Bury the Hatchet in Dead Mule Swamp (30 page)

“Who knows? She’s probably
off scouting around the building.”

Suddenly this became
interesting. “And why is she so interested in this building,
Harold?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light, as if I were
playing along with a joke.

Harold stepped on my foot,
but I pretended not to notice. “Her crazy obsession with yoga, of
course,” he said.

“What does she want to do
with it?” I pressed. Harold had told Jerry she wanted to open a
gym, but maybe I could find out even more.

“She’s determined to open a
fitness center. I’ve tried to talk her into other locations, but
she’s set her heart on this place.” His words were definitely
slurring, and the twirling of the waltz wasn’t improving his
balance.

“How badly does she want
it?” I asked, wondering if Harold knew anything about anonymous
calls from wayward phones, or bloody hatchets.

“Hell, how should I know?
She thought it was safe in the city’s hands but then the council
listed it with that new realtor person. She’s very strange.” He
added.

I thought he meant his wife
was strange. Then I caught on. I was suddenly feeling glad that my
formal attire made me stand out from the denim and flannel that was
the evening’s dress norm. “You mean Virginia Holiday?” I
asked.

“Yes her, strange, but I’m
talking about Mavis.” He plunged on. “So she tried to buy it, but
that Holiday woman had added on her fees and the price went way
up.”

“So Mavis couldn’t afford
it?”

“She couldn’t afford it
anyway. I’m not made of money, even though she wants everyone to
think we’re rich. And it would have been a conflict of interest,
with me on the council. You’d think that fancy lawyer of hers would
have explained that to her.”

“You could resign,” I
suggested.

“And let her wear the
pants? I don’t think so.” He burped, fogging me with a mixture of
chips, salsa and liquor.

I averted my face, trying
not to grimace. I wanted to draw more information from the tipsy
man. “But then the building was turned back over to the city,
right?”

“Yes, and that was another
odd thing. The listing time hadn’t run out, but Carolina
Holiday...”

“Virginia,” I
corrected.

“Her. ...said we’d misled
her about the condition of the place, and dumped it back in our
laps.”

“And then?”

“The very next day, Jerry
Caulfield contacted us and said he’d buy it at the price we’d been
asking for years. Odd timing, if you ask me.” He
sniffed.

From the corner of my eye I
saw a tall woman in a slinky deep purple dress approaching us.
Mavis Fanning tapped me on the shoulder and said peremptorily,
“I’ll take over from here.”

I nodded to her and stepped
away from Harold. She grasped his hand and shoulder as if she were
equipped with vice-grips tipped with purple nail polish instead of
fingers, and steered him quickly away from me.

As the dance came to an
end, I found myself near the stage side of the room and looked up
into the balcony once more. This time, Deputy Harvey Brown stood
beside Mick, surveying the room. I’d forgotten all about the
promise from Tracy that the police would be around to help. Harvey
was from the Sheriff’s Department, but I was glad there was an
official presence on site. Perhaps Tracy or Kyle was
outside.

A rush of
self-recrimination washed over me. I hadn’t gotten Mick a key to
the gate. He’d had to leave it unlocked. Anyone could wander
upstairs if they discovered the lapse in security. Already there
had been two unexpected people in the balcony. Two too
many.

Adele came to the platform
once again and read off the numbers for the winner of the Curly-Q
beauty package, and another one for a thirty dollar gift
certificate at Sorenson’s, to be used in the garden shop. Each
time, people fumbled to produce and read their tickets till someone
cried out, “That’s mine.” Much applause and congratulating
followed.

Jerry was waiting at the
bottom of the stage steps, and he ascended and took the microphone
from Adele. The musicians began moving some of their equipment
slightly farther to the side of the stage.

“We want to extend a warm
thank you to The Blue Grass, for providing our music this evening.”
He turned to his left and began clapping with his arms extended.
The room erupted in clapping, yelling and whistling. “They’ll be
back in a little while to round out the evening. I’ve been told
that Myra Treleaven will play and sing ‘Bluegrass Saturday Night’
for a finale. You don’t want to miss that.”

One female member of the
band lifted her banjo above her head and smiled. Another round of
cheers arose from the crowd.

“We’re almost ready for the
reenactment of an important piece of Cherry Hill History, but
first, we have so many door prizes, I’ll turn the mic back over to
our own Adele Volger, of Volger’s Grocery, who will announce more
winners.” As he handed her the microphone, he whispered in her ear,
and then left the stage. He came straight toward me.

Adele took whatever he’d
said in stride, and began explaining the next prize, which was a
dinner for two, wine included, at Chez Léon in Emily City. I
nodded, recalling my dinner there with Jerry. It was where this
whole plot had been hatched.

She was reading off the
number of the winner when Jerry reached my side. “Should I ask her
now or after the play,” he hissed.

“What?” I was
confused.

“Cora. Is it better to tell
her about the building before or after the skit?”

“You haven’t got it all
planned out?” I asked.

“I did have. I was going to
do it the very last thing. But I don’t think she’s going to stay.
She said as much to Tom after the last dance. Told him to get the
truck right after the kids finish.” Jerry was getting
uncharacteristically nervous and fidgety again.

“Then you should do it
now,” I said.

“That’s so anticlimactic.”
He was almost whining.

“Well, make up your mind.”
I didn’t like it when a leader suddenly began to waffle. “You
haven’t got all night,” I added, probably unkindly.

“Adele will give out prizes
until I come back. There are plenty of them. I have to think,” he
said, scratching the back of his head.

I saw Chad peek around the
corner of the proscenium. I was relieved to see they were
apparently in place in the wings and ready.

Jerry began to pace back
and forth in front of me, even though the space was severely
limited. The people who’d been in the hallway were pressing into
the auditorium so they’d be sure to hear the numbers read out for
door prizes, and to find good spots from which to watch the skit.
Many people simply sat on the floor in the center of the
room.

Someone must have delivered
a message to Cheyanne that the play was about to begin because she
and a large group of children entered from the side door and she
urged them toward the front of the crowd, near the stage. Her hand
motions made it obvious that she was directing them to sit down and
be quiet. To her credit, she must have worn the kids out with her
games, because they settled right in and looked expectantly toward
the front.

Jerry stopped pacing and
looked at me. “OK, now it is. Thirty minutes aren’t going to make
any difference in her answer.”

I nodded in relief and took
his hand. “I wish you the best, and I hope we’ve done as good a job
of preparing her as you predicted.”

He smiled at me and leaned
downward, but I shook my head and gave him a little
push.

Chapter 48

As Jerry headed back toward
the stage, Adele finished giving away a pair of snowshoes from the
Jalmari Canoe Livery-cum-sports store. Apparently Shane and Alex
weren’t wasting any time getting into pursuit of year-round
customers. She thanked the child who had pulled the winning ticket
from a paper bag and sent him back to his seat on the floor. She
straightened and pulled down the hem of her sweater.

“And now, everyone, let’s
say a real thank you to the man who has made this first annual, we
hope, Harvest Ball a smashing success. We know so many people
pitched in, but without his direction and initial commitment to
restoring our school, it never would have happened. The owner and
editor of the
Cherry Hill
Herald
, our very own, very much alive,
Jerry Caulfield.”

There was thunderous
applause, and more stamping and whistling. Jerry raised his hands
and gestured for people to stop. “Thank you, thank you all,” he
said magnanimously, the leader-in-charge again. “I am delighted
that at apparently the right time, I was able to provide the
impetus for a project that you’ve all taken to heart. There is one
person I would like to acknowledge who has played a significant
role in the preparations for our Ball, a relative newcomer to our
county, Anastasia Raven.”

He motioned me to the
stage. I was momentarily frozen in place. I wasn’t supposed to be
the one up there with him. I shook my head slightly.

“Ana, come on up here so
people can thank you,” he urged gently.

I gave in and climbed the
few steps to the stage. Jerry put his arm around my
shoulders.

“Ana, along with Adele,
here...” he paused and put his other arm around Adele’s ample
waist. But he had to let one of us go to bring the mic back to his
mouth, and he released me. “...took on the responsibility of making
my dream for this Ball become a reality. You can’t believe how many
hours...”

My gaze wandered again to
the balcony while Jerry embarrassingly listed a number of the
decorating and organizational tasks we’d accomplished. There were a
couple of teenagers huddled in a shadowy upper corner, kissing.
Someone needed to go lock that gate. Mick waved at me.

...and she’s feeling right
at home here in our small town.”

I smiled and waved when
everyone began clapping, probably for Adele and me, although I
wasn’t positive.

Off to my right, Chad
hissed loudly, “Psst, Ma! How much longer till we’re
on?”

I continued waving with my
left hand and spread the five fingers of my right hand and wiggled
them at Chad behind my hip. I was totally guessing.

Jerry stepped back and
pointed to the steps. “Ladies, if you would kindly join the
audience, I have another announcement I would like to
make.”

Adele gave Jerry a
questioning look, but she didn’t balk at being hustled off
stage.

The room quieted. People
seemed to sense that whatever was about to happen hadn’t been in
the publicly known order of events. I liked the feeling of being
“in the know.”

Jerry began. “Mavis
Fanning, please come up here.”

My head jerked up, and
probably my jaw dropped. What was Jerry up to?

Mavis looked even more
stunned than I. She had been chatting with a group of well-dressed
women, and didn’t hear Jerry at first. One of her friends poked her
and turned her around, and she finally saw Jerry beckoning her. She
minced her way to the stage, playing coy with the audience and
shrugging her shoulders.

“Mavis, I have a deal for
you,” Jerry said.

The woman was not quite as
tall as Jerry, but she could nearly look him in the eye. You could
practically see sparks and questions flying out of her, but she
said nothing.

Jerry took it in stride and
continued. “It has come to my attention that you would very much
like this building for use as a fitness center, to promote good
health for our fine citizens.”

I swiveled my head trying
to find Harold, but couldn’t locate him. It crossed my mind that I
hadn’t seen Virginia Holiday in a long time, either.

Mavis opened her mouth but
closed it again without saying anything. She gave an almost
imperceptible nod. Whispers and coughing broke out randomly
throughout the room.

“I will make you an
offer.”

Mavis found her voice. “For
this building?”

“Not in its entirety. You
may have the use of this gymnasium and two classrooms for office
space and what-not, free of charge, for two full years, until you
find another suitable building.”

“Then what ‘deal’ are you
proposing,” Mavis sneered.

“This is offered in
exchange for one small item which shall not be named in
public.”

Mavis’ face fell. Her
haughty attitude disappeared momentarily, but then she recovered.
“I have nothing to hide,” she boasted.

From the audience came the
voice of a young woman, clear and precise, “Mom, I told him you
took it from my room.” Had Jerry arranged Claire’s presence,
too?

Jerry’s voice was smooth.
“Mavis, it’s all worked out. If you present me with this item
within twenty-four hours of the end of this Ball, say by ten p.m.
tomorrow, you’ll have a free facility for two years. If you persist
in feigning to have no knowledge of this topic, I’ll have no choice
except to...”