by Tonya Kappes
“Vita and Angela were it.” Monica glanced around the corner when the back door of the post office opened.
“Vita?” I made sure I heard her correctly, because Vita was my go-to gal, and I knew the strawberry shortcake was going to work.
“Good morning.” Nick Kirby popped his head into the room. “I just wanted to let you know I’m here.” His eyes went directly to the piece of cake. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eating, Monica.”
“I’m stuffed, but that’s an extra piece if you’d like it. I also have a cup of coffee there too.” Monica was a quick learner.
“Are you sure?” he asked, giving her a smile.
“I wouldn’t’ve offered it to you if I weren’t.” Her shoulders swayed back and forth.
“That didn’t take long.” I had to break the awkward moment. Though I didn’t discourage Monica away from him since I wasn’t one-hundred-percent positive he had something to do with Simon’s murder, but I did put an eye on him. Nick was on my very short list of suspects.
“I was just over at the Roasted Bean grabbing a cup of coffee before I headed on over.” He grabbed the work orders from the file that hung on the wall. “But I sure could use more.” He sat down in the folding chair and put the file on the table, flipping through the orders from the LLV mail carriers. “Looks easy this morning.” He quickly looked through them while sipping his coffee from Monica.
By Monica’s reaction, I could tell she had more than a crush on him, she truly liked him and wanted him to return the favor, like, today.
“What’s your deal?” Monica asked after Nick left to go work on the LLVs and I threw a couple of questions at him.
“I just don’t like a stiff strap.” I shrugged and placed the new bag across my body. “Makes for an uncomfortable day.”
“I’m sorry about that.” Monica continued to toss the mail into the PO box slots. “Maybe you can throw it into the wash tonight.”
“Yeah. Good idea.” I waved goodbye to her on my way out of the door with my eyes set on Nick.
He was right where I wanted him. In the parking lot with other mail carriers walking around. On my way over to the vehicle he was working on, I overheard a few of my colleagues talking about Simon and how they’d also heard it was murder.
“How are you doing?” I asked Nick.
“I’m good. You?” He was fiddling with some hoses on the vehicle.
“I’m fine. But I really wanted to make sure you’re okay,” I said with sympathy laced in my tone. “I know it’s got to be hard losing your best friend and business partner.”
“Yeah.” He let go of the hoses and stood up. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s hit me yet. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around Peaches doing such a thing to him. And breaking in to the post office.” He shook his head with disbelief written all over his face.
Very convincingly, I might add.
“I knew she was a drinker and Simon hated that about her, which is why he broke up with her. She accused him of all sorts of things last week when she showed up at the garage, throwing a big hissy fit.” Nick was telling me some information that I didn’t even have to pull from him. A grunting noise escaped him, like he was about to say something, but didn’t. “But that’s for the sheriff to sort out. I’m just going to try to honor him by doing what he wanted, and that’s to get that motorcycle patent done.”
“You mean the patent he’d filed, and I tried to deliver?” I questioned.
“Yeah. I called the patent office, and I have all the paperwork to refile under my name. I told Simon’s mom I was going to be sure to give them half the money of everything we sell with it since Simon was half of it.”
“That’s kind of you.” Of course it’s kind of you, you murderer. I tried to stop my thinking, but the more I looked at him and listened to him talk, it was clear he wasn’t happy that Simon filed the patent without him. Or at least I could only think he’d filed it without him since the certified letter was only for Simon to sign. “What was the part anyways?”
It was something I’d talked about in passing with Simon that day in the doctor’s office, but I really wanted to be clear on the exact part so I could see if it was really worth killing over.
“I didn’t know you were interested in motorcycles.” He threw a stare at me, making it seem as though he wasn’t going to make this little snooping thing easy.
“I care about Simon, and you know, my curiosity was up when I was delivering it. Very interesting piece of mail when nothing ever happens around here.” Who was I kidding? Sugar Creek Gap had a lot going on with a few murders over the last couple of years, but it was all for the sake of trying to figure out if Peaches was telling the truth that she didn’t kill Simon, or if Nick was telling me the truth about Peaches.
“Actually,” he said, taking a few steps toward me. There was excitement building in his voice with each word. Using his hands, he explained, “It’s pretty cool. We’d gotten a few bikes in the shop with the same malfunctions, specifically the separation and crimping failure in the front upper stanchions.”
“The what?” I had no clue what he was talking about or trying to show me with his arm.
“There’s a fork in the front suspension of the bike.” He wasn’t explaining what it was fully but just enough that I knew where the handlebars of motorcycle were located. “For some reason, these things come loose and don’t stay clamped. It’s pretty crazy how these are not made properly and people have to keep replacing them. Simon came up with an amazing idea to make a clamp. He sold me when his eyes lit up about how we could sell them. I came up with a prototype, and we tried it out. It took months but we finally came up with one that worked on the bikes we repaired.”
It was all fascinating really. Nick. Gosh, he lit up so bright as he talked about it, reminding me of how Simon had gotten excited in the doctor’s office when I told him about the letter.
“Yeah. I mean, cool, right?” Nick smiled. Then I watched it falter as he continued, “Simon was good at the business stuff while I did most of the hands-on stuff, which would make it hard to continue keeping the garage open.”
“What about the patent?” I asked.
“I have enough of the paperwork to show that I put the parts together to make it while Simon came up with the actual idea, so it’s enough for me to refile and get the thing into production. I just wish he was here to see it all come together.” Nick shuffled a small rock underneath his shoe.
“About that. Do you know anyone who would want the letter so bad that they’d break in to the post office?” I wanted to bring it back around to shed light on him as a suspect.
“Like I told Angela, when I found Peaches here, I had no idea she’d broke in to the post office. She was passed out cold. I took her back to her exercise place and left her there. I came back and found Monica here. She’d already called the police. But I know Peaches didn’t want Simon to succeed in anything.” Nick ran a dirty hand through his hair, making it stick up all over the place. “Like I said, when she came by the garage the other day, she was hootin’ and hollerin’ about how he was sending Sarah into the studio to make her jealous and she didn’t care if he did have his surgery and wished his patent didn’t go through. It was crazy train.”
“That seems so out of her character.” I’d never seen Peaches as a drinker or having anger issues. “She’s the calmest person I’d ever seen.”
“Well, turnip tops don’t tell you the size of the turnip either.” It was our way of saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover.
“I guess not.” His story bothered me more than I wanted it to. I really liked Peaches, but if what he was saying was true, it was her that I needed to look into, and I certainly couldn’t help a killer out as she’d asked. “I just can’t believe it.”
“Don’t believe me. Ask Sarah Hodge. That is one classy lady. She never said a foul word about Peaches the entire time Peaches threatened her. All Sarah would say to Simon was that Peaches
was sick and she couldn’t help it.”
I wasn’t buying the whole Sarah-Hodges-wasn’t-a-victim act. I’d seen her and Peaches go at it at Tranquility Spa, and Sarah was no fly on the wall.
There was one thing I did know. I needed Harriette Pearl to ask some questions today on her little visit to the Little’s home. And giving her a call on my way over to the Sugar Creek Nursing Home was a current priority.
“Harriette, it’s Bernie.” I apologized because her voice cracked when she answered like I’d woken her up. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” I questioned, thinking it was odd she’d gone back to bed after I’d just seen her a little while ago.
“What’s wrong?” Her quiet voice turned to alarm. “Are you okay? Do I need to get my gun?”
“Lord no.” The last thing Sugar Creek Gap needed was Harriette Pearl taking her gun anywhere. “I need you to ask Simon’s mom about the patent Simon had filed for the motorcycle riser.”
“Motorcycle what?” Harriette was confused, so I needed to make it simpler.
“You know the patent letter I’d told you about and how I’d tried to deliver it and Nick Kirby seemed interested. Too interested?”
“Really?” Her Southern drawl oozed through the phone along with her curiosity. “I’ll definitely throw that into the conversation when I visit with his mama. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Go back to bed.” I realized she probably went back to sleep after she left my house since it was early.
“Don’t be going and telling people I was sleeping this late. I was resting my eyes,” she corrected me.
Chapter 12
The morning delivery at the Sugar Creek Nursing Home went smooth as usual and much quicker since I was hustling to get to Tranquility to check on Peaches. I was going to find out if she really had this drinking problem Nick had referred to several times when I’d seen him this morning at the post office.
The sign on the Tranquility Wellness was flipped open, which gave me a little reassurance Peaches had cleaned herself up this morning to get on with her day, though I knew it was going to be tough.
“Any mail today?” I asked Peaches when I noticed she was hanging up some of the clothing items she had for sale.
“I didn’t see any.” China whirled around. “Hey, Bernie. Thanks so much for this morning. Peaches is a mess of monkeys, and I told her she needed to get in to see Doc Hunter before this thing spirals out of control.”
“What thing?” I asked and put the rubber-banded bundle of incoming mail in the basket on the counter.
“Let’s be honest.” China walked over and folded a yoga shirt, placing it neatly on top of the counter. “I know you’ve helped out a few times in these murder cases. If what Peaches says is true about her going to the post office, and Angela finding that bourbon bottle at the gas station, then this doesn’t look good.”
“I didn’t want to tell her that this morning, but after she asked for my help, it was her way of telling me she already knew she was a suspect.”
China’s eyes bolted open in surprise.
“She is?” She gasped, pulling her lips together as her eyes welled with a line of tears. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head and then her hands before she grabbed a tissue from the box. “I’ve been telling her for the past three months that she needed to get help for her drinking. I told her this wasn’t going to end well and now…” Her voice cracked. “I could’ve stopped this if I’d only done what her mom had asked me to do.”
“What was that?” I just couldn’t believe I was hearing this. Peaches was the last person I ever thought would have a drinking issue.
“I had a meeting here for my clothing line that Peaches had encouraged me to make, which reminds me that I’ve got your shirt.” China had a range of emotions cross her face. Sadness was the first one I noticed as she talked about Peaches. The love she had for her best friend was apparent. Then her sadness turned to pride as she spoke about her line of yoga clothes. “The meeting was here; in fact, all our meetings have been here, and she’s never completed one.”
“What does that have to do with her mom?” I wondered and recalled how just the other day Peaches wasn’t able to talk to China after she’d kicked Sarah Hodges out of Tranquility Wellness’s yoga class.
“I was talking to her mom over at the bank, and she asked if anyone had bought any of my clothes here in the retail area. When I told her Peaches and I hadn’t really discussed it, she mentioned how worried the family was because Peaches hadn’t been over for Sunday supper, and the last time she did come, she drank too much and had to be driven home.” China’s lips turned down. “Then there was the time she blacked out.”
“Like she did at the post office? Where she didn’t remember anything?” I asked because this certainly wasn’t going to help Peaches’s case any. Especially if she had a history of this type of behavior.
“Yes. And her mother sent Tim Crouse down to the department to see if Peaches was a suspect this morning after Lucy Drake had reported Simon’s death had been ruled as suspicious. That’s when they came down here and got her. Which is why I’m here. I told them I’d keep the retail shop open so Peaches can have money coming in while she takes time off.”
“Time off?” There’d been so much that’d happened with Peaches that I wasn’t able to keep up with everything.
“Oh yeah. Her mom took her to an AA meeting at the Sugar Creek Baptist Church and…” There was a bit of an uncomfortable pause as if China didn’t want to tell me.
“You can tell me. This morning before you got here, when Iris and I were here, Peaches asked me to help her because she knew she was possibly going to be a suspect.” And when I said that out loud, it made it sound as though Peaches needed to get things in place like a real suspect would do.
I’d seen it in all the crime shows where the criminal would be sure to plant various things to take the sleuth off their trail, and I couldn’t help wondering if that was something Peaches would do. It was definitely not in her nature, but anything Peaches was doing now wasn’t like the Peaches I knew.
“Is she really an alcoholic, or does she just drink a little too much?” There were clearly things I needed to know since I’d sort of agreed to look into things.
“Peaches hasn’t always been this relaxed.” China’s hands swept in front of her as though she were showcasing the place. “Before she got her yoga hours to be a teacher, she was actually pretty wild growing up. It wasn’t until her parents had sent her to Florida to visit family that she came back changed. Simon loved it. It was like they fell in love all over again, but this time it was so respectful.”
“When did she start drinking again?” I needed to know what threw Peaches back to the brink of wanting to go back or if it was simply just the addiction.
“Tranquility Wellness is on the brink of closing.” Her brows dipped as she frowned. “I really have been trying to help her with my clothing line. It was going to be another stream of income to help pay the bills.” Her mouth widened in a dramatic O as her eyes grew wide. “Which reminds me to give you your shirt.” She held a finger up and disappeared into the hallway with the Reiki rooms.
I walked around, trying to remember how excited Peaches was when I first met her. I’d heard of her parents, though I’d never met them. Even though Sugar Creek Gap was small, the outskirts of town had really grown. It felt like we went from five thousand citizens to twelve thousand overnight.
Peaches had bounced on the balls of her feet with excitement as she told me all her plans and had invited me for free classes. I didn’t take advantage of those, and now my muscles told me why.
“Here you go.” China dangled a bag in front of her as she walked toward me. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m, well, I’m so sad this happened to Simon, Peaches, and now the shop.” I pushed back anything else since I was sure China didn’t care about me rambling. I pulled the shirt out. “Thanks. This is great.”
“You’re going to love the material wh
en you’re practicing.” She abruptly stopped. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry.” She gulped. “I’m trying to be strong for Peaches, but seeing her dream come crashing down around her while she’s being accused of murder is killing me.”
“I’m so sorry.” I gave her a warm hug. “I know how hard it is to see your best friend go through something you can’t help them with. I know me and Iris are old, but when we were a little older than you, Iris went through a divorce, and I spent many days trying to help her. Then, she was there for me when my husband died.”
I shook my head to stop my mouth from rambling.
“What I’m saying is that you really don’t have to do anything but just be there for her. Sometimes I didn’t want to talk about what was happening, so Iris would just sit with me, and we didn’t talk. Or we’d just eat.” I patted my stomach. “Which you can see we still do.”
That made China laugh, and it was my cue to leave.
“Y’all are going to be okay.” I assured her on my way out the door, even though I didn’t believe it myself.
Even dropping off my parents’ mail at the Wallflower Diner and Mac’s mail at his office didn’t help me get Peaches out of my head. Which was why I didn’t dillydally getting down to the sheriff’s department.
“Morning, Bernie!” Vita Dickens hollered from her much-deserved desk. Her shiny new deputy sheriff’s pin was brighter than the sun.
“Look at you all official,” I joked and handed the mail to the new dispatcher who’d taken Vita’s place. “I’m glad you’re here. I got you a little something.”
I dug down into my bag and got the strawberry shortcake Iris had given me for my little bribery treat.
“Bernadette, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get some information out of me.” Vita said.
“Vita, now why would I try to bribe the eyes and ears of the department when I found a person who was dead, and now I found out through the grapevine, he’d actually been murdered?” I could see from the glint in her eye that she knew darn well why I was there. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it with this delicious strawberry treat.” I opened the box and waved it under her nose. “But I do recall strawberry anything is your fav.”
