Part 3 (2/2)
”Board still meeting tomorrow night, Woody?” Pete asked.
”Oh, yeah. Sure. It's a tradition.”
”Like Bruce's wig,” I said.
They both looked at me, confused.
”Never mind,” I said.
Woody finished the second sausage and wiped his greasy hands on his shorts. ”Anyway, yeah. Meeting's tomorrow night at seven.”
”What goes on at the meetings?” I asked.
”Board stuff.”
”Which is?”
Woody rolled his ma.s.sive shoulders. ”Just board stuff. Votes. Discussions. That kinda stuff. People will make some complaints about the fair and want them fixed this year. They'll make suggestions for next year. Most of it'll be nonsense, but there might be a good nugget or two in there. And I'd imagine there'll probably be some talk about George tomorrow now, too.”
”Did you know him?” I asked. ”George?”
Woody rubbed his huge chin. ”You could say that. He was around here a lot. Nice enough fellow. I liked him.” He paused for a moment, considering something somewhere in his ma.s.sive skull. ”But we didn't hang out together or nothing. We didn't get together on Sundays to watch football or go hunting. So I knew him. But we weren't all buddy-buddy.”
His answer was nearly as convoluted as Bruce's, and both of their hemming and hawing started to raise some more questions in my mind.
He glanced at the watch on his wrist. ”I gotta get running, boys. Gotta check on the other stands and make sure everything's running smooth.” He grinned. ”And maybe grab something else to eat. Good to meet you, Deuce. See you later, Pete.”
He took a couple of steps away from us, then stopped.
”You know, I really wasn't friends with George,” he said, looking at me.
”Sure,” I said. ”I understand.”
He blinked several times, something pa.s.sing through his eyes, and he rubbed at the Fu Manchu again. ”Yeah. More like I was aware of him.”
8.
”They both said aware,” I said. ”Don't you think that's odd?”
Julianne and I were standing at the bottom of a ma.s.sive slide, which Carly was about to go down for the ninety-seventh time. It was the safest looking ride at the fair and the only one she could get me to agree to letting her go on.
”They're all odd,” she said.
”Yeah, okay. But I mean they used exactly the same word to describe how they knew him. Or how they didn't know him. Don't you think that's odd? Even more odd?”
Carly bounced down the slide, giggling the entire way. She hit the bottom, scrambled to her feet, and sprinted to the stairway to go up again. I watched it bounce a little as she bounded up, and tried not to envision the whole thing crumpling to the ground.
”The only thing I think is that if this kid doesn't get out of me soon, I'm going to reach up there and pull it out myself,” Julianne said, a hand on her enormous belly.
”I don't think that's physically possible.”
”And I think you are treading on thin ice with a ma.s.sively irritated pregnant woman.” She frowned at me. ”You promised me you wouldn't get involved.”
I held out the lemonade I'd bought and she grabbed it from me, sucking hard on the straw.
”I'm not involved,” I said. ”I was just part of a conversation and I'm just making some . . . observations.”
”Those observations usually get you in trouble.” She handed the empty cup back to me and I tossed it in the trash.
”I just think it's weird.”
Carly bounced down again and sprinted for the stairway.
”Last time!” I yelled.
She made a face at me and started up the steps.
”Well, it is weird,” Julianne said. ”But the whole thing is weird. You found a guy in a freezer. And I feel confident in saying they are all working with limited vocabularies. Maybe they just learned the meaning of aware.”
”Ha. But what if they're ripping everyone off? Including 4-H?”
”I think my ankles are going to explode,” she said, walking in place, her hands braced on her lower back. ”Well, then, if they are embezzling, that's not good.”
”I wanna go to the meeting,” I said. ”Just to listen to them. Pete thinks I'd enjoy it.”
She shook her head. ”No.”
”Come on. One night. I promise not to say a word.”
”You promised to stay out of it and it seems like you are practically in the middle of it already.”
”I promised to stay out of George Spellman's death. This is totally unrelated.”
She glared at me. ”Do you even believe the words that come out of your mouth?”
Carly reached the bottom of the slide again.
”Okay, you're done!” I yelled.
”One more!” she yelled back.
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