Books, Barbecue and Murder

by Lori Woods

  “Is that so?” Clary asked curiously.

  “Yeah,” Karen nodded vigorously. “Now we can get a bigger salon. The old one was a bit of a dump. Don’t tell her I said that, she’ll be mad at me.”

  “So someone did her a favor by burning down the salon?”

  “Yeah, imagine if it was a secret admirer! That would be so romantic!”

  “Does Erica have a boyfriend who’d be willing to do something like that for her?” Clary asked slowly. She hadn’t seen Erica with a new boyfriend lately. In their little town, anything that happened became immediate news. If Erica did have a new boyfriend, she must’ve been keeping it a secret from everyone.

  “I don’t know,” Karen shrugged. “That’s why I said secret admirer.”

  “Karen!” Erica snapped, storming back into the café. “I’m not paying you to chat!”

  “Well,” Karen said in confusion, “technically you are.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Erica said in frustration. “Clary, I just saw Logan go into his shop. Go tell him we need those flyers.” Clary nodded and immediately got up. She wasn’t usually one to follow Erica’s orders, but she would rather stay out of the beautician’s way today.

  “What happened to Erica’s salon?” Logan asked as soon as Clary walked in.

  “Good morning to you too,” Clary said sarcastically. “And if you answered your phone at night, then you’d know when there’s an emergency.”

  “I don’t think this was an emergency.”

  “What if your shop burned down too?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

  “Then I’d get a notification on my phone,” Logan explained, pulling out his phone and waving it at her. “My smoke alarm wasn’t brought over from the Dark Ages, you know.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Clary said slowly.

  “What?” Logan asked, blinking in surprise.

  “I had to call Erica and tell her that her salon was burning down. I’m sure she had a fire alarm, and if she didn’t, then who called the firemen? It doesn’t make sense. And then there was a body behind the shop. Who was it? And how did he die? He wasn’t in the fire, so that’s not it.”

  “Clary, breathe,” Logan was looking at her in surprise. “Slow down, and start from the beginning. What happened?”

  It didn’t take long for Clary to explain what happened, and soon they were sitting on the floor, just staring at the wall. They sat there for a few minutes, trying to digest everything that happened. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of jelly beans. He offered them to Clary, but she shook her head.

  “Erica needs flyers for volunteers or something,” she remembered, but neither of them stood up.

  “What do you think happened?” he asked her.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. But I want to find out.”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “You just did.”

  “Don’t be smart with me, I just want to ask you something.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed, “go for it.”

  “Why are you always getting involved?” he asked.

  “You’ve asked this question before,” she pointed out in amusement.

  “I know, and you didn’t answer it, and now you’re trying to change the subject.”

  “Look, bad things happen when people ignore bad things. I can’t ignore these things, and I just want to help.”

  “You’ve told me all this before,” Logan said, biting into a candy. “It’s still not an answer. It’s just something you think sounds deep. Come on, we’re friends. You can tell me. It’s just that this isn’t a normal reaction, and I’d like to know.”

  “I’ll tell you one day,” she promised, taking a candy out of the packet and playing with it.

  “How about today?” he teased.

  “You help me solve this, and I’ll tell you the whole story. You’ll beg me to stop talking.”

  “So it’s going to be like every other day?”

  She scoffed and nudged his shoulder with her own.

  “There you are!” Marie called out happily. She rushed in, closed the door behind her and sat down next to them. “She’s driving me mad. We’re going to hide here all day until she leaves. Maybe she won’t even notice we’re gone.”

  “Oh, come on, Marie,” Logan said in amusement. “Where’s your sense of empathy? Erica’s just lost her business. Have some compassion.”

  “Look at us,” Marie hissed, gesturing to herself and Clary. “We’re still in our pajamas. We haven’t had one minute. She’s a nightmare. Why don’t you go out there and face her if you’re so compassionate?”

  “I never said I was compassionate,” he protested. “I just asked why you’re not compassionate.”

  “It’s decided then,” Marie nodded. “We’re going to hide here all day.”

  “Nope,” Logan said happily, “we’re going to find out what happened so that Clary will tell me why she solves mysteries.”

  “You don’t know?” Marie said, frowning.

  “You do?”

  “Yes, it’s because she’s nosy and likes being trouble. It’s obvious.”

  “This place is cold,” Clary complained, ignoring Marie’s comment.

  “This is an electronics shop,” Logan pointed out, “it has to be cold.”

  “It’s too cold,” Clary sniffed, sticking her hands in the pockets of her bathrobe. To her surprise, there was something in her right pocket. She pulled out a white envelope, and turned it over, her heart racing.

  “What’s that?” Logan asked curiously.

  “Do you think it’s from …?” Marie trailed off breathlessly, looking suspiciously at the envelope.

  “This is their type of situation,” Clary said slowly. They didn’t need to say who they were thinking about. For the past few months, Clary had been receiving mysterious notes taunting her about murders and crimes that were committed in the town. The person, who dubbed themselves as The Secret Keeper, always knew what was going on before anyone else. They delighted in taunting Clary, continuously giving her half-clues and hinting that much worse was coming.

  The Secret Keeper was everywhere, and even managed to break into her shop. So far, they hadn’t done anything to harm her, but Clary felt that the maniac would escalate soon. It only made sense that the perpetrator would hide something in her bathrobe.

  “Who did you see this morning?” Logan asked.

  “People have been in and out all morning, and I haven’t always had it on,” Clary admitted warily.

  “And she washed it last week,” Marie piped up. “Anyone could’ve snuck in during that time.”

  “I guess there’s no way to tell who put that in there then,” Logan said angrily, shaking his head in annoyance.

  “How do they keep getting so close?” Clary asked miserably. “They’re always around me, but I don’t know who it could be. It’s crazy.”

  “Let’s see what it says,” Logan suggested, giving her a comforting half-hug.

  Clary nodded, took a deep breath and opened the envelope. The Secret Keeper’s familiar scrawl greeted her, and she had to take another deep breath before reading it.

  What do you do when your salon is losing more money than it makes?

  If you’re Erica Martine, then you burn it down to the ground.

  The world’s on fire, and the witch is to blame.

  “Wow,” Clary said, raising her eyebrows, “someone who hates her more than you do, Marie.”

  “I never thought it was possible,” Marie admitted, shaking her head.

  “Clary!” Erica called, banging on the door. “This isn’t funny! These aren’t the flyers I wanted!”

  “We never printed any flyers, did we?” Clary asked in surprise.

  “No,” Logan shook his head. They all shared alarmed looks and quickly got up.

  Erica was standing in the street, her face beet red.

  “I thought you were on my side!” she shouted.

  �
�I am,” Clary protested, feeling more confused than ever.

  “Then what’s this?” Erica spat, shoving a bright pink flyer in her face.

  Clary took a step back and blinked in surprise. She took the flyer out of Erica’s hands, and found The Secret Keeper’s hateful message printed in bold.

  What do you do when your salon is losing more money than it makes? If you’re…

  Chapter 3

  “I didn’t print this,” Clary promised.

  “Yeah, right,” Erica scoffed, her eyes filling with tears.

  “She didn’t,” Logan promised. “You can check the printers, we haven’t done any printing this morning.” Erica sighed, and looked at them suspiciously.

  “Then what have you been doing here?”

  Clary and Logan looked at each other, and he shrugged helplessly.

  “We’ve been working on a design for your flyers,” Marie said quickly, looking at the hateful flyer with a raised eyebrow. “This isn’t a good design, so we won’t use it when we print the other ones.”

  “These are all over the street,” Erica said angrily. “You need to take them down and throw them away. And don’t worry about the flyers, I’ll get Karen to do them. She knows what kind of design I like. Just get out there and get these down.”

  She turned on her heel before they could say anything, and they were all treated to the familiar sight of Erica Martine storming away.

  “I guess we’re taking down flyers now,” Logan said drily. Clary sighed and walked out, and immediately gasped. The entire street was littered with the pink flyers. It looked like the sky had dumped a million pink flyers all over the street for them to pick up.

  “No,” Marie said angrily, shaking her head. “There’s no way I’m picking all that up. They’ve gone too far this time! This is littering. What’s wrong with people? I mean, I don’t like her either, but this too much. Why must the environment pay for her nastiness?”

  “I guess we’re going to have to get a few trash bags?” Logan suggested, scratching the back of his neck. “Do you think we can hire someone to pick all this up? I mean, it’s bad, but I don’t feel like picking all that up either. I agree with Marie.”

  “No, you don’t,” Marie snapped. “We’re not paying anyone to clean this up. We’re going to call the police and they’re going to find out who did this. This has gone too far now. First, they burn down a business, then they litter. And now I have to deal with Erica until she gets a new salon. They can’t keep doing this!”

  “That’s great,” Clary said tonelessly, “but this still needs to be cleaned up.”

  Before Marie could say anything else, a police car pulled up and Chief Sanchez, the resident grumpy policemen, climbed out and scowled at the pink mess. Ben, his deputy hopped out of the car, and his gaze immediately found Marie’s. He gave her a shy smile and lifted his hand to greet her, but she was still seething, and his hand dropped awkwardly.

  “Well, you guys really went all out,” Sanchez quipped, shaking his head at the mess again. “You know there are easier ways to get my attention, right?”

  “It wasn’t us,” Clary promised, walking over to him.

  “Let me guess?” he asked. “The Secret Keeper?”

  “They’ve gone too far this time,” Marie said angrily, and Ben nodded enthusiastically.

  “I agree.”

  “Yes,” Chief Sanchez bent down and picked up the flyer. He squinted as he read, then got back up with grunt. “They’re getting braver. This is bold. Whoever this is must really hate Erica.”

  “She’s going crazy, I don’t know if my café’s going to survive her.”

  “You guys might get a bit of a break now,” Sanchez said soothingly. “We’re taking her in for questioning, so you can catch your breath while she’s gone.”

  “Wait,” Clary said slowly, “do you think she had anything to do with this? I mean, I know she’s a handful, but do you really think she’d burn down her own salon? She loved that place, she was always bragging about it. It was her castle.”

  “Look, I hate to admit it, but The Secret Keeper hasn’t been wrong yet,” Ben said sheepishly, his boyish face turned away to avoid Marie’s furious gaze.

  “Yes, but we can’t base everything off that, now can we?” she asked poisonously.

  “We’re not,” Sanchez shook his head at Ben who blushed. “And it’s none of your business why we’re taking her in. Just concentrate on getting to work, and we’ll take care of the rest. I’m sure the gossipmongers are going to be here soon.”

  “If you’re taking her in, then that means that the fire department doesn’t think the fire was an accident,” Logan said quickly, looking around at the group in alarm. “Whoever did this might target our businesses next. What if The Secret Keeper is escalating?”

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” Sanchez barked, he gave them all a stern look before stalking into the Story Tree Café.

  “What’s going on, Ben?” Clary asked him gently.

  He looked around quickly, and looked up at Marie, as if looking for reassurance. She nodded at him and he nodded back.

  “I’d be careful,” he said quickly. “This wasn’t an accident, and we don’t know what to think.” He nodded again and quickly scampered after his boss. The trio went quiet and looked at each other in alarm. Clary closed her eyes in distress when Erica started shouting at the police.

  The bell dinged merrily as she stormed out, still shouting. Thankfully, it wasn’t long until she got into the car and they drove off. Clary sighed and massaged her temples tiredly. Logan put a comforting hand on her back, and she smiled up at him, leaning into his touch. She looked up at him to find that he was already watching her. He gave her a tender smile which she returned.

  “Who’s that?” Marie asked suddenly, pointing over Clary’s shoulder. They turned to see a dark-haired young man holding a few flyers in his hands. He looked up in alarm and threw the flyers in the air before running off in the opposite direction.

  “I’ve got him,” Logan announced, and he took off after him, running as fast as he could.

  “He’s going around the corner!” Marie shouted.

  Before she could properly think about what she was doing, Clary ran down the alley. When she told the story in the future, or looked back on the incident, she still wouldn’t be able to explain how she managed to dodge the numerous trash cans and the wooden fence that separated the alley from the street. All she knew was that she managed to jump the fence and ran straight into the mysterious young man.

  The two of them fell to the ground, with him landing on top of her. The air was knocked out of her lungs as he landed on her, and before he could get up, she immediately grabbed his shirt. It ripped as he pushed himself up. Thankfully, Logan had caught up to them by this point, and he pulled the man up by the scruff off his neck.

  “You couldn’t let me have this one, could you?” Logan asked her in amusement.

  “You don’t get to have all the fun,” she wheezed, rubbing her elbow and wincing in pain.

  “Let me go!” the man yelled.

  “What were you doing with those flyers?” Logan asked curiously while Clary tried to catch her breath. He shot her a concerned look, but she shook her head at him.

  “I was just picking them up!” he protested.

  “Then why did you run?”

  “There was some weird chick pointing at me, it seemed like the right thing to do,” he admitted. “I’ve heard about her, she’s not afraid to get angry, man. I didn’t want the drama.”

  “Why were you in the main street in the first place?”

  “It’s public property,” he said sulkily.

  “Look, things are tense today,” Clary told him seriously. “I’d just tell the truth and get out of here.”

  “Fine,” he snapped, “I’m Karen’s brother. I was just coming to check if she wanted any breakfast.”

  “And then you saw the flyers and wanted to clean up the whole street?” Logan
asked suspiciously.

  “Yeah!”

  “That sounds too good to be true, let’s go ask Karen,” he decided.

  “What’s your name?” Clary asked kindly while Logan marched him back to the café.

  “Josh,” the man said sullenly, glaring at Logan.

  When they got to the main street, Karen looked up from where she was talking to Marie. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open when they got closer.

  “That’s him!” Marie pointed angrily, “The creep who threw those flyers everywhere.”

  “No,” Karen said angrily, “he’s not.”

  “What?”

  “He’s my brother. Let go of him!”

  “I told you so,” Josh said smugly as Logan let go of him. He immediately went to go stand by his sister. She crossed her arms and glared at the trio while he mimicked her posture. Logan scratched the back of his neck and Clary blushed.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said sincerely. “We just saw him with the flyers and assumed the worst.”

  “And I saw him by the crime scene earlier,” Marie admitted loudly, still looking at them suspiciously, “when I went to go find Clary. He was just standing there, I saw him lift the police tape. What was all that about?”

  “You don’t think he actually had anything to do with this?” Karen asked angrily.

  “Explain, and I won’t think so anymore,” Marie countered, taking a step forward and raising her eyebrow.

  “Josh,” Karen said slowly, “go inside and get some coffee. I’ll come in now.” Josh scowled at the group again before walking inside.

  “That’s my shop,” Clary said miserably. “Who’s going to pay for all that coffee?”

  “Josh has PTSD,” Karen snapped at them, glaring at them all in turn. “He was in the army for a year but came back all messed up. That’s why he acts so weird. He was probably just curious about the fire. You guys can’t just chase him like that, you never know what could set him off. What’s wrong with you people?”

  “I’m sorry,” Clary said again. “We didn’t know. Like I said, I just assumed the worst.”

  “Yeah,” Karen said, giving them a dirty look, “obviously. He gave everything to keep us safe, and this is how he’s treated when he comes back. Well done.” She clapped sarcastically.