Chapter 15
A week had passed, and not much had gone on. Darrell's funeral service came and went. Deja decided on not attending because she knew Celeste would be there and she didn't want there to be a scene.
It was 6 o'clock in the morning and Deja was up and ready to go. Mort would be there in another 30 minutes or so and she was more than ready for their nice long vacation. Her bags sat patiently by the front door as Deja sat on her living room couch, pretending to be watching television. In actuality she was looking out the window every five seconds to see if she could spot Mort's Ford pulling up.
Before he even he had a chance to get out of his car good enough, Deja dashed out the house and greeted him with the biggest hug he'd ever had. He could tell she was delighted to see him. It made him feel good all over.
"Miss me much?" he said, laughing.
"Nah, not too much. I just enjoy going around giving people hugs," she laughed back.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Am I! I've never needed a break from my day to day routine as much before."
"Well then, let's not put this off any further," and with that he went into the house, grabbed her bags and they were on their way.
At almost 9 am, they arrived in Tashmore Lake at Mort's home. Deja got settled in, unpacked and then joined Mort outside on the front porch. It was too nice of a day to be cooped up inside. She had brought out with her two glasses of cold lemonade. It was just the refresher they needed.
Sitting down on the bench next to Mort she said, "There isn't enough food in the fridge to last us for the rest of the week."
After taking a sip of his lemonade, Mort suggested he drive into town to pick up whatever items they needed.
"You've been driving all day," Deja said, "Why don't you stay here and relax and I'll go into town. I know how to get there so it shouldn't be a problem."
"Well...if you don't mind..."
"Not at all," she said, winking at him. With that, she took her last swig of lemonade and headed in the house. She saw Mort's keys on the key hanger, grabbed them along with her purse and headed towards the car. She saw Mort exit the driver's side and walk in her direction. "Here you go," he said and handed her $100, "That should be enough."
Deja kissed him on the cheek, got into the car, and was on her way into town. Once she entered the store, she didn't feel all eyes on her like she did the last time. Maybe they remembered her, she thought. She took about 30 minutes to get all the necessary things and made her way to the counter.
She recognized the girl working there. "Hi...Diana right?"
"Yeah, how'd you kn...," Diana began, "Oh, you were here a few months back with," she paused, "Mr. Rainey."
"Yeah," Deja said happily. She began to unload her groceries on the counter so Diana could ring them up.
And then out of nowhere, Diana began to speak in a hushed tone. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"No," Deja replied, wondering what Diana wanted to know.
"It doesn't bother you...about Mr. Rainey?"
"Does what bother me?" Deja was confused.
"Well, you know..." Diana leaned in closer to Deja, "with the murders and all."
"What murders?" Deja asked sincerely.
"The four murders that happened here a few years back," Diana said it as though Deja had to know what she was talking about.
"I'm totally lost here," Deja confessed, "who murdered who?"
"You mean to tell me you don't know?" by now Diana had completely stopped ringing up Deja's groceries.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Deja was beginning to get frustrated.
"Forget I said anything," Diana said quickly. She went back to ringing up the groceries.
"What do you mean forget it? I need some clarification."
"Just forget I said anything, it's not important," she rang up the total, "Your total comes out to be $56.74."
"I'm not just gonna drop this," Deja said, ignoring Diana's earlier statements, "I want to know what these murders have to do with me."
"Look, just forget it. I'd appreciate it if you just paid for your things and left," Diana seemed to be getting nervous.
"Fine," Deja finally gave in. This shopping trip had turned in a strange direction and she was ready to leave. She gave Diana $60 and told her to keep the change. She rushed out of the building and put the bags into the car as quickly as possible. She cranked up the car and just as she was about to back up, she saw Diana run over to the passenger's side.
Deja rolled down the window to see what she wanted. "Look," Diana began, "you didn't hear this from me, and I beg you not to tell Mr. Rainey what I'm about to say, but about five years ago four people went missing. It was Amy, his wife; Ted, her boyfriend that she left Mr. Rainey for; Tom, a local; and this guy from the city named Ken," Deja was trying to take all this information in because Diana was in such a rush to spit it out, "they all had ties to Mr. Rainey. To this day no one has found their bodies. Everyone knows he did it, the police just didn't have enough evidence to put him away."
"What!" Deja couldn't believe her ears.
"If you don't believe me, you can go to the local library and research it. You should be able to come across some old newspaper clippings or something. Anyway, the guy is nuts and I suggest you leave him alone as fast as you can." And with that Diana ran back into the store.
Deja didn't know what to do with all the information she'd just taken in. It was too much. Mort a killer? She had to laugh at that thought. Just because these people went missing didn't mean Mort had something to do with it. She decided to go back to the cabin and ask Mort exactly what was going on.
