Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp (4 page)

Paula laughed. “Works for me. I was
ready for a break. It’s beastly hot in the kitchen. I don’t think
I’ve seen you here before. What’s on your mind?”

“I’ve only lived in the area for a few
months and haven’t been here before today.”

“If I can make a regular customer of
you, I’ll count it as work and take an extra break later.” She
grinned. “In reality, the boss never gets to take a
break.”

I took a sip of the tea. It tasted
freshly brewed and refreshing and gave me courage to plow into a
topic that was barely my business. “This morning I met the
Leonards,” I began.

“Ah,” said Paula with a knowing look.
“The disappearance of Angelica.”

“Yes.”

“What’s your interest?”

While Paula drank tea and fanned her
face with the menu card that Madison had left on the table, I
explained about the Family Friends program and how I was likely to
be seeing a lot more of Star and Sunny. I told her that having more
background might help me understand them better.

“Sunny probably doesn’t even
remember,” Paula mused. “I haven’t seen them in years. The Leonards
don’t eat out much. And they sure don’t come here. I suppose it’s
too painful. Star must be in high school by now.”

“Corliss said she’ll be taking
Driver’s Ed in the fall.”

“Corliss? Oh, you mean Len. Amazing!
Well. There was lots of speculation and dirt in the papers, but I
only know a little bit about it all, personally. Angelica and I
were friends, even though she was younger. She was the same age as
my baby brother, Frank. He’s close to three-hundred pounds now, but
back then he was fit. Played football. Frank and DuWayne were
buddies, they both liked football so much, and she would spend time
at our house so she could see DuWayne.”

“Did her parents object?” I
asked.

“Not that he was black, but they
didn’t like how much time they were spending together. And then she
got pregnant. That wasn’t part of anybody’s plan.”

“I was afraid it was something like
that.”

“She finished school. I’ll give her
credit. DuWayne was mostly a mooch, but Len got him a job at Forest
Tech. DuWayne made enough to buy a trailer in that sorry mess they
call Hammer Bridge Town, and they tried to turn it into some kind
of home. They did care about each other a lot. It wasn’t just a
high school crush.”

“So DuWayne is the father of both
girls?”

“Absolutely! They looked like two peas
in a pod in their baby pictures.”

“They still look a lot alike.” I
smiled at Paula, but I could tell she wanted to get on with the
story. Madison brought my lunch.

“Would you like something, Miss
Wentworth?” she asked with a bit too much attitude.

“I’m good, Madison. Thanks.” Paula
turned back to me. “Anyway, DuWayne managed to keep the job for
more than a year. That was a bit of a surprise. But then he quit,
and they got by on odd jobs and handouts from Len and Becky. Things
were pretty tight for a few years. Then there was a big
change.”

My mouth was full of ham and rye, but
I raised my eyebrows in question. Paula took another drink before
continuing.

“Suddenly, they had plenty of money.
They didn’t move into a better place or anything, but they bought a
new TV, and a truck, and a lot of other stuff...”

I swallowed. “Oh no!
Drugs?”

“I think so. But that wasn’t my scene,
and Frank was gone in the Army, so I didn’t see DuWayne and
Angelica much during that time. Then Sunny came along, and things
got better and worse.”

“What do you mean?”

“She never said so, but my opinion is
that Angelica got pregnant in hopes of convincing DuWayne that his
family was more important than illegal activities. I don’t think
they were personally using anything hard, but probably pot and
maybe some pills. So, her plan worked. DuWayne must have given up
dealing because they quit buying extra things. But after a while
any money they had stashed away was obviously gone.”

“That seems like a strange way to get
someone off drugs.”

“I know. It sounds lame, but DuWayne
really loved babies. So, that’s what I think. They went back to
limping along on odd jobs. That’s about where they were when
Angelica asked me if I needed some help here.”

“And you said, ‘yes?’”

“I told her to come in and we’d talk.
It wasn’t going to be a free ride. I interview everyone, even if
they’re only going to bus tables.”

“And that brings us to the day she
disappeared?”

“There we are.” Paula’s gaze roamed
over the dining room. “I need to get back to work, but it’s been
nice to meet you. Stop in again. I’d like to know how those babies
are doing.”

“Some babies!” I said. “Maybe I’ll
bring them here for a treat.”

“That might work. But you should make
sure they feel all right about coming, first. Star was old enough
when it happened to have plenty of memories of her
mother.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I promised.
But I was already talking to Paula’s back. She was striding toward
a brewing confrontation between a customer and Madison at the cash
register.

Chapter 7

The fuss seemed to be about the price
of an item on the man’s check, but Paula just smiled and told
Madison to ring up the lower charge. I wiped my mouth with the
paper napkin and glanced out the window. I’d completely forgotten
to keep my eye on the car and the dog, although I had saved him a
small bit of sandwich.

Paddy was poking his nose out of the
window and scratching at it. His tongue was hanging from one side
of his mouth. Suddenly, I felt very guilty at being such an
inexperienced dog owner. Without wasting another minute, I headed
for the register.

“How was everything?” Madison asked
apprehensively.

“Just fine. Could I have some water to
go, and maybe some kind of plastic dish? My dog is in the car, and
I’m afraid I didn’t bring anything for him to drink.”

She quickly brought some
water in a plastic cup with a styrofoam soup bowl inverted over the
top. I paid my tab, and hurried to the car.
Gallon jug of water and a dish
, I
added to my mental list. It only took a minute to unlock the car
and Paddy jumped out so fast I couldn’t catch his leash. But it was
all right, because he was only interested in the water, which he
lapped up as fast as I could pour it into the small bowl. I easily
picked up the end of the leash, and took him for a short walk under
the trees at the back of the parking lot.
Plastic bags for dog-doo duty
, I
mused. I’d need a crate to store all this stuff; it was as bad as
having an infant.

I knew from seeing their
ads in the
Cherry Hill Herald
that there was a good-sized pet store in Emily
City. I decided this was going to be my next stop. Paddy seemed
ready to forgive me for letting him get thirsty, since he jumped
back in the car with no hesitation. We drove on down the street.
Sheep Ranch Road had become 14-Mile Road as soon as we entered
Sturgeon County, and then had changed into Main Street at the
Waabishki city limit. That seemed to just continue and blend into
Emily City with a few box stores and fast food places strung along
the way. I easily spotted Fur and Fins on the left and pulled into
their spacious parking lot. There was no place in the shade at all.
I wondered if the pet store allowed pets, and decided to give it a
try.

Paddy was obviously happy to be
invited to go with me this time, and we approached the glass doors
which slid quietly to the sides. Immediately I was greeted by a
cheerful young man.

“Welcome! Bring your dog right in. We
always like to meet our customers.” He bent to give Paddy a pat on
the head. “Sit.”

Paddy sat. I was impressed. He didn’t
always pay attention to me when I gave him commands. The man gave
Paddy a small treat.

“His name’s Paddy,” I
offered.

“Shake, Paddy. My name’s
Brad.”

Paddy grinned and thumped his tail on
the floor. The young man lifted Paddy’s paw and shook it, then gave
him another tidbit. After two more tries, Paddy had the game down
pat. The man turned to me.

“Since we can’t usually get the
customers to speak English, even when they are as intelligent as
Paddy, I’ll have to ask you what he would like today.”

I admitted I was nearly clueless about
dog care. The truth is we had owned a cockapoo when my son, Chad,
was small, but I’d never dealt with a large dog in my life. Chad
was now a junior at Michigan Tech, but was spending the summer on
Isle Royale.

“Since I’m going to have
to take him with me a lot, I need all kinds of things to keep in
the car,” I said. Paddy, Brad and I walked the aisles and filled a
basket. I was intrigued to discover that there were collapsible
water bowls made of treated fabric that wouldn’t take up a lot of
room. A dispenser for plastic bags that fastened on the leash
looked very handy. I bought cable and a lead to set up an outside
line run. Of course I couldn’t resist a couple more toys. Brad
suggested ones that would withstand the chewing power of a large
dog, and when he cocked his head and held out a book called
Training Your Large Puppy
, I nodded, and it was added to the basket. Two bags of small
training treats went in next, and Brad carried a fifty-pound bag of
food to the checkout for me.

While I was pulling out my wallet, I
noticed a sign on the counter, “Dog-sitting while you shop - $8 an
hour.”

“Really?” I asked. Rather a silly
question, since they wouldn’t post a sign for a service they didn’t
offer.

“Sure. We have a big grassy area in
back, all fenced, with a couple of kennels if we get visitors that
don’t want to play nicely with each other. It not only helps you,
but it’s good for socializing the dogs, too.”

“Do I need an appointment?”

“Nope. It’s strictly a drop-off
service. Of course you have to pick the dog up before we close at
eight p.m.”

“I’d just like time to go to the
fabric store.”

“We can do that. You need to fill out
this form,” Brad said, reaching around me beneath the counter.
“Abby can help you now. She’ll check his tag for a current rabies
shot,” he added, turning me over to the woman running the cash
register.

In a few minutes I had pre-paid for an
hour of dog-sitting, and was about $80.00 poorer all together, but
feeling much better about doing the other errand I hoped to
complete. It was a relief to me that the dog seemed happy to go
with almost anyone who would pay attention to him. I stroked
Paddy’s red head, looked deep into his brown eyes and told him I’d
be back soon. His standard answer was a lick and a tail wag, after
which he let Brad lead him toward the back door.

I asked for directions to a fabric
store, and fortunately Abby knew exactly how to get to one. After
my purchases were stowed in the Jeep, I drove away and found the
store with no trouble. Most of my hour of freedom was spent
wandering between racks of fabric bolts, feeling the material.
There were a couple of shades of blue that I liked, and I held them
against a barn-red colonial print to see how they would look
together. There was some gauzy white material that might look nice
with those choices, too. However, I finally realized that I didn’t
have a good enough idea, yet, to make a decision about the kind of
curtains or drapes I wanted. Still, it was fun looking and getting
ideas.

I returned for Paddy just before my
hour was up. He was as happy to see me as he had been to go with
Brad, so apparently I hadn’t slipped a notch in his estimation. But
it was only three-fifteen. I still needed to kill some time before
returning home. It was Thursday, and the construction crew would be
working only one more day before the weekend, but I had already
heard all the hammering I needed for the week. Also, I wasn’t eager
to spend the rest of that day inside the house with a large machine
swinging its arm around the windows and over my head as it lifted
trusses.

“Let’s explore the long way home,” I
said to Paddy, as I opened the front door of the Jeep for him. He
jumped in and turned so he could look out the window even before I
was able to shut the door.

Chapter 8

I’d begun keeping a Forest County map
in the car. Although many of the county roads are in grids of a
mile square, there are quite a few that aren’t. Rather than
bisecting farms these wandering roads often follow waterways or
meander through cool green forests. Also, some roads seem to be
through routes, but often they are in non-contiguous segments, with
long breaks across swamps or hills where no road has been built.
And there are so many rivers and creeks crossing the area that one
can never be sure the road you want has a bridge. It was good to be
able to check the map. Some of the time it was even
correct.

The easy part was to return to
Kirtland Road and drive south until I crossed the Petite Sauble
River. Then I only had to explore westward until I connected with
the roads south of my house, or until I bumped into Centerline. If
I got that far west, I could just turn north and go home the
familiar way.