Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) (28 page)

Henry burst out laughing. "That's the funniest question I've heard today."

"Hey!" Polly protested. "Stop it."

"
Then go ahead. Tell him what kind of car it was, Polly," Henry continued to laugh.

"Well, it was a four door car. And I think it was grey. Well, maybe it was silver. No. It was kind of dark outside and I wasn't paying any attention to the car, I was just trying to hide from her, so it was some light
or medium color."

Aaron started to laugh. "Well, that's not going to help me, is it?"

"Do you remember anything about the cars I showed you today?" Henry asked her.

"I remember Ford and Chevy," she laughed, then looked around the table at the other women.
"I'm a bad girlfriend."

"If you are going to hang out with a car guy, you are going to have to learn
a few things, Polly." Lydia said.

"Well, then he has to learn something about my horses. That's only fair, don't you think? And besides I've spent time learning all about wood working. I know more about the different species of wood than ever before and I can tell you the difference between a table saw and a miter saw."

"You're a very good girlfriend," Henry said, patting her on the knee. "You don't have to learn about cars this week."

Len quietly chuckled and Andy turned to him, "What?"

"He parked her truck."

"What do you mean?" she pressed.

"She made him park her truck this afternoon." He started laughing from his belly. "I was walking the dog and I saw her shift places with him so he would parallel park that truck. I had to go down another street so they wouldn't see me."

Polly dropped her head to her chest. "I didn't know anyone saw me do that. Did you see everything?" she asked.

"I saw enough," he laughed.

"What were you doing?" Beryl asked coyly.

"Oh, I stopped the truck in the middle of the street because I can't parallel park to save my life. Then I sat on Henry's lap and kissed him until he got in the driver's seat and did it for me."

"Girlfriend, you are my kind of gal! There is more than one way to get something done. We women have to figure out all of our options and then take the most direct route to the goal."

"That's what my mama always told me," Lydia said. "She thought that the ERA amendment was crazy. Women who had to fight to get their way didn't know how to get their way."

Beryl turned on Lydia. "You don't mean that, do you?"

"I told you it's what my mama always said. Not what I said. I told my girls to go after whatever they wanted and not to worry about whether they were male, female, purple or plaid."

Aaron nodded. "She raised some scary girls."

"I knew that," Beryl relaxed. "That's right, you were too young to be burning bras and marching on Washington."

"You didn't do any of that," Lydia scolded.

"I burned a couple of bras, but they were ugly anyway."

The band began playing and some of the kids were dancing in the street.
The downtown was filled with people moving in and out of the shops and stopping to talk. As dusk fell, the shops closed and the sounds of the carnival rides competed with the band.

Polly tugged on Henry's shirt, "Isn't that Cindy Rothenfuss' husband? I can't believe he's here tonight."

"What? You expect him to be home weeping over her loss? I'm surprised he wasn't the first one kicking his heels up."

"Who is that woman with him?
Do you suppose that’s his bimbo? At least it lets me off the hook."

He laughed at her and
asked Aaron, "Do you know who that is with Barry Rothenfuss?"

Aaron followed their eyes and shook his head. "Well, that will
certainly be gossip for everyone here tonight. He didn't waste any time. Maybe I need to have a chat with him and ask him who his wife might have been meeting at the bank last Friday night."

He got up and sauntered nonchalantly over to the couple.
Barry shook his hand and obviously introduced Aaron to the woman standing with him, who followed suit and shook Aaron's hand. They spoke for a few minutes and Barry followed Aaron back to the table.

"Folks, this is Cindy's sister, Angela. She was in town for the funeral and is staying for a few days to help him manage Cindy's things," Aaron said, deliberately looking at Polly and Henry as if to point out that gossip was inappropriate.

"Would you like to join us?" Lydia asked. "Aaron, pull out those lawn chairs we brought with us."

"Thank you,"
Barry said. "It's been a rough week and Angela thought it would be good to get out and be around folks tonight. She's right."

The woman smiled at them and took a chair from Aaron after he opened it.

"Where are you from Angela?" Lydia asked.

"Cindy and I grew up in the Quad Cities. I live in Bettendorf."

"I'm very sorry for your loss. This has to have been a difficult week for you."

"It hasn't been easy.
Cindy moved our father here after Mother died and Barry and I had to make him understand that she wasn’t going to be seeing him any longer. I don’t know what we will do with him now."

"Will you be staying in town very long?"

"I need to be back at work on Monday. Barry here," she patted his arm, "has been very nice and has offered to help with Dad and return any of the family pieces Cindy had."

Polly desperately wanted to ask the woman what had turned her sister into a bitch, but knew that was much too rude. It was nearly killing her, so she tucked her lower lip between her teeth and bit down. Then she realized that
Barry had slid his arm behind Angela's chair. He'd hooked his thumb in the woven material and was resting it there. He didn't take his eyes off her once while she was talking.

"Do you need any extra help,
Barry? We'd be glad to do anything we could for you." Lydia continued to speak as if nothing was wrong. Surely she couldn't be missing what was going on.

"Uh, no thank you. I think Angela and I nearly have everything dealt with. We took a load of clothing down to Goodwill this morning." He nodded. "The house will feel empty for a while, but I suppose I'll get used to it."

"Will you be at the quilt show tomorrow?" Polly asked. "I know that Cindy put a lot of time and effort into it and you are a big sponsor, right?"

"Yes. We'll be there. Marla Singer has asked me to announce the prize winners."

"Well, come early for pie and ice cream."

Angela smiled at
Barry, "We wouldn't miss that. It sounds wonderful. This whole event has been terrific. Barry has been able to finally show me around Bellingwood. He's talked over the years about Bellingwood Days and made it sound like a great deal of fun. He was right. It is fun. We rode the Ferris wheel yesterday. We haven't done that since I was just a kid."

Barry
looked at her in surprise and Polly watched their interactions. She glanced at Lydia, checking if the woman was seeing what Polly was seeing. Lydia nodded and smiled. Beryl was nearly bursting out of her seat and Lydia simply placed her hand on Beryl's arm.

"Did you two know each other when you were younger?" Lydia asked.

"Oh yes," Angela gushed. "We had such a crush on each other when we were in high school."

Then she realized what she had said and looked at him, matching the surprise in his face.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "Maybe we should be going, Barry. I need to make sure laundry is finished before I leave tomorrow."

"Thank you, folks," he said. "We will see you at Sycamore House tomorrow."

They left in a hurry and Polly spun on Aaron. "Don't get pious with me about gossip, buddy. Apparently I recognize when two people are together and you don't."

Lydia laughed at them.

"What?" he said.

"Didn't you just hear that?" Polly asked. "They've been in love since high school. I'll bet Cindy broke them up and made him marry her."

"Why would she do that?" Aaron asked.

"Why would she do anything? She's an awful woman! Imagine living with a man that you know loves your sister. Who knows how she trapped him, but those two just found a way to be together again after all these years.
The worst of it is that Cindy had an affair with Martha Devins' husband and who knows who else. She kept him miserable just to keep him miserable."

"That's a lot of nonsense," he said. "You don't have any evidence. All you are doing is inferring that from the little bit they said to you."

Lydia pushed his arm. "Don't you talk to her that way. She's right, you know. Those two have something going on and they want nothing more than to tell everyone about it, but right now is the wrong time because Cindy was killed earlier this week."

He
threw his hands in the air, giving up. "I am not stupid enough to argue with the lot of you. By the way, Polly, I believe it was Cindy Rothenfuss who spoiled that quilt at Sycamore House.”

“What?” she gasped.

“We found a tube of lipstick in her purse that was the right color. I don’t know much about lipstick, but that thing was smashed to pieces. It looked as if it had been used to write something. All of Lydia’s lipsticks have these perfect little tips. I’ll double check the color, but she did it herself.”

“That bitch!” Beryl said. “She was setting Polly up.”

“It sounds like it. I’m sorry, Polly.”

“I can hardly believe she’d do that just because I kicked her out.”

Aaron placed his hands on the table. "So do you think she was having an affair with someone at the bank?" He turned to Henry. "I might as well let them solve the case. They aren't going to let me do it without them."

"It's probably good you figured that out before it goes much further," Henry replied.

Beryl scooted closer to Lydia, "So, who is at the bank that would be an easy target for the boss's wife?"

"Well, there's Mike Lee, the head teller and Allen Hadley, one of the loan officers.
Barry’s vice president is Simon Sorgen. Who else is in that age bracket?" Andy said.

Len grinned, "Don't forget Baird Lister."

"Oh, and they hired Elvin Donahue as janitor last spring," Beryl said.

"Yeah, that's who
Cindy Rothenfuss would go after," Andy replied in her best sarcastic tone.

"Well, who would she be able to use?" Polly asked.

"It's not Sorgen," Aaron commented. "He was at the meeting with us on Thursday and his wife knows where he is every moment of the day. That man is whipped."

"Aaron!" Lydia scolded. "That's awful."

"You aren't the only ones who pay attention," he said.

"That leaves Mike Lee, Allen Hadley and Baird Lister," she commented. "Which one of them would have an affair with her and then want to kill her."

"I wouldn't think it would be Mike Lee," Andy said. "He's such a nice man and so helpful to everyone who goes in to the bank."

"Nice men do bad things," Beryl chided her friend.

"I hope not," Andy said. "I like him."

"Baird Lister hasn't been around that long. He came in from another branch. He might have been a good target," Len spoke up.

"How do you know this?" Andy asked.

"I pay
attention, too. No one thinks I'm around, but I am."

"What about Allen Hadley?" Lydia asked. "His wife has been gone a lot visiting their grandbabies. I suppose that would have made it easy for Cindy to
prey on him."

Aaron shook his head. "It seems like you've whittled this down to a few people. Aren't you ashamed for being such gossips?"

Henry chuckled and stood up. "I'm getting Polly out of here before she decks you. Come on, Polly, dance with me."

"Just a minute, Henry," she said. She stood and then bent over and whispered into Aaron's ear. "I know where you live, buddy and just because you're the law in this town doesn't mean I can't
torment you." Then she walked over to Henry, turned around and winked at Aaron, and slipped her arm around Henry's waist.

"What did you say to him?" Henry asked as they walked down to where people were dancing.

"I told him to be afraid," she giggled.

Henry took her hand and spun her, then pulled her in and swung her into the two-step. "Do you remember your dancing moves from last January?"

"I can try to keep up!" she laughed.

They had everything ready at
Sycamore House until the pie contest began at two thirty, so Eliseo suggested there might be an opportunity for an early morning ride with Jason and Rachel. Stall cleanup could wait until they were back and the horses were out in the pasture. Polly put jeans and boots on and found a lightweight, long-sleeve shirt that would protect her. She snagged her hat off the shelf of her closet and called Obiwan to join her. They went down to the barn and found that Jason was already there, saddling Nat.

"Hi Polly, isn't this awesome?"

"It will be great, Jason. Is Eliseo here yet?"

"He's in the b
ack room making sure we have enough equipment for Rachel to ride Daisy."

Polly walked back to find Eliseo setting things out. "
Do we have enough?" she asked.

"
No problem. Have you seen Rachel yet? I thought she would be here to help."

"Not yet."

"Then let's get you and Demi ready to go."

Polly was checking the saddle when Rachel came rushing in. "I'm sorry I'm late," she said. "I was out too late at the dance last night with Billy."

"Eliseo is waiting for you in the tack room. You'd better hurry. Jason and I are ready to go!" Polly laughed.

Rachel took off at a run and disappeared into the back room, coming out a few moments later, laden with a blanket and pad. Eliseo followed her with the saddle.

"Would you bring Daisy out of her stall, Jason?" he asked.

Jason opened the door to Daisy's stall and led her into the alley. It was fun for Polly to see the animals react to being saddled up. They were excited this morning and it vibrated through the room.

Eliseo checked everyone's saddle and made sure they were ready to go before climbing up onto Nan. Leading the way, he headed for the highway. They would have a half mile before getting to the gravel road, but at this hour there was no traffic and they spread across the road with Eliseo and Rachel following Polly and Jason. It was a beautiful morning, everything in the fields was green. Polly could see the perfect rows of soybeans and corn in the fields on either side of the road. The sky was bright blue with wisps of white clouds hanging over her head.

She had a sudden desire to surge ahead with Demi and tear down the gravel road as fast as he would take her. Since she was still such a novice rider, she figured one or both of them would end up in the ditch, so she stayed even with Jason and chuckled to herself. She heard Eliseo speaking quietly to Rachel, telling her how to turn Daisy and when Polly craned her neck, the two of them had stopped and Rachel was taking Daisy around in a circle. He stopped her
, then sent her the other way. The man was patient, if nothing else. Polly couldn't imagine what kind of a horseman he might be if given the opportunity to ride on his own without worrying about anyone else's inexperience, but he never said a word.

He asked Jason to practice bringing Nat to a stop, then moving him forward into a trot and back down to a walk. Jason's confidence level had grown over the last week and Polly thought the parade had done wonders for him.

When Eliseo took them onto a trail that led back up to the creek on the other side of her land, she was surprised. "How did you know this was here?" she asked.

"I have my sources," he said. "And Nan and I have been out here a couple of times. She likes letting her hair down. The girl can fly like the wind when I ask her to."

"I had no idea," Polly said. "I'm glad you do that."

He led them in and through the trees and when they came out, they were in a pasture directly across the creek from Sycamore House.

"Someday you should see if this land is available, Polly," Eliseo commented. "It would be good for the horses to have more pasture land."

"Is their space too small?" she asked.

"No, where they are is fine. You've given them a lot of room. But, they will wear that pasture down."

"I'll talk to Dan Severt. He owns all of this. Thanks for saying something."

He led them down into a narrow portion of the creek where there was very little water and waited while Jason, then Polly and then Rachel went up the other side. They came out just off the road which led into the back parking lot. The horses could see home and headed for their own pasture with little nudging. Eliseo jumped down from Nan's back and opened the gate, letting everyone else ride in.

"Leave them outside. They'll head for the hay and we can take the saddles off outside," he said. "They deserve a hearty meal."

They got everything put away and Eliseo handed brushes to the two kids and one to Polly. "First one to finish with their horse gets a free pass on stall mucking this morning.” Polly snorted and headed for Demi. Jason and Rachel didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. Both of them would rather spend time with their horse than worry about whether or not they got to avoid cleaning out a stall. With all four of them working, the task was always done quickly.

They laughed and played with the horses and then when they realized that Eliseo was finished and waiting for them, pushed him aside and Jason said, "It looks like we split Nan's stall this morning! Eliseo, you win!" The older man grinned at them and jumped on the skid loader to bring up another round bale of hay for the horses.

"He never quits working, does he, Polly?" Jason asked.

"He's a good guy," she said. "We're pretty lucky."

When they finished in the barn, she asked Jason, "How are you getting home? I'm sure your mom wants you to go to church this morning."

Rachel interrupted. "I told his mom I'd bring him home. Are you going, Polly?"

There was large community church service in the park and after the service, women from the churches were serving loose meat sandwiches and fresh corn on the cob. Polly couldn't remember having so much food offered to her in one weekend. This was why everyone loved community festivals and county fairs. It had to be!

"I'll be there," Polly said. "Thanks for giving Jason a lift."

She left them and ran upstairs to take Obiwan out for a quick run. She got him back upstairs and the animals fed, then was showered and dressed before her phone rang.

"Are you ready for me to pick you up?" Henry asked after she said hello.

"I'm ready any time!"

She knew the morning was casual, but spun around in her new sundress.
The skirt was full and the little bits of lace that accented the seams shimmered in the sunlight. Polly pulled a white headband around her head, accenting her bangs. She slipped her feet into a new pair of flip flops with plastic beads that matched the colorful flowers in her dress, then ran down the back steps to wait in her driveway.

Doug and Billy walked down their own stairs to head for Doug's car and stopped.

"You look great, Polly," Doug said.

"Thanks," she said and spun around again. "I don't get to dress up like this very often."

Both boys were in shorts and nice shirts. "Are you guys staying for lunch afterwards?"

"Yes," Doug said. "Billy's mom is one of the ladies in charge."

"Oh! By the way, Billy," Polly grinned. "Rachel said you kept her out too late last night."

"I did not!" he protested. "Dude! It was totally her idea. She didn't want to leave the dance and when they were done, she said her mom gave her permission to come over here for a while."

"Well, that's not how she saw it. You'd better get used to being her fall guy."

"That's what you get when there's a girl in your life, dude," Doug said, playfully punching his friend in the arm. "It's all over. I tried to tell ya!"

Henry pulled in and Polly said, "I'll see you two later. Be nice, now."

She got into the truck, chuckling.

"What's up?" Henry asked.

"Oh, I was just giving Billy a little trouble. It was nothing."

He backed out and headed for the park with Doug and Billy following. Henry drove past an open parking place and pointed to it. Polly watched in her mirror and Doug pulled in. He stopped in front of the park and said, "You go on, I'll bring the lawn chairs and find you in a few minutes."

She jumped out of the truck and found Sylvie, Jason and Andrew.
Polly felt ashamed that she was annoyed with Henry for not complimenting her this morning, but decided it wasn’t worth saying anything aloud because it made her sound petty.

The boys were sitting on a blanket in front of Sylvie's chair and Andrew jumped up. "Look what Mom gave me yesterday because I did such a good job," Andrew said, holding out a book.

Polly took it from him, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

"That's great!" she said. "Maybe you can be a famous detective."

"I just want to know how he figures everything out. Mom says that if I learn to observe like Sherlock Holmes does, I'll be a better writer because I won't miss things."

"That's a pretty good idea," Polly said. She smiled at Sylvie. There was an extra chair beside her. "Are you waiting for someone?" Polly asked.

"Eliseo said he'd join us, but sit down while you wait for Henry. He is coming, isn't he?" Sylvie responded.

"Yes. He's bringing the chairs."

"You look all summery and pretty today," Sylvie said.

"Thank you." Polly caught sight of Henry and waved until he saw her. "This feels more like an outdoor concert than church."

Sylvie chuckled, "Wait until they get started. It really is a lot more like an outdoor concert than church. I think you'll like it. The worship teams all come together for this. There isn't much preaching."

Henry unfolded a chair and set it up beside Polly and then unfolded the next.
Polly moved over and Sylvie shifted into the seat so they’d be sitting next to each other. Jason had been fiddling with a string on the blanket and jumped up.

"I'm going to go wait for Eliseo, mom. I don't want him to get lost in the crowd." Before she could say anything, he was off and cutting through various groups of people.
Andrew was reading his book, ignoring everything that happened around him.

Jason and Eliseo returned before the service started and Sylvie had been right. Music filled the hour long service and before she knew it, the pastor had pronounced the benediction and everyone was up and moving.

Polly whispered to Henry, "That didn't take long at all! I was expecting to be here forever!"

He chuckled. "Maybe everyone wants to hurry over to Sycamore House for ice cream and pie!"

Polly checked her watch. It was only eleven thirty. There was plenty of time. They made their way through one of the lines to get a sandwich and corn and came back to their seats. She'd seen all of the families who were hosting Roy's kids. The boys were glad to see each other and ran back and forth from family to family until finally everyone settled in to eat.

"Roy isn't coming up for lunch, is he?" she asked Henry.

"No. I think he'll be glad to get the boys back to Chicago so they have freedom again. Either that or Sheriff Merritt needs to catch Mrs. Rothenfuss' killer so they can leave Sycamore House in peace.

"Who do you think did it?" Polly asked.

"I have no idea. It's hard to even think about it. These guys work in town. What kind of seedy underbelly of the community are they part of?"

Polly saw many of the people she knew from Bellingwood and soon, she and Henry picked up their chairs and walked back to his truck, stopping to speak with folks as they walked.

"I'm starting to get more comfortable here," she said. "I can put a few more names and faces together."

"It will get easier every day." He took her chair and tossed it in the bed of the truck. "Do you need me right away this afternoon?"

"No, that's fine. Just drop me off and whenever you come back - it's cool."

She stepped on the running board and climbed into the truck. It was never easy and trying to look ladylike while attempting the feat was nearly impossible.

"I have to stop next door at Mrs. Wilder's house. She caught me as I was leaving this morning and asked if I would look at her air conditioner. She's afraid it's not working as it should."