The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (10 page)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sam didn’t make it back for Thanksgiving. He didn’t even call. Penelope tried not to feel hurt and busied herself making a traditional feast. The guest list had grown so that Jake had to put both extra leaves into the dining room table and bring chairs from everywhere in the house to seat Brad and Rosabel, the Hargroves, Mike and Millie Dancer, Shana, and Peter and Tabby Taliaferro. Penelope reflected Sam would’ve made an even dozen around the table.

During dinner, Brad confirmed Darby Dolan would go to trial in January. “So will Jeremiah
Hadden.”

“What’s he going to be tried for?” Jake asked.
“Besides murdering his wife.”

“Unfortunately, that’s
circumstantial, but Archie will go down for attempted murder, kidnapping, terroristic threat, and anything else the DA can dream up between now and then.”

“Jeremiah’s one big bad boy,” Mike Dancer said. “And he put a big bad hole in my ceiling.”

“Archie Hadden put a big hole in George Harris and then got himself brought down by the tickling finger of a seventy-seven-year-old retired teacher,” Penelope said. “I’ll never get over that as long as I live.”

“That’s why you’re still alive, Mother,” Bradley reminded her.

“Who tickled somebody?” Tabby piped up.

“Little pitchers,” Shana murmured. “Tabby, how would you like to help me put whipped cream on the pumpkin pie before we serve it?”

****

By four o’clock, the men had retired to Jake’s room to watch football, and Tabby had curled up in front of the television in the parlor with “The Mouse on the Mayflower”.  Penelope, Mary Lynn, Shana,
Rosabel and Millie cleaned up the remains of the meal already beginning to sit heavily in their stomachs.

Penelope had just switched on the dishwasher when Parnell Garrett knocked at the back door. “Hey, Parnell, there’s a piece of pumpkin pie with your name on it.”

He shook his head. “Thanks, Mrs. Pembroke, but I need to see Brad.”

“He’s out in Daddy’s room watching football. You know the way.”

Parnell took off his cap, wiped his feet, and stepped inside. A few minutes later, Brad followed the other officer into the kitchen. “I’ve got to go, Mother.”

Rosabel
put her hand on his arm. “Do you need me?”

“Not right now. I’ll ride with Parnell and leave you the car.” He kissed her cheek. “Sorry.”

“Anything we need to know?” Penelope asked.

Bradley and Parnell exchanged glances. “Somebody broke into the old school, hauled out all the costumes for the Christmas program, and set fire to them on the playground.”

“Snively! That weasel!” Penelope exploded.

“We don’t know that, Mother.”

“Who else would’ve done it?”

“Look, I’ve got to go. You’ve got a month to get some new costumes together.”

“Two weeks,” Mary Lynn said.

“Two weeks then. I’ll be back when I can.”

The women took coffee into the dining room and sat looking at each other across the table. “I guess it could’ve been somebody from the Hollow,” Mary Lynn said after a few minutes.

“You don’t believe that,” Shana said. “It was that
Snively person.”

“Now, wait a minute,”
Rosabel interrupted. “He said he was going to keep the program from happening, so he’s got to know he’d be the first one we’d look at.”

“He doesn’t even live in Amaryllis,” Penelope reminded her.

“No, but he wouldn’t be hard to track down. If he filed a suit, his information will be in the court papers, so the police won’t have any trouble picking him up for questioning.”

“Spoken like a true policewoman. Well, if not him, then who?” Shana asked.

“A Hadden?” Mary Lynn suggested.

Penelope set down her cup and twirled it in the saucer.  “Not Jeremiah or Archie, so which one? And why?”

“I don’t know, Pen. Just an idea.”

“And why now?”

“Snively,” Shana repeated, nodding her head as if the matter were settled. “He did it.”

“It doesn’t really matter who did it,” Mary Lynn said. “We’ll have to start over with the costumes, and two weeks isn’t much time. I’ll start calling parents tomorrow.”

“I can help,” Millie said. “Things are slow at the Sit-n-Swill this week because of the holidays.”

Shana got up. “I’m going to check on Tabby.”

“What’s the situation with Shana and Peter?” Millie asked when Shana had gone.

“About the same,” Penelope said. “Unofficially they’re engaged, but she’s not in a rush.”

Peter came in and looked around for Shana. “It’s getting late. I ought to take Tabby home,” Peter said. When Shana came back he said, “Do you want to stay, or shall I drop you at your place?”

“No, I’ll go with you now.”

“I think it’s time for all of us to head out,” Mike said. “Penelope, it was quite a feast. Did I hear you invite us for Christmas?”

Jake cackled. “We like a full house around here, so sure, you all come ahead.”

Repeated goodbyes and promises to get started on new costumes the next day filled another quarter hour. Finally, silence descended on the empty house.

“It was a real nice day, Nellie,” Jake said. “I’m going back to the game.”

“Then I’m going up, too.”

“Heard from Sam today?”

“No.”

“You will, I bet.”

Penelope shook her head. “I won’t take the bet. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to gamble on Sam any longer.”

Jake patted her arm. “You know you don’t mean that.”

“I wish I did, Daddy. I might be a whole lot happier.”

“One of these days,
Sam’ll be back to stay.”

“You think so?”

“I’d bet my life on it.”

Penelope lay awake listening for the phone, but it never rang. Finally she drifted off to sleep and dreamed that she and Harrison
Snively were dancing the Hokey-Pokey on the old school’s stage, while Miss Maude Pendleton stood in the orchestra pit and directed the music with her grandmother’s pearl-handled umbrella.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Harrison Snively was in Conway,” Bradley told his mother over a second cup of coffee the next morning. “ I’ve got three witnesses, so we know he didn’t do it.”

“Well, who did?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Somebody got in through the back—it was unlocked.”

“We always lock up when we leave.”

“The door was standing wide open, and it hadn’t been forced.”

“That beats blessed all…I guess Jeremiah
Hadden’s still locked up. And Archie.”

“Tight.” Bradley pushed his empty cup aside. “I talked to Elbert though.”

“Oh, Bradley, he wouldn’t burn the costumes. His kids are in the program.”

“He finally admitted he’d heard some talk out in the Hollow.”

“What was he doing out there?”

“He’s got family out there, Mother.”

“So why didn’t he warn us or you or somebody?”

“You know those folks don’t rat on each other.”

“That sounds like something out of a bad gangster movie, Bradley.”

“The point is, Mother, there are people out there who still have Jeremiah’s and even Archie’s backs, so you need to watch yours.
You and Aunt Mary Lynn both.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it. I told Elbert to put out the word that there’d be eyes watching at the school, in town, and everywhere.”

“Whose eyes?”

“We don’t have the manpower for twenty-four-hour security, but I’m negotiating with the state police.”

“Do you really think it’s necessary?”

Bradley stood up. “Yes, I do. Pass all this along to Aunt Mary Lynn.” He paused with his hand on the door. “And be careful.”

****

Penelope’s fingers drummed the steering wheel non-stop as they drove to school the next morning. She parked beside a car she recognized as belonging to George Harris and dashed into the building. “What are you blessed doing here?” she confronted him as she charged into his office.

“Getting back to work.”

“You’re pale as a ghost.”

“At least I’m not one. A ghost, that is. The doctor cleared me to come back since I have sit-down job.”

“Sit-down my foot!”

“Well, sort of. I hear things have been moving right along out here.”

Everybody pulled together. We didn’t want you to fire us when you came back.”

“I knew everything would be fine. That’s not why I’m back. By the way,
Penelope, thanks for the first aid.”

“If you mean ramming my fist into the hole in your belly, no charge.”

He laughed. “My next ten paychecks will go to the hospital and the doctor.”

“The school employee insurance should cover most of it, and you should even qualify for workman’s comp if you need it.”

“I’m not sure getting myself shot qualifies as a work-related injury.”

“You were in the school, weren’t you? Listen, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidin
gs on your first day back, but…”

“Bradley called me last night, so I know about the costumes for the Christmas pageant and that it might be related to what’s going on out here. Nobody said this job would be a piece of cake.”

“More like a pot of sauerkraut.”

“We’re going to get on with it, Penelope, and I have permission to keep the doors locked. They open from the inside anyway in case of fire.”

“That didn’t stop Archie Hadden.”

“I don’t think anybody else is going to come barreling in here with a shotgun, even if they
are
his kin. Mischief like burning those costumes is more their style.”

Miss Maude tapped on the glass window, stepping inside only when George beckoned. “Are you quite sure you’re up to being here, Mr. Harris?”

“Yes, ma’am. I hear you showed up as soon as the school opened again.”

“Everyone was needed.”

“I’m sure glad you’re okay. What made you come out of the classroom anyway?”

“I heard the gunshots and thought I might be needed.” The tiniest hint of a smile turned up her thin lips. “And at my age, I had less to lose than the others.”

Penelope stared at her. “Miss Maude!”

The woman returned her stare. “Shall we get on with the day, Mrs. Pembroke?”

****

“The costumes are a total loss,” Mary Lynn mourned as she and Penelope ate lunch in the small library office. “I went by the community center on the way out here.”

“You should’ve taken the day off to see about things.”

“Millie said she’d start calling people this morning. Prissy thinks we can get it together.” She dropped her eyes. “But with this new turn, Bradley says he doesn’t want the girls anywhere near Amaryllis.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.
I had big plans for Christmas.”

“There’s always next year.”

“Next year they could be a thousand miles away.”

“What’s happened to our nice quiet town, Mary Lynn?”

“I wish I knew.”

“Me, too.”

“So what do you hear from the Gray Ghost?”

“Not a word. Sometimes I wish he’d just go away and never come back.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I’d be better off.”

“Someday he’ll come back to stay. I believe that.”

“I’d like to.” Penelope popped the lid from a container of coconut pudding. “But like you said, Christmas is a time for miracles, and we’re all due.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Christmas decorations went up all over town on the first of December. Penelope hung a wreath on the front door of the B&B and debated whether she really wanted to put up a Christmas tree. “Maybe we should have another party,” Jake suggested, noticing her lack of holiday spirit as she sifted through boxes of decorations from years past.

“Not this year, Daddy.”

“How’re the replacement costumes coming along?”

“Two of the mothers who sew have set up shop in the community center. They say everybody will be decently and authentically covered by the nineteenth.”

“That
Snively fellow been around making any more trouble lately?”

“No. If he actually filed suit, Harry says he hasn’t heard about it.”

“Don’t know what the world’s coming to when people want to take God out of our lives.”

“Separation of church and state, Daddy.”

“That wasn’t in the Constitution last time I checked.”

“It’s an interpretation.”

“A bad one.”

“I don’t know. So far nobody’s said anything about the Nativity scene on
the lawn at City Hall, but I’m sure it will happen.”

“Outsiders.
Town’s satisfied.”

“It’s not always the outsiders who make trouble. Brice Dolan was born and raised here.”

“He married outside.” Jake ran a hand through his hair. “So did I, but your mother loved this town from the day she set foot in it, and everybody in it loved her.”

“I know, Daddy. She was special.”

“So are you, honeychild. Always were, always will be. Now, I’m going uptown for a while.”

“Tell the
Toneys hello for me.”

Jake waved over his shoulder as he went out the back door.

Penelope unpacked the red tapers for the glass candelabra on the buffet in the dining room. She was setting a copper bowl full of silk holly on the table when she heard the back door open. “Forget something, Daddy?”

The swinging door flew back with enough force to hit the wall and rattle the dishes in the glass china cabinet. A smaller version of Archie
Hadden stood leering at her, hands in the pockets of his faded denim jacket. “My cousins are spending Christmas locked up ‘cause of you,” the man said. “Old Santy Claus ain’t nice to little girls who tell tales.”

Penelope grasped the back of a dining room chair and slid it between her body and the unwelcome visitor. “I tell the truth, not tales.”

“Don’t matter. Tales get told, people get hurt. Better think on that, Miz Pembroke.”

Before Penelope could blink, the man’s bulk had disappeared through the door. She waited until she heard the back door open and close before she sprinted for the kitchen phone and called the police department.

****

“I don’t know who he was, Bradley. All I can tell you is he looked like a shorter version of Archie
Hadden.” Penelope reached to straighten a silk holly leaf and bring the attached berries from beneath it.

Parnell joined them in the dining room and stood sniffing. “Smell that?”

Bradley frowned. “Now that you mention it…”

“What?” Penelope asked.

“Explosive residue,” Parnell said. “He could’ve had it on his clothes or his feet.”

“My stars!
The B&B isn’t going to blow up, is it?”

“No, ma’am, not from the smell anyway.”

Penelope glared at him. “Funny man.”

“What
d’you think, Parnell?” Bradley asked the taller officer.

“Not sure, Brad. You know
Haddens as thick as raindrops in a thunderstorm out there.”

“I meant about the smell. Think they’re doing any dynamiting out in the Hollow?”

“What for?”

Bradley shrugged. “I think there used to be some mining out that way, years and years ago. I read that somewhere. You want to go talk to Elbert? See what he says.”

Parnell nodded. “I’ll do that. Mrs. Pembroke, you really should keep your doors locked.”

“I keep them locked, Parnell, most of the time anyway. Daddy left fifteen minutes earlier, and I guess he didn’t use the key. We’re not used to locking up around here, you know.”

“Better get used to it, Mother. Things have changed in the last couple of years.”

“Too bad.”

Parnell’s mouth twisted. “Yeah, too bad. I’ll get back to you, Brad.”

“Are you all right, Mother?”

“He just scared the fire out of me, sneaking in like that. What kind of mining did they do in the Hollow?”

“Oh, there were rumors of
a lost silver mine or something. But nobody ever got rich.”

“I guess if they blew themselves up…” Penelope stopped.
I can’t wish that! Life is sacred. But some lives are…stop it, Penelope! Haddens are human beings, too, especially those sweet little girls.

“He’s back in the Hollow by now, and we’ll never find him there,” Brad said.

“You know Mary Lynn and Harry are counting on having the girls back for Christmas.”

“It’s not going to happen. It can’t. If one of the
Haddens grabbed them, we’ve lost our only witness in Yvonne’s murder.”

“Do you really think Ellie saw what happened?”

“I’m pretty sure she did.”

“But what if she won’t testify? Like the children clammed up with that Mueller woman?”

Brad grinned. “Don’t tell me those kids aren’t sharp.”

“All the more reason to try to get them out of the Hollow.”

“I agree, but back to Ellie and Evie— the Haddens want them back because they’re Haddens, but someone may know she saw what happened to her mother. That puts her at risk.”

“Do you have somebody watching the school?”

“I tried, but there’re no grounds to have an officer on duty every day.”

“The children are antsy. I don’t know if it’s just Christmas vacation coming up or something else.”

“Keep your ears open. If something’s coming down, one of them might let it slip.”

“Why would anyone target the school?”

“Mother, the people out there let that school exist, that’s all. They leave it alone because a lot of them want their kids to get some kind of an education, the basics anyway. But they’re suspicious of everyone connected with it. More to the point, they don’t really like any of you, no matter what you do.”

“We’re taking ca
re of their children, that’s what we’re doing.”

“They’re afraid you’re going to take them away. Put ideas in their heads about better things. And that so-called interrogation by those social workers didn’t help. Don’t think for a minute those kids didn’t go home and detail every question they got asked.”

“I guess we’re guilty of that much—putting ideas in their heads, that is. You don’t think anyone would try to blow up the school, do you?”

“Not with their kids in it. I’ll talk to George Harris about telling the staff not to work out there during the holidays. I know sometimes the teachers go in to plan for the next term. Now, I’ve got to get back to the station. Tell Pawpaw what happened and not to forget to lock the door behind him every time he goes out.”

Penelope nodded.              

Bradley kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, Bradley. I wish it was a better world. For the kids out there…for the kids you might have someday.”

He shook his head. “It’s the way it is, Mother.”

Penelope locked up as soon as Brad went out. All vestiges of Christmas cheer had departed with her unexpected visitor. Turning out the lights in the dining room, she went upstairs and sat down at her desk to balance her checkbook, reflecting it was a gloomy chore for a suddenly-gloomy day.