The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (6 page)

“I’m not real sure. There was a note under my door—told me they were either here or at the Hargrove place.”

“So if the note told you to go stand in the middle of Interstate 30, you’d have done that, too?” Sam leaned into Bert’s face.

“No, sir.”

“Then what?”

“There’s a code in the Hollow,” Jake said. “When it’s your kin, you do whatever you have to. Right, Bert?”

Bert nodded.

“What were you supposed to do with the girls?” Penelope asked.

“Just take ‘em home with me.”

“So they’d be with family, right?”

“Yes’m.” Bert cupped his mug in both shaking hands and lifted it to his lips, then took a deep breath. “I got a phone call after I found the note.”

“Who from?”

“Can’t tell you, but it wasn’t Jeremiah.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Sam snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You’re going to have to tell Bradley,” Penelope said. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Can’t tell anybody,
” Bert insisted.

“Bert, I don’t want to see you charged with anything. You’ll lose your job, and it’s a good one. You’ve got a family to support. You got out of the Hollow.”

“Nobody gets out,” he said.

“You mean away from the family? You’re in a better position to know that t
han anybody else, I guess. I’m not going to press any charges. I’ll call Bradley tomorrow and tell him, but you need to talk to him yourself.”

“I will, Mrs. Pembroke. Thanks for understanding.”

Penelope sighed. “Unfortunately, I do. Now go home to your family.”

“And remember you owe us for the window,” Jake added.

“I’ll get somebody out here tomorrow, I swear. First thing in the morning.” Bert rose and started for the back door. “I’m real sorry, Mr. Kelley.”

“You’re just going to let him walk out of here?” Sam exploded.

Jake nodded. “He won’t be back. Not until tomorrow, that is. He’ll make sure the window’s replaced.”

Sam shook his head. “I think everybody in this town is insane.”

Penelope raked him with angry eyes. “I can think of one or two people who’d nail Bert’s backside to a tree just because he’s a Hadden, but I’m not one of them.”

“I’m going to bed,” Jake said. “See you at breakfast, Sam?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sam flung himself down on the loveseat under the window of Penelope’s bedroom. “Care to explain the little drama that just transpired?”

Penelope detailed the day. “Bert wouldn’t have done me any permanent damage.”

“You’re sure of that.”

“Yes, I am.”

Sam ran his fingers through his hair, which Penelope thought seemed whiter since she’d last seen him. “I don’t understand. Brad should arrest Bert
Hadden for breaking and entering.”

“You understand, Sam. You do whatever you have to do to get your job done, and
so does Bradley. It’s just I know what Bradley’s job is and don’t have a clue about yours.”

He was on the bed beside her before she realized it. “I didn’t plan to wake you because it was so late, but now that you’re up…” His voice trailed off as his lips met her neck just under one ear.

“Oh, Sam, don’t blessed start.”

“Missed you, Nell.”

“Sam, stop it. You make me crazy when you do that.” She shivered as he stroked her shoulders through her robe.

“Why don’t you just give it up, Nell?” His lips moved to her mouth.

Why don’t I? I love you so much, Sam. But I want you in my bed every night, not just whenever you happen to show up.

“God, Nell, I want you so much. I need you like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I believe you,” she murmured. “I need you, too, but not like this.”

He moved against her, sending shock waves through her body. “Nell, Nell, Nell…”

“Mother?
You up there?”

Sam rolled to his side.

“I’m here, Bradley.” Penelope rearranged her gown and robe on the way down the hall and leaned over the bannister.

“C
ome on down for a minute.”

Penelope joined him in the foyer. “What are you doing here?”

“I got a tip you’d had some trouble tonight.”

“Bert
Hadden broke a window and came in looking for Ellie and Evie. He’s going to replace the window and come talk to you tomorrow. I don’t want to press charges.”

“Yeah, that’s cool, Mother. I kind of figured somebody would try something tonight. Parnell’s checking on the
Hargroves.”

“Jeremiah put hi
m up to it. Jeremiah’s his uncle, I think Bert said.”

“Yep.
Well, I’ll put the fear of God in Bert tomorrow, and you let me know if he doesn’t replace the window.”

“He will.”
             

“Okay. ‘Night, Mother. Oh, by the way, Chief got the order of exhumation for that grave Parnell saw.”

“You think it’s Yvonne Hadden?”

“I think we’ve got to find out. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Bradley.”

“Goodnight, Sam,” Bradley called up the stairs, sounding amused.

“How did he know you were here?” Penelope hissed at the man standing in the shadows outside her bedroom door.

“He’s a good cop.”

“He blessed sure is, and don’t you forget it!” She brushed past him. “Goodnight.”

****

Mary Lynn called the next morning while Penelope and Jake were eating breakfast. “Tonya Cisneros called last night and said not to take the girls to school this morning because she was worried about their father turning up.”

“How did she know?” Penelope asked, making the instant decision not to share last night’s happenings at the B&B.

“Either George Harris called her or Brad did. I don’t care. I offered to take them shopping for new clothes, because they don’t have anything except what’s on their backs, and I doubt there’s much more in their house.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Actually, Mrs. Cisneros said to bring them to Little Rock and meet her for lunch.”

“Uh-oh.”

“No, she also said she was working on getting Harry and me recertified as foster parents, at least temporarily.”

“Does that mean the girls are going to be allowed to stay in familiar territory?”

“I don’t know what it means, but they’re really excited about the shopping trip. I doubt they’ve ever been five miles out of the Hollow, either one of them. I’ve got to stop at the police station and borrow a booster seat for Evie.”

“Good luck then. I’ll let George know what’s going on.”

“Thanks, Pen. I’ll call you tonight.”

“You’ll have to get your own breakfast,” Penelope said to Sam when he walked in the back door. “You should’ve waited to see a man about a dog. Now I’ve got to go to school.”

He laughed. “See a man about a dog?”

“That’s what Daddy says you do when you disappear early and stay late.”

Jake reached for the sports section of the paper. “Good a reason as any, I guess.”

Sam laughed again. “I’m driving you to school this morning.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say I’m doing a favor for a friend.”

“You’ve been talking to my son.”

Sam raised his eyebrows twice in quick succession. “I’ll never tell.”

“Are you going to stay? If you are, you’ll need a lunch.”

“I’ll be around.”

Penelope threw two sandwiches together and added them to her small cooler along with an apple and a baggie of cookies. “I’m ready.”

Sam bowed low, sweeping his hand toward the door. “Your chariot awaits.”

****

The day looked to be a quiet one until just after lunch when Alana Mueller showed up again. George Harris rolled his eyes as he escorted her into his office. Penelope, watching from the open door of the library, thought she stayed a long time. When she left, George stood in the hall shaking his head.

“What’s she up to now?” Penelope asked, stepping out of the library.

“She says she’s going to bring three more people out here with her on Monday and screen all the kids for possible abuse.”

“You’re kidding!”

“That’s what she said.”

“Why, for blessed Pete’s sake?”

“Beats me.
Of course, all I have to do is get the word out, and nobody’ll show up on Monday. But then she’d come back on Tuesday. Better get it over with, I guess.”

“Can she do that? Talk to the kids without their parents’ permission?”

“She must think so. ‘Course, they’re not going to tell her anything, but I’m going to call the DA’s office and find out for sure just how far she can go.” He shook his head again and went back to his office.

****

At four o’clock, Sam came back for Penelope. “Where’ve you been all day?” she asked.

“Around.”

“You were at the exhumation, weren’t you? Was it Yvonne Hadden?”

“Her sister identified her from a string of beads around her neck.”

“Did it look like she’d been…”

“It wasn’t pretty,” Sam said. “And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Penelope told him about Alana Mueller’s visit. “George Harris called the DA who called Little Rock to see what was going on. So far he hasn’t called back.”

“That woman is going to get herself killed if she’s not careful,” Sam said. “She has no idea what a hornet’s nest she’ll stir up out here.”

“George tried to tell her that.”

“Monday, huh?”

“That’s what she said—that she and three more like her would be back on Monday.”

“Is Monday one of your days?”

“I’m there Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Shana arranged to have a volunteer at the library on Tuesday mornings so she could come out. Mary Lynn is here Wednesday and Thursday. And Miss Maude comes every day.”

“She drives herself?”

“No, she rides out with Pam and Paul Hollis. They teach fifth and sixth grades, and it’s on their way to stop for her.”

Sam drove in silence until he reached the city limit sign. “I don’t guess you’d consider skipping Monday?”

“Not without good reason.”

“I can’t give you one, Nell.
Just a hunch.”

“You ought to share your hunch with George Harris then. He’s responsible for all those kids.”

“I’ll think about it.” He reached for her hand. “I’ll bet Jake would be up for a beer and a Reuben tonight, what do you think?”

“Boys night out?”

“Thought we might make it a threesome.”

“I’m good with that.”

He kissed her before she got out of the car at the B&B. “I’ll be back around seven.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“It’s pretty empty for a Friday night,” Penelope remarked as Sam pulled into the parking lot at the Sit-n-Swill.

“Early yet,” Jake said.

“It’s after seven, Daddy.”

“Well, Friday nights are long. They don’t have to get started at dark.” He glanced at Sam who came around to open the car door for Penelope. “By the way, who are you tonight, and why are you here?”

“Friend of the family from Mississippi,” Sam said easily.
“Visiting for the weekend.”

Penelope wrinkled her nose. “Can’t you do better than that?”

He landed a quick kiss on her mouth. “Okay, I’m Attila the Hun, and I’ve come to pillage and take booty…” He patted her backside as she stepped out.

She slapped his hand away. “Not that kind of booty!”

Jake cackled. “You two are a case, a real case.”

Mike welcomed them at the door and pointed out their usual table. “Don’t think I’ve met you,” he said to Sam.

“Sam Billings from Mississippi,” Sam drawled, putting out his hand. “Friend of the family. Just stopped by for the weekend on my way north.”

“Your first visit to the Sit-n-Swill?”

Unless you want to count those times he showed up with his biker buddies.
Penelope snickered. Jake frowned at her.

Loretta Lynn’s “Coalminer
’s Daughter” started up from the jukebox. “We need some new tunes, I guess,” Mike said.

“Nah, I like the old ones,” Jake said. “You know what I want.”

“A Reuben and a beer. What about the rest of you?”

“I’ll have the same,” Sam said.

“Club sandwich and a bottle of water,” Penelope said. “And some of those great chips you order in.”

She noticed Sam seemed to be scanning the sparsely-populated room, with more attention toward the back door than the front.
What does he know? Is something going to happen? Surely he wouldn’t have brought Daddy and me here if there was going to be trouble.
She tapped her foot to Glenn  Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” and watched a young couple make their way to the empty space reserved for dancing.

“You going to light the fireplace tonight, Mike?” Jake asked when the owner came back with their order.

“It’s almost cold enough but not quite,” Mike said.

“Vincent Ives
laying low these days?”

“I think somebody laid him about as low as he could get,” Mike said. “Millie’s still skittish about getting too close to the fireplace when she’s in here alone.”

Sam played dumb. “Trouble with the fireplace?”

“It’s a long story,” Mike said, plopping two bottles of beer on the scarred wooden table. “Get Jake and Penelope to tell it to you.”

“Funny, Sam,” Penelope said, trying not to move her lips. “Real funny.”

He winked. “I’m just sorry I missed the bones in the basement.”

“I bet you are. Your taste runs to bodies.”

A mask closed off his face. He picked up the beer and took a long swallow.

Now what did I say? He deals with bodies all the time. I never saw one bother him, even Harvey Hadden propped up on that brass bed in Miss Madeline’s room, with his eyes open and the blood running down his face…
Penelope closed her eyes against the memory and eyed her sandwich with distaste.

Later, she watched Sam stand in front of the jukebox and scan the selections. He dropped in a coin and punched a button. The strains of “Tennessee Waltz” filled the room. “Dance?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Moving in Sam’s arms was exhilarating—and slightly uncomfortable when she thought of his penchant for suggestive remarks. He folded her hand inside his and rested his chin on top of her head as he maneuvered her expertly around the floor.

Where did you learn to dance like this? Who did you dance with? Will this be last time you dance with me?
Will you remember this night, Sam? I’ll remember so many nights with you. Oh, not like you want to remember them but just being near you…just wanting you and wishing…

The front door flew open, ushering in a blast of cool air and the large unkempt presence of Jeremiah
Hadden. “I want my kids!” he yelled, waving a shotgun in the air before zeroing in on Penelope frozen in Sam’s arms. “You got no right to take my kids! Give ‘em back! Give ‘em back now!” The sound of the gun discharging, followed by a shower of plaster from the ceiling above Penelope, spurred the surprised patrons to action. Three men tackled Jeremiah from behind, but Sam got there first.

****

After Parnell hauled Jeremiah out and off, Rosabel took statements from everyone. Mike declared the Sit-n-Swill closed. “I’ll help you clean up,” Penelope offered. “It was my fault he was in here.”

“How do you figure?” Mike asked.

Rosabel tucked her notebook back into her pocket. “Not really,” she said, giving Penelope a look that meant
don’t explain.
“The damage to your ceiling doesn’t look serious, Mr. Dancer, but I’d recommend calling your insurance agent on Monday.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that, Officer Deane…Officer Pembroke.”

She smiled, showing her dimples and a slight blush. “I still use Deane at work.” She tucked her arm through Penelope’s and started for the door.  “Sam sticking around awhile?”

Penelope shrugged. “How should I know?”

“Brad gave Bert Hadden what-for, so he won’t be bothering you, and I don’t expect we’ll be turning Jeremiah loose anytime soon, at least until the medical report on his wife gets back from Little Rock.”

“That’s good to know. Mary Lynn will be relieved, too. The social worker let Ellie and
Evie come back here for the weekend since…”

“Right.
Brad has to question Ellie about her mother. He’s not looking forward to it.”

“Poor little girls.”

“You be careful, Penelope. Jeremiah’s not the only Hadden in Possum Hollow, although he’s probably the only one who’d bother to come to town right now.”

“We can always hope. Thanks, Rosie. I’ll have something for dinner Sunday if you and Brad want to come by. You can
even take it home with you. I know you don’t get much time together at home right now.”

“Thanks, we just might do that. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Penelope went back to the table where Jake and Sam were having another bottle of beer. “On the house,” Jake said, tapping the brown bottle.

Penelope scanned the empty room. “Did you know this was going to happen, Sam?”

“If I knew, do you really think I’d have brought you and Mr. Kelley here?”

“Jake, son.
Just Jake.”

“I suppose not.” Penelope let her eyes meet his briefly, then dropped them. “No, I know you wouldn’t deliberately put Daddy and me in harm’s way.” She tried to smile. “We didn’t finish our dance.”

“Another time, Nell.” He emptied his bottle and set it down. “Ready to go home?”