Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) (22 page)

Aaron sighed. "What's that, Polly?"

"I'm going to send Billy Endicott to bring Caleb over here to Sycamore House to be with his sister. Would you let their mother know where they are? They shouldn't be alone tonight while they're waiting for her to come
home."

"I'll be sure she knows where to find them. If you don’t mind, let them sleep there tonight and she'll be home by morning unless something awful comes up. If it does, I'll let you know."

"Thanks Aaron. I appreciate it."

Polly walked back out into the living room. Rachel looked at her expectantly.

"They didn't arrest your mother, Rachel. They took her in for questioning. Apparently, she has a motive for wanting Mrs. Rothenfuss dead. Now, what did you find out about Caleb?" Polly asked Billy.

"He's pretty upset. He's only a young dude."

"Can you take Rachel's car and go get him? Bring him back here. I think it would be best if everyone stayed at Sycamore House tonight until Mrs. Devins comes to get them tomorrow morning."

Rachel shoved her hand in her pocket and took out a set of keys.

"They can stay in our apartment, Polly," Billy said. "We have extra couches and Rachel can have my bed."

"
Don’t forget. Jason and his friends are also staying with you tonight. I'll work something out here."

He left by the front door and Polly sat down beside Rachel, "Honey, I'm so sorry this has happened. Do you know any reason why they think your mom has motive to kill Mrs. Rothenfuss?"

The question brought on another bout of tears. Through them, the girl said, "She hated my mom. I told you that. She was always trying to hurt us."

"Do you know why?"

"Mom never talks about it. She says I shouldn't worry about it. But, now she's gone and I don't know what to do!" Before the girl could start wailing again, Polly pulled her against her shoulder and held her for a moment.

"Will you be all right here with Obiwan?
” Polly asked. "I need to go downstairs and round up some air beds."

"I can sleep at Billy's."

"No. You can sleep here. Billy and Doug are going to have a houseful of boys after they're done playing games and I think you and Caleb should be here instead. I told the Sheriff to let your mom know that you were with me and that's where you're going to be."

Rachel nodded and wrapped her arms around Obiwan again.

"I'll be back," Polly said and left by the front door, closing it gently behind her. She ran down the steps and found most everyone in the kitchen. They were nearly finished with cleaning up and the dishwasher was running.

"Hi guys?" she said as she approached the door.

"How's Rachel?" Lydia asked.

"Settling down. I spoke with Aaron and he said they hadn't arrested her mother, they were just questioning her and she'd probably be back by tomorrow morning. Does anyone have a couple of air beds I could borrow tonight? Billy went to their house to get Caleb and I don't think those two need to be at his apartment when the game night ends and the boys want to be up chattering."

Sylvie nodded her thanks.

"I do," Henry said. "I can run home and get it. It's a queen size and one kid can sleep on your couch and the other can have the bed."

"You're going to do everything possible to get out of dealing with them, aren't you?" Polly teased.

"I'm coming back, aren't I?" He turned to the rest of the room. "I'm a little afraid she won't let me leave once I get upstairs with that bed. She doesn't want to be with emotional kids any more than I do."

He kissed her on the cheek and went out the back door. He'd taken to parking his truck in her back driveway. She thought it felt a little proprietary and it made her smile. He had the code to unlock any door on the property, she guessed it made sense.

Lydia and Beryl walked back out of the kitchen with her. "Can we do anything?" Lydia asked.

"You guys have lived in town forever," Polly said, "Do you know why Aaron says she has a motive for killing Cindy Rothenfuss?"

They looked at each other and Lydia sighed. "It's only a rumor. I didn't want to say anything because I don't know whether it is true or not, but the grapevine says that Cindy Rothenfuss had an affair a long time ago with Rachel's father. He wasn't married to her mother at the time. Just a young single man who got caught up with something he couldn't control.
Then he met Martha and she got pregnant and he was in love with her, so he told Cindy that he was done being her plaything and did the right thing. They got married before Rachel was born. A few years later, Caleb was born."

"So where is he now?"

Lydia inhaled and said, "Now the rumors get all sorts of crazy. Some people say that Cindy Rothenfuss never got over him and one day she threatened to tell his kids all about them if he didn't leave his wife. He got scared and ran away. Other people say that he found yet another woman and left town to be with her because she got pregnant. There are so many rumors, but the truth is, only Martha Devins probably knows for sure why he left."

"How long ago did he take off?"

"It was a few years ago, wasn't it, Beryl?"

"Yeah. He was driving a truck, I believe. It was like he drove off into the sunset and never returned. Maybe two thousand nine, the year of the big snowstorm
s.”

"That's right. Aaron caught that little boy trying to shovel his driveway with his mom and went over with the snowblower to help them out."

"Rachel told me that Cindy Rothenfuss tried to get her husband to buy their house so she could evict them."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Beryl said. "The woman was a selfish, self-centered bitch. She probably thought that Martha Devins stole her man on purpose and it wasn't like she wasn't already married to a nice guy. How many men does one woman need in her life? I could barely stand to have one around."

"She was pretty horrible to Rachel the day I separated them," Polly said. "I guess she tormented her at the nursing home."

"I'm sure the poor
woman blamed Rachel as much as she blamed Martha. If he hadn't gotten her pregnant, he might have stayed with Cindy for a long time." Beryl sneered.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," Lydia said. "She wasn't as nasty back then as she has been lately, but she wasn't ever a nice person. Her husband always had a lot of money and I expect that she was buying things to keep her boyfriend happy. But, he wouldn't have put up with that for very long. Sooner or later he was going to get bored with her and move on."

Beryl snickered at her friend. "Apparently he got bored easily. He's moved on a lot."

"Do you think the kids have heard these rumors?"

"If they haven't before, they will certainly hear them now. Little towns like this love to wallow in the pain of its citizens." Beryl said. "That's why I hate going to funerals. There are people who show up just so they can get their little pain-high by watching the grief of the family. It's sick."

Polly giggled. "You're a little weird."

"Haven't you ever seen it?" Beryl asked. "Pay attention when you go to your next funeral. There will be these people with big, round concerned eyes. They hover around the family, sucking up all their grief. Then they cry and draw attention to themselves about how awful this death was. They had nothing to do with the person when they were alive, but now that they're dead, it's a free-for-all to get as much substance out of the death ritual as they can." She shuddered. "It's gross."

Billy came in the front door with Caleb and took him upstairs.

"I'd better go," Polly said. "Thanks for telling me what the town knows and I don't. When you see Henry come back with that bed, tell him he better come up with it himself and not pay someone else to do it for him."

"Goodnight
dear. Thanks for taking care of the kids," Lydia said.

Polly ran up the steps and caught up to Billy and Caleb as they were going in the front door. She put her hand on Caleb's back and when he turned to look at her, she saw that the boy had been crying.

"I'm glad you're here, Caleb."

"I didn't want to leave
my dog, Abe. But Billy said he could go to their apartment and hang out with Big Jack."

She opened the front door and saw that Rachel had fallen asleep with her arms still wrapped around Obiwan. His eyes and ears perked up when they came in, but he didn't move.

Polly put her finger to her lips and pointed to her bedroom. Billy and Caleb followed her in and she shut the door.

"Henry Sturtz is bringing an air bed over for you to sleep on tonight, Caleb. I think Billy and Doug's place is going to be busy enough, don't you?"

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not going to sleep anyway."

"Billy, did you tell him what I found out from the Sheriff?" Polly asked.

"I told him. I don't know if he believed me, but I told him."

"The Sheriff is just trying to get to the truth. You know him, don't you Caleb?"

He nodded.

"You know he is fair and honest. Right?"

He nodded again.

"You know he won't arrest your mother for something she didn't do, right?"

He took a deep breath and let it out, then nodded once more.

"You have to trust him. If he has questions she can answer, then that's what needs to happen. I've told him to let her know that you and Rachel are staying here tonight."

He nodded.

Billy pushed his shoulder. "Come on, dude. Talk. Polly is being nice to you."

"I don't feel like talking. My mom went to jail."

This was going to be more difficult than she imagined.

"She's not in jail, Caleb. Do you understand that?"

"Then why did the Sheriff take her away?"

"Because they need to ask her some questions and it has to be official so that no one can say they did it wrong."

"Okay. Fine."

"Did you eat any supper?"

"No. They took her before we could eat."

Henry called from the main level, "Can I come up?"

"Come on up. We're in the bedroom." Polly called back. "Billy, would you go downstairs and ask Sylvie if she would make up a plate for Caleb and Rachel? If they don't want to eat, that's fine, but there is plenty of food and I think they'll like it."

Billy gave her a look of gratitude and passed Henry in the hallway and tore down the back steps.

"Hey Caleb," Henry said.

"Hey."

"Caleb and I know each other from Boy Scouts. That was a long time ago though, wasn't it."

"I quit after you left. It was boring."

Polly looked at Henry and said, "You never cease to surprise me."

He smiled. "Good for me!" Pulling the bed out of its box, he said to Caleb, "Do you want to help me get this thing blown up? And is there a reason we're in here and not the living room?"

"Rachel was sleeping when we came upstairs. I wanted to give her a few minutes of quiet," Polly said.

"Oh. Should we let her keep sleeping?"

Billy had returned with several containers in a bag.

"Nope, let's wake her up and see if she wants something to eat. Caleb, are you hungry?"

"I could eat," he said.

"Let's get this party going," Polly smiled and opened the door to the living room.

Very early the next morning, Polly received a text from Sheriff Merritt that he was dropping Martha Devins off at Sycamore House. Polly unlocked the main door from her phone and woke the kids in her living room.

The woman looked exhausted and haggard, dark circles under her eyes and her hair desperately needed a brush. Both kids hugged their mother when they saw her.

"Would you like me to make some breakfast?" Polly asked.

"No. I just want to go home and take a shower." The woman shuddered. "I feel as if all the grime in Boone crawled onto my skin. That place is awful."

Rachel and Caleb began asking questions, one after another, often talking over each other.

"Stop," Martha said. "After I get some sleep, I'll tell you everything. I'm not under arrest and I didn't do anything wrong."

She scowled at Polly, "Except end up on the wrong side of that woman's ire."

Polly nodded.

"Thank you so much for taking these two in last night. I figured they could take care of themselves, but the deputy didn't give me much time to make any plans for them."

"We're old enough. We could have stayed at the house alone," Caleb said.

"I'm glad that with everything that was happening, you had a safe place to sleep." She turned him toward Polly. "Tell Miss Giller thank you - both of you - and we'll get out of her hair."

Caleb said the words and Rachel hugged Polly. "Thank you so much," she said. "I didn't want to be by myself last night."

"I'm glad we could work this out."

"Mom!" Caleb cried out. "Abe is at Billy's with Big Jack. We have to get him."

"He can wait until they've gotten up. We won't bother anyone else this morning."

"Now, fold up your blankets and stack them neatly and make sure you have everything."

Martha took Polly's hand. "Again, thank you so much. When Sheriff Merritt told me the kids were here, I knew that you would take care of them and make them feel safe."

"Are you okay?" Polly asked.

"Not really, but it's nothing a hot shower and a nap won't fix."

"Do Caleb and Rachel have any idea what is going on?"

The woman sighed, "Probably not. That will be a long conversation we get to have today. They know a little about their father and have made some assumptions about why he left, but it's time to tell them everything. I think they are old enough to know the truth."

Polly nodded and though she was desperately curious, she couldn't figure out a good way to ask the woman what the truth was.

"Thank you again," Martha said as they left by the front door.

Polly closed it behind them and went back to her bed and lay down. "Well, I guess there won't be any more sleep for me today, she said to the cats, who had jumped up to rejoin her. How come I never seem to get enough sleep? I'm a good girl."

She shut her eyes and the next thing she knew, her cell phone was ringing.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"We're just checking on you," Eliseo said. "How are things up there? Do you still have a full house?"

"What time is it?"

"It's seven thirty. Jason and I are nearly finished with morning chores. He said that the Devins' dog was still in Doug and Billy's apartment, but Rachel's car is gone."

"I'm so sorry! Their mom showed up when it was still dark out. She didn't want to wake the boys up for the dog, so they went on home. I lay down for just a minute. I'm sorry!"

"
Don’t fret. Jason and I did good work this morning. He was worried about Rachel and Caleb and I thought it might be good if we also worried about you a little bit."

"Everything is fine, but I can't believe that this morning
, of all mornings, I wasn't down there to help you get everyone out. What time are we supposed to be at the start of the parade?"

"We're the last thing to go, so … "

"That's a good idea," Polly interrupted. "Horse poop is a terrible thing to have to walk through."

He chuckled, "You're right. Anyway, since we're last to go and we don't have much set up and I don't want the horses to have to wait too long, if we are there by ten thirty, it will
all be good."

"Thank you. I will be down as soon as I get a shower and put real clothes on. I really am sorry, Eliseo."

"If you needed sleep, the best thing to do was get it. We have a busy weekend ahead of us."

"I'll see you in a bit."

Before Polly got in the shower, she spent some time cleaning and polishing her boots and then set them aside. Obiwan gave her a cross-eyed look when she came at him with the brush. If he was riding in the wagon today, he was going without the extra animal he had hidden in the mass of fur. By the time she was finished with him, she gathered up the hair and laughed. "There's enough here to make a puppy! I've been a bad mom!"

She put her new blue shirt on and her best pair of blue jeans, slipped into her comfortable boots and smiled as she grabbed her hat off the shelf in her closet. If anyone had told Polly fifteen years ago she would be proudly wearing western style clothing, she'd have laughed in their face. That was almost as insane as listening to country music and she had to admit it, but every once in a while, when Eliseo had music going in the barn, she liked it.

They went downstairs and out the back to the barn. She waved at Jeff as she went by. He tried to get her attention, but she knew Obiwan was desperate to get to grass and she'd made him wait long enough.

Eliseo and Jason were brushing the horses down when she entered the barn and Demi nickered at her.

"You are my boy, aren't you?" she said, rubbing his forehead.

"Wow Polly, you look great!" Jason exclaimed. "Mom brought all of my clothes for the parade. Can I take a shower at your place?"

"Sure! Would you take Obiwan up with you when you go and make sure to feed him and the cats?"

"Cool!"

"Did you have fun last night?"

"Everyone was kind of freaked out when Rachel showed up, but then Doug set us up with Sword Lords. We had a great campaign. I even got a Paladin's horse."

Polly nodded as if she knew what he was talking about. "That's great! What time did you go to bed?"

Jason grinned and said, "It was awesome. We didn't go to sleep until two o'clock! I've never gotten to stay up that late."

"I'll bet it was hard to wake up this morning."

"No it wasn't!" he said. "I set the alarm on my new phone and since I didn't have to change my clothes, I just ran down here and started to work."

Polly smiled at him. He was going to crash hard later today, but as long as the adrenaline kept flowing through his body, he’d be fine. A birthday, a chance to be independent of his mother, a parade, a horse - it was a lot for a young boy to handle.

He set the brush down on a bench and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. "Did you see this, Polly? Can you believe Mom got it for me?"

"I didn't get a chance to see it last night," she said. "Is it pretty cool?"

"Mom told me I couldn't spend any money on apps for it, but there are a ton of free ones. Look! This one tells me how much battery is left and this one lets me send pictures to Facebook!"

"Pretty cool!" she acknowledged. "You are on Facebook now?"

"I will be when I get home tonight. I'm thirteen!" He shrugged, "Mom says I have to set it up on the home computer so she can watch. Can I friend you?" he asked.

"Of course you can," she laughed. "I'd love that. Are you going to post lots of pictures of Nat? I'll try to shoot some today of you riding. How would you like that?"

"Thank you!"

He shoved the phone back in his pocket and Polly realized he used the same movements that she did. She realized that sometimes she had no idea how much these kids watched everything around them. He picked the brush back up and stepped up on the bench to reach Nat's back.

"I think they're looking pretty good, Eliseo," he said with authority. It made Polly's heart sing. It was fun watching these boys grow up.

"I think you're right, Jason. It's eight thirty. Why don't you go up and get showered and dressed. When you come back down, we'll get them ready. Doc Ogden should be here about nine thirty or so."

"Okay." Jason went outside and called for Obiwan. Polly followed to make sure the dog obeyed and watched as the two trotted up to the main building.

"He's such a good kid," she said. "Sylvie has done a great job with those boys."

Eliseo nodded and she could have sworn that his eyes were wistful. The scars that covered his body from a terrible accident in Iraq twenty years ago probably told him that he would be alone for the rest of his life. Polly was glad that he was at least part of the Sycamore House family for now. Everyone who worked with him ignored the scars and saw that they were simply part of who he was. She wondered what his life would have been like if he'd never been in that accident. She would have hated to miss out on working with him. He was her saving grace when it came to the horses. Her naiveté had been supplanted by her willingness to work hard in the beginning, but he was the one who discovered these four horses were so much more than a rehabilitation project. They were ready to play and to work, to be ridden and to pull.
Every time Mark showed Demi and Daisy the gear for them to pull the wagon, they practically danced in place. She supposed that standing around in a pasture all day every day could get a little boring. These horses were made for more than that and they were thrilled whenever someone as skilled as Eliseo or Mark Ogden gave them a challenge.

"What are you thinking on over there, Polly?" Eliseo asked. "You've gotten awful serious."

"Sorry!" she chuckled. "I was just thinking about how glad I am that you are here. You and Mark give these horses so much more than I would have known to give them. They would have had a nice, soft life with me, but you let them be who they really are. It's exciting to think about all that they can do."

He patted Daisy's neck and walked her back into her stall. "I never got a chance to work with draft horses. We didn't have any on the farm. These beauties are like nothing I've ever kno
wn. They are so gentle and kind, I'd trust them with the smallest child. Even Nan knows what it means to have someone on her back who needs her to behave. They've been well trained and now that they're healthy, there's nothing like feeling those massive muscles moving underneath my legs. I feel like I moved into the big time with them. It's really my privilege."

"Well, I'm glad you're here."

"I am too," he said and quickly walked away from her to the back of the barn.

"Sorry about that," she said quietly as she walked out of the barn up to Sycamore House. "Sometimes they make me emotional, too."

This time, she stopped in the office. "Did you need me?" she asked Jeff.

"I just wanted to know how everything went last night. Did you have guests all night long?"

"Yep. Their mother picked them up early this morning. I think everything is fine, but only time will tell. How are things going here with the quilt show?"

"The schedule says that it opens at nine. We haven't had anyone lining up at the doors, though. Marla called and said she was bringing the judges in this afternoon. They're staying at a hotel in Ames and she has to pick them up and bring them in.
They'll stay for a few hours and then I think they're off to check out some of the quilt shops in the area. I can't imagine hauling those people all over, but she's doing it."

"Thanks for all you've done for this. Is everything else going well?"

"I think so. Nothing is niggling at the back of my mind, and if it's going to fall apart, that is usually what tells me I should be paying attention."

"Do you have your shirt?"

"It's right here. I spent the night in town last night and haven't had time to change."

"Do you need to use my shower? Jason is up there right now, but he'll be finished soon."