Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) (16 page)

Aaron leaned forward. "Denis, can you think of any reason why someone would kill Julie?"

"She was killed?" Denis's head shot up and he winced. "How? When? Where?"

"I need you to focus on my questions," Aaron replied. "Do you know of any reason why someone might kill her?"

"She was a sweet girl. No one would want to kill her. The only bad thing that she ever did was decide to be with me," Denis said. He grew quiet. "When was she killed? Won't you at least tell me that?"

"It was Wednesday," Polly said. "At the new coffee shop. Did you know that she was going to be working there?"

Denis nodded while Aaron scowled at her again. "She was excited about the job. She always wanted to be a barista." He rolled the 'r' in the word. "That's how she always said it. She's taking language studies at Iowa State. She wants to be an engineer and work around the world." He heaved a sigh, then winced again. "She wanted to. I'm sorry."

"Denis," Aaron said, demanding the young man's attention. "I need to ask if there might be any connection between your accident and Julie's death. Can you think of any reason that they are associated?"

"No," Denis said immediately. "There's nothing."

"Are you certain?" Aaron asked.

Denis looked out the window. "There is nothing. I'm sure. I was out of control and that had nothing to do with Julie."

Aaron moved his body to get Denis's attention again. "And you don't know of anyone who would want to hurt Julie?"

"I don't," Denis said, shaking his head. "I'm very tired and my pain is increasing. Could you please ask Mrs. Morrow to come in?"

Aaron stood up, drew a business card from his breast pocket and set it on the table beside Denis's bed. "If you can think of anything that will help us find out who killed Julie, please contact me. We would appreciate your help."

He waited for a response, but there was none. Polly took his arm and they left the room. She knocked on Evelyn's door and waited for the woman to respond.

"Are you finished?" Evelyn asked upon opening the door.

"We are," Polly said. "He's asking for you. Says that his pain is increasing."

"He said those words?" Evelyn asked. At Polly's nod, she smiled. "He's lying. That’s the exact phrase the doctor used with him. He was just trying to get you to leave."

Evelyn turned back to Leslie Sutworth. "If you will give me just a minute, I'll make sure Denis is comfortable."

"He's my son," Leslie cried. "I want to see him now. I can comfort him." She rushed toward the door.

Evelyn calmly stepped between her and the hallway and said, "We've discussed this, Leslie. I am in charge of your son's care. If you want me to continue, you have to listen to me. I can't argue with you about how I do my job and take care of him at the same time. Do you understand?"

"Why won't anyone let me see Denis?" she wailed and turned back into the room. "Why am I being denied my boy?"

Evelyn pulled the door shut.

"This is going to be a trial," Polly said patting Evelyn's arm.

"No it's not," Evelyn replied. "She and I have come to an agreement and it's in her best interest to follow my instructions. And besides, she goes back to work on Monday. That woman needs interaction with other people. She is much too focused on her oldest son."

"Let me know if you need backup," Polly said.

Evelyn chuckled. "I might take you up on that." She looked at Aaron. "Did you get everything you needed from him?"

"I got all I was going to get today. No one had told him yet that his ex-girlfriend had been killed."

"Oh my," Evelyn said. "I didn't realize."

"He's still processing that information."

"I'd best get in there and check on him, then," she responded. "Thanks for making it quick."

Evelyn slipped quietly into the next room while Aaron and Polly walked out of the addition and into the main part of Sycamore House.

"Do you think there's a connection between the accident and her death?" Polly asked.

"I don't know for sure," Aaron said. "He hasn't had time to sort all of the information out yet."

Polly followed him to the front door. "If I call you to come rescue Leslie Sutworth from my insanity, will you come running?"

"She's a pip," he said with a laugh. "I'm pretty certain she would drive Lydia to drink. Doesn't she have two more kids at home that she should be taking care of?"

"Yes," Polly said flatly. "If it weren't for Evelyn Morrow, I would never have done this for that family. But she believes that this is the right thing to do."

"She's a good woman." Aaron gave Polly a quick hug. "You both are."

Henry's truck pulled up in front of them and Andrew clambered out of the back seat. "Polly. I have your lunch. And Henry stopped at the convenient store and bought ice cream sandwiches." He rushed over to them and handed her two bags.

She waved at Henry and Nate and watched as they took off.

"Are you going upstairs?" she asked Andrew.

"The dogs need to go outside," he responded.

"Could you put the ice cream in the freezer and the food in the fridge? If you don't, the animals will get it."

"Sure!" he exclaimed, grabbed the bags, and went inside.

"You haven't eaten yet?" Aaron asked.

"Andrew and I were out for the day and stopped at Hickory Park in Ames. Nate and Henry were already there, so we joined them. That's when Jeff called me in a panic. Everything was falling apart here and he needed one more person to manage the crazy people."

"That's a great place."

"It might be," Polly rolled her eyes. "But I'm giving up on eating there. Every time I go, a crisis occurs that drags me home. I don't know which one affects the other, but in order to avoid any more terrible events here, I'm just going to stay away. We can do take out, but I can't eat in there."

"Okay," he said tentatively. "That sounds right for you."

She swatted his arm. "Don't you give me any trouble. I am who I am and there's nothing I can do about it."

"And we like you that way."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

As Polly walked back into Sycamore House, her phone buzzed.

Henry texted her.
"What was the big crisis and why was the Sheriff there? I didn't want to make a big deal out of it in front of Andrew and Nate. Is everything okay?"

She smiled.
"Everything is fine. Aaron wanted to talk to Denis Sutworth. He dated Julie Smith. The crisis was everything fell apart all at once and Jeff had more than he could handle. S'all okay. I love you."

"So you really don't care how long I'm out today?"

"Stay out as long as you want. When Rebecca gets here, she'll want to show me her purchases. We'll have fun."

"You're amazing and I love you."

"I know."
Before Polly pressed send, she smiled and thought about adding another 'I love you,' but then laughed and sent it anyway.

She walked back to the kitchen to see if Rachel and Sylvie were finding their way out of their crises, but when she heard Sylvie speaking in short, terse sentences, she turned back and headed for the office. Maybe Jeff had had better luck with the mother and daughter.

The conference room door was still closed and she hesitated in front of it, wondering if Jeff needed help, but jumped backwards when she saw the door handle turn. Polly scooted over to Stephanie's desk and tried to look nonchalant as the two women walked out, followed by a red-faced Jeff Lyndsay.

He waved her into her office and shut the door when they were both there.

"How'd that go?" Polly asked.

Jeff leaned over and banged his forehead three times on her desk. When he sat back up, he whimpered and then put his hand on his forehead, rubbing it where he'd smacked it.

"You can't speak yet?" she asked.

"Dumb. Dense. Thick. Feeble. Dim." He brought his hands to his neck and made a show of choking himself. "I've never dealt with anyone so simple-minded. No, that's too generous for them. It was a flat-out refusal to listen to a single word I said. They had it in their heads that the wedding would be here and they could have a fairy-tale reception. No matter that they had given no thought to what it should look like, who would do the food or the decorations, or even who was performing the ceremony!"

Polly didn't know whether to laugh or be shocked. "What?"

"I'm not kidding you. They honestly thought that all they had to do was put the date out there and the world would give them the perfect wedding."

"Have they bought a dress?"

He nodded. Yes, they have a dress. They bought that two years ago when the daughter announced she was going to find a man and get married. Polly," he said. "They bought the dress and then went out to find a husband to accessorize it!"

"He's the dumb one, then. If he's stupid enough to make a choice to be part of that family, I guess you can hardly feel sorry for him. What are we doing about this?"

"They'll have to go to the courthouse in Boone to get married on Friday. I made it clear that needed to happen without our intervention. Monday morning they're meeting here with a wedding planner friend of mine that owes me a huge favor." He shook his head. "I'll probably owe her a couple after this. But she knows what's going on and apparently, they're willing to pay."

Polly muttered, "The mother probably thinks this is the only way to get that stupid girl out of the house and into someone else's hands."

"She's not much better," Jeff replied. "They haven't even sent out invitations. Which is a good thing, I guess. I talked to Ryan at the winery and there's a room available." He threw his hands up in the air. "I think I did all I could do. How are things in the rest of the world?"

"Aaron is gone and Denis is settling in," Polly said. "I started to walk back to the kitchen, but Sylvie sounded, ummm, snippy with someone, so I didn't go far enough to see what was happening."

"I should go back and help. Just to make sure she doesn't chew up and spit out the repairman." He stretched and leaned back in the chair. "Am I walking out the door yet?"

"Sure you are. I'm watching it happen," Polly said with a laugh.

Alistair Greyson walked in the front door and Polly glanced at Jeff, wondering if he'd seen the man. Jeff's eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly through his nose.

"Grey is here," she said quietly. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

"He is?" Jeff jumped up. "I'll talk to him, unless you want to. I don't want to tell you that you can't talk to him."

"Were you falling asleep?" she asked.

"Maybe a little. I was relaxing as best I could. It was just for a second, right?"

"Go on. Talk to Grey."

He gave his head a quick shake and opened the door.

"Grey," he said. "How are you? Come on into my office and we'll talk."

Polly leaned back in her chair. What a strange day this had been so far and with Henry gone for the foreseeable future, it was going to stay strange.

"Polly?"

She looked up to see Andrew standing in her doorway.

"Hey, what's up? I kind of lost track of you."

"I took the dogs out and I'm bored."

"What do you mean you're bored? You got all of those books."

"I know. But I got used to reading with people around and it's too quiet upstairs. When are Rebecca and Kayla coming back?"

She smiled and gestured for him to sit down. "I don't know. I hope they're having a great time with Stephanie. What do you think we should do to keep you from being so bored?"

"We could go out back and set up the croquet set," he mentioned, his voice laced with hope.

There wasn't anything keeping her inside. "That sounds great. Let me change my clothes while you set up the wickets."

"You'll really do it?"

"Why not?" she asked.

"I don't know. You're an adult."

"I'm not too old to play outside. Now go. I'll be there soon."

Andrew tore out of the office.              

Before Polly could get up, Alistair Greyson was standing in her doorway.

He made a sweeping gesture into a bow and said, "I apologize profusely for my behavior last night and for the fact that I caused you to doubt my commitment to the honor you bestowed on me as manager of your fine inn. I hope you accept my sincere apology and will offer me yet another opportunity to prove my worth to you."

She thought through all of the words that he had just spilled out and finally said, "Of course. I assume that you have worked everything out with Jeff."

"I have," Grey said. "He is a man with a generous heart and on my honor I will not disappoint him."

"Mistakes and failures are part of life," Polly said. "Honesty and honor go a long way to covering them, though, don't they?"

He took a deep breath and released it. "I may fail again," he said.

"We all do," she replied. "It isn't the end of the world."

"If I might ask one more boon?" he asked.

"What can I do for you?"

"It's what I might be able to do for you. But I would have to ask that you trust me, and that is something I have yet to earn."

"What is it, Grey?" Polly asked.

He glanced toward the addition. "I'd like the opportunity to speak with the young man who set in motion all of the things that brought us to this point."

Polly hesitated.

"I know that you know nothing of my background, but Mr. Lindsay does. I've spent the last seven years working as a clinical therapist with young people. I would like the opportunity to see if there is anything I can do for him."

"You have?" She didn't know what to make of that. "Why are you working as a hotel manager in a small town?"

"It's the right thing to do in this season of my life," he replied. "But I am qualified."

"I don't have any authority to tell you whether or not you can spend time with him. That would need to be a discussion you have with Evelyn Morrow, his mother, and anyone else who is involved with Denis's care." Polly thought about it. "And probably Denis himself."

Grey nodded gravely. "I understand."

"He has just gotten here," Polly continued. "Let me mention your request to Mrs. Morrow."

He swept his arm in front of him and took another bow, "Thank you kindly. And now I will return to my work. I have been away long enough for this day."

Grey strode out and as she watched him walk past the windows in the hallway and out the front door, all Polly could think was that he needed a cape and a tricorn hat.

Polly's phone rang and she was surprised to see that the caller was Evelyn Morrow. "Evelyn?" she asked. "How can I help you?"

"Would you mind bringing your no-nonsense self over for a few minutes? I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm getting nowhere and I need just a bit of assistance."

"The mother?" Polly asked.

"You are a smart girl. I can't seem to get through to her."

"I'll be right there."             

She walked out and stuck her head in Jeff's office. "I'm going to give Evelyn Morrow some backup. If you hear screaming, come get me."

"What's going on?"

"I think she's having trouble with Leslie Sutworth. What happened today? Did we get a crazy-person bomb dropped on us?"

"Can I help?"

"Let me see what I can do. You're close enough that if we need you, we'll let you know."

He grinned and waved her away.

"I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to," Polly muttered under her breath as she walked toward the addition. She opened the door and walked down the short hall to Evelyn. "What do you want me to do?"

Evelyn opened the door to Denis's room, where Leslie was kneeling at his bedside, crying and sobbing. "She won't leave." She pulled the door shut again. "I have been firm with her, I have cajoled, I have begged, I have wheedled. I've done everything I can think to do outside of grabbing her legs out from under her and dragging her by the ankles into the hallway. I thought I'd save that for the last resort."

"Physically removing her is off the table?" Polly asked.

Evelyn shrugged. "If it comes down to it, I suppose not. I understand that she's his mother and is worried about him, but good heavens, Polly. He's had issues throughout his life and she's had a full week to get used to his physical disability."

"Having him here is new," Polly said. "She's always known where he was at night. He lived with her, right?"

"I suppose that's true."

"And when he was in the hospital, she knew that he was safe with nurses and doctors. So, this is new."

"You're right. Maybe I just needed you to calm
me
down," Evelyn said. "I've about had it up to here with the woman." She waved her hand in front of her forehead. "She's been hovering in my space since early this morning."

"And here I thought you were one of the most patient and kind women I'd ever met," Polly said.

"I'm good with the dying," Evelyn replied. "Not so good with wailing family members. But I can usually kick them out when they get too far out of control. This woman simply won't listen."

"Let's see what we can do." Polly opened the door, took a deep breath and said, "Mrs. Sutworth?"

When the kneeling woman didn't respond, Polly walked across the room and put her hand on Leslie Sutworth's shoulder. "Mrs. Sutworth, I'm speaking to you."

"You can't make me leave him," Leslie said.

Polly put all of the steel she could muster into her voice. "Stand up." She accompanied her command with a firm grip on the woman's upper arm.

Leslie followed Polly's lead and stood. "You can't make me go away. I won't go. He needs his mother."

"Come with me," Polly said and took Leslie's hand, drawing her across the room to the door.

"Noooooo," Leslie cried and grabbed the door frame.

"Do
not
be a fool," Polly said flatly. "You're acting like an imbecile. Come out into the hallway and discuss this calmly with me." She glared at the woman. "Right. Now."