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IDA BELLE WATCHED THROUGH the kitchen window as the two ladies left. “Bucky’s calling someone.”
“I don’t like it,” Gertie said. “That wasn’t an under-ripe banana causing Bucky’s stomach pains. Those were guilt pains. She’s hiding something.”
Ida Belle turned away from the window. “She’s on her way back.”
I rushed into the living room and opened the door just as she was about to knock.
“Oh my goodness,” Bucky said, “I almost pounded on your boob. That wouldn’t have been very neighborly, now, would it?” She chuckled then continued. “Rosa and I were talking and wondered if the three of you would like to join Shelby and us for a little poker game? We’d always get together for poker on Fridays. Just us Four Amigas.” Bucky sighed. “Now it’s just us Three Amigas. Anyway, what do you say? Feel like some poker?”
“And tequila,” Rosa called from the street. “Don’t forget the tequila.”
Bucky’s trailer was exactly where I wanted to snoop around. “Sounds like fun.”
“Five, then. We’ll get a couple pizzas delivered.”
She walked back to Rosa and they waved goodbye. I shut the door and rejoined Ida Belle and Gertie. “We have a poker date.”
Ida Belle smiled. “Good. It’ll give us a chance to snoop around her place. You brought a few of Marge’s pistols, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“I’m definitely going armed,” Gertie said. “Especially since they think I found the map.”
Ida Belle took a seat at the kitchen table. “About that... You don’t suppose you really did find a map and just can’t remember it, do you?”
“I hope not.”
“Tell us everything you do remember about last night,” I said.
Gertie furrowed her brow. “I remember going to Olive’s room and getting the melatonin pill, then coming in here to get some water to take it with. I noticed a photo of Olive on the fridge and decided to look at it, but when I removed the magnet the photo slid between the counter and the refrigerator. So I pulled the refrigerator out.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “I think I saw a recipe card and pulled that out too.” She looked up at the refrigerator and pointed to a recipe card stuck on the door with a magnet. “I must have put it on the fridge.” She shrugged. “Then I sat in the chair and started reading one of the books on the Lost Dutchman Mine. I remember feeling really tired but trying to keep myself awake because I was getting into the book. After that, I don’t remember a thing.”
Ida Belle pounded her fist on the table and then stood. “I want the...” She pursed her lips, let loose a string of cuss words before continuing, “who did this. Not only to Olive, but to Gertie. She could have crashed into something with that cart and hurt herself. And that map is key to finding whoever is responsible.”
“So far, here’s what we know,” I said. “Olive had a map and everyone in her metal detecting club knew about it. That would be Bucky, Rosa, Shelby and the five other members I met last night.”
Ida Belle nodded. “But the Three Stooges don’t have the map. They wouldn’t be trying to scare us into giving it to them if they had it. Personally, I think they’re the gang that can’t shoot straight.”
I gave my half-filled mug of coffee a warm-up in the microwave. “The police might not think Olive was murdered, but I think she was. Helium Throat Alvin said the key is to find out where Henry was during that time, whoever he is.”
Gertie nibbled on one of the doughnuts. “So our marching orders are to find the map and a guy named Henry.”
“You and I can stay here and search for the map or any clues to Olive’s death,” Ida Belle said to Gertie. She looked up at me. “Care to take a stab at finding Henry?”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, nodding.
My first stop was a grouping of mailboxes located near the main clubhouse. A nameplate on each box listed the resident’s full name. There was no “Henry” on any of the 30 boxes.
A woman walked out of the clubhouse, leaving the early-morning yoga class with a rolled-up yoga mat under her arm.
“Excuse me,” I said. “These aren’t all the mailboxes, are they?”
She shook her head. “No. We have five mailbox pods altogether.” She pointed to a map of the trailer park displayed on the wall of the community center. “Each pod is marked with a red triangle.”
I thanked her. After she left, I turned my attention to the park map. Moments later two other women exited the clubhouse, also carrying yoga mats. Seconds after the two women left, a man walked out the door, wearing wire-frame glasses and dressed in shorts and T-shirt. He gripped his yoga mat in one hand, and a rustic, wooden hiking stick in his other hand. I recognized him from the previous night as one of the members of the Desert Detectors.
“Good morning,” I said to him. The way he flinched, I could tell I startled him. “I’m Fortune. Um... Delilah. Olive’s niece. I met you last night at the debate.”
“Oh... Oh... That’s right. I’m Charles.” He extended a hand and we shook.
His reaction surprised me. Hmmm. Five-foot-six, 160 pounds, knobby knees. And those shoes. Vans. White background covered with dog faces.
Helium Throat had a cane, though it could have been a hiking stick. He also wore a pair of Vans on his feet.
“I feel terrible about Olive’s death,” he said.
“Thank you. You knew her well, then?”
“Oh yes, about ten years. We saw one another every week for our club meeting. And we’ve gone detecting together.”
“It was interesting, about that map she burned,” I said.
He nodded. “Yes. Well, I guess she felt a little paranoid about having it because everyone thought it was real.”
I nodded. “Do you believe she actually burned the one she found, though?”
He chewed his lip. “She said it was the one she found, so I believed her. Unless she told you otherwise. Or... you’ve found evidence to the contrary.”
I shook my head. “Nope. She never mentioned it, and I haven’t found one.”
“Then, I’d have to assume she burned the only map she had.”
Just then a man walked out of the clubhouse, stopping when he saw us. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to intrude. Charles, I forgot to ask you earlier. Could you decorate the clubhouse for my birthday celebration on the eighteenth?”
“Of course. Be happy to do it.”
“I’d like some streamers, a banner, and I’d like the ceiling covered in balloons,” the man said.
Charles shot a glance my way before averting his eyes to the ground. “Just leave me a note with what you’d like.”
“Will do.”
The man walked away. Charles kept his gaze to the ground.
“Balloons, huh? Why am I not surprised?”
He brought his eyes level with mine before quickly looking away. “I’m the park’s events coordinator.”
“I bet you’re particularly talented with helium.”
He took a deep breath, exhaling evenly, something he probably learned in yoga to relieve stress. “I really have to run along,” he said. “It was nice chatting with you.”
But I wasn’t through with him. “Who’s Henry? Is he the one who killed Olive?”
He stopped and turned to me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know what I think? I think you’re conflicted. You gave me this little tidbit, telling me to find out where Henry was. I think you want me to do what you’re too afraid to do. Is that it, Charles? I bet you have a damn good idea where Henry was, but you’re too chicken to do anything about it.”
If it had been me and someone called me chicken, I would have fought to prove I wasn’t. But Charles just looked back down at the ground.
“Where were you when Olive died?”
“I was on duty,” he said. “I have the eight-to-midnight shift on the security patrol. Before that, I had dinner at La Cucaracha Bar and Grill with my friends from the Desert Detectors.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I hope you enjoy your stay here. Again, my condolences. Olive was a wonderful woman.”
He turned and walked away.
“She deserves better, Charles.”
But this time he kept walking.