by Anne Hagan
“Playing cupid are we?” She rubbed her hands together briskly, “You know how much I love that!”
“Do I ever. This time, instead of practicing on me and Mel, you get to practice on Barb, um sort of and, to top it off, you get to put your decorating and organizing talents to use.”
“I’m liking the sounds of this. Go on…”
###
Mama went to church with Faye on Sunday but begged off the usual Sunday dinner at the Crane farm saying she’d promised to help a friend. It wasn’t a lie, per se. She knew Janet and she was going to offer her assistance as a promise to me. Faye had her moments when she seemed to be coming around but, if she knew what the real plan was, she might have been more disapproving than supportive.
Once we reached Janet’s house in Zanesville, I tried to quiz her one last time, “You remember the plan right?”
“Isn’t this the cutest little place? Craftsman, isn’t it? I could have so much fun with this.”
“It’s already pretty nice inside Mama. Mrs. Mason had some period pieces that she probably bought when she and…well, when they bought the house years ago.”
“Really? Well now isn’t that something?”
“Mama, just remember what I told you. Janet’s told people she wants to sell. We’re going to upsell you helping her to pack and get it ready for market, not redecorating it, okay?”
“Gotcha, staging.”
“Right, whatever; let’s go.”
“We just came by to see how you were doing,” I lied.
“Fine. I’m fine. Come in.”
“I hope you don’t mind, I brought Mama along.”
“No, not at all. Chloe it’s nice to see you again.”
“You have my sympathy dear. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
Janet ushered us into the living room where we all took seats. “Can I get you anything? Drinks? A ham sandwich? A vat of chicken and noodles?”
We all laughed. “I told you people would come out of the woodwork bearing food.”
“Man, you weren’t kidding. Not only that though, there were piles left over after the wake. I told all the church members that were serving to take whatever they wanted but I still ended up with a car load. I should of took it all to the station or a shelter or something. Maybe I will just pack it all up and take it with me when I go back to work on Tuesday.”
“Tuesday?” we both asked her in near unison.
“Oh yeah. We have such a heavy caseload right now that I really should go back to work tomorrow but I can’t.
I shot Mama a look as I asked, “Is there anything we could help you with?”
“Naw, I got it. The service is coming to get the hospital bed, the wheelchair and some of the other things some time tomorrow afternoon. I just gotta get everything cleaned up and broken down before that so they can take it away.”
Mama chimed in, “Dana here has to work tomorrow but it’s Marco’s day to run the store. I’m usually in Zanesville in the morning doing my weekly tour of our suppliers. I could stop by and help you in the morning, if you like.”
I found myself wishing she’d put that a little differently rather than making it sound like an offhand offer. Janet didn’t bite on it.
“It’s okay. I can handle it.”
“Is it true dear, what Mel was telling us, that you’re thinking of selling the place?”
She didn’t seem surprised by the question. Instead, she nodded. “Yes. It’s not that it’s too big or anything, it isn’t. It just isn’t me. I lived in an apartment in city for a long time and then came back here where your neighbors are right on top of you. I liked growing up here but I never really wanted to come back here to live.”
“So, when are you going to put it on the market?” I asked.
Mama answered before she could, “The sooner the better. We’re moving into prime season fast. This is a lovely old Craftsman. You’ll want to get it on the market quick to gin up buyer interest if you really do want to sell.”
“I do. I’m not emotionally tied here. I mean, for more than nine out of the last ten years, I didn’t live here.”
“Then let’s get the medical stuff packed up and then get this cleaned up, organized and staged. Do you know a real estate agent? If you don’t, I do.” Mama Chloe the steamroller. Mel had hit that one on the head after all.
Chapter 28
Dana Rossi-Crane
Late Monday Morning, March 16th, 2015
“Hey,” I called poking my head into Barb’s office, “Let’s get out of here. Girls day out; just you and me.”
“But, it’s Monday. I just finished doing my ordering.”
“Exactly, and now you’re done. You don’t have to be at the bar this evening so we don’t have to watch any clocks.”
“What would we do?”
“Let’s go up to Amish country. We’ll antique, eat lots of baked good and just get away from all of this. Your manager is perfectly capable of handling a Monday evening.”
“That’s true.” She looked wistful. “I suppose. Actually, I could use the break.”
“Good. Grab your jacket and let’s go.”
“On one condition?”
“Name it.”
“We don’t talk about…you know…what we talked about the other day.”
“You have my word.”
###
Janet
Later That Same Day
Whipped beyond measure, I looked over at Chloe. At nearly twice my age, she was still going strong. We’d scrubbed down and broken down all of the special equipment and moved it into the front room where it would be easy for the leasing company to retrieve it. After that, we cleaned moms room; that is to say we scoured it from top to bottom.
I didn’t have any desire to go through her clothing and toiletries and things, especially after all of that, and Aunt Leslie was tied up at her farm for the day, so Chloe volunteered to do it. There were only a few things of moms that I wanted. She set those aside for me and she made boxes for my aunts too then she went about sorting things for donation or for auction if Aunt Leslie or Rhoda decided they didn’t want them either.
It was tedious work, all of it, but she didn’t waver. I thought police work was tough. It didn’t hold a candle to cleaning and organizing which seemed not only physically taxing but mentally too.
“Whew,” Chloe finally called out after hours at it. “I could use a good cuppa. It’s time for a break.”
“Coffee coming right up.”
“No dear; now don’t you go doing that. Why don’t we wash up a little and get on out of here, have a nice dinner somewhere away from all this, my treat.”
“You certainly don’t have to do that. You’ve done all of this.” I spun in a quick circle waving my hand at her handiwork. “Besides, I have all that food…”
She waved me off. “Let’s go somewhere and relax. That ‘do gooder’ food will still be here when you get back for you to keep picking at. Now then, where do you want to go? What’s good around here?”
I shrugged. “There are several places within a few minutes’ drive.”
“Dana was telling me about a place with a funny name when we were driving over here yesterday; Muddy something. She said that’s good.”
“Muddy Misers. Yeah, it’s really good especially if you like steaks or seafood. When my mom felt up to it, she would have me stop there and pick up a little takeout sometimes.”
“Could we go there?”
“Sure. Misers it is.”
###
Dana Rossi-Crane
Simultaneously, Just Outside of the Zanesville City Limits
“I’m sorry things didn’t turn out quite as we planned.”
“Quit apologizing; it’s not your fault. We still had a nice time.”
“Yes but, note to self, don’t go all the way to Amish country on a Monday in the off season. Everything’s closed.”
We both had a little laugh
at that. “Not everything,” Barb said when she recovered.
“Many things, though.” I had known going into the day that it would be like that. It was all part of the plan to get Barb out for a bit but then back into the area by dinner time.
“Look at the bright side,” she went on, “we spent far less than we might have if we had been turned loose all day on endless antiques, cheeses, baked goods…”
“I still got fry pies, though!”
“Yes, we can’t forget you and your fry pies.”
“That said, I’m actually pretty hungry. It seems like I ate one of those hours ago.”
“It was like, literally less than an hour,” she informed me.
“Can’t help it. Mama always said I have a tape worm.”
“Let’s stop at the bar. I’ll have Joe whip you up something.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No offense my friend but I’m not in the mood for burgers right now. What I could go for is a big, juicy steak.”
“Mmm, that does sound good. Where should we go? I haven’t been out to eat much since I’ve been back here since I own a bar and grill and all.”
My cell buzzed. I glanced at the text quickly. It was one word from Mama, ‘Go’. Bless that woman. “I know just the place” I told her.
Janet’s car was in the lot across from Misers. Lucky for me, if Barb was familiar with it, she didn’t seem to notice it. I drove just past the restaurant on the riverfront and parked in one of the half dozen spots beyond it.
Barb looked all around. “Kind of a dead area down here.”
“After 5:00 on a Monday, yes.”
“Are you sure this place is open?”
“Ha ha. Very funny.” I held the door open for her and let her step inside first.
“Well, okay,” she said as she took in the dark interior. “It’s a bar.”
“Yes and no. It’s got an extensive menu and, in the summer the patio out back that overlooks the river is the place to be. It’s very popular.”
A hostess came up to seat us then. “Barb, party of two,” I told her.
Barb turned around and gave me a funny look. She missed completely the hostess giving me a knowing one.
“Right this way. Your table is ready.”
Now I got a full on inspection. “You made a reservation? In my name?’
“No big deal; I told you it’s a popular place. I wanted to make sure we got a good table.” I indicated she should follow the hostess and hoped by the time she processed that and dug up her next question, the game would be on. I was sweating it. I really hadn’t thought this part of it out very well.
As the hostess lead us to through the main dining area toward a back corner, Mama spied us in the dim light. She stood up from the table for two where she was seated with Janet.
Barb did a double take when she spotted my mom but she couldn’t hide her smile when she saw Janet. She didn’t even try.
“Here Barb,” Mama said, “have a seat.” She moved out of the booth, took my arm and walked us right out of the place.
“Our part’s done. It’s up to them to talk it out now,” I said.
“Relax Dana; it worked on you and Mel, it will work on them.”
“Mama, Mel collared a bank robbery suspect the night you tried this with us and left me sitting alone at that restaurant.”
“Oh, that’s right dear.”
###
Barb
“It looks like we’ve been set up.”
Janet craned her neck around to watch the retreating backs of Dana and Chloe then turned back to me. “Yes, I believe so.”
“Dana tricked me. I see today was all a wild goose chase leading up to this.”
“Chloe worked her butt off today for my part of this…whatever this is.”
Taking a deep breath, I plunged in, “We really should talk about the other night.”
Janet nodded. “I know…I just don’t know what to say.”
A server appeared and place a glass of red wine in front of each us.
“We haven’t…I haven’t ordered yet,” I told him.
“It’s all been taken care of Miss. Your salads will be out in a moment.” He withdrew discreetly.
I picked up the glass and took a sip. Shrugging, I said to Janet, “It’s good.”
She tried hers, liked it and so we both sipped on it quietly, enjoying it until the salad course arrived. It wasn’t long. Once the server disappeared again, we both started to speak.
“Go ahead,” she told me.
Taking another sip for a little bit of courage I took the plunge I’d been thinking about ever since the day we nearly kissed at my house.
“We talked about Lisa, my wife, several months ago.” I hesitated but she sat there waiting patiently for me to continue.
“Janet, I shut down after I lost her. I mean, I completely closed off my feelings – that whole part of myself – and I never planned on opening up like that again. We were so in love and losing her just cut me to the core.
“I understand.”
Her tone was dejected. She started at her plate.
“No you don’t. Not at all.” I reached across the table and took her hand. “Look at me, please,” I pleaded.
She finally looked up. I clasped the hand I had a hold of in both of mine. “You have made me feel things I haven’t felt in the couple of years or so since Lisa’s death. In fact, you made me feel some things that were even more intense than anything I ever felt with her.”
“I did?”
“Yes, you did. God I loved her Janet. I still love her in all honesty but I’ve also come to realize that I can have more than one love in a lifetime. She’s gone forever and you’re here. I’ve felt a strong pull to you since that first night when you sat at the end of the bar and we just talked. I felt an energy with you, a connection to you, even then, but I wasn’t ready for back in December. It scared me.”
“And now?”
“Now…now I am.”
Janet smiled and brought her other hand up to join the three already intertwined on the table.
“But,” I began again.
She shuddered and started to pull both of her hand away “But, what?”
I held on. “But, I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for. You just lost your mother and…”
Janet interrupted, “I’m ready. I am so ready. I love you Barb.”
“I love you too.”
Smiling wide then, I looked into her eyes. I wanted to kiss her then and there and hold her forever. Instead, we were interrupted by the server discreetly clearing his throat, bearing food Chloe or Dana had ordered up in advance. We hadn’t even touched the salad.
In the end, we both tucked into the meal with gusto. We needed our strength to plan out our next move and our ultimate revenge.
About the Author
Anne Hagan is an East Central Ohio based government employee by day and author by night. She and her wife live in a tiny town that's even smaller than the Morelville of her Mystery fiction novels and they wouldn't have it any other way. Anne's wife grew up there and has always considered it home. Though it's an ultra-conservative rural community, they're surrounded there by family, longtime friends and many other wonderful people with open hearts and minds. They enjoy spending time with Anne's son and his wife, with their nieces and nephews and doing many of the things you've read about in her books or that will be 'fictitiously' incorporated into future Morelville Mysteries and Cozies series books. If you've read about a hobby or a sport in either series, they probably enjoy doing it themselves or someone very close to them does.
Anne and her wife are the co-owners of a haunted house: Hagan's House of Horrors. Much as her dream has always been to write fiction, her spouse's dream has been to create it through the medium of horror. They took their haunt operation fully commercial in 2015. Watch them as they grow!
Broken Women is Anne’s ninth book but her first romance. If you enjoyed this book and you also like myste
ries with a touch of romance, please consider the lesbian fiction Morelville Mysteries series that features Sheriff Mel, Dana and several others at least mentioned in this story. Also, if you’re interested in cozy mystery stories, please consider reading The Passed Prop, the first book in the spin off Morelville Cozies series by Anne that features meddling mothers Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi in a case only they could solve. Future stories are planned for both series.
As always, thank you for reading!
Also Written by the Author
Relic: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 1 – The first Dana and Sheriff Mel mystery and the first book in the Morelville saga. It is widely available as a free download wherever eBooks are sold. Please click the link above which will take you to Anne’s website where you can obtain a link to get the book at your retailer of choice.
Cases collide for two star crossed ladies of law enforcement…
Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi was forced to start her life anew after a bad breakup with her former girlfriend and the loss of job that she loved. These days, she spends life on the road, moving from one case to another until one day when runs run right into the path of Sheriff Mel Crane. The feisty, sexy butch cop is as determined to uncover a counterfeiting ring in her county as Agent Rossi becomes to stop a stalker obsessed with Mel and hot for her company. Dana is under the added pressure of conducting an undercover investigation of her own with a tight deadline: finding and then stopping a ring of smugglers bringing high end designer knock-offs into the states.
Could their cases be related? When repeated vicious attacks on Mel and on her home accelerate the danger for her and also their attraction to each other, they become desperate to find the truth and solve the two mysteries. Can they find a way to work together to resolve both cases while coming to terms with their growing feelings for one another? Can Dana move beyond her jilted lover past and find true happiness with a small town Sheriff?