by Jessica Beck
“Oh, goody. I just love a buffet,” I said enthusiastically as I grabbed a plate. In no particular order, I grabbed some lemon chicken slices, a spoonful of mashed potatoes, a dash of green beans, a little meatloaf, and some Brussels sprouts and cheese sauce.
“Let me heat that up for you,” she said.
“I can manage it,” I protested, but she took the plate from me anyway. Sometimes my mother just couldn’t help mothering me, no matter how old I got.
“I have a new way to do it,” she said as she tore off a section of plastic wrap and put it over my plate. “This steams the food as it microwaves,” she said.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll get the drinks. What would you like?”
“There’s milk in the fridge, but I just made some fresh lemonade. It’s just not summer without it, you know?”
“You don’t have to convince me. You raised me on the stuff, remember?”
“I’m not likely to forget,” she said as the microwave oven chimed. She touched the plastic lightly and then added another thirty seconds to the timer. Once it was ready, she peeled the plastic back and put my plate down. “Now don’t wait on me. It’s best when it’s hot.”
“I’ll take my chances,” I said as I poured us two glasses of lemonade and put them at our place settings.
“Very well,” Momma said, quickly making up a plate for herself and repeating the process she’d just used with mine.
After I said the childhood grace I’d learned long ago, we dug in.
“This is amazing,” I said as I started with a bite of meatloaf. “No matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to make mine as good as yours is. What’s your secret? And don’t say love. I’ve looked for that on the store shelves, but they always seem to be out.”
“I like to add a little barbeque sauce to the mix,” she admitted.
That was the taste I hadn’t been able to identify. “And you’re just telling me this now why, exactly?”
“It’s a family secret,” she said with a grin.
“Some secret,” I said with a smile in return. “I’ll try it myself the next time I make meatloaf. Seriously though, why haven’t you told me up until now?”
“You’ll think I’m just being a foolish old woman,” she said softly.
“I promise I won’t,” I answered, more curious now than ever.
“I was afraid that if you knew how to make it yourself, you wouldn’t come around as often for mine,” she admitted timidly.
I stood up and hugged her. “Momma, as much as I love all of your cooking, you are the real draw, not the menu.”
“Thank you for that,” she said with a slight smile. “Now eat before it gets cold.” Wow, it hadn’t taken her long to go into full-on Mom mode that time.
As we ate, she asked, “How’s Van doing?”
“He’s clearly feeling better, but he still claims he doesn’t know who attacked him.”
“Have you and Jake uncovered anything new yet?” she asked with real interest. Since my mother had participated in one of my investigations herself, she’d become quite interested in the cases I took on from time to time.
“More than I could have imagined, but we’re still not all that close to figuring out who did it,” I said. “Actually, that’s not true. We have managed to eliminate Bob Casto as a suspect, and Gabby Williams, as well.”
“That sounds to me as though you’re making progress, though I can’t imagine Gabby clubbing Van from behind. In the front, face to face, maybe, but not from the rear. That leaves Vivian, Noreen, and Buford, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but we’re having a hard time figuring out which one of them it might be,” I said. “Jake has an idea we’re going to try out this evening.”
“Is it risky?” Momma asked. Of course she’d go straight to that.
“Not unless you’re a dummy,” I said.
She frowned a moment before speaking. “Suzanne, you know I don’t like you referring to people that way. It’s unkind, and what’s more, it’s beneath you.”
“Momma, I’m talking about an actual dummy, like the kind they use for CPR classes.” Jake had arranged to borrow one after chatting with Penny. It appeared that she was becoming better friends with my husband than she had ever been with me. Did that bear watching, or was I just being paranoid again? Probably the latter. After all, if I was going to be jealous of someone, there was no doubt in my mind that Ellie deserved my full consideration. Thinking of my husband having lunch with that siren must have caused me to frown for a moment. Most folks would have probably missed it, but my mother was, if anything, not most people.
“Why the sudden frown?” she asked.
“Jake is having lunch with Ellie Nolan even as we speak,” I told her.
“Suzanne, you have nothing to be jealous of. The woman exists solely on the surface.”
“Just because she’s a gym rat?” I asked.
“Of course not. I have many friends who love to work out. Ellie is what she is for many reasons, but none of them have to do with her chosen occupation.”
“Momma, you’ve seen her. I’d be delusional not to be at least a little concerned.”
“Your husband loves you, dear.”
“I know that,” I said, not at all proud of my reaction to Ellie going out of her way to share a meal with my husband. I was just as frail and unsure of myself as the next gal at times, though, and I wasn’t quite sure why I was being so hard on myself.
“Could it be because Max cheated on you with a woman of much the same type?” Momma asked softly.
My fork hovered in the air as though I’d suddenly lost control of my hand. “Of course that’s it. Why didn’t I see it before?” My first husband had betrayed me with a woman who worked at the beauty parlor, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much Darlene and Ellie had in common, at least superficially. “I owe my husband an apology, don’t I?” I asked her.
“It never hurts to give one when it’s needed,” she said. “At least now that you’re aware of it, you won’t make matters worse.”
“If only you were right,” I said with a sigh.
“Suzanne,” she said, using my name to scold me as she had done countless times in our past.
“Momma,” I replied, using the same emphasis she just had.
We both stared at each other for a split second, and then we burst out laughing.
Jake came in a little later, and I felt much better about the situation. Shoot, I didn’t even check him for lipstick.
“So, how was it?” I asked.
“Unbearable,” Jake said as he joined us in the living room. Momma and I had done the dishes together side by side, just like in the old days, despite the fact that she owned a dishwasher. I didn’t mind. It was a way to share the closeness that I cherished.
“How so? Surely the food was good,” Momma said. She too was a big fan of Barton’s cooking.
“The meal was amazing,” Jake replied. “The company not so much.”
“What happened? Did she throw herself at you?” I asked, trying to smile as I said it to take the sting out of my inquiry.
“Hardly. She barely managed to utter ten words to me the entire time. It quickly became apparent why she bid on my auction entry. It had less to do with my stories and more to do with the new chef.”
“That’s a change for her, isn’t it?” I asked. Since Ellie seemed to like only older men in the past, I’d just naturally assumed that she’d go after my husband.
“It appears to be,” Jake said.
“How did Barton react to the attention?”
Jake grinned for a moment before speaking. “I’m not quite sure he even realized that she was throwing herself at him. That boy has a singular focus when it comes to cooking, and I have a feeling that he’s so smitten with Emma that he literally doe
s not notice other women.”
“How did Ellie take that?” I asked, not even trying to hide my smile now.
“She was clearly baffled at first, but then, as she kept getting more and more obvious about making a play for him, she started to get angry. After she left us abruptly, Barton asked me if there’d been anything wrong with the food. When I assured him that it had been excellent, he seemed even more puzzled than he had been before.”
“I would have paid good money to witness that,” Momma said. “I won’t even try to feed you, Jake. I won’t have my food compared to his.”
“You’re each supreme chefs in your own way,” Jake said.
“When did you get to be such a smooth talker?” Momma asked him, clearly delighted by the comparison.
“Suzanne has been working on me,” Jake admitted.
“Well done, Suzanne. When you’re finished with him, perhaps you can take a run at Phillip,” she said with a smile.
“Are we ever really done fixing the men we marry?” I asked with a laugh.
“Hey, I’m standing right here. You can both see me, right?” Jake asked with a smile.
I kissed him soundly, and then I gave Momma a quick buss as well. “Thanks for lunch, and the company. Both were outstanding.”
She seemed to relish the compliments. “You are welcome any time.” After we hugged, she added, “You are as well, Jake.”
“Be careful about those invitations,” he said with a grin. “I might just take you up on them.”
“Nothing would delight me more,” Momma said, and it was clear that she meant every word of it.
I followed Jake back to our cottage so he could drop off his truck, and then it was time to track Noreen Walker down and set the last bit of our trap.
I couldn’t wait until the evening to see if we actually caught anything in it.
Chapter 15
“Noreen, we can see you in there,” I said as I rang her doorbell again. She was living in an apartment complex on the other side of town. The place was full of young couples, singles, and other older folks, clearly none of them all that well off financially. We’d rung the bell, knocked, and rung it again, but she had so far refused to answer our summons. Jake had peeked in through a slit in the curtains, and he’d spotted her hiding behind a sofa. “It’s Jake and Suzanne. We just want to talk to you.”
I could hear some movement inside, due more to the flimsy construction than Noreen’s heavy footsteps. “What do you want?” she asked, still not opening the door.
“Are you seriously not going to talk to us face to face?” I asked her.
“I’m not presentable,” she said.
I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. Maybe she was doing us a favor by not opening the door after all. “Fine. We just wanted to give you an update on your brother.”
That got her attention. The door opened, though she kept the chain lock in place, allowing us only a sliver of view. From what I could see, Noreen was in a ratty old bathrobe, and her hair was in curlers. I’d seen worse, but not by a whole lot. “What is it? Has he taken a turn for the worse? Is he unconscious again?”
Was that a hopeful tone in her voice? I honestly couldn’t tell. “Quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, he seems better. The police are ending their guard on his door at five today,” I said.
“They are what? But he’s still in danger!” She sounded like a concerned sister. There was only one problem. She’d hesitated for a moment before reacting. Was she just that slow, or was her concern just contrived? I honestly couldn’t tell.
“It is what it is. We spoke with him earlier, and he has a hunch his memory will be coming back soon. He’s already catching bits and pieces, so it won’t be long until he remembers who attacked him.”
“That’s good news,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to continue getting ready.”
“Are you going back to pay him a visit?” I asked.
“No, he was most specific about that. I’m going to see a man in Union Square about selling my mother’s brooch, if you must know. It’s a silly little frill, and I have no real need for it anymore.” She moved her hand to her robe, and I caught a glimpse of the piece of jewelry in question, proudly pinned to her robe. She stroked it as though it were a sacred talisman, and I knew that she hated the prospect of giving it up. I hoped that I never found myself in such dire straits that I had to sell something dear that had once belonged to my mother. It was a sobering thought.
Noreen closed the door quite abruptly in our faces.
“What now?” I asked Jake, who’d been carefully listening in to our conversation.
“There’s not a great deal we can do but wait at this point,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a nap. Interested?”
“I rarely pass up the opportunity for a little siesta,” I said, still stuffed from the wonderful lunch with Momma.
“Then it’s a date,” Jake said.
We never made it back home, though.
At least not in time to take a nap.
There was something much more pressing that we had to deal with.
One of our friends was in trouble, and there was never any doubt in either of our minds that we were going to help.
As we drove past, the doors to Two Cows and a Moose were standing wide open, and there was a chain of people flooding into Emily Hargraves’s newsstand.
I pulled into the closest spot. “Something’s wrong, Jake.”
“Let’s go see if we can help,” he said without hesitation, the promised nap now forgotten.
We walked into pandemonium. There was a good two inches of water on the floor, and the tide was coming dangerously close to the first level of magazines, books, and periodicals Emily sold.
“What happened?” I asked Emily, “and what can we do to help?”
“The water heater exploded!” Emily said. “We need to shut the water off, but no one seems to be able to find the valve.”
At that moment, George Morris came out of a small closet I’d noticed before but never knew what it contained. His shirt and hair were soaked, and so were his shoes and the bottoms of his pants. It didn’t explain his triumphant expression. “Found it!” he shouted. “It was behind a false wall panel.” He seemed to notice us for the first time. “Coming to lend a hand?”
“You know it,” I said. “What can we do, Emily?”
“Start boxing things up and taking them out onto the sidewalk. The water level isn’t rising anymore, but this dampness could still ruin everything.”
“Let me round up some guys and gals with trucks,” George said as he pulled out his phone. “We can set you up in one corner of town hall. Shoot, you can even run your store from there until this all gets fixed.”
“Can you actually do that, let a business be run on April Springs property?”
“Who’s going to stop me? If anybody tries, I’ll be ready for them. I’ve been itching for a good fight, and this is just the ticket.”
The last thing the mayor needed was another fight on his hands. After a brief whispered conversation with Jake, I said, “Emily, I’ve still got the building Dad left me. Use that. That way there won’t be any problems.”
“I couldn’t put you out, Jake,” she said. “You’re using the space yourself now, right?”
“It’s all yours,” Jake said. “I can use the small room in the back, and you can have the main space. It’s not as much square footage as you’re used to here, but it should do in a pinch.”
“I can’t thank you both enough,” she said.
“Then it’s settled,” George said. “I’ll get things started from my end.”
“I’ll go unlock the building and move a few things around,” Jake volunteered.
“This is so sweet of you, Suzanne,” Emily said with tears in her eyes after the two men
were gone. “I don’t know how to thank you enough. Everyone is being so kind.”
“We’re your friends, Emily. We stick together.” I noticed her mascots, Cow, Spots, and Moose, three stuffed animals she’d had since childhood, sitting on their shelf high above the store. “Please tell me you didn’t take the time to change their outfits when this place started flooding.”
She laughed despite the calamity she’d nearly suffered. The three stuffed animals were all dressed in identical bright-yellow raincoats, matching hats, and colorful boots. As I got closer, I saw that Cow and Spots had little cows on their boots, while Moose’s foot attire sported images of his own kind. “They were like that for April Showers, but so many loved the outfits I decided to keep them on until it was time for their Uncle Sam uniforms again for July Fourth.”
“We’ll have to put a shelf in for them in the new place,” I said.
“You don’t have to go to that much trouble,” she protested.
“It’s no trouble at all,” I said.
Max came in, soaking wet. “Sorry. I couldn’t find a plumber anywhere.”
“George shut the water off,” she explained after they kissed briefly. I had no problem with my ex-husband dating a dear friend. Maybe it was because I was happily married myself, or it could have been because Max had done some growing up over the years. Either way, I was glad they had each other in their lives.
“Suzanne is letting me use her building over on Viewmont Avenue,” Emily explained.
“That’s really generous of you,” Max said. “Thanks.”
“Happy to do it,” I said. “Now, where can we find more boxes?”
“Did someone say they needed boxes?” Momma asked as she and Phillip came in carrying loads of unfolded ones. “We cleaned out the hardware store.”
“Then let’s get busy,” Max said.
Momma was a little cool toward my ex-husband, but considering how she’d once felt about him, it was an absolutely glowing reception.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“I’d do anything for Emily,” she said, and then she even managed to offer him a brief smile.
