by Amber Crewes
“Seems a little strange to be out here at this time,” he said.
“Running helps me clear my head, and I needed some time to think,” she responded.
Jack tilted his head to the side, but said nothing. Meghan reached down to pet his dog.
“Cute puppy! What’s her name?” she asked, scratching the dog’s neck.
“Dash. He’s a boy,” he answered curtly, still giving Meghan a strange look. “What happened there?” Jack pointed to Meghan’s ankle.
She looked down and gasped. Her ankle had swollen significantly; the skin visible over her white socks was bulging and red, and she could feel the area throbbing.
“Sit, Dash,” he ordered the dog. Dash sat down on the pavement, his tail wagging, and his eyes tracking his owner. “Meghan, you sit down, too.”
“You’re off duty, Officer Irvin,” she responded. “You don’t have to give me orders.”
Jack shrugged. “Your ankle is injured, and it looks like you need some help. Let me look at it.”
Meghan lowered herself to the ground, and Jack kneeled next to her. Meghan could feel the heat radiating from his body; it was a warm morning, and he had clearly been running quickly before finding her on the path.
“Let me just….” he said, tenderly removing Meghan’s sock and shoe to examine her ankle. “Yeah, it’s not broken, but it’s definitely sprained. I don’t live too far away….why don’t I help you back to my place? I can ice it up, and then I can drive you home.”
Meghan paused, but after a jolt of pain shot up her leg, she nodded. “Thanks, that would be great.”
Jack helped her up and guided her arm around his muscular shoulders. “It’s only a short walk from here,” he said, and Meghan shivered as her bare arms touched his.
Jack helped Meghan limp to his house. “This is it,” he said as they arrived outside a small, one-story green house on the edge of the woods. “The Irvin Estate.”
Jack held open the front door for Meghan and guided her to the couch. “Sit,” he said.
“I’m not a dog,” she said. “No need to order me about, Officer.”
Jack laughed. “I’m trying to help you out, Meghan,” he said, retrieving a bag of frozen peas from his refrigerator. “Relax.”
Meghan shifted awkwardly on the couch. “It’s hard to relax when you’re sitting on the couch of someone who thinks you’re a murderer,” she muttered, looking down at her swollen ankle.
“What did you say?” he said sharply. “I don’t think that was called for.”
Meghan rolled her eyes. “I don’t think the way you treated me at the station was called for,” she said. “I was clearly upset, and by law, I’m innocent until proven guilty, which is not how you acted when you interrogated me!”
Jack placed the frozen peas on Meghan’s ankle and held the bag there for several long, tense minutes.
“Well, thanks for your help,” she said, no longer able to stand the awkward silence as Jack iced her ankle. “I’ll just see myself out.”
Jack stood up and gestured toward the kitchen. “Look,” he said, his face sincere. “I’m sorry. I was a bit harsh when we talked at the station, and I should have been more professional. Let me make it up to you. Stay for breakfast. Word on the street is that my fried eggs are the best in Sandy Bay!”
Meghan giggled. “Fried eggs? Anyone can make fried eggs. I bet Dash can make fried eggs.”
Dash wagged his tail at the mention of his name, and Meghan patted to the spot on the couch beside her. “Here, boy! Come!” Dash leapt onto the couch and made himself at home on Meghan’s lap. “Good boy.” she whispered, stroking Dash’s soft chest.
Jack shook his head. “No, no. You haven’t had fried eggs until you’ve had mine. Stay. I’ll make you a killer breakfast, and then you can hobble on with your day.”
Meghan laughed again. “You’re funny for someone who thinks I’m a murderer,” she said, leaning back onto the couch, relaxing for the first time all day.
“Too soon for jokes,” he said, but Meghan could see the handsome smile on his face as he opened the kitchen cabinets and began making breakfast for her.
“Just my luck,” Meghan thought to herself as Jack started to whistle. She forced the thoughts of the dark stranger in the woods from her mind while watching Jack’s bulging biceps as he reached for a pan. “A handsome police officer is making breakfast for me. Maybe things are finally going to get better in Sandy Bay.” She drank in the sparse but tasteful furnishing in Jack’s abode and for the first time in a long time, Meghan forced herself to relax.
9
“AND JUST WHERE have you been, Meghan Truman?” Karen asked as Meghan limped into the bakery after her breakfast with Jack.
“Karen!” Meghan exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Karen gave Meghan an amused look. “I told you that I was stopping by after my pilates class,” she said. “I let myself in with the key you gave me.”
At the mention of a key, Meghan slipped her hand in her pocket, feeling the small, cold key the dark figure had dropped in the woods. She thought about mentioning the scary incident to Karen, but decided against it, at least for the moment; Meghan was brimming with excitement after the hour spent with Jack, and she wanted to revel in the magic of her morning with Karen, not discuss murderers and dark figures.
“So? Meghan Truman, you are blushing. Was that Jack Irvin’s police car I saw dropping you off?”
Meghan grinned.
“Well! Sit down and tell me everything,” Karen insisted, pulling out one of the white chairs. “Tell me everything, including what happened to your leg. Why are you limping? You look worse than I did two years ago after my marathon in Lisbon, and you’re still young.”
Meghan explained that she been restless and gone for a jog, and after hurting herself, Jack and his dog had discovered her in the woods. “He took me back to his house, iced my leg, and made breakfast for me.”
“Sounds like someone had a good morning.” Karen said, winking at Meghan.
The two women visited for awhile longer. After Karen left, Meghan slowly made her way upstairs. She was overcome with exhaustion after her night of poor sleep, and while she had stifled her shock during her encounter with Jack, the situation with the dark figure had thoroughly scared Meghan.
“That could not have been a coincidence,” Meghan thought to herself as she snuggled into her bed. “What are the odds that a stranger would just randomly follow me? Maybe someone knows that I’ve been digging around and trying to find Norman’s killer. Maybe the wrong person knows what I’m up to….”
Meghan began to drift off to sleep, but before she slipped into unconsciousness, she thought of Jack. He had been so kind to make breakfast for her, and Meghan felt her face grow warm as she recalled their time together.
“I have to prove to Jack that I’m innocent…” she thought as she finally surrendered to the thick, comfortable tug of sleep.
The next morning, as Meghan swept the kitchen, Lori Butcher walked through the front door.
“Good morning, Meghan!” Lori said, smiling softly at Meghan. “I wanted to stop by and see if you had decided on that job?”
Meghan took a deep breath. She hadn’t thought much about Lori in the last twenty-four hours; between the dark figure and breakfast with Jack, Meghan’s mind had been racing, and she had not definitively decided on giving the job to Lori.
“Ooops!” Lori said, pulling Meghan from her thoughts. Lori had spilled the contents of her purse on the floor. Meghan kneeled to help Lori pick up her things.
“Lori?” she said slowly as she spotted a small key on the wooden floor of the bakery. “Is this yours?”
Lori nodded. “That’s the key to my apartment,” she said, taking it from Meghan’s hands. “Thanks! I lost my spare, and I wouldn’t be able to get in without this.”
Meghan’s heart started pounding. The key was identical to the one dropped by the dark figure.
“Hey, Lori?” she as
ked, trying to maintain her composure as she stood up from the floor and backed away from Lori. “Are you a morning person?”
Lori shook her head vigorously. “Oh, no. I sleep in almost every morning. My best shifts at the tea shop are the noon to close shifts. I’m useless before noon.”
Meghan tightened her jaw. “What were you doing at six yesterday morning?”
Lori laughed. “I was sleeping!” she said. “Why?”
“Are you sure you weren’t following me at Sandy Bay Woods?”
Lori’s eyes widened. “What?”
Meghan narrowed her eyes at Lori. “Just tell me, Lori. Did you follow me yesterday? Did you kill Norman Butcher?”
“No!” she said, her face pale. “Why would you ask me that, Meghan?”
Not wanting to reveal to Lori that she had the matching key, Meghan gulped, forcing a smile on her lips. “I’m just being silly,” she said, biting her cheeks to widen her grin. “Of course you were sleeping in. I believe you, Lori.”
Meghan did not believe Lori, but she wasn’t ready to play all of her cards, or her keys, at least not yet.
10
“MEGHAN! MEGHAN! Wake up! Meghan!”
Meghan sat up in bed and glanced at her alarm clock. It was nearly three in the morning. Who could possibly be shouting for her in the middle of the night? The yelling was coming from outside, and Meghan rubbed her eyes as she lumbered to the window.
“Meghan! Meghan!”
Meghan raised her window and peered outside. Lori Butcher, clad in a set of yellow pajamas was jumping up and down.
“Meghan! Someone was in my room trying to strangle me! It must be the person who killed my father!”
Meghan gasped. “I’ll be right down,” she called down to Lori. Meghan slipped on her running shoes and ran downstairs, wincing at the shooting pain in her ankle, but knowing that she had to move quickly.
“Lori,” Meghan said when she made it downstairs. “Get inside.” Lori stepped inside the bakery, and Meghan bolted the door shut behind them.
“What happened?”
“Someone was trying to strangle me. I woke up with a pair of hands around my neck. I couldn’t tell who it was; they were wearing dark clothes. I kicked them off of me, and they followed me downstairs. They were so quick, Meghan, but I made it outside and out of the house.”
Meghan saw Lori was shaking, and she gently patted Lori’s shoulder. “You couldn’t tell who it was?” she asked, thinking of the dark figure who had followed her in the park.
“No,” Lori said, her voice quivering. “I don’t know who it was. I couldn’t see their face, and their clothes were plain.”
Meghan looked around the bakery, fearful that they were being watched. “We need to get out of here,” she said authoritatively. “Let me make a call.”
Twenty minutes later, Meghan and Lori were safely nestled in Karen’s guest bedroom. After telling Karen what had happened to Lori, Karen insisted on picking them up in her orange jeep and taking them back to her house.
“You’ll feel safer there,” Karen assured Meghan over the phone. “Chief Nunan, one of the bigwigs at the Sandy Bay Police Department, is my neighbor. You’ll feel much better with her nearby.”
“Thanks, Karen,” Meghan said, trying to stay calm.
“You have a busy day tomorrow. You need your sleep.”
“The food festival,” Meghan said, hitting herself on the forehead with her palm. “I forgot!”
“You need to go, Meghan. You said it yourself that by being in the food festival, you can repair your image and help Truly Sweet. Look, I’ll come get you two, you can sleep soundly, and then, Lori can help you with the food festival. It’ll be fabulous. Just hold tight, now; I’ll be over in three minutes.”
The next morning, Karen woke Meghan and Lori in time to set up for the food festival.
“I just got back from the most fabulous fifteen mile jog, ladies!” Karen said gleefully as she peered into the guest bedroom. “The sun is shining, and it’s a gorgeous day. Rise and shine! You two have a lot to do.”
Karen dropped Meghan and Lori off at the food festival, and as they were setting up the Truly Sweet booth, Debbie stopped by.
“Meghan!” she said warmly. “The booth looks adorable.”
Meghan smiled, happy that Debbie was in a better mood than when they had last spoken. “Thank you so much, Debbie,” she replied, putting the finishing touches on the booth. “Good to see you. You know Lori Butcher?
“Lori,” Debbie said sweetly. “Lovely to see you. Anyway, Meghan? Do you need any help? I’m about to run to my karate class; I have a yellow belt exam today and have to run, but if you need anything in town, I could easily swing back by.”
“That is so nice of you to offer.” Meghan said, leaning over to hug Debbie. She paused, noticing several large bruises.
“Debbie!” she said, eyeing Debbie’s thin arm. “What’s on your arm?”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Debbie said nonchalantly, tugging her sleeve down to cover her bruised forearms. “Karate gets the best of me sometimes; I want to be active like Aunt Karen, but I just don’t have the athleticism she does, you know?”
Meghan nodded and pointed down to her swollen ankle. “I hear you.”
Debbie chuckled. “Anyway, I must be off. Call me if you need anything; like I said, I’m happy to swing back by if you need anything from town.”
“Good luck on your exam!” Meghan called as Debbie waved goodbye.
“She is the most ambitious person I’ve ever met,” she said to Lori in admiration. “She’s a little overbearing at times, but I’m happy to have her on my team. She’s one of the only real friends I have in Sandy Bay.”
With that, Meghan tied a tidy yellow bow on the front of her booth.
“We’re food festival ready,” Meghan said, grinning at her handiwork. “Time to show the people of Sandy Bay that Truly Sweet is just that: truly sweet!”
11
“THANK GOODNESS YOU ARE HERE!” Meghan said, relieved to see Karen’s shiny purple sneakers moving through the crowd toward her. “I forgot the boxes of strudel. I brought ten cases of apple pies, and no one is touching them. I think if I run home to grab the strudel, I’ll have more success.”
Meghan and Lori had been minding the Truly Sweet booth for two hours, and while some passersby stopped to chat, once they realized who Meghan was, they walked along without making a purchase.
“I don’t quite trust Lori,” Meghan whispered to Karen as she watched Lori out of the corner of her eye. “Can you watch the booth while I run to the bakery? I won’t be gone for more than fifteen minutes.”
Karen nodded emphatically. “Of course. You run home. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Thanks, Karen.” she said as she fetched her keys and purse.
When Meghan arrived at Truly Sweet, she realized the yellow front door was slightly ajar. “That’s odd,” she said to herself as she stepped inside. “Hello? Is anyone there?
Meghan walked through the dining area and back to the kitchen. Her heart was pounding as she walked through the doors. Her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar figure.
“What are you doing here?” Meghan asked, lifting her hands to her hips. “You aren’t supposed to be in here.”
Debbie was huddled over the boxes of strudel, a bottle in her hands. She straightened up when she saw Meghan, and flashed her brilliant white smile.
“What are you doing?” she repeated. “What are you putting in the strudel?”
Debbie held out the bottle so Meghan could see. “Rat poison?” she whispered. “You’re putting rat poison in my desserts?”
“You caught me,” Debbie said matter-of-factly. “It was me.”
Meghan’s jaw dropped. “Debbie, why? Why would you do this?”
“I hate not being the very best,” she replied. “When you didn’t make me a partner in your bakery, I couldn’t stand the thought of this place making it, at least not without me.”
“I made myself abundantly clear,” she said, her eyes dancing with rage. “I also couldn’t stand my aunt liking someone more than me. I’m the closest thing she has to a daughter, not you, and I’m so sick of hearing about fabulous Meghan and her fabulous desserts!”
