Upward and Onward: Collaboration w/ Barb Carlson #10..(Final Installment)

This is part ten of a Tuesday WE collaborative effort of myself and Barb Carlson. In the last installment, Dixie and her friends spoke with the police.If you  missed the first nine installments of this tale , please go back and start  HERE. Barb and I both  I have index' to our tales of Launa and Dixie, so if you have missed the back story of either, please go check them out.

Dixie felt invigorated. Waking up after the first night of sound sleep she had in weeks, she felt wonderful. Many of the events of the last few days may have been forever etched on her psyche as a horrid experience, but right now, she felt on top of the world. "No nightmares. Well, I'll be darned, she really did it."

Throwing on an old, well worn pair of cut-offs, and a raggedy tee shirt, she set about making coffee, humming all the while.

Taking her coffee onto the porch she viewed the scene from the night before with new eyes. The front yard was a complete mess. not only were there still traces of the carnage left by the bear attack, but the formerly well tended yard was full of ruts and muddy tracks left by the police cars and various emergency vehicles.

Not wanting to ruin her delicious mood, she thought,"We can deal with that mess later,"  and returned to the living room of the farmhouse to enjoy her coffee in solitude.

After a mere one cup, she became restless. She had energy to burn, and sitting here in the morning stillness was counterproductive. She laughed to herself, as sitting and enjoying her morning three cups of java, was a habit she had enjoyed for years. Not today, though.

After hastily putting a fresh blueberry coffee cake in the oven for her sleeping friends, she set about straightening the house.

Grabbing the shotgun from the floor where it still lay from the night before, she peered into the barrel to see what was plugging it up. In the light of day, she could see it was paper. Grabbing a pair of hemostats from her purse, she gingerly pulled a single sheet of paper from the gun's barrel.

Unrolling the yellowed piece of ordinary notebook paper, Dixie read:

For whomever finds this note, please contact my attorney,  Mr. Harold Jeffries Esq., @ 555-394-7709  regarding this property and its contents.

Sincerely,
David Talbot

"Well, I'll be damned." Dixie thought, "Maybe Uncle David did have a will, but why doesn't his lawyer know he died? Hmmm...Well, I'll worry about that later."

Placing the paper in her pocket, Dixie decided to give the cars a good scrubbing. The deputies had hosed them off, but they both looked in need of some good old fashioned elbow grease.

***

"Oh, speaking of nightmares...," Tia started.

Launa looked closely at Tia. "You're having nightmares now?"  

Tia's eyes widened at the memory. "Yes, and they're awful. I'm surprised I didn't wake you."

Launa chuckled, "I was in the healing sleep most of the night. As you know, not much wakes me up in that state. I had a bit of a concussion from the bullet nicking me." She looked around the room. "That reminds me, I need to have a bandage on my head when the detective gets here!" She found Dixie's supplies and pulled out a piece of gauze and a roll of paper tape. "Can you doctor me up? I don't need him to be any more suspicious of me than he already is!" She grinned at the look on Tia's face. "Here," she pointed at her scalp where the nick had been. "Put it right here. We'll take care of your nightmares after the detective leaves, okay?"

Tia chuckled and shook her head, then took the supplies from Launa. "You're one odd cookie, Ms. Launa," she said.

Dixie was still rinsing the cars, singing to herself when she saw a black sedan coming up the gravel drive.  Her first instinct was to run for the shotgun in the living room, but she remembered the detective was paying a return visit this morning.

Waving to the approaching vehicle, she realized she was soaked to the skin. "Morning, Detective Benning. How are you this fine day?" Dixie asked as he got out of his car.

"You certainly seem in a good mood for someone who almost got raped and murdered last night. " He asked suspiciously.

"Key word, ALMOST, officer. And yes, I feel pretty damn good today. Best I've felt in weeks. Lets head inside. You hungry?"

Dixie led the Detective into the house, calling out, "Launa, Tia, the Detective is back."

Tia had just put the finishing touches on Launa's bandage when Dixie and the detective walked in.

Noticing that the detectives eyes weren't exactly focused on her face, Dixie smiled knowingly, and headed toward the stairs.  "I think I'll go upstairs and change while you all talk. Back in a jif."

Detective Benning turned to Launa. "You're looking awfully alert, considering what happened yesterday." He raised an eyebrow.

Launa just grinned and said nothing.

He sighed and said, "Yeah, right. You heal fast." He held out a handful of papers. "Here are the complaints you need to sign."

Launa sat down with the papers, scanned them quickly and signed all but the last one. "I'm not pressing charges against Tim," she said.

"What? You're kidding me!" He looked from Launa to Tia and back. "Oh, right, you're friends. I get it." He shrugged and gathered up the papers. "Are you coming back to town soon?"

Tia nodded and said, "Yes, later today. I need to check on Tim." She paused and asked, "Is it safe to go back?"

Detective Benning nodded. "As far as I know, yes. It seems the gang only had five members and we have all of them." He chuckled wryly. "Well, we have four gang members and pieces of the fifth." He shook his head. "This has been the oddest case I've ever been on." He looked at Launa. "And you're the oddest person I've ever met."

"Thanks," Launa said with a grin. "I think."

Dixie came back down stairs in a multicolored sun dress which matched her mood.
She caught Detective Benning eying her appreciatively, and smiled at him.

"Mrs. Black, unfortunately, I have some rather disturbing news. Francis "Skip" Denton decided to file battery charges on you. Are you aware you fractured his nose and his cheekbone, in three places?"

All three women could tell the detective was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"It's Ms., Detective, I'm a widow, but you knew that didn't you?" Dixie said, stunned, "He's charging ME with battery? Oh, that little prick. It was self defense. I'd swear on a stack of bibles it was."

The detective laughed then, a hearty guffaw that surprised them all. "Yeah, but I wouldn't worry too much about him, as long as your friends are willing to sign a statement that he was attacking you, it will most likely just go away. The guys at the station are already giving him hell for getting beat up by a woman. That boy ain't going anywhere anytime soon. He had a list of priors as long as your arm, and two warrants for B & E when he was arrested. Top it with attempted rape and murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and its a safe bet he'll get at least  five to ten if not ten to twenty. "

Dixie let out a long sigh of relief, and sank into one of the kitchen chairs. "Listen Detective, I'm heading back into town today, and I do have something to ask you about. Can I call you at the station when I get home? You seem like a good guy, and I have a problem unrelated to this stuff I need to find out about."

Detective Benning smiled, almost sheepishly, and handed Dixie his card. "I would be pleased if you did, Mizz Black, and you can call me Pete. "

Nodding to Launa and Tia, he retreated through the living room and out the door.

"Well, ladies, the day isn't getting any shorter, so I think I'll pack up and head out. I need to check on Mommy at the home, and work on getting my life back to some semblance of normalcy. What about you two?  You know you're welcome to stay, and if I somehow get to buy this place, you two are welcome anytime. I mean that with all my heart."

The women exchanged phone numbers and went to get ready to leave. Tia and Launa didn't have much to gather and were ready first.

"Thank you SO much, Dixie," Tia said, hugging her new friend. "Call me any time."

Launa hugged Dixie and smiled,  "I appreciate everything you've done. You were a life-saver!" She looked back at the farmhouse. "It's so lovely here. I hope you can buy it. This would be a wonderful place for a vacation." She grinned widely. "As long as you're cooking!"

"Hmmm, that's a thought, Launa. I've always dreamed of owning a Bed and Breakfast. Who knows what the future holds...for any of us?"

Dixie watched as her new friends backed up and out of the drive.Looking around for one last time, Dixie knew she had turned an important corner in her life these past few weeks. Grabbing her bags, she headed back to her life.

"Upward and Onward," she thought as she  stepped on the gas.