Authors: Madison Johns
“I expect not, since Vivian doesn’t seem to have a handle on her son’s activities, but she is a single mother.”
“And what does that mean? Some single mothers are more in tune to their children than most two-parent households!” Realizing I’d snapped at him for no reason, I said, “Sorry, I just hate people thinking that there’s anything wrong with children being raised with one parent.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, exactly. Vivian just has never tried to rein the boy in. What he needs is a male role model, or any positive role model would do.”
“It seems that Tonya thinks that Robert is capable of stealing guns when we all know that no kid that age could orchestrate something this big.”
“I agree with you there, but believe me, if the feds find out you’re poking into this investigation, you’ll be arrested.”
“I just want to find Robert before harm comes his way. Thanks for your tip.”
“Agnes, please concentrate on your upcoming wedding. I’ve booked the hall for you, and they’ll be serving venison, turkey, and ham. They figured it might as well be a more traditional meal, if that’s okay with you and Eleanor.”
“Sure, whatever. Give my great-granddaughter a kiss from me.”
I strolled back to the car, and once I was behind the wheel and had peeled out without taking off the squad car’s bumper, Eleanor asked, “What did he tell you?”
“That Robert had been arrested for burglary, but he only stole Xbox systems.”
“See, he’s no big-time thief, but he knows someone who is. Do you believe what Megan said about a man with a dragon tattoo?”
“I’m not sure. She seems like she was being truthful, but she also seemed nervous.”
“With a mother like hers, I can’t say that I’d blame her.”
“Still, so far, it seems like we can’t get a break.”
“They were making the dresses at Elsie’s house when I called. It seems there was some dispute about making the dresses there instead of at Bernice’s.”
“I don’t know why. Bernice’s house has been totally redone.”
“Yes, but she also has, like, fifty cats. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t want my wedding dress covered with cat hair.”
“Good point.”
I drove toward 55 and swung into McDonald’s first, ordering us each a hamburger since we’d only had a doughnut for breakfast. It hardly hit the spot, but it would do until later.
When I finally pulled into the house Elsie shared with Jack Winston, there was quite the amount of cars in the drive. “Looks like all the girls are here, plus a few more I don’t recognize.”
“Could be Jack’s friends, if he has any.” Eleanor laughed.
I wasn’t sure, but at this point, I really hoped that Jack’s son, Henry, was there. He also lived at the Tawas Beach Club, and I was hopeful that he could give us his thoughts about Tonya.
Chapter Fifteen
I knocked at the door, and a pink-faced Marjory Hays answered. “Look who it is, everyone. It’s the happy brides,” she said as we were led inside.
Two long tables were centered in the living room, with the makings of what might just be our wedding dresses on each of them. There were sewing machines at the ends of both tables, with Bernice manning one of them, and Elsie the other.
“Which one is mine?” asked Eleanor. “I hope it’s not the yellow one. That color will so not look good with my milky skin tone,” she said as she stroked her neck.
“Nope, that one is Agnes’s dress,” Elsie said.
I picked up a feather boa and asked, “What on earth is this for?”
“It’s going on the neck of your dress, dear. Don’t you dare narrow your eyes like that, Agnes Barton,” Elsie chastised me. “Reserve your opinion for when the dress is finished.”
“Should we try them on, at least?” Eleanor asked, excitedly. “I love that my dress is an off-white color and looks so traditional.” She began to fan her face. “I think I need to sit down. This is so overwhelming for me. I mean, I had no idea that I’d ever be proposed to by a man at my age. I hope this marriage goes better than my last one.”
“I just hope the old geezer lasts until you at least say your I do’s,” Dorothy said from the dining room, nursing a glass of lemonade that just had to be spiked, judging from the look in her eye.
“Now, Dorothy, you promised to behave yourself,” Elsie said. “That Mr. Wilson is more rugged than you think he is. He’s been living all by himself all these years. He outlived his wife, and she was much more healthy-looking than him.”
“Have you found out his first name yet?” Bernice asked.
Everyone glanced up, and Eleanor said, “No, he told me he’s not ready to share it yet. I just don’t understand what could be so bad about his first name. Is it feminine or something?”
“I guess you’ll find out when you apply for the marriage license,” I said. “I should call Andrew and find out when we’re doing that. Hopefully soon, since time is drawing close.”
“It would be a shame if you forgot to apply for one in time,” Elsie said. “Perhaps you should give him a call while we finish up these last few stitches. I don’t know about any of you, but I am ready for a break. We’ve been at it all day.”
I made my call, and Andrew told me that he and Mr. Wilson would meet us at the county courthouse in an hour. When I hung up, I said, “We’ll be meeting the men in an hour.”
“That doesn’t even give you time for a lemonade,” Elsie said.
“Not likely. I don’t think we need to show up at the courthouse with liquor on our breath. People already think we’re off our rockers.”
“Not me,” Bernice said. “I’m hungry, Elsie. What is there to eat around here?”
“I have sandwiches made, ham and turkey.”
“Is Jack here?”
“Yes, outside with his son. I don’t understand why whenever the girls are over, he finds an excuse to go outside, and it’s freezing out there.”
“I’m glad that Henry is here. I wanted to speak to him.”
“You’ll find him outside, too. If you want to talk to them, you better get a move on. I’d hate for you to be late to get your marriage license. There’s a three-day waiting period, you know.”
I nodded and headed outside. Jack, Henry, and Henry’s partner, Tony, were warming themselves by a barrel that had a fire going inside. It’s how country folks do it in Michigan, but normally, people up north have a bonfire spot.
“Hello, Jack,” I greeted him.
“Aww,” Tony said with his palm touching his heart. “I think it’s so great that you’re getting married at your age.”
“Tony’s the sentimental type,” Henry explained.
“Everyone’s been so great to help us out with the plans, especially the girls making our wedding dresses.”
“I hope Elsie isn’t going to get any ideas about getting married herself. I’m just getting used to being in a relationship again,” Jack said.
“Don’t expect my dad to change his ways too quick,” Henry said. “There’s plenty of ornery old man in him.”
“I wouldn’t expect him to be any other way. It would be rather disappointing for him to become domesticated.”
“I care about Elsie, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not all that sure about marriage. We’re getting along just fine the way it is.”
“I know, and I didn’t mean that just because Eleanor and I are getting married that everyone else needs to as well.” I paused, changing the subject. “Could I ask you a question, Henry?” When he nodded, I asked, “Do you know Tonya Schultz? She lives at the Tawas Beach Club, too.”
He shook his head. “That name doesn’t really ring a bell of any of the owners I know of.”
“I believe she lives right next door to you.”
“Oh? I think the house she lives in is a rental then, and I’ve never had the time to meet any of the tenants.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Of course not, you’re always too busy working on your novel. I believe I’ve seen a woman next door recently.”
“So you don’t know what she does for a living?”
“I don’t know her personally, but I’ve seen her walking on the beach a few times,” Tony said.
I frowned. “Okay, thanks anyway. I was questioning her daughter, Megan, and she came at me like a Mack truck. Her daughter was friends with a kid we’re looking for in connection to the stolen gun ring.”
“Those damn cops never even found the men who tried to rob me,” Jack said.
“The ATF is in town and on the case now. Hopefully, they’ll be able to sort it out soon.”
“You mean to say that you and Eleanor aren’t trying to solve the case?” Jack asked.
“We are—under the radar, of course. We’ve been threatened with being arrested if we don’t butt out.”
“Same old situation,” Jack said with a smile. “I wouldn’t let them bully you girls. Everyone knows that you’ve both helped solve many cases in this area before. Seems like they’d appreciate the help.”
“Not so much, but we’ll still be investigating all the same. I think the attempted robbery here was a ruse to keep the cops busy while more robberies happened. Now Curtis and Curt Hill are missing, and the feds think they look good for the robberies, except that their guns were stolen, too.”
Jack shook his head now. “What kind of fool would steal from a militia member?”
“A stupid one,” Eleanor said. “But I bet those boys are hiding out. I won’t believe for a moment that someone would be able to take them out without a fight. The feds say there was evidence at their place linking them to the gun thefts, but Agnes and I know better. They’d never be involved in stealing guns.”
“I agree. They’ve been clean since they were released from prison six years ago,” Jack said.
“They fixed the awning of my Winnebago after Eleanor knocked it down once,” I added.
Eleanor shrugged. “They’ve always helped out many a resident of the Tawas area when they needed it.”
“Sounds like you still need to do some investigating,” Jack said. “But how are you doing that and planning your wedding at the same time?”
“We’ve worked it in somehow, which is why we need to get going now. We’re meeting the men at the courthouse,” I said.
Eleanor and I left, stopping back inside to gobble up a sandwich. From the way Eleanor glanced at the lemonade, I knew that she wanted a glass, but I told her a firm no.
“I just wish we could try on our dresses at least,” Eleanor said before we left.
“Not a good idea, unless you want to be a pin cushion,” Elsie said. “Besides, you girls need to get a move on if you want to meet those men of yours on time.”
Eleanor led the way outside, and I moved to the driver’s seat, backing out of the drive. All the way into town, I was thinking about where we should go next, and I decided that we’d check out the Hill place before we’d move on to questioning Harvey Smith. I still had reservations about Harvey working with the feds.
I pulled into the government building that housed the courthouse, and barely found a parking spot.
As we made our way inside, we could see that the lobby was packed with angry residents.
“I want to know what’s being done to get me my guns back,” Ed Haskill, a local farmer whose family has been running a centennial farm in Tawas City, said. “Those guns they stole were handed down to me by my granddaddy. They’re irreplaceable.”
“I know all about that,” Sheriff Peterson said. “Believe me when I tell you that the feds are doing all they can to find the people responsible for the robberies.”
“Feds? Why aren’t you handling the case? No damn fed is going to give a rat’s ass what’s happening in Tawas City. And it seems mighty suspect that the only ones who were robbed all lived in Tawas City, not East Tawas. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of those rich folks is behind it. Everyone knows they think less of us here in Tawas City.”
“Now that doesn’t make any sense. There’s no evidence that anyone in the area has committed the robberies, and that includes East Tawas.”
“Humph,” Ed said. His eyes lit up when he locked eyes with me. “What about you, Agnes Barton, Investigator. What do you think?”
“I’m really not sure yet, so I should reserve my opinion until we find some actual leads. So far, it’s unclear why the Tawas City area would be targeted. And I have a friends who were robbed in East Tawas, Bill and Marjory Hays.”
“Agnes is right, but most of the areas have been more rural, which might be why Tawas City has been hit more.”
Travis Paskins asked, “Do you think this isn’t over yet?”
Travis was younger than Ed, but a gun enthusiast in the area, one who had bought guns from gun shows for years now. That included semi-automatic weapons, which worried me since nobody wanted those in the hands of criminals.
“Look,” Charlene Kimsel said, “we’ve all been hit, and I know most of us have more than your normal amount of guns. I can’t help but wonder how anyone not from the area would know who had the most guns and which houses to target.”
I had to agree with that. “It’s the same thing that I thought about the Hill brothers’ guns. They were stolen after they took them to a friend’s house for safekeeping.”
“The same Curtis and Curt Hill who are suspects?” Ed asked.
“How do you know that they’re suspects?”
“Because there’s a wanted poster with their picture in the post office. I was shocked, to say the least, since I don’t take them as thieves. They helped me fix my tractor last planting season. Seem like awfully nice boys.”
“They’re also missing, so that rules them out, in my opinion,” I said.
Woody Wadsworth rushed forward. “Not enough is being done to return our property or catch these rat bastards.”
My heart was beating hard, since it’d been years since I’d seen Woody. Luckily, he stayed out on his farm most of the time. I still couldn’t get the image of his lips drawing close to mine out of my mind.
Eww
didn’t even come close to summing it up.
Woody then glanced my way, and he licked his lips. “It’s been a long time, Agnes,” he said.
“Leave her be, Woody. Agnes is getting married soon.” Eleanor sneered at him.
“Yes, which is why I’m here today, to apply for my marriage license.”
“That was before we found out there was a commotion going on inside,” Eleanor said. “Agnes and I will do our best to investigate the crimes, but if we get found out, the feds will lock us up.”