A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) Read online

  “What could you possibly mean?”

  "I knew you liked Star Wars, but have you seen this office lately?" Lydia laughed.

  “What. This?”

  She looked around the office. With Henry’s help, she had designed shelves spaced around the room for her Star Wars Legos. The Millennium Falcon was hanging from one corner and the Death Star from another. Crossed beneath them were two light sabers; one red and one blue. A framed cutaway poster of the Falcon was hanging on a wall and a robot R2D2 stood in one corner. A glass-covered cabinet held action figures, some still in their packaging and others arranged independently.

  "Okay, I'm a little bit of a geek," Polly said. "This was one of the things Dad could buy for me. Then, along the way, my friends discovered my collection and continued to ensure I got more pieces."

  Lydia smiled. "It’s too bad we didn't know about this before Christmas. But, I know now!"

  "It's become kind of a big deal, I guess," Polly smiled. She stood up and walked to the cabinet. Pulling out a Luke Skywalker figurine, she rubbed her thumb across its head. "This was one of the first pieces Dad bought for me. I loved it! It wasn't until later that I figured out they were worth more if I left them in their packages."

  "It's kind of hard to play with them in the packages," Lydia said.

  "Uh huh. I'm not playing with those toys any longer."

  "But, you like Legos?"

  "I do. It's like putting puzzles together," Polly acknowledged. "Are we having lunch before we go to Iowa Falls?"

  "Well," Lydia said, "Andy and Beryl are going to be here in a few minutes and I thought we'd go to Webster City for lunch."

  "That sounds great!" Polly responded.

  "And would you mind if we checked in on a friend of mine before leaving town?" Lydia asked.

  "Sure, is there something going on?"

  "I want to make sure my friend Madeline is okay," Lydia said. "I'm a little concerned about her."

  "Good morning!" Beryl and Andy came in the front door and around the corner. They stood outside the door to Polly's office.

  "What star system exploded in here?" Beryl asked.

  Lydia turned her head to look back at her friends, "You hadn't seen this either? Our Polly is a nerd!"

  "I just finished unpacking the boxes this weekend," Polly said, "and I wear the nerd badge proudly!"

  Beryl walked in and looked around, "Do you dress up in cute little cinnamon roll buns and white silky robes and go hang out with other nerds?"

  "I've been known to go to science fiction conventions," Polly said, "but I've never gone in costume."

  "Have your little friends, Doug and Billy, seen this?" Beryl asked.

  "They helped me get it all together. We had to do a little repair work on the big Lego pieces and then assemble everything else," Polly responded.

  "I'll bet they are completely and totally in love with you now," sighed Andy. "You have become their reigning princess."

  Polly laughed. "Enough. Let's get going. I'm starving."

  Lydia asked her, "Do you have to take Obiwan out before we leave?"

  "Nope, my Jedi Knights said they would take care of him this afternoon, so I'm free to go. Let me step in and tell everyone I'm out of here." Polly stuck her head in Jeff's office door and said, "I'll see you later, I'm off to check on the bedroom furniture."

  "Okay!" he replied. "See ya!"

  She walked across the hall to the classrooms, "Bye guys! I'm taking off for the day. Doug?" She heard a grunt. "Thanks for taking care of the dog!"

  He came out from behind a spool of wire, "We got it, Polly. See ya later."

  "I’m ready," she said as she headed for the front door, "Let's get this day moving!"

  Polly got in the back seat of Lydia's Jeep with Andy. Beryl rolled her eyes and got in the passenger seat, then said, "I think we should have a new rule. Instead of the first person calling shotgun, the last person in should sit up front."

  "Hey!" exclaimed Lydia. "I don't smell, I'm a nice person, I drive well. What's up with no one wanting to sit with me?"

  Andy patted her shoulder, "Polly and I are just worried about Beryl's old legs. We don't want her to have to struggle in and out of the back seat."

  Lydia chuckled and said to Beryl, "Back to you, missy. What'cha got next?"

  "Oh yeah?" Beryl declared. "Yeah?"

  She slumped in her seat. "I've got nothing right now. But, when I do get a good one, you're going to know you've been retorted. So there." She jammed her seatbelt into the lock and sat back in a huff.

  Lydia drove out of the parking lot and into town. She turned left onto Monroe and Beryl cried out, "I thought we were going to lunch in Webster City. Where are you taking us?"

  "I'm sorry," Lydia said, "I want to check on Madeline Black. She wasn't in church on Sunday or at the women's meeting this morning."

  "That makes sense, then," Beryl said. "I didn't want to think about you getting lost in Bellingwood. That would mean the world was ending!"

  Lydia pulled up in front of a small brick home and put the car in park. "I'll leave it running. I should just be a few minutes." She got out of the car and walked up the walk to the front door. No one said anything as they watched her ring the doorbell. She turned around and looked at the three of them and shrugged her shoulders. She opened the screen door and reached down. They watched as she picked up several newspapers, obvious confusion on her face. Then Lydia flipped the lid open on the mailbox and pulled out bundled batches of mail.

  Polly saw real distress on the woman's face and reached for the door handle as Lydia peered inside the front room window. Beryl reached over, turned the Jeep off and took the keys. All three women joined Lydia on the front porch.

  "Do you see anything?" Polly asked.

  "No, not here. I'm going to walk around back and look in her kitchen. I hope she didn't fall down and hurt herself." Lydia's voice was concerned. The four of them walked around the house on the shoveled sidewalk to the back stoop. Lydia knocked and peered in. Reaching down, she tried the door and found it unlocked.

  "I'm going in. She wouldn't leave it unlocked if she was gone. Something has happened," she said.

  Beryl touched Lydia's shoulder, "We're coming with you, even if we do make a strange-looking parade."

  They walked in through the small back porch to the kitchen. Lydia called out, "Madeline? Are you here?" and then said, "Oh no!"

  Madeline Black was motionless on the floor of the dining room behind the table. Polly realized the smell and sight of the body was affecting her stomach and ran back out the back door, followed closely by Beryl and Andy.

  "Lydia! Get out of there right now!" Beryl called out.

  Lydia came to the back door, tears filling her eyes. "How long do you suppose she was there? I have to call Aaron."

  She started to walk back to the car and Polly stopped her. "Here, use my phone. It's already dialing him," and she handed the telephone to Lydia.

  "Aaron, you aren't going to believe this, but I just walked in to Madeline Black's house and she's dead." Lydia listened for a moment, then said, "Yes, she's dead. Really dead. Can you get someone up here?" She listened for a few minutes more, "No, I don't think anything bad has happened, other than she's dead." A few more moments, "Fine, I'll call her son and we'll wait. But, I'm not going back inside that house; I’ll be in the Jeep. I love you."

  She handed the phone back to Polly and pulled the back door shut. "Stu is close and he'll be right over. I'm supposed to call her son. What do I say, 'Son, your mama is dead?'"

  Beryl took her arm and started walking back to the Jeep. "Yes, that's exactly what you say. Then, tell him to get his butt over here and deal with it."

  Lydia looked up at her friend, "Compassion is definitely your strong suit, isn't it!"

  "It sure is," Beryl said. "Compassion for you. You do not need to take care of this today."

  "I'm not going anywhere until it is taken care of, though," Lydia declared.

  "We k
now that, and we're staying here with you. Right girls?" Beryl said as Polly and Andy nodded their assent. "Now let's get back in the car and warm up. My toes and nose are unhappy with me right now and I like to keep all of my body parts singing my praises."

  CHAPTER THREE

  “I guess I took care of that.” Lydia put her phone into a drinkwell in the console beside her, and said, "He didn't sound terribly surprised or upset. I can't believe Madeline raised such a brat."

  Beryl patted her forearm, "Maybe he was just shook up by the news."

  "Maybe he doesn't care about his mother and that annoys me," Lydia said.

  "Does that mean he's not coming over?" Polly asked from the back seat.

  "No, he's too busy," Lydia responded. "But, at least he'll call his sister and tell her."

  Stu Decker pulled up behind Lydia's Jeep and walked to the driver's window. She pressed the button to lower it.

  "I'd like to say I'm surprised to see you here, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever encounter anything interesting in this town without you all involved," he said. "Polly, these women led boring lives before you came to town."

  "It's not my fault!" she protested; then said a little more quietly, "It's really not my fault. I didn't even know this woman."

  Andy patted her knee, "Of course it's not your fault. I believe that since you are arrived and are injecting energy into the atmosphere here in Bellingwood, we're just that much more aware of the stories which surround our normal, everyday lives. Does that sound better?"

  "It's not my fault," Polly repeated.

  "I watched that movie Friday night, Polly, so I could figure out why you liked it. You and Han Solo ... troublemakers just because you're in the room. It wasn't ever his fault either, but that didn't change the fact he couldn't get to hyperspace, now did it?" Beryl said, laughing.

  Stu chuckled. "I'm going inside. The funeral director will be here soon."

  Lydia said, "You have to go around to the back door, the front is locked."

  "Thanks," he said, "Would you send Ben around when he gets here? Will her kids be coming?"

  Lydia's nose crunched up in disgust, "No, not today. I'll give Ben her son's phone number and they can go from there, I suppose."

  Stu continued to chuckle as he walked around the side of the house. It took less than two minutes for him to come back outside. Beryl turned her window down, "Is there a problem, Officer?"

  "No, I'm fine. Everything is fine," he said. "But, I’ve decided to wait out here for Ben to show up. There's no reason to wait inside on a beautiful day like today."

  "That's what we thought, too," she said. "This beautiful day is why we're snuggled in our toasty warm car."

  Stu walked back to the Jeep and held out a piece of paper, "I think she knew she was dying and started to write a note."

  Beryl took it from him and read it out loud, "Tell Laurence and Amy I love them very much. Please take care of Dean's …"

  "That's all there is," she said. "Dean's what?" She looked at the three others in the Jeep, "Dean's what?"

  Andy shrugged and Lydia thought about it, then said, "Dean died two years ago. He wasn't the gardener in the family, so it's not a plant. Madeline bought a new car last fall, so it's not his car. I can't imagine what it is!"

  Polly spoke up from the back seat, "Did he have a pet or a boat or anything like that?"

  "Not that I know of," Lydia said. "Maybe Laurence knows what she was worried about."

  Beryl handed the piece of paper back to Stu, who said, "Oh, here they are!" and walked away as three people got out of a vehicle. Two of them went around to the back of the vehicle and pulled a rolling cart out, the other stopped to shake Stu's hand and talk to him. They watched him shake his head, then the four walked to the back of the house.

  "Well, what now?" Beryl asked.

  "We wait until poor Madeline is on her way to the funeral home, that's what now," Lydia said.

  Beryl looked sideways at her friend, "I should have known. Polly, are we going to be late for the appointment in Iowa Falls?"

  "I forgot!" Polly said. "Let me call. Do you still have time to run over there or should I reschedule and go by myself?"

  They all looked at each other and Lydia asked, "Is anyone hungry or are your delicate constitutions upset?"

  "I could eat," Beryl said.

  "Me too," Andy replied.

  "Polly?" Lydia asked.

  "Sure. I guess I can count on my iron stomach to make its way through any catastrophe," sighed Polly.

  “Then, I say we keep to our plan for the day.”

  Stu came around the side of the house and trotted up to the car. "Lydia," he said through Beryl's opened window, "these are Madeline's keys. Can I give them to you and ask you to meet the people Ben will have here tomorrow to clean the house? We talked to her son and he asked us to take care of it and send him a bill."

  Lydia rolled her eyes. "Of course I will," she said. "See, I told you. He's a brat." She held her hand out in front of Beryl, who batted at it as Stu attempted to drop the keys in it. "Brats everywhere," Lydia muttered as she took the keys from him, then swatted Beryl in the chest!

  "Assault! You saw that, didn't you, Officer?" Beryl cried out.

  "I saw nothing. You women are weird," he said. "Lydia, I'll have Ben call you later to get things scheduled. I appreciate this, even if her son doesn't." He patted the door and turned to go back into the house.

  "Well, I think we've done our job here for the day. Polly, can you call and see if we can be there about an hour late?" Lydia asked.

  "On it. And by the way," Polly said. "I'm not particularly fond of any job that includes discovering dead bodies. I just want that on record."

  "What's this," Andy asked. "Your third now, right?"

  Polly cuffed Andy's knee, "Stop it. We're not going to count. Not now, not ever!"

  In order to end the conversation, she pulled up a number on her phone, punched the Send key and waited for it to connect. Lydia pulled the Jeep away from the curb, went around the block and headed back to the highway.

  "Do you want light sandwiches or ... " she stopped, then said, "Oops!" as Polly said hello into her phone.

  Lydia turned north onto Highway 17, heading for Webster City while Polly spoke. When Polly hung up the phone, she said, "I'm not sure what to think about that."

  "What do you mean?" Andy asked.

  "First of all, it's fine for us to be late. But, then the woman asked me how I liked living in Iowa again and if the renovation was nearly finished at Sycamore House. She called it by name and I hadn’t told her anything more than my name!" Polly said, "A neighbor of hers down the road is good friends with Helen Randall's sister's daughter." She looked up and around. "Are you kidding me?"

  Then she stopped and thought. "Right. I might have been away from Iowa too long. Of course that’s the way it works."

  Beryl snorted with laughter. "No one out here needs to count all the way to six degrees of separation. It's probably more like three or four. Everybody knows somebody!" She craned her head around to look at Polly, who was sitting behind her. "And don't you ever forget it. If you need something in this region, all you have to do is start asking questions. Someone is going to know someone you know and will help you out just because you're connected."

  Lydia said, "She's right! Last summer, Jim wanted a job at the state fairgrounds. Well, earlier in the year, Aaron and I were at a party. Jim had just announced that's what he wanted and I was telling someone and would you believe that a woman from their human resource department was the sister of the host? She gave me her number and told me to have Jim call. Before we knew it, he had a summer job. Somebody always knows somebody."

  "I hope I like the bedroom set. Otherwise, I'm going to feel guilty about this whole thing, now that she knows about me," Polly said.

  Lydia asked, "What do you want for lunch? A full meal or just a sandwich? Pizza or Chinese?"

  "Sandwiches seem safe," Andy said.


  "Sure!" Polly remarked as Beryl nodded in assent.

  "Great!" Lydia said. "There's a cute little sandwich shop downtown. You'll love it."

  After they finished lunch and had climbed back in the Jeep, Lydia said, "Polly do you have the address for the GPS?"

  Polly sighed. "GPS. Just another way technology stops us from getting to know each other."

  "You really don't like it, do you?" Lydia laughed.

  "Nope," Polly said. "I don't. The thing is, I have no reason to be so adamantly against it. It’s about the only tech I despise." She opened the note program on her phone and brought up the address, then set it on the console in front of Lydia. Soon they were back on the road and heading east on Highway 20.

  Lydia's GPS directed them to a home on the northwest side of town. Polly looked at the big house as they drove in the lane and laughed. "Now," she asked. "Which door do I approach this time?"

  "I'm going to drive right up to the front door," Lydia responded. "I'd recommend you knock on that door. Easy enough for you, you chicken?"

  She turned to Beryl beside her, "You'd think she hadn't ever lived on a farm. These houses scare her to death!"

  Beryl chuckled. "Maybe we should do a scavenger hunt sometime in the country and make her knock on every door in three counties!"

  Polly popped Beryl in the back of the head and opened the car door. "Just a second. I really want all of you to see what this set looks like." She walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

  A woman in her early sixties answered the door. Two cocker spaniels pushed forward in an attempt to see who was there.

  "Get back, you beasts," The woman said. "Are you Polly?"

  "I am," Polly replied.

  "I'd invite you in, but the beasts are overly friendly and the furniture is already in the garage. We moved it out of the bedroom so I could start redecorating. I'll open the garage door." She smiled and walked away, leaving the main door open. The dogs continued to try to get to Polly through the screen door, even as she walked away. Lydia drove on up and turned the Jeep off as the garage door opened.