Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 02 - Apple Pots and Funeral Plots (14 page)

Mayor Galan held up the stopwatch and eyed it.
When it got to twenty-five seconds, he yelled, “Five seconds left!”

The men stuffed the food in faster.
The mayor blew a whistle and the contestants stood up, swallowed their last bites, and stepped
away from
the table.
The mayor went directly to the judges.
Their heads went together and they started comparing the notes they’d taken on the pads.

Mayor Galan went back to the contestant’s table.
“Will the first five contestants please come back to your spots at the table?”

All five returned, smiling and clearly unaware of who had won the contest.
The mayor held up a set of three-by-five cards.
“On these cards is the total number of entire hotdogs each contestant ate in the thirty seconds.”
He held up the first card.
“Contestant Number One ate…” he paused for effect, “…fifteen hotdogs!”

The crowd went wild as contestant Number One smiled and took a bow.
The mayor continued with the remaining results.

“Contestant Number Two…” another pause, “…ate eighteen hotdogs.”

Again, another bow and fanfare from the crowd.

“Contestant Number Three…” the mayor smiled broadly, “…ate twenty-two hotdogs.”

This brought even louder cheering from the crowd and contestant Number Three strutted back and forth across the stage.
Contestant Number One and Two slumped toward the back of the stage.

The mayor continued but with much less enthusiasm and no pausing to excite the crowd.
“Number Four ate sixteen hotdogs.
Five was disqualified because he left four hotdogs only partially eaten.”

The losers
frowned
, t
he man who was disqualified yelled
about the contest
being unfair, and the winner screamed
for joy.

Ted was in the next round — Contestant Number Ten.
The mayor followed the same procedure.
To me it looked like Ted was going really fast.
I tried to count and I got to twenty-two before the mayor blew the whistle.
The contestants left the table, the judges and the mayor conferred, and the mayor and the contestants returned.
Ted ended up eating twenty-three hotdogs but was out-eaten by Contestant Number eight who ate twenty-seven hotdogs.
It was amazing because he was a small man, barely five foot tall and maybe a hundred pounds or so.
I don’t know
where
he put those hotdogs.

Ted came over and Kate gave him a big hug.
“That’s not your contest anyway, Ted.
You’re the pizza-eating king, remember?”

Ted smiled and nodded.
“That’s right.
I’m the pizza king not the hotdog king!”

“You did a great job, Ted.”

“Thanks, Liza.”

Ted and Kate started to walk away from the contest.
“Wait,” I said.
“You’re not going to watch the rest?”

They shook their heads.
“We always leave if Ted doesn’t win.”

“Okay, but I think I’ll watch the rest.
I’ve never been to an eating contest before.”

“Okay,” Kate said.
“When the contest’s over, why don’t you come over to the café?
Ted and I are going to walk over and get a snack.”

I glanced at Ted and grimaced.
“You can eat after twenty-three hotdogs?”
I asked.

“Oh no,” Ted gulped.
“Kate eats.
I just drink.”

“Okay, I’ll come over afterwards.”
I glanced down at
Shelby
.
“Do I have to take my dog back to the inn first?”

“No, the café will let you bring
Shelby
in, as long as she lies down under the table.”

“Great.”

Ted and Kate headed out of the fairgrounds and I went back to the contest.
It was basically the same thing I’d already seen.
There were five more rounds and in the end the winners ate between twenty-five and twenty-seven hotdogs.
Afterwards Shelby and I walked the few blocks down
Main Street
to the Clainsworth Café.
The place was crowded, but I spotted Kate and Ted in a back booth.
Kate
spooned ice cream from
a huge banana split
into her mouth
and Ted
sipped a soda
.

They
waved when they saw me
.
I waved back and went to their booth.
Shelby scooted under the table and lay down.

I patted Ted on the arm.
“How are you doing, Ted?”

“I’m fine.
I’ve started gearing up for Wednesday’s contest.”

“The French fries?”

Ted pushed his shoulders back and sat tall.
“Yep!”

The waitress came over and I ordered onion rings and a Diet Coke.
I try to watch my calorie intake but the onion rings I’d seen on another patron’s plate looked huge and very inviting.
Of course, I ordered a Diet Coke to go with them.
I have to save the calories someplace, don’t I?

“Have you learned anything new about Danielle’s death?”
Kate asked between bites of her dessert.

“Not really.
I’m pretty sure she came here to look into Sally’s death.
But I haven’t been able to figure out why.”

“Maybe she was a friend,” Ted suggested.

“It could be, but I can’t find any connection between them.”

“If they weren’t friends then why would Danielle care about Sally’s death?”
Kate asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe she just liked crazy people?”
Ted suggested.

Kate hit him on the arm.
“Don’t call her that!”

He pulled his arm back.
“But she was!”

“No, she wasn’t!”

“Yes, she was!
She was always seeing people who weren’t really there, wandering around the town and in the woods behind her house.”

“I know, but that doesn’t give you the right to call her crazy.”

“Is it possible there really were people wandering in the town and in the forest?”
I asked, trying to interrupt the banter between Kate and Ted.

Kate sneered at Ted and then turned to me, “I don’t see why there would be.
There isn’t anything in the woods except trees.”

“And beyond the woods?”
I asked.

“Just the old mine shafts.”

The waitress brought my food and Ted pointed to my onion rings.
“Can I have one?”

“Sure.
I wouldn’t think you’d be very hungry after eating all those hotdogs.”

“Yeah, but the café makes great onion rings.
I usually take an order home and put them in my freezer.
I just love frozen onion rings.”

“I’ve never had them like that.”

“They’re great.”

“He’s right, they are good in the freezer,” Kate added, pushing her empty plate away.
“What’s the next move in your investigation?”

“I thought I’d wander around the woods and over by the mine shafts.”

“Do you think you’ll find what Sally was seeing all those years?”
Kate asked.

“Probably not.
I just want to get a feel for the place.”

“I’m a pretty good mine guide.
Do you want me to go with you?”
Kate suggested.

“No, that’s okay.
I don’t really plan to go into the mine, just wander around on the outside.”

“Okay, but if you change your mind, I’d be happy to give you a tour.
I spent a lot of time in the mines during class excursions with Mr. J.
He even said I’d make a good guide.”

Ted grinned.
“She was his pet.”

Kate hit him on the arm again.
“I was not!”

This time I interrupted before the barrage of back-and-forth exchange began.
“There’s nothing wrong with being the teacher’s pet.”

Kate smiled.
“That’s right, and I was only his pet because I was the best.”

“Well, if I decide to actually go into the mine, I’ll call on you as my guide, okay?”

“That’s great.
I’ve got all the gear.”

“Yeah, she looks like a real outdoor geek with all that stuff on.”

“I don’t care how I look.
You have to have the right gear for the job.”

“That’s right,” I said.
“By the way Kate, your dad invited me to dinner at your house tonight.
Is there anything I should bring?”

“You’re going to dinner at their house?”
Ted said, sticking his bottom lip out.

Kate hit him on the arm again.
“You can come to
o
, dummy.”

He smiled broadly.
“Great.
What are we having?”

“Chicken
Marsala
and homemade noodles.”

“I’m not much of a cook but that sounds pretty complicated.
Your dad didn’t tell me you were an accomplished chef.”

“She’s a
super
cook!”
Ted replied.

“I do okay,” Kate said, shyly.
“I took a cooking class at the high school and loved it, so now I watch all the cooking shoes.
Iron Chef is my favorite and I like to copy his techniques.”

Ted nodded in agreement.
“It’s cool.
She has all the right knives, pots, and gadgets, too.”

“I’m impressed,” I said truthfully.
“I can’t wait for dinner.”

“Come over around six-thirty.
It usually takes me that long to get everything ready.”

“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can bring?”

“No, I’ve got everything I need, plus Diet Coke for you.”

“Thanks.”
I finished eating, although Ted ate most of my onion rings, and we talked about the next days eating contest.

Half an hour later, I said goodbye to them and walked back to Kate’s car at the fairgrounds.
I drove over to where Sally’s house had been.
Jimmy had put up a large sign warning of the moving dirt and the chance of falling into the hole.
It was still light, but I didn’t know how long I’d be wandering around, so I checked Kate’s car for a flashlight.
I didn’t find one, but I did find a helmet with a light and a backpack full of ropes and other gadgets.
In a side pocket of Kate’s backpack was a granola bar.
I might need a snack later, so I slid it into the pocket of my jeans.
I was sure that Kate wouldn’t mind my eating it.
As for the rest of the gear, I didn’t have a clue what it would be used for so I left it in her car.
I also left my purse in the car, but put my cell phone into the back pocket of my jeans.

I put the hat on and was glad I didn’t have a mirror.
I probably looked like an idiot.
Shelby and I walked around the big hole and into the forest behind Sally’s house.
The forest was thick with tall pine trees.
The shade from the trees made it darker and I turned on the helmet light so I wouldn’t trip over any fallen branches.
There weren’t any footprints that I could see and the ground looked undisturbed.
In fact, the forest floor looked like I was its only human visitor in years.

I took
Shelby
off her leash and watched her run back and forth in front of me, barking the entire time.
She was having a great time, while I was just being extremely careful with my footing.
The last thing I wanted to do was fall.
Who would come looking for me and when?

A quarter mile into the forest, the trees ended.
The ground was covered with short grass, small bushy shrubs, and lots of broken tree branches.
I had no idea what any of them where, but avoided the bushes because they had thorns on them.
I picked up a long stick and used it as a walking stick, thinking that if I ran into any snakes or critters, I could use it as a weapon.

The ground crunched as I walked.
With each crunch,
Shelby
barked, always trying to herd me.
The crunching
made
her crazier than usual.
I turned my helmet light off because since we’d left the thick grove of trees there was plenty of light to see the ground.
There were several deep holes and I was careful to walk around them.