Free Bury the Hatchet in Dead Mule Swamp by Joan H. Young Page B

the enemy? I could end up with no friends at all as a
result of this scheme.
    “Tell me what you’re
thinking.” Jerry broke my concentration.
    “I think it’s pretty
far-fetched,” I blurted out.
    Jerry smiled broadly again.
“But worth a try?”
    “I’m not sure. You are
asking me to risk losing my best friends.”
    “Friends, plural?” he
asked.
    “Yes, you must be aware of
how Adele Volger feels about you. She wouldn’t be happy at all to
see you dating me.”
    “Ana, Adele is an old
friend. She likes me a great deal. I like her. We tried seeing each
other for a while after our spouses died, but we aren’t suited for
each other as a couple. If I let Adele in on the plan, and have her
blessing, would you agree?”
    “You know Adele can’t keep
a secret for ten minutes,” I challenged.
    “There is that. Hmm. All
right. I’ll have to think about how to handle Adele.
    I switched to discussing
the other prong of attack. It seemed safer. “You have a building in
mind for the seduction of Cora?” I twisted my lips into a grin that
I hoped looked ironic rather than sarcastic.
    “Of course. I’ve bought the
old school building.”
    I laughed loudly and one of
the remaining couples in the restaurant stared at us for a moment.
I shook my head and added, more quietly, “I should have
known.”
    “I had a moment of concern.
It’s sat empty for over thirty-five years, and then when I went to
make the city an offer, they said someone else had put in a bid.
That lady who bought the small building on my block...”
    “Virginia
Holiday?”
    “Yes. She managed to get
herself listed as the realtor, and she wouldn’t even talk to me.
Then, one day, Harold Fanning called me up and said Ms. Holiday had
dumped the property back on the city, that her potential buyer fell
through. He wanted to know if I was still interested.”
    “So you worked through
Holiday Realty?”
    “No, I bought it directly
from the city. They weren’t happy with the cost of all the
paperwork they’d done, just to have it revert to them in a
month.”
    “How do you propose to tell
Cora?” The word “propose” seemed eerily appropriate.
    “I’m not sure yet. I’m
still working on that part of the plan.”
    “This is sort of crazy,” I
began, unwrapping another candy and popping it in my mouth for the
fortifying effects of the chocolate. “My son, Chad, was here last
month.”
    “I heard about it, but I
didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him.”
    “He thinks that old
building is creepy, and he wanted me to find out about renting it
for a weekend so he and some friends could come here at the end of
October and scare each other silly. But I couldn’t find out who
owned it. I also talked to Harold, but it must have been when that
new woman had it tied up. He wouldn’t tell me a thing.”
    “A Halloween Party, eh?”
Jerry mused. “Not bad, but too narrow an appeal.”
    “What are you talking
about?”
    “I need an adult audience.
A spooky event wouldn’t draw enough townspeople.”
    “To what?”
    Jerry leaned in and took my
hand. “How about a Harvest Ball? Would you do me the honor of
attending with me?”
    I let Jerry continue to
hold my hand but shook my head and said, “I’m not following
you.”
    He released my hand and
held up four fingers. “I need four things. One, I need the
building. That’s accomplished.” With the other hand, he folded his
index finger into his palm. “Two, I need a reason to start cleaning
it up, check the plumbing and all that, without having to make up
some outrageous business adventure that no one would believe. I was
so concerned someone else was trying to buy it that I haven’t even
checked out the interior condition, I just bought it.
    “Then, I have to get Cora
and a large group of citizens all in the same place at the same
time, so I can present it to her. Last, she has to be shocked
enough, and off-balance enough to realize that she cares about me.”
His fingers were now