When The Rooster Kills (A Rainy Day Mystery Book 2)

by Jeff Shelby

  “Well, I sure hope I get a taste.” He glanced at the pans. “Looks like blueberry bread?”

  “Banana, too,” I said, holding up the other. I slid them into the oven and set the timer. “And of course you’re welcome to stop by any time for a slice.”

  It wasn’t the invitation he was looking for.

  “And the later one?” he asked. “Will I be free to stop any time for that one, too?”

  Divine inspiration struck. “No, that one is spoken for. An event I’m attending with Pastor Murphy.”

  His eyebrows disappeared under his hairline. “Oh?”

  I smiled. “Yes, he invited me to a pastors association dinner, and I accepted.”

  “So…a date?” Gunnar tried to keep his tone light.

  “It's...an engagement.”

  “An engagement.”

  “He didn't want to go to the dinner alone. I offered to go with him.”

  “So. It's a date.”

  “An engagement.”

  He stared at me, his expression unreadable. I waited with bated breath for him to say something, or for something to cross his features that might tell me how he was truly feeling.

  But he just pointed at the oven as he headed toward the door. “Well, you two enjoy that bread on your date.”

  The front door opened and then closed behind him.

  I turned to look at the oven. The light was on inside the oven and the two pans were side by side.

  “It's an engagement,” I said out loud to the baking bread.

  The bread didn't seem to believe me anymore than Gunnar.

  THIRTY

  I spent the afternoon waiting for the bread to bake and doing the dishes and trying not to think about Gunnar or Declan.

  As the bread cooled, I headed outside and finished the weeding and planted the daisies I’d bought from Toby’s outdoor garden section late last week. They were a little wilted, the leaves tinged brown, but I was sure getting them into the ground and giving them a good watering would be just what they needed to perk back up.

  By the time I’d finished with my outdoor chores, I was hot and tired and hungry again. I cut a piece of banana bread, slathered it with butter and ate it in two bites.

  I glanced around the kitchen. There were dirty dishes in the sink and the last thing I wanted to do was clean up and start all over again with making dinner for one. I had nothing left to make a sandwich, and no leftovers to throw in the microwave, either. And I’d never gotten the burger I’d been craving earlier at the Wicked Wich.

  So I scrubbed the dirt from my hands, changed into clean clothes, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and headed into town.

  It was still early, not quite five o’clock, so I knew it wouldn’t be busy inside.

  I was right. There was an older couple parked in one of the booths, and Martin was sitting at the bar, finishing the last bite of a burger. His face lit up when he saw me, and he waved a hearty hello. I glanced around for Dawn before waving back. She was in the back room, barely visible through the door’s rectangular window.

  I stole a quick peek at the grill. Mikey was right where he was supposed to be, flipping burgers with one hand and shaking the fry basket with the other. He had three patties already sizzling and my mouth watered at the thought of finally being able to eat one.

  I slid onto a bar stool a few spots over from Martin. I didn’t want Dawn to see me and think I was getting friendly with her husband. We’d already been down that path before and had forged a somewhat tentative truce.

  “Hiya, Rainy,” Martin said, a smile stretching across his face. “How are you?”

  He didn’t really want to know how I was—no one did when they asked that question—so I murmured a quick response and asked him the same.

  “Just fine.” He popped a fry in his mouth. “Doing some local hauling, so no overnights for a few weeks.”

  “I bet Dawn is happy about that,” I said.

  As if on cue, his wife appeared. Without a word, she grabbed a glass and filled it with diet soda, then slid it in my direction.

  “You eating tonight or just here to flirt with my husband?”

  There was no venom in her voice, so I thought she was joking, but I wasn’t about to mess with her. She’d already tried to run me off the road in a fit of jealous rage once before.

  “Eating. Only eating,” I told her with a smile.

  She didn’t smile back but she didn’t scowl, either, so I called that a win. “You want Mikey’s special? Green olives and Thousand Island dressing.”

  “Sure,” I said. What I really wanted was the cream cheese-stuffed burger, but it sounded like that was off the Specials list. “And fries.”

  She nodded and scribbled it on a pad. With one last glance in my direction, a gaze that warned me to keep my distance from Martin, she headed toward the grill and clipped my order above Mikey’s head. He looked at it, then turned to scan the restaurant to see who placed the order. His eyes found me and he nodded in greeting. I waved back.

  Martin used a fry to scrape the last of the ketchup from his plate. He drained his glass of water, then wiped his mouth with his napkin and tossed it on to his plate.

  “I best be going,” he said. “4 am comes mighty early these days.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Is that what time you have to head out for work?”

  He nodded. “But I’m done by 4 o’clock, too. In the afternoon. Just enough time to swing by here to see my wife, grab a bite to eat and then head home to bed.”

  It sounded like a miserable existence to me, working odd hours and never seeing my spouse. But then I remembered who he was married to and figured he might have drawn a pretty sweet deal with the new working arrangement.

  He waved and then headed to the side of the bar to say goodbye to Dawn. She allowed a quick peck on the cheek but then turned away and was back to business.

  Mikey had my burger ready a few minutes later. He delivered it himself.

  “Here you go,” he said. The burger was still sizzling.

  “Thanks.” I took the slice of onion off the top bun and set it to the side. “Good to see you back at work.”

  He looked a little sheepish. “It’s good to be back.”

  “I bet Dawn is happy to have you.”

  “I don’t think Dawn is ever happy. Relieved is more like it. She doesn’t have to run the grill and the bar.”

  I nodded.

  He stood there for a minute, watching me.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  He pursed his lips and looked away from me. “I don’t know.”

  I waited.

  “I just…” He wiped his hands on the apron tied to his waist. It was streaked with grime, and I wasn’t sure he was accomplishing much, other than transferring grease from one surface to another. “Things are a little weird.”

  “Here at work?” I asked. I was sure they were. After all, he’d gotten into a screaming match with a customer and Dawn had sent him home, threatening to fire him. That was enough to make anyone feel a little off.

  “No,” he said. His eyes darted in Dawn’s direction before settling back on me. “I mean at home.”

  “With your grandma? Or your sister?”

  “No.” He leaned across the bar, his face inches from mine. His voice was barely a whisper. “The sheriff came and talked to me last night.”

  “He did?”

  “He thinks I might have some information about where Leslie is. I told him I didn’t.”

  “And that was it?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  I was surprised the sheriff hadn’t flat-out accused him of being Leslie’s lover, but I didn’t want to just spit it out.

  I didn’t get the chance to explain. Because he leaned in even closer and his voice dropped lower when he whispered, “And I think someone is following me.”

  I felt the guilt rising up in me. I knew who was following him. Teddy, under Sheriff Lewis’s instructions. In his squad car th
at was sometimes “on the fritz.”

  “Who?” I asked, keeping my tone as neutral as possible.

  Mikey shook his head, then ran his hand over his short hair. “I don’t know. I’ve seen this car twice now, parked across from my house. Always at night. A single person inside.”

  “Was it there last night when Sheriff Lewis came by?”

  “No, but right after. Like ten minutes later, I’d say. I know because I’d just gotten Grams her nighttime meds and was closing the blinds in the kitchen when I saw it. It was the same car I’d seen the night before. Same spot.”

  “What kind of car?” I asked.

  “Just a regular car,” he said.

  “There are lots of different kinds of cars. Is it a truck? A two-door? A convertible?”

  “No, nothing like that. It’s just like…a sedan or something. You know, four doors, nothing special.”

  “Color?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t ever tell. The streetlights on our road aren’t the greatest, and this person manages to park just outside the light. Could be blue, could be gray.”

  I wondered if the car Teddy was driving was unmarked.

  “Have you told anyone about it? Maybe mention it to the sheriff?” It probably wasn’t the best advice, given the fact that I knew he was actually keeping Mikey under surveillance, but it would be a great way to let Sheriff Lewis know that his deputy wasn’t exactly being discreet.

  “No.” He cast another quick look at Dawn. She was at the tap, filling a couple mugs. “Not sure it’s anything. Probably just me being paranoid.”

  “Mikey, I have an order,” Dawn called.

  He sighed. “Duty calls.” He turned to head back to the grill.

  “Hang on,” I said.

  He stopped.

  “Just one thing,” I said.

  He waited.

  I hated the question I was about to ask him. “Yesterday when I was at your house.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Were you…” I swallowed. “Were you telling me the truth? The absolute truth?”

  His expression reflected confusion. “About Leslie?”

  I nodded. “About everything. Your past with her. What your relationship is like with her now.”

  “I don’t have a relationship with her now.” He said this with a note of regret.

  “And the stuff about your sister and your mom and your grandma?”

  He tilted his head and frowned. “Yeah, it’s true. Why would I lie about any of that?”

  “No reason,” I mumbled. I picked up my burger and dressing oozed out the sides, coating my fingers. “I just wanted to ask.”

  “Look, I’m not perfect,” Mikey said, frowning. “I can be lazy and unmotivated sometimes, and I lose my temper more often that I’d like. But there’s one thing I don’t do. Lie.”

  “Except for that one night when Gunnar and I found you by Leslie’s car…” I hated saying it, but it was true. He had lied then.

  I expected him to dispute this or explain it away. It’s what most people did.

  But he just ran his hand over his head and sighed. “I guess I do lie sometimes,” he admitted. “Which makes me a pretty crappy person.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it does. I don’t like liars, and it looks like I’m one of them.” His eyes were dark, his expression troubled. “I don’t have much to offer, then, in the way of getting you to believe me. But I know how I feel about Leslie. I would never hurt her. Not in a million years. And hopefully, when everything is said and done and she’s back home where she belongs—because we are going to find her—you’ll know I was telling the truth. At least about this.”

  He headed back to the grill then and I watched him go.

  I did believe him. Maybe it was naïve of me to do so, but I couldn’t help it. He struck me as a kind, decent person, and despite the fib he’d told when he was lurking by Leslie’s car, I truly thought he’d been on the up and up with me since then.

  Which meant one thing.

  The sheriff was on a wild goose chase.

  The only problem was, I couldn’t convince him of this. The sheriff wouldn’t listen to me even if I had the abduction on video.

  Which meant Leslie’s kidnapper was still on the loose…and wasn’t even being considered a suspect.

  THIRTY ONE

  I devoured my burger in five minutes, the fries soon after.

  But even still, I lingered at the bar, letting Dawn refill my glass of soda a couple of times. People filtered into the restaurant, even some people I knew. Trudy, the receptionist at the bank, strolled in with someone who I assumed was her husband, a tall, beefy man wearing overalls and a flannel. Her beehive was teased a foot above her head and she was dressed as though she’d just gotten off work.

  Mabel, the elderly singer from St. Simon’s also came in for dinner, accompanied by a guy who was probably in his twenties. Skinny jeans, a black band t-shirt, his brown hair dyed blond at the tips. I pegged him for her grandson. Or maybe her great-grandson, considering she was over ninety.

  And as I sat there, sipping my soda and people watching, I thought about Mikey and the sheriff’s belief that he was the one responsible for Leslie’s disappearance. I thought about Sheriff Lewis’s stubbornness and sheer ineptitude. And I thought about Mikey and what might happen to him if that bumbling man decided to charge him with a crime.

  He’d lose his job. Assuming he could post bail, there was no guarantee Dawn would hold his job for him. Heck, she’d probably fire him just for being a suspect.

  He’d have no one to take care of his grandmother. From what he’d told me, he was the only person who had personal contact with her. Who would bring her the pills she needed? Get her to appointments? It wasn’t going to be Charlotte, Mikey’s sister.

  I didn’t know what to think about the emotions I was feeling. Somehow, I’d managed to shift my concern for Leslie to Mikey. I wasn’t nearly as invested in finding her as I was in keeping him out from under suspicion. I had no loyalty to Leslie or her family. But I had to remind myself that I didn’t have any to Mikey, either. He cooked my burgers at the local restaurant; that was the extent of my friendship with him. Sure, I’d followed him home and learned a little more of his history, but that didn’t make us best buddies or anything.

  I should be worried about Leslie, focused on doing whatever I could do to help find her.

  Instead, I wanted to find a way to clear Mikey’s name and let him get on with his life without having the sheriff skulking around, waiting to pounce on trounced-up, false charges based on inaccurate assumptions.

  So when I finally stepped outside of the Wicked Wich, defeated and depressed over the turn of events of the day, and saw Shawn disappearing behind the back of the hardware store across the street, I did the only thing I could think of.

  I chased after him.

  He was not fast.

  I was a middle-aged woman with a belly full of burger and soda, and I caught up with him easily.

  Of course, he also had ear buds in and had no idea I was following him until I reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, his arms up.

  I stepped back, throwing my own hands up, hoping he wasn’t going to strike first and look later.

  His hands froze in mid-air when he recognized me. He yanked the ear buds from his ears.

  “You scared me half to death!” he complained.

  I didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” He glanced around. We’d moved from the back of the hardware store to the bank parking lot, which was now deserted. It was still light out, and there were cars on the main road, but the lights in the bank were off and there was no one walking on the adjacent sidewalk.

  “What are you doing?” I repeated.

  “Uh, walking?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Why are you still here? In town?”

&n
bsp; “Because I’m looking for my girlfriend.”

  I gave him a disgusted look. “Which one?”

  “Both of them, actually.” He paused. “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m worried about Leslie. She wasn’t supposed to disappear! We had a plan!” He bounced from one foot to the other, clearly agitated. “And Tori wasn’t part of the plan. I told you, she’s not technically my girlfriend anymore. So I don’t know what the heck she’s doing here.”

  “Looking for you, apparently,” I said coolly.

  “You haven’t seen her, have you?” he asked. “I mean since yesterday?”

  “Why? Did you want to tell her you guys are broken up, or is Leslie’s disappearance another ‘break’ you can take advantage of?”

  “That’s not how it happened,” he said, frowning.

  “I don’t really care how you justify what you’ve done to those women,” I told him. “What I want to know is what’s really going on with you.”

  “I already told you,” he said defensively. “We came here to get money from Leslie’s stepdad. That was the plan. And then she disappeared. Poof, gone. That’s all I know. And then you tell me that Tori’s in town, looking for me. That’s all I have, lady. I’m just as much in the dark as you are.”

  I didn’t believe him. He knew something he wasn’t telling me. And since he didn’t have a good track record of telling the truth, I was bound and determined to get it out of him.

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  “Who?”

  “Leslie.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t know! I don’t even know where Tori is!” He took a deep breath. “I was actually hoping you could help me in that department.”

  “Help you?” I squeaked. “Why on earth would I help you?”

  “Because I asked you to.” He said it as more of a question than a statement. “Isn’t that what people do? Help each other out?”

  He was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe he was actually asking me to help him.

  “The last thing I would do is help you.”

  “Why?” he pouted. “I’d help you if you needed it.”

  I ignored him. “I stopped by the sheriff’s office today,” I told him.