I was going to lose them.
I saw another cart approaching from the bottom of the hill, having just come in through the entry gates.
I leaned out of my cart and screamed, “Help! Stop them!”
Chuck and Jaw both looked back over their shoulders.
The cart slowed to a halt, but no one got out.
“Stop them!” I screamed again. “They broke into my camper!”
Chuck and Jaw were closing on the cart in front of them, but still looking over their shoulder at me.
Then Wayne Hackerman got out of the cart and clotheslined them both with his big fat arm.
TWENTY SEVEN
Both Chuck and Jaw were still laying on the ground when the police arrived. Hackerman had clobbered them pretty good and they didn't seem too eager to get up. He'd already called the police by the time I got to the bottom of the hill and they were there just a few minutes later. They stood them up, cuffed both of them and walked them toward the police car. I gave the arresting officer a quick rundown of what I'd witnessed and Hackerman explained that he'd seen me yelling after them and how he'd stopped them.
The officer handed me a small black box. “Is this what they took?”
I looked at it. “I guess. I don't even know what it is.”
“It's a router,” Hackerman said. “For your Internet.”
“Why would they steal my router?”
Hackerman shrugged.
“Probably to resell,” the police officer said, taking it back from me. “I'll need to take this in for the report, but we'll get it back to you soon.”
“It's not really mine,” I said, completely confused. “It's...Delilah's, I guess. It was in the camper we are staying in.”
The officer shrugged. “Whoever it belongs to, we'll get it back to you as soon as possible.”
“Is there a report or something I need to fill out?” I asked.
The officer raised his eyebrows. “A what?”
“I don't know. I just thought, since you were taking that,” I said, motioning to the router. “I just thought I might have to fill something out.”
“I know where to return it,” he said briskly.
He walked toward his car, checked the doors, got in the driver's side, made a quick U-turn and drove off.
I turned to Hackerman. “Thank you. For stopping them.”
He nodded. “Sure. I saw you yelling up there and I know those two are never up to any good.”
“They're around a lot?”
“Enough to be a nuisance,” he said. He reached for his sunglasses and took them off. He inspected them, then lifted the corner of his shirt and polished the lenses. “Couple of summers now. I know Delilah hasn't wanted them around and Harvey used to chase them off.”
That was exactly what Delilah told me after our first encounter with them.
“I'm not sure they'd really done anything wrong before,” Hackerman continued. “So maybe now she can really keep them out of here.”
“It's going to be someone else's problem,” Delilah said.
We both turned. She was coming down the hill, her cell phone clutched in her hand. Her face looked freshly washed, devoid of the tears and streaked makeup I'd seen not too long ago. Her stern expression told me she knew what had gone on with Chuck and Jaw.
Hackerman repositioned his sunglasses, shielding his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
She held up her phone. “I got the call about those two clowns getting arrested. And then I got two calls from campers worried about safety here.” She looked at the phone, then back to Hackerman. “I am done.”
“Done with what?” I asked.
She cleared her throat. “Windy Vista. I'm going to sell it.”
“What?” Hackerman's voice squeaked with surprise.. “You can't sell this place.”
“Watch me,” Delilah said. “We're circling the drain, Wayne. Sky high debt with no money coming in. All we've had are problems this summer and they've just driven down the interest in coming here. No one wants to take a chance on parking their campers here. The only thing we're known as now is that campground with the dead guy.” She shook her head. “Now we've got two idiots scaring the crap out of everyone. I'm just done. I don't have the money or the energy to keep going.”
“So you're just going to sell it then?” I asked. “Just like that?” She'd been so adamant earlier that she wasn't interested in selling, She'd yelled at Davis Ellington and she'd told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted to keep it.
She sighed. “It's not just like that, Daisy. It's been building. I think when Harvey was alive, he was just holding it at bay. But now that he's gone? There's nothing to hold it off.” She shook her head again and I couldn't tell if she was frustrated or sad or angry. “So that's it.” She gestured at the office. “If you'll excuse me, I've got to make some phone calls about seeing if we can get a security patrol or something so everyone will feel a little safer. Hopefully they won't mind working for free.”
She stepped past us and disappeared into the office, the wooden door slamming behind her.
Hackerman let out a low whistle. “Well. Damn.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I feel terrible for her.” I paused, thinking of Ellington and his offer to buy the place. “Do you think a buyer might keep it the way it is? As a campground?”
“I doubt it,” he said. “This is a pretty big piece of land.”
“What do you mean?”
He rubbed at his chin for a moment. “Lot of development up here. Most of the prime pieces of land have been grabbed up.” He took a long look around. “This would make a pretty nice spread for somebody to throw some overpriced houses up on. I don't think too many people would be interested in taking on an old, high maintenance campground.”
He was right, of course. The land would be far more valuable to someone looking to buy it and then either develop it or resell it. That would be the best way to get their money out of it. I was sure that even though Ellington was local, he was looking at it from a monetary perspective and what he could make off the land. But it made me sad to think that someone might start throwing up McMansions at Windy Vista. It just seemed like...a campground.
“Listen,” Hackerman said.
I looked at him.
“You need to know something,” he told me.
“What's that?”
His cheeks flushed. “I didn't do anything to Harvey. No matter what you think. I considered him a...a friend. Just because we didn't always get along didn't mean we weren't friends.”
I still had my doubts, but I wasn't looking for an argument. “Okay.”
He squinted hard at me. “You don't believe me, do you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Does to me.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I'm not a liar.”
“If you say that's the truth, then I believe you,” I said, unsure of what he wanted from me.
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You said you heard about that argument I had with Harvey?”
I nodded.
“Okay, well, you're right,” he said slowly. “We did have an argument.”
I wasn't surprised by that. Given the way he'd reacted after the ping pong game, I was pretty sure there had been some sort of argument and that Copper hadn't been making it up.
“But it wasn't what you think,” he said.
“I don't think anything.”
“Of course you do,” he said, shaking his head. “You think we had some sort of fight and then I got mad and did something dumb to Harvey. Look, we don't have to like one another, but I'm no liar and I didn't do a damn thing to Harvey.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I offered him money,” he said. “For the stupid medallion.”
I had to think for a moment, but it still didn't make sense. “The medallion?”
He sighed. “I offered him five hundred bucks if he'd tell me where he hid the medallion. I offered him two hundred bucks first, then five hundred. He wouldn't tell me. I got mad.”