by Amanda Lee
“Todd, I never meant—” My voice caught, and my vision was blurred by unshed tears.
He pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head. “Please, don’t cry. I just want you to know I realize what we do have, you and I. We have a powerful friendship that I don’t want to lose.”
My “You won’t” was muffled against his shoulder.
He held me at arm’s length then and told me, “If Ted hurts you, he’ll have me to contend with.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“I really care about you, Marcy.”
“And I really care about you, Todd. It’s just . . .”
“Don’t say it. I know.” He grinned. “I’d better let you go.”
I nodded. I returned to the counter, but Blake had made himself scarce. Beside the muffin basket, he’d left a napkin on which he’d written, It’s on your tab. Love, B.
As I left, I noticed Todd had already gone too.
* * *
When Angus and I got home, I quickly showered and changed into a brown suede skirt, a tan cowl-neck sweater, and knee-high chocolate boots. I’d just finished putting the finishing touches on my hair and makeup when Ted arrived.
I hurried down the stairs, opened the door, and greeted him with a kiss.
“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked.
“Actually, it’s what I hope you’ll do.” I took his hand and led him into the kitchen. With a nod toward the muffin basket sitting on the table, I asked, “Would you mind if we drop this off at the Cantors’ house on the way to Captain Moe’s?”
“Of course I don’t mind.” He took a closer look at the basket. “It’s from MacKenzies’ Mochas?”
I nodded and then busied myself putting food in Angus’s dish.
“How did that go?”
“It went fine. Blake was super, and I’m so relieved about that. I didn’t see Sadie. Keira was her usual snotty self.” I glanced at Ted surreptitiously. “And Todd was . . . gracious.”
“Todd?”
“Uh-huh. He came in and told me, basically, that he’s happy for me . . . for us.” I turned to face Ted. “We hugged it out, and I think we’re in a good place now.”
“Oh, you hugged it out, huh?” He stepped closer and pulled me into his arms. “Should I be jealous?” He lowered his head and gave me a toe-curling kiss.
“Yes,” I answered breathlessly. “If jealousy makes you kiss me like that, then you should stay that way.”
“Then consider me your personal green-eyed monster.” He kissed me again.
“If you keep that up, we’re never going to make it to Captain Moe’s,” I said.
“Okay, okay,” he said, with a laugh. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yep.” I got the muffin basket. “Lead the way.”
As he opened the car door for me, and I slid onto the seat, I asked, “Is Audrey Dalton seeing anyone?”
Ted frowned. “I have no idea. Why?”
“I think she and Todd would make a good couple.”
He shook his head and closed the door. When he got into the car, he asked, “Do you honestly think matchmaking is such a swell idea?”
I shrugged. “Manu and Reggie probably think it is.”
“But Sadie and Blake—not so much,” said Ted.
* * *
There were several cars in front of the Cantor house when Ted and I arrived. Given Adam’s reputation, I was surprised so many people were on hand to offer their condolences; but I supposed some were there for Mary and Melanie.
When we walked in, Mary’s friend Susan—the one who was in the domestic abuse victims’ class and who’d been into the shop yesterday—was sitting beside Mary on the sofa.
Susan rose and took the muffin basket from me. “Thank you, Marcy. I’ll put these with the other gifts and cards.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to say good-bye to you before you left the Seven-Year Stitch yesterday.”
“That’s all right,” she said. “I’ll stop in again sometime soon.”
As Susan took the basket in the direction of the kitchen, I sat down beside Mary. “How are you?”
“I think we’re all still kinda in shock.” She shook her head slowly. “It’s just so hard to believe.”
Ted stooped down beside me and spoke softly to Mary. “I want you to know the Tallulah Falls Police Department is doing everything possible.”
“Thank you.”
Adam chose that particular moment to stagger over to the sofa. Even three feet away from the guy, I could smell the alcohol on his breath.
“Police are doing everything, huh?” Adam asked, his words slurring. “Everything to find the killer or everything to frame me? Heard you people asked around at work . . . wanted to make sure I was where I said I was. You think I murdered my own father?”
Unfortunately, Melanie was going from her room to the kitchen and overheard Adam’s last question. She came into the living room, her small face pinched with sorrow and confusion, her mouth agape.
She looked from her father to her mother. “Is that true? W-was Grandpa . . . ? Did somebody kill him?”
Mary rose and went to hug her daughter.
“Mom, is it true?” Melanie asked, pushing away.
Mary nodded and then rushed after Melanie when she fled the room sobbing.
Adam pointed to Ted and me. “You needa go.” He lowered his arm. “Done caused enough trouble.” He turned and headed for the hallway.
“Do you think they’ll be all right?” I asked Ted.
Susan had returned and had overheard my question. “I’ll see to it that they are,” she said. “I won’t leave until Adam has passed out, and I’ll call the cops if he gets violent.”
“Thank you,” Ted said. He looked at me. “We should go.”
I nodded. “Susan, please, let us know if the Cantors need anything or if there’s anything we can do.”
On the drive to Captain Moe’s, Ted was beating himself up over the incident at the Cantor home.
“If I hadn’t said anything to Mary, Adam wouldn’t have mouthed off and Melanie wouldn’t have found out the truth about her grandfather’s death,” he said. “At least, she wouldn’t have found out that way.”
“Ted, you were only trying to offer assurances to Mary. It isn’t your fault Adam is a drunken idiot.” I paused. “He accused the police department of trying to frame him. Does that mean there’s a pretty strong case against him?”
“You know I’m not at liberty to say,” Ted said. “We’re investigating all the possibilities.”
“Off the record?”
He sighed. “Off the record, Adam has no solid alibi for the time of the murder. But I have a hard time believing he did it. I mean, I was there when he was told of his father’s death. He looked genuinely shocked.”
“So you don’t feel Mary and Melanie are in any danger?” I asked.
“Sweetheart, they’ve been in danger for years. But at least now Adam knows he’s being watched, and maybe that will temper his actions.”
“Okay. Let’s try to put the Cantors out of our minds for a while and enjoy ourselves,” I said, as Ted pulled into a parking space at Captain Moe’s.
“I’m all for that.” He shut off the engine and gave me a quick kiss before we got out of the car.
Captain Moe came to greet us as soon as we entered the diner. A bear of a man with a shock of white hair and a matching beard, he was as jovial as any Santa Claus ever depicted. He kissed my cheek and held out his hand to Ted. Ted had to let go of my hand to shake Captain Moe’s.
“Oh, ho, ho!” Captain Moe laughed and winked at me. “I sense a change in the air.” He put an arm around each of us and led us to a booth by a window. “Will the two of you be sharing a large plate of spaghetti like those Disney lovebirds?”
“We’re not Lady and the Tramp!” I said in mock annoyance.
“No, my wee Tinkerbell, and I should be ashamed for likening you to a dog,” Captain Moe said.
“We’re more like Beauty and the Beast,” Ted said.
Captain Moe put his fists on his hips. “You’d best not be calling my niece’s godmother a beast, Detective Nash, or else I’ll throw you out of my fine establishment!”
We all laughed, and then I asked Captain Moe how his niece, Riley, and her baby daughter, Laura, were doing.
“They’re doing well. Riley is dreading her return to work next week, but I don’t know why—she’s taking Laura right along with her. They’ve put a bassinette in the office.”
“That’s terrific,” I said. “I’ll have to drop in for a visit.”
“Riley would like that,” Captain Moe said. He turned to Ted. “Sad business about Chester Cantor.”
A gaunt man of about fifty was walking past and stopped upon hearing Captain Moe’s comment. “Chester Cantor? What happened to him?”
A flicker of irritation flashed across Captain Moe’s broad face at the interruption before he turned and addressed the man. “Chester died yesterday, Ed.”
“I’m real sorry to hear that.” Ed wrinkled his brow. “I’d spoken with Chester not more than two weeks ago about helping him find some treasure he was looking for.”
“What sort of treasure?” I asked.
Ed shrugged. “I dunno. Treasure he thought came from a ship called the Delia that sunk—oh, I reckon about two hundred years or more ago. He even showed me what he thought was a map pointing out where he believed the treasure was located.”
“He had a map?” I asked.
Ed shook his head. “It wasn’t a map in any real sense of the word. It looked like something somebody had embroidered.”
“You mean, like a tapestry,” I said.
“That’s what he called it. It didn’t look like any treasure map I’d ever seen.” Ed shrugged as if he were an authority on treasure maps. “Poor old Chester. . . . He was desperate. And desperate people will do just about anything to get what they want.” He clapped Captain Moe on the back. “See ya, Moe.”
“Good-bye, Ed,” Captain Moe said as Ed wandered off. He looked back at Ted and me. “Sorry for the intrusion.”
“No problem,” I said. “Do you think it’s possible Chester Cantor’s tapestry was a treasure map?”
“I imagine anything’s possible, Tink,” Captain Moe said. “But I think it’s more likely that Chester was merely chasing rainbows like Ed said. Now, if he’d been looking for the lost Ramsey party gold, Sir Francis Drake’s cache, or even the buried pirate treasure that was never fully recovered, then I might’ve taken this map talk more seriously. But I don’t know of a single Oregonian—besides Chester—who ever thought there was any treasure to be found in the wreckage of the Delia.”
“I really need to brush up on my Oregon history and find out more about all these treasures,” I said with a grin.
After Captain Moe took our orders and went back to the counter, Ted arched his brow at me.
“What?” I asked.
He did a really lousy impression of my voice. “‘He had a map? Was it a tapestry?’”
“First of all, I sound nothing like that,” I said. “And, two, we needed to find out more about what this Ed person knows about Chester and his map. I think he might be protesting a little too much about his belief that Chester’s map was bogus. We should find out if he has an alibi for the time of Chester’s murder.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Chief.”
“Very funny.”
“That’s who you sounded like to me,” Ted said, spreading his hands. “I think we’d better put this investigation on the back burner—the way somebody suggested—and enjoy our date.”
Chapter Nine
Sunday was only a slightly overcast day, and since rain was forecast for the coming week, Ted and I took Angus to the beach. The two had already tired me out with their running, ball playing, and Frisbee tossing. I was stretched out on a lounge chair, watching them romp in the foamy waves, when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw that it was Riley Kendall—Captain Moe’s niece, new mom, and attorney extraordinaire.
I answered the call, “How does a busy woman like you find time to phone a lazy beach bum like me?”
“Au contraire, you’ve been pretty busy from what I hear.”
I laughed. “Somebody’s a tattletale.”
“Uh-huh. Uncle Moe told me at church this morning that you and Ted are officially a couple,” she said. “It’s about time, is all I can say. You make a great team, and I believe you’ll be happy together.”
“Thank you,” I said. “While I’ve got you on the phone, did you know Chester Cantor?”
“No, but Dad represented Adam on assault and destruction of personal property charges a few years back.” Riley’s dad, Norman Patrick, was formerly her law partner. He was currently serving time in a minimum-security prison for real estate fraud. “Adam got into a fight at the Brew Crew. He put one man in the hospital and totally trashed Todd’s pub.”
“I’d heard something about that,” I said. “Sadie thinks Adam is meaner than a cobra with a toothache.”
She chuckled. “I don’t know that I’d go that far, but I do think Adam has an explosive temper.”
“Would you imagine him being capable of murdering his father?” I asked.
“I’m not sure.” She paused. “I don’t think he’d do it on purpose—certainly not premeditated—but if he was angry enough, he might snap and not realize what he’d done until it was too late.”
“That’s why I’m so scared for his wife and daughter,” I said.
Ted waved to me before Angus loped up to him and nearly knocked him down. I stifled a giggle and told Riley I’d stop by to see her and the baby sometime this week.
She warned me to be careful where Adam was concerned. “You don’t want that man’s anger directed at you.”
I promised to be extra cautious but stopped short of promising to stay out of Adam’s business. If Mary or Melanie needed my help, I wouldn’t hesitate to offer it. After ending the call, I dropped my phone into my beach tote and hurried to join Ted and Angus at the water’s edge.
* * *
The weather was dreary, but my mood was sunny as I opened the door to the Seven-Year Stitch Monday morning. As I parked my dripping umbrella in the cast-iron stand and then hung my jacket in the office, Angus sniffed around until he’d found the Kodiak bear chew toy Vera had brought him a few weeks ago. He took the bear over to the window and began gnawing on its head.
“Jill, you’re looking gorgeous as always,” I said to the smiling mannequin. “I hope you had as good a weekend as Angus and I did.”
I made sure all the bins and shelves were tidy and well stocked, and then I sank onto one of the red club chairs to work on Mom’s Fabergé Easter egg. I hadn’t stitched two full rows before she called me. Sometimes I believe that woman is psychic.
“Hey, Mom. I was just thinking about you.”
“Were you? Or were you thinking of someone more . . . I don’t know . . . tall, dark, and handsome?” She spoke in a Mae West–inspired drawl that made me laugh.
“I really was thinking about you . . . and Easter.”
“Maybe you and Ted could visit for Easter,” she said. “Or maybe we could at least meet halfway or something. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Mom.”
“All right, let’s snap out of that before we get all sappy and maudlin. I called to see how your weekend went. Was it wonderful?”
“For the most part. Ted is dreamy. I’m so glad I decided to trust him with my heart. He even cooks!”
“Do tell.”
I elaborated on the delicious meal he’d made us on Friday evening.
“You said your weekend was wonderful for the most part,” she recalled, after saying that the dinner sounded scrumptious. “What wasn’t so great about it?”
“Well, first, I ran into Todd at MacKenzies’ Mochas after work Saturday,” I said. “That was a little tough, but at least, I feel like we
might be able to salvage our friendship.”
“That’s good. What about Sadie? Has she come around?” Mom asked.
“I haven’t spoken with her since Friday.”
“Do you think she’s still upset? I mean, that’s pretty extreme, don’t you think?”
“It is extreme,” I agreed. “I know she’s close to Todd, but she and I have been best friends since college. And it’s not like Ted is Adam Cantor.” I told Mom about Adam throwing Ted and me out of his home Saturday night after we’d taken over the muffin basket and how—thanks to his angry outburst—Melanie found out her grandfather hadn’t peacefully died in his sleep but had been murdered. “Plus, I spoke with Riley yesterday morning, and she’s convinced Adam could’ve killed his father in a fit of rage.”
“But that doesn’t mean he did, love. Nor does it mean that he’ll kill his wife and daughter.”
“I get that, Mom. I do. But it still doesn’t keep me from worrying about Mary and Melanie.”
“What about the treasure map angle? Isn’t there still the possibility that someone came into the home to steal the map and then killed Chester? Or has that been ruled out?”
“I don’t think anything has been ruled out at this point,” I said. “Plus, the deeper I dig on the subject of Oregon coast treasure, the more legends and speculations I turn up. So maybe that is what happened.”
“What’s your intuition telling you on this one?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “I’m clueless.”
“Oh, come on, now, my Nancy Drew. There are always clues. You’ll find them.”
“I hope so. Gotta run, Mom. A customer just came in. I’ll talk with you again later.”
“Be careful,” she said. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
When my customer took off her rain hat, I could see that she was Mary’s friend Susan.
I smiled. “Good morning. Thanks for braving the weather to stop in. May I get you a cup of coffee?”
“No, thanks,” she said, shrugging out of her slicker. “I can’t stay too awfully long. I only wanted to give you an update on Mary and Melanie.”
