by C A Phipps
Detective Jones was surprised. “That’s darn impressive. Why would you notice that?”
“Gran had mentioned one day that she’d like to give it a clean for him, since he clearly loved it so much, but he was always in a rush.”
“Anything else?”
“Not that I noticed. I didn’t touch anything,” she added.
“What about the back door? Locked or unlocked?”
“I didn’t want to try it in case I wiped off prints.”
The detective gave her an admiring glance before he pulled a glove from his pocket and pulled on the door handle. It opened with ease and led the way to three steps and out onto a small court yard.
The two men studied the grass around the area from their haunches and Ethan pointed to the tread of a shoe headed away from the apartments across a small lawn which led to adjoining fields.
“At night a person could come and go around here and never be seen.” Detective Jones stated.
“There is a security guard who swings by several times, but he takes care of the whole town and is employed by the council rather than this community,” Ethan told him.
“We should speak to him, but I’m thinking whoever came in here took pains not to be seen.”
“But didn’t worry about being heard,” Maddie added.
“Pardon?” The detective swung around to face her.
“The noises, Mavis noticed?” she reminded him. “I suspect the cat is innocent after all.”
“Hmmm. I guess we better go talk to her first.”
“Please be gentle. She’s naturally upset and will be more so if Mr. Langham is actually missing as a result of foul play.”
“That’s a step too far right now. We only know that he’s not home, his back door is unlocked and there’s a baseball cap that could have belonged to Mr. Kirk. All supposition, so I won’t be mentioning it and would prefer you didn’t either.”
“That’s probably for the best and I won’t say a word to her,” she promised, without including Gran. Trying to keep secrets from her was harder than frozen butter.
She did want to ask Ethan if they had any additional leads on Smith and Chance, but she might ask him that when Detective Jones wasn’t nearby.
He seemed to like her, but he clearly wasn’t as happy to have her around when they were dealing with this case. He was only doing his job, but Maddie and Gran were Mavis’s friends and they couldn’t let her handle this by herself.
“I wonder if we might have a word with Mrs. Anderson alone?” Detective Jones said to Gran and Maddie when they were back in Mavis’s apartment.
“I’d like them to stay,” Mavis said shakily.
Maddie’s phone rang loudly in the small silence. It was Suzy and she was upset. Her parents’ were fighting and not used to such a thing she was panicking. Maddie promised to meet her at the gallery, aware that all ears in the room were listening.
“I’m sorry Mavis. Suzy needs my help with something.”
Gran would have to look after Mavis and they shared a look.
“Oh dear. She sounded upset. I didn’t realize Dan had such a temper until that day I saw him threatening Owen in the park.”
The room was silent. Obviously Mavis’s hearing was better than average, and everyone else seemed to have grasped the short conversation. They were bound to take it out of context and Maddie fervently wished she had taken the call outside.
“Are we talking domestic violence,” Detective Jones asked coolly.
Maddie’s hands tapped her thigh. “Of course not.”
Jones stared at her for a moment. “Just in case, Sheriff would you escort Ms. Flynn to the gallery and I’ll talk to Mrs. Anderson.”
Ethan nodded and followed Maddie outside.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. There was a lot of yelling in the background and Suzy’s terribly upset. I don’t believe they ever argue so it’s bound to seem worse than it is. I’m sure there’s no need for you to come.”
Ethan walked her to Honey “You heard the detective. And I have a couple of questions around what Mavis just said to ask Dan. I’ll bring my own car and meet you there.”
Maddie felt ill as she drove. One of her best friends was distraught and a man she thought of as particularly sweet was perhaps not who she imagined.
Chapter Sixteen
Cora and Dan were in the small kitchen at the back of the Gallery when Maddie and Ethan arrived. Suzy was outside, tears running down her face. She didn’t seem fazed that Ethan was there and she flung herself at Maddie.
“I can’t believe this,” Suzy sobbed. “All these years and hardly a cross word. I hate it,” she wailed.
Maddie rubbed her back. “Shhh. It will be all right. Your parents love each other. This is just a blip and they’ll get over it.”
“I hope so, but they sound so mad at each other,” Suzy sniffed.
“I’m just going inside to check on things,” Ethan said.
Suzy lifted her head. “Why is Ethan here?”
“Ah . . .”
Maddie couldn’t think quick enough and Suzy lunged through the door of the gallery with Maddie on her heels.
Dan looked meaner than a bear ripped out of hibernation too early and Cora was as pale as a meringue.
“So, you think I killed Owen Kirk?” Dan asked, hands on hips.
Suzy and her mother gasped.
Ethan put his hands up. “No one’s saying that, but it seems you had words with him in the park and I’d like to know what they were.”
Dan studied his shoes for a moment, but when he looked up he was even angrier. His voice was so cold that Maddie shivered.
“That man had no right to be hanging about here when my back was turned. He had no right to be talking to my wife every chance he could.”
Cora gasped. “Dan, please tell me you didn’t kill him?”
Dan seemed to shrink a little. “How can you ask me that?”
Cora’s red-rimmed eyes welled up. “Up until a few months ago when you started behaving weirdly, I wouldn’t have. And you just said . . . You were jealous?”
Dan coughed. “I don’t know about that, but it’s not right for a man to hang around someone else’s wife.”
“So you said, but clearly something else happened between you and Owen?” Ethan pressed.
Dan gave the women an apologetic glance, then shrugged. “I came to the gallery one afternoon to help Cora with a shipment. Owen was having a smoke by his van, but when he saw me he high-tailed it into the park looking as guilty as sin. He couldn’t go far, because he’d eventually need his vehicle. So, I followed him.”
“And?”
Ethan’s voice remained calm but Maddie was worried for her friend’s father.
Dan threw his arms out. “I told him to stay away from Cora and not to park there again. Scared the life out of him,” he said with no small amount of pride.
“You may like to think of a better choice of words, Dan.” Ethan casually made a few notes in the small book he kept in his breast pocket.
Dan shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Oh. Yeah. You know what I mean. He promised he’d move on and he did. End of story.”
“So, you never laid a hand on him? Or saw him at Sunny Days?”
“No. I did neither of those things. I was happy that he understood my message.”
Cora was looking at Dan with concern. “Do you swear to it?”
He frowned. “I shouldn’t have to, but I do. Why don’t you believe me?”
“I want to, but you’ve been so secretive lately.” Her face was pinched and she crossed her arms defensively.
“First I’m weird and now secretive?”
There was no way Dan could have looked more amazed.
Cora paled, but pushed on her voice trailing away at the end. “Yes. You keep going away for hours, sometimes overnight. I wonder if you’ve met someone else.”
Dan actually laughed. “Don’t talk crazy. I have
never so much as looked at another woman the way I look at you. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I haven’t got the energy for that kind of carrying on.”
Cora looked a little mollified, but not satisfied. “So what do you do when you leave town?”
He glanced at Maddie and Ethan who were embarrassed to witness this frank conversation and stood awkwardly to one side of Cora and Dan.
“I can’t believe you’re asking this and you know I usually go watch a game. Any game,” he ended on a note of desperation.
Cora frowned. “But why do you have to see so many? It’s not like you don’t have all the sports channels.”
He sighed. “The thing is, since I retired, I’m bored. This gives me a purpose. Something to fill in the days.”
She pursed her lips. “But you could help me here. I’m always asking and you always find an excuse.”
Dan took a step closer to his wife and gently took her hand. “Cora, as much as I like being with you, this gallery is your baby. I need something for myself and I haven’t found it yet.”
Maddie felt like she and Ethan were intruding on a private moment and even more so when Cora hugged Dan.
“Then we need to find you that something. You should be as happy with your life as I am with mine. I do feel so much better, now I know you’re not playing away from home.”
Ethan and Dan snorted at the pun. Dan was a nut for sports, but Ethan loved them too.
“What about golf?” Maddie suggested.
Dan shook his head. “It’s a pricey sport and the Country Club is a little la-de-da for me.”
“We’re hardly destitute. Play if it’s what you want.” Cora insisted.
“You can play the holes with some friends and then come back to the bakery or head to the diner instead of using the clubrooms.” Suzy suggested.
“I guess I could give it a try,” Dan said uncertainly, “until I find a small job to keep me occupied” Then he hugged Cora tighter.
They looked adorable. He was so big, and Cora so small, that Maddie had a lump in her throat. Beside her, Suzy was beaming.
“If you’ve asked all your questions, could we get going?” Maddie suggested to Ethan in a croaky voice.
He coughed. “Yes. Thanks for the honesty Dan.”
But Dan and Cora only had eyes for each other and Maddie grabbed Ethan’s hand as they left.
He looked down at their entwined fingers. “Well, well. Seems a little romance goes a long way.”
She squeezed his hand. “I knew something was wrong between them, but I couldn’t figure out what. Do you think Suzy knew they were having issues?”
“How would I know? You Girlz are a lot quicker on sensing these things than us mere males.”
She snorted. “That’s a bit sexist.”
“Maybe. Tell me it’s not true.”
“It’s entirely possible,” she acknowledged. “And, I’m so happy that Dan had nothing to do with Owen’s death.”
“Me too. He’s a great guy and I believe him. Unless they’re ridiculously good actors, what we witnessed couldn’t have been more real. It just shows couples need to be totally honest with each other.”
“Like you and me?” she teased.
He nodded. “We’re a work in progress.”
“I like that. As long as we’re progressing in the same direction.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said firmly.
Chapter Seventeen
On Saturday the boys were back at the bakery and this time, since Beth had to work in the salon all morning, and Layla was also working, they had another helper.
The sheriff was out of uniform, looking handsome in jeans and a t-shirt. Maddie sat in the alcove where she did her accounts listening to the four of them. It was very entertaining if somewhat distracting. Luke was attempting to keep them focused, but the twins were particularly boisterous this morning.
“Old people talk funny.”
She poked her head around the corner to see that it was James speaking. Now she knew what to look for it was obvious that the cowlick would do very nicely in telling the boys apart.
Jesse wrinkled his nose. “Some of them smell funny too.”
“Mothballs.” Ethan said.
The twins let out shrieks of laughter at the unfamiliar word and Maddie pressed her lips together.
“They’re white round globes, the size of a marble, and filled with a perfume type thing that stops moths from eating clothes and other material.”
His technical description apparently needed a little work, since James was shocked.
“Moths eat clothes?”
“They do, which makes holes in them.”
“Mom doesn’t like it when we put holes in our clothes, imagine if she saw a moth doing it?” Jesse flapped his arms and ran around James who made out he was trying to bite him.
Luke rapped on the counter with a spatula. “If these cookies are going to be done in time for the community center, we need to have more work and less talking.”
“Sorry, Luke.” Ethan grabbed the twins by the neck of their t-shirts and pulled them back into the production line. He picked up a spoon and began to drop dough on the tray.
Luke couldn’t have been more surprised by Ethan’s apology, or the fact that he was actually making cookies.
“Ah, that’s okay, Sheriff.”
The boys were naturally not as formal with their uncle.
“Not that much dough Uncle Ethan! They have to be the same size. Use the ice cream scoop.” James demanded.
“Is that what this is for?” He scooped cookie dough and squeezed it onto the baking tray. “Look at that. Who would have thought it had another great use?”
Maddie smiled at his amusement, but there seemed to be another issue. The boys were whispering, and Jesse nudged James, who eyed Luke.
“We think we need a different cookie.”
Luke shook his head. “The two we’re making will do for this week. All the ingredients have been bought and we know we have everything we need.”
“But we’re bored with these.”
“You can’t be bored with them, James. It’s only the second time you’ve made them.”
Both boys said something unintelligible.
Ethan laughed. “What they really mean is that they’ve eaten enough of this flavored cookie dough.”
Luke issued a warning as he flattened the cookies. “The more you eat the less there is to sell.”
“If we don’t eat any more dough will you think about it?” Jesse tried a different tack.
Maddie went back to her accounts. The art of manipulation was strong in these two and she heard the smile in Luke’s voice.
“If you stop eating the dough , I’ll speak to Maddie about another flavor for next time. Okay?”
There was the sound of slapping and Maddie turned to see Ethan joining in some high fives. She had worked in one of the busiest family bakeries in New York City before Gran had manipulated her into coming home. Now, she couldn’t imagine working anywhere else than Maple Lane Bakery. This was home and their noise and fun was a reminder that family, annoying as they could be, was what made life interesting.
She finished what she was doing, then walked around the huge counter to inspect the trays before Luke put them in the oven. They weren’t as proportionally exact as her cookies and had a rustic quality, but she had no doubt they would taste as wonderful as last week.
“We’re just about to bake them,” James informed her.
“Good. As soon as they’re done, we can take them to the community center.”
Luke slid the trays in, then the four of them cleaned down the counter and tidied up the ingredients that hadn’t been used, while Maddie made up small boxes to save time later. Like last time, they would sell them singularly to eat there or in boxes to take home.
Suzy had placed an order, as had Gran, Laura and Angel.
“Why does that man always hang out at the center?” Jesse ask
ed.
“What man?”
Ethan was instantly on alert as was Maddie.
James was loading the dishwasher unaware of their worry. “The one with the gray hair.”
Maddie snorted and the boys looked at her oddly, but Ethan shared a grin with her.
“Most of the people at the center on Saturday’s have gray hair and you’ve only sold cookies one time. You might like to be more specific.”
James frowned. “We’ve seen him other times when we’ve gone to play basketball there. Before last Saturday. He didn’t come inside any of those times and last week he didn’t even buy our cookies. Mr. Clayton said we shouldn’t worry about him, but he looked mean.”
“Or sad.” Jessie was helping Maddie with the boxes. His tongue poking between his teeth in concentration.
Ethan put his hand on James’s shoulder and turned him around. He crouched down a little so they were eye to eye. “Is this man from Maple Falls?”
He shrugged. “I’ve only seen him at the center.”
“When we get to the center, can you point him out to me?”
“Sure. Is he a suspect?”
Ethan frowned. “A suspect for what?”
“Owen’s murder.”
Ethan frowned. “We don’t call it a murder unless we know for sure.”
“But I heard you talking to Maddie about it the other day.”
“Then you shouldn’t listen. We don’t know anything about this man, so we need to be careful. You know all about stranger awareness, don’t you?”
He directed the question to both boys and they nodded.
“We study it in school,” Jesse said.
“Great. He’s probably a shy elderly man who’s scared of kids and doesn’t like cookies.”
“Everyone likes cookies.” James said emphatically.
“You’d think, but some people really don’t.”
The timer sounded and Luke pulled the cookies from the oven. “These look good enough to eat.”
“That’s lucky,” Ethan added and was treated to foul looks from the twins. “I never doubted for a second that they would be fantastic.”
The boys didn’t look convinced of his belated sincerity, but waited as patiently as was possible, until the cookies were cool enough before they packaged them.