This was the time of year, February through April, that was considered spring fire season in Kentucky. The season brought light winds and breezes that helped fuel any sort of flame. I sure didn’t want the campground to have any part in starting a fire. It was devastating to not only the business but the wildlife and forest community.

  “I have postpartum depression so bad. I had to get out of the house and leave the babies with Hunter. He told me to get away. If it weren’t for Kenny and his drugs, I don’t know what I’d have done to myself.”

  “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “You know me. The good Southern gals our mamas brought us up to be. Slap some lipstick on it and cover that mess up. No one wants nothing but a smiling face, two well-dressed babies, and a put-together first lady from the mayor’s wife.” She was right. It was awful to admit, but when Jami had married Hunter Mackenzie, he was our mayor’s brother. She had known she was expected to play a role.

  I just never thought Jami Burkfield Mackenzie would ever be in this position, though. It just showed that you could never tell by how someone appeared what they were truly feeling inside.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, but Kenny?” I asked.

  “You know Kenny. He has always just been so sweet, and when I told him I was going to come up here one day and surprise you, he said he’d keep me company.” She laughed. “We know that he’s only here to make sure my mental health is good. But one thing led to another, and before you know it, here I am.”

  “I’m so shocked.” I truly was shocked. I wasn’t sure how Hank was going to react. The last time I’d seen Kenny, he had actually helped me get into some places, using his pharmacy name to help get some information about the death of my family. Hank didn’t like it at all.

  In fact, Hank had showed up, and though he knew nothing was going on between me and Kenny, I wasn’t positive that Kenny knew that. Kenny did bring up all the good times we had shared, which felt happier to him than me, but still, it was my past that Hank was not part of.

  On the other hand, maybe Dottie was right. When Hank did see Kenny, I had to wonder what was going to happen. It was one of those things that was going to be interesting to see how it played out.

  “This place is amazing. No wonder you never moved back to Perrysburg after your life turned upside down.” Jami and I stopped.

  She took a moment to look around. It was gorgeous. The band was up on the stage near the tiki hut. There wasn’t any room on the dance floor for another person. Abby and Bobby Ray were right in the middle, dancing to the line dance Blue Ethel’s band was playing.

  The flames of each campfire danced in the night. In the distance, I could see Mary Elizabeth and Alicia had joined my group of friends. It wasn’t too long after that that I noticed Alicia was walking around the lake toward us with Kenny by her side.

  “Besides, you kinda gave me the sleuthing bug, and when I heard about the murder and called you, you told me you were looking into it, which got me all excited. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time. I felt alive. That’s when I knew I had to come see you. I didn’t know it was going to be so soon.” She reached down and squeezed my hand. “You’re not mad, are you?”

  “Heck no. I’m happy to have you here.” I could feel Kenny and Alicia walking up on us before they were right there.

  “Kenny is going to call me in a prescription for this ivy.” Alicia scratched the side of her neck.

  “I told you to stop itching.” He swatted playfully at her hand.

  “It’ll spread,” Jami warned.

  “No, it won’t.” Kenny went into a long discussion of the controversy about how poison ivy spreads, and he picked the side of once it’s in your body, it spreads through the bloodstream, not the oozing goo the blisters create.

  “I’m telling my kids it spreads when they get it.” Jami crossed her arms and shrugged. “Southern-mama guilt was used on me, and I’m going to use it too.”

  “Poor kids.” My comment made us all laugh since we all had some sort of Southern-mama guilt coursing through our veins.

  “Can I use your landline to get in touch with a pharmacy? I know they are probably closed, but at least I can leave it on their machine for them to fill as soon as they open,” he told me. “My cell isn’t getting service out here.”

  “Yeah. That’s the curse of relaxation. You should try it,” I teased him, knowing he was a workaholic. “Come on,” I told him. “You two go grab some food while I take him to the office to use the phone.”

  I quickly told them how each camper had something different cooking over their campfire to share and how they could get a little from each. It was a great way to spread community in the campground, and it was a perfect event to do it at.

  “It’s nice what you’re doing for Bobby Ray. And Alicia.” He threw in the last part. “I guess it’s okay about Alicia.”

  “Bobby Ray deserves to be happy, and you met Abby. She’s great.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dottie staring at us when we walked past them on the way to the office. “Alicia is another story. I’d never heard about her. I had no idea Mary Elizabeth had another foster child after I left. It just goes to show how conceited I was to even think she wouldn’t have one.”

  “Don’t talk about yourself like that.” The soft tone of his voice penetrated the darkness like a sweet melody. “You’re special. You had reason to act the way you did. You had a loving family that was taken from you. I would’ve acted the same way.”

  I took my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door. He playfully kicked my shoe with his foot.

  “You were perfect. You gave me a lot of fun and entertainment.” I gulped at his flirtatious tone because I knew it so well. “How’s Hank?”

  “He’s good. He’s been promoted to sheriff, so he’s all over the case. He has been great about Alicia and Mary Elizabeth. Very helpful.” I blabbed on out of nervousness.

  “I see that you’re looking into Alicia?” He noticed the wipe-off board.

  “You know me. After what happened to me, I have a hard time trusting people based on just meeting them. I’m not sure where or when the idea of making people prove to be trustworthy before I trust them came from, when I should trust them from the beginning of meeting them.” I seemed to be really rambling. “Now that she’s a suspect, I need to just erase this and figure out who really had a motive to kill Craig.”

  I tried to hurry past him so I could erase the board.

  “Stop.” Kenny put his hand on my arm before I could get to the board. “I know you. Why are you so jittery around me these days?” His warm touch lingered there. “It’s me. Kenny.” He grinned. “Ever thought about leaving this behind and coming home? We were pretty good together.”

  “I love it here. I have Mary Elizabeth, Bobby Ray, and Hank.” My mind started to get foggy.

  He slid his hand down my arm and took my hand in his. I added, “‘Pretty good together’? I’m with Hank.”

  “I don’t see a ring on this finger.” He brought my hand up and kissed my finger.

  Quickly, I jerked it away when the door to the office opened, and Hank stood there, a blank look on his face.

  Chapter 15

  “That was awkward, Mae,” Hank said after we excused ourselves from the office so Kenny could make his phone call. “What was that kiss about?”

  “Kenny is an old friend—you know that.” I didn’t know what the weird kiss to my finger was all about. “I was telling him about how I needed to trust people, and he told me to stop.”

  “You were confiding in him? I think you trust the people who you need to trust.” He sounded perturbed. I was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see my face.

  I was just as shocked as he was about the whole thing.

  “I don’t know, Hank, maybe I was speaking some truth.” I didn’t really know what he wanted me to say. “In truth, I’m not even sure where we stand.”

  “What?” He grabbed my arm, bringing me to a stop. “What does that mean?”

  “It means exactly what it sounded like.” I jerked my arm away and headed toward my friends, who were standing under the awning of the recreation center near the area where the cake and gifts were set up. “I can’t talk about this now. Bobby Ray and Abby look about ready to open the presents.”

  The smell of campfires generally made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. During this time, the weather turned a little nippy at night, and it was always fun to end the night sitting in front of a fire wrapped up in a blanket and Hank’s arms. From the way things were going with Hank tonight, it appeared like I was going to be ending the night alone.

  “There you are.” Abby shoved our sleuthing notebook in my hands. “I didn’t have another notebook with me. Do you mind writing down who gave me what, and we can just rip it out of there?”

  “Sure.” I took a seat on one of the picnic table benches closest to the couple.

  “I’ll take your bows and put them on plates,” Betts volunteered—it was the Southern bridal shower tradition where the bridesmaids’ rehearsal boutiques were made from a paper plate and the various bows from the shower gifts. “Don’t break a bow,” Betts said when Abby picked up the first gift.

  Abby ripped the bow right off, breaking it all the way around.

  “I’m going to break them all,” she told Bobby Ray and crinkled her nose, waving the broken bow above her head, which led to everyone laughing and clapping.

  “Good! I need a lot of grandbabies.” Mary Elizabeth wasn’t teasing when she glowed with delight with the old wives’ tale in her head that said that the number of bows the bride breaks was the number of babies the couple would have.

  One after the other, Abby ripped into the gifts after she’d opened the cards and yelled over to me who each gift was from.

  I was quickly writing down who the presents were from and what they were, but in between the oohing and aahing, I was flipping over to the page where the Laundry Club Ladies and I had already started to write about the murder.

  Our standard diagram on the paper was the victim’s name written in the middle of the page with several arms drawn out labeled with possible suspects.

  I honestly didn’t know who to write on the page since nothing made sense, so I started to journal what I knew.

  Alicia Becker has been in some sort of unstable relationship with Craig Sutton for a very long time. He started to abuse her after she made him believe there was something going on between her and Bobby Ray. Alicia had a baby with Craig, and they didn’t want the baby nor were they in any sort of shape to care for a child. Craig had a gambling problem. Craig had gone to jail several times. While he was in jail, Alicia got rid of some of his belongings, including a picture she gave to the neighbors. Once he was out of jail, Craig forcibly got the picture back, and he beat Alicia up.

  “Mae,” Bobby Ray said with force, and I looked up. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, glad you like it.” I was pleased with how good of shape the pewter plates were in, and I was thankful for Buck dropping them off. I shifted my focus back to the notebook.

  After Craig robbed the bank, he was sent to the state penitentiary. After he got out, he found Alicia in a women’s shelter and coaxed her into going with him. He ended up abusing her. She escaped and showed up at the Milkery.

  All of these details were vague. Now, in light of the theory I had about Alicia being too short and her condition with her shoulder, I knew she hadn’t killed him, though would I blame her if she had?

  Still, it was considered a crime, and now that my interest was high—though I wasn’t happy with Hank right now—the itch for me to discover the truth was gnawing at me.

  I continued.

  Which makes me wonder who he met in there and if they possibly had a hit put out on him?

  What was the significance of the picture?

  These were two questions that needed to be answered.

  I looked up from the notebook at the happy couple and tapped the edge of the pen on the paper.

  “What picture?” Kenny asked and sat behind me.

  “Oh, nothing.” I didn’t want to involve him. Hank would definitely throw a fit if I did. Plus, he and Jami were probably leaving soon, which brought to mind a good question. “When are you and Jami going back to Perrysburg?”

  “I think in two days. She said she wanted to look around the shops, so I thought I would take in some trails.” He scooted a little closer. “Did I cause problems between you and Hank?”

  “No.” I shrugged him off, though he could probably tell I was lying. “He’s got a lot going on. He’s a bit on edge. Being a detective is hard.”

  “Yeah. I can imagine.” Kenny playfully nudged me. “If not me, then he’s a good guy. I’m happy for you if you’re happy. I had to try. You know, what my mama said about me never dating another girl since you could be right.”

  His mom told Mary Elizabeth that I’d ruined him.

  “It was the best thing that happened. Look at you. You even said it yourself the last time I seen you,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah. What was that?” he questioned.

  “You said that if I’d not left Perrysburg, you probably would’ve stayed in town and not gone to college. You’re a big pharmacist and owner of your own drugstore. See, things do work out the way they’re supposed to.” I brought the conversation away from us. “Did you get the prescription called in?”

  “I did. Alicia will be feeling better a couple of hours after she takes it.” He adjusted his back and scooted away from me. “I guess I better get up. Your boyfriend is staring at me, and he looks like he could take me down with one punch.”

  “I’ll see y’all later,” I told him.

  “If I don’t see you tomorrow, maybe we will see you tomorrow night. Mary Elizabeth wants to cook for us, and we are going.” The sound of that made my mouth water for a good home-cooked meal.

  “I’ll be there.” I didn’t think I had anything on my calendar. Plus, some time with him and Jami before they left would do me some good.

  Abby was beyond thrilled with the five plates of broken bows Betts had put together. She continued to touch them and arrange them, and even had all of us hold one to see what they’d look like for her rehearsal.

  “Smile!” She snapped a photo of me holding one. “Hashtag ‘soon-to-be sister,’ hashtag ‘wedding,’ hashtag ‘happy couple.’”

  Then Abby went down the line, taking a photo of Betts, Queenie, Dottie, and Dawn Gentry.

  While Abby continued to take more photos of her own engagement party, the Laundry Club Ladies and I sat around the campfire chatting about what else? Alicia Becker, while she and Mary Elizabeth took a walk around the campground.

  “What’s going on with you? You seemed really preoccupied.” Betts was always so good at reading me. I didn’t want to talk about Kenny or Hank.

  Instead, I decided to shift the focus on the Bible-thumpers.

  “I heard you’re going back out to do ministry at the penitentiary.” She shifted uneasily in her camping chair. “What is wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She shook her head then focused on the campfire. “Okay. It’s something.”

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” A little concern flicked in my gut. Betts wasn’t generally this closed off.

  “I’ve been going to see Lester more and more. It was him that asked me to come back with the church, because you knew that he’d been doing some ministry in the house.” “The house” was what she called jail. “And he said that he believes he’s making a difference.”

  “You’ve been to visit him as in just visit, not in a professional manner?” I was referring to the Bible-thumper part.

  “I guess you didn’t hear what I said about restarting the ministry.” She laughed. “Yes. I’m lonely. I know he’s a criminal. I know he cheated on me, but I had a life with him. I moved here for him. I know in my heart that he’s a good person.”

  I really wasn’t sure what to say, but I did know that I wasn’t surprised she was lonely. There was no way she couldn’t’ve been. I understood that very well. I guess what took me aback was that she hadn’t confided in me.

  “I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me how you are feeling.” I reached out and touched her on the leg. She gave me a smile. “I know how lonely it is. When Paul was hauled off to jail for the Ponzi scheme, I’d never felt so alone in my life. Then to have everything ripped out from underneath me was even worse, or so I thought at the time. What is it you always tell us and your Bible-group friends? Everything happens for a reason, and here I am. If not for the valley of sadness I went through with Paul, I wouldn’t be here with you and be an ear for you to talk it through.”

  I picked up one of the s’mores rods and stuck a couple of marshmallows on the end so I could twirl it around in the fire.

  “I know my story is different than your story and situation, but I’m here just like you are for me. I’m just sorry I didn’t make time to see you were going through something.” I took out the flaming marshmallow and held it in front of her face, where she blew it out. Then she carefully pulled it off the stick.

  “You know exactly how I love my marshmallows,” she mumbled behind her grin with a delicious gooey mouthful. “And I know you are here, but with everything that’s been going on lately, I hate to dump on people.”

  “I’m glad you are going. Maybe Lester is right and the prisoners need the ministry to start back up. You know Lester, and yes, he did do unthinkable things, but ultimately, he’s not judged by you.” I used her churchy words on her that she liked to throw around at us in hopes she’d feel better.

  “You’re right.” This time, she reached out for me to hold her hand. I took it. She squeezed. “I should’ve come to talk to you and let you know what I was doing. I was going to see Lester no matter what anyone said. He’d been writing me letters and telling me exactly how prison is, and sometimes, I just can’t even believe he’s there. Yes, I know he killed someone and it wasn’t planned, and I know that he had the affair.” I wasn’t really sure what she was trying to say or if she was trying to justify just why Lester was behind bars, but I didn’t need to know.

 

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