“You do have your own place to go to?” Harmony asked. “Or is that the problem? That you have nowhere else to stay?”
“I can move back into the room I have at my brother’s.” Jasmin wiped away a new flood of tears. “It’s just I feel in the way there, and it’s not like anybody else is using the Woodcock’s house. Clay said he was fetching Tiffany back—” there was a quick flash of menace in Jasmin’s eyes “—but then she never turned up, and the kids are with her mom. It’s nice to be alone for a change.”
“Wait.” Willow squatted down, so she was looking up at Jasmin’s face. “Clay told you he was collecting his wife? When did that happen?”
“On Wednesday.” Jasmin fished a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose hard, then wiped the tears dry with the back of her hand. “He had the day off from work ‘cause he did the weekend, so he set off in the morning to get his wife back.”
“Did you ever see her?”
The urgency in Harmony’s voice made Jasmin look up sharply, her eyes narrowing in surprise. “I haven’t seen her.” She gave a harsh bark of laughter. “Do you think I’d be staying in her house if I thought she was wandering about out there, ready to come home at any second?”
“What sort of car did Clay drive?” Willow thought back to Dot and her keen eyes scanning the motel opposite the donut shop. Sometimes wives called their husbands ‘Daddy,’ didn’t they? It’d be a bit old-fashioned now, but some men liked things that way.
Women too, for that matter.
“He’s got an old beat-up car, I don’t know what kind. It’s some wretched shade of green.”
Harmony and Willow exchanged a concerned glance above Jasmin’s head, then Willow stood up, both knees popping in protest.
“Why? What is it?” Jasmin stood up too, her face crinkled with concern. “What does it matter about Clay’s car?”
“Somebody saw it, is all,” Willow said, putting a comforting hand on the young woman’s arm. “We thought it must’ve been Trace’s vehicle because it looks the same—old and green—but now it might’ve been Clay’s car all along.”
“Is this about who killed him?” Jasmin’s head quickly turned from one woman to the other. “Because I can tell you right now, the police told me they were looking for an old metallic green car, but if you think Clay ran himself over, you’ve got another think coming.”
“We don’t.” Willow shook her head and gave a faint smile. “I’ve seen the damage to Trace’s car first hand, and unless Clay’s car is as banged up, I have no doubts about whose vehicle killed him.”
“Where is Clay’s car?” Harmony had her apron half off before she asked and paused with the strings held loosely in each hand. “Is it back at his house?”
“No.” Jasmin hugged herself and bit her lip. “It’s not at home. After he set off chasing Tiffany, I didn’t see the car again.”
“Wendy?” Willow motioned for the woman to meet her in the kitchen. “Is it okay if we take off for a half hour to ask questions in town? I’ll have my cell with me if you need me to hurry back.”
Wendy looked around the tea room and nodded. “I think I can handle our new two-customer limit.” She smiled as she looked back at them. “I sure hope it picks up again next week, or I’ll start to think people only dropped by because of Tiffany.”
Willow gave a hearty laugh. “I’d be far more horrified to believe that, considering it’s my tea and food they’re all eating. I’m sure once we get over this disruption, things will get back on track.”
On behalf of her accountant, Willow certainly hoped so.
They hurried out of the shop and drove straight through the center of town, finding a parking spot near Tiffany and Clay’s house without too much trouble. Even though neither of them said anything, it was Willow’s first thought to verify what Jasmin had said. Even now, after observing her copious tears, she felt no sincerity coming off the young woman.
“Well, she’s right about the car not being here,” Harmony observed, putting her hands on her hips and scanning the street. “Even if he couldn’t park in the driveway for some reason, there’re plenty of spaces nearby he could’ve taken if he needed to.”
Apart from Willow’s car, the street was bare of vehicles. It was one of the subdivisions that had sprung up ten years ago, then sat half-empty while the country went through the credit crunch. Only recently had the places filled thanks to a new generation of working couples finally taking the plunge and moving out of their parent’s homes.
With most of the houses populated by two working adults, there was no one left around during the day. As Willow paced along the street a little to see around the corner and up to the end of the cul-de-sac, she felt like the entire place was a ghost town.
It was utterly unlike her side of town, where the residents were older, and half of them had retired. Willow never walked out the front door without the assumption that half the street had eyes on her, and that wasn’t just vanity!
“Well,” she said, walking back up to Harmony. “We can hang around here for a while, or drive around the whole town looking in weird places for his car, or we can go to the one place we know Clay frequented.”
“The Old Chestnut, it is.”
This time, Willow found it harder to find a place to park, and they ended up walking for five minutes to get back to the bar. Although it made her feel slightly guilty, Willow had a pleasant surprise at how empty the outside tables of the bar were.
So, it wasn’t just her business suffering today, then. The whole town must have canceled TGIF celebrations and stay hard at work in their offices.
“Howdy, partners,” the bartender called out in a fake drawl as Willow and Harmony entered the dark bar. “What can I get you two fine ladies on a day like this.”
“We’re actually after some information,” Willow said, half apologetically. “We’re friends of Tiffany Woodcock and know her husband Clay used to come in here a lot.”
At that, the barman’s face stiffened into a mask, and he shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was back to its local accent. “Haven’t you heard? Clay’s passed, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, we know,” Harmony said a tad more cheerfully than the circumstances warranted. “It’s just that Tiffany is still missing, and we heard on good authority Clay was chasing her down on Wednesday before he...”
She trailed off, but after a pause, the bartender nodded. “How can I help you then?”
Willow pressed up close to the counter. “We wanted to know if you’d seen his car on Wednesday. I realize he wasn’t fit to drive it home, but I wondered if there’s a particular place he liked to park it.”
“Sure. Just a moment.” The bartender moved along to the cash register and opened it up. He pulled out a set of keys and jangled them. “I never thought about it, and nobody’s been by to ask, but here are the keys. Wherever Clay parked it on Wednesday, it’s still there.”
“Where’s the most likely place?” Willow’s heart picked up speed, and she felt like they were finally closing in on something tangible. If Clay’s car could slot some puzzle pieces into place, that might offer the breakthrough she and Harmony were after.
“I’ll just get Bob out here to cover.” The barman disappeared from view for a second before returning with a large man, his white apron betraying his usual position in the kitchen.
The bartender slid up a portion of the counter and ducked through, giving Bob a cheery wave as he led Willow and Harmony outdoors. “I’m Adrien by the way, but folks call me Ade.”
“Nice to meet you, Ade.” Willow had to run a few steps to keep up with him, Ade’s stride was so long and his pace so fast. “Is there a spot where your regulars park, then?”
“Most of them just slot in where they can. After work, it’s a real toss-up whether you can park on this side of town at all, but Clay had a regular place. He said his father used to own it.”
Ade turned a sharp corner, leading the women down an alleyway between a hairdresser’s
and a dry cleaner. A great cloud of steam belched into the narrow gap just above their heads as they hurried along. Harmony cast a concerned look overhead, then doubled down on her speed.
Willow had time enough to wonder if Ade was leading them to a dark lane where he could take his time killing them, then he turned into an alcove and opened the large, steel door at the end.
“This used to be the parking garage for an apartment block, but they tore them down to remodel in the late eighties. The individual car parks can be rented out from the landlord for the retail spaces they were converted into, but Clay swore half of them have their paperwork mixed up, so the company in charge thinks they’re permanently let.”
Willow nodded as she saw the leasing sign. It was for a big city firm, based out of Chicago. Not the type who’d pay a visit to the area to check up on such a small income source. If Clay had been the only one taking advantage, she’d be surprised.
“And there we go.” Ade stopped and pointed at a dark green sedan. “Clay’s car, exactly where he left it.”
Both Willow and Harmony wandered closer. As they reached the vehicle, Willow shielded her face with her hands to peer inside the front seat. Apart from a few discarded food wrappers, it was empty. She stood back, scanning the length of the vehicle and waited for either disappointment or inspiration to hit.
“I guess I should pass these onto the police,” Ade said, tossing the keys in his hand. “Unless you two ladies are family?”
“No, and I don’t think Clay left us anything in the will.” Harmony walked back to stand beside the man. “Thanks for leading us here. Even if it doesn’t tell us anything useful, it’s nice to free up the mental space that would otherwise wonder where it was.”
“Glad I could help.”
Willow ran her hand along the front bumper. It was unsullied, except for the pit marks of age. The metallic green paint might be a perfect match for the flakes embedded in Clay’s body, but this vehicle hadn’t bumped into anybody or anything.
As she walked along the far side, Willow thought she saw the rear quiver, like with movement. She frowned and leaned closer. Was that a sound from inside the car or was it just the wind howling down the alleyway outside?
Harmony cleared her throat. “We really should get back.”
Willow ignored her, resting a hand against the rear passenger door of the vehicle instead. She felt the shimmer of movement this time and leaned her ear up against the panel.
“Give me the keys,” she yelled, startling Ade who promptly dropped them. Willow tugged at the rear door, moving to the trunk when it didn’t give. “Quickly!”
Ade swept the keys up in his hands and tossed them to Willow. She caught them neatly, then her hands shook as she tried to sort out which key to use. The largest didn’t fit. The next biggest skidded all around the lock before it slotted into place.
“What is it?” Harmony called out.
Willow turned the key and wrenched the trunk open, her eyes watering at the sudden burst of odors from the enclosed space.
Tiffany lay there, curled up in a ball.
For a second, Willow thought she was dead.
Then the young woman held a hand up to shelter her face against the influx of light. She tried to speak, a croak coming out instead. Willow thrust her arms into the trunk and curled them around Tiffany’s body, trying to lift her out. When the woman shrieked, she stopped. By that time, Ade and Harmony had run to her side.
“That foolish man locked her in the trunk,” Willow said, her voice thick with tears of anger. She pulled her mobile phone out of her back pocket, her fingers still shaking so badly it took an age to type in the correct number.
“Sheriff? It’s Willow. We’ve found the victim of a kidnapping.”
Chapter Twelve
Willow was all set to travel along with Tiffany in the back of the ambulance when her cooler logic prevailed, and she waved Harmony on instead. She had her car in town, so it made the best sense she be the one to tell Erika about her daughter and give her and the children a lift to the hospital.
The last sight of Tiffany’s face, strained but smiling, sent alternate shivers of hope and dread running through her nervous system. Willow practiced deep breathing for a full minute to get herself under control before she turned on the car and drove to Erika’s.
The grateful expression on Erika’s face was worth a thousand times its weight in gold. Willow hugged her for a few long minutes while they both cried in absolute relief.
After filling her in on the situation while they traveled to the hospital, Erika alternated between ecstasy and anger. If Clay had been alive at that moment, Willow thought Tiffany’s mother might well have killed him dead again.
At the hospital, Willow joined Harmony in having to wait while a nurse showed Erika and the children through to the room. “Close family members only.”
“I’m so glad you stayed next to the car,” Harmony said more than once. “I can’t believe I didn’t hear her and it’s too awful to think we could have been there and just moved on without investigating further.”
The same panic swamped Willow now the event was over. Her breath kept being swept away by dreadful ‘what could have been’ rather than taking the time to appreciate what was.
“Oh, goodness,” Willow exclaimed after they’d been seated outside for an hour. “I haven’t thought to call poor Wendy. What must she be thinking?”
She took her phone a small way down the hall, out of range of the noise from the nurse’s station, and called her own business.
“Willow’s tea rooms, Wendy speaking,” came the answer and, as always, Willow felt a tiny sense of pride at her business. Then she shook her head and filled Wendy in on everything that had happened.
“And she’s going to be okay?” Wendy asked for the third time once Willow had finished telling her the story.
“I haven’t heard it from the doctors yet, but she seemed to be fine.”
Wendy was in tears, and Willow realized she could hardly expect the girl to carry on running the shop while she and Harmony sat here at the hospital, doing nothing.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Willow promised before she rang off. “If any new customers are coming in, just hold back the waterworks until they’re seated, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Although Willow was perfectly happy to leave Harmony where she was, the woman seemed strangely nervous and insisted on coming back to work with her. “I can’t stand hospitals,” she admitted in a whisper, as though afraid the building would hear and take revenge. “It’s not so bad when it’s somebody else in there, but I’d just as soon not stay any longer than I have to.”
Willow took over the tea room service from Wendy and passed her car keys over to Harmony to drive the waitress back to the hospital to wait to see her friend. “And you have permission to come straight back,” she said while Wendy was out of earshot. “Just tell Wendy I can’t be trusted on my own.”
“You mean, tell her the truth,” Harmony giggled while Willow rolled her eyes in mock horror.
The dribble of customers dried up to nothing by three o’clock in the afternoon. By that stage, Harmony had made it back, and Willow put together an afternoon tea platter for the two of them, to celebrate in style.
“I really do hope today’s low custom is an anomaly.” Willow spread a liberal helping of cream and jam onto a fresh scone and stuffed an unseemly bite into her mouth. “If this continues, I’ll be out of a job by the end of next month.”
“One day doesn’t make a trend,” Harmony said, her even tones reassuring Willow in ways she never completely understood. “If trade doesn’t pick up by next Friday, then you have my permission to worry, not a moment before.”
“Mavis? Do you fancy a bit of scone?” The kitten hurried over on hearing her name, then turned her nose up at the treat.
“Have some of my tuna sandwich,” Harmony said, offering up a large chunk of fish. “Yeah, you love me best, don’t you?”
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Willow nearly choked with laughter. “Stop enticing my pet away from me,” she said when she got her giggles under control. The relief from finding Tiffany had gone to her head more than the finest glass of wine. “We don’t need to turn into two old cat ladies.”
“I can think of worse things.” Harmony petted Mavis for a second, then turned her attention back to her late lunch. “There’s been a few times over the years when I wondered if I was missing out on something by never marrying. Then along comes the stark reminders like Tiffany that sometimes spouses are just a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and I count my lucky stars.”
When it was officially time to turn the sign to closed, Willow gave a sigh and went upstairs to change her clothes. Harmony set off home to do the same, with the plan for Willow to collect her on the way through, and travel to the hospital to check on Tiffany.
After finding a park, Willow spotted Reg walking along the leafy avenue that led to the medical complex, Jeremy and Rachel in tow. Instead of heading indoors, she and Harmony waited until the trio caught up with them. “What have you three been doing?”
Pleasure beamed out from every inch of Reg’s face. “I’ve just been leading these intrepid youngsters on a tour of the local UFO sights. I showed them where the dancing light show of 1983 happened and then took them through the old barn where the remains of a spaceship were uncovered in the 1950s.
Willow nodded along, instead remembering the events as the meteor shower and the recovered weather balloon old Victor had squirreled away in his shed.
“How did you find the tour?” Willow asked the two children.
“It’s amazing. I’ve decided when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut,” Rachel declared. “Then I can travel to different planets and meet the aliens before they come all the way here.”
“I want to meet the aliens,” Jeremy whined, pulling at Reg’s cuff until he held hands. “It’s not a job for girls.”
Tea Shop Cozy Mysteries - Books 1-6 Page 40