Nipped in the Bud

by Susan Sleeman

  Donna placed a large oval plate with a Reuben sandwich and seasoned french fries where the pad had been. “Nice meeting you, Adam. Hope we’ll still see you around town once Paige’s name is cleared.” She winked at me then giggled like a schoolgirl and strolled away.

  Argh! People around here never minded their own business. We’d been here for twenty minutes, and Donna had found a reason to make four trips to the table already, each time grilling Adam about his background. While Adam and I brainstormed, I’d moved closer to him to keep our conversation private. Or maybe, if I really thought about it, which I didn’t want to do, I’d scooted closer so that as his head moved under the fluorescent light, I could better see the shifting change in the color of his eyes.

  Like they changed now from cocoa to cinnamon as he chewed the first bite of his sandwich. He swallowed and then groaned with delight. “You were right. This is the best Reuben I’ve ever had.”

  I gave up my perusal of his eyes and watched him bite off an extra large chunk. “Donna’s sandwiches have been written up in the Oregonian a couple of times. On the weekends, tourists stand in line for them.”

  “I can see why.” He took another gigantic chomp and looked around the restaurant as he chewed. With each movement of his head, his jaw tightened and his brows furrowed. “Is it always like this in here? People staring at you?”

  I grimaced and swallowed a bite of buttery biscuit. “It’s not usually this bad. People are just curious since I found Bud.”

  “Paige! Paige, oh. . .my. . .gosh!” Both our heads swiveled in the direction of the shrill female voice.

  From the doorway, Uma Heffner waved sparkly orange fingernails then tottered toward our table on three-inch metallic slides. Her beehive looked skyscraper high from my angle. She wore a formfitting knit top in bright chartreuse and even more fitted neon orange capris. Our fellow diners’ gazes followed her clip-clop path across the room.

  “This must be just devastating to you.” She slid out a chair and slowly lowered herself, making eye contact with Adam by batting her obviously false lashes. Just when I expected her to latch onto him permanently, she swiveled and clasped my hand.

  Fearing her talons, I pulled back. “Uma,” I said, “why don’t you sit down?”

  “What? I am sitting.” Her face crinkled. “Oh, you.” She swatted those nails at me again. “I get it, you’re making a joke. I’m glad you can still joke with all this hanging over your head. Despite what everyone in town is saying, I so know you didn’t kill Bud.” She peered around the room. “Did you hear about Rachel?”

  I shot a quick glance at Adam. He was listening, albeit happily chewing at the same time. I shook my head. “What about her?”

  Uma slid closer. “She didn’t cry or even get upset when Mitch told her Bud had been killed.”

  “I didn’t hear about that.”

  Uma laid a hand on her ample chest. “Not surprising. You know how people are afraid of her. No one is gonna risk getting caught gossiping about her.”

  Not me. “I saw Rachel fighting with Charlie. She caught him in the park yesterday right after you let him have it. Think they were arguing about the same thing as you and Charlie?”

  “That? Oh no, Rachel isn’t involved in that.” She looked away as if bored.

  I couldn’t let her get off without telling me about their argument. “I caught Charlie disagreeing with a lot of people yesterday.”

  “Really? It was the other way around with us. I probably shouldn’t tell you this.” This sentence came out of her mouth hundreds of times a day when she gossiped to her customers as she snipped their hair. She scooted her chair so close I could smell the minty gum she chewed. “You know the company that turned the old school into a hotel?”

  Renovations on the school were complete before I moved back, and I’d heard nothing odd about the company that bought the building. Based on her whispering, I was about to. “I’m not real familiar with them.”

  She snapped her gum. “Leever is their name. Anyway, just this month, Bud arranged for them to buy up all the land bordering the highway. You know that stretch out by the River Road where a bunch of us live?”

  Bud again?

  Adam’s cell chimed, interrupting my fixed attention on Uma.

  He jerked it from his belt clip and looked at the caller ID. “I have to take this call. Excuse me for a minute.” He rose from the table.

  I let my gaze follow his long strides away from us, feeling a sense of loss as he went. Focus, Paige. He’ll be right back, and you have a viable clue just waiting to be unearthed. I turned my gaze back to Uma. “I don’t get it. Why would you want to sell your house? Where would you live?”

  “That was the beauty of the deal. This company wanted the land, not our houses, for an investment. They would buy us out, and we could stay there rent-free as long as we lived. They would even pay for any upkeep on the houses. Stupid old Charlie was taking his time in deciding. The rest of us were already on board. We’d have our houses, and we didn’t have to pay a stitch of rent as long as we lived there.” She crossed her arms and slumped back in her chair.

  This sounded way too good to be true, and like my parents drilled into my head, when it sounded too good to be true, it usually was. I opened my mouth to tell her that, but she continued.

  “Without Bud around to help them out, I don’t know what that Leever company will do.” As if she were merely dismissing a bad hair day, she glanced around the room. “Look at that darling outfit Stacey is wearing.”

  I followed her gaze. Stacey stood near the counter with an order ticket in her hand. “You know her very well?”

  Uma shook her head. “I do her hair, but she’s a quiet one. Keeps to herself.”

  “Did she know Bud?”

  Uma nodded. “Sure, he hired her.”

  “Ever hear anything about them fighting or arguing?”

  “Just the opposite. She worshipped the ground he walked on.” Uma studied my face. “What do you know that you’re not telling me, Paige Turner?”

  I laughed. “Nothing. I’m just covering all my bases, trying to figure out who did Bud in.”

  She jerked her head at Stacey. “Well, that’s one person you don’t need to look at.”

  “You haven’t said who you think killed him.”

  “Lots of people were mad enough to do it. I’ve been thinking about it, but I can’t come up with anyone I think is capable of murder. You know what I mean?” Her gaze drifted off again then locked on Adam winding through the crowded tables.

  I forgot all about my questioning of Uma. His stride and squared shoulders spoke of his self-assurance, upping my heart rate. He reached our table, and we shared a smile that sent the room packed with clanging silverware and chattering patrons to the background.

  Uma clamped her hand on my arm, jerking me out of la-la land.

  Adam sat, and her gaze zeroed in. “You must tell me who this delicious young man is.”

  Feeling protective, I said, “My attorney, Adam Hayes.”

  Surprise flashed on her face. “So this isn’t a date?”

  I blurted out, “No.”

  “Yes,” Adam said at the same time.

  “Well, which is it, yes or no?” Uma let her gaze slide back and forth between us as if willing us to answer.

  Adam shifted closer to me and laid his hand over mine. “It’s a date, all right. Paige is just a little shy, that’s all.”

  Uma’s face turned incredulous. I didn’t blame her. No one had ever accused me of being the least bit timid.

  “Well then,” she said, “Paige isn’t getting any younger, so I better get out of your way.” She stood, smiled wide at Adam, and twirled her finger in a circular motion. “If this little thing between you two doesn’t work out, you can find me at the Crazy Curl down the street.”

  When she was out of earshot, I pulled back my hand and groaned. “Why’d you tell her we were on a date? She’ll blab it all over town.”

  “Didn’t
you see the way she looked at me? I’ve never seen a barracuda close up like that.” He gave an exaggerated shiver. “I need you to protect me.”

  That gave me warm fuzzies. “Fine, but when Lisa hears about this and grills me, I’ll send her to you.”

  “No problem. Lisa will be a lot easier to handle than that woman.” He shoved his empty plate aside. “She have anything of importance to say?”

  I explained about Leever. “Does that sound suspicious to you?”

  He shook his head. “Land is a good investment. Maybe this company has plans to build in the future and doesn’t want to wait with the way land prices are skyrocketing in the valley. Anyway, doesn’t sound like it’s related to Picklemann’s murder.”

  “What Uma said about Rachel’s reaction to Bud’s murder could be.”

  He nodded. “Sounds odd, but she could very well have been in shock. Wouldn’t be the first person who reacted to bad news that way.”

  “I’m not gonna let it drop that easily.”

  “You might have to. As a possible suspect in her husband’s murder, it’s not like you can go talk to her.”

  “I’ll figure something out.”

  The man next to me scraped his chair back, slamming it into my leg. He stood then strode away without apologizing. I would have to follow a similar technique with Rachel if I got to talk to her. I’d hit her with a quick question and run if she reacted negatively.

  Adam pulled his legal pad closer. “I need to hit the road. Before I do, I’d like to go through our list and set a timetable for completion. What are you planning to do first?”

  Cry because you’re leaving me? “The best suspect is Nancy Kimble. I’ll go to Hillsboro this afternoon and see what she knows.”

  He peered at me, concern tainting those marvelous eyes. “I really wish you would wait and let me do that. If Nancy did have something to do with Picklemann’s death, you might be in danger.”

  “I wish I could wait, too.” Trying to blow off my unease at confronting a potential murderer, I laughed. “But you can’t fit it in your schedule for two days, and she’s our best lead right now. Besides, Lisa agreed to go with me. We’ll be fine.”

  “Did she tell Perry she was going?”

  To avoid answering, I stuffed my mouth with the last piece of biscuit.

  “I’ll take that as a no.” He tapped his pen on the paper and slid his chair back. “If I talk to Perry, I’ll have to tell him.”

  “Fine,” I said. “I’m still going.”

  “At least promise me you’ll be careful.”

  That’s what I like. A lawyer who cares. Even better, a cute lawyer who cares. “I will. So what else is on your list?”

  He checked his pad. “Guess we can cross Uma off the list.” He made a forceful slash across the page. “Next is talking to Charlie. When do you think you can do that?”

  “If I have time when I get back from Hillsboro, I’ll do it then. If not, it’ll have to wait until morning.”

  “That leaves Stacey. Although I think you’re grasping at straws with the whole sweater thing.”

  “You might be right, but I’m taking no chances. I’ll visit Charlie first, and if I strike out, then I’ll move on to Stacey and Rachel.”

  “As your attorney, I recommend you think twice about talking to Rachel. Seems like all it’ll do is backfire on you.”

  I shrugged. He had a point, but I was desperate.

  He took a long drink of his iced tea. “Okay, should we get going?” He wiped his mouth, a mouth comprised of full, kissable lips, and dropped the napkin on the table.

  “Fine,” I said, still watching his lips and imagining what it would be like to be on a real date with him.

  He cleared his throat. His eyes were clearly assessing something. He sat back as if he wanted me to say something. I couldn’t. I mean, did I confess to liking the way his eyes changed colors or the way his scar winked? Did I tell him that I imagined us on a real date, not sitting in a crowded restaurant discussing my part in a murder? Or would that scare him away? Send him running back to McMinnville? Was I even interested in him, or was I merely looking for a diversion to the stress of the situation?

  “Look,” he said and ran a hand around the back of his neck as if suddenly stressed. “You hired me to represent your best interests. I’m not so sure I can do that when you look at me that way.” Before I said something I’d regret, I sucked in a deep breath.

  He quickly sat forward and held up his hands. “Don’t misunderstand, Paige. I want to get to know you as a person, not a client. I just think we need to wait until after all of this is over before we pursue any of that.”

  “Just for the record, so I won’t do it again.” I paused and smiled. “How exactly was I looking at you?”

  He pointed to one of the tables. “The same way that lady is looking at her cake.”

  Well of course, she was nearly drooling. The cake mounded high on her plate was a deep chocolate with a glossy frosting like Adam’s eyes. The yummy rich frosting oozed down the sides of the huge hunk of cake and dripped over the edge of the plate.

  I settled back on my chair. I had no idea how this lawyer/client thing was going to work. I could no more hide my interest in Adam than I could in a mouth-watering dessert. It wasn’t my fault. God gave Adam the chocolate eyes. I simply admired them.

  Chapter Eleven

  “And now, enjoy the best of Through the Garden Gate with your beloved host, Paige Turner.”

  “A very economical way to expand your garden is to receive plants from another gardener. Walk around your neighborhood, and if you see perennials that you simply are dying to include in your garden, don’t hesitate to ring the doorbell. Usually a moderate amount of hinting will encourage the gardener to offer you a start of the plant.”

  “Hi, Paige, this is Bruised calling. I know you mean well when you give that advice, but I’ve tried it, and I have to say, it didn’t work out so well.”

  “I’m sorry, Bruised. Could you elaborate?”

  “Well, my neighbor said she needed to divide her asters and if I would do the work I could have half of them. Wanting to be very careful and not take more of her plant than I should, I brought my ruler and cut exactly eighteen inches off the tops, took my part home, and planted them. Nothing has come up yet, and my neighbor is furious. She’s acting like I mutilated her garden.”

  Lisa shifted in the passenger seat of my dusty truck. She’d napped while I lunched with Adam, and her mood had transitioned from grumpy to bearable. Still, she squirmed on the seat like her twins and couldn’t settle down. She sighed, unearthed a tissue from her mom bag, then wiped the dashboard. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “One tissue probably won’t do the trick, but go ahead, my truck could use some cleaning.” I laughed and made a left turn off highly traveled Baseline onto quiet and residential Seventh Avenue.

  She wadded up the tissue and tossed it at me. “You know what I mean. Maybe we should have waited until Perry or Adam could come with us.”

  “Relax, we’ll be fine. I called Nancy before I picked you up to see if she’d meet with me. She sounded more than willing to help me out.”

  Lisa retrieved the tissue that had ricocheted from my shoulder and landed on her muddy floor mat. “What if she tries something? She might be the killer.”

  “That’s why I brought you. Think about it, Lisa. Bud’s murder was clearly a crime of passion. No one could predict he’d be at the park or that my shovels would be there. So if Nancy killed Bud, she didn’t have a plan for doing it, and she won’t have a plan for doing the same thing to us.” At Lisa’s open-mouthed stare, I tipped my head toward Tuality Hospital. “Relax. We’re next to the hospital. If she did hurt us, it wouldn’t take long for an ambulance to arrive.”

  “That’s your logic? I’m telling you, if Nancy killed once, she’ll kill again.” Lisa crossed her arms and slumped toward the window muttering, “I don’t know why I let you get me into these things.”


  My little daisy wasn’t as cranky as she had been before, but she still pouted like a professional. I glanced at her body, rigid and snugged to the door. Years of our friendship told me this body language meant only one thing. Leave her alone. She was sulking. Not that she often sulked. When she was worried, this attitude came out. So once again, I forgave her odd behavior and concentrated on navigating down the narrow road.

  Nancy lived near the quaint downtown area of Hillsboro, a western suburb of Portland. The sides of the street were dotted with trees that had recently dropped a carpet of pink, fuchsia, and red blossoms onto the healthy grass in the median. Behind the trees, one-story houses of an older vintage huddled close together. Some had been remodeled and were home to local businesses. Many remained as dwellings. Like my target address coming up on the right. The pristine white bungalow with the red SUV sitting in the driveway had been lovingly restored and maintained.

  I parked behind the car and pulled out my keys. Lisa kept her statue like pose. I poked her to see if she was sleeping. “Please don’t make me go in alone.”

  She clutched the handle and shoved her shoulder against the door. “Fine, I’ll go with you, but if she doesn’t kill you, I might.”

  I exited and marched, Lisa trudged, up a short sidewalk lined with perennials at about the same stage as my gardens. These beds were well planned and carefully tended. Either Nancy had a fantastic gardener or a green thumb. I opened my mouth to mention this to Lisa but clamped down on my lip instead. The logical conclusion from this observation was that Nancy knew how to handle a shovel, and I didn’t want to scare Lisa more. I knocked on the leaded glass door. Lisa shifted back and forth as if she might make a run for it.

  “You need to settle down, or you’re gonna spook Nancy,” I said and bent my head to protect my face from the light drizzle now falling.

  The door creaked open. A women I pegged at fifty stared down on us with harsh eyes. Long ebony hair streaked with gray hung over her shoulder. Her round face was devoid of makeup as was common in the Northwest, and her mouth, as she studied us, puckered into a scowl.