Blossoms, Barbeque, & Blackmail: A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery Series Book 20
Date: 2021-07-22 00:00:00+00:00
Description: The last thing Normal needs is Dottie Swagger or Mary Elizabeth Moberly as the Ms. Blossom Festival Queen. I thought I had my hands full when Dottie Swaggert and Mary Elizabeth Moberly entered the Ms. Blossom Queen Beauty Pageant for seniors but when I witnessed a fight at the festival between Carrie Patillo and Jason Dresser, Carrie's daughter's accused killer, I knew Jason was wrongfully accused for the murder and set up. How was I going to prove it before the trial started? Easy. Gather the Laundry Club Ladies and use our unique sleuthing skills. Right? Wrong! After we uncovered some eviden
Publisher: Independently published

Blossoms, Barbeque, & Blackmail

A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery

Tonya Kappes

Contents

Free Book!

A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery

Preview

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

BIG Cast-iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

Camper Hack #1

Campfire Skillet Mexican Potatoes

Camper Hack #2

Skillet Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Supper

Camper Hack #3

A NOTE FROM TONYA

About Tonya

TONYA KAPPES

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A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery

A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery

BEACHES, BUNGALOWS, & BURGLARIES

DESERTS, DRIVERS, & DERELICTS

FORESTS, FISHING, & FORGERY

CHRISTMAS, CRIMINALS, & CAMPERS

MOTORHOMES, MAPS, & MURDER

CANYONS, CARAVANS, & CADAVERS

ASSAILANTS, ASPHALT, & ALIBIS

HITCHES, HIDEOUTS, & HOMICIDE

VALLEYS, VEHICLES & VICTIMS

SUNSETS, SABBATICAL, & SCANDAL

TENTS, TRAILS, & TURMOIL

KICKBACKS, KAYAKS, & KIDNAPPING

GEAR, GRILLS, & GUNS

EGGNOG, EXTORTION, & EVERGREENS

ROPES, RIDDLES, & ROBBERIES

PADDLERS, PROMISES, & POISON

INSECTS, IVY, & INVESTIGATIONS

OUTDOORS, OARS, & OATHS

WILDLIFE, WARRANTS, & WEAPONS

BLOSSOMS, BARBEQUE, & BLACKMAIL

JACKETS, JACK-O-LANTERN, & JUSTICE

SANTA, SUNRISES, & SUSPICIONS

LANTERNS, LAKES, & LARCENY

Preview

The day was too pretty to be stuck inside of the campground office. I grabbed my phone and earbuds on my way out and put on the local radio station, which was run by the National Parks Department.

A quick stroll around the campground while bebopping to some jams felt so good with the warm sun on my face. I loved all seasons in Kentucky, but today summer was my favorite.

Ask me again in the fall, and I’d say fall was my favorite.

I loved living here, deep in the woods. The rough, cracked ridges of the tree barks that made the distinct line between the forest and the campground was a beautiful sight on its own. I walked behind the campers to take a good look at the bright-green hanging moss, only to walk right into a spiderweb.

“Pft. Pft.” I dragged my hand across my cheek to get the invisible threads off. I even stopped to make sure there weren’t any spiders on my chest or arms.

We are interrupting the forty-five minutes of uninterrupted music to bring you a new alert.

Local man Jason Dresser was found dead this afternoon in what Sheriff Al Hemmer is calling a homicide. “At this time, we can say Mr. Dresser did succumb to his injuries he sustained from an apparent robbery at his home. There was a 9-1-1 call placed from Mr. Dresser, and we don’t have any details on what the call said or consisted of. We are not ruling out any suspects at this time but asking anyone with information that could lead to an arrest to come forward. Anonymous tips are welcome as well. I don’t have anything to add at this time but will keep you updated as new information becomes available.”

Jason Dresser was arrested last year after he’d gone hunting and accidentally killed twenty-six year old Monica Patillo. He was out on bail until his trial which was to start next week.

Immediately, my shoulders slumped.

Carrie Patillo’s clenched teeth and seething tone were tattooed on my brain.

“I will kill you.”

Chapter 1

The lazy heat drifting up from the water told me it was time for me to paddle the kayak back to the shore. I’d drifted long enough down the stream that ran along the front of the Red Fox Trail, the trail that lead straight up to Happy Trails Campground.

I was living the old saying about camping being good therapy. After all, I’d been keeping myself busy after the last few months so I didn’t think about Hank Sharp, my ex-boyfriend, moving away to take a job clear across the state of Kentucky. Now that I’ve settled into the fact he wasn’t coming back and letting myself feel the feelings, I’d taken that old saying seriously.

The bubbles rippling up through the water made me smile at the fact there was so much life to explore in the Daniel Boone National Forest and not just as the owner of Happy Trails Campground. Letting myself take on new adventures, like lying in a kayak for hours, was something new to me. I was always on the go-go-go and making sure everyone around me was okay, and I’d completely neglected myself.

I reached down next to me to grab the oar. Laughter echoed off the tall trees, reminding me that even deep in the woods I wasn’t alone. A couple of swipes of the water with my oar to the right and then to the left, repeating the pattern over and over as the kayak slid across the water upstream was a good workout. I only stopped for a moment to take in the waterfall and watch as the water lapped over the stone edges to settle in the pool where a family of hooded mergansers were enjoying themselves.

Yip! Fifi, my toy poodle, wanted to say hello to the duck family before she decided to join them, jumping out of the kayak and into the water.

“Fifi, get back here.”

I shifted course by maneuvering my oar to paddle in her direction. Her little head bobbled up over the water’s surface. She was so lazy. She knew her hot-pink life jacket would keep her above water, so she spent her energy on talking to the ducks before they decided they wanted nothing to do with her and flew off.

“I told you to stay.” I reached over the side and grabbed hold of the life jacket, pulling her wet body back into the kayak. “You just never listen.” I pulled the beach towel from underneath me and wrapped her up in it to sop up the water.

She shook, spraying the extra water I’d not gotten off with the towel, sending droplets all over me.

“Pft, pft.” I spat and held my hands up to my face to try and shield any from going into my mouth.

Now, after paddling a bit faster to get back to Red Fox Trail, Fifi decided her little swim had worn her out. She lay on the towel and let the warmth of the sun send her off into a nap. And this short rest was much needed for myself because once I hiked back up the trail to the campground, I was going to be all sorts of busy with tonight’s campground kickoff for my camping guests to this weekend’s Blossom Festival.

The Tour Southern and Eastern Kentucky Association was a group who hosted tours throughout Kentucky that traditionally featured the gorgeous springtime redbuds in and around the Bluegrass State. As a tourist town, Normal, where hiking and camping provided our main economic income, we capitalized on the Association’s tour by hosting what we called Blossom Festival.

It was taking place this weekend with most of the festival activities being hosted in downtown Normal, mainly in the grassy median area.

The water shoes were a lifesaver and saved my feet from not only slipping but getting poked by the uneven rocks when I hopped out at the banks to pull the kayak to dry land.

“Thanks,” I said to the young man who worked for Alvin Deters when he came to get the oars and kayak from me.

Alvin Deters and I had gone into business since the trail was located on my property that dumped down to the stream. Alvin was a local man who owned Deters Feed-N-Seed. He was once a kayak champion in his younger years, which made him a perfect person to go into business with, the opportunity to use the stream on the trail for an extracurricular activity for my guests. Though Alvin was in his later years of life, he enjoyed teaching kayak lessons to families that stayed at Happy Trails Campground when he wasn’t running the Feed N Seed.

“Let’s go, Fifi.” I called her to join me on the hike back up the trail.

She barked and chased the squirrels as she darted past me, pursuing them into the woods just off the edge of the path. The sunlight freckled my skin without the sweltering heat of the summer weather. Though I couldn’t see Fifi, I could hear her barking.

The dry leaves crunched under my water shoes with each step closer to the campground. Before too long, I’d be joining the group with the sound of laughter that fluttered on the light breeze whipping down the trail.

Red Fox Trail had gotten its name long before I’d moved into the campground. From what I understood and from what I’ve seen over the last few years living here, red foxes did live on that side of the campground and frequented the stream of water.

During the daylight hours, they were rarely seen, which meant it was okay for me to let Fifi run amok. It was when dusk fell over Happy Trails, Fifi never went outside without a leash and me attached to the other end.

“Maybelline!” Dottie Swaggert, the manager of the campground, waved her hands over her bright-red short hair to grab my attention as soon as I emerged from the forest. “You ain’t gonna believe what I’ve done.”

She pointed to Helen Pyle, the owner of Cute-icles Hair Salon. I could only imagine what the two of them were up to.

“Let me guess.” I tapped my temple after I’d made it over to the covered shelter on the outside of the recreational building at the front of the campground. “You two are bedazzling something?”

Helen and Dottie had gotten a bedazzling machine from a yard sale, and they’d been using that sucker on anything that couldn’t move away from them.

“No, but that would be a very good thing to do with a dress.” Helen couldn’t contain her grin no matter how hard she tried. “You’d be the purtiest one out there, Dottie.”

Dottie looked up into the open blue sky above like she was really noodling the idea. She crossed one arm under the other and held her cigarette out, away from her body, before she slowly brought it up to her mouth and took a long drag.

“Not a bad idea.” She wiggled her painted-on brows.

“So what dress is needing bedazzled?” I asked.

“I’ve just signed up to compete in the Ms. Blossom Festival Pageant.” Dottie blew a steady stream of smoke out of her mouth. “We can even put my winning title on the campground brochure.”

“Good idea,” Helen encouraged Dottie when Dottie needed zero encouragement.

“I can see it now.” Dottie uncurled her arms and spread her hands out in front of her, the cigarette leaving a trail of smoke. “Ms. Blossom Festival lives here.”

My phone chirped from my back pocket, and it couldn’t have been at a more perfect time.

“Mary Elizabeth.” I held the phone in the air. “Gotta take it.” I hit the green button. “Hey. Thank goodness you just saved me from probably saying something to Dottie that wouldn’t’ve been good.”

“Oh, good,” Mary Elizabeth, my adoptive mama, said with an upbeat tone. “I’ve got something to tell you.” She rushed to get it out. “I’ve entered the Ms. Blossom Festival.”

“You what?” I asked, so I could make sure I heard her and not replayed Dottie’s bit of news.

“Yep. I’m going to win too. With my southern hospitality and good manners, I just know I will woo the judges.”

Oh, dear me. Oh my, I sure didn’t misunderstand her.

“It’s going to be amazing. Not only will I get an interview with Channel 2 and a spread in the National Park Magazine as well as the Normal Gazette, but I will also get a five thousand dollar grand prize! Five thousand dollars!” Mary Elizabeth squealed. “That is the exact cost of the repairs from the fire.”

I glanced over at Dottie. Helen Pyle had her fingertips plunged into Dottie’s short red hair, pulling it up, taking a look at it, then using her fingertips to shake it out.

“I swear my ability to forgive Dottie for what she did is paying off in spades.” Mary Elizabeth was the co-owner of the Milkery, the local dairy farm, which had a bed and breakfast. When my foster brother married my dear friend, Abby, Dottie had accidentally lit one of the rooms at the bed and breakfast on fire when she decided to smoke.

Mary Elizabeth had been in such a shock the following days after, that it took her a minute to register Dottie was smoking inside when it was strictly prohibited. Since then, Mary Elizabeth had been a little bitter about it—okay, a lot of bitter—and things between them had been tense.

Mary Elizabeth had refused to hang out with my group of friends, the Laundry Club Ladies, which Dottie was a big part of, and now they both were going to be contestants in the Ms. Blossom Festival?

“May-bell-ine!” Dottie hollered at me. I pulled the phone down to my neck to see what she was saying. “I’m gonna git me a new do!” She pointed to her hair as Helen grinned from ear to ear.

I gave her the okay sign with my fingers and went back to the phone call with Mary Elizabeth. There was no way I could deal with both of them doing the pageant. I never ever would’ve thought the two of them would have interest in the sixty years and up pageant.

“Isn’t the pageant tomorrow night?” I questioned and looked to the entrance of the campground when I heard a car.

“Mm-hmm. I got in just before the deadline closed today at lunch and just got word I have been entered. So tonight when I come for the party, I’m going to need your fashion eye on how I walk. You have lived in New York City, and with all your swanky friends there, I’m sure you’ve been to plenty of fashion shows that had those catwalks. Plus, all of those manner and etiquette lessons you attended when you were in high school is still the standard today.”

I hated to burst her bubble, but I never attended any sort of pageant, nor did I ever want to be in a pageant, but she was right about one thing from my past life in the city: I did go to a lot of fashion shows. Looking back, I was sure my ex-now-dead husband, Paul, had sent me to those fashion shows to keep me occupied from finding out about his criminal ways.

“I’ll be over with my potato salad.” She hung up the phone.

I wandered up to the office to greet Ethel Biddle and her bandmates of Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys when their station wagon pulled around the corner and parked next to the recreational building where they’d be setting up for their music gig.

“Adolescent” was used very loosely.

“How’s the newlyweds?” Otis Gullett, the fiddle player, asked about Bobby Ray and Abby.

“You’ll be able to ask them yourself tonight. They’ll be here any minute.” I was especially anticipating Bobby Ray coming over since I’d not seen a whole lot of him lately.

When he got married, he moved out of the bungalow in the campground and bought the very cheap model home across the street from Ava Cox, a local lawyer, where he and Abby live now.

“Rosco!” Ethel’s dog jumped out of the station wagon. “Fifi will be so happy to see you.”

“That’s a change.” Ethel knew I had a little beef against Rosco when he couldn’t keep to himself that time she brought him to the campground during her first gig, when I was babysitting Fifi. Yep. I didn’t own Fifi at one time, but Rosco changed that.

Fifi was a very prestigious show dog, nationally recognized by the Kennel Club Association. She’d come from a long line of winners and her breed line was flawless until Rosco.

“If it weren’t for Rosco and his male dog ways, I wouldn’t’ve been given Fifi.” It was a real catch twenty-two. At the time, I was terrified to tell Tammy Jo, Fifi’s original owner, but when she abandoned the pregnant Fifi, I stepped in to care for the pooch. I wasn’t sure how to look after a dog full time, much less one that was prissy and pregnant. It turned out to be a good thing because it taught me to care for something other than myself. I’d like to think I wasn’t selfish before Fifi, but now I could see I was pretty selfish and only really took care of me. I’d like to think Fifi changed me for the better.

In other words, I had Rosco to thank for that.

“Come on, Rosco. Let’s go find Fifi.” I whistled for Rosco. He trotted down the campground road with me.

Happy Trails Campground was a full-service campground that offered lots to all classes of RVs. Most of those lots were in a large circle around the lake located in the middle of the campground and just past the office and recreational building.

We also had a tent-only section in the back and off to the left of the main campground just past the few bungalows we also rented.

Dottie, Ty Randal, Henry Bryant, and I all made Happy Trails our full-time home. Ty was the only one who didn’t work for me. He owned the Normal Diner and was supplying the hamburgers for tonight’s grill out.

“Let me know if you need any more firewood,” I told one of the guests who was stoking up their campfire. “We have plenty,” I assured them.

Henry, my handyman, was priceless. He took pride in making sure all the campers had everything they needed after they checked in at the office. Since we were a full-service hookup, we practically stayed full year-round.

“I smell something good,” I sang to another guest who had a huge pot over their campfire for the big party.

Every month, I hosted a campground party that was open to the locals. I loved how everyone came out to listen to the bluegrass music of Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys while they walked around and sampled what each camper was making over their fire.

It was a great way to walk around and get to know people. I offered the main course while everyone else cooked a side dish. People in the community would also bring a dish to put on the community table for the taking, like Mary Elizabeth with her potato salad.

The dessert table was my favorite. And tonight’s tasty sweets were compliments of Christine Watson, the owner of the Cookie Crumble Bakery.

Rosco darted ahead of me when he saw Fifi before I did. They jumped around and took turns sniffing each other’s backsides. I wondered if Fifi remembered he was her pups’ daddy. I shoved the thought to the back of my head when cackling echoed throughout the campground, making me look over my shoulder.

The Laundry Club Ladies had arrived, and all of them were laughing at Dottie who’d obviously told them she was going to participate in the pageant and was doing her best one-foot-in-front-of-the-other walk, hand on her hip, down the pier that jutted out into the lake.

I continued to make my way around the lake and greet the guests, taking a few looks into their campfire cooking pots.

“Good evenin’! Welcome to the paarrrteee!” Blue Ethel shrieked from the microphone. “Hit it, boys!” She threw her hand up in the air, signaling their very first song.

Seeing a few guests already on the plywood dance floor in front of the stage made my heart sing. I knew it was going to be a great night, and this group of campers were going to be fun.

Over the past couple of years, my guests had started to vary in age. I had the retired full-timers to the young newlyweds as well as families. There seemed to be a good mix, and I was happy to see how all the generations came together.

Blissful.

“I don’t believe it.” Mary Elizabeth spat as she popped off the lid to her homemade cole slaw. “Did you know Dottie is going to compete?” Mary Elizabeth scoffed. “My goodness.” She fiddled with the pearls around her neck. “You don’t think she’s gonna win, do you?” She drew back. “Honestly, she’s not got a mannered bone in her body. The way she flings that cigarette around and wears hot-pink sponge curlers.” She tsked. “Do you?”

“I’m not getting into this.” I should’ve just walked away. I ought to kick my own self in the heinie for staying.

“Maybelline Grant West.” She gasped. “Are you telling me that you aren’t going to support your mama? We are family.”

“We all love each other, and it’s high time you forgive Dottie for the fire. It was taken care of and almost everything was donated, so I’m not sure why on earth you’re still holding a grudge.” My mouth watered when I looked down at her homemade mustard potato salad.

“If it ain’t two of my favorite gals.” Bobby Ray had snuck up behind us.

“Bobby Ray!” I twirled around and threw my arms around his neck.

“Why, Maybelline, I didn’t get this kind of greeting from you when I showed up right over there two years ago after I’d not seen you in ten years.” He grinned like a possum.

“Stop it.” I playfully smacked him on the chest before Mary Elizabeth took her stab at him.

“Give me some shugga.” She pulled him to her and wrapped him up in a big mama bear hug. “You ain’t going to believe what’s happened.” She hooked her arm in the crook of Bobby Ray’s and dragged him aside, away from me since she was going to try to get the sympathy from him that I wasn’t giving her.

“Help,” he mouthed with a grin over his shoulder.

“Ah-oh. What’s that all about?” Abby Fawn, now Abby Bond, asked.

“Abby!” I was so happy to see her too. “You don’t want to know. Tell me, how’s the house?”

The two of us strolled over to the pier where Dottie was still talking about the pageant until they noticed Abby.

“She was just telling me about the house.” I sat her in the middle of the group.

“It’s great. I even joined the neighborhood women’s club.” She pulled her hands up over her mouth to shield her laughter. “I honestly can’t believe how happy we are. The house is too big for us, but Bobby Ray wants to fill it with children.”

“You aren’t?” I looked at her belly.

“Goodness, no!” She overexaggerated.

“I can’t believe you bought that house.” Dottie shivered. “I wouldn’t buy no house where there was a murder.”

“And that way of thinking is why no one wanted to buy it and why we got it cheap.” Abby didn’t care. “Which brings me to some news.”

“Oh, gosh.” I held my hand to my heart. “I can’t take any more news today.”

Mary Elizabeth and Dottie’s news about did me in.

“Bobby Ray found his birth mother,” Abby said.

My posture slumped, slightly.

Chapter 2

There were always general rules in a campground. They were all geared to be polite and courteous to the other guests. But last night’s party was one for the books. Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys played an extra set with the coaxing of the crowd. All the food was eaten, and when I went to bed, the sound of leaves crunching, laugher and voices, kids yelling, and cans popping open echoed throughout the darkness.

When the soft kiss of the morning sunrise filtered throughout my little campervan, I pulled the covers over my head. I had a feeling today was going to be a long day, and it wasn’t the fact the Ms. Blossom Pageant was tonight and both Dottie and Mary Elizabeth begged me to pledge my loyalty to them underneath the full moon.

I didn’t.

I kept that lip shut tight.

Arf, Arf. As soon as Fifi saw movement from me, she darted off the bed and headed straight to the door.

“Fine. Fine,” I grumbled and sat up. The ponytail holder had fallen out of my hair, springing the curls to life. “I’ll be right there.”

I looked to the left and to the right as I patted my hand around my sheets to find my ponytail holder. After I finally found it, I pulled my hair up in a messy bun and got out of bed. On my way down the short hall, I slipped on a Happy Trails Campground sweatshirt over my nightshirt.

“Go on.” I flipped the lock of the campervan door.

“Good morning!” Ty Randal was standing across from my camper at the edge of the lake and beach with his fishing pole in the water. “Hey, sweet girl.”

His shaggy blond hair looked a lot more blond since summer hit. The tank top showed off his nice tan.

He laid his pole on the ground and bent down to pat on Fifi.

“Good morning. I didn’t get to thank you for the awesome burgers last night.” I walked up to him, and Fifi darted, I’m sure in fear I was going to pick her up.

Ty and I laughed, watching her scurry from truck to truck and camper to camper sniffing all she could. It looked like she’d found some stray food around a smoldering campfire a few lots down.

“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I couldn’t come down to grill them myself, but the festival is the biggest I’ve ever seen it.” Ty’s diner, Normal Diner, was smack-dab in the middle of downtown and where the festival was being held. “I’ve got another pole you can throw in.”

“You bait and I’ll throw.” Even though I liked living here and all the fun that went along with owning a campground, I didn’t like anything slimy.

Including worms.

“Here.” He picked up his extra pole and handed it to me while he carefully took the line in his fingers and slid them down to the hook. He held it steady with one hand and reached down into the small Styrofoam container to retrieve a big, fat worm.

“Ewwww.” I groaned and looked away when he started to put the squirmy worm on.

“Throw in.” He wiped his hands down his pants and picked up his pole. His line was still in the water. His blue eyes danced with laughter.

“I’m surprised you’re out here so early.” I reeled in and cast again.

“I woke up and saw some activity out here.” He was talking about the fish. “And I thought I’d spend the morning fishing and watching the sunrise. Something I didn’t do much of in Los Angeles.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of things you did there that you didn’t do here.” I liked talking to Ty. He was genuine and honest. Plus he was the epitome of a southern gentleman.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t be able to see my brothers grow up if I’d not moved back and helped out Dad.” Ty was an up-and-coming chef, and when his dad had a heart attack, he threw that career to the wind and moved back to care for his dad and help raise his brothers since his mom had passed.

“You’re always a glass-half-full guy.” I threw the line in a few more times without getting as much as a bite, so I reeled it in and put the rod on the ground. “I’ve got to get going. I’m meeting up with the ladies then helping Gert with her booth at the festival.”

“Stop by the diner. I’ve got fried bologna sandwich on special today.” He waved me off.

“Fifi!” I clapped my hands. “Let’s eat!”

Eat was all she had to hear in order to get her to meet me at the camper.

Since I was going to work with Gert in her Trails Coffee Shop booth, I wanted to promote the campground, so I wore my short-sleeved Happy Trails Campground shirt and a pair of shorts with tennis shoes. My hair was up on the top of my head in a messy bun, making it perfect for my neck to stay cool while I worked under the tent.

I anticipated her booth was going to be busy. One, because she had the best coffee and two, because it was going to be a hot day and iced coffee was sure to quench a thirst.

“You be a good girl.” Fifi had gobbled up her kibble. As usual, she had a full belly and was ready for a nice long nap, which would hold her until lunchtime when it was time for me to come back and let Dottie off work.

It was her morning to work the campground office and my afternoon.

On my way out, I stopped by the office to check on her and make sure she was all set before I went downtown.

“How you doing this morning?” I asked when I noticed her head was down on the desk.

“Well, hell’s bells, May-bell-ine, how you do think I’m doin’?” She lifted her head. Big dark circles had found a nice home under her eyes. “I’m a wreck. I’m thinkin’ my first appearance needs to be one of the magazines or newspapers ’cause I’ve been up all night.”

“Huh?” I questioned.

“As Ms. Blossom Festival. Errg,” she groaned and snarled.

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” I nodded. “I’ll be back at lunch. Call me if you need me.”

“Don’t be late,” she warned. “I’ve got an appointment with Helen Pyle for a full makeover and run-through of my appearance.”

“I won’t be late,” I assured her.

“Ya know, festival traffic might make you late! So leave early!” Dottie hollered before I shut the door.

I put the images out of my mind how Dottie was going to look after Helen Pyle got her hands on her and decided to roll down the windows in my little Focus.

The sun was already smacking the gravel road. The heat was coming, and it would bring out so many tourists. Hardy wildflowers popped out from the road’s shoulder on my ride into downtown, making it very tempting for me to stop and pick some. I loved to have local flowers to set around in small vases around the campground and in my camper. Kentucky had such gorgeous foliage that I wanted to show it off to anyone around me.

Main Street, one way each side of the grassy median. The middle wasn’t just grass, it was actually a large piece of land with huge, hundred-year-old oak trees, stepping-stone paths, picnic tables, amphitheater, and where the Blossom Festival activities were being held.

The sidewalks in front of all the cottage-style shops were dotted with gaslit carriage lights that had either a Blossom Festival banner hanging from the dowel rod or a large fern.

There were twinkling lights around each light pole, giving our little town such a romantic feel at night and creating a magical feeling.

The shops ranged from the Smelly Dog, which was a pet groomer owned by Ethel Biddle, to Normal Diner, which was Ty’s diner, as well as the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop and Deters Feed-N-Seed, along with some boutique-type shops. Mary Elizabeth had asked if I would meet her at one of them to try on a dress for the pageant.

Of course I told her I would, but I’d never let Dottie know that. Besides, Dottie had Helen Pyle. And as much as I wanted to stay neutral, Mary Elizabeth was my adoptive mother.

Speaking of adoptive mothers. She was also Bobby Ray’s, so when Abby dropped the bombshell that Bobby Ray had found his birth mother, I was a little taken aback since I had no idea he was looking for her.

He didn’t talk about it much, but when we were growing up, I did know his mother had given him up at birth, and at that time not many babies were being adopted in Perrysburg, so he ended up going from foster home to foster home until he finally made it to Mary Elizabeth.

It was something I wanted to hear more about, but today was not the day to bring it up.

I had to park my car at the Laundry Club Laundromat since the sheriff’s department had Main Street blocked off for the festival.

I darted across the street since Trails Coffee Shop was opposite the laundromat. I couldn’t believe the small courtyards between the freestanding cottage-style homes were practically packed with tourists and festival goers.

It was great to see everyone excited and the owners too. The display windows of each shop even had displays of the different blossoms that grew in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Alvin Deters did a great display with a redbud tree with a tent pitched underneath and a kayak next to that. The small campfire he’d erected had bottles of bug spray, tan lotions, water cantinas, and things you’d need if you were camping. This was the exact type of thing you’d find for sale in his shop.

Even Gert had a fun display of a campfire with her version of cowboy coffee and instant coffee packs she not only made herself but also sold in the coffee shop. She was appealing more to the tent camping folks who didn’t have the luxury of a coffee maker in an RV or camper.

The sidewalk was filled with people milling around, which meant that there were people in the town and possible customers for the campground, and my choice of clothing would be a perfect conversation piece when I served them coffee.

“Good morning.” I rushed behind the counter when I noticed there was already a line to the door. “I can help take orders.”

“You’re a lifesaver.” Gert laid a hand on my arm, and we rushed over to one of the machines.

The morning was exhilarating and exhausting without a moment to rest. I was pleased as punch to have been given the opportunity to tell a few customers about the campground when they asked about my shirt. But mainly I was fielding observations from them about the cool living wall inside of the coffee shop.

Gert had gone to great lengths to not only find the right designer but architect to build the wall of live plants from the various seasons in Kentucky. It truly was one of the neatest things about the coffee shop.

“Now that we are settled down a little bit…” Gert glanced around the shop. Her employees were able to handle what customers were in there as well as restock all of the items like condiments and bags of coffee they’d sold. “Do you think you could help me with the booth now?”

“Sure.” I pulled the phone out of my pocket to check the time. “I’ve got to meet Mary Elizabeth in about an hour, then I have to go home to relieve Dottie for the afternoon.”

All of a sudden I got a tickle and started laughing.

“Both of them have entered the Ms. Blossom Pageant.” Gert looked at me with wide open eyes and joined me in the giggling fit.

“Can you imagine if one of them wins?” She put her hands on each side of her head. “We’d never hear the end of it.”

“I know. Dottie already thinks she’s got it in the bag because she was up all night thinking about what interviews she was going to do first.” I untied the apron from around my waist and handed it to her. She retrieved a fresh one from underneath the counter before she had me follow her through the coffee shop and out the door where we spilled out on the bustling sidewalk.

“Mary Elizabeth has already spent the money they get if they win.” I put my hand up over my eyes to shield the sun and looked toward the white tents in the median.

“My goodness. I don’t envy you.” Gert shook her head, and we made our way across the grass where her booth sat next to the amphitheater.

“This is Mae. She’s going to hang here while you take a break.” Gert introduced me to one of the local teenagers she employed during the summer. “You know Betts.”

“Of course I do.” I gave my friend a hug before I took my spot to help her with the line. “Wait until I tell you about Dottie,” I said to her out of the side of my mouth and was about to tell her when a little scuffle played out in front of us.

“The nerve you have showing up here like this.” A woman who looked to be in her fifties glared at a young man around my age or slightly older. “Haven’t you done enough to our family? What, are you stalking us now? Are you going to kill me next?”

“Listen, Carrie,” the man put his hands out in front of him. “I am here to get a coffee. That’s it. I didn’t even know you were here.”

“Well, I am.” Her chest heaved up and down, shaking.

“Get out of here, Dresser.” Another young man hurried up between the woman and the man she accused of tormenting her. “I swear, I’ll go get Al Hemmer.”

So Al Hemmer was the local sheriff, and that was like saying he was going to get Fifi. Not much different. In my opinion.

“I’m getting a coffee, then I’ll leave.” The man turned and looked me square in the eye. “Iced mocha, please.”

I gulped when I noticed the woman took her purse and brought it up over her head.

“Watch out!” I yelled, just in time for him to get hit over the top of the head.

“I’ll kill you! I will kill you!” She yelled with a fury. Her face was red, and she was whaling the air as the other guy dragged her off by her waist.

“Carrie.” Betts ran out of the booth. “Carrie, this isn’t the place.”

“I will kill you, Jason Dresser!” Carrie was kicking her feet in the air and flailing her arms as the other young man carted her off.

“Just wait until you find out what I know!” he yelled back at her.

Betts followed them over to a picnic table. The young man had faced Carrie the opposite direction, so her back was to us, but he didn’t stop glaring at my customer.

“Forget it.” He shook his head and walked off, going the opposite direction of the woman threatening his life.

“What was that about?” I asked Betts when she walked back over.

“Carrie and her husband grew up here. She used to be a big volunteer in the community until about a year ago when her daughter was hiking during hunting season and was accidentally shot by Jason Dresser.”

It was a horrible story that I was sad to say did happen one too many times around here.

“I vaguely remember something about it.” It was hard to recall since I’d been so busy with the campground. I barely had enough time to listen to any sort of news.

“Jason was in jail for it. She was with her best friend, and when she got shot, the best friend identified Jason as the shooter. Jason was devastated.” Betts glanced back over to the picnic table where Carrie had her head buried in her hands with the other young man consoling her. “He went to jail and made bail. I think his trial is coming up.”

“Gosh.” I just couldn’t imagine. “Is that Carrie’s son?”

“No. That’s Monica’s fiancé. Was her fiancé. Monty Noe.” Betts frowned. “They had this huge wedding planned. It was sad.”

“I can’t even imagine. But why was Jason on that trail and not in a hunting area?” There were specific areas used only for hunting, and anyone—especially anyone who lived here—knew not to go near them during hunting season.

“That’s not been told yet, but his attorney swears they will have their day in court.” She shrugged and turned back to help the next person in line.

Chapter 3

“I’d much rather be making people’s coffee,” I muttered to Mary Elizabeth from inside of the clothing boutique she’d dragged me to.

“I can’t believe you’d treat me that way,” Mary Elizabeth teased.

“You know I love you, but I liked the blue dress on you.” I had told her about my opinion after each dress, but she still continued to try on at least ten more after we agreed on the blue one. “It goes great with your hair and your pearls.”

Both of which had never changed since I’d gone to live her with her in my midteens.

“Fine. Let me try it on again.” She stood in front of the three-paneled mirror in a flowered number, twisting and turning to each side before she finally headed back in the dressing room.

“Are you doing okay?” The woman I’d seen earlier at the coffee stand, Carrie Patillo, asked.

“Gosh. We are fine, but are you okay?” I had to ask. She looked at me funny. “I was working at the coffee booth when you got upset, and my friend Betts helped you out.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I guess I’m not fine with my daughter’s killer walking the streets. It’s like he has no care in the world, and he has free will to do whatever he wants while my daughter is dead. She has no say on what she’s doing today. He took that from her.” She started to tear up.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’ve brought it up.” I wanted to crawl in a hole. I had no idea what I was thinking.

“Hi.” The salesclerk came up and put her hands on Carrie’s shoulders. “Why don’t you go home, and I’ll stay all day. I have nothing do to.”

Carrie held her finger under her nose and nodded, leaving the salesclerk with me.

“I’m sorry. I have no idea why I opened my big mouth,” I said.

“Gosh, no. You didn’t know how she’d react. We all want to make sure her well-being is taken care of.” She looked around. “It’s been rough, and we were hoping time would help, but she’s only gotten worse.”

“Well, when you see her, please tell her I’m sorry.” It was all I knew to say.

Thankfully, Mary Elizabeth had come out of the dressing room, taking the heat off me.

“That looks great!” The salesclerk’s eyes lit up. “What’s the occasion?”

“I’m going to be the next Ms. Blossom,” Mary Elizabeth beamed from what she felt in her heart was the truth of her words.

“Is that right?” The clerk pinched a sweet grin. “I can certainly see you winning in that dress.” She winked, sealing the sell.

After we left the boutique, there wasn’t any time for me to do anything else at the festival. Mary Elizabeth had eaten up all my free time, and it was time to head back to relieve Dottie, who would have a fit if I was late.

When I got back, I had just enough time to get Fifi and grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before Dottie was chomping at the bit to leave.

“Let me know if you need anything from here before I leave to come to the festival.” I’d already posted on the office door at the beginning of the week that we’d be closing the office early so I could go to the festival. I didn’t realize I’d be going to the pageant.

“Just so we are clear, I might need some time off work next week so I can get in all the interviews.” She grabbed her cigarette case off her desk. “If you do decide to get me some flowers for my win, do you mind picking up some of the lilies at Sweet Smell Flower Shop?”

“Is that a thing?” All of a sudden, this had become extremely real. All the what-ifs started to roll around in my head, and the biggest of all—outside of what if Dottie wins, how Mary Elizabeth will act and vice versa—what if I didn’t get those flowers and Mary Elizabeth wins? She’d be devastated because she wasn’t a lily fan. On the other hand, if Dottie wins, and I got Mary Elizabeth roses instead of lilies… oh dear.

“Have you ever watched the royal family? I mean, get with the program, May-bell-ine.” Dottie tsked on her way out.

Saturday nights were generally pretty quiet. Most of the time, the campers were off doing last-minute things until it was time to leave for either their next adventure or for home in the morning. Our check-in and checkout days were Sunday late afternoon, so it only gave me and my employees— Dottie and Henry, plus Betts who cleaned for me—to get all the lots and bungalows ready for the incoming guests that would check in around four p.m. Some did book early check-ins, and that was fine, but today I was sure all the campground guests were at the festival, making it a quiet afternoon.

The day was too pretty to be stuck inside of the campground office. I grabbed my phone and earbuds on my way out and put on the local radio station, which was run by the National Parks Department.

A quick stroll around the campground while bebopping to some jams felt so good with the warm sun on my face. I loved all seasons in Kentucky, but today summer was my favorite.

Ask me again in the fall, and I’d say it was my favorite.

I loved living here, deep in the woods. The rough, cracked ridges of the tree barks that made the distinct line between the forest and the campground was a beautiful sight on its own. I walked behind the campers to take a good look at the bright-green hanging moss, only to walk right into a spiderweb.

“Pft. Pft.” I dragged my hand across my cheek to get the invisible threads off. I even stopped to make sure there weren’t any spiders on my chest or arms.

We are interrupting the forty-five minutes of uninterrupted music to bring you a new alert.

Local man Jason Dresser was found dead this afternoon in what Sheriff Al Hemmer is calling a homicide. “At this time, we can say Mr. Dresser did succumb to his injuries he sustained from an apparent robbery at his home. There was a 9-1-1 call placed from Mr. Dresser, and we don’t have any details on what the call said or consisted of. We are not ruling out any suspects at this time but asking anyone with information that could lead to an arrest to come forward. Anonymous tips are welcome as well. I don’t have anything to add at this time, but will keep you updated as new information becomes available.”

Jason Dresser was arrested last year after he’d gone hunting and accidentally killed twenty-six year old Monica Patillo. He is out on bail until his trial which is to start next week.

Immediately, my shoulders slumped.

Carrie Patillo’s clenched teeth and seething tone were tattooed on my brain.

“I will kill you.”

Chapter 4

The next hour or so dragged on since I couldn’t wait to get to the festival to see what everyone had heard about the Dresser murder. Normally, I would already be with the Laundry Club Ladies talking about it, but with Abby busy at the library doing festival arts and crafts for kids, Betts doing a performance on stage at the amphitheater with the Normal Baptist Church bell ringer group, Dottie and Mary Elizabeth wrapped up in the pageant, and Queenie hosting a free Jazzercise class on the median lawn, we all had our own grass to water, making it impossible for us to call one another.

That didn’t mean we all hadn’t heard, and it didn’t mean we weren’t all anticipating getting together at the pageant to talk about it. It also didn’t mean that I hadn’t already grabbed the notebook the Laundry Club Ladies and I had used in the past to write down little clues about various crimes that’d happened in our small town.

In a few investigations, we did help the local sheriff with clues.

And I might’ve made a little space on the office wipe-off board next to this week’s events in and around Happy Trails Campground that we displayed on the wall behind Dottie’s desk, so if guests did come in the office, they could see the activities we suggested for their family.

“You on your way down to the festival?” Henry had popped his head into the office when it was closing time.

“I’m about to shut off the lights now.” I had already gotten all the paperwork ready for tomorrow’s guests. All of their leasing contracts, parking passes, and extra amenities together. “I do need to grab some flowers from the Sweet Smell Flower Shop for a couple coming in for their anniversary.”

“Ah, that’s nice.” Henry pulled his baseball cap off his head and ran his hand over his face, stopping briefly at his wide nose to give it a good scratch. His accent made me smile.

To make the campground even more cozy and a great place to stay, I offered different sized themed baskets or make-your-own baskets that could be purchased directly from the website when a reservation was made. In this case, they were celebrating their anniversary, so the husband had called me, privately, and asked me to put together a wine and cheese spa basket as well as a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers.

In the morning when I would do a final walkthrough of the bungalows and the campers being rented for the week, I delivered all the special orders and had them perfectly displayed and waiting for the guests when they arrived. Guests loved that extra touch. It was something I did learn when I was able to travel around the world in luxurious style before I lived here.

Even though Happy Trails was a far cry from a Ritz, it was the feeling that made the experience memorable, and I could help create that feeling in my guests.

“Did you hear ’bout that murder?” Henry threw me a tight smile after I noticed his eyes had shifted past me and over to my notes on the wipe-off board.

“Now you know I did.” I pointed. “She said she was going to kill him. I heard her with my own two ears.”

“Who?” He jerked back.

“Monica Patillo’s mama. Carrie.” I walked over to the board and picked up the dry erase marker, popping off the lid and circling her name a few times. “Jason came to the coffee booth this morning when I was working, and she was there with Monica’s fiancé. When she saw it was him, she literally lost it.” My head teetered on my shoulders. “Granted, I would probably act that way, too, but now he’s dead?”

“That’s awful. The entire thang was awful, Mae.” He tugged the baseball cap on his head. “I was down at the huntin’ club, and we all discussed how it’s so easy to get in the thick of the woods. When someone doesn’t know where the lines are between huntin’ land and hikin’ land, they have a good chance of gettin’ killed. Just like Monica.” He blinked a few times. “The Dresser boy was a good boy too. I know his daddy. I reckon I’ve got to stop by there at some point tomorrow.”

“You can take off anytime you need to.” I could not only see the pain in his eyes, but I could also feel the sadness coming from him.

I didn’t bother asking him any more questions. As bad as I felt for Carrie’s loss, I felt equally bad for the Dresser family’s loss.

“An eye for an eye. That’s what the good book says.” Henry tsked on his way out.

I always hated that saying. Not that I went against the good book, but in this case, there was no good to come from any of it. Even if the initial death of Monica was an accident. There was no sense in killing Jason Dresser when he was already going to trial for Monica’s murder.

The sadness that washed over me had even carried over to the citizens at the festival. There was a heavy feeling in the air as I walked from the car to the flower shop.

Sweet Smell Flower Shop was the cutest little white cottage-style house. The white picket fence looked to be original to the house as did the two bay windows located on each side of the black entrance door.

Two large clay pots were positioned at the gate’s entrance with gorgeous pink dahlias that were the size of a small dog’s head. They were so pretty, they nearly took my breath.

A pink rosebush climbed up the picket fence posts and curled it’s way around, sweetening the air like perfume. The pops of pink had to be a theme Jessica Niles, the owner, was going for because everywhere I turned, there was a pink bush, pink flowers, and pink décor leading up to the front door, delighting my soul and momentarily suspending any thoughts of Jason Dresser.

Once inside, bursts of colors, red roses, spiny-leaved yellow lilies, sunflowers, marigolds, cone flowers, lavender, and much more colored the room so there was no need for anything but white paint on the walls. It was as though I had stepped into a painting.

“Good evening, Mae. How is Mary Elizabeth?” Jessica scurried over with an armful of brown-eyed Susan. “The last time I saw her was at the wedding. The fire.” She shook her head.

Jessica was a tall, willowy brunette. She was at least in her fifties, or at least the few crow’s feet around her warm, blue eyes indicated that.

“Happy to say that everyone stepped up to the plate and really pitched in. At first, she was having a slight nervous breakdown because you know she puts everything she makes back into the place. So when local businesses started to donate materials and everyone pitched in with their various skills, all she was left to do was order her fancy curtains from the interior decorator. But”—I clasped my hands—“thank you for asking about her, and I’m going to need your expertise in what type of flower bouquet she might like.”

“You are such a good daughter. I have just the right combination.” She gestured for me to follow her around the shop while she plucked from buckets and told me what they all were. “What about this?” She turned around, and before my eyes there was literally a nice size bouquet in her grip from her plucking. “Where is this going to go, so I know what vase to give you?”

“In her arms.” I nibbled my lip. “She’s a contestant in the Ms. Blossom Pageant.”

Her smile turned into a wide-mouth laugh.

“Oh, my.” Her lips came together in a grin. “She’s something else.”

“You’re not kidding.”

“How about we put them in a burlap sack? I’ve got the best burlap donated from Gert. She has those big beanbags, and instead of throwing all of them away, I told her I’d take them and use them for bouquets. It adds a neat touch.” She weaved her way through the shop, and greeted customers by telling them she’d be right with them on our way to the counter.

Her loose, short-sleeved dress grazed the ground as she walked.

“And I’m going to need a lily bouquet for Dottie.”

“Oh dear, not Dottie too.” Her eyes danced in delight at the thought.

Without spending too much time or money in the Sweet Smell Flower Shop, where I could’ve literally spent an entire month’s profit, I headed out over to the festival with a few minutes to spare before the pageant actually started.

There was a table in the grass area in front of the amphitheater with four people sitting there. They appeared to look official, so I guessed them to be judges.

“Mae!” Dawn Gentry waved her arms in the air from across the way, signaling me to head over there.

“How’s she doing?” I asked her about Mary Elizabeth.

“Which one?” She took a step to the side where Dottie stood in line behind Mary Elizabeth with big numbers pinned on their sleeves. Neither of them looked at the other or around. Both of them stared straight ahead at the steps leading up to the stage, in line with the other older women who had also entered.

“Oh, geez.” I squinted when I noticed Dottie had on a rhinestone pink flamingo T-shirt. Her short red hair had a few darker highlights. That had to be Helen’s idea.

“Just look away. Look away,” Dawn said. “I swear. I hope neither of them win.”

“From your lips to God’s ears.” Even though I didn’t say it out loud how I fully agreed with her, I did secretly hope they’d drop out or lose because it would just make for a bad life, not a bad week, day, or even year. Life.

They’d be talking about the win for life, and it was something I didn’t think I would be able to handle. Ever.

Still, I walked over and handed them each one of the bouquets. Both grumbled at the other.

“Stop it.” I’d about had enough.

“It’s friendly competition,” Dottie said and took the bouquet of lilies from me, snuggling them close to the flamingo.

“Nothing wrong with a little competition to keep us old ladies going.” Mary Elizabeth winked, taking her colorful bouquet that complimented her blue dress we’d gotten from the boutique.

Carrie Patillo’s boutique.

“Good luck. Maybe they’ll pick two winners.” I gave both of them a quick hug before I headed back to the front with the others to watch.

Whoever was in charge of decorating for the Ms. Blossom wasn’t good at it. Or possibly was trying to re-create the time period the contestants would’ve been at prom. The theme was white and gold with a large archway made out of helium balloons on both sides of the stage. There was so much tulle draping that it was hard to make out the glittered letters hanging off them that spelled out Ms. Blossom.

“Can you believe Jason Dresser is dead?” Betts walked up. She still had her white gloves on that she only wore to ring her bells. The briefcase with her fancy bells in it was in her grip.

“I can’t.” I shook my head. “I was taking a walk at the campground with my earbuds in when they broke the news on the radio.” I leaned a little closer for her to hear me. “Do you think Carrie Patillo could’ve—” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence before Betts responded.

“No. No. No.” She shook her head in refusal to even think it was a possibility. “There’s no way Carrie Patillo could’ve killed Jason Dresser.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” A voice carried from behind us.

We turned around.

Tucker Pyle, the newest member of the Daniel Boone National Park Rangers, stood right behind us.

Chapter 5

“Tucker, what on earth are you doing at the Ms. Blossom Pageant?” I asked right before the music swelled and diminished, and the MC started to sing the Ms. Blossom Festival song.

Tucker nodded to the stage where the contestants started to strut their elderly stuff across the stage.

“Helen?” I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping.

“She texted me to let me know how she got all pumped up when she was helping Dottie, that her old pageant days got in her bones. She couldn’t shake it off.” Tucker laughed. A blade of grass was tucked in between his lips. “She used to have a lot of fun doing all of those pageants when she was younger. Her parents nearly went broke putting her in them.”

“That’s big business around here,” Betts agreed with Tucker.

“It’s nuts. That’s what it is. You get those crazy mamas putting all that makeup on their young’uns and fancying up their hair.” Tucker cracked me up at how he knew all the ins and outs of pageantry. “You wouldn’t believe the fake teeth these kids have.”

“Fake teeth?” I just couldn’t believe what I’d heard. There had to be some clarification.

“Oh yeah, these mama’s would stop at nothing for their daughters to have those regional titles.” Tucker pointed to the stage just as Helen took her first twirly whirl at the end of the runway. “I think that’s why Helen went into doing hair and all that girly stuff.” He wiggled his nails at me and Betts, making us laugh.

I liked Tucker. He was down to earth and just kind.

“Let’s give a big round of applause to contestant five, Helen Pyle,” the MC announced, and Helen took her bow before she darted off stage left. “Now welcome contestant six from Perrysburg, Kentucky. Mary Elizabeth Moberly.”

Mary Elizabeth had the perfect wave down pat. Her lips were moving as she coached herself but with a smile while doing it.

Elbow, wrist, elbow, wrist, her lips told her elbow how to swing out then pop her wrist. She called it her queen’s wave. She did the little bitty finger-to-palm wave to the little girls in the front row who didn’t care these were older women, but were in awe of them.

“Thank you, Mary Elizabeth,” the announcer had to coax her offstage when she took one too many twirls. “That’s contestant number six, Mary Elizabeth Moberly.”

She hurried off stage left.

“Welcome Dottie Swaggert, contestant number seven.” The MC couldn’t even get her name out fast enough. Dottie sashayed down the runway, waving her flowers in the air. “Hey there, Donna! Hi, Jean! May-bell-ine!” She hollered out at all the people she could see and waved the flowers at them, knocking nearly every petal off the stems.

“Thank you, contestant number seven.” The MC tried not to laugh, but he didn’t quit make it. His laughter spilled out into the crowd over the loudspeaker, making the audience roar.

If Dottie didn’t win, there was no way she couldn’t get the Ms. Congeniality award. If they had one.

“Contestant number eight, Ms. Carrie Patillo.”

I jerked up to the stage. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tucker, too, had moved his attention to watch Carrie trot with a huge smile on her face.

“Hmmm…” It was time for me to poke the bear. “She looks awfully happy,” I muttered Tucker’s way.

“A little too happy.” Tucker sighed. He watched her while I watched him. His eyes lowered as she got closer to the end of the runaway where he seemed to be trying to get a better look.

“Is she a suspect in Jason Dresser’s murder?” I flat out asked him.

He waited until Carrie had walked off stage left before he turned to me.

“Don’t you think she should be?” he asked.

“Are you actually asking me?” I put my hand up, almost a little too excited for the possibility.

“I am. I think Agnes Swift is right about you and the public. Not just the sheriff’s department or the ranger department when it comes to crimes.” He looked around. “These woods have eyes all in them. When there’s a crime, I know those eyes see. People know and hear things that can help solve those crimes.”

“Who is in charge of Jason’s murder?” I asked.

“That’s the thing. He lives in the park, so it would be our job”—he referred to the rangers—“to see what we can find out, and the sheriff’s department will help if need be. Since I took the position, I have asked for the Rangers and the sheriff’s deputies to work together on all the cases. Just like the public. I’ve put together a public forum on the Daniel Boone National Park website where we can get anonymous tips or talk about the crimes so we can involve the public.”

“I hate to say it, but Carrie Patillo did have the motive. Did you hear about her at the coffee booth this morning?” I asked.

“I heard some rumblings but I thought I’d get your account first.” Tucker must’ve thought he was a sly one.

Rumblings? It was gossip from Helen, I bet.

“Maybe we can head over to the diner for a piece of pie. Ever since we had a slice of pie, my sweet tooth has been in high gear for another piece.”

The crowd started to clap as the contestants filed out one by one back on to the stage, making it hard for me to hear Tucker. We turned our attention to the stage.

Helen Pyle stood facing the crowd with her one leg cocked at the knee, toe dug into the floor as she twisted side to side. Mary Elizabeth continued to do the elbow-and-wrist wave. And Dottie continued to wag the naked flower stems at the crowd with a huge grin on her face. It was Carrie Patillo who stood there all calm, cool, and collected as though she didn’t have a care in the world.

Until it all changed.

“’Scuse me. Coming through.” Al Hemmer was making his way up through the crowd. “’Scuse me. Pardon me.”

He placed a hand on the stage of the amphitheater while all the contestants were waiting to be called for their question. He hopped up like a grasshopper.

“Al,” Tucker had gotten Al’s attention. “What are you doing?”

Al stood straight up, pulled his shoulders back, and cocked out his gut.

“I’m here to arrest Carrie Patillo for the murder of Jason Dresser.” With a smooth motion like he’d rehearsed this so many times, he unsnapped his cuffs. The MC stuttered and stammered, unsure what to do.

By this time, Tucker had joined Al on stage and berated him on how this wasn’t proper procedure and the two law agencies were working together. The two of them bickered back and forth.

Carrie didn’t pay them any attention.

“Al Hemmer, you’ve lost your mind.” Carrie glared at him. “But I am glad Jason is dead.”

Carrie said it so loud that the entire Daniel Boone National Park heard her.

“Yeah.” She wagged her flowers toward the crowd. “You heard me right. I’m happy someone killed him. He deserved it!”

“Oh my goodness.” Betts poked me. “Is she taking the blame for something she didn’t do?”

“I have no idea but this is truly a spec-tee-cul.” Queenie bounced.

“Ma’am. I’m gonna need to see your wrists.” Al had a determined look on his face. You could’ve heard a pin drop it was so quiet. Even the crickets had stopped chirping.

“Whatever. You’re embarrassing yourself.” Carrie scorned and stuck her hands out. While Al cuffed her, she yelled over his shoulder, “And to whoever did kill Jason Dresser, thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I’ll be glad to go to prison for you! You’ve done me and my family a favor. Ain’t that right, Monty?” she called out to the crowd.

I glanced over at the man Carrie was yelling at. It was Monty Noe, Monica’s fiancé, who I’d seen pull Carrie out of the coffee booth earlier this morning. He had his phone out and appeared to be talking rapidly to someone. By the way Monty was nodding his head and watching Carrie trying to get Al Hemmer’s hands off of her, I was guessing he’d called someone who might be able to help Carrie out, like a lawyer.

Al Hemmer took Carrie by the elbow and walked her stage right to steps.

“Be careful. I’ve got on heels, you nitwit.” Carrie’s voice echoed. “I’ll gladly put myself in your car. Let go of me.” She jerked her arm out of his grip before she whacked him on the head with her flower bouquet.

“Now stop that, Carrie,” Al warned on his way over to the sheriff’s truck.

Dottie took full advantage of having the privilege to be standing next to Carrie. All the attention was on Carrie, but Dottie acted as though everyone was watching her. She did a few twirls and poses.

Tucker nodded, and it appeared as though he had given Helen an empathetic look as though he were sorry this was happening during her return to the stage. He tucked his head and made his way off the stage.

“You know what?” Carrie spat before Al put her in the back seat of the truck. “I’m glad the SOB is dead!”

True southern-lady style, she used the acronym instead of the words to protect her manners.

“I didn’t do it, but I’ll sure take the blame for it. He deserved everything he got.” She had rolled down the window, and as soon as they took off, she tossed out the bouquet like it was some sort of going away party. “Monty, grab my flowers!”

It seemed like an eternity while everyone stood there to see what was happening with the pageant once Tucker had taken over, talked to Carrie, and she strolled offstage on her own recognizance.

After all the people I knew had lost in the Ms. Blossom Pageant, the Laundry Club Ladies met up at the Normal Diner.

“Gimme that pie. The whole pie.” Unhappy at her loss, Dottie acted like a sulky three-year-old. “I ’bout starved myself so my back fat didn’t hang over so much in that gut-sucker-in thangy Helen pushed me into.”

“I wondered how you looked so thin in that shirt.” Mary Elizabeth raised a brow. “And when did Helen decide to enter? Wasn’t there a deadline?”

It had appeared Mary Elizabeth and Dottie had rebonded over the gossip of the pageant while Betts, Queenie, Abby, and I had started talking about the murder and the big arrest that didn’t seem to shock anyone.

“I can’t believe it took her this long to kill him,” Queenie said.

“Mae and I saw her attack him today, but do you blame her?” Betts kinda took me off guard since she was always the voice of reason.

“Do you think his family will hire someone to look into it, or do you think that they think she did it? I mean, she was insistent she didn’t do it but very happy someone did.”

“That’s a lot of thinking. She didn’t resist the arrest or anything. What on earth would they have on her to be able to haul her down to the station?” Abby leaned back to make room for Ty to set down all the plates of pie and cups of coffee.

“It had to be something other than everyone seeing them arguing this afternoon.” Helen Pyle had joined us. “I feel bad for Monty. He took Monica’s death so hard, and after she died, he completely stepped into her family like a child to them.”

“He was calling someone from the stage.” Abby had also seen what I’d seen. “I bet he was calling their lawyer or maybe even Carrie’s husband.”

“Mm-hmm. Van Patillo has practically gone into hiding since Monica was killed,” Betts told us.

“I don’t know about all of that, but if Jason was my child, I would still want his name cleared in death because he never confessed to accidentally killing Monica. He swore he didn’t shoot her.” Abby talked about how the bullets matched his gun but ninety percent of rifles around here used for hunting used that type of bullet. Buckshot.

“Honey, his family is so dirt poor.” Dottie butted into our conversation. “They don’t got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.”

I couldn’t help but keep telling myself that Dottie sayings weren’t always literal, but they did tell me a lot.

“I wonder how much his legal defense had already racked up?” I questioned. Not that I thought his own family would kill him or that Carrie herself didn’t stand by her very words from this afternoon. Unfortunately, what I’ve come to realize in a lot of these cases, it was generally a family member who committed such violent acts.

“From what I’d heard this afternoon from one of the girls in the bell choir, they were using a public defender, and his daddy didn’t expect much out of it. They were figuring on him going to prison in a couple of weeks.” Betts swayed to the music coming out of the speakers on the amphitheater stage. “Now they’re going to have to bury him.”

“Do you and the ladies think we ought to do something? I reckon I don’t know the protocol for someone who was on trial and then shot dead.” Mary Elizabeth always wanted to do the proper thing.

“I think we do what we do every time someone dies, Mary Elizabeth.” The sensible side of Betts had come back. “We”—she looked around at us and gestured to our group—“we put our heads together to make sure Carrie did do it, and then we cook our finest casseroles to take to Jason’s family so we can show our respect.”

“You mean we go see Carrie in jail and see what they have on her, then we go to his parent’s house to snoop?” I asked.

“Exactly.” Betts leaned back in her chair before she dug her fork into the big slice of pie.

Chapter 6

Sunday morning had been busy. There wasn’t a whole lot talked about with the murder of Jason Dresser and the arrest of Carrie Patillo between me, Dottie, and Henry.

Betts had already come and gone, cleaning the bungalows and campers I needed done before she headed off for her Sunday school group.

Sunday afternoon was always busy with the new crop of campground guests that’d trailered in or drove in for the week, maybe two, depending on their reservation.

Once everyone was settled, Dottie had retired to her camper for the rest of the night. She was beat tired from what she called “playing nice with everyone so she’d win the pageant.”

Henry also had decided to turn in early.

Since most things were closed, Fifi and I had decided to head down Red Fox Trail to check on the kayaks, canoes, and other extracurricular activities we offered at the stream because there were a lot of activities planned as the festival was still underway.

Recently, I’d taken some of the profits from the campground and invested in a few lights to give the path just enough glow so hikers and guests could see where they were going on their way back to the campground.

Squirrels scrabbling around the trunk of the tree sent Fifi darting off the trail, which was fine since it was still daylight, though dusk would be here soon.

“Fifi!” I clicked my tongue, rotating my head to get a good echo off the trees.

A loud whistle caught my attention down by the stream. The bottom of my shoes scraped across the rocky path as I tried to steady myself on my way down the trail so I didn’t take a hard fall when I heard Fifi yipping. The only thing I could think of was she’d responded to the whistle, which freaked me out.

“Fifi!” I yelled down the path.

“I’ve got her!” The familiar male voice made me feel much better that she was at least safe.

Trickling water from the stream and the cool temperatures caused from the frigid water and overhanging trees danced around my ankles, sending chills up my legs.

“There you are.” Relief fell over me when I noticed the blond dude in the all-green outfit. “You naughty girl,” I teased and headed over to where Tucker was sitting with Fifi in his lap. “I guess, in her defense, those squirrels are tempting.”

“Those darn squirrels.” He smiled and gave her a good scratch before she darted to the stream where she lapped up some water.

“What are you doing down here?” I asked.

“I took the trail behind the Milkery to get here. It’s peaceful and I need to think.” He popped his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, grasping his fingers. “This is how I think through a lot of my cases. Nature always helps clear my mind and lets me think through things.” He pointed back to the trail. “So all of this kinda connects. I’m seeing it now.”

“I told you it’s not too difficult once you get on the trails and hike them yourself.” I had taken Tucker on a few trails when he first took his post at the ranger station.

As a committee member of the National Park Board, it was my job to hike the trails, find new trails, and certify trails as safe or unsafe. For a new ranger in the area, there was never a better way to learn the trails unless they were hiked.

Even though there were millions of trails in the Daniel Boone National Park, most of them intersected, and you could head down a different one without realizing it.

“My campground is straight up that way. I own the extracurricular activities down here, so I came to check on everything. We have a full schedule this week.”

“I bet. The last few weeks of summer seem to always be the time people try to fit in all the hikes and sports before the fall sets in.” He pushed up to stand. He had on the Rangers shorts and shirt along with the long socks and hiking boots that was their uniform. His floppy ranger hat laid against his back with the string wrapped around his neck.

“It was good to see you.” I patted my leg to get Fifi’s attention. She ran over to me because she knew our routine, and it was time to go back to the campground.

“Mae, I’ve been thinking about Jason Dresser’s murder.” Tucker got my attention. “Carrie Patillo hasn’t confessed. She still continues to poke fun and saying she was glad someone did it. She keeps saying she’ll gladly take the blame. We ended up giving her a lie detector test and she passed.”

“What about an alibi?” I wondered if they’d established it.

“That’s the thing. She’s got one. She got her nails done at Cute-icles, which Helen told me she did. Then she went back to the boutique and did some inventory, got dressed and walked over.” He shook his head. “Even some of the downtown cameras prove it. So Al had to let her go.”

“Really?” I questioned. “I’d not heard she was released, but I’ve been so busy that I’ve not seen the news.”

This little bit of information pushed my curious button.

“I’m sure you’ll let me know if you hear anything.” Tucker was giving me permission, without really giving me permission, to snoop around. “Like I told the reporters, I’ve got the tip line and the forum. I hope people come forward with any information. But Agnes swears by you.”

“I’ll keep my ears peeled.” I waved goodbye, knowing I was going to do more than keeping my ears peeled.

It was almost time for Betts to pick me up so I could go with her to deliver the casseroles she and Mary Elizabeth had made for Jason’s family and for Carrie’s husband, but seeing how Tucker told me Al had to let Carrie go, I was going to let Betts know our plans had changed.

“You mean to tell me Carrie is innocent?” Betts couldn’t believe it. She gave me a blank stare after I’d gotten into her van when she got to the campground to pick me up. “I just can’t believe it. Who on earth would kill him?”

“I don’t know.” My stomach grumbled from hunger. The van smelled so good from the casseroles that I’d completely forgotten I’d yet to eat. I’d been so preoccupied with writing everything down in the Laundry Club Ladies’ clue notebook. “And we are going to see what we can come up with. Tucker pretty much gave me full access to snoop.”

“That’s a change from the last administration.” Betts was kind enough not to mention Hank Sharp.

“We can’t always tiptoe over Hank. We can say ‘Hank,’” I told her. “We can also agree that Hank didn’t like my snooping and pretty much couldn’t continue the relationship, so I’d agree that Tucker is totally different. I meant to check out the forum.”

I made a mental note to check it tonight when I got back to the campground.

“Abby had helped them do it.” Betts already had the van pulled out of Happy Trails and was driving the opposite way of downtown. She knew where the Patillos lived due to the fact Lester Hager, Bett’s ex-husband, was the preacher at the Normal Baptist Church, and Betts did everything for all the families and was involved in everything.

Going to a church member’s house for supper was a regular event for her and Lester, which was how I could assume she knew where they lived.

“I didn’t know Abby had that kind of time.” I was shocked since Abby and Bobby Ray were barely apart since they’d been home from the honeymoon. “I think I’ve seen Bobby Ray once since they came back, and that’s when I had to stop by Grassel’s Garage to get gas.”

Bobby Ray worked as a mechanic at the local garage located downtown, and I was so happy when the little Ford Focus needed a fill up just so I could stop and see him.

“She was doing it while she worked at the library. She was talking about it last night and how anyone could get on there anonymously, which is why the authorities believed it would be good.”

“Or there could be a lot of leads on there that end up being nothing and waste everyone’s time.” Not to be a downer, but I’d learned to look at all angles of things.

“I think we need to talk to Colonel Holz too. I’d like to see the autopsy report for not only Jason, but also Monica.” It was something that’d sat on my mind since last night when they were talking about Monica’s murder and how Jason claimed he didn’t shoot her.

“Do we even know how he died?” Betts asked.

“No.” My voice trailed off while I took in the house we were pulling up to. There were a couple of cars in the driveway and a man sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch.

“That’s Van Patillo. Carrie’s husband.” Betts reached around and got her purse.

I got out of the van and opened the side door to get the casserole out.

“Betts.” Van stood up and greeted her. “I’m Van Patillo. You from the church?”

“No, sir. I’m actually a friend of Betts. Mae West.” I offered a smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

It was odd. I wasn’t sure what to say, or if I should tell him why we were there, and when Carrie flung the door open, I was saved from saying anything.

“Mae! Betts! Isn’t it a great day?” She was so chipper.

“She’s lost her mind since someone killed Monica. But went off the deep end of no return now that Jason is dead.” Van took his seat back in the rocking chair.

I wasn’t sure if he was serious, but he sure didn’t make a gesture that he was kidding.

“Don’t pay no attention to Van. He’s not able to welcome a gift horse in the mouth when he sees one.” She rushed us inside and took the casserole. “I keep telling him that someone did us a favor. I know it sounds horrible.”

We followed her into the country-style kitchen with all the pie safes and multicolored celebration dishes in the china cabinet all stacked up, the round country table that sat on top of the knotted rug, and the many, many wood cabinets that lined the kitchen walls.

“You have no idea how it changes someone when your child dies before you. Much less gets murdered.” She set the casserole down on the rollaway island that sat in the middle of the kitchen and peeled off the tinfoil. “Mmmm,mmmm. This smells so good.”

“We just wanted to come by and let you know that we were thinking of you.” Betts and I were in a predicament.

“I’m so glad. I wanted to tell you that Mary Elizabeth picked the right dress.” She looked up when Monty had walked into the room. He turned around like he was going to leave. “Get on in here, Monty, and see what the women from church sent us. See, even God thinks Jason got his justice. I bet Monica is doing a little dance up in heaven right now, watching that SOB taking the elevator to hell.”

There was no denying the hate Carrie had for Jason Dresser.

“I didn’t want to walk in on anything.” He walked over. “Thank you for bringing the food. I’m just glad the sheriff couldn’t hold mama on charges.”

“Mama?” I questioned.

“That’s what he’s always called me.” Carrie snugged him tight around the waist. “He was engaged to Monica, and now he’s the closest thing we have to her. I’m not letting him go.”

“Actually…” I decided to step up and tell her why I was really here with Betts. “I’m not from the church. Betts is, and yes the casserole is, too, but I’m here to see if I can help out Tucker Pyle with the Rangers. Since Jason’s body was found on national park property, he has a bit of a jurisdiction over the case.”

“Ain’t he a doll, baby?” Carrie gushed. “He was so nice to me in jail. But I was willing to take the punishment for the crime because I feel like I’m in prison every day with what happened to my baby girl.”

“Maybe we can get some closure with Jason gone.” Monty smiled at Carrie. “I’ve got to go now. Do you need anything else?”

“No, honey. You’ve done enough. One of these days, he’s not going to want to come around. I wear him out with keeping the boutique in tip-top shape. Those old houses always have something going wrong with them.” She gave him a hug, and we said our goodbyes before he left. “He’s a good boy. I keep telling him he doesn’t have to stick around, but he does. I swear he’s worse than me.”

Carrie started to tear up.

“What was it you were saying about being here for the Ranger?” She turned to the bouquet of flowers and uncurled the ribbon holding them together.

“I was saying how he knew Betts and I—along with a couple other of our friends—were really good at helping out with some of the cases. He told me how you had been so brave to take the blame for something you didn’t do.” So he technically didn’t say it that way, but I lived by Mary Elizabeth’s truth bomb about catching more bees with honey than vinegar, and right now, I was dripping with sweetness to get her to tell me what she knew.

Carrie walked over and opened the cabinet under her sink, pulling out a flower vase. She filled it with water and started to sort out the bouquet.

“You just don’t understand. I am very appreciative for the person who killed Jason. I know it sounds horrible, and I don’t think I’m a horrible person. The fact is, he was walking free when all of the evidence pointed to him. And there was a witness.” She poked the flower stems in, pulled a few out, took a step back, and rearranged them again before she finally settled on what she thought looked good and placed the vase in the middle of the round table. “I think whoever killed Jason sent me these.”

“You do?” Betts picked up the card.

“Yes. Jessica Niles brought them over to me at the boutique before it was time for me to go to the pageant. I told her she must be mistaken because Van would’ve never given me flowers. And he never gave Monica any when she was in pageants.” She looked at the card in Betts’s hand. “Jessica told me there was that note with specific instructions along with cash on the doorstep of Sweet Smell Flower Shop when she got there yesterday morning. No name. No credit card. No way to trace.”

“And it reads…” Betts held it up to her eyes. “Welcome to your fresh start.”

“Right. I thought maybe someone in town saw me being in the pageant as a way that I had gotten past what happened to Monica and seeing it as a fresh start, but after what happened to the killer who shall not be named, I think they did it, and it was their way of giving me a fresh start.” She didn’t have one bit of remorse in her body for what happened to Jason.

“Did you say Monica was in pageants?” I went back to the pageant thing.

“Oh, yes. We traveled all over Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia because she would win, win, win.” She waved us over to go into another room.

The family room.

It was filled with trophies, ribbons, and photos of Monica and Carrie. Both had huge smiles on their faces.

“Her college was paid for.” She picked up a photograph of Monica, Van, herself, and Monty.

Monica had on a blue graduation gown with a blue cap. Yellow cords dropped around her neck.

“Honors?” I asked.

“She was so smart, my Monica.” Carrie sighed. “You see now why I don’t care who took care of her killer. I’m just glad I don’t have to go through the trial and wait for them to execute him. Saved us some tax dollars, if you ask me.”

Chapter 7

“That was certainly strange.” I was perplexed when I got back into Betts’s van. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone who honestly didn’t care they were going to jail for a crime they didn’t commit.” I paused and looked out the window to get another look at Van, who was still sitting on the front porch.

“I don’t know. I guess she’d been wishing for Jason’s death for so long that when it came true, she felt like he got his due. Like she said,” Betts stopped at the edge of their driveway to look both ways before pulling out. “She didn’t care who did it.”

“It just doesn’t seem right.”

“Did you get any clues from it?” Betts headed back towards town.

“I think the fact someone sent her flowers with the note was a big clue.” I wished I’d taken a photo of the card. I wasn’t great at reciting things word for word, but at least I remembered the major point of the card. And if I needed it or the sheriff needed it, then I’m sure Carrie would give it to them.

“Do you think the message about starting a new life or new chapter or whatever it said referred to Jason?” She asked a great question.

“The only way to find out is to go see Jessica.” I felt the speed of the van pick up and smiled.

“Thank goodness we live in a town where the tourists love to shop on Sunday.” Betts all but confirmed we were headed straight to Sweet Smell Flower Shop.

“Plus the Blossom Festival final day.” There were a few things I wanted to pick up for the campground, which made this a great multipurpose trip to town.

“Do you have any clue who could be the killer?” Betts asked and looked over right before the tires hit the rumble strip on the side of the road, forcing her to drive back on the road and not the shoulder.

I gripped the handle of the door and peeked out the window to make sure we weren’t going over some sort of cliff.

“You keep your eyes on the road.” I pointed out the windshield.

“I’m not going to kill us.” She laughed and did slow down a little.

“I think there could be a few suspects.” I started to name them. “What about the fiancé?”

“Monty?” Betts gasped as if he couldn’t’ve been a suspect. “No way. They were in so much love. They met in college, and he proposed about three months after they were introduced. Like I told you before, their wedding was going to be gigantic. From what I understand, they had pretty much paid for everything up front, and I don’t think Carrie and Van got a whole lot back from the venues.”

“What venues? Do you remember?” I asked. “Carrie and Van, were they having some money issues? Not that I think they killed Monica.”

“Their own daughter?” Betts gasped even louder.

“Someone else. Someone they owed money to.” I didn’t want to remind her of the past crimes we’d solved where money was involved. “Money is a huge motive.”

“I don’t recall off the top of my head, but I can find out.” Betts took the last curve before Happy Trails Campground. “Do you need to stop and check on Dottie or let Fifi out?”

“Nah. We won’t be too long. Unless you want me to grab my car so you don’t have to bring me all the way back out here?”

“I’m all yours today.” She continued straight. “Why do you think Monty?”

“I don’t know. I just know that most times it’s the spouse or someone close to the victim.”

“But the forensics came back the bullet that killed Monica was from Jason’s shotgun, and he was in the woods that day. His hunting partner was there.”

“Hunting partner?” I questioned. “I need to go see him. What if they’ve remembered something since the accident?”

“I’m sure Ted would’ve come forward with it or at least was being called for his testimony which was supposed to be coming up.”

I took the notebook out of my bag and opened it up.

“Ted what?” I wanted to make sure I had written all of this down so I could tell the Laundry Club Ladies when we got together for game night.

“Brimer. Ted Brimer.” Betts pulled into the parking lot of the Laundry Club. “My goodness. Who is doing laundry on the last day of the Blossom Festival?”

We got out and both stood next to the van, looking through the laundromat windows.

The parking lot was on the side of the building and had several windows to see inside of the laundromat. There were so many customers. There were four people leaning over the table where Betts kept the puzzles and looked to be working on one. A couple of folks were sitting on the couches watching television. And another couple of people were reading books back in the reading section of the laundromat where the Laundry Club Ladies and I met on a regular basis.

“Do you mind going to see Jessica yourself? I think I better check on all the customers.” Betts hit the key fob, making the beeping noise to ensure the van was locked.

“Sure. I’ll be back since you’re my ride home.” I wasn’t sure if she heard the last part because she’d already turned the corner of the building that faced Main Street with a giddyup in her step toward the laundromat entrance.

The last day of the festival looked like it was going to be a busy one. All of the booths had at least a handful of customers. All of the picnic tables in the median were occupied with happy faces, and that put a smile on my heart.

Since Jason was a local, and the local news had captured all the citizens, it didn’t seem to affect the tourists, which was something a town always feared when there was a crime.

“Good morning,” I called out to Ty Randal when I passed by his booth.

“Mae, let me grab you a bologna sandwich.” He insisted I wait, which was probably a good thing because I was still starving, and a fried bologna sandwich sounded good about right now.

The sun was still high in the sky for a late afternoon. Mother Nature had really cooperated with the festival, making it a huge hit.

“Here you go. I even toasted the bread in melted butter with a little mustard.” Ty was so good at knowing what combinations paired well when sometimes it sounded gross. “Thanks for sending Tucker to me. He’s been a frequent customer.”

He handed me the wax paper with the sandwich wrapped up. It was warm to the touch.

“You’re welcome,” I told him and noticed Tucker was sitting at the picnic table underneath one of the huge oaks next to the Normal Diner’s booth.

His legs were stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed, elbows propped up on the top of the picnic table, his head back and his eyes closed.

“Are you napping?” I had walked over to Tucker, nudged his foot, and took a bite of the sandwich.

“Nope. Thinking.” He opened his eyes and grinned.

“Again?” I laughed. “Or thinking about eating?” I noticed the same sort of wax paper on top of the picnic table all wadded up.

“A little bit of both. Sorta.” He pushed off his elbows and scooted over a little to make room for me to sit. “I was thinking about deer hunting.”

“And that’s a little bit of both?” I was questioning how it was related to the murder and the food.

“Do you know anything about Monica Patillo’s death?” He genuinely wanted to know.

“I don’t. All I heard was Jason and…” I rolled back into my memory. “Hold on,” I told him and pulled my bag off my shoulder. “This is why I write things down.”

I pulled out the notebook and took the offer to sit next to him.

“Does that contain all of Mae West’s secrets?” He said it in some sort of mysterious voice that made me smile.

“No. All the secrets to all the murders or crimes me and the Laundry Club Ladies have been involved in.” I flipped to the notes I had taken while Betts was driving. “Ted Brimer was with Jason Dresser the day Monica was killed. Why are you questioning Monica’s death?”

“Since I’m new and new to this case, I’d like to see what his history has been over the last year for someone to have killed him. Maybe he knew something, and it was going to be revealed in the trial, so he was murdered to keep his mouth shut.”

“And what better way to shut someone’s mouth. Permanently.” I hadn’t thought about Tucker’s line of thinking, but it put a whole ‘nother spin on things. “Have you talked to Jason’s lawyer?”

“No. I have a call in to him.” Tucker sighed, crossing his arms.

“Do you remember Carrie throwing the flowers out of Al’s truck window after he arrested her?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” He shifted his body to turn slightly toward me.

“They were sent to her with a card that read something like Welcome to a fresh start, with no name. Jessica, from the flower shop”—I pointed across the median to the Sweet Smell Flower Shop—“had delivered them right before the pageant.”

“How did you find that out?”

“I went to her house with Betts to drop off a casserole from the church. I wanted to see for myself if she killed Jason even though she passed your tests and her alibi checked out. You never know. She could’ve hired someone.” I let Tucker look at the notebook. “Carrie said she didn’t know what the message on the card read, and Jessica told her that when she—Jessica—got to the flower shop to open, the card was there with cash and delivery instructions.”

“Is the flower shop open?” He took another glance across the median.

“Yes. That’s why I’m here. I noticed there was a line when Betts and I pulled up, so I was taking a stroll through the booths in hopes there wouldn’t be a line when I came back by.” I looked over.

There was still a line but not nearly as long as it was when I got there.

“Do you know Jessica?” he asked.

“I do. Do you want to go with me?” I didn’t even know why I bothered to ask Tucker.

He was already halfway across the median.

“Ms. West?” Someone approached me from behind.

“Yes?” I stopped and turned around.

Monty Noe was coming up to me.

“Monty. I’m Monica’s—” he started to tell me who he was.

“I know who you are. I remember you from this morning. I was just heading over to the flower shop.” I continued to walk with him next to me.

“After you left Carrie’s house, we talked a little bit about the note she’d gotten with the bouquet. When you were there, it sounded like you know a lot about looking into those types of things.” Was he actually trying to be polite and not call me nosy? “Carrie said she doesn’t care who killed Jason, but I know her and her family.”

“What are you trying to say?” I walked through the gate of the flower shop. Tucker had already disappeared inside.

“I would like to know who sent Carrie those flowers.” Monty’s voice cracked.

“I did find the card and the cash outside. But I didn’t think anything of it,” Jessica was saying when Monty and I walked into the flower shop, past the line that’d formed because she’d been giving away free flowers on the last day of the festival. “I have the instructions right here, if you’d like to take a look.”

“That would be great.” Tucker nodded and looked at me. “Who’s this?”

“This is Monty Noe. He’s Monica Patillo’s fiancé, and I met him today at the Patillo home.” I introduced them.

“I wanted Ms. West to find out who sent the flowers to Monica’s mom.” Monty’s jaw tensed. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s from Monica’s past. Carrie had been getting some letters at the boutique, and it was like they put the idea of the pageant in her head.”

“She didn’t say anything to me about other letters.” My head jerked toward Tucker.

“She didn’t say anything to me when Al had her down at the department either.” Tucker looked at Monty.

“I keep every little detail of all the deliveries.” Jessica walked out with a piece of paper in her hand.

“Let me see that.” Monty grabbed the paper.

“What are you doing?” I took it from him.

“Geez. This is a three-ring circus.” Tucker barely took it by holding it in the top-right corner. “How many people besides us have touched the paper?”

“I’m not sure. Me, you, and probably a few of my staff members who help make the arrangements to be delivered.” Jessica shrugged.

“I will need the sheriff to come and get fingerprints from everyone who would’ve had access to it.” Tucker didn’t state it as a question.

“Okay. Sure.” Jessica’s eyes passed his shoulders as she looked out into the shop. “Everyone is here now, and we close in about half an hour.”

“I’ll make the call to Sheriff Hemmer, and hopefully he can get someone down here after you close so we don’t disturb your business.” He looked around. “Do you have a baggie or something I can put this in?”

“Yes. Of course.” Jessica got up and hurried over to where she arranged her flowers. She brought a Ziploc bag over that was big enough for the piece of paper.

“It says right here to deliver ten minutes before the pageant was to start. I was thinking it was from someone who just wanted her to smile since I’d heard what happened at the coffee booth that morning. Plus she was opening herself up to do a pageant,” Jessica said.

I was glad to see Monty had kept his mouth shut about the incident from the coffee booth.

“What does that mean?” Tucker looked to Jessica for clarification.

“She was so involved about eight years ago when Monica was in all of those pageants. It just seemed with her entering the Ms. Blossom Festival pageant that she was going back to something that made her blissful.” Jessica gazed at the top of the Ziploc Tucker was looking at.

“Do you have security cameras?” Tucker asked Jessica.

“No.” She slowly shook her head.

“No one saw who put this note and cash at the entrance?” he asked.

“I didn’t ask anyone. I guess it could be possible.” Jessica’s face paled. “Do you think the person who killed Jason wrote the note?”

Chapter 8

I left Tucker at the Sweet Smell Flower Shop and made my way down the sidewalk, going to the laundromat. My fingerprints were already on file at the department since I had been accused of killing my ex-now-dead husband. Tucker said I could leave, but he kept Monty there.

Tucker called Al to send a deputy down to fingerprint the employees of the flower shop and was staying there to oversee the task. Before I left, he told me keep him posted on anything else I’d found out.

I didn’t even mention how I was going to try to get in touch with Ted Brimer and also look into the pageant thing. It also crossed my mind to somehow get Monty alone so I could pick his brain about what he thought of the situation.

Carrie Patillo’s state of mind was what had me all in a flutter.

“An eye for an eye?” Abby shook her head and picked up the cards Dottie had dealt on our first hand of euchre.

“Mm-hmm.” Betts rearranged the cards that were fanned out in her hand. She’d told her account of us going to visit with Carrie. “She just sees that Jason got what was coming to him.”

“I can’t get over the fact she didn’t want to know who sent the flowers.” I discarded the cards I didn’t want from the kitty since I was dealer. “Hearts is trump. I also think we need to go see Ted Brimer.”

Abby picked up the pen and scribbled down all the things we were saying. I was so glad she was back from her honeymoon, and since euchre was played in teams of two, she sat this round out and was taking notes for us.

“Hearts. Hearts.” Queenie poked around in her hand at the card she wanted to play. “Speaking of hearts and Ted Brimer, did you know that he and Jenn Dresser are seeing each other?”

“Jason’s sister?” I asked and waited for Dottie, who was my partner, to drop a good trump on Queenie’s king of hearts since she was winning the hand.

“Sister? His mom.” Betts was Queenie’s partner and sat to my right. “Jason’s dad has been dead for years.”

“How old is Ted?” I had it in my head Ted was around Jason’s age.

“I don’t know. He and Jason worked together at the factory. I think Jason introduced them to each other about two years ago, but they really got close after Jason went to jail for the initial charges in Monica’s death.” Queenie racked in the cards since Dottie was no help to me.

“What are you lookin’ at me like that? You called hearts. I ain’t got nary a heart in my hand. I'm all black. You should’ve gone alone.” Dottie grumbled about the game and tossed her cards on the table in disgust. “I didn’t know Jenn was datin’.”

“If all of you took a more serious approach to your health, you’d know Jenn is looking good because she’s been coming to Jazzercise four times a week.” Queenie shuffled the deck and distributed the cards.

One by one, I picked them up and like Dottie’s last hand, I had mainly all spades.

“I’m telling you this because you can find Ted in the parking lot of the church. You know that lower parking lot by the undercroft?” Dottie eyeballed everyone until she called, “Diamonds.”

“You mean to tell me the man waits on her to get all sweaty and stuff in the parking lot?” Dottie led the game with the highest diamond, which was the jack in this particular card game. “I know you were gonna be fishin’ fer it. So I figured I’d go on and let you off the hook,” she told Queenie.

Betts’s jaw dropped as she threw a stare across the table at her partner.

“That’s the only one they are going to get.” Queenie fanned out her cards, faceup, to end the hand since the rest of the cards were trump and there was no sense in wasting time playing the hand out.

“I would never call a trump unless I had the big one.” Betts always played close to the cuff on everything.

Even in a simple game of cards.

“That’s it. We won.” Queenie was pretty pleased with herself.

“I’m gonna go smoke.” Dottie pushed away from the table. Queenie and Betts said they were going to go outside and get some fresh air, so Abby and I followed them to the front porch.

The Homelock Grove neighborhood was on the opposite side of Normal and located on the outskirts of town. All the homes had nice big lots, and it was one of very few areas that was opened in the forest to actually build on.

Ava Cox, our friend and local lawyer, lived across the street from Abby and Bobby Ray. Next to Ava was the Greer family, Darby and Cabot as well as their ten year old son, Beck. Beck was a paid-under-the-table employee for me at Happy Trails Campground. He did little odd jobs like pulling weeds, picking up trash, and keeping the beach around the lake cleaned up.

Henry Bryant, my handyman, had been teaching Beck to use the weed eater, though Beck already knew how to mow.

Mow Monster was the name of his business around the neighborhood where I think he pretty much mowed for everyone who lived around here.

“Let’s go over this again.” Abby sat down in the porch swing at the end of their front porch. Bobby Ray had hung it there first thing when they moved in.

I took a seat on the step while Dottie took a seat in the rocking chair and Betts joined Queenie and Abby on the swing.

“Our victim is Jason Dresser.” Abby opened the notebook and read. “He was getting ready to go on trial for the murder of Monica Patillo. He had a public argument with Monica’s mother, Carrie Patillo, and Monty Noe, Monica’s fiancé. Carrie has an alibi and passed the lie detector test clearing her as a suspect. What about Monty?”

“What ’bout him?” Smoke rolled out of Dottie’s mouth.

“He was there during the fight. Do you think he’s a suspect?” Abby asked. “And didn’t you say earlier that he asked you to look into who sent the flowers to Carrie?”

I nodded. It still didn’t mean Monty wasn’t the killer.

“I think we should just look into everyone,” I suggested.

“What does this say?” Abby pointed to Betts.

“That’s the note Carrie got from the anonymous bouquet of flowers.” Betts looked at the notebook and read my scribbled writing. “We aren’t for sure what the person meant. Possibly about Jason dying? Maybe they killed him and let her know she was welcome? Or maybe it was that she’d decided to go back into pageantry.”

“Let’s talk about that for a second. Did you see all those trophies of Monica’s wins?” I asked. “I think it’s odd they still have them displayed after she stopped doing pageants after high school.”

“Those pageant mamas are crazy. I told you that, May-bell-ine.” Dottie was always a good judge of character. “Besides, I bet she keeps them out because it reminds her of Monica.”

“Good point,” I said.

“I have all the articles at the library. It’s a pretty cutthroat business.” Abby knew every single document in the library. She was so smart.

“Business?” I questioned.

“Honey, it’s big business.” Betts pushed the swing back and forth with her toe.

“Business.” I sighed. “Being scorned in a business venture is definitely a motive to kill.” I sighed and looked at Abby. “Do you think you might have time to scour the articles to see if there was a local rivalry or something? Anything that might stand out?”

“Sure.” The porch swing chains clanked together with each push of Abby’s toes.

The five of us sat there silent, pondering the possibilities of the new direction we just took this investigation.

“What about Jason’s hunting partner, Ted?” I hated to even think of this, but I continued when they stared at me as if they were waiting for the explanation. “I don’t know. What if there was some tension? We should explore it just in case.”

Headlights pierced the darkness of the entrance to the neighborhood’s main road. When they turned into the driveway, I smiled when I saw it was Bobby Ray.

“Hey, honey.” Abby waved when he opened the door to get out. She popped off the swing and ran off the porch.

Me, Betts, Queenie, and Dottie smiled as Abby threw her arms around Bobby Ray’s neck and they embraced before they ended it with a nice long kiss.

“Lovebirds,” Dottie said. The click of the roller on her cigarette lighter rattled us out of daze. She sucked in a few puffs to light the cigarette.

“I’ve missed you.” I gave him a big hug when he walked up to the front porch. “I don’t like not seeing or talking to you every day like it was when you lived in the bungalow.”

“I can’t keep a close eye on you now.” Bobby Ray winked and pointed his metal lunchbox at the door. “Come on in.”

“Do y’all mind?” I asked the ladies. Of course they didn’t. “The house looks great.”

I followed Bobby Ray inside.

“I know. Look at me being a responsible man.” He sat the lunchbox on the counter. “I’ve not been over to the campground because I’ve been working extra shifts. Sunday is a good day because Joel isn’t at the shop, and I can just work on what I need to work on without him interrupting me. And with the station closed on Sundays, I don’t have to worry about pumping people’s gas.”

Grassel’s Gas Station was pretty much run like it was when it first opened. Way before my time. From what I understood, Joel’s great-granddaddy started it, and it’s been passed down to the family. Unfortunately, Joel’s brother had passed, not that he had anything to do with the garage, but Joel owned it. He kept it pretty much the same since I’d been living here.

No work on Sunday. They still pumped the gas for you when you pulled up to the pump and even cleaned your windshield.

I was ever so thankful for Joel when he hired Bobby Ray when Bobby Ray had first come to town to see me. Bobby Ray was the best mechanic I’d ever come across, and he proved it here. That’s why he was so busy and could take some side work for extra cash.

“Are you trying to get this house paid off?” I wasn’t being nosy, just a sister—a foster sister.

“No.” He sighed and planted his black-stained mechanic hands on the island. His elbows locked, and he looked at me. “I’ve been meaning to tell you that I found my mom.”

“Oh?” I tried to act as surprised as I could though I’d already heard this from Abby. In this case, I wasn’t so sure if she was supposed to tell me.

“Yeah.” He took his baseball cap off and ran his hand over his thinning hair. “Abby was on her social media, and I have no idea why I’d decided to ask her, but I asked her to look up my birth mom.”

“Wow.” This part did shock me. I had no idea how he’d found her. “Are you sure it’s her?”

“Mm-hmm.” His head moved up and down, his lips pinched. “Abby sent her a message and just flat out asked if she’d had a son that she gave up to the boy’s home in Perrysburg around the time I was born. She read it immediately, saying that she’d worked at the summer camp in the Daniel Boone National Park one summer and got pregnant by another employee, which would be my dad.”

“Oh my gosh, Bobby Ray.” My jaw had dropped.

“Yeah. I was really shocked.” He snorted. “I’m saving up to bring her here. She lives in Florida, and I want to meet her.”

“What did Mary Elizabeth say?” I asked.

“I haven’t told her. I was wondering if you and I could talk to her together.” He was asking a mighty big task from me. Mighty big because Bobby Ray hadn’t been a lucky baby to get adopted out of the system. He’d actually been moved around from foster family to foster family until Mary Elizabeth got ahold of the young man.

She’d totally changed his life.

“It doesn’t change how I feel about Mary Elizabeth,” he said.

“I didn’t say it did,” I told him. “Are you trying to feel better about your decision—or want or need or whatever emotion you’re feeling about meeting your birth mother—and how Mary Elizabeth will react to it?”

“I don’t know. I never cared about finding someone who didn’t want me, or at least that’s how I had felt all my life, but to know that she was a teenager and did the best thing she knew to do…” His voice trailed off.

“I think Mary Elizabeth will be fine with it. But I do think she’ll ask why you wanted to find your birth mom.” I reached over and put my hand on his.

“Honestly?” He waited for me to nod until he continued. “Abby.”

“Abby?” I questioned.

“It’s only natural for us to talk about our future family and hopes and dreams, so when she and I started talking about kids, I said that I hoped they had her smarts since I wasn’t a great student.” He patted his mechanic’s overalls. “I have Mary Elizabeth to thank for seeing that early on and getting me involved in the trade schools.”

“She has a good eye for knowing things.” I laughed.

“But Abby told me she wanted our children to have my smile, then I got to thinking, whose smile do I have? What is my DNA? What if I carry some family trait that I could pass on to my children?” These were all great questions he was throwing out there.

“I’d never thought about that.” It was only natural for me to try to think back to my family and all those questions I didn’t have answers to.

Chapter 9

Although last night’s games with the Laundry Club Ladies was a great time, it was Jason Dresser who was on my mind and the possibility that he was set up for Monica Patillo’s death.

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

Today was my day off, and that meant I could pretty much do whatever it was I wanted. I desperately wanted to go see Agnes Swift, the Normal sheriff’s dispatcher. Agnes and I were pretty close. Not only did she take in one of Fifi’s and Rosco’s puppies, Precious, but she was also Hank Sharp’s maternal grandmother.

I’d gotten very close to her over the past couple of years while Hank and I had dated. She was the eyes and ears of the sheriff’s department. I was curious to see what she knew.

This was also the day Bobby Ray wanted to meet me at the Milkery to let Mary Elizabeth know he had made contact with his birth mother.

Something I was dreading.

And seeing Mary Elizabeth also meant that I had to wear a little bit of makeup and lipstick.

I stood in front of the mirror in my small bathroom and smiled as I dragged the red, creamy lipstick across my lips.

Never ever leave the house without lipstick on and a clean pair of undies. You never know when you’ll get into a car wreck. One, you need a clean pair of undies on, and two, there just might be a single man from the emergency team to rescue you. Your very own Prince Charming.

“Oh, Fifi. I wish I could sit on the couch in the air conditioning all day.” I walked into the open area of the camper and took a treat from the dog treat jar. “Here you go. You be a good girl. Dottie will be down in a couple of hours to let you go potty.”

Water bowl was full, she’d already eaten her kibble, she’d gone outside. Fifi was set for a nice morning nap.

The sheriff’s department was on the clear other side of downtown and located in the business district of Normal. This was where the bank, no retail business other than the Cookie Crumble, all government offices as well as any doctor’s offices in Normal were located.

It was a cute area but nothing as cozy and quaint as downtown. Since our population had been growing, the local government was still trying to figure out what needed to be done with the sheriff’s office that was located in the back of the courthouse.

Mayor Courtney Mackenzie really wanted them to move out so the lines at the clerk’s offices wouldn’t be so long for citizens, but there was literally no place for them to go.

There was also a fine line on who did what, what the sheriff department was responsible for versus the National Park Rangers. This had always been a fight.

Hank had moved down from FBI agent to Ranger to detective with the sheriff department to being appointed the sheriff after the real elected sheriff had resigned.

Hank had his fill and after the last investigation, he gave the sheriff’s badge over to Al Hemmer and moved away to be a ranger in a different district.

Al Hemmer just wasn’t the best sheriff. He was nice and all, but being nice didn’t keep the community safe. Since Monty Noe had asked me to look into the note someone had sent Carrie Patillo, I had to look at the circumstances surrounding the note, and I just didn’t feel it was a coincidence that this happened on the same day her daughter’s killer had been murdered.

And the knowledge Carrie had received other notes in the past really made me want to find out who sent them and if this was Jason’s killer.

Of course, that line of thinking tickled my brain to wonder if Jason Dresser had really killed Monica Patillo in that hunting accident that he was on trial for, which was why seeing Agnes Swift was my best source to get that itch scratched.

“I was wondering when you were going to come see me.” Agnes was sitting behind the sliding glass window located in the small entrance to the sheriff’s department. “Get on in here.”

The door between the entrance and the actual door to get inside of the sheriff’s department buzzed unlocked after she hit the button to let me in.

“Get over here and give me a hug!” She waved me over after she got off the stool. Her jowls sagged a little more than the last time I’d seen her.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you.” I gave her a light squeeze so I wouldn’t hurt the eighty-something woman. When I pulled back, I noticed her gray hair was thinning.

“Let me get a look at you.” She pushed me out at arm’s length. “It looks like you could eat a little something.” Her head tilted, her brow raised. “Why don’t you and Fifi come over for supper? I’d love to have the company since Hanky is gone, and Precious would love to see y’all too.”

“I would, but I’ve got to go see Mary Elizabeth with Bobby Ray.” I didn’t tell her I was going earlier than supper, but I also didn’t want to talk about Hank, not much anyways. “He’s found his birth mother and wants to meet her, so he’s using me as a buffer when he tells Mary Elizabeth.”

“You reckon she’ll be upset?” Agnes asked and moved back over to her desk.

“I don’t know. She might be a little hurt, but I think she’ll come around to the idea. She was very helpful with me and my family situation.” I watched Agnes digging through the stack of papers on her desk.

“I had these waiting for you just in case you came along.” She handed me a stack bound by a rubber band with a sticky note stuck on the top with my name on it. “I think there’s more questions than answers to this one.”

“I have a lot of questions too.” I fanned the pages to scan them quickly to see if there was anything in there about Jason’s case. I did see where his lawyer was the one who found him after he’d been murdered.

That was an interesting fact.

“I can’t help but wonder if the note Carrie received was from Jason’s killer.” I wanted to see what the sheriff’s report mentioned about those findings.

“Note?” Agnes asked. “What note? There’s nothing in there about a note.”

“Tucker didn’t put the note report in here?” I put the papers on the desk and took more time to actually thumb through them to find the evidence page where every single detail of evidence, including the note, would be.

“Not that I’ve seen.” Agnes pointed over to the coffee pot. “Let’s get a cup and sit down. Al isn’t here, so that means we can chat. You can tell me all about this note.”

Agnes and I walked over to the coffee maker where we both doctored up the awful coffee that was a little stale, but it was better than nothing.

I took a little more time to look through the papers and take photos with my phone of things I thought might help me look deeper into Jason and Monica’s case.

I told Agnes about me going to Carrie’s house and then stopping by Sweet Smell Flower Shop to ask Jessica about who sent the bouquet to Carrie.

“There’s nothing in there. You said Tucker was at the Sweet Smell Flower Shop too?” Agnes slowly lifted her Styrofoam coffee cup to her lips.

“He was, and he took notes. Even took the card.” My body slumped. “Are you sure he didn’t put it in evidence? I mean he even took the note the person left on the doorstep of the flower shop to have fingerprinted.”

“I don’t think so. Let me check the evidence log,” she said, leaving me standing there while she walked the hallway back to where they stored the evidence down near the holding cells and interrogation rooms.

I took the free minute to dump the coffee out. No amount of creamer or sugar was going to make it taste any better.

“Nope. Not a thing.” She was shaking her head as she walked around the corner.

“I wonder what he did with it?” I stood there, trying to think if Tucker mentioned something he did differently than the rest of the Rangers around here.

“Who did what with what?” Al Hemmer walked in.

“I wondered what someone did to make this coffee so bad.” I stuck my tongue out. “You know, I was just telling Agnes that if you put just a pinch of salt in the coffee basket, it’ll taste so much better.”

“Huh.” The corner of Al’s mouth turned up. “Is that right?” He looked at Agnes as if she were the coffee expert.

“How should I know? Ask Gert Hobson.” Agnes rolled her eyes as Al Hemmer headed back to his office. “I might be biased, but I can tell you he ain’t no Hank Sharp.”

“Speaking of Hank, how is he?” I just had to ask.

“He’s keeping busy. I told him that he couldn’t go many more days without coming home to see me. I’m not getting any younger.” She patted around her face. “I just might be getting a few wrinkles.” She teased.

“You look great.” I smiled and remembered how much I wanted her to be my granny-in-law at one time.

“I keep telling him that he’s wasting his good years away and to get back here and put a ring on that finger of yours before you get snatched up and have a few young’uns of your own before he comes to his senses.” She shook her crooked finger at me. “But it’s not unheard of that after years of being apart and a different lifetime ago, young lovers come back together when they are much older and spend their remaining days together.”

“So you have a man?” I turned the subject on her.

“You know I wasn’t talking about me, young lady,” she scolded me. “But I can take a hint. This old lady needs to stay out of it.”

“You can stay in it all you want, only there’s nothing to stay in.” I picked up the papers and gave her a hug. “Thank you for this.”

“Mae, you leaving?” Al shouted the question from his desk.

“I am,” I told him and glanced his way.

“Do you mind coming in here for a minute?” he asked.

I went ahead and walked over to see what he wanted.

“Shut the door,” he ordered. “Please,” he said after I hesitated.

Not that I cared he gave an order, but there was such a thing around here called “please and thank you” that most people these days forgot how to use.

“Have a seat.” I tried not to smile when he asked me to sit in a professional voice. “What’s the word on the street about this Jason Dresser case?”

My oh my, how things had changed since Hank Sharp was no longer in charge.

Chapter 10

Al Hemmer was, like most of us, at a loss for details on such a horrific crime. The only true information that I’d gotten out of him was that they had gone over Jason’s house a few times and came up with nothing.

No one broke into the house, which told me Jason knew them. Nothing was stolen or appeared to be disheveled, which also told me the killer was there and knew him. And that Jason was killed outside while he was doing yard work. The weapon of choice, a shovel to the head, which was left at the crime scene between the garage and the house.

This told me that there was probably a fight or scuffle before the killer picked up the weapon and hit him on the side of his head near the temple, but from where the report says he was hit, it would seem to me that Jason had been facing away from the killer then turned just as the killer was going to hit him from behind.

There were no prints on the weapon.

Al didn’t know about the note or at least he’d not mentioned it. He did say that Tucker had been going out and following up on leads, and they’d be meeting this afternoon. That’s when I knew I’d leave it to Tucker to update Al on what we’d found out at the flower shop.

I’d yet to hear if there were any prints found on the notes, so maybe that would give us some clues.

Still, I wanted to go see Ted, Jason’s hunting partner, and feel out what he thought about Jason and kinda see where he stood with Jenn, Jason’s mother.

“I was sweating.” Bobby Ray was pacing in front of his truck on the back side of the Milkery where the screen door was open. No doubt Mary Elizabeth had it opened for us. “I was thinkin’ you stood me up.”

“Would I ever do that?” I questioned such a goofy observation.

“I didn’t think so, but you’re also never late.” He looked down at me. “Let me guess, Jason Dresser.”

“Good guess.” I wiggled my brows.

“Abby got up bright and early this morning to go to work to do some research for y’all’s case.” He smiled. “I think it’s cute how you gals like to act like that snoopy lady on the old television show Mary Elizabeth used to watch when we were growing up.”

“And we are pretty good at it.” I slipped my hand in his arm. “Are you ready to go see Mary Elizabeth?”

“No better time than now.” He took the first step forward to lead the way.

The smell of fried cornbread, fried okra, and a mix of sugar floated out the screen door.

“Knock, knock.” I announced our arrival. We heard the oven door slam, followed up by creaking of the old wood floor before Mary Elizabeth popped her head at the screen door.

“I hope you two brought an empty stomach. I made your favorites.” She pushed open the door with her elbow, the homemade oven macaroni and cheese dish in her hands.

My mouth watered in delight at her southern homemade casserole that was better than anything I’d ever tasted.

“But first”—she sat the hot dish on a dish towel in the middle of the table—“while that cools off enough to eat, I want to know why you’re here.” She pointed for us to sit. “Do you two think you’d be able to pull the wool over my eyes? This is exactly how the two of you acted when you were growing up. You’d conspire.”

“Growing up. How fitting.” My words garnered a glare from Bobby Ray.

Mary Elizabeth sat down. She had on a white A-frame dress with a red belt around her waist. Her pearls around her neck and a pair in her ears were a staple to anything she was wearing, even when hiking.

“I asked May-bell-ine to come with me because I’ve got something to tell you.” Bobby Ray’s voice cracked as the words fell from his mouth, as if it were so painful for him. “I’ve contacted my birth mother.”

“Nina Darkwood. Yes. She told me.” Mary Elizabeth smiled.

“She what?” Bobby Ray’s brows become one right across his face. “You knew?”

“Oh, honey, did you ever think I’d adopt a boy and not know where he came from?” Now that she said it, it was true. Mary Elizabeth practically knew everything about my family and even talked about it with me. I just thought it was something she did to make me not forget since I hadn’t been raised by my parents.

“Why on earth do you think I had you go to trade school? After she told me who your daddy was, I started watching you and how good you were with fixing my broken lights and anything that needed fixin’.” She grabbed one of the stacked plates and leaned over to spoon a big heaping of the casserole on it before she sat it in front of me, then made one for Bobby Ray.

Bobby Ray and I both sat there, like we were stunned or just shocked. I couldn’t comprehend which one I was at the moment.

“Eat up, you two.” She sat back down after she put both plates in front of us. “What?” She looked between us.

“I guess I have a question on Bobby Ray’s behalf.” I decided to speak up because Bobby Ray couldn’t. “You kept in touch with this Nina Darkwood all throughout this time and didn’t think to tell Bobby Ray?”

“Now don’t you put that on me.” She took offense. “When that sweet baby boy was dropped off at my house to foster, I asked all sorts of questions. At that time, Nina had an open adoption and still had the right to take him back. I wanted to make sure she had all the necessary information needed to raise such a wonderful young man.” Mary Elizabeth told the facts, and I liked that about her. “I sent her your photos, I sent her your report cards, I sent her holiday gifts from us. I never once kept her out of the loop until she decided she thought it was best for me to raise you. That’s what I did. I adopted you, and she gave up the open adoption. That was all her, not me. During the adoption procedure, she decided that she didn’t want any more updates because she said it would be too hard for her.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t see her then.” Bobby Ray picked up his fork and moved the casserole around.

“No. You should.” Mary Elizabeth gave one hard nod. “She messaged me on the Milkery Facebook page and told me you found her. She asked me if it would be all right if y’all met. I told her I was happy to have her here, and I think she’ll be up in a few days.”

“Few days?” Bobby Ray jerked up.

“Mm-hmm. We are going to get this out of the way. You hear me?” Mary Elizabeth was never one to wait around. She was a do-it kinda mama, and this was no different. “I’ve met her once, and she was a nice young woman at that time. I’m paying for her to come up on the Greyhound, and we will pick her up once I get the final bus schedule.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Bobby Ray blinked at her a few times.

“I don’t want nothing coming out of that mouth. I want something going in. Eat.” She pointed to our plates.

Chapter 11

Talking to Mary Elizabeth about Bobby Ray’s discovery of his birth mama, Nina Darkwood, made me feel better, but not Bobby Ray. He was on the fence about meeting her in the first place and used the excuse to work more hours to get more money so he could travel to see her. But now that Mary Elizabeth had paid for Nina’s ticket on the Greyhound up to Normal, Bobby Ray seemed worse leaving the Milkery than when he first got there.

He muttered something about going to see Abby before we went our separate ways. I didn’t press him on anything because I knew I’d be hooking up with Abby at some point today to see what she found out in researching the Monica Patillo’s case concerning Jason Dresser.

Since I had a few hours left in the late afternoon, I decided it was time to make my way over to Jason’s house. Al told me they’d released it as a crime scene, and he told me how they found an extra key to Jason’s house that he kept hanging up in the pole barn between the two garage doors on a nail was still there. So he ruled out the break-in completely.

Luckily for me, the nail was still there when I got to Jason’s house. It was time for me to sleuth, not Al or Tucker. I’d found in the past it was easy for them to overlook evidence they thought was just typical things. I had no idea what I was going to be looking for, but if something popped out as strange, I would take note of it.

Jason’s house was in a typical house-after-house neighborhood. There wasn’t any sort of land between them. Most just a fence line then a small walkway on the side of the house that took you to a backyard. Those weren’t big either. They pretty much looked the same except for the outside paint job. Some were brown, others were white, or at least used to be white, while some were paint and wood that needed a good scraping.

Jason’s house was a taupe color and looked to be in fairly good condition. His garage sat at the end of his driveway, so I made sure I snuck along the edge closest to his house. I sure didn’t want to get caught by a neighbor, then I’d have to explain myself or worse, fear they’d call Al who didn’t give me permission to borrow Jason’s key and go take a look-see for myself.

The row of hedges were five deep along the front of the house and underneath two regular sized windows before the small poured-concrete slab that butted up to the front door.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a storm door like most houses in Normal, so I was able to sneak between the house and the bushes, quickly jam the key in the lock and turn it without anyone noticing me standing on the small porch.

In fear of someone seeing me snooping around through the windows, I pulled the blinds, which also gave me the freedom to turn on some lights. It was bright outside, so I figured no one from the outside could see if the inside was lit up.

That’s what I figured.

“Okay.” I put my hands on my hips and looked around. “According to the report, Jason was killed outside.” I pulled up the photos I’d taken of the report and blew it up with my fingers so I could read what they found, if anything.

“Nothing was disturbed in the house. There wasn’t any sort of struggle in the house.” I glanced around, and there didn’t seem to be anything overturned.

I took a stroll around the house and when I got to Jason’s room, I smiled. I wasn’t necessarily saying it was a man thing, but his bed wasn’t made, there were clothes on the floor, and a lot of loose change on the nightstand.

Carefully, I started to pick up things off the floor just in case there was something there to see, moved on when I didn’t see anything on that side of the bed, so I moved to the other side and started to pick up some things before something shimmery caught my eye.

I squatted down to get a closer look.

“Aww.” I snarled when I noticed it was a fingernail sticking out from underneath the bedside table. Fingernail. It was a fake fingernail.

This time, instead of looking at Al’s report, I pulled up the autopsy report.

“Goodness gracious,” I gasped when I noticed Colonel Holz had made mention there was a cut on the right side of Jason’s cheek.

I put the phone in my pocket and stood there next to the bed where I left the fingernail. Facing the bed, where Jason had possibly stood, I brought my right arm up in the air about the height of Jason’s face and gave a good smack, realizing the nail would’ve probably fallen to the right.

“Left-handed.” There was an image of Jason with a woman in the mixed-up sheets. They had a fight, got out of bed, and she smacked him with her left hand, causing the fake nail to fall off, and that would make it fall to the left, maybe bounce under the bedside table.

I left the fingernail there and stood back up. My eyes dragged along the front of the table before noticed there was a clean rectangular spot on top. Every other inch on the top was covered with a layer of dust.

Now, this to me was typical of what I’d seen of many men’s places that didn’t have a housekeeper.

“There was something there, but what?” I took my phone back out and took a photo of the weird spot.

I leaned over the nightstand and looked at the crack between it and the wall to see if the object had fallen behind. There was a wadded-up piece of paper. Without knocking the table, I slowly wiggled my arm behind it to get the paper.

I had to run my hand over it a couple of times to smooth it out just so I could read it.

Jason,

It has been so much fun getting to know you. It’s like we have so much in common. I look forward to our in-person visit. I know you were wrongly accused of this awful murder. You just don’t seem like the type to do such a thing. I know you said you were hunting, but I also know with your eye for detail about me through our letters, that there’s no way you mistook a human for a deer.

I simply wanted to write to you before I went to bed to let you know that I do believe in you.

There wasn’t a signature. It was signed with a heart.

“So Jason had someone writing to him in prison.” I found this to be very interesting. Instead of putting the note back, I folded it and slipped it into my pocket.

Laughter spilled into the house before I heard a door close.

I left the fingernail and thoughts of something that’d happened in the bedroom and tiptoed over to the bedroom door, leaning around the doorframe to look.

“Thank you for making me laugh, Ted.” There was a woman’s voice. “You’re right. Jason wouldn’t want me to just stop living. When he went to jail and called me, he would beg me to move on with my life.”

“That’s when he told me to call you. I think he knew we would be good together.” There was an endearing kindness to Ted’s voice. “We have him to thank, don’t we?”

“Mm-hmm.” I heard some muttering before some lip smacking.

Ewww. I hoped of all hopes they weren’t going to come into the bedroom.

“Let me grab the photos and we can leave.” The woman had to be Jenn Dresser, Jason’s mom.

I took a sigh of relief and tiptoed over to Jason’s window to watch them leave.

“Wait.” Ted had a stern voice. “Were the lights on when we came in?”

“Oh. I don’t know. I didn’t turn them on, did you?” I gulped back the lump in my throat in fear they’d realized someone, me, was in the house.

“No,” Ted replied.

I stood very still, barely breathing while I heard some shuffling. In my head, they were doing some sort of sign language talking, one letting the other know someone was in there. When I hear the door shut, my shoulders slumped. A sigh escaped me.

I leaned back a little and took a peek outside of the window and watched them get into a car.

Ted was much older than I thought. When I heard he and Jason were hunting partners, I thought he was going to be around Jason’s age, so Ted dating Jenn didn’t seem all that unusual now that I knew.

Queenie was right. Jenn looked great for her age.

Anyways, I went ahead and started to look around the bedroom for anything that would fit in the clean spot on the nightstand where something had been moved.

My mind was occupied with what on earth someone would’ve taken and if it had to do with Jason’s death. If that was the case, when did Jason go outside, and what happened to get him hit on the head?

I looked in the bedroom drawers, underneath all the furniture, each time caught my eyes scanning back to the fake fingernail on the ground. I looked in Jason’s closet where most of the hangers were empty since all the clothes on the lay on the closet floor.

“Hello! Normal Sheriff! Come out with your hands up!” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voice.

“Al?” I questioned, my heart went back to a normal rhythm. “Al!”

“Hold it right there!” he yelled, swinging around the door with his gun pointed right at me.

“Al, put that thing down,” I insisted.

“Maybelline, what are you doing in here?” Al shook his head and slammed the gun back in his holster.

“Do you know her?” Jenn Dresser stood behind him and looked at from over his shoulder.

“I told you two to stay in the car,” Al groaned. “Why doesn’t anybody listen to me?”

“I’m Mae West.” I decided to introduce myself to her but wasn’t quite sure who I was to this case and what I meant to it. “I have been.”

“She’s working on a few things for the department. I had no idea she was coming here today because when she left a couple of hours ago, she didn’t let me know she’d be popping in here.” Al gave me the look to play along.

“Why didn’t you present yourself when we were inside?” Ted had joined us.

“I didn’t know you were inside.” I lied. “I was probably digging around in Jason’s closet.”

“Why?” Jenn asked.

“Did you know if Jason was dating someone?” I asked.

Jenn smiled.

“You do know he just got out of jail to await trial, right?” Ted asked.

“Yes, I do, but I think I found something that could help the case while I was looking.” I shifted to Al. “Can I see you privately?”

“If you found something to point to my son’s killer, I demand to know what it is.” Jenn’s smile had faded. “As for my son’s dating life, he was a very nice and good-looking man. He had plenty of women who would date him. But as for a girlfriend, no.”

“Give us a minute, please,” Al told Ted and Jenn. “If it’s important enough to the case, I’ll let you know.”

Al and I watched as Ted coaxed Jenn into walking out of the room and down the hall. Once they were out of earshot, I motioned for Al to follow me.

“What on earth, Maybelline?” Al didn’t care what I had to show him. “I had to lie in order for you not to get thrown in jail. The only reason I’m not arresting you is because Agnes swears you can sniff out clues, and this better be one of those times.”

“I think Jason had a woman with him the day of his murder.” I licked my lips before I started to bite the bottom one. “Look at the bed.”

“So. I never make my bed.” Al snickered.

“Fine. But I think they had a fight. Jason got out of bed, and a woman was standing here.” I motioned for Al to come stand next to the bed, right beside the nightstand. “The woman was here. They had an argument.” I lifted my arm in the air and pretend to slap him. “She slapped him so hard her fake fingernail fell off and she left a scratch on the side of his face.”

“Fell off?” Al looked away. “You women folk sure do have active imaginations.”

“I have proof.” I pointed to the floor. “Look underneath the nightstand. You just have to bend down, and it’s there.”

I took a step backward to give him some room.

“My goodness.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pants pocket and reached down to pick up the fingernail. “Agnes Swift just might be right about you.” He stood up and twisted the nail up in the air so we could get a good look.

Chapter 12

Al made a call into the department for Agnes to send some deputies back over to Jason’s house. He wanted every square inch searched and fingerprinted, not swept like they’d initially done.

I sat outside during the sweep and talked with Jenn and Ted, both very nice people.

“I hate to have to ask you this.” I turned to Ted, “Where were you the afternoon Jason was killed?”

“I don’t mind you asking. That Ranger…” Ted snapped his finger, and he looked at Jenn.

“Tucker,” Jenn reminded him.

“Tucker asked us this, and we already gave him the details of our day trip to get out of town, not only because of the Blossom Festival and all the crowd it brought to town, but we just wanted to get away before Jason’s trial.” He reached over and held onto Jenn’s hand. “I had spoken to Jason on the phone. We think I was the last call he’d made.”

“Now there won’t be a trial.” She blinked. A few tears rolled down her face as the silent pain inside of her seeped out. “Jason will forever have the legacy that he killed Monica Patillo.” She started to cry again. “He was so upset when I’d finally gotten the bail money together. He was saying how he was going to prove he was innocent, and that I didn’t need to do without so I could pay that money. I wanted him out.”

“How long was he in jail before you got the money together?” I asked.

“About six months. So for the last six months, our relationship really grew. My boy was innocent,” she insisted.

“You were there when Monica was killed.” I turned back to Ted. “Did you really believe he killed her?”

“No.” Ted shook his head. “As soon as the deer appeared, Jason shot. Then there was another shot right after that.”

“There was only one shot from Jason’s gun.” Jenn wiped her cheeks. “There were two shots heard.”

“Did Jason get the deer?” I questioned.

“No. That’s because someone else was out there and scared it away. I don’t even think this person”—he looked at Jenn—“the one we believe killed Monica, knew we were out there. It just so happened that we’d rented that piece of the land to hunt on that day, so when Jerry Truman investigated, we were the only ones around there that had proof we were hunting.”

“How did they narrow it down to Jason’s gun?” I asked.

“He was the only one that had a shot that day. It was that one shot. And I was actually on the phone when it happened. It was a work call, and the other person was my alibi. Plus my phone had the time stamp on it.” Ted frowned.

“It wasn’t until later that night that Monica’s body was discovered, after her parents had reported her missing, that Jerry came to arrest Jason,” Jenn finished off the story.

“Who found Monica?” I asked.

“Her best friend from college.” Jenn’s lips flattened as she sighed. She shook her head. “Her friend had come to town for the big two-week wedding, and Monica had taken her on the exact same hike. She told Carrie how Monica told her she needed some time to think, and she was going to go on the hike.”

“Time to think?” I found that to be very odd.

“Yeah. We think it must’ve been about the wedding, but there was nothing said about it after she died.” Ted gestured to the two of them having the same conclusion.

There were a lot of strange things I’d found out today, and I couldn’t wait until I got home to write all of them down so I didn’t forget.

Al had given me the go-ahead to leave since sweeping Jason’s house was going to take longer than they thought.

The day got hot, sticky, and humid as dusk started to fall. Being outside in the lake, stream, or hiking didn’t appeal to me and was literally almost unbearable.

There were some tourists who loved to come to Happy Trails Campground and the Daniel Boone National Park to enjoy these types of activities in the smoldering hot, but I liked staying inside by the air conditioner, catching up on the television shows I’d missed over the past couple of days on my day off.

“Oh, Fifi, it doesn’t make sense.” I lay on the couch with the blinds pulled so the cool air wouldn’t escape through the windows.

Fifi had already gone out and eaten her supper. I wasn’t too hungry, and my mind was still occupied with everything Jenn and Ted had told me about Monica’s death.

There seemed to be a lot of things that could’ve been disputed in a trial, and Jason hadn’t gotten the chance to dispute any of it. What Jenn said tugged at my heartstrings the most.

It was how her son’s legacy was going to be forever known as a killer. That was a legacy I didn’t think anyone would want.

Arrf! Fifi bolted off the couch when there was a knock on the camper door. I got up and peeled back the small curtain on the door window.

“Tucker?” I questioned as I opened the door. “Tucker?”

He had on practically the same outfit he had worn the day before when I’d seen him down by the stream. Tonight he had a hiking stick.

“Are you busy?” he asked.

“No. I was just thinking about the case.” I opened the door. “Do you want to come in?”

He hesitated.

“Or I can come out,” I suggested. “I’ve got beer out in the cooler.”

“Sure. I’ll take a beer.” He turned away from the door, and I walked outside.

“I would’ve gone inside, but I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression.”

“Umkay.” I laughed and let Fifi out the door. “I don’t think anyone really would think that, but whatever.”

I walked over to the cooler and grabbed a couple of beers before I joined him at the picnic table.

Too funny how Tucker thought someone in the campground would get the wrong idea and think he was here all night. At least that’s the way I took what he meant. Maybe not. Still, Tucker wasn’t my type, even though I loved the fact he wanted my opinion on his current investigation.

“I have to ask, why are you out this late?” I questioned.

“I talked to Jason’s lawyer. He said Jason called him late in the afternoon before he was murdered. Saying he had some new information that would prove he didn’t kill Monica for the trial. He wanted to see him in person, but he never showed up at the diner. That’s when the lawyer went over there and found Jason outside between the garage and the house.” He stopped as though he were pondering what he was telling me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this was Tucker’s way of processing things. He would say something and then stop. Then he’d start again.

“I’d gotten the results back from the note the person left at the flower shop, and like I told you before, I love to hike and think, but right now, I’m getting nothing. So I found myself here.” He unscrewed the cap off the beer and took a drink.

“Did you get anyone’s prints?” I asked.

“Just me, you, Jessica, Monty, and one of the employees who filed the order.” He frowned.

“Did Al tell you I found something interesting at Jason’s house?” I asked and popped off the beer cap.

“A fake fingernail. I’m having it tested to see if there’s skin scraping on it.” Tucker sighed. “Al didn’t get photos of the fingernail and where it was laying before he picked it up.”

“I did.” I was so happy I did that.

“I’m going to need those.” Tucker rested his elbows on the picnic table and stared at me. “Al said you’re thinking the killer is a woman.”

The scene started to play out in my head. “I think Jason had a woman there. They got into a little scuffle. She slapped him. Her fingernail popped off. Somehow they went outside. She was leaving or something, and that’s when she picked up the shovel and hit him.” I shrugged.

“If they had a fight in the house, she smacked him, he got the scratch. She took off out of the room and was leaving the house. He followed her. They were still fighting. She grabbed the shovel and hit him on the head with it.” He moved his hand in the downward motion. “Down he went. She left and poof. Gone.”

“Say, I have an idea.” I smacked the table. “Can you find out if Jason had gotten mail while he was in jail? He was in there for a while before his mom was able to get enough money to make his bail.”

“I’m sure they keep records of incoming mail. No different than what they do at the post office. All pieces of mail are scanned.” He told me exactly what I wanted to hear.

“His mother didn’t know he had a girl over, and she said their relationship had gotten stronger, but what if he didn’t want his mom to know about the girl? That’s the girl who was over that day.” I was rambling. Nothing made sense.

“Do you think that girl wrote letters to him in jail? Maybe went to see him?” Tucker pondered on what I was trying to say.

“I just think there was a woman in his house the day he got killed. The fingernail proves it. From what we know, Jason didn’t do much socializing. He even said to Carrie that day that he only came out to get a coffee.” I tried hard to think back to that day, but the only real memory I had was Carrie and the pain that’d come from the depths of her soul in seeing Jason.

“I think I need to pull all the video footage from the shops downtown to see where Jason went after he and Carrie had their confrontation.” Tucker had a great idea.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

“Just keep me posted on what you find out, if anything, about Monica and her pageants. I’m not convinced after sifting through Jason Dresser’s murder charges that he was the killer.” He lifted the bottle to his lips, finishing off his beer. “Especially now that we know Carrie has been getting letters.”

“Are you saying that you think someone is sending her letters as a way to ease their guilt?” I asked.

“Not that I’m a detective, but I am a ranger and we do get these murder cases from time to time. One of which was a mother who was murdered at the hand of her own child.” He told the horror story about how the woman’s child had made up a huge story that there was a hiker who held a knife to their throat. “We were searching the forest high and low for a killer, and when the local police and the rangers continued to investigate every angle, we ended up finding out the mother had told her child she was switching up the will, and the child got to her before she could do that.”

“It all boils down to money. But you think Monica’s case has anything to do with money?” I wasn’t following what Tucker was telling me.

“No. I’m just saying you never know a person, even when they’re in your family.”

Chapter 13

I must’ve been exhausted after Tucker had left. Or maybe it was the couple of beers that put me to sleep, but I was knocked out until the alarm went off. It was my turn to work the morning shift at the campground, which gave me a lot of time to think about what Tucker had said and the clues I’d collected. I’d also forgotten to give him the note that I’d found all wadded-up behind the nightstand, but that didn’t seem too much of a clue. I’d heard so many stories about women who trolled the prisons to find a husband.

Jason was young, cute, and nice, so of course they’d flock to him.

Betts had made a couple of extra casseroles, and in between her few cleaning clients—which she did as a side gig to help put money away for a rainy day fund or even just to have on hand when something went wrong with a washer or dryer—she’d put a call into the gals to pop over to the campground for an impromptu picnic so we could go over a few of the clues.

“It’s a fresh week. The Blossom Festival is over, and I thought we needed to eat these casseroles.” Betts put the casserole dishes on Dottie’s desk since mine was littered with work orders for Henry, contracts from yesterday’s new guests that needed to be filed, and I’d printed off some of the photos I’d taken at Jason’s house.

“We need to hurry this up.” Dottie was glistening with suntan lotion. “I’ve got me a hot date with a lawn chair right out there by the lake on my day off.”

“Dottie, you need to watch that and that smoking.” Queenie was always on Dottie about how Dottie didn’t take good care of herself.

The irony was it always seemed the healthiest people I knew were the ones who got sick and stunned people when they did. It was people like Dottie who didn’t give two iotas and lived life that actually lived a long life.

“You take care of your side of the grass.” Dottie forked herself a big scooping of the casserole. The desk chair moaned as she sat down and leaned back.

“Okay. Since we have limited time, I’ve started to write down some things on the board.” I wasn’t all that hungry, so I let them eat while I talked. I rattled off the clues and pointed to the wipe-off board where I bullet pointed each one. Abby was scribbling down in the notebook to make sure we had them in there for when we met outside of the office.

I continued.

“I’m happy to report Tucker is looking into Monica’s death. I talked to Ted and Jenn. Ted said there were two shots one after the other that day. The only reason Jason was arrested was the fact the same type of bullet he had in his gun was the same type of bullet that killed Monica. But he only shot once. When Monica’s body was found, Jerry Truman had gone and looked to see who had rented the land for hunting. Jason and Ted were the only ones on that land. Ted didn’t shoot from his weapon, so they arrested Jason.”

“Then who shot the other shot?” Abby asked.

“I don’t know. That’s what we need to find out. I think Jason was going to tell his lawyer because they were supposed to meet, only Jason never showed up at the diner.” I moved the dry-erase marker to the second point.

“Probably he didn’t want to run into Carrie again.” Queenie had a good point, but not exactly.

“I don’t think so. I think the killer knew he was going to go to the lawyer, and that’s when they killed him.” My brows arched.

“He was found outside by his garage, possibly on his way to his car, and that’s when the killer got him.” Abby shifted before taking another bite of her food then writing down her thoughts in the notebook.

“I also found out from Monty that Carrie has been getting letters all along slipped underneath the boutique door. I need to go see Carrie to get a look at those letters.” I wasn’t sure what they contained, but there could be clues. “When I talked to Jason’s mom, Jenn, and Ted at the house, they were gone on a day trip, but they were the last ones Jason made a call to.”

All the ladies shook their heads. The sadness and gratefulness Jenn must’ve felt having to talk to him before he died just was bittersweet.

“And I found a fingernail at the scene that Al and his deputies didn’t find.” I told them about the fingernail and my theory about how something had been taken from the bedside table and my dusting theory. I shifted my focus to Abby. “Bobby Ray mentioned you were busy at the library checking up on the articles we’d talked about.”

“Yep. I didn’t find much of anything but did find an article from her college newspaper where she was voted the school queen or representative in a pageant-type setting.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to me. “Here’s the photo. Not much, but she did help raise a lot of money for the school’s charity. It wasn’t anything to do with looks but all about raising money.”

I glanced at the photo and put it down but quickly picked it up to see if my brain truly registered what I thought it did.

“I know this woman.” I pointed to the girl standing next to Monica. “That’s the store clerk at Carrie’s boutique.”

“Really?” Betts’s eyes popped open. “This might be our first big clue.”

“And look at her face.” Queenie sure did notice the visible scowl on the clerk’s face. “And didn’t you just say the notes were left under the boutique door?”

“Mm-hmm.” I looked at the clerk’s face a little closer.

“Yep. Life is full of folks who want to lick the red off your candy.” Dottie sighed right into my ear as she made her observation.

“I think we need to make a little shopping trip,” I said to the gals. “Betts, do you think you could make an appointment to see Lester?”

“Sure. Why?” she asked about wanting to see her ex-husband who was in jail after he’d killed someone for blackmailing him.

“Jason was in jail for about six months before Jenn had gotten enough money for him to make bail.” I just couldn’t let the letter go that I’d found behind Jason’s nightstand. “I found a letter that read as if it were sent to Jason in prison. Since Lester has been doing his preaching in there, I wonder if he ran into Jason at all and if he knew of any visitors Jason might’ve had.”

“Do you think his killer was a visitor?” Betts asked and doled out the rest of the casserole onto everyone’s plate.

“You never know.” I sighed and looked back at the whiteboard, scanning down the clues we’d collected.

There were so many questions I had, more than before I started this list.

What were those letters about that were dropped off at the boutique? Did they have the same handwriting as the letter in Carrie’s pageant bouquet and the ones under the boutique door? Was it the same handwriting as the letter written to Jason? Was this one of those crimes where they say the killer always shows up at events of the victim’s family or events for the victim?

It all told me one thing. The killer was a sicko and definitely needed to be caught as quickly as possible.

Chapter 14

The rest of the lunch was getting caught up on other things in our lives. We had other things going on other than being occupied by a murder. At least everyone else did.

Abby was still in the honeymoon, goo-goo-gaga stage of how awesome and wonderful Bobby Ray was, almost nauseating. Queenie had added another Jazzercise class to the upcoming fall schedule since the summer brought in new clients who wanted to keep fit over the winter so they could hike all the trails. Betts was about to start a new Bible study at church and invited all of us to go, as she always did. Plus the Bible-thumpers were continuing their services to the prisoners.

Then there was Dottie. Still ornery as ever and content with her life here as the manager of the campground, smoking her cigs and enjoying each day as it came.

Betts’s phone beeped.

“It looks like Lester can receive visitors tomorrow morning. Kinda early.” Betts had looked at the email. “Do you want to go? Seven a.m.?”

“Yeah. If that’s all they got.” I looked at Dottie. “You think you can man the office if I’m not back in time to open?”

The office really didn’t open until nine a.m., but we were always up here earlier than that.

“Let me check my calendar.” She snickered and tapped her temple. “Yep. I’m good. I can work the office.”

“You’re a hot mess.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Dottie always kept me in reality and reminded me not to take things so serious. She was a good friend, and I needed her to keep me grounded. “Since I’m officially off the clock”—I looked at my phone—“I want to head into town to make a stop at the boutique to talk to the salesclerk.”

“I can go.” Abby grinned and a giggle floated out of her. She flipped her long brown ponytail playfully. “I need a new dress because Bobby Ray and I are going to go out to supper at the Red Barn tonight.”

“What’s the occasion?” Queenie asked.

“Why does there have to be an oo-cassion?” Dottie let go of a deep sigh. “Don’t let them fit you in nothin’ like that outfit they put Mary Elizabeth in at the pageant. I swear when I saw what Carrie Patillo sold y’all, I knew that boutique wasn’t for me.” Dottie grabbed her cigarette case off of her desk and headed over to the door. She unsnapped the top and batted one of the cigs out, putting it in the corner of her lips. “Bless Carrie’s heart, but all her taste is in her mouth.”

We cleaned up our lunch mess.

“I will drive behind you,” I told Abby, and we said goodbye to our other friends.

“I can just ride with you.” Abby walked with me down to the campervan to get my little Focus and put Fifi back in our house on wheels. “Honestly, what are you making of this murder?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Do I think the person with the missing fingernail had something to do with it? I can’t answer that, but I can say that I bet the scratch on the side of Jason’s face came from that woman.”

I gave a little whistle for Fifi to come.

“And I think we need to find whatever it was sitting on that bedside table. Just think about it.” I opened the camper door, and Fifi darted in.

I didn’t have to go in to grab my keys and purse that were sitting just inside of the door. I did lock the campervan back up, and if Fifi needed anything while I was gone, Dottie and Henry had a key. I could just have them check on her. Though I didn’t anticipate I’d be gone that long.

“If someone had a fight with Jason, they took whatever it was on the table.” I unlocked the car while Abby walked around to the other side.

“Which means they either didn’t want him to have it or they didn’t want someone else to see it.” Abby got in, and we both buckled up before I put the car in drive.

“I think the latter. I don’t think they wanted it there, which leads me to believe that if we find out whatever was on the bedside table about this big”—I held my fingers apart about the width size of the object—“then we would have someone else to question.”

“Too bad Jason didn’t have a social media presence. I did look all over the major platforms to check out any photos.” Abby pulled out her phone and pushed all the buttons. “You can learn a lot about someone through their photos.”

“Oh, yeah. Like what?” I wasn’t great at the social media thing. I’d had enough publicity in my day that wasn’t good, and my heart couldn’t take all the false things people had been writing about me, so I just stayed off it.

Luckily, Abby was a whiz, and she was kind enough to help me ever since I’d pulled into Normal and Happy Trails Campground.

“You can tell how they keep their house. What shows are on the television. If you scroll through the photos, you can really tell what kind of life they lead because they all have a familiar tone to them.” She rambled on about social media and how companies use photo recognition to send them ads.

“I’m so glad you take care of all that for me.” I took the curves of the old wooded road at a steady pace. “So, how’s the married life?”

“Oh, Mae, if you’d told me when Bobby Ray moved here that I was going to marry him, I’d have thrown up.” She made both of us laugh. “And now I can see why you love him so much. Do you remember when he came to town and Dottie kept saying he wanted money from you or her to cash in on your life with Paul?”

“Oh, yeah. Her conspiracy theories never cease to entertain me.” I slowly pulled around the median so I could find a parking spot downtown, but nothing was open. I didn’t feel like driving around for ten minutes when we could just park at the laundromat and walk over. “I’m glad you’re my sister. I always wanted a sister.”

Technically, I did have a couple of sisters, but they died in the family fire, so Abby was the closest thing I had, and I was very appreciative of it.

“Do we have a plan?” she asked as we got out of the car.

I thought about it as we stood on the curb to wait for the passing car.

“No.” I looked left and then right before we darted across the one-way road, through the grassy median and crossed the other one-way road. “Let’s see how it plays out.”

“I was curious to see how this girl played into Monica’s life and how long she’d been working here or even if she lived here.” The boutique was a shop I never went into because I had no need for fancy clothes anymore.

When I moved here, Stanley Shelton, Paul and my lawyer, had shipped some storage containers of clothes, and I had also brought a few key pieces with me that I could wear to any occasion, so I wore those when I would go on dates with my ex-boyfriend.

Any and all extra money went and still goes to the campground to continue to fix it up. There was always something going wrong.

“Good afternoon.” I recognized the salesclerk immediately from the other day I was here with Mary Elizabeth and as the girl in the photo with Monica from when Monica was in college and entered the school’s pageant for charity.

“Hi there.” I waltzed in.

“I know you.” The young lady smiled. “You were in with Mary Elizabeth. I’m sorry she didn’t win.” She planted a frown on her face and tilted her head.

“She’ll get over it.” I smiled back.

“Can I help you ladies with anything? A dressing room? I can bring some things in.” She was peppy and all teeth, pulling various pieces of clothing off the racks as she talked. “This would go fantastic with your curls.” She tried to hold a hanger close to my face, but I pushed it away.

“Actually, my sister is here to possibly find a dress for a special dinner date with her new husband.” I thought I’d play the angle of sweet romance.

Everyone was a sucker for love.

“Aw,” she gushed and put her hands up to her mouth. “Congratulations. I love this so much. Will you be wearing your hair down or up?” she asked Abby.

Abby hesitated.

“The only reason I ask is because of the neckline, and you have such nice collarbones. I think we can play those up.” The clerk crinkled her nose. “A man can’t resist nice collarbones.”

The clerk walked off and gestured for us to follow her.

“I’ve never met a man who ever said anything about my collarbones,” I muttered, making Abby laugh.

“Hildie? Can you come back here and roll out this rack?” Carrie Patillo pushed open the curtain that was between the shop floor and what must’ve been the shop’s storage area. “Oh. Mae. I didn’t know we had someone in the shop. Much less you.”

She emerged from the curtain.

“My sister is looking for an outfit for a special dinner with her husband, my brother.” I put my hand on my chest. “So I knew your shop would have the perfect outfit.”

“Thank you. And I want you to let Betts know that her casserole was to die for. Van, Monty, Hildie, and I ate it up in one sitting.” She winked. “We paired it with a white wine. Celebratory dinner for you-know-who.” She winked again.

“Who?” I wasn’t following.

“Jason. Of course.” An evil laughed expelled out of her. “I know I shouldn’t be gloating. I shouldn’t, but I can’t help but have a sense of relief that Monica is now resting.”

“I can’t imagine.” I shot Hildie a look and caught her glancing over at us before she quickly looked away when she saw me notice her.

Hildie took Abby back to the dressing room with an armful of clothes draped over her arm.

“Do you mind standing outside of the fitting room door so I can just have you grab me a size if I need it?” Abby asked Hildie. Clever girl. She knew I needed some time with Carrie. “I’m pressed for time. I know it’s asking a lot of you.”

“No. No.” Hildie wasn’t all smiles and giggles at the request. “It’s my job. I don’t mind,” I overheard her telling Abby when she opened the dressing room door.

“I hope your sister finds something perfect.” Carrie had ended up pulling out the rack of clothes herself.

I followed her around the shop asking her questions while she hung the various pieces.

“Monty loves you and Van so much. What I’m about to tell you is honestly in your best interest, and I don’t want you to take it out on him.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to ask about those letters, so I just blurted it out. Sometimes it was just better to rip off the Band-Aid. “He mentioned you’d been receiving letters since Jason got out of jail. Sorta along the lines of the card you’d gotten with the bouquet from Sweet Smell Flower Shop.”

Carrie stopped hanging clothes and turned to me.

“Yes. They are very comforting, and I appreciate someone taking the time to tell me how sad they are for my loss. Monica and I were very close.” Carrie looked off into the distance.

“Do you have those letters?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ve kept them all.” She smiled. “When I first got them, I had to read them over and over. But now I only pull them out when I’m having a bad day. They somehow help me feel connected. Though I don’t know who is sending them, I feel like they know Monica just as well as I know Monica.” She blinked and looked down. “Knew. Knew Monica.” Her face softened as she looked at me. “I’m still not used to talking about her in the past tense.”

“I’m sorry. I understand. Not that I’ve had a daughter, but I lost my entire family in a house fire when I was child.” For some reason, I felt compelled to share with her.

“I thought Mary Elizabeth was your mother.” She looked very confused. “And that’s your sister.”

“Mary Elizabeth is my adoptive mother and Abby married my adoptive brother, Bobby Ray, one of Mary Elizabeth’s foster children.” I could see her brain trying to process how all of this worked.

“I guess it’s no different than how I love Hildie and Monty as my own. Family certainly doesn’t have to be blood.” Carrie was easy to like.

It dawned on me that she wasn’t an awful person for wanting to seek justice for Monica, and her feelings toward Jason and what happened to him really was not my cross to bear.

“I’d love to see those letters.” I wasn’t sure how she’d react.

“Of course. I share them with anyone who wants to see just how my Monica touched my life enough for someone who doesn’t know us to care.” She motioned for me to follow her back to the counter, leaving the rack of clothes to be hung for later. She turned slightly as she walked. “I keep them in what I call my God box.”

“God box?” I’d never heard of such a thing.

“Yes. I think these are letters from God to help heal my heart. So I call it my God box.” She walked behind the counter and pulled out a box that was ornately decorated with a green background and a few jewels glued on top. “Some of our fancier purses come in these awesome boxes, and Monica loved them. She would’ve adored this one.”

She opened the flap of the box and inside was stacks of letters.

“This will take me a while to go through.” I just needed time to go through them and see if there were any clues about Monica. “Do you mind if I take them and share them with Tucker or Sheriff Hemmer if I find anything?”

“I don’t know why you’re looking now that Jason is dead, but I guess you have to find out who killed him.” Her face hardened as she reluctantly pushed the box across the glass counter toward me.

“Also, is this Hildie?” I pulled the piece of paper out of my purse and set it on the counter.

“Oh, my stars,” she squealed with delight. “I’ve not seen this in a long time! Hildie, come here and look what Mae found.”

“I… um…” I stalled, trying to think how I could stop Hildie from seeing this.

“Where on earth did you get this?” Carrie asked, very proud of it. “Look.” She handed it to Hildie

Hildie smiled. It wasn’t a genuine smile that you’d see when you fondly remember an event with your friend.

“Hildie and Monica met in college.” Carrie put her arm around Hildie’s shoulder. Hildie continued to look at the photo. “They were thick as thieves. I’m so glad she’s here with me and decided not to leave.”

Like a bull, Hildie snorted a laugh.

“That was a fun day.” Hildie slid her eyes up to me and handed me back the photo. My gut pinched.

“We were so proud of our Monica, weren’t we?” Carrie looked to Hildie for confirmation. “The two girls were up for the college queen. The only way to win was to raise money for the school’s charity.”

Abby had already told me the background of the school’s pageant. It was Hildie’s body language I was most interested in as Carrie recalled the event.

“The girls worked together. They were bound and determined to raise the same amount of money and the most, so they’d both be the queen.” Carrie had so much pride on her face, she radiated.

“That didn’t happen.” Hildie’s brows rose in what seemed to be the first hint of a jealous gesture.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Monica was a volunteer at the homeless shelter, and they ended up giving her, what, like ten dollars and put her over?” Carrie questioned Hildie.

“Five. Five dollars.” HIldie gave a mocking reply. “I need to go help Abby.”

“Anyways, the girls were so sad, but Hildie was a champ. I just hate it that she found Monica that day on the trail.”

A scream of oh my gosh settled in the back of my throat, begging to come out.

“Hildie found Monica?” I questioned. I had to see that report.

“Yes. It was awful. But I’m so grateful she did. Or my Monica might never have been found.” Carrie shut her eyes tight. “Or worse, been something’s supper.”

After Abby had bought a few pieces of clothing, we left the store and hurried across the street.

“I don’t know what Hildie knows, but she knows something,” I said. “But Monica was someone’s prey, not something’s.”

“Slow down.” Abby heaved as she tried to carry the bags and fast-walk alongside of me.

“You know how we come across bones all the time on trails after something gets ahold of it? Well, Hildie got ahold of Monica. I’m not sure how, but that girl is so jealous of Monica.” My thoughts kept spilling out of my head.

I marched across the pavement to the parking lot.

“That girl wasn’t a good friend.” I gnawed on my lip. “I’ve been scorned a time or two by women, and that look on her face when she saw that photo was not a good, fond memory like she said.”

I shoved the key into the ignition when I got in and waited for Abby to stuff the bags in the back seat. I turned around and put the God box in the back.

“How do you know she knows something? She seemed pretty genuine to me.” Abby pulled the seatbelt around her.

“Just my gut feeling.” I put the car in reverse and stopped at the end of the parking lot to make sure I could pull out without getting hit.

While I waited for a car to pass, I glanced across the median and just so happened to look at the boutique.

Hildie stood at the door. There was a big, thick scowl on her face as her eyes zeroed in on me.

Chapter 15

The air conditioner felt so good. The late afternoon heat was brutal today, and I longed for the fall temperatures to get here. It wasn’t soon enough.

Even Fifi didn’t want to be out too long. She did her business and ran straight back into the cool campervan.

Though every season in Kentucky was amazing, and I said that every season was my favorite, honestly it had to be the fall.

Autumn was the best time to hike. It was the most colorful. I also loved wearing a sweatshirt and pair of shorts to go with my hiking boots.

“Let’s see what these letters have to reveal.” I put the box on the couch next to me. I brushed a strand of my damp, curly hair from my cheek. It was going to take a few minutes before my body stopped sweating from letting Fifi out.

Fifi got a drink of water and jumped on the couch next to me, sniffing out the box.

“What do you smell? It would be pretty cool if you were one of those cop dogs who could smell something and lead me straight to the person who wrote these.” I opened the box and reached to the very bottom to get a letter, hoping it was one of the very first ones.

This week as the sun was rising, I was staring out the sunny doorway, over the dark-green treetops toward the Daniel Boone National Forest, I couldn’t help but think of your sweet Monica. The delight I am sure she would’ve taken in such an amazing sunrise.

I put that one back and got one on top.

Sitting on the edge of the bed after my lover got up, I looked out at the vast stillness of the valley. The limestone formations are something to see at dusk. From your interviews and how you talked about your Monica, I was sure her smile would have glowed by the dim light of the sun as it was setting.

One after the next, the handwritten letters talked about how Carrie would’ve felt or how Carrie must’ve felt. There was nothing to even allude to who the author was, just the locations around the forest. By the way the letters were delivered, they had to be from someone who lived here and knew the story or the family.

The only thing I did know for sure was the handwriting from the card in the flower boutique did match the handwriting in the letters.

The card in the boutique had a different feel than the letters. The letters were caring, sent from the heart while the card sent with the bouquet was more along the lines of revenge.

“Hey there.” I happily answered the phone when Mary Elizabeth called. “How’s it going?”

“I’m good. Dawn and I are swamped with guests. Who on earth wants to hike in this weather is beyond me.” Mary Elizabeth continued, “I’m calling because I’ve got Nina Darkwood on a Greyhound expected to arrive in downtown Normal in two days. I’ve rented the picnic shelter downtown for us. I thought it’d be best to meet in the open area for Bobby Ray. You know how he gets.”

Bobby Ray? I wondered, knowing it was best for Mary Elizabeth.

“Yes. I agree,” I didn’t want to call her out on it. Though she was playing the tough-as-a-piece-of-cowhide role, I knew better. She wanted everyone to think she was happy about all of this, and she probably was, but she was human like the rest of us. She had emotions, and I was sure they were very mixed about this entire situation with Bobby Ray meeting his birth mother.

“Are you going to be able to be there?” she asked.

“I’ll make sure of it.” I wouldn’t do that to her. “If I have to close the office, I’ll be there.”

“Don’t be late.” Mary Elizabeth took pride in being early and not on time. She felt like everyone should be respectful of each other’s time, and getting somewhere earlier than later was her belief. “And do you have the glass iced tea pitcher? I can’t find it.”

“I do.” I think it was still at the recreation building when we used it for the Blossom Festival get-together here a few days ago.

“Can you bring that? I will put my sweet tea in jugs and just transfer it when you get there.” She moved her mouth away from the phone, and I could tell she was talking to Dawn. “Maybelline, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to go. And don’t be late.”

The phone went dead. I picked up another letter, and the phone rang again.

“What did you forget to tell me?” Mary Elizabeth had the habit of forgetting to tell me something and then having to call me right back.

“I, um, did I call you at a bad time?” Tucker asked on the other end.

“Oh, Tucker. I’m sorry. Mary Elizabeth tends to call me right back after we hang up, and well… nothing.” I laughed because I sounded like a jumbled mess. “What’s up?”

“I knew you were going to talk to your friends today, and I was wondering if y’all found anything out? Al and I keep going over video footage, and it looks like Jason Dresser went into the boutique the day he was murdered.” Tucker shocked me. Truly.

“What?” I glanced down at the box of letters. “Say, Tucker, can I call you back?”

“Sure. Is something wrong?” he questioned.

“I have to look into something really fast. I’ll call you back.” I hung up the phone and quickly dialed the boutique number.

The answering machine picked up stating the hours of operation.

“Darn.” I sighed when I noticed it was well past closing. Fifi looked up. “Sorry, girl. But I think Jason Dresser himself wrote these letters.”

Chapter 16

“Why on earth do you think that? I mean wouldn’t that make him look even more guilty?” Betts asked and handed me a coffee from Trails Coffee Shop that she’d picked up on her way over to get me at seven a.m.

“If you think about it, the letters are vague. They talk about her finding peace, and not that these don’t say he didn’t do it, it just says that if he did, it was truly an accident. And I wonder who his lover was—is.”

“Lover? Va-va-voom.” Betts circled her shoulder.

“One of the letters said that his lover left the bed at dusk. So…” I tried to think what it looked like outside of Jason’s window but couldn’t picture it. “I’ve got to go back to his place and see if I can find something he’s written and look out at his bedroom window.”

“All of these don’t really seem like solid leads.” Betts sighed as the old van rattled out of town and toward the prison that wasn’t too far from the forest.

“No, but it does tell me he has a lover, and whatever Jason had to tell the lawyer, the lover might’ve known.” I watched the sun popping up over the treetops of the mountain as we left the confines of the forest.

As we drove through the forest, the trees hugged us. Now it appeared as we drove out, the trees were releasing their grip on us, making me feel somewhat vulnerable. A feeling I’d never had before.

“Do you think it’s too early to call Carrie Patillo at home?” I asked Betts.

“No, but why?” she asked.

“I need to ask her a very important question.” I had a feeling that I needed to explore.

“It can’t wait until after we leave the prison?” she asked. “Fine. It’s in my phone.”

My silence to answer her the first time must’ve gotten to her.

I clicked through Betts’s contact list in her phone, and when I got to Carrie’s number, I called her house from my phone.

“The machine,” I whispered over to Betts, knowing Carrie probably didn’t answer because she didn’t recognize the number. “Hi, Carrie. I’m sorry to be calling so early. It’s Mae West, and I wanted to ask you a question about the letters and—more importantly—the card from the flowers you’d received before the pageant. Have you gotten any letters since Jason’s death or since the pageant? If you could give me a call back, that’d be great.” I rattled off my phone number.

“You do think Jason sent the letters.” Betts gave an agreeing nod.

“Yes. And if I’m right, Jason knew about the pageants Monica was in, which makes me think he sent the flowers in hopes Carrie felt closer to Monica while Carrie did the pageant. I don’t think it was a note from the killer letting her know they’d taken care of Jason.”

All the ideas were running through my head.

“And why would Jason be going to the boutique? Tucker said there’s some video footage of Jason going to the boutique.”

“But I thought the flowers were delivered by Jessica.” Betts brought up a good point.

“Yeah. I know. But I have another theory that I’m going to see if Lester knows anything about.” This was just another reason to see Lester.

The closer we got to the prison, the quieter Betts had gotten. She was visibly getting more tense as each mile passed.

She sucked in a deep breath when we passed the first entrance of the long drive.

“We are here.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe the man I loved so much is in here.”

I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. The only thing I did know for sure was that over the past few months she’d been talking more and more about Lester.

“Have you forgiven him?” I asked. I didn’t want to ignore her feelings. Maybe she just needed an ear.

“I forgave him the day it all happened. That’s what we are supposed to do.” Betts, the good girl.

“Goodness, Betts. Even God got angry at Adam and Eve. You can be angry. Mad. Sad. You don’t have to always have the good-girl-because-I-go-to-church attitude.” I wanted to give her permission to just feel.

“Oh, I’ve had my share of fusses with God. Don’t get me wrong, but it just feels better to forgive him. Lester has enough internal demons to deal with, so I just keep it casual. See if he needs anything. We really built a nice, amicable friendship over the past couple of years.” Betts did seem at peace, and who was I to even suggest she get mad.

That would be how I would handle things: be angry.

The guard station planked both sides of the drive, and Betts showed them our passes. They scanned down the list on their clipboard while one of them took the long mirror handheld rake thing and walked around the van. Another guy opened the van and let the dog sniff around.

Once we were good to go, she proceeded to the parking lot where she got her bag from the back.

“I always bring Lester the back issues of the Normal Gazette, church bulletins, and anything we might like.” She gave a wry smile.

“I bet he appreciates it.” I wanted her to know I was for her and her decisions to have whatever kind of relationship she wanted to have with Lester.

We went through the whole ordeal we’d gone through before. All the IDs, checking us over, patting us down, going through the metal detector and Betts’s bag and my purse before they put us in the family population room.

I watched Betts closely when they went to get Lester. She was patting down her hair, looking at her reflection in one of the two-way mirrors on the wall. When they brought Lester into the room, she jumped to her feet and had the biggest smile on her face.

He smiled just as big back before he noticed I was with her. His lips fell, the dark circles under his eyes darker than I’d seen them last, and he looked awfully thin.

“This is a nice surprise.” He shifted his focus between us. “When I heard you were coming, they didn’t tell me I had two visitors.”

“You know what?” I put my hands out. “I know you two want to be alone”—Betts started to protest, but I stopped her—“and it’s fine with me. So can I ask you some questions then I’ll go wait outside?”

“Sure.” He gestured for us to sit, but not before giving Betts a hug. A close hug.

“Did you ever see Jason Dresser in here?” I asked.

“Sure. I try to see all the men who come in and especially from our town. I didn’t know the family, they didn’t go to church, but I met him.” He nodded, ever so gently reminding me he once had freedom outside of these thick concrete walls.

“Did you ever see him with any visitors outside of his mom and her boyfriend?” I asked. “Like a romantic visitor.”

“You mean conjugal visits?” He was a straight shooter.

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you remember when we had family day?” He glanced at Betts. She looked down and giggled, shying away. He patted her. “Well, I don’t recall the date, but he mentioned to me in our private time after church service that he had a lady friend coming. Betts was gracious enough to come and keep me company. The prison even had a photographer here to snap some photos so we could keep them in our cells.”

I wanted so bad to look at Betts because she never mentioned a word of this to me or the Laundry Club Ladies, that I knew of. But I refrained.

“I saw him that day, and he was walking hand in hand with someone.” He gave me some information to confirm my suspicions.

“Can you tell me if this is her?” I pulled out the photograph of Monica’s college charity pageant with Hildie in it and handed it to him. “This girl.” I pointed to her.

“Mae, I don’t know. They weren’t facing me. They were going into the room where you can reserve some private time, if you know what I mean.” He blushed.

It was kinda cute watching him and Betts again. It was like the outside surroundings weren’t in this very moment, and their reality was back to when I first met them.

“Did he ever talk about this girl he was with?” I asked.

“Oh no. A good southern boy never talks out of turn, if you know what I mean.” If Lester did know something about the relationship, he wasn’t going to tell me. “But I will say that I can’t ID the girl in the photo to be the one. When his mama made bail, he said the first thing he was going to do was kiss and hug his mama then have his girl over to his place where they would stay hidden until his trial.”

“Thanks, Lester. Please, I’m begging, if you can remember anything that will help his case, let me know. I don’t think he killed Monica Patillo, but I think he knew who did, and he had a meeting set up with his lawyer, which I believe was to tell the lawyer what he knew. I have to think it was something the girlfriend had said because either she killed him or someone else killed him.” I got up and took the photo back, putting it in my purse.

“You know, he did take the picture frame with him when he was released.” Lester mentioned when I was walking out. “The photographer gave us those photos and the picture frame too.”

“Lester,” I gasped. “Was it about this big in size?” I held my fingers up to show him and knew it was about the size of whatever was taken from Jason’s bedside table.

“Yeah. A little wooden thing. Not big at all.” Lester smiled. “When he left prison, they let me wave goodbye out of the window since he’d been coming to my services. I’ve rediscovered my preaching voice now that I do believe the good Lord has forgiven me. Jason waved the photo frame above his head and smiled. He was in love with this girl.”

Chapter 17

All day and all night I went over and over everything Lester had told me. I even read and reread the letters in the box, knowing I had to go back to Jason’s house to see if I could find anything on this mystery girl. I was more convinced than ever that whoever Jason had at his house the day he died took the photo frame because they didn’t want anyone to know about them or her. Was this the killer? His killer? Monica’s killer?

Only way for me to know, go back to his house.

“Hello?” The phone rang super early the next morning, jerking me out of my sleep.

“Mae, it’s Carrie. I’m so sorry to be calling so early. I just got your message on my home phone. I rarely answer it or get my messages.” Carrie Patillo was on the other end.

“No problem.” I sat up and shoved my hair out of my eyes. “I was up.” Not at all.

“Yes, to answer your question,” she said.

“Yes?” I truly wasn’t fully awake.

“The letters started to show up at the boutique after Jason Dresser was released on bail. They were consistent, about every other day until the day he died. I’ve not received any since the boutique.” She confirmed my suspicions. “Honestly, Mae, I don’t care who sent them or if they killed Jason. They made me feel better.”

Yes. We’d already established this.

“No problem. I wanted to let you know that I’d be dropping off your God box sometime this week.” I didn’t give a definitive answer because I wanted Tucker to see the letters.

After Carrie and I hung up, I figured I might’swell get up and get over to Jason’s house before his neighbors would notice me snooping around. It was also the day Bobby Ray’s birth mother was rolling in on the Greyhound bus, and I couldn’t be late for that.

Dottie had already told me she’d work, yet again, in the office, and I could easily run by Jason’s, take a look around, and go hang out with Betts at the Laundry Club while she worked.

Maybe pick her brain about the vibe I was getting from her and Lester.

The key was still on the hook in the garage where I’d put it back after I let myself in the other day. I did the same thing today. I slipped in his garage, got the key off of the hook, unlocked the back door to his house, put the key back on the hook in the garage before I went back into the house to look around.

The kitchen was the first place I wanted to look for any sort of notebooks, handwritten pieces of paper, anything with Jason’s writing so I would have proof of his handwriting, and I could tell Tucker we could wrap up the “who sent the notes” lead.

Just as expected, I found a notebook, and when I flipped it open, the first page was blank, but when I held it up to the light, I could see indents of where he’d written on the previous page. I searched the drawer for a pencil, and when I found one, I lightly brushed it along the blank page. The indents of what he’d written on the sheet before came visible. Not complete but enough to read—the same tone as the other letters in Carrie’s God box.

I guess this was his way of making peace with being accused of killing Monica. Though I still wasn’t convinced the bullet came from his gun.

It still didn’t tell me who the mystery woman was or where the picture frame had gone.

I went in search of the other rooms, finding myself right back in his bedroom.

I looked back under the bed and then checked the closet before I heard something. I stopped. Listened. Held my breath.

“It has to be here.” I listened as the voice got closer. Making sure I didn’t move, I planted myself up against the wall in the closet. The door was slightly cracked so I had just enough space to see out.

Hildie.

My heart dropped. Monica’s best friend? Why was she here?

“You better find it. If the cops have it and that’s their big piece of evidence, you’re on your own.” Monty Noe walked into the bedroom behind her. “This little gig is up. It’s off to prison for you and me. Do you understand?”

He grabbed Hildie by the arm.

Slowly I reached into my back pocket and took my phone out to try and snap a few photos or at least a video for proof to give to Al and Tucker. I wanted to say I couldn’t believe that Monty and Hildie were the killers, I just couldn’t bring myself not to think it.

“Ouch, Monty. You’re hurting me. I took the frame off the table. No one is going to know it was me going to see Jason in prison.” She tried to shrug him off, but his grip appeared to tighten as he brought her to him.

“You screwed up with him. I told you not to get emotionally involved with him. You were supposed to go to the jail and form a relationship with him to get insider information, not tell him you were Monica’s best friend.” He shook her a good couple of times.

Hildie was the woman who wrote the letters to Jason when he went to jail so you could keep tabs on him. I completely had forgotten to give the letter I’d found behind Jason’s nightstand to Al or Tucker.

Everything was coming together.

“I am in love with him.” She started to cry before he gave her one more good shake of the arm.

“Don’t you know he would’ve told the police everything at the trial? And darling, it would’ve been me and you on death row.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” she cried. Her head fell.

“You went right along with me this whole time.” A vein pulsed from his neck. “Plus we have all those letters you wrote Jason. It sure looks like you killed someone.”

Hildie was trying to be brave as she straightened herself up.

His mouth was so close to her face. Her body tremored as the fear radiated inside of her, giving up her brave face.

“Don’t you think I know that already?” She tried to get free again. He pulled her even tighter. “You’re hurting me,” she said again, this time almost in tears. “Don’t you think I want to find the fingernail so I can be free of you and you stop blackmailing me?”

The phone beeped. I looked at it. Crap, crap. The beeping noise was telling me the storage was full on my phone.

“What was that?” Monty let go of Hildie and started to look around.

“What?” she asked.

“That beep. I heard a beep.” He continued to dart about the room.

“I didn’t hear anything beep. You’re paranoid.” Hildie walked over to the bed. “It was right here where I think I lost the fingernail.”

I pushed myself up against the wall as tight as I could, not looking out of the crack so I could just stay hidden when Monty flung the door open. I squeezed my eyes tight.

“What do we have here?” Monty outstretched his arm and grabbed me by the wrist. “I knew you were going to be trouble.” He jerked me out and threw me on Jason’s bed. “Go get some rope or something,” he ordered Hildie.

“They always say it’s someone close to the victim,” I spat. “You oughta be ashamed of yourself,” I yelled after Hildie. “Some best friend you are!” I could feel the anger growing up inside of me as I looked at Monty. “So you killed Monica and framed Jason for it. How convenient.”

“I didn’t frame anyone or kill anyone.” He denied it. I wanted to spit on him. “That was all Jerry Truman’s doing when he was sheriff. I loved Monica so much.” There was a passion in his eyes when he talked about her that made me sick. “I would never hurt her. Deliberately.”

It was the type of passion that told me if he couldn’t have her, no one could.

“Deliberately?” I tried to keep my big trap shut. I just wasn’t good at that. “Was that what Monica was talking about to Hildie before she went hiking alone?” I asked.

Hildie came back in with nothing in her hands.

“I couldn’t find any rope.” Her eyes darted, she wrung her hands. She had a fingernail missing from her middle finger on her left hand. Something I’d not noticed over the past couple of times I’d seen her. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Are you joking? We can’t let her walk out of here before we get on the road.” He pointed to me and looked at Hildie like she was crazy.

Hildie pleaded, “Please, me and you will go away. Right now. No one will find us.”

“So the two of you killed Monica so you could be together?” I just couldn’t stop myself from finding out the answers.

“No.” Hildie shook her head. “Monica was calling off the wedding, and when she went for a hike alone that day, I didn’t know what to do with what she’d said. She said she and Monty weren’t compatible and she needed to break it off before she walked down the aisle. She was so upset because it was so close to the wedding day that she knew her parents wouldn’t get back any of the money they’d spent or put down for the big day. I didn’t want to upset her. If I told her the truth about me and Monty sleeping together, she could call off the wedding without all the guilt she was having.”

“Sleeping together?” My jaw dropped. “So you told Jason the truth. He felt like you used him, and he was kicking you out the day he died. You slapped him, and then you were waiting outside to kill him.”

“Hildie called me. I had to go talk to Monica after Hildie blabbed. I love Monica. I had to tell her I loved her.” Monty let his guard down a little.

I knew if I talked about Monica, he wouldn’t kill me. Just yet.

To stall for time, I was about to tell him how Hank and I had broken up, maybe not due to cheating, but because we had realized each one of us had different plans for our future.

“Shut up!” He stepped forward, over the bed with the back of his hand lifted in the air as if he were going to backhand me.

“Stop it!” Hildie screamed and grabbed his arm. He flung her to the ground.

“Then you wouldn’t’ve had anyone to do your dirty work,” she said through gritted teeth. “Some days, I wish you had followed through with your threats of telling Carrie we were the reason Monica had taken that hike and where she got killed so I didn’t have to be blackmailed for a year by you.”

“Blackmailed? Aren’t you clever.” I laughed. “So that’s why you stayed here to help Carrie with the boutique. Not by choice but by blackmail?”

“Right after Monica told me she was going to break off the wedding, I told her I thought it was a good idea. I told her how Monty and I had too much to drink one night in college while she was home visiting her parents and we’d slept together.”

“Shut up!” he warned her. “Stop telling her that.”

“After that she stormed off…” Hildie’s words trailed. “I called Monty and told him what happened. He came back to the house and told me he found her on the trail, and they’d gotten into an argument, and he left her there. Crying.”

“I did leave her there.” Monty felt the need to clarify. He was desperate. “Alive.”

“So I went on the trails to find her to talk to her. That’s when I noticed this man, the man I told the authorities about. Jason. Monica was shot. The man had a shotgun, and he ran off.” She glanced up at me. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Only after they arrested Jason, I’d come to realize the man on the television wasn’t the man I had come face-to-face with standing over Monica that day.”

“So you started to see Jason to see what he knew?” I wasn’t following.

“Yes. Monty told me I had to stay and help him find out who killed Monica, or he was going to expose the video he took of us the night we were together in college and that it would prove I killed Monica for revenge.” She looked away and out the window.

When I took a quick glance, I noticed the scene Jason had written in one of the letters. The lover he was talking about had to be Hildie.

“Why did you blackmail her?” I asked Monty.

“Because I knew she could help me keep what little of Monica I had left. Carrie and Van. So we made a life here over the past six months until you started snooping around.” He stood over the bed with a fury in his eyes. “It seems like whoever killed Jason was giving us exactly everything we needed, but she left a trail of crumbs around here like we killed him or something.”

These two proved just how desperate they were to show they didn’t have anything to do with Jason or Monica’s murder.

“Get up off the floor and go find me anything to tie her up with, so we can get a head start out of here. Do you understand that, Hildie?”

It made me angry how he spoke to her. She nodded and jumped up. Fear was driving her.

When she walked out of the room, he turned back to the bed to face me.

“I’m sure you’re a nice lady and all, but I’m not going to prison for a crime I didn’t commit. So I’m going to do something I didn’t do with the last two people who didn’t listen to me.” He grinned.

Thump! A loud thud rang out before Monty fell on top of me.

“Oh my gosh.” I pushed him off of me, and Hildie was standing next to the bed with the shovel in her hand. “Hildie,” I was careful to say her name with some sort of it’s-going-to-be-okay tone.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I just couldn’t let him tie you up. I’m so tired of running from this.” She dropped the shovel. “I also called the sheriff when I went out to look for something the first time.”

“Okay. We will wait for Al.” I sat up on the edge of the bed, not sure what to do. “He looks like he’s knocked out cold.”

“Do you think they’ll arrest us?” Hildie had me so confused.

“Wait. If you didn’t kill Jason or Monica, do you know who did?” I asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “The day Jason died, you were right. We did get into a fight. I told him everything. I told him I’d really come to the prison because I knew he wasn’t the man who was standing over Monica that day. He thought I found him in the prison database where you could write letters to the prisoners. He was a really nice guy. He had confided in me how he wanted to write letters to Carrie without her knowing it was him so she could move on. I was the one who delivered the letters when I went to work for him. Every once in a while, he’d come see me at the boutique when she wasn’t there.” She gulped back tears. “He said a few things to me that I know he didn’t mean, but I slapped him, knocking off my fingernail. He had a picture frame of us next to the bed, and I took it out of spite. I had no idea it was going to be the last time I saw him. He told me to get out. He also said that he thought he knew who killed Monica and let him take the blame after I told him about that guy.”

The door closing down the hall made me feel so much better.

“Oh, good. Al is here.” I pushed off the bed. “Back here, Al!”

The footsteps echoed heavy down the hallway.

“Ted?” I blinked a few times. He looked past my shoulder at Monty knocked out on the bed and then looked at Hildie before he looked down at the shovel. “It’s not what it looks like.”

I was about to tell him that Al was on the way, but he hurried inside of the room.

“It doesn’t look good.” His brows furrowed. “What’s going on?”

Hildie’s eyes grew bigger and bigger with each step she took backward.

“Hildie? Are you okay? This is Jason’s friend.” I watched an interesting dance between Ted and Hildie.

“You’re the guy,” Hildie’s voice tremored. Slowly, she bent down with her eyes on Ted and picked up the shovel. “You’re the guy I saw that day. You shot Monica.”

“He’s Jason’s hunting partner,” I heard myself say, then it clicked. “Oh my God, you’re Jason’s hunting partner. The second shot. Jason’s last phone call. He knew you were the killer and was going to tell his lawyer that night.”

“Honey, put the shovel down.” He spoke to Hildie in a very slow and calming voice.

“No.” Hildie’s chest heaved.

My body relaxed as soon as I heard the sirens in the distance, confirming Al was on the way.

“What’s that sound?” Ted shifted just enough for Hildie to get a good swing, knocking him down before she gave him another whack on the back to keep him down.

Chapter 18

I was never so happy in my life to see Al Hemmer run into Jason Dresser’s bedroom. The deputy immediately took Hildie into custody and out of the house before Al could even check on me to see if I was okay.

“I’m fine. A little shaken up, but I’m fine.” I looked at Monty. “I think he’s fine too. Just knocked out.”

“And Ted?” Al pointed.

“He’s the killer. He killed Jason and Monica.” My hands was shaking as I pointed to him.

The EMT had come in and checked Monty out before they hoisted him up on the gurney to get him to the hospital.

“What happened?” Tucker came rushing into the room. “Are you okay?”

“She’s fine.” Al put his hand out to stop Tucker. “I was getting her statement.”

“I had some time to kill”—I laughed at my choice of words—“before a barbecue for my family, and I thought I would stop by to see if there were any notes hidden somewhere from the woman who went to see Jason in jail to compare it to the notes written to Carrie.”

“I knew there was a tie to this.” Tucker chewed on a piece of gum. “We got the fingernail back, and Jason’s DNA was under the nail. Hildie has never had a record, so her DNA wasn’t in the system. Remember when we went to the flower shop to talk to Jessica, and Monty was there? He grabbed the piece of paper from us, deliberately making us see he touched the paper because when I went to look at the fingerprints again, his were all over it. So he had Hildie write the letters, and he delivered them.”

That was a good catch that I didn’t even see.

“And after Hildie told Jason about everything, they got into a fight. She smacked him.” I finished the story. “Only it wasn’t Monty who was waiting to kill Jason. Monty was busy with Carrie at the pageant.” I remembered how I saw Monty at the pageant, and he didn’t have time to kill Jason before and get there to keep Carrie company.

“Hildie said Jason was alive and well when she left here. The only thing I could think of was how Ted had told me he had talked to Jason, and it must’ve been right before he died, so there was a record of their phone call,” I said. “There was a bit of a window between the time Hildie left and the phone call with Ted. I think during their phone conversation, Jason told Ted that Hildie’s memory about the guy standing in the woods was coming back to her, and I believe Jason didn’t identify Ted, but he knew. That’s when his lawyer got the call from Jason saying he wanted to meet, but Ted got to him before the meeting.”

Which would explain how Jason was hit almost from behind.

“Hildie knew she couldn’t just go to the authorities because Monty had been blackmailing her all this time, and she didn’t want to hurt Jason any more than she already had. He had her thinking she would go to prison though she didn’t commit the crime.” I thought it was just a shame how all of it happened. “So she might’swell run off with him after Jason’s trial, but then they suddenly found themselves deep in the crime and suspicious after Jason got murdered.”

Tucker was busy writing all of this down while I watched Al cuff and hoist Ted Brimer up to his feet. “So you’re okay though?” He looked at me with concern.

“Yes.” I nodded and got up, letting him help steady me. “Al, I’m going to head out and let y’all finish this up unless you need me right now.”

“Take a day or so and just come down to the station when you’re up to it for a statement. Hildie is down there now telling everything.” Al had taken charge, and it felt good to watch him finally step into the big shoes he had to fill.

Thoughts of Hank and what he would’ve done quickly came and then went from my mind. Hank wasn’t here. Al and Tucker were here. It was time for me to put that past behind me.

“Okay. I will.” I sucked in a deep breath of air.

When I walked out to my car, Carrie was standing there with one of Al’s deputies trying to figure out what was going on.

“Mae!” She called. “What’s going on?”

“I was actually going to call you later tonight after I got home from my mom’s.” I didn’t tell her what I was really doing, going to meet Bobby Ray’s birth mother and she didn’t need to know.

The deputy smiled and let her past the line.

“Tell me.” The concern on her face pained me. I wasn’t sure how she was going to take the news.

“Jason didn’t kill your daughter.” I gave her a rundown of how I’d come to the realization it was Jason’s hunting partner, Ted.

“All this time I swore it was him.” She began to cry. “I’ll never be able to make that up to him.” She blinked a few times.

“I think if you come out to the media and give a public apology to his mom, his family and friends and mention how you are glad Sheriff Al Hemmer and Ranger Tucker Pyle apprehended the real killer, it will make peace with you and them.” It was the best option I could think of.

“Thank you.” She grabbed my hands and gave them a good squeeze. “I can’t thank you enough for insisting to check into this. I’m going to be good. I’m going to be fine. I am a little at peace.”

I gave her a hug.

“I have to go. I’ll come in the boutique and check on you,” I assured her before I got into my car, trying to put what just happened behind me. At least for a few hours.

It was time to play daughter to a very nervous Mary Elizabeth.

I just wasn’t sure I had the emotional energy to deal with any more tense situations, but I knew if I dug deep enough, I’d find the strength to give back to Mary Elizabeth everything and more she’d done for me.

Right now, she needed me, and I was going to be there for her.

When I pulled up along the front of Trails Coffee Shop in the open parking space, I could see the relief settle on her face. Right behind me pulled up the Greyhound bus.

On time. It was me that was a little late and for good reason.

There was something to be said about a boy and his mama. In this case, his adoptive mama.

For a while now, I’d been sitting at one of the picnic tables in the median downtown where Mary Elizabeth had put the park shelter on reserve for Bobby Ray’s meeting with his birth mother.

It did bring a tear to my eye when Nina walked off the Greyhound and immediately spotted Bobby Ray without him having to go up to her and let her know it was him. After all, she’d not seen him since she’d birthed him over thirty-four years ago.

It also brought a tear to my eyes watching Mary Elizabeth Moberly witness the event from afar, giving the mom and son a moment.

Mary Elizabeth was definitely in full southern mode. She smiled when appropriate, she laughed when needed, and she refilled the glasses when the iced tea was about halfway gone. Underneath perfectly lined lips, there was a nervous twitch that only a daughter would recognize.

“Are you okay?” I moseyed up to her after Nina, Bobby Ray, and Abby had gotten their big plate of homemade barbecue from the food table.

“I’m fine. Do you think it’s going well?” she asked, but there was so much more meaning to her words.

“I reckon mamas don’t have to be blood, do they?” Dottie lit the cigarette and elbowed Bobby Ray.

He laughed and put an arm around Mary Elizabeth.

“Your darn tootin’ they don’t have to be.” He squeezed Mary Elizabeth to him. “Because this lady right here is more than just a mom. She is every bit the reason I am who I am today.”

“And I personally want to thank you for that.” Abby joined in on the hug.

“And here I was thinking I was going to lose my baby boy to his wife and then to his birth mom.” Mary Elizabeth teared up.

“Oh no, Mama.” Abby waved me over to the group hug. “This family ain’t nothing but growing.”

Growing? What did that mean?

“Mae,” Abby laughed. “You’re phone is ringing.”

“Oh. I didn’t hear it.” I blinked away the possibility of me being an Aunt and laughed it aside. I slipped my phone out of my pocket. “Hank,” I gasped when the photo of us came up that I had under his contact.

“Get it!” Abby squealed.

“Hello, Hank?” I questioned as though this was a prank and I walked away for a little privacy when I noticed a gleam of hope in Mary Elizabeth’s eyes.

“Mae, I quit the Rangers. It wasn’t for me and I finally took Jerry up on his offer to join him at the private investigation department.” All I could really make out was the fact he’d quit. “I need you, we need your help. Can come back to Happy Trails and meet me? I’m parked in my old lot.”

“Of course.” It was all I could say before my legs started to move towards my car without even thinking about it. “I’ll be right there.”

“And Mae,” the tone of the conversation softened, “I missed you.”

The End.

Over the past few months my love life has been on what you'd call a slippery slope. Just this past week I'd resigned to the fact that me and Hank Sharp was caput! Done with. No more!

And when I got a phone call during Bobby Ray's meeting with his birth mother from Hank, I felt like I was wrapped up between a nightmare and a dream.

Let me cut to the chase.

Hank's best friend Jerry Truman is a local private investigator and he's got a HUGE case that includes a dead body. Of course I've not stuck my nose in it because honestly it has nothing to do with me. Those are the kinda murders I like, but now that Hank has told me he's back and helping Jerry, and get this...they need me to use my sleuthing skills to help them, it's now my business.

One, because I love to snoop and two because by the sound of things, Hank Sharp misses me as much as I miss him.

You see, this case will be a double win!

At least that's what I thought until I'm the one staring into the barrel of a shot gun when I found out a little too much information.

Can you stand it? I can’t. Grab the next book in A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery.

BIG Cast-iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

Oh y’all! Who doesn’t love a warm chocolate chip cookie? Especially a big one in one big skillet over top a campfire? AND it’s even more fun to give everyone a fork and chow down! If you want make this in the oven, you will bake at 350* about 18 minutes.

Ingredients:

1/3 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cups flour

2 Tbs coconut flour

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Directions:

1. Put your cast iron skillet on the grill over the fire and spray with cooking spray.

2. Mix the butter and the vanilla extract with a fork until combined.

3. Add in the egg.

4. Stir in both flours, baking powder and salt to make a sticky dough.

5. Fold the chocolate chips into the dough.

6. Spread the cookie dough into the hot skillet.

7. Put it on the campfire grill over the fire for about 15 minutes and check to see when the middle is baked. It could take up to 20 minutes.

8. Take off the grill and enjoy!

Camper Hack #1

What do you do with your empty egg cartons? I used to just throw them away when we used up all the eggs. NOW I keep them!

The cups in the egg cartons are the perfect size for single charcoal briquette. They fit in there so snug and it’s easy to store in your camper so when you get to your campground, you can use their grill to cook and not bring a heavy bag of charcoal.

Awesome!

Campfire Skillet Mexican Potatoes

Eddy and I love Mexican food. We have found it’s pretty easy to cook Mexican over a campfire. Since he is gluten free, we put together a lot of different combinations and Mexican is pretty good with gluten free naturally.

This is a GREAT recipe that’s so tasty and also in ONE skillet. We love using ONE skillet because it’s easy to cook and clean.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 large white potatoes diced with skin on

3/4 pound ground beef- I use 93% lean ground beef

2 tablespoons taco seasoning- I use low-sodium

1 tablespoon water

1 1/2 cups shredded Colby cheese

1 cup Salsa

Directions:

1. Place a cast-iron skillet on the grill over the campfire and add the olive oil.

2. Once it’s hot, add your diced potatoes to the skillet- this will take around 25 minutes.

3. About the 20 minute mark, add your ground beef to the skillet and cook.

4. Drain the beef grease.

5. Add your taco seasoning.

6. Add the water.

7. Sprinkle the top with cheese.

8. After the cheese has melted, take it off the grill, grab a few forks and eat out of the skillet! Enjoy!

*You can add salsa or sour cream or whatever.

Camper Hack #2

We have a little grill we bring that fits so nice over a campfire so we can cook on. Most campgrounds have either a grill in your lot space or a communal grill on site that you can use.

And sometimes it seems a little gross and you want to clean the grill, but did you know you can cut on onion in half and use it on any grill grate to clean and act as a non-stick?

Yes! I know! Who knew an onion is great for a non-stick tool???

Skillet Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Supper

Oh yeah! Eddy and I love pasta too. Sometimes when we are gone for a few days, we get a hankerin’ for some carbs! This is a great supper for two over the campfire in one skillet!

Ingredients:

Jar of marina. I like to use Rao’s

1.5 cups of water

Box of Spaghetti- I use gluten free

Parmesan cheese or Mozzarella

One pound of lean ground beef

Directions:

1. Put the skillet on a grill over the campfire.

2. Add ground beef and brown.

3. Once it’s browned, drain and set meat aside for later.

4. Put the skillet back over the fire and add your marina, water and any sort of extra spices you like. I’m pretty simple so I don’t add any sort of garlic, extra seasoning or anything.

5. Once that has come to a boil, add in your spaghetti.

6. After it starts to boil don’t keep the skillet over the flame, move it a little off to the side so the contents cook the spaghetti and make sure you stir it often.

7. After the spaghetti is cooked, add in the browned meat and stir really good.

8. Add the cheese on top.

9. Take off the grill, grab two forks and enjoy!

Camper Hack #3

Do you have fantasies of having a fun party like Mae West and the Laundry Club Ladies? Walking around and sampling everyone’s food? This is kinda a food, but total hack!

Well, I’ve got a treat for y’all! You can make the most delicious corn on the cob and a lot of it.

Grab your cooler and load it down with corn on the cob. As much that will fit. Then boil water over your campfire and pour it into the cooler. Keep adding boiled water to cover the corn on the cob.

Close the lid.

Keep the lid closed with the hot water for twenty minutes and you’ve got enough corn on the cob for the entire campground!

A NOTE FROM TONYA

Thank y’all so much for this amazing journey we’ve been on with Mae and the Laundry Club Ladies! We’ve had so much fun and I can’t wait to bring you a lot more of them. When I set out to write about them, I pulled from my experiences from camping, having a camper, and fond memories of camping.

Readers ask me if there’s a real place like Happy Trails Campground. Sadly, no. It’s a combination of places I’ve stayed and would own if I could.

XOXO ~ Tonya
www.Tonyakappes.com

For a full reading order of Tonya Kappes’s Novels, visit www.tonyakappes.com

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About Tonya

Tonya has written over 175 novels, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists, including the USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband and a very spoiled rescue cat named Ro. Tonya grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown men, Tonya writes full-time in her camper she calls her SHAMPER (she-camper).

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