The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

If you know everything, then why don’t you know about this, and why haven’t you called to make sure I’m in one piece?
Penelope circled her bedroom, stopping to peer around the edge of the drapes of the window, hoping that Sam would be leering up at her from the graveled driveway. When a second look convinced her he wasn’t there, she jerked back the bedcover and crawled in.
That dynamite didn’t blow up the house, but it sure exploded my Christmas spirit, what I had of it anyway.

The phone rang beside her bed. “Just checking on you one more time,” Mary Lynn said.

Penelope swallowed her disappointment that the late-night caller wasn’t Sam. “I’m okay.”

“Tonya Cisneros called earlier with an update on the girls. They’re back in the foster home.”

“Are you and Harry driving up?”

“No, she decided it wasn’t a good idea.”

“Did she tell you why they ran away—assuming she knows?”

“Ellie wouldn’t tell her anything, and
Evie told her they decided to go home.”

“Home as in Possum Hollow.”

“Just home. Evie didn’t know, of course.”

“As lo
ng as they’re all right.”

“They checked out physically—cold and hungry but otherwise unscathed.”

“Maybe Ellie would talk to you.”

“I suggested that, but Tonya thought not. But she confirmed she had us recertified as foster parents. Listen, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“If somebody doesn’t blow me up first.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“’Night, Mary Lynn.”

Penelope hung up the phone and punched her pillow a couple of times. It had taken Bradley and Ed a couple of hours to check out the house, so she assumed they’d done a thorough job of it. But if the unknown
Hadden had managed to get in to plant the dynamite, he could get in again. She turned over and switched off the lamp. Abijah slithered up from the foot of the bed and purred for the first time since the scare. 
I’ll get the locks changed after Christmas and see how expensive a security system would be. And I’m going to buy a gun. I know Daddy has his pistol, but I need one I can get to. I should’ve done it a year ago.

The sound of footsteps in the hall brought her bolt upright. “Sam?” Her voice came out as a whisper.

Someone tapped on the door, then opened it. “Nell?”

Her feet hit the floor, and she didn’t even reach for her robe before she flung herself into his arms. “Oh, Sam, I’m so glad you’re here!”

His arms tightened around her like a vise. “I heard what happened.”

“I don’t even care how you heard. I’m just glad you’re here.”

He walked her back to the bed. Abijah jumped off and stalked to the love seat. “I’m glad I’m here, too.”

“Have you talked to Bradley?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know the dynamite wasn’t set to go off.”

“It could still have been dangerous.”

“Oh?”

“Explosives aren’t anything to mess around with.” He laid her back on the pillow and stretched out beside her on top of the quilt.

“Mary Lynn called. Ellie isn’t telling why she and
Evie ran off. Are you back to stay a while?”

“Maybe until the twenty-sixth.
Did you buy me a present?”

“Should I have?”

“You couldn’t resist, I bet.”

Penelope thought of the cashmere pullover she’d found on sale in Little Rock, blue like the color of his eyes. “I have plenty of willpower,” she murmured, avoiding his lips.

“I’m not irresistible?”

Oh, Sam, if you only knew…
She tingled as his lips worked their way from her temple back to her mouth. “Do you know what’s going on with all this?”

“With all what?”

“Well, it just looks like a simple case of murder. You know, Jeremiah killed his wife, and the girls saw it, and…”

He turned over on his back. “Murder is never simple. It’s not an open and shut case.”

“I wasn’t making light of it. I just wondered if something else is going on.”

“Like what?”

“Well, something like was going on at Pembroke Point.” She propped herself on one elbow and tried to see his face.

“Things are going on everywhere.” Sam sat up. “I’m going to bed.”

Disappointment replaced the cozy tingle she’d experienced lying close to him. “Goodnight then.”

“Unless, of course…”

“Goodnight, Sam.”

She listened to him walk down the hall and heard the door of the front room close a little more firmly than necessary.

I wanted you to stay, Sam, but not to…well, maybe to…
She buried her face in the pillow.
If I died tonight, I’d probably go to Hell just for thinking what I’m thinking

****

After breakfast the next morning, Sam helped her carry the wrapped presents from the closet under the stairs into the parlor and arrange them around the base of the lighted tree. “Dead possum,” she said. “That’s what Ed Biggs, our fire chief, called the smell.” She sniffed the air. “Maybe I should rewrap everything.”

“I don’t smell anything.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure.”

She sat back on her heels. “All right then.”

“I guess you and Jake are going to Mass later.”

“We always do.”

“And again on Christmas Eve.”

“That’s tomorrow night.”

He gave her a hand up. “I know.”

“Sam…”

His eyes locked with hers.

“Never mind.”

“I’m going to drive over to Little Rock while you’re gone, but I’ll be back for supper.”

“The dynamite wasn’t even set to go off. Somebody just put it in there to scare me. But what I don’t understand is what he thinks he’s going to accomplish.”

“You’ll have to testify against Archie.”

“Yes, but…you think that’s all it is?”

“That’s enough.”

“Is it? Miss Maude can testify, too, but she hasn’t been bothered.”

Sam shrugged.

“And another thing, what was somebody doing with dynamite? It’s not that easy to get hold of, is it?”

“Steal it, maybe.” Sam’s mouth twisted. “You ever hear about any mining operations out in the Hollow?”

Penelope laughed. “Not unless they were trying to blow a hole in the side of a mountain to hide a still. But Brad mentioned some old stories about silver mines. Talk to him.”

“I will.” He kissed her cheek. “You be good and go to Mass, and I’ll be good and busy elsewhere.”

****

“Daddy, did anyone ever do any mining around here?” Penelope stopped at the edge of the church parking lot and looked both ways.

Jake narrowed his eyes. “Mining was how Possum Hollow got started, or so the story goes.”

“You’re kidding me!”

“No, I heard it all my life.”

“Does Bradley know?”

“He knew the story about the old silver mines, so I guess so. It wasn’t a big operation, and the miners who didn’t move on just stayed put.”

“I never heard of any silver mines in Arkansas.”

“Not mines exactly—treasures hidden by early travelers in the area. You could find out a lot in Little Rock at the archives, I’ll bet.”

“I haven’t been there in a while. I was finding out more than I wanted to know. So, there were stories about silver out around Possum Hollow?”

“I hadn’t thought about it in years.”

“That would explain the dynamite.
Somebody was looking for silver again.”

“That’s pretty far-fetched, Nellie.”

“Everything that’s happened out there is pretty far-fetched.”

“I agree with that. I guess somebody could’ve heard about buried treasure and decided to go looking. But using explosives…that’s another story. During the war there were demolition squads, but I wasn’t in one, and I wouldn’t have touched anything that might blow up, not on a bet.”

“I just wonder if somebody really is hunting buried treasure, and outsiders like those of us at the school are considered to be in the way.”

“It’s a thought.”

“I hope nobody decides to blow up the school while we’re on vacation.”

“That’d be a real shame.”

“Yes, it would.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“I’d heard about mining but not so-called buried treasure,” Bradley told his mother when she brought up the idea at supper that night. “Actually, Sam suggested the idea, and I looked into it.”

“Where? How did you look into it?”

“I checked with the state archives yesterday. There was a mining company out there, all right, but it wasn’t looking for silver. They wanted some other obscure mineral and never found enough to make their operation worthwhile. Meanwhile, some of the men they’d brought in heard the stories of a buried treasure and stayed behind to look for it.”

Penelope’s mouth tightened. “Sam knew it all along.”

Rosabel
reached for the salt. “He knows things all right.”

“So I’m guessing now other people are looking for the buried treasure and using dynamite to do it. They’ll blow themselves and half the Hollow to kingdom come,” Penelope said.

“Maybe not. The dynamite in the hall closet was really old,” Bradley said. “Whoever left it here probably found it somewhere. I doubt if whoever put it in the closet even knows he has to have blasting caps to set it off remotely.”

“But he put it there. Sam says maybe he’s trying to scare me off from testifying against Archie.”

“This is getting to be better than a whodunit on television,” Jake said, folding his napkin. “But I’m missing my favorite one, so if you’ll excuse me…”

“Sure, Pawpaw, go ahead.”

Sam came in just as Jake exited the kitchen.

“You’re a weasel,” Penelope said, glaring at him.
“A flat-out weasel.”

Sam put up his hands. “What did I do now?”

“Mining,” Bradley mumbled.

“You knew all about it. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Sam grinned. “Then you wouldn’t have had the fun of finding it out for yourself. Is there any supper left?”

“On the stove,” Penelope snapped. “You can get it yourself.”

****

Penelope shelved her irritation enough to sit with Sam in the parlor later than evening. “Okay, you made me find out about the mining, but I don’t see what that has to do with what’s going on out there now. I mean, if somebody’s dumb enough to go blowing holes all over the place looking for buried treasure…”

“Did you ever consider he might’ve found it?”

“Absolutely not.
There’ve got to have been hundreds of people searching for the last hundred and fifty years. If none of them found it, nobody’s going to find it at this late date.”

“You never can tell.”

Penelope jerked upright. “Now what do you know that you aren’t telling me?”

“Not much.” Sam pulled her down
against his shoulder again and kissed her forehead. “I hear the state police are going door-to-door in the Hollow.”

Penelope tried to sit up again, but Sam restrained her. “Bradley didn’t say a word at supper.”

“Well, he wouldn’t, would he?”

“I’m glad he’s not out there.”

“It’s not the place to be right now.”

“They won’t find anybody who doesn’t want to be found,” Penelope said, closing her eyes to savor the feel of Sam’s lips slipping from her temple to her jawbone. “They’ll hole up back in a cave somewhere back in those woods. They won’t find who came in here and then nearly ran me off the road and planted the dynamite.”

“Don’t be too sure.”

“I guess they could use dogs.”

“I guess they could.”

“So that’s what they’re doing.”

Sam blew on her neck. “Aren’t you tired of talking about Possum Hollow?”

“Don’t do that,” Penelope said, the too-familiar tingle setting off the struggle between what she wanted and what she knew was wrong. “Please, Sam.”

“You like it.”

“I like it too much.”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve.”

“And I’ll be busy as a cranberry merchant all day.”

“I’ll be around to help.”

“That’s a novel idea. I wonder how you’d look in an
apron?”

He chuckled.
“An apron and nothing else?”

“Sam, stop it!” She giggled. “You’re blessed bad!” She ran her hand inside his flannel shirt and met a t-shirt instead of the warm flesh she expected.

“What are you looking for?”

“Nothing.”

He was kissing her for the fourth time when the wail of sirens split the silence of the Sunday night.

****

Penelope supposed that Sam operated on pre-programmed instinct, because by the time she figured out the blaring vehicles were heading toward Possum Hollow, he’d sprung from the sofa—leaving her in a heap on the floor—and disappeared. She put herself back together before she went into the kitchen where Jake stood by the back door.

“What’s going on, Daddy?”

“Blamed if I know, darlin’. Sam came barreling through the dining room door, grabbed his jacket, and nearly knocked me down getting out the door.”

Penelope’s cheeks burned as she wondered what would’ve happened next if they hadn’t been interrupted. Sam was getting good at weakening her defenses.
“Sounds like they’re headed for the Hollow.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s where they’re going.”

“Sam said he heard the state police were going door-to-door out there tonight.”

“He heard that, did he?”

“Oh, Daddy, I wish I knew who he really is.”

“I reckon Brad knows.”

“You think?”

“Yep.
I also think it may be a long night. How about some hot chocolate?”

“Sure.” She went into the pantry and found the cocoa. As she emerged, the phone blared.

“Pen, it’s me,” Mary Lynn said. “Have you heard about the Hollow?”

“Something’s going on out there, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Harry got a call about five, giving him the heads up that the state police would be out in the Hollow tonight. Then he got another call about half an hour ago from Brad, who told him things were popping.”

“Oh, no, Bradley’s not out there, is he?”

“No, I don’t think so, but he’s in the loop. I’m not sure why he called Harry, except maybe he thought the mayor needed to know what was going on. Anyway, he just said things were happening, and he’d be in touch.”

“We heard the sirens. Sam flew out of here like a bat out of hell.”

“Nellie,” Jake murmured disapprovingly.

“Well, he did. I’m making cocoa. Why don’t you and Harry
come over here, and we’ll wait it out together?”

“We’re already in our pajamas.”

“Well, put on robes. Tell Harry I won’t ogle his sexy body.”

“Nellie!”
Jake’s mouth twitched.

“Oh, Daddy, I’ve seen Harry in his basketball uniform when he was a few pounds lighter. His pajamas cover more than that did.” She spoke into the phone again. “So are you coming?”

“Sure, I guess so. Wait a minute. Harry wants to know if you’ve got any cheesecake.”

“I’ve got half of one in the freezer. I’ll nuke it.”

“Okay, give us five minutes then.”

Penelope hung up and rummaged in the freezer for the cheesecake. “There you are, you bad boy,” she muttered as she seized it and began to remove the plastic wrap.

****

Jake had gone to bed just after eleven, but Penelope and the
Hargroves were still sitting at the kitchen table when Sam came in. “Isn’t it a little late for a party?” he asked, shrugging out of his corduroy hoodie.

“What happened?” Penelope got up and filled a mug of cocoa for him. “Want some cheesecake?”

“Bribing me for information, huh?” He nodded at Harry and Mary Lynn. “Mayor.”

Harry nodded back. “Time we went home, peach pie,” he said, hefting his bulk from the chair. “Thanks for the goodies, Pen.”

“The usual time here tomorrow night and then midnight Mass?” Mary Lynn asked.

“Right.”

“I’ll bring our stuff when we come. I hear Rosabel’s making a Lebanese dish.”

“Her mother is going to talk her through it on the phone tomorrow. She’s pretty excited.”

“Too bad her parents couldn’t get away and come out here.”

“Yes, it is. I like them.”

“Come on, pumpkin,” Harry urged from the door. “I may have to go in to the office for a while tomorrow morning if anything big happened tonight.”

Sam caught his eye. “Count on it.”

When the Hargroves had gone, Sam and Penelope sat across the table from each other, their untouched cocoa sending wisps of steam into the silence. “So,” Penelope said, “what’s going on, and why did you fly out of here like a bat out of you know where?”

“Is that what I did?”

“You dumped me on the floor.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I can make up for it.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he lifted the mug to his mouth.

“I’ll just bet you can.”

“As for what’s going on, you know I can’t tell you.”

“That’s downright mean!”

“If I were you, I’d feel the same way.” Sam reached for her hand. “If I told you it was all over—all but the shouting—would it make you have a merrier Christmas?”

“Yes.”

“Then Merry Christmas.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She stood up. “I’m going to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

“I meant what I said about helping you.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you. We just have a buffet before midnight Mass. It’ll be the Hargroves and Brad and Rosabel this year. Shana’s already in Little Rock with Peter and Tabby, and the Dancers decided to visit his brother in Missouri.”

“Closed down the Sit-n-Swill? What will the bikers do?”

“Take their beer down to Short Creek and sit under the bridge, I guess.” She studied his face briefly. “Although I’m betting the bikers you rounded up have families to be with.”

“Some of them.”

“And you’ll be with me…with us.” Penelope started for the swinging door.

Sam’s blue eyes stopped her from going through. “I’ll be with you, Nell,” he said, a soft weariness in his voice.