All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (9 page)

"It's a date. I'll call you," Polly said.

"Well, Adele," said Lydia. "It looks
like you're the winner!" and she pulled out a beautiful satin, purple robe
with a hot pink sash. All of the ladies laughed and then oohed and
aahed
over the robe.

Since
Adele was
one of the
women who was heading home
for
the night, Polly gave her a quick hug before
they
all
left
by the back door.

When they were gone, Lydia said, "I can put a
movie in, or you
can
all go to bed. Most of you know where the bedrooms are
upstairs. Anybody who wants to crash on the sofas down here
is
welcome to do
so
.
No one has to worry about cleaning
things
up. From here on out, you can do whatever you like
and tomorrow morning there will be coffee and cinnamon rolls at the bar."

A few more
women,
who decided
their own beds sounded like a good idea, said their good-byes
. Several went upstairs and crashed
in bed
s
and still
others snuggled into the sofas and recliners in the basement. Polly stayed
awake
for a
while longer, talking with some of the women and before she knew it, she saw
sunlight.

She tiptoed over
to
the bar where Lydia and Beryl were setting coffee and breakfast pastries out
and whispered, "Do you ever sleep
?"

Beryl laughed, "Don't kid
yourself
,
tootsie pop. When you are gone, Lydia will sleep the rest of the day. That
woman prowls around at all hours of the night and always seems to find plenty
of time to sleep."

Lydia poked her friend's arm, "It's that whole
menopause thing. I figured I didn't need to fight it, just roll with it. It
keeps everyone around me happier."

"Here, Polly, have coffee. You might need it. You're
looking a little ragged."

"Well, I did have …
how many was it, Beryl? Three martinis." she said. Then, she
blinked her eyes. "And my head hurts."

"Polly, I know you're pooped and you have a big
week ahead of you. Drink your coffee and Beryl will take you home. She should
be able to get
there without getting too
lost. I'll get everyone else on their way. And then, check your email later, th
e
pictures
will
show up."

"
That
sounds wonderful," Polly said. "Lydia, I
don't know how to thank you for last night. It
has to be
one of my top ten
extraordinary life experiences
! You ar
e a wonderful, wonderful friend.
"
S
he reached out to hug the woman. "I don't know
how to say thank you for everything."

"There is no need, honey. I love doing this stuff
and having someone new around to appreciate
it
makes it
that much more fun for me! Now
go home and rest up for your week. I'll check on you later."

Polly and Beryl went back down the hallway and found
not one, but two laundry baskets filled with her
clean, neatly folded clothes
. Beryl
picked one up and
before Polly could
protest,
said, "Just be quiet. If
she didn't have people around to
take
care of
, she wouldn't know what to do
with herself.
Lydia Merritt
has more energy than she knows what to do with and
her dear, sweet husband spoils her rotten. She has to turn
it
around on
everyone else so he doesn't turn into a marshmallow. T
ake the basket and thank her later."

Polly picked up
a
basket and
her
overnight bag and followed Beryl to her car.

Lydia was right; she did want to go back to sleep, so
after hauling
the laundry upstairs,
she
left it at the end of the bed
, dropped in
and
promptly fell asleep.

Despite a building full of people,
Monday morning found
Polly in the basement looking through boxes for heavier blankets for
her bed when she heard a crash
and then a
very masculine screech
. She ran up the
steps to the main level to find everyone else heading
to the second floor
.
She followed the crowd and when she got upstairs, the activity was in the old
girl's bathroom. Doug Randall was limping out, his hair and clothing filled
with plaster dust. Jerry Allen was right behind him with his hand on his back.

"Ok
ay
, buddy. Breathe. Just breathe."

"Did you see that?" Doug asked. "Did
you see that? There were bones and skulls!"

Polly pushed through the people standing around.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Bones.
And skulls." H
e took a breath.
"In the ceiling!"

Polly cocked her head and looked
at
Jerry
quizzically
.
"In the ceiling?
I
thought it was concrete and they were going to drop a new one to hold the
infrastructure."

Jerry shook his head. "So did
I
. Doug must
have pushed in the right place, because what we thought was concrete wasn't at
all. It was dry wall made to look like concrete. Someone dropped that ceiling
years ago."

Doug sat down on the floor.
"Bones.
And skulls." he said again.

Polly tried to step past Doug and Jerry to get into
the bathroom. She wanted to see what in the world had happened.

Jerry stopped her. "Are you sure you want to see
this?"

"I think I need to!
" she said.

He let her through and followed her back into the
bathroom. The ceiling had taken a beating when Doug pulled his hand back out of
the drywall. It looked as if he had grabbed
the
ceiling
to maintain his footing on the
ladder and pulled an entire section down on top of him. He was absolutely
right. Two skulls had fallen out of the ceiling onto the floor
,
as well as a
number of bones. Polly saw there were books and clothing as well. She started
to step further in, but Jerry stopped her again.

"We need to call the police. You shouldn't
disturb anything." he said.

"Right.
Right.
Alright.
You're right." She used her phone to snap
pictures of the room, the floor and the mess as well as the ceiling. "I
wonder if the other bathroom's ceiling is this low," she said out loud.

"That's a good question. I can't believe no one
ever noticed this." Jerry said.

"I suppose the only person who might
have noticed it
would have been the custodian." Polly mused, and then said, "Who are
these people and what are they doing here?"

"We aren't going to know anything more until the
police show up and start investigating," he said. "Do you want to
call them or should I?"

"Oh. Yes. That." Polly walked back out into
the main hall. "I'll call them. Will you take care of making sure no one
else goes in there and messes things up?"

She looked at her phone. In all of her life, she'd
never had to call the police. Should she call 9-1-1 or contact the police
department. And which police department handled something like this. She walked
over to the top step and sat down.

Then, she realized she wasn't thinking straight at all
and dialed the number of the one person who could
help her
.

"Hello, dear.
How are you today?" said Lydia when she answered
the phone.

"Lydia, I need your husband. How can I reach
him?" Polly asked.

"What? You need Aaron? Whatever for?
Are you alright?
Did someone break in and steal something?"

"No, Lydia. Doug Randall broke my ceiling and two
skeletons fell out on the floor," Polly said.

"Well, leave it to Doug. Wait, did you say
skeletons? Are they real?" Lydia gasped.

"I don't know anything other than that there are
two skeletons in my upstairs bathroom and I think I need Aaron as quickly as
possible." Polly's body shook as a small shiver passed through her.

"Don't worry," said Lydia. "I'll call
him and get him over there immediately. Tell everyone to stay away from it. I
know those boys and they're going to think this is fascinating!"

"Fascinating.
Yeah. That's exactly what I thought," Polly
sighed. "Thanks Lydia. I'll talk to you later."

She pressed the 'end' button on her phone and turned
around. Everyone was still standing around, talking quietly about what was in
the bathroom. Doug wasn't paying any attention to the conversations taking
place over his head, he just sat there.

Polly stood up. "Jerry?"

"Yes, Polly." he responded.

"I think Doug might be in shock. I know I'm a
little shook up. But, he might need to be distracted or something. Would you
send someone down
stairs
for something hot to drink for him and some sugar? I
know there is plenty out on the table." Polly had taken to putting baked
goods on the kitchen table so the guys who were working could have snacks with
their coffee. She figured she was spoiling them, but they certainly didn't mind
eating the sweet stuff and she was glad they kept showing up and working.

One of the other electrician's apprentices, she
thought it must have been Billy of the lost power stapler, took heed of Jerry's
nod and started down the steps. Then, he looked at Polly. "Can I bring you
something too?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. "Coffee would be
great."

She watched as another man followed him down the
steps. In her shock she couldn’t remember his name. Oh yeah, it was Marvin. He
was one of the guys who spent a lot of time in the kitchen making sure the
coffee pot was full. He and Billy could make sure there was coffee coming.

Polly sat back down on the step to wait for Aaron
Merritt to show up. She was a little ashamed that her next thought was about
how this was going to mess up her work schedule. She
just
knew they'd
be investigating for weeks and wouldn't let any work continue. Then, her
subsequent
thought was about whether or not they would let her stay in the building.

"Damn," she said out loud.

"Ma'am?" said one of the workmen
, Leroy,
who
heard it.
Even with the
distraction, it occurred to her to be proud that
she’d remembered two names today.

"Oh, sorry," she said.
"Just
thinking out loud."

“Are you sure you’re alright
?” he
asked
again.

“I’m sure. A little
shook up is all.”

She was going to have to find a place to stay. There
was no way
they would
let her stay here while
the investigators were
in and out,
was there
?

"Breathe, Giller. Just wait until Sheriff Merritt
shows up. Then you can ask questions." She muttered her words quietly
under her breath, looking around to see if anyone heard her. Leroy was still
standing there watching her, but he turned around and began talking to someone
else

Billy came back up the
steps
with a cup of coffee and
some cookies. She took
the
cup from him and he put a cookie with a napkin in her
hand. "I'll bet this will help you too, ma'am," he said and smiled a
sweet little boy smile.