“It’s a bit much when you first see it, isn’t it?” Jules said, stirring his coffee. “Lance and I weren’t sure if we should go so extravagant, but then when I thought of the kiddies, I realized they would love it. It might be garish for you or me, but to see the smiles on their faces”—he somehow managed to clasp both hands over his heart without spilling his coffee—“is worth it.”
It might be worth it to Jules, who was slim and fit. Me? I would be toothless within a month of working in a place like this. I didn’t even want to think what would happen to my waistline. The coffee and the cookies were bad enough.
“It’s nice,” I said, and I meant it. Just because I wouldn’t want to work here didn’t mean I didn’t like the atmosphere. If I had a son, I’d definitely bring him here once a week for a little candy. The place was too fun not to visit.
The door opened and about a dozen kids swarmed inside, led by a harried-looking teenager. She smiled at me as she breezed past, calling after a little boy named Joey, who was busy trying to shove his arm up a chute to reach the bubble gum there.
“I best get back to work,” Jules said. He took a sip of his coffee. “Thank you for this. It’s very good.” He snatched a sucker that was bigger than my fist from the counter. “Take this,” he said before rushing off after the kids.
I looked at the sucker and considered putting it back. There was no way I was going to even attempt that thing. The bellyache would put me down for days if I tried.
Thankfully, the thing was wrapped, meaning I could shove it in my purse and worry about it later. I didn’t want to insult Jules by declining his gift. Maybe sometime later I’d need the comforts of sugar.
I turned toward the door, sucker in hand, and stepped outside without paying attention to where I was going. Someone bumped into me, but didn’t slow down to apologize in the rush past me.
“Excuse me,” I grumbled, righting myself. I’d very nearly dropped the sucker. I looked up to find Tessa walking briskly away.
I stood there a moment, frozen in surprise, before I gathered myself and called after her. “Tessa!” I hurried away from Phantastic Candies, toward the retreating woman.
Tessa hesitated and glanced back when I called to her the second time. I caught a glimpse of wide-eyed worry and maybe a little guilt before she realized who I was. Her face then morphed to an irritated scowl.
“What do you want?”
Boy, did it seem like I was getting asked that a lot these days or what?
“I just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.” I looked at the sucker in my hand and then held it out to her as a sort of peace offering.
She looked at it like it was poison on a stick. “No, thank you,” she said. “I’ve got to get back to work.” She made as if to turn away.
“Please,” I said. “Just one minute?”
She heaved a sigh, and then glanced past my shoulder. She looked worried that someone might be coming down the walk at any moment and would see us together. Was my reputation really that bad?
“Can we at least get inside?” she asked, eyes flickering to me. “I might have customers waiting.”
I somehow doubted it, but I agreed.
I followed Tessa to her shop. She unlocked the door and slipped inside after one more look over her shoulder. She was definitely worried about something. Could she have just come from a meeting with someone, perhaps Mason Lawyer? Or was she really that worried about being caught talking to me?
“So, what is this about?” she asked once we were inside. She relaxed visibly as the door closed and no one came bursting in. She tossed her purse behind the counter before removing the OUT TO LUNCH sign.
I watched her silently as she went through the routine. Tessa’s hair was a mess and she kept running her fingers through it as if to tame it. Her lips were a bright red, telling me she’d either had a cherry smoothie for lunch, or had been doing something that involved pressing her lips firmly against something else. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what that might be.
“Is everything all right?” I asked, glancing toward the door. She was staring at it again. I half expected it to burst inward and the police to come rushing in to arrest her. She appeared that nervous.
“What do you mean? I’m fine.”
“You seem worried about something.” I took a chance that she would just clam up and went on. “Are you hiding from someone?”
“Hiding?” She snorted. “As if.”
“Then why were you so anxious to get inside?”
“I have a business to run,” she said. Her face was darkening in what I took to be anger. “I needed to get back.”
“There was more to it than that.” I moved closer to the counter and she backed up a step. “Where were you?”
“It’s personal.”
I took in her mussed hair, the way her dress hung on her body slightly askew, as if she’d gotten into a fight or perhaps put it on in a hurry.
“Who were you with?”
Her jaw clenched. “That’s none of your business.”
I took a stab in the dark. “Was it Mason Lawyer?”
“What?” She sounded genuinely shocked. “No. Why would I be with him?” She heaved a sigh. “If you must know, I was meeting with a friend.”
“A close friend.”
“What should it matter?”
“I don’t know, should it?”
She gave me a flat stare. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? I’m not in the habit of sharing every detail of my personal life with people, strangers especially.”
“So you weren’t seeing Mason then?”
“God!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “I really wish you people would stop asking me about the Lawyer family. I’m done with them. Brendon is dead. I had nothing to do with it. I want to be left alone, okay?”
“Who else has been asking you about him?” Vague thoughts about the killer coming in and milking her for information floated to mind.
“The police, you nitwit. Who else?”
I reddened. Of course.
Tessa huffed and opened her purse. I tensed, but all she pulled out was a mirror. She checked her hair and makeup, doing her best to fix it. She did a reasonably good job of it and I wondered if she learned to do that after many tumultuous lunch breaks with Brendon.
I decided to press on, knowing she was probably going to yell at me for not dropping it. I knew, just knew, she knew more than she was letting on.
“The last time we met, you said something about cheating running in the Lawyer family,” I said. “Were you talking about Mason? Do you think he could have slept with Heidi?”
Tessa actually laughed. “Mason? God, no. That man is far too conservative for something like that.” She gave herself one last look-over and then snapped the mirror closed and shoved it back into her purse.
“Were you referring to Raymond, then? Another family member?” And then I asked what I’d been thinking the entire time. “Or were you referring to Heidi?”
Tessa’s eyes narrowed and she looked at her watch. “I really should be working right now,” she said.
I wondered what she could possibly be doing without customers. Rearranging the racks? There didn’t appear to be a place for new stock. Unless she was dusting the shelves, there really wasn’t much else she could do.
Which told me she was hiding something. It was obvious she didn’t like me asking these questions. She wanted to get rid of me. Why would she do that if she had nothing to hide?
Of course, I had to ignore the fact I was poking my nose where it didn’t belong, and it was probably irritating to no end, but darn it, I was positive she knew more than she was saying.
“Just tell me who you meant,” I said. “Who’s the cheater? That’s all I want to know. I’ll leave you alone afterward. I promise.”
Tessa glared at me. I could hear her foot tapping behind the counter. I didn’t know if she was considering her answer carefully or if she was contemplating calling the police
.
“Raymond,” she said after a long moment. “I was talking about Raymond.”
The gears in my head started spinning. “You don’t think Heidi could have cheated on her husband with his father, do you?” It actually made my stomach twist to think such a thing. I mean, ew!
Tessa shrugged it off. “Who knows?” she said. “I honestly wouldn’t put it past the old letch to try. He thinks he can get anything he wants just because he pretends to be a big shot around town.” She shuddered. “I wouldn’t touch the man myself. I have more dignity than that.”
I seriously wondered about that, but I didn’t say it out loud.
Tessa sighed and leaned onto the counter, visibly softening. “Look,” she said. “Heidi is a good woman. I doubt she ever would do anything with someone like Raymond. She would have better taste than that.” She straightened. “I really do have stuff to do. So if you would . . .” She motioned toward the door.
“Yeah,” I said absently. “Okay.” I turned and walked out of Tessa’s Dresses in a daze, sucker still clutched in my hand.
Raymond Lawyer. How could I never have considered him when I was trying to come up with people Heidi might have slept with? He’d been right there in front of me this entire time, yelling at me to stop poking around. He had all the opportunity in the world—not only to sleep with Heidi, but to kill Brendon when things didn’t work out the way he hoped.
But to sleep with his son’s wife? That was low. I couldn’t imagine someone stooping to that level, even if he didn’t much care for his son. It was just so . . . icky.
I knew I’d never get the truth from Raymond Lawyer himself. The guy would probably have me arrested for even thinking about walking into his building. I tried to imagine Heidi with Raymond and just about puked on my shoes.
I just didn’t see it. No matter how many ways I looked at it, I couldn’t imagine a young woman like Heidi doing such a thing, especially with her husband’s father. The guy was a total ass, much like his son.
But then again, revenge did make people do strange things.
Could she have cheated on Brendon with Raymond just to get back at him? People have done worse, I was sure, though to go that far . . . it defied belief.
I’d been walking aimlessly back toward Death by Coffee, turning it all slowly over in my head. No matter how many ways I looked at it, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe Heidi would have slept with Raymond Lawyer. Even Tessa didn’t think Heidi would have done it.
But if not Raymond, then who?
A crash brought me out of my reverie. It was followed by a startled scream.
I looked up, worried, as another crash sounded, this one louder than the first. It was followed by an earsplitting scream that just about stopped my heart. I was only a few yards away from Death by Coffee. The sounds had come from there.
Dropping the sucker Jules had given me, I broke into a run, certain my entire world was about to come crashing down around my head.
24
I had to push my way through the front door, which was hanging open. People were crowding around, trying to see inside. Where did all these people come from? They sure as heck weren’t buying coffee at the time.
Heart hammering, I shoved past a woman who was taking up the entire doorway. She grunted as I elbowed past her and then pushed me hard on the back shoulder. I lost my balance and staggered inside to crash against a table. A chair toppled over, just as another crash sounded from the bookstore portion of the store.
There were only a handful of people actually in Death by Coffee. They were all on their feet, looking up toward where the crashes were coming from. There was a growl, followed by a scream that had me scrambling back to my feet.
I was terrified at what I’d find, once up those few stairs. Would Vicki be lying there, mouth frothing from some poison the killer had managed to spread across the pages of a book? Or perhaps she’d have a bookmark shoved through her eye or balled up pages in her mouth. Instead of helping, the people of Pine Hills were standing around and laughing.
I slowed halfway to the stairs. They’re laughing?
It took me a moment to realize the screams I heard weren’t agonizing. There was a howl, followed by a hiss, and then Vicki yelping in pain. “Trouble!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
My heart, which had just about thumped its way clear through my chest, settled to a more manageable speed. No one was lying dead upstairs—at least, not yet. I had a feeling if Vicki caught hold of her cat, there very well might be a feline fatality soon enough.
I hurried up the couple of stairs and froze as I scanned the mess. Bookshelves lay toppled to the floor. Books were scattered every which way, many open with pages bent beneath them. An older woman stood by the stairs, one hand over her mouth, the other over her heart. She looked at me wide-eyed as I came to a stop next to her.
“What happened?” I asked, out of breath after my short run.
“The cat,” the woman said. “It’s gone crazy!”
That didn’t tell me anything. Both Trouble and Misfit were born crazy.
“Vicki?” I called. I thought I saw her head duck down, which was followed by a howl and a hiss. A black-and-white shape darted across the room, causing a couple more books to fall from their shelves.
“Argh!” Vicki cried. “I’m going to rip off your claws, you demon!”
“Sorry,” I told the old lady. “If you were interested in buying a book, I’d come back tomorrow.” I smiled at her before turning back toward the destruction. I picked my way through the scattered books, mentally calculating how much damage the cat had caused. My initial tallies weren’t pretty.
“Vicki?” She hadn’t come up from where I’d last seen her.
“Over here,” she grumbled. A hand fluttered up between a pair of fallen shelves and then fell back to the floor with a thump.
I stepped over an old Western, which was now missing its cover, and found Vicki lying facedown on the floor. Her arms were covered in tiny little scratches. There was little blood, thank goodness, but the marks would show for days.
“You okay?” I asked, scanning the area. The cat must have gone completely bonkers. A half-dozen shelves were toppled and two more were leaning against one another, their books spilled out between them. Only the two wire racks by the stairs had managed to remain upright. The rest were buried beneath the bookshelves somewhere.
Vicki grumbled something into the floorboards before pushing her way to her feet. She had a scratch across her chin, yet it didn’t detract from her beauty. I swear, that girl could run full force into a wall, shatter her nose and bust her lip, and she would still be the prettiest girl in the room.
Jealous? Me? Never.
“What happened?” I asked, surveying the room. “How could one cat do so much damage?”
She huffed. “It wasn’t just Trouble,” she said, wiping herself down. She looked around with a grimace. “Do you remember that guy who complained about cat allergies a few days ago?”
“Yeah.”
“He came back.”
I glanced around, but didn’t see him. “Did he sneeze the shelves over?”
Vicki gave me a flat look. “Of course not. He came in for a book, started complaining about cats, which only caused Trouble to rub up against his leg. I swear cats know. The guy jumped like he’d been electrocuted, landed on Trouble’s tail, and then began flailing all over the place like he’d stepped on a land mine. He knocked over the first shelf, which sent Trouble into panic mode. Between trying to settle the guy down and catch the damn cat, this happened.” She spread her arms as if to encompass the store.
“Wow,” I said, trying hard not to laugh. “Of all things . . . Really? Wow.”
“Shut up.”
I snorted. “What happened to Allergy Man?”
“He started squawking about never coming back, tripped over his own two feet, and went headfirst down the stairs, where he wailed about suing.” Vicki sighed. “I suppose we’ll be hear
ing from his lawyer soon enough.”
That wiped the smile from my face. As if times weren’t hard enough already—now this!
“Is Trouble okay?” He’d gotten lost in the mess somewhere, presumably to lick his wounds.
Vicki shrugged and picked up a few books to reshelve them. “I don’t know. That’s why I was trying to catch him. Besides, I don’t want him scratching up the pages. You know how he gets with paper lying around.”
Oh, how I knew. Misfit was the same. If you left a bare page lying around the house, he’d be on it in a second, either napping or ripping it into tiny little shreds. I could only imagine what he’d do in a place like this with books everywhere.
“You go find the cat,” I said, picking up a few books of my own. “I’ll take care of this.”
Vicki hesitated, then nodded. “Thanks,” she said. “I really screwed up this time.” She slunk away to find Trouble before I could respond.
Thankfully, the bookshelves weren’t that heavy. I went about righting them before worrying about the books. The shelves were made from cheap plywood and stood only four feet tall. We’d saved some money by going with the cheaper bookshelves. Maybe if we’d spent more and had gone with the more expensive, heavier shelves, they wouldn’t have gone crashing down like dominoes.
I only had to stop twice to wait on someone while I worked. While people had gathered to watch the scene, they weren’t all that interested in getting something to drink afterward. Even Rita and the writing group were gone, leaving the place depressingly empty.
I was replacing books in the sci-fi section when Vicki returned, petting Trouble. The cat actually looked contented, like this was the sort of thing he lived for. I could hear his purr coming from across the room and considered throwing a book at him just to make him stop. There was nothing funny about this anymore.
“This is a disaster,” Vicki said, leaning carefully on a recently righted shelf. It wobbled ever so slightly. “I’m really starting to think you were right this entire time. This was a bad idea.”
“We’ll get through this,” I said, though I really didn’t feel it. It seemed like everything was falling apart around us. Plus, no matter what we did to stop it, things kept getting worse.
Death by Coffee Page 19
