by Beth Byers
I didn’t jump to my feet since I was too recent to agonizing back pain, but I did rush into the bathroom, take a shower, stretch my back again, and then dress quickly. I slapped the sticky hot pads on my back despite the fact that I felt better because I didn’t want to take any chances of a relapse. I sighed as I tied on my orthotics. They were shoes that proclaimed backaches, knee pain, and age. If I were being entirely honest though, they did feel good on my feet. Dang it.
It wasn’t like Simon to not wake me. I guessed he was trying to take care of me, so I let it go. Even though I felt bad for abandoning my team for the morning. For what I expected was a very difficult and busy morning. I hurried to let the dogs out and feed them and then saw that Simon had fed them already. How had I slept through that?
I wasn’t sure, but I let the dogs out anyway, gave them about five minutes and then called them inside. I dumped a bucket of toys for them on the floor and threw rawhide bones to everyone and then dashed to my Subaru. The drive from Simon’s took about fifteen minutes versus the two minutes from my place, but that massage had pushed my back into feeling better, so it was worth it. Plus I loved to sleep with Simon’s arms wrapped around me.
I moseyed into the diner to make it seem as though I didn’t feel guilty at all for being late. Az winked at me and Roxy called hello happily. I had to twist past people waiting out the door again which was crazy, but the smell of chocolate in the air and the sight of the chocolate waffles explained a lot. Some had the banana split topping from yesterday, and Zee had raised the price on the board. The fruit option was almost four bucks and yesterday it had been folded into the price of the special.
I jerked my head at the price and she grinned evilly.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
She shook her head and pointed at my back.
“Simon said to tell you he silenced your phone,” Zee said.
I glanced at her and then pulled my phone out of my pocket. My gaze narrowed as I turned the sound back on.
She stared for a long minute, hands on her hips, ignoring our customers before she said, “He didn’t tell you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Simon.”
“Simon?” I glanced at Az who winced for me, and I felt a rush of worry, but Zee’s smirk told me I didn’t have to worry about anything shady with Simon. Even still… “He’s all right isn’t he?”
“Just got called into work early,” she said. “Carver told me about it.”
I stared thinking back to when Simon had left. I had been out. It had probably been really early. It had felt, as if I’d just fallen asleep when he disappeared, I now realized.
“You minx,” I told Zee and watched her grin a Cheshire grin. “How early did Carver go to work?”
“About 2:00 am,” Zee said. Her eyes fixated on mine as I put on my apron and washed my hands.
“2:00 am is pretty early,” I said pouring myself a cup of coffee.
“If you guys could get to work,” someone said, “that’d be awesome. We’re waiting here.”
I looked at the full dining room except where Roxy was clearing a just vacated table.
“You can wait,” Zee snapped, “Or you can leave.”
“Oh geez,” I muttered, knowing they were going to ask for her manager.
“I’d like to talk to your manager,” the customer snarled. Her eyes were narrowed and the meanness she gave off paled in comparison to what was shining from Zee’s gaze.
“She’s the manager,” I said quickly and grabbed menus to seat the people behind the rude customer.
Az and Roxy burst into laughter as I seated the next customers and then refilled coffee around the dining room. Zee’s mouth twitched when I got back to where she was starting a new pot of coffee.
“I’m gonna need a raise,” she said. “Since I’m in management these days.”
“All right,” I said instantly. “But I’m going to have to first dock your pay for being rude to customers. And making out in the dining room. And…”
“Shut it,” Zee laughed. Her gaze fixated on me again and she put her hands on her hips, “Have you figured it out yet?”
I paused and looked at Az who clearly knew whatever it was that Zee wanted me to figure out.
“Figured what out yet?”
“Simon. Carver. 2:00 am.”
I blinked and realized that calling in Simon and Carver so early was no speeding ticket or domestic dispute. “Oh no.”
“Yes.”
“No.” That wasn’t a denial. It was me begging to be left out of it.
“Oh yes,” Zee demanded. That mischief was back in her gaze, and I winced. I glanced beyond her to Az, Carmen, Lyle, and Roxy. Az shrugged and went back to work, but he was hiding a smile as he did. Roxy laughed outright and then went to clear another table. Carmen and Lyle had never seen this before, and they didn’t seem to be able to look away.
“I don’t want to,” I said. “I’m injured. I hurt.”
“Simon said you felt better.”
“He’s a vicious liar,” I reported just as he cleared his throat behind me. I slowly turned and found both Simon and Carver behind me. “Why does fate hate me?”
Simon laughed at me, leaning down to kiss my cheek and said, “We need to talk to everyone here.”
“We’re all here. It wasn’t us,” I lowered my voice as I hissed, “We’re not killers.”
“Good news, babe,” he said, “You have an alibi. So does Zee. And no one else has a motive. But…”
I didn’t need him to explain, and he wasn’t going to say anything with an audience, so I jerked my head towards my office. I’d cleaned out the blackmail files and move a lot of the business fill cabinets into the big closet that had once been blackmail central. As soon as that had been done, I added a booth to my office, so we could eat in peace.
Zee brought them back there and Az made us some food. I just ordered us specials because I needed to try those chocolate waffles, and because I knew Simon would like them. They weren’t the normal fare we served, but they were chocolate, so I guessed he’d survive even though he was a food traditionalist. Darn him.
“Who died?” I asked as I sat across from Carver next to Simon.
Zee entered and Carver shook his head at her and gestured her towards the door.
“Excuse me,” she asked, eyes narrowing on Carver’s face.
I winced for him and then Carver said, placatingly, “We have to interview you separately.”
Her expression hardened.
“Please babe,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if it was the please or the babe that softened her, but expression flowed back into her face. It wasn’t a super friendly expression, but at least she wasn’t stone anymore.
“How much trouble am I in?” Carver asked me.
I shrugged because I figured it could be anywhere from a light prank to her dating someone else for a week or two.
Carver sighed, and I decided to change the subject. “So who died?”
They looked at me and then Simon said, “It was that couple from the last chocolate tour.”
I thought back. I had been hurting pretty bad at that point, and I’d take the combo of Vicodin, muscle relaxers, and wine. I’d been lucky I hadn’t started drooling in the diner. I probably wasn’t loopy when I saw them though. That would have happened as Simon drove me back to his place.
“Wait…the ones who cheated on each other? Which part of the couple?”
Simon didn’t laugh, but his eyes crinkled. It wasn’t really that surprising was it? Surely it was some part of that madness. Of all the people in the diner the night before—they’d been the most memorable. And they’d had the attention of everyone else.
“Well…Jayla and Frank. The ones who had been together forever. But…before you assume Stevie is the killer. It seems that the victims embezzled the money from the Tidesman fund.”
“They stole the money for the place they were all going to buy togeth
er? And then came here with them? That doesn’t make any sense. They were professors not idiots.”
Carver and Simon nodded as Zee entered the office with the food, slammed the tray down on the booth, and scowled at all of us. Then she looked solely at me and ordered, “You’re telling me everything.”
I didn’t agree only because Carver’s gaze was narrowed on me. My single, expressionless glance at Zee was enough for her to see what she wanted to see, and she left the office.
“You need to keep her out of this,” Carver said. “I don’t need her mucking around in another investigation. Her or you.”
Simon and I both laughed, though my giggles were accompanied by a few tears.
“Sure,” I said.
Carver seemed to hear what he wanted to hear because he said, “Great.”
Simon’s face was expressionless as he asked, “So let’s go over what you heard and saw when they came in for the chocolate tour.”
I took a bite of my waffle noting that Carver’s didn’t have whip, syrup, or butter. It was just a plain waffle with burnt hash browns and scrambled egg whites. My lips twitched at the waffle, and he growled as he noticed what I’d seen.
“She’s pulling a Rose,” Simon told Carver. “Whenever Rose is mad at me, I suddenly get healthy food and those weird cakes she makes.”
My gaze narrowed on him, and Simon flinched.
“It’s just that your normal chocolate cakes are so good, darn it.”
“Mmmm,” I said. There was enough threat in my gaze that he tried winking at me. I might let this one go. Seeing as how he’d made my back feel better.
“I almost like 2nd Chance’s egg white scramble now,” Simon said.
He didn’t even realize he was giving me ammunition did he? The fool. Insulting my cakes and then telling me the egg white scramble wasn’t so bad. We made a multi-grain pancake that only the healthiest of grainy folks liked. The one time I’d eaten it, it had balled in my stomach and left me full through the next morning. It was hearty and nutty, and if that was your thing, it was good.
It wasn’t, however, Simon’s thing. I grinned evilly, gaze on my food. I thought we’d better add vegetable soup to the menu too. I loved vegetable soup, but it sure wasn’t all that filling.
I recapped what I’d heard and seen at the diner when the chocolate tour had been in. The truth was I didn’t have much to offer. Simon had been with most of it, so I didn’t have much to offer really.
And, for once, Zee wasn’t going to have to drag me into an investigation. Simon was sticking his foot in his mouth and Carver was underestimating Zee and attempting to order me around. They’d learn who they were dealing with if they thought that was acceptable.
I watched Carver struggle through his food, grinning until he tossed it into the can in my office with a scowl on his face. Then, I rose to get Az. I knew they wanted Zee and Roxy who’d actually interacted with the customers, but I wanted to talk to Zee first.
Maybe if I jumped into the investigation, and she didn’t have to drag me, it’d be more fun this time.
Simon grabbed my hand as I went to leave my own office for Zee and pulled me down to kiss my cheek. Smooth move, I thought, and I grinned at him. He must have read my gaze, but there was a bit of a wince in whatever he saw in my eyes. Then again, I was helpless against Zee. We all were. He knew she wouldn’t be persuaded to leave this murder to the police, and I’d end up embroiled in the madness.
SIX
Zee was gone. That scandalous stinker, I thought. Az laughed aloud at the look on my face, but I was laughing at the look I anticipated seeing on Carver’s face when he realized Zee dodged him.
“You got this?” I asked Az.
The line was out the door and the answer should have been absolutely not, but he winked at me and said, “No problem.”
I grinned and winked back and then slapped a solemn look on my face before I knocked on my own office door, sticking my head in, and said, “Looks like Zee stepped out.”
Carver’s eyes flashed. I was pretty sure it was with a combination of fury and desire, so I smirked at him.
“Did you know she’d be leaving?”
“How could I know that? I was in here with you guys.”
“You two are peas in a pod.”
“I wasn’t the one who was there when she found out about the murder,” I told him. “You should have guessed if she didn’t immediately demand to come with.”
“I’m a sheriff not an entertainer.”
There were so many replies to that but I controlled myself and said, “Ok.”
His gaze flashed and he was starting to get my personality a little better. The reality of being a former call center slave is that you learned when to put your foot down and be unmoved and when it didn’t matter what the other person wanted. Sometimes you just had to listen, agree, and then do what needed to be done. Always the easier, and quicker route.
Carver examined my face. You’d think that a trained investigator could see all that was behind my mask. Especially given that we were friendly, but he seemed to think that without Zee around I wasn’t trouble. It wasn’t true. I was just less trouble. It wasn’t Zee who dragged me into that first murder. I’d gone there all on my own. A fact, I was sure, Simon remembered even if Carver didn’t. Plus, I wasn’t going to stick around the 2nd Chance Diner, as busy as it was, without Zee. It was going to be sheer madness without her.
“You think I can trust her?” Carver asked Simon.
Oh no he didn’t, I thought. Carver was not second-guessing me, with my boyfriend, in front of my face. I scowled at both of them, and Simon held up his hands in surrender before he very carefully said, “I think you should be worried about what Zee is up to.”
Smooth, I thought. Deflecting like that was super smooth.
He wasn’t wrong there. I had promised Simon that he and I were a team. That move just got him chocolate cake and real food again after his previous comments. He wasn’t going to use his knowledge of me to give Carver ammunition.
That being said, I was absolutely bailing on the diner. I wasn’t bailing on being a team with Simon…but I might…you know…I might…be late in telling him what I was up to next. An immediate flash of guilt hit me, so I knew that wouldn’t work either. After all, if we were in love…and we were…then we were a team. Even if Zee was my best friend.
I sighed and met Carver’s gaze.
“Can I trust you?”
“Maybe,” I said because he was irritating me. “Definitely as much as you can trust Zee.”
He scowled at me, and I grinned at that. “Well…”
“Look,” I said, “You’re the one who irritated Zee. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I know she’s the kind of person to pick up a dare even if you don’t realize you threw one down.”
Carver cursed and I said, “Language, sheriff. This here’s a family establishment.”
Simon cursed under his breath, and I laughed and ran out. I had to take Az’s car since my purse was in my office with my keys and wallet. Thankfully, my phone was in my pocket. I stretched quickly and then messaged Zee.
“You’re in charge,” I whispered to Az as I sent Roxy into the back to talk to Carver and Simon. Her gaze was wide as she saw Az hand me his keys, but I put my finger to my lips, and she nodded.
Carmen and Lyle, on the other hand, looked frustrated as I skipped out the back of the diner leaving them alone in the dining room. Which was fair, I’d probably have to supplement their tips from the till given that they were totally going to get less for the crappy service The 2nd Chance Diner was offering that day.
* * * * *
Zee messaged me back only after I’d driven away from the diner. I figured I had to get away before I messaged Simon. But that I should message Simon before I heard from Zee. That way there weren’t lies…so much as…delayed communication. That made me feel guilty too, and I’d have been straight with him. Except I was pretty sure he’d be straight with Carver. Or that Ca
rver would find a way to get out of Simon what he knew. Carver wasn’t nearly as indulgent and understanding as Simon, so….those two needed to separate before I was straight with Simon.
Rose: I’m going after Zee.
Simon: Where is she?
Rose: Tell Carver I don’t know yet <3
Simon: Be safe! Carver would like you to message when you know where she is…
Rose: <3
Yeah, right, I thought. There was no way I was giving Zee up to Carver. I got a reply from Zee before I sent my last message to Simon, but I wasn’t telling him where Zee was until I both knew where she was and was pretty sure Carver wasn’t reading over his shoulder. I messaged Az next.
Rose: Tell me when Simon and Carver leave and if they leave together.
Az: kk.
He was probably slammed, so I wasn’t worried by his reply.
Zee was at the Tidesman which wasn’t that surprising. The apartment complex that the professor types planned on buying together. All the suspects in one likely location. The Tidesman was an old apartment complex that would be excellent for turning into cool little vacation condos. Especially if you were looking for something cheap given that it was a couple blocks from the beach. It wasn’t quite the same as having an ocean view, but the price of property distinctly dropped the farther you were from the beach.
That being said, they’d still be able to rent out those apartments during the busy season at the beach. It wasn’t a bad plan. But…of course…Jayla and Frank had absconded with the money for the Tidesman. Or that was the theory. Would a person kill over that? How much was the Tidesman worth? Was it just the down payment that was stolen or the whole amount? If each person or couple were contributing a smaller amount—would that smaller amount be worth killing over?
I didn’t think any amount of money was worth killing over, but people did it all the time. Professors from Reed College wouldn’t be killing over chump change. Being a professor at that kind of college was a good job. It wasn’t going to be five thousand that they were killing over. Maybe the principal? Maybe their reputation? But it was supposedly Jayla and Frank who stole the money.