Love and Suspicion Page 15

  “I remember. I’m the one who caught them. We keep a pile of broken tiles in the back of the warehouse to give to people for art projects, or to those who are down on their luck and need to patch an old floor. The three Earl fired were throwing away perfectly good tiles, taking them home at night, and selling them on the side to one of our flooring customers. They had a nice little business going there for a while.”

  “It was two men and a woman, correct?”

  “Not exactly. She was just a kid really, and the boys where her older brothers.”

  “I see. In your opinion, would any of them have tried to get even by taking Earl’s daughter?”

  Tom shook his head. “I’ve wondered about that a thousand times, but even the oldest boy couldn’t have figured out how to do it without getting caught.” Tom tapped his temple with his finger. “Just not that smart.”

  When Rod saw the sheriff motion him over, he shook Tom’s hand again. “Thanks for the help.”

  “Any time, Deputy.”

  As soon as Rod arrived, Otis stood up. “Just a word of warning. Lorna Dumont has been watching you. She claims she knows who kidnapped the baby.”

  “Who does she say it was?” Rod asked.

  “Her husband, Kyle Dumont. She’s been saying that for years, but she’s got no proof. Her husband ran off the next day with another woman, so she figures he had a bundle of money to run off with. The kidnapping is not all she claims he did. If it was in the news back then, her husband did it.”

  Rod chuckled. “Thanks for the tip.”

  Otis pointed out a few more people of interest including Michael’s ex-wives, who by then had turned their backs to Michael. “I got the feeling Pamela, his first wife, knows more than she said at the time.”

  “About Michael’s alibi?”

  “At first she said he was with her all night, but later she recanted.”

  “Who did she say he was with?”

  “Birdie. Pamela said she lied because she didn’t want to admit he stayed out all night. Too embarrassing for a wife, you see. People saw him at the Bed and Breakfast, so Pamela had to admit she lied.”

  “Did any of them say what time he left?” Rod asked.

  “Unfortunately none of them knew.”

  “According to your notes, you didn’t believe Michael was involved anyway.”

  “True, but I missed something somewhere and it might have been right in front of my face.” Otis smiled when his wife tugged on his sleeve.

  “It’s a picnic, not the office,” Lois reminded him.

  “Yes, dear,” Otis groaned, before he kissed her on the cheek and sat down.

  Rod smiled, tipped his hat to her, and then went back to sit beside Nancy. By then, Ben and Tiffany had taken up seats across the picnic table from them.

  People seemed to be moving closer and closer to the food tables, waiting for someone to yell. Finally, someone did.

  “LET’S EAT!”

  It didn’t take long for people to grab a paper plate and start to line up in front of the table that held Ben’s beans. Tiffany giggled when the cop turned around, grabbed a plate and removed one of the lids. With a large ladle, he helped himself to two servings, leaving little room on his plate for anything else. Next, he headed for the iced sodas, grabbed three and then made his way to the back of the crowd.

  “They must be some beans,” Tiffany muttered.

  “It’s more like a test of wills,” Ben whispered. “They are spicy hot.”

  “Oh, I see.” She tipped her head to one side. “Do you think Michael is against my staying at Earl’s.”

  “Don’t worry, if he is he won’t say anything for fear of upsetting Earl.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  Not everyone was eager to try Ben’s beans. In fact, those in line were mostly men including Michael and Jerry. The two men were closer in line to each other than was comfortable, and for a moment Jerry looked like he intended to eat more of the spicy hot beans than Michael. At length, he thought better of it and only took one spoon full.

  It took a while for the eager bean eaters to load up their plates while the women helped themselves and the children to the food on the other tables. The line had lessened and there was plenty of food left over, by the time the two young couples decided to fill their plates, Tiffany wanted to at least taste Ben’s beans, but Nancy knew better and stayed well away from them. Soon, their choices were made and they returned to the table. Ben went to get sodas, Nancy helped Willie get a good grip on his hotdog and Rod finally relaxed enough to sit down and enjoy his meal. He especially seemed to enjoy the corn on the cob, and Tiffany laughed when he got corn stuck in his teeth.

  The beans, Tiffany noticed, were missing from Ben’s plate. When he came back and sat down, she looked at the ones on her plate and then looked at Ben plate again. “I’m almost afraid to taste five thousand dollar beans.”

  “Did I say dollars?” Ben asked. “It was more like five thousand pennies, which I don’t intend to count. It was Crazy Eddie who made the offer. I have no doubt he saves every penny he can get his hands on and loves counting them.”

  “Have you spotted him yet?” Tiffany asked, just before she took a bite of her hamburger.

  Ben said, “Sure. He’s been watching you the whole time. Don’t look, but his pickup is parked in the bushes right behind us.”

  “Don’t look?” Tiffany scoffed. “You can’t tell someone like me not to look – it’s torture.” She intentionally turned and searched until she saw a glint of blue paint amid the bushes. “Why does he hide?”

  “He’s crazy, that’s why,” Alex answered. Michael’s son plopped a plate down next to Tiffany’s on the table, and then sat straddling the bench facing her.

  “Not as crazy as you,” a peeved Ben grumbled.

  “True,” Alex smirked, “but I’m crazy in a far friendlier way. So Tiffany, what are you doing later? There’s a movie in Des Moines I have not yet seen, something about an apocalypse or something.”

  “Sorry,” she answered, “all booked up.”

  “That’s a pity. Well, there’s always tomorrow night. Where are you staying.”

  “At your grandfather’s house.”

  The look on Alex’s face betrayed his sincere surprise. “Earl never lets anyone stay with him, not even me.” He looked down and shifted his eyes from side to side a couple of times. “Come to think of it, I never asked if I could. Maybe I should, now that you’re staying there.”

  “Stanley James Hunter,” Tiffany said.

  Ben grinned at Nancy, “Can’t wait to hear this one.”

  “What?” Alex asked.

  “You remind me of Stanley James Hunter. He never thought of asking either. He just assumed and he always assumed wrong.”

  “Oh,” Alex picked up his plate, shoved a spoon full of beans in his mouth, chewed, swallowed and then fanned his open mouth with his hand. “Best beans ever.” He peaked around Tiffany to look at the glare on Ben’s face. “Well, I better leave you two alone.” He nearly spilled his plate as he stood up, lifted a leg over the bench and walked away.

  “Stanley James Hunter?” Ben asked.

  “Arrogant, impolite and stupid,” Tiffany answered.

  Ben tried to hide his suspicious smile when he asked, “But handsome?”

  “Yep, the kind that could take a girl’s breath away.” When she glanced at them, both Nancy and Rod were smiling and listening.

  “Except yours?” Ben asked.

  “Oh, mine too. I dated him all the way through my junior year...and so did three other girls. I was a little slow finding that out.”

  “Ouch,” said Rod.

  Tiffany was dead serious when she said, “After I found out, he walked with a limp for nearly a week,” She turned to face Ben as if awaiting his next question.

  Ben laughed. “He didn’t try to talk you into coming back?”

  “Nope, he was just smart enough to know better. Last I heard, he was engaged to Chelsey. Now
Chelsey and I are complete opposites.” Tiffany was so into her story that she forgot what she was doing and put a spoonful of beans in her mouth. Her eyes instantly bulged, and when Ben handed her an orange soda, she swallowed the beans and drank half of it before she stopped to take a breath. She fanned her mouth, drank the rest of the soda, and set the empty can on the table. “There ought to be a law against people like you, Mr. Ben Coulter!” She felt like everyone was watching the new girl in town make an idiot of herself, but Tiffany ignored them. She took another bite of her hamburger hoping to finally put the fire in her mouth and stomach out. It didn’t help much.

  Ben nodded toward Earl. “You don’t see that often,” he said. “We can hardly get a smile out of him and I believe he actually laughed watching you.”

  “That’s me, Miss Entertainment,” she said. Tiffany lifted her plate and threatened to scrape the rest of the beans off hers onto Ben’s.

  He put his hand up. “No thanks, I’ve already tasted them.”

  “And you still have a stomach lining?” Tiffany mocked. “You need to see a doctor!”

  Nancy laughed and pointed toward the three pots of beans, “Every year, Ben and I bet on how many will go back for seconds. The cop is headed there now.”

  Tiffany watched the officer take another large helping, but instead of sodas, he grabbed several dinner rolls. From her purse, Nancy pulled out pen and paper and started to keep count.”

  “How many did Ben bet there would be?” Tiffany asked.

  “Under twenty-six.”

  “And you?”

  “I’m an optimist. I bet it would be over thirty-one. She counted the few who were starting to line up. Only nine? It looks like Ben might win - again.”

  Ben wiped the superior grin off his face, and excused himself to take Willie to the bathroom, so tiffany got up and took their plates to the trash can. Next, she wandered over to the table to see how full or empty Ben’s pots were.

  “These things nearly killed me last year,” one woman whispered to another as she poured a small ladle of Ben’s beans onto her plate.

  “Yes, but what a way to die,” said the other.

  Tiffany held her giggle until after they walked away. She was surprised to see Rod take a clean plate and fill it up again. “You’re still hungry?”

  “This is for Millie, our dispatcher. She has to work today.”

  Tiffany smiled. “Are you sure she wants beans?”

  “I have no idea, but I don’t want to see the disappointment on her face if I don’t bring her some.”

  “That makes sense.” Tiffany watched him take the plate to his cruiser, and then went back to their table, She sat next to Nancy facing out so she could watch the people better. “What happens next?”

  “Well,” Nancy answered, “after the food has settled a little, there will be gunnysack races, swimming contests for the older children and spoon races for the little ones. Willie is old enough for that this year. They put a raw egg on a spoon and try to beat the other kids to the finish line without dropping it.” Nancy sighed, “I can’t count how many eggs he broke before he learned to walk fast instead of run.”

  When two of Nancy’s friends came to visit her, Tiffany decided to say hello to Mariam and a few other women she’d met at the bookstore. Once in a while, she heard roars of laughter and desperately wanted to know what was so funny, so she excused herself and began to wander through the crowd. Yet, it was not until she happened to overhear two unfamiliar women talking in whispered tones that she carefully turned her back to them and eavesdropped on their conversation.

  “All I know is that Shelley Woodbury went to a small office in Bloomfield nearly every day, even on Saturday,” an older woman with white hair said. “I only knew that because it was on my mail route and her car was often parked there. Very few people drove a brand new Mustang convertible that I knew of, at least not a dark blue one, so I suspected it was her. Earl bought her that expensive car the day after he married her, or so I heard.”

  “But you actually saw her there?” the other woman asked. Several years younger, she looked as though she might be the older woman’s daughter.

  “Just once that I recall.”

  “Did you ask her about it?”

  “No, it wasn’t any of my business. After the baby was born, I didn’t see her car for weeks, and then one day there it was again.”

  Tiffany was dying to ask where the office was, but when one of the women noticed her, she walked away. She was willing to bet Earl didn’t know Shelley had a job, and it was a very lucrative one according to her bank statements. It might even explain some of the expenses too, if she owned the company and paid employees, but why pay them out of her personal account?

  With that on her mind, Tiffany wandered around for a few more minutes and then went back to the table to keep Nancy company. Ben had Willie on his shoulders again talking to friends. She considered asking Ben the names of the women she overhead, but decided Earl would probably know, and she could ask him about it later.

  The gunnysack races were hysterical once they cleared a space and got everyone organized. Three couples tripped over each other right at the finish line, making one couple the winner by just a head. The swimmers lined up on one side of the lake and when Otis fired his pistol, they raced to the other side. The good swimmers outnumbered the poor, and even Nancy and Tiffany cheered the slower ones on.

  Rod came back just in time to watch Willie line up beside the other little kids, and carefully put his egg on his spoon. This time, the sheriff didn’t fire his gun, but he did shout, “GET READY, GET SET, GO!” Willie was holding his own until a little girl plodded ahead of him. Not to be outdone, he started to run and just as it always happened before, his egg fell off the spoon and splatted on the ground. The little girl won, much to Willie’s chagrin, and instead of coming to his mother for comfort, he went to Ben.

  “Ben needs at least five children to keep him happy,” said Nancy.

  “He certainly does adore your son.”

  “Yes, and he doesn’t get to spend nearly enough time with Willie. When he tries to lock up early and come out to the farm, Gloria invariably shows up insisting there is something wrong with her car that needs to be fixed right away.”

  “No wonder he is not very fond of Gloria.”

  “Not fond is putting it mildly, but he has to earn a living the same as the rest of us, and Michael doesn’t care what Ben charges.”

  “You and Ben have been friends a long time?” Tiffany asked.

  “We’re cousins, actually.”

  Tiffany was surprised at how relieved she was to hear it. She didn’t actually form the question in her mind, but she was about to wonder if Nancy was her competition.

  Alex tapped Tiffany on the shoulder and proudly handed her a small plate. “My mom made it. Best apple pie you’ll ever taste.”

  “Thank you.” Tiffany accepted the pie and boldly looked him in the eye. Dozens of times she’d looked through the mugshot books her father brought home, and never had she seen gray eyes the color of Alex’s. As soon as he looked away, she followed his gaze.

  Amazingly, Gloria was back and had her arms tightly wrapped around an unwilling Ben. He still had Willie on his shoulders and was trying to push Gloria away, while at the same time making sure Willie didn’t fall off. At least Gloria was wearing jeans and t-shirt, but without a bra. Too bad too, because Tiffany was famous for snapping the backs of bras when she was annoyed with a girl. Of course, that was back in her high school days and she’d grown up since then.

  It was tempting however, that she happened to be holding a slice of pie – except throwing it at Gloria would be too cliché even for Tiffany. Instead, she handed the plate back to Alex and followed Nancy, who was already headed straight for Ben. Ben managed to lift Willie off his shoulders and set him on the ground so Nancy could take the boy away. With both his hands finally free, he tried unsuccessfully to pry Gloria off him.

  Tiffany tapped Gloria o
n the shoulder, but the girl only moaned and refused to let go, so Tiffany tapped her on the shoulder a second time, only harder. “I’m not going away, so you might as well turn around and talk to me.”

  “Get a life!” Gloria snapped, nuzzling her face into Ben’s neck. Without hurting her, Ben tried to remove her arms, but she wiggled free and grabbed hold of him again. People were starting to watch, but Tiffany was determined. “Angie Tigerton!” she said louder than she should have.

  “Goooo aaaaway,” Gloria moaned.

  “Angie Tigerton.” Tiffany nearly shouted. This time, most of the people within hearing range had paused to listen.

  When Gloria finally realized people were watching, she let go of Ben and turned to face Tiffany, “Who are you?” Ben moved away, but not so far away that he couldn’t rescue Tiffany if she needed it.

  “Someone who doesn’t like girls hanging all over guys who aren’t interested.” Tiffany put her hands on her hips. “You take Angie Tigerton for example. She was pretty enough, but she didn’t like the kind of guys who wanted to date her. They were too wild, she always said. That’s why she tried to tempt Jeffery away from me. He was as clean as a whistle, no drugs, no smoking, and no profanity.” Tiffany wrinkled her brow. “I bet they’ve never said that about you, have they Gloria? As a matter of fact, you’re on something now.” She intentionally looked at the front of Gloria’s T-shirt. “I was right too, no bra.”

  Gloria nervously glanced at Michael and lowered her voice. “Can’t you just go away?”

  Instead of speaking softer, Tiffany increased the volume. “Have you been tested for all those nasty sex diseases? Some of them are really disgusting and there are new ones discovered every day.” She pointed at Gloria’s crotch. “Girls get warts too, you know, down there, and I’d be willing to bet you have them already. Then there are...”

  “I do not have warts!” Gloria shouted, horrified as she glanced around at all the people watching them.

  “Are you sure? Have you been tested?” Tiffany persisted.

  “Shut up! Just Shut up!” Gloria railed. She covered her ears with both hands and then ran to her father’s car. She opened the back door, crawled in and disappeared from view.