Bye Bye Bertie by Mehl Nancy

Author:Mehl, Nancy [Mehl, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, small town life, cozy mystery, romance, inspirational
Publisher: Greenbrier Book Company
Published: 2012-01-20T07:00:00+00:00

I sighed. “My goodness, does the whole town know about this?”

Elmer chuckled. “You’ve been in Winter Break long enough to know that news travels faster than the speed of light.”

“Yeah,” I said dryly. “As fast as the speed of Bertha Pennypacker’s mouth.”

Elmer nodded. “You got that right.”

“Elmer, did you know Bert Bird?” I asked.

“Yes, in fact, he used to help me sometimes. After his father died, I would pay him to sweep out the place. I couldn’t give him much, but I hoped that whatever he managed to earn here would help out his family a little.”

“Were you surprised when he left?” I asked.

Elmer frowned. “Well, no. Ruby told everyone he was going to stay with relatives from out of town. Things were really tough for her then. What surprised me was that he never came back.”

“Other people tell me he was so frustrated with trying to keep the farm going that he stayed away because it was too much for him.”

Elmer leaned forward as if there might be someone else in the room besides my dad and me. “Ivy,” he said in a low voice, “I never believed that. After his father’s death, Bert’s number one concern was his mother.” He shook his head slowly. “That boy was dedicated to her. Yes, it might have been hard on him for a while there, but I still don’t understand why he’s stayed away all these years. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Then what do you think happened, Elmer?”

“I think he’s dead,” he said softly. “If that boy could have come home, he would have.” He shrugged his small, rounded shoulders.

Amos’s story about overhearing Morley Watson and Dewey talk about Bert flooded my mind. “Surely someone would have been notified if he’d passed away, Elmer.”

Elmer sighed. “Depends on how he died. Maybe there was foul play. We just handled a funeral for a man who disappeared from Dodge City a couple of years ago. Someone found his body buried in a field about ten miles out of town. The farmer that dug him up didn’t even know it was a skeleton at first. Thought he’d uncovered some old tree roots.”

I felt the blood drain from my head and run straight down to my toes. I stood up in an attempt to force the blood back up to my brain where I seriously needed it now. “And a city girl might think they’re tree roots, too,” I mumbled. “Elmer, I think you’d better find a shovel and follow me out to the peach orchard. I’m pretty sure I know just where we’ll find Bert Bird.”

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