by R A Wallace
Although she didn’t have the exact details with measurements and ingredients, she knew the basics and that was enough to get started. Megan viewed all recipes as starting points. The fun of trying them out was to modify them based on your own tastes, Megan thought as she pulled some shredded pepper jack cheese and bulk hot Italian turkey sausage from the freezer. Lauren hadn’t mentioned using ricotta cheese in the recipe. Megan didn’t have any on hand but could see where some people might use it, or maybe cottage cheese.
She had no shortage of zucchini. The weather had been perfect for it so far this year and the oscillating sprinklers that Dan had set up in the garden ensured that the plants were always getting enough water. She had always been a believer in mushroom compost for her garden mixed in with her own compost, but this year Dan had recommended that they also try adding calcium to the garden. That had seemed to increase the yield as well, especially with the tomatoes and peppers. Megan kept her eye on the time because she needed to return to town to take pictures of the winning bid. She thawed the sausage in the microwave before browning it on the stove. She pared the zucchini then thin-sliced it into strips resembling lasagna noodles.
Then she layered a large glass cake pan with the ingredients, starting with a little pasta sauce on the bottom and ending with shredded cheese on the top. She popped it into the oven with tin foil to cover it and set the timer for forty five minutes to check it. She cleaned up after her mess. Then she went back outside to water her flowers while she waited for the lasagna to cook.
It took her quite a while to get everything around the house and on the porch watered. By the time she got back to the kitchen, the lasagna looked pretty good, but she decided to take the tin foil off and let the cheese brown for about ten minutes before setting it out on the rack to cool. She and Dan could try it later when she got back from town.
Checking her phone, she saw several messages from Caitlyn telling her to call her immediately. Worried that something may have happened, Megan quickly returned Caitlyn’s call.
“Where have you been?” Caitlyn demanded.
“Why, what’s wrong?” Megan asked alarmed. She could tell by Caitlyn’s voice that she was very upset.
“There’s been another murder,” Caitlyn said. “I’ve been trying to reach you for over twenty minutes and it had been very frustrating. I’m sorry if I’m not making sense.”
“What? Who?” Megan’s imagination ran wild. She didn’t know where Dan or Lauren or anyone else was. “Is everyone okay?”
Caitlyn realized that she’d panicked Megan. She took a deep breath. “Yes, everyone is okay. I mean, everyone except Phil Porter.”
Megan slumped back against the counter. “Oh. I mean, that’s really bad. But I’m not sure why you would get upset about that.”
“Ross McMann found the body. The police just began questioning him,” Caitlyn tried to explain more calmly.
Megan glanced at her oven to make sure she’d turned it off. “I’ll be right there.”
***
The drive to town was short. Megan had texted Dan before she’d left to let him know where she would be. As soon as she arrived at Main Street, she could tell there had been an incident. There were police cars everywhere in front of the building. There were also a lot of people standing out on the street trying to learn what was going on. Megan slipped past them and went into the florist shop. She found both Caitlyn and Susan. Caitlyn was pacing in the front room when Megan entered.
“There you are,” Caitlyn said.
Megan looked over at Susan. She was leaning against the counter and looked relatively calm, but Megan could see that her face had lost its color. “Are you okay?”
Susan managed a weak smile for Megan. “I wasn’t the one to find the body.”
Megan looked over at Caitlyn. She had stopped her pacing and was watching her mother closely. “Are you okay?” she repeated, this time to Caitlyn.
Caitlyn watched her mother for a moment longer before turning to Megan. “Yes, thanks.”
“Did you have a chance to speak to Erica?” Megan asked.
Caitlyn shook her head. “Not yet. Someone else spoke to me briefly. Erica and Jerry weren’t on the clock today, but they were called in. They’re talking with Ross now and they’re supposed to talk with me next.”
“Tell me what happened,” Megan said.
Caitlyn glanced over at her mother first before explaining it to Megan.
“You followed him into the photographer’s studio?” Megan asked.
“Oh, honestly,” Susan said in exasperation as she put her hands on her hips. “What were you going to do? Ask him what his intentions were toward your mother?”
Caitlyn looked guilty and shrugged.
Susan closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know I’m lucky to have children who care. Sometimes they can annoy me to no end. But I am lucky to have children who care.”
“Tell me exactly what you saw,” Megan said. “Where was Phil and where was Ross when you walked in?”
Caitlyn looked from her mother to Megan then tried to order her thoughts. She’d worry about making her mom mad later. Right now, she needed to think. “Okay, so Phil was on the floor in the large room in the back.”
“And Ross?” Megan asked.
“He was, maybe, six or eight feet away. He had his cell phone out,” Caitlyn said, trying to picture it in her mind.
“How long from the time he walked past the window until you followed him?” Megan asked.
Caitlyn shook her head slowly as she thought. “I don’t know. I debated following him for a bit. Maybe a few minutes?”
Susan looked back and forth between the other two women, her concern growing. “You don’t really think he did it, do you?” She couldn’t believe that either Megan or Caitlyn would believe that.
Megan looked at Susan. “No, but these are the same questions the police are going to be asking if they haven’t already.” She looked over at Caitlyn. Caitlyn shook her head no. Megan looked back at Susan. “It’s best that Caitlyn get this all straight in her head now.”
Susan looked a little relieved and nodded once as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Okay. That makes sense.”
They were all startled when the front door flew open. The bells on the door slammed against it as Jax stormed into the room. “Are you okay?” he asked loudly. He didn’t know who to look at first, his mother or his sister. He pivoted his head between them several times, trying to gauge for himself if they’d been hurt in any way.
“We’re fine,” Susan said. “I’m sorry I alarmed you.”
“Finding out someone has been murdered a few feet from my family is always going to alarm me,” Jax said as he tried to slow his breathing. He realized when he got to the florist shop that the only reason he hadn’t gotten a speeding ticket was because all of the police were already here. Jax looked around then drew his eyebrows together. “Where’s Ross?”
“He’s being questioned by the police,” Megan said.
Jax raised his eyebrows. “Without a lawyer?”
The three women looked at him with concern. “What do you mean?” Susan asked, her tone becoming irritated. She had hoped that Jax had resolved his issues with Ross. “What makes you think he needs a lawyer?”
Jax held up his hands, palms out. “I don’t think he did anything wrong, okay? I just think, for his sake, he should have a lawyer present during his questioning. You said he found the body, right?”
Susan nodded slowly. “Maybe you’re right. But the police wouldn’t think Ross murdered Phil, would they?” Susan glanced over at Megan and Caitlyn. Caitlyn shrugged. Megan nodded. Susan pulled out her phone and started looking up a number. Before she could find the number for Jennifer, the door opened again. This time it was a policeman that came in.
Jerry Stevens looked at Caitlyn. “We need to get your statement next. Can you come with me please?”
Caitlyn looked over at Jax. He nodded, so she smiled at Je
rry and followed him from the florist shop.
“Do you think she needs a lawyer also?” Susan asked.
Jax shook his head. “From what you told me on the phone, Caitlyn is a just witness. She went into the room after Ross was already there. I don’t think they’ll focus on her.”
Susan nodded then went back to calling Jennifer.
Chapter Nine
When Megan returned home, she found Dan in the kitchen looking longingly at the zucchini lasagna. “I don’t know what this is, but if you hadn’t gotten here when you did, I’d have started eating without you.”
“It’s a good thing I made this. I hadn’t really planned on it being our dinner. I was just playing around with a recipe that I heard about today.” Megan explained the recipe as the two of them took out plates and silverware. The lasagna was fairly cool at this point, so Megan heated it up in the microwave a bit.
“What do you think,” Megan asked after they both took a bite.
Dan nodded. “I like it. I’m glad you used the pepper jack cheese and the spicy sausage to give it some zing.”
“I can see why Madison suggested turkey sausage. It makes it a little healthier than using ground beef or even pork sausage, but I’d like to try it with both of those too,” Megan said before taking another bite. “I wonder what it would be like using refried beans for the protein, or even mixed with meat, and other vegetables along with the zucchini.”
“It doesn’t seem that runny to me,” Dan commented.
“I didn’t think so either. Maybe it absorbed any excess liquid while it was cooling off,” Megan said. “I was gone for a bit.”
“Tell me what happened in town,” Dan said as he sat back in his chair. He’d finished everything Megan had served him and was checking out how much was left in the pan.
Megan smiled and pushed the pan closer to him so that he could serve himself. Then she explained everything she knew about Phil Porter’s death.
Dan ate while he listened then pushed his empty plate away. “Promise me you’ll never make it by frying the zucchini first. I’ll eat the whole thing by myself.”
Megan was still laughing when she heard the doorbell. She found Ross on the front porch. “Come in, have you eaten?”
Megan looked closely at Ross when he stepped into the house. He looked tired.
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t feel like going out. Did I interrupt your dinner?”
“We just finished but we’ll sit with you while you eat. I hope you don’t mind what I made for dinner. It was an experiment with a new recipe.” Megan led the way back to the kitchen. “Wine?” At his nod, she went to get a bottle from the fridge.
Dan got out another setting, served some heated zucchini lasagna to Ross, then sat down at the table with him.
Ross looked at it for a moment before he tried it. “Not bad,” he said to Megan with a smile as she handed him a wine glass.
Megan kept herself busy clearing her and Dan’s plates as Ross ate. Dan poured himself a glass of wine and made small talk with Ross until he finished. Megan picked up Ross’s plate when he pushed it away.
“I can put this in the dishwasher quickly if you two want to head out to the porch,” Megan said. A minute later, she joined them.
“I suppose you want to hear about my day?” Ross asked.
“Only if you want to talk about it,” Megan said. She sat next to Dan with her own glass of wine.
Ross sat back in the padded rattan chair and held his wine glass between both hands. He explained what had happened including getting the text to meet Stan and finding the body in the studio. “Susan called a lawyer, a Jennifer Parker.” Ross turned to Dan and raised his eyebrows. “Same last name as you?”
Dan offered a wry smile. “We’re some kind of cousins but I get confused about the whole second cousin three times removed thing, so I can’t explain how exactly.” Dan shrugged. “In places like Teaberry, it’s not unusual to have relatives.”
Ross nodded. He was glad that Caitlyn had her family after the day she’d had. She was probably exhausted. Discovering a murder had occurred on the other side of a wall had to be unnerving, to say the least. “Understandable. It’s a nice place to raise a family. I can see why Jax wanted to come back here.” Ross looked over at Megan and a frown passed over his face. “Have you heard from Parker?”
Megan glanced at Dan. She’d forgotten about Parker when she’d rushed into town after Caitlyn’s call. “No. He said he might stop by at some point during the afternoon, but he didn’t stop when I was here.”
Ross pulled out his phone and turned it on. “I forgot. I turned my phone off when I was with the police. There’s a message here from Parker. He said he’ll be here later this evening.”
***
Caitlyn was happy to see the end of the day. Although the police were still working in the space next to the florist shop, they’d cleared her to leave. Jax had taken their mother home earlier. She hoped the two of them would take advantage of the moment and have a serious conversation. They needed to resolve the situation with Jax and Ross.
She was tired, but she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon. After locking up everything in the florist shop, she turned to find Doug on the sidewalk out front. She’d called him earlier to let him know she was okay. As co-captain of the volunteer fire department, she knew he’d hear about the situation from someone. When he’d asked if she wanted him to leave work and keep her company, she’d selfishly wanted to say yes. She had been regretting the no she’d told him instead.
“Hey,” Caitlyn said as she was enveloped in a warm hug. “I thought you weren’t going to leave the pub?”
“Jennifer figured I’d want to be here. She took over bar duties to help Jim out and free me up,” Doug explained as he rubbed Caitlyn’s back. He watched the activity in front of the building with interest. He knew the technicians and officers would be there for quite a while. Pulling back from Caitlyn, he looked down at her. “You tired? I can take you home.”
Caitlyn shook her head. “Too wound up.”
Doug smiled. “There’s a couple hours of sunlight left. Want to jump on a fast boat and race up and down the lake?”
Caitlyn grinned. “Yep.”
****
Jax followed his mother into the house. The trip home had been short and quiet. He hadn’t wanted to disturb Susan. She’d seemed deep in thought ever since she’d spoken to Ross. Once the police had cleared him to leave, Ross had come into the florist shop to check on Susan and thank her for calling Jennifer. Caitlyn was still giving her statement but Jax had been there when Ross had returned.
Jax thought the moment would be awkward given his bad behavior the last time they’d been together, but that hadn’t been the case. Ross seemed so concerned about Susan, he hadn’t paid much attention to Jax. Somehow, that made him feel even worse.
Now that his mom was back home, he wanted to clear the air. At least he could get started with her. He’d still need to speak to Ross when the time was right. “Mom?”
Susan was headed for her bedroom. “Not yet. Let me change first. There’s wine in the fridge.”
Jax went into the kitchen and poured his mother a glass of wine. She appeared a moment later and silently took the glass from him. “Are you okay?” Jax asked.
Susan thought about it for a moment before she nodded. Learning that Ross had found the body of Phil Porter was troubling enough. Learning that her daughter had only been a wall away from a murderer had knocked the wind from her. She loved her children more than anything.
“I’m sorry,” Jax said simply. “I’m an idiot.”
Susan snorted. “Yes, you are.” She looked across the room at her handsome son. At five foot eleven, he hadn’t inherited her lack of height, but he had her black hair and startling blue eyes. Now twenty-eight, his face was maturing, and he was developing laugh lines near his eyes. “What was it about Ross that set you off, anyway? Didn’t he treat you well in Seattle?”
Ja
x shook his head and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Just the opposite actually. He treated me like a son.”
“Ah.” Now she understood. If Susan had begun dating anyone else, Jax might have been able to handle it easier. It would just be some nice man spending a little time with his mom, taking her to dinner. She’d managed to find the one man who could replace his father. “In that case, you really owe him an apology.”
Chapter Ten
Megan watched the three men set out on the four wheeler early Sunday morning. During breakfast, Dan had suggested a ride through the orchard and the rest of the property. Ross had agreed immediately. Megan thought Parker’s nod had been a little hesitant, but he’d been quiet ever since he’d returned the previous night. She watched him perch himself on the back seat of the four wheeler with the other two men in the front, his blond hair nearly glowing in the full sunlight.
The four wheeler was designed like a golf cart except that the back seat flipped down into a storage area that Megan could use to haul things like mulch. When flipped up, it was a bench seat, but it faced the opposite way so that the rider had his back to the others in the front. Megan thought Parker looked a little incongruous perched as he was and assumed that he hadn’t spent much time in the country. She hoped the first bump didn’t send him sailing but saw Dan turn to say something. Parker then quickly fastened his seat belt.
Parker had expressed concern about Ross last evening when he’d returned to the bed and breakfast after learning about Ross’s discovery of a murder victim. He’d said that he would stay with Ross today in case he was needed. Megan thought Ross looked less than thrilled at the idea and wondered why. A moment later, she saw a car pull into her drive and figured she had the first clue. Susan was here.
Megan stepped down from the back porch and walked toward her drive, meeting Susan half way. “Hello, you just missed him.”
Susan turned her head following the sound of the four wheeler and saw them out in the orchard. “That’s okay. I’m actually a little early.”