe that’s why he needed the money from Adrienne.” Abby shrugged and wrote it down. “It’s worth noting.”

“Can we get a list of people who entered the contest?” Betts asked. “One of them could be tied to the school or maybe the two murders are unrelated.”

“Murders?” The woman asked in a shaky voice. “Orlando murdered someone?”

“No, sugar, he was murdered,” Dottie’s words made the poor girl’s face go white as a ghost, almost making it glow like the rest of the white stuff in the building.

“Are you the cops or something?” she asked. “Because I can get a manager if I need to.”

“We are good friends of Orlando’s and we’re trying to bring his killer to justice.” Queenie lifted a fist in solidarity.

“Do you mind answering a few questions for us?” I asked.

“Not at all.” She eased down on the couch, still looking like she was in shock. “I’m not sure if I can help, but he was a really nice guy.”

“Was he ever here with anyone?” I asked and motioned for Abby to write that down in the notebook.

“He had various private rooms so I’m not sure, but there were a few people. A woman came on several occasions. There was a guy last week. And maybe another guy a few times. But mainly he was in the main bar, working on his songs.” She blinked a few times.

“She came here earlier, but no one knew Orlando.” I pointed to Queenie.

“The day staff is different than the night staff.” She told us, “Orlando came at night. Almost every night,” she repeated herself from earlier, making me believe she was having a hard time processing the news of his death.

“Was this guy one of them?” Queenie showed her the photo on her phone of Scott Goodman.

“He was here last week. I remember because Orlando tried to get him to sing and they actually got into a fight. That guy has a temper.” Her words connected the two of them outside of school. “Orlando said the guy was a bully.”

“What did he mean by that?” I asked, wanting her to elaborate.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything else. Our bouncer kicked the dude out.” She looked down at her fingers. “Do they have any idea why someone killed him?”

“No, but the video screens.” I pointed back towards the TV. “Do they keep the footage? Maybe show the others with him?”

“No. Everything here is live, and everything is paid for in cash. So there’s no tracing who comes in and out of here. But we have a ton of regulars, like Orlando is… was.” She stood up. “I have to get back to work. Please, let me know if I can help in any other way. I’m not sure how, but he was a really nice guy.”

“Thanks.” Our mood suddenly took a dive south, taking the song right out of us.

THIRTEEN

“You agreed to be the eyes and ears of the school.” Hank threw it back in my face that I wasn’t going to the memorial service. “That means go to everything the school is having, including the memorial service for not one, but two employees.”

“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?” I asked Hank while keeping an eye on the GPS directions on my phone. I was on my way to meet Betts after a good night’s sleep.

“Mae, nine out of ten times a killer returns to the scene of the crime in one way or another. They want to blend in and see if anyone is saying anything. They try to find out if anyone is onto them or maybe get a thrill out of being right there in the public view, but you aren’t there to listen and look like you said you would.” Now there was no doubt in my mind that he was mad.

“It’s not like I’m doing something that doesn’t have to do with the case.” I turned down a street that was one block over from Lypsnk, the place we were the night before. “I just pulled into the parking lot of the counseling office of Alena Russel in Swamp Canal.”

“Why are you there? Do you have an appointment?” he asked. “Isn’t she at the school?”

“She is at the school for the memorial. She asked Betts to clean her office today. Apparently, she splits her time between her personal and school clients.” I noticed Betts’s cleaning van was already there.

“You’re going to clean?” He asked flatly.

“No. I’m going to snoop and see what she has in her files about Scott Goodman. Adrienne Goodman seemed to think something more than angry parents was going on with Scott. I told you what she said about them going to counseling and I just want to know if he said something during the counseling sessions that confirms Orlando knew something.”

There was a long pause. Long enough for me to turn the car off, grab my bag with my notebook in it, and get out of the car.

“That’s illegal, and if you find something, it won’t be able to be used in court.” Such a pessimist.

“No. But you’ll be able to get a subpoena.” I opted to take Betts’s bright side approach. “Besides, I’m going to the reception tomorrow for them.”

There was a memorial today at the school with counselors, that’s why Alena was there all day, but tomorrow they were having a lunch reception where the Normal Baptist church bible thumpers bring all their homemade casseroles.

“You’re the best, Mae.” That made him happy. “Let me know what you find in the office.”

“Even if it’s illegal?” I asked.

“Not if you tell me I need a subpoena.” I liked how he thought. “Call me when you leave.”

We said our goodbyes and I walked into the building, opting out of the elevator to take the stairs to the second floor. Betts was waiting for me outside of the office door that had Alena’s name on it. She had a bucket with cleaning supplies and a vacuum.

“You look like a cat burglar.” She looked me up and down.

“Black on black makes me feel the part.” I drew my hands down myself, as if I were modeling. “I don’t plan on getting dusty like you.”

“It’s pretty easy to clean here.” She unlocked the door, pushing it open. “I’ll let you snoop. But you’ve got to empty the trash cans and take the garbage out to the dumpster. I’ll do the rest.” She dangled the keys in front of me, pointing to one specifically. “I’m going to unlock the room where the files are located just in case there’s a trash can in there.”

Instead of telling me directly to go in there and look, she did it on the sly, which protected her if Alena or anybody else caught me.

“Deal.” I grabbed the box of Hefty garbage bags out of her bucket and ripped one off the perforated seams before I walked around the office to find all the trash cans.

Betts had turned on the music, grabbed her feather duster, and got down to it while I found my way around the office, noting where the files where and getting all the trash cans emptied so I could get to snooping.

There wasn’t much trash in my garbage bag, and I’d emptied all the cans. It was odd. I imagine Alena had used the computer more than paper. The only room left was the files room where Alena’s printer, shredder, fax, coffee maker, and mini-frig were located.

“You saucy girl.” I couldn’t help but look in the frig where there was an open bottle of wine and a half eaten block of cheese.

Her files were in a long credenza. When I opened the drawer, they were filed in alphabetical order by last name.

“G, g, g, Goodman.” My fingers dragged down the file tabs. “Goodman.” I smiled when I saw the name neatly typed. I jerked the file out and took a seat on the floor in front of the credenza.

I flipped through the file, finding all the typical paperwork necessary to file insurance claim with the insurance company, employment history, personal things like why they are seeking treatment. When I read through it, there was nothing new from what Adrienne had mentioned. She was having a hard time with his affair and his temper. He was having a hard time trying to prove to her he wasn’t going to cheat again. It seemed like he wanted more in his life than just being a teacher and coach, but nothing specific was written down. I read into it the fact Adrienne had told me he wanted to further his education.

“Is that it?” I went through the files one more time. My eyes scanned the pages. Nothing. I looked around the room and noticed there were some cords on the floor that were plugged into the power outlet, but there was nothing on the other end.

“Laptop,” I wondered out loud as I realized that I had not seen an office, which made me think she used this room as an office and probably kept client notes on a laptop she took with her.

I returned the file back into its place in the credenza, turned the lights out, shut the door behind me and locked it.

“You don’t look satisfied.” Betts looked up. She was on her knees, running a rag along the baseboard in the waiting room. She had the faux leather chairs, magazine rack, and standing lamps pulled out into the middle of the room.

“Nothing.” I dropped the bag of trash and scratched my head. “I think she must keep everything on her laptop.”

“Did you empty all the trash cans?” She crawled over and lifted up the limp black plastic bag.

“Yep. Unless I missed an entire floor.”

“Usually there’s a lot more than this. But I’m generally here late on a weekend.” She crawled back over to finish the baseboards around the room. “I’ll be finished in about ten minutes if you want to throw that in the dumpster behind the building with her suite number on it.”

“Sounds good.” I picked up the bag and flung it over my shoulder before I headed out the door.

I decided to take the elevator this time since I had some time to kill and it took longer to take the elevator than run down the stairs. There were a few dumpsters lined up next to each other in the back of the building. Alena’s was the second one. There was a sliding door on the front and a big black plastic flap on top where the dump truck would lift its the mechanical arms to pick up the dumpsters, flinging them back to empty.

I slid the door open and an open bag fell out. Shredded pieces of paper tumbled all over the pavement.

“Crap on a cracker,” I groaned and threw my garbage bag in.

The bag that fell out was full of shredded paper, which I assumed wasn’t unusual in a doctor’s office due to the HIPPA laws and the requirement to keep patient information secure. As I was shoving the paper back in the bad, I noticed some of the pieces were looked like a page for a planner dated yesterday. There was something blacked out. I held it up to the sun but could only see the indents of what appeared to be an ink pen.

Like some sort of puzzle, I tried to gather all the pieces, putting this one particular piece in my pocket and threw the rest back in the bag.

“You’re going with me.” I tied a quick knot in the top of the bag and headed back to the front of the building where Betts was already waiting for me with her bucket of cleaning supplies and vacuum.

“Did you not find the dumpster?” She gave me an odd look and handed me a Lypsnk ink pen. “Found it in the waiting room underneath the chair.”

“I did and more.” I dragged the bag around my shoulder and wondered why there was a Lypsnk pen in her office. “Shredded papers.”

“She’s always got a bunch of shredded papers.” It didn’t seem to surprise Betts.

“Did she always rip the daily page out of her planner and mark things out?” I pulled the torn up planner sheet from my pocket and showed her.

That surprised her.

“I’m worried.” I licked my lips. “Every person that’s been killed has had a Lypsnk pen at the crime scene.”

“What are you thinking?” She slightly turned her head and looked at me out of the corner of her eyes.

“Do you think Alena is next?” I gulped. I held the pen in the air. “Like a calling card?”

FOURTEEN

“Hank,” I gasped into the Bluetooth of my car phone when he answered. “There was a Lypsnk pen at Alena’s office.”

“What does that mean?” He asked.

“I think it’s the killer’s calling card. Think about it.” I pushed the pedal down so my car would go faster. “I found one underneath the bed in the camper where Scott died. There was one on the ground in the janitor’s closet where Orlando died, and now there’s one in the school counselor’s private office.”

“She’s at the memorial. I’ll get there right now.” There was some shuffling in the back ground, and I heard some keys rattle. “You meeting me there?”

“On my way.” I pushed the button to hang up the phone and concentrate on the road. Was there really a serial killer at the school? Was it over grades or scholarships?

It all seemed so far-fetched and yet it didn’t. Was the killer going to each administrator in the school? Did Orlando tell the killer what he knew, and the killer is going to shoot them one by one?

There were two things I knew for sure. The killer had access to the school’s archery equipment, and they were linked to Lypsnk. Who were the woman and man the hostess there referred to?

“Call Queenie,” I spoke into the Bluetooth and kept my hands on the wheel. The closer I got to Normal, the more they sweat.

“Hey, this is Queenie and I’m at Jazzercise getting my groove on and you should be too!” She did a little hooting and hollering over the background club thumping music. “Come on down to the Normal Baptist Church! Follow the sound of the tunes and you’ll find me! Tata!”

“Queenie, it’s Mae. Can you please do me a favor after you get out of Jazzercise? I need you to go to Lypsnk to see if you can find that waitress that knew Orlando. We really need descriptions of the woman and man that she’d seen with him on a couple of occasions.” I talked so fast, I felt like I was running out of breath and time. “Also, if you can take that yearbook you found and whatever online photos you have of the staff at Normal High School and show her Alena Russell’s photo, the school counselor. Thanks! You’re the best.”

I didn’t know what it was inside me, but there was a feeling of urgency that I couldn’t put my finger on.

There were flashing lights in the parking lot of the school, and mourners there to pay their respects for Orlando and Scott were filling out the side of the school instead of the front where the parking lot was located.

When I scanned the lot, I noticed Hank was standing over a car with a big white tarp over it. I slammed on the brake and threw the gear into park. The sun beat down on me and the wind whipped through my hair as I ran across the lot.

“Hank, Hank,” I gasped and froze when he looked up at me, giving me one long blink. You know, the kind where the eyes were closed a second too long and it indicated something wasn’t right. “No,” I whispered, my shoulders slumped when my theory about Alena Russell came true.

“Mae! Mae West! We had an agreement.” I could hear Violet Rhinehammer screaming my name in the distance. Without looking to confirm, I was sure she was being held behind the police line. I didn’t turn around either. “Mae!”

“Right through the heart.” He jabbed his finger in his chest and glanced over my shoulder at the screaming lunatic. “I’ve got to get this case solved.” He looked down at me and ran his hand through his hair.

Both of us turned when we heard a car approaching. It was Colonel Holz and Natalie. Both had on business suits and looked very put together, unlike me in my cat burglar suit.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later?” He asked without really asking before he gave me a kiss on the cheek and took off towards the coroner’s car.

I sauntered back to my car and glanced one last time over my shoulder at the car with the tarp over it. My heart sank. Not only for Alena Russell, Orlando Banks, and Scott Goodman, but for Hank. He looked a little defeated.

I didn’t like that.

There was only one thing I could do. Ramp up the sleuthing. And calling the Laundry Club in for an emergency meeting was exactly what we needed.

And food. We definitely needed food. Good, greasy Normal Diner food to be exact. When I drove the couple blocks over to the Main Street, there was a spot in front of Normal Diner. I’d just texted all the gals and told Dottie to leave the campground with a sign on the door with our phone numbers and Henry’s, the campground handyman, in case someone needed something, before I went into the diner.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Ty Randal greeted me with that big beautiful smile of his.

If you looked up southern gentleman in the Webster’s Dictionary, Mr. Webster would have a photo of Ty Randal. Not only did his southern drawl mesmerize you, his blue eyes hypnotize you, and those shaggy blond curls of his beg you to run your fingers through his hair, the kindness in his heart that shined across his face and lit up a room made you want to be around him.

When I moved to Normal, I thought I wanted all those qualities in a man and had even dated Ty for a brief moment, but it was bad boy Hank and his hard ways that made my gears turn.

“I figured you were too big to come to our little hole in the wall now that you got the key to the city.” He ran the wet rag along the countertops.

“Never too fancy for some good homecooked meals.” I winked and sat down on one of the bar stools. My phone chirped a few messages, one after the other, with confirmation that everyone would be at the laundromat within the next twenty minutes. “I’m gonna need five of your greasiest burgers and fries.”

“The Laundry Club gals?” He winked at me.

“You know it.” I swiveled in the seat.

“Violet Rhinehammer has been in here looking for you.” He had a look that said he wanted me to elaborate.

“Yeah. I agreed to give her some clues about the cases if I found any out if she’d help with the bad publicity the campground has been getting from Scott’s murder. But I’ve not had time to catch up with her.” And I didn’t plan to, just yet.

“You’ve not changed.” He grinned. “I like it.” There was a time or two that he’d actually helped me with a couple of sticky situations when we’d dated. To say that Ty Randal knew me was an understatement, he really knew and understood me. He was the first guy in Normal to do so and that’s what made our friendship so special.

“Say, what’s going on with you and Abby?” I asked, changing the subject. After all, it was me who suggested the two started to date.

“Aww, just taking my time.” He pushed through the swinging door between the diner and the kitchen. “Last time I jumped in a relationship, my heart got broken.”

“Brutal. You deserve better,” I said, knowing he was talking about me.

“I’ll have your food up in a few.” He put his head in the pass through window and stared at me. I could still see a little hurt in his eyes from what I’d done to him, but it would’ve never lasted. That I knew.

I opened my bag and pulled out the notebook. I had time to write down what I’d found in Alena’s office and now with her dead, there were clues that were tied to all three murders that I wanted to write down. Not that I was going to forget them, but when I looked at them on paper, maybe I’d see something my brain wasn’t putting together yet.

Underneath the Victim category, I wrote Alena’s name along with arrow through the heart, school counselor, counselor to Adrienne and Scoot Goodman, and tried to shred the page from her planner that had something marked out.

I took the paper from my pocket and smoothed it out on the counter. Holding it up to the sun that was coming in through the wall of windows, I tried to see if I could see what was written underneath the scribble.

“Mae West.” Ellis Sharp stood in front of me, making a shadow on the paper. “You know, you could probably get a lot of acting gigs with that name alone. If you put a little relaxer on those curls, you’d be really pretty.”

“I’m sorry you don’t think I am up to standards for women today, but I don’t feel the need to conform to what your industry says I need to look like.” I wasn’t a big fan of my hair and sometimes I did straighten it, but it was exactly like my mother’s hair. That I was proud of.

“Two coffees.” She told Ty when he came out from the kitchen to take our order. “Ty Randal, I don’t see a ring on that finger, yet?” She winked at him.

“That’s because Mae West broke my heart.” He put his hands up to his chest. “By dumping me for your brother.”

She sat down on the stool with her jaw wide open. I couldn’t tell if she was acting or for real.

“Mae, Mae, Mae,” she tsked. “Why don’t you go back to Ty and let Natalie have Hank? They are meant for each other. Both work crazy shifts. Both love that wild side of life. You can be right here looking into the big blue eyes and don’t get me started on his hair.”

“She made her choice. Now she has to lay in the bed she unmade,” Ty joked, putting two mugs of coffee in front of us. “I know Mae likes cream and sugar. What about you?”

“A little bit of honey,” she licked her lips, making me half sick.

“Yeah, yeah.” He walked down the counter and slung the plastic bear bottle of honey down the counter. “Ellis Sharp, you were always a troublemaker. When you leaving?”

“That’s exactly what I want to know,” I muttered when I picked up the coffee mug.

“I’m not sure when. Mom and Dad had this crazy notion to move back. I’m a little worried they aren’t going to help me anymore with my career. Now that Hank seems to be serious with little miss Hollywood over here, Mom thinks she’s gonna be planning a wedding.” She wagged her finger. “Hanky is not getting any of my money for a wedding the bride is supposed to pay for. But from my understanding, you don’t have a dime to your name.” She twirled the stool around, her knees touching my leg.

“Rest assured, Hank and I’ve never talked about marriage or a wedding. Your mom is using that as an excuse to get you off their payroll and shame you for letting them pay your way.” I had about had it with her privileged attitude. “And if Hank did ask me to marry him, I’d have to think long and hard about it because I’m not sure I would want you for a sister-in-law.”

Ty’s blue eyes went from the shape of a pond to as big as the deep blue sea.

“My, my. You do have a little southern sass to you.” She used her tiptoes to twirl herself back to facing the counter where she rested her elbows on the edge, her coffee in her fingertips.

“Why do you want him to date Natalie so bad?” I asked.

“She knows someone in the industry that might be able to get me an agent that does big gigs. I don’t want to stay on my parents’ payroll. But I have no choice,” she griped.

“You do have a choice. Make your own money by getting a job,” I told her, fed up with her diva ways. “You have no idea what your parents have done for you.” I hadn’t intended to give her a lecture, but it just poured right on out of me. “My entire family was killed in a horrific house fire. I lost everyone and everything in just under an hour. I was placed in state custody because I had no one. Then I went to various foster homes until Mary Elizabeth Moberly wanted me. I was fourteen years old. Fourteen,” I said through gritted teeth, glaring at her. “A fourteen year old needs her mom just like a thirty year old and not take her for granted.”

It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to say, but Ty had brought the to go bags filled with the burgers and fries over to me. I took them from him, blinking back tears.

“Don’t bother with her.” Ty hugged me. That familiar smell of his still sent my heart aflutter, though I knew my heart was in love with Hank. “She’s always been a pill.”

“Charge her double for my coffee.” I smiled and walked out of the diner.

The sun was beating down. The closer to the summer months we got, the longer and warmer the days would be. It was strange not seeing the sidewalks packed with tourists with backpacks and hiking gear on. Normal had practically become a ghost town. This wasn’t good.

I didn’t even have to look to the left when I crossed the street to make it to the grassy median where it was usually packed with tourists laying in the grass, enjoying a cup of coffee or a favorite iced latte from The Trails Coffee Shop, or even look to the right when I crossed the street to where the Laundry Club was located.

The gals were already sitting at the table in the puzzle area of the laundromat. I was glad to see they’d gotten my text about clearing off the puzzles because I had a bigger puzzle for us to work on after we ate and about the run in I’d had with Hank’s sister.

“You have to take her with a grain of salt.” Dottie bit down into her burger. The mayonnaise dripped down her chin. She used the back of her hand to rub it off.

“Still, I want my boyfriend’s family to like me.” I handed her a napkin.

“We’ve got plenty of time to worry about her. We’ve got very little time to get these murders solved.” Abby had a worried look on her face. She was eating with one hand and scrolling through her phone with the other. “The posts about the murders are being shared across all social media platforms. From what I’ve heard at the library, tourists have cancelled reservations for hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and rafting.”

“Where did you hear that from?” Betts asked, squirting a ketchup packet on her fries.

“Violet came in looking for you.” Abby pointed to me. “She said you two were working on something together.”

“Yeah, well, she wants me to work on the murders with her, but I’m not.” I didn’t go into detail about our little agreement  because her story obviously hadn’t worked since there was even more cancelling going on.

“Betts gave us a quick rundown on what you two found at Alena’s office.” Abby put her phone down and took the notebook from the middle of the table, flipping it open.

“I heard on the scanner what happened to Alena as I was listening to your text message. I didn’t get over to Lypsnk yet.” Queenie shoved the burger in her mouth. “I’m starving after that Strike class,” she said with a mouthful of food.

“It’s okay. I pointed out to Hank that I thought there was a connection at Lypsnk, so I’m sure he’s got officers checking it out.” I still wanted to know how they were connected.

After we finished our food, I cleared the table and dumped the contents of the garbage bag of shredded paper in the middle.

“This is going to be our puzzle for the next day or so.” We all stood over the paper. Some pieces were smaller than others and some didn’t appear to have been shredded all the way.

“What on earth are we looking for?” Queenie asked, unzipping her fanny pouch and slipping on a pair of readers. She held up a piece of the shredded paper. “I can’t see a thing on here.”

“Here.” Dottie ripped the glasses right off Queenie’s face and put them on herself. “It says something about insurance.”

“We are looking for anything that looks like it would go with this.” I pulled the piece of paper out and smoothed it out on the table. “Alena had an appointment the day Orlando Banks was killed. It’s been scribbled out. Not just crossed out but scribbled out like she didn’t want anyone to see it. Plus, she ripped it out of her planner. Where is her planner? Do counselors usually rip things out of their planner?”

“It does seem odd.” Queenie had played tag a war with Dottie to get her glasses back.

“We need to go through all this paper and see if any of it lines up with this.” I put the somewhat intact piece in the middle like we did the cover of a puzzle we worked on at the Laundry Club, acting as if it were just a puzzle.

Over next few hours, we had coffee and talked about pretty much nothing, just passing the time as the five of us went through each piece of paper in the garbage bag that’d fallen out of Alena’s work dumpster.

“Nothing.” I flung the last piece of paper on the table.

“Do you think Hank got her planner from her car?” Betts asked.

“I don’t know.” I glanced over at Dottie. She was on a phone call taking the fifth cancellation since we’d been here. “But I’m going to go broke and have to sell the campground and go work at the greenhouse for Mary Elizabeth if we don’t find the killer.”

FIFTEEN

The day flew by with no word from Hank about Alena or what he’d found out about her ties to the case. The Laundry Club girls and I were so tired that we went our separate ways and decided to get back together after the reception at the school for the now three murdered employees.

I decided on wearing a long, black dress I’d picked up from the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop when I’d moved to Normal and didn’t have much to wear since most of the items Stanley had shipped to me were cocktail dresses, fancy shoes, and things I’d never wear hiking or wear to run a campground in.

Speaking of Stanley, I let Fifi out to potty one last time and decided to give Stanley a call. Stanley was my dead ex-husband’s attorney and he was well connected.

“Hi, Stanley. It’s Mae West,” I spoke into the answering machine. “I’m not in trouble so you can take a deep breath. But I know that you know a lot of high profile people. I was wondering if you knew of any Hollywood agents or agents living in New York that might take a look at a gal I know. I know you don’t owe me, and I owe you, but one last favor from your favorite pro-bono client? Please?” I hung up the phone hoping he’d get back to me.

Not that I wanted to help out Ellis. I wanted to help out Hank. And I didn’t like the fact that Natalie was actually bribing Ellis. That’s some sort of illegal, I was sure of it. If not morally illegal.

The school’s parking lot was full, and I had to park in the overflow lot they used for sporting events.

“Hey, Miss West.” Beth Lambert was getting out of her car. “Can you believe they didn’t cancel the ACT this morning?”

I slung my bag around my shoulder. I had the notebook and the piece of Alena’s planner, two things I wasn’t going to let out of my sight.

“I guess since it’s a national thing.” I had no idea how it worked. I only understood the testing to be universal across the states. “I think they only cancel it when the weather doesn’t permit the administrator to be there.”

“Yeah, well, if they don’t catch this killer, all the administrators will be dead.” She shook her head and flung her backpack over her shoulder.

“You know, we didn’t get to finish our conversation the other day. You were saying something about Mr. Goodman and your grades.” It was a perfect time to bring it up since we had a little bit of a walk.

“Like every other athlete, we want to continue to play in college, but it’s so expensive. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t try to cheat on the ACT, but they got caught before they took the test in my name. So technically, they can’t pin that on me. But they crossed off the names on the students who were supposed to be there and mine was the only one not crossed off. So everyone knew, by process of elimination, that it was my fault.”

She walked fast. I tried to go slow so we had more time to talk.

“I heard you were changing schools.” I threw it out there. “You and Sam Patterson.”

“Something stupid my parents want me to do. Sam’s parents too. It’s not a secret that the state schools have to fill a quota of in state students. They pick from all over and my chances of getting a scholarship for that as well as walk onto a team might lead to a sports scholarship.” She waved to a couple of other students. “Plus it helps out the school’s average and funding based on how many kids get accepted to college. So my parents think it’s a good idea.”

“How do you feel about leaving your friends?” I asked, thinking it would be tough.

“As long as I get to pull the bow, I’m all good.” She did a little hop before she jogged over to more kids that were walking in a side door of the school.

It felt like her parents knew what they were talking about and if she wasn’t that great at testing or even in school, if it was her only option, I guess it was a good decision. I didn’t remember it being so complicated when I was in high school. But did any of this have to do with the murders?

I had to put that in the back of my head and get through the reception before I could even think about where me and the Laundry Club gals would go from here on the investigation, if we went anywhere.

The office door was open when I walked in the front door. There were some noises coming from the teacher’s lounge. I went in there to see who was in there. When I peeked in, I saw Gracie and a few of the other women teachers comforting each other. I’d overheard one of them say they were heading to the police station after the reception to give their fingerprints to the police. Hank, I’m sure, was having all the teachers come down to give fingerprints to eliminate them as suspects. It only seemed natural.

It was a private moment and I didn’t feel right watching. I looked down the hall at the office Alena Russell used for the students. I found my legs walking me back there without listening to my brain telling me to stop. I put my hand on the handle and twisted it open.

There was fingerprint powder on a few things. I’m sure this was where Hank had spent most of his night since I’d not heard from him. And by the look on his face yesterday, he wasn’t going to stop for food or rest until he found out who the killer was.

“There you are.” Violet Rhinehammer was standing at the office door with her camera around her neck. “I feel like you’re ignoring me. As a matter of fact, I know you are. We had a deal.”

“I know, but I’ve been so busy with trying to take over as the fulltime substitute that. . .”

“Cut the bull.” She saw right through me. “Where’s the piece of the planner?”

“How did you know about that?” I questioned.

“All it takes is a twenty dollar bill and one hour of Jazzercise to get Queenie to talk.” She did a little Strike move like she was punching the air. “Twenty dollars is a rip off for a class. But the information was valuable.”

“You are ruthless.” My jaw dropped.

“I’m a reporter. I do what I’ve got to do to get the scoop. If that means do a Jazzercise class for a little conversation, so be it.” She walked in. “Now, partner, where is that piece of paper?”

“Here.” I took it out of my bag and gave it to her. “I’m at a loss. Maybe you can figure it out.”

“Easy.” She looked at it and handed it back to me. “Is it from one of those planners?” She pointed to the shelf where there were several bound planners.

“I don’t know. I just walked in.” I followed her lead and started pulling them from the shelf. “I guess with all the fingerprint powder, they are done. Besides, there’s no police tape up.” She looked around as if she were making sure. “You know, like the police tape I was standing behind yesterday when you were ignoring me.”

“Can we please let that go? I admit. I’m at a loss. I have no solid clues other than the Lypsnk pens.” I ended up telling her my theory about the pens being the killer’s calling card. I was happy that she didn’t seem to think it was a silly theory.

“What do we have here?” She bent down and looked at one of the planner more closely. “We are missing a page. And the paper looks exactly the same.” She held the planner up to me.

I put the piece of paper on top and compared it. It was one of those planners with a daily layout on one side and a notes section on the other side. More of a business planner than a personal one. Which would make sense due to her job.

“Look, there’s some indents where she scribbled out before she ripped it out.” I pointed to the next day in the planner.

“Let me see it.” Violet picked up the planner and held the next day page with the indents up to the light. “You can see a name was there.”

“Oh gosh,” I gasped. “You can.”

“Time to do some investigative work.” She walked over to the desk and laid the planner open to that page. “Do you have a pencil in that bag?”

“No. Just pens.” I hurried around the office to look for a pencil. “Surely, there’s a pencil in here. It’s a school office.”

Violet jerked open the top drawer.

“Got one.” She flipped the page over and lightly stroked the pencil over the area exposing more indents, making a name appear. “Mathew. It looks like Mathew.”

“Mathew Tillman?” I questioned. “I wonder if he had an appointment.”

“What’s his name and who is he?” Violet opened the notebook and used the pencil to write.

“Mathew Tillman,” I started to say.

“Did you want me?” Mathew asked, leaning on the door.

He made me and Violet jump.

“You okay?” he laughed.

“Mathew Tillman?” Violet pointed to him. “What did you want to see Alena Russell for? It’s in her planner.” She left out the part that it wasn’t really in the planner, but in a bag of shredded paper.

“She was the school counselor and I was meeting with her about how we were going to switch the student files to the new teacher taking my place before I left, but she cancelled on me at the last minute.” He didn’t hesitate to answer the question. “Why?”

“I found. . .” I started to talk but Violet rudely interrupted again.

“We are doing a piece in the paper about the murders and just looking in her planner to see who she had appointments with and try to figure out a pattern for her.” Violet smiled and tapped me on the shoulder with the pencil eraser. “I’ll see you after the reception. Don’t leave without talking to me.”

“Fine,” I said sternly and waited until she was out of the room to walk out with Mathew. “She also got a key to the city and will be taking over the school’s newspaper for six weeks.”

“Thank goodness I’m not in charge of that. I couldn’t handle someone so pushy.” He put his hand on the small of my back, making me walk a little faster to get it off on our way down to the cafeteria.

“I guess you’re leaving soon?” I asked since he’d mentioned the job and meeting with Alena.

“I was, but now they asked me to stay until the end of the year due to all the changes in staff.” Without him saying the murders, I knew what he was talking about. He pointed up front to a couple of chairs in the packed cafeteria. “Do you want to sit up there?”

“I’m fine right here for now. You go ahead. I don’t want to sit, but I’ll sit with you and the rest of the teachers at the reception part.” It looked like they were going to say a few words before it was time to eat.

I noticed a few of the Bible thumpers behind the tables that were set up for the food, Betts included. We made eye contact but didn’t say anything. All of us seemed to be at a loss for words. There was a sadness in the air with all the whispers and sniffles. As I looked around, I continued to repeat what Hank had told me about the killer returning to the scene of the crime and having a feeling of getting away with it.

I took a good hard look around. If the killer was here, they had a good game face on because everyone looked very somber.

I went over and stood in the long line in front of three tripod stands with three framed photos of the deceased. It looked like the photos were taken from the yearbook. There was enough space on the matte around the photo to sign it. Each person in the line went from frame to frame to sign.

The lady in front of me passed me back the pen.

“Thank you,” I said very softly because it looked like the preacher was going to say something to the crowd and I quickly signed the three frames.

“My pen?” The woman held her hand out. “I let you borrow my pen because there’s not one up here.”

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t realize it was hers and that I was still holding it. When I handed it back to her, I noticed it was from Lypsnk.

“It’s a shame,” she said and took her pen, putting it back in her bag.

“Shame?” I gulped.

“The three deaths.” She sighed.

“They are about to start. I saved you a seat.” Mathew touched my arm and I jerked around.
“Are you okay? You seem jumpy.”

“I’m fine.” I noticed the lady was gone. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.” I continued to look around him for the woman. “I’ll be right back,” I told him and shoved past him when I saw her walk out the back of the cafeteria.

I left him standing there and hurried down the makeshift aisle they’d made with the chairs and tables from the usual cafeteria layout where the kids would sit and eat during the school day. The hallway was empty, and the woman wasn’t around, but the piece of paper on the office door was swinging like the wind from the door to the outside had shut. Then the door clicked.

My mind reeled. The woman had left. Was she the killer? Was she the woman that the hostess had mentioned who had been at the karaoke bar with Orlando?

The sound of a car door slamming caught my attention before the black car pulled out of the spot and zoomed out of the parking lot. I ran as fast as I could to get to the overflow parking lot without falling down because I was trying to keep my attention focused on the black car and where it was going.

Luckily, downtown Normal and the couple blocks where the school was located had a lot of one way streets and there weren’t too many turns once I got into my car. I was able to catch up with the black car.

I kept a safe distance and followed the car out of the downtown area.

“Call Queenie,” I told the Bluetooth and hung up when her voicemail answered. I went down the line of my Laundry Club gals, calling them, but none of them answered. I even tried Hank. No one. No one was available and I was glad I wasn’t in real trouble.

“Call Violet.” I was desperate.

“Where are you? I’m walking all over this stupid school and getting all sorts of bad memories,” she spat.

“Listen, long story short, I’m headed to Lypsnk. There was a woman at the reception I didn’t know, and I used her pen to write my name on the frame.” I wasn’t sure that’s where the black car was headed, but we were definitely heading out of town towards Swamp Canal, leaving me to believe we were going to Lypsnk where her pen was from.

“I’m on my way.” The phone went silent.

SIXTEEN

“Hey you!” I screamed from the open window in my car when the woman beat me to the front door of Lypsnk.

She turned around, lowered her eyes and then opened them.

“You stay,” I put my finger up and said even though I knew she couldn’t hear me. She didn’t bother waiting. She shook her head and walked inside of the building.

I threw the car in park and didn’t even care that I wasn’t parked in a real spot. The music from the Lypsnk could be heard from outside.

“Who on earth goes to karaoke during the day?” I questioned when opening up the front door.

The bouncer was different and sitting inside on the black stool. He barely even looked at me before he waved me in.

It didn’t seem to be as dark this time and surprisingly, there was a lot of people here.

“Booth, bar, or private room,” a young women in a cute pig costume stood at the hostess stand. The woman I was following was thumbing through her phone and stood next to her.

“You!” I yelled over the music. “I need to talk to you.”

She looked at me like I had two heads before she started tapping on her phone.

“Did you follow me here?” she asked all innocent.

“I did. When I borrowed your pen I couldn’t help but notice it was from Lypsnk.” I watched her chin draw upwards, shoulders back as she took a firm stance. “Did you know that all three of those victims had a pen from here? How did you know them?”

“I told you the other night how Orlando came in here all the time.” As she talked, I realized she was the young woman in the cat costume the night before. “I was only giving my condolences.”

Her phone buzzed and she fiddled with it a little more.

“You said you saw Orlando here with a woman and a man a few times. Can you describe them?” I asked. “Excuse me,” I interrupted her oh so important texting.

The other hostess looked at her and they gave each other a shrug.

“I’ll give you five minutes.” The woman held her hand up in the air. “Follow me.”

“Are you a manager here?” I asked.

“No. My fiancé and I own it. He’s only here on the weekends. He’s a very busy guy, so I run it. I’m generally here at night because it’s busier at night and during the day my staff consists of mothers that want to be home at night with their families.”

I followed her around the bar and through a door marked Employees Only. We passed a bathroom and a break room before we reaching a door marked Office. At the end of the hall was another door that was marked with a red exit sign.

“This is a really neat business. It’s a lot of fun.” I thought I’d be nice to try to get as much as I could out of her in the five minutes.

“I went to Chicago with a few friends.” She wiggled her finger. “We went to a karaoke bar a lot like this one. I came back, quit my job, got a few investors, and opened it.”

She sat down behind a modern glass desk. There was a glass frame photo on the desk along with a Mac computer. Very streamlined and clean.

“Please sit.” She gestured to one of the two acrylic white chairs in front of the desk. “Five minutes starts now.” She pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and looked at her watch.

“Did you overhear Orlando call the woman or man by name?” I asked.

“The woman was the dead woman,” she hesitated. “I didn’t know it was her until I saw her photo today.”

“Alena?” I gasped.

“She came in a few times with him. I think they were dating or something.” Her words started to put pieces of the murder puzzle together in my head.

“Why do you think that? Were they kissing? Hugging?” My mind started to form yet another theory.

“I never did see any affection, but when the other guy that died came in to talk to Orlando, he said that when he told the administration about the affair, Orlando would get fired or something.” She was confirming everything I’d been formulating.

“Oh, gosh.” I sighed and took out my phone.

“I’ve got to go.” She stood up. “Wait.” She walked around her desk while I was getting up. “Do you think that the coach was blackmailing Orlando and Alena over something?” she asked. “I did overhear something about how Alena wanted the coach to fudge some sort of test.”

“But who killed Alena?” I asked myself out loud. “If Alena killed both men, who killed her?” I tried to make sense of this theory.

Until my thoughts were interrupted when the door to the office opened and Mathew Tillman pushed Violet through with a gun to her back.

“Fancy seeing you here.” He shoved Violet towards me.

“What are you doing, Matt?” the woman asked in a harsh tone. “I stuck to the story."

“She stuck her nose in the story along with that one.” He wiggled the gun between me and Violet.

“What’s going on here?” I put my hands up in the air. “Mathew?”

“You’re Callie Triplehorn, the double threat.” Violet’s jaw dropped. “You won state a few years ago. I remember them reporting on you. You were the best archery and rifleman, woman, that had ever come out of Normal.” Violet let out a gasp, her eyes grew. “You killed them.”

“What is going on?” I was so confused.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on here.” The woman jerked the gun away from Mathew and pointed it at me.

“Callie, give me that.” Mathew put his hand out.

“Tie your little girlfriend up.” Callie didn’t take her eyes off of me. “There’s zip ties in the top drawer of the cabinets.”

“I’m not really sure what’s going on here.” I looked between the two of them, still confused.

“Let me tell you,” Violet said and kept her hands in the air. “Little Miss Bow and Arrow is the sharp shooter who killed Scott Goodman, Orlando Banks, and Alena Russel.”

“Shut up!” Callie screamed. “I can’t think. This wasn’t how this was supposed go down, Mathew. Get the zip ties and bind their wrists so we can discuss this. You’re the one who messed this up.”

“I’ll go get some duct tape.” She gave Mathew the gun back. “Zip ties,” she barked at him before she left.

“What’s going on?” I asked with big doe eyes. “I thought we had a connection.”  I tried to play upon the fact we’d gotten close at school.

“We had a connection because you were snooping, and I had to keep you close.” He walked over to the cabinet and got out the long, clear zip ties. “From the first day you walked into the school office, I knew you were trouble.” He jerked Violet around. “Then you.”

“Whatever. I’m a good reporter and when I hacked into Scott’s cell phone,” she looked over at me and continued, “remotely, I might add, I found all the back and forth emails he had with the state board.”

“You’ll be the first one I shoot,” he told Violet, yanking the zip tie so tight, she yelped.

“Whatever! You liar! You don’t even have a teaching degree!” she yelled. Too bad the singing coming from the karaoke lounge was so bad and awful, you couldn’t hear anything above it. “You won’t shoot me. Have you ever shot a gun?”

He threw her to the ground.

“You don’t have your degree? Masters? Doctorate?” I tried some southern charm, pretending that I was hurt and concerned. “But your superintendent job. . . requires a doctorate,” I muttered when I realized I was in a mess of trouble here.

Mathew didn’t answer me. He gave me a long stare before he jerking me around and grabbing my wrists.

“He doesn’t have any degrees and let students cheat on their ACT when he was the administrator. The school had received a lot of funding due to the great scores on the standardized tests, making it one of the best schools in the state. He used that as a stepping stone to pretend he’d gotten his doctorate in order to get the superintendent job,” she spat.

“I’m warning you.” He was a lot gentler on me when he started to put the zip tie around my wrists.

“Or what? Whether you kill me or not, the world will find out somehow that you are a fraud. Scott Goodman couldn’t be fooled. When the test scores on the ACT started to go down after Scott was appointed to administer them and the school stopped getting all the top notch funding, Scott knew something had happened. After all, it wasn’t like the students weren’t getting the same instruction as the previous ones. When he questioned the students and the state education board in Frankfort, he put two and two together.” She grimaced when she moved.

“And you let Callie kill them?” I looked up at Mathew after he’d finished making sure the zip ties on my wrist were tight, but not circulation cutting off tight. “What about Alena and Orlando?”

“Orlando knew everything happening in that school and he needed money to join this karaoke contest. H was blackmailing you. Am I right?” she asked with a snide look on her face. “I told you I’m a good reporter and I didn’t get a key to the city for looking pretty.”

“You won’t look pretty after I get done with you.” Mathew jumped down in her face, got nose to nose with her. “In fact, they won’t recognize you when they find your lifeless and cold body.”

“You’re the one who marked out your name on Alena’s planner and when that wasn’t good enough, you tried to use her shredder to shred it.” Violet was doing a great job of investigating, but it was sad to see all her work probably wouldn’t go any further than these four walls.

While she continued to bate Mathew, I tried to come up with a plan to get us out of here, but nothing was popping into my jumbled mind. It was like someone had taken the junk drawer in my kitchen and dumped it into my brain.

“She confronted you about Scott and Orlando, didn’t she? She and Orlando were dating, and he told her everything. You knew you had to get rid of her and him. But guess what? Scott left a long trail for everyone to see, so if you kill me and Mae, they’ll still figure it out.”

“We’ve got to get out of here. The cops are here. That one cop.” Callie rushed into the door with a big roll of silver duct tape.

That one cop? Did she mean Hank? My cop?

The roll made a screeching noise as she pulled a long strip and then ripped it off. She put it over top of Violet’s mouth first.

“That should shut her up.” Mathew laughed and grabbed Violet by the arm, jerking her up to her feet. “You take her out the back door. My car is parked there, and we can head out to one of the canyons in the Daniel Boone Park.”

“Finally.” Callie groaned and took pleasure in taking Violet out of the room.

“Mae, I never meant for this to happen, but you’ve got to understand why I have to get rid of you.” Mathew must’ve been trying to make himself feel better, but it wasn’t doing me any good.

“You don’t,” I begged. “I’ll never tell anyone. You can just move to the new school and no one will ever find out.”

“I can’t risk that with the other parents.” He knelt down and looked me in the eyes. “I’ve already got Beth and Sam on board to switch schools, do well on their tests, and get the scholarships they deserve. Not only will I bring new funding to the new school as the new superintendent, but I will be a hero in everyone’s eyes. I’ll be bringing the school system back to life.”

“I guess I don’t understand why you killed Scott Goodman.” I really was trying to buy some time in hopes to come up with a plan or for him to find some sort of empathy. Or if Hank were to snoop around the karaoke bar, maybe he’d find me.

“He had it out for me. He was so passionate about the stupid classroom, he didn’t care about the school’s archery and rifle team winning. He didn’t care if we didn’t get the state funding for good test scores. He’d say they needed to really learn and make a difference in the world and not get things handed to them. Then he snooped, found out that I’d lied on all my applications for the superintendent job, and threatened me. Just like you. You snooped and I’m sorry.” He wasn’t really sorry, or he’d let me go.

“I don’t care about those kids,” I blurted. “I hated school and I was only there for the stupid key to the city. You let me go and I’ll never see you or talk about you again. Ever.”

“Matt, come on,” Callie said through gritted teeth after she popped her head into the door. “Put the duct tape on her mouth now and get her out of here. I’m not sure how long they are going to be able to hold those cops off.”

“Sorry, Mae.” He jerked me up by the elbow and put me on my feet. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“But,” I started to say, but he ripped a piece of the duct tape off the roll and smoothed it over my mouth, making me unable to yell for Hank once we were in the hallway, but he wouldn’t’ve heard me anyways.

The music was so loud, and the walls were thumping. It was a perfect place to kill someone.

The door to the outside was the gateway to the outside world and if I was going to escape, it had to be then. So I had two choices. I could either listen and go with them, hoping they wouldn’t kill me once they got me and Violet to the canyon, or I could try and run, risking to get shot and killed.

Thinking the second choice was a better option, I took a deep breath as soon as we walked under the exit sign. I released that deep breath, then sprang into motion like a sprung bear trap, kicking Mathew as hard as I could in his testicles. Doubled over, he reeled away, holding his stomach.

I took off running like an unleashed hellhound. My goal was to stay out of the morgue drawer, and this was my only option.

“Stop her!” I heard Mathew call out to Callie. She was bent over the trunk of her car, where I bet she’d put Violet.

I just kept running with my hands behind my back and my face up to the sun, praying they weren’t going to shoot me.

I rounded the corner to find a caravan of police cars lined up in the front of the building. Even though they couldn’t hear me, I still tried to scream. The sound of a deep moan caught the attention of an officer.

“Hey!” He punched the guys next to him and they came running.

“They are around the corner. Callie and Mathew!” I tried to move past the pain of them ripping the duct tape off my mouth and the fact my shoulders felt like they were coming out of their sockets, but Violet was in danger. “They have Violet in the trunk of their car. They are going to kill her. Throw her in a canyon.”

One of the officers took a knife from his utility belt and ran it across the zip ties like a hot knife through butter.

About that time, squealing tires peeled around the corner from the back of the building, nearly knocking down the officers running towards them.

What seemed like a flash, the officers were in their vehicles, sirens blaring and chasing after Callie and Mathew.

SEVENTEEN

“It was a bonafide showdown. The cops were chasing so close behind, I could see the flashing lights through the holes in the back of the trunk.” Violet had finally gotten her day in the spotlight.

All the big time network morning shows had picked up the alert about the reporter who found out too much and was about to get knocked off, barely escaping with her life. I was hardly mentioned, which was fine by me. It was exactly what she wanted, and I was happy to be out of the spotlight for once.

“Look at her.” Dottie sat on the couch of the Laundry Club with a donut from the Cookie Crumble in one hand, a hot cup of coffee in the other, and a cigarette tucked behind her ear. “Violet Rhinehammer thinks she’s some movie star.”

“Mmmhmm. . .” Queenie’s right brow drew up. “We’ll never hear the end of this.”

“Never hear the end of what?” Hank Sharp walked through the front door of the Laundry Club, the bell overhead dinging his arrival.

“You’re just in time to listen to Violet Rhinehammer’s big television interview.” I couldn’t help but smile and be happy for her.

New York City was behind her as she told her story. Her eyes were bright, and her smile sparkled. I knew exactly where she was. I’d walked by it many times when I lived in New York. It was good to see she was getting her dream come true. If only for a few minutes, anyways.

“She’s gonna have to sign too.” Dottie had taken and ink pen from her bosom and Hank hesitated, giving it a good look. “What? It’s a pen and a place to stick it. You want the can ham camper or not?”

“Can ham?” I asked, knowing she was referring to the nickname for the little travel trailer camper Scott Goodman had stayed in.

“Yep. I did it.” Hank took the pen, sat down on the edge of the couch and signed the paperwork Dottie had sitting on the coffee table.

“Did what?” I asked. I had totally missed something between him and Dottie.

“I left my parents’ property. I listened to Granny and decided it was high time that I lived for myself, so I’m renting the camper at Happy Trials.” He smiled really big. “Isn’t that great, honey?”

“Great,” I choked out between my closed tooth smile.

“We’ll see each other all the time. It’ll be like we live together, but not.” He was all sorts of serious. “This way I can keep an eye on your snooping ways. Keep you out of trouble.”

“Trouble? You told me to snoop. I almost got killed because of you.” I teased and motioned for Dottie to scoot down a little so there was enough room for me to sit down next to Hank.

“You don’t seem too happy about me moving into the campground.” I guess he could read my face.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy, but I owned the campground and if something happened between us, like a breakup or something, then it wouldn’t be good. It was a step that I wasn’t sure I was ready to take.

“Mae?” He leaned back to take in my full view. “Are you upset?”

“No. I think it’s great.” I put my arms around him and hugged him, resting my chin on his shoulders. I gave him one last squeeze and pulled away.

“It is gonna be great. Chester and Fifi can play. We can have supper together at night. . .” Hank rambled on about all the good things that he saw happening in our future.

The future.

Something I’d never prescribed too and something that was unfamiliar to me. I guess it was time that I took a leap of faith and listened to my heart, not my head.

“Yeah. It’s gonna be great.” I looked up at Violet Rhinehammer and suddenly wished I were back in New York City.

RECIPES AND CLEANING HACKS FROM MAE WEST AND THE WOMEN OF

NORMAL, KENTUCKY and HAPPY TRAILS CAMPGROUND

RV HACK #1

GRIPPY RUBBER MATS

You know the grippy mat we put under area rugs so they don’t slide all over our floors, you can use them in the RV so things won’t break!

Cut the rubber mats into small squares and put them between dishes, inside pots and pans to protect the cooking surface while in transit and in cabinets so things don’t shift or slide around.

Place them under DVD players and electronics, in cabinets, and underneath small indoor mats and rugs. Cut them the same shape as lamp or canister bottoms so they don’t slide around on the counters.  They can even be cut into a small square to use for opening new jars of pickles.  They also are great for putting under pet beds so they don’t slide off the furniture.

Spring Lemon Drops

2 teaspoons lime juice

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons lime zest

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 cup white sugar

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Combine the 2 teaspoons of lime juice with the milk, let stand for 5 minutes.

3.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy.

4.Beat in the egg, then stir in the lime zest and milk mixture.

5.Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda, blend into the creamed mixture. 6.Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.

7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are light brown.

8. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

9. To make the glaze, stir together the remaining lime juice and sugar. Brush onto cooled cookies.

RV HACK #2

Badge Holder Clips

You know those clear badges you get from work, the ones that hold your work ID or the ID when you go to a conference? They have those snap clips so you can clip it on your belt or the pocket of your shirt. Well…these are awesome for holding the strings of lights we campers LOVE to hang all over our RVs and campers!

Plus, they are easy to remove and not permanent! Go ahead! Give them a try!

COACH’S CAMPFIRE CHILI

Ingredients

1 lb. pork loin

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage

1 onion

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

1 cup cilantro

1 can black beans

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 cups water

Directions

1. Cut the pork loin into bite-sized pieces. Dice the onion. Chop the cilantro. Rinse the black beans.

2. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shiny. Add the pork loin and Italian sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until browned.

3. Add onion, chili powder, cumin, and oregano to the pot. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring
occasionally.

4. Add black beans, water, tomatoes, and half of the cilantro. Season with salt and stir to
combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

5. Stir and move directly from heat to a lower heat and cook for 4-6 hours.

RV HACK #3

GET LOTS OF VINEGAR

Vinegar can also be adapted into many different homemade RV cleaners and adaptations. For instance, if you have scratches in the wood on your dinette or kitchen cabinets, you can fix them quickly by mixing a quarter cup of vinegar with three-quarters of a cup of olive oil. Rubbing the mixture over the scratches should mask them well, if not fill them in entirely! It’s like your very own homemade magic eraser.

Best of all, vinegar is incredibly cheap, and it means you don’t have to worry about purchasing and storing a ton of different bottles of cleaning solutions. And if there’s anything as good as (or even better than) saving time on cleaning your RV, it’s saving money on the project, too!

COACH’S CAMPFIRE PIZZA!

Get that campfire going!

What you’ll need:

Dutch Oven  (A cast iron pot with lid is essential for making gourmet pizza over a campfire.)

Your pizza toppings

The dough – Make the dough at home or camp with three basic ingredients: flour, water and yeast.

Hack: Use your water bottle as a rolling pin.

When you've got glowing coals:

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your Dutch oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Grease you oven with high-heat oil.

3. Slide your pizza into the Dutch oven.

4. Put the lid on and cover with hot coals.

5. Check every five minutes by carefully opening the lid.

6. If the top is nicely browned, it's done and time to eat!

Read on for a sneak peek at the Tonya Kappes’s

Bestselling Killer Coffee Mystery Series

SCENE OF THE GRIND

Now available!

Welcome to Honey Springs, Kentucky where the gossip is as hot as the

coffee is served at the Bean Hive Coffee Shop!

One

Drip, drip, drip.

There is something about coffee that brings people together. And they don’t even have to like coffee. Is it the smell? Is it the comforting sound of the drip? I don’t know. All I did know was that my new coffee shop in the touristy lake town of Honey Springs, Kentucky, The Bean Hive, was opened for business.

“Seven a.m.,” I muttered after I’d glanced up at the clock and drew my eyes back out the front doors of the coffeehouse located in the best spot on the boardwalk that ran along Lake Honey Springs.

The boardwalk held fond memories for me since I used to spend my summers here with my Aunt Maxine. Maxi for short. For the past year my life was stalled in a little bit of what I’d call a fork in the road, so after hearing Aunt Maxi talk about all the revitalization of the boardwalk and not really knowing what to do, it sounded like a splendid idea to open a shop. At the time.

The annual Honey Festival was in a couple of days and all the vendors and the new shops on the boardwalk were holding a grand opening. I’d already had the coffeehouse ready to open since when I moved to Honey Springs a few weeks ago, I made it a point to no longer sit around resting on my laurels, so I opened the shop a few days early. Which might not’ve been the best business plan since my only customers had been a few stragglers here and there. Mainly construction workers who were working day and night to get the shops ready for the big festival.

The Bean Hive was located in the middle of the boardwalk, right across from the pier. It was a perfect spot and I was beyond thrilled with the exposed brick walls and wooden ceiling beams that I didn’t have to touch. Luckily, Aunt Maxi owned the place. The rent was a little steep, but I’d watched a few DIY videos on YouTube to figure out how to make the necessary repairs for inspection. I couldn’t be more pleased with the shiplap wall I’d created myself out of plywood painted white to make it look like real shiplap.

Instead of investing in a fancy menu or even menu boards that attached to the wall, I’d bought four large chalkboards that hung down from the ceiling over the L-shaped glass countertop.

The first chalkboard menu hung over the pie counter and listed the pies and cookies with their prices. The second menu hung over the tortes and quiches. The third menu before the L-shaped counter curved listed the breakfast casseroles and drinks. Over top the other counter the chalkboard listed lunch options, including soups, and catering information.

On each side of the counter was a drink stand. One was a coffee bar with six industrial thermoses with different blends of my specialty coffees as well as one filled with a decaffeinated blend, even though I clearly never understood the concept of that. But Aunt Maxi made sure I understood some people only drink the unleaded stuff. The coffee bar had everything you needed to take a coffee with you. Even an honor system where you could pay and go.

The drink bar on the opposite end of the counter was a tea bar. Hot tea, cold tea. There was a nice selection of gourmet teas and loose leaf teas along with cold teas. I’d even gotten a few antique tea pots from Wild and Whimsy Antique shop, which happened to be the first shop on the boardwalk. If a customer came in and wanted a pot of hot tea, I could fix it for them or they could fix their own to their taste.

A few café tables dotted the inside along with two long window tables with stools butted up to them on each side of the front door. It was a perfect spot to sit, enjoy the beautiful Lake Honey Springs and sip on your favorite beverage.

Which just so happened to be where I was sitting this morning enjoying the view until I realized I’d been here since four a.m. to get the casseroles made and coffees brewed before the opening time of seven a.m. and no one was here.

“You did open a little early,” I said to make myself feel better and hooked my finger in the mug of freshly brewed coffee.

Curling both hands around the mug, I leaned my hip up against the counter and took a sip. Even if no one showed up today, it was better than where I was a year ago. My chin lifted as the first rays of sunshine popped through the large front windows. I closed my eyes and let the breaking of the dawn fill my soul.

It was spring in Kentucky and the leaves were starting to get their deep green color back, filling in the tree line along the lake. A few fishing boats had trolled by since it was a no wake zone. Good fishing started around five a.m. around here and they were usually back by seven. At the far end of the pier was a marina with boat slips and a really neat little restaurant, The Watershed. It was probably the fanciest restaurant in Honey Springs.

With my mug in my hands, I decided to get a whiff of the fresh air.

The bell dinged over the front door when I opened it. Cool air swept in reminding me that spring in Kentucky was cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. Dressing was always a problem, but with the few uniform pieces I’d picked to go with my black pants and sensible shoes I’d handle the change easily. Besides, the black apron with The Bean Hive logo was amazing and I’d gotten several of those.

Today I’d decided on the thin long-sleeved crew neck and had tied the apron over it.

Since there wasn’t anyone in the coffeehouse, I’d decided to stroll to the right of the coffeehouse on the boardwalk and do a little window shopping, even though most of them weren’t opening until the grand opening this weekend. I walked all the way to the end and looked as I made my way back, enjoying my cup of coffee and the morning sunrise as it dripped in many colors in the lake. It was funny how water could turn the orange and yellow rays different colors as it mirrored in the lake.

The shops were really coming along. All the shops were butted next to each other with a different awning to boast the name of the shop. Every few feet there were a couple of café tables where visitors could shop and stop to enjoy each other or just the view the boardwalk gave.

Wild and Whimsy was the first shop on the boardwalk. It was an eclectic shop of antiques and repurposed furniture. Beverly and Dan Teagarden were the owners. Their two grown children, Savannah and Melanie helped them run it. Instead of the regular shingled roof, Dan had paid extra to put on a rusty tin roof to go with the store’s theme. They’d kept the awning a red color but without the name. The Wild and Whimsy sign dangled down from the awning.

Honey Comb Salon & Spa was located next and it was a fancy, for Honey Springs, salon. Alice Dee Spicer was the owner and from what I’d overheard through the gossip line Alice had really gotten some new techniques from a fancy school.

Next to Honey Comb Salon & Spa was the Buzz In and Out Diner owned by James Farley. Honey Springs’s very first tattoo parlor, Odd Ink, was next to the diner. I wasn’t sure who owned that. In fact, I didn’t know any of the owners. It was all just idle gossip from Mae Belle and Bunny’s morning coffee run that kept me in the know. They’d also said All About The Details, a new event center, was going in next to the tattoo place along with a bridal shop, Queen For The Day. Then there was me.

The Bean Hive.

The bait and tackle shop was the only shop that was on the pier. It was perfect for the tourists who wanted to fish for the day off the pier. They’d never closed like most of the past shops since the lake always had fishermen. This year was different.

The annual Honey Festival was also in a couple of days, hence the grand opening of the shops, and it did bring visitors far and wide to get a good sampling of our fine Kentucky honey and festival activities. This year the town council, of which my Aunt Maxi sits on the board, decided to move the festival from Central Park in downtown Honey Springs to the boardwalk. Vendors were going to be setting up along the boardwalk across from the shops. I was especially excited to purchase some fresh honey and honeycombs for the coffeehouse.

I’d yet to venture past my shop, but I did know there was some sort of clothing boutique, a knick-knack shop, a spa, a bar and at the very end was Crooked Cat Bookstore, which was an independent bookstore I’d spent many hours in during my summer visits. I fondly remembered a cat that snuggled up to me in the bean bag.

The smell of fresh coffee drifted out of the coffeehouse exactly how I’d envisioned it would. The warm scent filled me with joy where I wasn’t sure I could have joy anymore.

When I opened the door to head back in, I smiled. The Bean Hive was a dream only a year ago and now a reality; I’d created it in my head and had worked hard to make the dream become real. After I filled my cup again, I walked back into the kitchen to check the casseroles I’d put in the oven for the afternoon lunch. I only cooked one thing a day for breakfast and lunch. I baked several things for the customers to enjoy and take home. The Bean Hive was a coffeehouse, not a restaurant, but we all know that food goes well with teas and coffee. It was my way of offering something for everyone.

Today’s special was a sausage casserole that paired great with any flavor coffee or tea. Everything was made fresh, which made the coffeehouse fill with amazing, stomach rumbling aromas no one could refuse.

The bell over the door dinged. I rushed back in the dining area to greet the customer.

“I’m telling you something is wrong,” Bunny Bowowski waddled into The Bean Hive with her brown pocketbook hung in the croak of her arm. “She didn’t answer her phone all night last night.”

“You know, I was by there just around eight o’clock and I did notice the strangest thing.” Mae Belle Donovan stopped just inside the door and put her hand on Bunny’s forearm. “You know those little plug-in candles that are in each one of her windows?”

“Do I?” Bunny rolled her eyes. “We downright got into a fight over them candles. In July of last year I told her that it was not Christmas and she needed to take them things down. In fact, it was hotter than a firecracker, not nary a thought of snow. She said it was decoration.”

“Good morning, ladies.” I greeted them like I’d done the past two mornings around this time.

According to Aunt Maxi, Bunny Bowowski and Mae Belle Donovan never left the house unless they were dressed in a dress, a shawl or coat (depending on the weather) and some sort of hat that sat on their heads like a bow as if it were completing the package.

They’d been friends for so long, they even resembled each other. Both had the exact same haircut, their grey hair was parted to the side and cut at chin length. They both carried a brown pocketbook that was perfectly held in the crook of their right elbow. Both were on the beautification committee. They came down every morning to get a look at the boardwalk to make sure everything was progressing right on schedule.

“Good morning to you.” Bunny nodded and began to walk up to the counter. “Those are lovely daffodils.”

“Thank you.” I scooted them over to the right a little more so I could get a good view of my two customers. “Aren’t they the most vibrant yellow you’ve ever seen?”

“Mmhmmm.” Her brows formed a V.

“I got them at the farmer’s market when I picked out my fresh produce and fruit. And this,” I tapped the vase, very proud of my find, “I found this for one dollar at Wild and Whimsy.”

“They do have some steals for an antique store.” She rotated the clear hourglass vase that had a tin top and a round hole where the flowers went. She ran her finger along etched flowers in the glass. “You certainly got a bargain.”

“Yes. I was very pleased.” I pushed back a strand of my wavy black hair.

Wavy was a loose term for the springy naturally curly hair my head seemed to sprout as soon as water touched it. No matter how much I had it straightened, tried to straighten or even hide in a ponytail, a stray strand of hair sprung out from somewhere.

I glanced toward Mae Belle.

They weren’t the spriest of women, but they certainly got around just fine.

“Hi do.” Mae Belle gave a slight bow. “Something smells delicious.”

“You are just in time for my country sausage casserole.” I pointed to the glass pan I’d just taken out of the oven.

The melted cheese was still bubbling around the edges where it’d not cooled off yet.

“I’m letting it cool off so I can cut nice thick slices.” I found it was best to let a dish cool for around ten minutes to not only set the casserole, but to let the flavors deepen and simmer within the ingredients. “If you’d like to have a cup of coffee while you wait for a slice of the casserole, I’d love to get you some.”

“Oh, Roxanne, you do know us don’t you.” Bunny gave a theatrical wink. She pointed to one of the few café tables I had provided for the customers. “We’ll go on over there.”

I leaned way over the counter and whispered like I had a grand secret, “You can call me Roxy. All my friends do.”

“Roxy with the amazing eyes.” Bunny winked. “You do have beautiful blue eyes.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, grateful for the comment.

I poured two ceramic coffee mugs with The Bean Hive’s own highlander grog and set them on a small round tray along with one of the silver cow cream pitchers I’d gotten on sale at Wild and Whimsy. Most of the china and silver I’d bought for The Bean Hive was from there, since the old things go great with the exposed brick walls, wood pallet furniture and big comfy chairs I’d used to decorate the shop, as well as the old tin signs and the chalkboard menus that hung above the counter.

“Roxy.” A big smile curled up on her face. “Now that’s a name with character.”

“That’s what I hear.” I chuckled and excused myself where I retreated into the kitchen.

For the last year, I’d gotten up way before the rooster crowed, so to speak, which was about four a.m. around these parts. Only I hadn’t been in these parts. Only recently had I moved back to Honey Springs. I’m not sure if it was to get away from the life I’d left behind due to my divorce or if I needed a little bit of familiarity or comfort. Regardless, I’m what I’d like to call a retired lawyer even at the young age of thirty. Retired because after my divorce, I hated lawyers. It was then that I’d listened to all that junk about following your passion. Doing what you love. Life is too short, yada-yada. One four a.m. morning, I couldn’t sleep and fixed myself a cup of coffee. It was then and there that I decided I wanted to go to barista school and I’ve never looked back.

“The shops are looking great,” I called over my shoulder on the way back to the kitchen to check the rest of the casseroles before I stuck the lunch ones in.

“We are pleased as peaches on how Cane Contractors has really stayed on schedule.” I heard Bunny say after I walked through the door into the kitchen.

Cane Contractors. A lump formed in my throat at the sound of the name. It was very hard to swallow. I shook my head to make the thought go away.

“What on earth?” I looked at the convection oven with the morning sausage casseroles in it and noticed the digital buttons weren’t lit up.

I hit the oven button and nothing. I opened the oven door. The casseroles were still running and lumpy. I stuck my hand in the oven and it was cold. Not a lick of heat.

“Great,” I groaned and hurriedly took out a couple of the four casseroles I had in there and moved them to the other convection oven next to it where I crammed them in with the lunch quiches. “This is going to have to work.” I gulped knowing it probably wasn’t going to work since both of them required different cooking temperatures.

I headed back out to the shop and grabbed my cell phone out of the pocket of my apron and dialed my aunt Maxine.

“Aunt Maxi, I’m so glad you answered.” My rapidly beating heart settled down after I’d heard the comforting sound of her voice.

“This better be good,” the tone in her voice wasn’t happiness. “I need my beauty sleep. I’m on the prowl ya know.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Prowl. My aunt was in her mid-sixties and widowed. Widowed at a young age too. But as far as I knew, she was happily single.  “Listen, can you hurry down to the shop and grab some of the lunch quiches for me and put them in your oven to bake?” I asked.

“You didn’t call a handyman yet?” She let me know that she’d warned me several times after I’d bought the place how the previous owner of the restaurant had undercooked food and eventually got shut down by the Health Department.

“No,” I muttered, knowing I really should’ve listened to her but the cost was something I wasn’t able to afford right now. “I was trying to wait until this first week was open and then I’d hire one.”

“I’m going to say I told you so, just because I can say I told you so and you won’t give no sass back. I told you so,” she said in a playful voice. “I’ll be right over.”

“Thank you so much. I love you and I know you love me.” A sigh of relief escaped me.

There weren’t too many times Aunt Maxi didn’t save me. In fact, the reason I’d come back to Honey Springs was due to her. I love my mom but she seemed to hover around me when I’d gone home to Lexington after my divorce. Aunt Maxi had lived in Honey Springs all her life and she was my dad’s sister. Unfortunately, he’d died of cancer years ago. I’d spend summers here with Aunt Maxi and the cozy town had become a second home to me.

I loved the small shops scattered throughout the town. But the boardwalk and pier were my favorite spots in Honey Springs. Aunt Maxi owned a few rental properties, The Bean Hive being one as well as Crooked Cat Bookstore plus a couple residential places. Unfortunately for me, she didn’t have any houses available, so I bought a pretty run-down cabin alongside the lake and only a four-minute bike ride from the coffeehouse.

It was a perfect place to live, but needed a few upgrades. Still, it was mine and I loved every part of it, even the broken ones.

“Are you ladies ready for your slice of country sausage casserole?” I asked and sliced into the warm casserole, plating two nice sized pieces on two lattice, milk glass plates. “Here you go.” I set a plate down in front of each of them.

“This looks amazing, Roxy.” Bunny leaned over the plate. She closed her eyes and inhaled. “And smells delicious.”

There was nothing as satisfying to me as seeing someone who enjoyed something I’d made with my hands.

“Thank you.” I took a step back and put my hands in a prayer position up in front of my face. “I’m honored. I hope you enjoy the taste too.”

“I’m sure we will,” she said.

Mae Belle didn’t have to say anything. She’d already dug in and was on her third bite.

I walked over to the door not only to see if Aunt Maxi was on her way, but to see if there was anyone walking along the boardwalk who I could offer a free coffee to. Even if some of the construction workers were employed by Cane, there was a lot of construction going on and even they had to eat or at least warm up with a coffee. My eyes scanned the workers to make sure I didn’t see anyone I knew from my past summers here. There was a bit of satisfaction and a bit of sadness when I didn’t recognize any of them. It was probably a good thing.

“You’ve outdone yourself with this one,” Mae Belle called from behind me and forced me to come back out of my memories that were good and bad.

“Thank you so much.” I stared down the boardwalk where a tall, lean man with a yellow hardhat on was standing next to the new beauty salon and spa.

He had a set of plans rolled out in front of him. A couple of men on each side of him were looking at the plans. They nodded and spoke with each other. The early morning chill had yet to give way to the spring afternoon weather. I knew the spa was going to open along with most of the other shops before the annual spring Honey Festival in hopes that’d bring the tourists we needed to revitalize the sleepy town. That was one of the reasons I’d moved back. The fond memories of lazy days spent on the pier and watching all the people going in and out of the shops outweighed the only bad memory I’d had. Those days had been long gone and now I was going to do my part to help bring it back.

Not only did the Honey Springs economy need it, I needed it to help restore my soul.

“Are you two okay?” I asked on my way back to the counter.

They nodded and went back to discussing their friend who apparently hadn’t shown up for a meeting or something.

I grabbed a thermos that could hold six cups of coffee and stuck it under the Bunn Industrial coffee maker to fill. While it filled up, I grabbed a few to-go cups. I ran a finger over the cute The Bean Hive logo I’d designed. It was fun to see the bee that had a coffee bean for a body come to life on the materials I’d had printed for merchandise as well as on marketing materials.

The bell over the door dinged and I looked up.

“Alexis Roarke,” Bunny greeted the petite blonde. “We were just discussing where you’ve been.”

“You have,” Alexis Roarke wore her blond hair in a conservative nature with a bob cut just beneath her ears and straight across bangs. She had on pair of tennis shoes, khakis, and a pull over hoodie with the Honey Springs logo on it.

“I even went by your house and your decorative candles weren’t even lit up.” Mae Belle eyed her suspiciously.

“Why, Mae Belle Donovan,” Alexis drew her hands up to her chest. “You do care about me.”

“Of course, we do.” Bunny pushed back the only extra chair at their café table. “Sit.” She patted the seat. “Where have you been?”

Alexis waved her off and was content standing next to the table.

“I don’t have time to sit. I’ve got to open the shop. Maxine Bloom is at it again,” she said my aunt’s name with exhaustion. “Raising the rent on the bookstore. I’m gonna have to stop volunteering at the Pet Palace.”

“Why? Because you volunteer with Maxine?” Bunny asked and sipped on her coffee.

“No. So I can keep the bookstore open an extra day. I close early on Fridays so I can go volunteer. No more.” She shook her head. She pointed at me and shook her finger. “I hear you are Maxine’s niece.”

“You hear right.” I offered a warm smile in hopes she didn’t hold it against me that my aunt Maxine was her landlord. “Did I also hear you say that you are the owner of Crooked Cat Bookstore?”

“I am.” Her eyes narrowed as though she was sizing me up.

“I have fond memories of your bookstore when I used to come visit during the summer.” A happy sigh escaped me. “I remember sitting in that big purple bean bag that was in the front window next to the cat tree. You had that little grey cat and that amazing banned book section.”

“I’ll be. I remember your eyes.” A smile formed and reached her eyes. They twinkled as though the memory was bright. “That’s when Maxine and I got along. She’d bring you in there while she was doing her property rounds and tell you to read books. I knew I was watching you.”

“I believe my love of reading stems from you and all the time I spent in your store.” I pointed to the coffee maker. “Can I get you a cup of coffee? On the house.”

“Ours wasn’t,” Mae Belle grumbled under her breath.

“I’d love one to go. And give me one of them cake doughnuts.” She pulled her chin to the side, and tilted her eyes over her shoulder as she enjoyed the look on Mae Belle’s face.

With the to-go cup of coffee and The Bean Hive bag filled with a doughnut, she bid her friends goodbye.

“I’ll see y’all at the town council meeting tomorrow. I’ve got a few things to say about this zoning thing and Maxine Bloom.” She skirted out of the shop.

Mae Belle and Bunny put their heads together and both tried to whisper above the other. I figured it was a good time to take the workers the coffee.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to run some coffee down to the workers.” I held the thermos up along with the cups.

The sun was popping up over the trees that stood along the lake like soldiers and filtered over the calm water of the lake. There were a couple of small bass boats running side-by-side with a couple of men in them, probably looking for a good inlet to bass fish.

The wood boards of the boardwalk groaned underneath each step I took as I got closer to the group of men.

“Good morning,” I greeted them. “I’m Roxanne Bloom, owner of The Bean Hive.” I gestured toward the coffee shop. “I’ve made all this coffee and only a few customers have come in.” I left out the fact that I’d only had the same two customers all week long. “And I’d hate to see this fresh coffee go to waste, so I thought I’d bring it to y’all.”

“That’s mighty nice of you.” The tall man grinned from under the hardhat. He kept his eyes on the thermos.

One of the men took the cups out of my hand while another one took the thermos.

“We appreciate that, don’t we boys?” The man’s deep voice echoed off the limestone banks of the lake. The glare of the sun reflecting off the lake made it difficult to see his face.

The men thanked me.

“If y’all get hungry, I also serve food.” I smiled and clasped my hands in front of me. I was definitely trying to use the old saying that a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Not that I was trying to get into any of their hearts, I wasn’t, but I was trying to get to their stomachs and their wallets. “Enjoy.”

“We will. And we will return your thermos,” the man said before he went back to pointing out things about the spa.

It was my cue to head on back. They had work to do and so did I.

“Hello, honey.” Aunt Maxi was leaning her bike up against the outside of the shop. She pulled off her knit cap. She tucked the hat in the purse that was strapped across her body and pulled out a can of hairspray. She raked her hand upward through her hair and used her other hand to spray it to high heaven. “You know, you need to get a bike rack.”

“I do need a bike rack, but I also need to get a new oven or have this one looked at.” I opened the door for her and let her walk in before me. “New hair color since yesterday?”

She gave the newly blond-colored hair another good spray before she stuck the can back in her purse and started toward the door.

“Alice Dee down at the Honey Comb says it’s all the rage. Makes me feel young as a whippersnapper.” She turned to me. The morning sun sprinkled down upon her.

I shook my head and realized having her bike up against the coffeehouse was probably not a good place for it to lean in case someone tripped over it.

Most of the community rode bikes everywhere since Honey Springs was a small, compact town that took pride in their landscape and Kentucky bluegrass that made the entire town look like a fancy landscape painting.

“You look a little like Phyllis Diller.” And it wasn’t just the hair. Aunt Maxi had put on a little too much makeup

“Well, well. If it’s not Maxine Bloom.” Bunny Bowowski didn’t seem all that happy to see Aunt Maxi. “And with a new hairdo.”

“You’ll serve just about anybody.” Aunt Maxi curled her nose at me.

“You two know each other?” I asked, hoping to bring a little peace between us.

“Know her?” Bunny scoffed. “She’s been down at the Moose trying to get her claws into Floyd, my man.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Bunny. I want a man that can walk without stopping every two feet so he can get his footing up under him so he don’t fall.” Aunt Maxi drew her chin in the air and looked down her nose. “Besides, that’s not what’s got you all worked up.”

“Aunt Maxi is why I’ve come to Honey Springs.” I patted my aunt on the back. “I used to come here when I was a child and spent many summers here. Right here in this very spot when it was the diner. I loved being here so much, that I decided to move here and open The Bean Hive.”

I hoped that their mutual like for me would at least bring them together. The last thing I needed was my only two paying customers to boycott me because of Aunt Maxi.

“We will see you tomorrow, Roxy.” Bunny stood up and motioned for Mae Belle to follow. “We’ve got committee stuff to do.”

The three women gave each other the Baptist nod where they didn’t wish ill-will but not necessarily success. The southern woman’s way around good manners.

“Glad they’re gone.” Aunt Maxi spouted out and walked to the back of the shop. She put her hands on her hips and looked around. “This looks good,” she said in approval. “Many customers?”

“Nope, you just ran off the only two I’ve had since I opened.” I gave her a wry look. “Cup of coffee?”

“I can’t. I’ve got to get your casseroles and head to a meeting. It’s hard being a councilwoman.” Aunt Maxi had held the office for over thirty years and was very proud of it. “That’s why old Bunny is all mad. She and her group of cronies think that just because we are in craft group together that I’ll just let them do whatever they want regarding the festivals and the beautification committee.”

Apparently Aunt Maxi didn’t agree on something in their meeting. Didn’t surprise me. Aunt Maxi wasn’t one to go along with the crowd when she was passionate about something. There were two things I knew not to get into with others: Politics and religion. Around here both were just as important as a new born baby, wedding, or a funeral. “They aren’t too worried about whatever it is that you’ve made them mad about. They are worried about one of their friends.”

“Who?” Aunt Maxi perked up and walked on my heels on our way back to the kitchen.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember her name. She actually came in.” I grabbed the two lunch quiches I’d taken out of the oven earlier and wrapped them in tinfoil, pinching the sides as tight as I could. “She owns Crooked Cat.”

“Alexis Roarke.” Aunt Maxi groaned.

I laughed and stacked the two quiches. “She said that you two are fond of each other.”

“Don’t get me started on her because I don’t come with brakes.” Aunt Maxi picked up the quiches. “You know those left-over doughnuts you gave me yesterday?”

“Yes. What about them?” I asked.

“I took them to her last night. Sort of a peace offering,” Aunt Maxi said. “She was just fine. So there’s no need to worry about her. Those women love to worry. If they aren’t gossiping or worried about someone, they’re dead.”

“They were happy to see her and that she was okay.” I was just about to ask her about Alexis’s claim that Aunt Maxi was going to raise the rent, but the bell over the shop door dinged, alerting me that someone had come in.

Aunt Maxi and I looked.

“Good morning, Maxine.” The man I’d taken coffee to took off his hardhat with his left hand, his right gripped the thermos.

“Good to see you.” Aunt Maxi’s joy of seeing the man was evident all over her face. Even her eyes tipped up in the corners with giddiness.

“I wanted to thank you for the coffee. My men appreciate your kindness.” His features were familiar. His big brown eyes were warm and matched the tender smile.

“I’m glad to see the two of you have mended ways. You know I believe everything happens for a reason.” Aunt Maxi walked over to the door as she recited her favorite saying. “I’ll have these back to you in a couple of hours. See you later, Patrick.”

Patrick? I took a deeper look at the man standing in front of me. Patrick Cane? I looked a little deeper. Patrick Cane.

My heart sank.

About the Author

Tonya has written over 55 novels and 4 novellas, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists including 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, two very spoiled schnauzers and grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown men, Tonya writes fulltime.

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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.

Copyright © 2019 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 tonyak11.tk@gmail.com .