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“Back before we moved here, the local school system used to give adult education classes there. They helped people get their GED and find jobs. It might have had other uses too. One of the guys in lot five could probably tell you more. They’ve been here longer.”
“It’d be good to know why they stopped the classes. We might be able to bring them back if the tenants want it.”
“Oh, I can tell you why they stopped. Some asshole bought the Ha-Ha and put an end to it.”
“Right,” I breathe, rubbing my hand over the scruff on my face.
“Your father, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
“Did he pass recently?” At my nod, he adds, “Sorry for your loss. You inherited?”
“I did.”
“Sins of the father fall on the son,” he says, not unkindly.
“I’m not like him.” It’s a statement I’ve had to make so many times.
He scrutinizes me for a moment before shrugging. “We’re going to find out, ain’t we?”
Fair enough.
An icy wind blasts me when I step back outside, reminding me that I need to figure out where to sleep tonight since the trailer doesn’t have electricity or heat. It took the electrician about three minutes of inspecting it to tell me not to turn on the power until some extensive work is completed. If I set up my tent in the bedroom with the intact window, that should work temporarily.
My truck has remained parked in front of the community building since that’s where I’ve been working today. I’m not sure how much of a problem theft is around here, but I’ve emptied the bed of anything valuable just in case. It turns out to be a good call considering what I find when I return to it.
The tailgate is gone.
Just gone.
Who the hell steals a tailgate from a truck? That thing was heavy and it’s not the easiest to remove.
“Is something wrong?” a woman standing on the porch of the trailer beside Maren and Ronnie’s calls out. She’s dressed in bright yellow overalls with a green, long-sleeved shirt. A wide headband that appears to be woven out of plant stems strains to hold back a bushy mop of graying curls. She’d look like a character from a child’s storybook even if there wasn’t a bird perched on her shoulder.
The bird flaps its wings as I approach her and I swear, it’s glaring at me. “You haven’t seen someone carrying around a black truck tailgate, have you?” It’s so ridiculous, I can’t help the smile on my face.
“No, but I knew something was going on. I sensed some bad vibes out here. Like last month, when Otis got a dirt bike and thought it’d be safe chained to his front porch.”
“Someone stole a dirt bike?” I ask.
“They stole the whole porch.”
She has to be screwing with me. Still, installing security cameras is added to the mental list of things to do.
“I’m Louise.” She reaches up to run a finger over the bird’s head. “This is Pepper.”
“Cooper. Nice to meet you both.”
A smoke detector begins blaring from inside her trailer. “My food’s done.” With a wave, she disappears back inside and the beeping stops moments later.
I may still have a lot to learn about Happy Haven, but it’s clearly filled with some colorful characters. Which is a good thing. Normal is boring and the worst thing to me is boredom. Something tells me that won’t be an issue here.
My concern that no one would show up to the tenant meeting is unfounded. I’m not sure exactly how many residents there are—updating my records is high on my list of things to get done—but around twenty-five people turn up to attend. Not too bad.
They mill around, talking and casting an occasional sideways glance at me, though few seem to want to speak to me. Dylan enters with two clipboards that he ran out to buy when I realized we needed them at the last minute. He clips a legal pad to each and dumps a few pens on the folding table beside them.
“Is there anything else you need?” Dylan asks.
