A Cuppa Trouble

by Angela Ruth Strong

  Tandy pivoted on the worn heel of an ugly combat boot and headed toward the back room. “I’m not going out with you, Vic.”

  Marissa blocked her path. In this position, she was hidden from Vic by Tandy’s body, so she had the freedom to whisper without worrying that the man could read her expression. “You have to go out with him.”

  Tandy scowled in an Opal-like fashion. “Did he sell you with his toothpaste commercial smile too?”

  “No…” Marissa leaned forward. “If you go out with him, you can get him to let down his defenses and find out what’s actually going on.”

  Tandy sidestepped and disappeared into the kitchen with a huff, leaving Marissa wide open for eye contact with Vic.

  She smiled, fighting fire with fire. “Sweet tea, Vic?”

  Vic hung a hand on the back of his neck and shot Griffin a glance. “Depends on how long I’m going to be here.”

  Griffin pulled out his pad of tickets. “Since you claim to have good intentions the way Tandy said, I’ll take the boot off your car, but I’m still writing you up with a fine. If it happens again, I’ll have to arrest you.”

  Vic’s dimples flashed “If you hadn’t interfered in my sting, sir, you might be arresting the real criminal right now.”

  Griffin glanced up from where he scribbled. “Do you want off with a fine or not?”

  Vic held up his hands in surrender.

  Grabbing a glass, Marissa poured sweet tea for Vic. That should keep him around long enough for her to talk Tandy into accepting a date and playing spy. She stood tall and sucked in her core muscles to help her balance the way her Pilates instructor had tried to train her. Then she carried the glass across the room with great care.

  Connor watched from the loft above. Was he thinking about how much he loved her and wanted to marry her? She tossed her hair to look pretty and feminine for him—her future husband.

  Unfortunately, the toss shifted her center of gravity. Her left heel wobbled, twisted, tipped. Her entire frame tilted sideways. She stomped her right foot across her body to catch her weight. With two more quick steps, she was able to keep from going down. She sighed in relief and reached one hand out to steady her weight on the table just to be sure.

  The glass in her hand slid against the condensation on her fingers. She reached to keep it from crashing to the floor, but she only managed to juggle it for a second before pitching it directly at Vic.

  Liquid darkened his khaki Henley and ice clattered to the ground. He stepped away in surprise. “What was that for?”

  Marissa had been doing so well. But now, the one time when she wanted to keep Tandy’s ex in her establishment, she had to go and do this. “I’ll get you a towel. And more tea. On the house.”

  Vic wrung out the front of his shirt. “I should hope so. But make it hot tea this time. And I’ll carry it myself.”

  Marissa shot Connor her best “oops” face before running underneath the loft to grab a towel from the kitchen. He’d better propose soon, or she was going to be so distracted that she might accidentally start a food fight.

  Tandy stirred a bowl of pink frosting. “I’m making heart-shaped cookie bouquets.”

  Marissa grabbed a plaid towel then stopped to stare. She’d been the one to have the cookie bouquet idea while Tandy had considered it too frou-frou. The other woman preferred her hearts to be dark like chocolate. “Wouldn’t you rather give Vic this towel so he can dry off from where I dumped tea on him?”

  Tandy set the bowl down. “You dumped tea on him without me?”

  “Sorry. I’m just so preoccupied by my excitement of Connor proposing.” Her insides shivered in anticipation.

  Tandy held out a hand. “Here. Give me the towel.”

  Marissa tossed the towel. “Can you make Vic a cup of hot tea too?”

  “I’ll pour him coffee.”

  “Tandy…”

  “Fine. Tell me how to make té con leche, and I’ll serve him that.”

  “Ooh, good choice.” Marissa rambled off directions then darted out of the kitchen to find Connor.

  Vic held his hands wide to display damp napkins as she passed. “I’m still dripping here.”

  “Tandy’s bringing you a towel.”

  His eyebrows shot up with interest.

  Maybe he wasn’t that bad a guy, or maybe she was so overflowing with love and happiness that it splashed onto him like sweet tea. She giggled and was about to run up into the loft when the bell over the front door chimed.

  Billie walked in. Marissa had been wanting to serve her orange spice tea, but not when Connor was upstairs, probably on bended knee with ring in hand.

  She glanced up to find him watching her with a proud smile. Her belly warmed. He would wait for her. And at least she knew he wasn’t doing it from a kneeling position.

  She tilted her head toward the tiny Asian woman to let Connor know she’d be delayed a little bit longer, then she scrambled behind the counter to make the world’s quickest cup of tea. “Hey, Billie. Want me to get you some orange spice tea? It has cinnamon in it like your apple cider.”

  Billie set her floral coin purse on the counter and smiled kindly. “That sounds enjoyable. Thank you.”

  Marissa sighed in satisfaction. In a moment she was going to be in Connor’s arms with a ring on her finger. Billie would be okay by herself down here, wouldn’t she?

  Or better yet… “Is anyone joining you?”

  Billie lowered her lashes, and her cheeks flushed. “Joseph is coming when he finishes up some business.”

  “He is a business man.” Marissa tapped the order onto her computer screen. “You seem very happy together, though I never would have expected the match with as different as you are.”

  Billie snapped her tiny purse open and pulled out two dollar bills. “We are very different, but I believe that’s what makes us work. If we both agreed on everything, one of us wouldn’t be necessary.”

  Hmm. Marissa had never thought about it like that. “They do say opposites attract.” She took Billie’s cash and made change before turning to retrieve her tea kettle. Oh how she loved the tranquil sound of trickling water when poured into a mug.

  “Yes, opposites attract. Though it also takes work. Since I don’t always agree with Joseph, I have to try to see things from his perspective. That’s the second key to communication—understanding.”

  “Second? Are you referring to the three ways Jumpsuit George communicated with God?” Billie had been at the funeral too.

  Billie looked up and her lips pursed. “I suppose I was. We must listen to hear someone else’s voice to get to know them better, not just to get what we want. In that same way, we should listen to God.”

  “I like it.” Marissa scooped loose tea into a teaspoon infuser and stirred. She especially liked it when she knew talking to someone would give her exactly what she wanted.

  She served Billie then jogged up the stairs in time to the galloping of her pulse. This was really happening.

  Connor looked up from his spot at the end of the iron fence, now painted white. It was perfect. Exactly how she’d imagined it. Only, for some reason, she’d thought he might have painted his marriage proposal on it like he had done on her kitchen wall when he’d proposed for the first time.

  “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, then clasped her hands together in expectation of his standard response about how beautiful she was.

  “Thanks.” He peeked at her from the corner of his eye and cleared his throat. “I have to go buy more nails for the paintings.”

  That wasn’t very romantic. “I thought you had a surprise for me.”

  He strode toward the stairs. “It can wait. Your loft can’t.”

  Marissa peered at his reserved demeanor. Was he nervous? Was he getting cold feet? She’d be understanding like Billie had suggested. “I’ll walk you out.”

  He looped his hammer in his belt. “Thanks.”

  She grabbed his calloused hand and escorted him down the stairs and
through the coffee shop where Vic still waited for that towel Tandy was supposed to bring him. Apparently, he’d decided to pick up Cocoa and snuggle for warmth. That was going to go over real well with the dog’s owner.

  “Great service you’ve got around here,” he called after them as they passed.

  She sent him a chilly glare, though it had nothing on the temperature of the air when Connor pushed the door open and led the way out.

  He squeezed her hand once before releasing it. “You better get back in there where it’s warm. I won’t be long.”

  Marissa hugged herself against the frigid air as Connor hopped into the cab of his truck. She took a step backwards and almost ran into Griffin. The sheriff had squatted next to Vic’s car to remove the boot.

  He peered up crossly. “Watch out.”

  “Oops. Sorry.” She sidestepped.

  His phone trilled. He stood. “This is Griffin. Go ahead.”

  Marissa double-checked her surroundings to make sure there were no other crouching cops that she might stumble over before returning indoors.

  “Calm down, Fred.”

  She grabbed the frozen doorknob and peeked through the window in case somebody inside the door might get smacked in the face if she entered. If it was Vic, she’d enter anyway.

  “You’re sure you didn’t simply misplace the car keys?”

  Car keys? Was there another stolen car? Marissa looked over her shoulder at Griffin, momentarily forgetting the way goosebumps polka-dotted her flesh.

  “Oh man. Three sets of keys?”

  Marissa frowned. Who had three cars besides Randon? Only a car dealership…

  That was it. Fred owned Fairly Reliable Fred’s.

  Griffin caught her staring and turned his back. But as he walked away, she overheard him say, “Come on down to the department to file a report. There’s a new guy in town I’m suspicious of, and I want to show you his picture to see if you recognize him.”

  New guy? That could mean Vic. And if Tandy didn’t go out with him that night to keep an eye on him, he could get away with stealing more cars.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tandy handed Vic the towel on her way to make them both cups of té con leche. “You needed a cold shower anyway.”

  Vic smirked as he returned Cocoa to his Sherpa-lined dog bed where he belonged. Then he mopped up his shirt that had almost dried by the time Tandy had worked up the courage to talk to him. “Your heart is what’s cold.”

  She turned to both pour his tea and hide her smile. “What did you expect when you decided to drive out here? That I’d be sad and alone on Valentine’s?”

  “Absolutely not.” The stool behind her creaked. Though Vic could leave now that Griffin was taking the boot off his car, he’d followed her to the bar and was settling in instead.

  She turned to face him with two cups. She placed his on the counter rather than hand it to him and risk the chance of brushing fingers.

  Though their skin didn’t touch, his gaze caught and held hers. “Based on the way you purchased a foreign car to spite me, I expected you to be spending Valentine’s angry and alone.”

  She’d like to argue that he was way off base, but she had been angry when she’d relocated to Grace Springs. “I’ve moved on.” At least there was that.

  He sipped his tea. “And your new relationship seems to be working out for you as well as your impounded Volkswagen.”

  Tandy lifted her cup towards her lips but paused at his remark. If not for the puppy portrait she’d seen upstairs, his remark would have hit a little too close to the bullseye. “You want more tea dumped on you?”

  Vic laughed. “No, I…” He sobered. “You’re drinking tea?”

  The bells over the entrance chimed, announcing Marissa’s return.

  “Don’t tell Marissa.”

  Vic wiggled his eyebrows as if the idea of blackmail delighted him.

  Tandy tilted her cup in a menacing way.

  “Don’t tell me what?” Marissa slip-slided across the room in her fancy boots not designed for snow. “Never mind. I have something to tell you.”

  Tandy sighed in relief but snapped a lid on her cup to hide her beverage anyway.

  “Fairly Reliable Fred’s had car keys stolen.”

  Tandy shifted to catch up with the conversation. “They had keys stolen, but not cars?”

  Marissa held up a finger. “Not yet.”

  Vic turned to look at Tandy, and Marissa’s finger dipped down to point at him.

  Tandy frowned. Did Marissa think Vic was responsible now too?

  Vic followed the direction of her stare and found Marissa’s accusing finger.

  Marissa tried to cover the allegation by turning her finger and tapping her lips in mock thought, but she wasn’t quick enough.

  “Hey,” Vic defended.

  Marissa dropped the gesture. “I’m simply repeating what I heard Griffin say.”

  “The sheriff said my name? I thought I proved I’m on his side by trying to catch the thieves.”

  Marissa bit her lip. “He didn’t actually say your name. He said he’s suspicious of ‘a new guy’ in town, and who else would that be?”

  New guy? Tandy twisted her mouth in thought.

  Vic held his hands wide. “What is it with small towns being so suspicious of newcomers?”

  Tandy held up a hand. “Wait. Vic’s not the only new guy. Connor said there are two new farmhands who work for his parents. He said Griffin was interrogating them when you left.”

  Marissa scrunched her nose. “Not very well.”

  Vic snapped. “That makes more sense. They were at the scene of that crime, and I bet they’ll try to steal the cars from Unreliable Fred’s tonight too. Whoever the thief is, he’s going to want to strike before someone notices the stolen keys.”

  Marissa planted her hands on her hips and faced Vic. “If the cars do disappear tonight, how will we know it wasn’t you who stole them?”

  Vic shrugged. “What do I have to do to prove myself innocent? Catch the thieves in the act like I tried to do with my car earlier?”

  Tandy shook her head. “No, that’s—”

  “Yes.” Marissa set her chin. “Tandy will go with you.”

  Tandy couldn’t believe she was alone with Vic. Granted, it wasn’t a date, but sitting in the car for a “stakeout” was even dimmer and quieter than the first time Vic took her out. Of course, at Primavista they’d had views of the whole city and Italian food rather than their current view of a car dealership and the lingering, greasy scent of fast food hamburgers.

  If only Tandy had been able to get ahold of Greg to let him know what she was doing. She’d tried calling and even stopped at his office, but he’d been in court, so she’d had to settle on voicemail. She’d made sure to explain how she’d tried to get Marissa to go with Vic, but the other shop owner wanted to be there when Connor returned in case he was planning to propose.

  Tandy also made sure to explain that if Greg hadn’t called Vic’s boss, Vic wouldn’t feel such a strong need to vindicate himself. She was doing this to help get her ex out of town sooner, which she assumed was what Greg wanted.

  Hopefully, Vic wasn’t the key thief with his whole objective being that of getting her alone in the dark.

  “Here’s my question.” She crumpled her burger wrapper and licked tangy ketchup off her fingers. “If the car thief is so sophisticated, why did he have to steal the keys at all?”

  Vic popped a fry in his mouth. “Maybe the only relay attack unit that the car thieves had was the one Marissa found in George’s jumpsuit pocket.”

  Tandy frowned. “Stealing keys still seems risky. They are car thieves. Why not simply hotwire a car?”

  Vic wiped his mouth with a napkin. Or was he hiding his smile? “That only works on older cars.”

  Tandy surveyed the make and models of the cars at Fairly Reliable Fred’s. They seemed to be less than twenty years old. “Randon’s car was older. They couldn’t use the gadget on that
one, could they?”

  “Nope.”

  Tandy slid her eyes Vic’s way, not wanting to seem suspicious. “Do you know how to hotwire a car?”

  Vic shrugged. “Of course. Though if you know anything about cars, it’s easy.”

  She studied him closer out of the corner of her eyes. If anybody could get away with murder, Vic could. “How?” she challenged.

  Vic huffed as if he knew she was testing him. “Well first, you’d wanna see if the car might start by putting a screwdriver in the ignition and turning it like a key. Marissa’s boyfriend carries a screwdriver on his toolbelt, doesn’t he? Maybe he’s the bad guy, and we’re going to catch him tonight.”

  Tandy gave her thinnest smile. “Connor was with us when George was killed, so he couldn’t have done it.”

  “Okay.” Vic shrugged. “But if it was him, and his screwdriver didn’t start the car, he could use it to pop off the panels from the steering columns.” He motioned to the area underneath the wheel.

  Tandy leaned closer for a better look in the dim light.

  Vic demonstrated the actions with his hands as he explained. “After that, he’d simply need to connect the wires that lead to the battery and the electrical system then touch them to the brown wire for the starter.”

  Tandy studied the dashboard. “That seems too simple.”

  Vic motioned to the gas pedal. “You’d probably need to give it a little gas to get the ignition to turn over.”

  Was this how the Corvette had been stolen, or had the thief made an extra key to drive it away in perfect condition the way they’d done with her Beetle? George had said he’d checked it out for Randon, so it had probably been in his shop at one time, which would have given Derrick access to his keys.

  Vic met her gaze, and she realized how close she’d been leaning. “Let’s talk about you,” he said, breath warm on her cheek. “How did you meet Greg-the-Great?”

  Tandy shifted back into her seat to create distance. She didn’t want to answer, but she needed to convey her commitment to her boyfriend so Vic would back off.

  “My parents used to have a summer house along the river when I was little, and Greg was my buddy back then.”