by Tegan Maher
“Ready?” Nikki asked us.
“Ready,” we replied in tandem as we gathered our purses and slipped on our shoes.
I looked at Bear, who was snoozing on the couch as usual. “Be back in a bit,” I said as I stepped into my shoes. “Don’t let anybody steal the TV or fine silver while we’re gone.” He just cracked an eye open and gave me a sleepy look before shutting it again. Apparently, I had the gold-star seal of approval to leave, but he wasn’t making any promises about the TV and silver. I followed the girls outside and shut the door, then climbed in the back seat of the Bug. “So where are we going? I’m not exactly dressed for a night out.”
“I wanted to drive to Red Lodge and go to this really neat old saloon called The Bear’s Den, but Annie didn’t want to be out that late.” Nikki rolled her eyes. “She said it’s her ex’s time with the kids, and she wants to spend some of it catching up on her sleep. So, I guess we have to settle for going to The Dead End.”
“Are we picking her up?” Dee asked.
“She said she’d meet us there. Something about wanting to drive so she could leave when she was ready and not have to wait for someone to take her home.” We pulled into the parking lot for the bar where I worked. “At least she’s here already,” Nikki said, gesturing to an old economy car parked in the lot. She sounded a little relieved.
We piled out of the Bug and walked past Annie’s car, an ancient grey Renault with strips of paint missing from the roof and the hood. I noticed my boss’s truck wasn’t there and wondered who he had working. I really hoped he wasn’t going to ask me to work. This was my night off, and even though I was exhausted, it had been forever since I’d had a girls’ night out and I was really looking forward to it.
“Where is everyone?” Nikki asked as we walked in.
Annie was over by the pool table, a pitcher of beer on a table next to her. She waved when she saw us.
“Are we the only ones here?” I asked Annie.
She nodded as she lined up her pool cue and prepared to take a shot. “Yeah. Lock the doors behind you. Don said he wasn’t feeling well and ran everybody out. When I told him you all were on your way, he agreed to let us stay and asked if I wouldn’t mind having you lock up when we were done.”
I was stunned. “Wow. People are way more trusting here than where I’m from. And how can he afford to just close up?”
Annie chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. He’s my uncle, so I happen to know he has some cash stashed back. It doesn’t hurt his feelings to close down every once in a while, and it’s not like people will stop coming.” She moved the cue back and forth before finally making her shot, sinking the six ball. “Anyone want to play?” She studied the table as she walked around it.
Dee and Nikki both shook their heads. “No. It’s no fun playing with you because you can clear all of your balls before any of us even have the chance to take a shot,” Nikki grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Annie laughed. “Fine. Go get yourselves something to drink and let me finish playing myself, then we can hang out.”
“Deal.” Nikki spun on her heal and sauntered to the bar. “So what’s everybody’s poison?” She stepped behind the bar and began looking around.
“Just a Bud Light for me,” Dee said as she sat up on one of the bar stools.
“I’ll have a Hop Gun.” I climbed up on the stool next to Dee. Nikki gave me a quizzical look. “It’s a Florida beer,” I explained. Don keeps it for a guy who goes back and forth between here and there, and I’m helping myself to his stash while he’s gone.” I grinned. “Can’t let beer go bad, now. It has a blue and green label.”
She bent over and took a closer look, then pulled out two bottles. “I’ll give that a shot myself,” she said. “I love craft beers.”
Nikki popped the tops, then handed Dee and me ours and lifted hers in a toast. “To Dee and her successful new business venture.”
Dee and I raised our bottles and clinked them all together.
“Hear, hear,” called Annie as she walked toward us, glass raised in salute.
We all took a long pull on our drinks.
“You cleared the table already?” I asked her, glancing at the pool table that was clear of all balls.
Annie offered me a wink as she shrugged and took the bar stool next to me. “It’s a gift.”
I raised a brow and took a pull off my beer. “So I see. I’m glad I’m not a mark—you’d have hustled me for sure.”
She laughed. “It’s funny you say that. Don had to ban customers from challenging me because they’d get mad when I beat them, especially as a teenager.”
“A teenager?” I asked. “And you were in a bar?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that big a deal. Not like it would be in a big city. This may be a bar, but it’s a family place. Uncle Don had to watch me a lot so my mom could work, and the regulars kinda took me under their wings. Woe be to anybody who was mean to me.”
Just when I thought I was getting used to all the differences between Mercy and Orlando, I’d learn something new. I wasn’t being judgy—it’s just that most bars I was used to were definitely not kid-friendly.
“This is actually pretty good,” Nikki said, holding up her beer. “We may have to ask Don to stock it regularly and in larger quantities!”
She glanced at Dee, who was picking at the label on her bottle. “That totally sucks that Jeremy is a suspect. If you ask me, the sheriff isn’t looking as close as he should be at two much more compelling suspects.” She shook her head.
Dee smirked as she leaned toward me and whispered, “See.” She straightened and gave Nikki her undivided attention. “So what did you hear at the salon now?”
Nikki leaned across the bar, her eyes glinting with knowledge she obviously was dying to share. “Well, I was just going into work when I saw Scott outside and across the street from the salon with Janie, that really cute girl that works at the motel as a maid. They’ve been friends forever, since grade school, and now they’re dating. Apparently, she knew his dad had been seeing somebody on the side and he was pissed she hadn’t told him.”
She made a face like she had just bitten into a lemon and shivered before shaking her head and taking another long pull from her beer. “I know the guy was good looking for an older guy, but ... eww. Anyway, Scott’s close to Beatrice, his dad’s long-term girlfriend. They’re kinda on-again-off-again, but they’ve been together for years. She pretty much raised Scott, and I guess he saw it as a betrayal that Janie knew and didn’t say anything. And I can’t imagine he was too pleased with his father, either.”
Annie frowned. “Did she say who Frank was supposedly having an affair with, and do you think it was true?”
“Supposedly Helen McDaniels.” Nikki blew a puff of breath out through her cheeks. “And it may be true. She likes nice things and Frank wasn’t exactly poor. And he was a total womanizer, so it wouldn’t surprise me to learn he was stepping out on Beatrice.”
“What about Helen, though? She probably knew he was seeing somebody, so do you think she’s the type to go with a taken man?” Since I had no clue who the woman was, I had to ask.
“Probably,” Nikki said, taking the final swig of her beer. “Though she never so much as hinted at it. She’s married, but she and her husband don’t get along. He’s a nice guy but has a wicked temper. Used to get in a lot of bar fights back in the day. He was rich when they got married, but lost most of his money in some pyramid scheme or something. He still has the big house, but that’s about it. Still, if she divorces him, she won’t even have that. And like I said, she likes nice things, and she’s never been all that nice. She’s pretty selfish. No kids and she always wears the fanciest clothes. Talks down to working people. People like that don’t usually give too much of a damn about others. Scott also told Janie there was a lot of money missing from the feed store, and he wanted to know if Helen had been in spending an outrageous amount of money or showing off any new jewelry.”
“So,” Dee said as she swirled her bottle, “if Scott confronted his dad about the affair, it could have turned nasty. Or Beatrice could have killed him after she caught him cheating on her. Or maybe Helen’s husband got wind of it. I think all of their motives make them way better suspects than Jeremy.”
I had to agree. “But with no proof that there was an affair between Helen and Frank, none of it matters. It only matters if we can uncover something that those two may have been hiding, or that her husband found out.”
“How are we going to do that?” Dee asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe we could start by finding out where she was when Frank was killed. I’m sure the sheriff’s already verified Scott’s alibi or lack thereof.”
Nikki raised her hand. “I already know the answer to one of those, and it doesn’t add up, at least to me. Scott said he was with Janie, but that couldn’t be right. She came in to get her hair done the day before Frank was killed and was all excited about going to the mall in Atlanta the next day. So if she did, there’s no way Scott was with her all day. I don’t know when she got back, but Atlanta is two hours away. As far as Helen goes, I heard her on the phone earlier that day while she was getting her hair done. She was making dinner plans with somebody, and the tone wasn’t quite right for her to have been talking to her husband. She’s usually short with him if she even takes the call. I have no idea who it was, but if it was Frank, she could have killed him.”
“Did you tell the sheriff all that?” I asked.
Nikki shook her head. “It’s not like I saw her with somebody else or even got a name. I just heard a conversation. And for all I know, Janie could have canceled her plans.”
“So maybe we just have to do some digging ourselves, and we should make sure the sheriff knows all this.” I took a drink of my beer. One piece of the puzzle still didn’t make any sense—how had he ended up on my land? No woman would have been able to carry him that far by herself. For that matter, I couldn’t imagine a lone man being able to do it. Frank hadn’t been fat, but he’d been big—a couple inches over six feet, probably, and beefy. I said as much.
“I agree it would have taken more than one person,” Dee said. “But maybe they brought him in via the lake, in a boat. That makes a lot more sense. That little outlet is the closest one to the boat ramp, and it looks totally deserted from the lake. It’s deceptive how close it is to the lodge if you’re looking at it from out there.”
That made much more sense than the idea they dragged him from my driveway through all that brush and overgrowth. Then we just need to find out who owned a boat and had a problem with Frank,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Easy peasy. That should narrow our list down to ... half the people who dealt with him.”
“Well, somebody has to stand out more than the other,” Nikki said. “We just have to figure out who.” She raised her glass. “To uncovering the truth. Whatever that may be.”
“To not ending up in jail for obstruction of justice,” Dee said, her tone dry.
I’d toast to that all day long.
Chapter Ten
SINCE DEE AND I HAD been up since early that morning, we made it an early night, comparatively. After a few beers and a couple of rounds of darts, we wiped down the bar, washed out our glasses, and locked the bar up behind us at midnight on the nose.
I slept amazingly well, but I didn’t sleep long. I’d always been an early riser, and no matter what time I went to bed, I couldn’t seem to sleep past seven. I had to work later, but Scout was coming over to help me finish the floors in the one bedroom. I was working the next night, too, so I didn’t want to wear myself out before I’d even started the day. Three late nights in a row with early morning chasers. Not good.
I managed to get ready in a fog, grabbing my to-go mug full of coffee and patting my leg as I looked at Bear and held the door open for him. He whined and covered his eyes with his paw. “Fine, ya lazy mutt,” I huffed as I stepped out and shut the door behind me. It wasn’t like I could blame him. I’d just have to come back and check on him later.
I was sure I’d find Dee up at the lodge, baking various snacks and treats to take into the café since she’d almost sold out the night before.
I walked into the lodge to find her racing around the kitchen. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and her face had flour on it. “Doing okay?” I asked.
She shook her head, then smiled and nodded. “Yes and no, I guess. I found out that the baker for the golf club here in town eloped and is moving because her husband got an amazing job opportunity on the east coast. So the owner of the golf club came into the café first thing this morning and cleaned out all my baked goods, just to get them through for today. Anyway, he asked if I could make some pies and desserts to keep them stocked until they can find a new baker. So, of course, I said I’d do it because it’s a great opportunity, but I still have to replenish the café’s stock and, well, it’s just a lot to do.”
“Anything I can do to help?” I wasn’t about to volunteer to cook, but I could scoop dough onto cookie sheets or roll cinnamon rolls. Pretty much anything that didn’t involve mixing ingredients.
Dee looked around and shook her head. “Not that I can think of.”
“Well, if you need a dishwasher or something, I’m your girl. At least until around five. Then I have to go to work.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said, cracking some eggs into a bowl. “I was supposed to work at the café today, but with all I have to do, I had to call Jeremy in to cook.”
“Is Scout here, yet?” I asked as I looked around.
“Yeah. I think he’s upstairs laying some of those pallet strips you guys finished the other day.”
I stood up. “Well, I’ll go see if he needs any help since you seem to have things under control down here. If that changes, holler.”
Dee gave me a distracted wave as she began measuring flour into a glass bowl.
I took a deep breath to settle my nerves and jogged up the stairs. I didn’t know whether to be happy or chagrined about the butterflies that had taken flight in my belly when I’d learned Scout was already here. He was kneeling down on the floor at the end of the hallway wiping down a wood flooring strip.
“Holy cow,” I said when I saw how much progress he’d made. “What time did you get here?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Only a couple hours ago.”
I looked at my phone—eight o’clock. “So you were here at six? You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know,” he said. “But I had a cow calving, so I was up at four. She was quick, so I didn’t have anything else to do and I was already awake. I decided to come over and get a head start.”
“Need any help?” I asked as I walked toward him.
He shook his head as he sat back on his heels to admire his work. “Nope. Just finishing up. Measure and cut these last two boards and it’s all over but the smilin’. I need to get back over to the farm and check on my girl and her new heifer, though.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and tilted my head back. “So what you and Dee are telling me is that I got up way too early for no real reason other than I’m apparently a masochist.”
Scout chuckled. “So it would seem. But you did get to see our smiling faces, and we got to see yours.”
“Well there is that,” I said, smiling. “Since I’m already up and at it, I need to work on the garden some more. I’ve promised Maisey I’d have it finished before the guys got here.”
I almost slapped my hand over my mouth at the slip as he gave me a quizzical look.
“Who’s Maisey?”
The topic of the conversation popped in, cackling. “Now you’ve gone and done it, girl. I can’t wait to see you dig yourself out of this one.” I scowled at her, then realized he was still looking at me.
“Um, Maisey? Did I say Maisey? I meant Dee. Maisey was my friend back in Orlando. Dee wants to have the garden done. She likes to sit out there and think.”
He studied me
for a few seconds, then nodded. “I can see that. It’s a nice area.”
For her part, Maisey looked a little disappointed and even hurt. “You could have used that as the opener to introduce me, you know.”
I sighed, feeling bad that I couldn’t even say anything to take the sting out of my behavior.
She held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I get it. I just don’t like it.”
Despite what she said, I still worried. Excluding her sucked and I didn’t want to do it anymore. At least not in front of Scout. She deserved a better shake than that. Strangers, sure, but not with him.
I looked closer at the area he was working on and realized there really wasn’t room for two people. We’d gotten all the wood stained the day before, so the only thing left to do was put them in place.
“I’m gonna go work on the garden right now,” I said.
“Sure,” he said, his pencil between his teeth as he measured one of the few remaining boards. “I’ll be out when I’m finished.”
Maisey followed me outside, and I pulled the tools from the shed. We’d been working on the garden whenever we could, but hadn’t gotten it done as quickly as we’d hoped. For one thing, it was twice the size it looked. For another, she’d planted so many different breeds of roses in there that we had to be careful about what we trimmed. What looked like an extension of one bush often ended up being an entirely different plant. We were doing our best to put it back to the way she’d had it, but it was taking time.
She floated around me, chatting about this and that and helping me figure out what was flower and what was weed. After a half hour or so, the exchange in the bedroom ate at me until I couldn’t hold back my apology.
“Maisey, I’m really sorry I didn’t use that chance to introduce you to Scout. I don’t know why I didn’t. I’ve played it out in my head a hundred times, and I’m sure he’d be fine with it.”
She raised a brow at me.
“Well, okay, maybe fine is too harsh a word, but I have no doubt he’ll take it in stride.”