Goody Goody Gunshots

by Rose Pressey

  “What do we do now?” my mother yelled over the music.

  We were now in the main area of the club. People filled every inch of the space. Bodies gyrated on the dance floor.

  “I could show these young ones a dance or two,” Grandma Honey said.

  I waved my hands. “No way, Grandma Honey. We’re here to find Joy and that’s it. Let’s just do what we came for and then get out of here.”

  “What do we do?” Mary Jane asked.

  “We should ask the bartender. If anyone knows if Joy is here then it would be him, right?” I asked.

  I held out little hope that we would find Joy here. But Grandma Honey needed to see for herself. Tomorrow she would talk with Helen and realize that she had given her the wrong address, or that grandma had written it down wrong. I motioned for everyone to follow me as I pushed my way through the crowd toward the bar.

  When we approached, the dark-haired guy behind the counter smiled and asked, “What can I get you?”

  I figured I should order something, so I said, “Can I get a Diet Coke?”

  He raised his eyebrow. “Sure. Coming up.”

  A few seconds later and he set the glass full of cola in front of me.

  I handed him a few crumbled dollar bills. “Can I ask you a question?”

  He studied my face for a moment as if wondering what I was up to. “Sure.”

  “Do you know someone named Joy Cadbury? I was told she lives here.”

  He chuckled. “Well, she doesn’t live at the club, but she owns the building.”

  Wow, that was a surprise. I suppose the information had been somewhat accurate after all.

  “Is she here tonight?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No, she doesn’t come around often.”

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  That meant we could get out of here. Though I suppose I could ask him a few more questions.

  “Are you friends with Joy?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “No.”

  “You say that like it would be something highly unlikely,” Mary Jane said.

  “She’s not that friendly,” he said.

  “I can see that being the case,” I said.

  “Why are you looking for her?” he asked.

  “Um, real estate.”

  He nodded as if that made perfect sense. Before I could ask more, someone called him away.

  “Thanks again,” I said.

  “No problem,” he said as he walked away.

  “Well, I guess that means we can leave now,” I said as I turned around to face Grandma Honey.

  I frowned. “Where’s Grandma Honey.”

  My mother and Mary Jane looked around.

  “She was right behind us. Oh no, we’ve lost Grandma Honey,” Mary Jane said.

  “This is terrible,” I said.

  I scanned the nearby area, hoping to spot her right away. “What if someone knocks her down? She’ll break a hip. I knew this was a bad idea.”

  I didn’t know which direction to even start looking for her.

  “Maybe she went back outside when she got separated from us,” Mary Jane said.

  I motioned for Mary Jane and my mother to follow me. We had to find Grandma Honey before something bad happened. “Let’s check.”

  “Maybe we should split up in order to find her,” Mary Jane said.

  “I think that would be a bad idea,” I said. “What if we’re all lost after that?”

  “I bet she went to the ladies’ room,” my mother said.

  “Oh, good thinking. We’ll check there first. Wait. Where is the ladies’ room?” I asked.

  We scanned the area until finally locating the sign that pointed to the restrooms. Now we had to maneuver our way over to them. That would be easier said than done.

  “Let’s just stay together,” I said.

  Mary Jane and my mother nodded. I squeezed the way through the crowd, keeping a lookout for Grandma Honey on our way. We’d almost made it to the ladies’ room when a large man stepped in front of me. Mary Jane and my mother almost stumbled over me as they came to a halt behind me. My face was level with his chest. All I saw was the blue fabric of his shirt. That was the problem with my height. My eye level was usually looking at other people’s chests.

  “Excuse me,” I said as I tried to step around him.

  The tall muscular man held a beer in his hand. A goofy smile was spread across his face and his dark hair was a bit ruffled, as if he’d been in a fight. He was plastered. Oh great. This was the last thing I needed.

  As I stepped to the side he moved so that he could stop me from going around him.

  “Whoa. Where are you headed, pretty lady? Why don’t you dance with me?”

  I stared at him for a moment. He’d instantly make me angry. I was just trying to find Grandma Honey.

  “We’re headed to the ladies’ room.” I pointed and attempted a smile.

  He eyed me up and down. “Okay, I’ll be waiting for you.”

  There was no way I was dancing with this guy. My mother and Mary Jane glared at the drunken partygoer. He finally moved out of the way and allowed us to go by. I’d only taken a few steps when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone dancing. I stopped in my tracks. Again, Mary Jane and my mother almost ran over me.

  “What are you stopping for now?” my mother asked.

  Grandma Honey wasn’t in the ladies’ room.

  I pointed. “Grandma Honey is dancing with that guy.”

  We stood in silence with our mouths dropped. Grandma Honey was waving her arms around and shaking her hips.

  “Should she really be moving her hips like that? What if she falls?” Mary Jane asked.

  “Hip replacement surgery did wonders for Grandma Honey,” I said.

  I pushed through the crowd and to the dance floor. Mary Jane and my mother were behind me.

  “Grandma Honey,” I yelled. “What are you doing out here?”

  She ignored me, but I knew she knew I was there. Her dance partner looked my way and I glared at him.

  I wrapped my hand around Grandma Honey’s arm. “We have to go now.”

  The guy held his hands up while I pulled Grandma Honey away.

  “Don’t even try to stop me, buddy,” I warned.

  Once off the dance floor, Grandma Honey said, “Why did you do that? I was having fun.”

  “We didn’t come for fun, grandma. We came to find Joy.” I weaved around a couple who were making some questionable dance moves.

  “I was looking for Joy on the dance floor.” Grandma Honey pointed.

  “Well, she’s not out there. She doesn’t live in the nightclub,” I said.

  “How do you know?” Grandma Honey asked.

  “While you were shaking your groove thing out there we were at the bar asking about Joy. She owns this bar, but doesn’t live here,” I said.

  “Oh.” Grandma Honey said through pursed lips as she continued to sway to the music. “Well, I don’t want to leave. I’m having fun.”

  “We have to go now, mother,” my mother said.

  “Hello, pretty lady.” The male voice said from over my shoulder.

  Uh oh, the drunken guy was back. When he reached out to grab me, Grandma Honey swung a fist at the guy. He ducked as we stared in shock. What would he do next? His stunned reaction soon turned to anger. Mary Jane jumped out his back and my mother started poking him in the arm. He moved his arms around as if trying to swat away flies. This of course caught the attention of a couple of bouncers. They rushed over and pulled everyone off the drunken guy. I had joined in the melee now. I had to get Mary Jane, Grandma Honey, and my mother away from his somehow. The next thing I knew the club staff had tossed us out the back door.

  Grandma Honey straightened her clothing. “Well, that’s another thing off my bucket list.”

  We hurried toward the car before anything else happened. After making it back around the side of the building, we reached the car and climbed in. Thank goodness we we
re safe now.

  Releasing a deep breath, I buckled my seatbelt. “If Joy owns that building, then it means she probably just wanted to buy Mr. Sutherland’s place for herself.”

  “Maybe she wanted to open another nightclub,” Mary Jane said.

  “Thank goodness we got out of there without bodily injury,” I said.

  “It was a close call,” Mary Jane said. “By the way, Grandma Honey, you have some serious dance moves.”

  “My brain will never get rid of that image,” my mother said as she pulled away from the curb.

  “I’m just glad she doesn’t know what twerking is,” I said.

  Chapter 20

  I had to do something to relieve my stress, so I slipped on my black yoga pants, t-shirt, and slipped into my sneakers. I was headed out to the park to do a bit of yoga in the relaxing natural surroundings.

  With my water bottle in hand, I headed down the sidewalk. I figured if this didn’t help me nothing would. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and warm temperatures, so I tried to let my mind think about the beauty around me. The park wasn’t a long distance from my house, so within a short time I reached the path that led to a small area surrounded by trees. There was an open green space area where I could place my mat down and stretch.

  When I reached the area, I was surprised to see someone else already there. Not that I’d thought it would be secluded, but who was there shocked me. Detective Monroe? I never thought he would be here doing yoga. I wanted to turn around to get out of there before he saw me, but in that split second our eyes met. I knew it was too late. He looked just as shocked to see me. I continued down the path until I reached him.

  “I guess you’re surprised to see me,” he said.

  He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, which gave me a better view of his fit physique. This was a different look from the suit he usually wore. This was definitely more casual, but I liked that look just as much as I liked the professional look. Actually, I thought he looked good in everything he wore. I bet he was dashingly handsome in a tuxedo. Focus, Reese, focus.

  “Do you come here often?” he asked.

  “As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve never seen you here.”

  He shrugged. “Well, this is a new thing for me.”

  “Really? When did you decide to do yoga?” I asked.

  “A couple days ago.”

  “So, how’s it working out for you?”

  “Not so great,” he said with a laugh. “I had no idea this was so hard.”

  “It’s tough, but I’m sure you’ll improve. Do you take a class?”

  “Do you do a class?” he asked.

  “Usually every week, but then I like to come here on nice days. I figured today would be a perfect day to try to relax.”

  “After what you’ve been through that’s understandable,” he said.

  “Is that the reason why you started?”

  “Partly. Plus, I figured I need to be more flexible if I want to run after criminals.” He smiled.

  “I hadn’t thought of that. That’s a good point,” I said with a laugh.

  “Do you want to join me here? Maybe you can show me the correct way to do this.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. This could be embarrassing. I did yoga, but that didn’t mean I was good at it. Undoubtedly, I would be completely awkward. I knew that I would mess up if I was in front of him. To be honest, I was nervous. With the way he looked at me though, how could I say no? He knew I was here for yoga. I had a mat under my arm and a water bottle in my hand. I couldn’t exactly say that I was out for a jog. And I didn’t have a dog that I was walking.

  “Sure,” I said with a smile.

  Had I hesitated too long before answering? Too late now. I placed the mat down on the ground. He got back onto his mat as well. How cute was it that he had a mat?

  “I’ll just follow your lead,” he said.

  “Sure, that’ll be fine,” I said, again trying to sound as if that wasn’t the worst thing possible.

  I started off with the big toe pose, but I couldn’t help glance over at him. He was really concentrating. That was adorable too. I supposed this wasn’t so bad after all. I hadn’t made any mistakes or fallen on my face. Yet. It was still early and that could happen soon. I moved on to another pose and he followed my lead. He moved with ease. It didn’t seem as if he’d never done yoga before. I supposed he was just a natural at it. It had taken me a long time to build up to this level. I wasn’t bad, but I still considered myself a novice. I’d never been the athletic type anyway, so anything physical like this was always a struggle for me. Nonetheless, I gave it a shot anyway. Number one for me was to stay healthy.

  Just then when I looked over at the detective, he fell to his knees. I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked over at me and laughed too.

  “I told you I wasn’t very good at this.”

  “You’re doing great,” I said.

  It was hard to concentrate though with him beside me looking so handsome. I had that butterfly feeling in my stomach. As hard as I tried not to I kept looking over at him to see if he was watching me. I noticed he was occasionally looking my way as well. Was he feeling the same thing? Probably it was just me. I needed to focus. I tried looking straight ahead and not over at him, but that only lasted for about thirty seconds before I caught myself looking yet again. He might think I was weird, but I could just pretend that I was checking on his form. Yes, that was it. I was just trying to make sure that my student had it right.

  We had been doing this for a while and I wasn’t sure that I could handle much more. I collapsed onto the mat.

  “Oh, thank goodness. I wasn’t sure how long you were going to put me through that torture.” He fell onto the mat.

  “You mean it’s torture being around me?” I quirked an eyebrow.

  “Not being around you, but just trying to make those poses.”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks when he said that.

  “Well, I don’t want to cause you too much pain on the first try,” I said, cutting off words. I’d said ‘on the first try’ as if we would do this all the time. Why had I opened my mouth? Sometimes things came out before I ever even realized what I was saying.

  “You said you wanted to go to that class with me…” Why was I still talking? He hadn’t said he wanted to go to a class with me.

  “I’d love that,” he said. “But I kinda like having you as my one-on-one instructor.”

  Okay. Yeah, that was definitely flirting. I couldn’t misread that. Or maybe I could. I easily misread things. Not this time though. No, I was going to take that as a compliment. He was flirting.

  I sat up on the mat and he sat in the same position across from me on his mat.

  “I know this great place with smoothies, if you’d like to get one,” I said.

  Why did I keep asking him things like this? He jumped to his feet quickly.

  “I’d love that,” he said.

  “Great,” I said with a smile again.

  I couldn’t believe he’d said yes. I got up from my mat and rolled it up, then grabbed the water bottle. The detective and I headed down the path toward the entrance to the park. The smoothie shop was just a short distance beyond that. We fell into step with each other.

  “So how’s business been?” he asked.

  Maybe that wasn’t such a good question to start off with under the circumstances.

  “I suppose it’s been all right.”

  “I guess that was not a great question to ask. Sorry about that,” he said.

  “Oh, it’s okay. I’m sure things will turn around as soon as you find the killer. Or you know what I mean.”

  “We will find him. Don’t worry. I have confidence that your business will be great now.”

  “Yeah? You want some candy? I can get you some chocolate.”

  “Sure, I would love chocolate,” he said. “My favorite chocolate is dark… or milk.”

  I had hoped he’d pick dark because that was my favori
te. The fact that he said both though was even better.

  “Good answer,” I said.

  Up ahead the sign for the smoothie shop came into view.

  “It’s right over there,” I said.

  “How come I never saw that place before?” he asked.

  “It’s fairly new,” I said.

  When we reached the shop, he held the door open for me. We entered into the little café. There was a menu board with every imaginable kind of combination for smoothies, from strawberry banana to chocolate and peanut butter and everything in between.

  “What are you having?” he asked.

  “I think I’ll have banana and chocolate with kale added. Have you ever had that?”

  “No, I haven’t,” he said with a scrunched face.

  “Oh, you’ll love it,” I said.

  “Kale in chocolate and banana?”

  “You won’t even taste it,” I said. “Trust me.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” he said with a smile.

  We placed our orders and waited for the smoothies. While waiting he asked me about what had started my interest in a candy shop.

  “I guess I just wanted something that reminded me of the simpler times of my childhood. All the bright colors and the sweetness. It’s just a lot of fun.”

  “I think that shows through in your personality. You know you have that whole sweet, colorful thing going on.”

  I couldn’t hold back a smile. “I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere.”

  “It’s definitely a compliment.”

  “The sweet part I’m not sure about, but the colorful yes.”

  He laughed. “Trust me, it’s a compliment.”

  The worker handed us our smoothies and we headed for the door. I watched as he took a sip from the straw. “Not bad,” he said.

  We had just stepped out onto the sidewalk when a gunshot rang out. It was a distinctive sound and I would recognize it anywhere. It brought back memories of the day Mr. Sutherland had been murdered. It was like standing in my shop all over again, though this time I felt as if the bullet had been aimed for me. The detective grabbed me and tossed me onto the sidewalk like I was a feather. He was on top of me and had his gun pulled out, aiming it. His target I wasn’t sure about.