Fall Girl (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 9) Read online

  When they reached the driveway, Lucy loaded the stinky garments into the back of her jeep. “Do you still want to go to Dot’s place?”

  Gloria glanced across the street. All was quiet. The police vehicles were gone and the drive was empty. “Yeah. If you don’t mind.”

  “Sure.” Lucy climbed into the jeep and rolled down the window. “Stop by my place when you’re ready and we can ride together.”

  Gloria waved at Lucy, who stopped at the end of the drive and then pulled out onto the road.

  She could see Mally’s head peeking through the glass pane of the door as she stepped onto the porch. She opened the porch door and Mally sprinted out.

  Gloria stood on the porch and waited for her pooch to stretch her legs. She gazed across the street and shivered. The young couple who had bought the house had been there just the other day. That meant that someone had gone into that house and either killed someone or left a body in the last couple of days.

  What were the chances that now that the house was in the midst of renovation, someone decided to use it to hide a body?

  Gloria’s blood chilled. Maybe the body had been inside for a long time, undiscovered until workers began renovation.

  “C’mon girl.” Mally and Gloria stepped inside the house. Gloria shut the door, clicked the deadbolt in place and then pulled on it, just to make sure it locked.

  She walked to the bedroom, grabbed a pink sweater and pair of blue jeans and headed for the shower. While the water warmed, Gloria peeled off her sweaty flannel shirt and bib overalls, and climbed into the shower. Although she hadn’t gotten “dirty” from hunting, she could still smell the lingering odor of deer urine.

  After Gloria was squeaky clean, she headed out the door and climbed into Annabelle, her 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis.

  When she got to Lucy’s place, she pulled her car in behind Lucy’s jeep, which was parked in the drive. She grabbed the handle of the door to open it when Lucy emerged from the house and darted down the steps.

  Lucy slid into the passenger seat and reached for the seat belt. “I have a new strategy for next time we go hunting,” she exclaimed excitedly.

  Gloria grimaced. “What’s that?”

  Lucy smiled slyly. “It’s a surprise.”

  Gloria rolled her eyes. She could hardly wait. “Does it involve baiting the deer with sweets?” Lucy was notorious for her sweet tooth and although Lucy ate excessive amounts of sugary goodies, she never seemed to gain an ounce.

  Gloria pulled Annabelle into an empty spot in front of the restaurant. It was still early for the lunch crowd and they easily found a table near the back.

  Dot darted over to the table. She set a Diet Coke in front of Gloria and a regular Coke in front of Lucy. “How did the hunting go? Did you get your deer?”

  “Nope.” Gloria pulled the wrapper off her straw and slid it into her drink. “But it wasn’t because the deer knew we were there. Lucy smeared enough deer lure on us to last a month.”

  Lucy shot her friend a dark look. “I did not. I only put a little on you,” she argued.

  Dot stuck the empty tray under her arm. “I heard they found a body in that old house across the street from your place.”

  Gloria wiped at a speck on the tabletop. She took a deep breath and nodded. “That’s why we’re here. Well, one of the reasons. Have you heard anything?”

  Dot shook her head. “Officer Nelson was in here earlier. When I tried to pump him for information, he clammed up. He said we’d find out soon enough.”

  “Let me guess. You’re talking about the body found in the house across the street from Gloria’s.” Ruth, the girls’ friend who was also head postmaster at Belhaven post office, had come up behind them.

  Gloria turned her head. “Yeah. We wondered if maybe Dot had heard anything.”

  Now that Gloria thought about it, if anyone had insider information, it would be Ruth. Ruth was always one of the first to hear the scuttlebutt around town.

  Ruth unzipped her jacket, slipped her arms out of the sleeves and hung it on the back of the chair before sliding into an empty seat. She eyed Lucy uneasily and then turned to Gloria. “Yeah. A few people were in this morning talking about it.”

  “And?” Lucy leaned forward.

  Ruth dropped her eyes, a sure sign that what she was about to say was going to be unpleasant.

  “Judith Arnett said she heard it was Bill Volk.”

  Chapter 2

  Gloria’s heart plummeted. Her eyes shifted to Lucy, who had turned as white as a ghost.

  Dot gasped.

  Bill Volk was Lucy’s ex-boyfriend. They had dated for over a year and broken up just a few months earlier. The breakup hadn’t been amicable but then it hadn’t been nasty, either. Uncomfortable was the word Lucy used to describe the breakup.

  Gloria reached out and squeezed Lucy’s hand. “We don’t know for sure.”

  She turned to Ruth. “Right? I mean, it’s just a rumor.”

  Ruth nodded. “That’s just the word on the street, Lucy. They found some identification on the body that may be Bill’s. At least that’s the gossip.”

  Lucy’s face went blank. She started to stand and then sat back down. “Maybe I should try to call Bill.”

  She reached for her cellphone, switched it to on and peered at the screen. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “He…it looks like Bill tried to call me yesterday but he didn’t leave a message!”

  Lucy pressed the call button and placed the phone against her ear.

  The girls held their breath and waited, praying that Bill would pick up.

  Tears welled in the back of her eyes as she disconnected the line. “There was no answer.”

  “Maybe you should leave a message,” Dot suggested.

  Lucy set the phone on the table. “And say what? ‘Hey, I heard you were dead. Can you call me back?’”

  She reached for the phone and dialed his number a second time. “Hello Bill. Lucy here. Can you please give me a call when you get a chance? Thanks.”

  Dot headed to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee for Ruth. The trio sat in uncomfortable silence.

  Gloria had a sudden thought. “Maybe you should try calling his store.” Bill owned a small sporting goods store in the nearby Town of Green Springs.

  “Good idea.” For the third time, Lucy picked up her cell phone. “I’m not sure if I still have his work number programmed in my phone.” She scrolled through the screen. “Yep. Here it is.” She pressed the “call” button and put the phone to her ear.

  The girls waited silently for someone to answer the other end of the line.

  “Yes. This is Lucy. Lucy Carlson. Oh hey, Eric. I was wondering if Bill was around.”

  Gloria sucked in a breath.

  Lucy listened silently for several moments. “No. No. I had no idea.” She lowered her head into the palm of her hand. “I-I can’t believe it. Okay. Thanks.”

  Lucy disconnected the line and looked up, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Bill’s brother Randy just came into the store to tell the employees. Police think the body they found in the house across from Gloria’s place was Bill.”

  A tear trickled down Lucy’s cheek.

  Gloria hopped out of her chair and rushed to her friend’s side. She put an arm around her shoulder. “I’m so sorry Lucy.” She didn’t know what else to say. The other girls: Ruth and Dot gathered around her as they tried to comfort their friend.

  “Let’s go to the back,” Dot urged. She led the way and the girls headed to the kitchen.

  Ray, Dot’s husband, stood in front of the fryer. “The food couldn’t have been that bad,” he joked when he saw the look on the girls’ faces.

  Dot stood next to her husband. “Bill Volk’s body was found in the house across the street from Gloria.”

  Ray set the fryer basket in the holder. He wiped his hands on the front of his apron. “How do you know?”

  Dot explained what Lucy had just found out. “We don’t know any details.
The only thing we know is police are saying it was his body they found.”

  “You don’t think Lucy would be a suspect…” He turned to Lucy.

  The thought hadn’t occurred to Gloria - or Lucy for that matter. Would Lucy be a suspect? Their break up hadn’t been that long ago.

  Gloria had heard that Bill already had a new girlfriend. Lucy had moved on and was dating Max Field, a man Gloria and she had met when they were investigating the disappearance of Milton Tilton, a resident of nearby Dreamwood Retirement Community.

  “We could both be suspects.” Lucy frowned at Gloria.

  It was true. Gloria suspected she was already on police radar due to her proximity to the location of where the body had been found. Lucy would be a suspect as a disgruntled ex…with a penchant for guns and blowing stuff up.

  “We don’t know how he died,” Gloria pointed out. Paul might know. The investigators the girls met earlier had been from neighboring Kensington County but the two police departments often crossed paths and many of the officers and investigators knew one another.

  “Let me ask Paul.”

  The girls headed out the back door and over to the picnic table. Dot brought out several bowls of chili and the girls ate their food in silence.

  Ray popped his head out the screen door. “Margaret just walked in.” Margaret was one of the Garden Girls and another close friend.

  “Send her back,” Dot told him.

  Seconds later, Margaret emerged from the restaurant. She studied her friends’ faces. “Looks like you heard.” She settled onto the bench seat directly across from Gloria.

  “Yeah. Can you believe it?” Ruth shook her head.

  Margaret folded her arms on the table. “I was gonna tell you that Don had stopped by Bill’s store to pick up some golf balls first thing this morning. One of the employees told him they had found the owner shot to death in an abandoned house.”

  ***

  “This is getting worse by the minute,” Lucy whispered. “What if they think I killed him?” She remembered the phone call Bill had made to her the day before. Had he wanted to tell her something, that he suspected someone was after him?

  “Especially since Bill tried to call you,” Gloria grimaced. “But Bill owned a sporting goods store and they sold guns,” she added.

  She glanced at Margaret. “I wonder if Bill’s new girlfriend likes guns.”

  Gloria had to believe the woman did. Bill was a gung-ho outdoor enthusiast and had gotten Lucy interested in all kinds of new activities. It had been one of the reasons for the break up.

  Bill planned for Lucy to go hunting with him and when she told him she wanted to spend time with her friends, he told her she could spend all the time she wanted with them. That argument had been the beginning of the end of their relationship.

  Dot stacked the empty chili bowls while Gloria picked up the dirty spoons.

  Margaret patted Lucy on the back. “I’m sorry Lucy. I can just imagine how hard this must be.”

  “I-I’ll be fine,” Lucy reassured her friends.

  Gloria opted to stick to the alley as they made their way back to the car.

  When they were safely inside the car, Gloria turned to her friend. “Do you wanna come spend the night at my house?” She was concerned about Lucy staying alone.

  Lucy shook her head. “No. Jasper is home waiting for me.” Jasper was the dog Lucy had recently adopted during Gloria’s investigation at a local puppy mill. “Plus, Max is going to stop by later.”

  Gloria backed the car out of the parking spot and onto Main Street. She shifted the car into drive. “I need to stop by Andrea’s place to find out Alice’s plan to help the puppies.”

  Gloria had recently sold some valuable coins. She had promised to use some of the money she had gotten from the sale of the coins to turn a puppy mill they had stumbled upon into a training center for dogs. The plan was to train the dogs and then sell or donate them to those with special medical needs.

  Alice and Andrea had assured Gloria that with proper training, the Acosta family, who owned the dogs, could turn it around and into something special.

  “We can go now,” Lucy said.

  Gloria glanced down at the clock on her dashboard. “If you don’t mind.”

  Andrea’s newly remodeled mini mansion was near Lake Terrace and just blocks from downtown.

  Gloria turned into Andrea’s drive and parked behind her young friend’s pick-up truck. Brian, Andrea’s boyfriend, was also there.

  Brian was Brian Sellers, the owner of Nails and Knobs Hardware store. He also owned several other small businesses in Belhaven, including a grocery store and pharmacy.

  Andrea and Brian had been dating for quite a while now and Gloria wondered if someday soon Brian might pop the question to Andrea. Gloria was dying to ask but didn’t want to seem nosy. She also didn’t want to put poor Brian on the spot.

  If truth be told, it was none of her business.

  The girls climbed out of the car and made their way to the front door.

  Gloria grasped the lion’s head doorknocker and rapped sharply.

  Minutes later, the door swung open and Alice, Andrea’s former housekeeper and current housemate, greeted them. “Oh Miss Gloria!” she clapped her hands. “Andrea and I wondered if you forgot about us.”

  Gloria’s eyes slid to Lucy, who stood next to her. “I got a little sidetracked earlier. I hope it’s not too late to talk.”

  Alice reached for Gloria’s hand and pulled her inside. “No! No. I spoke with Mr. Acosta today. He is still excited about our idea of turning his dog kennel into a training center.”

  The girls followed Alice down a small hall and into the library. “Miss Andrea and Brian are in here.” She waved them into the warm, inviting room and then followed them in.

  Andrea was sitting at a small desk in the corner. Brian was standing next to her. She quickly lowered the lid on the computer, which made Gloria instantly suspicious. Andrea reminded Gloria of one of her own children when they tried to hide something.

  She took a step closer. “What are you doing dear?” she asked.

  “Oh…just working on Thanksgiving and some minor details for your upcoming wedding,” Andrea told her.

  Gloria nodded. She certainly had her plate full. Thanksgiving would be the quietest affair. Gloria had invited her daughter, Jill, and Jill’s family, along with Paul and his two children.

  Christmas, on the other hand, was going to be the humdinger. Not only would all of Gloria’s children be in town for the holiday, Gloria and her boyfriend, Paul Kennedy, planned to marry.

  Andrea waved to the large, wingback leather chairs. “Have a seat.”

  Gloria slid into the seat closest to Andrea. She crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. “Do you still want to visit the Acostas tomorrow?”

  Andrea tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Yes! Alice is driving me nuts.”

  “Good. Come by the house tomorrow morning and we’ll ride together.” Gloria turned to Lucy. “You can come, too.”

  Lucy wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation. Her mind was a million miles away as she stared out through the library window at the backyard. “What? I’m sorry Gloria. I missed what you said.”

  “I said you can visit the puppy place with us, too.”

  Lucy frowned. “No. I think I’m going to hang around the house tomorrow.”

  She turned to Andrea. “I just found out that my ex-boyfriend, Bill’s, body was found in the house across the street from Gloria.”

  Andrea’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my gosh!” Andrea had met Bill right after she moved to Belhaven. She knew that Bill wasn’t one of Gloria’s favorite people and that Lucy and Bill’s relationship had ended not long ago. “That’s the first I’ve heard.”

  Andrea had had to deal with her own share of deaths, including the death of her husband, Daniel.

  “That place has been vacant as long as I’ve lived in Belhaven,” Andrea remarke
d.

  Gloria shifted in her chair. “A young couple just bought the place and started to fix it up.”

  In the back of Gloria’s mind, she had to wonder if whoever had killed Bill Volk had intentionally set out to frame Gloria. If that was the case, they were succeeding. It would only be a matter of time before police tied Bill to Lucy and then in a roundabout way, to Gloria.

  Lucy must have thought the same thing. She slowly turned to Gloria. “You don’t think someone killed Bill and left his body in the house across the street to frame you…”

  That was exactly what Gloria thought. Someone had it in for Gloria, or Lucy. “As soon as I get back home, I’m going to call Paul to see what he knows.” She slid out of the chair and rose to her feet. “I should get back. Mally and Puddles will be wondering what happened to me.”

  Andrea and Brian walked the girls to the front door.

  Gloria shifted her purse on her shoulder. She glanced at Lucy. Neither she nor Lucy had ever been the focus of an investigation. “We need to do a little snooping around, starting with Bill’s business.”

  The girls rode in silence as they headed to Lucy’s place.

  Gloria pulled into Lucy’s drive, shifted the car into park and turned to her friend. “You gonna be okay?”

  Lucy reached for the door handle and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” she admitted. “Max will be here soon.”

  Gloria suspected that Lucy was still in shock. She made a mental note to call her later, before she went to bed that night.

  She backed out of the drive and eased Annabelle onto the road. Shadows from the trees crept across the two-lane road. It would be dark soon and she would be glad to be home.

  Gloria no longer cared to drive on the roads after dark. It was hard for her to judge distance. Not only that, but a freezing drizzle coated the roads making them a little slippery.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled into her drive and parked the car in the garage. Her eyes wandered to the house across the street. It was dark, empty and looked sinister. The only light was Gloria’s mercury light on the other side of the barn.

  Gloria picked up the pace as she headed up the steps to the back porch. Someone - a killer - had been only yards away from her own front door.