Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) (13 page)

"I'm usually much worse. I'm being kind of nice tonight. We have new girls. One more of these gatherings and then I'll let loose," Beryl sat back and put her arm on the back of Lydia's chair. "You miss the real me, don't you."

"No. You’ve never given me a chance to miss the real you, so no."

Hannah looked at her watch. "I think I've been gone long enough. Bruce should have the kids in bed by now and maybe I can get some sleep tonight. Thank you all for a wonderful evening."

Polly stood up and gathered a handful of chocolates from the table. "Here, eat these on the way home. They're good for what ails you."
She hugged Hannah and walked out to the foyer with her. "Thanks for coming over. We'll do this another time and you'll come, right?"

"I'm so gl
ad Sylvie asked me. Anytime. I'll be here."

Polly watched her leave and turned back to the lounge to see the rest of the women standing up and gathering their things.

Joss gave her a quick hug. "This was nice. I love your friends."

"Well, now they're also your friends. Trust me, one evening with this group and you'll never be rid of us."

"That would be wonderful. Anyway, thank you. I'll see you Tuesday night."

"Oh, that's right, we're selecting the finalists. I'll see you then."

Andy called out, "Joss? Wait a minute. I'll walk out with you." She hugged Lydia and Beryl, then gave Sylvie a quick hug and Polly grabbed one as she walked past. After Beryl and Lydia left, Sylvie asked if she could help clean up the lounge.

"No, I'll get it tomorrow,” Polly said. “There's not much here and it won't take a minute. I have to run down to Boone in the morning, but I'll get it when I come back."

"You're going to Boone? Would you mind taking Andrew?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"He's dying for some more books and you have given him money for taking care of Obiwan. I told him that one of these days I'd take him to the bookstore and he could spend ten dollars there. Would you mind taking him?"

"The bookstore on Story Street? I haven't been in there yet, but sure, I'd love to take him."

"Thanks. That would be great." She picked up her purse. "I'm going to empty the dishwasher and then I'll be gone."

"No, you leave it. I'll get it. You get your boys and go home. Thanks for everything."

Sylvie went out the back way and Polly finished putting things away in the kitchen, then ran up to take Obiwan out for a walk and head for bed. Tomorrow was going to be fun
.

Savoring the quiet the moment
, Polly felt like she was still catching her breath on Monday morning. The boys were upstairs in her apartment and Andrew was under strict orders not to come find her until nine forty-five. She knew he'd be watching the clock intently and would bolt out of the apartment right on time, so she hurried to finish up the last of the paperwork and make sure she'd put her hand on everything that needed to be dealt with.

Sure enough,
he came tearing down the steps right on time. She pushed her desk drawers closed and picked up her keys and wallet. He was in her office before she could come around her desk to the door.

"Are you ready to go, Polly?" he asked, breathlessly.

"I'm ready, bud. Do you have your money?"

He pulled two five dollar bills out of his front pocket. "Mom said I'm supposed to look for used books since I read so many. Can we go t
o the library when we come back? They're only open in the afternoon."

How could she say no to that? "Of course we can. Do you have any books you need to return?"

"Nope. I put them in the return box last night so I wouldn't have to carry them around today."

She tousled his head, "You were certainly thinking ahead."

They got in her truck and started driving toward Boone.

"What books are you hoping to find today?" Polly asked.

"I don't care. If I can't find the series I'm reading right now, I will get them from the library. I just want to see what they have. I've never been there."

"You've never been to this bookstore?"

"Nope. Mom never took me. Don't know why, but I saw it last week when we went to look at phones for Jason. Oh," he turned to her, "that's supposed to be a surprise. Don't tell him, okay?"

Polly smiled. "I won't say a word. Why didn't you stop then?"

"Mom was in a hurry. She said we'd come back another day."

"Well, I haven't been in there either, so we can explore it together. Do you care if we go to the Farm and Home store first? I have to pick something up."

His face fell. "You won't run out of time, will you?"

"Absolutely not, Andrew. We'll have plenty of time at the bookstore. I promise."

"Okay. What are you getting at the Farm and Home store?"

"You'll have to wait and see. It's for the parade."

They drove through town and she watched as his little head turned when he spied the bookstore. They pulled into the parking lot and went into the Farm and Home store, where Polly went up to the customer service counter. She gave the young woman behind the counter her name and told her she was picking up an order. The girl came out with several flat boxes. Polly checked the ends of the boxes for the labels, opened one and pulled out a beautiful blue, Western-style shirt in Andrew's size.

"This one is for you, Andrew," she said. She held it up against him and he looked down at the front.

"It has my name on it!"

"It sure does," she said. "And the Sycamore House logo. I got one for all of us to wear in the parade. What do you think?"

"Cool!" He patted his chest where the logo sat and rubbed the embroidery. "I've never had a shirt with my name on it."

"Neither have I. Do you think Jason and Eliseo will like theirs?"

"They'd better!"

Everything was put into a couple of shopping bags and Polly and Andrew went back out to the truck.

"Can we go to the bookstore now?" he asked.

"Well," she said and looked at him.

"What?" he asked, fear lacing his tone.

"I was just teasing. Let's go."

They drove back into the downtown area and parked in front of the bookstore. Andrew was out of the truck and heading for the front door before Polly got her door open. She checked for traffic on the street, got out and followed him in. They were greeted by a large, black, friendly Labrador and Andrew immediately put his hand out and knelt down to get to the dog's eye level.

Polly greeted the woman behind the counter, "He’s good with dogs," Polly said, nodding at the two together.

"That's Zekey," came the response. "How can I help you?"

"Andrew is looking for some new books to read and I'll bet he will tell you which series he is reading. If you don't mind, I'm just going to browse while he's going through the shelves. He's never been here before and I'm afraid I might lose him to the books today."

The woman came out from behind the counter and listened as Andrew began describing his favorite books. They walked down one of the aisles together and when Polly no longer heard him talking, she guessed he found what he was looking for. She began looking through the books in the front section of the store, getting caught up in some history books on a rack. There was one about Story City and she picked it up and began glancing through it.

Several customers came in, some to pick up books and others to browse the shelves of used books and finally Polly heard Andrew's voice at her elbow. "I have to come back here a lot. I only have $10 so I'm getting these, but there are so many more that I want to read! Can we come back again?"

"Of course we can," she said. "I didn't get much time to go through the shelves either."

They went to the counter and Andrew paid for his books, then Polly purchased the two Iowa history books she had selected.
He knelt down one more time and hugged the big dog around his neck.

"I'm coming back, Zekey."

"Thank you," they called out as they left and Polly winked at the owner. "We'll be back."

"Do you want some lunch in town or shall we head
home?" she asked when they got in the truck.

"Can we get McDonald's?" Andrew asked, his eyes wide.

Polly nodded, "Sure. McDonald's. That sounds great." She sighed and drove back through town to get their lunch.

They ate in the truck as she headed
for Bellingwood. Andrew kept pulling the books out of the shopping bag and flipping through the pages. He would put them all back in the bag and eat a little more of his burger, then pick the bag back up off the floor and look at his books again.

"This was awesome, Polly, thank you."

"You're welcome, Andrew. It was pretty awesome."

"Something caught her eye in a cornfield as she passed it and she slowed the truck.

"Why are you slowing down?" he asked.

"I saw something in that cornfield back there.
I'm heading back." She checked her mirrors and made sure there was no one else on the road and backed up to where she had seen the sunlight glinting off something metallic.

"Do you see anything in there?" she asked him.

"It looks like a car," he said.

Polly pulled off on the shoulder, made sure her phone was in her pocket and said, "Stay here. I'm going to check on this."

She made her way across the ditch and into the field. There were skid marks in the ditch and the corn was trying to stand back up after having been driven over.

She got to the car and called out, "Hello? Are you okay?"

There was no movement in the car. She walked around to the driver's side and gasped. There was a woman slumped over the steering wheel. Polly tried to open the door but it was locked. She pounded on the door and got no response, then realized she had nothing with which she could break a window, so she returned to her truck.

When she got there, she
grabbed the tire iron.

Andrew opened his door, "Is everything okay?"

"Just stay here," she said. "I'll be back."

She ran back to the car and went to the passenger
side and smashed the window. She stuck her hand in, tripped the door unlock button and ran back around the front of the SUV to the driver's side. She opened the door and put her hand on the woman's left wrist which was on the steering wheel. It was still warm, so Polly placed her hand on the woman's neck, trying to find a pulse.

Pulling out her phone, she dialed a familiar number.

"Aaron Merritt, if you say a single word, I swear I will put bumblebees in your bed."

"Polly, please don't tell me."

"I don't want to tell you, but I have to. I think I'm standing beside a dead person who has been in a terrible car accident. Can you get an ambulance here right away? I'm just north of Boone on R27. They'll see my truck on the shoulder. The car is in a cornfield."

"Just a second, don't go anywhere."

He was gone for a few minutes and then she heard him return. "I've got the squad on the way and I'll be there in a few minutes. How did you find this?"

"I saw sunlight on the metal and then realized I was also seeing the path through the corn. When I came into the field to check it out, I had to break the passenger window to unlock the car. I can't find a pulse, but I don't want to move her in case something is broken."

"You're fine. The squad will be there in a couple of minutes. I'm going to hang up. I'll see you soon."

She couldn't believe it. How could it have happened again? Surely she wasn’t the only person driving down this road. But then, there hadn't been anyone go past in the last few minutes. She heard the sirens whistling and come to a stop and hoped Andrew wouldn't follow them in. Four large men approached the car and the first one said, "Are you Polly Giller?"

"That's me ... finder of dead bodies ... unless you tell me this poor woman isn't dead," she sighed.

She backed away from the vehicle as they got in.
After a few moments, one of them pushed the woman back into the seat and said, "I'm sorry, but she is gone."

Polly looked into the car and took a deep breath, then dropped her head and slumped her shoulders. "Oh my god," she said.

They looked at her and one of the men asked, "Do you know who this is?"

"Cindy Rothenfuss,"
she breathed out. "Her husband is the president of the County Bank in Bellingwood."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh. I'm sure."

"What are you sure about?" Polly turned around when she heard Aaron's voice behind her.

"I'm sure that it is Cindy Rothenfuss," she responded.

"And she's dead?" he looked for confirmation from the EMTs.
They nodded.

Aaron pointed at the spray painted words on the back of the car, "Do you think someone was mad at her?"

Polly was shocked. She hadn't even noticed. In bright orange lettering, someone had spray painted "BITCH" across the back hatch of the vehicle. Of course, it was the same Lincoln Navigator that she'd seen leave the bank the other night. The word seemed to be cropping up a lot around this woman.

Aaron smiled at Polly, "Word around town is that you and she had some cross words."

"What?" she gasped. "I'd never do this, no matter how much of a bitch she was."

He chuckled. "I know that. Come on. Let's get out of the way so these good people can do their job."

They walked back to her truck together and he saw that Andrew was in the front seat.

"What happened?" the little boy asked.

"Don't ask," Polly said, shaking her head.

Andrew said to the Sheriff, "Did she find another dead body?"

Polly smacked her hand on the truck. "What! Why is that everyone's first assumption when I call you? Maybe it's because you are the County Sheriff and should know when there are cars in cornfields. Doesn't that make sense?"

Andrew started giggling, then he got serious. "Is it someone I know?"

"I don't know if you do or not, sweetheart, but we're not going to talk about it until the Sheriff has a chance to tell the people who love her."

"But it's someone you know, right?"

"It is."

"Polly found another body. Polly found another body." Andrew chanted and then took another sip through the straw. "I can't wait to tell Jason. He won't believe it."