Insects, Ivy, & Investigations: A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery Series Book 17, page 13
I was there as a sounding board and glad to keep my lips tightly closed, careful not to judge or say something that would make her upset with me.
“I’m going tomorrow with the Bible-thumpers for our first time back.” She sounded a little uneasy.
“I’d love to go,” I chimed in. “So if we are being honest, I can’t say that I’m going to teach the good news like you. And as a friend, I have to tell you that I have an ulterior motive, because you know the last thing I need is for Mary Elizabeth to get wind that I’m teaching some sort of Bible group. You and I both know if she thought that, she’d have me down at the Normal Baptist Church teaching Sunday school.” I made Betts laugh, because she knew Mary Elizabeth was always trying to get me to go to church, and when I did, Mary Elizabeth claimed the world was coming to an end.
Over the last couple of months, I’d started showing up here and there. When Mary Elizabeth would start in on me about it, I told her that I was keeping her on her toes.
“Good old Baptist guilt.” Betts winked and stood up when the rest of the ladies came over. “We will be leaving the church parking lot at nine o’clock sharp.”
“Are y’all ready to continue the party?” Abby held up a bottle of champagne and wiggled it in the air.
“It looks like she’s got enough party already in her for all of us.” Dottie blew out a steady stream of smoke from the lit cigarette. “I don’t think I’m gonna sleep over.”
“I’m certainly not going to stay. I’ve got to get up early to cook breakfast for my guests.” Mary Elizabeth looked at Dawn. “You can stay.”
“Fun.” Dawn’s shoulders jumped up and down as she reached over to Abby for the bottle. Abby took a swig then handed it to Dawn, who took her own big drink from it. “I’ll grab my stuff out of Mary Elizabeth’s car.”
“Me too.” Alicia followed suit.
“Who invited her to stay for the sleepover?” Dottie questioned.
“I don’t know. Just go with the flow.” I shook my head and changed the subject when Jami seemed to be shying away from the group. I didn’t want her to feel depressed or have any anxiety moments. “Jami, are you ready for the best pedicure around here?”
“Am I. Yeah.” She reached across the group and took the bottle from Abby to take a drink, showing solidarity with the ladies.
“The Pamper Camper should be here any minute.” Everyone cheered and clapped even louder when the headlights coming up the entrance of the campground were those of the Pamper Camper van with Glenda Russel at the wheel, Tex right next to her.
Chapter 16
The Pamper Camper was the perfect addition to the engagement party. The guys hung around with Tex while Glenda rotated the ladies in and out of the manicure/pedicure chair for the services they wanted.
As part of my engagement party fun, I thought it would be a blast to let everyone choose one or the other then end our night with a mini–bachelorette party in my camper. I didn’t figure Alicia would be there, or Jami, so tight quarters it was going to be in my tiny home on wheels.
“This is so cool.” I was sitting in the fancy chair that was full of buttons. I didn’t push any in fear I would hit the wrong one and suddenly be launched out into space. It was that fancy.
Glenda was filing down what I had left of my nails. “You’ve got to start taking better care of your hands.”
“I am always fixing something with a camper or cleaning. It’s too hard for me to keep nice long nails.” It was true. My nails had taken a beating since I owned Happy Trails. Long gone were the days where I’d go to a fancy New York City spa to get the works, let alone make time to get my nails done.
Glenda pushed one of the side buttons on the chair to start the vibrating and rolling-pin feature along my back.
“Have you been busy?” I asked Glenda, noticing her eyelashes were much longer than I remembered.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people who hike want their toes done because, you know, hiking all day is hard on the feet. I am glad I can give them some comfort. The last time I was here was for the party package one of your guests had bought, so that was fun.” Glenda held out a slew of nail colors for me to pick from.
I pointed to the yellow.
She continued to talk about all the appointments in and around the Daniel Boone National Park she had and even the idea of opening up another truck. The more she leaned in to my hand, the closer the look I got at her eyelashes. They were fake—something I never thought I’d see on Glenda now that she’d embraced the life Tex was leading.
“Helen Pyle has been driving me crazy.” Glenda tsked, batting those lashes. “She has been checking with the committee to see if I’ve been getting permits to be at all of these places.”
“I never even thought Helen did a lot of nails.” I’d been there several times for my hair and maybe once for my nails. “I know she’s always booked for hair.”
“She didn’t barely advertise the nails until I started doing them. Now, she’s got all sorts of deals running in the Normal Gazette, which reminds me”—she twisted the lid back on the polish, giving it a good shake before she reopened it and got started on the other hand—“did Violet Rhinehammer get in touch with you? She’s been in the woods going over the crime scene, Tex said, now that the sheriff’s deputies have cleared it.”
“No. I had no idea they cleared the scene.” Thoughts of Hank swept over me.
This was something he’d normally bring up, but he was pretty upset about Kenny kissing my hand. I looked down at my hand and could feel Kenny’s soft lips. I closed my eyes to remove the image and gulped.
“Oh. I assumed you knew.” Glenda looked up from underneath those big lashes at me. She shrugged and went back to focusing on painting my nails. “Anyways, she told Tex that she had a lead. I wonder what it is.”
Glenda sat up, screwing the top back on the nail polish, and blew on my nails.
“Who knows. Sometimes, I think she lies just to see what she can get out of people.” Not that I was condemning her for falsifying the truth. I’d done it many times to get answers I needed. Only I didn’t call it lying. I called it manipulating the situation to help people out by getting to the bottom of the truth.
At least it made me feel better to think that way.
“Tex told me about Alicia.” Glenda had that look in her eye that she wanted to tell me something but wasn’t supposed to. She pushed her rolling stool away from me.
“Yeah? Lucky you. I only wish I knew more of why she was here. And if she has a motive. I was checking into all of that when Craig was murdered, so now I’m focused on that since Mary Elizabeth asked me to help solve it so Alicia didn’t go to jail.” I lifted one hand and blew across it like a harmonica.
“Here, put your hands under here.” She pushed a cart up to my chair with one of those drying nail lamps.
Glenda continued to talk about Tex and being back out in the wilderness for the spring and summer as she worked around the Pamper Camper. She had taken out the entire interior of the drivable camper and had two fancy black leather pedicure chairs in the far back. She’d kept the sink but replaced the cabinets and counter with a more modern marble top with open shelves that had bungee cords, which were to keep all the supplies from rolling around or falling off when she drove.
She was busy cleaning the tools she’d used on me.
“I am going to tell you something that she told Tex. Of course, he said Alicia told him she let it slip, but Tex believes she wanted someone to know in case something happens to her and Mary Elizabeth.” When Glenda mentioned the safety of Mary Elizabeth, it made me shuffle in my seat.
“You have to tell me. If something happens to Mary Elizabeth, I’ll be going to jail for the murder of Alicia.” I was dead serious.
“That’s why I feel like I need to tell you.” She towel-dried the tools as she was putting them back in her rolling cart to get ready for Queenie, who’d just popped into the camper. “Come on in, Queenie.” She pointed to the small table that she’d installed with a few snacks. “Help yourself while I get your pedicure chair ready.”
Glenda walked over to the chair next to mine and pulled a small drawer out of the base that was a small soaker tub.
“Isn’t this the cutest? They make the best things for mobile businesses now.” Glenda leaned a little closer and whispered to me, “I’ll have to tell you later about what Tex said.”
I nodded with pinched lips, a smidgen aggravated that Queenie had interrupted, but there wasn’t anything pressing about what Glenda had to tell me, or she would’ve.
She had me pull my hands out from the dryer and lightly touched my fingernails.
“All good. What do you think?” she asked me.
I held my hands out at arm’s length to get a good look.
“I think they look great. Thank you.” I got up, and before I headed out, I grabbed a handful of mixed nuts from the snack table and stuffed my mouth with them.
Betts, Jami, Alicia, Abby, Dottie, and Dawn were sitting at my picnic table underneath the rolled-out awning on my camper. Fifi was on her leash, which was clipped around Dottie’s ankle.
“Thank you for letting her out.” I really didn’t need to thank Dottie, because she had told me several times not to, but I wanted her to know she was always appreciated. “I’m going to take her for a quick walk. Jami, you want to come?”
“Yeah. I’d love to.” She jumped to her feet.
I wanted the opportunity to let her talk to me about what was going on with her, and walking around in nature was always a good time for that. But night was even better. People seemed to really open up during these hours. It was like the darkness made a veil over everyone’s faces so when or if they did show any emotions, the dark of the night kept them under cover.
“It sure is gorgeous out here. You’ve made a nice living for yourself, May-bell-ine Grant,” she teased by drawing my name out in her southern twang.
“Thank you. You know you’re always welcome.” I watched Fifi run about, causing the leash to extend to its limit.
“Did Kenny talk to you?” she asked.
“You knew?” I couldn’t believe she knew how he felt and hadn’t warned me.
“He didn’t tell me, but when I told him I was coming, he jumped at coming with me. It was a clear indicator that he wanted to come. When we pulled into Normal, he was nervous. He said he loved hiking and that’s what got him through pharmacy school before a test, so I had him drop me off at the adorable shops downtown while he went on a hike. He seemed so much better when he got back. That’s when he made mention that he needed to tell you how seeing you in Perrysburg reignited his memories of the two of you.” She stopped, and I stopped. Fifi didn’t want to stop, but the leash forced her to. “I know you have a life here, but Kenny could provide you with a very nice life, and you’d be in Perrysburg with me and the babies.”
“Thanks, but you can see that I love it here. I have great friends, and Mary Elizabeth is now established here.”
“You’ve not mentioned Hank.” She reminded me of the horrible scene Hank had walked in on at the office. We started to walk again, this time heading toward the small pier on the far side of the lake.
“I’m not really sure where we stand. He did walk in on Kenny kissing my hand earlier, and I pretty much told Kenny I wasn’t interested in rekindling anything, but Hank and I were already having a few issues before you and Kenny came to town.” I started to realize our little walk was geared more toward me opening up than Jami opening up to me about her issues that brought her here. “Hank doesn’t want children.”
“And you don’t either.” Jami had always known my stance on children. The opinion I’d had as long as I’d known her.
“That’s what I thought. You know—” We took a left onto the pier and took a seat at the edge. Both of us slipped off our flip-flops and dangled our feet into the water. Fifi was good and sat down between us, thankfully not jumping into the water with her leash attached. “I never wanted children because I hurt so bad after my family died. I couldn’t imagine losing another person I love. The love between a parent and child is something I can’t even put into words. But as I’ve gotten older, I think the love that is given from having a child outweighs the hurt.”
“Look at you with all your big philosophical views. I don’t know all about that, but I do know that what I feel for the twins is definitely something out of this world. And Kenny is ready for a family. And he clearly wants one with you.” Even though I knew Jami had good intentions with all this talk about Kenny, there wasn’t a single part in my heart that wanted to even try to love him.
“If I loved Kenny Jolly, I wouldn’t have gotten out of his car when he dropped me off at the Greyhound bus station the night I left Perrysburg.” I watched the water ripple with each tap of my toe.
Chapter 17
After my talk with Jami on the dock, I knew my feelings for Kenny were not the same as the ones he had for me. The only love I had in my heart was for Hank, and I was going to have to find a way to deal with the fact he didn’t want children and accept it, or not accept it and figure out how to move on with Hank not part of my life.
The latter was almost unfathomable, which made me put it out of my mind so I could enjoy the rest of the sleepover.
By the time we’d gotten back to the camper, Glenda had finished up with Queenie and taken off, which meant I’d have to wait to hear what she was going to tell me about Tex.
There was barely any room in the camper for me and Fifi, so I grabbed a couple of things in a bag and headed to the office to see if I could grab some shut-eye there.
Fifi had no problem curling up in her doggy bed, and I did my best to make a small pallet on the floor and was never so happy to see the sun coming up through the office windows so I could get up and feel like the day could start.
It wasn’t too long after I’d gotten the coffee brewed that the office door opened. Queenie, Betts, Abby, and Dottie walked in. Abby had the notebook under her arm.
“I told them you’d be up with coffee.” Dottie shuffled over to the coffeepot and made us all cups of coffee. “When did you leave this morning?”
“I slept here.” I pointed over to the wadded-up blanket that Fifi had now taken over. “When Jami and I got back from our walk, we saw y’all were all asleep.”
“Don’t remind me.” Abby rubbed her head like the champagne had some effect on her this morning. “I wanted you to know that I loved the party. Bobby Ray and I are thrilled. So to show you my appreciation, I told the gals that we needed to help you with this.”
She thumbed through the notebook and held it out. It was the page with all of the notes I’d taken while I was sitting on the picnic table while Abby and Bobby Ray were opening presents.
“I got all the gifts and givers,” I told her.
“I know, but we thought we could just go over some things out loud so you can hear all of it in your head.” Betts walked over and put her arm around my shoulders, giving me a little squeeze. “I already made the call to put you on the list of visitors to the prison today.”
“And I will make sure I’m here all day so you can run off and do that with her. Then make sure you go over to Mary Elizabeth’s, because Jami won’t be able to stay for any sort of meal. One of the twins is a little sick with a cold, and she decided to go on over to Mary Elizabeth’s and get ready. I told her not to leave until you got back from the prison.” Dottie sat down in her chair, and the squeak made Fifi jump up and beg for a treat.
Dottie gave her two.
“You go potty,” I told the frisky pup and opened the door of the office then made my way over to my desk where I sat with the notebook.
“It looks like you’ve got more questions than answers.” Abby took the notebook back and read what I’d written out loud while Queenie sidestepped it over to the wipe-off board to write it all out. “Craig was hit in the head, and it had to be someone that was pretty tall and strong since you drew this awful diagram of how he was hit in the head. So we know Alicia did find him.”
As Abby read, Queenie made all sorts of bullet points and arrows that pointed back to Craig. And she made a lot of question-mark notations.
“We also know there were some footsteps closer to Tex’s camp because you did the experiment where there was no way Tex heard the sound of footsteps where the body was found. He could hear screaming or yelling, but only the voice of a man.” Abby looked at Queenie. “Which we believe was Craig.”
“Correct.” I gave a hard nod.
“You’ve come to the conclusion that whoever killed Craig heard Alicia coming and took off into the deep woods, which is where Tex heard the noise.” Abby looked at me.
“Yes. But I have no idea where the person took off to, so I wonder if Violet got any information from the scene.” I wanted to see what she knew. I reached for my phone and thumbed through the contacts, hitting the send button when I got to her name.
I put the sound on speaker so everyone could hear.
“Good morning. You were on my list to call” was how she answered the phone. “What’s Hank saying about the killer?”
“He’s not said a word, but I’ve also not talked to him since I had the engagement party last night. Which brings me to one of the reasons I called.” I heard her give a big sigh.
"Look, before you get all huffy on me, I had to run with the story. I’m sorry I couldn’t cover the engagement, but I promise I’ll do the wedding.” Abby looked up with big eyes and melted into a smile.
“You won’t if the next big story comes along.” I wanted a solid promise.
“I promise, Mae. How did the party go?” There was a genuine tone to her voice.
