“It helps to talk about it,” Spencer whispered.
I jumped up to go check on my clothes, although I knew not much time had passed for the machine to complete its cycle. I didn’t want to talk about my foolishness. The front door opened. Someone had placed a cowbell above it, and the hollow clank seemed appropriate to the location. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl started in. They carried nothing in their hands, and as far as I had seen, there were no clothes left unattended in in any of the machines. The couple spotted Spencer. Their eyes widened in alarm, and they backed out in a hurry. Spencer walked past me, headed toward the exit.
“Where are you going?” I called out.
“Always on the job.”
“But…”
He disappeared through the exit, and I debated whether I wanted to follow. Fortunately, I recalled I was not a cop and did not interfere in their affairs. While Spencer was gone, his clothes finished their cycle, but I left them in the machine. Not because I didn’t want to help him out, but because I was not applying for the job of his new girlfriend.
After a few minutes, Spencer returned, and curiosity got the better of me. “Were they up to something?”
“Looking for a place to make out.”
“And you said?”
He grinned. “I didn’t make suggestions, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I laughed, liking his sense of humor, and once again we fell in to a comfortable routine of washing, drying, and folding laundry. When we were done, Spencer helped me load my clothes into my car, and even though I told him it wasn’t necessary, he followed me home in his squad car. Just what I needed for someone up at that hour spotting the sheriff at my place.
He hoisted my two tall baskets like they were nothing and transported them to my door. As usual, music drifted down the stairs from Talia’s apartment to mine. Spencer raised his eyebrows at me, and I shook my head. I unlocked my apartment door, and he walked in after me to set the baskets down.
“If that music is bothering you,” he said, “I can go up and ask her to turn it down.”
“No, it’s fine. She always knows when I come home at night. Trust me it will go— See, there it goes.”
He frowned, unconvinced. “The other neighbors shouldn’t be disturbed.”
I sighed and patted his arm. Corded muscle tensed beneath my touch, and I was tempted to linger, but I drew away. “Here’s a chance for you to learn something else about me, sheriff.”
“What’s that?”
“This building houses all elderly people. My immediate neighbor across the hall on this level and the one on the upper level with Talia are both deaf. That’s probably why Talia is used to being able to blast her exercise videos at all hours.”
His eyes widened. “Talia as in…”
“Yes, Ollie Sandstone’s fiancée.”
“And these are exercise videos she’s playing?”
I laughed, enjoying giving him a nice mental visual of Talia in her exercise garb. “Yes, I think sometimes she uses them just to hear the music. She’s got a lot of seventies and eighties stuff, so the music is quite enjoyable.”
He winced.
“I work a lot too,” I assured him, “but Talia isn’t so bad. I like the older ladies. They’re very sweet, and when I first moved in, they brought me lots of pie and cakes. That part wasn’t so good for my waistline.”
“You look fine to me.” His gaze skittered over my body, and I felt heat in my cheeks. All of a sudden he stood so near, I smelled the laundry detergent, which must have gotten on his hands. He smelled delicious, and I was tempted to step into his arms to see where we might take this little flirtation. Good thing common sense prevailed, and I stepped back a pace.
“Um, thanks for your help, sheriff.”
“Do you call me Spencer when you feel safe?”
I glanced up at him. He was still too close for my equilibrium. “Safe?”
He didn’t explain, but I knew what he meant. Raising my chin and pretending that moment between us never happened, I croaked, “Spencer, thank you for your help.”
He nodded and turned to leave, but I couldn’t help calling after him. His gaze met mine. I shivered because I had the feeling he saw right through me. “Yes?”
“Why did you come here? Why didn’t you stay in your old home town where you must have had family and friends?”
He studied me for a few silent moments. “Why did you leave New York? The charges were dropped, and your brother-in-law is serving a life sentence.”
I licked my lips, tying to formulate an answer. He strode over to me and touched my shoulder. To my surprise, it wasn’t the touch of a man attracted to a woman, but more an understanding friend. The realization threw me off a little but also drew me closer and made me want to know him better.
“I loved her very much,” he said. “We were together since high school, and at the same time, I guess I was comfortable. When we decided to divorce, I gave up everything, the house, the car, the money, the servants.”
I blinked in disbelief. Servants?
“I suppose you could say I was being stubborn too. I am a man. I wanted to provide for her, but that wasn’t the place I held in her life. Maybe that’s why I worked so much. Who knows. Anyway, I made a clean break, and now I’m here.”
“Do you feel like you made the right decision?”
“That remains to be seen.” He shrugged and headed for the door. “After all, I have a murder to solve.”
“Will you leave if you don’t solve it?”
He flashed that smile I was coming to enjoy, but a little voice in my head told me he still loved his ex-wife. I knew better than to care about a man who wasn’t available. I had learned that the hard way.
“Failure isn’t acceptable. Good night, Makayla.”
“Good night, Spencer.”
And he was gone.
* * * *
Pounding in my head started as soon as I grew closer to consciousness. My eardrums pulsed, my head throbbed, and it seemed like the room vibrated. No, wait, that was just Talia. This time her music was worse, louder, and more grating. I couldn’t understand why she felt the need to drive me crazy when she had been considerate when I moved in. Unless I was already losing my marbles, Talia had cranked her videos as high as they would go. Now, peeping through one eye at my bedside clock to check the time, I regretted not allowing Spencer to reprimand Talia.
Enough was enough. I thrust aside my sheet and swung my feet to the floor. After throwing on a robe made of terry cloth, which I used only for that time of the month when the need for comfort skyrocketed, I left my apartment and charged up the stairs to the second floor.
I banged on Talia’s door. “Talia?”
No answer. I banged again and called her name. Still nothing. Worry stirred in me, and I began to wonder if the murderer had struck again. Talia was also very old. Perhaps she was in trouble and needed help. What should I do? Should I call the apartment manager or Spencer? The sheriff was out. He might have given me his personal cell phone number, but if I overreacted to this situation and called him, well, I’d look like a fool. I didn’t want to do nothing either.
As I stood there debating, the door leading to the street opened, and Brandon appeared. He looked up and spotted me then hesitated, holding a couple packages. Was I suspected now of hanging out waiting to nose through other people’s deliveries?
“Hello, Brandon,” I called. “I was trying to reach Talia, but she’s not answering. I’m starting to get a little worried.”
Brandon opened his mouth to answer, but Talia’s door banged open, and there appeared the tiny old woman, dressed from her headband to her slippered feet in shades of purple. “Brandon, there you are!” Talia declared. “You’re on time for once! Oh, good morning, Makayla. You really should take more care when you dress in the morning.”
I let out a tiny squeak of annoyance because at that moment, it was all I could manage. Outrage muted me. She knew I was at the door and ignor
ed me. In fact, I suspected, she never would have come to the door at all had she not heard me speak to Brandon. Unless Talia’s ears were supersonic, she had probably been right behind the door the whole time.
I tried to see beyond her into her apartment while she stood out on the landing. A room divider set a few feet back from the entrance blocked the entire apartment from view, except for a small square of what looked like a throw rug set atop the wall-to-wall carpet. The bright pink design of the rug was indecipherable from my angle.
“Oh good, these are what I was waiting for,” Talia said. “Ollie will love them.”
All kinds of bad thoughts popped into my head, but I dismissed them.
I turned to face Talia as she tapped the electronic screen of the device Brandon held as she signed her name. When I met the younger man’s eyes, curiosity gleamed back at me. So he wondered, too, but he said nothing.
“Talia, your music woke me up this morning,” I complained when she gathered her boxes, one under each arm. “Please, can you keep it down until a reasonable hour?”
“Well I saw that the sheriff was gone when I woke up this morning,” she said with too much cheer in her voice. “I assumed you were awake, dear. I didn’t figure you might be too tired and need a little longer to sleep in.”
My jaw hit the floor, and Brandon’s face exploded with color. He pivoted on his heel and jetted for the door. “Wait!” I screamed after him, embarrassed. I ran down the steps, stumbling as I went and out to the street. Brandon’s long legs had taken him to his delivery truck and he was just slamming the door closed and firing up the engine when I reached it. My hand poised to knock on the sliding door, I halted and thought about what I felt I needed to say to him.
Now granted I was from New York, a highly populated city with tons of promiscuous and even just free-spirited people. There was nothing wrong with a man and a woman in this day and age choosing to sleep together when they had met recently or later when they had gotten to know each other. As consenting adults, who cared? The problem was the culture of Briney Creek. Everyone knew everyone else and their business. So while I believed in my viewpoint of sexuality, it did not translate to me wanting every citizen in Briney Creek talking about the day after I was suspected of murder, I had slept with the sheriff. The whole idea smacked of using my body to get out of trouble. Number one, I didn’t have that type of body, and two, it affronted both the sheriff’s integrity and mine.
Through the little window in the door, Brandon stared back at me as I looked at him. I came to the understanding that we had both overreacted to Talia’s meanness. He’d run as if he’d learned a secret that could get him killed, and I had chased after him as if I would do it. If anyone should be punished, it should that darn Talia, but I would give her a piece of mind when I walked back inside. I recalled that Brandon wouldn’t even discuss with me about the company name he might have seen on Talia’s packages. That had to do with not getting fired, but I believed he would keep his mouth shut about the sheriff. At least some people around here knew how to keep secrets.
The situation settled in my mind, I gave Brandon a wave and headed inside. No need to start any new rumors with the way I was dressed in my bare feet, hair a mess, teeth unbrushed, and engulfed in a bear of a robe. As I tiptoed over fallen branches on the sidewalk, I considered what Spencer would think of me if he saw me now. “You look fine to me,” he had said, and there had been a lot of meaning in those simple words.
Inside the apartment building, blessed silence reigned. I marched up to the second floor and banged on Talia’s door. This time she had to hear me. I waited, fairly vibrating in anger. She didn’t so much as stir, and when I pressed an ear to the door, I got nothing. I drew in a deep breath.
“Talia, if you can hear me, I will thank you not to spread false rumors about me and the sheriff.” The longer I spoke, the more my cheeks burned. “He didn’t stay the night at my apartment. I barely know him.”
The door popped open, and Talia’s crumpled, wrinkly face appeared. “I know that, dear! I’m not an idiot.”
I opened my mouth to respond, and the door clicked closed. I clenched my fists at my sides and grumbled. A sound behind me caught my attention, and I turned around.
“Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?” came the muffled voice of the neighbor opposite. I threw up my hands in defeat and stomped back down to my apartment. A donut with extra sprinkles or loads of glaze was what I needed, and the strongest cup of coffee Frank could produce.
After I had showered, brushed my teeth, and yanked a brush angrily through my tangled hair, I applied light makeup and dressed in a delicate peach blouse and a pair of slacks rather than jeans. I slipped my feet into pumps and prepared to leave the apartment. Only when I sat behind the wheel of my car did I realize that I had unconsciously dressed with the intention of visiting the sheriff that morning. I wouldn’t admit it to Talia under any circumstances, but if I did want to see Spencer on a personal level, I needed my name to be cleared first. What better way to make sure that happened then to be of assistance in his investigation? To sweeten the deal, I might even bring him some donuts and a cup of coffee. I didn’t know if he drank it, but it couldn’t hurt my cause. Good. The decision made, I started my car and headed out of the parking lot toward Main. Makayla Rose was a woman of action, and I would grab opportunity by the horns.
Chapter Five
I arrived at The Donut Hole at my usual time to find a line out the door. People stood around on the sidewalk chitchatting amongst themselves, but the small restaurant didn’t serve customers on the sidewalk. For one thing the “walk” wasn’t a walk at all but a lot for parking, just enough to slip in to grab a coffee and donut and to be on your way. I had heard Peony dreamed of setting up tables outside, but Frank didn’t feel it was safe, so the idea was scratched. Today, from what I could see as I stretched above the crowd, there just wasn’t any room to get inside.
“Is something going on?” I asked the person nearest me, a teenager with sloppy, dark hair that probably hadn’t seen a comb that morning. I had seen him visit with Inna previously. He had graduated the year before.
Randall, the teenager, turned annoyed eyes to me. “Frank asked me to come in and help out this morning since Inna has school, but I can’t even get in the door. I think they all just want to talk about the murder, and this is the best place to do it.”
He shrugged, and I looked back at him dumbfounded.
“I could be sleeping,” he complained. Must be nice to be young and have no responsibilities.
Slipping my cell phone from my purse, I said, “Maybe if we call…”
“What good will that do if they can’t hear over this racket?”
I raised an eyebrow at him, and he coughed to clear his throat, probably remembering that he bordered on rudeness. The line rang on the other end and I waited, a long time. On the fifth ring I began to think maybe he was right. Then Peony’s harassed voice came on the line. She sounded more haggard than usual. “The Donut Hole, Peony Trevor speaking. I’m sorry we’re not offering deliveries today. How else may I help you?”
They made deliveries? How hadn’t I known that? I’d have to keep it in mind. “Peony, this is Makayla. I have Randall outside, and he can’t get in. I understand Frank hired him for the morning to replace Inna.”
“Randall!” she shrieked, and I pulled the phone away from my ear, wincing. “We need him. I’m on the way!”
This was the most emotion I had ever seen, or rather heard, in the woman. I smiled at Randall and disconnected the call. “She’ll be right out.” The boy thanked me politely this time, and I waved a hand. I had every intention of following the two of them inside. My sneaking suspicion was that this knot of people were the usual in and outers. They formed a sort of line out of habit. I might have a better chance of finding a spot inside the restaurant like us regulars who sit and have a chat for a while. My thinking might have been wishful, but I would give it a try, especially since I wanted to show up at
the sheriff’s office with something to negotiate with.
I kept my gaze locked on the entrance to the restaurant, expecting to see Peony at any moment. To my surprise, she appeared at the side of the building in the alley. She waved to us and signaled for us to follow her. I shuffled behind Randall, and she hesitated. “You’re coming too, Makayla?”
“If you don’t mind,” I begged. “I promise I won’t get in the way. I’ll rush right through your back area to the restaurant. I’m not trying to get ahead of anyone. I’ll wait my turn.”
She gave me a skeptical look, which I took exception to. I was not so addicted to my daily donuts I would resort to forgetting my manners. Randall must have guessed my thoughts and snorted.
“Okay, come on,” Peony said, and I followed her.
The noise level in the restaurant outmatched the hubbub outside. Every table was crammed full with customers, and friends stood alongside many talking to the occupants. My hopes of finding a tiny little spot were dashed as even the counter was overcrowded. Elbows poked against sides as some of the more determined patrons squeezed in to shout an order to no one in particular. Two more young people worked in a blur behind the counter, and Frank hobbled back and forth before the stove, deep-frying as many donuts as he could to meet the demand. Were they all really here because of the murder?
“I think the bank manager did it,” someone said next to me, and I turned to find one of the elderly ladies who usually occupied a corner booth. Her pale blue eyes were bright with excitement.
“Excuse me?” I inquired, thinking she spoke to me.
A group of people to the old woman’s right began a sharp debate over her comment, and the little woman cackled with delight. She winked at me and moved along with the empty tray she carried. As I watched, she approached the counter. A space opened for her, and new donuts and more coffee were placed on the tray. Magical, I thought, and then recalled Talia was usually one of this group, Talia who was engaged to Ollie. Ollie, who knew everyone’s business. Guess it didn’t do to displease the ladies.
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