Sandra stared at the girl. “Unfortunately yes he does. I don’t think she’s the best influence on him though.”
At that point, the emcee took the stage and we said our goodbyes to head back to our lawn chairs. I could tell Paige and Stormi were itching to talk about the latest developments but it would have to wait. I snuggled next to Brandon with Winchester in my lap as we listened to country tunes and watched the sky turn orange and pink. Tomorrow would be soon enough to dust off our amateur sleuthing skills and put them to work.
*****
On Monday after the concert, we were unusually busy. People coming in placing ice cream cake orders for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. While it was still a week and a half away, people knew it best to order the cakes early. I appreciated it too as I could hire extra help the week of Thanksgiving. Since the shoppe was busy with customers most of the day, Stormi and I didn’t have a chance to go over the conversation we had with Sandra Morgan. Before we knew it, Sammy and Colton entered the shoppe with Jeremy Morgan, his little brother, and his girlfriend.
Stormi saw them first. “Well hello there kiddoes. Colton are you going to introduce your friends?”
Colton set his backpack down in a chair. “This is my friend Jeremy, his little brother Joshua, and Jeremy’s girlfriend Amber. This is Stormi and Tara.”
We said our helloes and asked if the kids wanted anything. Joshua was a miniature version of Jeremy, with short brown hair and green eyes. Amber had a creamy complexion with dark reddish brown hair. The boys were well mannered and Amber was quiet.
“How about an ice cream cone? Amber, Joshua…would you like something?” I asked. I couldn’t get Amber to say anything, although I could tell she was eyeing the strawberry twirl.
“How about a double dip of strawberry Amber?”
She nodded in the affirmative.
“Coming right up,” Stormi replied. “Anybody else?”
Jeremy and Joshua wanted chocolate shakes while Colton preferred an orange and vanilla smoothie. Sammy put her Frozen Scoop apron on while the kids sat down at a table to partake of their goodies. “Where’s Winchester?”
I scooped vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet into the blender. “He’s at the groomer’s. Brandon is picking him up later.”
We served our guests their ice cream concoctions. As Sammy walked towards the swinging door that led to the back room, she motioned for us to follow her. I tried to be subtle but Stormi flew like the wind to get back there and see what Sammy had to say. When I walked through the door, Sammy was near the back of the store waiting for us. We huddled in a circle so we could hear her whisper.
“So what do you think?” Sammy said in a hushed tone.
Stormi shook her head. “About what?”
Sammy had that look her mother Paige would get when dealing with Stormi. “About Jeremy and Amber.”
Stormi shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what you mean. They seem fine to me. Of course I only served her a two dip strawberry cone….was I supposed to get some vibe from her?”
“We spoke to Sandra Morgan at the concert and she pointed Amber out to us,” I interjected. “She made it seem like Amber was a bad influence on Jeremy.”
“That figures,” Sammy replied.
I wiped my hands on my apron. “What do you mean?”
“Sandra Morgan is all about appearances and Amber comes from a poor family. Hardworking but poor. I don’t know what she means about being a bad influence unless she doesn’t want her stepson being seen with the less fortunate.”
Stormi’s eyes narrowed. “This woman is stirring up a hornet’s nest, but she may be the one to get stung.”
Sammy’s eyes grew big. “What do you mean?”
I leaned against the back wall. “We met her at the concert the other night. She said something about the steering wheel not working…something she didn’t mention before.”
“Oh that reminds me,” Stormi interjected. “I told Greg what she said about the steering and he got a curious look on his face.”
“Had she not mentioned it during her interview with police?” I asked.
“He wouldn’t say…and as you probably know I begged the man silly, but well…”
I nodded my head. “Yes, I know…iron will.”
Stormi nodded. “But I know him too well. His look told me volumes. I bet she never mentioned the steering. So that makes me wonder…she could have cut the brake line, lied about the steering to make it more ominous, and then lay it all on Jeremy. I also think she had it planned to wreck up town…make it more visible to the public.”
I crossed my arms. “Wow, that lady really honked you off.”
Stormi tipped her head back. “You know it sister. She has this air about her that makes me want to twirl her around by her extensions.”
Sammy snickered. “Well I don’t know for sure what’s going on, but I can’t believe Jeremy would have anything to do with it. Sure he doesn’t care for her, but not enough to engineer this type of crime.”
“If Jeremy is as smart as you say, then he would have to know that suspicion would fall on him first…if he did it,” I said. “That enough gives me pause. I’m just not leaning in that direction either.”
Colton stuck his head through the door. “We’re taking off. I’ll call you later Sammy.”
We walked out from the back of the store and said our goodbyes. Jeremy seemed like a sweet kid and Amber didn’t say much, but she seemed nice as well.
We didn’t have much more time to talk as customers began to flood into the shoppe. As the deluge subsided, I saw Ol’ Charlie cross the street in his motorized wheelchair towards the shoppe. I ran over to open the door for him.
“What do we owe this fine visit?” I asked.
Charlie zoomed through the door and up to the ice cream case. “You got any non-dairy ice cream?”
Stormi looked at him sideways. “Are you pulling my leg?”
A smile spread across Charlie’s face. “I’m gonna smack you one of these days Charlie!”
“I might like that.”
I had to stifle a giggle.
“Naw, just give me a cup of coffee if you would sweetie…with cream.”
“Stormi put her hands on her hips. “Now you do realize that creamer has dairy in it, right.”
“Of course it does,” Charlie replied. Oh, this was getting better and better.
I could tell Stormi was getting exasperated. “But you said you can’t eat dairy.”
“No I can’t eat it,” Charlie said. “But I can drink it.”
Stormi threw her hands up, turned around, and grabbed a cup to pour the coffee in.
Charlie looked at me and motioned for me to come closer. “I like to get her going,” he chuckled. “Thing is, I can’t eat a lot of dairy, but a teaspoon in my coffee doesn’t bother me.”
“We don’t need to tell her that,” I smiled.
Charlie nodded in agreement. He rolled to a nearby table and I sat down with him. Stormi brought over his coffee and joined us. Sammy took care of the few customers that dwindled in. We talked about the concert and how his son and daughter in law and grandkids were coming down for Thanksgiving. Then the talk turned to the accident.
Charlie leaned back in his wheelchair. “Have they figured out what happened? I saw in the paper they think there was foul play involved.”
“Now Greg didn’t tell me anything, but Tara and I think someone messed with the brake line because Mrs. Morgan kept saying she didn’t have any brakes. She’s now saying she didn’t have any control over the steering as well and that’s why she wrecked into the parked SUV.”
Charlie scratched his chin. “That’s odd.”
“Why do you say that Charlie?” I asked.
“Well, I was watching the vehicle as it came down the road. There were no other cars parked down the street except the one SUV in front of the hardware store. It was early and not many places were open yet.”
Stormi was getting impatient. “Yes…go on.”
“So, I was watching and I could see inside that it was a woman driving. All of a sudden, I saw her pull the steering wheel to the right. She plowed that car right into the parked SUV like she meant to do it.”
Stormi slapped her leg. “I knew it! She set this whole thing up! Wait a minute…Charlie, why didn’t you tell the police?”
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “No one asked.”
Stormi gave him the wide eye look. “Lord have mercy. Okay, I’m calling Greg.” She pointed a finger at Charlie. “And you aren’t going anywhere Mister.”
“Yes Maam,” he answered as she went to find her cell phone. He leaned over to me and said, “She’s cute when she’s worked up.”
I got up and slapped him lightly on the arm. “And you know just how to get her worked up.”
The last customer walked out of the shoppe and Sammy came over to me. “I was trying to listen. Did I hear that right? Charlie saw Mrs. Morgan steer into the SUV?”
I nodded. “Yes that’s what he said.”
The shoppe door opened and in walked Bruce. “Charlie my man. How you doing?”
Stormi marched back into the shoppe from the back room. “He’s been telling us that Mrs. Morgan steered straight into that SUV.”
Bruce took a chair by Charlie. “Is that right?”
Charlie opened his mouth to say something but he was way too slow.
“Yes that’s right,” Stormi interjected. “I’m telling you all right now that woman planned the entire show to blame it on her stepson.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Stormi,” I said. “There could be more to this story.”
At that moment, the door chimed open and Paige entered. “I could have figured I’d find you here,” she said to Bruce.
She placed a bag on the table in front of him. “Here’s your ink cartridge. I feel like a hole’s been burned through my brain trying to figure out all those stupid numbers.”
Bruce patted her hand. “You’re such a good wife.”
Paige rolled her eyes and then looked at Charlie. “So what brings you across the street Charlie?”
He raised his cup of coffee. “I hear the cops are coming for me.”
Paige took a seat. “What’d you do this time old man?”
Charlie took a sip of his coffee. “I didn’t tell the police some vital information. But they never asked.”
Paige looked up at the rest of us. “What’s this about?”
Before we could answer, Officer Greg Manning walked through the door to the shoppe. He took Charlie towards a back corner table where they could talk without us eavesdropping, despite Stormi’s protests that we already knew what he had to say. However, Greg was attempting to do this one by the book.
Once they were finished, Greg headed back to the police station and Charlie decided he’d had enough excitement for the day and scooted the two blocks to home. After Brandon and Winchester arrived, I closed the shoppe early. That evening I asked Brandon what he thought about the case.
“It does seem odd that she says her steering went out, but Charlie claims to have seen her veer right into the parked vehicle.”
I brought us a couple of glasses of lemonade and set them on the coffee table. Winchester lay at one end of the couch. “Your sister thinks Sandra is lying only to blame her stepson Jeremy to get him out of the house.”
Brandon tilted his head. “You don’t seem to agree?”
I sat down next to him on the couch. “I don’t know. On the one hand, Stormi has a point. But something doesn’t feel right. Not that I trust Sandra Morgan…I barely know her, but like Bruce, I don’t see her putting herself in harm’s way. If she did she’s way more dangerous than we thought.”
Brandon took a sip of his iced tea. “Is there anyone else in the picture that could have done this besides the Morgan woman and her stepson?”
I thought about it for a second. “There’s Jeremy’s mother, but she lives in New York now, although I did hear she’s been in town for the last two weeks visiting.”
“Aha!” Brandon exclaimed. “There’s your culprit.”
I shook my head. “You’re joking right?”
Brandon shrugged his shoulders. “Why not…the ex-wife comes down on the pretense of a visit and then screws with the car of the viper that whisked her husband away.”
“Yes, but she couldn’t take the chance that one of her sons might be in the car when it crashed. Nope, no way the ex-wife did it.”
Brandon set his tea glass on a coaster. “You have a valid point.”
We decided to drop the subject for the remainder of the evening, but that night my mind kept creeping back to the situation. Something strange was going on, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps tomorrow would bring to light more information. I wasn’t disappointed.
*****
The next morning I had a large ice cream delivery. I was in the back of the shoppe putting away barrels of sherbet and ice cream into the freezers when Stormi marched in.
“Greg said they couldn’t determine if the steering had been tampered with because there was too much damage to that area.”
“Good morning to you too,” I said lifting the last barrel into the huge freezer. Winchester barked a hello as well.
Stormi ignored both of us. “I told him he better keep an eye on that woman and if he didn’t I would.”
I closed the freezer door. “I’m hoping Sammy stays away from their house.”
Stormi looked at me curiously. “Huh? You agree with me?”
I walked towards the front of the shoppe as Stormi followed close behind. “Not necessarily on Sandra Morgan incapacitating her own vehicle, but I do think it better if Sammy stayed away from the house.”
Stormi pulled her blond curls up in a bun. “I agree. Hopefully they don’t spend a lot of time there anyway. Maybe we should have a talk with her when she comes in.”
I opened the register to put in change and bills. “Maybe we should mention it to Paige and she can say something to Sammy.”
“Why are you always the voice of reason and I’m the one flying off the handle?”
I gave her a smile. “That’s why we complement each other so well.”
Stormi smiled then looked out the front shoppe window. “Oh no she isn’t!”
I looked up from the cash register as Stormi flew to the front of the shoppe to peer out the window. “What’s going on?”
Before I could get the last word out of my mouth, Stormi marched out the door. I ran to the window to see what had her in such a tizzy. And there it was. Ol’ Charlie was sitting in his usual spot and Sandra Morgan was standing over him giving him what for…or so it appeared. Of course, Charlie didn’t seem in the least bit dazed as he took a toke from his cigar.
I stood glued to the spot as I watched Stormi walk up on them. Sandra and Stormi talked over Charlie who continued to look out over the street as if they weren’t there. I had to chuckle. Here were two squabbling chickens standing right over him and it was as if they weren’t there. I was so entranced by the spectacle across the street I was startled when my door chime rang and Trixie entered.
Trixie pointed out the window. “What the heck is going on over there? I do believe Charlie is rather enjoying the attention.”
I nodded my head as I kept an eye on the three. “No doubt. Evidently Mrs. Morgan found out that Charlie told police he saw her steer directly into the parked car, when she said she had no control over the steering.”
Trixie nodded. “Aha. The old coot’s got an eagle eye for sure.”
We continued to watch and soon after Sandra Morgan left and Stormi walked back into the shoppe where Trixie and I had decided to take a seat with Winchester in Trixie’s lap.
Stormi walked through the door and said, “You probably lost a customer…and Charlie wants a cup of coffee with cream.”
“Don’t leave us hanging girl, what was the commotion about?” Trixie asked.
Stormi poured coffee into a
paper cup. “She told Charlie he was mistaken, that she wasn’t deliberately trying to steer the car into the SUV. She said she was simply trying to get the steering to work by moving it back and forth.”
I got up from my chair and moved behind the counter. “That does make sense.”
Stormi put down the coffee cup. “Really?” She shook her head. “Nope, I think she’s lying through her teeth.”
All of a sudden we heard sirens. “Now what?” Stormi exclaimed as she put the creamer in the coffee.
Double Dip Dilemma: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 5) Page 3