12

 

Jeff Hanley, the vice president of the State’s Bank branch in Apple Grove where the city government did business, had been Donald’s best man at his wedding. Donald’s cousin’s wife was Margaret’s assistant. Adam thought Donald had no living family. What happened to Letty’s husband? Had he been the man at the window of Donald’s house? The information flickered like lightning across my neurons. What had Donald been up to? I decided not to say anything yet, until I’d spoken to Adam. “Yolanda,” I asked, “Did Ronny Grimm pass away?”

“I don’t recall,” she replied, frowning.

“So, where do we go from here?” Lucy asked. “How do all these bits fit into our puzzle?”

“Hanley’s on the city council.” Elvis got up to pace across the floor in front of the counter. “He’s one of few people who knew about, and presumably could access, the grant money.”

Besides being one of the partners backing Adam Thompson. That must mean Hanley had money to invest. But was it his own, or did he use some of the grant money? Elvis knew about Adam’s business deal.

“Elvis?” I hated to ask. “Please tell me what, exactly, you know about Mea Cuppa’s Apple Grove store. And the partners.”

Elvis sneaked a peek at Sonja.

Sonja shrugged permission.

He regained his seat at the work table. “I happened to run across some papers in Adam’s office to indicate that he had partners.”

I felt a temper tantrum coming on. “I heard Lucy say ‘Hanley, Stewart, and the mayor’ the other night. Where do you think they got the money?”

Yolanda snorted. That was not a good sign.

My shoulder muscles tensed.

“I think it was a personal business arrangement.” Elvis leaned his arm backward over his chair. He twisted his head to stare out the clean front window through the large red, backward lettering proclaiming “ettezaG.”

“What else did you notice about the papers in Adam’s private office?”

He flinched at my tone.

Sonja began to rattle the books in front of her.

Yolanda hustled to the counter to pull out a notebook and pen. “Taxes, taxes…” she mumbled.

Elvis stared at me. “Why don’t you talk to Adam about this?” When I didn’t reply, he resignedly said, “What I understood about the agreement was that, if the business earned a net profit of at least fifteen percent of the investment and Mr. Thompson wanted to pull out after a year, he’d take the profits and the others would take over the business.”

“Thank you.” I stood.

Yolanda, in full reporter mode, flipped open her ever-ready notebook.

“I have some things to take care of,” I told them. “Yolanda, I’ll be back later to finish the page I was on.”

She barely acknowledged me before beginning a question and answer session with the students.

It was time to meet Adam, so he could take me to get a replacement driver’s license. For the first time since laying my eyes on the handsome but scarred man at the CAT convention, I was apprehensive about being with him. I did not like feeling that way at all. I checked my watch. I had a few minutes, so I decided to call the one person I was sure I could trust. “Mom?”

“Yes, dear.” Her tinny voice came through the miniscule receiver I tucked against my ear. “I’m walking through the quad to my next class. What’s up?”

I squeezed the tears to the back of my eyeballs. “We have some new information. Donald had a cousin whose wife is Margaret’s assistant. Then the students found a photograph that showed Donald’s best man was the vice president of the bank. And my purse was stolen.” And I’m so naïve. And the love of my life is a liar.

“Oh, darling. I’m so sorry. Do you need me to come up this weekend? Do you need any money?”

I choked back a gurgly laugh. “No, Mom. Everything’s all right. It was just my little coin purse. I’m sure you’ll have a good conversation with the students this evening.”

“Yes.” She sounded a bit breathless as she walked. She must be in a hurry. “They’ve been amassing some good field experience. Placing them in Apple Grove is turning out to be a suitable work site. I might have to set up a regular program. But did you make out a police report for your purse? Or did they catch the thief?”

“Yes and no. You’re busy. I won’t keep you,” I said.

“That’s all right, dear. I’m sure you can rely on your friends and Adam for support.”

“Um, right. Thanks, Mom. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Big breath in. Out. That’s it. Adam and Colleen greeted me when I reached Mea Cuppa. I made myself smile at them before I followed Adam out back where he kept his truck.

“Did you uncover any huge secrets at the Gazette?” he asked once we were underway.

“As a matter of fact, we did.” I tried to act naturally while I told him about the photographs and Letty’s relationship to the Conklins. And about the look-alike cousin. “That must have been him at the window that first day we went to visit the house and Letty answered the door.” My lips ranneth over.

“Makes sense. I wonder why Donald didn’t mention his cousin? So, does anyone know if Letty’s husband is alive and where he might be now?”

“Yolanda says she never kept track what happened to him, or if he’s alive or not.”

“Let’s assume he is, then. If Margaret and Letty had some kind of plot going on, it would make sense to keep him out of sight.”

“Until they want to use him,” I said. I wanted to believe Adam knew nothing about Ronald Grimm. I could be convinced that meant he wasn’t in on the plot with Hanley.

“Use him? It’s not any of our business who his wife hires as her personal assistant.”

“You’re right. Unless he was the guy who threatened us that night outside of city hall after the meeting. Or the guy who’s been in my house and hurt my cat.”

“We don’t have any proof of that,” he said.

Why would Adam defend the bad guys all of a sudden? I decided I didn’t want to go down that road.

He pulled into the parking lot of the Department of Motor Vehicles office, narrowly avoiding a grinning teenager with a dazed-looking passenger who peeled out of his spot, radio blasting. “Must be Mom next to him.” Adam laughed. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

The lot was full, and I figured it could be a long wait. I wouldn’t bring up the questions I needed to ask him in a public place. “It’s crowded. I might have to wait in line.”

He nodded. I left him sitting there, legs stretched out and catalog in hand.

A half-hour later, when I returned, Adam hadn’t even changed position. I had done some soul searching while I stood in line. I admitted an over-active and ultra-sensitive personality. He could not possibly have had anything to do with Donald’s death. Donald had respected Adam enough to invite him to Apple Grove. If nothing else, Donald’s endorsement was all I needed. I forgave Adam for my delusions. “Hi, there. That wasn’t so bad. Thanks so much for bringing me. I owe you lunch.”

He waited while I buckled up. “Sounds good. Show me your picture.”

I groaned but held up my new license. He didn’t laugh. “You take a pretty picture, Miss Preston.”

Drat. I had just worked up the courage to ask about his business arrangement.

“Do you have a little time?” Adam asked me now. “I’ve never been down to that little park we passed. Have you?”

“No.”

He turned off the road to drive down a steeply pitched entrance to a small county park along the Founders River. A bubbly gurgle of water splashed along the shallow riverbed a couple of miles out of town. Rusty oak leaves framed a brilliant sky. A crop of dandelion wisps floated lazily over the sparkly water, creating a scene from one of those vintage Americana paintings.

We stood at the edge of the bank, watching ripples form across a wide mossy rock.

He skipped a stone across the narrow expanse and it landed on the other side. “I suspect you wanted to ask me something,” Adam said, his back to me. “Something about Mea Cuppa, I believe?”

He couldn’t have caught my muse more neatly than if he’d cast with a baited hook and line. I paced a few steps to perch on a faded green picnic table. I folded my hands between my knees. Might as well get it all out now. “Elvis said that you had backers. That you were offered incentives to establish a coffee shop in Apple Grove.”

Adam tossed another stone directly to the other side of the river before coming to stand next to me. “Weren’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Ivy. Donald helped you get your house and paid for the multiple utility feeds coming in. He even hustled through a zoning code exception, so you could run your business in a residential area.”

He had a point.

“What about your partners?” I asked. “Where did the money come from? Did they dig into the money Donald was awarded? Is that why you know so much about it?”

Adam sat next to me and thumped the wooden seat. “Ivy! Is that what you think? I’m ‘in’ on this big plot to take over Apple Grove?”

I could not look at him. I stared at an ant carrying a huge crumb across the width of the table. I wiped a tear and blew my nose. And I was glad to bury my face in Adam’s shirtfront when he pulled me roughly into his embrace.

“Ivy, Ivy. Everything will be all right.”

“What’s going on? I don’t understand any of this. Why would anyone hate us without even getting to know us?”

“It’s called prejudice, honey. And it’s caused every day by people who have shame, secrets, greed, and fear.”

“I’m so afraid.” I cried harder, shaking.

“So’m I. That’s why I asked you how you felt about living here.”

“El-Elvis sa-said you were supposed to stay a year.”

Adam laughed. “Where’d he hear that?”

“He saw it on the same paperwork with your partner’s names.”

“Look, Ivy. Donald knew I owned a successful book and coffeehouse franchise already started in the city. He approached me about setting up another shop in Apple Grove. Apple Grove is small, a potentially unprofitable market for me. I never would have considered it but for Donald contracting with me so that I wouldn’t lose money on the deal. He had this prime downtown space already, as well as investors for the equipment and stock.” Adam drew back to meet my eyes before speaking again.

How could I not trust him?

“Donald drew up the contract,” he said. “I had my lawyer go over it. The names of the partners were in there, but they didn’t mean anything to me at the time. It was a good, private deal. The space was owned by the city and Donald explained to me about the business grants that covered it.” He rubbed my shoulders. “There was nothing even remotely illegal about it. The partners could operate the business or shut it down after a year if I optioned out of the contract.” His voice deepened. “I had nothing to lose. I was ready for a change of pace, even if it was just a year.” His hands wandered down my arms and across my back. I watched his lips come closer. “And there was you.”

So, I’m weak. Naïve and weak. The man feeds me coffee and chocolate and kisses me senseless. He also loves cats and children. “Um, Adam?”

“Yes?”

“I volunteered to keep Yolanda’s granddaughter tonight. I’d better get back.”

“Do you want some company?”

Perfect answer. “Yes, please.”

 

~*~

 

I was amazed at how tolerant Memnet acted with our little visitor that evening. My pet was extraordinarily attentive to Jenny, whom he’d been wary of at their first meeting. She followed him everywhere, and even watched, fascinated, while he used the litter box. They played a sort of jumping contest and also a chase game, which Mem won. He even tugged on a yarn ball for her.

Adam had been Jenny’s second favorite play thing and I think it did him good. He’d been patient and lenient to the little girl’s demands to both romp and read, but never let her get out of control with all the attention she received.

When he was ready to leave we had to pry Jenny out of his arms. She made a huge show of not wanting to let him go, then performed a touching gesture. She leaned forward and put her lips against the scar on his neck.

I walked him out to his truck. “I didn’t think about how you might feel until I watched you with Jenny. Was it hard for you?”

He shook his head, a faintly wistful smile flashing across his face. “No.” He turned his profile to me before I heard him say, “Did you ever think about having children?”

I wasn’t having a conversation like this to his back, so I waited until he faced me, looking as if he wished I hadn’t heard. “Yes.”

We stared into each other’s eyes. I wasn’t sure who blinked first, but it was a good time to change the subject. We talked briefly about alternative plans after the students left and we would each be alone again. He had decided to check into the recently finished convention center hotel, aptly called The Prairie Center, out near the highway for a few nights. Since Elvis came to stay with us to provide another number for our safety, not even Adam wanted to be alone in his downtown apartment.

With the rumor mill spewing, I didn’t think it mattered much if Adam stayed at my house unchaperoned, but he didn’t like the idea.

“It doesn’t matter really, what they think of us, except that we know what’s right and what’s wrong, and we can’t afford to alienate future business,” he reasonably pointed out. “Besides,” he said with a wolfish grin, “I don’t trust you to keep your hands off me.”

A few minutes later I walked back into my house, fingers on my kiss-swollen lips and arms achingly empty. He had just cause not to trust me.

 

~*~

 

Friday was already monumental for being the last day the Maplewood students would be with us. Any more excitement and I would change my name to Alice. As in Wonderland.

At 10:15 in the morning, Marion got through to me on my personal line.

“Ivy! You’re not gonna believe this!” Marion said in her breathless excited manner. “I’m on my break, so I just have a couple of minutes. You know how Rupert Murphy’s been the acting mayor, right? And acting like a king idiot, I might add?”

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, chasing a quarter that rolled close to the refrigerator. I had upended the contents of my purse on the kitchen table to do a periodic cleaning and didn’t want to lose anything.

“Guess who showed up on the throne this morning! Guess!” she commanded.

“Um, I don’t know, Marion. King Arthur with Excalibur in his hand?”

“Huh? No. Come on, Ivy!”

“Marion, I’m not good with guessing games. Just tell me.”

“Margaret Bader-Conklin, big as life. And the VP of MerriFoods in her train. They’re in a meeting right now. Kicked Murphy out of the mayor’s office. He threatened to sue. Oh-oh.”

“What? What?” I wished I was with her now.

“Hackman’s just showed up, trailing Ripple and Larken, and I believe—yes, your Elvis.”

“What can the cops do?”

“Gotta go! I’ll call you later.”

“Marion! Wait!” The line went to the buzz of a hang-up. Now that was news. And I was too far away to do anything about it. I called Yolanda’s number to make sure she’d heard, but all I got was a busy signal. I tried Mea Cuppa: same thing.

I didn’t dare try to interrupt Lucy or Sonja on her cell. Hmmm…what to do. I realized that I had an urge for a cup of Adam’s coffee. The shop was probably the closest I would be able to get to city hall. The street parking spaces were full, so I drove behind the bookstore and parked next to Adam’s truck and went in the back way.

Unlike the previous few days, several customers wandered the store. Most of them stood in the front window where, I discovered, they had a good view of Yolanda interviewing Rupert Murphy who stood on the sidewalk across the street, a disgruntled and impatient television news crew from Springfield hovering nearby.

“I was wondering when you’d get here,” Adam said, as I approached the counter. He was idle for the moment.

“Tell me everything you know,” I demanded.

“I think I’ve forgotten more than I remember over the course of my long life,” he teased. “How about just what’s going on this morning?” He set a six-ounce size paper cup with Mea Cuppa lettered on the side in front of me, full of coffee. “I ordered them for the official grand opening. So, we’re just starting the celebration a little early.”

I stirred the contents impatiently.

Adam’s eyes crinkled. “OK, OK.” He laughed. “It all started an hour and a half ago when Bob stuck his head in the door. Hope Julius, the city hall receptionist, was here picking up a special order, and that’s all it took. Marion had just called him about Margaret’s impromptu appearance and you should have seen the look on Hope’s face. She lit outta here.” Adam chuckled again. “Anyway, Bob told me that Rupert blew a gasket when Margaret told him he was no longer needed. He called the police. We both tried to get in touch with you, but your lines were busy. More junk mail?”

I shook my head. “No. Legitimate business. A few loose ends and some research,” I told him. “Marion just got through. What do you suppose the police can do?”

“The missing persons report was filed, remember? If a missing person shows up, the least they can do is ask a lot of questions.”

Rupert Murphy strode up and down in front of the drug store, waving his arms, yelling.

“He’ll have a stroke if he keeps up like that,” I said.

“And he’s got high blood pressure now,” someone murmured near my left ear. I turned.

Roberta from the flower shop smiled. “He’s my second cousin,” she whispered.

I swallowed back the laugh I felt coming on. “Oh. He must be pretty upset.”

“That’s not the half of it. He was all ready to announce a new emergency election for mayor. He had his acceptance speech nearly finished. His wife, Lannah, is my bridge partner.”

“I see. So, what do you think will happen now that Margaret’s back?”

“That one’ll hijack the mayor’s office, mark my words.” Roberta’s plump little cheeks wiggled when she puckered her mouth. She shook her strangely-highlighted chestnut pouf of hair for emphasis and moved off to join her cronies at the window.

“Does this mean we’re off the hook for the takeover plot?” Adam stage-whispered in my other ear. I barely got a napkin to my mouth in time as I choked on the sip of coffee I had taken.

Adam thumped me between my shoulder blades. “Sorry.”

Yolanda let the television people have their turn with Rupert. She came across to interview bystanders. “How do you feel about Mrs. Conklin’s sudden return?” she asked everyone.

Elvis appeared beside me. “Hi. I sneaked in the back. The girls are meeting me here.” He surveyed the chaotic scene as the crowd continued to grow along the street. “You should see the scene at city hall. Man, I hate to leave, just when things are getting exciting.”

I would be sorry to see them leave, too. “Maybe you could hang around an extra day,” I said, even though he and Lucy had weekend family obligations lined up.

Hanley refused to make himself available for the students to interview, claiming to be too busy whenever they called. Lucy reported that she agreed with me about Marion Green. Marion seemed too nice to hold a grudge and didn’t seem to have any beef with her former boss, the late mayor. Sure, she knew about the money. She typed up the forms, happy to help Apple Grove prosper so her kids would have a reason to stay.

In Lucy’s opinion, Murphy acted either too clever or hid the cleverness too well behind an exterior of bumbling good-hearted passion—such as he was displaying outside right now. He was still on our suspect list, but no longer high priority.

Dr. Bailey canceled Memnet’s appointment due to an emergency, so Sonja couldn’t get her interview or the current stray cat inventory.

I rescheduled for next week. I would talk to her myself then let the others know what she said.

Elvis folded his arms. “I heard Mrs. Conklin say she was upset that Mr. Murphy took it upon himself to schedule a tasteless little service while she was absent. She’s planning a big memorial later. And she’s stepping into the mayor’s office as her constitutional right.”

“Where did she come up with that idea,” I sputtered. “Anyway, did you hear her say where she’d been? Why couldn’t she get in touch with her assistant or her family? Something is really wrong.”

Adam went behind the counter to serve customers.

Elvis grabbed one of the few remaining squares of Featherlight Confections chocolate fudge candy samples. “Hey! This is pretty good. I wonder where he gets ’em?”

“Salesman. You’d have to ask Adam if they retail anywhere else. Oh, hi, Lucy, Sonja. Some excitement.”

The girls entered. “We stopped at your place and packed up our bags,” Sonja said. “Here’s your spare key.” She handed me the little cat keychain which I had given her last Sunday.

“Thank you. I’ll miss all of you. It’s been a pleasure. You’ve been great houseguests,” I told them. “Can I take you out for lunch before you leave?”

Sonja said no, quickly echoed by the others. “I wish we could have figured out what happened to Tut.” She glanced around. “Among other things. We realized there wasn’t much chance with so little time on the case, but maybe now with Mr. Conklin’s wife here, the truth will come out.”

“Before we came inside we heard the woman say she didn’t know anything about her husband’s murderer,” Lucy said. “But I get the feeling she does. Oh, and by the way, I have one more tidbit of information for all of you.” She waved us to the back hallway of the bookstore, behind the restrooms. “Here. I think this must be—aha! Do we have time for a little more mystery?”

Elvis’s brow wrinkled. “What?”

“See?” Lucy opened a door to what I assumed was a closet. I could see steps leading to a lower level. Cool air billowed up at us. “Did you know about this?”

Sonja tapped her foot. “It’s just a basement, Lucy.” I think she was impatient to get on the road to Chicago.

“Not ‘just’,” Lucy said. “If you’d been paying attention to Mrs. Green at the historical society—that’s Bob next door’s mother, remember—instead of her charming, single granddaughter, Amy, who operates the wedding venue, you’d have heard her tell me that there was a central access point to the tunnels below the city. She showed me pictures of the digging and some old-fashioned people kind of stooped down when I took her newspapers back. The ladies wore long skirts and the men straw hats, like around 1900 or something. There were three entrances. One at either end of the street, and this one in the middle. It runs all along the river.”

Call me Alice.