The River Rolls On (Bellingwood Book 10) (15 page)

Polly swept her arm in front of her. "Look around," she said. "They aren't stupid enough to have stayed out in the open. They could have tucked away."

"I certainly hope not. That's the last thing we need to find. Maybe I should turn around." Tonya pulled into a parking space and put the car into reverse and Polly stopped her.

"What?" Tonya asked.

Polly pointed ahead of them in the trees.

"What am I looking at?" Tonya asked again.

Polly took a deep breath, shut her eyes and reached for the car door. Tonya grabbed her arm and said, "What in the hell are you doing?"

"It's the girl who was killed. I'm almost sure of it. Why else am I freaking here today!" Polly's voice rose as she spoke.

Tonya peered in the direction Polly had pointed "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am," Polly said with disgust. "It's what I do." She sighed and dropped her head. "I have to call Aaron. He just won't believe this."

"I don't want to let you go look," Tonya said.

"I don't want to go look." Polly turned to the girl. "And besides, Aaron would pulverize us both if we messed up the scene and Ray would be furious if I got too close."

Tonya snapped the lock down on the car door again and said, "Make your call. Can you tell them how to get in here?"

"Sure," Polly said, nodding. She swiped her phone open and made the call to Aaron Merritt's cell phone.

"Good afternoon, Polly," he said brightly. "How are you this fine Monday afternoon?"

"Well…" she said.

"Nope. You can't be calling me about a body because you're safe at Sycamore House with bodyguards everywhere."

"Well."

"Polly Giller, you have got to be kidding me." He sounded angry. "How in the hell did you get out and about?"

"I'm with Tonya. I'm safe."

Tonya chuckled and pointed at the back window. Polly turned and saw Gerry pull in beside them.

"Apparently I'm safe. The rest of the crew has found me, too."

"So why are you calling me?"

"Because I found her."

He let out a strained chuckle. "Of course you did. Are you sure?"

"No. I'm not absolutely sure, but why the hell else do you think I'm here at the Ledges showing Tonya the sights? For my health?"

"Stu and I will be right there. Don't get out of your car. Don't approach the body. Don't mess things up."

"I know, I know. We'll be good."

Gerry got out of her vehicle and tapped on Polly's window. "What's up?" she mouthed.

Polly pointed to the phone in her ear and rolled down the window while she described their location to Aaron. He was less than ten minutes away, and she had no place else to go. When she put the phone in her lap, Tonya leaned across her and said, "She found the body."

"What?"

Polly pointed to where she could just see the body of the young girl tied to a tree. It was far enough off in the distance and at such an angle that someone would have to be looking for it, but she was certain.

"Just a second," Gerry said and went back to her car. She returned with two pairs of binoculars and handed one set to Polly.

Polly brought them to her eyes and focused, then handed them to Tonya. "Damn it," she said. "What is up with me?"

"I don't understand," Tonya said.

"This is what Sal was talking about at lunch," Polly said with disgust.

"I heard her say the words," Gerry said, "but I guess I didn't understand."

"I find dead bodies. Since I've moved into Bellingwood, it's been my thing. If someone has died a suspicious death or something strange happened around a death, I find the body," Polly said, rolling her eyes.

Gerry leaned on the window sill of the door. "You're not kidding?"

Polly shook her head in disgust. "Why does this have to be my super power?"

"I've never heard of anything like this," Tonya said, looking through the binoculars again.

Polly raised her eyebrows. "Just ask the Sheriff. He won't be at all surprised to find her here. In fact, he'll probably be relieved. Even if he is going to be mad that I walked into it."

"You haven't walked anywhere," Tonya said. "Remember?"

"I almost did. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I can't believe we have to leave her there until everyone arrives. The poor girl needs some dignity," Polly said.

Gerry nodded and reached in to pat Polly's shoulder. "Honey, I think you just gave it to her. If this is all true and you had to be the one to find her, at least it finally happened and her family can be at peace."

"I suppose." Polly reached for the car door as Gerry looked up. "Do you mind if I get out of the car now? I should be safe enough, don't you think?"

Gerry stepped back and Polly climbed out, then they followed her as she approached Aaron Merritt's SUV.

"Where is she?" he asked, stepping out and to Polly's side.

Tonya handed him the binoculars and he followed Polly's finger. He brought his other hand up and rubbed it across his forehead, dropping the hand with the binoculars back down at his side. "That's her."

Stu Decker joined them and Aaron handed the field glasses across and pointed. "I don't want our people to go anywhere on this land until DCI gets here," Aaron said. "We don't need to make a mess of this for them. She can wait a little longer so we make sure everything is done right."

Nodding, Stu handed the glasses back to Aaron, who passed them to Tonya. Stu gave Polly a weak grin and went back to his vehicle.

"I should have known," Aaron said.

"You should have known what?" Polly asked.

"I needed you out and about. I don't know why I even thought I could do this without you. The universe has spoken."

"Do you actually believe that?" Gerry asked the Sheriff.

"I've been around long enough to recognize when things are beyond my control," Aaron said. "Our Polly is so far beyond my control that I just hope for the best and pray she lives through it. I don't know why the good Lord decided to plant her in Bellingwood. Whether it was to make my life easier or more difficult ... I don't know, but I've given up trying to second guess it. It is what it is and I answer the phone when she calls."

Gerry grinned at Polly and asked, "What does your husband think about this?"

"He's as pragmatic as anyone," Polly said. "He worries, but at least he hasn't started drinking."

Aaron smiled at her. "Why don't you three get out of here. You don't want to be caught up in the traffic that's about to arrive. Tell me that none of you left the parking lot."

Tonya shook her head. "No sir. Just our cars and now here."

"Okay. Take off. Polly, you should drive them through Dairy Queen and get ice cream. Isn't that your usual fix for stress?"

"You're a rat," she said. "But I'm not stressed. I guess I'm relieved that she's been found. That was breaking my heart. I feel sad and guilty that she was killed, though. No one should have had to go through that. I feel like it's my fault."

Aaron started to speak and she held up her hand. "I know. In my head I know that it's Joey and this Allendar guy, but my heart aches knowing that it's Joey's obsession with me that caused this."

He pulled her into a hug. "This is why we love you, Polly. Now go treat your friends to ice cream and we'll take care of this."

She nodded. "Thanks for trusting me, Aaron."

"Always, honey."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Polly was certain that she'd pushed Tonya over the edge. The ride back to Bellingwood was silent. Every once in a while, the girl would sneak a quick glance at her, but Polly figured Tonya was just checking to make sure there wasn't a third eye coming out of Polly's forehead or maybe wings sprouting from her shoulders.

What she wanted to do was yell, "Boo," but the fear that Tonya would drive into a ditch stopped her. Just as they turned east on the Bellingwood road, Polly finally gave up.

"I really am normal," she said.

"What?" Tonya asked, surprised.

"I'm normal. Everything else about me is as normal as can be."

"Except that you find dead bodies. Doesn't that creep you out?"

Polly shrugged. "It should, but they need to be found and if anyone has to, it might as well be me. Keep the scary, icky stuff all contained to one small package."

"You're really pragmatic about it," Tonya said. She still wasn't smiling, but at least she was engaged again.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Polly asked and pointed to the driveway leading to her garage.

Tonya turned in and pulled into a parking space. "I think I'd be more freaked out every time it happened."

"But each time, it's just what has happened. Until today, I didn't go looking for someone."

Tonya turned the car off and then looked straight at Polly. "Did you set me up? Did you know you were going to find her?"

"No, that's not it," Polly said, pursing her lips in thought. "It's not that I knew I'd find her, but that I had to find her. There wasn't any plan. I promise."

Tonya didn't look convinced.

Polly put her hand on Tonya's arm. "I promise. I did want to see where the old school in Luther had been. It's been a while since I've driven past there and I know they've been working on that space. Remember, though, you're the one who asked about The Ledges."

"I guess I did." Tonya shook her head. "Now I'm confused."

"You know, I've lived in Bellingwood for nearly three years now and all this time everyone is surprised when I find another body. I don't much like it, but I was never surprised by the whole thing. And maybe now, I've just come to accept that this is part of the deal."

"The deal?"

"You know. The tradeoff for me living in paradise. If I'm going to be this crazy happy, I need to pay my dues. They aren't bad dues ... it's just what I need to do." She giggled. "Do, do, do, do, do. Whatever."

"The middle of Iowa. Paradise. Who'd have thought it," Tonya said. She pointed to Polly's window. "Heads up."

Polly looked and saw Gerry standing there. "She snuck up on me."

"She's just checking to make sure it's safe for you to get out of the car."

"This is crazy. I feel like the President with his Secret Service agents."

"We're better," Tonya said with a smile. "They'd like to be as good as we are."

Gerry opened the door for Polly. "We're polite too," she said.

"You heard all that?"

She tapped her ear.

"You
are
like the Secret Service," Polly said. She walked toward the back door. "Now, here comes the dicey part."

"What's that?" Gerry asked, opening the door.

"Telling Henry what I just did. He tries hard to understand that this is part of me, but it still bothers him."

She opened the door to the stairway and saw both dogs standing there. "Henry?" she called out.

"What!" he yelled back from the depths of the apartment.

"Have you taken the dogs out?"

"Not yet." His voice grew closer as he came to the top of the stairs. "I just got home."

"Do you guys mind?" Polly asked, turning to Gerry.

Tonya stepped in. "That's fine. It's what we're here for. So you can be as normal as possible."

Polly couldn't help herself and giggled. "Yeah. Normal. You don't know how to handle the fact that I find bodies and yet, you call bodyguards with ear wigs in the middle of Iowa - normal."

She looked up at the two dogs and said, "Come on, boys. Let's go outside." The dogs' trigger word was 'outside' and they came bounding down the steps.

"Wait a minute," Henry said, following them down. "Body? Don't tell me."

"See?" she said, speaking to Tonya. Polly turned back to her husband. "I'll be back in a few minutes and tell you all about it. First, I'm going to enjoy being outside with my furry boys."

"But..." he started.

"No buts," she said with a laugh. "I'll be back. I promise. I have protection." Polly shut the door and laughed, then followed the dogs out through the garage and into the back yard.

"You're hard on him," Tonya said.

"I know. I drive him crazy on purpose sometimes. I never want him to think that it's going to be easy with me. He'd get complacent. And we don't want that."

The dogs took off for the tree line, a favorite spot for them, and wandered in and out, smelling and sniffing. Obiwan looked up at her as he started walking south toward the horse pasture and she nodded and pointed.

"Where did Gerry go?" Polly asked.

"Here and there. I'm not going to point her out, but she's close."

"Wow, you are good. Do you care if we go down to the barn? Do you like horses?"

"I haven't ridden in years. I think Gerry's family raised horses. Ray said yours are pretty big, though."

"They're Percherons. Big just about describes them. I'd never ridden a horse before I had these four in my life, so I didn't know any better. But you'll know you've ridden after you climb off the back of one of them."

Han barked as he approached the pasture and soon, his two siblings came running out of the barn. It had taken time, but the dogs were finally used to being around the horses, due in no small part to Eliseo's training. When he asked Polly to let him train Han, she acquiesced. Obiwan had taken to the four Percherons instinctively. Sometimes Polly wondered if he'd done that for her because she'd been so overwhelmed when the horses arrived at Sycamore House.

He bumped against her leg as she reached to open the gate. "You're my best friend," she said to him, reaching down to scratch his neck. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

Eliseo was standing at the inside gate and opened it for them.

"Eliseo," Polly said. "This is Tonya. She and a couple of others are keeping an eye on me so I have freedom."

"Nice to meet you," he said. "You are welcome to come down and ride any time, if you've an interest. I think the young woman with you is showing definite signs of interest in these horses."

Tonya glanced around. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to give anything away," Eliseo said, "but she can't keep her eyes off those four beauties. She should probably be paying better attention to Polly, don't you think?" He said it all with a grin, and Polly laughed.

"He doesn't miss much," she said.

Tonya shook her head. "Gerry says to tell you she doesn't see why we're necessary if you have people like this around you."

"It's nothing, ma'am," Eliseo said. "I just know my land and those woods behind the pasture are as familiar to me as the back of my hand." He turned his hand over and traced a finger across the scar.

"Middle East?" Tonya asked. "Gerry says Desert Storm."

He huffed a laugh. "I'm surprised you don't have dossiers on all of us. But tell your friend that she's right."

Tom and Huck, the two donkeys, came trotting into the barn through Demi's open stall door. Tom nudged Tonya's hip while Huck sniffed Polly's hand.

"They're terrible beggars," Eliseo said.

"Then I wish I had something," Tonya replied. "And as for your dossiers, I'm certain Ray has everything he needs. He cleared everyone here. That's all we needed to know."

"He what?" Polly exclaimed. "He investigated my staff?"

Eliseo laughed out loud. "She's a little over protective of us."

"Ray should have spoken to me before doing anything like that," Polly said. "This is ridiculous. No one here is involved with Joey. He had no right."

"He wanted to know who we'd be dealing with," Tonya said.

"No!" Polly knew her voice was strident, but she was incensed. The people who worked with her had a right to their privacy. Just because some idiot was threatening her life didn't mean they should be subject to investigation.

She strode out of the barn and whistled for her dogs. Obiwan and Han came running and followed her up to Sycamore House. Polly knew Tonya was behind her, but didn't want to speak to anyone right now. Once inside, she turned into the addition, hit the elevator button for the second floor and caught herself breathing heavily. She tried to calm down, but found that she couldn't.

"Polly," Tonya said quietly.

"No," she responded. "He's going to answer to me. I've had it with everybody treating me like I'm some type of damned victim. He can get all patronizing with someone else."

The elevator door opened and she stepped in, waiting for the dogs to join her. When Tonya attempted to enter, Polly put her hand up. "This is between me and Ray."

Tonya shook her head and stepped back.

Polly stepped off the elevator and held the door for her dogs. They'd never done that before. She smiled down at Obiwan. He would follow her anywhere and fortunately, Han would follow him just as far. When she arrived at Ray's door, it opened and he stood there with a grim look on his face.

"Come on in," he said, holding the door.

"I'm mad as hell, Ray," she said.

"So I hear. Tonya let me know."

"You should have told me." She ground her teeth. "It shouldn't have even happened. My people don't deserve to have their privacy invaded. They've been through enough in their lives and this is not how I treat them."

He opened his mouth and she put her hand in his face. "No. You don't get to speak. This is unconscionable. I know that you live your life not trusting people, but you do not get to come into my world and treat me or my family like that. If you've created files that can be tracked or traced or exposed or found by anyone, I want them destroyed. And I mean fully destroyed. I want them off every server you own and all paper copies shredded. I want them gone."

"Can I speak now?" he asked when she took a breath.

"I don't think so. I am so disappointed in you and I'm angry and I'm..." she took a breath and put her hand on the doorknob. "I'm disappointed. I can't tell you to get out of here because what you're doing for me is an incredible gift, but I don't think I've ever been this angry at you. You crossed a line and just because you are doing something nice for me did not give you the right."

Polly slammed the door open and waited for Obiwan and Han to follow her out into the hallway. Ray put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"Don't talk to me," she said. "No explanation will placate me right now. You don't understand who I am or what I've created here. You came in here, treated me like a child and took it upon yourself to do things I would never have asked."

She left and rather than wait for the elevator, took the back stairway down to the main level. Walking past Sarah Heater's room, she stopped to take a breath. What was happening in there right now was so much greater than anything in her own life. She knew she needed perspective. But then it occurred to her that he'd probably investigated Sarah and she spun up again. Damn him. He had no right.

"Come on, boys. Let's go home." Tears spurted from her eyes as she crossed the main floor of Sycamore House to the stairway leading up to her apartment. She didn't see any of her bodyguards, which was probably a good thing. Polly took another breath before opening the door and then walked in.

Henry met her with treats in his hand for the dogs. He sent them on their way and gathered her into his arms where she sobbed in anger. He pushed the door shut and tripped the lock.

"I don't want to see anyone tonight," Polly said.

"I get that," he replied.

Then she looked at him. "How did you know?"