Chapter 4

Tuesday, June 16, 1987

Trixie was outside on the terrace, waiting for Honey. She would have preferred to ride her bike since she would be inside all day, but she had a date with Jim after work and didn’t want to have to worry about getting her bike home. The B.W.G’s would all be meeting up later in the evening to attend the band concert at the town hall.

She was looking forward to riding in with Honey. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to her about the additional information she had found about Mr. Lytell. Trixie hoped to fill her partner in and see if Honey had any ideas.

Honey pulled up to the house in the B.W.G. station wagon. Trixie ran to the passenger door and exchanged a greeting with her.

“Are you ready for another day of work?” Honey asked.

Trixie replied, “I think so. I hope it doesn’t drag too long. I’m looking forward to the concert tonight. It’s for such a great cause. Hoppy does need to be restored.”

“It will be fun. Hopefully, I’ll get off work on time. I’m supposed to be done by six o’clock. The concert doesn’t start until seven so that should give me plenty of time to get to the town hall.”

Trixie blushed. “Jim said they were going to take a later train home tonight and spend the afternoon studying on campus. He didn’t think they’d be back into town until almost five o’clock. I thought I’d use the time to do some more research into the Mr. Lytell mystery.”

“I thought you were going to drop that,” Honey said.

“I tried,” Trixie said. “I really tried to listen to Dad and just drop the issue, but I wanted to find out what happened. I looked up some more stories in back issues of the Sun. Things just didn’t add up. Then I realized something when we were bowling Saturday night.”

“What kind of revelation did you have while you were throwing gutter balls?” Honey teased. It was well known that Trixie would never become a pro bowler.

“I realized that the bowling alley was located at the same location as where the A&P store was supposed to be built. It just seemed funny because one of the reasons the A&P wasn’t built was because it was supposed to be sacred land.The bowling alley has been around for as long as I can remember. I think it was built around 1970,” Trixie explained.

“The building is that old? It sure doesn’t look like it,” Honey commented.

“I should clarify. The original bowling alley was built around that time. About five years ago there was a fire that destroyed most of the building. They were able to remodel and put in more modern equipment. That’s when they put in the automatic scorer,” Trixie said.

“Well, it sure does sound suspicious,” Honey said. “Let me know what I can do. You know we’re a team.”

Trixie glanced at Honey to see if her feelings had been hurt. She realized that Honey wasn’t upset, just offering her help. “I was hoping you’d say that. I know Dad really wasn’t excited about me digging into this story, but something just doesn’t sound right. I think Mr. Lytell was wronged.”

“Well, I won’t be able to help with the research until later this week when I have a split shift but I’m here to listen,” Honey said as she pulled up to the library.

“I’ve been making copies of all of the articles of interest I find. I’ll make you a set as well. Then you can read them without the bias of all of the notes I keep making on mine,” Trixie said. “Thanks for the ride. Maybe we can bike in tomorrow and talk some more then.”

Honey agreed and took off at a reasonable speed heading toward the pool.

Trixie kept busy all day. The second worker, Julie McNalty, had begun working to help with the process. She had started the day before and picked up on the process quickly. Since there was only one set of scanning equipment, they took turns. One would do the computer work and the other would bring the books over and re-shelve them as well as re-check each book to make sure it was entered correctly. They would also periodically pick up the checked in books. Those always got done so they wouldn’t be missed.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to re-shelve those books. They worked in comfortable silence. The process took a lot of concentration and since they worked right in the library they wanted to be as quiet and respectful as possible.

When she was shelving books, Trixie could think about what she wanted to look up. There were the stories of the A&P store but she also wanted to look up stories about the bowling alley. She was going to look up notices for planning and zoning commission meetings. She also wondered about the sacred land. It didn’t make sense.

When she was finally done for the day she headed to the microfilm. She decided that she would just skim the articles and print them out. That way she could get more accomplished in the time allowed. For an hour she looked up articles. She found articles about the A&P store and official notices for planning and zoning meetings including the published agendas. She found some legal notices about foreclosure on the property in question. By the time she had finished, she couldn’t believe how much information she had found. There were several letters to the editor that lambasted the A&P and Mr. Lytell for underhanded dealings.

At five o’clock she gathered all of her copies, stuffed them into her backpack and headed out the door to wait for Jim. The sun was still warm. She hadn’t realized she had been inside all day. Lots of days she would take a quick walk outside at lunchtime to get some fresh air but today hadn’t been one of them.

Jim pulled into the parking lot as she walked out of the building. He pulled up to the curb and she jumped in the car. After exchanging quick kisses, he took off.

“Where do you want to go to eat?” he asked.

“I think the Lion’s Club is sponsoring a food booth tonight and all of the proceeds will be going to the Hoppy renovation. Why don’t we just eat there? I’m sure that’s what the rest of the Bob-Whites will probably do.”

“Your wish is my command, fair maiden,” he replied.

The downtown was already busy and it took a few minutes to find a parking spot. They finally found one several blocks from the town hall. Jim grabbed a blanket that was in the trunk of his car. Hand in hand, they walked to the town hall.

When they got to the grounds they found an area that was fairly close to stage. They spread out their blanket and then went in search of some food.

After purchasing brats, fries and sodas from the Lion’s Club stand they headed back to their spot. Before they reached it, they spotted Mart and Diana. Trixie waved at them. “We’ve got our blanket up front. Do you guys have one that you want to set down?”

Mart held up the one he had been carrying. “Here it is. I don’t know how long I can carry it before I’m going to die of malnutrition,” he good-naturedly lamented.

“Well, I’m not going to give up my food for you,” Trixie replied, “I can’t even volunteer to take the blanket from you. I wouldn’t want to spill good food.”

Just then Hallie, Dan and Brian came up behind them. “Here,” Dan said, having overheard the conversation. “I’ll take that. I wouldn’t want to have Mart die of starvation.”

Within a few minutes the seven friends were sitting on their blankets enjoying their food. “Do you have to go pick up Honey, Brian?” Diana asked.

“I was going to, but she drove this morning and said that it would be quicker if she just left the car at the pool and walked the six blocks here. Dan and Hallie picked me up at the train station. For some reason, Jim didn’t invite me on his date with Trixie,” Brian explained.

All of a sudden the group was disturbed by a whirlwind of activity. Bobby, Larry and Terry ran up and bombarded Jim. “Hey, Jim,” Bobby called out. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“Yeah, we thought only Mart, Dan and Brian would be,” said Larry.

“What are we?” asked Diana. “Chopped liver?”

“You don’t count,” said Terry. “You’re a girl.”

“Are you sure you want to go there?” Trixie answered. “I think your sister might have some pictures thatyou wouldn’t want shared with everyone.”

The three boys blushed, remembering how earlier in the spring they had lost a bet among themselves and had to dress up as girls. As far as they knew, the older boys had never heard the story of that day in March.

“Is there a story that we should know about?” Mart asked.

“No, not at all,” Bobby hurriedly answered. “Well, we should be going. Moms said if we were going to come, we couldn’t run around all night but had to sit attentively.”

“Moms is here?” Trixie asked, searching the crowd for her blonde curls.

“Yeah, she and Dad are over there with the Lynches and the Wheelers,” Bobby said.

Sure enough, Trixie spotted her parents. It looked like it would be a family affair tonight all around. The three boys headed in the direction of their parents although they took a few detours along the way.

“So how does this work if it’s a fund raiser?” Jim asked. “We didn’t have to pay to get on the grounds.”

“There will be people coming around to collect money at intermission. In fact they’ve asked members of the cast of The Sound of Music to help out. I said I’d lend a hand,” said Diana.

“That’s so nice of the group to do that,” Hallie said.

“It’s good advertising for the show as well as a nice way to help out,” Diana replied.

“In addition to the Lion’s Clubserving food, several churches got together to sell pie and ice cream at intermission. They donated all of the pies for the cause,” Mart said.

“Leave it to Mart to know about the food,” teased Dan, as he placed his arm around Hallie’s shoulder.

Hallie leaned into Dan and said, “This is so fun. They never do anything like this in Idaho. It reminds me of that scene in The Music Man where it’s the village social.”

“Oh,” Diana said. “The one where all of the old biddies do their renditions of Grecian urns, it’s a great show. I kind of wish we were doing that one.”

For several more minutes the group talked about various things. Honey joined them shortly before the concert started. She and Brian sat down next to Jim and Trixie. After everyone had settled down, Trixie was able to tell Honey what she had accomplished that day.

“I was able to get through quite a bit of microfilm today,” Trixie said. “I haven’t read all of the articles yet. Since I was making copies I figured it would be more efficient to just copy everything and then read it later tonight or tomorrow. I made double copies so you could read and make notes yourself.”

Honey’s eyes lit up. She loved a good mystery just as much as her friend. “I can’t wait to get my hands on them.”

“If I don’t give them to you tonight, I’ll give them to Jim to give to you,” Trixie said.

“What are you two girls plotting?” Brian asked.

“Oh, Trixie was looking through the archives and found some interesting articles about Mr. Lytell,” Honey answered. She leaned over and gave Brian a peck on his cheek.

“Trixie,” Brian warned, “you know what Dad said about dropping it.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong. All I’ve done is read some old newspaper articles. There’s no crime in that. I think Mr. Lytell was accused of something he didn’t do,” Trixie defended herself.

“There’s no harm in doing a little research,” Jim said. Trixie did a double take when she heard that.

“Thanks for supporting me,” she said under her breath.

Jim leaned into Trixie and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. Trixie blushed a little, still not used to any public displays of affection in front of her brothers. A quick glance at Brian showed he hadn’t even been paying attention, but she noticed that Mart seemed to be deliberately looking away as if to say, “I’m not seeing this” similar to what Bobby would do when he would plug his ears so he couldn’t hear something he was supposed to.

The concert soon began and everyone sat back and enjoyed it. The theme was songs from movies and musicals. They did a medley of songs from The Sound of Music and several of the cast members sang along while the band accompanied them. Most of the B.W.G.’s were surprised when Diana got up to sing.

Diana was playing Leisl and sang “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”. When she finished it sounded like a bevy of bob-whites had landed on the town square. Intermission began at the conclusion of the medley.

Trixie playfully slugged Mart. “Why didn’t you tell us Diana was going to sing?”

Mart rubbed his arm, acting like he would be permanently injured. “Diana wanted to surprise everyone. Plus she still deals with stage fright and she thought she’d do better if you didn’t know about it.”

The cast members and other volunteers had begun canvassing the audience, collecting money for the renovation. Everyone reached into their pockets or purses and donated something.

“Didn’t someone say something about pie?” Dan asked. “I could use a little dessert.”

The group got up and headed over to one of several pie stands that were set up throughout the grounds. As they walked over, their parents were also heading that way.

After exchanging greetings, Honey asked, “Which pies did you make, Mrs. Belden?”

“Well, I brought several apple pies, a pecan, and I tried a new recipe. It’s called raspberry cream cheese,” Mrs. Belden replied.

“They all sound wonderful,” Mart commented. He stood looking at all the different pieces of pie on display.

“I have it on good authority that Mrs. B. is not the only Belden who made pies for this event,” Dan said.

“Brian, when did you have time to make your famous chocolate pie?” Trixie asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to bake today. I think it was Hallie who helped contribute to the cause,” he replied.

“That’s great!” Honey exclaimed. “What kind of pie did you make?”

“I made a coconut cream and a lemon meringue pie,” Hallie replied,blushing a little.

Dan bent down and kissed her on the nose. “A girl after my own heart,” he said. “I suppose there’s no way to know which coconut cream pie is yours. That’s my favorite.”

Hallie blushed some more and then whispered conspiratorially to her boyfriend, “You’re probably right but I made an extra one that’s still at the farm. Just don’t tell Mart or you might never get a piece.”

They all walked over to the pie stand. While the guys went to make the purchases the girls waited out of the way.

“So, Trixie,” Honey said. “Can you explain again why you think Mr. Lytell was mistreated?”

Hallie did a double take. “You think Mr. Lytell was mistreated? When?”

“It’s just a hunch I have that I’m doing some research on. I had to learn how to use the microfilm machine at work and stumbled across something from almost twenty years ago,” Trixie explained. “It seems that Mr. Lytell came to Sleepyside to build an A&P grocery store, but something happened that put Mr. Lytell in a bad light and halted the construction.”

“I think Trixie’s onto something,” Honey said. “She realized on Saturday night that the bowling alley is on the site that the A&P was supposed to be built. I’m still trying to understand all of what happened.”

Trixie began to explain to everyone what she had found so far. She was just getting around to telling them about Fred Murphy’s involvement when she looked around and saw him standing right behind her. His back was to her but she could tell he was trying to listen in on what she was saying. She stopped in mid-sentence. “I’m sure it’s just nothing,” she concluded, eyeing Fred Murphy as she said it.

Honey acknowledged what Trixie was trying to say and abruptly changed the subject. “Hallie, are you enjoying your summer?” she asked. “It’s too bad you couldn’t find a job here. It must be boring with everyone working or going to school.”

“I’m having a good time. I enjoy working in the garden and kitchen with Aunt Helen. In a couple of weeks I’ll be busy. Diana convinced me to work behind the scenes for The Sound of Music.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. What are you going to do?” Trixie asked.

“Whatever they need me to do,” Hallie replied. “I’m hoping to work the fly rail.”

Trixie looked perplexed. “What’s a fly rail? It sounds like something that should be exterminated.”

“It’s the theatrical term for the people who pull the backdrops up and down. It just seems like it would be fun.”

Diana came up from one direction while the guys returned with the pie.

“It should be fun,” Diana said. “I’ve worked backstage before. You usually have a good time. I know most of the people working this show. It will be a blast.”

The group headed back to their seats as the second half of the concert began. Trixie shivered as she started to sit down on their blanket.

“Are you cold?” Jim asked.

“No,” she answered. “I just felt like someone walked over my grave or something. It’s just creepy.” She lowered herself on the blanket, being careful not to spill her pie. Jim joined her and with his free hand drew her into him to offer her security.

Trixie tried to concentrate on the concert and her piece of blueberry pie but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She kept looking around to see if she could spot anyone. Fred Murphy sat several feet away from the group but he seemed to be intently watching the concert.

It was dark when the concert drew to a close. The band closed the concert with “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Everyone, except Jim, seemed surprised when fireworks went off choreographed with the music.

“What a fun surprise!” Diana exclaimed.

“It is fun, although I can’t imagine the city spending that kind of money if they are trying to raise money for the renovation,” Mart said.

“Well, I can tell you that the city didn’t pay for the fireworks,” Jim stated.

Trixie looked directly in his eyes and said, “What do you know that we don’t know?”

He smiled slyly. “Just that Dad paid for them.”

“How come I didn’t know about this?” Honey asked.

“I think Dad wanted it to be a surprise for everyone,” Jim explained. “It sure was a great show.”

The concert and fireworks ended. They picked up their blankets and folded them. Trash was thrown away. All the time, Trixie felt eyes boring into her back. She looked around and could see no one. She didn’t see any sign of Fred Murphy. She tried to shake off the feeling but didn’t have much luck.

Everyone said their good nights and headed to their vehicles and then home.

On Wednesday, Trixie spend her lunch hour outside, reading through some of the articles she had copied the day before. There was an article about a planning commission meeting where John Manydeeds had made a presentation about the sacred Indian land. He had presented some document that seemed to verify his claim and stated that this information should have been easily found had the proper research been done. The article mentioned that Fred Murphy, who served on the commission, had been outraged that an organization as big as the one Mr. Lytell represented would not do the appropriate research. Several other citizens also expressed their anger at the cover up. The article did not say anything about Mr. Lytell’s response. Glancing at the byline, Trixie was not surprised to see that the article had been written by David Trent.

The letters to the editor that had been printed following that meeting were scathing. One had been written by a Fred Murphy. Several other citizens also expressed their anger. As she read through them she realized they all sounded pretty much the same. It was almost as if the same person had written the letters.

She was frustrated because most of the articles she had found seemed to be written with a bias. She realized the best place to get more factual data would be to go to City Hall and look up the minutes from the planning commission.

 

 

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