I handed her a plate. “All the pieces are pretty much the same, sorry.” I considered suggesting she not finish the whole thing, but knew from experience that once she tried it, she’d finish it off. Most people did.
I looked at her hands. “It’s fun that your fingernails coordinate with all your dresses.”
“Yes, we had a girls’ pampering night after the wedding rehearsal.” Her voice hitched and one of her hands fluttered to her chest. “Sorry, I’m just still so upset. I can’t believe this happened to Valerie. I’ve known her for so long. Did you know we were roommates with Ana in college? Like three peas in a pod.” She held back a small sob. “I’m sorry—it must have been so horrible for you. Weren’t you the one to find her yesterday?”
A chill and twinge of revulsion came over me when I thought of the blood everywhere and the color of Valerie’s skin and I had to swallow hard and beat it back. “Yes. It was so difficult. It could have been worse though. I didn’t know her well.”
Millie nodded, picked up a fork and tasted a bite. She made a humming noise in the back of her throat. “Wow. I never knew cake could taste so good.” Her mournful air disappeared as she took another taste.
“Thank you. That’s such a kind thing to say.” Her sudden attitude change confused me. My cake was amazing, but I’d never seen it improve someone’s mood so fast.
“Not kind—honest.” She gave me a calculating look. “You’re opening a shop here in town?”
“Yes, hopefully in the next few weeks. It depends on how long it takes to get all the paperwork and supplies.” I tipped my head and looked at Millie’s perfectly manicured hands again. “Did Valerie go to the girls’ night party? I could swear she hadn’t gotten her nails painted between dinner and . . . you know.”
“Oh, no. She said she wouldn’t be there, that she’d take care of it in the morning while we all dressed. She had a date, I guess.” She tried to act like it didn’t bother her, but her voice held an edge of spite. “She always had a date, or three.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have let that tidbit of information float on by, not the least interested in pursuing it, but this time I chased it. “Is that what she and Analesa were arguing about after the wedding rehearsal?”
“Yes, well, more or less. Not the date that night, but the way she was always had to have a guy around. Valerie flirted with Ana’s younger brother, who’s a bit tender-hearted, not up to dealing with such a barracuda.”
I smiled as I remembered Analesa’s brother. “Is he here? I haven’t seen Shawn in years. I must have missed him when he came in.” I glanced around for the grown-up version of the skinny kid I’d known as a teen. I’d expected to see him that day, but hadn’t caught a glimpse of anyone who looked likely.
“I saw him earlier,” Millie turned and studied the crowd. “The guy there, standing with the woman in teal.”
I spotted Shawn, maybe thirty feet away, though it took me a moment to be sure it was him. It’s amazing what twelve years and fifty pounds can do to a guy. He was hot now! Was it in the genes? Did the Plumber family members start out homely and become beautiful before they were twenty-five? Did they have a freaking fairy godmother or something? It was so unfair. Not that I was interested, because I totally wasn’t, but dang.
“I didn’t see him Friday.” I know I would have remembered him.
Millie smirked. “Into younger men, are you?”
I must have shown more of my appreciation for his current look than I’d meant to. I caught myself. “Not particularly. I remember him as a scrawny, freckled little boy.” And he was only a couple of years younger than me, anyway.
“He’s not scrawny anymore, is he?” She glanced at him again with a look of female appreciation.
I realized I’d gotten off topic and needed to bring it back to Friday night. I watched the last bite of chocolate cake disappear as Millie ate it, and hurriedly said the first thing that came to mind. “Do you think Valerie could have met with Shawn after she left you guys?”
“What? Oh no, it sounded like she had plans with some local guy. I have no idea who. It couldn’t have been Shawn, though, since Ana called him around nine, nine-thirty, and said he was shooting pool downtown with some old buddies.” She paused and tipped her head. “I suppose he might have been lying. It never occurred to me. I hope that’s not true, though, since he could be blamed for her death. He’s a sweet kid.”
I didn’t remember him being a sweet kid. A bit of a terror, yes, hilarious and full of fun, absolutely, but not sweet. I supposed anyone could change. “So how late did your girls’ night go? You must have been tired after the travel and practice.”
“I don’t know, sometime before midnight.” She turned to look at me, as if realizing I’d been pumping her for information. “What are you, one of those nosy neighbors who has to have all the gruesome details? Because I have nothing to say to you people. I don’t know anything about her death—I just came here to be with Ana and help her through her special day.” She stomped off—not as gracefully as Valerie had managed, I noted.
It was some time before I gave up on Shawn coming over, so I grabbed a slice of each cake flavor and two forks, and approached him and his companion. This time the breach of etiquette would be overlooked, I figured, for old friends such as we, um, weren’t.
The pretty redhead turned first, her eyes locked on the dessert, and she greedily took the chocolate piece as I started to speak, “Would either of you like some?” The words were unnecessary, but I was happy to let her have the chosen flavor. I turned to Shawn, and offered him the vanilla. “If you’d rather, I could get you another slice of the chocolate.” Up close, I studied him again. Yes, if I’d gotten a good look earlier, I would have recognized him. At least I would have realized he had to be related to Analesa.
A smile bloomed over his face. “Hello, Tess, right? I’m Shawn, Ana’s brother. I haven’t seen you in ages.”
I feigned surprise, then recognition. “Well, my goodness. Shawn Plumber, I had no idea it was you. It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” I let my eyes do a quick head-to-toe scan on him. “Grown up, haven’t you?” He was anything but scrawny. His shoulders were wide, his face chiseled. Did he work out, or did he have a job that put all that muscle on him?
“Some time ago. You got too busy to notice when I was around.” His smile dimmed. “I was sorry to hear about your grandma. Cancer’s such a hard way to go.”
“It was hard,” I agreed with a twist of pain in my chest. Even now a lump came to my throat, but I did my best to ignore it. “They say time heals all wounds, but it only softens them. Some never quite seem to go away.” I should know. I still missed my parents every day, and we’d buried them more than a dozen years earlier.
“Yeah. I get that.” He held my gaze for a long moment, causing a little shiver of excitement to slide down my spine.
The redhead looked from him to me, sighed and said she had someone to talk to, then slipped off.
The distraction was what I needed to break the strange attraction I felt to him. “I’m sorry if I interrupted your conversation. She’s very pretty,” I said, though more to feel out his relationship to her than anything else.
He laughed. “She’s my cousin, so you’re fine.”
I felt a bit relieved, though I told myself I shouldn’t care one way or the other. He wasn’t exactly the only attractive man in the room. “What are you doing these days?”
“Border patrol. I’m stationed out of Nogales.”
I blinked in surprise. I’d expected something more . . . white collar than that. “What a nice, calm, boring career with no danger whatsoever,” I stated with more than a little sarcasm. In these turbulent times, it had to be as dangerous as being an inner-city cop.
He shrugged. “It has its moments, like most jobs.” He studied me for a moment. “I bet you face your share of dangers from irate brides, angry mothers and maids of honor who skewer with words rather than weapons.”
I felt my face flush. Did everyone know? It wasn’t like many people had been in the room at the time. “Heard about that, did you? Was she naturally repellent, or was she having an extra good day?” As soon as the words came out, I realized how disrespectful they were and tried to backpedal. I’d been taught better than to speak badly about the dead. “I mean, I’m sure she had a lot on her mind, getting ready for her date and everything.”
He finally tasted the cake. “This filling is incredible. This is almost as good as your brownies.” He swallowed. “Sorry for the change of subject, but where did you learn to cook like this?”
I leaned forward and lowered my voice in a conspiratorial manner. “Cooking school,” I whispered, then used a regular voice. “And a one-year internship with a master in France. This is a slight variation of one of his recipes. I’m glad you like it.”
His eyes caught mine. “I have the feeling I’d like most anything you cooked.” His voice had dropped slightly, turning smoky and deep. A dimple I’d forgotten about flashed in his left cheek. “Do you cook real food, too? I’ll be in town for a few days, and I’d love to pop by, or take you out for dinner.”
I doubted very much Millie’s assertion that Shawn was tender-hearted and needed to be protected—he was way too smooth. I was the furthest thing from wanting to get involved in another relationship barely a week after I broke up with Bronson. But Shawn lived five hours away, so it wasn’t like it was going to get serious. It would just be a diversion, which I could totally use. And I did need someone to help me shift around equipment—he definitely had the muscles for it. “I think I’d like that. Going out, I mean. What’s good for you?”
“Tomorrow night?” He pulled a card out of his pocket with his rank and office information—he kept it in his tux jacket? During his sister’s wedding? Yeah, totally naïve and likely to be taken great advantage of, I thought. Not. He handed me the plate, “Hold that for a moment, will you?” He pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote something on the card. “This is my cell phone number. Call me tomorrow and we’ll set something up.”
I swapped him the cake for the card. “I’ll do that.” A glance back over my shoulder and I saw the prepared slices were getting low. “I better get back to the table.”
“I’ll see you around.” Even in the dimness, his hazel eyes seemed to twinkle at me.
“See you.” I turned back to the table, my heart beating a bit faster than before and came face-to-face with Jack, the emergency-responder guy from the day before.
“Having fun?” He shifted a glance back to Shawn and then to me again. “I thought you were here to work. I didn’t realize it was a social opportunity for you.”
“Just saying hello to an old acquaintance. Would you prefer chocolate or vanilla?” I became all business, the good mood I’d been feeling vanishing in the face of his cold attitude.
His pale blue eyes narrowed. “Ah, touching base again. Is that what you were doing? It looked like more to me.”
I didn’t respond, as he was right, even if it was rude of him to say so. I plated up a slice of each flavor, setting them before him. He took the chocolate, a choice I could commend him for, even if I disliked him. “It’s none of your business.”
“Which is fine, because I don’t care.” Still, he stood there for a moment while he ate his first bite. Unlike most people, however, he had no kind words about the quality of my product. I suppose he was just that much of a Neanderthal. “You’ve worked through your shock from yesterday?” he asked after a moment.
Was he trying to be kind? The man was giving me whiplash. “I doubt I’m going to get over seeing a dead body anytime soon, though you seemed to cope well.”
He gave me an irritated look. “I’m a paramedic. It’s not exactly old hat, as we don’t get many murders around here, but I’ve seen my share of dead bodies.”
That explained the pager he wore even now, and the muscles that rippled under his cotton shirt. That must be from the heavy people and equipment he had to carry at work. He’d already taken off the jacket I’d seen him wearing earlier. From the way his tie was loosened and a bit askew, he appeared ready to get rid of it as well.
“That explains a lot,” I said, though there was still a bit of vitriol in my voice. I paused, trying to bring my emotions back to level. It had been stressful, and he didn’t deserve to be treated badly, even if he did act like a jerk. Besides, I was hardly going to drum up new business if I was rude to the locals. “Sorry. Have you heard anything about Valerie? When she died?”
“I ran into Detective Tingey. He thinks it was around midnight, one o’clock, though he’s still waiting for the official word. She sure didn’t die under the table, though. They found blood traces all over the floor in there, swirled around, like someone had cleaned up after they hid the body.”
That seemed so cold and calculated. “I wonder what happened to her jewelry.”
His lifted a brow. “Her jewelry?”
“Yes. She had this really beautiful,” Gaudy, “necklace, earring and bracelet set on earlier in the evening.”
His brow furrowed. “Maybe she’d already taken them off?”
“Hmm.” I doubted it; she was still wearing her stilettos. That told me she hadn’t been back to her room. After so many hours, even a fashion-conscious woman would be groaning over the pain in her feet with those babies—and I don’t care how many women claimed they found the shoes comfortable. They were all lying. Don’t get me wrong, I wear heels often, but comfortable as slippers, they weren’t.
“You think it was about theft?”
I realized he was buddies with the guy who wanted to pin this all on me—the detective told him time of death, didn’t he—and I didn’t want to give him any ammo. I had nothing to do with it. “Who knows? I just noticed they were missing. I mentioned it to Detective Tingey. He seems very thorough.” I hoped he was thorough and looking at several people as suspects and not only me.
“I’ve always thought he was,” Jack said.
I decided it was time to change the subject before it became obvious how curious I was about the murder. “So how do you know the bride and groom?”
“I grew up here. Analesa’s dad and mine were best friends, second cousins or something.”
Wait, Jack? My eyes zeroed onto his face as I considered, comparing him to the image of the little boy I knew. “Not the Jack who’s a few years older than Analesa and me, who used to torment the girls at the pool during the summer?”
A chuckled. “Guilty as charged. Should I know you?”
Only if you remember being bested by a couple of younger girls, I thought. “I doubt it. I was a bit of a mouse.” Holy terror, that’s what he’d been. And boys like him so seldom grew up to be anything but bullies. I supposed that explained his attitude. This destroyed any interest I might otherwise have had in him—if I’d been interested, which I wasn’t—and I turned to cut more slices.
Honey came over. “Tess, everyone’s raving about your cake. Can I have another piece of the chocolate?”
“Wait a minute,” Jack said as I handed a plate to Honey. He looked at her, then back at me. “Tess and Honey. What mouse?” he asked, putting his now-empty plate on the table. “You were no mouse—more like a spitfire. The two of you ganged up on me at the pool.”
“That’s still one of my favorite memories.” Honey’s words were wistful. “You so deserved it.”
I flashed a grin at him, then turned to Honey. “We went too easy on him.”
She nodded. “Good thing you grew up okay. I’m taking credit for that. Well, joint credit with Tess here. If we hadn’t straightened you out at such a young age, who knows what might have happened?”
Jack laughed, surprising me. “Well, I’ll remember to keep out of your way. I don’t need a whole lot more lessons like that one.” He focused on me. “Thanks for the cake. It was delicious.” He waved at both of us and moved back into the crowd.
Honey smiled knowingly at me. I glared back at her. �
��Forget it. He’s a self-righteous, condescending jerk.” Who just happened to be extremely handsome and had a decent personality when he wasn’t being prickly. He’d helped me with my timeline, hadn’t he—even if he didn’t realize it. “Now Shawn Plumber, on the other hand—he’s very nice, hunky and we have a date tomorrow night.”
“Wow. Good job on getting back into the dating pool so fast, but,” Honey’s brow furrowed. “Shawn Plumber? Scrawny Shawn?”
“Not scrawny anymore. Where’ve you been?” I turned and pointed him out in the crowd. He was chatting up a woman. Another cousin, I wondered, or someone else? Then I decided it didn’t matter either way. I was the one with the date for the next night, after all, and it wasn’t like he would be around all that long, anyway.
“Oh, not scrawny Shawn at all,” she agreed after a long look. “Dish.”
“Nothing much to say. We flirted for a bit, and he asked me out. I’ll call him tomorrow and we’ll set something up. He had his business card in the inside pocket of his tux.” I met her gaze. “Player?”
“Yeah, player. But hey, it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with him tomorrow night.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.
“My thoughts exactly.” I made another long two-inch-wide slab in the bottom cake tier, then flipped it on its side for slicing into smaller pieces.
Honey forked up another bite from her plate. “So what else have you learned?”
I brought up the conversations with Millie and Jeff, the tidbits I’d gleaned from Shawn—I hadn’t asked Shawn much about Friday, actually. I’d gotten a little caught up in his dancing eyes. But I didn’t need to pump everyone tonight, right? There was time to worry about it tomorrow. And as we had a date, there would be plenty of opportunities.
“Tad’s sister agreed they finished their girls’ night around eleven,” Honey reported. “She said no one left early, as far as she remembered, and they all headed for bed, but if the murder happened after that, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”
Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1) Page 5
