Forty-three
As it turned out, Hunter and I never did getto go out that night. The paperwork, aka the red tape, took forever, and afterward we spent time piecing together what happened. It helped that Ray Goodwin was in a talkative mood, telling so many lies as he tried to pin the illegal stuff on his ex-partner that he tripped himself up and eventually the whole truth came out.
Especially when he found out that Kenny Langley was still alive.
I guess I’m not the world’s best pulse-taker after all.
Kenny, as it turned out, wasn’t guilty of more than choosing bad friends and offering to front money for a bad business deal.
Ray, on the other hand, had:
? Made anonymous, threatening phone calls to Manny, which was a stupid way to handle a hostile takeover.
? Pulled off the robbery at the Chapmans’, stealing a camera and some cash to mislead the police, but making it obvious to Manny that he needed to hide his journal.
? Captured a large yellow jacket nest, which agitated them into attack mode, surprised Manny inside his honey house and locked him in with the nest until he was stung to death, then dragged him into the beeyard and covered him in honey to make it look like the docile honeybees had killed him.
? Decided to kill me, too, for good measure, since he was afraid I would talk Grace into giving me all the beehives. He killed the wrong woman instead.
? Hired one of Kenny’s beeyard helpers to pick up all the bees from Manny’s, but still couldn’t find the journal, which was an important part of the future of his new business.
? Sent the false tip, burglarized my store looking for the journal, and left the earring, still hoping to frame me.
? Shot Kenny when he backed out of their deal.
And for all that, Ray would spend the rest of his life in prison. Good riddance.
A week after the truth came out, I walked down Main Street to open The Wild Clover and found Grace Chapman waiting for me in the blue Adirondack chair outside the store. She hadn’t been around much since Ray was arrested.
I could understand her pain. It was one thing to lose your husband to a freak accident. It was quite another to find out he was murdered. I could sympathize with her, because I’d loved Manny, too, only in a different way than she did.
“Sit down,” Grace said, and I cautiously seated myself in the yellow Adirondack, leaving one chair between us.
I really hoped she wasn’t armed.
By some miracle my cousin Carrie Ann arrived early, greeted us as though Grace and I always sat outside the store together, and disappeared inside.
“We’ve both been through a lot,” Grace said, making a point of studying her hands instead of looking directly at me. “And it’s time to clear the air between us.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“You start,” she said, putting me on the spot.
And so I did, telling her everything that had happened along the way, starting from the day of Manny’s death through the confrontation I’d had with Ray in Kenny’s beeyard. I told her about my hopes and dreams regarding Queen Bee Honey, about how the honeybees meant as much to me as the financial end of the business. I even told her how much I had cared about her husband, and what a great friend and mentor he had been to me.
“I found Manny’s journal hidden under one of my hives,” I said, wrapping up my story. “Patti really did see him in my backyard, but he was hiding the journal to keep it safe, not visiting me in some clandestine affair.”
When I was through, Grace dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and said, “Thank you for sharing with me. The journal is yours. It was special to Manny, and maybe you can get some use out of it. And I called Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin to make arrangements to relocate the bees. They’re yours, too, if you want them.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Yes!” I said, leaping up and giving her a hug right where she sat, which almost resulted in both of us tipping out onto the grass.
“We’ll have to sit down and figure out the rest later,” she said, getting up as soon as I backed off. Without another glance, she headed for the front door of The Wild Clover.
The bees were mine! All eighty-one hives. Eighty-three, to be exact, including my two. The enormity of the project suddenly overwhelmed me. Could I do it alone? Run the store and the honey business?
After all I’d gone through to get Manny’s honeybees, I’d better be able to handle it.
I went inside to call my sister. We had some bees to move.
As for the rest of the story:
? Clay, for the first time in his life, honored a promise he’d made to me. Once he was released—thanks in no small part to my efforts—he put his house up for sale and moved back to Milwaukee. The only part I didn’t particularly like was that he used Lori Spandle as his real estate agent.
? The house is still on the market.
? I still avoid Mom and think Grams is the best.
? I haven’t paid Holly back yet, but she likes being a part of The Wild Clover so much, I asked her to stay as long as she wanted.
? Carrie Ann’s sober most of the time.
? Plans are under way to move the honey house, which I now own along with the rest of Queen Bee Honey.
? I have a new kayak. Yellow, of course.
? Hunter and I have started spending a lot of time together.
? Ben likes to come along.
About the Author
Hannah Reed lives on a high ridge in southern Wisconsin in a community much like the one she writes about. She is busy writing the second book in the Queen Bee Mysteries. Visit Hannah and explore Story’s world at www.hannahreedbooks.com.