by Maymee Bell
“Or you can just answer my questions about the last time you saw Emile.” Carter was a little sterner this time.
“The last time I saw him was that day. I was with Charlotte and Evelyn too. We had a meeting in the ballroom. The rest of the week I’ve been at work or here. I’ve been around plenty of people who can verify. Is that all?” Brett asked.
“Hey, man. It’s all part of the job.” Carter smoothed it over as best he could.
Without looking at them, I headed outside, where Charlotte and Madison were huddled under a quilt. It looked like Madison was comforting Charlotte.
The back patio had a built-in fire pit in the middle. There were several Adirondack chairs placed around the pit as well as a bench. At the end of the bench, a few blankets folded in a stack. There were a couple of tables with some finger foods and The Berry.
I took a small plate and put a couple of snacks along with a strawberry on it before I went over to the bench to sit down. It was probably the best place to sit to avoid Carter. He made my emotions confused, and that bothered me. My heart hadn’t skipped like that since I’d met Noah. In some weird way, I felt like I was cheating on Noah, even though I knew we weren’t together anymore. Maybe it was because I’d not been in a situation like this in years and was a tad bit uncomfortable.
“I’m glad to see you aren’t missing.” Carter drew the beer bottle up to his lips. There was a vivid smirk on his face. He handed me his beer to hold while he moved the blankets to a chair and sat down next to me on the bench.
Well, my plan didn’t work. My body stiffened when I handed him back his beer.
I turned my head to look at him. The fire flickered, making the gold specks in his brown eyes stand out. “I’m guessing Bitsy called you.”
“Every hour.” He grinned. “You’re lucky you have a caring mother.”
“I know.” I tried to put the sweet tone of his southern drawl in the back of my mind as I talked to him. He was every bit the southern gentleman I’d always imagined I’d end up with when I was growing up. That was before I met Noah, who was so different.
Noah was suave. Worldly. He was very opinionated, which made him seem so smart.
“You should’ve called her.” His brow rose.
“I did! I called her cell phone. How was I to know that it was in her car?” I asked.
Carter threw his head back and laughed. I enjoyed watching him get a kick out of it, since he knew I’d driven Bitsy’s car that day. I also noticed my friends were looking at us with smiles on their faces. I refused to look at them.
“When I went back to the office, my secretary said that your Bitsy had called her a million times to report a missing woman and insisted on an Amber Alert. Bitsy had a hard time understanding that the law states a person of your age needs to be missing for twenty-four hours before we can do anything and you’d need to be a missing child for us to put out an Amber Alert. Unless you were sick, mentally ill, or a harm to society. Those are special circumstances. Bitsy insisted this was a special circumstance because apparently you aren’t in your right mind since you were cheated on recently.” His smile faded, his eyes boring into mine.
“Oh, shit,” I muttered. “How embarrassing.”
“He’s a jerk. And I’m glad he did or I’d never have gotten to have this beer with you.” He clinked his bottle to mine. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I held his gaze.
It was refreshing that he had said those kind words even though he was probably thinking I was a freak. I was sure of it. I put the notion that he’d been flirting with me out of my head, knowing he was just being nice out of pity for the girl who’d run back home after her heart was broken. Not to mention seen the dead body of a murder victim.
“How is the investigation going?” I had to change the subject, though I wasn’t sure it was the best topic of conversation.
“Going.” He sucked in a deep breath and leaned his forearms on his knees, bending his body over. He stared at the fire.
“Do you have any suspects?” Brett asked. Charlotte and Madison watched the men.
“Unfortunately, it’s not looking good for Evelyn Moss.” Carter took another drink from the bottle.
“But without Evelyn, I can’t have my wedding.” Charlotte gave him a hostile glare.
“I’m sorry, Charlotte. You know I don’t want anything to happen to your wedding, but I’ve got a murder case to solve.” Carter wasn’t budging. His southern manners went sideways as he let Charlotte cry in her beer.
“There is no way Evelyn killed anyone,” I chirped up.
“And you are now a detective?” He looked at me as if I’d overstepped my authority.
“No, but I know her and I know that Emile wasn’t all that nice to everyone.” I probably said more than I should.
“I didn’t know you knew him.” His words had a bite.
“Brett, do something.” Charlotte stood up and threw the blanket on the ground before she marched back into the house.
He gave Carter a look.
“Did you have to bring this up again, man?” Brett shook his head. “Great.” Carter chugged back his beer and stood up. He set his empty bottle on one of the tables. “Have a nice night, ladies.”
Madison and I gave a slight wave and watched as he walked out the gate of the backyard, not bothering to say good-night to Brett and Charlotte.
“That was uncomfortable.” Madison walked over and sat down next to me.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t’ve asked Carter anything if I’d known Charlotte was going to get upset.” I stared at the flames and tried to wrap my head around the fact that I was wondering when I was going to see Carter again.
“What about him?” She gave me a wry smile. “That was awkward too.” After I gave her a strange look, she said, “Your and Carter’s little flirt session.” Madison tucked her legs up under her and tucked a blanket up under her chin.
“What are you talking about?” I snorted, trying not to ask her if she really thought he was flirting with me. I wasn’t a teenager anymore.
“Are you kidding me? He is smitten with you,” she said. “He even looked at you with those eyes. Just like the first time he laid eyes on you.”
“What eyes?” I giggled, trying to hide that teenage girl that seemed to pop out of me every time I was near Carter. Then I realized that Madison hadn’t been at Small Talk Café the first time Carter and I’d met.
“Oh my God.” Madison drew back. Her jaw dropped. “You are interested in Carter Kincaid.” She shoved me to the side in a playful way.
“Stop it. We aren’t sixteen.” I brushed her off. “But you really think he was flirting? I thought it was just me.”
“Talk about me not changing. You still have all the men falling over you,” she teased.
Carter was interesting, but no one needed to know that. There was some chemistry between us. There was no denying that. “I’m here to figure out a way to get Evelyn off the hook and get Charlotte hitched. Besides the whole expensive menu, I think Emile was having an affair with some members of the RCC. Carter needs to look into them.”
“Like who?” Madison asked.
“You can’t say anything.” I reached over and grabbed another berry. I took a bite of it. “Natalie Devin, for one.”
“Shut up!” Madison’s jaw dropped. “Not that I’m gossiping, but I’d heard her marriage was falling apart.”
“I need to find out if they were having an affair. If it’s true, she or her husband could’ve killed Emile. That’s a huge motive.” I drank the last bit of beer in my bottle and set it down on the brick wall of the fire pit.
The flames jumped around when the light breeze trickled across the backyard.
“And exactly how do you think we are going to figure out if it’s true?” Her face shadowed in and out in the flickering firelight.
“We?” I asked and scooted a little to the right so I could get a look at her face to see if she was serious.
“You haven’t bee
n here in ten years, Sophia. There’s a lot of gossip you don’t know that could help.” She cocked a brow. She wasn’t playing.
“You’re right.” It might be helpful to have someone to knock ideas around with. Not really a bad idea. She’d be able to keep a secret better than Mama.
“I’ll help, but I have one condition.” The smile on her face told me she wanted something from me. I’d seen that face many times before.
“What?” I cautiously asked.
“I need you to stay for another week and bake those cookies at my open houses.” She drove a hard bargain. “Plus a cake for Bryce’s second birthday party next weekend.”
“I thought you said Monday.” I clearly remembered her saying something about Monday. “Besides, I can’t use the RCC kitchen past this weekend.”
“I have a few houses to show next week. And I’ve got a space for you to use for Bryce’s cake. A Big Bird cake.” She put her hands in the air. “One that stands.”
“But…” I started. She was slicker than snot on a doorknob.
“Shhhhhhh.” She put up a finger and wagged it between us. “Remember, I have a lot of ins and outs of places where we can get some information.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“I’ve got to go to Natalie Devin’s house about a possible listing,” she said.
“I can go with you. While you’re talking to her about the listing, I can make an excuse to leave the room and snoop around.” It sounded like the perfect in to me. “You can go to the bathroom but snoop around instead.”
“Do you even know what you’re looking for?” She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“Notes, cards, letters from Emile. Check her computer or something. I don’t know. Research it,” I suggested. “I can’t do all of the figuring out.”
Chapter Ten
“Your phone is ringing,” I said, and patted the space next to me. The cold sheet under my hand sent a shockwave reminder that I wasn’t in my dream back in NYC in my apartment with Noah next to me.
I slid my hand down the sheet until it hit a warm and cuddle-up Duchess. She purred with each rub until the phone buzzed again.
“I guess I wasn’t dreaming about the phone.” I rolled over to my right and saw Madison had texted me a few times.
After I’d gotten home last night, I’d made the Blueberry Buckles and headed up to bed. The beer was a much-needed sleep aid. Bitsy had left me a note to be ready by ten AM so we could leave for the Garden Club. Apparently Madison had different plans.
I scrolled through a text message Madison had left an hour before. The last text said to hurry up because she was downstairs with Bitsy.
I peeled back the covers and slipped my feet into my warm house shoes.
“If I’ve got to face her”—I grabbed Duchess, talking about Mama—“then you have to face her.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I think Duchess had been by my side since I’d been home because she was tired of Bitsy falling all over her and my room seemed to be a safe haven for the feline.
We padded down the back stairs to the kitchen. With each step, the coffee aroma got stronger and stronger.
“What are you doing here so early?” I asked Madison, holding Duchess to one side as I grabbed a cup to pour myself some coffee.
“There’s my baby.” Bitsy’s lips were all squishy and mushed together. She grabbed Duchess and did kissy faces. I rolled my eyes.
“Early,” Madison scoffed. “It’s eight AM. Early bird gets the worm.”
“Good thing, because I hate worms.” I dragged myself over to the table and sat down. “Seriously, what’s up?”
Bitsy was too busy filling up Duchess’s bowl with kibble to have an ear in our conversation, which told me that she’d already questioned Madison and knew why she was here so early.
“I thought we’d get our day started off by grabbing a cup of coffee at Small Talk Café and then head over to a house before we go to the Garden Club meeting.” She clapped her hands together. “Chop-chop.”
“Listen, I didn’t say I was going to be at your beck and call since I’m staying another week.” I took a sip of the hot coffee, instantly releasing a happy sigh. It was my very favorite time of the day.
“You are?” Bitsy stopped milling around the kitchen and jerked her attention to us.
“Calm down.” I had to put a halt to any nonsense wrangling around in her pretty little head. “I’m going to hang around a few more days to bake Bryce’s birthday cake.”
“Oh, happy birthday to Brycie.” Bitsy always put the “ie” on a child’s name in an endearing way. “Can you believe it’s been two years since we had your baby shower at the Garden Club?” She eased back down into one of the kitchen chairs.
“I know. I was telling Matthew that I couldn’t believe we were parents.” Madison pulled a leg up under her and popped her elbows on the top of the table.
Bitsy called her out. “Honey, that’s not ladylike.” My mouth twitched as I tried to contain my smile. “Sophia, you go on upstairs and get ready. It’s not proper to keep your guest waiting.”
Who knew what Bitsy and Madison had talked about while it took me a good forty-five minutes to shower, fix my hair, and apply makeup? If I’d been going straight to the RCC to cook, I wouldn’t have taken so long to get ready, but I was going to the Garden Club meeting and snooping around. I needed to fit in as much as possible.
I opted to wear a pair of ankle-length khakis paired with a white button-down and a pearl necklace. It was strange looking at my image in the mirror, an image I’d worked so hard to get rid of. Not that I was uncomfortable; it just wasn’t the real me. The real me was happy in a pair of scrub pants and chef ’s jacket. I didn’t even mind the hairnet. Today I was sacrificing my comfort to help out Charlotte and Evelyn.
“Ready?” I asked, grabbing my bag.
“Yes.” Madison bolted up so fast I knew she’d spent enough time with Bitsy.
“Can you bring the Blueberry Buckles to the Garden Club meeting?” I checked my watch because I knew they’d be much better refrigerated until the meeting. Who knew what Madison had planned for the next hour.
“Of course.” Bitsy’s hand slowly rubbed Duchess. “See you girls there.”
“What on earth do you have planned this morning?” I asked after I’d gotten in the swaggin’ wagon and buckled the seat belt. My bag was nestled on the floor between my feet.
“First, coffee before anything.” She jerked the gearshift into drive and zoomed out of driveway. “After two years of no sleep and because my tolerance of caffeine is so high, I need a gallon of coffee before I’m functional.” She whipped the car out of the subdivision and headed straight toward town. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand Matthew is tired. I’m tired. I’m the one who gets up and goes to work every single morning.”
“Doesn’t Matthew go to work every morning too?” I hated that I hadn’t been a great friend over the past ten years. I didn’t even have any social media accounts to keep up. Being in charge of a pastry division of a big restaurant took up enough of my time, and getting lost in social media didn’t sound like much fun.
“He’s a stay-at-home dad. I mean, it was a joint decision.” She said it like she had to defend their reasoning.
“That’s very popular nowadays.” There were several fathers who came into The Manhattan with their children and friends during the day for a fun dessert after they’d been to the park.
“Honestly, it wasn’t by choice.” She gripped the wheel and took a left out of the gated community. “He worked at the stockyard with cattle. It’s all he’s ever known. But all those jobs got outsourced to cheaper labor and it’s really affected Rumford’s farming community. So I went back to get my realtor license.”
“I’m sure you’re really good at it.” I wanted to make her feel better.
“Did you even listen to what I said about this car yesterday?” She groaned. “Or are you just being nice? Because I don’t need nice. I n
eed a real friend and someone to really vent to.”
“By all means, vent. But I’m no expert in marriage or children.” It was true. There wasn’t a maternal bone in my body. I’d spent so much time working and being the perfect girlfriend to Noah, I’d never thought about children. “It just seems to me that if you’re in a financial situation, you’d both go to work.”
“Who’d watch my young’uns?” she asked. “That’s the problem. Any sort of money he’d make, we’d spend in putting the kids in daycare.”
My mind quickly wanted to change the subject. There was a tension in her voice telling me she didn’t want advice.
“That’s something I wouldn’t know about.” I looked out the window. The Kentucky post fence zoomed by as the car hugged the curves of the road that led us into town. “But I do know about cakes. You really want a Big Bird cake?”
“Standing, yellow legs, orange claw toes, and all.” She smiled.
“What on earth have I gotten myself into,” I half-joked so I wouldn’t make her mad. “I’m assuming Bryce loves Sesame Street?”
“Loves it. He has to watch it every morning or he’s in a bad mood all day until the next day.” She let off the gas a little when the speed signs changed from fifty-five to thirty-five outside city limits. “You’ll see.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that and didn’t respond.
She pulled into the parking space at the curb in front of Small Talk Café. It was just as busy as it had been yesterday morning. I didn’t see a Rumford Sheriff ’s cruiser and my heart sank a bit. It would’ve been kind of nice to see Carter to start my day, but I wasn’t sure how the tension would be between us since we hadn’t parted on great terms last night.
Madison put on her pretty smile and grabbed some flyers off the seat. “You ready?” She waved the papers in the air. “Gotta sell something.”
Apparently Small Talk was the gathering place to be at in the morning. Madison looked as if she were running for office, greeting everyone with a big hug and asking about their families before slipping them a flyer about one of her houses for sale. Of course, they all said they’d pass along the information.