Читать книгу The Case Of The Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend - Mabel Maney - Страница 22

“There. That’s the last one.” Midge wedged a large, black rock with a glassy surface and jagged, sharp edges, into the trunk. Although the trunk of the 1959 Chrysler was deep and wide, it had taken some doing to squeeze in all their luggage and Lauren’s entire rock collection. “Good thing we don’t have a spare tire; we’d have no place to put it,” Midge joked. “Golly, Lauren, how the heck did you fit these in here the first time?”

But the girl wasn’t listening. She was busy fretting over her rocks. “I know there’s one missing,” she said. “I don’t see my sample of cobaltite anywhere! One, two, three—”

Midge snapped the trunk shut and locked it. She pocketed the keys. “Lauren, you have dozens of rocks in there. What on earth is your mother going to say when you come home with all of these?”

“My mother has a rock garden,” Lauren explained.

“I thought you said you live in a high-rise apartment in downtown San Francisco,” Midge quizzed her.

A funny look came over Lauren’s face. She thrust her hands into the deep pockets of her worn, dirty overalls and stalked away.

“What did I say?” Midge turned to Velma. “What’s up with her, anyway?”

“She was really embarrassed earlier, Midge,” Velma said. “I’ll go after her. You stay with the car.”

“No, stay here with me,” Midge urged. But Velma didn’t hear her, as she was already running after Lauren.

“I’ll stay here and guard the car in case someone wants to steal these rocks,” Midge joked sourly. It seemed to her Velma was always running after that girl. “She’s gonna spoil her,” Midge thought. She was fishing through her pockets for a cigarette when the tow truck pulled up. A good-looking gal with short gray hair and a friendly manner waved to Midge.

“This must be the place!” the driver cried as she hopped out of the truck cab and ran around to the passenger side, opened the door, and helped Cherry down.

“Thank you ever so much!” Cherry cried as the strong girl scooped her up in her arms and helped her safely to the ground. Cherry blushed as she buttoned her blouse, which had somehow popped a few buttons on the way down. Midge had to grin when she saw how red Cherry’s face was. But her smile turned to a frown when she realized Cherry was alone.

Where was Nancy?

While the capable tow-truck operator got to work, expertly attaching hooks and chains to their automobile, Midge quizzed Cherry as to Nancy’s whereabouts.

“She kept saying how much she needed a drink, so I got her a refreshing soda and left her in a cool spot under a big juniper tree next to the service station,” Cherry explained.

“Not a martini?” Midge joked dryly.

“Why, it’s awfully early to have a cocktail, Midge,” Cherry pointed out. “We haven’t even had supper! Oh, look, there’s Velma and Lauren!” she cried. She had spied the pair walking toward the car arm in arm. And Lauren had a big smile on her face.

The girls piled into the cab of the tow truck. It was so crowded that poor Cherry had to sit practically in the driver’s lap!

“Good thing I’m a good sport,” Cherry thought as she balanced herself on the girl’s strong right thigh. While the confident girl steered the truck over two miles of unpaved, bumpy road, Cherry busied herself asking pertinent questions about their destination, the town of Dust Bin, Wyoming.

“Did you hear that, Midge?” Cherry squealed in delight when she found out there was a square dance that very night. “Maybe we can go while the car’s being repaired! It will be good for us to get some exercise after sitting all day in the car!” She wriggled about in excitement when she thought about how much fun it would be to do-si-do that very night!

“My, that was an invigorating ride!” Cherry exclaimed when they pulled up to the service station. She scampered out of the truck and fanned herself with her handkerchief.

The driver donned a pair of overalls, picked up a heavy box loaded with all sorts of interesting tools, and got right to work on their automobile. Another girl clad in a similar fashion came over to assist her.

“Honey, we’re here,” Cherry called. When there was no reply, she ran to the back of the building and gave a cry of alarm when she realized Nancy was no longer in the cool, shady spot where Cherry had left her.

The mechanic’s assistant informed them as to Nancy’s whereabouts. “Your friend said she was dying of thirst, so I directed her to town,” she said helpfully. “I offered her another cold soda pop, but she said she needed something stronger.”

“She probably went to get a refreshing ice cream soda,” Cherry realized aloud. “Golly, I’m tired. I sure could go for one, too. But first I simply must freshen up!”

Cherry disappeared into the washroom and came back five minutes later looking invigorated and relaxed, and with a new hairstyle and fresh lipstick, besides.

“What’s that smell?” Lauren cried. She wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Pew!”

Cherry blushed to the tips of her toes. “It’s Tabu, Lauren,” Cherry said. The washroom had a perfume dispenser, so Cherry had dropped in a dime and chosen the exotic fragrance.

Lauren held her nose and pretended she was choking.

“Perfume is as important to a girl as scent is to a flower,” Cherry told Lauren in a hurt tone.

Lauren started to laugh but stopped when she saw the disapproving look on Velma’s face. “Uh, I was only kidding. You smell nice, Cherry,” she said in a chagrined tone. “Really. And your hair looks … ah … different, too.” She peeked at Velma, who was smiling in approval. Phew!

“Thank you, Lauren,” Cherry replied. “As my mother always says, a girl can change her hair almost as often as she changes her mind. You know, Lauren,” she continued, “with your long, thick hair, you could wear many different attractive styles. I’ve got some styling lotion and bobby pins in my purse if you’d like to step into the ladies’ lounge with me and try something new.”

Lauren scowled and tucked her long auburn braid under her baseball cap.

Cherry vowed to do whatever she could to guide the young girl along the perilous path to womanhood. “We’ll fix her hair and get her some nice clothes,” Cherry planned to herself. “I’ll bet we’d find a really cute girl under all that dirt.” Then she said to Velma, “Don’t you think Lauren should do something with her hair? Something besides hide it?”

Velma cocked her head and took a good, long look at Lauren.

Cherry smiled when she saw Lauren turn bright red under Velma’s penetrating gaze. “Why, Lauren really does care about her appearance!” Cherry thought. “She just doesn’t let on.”

“I don’t know, Cherry,” Velma replied. “I’m really not the best judge. While I like to do my hair in many different styles, what I really like on a girl is short hair.” She lightly brushed the nape of Midge’s neck with her hand. Midge smiled happily.

“Let’s all go to town for an ice cream soda while the car is being repaired,” Cherry suggested. “And then we’ll be on our way.”

The mechanic shook her head. “I’m afraid you gals are stuck here for the night,” she said ruefully. “It’ll take us all that time to fix what’s broken under the hood, and, besides, the front right wheel-rim is pretty dented and I’ll have to pound it out.

“It will cost approximately forty dollars,” she added.

Cherry groaned. “Nancy will be frantic when she learns we’re delayed yet another day,” she said. “How are we going to get forty dollars for the car repair and money for a motel, not to mention other important things like snacks?” she cried aloud. She flung up her arms in despair and wailed, “Oh, we are never going to get to River Depths!”

“You’re going to River Depths?” A smartly-coifed, middle-aged woman outfitted in a trim, cherry red, worsted boxy jacket and matching straight skirt, poked her head around the side of the garage and smiled at Cherry.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but did you say you were going to River Depths? River Depths, Illinois?” the woman asked. She put down the orange soda she was holding in one neatly gloved hand and slipped off her jacket to reveal a white nylon shell top that, despite the heat, looked band-box fresh.

She noticed Cherry staring wide-eyed at her. “You’re wondering how it is I’ve been sitting in the car all day and I’m still perky as a daisy, aren’t you? It’s the miracle of synthetic fabrics,” the woman announced grandly. Actually, Cherry had noticed how wrinkle-free the woman’s blouse was.

“Now, didn’t you say you were going to River Depths?” the woman queried.

Without thinking, Cherry nodded her head.

Midge groaned. No one was supposed to know that they were speeding to River Depths with Nancy Clue!

“Marty, they’re going to River Depths, too,” the woman called to her friend sitting in the front seat of a white, four-door Buick. Her friend, a handsome brunette with a smart, short hairdo tinged with silver at the temples, smiled and waved at the girls before going back to studying her map.

“We’re from the Wyoming Buffalo Bulletin, sent to cover the story of housekeeper Hannah Gruel, charged in the murder of attorney Carson Clue,” the smartly dressed woman announced importantly. “Marty—that’s my friend over there; her real name is Miss Martha Mannish, but everyone calls her Marty for short. Well, Marty and I decided to do some sightseeing on the way; that’s why we’re driving. By the way, my name is Gladys Gertz. Miss Gladys Gertz. I’m the newspaper’s society editor and Marty’s our wedding photographer. I usually never get to cover exciting crime stories such as this, but because it’s a housekeeper that did the deed, they gave it to me,” she confided with a sunny smile. “It’s my big chance to really dig up some dirt!” She took a starched white handkerchief from her black alligator handbag—which Cherry noticed perfectly matched her low-heeled pumps—and wiped her brow.