Peter looked at his coffee cup and then the distance to the table and chose to set it on the floor. He left without a word.
Claudia waited until she heard his car drive away. Then she fetched the cup and fumed at Ezra. “He thinks we slept together, and you let him!”
“So did you, and I’ll tell you why. He’s going to think what he’s going to think, and we can’t change that.” He pulled a whisk from the drawer. “Were you looking for this?”
As soon as Claudia had the food on the table, Ezra dug in. “Could you just stack the dishes in the sink while I shower? Don’t you dare wash them. What kind of host makes his guest cook and clean? But I’m hoping to make it to church, and I wouldn’t mind one bit if you came with me.”
“I’d be delighted. What time does it start?”
“Ten.”
Claudia turned to look at the clock on the stove. “It’s nine forty-five right now. Exactly how fast can you shower?”
“Drat. Can’t see that far without my contacts. We’ll never make it, even if we leave the dishes here for Sapphira to clean, and I go in flannels and my sweat. May as well make the best of it and have some more coffee. Thank you for that excellent omelet. I like a woman who knows her way around an egg.”
Claudia, in the midst of a sip of coffee, tried without success to choke back a laugh. She spewed the mouthful over the table and Ezra, who didn’t back up fast enough. She gasped with apologies and grabbed a handful of paper towels to wipe everything down. Still snorting, she offered a few fresh sheets to Ezra but froze as she saw his attention on her instead of the coffee splattered on his shirt.
“What?” she asked, not before a leftover hiccup of a giggle escaped.
He took the towels but held onto her hand.
“Things are a bit fuzzy, but it appears you aren’t even blushing,” he said, and he was right.
While Ezra showered and changed, Claudia ignored his command not to wash the dishes. She stripped the linens from the sofa, piled them on the washer in the corner of the kitchen, and sat by the table to wait. Sapphira regarded this as a cue to drag herself from Ezra’s room and collapse at Claudia’s feet.
“I’m so glad you approve of me,” she told the dog, stroking the loose skin of her forehead. “Or would you like Godzilla if he paid you attention?”
Ezra walked in smoothing his hair. “Absolutely. As a character witness she is wholly unreliable. Which is why I only use her to weed out those who don’t like her.”
He brought Claudia her coat. “But you know,” he mused as they walked outside, “she didn’t bother coming into the kitchen to meet Peter. Maybe she has some discernment after all.”
It appeared they were taking the panel van again.
“You look too pretty to perch on the back of my sled. Besides, I’ve got only one snowmobile suit, which means one of us would have a mighty uncomfortable trip to town.”
He handed her in and climbed behind the wheel. As they rolled past the silver surface of Lake Superior, Claudia moaned. “Sapphira has more discernment than I do. How could I be so wrong about Peter?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Did he always behave like this?”
“Nooo. No, he really didn’t. He never seemed unusually kind, but he was considerate and charming and a lot of fun. He could put people at their ease. He made me comfortable, at least until we headed up here with that blasted watch. So was everything before that just a ruse? A mask?”
Ezra turned away from the lake and onto the road to town. “I never tire of looking at that lake. Claudia, I think you’re old enough to know the answer to your question. I’m not sure whether the times we are thoughtful and kind is the mask, or when we mess up. I just believe we need to take care, and not assume the dishonorable face is the real one, and goodness is false. Don’t ever let one blunder wipe out dozens of decent acts.”
Claudia couldn’t think of a response. She felt small.
“That said,” he finished, “I can’t stand the guy.”
The cleared roads made the ride into town uneventful. They arrived at the Weary Traveler well before eleven o’clock.
“We have some time before the church rush,” Ezra told Claudia. “Let’s see if we can help Ann and her girls get a head start.”
The inn smelled fabulous. Claudia changed from Priscilla’s plumage and entered the kitchen in the same denim skirt and black sweater she’d worn to the dance recital.
Ezra checked the ovens. “I don’t have the courage to look under the lids to see what’s cooking,” he told her. “I picture Ann slapping my patties. How about we set out juice and fruit and breads?” He rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands, and began doling jam into little glass bowls. Claudia marveled at his adeptness.
“I’ve been eating Sunday brunch here for years,” he said as he placed bowls of golden butter next to the baskets of muffins. “I can do everything except make the food.”
The back door opened, and Philip tumbled in dragging a rosy-cheeked Rachel by the hand. “It’s her final performance for Milk and Honey today, and I promised her the best brunch money can buy.”
A young woman who looked like Ann followed them. She cuffed Philip’s arm. “As if you have ever paid for anything a day in your life. Go find a good spot to sit with our star dancer and get out of the way of working folks.”
Catching sight of Claudia by the refrigerator, she declared, “You must be Miss Alexander. My mother thinks you are so wonderful she’s ready to adopt you.” She looked through the door into the dining room. “And with good cause! Everything is set up! You’d be a fine addition to the family. Just call me Sister Sarah.”
Claudia hastened to explain how Ezra had done most of the work, but Sarah waved this away.
“Too late. You’ve been pegged a hard and willing worker and there are few greater kudos in this family. My sister Beth should be here any minute, after she changes a diaper or nurses a baby. Would you and Ezra mind helping me a bit longer? Maybe we can give Mom a break today.”
Claudia, reveling in the phrase ‘you and Ezra’, scuttled through the next frenetic two hours. She met Beth, quiet like her father while Sarah was gregarious as their mother. She met their husbands and children and friends and neighbors and delivered trays of food to the buffet table and promised Blossom she would ask about the secret ingredient in Ann’s herbed frittata and promptly forgot. Ann and Ezra took turns introducing her to every brunch participant. The two couples she’d spoken with the previous evening greeted her like an old friend. She met several more members of Amos’s family, or maybe she met the same ones twice.
Amos himself walked in on Sue’s arm. As Claudia passed he exclaimed, “Oh, my dear Miss Alexander! What a pleasure to be in your company again.”
“Heavens! That sniffer! You must be catching the leftover fragrance from Friday. I’m starting the second cycle on all my outfits.”
Sue looked almost shy. “My niece and her husband own a clothing boutique. It’s usually closed in the off-season but I’m sure they’ll let you look around if you’d like, and give you a good price. Right, Dad? Almost anyone will open their tourist season business to make a little money.” With a pedant’s commitment to full disclosure, she added, “Well, not the charter boats, of course.”
Amos’s face clouded. “Isn’t it a pity about Roi? Had you ever met him? You did. I remember you were in the restaurant when he was there. And Felix? Yes? I’m going to go see him this afternoon.”
Claudia sat down next to him while Sue went up to get his food. “Do you think Felix killed him?”
Amos frowned. “I wouldn’t have thought so. I’ve talked to him a lot, although he doesn’t really talk back. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure he listens to me. I do know his grandma pretty well. She still prays for that boy every day. I hate to think it of him...” His voice faded, but came back strong. “You may hear some ministers talk about how they have faith in mankind, but you won’t from me. I’m a firm believer in original sin. Even though we aren�
��t as bad as we might be, humans can still behave atrociously. Still, I can’t think Felix is a killer.”
Claudia wasn’t sure if she was supposed to respond but before she could come up with a profound observation on fallen humanity, Ezra intervened.
“Amos, Claudia is a working woman and she needs to get more eggs to the buffet. Don’t distract her. And don’t make me jealous.”
Delight replaced Amos’s expression of contrition. He rose and grasped for both their hands. “I’m so happy for you.”
Claudia looked down at the spare, dry fingers. “You’re jumping the gun a little, unless you’re congratulating us on our one date.”
Amos gripped her tighter. “Only took one date with my Mary to know she was the one. And Ezra is smarter on the uptake than I was.”
Gently freeing her hand, Claudia retorted, “But how long did it take Mary?”
She left both men standing as she exited in confusion. She grabbed a tray of coffee cakes and wondered why assumptions about the relationship alternately flustered and pleased her.
Claudia refused to meet Ezra’s eyes during the rest of the brunch rush. He looked hurt. As soon as possible she’d tell him she did like him, although, she grimaced, if he learned how much he might get scared. She rehearsed how to explain her hope for a relationship headed in a positive direction, without committing to choice of bridal party and cake flavor yet.
The room cleared out suddenly, leaving only Jo, Jim, Deb, and Tim lingering over coffee. The clock chimed one and they gathered their belongings with haste usually reserved for those who feared turning into pumpkins.
“Whoa. Does everyone leave for a nap?” she asked Ann, who sat in the corner, feet up, drinking hot cocoa.
“Usually yes. But this afternoon almost the entire town will head back for the dance recital.”
“Hasn’t the entire town seen it already?”
“The final show is sort of special. Those couples who just left? They come up every year just to watch it. The Milks have some of their professional dance friends perform with our dancers and do fun exhibitions and everyone loves it. The after-party moves to the cafeteria and doesn’t end until late. Barley is a ghost town during the final recital.”
“You and Bud aren’t going?”
“No. Sunday isn’t exactly a full day of rest but we’ll be taking it easy. I won’t even let Bud pick up a paint brush.”
Ezra came from the kitchen rolling down his sleeves. “Dishes are done, leftovers put away and your daughters send their love but they need to get to the recital.” He avoided looking at Claudia.
Ann must have caught some of the tension. She rose. “I’m going to raid the refrigerator and lie down with a good book. Thanks a million times over, and make sure to help yourselves to leftovers or anything else that catches your fancy.”
Claudia called after her. “Ann! We wanted to show Bud the watch and see if he has any ideas. Is that all right?”
“Old watches aren’t his specialty but he is the smartest man in the world. I wouldn’t mind a peek at this watch myself. Not for at least half an hour though, please?” She exited to the kitchen and left Claudia and Ezra alone.
His eyes were grave. “Did I do something wrong? I’m pretty perceptive and you’re easier to read than a large print book.”
Claudia didn’t want to play games. Even if the relationship stopped dead in its tracks she liked and respected him too much to be coy.
“Absolutely nothing. You’re a marvelous man. But last week I didn’t know you and now it seems people are concluding we’ll be engaged before the end of next week.”
Ezra didn’t say anything. He sat down in the chair Ann had vacated and looked up at her expectantly.
“I mean,” she continued, “relationships need time to grow. How can I tell if you are ‘the one’ after knowing you only five days?”
“Seven. We met last Monday and if my figuring is correct that makes seven days, including today.”
“All right, seven days. Seven days and one date.”
“Seven days, one date, a dance recital, several meals, a murder, a search and rescue and one sleepover.”
Exasperated, Claudia dropped into the chair next to him. “Be serious. We can’t move so fast.”
“Why not?”
“Because! Who can tell about compatibility after one week?”
“Melody and I grew up together. We both assumed we were compatible.”
“They aren’t mutually exclusive! A failed marriage with someone you thought you knew doesn’t guarantee a successful marriage with a woman you barely know.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Marriage? I didn’t mention marriage. Did I?”
Her face burned. “I know you don’t want a casual dating relationship and you know I don’t.”
“Aha!”
“What?”
“We met seven days ago and already we know one of the most important aspects of each other’s character. You just admitted it.”
Claudia paused with her mouth open in rejoinder and replayed her words in her mind. Ezra cupped his hand under her jaw and gently closed her mouth. Her toes tingled.
“I don’t know everything about you, Claudia, and probably never will. I won’t even guarantee we’ll be married, though I’m starting to hope we will. You fit in this town and you and I fit together. I don’t mean in a physical sense, although I have no doubt that we’ll be a fit in that way too. For whatever reason we are like the sprockets in the back of that watch. Everything goes together.”
“The stinking watch can’t keep time, remember?”
And Ezra, instead of responding to this indisputable truth, grinned at the ceiling. “It took Mary until the second date to know Amos was the right one.”
SEVENTEEN
“I think the haircut convinced her.”
Claudia started at the sound of Amos’s voice. She had assumed he, like everyone else, left long ago.
The old preacher stood in the hallway. Bud’s amused face appeared over his shoulder.
“Amos visited with me until he could go see Felix. Ezra, you don’t mind taking him to the jail, do you? He wants to give spiritual counseling.” Bud reached for his pipe while he waited on Ezra’s response.
“Be glad to. Claudia, you should rest. Let’s meet at Blossom’s tomorrow night. We can celebrate our one week anniversary.”
Bud ambled back to the owner’s suite leaving Claudia awash in déjà vu. Last week prepared to repeat itself. She’d be sitting at Blossom’s, not knowing who the watch belonged to and without a ride home. She couldn’t wait alone for tomorrow’s replay of last Monday.
“I’m coming with you.” She ran to her room to clean up and change into an outfit that didn’t smell of bacon. At the last moment, she spritzed a tiny bit of Amos’s favorite perfume on her wrists.
She pushed her arms into the sleeves of her coat as she sped down the steps. Amos and Ezra raised faces at her approach, and even though half of her audience couldn’t see her, she became unaccountably flustered and made a great show of buttoning her coat.
Ezra merely asked, “Ready troops? Let’s go visit the criminal.”
The jail was just a few blocks from the Weary Traveler and on a narrow side street. They walked. The weather remained tolerable and Amos needed little guidance.
Claudia, unsure of what to expect, found the jail surprising. It looked like a small bed-and-breakfast, which it actually had been, Ezra told her.
“Lem’s regular office is in the county seat, but he bounces back and forth. We have a token police force here and very little crime. Still, we need someplace to put drunks and disorderlies. This place couldn’t survive as a B&B. Way too small, in a lousy location, and doesn’t have private baths, which also makes it undesirable as a family home. So the owners donated the building and grounds to Barley as a tax write-off.”
The foyer contained nothing but a small desk and a chair. Doors opened to what may have been the original dining room. Now lined wit
h file cabinets, it functioned as an office. Another desk, dead center, held radio equipment and a computer. Lem sat frowning at the screen.
“Losing at online poker, Lem?” called Ezra.
His brother growled, “Show some respect, boy. I’m transcribing Felix’s statement. If you wait in the parlor I’ll bring him to you.”
A lovely fireplace still graced the corner of the parlor but the rest of the room was bare save for two card tables and folding chairs. The bars on the windows, the heavy door, and the window between the office and the parlor showed that, while unconventional, Barley took crime seriously.
“Oh, yes,” Ezra said as she surveyed the surroundings. “Each prisoner may have his own bedroom but the windows are barred, the doors solid core metal with new locks and no one in his right mind would try to cut his way through the plaster walls or dig through solid oak plank floors.”
Amos had been quiet. Ezra seated him by one of the card tables and they all turned when Lem accompanied Felix to the parlor. He looked none the worse for the ordeal, although with Felix it was hard to tell. Claudia corrected herself. He was still sullen and scowling but several degrees cleaner than the last time she’d seen him. Ezra nodded a greeting and Claudia followed his lead.
“We’ll leave you and Amos alone. We can wait in the kitchen. Yell as soon as you want to leave, Amos.”
The hall opened to a small kitchen, less than half the size of Ann’s. The décor had fallen from popularity a decade ago—neutral wall color, light pickled-oak cupboards, beige laminate countertop, and off-white vinyl flooring with peach-colored flowers centered in tan squares. Ezra led her to a fake wood table, pulled out a fake wood chair, and motioned her to sit. She looked around.
“You couldn’t cook for many people in here.”
“Good thing the owners never needed to. I think the only time they filled all three rooms was when our girls’ basketball team made playoffs for the state championship. Coffee?”
She agreed.
He sniffed the inky liquid already in the glass pot and wrinkled his nose. “Someone must have made this last night. Felix could claim excessive punishment if he had to drink such poison.” Ezra dumped it down the sink, tossed the filter with the sodden coffee grounds into the trash, and started a new pot.
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