When music on the radio woke her at six, Lettie was not at all happy about the matter. She reckoned at the outside she had slept four hours. Stretching to awaken her muscles caused them to revolt. A muscle cramp in her left leg had her hopping around the bedroom. Not exactly what she had in mind the first thing in the morning. At least the hopping restored some semblance of blood flow to her brain.
After showering, she donned her white terry robe and padded barefoot downstairs. She opened the front door to get the Times Beacon, and felt water dripping on her head. It was good that she hadn't bothered to blow dry her hair yet. Grabbing her paper before it got soaked, she hurriedly closed the door and went to the kitchen. She sat at the oak table with the morning paper while the pot of coffee brewed. Shouting at her from the front page was "Williams Lumber Company Burglarized." At least she now knew why Mitch had been called in last night. Wondering if this crime had anything to do with Charlotte's death, her curiosity nearly overwhelmed her.
The newspaper account of the burglary was sketchy at best. Lettie knew that since the burglary happened so late in the night she was lucky that the Times Beacon had any information at all. Their reporting staff in the evening was most likely one person. She wished she could go to the Ladybug for breakfast. Mildred would certainly have the details. Curtailing her need to know everything right now, she consoled herself with the fact that Mitch might tell her the details of the burglary.
After eating a bowl of cereal adorned with sliced bananas and drinking two cups of coffee, she began mentally ticking off all the things she had to do today. First off was making her broccoli casserole. In addition to the fresh broccoli she had purchased at Autumn Leaves, she hoped she had the remaining ingredients. After a thorough look through her refrigerator, she found cream cheese and parmesan cheese that weren't molded. This was a minor miracle. Setting her oven to 350 degrees, she assembled the casserole. She popped it in the oven and went back upstairs to dress.
She picked out an outfit in record time for her, put on her makeup and decided to make a quick phone call to Sophie. Sophie was a little groggy, but cleared the cobwebs enough to talk sensibly.
"Were you asleep?"
Sophie whispered back, "Not now. Wait a minute until I get on the other phone. I don't want to wake Harold."
Lettie looked at her watch; it was only 7:30. Since all Sophie's boys had left home, she and Harold had taken up sleeping in whenever possible. It was hard for Lettie to remember that Sophie had acquired this new habit.
"Okay, I'm on the downstairs phone. What's cooking?"
"My broccoli casserole."
"What?"
"Just making a joke. I'm sorry I woke you, but I have a million things to tell you and now is the only time I'm going to have to talk for a while."
She regaled Sophie with the details of her date with Mitch and their seeing Amelia with Jordan. She also told her of the Times Beacon headline. They discussed everything ad nauseam. The ringing of the timer on Lettie’s oven momentarily interrupted their talk, but that didn't daunt the two friends. They resumed where they had left off when Lettie returned from tending to her cooking duties. They had talked on the phone for three hours straight once upon a time. Usually now they only consumed thirty to sixty minutes of the telephone company's time. Thankfully there were no charges for local calls.
"Do you want to go with Harold and me to the funeral home this evening?" Sophie asked. "I know how you hate funeral homes."
"That's great. I'm relieved I won't have to go alone. Well, I really need to hang up now. I have to list Jacob Stillman's house this morning. I will see you when Gloria and I come by to pick up your food for Jeff. I am really leery about going back into that house again. It will bring back all the bad memories of Wednesday night more vividly."
"I know it's going to be hard on you. Would you feel better if I came with you."
"Would you mind? I could use some moral support."
"Don't think twice about it. I'll see you this afternoon."
Lettie grabbed her cellular phone and leather tote. She stuffed real estate listing forms in her tote and headed out the door. Wondering why she hadn't heard from Mitch, she surmised he was still working or sleeping.
Saturday was a little more brisk than the previous day, and the rain continued but a little less vigorously than when she had picked up her paper. Lettie immediately put on her red boiled wool jacket. Hand knit, of course. Before driving off, she double-checked to see if her trusty red and white golf umbrella was in the rear of her van. It normally was there for those times when unexpected showers occurred while she was showing houses. It had been commandeered from her father years earlier and could easily accommodated three people.
She drove out Cascade Road toward the Stillman house and passed Hickory Creek Park which had been established to preserve the area surrounding the Hickory Creek covered bridge. The park, jointly administered by the city and county, was a popular place for locals as well as college students. The covered bridge, now unusable to traffic, was the focal point of the park.
As she passed the limestone gates, she gazed into the parking areas on either side of the gates. She saw a yellow BMW parked in the farthest lot near the covered bridge. It looked like Gloria Spencer's car, but what would she be doing in the parking lot of Hickory Creek Park at this hour on Saturday morning, Lettie asked herself. She didn't notice any other cars around, and Lettie wanted to turn in, but a peek at her watch indicated she would not have time to pursue her desires. Her mind was in a quandary wondering if the car was indeed Gloria's. She would ask her this afternoon.
The listing was a fairly simple matter. Lettie sold the Stillmans their home seven years ago. Still having a copy of the original listing meant she didn't have to measure all the rooms and figure the square footage. This saved her an enormous amount of time. During her working visit with the Stillmans, she photographed the outside of the house and the living room, kitchen and baths. In her years as a realtor, she knew women's interests began with the kitchen and baths. Having pictures of these rooms expedited her job. She had another cup of coffee with the Stillman family and took her leave.
After returning to Cascade Road, her thoughts returned to the yellow BMW. The air was warmer now and the rain had stopped, and she began to extract herself from the red jacket. She removed one arm from the jacket while holding the steering wheel with the other. At that moment, approximately one hundred feet ahead, a green Jaguar sped out the gates of Hickory Creek Park. The car headed toward town in a blur. A quick glance confirmed that the yellow BMW remained in the parking lot, and as much as Lettie strained to see, she couldn't tell who sat in it.
Lettie's heart rate increased in proportion to her speed. Could this be Jeff Downey in front of her? He owned a green Jaguar. She followed at a safe distance as far as Conner Farms subdivision. When the car turned in, she knew it was Jeff Downey. Now her mind was a complete whirl. What in the world had he been doing in the park? And if the yellow BMW was Gloria Spencer's, then why were they there at the same time?
She drove recklessly back to the office to leave the listing information in case someone wanted to show the Stillman house over the weekend and then hurried home to arrange to pick up the food.
Lettie dropped her purse and leather tote on the kitchen table and virtually ran to the phone. She dialed Gloria's house but no one answered. She checked the time. It was 11:45. Well, she had told Gloria she would be home at noon. Her mind wouldn't let the sighting of the yellow BMW rest. Lettie decided to wait fifteen minutes before calling again. She looked in her refrigerator for something for lunch. Finally deciding on a Gourmet Delight frozen dinner, she popped it in the microwave. At that minute the phone rang.
"Hi."
It was Mitch on the phone. After what had happened this morning, she had completely forgotten about his not calling.
"Mitch, I'm so glad it's you. I have so much to talk to you about."
"I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. As you probably have heard, someone broke into Williams Lumber Company last night. I was there until four this morning, and I just woke up."
"After I read about the burglary in the morning paper, I assumed that is where you were called last night. Did this have anything to do with Charlotte's murder?"
"We're treating it as a random burglary, but they wanted my presence in case there was the possibility it was related to the murder. At the moment, I don't believe so. A lot of things were taken from the customer shopping areas, but Amelia and Jeff have not decided if anything was missing from the offices."
"You mean Jeff was at the lumber company this morning?"
"Yes we called him and Amelia over to check the offices."
"What time did he leave?"
"Why are you interested in that?"
"I don't know if it means a thing, but I had to go out Cascade Road past Hickory Creek Park to take a listing on Jacob Stillman's house. As I was coming back into town, Jeff Downey came speeding out of the park. I know it was he, because I followed his Jaguar to the turn into Conner Farms. And that's not all, on the way to the Stillman's I saw a yellow BMW at the park which looked just like Gloria Spencer's car."
"I don't think there's a law against going to a public park. You're just overreacting."
"But it seems such a coincidence that they would both be at the park at approximately the same time."
"I think you are just letting your curiosity get out of hand. Jeff probably just went out there to get some peace and quiet, and I'm sure there's a logical reason for Gloria to be there. After all, it's a public place."
"Do you think he went to the park after he left the lumber company?"
"I can't be exactly sure of the precise time he left but it was early this morning. What time did you go to the Stillman place?"
"My appointment was at ten. So I must have left around 9:45. That's when I first saw the yellow BMW. I left the Stillman place around 11:l5. That's when I saw Jeff's car speeding out of the park."
"Well, he certainly was finished going over things at the lumber yard by that time. Come to think of it, he seemed agitated the longer he was there, but I just thought that it was from the strain of Charlotte's death and then the burglary."
"Mitch, do you think Jeff and Gloria met in the park?"
"I don't know what I think and don't you go getting any ideas. I'll mull it over. After all, the Spencers and the Downeys socialized, but why would they meet in the park?"
"I'll see Gloria later today, and I'll ask her if she were at the park."
"You can let me know tonight what her story is. To change the subject, I sincerely want to apologize for having to leave so suddenly last night. I know I'm overly sensitive about my being on call and having to work at odd hours because Belinda always got so upset about it. I'm trying to work on not feeling guilty about my job."
"I must admit it was a perfect evening while it lasted, and I hated to see it end so abruptly. However, please don't think you have to apologize for your job. I have a job that requires I work seven days a week and sometimes late into the evening, so I guess I have a better understanding of not having a regular work schedule."
"Well, I would like to make it up to you sometime. Since summer is just around the corner, we'll have a chance to go on many boat rides. That is, if you want to."
Lettie felt her heart rate quicken. He was talking about all summer. Why was she thinking about long-term relationships when he wasn't even divorced? Another question, would she be ready for a long-term relationship with Mitch or anyone for that matter. She needed to think carefully about that.
"It sounds good to me. By the way would you like to come over this evening? Sophie and Harold are driving me to the funeral home tonight, but I would like it if you could come over afterward. I don't know how good of a mood I'll be in, but I'm sure you can cheer me up."
"Well, my dear, the police will be at the funeral home, too. I will be observing the mourners. I'm surprised you hadn't already thought of that. Why don't I escort you home, if it's all right with the Lamberts?"
"How late do you have to stay? We were going to just pay our respects and leave."
"I'll have to stay until everyone leaves which will be sometime after nine." "You know how I hate funeral homes and crowds, so I'll make up my mind after I get there if that's all right with you."
"Oh, I had forgotten about that, but I can remember your running out of the Elvis concert that time. I couldn't believe it. As much as you like Elvis that you would want to leave."
"I just needed some air."
"Air. We were outdoors."
"Silly, you know what I mean. I didn't want to be around all those people, and as you'll remember, I finally overcame my reluctance after I heard the first note coming out of the arena speakers."
"After a lot of coaxing from me."
"Well, I didn't want to miss the chance of a lifetime, and it was fantastic. I hate to say this, but I need to go. I have to call Gloria. We're taking food over to Jeff's house. I'll have the perfect opportunity to ask her about the park."
"Okay. I'll see you tonight."
Lettie dialed Gloria's number and after two rings, Gloria answered in a breathless voice.
"What's the matter with you? You sound out of breath."
"Oh, I was running up the stairs when the phone rang, that's all."
"Were you at Hickory Creek Park this morning? I saw a car that looked like yours parked there."
"Heavens no. Why would I be out there? I've been here cooking. I only ran out to go to the grocery," Gloria responded, sounding put out.
Lettie thought about telling Gloria about seeing Jeff and decided against it. "Well, are you ready to deliver the food? I only have to eat my lunch, and I can be there any time after that."
"Come ahead whenever you want. I have everything ready."