ELEVEN

The next morning, the buzz of a lawn mower woke me earlier than I’d planned to get up. When I pulled back the kitchen window curtain, I saw three people on mowers. One was Henry, another was Dottie, but I didn’t recognize the last one.

While I got ready, I flipped on my Keurig so I could have a nice cup of coffee while I walked over to see who else I needed to thank. I also made a few more cups of coffee and put it in a thermos and grabbed a couple of Styrofoam cups.

The little bit of weeding that had been done  around the lake made the campground much tidier and inviting. It was all coming together.

The morning sunrays trickled down into the lake showing off the murky green slush. No matter how much we cut the grass, that slush wasn’t going to go away on its own. I had to remind myself that I was doing one thing at a time and eventually I’d get it back in tiptop shape.

“What little grass we got sure does look better.” Dottie had stopped the lawn mower when she saw me coming.

“Here, it’s still really early.” I gave her a cup and unscrewed the thermos lid,filling it up with coffee. “What did Detective Sharp want yesterday?” I asked.

“Nothin’.” She didn’t make eye contact and that was all she had to say before Henry drove the lawn mower over to us. Her lack of words made me even more suspicious. “Say, some of the campers dropped their money off. I’ve got it in my camper and I’ll get it to you.”

“I’m going back to the library to look some stuff up. Abby didn’t need help today, but I’ll be there for a while if you come looking for me.” I shielded the sun with my hand over my eyes when I heard the lawn mowers coming closer.

Imagine my surprise when I recognized the third person after they drove their lawn mower over.

“Alvin Deters.” I greeted him with a cup of coffee. “Your face isn’t the first thing I thought I’d see this morning.”

“What a fine face it is too,” Henry said. “He called me bright and early saying that he had some free time before he had to open the Feed-N-Seed and wondered if we’d like a hand at mowing before he donates the sod and helps clean up the lake with a fountain irrigation system.”

“I would’ve only brought two lawn mowers if I’d known we were mowing more dirt than grass.” He nodded. There was an understanding that had occurred between us. Sort of a respect. “I told Henry that we just did a big job on a house and they had some extra sod left over. I spoke to the owners last night about what Preacher Hager told me about you revitalizing the community and all. They were more than happy to donate. When I got here, I noticed how bad the lake was and I don’t mind helping out with some donations and a fountain to put in the middle so there’d be some irrigation.”

Dottie had finished up her coffee and had hopped back on the lawn mower and Henry took his coffee with him to finish mowing.

“Thank you.” It was the only thing I could think of because I was so shocked at the turn of events. “Preacher Hager is who I have to thank too?”

“He was the one who tipped the scale,” he said. “What you did for Dottie and the money you had put into her account was what got me to rethinking.”

“It was nothing.” I shook my head. “Mr. Deters,” I held the thermos up as a gesture to refill his cup and he agreed. “Paul West that did all the awful things wasn’t the man I knew. I’m not saying that he didn’t deserve to go to jail, but I’m not so sure I can say he deserved to die.”

“Now what a minute,” he held his hand up. “Paul West was a bad man that ruined a lot of lives.”

“Yes. That’s no excuse, but what I’m going to say might put a bad taste in your mouth about me again, but there’s someone out there that killed him, and I’ve been working with Hank to give the best account I can of people who might’ve enjoyed seeing Paul die.” I stretched the truth about helping Hank, but that didn’t seem to matter around here. “And I was wondering if you’d seen Paul around here after he escaped and who he might’ve been with?”

“Nope. Can’t say I did.” He shook his head.

“Did you watch the security footage from the bank with Hank?” I asked.

“No.” He was a man of many words.

“Do you have the footage or did they take it?” I asked.

“I have it still, but they took a copy.” His eyes lowered. “Why?”

“Well, I was wondering if I could take a look at it.” I waited with anticipation. “I can’t say just yet, but Hank has suspects on his list that just couldn’t have killed Paul.”

“Ask him for the footage then. I told you he had a copy.” He took the last drink of his coffee and handed me back the cup. “I told Ann I’d be here all afternoon and Hank was going to stop by and pick up another copy from months prior. You can go when he goes and I’d be fine with that.”

“Perfect.” I pinched a smile and knew that I had to get to the bank before Hank did. I’d seen him bribe children, I wonder if I could bribe an adult. Ann. “Thanks again for helping with all this. I truly do appreciate it.”

Dottie had gone beyond the lake and started to go between the lots. She’d made her way over to the far road of the camper ground, which was out of sight and perfect timing for me to go into her camper, as the manager of course.

When I opened Dottie’s door, I glanced around and made sure no one saw me. The coast appeared to be clear, so I quickly jotted up the three steel steps and closed the door behind me.

Dottie’s camper was much different than mine. I had the separate rooms, where she had one big open space. In the back of the RV, she had a full table that folded away and a murphy bed. In the middle of the camper was her kitchen and up towards the front, she had a full couch and Lazy-Boy. The entire place had the stale smell of smoke and there were ashtrays all over the place that needed to be emptied. Her TV was on and so was the ceiling fan, making the smell of the smoke even more nauseating.

There was a filing cabinet next to the kitchen table that had the alphabet letters printed on the front tabs. I took the liberty of opening the top drawer just to see what was in them and the files had rental agreements in them. I pulled out a couple and noticed some of them were so far dated back that they probably could’ve been thrown away. Dottie had a system and I wasn’t interested in learning that day. I was interested in finding out if she had a gun or if Hank had told me that to see if he could call a bluff.

The bottom metal drawer of the filing cabinet was labeled personal. The wheels on the drawer screeched when I opened it.

“Mae, what are you doing?” Dottie surprised me.

“I was, um, looking for the money you took in.” I had to think fast on my feet.

“It certainly isn’t in my personal files.” She walked back, wiping the sweat from her brow with the collar of her shirt. “And I don’t think I gave you permission about even come in here.”

“You know, I was thinking about that.” I tried to play it off. “You know that out building near the lake. I wonder if we can make that an office instead of using your camper.”

I was even impressed with what I just pulled out of my sleeve.

“If we can get the lake and everything cleaned up, we might be able to have a tackle shop or even a snack stand in there.” I shrugged at my great idea.

“Then that means you might have a job for me?” The shifting of her eyes going back and forth between me and the personal file didn’t go unnoticed.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I found that to be an odd question.

“Hank Sharp told me last night that he wondered if you were going to carry out your husband’s wishes about getting rid of me.” There was a sadness that crossed her face.

“Dottie, I think we need to sit down.” I pointed towards one of the kitchen chairs. “Because I think Hank is putting us against each other. Or at least trying to figure out if we are in cahoots. Trust me that I know it’s not been easy for you.”  I’d been gone for twelve years and somehow my accent started to pick right back up, though I’d tried so hard to lose the twang. “The real reason I’m in here is because even though you’ve been the nicest person to me, he’s made me doubt you and your motives.”

“He did the same about you to me. Even told me that you were from Kentucky.” Her jaw dropped. “That little . . .”

“I am from Kentucky, but the western part of the state.” I made it sound like no big deal. “What if you and I put our heads together and figure out just what Hank wants from us,” I suggested.

“He wants a confession that either I killed Paul or that you and I killed Paul.” Her brows shot up. “The gun that shot your husband was my gun.”

I interrupted her, “Ex.” I was just about tired of people calling him my husband.

Ever since he was arrested, I never wanted to call him my husband and had immediately proceeded with divorce papers. He wasn’t the man I’d thought I’d married and he certainly didn’t love me since he forged my signature on all of those documents.

“Still, it was my gun. I’m not sure even when it went missing,” her voiced trailed off and her eyes looked at the filing cabinet. “You were in here trying to figure out if I had a gun, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I told you that Hank had me rethink how nice you’d been. But I don’t think you killed Paul.” I bit the corner of my lip, thinking about Henry and Ty. “Though it does look bad that it was your gun.”

“And,” she took a cigarette out of the pouch and tucked it into the corner of her lip. “Paul had come to town the day he escaped from jail. He gave me the sob story about how he needed money because he was going to prove that he didn’t take everyone’s money that his partner had.”

“He didn’t have a partner.” I couldn’t believe how he lied even when he escaped. “How did he get out of jail?”

“That’s a good question. He skipped around it and when he refused to answer my questions, I told him I wasn’t going to even think about giving him money. There was something that didn’t sit well right here.” She pointed to her stomach. “That’s when I called the police to let them know that he was in town. Then you showed up the next day.”

“That’s why they think I did it and realized I wasn’t here when they pinged my cell phone location.” I sighed. “And now he has you on footage with Paul, plus the gun.”

“It doesn’t look good. I never go anywhere but the Laundry Club and here. I don’t have an alibi with witnesses. I was here watching The Real Housewives. I can tell them everything that happened and who got into fights on that episode, but that’s not good enough.” Her determination faltered.

“I’m no detective, but I’ve been in many circles of women who liked to back stab each other. I can read people really good.” My confidence was starting to come back about my intuition. “I want you to look into Henry and what he was doing that night. He’s a suspect too since Paul had taken him for all his money.”

“I can do that. What are you going to do?” she questioned.

“I’m going to go to the bank and see if I can talk Ann into letting me see the footage of you talking to Paul. Someone else had to know he was in town and if there’s anything on there, the slightest thing, we might have something.” I stood up and looked out her window when I heard gravel spitting up underneath some tires.

It was Betts Hager in her mini-van ready to pick me up to take me to town.

“I can’t promise anything, but I’m going to try.” I said. “I’ll be back this afternoon. And think about the office thing. That I’m serious about.”

“Thanks, Mae.” Dottie reached for her lighter on my way out the door.