by Jessica Beck
“Not exactly. I was just about ready to ask you for a few days off myself. I’ve been working on a new glaze in my pottery studio that I think is going to be a real winner this time.” Skip was constantly trying to come up with new ways to make money, often by making crafty objects that he tried selling in our shop. I’d given him a shelf in the store, but so far, he hadn’t found a way to turn much of a profit on it.
“I’m afraid that it’s going to have to wait until we get back,” I said.
“Fine. Sure. I’d be happy to do it. Does that mean that I get a bump in pay?” he asked me with a grin, which told me that he was going to be fine with the idea.
I mentioned a sum, and his eyes brightened. “Per hour?”
“No, that’s the total amount for the entire time we’re gone.” The lights in his gaze dimmed a little, so maybe I should sweeten the pot a little. “How about if we give you an extra shelf to sell more of your wares as well? It might give you a little more incentive to work hard.”
“Two shelves isn’t that much better than one. Do you have anything else you can offer?”
“How about keeping your job? Isn’t that incentive enough?” I asked him with a smile.
“Four shelves,” he countered.
“Two,” I said, holding fast to my original offer.
“Can you at least go to three?”
I had to laugh. “Fine. But I get to pick the shelves,” I said. We walked through the store, and I found enough items we could consolidate to make more room for him to expand his footprint. “This is temporary, remember?”
“What if my offerings outsell what’s already there?” he asked.
“We’ll increase your space if you do well enough, but you’d better not start hard-selling our clientele, or you’ll lose what you’ve got.”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t dream of doing that,” he said.
“Because our customers would complain about it as soon as we got back to the Iron?” I asked him with a laugh.
“They wouldn’t even wait that long. They’d call you while you were still out of town,” he agreed. “No strong-arm tactics. It will be a fair test. You can trust me.”
I put an arm around him. “Don’t you think I know that? After all, I’m trusting you with something I love dearly. I know you won’t let me down.”
“You bet I won’t,” my young employee answered. “You can count on me.”
At least that was taken care of.
As the workday came to a close, I was surprised to see Kathleen come into the Iron.
I had to guess that Annie had already updated her on our plans.
So why was she there?
“Hey,” I said noncommittally as I finished cashing out the register. I still needed to pack for the trip, and we had a long drive ahead of us, so I wasn’t in the mood for small talk, especially with my older sister.
Kathleen reached into her pocket and pulled out a white kerchief, which she proceeded to wave in the air in front of my face. “How about a truce? I come in peace.”
It was hard to resist, but I was still angry with her for holding out on us about Della. “I’m sorry, but I can’t just forgive and forget that easily.”
“I understand,” she said. I hated it when she was reasonable with me. It made arguing with her that much harder. “Take your time. How about now?” she asked after a brief pause.
“Kathleen, if you tell me you did it for my own good, I’m going to scream,” I said.
“I wouldn’t think of it. This was all about Aunt Della’s wants and needs. The truth is she was afraid to face you and Annie.”
“Why would she be scared of us? You’re the most terrifying one of the three of us, by far.”
My older sister grinned. “As much as I appreciate the compliment, it’s not entirely true. I may be able to face down criminals, but when it comes to family issues, you and Annie are much scarier than I could ever be.”
“Kathleen, do you honestly believe her? Is her life really in jeopardy?” I asked, deciding that I was projecting my anger at the wrong family member.
“She sounded pretty convincing to me,” my older sister said. “You two need to watch your backs while you’re up there, okay? In Maple Crest, you know just about all of the players, but you’ll be on strange turf up there, and danger could come from a direction that you least expect.”
“You sound as though you’re having second thoughts about sending Aunt Della to us.”
Kathleen frowned. “I called my friend after we spoke, but he and his wife were on their way out of town. It appears that they have family problems of their own they need to deal with.”
“Sounds like there’s a lot of that going around,” I said. “Any idea as to how we approach this thing with Aunt Della?”
“Try to get as many hard facts as you can, and go from there. I don’t have to tell you two how to snoop around. You’ve become pretty proficient at it. Just be careful, okay?”
Her compliment was unexpected, and it was evident that she was concerned about us. To her surprise, I leaned forward and hugged her. “Thanks for caring so much.”
“I try,” she said, holding onto me a split second longer than I’d expected. When we broke our hug, I could see that she was smiling. “Have you told your girlfriend that you’re leaving town suddenly?” she asked me.
“I don’t know if we’re at that stage yet,” I said.
“What, keeping her informed of your whereabouts?”
“No, officially calling her my girlfriend. To answer your question, Jenna knows that we’re going,” I said. As a matter of fact, I’d called her at the same time Annie had been phoning Della.
“What did she say to that?”
“She just told me to be careful,” I said.
“How about Annie? Has she made that call herself?”
I grinned at Kathleen. “Why would Annie call Jenna?”
“I’m talking about Timothy, and you know it.”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to close up for the day, pack a bag, and hit the road.”
“Call me if you need me,” Kathleen said as she took the hint and headed for the door.
“You bet,” I said.
“On second thought, let me know when you get there.”
I saluted. “Will do, but we’ll never be able to leave if you keep hanging around here,” I said with a grin. “Don’t you want to say good-bye to Annie?”
Kathleen shook her head. “There’s no need. We already had a nice long chat on the phone.”
I glanced back to see my twin grinning at both of us. There was no doubt in my mind that she’d urged Kathleen to come by so we could patch things up before we left, and I would have resented her meddling if I hadn’t been so happy that she’d done it. I hated being at odds with either of my siblings.
At least now I could leave town with a clear conscience.
CHAPTER 2: ANNIE
“Are you responsible for what just happened?” my brother, Pat, asked me as he walked back to the grill. I was cleaning up my cast iron pots and skillets that I’d used that day, giving them light coats of oil and then putting them into the ovens at low heat to help the metal absorb more of the oil that kept the seasoning intact. It had become a ritual as ingrained in me as brushing my teeth every morning after breakfast. I knew that if I took care of my ironware, it would last long after I was gone.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, feigning ignorance. Why did he even have to ask? Of course I’d told Kathleen that she had to come over after hearing about Pat’s reaction to Della’s news. My brother could be pigheaded at times, which proved that we weren’t twins in every way, no matter what anybody else might say about my own stubborn streak.
“Annie, the truth.”
“Of course I told her to come by, Pat. You can’t hold it against Kathleen. It wasn’t her fault.”
My brother looked at me skeptically. “Do you mean to tell me t
hat you’re not upset?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “I hate the idea that someone may actually be trying to kill our aunt.”
“I’m talking about Kathleen being in contact with Aunt Della all of this time without telling either one of us about it,” Pat said as he sat at the bar where I normally served my customers.
“I’m sure she had her reasons,” I said. In all honesty, I’d been a little miffed when I’d first heard about it, but those feelings had quickly been overcome by what Aunt Della had told me about her situation. She hadn’t gone into great detail, but it was clear that she was afraid for her life. If Pat and I could help her, I didn’t see any way that we could decline the request.
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I just seem to be having trouble getting past everything,” Pat said. “Have you told Timothy what we’re doing yet?”
“I gave him the news, but I’m not exactly sure that he heard me,” I said with a smile.
“Is he being distracted by his construction project? How’s the cabin coming along?” Pat asked me. My boyfriend, Timothy, had bought land next to mine, and with the proceeds from a windfall too detailed to get into, he’d used the money to put up a cabin of his own. It had become an obsession with him, and with me as well, since I also chose to live in a cabin in the woods. My brother preferred living in town, though how he handled living in an apartment above the store was beyond me. I needed space around me, room to breathe, and a chance to get away from being constantly reminded of work, but to each her own. It seemed to work for him, but it would have driven me mad.
“It’s right on course,” I said. “He’s hoping to start stacking logs this week.”
“Wow, that’s real progress,” Pat said. “Are you okay with missing that?”
“It’s not ideal,” I confessed, “but what choice do we have?”
“I just hope this isn’t some wild-goose chase,” Pat said.
“Do you think that’s possible?” I asked.
“Annie, what are the odds that someone is really trying to kill our aunt? What could the motivation possibly be?”
“I don’t know, but she sounded pretty convincing to me on the phone.”
“I know,” Pat said with a sigh. “I’ll have the deposit ready in ten minutes. How long will you need before we get out of here?”
“I’m just about finished. Don’t worry about directions to her place. She gave me pretty detailed instructions,” I said as I reached over and turned the ovens off. The pots, skillets, and lids would all cool there overnight and be ready for use the next day. I jotted a quick note to Lindsey to that effect, since I’d already called her three times with further instructions. What it boiled down to was that I either trusted her, or I didn’t. It was just harder than I’d thought it would be leaving my precious grill to someone else, even if it was only for four days max.
“Okay. Should we take your car or my truck?” Pat asked me.
“Why don’t you follow me out to my place, and we can leave your truck there until we get back?” I suggested.
“That sounds like a lot of trouble to me. You could always go home and pack a bag, then drive back here and pick me up. I need to finish up a few things around here and then run out and make the deposit. Go grab some stuff and meet me back here.”
“Coward,” I said with a grin. “You just don’t want to tackle my driveway.”
“I’m not denying it,” he said with a grin of his own. “That road is treacherous.”
“It’s cute that you think it’s a road,” I said. “I prefer to think of it more as a beaten path.”
“And not a very beaten one at that,” he said. “On second thought, would you mind dropping off the deposit for me? It’s on your way.”
“No worries, little brother. I’ll handle it,” I said.
Five minutes later, I’d stopped off at the bank and was on my way home to pack enough clothes for four days. It would be strange seeing Aunt Della again. I wasn’t even sure that I’d be able to recognize her. After all, Pat and I had been small children the last time she’d been in our lives. We had a lot of catching up to do, but this wasn’t just some kind of awkward family reunion.
We were going with a purpose in mind, and that was to see if someone was actually trying to kill our estranged aunt.
“Howdy, stranger. Climb on in,” I said as I pulled my Subaru up in front of the Iron to pick Pat up. “Going far?”
“Tell me you don’t usually pick up hitchhikers,” my brother said as he leaned in through the open passenger’s-side window.
“Not as a general rule, but you look harmless enough,” I said as he opened the back and threw his bag in the back seat. As we headed north toward Gateway Lake, I asked him, “Do you have any ideas about how we should tackle this situation?”
“Not really. Don’t forget, I’ve had just as much notice about this mess as you have,” he said a little grumpily.
I wasn’t about to put up with that for the next two hours. I waited until his attention was distracted by his cellphone at the same time that the road was clear, and I jerked the Subaru’s steering wheel so that we would be directly in oncoming traffic, if there had been any. I returned the wheel to its proper place just as abruptly, and Pat involuntarily yelped out a little. “Annie, what just happened?”
“Squirrel,” I said, doing my best to keep a straight face.
“Well, next time, give me some warning,” he said as he looked back over his shoulder for the nonexistent bushy-tailed rodent.
“Hey, he didn’t let me know that he was going to dart in front of me at the last second, so how could I tell you?”
“Was there even a squirrel back there?”
“Who’s to say it isn’t true, just because you might not have seen him,” I said. “Now that I have your attention though, I want to say something. Are you listening, or do I have to suddenly dodge something again to get it?”
“I knew there wasn’t any squirrel in the road,” he said.
“Pat, you have my blessing to fuss and fume for the next ninety-seven seconds, but after that, I expect you to get over your fit of pique once and for all. Your time starts,” I paused to wait for the clock on my dash to change over to the next minute before I continued, “now.”
“That’s not fair. You have no way of knowing precisely when my time is up,” he said with a grin.
“Is that really how you want to use your free complaint time?” I asked him, smiling back.
“I don’t need it,” he said after sighing deeply. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises. I can’t seem to let this go.” I was about to crow over his confession that I’d been right, and he knew it, so he quickly added, “It was bound to happen sooner or later, so don’t gloat about it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doing that,” I said, trying my best not to laugh out loud. “Now that we’ve settled that once and for all…” I paused as I glanced over in his direction. “We have settled it for good, right?”
“I said that I’d try,” he said. “I don’t know what else I can say.”
“That’s all that I can ask, that you make an effort. We need a strategy.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Pat said, “and I believe we have to treat this as though it’s a case that doesn’t involve someone we’re so closely related to. First, we need to establish if Della is lying to us, if she’s simply mistaken, or if she’s correct in believing that someone is trying to kill her.”
“Why did you put the idea up that she might be telling the truth last?” I asked him. “Is there some significance to the order?”
“Now you’re just sounding paranoid.”
“Hey, sometimes paranoid people are right. Sometimes there really is someone out to get them.”
“I promise you that I’m going to keep an open mind, but just because she’s family doesn’t mean that we have to take her word for everything.”
“You sound like Ronald Reagan.
Trust but verify, right?”
“That was a little before our time, wasn’t it?” Pat asked me.
“Sure, but I can read. Can’t you?”
He grimaced a little. “This is turning out to be a fun field trip, isn’t it?” he commented sarcastically.
“It has potential,” I said. I was glad that Pat was going to try to get back to his old self. I just hoped he could manage it once we met or, more appropriately, caught up with Aunt Della again. I loved my brother more than life itself, but he could drive me batty sometimes. I was sure that he could say the same thing about me, and who knows? We were probably both right. He might have been reluctant to get involved with our estranged aunt again, but I had to fight the temptation to drive to Gateway Lake even faster than the speed limit allowed. There was a great deal I’d missed by not having her in my life, and I for one was eager to make up for lost time. That was why it was so imperative for us to make sure that she was safe. I knew that Pat would do his best as well to solve the case, at any rate. After all, deep down, he was a good guy. How could he not be? We were fraternal twins, which wasn’t quite identical, but it was still a bond deeper than many siblings shared. “What do we do, start grilling her as soon as we arrive?”
“I’ll allow a little time for us all to get reacquainted,” he said magnanimously.
“How long?”
“Ninety-seven seconds sounds about right to me,” he replied with a smile.
“It’s going to take considerably longer than that.”
“That’s fine, but just remember, every minute we’re not trying to get to the truth is potentially another minute that her life is in danger.”
“When you put it that way, I have a hard time disagreeing.”
“Don’t you just love when that happens?” he asked as his smile reappeared.
“Not so much, but I’ll let that one slide. So, we say our hellos, then we dig straight into her suspicions and see where they lead us. It’s not much of a plan, as far as plans go, is it?”
Pat just shrugged. “I know it’s not perfect. That’s why I’m open to suggestions.”
