All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) Read online

  "We left for vacation and had a glorious time. We saw everything that year. We were driving back home and Dad decided he needed to call his partner to make sure everything was alright. I think he wanted to make sure the building still stood.

  "When he got back in the car, he just sat there. Then he told us what he'd heard.

  "Do you remember meeting Linda and Sarah?" Lydia asked Polly.

  "Sure, they are sisters, aren't they?" she responded.

  "Yes, but they had twin sisters who were my age. Jill and Kellie. We'd been together since Kindergarten.

  "While we were gone on vacation, those two girls disappeared. The police were there, the whole town turned out and searched the fields and the woods; everywhere they might have gone. There were all sorts of rumors. A poor drifter who was in town at the time was thrown into jail for a while, but he didn't know anything. When they couldn't find any evidence to hold him, they had to let him go and he left town.

  "People thought they saw the girls get into someone's car, other people thought they saw them in Des Moines. We had calls come in from Omaha and Minneapolis. Their parents never quit looking. They were wonderful people, but I think it destroyed them in ways no one can ever understand. Linda had already graduated from high school and was at the University of Iowa. Sarah had just graduated. It nearly killed her to go away to school, but her parents didn't want her to sit around moping and made her start her life. She didn't go too far, though, just down to AIB in Des Moines. She came back after a couple of years and started working for Dan Timmons. He had an insurance business. When he retired, Sarah's husband bought the company and they got married.

  "The girls' dad died about fifteen years after this all happened and then their mother died maybe ten years ago. When she was gone, the girls finally settled down and released all of the pain. They relaxed for the first time since that summer and I know this is going to start all of their pain up again."

  Lydia paused and said, "Aaron has to go tell them now their sisters were in the old high school all this time. I wish he'd let me go with him, but he told me I didn't need to go through this tonight. He called Rev. Boehm and he'll meet Aaron at Linda's house. Oh, this is killing me! I should be there!"

  "Do you want me to take you over there, Lydia?" Polly asked quietly.

  "No, he's right. I'll let them deal with this tonight and stop by tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel more like my normal self, and I won't fall completely apart."

  Polly held on to Lydia's arm, and then moved her hand down to clasp Lydia's fingers.

  "Tell me about the girls when they were in school," she said.

  "Kellie and Jillie," Lydia smiled. "That's who they were to us. They were horrid brats and we all loved them. They were identical and played that up at every chance. I know they drove their parents crazy, alternating personas. They made their mother cut their hair exactly the same and when she tried to do something different to one of them, they'd figure out a way to fix it so they looked the same. Even if you got to know them well, it was difficult to tell until you spent a few moments with them. They were constantly pulling dirty tricks on teachers. The school tried separating them into different sections, but then they would take each other's place in the classroom, waiting for the teacher to say something.

  "They seemed to have a second sense about each other. If one of them got sent to detention, you knew the other was going to show up there before too long. Both were smart as a whip and did well in school. When they got older, they finally began separating their interests. Jillie loved playing basketball. Kellie played, but wasn't very good at it. Kellie loved to sing. Jillie sang in the choir, but didn't have a very good time. Jillie was totally in love with every boy in the school. When she got into eighth grade, she made it her goal to dance with every single unattached boy before the fall sock hop season was over. Kellie was more of a wallflower and didn't care whether or not the boys paid any attention to her."

  Lydia paused and grinned. "Then, Kellie figured it out our freshman year. Things got much worse for the boys. They didn't know which sister they were asking out most of the time. And it was very possible they would ask Jill out and Kellie would show up at the front door for the date. One time, both girls decided to go after ... who was it?" Lydia mused. "Oh, I think it must have been Bob Andle. Yeah, that was it. They separated and began talking to him at different times. He didn't know who was talking to him. They set up a date with him to go to Boone for a movie. He showed up at the house and both girls were dressed and ready for him.

  "Most boys would have thought that was so cool, but Bob took one look, realized what had happened and left them at the door. The next day, his sister, who was a senior, found the two girls and told them they had pulled a dirty trick. I think she scared them. They apologized to him, but he never looked at either of them again."

  "Oh, Polly," Lydia sighed. "If it is this hard for me; imagine how hard it is going to be for Linda and Sarah."

  "I know," Polly said and squeezed the hand she continued to hold.

  "Did they suspect anyone other than the drifter or did they think the girls ran away or what?" she asked.

  "They did ask about the possibility of them running away. That didn’t make sense, though. There was nothing wrong in their house and if they had run away, it would have been for a fling to Des Moines or maybe even Omaha. Then they would have called and come home after having had a little bit of fun.

  "With all the rumors of them showing up in these other cities, I suppose the police thought maybe the girls had been kidnapped. I know that for the next year, all the girls in high school were very careful. There was a lot of talk about white slavery, you know, girls being taken away to live in foreign countries. We all made a big deal out of it and were frightened of our own shadows," Lydia responded.

  "What about anyone else in town. Was there anyone that would have deliberately hurt them?"

  "Well, they'd tortured nearly everyone around them with their twin antics, but I don't think there was anyone who had enough reason to want to hurt them, much less kill them," Lydia responded.

  "Kellie had started dating a junior in high school about the time of the Winter Ball in January, right after we got back from break. Buddy Landers. They got pretty hot and heavy. Jill didn't like him very much, but we all figured she was mad because Kellie had a steady boyfriend. Buddy was destroyed when the girls went missing. It was as if his heart had broken in two. He didn't come back to school that fall, but I think he ended up graduating with the class. The police were pretty rough on him and it messed him up emotionally. I think I remember his mom worked with the teachers to get work for him and then he had to see a counselor in Ames. He finally showed back up at the school the next January and though he didn't say much to anyone, ever, he got through the year and got his diploma.

  "Wow, I hadn't thought of him in years. After graduation, he left town. I heard he ended up in Florida somewhere, but I have no idea what he's doing now. Heck, I don't even know if he's still alive. His parents moved away back in the 90s when his dad got a job in Denver. So, unless he has stayed in contact with a classmate, we don't know where he is or what he's doing.

  Polly heard the front door open and then Beryl's voice, "Lydia? Girlfriend? Where are you?"

  Lydia stood up and walked to the door of the kitchen. "I'm in here. Come in and have some tea. Polly's here and I'm telling her about Kellie and Jill."

  "So are you doing alright?" asked Beryl. "I can't believe it is true. Really?"

  "I'm afraid so," said Lydia. "Poor Dougie Randall pulled a fake ceiling down this morning and their remains tumbled out. Polly's been kicked out of her home until they get it all cleaned up and sorted out, so I get to have her stay with me!"

  Beryl pushed Polly's shoulder a little, "Well, ain't that the best deal you're getting today! Are you sleeping in one of those five-star luxury rooms upstairs?"

  Polly laughed. "They are beautiful! And that bed may never let me leave in the morning."

&
nbsp; "Now you see why we like sleepovers here. Which room did you take?"

  "I'm in the burgundy and green room."

  "Oh! I love that room. As soon as Lydia's Jill moved out, she ripped it apart and re-did everything. You'd never have known it was the same room. That girl liked pink! I thought she would have grown out of it, but that room was seriously sick. It was ... yep … it was Pepto-Bismol sick," said Beryl.

  "She loved all that pink," said Lydia. "I was so glad to have at least one daughter who was all girly and frilly. Marilyn was happiest in blue jeans and Sandy wouldn't be caught dead in a dress.

  "You named your daughter Jill," Polly exclaimed. "Were these girls the reason?"

  "Actually, they were. Jillie and I got pretty close when Kellie started dating Buddy. I'm not sure why. We'd never been that close before, but we drifted together. I'd had a steady boyfriend for a while and we broke up right after Valentine's Day. I was whining about it one day, Jill thought it was funny and then asked if I wanted to come over and shoot some hoops after school. I was terrible! But, she kept inviting me over and so I went."

  Beryl put her arms all the way around Lydia. "I don't think anyone realized how much you missed her the next year, honey."

  That was all it took, Lydia fell apart and began to cry. Polly didn't know what to do with herself while the two women held on to each other and she was saved by a soft knock on the door sill. Andy had come into the house and her face was drawn.

  "I was with Sarah today in Ames. She wanted me to go to lunch with her and talk about some English tutoring for her youngest. He wants to go out East to college and needs help prepping for the SATs. Aaron called her and asked her to go to Linda's when she got back to town. I dropped her off and went in with her when he told them what had happened today. After I sat with her for a while, I figured the next place I needed to be was here."

  "How are they doing?" asked Lydia.

  "Actually, they're doing pretty well right now. Rev. Boehm is there. Angela went with him. Aaron was doing a great job. He's pretty awesome, Lydia."

  "I know. He really is." Lydia snuffled a little and Polly automatically handed her a cloth napkin from the table.

  Beryl snorted with laughter. "Blow your noise baby, that's the most action that napkin has seen in years! At least this time when it hits the laundry, it will have something to do!"

  All four women cracked up. Lydia tried to be dainty and pressed the napkin against her nose, but finally looked at the others, grinned and blew it.

  Chapter Seven

  Sitting at the kitchen table with Lydia and her friends, Polly listened while the others reminisced about their school years, and especially those years with Kellie and Jill Stevens. There were no more tears, but she recognized the wistfulness of lost opportunities with people you love. She'd felt it often enough at the loss of both of her parents. Soon, Beryl looked at her watch!

  "Ladies," she said, “it's 5:45 and there isn't a thing to eat on the table. Lydia, what are you going to do when Aaron comes home and you have nothing to feed him? Aren't you worried he'll become a beast?"

  "No, the beastly stuff comes after you've all gone home to your sweet little beds." Lydia giggled and even blushed. "I can't believe I said that."

  She pulled out her phone, "Let me see what he's up to, just a second," and she texted her husband. In a moment, he returned the text.

  "He says he's about finished. Do you want to go to Davey's for dinner tonight?" she asked the table.

  "Oh, that will be perfect," Beryl responded. "They have a new bartender I'm dying to try out."

  Polly looked up at her, a little bemused. "You want to try the bartender?"

  "Well, hell yeah, toots, he has to be at least one third of my age. At least! And I hear he's cute."

  Polly looked around the table at the other two, who were grinning.

  "She has a few drink recipes she loves tossing at bartenders. Beryl, here, says any bartender worth his salt will know how to mix them properly and if they don't, she's glad to teach them, isn't she, Lydia!" declared Andy.

  "And she's been known to walk around the bar and start mixing drinks like a pro. Every restaurant and bar owner from here to Davenport knows about Beryl. If they're smart, they make sure to get her favorites trained from the beginning. If they want to watch their bartender squirm, they say nothing. Davey will have said nothing. Beryl's attack on his new bartenders is one of the favorite parts of his day."

  Lydia texted Aaron again and said, "Alright! Let's go! I'll drive, unless you want to crawl in the back of Polly's truck."

  Andy laughed. "You know, someday I could drive. I have a perfectly good car."

  Beryl poked her in the arm. "Your perfectly good car might hold us, but it wouldn't go very fast with four people in it. And I hate unfolding myself out of your stupid back seat. The last time I nearly broke a nail! The front seat isn't much better. I've kissed a lot of ugly in my life, but I'm not particularly fond of your front windshield. You might want to wash the inside sometime."

  Andy sighed. "Oh, whatever."

  Lydia laughed at her friends. "Let's take my Jeep. Unless you guys want to drive separately and then go home after we're done. "

  "Oh no," said Andy. "If Beryl starts testing drinks, your husband would flip a lid if she drove. We'll bring her back here and figure it out from there."

  "Hey!" cried Beryl, then she stopped. "Oh. You're probably right." Then, she stopped again and looked at Lydia. "You know. We drive right past my house. Why don't I drive there and then you can pick me up."

  "Alright, fine," said Andy. "I'll drive by myself and head home from the restaurant."

  "You wanted to bring the party back here, didn’t ya, dollface?" asked Beryl, sidling up to Andy. "I know you. You thought you'd get me all drunked up and have your way with me in Lydia's comfy bed upstairs."

  "Oh!" snorted Andy. "You're impossible. It's a good thing I love you. Now get, before I kick your ass."

  "Kick my ass? You and ..." Beryl looked at her friend. "Yeah. You could take me. It's happened before."

  She picked up her purse and headed back out the front door. Both she and Andy had parked in the half-circle driveway in front of the house. Polly ran upstairs to get her wallet and her phone. She saw there had been two missed calls, but didn't take the time to look at the numbers. She jammed it in the back pocket of her jeans and ran back down the steps. Lydia was waiting at the bottom and they went to the lower level together.

  "You know, I could drive if you want to ride back with Aaron," Polly said.

  "Oh, no. I don't even know if he'll be coming back here for a while. They're still at the school. He's making them work longer hours so you can get back in there. Otherwise, those kids would find a way to keep you out of there for a month." She chuckled. "Okay, maybe not that long, but he's pushing for you!"

  They picked Beryl up and then went on to Davey's. Polly had driven past the restaurant, but hadn't taken the time to explore. For that matter, she hadn't taken time to explore much in Bellingwood. She'd run into the grocery store once to pick up some essentials, but had found she liked the Hy-Vee store in Boone. She missed the variety she'd found in the supermarkets in Boston, but even there, most of her shopping was done in small local grocery stores.

  Lydia opened the immense door. It was covered in red quilted vinyl. The foyer was dimly lit and the carpet on the floor was dark. Polly could only imagine that if smoking inside restaurants was still legal, heavy smoke would pour out when they opened the next door. When they pulled those wooden doors open, she was pleasantly surprised to see a beautifully finished counter for the register. There was nice blue carpet on the floor and she looked into the main dining room. Quite a few tables were filled. The hostess recognized Lydia and said, "Aaron is already here. Let me take you to his table."

  Lydia remarked, "Andy is going to be right behind us, will you let her know where we're sitting?"

  "Of course, Mrs. Merritt. Right this way."

  She sh
owed them to a round table. Aaron was talking across it to a couple at another table. When he saw them come in the door and head for him, he stood up. Lydia went over to sit beside him and he pulled her into a hug. "Did it finally hit you?" he asked.

  "Yes. You knew it would." Then, she looked at Beryl. "Did he call you?"

  "Absolutely not," came the response. "He texted me."

  Andy came up to the table. "Who texted you?"

  "While you were delivering Sarah to her sister's house, Mr. Hot Stuff over there texted me to go make his wife cry so she could get it all out and get over it."

  "I did not!" Aaron exclaimed.

  "Well, those may not have been your words, but we all know that was your intent. You certainly don't want to have to deal with those tears." Beryl said.

  Aaron pulled a chair out for his wife, then waited while the other three sat down. "I got soft drinks for everyone. Polly, she's bringing you coffee, because the boys say you drink a ton of it. If you want something else, though, just say so. Soup should be here in a minute and the special is some weird chicken thing."

  Lydia interrupted, "By weird chicken thing, he means it's not steak. We'll ask again when Amber gets here."

  Amber was pregnant … very pregnant. She waddled to their table carrying a tray of drinks. When she put coffee in front of Polly, she asked, "Did you want something else? Sheriff Merritt wasn't sure."

  "This will be fine," Polly said. "Thank you."

  "Does anyone else want something different to drink," Amber looked around the table and her eyes stopped on Beryl.

  "Oh, yes, I do, sweetie! Let's see, what shall I have tonight?” After thinking for a moment, she said, “Andy, this one's for you, since you got me all hot and bothered back at Lydia's house," then turned back to Amber. "I'd like to order a Red-Headed Slut."

  Amber giggled and said, "Oh, I can't wait to tell him!" She started to walk away, then turned back. "I'll be right back with your soup."

  Beryl watched Amber waddle away and said, "As long as she doesn't give birth between here and the kitchen, we're gonna be fine." Then, she leaned back in her seat and stretched her arms open wide. "I can't imagine being pregnant and waiting tables. Someone needs to help that girl out!"