“Have you . . . well, have you always been able to come back, or have you always just been here? Gram showed me some pictures, and there seems to be a shadow in some . . . I don’t know, it’s odd, sure, but we thought we might have seen a cowboy hat.”
“No, darlin’, I don’t think so. I don’t know. I’ve always been somewhat aware of Miz, but now I’m very aware of you, your emotions, the danger you’re in.”
Another thought occurred to me, and I crossed my arms in front of myself and looked toward my house. Had Jerome seen me and Cliff together? Ever?
“Oh, don’t worry, Isabelle, I, uh, don’t ‘see’ you really. I’m just able to feel your emotions.” He smiled. “You love that fella in there, don’t you?”
I was so off-kilter that I could only mumble something incoherent, but I recovered and said, “Gram’s going to be surprised.”
“It’ll be good to see Miz again. It’s always good to see her, but . . .”
“What?”
“This visit is about you, Isabelle, all about you.”
“I don’t think Gram will mind. You know how she is about you ghosts.”
“I do.”
After another long pause, I said, “Can you tell me more about why I need to be careful? About what could happen?”
“Just stay away from the bakery, darlin’. You’ll be fine if you stay away.”
I nodded. “Okay, but Jake and I are going to look into things, look into the fire at the bakery, the missing bodies. We’ll do that at the library and in his archive room, though. Will that be all right?”
Relief relaxed his shoulders. “Yes, I think so.”
“Good.”
“Good.” Jerome stared again, with the same intensity that made me blush.
“Anything else?” I said.
“Yes.”
“Go on.”
“About that, what did you call it, that crush . . .”
“Don’t worry . . .”
“Give me a second to say want I need to say, please.”
“Sure,” I said, but his tone sped up my heart rate even more, and I became very aware of a drop of sweat as it trickled down my back.
He took off his hat again and held it with both his hands.
“You’ve got a good man in there.” He nodded toward the house. “Never mind the logistics of having a ‘crush’ on a dead person, he’s alive, well, and head over heels for the prettiest girl in Broken Rope.”
“Jerome.”
“Let me finish. Please,” he said. I nodded. “Now, I know I’m irresistible in my own way.” The corner of his mouth quirked. “But we won’t dwell on that. When we . . . When you kissed me, my skin felt something it hadn’t felt in years: the touch, the lips of a woman. But I’m dead, Isabelle. My heart quit beating a long time ago.”
I couldn’t help but be taken slightly aback. “You don’t have feelings?”
“I’m dead, Isabelle.”
Of course he was dead. I’d known that, hadn’t I? Jerome Cowbender died a long time ago, shot in the back by the Broken Rope sheriff. I was so stupid. So very stupid.
“Jerome. I’m a fool.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re . . . you’re a good friend. Even though I can’t feel the same way as you do, I want you and Miz to be safe. Always.”
I looked at him. I sensed some holes in his no-feelings statement, but I didn’t want to be a bigger fool by pointing them out. I’d been told by a ghost that he just wanted to be friends. It was a new relationship low and I didn’t need to test how deep the waters truly went.
“Thank you,” I said, because I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Of course,” he said as he put his hat back on his head. He suddenly seemed more nervous than I was. “Good to see you, Isabelle. I’ll let you get back to . . .”
“Yes, of course.”
Walking around the ghost in my side yard and making my way back into my house was the most awkward moment of my life. Jerome claimed to have no feelings. I suddenly felt every feeling possible. I hurried in and back to my bedroom. I hadn’t been unfaithful to Cliff in any way except a random wayward thought about how I’d felt about Jerome, but crawling into bed again left me with a sense of disloyalty.
I wouldn’t sleep at all that night. And I wouldn’t take off the sweats.
And, I would never know what had happened after I left Jerome. I wasn’t there nor did I look out the window to witness what he did when I was out of his sight. If I had, I would have observed something that might have confirmed I was right about him not being totally forthcoming regarding his feelings.
Once I was inside, Jerome removed his hat again. He leaned against the side of my house, punched the ragged hat, and said, “You stupid old dead cowboy. You should have stayed away. You should have just let things happen as they might have. You’re a fool to . . . Well, you’re just a damn fool.”
No, I’d never know anything about that moment. It was probably better that way.
Chapter 14
“So, what do we know?” Elian asked. He’d worn another bright orange shirt. “We know he was murdered, we know he was poisoned, but what else?”
Other than Roger, we were all at the school; Gram, me, and the remaining fifteen students. We were gathered in the kitchen, though there wouldn’t be much cooking going on today. Instead, the police wanted to talk to everyone, both as a group and then separately. The police—Jim and Cliff—weren’t there yet, but the rest of us were, and it was a good opportunity to vent, discuss, talk, whatever anyone felt like they needed to do.
“I believe the medical examiner does know the type of poison but he hasn’t shared that with me. Neither have the police.” Gram looked at me, which caused the students to do the same. Today Gram wore a black T-shirt with a single word, MINES, ironed across the top. I didn’t know which college or university the shirt represented, but I suspected she’d chosen it more for the color than the school.
I didn’t think anyone knew I’d met with Morris and Evan the day before, but everyone knew by now that I was dating a police officer. I shook my head to indicate that the police hadn’t shared the type of poison with me, either. I’d been so focused on Freddie’s activities last night that that’s the one thing I hadn’t even thought to ask Cliff about. He probably wouldn’t have told me. The students turned their attention back to Gram.
“Look, I’m a big believer of innocent until proven guilty, but I hope that if any of you have seen anything that sat funny with you or made you wonder if something was screwy, you won’t hesitate to tell the police. We have a good force. Jim and all his men, including the one that Betts is dating, are good, fair fellas,” Gram said.
“That begs a question, Missouri,” Brenda said, her pen and notebook nowhere in sight. “If your granddaughter is dating an officer, how do we know the two of you will be questioned appropriately?”
“You won’t. You’ll have to decide if that’s something you can or can’t live with.” Gram hadn’t missed a beat. If I’d answered the question, I wouldn’t have been able to hide the fact that I was offended by it, but if Gram was annoyed, she hid her reaction perfectly.
In fact, Cliff’s shooing us out of the school the day before might have been good cause for the students to be suspicious. But both Gram and I knew that if there was any chance at all that Jim or Cliff suspected either of us, it would have been handled differently. Gram hadn’t been wishy-washy with Brenda, and I had to give her credit for that.
“I can tell you all this: once you’re cleared by the police, you are free to go, leave if you’d rather not stick around for the year. We’ve had a horrible tragedy and I’m as sorry as I can be about it, but we will continue on. Classes will resume full speed ahead either tomorrow or the next day. I will refund anyone’s initial tuition payment, no questions asked. I’ve thrown the no-refund policy out the window.”
The students each seemed to silently consider the offer for a moment, but a rumble of conversation soon followed. No o
ne wanted to leave. I watched the dynamics and realized that though not everyone truly trusted everyone else, and though there was some fear amid the group, they all wanted everything to be okay. Even if they had to force themselves to believe it would be. It would have made an interesting psychological case study regarding the strength of the human spirit and will. Or maybe just denial; time would tell.
Since my powers of observation were surely dull from lack of sleep and somewhat fried from ghost and coffee overload, I knew that what I was seeing must be obvious to Gram. I watched her observing them and then saw acceptance pinch her eyes. She meant what she said, she would refund any early paid tuition to anyone who didn’t want to stay, even if that meant the whole class. No one would leave, though, it was clear.
Of course, that also meant we might have a killer amongst us. I hoped that wasn’t the case. I hoped none of the students were capable of such evil, and I put a little extra hope into Freddie not being involved in the murder. He was there because we hadn’t kicked him out. Yet if he was a killer, Roger’s death was partially our responsibility.
I hadn’t had much time to talk to Gram before the students had started arriving. The only thing we’d managed to discuss was Freddie, his wayward visit to the alley, and my call to report him to Cliff. I hadn’t told her about my visit to the bakery or Jerome’s reappearance. Hopefully, we’d have time later.
A few minutes after Gram’s refund offer, Jim and Cliff arrived. Jim spoke to the group about the need to be careful, the importance of being honest and sharing any detail with them that might be pertinent. He sounded a lot like Gram had. He answered a few questions and he and Cliff both moved back to the offices where they could each talk to the students individually. The method worked well. Two students at a time were gone from the kitchen as the remaining thirteen remained with Gram and me.
In only a few minutes, an efficient routine was established, but it didn’t last long.
“Uh, Ms. . . . Betts, Miz, look here. Look over here.” Freddie stood next to the set of shelves that held the containers of the neglected sourdough starters.
Everyone hurried over to Freddie.
“Look, see, my starter’s gone,” Freddie said.
Gram pushed her way to the front of the crowd.
“Back, everyone. Betts, get up here.”
As I joined her, I saw what the problem was—there were only fifteen containers of starter, and none of them were labeled with Freddie’s name. There should have been sixteen.
“You mixed one, right?” I asked Freddie.
“Yes,” Brenda said. “I watched him myself.”
I was surprised at her observation but I didn’t say anything.
“Stand back, stand back,” Gram instructed.
Everyone moved back as Gram inspected the area; the other shelves, the floor.
“Go grab Jim or Cliff, one of the officers,” she said.
Jules hurried to the back offices.
“Do you think it’s important?” I asked Gram, though not quietly.
“I’m not sure, but no one noticed it was missing until right now. Hellfire, Betts, I don’t know, but the police should be aware. I guess.”
“Can a starter be poisonous?” Brenda asked.
“No, not really. It could go bad and make someone sick, but it’s not deadly,” Gram said.
She sounded sure of herself. I had no idea if she was correct or not. I hoped someone couldn’t die by sourdough starter. I’d never heard of such a thing before.
“Miz, what’s going on?” Jim asked as he came through the back swinging door.
“Freddie’s sourdough starter is missing.” Gram shrugged. “Thought you should know.”
“I made one, I know I did,” Freddie said.
Jim’s eyebrows came together under his bald head as he stood still, probably wondering exactly what a sourdough starter was.
“Everyone have a seat, back on the stools. Gram and Betts, let’s talk.”
Eventually, the individual interviews resumed, but not until Jim and Cliff became educated on sourdough starters and made a call to Morris to share the information just in case it was important. They dusted for prints around the area, but neither of them seemed confident it would do much good. Still, at least it was something.
The rest of the starters were taken away to be tested at a lab. The entire discovery and process might yield a clue or it might not.
Once the interviews were over, Gram and I had the students write down their Broken Rope addresses and phone numbers, and then everyone but Freddie was dismissed. Freddie listed the Tied and Branded as his temporary location, and willingly gave his cell phone number, though it began with a Missouri area code. I thought that maybe the hotel clerk had been purposefully cagey with me, which might have been the result of a policy or privacy law I wasn’t aware of.
One more thought occurred to me, though. What if Freddie wasn’t his name? I made a mental note to go back to the hotel and ask more questions, but I would base doing that on how his references finally panned out.
“Oh, I see what I did,” Freddie said as he pointed to one listing. “I transposed two numbers. It’s not three, four; it’s four, three. Here, call right now. This is a good family friend, and someone I worked for. They won’t lie, though; they won’t say I was a good worker just because they were family friends. I promise.”
Gram sighed and then dialed the number.
“Yes, hello, my name is Missouri Anna Winston and I’m calling from the Country Cooking School in Broken Rope, Missouri . . .”
Gram fell into a string of uh-huh’s and I-see’s as the person on the other end of the line took over the conversation.
Finally Gram managed to fit in, “So, Freddie worked in your warehouse?” And, “Well, that’s excellent. Sounds like he was something.” And, “Oh, yes.” And then she laughed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Yes, thank you for your time. Have a great rest of the day.” She hung up the phone and then looked at Freddie and me as we both watched her with matching expectant looks.
Gram sighed. “You are a mystery, Freddie, I must say.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Your ‘friend’ gave you a glowing reference, but not too glowing. You were a good worker, but you have a tendency to sleep in sometimes.”
Freddie blushed. “I hoped he wouldn’t tell you that part.”
“He did, but not without following up with the fact that you also stayed later than his other employees.”
“I did.”
“Look, Freddie, we should have leveled with you the first day, but we were concerned we’d hurt your feelings or perhaps show our own stupidity, but not only did we not have your references, we have absolutely no record that you applied to this school. Ever. You were a surprise. A big surprise.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I did apply, though. I was accepted. I’m sure of it,” Freddie said.
I thought those were strange words to use. Why didn’t he just insist, instead of sound like he was trying to convince us? But, I had to recognize that I’d talked myself into being suspicious of the young man with the bright green eyes more times than I should have. I’d painted a layer of doubt over every single thing he did. His explorations the night before might have been only a curious stroll. The clerk at the hotel might have been being only protective of her guests. Jake might not know a thing about people who live in Maine.
“What about the other references? We spoke with one of them and she was very complimentary, but we still haven’t been able to reach the other names on your list,” Gram said.
“Try again,” Freddie said.
Gram picked a number to call but there was still no answer.
“I don’t know what to say. Keep trying?” Freddie said. “Please?”
“We will,” Gram said.
“So, may I stay? I don’t want to leave. I’m not afraid. In fact, I really like Broken Rope and feel comfortable here and at the school.”
Gram and I looked a
t each other.
“I suppose it’s time to make a decision,” Gram said as she sat back in her chair. She looked at me, but I didn’t indicate that I wanted to talk to her in private. This needed to be her decision; I was too jaded. I’d told her about Freddie’s activities the night before. She had all the information I had.
“Let me just say this, Freddie: you may stay,” Gram said. “But I want you to stop being so goosey about spilling things. As a student of this cooking school, you will spill things, you will burn food, and you will probably even create something akin to a food disaster. It happens. You will not be asked to leave for such horrors. You have to understand, though, that we are still perplexed as to why you are here, and if the police find anything suspicious, out on your keister you will go.”
“Oh. Okay, well, if you really don’t have record of me, I can understand why you have doubts.” Freddie scratched at the side of his head. “Maybe the proof will be in the pudding. More literally than figuratively. You’ll see how passionately I will throw myself into learning all you have to teach. There’s no ulterior motive to me being here, no reason for me to have lied.”
I thought he might promise and then cross his heart. To me, his declaration of innocence was more suspicious than anything, but again, I was already stocked with a big supply of skepticism, and then there was all the coffee I’d drunk and Jerome’s unsettling visit. I’d beg off from offering my opinion. For the time being.
“I hope so, son, because I don’t kin well to people lying to me,” Gram said as she moved forward again.
Freddie swallowed hard. “I understand.”
“Good. Then we’ll proceed from here.” Gram sat back. “You need to find another place to live, though. The hotel will cost you a fortune. Find a room, or talk to the others and see if someone needs a roommate.”
“I will. Thank you. I will.”
“Good. See you tomorrow?” Gram said.
Freddie stood up awkwardly, knocking the backs of his knees into his chair and sending it sliding a distance across the floor.
“Yes, see you tomorrow. Thank you,” Freddie said before he hurried out of the office.
If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion Page 13