by Jessica Beck
It was the worst news I could have gotten, and it must have shown on my face. “Moose, I’m in real trouble here.”
“Why is that? Because The Charming Moose supplied the cake that probably killed him? Victoria, a dozen folks could have poisoned that piece after it left our hands and made its way into Roy’s. Sure, it doesn’t look good, but there are plenty enough other suspects so we shouldn’t be the only ones under a cloud.”
“Moose, you don’t understand. I grabbed that cake from him right in front of the sheriff, and I had it ten seconds before he yanked it back. I could have easily poisoned the piece he was eating in the time I had it in my possession.”
Moose nodded gravely. “I didn’t realize that. I suppose that means that we’d better go ahead and get started.”
“Then you’ll help me investigate?” I asked.
“Trust me, granddaughter; nobody, and I mean nobody, had better try to stop me,” he said, and I was happy yet again that Moose wasn’t just my grandfather; he was one of my closest allies as well.
Chapter 3
“Should we go to Roy’s office before the sheriff has a chance to visit it?” I asked. I knew that Roy Thompson kept a space not a hundred yards from where we were talking. I had no idea what he did all day, though. After all, since most of his holdings were in land, I wouldn’t think that any of it would need much handling on a daily basis, but Roy was proud of his office.
“It’s as good an idea as any,” Moose said, so we walked in that direction. The facade of the building was done in weathered brick, and massive columns stood out front. As a matter of fact, they were a little too gaudy for my taste, but it was clear that pretension was important to Roy. As we walked through the massive oaken doors, I felt like whispering. It was that solemn a place.
That was lost the second we entered the building, though.
“A deal’s a deal, and I’m not about to let him take advantage of me. Tell your boss that I’ll see him in court before I let that happen!” James Manchester snapped as he nearly knocked us both over on his way out of the office. James occasionally ate at the diner, and he normally had a smile and a friendly word for me, but I doubted that he’d even recognized me he was so steamed at the moment. Mumbling a vague apology in our direction, James slammed the doors open and left.
“What put a bur under his saddle, do you suppose?” Moose asked me.
“I don’t have a clue,” I said as we approached Kelly Raven. Kelly was a dark-haired beauty a few years younger than I was, and while we’d never been friends, there had never been any reason for there to be any animosity between us.
At least not yet.
“Hi, Kelly. James was certainly in a huff, wasn’t he?”
“It’s not as bad as it must look to you. He and Mr. Thompson both have tempers, so the moment they became partners in their little venture, I knew I was in for trouble. From what Mr. Manchester said earlier, I was under the impression that you weren’t exactly on good terms with my employer at the moment, either.”
Kelly smiled brightly at us as she spoke, and I realized that no one had told her about her boss yet. Should Moose and I break it to her now, or instead, try to mine a little information first? I was still trying to decide when my grandfather decided to take matters into his own hands.
“We all have our moments,” Moose said softly. “Has anyone been by to speak with you yet?”
She clearly didn’t understand the nature of his question. “We’ve had a few folks stop in, but with the celebration, it’s been rather quiet.”
“I can’t believe that no one told you,” Moose said.
There was a hint of alarm in her eyes now. “Tell me what?”
“Roy died less than half an hour ago,” I said, watching her carefully. I’d been hoping for some kind of reaction, but all she did was look at me to see if I was joking.
“I’m afraid it’s true,” Moose said. “He’s gone.”
The news finally started to sink in, and Kelly pulled a tissue from her drawer and held it to her chest. “Was it his heart?”
“Why, was he having problems with his health?” I asked.
“No, but for a man his age, it’s a logical question, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so,” I said. I took a deep breath of air, and then I explained, “He was poisoned, as a matter of fact. Do you have any idea who might want to see him dead?”
“Poison? Really?” I was waiting for her to ask how he’d been dosed, and I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to tap dance around that particular answer, but it turned out that I didn’t have to.
Moose said, “It really could help if you knew of anyone.”
Kelly sat back in her chair, looking stunned, and not much like the lovely woman she’d seemed to be earlier. This was more a little girl, afraid, and more than a little confused. “I just don’t know. I don’t have to tell either one of you that Mr. Thompson wasn’t the easiest person in the world to get along with. I’ve worked for him for seven years, and there have been times I’ve wanted to walk out that door in a huff myself. That’s a horrid thing to admit right now, isn’t it?”
She began to cry softly, and Moose laid a hand on her shoulder. She seemed to take a great deal of comfort from his act of kindness and compassion, and I wondered yet again how my grandfather could do what he did with just a single touch. He was amazing when it came to offering comfort, and when he tried to ease someone’s pain, he nearly always succeeded.
“There, there,” he said softly, and after a moment, she nodded, wiped at her eyes carefully, and then gathered herself again.
“If anyone poisoned him, I would think it would probably be his ex-wife, Sylvia Jones. She lives in Molly’s Corners. Frankly, she hated Mr. Thompson, and she wasn’t a bit shy about who knew it. I don’t know how that pair managed to stay married as long as they did before they finally divorced. The only times I ever saw them together, they acted as though they wanted to kill each other.” She must have realized how that sounded, because she quickly went on. “Mr. Thompson’s son was no better.” She shivered a little in her chair, as if the very thought of the younger man scared her. “Asher didn’t come here often, but when he did, I always felt as though he was staring at me and thinking vile thoughts.” Kelly paused, and then added with a slight smile, “I know that I sound a tad melodramatic, but I can’t help it. There’s no other way to describe it.”
“Is there anyone else you can think of?” Moose asked in his gentlest voice.
“There’s someone, but I don’t know exactly who it is. Mr. Thompson had a heated telephone conversation with a new partner, and he was as angry as I’ve ever seen him. I just wish I knew who it was. And then there was his stalker.”
“Stalker? Someone was following him around?” I asked.
“He thought it was some kind of joke at first,” Kelly said. “He’d turn around, and she’d duck out of sight like a chipmunk running for cover. I’m sorry, but I don’t know who she was, either.”
“Don’t worry. We can ask around,” I said.
Kelly nodded, and then she looked at me curiously. “Excuse me for asking, but why exactly are you both so interested in what happened to Mr. Thompson? I never realized you’d ever consider him a friend, and I know it’s not because he was a customer at your diner. He seemed to take a great deal of pleasure in crowing about his complaints concerning your food.”
We were saved from answering her question when the doors opened again. I half expected to see James Manchester reenter, but instead, it was Sheriff Croft, and from the sour expression on his face, it was clear that he wasn’t at all pleased about finding us in Roy Thompson’s office ahead of him.
As he approached, he asked us, “How long have you two been here?”
“Not long at all,” I said quickly.
The sheriff shook his head. “I don’t like it, not one little bit. You had to know I was headed this way next.”
“We didn’t mean anything by it,” I replied quickly.
“We just wanted to be sure that someone told Kelly about what happened.”
“Frankly, I’m surprised that you’d be all that eager for her to know what happened to her boss,” the sheriff said.
“Why would you say that?” Kelly asked, clearly confused by the sheriff’s comment.
“They didn’t tell you, did they?” he asked as he glanced over at her.
“Tell me what?”
“It was their celebration cake that did your boss in.”
Kelly couldn’t have looked more surprised if the sheriff had told her that we were the town’s new royal family. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Why would either one of them want to kill him?”
“We didn’t,” I said hastily. “But you can see why we’d want to find out who did.”
“That’s enough, you two,” the sheriff said. “I’ll be by the diner for a little chat in a bit, but for now, I’d appreciate it if you’d both head back there and stay until I get around to it. Agreed?”
“Yes, sir,” I said aloud, though Moose only nodded.
“Good bye, Kelly,” I said as we were leaving, but she didn’t reply. While I felt a little bad about taking advantage of her, we were investigating her boss’s murder, so I thought that gave us a little leeway in trying to get information from her.
As Moose and I walked back to the diner, I had to wonder which one of his enemies might have poisoned Roy Thompson. Whoever had done it had made a critical mistake using our cake to kill him. Now it directly involved me and my family, and we’d relentlessly search until we found the killer ourselves, if the police didn’t manage to catch them first.
“So, who should we talk to first?” Moose asked me after we left the office. “Manchester looked pretty steamed. I personally think we should track him down while he’s still upset. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
I looked at my grandfather to see if he was teasing me, but he looked deadly serious. “Moose, you did hear the sheriff, right? We’re under orders to go straight back to the diner and wait for him. It was pretty clear that he was not very happy with us.”
“We both know that he’s going to be tied up with Kelly for at least an hour. That gives us plenty of time to track James Manchester down first before he comes looking for us.”
I grabbed my grandfather’s arm and stopped him. “If we do that, Sheriff Croft is going to hear about it, and we both know it. We can’t take a chance of getting on his bad side. I know how hard it is to do this, but at least this time, we need to do as we’re told.”
Moose frowned and pursed his lips for a second before speaking. “I guess you’re right, but I hate to let an opportunity pass like that. If we wait too long, Manchester’s going to have time to collect himself.”
“We really don’t have much choice.”
“I know you’re right, but I don’t have to like it,” Moose said. My grandfather was a real go-getter, and to be honest, I was much the same way, but there were times when one of us had to put on the brakes, or we’d constantly be getting ourselves into all kinds of trouble.
Back at the diner, we found the place brimming with people. Ellen was swamped with customers, even though Martha, my grandmother, was helping out as well. “What’s going on?” I asked her.
“With the celebration canceled so abruptly, folks didn’t have anywhere else to go. Most of the street vendors have already packed up and left.” She kissed Moose soundly, and then she said, “It might not be a bad thing if you lend Greg a hand in the kitchen. I called Melinda, but I couldn’t reach her.”
My mother, who normally worked the grill as our morning cook, was on her way to the mountains with my father for the day.
“It doesn’t surprise me. She left her cell phone at home,” I said.
“Should we go try to find her?” Martha asked.
I just smiled. “It wasn’t done by accident. Mom and Dad wanted to get away for the day. They’ll be back before dark, but in the meantime, we can handle this ourselves.”
“Of course we can,” Moose said as he literally rolled up his sleeves. “I’m happy to help out in the kitchen. It will be just like old times.”
I grabbed a pitcher filled with iced sweet tea in one hand, and then added a coffee pot to the other as I started topping off glasses and cups.
An hour later, I was ringing up a party of eight when I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Give me one second,” I said without even turning around.
“I don’t have that much time,” a familiar voice said.
I looked at the sheriff and said, “Sorry, but I can’t help you, then. As you can see, we’re jammed at the moment, but if you can come back in five minutes, I should have some time to talk to you.”
“I might as well eat while I’m waiting,” he said as he started for an empty stool at the counter. “Come over and join me when you get a breather.”
I nodded as I finished ringing up the orders in my hand. I saw Martha greet the sheriff, so I knew that he was well taken care of as I finished up with the last of the customers in line. We had a bit of a lull at the register, so I made my way over to the sheriff.
“What can I do for you?”
He took a sip of tea, and then put the glass down. “I need to know what Kelly Raven said to you earlier.”
I glanced at the clock over the counter. “You were there for over an hour. I can’t believe she said anything to us that she didn’t tell you.”
“Well, I won’t know that until you tell me about your conversation, will I?”
“Are you being snippy with me, Sheriff?”
He frowned down at his tea, though I knew that his displeasure was with Moose and me. “Victoria, you and your grandfather headed straight to Roy Thompson’s office as soon as we finished talking, and what was even worse, you did it behind my back.”
“Hang on a second,” I said. “The man had a piece of cake from our diner, and then he died. You knew we were going to investigate what happened, you as much as said so yourself. Why are you so surprised that we’d start digging immediately?”
“I’m not, but I didn’t expect you to jump ahead of me like that.”
“You know that we always do our best to stay out of your way,” I said, “but this is personal, and you know it. I apologize if we stepped on your toes, but what choice did we have?”
“You could just let me handle this,” he said. In a gentler voice, he asked, “Victoria, don’t you think I know how to do my job?”
The man’s feelings were hurt, that much was clear. I didn’t always think about the ramifications of what Moose and I did, and we’d all managed to be friends for years before Moose and I started getting dragged into murder. It was clearly time to do a little damage control with our relationship. “Sheriff, we know you’re good at what you do. It’s just that there are times when folks will tell us things that they’ll automatically keep from you. It’s just human nature. And remember, we always tell you what we discover as soon as we can. My grandfather and I would never do anything to undermine your authority, or try to hamper your investigations.”
“It’s easier to say that you’re not going to do something than it is to actually refrain from doing it,” he said, though he seemed a little placated.
Everything would have been just fine if Moose hadn’t been eavesdropping via the pass-through window. “My granddaughter said what she meant, Sheriff.”
“How long have you been listening to our conversation?” Sheriff Croft asked.
“It’s my diner. I can eavesdrop whenever I want to,” he said loudly.
I hated to do it, but I had to spank my grandfather a little, or we were going to lose the tenuous amount of goodwill I’d just gained with our local law enforcement. “Funny, I thought that I owned the place these days, Moose, or am I mistaken?”
He waved a hand in the air. “Sure, technically it belongs to you, but that’s beside the point. Blast it all, I’m trying to defend you here, girl.”
“Moose, I haven’t been a gir
l in quite a while, something we’re both well aware of, and when exactly did I need anyone to defend me?”
My grandfather looked exasperated by my reaction, but I noticed that the sheriff’s scowl had eased up quite a bit. Moose turned to Greg, and though I couldn’t see my husband directly, I knew that he was manning the grill. “Help me out here, Greg.”
I could hear my husband chuckle from where I sat. “Sorry, but you’re on your own with this one.”
Moose shook his head. “Who would have believed it? My own family’s turning on me.”
Martha approached the window, and my grandfather turned to her. “Surely my own wife has my back here.”
She reached through and patted his cheek as she smiled. “Not this time, Dear. Now, don’t you have some mooseburgers to make? Try as he might, Greg still hasn’t mastered your technique, and as soon as folks heard you were working the grill with him, they started ordering them like crazy.” My grandmother paused, and then she turned to Greg. “I meant no offense to you. You’re a fine cook in your own right.”
“Hey, I don’t disagree with them. I like Moose’s version better than mine myself.”
It rarely happened, but my grandfather was clearly flummoxed by our behavior. “You’ve all gone over the edge; you know that, don’t you?”
“Whatever you say, Dear,” Martha said, and I watched as my grandfather’s countenance softened. I might have been the bravest person in the family when it came to standing up to my grandfather when he needed to be brought in check, but my grandmother could win a smile with just a glance, even when he was at his crabbiest. “Now, those mooseburgers aren’t going to make themselves, are they?”
“I’ll get right on it,” Moose said. “At least I understand that part of my life.”
