A Fair to Die For (8 page)

“He’s in intensive care and, at last report, things were looking better. Broken bones and head injuries, but air bags undoubtedly saved his life. They weren’t yet sure about internal damage when Patricia called again about an hour ago.” Jason’s voice broke, as he said, “A van full of sixteen-year-old kids was speeding, ran a stop sign on a blind side street, and smashed into the driver’s side of Randy’s car. The driver of the van was killed right there. All the other kids ended up in the hospital with various injuries from being thrown around inside the van, since no one was wearing a seat belt. The boy driving went through the windshield and clear over Randy’s car. The girl who was sitting next to him is . . . well, we don’t know.” Jason’s voice broke again, and he stopped talking.

In the silence Carrie said, “My prayers for all of you have already begun, Jason. Remember, God’s love and care are with you right this minute—your daughter and son-in-law, you and Eleanor—those kids, everyone. You are not bearing this alone.”

“Yes . . . yes. Thanks for reminding me.”

“Now then, what practical help do you need? We’re here to take care of it. I assume you’re going to Ohio to be with Patricia and Randy and their twins?”

“Yes, we’re getting ready to leave for the airport now. If you . . . well, there’s the craft fair and all. We’ll need to close the shop. Could you put a ‘family emergency’ sign on the shop door, and maybe Henry will take Eleanor’s place at the fair?”

Carrie’s mind was hurrying through options.
Edie? Well, why not? She couldn’t cause Shirley any problems, and she would probably welcome a chance to put on her disguise and work anonymously at the fair.

“Jason, you needn’t worry. We have a houseguest right now who’ll be able to take Eleanor’s place. We’ll get it all worked out, and only close ‘Eleanor’s Flower Garden’ if we have to. You can forget about things here and give all your support to Patricia and Randy.”

Jason sighed and took a shaky breath. “We’re trying to think of everything, but I’m sure we won’t succeed. We will be in touch to let you know how Randy is doing.

“Oh. Eleanor says she has no big events scheduled until next month, but you’ll probably need to give live plants in the flower shop some care, and throw away any cut flowers that don’t make it. We don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but, well, just keep praying.”

“I will, and we’ll take care of whatever needs doing at the shop and your house. Henry or I will check the house daily, and pick up your mail and newspaper.”

“No need. I’m taking contact numbers with me. I’ll phone from the airport to stop the newspaper. As for the mail, I can access USPS on line or call the post office.”

“For now, Jason, let us pick up the mail. We drive by your house almost every day anyway. Easy to check the mailbox. That way, if something looks like it needs attention, we can tell you or forward it to you.”

“Oh, Carrie, thank you, thank you both.”

“Don’t worry about anything here. And please call us when you can.”

“I will. Yes. Well now, thank you again. We’ll be in touch.”

Her soft words, “Love to all of you” were swallowed up in a dial tone.

Chapter Eight
TOO MANY CHALLENGES

As soon as Jason hung up, Carrie’s thoughts turned to a favorite Bible passage that often carried her into productive prayer. The 91
st
Psalm—solace for soldiers in battle and people in any difficulty—guided her now.

He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands . . .

Henry cleared his throat.

Carrie turned to see that he was sitting up in bed and, from the worried look on his face, had heard enough to understand there was bad news. He reached his hand out to take hers, and said, “What’s happened?”

She told him. After a contemplative silence, he said, “All right, we’ll carry on as you promised, of course we will. But what do you really think about taking Edie with you to fill in at the craft fair? I could still take her to the flower shop and keep an eye on her. Can you not get along without her?”

“I suppose we could, but, in truth, Shirley’s work takes some explaining, and people want to talk about it anyway.” She mimicked various voices, “‘Will this stand up in the washing machine? Can you put it in the dryer? Will it wrinkle? Do you have it in yellow? Can I order three trucks, one each in red, white, and blue? Is there a discount if I buy more than one?’ That sort of thing goes on all day, as well as making sales, wrapping, straightening, and re-stocking. The three of us were kept hopping and, of course, each of us has to eat and take a break now and then.”

“Ah, I see. But, I admit I’m still uneasy about her motives—her reasons for being here. I even wonder if she brings some kind of danger to you.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Simply the association, if nothing else. We still don’t know what we’re dealing with. These days a lot of innocent people are put in danger simply because a single person is the intended target. What if her father’s business had some connection to Mexican drug cartels?”

“Henry, he died around forty years ago.”

“Yes, as far as we know, he did. Carrie, my love, if he was involved in the drug business . . . well, the drug business all over Central and South America was dangerous back then, too.”

She bowed her head, and thought,
Please, I need help sorting all this out and knowing the right thing to do.

He continued, “There’s always a chance the two dark suits will look for her at the fair.”

“But, how would they know to look there?”

“That’s just it. We don’t know why they’re looking for her, what they know, or how they learned it. I can’t call Ray this early, but will as soon as he’s at the station. My hope is that he can at least tell us if Agent Arnie and his companion are really from the FBI.”

“We have to be in Shirley’s booth at the fair before 8:00.”

“I know.”

They were silent for a couple of minutes, then Henry said, “I’ll shave and get dressed while you call Shirley. It’s already five o’clock. They’ll be up.”

Shirley received Jason and Eleanor’s news with practically laced sympathy. “Well, we were all mighty sad for them when Gertrude passed, but it’s good they haven’t adopted a new dog yet. We’d have to bring the animal down here, and, if it didn’t get along with our dogs and know how to behave around cows, it would have to go to a kennel.”

“Oh, yes, I hadn’t thought of that.”

They were both quiet for a moment, as if showing respect to the Stack’s long-time pet. Then Carrie said, “You know, Henry and I still miss FatCat.”

“Uh-huh. You gonna get a new cat?”

“Not unless we can find one just like FatCat.”

Shirley said “You think so?” then changed the subject. “I’m glad your cousin’s showed up, but it seems to me if she doesn’t want to come to the fair, we can get along without either her or Henry today. It’ll keep us hoppin’ but we can do it. Henry needs to stay behind and mind Eleanor’s shop. Besides he’s got to be available so he can pass news from up north along to us. Saturday will probably be the biggest day for crowds and, need be, I can ask Junior if he thinks it would be okay for me to invite the Tummelton gal to help us out then. The boy will be with his daddy’s parents this weekend, so she’ll not be tied down beyond house chores and mebee grading papers or some other teacher job.”

“Okay then. I’ll pick you up at 6:30, with or without Cousin Edie.”

Stuffed with oatmeal, bacon, and toast, Edie readily agreed to work at the fair. Carrie noticed she didn’t show any particular emotion when the plan was proposed to her, even though it would obviously give her a second opportunity to connect with Milton Sales under the guise of an exhibitor’s assistant.

She’s a peculiar person,
Carrie thought.
I’d sure like to know what she’s really thinking.

Before he headed for town, Henry said, “I’ll phone you as soon as I get any information from Ray, or from Jason and Eleanor.” As he kissed her goodbye, he murmured, “Stay in touch. I’ll expect a call every couple of hours.”

He really is concerned about danger associated with Cousin Edie,
Carrie thought, as she headed down into Walden Valley to pick up Shirley.

Aloud, she said to Edie, “It’s going to be another beautiful fall day in the Ozarks. We probably won’t need our sweaters this afternoon.”

“It is beautiful here,” Edie agreed. “I had no idea!”

Shirley spent the hour’s drive to the fair schooling Edie in what she’d face during the day. By the time they parked among the exhibitor’s vehicles, Edie was able to repeat most of Shirley’s instructions back to her verbatim, and therefore the morning went smoothly. There was no time for casual chit-chat. Except for Carrie’s promised calls to Henry, talk was all business-related. During one brief phone conversation at noon she learned Ray hoped to get back with any information available about Agent Arnold Frost by late afternoon, and that Henry hadn’t heard from either of the Stacks. “I wouldn’t expect news until at least this evening,” he said. “After all, they’ve barely gotten there.”

During the morning Edie didn’t mention Sales, and Carrie didn’t know if she’d walked around to talk to him during her lunch break. On her own break Carrie hurried around to the next aisle. Milton Sales wasn’t in his booth, and someone had put sheets over his merchandise. Carrie was itching to ask if the birdhouse builder had seen him, but there was a line at his counter, and the woman on the other side was also busy with customers, so Carrie couldn’t ask if they had seen Sales or who had put out the sheets.

“Except for being busy selling, it’s been an uneventful day,” she told Henry during her afternoon break. “Edie is doing great, she hasn’t mentioned Milton Sales once, and has agreed to help out here tomorrow. I imagine she’s hoping to be able to question him at some time while she’s here.

“Maybe I’m inclined to negative suspicion, but I wonder, could something have happened to the man? So far as I know, no one has checked his trailer, but someone has thrown sheets over the stuff in his booth.”

“Does Edie know about the sheets?”

“I suppose so, but she hasn’t said anything, and I haven’t mentioned it either.”

“I still don’t like the feeling of all this. Please try to avoid getting involved any more than we already are.”

“I promise. Don’t worry, Henry. Except for the huge crowds of craft fair fans, things are actually pretty calm here. I know you’re concerned, and I understand why, but really, we’re okay.

“Now, you haven’t told me if anyone has called yet—Ray, or Jason and Eleanor?”

“No calls from either. I have been busy, though. Thank goodness no one has asked for a corsage—or a spur-of-the-moment bridal bouquet! Jason taught me enough that I can construct a passable vase of flowers for a gift, or for someone to take to the hospital. Only problems are requests for delivery. I have to turn most of those down.”

“Surely they understand when you explain the emergency.”

“Yep. In fact, one guy came to pick up his flowers after I told him about Randy’s accident. I am going to deliver a potted plant to a woman here in town after I close. It’s her birthday.”

She said absently, “That’s nice,” then went back to her concerns. “I do wish Ray would call back. I guess the Stacks will call as soon as they can get to the hospital and have seen Randy.”

“Ray won’t call until he has some information.”

“I know, but waiting is hard.”

“It often is, Cara. It often is.”

After a pause, he asked, “Any ideas about supper?”

“Maybe we could eat out this evening? With all that’s going on, I’m having an awful time trying to figure out how to feed a guest.”

“Why don’t I get a pizza for our supper? We can have carrot and celery sticks with it, and I’ll put that frozen apple pie in the oven as soon as I get home. I checked in at Jason and Eleanor’s this morning to be sure they didn’t leave anything turned on or unlocked in their hurry to get away, so all I have to do there is grab the mail.”

“Oh, that’s great. See you around 6:30.”

There had been no phone call from Ray by the time Carrie and Edie got home, but Jason had called to report Randy’s injuries were not considered life-threatening, though he looked awful, with bandages covering the left side of his face and head. He had a concussion, but there was no discernable brain damage.

After supper, none of the three was in the mood for conversation. They dozed through the BBC News and “Washington Week,” then Edie and Carrie gave up and headed for bed while Henry finished reading the paper.

Back at the fair on Saturday morning, Edie finally exposed her continuing interest in Milton Sales when she returned from her morning break to announce, with obvious distress, “It’s all gone! His booth is empty!”

“Oh Edie,” Carrie said. “Really all gone, everything?”

“Yes. Cleared out! Now what? What am I going to do next?
What?
”

Shirley turned to look at them, and said, “Somethin’ wrong?” but was interrupted by a group of three chattering teens who wanted teddy bears. Carrie had just put her hand on Edie’s arm when she was pulled away by a woman who’d finally decided which Baby Cuddly she liked best and said, “I’m next.” Edie responded just as quickly to a couple asking questions about a bunny quilt, but her voice cracked as she began to explain hand tying.

The interruptions were welcome. Carrie had no idea how to answer Edie’s question.

As soon as the indecisive woman had paid for her Baby Cuddly, Carrie hurried around to ask the birdhouse man if he had seen Milton Sales today.

“Nope. His stuff was gone when I got here, and Betty’s sheets were tossed on the ground. We were both a bit late coming in, so probably just missed him. Thing is, he didn’t take his shelves or selling counter. As you see, they’re still here, and a few of his pieces are still on the shelf under the countertop.”

“Have you reported his absence?” Carrie asked.

“No, and things are so odd now that I think we should. Both Betty and I are working alone today, so do you mind telling people in the office he’s gone? Here’s a sack. Why don’t you wrap those pull-toy animals he left on the shelf and take them to the fair office when you go there? They’re some of his nicest things. Expensive. I don’t want the responsibility for them.”