But now, the food truck was gone, and our only escape was too.
Bee and I stood side-by-side as the truck was taken away.
“What now?” Bee asked.
I hesitated, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “We get the truck back.”
“But how, Ruby? I get the feeling that the ‘good’ detective won’t be giving it up any time soon.”
“We figure out who killed Owen.” I set my jaw.
I’d investigated plenty of strange cases during my stint as a journalist. This would be no different. Apart from the fact that it would probably be a little more dangerous. OK, a lot more. But still.
“I’m with you,” Bee said.
We turned and headed off down the street back toward the Oceanside Guesthouse.
6
“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Bee asked, as she checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had chosen a red trench coat cinched at the waist, paired with jeans and a thick blouse beneath it.
I had selected a woolen dress, thick leggings and a pair of ankle-high boots that clicked when I walked. The sound was pleasant, and I fixated on that instead of worrying about the evening ahead. The news of what had happened this afternoon had likely traveled.
I’d grown up in a small town, and I understood exactly how they worked. People were always in everyone else’s business, sometimes in a harmless way, or out of concern, but I couldn’t, by any stretch of imagination, assume that the folks of Carmel Springs would be concerned for me.
I was new. And one of the locals was dead.
“Ruby?”
I tucked my chestnut brown hair behind my ears, enjoying that it was short now. Daniel never wanted me to cut it. “Sorry, Bee, my mind is all over the place.”
“That’s why I’m asking,” she said. “Are you sure you want to go back to that restaurant?”
“Of course,” I replied. “We made a booking, and it is the scene of the crime. I’m surprised they opened it up so soon after what happened.”
“It doesn’t take too long to sweep a scene for evidence if the forensic team is on point,” Bee replied, sweeping mascara over her lashes.
I frowned. “How do you know?”
Bee capped the mascara and gave me the side-eye. “I watch a lot of crime scene investigation shows.” And then she skedaddled out of our bathroom to collect her purse.
I didn’t quite buy her excuse, but I wasn’t about to pry, just like she wouldn’t pry in my personal business or ask me strange questions about the things I did or didn’t know. It was nice to have a friend who cared enough not to put me in an awkward position. That was easy and fun, rather than pressured and full-on.
I collected my handbag from the end of my bed and gave Trouble a scratch behind the ears—he’d hung around me all afternoon, even while we’d had tea and cookies in the living room of the guesthouse.
Finally, we were out the door and walking along the road that led past the beach and toward the pier. The wharf was further down, occupied by fishing boats. Had Owen eaten my mini-cake out there?
We made our way onto the pier and past locals and tourists. It was clear who was who here. Most of the locals stared and whispered when they caught sight of us.
”—from the food truck.”
“Poison?”
“—should just leave, after all. Outsiders.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, and Bee patted me on the back. “Don’t let them get to you. Not everyone will have that opinion of us. Innocent until proven guilty.” She said the last part loudly.
Perhaps, it was my imagination, or just the fact that I was jumpy after the murder and Detective Jones’ confiscation of the truck, but it sure felt as if the gazes followed us all the way to the Lobster Shack.
The front doors were open, and laughter and music rang from inside, drifting out with the smells of cooking—fish and fries and chowders, garlic and butter and oh my. My mouth watered.
A waiter stepped out from behind a wood podium and offered us both a smile. “Hi there. Welcome to the Lobster Shack. How may I help you?”
“We have a booking under the name Holmes,” I replied. “For two?”
“Of course.” The waiter checked a list of names then grabbed two menus out of a wooden dispenser attached to the stand. “Right this way. I’ve got you seated out on the deck.”
His friendly attitude helped me relax. Bee was right: not everyone would instantly hate us. And we hadn’t done anything wrong.
We exited out onto the deck and took a seat at one of the tables with a gorgeous view of the ocean. The moon had only just arced into the sky, casting its glow on the waters below. A fire crackled in a central iron-grated pit, shedding its warmth underneath the overhang.
The waiter lit a lamp in the center of the table then handed us our menus.
“Thank you.” I opened mine and browsed.
Bee scanned the outside of the restaurant, occasionally wriggling her nose or narrowing her eyes.
“That’s strange,” I said, paging through the menu.
“What is?”
“The lobster dishes on the menu have all been scratched out. Is it the same in your menu?”
Bee opened hers and paged through it, turning the thick card between her fingers. “Yes, it’s the same.”
“Good evening!” The merry tone came from our waitress.
“Grace,” I said.
It was the same woman who’d ordered the mini-cake from us this morning, before the detective had confiscated the truck.
“You’re our server?”
“Yes,” Grace said, smiling as she brought a notepad out of the front pouch of her apron.
“Sorry our conversation got interrupted this morning.” This was our opportunity. She had been in the middle of telling me about Owen—how he hadn’t exactly been the most popular guy around. What if she knew more? Maybe she could tell us who’d been enemies with Owen?
“Oh, that’s OK. Sorry your truck got taken away. Between you and me, I think that Jones doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Grace said, leaning in and lowering her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. “Owen was hated by just about everyone.”
“Everyone?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. Especially the waitresses here. He used to flirt with them.” She pressed her lips together and shifted her eyes left and right, checking that none of the other waiters or customers could hear us. “And he did more than just that.”
“Like what?” Bee asked.
“He got into a fight with the chef,” she whispered. “I’m not sure why, though.” Another waiter exited onto the deck, and Grace straightened, hastily, neatening her apron. “Anyway. Um, can I get you something to drink or eat?”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll have a banana milkshake please.”
“Strawberry for me,” Bee said, then pointed to the menu and its scratched out items. “You don’t have lobster rolls?”
Grace shook her head. “We’ve had a problem with our supplier, so all our lobster menu items aren’t available at the moment. Sorry.”
“Oh. Oh, all right. Then I’ll guess I’ll have the Cheesy Garlic Bread and the Fried Maine Oysters,” I said, my mouth already watering. My brain definitely had food for thought too—Owen had argued with the chef. Why? And about what?
“And I’ll have the New England Salt of the Seafood Chowder, please.” Bee handed the menu over, and Grace hurried off into the restaurant.
“That was interesting,” I said, after she was gone. “What do you think? Should we talk to the chef after our meal?”
“That sounds like a good idea to me. If this Owen guy was so hated by everyone, it stand to reason that someone around here would have had motive to murder him,” Bee whispered back, her hazel eyes alive with excitement. “Let’s hang around for a while. Have some dessert too.”
A night away from the guesthouse would be fun, and if we managed to find out more about what had really happened to Owen … well, even better.
The sooner I got the food truck back, the happier I’d be—it was my dream, and it had been snatched away by the detective who clearly didn’t like me one bit.
7
The laughter in the restaurant had died down quite some time ago, and fall’s cold bite had grown stronger as the evening had worn on, well into the night. The moon was full and round and absolutely beautiful over the water, but, for once, I was kind of spooked out.
The quieter it got, the more my thoughts turned toward what had happened to Owen. And right here, in the restaurant where we’d enjoyed a meal, and then dessert, milkshakes and sodas and then another entrée because why not?
We weren’t technically on holiday, but it sure felt like it. The last time I’d sat and enjoyed the view, even if it was chilly underneath the overhang attached to the restaurant’s side, had been, shoot, I couldn’t remember.
“The fire’s dying down,” Bee said, gesturing to the pit. She shivered and rubbed the arms of her coat. “And it looks like the staff are getting ready to clean up.”
“That’s our cue.” I raised my hand and scribbled in mid-air.
A few moments later, Grace hurried out with the check and handed it over. I took some money out and placed it on the little saucer that held the receipt. “Thank you so much, Grace,” I said. “This was lovely.’
“Lovely,” Bee echoed.
Grace bobbed her head, smiling. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. The restaurant’s been quieter lately, you know with the whole lobster problem. And the murder.”
“That tends to dissuade people,” Bee said. “Corpses aren’t exactly the fine-dining aesthetic most folks are looking for.”
Grace didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. Bee did have a strange sense of humor, one I happened to like.
“Grace,” I said, directing her back to me. “Could we talk to the chef? You know, the food was so delicious, it would be great to compliment him for it in person.”
“Oh, sure.” She hurried off to fetch him.
“What a strange woman,” Bee said.
“Strange? Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me that’s strange. I’m not the type who’ll share everything so openly, and she was more than happy to gossip.”
“You’ve never lived in a small town before, have you?”
Bee laughed. “Maybe that’s it.”
We waited a few moments, chewing on some mints that Grace had brought to our table, until, finally, a figure in chef’s whites appeared. He trudged out of the back door and toward us. His coat was surprisingly clean—if it was me in there, I’d have probably burnt the sleeves of my shirt—and he was young too.
And handsome. Not that it was appropriate to think that about a suspect. A suspect? What are you, a police officer?
“You called?” The chef winked at me, and my heart did a little sputter-flip.
What on earth was wrong with me? This was the second man who’d flirted in the last two days, and given what had happened to the first…
“Hello,” I said.
“And hello,” Bee put in. “I’m the blurry object in your peripheral vision.” She waved.
I had to press my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
“Hi,” the chef said, winking at her too.
“Shameless.” Bee returned a cheeky wink. “I like that in a chef.”
“What about in a man?”
“Hmmm,” Bee said. “You’ll have to ask my ex-husband about that. If you can find him. He went missing, you know, off the coast of Costa Rica. After a long vacation with his mistress. I’ve always wondered what happened to him.”
That drained the color from the chef’s face.
I laughed out loud this time. I wasn’t sure if Bee was serious—though my insides had twisted when she’d said ‘missing’—but the chef’s reaction was priceless.
“I’m kidding, of course.” Bee grinned. “Or am I?”
“We called you out here because we wanted to meet the person who made us such a delicious meal.”
“Oh.” That brightened the chef’s mood. He wore his hair short and neat and dark, and he was exceptionally tall. Strong too, if his wide-set shoulders had anything to say about it. “Well, that would be me.”
“Really? It wasn’t another winking man in an identical outfit?”
I nudged Bee under the table with the toe of my boot, and she grinned and raised her hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll leave him alone.”
“Bee’s got quite the sense of humor,” I said, smiling up at the chef. “I’m Ruby, by the way.”
“Miller,” he said. “First name. I know it’s strange, but that’s what my parents chose to call me. No use being mad about it.”
“It could be worse.” Bee shifted to the edge of her seat, trying to get closer to the fire. “You could be named Sue.”
“Sue?”
“It’s a song. Johnny Cash. Oh, the youth of today,” Bee said. “Would you like to sit down, Chef Miller? I’m going to get closer to the fire, and I have the feeling that you and Ruby will have a lot to talk about.” She got up before I could protest or the chef could reply.
Miller sat down in the spot she’d vacated and placed his hands atop the table. “Weird lady,” he said.
“Nice,” I corrected. “And it’s also nice to meet you, Miller. The food you prepared tonight was delicious.” Now, to broach the topic of the murder. And the rumor of his disagreement with the victim. I was used to prying information out of people, thankfully. One couldn’t be a journalist without having the knack for a little ‘manipulation.’ Not my finest quality, but it would help here.
“It’s what I love to do.”
“Even during such difficult times,” I said. “I admire that.”
“Difficult times?” Miller scratched his forehead. “Oh right, yeah. The murder.”
“The murder.” I pulled a face. “Terrible thing to happen. And what a way to go. A lobster mallet.”
“Poisoning’s what I heard.” Miller shrugged, as if he didn’t much care which way it had happened. “Wasn’t like the guy was well-liked around here. Or anywhere in town.”
“He wasn’t?” It would probably be a bad idea to ask him directly about him ‘fighting’ with the victim. But I could press for information, nonetheless.
“Naw. Owen had a knack for rubbing folks up the wrong way. And for landing himself in trouble.”
Apparently, Owen and I shared that particular proclivity. “Oh. Well, what do you mean by that? There are all types of trouble. Most types shouldn’t lead to murder.”
“Right.” Miller shrugged a second time, the stiff starch in his shirt bringing the scrape of fabric as he moved. “What can I say? Guy was a lowlife. He’s part of the reason the restaurant’s been struggling like it has.”
“How so?” I’d gotten Miller exactly where I wanted him—my comfort zone. With him talking. Telling me, naturally, all the things he probably wouldn’t tell a stranger. I might’ve been squeamish about blood and bodies and the whole ‘lobster mallet’ fiasco, but this was easy. This was fun.
“I shouldn’t say.” Miller glanced back at Bee, who was out of earshot, standing by the dying embers in the grate, her palms out. “But, ah well, it won’t hurt, will it? Anyway, Owen works for the guy who supplies the lobster to most of the restaurants in town. Basically, he runs the wharf, right, so he chooses exactly who goes out on which ship and who the lobsters are sold too.”
“Oh?” I frowned.
“That guy, Mr. Dillington? Rumor has it that he won’t sell any lobster to the guy who owns the restaurant because he’s taken a particular dislike to Owen. And it’s Owen’s uncle, Benjamin, who runs the Lobster Shack.”
“Wait, so Mr. Dillington won’t supply Benjamin with lobster because he doesn’t like Owen?”
“Sounds crazy, don’t it?”
“Yes.” It sounded unbelievable. I didn’t know much about lobster fishing, but as I understood it, the guy who owned the dock
would buy from the fishing boats then sell to suppliers. Was Mr. Dillington not buying fish from Owen’s boat? Or did Dillington captain the boat himself? Perhaps, he didn’t allow other business to fish at the dock?
“It’s what I overheard. Benjamin arguing with Owen because Owen had messed up so badly at work that he’d compromised everything for the restaurant. Folks run in circles around here. You scratch my back, and I scratch yours, see? So Benjamin gets Owen the job down at the wharf, as a sternman on one of the boats, and then Owen steals lobster and there you have it. No more lobster for the Shack.”
“But if Owen had stolen lobster, surely his boss would have fired him?” I asked.
The chef shrugged his broad shoulders. “Maybe they couldn’t prove it.”
“Maybe.” It was confused, but it had definitely given me my next lead. I needed to talk to this boss of Owen’s at the wharf. He’d likely have more information about Owen’s last days, and if there was a feud ongoing, then either the boss or even Owen’s uncle might have had reason to take matters into their own hands.
There were a few missing links, but I got the feeling that I was closer to solving the mystery.
“You’re pretty.”
The compliment had come out of left field.
The chef wore a goofy grin and winked at me again. “Would you like to come to dinner with me some time?”
I’d learned my lesson about this already. First, I’d been ‘bitten’ by my fiancé leaving me in the lurch, and then I’d gone on a date with a man who’d wound up dead. “I think I’m all done with dating,” I said. “The last time didn’t work out so well. But thanks for the offer. And for talking to me.”
Bee and I headed out of the restaurant and back home, our belly’s full and our minds questioning. What would tomorrow bring?
And who exactly had killed Owen Pelletier?
8
I had never had a lot of free time. Not when I had been engaged to Daniel, who’d always had a busy schedule as a business owner, or when I’d worked as a journalist. And now, the food truck was gone, and I was left feeling empty.
Murder by Chocolate Page 3