by Beth Byers
I considered for a minute and then admitted, “Right now? Yeah. But I want to think on it.”
“Well one thing’s for sure,” Zee said, grabbing my arm and squeezing lightly, her expressions serious before she said, “Roberta can’t know we’re helping until she apologizes. And maybe pays us. Like private investigators.”
I wouldn’t feel the least bit bad about taking Roberta’s money if we helped find the real killer. In fact, I thought, I might just use that money to justify the overpriced makeup and yellow sandals I’d bypassed the day before.
“Good idea,” I told Zee. “You break the news to her. I”m not talking to her until I get the apologies that I won’t be accepting. If I accept them I’ll feel like I can’t press charges, and I just might.”
FIVE
Zee called Roberta and told her our “fees.” Her cackle told me just what Roberta thought of it. Zee also demanded a retainer telling Roberta she was untrustworthy to pay after the fact. The mayor had snarled at See about that and then Zee said Roberta had shrieked when Zee demanded an apology letter. I was debating using that letter for evidence if I decided to press charges, and I was sure that Roberta knew I could.
“Are we going to look into it without the money and the letter?” I whispered as I passed Zee to seat a family from Seattle.
“Is she the boss now?” Roxy asked when we met back up at the counter to fill sodas and get coffees.
“Well,” I told Roxy and Zee, “I wouldn’t get involved with any of these without Zee. Look at her face, Roxy,” I said, and we both turned to stare at Zee. “She wants to get involved so bad, but she doesn’t want to help Roberta. She’s too conflicted to carry on. She might have a seizure.”
Zee scowled at us and snorted meanly. I grinned at both of them and winked at Roxy before I went to the back to the kitchen to start some cake for the following day. We made them fresh daily, and it was my favorite part of the day. Zee and I both made the pies, and often enough, Az stepped in to help with the baking when the kitchen was slow.
While we were in the back, I asked Az, “Do you think that Roberta killed George?”
He hesitated a bit and then said, “I don’t know, Rosie luv. I’m not a huge fan of Roberta. I don’t know if I’d be a good judge of anything with her.”
I nodded and added the cocoa powder to the mixer bowl and then said, “I can’t believe that we didn’t realize they’d stolen the recipes.”
Az shrugged and then said, “We probably should have. You don’t think that way, Rosie luv.”
“If we’d realized,” I said, “We could have just pressed charges for theft and sent Simon over to get our recipes back. I feel like…they’ve ruined the things I worked so hard on.”
Az sighed and then grabbed my shoulder to turn me to him. He opened his arms for a hug and I took it happily. “They didn’t ruin anything, Rosie luv. But we can make more recipes if that makes you happy.”
I sighed and nodded into his chest, remembering only then what Simon had said about Az. I looked up at him through my lashes and felt again that Simon was wrong. Az loved me, but as a sister or a friend.
“We should make something that they’d make in Jamaica. one of your brother’s favorite things. Something that makes you happy.”
Az grinned at me and said, “I’ll think on it. This is a diner after all, Rosie luv. Our customers like home cooking. Except for your cakes, we don’t want to experiment. They’re not gonna want salt fish, jerk chicken, or goat curry.”
I scrunched my nose at the goat, and Az’s laughter filled the kitchen. I grinned and then said, “But maybe jerk chicken.”
He laughed and stepped away. “Maybe instead we should focus on some other homestyle cooking. It’s been a while since we had some fried chicken. A fried chicken night might be a great idea.”
I nodded. It had been a while since we’d had a themed evening. “You want to design this one?”
His gaze brightened and I knew I’d made the right choice. I couldn’t control what other people did, like George and Roberta stealing our recipes, but I could look to make the people I cared about happy.
He agreed to design the dinner, and I found Zee scrubbing the front door.
“Really?” I asked.
Zee grinned at me and then went back to cleaning the, already clean, door.
“Let’s go,” I said. Before we left, I took my sweet Daisy and Mama Dog for a short walk and then brought them back to the bed in the office.
“If only we were dogs,” Roxy said as I grabbed my coat and hoodie. “We could sleep all day and wake to eat and occasionally go out to check out what’s happening.”
I laughed and said, “Call in Lyle and his mom and see if they can come in. Close early if you need to. Right now, I don’t care all that much.”
My paranoia about The 2nd Chance Diner closing due to the new diner was gone. They would have been lucky to survive without losing their owner. I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to look forward to someone failing, but I felt justified in this case.
“Let’s go talk to the assistant, Jenny,” Zee said. “If anyone knows what Roberta was up to, her assistant will.”
We walked through the town to the mayor’s offices and went inside. Zee went in first to check for Roberta and then stuck her head out to wave me in.
“She isn’t coming in today,” Zee told me as I joined them inside.
Jenny eyed the two of us and scowled. “You’re going to get me fired.”
“That’s funny,” Zee said, sitting down and leaning back. She put her feet up on Jenny’s desk as she added, “She asked us to help her.”
“I don’t believe that,” the mayor’s clerk, Jake, said.
Zee shot Jake a nasty look.
“It’s true,” I said gently, but he was still looking as though he could hardly believe it.
“Why would she do that?”
“Funny,” Zee said, “the last time we talked to you, you were a lot more timid.”
Jenny ignored both of them almost to the point of a way that was hard to believe. There was something there with Jake, I thought, given the way that she was ignoring him. I couldn’t help but flash back to the people I used to work with at the call center. It sucked to work with people who were crappy. Poor Jenny. In an office with this kid that she didn’t seem to care for, and Roberta.
“So,” I said, “George and Roberta. Who’d have thought it?”
Jake snarled and answered before Jenny could. “No one. She…no…it wasn’t…”
“How long were they dating?” I asked, ignoring Jake. The last time I’d talked to him, he’d believed that I had gotten away with murder simply because Simon cared about me. Yet, he’d known that Roberta had feelings for Simon. It was like he’d believed every claim that Roberta threw his way.
“Since he moved into town,” Jenny said. “He came in here to talk about the diner he was planning and invited Roberta out to dinner. They’ve been dating pretty steadily since then.”
“That didn’t seem to stop her from wanting Simon,” Zee said and Jake choked.
“Simon broke her heart,” Jake said, “It’s not her fault that it lingers on.”
Zee laughed outright at that and Jenny shook her head before she said, “Enough of that.”
“What else did she do to help George? She said something about inspections and such.”
Jenny pressed her fingertips into her temples and then admitted, “She moved him to the top of all the waiting lists. So, instead of taking weeks and weeks to get one, he got one in days. The diner would still be in process if she hadn’t helped him so much. He was determined to get the diner open for the tourist seasons.”
Zee tapped her finger against the desk and waited. She didn’t turn to look at Jake, but she was waiting to see if he’d say anything. If he had thoughts on what Jenny had said, though, he didn’t let them out.
Was that because he couldn’t defend Roberta for this? Or did he just not know what Roberta had bee
n up to? I was dying to know his thoughts, but his mouth was clamped shut. He might as well have mimed locking his mouth and throwing the key away.
“Roberta said she’d been trying to…distance…herself from George,” I said. “Did you see that happening?”
Jenny considered for a few minutes and then admitted, “I saw it. He was more grasping than she expected. She probably wasn’t really prepared for him after Simon.”
Simon would never have pushed himself on any woman. He never would have manipulated them to stay with him. Jenny looked at me and then back at Zee as though she could read my thoughts.
“Simon should have realized what he had with Roberta,” Jake muttered. He might not have meant to be overheard, but they all did hear him and Jenny full on snorted.
Jake flushed and then stood and snapped, “I’m going to lunch.”
“Well that’s a bummer,” Zee said, “Given he doesn’t have much of a filter.”
“He’s got a massive crush though,” I said and Jenny snorted as meanly as Zee ever did.
“He’s got it bad for Roberta,” Jenny said. “He had an awkward crush for a while, but it’s gotten a lot worse. It was bad enough when he believed every rage rant she ever had. But now…it’s intolerable.”
Zee pressed a finger to her lips and then said, “You know. You’re young, you’re bright, you’re professional. I bet you do most of the actual work for the mayor’s office.”
Jenny didn’t look impressed at Zee’s flattery.
“You should consider running for mayor yourself.”
“I don’t have money to run for office and I don’t have the attitude to deal with the schmoozing.”
I examined her after that and then said, “But you do though. You do it whenever Roberta doesn’t want to. Like with the pie contest.”
She sighed and then I said, “I would donate to your campaign.”
Jenny sighed and then said, “I am working right now, and this is an extreme conflict of interest.”
“So we should meet for dinner,” Zee said. “When you’re off the clock. Can you tell us anything else about George and Roberta? Do you know anyone else who could have killed him?”
Jenny glanced up from her work and said, "To be honest, I’m confused as to why you’re here instead of talking to his heirs. He probably isn’t loaded like you, but he put a lot of money into that diner. Renovations and stuff. It wasn’t like when you did it where it was already a functioning diner. That place was a shop. They had to add everything. It had to cost buckets. And he moved fast on it.”
“Maybe all the money is gone,” I said.
“Maybe,” Jenny countered, “He was burning through so much money that his kids decided something had to be done before there was nothing left but a diner that wouldn’t be able to last.”
“He stole her recipes,” Zee said.
Jenny cursed.
“Roberta helped him. She knew, and she did nothing.”
Jenny cursed again.
Zee then added, “Roberta isn’t going to stay mayor. So you need to decide if you want to work for yourself and change things. Or if you want to work for someone else. Maybe as bad.”
“So,” I said, ignoring what Zee, “Do you know anyone else who might have killed Roberta?”
“This isn’t one of my abilities. I manage money and jobs and delegate. I don’t see into motives and crimes.”
Zee stood and then said, “You could be the mayor. We could make that happen. I’ve been asking about you. I’m not the only one who realizes that you’d be better than Roberta. I’m not the only one who wants to see something better happen for Silver Falls.”
SIX
“Jake is an interesting kid,” I said as Zee and I walked back to the sidewalk. The skies were thick with clouds overhead. The sun-rain mix of the previous day was gone and there was a thick carpet of gray in the sky. With the drizzle, the entire world was gray except for the spring flowers popping up everywhere. The beds were rife with daffodils and pansies. The grass was thick and green offsetting the pretty cobblestone sidewalk outside of the mayoral offices.
“He’s captivated by Roberta,” Zee said. “It’s…”
“Gross,” I said.
“Mmmm,” Zee replied, “We should talk to his mom.”
“Why?” I gasped.
“She has to know she raised a fool. She’ll have opinions. Maybe useful ones.”
“But why does he matter? He’s just a kid who works in the mayor’s office.”
“He also works at the diner. He might have said something. We need to know what he might have said to her. He’s the type of kid who goes home and prattles on about his worries to his mom. If that’s the case…she might know what he knows. Knowing her, she probably does.”
I followed Zee to her muscle car. I wasn’t even surprised that she knew exactly where Jake’s mom lived, and I certainly wasn’t surprised to find out that Jake lived in the garage. The house was one of those two level places with wood shingles. It looked to be a split level with the garage on the first floor. I imagined that was better given that Jake probably had the behavior of a teenager with all the attitude of someone who thought he was an adult even though he was living off of his mom.
I suppose it wasn’t a very nice attitude, but Jake was a real punk in the office, and I didn’t think too much of him.
“Hello, Zee,” Jake’s mother said, “I’m not all that surprised you’re here.”
Zee and I met each other’s gazes and then Zee asked, “Why?”
“You investigate all the murders despite the fact that there is a police department.”
Zee grinned at Jake’s mom and said, “Helen, how much do you hate the mayor?”
Helen glanced at me and then back at Zee and grinned. “If you can get my son out of that office, I’ll help however I can. I…I can’t even tell you how much I despise the mayor.” The last two words were snarled.
“But not the diner?” Zee asked.
Helen shrugged at that and then said, “Restaurant jobs are a dime a dozen in Silver Falls, and George is dead. His kids aren’t so bad. Besides, sooner or later, Roberta is going to get sick of Jake’s…tendencies and fire him. He needs a job.”
I raised my eyebrows at Helen and she let us inside. I looked around with relish to see where Jake and his mom lived. From the sign of it, Helen was married and there were a few more sons.
“Is Jake your oldest?”
Helen shook her head and lead them to the couch. “He’s my youngest. I…I…I mean…I don’t want to admit it, but I was tired when he was young. You know? My older boys were so bad. They did it all. Had sex in the church parking lot, got girls knocked up, shoplifted, drugs. Teenagers are the worst. I didn’t have it in me to make Jake behave. Or to discipline him. I failed him because I was too tired.”
Zee took Helen’s hand and said, “Jake’s a good kid. He’s dumb. I’ll give you that. Dumb as a rock.”
Helen laughed but there were some tears in that laugh.
“He’ll get smarter. He’s young,” Zee said gently. “He’s just infatuated and can’t use his brains when his feelings are involved.”
Helen laughed and then said, “You know…I know you’re right. I got together with my husband. He was 16 when we started dating. Sometimes I’m shocked that we stayed together.”
I leaned back while Helen and Zee talked. I felt as though I would be intruding. They seemed like…not friends. But…people who’d been in the same place.
“You know my older boys. They’re fine now. Jake will be too. I just thought. He wasn’t. He wasn’t so bad as my older boys. I thought he would be better. I didn’t think it would be so rough. That I was done, and now…I mean…it’s not so bad, it’s just you want your kids to be happy. You want them to…find meaning and peace and contribute and maybe even love you back.”
Zee nodded, and I realized that I didn’t know much about her before we’d become friends. I knew she had a disturbing number of cats. She h
ad children and grandchildren who didn’t live in the area. She was divorced, but she didn’t talk about her ex hardly at all.
“Tell us about Jake and George,” Zee said.
Helen shrugged and then said, “As far as Jake would say it, he was basically the devil. Jake hated him. But he paid Jake well, and the tips were pretty good. Jake liked the money, but he was burning through it.”
I crossed my legs and watched Helen as she grinned at Zee. I bet Helen knew Zee’s backstory. They were, in fact, bonding over the same trials even if they hadn’t weathered them together.
“Why do you want him out of the mayor office job so bad,” I asked. “It has to be a better job than being a waiter?”
Helen shook her head and then said, “Nope. They’re both minimum wage but the waiter job comes with tips. Neither one has a future. He needs to go to school. If he must live in Silver Falls, he can come back with a job he can do long distance.”
“But why do you want him out of the mayor’s office?”
“She’s sleeping with him,” Helen said, “She’s sleeping with my boy.”
“Wait, what?” I asked, stunned.
“Shut it,” Zee breathed.
I choked and then coughed on my spit. “No wonder Jake was so weird when we were at the office.”
“Was he working the night George died?” Zee asked.
“Why are you asking that?” Helen demanded, suddenly worried by their questions.
“Look Helen,” I said, “The truth is your son is a suspect if he’s in love with Roberta. But so are his sons and me and Roberta and probably 100 other people that George screwed over. He wasn’t a good guy. Part of fixing all of this is just to establish where everyone was.”
Helen’s hands were shaking as she replied, “He was working. It isn’t like you can’t find that out from other people. My boy…he’s a good boy. He’s dumb like Zee said, but he’s a good boy.”
“I’m sure he is,” I said. “Growing up is hard, being an adult is hard, I’m sure you did the best you could as a Mom and that your son knows it.”