Spring Break Murder Page 4

  It all made a lot more sense when we entered the great room of the Candy Cane Palace and there were already several couples there practicing various types of square dancing, as a country western band tuned up on a little stage at one end of the room. I was immediately glad I hadn't worn the miniskirt and knotted up t-shirt that my high school self would have worn to a school dance.

  The band was comprised of a handful of senior citizens. They were all dressed up in matching white button-up shirts, jeans, a red bandanna around their necks and a cowboy hat, all except for the one female member of the band. She wore a long, denim skirt while she played the fiddle.

  Sally and Bill led the way as we came in the door, fielding shouts of hello, hoots and hollers at their matching outfits. Sally had on a big, poofy blue skirt that matched Bill's shirt and they both had on big white cowboy hats that had blue ribbons tied around the base. Most of the couples were dressed in similar outfits, matching each other with big skirts and fancy cowboy hats.

  Mandy and I were nowhere near as fancy. We had both slipped into a sundress and some sandals, not sure what we were getting ourselves into. I was very relieved to see that there were chairs set up along the edge of the room for the spectators where I fully expected to be for the entire evening. Let's just say that I am not the most coordinated person and, seeing as I had never square danced before, I didn't foresee myself joining in the hoopla.

  "Okay everyone, we are ready to start the dancing," the lead cowboy said into the microphone. "If everyone could please make their way to the floor and we will get started with some of the easier dances."

  Mandy and I found some chairs on the edge of the floor and watched the dancers arrange themselves. As the country music started and the lead cowboy started to call out directions, the skirts swirled around the floor as the couples moved around the square.

  I couldn't help myself, clapping along with the music and tapping my toe as the happy couples danced around the floor. Every once in a while, someone would go the wrong way resulting in a collision and the couples in that square would collapse into giggles like a bunch of children.

  At one point, I saw Sally and Bill with big smiles on their face. They looked almost like two teenagers in love. I elbowed Mandy to point it out to her, but her eyes were on the entrance door, a sneer settled on her face.

  Standing in the doorway to the Candy Cane Palace was Cindy with Hilda a half step behind her, never quite able to be Cindy's equal. I wondered what in the world would draw them to this dance. An atmosphere of fun and frivolity did not seem to be Cindy's cup of tea, so what reason could she have for crashing this party?

  Mandy started to stand up, but I caught her arm and pulled her back down into the metal folding chair.

  "What are you doing?" I asked. "Leave Cindy alone."

  "I wanted to apologize," she said. The scowl on her face was unconvincing.

  "Yeah right," I said. "Sit yourself back down."

  Mandy leaned back and crossed her arms, once again looking like a petulant child. She was trying to avoid looking at me, but I just rolled my eyes at her. I went back to watching the dancers circle around, stepping together and apart and occasionally switching partners.

  Suddenly, Louise caught my eye storming across the edge of the dance floor towards the entrance. As always, she seemed a bit awkward. Where the other dancers looked tidy and put together, Louise was just a little bit off. Her shirt was partially untucked, giving her a rumpled appearance and from what I could see, she and her husband's outfits were not at all matching.

  She made her way all the way to the entrance where Cindy watched her approach with a sort of devilish glint in her eye. I had to admit that of all the people to come confront me, I would be the most amused about sweet Louise coming over. She may not be the most intimidating, but her determination was to be admired.

  "I'm going to grab a cupcake," I said to Mandy. She gave a distracted nod of her head even though I could tell she hadn't heard me at all. If she had, I think she may have come with me. She couldn't stop staring at Cindy in all of her glory. Her poodlelike hair was piled high on her head and a cowboy hat was perched on top, teetering a bit as she surveyed the crowd.

  The food table was located right next to the entrance, so it gave me a convenient excuse to eavesdrop on the conversation, not that I actually needed to be that close to them. The music was blaring so loudly that Louise and Cindy were practically screaming at each other.

  "You better not have come to cause more trouble," Louise shouted. Her skirt was swishing from side to side as she practically vibrated with anger. "You mark my words: if you cause trouble here, you will regret it. You've ruined everything else. You aren't going to ruin this dance too."

  As I grabbed a cupcake, someone brushed past my arm. I turned and saw it was Susie but when I tried to say hello, she didn't seem to hear me. It seemed she was headed towards the entrance to back up Louise.

  "Oh shut it," Cindy said. "I know you feel more than a bit insecure about your place in the Dolls. And you should, because that place was rightfully mine. But you don't have to put on this sort of spectacle for everyone just to try to show your superiority."

  "That's enough," Susie said as she joined them. "We all know you like to pick on those who seem defenseless, but you just try to pick on me. Your words don't hurt me and if we come to blows, I'm pretty sure I could beat you."

  I took a bite of the cupcake and while I chewed up the overly sweet frosting along with the slightly dry cake, I had to admit that Susie was right. She was the most fit senior citizen I had ever seen and honestly, she was more physically fit than most of the people I knew who were my age. I'm not sure what she did to work out, but her arms were nicely toned. I had to assume a mixture of tennis and maybe a rowing machine.

  Cindy still had not said a word to the odd pair of women who had confronted her. Hilda stood behind her, nervously chewing off the pink lipstick she had applied for the dance. After a moment, Hilda took hold of Cindy's sleeve and gave a small tug, backing up like she wanted to just disappear back into the night, but Cindy stood her ground.

  "Ha, are you threatening me?" she said with a giggle. "That was directed towards both of you. I mean, only one of you threatened me physically but they were threats all the same. I came to enjoy the music, just like the two of you."

  Cindy seemed to actually be enjoying this encounter. I was close enough to it that I could study her face and instead of being flustered by all of this attention, she seemed to be thriving on it. Cindy kept licking her lips like she was excited by the possibility of a bigger confrontation and more people watching.

  As I munched on my subpar cupcake, I realized that the reason Cindy was like this was probably a lot like some of the guys who were the enforcers on hockey teams. They knew they wouldn't be the star of the show and that they wouldn't be the goal-scoring hero, but they also knew they had a place in people's hearts as almost a sort of villain.

  Staring at Cindy standing in the doorway, I realized that she lived for this attention. And in that moment, I felt sad for the Poodle Woman. She had Hilda, but I got the idea that being around Hilda was a bit like being best friends with a wet sponge. Cindy must crave attention and she had definitely found a way to get more of that.

  "Why are you eating a second cupcake?" Mandy said as she appeared at my side. "They are kind of gross."

  I looked down and realized that I'd been so wrapped up in this situation that I had grabbed another cupcake and had already eaten a few bites of it before I even knew what was happening. At least I had taken the paper off first.

  "It was part of my excuse to come over here," I said.

  "That explains the first one, but not this one," she hissed.

  "Well what are you doing here?" I asked. Last time I had looked at her, she had still been sitting cross-armed in the metal folding chair where I had left her.

  "I came to my senses and saw that you had come over here for a better view and I couldn't let you have a
ll the fun," Mandy said. "Besides, depending on what happens, I have a few choice words for the Dog Lady."

  "Poodle Woman," I said before I became aware of the fact that I'd just become complicit in the mean nickname they called Cindy, even if her hair did look vaguely poodlelike. "I mean, not that we should call her that either because it is pretty mean when you think about it."

  Mandy appeared to be thinking about it for sure but judging by the fire in her eyes, the devil on her shoulder was winning this round. I was starting to get a small glimpse of what Mandy regularly dealt with when she had to pull me back from the brink. I felt like we had somehow switched roles during this trip.

  I looked back towards the door to see Cindy push between Louise and Susie into the gymnasium. Most of the square dancers seemed to still be oblivious to the scuffle that was threatening to throw down at the doors. But Cindy didn't get far into the dance because as I turned to see who else was paying attention, Mandy slipped by me and grabbed Cindy's arm.

  "You need to leave," she said. "You aren't welcome here."

  "Mandy!" I shouted. I could see from the wince of pain that crossed Cindy's face that Mandy was holding her arm just a bit too tight to be friendly.

  "She's welcome here," Hilda squeaked as she scurried over. "She lives here in the park. You don't even live anywhere near here."

  "Mandy, you need to stop," I said firmly as I grabbed her other arm. "Let her go. You're taking this too far."

  I looked Mandy in the eyes and as the veil of anger slowly dropped, she loosened her grip on Cindy's arm until Cindy was able to shake herself free. Mandy's eyes filled with tears as she started to understand exactly what she had been doing.

  "I could have you arrested for that," Cindy hissed. "But I might just settle for getting your parents out of this park once and for all."

  "You do that and I will make you pay," Mandy screamed. "Consider that a legitimate threat to your safety."

  At that moment, the band leader announced a break in the dancing and the music stopped for a moment, just in time for everyone to hear Mandy's screams. All of the dancers swiveled their heads to see what was happening, their smiles slowly melting off of their faces.

  Cindy smiled a slow, evil grin once more time before she threw up her hands and turned to leave, letting Mandy's threat hang in the air as the last word. Hilda stared at Mandy for a moment, her eyes as big as dinner plates before turning to scurry after her one friend in the world.

  The crowd parted as Bill and Sally walked towards us. Both of them looked concerned, which was an odd contradiction to the fun outfits they were wearing. A single tear fell down Mandy's face as she sniffled. In a way, it was oddly reminiscent of a junior high dance now that someone was crying.

  Chapter Seven

  The upbeat music was swirling around us and the dancing had started back up, but it was not quite as joyful as before. Part of the reason was that Bill and Sally were sitting with us now on their own uncomfortable, metal folding chairs instead of leading the fun out on the dance floor. As the dancers whirled by, some of them would throw glances toward us trying to figure out if they should stop and see if they could help or just keep dancing. But Bill and Sally were a bit intimidating on top of their pedestal of being unofficial park leaders and all of the dancers instead chose to simply throw some smiles and winks towards them in a friendly, supportive manner as they spun and twirled around the dance floor.

  Once Cindy and Hilda left, I put my arm around Mandy and squired her away from the fray and back to the spectator chairs with Bill and Sally following close behind. For a while, we tried to start a conversation by commenting on the dancing or some of the outfits, but soon enough we lapsed into silence. No one wanted to talk about Mandy confronting Cindy or what that could mean in the long run. We sat, frozen in place, hoping the joy around us would warm us out of our stupor.

  "I think I need to get the Dolls together," Sally said suddenly as she jumped to her feet. "We need some emotional support."

  Sally and her floofy skirt swished off into the sea of dancers. I looked at Bill, but he just shrugged. I'm not really sure what the Dolls were going to be able to offer us, but maybe Sally just couldn't think of anything else to do in that moment.

  Soon enough, the Dolls started to appear out of the crowd. Kathy and Karen came arm in arm in matching outfits. I wondered if their husbands had been made to match each other but then I remembered that those two might also be twins, not that the fact that they were twins meant they automatically wanted to dress alike.

  Marie jingled up with more bangles up her arms than she had been wearing earlier. I wondered how many she actually owned. Behind her came Lynn, her hair still teased high to the sky. She was the only one who wasn't wearing a cowboy hat. I got the impression that her hair was her crowning glory and no hat was going to potentially ruin that.

  The Dolls formed a semi-circle around us, chattering away to each other and to us even though Mandy, Bill, and I were all silent. To them, silence was simply a space to fill with small talk and petticoats.

  "Has anyone seen Louise or Susie?" Sally said as she bustled back into the group. "I can't seem to find them anywhere."

  All of the Dolls looked back and forth at each other, each one shaking their head in turn. Apparently Louise and Susie had gone missing. I thought back to their confrontation with Cindy. Even though it had been much quieter than Mandy's conversation, it had felt just as intense to me.

  "The last time I saw them was before Mandy was talking to Cindy," Lynn finally said with shrug, her hair sprayed too stiff to move with her motion. "They both talked to her first."

  "Well, let's spread out and see if we can find them," Sally said.

  She snapped her fingers and the Dolls were on the move, fanning out through the crowd like they had practiced this maneuver. I could almost imagine them all sniffing the ground like a pack of bloodhounds on the case of their missing friends. I was so intrigued with watching this clique of women that I didn't notice Mandy wasn't sitting next to me anymore until Bill jumped to his feet.

  "Mandy, wait," he shouted at her back.

  Mandy turned and I could see now that her face was tear-streaked. The emotions she had been holding back were spilling over, unable to be contained. She looked at Bill and I and shook her head fiercely, obviously telling us not to follow her. Then she turned and ran out the double doors. I stood up next to Bill but he turned and firmly pointed his finger at me.

  "You stay here," he said. "You keep the Dolls in line and I will go figure out where Mandy is going."

  I opened my mouth to protest, but snapped it back shut as Bill and his cowboy hat dashed out of the gymnasium. The dancers kept whirling around and around as the Dolls dashed between them, almost a part of the dance themselves. The members of the band kept glancing at the rogue women, scowling slightly as they tried to figure out exactly what was going on. I wasn't sure of that myself.

  After some time, the same five members of the Dolls reconvened around me and the two now empty chairs that had previously been occupied by Mandy and Bill. Apparently they had been unable to find the two missing members of the group.

  "Aw heck, where did Bill and Mandy go now?" Sally said. "Don't tell me that we are now missing four people."

  "Well kind of," I said. "Mandy got really upset and ran out, but Bill followed her. So I don't know where they are but I wouldn't exactly say they are missing."

  "If we don't know where they are, I consider them missing," Marie said as she rolled her eyes, her bangles clanging together as she let out a big, shoulder-rolling sigh.

  "Okay fine, they're missing," I said. "But if you all keep running around on that dance floor, I think the band leader might come down here and run you out of the dance once and for all."

  "Let's go out and start searching the park then," Sally said. "Karen and Kathy, you start with Louise's place. Marie and Lynn, you head to Susie's. Tessa, you're with me. We will figure out where Bill and Mandy went."

 
; With a sharp nod of their heads and a feeling like we should have all put our hands in and yelled 'break,' the older women all turned and practically ran out the doors back into the park, their heels click-clacking out of the gymnasium. I had to hustle to keep up with them and once again I was confronted with the fact that I really should start exercising more often.

  Spilling out into the evening, I stopped short outside of the gymnasium. The other women scurried away in different directions while I took a deep breath and looked around. The sky was a dusky pink orange color and the air was still warm. Unfortunately instead of being able to enjoy this beautiful night, I had joined a roving band of elderly women investigators to find our missing friends. Sally was walking the patio outside of the Candy Cane Palace, but she quickly walked back to where I was standing.

  "I don't think there's anyone out on the patio," she shouted over the sounds of the loud music. "Obviously we can see most of it and the only part we can't see is the pool area. I'll just have Bill check that when he closes up the pool later."

  I thought about pointing out to her that Bill was currently missing, but decided against it. Sally took off into the park before I could say anything to her and I tried my hardest to keep up with her.

  After a semi-frantic search that seemed to last for an hour but was more like twenty very intense minutes, the Dolls and I gathered back up by the Candy Cane Palace. The country music was still spilling out of the doors to the gymnasium, but none of us made any move to go back inside.

  "So Louise is back at home," Sally said. "But we still can't find Susie, Bill, or Mandy. What should we do?"

  "At this point I think we just have to leave them be," Marie said. "I'm sure they didn't go far. Let's just go wind up this square dance and call it a night. Tessa, you go on and take Sally home while we collect our husbands and pay the band."