by Lesley Diehl
I thought about what she had to say but rejected it. “Deni and Ronald would be there for her, and so would you, Megan. I can’t see he’d gain much from my, um, being hurt.”
“Intimidation,” said Jake.
“Kind of extreme, isn’t it?” asked Rafe.
A thought had been niggling at me since the shower washed my body clean and the steam cleared my brain. “Maybe we’re all looking in the wrong places as Megan said. Maybe this has to do with Bruce’s murder.”
“I can’t see how,” said Jake.
“I can’t either, but it’s just a thought since we’re tossing out possibilities,” I said.
“It would mean someone thinks you know something about the murder. What?” asked Jake.
“I know what you know, what everyone else knows, and that’s about it.”
It was the end of a nonproductive conversation, but it left Jake with a lot of people to interview.
He pushed back from the table. “I guess I’d better get busy. We’ll talk later, Hera. Get some rest.”
He reached down and touched my cheek. Our eyes met for a moment, then he turned and left. After I gave Rafe a hug and thanked him for helping me, he also departed.
Jeremiah leaned over and spoke to Megan in a low voice, but I caught his words. “I think we should tell Hera now.”
“Later.” Megan pushed me toward the stairs.
“Wait. Tell me what?’
“Get some sleep. It can wait,” she insisted.
“Sleep can wait.” I did a three-sixty and grabbed a kitchen chair. “Now give.”
Jeremiah’s and Megan’s eyes met across the room. “Okay,” Megan said, “but I can’t see what she’s going to do about it.”
They both grabbed chairs, and Jeremiah began to speak.
“You know I’ve been borrowing my sister’s car to get here since the weather turned cold.”
I looked curious and gestured with my hand for him to continue.
“Yesterday I stopped by the diner to get a cup of coffee before I headed out here. While I was there I spotted Marshall and his lawyer—boy, is he an oily looking dude—sitting in one of the booths. After Megan told me she saw Marshall here the night of the murder, I thought I’d saunter over to the counter nearest them and kind of eavesdrop on their conversation.”
It appeared that sleuthing was contagious around here.
“They were discussing some papers which turned out to be power-of-attorney forms.”
“Okay.” So far I couldn’t tell where this was heading.
“What I overheard was the lawyer telling Marshall about durable power of attorney forms signed by Mrs. Ramford. Marshall seemed to be worried they might not be legal, given her mental condition. The lawyer assured Marshall not to worry, he’d take care of everything.
“‘I am his son, I assure you,’ Marshall said. ‘Sure you are, buddy,’ said the suit, ‘but this is additional insurance. You now have her power of attorney. We can fight the will on several fronts.’ Then Marshall said, ‘I have some additional insurance planned, too.’
“Then the two of them seemed to notice my presence, and they stopped talking. I left. This is not good. Maybe Marshall was the one trying to kill you to take you out of the picture.”
I thought about that, but somehow I couldn’t believe it. Marshall struck me as a man more used to keeping his hands clean but his mind scheming.
“Why didn’t you mention this to Jake when he was here?”
“I thought there was enough going on this morning, and we should focus on you.” Megan shot a look of disgust at Jeremiah. “I still think we shouldn’t have bothered you with it now.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll give it some thought. I don’t think it ties into what happened to me, but it does prove what an awful man Marshall is. He’s certainly not the sweet, gentle person he’s been portraying.” But then, I knew a bit more about the man than anyone else did: his professed interest in buying me out, the kiss. Just what kind of game was he playing?
Megan got up from the table. “Okay go ponder this, but do it upstairs in your bedroom, and try to wrap some sleep around your thoughts.”
Before Megan could get me off to bed, the kitchen door opened, and Sally entered.
“I just heard. Are you okay?” She rushed forward and enveloped me in an embrace. Since she was so short and I so tall, it felt more like being hugged by a child, but there was no mistaking her concern. The hold almost crushed my ribs.
“I’m fine, but how did you find out?”
“The story’s all over town. Mrs. Binks came into the repair shop early this morning to get her oil changed, and she heard the guys talking. Then she stopped by the tea room, and who knows where she went after that. She loves to gossip.”
“Where’s Michaela?” I asked. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s great, eating like a bear before hibernation. She’s already gained quite a bit of weight. Mom’s taking care of her. I had to come out and see how you were. You could have been killed.” The words were out of her mouth for only a second before her face turned white.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That was a really insensitive thing to say.”
“But you’re correct. Someone could have killed her,” said Jeremiah.
“So it’s true then. The brake hose was cut on purpose?”
“Sounds so camp, almost as if it was from a bad story,” I said.
“I met Jake’s car as I was coming up the drive. I guess we’re all grateful he’s on the case. He’ll find whoever’s responsible,” Sally said.
“Tea?” offered Megan.
“No, no, I’ve got to run. Mom has to go home today. She took off work from the Motor Vehicle Bureau to help out with the baby, but the office expects her in tomorrow. I’ve got to get back to baking and running the shop.”
“The shop and Michaela. That has to be two full-time jobs. I could drop by to help with the baby for a couple of hours each day. I think Hera can spare me.” Megan looked to me for my agreement. I nodded, happy Megan was willing to help Sally as well as me. She was proving to be a generous gal.
“That’s nice of you, but for now, I’m set with child care.” Sally’s refusal was civil, but her voice held a note of restraint. She still didn’t trust Megan, it seemed. Then Sally blushed and acted as if she didn’t want to talk about the issue.
I gave her one of my ‘fess up looks, the ones we always used in high school when one of us withheld information, usually about a boy. Then I waited.
“Oh, all right, if you must know. Marshall has offered to help out when I need him.”
Uhm. I said nothing. Megan looked shocked. Jeremiah’s usually soft, pink-hued albino eyes went deep red.
“He’s very good with children, you know,” Sally said.
“No, I didn’t. Since we’ve barely met him, I don’t think any of us knew that about him,” I said.
“Well, he is.” Sally opened her mouth as if to add something but closed it. She came over to me and gave me another hug. “I know what I’m doing.” Without a glance or goodbye to Megan or Jeremiah, she left.
We all remained unmoving in our places at the kitchen table.
“You should have told her,” Jeremiah said.
I shook my head. “Sally’s stubborn. She would have put her own spin on the power of attorney or said whoever was snooping on them had misheard. She sees what she wants to see. Right now, whoever cares for the baby is fine in her book.”
That wasn’t quite true. I remembered Sally’s crush on Michael and knew her attachment for Marshall had to be more than babysitting services.
Megan nodded. “Sally is a grown woman. She’ll have to take care of herself. Worry about her some other time. For the last time, up to bed.” The girl could take charge when necessary.
I wanted to countermand her orders, but I was weary down to the marrow of my bones. Sleep sounded about right. I obeyed like a child and threw myself into bed. When I awoke, the sun was setting. Some delightful
smell was curling its way up from the kitchen and into my room. My stomach growled. I must be recovering, I thought. I shrugged into a sweater and jeans.
Megan turned from the stove when she heard me.
“How about some chicken soup?”
“I looked that bad?”
“Worse. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Jeremiah for dinner. We weren’t certain you’d be in any shape to keep an eye on the brewery, so he offered to come back tonight, and I thought it was just easier to have him eat here and stay instead of going home.” A flush worked its way up from her neck onto her cheeks when she mentioned Jeremiah’s name.
“Fine with me. I’ll get some bedding and make up the couch for him, but really, I’m fine.”
“I already set up the couch for him. Presumptuous of me, I guess, huh?”
Jeremiah entered the back door. “It feels like winter is finally moving in. It’s getting darn cold out there. I think it might snow.”
“Too early,” I said.
Megan and Jeremiah stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at me from across the room. They both had something on their minds, and it wasn’t chicken soup.
“We need to talk to you about some things,” Jeremiah began.
What now, I wondered. I’d had enough news today. I wanted to put my brain into hibernation for a while. I took the lid off the pot and looked in. The steam from the soup enveloped my head, the aroma as tantalizing as that of a good ale.
“Okay. What?” I kept my tone light to cover the tension making my throat constrict. I could guess what they had in mind, and I expected this conversation, just not now.
“Would you please sit down and look at us?” Megan gestured at a chair.
“I think I know what you’re going to say. I know I’m not paying either of you enough. I can give you a small raise, but I’m sure you won’t find it adequate, but what other positions are available with the local economy the way it is?”
They both looked shocked.
“I’m sorry. That’s a poor reason for you to stay where your salary says you’re not being appreciated, but I assure you that you are.” I rushed on. “Unless Teddy has offered you more, but you’ve been down that road already, Jeremiah. I thought you wanted to brew real beer. With me. Here, and not in Teddy’s huge manufacturing … Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. He makes great beers.”
“What are you talking about?” Megan asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Us. Megan and me.”
“Huh?”
“Is our relationship a problem for you? I mean, with both of us working here,” Megan said.
I hadn’t given their relationship, whatever it was, any thought. Oh sure, I noticed them looking at one another, but … Dumb, Hera.
“Oh. No, of course not. What brought this up?”
“Today when Sally was here. Her relationship with Marshall. We just thought we should bring ours out in the open so you knew that we knew, or know, what we’re doing. I mean, we haven’t known each other any longer than Sally and Marshall.”
I slid into a chair. “Thank God. I thought you were going to quit on me.”
“We assure you we will be as highly responsible about our work now as we were before we, you know, before we, um … I think we’re in love,” Jeremiah’s eyes sought out Megan’s as if for confirmation of their feelings.
“And my accident wasn’t because of Jeremiah and me, it was Father’s scaring me.”
“In love?” The expression in my voice and on my face must have given away my utter astonishment, my clueless lack of understanding. Worse yet, here I was being selfish about my brewery when all these two wanted to do was assure me their feelings for each other wouldn’t get in the way of business. I got out of my chair and put my arms around both of them.
“So, when’s dinner?” I asked.
Megan smiled and handed me a spoon. “You’d better taste it to see if the seasoning is right.”
~
I’d gone back upstairs to take another shower to wake up my brain. I had handled Megan and Jeremiah’s announcement about their relationship with the interpersonal smoothness of a cactus. The payback for my insensitivity was that the shower spray hurt worse now than it had earlier. I wondered how much more battered I was going to feel tomorrow. Worse, Megan and Jeremiah had assured me.
I was a lucky woman. When I came down for dinner, both Jeremiah and Megan acted as if everything was fine. When I tried to apologize, Megan swept away my words with a flip of her hand.
“You had a bad night, that’s all.”
As I was raising the spoon to my lips, the phone rang. It was Jake.
“I need to talk with you. I’d like to come over tonight, but if you’re not up to it, early tomorrow.”
“Come now. Megan made soup.”
In another five minutes, I heard his SUV come up my drive.
“Here, let me take your coat,” said Megan when Jake came in.
“Your timing couldn’t have been better. There’s something you ought to know about Marshall, something Jeremiah overheard today in town,” I said.
“I really wasn’t planning on eating dinner with you. I’ve got some news too.”
“This can all wait until after we’ve eaten,” said Megan. “Sit, everyone.”
Jake’s fidgety manner when he first arrived disappeared as we tucked into the soup and the herb rolls Megan had baked. He seemed pretty hungry for someone who wasn’t going to eat with us, or was he hiding something behind the swallowing and chewing?
When his soup bowl was empty and he came up for air, the nervousness he’d evidenced earlier returned.
“Spit it out,” I said. Inwardly I groaned and tried to prepare myself for what I knew would be unwelcome news.
“I know this is a bad time, but I’ve been assigned by the sheriff to a K-9 school in North Carolina.”
I slid back in my chair. My brain refused to understand what he said. “But you don’t even have a dog.”
“I’ll be paired up with one there.”
“Well, you can’t go, that’s all.” Megan slammed the lid on the soup pot. “Turn it down.”
Jeremiah nodded. “I’d think being in the middle of a murder investigation trumps doggy school.”
I recovered myself enough to ask the most important question. “Is this something you want to do?”
“When I was hired I knew the sheriff was looking to put on a K-9 officer because the drug scene has become such an issue here. So I kind of expressed my interest in the idea then. He told me this afternoon the funds came through.”
“So, is that a yes or a no?” I tried to keep the flintiness I felt out of my voice. I knew I failed.
Jake stared at the floor. “It’s a yes. It’s just really bad timing.”
I draped my arm over the back of the chair.
“Uh, maybe Megan and I should look at the fermenter,” said Jeremiah.
“Oh, please don’t. You haven’t finished your supper.” The light tone of my voice surprised even me. “When do you leave?” I asked Jake.
“Hera, I know what you’re thinking,” Jake said.
“Do you? Well, that surprises me. I don’t think I know what I’m thinking.”
“I’ll leave the dishes, and we’ll come back later,” said Megan. Before I could stop her, she and Jeremiah slid out the back door.
“I leave in less than a week, but I’ve got a great idea. I’ll be back for Thanksgiving. Do you think you could put together a wedding before then?”
I picked up my soup bowl and hurled it at him.
Fourteen
That night in my bed with Jake was wonderful. It always was when we used sex to make up after a fight. This time it was more than that. Passionate? Absolutely. Warm, loving, sensual? Oh, yes. Yet there was a note of something else in our lovemaking—a bittersweet note of good-bye.
Morning came too quickly. As if to celebrate our feelings for one another, Mother Nature created snow sometime d
uring the night. A late autumn storm came without warning to our valley, then left quickly, replaced by weather almost too warm for this time of the year. Jake and I stood at my bedroom window looking out on the white blanket covering my yard and stretching up the hill to the evergreens on the ridge.
“Promise me something,” he said as he nuzzled my neck.
“Uhm. What?”
“Stay out of this investigation.”
“Which one? The murder in my brewery or the attempted murder of me?” There it was again, the sound of anger in my voice.
Jake heard it, too, and sighed. “Too much to ask, I guess.”
“Think of what’s at stake here: murder and attempted murder. How can I turn my back?”
“What’s at stake is your life. Is your snooping worth that?”
I ignored his question but asked one of my own. “Who will the sheriff assign to your cases?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve got an idea.”
“Who?”
“Not who, what. Let’s make a snowman before all this melts.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Nope. I won’t be around for a while, and this may be the only chance we get to do it this winter.”
So we left the warmth of my bedroom and the difficulty of the conversation to go play in the snow.
There were only a few inches of the white stuff on the ground, and it was melting. Our snowman was two feet tall and composed of three sections, the largest one the size of a soccer ball, the top one a baseball.
“Oh, well.” Jake stepped back and perused our work. “He’s kind of little.”
“Maybe it’s a hobbit snowperson.”
Megan called to us from the door. “Hot chocolate and pancakes with bacon.”
Jake threw his arm around my shoulders. “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about whether you’ll get fed while I’m gone. With Megan doing the cooking, you’ll be a chubby gal by the time I get back.”
“When will that be?”
“I’ll have a few days at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. I should be back the middle of January. I won’t return alone. I’ll be assigned a K-9 partner.”
“I like dogs. I had a beagle when I was a kid.” I smiled at the memory. “Her name was Mugs. She was a hardy gal. She lived for fifteen years, died the summer before I left for college.”