by Lyndsey Cole
Zoe and Roxy skidded to a halt to sniff Jillian’s hand. “And who are these beauties?”
Hazel was still tongue tied so Annie introduced Roxy and explained how Hazel had just adopted Zoe from the animal shelter.
“Why am I not surprised that the first thing you did is get a dog?” Jillian said, clapping her hands together. “Robbie will be rolling over in his grave.” Jillian’s face turned serious. “I suppose he isn’t even buried yet, is he?”
Hazel shook her head. She put her arm around Jillian’s waist. “Let’s go inside and get Zoe settled so Annie can go home. I’ve already taken up way too much of her time.”
Annie trailed behind the mother and daughter with a million questions swirling in her head. Questions she couldn’t ask. Not yet.
Chapter 11
The drive back to Annie’s apartment gave her time to digest the events of the last few hours. Hazel had handed several books to Annie on her way out the door. Mysteries written by Summer Spring, her pen name. Annie wondered if the books would reveal anything about Hazel’s life.
Lights were on in Jason’s house which brought a smile to Annie’s lips. It was a treat to pull in and know someone was there looking forward to seeing her, probably even worrying about her.
She let herself in without knocking, hoping he had something planned for dinner. Soft jazz music was playing in the background and she could see the back of Jason’s head through the living room windows overlooking the porch.
Annie tiptoed quietly and peeked around the corner where he was sitting and reading. She gently covered his eyes with her hands. “Guess who?”
Jason’s warm fingers softly felt her hands and traveled up her bare arms. “Sarah?”
Annie jerked her hands away. “Who’s Sarah?”
Jason started to laugh as he pulled Annie into his lap. “Just teasing. Where have you been? I was just about to call out the cavalry to track you down.”
“Well,” Annie settled comfortably into Jason’s lap, “I had an interesting afternoon talking to Stacey Jordan, Tyler, Peter Hayworth and Hazel Benson.”
“I’m not sure I will like the sound of where those conversations went. I hope it had nothing to do with Robbie Benson’s death.”
“Maybe a tiny bit.” She leaned over and kissed his neck.
“Let’s get something to eat before you share all that information with me. How about a pizza and beer at the Fitzwilly Tavern?”
“I like the sound of that. I’ll need fifteen minutes to shower, change and feed Roxy and Smokey.”
Jason pushed the button on his watch. “Not one second longer.” He tried to swat her as she hustled through the door but his hand only met air.
When Annie took her stairs down two at a time, cleaned up and in comfortable clothes, Jason was leaning against his car keeping an eye on his watch. The buzzer went off exactly when Annie’s foot hit the bottom step. “Not bad,” he commented with a grin. “Very efficient, but I think your shirt is on inside-out.”
Annie looked down. “No it’s not.”
Jason grinned his handsome grin. “But your hair is still wet.”
“It will dry, and with this July humidity the curls will be unmanageable.” She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to crunch it into some sort of order.
Fitzwilly’s was crowded so they put their pizza order in and carried a couple of beers outside, finding one last empty table.
Annie sank down with a sigh. “It feels good to sit down and relax. It’s been an interesting day, to say the least. Do you want to hear the short version?”
Jason nodded and tasted his beer. “Do I have a choice?”
She shared the important parts of each conversation with Jason as he sat quietly waiting for her to finish. When she reached the part where she found out about Jillian, Annie hesitated.
“Go on, don’t leave anything out. It’s probably the best part,” Jason said.
Annie leaned as close to Jason as she could and lowered her voice. “Hazel has a daughter named Jillian and Robbie wouldn’t let them visit each other.”
Jason sat back. “That complicates the situation. Who do you think killed Robbie?”
Annie shook her head. “There’s plenty of people that will benefit from his death, but Hazel benefits the most. She gets to keep her land, get out from under the tyranny of her brother, and her daughter can live with her.” Annie sipped her beer. “She never showed any surprise or even a hint of sadness that Robbie is dead. It was weird.”
“What about Luke Carbone?”
“Do you think killing someone and no guarantee that Hazel would ever sign the papers would be worth the risk of losing everything if he gets caught?”
“What about Jillian?”
“She was friendly and relaxed. If she’s the killer because she wants to be in her mother’s life, she loses that if she’s caught.”
“Annie, people don’t kill someone expecting to get caught. They want something so badly, they think they’ll get away with it.”
“I suppose your right.”
The waitress set a big pizza between Jason and Annie. “Here ya go. One apple cheddar pizza with caramelized onions and walnuts. Enjoy. It’s my favorite.”
They each slid a piece onto their plate and waited for it to cool down.
Annie felt a hand on her shoulder. “Guess what I found today.” Martha pulled up a chair and joined them without waiting for an invitation.
“The bag I bought with the cats on it?” Annie asked hopefully, remembering her missing bag.
“Yeah. Someone found it next to a trash can and saw my label on the inside so she returned it to me. You need to take better care of your stuff, dear. I was afraid you didn’t like it but didn’t want to tell me.” Martha’s mouth pouted. “Mind if I have a piece of this pizza? The smell is making me drool.”
Jason slid the plate toward Martha. “Help yourself.”
After taking a small nibble from the edge of the slice of pizza, Annie said, “Don’t be ridiculous. I love that bag. Was there anything inside?”
“No, it was empty. Sorry. Did you lose anything important?”
“Maybe.”
Martha took a big bite. “This is delicious. I never had pizza without tomato sauce. Who knew it would be so awesome?” She took a sip from Annie’s beer. “How did Leona’s date go with that handsome guy?”
Jason asked the waitress to bring another beer so Martha could finish Annie’s.
“Not very well. He showed up at the café this morning and made the mistake of calling Leona, babe.”
Martha snickered. “I wish I was there to see that. Did he leave with a black eye?”
“No, closer to a broken arm. Danny escorted him out of the café with his arm twisted behind his back.” Annie caught a piece of cheese that was hanging off the side of her pizza. “I think Luke is up to no good here in town.
“That’s what Harry thinks too,” Martha said matter-of-factly. “He’s been trying to buy Robbie Benson’s land.”
Annie thanked the waitress for the new beer. “Where does Harry get his information about Robbie Benson?”
“He’s friends with Peter Hayworth. And Peter was fit to be tied about Robbie selling to a developer. It’s all he’s been talking to Bob and Harry about for weeks. I suppose he’ll be happy about this latest development.”
Annie stared at Martha gobbling down her pizza. “Do you think Peter could have killed Robbie?”
Martha stopped mid-chew for a few seconds before swallowing. “It never crossed my mind. Peter is too nice of a guy to be a murderer. Right?”
“Maybe he went to Robbie’s house to try to talk him out of selling the land, they argued, Peter saw the insulin and injected Robbie, then passed out in his fields from the fertilizer fumes on the way back to his house.”
Jason and Martha stared at Annie.
“Are you serious?” Jason asked.
“Hazel heard someone in the room with Robbie before he died and she said it
sounded like Peter.”
Martha stood up from the table, knocking her chair over backwards into the customer sitting behind her. “I need to talk to Bob and Harry. Find out what else they know.” She didn’t even adjust her chair before scurrying back to her car.
“You’ve done it now, Annie.”
“What do you mean?”
He finished the last of the beer in his mug and leaned close to her. “You started a rumor about Peter being the murderer.”
“He was in the house.”
“Did Hazel see him?”
“Well, no, she heard him.”
“Maybe it was someone else.”
Annie’s hand flew to her mouth. “It sounded so neat and tidy. And believable.”
Jason covered her hand with his. “I know you’re only trying to help, but that’s why it’s better to leave this to the police. They gather all the facts before jumping to conclusions. Now, how about some dessert?”
Annie’s face softened slightly. “What’s your recommendation?”
Jason whispered to the waitress. “You’ll have to be patient. Something I know you struggle with.”
She took a deep lung-filling breath. “Thanks for the reminder.”
When the waitress returned, Jason and Annie were laughing and holding hands across the small table.
“I hate to interrupt but I’ve got your dessert,” the waitress said as she placed a huge bowl in front of Annie filled with blackberry ice cream with hot fudge sauce and whipped cream on top with fresh blackberries sprinkled over the cream.
“I can’t eat all this,” she said with her eyebrows raised in shock.
The waitress stuck a second long handled spoon on Jason’s side of the sundae. “This one is to share.” She winked at Jason before moving on to another table.
Chapter 12
Annie opened one eye on Friday morning a few minutes before the alarm was set to go off. Smokey sat next to her bed staring at her, willing her to wake up and dump some food into his bowl. Roxy lifted her head and her tail thumped on the bed.
“Okay. I get the message. You two are ready for the day to begin and I have to get to the café.”
The morning routine went like every other morning and Annie and Roxy left the cozy apartment to drive to the café. Annie gave herself a minute to be jealous of Jason’s dark house and the luxury of sleeping in.
Wind whipped the trees around as clouds streamed across the early morning light. “If we’re lucky, this will be a fast moving storm and the sun will be shining this afternoon for the concert, barbeque and bonfire,” she said to Roxy.
After she parked and they were walking to the café, Roxy chased down a blowing leaf. “Right. You take it how it comes don’t you?”
Leona’s favorite oldie station was blasting when Annie walked into the Cove’s Corner building. A mixture of cinnamon, sugar and chocolate aromas drifted in the hallway, getting stronger and stronger as Annie reached the Black Cat Café door.
Danny was busy restocking the books on the freebrary shelves while Leona hummed along to Bruce Springsteen’s Fourth of July song.
This is interesting, Annie thought to herself. Danny has never been here so early.
As the door clicked behind Annie, Danny turned toward her and a deep shade of blush traveled up his cheeks.
“Hi Annie. I’m helping Leona this morning.”
Annie peeked at Leona and noticed a relaxed smile on her face.
“We drove in together, right Danny?” Leona said, throwing him a kiss.
“Okay, then. Should I leave and come back later?” Annie asked, only half serious.
Leona popped the hot blueberry muffins out of the muffin tin onto cooling racks. “Of course not. It’s all your fault we had such a great time last night.”
Annie held her hands up. “Too much information.” She tied an apron around her waist and got out ingredients to prepare for the lunch sandwiches.
Danny walked to the counter, carefully holding a book in his big hands. “You should take a look at this, Annie.”
Annie’s hands trembled as she opened the cover of the book and saw another message in red ink. Annie, you need to do some real digging.
She read it a second time, out loud for Leona and Danny to hear. “This is the third message I’ve gotten. I think they’re connected to Robbie’s death, but I don’t know how.”
“Did I miss something?” Leona asked. “What were the other messages?”
Annie told them and they both stared with blank expressions.
“At least I can take this book to Tyler and he can check for prints. I lost the other two books when my bag was taken yesterday.”
The timer went off, making Leona hustle to the oven to take out several blackberry pies.
Annie poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the counter with a bowl of granola. Danny took the stool next to her and Leona put a plate with a big blueberry muffin in front of him before he even had a chance to ask for it.
“Jason keeps telling me to let Tyler handle this but someone is pulling me into the investigation whether I want to be involved or not.”
“Where did that book come from, Danny?” Leona asked.
“It was on a table outside on the deck. Someone must have left it there last night.”
Mia and Martha came in together but stopped short when Annie turned toward them and they saw the expression on her face.
“Everything all right?” Mia asked, trying not to let her concern come through in her question.
Leona said, “Someone has been leaving Annie messages inside books. She thinks they might be connected to Robbie’s death. The third one showed up here this morning.”
Mia and Martha looked at the message and Martha offered an idea. “Maybe it has to do with digging up information about Hazel’s daughter.”
“How do you know about her?” Annie asked, her voice barely audible.
“Everyone knows even though no one talked about her. Hazel and Peter had a fling about twenty years ago.”
“Jillian looks to be about twenty,” Annie said, more to herself than to the others.
“Who’s Jillian?” Leona demanded with her hands on her hips. “How come you all know so much more than I do?”
Mia patted Leona’s arm. “You haven’t been yourself lately.” She smiled at Danny.
Danny blushed again as he looked at Leona. He clearly wasn’t sure if everyone would approve of him dating Leona.
Leona repeated her question about Jillian.
“Jillian is Hazel’s daughter. I met her yesterday and Hazel told me that Robbie wouldn’t let Jillian come to the house to visit.”
Heads nodded in understanding. Martha whistled. “That certainly adds an interesting twist to Robbie’s death.” She unfolded a paper. “Have you seen this article that my granddaughter wrote for the Catfish Cove Chronicle?”
Leona took the paper first and scanned the article. “It’s official. Robbie’s death has been ruled an overdose of insulin. It’s being investigated as a homicide.” She turned to Annie. “Tell Mia and Martha about the first two messages.”
Annie repeated them. “The first one said, Annie, Oliver knows what happened and the second one said, Annie, check the trash.”
Leona looked at the others. “Do any of you know who Oliver is?”
Three heads shook no.
Bob and Harry Crowley entered the café making Martha fluff up her hair and flutter her eyes. Annie hid her laugh behind a fake cough as she took her spot behind the pastry case. Martha had been playing one Crowley twin off the other ever since the Valentine’s Day dance. And she loved the attention.
“I think it was that nurse,” Bob Crowley said as he stood in front of the pastries.
“No, it couldn’t be her, too obvious. What about the real estate developer? He’s too slick for my taste,” Harry argued.
“Probably was Hazel herself. I don’t know how she put up with Robbie for so many years as it is. He always bossed her a
round like she was useless. And, I wouldn’t blame her if she did it,” the first twin said.
“Are you two going to argue all morning or put an order in? You’re holding up the works here,” Martha told Bob and Harry. “And while you’re at it, get me a piece of Leona’s special blackberry pie. I’ll be sitting outside.” She winked at Annie and Annie gave her the thumbs up sign.
“What are you laughing at?” Bob asked Annie. “I hope you don’t treat your man like Martha treats us.” He studied the choices before deciding on two slices of pie. He added a big dollop of whipped cream to both pieces when he poured his coffee.
Harry ordered the same and carried two coffees outside, black for himself and Irish crème for Martha.
“Martha has her hands full with those two,” Annie said to Mia after the trio was out of earshot.
“I think you have that backwards. They have their hands full with her! She loves the attention.”
Annie noticed Jason standing off to one side with a grin on his face. As soon as everyone was away from the pastry case, he whispered to her, “I like the advice you got from one of the Crowley twins.”
“Yeah? How do you know he was referring to you?” Annie teased.
“Ouch. That hurt.” He pointed to a cinnamon roll. “I’ll have that one please. Any more messages this morning?”
“As a matter of fact, Danny found a book on one of the tables with a new message.” She handed him his cinnamon roll.
“Can you sit outside with me?”
“As soon as Bree, Ashley and Kristen get here, I’ll take a short break. Save me a seat.”
Annie kept her eyes on Jason as he walked through the French doors to the tables on the deck. His limp, which she hadn’t noticed in a while, was obvious. Maybe it was the weather. She made a mental note to ask him about it.
A steady stream of customers mobbed the café, keeping Annie’s mind busy with easy chit chat about the weather and the upcoming Fourth of July events. It promised to be one of the biggest crowds ever in Catfish Cove.
Annie made sure Bree was all set before she took a quick break to join Jason on the deck. She frowned when she saw Luke Carbone. What was he doing sitting with Jason?