by Lena Gregory
“Yup?” She took Thor’s leash from the table and clipped it to his collar, then led him from the room.
Gia walked beside her, keeping her voice low. “Do you remember the list of names we found earlier?”
“Yes.” Her voice wavered, barely noticeable as they walked down the hallway, but Gia knew her too well to miss it.
“Do you remember the name Floyd Masters?”
“Of course. You asked about him earlier. Why?”
“Because Hunt said he picked Maybelle up from the station a little while ago.”
“The station? What was Maybelle doing here?” Savannah pushed through a set of double doors, then held one open for Gia.
Several officers looked their way as they crossed a large, open room filled with desks. Gia lowered her voice even more. “Didn’t Leo tell you what was going on?”
“No, he didn’t have time. Why? What’s Maybelle got to do with anything?”
“I’ll fill you in on the way to your house, but Hunt said Masters sits on the council with Maybelle.”
Savannah handed Gia Thor’s leash, pulled out her phone, dialed, and pressed the phone against her ear.
“Who are you calling?”
“Tommy.”
“But it’s the middle of the night!”
“Hunt was hurt.” And that was all the explanation needed. One of their own had been hurt, so the whole family would sit up all night awaiting word. Savannah shifted the phone and said, “Hey, Tommy. He’s okay. Joey went to find him, but I spoke to Leo, and he’s okay. I wanted to ask you something, though. What do you know about Floyd Masters?”
Gia held the front door open for Savannah, then followed her out into the morning chill. Even though it was cooler overnight, the humidity still made the air feel thick. It also burned her eyes. Or maybe that was the smoke remnants clinging to her clothes and hair. Or it could be exhaustion. Probably all the above.
She hooked the leash over her wrist and rubbed her eyes as they started toward the car. She had no idea how she was going to get through the day on zero sleep, but she didn’t have a choice.
Savannah hit the button to unlock the car, then stopped beside it. “Yeah… uh huh… Do you know if he’s friends with Maybelle?”
Tommy’s voice mumbled over the line, but it was too muffled for Gia to make out what he was saying.
Savannah’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
He issued a short reply.
“Okay, thanks, Tommy. Yes. I will. Good night.” She disconnected the call and stared at Gia across the roof of the car. “Masters does sit on the council, but Tommy doesn’t know him well. Says he mostly stays to himself.”
“Is he friends with Maybelle?”
“Not that Tommy knew of, but he did know someone he’s related to, thinks he’s the guy’s uncle or something like that.”
“Who?”
Savannah looked around the fairly deserted parking lot and lowered her voice. “None other than our good friend, Captain Howard Hayes.”
Chapter 12
Gia hopped out of Savannah’s car, thanked her for the ride, and the shower, and the clothes, and everything else, and hurried up the walkway, key in hand, to the café. She unlocked the door, went in and closed it behind her, then locked it again, leaving the key dangling from the lock. Earl would be there shortly, and she’d have to open it again anyway.
She strode through the café, turning on lights as she went. The same small surge of pride opening always gave her pause. She’d worked so hard for this, accomplished so much, despite the horrific circumstances that had brought her to Florida in the first place. She didn’t want to give it up. For the first time since she’d moved, thoughts of leaving and going home didn’t bring the usual wave of relief. She was already home. And she’d be damned if anyone was going to chase her away from her home. She’d already been down that road with Bradley, and never again would she allow someone else to determine her fate.
She dropped her purse into her bottom desk drawer and rummaged through the top drawer for an elastic band. A faint trace of the smoke smell still lingered despite the shower she’d taken at Savannah’s and the clean clothes she now wore. A pair of Savannah’s leggings, which were a good couple inches shorter on Gia, and one of Joey’s button-down shirts thrown over a camisole top and cinched with a thin belt. Not her usual work attire but functional, and it didn’t stink like smoke.
But her hair still did. She smoothed it back into a knot at the back of her head and tied it up. She’d have to try lemon juice later and see if she could get the smell out. Hopefully, the groomer at the doggie day care center would have better luck getting the smell out of Thor’s fur.
A quick glance at the clock told her she’d have to hurry if she was going to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with Earl before she opened. And she was looking forward to those few minutes of peace and caffeine. Thankfully, it was a Wednesday morning and not a weekend. Wednesdays tended to be somewhat slow. Who knew? Maybe people preferred to eat breakfast at home midweek.
She moved automatically through her morning routine, her thoughts still caught up with Maybelle and Floyd Masters. Maybe Maybelle was having an affair with him. Hank was obviously straying; maybe Maybelle was too. Gia shivered at the reminder that Hank Sanford still roamed free somewhere. He and Hunt had obviously gone at it.
Hunt. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was okay. She had gotten to know him fairly well over the past few months. At least, she’d thought she had. His behavior of late had her second-guessing herself.
She slid several breakfast pies into the oven to warm. She’d have to make up a few more later, but for now she’d have enough to fill the glass cake dishes on the counter, for any to-go customers. She’d found catering to people who didn’t have time to sit and linger over breakfast had generated a bit more income than she’d originally thought it would when Willow had first suggested the idea. The kid had a good head on her shoulders. Gia had been tempted to teach her how to cook, but she was a natural with the customers, and Gia didn’t have the heart to take that away from her.
She glanced at the clock. Willow should be there any minute, and Earl was probably already waiting out front. She finished up by lining trays of bacon, sausage, and biscuits along the back of the grill, making it easy to grab what she needed, then heated the home fries and grits and poured them into warming trays she kept on the counter. Anything to move things along more quickly and efficiently.
She checked off everything on her mental to-do list and washed her hands. Then, satisfied that everything would be okay in her absence, at least for a few minutes, she went to open the door for Earl.
She didn’t make it halfway to the front door before laughter echoed through the empty café. A lot of laughter. Definitely not just Earl this morning. When she reached the door, she unlocked it and pulled it open.
Earl greeted her with a huge smile and the fisherman’s cap he always wore clutched in both hands against his chest. “Mornin’, Gia.”
“Good morning, Earl.”
The large group gathered around him ranged in age from infants to middle-aged adults.
“Are these people with you?”
He puffed up. “Yes, ma’am. All my young ’uns are in town for a visit, and I thought I’d treat them all to breakfast. I hope it’s not too much.”
She couldn’t disappoint him no matter how exhausted she was. “Of course it’s not too much. Come on in.”
“Oh, you don’t have to seat us early. I don’t mind waiting.”
“Don’t be silly.” She stepped back, held the door open, and ushered them in. All twenty-eight of them, by her count as they rushed past. Willow would be there soon enough, and it would be easier for her to get the huge order started before she technically opened for business anyway. She left the door unlocked for Willow and followed them to the far side of
the café. “You can pull the tables together along the side wall and make one big table if you’d like.”
Earl gestured to several of the boys and men, who immediately set to work rearranging the café. The boisterous bunch might have been a lot to take after the night she’d had, but their laughter and enthusiasm proved just the opposite, giving her just the boost she’d been hoping to get from several cups of caffeine. Oh, right. Caffeine. How could she have forgotten to start the coffeepots? “Excuse me a minute while I get the coffee going, and I’ll come back with menus.”
“Sure thing.” Earl dropped his hat on a window ledge and took the empty seat at the head of the table.
Gia started all the pots lining the counter, then grabbed a stack of menus and an order pad and returned to the table.
“I’ll take those.” Earl reached for the stack of menus, took one off the top, then passed the rest down the line. He winked at Gia. “Easier that way.”
She laughed. She’d liked Earl the moment she’d met him, and her fondness for him had only grown stronger over the past months. She leaned close to his ear. “You were certainly right.”
“I usually am,” he laughed, “but about what specifically?”
“This is quite a legacy your Heddie left behind.” She gestured down the table at the bunch he’d brought in. Children helped each other read the menus, adults settled kids with toys that appeared out of bags, men and women chatted and laughed. One big happy family. A family any man would be proud of. The kind of family Gia so desperately wanted.
She shook off the thought. Where had that even come from? She’d found herself thinking a lot about family since she’d come to Florida. Having grown up without her mother and with a father who’d tossed her out the day she graduated from high school, Gia had never known the joy of being a part of anything like Earl’s family. Or Savannah’s.
Tears shimmered in the corner of Earl’s eyes. “Why yes it is, thank you.”
Gia laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “So, do you eat your usual breakfast when you’re out with the kids?”
“He sure does,” a boy of about fourteen yelled from the other end of the table. “Dad says the old goat eats like a horse.”
Laughter erupted from most of the family, but a woman with the same dark curls as the boy stood and leaned over the table, then spoke to him in a hushed whisper Gia couldn’t quite make out.
“Oh, leave him alone, Sally.” Earl thumped his chest. “This old goat does eat like a horse.”
That brought more laughter and jeering, and the boy smirked—but had the good grace to cover it with a hand and pretend to cough.
His mother’s warning glare told Gia she was having none of it.
“Okay, then, let’s see what everyone else wants.” Gia moved down the line taking orders. Earl introduced each person when she took their orders—the dark-haired boy with the smart mouth was named Earl for his grandfather. It seemed appropriate somehow. Gia would never remember all their names, never mind put names to faces. So she settled for keeping the orders straight.
Willow strode through the door and stopped short. She looked back and forth between the large group and the clock.
“This is Earl’s family,” Gia explained. “They are all in for a visit.”
Willow smiled. “Oh, that’s so nice. It’s great to meet all of you.”
Leaving Willow to serve coffee and drinks, Gia retreated to the kitchen. She tacked up the row of order slips and got started. No way could she fit everything on the grill at once, so she’d have to do a few orders at a time. She scrambled two dozen eggs and spilled them onto the grill, lined bacon and sausage behind the eggs, and filled all the toasters with bread.
“Gia?” Willow hurried through the door a few minutes later and tacked six more slips up. “Are you going to be able to handle all of this?”
“I’ve got it. What’s going on out there? Why the big crowd?” She lined plates along the counter and started filling them with eggs, bacon, and toast, adding generous helpings of home fries. Seems the younger Dennisons didn’t share their elder’s enthusiasm for grits. Not that she blamed them.
“The orders I just put up are for a group of firemen. Apparently, they were up all night fighting a fire in your neck of the woods.”
“Yes, they were. Saved my house too.”
Willow started for the doorway.
“Hey, do me a favor?” Gia called after her.
Willow stopped and looked back. “What’s up?”
“Don’t leave the firemen a check. Tell them I said thank you.”
“You got it.”
“Oh, and take twenty-five percent off Earl’s bill.”
She nodded and hurried back to the dining room.
Gia stared at the order, only slightly overwhelmed, mostly because she was so exhausted. If she had a cook, Gia could just pitch in in the kitchen for a while, help out through the worst of the rush, and still be able to take a minute to interact with Earl’s family and thank the firemen herself. As it was… Well, she’d be lucky to bang the orders out in a reasonable amount of time.
She moved several plates to the cutout for Willow to grab and took a quick peek into the dining room.
Several more tables were filled, and Willow rushed around trying to get everyone coffee or orange juice and take orders.
As Gia started to turn back, her attention caught on a man seated in the back of the café, not hidden in shadow but closer to the counter than he’d been the day before, since Earl’s family had taken up the whole side wall.
He was younger than she’d originally thought, though still probably in his sixties, his face appearing to be lined more by stress than age. Deep furrows marred his brow and bracketed his mouth. He sat rigid, his gaze firmly riveted on the front door. His menu sat closed on the table in front of him.
The smell of something burning reached her. She whirled toward the toasters just in time to see a small wisp of smoke. Just what she needed, another fire. She popped the toast up and tossed the burnt pieces in the trash, then had to start over.
“Knock, knock.” An older man, his salt-and-pepper hair hanging just past his Hawaiian print shirt collar, poked his head into the kitchen. “Got a minute?”
“Um…” She used her arm to wipe the sweat standing over the hot grill brought from her forehead and yanked down the order slips she’d just finished, then moved the others in line down, making room for the four more Willow rushed in and tacked up.
“I’m sorry. I can see you’re busy, and I wouldn’t interrupt if it weren’t of the utmost importance.” His soft-spoken manner made it impossible for her to blow him off. “My name is Cole Barrister.”
“No problem. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Barrister, I’m Gia Morelli.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well. Please, call me Cole.”
“Sorry I can’t stop and shake hands, I’m just a bit swamped this morning.” She gestured toward a stool in the far corner. “Please. Pull the stool up and have a seat. As long as you can talk while I work, I can give you a few minutes.”
“Of course, of course. Thank you.” He pulled the stool closer, but stayed far enough out of the way for her to work. He chuckled softly. “I remember these days. Sometimes even fondly.”
“You were a cook?”
“Of sorts. I worked grill at a stand on the beach for many, many years.”
“Did you cook breakfast?”
“Among other things.”
“What do you do now?” She cut several pieces of meat lover’s pie and put them on plates with home fries, then put the plates on the cutout and rang the bell. She took a quick peek into the dining room.
The older man sat sipping a cup of coffee, his menu still closed on the table.
“A little of this, a little of that,” Cole said. “I retired about five years back.�
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“Well, good for you.”
“I suppose.”
“Don’t you like being retired?” She checked the next order slip.
“To be honest, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I’m actually quite bored.”
“Really?” Retiring in Florida seemed like a dream come true. And yet, she couldn’t imagine what she’d do all day long if she ever retired.
“What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. A man can only visit so many theme parks, spend so many days sitting on the beach, and read so many books. Watching you right now, I actually miss the rush.” He laughed, a deep belly laugh, surprising for a man with such a soft voice. “I must be crazy, right?”
“Maybe, but that’s okay. I think I’d probably be bored if I ever stopped working too.” She counted the number of eggs she needed for sandwiches and cracked them onto the grill, then broke the yolks. “But… I may have an idea that would be mutually beneficial for both of us.”
“Okay, you’ve piqued my interest.”
“In case you couldn’t tell, I am in desperate need of a cook.” She gestured toward the full grill and the row of order tickets fluttering above it, demanding her attention.
“Oh, I don’t—”
She held up a hand to stop him, and an egg dropped from the spatula she held and landed on the floor with a splat. She sighed and reached for the paper towels.
He grabbed them before her and cleaned up the egg.
“Thank you.” He might just be exactly what she was looking for. She cracked another egg onto the grill. “It wouldn’t have to be full-time. Maybe you could just pitch in on weekend mornings, when I’m usually the busiest, and a day or two during the week if you’d like?”
He contemplated the grill. “It would be nice to do something useful with my time. Can I think about it?”
“Of course. Just stop in anytime and let me know if you’d like to give it a try.”
“Oh, right. Speaking of stopping in, I wanted to let you know we’re organizing a community petition.”