Murder With Jammin’T

by R A Wallace

  The diner had been as busy today as it always was. They seemed to be doing a good business since she and Tyler had begun working there. That had to mean something too. People wouldn’t come to eat there if they didn’t like her cooking. She just wished she knew more about how Bert and Betty were doing. She saw that Tyler was coming toward the kitchen with another tub of dirty dishes. She looked at him anxiously as he crossed the diner. When he passed through the swing door and into the kitchen, she turned from the grill.

  “Have you heard anything else about the fire?”

  Tyler dropped the tub of dishes on a counter. Danny Ortega was just finishing up the last batch. Danny stopped to listen to Tyler’s response too.

  “From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty much a total loss. What didn’t burn has all kinds of damage.”

  “But, they’re okay, right?” Holly had grown fond of the older couple. They had been very helpful getting her and Tyler started with the diner. Bert was a little brusque, of course, but she knew he was hiding a heart of gold with his taciturn ways. She still couldn’t believe that their house had burned down but that was what they had been hearing at the diner all day.

  “That’s what they’re saying, yes.”

  “Have they figured out how the fire started?” Danny asked.

  Holly knew that Danny had worked for Bert and Betty also. She saw Tyler shake his head.

  “Not that anyone is saying yet.” Tyler glanced at the clock.

  Holly looked through the window into the restaurant. “Rhys and Ian are here. Maybe they know something?”

  Tyler went back through the swing door onto the floor.

  “Hey, have you guys heard anything new about Bert and Betty’s house?” Tyler stopped in front of the two officers. They were both in uniform.

  Rhys and Ian shared a look.

  “Tyler Jankowicz? We need you to come with us.” Ian’s face clearly showed that he wasn’t enjoying himself.

  A loud clatter in the kitchen was followed by a blur erupting through the swing door. Holly positioned herself in front of her brother, her hands on her hips.

  “Ian Riordin, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is not funny!” Holly looked from one man to the other. What she saw made her heart sink to her stomach. They weren’t kidding. She turned to her brother. “What is this about?”

  Tyler looked from Ian to Rhys. “I have no idea. What are you guys doing?”

  “We need to ask you some questions down at the station.” Rhys didn’t look any happier than Ian.

  “About what?” Tyler shook his head in confusion.

  Neither man answered at first. Finally, Ian spoke to Holly, making an effort to gentle his voice.

  “He may be awhile. In the meantime, you should get him a lawyer.”

  “What? Why?” Holly watched in horror as the men led Tyler to the door. Tyler twisted around.

  “Holly, it’ll be okay.” He stopped and looked at Ian and Rhys. “You guys are scaring her. This isn’t fair. It’s my job to take care of her.”

  Rhys opened the door and the three men stepped through.

  Holly stood helplessly staring through the windows of the diner as Tyler was put into the back seat of the police car. She hadn’t noticed that Lynn and Danny had walked over to stand next to her.

  “You do as they say, Holly.” Lynn placed her hand on the young girl’s arm and looked around at the other waitstaff. “We’ll close everything up here. You go find Jennifer Parker.”

  ***

  Megan finished cleaning the kitchen after dinner then picked up her computer and a mug of hot decaf tea from the kitchen table. She carried them into the living room and set them down. After putting more wood on the fire, she sat on one end of the couch with her legs crossed and opened her computer. She had been spending more time working on web sites. She was happy for the income, but she also enjoyed the work. In addition to some material that Jessilyn had given her for the town web site, Megan was also working on adding more material to the web pages that gave a history of Teaberry.

  She had interviewed an older gentleman who knew a great deal about the history of the town to originally create the pages. She thought that it might be time to revisit him and add more content. Based on the web server statistics, the history pages received a lot of visits. It made sense to add more content. Maybe she shouldn’t restrict her research to just Ward. Perhaps others might have interesting stories about Teaberry to share. Some might even have photos.

  Emma hopped up onto the couch and curled up next to Megan. Megan scrolled through the web page she had recently been working on and read what she had written. With her free hand, she rubbed Emma’s ears. She was rewarded with a loud purring. The sound of the doorbell surprised her. The anxious young girl she found on the other side of the door surprised her even more. She could tell that Holly had been crying. She pulled her into the house.

  “Are you hurt?” Megan couldn’t see any obvious signs of trauma.

  Holly didn’t seem to register Megan’s question.

  “They’ve arrested Tyler.”

  Megan led Holly back to the living room and waved to the couch.

  “Who arrested Tyler and why?” Megan sat on the other end of the couch.

  Emma lightly jumped into Holly’s lap. Fresh tears threatened to spill over.

  “I don’t know why. It was Rhys and Ian. I can’t believe they did that to him.” Holly wrapped her arms around Emma and hugged the black cat.

  Megan realized that getting information was going to be difficult.

  “Okay. Let’s start at the beginning. Where was Tyler when they arrested him?”

  “At the diner.” Holly used her sleeve to wipe at her eyes then pulled Emma even closer.

  “You were there at the time?”

  Holly nodded. She and Tyler were always there together.

  “Then you were there when Rhys and Ian were. What did they say?”

  “They said it had to do with the fire at Bert and Betty’s house.”

  Megan sat straighter. She hadn’t been into town and hadn’t heard about the fire. The police thought Tyler had something to do with that?

  “Was anyone hurt?”

  Holly shook her head again. “Not that I heard.”

  “What did you do after Tyler left with the police officers?”

  “They told me to get Jennifer. She said she would represent him.”

  That was a start. Megan looked at the frightened young girl hugging Emma.

  “Do you want to stay here tonight? You could sleep in one of the guest rooms upstairs. It wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

  Holly seemed to consider it for a moment, then shook her head.

  “I should take care of the animals at Cy’s farm.”

  “Okay. If you change your mind, it’s not a problem.”

  “Will you help Tyler?”

  Megan had no idea what was going on with Tyler or how she might help.

  “I can’t promise anything. You know that, right? I’m sure Jennifer has everything under control. You were smart to go to her.”

  Holly gave Emma another hug before setting her on the couch. She stood and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “But you’ll try, right?” Holly looked hopeful.

  Megan hesitated for only a brief moment. “Yes.”

  Holly thought the road looked darker than usual as she drove to the farm. She spent a long time in the barn with the horses. It soothed her to brush their silky coats. She finally went into the house and sat staring at her phone, wondering when she might hear word of her brother. It was nearly midnight by the time she went to her room to lie on her bed. She never saw the lights of the vehicle as it pulled into her driveway. A moment later, the lights were switched off.

  Chapter Five

  He would have sworn he hadn’t slept at all during the night but the pounding on the truck window startled him awake. Ian reached for his gun. It took him another moment to realize that it wasn’t there because he
wasn’t on duty. He rubbed his hand across his face then lowered his window. The young girl standing next to his truck was holding a cup of hot coffee. He couldn’t remember ever being so happy to see the hot, black liquid.

  “Thanks.” Ian didn’t care how hot it was. He quickly took a drink.

  “Did you spend the whole night here?” Holly couldn’t believe the man hadn’t frozen to death.

  Ian motioned with his head for Holly to take a step back so he could open his door and get out.

  “Your brother made me promise.” Ian climbed slowly from the truck. At thirty six, he was hardly ready for retirement but his joints were stiff from being in his truck for much of the night. He had kept warm by running the truck periodically, but it had still been a long night.

  “I need to feed the animals.” Holly turned and walked toward the barn. She didn’t know what else to say to the man. She couldn’t believe he would make that kind of sacrifice for the sister of a friend.

  Ian followed Holly to the barn. He figured it was warmer inside the building and he wanted to talk to Holly anyway. There were a lot of questions and few answers about what had been going on with everyone involved with the diner lately.

  Holly took a scoop of feed along with a brush and slipped into the first stall. She spoke in soothing tones to the beautiful animal inside as she refilled the bucket in the stall.

  Ian stood outside the stall and watched her with the horse. She checked the water then set the scoop down.

  “Did you grow up with animals?” He knew a little about their past. He wanted to hear more.

  Holly began brushing the horse. It was more to soothe her nerves than anything else. “They were at every county fair we worked at.”

  “How many county fairs were there?”

  Holly made a face. “I lost count by the time I was five. Our parents traveled back and forth over the entire country my whole life.”

  “What made you decide to move to Teaberry?” Ian loved his adoptive town but often wondered how anyone else on the planet managed to find their way to the small community.

  “Tyler got a job here working with guys that own the Station Pub & Grill. Then I started working at the diner and Tyler shifted over to work with me.”

  Ian backed away from the stall as Holly slipped out. He watched her return to the feed and get another scoop before going to the next stall.

  “You took over for Bert when he had his heart trouble?” Ian posed it in the form of a question but he already knew the answer.

  “Yeah. Bert and Betty have been very good to us.” Holly began brushing the second horse. “Why do they think Tyler had anything to do with Bert and Betty’s house burning down?”

  Ian and Rhys had discussed how much to tell her. “They found his gloves at the scene.”

  Holly stopped moving. “That’s not possible. There must be some mistake.”

  Ian had hoped it was a mistake too. It wasn’t. “Tyler identified the gloves as being his.”

  Holly stared at him for a moment before returning to her task. Her brush strokes were slow and consistent, but he could see the trembling in her hand.

  Ian looked around the barn. He knew it was Cy Douglass’s place and that Tyler and Holly were just renting. It looked like they were doing a good job maintaining things though. Ian looked over at the tack hanging on the wall. Everything was well cared for. The barn was clean. A piece of paper on the floor next to the tack wall caught his eye. With everything else so neat, it was out of place. He walked over to pick it up. He was about to set it on a shelf when his eyes caught some of the words. He stopped and read the note. His brow furrowed in dismay.

  “What’s this?” he asked as he walked over to the stall.

  Holly looked up. “What does it say?”

  “It says that you sold a cow.” Ian watched Holly’s reaction. She looked confused. “The description of the cow matches the one you told us was missing.”

  Holly left the stall and joined Ian. He showed her the note. She shook her head slowly.

  “I’ve never seen that before.” Holly turned troubled blue eyes to Ian. “Ian, what’s happening to us?”

  Ian was wondering the same thing.

  ***

  The shower he’d taken as soon as Jennifer had finished speaking with him had helped. She had gotten him released as early as possible, but the whole ordeal was longer than he would have liked. Tyler pushed open the back door of the diner and entered the kitchen feeling almost human. Though she had her back toward him when he entered, Holly must have been watching for him. She left the grill for a moment and hugged him before turning back to her work.

  “Is everything okay here?” Tyler looked from Holly to Danny. Danny nodded once and turned back to the dishes. Holly didn’t answer.

  “Holly?”

  She explained the note that Ian had found in the barn.

  “What is going on?” Tyler dragged his fingers through his hair.

  Holly plated another order and set it in the window. Lynn appeared a moment later to pick it up. She smiled at Tyler.

  “Good to see you back.”

  Tyler managed a smile. “Good to be here.” He looked out on the floor. The diner was busy. He needed to get to work. “We’ll figure this out later.”

  Tyler went through the swing door and grabbed a coffee pot. He refilled cups and took orders allowing the routine to push away thoughts of what had happened. It was nearing lunchtime when he saw Casey enter the diner. He took his customary seat at the counter. It wasn’t long before Cy followed him in. Tyler grabbed a fresh pot of coffee and went over to get their order.

  “You okay?” Cy watched Tyler fill his coffee cup.

  “I’ve had better days.” He explained the note that Ian had found in the barn. “Cy, I swear to you, we have no idea where that note came from.”

  Cy picked up his coffee cup. “Something strange is going on for sure.”

  “What have they learned about the fire?” Casey reached for his cup.

  Tyler shook his head. “If they know anything, they haven’t told me. I have no idea how my gloves got there either.”

  Tyler saw Casey’s eyes look past him. He expected to see two police officers when he turned around. What he saw was even worse.

  “Becca?” He had no idea what to say to her.

  “Could I have a cup of tea?” She pointed to the other end of the counter before moving toward the empty seat.

  Tyler flashed Casey and Cy a look before going to the other side of the counter. He grabbed the pot of hot water and filled a small pot. After setting several tea bags on the side of a plate, he carried it all to Becca.

  “Listen, I need to tell you something.” He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.

  “About the fire? I heard. Are you alright?”

  “Becca, the police think I did it.” Tyler didn’t want to mislead her. She deserved the truth about how messed up his life was at the moment.

  “I know that. They’re just a little confused right now. They’ll figure out the truth soon enough.” Becca opened a tea bag and poured hot water into a cup. “I was thinking. What are you doing on Sunday?”

  “Sunday?” He was confused.

  “Yeah. You know. Your day off.”

  Aside from staying out of jail, he had no idea. His face must have relayed his confusion.

  “I was thinking we could take that drive to the state park that you talked about,” Becca said.

  Tyler was dumbfounded.

  “The one that you read about in the book you checked out from the library,” she added.

  He knew which one she meant. He just couldn’t believe that she’d want anything to do with him.

  He managed a one-word answer. “Yeah.”

  Becca smiled. “Good. I know where it is so I’ll pick you up.”

  Tyler thought about the strange things that had been happening lately. Becca was right. Taking a break from it sounded like a great idea.

  Chapter Six />
  It was a chilly afternoon, but the sun warmed the inside of her car as she drove the short distance to the restaurant in front of the retirement community. Helen parked the car as close to the entrance as possible then went around to the passenger side. After taking the walker from the back seat, she opened the passenger door to help her friend get out of the car.

  “It was so nice of you to offer to do this.” Joyce pushed herself up from the seat and grabbed onto the handles of the walker.

  “I’m hoping you’ll do the same for me if I ever need my knee operated on.” Helen made sure that Joyce made it to the entrance then moved quickly ahead of her to open the door. They saw a group of friends already gathered in one corner of the restaurant with several tables pushed together to accommodate them all. Empty chairs waited for Helen and Joyce.

  “There they are.” Ann moved her purse from the chair next to her and held on to the chair as Joyce lowered herself into it.

  Sam stood up as quickly as he could and took Joyce’s walker from Helen. He folded it up and leaned it against the wall out of the way.

  “It’s my fault we’re late,” Joyce said. “I was tearing the house apart trying to find something.”

  “I know how that feels.” Sam sat back down. “I spent hours looking for my ebook reader.”

  “At least yours was worth the effort.” Joyce picked up her menu and adjusted her glasses. “I can’t believe I lost my playing cards.”

  “At least you can read your menu,” Carl said from across the table. “I misplaced my reading glasses.” He lifted the pair from his nose. “These are old ones. I can’t see a thing with them.”

  “It must be something in the water lately.” Helen lowered her menu. “We all seem to be losing things.”

  “What did you lose?” Ann asked.

  Helen shook her head. “It’s silly, really. Just a stack of envelopes. I can’t imagine where I may have hidden them.”