All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (22 page)

"Yes,
ma'am
." he
responded.

"You can call me Polly or Miss Giller. You can
call me Miss Polly or even hey you, but will you please stop calling me ma'am? It
makes me feel old and I'm only ten or twelve years older than you."

"But,
ma'am, some of my teachers in high school were
only ten years older than me. You are old!" He
giggled and ducked behind the table filled with supplies. "Now, you
wouldn't want to make a mess in here by knocking the work table over, would
you?" he asked. "Jerry would kill us and then there wouldn't be
anyone to do your electricity."

Polly walked over to him. He stood up and faced her. "Don't
ma'am me," she said and pushed the cup of coffee so it splashed down the
side of his jeans. As she turned away, she heard Doug laughing quietly.

"Hey!" Billy said, "That's wet! And
hot! Hey! And now I don't have any coffee!"

By the time she got to the front door, she heard him
muttering at his friend, who continued to laugh.

Polly started to push the doors shut when she noticed
the lock was scratched up. She looked a little more closely and decided she
didn't remember it looking like that the day before when the locksmith left.

Well, that was creepy. She thought about it for a
minute, and then looked at her watch. It was only 6:45 in the morning. She
wondered if it had been Doug and Billy, so she went back into the auditorium. Billy
looked up at her and wrinkled his nose. Doug grinned.

"Guys, did you try to unlock the door this
morning?" she asked.

They looked at each other and said, "No. It was
unlocked when we got here."

"But, you didn't try to stick your key in the
lock?" she pressed.

"No, I don't think Doug even thought about it. He
reached for the handle and opened the door. I have the key," Billy said
and reached into the wet pocket. "It's a little wet, though," and
smirked at her.

"Alright, I was only checking. You might as well
give me the key. I changed the locks yesterday." she said.

"Really?
Why?" Doug asked.

"I think someone stole a key and now I'm worried
they tried to use it to get in last night."

Both stopped what they were doing. "What?"

"Oh, don't worry. They couldn't, but I'm a little
freaked out by it."

Billy handed her the key, then said quietly, "I'm
sorry for calling you old. I deserved the spill."

"Yes, you did," she said and took the key
from him. Then, she punched him lightly in his arm. "I might have to hire
you two guys to be my night watchmen!"

"Oh, that would be so cool!" Doug said. "We'd
bring our sleeping bags and eat your food and camp out here. We'd totally do
that!"

Billy nodded. "I'd bring my dog. He's a great
dog. He'd let us know if anyone tried to get in."

Polly laughed. "Well, if I decide I'm too wimpy
to stay here by myself, I'll let you know. Thanks guys." She turned away
to walk back out. "I mean it. Thanks."

Jerry Randall was getting out of his truck as she walk
ed
back to the
front door. "I see my boys are already here. Are they doing alright?"

"They're getting set up," she said. He
grabbed tools from the bed of his truck and walked toward her.

"Jerry?" she said.

"Yes?"

"I think I had a key stolen from the newel post
and someone tried to get in last night." His face took on a look of shock.
"Anyway," she went on, "I had a locksmith here and he changed
the lock yesterday. Your key won't work any longer. I have the one Billy was
going to use and need to give you a new one."

"Are you doing alright?" he asked. "This
is a lot of crazy stuff happening here at the school. It's been quiet for
twenty years and now there are bodies and stolen keys.
Anything
else?"

"Oh, you won’t even believe it," she said. "We
found an old boarded up root cellar yesterday. It looks like someone had been
stealing things from high school kids for more than forty years and storing it
down there."

"What!" he exclaimed. "Polly, you've
got some serious courage, sticking around through this."

She laughed. "I'm not sure whether it's courage
or stupidity or sheer bull-headedness. I guess I've decided this place is mine
and it's going to stay that way."

"Here, let me set these things down and start the
boys moving. I'll be right back." As he walked into the auditorium, Polly
saw Henry pull up in his truck. He waved to her as he got out,
then
walked across the parking lot toward her. Jerry and
he met at the door.

"Good, you're both here at once," Polly
said. "I need your old key, Henry." He looked at her with some
confusion.

"I think someone stole one out of my newel post
... and," she pointed to the locks on the doors, "I think that person
tried to get in last night. Fortunately, Aaron Merritt was here yesterday when
I discovered it and called in a locksmith.
So, new keys!"

She handed one to Jerry and held one out to Henry, who
dug around in his pocket, then said, "Just a second." He trotted back
to his truck and jumped in, digging around in the console. "Got it!"
she heard. He came back and put it into her hand, taking the new key. "Sorry
about that, I never seem to need it. You're always here." He jam
med the key down in his jeans, then said,
"What do you mean someone tried to get in last
night?"

"Well, that's all I can think. I haven't called
the locksmith." She looked at her watch. "7:15 in the morning seems a
bit rude. But, I'll double check with him to make sure it wasn't all scratched
up when he left." The door is pretty new and shouldn't look like this,
should it?" Polly looked at both of the men, who then bent over to inspect
the damage.

"You should call Merritt, too, Polly." Jerry
said. Looking at Henry, he said, "Did you know they found a secret room in
the basement yesterday, too?" he asked.

"Polly!" Henry exclaimed. "Are you sure
you want to stay here?"

"I guess I am now,” she responded. “
Hopefully, we're through the worst of it."

Aaron pulled up in his Ford Explorer. "Well, good
morning, all!" he said, walking towards them.

"We were just talking about you, Sheriff!" Henry
stuck his hand out. Aaron reached forward, took the hand,
then
patted him on the shoulder with his left hand.

"Were you!"
He shook Jerry's hand and nodded at Polly. "What
did I do?"

The two men looked at Polly, who said,
"Aaron, would you check out the locks on my door?
It looks like someone tried to use that key, but I don't know if I might be
crazy. Would Lance have damaged it when he rekeyed the locks?"

Aaron bent over to
check
out
the lock. "Hell no!" he
exclaimed. Then
he asked
. "Have any of you touched these?"

"Not the locks," Polly said. "I don't
think, anyway. Did either of you guys?"

They both shook their heads in the negative. She went
on, "I suppose Doug and Billy would have touched the handle trying to get
in this morning. They're in the auditorium."

"Alright.
This is
just
damned well enough!" Aaron declared. He stalked
back to his Explorer and pulled the radio out. Polly could hear him asking for
a team to come up. Then, he pulled his pho
ne
out and made another call.

When he came back to the steps, he didn't seem any
calmer.

"Polly, I don't know what is going on, but I do
NOT like the idea of you spending another night here alone until we figure out
what is going on."

Polly didn't figure
the two men on either side of her
were about to disagree with the sheriff, so they wouldn’t be any help.

"
Ummm
,
Aaron.
Whoever it was didn't get
in last night because we changed the locks. I'm tired of living everywhere but
my home."

Henry st
arted to
interrupt, "But, Polly …
"
was all
he got
out before she shushed him.

"I know that in every murder mystery where the
poor, stupid girl says she's going to be brave and stay in her own place
,
she ends up
with her throat slit, but please. The bodies in the bathroom were there before
I got here and the crates in the basement were here a long time before that. I’ll
make sure the doors are locked
and leave
the outside lights on,
"
she pleaded.

Doug and Billy had come into the hallway and were
listening.

"Sheriff, we told her we would stay here. We'll
camp out for a while. Billy will even bring Big Jack!"

The sheriff shook his head. "I don't like it. And
Lydia isn't going to like either." He gave Polly a sideways glance, hoping
that mentioning his wife might change her response.

"Yeah," she laughed. "That's not fair. But,
I don't care if the boys stay here with me. They can be first on the firing
line."

The two boys grinned at each other. "Cool!"
Billy said. "Camping and I don't even need a tent!"

Polly shook her head as Jerry strode in to the
auditorium with his apprentices following.

Henry said, "I've got people coming in today to
get the radiant floor laid upstairs. They'll be here around eight." He
turned to the sheriff, "Excuse me, I'm going to head up and start getting
things together. Talk to you later, Sheriff. Don't let her be stupid, okay?"

"Got it.
I'll do what I can, and if I can't do anything, I'll
sic the girls on her." Aaron winked at Henry.

"I'm not happy about this, Polly," he said
when Henry was gone. "We don't know who stole that key or why they want to
get back in the building."

"Maybe the boys will find out tonight if that
person tries again!" She laughed.

"Polly, it’s not funny,” he scolded.

"I know. I'm not going to get too excited about
this
, though
. Everything happened years ago. We don't even know if
the killer still lives around here. And that stuff downstairs isn't a big deal.
Do you think the person who
collected
those things is
the
killer?"
she asked him.

"No, you're right about that. I can't imagine
someone with that kind of a cache would move to murder, but I also don't know
what he or she would do knowing you're in here if they could find a way to gain
access to it." Aaron responded.
"I don't like it, Polly." he said again.

"I know, Aaron. But do you not like it enough to
force me into a different decision?" she asked.

He shook his head in frustration.
"Probably
not."

Cars began to pull into the parking lot.

"Well," he said, "It looks like DCI is
back to work upstairs and there are some of my boys. We're going to make a
decision about the crates in the basement. I'll talk to you about that later,
alright?"

"Thanks, Aaron. I'
m going to be fine. I promise,” she assured him.

"First of all, Polly, It’s me who is supposed to
be telling you things are going to be fine, not the other way around." He
surprised her by hugging her. "And if something were to happen to you,
even if only a scratch, my life wouldn't be fit to be lived, trust me."

With that, he walked
out
to
begin
directing
all of the police activity in her crazy schoolhouse.

Polly turned around, walked back into the kitchen, put
the coffee pot on the counter and pulled trays of cookies out of the
refrigerator and set them out with napkins and cups. This wouldn't be the first
pot of coffee made today. Then, she filled her mug, sa
t down at the table and sighed.