“I don’t have a timeframe. I just want to give the people back their homes. I want tourists to come back and stay at the campground.” I got out and stood on the sidewalk and took notice that the town was exactly like one of those small towns you’d see on TV. “How charming.” I pointed to the median in the middle of the street.
“We gather here a lot on Sunday afternoon after church for impromptu picnics.” There was a twinkle in her eye. “No matter what this town has gone through, we have always come together. Now, you can come and see what it’s all about.”
“Sounds good.” I got the distinct impression that Betts could tell that I wasn’t planting any sort of roots in Normal.
“I thought we’d stop by the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop because they have some really great lights I think you can use. Plus, if you bat your eyes at Buck, he just might give you a bigger discount.” She blinked several times and laughed again.
“I’d like to stop in at the Feed-N-Seed to see about some sod for around the lake,” I told her while we walked to our destination and headed into the building.
I was charmed by the old chippy buildings. Instead of having big signs, there were small wooden and hand painted signs with the names of the shops.
“Yesterday while I was trying to find a place to park the RV, I looked around, but walking the street makes the town seem so charming. I bet it’s beautiful here at night.” I was going to make it a point to come down here.
“It’s a sweet town and it will charm the pants right off you.” She pointed our way to the front door of the Tough Nickel. “Cute store too. Smile.” She pointed her phone at me and took a photo. “Hashtag Mae West is fixing up hashtag Happy Trails Campground.”
“You too?” I laughed and pulled the door of the shop open.
“Abby told me to make sure I put some stuff on social media.” She walked in before me.
Inside, the building was just as cute as the outside.
“People I know pay a lot of money to have brick exposed walls.” I twirled around and looked.
Every wall was brick and not covered. The hardwood floors were in great shape with large oriental rugs laid all over in no particular order. There were big pieces of antique furniture and some art pieces.
“There’s no way I can afford anything in here.” I said and checked the price tag of a topiary tree as we walked in.
“Buck! Youuuuhooooouuu!” Betts called out. “We are going to the attic.”
“Betts.” An older man with coal black hair, and a tall slender frame came from a different direction. “Who’s your friend?”
“Mae West, she’s the new owner of Happy Trails. And I think I saw some really cute party lights up in the attic. Mae is going to fix up the campground and she’s going to have a fund raiser.” Betts patted his shoulder. “It’s going to be so good for the community to have that up and running again. I know Lester and I are excited to grow our congregation. And I’m sure we can count on you to be there with an open wallet.”
Wow, I thought as Betts just went on and on. She was good because before I could finish my thought, and before I could bat my eyes, which I was looking forward to, Buck had already agreed for me to take what I needed.
“My donation.” He gestured to the stairs. “You know your way and if you need something, I’m in the back re-staining an old chest we got from an estate sale. Just holler.”
“Thank you,” I said and put my hand out to seal the deal.
“Mae West,” He dragged me into a bear hug. “Don’t you know we hug around here. Especially now that you’re a new citizen.”
“I heard.” I grinned and returned the hug.
“Now that we got that out of the way, welcome to Normal. Now, what do you know about that murder out there?” He crossed his arms
“It was my ex-husband. He escaped from prison and someone killed him.” I blurted out.
“On second thought, I’ll come up stairs with you.” His brows narrowed. “You were married to Paul West? He was a bad guy.”
“We can go up. You go on back and finish that staining.” Betts’s voice cracked.
“Nope. He’s a crook and she might be too.” Buck shook a finger at me.
“She’s not a crook. Are you?” Betts’s face grew serious.
“Of course, I’m not. I had no idea Paul even owned Happy Trails. Nor did I know that he was scheming everyone we knew and some people we loved.” I could tell by Betts’s fidgeting, that I shouldn’t have opened my mouth so much about the murder.
“You didn’t kill him? He questioned. “I mean, everyone around town said that you were here, but I didn’t put two-and-two together. My noggin’ isn’t as good as it used to be putting things together. I’m not saying you didn’t have good cause, but I am saying that we’ve been doing just fine before you stepped foot here.”
“You know what,” Betts patted the air. “I’ll come back for the lights. Mae has to get to the library. They hired her part time.”
She jerked me by my elbow and dragged me out of the shop.
“What are you doing? Trying to get run out of town?” She huffed and puffed. “People around here are very protective of each other and you have to gain their trust.”
“It’s not like he wasn’t going to find that out. Paul and I have the same last name.” It didn’t take Detective Hank to go around telling everyone for them to figure out that the man who’d apparently taken this entire town for granted, wife was in town and living here. “Paul did me just as bad as he did everyone else.”
“Just so you know, Buck is going to be on the phone with every store owner now. The news of you running around gathering things for the fundraiser is going to be all over town before you get home tonight.” she said.
There was a man standing under the Deters Feed-N-Seed sign. He put his hands on his hips and looked left and then right, staring at us.
“Or the news is going to spread faster than we can get to the Seed-N-Feed.” She nodded her head at the man. “That’s Alvin Deters. And by the glare on his face, he knows exactly who you are.”
The closer we got to Alvin, the more I could see the disgust on his face had extended to the lines around his mouth. His eyes narrowed more and more the closer we got. My inner voice told me that it had to do with who I was and how I was related to the man who’d obviously done more damage to the town than just let Happy Trails go downhill.
Alvin had a big cowboy hat pulled way down over his brows. There was no denying he owned the right store, anything dealing with farming equipment and outside. His blue jeans, plaid shirt, cowboy boots and big silver belt screamed it.
“Betts.” He gave her one of those good ole Baptist nods that I’d seen plenty times when I lived in Kentucky. “You must be Paul West’s wife.” He dragged his hat off of his head exposing a light brown head of hair. “I might be in my fifties, but I always do what my mama told me to do. Be nice to the lady and I’m gonna do that,” he spoke right to me, “but I can’t say I’m happy about you being here and trying to make good on his debts or even cover up you killing him.”
“Mr. Deters,” I cleared my throat, “I’m sorry if that’s the impression you got of why I’m here. In all honesty, I was coming here to take a little vacation because I’d gotten the impression this was a vacation spot, not what it truly is.” I decided to leave out my colorful wording of the campground. “I didn’t know about Happy Trails or Normal until a couple of days ago. I do feel bad and I am going to make it good. I’m not my husband. I’m Mae West.” I sucked in a deep breath and pulled my shoulders back. “And I didn’t kill him. I’m not going to lie and say that it’d never crossed my mind over the past few months, but I could never bring myself to do anything like that to anyone, no matter what they’d done to me or anyone else.”
He shifted his eyes from me to Betts.