by J A Whiting
“I think it will work out.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea to keep that old place?” Betty leaned forward, a fake caring smile on her lips. “You’re young. Why be tied to such a money pit? It will suck you dry having to maintain that old thing.” She cocked her head. “Think of how wealthy you’d be if you sold it. You wouldn’t have to work again for a long time. Invest the profit well and you could live off the interest indefinitely.”
Angie narrowed her eyes. “You’re the second person who’s said that to me recently.”
Betty ignored the comment. “Think of it. You could travel. Live somewhere warm in the winter. You’re young. Enjoy yourself. Don’t lock yourself to that old, dark place.”
Angie didn’t respond. She knew that Betty was only concerned with her own interests and what would benefit her pocketbook and selling the Victorian would provide a massive agent’s commission. Angie chuckled inwardly at the way Betty expressed such concern over Angie’s well-being. Artificial concern.
“Oh, I know it’s all very new and exciting. But you’ll tire of that place and all of its problems very soon.” Betty put the agreement back in the folder and closed it. “When you’re ready, you know where to find me.” She smiled sweetly at Angie.
Angie didn’t appreciate the unsolicited advice or Betty’s blatant phoniness when money was involved, but she forced a smile and said, “I’ll let you know if I ever decide to sell.”
Betty clasped her hands together. “Very good. Remember, spring is an excellent time to put property on the market.”
“I’ll remember.” Angie was about to leave but thought of something. “Did you recall what Professor Linden asked the lawyer to do for her? You mentioned it at the reception. It was regarding her father, you said.”
Betty blinked several times and then she recalled the conversation she’d had with Angie. “I don’t think the professor ever elaborated. I don’t know.”
“Did the professor ever show interest in selling the Victorian?”
“Once she did, not too long ago, but it was fleeting.” Betty said more to herself than to Angie, “I should have pounced on it when I had the chance.”
“What did you say?” Angie asked.
Betty waved her hand. “Oh, nothing. Can’t look to the past. Must focus on the future.”
“Did the professor ever mention Davis Williams to you, that he made an offer on the Victorian?”
“Davis? I don’t think so.” Betty smiled. “Why all the questions? Are you a detective now, Angie?” She chuckled just as a knock sounded on the door. “Oh, my next appointment is here. Remember what I said about the Victorian. You give it some thought. I’d be glad to help you get that place off your hands.”
Betty rose from her seat and Angie did the same. Angie nodded, but she was not selling the house.
***
Angie was deep in thought as she turned the corner to Main Street and nearly collided with Josh Williams.
“Josh. Sorry. I was thinking about something and wasn’t paying attention.”
“Angie. It’s nice to see you. How are you doing?” His blue eyes warmed her.
“I’m okay.” Still annoyed with Betty, she managed a slight smile.
“Thanks again for your hospitality hosting Professor Linden’s remembrance reception. And thanks for the tour. The house is great.” Josh walked in step with Angie. “Did you meet with the detective? Did it go okay?”
Angie thought how sincere Josh seemed in his questions and she contrasted that with the selfish interest that Betty had shown. Walking along the sidewalk with Josh, Angie could feel her muscles relaxing. Her meeting with Betty had stressed her and she hadn’t realized how tense she’d been feeling. “I met with the detective the other day. He is a very suspicious person.”
Josh chuckled. “I guess he has to be in his line of work. In his eyes, it must always be guilty until proven innocent.”
Angie smiled. “I’m glad I don’t have to be so negative in my line of work.”
“You’re the complete opposite of that. Your job requires a very specific set of skills.”
“Does it? What are they?” Angie eyed Josh.
“Well.” Josh stopped walking. Angie turned to see why he stopped. “Are you in a hurry? This is a nice pub.” Josh indicated the building next to them. “If you’d like a coffee or a glass of wine, I can explain the importance of your skill set for being a bake shop owner.” Josh had a twinkle in his eyes.
Warmth spread through Angie’s body like molasses, slow and easy, taking its time to heat up every part of her. She almost felt the tingle of a blush coloring her cheeks. Angie was about to tell Josh that she had to get to the market and then hurry home to make dinner, but she was tired of being overworked and rushed, and one quick drink wouldn’t take much time. She wanted to accept Josh’s offer, even if he and his brother were part of the reasons why she was feeling harried. “A glass of wine sounds nice,” Angie said.
A look of surprise flickered over Josh’s face and was quickly replaced with a smile that lit him up. “Really? Well, great.” He stepped to the pub’s entrance and opened the door for Angie.
They took seats by the window and each had a glass of merlot.
“So. Tell me about my skill set.” Angie took a sip from her glass.
“There are very important characteristics needed to own a café.” Josh crossed his arms on the table top and leaned forward. “A café owner has to be part chemist, part psychologist, part excellent listener, part skilled advice giver, and part savvy businessperson.”
Angie locked eyes with Josh. “Hmm….”
“Also, the café owner has to have a warm and friendly personality so that customers feel welcome.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought, I see,” Angie teased. “I’m not sure about a lot of things on that list. I think I might need to work on some of them.”
Josh cocked his head. “Which ones do you have mastered?”
“Well, the chemist part, for one.”
“That’s how you make such excellent desserts. How do you know so much about chemistry?”
Sitting across from Josh, Angie was thinking about a different kind of chemistry. “I got my bachelor’s degree in chemistry.”
“Did you?” Josh looked impressed. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
Angie gave a little shrug. “You don’t really have to know that much about chemistry to be a good baker.”
“You are a woman of many talents, it seems.”
Angie and Josh continued their bantering while they sipped their wine. After a half hour, Angie knew she had to get going so that there would be time to do her errand, make dinner, and work on Jenna’s jewelry.
Josh said, “We’re having an open house at the resort next weekend to celebrate the renovations. It’s going to be appetizers and desserts, open bar. We’re having local people provide the food and flowers. We’re paying them of course. Betty Hayes is supplying the flowers from her green house and the local floral designer is going to make arrangements with them. We’re getting in touch with local caterers. I was going to ask you if you’d like to do the desserts.”
Angie wondered if Josh had wanted to have a drink together in order to get her to do the desserts at a reduced cost. Her heart sank.
“But.…” Josh said.
“But, what?” Angie asked.
“I’d rather have you there as a guest. So you could enjoy yourself. Would you like to come? Your sisters, too? We’re inviting the townspeople to come by and join us from 7-10pm. Since you’ve never been to the resort, you might enjoy seeing it.” Josh added, “Of course, if you’d like the contract to do the desserts, it’s yours.”
Flickers of attraction to Josh tickled Angie’s skin. It’s probably dumb to start something with him. That’s if he feels the same way I do, which maybe he doesn’t and I’m concocting the whole idea. He and his brother will just move out of the area as soon as their latest projects are all s
et.
Angie ignored the thoughts running through her head. “We’re going to be really busy over the next couple of weeks.”
The smile dropped from Josh’s face, assuming Angie was going to refuse the invitation to the reception.
“So I don’t think it would be wise to take on the contract to do the desserts. But it might be nice to come. I’ll talk to my sisters. A night out would do all of us good.”
Josh beamed at her from across the table.
Chapter 15
It was a warm, sunny, late afternoon when Tom’s truck pulled into the Victorian’s driveway and Angie and Jenna came out to meet him. After several delays and numerous rescheduling, Tom was finally able to come to the house to look over what the girls wanted for renovations in order to suit the new businesses they planned to run out of the house.
“Morning.” Tom called out to the girls as they came down the porch steps with Euclid trailing behind them. Euclid was a house cat for the most part, but occasionally he went in the yard with Angie or one of her sisters. He enjoyed sitting in the sunshine and he always stayed close by and never strayed beyond the property line of the Victorian. Euclid rubbed himself against Tom’s legs and purred. “Hello, buddy.” Tom scratched Euclid’s cheeks and chest.
“Someone has a friend.” Jenna had her long hair up in a high ponytail and was wearing a navy blue tank top and white shorts. She flashed Tom a brilliant smile. Angie eyed her sister and wondered how she’d missed the obvious attraction Jenna had for Tom.
“I’ve done some small repairs for Professor Linden,” Tom said. “Euclid and I are old friends.”
They walked to the side of the house where there was another set of steps that led to the wraparound porch. “This is where I’d like the entrance to the bake shop to be.” Angie pointed to the wall where there was a window in place. If I use this room for the main part of the café then people could enter through the new door. The room right here has access to the kitchen.”
“Let’s go in so I can take a look.” Tom started up the steps of the porch.
“Come in this way,” Jenna said. “I can show you the room where I’ve set up my jewelry workshop.”
They walked along the porch and Jenna opened a French door that led to her workshop.
“This looks great.” Tom admired the space. “The professor called this the music room.”
Jenna nodded. “My customers will be able to come up the porch steps and come right into the jewelry shop. We’re going to bring in two antique glass fronted cabinets to use as display cases for finished designs.” Jenna indicated where they would place the cases.
“Perfect,” Tom said. “So you’ll be ready to open to customers soon. No renovations needed in here.”
“Yeah. I’ll still run my online shop, too. This will just be for summer customers who stop in. Right now, I’m behind on my online orders. I’ll get this set up as soon as I can.”
“Glad to help with any heavy moving that needs to be done.” Tom smiled at Jenna.
Angie wanted to tease them for the bit of flirtation that was going back and forth, but she decided to hold her tongue for a while and pretend she didn’t notice. She was entertained by the energy that was buzzing between Jenna and Tom and she couldn’t wait until later when she could really razz her sister for the crush she had on him.
They moved from Jenna’s workshop to a hallway that led to the large room that Angie wanted to use as the customer part of the bake shop. The space had big windows that let in the natural light and looked out onto the porch.
“So here’s the room I thought would be perfect,” Angie said. “If we changed that window to a door, it could be the entrance to the café. And over here,” she pointed, “the kitchen is on the other side of this wall. If you made a door here, I can get in to do the baking.”
Tom had his measuring tape out and a small notebook where he was jotting the information down. Euclid had perched on a chair next to the window to watch what Tom was doing.
“I think Euclid is going to help you with the renovations.” Angie patted the cat behind the ears.
“When I’ve worked in the house before, Euclid was my right-hand man.” Tom made some more notes. “This looks good, Angie. You can put the counters here. You can use this section for the coffee bar, put the customer stools over here.” He winked at the girls. “I want to be sure my usual seat is accounted for.”
Jenna and Angie laughed. “Don’t worry,” Jenna said. “Angie already planned where your own personal stool will go.”
“That was the first thing I considered,” Angie joked.
“Glad you didn’t forget me.” Tom took another measurement. “Let’s go see the kitchen. If you’re planning on running a bed and breakfast and a café out of here, there are certain kitchen requirements that have to be met.”
As they headed to the kitchen, Angie looked worried. “I forgot about that. I’d better go to the town hall right away to get approval to run the businesses out of the house.”
“You’ll need that in hand before I can apply for the renovation permits,” Tom told her. “You shouldn’t have any trouble getting the okay from the town.”
In the kitchen Tom made some suggestions that weren’t very elaborate in order to keep costs under control, but that would make the work flow more smoothly once the businesses got underway. Angie liked his ideas and hoped that the work estimate would be within her budget.
“There’s just one more thing I’d like you to put in your estimate. We’d like to put a door at the top of the third floor stairs. We’re planning to use that floor as our private space and we want to have a door with a lock to keep the B and B clients from wandering up there.”
“Before we go upstairs to show you where we’d like the door installed,” Jenna said, “how about some iced tea? It’s warm today. We can sit out on the porch.” She flashed Tom a warm smile. “Do you have time?”
Tom checked his watch. “I have another project to give an estimate on, but a cold drink sounds good.”
Angie took glasses down from the cabinet and Jenna removed a glass pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator. She put the glasses on a tray while Angie placed some chocolate chip scones on a plate. They took everything out to the porch and sat in rocking chairs to enjoy the refreshments.
“How are you girls holding up working day and night between the two businesses?” Tom sipped his iced tea.
“We don’t sleep much.” Angie laughed.
“We couldn’t keep it up forever, that’s for sure, but we’re doing okay.” Jenna bit into a scone. “Angie’s treats keep us going.” She grinned.
“Ellie’s here now. She’s been getting things ready to open the bed and breakfast,” Angie said. “She helps out with the jewelry making in the evenings. We try to make it a fun thing. We light a fire, play music, and make sure there are plenty of things to eat.”
“Doesn’t sound half bad.” Tom reached for another scone. “Delicious as usual, Angie.”
“Where’s Euclid? Jenna looked around the porch for the cat.
“He stayed inside,” Angie said. “He was curled up on top of the fridge.”
“I’m surprised he stayed in. He’s usually in the middle of things when we’re doing anything. He doesn’t miss a trick that one.” Jenna brushed some crumbs off of her tank top.
“It seems strange with the professor gone.” Tom looked off across the front lawn. “She always had something or other for me to do, small things. Most contractors wouldn’t have bothered with her business, they’d send her to a handyman, but I liked her. I liked helping her out, talking with her. She was an interesting person, a good lady.”
“I miss her coming into the shop everyday,” Angie said.
“Poisoned.” Tom shook his head. “It’s hard to believe.”
“Why would someone poison her?” Jenna’s face was sad.
“I guess more important,” Tom said, “is who poisoned her?”
“I just can’t stand
thinking a murderer is on the loose in Sweet Cove.” A shiver ran down Jenna’s back.
“Did you notice anything that day?” Angie turned towards Tom. “I keep going over it, and going over it, but I just can’t think of anything out of the ordinary.” She sighed. “I didn’t notice anyone near the professor’s drink. But I wasn’t watching it closely either. ”
“I was on my usual stool,” Tom said. “I had my back to the professor. I didn’t see anything. Things seemed normal in there that day.”
Euclid meowed from the other side of the open window.
“I’ll let him out.” Jenna got up and opened the front door so Euclid could join them on the porch.
The cat pranced out the door as soon as it opened. As Jenna watched him pass her, she noticed something. “Euclid has something in his mouth.”
“Oh, no.” Angie cringed. “I hope it isn’t a mouse.”
“He’s bringing you a present.” Tom chuckled.
Euclid approached Angie’s rocking chair and laid something at her feet.
“What’s this?” Angie reached down to pick up Euclid’s gift. Her eyes went wide when she saw what it was.
“What is it?” Jenna looked over at Angie as she returned to her rocking chair.
Angie held her hand out so they could see what she was holding.
“A piece of cloth?” Jenna leaned closer.
Angie’s heart pounded and a shiver shook her stomach.
“A bow tie?” Tom reached for it.
Angie’s face hardened. “It’s a bow tie all right.” Her voice trembled.
Jenna asked, “Where’d that come from?”
“Jack Ford wears bow ties.” Angie’s breath was fast and shallow as she eyed the tie. Anger flooded her body.
“Did it fall off of him the day of the remembrance reception?” Jenna asked
“No. He had on a bright yellow and blue bow tie that day. It stood out to me.” Angie took a deep breath and when she spoke, her voice was hard. “He must have lost this one in his haste to get out of the house. The night he broke in here.”
“What?” Tom nearly jumped from the rocker. “He broke into your house?”
