Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3) (5 page)

"Miss Giller, do you recognize this?" He held out a piece of concrete. Polly reached out to touch it and he pulled it back.

"Umm, it looks like the chunk of concrete Harry found last week. He said it had broken off the step back there. I'd totally forgotten about it. He was going to leave it on the desk in the front office so I could find someone to fix it. Why do you have it?"

"Let's go inside. I'd like to ask you a few questions if I could, Miss Giller."

"Sure. Come on in. I've got coffee and muffins."

"Thank you, but maybe later. For now, I'd like to talk with you."

Polly led them into office when they got back inside. Ken Wallers motioned for her to take her seat at the desk and he sat across from her. Henry stood in the doorway.

"Miss Giller, was Harry Bern a good employee?"

"He was fine. He did a good job here."

"Did you have any issues with him as an employee?"

Polly paused and thought for a moment, "Not as a worker. He really was very good at what he did. I suppose he annoyed me with his whining and complaining about things, but that didn't stop him from doing his job."

"You've been through several employees in the last two months. Is this a difficult job?"

"No, I wouldn't think so. Two of the people who left went on to different jobs, one left to go to Florida. The first person I attempted to hire for the position, though, wasn't suited to it and I had to ask him to leave the property."

"Was that Shawn Wesley?" he asked.

"It was. He insulted Jeff, called me a bitch and didn't bother to show up to work on time. While he was here, he went outside to smoke every ten minutes. I'm fairly certain he was high when I finally asked him to leave. I gave him twenty bucks and ordered him off the property."

Ken Wallers visibly relaxed in his chair. "Thank you. That's what I needed to hear from you."

"What do you mean? Did he have something to do with Harry's death?" Polly asked.

"No, but he came in on Friday to tell me that you had threatened him and that we should investigate you since one of your employees had been murdered."

"I threatened him? Well, that infuriates me," Polly growled.

"I know, I know. We've dealt with him before. That wasn't the only thing that brought me over here, though."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"This is what was used to murder Harry." He held up the piece of concrete. "It is from your back step. Harry was in the middle of writing up a note to you, telling you where he had found it, what the condition of the concrete was and what he thought you should do to get it fixed."

"And he would have had it on my desk before I got into my office the next morning," Polly smiled. "The man drove me batty, but he took good care of this place."

"Do you have any idea who did this or why?" Henry asked.

"Not yet," Ken responded, turning to look back at Henry. "We still don't know much about the man, but we'll get there." He stood up to leave. "I'm sorry to have bothered you this morning, but I needed to hear from you."

"That's fine. I'm sorry it was my concrete that was used to kill him and I'm sorry that Shawn Wesley involved you."

"Like I said," Ken replied, "We've dealt with him before. He complains about a lot of people. Why he thinks it's ever a good idea to show up at the police station, I'll never know. One of these days we'll catch him with all of those drugs and he'll end up in jail, but until then, we let him show up and tell us what's on his mind."

He reached out to shake Polly's hand and then Henry's. "I'll let you know when we get more information."

Polly dropped back into her seat after she saw him go out the front door. "Crap! He scared me to death! I can't believe he thought that I might have killed Harry Bern."

"He really didn't think that, Polly. He just needed to hear it from you."

"But for a moment, I was a suspect in someone's death! That completely freaks me out." She sat forward and braced herself on the desk.

Henry laughed, "It's never dull around you, Pol. Never dull."

"It was dull while you were in Arizona! I promise!"

"Well, I'm back now and the first morning I'm at work, the police are here asking you questions about a murder. It's another dead body, Polly. You found another dead body."

"Oh, don't remind me," she sighed. "By the way, who won the pool at the Elevator with this one?"

"It wasn't me. I'll have to stop in there some time and see who had 'murdered employee.'"

"Oh sheesh," she said and dropped her head onto her arms. She looked up through her eyelashes. "How am I ever going to live this down?"

"I don't know, Pol," he laughed. "I'm going to enjoy watching it all happen, though."

"Hey! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I'm always on your side, but I've never had this much fun watching someone get themselves in so much trouble."

Polly muttered, "They call that
schadenfreude
."

"I'm sorry, what?" Henry asked.

"
Schadenfreude
. Glee at someone else's misfortune."

"Then I'm planning to enjoy great amounts of
schadenfreude
because you tend to get into the middle of the craziest things!"

Polly saw the front door open and two of her favorite people walk in. Doug waved at her through the window and they came into her office.

"Hey, Henry, welcome back to Iowa. We thought maybe Polly had scared you off for good!" Doug said as he shook Henry's hand. He sat down in the other chair across from her desk and Billy stepped in and shook Henry's hand as well.

"What's up?" Polly asked.

"What's up with you? I saw Chief Wallers driving away from here. Is it about you finding your janitor's dead body?" Doug asked.

Polly nodded, "Yeah. It was. Whoever did it beaned him with a chunk of concrete from my back step."

"Cool!" Billy said. "You get involved in the best stuff around here."

"Cool? That’s not exactly the word I'd use for this," Polly said sarcastically. "Someone tried to point the finger at me for killing the poor guy."

"Really? That's awesome!" Doug said.

"Why is that awesome?" Henry asked.

"Because everyone knows Polly would never do anything like that and it's way cool that she gets herself involved in these things, don't you think?"

"Again with the cool," Polly said, sighing and shaking her head. "I’m still not ready to use that word. So what are you two up to?"

"We're supposed to be getting coffee and then heading to another work site over at Beeman's place, but we had a few minutes and wanted to stop in and ask if we could use the computer room this Friday night. I know you probably have a wedding, but we'll come in the side door and stay out of everyone's way. We'll bring in our own food and drink and they won't even know we're here."

"I don't see why that wouldn't work," Polly responded.

"I know you have those little dudes here after school. Since they'll be here until their mom is done with the wedding, they can come play with us," Billy said.

Polly smiled. "You are good guys. They will love that. I'll tell them this afternoon and talk to their mom about it as well. Do they need anything?"

"Can one of them use your laptop?" Doug asked. "We've got one, but ..."

"I will have something here for you by Friday. Thanks."

"So, since we're supposed to be getting coffee, can we raid your pot?"

"I didn't turn the big pot on this morning, but there's definitely coffee upstairs in my apartment. Go on up, I'm sure the animals would love to see you."

"Cool!" Billy said. "Obiwan is getting so big!"

The boys left and Henry grinned at her. "You were made for a big family, weren't you, Polly."

"Who knew?" she laughed.

You always paid attention to sirens when living in a small town. Polly had stopped when she lived in Boston, but since she had moved back to Iowa, a siren generally impacted someone she knew. If it was important, she was confident Lydia or Andy would let her know what was going on. She was outside with Obiwan when she heard sirens screaming through town and in a moment her phone rang. It was Lydia.

"Polly. Beryl's hurt. They're rushing her to Des Moines."

"What happened?" Polly asked. She stopped in her tracks and Obiwan stopped with her.

Lydia's voice was breaking. "There was an explosion in her studio. Deena was there; she spends Tuesday afternoons there as part of a work study program. Anyway, she had gone into the house to get some tea and when it happened, she called 9-1-1 and ran back out. Beryl had managed to crawl outside after being hit with flying debris."

"Have you called Andy?"

"I can't reach her. I didn't want to leave a voice mail telling her about this. I don't know what to do."

Calm, steady Lydia relied on her friends and family to keep her anchored and Polly knew this was a lot for her to manage. She began walking back toward the front door of Sycamore House.

"How about Aaron? Is he around?"

"He's the one who called me, but he isn't here yet. Polly, should I go to Des Moines?"

"I'm going to change my clothes, get in my truck and head to your house in a few minutes, Lydia. Sit right there until I arrive, alright? I need a minute to think and when I get there, I'll have a better idea about what we're going to do next. Can you do that?"

"I'll be in the kitchen. Thank you, sweetheart."

Polly hung up and looked at her phone. It felt like every sane thought was leaping away from her neurons at the moment, so she dialed.

"Hey, Polly, what's up?"

"Henry, I need you to help me process on something because apparently my brain has shut down. There was an explosion at Beryl's studio. She was in it and they're taking her to Des Moines. Lydia is freaked out and I have to come up with a plan."

"I don't suppose you know anything yet. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know anything except that it happened. I told Lydia I would head to her house and help her decide what to do next. She can't reach Andy and I don't know if we should just go to Des Moines."

"I was going to come over to Sycamore House anyway, so I'll be there in a little bit. You get yourself out of there and head to Lydia's. I'll take care of your upstairs animals and call Mark to help me with the horses tonight. Don't worry about any of us. You get Lydia and Andy to Des Moines."

"Thank you, Henry. I'll talk to you later when I'm making more sense."

"You're doing fine. Please be careful while you're driving, alright?"

"I will. I'm outside with Obiwan right now. You don't need to worry about him, so don't hurry. I need to change my clothes and then I'll take off. Thank you again."

She hung up and whistled for her dog to join her on the front steps. He ran up and sat down beside her legs.

"Okay, a few minutes to cry. That's all I need." She sat on the steps beside him, hugged his neck, and found herself sobbing into his coat. Obiwan patiently sat there while she cried and cried. Polly finally stood up, wiped her eyes and said, "Now I need to blow my nose. Let's go inside and get me cleaned up."

She took him upstairs and washed her face. After changing into a pair of black slacks and a short sleeve blue sweater, she grabbed her purse and ran back downstairs. Henry was pulling into the lot as she headed for her truck.

Polly waited for him to park and he jumped out of his truck and pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you, Henry," she said. "But, you don't need to sit with the kids. They'll be fine for a while."

"I have work I need to do here anyway. We're laying the slab for the garage at the end of the week and I have plenty of things to deal with in order to be ready for this next project. I'll use your office if that's alright. I talked to Doc Ogden. Jason will be here after school and Mark says he's getting pretty good with the evening chores. The two of us will manage just fine."

"Oh, I forgot about Jason and Andrew! I don't mean for you to babysit those boys too. Sylvie will be here by six. Do you want me to call her? Oh, Henry, I'm sorry!"

"No." he said calmly. "Please don't. I understand what your life is like here and you have to know by now that I want to be here for you when you need me. Jason will be great in the barn with me and Andrew will be great upstairs with your other animals. I won't be babysitting them, they'll be helping me, like they help you. Now, you go take care of your girls and call me when you know something."

“I will. I can't believe this." She turned to go to her truck and Henry pulled her back into another hug.

"Polly, call me even if you don't know something. Call if all you need is to talk to me. And if you don't have time to talk, text me. Please let me know when you get to the hospital, so I don't worry about you being on the road."

"I promise to let you know as soon as I can," she replied. Polly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and got into her truck to head for Lydia's house. When she arrived, she pulled up to the front door behind Aaron's SUV. She jumped out of the truck, walked up the steps to the porch, and was reaching for the doorbell when Aaron opened the door.

"Come on in," he said. "She's in the kitchen."

Polly followed him back to the kitchen and found Lydia sitting at the table playing with an empty mug, spinning it around on the table. Her eyes and nose were red from crying and the mug was stuffed with used tissues.

"Did you reach Andy yet?" Polly asked.

"I haven't tried again. I ran out of energy."

"Do you know anything more about Beryl?"

Lydia looked at Aaron, who said, "We don't know anything. She was unconscious when the EMTs got to her at her house. They're still en route to Methodist Hospital and I haven't heard from them."

"What about Deena? And Miss Kitty?" Polly asked.

Lydia said, "Deena took the cat to her house. She's shaken up, but her mother said she is perfectly fine. I can't believe she wasn't in the studio, too. Sometimes God takes care of the littlest things, doesn't he?"

Polly nodded and asked, "What about the studio, then?"

It was Aaron who answered. "There's water everywhere and the bathroom or storage room or whatever it was is completely destroyed."

"Have you seen it?" Polly asked him.

"No, I haven't been there yet. I'll go over after you two leave for Des Moines."

"All of her work and her supplies!" Lydia cried out. "What will she do?"

"That's the least of our worries right now," Polly said, then turned to Aaron, "Do you think we should head down to Des Moines?"

"I think you need to be there. I know Lydia needs to be there and you appear to be the sanest one in the bunch today." He smiled at her. "How do you like finally being the one to take care of everyone else?"

"It's a new experience," she said, smiling back at him.

"But, are you okay to drive, Polly? I should stay in town."

"Oh, sure. I'm fine," she said, "but, if I could get hold of Andy, I'd like to take her with us."

Lydia held her phone out to Polly, "Try her again. It's not like her to miss phone calls and not return them right away."

Polly waved her off, "I've got it. Just a second." She moved out into the living room and dialed Andy's phone number from her own phone.

It rang twice and she heard the woman's voice, "Hello, Polly, how are you doing?"

Polly took a breath and decided to blurt it all out in a hurry, "Andy, Beryl's studio exploded and they've taken her to Des Moines. Lydia and I were about to leave to head down and I wanted to see if you would like to go with us."

She heard a sharp intake of breath and then nothing. "Andy, are you still there? I'm sorry to have shocked you like this."

"Beryl? She's hurt?"

"Andy, Lydia and I are coming over to your house. We'll be there in a few minutes."

"I … I'm not at the house."

"Oh. Well, we're heading to Des Moines. Do you want to go down to the hospital with us?"

"Are you sure something happened to Beryl?"

"Yes, honey. I'm sorry. Beryl."

"I have to go be with her. I'm her emergency contact and next of kin. I have to be there to make decisions for her. How am I going to get to Des Moines? I can't drive in this state, but I have to go."

"I will drive and take both you and Lydia. Where are you?"

"I'm at a friend's house. I need to get to Des Moines."

"I know you do, sweetie. Let me come get you." Polly wasn't prepared for her friends to be this distraught and realized she had to be the calm one today. She was glad she'd had that little emotional breakdown with her dog so nobody needed to pay attention to her. It wasn't about her today at all. "Tell me where you are and Lydia and I will be there to pick you up in a few minutes."

Polly poked her head back into the kitchen and said, "Lydia, are you ready to go?"

With that question, Lydia shook her head and stood up. "I'm fine and I'm ready." Polly watched Aaron take a deep breath and smile at his wife. He looked at Polly and nodded as if to say, "She's back now."

Andy asked a question of someone in the background and then came back to the phone and said, "521 Walnut. It's a brown house. My car is in the driveway. I'll be outside waiting for you," and she hung up.

Lydia came out of the kitchen and handed Polly a set of keys. "I'm fine, but Aaron says you are driving. We should take my Jeep. It will be more comfortable, don't you think?"

"I suppose," Polly said.

"Come on, then. Let's go." Polly followed her friend downstairs and out the back door. She felt uncomfortable driving Lydia's Jeep, but when Lydia began to take charge, there wasn't much anyone could do.

"We're going to 521 Walnut," Polly said.

"What's there?"

"Andy's there."

"Who lives at 521 Walnut?" Lydia screwed up her face as she thought. Then she shook her head, "I have no idea!"

"We're going to find out soon. She said we'll recognize her car in the driveway."

Lydia's eyes lit up and she laughed out loud, "Polly! Of course! That's Len Specek's house! Do you suppose our girl was having a lunch date with him? Oh my!" Lydia rolled her eyes, "You don't think? She wouldn't. No." She dropped her head to her chest and laughed. "Surely. No, I can't even think that way."

"What are you talking about?" Polly asked.

"If Andy is at Len Specek's house on a date, and she wouldn't answer the phone when I called ..." Lydia shook her head again. "No, I can't even think about that. I'm going to assume they were in the middle of a very deep conversation over lunch." She shuddered. "Oh, this is going to kill me, I'm sure."

Polly giggled, "Because your friend is a widow and not supposed to get to know another man again?"

"That's part of it. But, more than that, it's because my friend is a widow and I haven't allowed her to be a woman. Promise me you won't bring any of this up?"

"I'm not promising anything," Polly laughed. "If she's having fun, we're getting in on that story."

They pulled into the driveway behind Andy's car. She was standing on the front stoop and ran over to the Jeep, climbing in behind Polly.

"Before either of you say anything about me being at Len Specek's house, you have to tell me what is going on with Beryl. What happened?"

Lydia turned around in her seat and reached her hand out to take Andy's. "We don't know anything yet. She's probably at the hospital by now. There was an explosion at the studio. Deena was inside the house when it happened. She heard it and called 9-1-1, then ran back out as Beryl stumbled out the door. Beryl fell down on the path and was unconscious. Bless their hearts; Sarah and Austin were there in only a few minutes. They loaded her up in the rig and took her away."