by Lynn Cahoon
“I can’t believe he didn’t think of it before and tell someone.” Cat glanced around Seth to watch as Nate used his phone to access his e-mails. “He’s kind of naive.”
Seth pushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. “He’s a good guy. But yeah, he tends to see the best in people. Even when they cause him work.”
Cat kissed Seth, letting her lips linger on his. “He’s a lot like you in that matter. I guess that’s why you two are friends.”
Seth grinned and went back to the table. Cat heard the slap of his hand on Nate’s back before the kitchen door closed. She didn’t have time to worry about Nate right now. She had to be ready for the seminar on being a working author for the group. Although she knew a few of them were already at that place, maybe she could still impart some wisdom from her experience.
She ran upstairs to grab her file folder and go through the notes she made after every session. The questions she was asked were different each time, but the focus of the meeting was always about knowing when it was time to become a full-time writer. Unfortunately, that was one question she couldn’t answer. Because it depended on a whole lot of factors in an author’s life. But she could point out a lot of the things they needed to consider before they jumped into what might be an empty pool.
When she went downstairs again and entered the living room, all the writers were already there with pen and paper ready. She glanced at the clock. “The good thing about this being such an informal retreat is we can start things early if we want. Just let me grab a bottle of water and we’ll begin.”
“Oh, no hurry. We were just talking about the local murder. It’s so interesting hearing what the local community says in real life. I mean, it’s all anyone’s talking about.” Anne waved Cat out of the room. “Go take care of things. We’ll be here when you get back.”
Cat hurried to the dining room, hoping she wouldn’t miss any of the gossip about Greyson’s murder. This group was using the unusual circumstance to increase their knowledge about their chosen subject matter, murder mysteries. Maybe she should ask Uncle Pete to come and give a talk about police procedures. Except he always seemed busy during the retreats. Like with a murder.
She hurried back into the room and heard Colleen’s response to Anne’s comment.
“I bet the reason everyone is talking is because the guy was a famous chef. It just sounds like the perfect subject for a murder mystery.” Colleen sipped on her coffee. “Cooking Can Kill. Or maybe Dying for Dinner Service.”
Bren shushed her. “We’re here to listen to Cat’s story and grill her for all the juicy insider secrets, not brainstorm a plot for a new mystery. Go ahead, Cat, let’s get started. I know I have a list of questions I want to throw at you.”
“Yeah, I’m ready too.” Rick grinned at Colleen. “Besides, I call dibs on the chef murder idea. I’m so writing that as soon as I get home. Maybe it will be a series—the Gourmet Food Writer Mystery series.”
“And the guy has the bad luck of all his subjects for his interviews winding up dead?” Cat grinned. “I can play the ‘what-if’ game too. But Bren’s right, we do have a lot to cover before you head off to lunch, so let’s get started.”
They’d only been talking for about ten minutes when Shauna hurried into the living room. “Sorry, Cat, I don’t mean to disturb you, but there’s an urgent call.”
Cat didn’t know what it could be about unless something had happened to her folks. She rose from the wide-armed reading chair where she’d been sitting. “I’ll be right back.”
Shauna shook her head. “Sorry if I wasn’t clear. The call is for Bren.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cat waited for Bren to return to the group. When ten minutes passed and she hadn’t, Rick stood. Cat shook her head and put a hand on his arm. “Let me go check on her.”
When she got into the foyer, Bren wasn’t on the phone; she was sitting on the bench, looking out onto the yard. She smiled when she realized Cat was there, but the emotion didn’t hit her eyes.
“Are you okay? Seth can drive you to the airport if you need to get home.” Cat sat next to her on the bench.
“Wouldn’t he love that?” Bren muttered, then shook her head. “Sorry, I am just realizing I’ve been a complete and utter fool.”
“So there’s nothing wrong at home?” Cat was confused.
Bren shook her head. “I guess I should tell you the whole story because I don’t think that’s his last call. My boyfriend is anxious. That’s the good name for it. It’s feeling now like I’ve excused his bad behavior for a while. The other name for it is controlling. He likes to know where I am. At all times.”
“So you being here must be hard on him.”
Bren laughed. “You could say that. He just gave me an ultimatum to come home today or move out when I finally come back.”
“Because you came to a writers’ retreat?” Cat didn’t understand the man’s logic, but she saw the pain on Bren’s face.
“He says I’m being selfish and not considering him. He accused me of being somewhere shacked up with some guy.” Bren took a deep breath. “I knew making the decision to turn off my cell would be an issue, but I guess I was ready for the fight. My writing is important to me. And if he can’t see that, well, it’s his loss. I just hope I still have clothes to pack when I get home.”
“He wouldn’t mess with your stuff, would he?”
Bren nodded, and this time a real smile curved her lips. “Darn right he would. The guy’s crazy. I should have seen it before, but I thought his attention was cute. It made me feel wanted.”
“Well, at least you have a few days left here before you have to deal with all of that. Put it all away and I’ll tell Seth and Shauna not to let any calls go through to you from the guy.” Cat hated to see the woman in such pain.
“I’m sure he won’t be nice when you tell him I won’t take my calls. So I’ll apologize in advance for the blowback they’ll get.” Bren frowned, glancing out the window. “I hope he doesn’t decide to get on a plane and bring the fight here.”
Cat patted her hand. “If he does, we’ll deal with it. I happen to have an in with the law here in Aspen Hills. You just let us know if you see him or feel uncomfortable.”
Bren took a deep breath and let it out. “Thank you for being so nice. I haven’t been my best since I’ve been here. But it’s given me a lot of time to think about what I want in my life and what I don’t.”
“Well, that’s not what we advertise, but I’m glad the separation has given you some clarity.” Cat wondered if once Bren was home in Chicago, she’d forget about her decision and go back. It happened more often than not, but Cat hoped Bren would beat the odds. “So, shall we go back and talk about the writing business? Or do you need some time alone?”
“Heck, no.” Bren wiped her cheeks with both hands, then stood up. “I want to reclaim my life, and the retreat is apparently the first step in doing this. Let’s talk books.”
Cat followed her into the living room and saw the concern on the other writers’ faces, but no one said anything when Bren rejoined the group.
“Now that we’re all back, what were we talking about?” Cat curled back up in the chair and picked up her notebook. “We were just starting to talk about the changes in the business, traditional, self-published, or hybrid, right?”
Anne nodded. “I know you’re firmly in the traditional camp, but can we discuss the pros and cons of all of those?”
Cat met Bren’s gaze and saw that the woman had her notebook and pen in hand. She was ready to move on. At least for right now. Cat turned back to Anne. “Just because I published the traditional way doesn’t mean I don’t understand the changes in the industry. Let’s not make this a one or the other discussion. Let’s talk about the path for each.”
They talked right up to when the clock struck noon. Cat glanced at her watch. “I didn’t mean to keep you so long. I feel like we’ve got some threads to still discuss. Do you want to meet tomorrow a
t ten and we can continue this? It’s up to you. Thursday’s are usually a free write day.”
“I’ll be here.” Rick closed his notebook. “I’ve got some questions about what you talked about today that I’d like to get some input on.”
“It’s not often that I get to be a part of a group discussion about the book business.” Anne stood and stretched. “Let’s do writing sprints when we get back from lunch and then I’ll be ahead of my word-count goal for tomorrow.”
The group murmured their approval of the schedule change and moved toward the foyer to go to lunch. Bren sat her notebook and pen by her laptop on a side table. “I’m leaving this here. I’d rather not go back to my room where I left my cell. I think I’m going to turn it off for the rest of the week.”
“Sometimes having some distance with the issue gives you clarity.” Cat gathered her notes and put a stickie on where they’d start back tomorrow. “Your stuff will be fine here. The house is yours for the week.”
Bren paused at the door to the foyer. “You may regret saying that. I’m a pretty messy roommate.”
With that she disappeared and Cat could hear the voices as the group decided where to go to lunch. By the time she’d straightened her folder and gathered up the cups and plates, the writers had left for lunch.
She took the dirty dishes into the kitchen and started unloading the tray into the sink. Shauna came in as she was just finishing.
Shauna set a basket of towels down on the floor. “You didn’t have to do that. I would have cleaned up the living room.”
Cat put the tray away on top of a cabinet and then refilled her coffee cup. “I wanted to be helpful. Sit down, we need to talk. We have a situation.”
Shauna grabbed a bottle of water and sat. She folded the clean towels as she listened to Cat’s retelling of her discussion with Bren. When Cat was done, Shauna folded the last towel and ran her hand over the top of it. “I figured something like that was going on with her. She was way too tied to that phone. I had a boyfriend like that for about two minutes. Then I told him to take a walk.”
“We just have to screen any calls to Bren on the house line. From what she told me, he’s pretty determined.” Cat wondered if the guy would really hop a plane just because Bren wouldn’t answer his calls. Just to be safe, she added, “And if anyone shows up in the next day or so, we need to be on alert. Seth needs to be part of this discussion too.”
As if she’d called him, Seth walked in the kitchen door. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands. “Shauna, I got the garlic planted for you in a bed right next to the barn. I think there’s room for a little herb garden too, if you want me to set it up for next spring.”
When he turned around, both women were watching him.
“What? Did I walk in on something again? Seriously, if you guys are going to have private conversations, you need to go into the study or somewhere I won’t bust in on you.” He set the towel down. “I’ll go check out my e-mails. I have a bid in on a project at the college that should be coming through anytime.”
Cat shook her head. “You came in right on time. We need to talk about something.”
Shauna made deli sandwiches for lunch while Cat filled Seth in on Bren’s predicament. When she finished, he stood and went to the fridge to grab a soda.
He took the plate Shauna handed him and sat next to Cat. “If I’d have ever thought about treating you that way when we were dating in high school, my mother would have called me on the carpet.”
“And we wouldn’t have been dating anymore.” Cat took her own plate from Shauna. The sandwich was stacked high with sliced pastrami and then she’d added pickled onions and a horseradish dressing. Cat could smell the tang of the dressing and her mouth watered. “Thanks, Shauna. This looks great.”
“The slaw has cabbage and apples so I hope you like it.” Shauna sat with her own plate. “I’m through two boxes of apples already and I’m doing a second batch of apple butter. It’s on my to-do list for this afternoon. What are you all doing?”
“I’ll prep that herb garden if you want. Maybe you can come out to the barn with me before you start cooking and I’ll show you what I’m thinking.” Seth picked up half of his sandwich and groaned. “I love me some pastrami.”
“I can do that.” Shauna looked pointedly at Cat. “Are you coming out with us or do you have other plans?”
Cat squirmed a bit in her chair. She’d been meaning to stop by Dee Dee’s bakery to see if she could find out if the baker had known she was about to lose her building. “I’m going into town for a bit.”
“Cat . . .” Shauna started, but Cat held up a hand.
“Before you go off on me, I’m going to the bakery to see if Nate’s information was true. I’ll be careful. I don’t need Dee Dee mad at me. We’ll never get Nate out of here if she keeps filing complaints.” Cat took a bite of the slaw. Tangy and sweet, the side seemed like a perfect match to the heaviness of the beef in the sandwich. “This is good.”
When Shauna didn’t respond, Cat added, “And I’m going into the station to see if I can catch Uncle Pete. If he doesn’t have this information, it might take the spotlight off Jessica.”
“That woman deserves to be worried if she was having an affair with her brother-in-law. Who does that?” Seth said in between bites.
“Judge much?” Cat asked, but really, she agreed with Seth’s comment. If Jessica had been having an affair with Greyson, it meant one thing: Cat hadn’t known the woman who she used to call a friend at all. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. She says she wasn’t and it’s hard for me to see Jessica doing that. She and Tyler were the perfect couple. Michael and I used to laugh about how our marriage was a poor comparison.”
The other two at the table were silent as Cat processed what she’d just said.
Then she picked up her sandwich. “I guess, seeing how we wound up divorced in the end, we were right. But I can’t believe I was such a bad judge of Jessica’s character.”
Seth put his hand on her arm. “People change, Cat. No one knows what goes on in a marriage or a relationship for that matter, besides the two people who are involved. It happens all the time.”
“Yeah, think of all the neighbors of serial killers who comment on what a nice guy he was.”
“Except for that little problem we had with our animals disappearing, one after another . . .” Seth added.
“And the backyard gardening he liked to do late at night,” Cat finished. “You’re both right. I shouldn’t be kicking myself. But there weren’t any signs. Truly, I believed they were in love. Maybe I was wrong.”
“Or they were in love when you knew them.” Shauna sipped on her lemonade. “Besides, even if she was having an affair with the guy, it doesn’t mean she’d kill him. Her husband maybe, but why would she give up a piece on the side? That doesn’t make sense, especially when you look at Greyson. That guy was a Greek god. He must have been amazing in the sack.”
“And with that, I’m out of here.” Seth finished the last of his slaw and picked up the half of the sandwich he hadn’t eaten yet. “I’ll be upstairs checking my e-mails. I’ll stop and get you when I go back out to work on the new garden. I think you’ll like what I have planned.”
Cat and Shauna watched him leave the kitchen, then burst out laughing.
“That man of yours is a little bit conservative in talking about sex.” Shauna finished her own slaw, then picked off a slice of the pastrami and popped it into her mouth.
“What can I say? His mom did raise him right. He’s definitely not one to kiss and tell. The group we hung out with didn’t even know we were dating until we showed up at homecoming together.” Cat smiled at the memory.
Shauna studied her. “All joking aside, you be careful when you go talk to Dee Dee. I don’t want to hear that you slipped and fell into one of her ovens.”
“You’re referencing the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel. I don’t think Dee Dee’s that bad.”
Shauna set h
er sandwich down and stared at Cat. “Seriously? Have you met the woman? That’s exactly who she reminds me of.”
Cat curled her fingers into claws and held them up toward Shauna. “I’ll get you, my pretty. . . .”
“Wrong story, but right idea.” Shauna nodded to Cat’s plate. “Do you want more of the slaw?”
“Actually, I’m stuffed. I’m going upstairs to grab my tote and my notebook.” She took her plate to the sink. “Honestly, I’ll be careful. I just want to help Jessica if I can. Even if she isn’t a friend anymore, she was at one time.”
Shauna opened her tablet. “I get it. But if you aren’t back by two, I’m calling Pete and having him send out a search party.”
“That’s what friends do. They call in the troops when need be.” She paused before leaving the kitchen. “Thank you for being a true friend. I really appreciate you.”
“Here to serve.” Shauna grabbed a basket of apples and put them on the table. “Now get out of here so I can get busy.”
During her walk into town, Cat practiced the questions she wanted to ask Dee Dee. She was risking the cease fire they’d agreed to on Sunday. Cat was going to have to be careful how she phrased her questions so it didn’t seem like she was accusing the woman of murder.
When she got to the bakery, a crowd was gathered around the entrance. Cat moved in to stand by the bookstore owner, Tammy. “What is going on?”
“Dee Dee’s going off on some guy from the city. From what I can hear, he’s trying to serve her eviction papers.”
A police car pulled up to the curb and her uncle got out of the passenger seat. He paused and looked at Cat. “Is there a reason you’re here?”
“Yes. I was coming to talk to Dee Dee about who owns the building, but I think I got my answer.” A crash came from inside the bakery.
“Paul, get in there and restrain Ms. Meyer before she hurts that guy.” He motioned his deputy inside the building, then turned back to Cat. “You go home. I’ll come by this evening for dinner if that’s all right with Shauna.”
