by R A Wallace
Sharon’s shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. “Some people are just plain stubborn,” she said, more to herself than anyone.
Chapter Thirteen
The light mid-morning crowd at the Jammin’T was a welcome respite. Holly knew it wouldn’t last long. The morning had been crazy and If yesterday’s lunch crowd was any indication, the onslaught should begin soon. She was able to handle the orders in front of her automatically, allowing her brain a chance to wander. It immediately went to the cat and her kittens. True to his word, the vet, Casey Adams, had tracked them down outside and checked on them.
Although Holly had no idea how he’d accomplished it, he’d even managed to scoop up the entire family and take it away. Holly was glad that they were in a better place, but she missed them terribly. She was hoping the vet would stop in soon. She’d given her brother strict orders to find out where Casey had taken them.
Movement at the entrance door caught her eye. Looks like the next wave was beginning. Holly glanced over at her brother. He was pouring coffee for one of the regulars. Holly didn’t know his name. Tyler was the one who talked to everyone. But she recognized the man. He was dressed comfortably with a nice warm jacket and reminded Holly of one of the local farmers. Holly wondered what the two of them were talking about.
Tyler finished pouring the coffee. “Are you going to be ordering anything else today?”
“Nah, I’m just meeting an old friend for coffee. He should be here any minute,” Cy Douglass said.
“I’ll wait until he gets here to pour his coffee. As cold as it is today, he’s going to want all the warmth he can get.”
Cy nodded. “Good thing Casey got those kittens from the alley when he did.”
Tyler had been on his way to check on more customers and stopped immediately at the other man’s words. Turning around, he took a step back to the table. “You know where the kittens are?”
“Casey took them to my farm. He got the whole lot of them all set up in my barn in an inside room where it’s the warmest. He said they’ll be good there, if the mother will stay.” Cy had stopped a couple of times to check on them when he’d gone to feed and water his animals. So far, the mother seemed to be happy where she was.
“They’re getting enough to eat?” Tyler asked. He knew Holly was going to quiz him.
“Yeah, Casey gave me the name for some special food for the mother since she just had a litter. It’s supposed to help build her strength back up.” Cy looked at the front door and nodded to Stan Jiblonski as he arrived.
Tyler saw the motion and flipped over the other coffee cup, then filled it before moving away to check on other diners. More people began to arrive, and Tyler saw Megan come in soon after. She looked around the diner then walked over to join a single woman. The other woman looked familiar, but Tyler wasn’t sure why.
Megan stood next to the table where she found Colin Boswell’s second wife. “Alaina. Linda said that you agreed to speak with me.”
Alaina had watched the younger woman enter the diner. She’d been having second thoughts about meeting with her and had almost hoped that the woman wouldn’t show. But now that Megan was here, Alaina realized that she really did want to know what was going on. Colin had kept her in the dark long enough. It was time to find out about the man she’d been married to for five years.
“It’s Megan, right?” Alaina asked as the other woman sat down. “I know we were introduced already but these past few days have been a real blur for me.”
“I can’t imagine how confusing this must all be for you.”
Alaina felt herself relaxing just a little. She really didn’t know Megan at all. She’d seen her at Hilary’s house and then at Colin’s funeral, but Alaina had been under extreme duress both times. But each of those times, Megan had seemed to be some sort of calm in the storm. And now, rather than confronting Alaina about her past with Colin, it seemed like she was trying to be understanding. The truth was, Alaina was confused. But now that she considered it, the other two wives had to be feeling the same way. She’d been so upset about everything that had happened, she hadn’t bothered to think beyond her own pain.
Alaina glanced up when a waiter appeared. She shook her head when he offered more coffee. Megan asked for decaf tea.
“I probably should have gotten decaf tea too,” Alaina said. “But I haven’t been sleeping well and the caffeine might give me a boost.”
Megan had already noticed the dark slashes under Alaina’s eyes. “I understand that you’ve been married to Colin for a few years now. Can you tell me about that? How did you meet him?”
Alaina gathered her thoughts while the waiter placed Megan’s tea in front of her. “Well, I met him at work actually. You know that he works for a pharmaceutical company, right?” Alaina frowned. Her Colin did, anyway. She had no clue what he’d told anyone else.
Megan nodded in agreement. Hilary had told her the same thing. He traveled often visiting hospitals and doctors as part of his job.
“He came in to talk with the doctor about some new medications that his company had developed. It was Colin’s job to market those drugs and the others that the company produced. We met around six years ago. We’ve been married for five.” Alaina began slowly shredding the napkin she held in front of her with both hands.
Megan thought about what Linda had said. “What attracted you to him?”
Alaina brightened for just a moment. “Oh, it was his voice. Colin has… Colin had such a beautiful singing voice. He sang to me all the time.”
“Linda mentioned that you have questions about how Colin died?”
Alaina nodded. Her hands began shredding the napkin in earnest. She saw Megan’s eyes drop down to her hands and pushed the napkin away. “I’m sorry. This is all so upsetting.”
“You know about the accident, right?” Megan wasn’t sure what the other wives had been told.
“They said he was working on his car in the garage and it fell on him.”
“You don’t believe that?” Megan asked.
Alaina’s lips thinned as she stubbornly set her jaw. “It doesn’t explain the note I found.”
Megan felt her eyebrows raise. She hadn’t heard about a note. “What did it say?”
“It said I’m watching you.”
Interesting. “Where did you find it?”
“In his jacket pocket. The last time he left it had gotten colder. He took a heavier coat with him and left the lighter jacket at home.”
Megan wondered again how a man could have multiple wives. Didn’t they notice when he left with one set of clothes and returned with another?
“What did the note mean to you?” Megan asked.
Alaina shrugged. “Nothing, when I’d first found it. But now I have to wonder. Who was watching him? Was it one of the other wives? Maybe they found out about the rest of us and killed him.”
Megan gentled her voice. “Alaina. The jack failed. It was an accident.” Megan wasn’t completely certain if she still believed that herself, but it was the official ruling.
Alaina shook her head. Her eyes began to water, and the stubborn set of her jaw had returned. “There has to be something to it. I don’t know you at all, but that other woman, Linda. She said that you’d look into this for us.” Alaina stood up. “That’s what I want you to do. I have to know. Please.”
Megan watched Alaina walk out the door. She sipped at her tea as she thought about what she’d learned so far.
Tyler carried a full coffee pot around the room and began filling cups as needed. He heard Cy and Stan talking as he did.
“Have you decided to sell your farm yet?” Stan asked idly. As a real estate agent, he handled such sales all the time. But he and Cy were friends and he knew Cy had been struggling with the decision since he’d married Jill Swindell.
Cy finished the last bit of coffee in his cup as he considered his response. “No. I’m leaning more toward renting it out for now. I guess I’m just hoping that whoever gets it n
ext will love it as much as I did.”
Stan nodded to Tyler as he stopped to refill their cups. “I can understand that. You spent your whole life there.”
Tyler continued moving around the room and stopped at Megan’s table. “More tea?”
“No, thanks. I should go and free up your table for lunch.”
Tyler glanced at the entrance door where the other woman had passed through then lowered his voice and leaned closer to Megan. “Someone at another table said that was one of Colin Boswell’s wives. Are you working on another puzzle?”
Tyler had helped Megan with puzzles in the past. Megan nodded. “Do you know anything about it?”
“No, but Holly does. If you stop in the kitchen, she’ll be able to talk while she works.” Tyler nodded then continued his way around the room to wait on customers.
Megan glanced over at Holly through the window. She left some money on the table and walked into the kitchen.
Holly looked up in surprise. “Can I help you?”
Megan explained what Tyler had told her.
Holly continued working on the orders in front of her. Megan was behind the wall. Although the other diners could see Holly through the window in front of her grills, they couldn’t see Megan.
“Was that the man that died?” Holly asked as she put more burger patties on the grill.
“Yes.” Megan watched as Holly squirted some oil on the grill, put some sliced onions on the oil, and covered it with a lid.
“I overheard a conversation. He was behind the diner, in the alley. I was back there trying to coax a cat into letting me feed her.” Holly put some buns on the grill and flipped some burgers. She glanced up at her orders and took out some rye bread and corned beef to make a Rueben.
It occurred to Megan as she watched Holly work that she might have liked being a cook at a restaurant. “He was with someone?”
Holly shook her head as she plated some burgers. “He was on the phone.” She turned and shook the fries in a basket over the fryer. Then she divided the fries onto multiple plates and set each one up on the counter for a server to grab before adding more fries to the basket and dropping it into the hot oil.
“Did you hear what he said?”
Holly turned the Reuben on the grill. The dark bread now had a perfect golden brown crisp to it on one side.
“Not really. I mean, he was pretty agitated, so he was yelling but what he said didn’t make sense. It had something to do with singing. It was something like I won’t let you stop me from singing.”
Megan watched as two servers came up to the window. Although they both grabbed all of the finished meals between them to serve to the diners, they also pinned multiple new orders up for Holly.
“Did you catch anything else?” Megan asked as she watched Holly add more burgers to the grill.
Holly shook her head and looked up at the new orders. Megan thanked her and turned to walk away. Then she stopped and turned back around. “What kind of oil do you use in the fryer?”
“Peanut.”
Megan smiled to herself as she left. Now she knew why the fries always tasted so good. Bert had always refused to tell her, claiming it was a trade secret.
Chapter Fourteen
Megan zipped up her coat and put on her hat and gloves before leaving the Jammin’T. Her next stop was at the Teaberry Tea & Thyme. Rather than moving her truck and finding another parking space, she’d parked her truck in between the two establishments. She would walk to see the twins next. As she passed the different shops, she saw that they were already gearing up for the holiday. Many had already begun displaying their seasonal goods, hoping to attract shoppers. Megan looked up at the ornate lamp posts that lined the streets. They still had banners promoting upcoming events, including the harmony competition. She knew that the Christmas wreaths and other trimmings would be up in time for Thanksgiving to take their place.
She unzipped her coat and removed her hat and gloves as soon as she entered Tea & Thyme. The twins kept it warm in there. Megan nodded to the woman behind the counter and ran the mnemonic through her head to figure out which twin it was. Janice’s name was longer, and she parted her hair on the right. This twin had her hair parted on the left.
“Hi, Jill.”
“Megan. What brings you in today?”
Megan glanced through the new side door to the addition Ross McMann had put on the shop. “I’m meeting someone.”
Jill leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Does she look remarkably like Hilary Boswell?
Megan nodded.
“She’s already here. Can I get you anything?”
Megan considered it. They did have an amazing array of teas to choose from. It had been a long time since Megan had teaberry tea. She asked Jill for a cup and then headed for the other room. It had tables scattered around the middle. One wall was lined with booths. The outer wall had garage doors that could be opened in nicer weather. Those doors were now closed and the room was heated, just as the rest of the shop was.
She spotted Nicole Boswell in one of the booths and walked over to her.
“Nicole?”
The woman looked up in surprise. Megan could tell that her mind had been elsewhere.
“Oh, it’s Megan, right?” Nicole gestured to the other side of the booth.
Megan gave a brief smile and slid onto the thickly padded bench seat.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Nicole looked at her in surprise again. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say.” She shook her head and put her hand in front of her mouth.
Jill brought a cup of tea and set it in front of Megan. She sensed the other woman’s distress. “Can I get you anything else?” Jill asked her gently.
Nicole shook her head again, then huffed out something resembling a laugh. “Everyone here has been so kind.”
Jill left quietly. Nicole watched as she walked away, then turned back to Megan. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself. This has all just been so confusing.” She made an effort to get her emotions under control.
“It’s a very confusing situation. Linda mentioned that you might want my help trying to work through some of it?”
“I’m not sure what you can do. But I would really like to know what happened.”
Megan reached out and put both hands around her tea cup. “Tell me about you and Colin. How did you meet?”
“I’m a pharmacist.” Nicole dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “He expanded his sales territory a couple of years ago and my pharmacy was under his new route.”
Megan thought about the best way to phrase her next question. “You hit it off?”
“Not at first, no. I had just gotten out of a messy divorce. I wasn’t ready for anything new yet.”
“But Colin managed to change your mind?” Megan guessed.
Nicole smiled at the memory. “He did. He was pretty relentless about it, actually. He would serenade me whenever he came into the pharmacy. Even the customers seemed to enjoy it.”
“It was his singing that attracted you?”
“Oh, yes. Colin has the most beautiful voice.” Nicole’s smile turned into a sad frown. “Had.”
Megan saw Nicole’s eyes begin to tear again. “Was Colin acting any different lately?”
Nicole nodded slowly. “Yes. He seemed really tense for some reason.”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“Yes. He said it was work related. That I shouldn’t worry about it.” Nicole dabbed at her eyes again, then pulled out a slip of paper. “But then I found this.”
Megan smoothed out the paper and read it out loud. “I know who you are.”
Megan looked up at Nicole. “Where did you find it?”
“It was in my car. We’d taken my car to dinner the last time he was home. I found it under my seat.”
“Did you ask Colin about it?” Megan asked.
“No, I didn’t have a chance to. I was going to when he got home again. He traveled so much for his wo
rk.” Confusion crossed Nicole’s face. Her eyes dropped to her hands in front of her and a blush crept up her face. “I guess we know now that he traveled for other things too.”
Megan could see the exhaustion etched in the other woman’s face as Nicole got up to leave. She promised she’d keep Nicole updated on anything she learned. After watching Nicole slowly leave, Megan went back out into the shop area. Both twins were there.
“I can’t imagine what those women are going through,” Janice said sympathetically just after Nicole walked out the door.
“Does this mean you’re working on a puzzle?” Jill asked.
Megan turned to watch Nicole begin to make her way down the street through the front windows of the shop, then turned back to the twins. “Looks that way, yes. You don’t by any chance know anything, do you?”
The twins looked at each other.
“Now that you mention it, we did hear Colin on the phone.” Jill turned to Janice. “Remember? He seemed pretty upset.”
Janice became animated. “That’s right, we did. What was he talking about?” She turned to her sister.
Jill pulled at her lip for a moment. “Something with money, right?”
“That’s right. He said no more money, really loud.” Janice looked at her sister for confirmation.
Jill nodded her head. “Yes, that’s what he said. He came into the shop.” Jill turned to Megan to make sure she was following. “He always stopped in for an energy drink when he was in town.”
“But this time, he didn’t stay to get it. He put his order in,” Janice said as she looked to her sister for conformation.
Jill nodded agreement again. “But he got a phone call before I could finish making it. He walked out of the shop, right then and there.”
Janice finished the story. “We only heard him yelling that one part before he was gone. No more money. What do you think it meant?”
Both women turned to Megan with expectant looks. Megan remembered again Erica’s grumblings in the past that police work wasn’t like on television. Mysteries didn’t always get solved neatly in thirty minutes or less, not counting commercials.
