by Jessica Beck
I hurried back to the kitchen and pulled out the most charming little tea set I’d ever seen from the battered old bag.
“What’s going on?” Greg asked.
“We’re serving tea to a pair of princesses and their squire,” I said as I got lemonade from the fridge. “Do we have any cookies on hand?”
“Sure, your mom made some yesterday. Is sugar okay?”
“Did she top them with anything?”
Greg grinned. “No, but I can whip up some icing in a heartbeat, and we’ve got those sprinkles left over in the drawer.”
“Perfect,” I said. I rinsed the cups and the teapot, filled the pot with lemonade, and then arranged it all on a tray. Greg was as good as his word, and as I started to walk out front with the lemonade and now brightly decorated cookies, he looked over my shoulder.
“That’s the squire?” he asked.
“He might not be dressed like one, but he’s one of the best fathers I’ve ever seen.”
“And even if he’s not, I’m not going to be the one to tell him.”
I delivered the tray with a flourish, and as I placed an empty cup in front of each one of them, I addressed them formally by name.
“Shall I pour?” I asked.
“Please,” Sophie said with a bright smile.
I added lemonade to each cup, and then put the tray of cookies in the middle of the table. “If there’s anything else you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
I stepped away, and Jenny joined me off to one side. She was grinning almost as much as I was. “What is that all about?”
“It’s a tea party,” I said. “Only they’re using lemonade.”
“Of course they are,” she said.
The father raised one pinky as he took a sip of tea from the tiny cup. The entire thing was nearly swallowed up in his hand, but he didn’t even flinch.
I waited on a few other customers over the next ten minutes, and when I glanced over at the three of them, the father motioned to me by writing in the air, a clear sign that he was ready for the check.
“I’ll be right back,” I said as I collected the cups, saucers, and the teapot. There were a few cookies left, so I wrapped them up after I rinsed out the tea service and put everything back into the bag.
As I handed it all to the father, he frowned as he looked around for the check. “I must have missed it. Where’s the bill?”
“I’m pleased to say that the archduke has already taken care of it,” I said as I winked at him.
The girls looked wildly around the room for their benefactor. “Is he here? Where’s the archduke? We’d love to meet him.”
“I’m afraid that he was called away on the queen’s business, but he sends you his regards.”
“The archduke is a fine gentleman,” Sophie said with a deep air of seriousness.
“Let’s go, Ladies. The queen is expecting us,” their father said.
Sophie grabbed her sister’s arm on their way out, chattering excitedly. “I can’t wait to tell Mommy that the archduke was here.”
“She’ll be amazed,” Elizabeth said.
“Thanks,” the father said as he held the door open for his daughters.
“I should be the one thanking you. It was the most fun that I’ve had all day,” I said, and it was the complete and utter truth.
“You get all of the fun ones,” Jenny said after they were gone.
“It’s always the luck of the draw,” I said. I glanced at my watch, and then I added, “Would you like to take a little time off before Moose and Martha get here?”
“I’m fine. It feels as though I’m getting my second wind,” she said. “I might take you up on it later, though.”
“We shouldn’t be long,” I said. “Just let me know.”
“Who are you going to interrogate first?” Jenny asked.
“I’ll have to discuss it with Moose before I can give you a good answer,” I said. “Sometimes we have different ideas about that.”
“Knowing the two of you, I’m amazed that you ever agree on anything.” Jenny seemed to reconsider saying that, because she quickly added, “Sorry, Victoria. I just crossed that imaginary line again, didn’t I?”
“I won’t hold it against you this time,” I said. “Just don’t let Moose hear you say anything like that.”
“I’m not worried about him in the least,” Jenny said. “He’s a charming old guy, isn’t he?”
“He thinks you’re pretty beguiling yourself,” I said, “and we both know it.” Moose had an obvious soft spot in his heart for Jenny, and it was clear to anyone who was ever around the two of them at the same time.
“What can I say? We’re kindred spirits,” Jenny said. “You don’t think Martha minds, do you?”
“As long as you aren’t Judge Dixon, you should be fine.” Judge Holly Dixon and Moose were close, and closer in age, and my grandmother wasn’t the least bit pleased about their friendship, though Moose swore that she had no reason to be jealous.
Jenny was about to reply when Moose walked in with Martha right on his heels.
“Are we late?” Moose asked in that booming voice of his.
“No, you’re right on time,” I said. “Thanks for covering for me again, Martha.”
“It’s always my pleasure,” she said. I knew that my grandmother enjoyed coming in and working the front occasionally for me so that Moose and I could investigate, but she’d gotten a little rusty over the years, and balancing out the register was always a challenge when Martha was working the front very long. “I hope you find whoever killed that man. He might not have been an angel, but he deserved better than he got.”
“Moose and I will do our best,” I said. “Do you need anything before we go?”
She hugged Jenny, and then my grandmother said, “No, I’m sure that between the two of us, we’ll manage just fine, won’t we, Jenny?”
“Well, it won’t be boring,” Jenny said with a smile.
“I would hope not,” Moose said. “Are you finished standing around gabbing, Victoria? We’ve got work to do.”
“I’ve been ready since six a.m.,” I said with a smile. “What’s your excuse?”
“I may not have been here most of the morning, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy. I have a solid lead about where we might find Sam Jackson.”
“We’re not going back to the bar again, are we?” The place depressed me, and I’d just as soon skip it today on our search for suspects and clues.
“No, not unless this other lead is a dead end. But there’s only way we’re going to know that, isn’t there? Let’s go.”
I kissed Martha’s cheek, and then touched Jenny’s shoulder lightly. “If you two get overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to call me,” I said.
“We’ll be fine,” Jenny said. “Happy hunting.”
“Okay, then.” I turned to Moose as I said, “You heard the woman. Let’s get cracking.”
“So, where are we going?” I asked Moose as we walked out to his truck.
“No place that you’d ever expect.”
As my grandfather drove, I asked him, “Well, are you going to tell me what our destination is, or do I have to guess?”
“It turns out that Sam Jackson’s a big baseball fan. The high school is playing a game today, and I heard that Jackson doesn’t miss a home stand.”
“We’re really going to a baseball game?” I asked.
“We have to go wherever our suspects are,” Moose said.
“Fine.”
“What’s wrong, Victoria? You used to love baseball.”
“I still do. I just hate to mix our criminal cases with my pleasure.”
“I understand that,” Moose said, “but it’s the only place I could confirm where he would be, so we can’t really afford to pass it up, can we?”
“You’re right. I’m just being silly.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t be that bad.”
I looked at my grandfather and smiled. “Will y
ou still buy me a bag of peanuts like you used to?” It had been our tradition when I’d been a little girl that Moose had always treated me to a bag of nuts when we went to a game, something I still remembered fondly.
“You can have two, if you behave yourself,” he replied with a grin.
“Then we’d better stick to one if you’re going to place those kinds of restrictions on me. Do you think Jackson could have killed Gordon?”
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of our likeliest candidates. Think about it. Who would you rather it be, a man who’s known to live on the dark side of the law, or Ellen? If not our waitress, though, then one of the folks closely connected to her.”
“We can’t choose our suspects based on how much we like them,” I said.
“True, but think about how nice it will be if it turns out that Sam Jackson is the one who hit Gordon with that pipe.”
“It won’t be that nice for him,” I said.
“That’s his problem.” My grandfather parked the truck in the baseball field parking lot, and after buying us box seats, we went in search of Sam.
“He’s right there, behind home plate,” Moose said as he pointed.
“Who’s that with him?” I asked. There was a familiar face there, but not one that I expected to see associating with Sam Jackson again. “Is that Mitchell Cobb?”
“It is indeed,” Moose said. He turned to a vendor and said, “Two bags of peanuts, please.”
I offered to pay, but my grandfather said, “Put your wallet away. This is my treat.”
“Thanks.” I took the offered bag, opened it, and cracked a few peanut shells. The nuts inside were warm and salty, and a flood of memories poured in with that first bite. I hated tainting those images with this investigation, but Moose was right.
I just needed to get over it.
“Are they as good as you remember?” Moose asked me.
I smiled brightly at him. “Even better. I could use a soda, though. I forgot how salty these things were.”
“You can buy those,” he said with a smile.
“It’s a deal.”
After I got us drinks, Moose asked, “Now, are we going to talk to our suspects, or are we going to order hot dogs, too?”
“Hot dogs? I could go for some hot dogs,” I said.
“Victoria, we’re here for a reason, remember?”
“Okay, fine. You win.”
We approached the seats near Sam and Mitchell, even though our tickets were for seats that were quite a bit away from them. No one was going to mind, since the stadium was nearly deserted.
“Fancy finding you two here,” I said as Moose and I sat down directly behind them.
“I was just leaving,” Mitchell said as he started to stand.
“Don’t go on our account,” Moose said.
“I have to get back to the office. I just wanted to see what this year’s team looked like.”
“What are their chances?” I asked.
“They’ve got potential,” Mitchell said, and he started to go.
Moose patted his jacket as he winked at me. “Victoria, I must have left my wallet at the concession stand. I’ll be right back.”
I started to stand as well, but my grandfather shook his head and looked straight at Sam Jackson. I got it. We were dividing and conquering. He was going to handle Mitchell on his own, and I got Sam. Good enough. I was sure that I could handle him.
As I settled into my seat, I said, “Word around town is that you had the best motive of any suspect to want to see Gordon Murphy dead. Do you happen to have an alibi for the time of his murder?”
To my surprise, Jackson started to chuckle softly. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Victoria. You’ve skipped the whole subtle approach and gone straight to the heart of the matter.”
“Do you have an answer for me?”
“I’d like to help you out, but I didn’t kill Gordon.”
“Why should I believe you?” I asked as the batter got a base hit and the meager crowd cheered.
“You might find this hard to believe, but it’s not all that important to me that you do,” Jackson said.
“I saw how angry you were when you found out that Gordon was back in town. Are you trying to tell me now that you didn’t do anything about it?”
“Oh, no. I confronted him,” Jackson admitted as he watched the next batter swing and miss, and I nearly choked on a peanut.
“You’re actually admitting it?” I asked.
“Why shouldn’t I? He paid me back, with interest, a few hours before someone killed him. As far as I was concerned, it was over. Sure, I was mad at the time, but he paid me enough to make me let bygones be bygones.”
“Do you have any proof that’s what really happened?” I asked him.
Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of bills. The only denomination I could see was a hundred, and the rest could have been all ones for all I knew, but it was an impressive show of money. “How’s that for proof?”
“There’s no evidence that you got that from Gordon, and even if you did, how do I know you didn’t punish him anyway after he paid you off?”
“Victoria, I’ve got to say that you’re really starting to annoy me,” Jackson said as he put the money away.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?”
“Why are you so interested in who killed Gordon anyway?” he asked me. “I can’t imagine that you were that big a fan of the man.”
“Ellen’s a part of my family,” I said. “I take all threats to her seriously.”
“So, are you telling me that you might have whacked old Gordon yourself to protect your family?” he asked with the hint of a smile.
“No, I don’t work that way.”
“And you’re implying that I do?” he asked as he swung around in his seat.
“I’m not saying anything,” I answered. I was suddenly uncomfortable having Sam Jackson’s full attention directed straight at me.
“You need to be a little more careful about how you act around me.” There was a sudden intensity to his words that made me glad that we were in a public place with a hundred witnesses around us. Sam Jackson was not a man I wanted angry with me.
“There’s no need to get angry. I’m just asking questions, remember?” I asked.
“That doesn’t mean that I have to like them,” he said. “Maybe you should do us both a favor and find another seat.”
“I don’t know. The view’s pretty good from here, Sam.”
He frowned for a moment, and then Jackson stood. “Fine. You can have it. I’m done with this conversation, Victoria. I think that it might be a good idea for you to mind your own business whenever it concerns me. You’re not a cop, no matter how much you might enjoy trying to be a detective.”
“I do more than try,” I said, not breaking our eye contact. “In case you’ve forgotten, my grandfather and I have solved more than one murder in Jasper Fork.”
“He’s not here right now to save you, though, is he?” Jackson asked. He was definitely threatening me now, and I could almost taste the anger in his words.
“I’m sure that I can handle you just fine without him,” I said, though I didn’t entirely believe that myself.
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you. If you keep snooping into my life, you might just get more than you bargained for.”
“Are you really threatening me?” I asked, doing my best to smile at him, though I had to admit that he’d shaken me, and more than just a little. This was one seriously bad man, and I might have just pushed him too hard.
“We’re just having an innocent conversation, remember?” Jackson asked as he stood and walked to another section of the stands.
That had been productive, if I counted angering one of our primary suspects to the point where he felt the need to threaten me. At least life was never boring. I’d have to watch my back a little more carefully until the case was solved, but I wouldn’t let Sam Jackson, or anyone else, keep me
from digging into Gordon Murphy’s murder. There was too much at stake.
Moose walked back to our seats a few minutes later. “What happened to Sam?”
I pointed him out, and then I told my grandfather, “He didn’t care for my company any longer, if you can imagine that.”
“Funny, I can handle it without too much of a problem myself,” he said with the hint of a smile. “Were you able to get anything out of him, or did you spend the entire time just ticking him off?”
“He told me that Gordon Murphy paid him off, and he even showed me a wad of bills to prove his point.”
“My, my,” Moose said.
“I don’t put much credence in it,” I said. “There’s no way to prove that he got that money as a payoff from Gordon, and even if Jackson was telling the truth about that, how do we know he didn’t kill Gordon after he gave him the money he owed him?”
“You didn’t just come right out and ask the man that, did you?”
I shrugged. “I might have said something to that effect,” I admitted.
“So, you tried to antagonize him into confessing, is that it?”
“I thought it might be worth a shot,” I said.
“Was it? Victoria, even if he didn’t kill Gordon Murphy, we can’t forget that he’s still a bad man mixed up in some things we don’t want to deal with.”
“Hey, all I did was stir the pot a little.” It was time to change the subject. “How did things go with Mitchell?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped,” Moose admitted.
“So, he didn’t confess, either?”
“He wouldn’t even tell me his alibi,” my grandfather said.
“Did he threaten you, though?” I asked.
“No, he was almost apologetic as he raced out of the ball park.”
“Then I win,” I said. “Come on, Moose, if our suspects aren’t offended by the way we’re asking questions, then we aren’t trying hard enough.”
“I prefer to think of my technique as one involving finesse,” he said.
I had to laugh at that one.
“What’s so funny, Victoria?”
“Moose, I’m usually the one who uses subtle questions to get information from our suspects.”
“I know. That’s what has me so worried.”
I looked at my grandfather and saw that he was clearly upset. I touched his shoulder as I said, “Come on. It’s not that bad.”