by Lyndsey Cole
“My apartment sounds, well, exactly what I’m ready for. I’ll stretch out with Smokey and watch the waves for a while from that awesome picture window. All this drama is catching up to me.”
***
Annie made a grown-up grilled cheese, chuckling at the memory of Max and the name he came up with for her combination of cheddar and Swiss cheese topped with sliced tomato and a slice of sweet onion, toasted to a crispy perfection on whole wheat bread. She sank into the soft cushion on the window seat with her legs stretched in front of her and Smokey happily purring on her lap. The first bite of the sandwich gushed cheese out the sides and slightly burned her tongue but she could never wait long enough for the sandwich to cool down. Small waves lapped along the shoreline and a few fishermen, bundled up, braved the spring breeze.
“What do you think about all this Smokey?”
Smokey twitched his tail and mewed.
“Too bad I’m not fluent in mews.” Annie chuckled and continued her conversation with Smokey. “What I know so far is—don’t trust anyone, which makes everything harder, for sure. Max followed me here to tell me that? Or something else? I keep wondering if he found a lead about my birth mother. Did Vincent follow Max to kill him? Or find me? Or both? Jake, the potter, wears a knife in a holster on his belt. I’m not sure coming back to Catfish Cove was the best idea I’ve had in a while, but here I am and,” she pulled Smokey into her arms, burying her face in his soft fur, “at least you found me. I can trust you.”
A banging on her door made her tense as icy shivers tingled up her spine. Smokey jumped down and scooted under the couch with only the tip of his tail showing as it twitched nervously.
Annie went to the door. Detective Neil Jaffrey, was standing on the other side of the window, smiling and holding a six pack of beer in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.
“I don’t know anyone in town so I hoped I could convince you to invite me in for a drink?” he asked through the glass.
Annie opened the door cautiously, Max’s warning ringing in her ears. “Have you solved the murder already?”
“Not exactly, but a guy’s got to take a break, right? Can I come in?”
Annie stepped aside as Detective Jaffrey walked inside, taking in the clean and cozy apartment. He went to the window and whistled as he gazed at the view. “Nice place. So, can I tempt you?” he asked, holding up his offerings and tilting his head, waiting for a reply.
Annie took in a deep breath then slowly exhaled. “Alright, Detective Jaffrey.”
“Call me Neil.”
“Okay, Neil, I’ll have a beer. Do you want anything to eat? I just had a grown-up grilled cheese and I’d be happy to make one for you, too.”
His eyebrows went up. “A grown-up grilled cheese? Now, there’s no way I would dream of passing that up.” His dimple appeared on his left cheek next to his wide smile. “I don’t even dare ask what’s in it, just surprise me.”
Annie busied herself making the sandwich while Neil got comfy on the window seat with Smokey curled up on his lap. “Awesome view,” he said, watching her instead of looking at the lake.
When the sandwich was ready, Neil handed a beer to Annie and raised his bottle to her. “Thanks for taking in a stray on this chilly evening, this smells wonderful.” He took a bite and the cheese dripped down his chin. “Delicious. What’s the story behind the name?” he asked as he wiped off the cheese with the sleeve of his flannel shirt.
Annie looked out the window, not answering right away. “Max made up that name. When his son would stay with us he always wanted grilled cheese for lunch but it had to be white bread with one of those processed slices of cheese. This concoction with the tomato and onion and two kinds of cheese was our joke.”
Neil put the sandwich on his plate. “I’m sorry. I was hoping to avoid that subject and cheer you up a bit, but I guess all I did was put my foot in my mouth.”
Annie shrugged and stared directly into Neil’s eyes. “I need to find out what happened. Why he came here. Who did this to him.”
“Of course. He was important to you. Can you tell me anything about his partner, Vincent West?”
Annie walked closer to the window, staring out, but at the same time, not focusing on anything outside. “Not really. I met him a couple of times but he traveled a lot, lining up artists to feature at the gallery. Why?”
“He’s here and he’s looking for you.”
Chapter 7
“Me? Why?”
Neil shrugged but didn’t take his eyes off Annie. She could sense him studying her every movement. “You tell me.”
“Listen,” she hissed. “If you’re here to accuse me of something, spit it out. You came waltzing into my apartment hiding your agenda with some beer and wine. I came back to Catfish Cove because my aunt’s café burned down and I want to help her. Whatever you think Max and Vincent were involved in—”
Neil held up his hands and cut her off. “I’m worried about you.”
Annie sank onto the window seat, glad when Smokey abandoned Neil and jumped up and settled in her lap instead. It felt like a small battle had been won.
“I stopped by to make sure you’re safe. I thought if I brought something, it would make my visit a little less intimidating.” He stood up, carrying his plate and empty bottle to the counter next to the sink. “All I can tell you is I’ve been investigating Vincent and Max’s art gallery for a month and it led me to Catfish Cove and to you. Somehow, you’re involved whether you want to be or not, so be careful. Very careful. I told you that this morning and I mean it more now. I’ll be staying in town until this is resolved. You have my number. I don’t want to find you knifed in the heart like Max.” His dark eyes burned into her. “Don’t be afraid to call.”
“Max was killed with a knife?” She barely managed to find her voice to ask.
Neil stopped with his hand on the door. “Yes. Does that mean anything?”
“Jake, the potter, carries a knife in a holster on his belt. He hid it when Leona and I stopped by to talk to him.”
“Yes. I saw that too. Like I said, be careful and call me anytime. Okay?”
Annie nodded and watched as Neil pulled the door closed when he left. Could she trust him, she wondered. No, not yet. Not until she knew more about why Vincent had followed her and Max to Catfish Cove. She listened to the ticking clock, marking off the seconds as she sat and did nothing. She pulled on her warm fleece jacket, left the comfort of her cozy apartment, and crossed her fingers, hoping her car would start.
As she drove, she thought of the one person who wouldn’t lie to her, not again.
The door of an old colonial opened and Annie smiled into the face of the person she needed to trust.
“Hi Mom.”
“Annie, I heard you were back in town.” Mia wrapped her thin arms around her daughter and squeezed until Annie complained.
“You’re crushing me.”
Her mother held her at arm’s length. “I like your new look.” She tenderly pushed a few stray curls behind Annie’s ear. “I can’t remember ever seeing you with hair that didn’t hang past your shoulders.”
Nails clicking on the hardwood floor brought a smile to Annie’s face and she bent down to hug Stella, the black lab she had missed for the past two years. “You’re kind of gray around the muzzle.”
“She’s slowing down a bit, just like me.” Mia pulled Annie inside. “Come and join me by the fireplace. Your dad is out somewhere so it’s only me and Stella.”
Annie walked around the living room, remembering all the familiar objects, all the memories stored in this house where she grew up. It felt good to be back inside, as long as she didn’t let herself get swallowed up by the reason she left two years ago. Would she finally be able to forgive her mother?
“Do you want some tea? Or something else?” Mia asked.
“Tea sounds perfect. But something herbal, I don’t want to be tossing and turning all night.” Annie looked at all the photos from h
er childhood while she listened to her mother bustling in the kitchen. Leona said Mia was protecting Annie when she kept her adoption secret. Protecting her from what, she wondered.
Mia brought in a tray with two mugs of steaming peppermint tea and a dog bone for Stella. “Thank you for coming, Annie. I wish I had done everything differently, but—”
“I don’t want to talk about that now, Mom. There’s something more important and I need your help. You heard about the guy that was found dead at Leona’s café?”
Mia nodded. “Your father filled me in. He said you were the one to find him?”
“Yeah. His name was Max, my ex-boyfriend. I found this in his pocket.” Annie handed the pink paper to her mother and waited quietly while she read the note.
“A. Don’t trust anyone! M,” she read out loud. “What does this mean?”
“I’m not sure yet but I’m taking his warning to heart and the only person I know I can trust is you.”
“Even after—?” Mia didn’t finish her question.
“Yes. I don’t like what you did but I think you acted with the best intentions. I understand now that you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.”
“What about Leona?”
“For now, I’m not showing this to anyone else. Will you help me?”
“Of course.”
Annie picked up the mug of tea, blowing on it before taking a sip. “Dad owns the new Cove’s Corner building where Max was murdered. One of the tenants is Jake Wallace, a potter. Can you find out more about him for me? Without letting Dad get suspicious?”
“I can do that.” Mia put her hand on Annie’s arm. “Are you in any danger?”
“I don’t know, but the detective thinks I might be. He told me he’s been investigating Max’s art gallery for the last month and it led him here to Max and me.” She paused, not sure if she should tell her mother anything more but decided to be completely honest, hoping that pattern would be reciprocated by her mother in the future. “And, well, Max’s partner followed us too and has been asking about me.”
“What’s the partner’s name?”
“Vincent West.”
Mia leaned forward. “Your father brought him here yesterday. I never heard the name before, but Roy said he met him while talking to Jake at his pottery shop.”
Annie put her mug down. “Keep your ears open and call my cell if you find out anything interesting. Don’t tell Dad you’re helping me, or anyone else for that matter. Something smells rotten about all this and I don’t want to draw attention to myself.”
Mia hugged Annie. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe. That’s always been my goal.” She looked into Annie’s eyes and Annie saw her mother’s love looking back at her.
Annie smiled to herself as she drove through Catfish Cove and everything was buttoned up for the night. Not much has changed here, she thought. Maybe this is where I belong.
It felt good to pull into Cobblestone Cottage. She sighed with the thought of curling up with Smokey for a good night sleep. Knowing Smokey was waiting turned the cottage into a home for her.
The beemer parked on the side of the road across from her apartment, completely escaped Annie’s notice.
Soft, cool sheets and a purring kitten lulled Annie into a deep sleep minutes after her head hit the pillow.
***
The early morning sun brightened Annie’s bedroom. She preferred to have the lake view than close the curtains and block out the sun even if it woke her before she wanted to get up.
Stretching as she sat up in bed, Smokey jumped down and mewed. “Morning to you, too. Are you ready for some breakfast?” It promised to be a long and busy day so she poured extra food into Smokey’s bowl and refilled the water bowl with fresh water before she pulled on clean jeans and a t-shirt. Slinging her camera over her shoulder and with a bit of apprehension, she started her walk to the café, hoping this day wouldn’t bring any more surprises like the day before.
The delicious aroma of coffee and freshly baked muffins made her mouth water as soon as she walked into Cove’s Corner. Good, she thought, Leona must be here already.
Oldies were playing on the radio and Leona was holding a wooden spoon as a microphone and lip syncing to the music.
“How much coffee did you guzzle already?” Annie asked with a chuckle.
“Not enough to get through this day. Here, this one’s for you.” Leona put a mug on the counter and grabbed Annie’s hand, twirling her in a circle as the song ended. “Okay. Back to work.” She looped an apron around Annie’s neck. “There’s a pan of my blueberry muffins cooling if you want something to go with your coffee.”
“The sweet aroma made my mouth water as soon as I walked inside. What time did you get here? It’s barely seven o’clock.” Annie sipped her coffee, looking around. “And what are all these boxes?”
Leona pulled five more pans of muffins from the big commercial oven. “That’s your freebrary. All those books need to be organized on the new shelves today. Danny will be here sometime this morning to put up our new sign.”
Annie stuffed the rest of the muffin in her mouth, freeing her hands to tie the apron around her waist. “What do you want me to do first?”
“The last batch of blueberry muffins is baking. We need at least 50 plain cupcakes for kids to decorate tomorrow during the Spring Celebration. I’ll do that next. You can start making the chili—meat and veggie—and chicken noodle soup. The recipes are on my laptop.”
Annie put the ground hamburger in the biggest pot she could find, browning the meat before adding crushed tomatoes, onions, kidney beans, peppers and corn. While everything simmered, she chopped the veggies for the batch of vegetarian chili—onion, garlic, sweet potato, green peppers, crushed tomato, corn, black beans and tofu in the second big pot. Once everything was cooking nicely, she added the chili powder, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes.
“This is the place to be.” Annie put her wooden spoon down and turned around to see the smiling face of Danny Davis. “Got any more coffee for a poor handyman?”
Leona slapped him on the back and set a cup of coffee on the counter. “Here you go. You’re my savior, Danny. Nice job with the book shelves. How’s the sign looking?”
“Come on out and take a look,” he said with a sparkle in his eyes. “It’s all done, so you can take it or leave it.” He roared with laughter at his own joke and Leona and Annie rolled their eyes as they followed Danny into the hallway.
The oval sign leaned next to the door of the café. The background was stained with a warm, rich sunflower yellow with the silhouette of a black cat in the middle and Black Cat Café in black letters above the cat.
In smaller letters at the bottom was Leona’s motto, Take It or Leave It. A thin lime green line framed the sign and matched the cat’s eye.
“So, why did you change the name, Leona?”
“Annie found a black kitten inside on the day she arrived.” Leona gazed quickly at Annie from the corner of her eyes and shrugged. “ I guess we’re both ready for some changes.”
“I’ll hang the sign as soon as I sample a couple of your muffins.” He patted his stomach. “Got to keep this beast happy. By the way,” he hung his head down, looking a little sheepish, “I fell asleep in your office two nights ago, after you left. Ya know, when I was building the bookshelves? Had a little too much to drink, I guess.”
“You were here? What time?” Annie asked, shocked that Danny might have been in the café when Max was there.
“It was early morning by the time I woke up. Some guy gave me a hard time, wanted to get into the café.”
“Was he wearing a flannel shirt?”
“I think so, red and black plaid. Why? Did you see him when you got here?”
Leona looked at Annie before replying. “It sounds like it was Max, the guy who was murdered. You heard about that, didn’t you?”
“No,” Danny said sheepishly. “I went home and slept off a hangover.”
“What happened t
o your face Danny? Were you in a fight?” Annie kept her voice calm but dread settled in her stomach.
Chapter 8
Danny’s hand went to his face. “Huh, I don’t know. Must have fallen into something.” He pulled his Red Sox baseball cap off, ran his fingers through his hair and looked from Annie to Leona. “I don’t always remember what I do. Can I get those muffins now?”
Leona linked her arm through his and they went into the cafe. “Sure thing. I’ll fix you up and you can get back to hanging the sign.”
Annie glanced into Danny’s open tool box and saw a long, pointed steel tool lying on top of his other assorted tools. She made a mental note to herself to ask Tyler or Detective Jaffrey if they found the murder weapon yet.
The timer for the last batch of muffins went off and Leona pulled those trays out of the oven. Annie hurried inside to give the two pots of chili a stir and turn the heat to low. They still had a ways to go before all the flavors were blended.
Danny sat at the counter washing the muffins down with his black coffee. Leona put all the muffins on the cooling rack, chatting with Danny about his work at the café. “What time did you finish up the bookshelves the other night? They are perfect.”
“I went out to get a bite to eat and something to drink and got back around eight, I think. There were a couple of voices coming out of the pottery guy’s shop.”
“That’s late for Jake to still be at his shop. Could you see who it was?”
“No, the door was closed. The voices were muffled, but someone inside sounded angry. I came in here and minded my own business, got lost in making the bookshelves. That happens to me when I do a project, helps me forget the demons from the war. That and the booze. I’m not proud of it, but sometimes the memories get so bad I have to drown out the fear.” Danny looked up at Leona. “You understand, don’t you?”
Leona patted his shaky hand. “Of course I do. So, when did you talk to the guy in the flannel shirt?”