Minnie Crockwell - Will Travel for Trouble 01 - Trouble at Happy Trails by Minnie Crockwell Read Free Book Online

condolences and his own unhappiness. He seemed to know the deceased Mr. Richardson well. He did ask about disposition of her “trailer” as you call it, and she said her brother would handle that matter.
    “What did Sally and her brother talk about?”
    They seemed to studiously avoid the subject of her husband, discussing the fine weather today, the time and distance to travel to his home in Oregon…some 440 miles which he stated he could do in 7 hours! The speed of travel in your world continues to astound me!
    “Focus, Ben! What else did they say? Nothing about Carl or the suicide?”
    Not a word. As I said, they seemed intent on avoiding the subject.  
    “Well, that’s odd, don’t you think? It seems like they’d be talking about arrangements for his cremation or something!”
    It does seem dismissive. I think there was no love lost for Carl, though I thought Mrs. Richardson had professed some love for him.  
    “I know!” I jumped up restlessly. Out of my RV door window, I saw a woman come around the side of Jim Brothers’ rig. It was her stealthy movements that caught my attention. Was this “the wife?”
    “Ben! Look!”
    I watched as she lifted the cover of the sewer drainpipe and dropped something inside. Whatever the object had been, it appeared to have been wrapped in plastic.  
    “Oh my gosh, Ben! Are you looking?”
    Yes, dear. I can see the woman. What is she doing? I do not know enough of your contraptions to ascertain her intentions.
    “Oh, gee, this looks like something straight out of the movies!”
    She straightened and vanished around the back of the trailer. I barely had time to register her shoulder-length blonde hair, slender build, and casual black walking shorts and red T-shirt. She appeared to be my age.
    “That has to be Jim’s wife,” I said. I hesitated to open the door. Had I wanted to hide something and was so desperate as to drop it down the sewer pipe, I might look out the window to see that it stayed there.
    “Should I call the police?”
    Do not be too hasty, Minerva. We do not know what she has disposed of. Is that pipe what I think it is?  
    “Yes, it’s the sewer. We all have them. You’ve seen me hook up the sewer hose, haven’t you?”
    I am afraid I have tried to avoid that unsavory aspect of your coach.
    I smiled.  
    “So, you can imagine if someone throws something down there, it stays there for a while.”
    Perhaps it was something she did not want her husband to see.
    “No doubt, but what?”
    I cannot hazard a guess.
    I sat down on the couch and stared at the door. What should I do? If I called the police, what would they do? The only people who would be upset that “the wife” threw something down the sewer pipe (and it hadn’t exploded yet) might be her husband, the park owner, and the wastewater treatment plant. It was probably not something the police would be interested in—if they had determined that Carl killed himself.
    Perhaps to satisfy your curiosity, you should visit your neighbors and meet “the wife.”  
    I jumped up!
    “Good idea, Ben! I’ll do it.”
    I descended the stairs and wondered what pretext I could use to bother my neighbors. My feet kept moving though, so I had to think of something soon. I reached the front of Jim’s RV and knocked on the door, almost hoping no one would answer. How much did my curiosity need to be satisfied anyway?   I had become quite the busybody.
    Jim opened the door, and I forced a smile to my face. It was his wife I wanted to see. Now, I had to come up with something.
    “Can I help you?” he asked.
    “Oh, I was wondering if you’d met the owner? I have to go talk to him, and I wasn’t sure what the office hours were.” It didn’t make a bit of sense, but it was the best I could do at the moment.
    Jim’s lifted a thick gray eyebrow. “Owner? So Sally’s not staying on?”  
    “Oh, no. I think she’s moving to Oregon with her brother.”
    Jim did not invite me in but left me