She crossed one shapely leg over the other. “I purchased this place,” she waved a manicured hand, “last week.”
“That’s wonderful! I didn’t know you were interested in becoming a business owner.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t know I was either, but when Tyler came home and said the owners wanted to retire, they offered it to me first. Now, those vultures you were talking to outside want to offer me an astronomical amount to buy it. I haven’t even had time to enjoy being a business owner.”
“Are you going to sell?”
“No way.” She winked. “I kind of like the idea of being a respectable business owner.”
“Would you sign a petition to run the investors out of Oak Meadows?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Tyler brought my drink and I fished ten dollars out of my pocket. “Keep the change. You’ll need it now that your mother owns the place.”
“Very cute,” Norma said. “Maybe you should write comedy. So, what’s the latest on you?”
I explained to her my investigating and writing about Jim’s death and what his wife did in her spare time. “I have to admit to my naivety. I had no idea that kind of stuff went on in suburbia.”
“It happens a lot,” she said. “Makes it hard for those on the streets to make a living, that’s for sure.” She tapped her nails on the table top. “At least you aren’t dressed in disguise trying to get yourself killed this time. That hunky boyfriend of yours must be happy.”
“He’s been out of town on assignment.” I sipped my drink. “I miss him.”
“Who wouldn’t?” She laughed. “If Matthew Steele would have been the first man God created, God would have said, ‘I’ve attained perfection’ and the rest of us would never have been thought of. Matt is so perfect, he would never have eaten that fruit, and I’m not just talking about the way he looks.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that. Matt’s ego is big enough.” I was a lucky woman. I stood. “I need to get home. I try to do some writing in the afternoons and my snooping in the mornings.”
“Good luck. Hit me up when you’ve got that petition going.”
I stepped outside, fully intending to return to the bakery to fetch Mary Ann, when I saw Thomas duck into the alley. Since the man rarely left his boss’s side, his actions made my snoop radar twang.
I jogged across the street and into the alley between the bookstore and the drugstore. This wasn’t the dark, dingy alley of espionage movies. The alleys behind the stores on Main Street was empty of all but cars belonging to the owners, dumpsters, and the occasional stray cat. Along one edge was a cement wall. The sun lit up the area as bright as Main Street and yet I still managed to lose sight of Thomas.
After glancing both ways, I decided to turn to my right. If I didn’t find him before I reached the back of Heavenly Bakes, I’d enter the backdoor and get Mary Ann to come home with me so we could get to work.
Halfway down on the wall, sprayed with red paint were the words, “Sell and get out”. Usually, I would think the message was directed at me, but this time, I knew it targeted every one of the businesses lining that alley. I touched the paint. Still wet. As I started to turn, something hit me in the back of the head. I fell, my head bouncing off the asphalt. Everything went dark.
“Stormi.”
I opened my eyes and stared into Matt’s worried face. “I must be dead.”
He smiled. “You’re very much alive.” He put his arms around me and helped me sit up against the nearest car. “What happened?”
“You’re here.” I touched the back of my head, my fingers coming away red. I was bleeding! No, wait, it was red paint.
“That isn’t why you’re lying on the ground.”
“Someone hit me. I was following Thomas and I stopped to see the painted letters on the wall. When I turned to leave, someone clobbered me.”
“An ambulance is on the way,” Mom said, squatting beside us. “When you didn’t return after getting your coffee, and Mary Ann couldn’t find you, she called Matthew. Who is Thomas?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You were home?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“You did.” I tried to stand. “Now, take me home, and I’ll explain everything. I don’t need the ambulance.”
Matt helped me to my feet. “You probably have a concussion.”
“Won’t be the first and probably not the last.” My stomach rolled. I bent over and lost my breakfast as the ambulance came to a stop at the head of the alley. Before I could protest further, I was on a gurney and rolled away.
“Wait.” I held out my hand. “Matt.”
“I’m coming, sweetheart.” He turned and said something to Mom and his sister, then jogged to catch up. He swung into the back of the ambulance and rode with us to the hospital.
Since the movement of the gurney and riding in the back of the ambulance increased my nausea, I kept my eyes closed until the paramedics wheeled me to a curtained alcove in the hospital and left.
“I’m glad you’re here.” I held my hand out to Matt.
He entwined his fingers with mine. “Me, too. Everything wrapped up just fine on the case.” He sighed. “Do I need to restate the importance of not going anywhere alone when you’re researching?”
“No. I think I’ll remember now.” But, to my credit, I hadn’t expected to get whacked in broad daylight.
A nurse entered and took my vitals, a doctor came in and looked at the bump on my head and shined a light in my eyes, then wrote me a prescription for pain medication. “You’ve got a concussion. You’ll have a headache for a day or two, but no major damage was done. Try to rest for a few days.”
“See?” I glanced at Matt. “He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. Now, how are we going to get home?”
“I’m your chauffeur.” Wayne Jones popped his head into the cubicle.
I groaned. “Maybe I should stay here for a few days.” Once I found out he was Matt’s new partner, I knew I’d see more of the man, but spending time with him while enduring a raging headache was not going to be easy.
Wayne pulled aside the privacy curtain and pushed in a wheelchair. “Ready? There are benefits to being brought in by two police officers. Speedy paperwork.”
Matt helped me into the chair and wheeled me out to the parking lot where a squad car waited. “I am not riding in the back of that unless I’m wearing handcuffs.”
“You aren’t going to.” Wayne laughed and opened the door to a Dodge Charger. “I’m off duty, although I am surprised you haven’t had to ride in one before.”
“Very funny.” I climbed into the backseat of his car and laid down.
Matt slid in beside me, had me turn around and rested my head in his lap. “Let me take care of you.”
Oh, be still my heart. “Gladly.”
He smoothed the hair away from my face and caressed the area between my eyes, as Wayne drove us to my house. When we stopped, Matt scooped me into his arms, told Wayne the code to the alarm, which it turned out hadn’t been set, and carried me inside once the door was open. After depositing me on the sofa, he headed to the kitchen, returning moments later with a tall glass of diet coke.
He handed me the drink and the prescription to Wayne. “Would you get this filled, please?”
Maybe I should get injured more often. Matt was as caring as he could be and it got rid of Wayne for at least twenty minutes. I pulled a crocheted afghan over me and snuggled in for the duration.
“I missed you,” I told Matt. “I worried every single second.”
He knelt beside me. “No more so than I.” He slid an arm under my neck and pulled me close for a kiss.
I closed my eyes, reveling in the sweetness, the softness of his kiss. Wait. I jerked upright. “Where’s Sadie?” My dog always greeted me when I came home.
Matt’s face hardened. “Stay here.”
Grabbing a throw pillow to clutch, and possibly use as a weapon, I waited for Matt to re
turn and prayed my sweet Sadie was all right. If I had had an intruder, the big galoot was most likely hiding under the bed.
Footsteps thumped overhead, hopefully Matt’s. I sat up straighter at the sound of nails scratching against the wood floor. Sadie barreled into the living room and washed my face with her tongue.
“She was locked in your room.” A muscle ticked in Matt’s jaw. “Your office is trashed and your laptop gone.”
“It’s a good thing I keep my notebook of clues in the kitchen.” I was getting used to criminals searching my office to discover what I knew. My heart ached at my laptop being stolen, but I uploaded everything to a jumpdrive before turning it off each night. My stories were safe.
“What is it going to take to get you and your family to set the alarm?”
“I was distracted this morning.” I told him how Mrs. Rogers assaulted me with the water hose. “We’ve been doing better, honestly.”
He shook his head and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “It’s a good thing I love you, Stormi Nelson. Because otherwise, you’d drive me insane.”
I grinned. “Yeah. A good thing.”
Smile fading, I glanced at the ceiling. During the last crime I’d insisted on investigating, my family and I had gone to the mountains to escape a violent gang. Were we in danger of having to go into hiding again?
11
I didn’t remember closing my eyes, but when I opened them, the sun was streaming through the living room window. I tossed the afghan off me and slowly swung my legs to the floor. So far, so good.
Without too much trembling, I managed to make my way to the kitchen. Mom stirred a pan on the stove.
“Good morning. I’m making you some oatmeal.” She waved the wooden spoon toward one of the kitchen chairs. “Sit. Matthew slept in the easy chair last night, but I sent him home this morning. How are you feeling?”
“Like someone hit me in the head.” I propped an elbow on the table and rested my head in my hands. There was so much I wanted to do today, mainly going store-to-store getting signatures. While I could maybe manage, it wouldn’t be smart to go alone in case I got woozy. I could take Mary Ann, but taking another business owner might be wiser. The shop owners could relate better to someone in their same predicament.
“Mom, will you help me take a petition down Main Street today?”
“Why not wait a day or two and rest?” She plopped oatmeal into a bowl and drizzled honey over the top before handing it to me.
“Something tells me that every day counts. I feel an urgency to stop Larkin’s attempts at destroying our town and in finding Jim’s killer.” I couldn’t fully explain why the feeling, just that something big was going to happen and I needed to do something before it did.
“Okay.” She sat across from me. “But once you start feeling sick, we’re coming home.”
“I promise to sit a lot.”
“Maybe we should use Greta’s old wheelchair again.”
“No.” I wasn’t in disguise as an old woman handing out religious tracks to prostitutes anymore as a ruse to uncover clues. I’d go to the businesses as myself. I’d even wear something nice.
“We’ll go right after breakfast.” She jumped up and set the pan in the sink. Filling it with water, she turned back to me. “Take your gun.”
“I don’t think it’s come to that.” I did keep my Tazer in my purse, but the little pink Glock could stay in the safe.
“Someone clobbered you, or have you forgotten?” She turned off the water.
“We’ll be safe going from store-to-store. Dress professional.” After a few bites of the oatmeal, I pushed the bowl away and headed to my room to get dressed.
Being a full-time author, I spent most of my days in some form of jeans and tee shirts, but I did have some nicer things for occasions such as meeting with my agent or attending conferences. I flipped through the clothing hanging in my closet and chose a pair of black slacks and a crisp white blouse. Pull my hair back, clip on some nice jewelry, and I was ready to go, not to mention exhausted.
I slumped on the edge of my bed. Mom would take one look at my face and refuse to drive me anywhere. I exhaled sharply and pushed to my feet. It was going to take strength and willpower to get through the day.
“Ready?” Mom, wearing a red dress with white polka-dots, looked as if she’d stepped out of the pages of a 1950s fashion magazine. Beautiful, but out of our time period.
I shrugged. “Yep.” I grabbed my purse from the foyer table, along with the clipboard, and forced my legs to remain steady as I made my way to Mom’s minivan. Once inside, I breathed deep and reached for the seatbelt.
“You’re not feeling well.” Mom glared.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.”
“If you collapse, I’m telling Matthew.” She climbed behind the wheel and drove to the alley behind Heavenly Bakes where she continued her lecture as to how I should wait a day or two before doing anymore investigations. “I am perfectly capable of taking the petition around.”
“I want to ask questions.”
“I can do that, too.”
“Mom, please.” I shoved the door open and slid to the ground. I counted to three, giving my legs time to steady themselves, then headed for the bakery’s back door. We could cut across the street and get Norma’s signature first, allowing me the opportunity for coffee.
“Good morning.” Greta looked up from where she mixed batter in the very vat they had found Jim’s body in.
My stomach protested. “Please tell me you had that professionally cleaned.”
“Of course, we did.” She scowled. “Twice. I wanted to purchase a new one, but Anne said we couldn’t afford it. It would have been money well spent in my opinion.”
Mine, too. “I’m stealing Mom for a few hours. Can you handle things here?”
“Sure. Why is she dressed like Donna Reed from Father Knows Best?”
“I thought I looked nice.” Mom smoothed her dress.
“You do, for someone from another century. I’m pretty sure my mother had a dress just like that.”
Mom waved off her comment, handed me a pain pill and a water bottle from her cavernous purse, and then headed for the front door. “Let’s do this so Stormi can get to bed.”
As if she could read my thoughts, Mom headed straight for Delicious Aroma and made a beeline past the line to the counter. “We need to see Norma immediately.”
Tyler pointed to a table in the corner and continued serving the next customer. Without glancing up, he told me he’d have my order ready as soon as he could.
“Sign this, please.” Mom grabbed the clipboard from my hands and thrust it at Norma.
Norma raised her eyebrows and glanced at me.
“She thinks I’m dying and need to get straight home to bed.” I made a circular motion to the side of my head behind Mom’s back. Childish, but it made Norma giggle.
“You might want to try a different approach at the other shops,” she said. “Maybe explain a bit more what this is about.”
“We plan on it.” I sat down to wait on my drink and gain a bit of strength. “I want to ask questions that Mom’s speedy delivery won’t allow.” I patted the seat next to me. “Come on. We aren’t in a hurry.”
She sighed and sat next to me. “I just worry about you.”
“I know.”
“What kind of questions are you going to ask?” Norma said. “I told you all I knew yesterday.”
“I want to know if anything strange has happened around your shop. Yesterday, someone painted a warning on the wall behind the stores across the street, then hit me in the head. I have a concussion. That’s what Mom is all worked up over.”
Norma took her top lip between her teeth and stared toward the counter. “Yesterday, I had to pick Tyler up from work because two of his tires were flat. Not slashed, just flat. I thought at first maybe it was because they’re old, but now … I’m not so sure. Why would two tires go flat at once? One back and one front?”
“Have you heard about anything else weird happening?” I smiled at Tyler as he brought me my frozen mocha. He declined money, saying his mom declared my drinks were on the house. “Thank you,” I told her.
“No problem.” She shook her head. “People still don’t talk to me much. It’s going to take them a while to get over my past.”
“Their loss.” I stood and gave her a hug before taking my drink outside with me.
“Let’s get Robert’s signature,” Mom said. “It’s his break.”
I was pretty sure Mom’s banker boyfriend would see her any time she waltzed into the bank, but since I didn’t have a schedule other than visiting all ten of the shops lining this section of Main Street, I waved her forward. We could visit the other shops that branched off of Main onto First another day. We’d be visiting eighteen in all, not counting the bank and Rocking Reads.
The red-bricked bank was halfway down the street on our left. With vintage pony lights and the original woodwork, it was a thing of beauty. What would happen to it if Steve Larkin had his way? Or the library at the end of First Street? Both were historical buildings that helped define our town and remind us of the grandeur of days past. I couldn’t let them be destroyed.
Mom led me through the bank lobby and straight to Robert Smithfield’s office. The slight-build, balding man beamed at the sight of her. I needed to find time to get to know him better. If he was going to become a permanent fixture in my mother’s life, I needed to make sure he didn’t plan on breaking her heart.
Robert greeted Mom with a kiss and me with a shake of the hand. “What brings the two loveliest ladies in Oak Meadows to my office?”
“We want you to sign this.” Mom handed him the clipboard.
“Certainly.” He scanned the words on the page and signed his signature with a flourish. “You could be asking for my house and I’d give it to you, my dear, but this is also something I gladly sign.”
“Has Larkin Enterprises been bothering the bank?” I lowered myself into a stuffed leather chair.
Nosy Neighbor: All 7 complete Nosy Neighbor cozy mysteries PLUS: 2 short Christmas stories (A Nosy Neighbor mystery) Page 53