The Bogus Biker (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

(Saturday)

“You’re still alive,” Penelope said to Tiny as he poked his head into the kitchen through the swinging door from the dining room. “The coast is clear. You can come on in.”

“Yeah.
Thanks for patching me up last night.”

“You’ve said that.” She screwed up her nose as she sniffed the air.

“I showered,” he said.

“Your clothes didn’t.”

“All I had with me.”

She slipped a bacon, ham, and cheese omelet onto a plate and added two biscuits from the warming oven.
“Coffee?”

“Sure. This looks good.”

“There’s honeydew melon in the refrigerator if you want it.”

“This is good, thanks.”

She poured two cups of coffee and sat down across from him. “I’ll take the baggie to Bradley this morning.”

“And the registration card.
I assume your guests register and show ID.”

“Yes and no.”

“No ID.”

“Mostly I get families like the one who’s here now. I’ve never had a problem.”

“There’s always a first time.”

“I guess this is it.”

He nodded with his mouth full.

“All right.
I don’t have to be told twice.”

He swallowed. “How long have you had this place?”

“Daddy grew up in this house, and so did I. I opened the B&B three years ago.”

“What’s so special about the tree you ran me away from?”

“My mother planted it before she died, the day the doctor told her she didn’t have all that much time left.”

“Which was?”

“Fifteen years ago. Bradley was twelve.”

“I’m sorry about your mother.”

“She said she wanted to leave something behind. Besides me, that is.”

He buttered a biscuit and reached for the jam pot. “Nice idea.”

“I raised that tree from a sapling, and I don’t take kindly to anybody messing around with it.”

Abijah
materialized from the utility room, where he’d been eating breakfast, and sprang into Penelope’s lap. Tiny dropped his biscuit  and uttered an oath. “What is that thing?”

Penelope frowned. “This is
Abijah, and I don’t appreciate that kind of language.”

“Sorry.” He retrieved the biscuit, which had landed upside down on the plate, and licked strawberry jam from his fingers.

“Abijah is a fixture around here.”

“Owns the place, huh?”

“Just about. So, are you going to tell me what’s going on at the Sit-n-Swill.”

He licked his fingers again. “No.”

“Daddy says the shot was a diversion.”

Something in
Tiny’s expression told Penelope she’d guessed right.

“What made you go there last night?
Besides supper.”

“I heard those two men talking during breakfast.
Something about the Sit-n-Swill and a shipment. It sounded funny. Or rather, odd. Suspicious.”

“Why didn’t you report it if you were concerned?
Seems to me you have an inside track to CID downtown.”

“Bradley would’ve blown me off the way he always does. He thinks I’m bordering on senile.”

Tiny touched the corner of his mouth with a napkin, another careful gesture which didn’t fit his so-called biker persona. “Oh, I’d say you were a long way from the border.”

“Thank you.” Penelope stroked
Abijah under his chin, causing him to set up a raspy purring that echoed in the sudden silence.

Tiny polished off the last biscuit, then carried his plate to the sink and rinsed it before he refilled his coffee mug and sat down again. “But don’t underestimate your son.”

“I think he underestimates me.”

“Isn’t that typical of adult children?”

“It shouldn’t be.” Penelope surveyed the growth of stubble on his chin and decided he looked tired even after a night’s sleep. “Do you speak from experience?”

He dropped his eyes.
“Nope.” The word came out sharp but tinged with what she thought was a little wistfulness.

Realizing she’d struck a sensitive chord with him, she changed the subject. “If you need a place to stay for a few days, the family on the third floor will be here one more night, and I’m not booked again until next week.
The annual Black Walnut Cake Festival and Competition. It happens every May.”

“I don’t need to be seen coming and going from here.”

“Well, not in those clothes anyway.”

“The bike’s a dead giveaway.”

“There’s the garage. Are you trying to tell me I could be in danger if anyone knew you were here?”

He shrugged.

“Keep it in mind anyway. I won’t change the sheets.”

Tiny put the empty mug in the sink on his
way to the back door. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Don’t forget…”

“I’m on my way,” Penelope interrupted.

“And stay out of that bar.”

She nodded.
“Understood.”

“And it was pretty dumb
to come looking for me at Pine Branch Creek, although I must say I’m flattered.”

Penelope bridled at the adjective. “Don’t be. It was Daddy’s idea.”

He laughed. “See you around maybe.”

As soon as the door closed, Jake materialized like an actor waiting in the wings. “So what do you make of him?”

“I don’t know, but he’s no biker. He knows Bradley some way. Says he’s a good cop.”

“Well, that’s something in his favor. Got any breakfast for an old man?”

“Keeping nice and warm. I made a fresh pot of coffee, too.”

As she fixed his plate, she told him what she’d found upstairs the night before and also how Tiny came to spend the night at the B&B. “I’m going to take everything downtown and come clean with Bradley.”

“Better let me.”

“You don’t have to twist my arm. He won’t chew you up like he would me,
that’s for sure.”

Jake crossed himself, bowed his head briefly, and turned his attention to his breakfast. “So what’s the connection between Tiny and Brad?”

“Maybe Tiny’s undercover. If he were a crook, he wouldn’t be so complimentary of a cop.”

“I wonder if Brad knows
him?”

“There’s a thought.” Penelope tucked an errant strand of hair behind one ear and tugged on her gold hoop earring.

“Well, maybe I can find out,” Jake said.

“He said to stay away from the Sit-n-Swill.”

“Probably good advice. That’s what Brad said, too.”

“And he said coming to look for him last night was dumb. That made me mad.”

“Did you tell him it was my idea?”

“I don’t think he believed me. Anyway, he shouldn’t have called me dumb.”

“Oh, get over it, Nellie. You were valedictorian of your high school graduating class and finished first in nursing school.”

“He doesn’t know that.” She stuck out her bottom lip.

Jake laughed. “Doesn’t matter. You know it.”

“Why are you so blessed logical?” She took the two baggies out of hiding behind some canned goods in the pantry. “Here’s the evidence. I’m going upstairs to clean.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Penelope unlocked the third floor loft, now a two-room-plus-bath apartment but once the attic where she’d played on rainy days. Instead of the chaos she expected to see, courtesy of two freckle-faced eight-year-old twin boys, the beds were made, and their fleet of miniature cars and trucks were lined up neatly beneath the luggage rack.

She smiled. Good parents who made their children toe the mark. Lucky kids, too. She always thought she’d been lucky with Bradley. Despite his father’s indulgences, he’d been a pretty good kid, giving her a minimum of lip, breaking rules only occasionally and then nothing serious.

In the bathroom, she picked up the towels—neatly folded over the edge of the tub—and wiped down the fixtures which didn’t have the slightest water spotting. After replacing the towels, she ran the stick vacuum over the area rugs and hardwood floors.

Back in the hall, she dropped the laundry bag with the towels down the laundry chute which ended up in the utility room on the first floor. She replaced two bottles of water and several boxes of juice in the small refrigerator on the landing outside the door. As a matter of principle, she didn’t make soft drinks available to children. If the parents allowed them, that was their business.

On the second floor, she decided not to clean the room which the two men had occupied. Likely Bradley would send
Rosabel or Parnell to go over it. Maybe he’d even come himself. But at the end of the hall, she let herself into the front room where Tiny had stayed the night before. Tangled bed covers and a towel on the floor by the bed made her cheeks flame. Not having any pajamas, he’d probably slept
au naturel
. Travis, her ex-husband, had plenty of pajamas which he never wore, and she expected nothing had changed since he’d hooked up with Shana Bayliss, the town’s ex-librarian who was Bradley’s age and had been, in fact, Bradley’s girlfriend until his father put the moves on her.

The pillow bore the imprint of
Tiny’s head. A few drops of blood had seeped from beneath the bandage. She changed the pillowcase, then made the bed and cleaned the bathroom.

Would he be back? Why did she even care?
Maybe I should go uptown and get him a package of underwear and some pajamas. I could say I was buying them for Daddy, but the clerk would know better. He’s a lot smaller than Tiny. Maybe I could call Mary Lynn and…no, that wouldn’t do. Mary Lynn doesn’t need to know about Tiny, at least not just yet. I can just hear her. She’d blow up like Vesuvius. ‘You let a stranger spend the night after he hit on you? A biker? You could’ve been dead in your bed! Honestly, Pen!’

Penelope headed downstairs.
Well, that leaves Daddy, I guess. He’ll know what to get. Travis did his own shopping, and so did Bradley after he turned thirteen.
Back in the kitchen, she emptied and refilled the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, and then sat down at the table with a cup of coffee and her menu notebook.
Maybe I’ll get out the clown waffle iron and make those sweet little boys a really special breakfast tomorrow. I’ll tell them it’s because they were quiet as mice and good as gold.

She reflected on how much Bradley liked her breakfast treats when he was growing up. Even when she worked the night shift at the hospital in Little Rock, she was always home in time to fix his breakfast before he went to school. And she was always up again by the time he came home.

Jake whistled himself through the back door, breaking into her thoughts. She watched him pull a can of soda from the refrigerator, toss it from hand to hand in a sort of triumphant display, and whistle some more.

“Daddy, what have you done?”

He sat down across from her. “Just had a nice visit with my grandson, that’s all.”

“That’s not all, and you know it.”

He grinned as he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small hand-held recorder which he placed on the table between them. “I happened to think about this before I left. Remember that college student who was researching the history of Amaryllis? He used it when he interviewed me about the Garden Market.”

“He left it behind?”

“Well, I gave him the tapes.”

“And kept the recorder.”

Jake nodded. “Told him I sort of liked it, and he said I could have it. He could afford it, Nellie. He was one of those Gaults from over at Fayetteville.” He opened the can of soda with a flourish. So I just took it with me and ran the little microphone under my collar.”

“Bradley didn’t see the cord?”

Jake shook his head. “I wore two shirts.”

“Honestly, Daddy, it’s probably already eighty degrees out there.”

He frowned at her. “Do you want to hear this or not?”

Penelope leaned forward. “You know I do.”

When Jake pushed a button, Bradley’s voice filled the kitchen.

“What are you doing down here, Pawpaw?”

“Brought you a present.”

“What’s this?”

“What your mamma found in the room those dudes vacated yesterday morning.”

“What dudes?”

“The ones who were talking about some sort of shipment to the Sit-n-Swill. Don’t take my hand off,  Brad. You can have the baggies.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“I have a pretty good idea. So did your mother.”

“They were talking about a shipment?”

“Well, that’s why you showed up there last night, isn’t it?”

“Pawpaw, you know I can’t tell you that.”

“Sure, sure, I know. Never mind. Here’s their registration card, but the names are probably fake.”

“Mother needs to start asking for IDs.”

“Those can be faked, too.”

“I know, but…”

“These guys just rolled in off the street about seven-thirty. Said they got tired of driving and needed a place to spend the night.”

“Plenty of places in Little Rock.”

“That’s kind of what I was thinking, too. I mean, they didn’t just suddenly decide they were tired twenty-seven miles after they passed the last motel on I-30.”

“You’d have made a good detective, Pawpaw.”

“Nah, I liked the Garden Market. In at six, out at four, lunch whenever I wanted to take it, and home in plenty of time for supper with Wynne and Nellie every night.”

“Has Mother cleaned the room yet?”

“I doubt it.”

“Good. I’ll send somebody to go over it. Ask her if she’d recognize those two men from pictures.”

“I’ll do it. How’s Abigail getting along at the library?”

“All right.”

“She’s a nice little girl.”

“She’s my age, Pawpaw.”

“You’re a nice little boy.”
Jake guffawed in unison with himself on the tape
. “Just funnin’ you, Brad. Seen your daddy lately?”

“No.”

“You should.”

“I don’t like going out there with her around.”

“Her as in Shana Bayliss. Well, Travis is a free agent.”

“They’re not married!”
Penelope heard the pain in her son’s voice and hurt for him.

“Lots of people aren’t these days.”

“They should be if they’re going to live together.”

“Isn’t it called ‘shacking up’ now?”

“That’s the nicer term for it.”

“Uh-huh, well listen, I’ll tell your mother what you said about leaving the room alone.”

“Stay out of the Sit-n-Swill, Pawpaw. Tell Mother to stay out of it, too.”

“We both will. Don’t be a stranger, Brad. We miss you.”

Jake switched off the recorder. “I got more information than I thought I would.”

Penelope sat back in her chair. “I wonder if I’ll have to go look at mug
shots?”

“Ma
ybe. Tiny coming back tonight?
“I have no idea, but if he does, he needs some…things.”

“Boxers or briefs?”

“How would I know?” Penelope’s face went hot again. “And pajamas.”

“I’ll drive over to the
Walmart on the highway. No point giving anybody around here any ideas.”

“You could say they’re for you.”

“I wear boxers, and I don’t wear pajamas. I sort of bet Tiny doesn’t either, but…”

Penelope jumped up. “Just go, Daddy. And be careful on the road.”