On I would like to thank Julie Demers, especially for helping me with the story about Maggie and progression with Morbidda Destiny.
Toxic
Dawn stepped out of the shower and slipped on her bellbottom jeans that were frayed at the bottom. She put on a long-sleeved lightweight gauzy green top with bell sleeves and tie-dye sneakers. She curled the bottom of her long blonde hair and put on her makeup. It was a natural look but still a little bit fancier than every day. She got mixed reactions from Logan, Mary Anne, and the kids when she told them she was going out to dinner with "Coach Bart" that night, but she thought the jury was overall pleased.
"Dawn, Bart is here for you," Mona buzzed in on the intercom. She waited for a few minutes and then grabbed her purse and headed downstairs.
Bart had arrived wearing starched jeans and a band t-shirt. His hair was perfectly combed and had shaved and wore nice shoes. The kids stared at him like she was from outer space.
"You look gorgeous Dawn. You ready to go?"
"Sure."
They got into Bart's blue sports car and drove off to Cabbages and Kings.
"So, what's going on with the uranium case?'
" Woah, you don't waste any time do you?'
"Well, I care a lot about the environment. I want whoever did this to get caught.'
" I care about the environment too. That's why I decided to get into parks and recreation. You know how much baseball I played and coached when we were younger. It always bothered me when I saw trash and stuff after the games. And the scenery is pretty nice too."He glanced over at Dawn to see if he had won any brownie points.
Dawn smiled. "I agree. That's why I spend so much time there."
"Is that the only reason you spend so much time there?" he asked.
Dawn didn't answer. "I signed up for the Rainforest marathon. I'm going to be training every day."
"I signed up for it too. The Rainforest is so important for our ecosystem."
They reached Cabbages and Kings and got out of the car. The waiter sat them in a quiet corner in the back. Dawn ordered the tofu delight and Bart got the three-leaf salad.
"So, what about this uranium case? " Dawn asked for the second time.
"Well, I remembered what you said about the chemistry sets. They had been banned in 1960 for uranium, cyanide, all kinds of harmful things."
"Yes, well I already knew that part. We studied it in a class I took back in California."
"Yeah well, I didn't. And when I was researching that I also found this." He took out his phone and showed her a picture of one of the chemistry sets.
"So? Those are the sets we saw in the garbage bag. I don't understand."
"Dawn, look at the company name."
" The Porter Chemical Company?"
"Uh-huh. The Porter Chemical Company. Porter..as in.."
" Tabatha Porter! You think Morbidda Destiny has something to do with this, too?" Dawn was suddenly interested and scooted her chair over closer to Bart.
"Dawn, I did some searching, and Morbidda's family-owned and manufactured the chemistry sets. They made a bundle, even selling sets to schools that had low funds for chemistry equipment or had chemistry clubs. But things started happening and they started getting sued. Then in 1960 the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act, and others, followed introduced new levels of regulation. The Porter Company went out of business in 1983. She must have been living off inheritance and savings ever since. That's why her house is in disrepair and her yard is so overgrown. She must be salvaging her funds. Probably most of our lives!"
"Whoa. But that doesn't explain why she would all of a sudden illegally dump chemistry sets into a park." Dawn said, thinking.
" I know, that's why I wanted to come to you with this. I know you guys had solved a lot of mysteries back in the day. And I just figured..."
"Oh, but Bart, I haven't solved a mystery in years...not since..."
"Not since your friend Maggie died?"
"Well, yeah."
"I knew that it had happened. I knew you hadn't been back to Stoneybrook since then. And now here you are. I never really got the details. Just that it had happened. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"I do. It has...well, I...can we just wait until we aren't in the restaurant?"
"Sure. Tell you what. I'll take you for some frozen yogurt. I know a great park we can go to. It has a fire pit, and a brook, and a pond with a fountain and lights." He smiled with a twinkle in his eye.
Dawn nodded. "Sounds good to me."
So Bart paid for their bill and off they went for some frozen yogurt and then the park. They got out of the car. Dawn hadn't seen the park lit up at night. She liked that Bart was making the park more beautiful and safer at night.
"They're solar," he said. "And look." He pointed to the walking path," paved with glow in the dark rocks."
"It looks like something out of a fairytale."
" Exactly. Come on. Let's take a walk while you tell me." He held out his hand and she took it.
"Well, it all started when Maggie and I came to visit here in Stoneybrook on Spring Break our junior year in high school. Maggie was studious and always made straight A's in school. She had been having some problems. Her parents were not getting along and she struggled with anorexia off and on. She was always putting too much pressure on herself to be perfect all the time.
Well, we had this rule at Vista. All the students had to keep a journal and write in it. Some took it more seriously than others. There weren't many rules about it. But you had to turn it in at the end of every school year. It counted for a major part of your grade. I don't think the teachers read everything in all of them. That would have taken forever. It was more of an exercise to keep us in practice in writing and grammar and stuff. Well, Maggie of course took it with her on the trip. One day we were shopping at the Merry Go Round because they were having this big sale. We stocked up on notebooks, several each. Me, Maggie, and Mary Anne. They had these cute designs on them. Well, when we got home we all went into Mary Anne's room and looked at them. Mary Anne put hers away on a bookshelf. You know how she and Richard are neat freaks."
" Yes. Mary Anne and Logan's kids are the same way."
They had made a lap around the park. They decided to go sit on the big rocks by the pond. The lights in the middle of the fountain in the middle of the pond kit up in different colors.
"Well, that visit we were always hanging out in Mary Anne's room. One day Maggie noticed that her journal she had brought with her was missing. We looked everywhere. All over the house, the shelves, everything. It was just gone."
"Oh no. All that work too."
"Yes, but it wasn't just that. Like I said Maggie had been having some major problems that year. Including some, we didn't even know about until..." Her voice cracked a little. Bart put his arm around her."She...she was frantic about getting it back. We didn't find it until after...after she..."
She couldn't help it. The tears started coming then. She buried her head in Bart's arm. He held her tight for a few minutes. Then he pulled back and looked at her. "You don't have to tell me anymore tonight. We've got the whole summer to talk about that."
Dawn relaxed but she kept her head snuggled on Bart's chest. He looked down and gently kissed her.
"Thanks. I feel better now."
"Good"
" It's getting late. I should go home now. I need to train in the morning for the Rainforest marathon. Plus, Mary Anne and Logan are kind of old-fashioned about being impressionable in front of the kids."
"Gotcha. Well, let's get you home little lady." Bart stood up and helped off the rock. He snuck another kiss. This one went all the way through Dawn's body and it felt like she was lifted off the pavement.
On the drive home, she told Bart about seeing Morbidda in the park by the tree and following her with Mallory to Karen's store. Just as they were rounding a corner there was a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning. They saw a familiar-looking figure walking down the street without a raincoat or anything and that's when the rain started to pour. Bart slowed to a stop and rolled down the window.
"Hey, Alan. You need a ride somewhere?"
"Sure. I'm just going down the street to the Prezioso's."
"Alan Grey?" Dawn opened the door.
"Dawn? Long time no see. Wow."
"I'm visiting Mary Anne for the summer."
"That's nice."
"Hey Alan," Bart said, "Don't stay up too late. I want to see you bright and early tomorrow morning to help me clear out any branches that may have fallen during the night."
"Yes sir. And boss, you don't stay up too late either." The car slowed to a stop and Alan got out.
They drove off. "Alan Grey works for you?"
"Yeah. He's an ok guy just kind of had a hard time. I like helping people out."
"He went to my high school."
They reached the house and Dawn told him to pull around back. " Do you want to come in? I could get you some wine. At least until the storm dies down."
"Sure."
Dawn got a bottle of wine and two wine glasses and carried them up to her room.They decided to sit on the balcony where it was covered from the rain and drink their wine at the table. "So I had this dream last night," Dawn said.
"A dream?" Barts's eyebrows went up and down like Groucho Marx.
"More like a nightmare. But that's how I came up with the campfire camp. I had this weird dream and you and Mary Anne, Logan, Shannon, and Robert were there and the campfire exploded and Maggie's ghost was there and she kept saying Morbidda Destiny over and over."
"How weird. Well, how about we go running tomorrow morning and then meet up later for lunch and we can discuss the details of getting the camp started."
"Sure. Why don't you come here for lunch and we can start making a list."
"Ok. Oh almost forgot to tell you. There have been more chemistry sets dumped. We found several scattered around various areas in the park."
"I wonder why they are taking it there instead of just taking it to the dump. All you have to do is show ID and...That's it! Maybe they don't have ID, or they don't want a record showing that they dumped it. But why?"
I don't know but I have thought a lot about it. I think the only place that would have that many would be one of the schools. Unless Morbidda is cleaning out her basement or something."
"Hmmm. Well, Ben and Jessi both work at the schools. I could message them tomorrow. See what they know."
"Good idea."
Dawn got up and looked out onto the property, thinking.
Bart got up and joined her putting his arm around her. "Don't worry, we'll solve it."
"I hope so," Dawn whispered.
Bart kissed her again. "I better go. I will see you first thing in the morning."
Bart went down to his car and sat in it for a few minutes. He could see Dawn on the balcony her hair blowing in the wind. She was so beautiful. He knew he needed to tell her everything he knew and fast. He just couldn't. Not after the story about Maggie. And he didn't want to scare her away from Stoneybrook again. He just wanted to have the first date be nice. And it was. But it wasn't fair to Dawn. He had to tell her everything, the sooner the better. If only he didn't know what he knew, if only he didn't know...
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