by Jinty James
“How much mad money did you bring?” Lauren asked curiously.
“One hundred dollars. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
“I hope so.” Lauren had only brought fifty, and that included lunch money.
They walked along the redbrick path to the entrance. Ahead of them, a burly man came out of a side door and hurried toward the car park.
“Isn’t that Ed?” Lauren stopped and stared.
“Where?” Zoe turned her head. “Yes, I think it is!”
“What’s he doing here?” They looked at each other, their eyebrows raised.
“Maybe he read the same article I did,” Zoe suggested, “and came to try his luck.”
“But he looks – I don’t know – not exactly happy?” Lauren frowned.
“Maybe he didn’t win any money.” Zoe waved in Ed’s direction, but he didn’t seem to notice.
They watched him open the driver’s door of his ageing sedan and get in. The engine chugged, and Ed drove out of the parking lot, not appearing to see them.
“Huh. That was strange.” Zoe shrugged and continued walking toward the casino entrance.
“Yes.” Lauren wasn’t sure what to make of it.
As soon as they entered the building, Lauren was distracted by the lights and sounds – and her cousin.
“Ooh – slots!” Zoe towed Lauren toward glowing machines featuring animated characters. Zoe plopped down on a red leather stool and pulled out five dollars. She fed the money into the machine and pressed a button. The reels whirred and came up – not a winner.
“Oh.” Zoe pouted, then pressed the button again. Ring, ring, ring! She’d won two dollars.
“You should play too.” Zoe gestured to the machine next to her, with red and white glowing lights. “Keep me company.”
“Okay.” Lauren sat down and opened her wallet. She’d decided on the drive here to stick to the minimums. She fed in a one-dollar bill and pressed the button to play the minimum of five cents.
Zoe was right. It was fun – at first. Her one dollar disappeared slowly, due to winning twenty or thirty cents here and there. Lauren glanced over at her cousin who was glued to the screen. Snatches of music and the simulated sound of coins pouring out of machines added to the entertaining ambiance.
“How much have you won?”
“I haven’t.” Zoe chewed her lip. “I’ve lost ten dollars.”
“Oh.” Lauren rose. “Maybe we should look around and decide what to do next.” She glanced at her watch. “We’ve been here nearly an hour already. I know it’s early for lunch, but I’m getting hungry.”
“Me too.” Zoe patted her stomach. “Okay.” She peered at Lauren. “How much have you won – or lost?”
“A dollar.”
“I need your self-control.” Zoe sighed, then brightened. “But it’s okay. I’ve given myself permission to use all my mad money today.”
Lauren shook her head at her cousin’s optimism, then followed her through the maze of slots to the other side of the room. Signs pointed to the bathroom, the buffet, coffee shop, poker room, and table games.
“Lunch buffet!” Zoe tapped Lauren’s arm. “It’s just opened.”
“Let’s go.” Lauren’s stomach growled.
They were the first patrons there. After paying, they wandered down the long line of food, the competing savory aromas teasing Lauren’s senses. She found it hard to choose between fried chicken, baked salmon, sweet and sour pork, several Italian entrees, a few French dishes, an array of salads, and freshly baked bread.
Her eyes widened as they chose a table and sat down. Zoe’s plate was piled high with a mish-mash of flavors.
“Are you going to eat all that?” Lauren stared at the chicken, pork, salmon, and beef bourguignon on her cousin’s plate.
“Probably not,” Zoe admitted sheepishly. “But I figured, why not try a bit of everything? I’ve already paid for it.”
“Good point.” Lauren knew if she ate so much at one meal, her pants would burst. She’d been thinking lately that maybe she should try to cut down sampling the sweet treats at the café – perhaps only having half a cupcake instead of the whole thing. So today, she’d chosen a small piece of salmon, two spoonfuls of sweet and sour pork, and green salad leaves.
“I’m glad you suggested this,” Lauren admitted at the end of the meal, after dipping her spoon into a modest serving of passionfruit pannacotta, the velvety texture melting on her tongue. “It’s good to have a change of scene sometimes.”
“You know it.” Zoe grinned. “And I think Annie is happy having a day to herself, too.”
They’d left Annie in the living room that morning playing with her pink mouse.
“Definitely.”
By now, there were a few more customers in the dining room.
“Check this out.” Zoe picked up a flyer at the end of their table. “They’ve got bingo!”
“Isn’t that for older people?” Lauren asked.
“So?” Zoe shrugged. “We can take a look and see if we like it.” She waved the blue flyer in the air. “It doesn’t say for seniors only.”
“Okay.” Maybe bingo would be fun.
They rose from the table, then Zoe gasped and quickly sat down.
“Quick, she’ll see you!”
“Who?” Lauren looked around.
“Sit down!” Zoe hissed, panic on her face.
“Who is it?” Lauren stared at her cousin.
“Pamela!”
“Pamela our difficult customer?”
“Yes!”
“Where?”
“Over there,” Zoe whispered. “But don’t look!”
Lauren shielded her face with her hand and peeked through her fingers. Zoe was right. Pamela sat alone at a table, a plate piled with salad leaves in front of her.
“What’s she doing here?” Lauren murmured.
“I don’t know.” Zoe scrunched her brow. “But I don’t want to find out!”
“Why not?” Lauren asked curiously. “We’re not doing anything wrong. It’s not like we closed the café when it was supposed to be open to come and gamble.”
“I know, but we were having a nice time and now she’s here.”
“It’s not like she can ask us to make her a coffee or get her another plate of food,” Lauren said.
“Can’t she?”
Lauren studied the middle-aged woman again. Pamela looked up briefly from her salad and glanced around the room. Her gaze landed on Lauren.
Lauren smiled weakly and gave a little wave.
“Oh no,” Zoe moaned.
“Come on.” Lauren rose from the table. “We’d better be polite and say hello to her.”
“I told you not to look,” Zoe muttered as she trailed behind Lauren.
“Hi, Pamela,” Lauren greeted their customer.
“Hello, girls,” Pamela replied, not looking happy. She put down her fork. “What are you two doing here?”
“Having a day off,” Zoe told her. “What are you doing here?”
Pamela looked surprised at the question.
“Having a day off as well, actually. I only work part-time for the church. I’ve heard that the lunch buffet here is good so I thought I’d try it.”
Lauren glanced at Pamela’s plate. It was full of healthy salad. Why would you drive an hour to try salad from a buffet?
“Have you won any money?” Zoe asked.
“What? No.” Pamela seemed startled at the question. “Like I said, I only came here for the buffet, not to gamble.” She peered at them. “How about you two? Have you been playing poker or roulette?”
“No.” Lauren shook her head. “We’ve only visited the slots area so far.”
“But we’re going to try bingo next,” Zoe added.
“Well, have fun.” Pamela nodded, as if dismissing them.
“Huh,” Zoe grumbled as they headed toward the bingo room. “I can’t believe she would drive all the way here just to eat salad for lunch. Who does that?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Lauren said thoughtfully.
CHAPTER 7
When they readied the café the next morning just before eight-thirty, Zoe was still grumbling about not winning any money at the casino.
“At least you won fifty dollars at Bingo.” Zoe cheered up at the thought.
“Yes, that was fun.” Lauren smiled. She’d enjoyed Bingo more than she thought, wanting to play some more when Zoe grew bored and suggested they check out the table games.
Lauren had watched Zoe lose at roulette, and then suggested they go home. Her cousin had reluctantly agreed.
“And I still have twenty dollars of my mad money left, so that’s something.”
Lauren now had seventy dollars instead of her original fifty. She’d decided to follow Zoe’s example and put it in a special fun money envelope for next time.
“It was weird seeing Ed there, though,” Zoe continued, scrunching her nose.
“I know,” Lauren said.
“What was he doing there?”
“Maybe he went there to gamble, like you said.”
“Huh.” Zoe pondered. “It was also strange seeing Pamela there.”
“Maybe she was just having lunch like she said,” Lauren said.
“Ooh, I know – maybe she was meeting a secret lover! The casino has hotel rooms.”
“Zoe!” Lauren double-checked they were alone – apart from Annie walking from table to table, as if verifying everything was just right before they opened.
“What?” Zoe looked the picture of innocence.
“Pamela’s divorced as far as I know. So why would she be meeting someone there?”
“Maybe he’s married,” Zoe suggested.
“We’d better not let anyone hear us talk about it,” Lauren admonished. “Especially Pastor—”
“Hi, Lauren and Zoe.” Pastor Mike walked in. They’d unlocked the door early for his arrival.
“Oops!” Zoe murmured.
“Brrt,” Annie greeted him.
“Where would you like to seat us, Annie?” Lauren asked the feline. “We’re going to talk to the pastor about repainting the church.”
“Brrp,” Annie replied in an approving tone. She led the way to a four-seater table near the counter, and hopped up on one of the chairs, looking at them expectantly.
“Would you like a coffee or a cup of tea?” Lauren asked. “On the house.”
“And Lauren’s made lemon poppyseed cupcakes today,” Zoe said enthusiastically. “And since I haven’t had any breakfast yet, I’m going to have one right now.”
“That sounds delicious,” the pastor replied. “But you must let me pay for mine.”
“It’s our treat,” Lauren said. “You do a lot for the community. Let us do a little something for you.”
Pastor Mike beamed. “That’s very kind of you, Lauren.”
Lauren and Zoe bustled behind the counter, quickly making lattes and plating cupcakes.
“I’ve been thinking,” Lauren said, once they returned to the table. “If the church doesn’t have enough money to buy the paint, we could hold a bake sale to raise funds.”
“That’s a great idea,” Zoe said after hastily swallowing a mouthful of lemon poppyseed.
“It definitely is.” Pastor Mike sipped his latte. “And I’ll make sure I remember about that in the future if the church needs to raise money. I went through the accounts yesterday and there’s enough for paint.”
“Awesome!” Zoe grinned.
“Brrt!” Annie’s ears pricked up and she looked like she was smiling.
“That’s wonderful!” Lauren enthused.
“Are you still going to get the accounts audited?” Zoe asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” the pastor admitted. “Truthfully, I haven’t been able to think that far ahead. Once the police release the work Steve had already done, I might be able to finish it myself. Otherwise, I’ll have to find another accountant.”
“So when should we hold the painting bee?” Lauren asked. “Zoe and I are off Saturday afternoons, Sunday, and Monday.”
“If we make it Monday, we can be there all day,” Zoe added.
“I think it might take more than one day to get it all done,” Pastor Mike said thoughtfully. “We’d have to get rid of the existing paint, then do two coats of paint. And some of the congregation work on Mondays, so they wouldn’t be able to help.”
He took another sip of his latte. “Why don’t we make it a Saturday? You two could come once the café is closed, and that way I could possibly get a lot of the congregation who work during the week. If we can’t get it all done on the day we could ask people to come and help again the following Saturday.”
“Okay,” Lauren replied.
“Brrt!” Annie agreed.
“We could make it this coming Saturday. And we could put a poster up in our window, so everyone will know about it.” Zoe grinned.
“Brrt!”
“That would be wonderful,” Pastor Mike said. “Thank you.”
“TONIGHT I’LL MAKE THE poster,” Zoe said after the pastor had left.
“What about your knitting?” Lauren teased.
Zoe looked stricken for a second.
“Brrt,” Annie added.
“I’ll do some knitting after I make the poster,” Zoe replied hastily.
“Let me know if you need any help making the notice,” Lauren said.
“I thought I’d type it up on the computer and print it out. I’ll use a huge font.”
“Good idea.” Lauren smiled.
“That’s lucky the church has enough money to fund the repainting,” Zoe mused as she cleared away their coffee cups.
“I know.”
“Hey.” Zoe paused mid-stride. “You don’t think Pastor Mike is a suspect, do you?”
“What?” Lauren’s eyes widened as she stared at her cousin.
“Brrp?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Why would you think that?” Lauren frowned.
“Pastor Mike found the body,” Zoe reminded her. “Steve was auditing the church accounts – what if there was something in there that the pastor didn’t want him to find?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Zoe shrugged. “But what if Pastor Mike visited Steve that morning, knowing he would find his dead body?”
“No way.” Lauren shook her head as she held the empty plates. “No way.”
“Brrt.” Annie seemed to agree.
“Why would Pastor Mike hire Steve in the first place if he had something to hide?” Lauren asked.
“Because that would clear him of suspicion,” Zoe explained. “No one would think he killed the man he hired to audit the church accounts.”
“I think you’ve been reading too many mysteries,” Lauren countered.
“I did enjoy reading Nancy Drew as a kid,” Zoe admitted.
“So did I,” Lauren confessed. “But that doesn’t mean I think Pastor Mike had anything to do with Steve’s death.
“I’m just putting it out there,” Zoe murmured. “I like Pastor Mike, too. But someone murdered Steve. And it wasn’t us.”
THAT NIGHT, ZOE WHIPPED up some notices on Lauren’s computer and printed them out.
“What do you think?” She showed her handiwork to Lauren and Annie.
Working bee at Gold Leaf Valley Episcopal Church Saturday April 21. Help Pastor Mike repaint the church and feel good doing good!
TIME: 9 AM.
Tell your friends!
“It looks great!” Lauren studied the big bold font.
“I’m going to put up three,” Zoe said. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Sure.” Lauren smiled.
“Brrt!”
“Thanks, guys.” Zoe grinned at both of them. She fetched her knitting from the sofa. “And now I’d better work on Annie’s blanket. Don’t forget, we’re having the second meeting of knitting club on Friday.”
“I
guess I’d better do some, too.” Lauren sat on the sofa and clicked her needles together with a sigh. “I don’t think I’ll ever finish this scarf.” She’d only managed two rows with the new cast on stitches.
“Luckily it’s not winter.” Zoe giggled. “Because that’s how long Annie might have to wait for this blanket.”
“Brrt.” Annie seemed to pout.
AT WEDNESDAY LUNCHTIME, Pamela sailed in with a lady who looked familiar. Of course – Lauren mentally snapped her fingers – it was the raspberry swirl cupcake customer from last week.
Pamela wore a tailored twinset outfit and carried a snazzy black leather bag along with a smaller matching purse, while the raspberry swirl lady was dressed in a pastel floral skirt and cream top.
“Brrt,” Annie said importantly as she trotted toward them.
“Thank you, Annie,” raspberry swirl lady said as she followed Pamela and Annie toward a table in the middle of the room.
“Pamela’s here,” Zoe whispered to Lauren as she made a pot of tea for a customer.
“I know. I’ll go,” Lauren said. At least it wasn’t Ms. Tobin. Now that she thought of it, she hadn’t seen Ms. Tobin for a few days. She hoped the older lady was all right.
She headed toward Pamela’s table, a smile pinned on her face.
“Why do you have posters in the window?” that lady greeted her. “It looks cluttered.”
Lauren explained about Pastor Mike’s repainting working bee that coming Saturday, wondering why Pamela didn’t seem to know anything about it, unless Pastor Mike hadn’t had a chance to inform her yet.
“What a good idea,” raspberry swirl lady said. “Perhaps I could come and help.”
“The more the merrier,” Lauren encouraged. “I know Pastor Mike would appreciate it.”
“What about you, Pamela?” raspberry swirl lady asked.
Pamela sighed with apparent regret. “I would love to,” she said, “but I’m already committed to visiting my daughter that weekend. She relies on me so. Unfortunately, I’ll have to miss the church service on Sunday as well. But if people had checked with me first—” she gave Lauren a pointed glance “—I could have suggested a more suitable weekend for the working bee.”
“That’s a shame,” Lauren murmured.