The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (5 page)

CHAPTER NINE

“They were very hungry,” Miss Maude Pendleton said when she accompanied the kindergarten class to the library after naptime.

Penelope looked around for Ellie and Evie, but they were nowhere in sight.

“The younger girl is still having a nap, and Mrs. Harris persuaded Ellie to return to her own class.” She caught a little boy by his collar and turned him in the direction of the picture book section when he seemed inclined to visit the magazine rack instead. “Two books with words, Joshua Bartell.” She lowered her voice. “Children shouldn’t be hungry, not like those girls were.”

“The children get breakfast and lunch here, but that’s not really enough.”

Miss Maude narrowed her eyes. “I happen to know that breakfast is furnished from the pockets of the staff.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is.”

“Who don’t take home as much as I did when I was teaching, and that was
pitifully little until only about ten years before I retired. Fortunately, I have an inheritance to supplement my retirement.”

“Shana, Mary Lynn, and I are all pitching in now that we know about it.”

“And I will do so, too, of course. I daresay a great deal goes on out here that no one knows about.”

Penelope looked the other way.

“You needn’t worry about me, Mrs. Pembroke. I don’t share information about anything.”

“Thank you, Miss Maude.”

“I get the impression the Hadden girls were brought here this morning against their will and won’t be allowed to go home.”

“I’ll take them home with me tonight.”

“But that won’t be a permanent solution, will it?”

“No, ma’am.”

“They’ll go to foster care. We didn’t have that in my day. Oh, there were orphanages, but for the most part, families took care of their own.”

“Now child welfare gets involved.”

Miss Maude’s lips pursed as if she’d tasted something sour. “More’s the pity.” She turned around, reminding Penelope of a majestic ship moving slowly in the water. “Joshua Bartell, have you selected your books?”

The child edging toward the magazine rack
again scuttled back to the shelves of books.

“Miss Maude, everyone is so glad you’re here,” Penelope said. “I hope you know that.”

“I try to do my best.”

“If everyone’s best was half what yours is, we’d all be better off.”

Mary Lynn chose that moment to poke her head in. “I heard about Ellie.”

Miss Maude moved off toward the milling kindergarteners, and Penelope joined Mary Lynn in the corridor. “I’m taking them home with me tonight,” Penelope said.

“Until Alotta Mouth shows up again, and she will.”

“You are so bad, Mary Lynn.”

“Listen, you remember years ago when Harry and I thought we might adopt and became certified as foster parents?”

“I’d forgotten, but that’s been years ago, Mary Lynn, You’d probably have to get recertified.”

“I don’t see why we can’t take the girls temporarily. Carol Harris just told me she’d let Evie come to her class—off the record, of course—and that way Ellie could stay in a familiar place. Either you and I or Shana are out here five days a week, so they’d have a ride.”

“There are rules.”

“Rules schmules. If this school crossed all their t’s and dotted all their i’s, nothing would get done.”

The door opened, and a knife-sharp line of kindergarteners, followed by Miss Maude, filed out. “I left the cards on the desk for you.”

“See that’s another silly rule that’s been tossed out here. No due-date cards.” Mary Lynn threw Penelope a I-proved-my-point look.

“Well, the children come every week. We’ve lost a few books but not many.”

“Let me have the girls tonight, Penelope. I’ll call Little Rock and see what Harry and I need to do.”

“It’s not up to me, Mary Lynn. I was just going to tell George I’d take them.”

“Then I’ll go talk to him.” Mary Lynn whirled off in a flash of printed skirt and peasant blouse.

You and Harry would’ve made good parents. The state didn’t even use you as foster parents, even after you took all those classes. And they never even tried to find you a baby. I know they dangled the carrot a couple of times, but that’s all they did, and then they said you were too old for a baby and tried to give you teenagers. Well, that’s their loss. No, it’s the children’s loss. But maybe Ellie and
Evie Hadden are the answer to your prayers, because I have a feeling you never gave up.

****

Mary Lynn had just settled Evie in the back seat beside Ellie and was reaching for the seatbelt when Alana Mueller screeched to a halt and flew across the cracked asphalt toward Penelope’s SUV. “Where do you think you’re taking those children?”

“Home with me for the night,” Mary Lynn replied without turning around.
             

“No, you’re not! I’m taking them to an emergency shelter, and tomorrow they’ll go to a foster home.”

In a flash, Ellie had grabbed Evie’s arm and slid both of them out the other door. Evie fell to her knees, but Ellie jerked her up. They took off at a run.

“Wait a minute! You come back here! Stop, I tell you!” Alana’s otherwise attractive face turned beet red.

“Ellie, Evie! Come on back here!” Mary Lynn called. But the girls had disappeared into the nearest copse of trees. “Now see what you’ve done!”

“What I’ve done? You’re the one breaking the law. I’ll have you arrested for interfering with child custody.”

“Oh, come off it, missy,” Penelope said. “Her husband’s the mayor, and my son is with the police department.”

“I don’t care! I’ll get the state police in here!”

“Good luck,” Penelope muttered, following Mary Lynn toward the trees and hoping she wouldn’t have to go farther.

George Harris came out of the building. “What’s going on?”

“They were kidnapping those girls, and I’m going to press charges.” The woman’s nervous footwork reminded Penelope of a boxer.

“Settle down, Miss Mueller. Nobody’s kidnapping anybody.”

Penelope walked back and waded into the fray. “When she announced she was putting them in foster care, they took off like a blessed shot. We’ll never find them now.”

George Harris shook his head. “I don’t know what you learned in school, Miss Mueller, but you have to approach things a little differently out here. Now, why don’t you go wait in my office, and we’ll see if we can find the girls.” He glanced up at the sky. “But it’s already after four, and it’s getting dark earlier now.”

“And it’s a whole lot darker in those woods,” Penelope said. “I’m going to see if I can get Mary Lynn to come out before she gets lost.”

“Good idea.” He stood back.
“After you, Miss Mueller.”

Half an hour later, Mary Lynn emerged, her skirt torn, and her tear-streaked face smudged with dirt. “They’re gone, Pen, just gone, and it’s going to be cold tonight, and they don’t even have jackets or shoes, and…” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

“We’ll find them.”

“No, we won’t, and you know it. It’s
all that woman’s fault, too.”

In George Harris’s office, Alana Mueller sat drumming her fingers. “Well?” she demanded when the two women came in.

Penelope shrugged.

“It’s going to get cold tonight, and they don’t have jackets or shoes,” Mary Lynn said. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Alana Mueller lifted her chin. “I’m doing my job.”

“Then the job needs to be abolished,” Mary Lynn retorted.

Alana whipped a cell phone from her purse. “I’m calling my supervisor.” She went out into the corridor, slamming the door behind her.

George Harris collapsed in his desk chair. “Parnell called. Chief Malone just got the exhumation order.”

“Does that social worker know about it?” Penelope asked.

“Lord, I hope not.”

“Look, Bert and Betty Hadden are some kin. Maybe the girls could go there for a while,” Penelope said. “Don’t courts usually favor family over foster care?”

“Don’t forget, they have two children of their own. Their house is barely big enough for the four of them,” Mary Lynn said. “I’ve been there to take a covered dish when Betty’s mother died. It’s a nice little place, clean and all that, but they don’t have room for two more children.”

The social worker stalked back in. “I’ve spoken with my supervisor,” she said, “and it’s too bad you couldn’t have been more cooperative.” Then she left again, but this time she didn’t slam the door.

The desk phone rang while the occupants of the office were still staring at each other. “Possum Hollow School, George Harris. Right, I’m the principal. Uh-huh. Okay, let me write down your name.” He scribbled something down on the back of an attendance slip and gestured to Penelope and Mary Lynn to sit. “Okay, well, here’s the story.” He recapped Ellie’s history and the day’s events. One of the women who
helps out here is the wife of the mayor, and she volunteered to take the girls home for the night.”

“Harry and I were certified as foster parents once,” Mary Lynn stage-whispered, leaning across the desk.

George nodded and relayed the information. “Hargrove. Harry and Mary Lynn. Lived here all their lives—well, Mary Lynn came in high school, but Harry’s a hometown boy. Problem is, the girls are gone, and it would take a pack of bloodhounds to find them in those trees…wait a minute. Just hang on.” He put down the phone and pointed to the glass door.

When Penelope and Mary Lynn turned around, they saw Ellie’s nose pressed against the window under the word
Principal.
“Oh, thank God!” Mary Lynn threw open the door and enfolded the girls in her arms. They offered no resistance.

Penelope crossed herself. “Thank You, God,” she murmured.

“They’re back,” George said, his voice unsteady. “Just came in. Right. Right, here she is.” George held out the phone.

Still holding onto the girls, Mary Lynn took the phone. “My husband and I took all the classes years ago to be certified as foster parents. Maybe fifteen-eighteen years ago.” She listened, then gave her address and phone number. “Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!”

She hung up and hugged both girls again. “You’re coming home with me. Everything is going to be all right.”

“Her name is Tonya Cisneros,” Mary Lynn told Penelope as they drove the winding road in the dusk that was quickly turning to night. “Older woman from the sound of her voice. A slight Hispanic accent. Really nice. Common sense nice. She said she’d come out herself tomorrow.”

“What did she say about the other one?”

“That she was young and inexperienced.”

“And stupid.”

From the backseat, Ellie giggled, and
Evie followed suit. When Mary Lynn launched into a slightly off-key rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” both girls joined in. By the time Penelope turned into the driveway of the Hargrove home, the day’s negative turn seemed to be forgotten.

Then, before her passengers could exit, Penelope saw a familiar car turn in behind her, blocking her escape.

CHAPTER TEN

“I’ll take the girls with me.” Alana Mueller emerged looking, as Jake would say,
happy as a pig in a peach orchard.

“Your supervisor gave me permission to bring them here for the night,” Mary Lynn retorted. She glanced back at the children. “Do
not
take off, understand me?”

Ellie nodded, and
Evie began to wail.

Penelope hit the lock button as Alana reached for the door. “Call Tonya Cisneros,” she said through the window.

“I’m in charge of this case!”

“They’re children, not a case,” Mary Lynn said.

“I’m taking them.”

“No, you’re not.”

In the rear-view mirror, Penelope caught sight of a flashing blue light and saw Parnell Garrett unfold his lanky frame from behind the wheel of his patrol car. “Any problem, Mrs. Pembroke? Mrs. Hargrove?”

Mary Lynn spelled it out for him. He turned to the young social worker. “They’ll be fine here for the night,” he said.

She didn’t back down. “I’m taking them with me.”

“Why don’t you just call your supervisor and get the okay to leave them here?” Parnell asked.

“I’ll get a court order, and while I’m at it, I’ll file charges against these two.”

Penelope held up a hand to silence the retort she saw forming on Mary Lynn’s lips. “Then you just blessed do that,” she said in a neutral tone. “But you can’t do anything tonight, and you know it, so why don’t you be a good girl and get out of my way so I can go home?”

Alana advanced on the car again. “I’m…”

Parnell blocked her way. “Look, Miss, I’d suggest you just cool off and go back to
Little Rock or wherever you’re based. You can’t block a private drive.” He glanced at her car. “And that’s what you’re doing.”

She gave him a look of pure disgust and stomped back to her car.

“Drama queen, isn’t she?” Parnell asked. When Penelope rolled down the back window, he put his head through to where the girls sat frozen with fear. “You know me,” he said. “Officer Garrett.”

Ellie nodded.

“What’s that behind your ear?” he asked, reaching toward Evie. She stopped wailing. “Well, looky here…a nickel!” He handed it to the little girl. “And I do believe…yep…” He showed Ellie another nickel plucked from somewhere near her head. She giggled. “Okay, you ladies have a nice evening. I’ll be around.” He ambled back to the police car and waved as he fitted himself back inside.

****

Penelope called Shana on the way to the B&B and filled her in. “That’s all I know, and it’s not for public broadcast.”

“I’m off the air.”

“Right. I’ll let you know more when I know it.”

“Thanks for calling, Penelope. I’m headed to
Little Rock to meet Peter and Tabby. She’s in a school play about recycling. I think she’s a soda can.”

“That should be interesting.”

Shana laughed. “Peter says she’s excited.”

“I’m
home, and Daddy’s at the door waiting. Gotta run.” Penelope waved at her father as she drove into the garage, then hurried up the flagstone walk. “Sorry I’m late, Daddy.”

“I was a little worried,
honeychild. It’s dark.”

“It’s been a day. I’ll fill you in over supper.”

“I put in the casserole you left thawing in the refrigerator.”

“Did you set the table?”

Jake grinned. “Nag, nag, nag. The old folks home is looking better and better.”

****

Bradley and Rosabel showed up in time for dessert. “Had a visit from that social worker,” he said. “Parnell filled me in.”

“He showed up at Mary Lynn’s at the right time. Where does the state find people like that Mueller woman?”

He shrugged. “If she turns up tomorrow with a court order, you can’t keep her from taking the girls.”

“That stinks.” Penelope’s fork went spinning, and only
Rosabel’s quick hand kept the open bottle of salad dressing from decorating the table.

“I agree,” Bradley said, “but it’s the law.”

“Then the law should be changed.”

Bradley shrugged again. “And Jeremiah
Hadden will try to beat her to the draw. You know that.”

“You mean he’ll come looking for the girls? Parnell said he was long gone.”

“Maybe long but not so far,” Jake said.

“That’s possible, Pawpaw. Listen, Mother, I know you go back on Fridays when you don’t have anyone staying at the B&B, so I want you to tell George Harris for me to keep the doors locked and have recess in the gym if the girls come back to school, which I doubt.”

“I’ll tell him. You don’t think their father would try anything at the Hargroves’ tonight, do you?”

“We went by there first,”
Rosabel said. “If anybody saw them in your car, they’ll know they’re with Mrs. Hargrove or you.”

“Anybody as somebody from the Hollow.”

Bradley nodded. “I warned them to lock up, and I’m telling you the same thing.”

“We’ll lock up, Brad,” Jake said. “You know I keep a handgun in the drawer by my bed. No real reason, just a habit, but it might be a good one now.”

“Pawpaw, you’ve had that same gun since I was a little boy. You threatened to hang me out the upstairs front window if I ever touched it.”

“It’s been taken care of, son. It works.”

“How do you know it works, Pawpaw?”

Jake blew out his breath in disgust. “Because I take it out to the Toney place and shoot it ever so often.”

Penelope glanced up. “Oh, Daddy.”

“Penelope Corinne Louise, I fought my way off of Omaha Beach and through the Bulge. You know I know about guns because I taught you to use one before you turned thirteen.”

“Sorry, Daddy, I wasn’t criticizing you.”

“Sounded that way.”
He tossed out the challenge through narrowed eyes. “And you must’ve thought it worked when you took it to Eureka Springs with you and Shana three years ago.”

Penelope looked away.

Bradley smiled at his grandfather. “If you didn’t go out and practice, that’s when I’d be worried about the gun, Pawpaw. Just don’t go plugging Mother if she comes down for a midnight snack.”

Jake guffawed. “Not unless she’s after the last piece of this lemon cake.”

Rosabel leaned over to kiss Jake’s cheek. “Just lock up tight.”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to have a gun, spending so much time out in Possum Hollow these days,” Jake said to his daughter when the younger folks had gone.

“You know I can’t carry a gun on school property, Daddy. It’s the law.”

“I remember, but it still wouldn’t hurt. You could park across the road, and leave it in the car, I guess.” He got up. “I’m going to make sure the downstairs windows are latched.”

“Somebody could just break one and reach inside.”

“That would make more noise than just raising the window.” He ambled toward the swinging door to the dining room. “You go lock that back door.”

As she showered and put on her gown, Penelope considered that life settling down had been too much to ask for.
Nothing ever happened in Amaryllis until that blessed cotton gin burned down with two people in it. Now we’ve got bodies cropping up all over the place. I hate it.
She slipped into bed and pulled the cover up over her head.
I wonder if I could just stay right here under the covers forever. I wonder if, when I finally came out, the world would’ve just gone away like Sam goes away. The problem is, he always comes back.

****

She woke wondering if she’d really heard the breaking glass or if she’d been dreaming, but she knew her heart galloping inside her chest was very real.
Tomorrow I’m going to buy a blessed gun,
she thought as she sat up and put her feet over the side of the bed.
If I live that long.

In her bare feet, she padded to the door and leaned against it
listening, and her hand slipped down to turn the key.
Is that somebody on the stairs, or is it my imagination? Hail Mary, full of grace…
She crossed herself and pressed her ear closer to the solid door. Nothing. The phone beside her bed rang twice and stopped before she could get to it. Beside the phone the digital clock read 2:51 AM.

She went back to the door, carrying the cordless handset with her. Almost immediately, the phone rang again. Clicking the button, she held the phone against her ear and waited. A faint gurgling sound, almost like someone being choked, moved her pseudo-calm to panic. “Daddy!”
Unlocking the door, she hit the hall at a run, managing only inches before a large hairy hand clamped her mouth shut.

She let her knees fold under her, and when she hit the floor, the hand disappeared. A large bulky form hurtled past her toward the stairs. At the same time, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and then the sound of a struggle. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the sound of gunfire, but there was only the sound of something—a body?—hitting the wall. Light flooded the hall.

“Nell, are you all right?”

“Sam? Where are you?” She stood up and looked around. “Sam?”

“Stay where you are, Nell.” More sounds of a struggle, though half-hearted this time, drifted up the stairs from the direction of the foyer.

“What’s happening?”

“Just hang on, Nell. Don’t move.” Another thump. “Dammit, I’ll break your neck if you don’t stop messing with me!”

“Sam?”

“I said hang on!”

The sudden realization that she wore only a mauve silk gown, transparent in the overhead light, sent Penelope back to her room in search of a robe. When she came out again, Sam stood in the upper hall with a handcuffed man just in front of him. “Who is this, and what is he doing in your house?”

Penelope blinked. “Bert? Elbert Hadden? What…”

The man’s fac
e crumpled. “I’m real sorry, Mrs. Pembroke. Real sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt you.”

“You’re looking for Ellie and
Evie, aren’t you?”

His chin fell to his chest.

“Bert, I know they’re your kin, but breaking into my house—that’s not something you’d do. Not unless…”

“I’m real sorry. Real sorry,” he repeated.

Sam gave him a shake. “Breaking and entering, assault, resisting arrest—not a stellar performance Mr. Hadden.”

Bert’s shoulders slumped even farther.

“Oh, Sam, let him go. He didn’t hurt me.”

“Let him go, hell! I’m betting this ox left bruises on me, knocking me against the wall the way he did. What’s going on? Why is he here?”

“It’s a long story,” Penelope said. “Wait a minute—who was on the phone? I’ve got to check on Daddy.” She took two steps before she heard Jake’s voice.

“Nellie?
You okay?”

“I’m okay, Daddy. What about you? Did you call me from downstairs?”

“Not me.” Jake appeared on the landing, his gun clutched barrel down at his side. “Bert Hadden! Hello, Sam. What’re you doing with the produce manager of the Garden Market?”

“He tried to smash this tomato,” Sam said gesturing toward Penelope with his free hand. “Only I shredded his lettuce.”

“Oh, hush up,” Penelope snapped. “Come on downstairs, all of you, and I’ll make some coffee.”

“And call the police,” Sam said.

“No, Sam, it doesn’t work that way in Amaryllis, not with folks you know. Bert has to tell us what he was doing here, and then we’ll decide what to do.” Penelope moved past him toward the stairs.

“Then I’ll call the police myself.”

“No, son, not yet,” Jake said. “Just take those cuffs of Bert. He’s not going anywhere—are you?”

Bert, his eyes still on the floor, shook his head.

“That’s damned foolishness,” Sam said, but he unlocked the cuffs, ready to grab the other man if he made a run for it. When Bert stood still, Sam frowned, then scratched his head. “I’ll never understand this place.”

Penelope took her father’s arm. “Come on, Daddy, go put away the gun, and we’ll get things figured out.”

****

“You were looking for Ellie and
Evie, weren’t you, Bert?” Penelope asked as she poured mugs of coffee and brought them to the table.

He nodded.

“How are they related to you?”

“Cousins.
Their daddy is my daddy’s younger brother.”

“Which one?”

“Harvey was my older half-brother,” Bert said. “My daddy Hector and Jeremiah were the second family.”

Sam snorted.
“Anybody out there in the Hollow not a Hadden?”

Penelope glared. “Don’t be rude.”

“Rude? Me? This guy breaks into your house and attacks you, and I’m the one who’s rude?”

Jake touched Sam’s arm. “Just hold on, son.” Concentrating on Bert, now shivering like he was naked in the middle of a blizzard, he said, “So who told you the girls were here and to come get them?
Jeremiah?”