A Drizzle of Deception: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 10) (4 page)

Chapter Eight

After I left the library I decided to stop in the little coffee shop on my way back to The Frozen Scoop. I needed a pick-me-up and a shot of java and a chocolate chip muffin seemed just the trick. I had gone to school with the gal who ran Lizzy’s Coffee Shack and since no one else was in the café, I decided to have a little chat with her.

“How’s business going Liz?” I poured a bit of cream into my coffee from the station she had set up near the counter. You could choose flavored creams as well, such as French vanilla and hazelnut. I was old school…just plain half and half for me.

“Since the weather is cooling down, much better. Although the iced coffee drinks saved me this summer.” Lizzy was a petite girl, no more than 5-ft. tall with short blond hair. She liked dresses that flowed around her tiny frame and today was no different. A psychedelic pattern of green, gold, and brown covered her small body. She looked like a short version of Stevie Nicks.

“I know what you mean. My business slacks off in the cooler months, but the ice cream cakes keep me paying the bills.”

“I love your ice cream cakes. I had a slice of one at the harvest festival…it was delicious. I need to stop by and order one so I can keep it all for myself.” She giggled. Lizzy was a delight and I wasn’t sure why Stormi and I didn’t try to see her more often. It could be because she was married with two young children and we ran in different circles. She more with the couples who had kids. Stormi’s eyes glazed over when hearing about how little Johnny had performed his first poop in the kid’s toilet or how little Susie did so well reciting the alphabet. I know if you have kids you can appreciate these small achievements of fellow parents. But if you don’t have children, the endless droning can lead to coma moments.

“Have you seen how big my oldest is getting?” Lizzy popped out her smart phone and scrolled. What did I tell you? She stuck the phone’s screen in front of my face.

“Wow, she is getting big. How old is she now?” You’ve got to seem interested…it’s the polite thing to do.

“She’s four. Already in pre-school and knows so much more than I did at four years old.” Lizzy pushed the cell phone back into her apron pocket. “They grow up so fast.”

“Yeah,” I mused as I sat at a table to eat my muffin. “Why don’t you join me if you’re not busy?”

“I think I will.” Lizzy grabbed bottled water out of her small commercial refrigerator and sat down next to me. “My dogs are barking.” She pulled one of the other chairs over and propped her feet up.

I laughed. “I know what you mean. Sometimes I even soak my feet at night.”

Lizzy grabbed my arm. “Oh, I do too! But I have to wait till the kids are in bed otherwise they’ll want to play and splash in the water.”

We talked a bit more about the town and old school chums.

“Hey, how is married life treating Stormi? I didn’t know if that girl would ever settle down. Oh and aren’t you engaged to her little brother Brandon?”

“He’s not so little anymore.” I took a bite of my muffin and relished the delicious moist texture.

Lizzy’s eyes got big. “I know. I’ve seen him around town. You have a knockout there Tara.”

“He’s a nice guy too and funny.”

Liz took a sip of her water. “Definitely. You need humor in a companion, especially when the kids are vomiting or pooping their pants in the middle of the night.” See, again with the kid talk. Okay, let’s change the subject.

“Liz, do you know anyone in town that has yellow Labrador retrievers? There’s three labs that have been turning up out at Jeb Rogers place almost everyday for awhile, but we can’t figure out who they belong to because they don’t have tags.”

Liz thought for a minute. “My neighbor has a chocolate lab. Seems I remember him saying that the Hodges family out on Route 22 have a bunch of yellow labs. They use them for hunting quail.”

I turned on the GPS in my brain. “Route 22.…that’s pretty far from where Jeb lives. I doubt the dogs would go that far.”

“Yeah probably not. That’s the only yellow labs I know about.”

I dabbed at the crumbs left on my napkin from the chocolate chip muffin. “You say the dogs belong to the Hodges family?” The Hodges family was one of the oldest in Caesars Creek. In fact, they were one of the founders of the community. The Hodges mainly lived in Atlanta now, but they had a residency on 50 acres out on Route 22. They usually only came in the summer now to enjoy their 4 acre lake and so the grandkids could ride their 4-wheelers.

“Nobody is probably staying out there right now, do you think?” I asked.

“Actually the son, Lincoln Hodges, is staying out there. He comes in several times a week for coffee and my huge chocolate chip cookies. He’ll buy half a dozen of them at a time and take home. Don’t you remember him from school?”

I had to think for a second, and then his face from 16 years ago popped into my head. “Oh yes, now I do. He was one of the cool kids so I guess I didn’t pay too much mind to him.”

Lizzy laughed. “Yeah, the cliques…I don’t miss that in the least.”

I shook my head. “Neither do I. So what’s Lincoln doing out there all alone? Has he ever said?”

“Probably goofing off. He doesn’t have to work for a living with all that family money.”

“I can’t imagine not working at something though. I would get bored pretty quick.”

“You and me both.”

“Interesting. Well, I better get back to my business. It was nice visiting with you Lizzy.”

Lizzy walked back behind the counter. “You too Tara. Tell Stormi I said hi.”

“Will do.”

I thought about Lincoln Hodges, wondering if the dogs could be his. It was quite a coincidence that he owned yellow labs and that’s exactly the type of dogs visiting Jeb.

When I arrived back at the shoppe I asked Stormi if she remember Lincoln Hodges. She was less than impressed.

“Yeah…why?”

“I stopped in at Lizzy’s and we got to talking. I asked her if she knew of anyone who owned yellow labs and she said Lincoln Hodges did.”

“Is he living out at the summer home right now?” Stormi filled the flower vases on the tables with water. “I didn’t know anyone lived there during the colder months.”

“Apparently he does. Lizzy says he comes in several times a week to her café.”

“Glad he doesn’t show up here.”

“How come? I could tell by the disgusted look on your face when I mentioned his name that he must be on your poop list.”

“Poop is right.” Stormi emptied the remaining water from the water can into the sink. “I went out on a date with him in school.”

I turned towards her, a shocked look on my face.

Stormi grimaced. “You can drag your chin off the floor now.”

“I never knew you dated Lincoln Hodges!”

Stormi waved one finger in the air. “Once. And he was a jerk. He tried to get to third base on a first date and I wouldn’t let him get to second. Then he said I was a tease and all the other guys on the football team said I was easy. I told him they lied and to take me home. He dropped me off in the middle of town and I had to walk home.”

“Oh my gosh!” I was stunned. “You never told me or Paige?”

Stormi appeared sad from the memory. I now wished I’d never breathed his name to her.

“I was embarrassed so I didn’t tell anyone.”

“You didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about. He was the jerk.”

“I know that now, but when you’re young and in high school and everyone talks….well, you know.”

I did know. Being a teenager is tough. Dealing with peer groups, mean girls, and jerks plus your studies can take a toll on any kid. Sammi, Paige’s daughter, was handling it great though.

“That was a long time ago. Lots of things have changed since then.”

Stormi smiled. “Yes it has. And all for the better. Now if I could just figure things out with Papaw.”

It was late Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night was one of our slowest during the week. “Why don’t we close up early and go out to Jeb’s again. Let’s really look around the buildings. I don’t think we performed a thorough examination last time.”

“Fine with me.” Stormi pulled her apron off. “Greg’s working through dinner so I’m free.”

What awaited us wasn’t what we expected.

Chapter Nine

Stormi and I had some remaining daylight left before the sun settled on the horizon. Neither Celeste nor Denny were at the workshops, so the surroundings were quiet. Jeb’s truck was in the driveway so we knew he was home, but we decided to look around before announcing our arrival.

We walked around the buildings, trying to see if anything looked strange or out of place. I rounded one of the outbuildings and noticed something shiny on the ground. I picked it up. It was a piece of metal approximately 1-inch wide and 3-inches long, but I had no idea what it was or where it belonged. I looked up to see if it had fallen from the outbuilding. That’s when I noticed something strange.

Scratch marks were evident up high on the outbuilding. This building was at least two stories and I presumed it had a high loft in which Jeb stored his cherished items. On the side of the building was an octagon window, also high up in the loft area. I figured it provided additional light into the loft, but it was too high for someone to break into unless using an extension ladder. That might explain the scratches on the side of the building. The glass in the window also appeared broken.

As I peered up at the window, Stormi rounded the corner startling me. “What ya lookin at?”

I grabbed my chest with one hand while still holding the piece of metal with the other. “Crapolooza Stormi! You scared me.”

Stormi shrugged. “You knew I was here.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the building and pointed up. “Look at that cracked window and all the scratches around it on the siding.”

Stormi stared up at the window. “That’s odd. How would that window get cracked that far up on the building? And those scratches.”

I looked at the side of the building on our level. There weren’t any scratches, only up around the window.

“Yeah and the scratch marks are only up there too. What would cause them?”

“I don’t know.” Stormi was just as puzzled as I was.

“At first I thought a ladder, like someone put it there to look in. But the marks are all over the place, even above the window.”

“Plus it would have to be an extension ladder. That wouldn’t be an easy thing to move quickly, especially with Jeb flying out of the house when the security alarm is tripped.”

This was getting stranger all the time.

Stormi looked at my hand holding the metal piece. “What’s that?”

I handed it to her. “I have no idea. I found it here on the ground and that’s what made me look up, to see if it fell off something.”

Stormi examined the piece of metal. “Well, I suppose it could have come from anything Papaw’s got around here. Either that or the aliens left it behind.”

I knew Stormi was joking. We both looked up at the scratch marks and the cracked window. Whatever it was, something was trying to look inside that window.

All of a sudden we heard footsteps rounding the corner of the building. Stormi clamped my arm and we held our breath. Then Jeb rounded the corner. We both let out a sigh of relief.

I looked at Stormi. “What’s with your family and scaring the bejeevies out of people?”

“Hey, my heart just made a mad dash for my throat. Papaw, why didn’t you let us know you were here?”

Jeb shrugged. “I live here.” He had a point. “I saw your vehicle out front so thought you might be looking around out here.”

“Jeb, look.” I motioned for Stormi to give him the piece of metal. “Does that look familiar to you?”

Jeb studied the piece of metal. “No, can’t say it does.”

“Papaw, look up at that window.” Stormi pointed to the octagon window and the scratches. “Did you know that window was cracked and what caused those scratches up there?”

Jeb stared at the side of his outbuilding. “No. I didn’t know the window was cracked.”

“So it must have happened recently then if you didn’t notice it?”

Jeb sat down on a bale of hay. “I’m just so tired. I can’t sleep because the security alarm goes off and then I hear the noises and see the lights. It’s getting to be more than I can bear.”

Jeb’s weary face and crestfallen attitude tugged at my heart. I felt so sorry for him. But we couldn’t help him until we knew what was inside those buildings.

Stormi sat down beside Jeb. “Papaw, enough is enough. You need to let us see what’s in these buildings, and then maybe we can determine who is trying to steal from you. It’s me and Tara; we would never do to you what Howie did. You have to know that.”

Jeb put his arm around Stormi’s shoulder and let out a big sigh. “I know that, I really do. It’s just that after your grandmother passed I didn’t want to look at the items that reminded me of her. We both liked to collect things…antiques, old signs, and what most people would probably refer to as junk. But they were precious to us because we found them together; maybe at auctions or sales. Sometimes we’d walk through these old outbuildings and laugh and reminisce about where we got some of that stuff.”

Jeb scuffed his boot into the dirt. “But when she died I couldn’t bear to look at our collections anymore. So I locked up the buildings and haven’t been inside any of them since.”

Stormi looked at Jeb quizzically. “You mean you haven’t even been in there since Mamaw died?”

Jeb shook his head no. “I couldn’t…and I didn’t want anyone else to go inside and disturb the items either. Denny has asked to go into the buildings many times, but I just couldn’t.”

Jeb was keeping whatever was in these buildings as homage to his late wife. I could understand the pain he might feel of going through the items himself or having other people sift through them. Like he said, to most of us the items might seem peculiar or not worth much, but to him they were priceless. Not because of any monetary value, but because he and his beloved wife had discovered them together.

Jeb stood up and poked his thumbs through his suspenders. “But I know now that the time has come to put away foolish notions and let you kids see what’s inside. Maybe you can figure out what’s going on out here with the strange noises and lights by looking inside the buildings.”

Stormi touched Jeb’s arm. “Are you sure Papaw? I had no idea how precious these items were to you.”

Jeb nodded and smiled. “It’s okay girl. There comes a time when you should let people back into certain areas of your life. And I think that time is now.”

He produced a key out of his pants pocket. “This key unlocks all the locks to the outbuildings. We might as well get started with this one.”

He stuck the key into the old rusted lock. The lock opened and Jeb opened the door. At first it was difficult to see inside as our eyes adjusted. The light from the tiny octagon window from above didn’t offer much illumination, especially with the sun setting. Jeb grabbed an old lantern from outside, lit it, and hung it on a ledge overhead. Everything inside the building was covered with tarps. Jeb began to pull them off.

Stormi waved her hand in front of her face. “It sure is dusty in here.” Inches of dust lay atop the tarps and filtered into the air as Jeb peeled them off the treasures hidden below.

From the depths emerged old hand crafted and carved furniture including bed frames, chairs and dining tables. Coca-Cola and Texaco Gas signs laid against the furniture in pristine condition. An old gas station pump sat in the corner. Other knick-knacks such as old Coke and Pepsi bottles, carnival glass, and glass milk bottles stood in a glass cabinet. We looked in wonder at the treasures, all of it in perfect condition. One item that stood out was a carousel horse. It was quite large and had evidently come from an old merry-go-round. Some pieces of paint had flecked off, but other than that it looked good. I pointed to it.

“Where did this come from Jeb?”

Jeb walked over and put his hand on the horse’s head. “Many years before you all were born, there was a carousel set up in the park. I remember riding it when I was just knee high, that’s how old it is. A great-great grandfather of the Hodges created the carousel and gave it to the town. Unfortunately it fell into disrepair. I wanted to keep a piece of it since it reminded me of happy times when I was a child. Nobody from town council minded, so I took my favorite horse here, Miss Whinny.”

“What a sweet story.” The horse had definitely seen better days, but I could tell the craftsmanship was very detailed. 

Stormi picked up one of the Coke bottles. “I remember when you and Mamaw would collect Coke memorabilia. Brandon and I use to eat snacks off the coke trays when we’d come over and spend the night.”

Jeb chuckled. “I remember. You two would fight over which tray you got. We’d sit you and Brandon down on the couch and bring in a bowl of ice cream each and some popcorn on the trays so you could eat while watching television before heading to bed.”

“I loved those trays. Do you still have them?”

“Oh yes.” Jeb waved his hand in the direction of one of the other buildings. “I’m sure they’re here somewhere.”

Jeb walked to one of the other buildings as we followed behind. He slid back the tarps to expose more items, including old Indian arrowheads, Civil war canteens, and an old muzzle loader. The items were quite eclectic. An antique shop owner would go nuts here.

Stormi looked around in wonderment. “I remember a lot of this stuff from when I was a kid.”

“I’m sure you do.” Jeb picked up one of the old Civil War canteens. “You and Brandon use to play with these canteens. You two would act like you were on safari and dying from thirst.” Jeb chuckled. “Your grandmother and I would laugh at how dramatic you were. You’d lie on the ground clutching at your throat and with a raspy voice say, ‘I’m dying of thirst.”

“That’s how I always got the lead in the school plays.” Stormi definitely had a flair for the dramatic. “They knew a star when they seen one.”

“All of this is incredible Jeb.” I continued to look around in amazement at old toys, lunch boxes, and Barbie dolls still in their boxes. Old butter churns and coffee grinders sat in corners. There were so many different items.

“Papaw, we ought to see if we could rent a place downtown and put all these items in it, like a museum. That way people could see a part of history from the town…like these sculptures. This one of a round eraser came from the old Jr. High school didn’t it?”

“Yes it did.” Jeb walked over to the eraser sculpture. It was old time eraser, round with a handle on top. I never used one, but I remember seeing photos of them. The sculpture sat in the middle of the courtyard leading to the front door of the old Jr. High. The city tore the building down years ago, but Jeb must have gotten the sculpture.

“See, like that…it’s a part of Caesars Creek’s heritage. It would be better to put these items in a museum where people can see and read about them than to keep it all buried here.” I agreed with Stormi, but it was up to Jeb.

Jeb scratched his chin. “I’m not sure. Things are moving a little too fast for me. I’d have to give it some thought.”

“I understand Papaw.” Stormi walked over and put her hand on his arm. “I know how going through all of this is stirring up memories for you.”

Jeb wiped a tear emerging from his eye. “Yes, it is. But I will give what you said some serious thought. I promise.”

“There’s no rush Jeb.” I didn’t want him to feel overwhelmed. “Just know that you do have options should you ever want to share your treasures with others.”

Jeb locked the buildings and accompanied us back to the car. “I’m glad you girls came out. I feel better now that I’ve finally opened up the buildings and had a gander inside. I always dreaded going through those items, but now that I have, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Now if these dang noises and lights would go away, I’d be set.”

Oh yes. Those disturbances at night. Lately I started wondering if Dottie was right and Jeb was going a bit senile, but after seeing the scratches on the building and that cracked window, I wasn’t so sure.