Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

T he sky had turned ominously dark when we headed outside, so we decided to eat at Merrilee's Café since it was close to the office. After we ordered our food, Neely Kate pulled out the list of homeowners.

"George and Adolpha Whitlock are next on the list. They owned the home for about twenty years before the Fredricksons."

"Where does that put us time-wise?" I asked.

"Are you suggesting we might be going back far enough that the homeowners might be dead?" Neely Kate asked.

I cringed. "Well, that's a blunt way to say it, but yeah, given the house is nearly a hundred years old."

"The Fredricksons only owned the home for three years, so we're only back about fifteen years now."

I nodded. "We definitely need to look up the Whitlocks." I pulled out my phone.

We spent the next ten minutes looking up any combination of George and Adolpha Whitlock but came up with nothing. Neither of them was on social media under their real names, and even a simple internet search pulled up a big fat nothing.

The waitress brought our food, and Neely Kate set her phone down. "I'm going to text around and see if any of my contacts know them."

If any other person had said that, I might have suggested they were delusional, but Neely Kate had a vast array of sources, some through her large extended family and some through people she'd met since moving to Fenton County when she was a preteen.

When we finished, the air had turned colder, and it had started to rain.

We headed out to Neely Kate's car and drove to my one o'clock consultation. Neely Kate stayed in the car to work her magic searching for the Whitlocks, and I borrowed her umbrella to knock on the homeowner's door. She came outside with her own umbrella, and we walked around her yard while she told me what she wanted. I took multiple photos and notes on my phone, then sent the homeowner inside while I took measurements. I told her I'd have something to her within the week.

A half-hour later, I climbed back in the passenger seat to see Neely Kate beaming.

"You found something," I said as I strapped on my seatbelt.

"Sure did. Turns out Mr. Whitlock is dead, God rest his soul, but Mrs. Whitlock is at the Piney Rest Nursing Home."

I wrinkled my nose. "I always hated that name. It sounds more appropriate for a cemetery."

"True." She lifted her brow. "So you still wanna go over there before my three o'clock appointment?"

"Sure."

The nursing home had opened a couple of years prior, and despite its name, it had the reputation of being a well-run facility. After Neely Kate parked in the lot, we walked in through the entrance and stopped at the reception desk.

"Hi," Neely Kate said with a huge smile. "I'm Neely Kate, and this is my friend Rose. We're hoping to chat with Miss Adolpha. Adolpha Whitlock."

The receptionist's eyes lit up. "Oh, Miss Adolpha will love having the company. Her kids come see her, but not as often as she'd like, and she loves to chat with people." She leaned to the side and glanced into an open room to the side of us. "Miss Adolpha's over there in the great room, sitting with a new resident. She's the one in the green and white shirt."

We thanked the receptionist, headed into the great room, and stopped dead in our tracks when we saw who she was sitting next to.

It was my old neighbor and nemesis.

I couldn't stop my loud groan.

"What in the world is Miss Mildred doing here?" Neely Kate asked me under her breath.

I stayed rooted in my spot. "I knew she'd moved into a care facility a couple of months ago, but I had no idea it was this one."

Neely Kate shot me a mischievous smile. "You know Miss Mildred's gonna do everything in her power to keep Miss Adolpha from talking to you."

"I don't know," I said hopefully. "Sure, she doesn't like me much, but things have gotten better between us." Especially after we'd worked a case together.

Neely Kate let out a loud snort. "Then why did she leave Jonah's church and go back to the Baptist church?"

I clenched my teeth. "That wasn't my fault."

"Maybe not, but you know darn good and well she was blaming that Jell-O incident on you ."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Fine. You have a point. You take the lead."

I was nervous as I followed Neely Kate over to the two women who were sitting in front of the TV watching an episode of Golden Girls .

"You're crazy," Miss Mildred said with a sneer. "Sophia is eighty years old."

"No I'm not. My granddaughter told me the actress playing her was younger than some of the other actresses," the other woman said in a patient voice.

"Fake news!" Miss Mildred shouted.

Several of the other residents sitting around the room shot her dirty looks.

"Why, Miss Mildred," Neely Kate said cheerfully as she stopped next to them. I stayed a couple of steps behind. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Are you stalking me?" Miss Mildred demanded, looking like she was spoiling for a fight. Her white hair appeared to have been recently permed, and with her pale complexion, she looked a bit like a sun-deprived circus clown.

"We're not here to see you," Neely Kate said, still sounding gracious. "It just so happens we were lucky enough to run into you." She smiled at the elderly woman sitting next to Miss Mildred. "We're here to see Miss Adolpha."

"Me?" Miss Adolpha asked in surprise. Her face lit up with excitement.

"That's right," Neely Kate said. "Would it be okay if we sat down for a chat?"

"We were talking ," Miss Mildred snapped, her eyes burning into me, making it obvious she still held a grudge.

"That's okay," Miss Adolpha said, waving a hand at her. "We can talk any old time."

Miss Mildred grabbed the cane next to her chair and used it to stand. "In that case, I'm not saving you a spot at yoga."

Neely Kate's eyes lit up. "Y'all have yoga here?"

"We've got all kinds of things here," Miss Adolpha said. "I should have moved in here years ago."

"The place wasn't here years," ago Miss Mildred said in a haughty tone, still struggling to get to her feet. Against my better judgment, I reached over to help her.

She swung her cane toward me, and I barely jumped out of the way in time.

"Mildred!" Miss Adolpha said in alarm.

Miss Mildred's face turned red as she struggled to regain her balance. "She nearly caused me to break my hip the last time she touched me!"

"That's an exaggeration," I said with a sigh. "You didn't fall."

"Well, if I had, I could have broken my hip."

"And I could have won the Powerball this morning if I'd bought a ticket," Neely Kate said. "And Rose could have woken up and looked like a movie star if she'd gotten more than five or six hours of sleep."

"Hey!" I protested.

She ignored me and continued, "You can't live your life with woulda, coulda, shouldas, Miss Mildred." Then, after a moment's hesitation, she added, "You're just a sore loser."

Miss Mildred's mouth dropped open wide enough we could see her bridge was missing in her back molars. "Well, I never!" she said, her eyes blazing.

Neely Kate propped a hand on her hip. "Had good manners? That's super obvious."

I stared at my best friend in shock. She wasn't usually this rude to people, not that Miss Mildred didn't deserve it, but she usually humored my old neighbor.

To my shock, the room burst into enthusiastic applause.

"You tell her!" an older man yelled from across the room.

"What did she say?" another woman with pink-tinged hair asked.

The woman next to her leaned in closer. "That pretty little thing just called Mildred a hippopotamus."

The pink-haired woman squinted at Miss Mildred. "I suppose her face kind of does look like a hippo."

Neely Kate turned to me and made a face that said oops , but merriment filled her eyes.

"Miss Mildred, why don't we take a stroll in the rose garden?" a younger woman in blue scrubs said as she hurried forward, arm outstretched.

Miss Mildred walked toward her and lifted her cane to smack at her, but one of gentleman residents whom she passed grabbed the staff. "That'll be enough of that."

Miss Mildred looked like she wanted to spit carpet tacks at all of us, but instead, she let the aide lead her way. As they walked away, the aide turned back to Neely Kate and mouthed, "Thank you."

Neely Kate blushed when another round of cheers went up as Miss Mildred left the room.

Miss Mildred had always been rude and cantankerous but never violent. I couldn't help worrying about her a bit.

Miss Adolpha was already turning off the TV as Neely Kate dragged a chair over to sit across from her. The older woman stared at her with a mixture of fear and awe. My best friend shot me a look that said maybe you should take this after all .

I sat in the seat Miss Mildred had vacated and rested my hands on my knees. "We're really sorry about all of that. Miss Mildred used to live across the street from me when I was growing up, and she obviously doesn't care for me much."

Miss Adolpha seemed to shake off some of her stupor. "If Mildred had a quarrel with you, then I would guess that means you're a delightful girl."

I grinned. "I don't know about that, but I do know that Miss Mildred's go-to reaction is hostility. I think it's just a defense mechanism." I leaned closer. "Don't get me wrong. I'd still walk on the other side of the street to avoid her, but I think she's lonely."

"There are plenty of better ways to make friends," Miss Adolpha said, her knotted hands straightening the bottom of her shirt. "That's what I always told my students."

"You were a teacher?"

"For nearly forty years before I gave it up."

"Where did you teach?" Neely Kate asked.

A smile lit up her face. "Up in Magnolia. George and I used to live up that way. Then he got a job at Ingram's Manufacturing, and we moved to Henryetta shortly after we got married."

That seemed like a backward move. Most people moved away from Henryetta, not to it. "Did you and George have children?" I asked.

She smiled. "We had a mess of ‘em." She tilted her head toward me. "Five. Two boys and three girls."

"And you raised them on that house on Olive Street?" Neely Kate asked in surprise.

Miss Adolpha's wrinkled forehead creased even more. "How did you know we lived on Olive Street?"

I drew a breath. "Miss Adolpha, Neely Kate and I are landscapers with RBW Landscaping, and we're currently doing a job at your former house on Olive Street."

Miss Adolpha looked confused but remained silent.

"We were digging to put in a small retaining wall, and Neely Kate and I uncovered a wooden box that had been buried there sometime in the past. It doesn't belong to the current homeowners, and they've asked us to locate the owners."

"Why would you go to that much trouble for a box?" the elderly woman asked.

"Because it's not just a cardboard box," Neely Kate said. "It's a beautiful carved, locked wooden box, and it had to mean something to the person who buried it. Mrs. Thatcher, the current homeowner, would love to see it returned to its rightful owner."

Neely Kate was far more driven to find the owner than Jill Thatcher, but I didn't see the point in correcting her.

"So you're here to see if it belongs to me?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yes. We've talked to the people who owned the house after you, and none of them know anything about it. We've been working backward, and you were next on the list."

Miss Adolpha glanced down at her lap, and after a few seconds, she gazed up. "So you found a box, and you're trying to discover who buried it."

"That's right," I said softly.

"I didn't bury a box, and I know George wouldn't have. He was much too practical for something like that."

"What about your kids?" Neely Kate asked.

"How big is the box?"

"A foot long and six inches tall." I held up my hands to show the approximate size as I spoke.

"I'm presuming it's heavy," she said.

"Somewhat."

She shook her head. "They were much too young to have done something like that. We moved when I was pregnant with Nate, my fourth child. David would have been about seven, so I don't see how he could have done it. Not to mention, I didn't have a fancy box for him or his two sisters to bury."

"What about a neighbor?" I asked.

She made a face. "It would seem odd for someone else to bury a box in our yard."

"It was on the side of the yard," Neely Kate said. "Between your old house and the neighbors on the right side when you're standing at the street, facing the house."

"The house next door was a rental house for some time, and a lot of people came and went," Miss Adolpha said. "But I do remember a family living there who had a couple of teenage girls, so I suppose it's possible."

"You said you moved when your children were small, but the property records show you still owned the property for several decades," Neely Kate said.

Miss Adolpha's gaze focused on the wall, like she was remembering days gone by. "Our family got too big to live there, so we moved to a bigger house and rented it out. We probably rented it for twenty or so years before we sold it."

"Do you have any idea how many renters you had?"

"I'd say five or six." She shrugged. "George took care of all that, so I don't remember."

"Do you happen to have a list of who might have rented from you?" Neely Kate asked.

Miss Adolpha hesitated. "No list. I remember a couple of names, but not all of them."

"Anything you have would be helpful," I said.

Her brow furrowed. "Of course, but it might take me a short bit to remember them." She smiled and tapped her temple with her index finger. "The memory's not what it used to be."

"Not a problem," Neely Kate said.

"I remember the Jacksons and the Kempners," she said after a moment, then pursed her lips together. "Sue Jackson, and her husband was Ron." Neely Kate nodded encouragingly as I wrote the names in a note on my phone. "And the Kempners were Billy and his wife Bobbie Jean." She gave us an apologetic look. "That's all I can remember, but if those names don't work out, I can ask my kids about it."

"This is a great place to start," Neely Kate said reassuringly.

I started to put down my phone when the familiar tingle of a vision began. I rarely had spontaneous visions these days, so I was taken by surprise when it engulfed me.

I was in a warehouse full of shelves lined with boxes. The light was dim, but I couldn't tell if it was nighttime or if the space was just poorly lit. Everything was hazy, as if engulfed in fog.

People were shouting. Gunshots rang out. Then I saw a woman lying on her side on the ground; her dark hair spilled around her on the floor. The blood seeping from her body began creating a large pool.

Then I was back at Piney Rest, staring into Miss Adolpha's face, murmuring, "I think she's dead."

The elderly woman's eyes widened. "Maxine is dead?" she cried out in alarm.

Obviously, I'd missed what she'd said about Maxine, whoever she was, but I was more concerned about what I'd just seen.

Neely Kate shot me a worried look and must have realized what had happened because she said, "No, of course not. Rose probably meant…" Her voice trailed off, and I was surprised that Neely Kate was at a loss for words. I could count the number of times that had happened on one hand.

I was lost to come up with an explanation myself.

Years ago, I'd had multiple visions of people dying or dead. Shoot, I'd even seen myself dead more than a few times, but my life had been pleasantly violence free for nearly three years, so seeing a dead woman on the floor scared the wits out of me. Especially since what I'd seen just now matched the scattered memories I had of my dream.

I always had visions from the perspective of a person close to me, so had the vision been of Miss Adolpha or Neely Kate?

The answer was pretty clear.

"We need to go," I said, starting to get up, but my phone fell out of my lap to the floor.

Neely Kate gave me a wary look but quickly reached down and grabbed my phone. "Thank you so much for your help, Miss Adolpha," she said as she stood. "We'll be sure to let you know how all of this turns out."

Miss Adolpha kept her gaze on me. "Are you all right, dear?"

"I'm so sorry to run off like this," I said in a rush. Then I lied. "I forgot my daughter has a dentist appointment."

"Not to worry," the elderly woman said with a wave of her hand. "It was fun to get a little bit of excitement."

"We'll definitely be in touch," I said. Especially if the vision belonged to her. But how would Miss Adolpha end up in a warehouse with gunshots and a dead woman?

I snatched my purse and took off for the door. Neely Kate was a few seconds behind after she said her goodbyes.

Once we were outside, she grabbed my arm and pulled me to a halt. "What happened? Why are you running like your pants are on fire?"

"You shouldn't run if your pants are on fire," I said, sliding my free hand over my head. "You stop, drop, and roll."

"You would think that's common knowledge," she said dryly, "but I've seen some of my cousins do the opposite when they've caught on fire." She shook her head with a look of disgust.

"Your cousins…" I waved a hand. "Never mind. I had a vision."

"I figured," she said, her face turning solemn. "Of someone dead."

I nodded. "It wasn't very clear, like there was a haze over everything. I was in a warehouse. There were shouts and gunshots, and a woman was lying on the floor with blood running out of her." Tears filled my eyes. "I think she was dead."

Horror filled Neely Kate's eyes. "Who was she?"

Panic bloomed in my chest. "I don't know."

She hesitated, then asked in a shaky voice, "Do you think it was a vision of something I'm gonna see?"

"I don't know."

Her chest rose and fell as she started to work through what that might mean. "Rose, if it was a vison of something that's going to happen to me…"

"Then the dead woman was probably me," I said.