Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 06 - Behind the Walls (25 page)

Dr. Welby and Reverend Jamison were covered in several colors, but Lance had stood just off the tarps and no one had gotten him.
Since he looks his age of close to mid-nineties, he must have been exempt in everyone’s minds. I scooped up some nearly melted string from the tarp and walked over and put it on his shoulder.

“Thank you so much,” he said, grinning broadly.

Dr. Welby was trying to regain some control. “Uh, Reverends, do we have any contest results?”

There was a great deal of laughter.
No one had aimed at anything except other people.

“It’s okay, Jennifer.”
I turned around. Bill’s tone was close to consoling. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the showers.” He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face the club house. She was quite covered. It had to be more than Bill’s cans.

I couldn’t see Ramona.
“I’ll get her later,” I muttered.

“Would you like a paper towel, dear?” Aunt Madge called this from behind the bake sale table.

“Only if you come over here to give it to me.” I gave her a sweet smile. She wisely chose to stay where she was.

Alicia and her crew walked over to the two rolls of hoses that were just behind the tree that had the rules.
If any had been obeyed I would be amazed. “Careful now,” Dr. Welby said, not too loudly.

“We will,”
Clark promised. “Alicia’s mom made us promise.”

I looked around.
Megan was at the bake sale table and had blue foam in her hair. Aunt Madge, Sylvia, and Monica had none. Harry was setting up an additional table to hold the paper goods for the birthday cakes. He didn’t have much. He must have just darted out to get me.

The hosing of the tarps began, with many people wanting a scoop of water to use to get the foam off.
It was soap, after all. A number of people started for the showers. There were two outdoor ones, like the ones at the beach, and kids used those.

I figured we owed the tennis club manager a case of beer or a couple of good bottles of wine.

I HAD HASTILY rinsed my hair under the outdoor shower and most of the cake had been served.
I caught Aunt Madge’s eye. “I’m heading to my location as soon as we pass out the first clues.” I gestured at my clothes.

She nodded and went back to cutting cake.

The hosts for the scavenger sites were supposed to leave about now. There were three initial clues, to be passed out randomly. They all led to Lester at Burger King. He was giving out free Whopper Junior coupons as he gave contestants the second clue. Scoobie told me that Lester had stapled his business card to the back of the clue.

Each stop on the scavenger hunt would yield a clue for the next location, with my house being the last one.
I would distribute prize coupons to the first five arriving players. To prevent people from claiming a prize in the contest by simply going to my house, they had to show me all the clues they had picked up along the way.

I would give each person a thank you card and the licorice.
Ramona had talked me into black and red, and suggested that Pebbles be left in the bathroom.

The initial clues were folded in half and stapled, so everyone could open them at the same time.
Dr. Welby was about to announce distribution of the clues and the few ground rules, most of which were because he was a doctor and included things like no running and be sure to look both ways before crossing the street.

Sergeant Morehouse had said that, barring some criminal outbreak, there would be police officers greeting the crowd on several corners.
He had thought he was quite funny when he said, “And since you won’t be on the loose, it’ll probably be calm.”

I had a single piece of paper that had all the clues on it, in very small print, and I glanced at them.
Despite Alicia’s efforts, the ones that led to Burger King were largely Lester’s concoction, with guidance from Harry to make sure they weren’t raunchy. The three Burger King clues were:

In its crowing glory

Lies a royal story

If you’re at all on the ball

You’ll know it, large or small,

Finding it is a worthy feat,

Either way, it’s good grub to eat.

A place without fried

No tiara will you need

For this we provide

Your nose you must heed

If you want this clue to succeed

If you’re ready for a drink

And under 18, don’t even think

You can get one without getting caught.

Look around if you would

And you’ll see something good.

King or queen you may be,

Just enter what you see.

I thought the first clue was as good as telling the scavenger hunters the name of the place, but it was supposed to be an easy game.
The third clue let the hunters know Burger King was across from the Sandpiper Bar and Grill, a favorite haunt of Ocean Alley’s seamier residents. And any high school kid who wanted to try to be served before they were twenty-one.

I liked the clue for my house.
It had taken me a long time to write, even with Scoobie’s so-called help.

When Sandy paid a call

Ocean Alley had some luck.

There was damage last fall

But not the huge piles of muck

With which further south was stuck.

Still, lots of houses needed repair.

Go to this one if you dare.

You’ll find our fearless chair.

But watch out or she’ll call

And you’ll help at Harvest for All.

When I gave them the licorice they’d also get a blue three by five card that said thank you on one side and had the food pantry’s address and hours, and a phone number to call if anyone wanted to volunteer.
This was Reverend Jamison’s idea. I should have thought of it.

I CLEANED UP QUICKLY. I didn’t think anyone would be at my house too early, since they had to get through the other locations before they got to me. Then I spent about ten minutes trying to get Pebbles to come out from under my bed so I could put her in the bathroom. Since I occasionally did this with Jazz at the B&B, my cat is onto me. I was tempted to think she had ratted me out to Pebbles and that was why the skunk stayed just out of my reach.

Finally, I gave up.
Anytime anyone came over Pebbles scooted under my bed. She’d never go to the door. Lance had talked me out of handing out a picture of Jazz and Pebbles. He thought it would be an advertisement that I owned a skunk and someone might try to take her. I should be so lucky.

I was beginning to wonder if Harry had decided not to pass out my clue, but finally there were footsteps on the porch.

“Jolie.
Jolie. I beat them all. Beat them all.” Max had a huge smile.

I opened the door to let him in.
“Wow. How did you do it?” I’d seen him at the tennis club, but he had seemed very unsure of himself and mostly hung out at the bake sale table. He’s not big on dealing with people he doesn’t know. And he knows Aunt Madge will give him free chocolate brownies or cookies.

He laughed and whispered.
“I didn’t really. I went with Scoobie and George.” He held out a piece of paper. Scoobie said to give you this. Can I read it, too?”

The brief rhyme was written in two handwritings, so I figured they had both worked on it.
I scanned it, hoping it was something I could share with Max.

If you’re looking for trouble

Come to this house on the double.

Some would say the lady’s nosy

But the atmosphere is cozy.

Be careful dealing with her pets

For odder animals you won’t have met.

When all’s said and done she’s a barrel of fun.

Having said this, we’re on the run.

“Where are they running?” Max asked.

“They’re being funny. They mean they’re going away from me because they think I won’t like the poem.”

“They laughed really hard when they wrote it,” he offered.

“I’m not surprised.” As I said this more footsteps clambered up the porch.

“Slow down, guys!”
Two boys about ten ran onto the porch. They were very out of breath and their faces were red. “We ran the whole time,” the tallest one said. I looked behind them and saw two of the women who worked at the salt water taffy store on the boardwalk, and they waved at me.

“I bet you did.
There’s a nice prize for you back at the tennis club.” I took two of the blue cards from the top of the pile. Each one said prize winner. “You saw that table of prizes, right? You can each pick one.”

They did a sort of victory dance and each raised one fist in the air.

“I told my mom we’d win,” said one boy.

“No, I told my mom we’d win,” said the other.

“Would the grown-ups like a bottle of water?” I asked.

The women said yes and walked onto the porch to begin a brief discussion on teamwork and how both boys were right.
I smiled and walked to the kitchen, glad I had bought a new case of water this week.

The next hour passed quickly.
Max stayed for a good part of it, but he got bored and left to find Scoobie. “Or I might get more cake.”

When fifteen minutes had passed with no more hunters, I closed the front door and walked to my bedroom and flopped on the bed.
“It’s safe, guys.” Jazz pounced on the bed and then on me in two quick leaps.

I stroked her and she gave me a look that said she was tired of company.
Or I thought that’s what she said, anyway. “I know. Let me rest for five minutes and then I have to go back to the tennis club to see if there’s more clean-up work.”

I shut my eyes and was immediately asleep.
After some period of time my eyes opened and I listened carefully. It sounded as if someone had come in the front door. “Scoobie? George?” Jazz dove under the bed.

“No,” said a kind of squeaky woman’s voice.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood as someone wearing a stocking mask and dark, long-sleeved clothing pointed a small gun at me and walked into the room.

It was very quiet and I felt my heart beating very fast.
“What do you want?” I tried to say this calmly, but didn’t manage that.

The woman, I was sure it was a woman, gestured with the gun, pointing toward the closet.

“I really don’t want to go in there.”

She held up a note.
“Take off the last board, at the back, on the right.”

Oddly, I felt myself relax.
This was someone who knew about the jewelry, or whatever else Fitzgerald had hidden here. She wanted that, not me. “Okay.” I raised my hands like a robber who’d been caught. I wanted her to know I had every intention of doing what she said. I backed toward the closet and bumped into the corner of the chest of drawers. “Ow!”

She gave a sharp jab in the air with her gun.
Clearly, I was not to delay. I turned to face the closet. The closets in my house were small and this one was packed full of my clothes. I moved them to the left side. It still didn’t leave much room.

The closet was not deep.
I kind of backed against the clothes and put my hands on the back panels on the right side of the cedar closet.
At least I’ll smell good.

“Now what?” I asked.

The squeaky voice replied. “Screwdriver on the floor. Pry off the last board.”

“Jeez!
How many people have keys to my house?” Now I was angry, and it felt better than scared. I stooped and picked up the long-handled screwdriver and stood back up. I couldn’t imagine how I would be able to wiggle the board loose.

“Down lower,” she squeaked.

I squatted and peered at the bottom of the closet wall. Even in limited light I could see that at the very bottom on the right the long cedar board had a piece about six inches tall that must have been sawed off the board before it was fitted. Someone had apparently then hammered the six-inch piece into place below the rest of the board. I had never noticed this, but since I hadn’t had to paint this closet I hadn’t been on the floor previously.

The piece of board wiggled easily. I forced the screwdriver into the small space at the corner and applied some force.
It moved more and I jammed the screwdriver into the space and then angled it to try to pop the board off. To my surprise, it flipped off. Fitzgerald must have used much smaller nails to fit the bottom piece in place.

The woman didn’t need to tell me what to do.
I reached into the vacant space and pulled out—surprise—another canvas sack, this one folded in half to fit into the space. I felt it and thought it was full of jewels and coins. Unless the small round cylinders were marbles, which I doubted.