Love and Suspicion Page 18

  Shelley Woodbury seemed to have taken all the answers with her to the grave. Most people who overdose on drugs die in bed or at least in the house, but Shelley was found outside in the garden. The position of her body looked more like she had fallen rather than simply laid down and gone to sleep. If she fell, why didn’t the glass break? The only other possible answer was that someone carried her into the garden, and laid her down, setting the glass upright beside her.

  Looking at the picture of Shelley’s body was the first thing he did when he got home. In his notes, the sheriff saw nothing suspicious about the way Shelley died and did not take fingerprints or collect any other evidence – probably because Earl was so upset. Still, if she took an overdose of some very nasty barbiturates, why wasn’t the empty bottle found next to her body as well?

  With no answers, he turned his attention to what the sheriff said about Earl’s sons. The boys didn’t like Beverly, talked Earl into firing her after his first wife died, and then he hired Mariam Eggleston to take Beverly’s place. Soon after the kidnapping, Earl brought Beverly back. He told the sheriff Mariam couldn’t have been involved, but then why send her away? Of course, maybe he liked Beverly better.

  Rod was frustrated. The answers he sought were not in the files. All he could do was keep talking to people, hoping someone would want to talk now that so many years had gone by.

  IF THE TOWN WORRIED that the fist fight between Michael and Jerry at the picnic ended the feud, they were about to be pleasantly surprised.

  The last thing Michael Woodbury expected the next morning was to see both Pamela and Andrea waiting for him when he got to the office. Neither looked very happy, but that was nothing new, so he walked around his desk, sat down and said, “My darling ex-wives, what can I possibly do for you this early in the morning?”

  Pamela stood with her hands on her hips, repeatedly tapping the toe of one shoe on the floor. “You know very well what you can do for us!”

  “Really? What?”

  Not much calmer than Pamela, Andrea slammed her alimony check on the desk nearly hitting him in the face. At the same time Pamela slammed hers down too.

  Completely taken aback, Michael picked up Andrea’s check. “It’s blank.”

  “As if you didn’t know?” Andrea spat.

  He pulled his top drawer out, grabbed the ink pen out of the set Jerry Terrell sent him, scribbled on a piece of paper and then waited. A full minute later, the ink began to disappear. “That...” Michael started to swear before he caught himself.

  Both of his ex-wives laughed, but he didn’t think it was funny at all. He gritted his teeth, grabbed another pen and began to fill out the checks. He handed Andrea’s back to her, and then scribbled the amount and his signature on Pamela’s. He was barely finished when Pamela grabbed it out of his hand.

  “Looks like Jerry got the last laugh after all,” said Pamela as she headed for the door.

  “Poor Michael,” Andrea moaned. She walked out the door Pamela held open and soon both were gone.

  Michael picked up Jerry’s peace offering and threw the pen as hard as he could across the room, hitting the portrait of Earl right in the mouth. The pen exploded, Michael gasped, and instantly grabbed a box of tissues. He ran to the painting and tried to blot the ink, but all he managed to do was smear it. All he could do was stand there and watch the ink start to drip down the painting.

  “Sorry, Dad,” he said. In a panic, he went back to his desk, pulled the written ledger out of the drawer, and opened it to the last page. It too was blank, as were the previous two pages. Michael closed his eyes and laid his head on his desk. “He’s going to pay for this if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  Ten minutes later, he raised his head and took a second look at the damage he’d done to Earl’s portrait. To his amazement and his delight, the ink had all but completely disappeared.

  IN FRONT OF THE BOOKSTORE, Ben pulled up in his truck right at closing time. Like the perfect gentleman, he opened the door for Tiffany and then got in the driver’s seat.

  “Where to?” she asked.

  “Mom makes a mean hamburger. You mind eating at her house?”

  Tiffany was more delighted than Ben could have imagined. His mother and Mariam were friends and if she played her cards right, she might be able to get Nora Coulter to tell her what Mariam said after the kidnapping. Ben was too young to remember, but maybe he heard something too. Indeed, she hoped it was about to be a fascinating evening – better than any old laptop could provide.

  “There is nothing like a homemade hamburger,” said she.

  “I bet you’ve never eaten one like this.”

  “Really? Tell me it doesn’t have burn a hole through your stomach kind of beans in it.”

  “Nope, her hamburgers are real food. On top of the burger, she puts a slice of onion, a slice of tomato and a slice of potato. She wraps them individually in tinfoil and then sets them on the barbeque to slow cook. Throw them on a bun and it’s melt in your mouth kind of good.”

  “A slice of potato? Doesn’t that make it too big to bite?”

  “Not for me, but you can always take the potato out.”

  “Sounds delicious.”

  Mrs. Coulter’s house was the usual three-bedroom, one-level home built in the 1980s, with a living room/dining room combination and a modernized kitchen. However, Tiffany was ushered right through the house and into Ben’s favorite place – the patio.

  “You have a swimming pool?” Tiffany asked. “Why didn’t you say so, I would have brought my suit.”

  “Next time,” Ben promised. He pulled a chair away from the table, let her sit and then disappeared back into the house. A moment later, he came back with two long-stem glasses filled with shrimp cocktail.

  Instead of being impressed, Tiffany glared at him. “Where’s your mother, little boy?”

  Ben scoffed. “You afraid to be alone with me?”

  “Not really.”

  “I didn’t think so – not with a gun in your purse.”

  She took a deep breath. “You weren’t supposed to see that. I don’t have a permit to carry it.”

  He sat down opposite her, used a slender three-prong fork to stab a shrimp, and then put it in his mouth and practically purred over the taste. “I think carrying a gun is very wise for a girl all alone in the world. You know how to shoot it?”

  “Yep, my dad is a cop – a detective to be exact, and you didn’t answer my question. Where is your mother?”

  “She’ll be here soon. She said she had to run to the store for something.” The look she gave him let Ben know she didn’t completely believe him, so he got up, and opened the lid to the barbeque. After the steam rose and dissipated, he stood aside and let her see four tinfoil wrapped hamburgers. “I hope you didn’t want more than one.”

  Tiffany considered the size of each and finally grinned. “It would take me and a whole army just to eat one.”

  “So your dad is a detective, what does your mom do?” he asked, putting the barbeque lid down and returning to his seat.

  “She takes care of us. I have two brothers and three sisters who keep her busy day and night. I’m the oldest.”

  “And the bravest?”

  “Possibly...at least so far. You?”

  “I’m a spoiled only child. My dad works for the government and is gone most of the time. We...” Just then, Nora Coulter came out the back door with a shrimp cocktail of her own in hand. Ben stood up until she sat, and then kissed his mother on the cheek.

  “You’ll not believe what I just heard,” said Nora before she even sat down. “That new deputy is asking questions about the Woodbury kidnapping case.”

  “Really?” Ben asked. “What for?”

  “Who knows. He talked to Mariam....well, you were there, weren’t you Tiffany?”

  “I was,” she admitted, “although I stayed out of the conversation.”

  “You knew about the kidnapping?” Nora asked Tiffany.

  “Not
really, just a word about it here and there until the Deputy came to talk to Mariam. Did you live here then?”

  “Oh my yes.” Nora took a bite of her shrimp and waved her fork in the air, indicating she had more to say, after she chewed and swallowed. “The whole thing was just as mystifying as it was horrifying. One minute the baby was in her crib fast asleep and the next, gone. Ben was little and after that, I slept in his room for weeks. It was a scary time for us all.”

  Ben snickered, “I was fifteen before she let me go outside and play.”

  His mother playfully glared at him. “Oh you. Anyway, I wasn’t alone. Every mother in town was terrified. That was before all the new people moved in, so there weren’t that many locals to suspect of being the kidnapper. Therefore, it had to be a stranger abduction. I still think it was, only...” She took another bite of shrimp. “I am absolutely starved. We were so busy at work today, I missed lunch.”

  “Why couldn’t it have been a stranger abduction?” Tiffany asked.

  “It’s just that the baby’s bedroom was on the second floor. Whoever took her had to come in through a door and Earl swore all the doors were locked.”

  “So it was an inside job?” Tiffany pressed.

  “Inside?” Nora asked. “Oh, you mean, Mariam let someone in that night? If she did, she sure hasn’t told anyone, and she’s never been good a keeping quiet. No, if anyone let someone in, it was Shelley Woodbury. There were rumors, you know.”

  “Rumors about what?” Ben asked.

  “Shelley was...how should I put this...sociable even after she married Earl.”

  “You mean she had affairs?” Tiffany asked.”

  “It was just a rumor and I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Tiffany finished her shrimp cocktail and set her glass aside. “Mariam kind of implied a woman might have taken the baby.”

  “Could be, but I can’t imagine anyone around here who would do that. Certainly no one showed up with a baby the next day, or even moved away right afterword. I don’t know. It just seems like it would take a man with a lot of courage to pick up the ransom. Most woman don’t have that kind of courage.” Nora lowered her voice. “You might as well know; Mariam hits the bottle from time to time. Some say she only started drinking after the kidnapping, but that isn’t true. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was passed out by time the baby disappeared.”

  “And that’s why she didn’t hear anything.” Tiffany wondered aloud. “Makes sense. She wouldn’t want anyone to know she was drunk, especially if she wanted to keep her job.”

  Nora nodded. “Right, that’s what I think too. Plus, Mariam changed her story. First she said she didn’t hear Mrs. Woodbury scream and that Earl knocked on her door to see if she had the baby. Of course, Mariam didn’t. That’s when Earl called the police. Later, she said she did hear Mrs. Woodbury scream. At least that’s what she admitted to once she was over the shock of the whole thing.”

  As soon as they were finished with their shrimp, Ben got up, took the empty glasses to the kitchen and then came back with a serving plate. He went to the barbeque and used tongs to move the hamburgers from the barbeque to the plate. “I don’t remember hearing all this before.”

  “Well, dear, the subject just didn’t come up, I guess.” Nora said.

  Tiffany still had at least one very important question. “When Mariam talked to the deputy, she said Mrs. Woodbury was regularly visited by a Mr. Hadley. Any idea who he is or was?”

  “Hadley...Hadley,” Nora repeated. “The name doesn’t ring a bell. She was from Des Moines, I believe, so maybe she knew him before she came here.”

  “Were you surprised when Earl married her?” Tiffany asked.

  “Everyone was. His relationship with her was the best kept secret of all time. Suddenly, he brought home a bride and boy was Michael mad when he found out. He was just a kid really, and newly married himself, but old enough to work in his father’s factory as vice-president.”

  “There was nothing Michael could do about the marriage by then,” Ben said.

  “Not a thing.,” Nora agreed. “Mariam said Michael pleaded for Earl to get an annulment, but Earl told him to mind his own business.”

  Tiffany only half paid attention when Ben set the plate on the table and then offered her a hamburger bun. She took it and then added ketchup and mustard. Deep in thought, she began to unwrap the tinfoil and nearly burned her hand. She was grateful when Ben took her plate, and began to unwrap it for her. “Alex came to see me yesterday,” she said intentionally changing the subject.

  “What did he want?” Ben grumbled.

  Tiffany said, “To date me. I take it the two of you don’t get along.”

  “Not since he beat up a friend of mine,” Ben answered. “Alex is a self-indulgent spoiled brat, and always has been.”

  “He reminds me of Clyde Brown although unlike Alex, Clyde would never ask me who I was dating.”

  Ben smiled and winked at his mother. “Who is Clyde Brown?”

  “Well, that’s not a simple question to answer. Clyde sat right in front of me in English class and he was never as charming as he thought he was, even after I bluntly explained it to him. Annoying, rude and even nosey, but he just never had that something special that attracts a girl like me, if you know what I mean.”

  “Not exactly,” said Ben, “but please continue.”

  “I mean, Alex is a cast-off, a used commodity, you might say. He has diamond eyes to be sure, but he...”

  “His eyes are shaped like diamonds?” Nora asked. “I never noticed that.”

  “Not the shape,” Tiffany corrected, “the color in the sunlight. Thing is, once you notice how different they are from the usual blue eyes, a girl can’t help but be fixated on them. She doesn’t look away, and he takes that to mean she’s interested. Or maybe he does know the spell his eyes have on a girl. Either way, the color of a guy’s eyes is hardly a reason to date him, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Nora’s grin was as wide as her son’s. “Completely.”

  “That makes Alex a used commodity?” Ben asked.

  “Of course it does. If he can get dates that easily, then a girl might be fooled, but he knows exactly what he is doing. He gets what he wants, and often I suspect, but boys like that are just as used as the willing girls he takes advantage of. What he needs is...”

  “A taste of rejection?” Nora asked.

  “Well, yes, I suppose that would put him in his place.”

  “It won’t,” Ben disagreed. “It will only make him work harder to get her.”

  “And then throw her away?” Tiffany asked.

  “Right,” Ben answered.

  The aroma of the hamburger when Ben gave her plate back, reminded Tiffany of how hungry she was. She put it between her bun and then tried to decide if she could open her mouth that wide or not. At length, she took the potato out. “Just like Clyde Brown, Alex Woodbury is full of himself. I hope he doesn’t’ come back, but I know he will. I looked at his eyes too long too.”

  “How on earth did we get on this subject?” Ben asked. Irritated, he got up, went in the house and returned with a bottle of ketchup, even though there was already one on the table. “Guys like Alex are dangerous.”

  “I’m not worried,” said Tiffany.

  Nora removed her potato too and laid it on the serving plate. “Neither am I. He’s too afraid of his father to do anything to Earl’s house guest.”

  Ben wasn’t convinced. “I hope you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right,” Tiffany said. “I take Jeffrey with me wherever I go.”

  “Jeffrey?” Nora asked.

  “Your gun?” Ben asked.

  “Yep, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t have a permit to carry.”

  “My lips are sealed,” Ben’s mother promised.

  “Of course, he might not ask me again,” Tiffany admitted. “I shut him down pretty harshly yesterday.”

  “Oh, he’ll ask,” said Ben. “There is nothing he likes
better than to think he is in competition with me.”

  “Really?” Tiffany asked. “I can’t even imagine that. The two of you are such polar opposites.” She made him smile finally, which made her like him even more. For a moment, but just a brief moment, she wondered if she’d mentioned Alex just to see how Ben would react. Hopefully she had not. The last thing she ever wanted to be was another Carol Bloom.

  Tiffany had yet to try the hamburger. There was lettuce and pickles to add if she wanted, but she was already worried about embarrassing herself. However, one taste of the juiciest, melt-in-your-mouth hamburger she’d ever had, soon captured her full attention.

  THE ROLLING HILLS OF Iowa allowed Eddie plenty of places to hide his truck, walk up the hill, lay down, and take pictures of the new deputy. As usual, Rod was parked on the freeway frontage road clocking speeders. So far, the deputy seemed competent and alert. With his eye to the view finder, Eddie snapped a few more pictures and was about to go back to his truck, when he saw Michael Woodbury drive up.

  “This could get interesting,” Eddie muttered. He tipped his baseball cap back a little and once more put his eye up to the view finder.

  If the deputy found someone parked behind him disturbing, he didn’t seem to object. In fact, he simply got out of the car when Michael got out of his, and walked back to talk to him.

  “Bet I know what this is about,” Eddie mumbled as he snapped yet another picture.

  The conversation between Rod and Michael seemed calm enough at first, but Crazy Eddie had seen Michael Woodbury in action many times before, and there was no mistaking the increasing hostility in his demeanor. Michael even flung his right arm out the way he usually did when he was upset. “Careful,” Eddie whispered, “that one is not afraid to haul you in.”

  It was over as quickly as it began. Michael stormed back to his car, got in, made an illegal U-turn and headed back to town. The deputy stood near the back of his car watching until Michael was long gone.

  “I gotta get me some sound equipment,” Eddie said as he wiggled back down the hill and went to his truck.