Free Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 07 - Missing Milt by Hope Callaghan Page B

watch them have children and raise their family in Belhaven.
    Paul pulled into the drive, shut off the truck and walked around to open Gloria’s door. She slipped out of the seat and the two of them walked hand in hand up the steps.
    Thankfully, she had remembered to leave the porch light on.  She handed Paul her keys and waited while he unlocked the side door.
    Gloria let Mally out and the two of them stood on the porch.  They watched as she raced out to the barn, around the back of the shed and past the garden.  She watered the tree and then patrolled the perimeter of the yard before she trotted up the steps and stopped on the porch.
    Gloria tightened her sweater around her.  “I love fall.  I was thinking about having a little fall get-together this year.  Maybe hook up the old wagon, throw a few bales of hay on it and have an old-fashioned wagon ride.”
    She gazed up at him and asked,  “What do you think?”
    Paul shoved his hands in his pockets.  “I think it’s a great idea.  The kids would love it.”
    She went on. “We could have a bonfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows after it’s over.  Invite all our friends and the kids – even yours.”
    He wrapped his arms around Gloria and pulled her close.  “Sounds like a lot of fun.  When were you thinking?”
    She furrowed her brow.  “Not this weekend.” The boys were coming to finish the tree fort.  Trying to do that plus organize a fall party would be too much.  On top of that, she had the investigation.   “I think the first weekend in October would be perfect.”
    That would give her time to do a little planning.  She hoped Brian could wait that long!

Chapter 9
    “Frances said Milt doesn’t really have any family,” Liz told her sister when Gloria called her the next morning.  “I think there was a nephew he hadn’t seen in several years that lives somewhere out west.”
    “So no one contacted the police to report him missing?”
    Liz grunted.  “No one, if you don’t count Frances.  I think she calls them every single day.”
    Gloria hung up the phone and headed to the washing machine. 
    She pulled her clothes from the washer, dumped them in the laundry basket and headed for the door.  “C’mon Mally.  Let’s go hang some clothes out on the line.”
    Mally popped out of her doggy bed and waited for Gloria to open the door. 
    They stepped out onto the porch. It was shaping up to be a beautiful fall day.  It was the perfect kind of day for hanging clothes on the line. 
    Gloria loved the smell of the fresh air and sunshine on clean clothes.  It was something a dryer couldn’t duplicate, no matter how many dryer sheet companies claimed their product smelled like fresh air. 
    It was sheet day and Gloria had already hung those to dry.  She started on the next row, clipping clothespins to the edges of her slacks and watching them blow in the breeze.  She had just finished hanging her last blouse when Lucy pulled in the drive. 
    Lucy wandered across the lawn. She stopped at the end of the clothesline pole.  “You still hang your clothes out?”
    Gloria’s head whipped around.  She shaded her eyes and stared at her friend. “You don’t?”
    Lucy shook her head.  “Nope but maybe I should.”
    Gloria picked up the empty laundry basket and headed for the house.  The laundry was the last chore on her list and she was ready to get the investigation under way.
    She set the basket near the door, pulled her keys from the hook and grabbed her purse.  “I’ll drive since you drove yesterday.”
    Lucy waited until Gloria had pulled Annabelle from the garage before she climbed in the passenger side.  They drove in silence for several long moments. 
    Gloria could see Lucy was a million miles away.  “Are you alright?”
    There was no answer. 
    “Earth to Lucy,” Gloria teased. 
    “Huh?”
    “I asked if you were alright.”
    Lucy nodded.  “Yeah.  Just thinking about…”
    “Bill?”
    Lucy nodded