Today the library was nice and quiet. Story time was only once a week and there weren’t a lot of kids running around like yesterday. Abby was putting back books in the mystery department when I found her.
“What are you doing here today?” She picked up a book and looked at the spine.
“I need to use a computer with a CD.” I showed her the disc.
“Go on behind my desk and use that one. It’s the newest.” She shoved the book on the shelf. “Let me know if you need help.”
“Thanks.” I left her to finish the cart and grateful she was letting me do it myself, so I didn’t have to explain what I was doing.
The news popped up on the computer when I moved the mouse. There was a big picture of Paul as a main news story. Normally, I’d just not read it or even watch if it were on TV, but Grady Cox’s name caught my eye.
I scanned down the article and read about Grady being suspect since he’d gone missing the day of Paul’s murder. They even had a photo of Ava Cox, Grady’s wife, and Grady Jr., their son.
I’d only met Ava, Grady and Grady Jr. two years ago when Paul and I got married. They traveled from Kentucky to our house in the Hamptons.
My heart sank as I looked at their family photo. Just another casualty in Paul’s scheme. I hit the print button. I had a deep need to go see Ava and apologize. According to the google map, they only lived forty minutes from Normal, which also made Grady a suspect. The article said that detectives believe Paul might’ve come to Kentucky to meet up with best friend, but the best friend wasn’t so forgiving. The article still didn’t say what the FBI thought about the escape. Somehow, that played a part. But who helped Paul?
Out of curiosity, I googled the penitentiary where Paul escaped. There was a list of employees that I printed off. Just to make sure, I’d take the list and compare it to the list Hank had given me of Paul’s victims. Maybe someone in there knew him and let him out. Even the list of outside sources that came in was a possibility. Most of them were church groups that tried to turn the prisoners to God. I’d ask Betts about these groups and see if she knew anything about them.
Instead of wasting more time on Paul, I needed to see about Dottie. The computer buzzed after I put the CD in the slot and shut it. A window popped open with a movie link and I clicked it. The scene was the outside of the building. I scrolled over most of it until it showed two people in front of the bank. They looked as though they were debating something. I put my finger on the small figure that was Paul. I could pick him out from anywhere. He was so debonair and mature. Even a little scruffy, he was still handsome. For a second, I let my heart go back to the Paul I’d been married to, not the criminal. I shook my head to bring me back to the reason I was in Normal.
It wasn’t him and Dottie I was focusing on. That was what Hank was doing. I was interested in the surroundings. I took the backpack off my back and took out my file, writing down everything I could see outside of the two of them. There was a clear view of Normal Diner.
I wrote down Trudy’s name and wondered if she could give me any names of customers who lost their money to Paul had been in the diner eating that night. Or maybe Ty Randal had seen Paul and my theory about luring him back to the campground was right. I sat and watched until Dottie and Paul had parted ways.
THIRTEEN
“Say,” A man sitting in a Ford Escort parked at the curb in front of the bank, leaned over the front interior of the car had shouted out the passenger window, “Are you Mae West?” He asked.
He wore a pair of bib overalls with a greasy handkerchief hanging out of the front pocket. He had a buzz cut. The lines around his eyes deepened as she squinted away the sun.
“Yes, I’m Mae.” Cautiously, I walked up to the car window with a sudden fear that this was someone Paul had wronged and they were going to shoot me or something.
“I’m Joel from Grassle’s Gas Station down there.” He pointed towards the gas station with the heavy price. “I got a call from Preacher Lester sayin’ that I needed to bring you this car from the church.”
I put my hand to my chest as a sigh of relief escaped me.
“Yes. Wow, that was fast.” I bent down and looked into the four-door. It looked like it was in great shape and perfect for what I needed.
“Here you go.” He turned the car off and got out. “I can walk back down to the station. You do have a valid driver’s license, right?”
“Yes. Of course.” I nodded and took the key. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem. Though Preacher Lester did have something he wanted me to tell you. He said he was looking forward to meeting you on Sunday.” His mouth opened into a big wide grin before he started walking down Main Street towards his gas station.
“Did he, now?” I shook my head. “Even the church isn’t above bribing,” I whispered and looked back at the bank where I could just imagine what Ann was doing with my Gucci.
I squeezed the keys in my palm and looked between the library and the car. I was going to do a little more research on the list of prison employee names that I’d printed off yesterday, but my curiosity of Ava Cox and where Grady had disappeared to was giving me the tickle to find out if Paul’s college best friend had anything to do with Paul’s demise.
Thank goodness for cell phones and GPS. I put the town name in my maps and instantly the directions popped up, letting me know it would take me forty minutes to get there. There were two battles in my head. One was to go see Abby and work on a marketing plan to get people to the fundraiser. She was so savvy at this online marketing thing and, I truly wanted to have her teach me and make a go of this. The afternoon, I’d planned to go back to the campground and help Henry clean up, get my clothes out of the storage, and start planning where the decorations were going to go.
Like the last years of my life, I put the needs of me and the campground aside, and found myself looking between the road and the GPS on my way to see Ava. Or at least on my way to see if I could find Ava.
The whole way there I talked to myself like Ava was in the car with, anticipating her answers. Imaginary Ava told me everything I wanted to hear and how she was shocked that Paul’d scammed them too, but with Grady missing, I wasn’t sure that was the case. My heart wanted to believe that Grady, since he’d been best friends with Paul, was also part of the scheme even though Paul swore and took the blame that it was all him.
Ava and I’d only met the one time and I wasn’t even sure if she would talk to me. Not only did Paul ruin their lives, apparently it sent Grady off, but to where. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her. Not only questions about the scheme and Grady’s investment, but their history with Paul.
There was a small diner on the outskirts of town that flashed a sign claiming to be the best BBQ joint in Kentucky. In fact, it was named BBQ Joint.
It wasn’t the sign that made me whip in, rather the old phone booth with the dangling phone book that made me jerk the wheel of the Ford and parked it in a spot that was on the end of a full parking lot.
The BBQ diner almost looked like a fancy camper that was parked in front of a small motel. You know those two level mom and pop motels that has a pool in the front with a chain length fence around it? That type of motel. The BBQ diner was shiny silver with a big red stripe around the middle and it clashed with the baby blue doors on the motel rooms. But I wasn’t there to judge, I was there to look up Ava Cox in the phone book.
The old phone booth door creaked when I slid it shut. There had to be a vent from the restaurant into the booth because the smell of pork, cinnamon, sugar and tangy sauce swept underneath my nose as I brought the phone book up to rest on the small metal shelf while I shuffled through it.