by C A Phipps
“I can’t say who’ll review the case other than myself, and if asked, I will certainly have to explain things in fuller detail. But I won’t draw attention to it. Yet.”
Scarlett nodded. “Thanks, Nate. I appreciate it.”
“Make sure you don’t do anything as silly. You all need to stay away from the library and not interfere with the case any further,” Nate warned.
Ruby twisted the cloth again. “Can I carry on reading with the kids?”
“Only with the books you already have. Unfortunately, the library will remain closed for some time.” He looked thoughtfully into the distance. “Actually, I might have some kids books at home you could borrow.”
“Do you have a secret passion, Sheriff?” Violet teased.
Nate’s head shot up from the letter to stare for a moment at Violet. It was his turn to look uneasy, yet Scarlett couldn’t fathom why. Until Violet reddened and looked away.
He coughed. “Nope. When I moved out of home, my mom decided I needed to take everything. And I mean everything she’d hoarded since I started school. Maybe even before. I have boxes and boxes of memorabilia and no time to go through it. I should probably bin the whole lot of it, but you never know if there’s something tucked in there that could mean something.” He grinned. “Ruby can hunt through it if she has time.”
“Yes, please!” Ruby all but jumped from her chair. “You can never have too many books.”
“I’d be happy to help Ruby sort things—if you wouldn’t mind?” Violet offered, ignoring Scarlett’s intrigued look.
“Sure. Many hands and all that. How about mid-afternoon Saturday? You can all come if you like.”
She tried to hide it, but Scarlett saw Violet’s interest. “We’d love to, is 3 o’clock okay?”
“Sounds good. Please don’t think helping me declutter negates that you’re all involved in this case up to your armpits,” Nate added.
Scarlett stood. “I get the message and can only apologize again for my actions.”
“I won’t say that it’s okay, but I understand your motives, and I can’t promise that there won’t be repercussions.” Nate gave her a sympathetic glance before heading to the front door.
Scarlett followed to let him out.
“Have a good evening, and I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He looked back for a second or two at the counter where Violet stood.
Scarlett locked the door behind him and flicked the closed sign around, thankful that no customers had stopped by. And doubly grateful he hadn’t mentioned the wrapper.
Still at the counter, Violet studied her intently. “He seemed relatively chilled about the letter.”
“You think so? It didn’t sound that way to me.”
“I’m sure he appreciates that people do odd things in the heat of the moment,” Ruby assured her. Collecting the unsold food, she said over her shoulder, “Speaking of heat—the sheriff appears to be smitten by a certain bull-headed sister.”
“Don’t talk crazy!” Violet blustered.
Scarlett hid her smile. Bait taken—job well done, Ruby. As independent and opinionated as Violet was, Scarlett had already decided that a man like Nate wouldn’t find dating her sister too arduous. Now she’d only have to convince Violet, which was a more acceptable topic to think about than poor Mable Norris.
“I better head off to my babysitting gig,” Ruby interrupted. Discarding her apron, with a wink at Scarlett, she grabbed her bag and went to the back door. “Don’t forget to pick up George.” Without waiting for an answer, she ran down the steps.
Scarlett pulled a face as she put the last of the plates in the dishwasher. “Let’s get the place ready for tomorrow to save time in the morning.”
Violet groaned too but worked as hard as Scarlett to do just that.
“Everything’s tidy and ready for the morning’s bake, Sir.” Violet stood to attention.
Weary to her bones, Scarlett wasn’t in the mood for games. “Why are you doing that?”
Violet shrugged. “Well, you behave like a sergeant major, and us, lesser mortals, have to ensure the place is up to your expectations so we can carry on with our dreary lives.”
The barb hurt. “That’s unfair.”
Violet screwed up her face. “Yes, it is.”
“I meant,…Oh, never mind.” Her sister was deliberately misinterpreting everything she said and did at the moment, and Scarlett experienced a rare wave of self-pity. “If I’m so awful to work with and I make such stupid mistakes, perhaps we really should think of selling.” It was bad enough that she wasn’t as business-minded as her mom—apparently, she was also a lousy CEO.
“Scarlett! I’m teasing. It’s what we do. You messed up, and sometimes that’s a good thing. Especially for those around you.”
She threw her hands in the air. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, Vi.”
“Of course, you don’t. You’re the perfect one with all the answers, so seeing you muck up is refreshing. Now before you get all soppy, I’m off.” Violet blew her a kiss. “Don’t forget the cat.”
Scarlett’s mouth opened and shut several times, but her sister had already left the building. She was pretty sure that Violet had given her an enormous compliment. Adding to the rest of it, made this the weirdest day ever.
Packing her bag with bread and cupcakes, she headed along Main Street to the library. George sat on the top step. He seemed to be waiting for something. Or someone.
“Hey, cat.”
“Meow.”
She had no lead, and there was no way she could carry him all the way home, even if he allowed her to pick him up. “Would you like to come home with me? Ruby will be there.”
George slowly made his meandering way down the steps and wound himself around her legs. Feeling sorry for him, Scarlett crouched and scratched the top of his head. “I’m sorry about Mable.”
“I’m glad he’ll have a good home.” Dale Wilkins appeared at the mouth of a small lane next to the library.
“Oh, it’s only short term,” Scarlett protested. “If Mable has no relatives to take him, then we’ll ask around town for a potential new owner.”
“Far as I knew she was all alone. It’s nice to know George will be taken care of by someone. He’s a loyal pet. Always near Mable no matter where she was.” Dale smiled fondly.
Dale, an excellent mechanic, was one of Olivia’s closest friends. Always pleasant to Scarlett and her family, he was also on the committee. It occurred to her that this was the perfect opportunity to ask him about the meeting, but first things first.
“Ruby thinks he’s great too, but if you’d like George, I’m sure she’d be happy about that.” She smiled encouragingly.
“Me? No, I couldn’t possibly. Hugo doesn’t like other animals, and since he’s my guard dog too, I need to keep him happy.”
A 4-year-old Alsatian, Hugo, was about as scary as a hamster. “Fair enough. Dale, you know the committee meeting you had earlier?” she asked casually.
“How could I forget? Such a ruckus! Arthur and Olivia were at it hammer and tong after you left. I wish they could get on. It would make the meetings more bearable.”
“I can imagine. Were they fighting over the change in time and Olivia not being told, or was it the special vote?”
He shook his head, looking disgusted. “All of it. In the end, we didn’t vote because they couldn’t agree on the wording of it. On days like that, I could cheerfully be under the hood of a car instead of in that room.”
“I guess you haven’t had time to vote then?” Deliberately, Scarlett omitted to ask what they would vote about, so as not to scare him off.
“Nope. We’ll do so at the next meeting, but I don’t know why we’re bothering if Arthur knows the only one against it will be Olivia.”
“It does sound like a waste of time. Although don’t you think it’s odd that no one agrees with my aunt? She’s usually right about most things.”
“In my opinion, she’s never wr
ong,” Dale stated, before realizing where he was and who he was talking to. “Forget I said anything. I’m told I talk too much,” he blustered.
It was adorable. Scarlett had suspected for some time that Dale liked Olivia in a more-than-just-friends way “The perils of working as a mechanic, come, car salesman, wouldn’t you say?” she teased.
Dale’s smile returned. “I guess I can get carried away when there’s someone to chat with. See you tomorrow.”
Plucking George from the step, she wished Dale a good night and headed home.
“That was interesting, Georgie. Dale is definitely not in Arthur’s camp, but he was sympathetic about Mable. I think we can rule him out a suspect, don’t you?”
Swapping shoulders, the massive cat gave her hand a rasping lick before settling against her as if it were the most natural thing for him to be doing.
“When we get across the road, you’re going to have to walk, buddy.”
His answer was to purr.
Chapter Seven
At precisely 4:00 p.m. the next afternoon, Sheriff Nathaniel Adams walked through the café door. About to turn the sign to closed, Scarlett had to back up a few steps to let him by. He touched the brim of his hat but didn’t quite meet her eyes, and her heart plummeted.
“I can see this isn’t so much a visit as official business,” she said, hoping to be wrong.
He grimaced. “Sorry. I am here in an official capacity, and I need to take a look around the café.
“Whatever for?”
“We have the results from Ms. Norris’s autopsy. She did have a heart attack, as Sam suggested. But there’s something else.” Nate closed the door, locked it, and turned the sign. “Let’s go out the back.”
He wasn’t fooling her with that softer tone. Added to her worry Nate pulled out a chair for her while glancing around the room. “Your sisters aren’t here?”
“They had other things to do, so I said I’d close up. It gets quieter once the local kids have been in after school.”
They sat awkwardly for another minute, which is a long time when you were waiting for the apparent bad news. Experiencing this several times over recent years, she could report that it wasn’t a good feeling. While one part of her wanted it said quickly, another part whispered in her mind, “don’t say it. Whatever it is.”
But, as she knew, wanting things to be different couldn’t change the outcome, and she flinched as Nate took in a deep breath.
“There are indications she’d been in contact with a poison.”
Scarlett clutched her throat. “That’s awful, but how does that concern us?”
He was about to answer when a knock at the back door startled them both.
Sam stepped inside. His ready smile turned quickly into a frown when he saw Nate. “Hi. Am I interrupting?”
“I need to talk to Scarlett. Alone,” Nate told him.
Sam’s eyes narrowed, but he merely nodded and turned to leave.
Scarlett stood hurriedly, the chair legs scraping the floor. “Wait.” Having Sam around might help alleviate the panic she suddenly felt. “I’d like you to stay. Is that okay, Nate?”
The sheriff nodded reluctantly, and Sam didn’t hesitate, taking the seat on Scarlett’s right.
Nate placed his hands on the table, leaning slightly forward as he stared at her. “Mable Norris was found to have a small piece of cake in her mouth. It may be possible that the cupcake she ate contained poison.”
Scarlett’s body jerked. “Pardon?”
Nate nodded. “The lab results are done in Destiny and can take weeks, so nothing is conclusive. Didn’t you and Violet bring cupcakes to the committee meeting yesterday?”
She felt a little faint. “We did. Along with pastries and sandwiches.”
“No one else is sick, so I’ll assume for now that those other things were okay. Although, I will be talking to everyone there to find out exactly who ate what.”
Scarlett could see all of the committee in her mind—and the plates of food. “How could anyone manage to add poison to any of it when it was never left alone?”
“That’s exactly the issue, Scarlett,” Nate agreed solemnly.
“What kind of poison was it?” Sam asked.
Nate pulled a pad from his pocket and checked his notes. “The results of the specific type of poison are pending, but it may have been rat poison.”
Scarlett shook her head. “That’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible,” Nate said carefully.
“I meant the poison didn’t come from us. We don’t believe in poisoning animals. Not even vermin. We lay humane traps and release anything we catch into the woods.” Scarlett shuddered. “Violet does that part.”
Nate raised an eyebrow. “You know they’ll more than likely come back?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.” Small towns, surrounded by fields and woods, often had issues with vermin, and the classic approach was shooting, with poison a close second. Nate sounded like he was in one of those camps.
“I need to look around the café to make sure you don’t have any poison on site.”
Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “Of course, but what’s the next step if you don’t find anything? Which you won’t.”
“Then, we’ll need to check your house.”
“You can’t do that,” she mumbled. The thought never crossed her mind that Nate would want to poke around there, and her stomach clenched.
Both men were staring as if she’d pleaded guilty. How could they possibly understand how the idea of Nate or anyone coming to their house horrified her. The sisters never had visitors apart from Olivia. If the girls wanted to catch up with friends, they did so at the café or the friend’s house. Always.
Nate leaned towards her. “Scarlett, you should tell me now if you have something to hide.”
“We don’t have poison! Plus, you said she had a heart attack, so what’s the point in this?” She wasn’t sure what she was most upset about—Nate not believing her, the fear that poison had somehow got into their baking, or that he would come to the house.
“I can’t just take your word for it. It’s my job to ensure that you don’t have any, especially when you deal with food.”
He sounded like he was now leaning more towards her being guilty when all she’d meant was to protect their privacy, and suddenly she felt exposed.
“Don’t you need a search warrant?” Sam asked.
Scarlett could have kissed him. The thought and subsequent blush undoubtedly made her look guiltier.
“If you think that’s necessary, Scarlett, then I can certainly get one. I’ll search the premises one way or another, so why don’t you save us all some time?” Nate asked reasonably after giving Sam a withering glance.
Scarlett wanted to cry, which was frustrating and embarrassing because she rarely succumbed to tears. As the eldest, she’d had to be tough—and seen to be so. People had tried to take advantage of her lack of experience, but their mom’s wise council over the last few years had given her tools to deal with them. But even Lilac Finch could never have foreseen this kind of issue.
“Fine. Do what you need to.” She put her face in her hands while Nate rummaged around the café.
Sam slipped an arm around her shoulders, and she peered over her fingers.
“You believe me, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. I’m sure Nate does as well, but he has to take this seriously,” he spoke gently.
“I know,” she managed to utter.
Eventually, she couldn’t help herself and had to check that Nate wasn’t making a mess. When you liked things orderly, it was an issue knowing someone was touching everything. Her fingers itched at the possibility of him dirtying her counter or moving something out of place. Finally, he returned to the kitchen and checked the cupboards there.
“Okay, I’m done.”
His face might be showing little emotion, but she thought she detected satisfaction in his deep voice. Her relief was short-liv
ed.
“Since I found no poison at all, let’s head over to your place while it’s still light.”
Now the real nightmare began. The men waited while she collected her bag, then she followed Nate out the back door with Sam behind her.
Her beat-up red Volkswagen sat next to Sam’s black pickup in the parking lot she shared with the other businesses in this block.
When Lilac Finch could no longer drive, she handed the keys to her eldest daughter. Her sisters never fussed about that. Then again, the car was unreliable and not exactly attractive.
“Shall I follow you, or will you come in the squad car?” Nate frowned at the car.
What a dilemma—be seen in a police car, or try to start Betsy, who hadn’t managed to tick over in a week. Her stomach in knots, there seemed no option.
“I could bring her,” Sam offered gently.
“I could walk. Or run,” Scarlett joked half-heartedly.
“Seriously? Just come in my car, okay?” Nate pressed. “We’ll meet you there if you feel you must come, Sam.”
The paramedic and the sheriff gave each other calculating looks, and Scarlett couldn’t fathom what was going on. These two were the best of friends usually. Maybe Nate was bothered by Sam’s interference, but Scarlett welcomed having someone else there. Even if that meant he would also be privy to the family secret.
Slowly, she followed Nate around the building to the front of the café where his car was parked. He opened the front door, and as soon as she was inside, she slumped down in her seat. Nobody wanted to be grist for the mill of gossip-mongering.
Nate sighed, but started the car and drove through town. He was probably used to this attitude from all innocent passengers needing an escort.
Naturally, as sheriff, he knew where she lived. As he pulled into the gravel driveway, Scarlett saw the place through his eyes.
A falling down fence. The front yard in need of a mow. Paint peeling away from weathered boards and windows that let in the heat or cold, depending on the seasons. Gardens long given into weeds, her mom would have despaired over. Inside it was no better, and she put the key in the door with shaking hands.