A Minute on the Lips

by Cheryl Harper

  Andi spent a lot of time being annoyed at Jackie. It was an automatic reflex at this point, but the look on his face said he was worried and maybe a little...sad. She smiled with confidence, hoping to encourage him. “All right, Jackie. Let’s find them then.”

  With a sigh, she settled down at the counter. “First, I’m going to need a big, steaming cup of black coffee, and keep it coming.”

  Jackie crossed his arms over his chest and shot her an evil glare. “Sheriff, I’m losing business until you secure this crime scene.”

  Andi silently counted to ten. Coffee was pretty much the only forensic aid she had at her disposal. “Of course you are, but coffee helps me think. While you get the coffee, I’ll take some pictures and a closer look, maybe dust the trophy case for fingerprints. Then, after you get the next cup, I’ll quickly interview everyone over there at that booth.”

  She turned to point at the booth she always sat in when she came to Jackie’s. From there, she could see both the sidewalk and the kitchen, allowing her to time the arrival of her food and anticipate any unexpected visits from the mayor or Ray Evans, the former sheriff. He’d been forced to drop out of the last election after a heart attack, but he was back in fighting shape now, fifty pounds lighter and at least twice as mean—but only to Andi. Since she’d taken office, he liked to shoot her dismissive looks, make snide comments under his breath and generally act as a thorn in her side.

  Jackie stormed off as Andi approached the trophy stand. He might be hard to please, but he kept a spotless place. Wanda didn’t have much to worry about in the Country Kitchen. If fat left any residue, Jackie had ruthlessly eliminated it along with any other dust and dirt. The imitation wood grain of the six-foot-tall trophy case was almost spotless. The sliding glass doors that normally kept prying fingers away were open and moved to one side. There didn’t appear to be any scratches on the wood or smudges on the glass. Figuring out how a person could manage that would be a gift to humanity.

  “Sheriff, I gotta say it’s an unexpected pleasure to run into you this morning. May I say you’re looking lovely as always.” Andi could see Mark Taylor’s face reflected in the glass and did her best to appear perfectly unaffected yet slightly annoyed. Despite her best effort, Mark Taylor’s husky voice that close to her ear sent a shiver down her spine. In a good way.

  “Annoyed” was her number-one defense. If she spent too much time around him without it, she started to think about how handsome he was and how long it had been since she’d had dinner with a man, good-looking or otherwise. Thoughts like that distracted her from how dangerous he was, how easy he made it to trust him. And that was the last thing she needed. The only time she wanted to wind up on the front page was when she won this election.

  She didn’t turn to face him, but he stood close enough that she could smell clean clothes and warm man. It was a good smell. Andi licked her lips and said, “I am busy here, Mr. Taylor. We can chat momentarily.”

  When she braved a glance his direction, his lips twitched and he gave her a small salute. “I live to serve, Sheriff. Although I am going to enjoy having the shoe on the other foot.”

  “What do you mean?” Andi asked.

  “I mean you’ll be the one asking questions this time. Maybe I’ll be easier to work with than you are.” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her answer.

  She forced her shoulders back down to their normal spot and fought the urge to fidget with her shirt. “Of course, the fact that I wear a badge and gun will help you make a decision.”

  He whistled and went to sit at the counter.

  Rolling her eyes at how easily he distracted her, Andi thanked her lucky stars Jackie’d been preoccupied.

  Andi took out her phone and snapped a few pictures of the case and the sparkling glass before she walked over to check the door. There were no signs of forced entry on the inside. There were no scratches on the lock outside the door, either. No marks on the door. No broken glass. She went back to the office to snap pictures of the safe and Jackie’s spotless desk. The safe had an electronic keypad, but it was just a good, basic burglar-and-fire safe. Whoever had broken in had spent the time to get it open instead of hauling it away. But why take the trophies? This didn’t feel like a random theft.

  Andi made a quick trip to her SUV to pull up the field kit. As she did her best to find clear, unique fingerprints on the door, the trophy case and the safe, she cataloged questions and what she knew. And just as she’d expected, she couldn’t find a single print she’d call evidence.

  She stepped back into the dining room and propped her hands on her hips, taking one last look to make sure she hadn’t missed a thing. Every table in the restaurant looked to be perfectly placed, neat and set for the morning’s service. The white counter and stools along the front of the room were absolutely spotless. The black-and-white linoleum looked clean enough to eat off of. A small crowd stood outside on the sidewalk. Andi opened the door and gestured for them to come inside.

  As they entered, she handed each one a menu. “Morning, folks. You’re welcome to sit anywhere. Someone will be over to get your breakfast order in just a minute.”

  Jackie didn’t need to lose any business. And Mayor Jones didn’t need to see distressed tourists loitering on the sidewalk. Andi contemplated darting out to move the bench back to where it belonged, but Jackie set her coffee on the counter.

  “Jackie, you can open for business. I just want to ask a few quick questions for now.”

  He nodded curtly and marched over to her usual booth. He slid in and slammed his crossed arms on top of the table. As she picked up the coffee mug, Andi said in a low voice to the remaining suspects, “Thank you for your patience. I’ll have you back on your way as soon as possible. Oscar, you can go ahead and get their orders. Jackie will be back in a second.”

  Oscar smoothly pulled out his pad and glided over to the table by the window where a family of four was perusing the menu. Their study shouldn’t take long. At breakfast Jackie was big on the basics: pancakes, biscuits, sausage, bacon and eggs. The only real question was how much food they wanted piled up on the table at one time.

  Andi slid in across from Jackie and pulled out her notebook and pen. She used to rely on her memory for all the pertinent details. Then Mark Taylor moved to town and Andi decided she might need her own little notebook.

  “So, Jackie, is the diner exactly as you found it this morning when you came in?”

  “You mean other than the lineup of criminals sitting at my counter? Yes. I didn’t touch anything.”

  “Other than the door and the phone, you didn’t touch anything, right?”

  His bushy brows beetled over his nose. “Well, yeah, I had to touch the phone to call your office, didn’t I?”

  “And to call Mr. Taylor.” Andi sipped her coffee and watched the color rise in Jackie’s cheeks. He gritted his teeth and nodded curtly.

  “What about the trophy case?” Andi asked. “Was it locked when you left last night?”

  He stared over his shoulder as if the trophy case would tell him the answer. When he looked back, he was frowning, but he finally nodded. In her book, Andi noted that the case might have been unlocked. He didn’t look certain.

  “Was the safe locked? And where do you keep the combination?” Andi watched him think.

  “Yes, the safe was locked. I didn’t have the combination written down anywhere I can think of.” He sighed. “But I kept the override key in the top drawer of the desk. Probably wouldn’t have been hard to find if he knew what he was looking for.”

  She made a note to check for prints on the key. A savvy robber might expect the key to be hidden in the desk, but it didn’t change her mind that the thief was somebody who knew Jackie pretty well. He had a thing for organization and efficiency.

  “And where was Wanda Blankenship when you stopped her?”<
br />
  He huffed once. “She ran past me while I was unlocking the door. You know she makes laps. When she came by again, I grabbed her and told her to sit right down.”

  Andi pursed her lips. “And she did? She sat right down when you told her to?”

  Jackie shrugged. “I might have threatened to tell a secret about her if she didn’t stay put.”

  Andi paused, her pen ready to add whatever shocking secret Jackie had over Wanda Blankenship, but he picked that moment to clam up. “And what is that secret?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I won’t tell.”

  “Listen, Jackie, it’s honorable to keep secrets for people who’ve asked you to, but it might help me to know what Wanda’s hiding. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, too.”

  He frowned. “I might need that secret someday. It’s already helped me once. I’m not giving it up.”

  Andi fought the urge to sigh. It was difficult but she managed, barely, to meet his eyes. “And it has nothing to do with this case?”

  “Can’t see how it does, Sheriff.” He met her stare without flinching, and Andi decided to move on.

  “Okay, does the restaurant have a back door, Jackie?” This strip of Main Street had been converted to smaller spaces from a large mercantile. Some of them had back entrances and some didn’t.

  Jackie shook his head. “No, Sheriff, we use the front door, have to carry trash around the end of the block to the Dumpsters out back.” He pulled out his order pad as the door clanged shut behind new customers. Jackie glanced at them and back at Andi. “It’s a real pain.”

  She jotted down his answer. “You mentioned important documents. Like deeds and legal papers...that sort of thing?”

  “Yeah, stuff I wanted to keep safe, things that...well, it’s all important but some of it’s...it can’t be replaced.” He made the wrap-it-up gesture. “Just find my property, Sheriff. Fast. Mona’s going to be real upset until you do, and I can’t have that. The twelve gold trophies ought to be a real easy trail to follow.” He pointed over at the new table of customers. “All right if I go now?”

  She nodded. And made a note that Wanda wasn’t the only one with some kind of secret. Jackie didn’t want to talk about whatever was in the safe. Andi wrote down his wife’s name and a big question mark.

  Figuring she knew how it well it would go, Andi sucked up her frustration before calling over her shoulder, “Oscar, can I talk to you for a second?”

  He silently glided over and hovered.

  Andi pointed at the seat across from her. “Do you want to sit down?”

  There was a minute adjustment of Oscar’s head that might be a refusal. Apparently he preferred to stand.

  “Jackie said you arrived after he did this morning. Is that right?” Another infinitesimal adjustment that might be construed as a nod. “What time did you leave yesterday?” Andi waited. This was going to be good.

  “Four.” She didn’t know that she’d ever heard Oscar speak, but he had a nice, deep voice.

  “Can anyone verify your whereabouts between four and when you arrived this morning?”

  Her answer was a small tic that looked like a no but might also be a yes. She sighed. “All right, Oscar, go ahead and get back to work. I’ll track you down if I have any more questions.” And a deep desire to ram my head against the wall. Oscar would have known about the safe and the key, but he had to be smart enough to know he’d be the number-one suspect if something like this happened.

  Andi glanced over to see Wanda Blankenship and Mark Taylor in what appeared to be a cozy conversation. Wanda was leaning against him. One tanned, leanly muscled shoulder rested against him. Andi took a deep breath. “Miss Blankenship, can I talk to you for a second? I know you need to be on your way.”

  Wanda looked at Andi impatiently before she patted Mark on the back. She leaned forward to whisper something in his ear, and they both laughed at whatever sparkling gem that might be before she slid off the stool. There’s no other word for it. The woman was a slinker. She slunk across the diner toward the booth, and Mark Taylor seemed to appreciate every minute.

  Wanda perched gingerly on the seat before she waved at him. Andi noisily flipped the page in her notebook to get Wanda’s attention. “So, Wanda, I understand you were running on your normal circuit this morning when Jackie stopped you.”

  Wanda pouted. “Yes, Sheriff, I was running the block around the courthouse square like I do every day. I didn’t notice anyone near this place as I ran, but it was dark when I started. The sun had come up when I saw Jackie unlocking the door.”

  Andi nodded. “Why’d you stop when he told you to?”

  The question rattled Wanda, who was clearly wondering whether Jackie had given away her secret, but she’d played this game before. She leaned back against the leather of the booth. “I am a good citizen and a business owner myself, of course. If I can help in any way to apprehend criminals who break into the businesses of our fair town, then I am certainly glad to do so. Besides, I didn’t steal anything.” She tilted her head forward. “Where in the world would I hide it?”

  Wanda was laying it on pretty thick, which made Andi reconsider how juicy a secret it would be.

  “Jackie says you’ve got a secret. He wouldn’t share it. Would you like to? What makes an innocent woman follow Jackie’s orders?”

  She widened her doe eyes and fluttered her eyelashes. At this point it had to be natural instinct or just habit. It had no effect on Andi.

  One delicate shoulder rose slowly. “Well, Sheriff, I—” she glanced around the diner and back at Mark Taylor before she leaned forward over the table “—depend on Jackie to keep certain habits secret.”

  Andi tried to process that as she asked, “Like...?” She couldn’t come up with a single possibility.

  Wanda squeezed her eyes shut and then she mouthed, Pie.

  Andi leaned back against the booth. “Did you just say pie?”

  Wanda bit her lip. “I’ve got a real bad problem. Jackie’s my supplier. The town’s only fitness icon...and I’m addicted to pie.” Her eyes filled with what seemed to be real tears, and Andi was stumped.

  Finally she asked, “Where were you after the Country Kitchen closed last night?”

  Wanda sniffed. “I left The Gym at my usual time, about six. I didn’t leave the house until I started my run down here, and I think Jackie was the first person I ran into.”

  Wanda Blankenship owned the single health club in town. To be technically correct, her father owned it, but if anyone wanted a treadmill, an elliptical machine, a swimming pool or a tanning bed, then Wanda’s place was the only game in town. She was a walking advertisement for good health and the benefits of regular exercise and short visits to tanning beds.

  Wanda had plenty of time to break into the diner and no alibi, but from the mild look of dismay on her face, Andi was nearly certain Wanda would never want to. Unless she needed a way to counter Jackie knowing her secret, but what would she have been hoping to use as leverage?

  Andi drew a line through her name on the list of suspects and quickly did the same with Mark Taylor. She just couldn’t imagine what the motive might be.

  Wanda looked down at her watch. “Am I free to go, Sheriff?” Andi nodded and picked up her steaming hot cup of coffee. As she sipped, Andi watched Wanda sashay across the diner to the counter where Mark Taylor sat checking his phone for whatever he checked...text messages from girlfriends, hot tips on no-news events in town, sports scores. When Wanda patted his back and bent down to say something, he laughed. Wanda turned to leave and amped up the seduction in her walk. All eyes, even those of the twelve-year-old boy in the booth by the window, followed her exit.

  With a deep sigh, Mark Taylor turned to say, “Ready for me, Sheriff?”

  Andi really didn’t think she was. She took another sip of cof
fee and put it carefully back on the table. “You bet.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  MARK TAYLOR SLID into the booth across from prickly Sheriff Andrea Jackson. Facing off against her was familiar but that didn’t make it any less interesting. Or exciting. She was not a restful person. She was...motivated. Busy. Determined to prove herself. He ought to know. He was recovering from the same obsession himself. Burnout and watching his first wife walk away with a man who’d be home every night had convinced him to try a new life, one with free time and fishing.

  Covering bake sales and school plays had taken some adjustment, but he’d embraced his new life wholeheartedly and had the lower blood pressure and friends in town to show for it.

  When he settled against the booth, she crossed her arms defensively. As always, he watched the sheriff closely without letting her know he did. She wore her normal spotless uniform and had her hair pulled back so tightly he was surprised she could move her eyebrows. She looked like the type of person who’d build her own ammunition just for fun. He’d bet the fortune he didn’t have that she wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. She was too tightly wound but pretty.

  He braced his elbows on the table. The sheriff flipped a page in her notebook and did not meet his eyes. “So, Sheriff, how goes the investigation?” She was stubborn and uncommunicative on the best days. He wouldn’t get much out of her without a poke.

  “Fine. Want to tell me why you’re here if you had nothing to do with this?”

  He shrugged. “I knew there would be a good story. We put the paper out yesterday so it’s time to start rounding up the news for next week.”

  He leaned forward like he had a secret. “That’s sorta how the whole newspaper thing works, you know.”

  Andi picked up her full cup of coffee and stared at it for a second. As he’d chatted with pretty, obvious Wanda Blankenship, he’d watched the sheriff and the rest of the diners. The sheriff was good at focus. She’d probably noticed every hair out of place on Jackie or Wanda, but she was bad on the periphery. He’d had experience in cataloging lots of tiny details all at once. Good stories depended on those. Oscar had refilled her cup at least once, and it was clear that this was the first time she realized it. He watched her watch Oscar and could almost see the lightbulb go on over her head.