Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-eight

We didn’t have much vacation time left. I was pretty sure Jimmy wouldn’t really make us stay if we wanted to leave, but his investigation wasn’t going anywhere
and he might need us. I shook my head when I realized where my thoughts had led me. Yeah, like he’d need us.

He showed up on our porch the afternoon after the storm ended. Chris hadn’t let him in on the Big Plan
, and he wanted to know what was going on. Chris and Bill had taken Mikey down to the creek to do some fake fishing. It was hot and I had a feeling they wanted to do a little wading in the water, too. Sherlock and Watson went with them..

Unfortunately,
it was up to me to talk to the copper.

“What’s this about your husband finding more evidence?”
Jimmy asked. “Why didn’t he tell me about it?”

“It was a ruse,” I said.
I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting for an explosion. It didn’t happen and I slowly opened my eyes.

“A ruse?”

“Chris and his brother came up with a cockamamie plan to lure the killer back out here. They figured if the murderer thought they’d found more evidence then he’d show up to try to get rid of it.” I took a step back, still expecting fireworks.

It didn’t happen.

“Not a bad idea.” Jimmy looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin.

“
What?
You’ve got to be joking. Have you
all
lost your minds? You want a killer to come back out here, even knowing I have an eight-year-old son living under this roof?”

“Slow down, Mrs. Cross. I’d be here, too.”

“Well, if this doesn’t take the cake – a copper agreeing with the Bogey Man.”

“The Bogey Man? Who’s that?”

“Chris. Don’t forget, he looks just like Humphrey Bogart and he keeps getting involved in crimes. That’s my nickname for him.”

“Oh, yeah. I get it. Say, where is he?”

“They’re all down by the creek. By the way, who fingered the guys for this plan they’ve concocted? Who’s got the big mouth?”

“Stu let something slip. I think he figured I should be in on it, which I should.”

I nodded. “Yes, indeed. A plan to get us all killed in our sleep should definitely involve a flatfoot.”

“Now, Mrs. Cross – ”

“Don’t
‘now, Mrs. Cross’
me. This is supposed to be a vacation to celebrate Chris adopting Mikey. It was supposed to be a time for Chris and me to relax for a while. Instead we’ve found bodies and gold… Well, the gold isn’t such a bad thing, but it sure hasn’t been relaxing. The whole town wants to dig up this property. I’ve spent half my vacation being upset and the other half trying to track down a killer.”

“Shouldn’t you be telling this to your husband?” Jimmy’s eyes were wide and surprised. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.
He was young and unmarried.

“You’re right.” I turned away from him and stomped down the porch steps, heading for the creek.

The copper followed along in my footsteps.

We met Chris on the path. I stopped with my hands on my hips and Jimmy kept walking, not looking right or left.
Although he wasn’t married, he knew when to keep his trap shut and mind his own business.

“I want to talk to y
ou.” I knew I sounded angry and I didn’t care.

“I want to talk to you, too,” Chris said. “I know this hasn’t been much of a vacation, and I’m sorry,
cookie.”

“That’s exactly – ”

He held up his hand to silence me. “Ace and I have decided we need another vacation. A real vacation with no bodies and no treasures. So, in about a month, before Ace goes back to school, we’re going to the coast and rent a beach house. What do you think?”

What did I think? I threw my arms around him hugged him like I’d never hugged him before. Then I stepped back. “What about
Bogey Nights
? Can we take so much time away from the restaurant?”

“You betcha. I called Gloria to ask how things are going and I don’t think they miss us at all. My parent
s have been helping out, too, but Gloria didn’t complain about them.”

I chuckled, giving Gloria a mental pat on the back. Chris’s parents are a handful.
Most of the staff at
Bogey Nights
resembles old-time movie stars. Gloria bore a strong resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. The customers love her and she knows the ins and outs of the restaurant as well as we do. She’s been with us since Day One.

“Oh, Chris, sometimes I love you so much.” I hugged him again.

“Sometimes?”

“Sometimes more than others.”

“Okay, now why is Jimmy here?” Chris asked.

“Stu told him about your plan. Hmm. What if Stu’s the killer? Did you ever think about
that
?”

Chris suddenly began to study his fingernails. “He’s at the bottom on my list of suspects.”

“It’s a pretty short list, isn’t it?”

“Not really. Tony is at the top of the list, but after him comes the whole town. We don’t know these people, and we don’t know what their interactions with Charlie were.”

“Good point, but for the most part, I do.” Jimmy had walked up behind us and stood listening. “Charlie mostly got along with everyone. That’s why this investigation is so tough. I drove over and talked to my uncle last night. He had a few thoughts, but nothing he said really helped.”

Bill, Mikey and the dogs joined us and we walked back toward the house.

“Okay,” Mikey said, “let’s think about this like the real Sherlock and Watson would. I’ve watched some Sherlock Holmes movies with my dad and they always look for clues.”

Jimmy smiled at my son. “We’ve already done that.”

“Then let’s do it again.” Mikey looked up at the copper with the smile of an angel on his face.

“Sure, kid.” Jimmy was humoring an eight-year-old. “You and I can go take another look. Maybe the rain washed something up.”

I followed behind them, ready to join in the search for clues. Chris and Bill followed suit, almost like it was a game.

It didn’t take long.
Watson began pawing at the ground, digging and searching.

“Well, I’ll be darned,” Jimmy said. “Look at what your
dog found.” He pointed toward the ground, warning Mikey not to touch it.

“Look, Mom!”

It wasn’t in the hole, but next to it. Mounds of dirt surrounded the hole from when it was dug up. “What is it?”

Jimmy studied the so-called clue.
“A pocket knife, and it hasn’t been buried in the dirt for a hundred years. It’s old, but not
that
old. And it’s muddy, but it’s not really grimy like it would be if it had been here a long time.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and picked up the knife. “It’s heavy. The weight must have buried it in the mound and the rain uncovered it. I’m surprised we didn’t find this when we searched the first time.”

“But Charlie wasn’t killed with a knife,” I reminded him.

“No, but his body was left in this hole, and the killer could have dropped the knife.” Chris was rubbing his chin, much as I’d seen Jimmy do. “Is it an ordinary knife or does it have markings on it?”

Jimmy held it up so the sunlight made it sparkle, even through the mud. “I can see something on it, but I don’t want to rub off any fingerprints. I’ll take it back to the office and work on it there.”

“It sure would be nice if there was a big, fat fingerprint on it,” Mikey said.

Glancing at him, I saw that he was rubbing his chin, just like his father. Looking from one to the other, I smiled.

“A big fat fingerprint would be amazing,” I said.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Jimmy left after talking to Chris and Bill about their plan. He fully intended to come back and stand guard with them. I was surprised he was going along with their goofy caper. There was still an old barn on the property, so he’d be back after dark and park his patrol unit in the barn. It wouldn’t be completely dark until around eight o’clock.

Which reminded me, I wanted to
check out the barn. Sometimes people store antiques in barns and I wanted to see if this was one of those times.

“Mikey, let’s do some exploring,” I said.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to take a look at on the property.”

“What
’s got your curiosity up?”  Bill asked.

“The old barn. Maybe the Perry family
or someone else left things in it. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all. Just be careful because I don’t know how sturdy th
e building is. Stephanie and I never got around to checking it out. The only things we really thought about were the house and the immediate yard, and the Perrys left those in pretty good condition.”

“If I find any antiques, I’ll save them for her.” After all, it was their barn.

“If you find any antiques, take them. Steph couldn’t care less about antiques. If you can’t find it in a modern decorating magazine, she’s not interested. Big, bold and modern, that’s her motto. That’s one of the reasons I like this place. It’s homey instead of a showplace.”

I wondered if Stephanie knew how Bill felt. I had a feeling she didn’t.

“Come to think of it,” Bill said, “I’d better give her a call. She’ll be wondering what’s going on here.”

He pulled out his cell phone and headed for the porch.
“Hi Steph,” I heard him say. “I’ll be gone for another couple of days.” He sat down on the porch steps and I didn’t hear any more of his conversation. He was smiling and I knew instinctively he missed his wife.

Chris put his arm around me. “We could have an old farmhouse
like this if you wanted one.”

I smiled up at him. “I’m happy with the home we have. Maybe someday I
’ll decide I want to live in the country, but not right now. Besides, your grandmother is moving to California and I don’t think she’d be too happy if we moved away just when she thinks she’ll be closer to you.”

“Yeah.
There’s always Grandma.” Chris shivered dramatically, making an
ooooohhh
noise, causing Mikey to laugh. “Her attitude puts my mother’s to shame.”

“Really, Dad? I like Grandma Judy. I’ll bet
Grandma Tillie is a lot of fun if she’s like Grandma Judy. Tell us about her.”

“I’ll
let you find out for yourself, Ace. It’ll be a whole new experience, one you’ll never forget.”

The rest of the day passed peacefully. Mikey and I explored the old barn. It had been kept up and was in pretty good condition
, although it appeared one of the treasure hunters had been inside. There was a hole in the dirt floor and a couple of boards had been pulled away from the wall. Well, for heaven sake, there wasn’t even a barn on the property when old Henry hid his gold. Some people didn’t have a lick of common sense.

There wasn’t much in the barn, other than a few old tools and a
couple of wheelbarrows. Mikey found a box full of glassware, but it was cheap dime store quality, and not old.

In the far corner I found a
beautiful old vanity from the 1920s or 1930s which had been covered with a sheet. I thought the style was called Waterfall. It had to do with the grain of the wood and the way the pieces fit together. There were several tiles around the mirror, which was still in good shape, but most of them were missing. I opened one of the drawers and found all the missing tiles. Someone had cared enough about the piece so save everything. After a few more minutes of searching, I found a matching bench behind a wheelbarrow. Amazingly, the fabric on the seat was still intact. With a little tender loving care, it would be beautiful. I’d ask Bill if we could buy it from him.

“Hey, Mom, come look at this.” Mikey’d found a stack of small boxes. They contained decks of cards and some board games. There were even a few old comic books, circa 1950s.

“It looks like we won’t have to worry about what to do if we get bored.” We each picked up a box to carry into the house.

Bill bought steaks while he was in town and barbequed th
em for dinner while I fixed the trimmings, like corn-on-the-cob and salad, and garlic toast.

While we ate, I told him what I’d found. “So, how would you feel about selling the vanity to me?”

“Pamela, it’s yours. I won’t take your money. Think of it as a gift.”

I smiled. “Thank you so much.”
I wasn’t about to argue with him. It was probably worth a lot of money. My conscience got the best of me. “Bill, it’s probably valuable, maybe quite valuable.”

“It wasn’t mine, so I’m not losing anything. It’s yours.”

“Where do you think you’re going to put it?” Chris asked.

“I’ll find a place. Trust me. This is too nice to sit in a barn and rot.”

“Uncle Bill, I found some games and comic books, too,” Mikey said.

“They’re yours.”

“Thanks!” Mikey carried the boxes, one at a time, to the room he was using. Sherlock and Watson followed along, hoping he had something interesting in his hands.

After eating, Chris and Bill migrated to the front porch and began waiting for the sun to go down. Mikey
and the dogs joined them for a while, but before long my son came in and told me he was bored. I taught him how to play Old Maid, one of the card games we’d found in the barn, while we also waited for the sun to drop out of sight.

At eight o’clock on the dot I heard a soft rapping on the back door. I almost turned on the porch light but stopped when I realized it was probably Jimmy.
I didn’t want to give him away. Opening the door about an inch, I peeked out to be sure it was the copper.

“Jimmy, come on in,” I said. “The men are out on the front porch.”
He was dressed in jeans and a casual shirt, not his uniform. He was a good-looking young man and I once again had a feeling the young women in this town probably had their sights set on him. I remembered having the same thought when I first met him.

Creak. Bang.

“My mistake, they’re inside now.” I led him to the living room.

Without preamble, the men started making plans about who would cover what area. Bill decided he’d cover the gravesite since the whole thing had been his idea. Chris said he’d take the rear of the property, figuring someone might try to sneak in that way. Jimmy would cover the area in between and keep an eye on both men.

“And I’ll sit in the living room and watch the home front,” I said. “No one is getting in this house and no one is going near my son.” I crossed my arms and stood with my feet apart, not allowing for argument.

“I’ll keep an eye on the house, too,” Jimmy said.

I nodded.

Chris pulled my arms apart and took my hand. “Angel, I wouldn’t let anything happen to the two most important people in my life. You can take that to the bank.”

Bill looked into my eyes. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, either. I promise.”

I relaxed and smiled. These men really cared about us.

Mikey took my other hand. “I’ll watch over you, Mom. You can take that to the bank, too.”

“Okay, Ace, you can stay up with me.” I knew that’s what he was angling for, and I also knew he’d be asleep on the
sofa within minutes after the lights went out. By calling him Ace, I was letting him know I trusted him, and I saw him straighten up, trying to look taller.

“Officer Stubbin? I was just wondering, did you find any fingerprints on that knife we found?” Thankfully, Mikey hadn’t said something like,
Hey, copper
…

“I had to send it to a lab in another town, Ace. I’m waiting for the results. I don’t have the equipment to check for fingerprints here.”

“Ah. I see.” Mikey stroked his chin, mimicking the gesture of Chris’s again. Saying holy smoke and rubbing his chin seemed to be his new talents.

One by one, the men sneaked out the back door. Mikey and I settled in the living room, with the lights on. We didn’t want someone to think we were setting a trap, so the lights would go out at the normal time.
I read a mystery by one of my favorite authors, and Mikey read a Hardy Boys book his grandmother had given him for his birthday.

And we waited
.