SEVENTEEN

“Exactly what happened?” Detective Hank Sharp was the first one on the scene and already assessed the storage unit before the investigators made it to the campground.

“I would offer you some coffee, but that little Keurig just takes too long.” My eyes were focused on the one cup coffee maker.

Since I’d been to Normal, everyone here drank coffee, now I think I was addicted to it too

“Mae,” He bent down between my legs and turned my chin towards him. “Are you okay? Do we need to take you to the hospital?”

“She seen a dead body. Again.” Dottie’s sarcasm brought a smile to my face. “See, a little humor is all she needs.”

Ahem, I cleared my throat and ran my hand over my face to try to focus a little more.

“I’m sorry.” My mouth was so dry. I licked my lips. “I’m so shocked that I don’t even know what to say.”

“I think you’d like to know there was a note in his pocket. He’d planned on meeting Paul here since they’d gotten it when Grady had worked here.” Hank’s warm hand was still resting on my leg. Underneath his hand, the nerves in my leg were all jumping, but I was sure it was the fact the images of Grady Cox’s dead body sitting on my summer clothes box was tattooed on my brain. “He shot himself.”

“He did?” I questioned. Hank’s eyes softened. He looked at me as if he were worried about my well-being. “Why would he do that when he has a child?”

“And a wife.” Hank pinched his lips together. “She’s on her way to ID the body. I told her to wait until he was taken to the morgue, but she’s insisted.”

“Poor, Ava. The other day we were talking about how Paul had won the campground. I had no idea it was from Mr. Randal. I left her house thinking it was Ty Randal who killed Paul.”

“You went to see the Cox’s?” His hand peeled off my leg and he stood up. “Why?”

“I had to know,” my voice trailed off and the images of Jr. flooded my mind. “His son will be so upset.”

Now I knew that I had to offer Jr. a job.

“Are you sure Grady did it?” I asked.

“He admitted it. He had written out all the details. The gun came back with his DNA on it too,” he said. “Of course the coroner will determine when and the position he shot himself.”

“I bet he stole my gun.” Dottie’s lips twisted. “I’m not in the camper all the time and I don’t lock it. For that reason too.” She shook a finger. “If they’re going to break in, no little lock is going to stop them.”

Hank and I let her ramble.

“See, it’s all over now. We can get the fundraiser over with and get Happy Trails up and running with all this behind us.” Dottie rubbed my back trying to make me feel better, but I didn’t.

“What are you thinking now?” Hank asked.

“I think that Paul has hurt so many people and families beyond the money,” I gulped. “I’m not sure how on earth I can make this right.”

“You can’t keep blaming yourself for what Paul did.” Hank searched my face. “You can’t help Grady’s actions.”

“How did he get out of jail?” I asked.

“We are still working on that.  Since we have the DNA on the gun pulled from the lake that killed Paul and now with what you discovered today and a confession note, that part of the investigation will go on the back burner until all of this is wrapped up.” He sucked in a big breath and rubbed his hands together. “That being said, we pulled all your bins out and collected evidence, but we can’t let you go back into the storage unit just yet.”

“That’s no problem.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, we can take your clothes to the Laundry Club since we have book club this afternoon,” Dottie reminded me.

I’d much rather lay in my bed in the camper with the quilt over my head and let the days pass me by.

“I’ll stop by later and get your statement since you look like you need a break from all this. I suggest you go with Dottie.” He turned to her. “Can I throw the bins from her storage unit in the back of your truck?”

“Sure.” She nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah. Okay.” There was still a niggling suspicion that something wasn’t right. They weren’t even addressing how Paul escaped from jail and that seemed pretty big to me. I wasn’t going to argue or even think about how I could prove that right now.

Hank said they had the note from Grady and I was just going to do what Dottie said. It was time to get Happy Trails fixed up, bring in some tourists to Normal and probably sell the place.

“I’ll be right out,” I declared as I shut the door behind them when they exited my camper.

While my cell phone was charged in the back, I changed into a pair of jeans, flip flops, and a T-shirt I’d bought on the way here. I tugged my long hair into a ponytail and splashed some water on my face. No matter how many times I tried to put the images of everything Paul had done into the back of my head, they’d all mashed together like a movie that’d just play over and over again.

“Stanley,” I made a quick phone to the lawyer. He didn’t answer so I left a message. “It’s Mae West. I’m not sure if you heard, but Grady Cox confessed to killing Paul. Happy Trails isn’t as bad as I thought. Everyone here is really nice, but it’s not me. There’s been a lot that’s gone on over the past twenty-four hours. Now that Paul is dead and we know the killer, I think it’s best that Normal isn’t reminded of Paul and what he’d done to them, so I want you to go ahead and look for a buyer. Thanks, Stanley.”

I tapped the end button and held the phone close to my chest. My eyes filled with tears. The fundraiser would help bring in money to fix what was on the top of Dottie’s list and surely all the marketing Abby had been doing had to help. I’d give them the cash I had. I’d rather leave Normal, though I was getting used to all of them and their kindness, on a high note than staying around and keep reminding them of what Paul had done.

No matter how much I tried to distance myself from him and what he’d done, I was always going to be tied to the crime.