“Sounds strange to me… but it clearly worked,” Sassy said.

  “Yes, it did. I kept going back even after I had my children. Yoga really does do wonders for the body and soul. My sweet lil Linus used to go with me; eventually, he got good enough at yoga to become an instructor himself.”

  “Sounds like you were a good influence on him,” I said.

  “And what about your daughter Abigail?” Sassy said.

  “That snotty thing couldn’t be bothered to come with us anywhere,” Prudence said. “She was daddy’s little girl, and all business. She’s a high powered lawyer in California now—we don’t see her much around these parts anymore. And honestly, I can’t say I was that big of an influence on Linus, besides taking him to the Parkinson’s house when he was a child. He was always smitten with Louise and Jake’s daughter Charity. She was a sweet child, compared to my Abigail—and an even sweeter adult. Pretty, too, and she visits me all the time. It came as no surprise to me when she and my Linus got engaged a year ago. I just wish my son wasn’t so stubborn—waiting until he can afford to support them both. Charity has a home, and makes a nice income; besides, women don’t need a man to be able to support them in order to be married.”

  “Amen, sister!” Sassy said.

  “More importantly, momma is ready for some grand babies,” Prudence said. “And I do love that Charity like a daughter… well, truth be told, I probably like her a bit more than my own Abigail.”

  “Hey, the good book says you gotta love everybody, but it doesn’t say a thing about having to like everybody,” I said.

  Alex gave me a surprised look, but Prudence just clapped her hands and smiled.

  “I’m gonna have to write that one down—I like it!” Prudence said.

  “So, Prudence, did a lot of people go to Aurora for help like you did?” I said, back in detective mode.

  “They did, and they still do. Charity took over for her folks when they moved to Nevada, and she’s just as gifted as her parents were. She told me once that the world is getting to be such a stress-filled place that women can’t relax enough to conceive.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Sassy said.

  “I see everyone’s done with their sundaes, so I’d better clean up the place,” Prudence said.

  “Can we give you a hand?” Alex said.

  “That’s sweet of you to offer, but I can handle it.”

  “I’d love to see some more of your photos,” I said.

  “Then you folks go make yourselves comfortable in the library where I keep my photos… and feel free to look at my photo album on the table in there too.”

  We left her to take care of the dishes, walked back into the house, and to the library.

  “Now, this is my kind of room,” I said.

  The room was wall-to-wall wood bookshelves, and there were two Persian rugs on the floor in front of a large desk, which was in front of one of the windows, and under a couch and two chairs. Sassy had already made her way to the photo album on the desk and was quickly looking through it.

  “Prudence said Billy’s partner withheld use of his statue after the first few performances. She didn’t say why he withheld it, but didn’t she also say they used two statues in the show,” Sassy said.

  “Yes, she did,” I said. “And the other one may just be in this house somewhere, if we’re lucky.”

  Alex started looking at pictures on one side of shelves while Buck looked at the ones on the other side. I was feeling squeezed in, and decided to wander around a little. In the hall, I saw photos on the wall from the various productions Prudence had starred in while living in Ramard. One picture of her, Billy, and Philip struck me as somewhat sad. The three seemed so happy in it, but how things have changed. Prudence wouldn’t even mention Philip’s name now.

  “I suppose it is rather sad,” Prudence said, walking toward me from the other end of the hall. “Your face let me know what you were thinking.”

  “Maybe you picked up some of that psychic energy from Aurora and could read my mind,” I said, then looked at Prudence and smiled.

  “I’m not really that petty, you know,” She said. “Sure, I was mad about him refusing to let us continue using his green-eyed lady, but that alone wouldn’t have kept me so angry at him.”

  “What did he do?” I said.

  “At the time my mother got sick with cervical cancer, I thought for sure Philip’s green-eyed lady could help, but he wouldn’t let us use it. He felt funny about it, or maybe he thought I was gonna take off with the damn thing. By the time he came around and was gonna let us use it, my mother was gone.”

  “Do you really believe it could’ve helped your mother?”

  “I don’t know, but when you’re desperate to save someone you love, you’re willing to try anything.”

  “I understand that, but don’t stay mad at him—not for his sake, but for yours,” I said.

  “I won’t—hey, I was able to say his name just now, maybe that’s a start to forgiving.”

  “Sounds like it could be to me,” I said.

  “Maybe we should have a seance tonight in the back parlor and talk to ole’ Philip.”

  “Why not?” I said. “Prudence, I was thinking of taking a long brisk walk to burn off some of these calories I’ve gained since I’ve been here in the area, and I’ve been wondering where Pastor Markham’s church is from here.”

  “It’s just two blocks over, and there’s a lovely park across the street from it with an exercise trail and everything.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Which room am I in?”

  “You three men are in the sleeping porch upstairs, in the rear of the house.”

  * * * *

  I went back to the library and asked Alex to come upstairs with me; leaving Buck and Sassy to keep checking photographs for clues of where the other statue might be. Alex and I walked upstairs and opened the door that had the sign ‘sleeping porch’ written on a plaque hanging from the knob.

  “This is actually really nice,” I said, looking around the large rectangular room, which had originally been a porch that had been enclosed. The walls were painted a cool white, and there were three white iron beds with white sheets and pillows. Turning to Alex, I held his face in my hands and kissed him. “It’s time for me to go for a long walk in order to burn off some of the calories from all the sweets I’ve been eating.”

  “I should think,” Alex said.

  Looking around, I noticed our bags had been neatly placed by the sides of our beds.

  “Do you want me to go with you, or is there something else I can do?” Alex said.

  Reaching into my small overnight bag, I pulled out the missionary’s diary and held it up for Alex to see.

  “Funny you should ask,” I said.

  -23-

  Burning Off Calories

  After getting changed into shorts, a tank top, sneakers, and socks, I left Alex to look through the diary and went on my brisk walk. It was mid-afternoon and still hot, but there were mature trees which provided shade while I walked along the sidewalk. The scenery was beautiful, but my mind was elsewhere.

  This case was baffling in every sense of the word. I hadn’t met anyone who really struck me as the villainous type; and yet, someone was murdering people and turning them into zombies. The thought of having fought zombies one day, then sitting on the back porch of a B & B eating a sundae the next day was also slightly nuts. This was only the second case I’d handled for Leticia’s organization—my second case and it was already a thousand times crazier than the first one, which had been the craziest case of my career. My thoughts went to Buck for a moment, the man was definitely a hottie with a very talented mouth as well—not that I’d let Alex know that, although he’d gotten to kiss Buck, so he probably already knew. My thoughts were getting muddled now. Buck was nice enough, and while he was a huge help with the zombies, he was way out of his depth. I suddenly felt sad for him… he was rich and good-looking, but not quite fully formed in some way. Maybe he just needed more time to mature—oh well. Then there was Sassy Jones, she’d clearly taken a liking to Buck, but I hadn’t quite figured her out yet. Still more mud in my thoughts—get with it, Layton, before you screw up. Think, son, think.

  What is my objective? My objective is to find all three green-eyed lady statues. So far, we have one. There are still two more to get.

  Where am I most likely to find the two missing statues? The B & B was a place that might have one, and we were already hunkered down there. But why would Prudence’s show have closed, if they still had one green-eyed lady statue? I think people would’ve come to see it unless, they had reason to believe it was a fake. No—it doesn’t make sense. I picked up my pace and could feel myself getting sweaty—it felt good. Exercise and sweat gets the heart beating faster and the blood rushing, which promotes the thought process.

  She didn’t have it! With that one statue, she could’ve kept the show going, and she wouldn’t have hesitated to use it. Still, we were at her place, and it’d be foolish not to check it out.

  Then who else might possibly own the statues. The shop owner would’ve been stupid not to keep one for himself, but was he even still alive—I need to ask Prudence about him, or whoever was running things now. However, the location of the third statue became clear as day in my mind the minute Prudence mentioned Aurora, and how women went there for help in conceiving. Damn it! Miss Lucy was right on top of it, as was I. And the stupid thing was that nobody was really trying to hide anything, it was just that we didn’t stop to ask the right questions. I felt like a damn fool, I should’ve figured things out faster.

  I snapped out of my musing to find myself across from the park, and could see the church on the other side of it. The park was a great place with huge old trees providing plenty of shade and scattered exercise stations. I stopped and did one hundred push-ups at the first station, used the monkey bars a few times at another, and making my way through some old tires at a station took me back to my boot camp days. For a short length, I ran at top speed till I was out of breath. God! It felt good. The next station was pull-ups. I was in the middle of my tenth pull-up when I heard the sound of several people heading my way. Time to think quick—I’d left my gun back at the B & B—I could try to make it to the church.

  “Not bad for an old-timer,” said a voice from behind me.

  I let go of the pull up-bar, landed on my feet, turned, and faced a group of four black teenagers—three males and one female. They looked familiar—they were the farm workers in the Markham’s outreach program.

  “Think you can do better?” I said.

  “Maybe,” a tall, light skinned male with short, cropped hair said. “But sweating isn’t my thing.”

  “So what is your thing?” I said.

  “Let’s say, I’m trying to see just how tough you really are, detective. You think you can take all of us on.”

  He took a long switchblade out of his pocket, opened it, and waved it close to my face. Before he even knew what had happened, I had his arm behind his back and him on his knees. The others in his group took out knives, waved them my way, and started approaching.

  “You’d be surprised the damage my Colt 45 can do against those itty-bitty knives you boys’ve got.”

  It was Sassy, leaning against a tree with a Colt 45 aimed right toward my would-be attackers.

  “I didn’t like the idea of you going out alone, so I followed along,” Sassy said. “Not smart to be without your gun, boss man.”

  “Boys and Nichelle! Did I tell y’all to come out here and act foolish!” Pastor Markham said from the side of where we were.

  “No, Sir,” the shortest male, who had long shoulder-length braids said. “We were just testing the man.”

  “Samson Tyrell, it is not your place to test this man! You’re lucky he didn’t beat all your butts—and you’d better be grateful to God that his associate there didn’t blow you away, dummy.”

  “That detective better be glad we weren’t with that other group; otherwise, he might be the one on the floor and not J.P.,” Nichelle said.

  “We were just tryin’ to help the man refine his skills, Pastor. We didn’t mean anything by it,” Samson said.

  “Layton, I can vouch for these guys,” Pastor Markham said. “They’re being a little dumb right now, but they’re good people.”

  I let J.P. up, and saw him rubbing his arm where I’d grabbed it.

  “What other group?” I said, turning to face the pastor.

  Sassy walked up to us as the pastor spoke.

  “Angie told the kids here to be on the lookout for a shady appearing bunch, who’d just come to town looking for you.”

  “And she said they talked with some kind of accent,” J.P. said. “We don’t like people coming in here trying to start up trouble, and I’m not talking about you, detective.”

  “I think I’ve got a pretty good idea who they might be,” I said. “Some people, who probably have ties to my last case.”

  “If you’re talking about Shelby folks, it could mean trouble, if they find out about the statues,” Sassy said.

  “I am, and it could,” I said.

  “Layton, I want you and your people to know they can count on me and these guys right here,” Pastor Markham said.

  “Excuse me, do I look like I’m a guy,” Nichelle said. “We’ll be around to help, Mr. Detective. Take a good look at us, so you don’t get us confused with those bad black folks. My name’s Nichelle Myers, the guy you had on his knees is my brother J.P., the guy with braids is Samson, and muscleman at the end is Samson’s main man Morgan.”

  “Don’t be tellin everybody my personal business, woman,” Samson said. Nobody needs to know Morgan’s my man.”

  “Excuse me, I didn’t know it was some big secret that you two were hookin’ up,” Nichelle said.

  “You don’t have to make it sound nasty,” Morgan said. “We’re in a committed relationship, not just hookin’ up.”

  “Let’s show some respect here, people,” Pastor Markham said. “Nichelle, you know the suffering Samson’s endured because of who he is, show some compassion.”

  “I’m sorry, Samson,” Nichelle said. “I didn’t think it mattered, since the detective here’s gay too.”

  “Yo, is that for reals, man?” Samson said to me.

  “It is,” I said.

  “You think you can spare some time to talk with me when this is over, I’d be appreciative.”

  I looked over at the pastor for his say.

  “You can talk over at the church if you like, it’s a safe place.”

  “I think that’s a good idea; especially, if you’ll be around, Pastor Markham.”

  “I’ll be in my office, and you can be in the sanctuary or somewhere close.”

  “Sounds good, then,” I said. “We’ll meet up when this is over, Samson. Sassy, I think I need a ride to the bakery.”

  “You got it,” Sassy said. “Let’s go.”

  “Sassy, girl, I have to tell you, that is some gun,” Nichelle said.

  “Yes, it is,” Sassy said.

  We said our good-byes, and headed toward Sassy’s car. Once we were in the Mustang, I had a chance to see some very well done modifications to accommodate Sassy’s smaller stature.

  “My daddy modified the Mustang for me. He did good, right?’ Sassy said.

  “Excellent work,” I said.

  “He taught me how to shoot too… and fight.”

  “And stalk and hunt without being seen,” I said.

  “Don’t worry about the fact you didn’t see me, Layton. I was waiting at the end of the street looking through my binoculars, not following behind you.”

  “That makes me feel somewhat better,” I said. “Of course, if you did that, then so could my old friends.”

  “This is true,” Sassy said.

  “How do you know about Shelby? And how much do you know?” I said.

  “I know your first case was Shelby, and it involved taking down the cult that controlled and owned the town. I also know that Miss Lucy and you staged your own, not so small, war there to take down the cult. More importantly, I know that if it’s anyone associated with that cult following you around, and they find out what those statues can do, it’s gonna be another war right here in Ramard.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, Sassy. And by the way, thanks for the backup in the park, it was much appreciated.”

  “No problem, just don’t leave your gun home next time. Carry it in a fanny pack, if need be.”

  “That’s actually not a bad idea,” I said. “I never have been able to think of a good place for my gun when I’m walking or running—thanks for the idea.”

  “You’re welcome, but you don’t want to run with a gun in your fanny pack. I’ll show you a special customized fanny pack I made, which holds the gun securely in place.”

  “I’d like to see that.”

  In no time, we were in front of our next destination—the bakery. As I exited the Mustang, I looked around trying to seem casual. The stakes in this case had just risen dangerously high.

  -24-

  Summing Things Up

  I entered the bakery, followed closely by Sassy. Angie looked up from where she was wiping down the top of the display case.

  “I figured we’d be seeing you about now, detective,” Angie said.

  “So, does everyone around here know about me now?” I said.

  “Everyone I saw fit to tell knows, boy,” Miss Lucy said, as she entered from a side door, which had the sign ‘restrooms’ above it.

  “And how are you feeling today, Sparky?” I said with a grin.

  “Don’t go calling me Sparky, that’s a dog’s name, and I’m no damn dog,” Miss Lucy said, before looking over at Sassy.

  Sassy and Miss Lucy looked at one another, then started walking around each other, looking each other up and down.

 

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