Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 04 - Awkward Moments (6 page)

Chapter Ten

Chris was gone for quite a while, and the diner cleared out. Essie brought us complimentary cups of coffee, along with a hot chocolate for Mikey.

Seating herself in Chris’s spot, she said, “You know, Stu
, this town’s gonna go berserk again. You remember what happened when Eddie found just that one gold coin.”

“I know, Essie. I dread the gold fever storm that’s coming.”

“Are you sure they’re going to come out to the farmhouse to look for the treasure?” I asked.

Stu looked me in the eyes. “You can bet on it, Pamela.”

I glanced at my watch before looking at Mikey. He was beginning to droop and rested his head on his hands, on the table. “It’s getting late. We need to take Mikey back to the farmhouse so he can get some sleep. After listening to you two, I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a busy day.” My gaze swept across both Stu and Essie.

Stu shoved his chair away from the table.
“It is late. I need to go back to the store and close up for the night. We usually close at eight o’clock on Sundays, and it’s already eight-thirty.” He picked up the check Essie had left on the table.

I took it out of his hand. “This dinner is on us.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“You took time away from your store to tell us the old Henry story. Yes, I’m sure.”

He stood and reached out to shake my hand. “I like you and your family. I hope the crazies in this town don’t drive you folks away. Now I’d better get back and let Adele go home while I close the store.”

He left
, and Essie said, “I’d better get Charlie to help me clean these tables. Nobody’s going to do it for us.” She was smiling and I realized it wasn’t as much of a chore as one would think. She liked what she was doing. I knew the feeling. First she walked over and turned the Open sign around so it read Closed.

I walked back to the kitchen and stuck my head through the open doorway. “Chris, we need to take Mikey home and get him to bed. He’s falling asleep at the table.”

“Sorry, cookie. Joe and I got carried away talking about the restaurant business.”

The two men shook hands, we paid Essie for the dinners, and we headed home. It had been a very long day.

When we arrived back at the farmhouse, I let the dogs out to do their business while I tucked Mikey in for the night. I knew it wouldn’t be long until he wouldn’t want me hovering over him. He was so sleepy he never said a word, and I heard him utter a small snort as I left his bedroom. He was already sound asleep.

Chris and I sat at the kitchen table and talked for a while before going to bed.

“Stu was wrong about Joe. He was more than happy to give me hints about his recipes. Well, Stu was right about one thing. Joe doesn’t actually use recipes. He just has a feel for his cooking. Anyway, he was excited that his food might be served at a big Los Angeles restaurant.”

I smiled. “I’m glad you could make his day.”

“Well, babe, at least this time we didn’t find a body with a mystery attached to it. We don’t have to lift a finger.”

“True. There’s no mystery here except where the gold and silver
are buried. We can enjoy the rest of our vacation in peace.”

After a little more chit chat, we went
to bed. The clock said it was nine-thirty, but it felt like midnight.

“I love you, Bogey Man,” I said.

“Thank you,” he replied.

I laughed. “Thank you? That’s
all
you have to say?”

He rolled over and snuggled up to me. “I love you, too.”

I laid there for a few minutes, reveling in our love. Uh huh. That is, until he began to snore. Gently moving his arm from on top of me, I rolled over and soon fell asleep.

~ * ~

Something woke me and I glanced at the clock. It was close to three o’clock in the morning. I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them and looking around, wondering what had awakened me. I heard the dogs whining.

Then I heard yelling. “
Get the hell off my property!
”

Sherlock and Watson began frantically barking. Someone had invaded what they’d already claimed as their space.

I shook Chris’s arm. “Wake up, Chris. Someone’s out in the yard and he’s yelling.”

He didn’t respond so I shook
him a little harder and repeated my comment.

He
rolled over and opened sleepy eyes. “Huh? What’re the dogs barking at?”

Throwing off the covers, I climbed out of bed.
“Whoever‘s out in the yard.”

“
I said get the hell out of here. This is private property.
” The man yelled again and the dogs went wild.

Chris jumped out of bed.
I went to check on Mikey while Chris stuck his head out the window. “
What’s going on out there?
”

“
There are people out here digging up my yard
,” someone yelled. “
You tell
me
what’s going on
.”

“
Bill? Is that you
?” Chris headed for the front door.

Uh oh
, I thought. Chris’s brother had arrived to find, apparently, gold diggers loitering around the property. Well, they weren’t really loitering from the sounds of it. I could hear what sounded like shovels being tossed into the back of trucks. Trucks? Plural? Engines were started and vehicles were leaving the property.

Mikey was sleeping through it all.
The dogs had followed Chris out the door and they were barking with energy I didn’t know they had.

I ran back to the bedroom and grabbed a robe, soon following Chris out the front door with the screen door screeching and banging behind me.

Chris stood next to his brother, watching the taillights of vehicles disappearing down the dirt drive, past all the cottonwood trees. Tires squealed when they moved from dirt to the asphalt highway.

The dogs barked their warning not to come back. Yeah, Sherlock and Watson would lick the interlopers to death. All bark and no bite.

Bill turned a look of fury on Chris, who rocked back on his heels and pulled on his ear lobe, trying to look Bogey tough.

“Chris,” I said, “that might work better if you got dressed.”

Looking down, he realized he was only wearing shorts. “Back in a minute,” he said, climbing the porch steps.

“What did you two get into this time?”
Bill asked. “Why were those people digging up my yard? Can’t you shut those mongrels up?”

“Now just a minute, pal,” I said. “
We
didn’t do anything, so get a grip. Chris told you about Mikey trying to bury a dead bird this morning when he called you. Who could possibly know he’d uncover a body and two bags of gold and silver?”

I turned to the dogs. “
Go lie down and be quiet!
” They obeyed my not-to-be-messed-with tone of voice, quietly climbing the steps of the porch. They didn’t lie down, but sat at attention, watching and guarding the property.

Bill
’s demeanor changed drastically and suddenly. “Gold? Did you say gold and silver?”

“Darn tootin’, I did. Let’s go inside and Chris and I will tell you the whole story. And leave the attitude out here in the yard.”
My own attitude wasn’t the best at this hour of the morning. We’d been peacefully sleeping until Bill began to yell at the trespassers.

“I’m not a child, Pamela, and –”

“Sorry, Bill. It’s been a very long day and your yelling didn’t help matters.” He was right, but only partially so. It
had
been a long day and I seemed to be taking my fatigue out on him.

I turned to walk back to the house and saw Chris standing on the porch, grinning. He looked at his brother. “
Bill, you don’t wanna mess with the cupcake in the early morning hours. Trust me.”

I smiled. Chris was right. “You know what? Why don’t we all get some sleep and we’ll talk in the morning? We’ve got a long story to tell you,
Bill, so let’s wait until we’re all rested. Besides, I don’t want to wake Mikey.”

“It was a long drive,” he said, almost grudgingly. “Let me grab a pillow and a blanket and I’ll sleep on the
sofa.”

“You’ve got three bedrooms here,” Chris said. “Why not take the other bedroom?”

“Because if any of those yokels come back, I want to be ready for them. Is that what they were digging for? Gold?”

“Yeah, you can count on it.” Chris waved in his brother’s general direction and headed back to our bedroom.

I followed him and the dogs wandered off to Mikey’s room.

“I can’t wait to hear
this
story.” Bill’s voice, although quiet, could be heard from our room.

Chapter Eleven

Mikey shook me awake and our day began.

He
whispered, trying not to awaken Chris. “Mom, what’s Uncle Bill doing here?” Apparently he’d already been out to the living room. “I let the dogs out and he’s sleeping on the sofa. I was quiet.”

With a sidelong glance at Chris, I motioned Mikey out to the hallway. “I’ll be out in a minute,” I whispered. “Why don’t you feed the dogs while you wait?”

Mikey nodded.

While I put on shorts and a tank top, I could hear the creak of the screen door when my son let the dogs in. He tried to keep the creak to a minimum by closing the door slowly, but that only made it worse. I could hear him shush the dogs, and in my mind I could see him taking hold of their collars and leading them to the kitchen for breakfast.

I met him there and sat at the kitchen table for a moment, watching the dogs inhale their food. Well, Sherlock inhaled while Watson delicately ate her share, glancing at her brother from time to time to make sure he wasn’t going to eat her food, too.

Mikey sat down across from me and I told him what had happened the night before.

“You mean to tell me I slept through all the excitement?” He slammed his small hand on the table. “I can’t believe what a dope I am. All that action and all I did was cut timber.”

“Cut timber?” I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, and then it hit me. “Oh, you mean you were sawing logs.”

“Yeah. I miss everything.” He sounded upset.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Ace. I don’t think that was the end of it.” Chris stood in the doorway,
listening to us.

“Your father’s probably right,” I said. “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure those people are going to be back.”

“Well, they’d better not bring their friends.” Bill stood next to Chris, and he still sounded angry.

I watched the two men as they entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. They sure didn’t look like brothers. Chris
, the younger of the two, was a slightly taller version of Humphrey Bogart. Bill looked like – Bill. Taller than Chris, and with blond hair and blue eyes, he didn’t resemble anyone in the Cross family. His mother, Judith, was a tiny little thing, although she did have blonde hair. Chris, Sr. was tall and lanky, rather average looking. Bill wasn’t lanky at all, but muscular. Of course, he did own a construction company, so he got plenty of exercise – and he was a rather handsome man.

“What can we do to help with breakfast?” Chris asked.

“Not a thing. Why don’t you all go outside and see if those people did much damage. I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.” I began pulling out pots and pans, ready to prepare an old-fashioned breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash browns.

Mikey got out the brea
d for toast before heading out to sit on the porch.

When everything was ready, I walked to the front door to call the men for breakfast. I heard
Bill calling to Chris, and I knew breakfast would be put on hold.

“
Chris, you’d better get over here. There’s another freakin’ body in this hole
.”

Mikey was sitting on the porch and he jumped up when he heard his uncle yelling.

“Mikey, in the house,” I said. “Now!”

“But,
Mom – ”

“No ‘buts’ young man. Get in here
now
.”

Opening the door, Mikey stomped into the house while I ran outside.

Creak, bang
.

The screen door announced us trading places.

Chris and I both ran to old Henry’s grave under the oak tree. Bill’s face was pale and he looked like he was ready to pass out. I knew better.

“What’s going on around here?” Bill said, adding frustration to his already angry mood.

Chris and I bent over and looked into the newly enlarged hole. Charlie, from the diner, stared up at us with vacant eyes.
There was blood on his head and one of his arms was twisted under his body. His silver hair was splayed out around his head, no longer pulled back into a ponytail. A shovel rested beside the hole in the ground.

Sherlock and Watson had positioned themselves, one on each side of the hole. Sherlock sniffed
near the hole, while Watson looked up at me with the saddest eyes I’d ever seen.

“Holy smoke,” I said.

“Pamela, take the dogs inside and call the police. It looks like Jimmy is about to earn his pay.” Chris stood next to his brother.

“Come,” I said to the dogs. Reluctantly, they each fell in line behind me after taking one last look back toward the grave.

Chris said something to his brother and I heard Bill reply, loudly, “What do you mean this is another awkward moment. I’d call it a lot more than awkward.”

Mikey met me at the door
.

“I need to call the police, so take the
Sherlock and Watson in the kitchen and close the door.”

He opened the door and let the dogs in, pointing toward the kitchen.

“Is there really another stiff, Mom?”

“Yes. And this one isn’t just bones, so I don’t want you to go out there under any circumstances. Now take the dogs to the kitchen.” I was close to tears. Why was my son being exposed to these things? We were supposed to be on vacation, celebrating
his adoption. Instead we had treasure hunters, dead bodies – old and new – and now Bill was here raising a ruckus.

Picking up the cell phone, I called 9-1-1 and explained what was happening. The voice at the other end of the line said, “Didn’t you find a body yesterday?”

“Yes,” I replied, “and now there’s another one.”

She cleared her throat and said she’d send someone right out. “And don’t touch anything. Stay away from the scene of the crime.”

“But the dogs… Never mind. We’ll be right here, waiting.”

I opened the door to the kitchen and almost tripped over Sherlock. He had his nose glued to the bottom of the door.

“Mikey, I want you to eat your breakfast while we’re outside.”

“But, Mom – ”

“Just do it!” I was at the end of a very short rope. It wasn’t even nine o’clock in the morning and things were already out of hand.

“Yes, ma’am.” Mike
y sat down at the table and began picking at his food. I knew the food was cold by that time, but it would keep him busy for a few minutes.

“I’ll be outside. If you need anything, call me from the window.
Do not
come outside!”

I joined Chris and
Bill at the gravesite. “The police are on their way. Do you think you could force some food down? Mikey is chomping at the bit in the kitchen.”

“We’ll go eat with him,” Chris said, giving his brother a very pointed look.

“I don’t think I can eat after seeing this,” Bill said, waving his hand at the body.

“Then you’ll sit and make polite conversation.” Chris gave
Bill a nudge.

“Michael doesn’t need – ”

“Mikey,” I said.