Lemonade & Loathing

by Beth Byers

  “Just like you didn’t mean to trespass at the resort?”

  “Oh no,” I admitted, “I definitely meant to do that.”

  He frowned at me, and I said, “I want a ride home.”

  “Bobby brought your car to the police station,” Simon said. He looked irritated enough I almost felt the need to apologize. But I had apologized. Then again, he had just been chewed out by the local judge. I wasn’t sure that it was my fault—I hadn’t called Aaron and manipulated him, but my best friend had, and I’d been with her the whole way.

  But I had trespassed with my friends and I’d nosed in on Simon’s investigation. I crossed to right in front of him and looked up at him without pausing to give him a kiss.

  He frowned at me before he hugged me and said, “That could have been dangerous.”

  “I really didn’t think it would be.”

  “I would have thought that you’d be more careful,” he said. He was alluding to the time I’d almost died. I had never wanted to be involved in another murder investigation after that and he had a solid point.

  “I know,” I said. I shivered, remembering the smell of smoke and the feel of the handcuff on my wrist, and I pressed my face against him, grateful to breathe him in and feel him. Grateful to be alive. “Can we please go home?”

  Chapter 10

  “What next?” Zee asked as I seated a family from Portland who were all wearing matching OSU sweatshirts.

  “I’m repentant today,” I told her. “Reformed even. I am going to work here today, so Carmen can go to Portland with Lyle and pick up those food-trucks we bought. I am going to walk my dogs on the beach after work, and then I’m going to stop by the shelter to make sure things are running okay there and see how that evil cockatoo is doing.”

  “And you aren’t going to investigate anymore?” Zee asked with a mean snort.

  I shook my head. “Simon isn’t exaggerating when he says it’s dangerous. I almost died once. I want to live to my honeymoon. Maybe even beyond.”

  “Wuss,” Zee snapped. “It’s a good thing you have me to keep you on track. What about what you said to Paige? You said you were gonna help her, liar.”

  I ignored her and went and delivered several orders of chicken fried steak. It was a special at least one time a week if not more often because it sold so well, and after the prep work was done, it was an easy thing to cook up. I much preferred prepping after the diner had closed for the next day. Turned out that I loved playing in the kitchen but wiping tables wasn’t the dream of my heart and some customers were just jerks.

  As far as Paige went, did I feel bad about letting her request go? Yes. But I wasn’t a police officer or a private investigator, and I didn’t want to see that look of stress and worry come into Simon’s face again. I remembered the look on his face as he stared down at me after I had been kidnapped, nearly died, and woke in the hospital. I almost couldn’t breathe even with an oxygen mask over my face. I was heavily medicated and I could still see the agony in his gaze. I wouldn’t do that to him again. Not for my semi-friend from the boutique next door.

  We were busy despite it being a Wednesday which was one of our slowest days. I had delivered more of our waffle specials than even I could stand. Instead of waffles today, I think I was going to go for a cup of tea and a green smoothie.

  Simon didn’t come in that morning, but I was pretty sure it was because he knew that whole grain pancakes were fated if he had. I saw him leaving the coffee shop across the street with one of those breakfast sandwiches in his hand. He ducked into his police issued SUV, probably hoping I wouldn’t see him. He wasn’t so lucky, and I would definitely torture him later. But it made me laugh to see him sneak away with something that had bacon and cheddar rather than flax seed and walnuts.

  The waffle special was another version of lemonade with blueberries instead of strawberries. We also had a lemonade juice special. The drink of the day had been Carmen’s idea since agua fresca had made her a good portion of her profits back in her taco truck days. I sighed as I poured myself a glass of the blueberry basil lemonade and made my way to a booth to put up my feet. I leaned back, closed my eyes, and listened to the rumble of the diner at work. The morning rush had ended, but it was before our lunch marathon.

  “Rose?”

  I looked up and nearly choked on my spit as I saw Lila Cage with a tall, nerdy man standing behind her. She was the sort of lovely that, with the right hair and makeup, could have been 1940s pinup. He, on the other hand, looked like a stereotypical, super skinny nerd. I blinked, but as I glanced down, I saw hands clutched together. I couldn’t help but grin at those hands as I put down my feet and asked, “Hello?”

  “Zee asked us to come in,” Lila said, “This is my fiancé, Tyson.”

  I wanted to shake my fist at Zee, but I was so happy to see these two together that I smiled instead. I gestured to the booth bench across from me and said, “Please sit.”

  I rubbed my face and then my jaw dropped as Zee put one of our salads in front of me and a couple of sandwiches in front of Tyson and Lila.

  “So,” Zee said, as she shoved me over to join us. “Seeing as how Tyson just recently saw you and Danny…”

  Lila’s face was fiery red and her nails almost dug into Tyson’s hand, but she admitted, “Kissing?”

  Zee nodded sharply and then said, “You two have to be one of our most likely suspects for the killers.”

  My mouth did drop open at that. It didn’t look like the idea was news to either Tyson or Lila. I elbowed Zee and then shifted forward. I…well, obviously, I was going to ask the questions. They’d fallen into my lap.

  “We didn’t hurt Danny. I wouldn’t have,” Tyson said. His voice was firm, but when he looked at Lila everything about him softened. “Lila wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “But you did see Danny and Lila kissing.”

  Tyson shifted and a flash of anger passed over his face before he said, “I did.”

  “And you weren’t enraged?”

  “Oh I was,” Tyson said, “But being angry and devastated doesn’t equate to killing someone.”

  I examined his face, letting my gaze trip over him. He was meeting my eyes firmly. Which could be very deliberate on his part and not necessarily a sign of being truthful. That being said, however, I didn’t want to believe it was him. I wanted to believe that a man who could look at Lila the way he was, and after she’d messed up—that kind of man—wasn’t a killer was he? Or was he just so in love that he could get past her messing up and kill the man involved to cement she really was his? That felt like something out of a movie and not real life.

  Goodness, it felt just unlikely that this man in front of me had killed Danny. Other than his fiancé having kissed Danny, I didn’t think he could ever have had a motive.

  “Where were you on Saturday?” I asked simply.

  “Working,” he answered calmly. “I work from home.”

  “Were you on any conference calls or do you have anything to prove you were home?”

  Tyson shook his head once and then said, “I’m not here to prove to you I didn’t kill Danny. I’m here to thank you and Zee for convincing Lila to talk to me. Talk to me for real and not like her mom was trying to get her to do.”

  “But you’ll answer our questions as part of that thanks,” Zee ordered, eyeing him like he was a recalcitrant child. Because, as far as I could tell, she was super-powered in manipulating people, and she got him to nod.

  Tyson adjusted his plate in front of him and then nodded. Zee raised her brow and then he turned to me and said, “I don’t have an alibi. Lila, however, does. She was with her mother working on the wedding.”

  “No offense, but Lila’s mother is a woman who would lie for her daughter.” Zee’s tone wasn’t giving, and I didn’t doubt her assumption for a second. That woman had been telling her cheating daughter it wasn’t her fault. That attitude was both nonsense and life-ruining.

  Tyson glanced at Lila and then back at Zee. �
��Look I’m not going to pretend that Yasmine is my favorite person. She doesn’t like me, and I’m doing my best to like her. Love her even.”

  “Despite her being horrible,” Zee said, “No offense.” She snorted meanly, countering her own fake apology.

  “But Lila and I aren’t the only suspects. We can’t be. After I…saw what I saw…I asked around about Danny,” Tyson said. He cleared his throat, glanced at Lila and then muttered, “I actually hired a private investigator.”

  “Ty,” Lila gasped. Her eyes were wide and shocked. She turned towards him, staring.

  “I needed to know how far things had gone.” Tyson told her, ignoring Zee and I’s avid interest.

  “So you didn’t trust me?”

  “You hadn’t apologized or talked to me,” Tyson said. “You were still listening to your mom’s drivel, and I couldn’t decide what was real from what you were saying because you weren’t being yourself.”

  Lila pressed her lips together, holding back whatever it was that she wanted to say. Surely, she recognized that any offense she took was completely unfair. She’d cheated. He had been dealing with what she’d done.

  “What did you find out?”

  “Nothing about Lila, but a whole lot about Danny. He was scum. And, I’d have said that about him regardless of him making a move on Lila. He stole, cheated. He screwed around on his girlfriend—not just with Lila. Something shady was going on with him and the resort. Maybe with his uncle. It’s hard to say. Maybe with that Flora chick. She’s always tinkering around. I didn't care about that, though. Not unless I needed to get him arrested, so he’d leave Lila alone.”

  “You were going to have him arrested?” Lila was staring at Tyson as though she’d never seen him before. “Ty…”

  “I would have if I thought I could get you back,” he said simply and without an ounce of apology.

  “You never lost me,” she said. “Kissing Danny…it was both a mistake and honestly…it grossed me out. It makes me even sicker now that I realize what a….”

  “Floozy?” I asked for her. Lila and Tyson laughed at my watered-down assessment of Danny.

  “It’s gross,” Lila said. “I feel extra dirty. And maybe like I should get checked out for mouth herpes.”

  “Not a bad plan,” Zee suggested. She wasn’t ever sympathetic and particularly not in this case. “We want to see what you found,” she said to Tyson.

  “I’ll give it to the police,” Tyson countered. “I’m not sure you should be involved in this case. I heard about what happened to you and that house fire,” he said to me. “You need to be careful. Whoever killed that scumbag isn’t a saint. They’re a killer.”

  I glanced at Zee as if to say, Look even random strangers know this is stupid. Her returning glance said, I’ll make him, you, and Carver pay. You’re ruining my fun. I laughed at her a little, and she scowled, and then we turned back to Tyson.

  “Tell us,” Zee ordered.

  He shook his head. “Look I wouldn’t want Lila poking her nose in. I’m sure someone cares about you two as well.”

  Lila elbowed Tyson and said, “I am not a doll.”

  “I know, honey,” he said. He was still staring down Zee. Unsuccessfully.

  “And you don’t get to put me on a shelf. Me or these two. They’re full grown women. They get to decide what risks they want to take.”

  “This is a police case,” Tyson said, finally turning to look at Lila and wincing at the expression on her face.

  “But you’re not a cop. Tell them what you found out!”

  “Look,” Tyson said, holding up his hand. “You want to get hurt again that’s on you.”

  “I don’t actually,” I said but Zee countered, “Ignore her.”

  Tyson finally added, “Just be careful. Ok?”

  “Of course,” Zee replied shuffling around the plates in front of her.

  I added, “Oh, I’m not getting involved again. Not outside of the diner anyway.”

  “Good,” Tyson said while Zee shot me a nasty look.

  “You’re letting him control you,” Zee said.

  “No,” I told her, “I am learning from nearly dying. Simon and Carver are armed and trained, Zee. I’m not. And, Tyson is right. Whoever killed Danny is dangerous. I imagine that first killing is the hardest. Would it really be all that hard to kill again to protect yourself?”

  Zee started to answer, but I held up my hand and said, “I don’t want to find out if the answer is no. That’s something you learn before you die and think, why was I sticking my nose in again?”

  “The killer won’t know if Tyson tells you what he learned. Just turn your mind to it and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  I shook my head at her. This wasn’t like when her ex-boyfriend died or when the kid was killed over the spaghetti and meatballs. It wasn’t connected to me. I didn’t know or care about Danny before he died, and his death wasn’t something worth putting myself at risk for.

  I turned to Tyson and Lila and raised my brows. Tyson sighed and adjusted his glasses before he said, “I don’t know who killed him. Obviously. Otherwise, I’d have called the police and told them what I knew. As it is…well….I just figured why get involved when I have a possible motive?”

  Lila squeezed Tyson’s hand before she said, “No one would believe it of you, honey.”

  “I think the police might,” Tyson said, “I’m not a saint, sweetheart.”

  Tyson clearly had never been babysat by Zee and wasn’t worried if his mom was one of her knitting pals or whatever it was she used to torment half the population of Silver Falls. He wasn’t nearly as bothered by Zee as many of the people I’d seen cower before her. He cleared his throat and said, “Look, I don’t know the details, because I wasn’t going to pay to have them figured out when what I wanted to know about was Lila. The PI was pretty sure that Danny was into some illegal stuff. He wasn’t quite sure what was happening.”

  “Are you surprised?” Zee asked me. I shook my head. Danny was a piece of work, I wasn’t surprised at all.

  Tyson just shrugged and said, “I only cared about his girlfriends. I knew Lila wouldn’t go for him if he were a big cheater. That’s where I spent my money.”

  Lila glanced at Tyson, smiled sweetly and said, “Well…maybe a little since I did mess up and let Danny get to me. But not as much as you were thinking.”

  It truly seemed from my side of the table that Tyson and Lila were already getting past the fact that she’d kissed someone else. I hoped it was true. You could see that they loved each other. It would have been a terrible crime if Danny ruined that for them.

  “So, Danny was dating a girl named Melody. As far as I could tell, she was the official girlfriend.” Tyson said.

  I nodded. I’d known that, and I wasn’t surprised to hear Melody was the official girlfriend. We’d heard that from a few different places.

  “But he had a regular thing with that girl’s best friend Lettie. Who is married.”

  I nodded again.

  “You already knew this?” Tyson said as he looked between Zee and I and our unsurprised expressions. “I paid a lot of money to learn this.”

  “You should have just gotten Rose to look into it for you,” Zee said. “People tell her stuff.”

  “I’m not doing that anymore,” I said and heard Zee’s rude snort.

  “Well, he has another girlfriend. A woman named Monica.”

  “The resort manager?” I asked.

  Tyson nodded, irritated that we’d known that, but of course, I hadn’t

  “That explains why she was crying when we found her,” Zee said.

  “Of course she was dating him,” I said. “Or sleeping with him. You don’t cry like that over the guy who unloaded flowers for your banquet hall.”

  “Well…you guys might have figured it out, but his uncle sure hadn’t. It seemed that he had a thing with Monica as well.”

  “Harvey?” I asked, disbelieving. I believed you could love anyone. And t
hat an older, beer bellied man with thick whiskers could be beloved of someone. I didn’t, however, believe that the uptight snob, Monica, was the type of woman who would love such a normal man. “No way.”

  Tyson almost grinned as he nodded.

  “No,” I said. “No way. You said there was something fishy going on with the resort. Harvey has to be involved.”

  Tyson shook his head and said, “I have pictures of them over a candlelit dinner.”

  I sniffed and rose to seat the people who really had been waiting too long, but before I left I said, “Then they were planning crimes over oysters and filet mignon. Because there is no way.”

  Chapter 11

  The diner has mostly emptied out by the time that I had finished the dishes. We’d been slammed without Carmen and Lyle. They had, however, made it back with the food trucks and parked them up by my house. They were good enough to take out my flock of dogs and give them all loves and treats. Which was why, of course, that Zee caught me with my feet up on the booth eating some chocolate cake and indulging in some of the blueberry basil lemonade.

  “We need to have more lemonade like this. Like everyday. Maybe we should get one of those crazy high-powered blenders and make frozen versions. I bet we’d sell a ton over the summer for a little juice and ice.”

  “Good idea,” Zee said. She sat down next to me, deliberately shoving me over and then said, “Join us, Melody.”

  I choked on my cake and looked behind me to see a young woman who looked nothing like Paige from next door. Melody’s streaked blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun and her eyes were swollen.

  “We’re going to tell her the truth,” Zee told me. Our gazes met and we argued through staring at each other alone. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be the one who told Melody her best friend was shady and cruel. Zee, however, thought Melody deserved the truth. She did, I realized. Of course she did. I just didn’t want to be the one to deliver it.

  “Tell me what truth?” Melody asked. “I’m not sure I can take more truth. You know I lost my boyfriend. And now I’ve had to talk to the police twice.”