The restaurant was busy. Gloria counted her blessings when she found an ample sized parking spot right out front. A quick glance around and she realized she was the last to arrive, even though she was at least ten minutes early.
As she made her way into the restaurant, she spied Ruth’s hand waving from back in the corner.
Margaret scooted over to make room at the table as Gloria slid her chair in. “I heard you were down in the dumps,” she said.
Gloria’s face reddened. “I’m not down in the dumps or depressed or anything else!” she insisted.
The girls at the table were silent. The five of them had been friends for more years than they cared to count. And they knew Gloria well enough to know their friend was most certainly troubled by something.
Dot grabbed a fresh pot of coffee from one of the burners and poured a cup for Gloria. She dropped a fresh plate of sugary treats on the table before sitting back down.
Something about Dot dropping the plate of goodies on the table reminded Gloria of the incident at the school the day before. She swung around to face her friend, Ruth. “Did you hear anything about some kind of crime over at the old elementary school?”
Ruth’s mouth dropped open. She carefully set the sticky apple strudel on her plate. “What crime at the school?”
Apparently not. “I drove by the school on my way to Lucy’s yesterday. There was a police car and crime scene van out front,” Gloria explained.
Lucy’s hand flew to her lips. “You never mentioned it to me…”
Gloria shook her head. “For some reason, it slipped my mind until just now.” She went on. “I saw a large white sheet on the ground and it was covering something up. I made it as far as the end of the sidewalk before chickening out and heading back to the car.”
“You couldn’t tell what it was?” Ruth demanded.
Gloria shook her head. “No. But if I had to guess, I’d say it was probably a body.”
Margaret clutched at her stomach and pushed the half eaten Raspberry twist across the table. “I just lost my appetite.”
“Did you recognize the cops?” Dot wondered.
Gloria nodded. “One of them was Officer Joe. I’m not sure how many more there were but I’m certain there were at least two people.”
“Well, that adds a little drama to our peaceful little town.” Dot looked thoughtfully around the table at her dear friends. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Sometimes this place can be so boring…”
Gloria couldn’t agree more. “Ain’t that the truth!” she muttered.
Lucy took a huge bite of Cheese Danish. “I’m not bored,” she murmured between chews, a thick chunk of cream cheese smeared across her upper lip.
Ruth rolled her eyes. “We know you’re not bored. At least not now that you have what’s-his-name to keep you busy.”
Lucy began licking the sticky frosting from her fingers. “Bill. His name is Bill!”
Dot interrupted. “I’ve been tossing around an idea - what do you girls think about forming a club? You know – kind of like the Red Hat Society but with our own twist.”
Dot had piqued their interest. She quickly went on. “We could call it the Garden Girls Club or Garden Club Society…”
Gloria liked it. She liked it a lot! “Yeah! Seeing how we all have green thumbs and gardens. I think it’s the perfect name.”
The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. “We could visit people around town who can’t get out. You know, bring them fresh fruits and vegetables from our own gardens!”
Lucy grabbed a second treat. The chocolate covered donut was halfway to her mouth when she paused. “We could meet as an official group once a month and plan some cool activities during our meeting. You know, like afternoon movie matinees, luncheons, shopping…”
Margaret sniffed. “Well, we need to keep it exclusive. Just the five of us, right?”
Gloria shook her head. Margaret could be such a snob! Her husband recently retired as vice president of the local bank. They weren’t rich – more like very comfortable going into retirement. They owned a lovely home overlooking Lake Terrace and Margaret had it crammed full of priceless antiques from all over the world. Stuff she’d picked up on their travels to some very exotic locales.
“Let’s not even worry about that right now, Margaret. First we need to get the club formed.” Dot glanced around the table. “All in favor of starting The Garden Girls Club – raise your hand.”
All five hands shot up in the air at once. It was unanimous.
And that’s how the Garden Girls Club was formed. Right then and there, they decided to log onto the restaurant’s computer and research some on-line stores where they could order their one-of-a-kind hats. The group had a lot of fun picking out some crazy designs. The first official meeting would be held a week later, after all the girls had their hats in hand – or in this case – on their heads.
As Gloria slowly drove back to the farm, she was happier than she’d been in a long time. Maybe this was the answer. Helping others and having purpose again.
Gloria was up bright and early the next morning as she set a fresh cup of coffee on the table and stepped outside to grab the morning paper off the porch. She glanced down at the front page as she made her way back into the kitchen.
She reached over to pick up her coffee when the morning’s headline caught her attention:
Unidentified Man’s Body Found in Nearby Belhaven
Gloria snatched her reading glasses off the table and quickly slipped them on. She sipped her coffee, completely mesmerized by the horrifying story.
Thursday afternoon, an area resident was on a morning stroll when he stumbled on the decomposing body of an unidentified man in a wooded area behind Belhaven Elementary School. Details are slowly being released but it appears the unfortunate victim was stabbed multiple times.
Police are not releasing any further information pending investigation and positive identification.
Gloria dropped down in the kitchen chair with a heavy thud. So it was a body underneath the sheet the other day.
This ought to get the whole town buzzing. No one ever died in Belhaven. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. Lots of people from Belhaven died. After all, more than half the population was past retirement age. But murdered? Gloria couldn’t recall a murder ever taking place in their sleepy little village.
Her chair scraped against the hard linoleum floor as she got up and made her way over to the coffee pot for another shot of caffeine. Not surprisingly, her house phone began to ring. News traveled fast. Gloria didn’t have caller id so it was always a surprise as to who was on the other end of the line. “Hello?”
It was Ruth. She didn’t waste a second on pleasantries. “Did you hear about the murder???? You were right. You did see a body out behind the school!”
Gloria took a sip of coffee. “I was just reading about it in this morning’s paper. It’s unbelievable.”
Ruth lowered her voice. Just a little. “The whole town is talking about it. Every single person that’s been in here this morning is really shook up. They’re talking crazy stuff. At this rate, the town will be full of gun toting vigilantes with attack dogs!”
“I don’t think I’ll go that far but it is a bit frightening. To think that there’s a killer in our midst.” To Gloria, the thought was scary but it was also exciting.
Gloria went on. “Well, it will certainly give us something to discuss at our first Garden Girls Club meeting.”
She was curious. “Has Officer Joe been in yet today?” Officer Joe Nelson was Belhaven’s official police officer. He wasn’t actually Belhaven’s officer per se but a Montbay County sheriff that patrolled their little town. The last police excitement they had was months ago when a drunk driver crashed his pick-up truck into the front of the local tavern.
“No. Haven’t seen him yet but you can be sure I’ll be asking him some questions.” Ruth had the perfect job at the post office. She spent a lot of her time sticking her nose into everyone else’s business and if anyone could get insider information on the town’s first murder, it would be Ruth.
“Listen, I gotta go. Joe just walked in!” With that, the line went dead.
Gloria headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She made it all the way to the bathroom door when she turned around and retraced her steps. There was a killer on the loose. What was she thinking? She shuffled to the porch door, quickly closing it and snapping the lock in place – just in case. Gloria couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually locked her doors. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t even sure where the keys were at.