Rolling Out a Mystery Page 3

  “You’re still thinking about that boy, aren’t you?” Helen shook her head and clucked her tongue as she took the chair next to Sammy. “You’re a sweet girl, and I admire you for being so charitable. But you already work a lot of long hours. How are you going to have time to do this?”

  “Well, here’s my idea. If I can get a few people to hire Austin on the weekends or evenings to pick up trash or maybe rake some leaves, then he’ll have some money in his pocket. Helen, he told me this morning that they didn’t have any food in the house and that his uncle wasn’t getting paid until the first of the month. I know a lot of people try to make themselves sound worse off than they are to get a handout, but I don’t think Austin is capable of that. The poor guy was genuinely hungry, and I imagine his uncle is, too.”

  “I see.” Helen’s lips worked together as she thought, her eyes studying the wood grain of the table. “And if he had a job, then he’d have money in his pocket to buy food, and food is what he’s always been caught stealing.”

  “You’ve got it,” Sammy answered. “He’s really excited about it, too. I just have to come up with ways to find him those jobs, since nobody wants to hire him as an official employee.”

  “You know, back before I ran this place, I used to do a lot of telemarketing jobs. I found that it really paid off to be prepared before you called someone, that way you could answer any questions that they might have without hesitation. You need to know when Austin is available, how much he’s going to charge, and what he’s capable of doing. You also need to know if he’ll charge different rates for businesses and homes, because there might be a few citizens who would be willing to let him do a little work.” She stood up and went to the bookshelf to retrieve a phone book. “I know people don’t use these for anything but propping up a table leg these days, but I promise they’re still useful.”

  “This is great!” Sammy squealed, thrilled that Helen was on board. “Maybe I could make up some flyers.”

  “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself,” Helen warned. “Flyers cost a lot of money if you’re going to print enough of them to really reach people. What about printing out some business cards for him? It doesn’t have to be anything special.”

  The two women went to work, discussing plans and making notes. Sammy felt a little guilty that Austin wasn’t in on this part of the planning, but he would still be reaping the rewards later. They wouldn’t need to have very many people willing to hire him in order to keep him out of trouble and happy. Sammy grabbed her laptop, found a business card template on her word processor, and had some cards printing out in just a few minutes. Ideas were hitting her left and right, and she had to set down the cards to write them all down before she forgot them. “You know, he could shovel snow during the winter. By then, he would probably have enough money saved up to buy a shovel. Or maybe the Tool Shed would be willing to sponsor him and give him one!”

  “That’s the spirit!” Helen flipped a page in the phone book and jotted down another business name. “I’m glad to see you happy again. It’s a welcome change from the way you looked when you first walked into work. I guess they haven’t found anything out about Heather yet?”

  “You heard about that?” Sammy had gotten so involved in their plans for Austin that she had actually managed to forget about Heather for a moment. She felt bad about it, but worrying wouldn’t help the situation, either.

  “Everyone in Sunny Cove has heard about it,” Helen assured her. “You should know that.”

  “You’re right. There were a ton of people at that party, and people like to run their mouths around here anyway. I’m sure I’m going to regret asking you this, but are you doing anything to assist in the investigation this time?”

  Sammy shook her head. “I asked Sheriff Jones if I could help. It sounds like I’m the only real friend Heather has anymore, according to her mom. But he said he doesn’t want anyone to get mixed up in it. My hands are tied.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” Helen mused, a sparkle in her dark eyes.

  “And really, we don’t even know if Heather is actually missing. Her mom said she goes out and stays gone all the time, so there’s always a chance she doesn’t want to be found. It’s kind of rude of her, since everyone is so concerned, but I feel like I’m stepping in where I don’t belong.” It was just another aspect of the whole incident that she was constantly wrestling with, and she didn’t know how to handle it.

  “And you wouldn’t want to interfere.” Helen echoed her thoughts.

  “No. And I have enough going on with Austin. I’m sure I’ll need to talk to a lot of people before I find someone who’s willing to hire him.”

  “You’ll need a whole list,” Helen agreed.

  “Wait a minute.” Sammy slapped her palm on the table. “I don’t want to just go around the neighborhood, surveying every house to see if anyone has seen Heather. But I have to go around and talk to people about Austin. Maybe I can get both done at the same time! I’ll see if they need any yard work, and then I can casually ask them if they know anything about Heather! It even gives me a list of people to start with, since I can just go talk to the people who were at the party!”

  Helen handed over the pen and paper. “Start writing! It’s a shame you can’t get the information on everyone who attended the party from Sheriff Jones. I don’t imagine he would just hand that over to you, not unless there was some sort of connection between the two of you?”

  Sammy had started with the list of names, but she paused to look up at her boss. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, you know,” Helen said with a grin. “I see the way the two of you look at each other. Alfie is a good man. You could do much worse than to spend a little time with him.”

  The skin on Sammy’s cheeks burned, and she looked down at her paper again so she wouldn’t have to see the way Helen was watching her. “He seems very nice, but I don’t think I’m interested in anything like that. I’ve only been divorced for a couple of months, and I’m not ready to start dating again.”

  “Right. You need time to find yourself and remember who you are and all that business.”

  “Yes. Exactly.” It was what all the books and online articles recommended, and it all made perfect sense. But now that she had said it out loud, she had to wonder just how accurate that advice was. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to see how things went with a man like Sheriff Jones. But no, it was far too soon.

  “I’m sure that’s the smart way to do things, and it’s certainly the modern one.” Helen leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. “But sometimes it’s not so bad to just dive in with both feet and see what happens. I’ve known far too many women who said they would take a break from men after they got their hearts stomped on, and before they knew it a break turned into a permanent vacation.”

  Sammy wondered if Helen was talking about herself, but she didn’t want to pry. “I’ll certainly keep it in mind, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. I haven’t even been able to get myself to church, and it’s something I’ve really been thinking about a lot lately.”

  Helen reached across the table and patted her hand. “That’s probably the best step to take, dear. If you want someone to go with you, then you know where to find me. For now, I’d better be getting to bed. I’m sure we’ll have another busy day tomorrow!” She stood up and headed for the door.

  “I really appreciate your help with all of this, Helen,” Sammy said sincerely as she showed her out. “I think Austin needs our help more than anyone in this town realizes, and he’s so excited. I don’t want to let him down.”

  Helen winked. “You won’t, dear. Good night.”

  5

  Add a Pinch of Salt

  Sammy’s stomach churned as she drove across town. She had gotten up and gotten ready for work early so that she would have a little bit of time to start talking to people about Austin and the services he could offer.

  Her list was a thorough one. Long after Helen had left, Sammy had sat at the table and written down every single person she could think of who had been at the party. Every time she thought she was done and was just about to set down her pen, she thought of someone else. Many of the partygoers had been people she’d gone to high school with, so even if she hadn’t talked to them in a long time, she still knew their names. It wasn’t exactly the method Sammy would have preferred for reintroducing herself to her fellow graduates, but it would just have to do.

  Lindsay Thompson lived in a big house on the edge of town, not too far from Rob Hewitt’s place. Sammy shuddered as she rolled slowly past the place where she had last seen Heather, wondering if the sheriff was making any progress. When she lived in New York, the police departments had a lot more crime to keep up with, but they also had a lot more funding and resources. Was Sheriff Jones up to the task of a missing person? Had he called in any other law enforcement agencies, like maybe the state troopers, to help? Shouldn’t someone have organized a search party?

  But she drove on past until she found the address that had been listed for Lindsay, parking on the street. Grabbing one of the business cards she had made for Austin, she walked up toward the front door.

  It opened before she even stepped up onto the porch. Lindsay’s face showed surprise and then disgust before she turned around to lock the door behind her. In her hounds-tooth skirt suit and heels, she was obviously going to work. “What are you doing here?”

  Sammy had expected a negative reaction, and she wasn’t going to let that get to her or affect her presentation. “Hey, Lindsay. I know we just saw each other a couple days ago, but I didn’t actually get a chance to introduce myself. I mean, we went to school together, but it’s been a long time.” All the words she had carefully rehearsed were getting jumbled o
n her tongue, and Sammy was concerned that she sounded like a fool.

  “I know who you are, Sammy.” Lindsay adjusted her bag on her shoulder and curled her upper lip slightly. “What do you want?”

  “There’s a person in town who really needs some help. You probably know him. His name is Austin Absher, and I’m trying to help him get a few odd jobs so he can earn a little money.” Sammy knew that Lindsay’s yard was already immaculate. It was hard to imagine she did any of the work herself, which meant she had already hired a landscaping company to keep the grass trimmed.

  “Ha!” Lindsay flashed a smile, but it wasn’t a friendly one. “Of course I know Austin Absher. Everyone in town knows him, and it’s not a good thing. He’s got quite the reputation, and it’s pretty audacious of him to even think about asking anyone for help after everything he’s done.”

  “Look, I know he’s stolen a few things here and there. But it’s because he’s hungry,” Sammy tried to explain, thinking that surely even someone like Lindsay would understand that nobody should go without food.

  Coming down the steps, Lindsay paused so that she was one step higher than Samantha. Her eyes were level and cool, even distant. “Sammy, you should really do yourself a favor. People around here had all but forgotten about you and your money-laundering father in the time you were gone. You waited a long time to come back, and you did it under a different name. You could have completely started over here in Sunny Cove, but you’re falling right back into your old habits of hanging out with people that nobody else wants to have anything to do with.”

  “Listen, Austin really isn’t a bad guy. He’s been in some trouble, sure, but you would be too if you couldn’t afford to feed yourself. I think a job would really make a big change in his life. He could make some extra money and use it to buy food instead of taking it. It would also really help him with socializing and working on his people skills.” Sammy was desperate to make this work, but she hoped that it was showing through as determination more than anything. “I’m not asking you to let him come into your house or do anything that might make you uncomfortable. I’m just talking about little tasks like picking up trash or fallen sticks. You can pay him whatever you can afford.”

  Lindsay pushed past her and headed down the sidewalk toward her driveway. She gestured with one hand toward her yard, her rings sparkling in the early morning sunlight. “It’s not a matter of the money. I’ve already got the best lawn team in the county.”

  “Or if you know someone else who might need his services. Even if there’s a place alongside the highway that you’d like to sponsor where he could pick up trash…” Sammy knew she was probably selling this too hard, but she just had to find some way to make this work.

  Reaching her little red BMW, Lindsay turned around and glared at Sammy. “Listen to me very carefully, because I don’t want to have to repeat this again. I am not letting that lowlife criminal anywhere near me or the things I own, and I’m not putting my name or money behind any other project he wants to do. He might not have all the same advantages the rest of us do, but he made his decisions in life. Now he gets to live with them.” She clicked the remote on her key ring pointedly.

  Sammy didn’t feel that was a fair assessment of Austin’s situation at all, but Lindsay was about to jump in her car and speed away, and they still had more to talk about. “Okay, fine. I’ll find someone else. But I was also wondering if you’ve seen or heard from Heather since the night of the party. We all know about the bloody piece of her costume, and it seems that she’s missing.”

  Lindsay opened her car door and sighed. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, Sammy. You came back home and started hanging out with people like Heather again. I shouldn’t have to remind you that she’s never been particularly well-liked, not then and not now. It’s not a shock to me if someone finally couldn’t stand her any longer and decided to do something about it.”

  “What do you mean?” Sammy pressed. “Can you think of someone who would be upset with her?”

  “Who wouldn’t be?” Lindsay threw her hands in the air. “She was always mouthing off and causing trouble. And with the places she goes and the kind of people she hangs out with? She’s just asking to become a statistic. If I were you, I wouldn’t get involved before the same thing happens to you.”

  “But did you see anything suspicious at all? At the party or earlier in the day?”

  “No.” Lindsay’s eyes were hard as emeralds now. “I don’t know anything for certain. But if I were you, I’d check with that no-good boyfriend of hers. He’s from the wrong side of the tracks, he gets into just as much trouble as Heather does, and the two of them were constantly fighting. Good luck, I guess, but I’ve got to get going.” She got into the driver’s seat and slammed the door, zooming backwards out of the driveway.

  Sammy watched her go, feeling dejected. She hadn’t really expected someone like Lindsay to help her, but it would have been nice if she could have at least gotten a little information out of her. Stuffing the business card back in her pocket, she headed back to her car.

  6

  Let Rise

  Scanning down her list of people from the party, Sammy saw that she already had Billy York written down. He was the most obvious suspect, but he was the one who intimidated her the most. Sammy had only hung out with him when he had tagged along with Heather back in school, and she hadn’t seen him at all since she had returned to Sunny Cove. He was known for being a bit wild and quite impetuous, lashing out when people angered him and not thinking about the consequences. Sammy had hoped she would be able to get some sort of lead on what had happened to Heather without having to talk to him, but Lindsay’s statement was making her think otherwise. She still had a little bit of time before she had to be at work, and even though she would end up a bit behind on her baked goods for the day, she headed to the south side of town.

  Several trailer parks had been established here, down near the river where the land was known to flood occasionally. Most of them were decently maintained, with those closest to the water in the worst disrepair. If there was any place in town that could use Austin’s help, it was this one. Trash skittered along in the breeze like small creatures escaping from predators, and several of the trailers had piles of broken toys and lawn equipment near one corner or under the porch. Sammy had looked up the address on her smartphone and now skimmed past the various streets, each one leading into a different park. She noted that the names on the signs were far more hopeful than the area looked, listing streets such as Magnolia, New Hope, and Sunshine. She turned onto one named Apple Tree and began checking the numbers on the trailers for the correct one.

  Billy’s trailer was at the very end of the street, with the back of it facing the muddy banks of the river. Sammy wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but her heart raced with apprehension as she got out of her car this time. What if Billy had done something terrible to Heather? Would he attack Sammy for suspecting him? This was probably the worst neighborhood in Sunny Cove, and she had driven over here on a whim without even telling anyone where she was going. She didn’t want to be in the same position as Heather.

  But Sammy reminded herself that God would take care of her. Even if she didn’t make it to church every Sunday morning, God wasn’t going to just abandon her. Everything would be all right, and it was early morning. Terrible things didn’t happen to people at that time of day.

  She climbed the shaky steps to the front door, noting the plant pot near the door that had been used as an ash tray. The screen door creaked loudly when she opened it, and her heart jumped up into her mouth as she lifted her fist to knock.

  Sammy listened carefully, expecting the sound of a dog barking or a TV blaring. But there weren’t even any footsteps heading toward the door, and she knocked again. Was Billy a late sleeper? She supposed she would find out soon enough.

  But when there was still no answer, she pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself and turned back to her car, only to find Sheriff Jones standing at the bottom of the steps. He watched her with a careful curiosity in his eyes. “Good morning,” he said slowly. “Mind if I ask what you’re doing here?”