“So he mentioned his suspicions to you?”
She nodded. “Crazy fool. As if anybody’d be interested in messing around with me.”
Cade smiled. “Don’t be so sure about that.” He scanned her hair, her new glasses, her clothes. Aggie looked like she’d been on one of those TV makeover shows.
For a moment, Aggie looked flattered before worry crept back into her expression. “I’ll talk to him, Cade. I’m sorry if his silly notions upset anybody.”
“I’m afraid there’s more to it than that, Aggie. Buck Miller called a couple of hours ago to file a complaint. Apparently Roy almost banged his door down late Monday night and again last night.”
“Oh, good grief.”
“Roy made threats that if Buck so much as glances in your direction, he’ll have his hide.” Cade bit back another smile. “Or something to that effect.”
Aggie pursed her lips and blinked eyes that, to Cade’s horror, shimmered with tears. “That man,” she said again.
“I’d no more than hung up the phone from Buck when Marcus McCoy dropped by the office. And not to deliver the mail, I’m afraid.”
“Mr. McCoy’s such a nice young man. I’ve talked to him a time or two at Mia’s when he brought her mail. Don’t tell me—”
“Roy stopped him this morning on his route and asked if he delivered to Mia’s house. When Marcus said he did, Roy started asking some pretty strange questions about whether or not Marcus had ever run into you over there. Things like that. Before long, the questions started sounding like accusations.”
“Oh, that poor boy.”
“Marcus said the last thing he wanted to do was get into a tussle with a man twice his age, but he had to defend himself.”
Aggie looked startled. “Defend himself?”
“Roy punched him.”
Her expression shifted from mortification to anger.
“I convinced both Buck and Marcus not to press charges, Aggie. I told them I’d have a talk with Roy, and I did. He knows if he crosses either one of those men again, they’re not likely to be so easy on him.”
“What did Roy say?”
“He said he’d back off.” Cade winked at her. “But that husband of yours has a head as hard as marble. He didn’t convince me, which is why I’m here. Maybe you can get through to him.”
Aggie tugged off her apron. “Oh, I’ll get through to him, all right.” She hung the apron on a hook beside the freezer and went for her purse. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Cade. Just leave it to me.”
Cade followed her up front where, without going into any detail, she told Mia she needed an hour or so to tend to some personal business.
“While I’m out,” she added, “I’ll run that box of sweet rolls the Rotary Club ordered over to the Cactus Hotel for their meeting later this morning.” Aggie took the back way out.
Cade sat on a stool at the counter and shot the breeze about nothing in particular with Eddie Chilton while Mia finished serving a customer. He’d heard that Leanne had left Eddie yesterday. Something about a mysterious trip and a shouting match at the rest stop outside of town. Kay Lynn Ryan had passed them on her way to Amarillo. She said they looked ready to murder each other.
When Mia’s customer left the shop, Eddie stood. “I’d better get back to the paper,” he told Cade, then nodded at Mia. “Would you ask Leanne to call me?”
“Sure, Eddie. But I wouldn’t count on her doing it. You know Leanne. You’re going to have to make the first move.”
“I just did, by asking her to call.”
Mia crossed her arms, tilted her head, scowled at the ex-football stud. “You know what she wants.”
“Maybe she needs to give some thought as to who owes who what.” He glanced at the Coots, who watched him, talking quietly. Eddie lowered his voice. “When Leanne gives me an explanation, I’ll think about returning the favor. Tell her that, too.” He headed out the door.
Mia shook her head. “Stubborn.”
Cade narrowed his gaze on her. “Like someone else I know.”
She escaped his scrutiny by turning to refill containers on the coffee bar. “What’s going on with Aggie? Can you say?”
“Probably be best if she told you since it’s personal. But don’t worry. Nobody’s hurt or anything like that.” He chuckled. “I take that back. Marcus McCoy’s probably not going to be doing any winking with his left eye for a while.”
Mia’s frown brimmed with speculation. “What does Marcus McCoy have to do with Aggie?”
“According to Marcus, not a thing. But ask Roy and you’re likely to hear a different story.”
Mia blurted a laugh. “Poor Aggie. She told me Roy’s all worked up about her new look. You’d think the man would enjoy being married to a knockout.”
“He’d rather knock out anyone who notices.” Cade handed her his cup for a re-heat then asked, “So I hear you have a houseguest.”
The muscle beneath her right eye jumped as she turned to top off his coffee. “You mean Leanne?”
He waited until she faced him again, took the cup from her hand and said, “Who else would I mean?”
Mia busied herself behind the counter pouring coffee beans into a grinder. “She and Eddie had a fight so she spent the night with me.”
“She do that a lot?”
“No, this is the first time.”
“Seems we have an outbreak of marital discord in town. Must be something in the coffee.” He shifted on the stool. “I always thought Leanne and Eddie’s marriage was solid.”
“It is.” At least, she hoped that was true. Ever since Christmas, she’d sensed unhappiness in Leanne. “The thing with those two is that, whatever they do together, they do it with gusto. Even fight.” She smiled. “This’ll pass.”
Cade sipped then said, “Rumor is, Eddie’s not too happy about all the extra hours Leanne’s putting in here at the shop.” He shrugged. “Funny, I haven’t noticed her being here any more than usual. If anything, seems like I see less of her.”
“We’ve changed up our hours some. I guess you keep missing her.” Mia seemed determined not to look at him. She kept her gaze on the bag of beans as she closed it and put it away beneath the counter. Then she turned on the grinder and wiped up the coffee she’d spilled while refilling his cup.
Another customer came in. A young woman whose name Cade couldn’t recall. She’d married the Richardson boy a couple of months ago. They’d met at college, but she was from somewhere south of Abilene.
He watched Mia fill the woman’s order. She was quick and efficient while making leisurely conversation with the customer. Cade liked that about her. Her relaxed way with people. The smile as quick as her hands. The slow, fluid cadence of her voice.
Once, just once, he’d like her all to himself. To have that smile directed at him alone, her sweet words spoken only to him. But he knew once wouldn’t be enough. It wasn’t likely to happen, anyway, now that she’d taken the law into her own hands. Eventually, he’d be forced to call her on it. He’d taken too long already, dragging out the inevitable, biding his time before really pursuing some hard evidence she couldn’t deny. If Mia had Rachel Nye, and Cade was certain she did, he knew the girl was safe, at least. Maybe he used that as an excuse to go slow. Which bothered him. Excuses weren’t his style. But he’d never dealt with a situation like this one. Until now, he’d never had his personal feelings tangled up in his work.
The young woman paid Mia, took her coffee and left the shop. Cade set down his cup. “I heard you made a trip to Amarillo on Sunday with Aggie and Leanne.”
Mia straightened the bills in the register then closed the drawer. “That’s right. We did some shopping.”
“That when you bought those panties?”
He heard a choking noise behind him and turned to see Henry spewing coffee out his nose.
“Shhh.” Mia paled. “Now you’ve done it,” she whispered. “By supper time, everyone in town will think we’ve got something going on betw
een us.”
“In that case, maybe we should give them something to talk about, like the song says.” He grinned. “So did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Buy those panties in Amarillo?”
Mia glanced at the chuckling table of old men then propped a hand on her hip. “Is this another interrogation, Cade? If so, quit. I don’t see what my purchases have to do with anything law-related.”
He caught her hand when she reached for the sugar container. “Tell you what . . . I’ll make you a deal. I’ll stop interrogating you if you’ll have supper with me.”
She flinched, drew back as if he’d burned her. “Cade—”
“One date, that’s all.”
Glancing across at the Coots, she said in a lowered voice, “And you’ll stop stalking me, too?”
“Done,” he said to her. She might not know it, but there was a big difference between stalking and investigating.
She drew her lower lip between her teeth then slowly met his gaze. “Okay. But not in Muddy Creek.”
Cade felt as giddy as a teenaged boy. “We can drive over to Brody for Mexican food at Paco’s. You ask me, they make the best homemade tortillas in Texas. Best hot sauce, too. I’ll pick you up at six-thirty.”
“Make it seven. And I’ll pick you up.” When he started to protest, she added, “We women have been liberated. I’m allowed.”
Shrugging, he steadied his gaze on hers. He wasn’t fooled. He knew good and well why she didn’t want him coming to her house. It had to do with liberation, all right. But not the sort of which she spoke. It had to do with liberating a young girl from the long arm of the law. Guilty or not.
Fine time to finally get his chance with Mia, Cade thought. Thanks to Rachel Nye, what could become of it now?
Chapter 13
Inching over the speed limit, Aggie neared Muddy Creek Methodist Church at the edge of town where she and Roy had attended services their entire marriage. In the parking lot, close to the building, she spotted Roy’s truck pulled up alongside the choir director’s faded LTD.
“What in the world?” Tapping the brake, Aggie pulled in.
Wayne Muncy and Roy stood between the vehicles. Roy towered over the gangly, bespeckled, fiftysomething man. He jabbed a finger toward the choir director’s startled face.
When Aggie stopped and opened her window, the choir director’s voice drifted in on a rush of cold air.
“Mr. Cobb, I assure you I’m completely innocent.”
“You think I’m blind?” Roy bellowed, red-faced and spitting rage. He didn’t appear to notice Aggie’s Blazer idling close by. “I see how you single out my wife every Sunday, giving her solos even though she sounds like a sick warbler.”
Insulted now as well as angry, Aggie didn’t bother to turn off the ignition. She unbuckled her seat belt, threw open the door and stepped out, not bothering to close it behind her.
Wayne peered at her with pleading eyes. “Agatha . . . thank goodness you’re here.” His Adam’s apple quivered. “Your husband has the misguided idea that we’re . . .” The skinny man coughed and blushed.
Grabbing Roy by the arm, Aggie tugged until he looked at her. “You should be ashamed of yourself. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. You’ve pulled a lot of stupid stunts in the past, Roy Dean Cobb, but this takes the cake.”
“Don’t you deny it, Aggie.” Roy jerked his arm from her grasp. “You didn’t give two hoots about joining the church choir until he took it over.”
“That was thirty years ago! We didn’t even have a director before Wayne volunteered. Just a bunch of members who couldn’t get along.”
Wayne’s head bobbed and his body shook like a wet dog in a blizzard. “That’s right,” he said timidly. “And Agatha has a lovely voice. She’s my only soprano.” He cringed, as if expecting Roy to slug him.
“Agatha.” The veins in Roy’s neck bulged. “That’s your special name for her, isn’t it, Muncy? Do ya think I don’t hear you talking to her? ‘Can you stay a little late after the sermon to work on that solo, Agatha?’”he mimicked. “‘Bravo, Agatha.’” Roy clapped his hands. “‘Your voice sent chills up my spine.’” He feigned a shiver.
“That does it.” Aggie dug her fingertips into her palms. She’d never hit anyone in her life. Not ever. But right now, it took all her control not to beat her husband black and blue. “You tell Wayne you’re sorry or you can find someplace else to sleep tonight.”
Roy opened his mouth. Closed it. His nostrils flared. “You wouldn’t kick me out of my own house.”
“Oh no?”
His eyes narrowed and his mouth curled into a sneer. “Joe Bob Jenkins is the only one in town who could change the locks on such short notice.”
Her muscles tensed. “What are you saying?”
He crossed his arms, propped them atop his belly. “If I tell Joe Bob not to change the locks, he won’t do it. His boy works for me, Ag. Besides, I bought and paid for that house. It’s mine, not yours.”
“So I’m just the housekeeper and cook? Is that what you’re saying?” His silence stung, but Aggie wouldn’t shed one more tear over Roy’s terrible behavior. “Fine then. If forty-five years of cleaning that house and decorating it and tending to the yard doesn’t make it mine, too . . .” She drew a shaky breath. “If turning it into a home instead of just a place to hang your hat at night doesn’t count, then you can have it. I’ll leave.”
She saw his confidence slip, watched a hint of doubt seep in. “You’d leave me? After all we’ve been through?”
“If you don’t apologize to Wayne and everyone else in town you’ve offended with this nonsense, including me, then don’t expect me home tonight.” She crossed her arms. “Or any other night until you’ve done what’s right.”
The corner of his mouth jerked. One eye. His cheek. “Where would you go?”
“Mia won’t think twice about letting me stay with her. She knows what an ass you can be.”
Roy’s dark eyes clouded over, his stony face crumbled bit by bit. Lord, she hoped this didn’t throw him into another episode of chest pains. Short of that happening, she wouldn’t back down. One thing she knew about her husband; he’d have a hard time choking out the words “I’m sorry.” If he had ever once uttered them during their marriage, she couldn’t recall when.
Just as she thought he might surprise her and give in, the stubborn glint returned to Roy’s eyes.
“So, that’s the way it’s going to be, is it?” She pursed her lips and squinted at him.
Beside her, Wayne pointed and shrieked, “Your car!”
From the corner of her eye, Aggie saw the Blazer rolling slowly across the parking lot toward the children’s wing playground.
“Dang it, Ag.” Roy’s head jerked around. “Go get it before you mow down the swingset.”
Fuming, Aggie arched a brow. “If you’re so worried about it, you go get it.”
He squared his shoulders and didn’t budge.
Wayne looked frantically from one to the other then took off after the vehicle.
Roy grumbled inaudibly.
“Did you say something?” She blinked at him.
Turning, Roy stomped over to his truck and climbed behind the wheel.
As Wayne caught up to the Blazer and jumped in, Roy drove his truck away. The Blazer came to a halt two feet shy of the jungle gym. Wayne backed up to where Aggie stood, then climbed out and returned to her side.
“Thank you, Wayne.”
“Everything’s okay, Agatha,” he said in a small voice.
“No. No it isn’t.” She stared down at her shoes. “You didn’t deserve that.”
Wayne opened his car door. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“You’re right, but he’s my husband.” And she loved the ornery hothead. Though, at times like now, she didn’t know why. “He owes you an apology. He owes a lot of people one.” Her included.
Until he paid up, he’d get nothing from her. No clean laundry. N
o hot meals. No fresh sheets on his bed.
And no her in that bed, either.
At close to noon, the shop emptied for the first time all morning. In the kitchen, Mia took a break and tried calling the number Leanne had given her for Rachel’s classmate’s mother. After talking to her attorney friend, Leanne seemed certain that the Oberman woman’s testimony about the abuse she’d witnessed was the only chance they had of saving Rachel from a detention center. If only they could get her to answer her phone, or at least call them back. So far, that wasn’t happening.
The phone rang and rang without answer, so Mia hung up and prepared for the next rush. When she heard the back door open, she looked up. Aggie blew in like a tornado.
Mia rushed over, alarmed by the dark look on her friend’s face and eager to hear what news had spurred Aggie to leave the shop earlier in such a hurry.
“He did what?” Mia shrieked, when Aggie told her.
“He woke your neighbor the past couple of nights to harass him, gave the mailman a bloody nose this morning, and accused the choir director of teaching me more than hymns.” Aggie dragged a stool to the island workstation and sat. “Plus he insulted my singing.”
Mia covered her mouth to muffle a laugh. “Sorry, Aggie. I know it isn’t funny, but skinny little Wayne Muncy? Has he ever even had a girlfriend?”
“I doubt it. The thought of asking someone out on a date would probably make the poor man’s teeth chatter so hard he wouldn’t be able to get out the words.”
“So, what now?”
“Well, sugar.” Aggie blinked hurt eyes at her. “I’m afraid you have yourself another roommate.”
Mia nibbled her lip. Her house was fast becoming a home for runaway females. “I have plenty of room.”
“I hope you don’t mind.”
She hugged Aggie’s slumped shoulders. “Of course I don’t. You’re always welcome at my house, you know that. But I do hate that you and Leanne are at odds with Roy and Eddie. I feel like it’s my fault. Hiding Rachel was my idea.”
“We made up our own minds. Don’t blame yourself.” Aggie stood. “Guess I better take over at the house with Rachel so Leanne can come to work. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. Oh, and I delivered those sweet rolls to the Cactus Hotel for the Rotary Club meeting.”
The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age Page 14