Morning Glory Circle (13 page)

“There’s been far too much murder going on in this town lately,” he told Maggie and Delia as he left.

Now that Hannah’s husband Sam was there, Maggie felt like it was okay to leave Hannah. She told her she would call later, and not to worry about the festival, that they would handle it.

Maggie ran-walked down to the bakery to tell her Aunt Alice, who was Hannah’s mother, what had happened, but her aunt’s only response was, “Well, why in the world was Hannah running a snow blower? Weren’t there any men around who could do that?”

Maggie was not surprised at her reaction, which was typical.

“We’re too busy for me to go down there right now,” Alice told Maggie. “She’ll just have to cope without me.”

Maggie told her that Sam was with her daughter, and Alice said, “What is she thinking, dragging Sam out in this weather? He shouldn’t be driving in this.”

Although there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the roads were clear, and Sam was completely capable of driving in any weather, Alice always treated him like an invalid, even though it drove Hannah crazy.

Maggie’s mother was more concerned over what would happen with the festival.

“They won’t cancel it, you don’t think?” Bonnie fretted. “I’ll lose a pot of money if they do.”

Maggie hadn’t considered that aspect. She thought of the store full of employees she was paying and selfishly allowed herself to worry a bit too.

Ed Harrison heard about the body from Mandy, who came over from the bakery to tell him. He grabbed his camera and rushed down to the festival grounds, where Scott’s small team was taping off the area and keeping people back, but Scott refused to let him photograph the body.

“Sarah’s on her way,” Scott said, “and we don’t know who it is yet.”

“C’mon,” Ed said, “just a photo of the general area.”

“I’m not trying to be a jerk,” Scott said, “but if a picture of that body ends up in the paper on Sunday I will be seriously pissed off.”

“I swear I’ll just get the area, and you doing your job.”

“Okay, just a few, but hurry. Sarah should be here soon and I don’t want her to start off mad at me.”

Ed kept his word, and avoided the actual murder victim as he took photos. He did however, get a good look, and a thought occurred to him.

“Is it Margie, do you think?” he asked Scott.

Scott frowned at his best friend and shook his head.

“No comment.”

“Off the record.”

“Yeah,” he said as he nodded. “I think it probably is.”

Ed whistled low.

“I know she was a pill, but who’d want to kill her?” Ed asked.

Scott shook his head, knowing he really shouldn’t discuss his suspicions with anyone but Sarah.

“She was an awful gossip,” Ed said. “But if people got killed over that, half the town would be dead.”

Scott couldn’t go into the suspected blackmail aspect of Margie’s recent behavior, so he just shook his head again.

“Will you keep me informed?” Ed asked.

“As much as I can,” Scott said, “but you’ll probably find out more about it than I will.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Sarah Albright and her team arrived within an hour and quickly took over. To his chagrin, Scott’s role was reduced to mustering town forces to do Sarah’s bidding. The festival was not cancelled. With Sarah’s approval, Scott directed the city snowplow driver to create a path at the end of the alley behind the fire station down the steep hill into the field near where the body was, keeping an eye out for additional bodies, should there be any, however unlikely.

The volunteer firefighters put up snowdrift fencing all around the area and covered it with tarps to shield the crime scene from view. It was far enough from the main thoroughfare that it wasn’t obvious to anyone passing, but word spread fast, and Skip and Frank had their hands full keeping curious people away from the area. A concerned Mayor Stuart Machalvie was walking around assuring vendors and townspeople that no one was canceling the festival, and imploring them not to scare the tourists away by talking about it as anything other than an unfortunate accident.

“Yes, a great tragedy, but purely an accident, I’m sure,” Scott heard him telling someone. “Some poor drunk fella probably picked the wrong place to pass out, and must’ve frozen to death.”

Scott had seen the amount of blood around the “poor fella,” and didn’t think that had been a side effect of passing out drunk. He was convinced it was Margie Estep’s body, but couldn’t imagine how she came to be there.

     Maggie was working the first shift in the bakery caravan by herself, and although business started out slowly, by four o’clock she was running low on brownies and had to call for backup merchandise. Patrick was selling cups of draft beer and hot mulled cider from the Rose and Thorn caravan next door, so he couldn’t leave to fetch anything, and there was no one available to send. Hannah was supposed to have been assisting her, but Maggie didn’t expect her after what she’d been through that morning.

It surprised her then to see Hannah show up with several boxes of baked goodies, escorted by her husband Sam in his wheelchair.

“What are you doing here?” Maggie asked. “You should be at home.”

Hannah said, “I have to have something to do or I’ll go nuts.”

Sam seemed determinedly cheerful, which was not at all like him. He hated crowds and Maggie knew this was not his idea of a fun day, at all. Maggie asked Sam if he wanted to work in the caravan.

“If you can get me up there,” he said

With Patrick’s help, they got Sam up into the caravan and onto a chair, where he handled the cash box while Hannah sold the baked goods.

Maggie left them to it and walked around the festival a bit, stretching her back, which was stiff from working in cramped quarters most of the day. The police had done a good job of hiding the crime scene. The two city fire trucks were parked in such a way that they blocked the area, and you could not see what was going on. Maggie glimpsed the back of Scott’s jacket through the gap between the trucks and decided to buy him and the team some hot coffee. She stopped at the nearest caravan and bought a dozen large coffees, which they placed in two cardboard carriers for her. Skip and Frank were grateful for the gesture, and took the carriers from Maggie, promising they would make sure Scott and the sheriff’s team got cups as well.

Maggie saw her sister-in-law Ava supervising the mitten fishing game, where little children “fished” with a piece of sticky hook-and-loop tape at the end of a string attached to a stick, trying to “catch” two mittens that matched in order to win a prize. It wasn’t a hard game, the little kids loved it, and Ava made sure everyone won something.

Ava was glad to see her, saying, “Could you run things for a minute? I have got to go to the bathroom.”

Maggie took over, and Ava was back in five minutes, thanking her for the break.

“I just cannot make myself use the porta-potties,” she told Maggie, “so I ran up to the bar.”

Ava asked her if she could sit with the kids that night, and Maggie said she could.

“I promised to help the guild ladies cook the bacon and sausages for the pancake breakfast in the morning, and we’ll be up at the community center until at least midnight.”

“I’ll be glad to do it,” said Maggie. “I’ll take them to the bonfire if they want to go.”

Maggie decided her mother and aunt could probably use a break at the bakery, so she headed back toward town. She met Caroline and Drew walking down Marigold Avenue toward the festival. Upon seeing Caroline dressed warmly in the clothing Maggie had lent her, Maggie felt a sudden immature urge to avoid her, but instead gave the pair a tight smile and said hello.

Caroline immediately ran up and hugged her, gushing, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

It was all Maggie could do not to push her away, but she stood still and made no effort to hug Caroline back. When Caroline let go and looked at her in concern Maggie stared her straight in the eye.

“I’ve been working for two days in a bakery that has my last name written on the outside of it; that shouldn’t be too hard to find, should it?”

Caroline just rattled on as if she hadn’t heard her, very much for Drew’s benefit, Maggie could tell.

“I was telling Drew how wonderful you and Hannah were, driving all the way up to Pittsburgh to get me so early in the morning, and then lending me these clothes,” she said. “It’s just so great to have such good friends!”

Drew had a goofy smile on his face, obviously entranced with Caroline.

“Did you find everything you needed at the store?” Maggie asked her pointedly.

“Oh yes!” Caroline enthused, “and Jeanette gave me the bill, which I will take care of just as soon as I get some U.S. currency.”

“The bank’s open until 6:00 p.m. on Fridays,” Maggie told her, pointing in the direction of the bank. “You still have time to get there before they close.”

“Oh no,” Caroline said. “I don’t want to think about that kind of stuff until next week. Right now I just want to rediscover Rose Hill, play in the snow, and have all my old friends around me.”

“And some new ones too, I guess,” Maggie said, watching Caroline snuggle up to Drew and nuzzle his neck. Drew looked drunk on her attentions. Maggie had seen that look on Caroline’s boyfriends’ faces before. She had also seen their devastated, tear-stained faces when Caroline discarded them just as suddenly as she picked them up.

‘He’s a big boy,’ Maggie thought. ‘He’ll have to look out for himself.’

“Hannah’s down at the bakery caravan, Patrick’s next door, and Ava is running the little kids’ games,” she told Caroline, “if you still want to help.”

“Sure,” Caroline said, without much enthusiasm. “We’ll stop by and see them.”

Maggie knew Caroline was not going to be any help to them this weekend. She just hoped that by offering her work every time she saw her, she would make sure Caroline avoided her.

“I’ll call you later!” Caroline said as they parted.

“I won’t hold my breath,” Maggie said as she walked away.

Back at the bakery, Bonnie and Alice looked worn out, and Mandy looked thrilled to see Maggie.

“Mandy and I can handle this,” Maggie told the older women.

After they left, Mandy and her son Tommy both breathed a sigh of relief.

“You know I love all y’all,” Mandy said, in her Chattanooga drawl, “but those old women were gettin’ sorta cranky.”

Maggie put on a Fitzpatrick Bakery apron and washed her hands.

“They’ve been here since 4:00 a.m.,” Maggie said. “I’m surprised they didn’t have you both in tears by now.”

Mandy showed Maggie where they were in preparation for the next day’s sales. She, Tommy, and Maggie worked flat out until 6:00 p.m., when Ava called to remind Maggie she was sitting with the kids that evening.

“I’m just now leaving,” Ava told her, “and they’ll be fine until you can get here. My place is full up with guests but I’ve got help.”

Mandy needed to get down to the Rose and Thorn caravan to work her evening shift. After a quick phone call from Maggie, and a generous bribe, two bookstore staff members agreed to cover the last couple hours at the bakery caravan, until it closed at 8:00, so Hannah and Sam could leave. Maggie called Hannah to let her know, and then she and Mandy filled a big box with bakery goods for the evening shift to take to the caravan.

After her staff members picked up the order, Maggie invited Tommy to go with her to Ava’s, but he said Ed was taking him to the bonfire. Maggie gave him several ham and cheese turnovers for the two of them to eat for dinner. Tommy was a sweet, shy, gawky twelve-year-old, with a two-tone adolescent voice, a great work ethic, and a quiet way of fading into the background. Maggie was just waiting for him to turn 16 so she could coerce him into coming to work at the bookstore.

Situated just a block from Rose Hill Avenue on Pine Mountain Road, Ava’s elegant Victorian home was in a prime location, and was busy all year long with both tourists and parents visiting their offspring at nearby Eldridge College. Every Victorian architectural element you could imagine was evident on the home’s exterior, from the gingerbread trim and wrap-around porches to a cylindrical turret and the stained glass transom window over the front door. The Fitzpatricks had worked hard to restore the house in order to give Ava a way to make a living after her husband abandoned her. The Fitzpatricks were very much a “hand up” rather than a “hand out” kind of support group, and to her credit Ava had done very well for herself under her own steam.

When Maggie entered the front room she found two teenage girls surfing the Internet on Ava’s computer with their homework laid out in front of them on the check-in desk. They greeted Maggie and told her the kids were in the family room. Maggie walked back through the arched hallway past the stairs that led to the second floor, through the large kitchen to the small family room built on part of the back porch. This tiny room was only a small nook in which the family could have some privacy to watch television or play, but it and the kitchen were the heart of their home.