“You know,” Wilma said. “I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure I wanted a dog when I first spoke to you about it, but now that I have Maggie, I realize how empty my life used to be. She really is the best thing to have happened to me in a very long time.”
“I’m glad it worked out. It does my heart good to see our rescues find the perfect forever home.”
“I really admire the job Naomi and her band of volunteers have taken on. It’s one thing to simply house strays, but I can see that you all really care about the animals in your care. I admire the way you and Naomi and the others approach your adoptions as seriously as an adoption agency might approach the adoption of a human child.”
I smiled. “Naomi really is great, and she’s managed to recruit a group of individuals who care about the wellbeing of the dogs and cats at the shelter almost as much as she does. You know, Naomi is always looking for volunteers to play with the dogs and cuddle with the cats. If you have the time to do something like that, it really can be rewarding.”
“I’ll definitely think about it. I’m pretty busy during the week, but I usually have some free time on Saturdays. Sundays are for church, of course.”
“Of course. I know Naomi can use help every single day of the week. Give her a call. I think you will be happy that you did.”
I spoke to Wilma for a few more minutes, and then paid the package’s shipping fee and headed toward Nottaway General Store. I figured I might as well stop by and talk to Nora while I was in the area. I also wanted to check on her since I hadn’t seen her in a few weeks. Nora had found out that she had cancer a while back and had been struggling with her health ever since. Only those closest to her knew what was going on, although after the tough winter she’d had, I suspected even those she hadn’t told had figured it out.
“Oh good, I was hoping you’d stop by,” Nora greeted after I walked in through the front door of the general store. I headed toward the front counter and the large jars of candy that had been there since I was a child.
“Oh. And why is that?” I asked, popping a peppermint into my mouth.
“Your aunt special ordered some fabric for one of the projects she’s working on with Paisley, and I wanted to get it to her right away.”
Paisley Holloway is our ten-year-old neighbor who has lived with her grandmother since her mother became ill just over a year ago. After a long struggle, she’d passed away, leaving the grieving child looking for a port in the storm, so Gracie and I took her under our wing. We helped with rides to and from school and meals most every day. We also made a point of having her over to work on special projects several times a week. Overall, we simply tried to help fill the void in her life.
“I’ll be sure to take it to her,” I said. “Paisley has been almost as excited about sewing with Gracie as she’s been about learning to play the piano with me.”
“It’s such a nice thing the two of you are doing for that child. The poor girl’s had a rough time of it, and I know that the two of you have made all the difference in helping her cope with the situation.”
“Gracie and I want to do what we can, and we both adore Paisley. She’s like the little sister I never had.”
Nora looked me in the eyes. “Actually, given her age and yours, it would be more likely she’d be the daughter you never had rather than a sister.”
I slowly bobbed my head. “Yes. I guess you’re right. It’s funny, but since I never once considered having children, I guess I just don’t think in terms of children in my life.”
“You do realize that silly curse you and Gracie have defined your lives by is all a bunch of nonsense, don’t you?”
“Maybe, maybe not, but I figure, why risk it.”
Nora rolled her eyes.
“The main reason I came by was to talk to you about the fundraiser you’re doing for cancer research.”
She smiled. “Yes. I’m quite excited about our plans. Let me get Ned to cover the front, and we can head back and have a cup of tea and chat.”
It didn’t take long for me to get a list of the raffle prizes the Nottaways were donating as well as the time, place, and date for the spaghetti dinner. I got a quote or two from Nora about why she’d selected this cause and how important cancer research was to the community as a whole. I promised to run the feature next week, along with photos of several of the raffle prizes. The dinner wasn’t for another two weeks, so I told her I’d do two features, one each week between now and then.
“So, how are you doing?” I asked. “I have to say you look a lot better than the last time we chatted.”
“I’m feeling much better. I was finally able to shake the pneumonia and get back to my treatments, which were completed two weeks ago. At this point, I’m actually beginning to feel like my old self. My doctor is very optimistic, and, if he’s optimistic, then so am I.”
“That’s really great. I’m very happy to hear that.”
“So, how is you other story going?” she asked after taking a sip of her tea. “The one about Austin Brady.”
“I’m working on it, but I’m not really getting anywhere. Trying to research an event that took place a quarter of a century ago isn’t an easy task. For one thing, any clues there might have been at one point are long gone, but even without the liability of time passed, it seems there really weren’t many clues back then. I have a bunch of interviews set up next week. I’m just hoping someone remembers something.”
“I actually might know something,” Nora said. “It’s a small and unimportant detail, but Ned and I have been discussing the situation, and it’s caused us to really take ourselves back to that date.”
“What do you remember?” I asked, hoping against hope that her nothing piece of information would turn out to be something.
“The six boys came into the store for bait that Friday, the day they went up to the lake and the date Austin was last seen. I don’t know if you remember, but we used to have a deli counter. We took it out ten years or so ago, but we sold deli sandwiches, chips, potato salad, and those sorts of things back then.”
“I remember,” I said.
“Well, Ned and I were discussing the situation a couple days ago, and Ned remembered that while the boys were at the store buying bait, they decided to buy deli sandwiches to have for dinner that night in the event the fish weren’t biting. We had a meal deal that included a foot-long sandwich with your choice of meat, cheese, and filling, a bag of chips, and a can of cola. The boys bought seven meals. I know it seems like I wouldn’t remember a fact like that, but Ned and I discussed the discrepancy at the time. We even mentioned it to the investigator, but I don’t think he felt it was important enough to even note.”
“So maybe there was a seventh friend,” I said.
“That’s what Ned thought, but all those boys were interviewed, so it seems that one of them would have said something if there was a seventh boy. I do realize that it might be that one of the six was extra hungry and felt he might need two meals, but those sandwiches were big. I really can’t see anyone eating two.”
“Dex told me he was supposed to go with the others but that his dad found out that the boys planned to cut school and put the kibosh on his plans. Maybe the seventh meal was for him in the event he worked things out with his dad.”
“Perhaps. I just figured I should mention it since you’re looking into things.”
“I’m glad you did. You never know when some seemingly minor fact will blow the whole thing wide open.”
Chapter 3