“Yes, I know I told you last night we were taking it slow. I mean, his parents didn’t know until the other day that we were dating. But after meeting his parents, he’s been dropping more long-term hints. He even mentioned heading to Nashville for a weekend to see a concert. I’m so excited. And, he has a friend,” Maribelle practically vibrated with excitement while Zoey’s heart sank.
“Oh, no. Not another blind date. Not after the whole Wayne debacle. The town is still talking about it.”
“Well, you did pour a bowl of beef stew over his head at the Moonshine Diner,” Maribelle shrugged.
“He called me stupid for not accepting his marriage proposal—twenty minutes after I met him. He said he didn’t want to marry a stupid cow and I’ll never do better than him. And that was before saying it was really a pity proposal because he felt so bad for me for being a stupid cow. I thought it was nice of me to only dump the stew on him as opposed to the other things I was thinking of doing with the flatware,” Zoey defended.
“Well, what’s done is done and Wayne is dating Missy now.” Maribelle glanced to where Wayne had his thick slimy hand on Missy’s ass as he sent Zoey a wink. Ugh!
“No thank you. No more blind dates.”
“But Luke Tanner is perfect for you. He’s just moved back to Moonshine about a year ago after being hired by the sheriff’s department. He was born here, but his parents divorced. He and his mother moved away when he was sixteen. He was a detective in Knoxville and got tired of the big city and moved back here.”
Zoey nodded. She’d seen him at a distance. It may be a small town, but she’d been so busy with work she hadn’t gotten to know everyone yet. “I think I know who he is. But I told you, no more blind dates!”
“Well, Luke will look for you at the park. Dale said he was looking forward to meeting you.” Maribelle winked, totally ignoring Zoey’s protest.
Zoey gave her friend a forced smile. “Yay!”
3
The park was packed. On the far side, kids played in the twisting stream as water ran down the mountain and over the smooth rocks through Moonshine Hollow. A large barn with the doors open hosted a bluegrass band and dancing while tents were erected outside where the townsfolk could taste and vote on the new moonshine flavors.
Zoey greeted the people she knew and smiled at those she hadn’t yet met as she made her way to the nearest tent. She scanned the area as she waited in line to see if she could find her blind date for the night. Zoey was still torn on whether she would avoid him or introduce herself upon finding him in the crowd.
“Hey Zoey.” Zoey turned to see Justin Merkle, a friend of Wayne’s, stepping into line behind her. She was trying not to hold that friendship against Justin, but Justin had been standoffish at first. And more recently he had been rubbing her the wrong way. It was obvious Wayne was having an impact on his friend.
“Hi, Justin. Do you think your recipe will win tonight?” Zoey asked the tall gangly man. He was lean, but he was incredibly strong. He painted houses and did odd jobs around town as a handy man.
“I hope so. It’s not up my alley, but it’s still really good. Kinda like you are.” Justin let his gaze roam up her body and Zoey quickly stepped away.
Zoey stepped up to the table and relaxed as Vilma and Agnes smiled at her. “So, you have a date with Luke Tanner tonight?” Vilma winked as Agnes handed her a paper tray with three small paper cups on it. Each cup had a number on it: 1, 2, or 3. Then there was one poker chip on the tray.
“I would call it more of an ambush than a date. I didn’t know anything about it until Maribelle told me an hour ago,” Zoey replied.
“Give him a try. He’s a good one,” Agnes told her as she handed Justin a tray.
“Ugh. Maybe,” Zoey said as she was already trying to find all the exits just in case.
“Bat your lashes, you may have some competition,” Vilma called out as Zoey walked away. Great. Now she was being set up with a man who may or may not be available. She didn’t want competition. She wanted chocolate.
* * *
Zoey stood off to the side and tasted the samples. Number one was peach flavored. She guessed it was the Irises’ mix. Number two was bacon moonshine—the Opossums. Number three was fresh and light. It was sweet and tart at the same time. There was a hint of cherry in it, and when Zoey cast her vote, she put her poker chip in the box for moonshine number three.
“Zoey Mathers?”
A slow deep voice behind her had her spinning from the voting boxes. A man with light-brown hair, deep gray eyes, and a smooth face with angles that were more sinful than her torte.
“Yes?” Zoey answered as she dragged her eyes from lips she thought were perfect for kissing. He looked nothing like the other men her age in Moonshine. They were more . . . rustic.
“I’m Luke Tanner, your blind date.”
He held out his hand and Zoey noticed the badge and gun on his hip.
“Nice to meet you,” Zoey said as she shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you too. I’m sorry,” he blinked and shook his head. “It’s just that when Vilma, Agnes, Maribelle, and Dale talked me into this date they made it sound like a pity date. I wasn’t expecting someone normal.”
A pity date. Oh, she was going to kill those meddling busy bodies. A pity date! She was stuck on a freaking pity date. Could this night get any worse?
* * *
Zoey jinxed herself. The evening had been a disaster. Luke had been the perfect gentleman even as she plotted her revenge on her friends. Luke was getting used to being back in a small town. He was overrun with casseroles and pies from every woman in town, even though he’d been back in Moonshine Hollow for nine months. He was happy to be away from the death and evil he saw working as a homicide detective in Knoxville.
Luke was polite and funny. He told her stories of growing up in Moonshine and some of the funnier calls that had come into the sheriff’s office since his return. But Zoey noticed he mentioned a doctor named Ava from Keeneston, Kentucky quite a bit and figured that was her so-called competition.
Zoey was going to ask about Ava, because it sounded as if they were involved in some way, even if it was just his desire to be involved with her. But before she could ask, it was time for the announcement of the winner of Flavor of the Year.
Miss Moonshine Hollow stood on the stage in her sequined evening gown with her hair piled on top of her head in curls, highlighting her over-the-top-large crown. Tim Hildebrand, the keeper of the distillery’s recipes had slowly made his way onto the stage and handed a card to Miss Moonshine Hollow. Miss Moonshine squealed and held up the envelope.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the votes have been counted. The new moonshine flavor of the year is . . .” Miss Moonshine used her long nail to rip the sticker and open the card. “Bacon!”
The men had cheered. The Irises frowned in unison. The Mountaineers shrugged. But then Peach had turned to Otis and stomped her foot.
“You had to take this away from me. Bacon! That was my recipe. I made that for your no good hide back when you were a good and loving husband. How dare you use my own recipe against me?” Peach poked Otis in his chest, and Otis just smirked in return.
That’s when Peach lost it and dumped an entire pitcher of sweet tea over his head. Otis stood, looking like a wet chicken, before slowly turning to the table and picking up a key lime pie. Before Zoey knew it, he’d turned that pie upside down on Peach’s head. Globs of key lime pie fell onto Peach’s shoulders, ears, and even dangled off her nose.
“Aw, no,” Luke said as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Zoey, but I believe our evening is at an end.”
Zoey nodded with wide eyes and an open mouth as Fay launched a tray of banana pudding into the group of Opossums. The entire town was silent for a space of three seconds before all hell broke loose. Food was thrown. Drinks were tossed. The entire town parted in half as they chose sides in Peach and Otis’s fight. Miss Moonshine shrieked as a spoonful of brownie and whipped cre
am trifle splattered in her face.
“I meant to walk you home, but I guess I have to cut to the chase. Would you care to have dinner with me this week? I enjoyed talking to you, and I think we could be . . . friends?” Luke asked as he pulled apart a pair of senior citizens battling over control of a peach cobbler.
Zoey smiled at Luke. Even though she had started off the date horribly embarrassed at being the recipient of pity, Luke was a man every woman dreamed of but very few ever had the chance to meet. “I’d like that.” She would have to see where it went and who exactly that Ava was. It wasn’t likely, but maybe she was his sister.
“Great. I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Six thirty sound good? It was real nice spending the evening with you, Zoey.” Luke smiled and was hit with a cream pie in the face. His tongue came out and licked the cream off his lips as his fingers cleaned the cream from his eyes. Instead of anger over being pied in the face, Luke tossed back his head and laughed.
His gray eyes twinkled in amusement, and Zoey knew Luke Tanner was someone she wanted to get to know better. He was unlike anyone she had ever met in California.
* * *
A chill swept over Zoey as she walked home. She rubbed her bare arms to chase off the goosebumps as she walked through town. If she hadn’t known Moonshine Hollow so well and the people in it, she might have been scared. The town appeared abandoned. Main Street was shut down. Store lights were off. She was alone on the street with only the echo of her footsteps to keep her company.
For a moment, she thought she should have waited for Luke to escort her home. But he would be late, trying to break apart the epic food fight, and she had to get up early to bake.
Zoey turned off Main Street onto Stillhouse Lane. Stillhouse Lane ran to the distillery on the outskirts of town. Her street, Runner Road, was the next left. And then she’d finally be home. Her sweet cottage called to her tonight. The peacefulness and the comfort of her little home was so different from her high end modern condo in LA.
The houses on Runner Road all had their interior lights off and their porch lights on as all the residents were at the festival. They would stumble home in a couple of hours, and Zoey wondered if she should put in earplugs. She was approaching Vilma and Agnes’s house when a bright green light filled the sky.
Zoey shielded her eyes with her hand and tried to locate the source of the light. The green light grew as if it were a large bubble in the night sky and Zoey gasped with worry when she saw it was coming from Vilma and Agnes’s backyard. Worry turned to fear when Zoey heard a scream echo through the quiet of the night.
“Vilma! Agnes! I’m coming,” Zoey yelled as she darted down the road.
Zoey jumped the curb and ran across the dewy grass as the green light grew in intensity. The light engulfed her as she ran down the side of the house. The something in the light made her skin tingle as though she’d stuck her finger into an electrical socket. Zoey struggled to breath and stumbled to a stop. What was this?
Zoey’s hip hit the hose bracketed to the side of the house. Water! With her hands shaking and her eyes stinging, she turned on the hose. The water splashed onto her hands, bringing instant relief. Without hesitation, Zoey sprayed herself down with water. Water cleared the pain from her eyes and slowly Zoey could blink Vilma and Agnes into focus. Vilma’s hands were outstretched, pain etched on her face, her entire elderly body shaking as the green light rose from the ground and shot out her hands. Agnes stood on Vilma’s far side, holding out what looked like an urn.
Zoey followed the green light and saw it was directed at someone. A man, probably around Zoey’s age, who towered over Vilma and Agnes as he tried to press against the green light with a light blue light of his own while he struggled to reach Vilma. He was dressed in black leather, but it was the tattoo on his neck that caught her attention. It was a tattoo of interlocking swords forming a circle with a drop of blood in the center, and it appeared to be glowing.
What Zoey saw didn’t make sense. What was Vilma doing? How was she doing it? Why was there a monster of a man starting to glow brighter and brighter the closer and closer the green light got to him?
Vilma looked ready to pass out, and Zoey gave up trying to understand what was happening. She opened her mouth to scream, but the tattoo became so bright it began to smoke. Agnes stepped forward holding the urn, the man yelling in pain as a blue light shot from his throat, and Zoey screamed.
In that one moment, two things happened: Zoey accidently sprayed the hose and soaked Vilma and Agnes, and second, the light stopped heading toward Agnes’s urn and slammed into Zoey’s open mouth. A moment before Zoey’s mind went blank, she saw the hulking man fall to the ground. Vilma and Agnes stepped forward, and with a flick of their fingers, the man burst into flames.
4
“Well, if that didn’t just get mucked up,” Zoey heard Agnes mutter.
“What do you think it means?” Vilma whispered.
“You don’t suppose it’s in her, do you?” Agnes asked.
“Where else would it be? We saw it enter her. Let’s just hope she doesn’t figure it out before we can decide what to do,” Vilma said a moment before Zoey felt the splash of water on her face.
Zoey sputtered, her eyes popping open as water streamed onto her face.
“Oh, here she is.” Vilma turned off the hose. “Can you hear me, dear?” she asked loudly.
Zoey’s head felt as if it were floating like a balloon while her whole body tingled. She struggled to sit up as she nodded her head. “What’s going on? What happened to the guy?”
“What guy, dear?” Vilma asked innocently.
“What do you mean, what guy?” Zoey raised her voice as Agnes helped her sit up. “The guy you were shooting with green light out of your fingers, who then burst into flames. That’s who!”
Agnes and Vilma looked worriedly at each other as Zoey looked frantically around for the burning man.
“Oh, dear. We better call the doctor,” Agnes said softly to Vilma. “I think she’s hit her head.”
“I didn’t hit my head!” Zoey defended as her eyes frantically took in the completely normal backyard. There were no strange lights, there was no burning man, and no fire at all. Not even leftover smoke.
“Yes, Agnes, I think we better.”
Zoey looked around. Her head was swimming. Could it all have been a dream? Had she tripped over the hose at her feet and hit her heard and made it all up? “No, don’t call an ambulance. They’re probably tied up at the park. When I left, a full-out riot had erupted between the Irises and the Opossums. Were you in the backyard? Did I trip over the hose?”
The women nodded.
“That’s it!” Vilma said with a relieved smile.
“We were back here watering flowers and talking when you came around the side of the house and tripped on the hose. Poor dear. Let’s get you inside and get some ice on your head.”
The two old women reached down and, with surprising agility, helped Zoey up. They directed her into the house with each of them holding on to an arm. Something nagged at her as they led her through the backdoor.
“Wait, there are no flowers in your backyard,” Zoey said as she stopped so suddenly the two women almost tripped.
“Oh!” Vilma looked panicked as Agnes pushed Zoey into the house. Zoey saw Agnes wiggle her fingers as she lurched past the doorway.
“She must have hit her head harder than we thought,” Agnes worried. “She can’t see all the flowers in the backyard. Dear, is your vision blurry? Do you see four of us?”
Zoey broke from Agnes’s grip and looked out the sliding glass door and into a yard filled with flowers overflowing from large pots on the patio. “Maybe you better call the doctor. I would have sworn you didn’t have any flowers.” Zoey muttered.
Agnes and Vilma shared a look before helping Zoey to lie down on their floral print couch. Her head rested on big pink magnolia blooms as she closed her eyes and tried to figure out where exactly her head hurt. But she didn’
t hurt. In fact, she felt as if she were in a pleasant haze as her body hummed with a warm energy.
“I think I’ll close my eyes for a little while. I’m suddenly really sleepy.” Zoey closed her eyes and before she drifted off to sleep she felt a crocheted afghan being draped over her.
Zoey stretched and felt the blanket sliding down her body. When she opened her eyes, two pairs of eyes were staring at her from the small kitchen. Vilma and Agnes looked relieved. They set down their morning tea and hurried to the couch.
“How are you feeling, dear?” Agnes asked as she peered over Zoey as if searching for an answer in her face.
Zoey thought about it for a moment as she checked her body. She moved her arms, legs, and rolled her head from side to side. “I seem to be all better. What time is it?”
“Seven thirty,” Vilma answered as a cup of tea was shoved into Zoey’s hand.
Zoey almost spilled it as she shot upright. “I have to go! I have so much baking to do before I open!”
“Tsk, you should have some tea. It’ll make you right as rain,” Vilma said as she shoved the cup into Zoey’s hand again.
Zoey had to get to her shop and didn’t have time to argue. She had learned to pick her battles in life and this wasn’t one of them. So she grabbed the tea and tossed it back as if it were a shot of tequila. She handed the empty cup to Vilma and hurried out the door.
* * *
Zoey didn’t even bother to go home. She jogged straight toward her shop. She hadn’t gotten far when she noticed how quiet the town still was. She decided it was for one of two reasons: the townspeople were still hung over from last night or they were in jail.
Moonshine & Murder Page 3
