Teaberry Blossom Time, page 13
He stopped in front of Togs and took a breath before opening the door to walk inside. He saw Giselle waiting on a customer at the cash register. He waited while the transaction was completed and nodded to the woman as she left the store with her package.
“Ian. What brings you in today?” Giselle came around to the front of the counter.
“I was wondering if you were free for dinner on my next night off,” he said quickly. It wasn’t the smoothest invitation, but he’d managed to get it out.
Giselle hid her surprise quickly. “Ah, sure. That would be nice.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“Great.” He looked around the shop. “I should let you get back to work.” He pointed to the door. “I have to…”
“Yeah, okay.” Giselle waved to him before he walked out the door. She was still staring at it when Megan entered a few moments later.
“Hey, what’s up?” Megan asked.
Giselle glanced at the door again before focusing on Megan.
“It probably doesn’t mean anything,” Giselle said. “I’ve been going through Sal’s personal things. You know that I cleaned his place out after Jax and Seth bought the nursery?”
Megan nodded.
“I found a map with some notes on it. I wasn’t sure what any of them meant or how old the notes might be.” Giselle shrugged. “Like I said, it’s probably nothing. Then again, I remember what you told me about solving your puzzles. I thought this might be a piece. If I don’t tell you about it and it turns out to be a puzzle piece that could have helped, that’s bad.”
“Better to look into it and find out that it’s not,” Megan agreed.
“Let me get it for you. It’s in my office in the back.”
Giselle returned a moment later and handed the map to Megan.
Megan glanced down at the folded map. “Are you okay?”
Giselle blew out a breath. “Yeah. I thought it would be hard to go through his things, but that’s not the way it worked out. I found some old photos of my grandmother that I didn’t even know about. Some of the photos have Sal in them too. They looked really happy together.”
***
Erica ended the call and turned around to look at Jerry.
“How are your parents doing?” he asked.
“They’re still pretty upset.”
“Understandable. They left your house last night and were run off the road by a group of drag racing cars all driving straight at them. That would be enough to upset anyone,” Jerry said.
“I still can’t believe it happened. I guess their van is pretty messed up.”
“Driving it into a ditch to avoid a head-on collision can do that,” Jerry said.
“They could have been killed,” Erica said. When she saw Rhys and Ian enter the main office, she turned to face them. “Where are you two with the drag racing case?”
“We heard about your parents from Martha on the way in,” Rhys said. “Are they okay?”
“Barely.” Erica crossed her arms. “The next person may not be so lucky. This has to be stopped.”
“We’ve had other reports of the races, but no one has been able to give us any details. We have no clue which cars are involved.” Ian removed his hat and tossed it onto his desk.
“Someone has to know something about the cars,” Erica said. “We need to find that someone.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
He frowned at the money in his hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t need it. He just wasn’t sure he was happy about how he’d earned it. Gabe watched as the car full of male teens left a spray of stones and dust as they sped out of his parking lot. It was something he would have done when he was that age.
As he stuffed the bills into his pocket, his fingers hit the card he’d found in his shirt pocket the morning after his ride home. He pulled it out now and stared at it. Shaking his head, he took a step toward his garage then stopped again.
After keying the number from the card into his phone, he told himself he was an idiot. The money he was getting from the teens was the bulk of what he had been bringing in with his work at the garage. Making the call now could only result in an end to that cashflow. He knew that. For whatever reason, he made the call anyway. Once he finished leaving the message, he returned to the garage. He called himself a fool every step of the way.
***
Megan climbed down from her truck and approached Dena’s house. She wasn’t sure how the other woman was going to react to seeing her again, but she had too many questions to stay away. She was surprised to see Dena actually smile when she answered her door.
“Do you want to come through?” Dena asked. “The kids are playing out back.”
“Sure.” Megan followed her to the deck on the back of the house.
“With the money that I get from their father, I’m still holding on to this house. I don’t know how long that’s going to last though.” Dena motioned to a grouping of chairs.
Megan took a seat. Dena’s young sons were playing kickball. It looked like they made up their own rules as they went along.
“I imagine you’re here about Sal again?” Dena said. She glanced at Megan briefly, then returned her focus to her sons. “You found out, didn’t you?”
“That you spoke with Sal? Yes. Why didn’t you say that to begin with?” Megan was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear what Dena had to say.
Dena barely shook her head. “I don’t know. I was scared. I am scared. My boys are all that I have. I didn’t want to take the chance that I got messed up in anything that could threaten that.”
“The police have already spoken to you about it, haven’t they?” Megan figured Erica and Jerry wouldn’t sit on the information she’d passed to them.
“Yes. And you know the worst part? They weren’t scary about it. I should have just told them in the beginning. I made a bad situation worse.”
“What can you tell me about it?” Megan asked. “When you talked to Sal, what was he like?”
Dena laughed. “He was Sal. He told me that I had a lot of skills but growing plants wasn’t one of them.”
Megan looked around the yard. There was a large shade tree in one corner of the back yard. There weren’t any flowers or shrubs.
“I told him it didn’t matter. I’d have to learn. I never could keep a plant alive, no matter what I tried.” Dena turned toward Megan again. “I just thought the setup was good, you know? With the house right there, I could have my boys near me. I begged him to choose my bid over the others even if it wasn’t the most competitive.”
“I understand.” Megan smiled as one of the boys called out a rule change to the game. The other one added his own twist to it. The boys agreed and began playing again.
“He did say something odd when I talked to him,” Dena said, almost to herself.
Megan turned to her. “What was that?”
Dean made a face. “Something about people wanting the land for their own reasons. At the time, I thought he meant me.”
“You don’t now?”
“I wonder. It was the way he said it, you know? He seemed upset about something and I didn’t get the impression it was with me. Sal could be cranky, but he wasn’t ever mean. Not to me, anyway.”
Megan agreed. She began pushing herself up from the chair. “I should let you go.”
Dena stood also. “Need help getting up? I remember what it’s like.”
Megan laughed. “I think I’m good, but thanks.”
“Do you have your nursery set up yet?” Dena asked as she walked Megan back through the house.
“We’re going to put a small addition on so that the nursery is next to us on the first floor. We wanted it to be closer to us,” Megan explained. “With any luck, we’ll need the nursery for more than one baby.”
Dena stopped at the front door. “That reminds me. It’s what made me believe Sal was talking about someone else.”
“What’s that?”
“He was determined his place would remain a nursery. That’s why I didn’t think he was upset with me. He knew I was planning to do that if I had the winning bid.”
***
Rhys pulled into Gabe’s garage lot and parked near the building. They could hear the music coming from the radio inside the building. The garage doors were open. There was one car inside. They didn’t see Gabe’s feet sticking out from under the car until they walked inside and removed their sunglasses. Ian walked over to the radio and turned it off.
Gabe rolled the creeper out. “Hey. You got my message.” He stood and looked at the two police officers in front of him.
“You didn’t give us much information. What’s this about?” Ian asked.
Gabe had been arguing with himself ever since he left the message. Unfortunately, he lost the argument.
“There’s been something going on ever since I moved in here.” Gabe explained that he’d been working on several cars.
“By working on them, you mean you’ve been getting them ready for racing?” Rhys asked. He didn’t look happy.
Gabe raised both hands, palms out. “Listen, I didn’t realize that’s what they were doing. Not at first. I’m not even positive now. It just makes sense, that’s all. You get a bunch of kids and some fast cars together…”
“They nearly killed someone the other night during one of their races,” Ian pointed out.
“I didn’t know that. I don’t know that the kids I’ve been helping were the ones involved.” Gabe looked from Ian to Rhys. “I called you now, didn’t I?”
“You should have called us sooner,” Rhys said.
“Why didn’t you?” Ian asked.
Gabe began pacing and waved around the garage. “I needed the money, for one thing. Besides, I enjoy it. It’s what I’ve always enjoyed.”
“Have you thought about the off-road trail they’re planning on?” Ian asked.
Gabe stopped pacing. “What’s that?”
“The town is working on a deal to put in some off-road trail. They haven’t gone public with it yet because they’re still hashing out all the details,” Ian explained.
“It’ll be a supervised place where people can enjoy themselves a little more safely,” Rhys added.
“I’m looking forward to it, I know that.” Ian said. “It sounds like it’s right up your alley. There will be a need for someone to work on the off-road vehicles.”
“Seriously?” Gabe couldn’t believe it. “Where do I sign up?”
“First things first. You need to give us some names of your customers,” Ian said.
“We need to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else,” Rhys agreed.
***
Megan sat in her truck and pulled out the map that Giselle found in Sal’s belongings. It was a puzzle on its own. She recognized the geographic area on the map. It was outside of town in the same location where the campground was. There were farms in the area as well. Of course, Sal’s nursery was also shown on the map. Not surprising, since the map was found with his things.
What she didn’t understand was the writing on the map. It only seemed to be on the land next to the campground. There were also land hooks which didn’t make sense. She knew that the Z-shaped symbols were used on maps to show different parcels of land owned by the same person. There was no way that could be the case here. The land hook was showing Sal’s property being owned by the same person who owned the land with all of the writing on it.
Some of the lines on the property next to the campground appeared to be roads, or something. She couldn’t remember hearing anything about a new housing development going in there. Anything at a scale such as this would definitely cause a lot of discussion in Teaberry.
Megan wondered what it all might mean. The one person who would know was Mayor Reynolds. Megan knew that she was out of town. But there was someone else who may know something about it. She started the truck and headed for the mayor’s office.
Chapter Twenty-Four
She hung the phone up and breathed a sigh of relief. She was looking forward to when the mayor would return to field all of the questions involving the project. Although she was fairly familiar with the project in general, Jessilyn didn’t know the minute details of every little thing involved with it. Her primary function related to the new off-road trail project was to help promote it once it was in place and tie future events into it whenever possible.
The tapping on her door startled her. For a moment, she worried that one of the many entities wanting a detailed answer had decided to try getting it in person. Seeing Megan was a relief.
“Oh, hey. What brings you in?” Jessilyn tried smiling and realized her face hurt. She must have been clenching her teeth.
“You look like you need a break,” Megan said from the doorway. “Do you want me to come back another time?”
The smile this time was more genuine. “No, come in.” Jessilyn waved to the seat across from her desk. “It will be a nice break from what I have been doing.”
“Standing in for the mayor while she’s out of town?” Megan guessed.
“I keep a list of jobs I never want to have. Mayor is at the top of it,” Jessilyn confessed.
“I agree completely.” Megan took the seat. “Hopefully, my question isn’t that difficult.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve drainage culverts, trail grades, ecological impacts, underlying soil conditions, topography, or any of the other million and one details that boggle my mind,” Jessilyn said wryly.
“Excuse me?” Megan reached for the map Giselle had given her. Suddenly, it was beginning to make sense.
“Nothing. It’s just that the new off-road trail project is a little out of my league. What can I help you with?” Jessilyn watched as Megan unfolded the map.
“Now that you say that, I’m afraid it might have to do with an off-road trail. I didn’t know Teaberry was planning one.” Megan stood and placed the map on Jessilyn’s desk. “Can you tell me if this is where it’s being planned?”
“That’s an easy question.” Jessilyn pointed at the property next to the campground. “It’s going here. The thought was that having the campground adjacent to it would be more appealing.”
“I can understand that. I’m sure a lot of people from other areas would take advantage of the campground.” Megan pointed to the land hook symbol tying in Sal’s property. “Any clue why this is here?”
Jessilyn shook her head. “No. To my knowledge, that was never discussed. Not by the mayor, at any rate. Do you think that’s something Sal was considering before he sold the nursery?”
Megan doubted it. Certainly not if he told Dena that it needed to remain a nursery.
“You’re sure that Sal’s property wasn’t being considered for the project?” Megan asked.
Jessilyn gave a half shrug. “I’m positive that it wasn’t discussed here at the mayor’s office.”
After speaking with Jessilyn, Megan sat in her truck again trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. She knew that she had the edge of the puzzle fairly well together. She understood that Sal had no intention of selling his land to anyone who had plans that didn’t involve a nursery for the property.
Some of the puzzle’s center was also in place. It was obvious that someone else did have plans for Sal’s property. It’s possible that the plans were motive for Sal’s death. But she still had some major gaps in the puzzle. She needed to speak with someone who knew Sal better than most. Maybe it was time to go back to the beginning?
She remembered that Sal was friends with Ham and Joni Givens. She wondered if they might know anything. Their house was close by and it was worth a quick stop. She knew that Bella would be with them since it was spring break. A few minutes later, she parked her truck in front of their house. Bella answered the front door. Megan followed her into the living room.
It looked like total chaos. Joni and Ham Givens were sitting in their usual seats. There were boxes all over the room. A few were already closed up with tape. They also had writing on the side. Megan could make out donate on a couple of the boxes. One said kitchen. Another said dining room.
“As you can see, we’re trying to weed through a lifetime of accumulation,” Joni Givens said.
“Are you thinking of moving?” Megan remained standing near Bella. There were no other seats available. The rest were filled with boxes.
“We think it’s time,” Joni said. “My brother and his wife live down in Florida.”
“The way they tell it, there’s a lot to do down there,” Ham said. “They’re pretty active.”
“You know that Ava and Rhys bought your husband’s place,” Joni said with a wave toward Bella. “They’ll be moving into that right after the wedding, of course.”
“We’re going to go down to Florida and kick up our heels,” Ham said with a smile.
Megan smiled back. “I won’t take up much of your time.”
“You’re here about Sal, aren’t you?” Ham asked. “Another one of those puzzles of yours.”
“I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Sal? Did you speak with him recently?” Megan asked.
Joni turned to Ham. “When was that?”
Ham rubbed his hand against his chin as he thought.
“It was when you went to the diner for lunch, wasn’t it?” Bella asked.
Ham pointed at Joni. “That’s right, it was. We ran into Sal there, remember. We were talking about the train show.”
“We didn’t go to this one,” Joni said to Megan. “We used to go to all of them.”
“We were members of the club,” Ham added. “That was a lot of fun, wasn’t it?” He asked Joni.
“Oh my, yes. We went all over for that,” Joni agreed. “It was always so nice to see the designs they came up with at other places.”
“Sal was a member too?” Megan guessed.
“He was,” Ham said. “There were several of us from Teaberry in the club.”
“Still are,” Joni said to him before turning to Megan. “We couldn’t keep up with it as much lately.”
