Blended Bribes

by Jessica Beck

  Once she had made her escape, the garden center owner turned and finally looked at us. “What do you two want?” he asked, his charm now gone completely. “Did Helen send you?”

  “No. Who’s Helen?” Grace asked. “Is she another member of your harem?”

  “Hardly. We went out on two dates, and now she thinks she owns me,” Manny said. “If you’re not here on her behalf, why are you here?”

  “Do you really have to ask?” I posited. “Did you know that even as we speak, Gabby Williams is in the hospital, fighting for her life?”

  He looked surprised to hear the news. “Gabby? What happened to her?”

  “Do you honestly care?” Grace asked him. “I’m sure you have more than enough women in your life to keep you busy even without our friend.”

  It surprised me to hear Grace refer to Gabby as her friend, too. The women had never really gotten along, but then again, when it came to rallying against the cads of the world, I supposed that we were all friends.

  “Hey, I care about each and every one of the women I’ve dated,” Manny protested.

  “If that were true, why would you propose to so many of them and yet still continue to go trolling for more on the Internet? What are you after, anyway? Are you trying to get money out of them, or is it strictly a power thing? Seriously, answer the question, because I honestly want to know.”

  “Hey, is it my fault that there aren’t enough men my age to go around?” he asked. “For the record, I never proposed to any of them. They all asked me to marry them.”

  “And yet you kept saying yes, didn’t you? Aren’t you willing to take any responsibility for your behavior?” Grace asked him.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember signing up for this lecture. I’ll ask you one more time, and then I’m throwing both of you out. Why are you here?”

  “Did Gabby get too close to you? Was she too demanding? Is that why you set fire to her shop yesterday, with her in it?” Grace absolutely hammered him with her questions, a staccato of punches that left him reeling.

  He took a step backward as though he was trying to ward off a physical blow. “I would never do anything like that! There was a fire?”

  “Where were you yesterday between the hours of six and seven p.m.?” I asked him. From what Chief Grant had told me earlier in the day, that was the time the fire had to have started, after Gabby had closed the shop and before someone first spotted the smoke coming out of her building.

  “I was here,” he said. “Ask anybody.”

  I pointed to the sign above the door. “It says your hours are seven a.m. to five p.m. That would give you plenty of time to lock the doors, drive to April Springs, and then set the fire.”

  “I was working in back, repotting some fall flowers,” he said as he pointed to a row of seedlings that were barely big enough to plant, at least in my limited experience.

  “Was anyone else with you, by any chance?” I asked him.

  “Just my helper,” he said, and then he turned to a man who had his head buried in a stack of fertilizer. I hadn’t even noticed him when we’d come in, but when he turned around, I knew who it was instantly.

  Evidently Buster Breckinridge, our local arsonist, was Manny Wright’s newest employee.

  “Buster, what are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “I’m working,” he said, not making eye contact with us at all.

  “Buster, do you know these women?” Manny asked his employee.

  “We’ve met,” he said. “Listen, boss, I need to move those plants we’ve got out front under cover before it starts pouring. They’ll never survive a downpour. Is it okay if I do it now?”

  “Fine by me,” he said.

  Grace smiled at him as she said, “If you won’t tell your boss how we know you, we’ll be more than glad to do it for you.”

  That stopped Buster in his tracks. He walked over to us, and I noticed that a few folks in the garden center were more interested in our conversation than they were in what they had been shopping for. Keeping his voice low, he asked, “Is it okay with you two if the whole town doesn’t know my history?”

  “That all depends on you,” I said. “Does Manny know?”

  “That he’s an ex-con? Yeah, I know. Listen, the man served his time. He deserves a fresh start.”

  “If he’s truly reformed, sure, I agree with that, but ask him about threatening Gabby, our mayor, and even Suzanne here when he was found guilty of arson.”

  “Is that true?” Manny asked him.

  “Yes, but you’ve got to believe me, I’m a changed man.”

  “So you say,” Manny answered skeptically.

  “Don’t fire me, boss,” Buster said. “I need this job.”

  Manny seemed to consider the plea, and then he shrugged. “Fine, but stay away from matches when you’re at work, do you read me?”

  “Yes, sir,” he said as he hurried away, but not before giving Grace and me a troubling look. Clearly the felon wasn’t happy about us stumbling across him at work, but it had indeed been a coincidence.

  “Listen, I give ex-cons a break whenever I can,” Manny said.

  “That’s admirable of you, but is he really your only alibi?” Grace asked him.

  “Yes. I can’t do anything about that, but it’s true.”

  “And you were together the entire time?” I asked him. “If we check around, is there any chance that we’re going to discover that you haven’t been completely honest with us? It’s better if you tell us now before we make our report to the police.” I knew that I was making our investigation sound much more official than it was, since we weren’t sanctioned to be doing what we were doing in any way, but I had to use any advantage that I could.

  “Well, I ate by myself,” Manny reluctantly admitted.

  “From when to when?” I asked him.

  “I took off at five and got back here around seven,” he finally said.

  “So you don’t have an alibi, and neither does Buster,” I said.

  “I guess not, but I didn’t start any fires. I wasn’t in love with Gabby, but she was good company, and I never would have hurt her.”

  “I hope for your sake that you’re telling us the truth,” Grace said.

  “Listen, I’m done talking to the two of you. If you’re not going to buy something, you need to take off.”

  Grace looked at the plants for a moment, and then stared Manny in the eye. “Nothing looks all that good to me here.” She turned to me and asked, “How about you, Suzanne?”

  “Me, either,” I said. As we walked out, I grabbed Grace’s arm. “Let’s talk to Buster before Manny realizes that we’re still here. I want to see if he confirms his boss’s story.”

  “I ate a sandwich in the back, and then I started working,” Buster said after we cornered him and asked him for his own alibi.

  “You didn’t go out?” I asked him.

  “On what he pays me? Not hardly. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a can of soda. Manny didn’t get back until just before seven, and then we worked until ten. Listen, if he catches me talking to you, he might decide that I’m more trouble than I’m worth and cut me loose. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job as an ex-con? It’s a condition of my parole, so I can’t afford to lose it.”

  If he was innocent, which I was in no way certain of quite yet, I didn’t want to play a part in sending him back to prison. “Fine. If we need you later, will you still be here?”

  “As long as he lets me stay,” he said as he finished moving the tender young plants in question. “I’ve got to get back in there.”

  After he walked back inside, I looked at Grace. “Evidently I’m too soft, so I need to know if you believe him or not.” I said it with a smile, but Grace could tell that she’d stepped a bit over the line with me when she’d told me that earlier.

  “Suzanne, you’re better at figuring these things out than I’ll ever be. I just meant that sometimes your desire to see the best in p
eople is a liability instead of an asset. That’s why we make such a good team.”

  “Okay, I can see that. I’m guessing that you won’t be surprised when I tell you that I believe both of them.”

  “That they ate alone?” Grace asked me carefully.

  “No, that there are holes in both of their alibis,” I said. “Whatever they were doing from six to seven last night, they weren’t doing it together.”

  “I agree with you a thousand percent,” she said. “So they both need to stay on our list.”

  “They do. Manny is not quite the saint he paints himself to be, is he?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, he needs to be squashed like a bug,” Grace said in disgust.

  “But that doesn’t make him an arsonist, or an attempted murderer, either,” I reminded her.

  “No, but wouldn’t it be nice if it worked out that way?” she asked me with a grin.

  “It would,” I admitted, “but real life is seldom so neatly wrapped up for us, is it?”

  “Not so far, but I’m still hoping,” she said. “Say, isn’t that your husband’s truck coming our way?”

  I looked up to see Jake driving into the parking lot. He looked as surprised to see us as we were to see him, and I couldn’t wait to hear what he was doing in Union Square at the moment.

  “Okay, before you start in on me,” Jake said the moment he got out and approached us, “let the record show that I am here just to have a nice quiet conversation with Buster about hanging around you and our cottage.”

  “Jake, maybe you’re being a little bit overprotective, don’t you think?” I asked him as I kissed him quickly. “Not that I’m complaining that you’re looking out for my welfare, but I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.”

  “Trust me, I know that more than just about anybody,” he said, “but I didn’t think it would hurt to let him know that I’d be around.”

  I thought about how spooked Buster had been earlier about losing his job. If Jake showed up and started hounding the man, there was little doubt in my mind that Manny would fire him, and if he hadn’t been the one to set fire to Gabby’s shop, I didn’t want him to lose his last chance of being rehabilitated. I supposed in some people’s eyes that would make me soft, but I didn’t care. I believed in my heart that people had the capacity to change, whether they were willing to put in the hard work to make it happen or not. “Tell you what,” I said. “Why don’t we put a pin in it for now. If I see him near the house again, you can do your thing, and you won’t hear a peep out of me.”

  “Fine, but if I catch him anywhere near the park or the donut shop, I’m going after him,” Jake said.

  “Okay,” I said. “Hey, while we’re all here, why don’t we go to Napoli’s and get a quick bite for dinner before we head back home?” It had been on my mind ever since we’d entered the city limits of Union Square, and I knew that the restaurant was never far from Grace or Jake’s minds, either.

  “You two go on,” Grace said. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Seriously? You have to come with us,” I said.

  Jake looked at her intently. “Grace, if anyone’s a third wheel here, it’s me. If it would make you feel better, I’ll head back, and you two can go by yourselves.”

  “You’d do that for me?” Grace asked.

  “I didn’t say that it would be easy,” Jake admitted with a grin, “but your friendship is more important to me than eating at Napoli’s. Not a lot, but enough,” he added.

  “So we’ll be three for dinner, I guess,” Grace said with a laugh. “There is no way I could live with myself if I made you miss the DeAngelis women, or their cooking.”

  “Whew, thanks for not calling my bluff,” Jake said with a smile. “I’d like to think I have the character to follow up on that promise, but I’m glad you didn’t make me test it.”

  Chapter 12

  “Hello, Suzanne. Your ears must have been burning,” Angelica DeAngelis said the moment she saw me walk into her restaurant with Jake and Grace.

  “Why’s that?” I asked her after giving her a hug. I noticed Jake looking envious about the attention I was getting, but why shouldn’t he? Angelica was a classic Italian beauty, and even if the food at Napoli’s hadn’t been outstanding, which it was, I was sure they’d stay busy because of the lovely DeAngelis women running the place, though none of Angelica’s daughters could quite match her beauty.

  “I had a customer earlier complaining that they couldn’t get a good donut anymore,” she said. “He was ranting and raving about the standardization of the treat, and I told him if he wanted a real pastry experience, he needed to drive to April Springs and visit you at Donut Hearts.”

  “Thanks for the referral,” I said with a grin. “Are you working the front of the restaurant this evening?”

  “For the moment,” she said with a sigh. “Sophia has decided that she manages fine without me, so we’re giving it a trial run.” Lowering her voice, she added, “My daughters conspired to send me on a singles cruise, if you can believe it. It appears they are under the impression that I can’t get a date on my own.”

  “I’d be glad to tell them they’re crazy if you’d like me to,” Jake said with a smile. “I know a dozen men who would jump at the chance to take you out.”

  She patted his cheek. “You’re sweet, but where are they? I’m not exactly overwhelmed with suitors.”

  “I don’t understand it. In fact, I know for sure that George Morris is interested in you,” Jake admitted. “You know our mayor, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I certainly do,” she said, and she actually blushed a bit as she admitted it. “He seems interested enough whenever he comes by, and I like him quite a lot, but he’s yet to ask me out.”

  “He’s afraid to,” Jake explained. “I’m helping him remodel his lake house, and he was talking about you not the day before yesterday.”

  She sighed. “And yet here I am, working another night alone.”

  “You’re hardly alone,” I said. “How are your daughters?”

  “They are wonderful, frustrating, a joy in my life, and an absolute pain in my neck,” she said with a smile. “In other words, they are perfect.” She grabbed three menus and then led us to a table.

  After we were seated, Antonia joined us with sweet teas we hadn’t even ordered. “Hey, guys. Do you need a few minutes, or do you know what you’d like?”

  We ordered our meals, and as we were sipping our sweet teas, waiting for the food to arrive, I asked Jake, “Is the mayor going to be upset when he finds out that you told Angelica that he has a crush on her?”

  “Who’s going to tell him? I doubt she’ll say anything to him, and I trust the two of you not to. Besides, who cares if he finds out? I think they’d be perfect together, but she’s so lovely he’s intimidated.”

  “It’s hard to believe that anything would intimidate George,” I said. “He’s never been shy about dating women before. In fact, since he’s become mayor, he has no end of women interested in him.”

  “True, but none of them have been on a level with Angelica,” Jake said.

  “It sounds like you’ve got a bit of a crush on her yourself,” Grace teased my husband.

  He reached across the table and took my hand. “I’ve already found my love,” he said.

  “But if you were single?” I asked him with a smile.

  He shrugged. “Truthfully, I can’t say what I’d do. Angelica is a force of nature, you know?”

  “Oh, we know,” I said, “but it’s sweet of you to hedge your bets. I notice you didn’t answer Grace’s question.” My husband blushed a bit, and I decided not to tease him any more about it. “Jake Bishop, if you didn’t have a bit of a crush on Angelica DeAngelis, I’d be worried about you. She’s amazing. I might just have to have a little chat with George the next time I see him.”

  “Are you matchmaking again, Suzanne?” Grace asked me.

  “I like to think of it more like me giving a gentle nudge in the ri
ght direction when it comes to other people’s love lives.”

  “Call it what you want, but we both know what you’re doing,” Grace said with a slight smile.

  “How’s the investigation going so far?” Jake asked me.

  “Why don’t we talk about it later?” I suggested. “Here’s our food.”

  The tray went to the table behind us though, and my disappointment must have shown on my face. Antonia winked at me and grinned. “Don’t worry, yours is coming right up.”

  “I hope so,” I said with a smile of my own. “I’m sitting here wasting away to nothing.” It couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was carrying a good fifteen pounds more than I needed, and Antonia was whisper thin, but at that moment, seeing the food and smelling the delightful aromas all around me was almost too much for me to take.

  As promised, she was back in less than a minute with our food. I had ordered ravioli, Jake the spaghetti and meatballs, while Grace got the baked ziti. “I have an idea,” I said. “Let’s split all three meals. They look so good, I’d love a little bit of each. What do you all say? Are you up for it?”

  Grace grinned and nodded as Jake asked, “Why not?”

  We were divvying up the food as Angelica came over to our table, frowning. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, we just decided to split our meals three ways,” I said.

  Before I could stop her, she collected Grace’s plate and then Jake’s. After she turned to get mine, I held on to it tightly. “Angelica, you know that I love you, but I don’t think so.”

  “Suzanne, let me take these back into the kitchen and do this right,” she insisted.

  “Okay,” I agreed reluctantly. It was tough seeing my food disappear, but it was all quickly returned, divided neatly and evenly.

  “Isn’t that better?” she asked as she served us again.

  “It looks wonderful.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Angelica asked. “Maybe we’ll add a mix and match to our menu. Maria has been nagging me to jazz things up a bit, and this just might do it. Enjoy.”

  “We will, I’m certain of that,” I said.