by R A Wallace
“Yeah. I saw someone there that Megan is interested in.” Cole added another bag.
“Can you describe him? This guy you think Gabe was following?”
“He was a few inches shorter than Gabe. Light hair, I guess.” Cole tossed another bag onto the cart.
“Anything else?”
Cole shrugged. “He seemed to talk a lot. You know, the kind that always has something to say to the people around him.”
“Thanks. I’ll get out of your hair now.”
“Hope you solve the puzzle,” Cole said as Megan left the dock.
Megan wondered if she’d be helping Gabe or hurting him if she did.
***
Jennifer leaned forward in her seat and rested her folded hands on her desk. “Thanks for coming in to see me.”
Gabe sat stiffly in the chair across from her. “Do I really have a choice?”
Jennifer flattened her hands on her desk. “Gabe, listen. I’ve known you since you were born. I know this is a difficult time for you.”
“No.” Gabe turned his head for a moment and looked away. “I’m sorry. Go ahead with what you called me in for.”
Jennifer stared at him for a moment then nodded once as she opened a folder in front of her. “LeAnn is ready to proceed with the divorce.”
Gabe expelled a breath.
“You knew this was coming,” Jennifer said gently.
Gabe raised his hand. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
“I have all of the information for your finances here. Anything you made after you were legally separated is easier to figure out. It’s the property and money when a couple is married that sometimes gets trickier.”
Gabe made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh.
“Everything has to be disclosed and documented. I have all of that here.” Jennifer rested her hand on the folder.
Gabe nailed her with a look. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Jennifer sat back in her chair. “She’s also selling the house.”
Gabe stood and began pacing the small space in front of Jennifer’s desk.
“Gabe?” Jennifer watched him pace.
Gabe shook his head. “We bought that house together,” he said loudly.
Jennifer’s eyes dropped to her desk. “Gabe.”
He stopped and turned to her with his hand raised and his finger pointed ready to argue. Her eyes came up to meet his. He deflated like a balloon right in front of her. Slowly, he sank back into the chair.
“Okay.” He didn’t look at her.
“Okay what?”
He shook his head slowly. “Okay. Whatever she wants.” He glanced at her quickly then looked away again.
“You’re saying that you won’t contest her selling the house?” Jennifer clarified.
“She deserves it.” Gabe pushed himself out of the chair again. “I didn’t take care of her the way I should have. Now it’s up to you to clean up my mess. Do what you have to. No, I won’t contest it.”
Jennifer closed the folder on her desk as Gabe walked out of her office.
Chapter Fourteen
Misty stared down at her new uniform in dismay. It wasn’t because the thing was an odd shade of magenta with green stripes up the sides. She could live with that as long as they paid her to staff the cash register inside the small minimart. It was the mustard stain she now sported on top of the magenta polyester knit top. Like many gas stations, her new employer sold food and drink options.
With the dozens of past jobs she’d held, none of them had included a bar capable of grilling fifty sausage-shaped links at once. She was now responsible for eight such rolling machines with links at various stages of doneness throughout each shift. It meant constant monitoring of the self-serve bar to ensure that each roller was performing at an optimal rate.
When she wasn’t taking payments for gas or items sold inside the minimart, she was constantly restocking the links, reorganizing the links, or refilling the condiment dispensers. The last task was obviously something she’d yet to master.
“Congratulations. You’re now officially one of us.” Maud Duffy motioned to Misty’s new yellow stain with her chin on her way to the restroom. Her arms were full of toilet paper rolls.
“Thanks,” Misty said automatically.
“You’ll be promoted to the sub station in no time,” Karen Bouchard said from the other side of the counter. “Next.” She waved to the next person in line to step up to the counter.
Misty grabbed a handful of paper napkins and wiped the yellow gob from her top as well as she could. She carefully wadded up the messy napkins to throw them into the trash next to the roller bar and discovered it was full. Taking the trash out was another of her duties. She took the lid from the can and pushed the trash down to compact it before tying off the top. After pulling the full bag out, she inserted several new ones to make it easier for the next time.
She hefted the full bag and followed Maud’s path to the rear of the minimart. In addition to the restrooms, there was also an exit door that led to the dumpster. This was part of Misty’s new job that she didn’t mind as much. She not only got to step outside and enjoy the weather, she usually had company when she did it. Sometimes it was one or more stray cats. This time, she found a brown, mid-sized dog of mixed parentage. It approached her carefully with its head held low and its tail wagging slowly.
“Hello there. Are you lost?” Misty bent to pet the dog. She figured she had to wash her hands after taking out the garbage anyway.
The dog’s tail wagged a little faster. She checked the neck. No collar.
“I’m afraid I don’t have anything to feed you this time. Maybe next time.”
She made a quick stop in the restroom before re-joining Karen at the front counter. One thing about working the cash register was that many paid with plastic rather than cash. On the plus side, she’d discovered that taking money at the minimart was a little easier than the bank. The cash register at the gas station always told her exactly how much change to give.
“Misty? You’re working here now?” Gabe stepped up to the counter.
“Just started this week.” Misty rang up the bag of chips and a soda. “That’s not dinner, is it?”
Gabe shrugged. “Whatever works, right?”
***
“Thanks for talking with me.” Megan looked around the automotive store. The only other person there was another employee stocking a shelf on the other side of the store.
“Not a problem. What did you want to know?” Amy Callahan was a solidly built twenty-something with strawberry blonde hair and freckles. At five six, she had an inch on Megan’s five five.
“I understand that you were at the Chase this past weekend?”
“Yeah. I was there to cheer Zach on. Do you know Zach Adkins?” Amy began organizing the stack of marketing flyers near the register.
Megan saw a photo of a small beagle on flyer in front of her. “He’s also a volunteer firefighter, right?”
“Yeah. He was competing in one of the challenges.”
“How did he do?”
Amy made a face. “Let’s just say he was in here Monday morning ordering a lot of new parts.”
“Ah.” Megan nodded.
“He said he had fun though.”
“I’ll bet. How about you? Did you get to see a lot of the different challenges?”
Amy’s face brightened. “Oh, yeah. Not as many as I wanted to though. That place is massive and there were people everywhere.”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you about, actually. Some of the people you may have seen.”
“Like?”
“You know my brother-in-law, Gabe Parker, right?”
“Gabe? Sure. He’s in here shagging parts all the time now that he has the garage.”
“Did you see him at the Chase?”
“Yeah, just to said hi. I didn’t talk to him much more than that.”
“Was he with anyone?”
Amy made a face.
Amy laughed. “Yeah, a lot of people.” She frowned.
“What?”
“Are you talking about the gamblers?”
“Yes. You spoke with them?”
The scowl was still on Amy’s face. “They tried. More than one of them and more than once.”
“What did they say, exactly?”
“To me? Not much. I told them I wasn’t interested.” Amy gave a half shrug. “I like watching the action. I don’t have any interest in throwing my money at it.”
“Did Gabe talk to you about gambling?”
“Nah.” The frown came back. “Now that you mention it, he was working the crowd like the other guys though.”
***
Dan finished entering the new stock into the computer system and left his office with a frown on his face. He wondered how Megan was doing with her puzzle. He walked through the feed store checking each aisle for any customers that might need help. After chatting with several, he made his way to the front of the store. He shouldn’t have been surprised to see his father there, but he was.
Dan glanced at the clock. “Just get off work?”
“Yeah.” Todd nodded to the cashier then turned back to Dan and lowered his voice. “Got a minute?”
Dan motioned to the side entrance. “Want to go outside?”
In lieu of an answer, Todd began walking toward the door. Dan followed him out. There were a few customers walking around. Brianna was in the distance helping one of them.
“What’s up?” Dan was pretty sure he knew the answer.
The lines between Todd’s eyes deepened. “It’s about Gabe.”
“What about him?” Dan scanned the outdoor area again. He couldn’t stand to see the pain in his father’s eyes.
“You mother is worried.”
One corner of Dan’s mouth lifted in a humorless smile. “I’m pretty sure that describes all of us.”
“The thing is, I don’t know what to do about it.” Todd cleared his throat.
“The police are looking into it. They’ll figure out what happened.” Dan wondered if his father could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
“That’s what worries me.”
“Dad, we have to trust that Gabe didn’t do this.”
There was silence for several moments as both men stared unseeing at the activity around them.
“Gabe was always different, you know? He was never a bad kid. He just always had to know how things worked.”
“Like the time he took your old radio apart to see the people inside?”
The smile on Todd’s face was fleeting. “I wish that you two were little like that again. You grew up too fast.”
Dan turned back to his father. “Listen. For what it’s worth, Megan is looking into this.”
A flash of hope crossed Todd’s face. “One of her puzzles?”
“I can’t promise anything. There may not be anything for her to find.”
“It’s something though. Something I can tell your mother.” The smile on Todd’s face didn’t reach his tired eyes. “I should go. She’ll be home soon. She’ll want to hear this.”
“Don’t get her hopes up,” Dan cautioned as his father walked away. Todd didn’t answer him.
“Can I bother you with something?”
He turned toward the voice. “What’s that?”
Ethan held up a flyer with a beagle picture. “Mind if I hang this on the board out front?”
“No. Not at all. Here.” Dan pulled a pen from his shirt pocket then reached for the flyer.
Ethan watched him initial it. “Thanks. Not sure it will help. We’re putting them up all over town. Someone might know who the little guy belongs to. He wants to get home, that’s for sure.”
***
Casey pulled into Megan’s drive and parked the truck. Bella slid out of the passenger side door. They both walked toward the paddock where Megan was waiting.
“We shouldn’t be long. I just want to check on your guests,” Casey said as they crossed the barnyard.
“You haven’t been here in a while,” Megan said to Bella.
Bella turned to Casey. “Usually I come with my mom in the fall to buy cider.”
“The cider making Megan does here is quite an operation.” Casey leaned against the fence.
“I missed it last year. Some years, I even got to help. I’ve also been out to visit the donkeys.” Bella smiled at the sound of quacking. “You have ducks now?”
“They stopped at the pond this year to raise a family.” Megan turned at the sound of another vehicle pulling into the drive. They watched as Dan got out of his truck and began walking toward them.
“I always get confused when I see his brother,” Bella said. “They look so much alike.”
Megan smiled at Dan as he drew closer to them. “You’ve seen Gabe recently?”
Bella hummed an agreement. “In town one day. I figured out he was Dan pretty fast though. I’ve never heard Dan shout before.”
Megan turned to Bella quickly. “Gabe was shouting? At who?”
Bella shrugged as she turned back to the horses. “Some guy. I didn’t recognize him.”
“What did he look like?”
“Is this part of a puzzle?” Bella turned intelligent eyes back to Megan. “The other man was shorter than Gabe by a few inches. Blond hair with a slight reddish tinge.”
Megan glanced at Dan when he stopped next to her. “What was Gabe arguing about with him?”
Bella shifted her gaze to Dan then back to Megan. “I couldn’t tell what they were saying but the other man used his hands when he talked. They seemed to work it out pretty quickly. It looked like they parted as friends.”
Chapter Fifteen
She could hear the birds singing. She told herself that she needed to get out of bed. She had guests, after all. Megan shifted then managed to roll to her other side. She received a kick for her efforts. Her eyes popped open. Now she needed to use the bathroom. Probably a good thing. It was an incentive to get moving. Though her guests promised her they wouldn’t be up early, she still needed to get a little something started for them. They had plans to meet their family out for a larger meal.
Megan dressed as quickly as possible and went out to the kitchen. There was a basket of eggs on the counter. Dan had already brought them in. The coffee pot was half full. He’d already had more than one cup. She wondered how long he’d been up. She knew he hadn’t slept well the previous night.
She put the kettle on the burner then turned to look toward her pantry. She was pretty sure she had oatmeal. She knew she had brown sugar and all of the other staples for baking. She crossed over to the pantry to search for the oatmeal. She was right. There were two cartons and she’d only need about a cup for the recipe she had in mind. She dug a little further and found the coconut she’d need.
But there was something else that she needed to look for or she wasn’t going to get very far. It had been years since she’d made an oatmeal cake. She grabbed her grandmother’s cookbook and carried it to the kitchen table. After making her tea, she sat with the cookbook and began looking through it. When was the last time she’d seen the recipe?
She began flipping through the section in the cookbook on cakes, then frowned. No. It wasn’t one of the recipes actually printed in the book. She closed her eyes and tried to pull up the memory. It was one of those recipes that her grandmother had gotten from someone else. Handwritten, it should be on a loose sheet somewhere between the pages of the book. She fanned the pages. There were dozens and dozens of such loose papers. All recipes that her grandmother had collected from friends and family over the years.
Megan paused at one. Pudding. That brought back memories. Her grandmother’s pudding was a million times better than any mix that ever came out of a box. She pulled it out and set it off to one side. She would definitely be wanting to keep that within easy reach for
her own children.
The back door opened and Dan stepped inside. “Hey, you’re up.” He leaned down for a kiss. “And you’re going through that cookbook again?”
He loved trying any recipe that came from the old cookbook. She heard the happiness in his voice. It occurred to her that it had been missing for a while.
“Blame Clark. He mentioned that he loves oatmeal last night. Especially if there is coconut involved. It got me thinking.” Megan unfolded another sheet of paper. “Here it is.”
“Oatmeal cake?” Dan moved over to the sink to wash his hands. “I don’t remember you making that yet.”
“I haven’t, not in years. It will go nice with their coffee this morning. They said not to cook a breakfast but that just doesn’t seem right. I need to offer them something.”
Dan turned away from the sink with a towel in his hands. “If they don’t eat it this morning, they might want it when they get back tonight.”
“Exactly.” Megan set the recipe aside. “Oh, look. Here’s one that used to make me laugh when I was little.” She held it up to read it as Dan pulled a small breakfast strata from the oven.
“It’s for elephant stew,” she said.
“Are you kidding?” He glanced at the card. After setting the strata on the table, he got out the plates and silverware. “I guess that would feed a whole crowd.”
***
“Speaking of wedding plans,” Susan said. She wiggled her brows at Caitlyn.
“Mine are coming along nicely, thank you.” Caitlyn lifted an arrangement from her work island to inspect it before putting it into the fridge behind her.
“Let me know if you need someone to bounce around ideas with.” Susan pushed away from the counter she was leaning on.
“Is that what you’re doing with Bev today?” Caitlyn took a vase from one of the cupboards.
“That’s what she said. I should go. We’re meeting down at Tea & Thyme.”
“Tell her I said hi.” Caitlyn opened another refrigerator unit and pulled out some cut flowers.
“Have a good day,” Gail said as Susan passed her.
“You too.” It didn’t take long for her to walk to the other end of the building. She entered through the main door and greeted Jill at the front counter.