by Tonya Kappes
“I dare you to say another word about Owen.” Inez looked at me. “Well, here she is, Sheriff. Do your job. Arrest her.”
“Arrest me?” Myrna drew back. “For what? I think you should be arrested for sabotaging my tomatoes.” Myrna pointed back. “I want to make a citizen’s arrest.”
“Can you stop taking pictures?” I asked Edna, who was standing completely on top of the craft table trying to take photos from all angles.
Lulu slid her body down the wall, giving up on trying to create peace. She cried in the palms of her hands. Chaos was in full swing.
Edna pulled the camera from her face. She said, “Nope. Lead story tomorrow.” She disappeared back behind the lens.
“I am not going to arrest anyone for anything.” I made them stay a good distance apart. “Now, let’s go back to our seats so we can enjoy a night with friends.”
“I’ll do no such thing.” Myrna planted her hands on her hips. “If she’s staying, I’m leaving.”
“You can’t leave,” Lulu sobbed. “You’re teaching the class.”
“Don’t you worry. I’m out of here.” Inez jerked around. “But I don’t have a ride. Stanley brought me.”
“I’ll take you home.” I was going to stop by her house anyway with the Derby Pie Finn had offered, which was upstairs in his apartment. “I’ll come to craft night another time. Duke.” I snapped my fingers and he came to attention.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I am.” I smiled and waited for her to go outside. I bid goodnight to everyone, but not without making a mental note that of all people, Myrna Savage was teaching the class. We’d found the broken stained glass at the scene. Though it wasn’t a direct link to Owen’s murder, it still tugged at my gut.
“Can you wait right here with Duke for a minute? I need to tell Finn something.” I gestured to the stairs leading up to the apartment, knowing Finn wasn’t in there, but the Derby Pie was.
Inez simply nodded.
With my bump key, I jimmied the lock and let myself in. The phone was ringing when I helped myself to his freezer and pulled out the pie. I was sure he wouldn’t mind.
The answering machine picked up and a sultry female voice came over the speaker.
“Hey, handsome,” the woman said. “I’m excited about this weekend. I really can’t believe you called. I re-e-e-ally can’t believe that you are living in some podunk town and left me all alone.” I didn’t like how she sounded. “But you have all weekend to make up for that. I can’t wait to see you talk with all those crazy sayings you’re learning. What was the pig and lipstick one again?” She laughed. Images of her, or how I pictured her, flowed through my head. “Call me before you come. Finley,” she called him by his full name, “remember that I love you. Always.”
She hung up.
My jaw dropped. I was sick to my stomach thinking about what was going on this weekend with the sultry-voiced woman. The pie was calling me to eat it. But I couldn’t. I had promised to do some investigative work with it by giving it to Inez.
“He’s a coworker,” I reminded myself, but the memory of how he looked at me on the Ferris wheel a couple of nights ago made me feel like we were more. At least I’d thought so. Or maybe it was my own crazy mind wishing it was more. “He’s just a coworker. Poppa was right.” I swallowed hard.
I walked over to the counter where the answering machine was sitting and eyed the blinking red button. I put my finger on the erase button. I bit my lip. I shook my head and pulled my hand away. I took a step back and stepped on one of Finn’s stray shoes and teetered, grabbing the counter, accidentally side-swiping the answering machine.
“Messages erased,” the mechanical voice said over the speaker.
“No. No.” I frantically pushed the play button, totally regretting what I had just done.
“No messages,” the mechanical voice teased me.
“Oh God.” I groaned and looked at the pie in my hand. “Inez.”
I had completely forgotten about Inez waiting for me. I had lost it. It was a fact. I rushed out of the apartment.
“Are you okay?” Inez asked. She was sitting on the bottom step petting Duke. He was staring at her eyes. His ears drew back as she ran her long nails down the crown of his head.
“I’m fine.” I held up the pie. “I’d gotten this pie earlier for you. I was going to stop by your house with it after the craft class.”
My heart was racing. I still couldn’t believe I’d just erased Finn’s message. What was wrong with me?
“That’s awful kind of you.” She smiled and stood up. “Lulu brought your bag out.”
“I totally forgot it back there.” I handed her the pie in exchange for the bag. I took a quick peek inside and pushed my uniform to the side. The composition book was still there. I got my keys out from the bottom of the bag. “You ready?”
“I am.” She and I walked to the Jeep.
Duke automatically jumped in the back like he did when I had someone up front. Inez helped herself to the passenger side and placed the pie next to us on the center console.
“How is Stanley holding up?” I started in with the basic question. “I couldn’t imagine.”
“Are you asking as a friend or sheriff?” She hooked her seatbelt in and stared ahead with her hands in her lap.
“As a concerned friend.” I started the Jeep up and pulled out.
“He’s devastated.” Her voice cracked. “He’s so strong and refuses to give into his feelings. I told him that it was okay to cry and even bash things in.” Her voice trailed off. “I leave him be because he can be so demeaning and cruel when his feelings are hurt or something is on his mind.” She stopped as though she were gathering her thoughts. “When he is hurt, angry, or feels like he’s been wronged in any way, nothing will stop him from getting what he wants.”
“That’s a man for you.” I gripped the wheel, wondering how I was going to get into how he reacted when I told him.
“You know when Rae Lynn died, it just tore them boys up. Poor Owen went a little off the deep end. He was obsessed with the family cookbook.” She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, Rae Lynn was an excellent cook, but nothing to write home about. She went by the recipes that were passed down by her family. When he got divorced, Sandy knew it would hurt him to ask for the cookbook, so she did.”
“She did?” I asked. “What a shame. Get him where it hurts.”
My phone chirped a text, but I didn’t think it would look good to Inez if the sheriff grabbed her phone and checked out who was texting her while driving. I could hear it now: the sheriff breaks the law. Another rumor that I didn’t need to risk starting.
“He’s spent the better part of the past year hiding it from her. Stanley told him to hand it over so he can just move on with his life and forget about her, but Owen wouldn’t. He wanted to punish Sandy for leaving him.” It was like the floodgates had opened. Inez was out of Stanley’s reach and she was talking.
She looked out the window and I took the opportunity to slide my phone onto voice record.
“Why on earth wouldn’t he just make a copy of the book and give it to her?” I asked.
“Because Rae Lynn said the magic was in the pages. He wanted the original, and now look where it got him.” She sobbed. “I don’t even think he knew where the damn cookbook was. I bet he lost it.”
“I’m so sorry.” I turned down Catnip Road. “I am doing all I can to bring his murderer to justice.”
“I’m telling you that if you find Sandy Godbey, she’ll have the answers. I told Stanley I bet she did Owen in, especially after she lost the last court battle.” My ears sprang up. Betty had pulled the court records and there wasn’t anything on the docket.
“What happened?” I asked as we turned up the gravel drive.
“They went back to court the morning he died a
nd the judge sided with Owen. Sandy didn’t get her hands on the family cookbook.” Inez put her hand on the door handle. “Stanley would die if he knew I was airing out our family laundry to you. But you need to know the facts.”
“Then why do you think Myrna had anything to do with it?” I was a little stumped in her thinking.
“I think Myrna helped Sandy. He was found in her greenhouse. She and Sandy were friends, maybe not best friends, but Sandy did help Myrna at Petal Pushers before she moved a couple of months ago and that’s when Owen started to help. Picked up where Sandy left off.” She uncovered another thing Myrna had covered up. “It just isn’t a coincidence to me.” She shrugged before she got out. “That’s all.”
Myrna might not have been able to put Owen in the greenhouse, but Myrna and Sandy together could’ve. The more and more I heard about Owen’s relationships, the more Myrna looked guilty.
The front porch light switched on. The door opened. Stanley Godbey stood as big as life in the door frame, Poppa standing behind him with his fingers held up in the okay sign.
“I didn’t know he was home. I’ve got to go.” The look of fear set in her eyes and she slammed the door without looking back.
“But your pie,” I grumbled from the inside the Jeep as the front porch light flipped off, telling me I was not welcome there.
There was something going on behind that door. Inez was scared of Stanley. Stanley might not have wanted her to talk to the sheriff, but that was not the fear I’d seen on her face as she scrambled to get out of the Jeep.
Poppa appeared next to me in the passenger seat. “That was interesting.”
“Yeah. Bone chilling.” I recalled Stanley’s eyes.
“He definitely doesn’t like anyone to know their business,” Poppa said. “He asked Inez what she’d said to you and she said nothing about them, but you talked about Owen and Sandy. He told her to keep her mouth shut about the family business. The issues between him and Owen were now water under the bridge.”
My mind was reeling with all sorts of possible situations. Talking them out with Poppa always gave me some clarity.
The gravel spit up under the tires. “If there was a family rift like Ruby said, then Stanley could be a suspect. But why? Why would he want to murder his own brother?” I paused. “Then there’s Myrna. She definitely has a motive. If he was trying to steal her cherished recipe to help grow the vegetables, she could’ve done it out of anger. Or she was a good friend to Sandy Godbey, who I have to find because she’s definitely a suspect.”
“You have at least three people who you need to investigate.” Poppa broke down the big picture, which was something I was learning to do. Not that I didn’t know how to be a sheriff. I did. It was all this murder stuff that was new to me. “Myrna and Sandy are tied.”
“Which means I need to find Sandy to help rule her out and find out about Myrna’s friendship with her. And we still can’t leave Myrna out because she really doesn’t have an alibi.” In no time Poppa, Duke, and I were back on Free Row and had pulled into the driveway.
“Sometimes a good night’s sleep will help your mind relax and give you a fresh look on things in the morning.” Poppa ghosted out of the Jeep.
I grabbed my bag from the floorboard and the pie. Duke jumped out after me and sprinted toward the back of the house, followed up by a deep barking.
The rustle of footsteps and the jingle of a fence caught my attention. I sat my bag and pie on the ground. I unzipped my bag and pulled out my Colt .45.
“Hold it right there!” I screamed with my elbows slightly cocked, arms extended, and gun pointing into the dark. “Sheriff!”
Duke continued to go nuts, running up and down the fence line. I kicked the gate, busting it open, and ran to the back of my yard, where I heard someone running across my neighbor’s pavement.
“Next time I’ll shoot!” I yelled, deciding not to give chase. For one, I didn’t have backup and two, they ran off.
My nostrils flared as I tried to suck deep breaths in and out, releasing the adrenaline that’d found a nice fearful place deep in my bones.
I wanted to say it was just a coincidence from living on Free Row, but when I walked into the house and saw that it looked like a tornado had ripped through it, I knew it was personal.
The only thing I could do right then was eat the pie. I did.
Chapter Thirteen
“Why didn’t you call me?” Finn asked when we met up for breakfast at Ben’s. The morning sunshine flooded the restaurant window and broke on his face. His brown eyes twinkled with concern.
“You were busy at Cole’s and I filled out my own report, photos and all. I’ve already uploaded it.” I leaned back in the chair across from him and let Ben Harrison fill up the two empty cups of coffee in front of me. One for me, and another for me.
“Would you like a coffee?” Ben asked Finn.
“Please.” Finn pushed his empty cup toward the edge of the table.
As he filled up the cup, Ben rattled off the specials. He glanced at me. “The usual?”
“Yes. But I’m going to need extra syrup and powdered sugar today.” The jolt of sugar was exactly what I needed to wake me up this morning. Granted, I might crash in a couple of hours.
“You?” Ben pointed the pen at Finn.
“I’ll have what she’s having.” Finn closed the menu and put it back between the salt and pepper shakers.
I wasn’t going to lie to myself. It didn’t feel good that someone had broken into my house. There was no way I was going to let Finn know that it had scared the bejesus out of me and I’d had a tight grip on Duke all night, not to mention my pistol.
“I told you I was going to stay up all night and watch out.” Poppa grumbled next to me, his nose stuck in my coffee cup. “I sure do wish I could have a big sip of that.”
I smiled.
“What?” Finn’s brows formed a V. “What’s the big smile for?”
“I have Sandy Godbey’s address.” Of course, I was smiling at Poppa; I just made a good cover up. I picked my bag up off the ground.
“How did you get it?” Finn picked up his coffee cup, taking a sip.
“I told Edna I’d give her the exclusive for the paper if she did some digging around for me.” I drummed my fingers on the table and looked around.
Inez Godbey, Lulu McClain, and Ruby Smith were seated at the bar. Ruby twirled around on the stool and gave me a little wave with one hand and fiddled with the jade pendent around her neck with the other. She had a matching brooch stuck on her shirt and I wondered if it was an antique find from one of her adventures.
Inez was talking to Edna Easterly. It had to have been an interview, because Edna’s head was down and she was writing furiously in that darn notebook.
I stuck my hand in the pants pockets and came up short. I checked all the pockets again before I looked into my bag. The composition book was still in there, but there was no sign of the piece of paper Edna had slipped me at the stained-glass class last night.
“It’s not in here.” I sat back in the chair with my bag on my lap. My fingers tensed.
“Are you sure you put it in your pants?” Finn asked.
“Positive.” I recalled what had happened and told him about the confrontation with Inez and Myrna.
“Myrna was teaching the class?” The information seemed to strike a chord with Finn, just as it had with me.
“Yes. And I’m not sure who picked up my stuff because I had dropped my bag on the floor to stop them from fighting. Everything fell out but the cookbook.” I slid my eyes back over to the three women.
They had to be there for the cook-off. Myrna had told me they were on Ben’s team. Plus, the three of them were hunched over creating some sort of concoction in clay mixing bowls that had an upside-down picket-fence design around the tops.
Edna lifted her c
hin in the air, acknowledging me before she sauntered over.
“Sheriff.” Her eyes drew down on me.
I used the toe of my boot to push the extra chair at the table out for her to sit.
“I can’t find that piece of paper,” I whispered to Edna when I leaned forward and picked up the coffee cup. “I have no idea where it went. I put it in my pants pocket before I changed and now it’s gone.” I took a sip and held the cup in my fingertips in front of my face.
“Can you recall your steps?” Finn raked his brown hair with his fingers. His dark eyes had a reserve I couldn’t put my finger on.
“I went to your apartment.” I stopped myself from talking when I remembered I’d erased his message on his answering machine. “To get the pie,” I finally finished.
“You threw your bag on the floor and I think Myrna picked it up.” Edna’s eyes narrowed as if she were trying to remember. “Some of your stuff fell out. Are you sure you put the paper in your pocket?”
“I was so focused on making sure people didn’t think you and I were playing too nice, so I’m not sure of anything.” The only thing I did remember for sure was erasing Finn’s message.
“After Myrna picked up your stuff, Lulu took the bag outside.” Edna shrugged.
“And that is how Inez got it.” I snapped my fingers and leaned back in the chair, finishing off the last sips of my first cup.
“Is this on or off the record?” Edna asked. She was an ever-changing mystery to me. One minute she wanted everything on the record and off the next.
“It’s off for right now, but when you get the exclusive, you can put it in there because someone took the paper.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince myself that someone took it or if I was trying not to look inadequate in front of Finn.
If Myrna knew I was watching her, she’d be watching my every move and would have seen Edna slip me a piece of paper. Out of curiosity, she used the opportunity to grab my things and slip the paper out of my pants pocket. “Can I get the address again?”