Murder At The Knife's Edge: A Mystic Pines Mystery

by T. G. Hanson

  The diner had never been open for breakfast and Meg planned to keep it that way. She figured anyone with half a brain could cook an egg and toast a piece of bread. Plus, these small-town folks simply woke up much earlier than Meg was used too. Not only that, she just didn't function well till after ten in the morning.

  The room was large with a long counter at the back wall with eight padded stools, the kind that children love to sit and spin around on till they turned green and just about lost whatever it was they had previously eaten.

  “Good idea, the picnic tables with the bench seating Megs. You’ll be able to get more bodies in here than you could have with those old metal tables” remarked Wade.

  Placing her hand on Wade’s back Lynn began pushing him towards the front door. “We had better get going. My alarm clock goes off too early in the morning for work, and I have a hard time getting up as it is. I’m all tuckered out from all this work today” laughed Lynn.

  Meg stood and walked the two to the door. “Thanks again you two. Stop by tomorrow around noon, and I’ll have lunch plates made up for the three of you. It’s the least I can do for all this help.” She hugged them both then watched Lynn get in her car and drive off towards her house.

  Wade stood in the doorway, “You need a ride back to the motel Megs?”

  “Sure do if you don’t mind.” Turning the lights off and locking the door to the diner behind her, they walked over to Wade’s truck.

  “I guess I should think about getting a car since I’ll be staying for a bit. I can’t expect people to be driving me around every time I need to go someplace.” she laughed.

  Wade chuckled and looked over at her. “Honestly Meg, I don’t mind driving you around, but I can give you a lift into a rental place in Houston if you’d like?” he asked.

  “I know Wade, and I appreciate it. I’ll give it some thought and let you know. I’ve also got to think about finding a place to live other than this motel.”

  “That’s probably a good idea as well. I know there are several houses for sale and a few for rent around here. Lynn is in good with the realtor, Jack Richards. You might ask her to introduce you.”

  Meg laughed, “Lynn mentioned that to me. Seems her friend, has a great deal on a house just up the street from hers. I think she is hoping I’ll buy it so we can be neighbors. We’re going to look at it tomorrow morning.”

  Reaching the motel Meg put her hand on Wade's shoulder. “Hey, thanks again for all your help and for the ride. Don’t get out, it’s late, and you need your sleep. I can see myself to the door.”

  He had started to protest when she leaned over, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then jumped out of the truck. She was inside her room with the door shut before Wade could recover from the kiss.

  Watching behind the curtains Meg saw Wade sit for a minute staring at the door to her room, then she heard him shout a loud “woohoo” as he put the car in gear and drove off.

  Settled in for the night, Meg had planned to read for a bit. As it turned out, she was exhausted from the day and soon fell asleep thinking about Wade and the kiss she had given him tonight. Just what do I think I’m doing, getting involved with a guy right now? Probably not such a great idea with all the “what-if’s” hanging over my head.

  ******

  Meg had just finished hanging a sign on the diner door showing the diner hours when she saw Lynn coming around the corner from the Sheriff’s station. Holding the door open she yelled at her friend, “Hey Lynn, come on in. I’ve got the guys tea fixed, and those lunch plates are ready to go.”

  Lynn jogged through the open door. Brushing her hair from her face, she glanced around the diner. “The guys were thrilled when I told them you had planned to keep them in sweet tea each afternoon. They keep saying there’s something different about the way you make it and it’s better than Mack’s was.”

  “Oh, that’s the little bit of cinnamon I add to it but don’t tell anyone!” Meg laughed. Waving her hand around the room, she asked Lynn, “So what do you think now that the final touches are in place?”

  Lynn gazed around the diner and couldn’t believe how much nicer it looked now. “It’s fantastic Meg! I love the mix of antiques you have on the walls, and the red and white checked tablecloths are perfect! And the feed sack curtains - what a fantastic idea!” She had begun to walk around the room looking at the bric-a-brac Meg had hung on the walls. “Where on earth did you find all this stuff?”

  “Early this morning I found a few garage sales going on in town. You know Bill, from the motel, well he loaned me his truck to check them out, and I picked up some things. I’m hoping the townsfolk will chip in and bring me things now and then. Things they might be throwing away. I was going to put up a sign in the front window later today, asking for donations.”

  Lynn walked over to Meg and sat down on a bench. “That's a great idea! I’ll be sure and let the guys know and will mention it to anyone I talk to for you. You might check down at the hardware store too.”

  “Thanks! I’m glad you like it all. Now I just hope people remember I’m opening back up tonight and they show up.” Meg laughed.

  Lynn hugged her new friend, “Don’t you worry about that. These folks, well they are most likely having diner withdrawal by now. You’ve seen them, it’s like the town social meeting place in the evening. Besides, I think Wade has been reminding everyone he sees about the free pie with dinner tonight. No way these folks are going to pass up the free pie.”

  Meg walked behind the lunch counter and began to place some styrofoam cups, lids, and straws into a brown paper sack. Lynn noticed her adding three small food containers into the sack as well.

  “I guess you managed to talk Randy into staying on as the cook?” she asked.

  “Oh sure did. Isn’t that fantastic. Get this, he was afraid I was going to replace him. He was so happy when I asked him to stay on that he made a special lunch for you and the guys. He’s back in the kitchen now baking pies like crazy.”

  Walking to the counter Lynn took the bag from Meg and sniffed inside the bag. She could smell Randy’s open faced roast beef sandwiches and her stomach growled. He used thick slices of roast beef mounded on top of mashed potatoes and covered in delicious brown gravy. All of this sat on top of a thick slice of Texas Toast bread. The diner was always packed on the nights he cooked the dish. “Oh my gosh, I’m not going back to the station. I’m staying right here and eating all three lunches myself” she teased.

  Filling a large pitcher with sweet tea, Meg untied the apron she had on, walked around to the other side of the counter and practically pulled Lynn to the front door and out onto the sidewalk. “Go ahead you, I won’t be responsible for your murder when the guys find out you ate their lunch. This pitcher of tea should last them until this evening as well. If you’re a good girl, I promise to have a surprise for you when you come back at three.”

  Meg gave her a little shove to start walking and Lynn yelled back over her shoulder, “Fine, it better be a good one! Be ready to leave right at three so we can go see that house. Jack promised to not put the notice up about it till you’ve had a chance to look at it.”

  Meg waved her hand in the direction of the station as if to tell her to go on. Teasing she called after Lynn, “I’ll be ready and remind me to ask you more about this Jack guy as well.”

  The door had only swung shut when she heard Randy calling her name from the kitchen. Grabbing the new chalkboard and chalk pens she had purchased, she headed to the kitchen to work on tonight’s menu with Randy.

  FOUR

  After setting out condiments on all of the tables, Meg yelled back towards the kitchen letting Randy know she was going to her office on the bookstore side of the building. While the buildings were separate, Mack had cut a large opening between them so that you could simply walk through from the dinner to the bookstore. It was Meg’s favorite part of the building. The opening had been cut in a half circle shape with the edges trimmed out in thick dark stained
oak. It reminded her of the openings in a hobbit house, from The Lord of the Rings movie.

  One of the big changes she had made was to turn the room Mack had been using as an office, in the diner, into a storeroom then moving her office to the back of the bookstore. Near the back of the room were two sectioned off areas where she could use the larger room for her office and the smaller area as supply closet.

  Mack had never done much with the bookstore. He’d only kept it open for the occasional truck driver who passed through and needed a rest stop. There were a few overstuffed chairs and a lumpy couch for seating, all worse for wear, a long wooden reading table and two of those metal spinning book racks. One rack contained a lot of those old western paperbacks while the other contained some old mystery paperbacks. The best part of the shop were the six-foot-tall bookshelves that lined both sides of the room, from front to back.

  Wade and the Sheriff had managed to get the shelves and reading table looking almost new after a thorough cleaning and a new coat of varnish. They’d also carried the old furniture out and around back for trash pickup.

  Meg was busy making a list of supplies she still needed to get when she heard voices coming from the front of the store. Leaving her desk and walking out of the office she saw Lynn coming towards her with a group of elderly ladies following behind.

  “Hey Meg, I’ve got some ladies you need to meet.” called Lynn.

  As Meg approached the group she heard the taller of the women speaking to the others. “Look girls, it looks so much nicer already with all that ratty furniture gone. And, it looks like she might have plans to use the big shelves as well. How exciting!”

  “Meg, meet the ladies of the Widows Watch Book Club who, are very interested in your plans for the bookstore. They caught me on the street and made me promise to introduce them to you.” Winking, Lynn continued. “I think they have a few questions for you if you have time?”

  The ladies had gathered around Meg waiting for her response. Book Club? Guess I’d better make nice with the locals, especially if they are book lovers and potential customers she thought to herself.

  “Hello ladies.” Meg walked towards the opening into the diner while motioning for the group to follow her. “Why don’t we all go into the diner where we can sit down and talk comfortably.”

  Meg motioned for the ladies to have a seat while she and Lynn went behind the counter and fixed glasses of tea for everyone. Glancing towards the group she nudged Lynn’s arm and whispered to her. “So I take it the taller woman dressed to the nines is the leader of the group?”

  Lynn snickered and whispered back, “Yup, that’s Nyla Hanson, the town busy body. She considers herself the utmost authority on all things when it comes to books and authors alike.”

  “Really, you don’t say.” replied Meg.

  “Just wait, I’m sure she’ll have a lot of suggestions for you when you start filling all those shelves in the store.” grinned Lynn.

  Carrying the tea back to the table Meg put on her sweetest smile for the ladies. I can hardly wait to hear what these ladies have to say.

  Over the next hour Meg learned that the Widows Watch Book Club consisted of Nyla Hanson, Helen Bells, Myra Dinks, Janet Porter and Sue Watson. They were all sixty-plus in age and widows except for Helen Bells who had never married. Their club read nothing but mystery novels and met once a week, currently at Nyla’s house.

  Meg’s impression of the ladies was that they were all very different. Nyla was the image of the “well brought up southern lady” but very straight forward. She had her short silver hair perfectly coifed, just like her nails, and you probably never saw her in anything but her best when she went out of the house.

  Nyla had passed a paper across the table to Meg and pointing at it had remarked, “Now Meg dear, here is the list of all the books the club has read and those we will be reading through the end of the year. We normally go into Houston once a month to purchase our books, but if you will be stocking the Who-Dun-It like a regular bookstore, we can save ourselves that awful trip and buy our books from you.”

  Helen leaned over and smacked Nyla’s arm, “Hells Bells Nyla, why don’t you just boss the poor girl around five minutes after meeting her.” she scolded. She turned to Meg with an “I’m sorry” kind of look on her face “You’ll learn to just ignore Nyla when she gets this way. She’s always up in everyone’s business telling them what to do.”

  Helen, Meg liked instantly. She was short, plump and had a wonderful laugh. Her dark hair had just the slightest bit of grey beginning to show. From listening to her talk, she reminded Meg of the character Ouiser, from the movie Steel Magnolias.

  Nyla and Helen had begun to bicker with each other when the woman named Myra stood up and wedged herself between the two, making them each slide down the bench a bit. “Both of you stop it right now. You’re making a bad impression on Meg here and gonna scare her out of town before she even gets settled in!”

  Meg nudge Lynn’s knee under the table while trying to hold in a laugh. Obviously, Myra is the mother figure of the group - the well-grounded one she thought. This woman is the no-nonsense type, dresses for comfort but nice and from the looks of it, didn’t worry about her salt and peppered colored hair simply pulling it back into a bun at the base of her neck.

  Myra looked from Nyla to Helen and then back to Meg and sighed. “You’ll have to excuse these two Meg honey. They bicker all the time but it’s just the way they show their love for each other.”

  The two other ladies, Janet and Sue, were the quieter ones and seemed to be on the younger side of sixty. One blond, the other a brunette. Both slim of build and friendly. It seemed to Meg they were probably closer to each other than the rest of the group. She later found out that they lived near to each other and their husbands had been close cousins. They smiled at Meg. “It’s so nice that someone is finally going to make something of the Who-Dun-It. We like the new electronic readers but we still collect hard bound books of our favorite series. It will be nice not having to go out of town for our books.”

  The group sat in conversation for an hour discussing their favorite authors while Meg listened attentively. “I assure you ladies that I’ll try and carry all of your favorite authors if possible. I do hope however, that you all will try some new authors I might suggest as well. I’d also be delighted to have you hold your book club meetings in the store. I plan on adding a special place where you could sit comfortably and have discussions or read.”

  The women all smiled and told her again how excited they were about her plans. Nyla had asked Meg to let her know when the store was ready for the club and she’d plan the meeting.

  Meg pulled out some business cards she had made up and handed one to each of the ladies. “I have something very special planned that you all will love, but it’s a surprise till I have all the details worked out. The website should be set up by the end of the month so you all can watch for more information about it there.”

  They had finished a second glass of tea when Lynn stood up and began to gather up the glasses. “Ladies, it’s been fun but I’ve got to take Meg here to look at a house. You all best skedaddle out of here and hopefully we will see you back here this evening for dinner. Remember, the place opens back up tonight” she reminded them.

  The widows picked up their purses and thanked Meg for the tea. Myra and Helen gave Meg a hug on the way out telling her good luck with the supper crowd tonight. Seconds later they were all walking down the sidewalk clucking away to each other.

  Meg turned to help Lynn with the last of the glasses. “By the way Lynn, I have a favor to ask. I need to get some supplies for the bookstore and want to buy a computer as well. Would you be willing to give me a ride into Houston one day this week?”

  “Oh sure thing. Just let me know what day and I’ll arrange it with the Sheriff to give me my day off that day.” Lynn had grabbed her purse and was heading for the door. “Now come on. We’ve got to head on over to that house so you’ll have en
ough time to give it a good look over before you have to get back here. Get a move on it girl!”

  “All right, now don’t go getting all bossy on me. I’m coming.” Meg ran back to the kitchen to let Randy know she would be back in a bit. Seconds later she and Lynn were walking down the road to see what just might be her new home.

  ******

  The girls had walked up to the traffic light at the main road, Murderers Row and turned left down Poisoned Pen Road. “The house is just one street down on the corner. My house is only two houses down from the one you will be looking at.”

  “Oh,” cried Meg excitedly. “That’s the section of town that I loved the other night when Wade showed me around. I didn’t realize it was your street as well!”

  Lynn smiled. “Yup and Myra, one of the widows, she lives just across the street from me. I’m telling you Meg; the house is perfect for you. Just wait, you’ll see.”

  Just as they crossed the next street Lynn was pointing to a gorgeous craftsman style house on the corner. “Look, it’s this one here.”

  Meg was smiling as she noticed the house had a decent sized lot, not too big to mow but with enough of a yard that she could have a dog if she wanted. The house itself had a soft cream vinyl siding on it with terra cotta colored trim. There was a large concrete covered porch with a wall around the porch and an opening in the center. Large posts were placed at either side of the opening and at each corner. “It’s lovely Lynn. I can’t wait to see the inside.” she exclaimed.

  Climbing the steps, Lynn began digging through her purse to find the keys while Meg marveled at the size of the area. “This porch is large enough that I could have a rocker and small table out here and some plants. It would be a great reading spot.” Looking up at the overhanging roof she noticed a ceiling fan had been installed for the hot summer days.

  Once inside Meg quickly ran from room to room then stopped in the living area to contemplate what she had seen. She had found one bedroom, one bathroom, a cozy kitchen and living area that were separated by a long, sit down bar. Just the perfect size for a single person who doesn't entertain a lot, she thought smiling. “You were right Lynn; the house is perfect. I love the Craftsman style furniture as well. Wonder if I could purchase it with the house, do you know?”