by Amber Crewes
The secretary furrowed his brow. “It isn’t just any meeting,” he began. “Mr. Barrington is speaking with the police right now.”
15
M eghan’s dark eyes widened. “He’s meeting with the police?”
The secretary nodded brusquely. “Yes, he is.”
Meghan pursed her lips. “They got to him first,” she whispered to Karen.
The secretary looked between the two of them. “Where did you say you were from?” he asked as he eyed Meghan’s worried face.
“The Pacific Northwest,” she replied.
His face lit up. “Oh. OH.”
Detective Doug Liman walked out into the lobby dressed in his uniform. He was holding a blue water bottle. “Meghan?”
“Hey, Doug,” she replied as she smiled casually. “Good to see you.”
“What are you doing here?”
Before she could respond, a voice called out on his radio, “Liman, get back to the station. We need you.”
Doug gave her a quick wave before turning on his heel and rushed out the door.
The secretary studied Meghan’s face before picking up the phone on his desk. He whispered into the phone, and then his face lit up. “Mr. Barrington will see you now,” he told her.
“What?”
He gestured at the door. “Mr. Barrington will see you now.”
Meghan nodded at Karen, and they walked into Cameron’s office. It was a large room, with high ceilings and expensive leather furniture, similar to Meghan’s father’s office. Cameron Barrington was sitting behind the giant oak desk, wearing a tailored blue suit and a cowboy hat on his head.
“Welcome,” he greeted them as they stood before him. “I’m so glad y’all made it over.”
“You are?” Meghan asked, her voice filled with confusion.
“Of course. You’re the investors from Seattle, right?”
Before Meghan could respond, Karen chimed in, “we are from the Pacific Northwest.”
His lips turned upward into a smile. “I’m glad you made it. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for some time now.”
Karen held out her hand to shake his. “It’s a pleasure to be here.”
He turned to Meghan and shook her hand. “Thank you for coming. I can’t wait to share my plans with you.”
“Plans?”
He gestured at the two chairs in front of his desk. “Please, sit.”
They sat down, and Cameron beamed at them. “I have big plans to expand my newspapers outside of the south,” he began as he clapped his hands in front of him on his desk. “After doing some research, I think it’s time to open some newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. That’s where you come in. I need some investors for my new locations, and I think your firm would be the perfect partners for my newspapers.”
Karen raised an eyebrow. “Tell us more.”
He smiled. “I am very excited about this,” he told them. “To be frank, I’ve had a stressful month, and this deal is the most exciting thing going on in my life. I’m ready to throw myself into expanding my media company, and I am ready to do everything it takes to make this worth your while.”
Meghan bit her lip. “A stressful month?”
He shrugged. “Just some personal things. Not a big deal.”
She tried to smile, but her stomach churned as she weighed his cavalier attitude. His wife had just died, and the police were investigating it as a homicide. “Just some personal things. Not a big deal,” he had said. Meghan pursed her lips.
“I want to update my media presence, too,” he continued. “Design some fancy websites, create an online interactive presence. It’s important to keep up with the times, and I think that will be a great way to do it.”
Karen nodded. “That sounds very exciting,” she praised, and his eyes twinkled.
“You have no idea. When you and your firm invest in me, you will be getting the best of the best. It’s going to be amazing. So, what do you say?”
Meghan struggled to find words to speak, and Cameron stared at her. “You look familiar,” he muttered as he looked into Meghan’s dark eyes. “Have we met before?”
“We’re from the Pacific Northwest,” Karen said, shaking her head.
Cameron narrowed his beady brown eyes. “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”
Meghan bit her lip. “You do?”
He nodded. “Have you been in Peach Tree Grove before?”
Meghan shrugged. “I have,” she replied. “I’ve been here before.”
Cameron looked her up and down. “Do you have relatives here or something? Why have I seen you before?”
Meghan took a deep breath. “I grew up here.”
“You did? I knew it,” he said gleefully. “I knew I had seen you somewhere. You’re a Peach Tree Grove girl. Who are your parents?”
“You probably don’t know them,” she shook her head.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he pushed. “I know everyone in my town. In fact, it’s my job to know everyone in town, Miss…?”
She exhaled. “Truman,” she told him. “Miss Meghan Truman.”
“Truman? So, your parents are…”
“Rebecca and Henry.”
His face immediately darkened. “Well now, I see it. I can tell from that look on your face; you look like your Daddy when he is guilty. Henry Truman and I go way back, and I knew from your face that you were one of his. He’s a scoundrel, and I don’t know why you’ve bothered coming down to my office.”
Meghan rose to her feet. “Don’t talk about my Daddy like that,” she ordered as she pointed a finger in Cameron’s face. “How dare you say the things you said about him and my family in your newspaper?”
Cameron folded his arms over his chest. “That was rude. Where are your Southern manners, Miss Truman? You haven’t been away from Texas that long, have you?”
Karen frowned. “Leave her and her family alone. The Trumans are a good family, and they had nothing to do with the death of your wife.”
“Are you sure?” Cameron challenged. “How well do you know the Trumans? Are you sure they are the good people you claim they are? Why, Meghan Truman burst into my office, pretended to be an investor, and then didn’t even bother offering condolences for my deceased wife? You’re just like your family.”
“I’m sorry about your wife,” she offered, deciding to change her approach. “I’m sorry she passed away. I am so sorry for your loss.”
He shook his head. “It’s too late,” he spat at her. “Too late for pleasantries.”
“Please,” she begged as she clasped her hands together. “Please, Mr. Barrington. Please don’t drag my family through the mud. We’ve been through so much this year, and I don’t know if my parents can handle more eyes on them.”
Cameron laughed. “That’s their fault,” he told her. “They made their choices.”
Karen shook her head. “Do you know for certain that they had something to do with your wife’s death?” she asked him boldly. “You didn’t sound too upset about your wife’s death as we were chatting earlier. In fact, you said it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Don’t take my words out of context,” he threatened.
“I just don’t think you have enough evidence to pin this on the Trumans,” Karen said. “I think you just want to capitalize on damage their reputation took when Henry got in trouble over the holidays. It’s an easy out.”
“I am an award-winning investigative journalist,” he glowered as Karen rose to her feet and moved beside Meghan. “And I am respected in this town. Maybe your parents did it. Maybe they didn’t. What I do know is that your father is troubled, and he was with my wife on the day she died.”
“Along with my entire family!” Meghan corrected him.
“Regardless. I’m going to keep looking into this, and I have no doubt that at the end of it, I will find your father responsible.”
Meghan glared at him. “You won’t,” she hissed as she turned on her heel and strode out the door
, Karen following behind her.
“What do we do now?” Meghan fretted as they walked to their bikes. “He is terrible... almost worse than Thelma. What are we going to do?”
Karen sighed. “We don’t have a lot of control over him,” she advised. “But we do have control over how we spend the rest of our evening.”
“I need to do something to calm myself down,” she murmured as she fiddled with the lock on her bike. “I’m so angry. He was such a jerk.”
Karen smiled. “I have an idea.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the baking section at the supermarket. “This is a great idea,” Meghan told Karen as they browsed through the different brands of flour. “I haven’t baked anything in a few days, and I am going crazy.”
“I thought you would enjoy getting your hands dirty,” Karen remarked as she selected a box of coconut flour. “What about this? I know coconut flour isn’t your favorite, but this brand is new. We should try it.”
Meghan agreed. “We can try it. Throw it in the cart.”
Just then, Doug Liman walked up to them, still dressed in his uniform. “Hey,” he said warmly as Meghan gave him a half-hearted wave.
“Hey.”
“Are you stalking me?” he joked as Meghan’s face darkened.
“Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “Bad joke. Don’t listen to me.”
Meghan shifted awkwardly. “What were you doing at Cameron Barrington’s?” she asked.
He stared at her. “I could ask you the same thing.”
She frowned. “He wrote terrible things about my family,” she explained. “I wanted to confront him.”
He nodded. “I figured that was it.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “So? What were you doing there?”
His smile disappeared. “What do you think? His wife just died. We are investigating Mrs. Barrington’s death, and we had a few questions.”
“What a tragedy,” Karen said as she batted her eyelashes. “How did she die, exactly?”
Doug smiled at Karen, and Meghan wanted to roll her eyes. Karen looked fantastic for a woman of her years, and she couldn’t believe Doug was succumbing to her charm.
“Don’t tell anyone I said it,” he warned them as he leaned in closer. “But she was gunned down over on Oxford Street.”
Meghan gasped. “Oxford Street? That’s such a popular place in Peach Tree Grove. It’s always packed with people at bars and restaurants and shops.”
“That’s why we’re puzzled,” Doug told her. “How did she get gunned down in such a popular place? She must have been with someone she knew well, or she would have made a scene. That’s why we’re looking into the husband…”
Meghan’s dark eyes grew large. “You think Cameron had something to do with it?”
His face darkened. “No, I don’t, but it’s pretty standard to look into the husband when you’re investigating a murder. I think that assistant of hers, Stanley, had something to do with it. From her husband’s account, it sounds like she and Stanley were a bit better acquainted than Mr. Barrington would have preferred.”
“What do you mean?”
Doug bit his lip. “Mr. Barrington believes Thelma and Stanley were having an affair.”
“An affair?” Meghan cried.
“That explains the bruises on Stanley’s face,” Karen declared. “They must have had a lover’s quarrel.”
“What?” Doug asked. “What bruises?”
Meghan’s hands rose to her face. “Have you talked to Stanley?” she asked him.
“Not yet,” Doug admitted.
Meghan’s stomach sank as she remembered their strange encounter in the coffee shop. “You might want to get ahold of him sooner than later,” she advised. “I think Stanley Bull is someone you should look into. I just have a bad feeling about him, Doug.”
He nodded. “Stanley Bull, huh? I don’t know, Meghan. We’ve done some investigating into his story, and while his alibi is shaky, we don’t think he did it.”
“Are you sure?” she asked worriedly. “Who else are you looking into?”
He glanced around. “You cannot repeat this,” he began. “There’s someone else we believe was involved. Someone who isn’t from the area…”
“I won’t,” she promised earnestly, but before he could answer, a uniformed police officer walked up to them.
“Hey, Doug!” the officer greeted them. “What are you up to? Are you coming to our intramural basketball game tonight? We’re going to beat your team this time.”
Doug shot Meghan an apologetic look. “Sorry,” he mouthed as he turned to his friend.
16
T he next morning, Meghan and Karen were enjoying their breakfast by the pool. Meghan was having two slices of wheat toast with an avocado spread on top, and Karen was spooning fat-free Greek yogurt into her mouth with gusto.
“This is incredible,” she commented as she licked her lips. “I’ve never tasted yogurt like this.”
“It’s my mom’s favorite,” Meghan told her as she took a bite of her toast. “She had it on a vacation once, and it’s all she eats now. She swears it’s how she keeps her tiny figure.”
Karen nodded. “It’s delicious. Your mother has excellent taste in yogurt.”
Meghan frowned. “But not in men.”
“What are you talking about? She and your Dad seem happy enough.”
“I meant David,” Meghan replied in exasperation.
“Oh. He’s been on your mind, hasn’t he?”
Meghan nodded. “While we were baking last night, I thought about the visit we paid to David’s bakery. I started thinking about him, and wondering about him and my Mama, and I just can’t stop thinking about it now.”
Karen frowned. “I’m sorry,” she offered. “Is there anything I can do?”
Meghan bit her lip. “Don’t laugh at me when I admit this to you,” she began.
“Admit what?”
She sighed. “When we visited David’s bakery, he had a bunch of gorgeous desserts on display,” she explained. “He had this beautiful black and white cake with black and white frosting, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The frosting was perfect; the swirls were gorgeous, and they were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before...”
“You want to check out his cakes, don’t you?”
Meghan’s face flushed. “I do,” she told her friend. “With everything going on, I know it sounds silly, but I can’t help myself; his bakery was stunning, and I want to check it out again... and find out more about what’s going on between David and my mother.”
Karen nodded. “I think we’re going on a road trip, aren’t we?”
Within the hour, they were walking into David’s bakery. Meghan’s heart was beating furiously in her chest, and a part of her hoped that he would not be there when they arrived.
To her dismay, David greeted them as they walked in. “Miss Truman, good to see you,” he said kindly, his dark eyes lighting up. “Is your mother here, too?”
She frowned at the mention of her mother. “No, but I brought a friend,” she told him as she gestured at Karen. “This is my friend from Sandy Bay, Karen Denton.”
“What a pleasure,” Karen greeted him as he walked over and kissed her on both cheeks. “Meghan told me all about your bakery. She said you are baking her wedding cake.”
“That’s what her Mama told me,” David replied, his eyes sparkling. “It’s a pleasure to do it.”
Meghan balled her hands into fists. “I’m glad you think so.”
David smiled at Karen. “Can I show you around?” he asked.
“That would be lovely,” she told him, and he led them around the bakery.
“How did you come to open a bakery?” Karen asked politely.
David told her about his beginnings with Thelma, and Karen listened intently. “What about your parents? Do they support your bakery?”
He raised an eyebrow, and Meghan noted the strange look on his f
ace. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Karen replied. “It took Meghan’s parents a bit to warm up to the idea of their daughter owning and running a bakery, but now, they are supportive. I wonder if your parents are the same?”
David’s face darkened. “I don’t like discussing my parents,” he shrugged as he turned away.