It became apparent that he wanted to keep me busy while they did all this work without telling me and I remember some stuff like warrants on those TV shows.
“I own this campground and I don’t think I gave you permission to do that.” I played hardball right back to him.
“So you do have an issue or you threw that gun into the lake after you shot him.” He pulled another paper out of his pocket. “You don’t think I came here without a warrant, do you?”
He flicked it open with one hand and gave it to me.
“Don’t underestimate me. I might live in Normal and have a camper here, but I’m pretty smart.” He tapped his temple. My like for him turned into an instant distaste of him. “Mae West, don’t leave town.” He stepped out of the Rv. “Oh, one more thing.” He held the pen up in the air. “I’m gonna need to see your phone records.”
“I’ve got nowhere to go and no one to call.” I grabbed the handle. “See you later Detective Hank.”
“Detective Sharp,” he corrected before I dragged the door in, trying to slam it, but it didn’t happen.
I fell where I was standing. The tears stung the lid of my eyes. I’d tried so hard over the past few months not to cry or break down. As the tears streamed down my face and the sobs started shortly thereafter, I realized I wasn’t crying for the fact that I was the FBI’s number one suspect.
As much as I wanted to continue to hate Paul, I never wanted to see him dead. That was the last thought I remembered having before I feel asleep from exhaustion.
SIX
It wasn’t the banjo or the cheering that should’ve woke me up, it was the saliva that’d been
pouring out of the corner my mouth that made me open my eyes. I blinked a few times and my reality had come back to me. Only, it’d gotten dark, my stomach was growling, and my hair was plastered to my cheek. Not a pretty sight.
“Become that girl you used to be.” I propped myself up on the floor where I’d fallen from my crying spell from earlier today with a little more rest in my bones. “You are used to living on your own. You’ve only been with Paul five years. What’s your problem? Find that girl.” I demanded of myself.
The pep talk was good until I noticed the stained spots along the bottom edge of the RV couch and dirt in all the corners.
“Okay. So I’ve never been the best at cleaning, but I can do this.” I said and pushed up to stand.
It was that moment that I knew I was on my own. Before Paul floated up dead, I really hadn’t grasped the thought that he wasn’t coming back. Of course, I divorced him, but there was a tiny bit of hope that all of this was somehow going to work its way out and he’d come back with a really big excuse as to why they thought he’d done it, plus give everyone back their money. His dead body confirmed the finality of it for me.
By the sound of it, there was a party happening in the campground. I looked out the window and caught myself smiling when I noticed a few campfires dotted around the park. There was some banjo music, a little singing, and a lot of laughter. I sure could use some of that. The cleaning was going to have to wait. Besides, I didn’t even have anything to clean with. I’d been able to make do with one roll of toilet paper and a few groceries that’d now gone bad from me not hooking in the electric plug. But, tomorrow was a new day and I was going to make a plan. I always did.
I headed back to the bedroom and grabbed a sweatshirt from the rest stop bag I’d purchased when I rolled over the Kentucky bophrder and threw that on. I’d not gotten into the storage unit where Dottie said she’d put the boxes that were shipped from Stanley. I’m sure there were clothes in there for me wear. Going to get them needed to be put on my to-do list.
On my way to the front of the RV, I stopped in the small bathroom and bent down to look in the mirror while I brushed my hair. There was a knock on the door.
“I’ll be right there,” I called and gave myself a good once over before I flipped the bathroom light off and headed to the door, sure it was Dottie Swaggert. Besides Henry, she was the only person I knew in the campground, but I was determined to change that.
“Can I help you?” I asked the young woman at the door.
“I’m Betts Hager and I’ve come with welcome food from the Normal Baptist Church Women’s Group.” She held out a casserole dish. I also spotted two brown bags on the ground next to her.
Secretly I wondered if she were going to offer up her cute cowboy boots. There was a jealous ping in my soul as my eyes scanned over her white off-the-shoulder peasant top with a few bright flowers embroidered across the top. She tucked the front of the shirt into a pair of skinny jeans. She had cute, brow, wavy chin-length hair and blunt bangs, which made me even more envious because I could never get my curls tame enough to wear bangs.
“I think I’ve heard of you from the gals at the laundry mat.” I opened the door wide. “Come on in.”
“Grab those bags, please.” She pinched a smile.
I grabbed them and held the door open for her.
“Let me tell you,” she walked up the steps and into the RV. She looked around and her scared look didn’t go unnoticed. “You won’t find no better gals to chit-chat with than The Laundry Club. Now, where do you want these?”
“Here is good.” I put the brown bags down on the kitchen table and patted it. “It smells so good and I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for this.”
I started to laugh and poor Betts looked at me like I was a fool.
“You’ll find some cleaning supplies in one of the bags.” She continued to assess my cleanliness. At some point, I was going to have to take that seriously, because there was no way I could even begin to let Stanley bring potential buyers around right now.
“You don’t understand.” I shook my head as I continued to laugh and point at the refrigerator. “I had no idea I was supposed to plug in electric cords, then the cop who thinks I killed my ex,” I bent over laughing, “he actually took time out from interrogating me to show me how.”
When I stood back up, tears were streaming down my face and Betts’s jaw was practically on the floor. Apparently, she didn’t think it was as funny as I thought it was.
“I’m sorry.” I ran my hand through my curls and swallowed hard. “I’m thinking I’m having a nervous breakdown.”
“Well then.” She perked right up. “I’ve got just what you need.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a cast iron skillet.
“I’ve never seen one of those in person.” I took it from her and surprised how heavy it was.
“And we need these, these, and these.” She pulled out chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers. She headed to the door. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” I asked.
“You’ve got dessert and they’ve got the food.” She pushed the door open and when I hesitated, she stuck her head back in the door. “You comin’?”
“Yeah.” I nodded not really sure what was going on, but I was hungry, and I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At least, according to Detective Hank.
She hurried down the gravel road and over to one of the fire pits with the sweets. I followed behind her and was met with several people with smiling faces. They all seemed to know each other and I was happy to see that a few of them were Dottie, Abby, and Queenie.
“Well, if it ain’t Mae West.” Queenie grinned. This time she was wearing a jogging suit minus the head band. “Whatcha got there?”
“We’ve got skillet s’mores.” Betts reached over to get the skillet from me.
“Oh, those are my favorite.” Abby took the ingredients from Betts.
“Since you brought a dessert, you get to go around to all the campfires with a tin plate.” Dottie handed me one with dents all in it. “Fill it up with all the good food and dessert after.”
I stood there in amazement of their kindness to a stranger that had not been quite as giving as them.
“I didn’t know you two lived here.” I looked at Queenie and Abby.