“I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all. I thought you were working.”
He shook his head as he frowned. “I can’t focus. This afternoon I nearly cut my thumb off on the table saw, so I decided maybe I should be doing something else. Hodges came by to see me this afternoon at my shop.”
“What did he want?” My distinct dislike for the sheriff had done nothing but intensify over the past few months. It seemed that every time I turned around, he was accusing me or someone I cared about of murder.
“I think the fool’s expecting me to confess to killing Charlie Cobb. Can you believe that?”
“Nothing that man does surprises me.”
David walked up front from the back where he’d been working on a new set of vases for our display. “Hey, Bill, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Focused on that art, no doubt.” Bill was an artisan in his own way, much like David, and the two had formed a bond between wood and clay.
“I try. Carolyn, I need to scoot. I know I owe you some time, but I was hoping I could come in on my day off and make some up.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
David grabbed his jacket, and I said, “David, remember what we talked about.”
“I’m going to take care of it the second I get home. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” I said.
After he was gone, Bill asked, “What was that about?”
“David’s got problems with his love life. I suppose you could call it a problem. Annie’s leaving for college, and there’s another young lady waiting in the wings to take her place.”
Bill grinned. “I remember problems like that.”
“So, which was I? Did you have someone stashed away as your backup, or was that my role?”
He took me in his arms and hugged me. “Nobody could take your place, and you know it, so stop fishing around for compliments. Let’s grab a few steaks and grill out tonight. What do you say?”
My husband loved to fiddle with his charcoal grill, and I was always delighted when he offered to cook anything that wasn’t breakfast themed. “You’ve got a deal. We can go by the store on the way home. Should we take the truck or my car?”
“It’d be kind of hard to ride home in the truck, since it’s back at the house.”
I looked at him and asked, “Then how did you get here? Don’t tell me the sheriff brought you into town to question you? He’s gone too far. We need to find a way to have him removed from office.”
Bill chuckled. “Take it easy. Before you plan your coup, you should probably know that I walked here from the house.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you exercised? On purpose?”
“I needed some fresh air. It’s not that far, and I’ve done it before. Stop making such a fuss.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great.” I knew my husband must be troubled if he chose a long walk to clear his head. The sheriff’s scrutiny must have been weighing on him more than he was willing to admit. I’d have to crank up the efforts of the Firing Squad and see if we could bring our investigation to a head.
He glanced toward the back. “How are you managing without a bathroom?”
“So far it’s just a little inconvenient, but I don’t know how long I can wait before I get it back.”
Bill nodded. “I was over at the inspector’s office, and they treated me like some kind of villain. I’m not sure when we’re going to be able to finish it.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll manage. Let’s take care of finding the murderer first, and then we’ll deal with our plumbing problems.”
He nodded, but I knew that it was one more thing troubling my husband. Our lives lately seemed to be a series of loose ends, and it would be nice to tie one or two up before they overwhelmed us.
An hour later, Bill was out back fiddling with the charcoal, and I was inside making a salad and trying not to laugh at his intense focus on getting the perfect pyramid of briquettes, when the telephone rang.
“Hello,” I said as I tucked the telephone into the crook of my shoulder so I could still work.
“Carolyn, it’s Butch. Do you have a second?”
“Sure. What’s up, Butch?”
“I just had a talk with Rick Cobb, and I thought you’d like to know what I found out.”
“That was fast.”
“What can I say? He was eager to talk to me.”
“I can’t imagine under what circumstances he’d be willing to share anything with anybody. You didn’t have to rough him up, did you?”
“Carolyn, I keep telling you, you’ve seen too many gangster movies and read too many mystery novels. I didn’t lay a finger on him. Well, not a hand. Okay, maybe a hand, but my boots were nowhere near him.”
He was making fun of me; it was clear in his voice. Besides, Butch was right. I couldn’t very well give him a set of guidelines on his behavior when he was doing something purely as a favor to me. “I get it: don’t ask, don’t tell. What did he say?”
“Mostly he backed up what you told me. He was dating Rose, but he dumped her the second his brother died. The guy’s a real piece of work, isn’t he? A lawyer told him he’d get every dime after his brother died, but he swore he didn’t know that before Charlie was murdered.”
“And you believe him?”
“Let’s just say I had no reason not to. By the time we got to that part, he was pretty much willing to tell me whatever I asked him. I think the extra windfall came as a surprise to him. Besides, there was something in his voice when he talked about his brother that made me think Rick actually liked the guy. They were tighter than what folks have been saying. I still have some doubts about him, but what can I say? I don’t really have an answer for you.”
“Then what’s your gut telling you? Is he innocent?” I asked as I finished making the salad.
“I’m nowhere near ready to say that. I just thought you should know my general impression of the guy.”
“Thanks, Butch. I appreciate your help on this.”
“Not a problem, Carolyn. You know that. I’ve got to go. There’s something I have to do in Boston that I can’t miss.”
“It’s nothing illicit, is it? Butch, I worry about you.”
He chuckled. “You don’t have to. My uncle’s flying in from Virginia. He’s got a layover in Boston, and we’re grabbing some dinner and catching up on old times.”
“What’s he do, or shouldn’t I ask?”
“I’m not ashamed of him, even though he is the black sheep of the family.”
“Is he a criminal, too?” I asked before the impact of the words hit me. “Wait a second. I didn’t mean it like that.”
Butch said affably, “You’ll need to say something a lot worse than that to get me upset. No, Uncle Pat didn’t go into any of the family businesses. He went to law school, if you can believe that.”
“And that made him the black sheep in your family?”
“You should see my family.” Butch laughed.
After we hung up, Bill walked back inside. “Who was that on the telephone?”
“Butch has been doing some investigating for me,” I admitted.
Normally Bill hated it when I poked my nose into police business, but he was remarkably silent at the moment, now that his neck was on the line.
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” he said after a second’s hesitation.
“No, there’s nothing I can think of. I’ve got a good team put together, and between us all, we have Maple Ridge pretty much covered.”
Bill nodded. “I just feel so helpless about all of this.”
I hugged him. “Don’t worry. We’re going to get through this.”
“Yeah, I know you think so. The coals are just about ready.” He grabbed the steaks and took them out to the grill while I set the table. I wasn’t sure what my next step should be, now that Butch had given a mixed review. That didn’t mean the bartender was innocent, but for now I was going to go with Butch’s ge
neral impression. As for Rose, I believed her when she told me that she hadn’t been dating Charlie, and if that was the case, she didn’t deserve to be under my scrutiny for murder, unless I was ready to believe she killed the man so her lover would finally have enough money to marry her. Right now, that idea was too far out there to consider.
That left Jackson and Nate on my suspect list, and with Nate’s secondary connection to the dead building inspector, it was time I spoke with the coffee shop owner again. It would wait until morning, though. For now, I was going to enjoy a quiet dinner at home with my husband.
At least I hoped it would be quiet.
Chapter 11
“Carolyn, if you keep coming in this early, I’m going to have to put you on the payroll.” Nate Walker was in a chipper mood, in direct opposition to my own. I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and the night before, Bill had gotten me sucked into a movie that I had to see the ending of. Hannah was leaving for Italy later today, so yet again, I’d given myself plenty of time to talk to Nate. Maybe too much.
“I’m not here just for the coffee, even though I love it,” I said. “Nate, we need to talk again. I’m not happy with the way we left things yesterday.”
“Now why do you have to go and ruin a perfectly good morning like that?”
There were a few other early birds in the coffee shop but not enough to require any attention from the owner.
“The sooner you ease the suspicions around you, the faster I get off your back and move on to somebody else,” I said, probably a little more honestly than I should have.
“I guess that’s worth a few minutes of my time. Carolyn, for somebody without any official police standing, you surely do manage to make a lot of waves in this little town.”
“What can I say? It’s a gift. Would you like to join me at a table, or should we go outside again?”
“Let’s go over here,” he said, pointing to a table that was out of the way. “But keep your voice down, okay? I don’t want the world knowing my business.”
“That’s fine with me,” I said. Hopefully we’d be able to get through this without too many fireworks.
“So, what do you want to know. I’ve thought a lot about it, and I’m willing to talk to you now.”
“Let’s start with Bob Halloway.”
He looked truly surprised by the reference. “Winnie’s cousin? What about him?”
At least Nate hadn’t tried to deny knowing him. “How well did you know him? I understand you were a pallbearer at his funeral.”
Nate nodded. “They had trouble getting enough guys, so I stepped in at the last second. It was no big deal. We weren’t all that close, but it was kind of a family duty I was willing to perform.”
“And you don’t hold any resentment about the way he died?”
Perplexed, Nate replied “Carolyn, what does that have to do with anything?” Before I could say anything, he said suddenly, “Wait a second. You don’t think Bob’s death had anything to do with Charlie’s murder, do you? I told you, I hardly knew the guy, and what I did know, I didn’t care that much about. He was loud, and he had a habit of telling the most inappropriate jokes in all of the wrong places. We’d lost touch after Winnie died. To answer your question, no, I didn’t kill Charlie Cobb to avenge my dead wife’s cousin. Was that it?”
He started to get up, and I put a hand on his arm. “No, there’s something else. I understand the sheriff spent some time investigating you just after your wife’s death.”
Nate’s face went rigid as I said it, and I knew I’d pushed him a little too far yet again.
“What do you want to know?” His words were icy.
“What really happened the night Winnie died?”
Nate just shook his head. “You know what? I just changed my mind. I won’t talk about that ever again, not with you and not with anybody else.”
When he stood this time, I made no move to stop him. What if the guy was innocent in all of this? How would I feel if I were in his shoes? I had to be careful. Nate deserved that much at least.
He walked around the counter, and I left the coffee shop. That was the last questioning session I was ever going to have with Nate if I could help it. If he was hiding something, he was too good at it for me. And if he wasn’t, I didn’t want to push the man into the past any more than I already had. His memories of his wife were all he had left of her, and I wasn’t about to diminish them in his eyes.
“There you are,” Hannah said when she walked into Fire at Will an hour later. There were two coffee cups in her hands. “You stood me up again.”
In my haste to get away, I’d completely forgotten about her. “I’m so sorry.”
Hannah handed me a cup. “I understand you and Nate had a little chat this morning.”
“He told you that?” I asked, then took a sip of coffee.
“No, but one of his employees did. It appears the man has departed the premises yet again. You seem to have that effect on him lately, according to the cashier.”
“What can I say? It’s a talent I rarely use, repelling men.”
“What did you two talk about this time? Wait, I don’t want to know. The last thing I need in my life is to get dragged into your little hit squad.”
“It’s called the Firing Squad, and you know it.”
“Fine, call it what you will, but you and your little group leave quite a wake around town. You seem to leave bruised feelings wherever you go.”
I frowned. “Do I sense a hint of criticism in your voice?” “Me? Never. It must just be your imagination.”
“Hannah, when Bill’s freedom and his reputation are at stake, I’ll ruffle as many feathers as I have to so I can clear his name,” I said, despite my reservations about pushing Nate again. Hannah didn’t have to know about that.
She nodded. “I know how you are, Carolyn. I’d expect nothing less from you.” Hannah looked around the shop. “Where’s my son this morning?”
I glanced at the clock and realized that he should have been in ten minutes earlier. “He must be on the late shift today.”
“And that’s something you don’t know about? What’s he been up to lately?”
No way on earth I was going there with her. The best way to answer her inquiry was to meet her with another question, as many times as I could get away with it. “Why do you ask?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. He seemed particularly happy after work yesterday.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“I suppose so. I just wish I knew why.” She was troubled, that much was clear.
I knew the reason for David’s new and brighter mood, but it wasn’t my place to divulge it. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“Probably because I’m afraid of the answer I’ll get.” She moved to the door, then said, “Next time you stand me up, I’m charging the coffee to you.”
“That’s fair,” I said with a grin. “Thanks, Hannah. I’m sorry I missed our usual get-together.”
“Please, I’m only teasing. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Have a safe trip, but be sure to have fun, too.”
“I will,” she said.
“Bye.”
Two minutes after she was gone, David walked in. “Is the coast clear?”
I tapped my foot on the floor. “David Atkins, are you actually ducking your own mother?”
“Let’s just say I need a little more space than she’s willing to give me right now,” he admitted. “Her time in Italy is somtehing we both need right now.”
“Did you talk to Annie?”
He nodded glumly. “That’s why I’m late. We were talking until midnight and I didn’t get much sleep.”
“I take it things didn’t go well.”
He rubbed his eyes. “You should get a crystal ball. Let’s just say I don’t have to worry about her looking me up the next time she comes back to town.”
I suddenly felt sorry for Annie. “She’s hurt, but she’ll get over
it. You did the right thing.”
“I know, but it didn’t make breaking it off with her any easier.”
I patted his shoulder. “It’s tough being a grownup, isn’t it?”
“Does it ever get any easier?”
I smiled at him. “Not yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if it ever does.”
Jenna came in around lunchtime, but I was with a group of customers and couldn’t talk to her right away. I nodded toward her, then held up five fingers to indicate I had five more minutes before I’d be finished. I was helping a group of seven—three adults and four children—paint their own plates. If the application process was any indication of how the finished products would look, I wasn’t sure they’d take their pieces of art after they were fired, even though they’d already paid for them. That was why I always insisted on cash up front. A lot of customers never bothered to come back to pick up their wares, or refused to take them once they saw the results. It wasn’t that hard to do, decorating a plate, a mug, or a saucer, but some folks seemed to have the knack of ruining them without trying. I didn’t have very high hopes for the group at hand.
“Give me a few days,” I told them as I held the front door open for the last stragglers, “then you can pick up your pieces.”
After they were gone, Jenna said, “That looked like fun.” “Well, appearances can be deceiving,” I said as I cleaned the tables and tried to put the paints back in some kind of order. “I’m not sure what they’re going to say once they see the finished products, but at least they had a good time doing them. What brings you by?”
“Can’t I just come to work on a project of my own?”
“Of course you can,” I said as I washed my hands. I had to scrub all the way to my elbows, though truthfully, that wasn’t an unusual occurrence at my shop. “What would you like to do?”
“Take you out to lunch,” she said.
“What about making something here first?”
“I was teasing, Carolyn. Can you get away for a bit? I was thinking about going to the Waterfront.”
The Waterfront was a restaurant that was out of my price range on a good day, and there was no way I could pay for my meal without forgoing some other luxury, like water or electricity. “Thanks, but I’m not sure I have that much time.”
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