Barbecue and Bad News (26 page)

“Plenty. I don’t have that many people to share it with. I don’t really keep up with my people back home.”

A sad look crossed his face. “Miss Savannah, all families seem like a pain at times. Trust me, I know. But that’s just because they are part of us, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Isn’t that right?”

“Hadn’t really thought of it that way before, Jack, but you might have a point.”

“I’ve seen a lot in my years. I know I’m right. Family is everything. Without those ties, you lose who you are.”

Aunt Cathy hadn’t been there for her after the accident. She’d just shut down completely. Savannah’d never been able to forgive her for that, but now as she’d gotten older, she was beginning to realize that Aunt Cathy had been hurting too. In fact, they’d handled the grief in similar ways: Aunt Cathy shutting down and not leaving her house or talking to anyone, and Savannah leaving town and not ever letting anyone get close. Not so different when she looked back.

“Don’t ever let anything come between you and your family. Even if it does, it can always be repaired. Family will bring you through anything. Trust me on this.”

She smiled. Her situation was different, but it was nice of him to care enough to share his thoughts on the matter. “That sounds like the voice of experience. I bet things will be different around here without your sister.”

“Already are.” He leaned forward. “I really appreciate all you’re doing for us. I don’t know how we’re going to keep the paper going now that Bee isn’t coming back. I’m thinking about joining her in Carolina. We can do more together. Family should be together, and our grandniece can use our help.” He pushed some papers around the desk and sighed. “I don’t guess anyone would ever buy this little paper, though. It’s a hard decision.”

“Gosh, Jack. What would you do?”

“This paper has been our life for a long time, but we’re getting old, and you know these papers aren’t as relevant as they once were.”

“Everyone in this town reads your paper.”

He smiled. “That and a quarter will get ya a cup of Mac’s coffee.” He gave her a wink. “By the way. That article of yours got picked up by several other papers, including that fancy online paper.”

“Which fancy online paper?”

“The GetItNowNews one. I’m surprised they picked it up. They’re usually just all doom and gloom.”

Savannah squirmed. “They aren’t
all
doom and gloom.”

“Well, mostly. Trust me. I know about doom and gloom. We dished out our share of it for a while. Stirring up trouble sells papers. It’s all bad news or complaining. Unfortunately, it’s what people seem to want to hear. I guess, in a twisted way, it makes their life feel better.”

She’d never really thought of it that way. Did he know that she worked for GINN? There was no way he could possibly know that. Was there?

“I haven’t played that game in a long time. In my paper, we focus on the good stuff. I made a conscious decision to do something good. People can see the bad stuff on television. Heck, they’re dealing with enough troubles in the day-to-day trying to keep the bills paid. Especially after the plant closed last year. It’s tough times here . . . everywhere. I figure if I can tilt the news to the happy side, maybe I can force a little balance.”

“You do that intentionally?”

“Of course. Just like they probably do the opposite intentionally in that big online paper. It does sell, for some reason.”

“Yeah. I guess it does.” Just call her Bad News Van. All she’d written was snarky stuff for the past two years. She was probably one of the worst offenders. Was she bringing people up or just spinning them up . . . and was that really who she wanted to be?

Things looked so different from here in Adams Grove. She leaned against the counter. “So you don’t feel any sense of obligation to report all of the news as it comes?”

He laughed. “Not at all. It’s not like back in the day when your local paper was your only source of news. People watch television, listen to the radio, and they are on that Internet like it’s oxygen from their computers and fancy phones. My job is to keep them informed with what’s happening right here in our community. I think it’s my job too to make them feel good about where they live, and safe to a certain point.”

“Interesting.”

“Speaking of local events . . .” Jack reached for a green folder and opened it. He pulled a copy of an ad out and placed it in front of her. “One of our annual fund-raisers is tonight. You should come.”

“Do you need me to cover it for the paper?”

“That would be great if you could help, but I’ll be there. I can write it up. I just thought you might enjoy something like that. It’s always a lot of fun.”

“Actually, I’m already planning on going.”

His face lit up. “Great. I’ll see you there. Are you going with Connor and Carolanne?”

“No,” she said.

He raised a brow.

“I’m going with Scott Calvin.”

The smile stretched across the bony man’s face, making him look a little like a rubber toy being pulled beyond its capacity.

“What’s that look for?” Savannah suddenly felt like she was in over her head. Did he know something she didn’t?

“Nothing. He’s a great guy. Best dancer in town too. All the local girls will be jealous.”

“Jack, are you gossiping?” She’d never seen Jack like this. Normally, he was a man of few words.

“No, I’m not gossiping. I’m just sharing local news.”

“That is not news.”

“Sure it is. You ever looked up ‘news’ in the Webster’s?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Well, I have.” He tapped the side of his head. “Got it committed to memory too. News:
A
. A report of recent events. Check.
B
. Previously unknown information. Check.
C
. Something having a specified influence or effect.”

“Point taken.” Savannah smiled. “Check.”

“You’re going to have a good time with Scott. I’m glad you’re going. I’ll be taking pictures, but with you there with the sheriff, you’ll be narrowing down my picture opportunities.”

“Why is that? I brought back the camera exactly like it was when you gave it to me. I can take some pictures too, if you need my help.”

Jack shook his head. “Oh, this has nothing to do with the camera. I usually can fill up a page with pictures of Scott with half the ladies in town. They practically fight over getting to dance with our sheriff.”

“They can still dance with him. We’re just going as friends.”

Jack shook his head. “No. If it was friends, he’d have just told you about it. Ever since his dad died, he takes his momma dancing over at the Moose Lodge in Hale’s Vineyard once a month. He’s a good son to make the time to do that. Some people drive over there just to watch them dance, but he never takes anyone else. This is special.”

“Really? I can’t picture him dancing. Couldn’t really picture Daphne dancing either.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have the best seat in the house for it tonight.”

“I guess I will.” Only she wasn’t feeling so good about that. Making all the girls jealous was never a good spot to be in. Maybe she should fake a twisted ankle or something. A yoga injury?

“What else can I do for you this morning?” he asked.

“I was just wondering, do you have your old papers on microfiche or in some kind of an archive?”

He nodded. “Yeah. There was a grant last year. Ms. Huckaby down at the library helped us apply for it. All of our back issues are actually on CD and coded so you can search through them. It’s pretty easy to use. Why? Do you need to research something?”

“Yeah. If you don’t mind.”

Jack stepped down off his stool. It was the first time she’d ever seen him off that stool. The little guy wasn’t more than five feet standing. “I’ll show you where everything is. You can help yourself. It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for us.”

She followed him back to an office that had wall-to-wall dark pine paneling. She imagined this would be how it felt to be in a coffin. “It’s a little gloomy in here.”

Jack looked around. “I guess it is. Maybe that’s why I never come back here.”

“I don’t blame you.”

He pulled a stepladder from behind the door and climbed it to reach a cabinet. Inside were six boxes of archives. Each was labeled with the years it contained. “You can take some back to your apartment as long as you promise to bring them back.”

“That would be great. I’ll be careful.”

“We have an offsite copy of them, so it’s not like it’s the only copy, but I know you’ll take the right care with them.”

“Thanks for trusting in me, Jack.”

“That’s what neighbors do.” He smiled gently. “You belong here in this town, Savannah.”

It was so simple for him to say, and so welcoming to hear.

He helped her bag up the years she’d asked about, and she felt empowered armed with that local information and her access to the GINN database. If there was something about Frank Gotorow that would help decipher those images in the mural, she would find it.

She
couldn’t get back to her apartment fast enough. She sat on the couch and took the top copy off the stack of papers Jack had given her. She’d sent him a couple of pictures to choose from. She was glad that he’d picked her favorite one. Scott looked handsome in it. She tried to picture him two-stepping or shagging, even ballroom dancing, but not one image made its way to her head. She’d just have to wait and see what a good dancer looked like tonight.

But not until after she got to the bottom of what was going on with that mural. She was convinced there was a story there. It could be her big break. This was the kind of story she’d always dreamed of. Her heart raced a little as she thought about digging into the details and pulling the threads that would unravel the cloak of mystery.

She searched through the archives awhile and then made a list of the things she needed to pick up from the store to take to Scott’s tonight.

There was a certain amount of excitement about that, and she was looking forward to being in the kitchen with him, although it had been a long time since she’d done any real cooking and she hoped she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.

She made the quick trip down to the grocery. On her way back, Jenn was outside on the sidewalk in front of Happy Balance setting up a smoothie specials board.

“Hi, Jenn.”

“How’ve you been, Savannah? I was afraid I’d spooked you off after your last visit and all that talk about the paintings.”

“Quite the opposite. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Got time to come in for a smoothie? I’m testing out a couple new flavors this morning.”

“Sounds great, but I have some perishables in here.”

Jenn glanced at the Piggly Wiggly bags in Savannah’s hands. “No problem. Those bags will fit in my fridge.”

The two girls walked inside, and once the groceries were safely tucked into the refrigerator, Jenn pulled out a spiral notebook and plopped it on the bar in front of Savannah.

“While I’m mixing up a Banana Balance Blast for you, would you mind looking at the notes I’ve written up and seeing if there’s anything I’ve missed that you saw, or if you saw anything differently?”

Savannah laughed out loud. “You’re not going to believe this.” She pulled a notebook and her phone out of her purse. “I made a list too. Mine’s on my phone.”

“You and I are two of a kind, aren’t we?”

“I think we are!” Savannah took a pen from her purse and rewrote her notes, checking off the things that matched up and adding things that she’d remembered that Jenn hadn’t listed.

Jenn poured a murky brown smoothie into two glasses and took the chair next to Savannah. “Anything?”

“Maybe. Here,” she said, twisting her notebook page toward Jenn and then taking a sip of the drink. “I know this isn’t going to sound nice, but this drink is way better than it looks.”

“Yeah, the color is a little off-putting, but I refuse to use artificial colors.”

“I don’t blame you.” Savannah marked up the list with some stars and checkmarks. “Okay, here’s our combined list.”

“Let’s go look at the mural together.”

They abandoned the smoothies and marched into the men’s locker room.

After an hour of staring and lying in different positions around the room, then climbing on the benches and looking again, they’d gathered what they thought might be more information, but the truth was they were both beginning to feel like they were looking too hard.

“I don’t know what any of this means,” Jenn said.

“It’s frustrating. I just wanted to have some inkling of a direction to go in.”

Jenn shook her head. “Maybe there is no sense to be made of it.”

“I’ve been doing the police blotter report for the paper. Usually there’s not much to it, but last week there was an entry that Scott told me to take out. It was about a homeless guy telling people there was evil in a painting in the yoga studio.”

Jenn’s eyes widened. “Jelly. I told you about him.”

“Right. I bet he sees what we see.” Savannah put the top of her pen in her mouth and bit down on it. “Do you know how to find him?”

“I think so. I mean, it’s common knowledge that he stays near the creek off of the jogging path in the park. Rumor has it that he’s nuts for jellybeans, so I’d buy him bags of them from the dollar store. He’s really a sweet old man. Do you think we should go talk to him?”

“He mi-might be able to fill in some blanks for us.” Savannah stammered a little. “I guess I need to tell you that Scott told me to leave this alone. If he finds out he might be mad.” She was treading on thin ice. She’d already kept one secret from him, but this one was different. This story could change her career, set it on a whole new path, and this might even help him too.

Jenn shrugged. “Who cares? It’s in my studio. It’s my information to deal with.”

“I just thought you should know.”

“We can go tomorrow. Why don’t you come by and take the afternoon class, then when I close up for the day we’ll go over to the park?”

Savannah gave her a hug. “I think we’re doing the right thing. I don’t know why, I just do.”