Literally Offed

by Eryn Scott

  “Caught up with a case,” I said, finishing for her as I walked forward and wrapped her into a hug.

  She let out a light laugh, pulling back and touching my cheek with the hand that wasn’t gripping her glass as if it were some kind of liquid lifeline. Taking a sip, she raised her eyebrows. “Can you two stay for a late lunch?”

  Alex shook his head at the same time I said, “I think we’ll pass today. We’ve got some work to do.”

  Mom blinked. “Oh? I thought you were on vacation.”

  “Uh, right. We are, we’re just…” I picked at one of my cuticles as I thought of how to describe what we were doing tonight without freaking out my mother.

  “Caught up in a case of our own,” Alex finished for me, flashing her an “I’ve got this” grin so Mom wouldn’t worry too much about me getting involved in an investigation.

  “Alright…” Mom eyed us both cautiously, then glanced down at Hammy as if the dog were involved, too. After a moment, her attention snapped back up to me. “Did you get a chance to check those boxes?”

  I nodded, trying my best to hide the way my jaw clenched tight at her apparent eagerness to get rid of all traces of Dad from the house. “Yeah, I’ll take anything you don’t want,” I said, knowing my tone implied the “because I care about him and don’t want to get rid of his memory” ending to the sentence without me actually having to say it.

  Mom had either missed my snotty tone or she hadn’t really been listening to my answer in the first place, because she said, “Good, good. He would’ve wanted the books to go to you.” Her lip quirked up into a small smile. At the same time, her eyes wandered off, far off, past the walls of the kitchen. “It feels like it was yesterday and so long ago all at the same time,” she whispered.

  My mouth opened slightly and my indignant attitude leaked out of me in a long exhale as I noticed the pain so evident on my mom’s face.

  Duncan stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Mom’s shoulder, but looking up at me. “A good collection of books your dad had there,” he said in a completely obvious “let’s change the subject” way.

  His words felt like a cold stab in the gut as I thought about the symbol. “You went through them?” I asked, hating the venom so obvious in my tone. Had he seen it? My eyes narrowed at my mother. Did she know?

  “Oh—I—not really.” He stumbled over his words. “Just glanced at them as I was helping your mother pack up.”

  Mom sent me a pursed lipped, “Cut it out, Pepper” look.

  Before I could say anything else I would regret, I said, “Okay, we’ve got to get going.” I clipped Hammy’s leash on to her and grabbed Alex’s hand, dragging both of them out of there.

  Stepping into my bookstore a few hours later felt like falling into bed at the end of a long, arduous day. The rich smell of paper—new and old—and bindings—both cracked and pristine—enveloped me like the best kind of blanket. Once the bell above the door stilled, the place was quiet in that warm, peaceful way. I realized I didn’t have to go to a pond to experience a sweet, simple escape like Thoreau. I had it, here.

  “Hello! Welcome!” Jess, my only employee said as she poked her head out from behind one of the shelves. “Oh! Pepper, it’s you.” Her smile widened and she stepped forward, tucking our shop duster into her back pocket. “What happened to camping?”

  “Uh… long story,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “The short of it is there was a murder in the campground and we came home.”

  Jess’s eyes went wide. “Whoa. Intense.”

  “Right?”

  She walked over to the register. “You can still take the time off if you want. I’m fine here. We’ve been pretty busy, but nothing I can’t handle, if you want to recoup.”

  Jess was about ten years older than me and very much into “self care.” Actually, this job was a form of that for her. Her kids were all in school full time now, so she’d decided she wanted to get out of the house.

  “Have I told you lately that you’re the best?” I smiled at her.

  “Almost constantly.” She beamed back.

  “Well, you are.”

  It had taken me close to six months to find an employee I trusted enough to leave the shop in their hands, but after going through a few duds, I’d found Jess. She wasn’t only efficient and great with customers, but the woman was as committed to hard work as she was to reading at least two books a week.

  “And I won’t infringe on the full week of work I promised you,” I added. “We wouldn’t want you to miss out on those shoes, after all.”

  Jess had been eyeing these cute flats for weeks. She was hoping to buy with the money she was going to make from the extra hours she would pick up while I was gone camping.

  “Shoes are very important.” She giggled.

  “I just have a few things to do here tonight. I’ll still pay you for your last hour if you want to go home a little early.” I checked my watch, seeing we were about a half hour from closing.

  Jess squeezed her shoulders up excitedly. “Well, I won’t say no to that.” She said hello to Hammy and then grabbed her bag, waving as she left.

  Hamburger and I puttered around, reacquainting ourselves with the shop after having been gone for a few days. No other customers came in between the time I took over and when I flipped the sign to “Closed” on the front door.

  About five minutes to my meeting time with Chloe, I sequestered Hamburger into my office. I didn’t know anything about Chloe besides what she’d written on her blog, and I didn’t want Hammy to be involved if this lady was dangerous. As I closed the door, she curled up in her bed and sighed, unhappy about being separated from me, but comfortable and surrounded by chew toys.

  I headed back up front to unpack a box of new orders. A few minutes later, I heard knuckles rap on the glass front door. Jumping up, I jogged over to unlock it, letting in a woman about my age. Her straight brown hair flicked around as she glanced to her right and left before coming inside the shop. I eyed Alex’s truck parked a few spots down the street. Alex wasn’t inside, but sat across the street on a bus bench so he had a better view of me without being too obvious. Closing the door behind Chloe, I turned around. Wild blue eyes met mine.

  “Hi there, I’m Pepper. You must be Chloe.” I held out my hand, keeping my face soft like my tone, hoping to calm her down.

  It didn’t seem to work. She gripped my hand with hers for a hot second—and by that, I mean she let go almost immediately and her hand was super sweaty—then paced around my table of new releases near the entrance.

  “This is stupid. I shouldn’t be doing this.” She placed the back of her hand on her forehead. “I just got so excited to hear someone finally believed me, I…” She looked me up and down. “Though, you don’t look like you’re part of a fraternity.”

  “Thanks… I think. Do you want to sit down?” I asked, pointing over to the couch and chairs situated around a coffee table toward the back of the shop.

  It was a space I’d envisioned small book groups meeting to discuss their favorite fiction, or maybe even a local writers group sharing notes over chapters. I hadn’t thought I’d be meeting with a blogger about a secret fraternity in an attempt to find out more about a potential killer. Life was weird.

  Chloe sat, but in a way which seemed like she might bolt at any moment, an observation she demonstrated to be valid a few seconds later when there was a knocking on the front door. Chloe shot out of her seat and her eyes darted to me in worry.

  “Sorry, it’s just my boyfriend dropping off some books. I didn’t think he would be here so soon.” I tried to keep my teeth from clenching on those last two words as I widened my eyes at Alex through the window. I thought he would let us at least sit for a few minutes before barging in, but I suppose that was the deal I had made.

  I walked over to the front door. Throwing the lock, I let Alex in. He had a box of books in his arms and the others were stacked behind him on the sidewalk. At the sight of the boxes, my gu
t clenched tight all over again, reminded of Dad’s book and the symbol he’d sketched inside it. I was also reminded I still hadn’t told Alex about what I’d found.

  “I—I told you I wanted to meet alone,” Chloe said, pulling my attention back.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Alex set down the box then walked over to where Chloe was standing. He held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Alex.” From the smooth quality of his voice, I could tell he was putting on the charm, probably even flashing her that dashing Darcy-esque smile of his to put her at ease.

  I was about to scoff at his tactics—little did he know I’d already tried all of the smiling niceties—when I heard a giggle flutter out from her. A moment later, she was shaking his hand, holding onto it a lot longer than she had mine. My gaze narrowed. I wanted her to relax, not to develop a crush on my boyfriend.

  “Okay, okay.” I walked over, grabbing Alex’s arm and pulling him away. “I think you have some more boxes to bring in, buddy.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at me at my use of “buddy,” but went back outside to grab the others.

  “Sorry.” I jabbed a thumb back at him. “He won’t bother us anymore.” Plopping back onto the couch, I motioned for Chloe to sit again. “Where were we?”

  Chloe’s eyes widened even more. She sat, but stuttered out, “I—we—should we wait?” Her gaze crept over to where Alex was stacking boxes by the door.

  Wrinkling my nose, I waved a hand at her. “Oh, Alex? Don’t worry about him. There’s no way he’s involved in any of this. He’s, like, the least likely person to be in a fraternity, ever.”

  “You trust him?” She leaned in close, whispering.

  “Implicitly,” I answered without a beat. “He’s the one who actually told me about your blog. He believes you, too.”

  Her shoulders relaxed a few millimeters.

  “So tell me how you stumbled onto all of this again,” I said, knowing the information would be mostly repeated from her blog. I wanted to see if any part of her story changed.

  As Chloe began talking, I noticed Alex nod in approval as he left to grab the last box from the street. Look at me, using police tactics. I resisted smiling as I listened. Done with the boxes, Alex relocked the door and came over, standing nearby as Chloe recounted what she’d written in her blog, the only difference being the intense detail in which she went into now we were in person.

  Either the girl had memorized the story or it was real, no horse, hound, or turtledove about it.

  “You said this Dylan guy told you all about the frat,” I said once she’d finished. “Can you share any of that?”

  Glancing over at Alex momentarily, Chloe said, “They’re called the TriAlphas, Alpha Alpha Alpha. They weren’t one of the huge fraternities during the Greek system days here, but they seem to be the only ones who didn’t go away when they were outlawed.” She swallowed. “I don’t know everyone who’s in it. He only told me about the main guys.”

  “The main guys?” Alex asked.

  “Dylan said there were a few who seemed to be calling the shots.”

  “No names?” Alex asked, seeming just as disappointed as I felt. If Chloe didn’t even know who the guys were, how could she have targeted James for revenge?

  “No, you’ll have to ask Dylan.”

  “Do you know where we can find him? How we can get ahold of him?” Alex asked, sitting next to me on the couch.

  Chloe took a deep breath before reaching out toward a pen and pad of paper sitting on the coffee table. “Yeah, he’s going to be mad about me giving you his number, but maybe you guys can talk some sense into him.”

  Alex raised his eyebrows in question. “I thought you said his goal was to out the fraternity, that he wanted everyone to know who they were and what they were doing?” Alex asked, quoting what Chloe had just told us.

  “The past few weeks, he’s been so different, really given up hope. I think it’s getting to him especially now that school is starting back up, and he got kicked off the baseball team.” She shook her head, then finished jotting down his information. She handed the paper over.

  I tucked it into my pocket. “Thank you for this.”

  “I’m just glad someone else believes us.” Her weak smile made my heart hurt, but not enough to forget the last question I had for her. “It’s been hard feeling like everyone is out to get us, hence my paranoia.” A slight blush colored her cheeks.

  “Did you at least get to do something fun for the last weekend before fall quarter starts up?” I asked.

  Even though Chloe didn’t seem to know the identity of any of the guys, it couldn’t hurt to get an alibi from her, truly cross her off our suspect list.

  Her smile widened a bit. “Yeah, I went to my grandparents’ house in Olympia for the weekend. I invited Dylan, but he already had plans with his roommate. He’s been really busy lately. We actually haven’t been able to hang out as much as we were.” She stood, appearing much less manic than when she arrived.

  Olympia was at least three hours from the campground. Well, there was her alibi, and Dylan’s too, apparently.

  “Oh, wow. Inviting him to your grandparent’s. You two are really close then?”

  She blushed. “We’re dating actually.” Her eyes widened, and the slight pink in her cheeks turned red. “But that’s not why I wrote the blog. We didn’t start dating until weeks after it published. When you’re the only two people who know the truth about something, it really brings you together.”

  Her defensiveness about the subject piqued my interest. That definitely seemed like a sore subject, but by the way she was standing and inching closer to the door, it appeared she was done talking.

  “Thank you for talking to me.” I stood as well. “Us,” I added, as Alex followed.

  “You guys be careful,” Chloe said, her blue eyes darkening for a moment. “These guys are no joke and their influence seems to know no limits. I swear they got to campus security when I went to talk to them, not to mention getting Dylan kicked off the team.”

  “We will be,” Alex said.

  We walked her to the door, waving goodbye.

  Once she was out of sight, I pulled out my phone. “So call Dylan?”

  Alex snatched it from my hand. “Yes, but this time, I get to be the one to set up the meeting.” He grinned as I handed over the paper with Dylan’s number and went to let Hammy out of the office.

  12

  I sipped at my mocha truffle frap as I stared at the front door of Bittersweet the next day. Alex sat next to me, sipping on his own drink—just a black coffee, though, not fun at all. Only five minutes until nine in the morning, Dylan was set to come through those doors at any moment.

  Admittedly, I was slightly disappointed with him being okay with meeting in a crowded, public place—I’d been looking forward to finding a way to come “rescue” Alex like he had for me with Chloe. But any disappointment melted away when I realized meeting at Bittersweet meant I would get to have one of Nate’s awesome experimental fraps while I waited. The truffle frap I was blissfully consuming had homemade chocolate syrup as well as caramel and chocolate drizzle. It was heaven on crushed ice.

  “Is the taste satisfactory?” Nate asked, slinking up behind me, seemingly out of nowhere.

  Eyes wide, I pointed to the long drag I was taking on the straw. Once I swallowed, I said, “Omigosh, I don’t ever want to stop drinking; it’s so good.”

  A smile curled onto Nate’s face. He’d been known as the town career-nomad up until a couple of years ago when he bought Bittersweet, selling vacuums one week and then sketchy insurance the next. We all thought the café was going to be just another one of his ill-fated, money-making schemes and would fizzle out in a month or two. But the man actually had a talent for slinging espresso shots and for coming up with delicious latte concoctions.

  “Seriously, Nate,” I continued. “This is so good, I kinda want to marry it.”

  Alex cleared his throat, next to me, arching one eyebrow.

  �
��Uh, if I weren’t already in a committed relationship, that is.”

  “With a human,” Alex added.

  “Sure, sure. The human part.” I waved a hand at him and stuck the straw back in my mouth.

  “Oh, good news,” Nate said. Before I had a chance to look up at him, a large blade snicked open inches away from my face.

  I sucked in a surprised gulp of air and frap, coughing as the icy drink invaded my trachea. Putting up my free hand as a lame defense, I scooted my chair back a few inches.

  “The sheriff called yesterday and said my knife was cleared. Drove out last night to get it back,” Nate finished, nonethe-wiser that he’d just about scared all of the caffeine out of my body.

  Alex cleared his throat, but it seemed more to get Nate’s attention than out of sympathy for me. He gave his head a quick shake and narrowed his eyes at Nate, who seemed to get the hint because he folded the blade down and tucked the knife back into his pocket.

  I continued to cough the last bits of offensive material from my windpipe as Nate wandered back toward the register to join Victoria. She gave me a sheepish wave as a few new customers had walked in. I returned her wave, then directed it at the locals who’d just walked in. Following closely behind them were two college-aged guys, one with sandy-blond hair and another with dark brown. They were both on the shorter side, just a few inches taller than me. The blond man locked eyes on Alex right away. Dylan Oakes. He strode over to our table and pulled up a chair. His friend broke off from him, heading straight for the counter to order.

  Armed with the knowledge we were meeting in public, I already expected Dylan’s paranoia level to be much lower than Chloe’s. But I hadn’t expected the impassive guy who dropped into the chair across from us. He didn’t even glance around the coffee shop to make sure none of the frat members were present—none were, by the way, of the ones I could identify… I’d checked.

  “Thanks for meeting with us,” Alex said.

  Dylan shrugged. “Not sure what good it’ll do.”

  “We’d like to ask you a few questions about TriAlphas, if you don’t mind.” Alex leaned forward, setting his coffee on the table.