“Because she murdered Owen,” I said, without thinking.
“Ruby.”
“Bee?”
“You probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Miller had gone pale as his uniform. “She-she what?”
“She murdered him.” There was no use crying over spilled milk. Perhaps, I’d bathe in it like Cleopatra, instead. “We think.”
“That’s… that’s impossible. Grace wouldn’t do that.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked.
“Because she was—she just wouldn’t do that. Grace is a good person. She’s an amazing person. She—”
I gasped. “You’re having an affair with her.”
Miller bowed his head, looking off to one side. No wonder poor Hannah was so jumpy about other women near Miller. He was as flirty and duplicitous as the gossip in town said. “Ain’t none of your business who I date.”
“That’s why you were fighting with Owen,” I said, on a roll now. “Not because he threw a lobster at Hannah, that was a front. A fake story. Because you didn’t want anyone to know the truth. You were having an affair, and Owen and Grace…” I got lost, blinking. “Owen flirted with Grace. He always did that with the servers, right?”
“Yeah.” Miller barely spoke the word.
“And you two got in an argument.”
“It ain’t none of your business!”
“But it’s true,” I insisted, as Bee placed her hand on my arm and tried to tug me away. “So, let me piece this together. OK. Owen had been flirting with Grace. You got angry and fought with him because of that. And you… you didn’t like him either because—” But I couldn’t quite piece it together.
If Owen had been flirting with Grace, why had Grace poisoned him? Was it out of sheer anger because he’d dared try to ask her out on a date? But that didn’t make sense either. And the lobster mallet? How did that factor into it all?
There was something missing.
The only thing I was sure about was that Miller definitely didn’t want me to know the truth. And that he’d been lying.
I charged across the dining area toward him. Bee hurried along beside me.
“Ruby, you’re as stubborn as a mule. Leave this to the police.”
The mention of the cops drained even more blood from Owen’s face. “You called the police?” he asked. “Why would you do that?”
“Because Grace deserves to be brought to justice,” I said. “She was poisoning him. Did you know?”
“No, I swear, I didn’t know it.” Miller wet his lips.
But I didn’t quite believe him. There was something in his eyes, a glint that was neither fearful nor ashamed. Had Miller been involved somehow? Had he...?
The door to the restaurant opened behind us, letting in a rush of cold air.
“Grace,” Miller said, quietly. “You’re here early.”
“I couldn’t let you deal with these two on your own, now, could I?”
19
Ice dropped into my belly.
Grace was here. She entered the restaurant, calmly, and shut the door behind herself with an ominous click.
“I did mention that we should have left this to the police,” Bee whispered.
“Thank you, that’s a very helpful note. I’ll bear it in mind.”
Bee didn’t smile, but she did slip her hand into mine and squeeze my fingers, briefly. I took strength from the gesture, and from the fact that there were multiple windows that looked out on the pier, and that if we stalled Grace for long enough, Detective Jones would surely arrive and stop anything untoward from going down.
Assuming he did arrive.
What if he’d decided that Bee’s call had been a hoax or that he didn’t want to believe us? Or… any number of other horrible eventualities I didn’t want to confront now.
I took a step back, and Bee did the same, her arms now at her sides.
If only we’d thought to bring my mace with us. But what would that help? Grace might have a weapon hidden on her person.
“You couldn’t just butt out, could you?” Grace asked.
“I’d like to point out that represents a certain degree of irony coming from you,” Bee replied. “You were the one feeding us information.”
“Feeding them information? What’s that about? Grace?” The chef rounded the bar, lifting a lobster mallet from behind it.
If I’d thought my stomach was icy before, it was nothing compared to the Antarctic situation going on in there now.
Of course. Why hadn’t I considered it before?
They’d worked together.
“Why?” I asked. “Why did you team up to kill Owen?”
“We didn’t,” Grace replied. “I didn’t really want to hurt Owen, I just wanted to make him a bit sick, you know? Because he’d cheated on me. Just a little bit of revenge. I didn’t mean for it to go as far as it did or… I don’t even know how it happened. I hadn’t given him any baked goods for a day before he died.” Her gaze switched to Miller and then back to me. “Owen was...”
“Just say it,” Miller snapped. “It’s too late. They already know too much. This is your fault, Grace. You’re just as culpable as I am, now. The deaths of these two women will be on your hands now, too.”
Grace bowed her head, a few strands of blonde hair falling in front of her pixie-like face. “Owen was my boyfriend. Or he pretended to be my boyfriend. Really, he was having an affair with so many other people, and I couldn’t bear it any longer, so I did the same to him. I had an affair with Miller.”
“And that’s why you argued?” I asked, swiveling toward Miller.
My only directive, now, was to stall the pair of them until the detective arrived. If I could do that, well, I could save us. Or the detective could, much to Bee’s chagrin.
“Owen and I had a history of trouble,” Miller said. “So, yeah, of course, we argued. But things got out of hand when he hurt Grace. She was supposed to be mine. Mine alone, and he decided that he wanted her to be his girlfriend instead.” He patted the lobster mallet against his palm. “It was so easy to fool him too. I told him that he could bring a date to the restaurant on Monday night to have a special time. I expected him to bring Grace. I was going to confront them both, but then he turned up and told me that he’d decided to bring someone else, and I lost my temper.”
“Why?” I asked. “What did it matter if he was dating someone else?”
“I told you, Grace is mine. And he was making a fool out of her and a fool out of me by cheating. And that’s why she’s kept quiet all along. Grace has. She knew what was good for her, and I’m it.”
“But…” I trailed off, shaking my head. “But you’re in a relationship with Owen’s sister.”
Grace’s jaw dropped. “What? What did you just say?”
This was all so complicated.
Grace had poisoned Owen but hadn’t managed to kill him. And then Miller, who was just as much of an adulterer as the victim himself, had swept in and finished up the job. And he’d done it, not out of self-defense or even in a passionate rage, because he wanted to save face. He didn’t want to be embarrassed by dating a woman who had been cheated on and made to look like a fool.
Yet, he’d been doing that exact same thing to that exact same woman.
Sheesh. Talk about a soap opera drama. I guess everyone was right. There were loads of people who wanted to kill Owen.
“You’re cheating on me?” Grace asked, her face screwing up. “You’re cheating on me?” Tears glistened on her cheeks, but she gritted her teeth instead of breaking down. “How dare you! How dare you do that to me after everything that’s happened?”
“Shut up, Grace, you’re jumping to conclusions. It’s not true. I’m not dating Hannah. Think about it for a second. If I was dating her, everyone in town would have known, they would have been talking about it.”
But Grace wasn’t in the listening mood anymore. She let out a terrific yell and launched across the room toward Miller.
He got such a shock, he dropped the lobster mallet and it clunked to the floor. “Grace, relax. It’s just a misunder—” The last part of the word was lost to Grace’s tackle.
They fell to the floor and rolled back and forth on it, Grace scratching at his face while he tried to hold her back.
“We were meant to be partners!” Grace shrieked. “You told me that we were partners in crime. In love!”
“That’s our cue, I should think,” Bee whispered.
We backed away from the scuffling pair. I couldn’t look away. It was like watching a Shakespeare style tragedy unfold in real life. Everyone was having affairs with everyone, a man had been murdered in cold-blooded revenge, and there had been cake. And lobster mallets.
So, less like a Shakespearean tale and more like… a tragedy with lobster mallets. I’d have to look up the literary term for that later.
My back bumped into the door, and I fumbled it open. We struggled out onto the pier, just as a cry rang out to the left. Police officers dashed down the boardwalk toward the Lobster Shack, their weapons at the ready. Detective Jones led the pack.
“There we go,” I said. “They’re in there. They’re both involved. Kind of.”
But my words were lost on the officers. Detective Jones spared us a brief, thin-lipped glance before disappearing inside to make the arrest.
And that was that.
The mystery was solved. We would no longer be blamed for it. Maybe we’d even get a few intrigued customers on the food truck. I let out a sigh and sat down heavily on one of the pier’s many benches, my hands shaking.
“Are you all right?” Bee asked.
“I’m fine,” I said, but the panic had finally caught up with me. “I will be fine.”
“Good. Because I think we might be here a while. Detective Hobbitfeet will want to talk to us,” Bee said.
I threw back my head and laughed. After all, things could’ve been worse. We could’ve been lobster malleted to death or forced to eat fake lobster or any number of horrible outcomes. The mystery was solved. And I could go back to the food truck and do what I’d always wanted to do—serve delicious treats and travel the country.
After we’d fixed up the truck.
20
The scent of salt was on the air, the ocean waves rolled and crashed against the beach, and the wind was brisk and chill. Luckily, the sun and the activity had warmed me to the point I barely needed my coat.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand then dropped the rag into the bucket of water at my feet with a satisfying plop.
“That’s it,” I said, spreading my arms. “She’s done.”
It had only taken us three full days to repair the truck. That had included getting the tires replaced, the windows and windshield repairs, and cleaning out everything inside. Now, there was the small feat of restocking, baking, and prepping everything for our first day back on the truck.
“Done?” Bee popped out of the driver’s compartment on the truck.
“Done,” I announced, grinning at her. “We’ll be back in business within a day or two. Hopefully.”
“Assuming we don’t move on from this town.” Bee came over to stand next to me in front of the truck’s open window.
The Oceanside Guesthouse languished in front of us, its doors open to invite customers and guests inside. Samantha had made it clear that she didn’t have another booking for our room, and that if we wanted to stay, we were more than welcome to.
“What do you think?” I asked, leaning my hands on the sparkling clean countertop in the truck. “Should we stay another few weeks before we head out? I did tell my supplier to send the boxes to the post office in town.”
“Which supplier?” Bee asked.
“For the boxes.” I gestured to the collection of striped and branded boxes beneath the counter. “We’ll need a fresh supply before we move on to the next town.” My idea to be the traveling food truck was ambitious at best and foolhardy at worst, but I’d always preferred ambition over sitting around, waiting for something interesting to happen.
“Stay in Carmel Springs,” Bee said, leaning back and folding her arms. “I don’t know if I could handle another week of seeing Detective Jones’ frowning face.”
“You know, the way you talk about him, I’m starting to think you have a crush on the man.”
“You should become a comedian,” Bee smirked at me. “No, really, I wouldn’t mind staying here. Carmel Springs has a lovely atmosphere. And I’m sure we’ll find another restaurant that actually does serve lobster.”
My mouth watered at the prospect.
“I have to say, I’ve enjoyed serving our food on the beach,” Bee said. “And in all likelihood, there probably won’t be another murder in town.”
The crunch of tires on gravel interrupted us. A car had pulled into the parking spot in front of the guesthouse—a black SUV chug-chugging out fumes and with black tinted windows. The engine cut off and both Bee and I fell silent.
The driver’s side door clunked open, and a single black dress shoe emerged. It was followed by a man wearing a suit. An exceptionally handsome man with wavy dark hair and matching chocolate brown eyes. He bore a mole to one side of his lip. At a guess, I would’ve placed his age around thirty-years-old.
“Hubba hubba,” Bee whispered, nudging me. “Looks like Prince Charming has just rolled into town. And he’ll be staying at the Oceanside.”
“Bee, I would rather eat one of Grace’s poison cakes than date another man any time soon. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“What, that they drop dead the minute you show up for the date?”
“You’re too kind.”
Bee sniggered. “It was too easy.”
“The point is,” I whispered, as the man strode around the back of the SUV, ignoring our existence, “that I have no interest in dating any man, ever again.”
Mr. Handsome opened the passenger side door of the SUV and held out a hand.
“Oh no,” Bee said. “Looks like someone beat you to the punch.”
A slender woman emerged, her fingers clasping onto Mr. Handsome’s for support. She was tall and thin, toned and beautiful and definitely much younger than him. With swaying platinum blonde hair and the glitzy dress, she could have been a celebrity.
I didn’t exactly keep up with social media, so she might’ve been.
Either way, Blondie stopped and peered around at the parking lot as if it had personally insulted her. She sniffed, raising her nose. “Is this really the best you could do, William?” she asked. “This place?”
“Honey, I told you. This is my hometown. These are my roots.”
“Some things are better left in the past.”
I agreed with the sentiment, though not the snotty tone in which it was delivered.
“Darling, listen to me,” Mr. Handsome said, gripping her hands in his, raising one then the other and delivering a kiss to her fingers. “This is the perfect place for us to get married. You’ll see. Eloping was the best idea we ever had.”
“No. That you ever had. And it wasn’t the best, it was the worst. I don’t know how you expect me to plan a wedding on such short notice.”
Mr. Handsome, also known as William, apparently, sighed and dropped his fiancé’s hands. “It will be great. I’ll help you. Or we’ll hire a wedding planner. Trust me, this is going to be a wedding you’ll never forget.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get the bags, William. I’m going inside for refreshments. Assuming they have running water in a place like this.” She stormed up the steps of the Oceanside and into its waiting reception area.
“Poor Samantha,” I whispered. “Can you imagine having to be sweet and hospitable to a woman like that?”
“Jealousy makes you nasty,” Bee whispered.
“I’m not—”
William had rounded to the back of the SUV and spotted us now. He gave us a confident wave. “Afternoon, ladies. Business going well?”
&n
bsp; “Not at all,” Bee said.
“But we’ll be open tomorrow,” I replied. “Hopefully.”
“Hopefully,” Bee echoed.
“Well, it’s nice to know we have some culinary options while we’re in Carmel Springs. The last time I was here, they only had one restaurant on the pier, and all it served was lobster, lobster, and more lobster.”
“What’s wrong with lobster?” Bee muttered to herself.
“That’s changed,” I said.
“Glad to hear it. I’ll see you around.” He started unpacking bags from the boot. Several of the cases were glittery pink and small. And then there was the massive glassy purple one. The poor man would be out here longer than we would.
“How much do you want to bet she’s going to be a nuisance during our stay?” Bee whispered. “The woman. I can see her kicking up a fuss or three.”
I turned to Bee, putting the newcomers to the guesthouse out of my mind. “So,” I said, “what do you say? Want to stay a few more weeks?”
Bee wriggled her lips from side-to-side. “Hmm. All right. But on one condition.”
“Name it,” I said.
“No more murders.”
I giggled. “Now, Bee, you know I can’t promise you that…”
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Murder by Chocolate Page 8