by Tonya Kappes
“She’s doing great.” I rarely talked about my mother. “She got remarried a few years ago. Right before me.”
“I heard,” she said.
There was no way I was going to probe her for any information that Aunt Maxi had told her. Mom and Aunt Maxi didn’t get along. They never did. Mom always claimed she tried to butt in on how to raise me. It was a sore spot with her and my dad, but dad continued to bring me here for weeks and started to leave me here and there.
“Say, have you heard any more about Alexis?” Bunny asked and rushed back to the kitchen to take the next batch of dog treats out of the oven.
I followed her in there and checked on the bags of frozen doughnuts I’d taken out of the freezer to get ready to ice and decorate. Early last week I’d made the cutest little bee fondant shapes to go on a couple of the special honey cake doughnuts I’d made just for the grand opening weekend.
“I haven’t. I just know that she didn’t show up on her volunteer night at Pet Palace when Aunt Maxi did. I wonder when she died? That would clear Aunt Maxi for sure.” I pulled open the glazes I’d made just for the honey doughnuts.
“What are the flavors?” Bunny asked peeking over my shoulder.
“Vanilla glaze, chocolate glaze and a honey cider glaze.” I opened the little bag of bees and dumped them out on the counter. “I made these cute bees to go on top like little confetti.”
“You are so good.” She licked her lips. “I hope you are as good of a lawyer as a baker and barista.”
“Better.” Which reminded me. “I do need to run down to the courthouse this morning before the festival starts so I can check on my license.”
“No problem. They open at seven thirty. The festival doesn’t start until nine.” She scurried off to finish the rest of the dog treats while I worked in the kitchen to get the doughnuts finished and the lunch menu items prepared.
Around seven, I texted Aunt Maxi a quick message to see if she’d slept okay. She messaged back that she did and was going to be stopping by the coffeehouse this morning.
“You’ve lost your mind.” Mae Belle waddled in as soon as Bunny turned the sign on the door. “I thought you were kidding when I heard your message on my machine after I got home from the Moose. Or had a little too much to drink.” She made the cup gesture to her mouth and winked.
“The only drink you had too much of was water.” Bunny moved behind the counter and arranged the doughnuts in the cabinets.
While the two of them bantered back and forth, I grabbed my phone and put Pepper on his leash to give him a quick walk before I headed out on my bike to the courthouse.
“Pet Palace,” Louise answered on the first ring
“Hi, Louise. It’s Roxy.” I wanted to make sure she didn’t need any help. “I wanted to see if you need anything before I ran to the courthouse.”
Pepper pulled and nearly jerked my arm off. He wagged, jumped, and barked off into the distance. At the end of the boardwalk next to the marina was Patrick Cane.
He didn’t bother to wave when he saw me. The big smile was greeting enough. He bent down and put his arms out. I dropped the leash and Pepper ran into his arms.
“I’ve got everything I need,” she said. There was some clanking in the background. “Stewart is getting all the stuff in the truck now.”
“Wonderful.” I eyed Patrick when I got closer. “Patrick Cane will be in front of the coffeehouse and will help you set up. The weather already is warm, so the animals should be happy outside. Bunny has the basket of dog treats to set on the table.”
Patrick opened his mouth to protest, but shut his mouth once I gave him the look. He mouthed that I owed him, but I saw it the other way around by him taking up for Leslie at the council meeting last night.
“In fact, Patrick will be at the end of the boardwalk near Crooked Cat and will help you and Stewart carry the kennels and anything else you need.” I offered him a sweet smile. He tried to refuse but Pepper kissed him across the nose and he laughed.
“Are you my personal secretary now?” he asked when I got off the phone and put Pepper back on the boardwalk with the leash in his hand.
Slowly we walked back toward the coffeehouse and stopped in front of each vendor.
“I figured you owed me since you took off with your girlfriend last night, leaving me and Pepper all alone in the dark night,” I teased with my voice, only my insides cringed.
“She’s far from my girlfriend and if I hadn’t taken her out, a scene would’ve taken place. It’s not pretty when Leslie’s been belly up to the bar.” He stopped in front of a vendor that had glass blown orbs for sale.
I moseyed to the next vendor where the woman was setting out soaps, lip balms, body creams, bath salts and all sort of scented goods made with honey.
“She seemed to be cozy all snuggled up in the crook of your neck.” I shrugged and picked up a pair of bee earrings from another vendor who had jewelry.
“Roxanne Bloom, are you jealous?” he asked.
“Nope.” I shook my head and picked up a large mason jar with honey and the comb inside. “How much?” I asked the vendor.
“The large are five dollars and the small jars are three.” The woman continued to stack and put more jars out.
“Are you local?” I asked.
There were so many cool things I could do with the comb which most bee farmers left in the hives to produce more honey.
“We are just a few counties over.” She took her card out of the front pocket of her apron and handed it to me.
“Great. I’ll come by later.” I pointed across the way to The Bean Hive. “I own The Bean Hive.”
“I was smelling something really good coming from there.” She smiled and rubbed her stomach.
“Doughnuts.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Honey doughnuts. You go on over and tell Bunny I sent you in for a free doughnut and coffee to go with it.”
“Thank you,” she said as I was walking away.
“Are you ignoring me?” Patrick asked and let go of Pepper’s leash after he tugged toward the door of the coffeehouse.
“Never.” I gestured toward the other end of the boardwalk. “You better hurry up and get down there. Louise is going to be waiting for you.”
There was a bit of hesitation before he huffed a little and gave me a good stern look before he marched down the boardwalk.
There were a few people already in the coffeehouse giving Bunny their order, but not enough to stop me from biking down to the courthouse and see what I needed to do about getting the papers I needed to apply for a law license in Kentucky. Even though I would never get it done in a few days, at least I’d have it done.
Bunny assured me that she had it covered and would grab Mae Belle who was on her third doughnut if she needed help. I guess the look on my face was enough for her to tell Mae Belle that she was in charge of Pepper while I was gone and her doughnuts were payment.
The boardwalk was only about a seven-minute bike ride to town. The cozy town was the charm and with the revitalization of the boardwalk, I knew they hoped to have the flourishing community they’d had years ago. The fresh morning air swept through my hair in a warm breeze. The fragrant field of the bluegrass curled my nose and put a big smile on my face. There was nothing better than clean air. Clean country air.
The first building was the Honey Springs Church. Many a Sunday was spent there during my summers, but many memories of Patrick and me slipping out the back door also flirted with my head. Next to that was the firehouse and police station where I’d rescued Aunt Maxi last night. Across the street from that was the Moose Lodge before the big circle in the middle of town which was Central Park.
Along Main Street were the Brandt’s Fill ‘er Up, Klessinger Realty, the courthouse with city hall, Donald’s Barber Shop, and the local community college. There were other shops around Central Park, but today wasn’t the day to explore. Though I did feel like they were probably the same stores that were there years ago.
T
he brilliant sun popped over the roof of the buildings almost making me pedal back to the lake because I knew the clouds had parted over the lake, giving the water a spectacular sight. But there were things to do and enjoying many mornings at the lake was a dream come true.
I hurried up the courthouse steps and hoped to be the first in line, but there was a man in front of me.
“If you ask me, there are a lot of people in this town that were tired of her complaining.” The woman behind the clerk’s tall office counter said to the man and typed away on her computer.
“She sure didn’t hold back when it came to Big Bib.” The man gnawed on the edge of a toothpick.
“I was at the Moose last week and he was steaming like a freight train about how she claimed she didn’t know he wanted to be part of the celebration and part of the money associated with the beautification.” The woman looked over the man’s shoulder at me. She shut her lips and grabbed a piece of paper that’d printed off the printer behind her. “Sign here, here, and here.” She pointed with a finger and handed him a pen.
“Big Bib said she left him out of it because of the secret Leslie told him when they were cuddled up at the Moose.” His mustache bounced up and down as he talked.
The man looked over his shoulder at me once he made eye contact with the woman who tried to give him an inconspicuous nod toward me.
Leslie? My ears perked up.
My lips pinched together in a tight closed-mouth smile. My eyes squinted.
“I’ll talk to you later.” The man tapped his finger on the counter. “Thanks for the boat tags.”
“Can I help you?” The woman’s voice was flat.
“I wanted to know what I need to do to get in front of the clerk of courts to get a license to practice law in Honey Springs.” I knew I was going to have to be approved by the judge of the court in which I wanted to practice and be admitted to the Kentucky Bar Association.
“First, you’re gonna need to fill this out.” She pulled an application out of a drawer and smacked it on the counter. “Pay an application fee for processing and you’ll get a letter in the mail when the judge wants to talk to you.”
I took the form and pretended to look at it. For a second I thought about asking her about the conversation about Big Bib between her and the man. Especially the Leslie and secret part.
“Next!” she yelled at the woman behind me, not giving me the opportunity to ask.
Thirteen
On a normal morning that was as warm as this one was turning out to be, I’d taken my time and let the bike pedals carry me the seven minutes back to the boardwalk. Today wasn’t normal. Not because of the Honey Festival starting in the next hour, but the fact I’d overheard the conversation between the deputy clerk and the man who was getting a boat license.
Clearly, he had a boat, which I could assume he kept at one of the boat slips at the marina. Plus, he’d confirmed that he’d heard Leslie tell Big Bib some sort of big secret that I planned to find out one way or another. I just didn’t know how I was going to.
There really was a class in law school where they taught us how to get—or what I’d call manipulate—information out of people. Since I had to get the tickets from the marina this morning to start selling the boat rides over to the bee farm across the lake, I’d use some of those skills.
The closer I got to the boardwalk, the faster I pedaled. There was a warm bath in my future because I knew my legs were going to ache from the pumping. There was a bike ramp where the marina met the boardwalk. Bike riding wasn’t technically allowed on the boardwalk or pier. A couple of times this week I’d broken that rule. As I saw it, I was the only one on the boardwalk at four thirty-ish in the morning and the last one off it at ten or eleven o’clock at night. Dark when I got there and dark when I left. There was no way I wasn’t going to ride my bike from the front door of my cabin to the front door of the coffeehouse with a killer on the loose.
“Happy Honey Festival.” Mari’s voice trilled through a sea of strings that were attached to a bunch of balloons. “Drew, this is Roxanne Bloom, the caterer I was telling you about.”
“Barista and small pastry chef. Not a caterer.” I extended a hand for him to take.
He took it, but he didn’t look at me. He didn’t have any emotion.
“Give me the balloons.” He dropped my hand and reached for half of her strings. Mari gave me the other half and he walked away.
She held up two fingers for me to give her two strings, and apologized for her husband, “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s tired this morning. He’s been working out of town lately.”
I followed her up the ramp of the boardwalk handing her a couple of balloons every few feet for her tie around the posts.
“Don’t the flags look good?” she asked and wrinkled her nose in delight.
“They do.” I watched her husband over her shoulder walk on the boardwalk and put up the balloons.
Someone with the hoodie of their sweatshirt up stopped him. He glanced back at Mari and went back to talking to the other person. He’d leaned in and I could see how tight his lips were when he talked. Too bad I couldn’t read lips, but I could read body language and he was tense.
“What does your husband do?” I asked.
“Drive me crazy.” She winked and grabbed a couple more strings. “Aw, I love the old bear. He works for the National Library Association. He works in the banned books department.”
Banned books? My mind raced back to the morning I found Alexis and the only section in the bookstore that was destroyed was the banned books.
“Did he do business with Alexis?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. He works with libraries, not bookstores.” She smiled.
I glanced back over her shoulder and Drew was walking back, while the jogger was running down the boardwalk the opposite way of us toward Crooked Cat.
“I’ll be by this afternoon with my address for you.” She waved me off, which was fine by me.
There was very little time left to get the tickets and any information I needed about this conversation between Big Bib and Leslie. I knew I was banking on it being the only Leslie that I knew in Honey Springs, but what were the odds of another one at the Moose? Slim.
Just like the odds that Drew knew anything about Alexis’s death, but it was still something to chew on. If there was one thing I’d learned as a barista, a baker, and a lawyer: never leave anything undone. Nothing turns out good if you did.
Mari and Drew scurried down the boardwalk continuing to tie up the balloons while I walked down the ramp to the marina. The steel boat slips ran clear across the bottom of the boardwalk. The slips ended exactly where I’d seen the boat pull out full throttle—in the no wake zone, I might add. When I did figure out whom the boat belonged to and if they didn’t have anything to do with Alexis’s murder, I was for sure going to let them know this was a no wake zone.
There was a cottage style building that looked like it used to be a lake house. The awning over the door flapped in the warm breeze coming off the lake. The front glass door had a flip sign on it and said open.
After I walked in I could tell it was the main building for the marina. They even sold different items to go with boats. There were life jackets hanging on the wall, fire extinguishers, buoys, koozie can holders, and all sorts of floating devices to name a few of the things they sold.
No one was inside, but the man I’d seen at the courthouse was outside standing on the dock facing the lake smoking a cigarette. When he saw me coming out the door, he butted out the cigarette.
“Ain’t you the woman I saw at the clerk’s office?” he muttered under his mustache. I nodded. The way he looked at me sent a knot in my stomach. “What you want?”
“I’m Roxanne Bloom. I’m new to the area.” Roxy to friends, but he’s no friend. “I own The Bean Hive on the boardwalk and I’m here to get the tickets to sell for the boat rides to the bee farm.” I pointed across the lake.
He looked
down his nose at me.
“I’ll have to ask Big Bib about it.” He walked past me. With his hand on the door, he looked back at me. “Are you the coffee lady that found Alexis?”
Ahem, I cleared my throat.
“I am.” My lips curled together. This was one of those times that silence was golden, especially if Big Bib had told him Leslie’s secret.
“You know Leslie, her daughter?” he asked and dropped his hand from the door. He folded his arms across his chest.
“I met her just yesterday when she showed up at the bookstore after the police called her about her mom.” I shrugged.
“Mom?” His chest puffed as he laughed. “They were no mother-daughter duo. In fact, Leslie didn’t even grow up here.”
“You mean Leslie isn’t Alexis’s daughter?” I asked. My jaw dropped.
“Yes, she’s her daughter. They just never acted like it. Leslie went to live with other relatives because they didn’t get along. And she ain’t never called Alexis ‘mom’,” he said.
“You know.” I snapped my fingers. “I didn’t remember Alexis having a daughter around my age when I was here.”
“When you were here?” His lids drew down, eyes zeroed in on me. “I thought you said you was new here.”
“New to living here full time.” I flip-flopped my hand in the air. “My aunt is Maxine Bloom and I used to spend the summers with her here as a teen.”
“I love Maxi. She’s a hoot.” The smile curved underneath the mustache. “I remember you. You’d come down here and beg for some worms for that cane pole. You were knee-high to a grasshopper.”
“You can’t be much older than me.” I was going to use the honey was always better than vinegar philosophy.
His checks flushed a little red.
“Oh, go on.” He pulled the door open. “Bib, Roxanne is here to get the tickets to sell at that fancy coffee place.”
“Roxy.” I decided we might become friends.
“Huh?” he asked.
“You can call me Roxy.” I smiled. “I don’t go by Roxanne.”