by Tegan Maher
She walked through the swinging doors into the kitchen and came back with a gorgeous cinnamon roll that was nearly the size of a dinner plate. She popped it into the microwave before disappearing into the kitchen again. The microwave dinged right before she re-emerged with a till that she popped into the open cash register, shutting the door when she was finished. I poured us both a fresh cup of coffee and grabbed a fork for my roll.
“Do you want any butter?” she asked as she retrieved my roll and brought it to me.
I shook my head. “Why would I want to go and deface one of your perfect creations? As a matter of fact, I don’t need to eat all this. Grab a fork.”
Dee laughed as she cocked her hip onto a stool behind the counter and dropped her chin in her hand. “I’m good, thanks. I can only eat so much of that stuff before I just get yucked out on it.”
I shrugged, then pulled a strip of roll free and popped it into my mouth, closing my eyes as I savored all its gooey richness. The door jingled and Jeremy sailed through the door. His dark eyes were almost the same shade as his hair, and he had a definite biker vibe, with Levi’s covering his slim hips and a leather jacket draped over his shoulder. He held what looked like a menu in his hands as he strode behind the counter to where Dee stood.
“Hey, Boss,” he said to Dee. He offered me a smile and a nod. “So, I hope you don’t mind,” he said to her, “but I made a mock menu just so I could show you what I’d been talking about the other day.” He handed her the menu he had been holding.
I took another big bite of my roll as I listened.
Jeremy chuckled as I continued to tear through my breakfast. “Best cinnamon rolls this side of the Mississippi, aren’t they?”
I nodded, chasing a bite of pastry with my coffee.
“Wow. You put a lot of thought into this.” Dee handed me the menu so I could see. I grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and wiped my hands before taking it. It was one laminated sheet, front and back, with sections for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. In each section, there were several items to choose from, and the last item in each section was simply listed as chef’s choice.
“I thought we could put what the chef’s choice is for every meal on the whiteboard so it could change from day to day. Also, if you flip the menu over, on the back, it says we proudly serve locally grown and raised food.”
I flipped the menu over and, sure enough, at the bottom, it said ‘this establishment is proud to serve locally grown and raised food from area farmers’.
“How are we going to go about that, though?” she asked.
“I was thinking,” he continued, “that I’d really like to get our beef from Ted and a couple of other guys around here. He’s the farmer who’s barely making it and the reason I came to blows with Frank. He could really use our business and he has some really good cattle. No hormones, free range.”
Dee nodded. “Sure. I don’t see a problem with that.”
The door jingled again and five construction workers walked in and sidled up to the counter. “Hey, Dee,” the guy in the center said. “Could we get some cinnamon rolls and some coffee to go?”
“Sure.” She reached under the counter and grabbed five Styrofoam cups. “How many rolls did you need?”
“Better make it ten,” he said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “If we hit the site without bringin’ extra, we won’t hear the end of it.”
She smiled as she set the coffees on the counter, along with a carton of half-and-half and a sugar shaker.
“So this menu is really amazing,” I said as I turned my attention back to Jeremy. “Did you ever even try to approach Fiona with something like this?”
Jeremy grinned at the praise. “I sure did. A half a dozen times for all the good it did. But now, with the new management here, I’m finally gettin’ the chance to help turn this place into the success I know it can be.”
I hoped he was right, but if the sheriff had anything to say about it, I kind of doubted it.
Chapter Fifteen
MY SHIFT AT THE BAR was uneventful. A few construction workers came in for lunch, and of course Beatrice stopped by, but all in all, the day was the slowest I’d ever seen it and the hours dragged past.
Annie walked in at five minutes to five and I was pretty sure I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
“Hey, Toni,” she said as she walked around the bar and set her purse under the counter. “Dee wanted me to tell you that she has to work the dinner shift, so she won’t be home until later, but that she’d have Nikki give her a ride home when she was done.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “I thought Jeremy had the dinner shift?”
Annie’s face clouded with a mix of anger and disgust. “He did, but the sheriff showed up about twenty minutes ago and took him out for more questioning.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “That man is determined to pin this murder on Jeremy. He doesn’t care at all that the man is probably innocent.”
Annie sighed. “I know. But what can we do? Especially when Gabe keeps finding things that make Jeremy look more and more guilty.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What does he have on him now?”
Annie looked around the bar like she needed to make sure we were alone before she answered. “It looks like Jeremy owns a handgun that’s the same caliber as the one used to murder Frank, so the sheriff wants to run a ballistics test on it.” She shrugged. “I’m surprised Gabe’s even bothering since it’s obvious he already has him marked as guilty. And it doesn’t help that Jeremy’s alibi is that he was home alone watching television.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t look good for him right now.”
“So how’s Dee taking it?” I asked, although I had a pretty good idea.
“Well, when Gabe came into the café to get Jeremy, Dee kinda flipped and said he was a disgrace to the badge and should find someone without so much personal baggage to run a proper investigation.”
I cringed. “I can’t imagine the sheriff liked hearing that.”
Annie shook her head. “He said that she needed to back off or he’d charge her with obstruction of justice.”
“I just don’t get it,” I said. “I mean, I understand why it looks bad, but surely he isn’t the only one out of all the guys involved that owns a handgun or could get one.”
Annie lifted a shoulder. “If he’s not guilty, the gun won’t match. Gabe’s not a bad guy, and despite how it looks I can’t imagine he’d let Jeremy go down if he’s not guilty. Or at least I hope not. He just seems really frustrated right now and, honestly, his bark is a whole lot worse than his bite. But he did make it clear that we all need to stay out of it and let him do his job.”
I made a hmph sound. “That wouldn’t be a problem, except he can’t seem to let go of something that happened years ago to do a proper investigation of what’s happening in the here and now.”
Annie nodded. “I know, but unless something big turns up, we’re dead in the water.”
I raised a brow and she gave me a half-smile. “Okay, poor word choice, but the sentiment stands.
Chapter Sixteen
ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES after I arrived home, somebody knocked at the door. I opened it to find Scout standing there holding up a bag of take-out. Bear stood beside him, tail wagging.
“I managed to score some homemade spaghetti and meatballs with a side of garlic bread from the café. Jeremy’d made a big pot of it before he ... left,” Scout said as I moved aside so he could enter.
I smiled. “You are too good to me. Keep this up and I may just decide to keep you.”
He walked to the kitchen. “It’s just the way my mama raised me.”
I shut the door and watched Bear trot over and plop down in front of the fireplace. My stomach growled. First food, then fire, I thought as I went to the kitchen. I grabbed some plates out of the cupboard and some silverware out of the drawer and helped Scout transfer the food to the plates. Then I went to the fridge and dug aroun
d for a bottle of wine that I knew we had in there somewhere. I found it and popped the cork, grabbed two wine glasses from the shelf and poured a generous serving into each of our glasses.
I took a seat on the loveseat and he sat down next to me and we dug in. I could feel the warmth of his thigh next to mine as we sat next to each other eating, and I felt completely relaxed. No awkwardness, no pressure, just relaxed.
“Did you see Dee? How is she holding up?” I asked before I took a huge bite of spaghetti.
He swallowed his spaghetti and took a swig of wine. “She seemed pissed but other than that she was all right.”
I nodded. “Annie said she gave Gabe a piece of her mind.”
“I don’t blame her,” he said, “but even I have to admit it doesn’t look good. I think maybe we’re going to have to consider that maybe Jeremy did do it.”
I gave him a sideways glance. “Do you really believe that?”
He shrugged. “Not really, but I know Scott and the other guys too, and to be honest, though they all have motives, I don’t think they could have done it any more than I think Jeremy did. But the fact remains ... Frank’s dead, and he didn’t get that way by himself.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I guess it’s easy for me to take a side because I know Jeremy, but not the rest of them. I just can’t imagine he’d do something like that.”
“Sometimes people do things totally out of character. Maybe Jeremy went back to pick up his final pay and Frank mouthed off to him again. I’ve been on the receiving end of his mouth and can tell you from experience, he was a mean SOB. He didn’t pull any punches and knew just which buttons to push to make a person feel low.”
What a peach. Still, there wasn’t anything I could do about it right then, and I was content with a belly full of good food and good company. “What exactly did you have planned for the evening?”
He shrugged. “Dinner, talking, wine. But we can talk and work on something around here if you want.”
I shook my head. “I’m happy to just chill. I can’t remember the last time I just vegged.”
He laughed. “I think I can handle some vegging.”
We finished eating and watched a movie, then he stood and stretched. “I probably should go so you can get some sleep since you have to open the bar tomorrow.”
It had been a nice, relaxing evening, just sitting with him, talking, eating, laughing, and drinking wine. To be honest, I really didn’t want it to end. I glanced at the clock on my phone. Eleven o’clock. “Wow. I didn’t realize it was getting so late.”
“Time tends to fly when you’re having fun.” He winked at me.
I got up and walked him to the door.
He stopped in the doorway and faced me, his expression softening as he reached out and tucked a strand of hair that had come free of my ponytail behind my ear. “We really should find more excuses to hang out like this.”
I nodded in agreement. He leaned in, but before he could kiss me, headlights cut across us. He pulled back. “Well, that must be Dee.” His voice sounded a little disappointed.
“Probably,” I whispered.
Then, before I even realized fully what was happening, he leaned in and planted a soft, quick kiss on my lips. He pulled back and smiled as he opened the door. “I probably shouldn’t have waited so long to do that. Maybe next time it’ll be less rushed and better. But for now, that should hold me. I’ll see you tomorrow. We should be able to get the floors finished.”
I watched as he stepped outside, my hand coming to my lips where he had just kissed me.
“Evening, ladies,” he called as he waved and strode past Nikki’s Bug to his truck. He started it up, winking at me one last time before he backed out and drove up my driveway.
I waited for Nikki and Dee to get out, but they didn’t. I could see Dee sitting in the passenger seat of Nikki’s bug and she looked livid. I sighed as I left the warmth of the cabin and walked over to the driver’s side window just as Nikki opened the door.
I leaned over so I could see Dee. “Everything okay?”
Dee and Nikki both shook their heads. “Someone broke into the feed store and cleaned out the money from the register and something like ten thousand dollars from the safe,” Nikki said with a worried glance in Dee’s direction.
“Why’d they have so much money in the safe?” I didn’t know much about feed store sales, but that seemed like more money than they should have on hand.
Dee got out of the car and slammed the door. “Because Scott sold his dad’s tractor after the bank had closed, so he put the money in the safe and planned on depositing it tomorrow, but someone knew about the sale or something because they broke in and stole it all.”
I stood up. “Well that’s a good thing, right? I mean, the sheriff had Jeremy, so Jeremy has an alibi for this crime and maybe the thief is the one who killed Frank.” I shrugged. “At least, it seems like the two crimes are likely to be tied together.”
Dee barked out an angry laugh. “Except that the crime happened after the sheriff let Jeremy go with that whole spiel about not leaving town. Jeremy came back to the café to work, but idiot that I am, I told him to take the night off since he’d had such a rough day. I thought I was doing him a favor, not stripping him of an alibi and hanging him up for another crime.”
“You couldn’t have known.” I really didn’t know what else to say to Dee.
“Meanwhile, Scott is insisting that it must have been Jeremy even though there aren’t any fingerprints or witnesses or anything.” Dee sighed. “And the sheriff doesn’t seem too keen on dissuading Scott of his accusations.”
I thought back to what Scout had said, and worried my lip for a second.
“What?” she said, noting my hesitation.
“Don’t get mad, but do you think Jeremy could have done it?”
They both looked at me like I had just told her that I was a serial killer or something. “No. Why would he?”
I shrugged.
Nikki walked past me and up the steps. “I think we should all take a breath and think this through.”
Dee walked around the front of the car and followed Nikki up the steps, and I brought up the rear. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to make you even more upset. I just wanted to make sure, since you know Jeremy far better than I do, that you didn’t think he could have stolen the money or ... killed Frank, maybe in the heat of the moment.”
Dee nodded as she climbed the steps and entered the cabin. “I know. It’s just so frustrating. Especially since I know exactly what Jeremy’s going through.”
I rubbed her back as we walked to the kitchen. “I know.”
It wasn’t so long ago the Sheriff had his sights set on Dee for the murder of her aunt. If anyone could empathize with what Jeremy was going through, it was definitely Dee. I just hoped we weren’t wrong about her friend.
Chapter Seventeen
THE NEXT MORNING, BEAR and I walked up to the lodge to find Scout outside sanding more pallet strips. I offered him a smile and a wave as I walked into the lodge. “I’ll be right out,” I called as I took the veranda steps two at a time.
“Take your time,” he said, grinning. “I’ll save some work for you.”
The smell of spiced apples assailed my senses as I walked in, provoking a low growl from my stomach. Dee pulled two pies from the oven and set them on the island as I plopped onto a seat across from her. I noticed she had three apples done and on the island cooling, and three blueberries were on standby, waiting their turn to bake. The sight of it all made my mouth water.
“Are all these for the golf club?”
“Yeah.” She said, wiping her cheek with her forearm and leaving a smudge of flour. “These and a whole lot more. But most of it’s done already, so I just have to finish up the pies. I still have to bake those three blueberries, then make three banana cream and three chocolate. Those are pretty quick, though.”
“So the baking business is coming along nicely.” Not surprising g
iven that Dee was the most fabulous baker that I had ever come across.
“I guess so.” Her voice sounded melancholy.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked, forcing my gaze away from the tantalizing delicacies laid out before me and onto my friend, who didn’t seem to be doing as well emotionally as one would expect of someone who was succeeding in their chosen field and had a successful second business to boot.
Dee wiped her hands on her apron as a low sigh slid from her lips. “I didn’t. I finally gave up on trying and just came up here to get some baking done.”
“Do you have to work the café today?” I took a sip of coffee as I watched her roll out another pie crust.
“No. The sheriff has miraculously not arrested Jeremy yet, so he’s gonna be cooking today.” She seemed to throw a lot more force into her rolling when she said that last part.
I was glad, but uber surprised, that Jeremy wasn’t behind bars, and said as much.
“That’s only because Grady Mills said he saw two guys drivin’ around the feed store at about the time they think the place was robbed. Says they cruised past the place like three times before they disappeared around the block. He didn’t think much of it and left, but if Grady didn’t recognize them, they’re not from around here. That guy knows everyone.”
“That’s a good thing, then, right?” I mean, anything that pointed away from Jeremy couldn’t be a bad thing.
“I guess,” she said, “but with the way things have been going, if he doesn’t find something besides that, I can’t imagine Gabe’ll waste too much daylight on it.”
“Still, the sheriff doesn’t really have any hard evidence, so all he can do right now is make Jeremy’s life a living hell. He can’t actually arrest him for anything.” At least, I didn’t think he could.
Dee nodded. “I just wish he’d look at all the evidence. All the facts. I don’t think he’s doing his job very well at all.”