Chapter Eleven
The Ferguson family farm was large, with land stretching out as far as the eye could see from the two-story farmhouse that sat smack dab in the middle of the acreage. Hannah drove up to the house and parked, then followed the cardboard signs to the pole barn where the auction was being held. As she approached, she could hear Chuck Ganz, the auctioneer, rattling off numbers and patter so fast that it almost sounded as if he spoke in a foreign language. Chuck had once told Hannah that it took three things to be an auctioneer: a good memory for numbers, a quicksilver tongue to spit them out as fast as the ear could hear, and the courage of a grizzly to get up in front of all those people and risk making a fool of yourself.
It sounded like the bidding was just winding up, and Hannah stopped inside the open door to listen for a moment. Chuck stood on a platform at the opposite end of the shed, gesturing expansively and talking nonstop. Dressed in unremitting black from head to toe, he sported a wide yellow tie that he claimed was his personal beam of sunshine on a cloudy day. It was something he said at the start of every auction and not really very funny, but people liked Chuck and they always laughed because he expected them to.
"Sold for eighty-three dollars to the gentleman in the tan hunting jacket," Chuck called out, banging his gavel on the podium. "Pay the banker on your way out."
Hannah spotted Luanne sitting next to an empty chair near the middle of the crowd. Several people had gotten up to stretch and Chuck was fortifying himself with another mug of coffee from the big thermos he kept in back of the podium. Hannah headed down the center aisle between the folding chairs and squeezed past knees to get to the vacant chair next to Luanne.
"Hi, Hannah." Luanne looked surprised to see her when Hannah slid into the chair. "Are you here to bid on something?"
Hannah reached down to rub her shin. A man wearing pointy-toed cowboy boots had moved just as she was trying to inch past him. "No, I came out here to talk to you."
"Just a second." Luanne glanced down at her auction book. "I need to bid on something in this next lot."
The bidding started and Hannah watched as Luanne raised her auction paddle. Almost simultaneously, Chuck pointed to her and rattled off a musical string of numbers. Luanne raised her paddle again, but this time Chuck acknowledged her with a nod and swiveled to repeat several other bids. Hannah turned to survey the room. Paddles were popping up all over. Luanne must be bidding on a very popular item. The bidding slowed once, faltered, picked up again, and then slowed a second time. If Hannah had judged the competition correctly, there was only one person bidding against Luanne, an older man with snowy white hair who was wearing a gray suit. Hannah studied him surreptitiously, but she didn't think she'd ever seen him before. Perhaps he was one of the "auction junkies" that Chuck had told her about, the crowd of men and women who made the circuit of the farm actions, hoping to pick up antiques at low prices that they could turn around and sell for a tidy profit.
Chuck was on "going twice" before Luanne raised her paddle again. She had a bored expression on her face, and she gave a little shrug to the man in the gray suit as if to say, "I'm not sure I really want this, but I'll give it one last bid." The man in the gray suit frowned slightly and gave his own shrug, lowering his paddle and nodding toward her.
"Sold! To the pretty little lady in the green sweater," Chuck called out, pointing to Luanne.
"Great!" Luanne said, giving Hannah a smile of triumph. "Your mother's going to love the antique spinning wheel I just bought."
Hannah smiled back. Luanne was right. Delores loved spinning wheels. But discussing antiques wasn't why she'd come out to the auction to see Luanne. "I really need to talk to you, Luanne."
"Okay. Just let me listen to what's coming up next."
Hannah watched Chuck take his place behind the podium again. He banged his gavel to get everyone's attention and waited until the crowd was silent.
"Lot number two-six-nine, ladies and gentlemen. We call this one our sporting package. Six hand-painted duck decoys, a stuffed moose head in A-one condition, two bowling balls, a rod and reel that's seen better days, and a tackle box full of fishing lures."
Luanne turned to Hannah. "We can talk now. I'm not bidding on anything until they get to the upstairs furniture. Carrie's interested in a sleigh bed that belonged to Mrs. Ferguson's mother-in-law, and there's a dresser set from the fifties that your mother wants for a decorator who's doing her client's bedroom in retro."
"I don't like retro. It's so yesterday."
"But it's very popular with…" Luanne stopped speaking when she noticed Hannah's grin. "I get it. Retro. Yesterday. Really, Hannah!"
"Sorry. I couldn't resist." Hannah took a deep breath. This wasn't a venue that invited confidences, but no one was paying any attention to them and she had to broach the subject of the bear chair with Luanne.
Luanne seemed to catch Hannah's mood, because she began to frown. "What is it, Hannah? You look upset."
"I am. I need to know why Nettie Grant bought that bear chair for Suzie last Christmas."
"Oh!" Luanne was so startled, her hands flew up to her face. Unfortunately, the paddle was still in her right hand and Chuck interpreted that as a bid and announced it. Both Luanne and Hannah listened with frowns on their faces as Chuck trolled the room for other bids, but no one else seemed to be buying. After several more minutes of patter, Chuck pointed to Luanne and announced that she'd won.
"I'm sorry, Luanne," Hannah said, the soul of contrition. She hadn't meant to make Luanne bid on something she didn't want.
"That's okay. It was only ten dollars over the minimum bid."
"How much is that?" Hannah asked, already planning to reimburse Luanne for her loss.
"Forty dollars. The moose head is worth three times that and we can get ten dollars or more apiece for the decoys."
"So you came out all right?" Luanne nodded and Hannah breathed a big sigh of relief. "Okay. Let's get out of here before I make you bid on something else."
After a chorus of pardon me's, Hannah and Luanne finally exited the pole barn and picked their way down the rutted road to the house. It was deserted, but Hannah made her way unerringly toward the kitchen.
"No chairs?" she asked, gazing around at the empty room.
"They sold them with the kitchen table." Luanne said, taking up a position to the right of the kitchen sink. "I know. I bought them."
"Well… there's always the counters," Hannah said, hoisting herself up on a kitchen counter and waiting until Luanne had done the same on the other side of the sink.
"Nettie bought Suzie that chair because she's her grandmother," Luanne blurted out, her eyes meeting Hannah's in an unwavering gaze. "Jamie Grant was Suzie's father."
"I didn't know."
"No one knew, not even my mother." Luanne gave a deep sigh. "She doesn't know to this day. But now that you've tracked it down this far, I guess there's no point in keeping secrets."
Hannah winced, feeling as guilty as sin. "I'm sorry, Luanne. I know it's your private business, but…"
"You have to know," Luanne finished the sentence for her. "It's okay, Hannah. I'm sure you won't tell anyone you don't have to tell. Besides… the reason I couldn't tell anyone before is… uh… there's no polite way to way this, but… my reason is dead."
"Sheriff Grant?"
"Yes. He threatened to cause all sorts of trouble if I told."
Hannah listened as Luanne filled in the blanks. The summer before she started her senior year at Jordan High, Luanne went with her mother to clean the sheriff's station. That's where she met Jamie, who was home from college. As Hannah nodded sympathetically, Luanne told her about the hot summer evenings when she'd walk out to meet Jamie at the end of Old Bailey Road. If they felt like going somewhere, they'd take in a movie at the mall, or go out to Eden Lake for a late night swim. Other times, when they wanted to be alone, Jamie would bring along a six-pack and they'd park on the old logging road that overlooked the lake. Luanne was thrilled to be dating a college guy and she saw Jamie almost every night for the two weeks before he left to go back to college.
"I know I was foolish," Luanne admitted with a sigh.
"A lot of girls are at sixteen," Hannah said, remembering how thrilled her high school friends had been when a Jordan High graduate who was now a "college man" had come home for vacation and asked one of them out on a date. "When did you discover that you were pregnant?"
"Not until Jamie was gone. I wrote him a letter to tell him and I said I wanted to keep the baby. I really believe he cared about me and he would have done the right thing. Maybe we wouldn't have gotten married, but I know that he would have helped me with the baby. But the day after I mailed the letter, Jamie got killed in that car wreck. He never even got the chance to read it."
"What happened to your letter?"
"Someone from the dorm boxed up all of Jamie's things, including the unopened letter from me, and mailed the box to the Grants."
"Did they open your letter?"
"Yes, and both of them read it. Sheriff Grant made Nettie promise that she'd keep quiet about it and stay away from the baby."
"But why?" Hannah was shocked.
"Because I'm trash… at least that's what Sheriff Grant called me." Luanne took a deep breath and sat up a little straighten "He said I got pregnant on purpose to trick Jamie into marriage. He even accused me of seducing Jamie."
Hannah gave a little snort. "Number one, you know you're not trash. And number two, it takes two to tango."
"I know that. And so did Sheriff Grant, but he wouldn't admit it. He came out to the house to see me and he said that if I ever told anyone that I was carrying Jamie's baby, he'd make my life miserable."
"That's pretty harsh," Hannah commented, her frown deepening.
"I know. He was a harsh man. He told me that his son's name and memory were unblemished and he was going to make sure they stayed that way. He also said that if I was smart and I kept my mouth shut, he wouldn't have to change any personnel out at the sheriff's station."
Hannah was puzzled. "What did he mean by that?"
"My mother had a contract to clean out there three times a week. It was our main source of income."
Hannah felt sick. "So he coerced you into silence by threatening to fire your mother?"
"He didn't exactly threaten, at least not in so many words, but I knew he'd fire my mother in a heartbeat if I didn't cooperate."
"So that's why you kept silent about Suzie's father?"
"That's one reason. The other reason is that it was nobody's business but Jamie's and mine. And Jamie was dead."
"So is Sheriff Grant," Hannah said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "It must be a relief now that he can't threaten you any longer."
Luanne swallowed hard. "Not really. Remember when I dropped that umbrella stand? It was because I'm so scared. I'm in big trouble, Hannah, and the whole thing's bound to come out."
"About Suzie's father?"
"That's just part of it. Once people find out that Sheriff Grant was threatening me, they'll think I killed him."
"Did you?" the question popped out before Hannah had time to squelch it.
"No! Of course I didn't kill him!"
"Then stop worrying about it."
"I can't. I'm going to be a suspect the minute somebody finds out about the fight I had with Sheriff Grant."
"Fight?" Hannah's ears perked up. "When? Where? What did you fight about?"
Luanne took a deep breath. "The when was Monday night, and the where was the school parking lot. The what is that Nettie called me and offered me the other half of their duplex. Sheriff Grant found out about it and he was waiting for me when I pulled in the lot."
"Okay," Hannah said, remembering the altercation that Kate Maschler had overheard between Nettie and Sheriff Grant "Did you accept Nettie's offer?"
"No. I wanted to, but I was worried about how Sheriff Grant would react. I told Nettie that we'd love to move in, but only if the sheriff said that it was okay."
Hannah already knew that Sheriff Grant had objected vehemently and that he'd fought with Nettie about it. "Tell me everything that happened that night in the parking lot," she instructed.
"I wanted to go to your class that night, but a customer came in right before I was ready to lock up. I took care of him as fast as I could and then I drove straight over to the school. Sheriff Grant was there in the parking lot and he motioned me over to his car. He looked really mad."
"How could you tell that by just looking?"
"Well… his face was all red and he was moving in that impatient way he has. You know… jerky. I didn't really want to talk to him, but I figured I couldn't walk right past him and ignore him."
"I understand," Hannah said. "Go on."
"I walked over to his car. He was eating something… I think it was a cupcake… and he put it in a bag on the seat. He said he knew that Nettie had offered me the duplex."
"What did you say?"
"I tried to explain that I hadn't accepted, but he yelled at me and accused me of taking advantage of Nettie because she missed Jamie so much. And then he said that for all they knew, Jamie wasn't even the father and Suzie was somebody else's baby. And then he called Suzie a… a…"
"Never mind," Hannah interrupted quickly. "I can imagine what he said. How did you react to that?"
"I couldn't say anything. I was too choked up. He was just so horrible and he said such awful things to me. I knew I was going to cry, so I just ran back to my car and drove off as fast as I could."
"Where did you go?"
"I drove back to Granny's Attic and just sat there for a while. I didn't want to face anybody until I calmed down. When I was through crying and I'd washed my face, I drove home."
"What time did you get there?"
"A little before nine. I looked at the kitchen clock when I came in."
"And Sheriff Grant was still alive when you drove out of the school parking lot?"
"Oh, yes," Luanne said, shivering slightly. "I saw him in my rearview mirror, standing next to his car and shaking his fist at me."
"What time was that?"
"I'm not sure. I know I drove into the lot at five minutes after eight. I remember looking at my watch when I got out of the car to see how late I was going to be for your class. I don't think I talked to Sheriff Grant for more than a couple of minutes, so it must have been about ten after eight."
"Close enough," Hannah said, making a mental note to add Luanne's information to her notebook. "Did anyone else see you with Sheriff Grant?"
Luanne frowned and shook her head. "I don't think so. If they had, they would have said something by now. There were lots of cars in the lot, but as far as I know, everyone else was inside the school."
"That's all I need for now, Luanne." Hannah slid down from her perch on the counter. "Thanks for being so honest with me."
"Do you… uh… have to tell anybody else about Suzie's father?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure Mother's figured it out."
"That's what I was afraid of." Luanne looked sick. "I knew she was going to the Pink Giraffe and your mother could get information from a rock if she wanted to. The rock wouldn't even know it had talked."
"True," Hannah agreed with a grin. Delores could get information effortlessly. Andrea had inherited that same ability, and Hannah wished that she had, too.
"Do you think she'll tell anyone?"
"Mother?" Hannah didn't say anything else. She just stared at Luanne in disbelief.
"Never mind." Luanne looked a bit embarrassed. "I know better than to ask that. If your mother hasn't told anyone yet, it's only a matter of time."
"I told her not to say anything until she heard from me and that should hold her for a couple of hours. If I were you, I'd call Mother and Carrie and tell them yourself. Maybe none of this will have to get out, but it couldn't hurt to get them on your side, just in case."
"You're right. That would be the smart thing to do. Do you think they'll fire me when they find out who Suzie's father is?"
Hannah stared at Luanne in amazement. "They hired you without knowing who Suzie's father was. Why would knowing make a difference?"
"Then you don't think they'll care?"
"Oh, they'll care. They'll probably bend your ear right off, trying to convince you to move in with Nettie."
"Because she's all alone now?" Luanne looked a little sad at that thought.
"No, because if you live right here in town, they can get you to work longer hours."