No Accounting for Murder

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Puzzled by the mayor's reaction to her questions, Carly continued home. She hadn't accomplished as much as she'd hoped, and if the mayor continued to avoid her, it looked like her appointment with him at five o'clock would not happen.

While her mind worked over the information she learned that day and tried to fill in the blanks for what she didn't know yet, she remembered the box in her back seat. She'd been out in her car earlier today and forgotten to mail it. Grabbing her purse and keys again, she drove to the small post office nestled between the bank and the dress shop. The post office was empty of customers and Mavis, the postmistress, seemed glad for some company.

"Not too busy here today, is it?" Carly's voice echoed off the old woodwork and tile floors of the hundred-year-old lobby. She loved the smell of wood polish and sealing wax.

"Not very busy most days."

Carly couldn't imagine a job where she sat around waiting for people to come in.

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Not at all. I keep busy. Sort the mail, bag it up to be sent out, stock supplies at the counter." Mavis grinned. "It's nice working at a job you really like."

Carly nodded. "I know what you mean. I really like my job."

"Right. Something to do with accounting, isn't it?"

Carly straightened a pile of change of address packets on the counter. "Uh-huh. I help find missing money."

Mavis smiled. "Sounds like a treasure hunt. Is it as much fun as it sounds?"

"Sometimes. I sure don't like filing."

Mavis's laugh filled the room. "Understood. I don't like filing all those circulars that come in. And those wanted posters." She shuddered. "Boy, those folks look like criminals. I mean, where do they get those pictures?"

Carly's gaze went to the clipboard near the front door displaying the latest in the FBI Ten Most Wanted. Sad to think some were husbands, fathers. And all of them were someone's children. "Too bad we even have to have those on display."

The smile fled from Mavis's face. "I'm glad that kind of thing doesn't go on here in Bear Cove. This is a safe town to raise kids. I hardly ever lock my car doors and my house door only gets locked at night."

"I used to be the same way. Now, I'm not sure. . . " Carly dropped her gaze to her hands, twisting them together. She hadn't realized how uneasy she felt.

"What do you mean? Not sure about what?"

Carly leaned in over the counter and lowered her voice. "Well, this adult entertainment facility that's going outside the town limits. What will be going on out there? What will this mean for our homes, our children?"

Mavis's eyes opened wide. "Adult entertainment facility? What have I missed?"

Carly quickly filled her in on what she knew, omitting her meeting with the mayor earlier.

Mavis listened in silence, her eyes misting over. "We've got to stop this from happening." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "We can't have people like that coming in here, taking over our town.

"I agree, but what can we do about it?"

"We've got to find out who these people are and somehow expose them."

"As postmistress, you'd probably be one of the first to know who might be new in town, wouldn't you?"

"Sure. That's the first thing folks do. They come in with a change of address." Mavis pointed to the stack of forms near Carly's elbow. "Thanks for straightening those up. The Miller kids were in here with their mother. They knocked them over."