“What’s going on?” I finally whispered to Thorn so that the couple wouldn’t hear me. It wasn’t lost on me that I had joined the quiet commotion around us.
“That’s the man that Pepper was seeing,” Thorn leaned across the table and whispered back to me. “That’s Tucker Garrison out with a woman who obviously isn’t Pepper.”
“Oh, I see why everyone is carrying on now,” I said. “It seems a little soon after her death, but maybe they are just friends or something.”
“Could be. Either way, it seems that people are not going to give them a moment’s peace here,” Thorn said. “It’s too bad. Tucker doesn’t even seem to notice, but she looks mortified.”
Before I could answer, a woman walked up to their table and stood over the couple. Tucker’s date shrank back as though she knew she was about to be slapped, and Tucker finally looked up from his menu and noticed things weren’t going so well for them.
“Can I help you?” Tucker asked the woman leering down at them.
“I can’t believe the gall of some people,” the woman practically spat. “You’re girlfriend’s body isn’t even cold yet, and you’re already out with another… hussy!”
“Excuse you,” Tucker said and stood up. “You know nothing about me or Pepper. I’d advise you to mind your own business.”
“I’d advise you to grow some class and take your little slut somewhere else. Nobody wants you here,” the woman said.
“I should say something,” Thorn said and started to stand up.
“Thorn…” I started to say that perhaps he should just leave it alone until there was a real problem. Maybe let the manager handle it.
I didn’t get the chance. Tucker’s date stood up. She was crying, and black mascara ran down her cheeks. “Please, let’s just go,” she begged him. “Please.”
“Fine,” he said and threw his red cloth napkin down on the table. “This place sucks anyway.”
After he was gone, the restaurant quieted down again. The waitresses all looked relieved, and Thorn and I were able to enjoy the rest of our dinner.
“He has a temper,” I said before taking the last bite of my buttery lobster.
“Kinsley…” Thorn said with a warning smirk.
“What?” I asked.
“Let’s just enjoy the rest of our dinner and then go home, my love. I’m sure we can think of better things to do tonight than worry about the case,” Thorn said with a smile that made me blush. “We can pick it back up tomorrow if you’re so inclined.”
The next morning when I woke up, Thorn was already gone for work. Tangerine’s leash was on the kitchen table, though, so I assumed he’d made good on his promise to take her running.
There was also a note that told me he loved me and he couldn’t wait to see his wife again. It said that he knew we both had to work, but if he could find a way to see me during the day, he would. If not, he’d see me after work for dinner.
Suddenly, I missed him terribly, but I felt silly for admitting it. It was as if a huge part of me was off somewhere else, and I just wanted Thorn back at my side. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling. I decided to be happy that I longed for my husband, and left the kitchen, after feeding Meri, to get ready for my day.
Reggie had a bright smile on her face when I walked into the shop, but I wasn’t entirely sure if it was for me or for the latte I’d stopped off to buy her on my way into work.
“Ohh, coffee,” she said and cleared up any doubt.
“Good morning to you too,” I teased as I handed it to her.
“You’re in a particularly good mood this morning,” she said. “Thank you for the coffee.”
I waited until she swallowed the sip she’d taken before I showed her the wedding band on my finger. Something else Thorn had stowed away in his cruiser, and I had his ring in the little velvet spell bag I always kept tied either around or to my waist.
“Wait, is that?” Reggie asked and set her coffee down on the counter. We were inside the shop at that point, and she was getting ready to open the cash register. “How, though? Oh my gosh, congratulations! I wonder if Jeremy knows yet. He must if he’s seen Thorn this morning, but he didn’t call me. Ugh.”
“Well, he’s probably busy working,” I said with a chuckle, “and thank you. We did it yesterday at the courthouse. I ran into Thorn coming out of the Brew Station, and he asked me again to just go do it. I couldn’t tell him no because… I don’t know. Something had shifted. There really was this dark veil hanging over the two of us, but something happened yesterday. Any feelings or doubts I had about Azriel evaporated. The last little hooks he had in me were broken, and that veil was lifted off me and Thorn. We were able to admit our mistakes and move forward.”
“That’s so amazing,” Reggie said. She came around the counter and pulled me into a hug. “I’m so happy for you guys. Did you tell everyone yet?”
“I told Viv this morning when I got coffee. She did a happy dance. I called my parents, and they weren’t mad at me for not being there, but they do want to throw a hand-fasting ceremony for us. All the Aunties and such business. You know the drill. I called Dorian, but it went to voicemail. I sent him a text too, but you know that Isaac is coming to visit him, right? They actually might work things out, so I don’t want to bother him too much.”
“He’d want to know this,” she said. “Dorian wouldn’t consider it a bother.”
“Well, if I haven’t heard from him by afternoon, I’ll send him another text. I think he knows I’m working down here now, but if not, I’ll make sure he knows that too.”
The weather still held for the most part, so the shop was busy with tourists all day. There was also a succession of witches who heard the news that I was finally married, so they all stopped by to wish me well or bless the marriage. Dorian even came down from his apartment and hung around with us for a while during a brief lull that afternoon. Isaac was due in that evening for his visit, though, and we told Dorian we didn’t expect to see him much for at least a couple of days.
He countered that by telling us that Isaac wanted to take all of the available haunted history tours, so we would probably see more of the two of them than we expected. I thought that was an excellent idea. How could you not love Coventry after such a grand introduction? Or reintroduction. Isaac had been to our town before, but I still didn’t believe he’d been properly introduced.
I thought that by the time I was locking up I would have been exhausted, but I was buzzing with good energy. I was full of… curiosity too.
I wanted to talk to Karen about why Jeremy had come to see her at the bed and breakfast, but I needed a segue into the conversation. I didn’t want it to immediately come off as me investigating.
The only thing I could think of off the top of my head was to go in and ask if Azriel had left anything behind in his room. I’d paid for his charges, so I should be able to see anything he left. I was kind of surprised she hadn’t offered that while I was there, but I told myself that perhaps she’d thought I didn’t care.
Karen owed me a favor, so it wouldn’t hurt for her to pay that back with a little information. I had a while before I needed to get home and start dinner. Thorn didn’t work regular hours, and there were often at least two or three hours before I closed the shop and he showed up for dinner.
Meri was only halfway interested in what I was doing, and I didn’t get any actual complaints from him. So, we got into the car and drove over to the Bootique.
Karen smiled when I walked inside. “Kinsley, hello. I heard the good news. Are you here to book my honeymoon suite? It’s stunning,” she said and I felt bad. While I would have loved to book the suite for Thorn and me, I felt like it wasn’t a good time. With him having to get up so early for work and all, we wouldn’t have been able to spend long mornings snuggling in the comfy beds or enjoy the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast. I’d heard rumors that Karen’s breakfast spread was legendary.
“I wish,” I said. “Thorn�
�s too busy with work, and I’m busy with the shop. As soon as we can get some time, I promise I’ll take you up on that offer.”
“Well, you’re welcome any time,” she said. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to check and see if Azriel left anything in his room,” I said. “Did you collect anything from there?”
“Why, did you have something go missing?”
“No,” I said and shook my head. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have to hold onto anything for him.”
“Well, I didn’t want to say anything the last time, but there was one thing. I just didn’t want to upset you. I’m sorry,” Karen said.
“What is it?” I asked, unsure of how to take her sudden gloom. I hadn’t actually expected her to find anything. The whole thing was a ruse to talk about Pepper’s murder.
“I kept it up here in my locked money drawer because I wouldn’t want to throw something like this in the lost and found,” she said and unlocked a drawer under the counter.
From the drawer, she produced Azriel’s wedding band. Karen slid it across the counter toward me, but I didn’t touch it. I knew intellectually that it wasn’t cursed, but it still felt cursed.
“Oh,” I said.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything the other day, but I didn’t want to upset you,” Karen said. “I suppose you can take it. From what I hear, he’s not coming back for it.”
“I don’t want it,” I said firmly. “You’re right about him not coming back, though. You should sell it. Or, you could throw it away. I don’t want it.”
“Are you sure?” Karen asked.
“As sure as can be,” I said. “I have no use for it.”
“Well, okay. I suppose I could pawn it or maybe sell it on the internet,” she said with a soft smile. “That’s all that he left behind. It was on the desk. Right in the center.”
It almost felt like a message, but I didn’t say anything to Karen about it. I would not let Azriel or his twisted version of love bother me anymore.
“While I’ve got you here, Karen, can I ask you about something else?” I decided to segue right into why I was really there.
“Sure, anything,” she said as she finished locking the cash drawer. The ring had been safely tucked back inside.
“Last time I was here, Jeremy was coming in as I was leaving,” I said. “Was he here about Pepper Howard’s murder?”
“Oh, no,” Karen said quickly. “The Bootique didn’t have anything to do with her death. I can assure you of that. Why, did you hear rumors that we did?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I just assumed that her case was the only one Jeremy was working on.”
“Well, he must have had a break in the action. He just came by to follow up with me on a vandalism report I filed a few weeks ago. Some uncouth tourists who trashed a room, and I had to file a report with law enforcement to get my insurance company to pay up for the repairs,” she said.
“Oh,” I responded.
“It was weird enough, though, because I saw him twice in one day. Not here the second time. I stopped into Utterly Uncorked to check on my incoming wine shipment. We’re starting a new wine and appetizer reception in the evenings here at the Bootique, and I saw Jeremy there talking to Tucker Garrison. He’s the owner, and if I remember right, he was dating Pepper. Right?”
“He was,” I confirmed.
“Well, neither one of them looked very happy, but Jeremy left before I could hear what they were saying,” Karen said. “So there’s that.”
“Thank you so much,” I said. “Thank you for everything. I’ll get in touch with you about a weekend in the honeymoon suite soon.”
I hurried out of the bed and breakfast with Karen calling, “You’re welcome anytime,” after me.
I didn’t mean to be rude and rush out on her, but I wanted to stop into Utterly Uncorked and talk to Tucker. I’d seen him in Belle Vita with a new woman, but I’d written it off.
Now, I wasn’t so sure if I should have done that. Maybe his relationship with Pepper had been more serious than people knew, and perhaps he did have a motive for murder. He certainly had a bit of temper.
Who knew? There was a whole world of possibilities, and if Jeremy had been in there looking unhappy, perhaps he’d read the situation wrong too. That was reason enough for me to stop in and peruse his wine selection. I couldn’t drink, but maybe he had something Thorn would like. Some wine shops had a selection of imported beers too, and that would be right up my new husband’s alley.
Really, it was all for Thorn. Pinky swear.
I pulled into the parking lot at Utterly Uncorked and parked my car near the exit. All of the close spaces were taken, but there weren’t that many people inside. The wine shop was one of those split buildings, and it shared its footprint with a gourmet cheese and snack store. I made a mental note to go in there as soon as possible because I had a sudden craving for cheese. It was a perfect pairing with the wine shop, and I wondered if Tucker owned both or if he was business partners with another owner.
That wasn’t important at the time. I told myself to focus on Tucker and his possible involvement with Pepper’s death.
When I walked inside, there was one customer at the counter checking out. They were nearly done and left as I walked over to the beer cooler, the store did have one, and started perusing the import beers.
A minute later, the man who had been behind the counter approached me. “Looking for something special for yourself or for a gift?” he asked.
“Are you Tucker Garrison, the owner?” I returned his question with a question.
“I am,” he said. “Owner of Utterly Uncorked and part owner of the Bubbly Goat Cheese Shop next door.”
“Is it all goat cheese?” I asked.
“No, and I told my partner everyone would think that, but she insisted on the name,” he said with a dismissive shrug. “Oh, well, it doesn’t seem to hurt business too much. People still come in and are delighted to find it’s more than goat cheese.”
“Quirky things tend to do well in this town,” I said.
“They do, and that’s why I went with Utterly Uncorked instead of Garrison’s Wine Emporium,” he said.
“Good call,” I said. “So while I’ve got you here,” I said, and got you talking, I didn’t say, “I wanted to ask you about Pepper Howard.”
His face fell. It was obviously a subject that Tucker Garrison did not want to discuss.
“I saw you the other night with the sheriff. I thought you guys were a couple. Are you a deputy now too? Because I’ve already talked to the undersheriff.”
“I know,” I admitted. “That’s why I’m here. I heard a rumor that after he talked to you, both of you were upset. If he’s not doing enough to clear your name, then perhaps I can help. Since I’m married to the sheriff and all.”
I hoped that appealing to his need for self-preservation would help my case. It did not.
“What’s it to you?” he asked, and I watched his nostrils flare. A vein stuck out on his forehead too. His temper was about to flame. I wanted to say that he had a quick temper, and I was being a bit of an intrusive jerk. I felt it was necessary, but that didn’t negate that I could possibly have been seen as a pain in the butt. Especially after he’d just been run out of a restaurant over Pepper’s murder. “Look, I know what you people think,” he continued before I could answer. “But Pepper and I were not a serious thing. She knew that. Heck, she wanted it that way. I didn’t move on quickly with Christine after Pepper’s death. That woman you saw me with at Bella Vita, that’s Christine, and she and I have been dating for longer than I was seeing Pepper. Both women knew about each other and any other women I happen to go out with. I don’t date women seriously, but I don’t lead them on either.”
“I’m sorry,” I said because while he seemed ticked off, Tucker also seemed completely sincere.
“Jeremy was ticked off because when he came in to talk to me, I was in a mood about the whole thin
g,” Tucker continued. “So, I told him to buzz off and either arrest me or come back with a warrant. But I didn’t leave things off like that. I sent him surveillance footage from the shop proving that I had been here all night and into the morning Pepper died doing inventory. I have an alibi.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Yeah, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to stop talking about all of this now. Pepper’s death was sad, but it wasn’t anything to do with me,” he said.
To make up for being a jerk, I bought an expensive case of imported ale and left quickly. The only problem was that when I got out to my car, someone had slashed all of my tires.
Yule Be Magical (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 8) Page 9