“I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you. Come on, let’s get you down to the kitchen and we’ll get you a cup of tea or something.”
“He’s really doing it? He’s cheating on me?”
“Yeah,” Michelle said softly, probably as kindly as she could. “I’m really sorry, Jordan.”
“No. I asked you to do this, and I wanted to know. I needed to know that he was doing it. So it’s true. Who is it?”
“I don’t think you want to know that. What her situation is doesn’t matter. What’s important is that Tom, the man you married, has broken his vows.”
“We should stab him.”
“I’m with you there, if that’s where you decide you want to go with this, but maybe for the moment let’s not make any rash decisions.”
“Someone should tell her she needs to stab him with a wooden stake,” Leanne muttered.
“You’re right,” Jordan said. “Of course, you’re right. I can’t believe it. Oh, Michelle, what am I going to do?”
“You’re going to have a cup of tea, and we’re going to talk about this, and you’re going to divorce the bastard. Then, when that’s all done, you can decide if you still want to stab him, and if you do, I’ll help.”
“Divorce?” Jordan said in a small voice. “Oh, Michelle, I don’t know if I can. What am I going to do? I haven’t lived on my own in twenty-five years. The kids are grown up and at college. What are they going to think?”
“They’re going to think that their dad is a cheating scumbag and that their mother is a strong, independent woman who’s better off without him,” Michelle replied firmly. “Now come on, drink this.”
There was the sound of slurping followed by sobbing. “I just can’t believe it. It’s really true. You saw it? With your own eyes?”
“I’m sorry, Jordan. I did. I took pictures, too, if you need them for the divorce. But I think otherwise there’s no need for you to see them.”
“Twenty-five years,” Jordan sobbed. “I can’t believe for twenty-five years I didn’t know what he was doing. I can’t believe I actually believed him when he pulled that insomnia crap. He told me it was from all the stuff he saw when he was a journalist in Iraq during the first Gulf War. Now I don’t even know if he was really there. Was anything he told me true? Was he going out and cheating on me for our whole marriage?”
“I don’t know,” Michelle said. “But right now, you need to come home with me, ok? I’m going to go upstairs and pack you a bag. Is there anything you really need?”
There came a bit more sobbing before Jordan replied. “All I needed was a man I could depend on, who was loyal to me.”
“Well, you still have time to find that man, but it wasn’t Tom,” Michelle said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. You stay here and drink your tea.”
I couldn’t help but feel bad for Jordan Jeffers. She had obviously been hit hard by this new revelation, and it was good she had a friend to help take care of her. Michelle ran past the office once more, and I could hear her rummaging through the items in the bedroom as she got Jordan a suitcase.
On the way back, however, Michelle came into the office, and I was fairly certain my blood went ice cold.
I grabbed Leanne’s hand, squeezing it for comfort while Michelle rummaged through the cabinets we had just been going through.
“Come on, there has to be proof he bought that house here somewhere,” she muttered. After a few minutes, however, she let out an exclamation of annoyance and left once more.
“We’re leaving, Jordan. Come on. My car is outside.” The two women headed off, and slowly their voices became quieter.
“They’re too far away for the spell now,” Aunt Lucy explained, and the three of us left the closet.
Aunt Lucy’s phone binged again, and she checked it, then rolled her eyes.
“Carmen wants us to know that Tom is leaving again.”
A second later, Leanne’s phone binged as well, and she checked hers. “Well, unfortunately, this time Tom actually is on his way home. Kaillie just texted, he’ll be here in two minutes. We have to get out of here.”
“Or we could stay and find out what he does when he sees his wife has left,” Aunt Lucy suggested.
Leanne and I shared a look. There was nothing I wanted more than to get out of here as fast as we could before Tom got home in a minute. But on the other hand, Aunt Lucy had a point. His wife leaving him might trigger Tom to be more vampire-like for a minute or two, which would give us proof that he was the killer.
“Why don’t we get out of here, and you let us know if he does anything vampire-like?” I offered. Aunt Lucy nodded.
“Works for me. I work better as a lone wolf anyway.”
“Try not to sic any tigers on him,” I suggested.
“You can’t tell me what to do; I make no promises.”
Leanne grabbed me by the arm and led me away before I could continue arguing with Aunt Lucy right as the sound of the garage door opening reached my ears. We really had to get out of here and fast.
Leaving by the back door, the two of us went into the woods, and I followed Leanne as she expertly led us right back to the road where we were able to walk freely back home without being spotted by anyone.
“So?” Kaillie asked when we walked through the door. “How did it go?”
“We watched a marriage burn to the ground right in front of us, but we didn’t find any actual proof that Tom is a vampire or that he killed Barry,” Leanne admitted. “How about you?”
“My eyes have seen things they can never unsee,” Kaillie replied. “I guess I’m an insomniac now, because there’s no way I’m ever going to get to sleep without the memory of seeing Tom Jeffers’s bare butt imprinted on my eyes.”
I laughed. “I guess you saw him with Iris, then?”
“How did you know she was the one he was cheating with?”
“Leanne found some emails between them,” I explained.
“Yeah. He went to her place, behind the nursery, and they got it on. Then he left. She started to cry when he went home; I think she wants more of a relationship than he was willing to give her.”
“Well, the man’s going to be single soon, going by what happened at the house. Jordan’s best friend Michelle followed Tom and got pictures of what went on between him and Iris. She packed up a suitcase for Jordan and the two of them left together.”
Kaillie let out a low whistle. “Wow, caught in the act. I think I saw Michelle. She’s blonde, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“She was sneaking around the nursery when the two of them were together. I didn’t pay her too much attention, but that makes sense in hindsight. So they’re going to get divorced?”
“Well, Jordan was a bit of a mess, understandably, but Michelle is pushing for her to leave Tom,” I explained. “I think she probably will do it. She suspected him of cheating, and she did want Michelle to get an answer for her. I think it might just take her a bit of time to realize that she can do it and she’ll make it on her own.”
Kaillie nodded. “That’s too bad. Anyway, I didn’t find any proof of Tom being a vampire. But then, I also don’t really know what we’re looking for.”
“No, me neither, and that’s a bit of a problem, isn’t it?” I asked, biting my lip. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. I suppose we may as well just get to sleep.”
Chapter 21
I woke up the next day still feeling like I’d been hit by a truck – luckily there were now only a few days left until Monday when I’d have a blissful day off – so as soon as the coffee machine was up and running, I made myself a latte.
I added some caramel syrup to it, thinking that I’d earned the little extra sweet treat, and happily sipped away while I waited for Janice to show up as the first customer of the day.
Right on cue, she appeared at the same time as she always did with her refillable cup at the ready. Her smiling face didn’t betray the fact that she’d alre
ady done an hour of yoga today.
“No morning session for you ladies today?” she asked cheerily, and I had to resist making a gagging sound.
“We had a late night last night,” Leanne replied with a laugh. “Maybe another time.”
“Whatever works best for your body is the right time,” Janice said. “If the early mornings aren’t right for you, then listen to your body. It knows what it’s doing.”
She gave us another smile and headed back out the door.
“My body wants to curl up into a ball and go to sleep for about a week and a half,” I said, and Leanne laughed.
“Well, for now you can have another cup of coffee. I don’t think we’re going to have a lull big enough for you to get away with having a nap under the counter today.”
“That’s too bad,” I replied. “Hopefully, if nothing else, it’ll be a pretty quiet day today.”
Boy was I not about to get what I wanted.
The next couple of hours were pretty normal as far as the coffee shop experience went. Aunt Debbie went to have her organizational day with Uncle Bob that had been ruined by Aunt Lucy a few days ago, leaving Leanne and me by ourselves at the front counter to deal with all the customers.
Kaillie was working on a new recipe for lemon raspberry cheesecake bars, and I could smell the sweet scent of cream cheese wafting over from the kitchen. I couldn’t wait for the first batch to be ready and cooled and for Kaillie to bring them out so we could have a taste and determine whether or not they were acceptable to sell to paying customers.
I had a sneaking suspicion they were going to be a new customer favorite pretty soon.
I was munching away on the first bar right as Leanne had gone to the back to tell Kaillie they were amazing and if she could start making them permanently, that would be best, when Sean Ingraham walked through the door.
He looked haggard, like he hadn’t slept in days. He was unshaven, his hair was messy and even had a couple of twigs in it, and even his clothes draped over him like they barely had the energy to hold their form.
“Hi, Sean,” I greeted him, and he managed a small smile.
“Hey, can I grab a large coffee to go? Two sugars.”
“Sure,” I said, taking the change he offered me and making my way to the machine to fill up his cup. “How are things going?”
“They’re ok,” he replied. “Didn’t have a great night last night, but what can you do? Coffee should help.”
He managed a grin at that, and I handed him his cup. “Here you go. Hope it gives you the energy boost you need.”
“Thanks,” he said, giving me a curt nod before heading back towards the door. He had just left when I saw a familiar face heading towards him. It was Ariadne Stewart, Aunt Lucy’s sworn enemy.
“Sean!” she shouted so loudly I could hear her from inside the store. “Sean Ingraham. How dare you show your face around town?”
Sean turned to look, as did all the people on Main Street and most of the people in the café.
“Uh-oh,” Leanne said as she made her way back. “What’s Ariadne up to?”
“Beats me, but I think we’re about to find out,” I replied.
Sean turned to look at her. “Hi, Ariadne.”
“You banned me from your Facebook group! I demand an explanation!”
Really? That was what Ariadne was mad about? That she got banned from a local political Facebook group? And she apparently thought that was worth causing a scene over. Yikes.
Sean sighed and took a sip of his coffee. “I already explained to you when I messaged you last night. You used a personal attack against one of our members, which goes against the group rules. You were warned once in the past for having done the same thing, and this time I had no choice but to boot you from the group. It’s a professional group for adults, and we don’t tolerate name-calling. Sorry. You’re not being allowed back in.”
Ariadne sputtered. “It wasn’t a personal attack!”
“You told Ingrid Huss that her husband was obviously sexually attracted to hippos since he married her and that was the best he could do while beastiality was still illegal.”
Leanne gasped. “Ingrid is in charge of the animal shelter here in town and is the absolute sweetest woman you could ever meet. I can’t believe Ariadne said that to her! That’s just awful.”
I turned back to the fight happening right outside our front door. “So? It wasn’t a personal attack. It was true.”
Sean sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t have time for this, Ariadne. As the moderator of the Facebook group, it’s my discretion who I accept as members, and if you can’t see why what you said was a personal attack, then you obviously don’t belong in the group anyway.”
He stepped to the side to walk past her, but Ariadne swung her hand up and hit the coffee cup right out of his hand. Hot coffee went flying everywhere, and at least four people in the coffee shop gasped.
In a moment of instant karma, however, most of it landed on Ariadne. She let out a screech as her white blouse and pants were stained with wet, brown coffee.
“What is wrong with you?” she cried, and Sean looked stupefied.
“What’s wrong with me? You’re the one who did this,” he said. “It’s your fault.”
“I didn’t realize the coffee was so hot! It burned me.”
“Well, if you hadn’t slapped it out of my hands, you wouldn’t be in this situation now, would you?”
“Now, you quiet down,” Ariadne snapped. “I know you weren’t at home the morning Barry was killed, because I came by your place right around then, and if you’re not careful, I’m going to tell the cops what I know.”
Sean’s face paled as he looked around. Everyone in the coffee shop, along with a dozen or so people outside who had stopped to watch the fight between the two, had to have heard what Ariadne just said.
“You don’t know anything, Ariadne,” Sean finally said, keeping his voice level.
“Oh, but I do. I know you weren’t at home the way you said. And if you don’t let me back into the Facebook group, I will tell the police what I know.”
“Do what you want,” Sean replied. “I’m not going to let you back in. That’s final.”
Ariadne was stewing mad and looked like she wanted to attack Sean when Aunt Lucy walked right up to them. “Why hello there, Ariadne. You’re looking like, well, a fresh pot of java today. Ok, maybe fresh was the wrong word.”
Ariadne muttered something under her breath and then stormed off, obviously not in the mood to take on Aunt Lucy today. She walked into the coffee shop while I quickly grabbed another cup of coffee and slipped a muffin in a bag and took them out to Sean.
“I saw what she did to your coffee,” I said. “Here’s a replacement. I hope you didn’t get too much of it on you.”
“Thanks,” he replied. “I appreciate it. And no, she caught the brunt of it. That woman is insane.”
I wanted to pry about what Ariadne had said about Sean not being at his home when Barry was killed but figured this probably wasn’t the right time.
“If you want another coffee today, on top of this one, it’s on us,” I told him. “No one deserves to be treated like that.”
“I might take you up on that later,” Sean said with a smile. “Thanks.”
He headed off, and I made my way back into the coffee shop just as Aunt Lucy was leaving.
“She said Tom didn’t show any sign of being a vampire yesterday,” Leanne told me when I went to the counter. “Apparently, he got into the house, saw Jordan was gone, and started throwing things, but nothing he did signified he might be a vampire. Then he left a message for his lawyer telling him to call him immediately and started muttering to himself about how he was going to be found out.”
“What do you think that was about?”
“I think the house in Mt. Hood. If they get divorced, it’s going to come out that he bought it, and if he really did buy it with bribe money, then he’s in trouble,” Leanne said, singi
ng the last word in the sentence. I nodded.
“Right, that makes sense. So he’s not worried that it’ll come out that he’s a vampire and a murderer.”
“I don’t see why that would come out in a divorce proceeding,” Leanne replied with a shrug.
So once again we had absolutely no evidence of anything. I wanted to ask Sean about what Ariadne said about his not being at home, but now wasn’t the time.
Chapter 22
I got a text from Ross about an hour later asking if I was free for dinner. I immediately texted back that I was, and we planned to meet at a local Italian restaurant that had just opened just a few weeks earlier that night at seven.
When we finished up for the day, I left Leanne to close and went back home to quickly grab Rudy and take him back down to the vet clinic. Doctor Chiu had his new splint ready and waiting. It was white, made of plastic, and sure enough, when the two sides of it were placed on either side of Rudy’s broken paw, it fit him perfectly. Doctor Chiu connected both sides with some tape and admired her handiwork.
“There we go,” she said happily. “You’ll probably want to try and limit his activity somewhat, but at the same time, he’s young enough that it is important that you let him move around a bit. He has to learn what the world has to offer and how to be a squirrel. In a few weeks, his leg will be healed. Do you know where his mother is?”
I nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“Good. Try and release him back into her care. She may reject him, in which case he’ll probably have to go to an actual wildlife rehabilitation place before being set free, but it’s better to try and have his mother take him back, first.”
“Ok, will do,” I said.
“Excellent. I’ll email you some resources as well.”
“Thanks.”
“No, thank you for taking care of this little guy,” Doctor Chiu said. “I can get you some more milk replacement as well. Please let me know how things turn out with him.”
“I will,” I promised. “Hear that, Rudy? Just a few weeks with this and you’ll be good as new.”
A Cauldron of Hot Coffee: Enchanted Enclave Mysteries Books 1-3 Page 42
