Holly Grove Homecoming Read online

  The noise was louder, reassuring Carly that it did, indeed, originate from somewhere outside.

  But what was it? At first she thought the thumping might be controlled by some sort of engine, considering how steady it was. But then the cadence changed, first slower, then faster, as though whatever was creating the sound had grown tired for a minute, then renewed its effort.

  The noise itself was not especially menacing, not in the way a growl or a scream or any manner of other sounds might have been. Still, there was something about it that sent chills dashing down Carly’s spine.

  Fear pumped adrenaline into her system, and her heart rate increased to the point that the pounding in her ears almost drowned out the thumping noise from outside.

  Had Trooper heard it too?

  Thankful that she’d turned on nightlights in the hallway before she’d gone to bed, Carly made her way to her office and eased across the room until she could look out the window toward the house across the street. Every window was dark. “Dammit,” she muttered.

  She’d hoped to see lights on in the bedroom that she suspected belonged to Trooper. Then she might have risked calling her neighbor’s house at four o’clock in the morning. But now she couldn’t. Not and risk waking Myrna over a noise that might have a perfectly logical explanation.

  But Carly couldn’t convince herself there was anything logical about that noise. She decided the only way she could make herself feel any better was to turn on as many lights as possible.

  That decided, she crossed the room to the light switch by the door leading in from the hallway, and flipped on the overhead lights. Next she slipped out into the hallway where the switches were located that controlled the floodlights on the four corners of her house. She turned those on before moving back to her bedroom and turning on the overhead lights there.

  Almost immediately, her phone rang. Her heart half jumped into her throat before she could grab the receiver off her portable phone base and look at caller ID. It was a cellular number. Praying it was Trooper, she pressed the Talk button.

  “Hello.” Her voice came out hoarse and weak, so she cleared her throat to try again. Trooper spoke before she could.

  “Carly? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine except for feeling somewhat unnerved. Did that noise wake you?”

  “Yeah. Then I saw all of your lights coming on. Do you want me to come over?”

  “Do you mind?”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t open the door until you know it’s me.” He hung up before Carly could thank him.

  She quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt before going downstairs to turn on the porch light. She stood beside the front door, watching through the sidelight for Trooper to appear. She could no longer hear the thumping noise and wasn’t sure whether to feel better about that or not.

  Trooper arrived a couple of minutes later, striding up the walk with that long lope of his. He carried a large flashlight in his right hand, and the butt of a gun protruded from the waist of his jeans.

  Carly gulped. She hadn’t counted on him bringing his gun, and the thought that he felt he might need it unnerved her more than she liked to admit. She watched him step up on her porch and then waited until he stood just outside the door before she turned the deadbolt, pulled the door open, and unlocked the screen.

  “Come in.” She moved back to allow him to step inside. “The noise has stopped.”

  “I noticed.” He wore dark jeans and a black, cotton, long-sleeved shirt that buttoned down the front. None of the buttons were fastened and a black tee showed underneath the gaping front. His face was shadowed with the beginnings of a beard, and his dark hair was tousled as though he’d run his hand through it in place of using a comb. “Did the noise wake you?”

  “No,” she admitted. “I was awake anyway. I’d taken a nap when I got home and after I woke up from that, I couldn’t go back to sleep. How about you?”

  “I’d gone to sleep around midnight but my windows were open and the noise sounded like it was coming from right under the side window. I dressed and slipped downstairs and outside to take a look around, but whatever it was had disappeared by then.”

  So he’d gone outside to investigate. That explained his dark clothing and the gun. And the fact that he’d called her on his cell phone. “Thanks for calling to check on me.”

  “When I saw all of your lights come on, I was afraid you were having some sort of trouble.”

  She shuddered. “That noise really unnerved me for some reason. I know that this sounds fanciful, but I feel as though there’s a menacing air about it. What do you suppose it could be?”

  “I don’t know. Yet.” He lifted his right shoulder in a half shrug. “Do you want us to take a look around the exterior of your house again?”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary. As you said, whatever it was appears to be gone now.”

  He nodded. “Okay. But let me give you my cell number before I leave. If you need to call me for any reason, use that. I’ll keep it turned on and beside my bed, and you won’t have to worry about waking Aunt Myrna if you call.”

  “Does that thumping noise not wake her?”

  “She’s always been a sound sleeper, so nothing much disturbs her.”

  “Good. Just a second.” Carly stepped over to the small table sitting in her hallway and picked up the pad and pencil lying there. “I’m ready.”

  He called out the numbers and she wrote them down. “Got it. Thanks so much, Trooper.”

  He smiled. “Not a problem. Hope you can get some rest now.”

  She returned his smile. “Same to you. See you later.”

  “Bye. Lock up after me.”

  Carly locked the screen, then shut the door and turned the deadbolt, but she peered through the door’s sidelight and watched Trooper until he faded into the darkness near the street.

  Chapter 10

  After he left Carly’s house, Trooper tried to go to sleep and failed. An inability to sleep had plagued him ever since his last assignment, and as soon as he was physically able, he’d stopped trying to sleep and started running in the mornings. Today he left for his run just as dawn was breaking.

  He looked toward Carly’s house as he passed and saw no lights on. Hopefully she’d been able to get back to sleep. He’d check on her later and make sure she was doing okay.

  He jogged on past her house and turned right at the corner, heading into downtown Holly Grove. He’d always loved the original downtown area. The actual settlement of the town was now obscured by the passage of time, but local historians had traced some of the current townfolk back to the period just after the Revolution.

  None of the earlier town buildings had survived. They had been built of wood, and fires were common in that period, but the courthouse had been constructed of brick in the 1840s and had withstood the ravages of the Civil War. Most of the fighting in the area at that time had been guerilla warfare, and the tales were not pretty on either side of the conflict.

  “Hello, Trooper. Welcome back.”

  The greeting that interrupted Trooper’s train of thought came from a dim yard to his right, so he stopped his run and turned toward a familiar picket fence. He still couldn’t make out a form in the thick shadows, but he recognized that voice even after twenty years away. “Hello, Mr. Underwood. How are you?”

  “Good, Trooper. Good. You look healthy enough for a man who was shot not that long ago. How are you doing?” Sam Underwood was the father of Tommy Underwood, one of Trooper’s boyhood friends. Mr. Underwood walked over to lean on the fence. He’d aged, but not badly.

  Trooper nodded. “I’m recovering. Thanks for asking. You look healthy enough yourself. I assume you’re retired from the post office by now.”

  “Yep. Last spring. The school system asked me to substitute teach after I retired, but I turned them down. I didn’t want to get that involved with the young folks of today. They’re not cut out of the same cloth as you an
d Tommy.”

  “How is Tommy?”

  “He’s doing good. He married Charlotte Matthews and moved to Nashville for a while. They had a couple of rug rats before they divorced. Charlotte remarried and still lives in Nashville with the kids. Tommy came back here. He’s selling cars for your uncle Joey and makes a darn good living at it. So how long are you staying, Trooper?”

  Trooper stifled a sigh. “I don’t know yet. I’m on indefinite leave. The FBI’s doctors figure it takes a while to get over…” He hesitated. “To get over getting shot.”

  “Yep, I guess they would. Well, you and Tommy should get together, have a beer and rehash… eh, I mean. Well shit, Trooper. You know what I mean.”

  “I know Mr. Underwood. And it’s okay if you mention my high school years and my parents. I came to terms with what happened a long time ago.”

  “Did you, Trooper? A lot of folks think you’re going to start investigating the incident. Some figure that’s why you went into the FBI to start with, so you’d develop the skills you needed to decide for yourself what really happened.”

  “Do they? Well, as you know, Mr. Underwood, the sheriff figured there wasn’t any question, considering the note Larry left and the gun being in his hand and all.”

  Mr. Underwood nodded. “We all know what the sheriff found and what the sheriff thought. But he was a good old boy who got hired because people liked him. Didn’t mean he knew how to investigate a crime scene like that.”

  When Trooper said nothing, Mr. Underwood ran a hand over the top of his balding head and stepped back. “I’ve interrupted your run long enough. I’ll tell Tommy you might be giving him a call.”

  “Sure, Mr. Underwood. Or tell him to give me a call at Aunt Myrna’s. We’ll try to get together while I’m in town. See you later.”

  Trooper resumed his run at a slower pace to give his body time to warm up again, but his mind was racing. He’d put off starting his investigation to allow time to spend with his aunt Myrna and to become reacquainted with the town. But now he figured he was simply putting off a task because it could easily turn unpleasant.

  Later today, he’d make it a point to visit his uncle Joey at his car dealership, and if Tommy Underwood happened to be there, well, so much the better. Tommy had been one of the first people on the scene the day Trooper’s parents were killed, and because Trooper had been so upset in the weeks that followed, he’d never worked up the courage to ask Tommy what he remembered. He just hoped Tommy hadn’t forgotten anything important he might have heard or seen that day.

  Since his run took him past the bakery, Trooper stopped to pick up half a dozen of the doughnuts his aunt Myrna had always liked so much. He considered getting a couple of Danish and dropping them off at Carly’s house, but he had no reason to think she’d be up yet or, even if she was, that she’d invite him in for a cup of coffee. Best to get the doughnuts and go on home. He just wished he didn’t feel so disappointed at the thoughts of not seeing Carly again that morning.

  He also wished he didn’t like Carly Morrison so much. Somehow, she brought out in him a joy in living that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Still, he couldn’t help thinking sometimes that Carly wasn’t being completely open with him.

  But more than likely the problem lay in him. He’d learned over the years to distrust people until they earned his trust. And it hadn’t required a shrink to explain why. First, his world had been blown apart not only by the deaths of his parents but also by the accusation against his mother contained in that note left by Larry Abbott. Then he’d joined the FBI and been exposed to the true scum of the earth for the past fifteen years. Distrusting anyone new was now an ingrained reaction.

  After a quick stop at the bakery, Trooper jogged on back to Sugar Maple Drive, slowing as he passed Carly’s house. The sun was up bright now, and if there were any lights on inside, he wouldn’t be able to see them. Maybe he’d give her a call this afternoon to make sure she was doing okay after last night’s experience. Yes, that’s what he’d do. That was the neighborly thing to do. And the thought made him downright happy.

  He was even happier when he saw Myrna seated in the wicker rocker on her front porch, a cup of coffee in her hand. As he jogged toward her, she greeted him with a quick wave and a cheerful smile. “Good morning. Is that a bakery bag I see you carrying?”

  Trooper paused at the bottom of the steps. He set the bag down and began doing his stretching exercises to cool off. “Yep. I wish I knew what to do with these doughnuts I brought from the bakery.”

  Myrna raised her brows. “I might be able to help you out with that little problem, but it will cost you.”

  Trooper grinned. He’d missed the verbal sparring he and his aunt had always enjoyed. “What’s it going to cost me?”

  “Well, taking doughnuts off a body’s hands is a chore, but being the generous soul I am, I’d probably settle for something simple, like having my coffee warmed and a paper napkin fetched from the kitchen.”

  “That’s cheap enough.” Trooper finished his exercises, picked up the bag, and climbed the steps. He set the doughnuts on the table beside his aunt’s chair, then picked up her half-empty coffee cup. “I’ll be right back.”

  “By the way, you had a long distance phone call while you were gone.”

  Trooper’s heart sped up again. Surely he wasn’t being called back to duty this quickly. He’d been told he could take as much time as he needed so he hadn’t rushed to begin his investigation. Maybe that had been a mistake. His mouth had gone dry when he asked, “Did this person leave a message?”

  “It was your former partner’s widow calling to ask how you were getting along. We had a nice conversation. She seems like a nice lady.”

  Trooper’s heart rate began returning to normal. “Suzanne’s a great lady. She doesn’t seem to blame me for Hank’s death.”

  Myrna got to her feet and stared at Trooper with lifted chin. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t think much of her if she did blame you. From what I read about the situation, you were half killed trying to save your partner and that little girl.”

  Trooper didn’t blink. “You can’t believe everything you read. Give me a minute and I’ll get our coffee.” He wrapped his fingers around his aunt’s cup, pulled open the screen door, and stepped inside. Her deep sigh followed him as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen.

  Trooper waited until mid-morning to return Suzanne’s call, hoping she’d have gone out somewhere by then. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Suzanne, but he’d have felt a lot less guilty if she hated him for living when Hank didn’t make it.

  But even if talking to Suzanne did make him feel guilty, she deserved to hear from him occasionally, so he called her and assured her that he was doing fine. No, he said, the agency hadn’t told him a thing about when they wanted him back on duty. And yes, he’d take plenty of time to recuperate.

  He thanked her for calling, then hung up and told himself he’d had a wakeup call this morning. He could no longer put off investigating his parents’ deaths. He was going to begin, and he was going to begin today, before time ran out on him.

  Although he was now in a hurry to get started, he was in no hurry to have the folks of Holly Grove figure out what he was doing. He could only hope that a visit to his uncle Joey and a chance encounter with an old friend who worked at the car dealership wouldn’t stir up any more suspicions.

  Although in Holly Grove, one never knew.

  Trooper spent the remainder of the morning helping Myrna with her usual chores. Together, they watered the impatiens in the flowerbed near the sidewalk and then the various pots of greenery on the front porch. Hanging baskets on the screened-in porch were also due for a drink. After that, and before the day heated up too much, he cranked up her old mower and cut the grass.

  While he was outside, he looked around for clues that might help him solve the mystery of the strange noise that had disturbed him and Carly.

  A shrub near the edge of the lawn but direct
ly across from his bedroom window had suffered a couple of broken limbs. Actually, they could more accurately be described as twigs, but still there was no reason for them to have been broken. They were too high to have been disturbed by a passing animal, whether domesticated or wild.

  No, Trooper was quite certain that the person responsible for that strange thumping sound had either run into the shrub or brushed into it in passing. Tonight, he decided, he’d lie in wait and see if he couldn’t surprise his nocturnal guest.

  He’d like to catch the culprit in the act and throw a scare into them, and he hoped he could do so before this person disturbed Carly again. She shouldn’t have her sleep interrupted because someone was upset that he’d come back to town.

  He walked to the corner of the house and glanced across the street again. He’d looked over there every chance he got this morning but thus far had seen no signs of Carly. Was she sleeping in or was she writing? Whatever, he couldn’t think of any particularly good excuse to call her just yet. Maybe after he got back from his uncle Joey’s, he’d drop by to make sure she was okay.

  He waited until after lunch to pay his unannounced visit to his uncle Joey’s business. The dealership was on the opposite side of town, so he had an opportunity to view a few more of the changes that had taken place on the far side of the downtown area in Holly Grove.

  The little movie theater on the outskirts of town had been turned into a gift shop. The grocery store where his mom had always shopped wasn’t even standing anymore. In its place was a strip mall with a dozen tiny storefronts with overhead signs advertising services ranging from a paint store to a small-motor repair shop. Damping down his unanticipated feelings of depression, Trooper decided to keep his eyes on the road until he reached his destination.

  Uncle Joey had obviously done well for himself. His original building had been enlarged and remodeled to the point that Trooper wouldn’t have recognized it had it not been for the huge Johnson’s Automobiles sign near the street.