Chapter 16
Gloria sprinted across the coffee shop, meeting Rose halfway. “Rose Morris.” She wrapped her friend in a warm hug, sudden tears burning the back of her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Johnnie went on a fishing trip with some friends, so I figured if he can play hooky for a few days, then so can I. I found a last-minute deal on a flight and here I am.”
“Good for you.” Gloria held her at arm’s length, taking note of her sophisticated new shoulder-length hairdo. There was something else. “You lost some weight.”
“More than some. I got rid of the other body that was trapped inside.” Rose twirled in a circle. “And I feel good .”
“You look fabulous.” Gloria felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Margaret standing behind her. “It’s my turn.”
“Sorry. I got so excited to see Rose.” Gloria stepped off to the side while Margaret hugged their close friend. “We’ve missed you.”
“And I’ve missed you too.” Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t realize just how much until I drove into town, past Dot’s Restaurant, the flea market and post office, all of our old stomping grounds. I even drove by our old house.”
“Where you almost blew your kitchen up?” Lucy chuckled.
Rose pinched her thumb and index finger together. “It was only a small fire.”
“Good times. Those were some good times. Do you need a place to stay?” Gloria asked. “Paul and I have plenty of room.”
Liz spoke up. “Rose is staying with us.”
“And me,” Dot added.
“Liz was the one who contacted me. She invited me to the shindig at her fancy new place. We got to plotting and planning and here I am.”
“Dot wasn’t in on it?” Lucy asked.
“Only at the very last minute,” Rose said. “We wanted everyone to be surprised.”
The friends all started talking at once while Paul stood on the sidelines watching the joyful reunion. Gloria caught his eye and made her way over. “Did you know about Rose’s visit?”
“Nope. As I said, your sister is good at keeping secrets.” Paul gazed down at his wife, a look of pride etched on his face. “You did it. You jumped out of a plane.”
Gloria swiped a hand across her brow. “Barely. There were moments I had second thoughts. Margaret went first.”
Margaret, hearing her name, eased in next to her friend. “Skydiving was a blast. I felt like a bird soaring across the bright blue skies.”
“And I felt like a big boulder being tossed out of a plane,” Gloria joked. “I’ve maimed the instructor for life.”
“Maimed him?” Lucy held up a hand. “In our excitement about Rose’s arrival, we almost forgot about the skydiving adventure. What happened to your instructor?”
“I screamed bloody murder most of the way down. He ended up having to visit the medical center after we got done because of the ringing in his ears.”
“At least you didn’t choke him,” Dot said.
“We were hooked together with me facing in the opposite direction, which is probably a good thing. I’m sure it’s designed that way to keep the instructors safe.”
“From what we could see, it looked like nothing but smooth soaring,” Ruth said. “Would you do it again?”
“No,” Gloria said.
“Yes,” Margaret blurted out.
“We have a no and a yes. You mentioned chatting with Vlad after the skydiving ended,” Liz reminded them.
Gloria and Margaret took turns filling them in on what Vlad had told them. “The bottom line is, according to Vlad, the authorities are close to making an arrest.”
“And you think it’s going to be Floyd?” Liz clenched her jaw. “This is awful.”
“He didn’t say for certain, but Vlad claims Keller knew the shooter, a farmer, unless it was another farmer.”
“It could be Ivan Gregware,” Margaret said. “He did not like Keller—at all. He keeps a gun in his pickup and is also a farmer. I’m sure he and Tristan Keller knew each other.”
“Vlad also mentioned some sort of property dispute,” Gloria reminded her. “Which is what Floyd also said. Keller was after your property.”
“Gregware also doesn’t live there,” Paul said. “He would have had to time it just right to be there when the plane was shot.”
Gloria tapped the top of the table. “Floyd was out feeding the pigs when you heard the gunshot.”
“Correct,” Liz confirmed. “I ran downstairs as soon as I heard it. Floyd was over by the pens. He also heard the popping sound and was trying to figure out what it was.”
“Was he carrying a gun?”
“No.”
“Where does Floyd keep his guns?” Paul asked.
“He has a gun safe downstairs, one in our bedroom and…” Liz’s voice faded. “There is one more spot.”
Paul caught Liz’s eye. “Out in the barn?”
“Yes,” she answered in a quiet voice. “We’ve seen bears wandering around. He uses the gun to scare them off.”
“Maybe bears aren’t the only thing he was scaring off,” Gloria said.
“Floyd did not shoot Tristan Keller’s plane down,” Liz insisted. “He wouldn’t harm a fly, not even nuisance bears.”
“Do you think he might be tempted to shoot toward the plane to scare Keller off?”
“I don’t know. It was bad. The man was driving us crazy, not to mention throwing stuff at us.”
Gloria turned to her husband. “What will happen to Floyd if investigators determine he was the one who shot the plane down?”
“It’s a felony charge. He could go to prison.”
Liz’s lower lip trembled. “Floyd didn’t do it.”
“Then we need to figure out who did,” her sister said. “And we need to move fast.”
“At warp speed,” Paul added. “The FAA won’t mess around.”
“I say we start by checking out Keller’s social media page. Perhaps we’ll be able to glean some clues about him online,” Ruth suggested. “We can go to my place. It’s the closest to where we are now.”
“Social media can be hit or miss but it’s worth a try.”
“I need to head home to grab Mally,” Paul said. “I promised to help Andrea and Brian fix their back fence.”
Mally, Gloria and Paul’s pup, adored the couple’s twins. The feeling was mutual, which meant every time they visited the young family, Mally went with them.
“Give Daisy and Trace a big smooch from Nana and tell them I’ll see them soon.”
“I’ll let Andrea know you’re in the midst of a Liz crisis.”
“Let her know Rose is here and we’ll get together soon to visit. For now…at least for today, we have our hands full.” Gloria shifted her gaze, absentmindedly staring out the window, watching as a small plane flew by. “There is one more thing we need to take a closer look at. Unfortunately, this one might be a little tricky.”