“That’s too bad. We thought perhaps there was…” Cecily trailed off. Lucky caught Marjorie giving a nudge to her sister’s elbow.
Lucky did her best to smile naturally, but she was sure it looked more like a grimace. “Not at all. We’re just friends.” At least we were.
The sisters exchanged a look but said nothing. An uncomfortable silence settled over the counter.
Lucky heard the phone ringing in the office. She hurried down the hall to grab it in time, relieved that she had escaped the sisters’ scrutiny.
“Why, hello! Is this Lucky?”
“Yes it is.” Lucky didn’t recognize the woman’s voice.
“This is Abigail Starkfield.” Lucky heard chatter and background noise through the receiver. “We’ve just finished our rehearsal for today, and I was wondering…well, I know this is very short notice, but we’ve decided we’d like to celebrate a little and have a late lunch together. Do you think you could accommodate us in a few minutes?”
“Oh.” Lucky was speechless. She quickly wracked her brain, trying to remember how many people made up Abigail’s choral group, not to mention their musicians as well. Her second panicked thought was how much food was on hand and was it enough to feed lunch to a large group.
“If you’re crowded right now, dear, don’t go to any bother. We can find someplace else—perhaps up at the Resort. I just thought I’d try the Spoonful first.”
“Uh. No. Please. That would be wonderful. It won’t be a problem.” She rubbed her forehead, praying she could manage. “We’ll see you in a bit.” She hung up the phone and ran into the kitchen.
“Remy!” Remy jumped involuntarily, dropping a saucepan on the floor with a great clatter.
“Lucky…you’re gonna give me a heart attack.”
“Remy, we’re going to have about…thirty or so people in a few minutes. Can you start making…what do we have? Start making up some turkey and dried cranberry sandwiches and some roast beefs with that deli mustard. I’ll be back in a minute and do some grilled cheeses with bacon. I think we have enough soup already warmed for everyone.” She shot a look at Remy, who appeared as if he were about to faint.
“I’ve never done any sandwiches. Jack just showed me how to use the Crock-Pots.”
“Don’t worry, it’s easy,” she called out, pulling loaves of bread onto the counter. “Use the rye for the roast beef, lots of mustard with pickles, and…let’s see, use the sourdough for the turkey and dried cranberries. They’ll have to be happy with just a few choices.”
Lucky moved quickly over to Jack’s table and whispered in his ear. He looked up and smiled. “Told you so,” he said. “Good thing I got that dishwasher fixed up. I’m on deck now, don’t worry.” He headed down the hall and slipped on one of the aprons from the shelf. “I’ll help Remy in the kitchen. You’ll be all right on your own out here?”
“Yes, I’ll take the orders and deliver the trays.” Why couldn’t Janie or Meg show up now? she thought.
True to her word, Abigail arrived shortly thereafter. She was with a group of five. “Here we are!” she called out. “The rest will be here in a few minutes.”
They settled in at one of the larger round tables. Lucky explained the menu, and everyone seemed quite happy with the choices. She took orders for three bowls of potato leek and two bowls of the butternut squash soup with bleu cheese. Four people ordered whole sandwiches. Jack arrived with place mats, napkins and silverware and quickly laid the tables. No sooner had he done that than the door flew open again, ushering in more cold air and another twenty or so singers and musicians. Lucky recognized the woman who had played the harp at the concert.
Marjorie and Cecily swiveled on their stools, watching the activity. Jack turned on the CD player, and the room filled with the sound of a forties’ swing number. Everyone was laughing and talking, and two of the men stood and sang along with the CD player to the amusement of the entire room.
Cecily touched Lucky’s arm shyly as she rushed past. Lucky turned to her. “Isn’t this wonderful? Just like old times. How nice of them to come here.”
“It surely is. I wonder…”
“Do you think that nice young doctor might have told them about the troubles you’ve been having?” Marjorie asked.
Lucky’s face froze. Of course. Why else would Abigail suddenly decide to march the entire choral group over to the Spoonful. Conflicting emotions flashed across her face. For a few minutes she was elated that they had customers again and the restaurant would be full of happy, hungry people. Elias! If only she had never gone to his house earlier. If only she never knew about the blue and white sticker on the silver sedan. Drunk as Josh may have been that night, he described it very well. It was a parking permit for the Woodside Hospital in Lincoln Falls, a permit for a reserved doctor’s space.
“Is anything wrong, dear?” Cecily asked.
Lucky snapped out of her reverie. “No. Nothing. Sorry, my mind just wandered.”
“Well, you better get busy if you want to keep all these customers happy.”
Lucky nodded and grabbed four orders from the hatch. She could see Jack guiding Remy as they both put sandwiches together. Lucky filled a tray with glasses of water and deftly placed them before each customer. She raced back to the kitchen and repeated the action with steaming cups of coffee and tea. She did her best to push thoughts of Elias out of her mind. She didn’t think Elias had actually arranged this to happen today. It was more likely that Abigail had asked about her, and Elias had explained the difficulties the Spoonful was having.
When everyone had finished their soup and sandwiches, Lucky made the rounds and refilled coffee cups. Several people stood chatting together as they paid their bills at the cash register. Finally only Abigail and four others, a man and three women, were still seated. Lucky approached and asked them if there was anything else they might like.
Abigail spoke first. “That was delicious. I’m so glad we came here. We’ll be back again whenever you have room.”
“It was very kind of you to think of the Spoonful.”
“Not at all. This is a charming place. I’m only sorry I wasn’t familiar with it before, but I will definitely come back and I’m sure the rest will agree. Don’t you?” she asked, turning to her friends at the table. They nodded their assent and chimed in with compliments.
Somewhere in the confusion, Marjorie and Cecily had slipped away. Lucky walked Abigail and the last of the singers to the door and waved good-bye. She closed the door behind them and plopped down in a nearby chair. “Well, Jack, that was a real workout. I can’t remember when I last moved that fast.”
Jack smiled from behind the cash register. “We’re out of shape, my girl. We’re out of shape.” Jack beamed.
“Hey, Remy! How you holding up?” Jack shouted into the kitchen.
Remy’s head popped up in the hatch. “I hope those sandwiches were okay.”
“They were great,” Lucky called over her shoulder.
“There are some extras here. What should I do with them?”
“Bring ’em out on a tray. We need a break,” Jack hollered back.
A few minutes later, Remy carried a dish heaped with sandwiches to one of the larger tables.
Lucky sat and flipped open her napkin. “Remy, aren’t you eating anything?”
Remy stood awkwardly next to the table. “I…uh…Is it okay?”
“Of course, it is,” Jack replied. “Come on, you worked for your lunch today.”
Lucky glanced sideways at Remy. Where she had once thought he seemed shady, she realized now his ambiguous behavior was insecurity. She knew nothing of his and Sage’s early life, but she suspected Remy had spent most of his life reacting like a whipped dog. She smiled at him. “Remy, you were terrific today. I can’t thank you enough. I don’t think Jack and I could have handled that big rush ourselves.”
Blood rushed to Remy’s cheeks. She was sure he wasn’t used to any compliments. “It’s me who should be thanking y
ou—especially after what I did. I feel pretty stupid.”
“It’s all forgotten, Remy. Eat up and enjoy,” Jack replied. “Can you pass me that mustard?”
Lucky and Jack exchanged a smile as Remy turned back to his food. For a moment Lucky forgot all about Elias and the shock she had felt when she saw his car. She would eventually confide in Jack, but she couldn’t do it now in front of Remy, as she was sure she’d burst into tears.
Chapter 35
“I DON’T KNOW how I got through the day yesterday.” The parchment lampshade in Elizabeth’s living room cast sepia-toned light over the room. A log sputtered and crackled in the fireplace. Elizabeth’s cat, a fluffy gray male, was curled in a ball on the hearth rug. Lucky felt her muscles relax for the first time since she’d seen Elias’s car. If she weren’t still so upset, she could have curled up like the cat and slept for three days. She sank back into the soft cushions of the couch, her face strained, while Elizabeth sat in an old-fashioned rocker, crocheting and listening.
“Run this by me again. I’m not sure I have the story straight.” Elizabeth placed her yarn on her lap, giving Lucky her full attention.
“It all started with Josh—the ski instructor up at the Lodge. He had been seeing Honeywell. One night…well, I guess he took it more seriously than she did, and he got pretty drunk. He went to the house on Bear Path Lane and suspected she was with another man. She wouldn’t let him in, and he saw another car parked in the drive. Honeywell sent him away. He was a mess and lost his footing and he slipped on the ice. I asked him about the other car. He only remembered that it was light colored. He grabbed the car’s bumper to get back on his feet and saw a white and blue sticker with numbers on it—just like the sticker on Elias’s car. It’s a doctor’s parking permit for Woodside Hospital. And then Hank told me…”
Elizabeth shook her head. “What does Hank Northcross have to do with this story?”
“He lives farther up the hill past Bear Path Lane. He remembered a silver sedan pulling out of her driveway one night. He remembered because it almost hit him.”
“And this…Josh…he said the car he saw was a silver sedan?”
“Well, no. Now that I think about it. He said he didn’t remember except that it was light colored. Oh, Elizabeth, it must have been Elias who was seeing her, and all this time I suspected Jon Starkfield.” Lucky snuffled behind her damp tissue.
Elizabeth passed her a fresh tissue. “Okay, now listen to me. I’ll buy that the blue and white sticker is a parking permit for Woodside. That makes perfect sense, but a lot of people could have silver sedans, and Josh didn’t specifically say it was silver, now, did he?”
“No.”
“And there are doctors working for the Resort?”
“Well, yes,” Lucky replied.
“So…assuming she was seeing a doctor who had a parking permit for Woodside Hospital, why would you conclude it was Elias, and not one of the doctors from the Resort? After all, she was skiing there every day. And you said she wasn’t a patient at the Clinic.”
“I’m not sure I can even believe that. I took Elias’s word for that.”
Elizabeth sighed patiently. “Well, assuming she wasn’t a patient, and the girl at the Clinic can back up what Elias told you, it’s far more likely that her so-called free medical care would be coming from a doctor at the Resort. Your logic just doesn’t hold together, dear. Sorry.”
Elizabeth picked up the bundle of yarn in her lap and leaned closer to the lamplight. “Lucky, I want you to listen to me. You’ve been in a state of shock over your parents, worried about Jack, worried about the business and now Sage’s arrest and the murder. You’ve had a lot on your plate. Before you jump to the conclusion that Elias was Honeywell’s lover…”
“But what if he was her murderer? What if he was the father of her child? That’s what’s been making me so sick. The thought that he was her lover, and then possibly her murderer and that he actually attended the autopsy. It’s so horrifying.”
“Let me finish, dear. Before you jump to all those conclusions, why don’t you find out where he was the night of the murder? Then if you can, and he has an alibi, you’ll at least know he’s not a killer. Frankly, I can’t imagine a man like him being attracted to someone like this Honeywell character anyway.”
“You can’t?” Lucky asked hopefully.
“I’ve lived a long time and I’m very good at judging people. I can’t see it. I’m not saying I can’t be wrong, but Elias strikes me as a very empathetic person. This Honeywell woman—I’d noticed her around town—well, she was a lot of things, but frankly the first thought that occurred to me when I saw her was ‘cold’ and maybe a little too flashy, if you know what I mean.”
Lucky nervously tore a tissue into shreds. “Maybe I overreacted. Elias followed me home and tried to find out what was wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I just don’t know how I can find out where he was that night.”
“What about your friend at the Clinic—the receptionist? What’s her name—Rosemary? Maybe you can find some discreet way of asking her who was on call that night?”
Lucky took a deep breath. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I’m such an idiot. I overreacted and made a total fool of myself.”
“Now—drink your tea. And sleep on all this. Would you like to stay here tonight? That’s a very comfortable sofa and I have an extra bedroom.”
“Thank you. I think I should probably walk home. I’ve bothered you enough.”
“We have some other things to talk about.”
Lucky looked up. “We do?”
“I have to ask for your solemn promise that you will never repeat this conversation. I need your silence now. My reputation is at stake here too, don’t forget.”
“Elizabeth, I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I know you wouldn’t, and because of that I’m trusting you. There are other lives involved here, and this will have to be handled very discreetly.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I talked with Tom Reed. I told him that information had come to me that he had a connection with Patricia Honeywell. I also told him that I was duty bound to report this to Nate, but before I did, I needed him to be completely honest with me. He was rather defensive and upset, and demanded to know what information I had and where I had obtained it. I stonewalled him. I told him no one wants any unpleasant surprises in the upcoming campaign. And it would be best if he came clean with me right away. If he told me what his connection with Honeywell was…I didn’t say I had seen a promissory note, by the way, since neither you nor I had any business sticking our noses into Nate’s investigation—but if he would be straight with me, then I’d do what I could in the way of damage control, but I certainly wouldn’t do anything unethical or illegal. And I’m sure if that fellow at the Resort had seen them together, other people had too.”
“What did he have to say for himself?”
“He swore he wasn’t having an affair with her. Thank heavens, because if that came out, he could kiss his political career good-bye.”
“And?”
“You were right. It took some doing, but eventually he broke down. He needed funds to invest in the partnership. He wasn’t wealthy enough to do it on his own. The loan was coming due. He would have been able to pay almost half of it to her by the deadline, but he had asked her for an extension on the rest of the monies. She refused.”
Lucky listened raptly. “A few million dollars makes a good motive.”
“Yes, it does. Except killing her would make no sense.”
“What was she planning to do if he didn’t pay the full amount?”
Elizabeth pursed her lips. “She threatened to take him to court. And make sure that the case received a lot of attention.”
“Would that mean he could lose the election?”
“Possibly. No one wants to vote for someone that can’t meet their financial obligations. He was between a rock and a hard place. If she had sued, he would have been able
to drag the suit out for months. Her death buys him the time he was asking for—without the repercussions of public embarrassment.”
“So her murder gives him what he wanted without any jeopardy to his campaign.”
“Yes. It’s an unpleasant thought. I told him to go straight to Nate, to discuss the issue. That way he’d look like an upstanding citizen that was trying to do the right thing, and he’d still have time to tap other resources to repay the note. After all, Nate or the prosecutor would eventually put it together. If he spoke up first, it would look far better for him.”
“Do you think he could have killed her?”
“No, I don’t. I contacted Nate and told him that Reed had voluntarily spoken to me, and that I had advised him to go straight to Nate,” Elizabeth continued. “Nate checked the Reeds’ whereabouts on the night of Honeywell’s murder. Both he and his wife were out of town at a fund-raiser and were stranded in the storm. They have hotel receipts to prove it. He couldn’t possibly have returned to Snowflake and committed a murder.”
“So, we’re back to square one.”
“That we are. My advice to you is to find out where Elias was that night and do what you can to make amends.”
Chapter 36
LUCKY HAD TOSSED and turned most of the night. She had finally fallen into a fitful sleep but woke up with a half-remembered nightmare about trying to reach the Spoonful in a blizzard. Every time she glimpsed the neon sign, a snowdrift blocked her path. The more she struggled, the harder it was to walk through the snow that pulled on her feet like quicksand.
Would things have been better if she had never started asking questions about Honeywell and sticking her nose where it didn’t belong? But how could she not have done what she’d done? The Spoonful was barely able to make its rent, and Sage was in jail for murder. It wasn’t just she and Jack who were at risk; the life of a man who had been wrongfully accused once before was on the line. Now she needed to find out where Elias was the night of the murder. And she’d have to do it without letting him know. She had no idea how she’d be able to do that, and if he had no alibi, her dilemma still wouldn’t be solved. If he did have an alibi, and found out that she had been checking up on him, he’d be angry, more than angry. On top of all that, he still might have been Honeywell’s lover and the father of her child.
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