by Dana Moss
“Speaking of letters.” Taffy remembered the letters she’d come across in the piano bench. She went to retrieve them.
“I didn’t read much, but they seem to be from someone named Tony, and I wondered if that might be Anthony Herbert because they seem to refer to some business at the candy factory.”
Maria looked at the rest of the contents of the piano bench.
Taffy said, “Take it all if you want.”
“I’ll take the letters for now and come back again tomorrow with Lieutenant Gravely.”
When Maria left, Taffy locked every door and window. She fed Midnight, and then she sat down to eat her over-boiled pasta. The Wafer Wonders were actually pretty good.
After dumping the dishes in the sink, she tried calling Nana again, but she still wouldn’t pick up.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Taffy slept fitfully, dreaming of cat-tailed murderers climbing up the trellis to stuff her mouth with tiny bits of newsprint.
In the morning she called Ethan and asked if she could come over for a cup of coffee before work. She promised herself she would pick up groceries on the way home from work.
Sitting in his kitchen, she sighed with pleasure at her first sip of his delectable brew. Then she remembered what she’d been saying.
“I mean, who would threaten Janet?”
Ethan was quiet for a minute while he sipped his coffee.
“Maybe it was just a prank. Some bored high schoolers?”
“But what if it wasn’t? What if I’m in danger? What if the murderer comes back?”
She looked around Ethan’s kitchen, wondering if it would be a viable option to stay with him.
“I’m sure you’re safe. It’s even possible it was her own craft project.”
Taffy raised a slanted eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right?”
His green eyes twinkled.
Taffy’s face was serious. “Why are you so reluctant to believe her death was not accidental?”
He sighed and put his cup down. The twinkle in his eye was gone.
“If Janet Harken was murdered, which you are the opposite-of-reluctant to believe, it would mean the world and its inhabitants are far more sinister than I thought.”
“You’re not telling me you’re like Davenport and firmly believe ‘there are no murders’ in Abandon?”
“I’m not all pie in the sky like Davenport, no. But… if someone like Janet can be killed, and the killer can get away with it—”
She reached out and touched his clenched fist.
“No one’s going to get away with it. If she was killed, the police will find the killer.”
“‘If she was killed’? Now you’re allowing room for doubt?”
Taffy leaned back. “Well, it’s the facts that have to prove it now. I believe one thing, and you believe another. We can’t both be right.”
He shook his head sadly. “That’s true.”
“And the truth is what matters isn’t it?”
His green eyes, still lacking sparkle, met hers. He nodded. “And you are stubbornly determined to find out the truth, aren’t you?”
She looked down into her coffee mug. Just a few creamy sips remained. “There are worse ways to spend one’s time.”
Ethan nodded and set his empty mug down with a definitive click.
“And there are better ones, too.” He gave her a charming sidelong glance and held her gaze long enough to coax a light blush.
“Did you have something in mind, Mr. McCoy?”
“In fact, I do.” He took her empty mug from her hand.
Taffy felt her heart skip a beat. Though they didn’t have much time before they both had to be at work.
Ethan leaned in. “I think it’s high time you learned to make your own coffee.”
That’s not at all what she was expecting to hear.
* * *
Of course they didn’t have time to do that before work. Ethan told her he’d show her his secret coffee-making techniques on the weekend. She wished he meant something else by that, but she was pretty sure he was being literal. As much as she might like to, she couldn’t rely on Ethan’s coffee all the time, and the Vallee brothers’ new coffee shop wouldn’t be open for another week. She’d have to bite the bullet and learn to make it herself. He was right about that.
When Taffy got to work, she thought it would be best to avoid running into Mr. Herbert. She had no idea how long Maria would take to follow up on the lead about the letters, or if Herbert would somehow figure out that Taffy had been the one to hand them over. Better to keep a low profile for a while.
Aubin, the receptionist, informed her she was to report to the gummy-worm section that morning, which sounded remotely interesting, as Taffy used to like those candies as a kid.
Nolan gave her a quick rundown on the process, and for the rest of the morning, Taffy was in charge of the barrels that coated the sticky worms in sour powder.
At lunch, Ellie caught her hiding out in the women’s restroom to avoid crossing paths with Mr. Herbert in the staff room.
Taffy was sitting on the toilet in the first stall, pants up, with the door open. Ellie did a double take as she walked by. Taffy had her mouth wrapped around a grilled veggie sandwich.
“Is this some strange fetish I don’t know about it?” Ellie’s heavily penciled eyebrows lifted suspiciously.
With her mouth full, Taffy tried to say she just wanted to eat alone, but Ellie carried on to a stall of her own and clicked the lock in place. None of which stopped her from chatting away.
“The gossip’s white hot in the lunchroom today. Apparently, Gillian—you know, in accounting—has her twizzlers in a tizzy because of some man. You know the one I mean, right?”
Taffy mumbled through her sandwich. Of course the man was Mr. Herbert, and though Ellie claimed his relationship with Gillian was secret, Taffy wasn’t convinced Ellie was the only one who knew the truth.
“Everyone’s trying to give her advice, including to dump him, because there’s some rumor about him having cheated on her, and I honestly can’t believe it’s true because who else would want him? I mean apart from Janet Harken, and she’s dead now.”
Ellie raised her voice slightly over the sound of her pee. Taffy began to lose her appetite. She wrapped up the remaining half of her sandwich.
“But the good news is Vanilla Boy said yes when I invited him to my party.”
Ellie paused her monologue while she flushed.
They stepped out of their stalls at the same time.
“You’re still coming, right?” Ellie’s reflection in the mirror looked worried.
Taffy turned on a tap and washed mustard from her fingertips. “Sure, why not.”
“Good,” said Ellie. “Because Vanilla Boy asked if you were invited, and when I said yes then he said yes. So you’d better be there. Maybe you can tell him I like him.”
Taffy tried very hard not to roll her eyes because Ellie would probably see that in the mirror. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t notice, the way she seemed oblivious to Vanilla Boy’s agenda.
“Does he have a real name?”
“I think it’s Rob. Or maybe Clint.” Ellie sighed as she stared dreamily at her reflection in the mirror.
“What about the whole no-dating-staff rule?”
“Nothing’s happened yet, has it? I’ll deal with that when the time comes.” She scrunched up the curls hanging just above her shoulders.
“Do you want me to bring anything to the party? An appetizer or something?”
“Sure,” said Ellie, eyes twinkling again. “Something with Jell-O.”
Ellie headed back to chocolate dip, and Taffy returned to wrangle gummy worms.
A part of her was actually looking forward to Ellie’s party, mostly because she would get to see Ethan. What should she wear? Maybe that spaghetti-strap slip dress she picked out at Bloomingdale’s with Kyla. That had been one of the things she’d grabbed before José’s gorillas had hauled the rest away.
/>
The barrels for the gummy worms were massive. The worms were dropped down a chute in small batches from above. Taffy had to load a bag full of sour powder into a dispenser at the side, and as the barrel tumbled, the powder was distributed over the worms so they became smooth rather than sticky. And oh so very sour. If Taffy didn’t wear her face mask, the fine powder would cling to her face and cause her to cough and pucker when she licked her lips, but this afternoon, for some reason the sour dust wasn’t bothering her as much. She managed to get through three batches without so much as a sneeze.
As she poured another batch of powder into the dispenser, got the barrel spinning, and pulled a lever to release the next batch of gummy worms, she thought about what Ellie had said about Gillian and Herbert and Janet. Was there more going on here than even Ellie knew about? Should she tell Maria? She wondered if Maria had made any progress with suspects.
To Taffy, the obvious suspects would be someone Janet bowled with. Maybe she was on a team or in a club. Randall Swain had been one of her bowling buddies. He had also been the one to find her body. She wondered if the police had questioned him again yet.
Taffy left work promptly so she could get to the grocery store before it closed.
In the staff parking lot, on the way to her car, she heard a door slam and a woman screech, “I told you so!” Then a man’s voice spoke in soothing but indecipherable words. The argument continued, but more quietly.
Taffy glanced around the lot. She spotted a curly haired woman next to a white Mercedes. The man seemed to be inside the car, but he started to get out. It was Mr. Herbert.
“What did you tell her?” said the woman, who Taffy now recognized as Gillian.
“Nothing.” Herbert held up his hands in a placating gesture.
Taffy quickly unlocked her car door and ducked down in her seat, but Herbert caught the movement. He motioned for Gillian to get back in the car. Over his shoulder, he glared in Taffy’s direction, and then he disappeared amongst the parked cars.
Taffy drove away as if she hadn’t seen a thing. And she hadn’t, had she? A lover’s quarrel, that was all. But maybe she should mention it to Maria all the same.
* * *
Taffy stopped off at The General Store before going home.
She wandered the aisles looking for Jell-O. When she found it, she stared dumbly at the range of choices. She grabbed several boxes and then dialed Maria’s number on the way to the coffee section.
“Salinas here.”
Taffy lowered her voice, but she seemed to be one of only a few people in the store.
“Maria, it’s me. Did you talk to Mr. Herbert today?”
Passing the dairy section she picked up a pint of fat-free creamer.
“Only to let him know that we’d reopened the case and we would probably need to talk to him again and have access to some of the factory documents.”
“Does it have anything to do with the letters I gave you?”
Taffy grabbed a few frozen dinners and some apples.
“Not directly. Don’t worry, we’re handling this, Taffy. Lieutenant Gravely will be questioning a few more people.”
“Will he talk to Bill Doucet? Because I think he knows more than he’s letting on. And Randall Swain was the first to find her, and he was her bowling partner or something. What if he had something to do with it?”
“We’ll cover it.”
“And I saw Herbert and Gillian arguing in the parking lot. They both seem super stressed and jumpy. I thought that might be important.”
“Taffy, just chillax. That’s a language you understand, isn’t it? Let us do our jobs.”
Taffy paused under the sign for coffee, tea, cereal, and sweeteners.
“Oh. Fine. Sure. Just trying to help.”
“I know.” She paused. “Dinner at my house next Wednesday?”
Taffy sniffed. “If I’m not back in New York by then, sure.”
“Yeah, of course. As long as it fits into your busy schedule.” There was a short silence and then, “Taffy?”
“Yeah?”
“Do take some time to relax. You’ve been through a lot lately.”
Taffy murmured some sort of assent and then hung up quickly. She found herself standing in the coffee and tea aisle and was immediately overwhelmed by the choices. Beans, ground, finely ground, espresso ground, drip ground, flavored, instant… Where was she supposed to begin? She closed her eyes and grabbed any old jar.
So what if Maria didn’t need her help? She sniffed haughtily to herself. So what if she had been the one to show Maria the need to reopen the case? Taffy had done her bit. She had plenty of other things to keep her busy.
Arms laden, she approached the cashier. The young woman rang up and bagged Taffy’s items. “That’ll be nineteen eighty three, please.”
Taffy pulled out her last twenty and handed it over.
With seventeen cents left in her pocket, she carried her groceries toward the door. Passing by a bulletin board labeled Community News and Services, she noticed a sign for yoga classes. Taffy smiled as she tore off one of the tabs with the class details. Monday nights. First class free.
Maybe Maria was right about needing to relax.
Toting her grocery bag, Taffy headed back across the parking lot. Just before she reached her car, she was nearly sideswiped by a black Corvette, its stereo blaring.
The Corvette whipped around one lane and headed back in her direction. It screeched into a parking spot right next to Taffy’s Aveo. Where was Maria when she was needed? She should be there citing this oaf for reckless driving.
The driver emerged as Taffy reached her driver’s door.
Over the hood of his car, he said, “Sorry about that, Sweetheart.”
“I don’t know what it is about fancy cars and reckless drivers,” Taffy said, shaking her head.
He took off his sunglasses and smiled. “Reckless? I almost hit you on purpose, Darlin’.”
Taffy swiveled toward him. “Excuse me?”
She was struck by his sky-blue eyes and blinding white teeth.
“I wanted to do something to make you really mad so that I’d have to make it up to you.” He smiled disarmingly and winked.
He did not seem to fit this small town. His fast-lane look and style made Taffy momentarily wistful for home.
“There are easier, and safer, ways to ask a girl out.”
“Got your attention though, didn’t I? Got your heart racing?”
Taffy climbed into her Aveo and slammed the door. As an afterthought, she clicked the lock into place. Mr. Corvette smiled and tipped an invisible hat before swaggering off toward the main door of The General Store.
Who the heck was he?
CHAPTER TWENTY
The next morning Ellie said, “So you met the dangerously dashing Austin Vallee?”
Taffy filled a chipped mug with Aubin’s weak coffee from the urn. It tasted horrible, but at least it delivered some much-needed caffeine. Her attempts at making hazelnut instant coffee had failed miserably.
“If he’s the one who pilots the Corvette as if it has wings rather than wheels, then yes.”
Ellie mock-swooned. “He’s the dreamiest, though his brother Mick is a close second. What I wouldn’t do to be the marshmallow in their s’more.”
Taffy raised an eyebrow.
“He’s a bit aggressive, don’t you think?”
“Did he hit on you? That wouldn’t surprise me one bit. You’re his type.”
“What do you mean?”
“He usually imports his girlfriends from L.A. or Vegas. Kind of snobby like you.”
“You think I’m a snob?”
“Sure, that’s why I love you. You add some class to this town, and this factory. And you’ll definitely add some panache to my party.”
“I’m going to learn to make Jell-O just for you, you know.”
Ellie beamed.
“Have you decided to bring someone to the party?” Her eyes widened with knowing
, and she answered herself. “Of course, Austin!”
Taffy shook her head. “I already asked Ethan. My neighbor.”
Ellie screwed up her brows. “The park ranger dude? I thought he had something going with the local cop.”
Taffy cleared her throat. “Apparently that’s history. They’re just friends.”
“Oh. Cool. He’s a hunk and a half. I’d take a lick of his cone.”
“How can you possibly be crushing on everyone under forty in this town?”
Ellie looked sheepish. “I dunno. Healthy hormones?”
Taffy wondered if Ellie had a problem with impulse control as she watched her dip her third minicupcake in to her vanilla-flavored coffee.
Vanilla Boy—Clint—was watching the two of them from across the room. Ellie batted her eyelashes in his direction.
“Something yummy’s bound to happen on Saturday.”
She grabbed a handful of stir sticks on her way out of the staff room. “For the party,” she said, winking.
* * *
Aubin intercepted Taffy on her way back to the gummy-worm zone.
“Mr. Herbert said he’d like to see you in his office.” Her face was pinched with concern.
Taffy gulped. Had Herbert recognized her in the parking lot the night before? Had Maria said something about her handing over the letters?
Aubin led the way to the manager’s office door. She nudged Taffy supportively.
“Go on in, Honey. He’s usually harmless.”
The knobs on the doors looked like fruit lozenges, and when Taffy pushed through, her toes sunk into plush red carpeting.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Come in.”
Feeling like she’d just been summoned to the principal’s office, Taffy stood in front of his desk and stared at her feet with her hands behind her back. At least she had on a clean, pressed jacket. He couldn’t get mad at her for that.
He set his pen down and looked up at her.
“How are you enjoying working here so far?”
“It’s fine. I mean good. I’m enjoying it.”
It’s not as if she could be honest and say she’d much rather be going to her power yoga class, cruising through Bendel’s purse department, or brunching with her girlfriends in SoHo.