Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change (6 page)

“Sure,” she said. “I can wait. Are you going to let me know who it is and what happened or do I have to bribe your wife?”

“I’m afraid of the unknown cell phone ringing in my life, so I promise to tell you what I can.” He laughed and walked on down the road into the vineyard’s property.

It didn’t take much longer for more emergency vehicles to arrive. Polly backed out and turned onto the street so they could pass through. Two more vehicles from the sheriff’s department pulled in and she waved at Stu Decker as he walked past her truck. She called Aaron.

“Is that enough people? Can I leave now?” she asked when he answered his phone.

“Thank you, Polly. We’ve got it from here.”

“Do you know who it is yet?”

She heard him take a deep breath. “I told you I would let you know who it was. But you can’t say anything to anyone. Promise me that? We need to contact his family and talk to the boys.”

“The boys are in Omaha with Henry this morning. They had a meeting at six thirty. So, is it someone I know?”

“I doubt it, but he was associated with the winery. It was one of the fellas hired to care for the vineyard and make wine - Bruce Victor. Whoever killed him did a terrible job of covering things up. They must have wanted him to be found.”

“Was he killed here?” she asked.

“I’m not willing to say anything about that yet,” Aaron said. “Let me do some more work and the next time you can trap me, you can interrogate me. Does that sound fair?”

Polly laughed. “I guess I can’t ask for more than that. So, you won’t let me tell Henry?”

She heard him sigh in the background. “You make my life much too difficult, Polly Giller. Don’t tell Henry. Please?”

“He’s not going to like it.”

“I don’t want him saying something to the boys before I can talk to them.”

“How about if I wait to tell him until he gets back to Bellingwood? Or maybe when he’s on the road and driving back. He won’t be around the boys at that point.”

“Polly, just be careful, okay?”

“Got it. If he were my husband, you couldn’t make me keep this from him,” she teased.

Aaron laughed out loud. “If he were your husband, I’d stop worrying about getting phone calls from you informing me of the dead bodies you’ve found!”

“Thanks for that,” she said. “Remember, first chance I get, you are at
my
interrogation desk.”

“I know. I know. Now let me get to work.” She heard him giving directions to his deputies before he turned his phone off. She wasn’t sure why she had so much fun pressing his buttons.

“Okay, Obiwan. It’s time to get you back to Sycamore House. I have a lot of work ahead of me today.”

CHAPTER
SIX

“Ow!” Polly exclaimed as she pulled the hand truck up from the basement of the caretaker’s house at the hotel. She’d caught a heel on one of the steps and it nearly pulled her shoe off. Her phone rang. That had to be Henry. He could wait. The phone stopped ringing and then started again. Yep, Henry. By the time she got to the top of the steps it had stopped and started once more.

“Hello hot stuff,” she
said. She tucked it between her ear and shoulder and pushed the cart to the dumpster.

“Hello yourself. What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Polly lifted a box into the dumpster and said, “Just a second, let me finish this.”

She heard him yell, “No!” as she slipped the phone into her jacket pocket and heaved things into the dumpster.

“Are you still there?” she asked.

“Where in the hell else am I supposed to be? Now tell me what happened!”

She wheeled the cart back to the staircase and bounced it down the steps, then sat on a pile of wood. “Aaron says I can blame this one on Lydia, but I think I’ll blame it on you. If you hadn’t asked me to unlock the trailer, I would have been safely ensconced in the barn with my horses and donkeys. Instead, you have me out chasing down dead people.”

“Who did you find?”

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone yet.”

“Then tell me exactly what happened this morning.”

“Well, I drove in and unlocked the trailer like you asked and I let Obiwan out of the truck on the leash. There were some piles of brush and branches, but I didn’t think anything of them. However, he got close to one of them and started sniffing around and the next thing I knew, I was pulling branches off some poor guy. I called Aaron.”

“And you don’t know who it is?”

“Well, I do now, because I made Aaron tell me.”

“And you can’t tell me?”

“I’m not supposed to. Does that make me a bad girlfriend?”

He chuckled. “Not really. Is it anyone we know?”

“Well …” Polly paused. “I don’t know him, but you might. Henry, just come back and I’ll tell you everything.”

“I’m on my way right now.”

“How did the meeting go?”

“It was fine. The changes weren’t anything that he couldn’t have sent by email, but it’s over. Sometimes these guys just need to prove how important they are to a project.”

“Do the boys know that someone was found at the job site?” Polly asked.

“No, I didn’t know what to say about it, so I didn’t say anything at all. I figured the Sheriff would talk to them.”

“What are you going to do about work on the lodge?”

“Well, since I can’t, I guess I won’t worry about it. Aaron will let us in as soon as possible. I have a whole lot of people I need to put to work. Since we were starting tomorrow, it looks as if we’ll get more done at the hotel. How are you doing in the basement? Can I send some guys down to help you finish clearing it?”

“Oh Henry, yes please. I’m tired of hauling everything out of here one cart at a time.”

“None of the guys have offered to help?”

“Well, no. They’ve all got their own work to do. It’s cool. I said I would do this.”

“It’s not cool. None of them would expect to do that job by themselves, I don’t know why they think you’d want to. Nobody even offered?”

“It’s not a big deal, Henry. I’m not complaining.”

“Well, that’s just unacceptable. I’ll get someone down there.”

“I love you, Henry, but you don’t need to get worked up about this. They’re ripping plaster off ceilings and walls. I certainly don’t want to do that job. And it isn’t like I’m some weak woman.”

He let a small chuckle escape, “No, Polly. You aren’t weak. But, seriously, no one else there would work alone doing that job and it pisses me off that they are letting you. You’re the one who pays them and you’re my girlfriend.”

“You’re cute when you’re all manly and protective, but leave them alone. I’m fine.”

“I know you’re fine, but I still care. So, can I ask another huge favor? I promise this won’t involve any dead bodies.”

“That’s never a guarantee, you know,” she said, laughing. “What do you need?”

“I need help at the house. Dad is coming home in two days.”

“You’re afraid it won’t be clean enough for him?”

“I know it won’t be. Please?”

Polly laughed out loud. “Henry, you’re the person who cleans my apartment. I’ve never seen things messy at that house. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Do you think I should clean the drapes and rent a carpet cleaner?”

“Henry, no! This is your dad coming in, not your mom.”

“But she’ll ask him and he’ll tell her.”

“He’s a guy. They never pay attention to stuff like that.”

“I do.”

“I’ll help. I promise. If you want the drapes cleaned, we’ll do that. Whatever you want. We have more than a week before your mom comes. We can make it look better than it did when she left.”

She heard him breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Did your mom say anything about the state of the house at Christmas when they were here?”

“No.”

“Did she even imply that it wasn’t clean enough?”

“No.”

“Did she do any extra cleaning while she was here?”

“Not really. You’re telling me I worry too much.”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. We’ll clean whatever you want. But then you have to promise me that you’ll quit worrying about it. I like your mom. She’s not going to say anything and she knows how busy you are, especially since you’re asking your dad for help.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, pay attention to your driving. Are you coming straight to the hotel?”

“I suppose so, since I can’t get to the vineyard job site.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

“I love you, Polly.”

“I love you too. Drive safely.”

She set the phone down beside her and stretched. This had been a very strange day. She stacked another load and hauled the two wheeler up the steps and to the dumpster, then stood and watched as more official looking vehicles drove down the street to the vineyard. They were having a strange day, too. She didn’t know Bruce Victor, didn’t even know if he was from the area. She didn’t know if he had a wife or kids or if his parents were still alive.

Polly had faced enough death to realize that it was part of life, but this family was facing a huge loss tonight. She wondered if the boys were friends with him and what this would do to their plans for the winery.

Walking over to the first room where the guys were stripping
walls down to the frame, she knocked on the door, startling the lot of them. Ben Bowen pulled his face mask off and said, “Hey, what’s up? Do you need something?”

“No. I’m fine. I’m going home to get something to eat and let the dog out.”

“Cool. Let us know if you need anything.” He pulled the mask back over his mouth and nose and went back to work. Polly got into her truck and drove down the street toward the vineyard. Aaron’s SUV and two other vehicles were still there, but the emergency vehicles were gone. There was yellow tape stretched across the entrance. She chuckled. That wouldn’t stop the curious, but at least there wouldn’t be any cars driving in. She turned around and headed back to the highway.

Some might call it being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Polly wondered if there was some strange pull in her life. Coincidences drove her nuts. People died in a million ways every day, but in Bellingwood, she had to be the one to find them after they’d gone on. Maybe someday she’d write a book about the whole thing. She’d call herself the Dark Body Magnet. Hah. That was her super power. When everyone else was trying to figure out what it was they brought to the table, she could don a black cape with a Grim Reaper hood and …

Polly stopped at the corner to turn into her driveway and waited for two cars to drive past. And what? And nothing. All she knew was that if she was going to spend the next sixty years finding people after they had died, she needed to come to grips with it.

Her stomach came to attention when she opened the door from the garage to the main building. Rachel was cooking something wonderful. Polly knew she was a horrible mess. After her experience at the vineyard this morning, she’d spent time in the barn with the horses and donkeys and gone from there to the basement of the caretaker’s house. Maybe she’d just call Ben and ask him to take the cart back to the basement and close the place up. Then she could eat and take a long, hot shower. First, she had to see what was happening in the kitchen.

She poked her head around the corner and saw Rachel pulling pans of chicken breasts out of the oven.

“Hi there, it smells wonderful,” Polly said.

Rachel jumped a little and looked up at her, then grinned. “Sylvie wanted me to try a new recipe this afternoon. We’re catering a birthday party tonight. Do you want to taste it? I made plenty.”

“I’d love to!”

“I don’t have anything to go with it, just the chicken. Let me put it in a container for you.” She placed a chicken breast in one of their takeout containers, then spread a sauce made with crushed tomatoes on it and sprinkled a crumbly cheese mixture over the top. “It’s kind of a bruschetta chicken. Let me know what you think. I’m making Jeff taste it too.”

“I’ll let you know. Thank you! I’m starving.”

Polly took the container and ran upstairs. Obiwan and the cats were sitting at the end of her bed when she came into the room.

“Don’t look at me. I’m not sharing any of this.” She went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, then took out an apple and a container of cottage cheese. Cottage cheese went with anything. She grabbed a fork and sat down at the dining room table. The cats were already standing there and she looked at each of them, trying to catch their eyes.

“No. Get down.” When they refused to acknowledge her direction, she picked them up, one by one and put them on the floor. Luke attempted to return to the table, but after a second unceremonious push to the floor, he sat down to clean his belly, letting Polly know that he was unconcerned with her interference.

She opened her laptop and logged on, then took a bite of the chicken. Oh yes, that was perfect. Rachel was becoming quite a good cook. When she clicked to her email tab, her heart jumped into her throat. There was another email from “igotyou.” She had hoped that after the trouble last fall with broken windows in the kitchen and paint splattered over the front of Sycamore House, the person had gone away for good. There hadn’t been any other instances of vandalism since then and she could hardly believe the person was back.

Polly took a deep breath and opened the email.

Did you miss me pretty girl? I’d h
ate for you to forget about me.

She slammed the laptop closed and jumped up from her seat. Running out the front door and down the main steps to the office, she pulled up short when she got to Jeff’s office.

“Did you get another one?” she asked.

“Another what?”

“Another email from the person who vandalized Sycamore House last fall. I just opened one.”

Jeff clicked to his email and scanned through them. “Nope. I don’t see anything.”

“Check your spam folder. Please?”

He clicked through and opened the folder. “No. Nothing here.” He looked up at her. “What did it say?”

“It asked if I missed him and said that he didn’t want me to forget him. Why didn’t he email you?”

“I have no idea. Nothing has happened around here, though, has it?”

“I’ll call Eliseo, but I haven’t noticed anything. Oh Jeff, I can hardly breathe.”

“I understand that. I wonder why he waited so long.”

She dropped into a chair and tears filled her eyes. “You know I just want to say the worst swear words ever right now, don’t you? I want to say them all in a row over and over.”

“I’m sorry.”