Apples and Alibis

by Gayle Leeson

  Ingredients:

  1 cup boredom

  2 cups temptation

  1 heaping tablespoon delusion

  A liberal dash of arrogance

  Serve with indiscretion. Voila! Your goose is cooked!

  I smiled and thought Mom and Aunt Bess would get a kick out of this book. I closed the thin volume and was placing it onto the end table when something nearly fell out from between the pages. The corner of the object made me think it might be an index card, but when I pulled it out, I could see that it was a photo.

  The picture had been taken from some distance away, but I could tell that the man in the photograph was HJ Ostermann. He was laughing with a woman. Although they had their heads close together, I could see that he was with Fran, the woman he’d brought into the café on the day I’d met Scott. Fran’s hair was longer in the photo, and the image appeared to have been captured in the early spring. Had HJ been involved with Fran while he was still married? Could that be why his parents blamed him for the divorce?

  I held the book upside down and flipped the pages. More photographs fell onto my lap. I’d been right about Ms. Pridemore having a camera. Of course, Scott had been right too—while the instant camera Ms. Pridemore had used had a zoom lens, the quality wasn’t the best. Still, I could imagine they served their purpose.

  I examined each of the pictures. In one, Harry appeared to be hiding something under a rock outside the barn. There was a photo of a field—just an empty, weedy lot. The image was slightly blurred, and I wondered why Ms. Pridemore had even kept it. Maybe she thought it proved that the Ostermanns weren’t properly caring for the property. After all, Sarah said Ms. Pridemore had been hoping to break the lease-to-own agreement. The final photo was of Nadine and Scott embracing. My heart sank. Proof of an affair was certainly a motive for murder.

  THE NEXT MORNING, SHERIFF Billings came in for breakfast.

  “Molly still not back from her sister’s house yet?” Jackie asked.

  “Not yet,” he said. “But her sister has a doctor’s appointment today. I’m hoping it’ll be good news and that Molly will be heading back home this weekend.”

  “I hope so too.” I filled his coffee cup, and then lowered my voice. “I have something to bring you after work.”

  “Good. What is the special of the day?”

  “It’s meatloaf, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” I looked around to make sure everyone was busy and that no one—especially Scott—was listening. “I might have new evidence in the Gladys Pridemore case.” I raised my voice back to a normal volume. “Besides you and Ryan, is there anyone else working this evening?”

  “Our dispatcher will be there.”

  I smiled. “I’ll bring enough for everybody.”

  After that, I went back into the kitchen and didn’t come out until Homer arrived.

  “Man, I hope you can cheer Amy up today,” Scott said to Homer as soon as the man walked through the door. “She’s been in Dumpsville all morning.”

  I had not been in Dumpsville, but I was admittedly quieter and more reserved than usual. Jackie had also noticed and had asked me in the kitchen if I was feeling all right. I’d told her I was fine and that we’d chat later.

  “I’m sorry you aren’t your typical sunny self, Amy,” Homer said. “It just so happens my hero today is the comedian Steven Wright.” He affected Wright’s lethargic style of speech. “’Curiosity killed the cat...but for a while, I was a suspect.’”

  “That’s funny,” I said, with a smile.

  “’I had to stop driving my car for a while...the tires got dizzy.’”

  That quote made my laughter bubble up and spill over.

  “Way to go.” Scott clapped Homer on the back. “That’s the first laugh—and nearly the first smile—I’ve seen out of Amy all day.”

  “Glad I could help dispel the doldrums,” Homer said.

  “No doldrums,” I assured him. “I’m busy—that’s all. I’ll have your sausage biscuit ready in a few.”

  As I went into the kitchen to prepare Homer’s meal, I wondered if Steven Wright really was Homer’s hero of the day or if he’d pulled the quotes out of thin air simply to make me laugh. I was convinced that Homer had a photographic memory and that’s why he could remember all those quotes so easily. Of course, Mr. Wright had once theorized that everyone has a photographic memory, but not everybody had film.

  I’d have given Homer an extra sausage biscuit free of charge, but that would’ve thrown the man off course. I didn’t have the heart to do that, especially since he’d been so eager to improve my state of mind. He couldn’t help the fact that I had evidence in my purse that gave all the Ostermanns and Scott—the best server I’d ever had besides Jackie—strong motives for murder.

  AFTER WE’D CLOSED THE café and were cleaning up, Scott tried to engage me in conversation. He was determined to cajole me out of my bad mood.

  “Guru Guy was able to make you laugh, but then you were all down again,” he said. “Talk to me. Maybe I can help.”

  I thought of a way to speak with Scott about Gladys Pridemore. “Yesterday evening, I was looking through those cookbooks that Malcolm Pridemore brought, and I got upset.”

  “Because he acted like they were a gift and then made you pay for them?”

  “No. The books were worth what I paid for them and then some.” I turned up the chair in front of me and placed it on the table to facilitate mopping. Luis typically did this job, but he’d had to leave early to pick up one of his siblings from school. “Jackie and I found Ms. Pridemore on the day she died. I can’t help but think that she’d still be alive if we’d arrived earlier.”

  Scott came around the table and put his arm around me. “You can’t beat yourself up about that. There’s no way you could’ve saved that woman.”

  “How do you know?”

  “A few minutes either way couldn’t have made that much of a difference...right?” he asked. “And, either way, you can’t change it.”

  “Working with the Ostermanns, you must’ve known Ms. Pridemore. I’d never set eyes on her until that day. What was she like?”

  Scott moved away from me and resumed putting chairs atop tables. “I never met her either.”

  I went back to helping stack the chairs, but I wasn’t ready to let the subject go. He’d asked me to talk. Someone should’ve warned Scott to be careful what he wished for. “What about the Ostermanns? How did they feel about her?”

  “I guess they liked her okay.” He kept his eyes downcast.

  “Was she a good landlord?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “I’m sorry.” I moved to another table. “Here you are trying to cheer me up, and I’ve brought you down.”

  “No, you haven’t. I just...” He shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t know Ms. Pridemore.”

  “So, tell me about HJ,” I said.”How in the world did he break an animatronic spider?”

  Scott met my eyes and grinned. “The idiot tripped and fell on it.”

  “I can understand that.” I continued putting chairs on tables. “Unless it’s a super clear night, it’s really dark in that maze...and then there are the fog machines. It’s a wonder more people don’t trip.”

  “Oh, no. We make sure there’s nothing in the guests’ way. HJ was drunk when he fell and broke the spider.”

  “Really? Oh, wow.” I laughed. “No wonder he didn’t want his dad to find out.”

  “Harry would’ve been enraged. He hates that HJ drinks too much.” Scott put the last chair up and surveyed the dining room to make sure we got them all. “I’ll get the mop.”

  JACKIE AND I WERE THE last to leave. I could tell she’d been dawdling in order to speak with me.

  “Have you made a decision about the partnership?” I asked as I put the deposit into the bank envelope.

  “No, I’m still thinking about that. But I overheard your conversation with Scott.” She put her hand on my arm. “Have you really been t
hat distressed about Gladys Pridemore’s death?”

  I retrieved my purse from beneath the counter. “These were in one of Ms. Pridemore’s cookbooks.” I spread the photographs out for Jackie to see.

  “So, you were trying to find out what Scott knows,” she said.

  “Yes.” I tapped the picture of Scott and Nadine. “Don’t you agree this makes him more suspicious?”

  “I don’t know.” She picked up the photo to examine it more closely. “I think it makes Nadine look bad.” She held the photograph closer to me. “Scott doesn’t appear to be enjoying this kiss. Look at where his hands are—they’re on Nadine’s shoulders as if he’s trying to push her away.”

  “I didn’t notice that.” I sighed. “Still, if Gladys Pridemore was threatening to show this photo to Harry Ostermann, it gives both Nadine and Scott motive to kill her. Mr. Ostermann’s high school football team didn’t call him Big Harry ironically.”

  “Good point,” Jackie said. “You like Scott, don’t you?”

  “I did. He’s a great worker, and I thought that if Shelly needed to go part-time to be with her mom more, Scott would be a valuable addition to the Down South Café team.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled slightly. “The customers love him...the old ones and the younger ones too.”

  I recalled Ryan’s warning and said, “They’d have loved Ted Bundy too.”

  { }

  Chapter Eighteen

  I

  was on my way to the police station when I noticed a car on the right side of the road. As I neared the vehicle, a woman got out and flagged me down. I recognized the woman as Nadine Ostermann, so I swung over to the shoulder behind her car.

  She approached my car before I could get out, and I put down my window. “Nadine, what’s wrong?”

  “Aw, I don’t know. The thing just stopped on me.”

  “Is Harry on his way?” I asked.

  “No...um...I can’t get him or HJ to answer their phones. Would you mind giving me a lift home?”

  Actually, yes, I do mind...but I can’t tell Nadine that. “Not at all. I hope you don’t care if we make a detour first. I have to drop some food off at the police station.”

  “Really? I didn’t think the Down South Café offered delivery services.” Nadine went around to the passenger side of my car.

  “Just a second,” I said, getting out and moving the box of food into the back seat. “There you go.” I gave Nadine a tight smile. “We all make exceptions for boyfriends...don’t we?”

  She laughed. “We sure do. I remember those good old days of being young and in love.”

  “What’re you saying?” I kept my tone light, but I was serious. “You aren’t in love anymore?”

  “Oh, sure...but things change as you get older.” Her smile faded. “I miss my youth. Enjoy it while you have it.”

  I checked my rearview mirror to make sure nothing was coming before I pulled back onto the road. “Oh, now, you aren’t that old, Nadine.”

  “Maybe not...but I’m not that young either.” She adjusted the vent in front of her so the cool air would blow directly into her face. “I’m glad you came along when you did. Harry and HJ wouldn’t have missed me until suppertime.”

  “Should we call and have your car towed?” I asked.

  “No. I’m positive Harry can fix it.” She turned to look at my profile. “How do you like working with Scott?”

  “He’s one of the best servers I’ve ever had. I don’t know how we’d have managed without him while Shelly has been away.” I explained about Shelly’s mom.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Nadine said. “But you’re absolutely right about Scott being a wonderful employee. Anything he sets his mind to, he really gives it his all.”

  My mind flashed to the photograph of her and Scott, and I successfully managed not to cringe. Should I change the subject or keep her talking about Scott to see if I can determine how she feels about him? Is it love or merely an affair? Maybe I can even get a confession! So...yeah...keep her talking about Scott.

  “Jackie was saying earlier today that all our customers like Scott,” I said.

  “Oh, ours do too.” She gave a wistful smile I’d have missed had I not glanced over at her in that instant. “But, then, why wouldn’t they? He’s something else.”

  I didn’t answer. What could I have possibly said to that? This time, I did change the subject. “It’s good that you and Harry have HJ there with you. I mean, I know it’s probably sad for all of you that he’s going through a divorce, but it’s—”

  “It doesn’t bother me.” Nadine’s voice took on a bitter edge. “I never did like HJ’s wife. She was spoiled and demanding...wanted everything handed to her on a silver platter. She might’ve had HJ fooled, and Harry too, for a while, but I had her figured out from the very beginning.”

  “Did they have any children?”

  “No. I believe both Harry and HJ were both sad about that initially. Harry would’ve loved to have had a grandbaby running around.” She flicked her wrist. “I said better no child than a child with a woman who’d constantly badmouth you to your own flesh and blood. Besides, HJ is only thirty...and he still has some growing up to do before he even thinks about having a family.”

  By then we’d reached the police station. I parked and turned to Nadine. “I won’t be but a minute. Shall I leave the engine running?”

  “Oh, no. I’ll go in with you,” she said. “I need to ask the sheriff not to tow my car before Harry can get it running again.”

  Nadine insisted on carrying the box of food, saying it was the least she could do since I was being so helpful and all. I clutched my purse to my side, afraid Nadine would somehow figure out that delivering food wasn’t my only purpose in going to the station.

  Both Ryan and Sheriff Billings looked startled to see Nadine accompanying me into the office, but they recovered quickly.

  “I don’t know what’s in here,” Nadine told them, “but it sure does smell good.”

  “I can’t disagree with you on that.” Sheriff Billings took the box from Nadine. “Let me give you a hand with that.”

  “Ryan, could I speak with you privately for a moment?” I asked.

  “Of course.” He led me down the hallway to the locker room. The lockers were painted blue, and there was a wooden bench against the wall across from them.

  “Which one is yours?” I asked.

  “Number seven.” He gently took my shoulders and turned me to face him. “What’s she doing here?”

  “Her car broke down, and I’m giving her a lift home.”

  “What’s wrong with her car?”

  “I have no idea. Maybe her tires got dizzy.” I giggled.

  He frowned. “What?”

  “It’s a joke...I’ll...never mind.”

  “Why didn’t she call her husband?” Ryan asked. “Did she call and ask you to take her home?”

  “No. I saw her car on the side of the road. She said she tried phoning her husband and her son, but neither answered.” I took the pictures from my purse. “These fell out of one of the cookbooks I bought from Malcolm Pridemore. They aren’t the best photographs I’ve ever seen, but they prove that all the Ostermanns—and Scott—might’ve had a motive for getting rid of Ms. Pridemore.”

  Ryan tucked the photos inside his shirt. “We’d better go back out there now, but let’s make our reason for needing privacy look legitimate.”

  He kissed me then...a long, passionate kiss that I didn’t want to end.

  When we walked back into the office a respectable distance apart, Sheriff Billings said to Ryan, “I hate to say this, son, but that shade of lipstick is not your color.”

  I felt my face flush. Ryan was grinning, but his cheeks pinkened as well.

  “I am glad your private conversation ended well, though.” Sheriff Billings winked at Nadine. “I don’t know who’d get custody of me if these two were to ever split up.”

  “We’d arrange for joint custody,” I
said. “Otherwise, you’d starve to death when Molly had to leave town.”

  “But the sheriff doesn’t need to worry about that.” Ryan gave me a warm smile, and I could feel my blush deepen.

  “All right, we’ve teased Amy enough,” Sheriff Billings said. “Let’s eat.”

  “IT’S OBVIOUS HOW MUCH they care about you,” Nadine said, as we drove toward her house.

  “I care about them too,” I said, wondering where Nadine was going with this conversation. With someone else, I might’ve thought it was an innocent observation. But Nadine put me on my guard.

  “I’m glad it was Sheriff Billings who answered the 9-1-1 call when you and Jackie found Ms. Pridemore. Another officer might’ve found it suspicious...the two of you just happening to find that poor old lady clinging to life like that.”

  I tried to keep the anger that sparked inside me from becoming evident when I spoke. “I’m sure any investigating officer would’ve understood right away that Jackie and I had nothing to do with Ms. Pridemore’s condition. If we had, why would we have been trying so hard to save her?”

  “Now, there’s no need to get all defensive with me,” Nadine said, with a hoot of laughter. “I was merely saying I wouldn’t have wanted to be in your situation.”

  I so wanted to put her out on the side of the road. “Trust me, neither of us relished being in that situation either. It was terrible. I only wish we’d have gotten there in time to help her.”

  “There was nothing you could do...nothing anybody could do. I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did, you know, from what the doctors said.”

  “What was Ms. Pridemore like?” I asked.

  “She was your typical little old woman, I reckon. Ornery, nosy, cheap...”

  “It doesn’t sound like there was much love lost between you.” I flipped on my signal light and got ready to turn onto the Pridemore property.

  “I guess not,” Nadine said. “I mean, I’m sorry that she died and all, but even in the end, she tried to stick it to us with this lease-to-own business.”

  “Really?” I drove up the driveway to the mobile home as far as I could. Harry and HJ’s vehicles prevented me from advancing any further. So...if they were home, why hadn’t they answered their phones?