by Tegan Maher
The smell of smoked meat hit us as soon as we pulled into the lot and it was all I could do not to drool down my chin. My stomach growled again, this time so loud that Rae heard it, or she would have if hers hadn't done the same. I pulled the door open and stepped through the breezeway, taking a deep breath. I could taste the ribs already.
Louise, Bobbie Sue's right-hand woman, was taking inventory in the servers' station, making notes on a clipboard. "Hey, girls! Long time, no see." She looked a little battle-worn, but her smile was bright.
"Hey, Louise," I said, glancing around the near-empty restaurant. "Did y'all not get hammered by the get-rich-quickers from the convention?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, we did, all right. And lemme tell ya, I sure didn't get rich quick. There were a few that tipped well, but for the most part, they were cheapskates. Ran me to death and I was lucky to get fifteen percent outta most of 'em."
Rae and I'd noticed the same thing. For the volume we did, we only made about half what we normally would have. "I hear ya. And we didn't eat so much as a bite all day. We're gonna mess up a couple racks of ribs with all the fixin's."
She motioned toward our regular booth. "If that don't hit the spot, nothin' will. Pop a squat and I'll bring you some tea."
"Good deal. Is Bobbie Sue around?"
No sooner had I asked than she pushed out through the batwings. "I thought I heard y'all. Pheww-eee was it slammed today." She wiped her glistening forehead on the sleeve of her shirt.
I scooched over so she could slide in beside me, then nudged her with my elbow. "And thanks for walking right past me this morning, Space. I mean, I know it was the ass crack of dawn, but jeez."
She scrunched her forehead. "What in the name of Adam are you talkin' about? The only reason I'm up at that time of day is if I ain't gone to bed yet, or if we're goin' fishin'."
I tilted my head and rethought what I'd seen. I mean, it was dark and the woman had been wearing a hat. And I was still half-asleep. I shrugged. "Then maybe you've got a doppelganger."
"Maybe so," she said. "If so, I hope she had a more relaxin' day than I did."
"You and me both," Rae said, pulling one foot up underneath her. "Where's Short Stuff?" she asked, referring to Justin.
Bobbie Sue waved a hand toward the back. "He's helpin' Earl make the beans for tomorrow. We tore through six pans of 'em today."
Speaking' of, Louise arrived with our plates. As soon as she slid them in front of us, we dug in.
"Good Lord," Bobbie Sue said, drawing away from me. "Y'all are actin' like you ain't ate in a week. Louise, don't reach across the table; I need ya to have at least most of your fingers."
I swallowed my first mouthful of ribs almost whole, then dipped a piece of garlic bread in my beans. "It feels about that long. Last thing we ate was an apple fritter this morning' before we opened."
"I'm gonna leave you to it, then. I gotta get back there and make sure Justin ain't convinced Earl to let him use the slicer." She shook her head. "I swear, that young’un’s got him wrapped around his little finger." Her eyes shone when she said it, and I snorted.
"Like he doesn't have you right in the same spot."
It was Rae's turn to laugh. She motioned from me to Bobbie Sue with a rib bone. "Pot, Kettle."
She had a point. Since Justin had come into our lives back in the fall, he'd wormed his way right into our hearts.
"Speak o' the devil," Bobbie said, motioning toward the kitchen as she pushed up.
Justin, a ginger with freckles, came darting towards us. "Noe! Rae!"
"Hey, brat," I said, grinning at him. "Ready to tell me what's in Earl's secret rub?"
He smiled. "Sure, but you know the rules." It was a running joke that he could tell me, but he'd have to kill me.
"I only have a minute because Earl needs me, but can I come stay the night Friday?"
I hid my smile; it was awesome to see him so settled. "Of course! I have some work that needs doin', so c'mon."
He pushed my shoulder. "I'm serious. And can I bring a friend?"
"Ooh," Rae said, "Twice the free labor."
He scowled and I continued. "It's not a girl is it? You didn't get engaged or anything this week did ya?"
"Eww. No. Girls are gross." He wrinkled his nose and I cocked a brow at him.
"You know what I mean," he said. "Y'all aren't girls." His face went red and I decided to cut him some slack.
"Of course you can bring a friend. And I won't even double the chores. Just your regular ones."
At both Bobbie and Earl's and the farm, he had chores he had to do. We agreed they built character and taught appreciation and respect.
He reached over and plucked a fry off my plate and dragged it through my ketchup. "Okay, cool. Pick me up Friday?"
"Sure thing, kiddo." He popped the fry in his mouth and slid out of the booth.
"See ya then," he said on his way to the kitchen. "I gotta get back to work."
I rolled my eyes. "You do that, then."
Just so you don't go thinking' Earl was breaking any child-labor laws, Justin had a broad definition of work. He had an entire room set up in the back with a TV and his gaming equipment, along with a table where he could do his homework. The only work he had to do involved a little bit of cleanup in the evenings and whatever else he chose to do. To his credit, that was quite a bit, though.
We'd just paid the check when Hunter texted me. I opened my phone and frowned.
"What'd he say?" Rae asked. "Did he find anything?"
"Yeah, but it's not good. He didn't find the green truck but he did talk to somebody who says he saw Marcus a few days before, driving down the road with a girl who he thought was Gabi."
CHAPTER TWENTY
SHE TOSSED THE TIP on the table and we gathered our stuff.
"So what's he gonna do?" she asked.
I was pecking away on my phone, asking exactly that. While I was at it, I texted Gabi. She was at work, but usually answered when she could.
Hunter answered first.
H: I'm talking to 4 more before I come home to see if maybe he was seeing somebody, but the guy said he was almost positive it was her
N: Almost? When was it? She hasn't been over there that I know of
H: He wasn't sure. Said it could have been Thursday or Friday
N: OK. I'll ask her. Be safe
Rae'd read the texts over my shoulder. "Thursday or Friday, huh? If it was Thursday, I know she worked at the restaurant in the morning and Walmart that night. I don't know about Friday."
I crossed my fingers. "Then let's hope for Thursday."
Of course, that didn't work out to be the case. The next-to-last person Hunter talked to verified it was Friday. He'd passed them just a few miles away from where the other guy had, on their way into a store. Though he did say he only saw her from behind. Still, that wasn't much comfort and it sure didn't help Gabi's case any.
When she finally answered me, she said she'd been at home all day Friday, binge-watching Arrow.
"Then her mom can vouch for her, right?" Rae said, then immediately snorted. "Forget I said that."
I sincerely believed Mama Meanness would let Gabi go to jail rather than vouch that she was in her room all night if she hadn't actually had eyes on her the whole time.
"Great," Rae said, "so it's a case of not having an alibi because she didn't know she'd need one."
"Yeah," I said, reading another text from Hunter as we climbed into Rae's car. "The sheriff over there has it out for her, too. He wants Hunter to bring her in."
"Pht. Bring her in? Where does he think we are? Atlanta? All Hunter's gotta do is drive to your place."
"I guess. I just want him to find the green truck and get all this over with. And even if he finds the truck, he's still gotta draw a line between the owner and Marcus. He can't exactly subpoena Max. Shoot, he coulda seen the murder and unless we had a way to tie it all together, the guy would get away."
Addy popped in, scaring the bej
ezus out of me. I almost dumped my to-go tea in my lap because the lid popped off when I squeezed it.
"I love you dearly, but I wish you'd take a page from Cheri Lynn's book and give some notice."
"Hmph. I ain't got time for all that lolly-gaggin'." She turned to Rae. "Your mama wants you to stop and get milk and sugar on your way home. And a bag of compost from the farm."
"Okay, but why didn't she just call me?"
Addy scowled. "Why on earth should she waste her cell-phone minutes when I was comin' to talk to Noelle anyway?"
I blew out a breath. "You know counting minutes went out years ago, right? We have unlimited plans. She can talk to her little heart's content to anybody she wants, and text, too. That phone's good for more than watching' cat videos on YouTube, you know."
"Don't sass me. Max says he remembers somethin' about the guy in the green truck. I popped in on Hunter, but he was yammerin' with that knot-headed fool of a sheriff over in Eagle Gap, so you need to tell him. The guy had a limp."
"I thought he didn't see him," Rae said.
"So did I," Addy said, "but apparently we didn't ask the old fool enough questions. He didn't see much, but he did say he was tall, meaty, and wearin' a cowboy hat."
"Well that would have been great information to have before Hunter went on a wild-goose chase," I said.
"At least we know now," Addy said as she faded away.
"Sure, you can leave gradually!" I said before she disappeared. I fired off a text to Hunter and Rae swung into a spot behind my truck.
"I gotta run inside real quick," she said. "I have a ton of milk and sugar here and don't feel like going to the store after it right now."
"If you want, I'll bring the compost over to you. I haven't seen Aunt Beth in a couple weeks. Maybe we can do a girls' night."
"That would be great," she said. "Fair warning, though—Mom's been on a planting spree so you may be volunteering to get dirty."
I snickered. "I'll stop and get butter-pecan ice cream and a Matthew McConaughey movie." Those were my Aunt Beth's only two Achilles' heels.
"Wow, double whammyin' her. That'll do it," she said as I climbed in my truck. I started to drive off then thought better of it; with the way things had gone lately, I couldn't leave her alone, so I waited 'til she was back in her car.
I motioned for her to pull out in front of me, and when I eased away from the curb, I caught motion near the back door of the shop in my rearview. I took my foot off the gas and coasted up the alley, watching for further movement, then a cat streaked from the doorway to the dumpster.
Great. A witch who was spooked by a cat. How's that for backwards?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
AS EXPECTED, ALL THOUGHT of putting us to work in the greenhouse flew from Aunt Beth's mind as soon as she saw the movie and ice cream. Addy and Cheri Lynn joined us and we had a great night in.
When the movie was over, Cheri Lynn sighed. "I hope he has a long life ahead of him, but I think he's gonna be like Sean Connery—sexy at every age. I wonder if he'll stick around after he's done on that side." She smoothed the silk PJs she chosen for the evening, then patted her hair. "I think I'd have a shot. After all, I'd have a lot to offer a ghost like him."
"What about Rupert?" I asked. She'd met a fine living-impaired gentleman on our cruise.
"Rupert's great," she said, "but forever's a long time, Sugar. I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment. Plus"—she gave us her best duh look—"Matthew McConaughey."
I couldn't really argue with that logic. With her smooth-as-honey drawl and the exotic beauty she'd inherited from her gypsy grandmother, who was to say she wouldn't have a chance?
By the time I made it home, I was ready to crash. I had no idea how Rae kept the early hours she did without falling asleep in her supper. Just as I was washing my face, I remembered that lone little peach turnover in the case at Brew.
Heaving an exhausted sigh, I trudged back to the kitchen and pulled out a canister of the energy blend Rae used in her Lively Latte. It was probably a bad idea, but I added an extra pinch to my double espresso, tossed it back, then poured myself a glass of tea.
Within twenty minutes, the infusion kicked in with a jolt and suddenly I was practically hearing colors. Since I had no idea how long the boost would last, I decided to keep it simple and stick with turnovers and muffins because I could make one huge batch of batter and dough, then cut them into smaller batches and customize. While the muffins were baking, I made and rolled out the dough, then made apple, blueberry, and peach turnovers.
Since I had double ovens, I was done in just over under two hours, which was a good thing. Somewhere between the carrot-cake muffins and blueberry turnovers, my buzz wore off and the yawning started.
Too tired to wait for them to cool, I slid the last batches onto the counter and shuffled to bed. The text I sent Rae telling her to come get them before she went in was probably jumbled, but it was the best I could do as I drifted off to sleep.
Three hours later, Addy woke me up, whisper-yelling my name. "Noelle. Noelle! Wake up! Somebody just came up the drive with their lights off."
It took me a minute to clear the fog from my head, and I nearly face-planted into my windowsill when I rolled out of bed and tripped toward it. When I pulled the curtain aside and peeked outside, there was the same black Taurus that had passed Hunter and me. I pulled out my cell and dialed Matt's number.
On the third ring, he answered, sounding completely alert even though I knew he usually went to bed before midnight. That military training. He went from dead asleep to alert and on his feet in three seconds.
"It's me," I said. "The black car we passed when Gabi was attacked is outside. Addy said they came up the drive with their lights off."
"Stay in the house," he ordered.
"Um. No. But I'll meet you out there, and I'll come out the pool door and circle around behind the barn so I won't be between you and them. I just saw light in Gabi's trailer."
Regardless of his training, he wasn't bulletproof and I wasn't going to let him face them down alone when I had something to add to the fight.
He took a deep breath, resigned. "Okay, but stay right to that path so I know where you are. I'm going out now."
While we'd been talking, I'd made my way downstairs and was at the door. "Me, too."
I turned the volume off on my phone and slipped out the door, holding the screen door as it closed so it wouldn't slap shut. I knew every inch of the path and it didn't take me but a minute or so to get to the back of the barn.
Matt was at the trailer, his back pressed against the side of it by the door. He put his finger over his lips, then motioned to hold up until they came out of the trailer. I nodded my understanding and slipped to the end of the trailer by the hitch so they wouldn't see me when they exited.
Since they were in the living quarters, I heard cabinets slapping shut and the door to the bathroom open and close. They were talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Though it was probably only a couple of minutes, it seemed like forever before I heard the door creak open. I poked my head around and before I could even get to them, Matt had already knocked one of them out and immobilized the other.
"Impressive. I gotta say, I knew in theory you were kinda a badass, but you're truly frightening in action."
He snorted. "Please. I've seen twelve-year-old girls that were tougher than these two."
"Hey," the conscious guy said. "Not cool."
Matt jerked on his thumb and shoved him a little at the same time, causing him to howl in pain. "No, what's not cool is you layin' hands on a girl half your size, or pilferin' through a horse trailer that doesn't belong to you. Shut up before I decide to turn you loose and give you a fair shot at somebody your own size."
The guy's face went white as chalk and Matt motioned to the guy on the ground with his chin.
“Tie his hands behind his back before he wakes back up. Though I'd love to see him come at me, I'm not sure I'd
be able to stop once I started on him."
It was then that I noticed his jaw was clenched. He wasn't nearly as calm as he seemed on the surface, and I figured the sooner he could put some physical distance between him and them, the better. I ran to the tack room and pulled out a bag of long zip-ties. I secured one around each wrist of the guy Matt was holding then used another to connect the two together, then repeated the process on the other one.
As soon as I'd zipped his wrists together, Matt said, "Check him for weapons and take his boots off." I raised a brow but did as he said. I figured this was his jam.
Matt not-so-gently shoved the one he was holding to the ground beside his buddy, who was starting to stir, then started patting him down. I mimicked his actions, putting my hands in a couple of places that caused me to cringe.
Matt grinned. "You'd be surprised where people hide knives and small handguns."
"Surprised and disgusted," I replied, wrinkling my nose. However, my guy did have a knife strapped right under his armpit, so I could hardly poo-poo the process. I pulled his boot off and the overwhelming scent of rotten cheese assailed me.
"Good God," I told him, fighting my gag reflex as he glared at me. "You might wanna see a podiatrist about that." He took a kick at my face when I reached for his second boot. Matt smiled because they guy had given him a reason, then delivered a solid Charlie horse to the thigh with his heel.
After we had them secured, I called Hunter and filled him in.
"Don't do anything until I get there," he said.
"Not even a few kicks?"
"Not even," he replied. Party pooper.
Max trotted around the corner and heard me, but popped the guy closest to him with a solid kick with both legs. He looked at me and shrugged. "I'm just a dumb animal. I don't know any better."
Matt barked out a laugh and the man he'd kicked did an awkward scoot-roll away from him. "Did he just talk? He talked the other day, I know he did!"
Max looked at him and snorted. "Hmph. You're either high, drunk, or off your meds. Everybody knows donkeys can't talk." He put his tail and his head in the air and pranced off, firing off one final kick to the shin as he passed the other guy.