Love is Murder

by Kate Bell

  I pulled my phone out of my purse and held on to it. I didn’t want to bother him unnecessarily, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if these two started throwing punches.

  “My husband! You killed my husband!” Meg said.

  Jenna shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who are you?”

  “You know who I am! You killed my husband!” Meg screamed.

  The coffee shop turned silent as all eyes were on the two women. I didn’t know what to do, so I did all I could think of. I took a couple of steps forward.

  “Listen, Meg, try to calm down,” I said.

  “Don’t you tell me to calm down. You and that partner of yours might be happy to sit on your hands while this murderer goes free, but I’m not going to! I won’t be silent while a killer goes free!”

  “Honestly, I don’t have a clue who you or your husband are,” Jenna said. “Why are you accusing me of killing someone?”

  “Listen, Meg, this isn’t the time or the place for this. I really think you should try and calm down. There isn’t any evidence that Jenna killed anyone,” I said quietly.

  “Evidence?” Jenna said. “I don’t even know this woman or her husband. What’s going on here? Are you talking about the man they found in the park?”

  “Nothing is going on,” I said. “Mrs. Cranston is just having a hard time with the death of her husband.”

  “Oh, and you wouldn’t have a hard time if your husband was murdered?” Meg asked me. I needed to figure out a way to get Meg out of here before she did something she regretted. I looked at Lucy for help, but all she did was shake her head.

  “Listen, if you ladies don’t calm down, I’m going to call the police,” the woman behind the counter said.

  “Let’s not have that,” I said to Meg and Jenna. “We don’t want that.”

  “You’ll be hearing from me,” Meg said. She spun on her heel and was out the door.

  Jenna looked at me. “Really, I don’t know who she is or why she’s upset with me. This town is full of crazies. I’m going to go home and finish packing,” she said. “The sooner I leave this place behind, the better.”

  I sighed as the door closed behind her. I hoped they didn’t meet up in the parking lot. I could feel all eyes on me, and I pretended nothing had happened as I dug through my purse for something to do. Alec hadn’t replied to my text yet.

  “I hope they don’t brawl in the parking lot,” Lucy whispered to me.

  “Me too,” I said.

  I placed my order for me and Lucy and I headed for an empty table. That was when I noticed Marge Buttons sitting by herself. She smiled at me when I looked in her direction.

  I steered Lucy over to her table. “Hi, Marge, may we sit with you?”

  She nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

  I introduced her to Lucy. “That was kind of crazy,” I said.

  “It sure was,” she answered. “I kind of freaked out when I saw Meg Cranston walk through the door. You know that Jenna used to work for Stanton Industries, don’t you?”

  I looked at her. “No. I had no idea. Why doesn’t she work there now?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. After we all transferred to Maine, Jenna suddenly quit. I asked around, but no one seemed to know.”

  “I wonder why Jenna keeps insisting she doesn’t know Meg or Spencer Cranston?” I asked. “I mean, if they worked together, how could she not know him?”

  Marge shrugged. “I still wonder why she quit so suddenly. Rumor had it that Jenna was going places with the company, and then she was gone.”

  I took all of this in. Something didn’t add up.

  --19--

  When I got home from the Cup and Bean, there were five take out boxes of desserts from Le Chemise on my kitchen counter.

  “Now that’s what I call service,” I said to myself. I opened one up and was greeted by the scent of fresh strawberries. A lovely little strawberry tart sat, waiting for me to indulge. I got a fork out of the silverware drawer and inserted it underneath a large glazed strawberry. There was a custard layer beneath the top strawberry layer, just as I expected. I put the strawberry and a generous layer of the custard on the fork and brought it to my mouth and moaned. This was good.

  “So I take it you like it?” Jennifer asked, coming into the kitchen.

  “Oh, Jennifer, thank you for bringing me these desserts,” I said. “This strawberry tart is so wonderful!”

  “I know, I had one with lunch. It was really good and I knew I had to bring you one. I’ll have you know, that little French person, inferred I was fat for ordering five desserts to take home,” she said. “I am not fat!”

  “No, you aren’t, dear. That woman is just a grumpy woman. I appreciate the sacrifice you made for me though,” I told her.

  “You shouldn’t have made yourself such a nuisance or you could have done it yourself,” she said, grabbing a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

  “Hey, I did not make myself a nuisance. She just recognized me from my blog,” I said and opened another box up. “Oh, the Napoleon. How wonderful.”

  I took a forkful of the majestically flaky pastry and took a bite.

  “Good?” she asked.

  I nodded, moaning. “So good. I have got to come up with some desserts to beat these. I just have to.”

  “I think everything you make is just as good as any of these,” Jennifer said, grabbing a fork and joining me.

  “Oh, thank you, honey, but I just don’t think so. I think I’m in trouble.”

  “Stop it. That isn’t true. You just need to figure out how to drum up some business. It isn’t the desserts that are a problem, but the fact that this other place is so new.”

  “Did I ever tell you that you’re my favorite daughter?” I asked her.

  “Plenty of times.”

  I heard my phone ringing from the other room. “Don’t eat all of these,” I said as I headed to the living room.

  “You better hurry back then,” she said.

  I grabbed my phone and saw it was my son, Thad. Thad was away at college in Wisconsin. “Hello,” I answered.

  “Hey, Mom, how are you?” he asked.

  “I’m good, honey. What are you up to?”

  “Nothing, just calling to say hi,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s sweet, honey. Hi right back at you,” I said, sitting down on the sofa.

  “And to say that I think I’m going to propose to Sarah on Valentine’s Day.”

  I hoped I didn’t gasp too loudly. “You are?”

  “Yeah. You aren’t too shocked, are you?” he asked, with a chuckle.

  “N-no. I mean, I guess I knew you were serious about her. And she is a really nice girl,” I said. A little part of my heart felt like it was breaking just then. Thad had brought Sarah home for Thanksgiving and she had come along with us when we went to visit my mother in Alabama for Christmas. It had taken me a little while to warm up to her, but it turned out that she was a really sweet girl. And she loved my son. But still, my heart hurt just a bit at the news.

  “I’ve never felt this way about anyone, Mom. I love her,” he said quietly.

  Tears sprang to my eyes and I took a deep breath. “I’m happy for you, Thad. I really am. How are you going to propose? Did you buy a ring?”

  “To be honest, I don’t really know yet. She’s not really a traditional, candy and flowers kind of girl,” he said. “And no ring yet. I think she’d be happier picking out her own, so I bought a plastic one as a prop. Do you think that’s okay?”

  “Sure it is,” I said, blinking the tears away. “I think you’re right that she will want to pick out her own. She probably has something specific in mind and will want it to match your wedding rings. Oh, wedding rings. I can hardly believe you’ll be picking out wedding rings!”

  He chuckled. “What about you, mom? I get the feeling Alec will be asking you to marry him soon.”

  “What?” I said. “Why do you say that?”


  “Come on, Mom, he’s crazy about you. I bet he’s got something special planned for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Thad, do you know something?” I asked. My heart started pounding. Maybe Lucy was right. Maybe Alec really was going to propose on Valentine’s Day. Had I missed the signs?

  “Well, I haven’t talked to him, so I’m not spilling the beans or anything, but I just have a hunch.”

  “Well, I think you may be wrong,” I said slowly. But did I really think he was wrong? Alec and I had grown close very fast. And we weren’t getting any younger, but we were a very young middle-aged couple and why should we wait? We had both been married before and we knew what we wanted.

  “I don’t know about that,” he teased.

  “Well, you can’t get much more romantic than proposing on Valentine’s Day,” I said. “Let me know how things go.”

  “I will, Mom.”

  I put my phone in my pocket and headed back into the kitchen. I wondered if Thad really did know something and he was teasing me, saying he didn’t. Why would he bring it up, otherwise? Maybe Alec really was going to propose. If he did, I hoped he would go ahead and pick out the engagement ring. I was an old-fashioned girl and I wanted him to pick it out. I trusted his taste and it would be beautiful.

  “Who was it?” Jennifer asked, digging into a chocolate cream pie.

  “Your brother. He’s going to propose to Sarah on Valentine’s Day.”

  “”I knew it,” she said. “Every time I call him, all he ever does is talk about her.”

  I smiled. “Well, they are in love.”

  “I know. I like Sarah. I think she’s good for him, and she fits in with us,” she said. “And this chocolate pie is pretty darned good.”

  I sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

  “So, Jennifer. How about you? Any plans for Valentine’s day?” I asked, helping myself to the chocolate pie.

  “I just might have a date,” she said smugly.

  “Oh, Jennifer, that’s wonderful. Do I know him?”

  “Nope. He’s a boy from my English class. And that’s all you’re getting out of me for now,” she said.

  “Well, I better get more out of you after your date,” I said.

  “And what about your plans for Valentine’s Day?” she asked.

  “Alec says it’s a surprise,” I said, trying a bite of the Tarte Tatin. I wanted to ask her opinion on whether she thought Alec might ask me to marry him, but I thought it might not be a good idea. Jennifer had had problems adjusting to my dating when Alec and I first started seeing each other. While she had eventually adjusted to the idea, I wasn’t sure she was ready to think about me getting married yet. If Alec did ask me, I would have to break it to her gently. I knew she liked Alec, but she missed her father.

  --20--

  “So, are you ready for this?” Alec asked me. We were standing in front of his new office door, holding two buckets of paint and some plastic drop cloths.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said. The day had come. Time to clean and paint and do whatever else was needed to make the office presentable to clients.

  Alec unlocked the door and held it open for me. I was carrying a bucket with brushes and rollers in one hand and another bucket with cleaning supplies and rags. I had bought four packages of rubber gloves. No way was I going to touch anything in that office with my bare hands until we had thoroughly scrubbed everything.

  I set my buckets down inside the room. “Oh, the ceiling’s fixed,” I said.

  “I came down and cleaned up the mess on the floor and the building manager stopped by with new ceiling tiles. So, at least that’s taken care of.”

  “We need to get new blinds and maybe some drapes or something,” I said.

  “That would be nice,” he said, putting down the paint and drop cloths on the floor. “I’m going to run downstairs for the ladder.”

  I pulled out a package of rubber gloves and opened them. I idly wondered what it would cost to have Jennifer come down here and do this for me. But then I figured Alec would appreciate it more if I stayed and helped him.

  I heard footsteps on the stairs. “That was fast,” I called through the open door.

  “Fast for what? Who’s there?” a voice said.

  I went to the door and looked out. Bob Payne, our small town’s mayor, stood in the lobby.

  “What are you doing here?” he said when he saw it was me.

  I gave him a smile. “Well, hello, Bob. How are you doing? I haven’t seen you since what, Black Friday?”

  Bob scowled at me. “I think it was sometime after that,” bob said. “You and your boyfriend have a tendency to harass innocent people.”

  I snorted. “Oh please, Bob. Your mother confessed to killing Diana Bowen. There was no harassment of innocent people.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “I know what you did. You coerced her into confessing.”

  “Stop it, Bob. You and I both know that isn’t true.”

  “We are appealing the case, and when we win it, we’re bringing a lawsuit against you and Detective Blanchard. You just wait and see. I have to bring my children to see their grandmother in prison!” Bob’s voice cracked a little on that last part. I did feel sorry for his little girls. They shouldn’t have to visit grandma in prison, but their grandma should have thought things through before committing murder.

  “Well, good luck with the appeal, but I think you’re going to be disappointed,” I said.

  We both turned to look at the stairs when we heard someone coming up them. A moment later, Alec appeared with the ladder.

  “Oh, hello, Bob,” Alec said. “How are you doing? Long time no see.”

  Bob scowled at Alec. “And that’s a good thing.”

  “Oh, don’t be that way,” Alec said. “After all, we’re going to be neighbors.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Bob asked.

  “I’m moving in,” Alec said, and came to sand beside me. He leaned the ladder against the wall.

  “Wait, why would you have an office down here? You have one at the police station.”

  Alec shook his head, still smiling. “I retired the end of last year and went into business as a PI.”

  Bob stood with his mouth open, taking this in. I could almost see the wheels churning in his head.

  “I expect you to mind your own business then, when you’re here,” he said after a few moments of silence.

  Alec shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean by that. I’ve always minded my own business and done my job. I can’t help that your mother committed a crime and I solved it.”

  “You two stay on that side of the office and I’ll stay on mine,” he said and turned back toward his office.

  Alec winked at me and picked up the ladder, carrying it into the office. I giggled and followed him in.

  “He’s not the forgiving sort,” I whispered.

  “No, he isn’t,” he agreed. “We have an awful lot of work to get done here.”

  I groaned. “Tell me about it. I think I’ll start by washing the paneling. Are you going to paint it?”

  “I’m thinking about it. I think it could only be an improvement. For now, I’ll focus on the bathroom walls.” He headed to the bathroom and opened the door. “Ew. This is kind of nasty in here.”

  “Yeah, I saw it when we were here last,” I said. “Say, Valentine’s Day is only a couple of days away. Have you thought much about where you’re taking me?”

  “Yes, I have,” he said.

  “And that would be?” I asked when he didn’t say anything else.

  He chuckled. “A secret.”

  I sighed. “Secrets are meant to be told.”

  “Not this one,” he said.

  I wanted to ask him again, but when Alec makes up his mind, it’s made up. He wasn’t going to tell me. Whining and crying probably wouldn’t get it out of him, but I might give it a shot later. Ever since Lucy and Thad had mentioned Alec possibly asking me to marry him, I couldn’t get it
out of my head. Was I even ready to marry him? It would be fun to get to wake up next to him every morning, but I had been on my own for a while. Most of the time I liked it. Other days, it was hard. And I felt like our relationship was going so well the way it was. Did I want to risk changing it?

  “You’re awfully quiet in there,” he called from the bathroom after a few minutes. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s a secret,” I said, carrying a bucket into the bathroom.

  He laughed and turned toward me. “You’re not getting it out of me.”

  “I don’t care. I need some water, get out of the way,” I said, elbowing him and trying not to pout.

  He stepped out of the way and I turned the hot water on. I used a plastic cup to pour water into the bucket I had already poured bleach into.

  “I forgot to tell you. Lucy and I were at the Cup and Bean and Meg Cranston and Jenna Maples came in and they nearly came to blows. Meg accused Jenna of murdering her husband and Jenna claims she didn’t even know him. But Marge Buttons was also there and she said Jenna worked with Spencer at Stanton Industries. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It seems that Jenna knew Spencer, at the very least,” he said.

  “Marge said Jenna quit right after the company moved here and no one would say why.”

  “That’s odd. You would think there would be the usual office gossip going around. Someone always knows something,” Alec said.

  “That’s exactly what I thought. If you ask me, there’s something fishy about that company and everyone involved with it,” I said. The bathroom sink was disgusting. I had brought along an assortment of scrubbing pads, but I was beginning to think I might need some acid to eat the nasty crust off of it. I didn’t even want to look at the toilet.

  “I think you may be right,” he said.

  “I think we need to check into that company closer. What exactly could they be working on and why is it so top secret?” I asked. “And we still haven’t found that laptop.”

  “We do have our work cut out for us,” Alec said. “When we’re done here, we need to ask Jenna why she never mentioned to us that she worked with the victim at Stanton Industries.”