The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  Faith was about to stutter some answer about scraping something together – she knew Grandma Bessie would just hate the thought of accepting ‘charity’ from Laura’s Dad.

  “Miss Bessie, wonderful to see you,” a voice said behind them, just at the right moment.

  They turned to see Ellis, his massive frame moving swiftly toward them through the tropical plants, smiling broadly, though the smile did not quite reach his eyes. He nodded to Faith, then to Viola. “Hello, ma’am.”

  “What’s this I hear, Ellis? About Joanne getting killed?” Grandma Bessie said.

  Ellis visibly winced. “Yes, it’s true,” he said, and Faith could tell he didn’t appreciate Bessie’s forthrightness. “But I’m calling a vendor’s meeting for lunchtime. The park’s mostly dead, anyways, so no one will even care if we lock up for a half hour or so. People are probably freaked out by the news.”

  “What’s the meeting about?” Faith asked, her eyes darting from point to point on Ellis’ round face, trying to read his expression. She was terrified it was going to be a meeting where he tipped his head on one side and said to her ever so nicely, “Please leave, murderer, and never come back.”

  Ellis straightened up and said overly formally, “That is something I can’t divulge at this time.” Then his eyes narrowed. “Let’s just say everyone has to be there or they’re instantly fired.”

  “I’ll go tell Laura,” Faith said, her heart hammering. Any excuse to get out of there. For some reason he was making her incredibly nervous, like he thought she was the killer. She leaped over the gravel on light toes, and climbed over the bare veranda frame to get in the front door. Lula was working on the other side by the portion that jutted out, and Nathan had joined her, slotting the large jutting bushes and flower vines around it.

  “Laura?” Faith said tentatively, stepping into the tearoom. In the split second that followed she had a horrible image flash into her head - Laura’s dead body splayed all over the newly stained café floorboards.

  But thankfully Laura popped up from underneath the sink, sponge in hand. She didn’t look hostile anymore, but she swallowed and hardened her face. “Yeah?” she said in a tough voice, but her eyes were mournful and couldn’t meet Faith’s.

  Faith sighed. “Can we stop being mad now?”

  “That depends,” Laura said, running her sponge over the sink and quickly following her cleaning path with a rag. “Are you still looking into the case?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m not done being mad.”

  “Why?” Faith said, exasperated. “Do you want me to be arrested or something?”

  “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Then why does it even matter to you? Can’t you just leave me to get on with it? It’s not like I’m forcing you to come investigate with me, is it?”

  Laura pursed her lips as she cleaned. “It’s just…” Laura began, like she was going to open up, but then her voice hardened again and she said, “Oh, nothing.”

  “It’s just what?” Faith asked gently.

  Laura looked up, her blue eyes vulnerable and open wide as they met Faith’s. “It’s just… I really liked things the way they were going. It was like… I know this sounds dumb to say, but even though I hadn’t known you long, I felt like you were my best friend. Like I’d known you forever.”

  “That’s not dumb,” Faith said. “And to be honest, I felt like that, too. Maybe I still do, I don’t know. But surely if you were my best friend, you’d want to clear my name?”

  Laura sighed. “I guess. It’s just… ever since this whole Joanne thing, everything seems so different. Like… darker, I guess. I was having nightmares all night and I feel all jittery all the time.”

  “Me, too,” Faith said. “I guess that’s normal.” She frowned. “But I still don’t see--”

  “I just wish we could not think about it.” Laura huffed. “That’s all, okay? I’m not good at this kind of thing. Difficult situations. Scary things. The Sheriff’s Department are meant to deal with it, and we’re meant to get back to our normal lives.”

  Faith’s very breath seemed heavier on her chest. Why couldn’t Laura just understand? “But I told you--”

  “I called Tyler,” Laura said. “Just now. And he says that off the record because it’s me, he does suspect you did it. He said he’s 99% sure. And he’s advised me not to talk to you anymore.”

  Faith flopped down into a chair. “I knew it, I knew it.” It felt like the world was closing in and she dropped her head onto her knees. Then she realized something that made her look up in horror. “You don’t… you don’t believe him, do you?”

  “No,” Laura said quickly, dropping her cleaning things and coming out from behind the counter. “I don’t. I did think about it for a minute or two. I mean, it seems you’re the only person with a motive. But I think I’m a pretty good judge of people. And you’re no killer, Faith.”

  Faith took a deep breath and stood up. “Laura, please help.”

  Laura took an equally deep breath. “All right. I wanna do this with you, Faith. I want to clear your name.”

  “Thank you,” Faith said, a smile spreading over her face. It felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

  “I said I’d go with my dad to visit my granddad tonight,” she said. “But from tomorrow morning, I’m all yours.” She let out a shaky laugh. “It feels scary even saying that. But I guess that’s what friends do.”

  Faith launched at her in a hug, wrapping her hands around Laura’s neck and squeezing tight. “Thank you so much. I couldn’t stand us being mad at each other.”

  Laura giggled. “We’re pretty alike, then, ‘cause I couldn’t stand it either, girl.”

  “Grandma Bessie’s outside, and Ellis, too. He’s calling a meeting at lunchtime.”

  Laura frowned. “Must be important. Do you wanna go, and I’ll keep the tearoom open? Or I don’t mind going, if you don’t want.”

  “No.” Faith shook her head. “He says we should shut up the place. Apparently everyone’s coming, and if anyone doesn’t attend they can expect to be fired.”

  “Whoah.”

  Faith screwed up her mouth to one side and began to push down her cuticles. “Tell me about it.”

  Laura gave her a big brave smile. “Don’t you worry, right? Me and Nathan will look out for you.”

  “Thanks,” Faith said, though her stomach still fluttered, wondering if every finger was going to end up pointed at her.

  *****

  As it turned out, Ellis did indeed have accusations to make, though none were leveled at Faith. Ellis’ tiny little office cabin was way too hot to hold a meeting in at that time of the day without the AC on full blast, and there were too many people to cram in there to be able to close the door to switch it on. Instead they held the meeting in a picturesque spot under an enormous mango tree, in the shade of which there stood some makeshift benches crafted from sawed bamboo trunks and mahogany planks. Nathan stood up on one to reach for a few mangoes. Ellis leaned against the trunk, his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing Nathan suspiciously.

  “Stop it,” Laura hissed. “You’re drawing attention to yourself.”

  “So what?” Nathan said back as he tossed a small mango down to Faith. “I’m just getting mango, not burying a murder weapon.”

  “You shouldn’t say that,” Laura hissed all the more forcefully. “Not even as a joke. Don’t you remember my mom told you the story about the guy who joked about a bomb in his bag? They kept him there for like three days.”

  Nathan hopped down from the bench and squeezed in between them. Then he grinned at Laura and held out the most delicious-looking mango, the orange skin dappled with peach and pink. “Take it you don’t want this, then?”

  Laura snatched it from him and rolled her eyes. “Oh, well, if you’re going to insist so strongly.”

  Faith giggled as she watched, and Laura couldn’t help but join in, too. Nathan took the knife he brought along out of his po
cket and sliced off a piece. Then he handed it to Faith.

  The sweltering Florida sun was beating down on everything until even the very air felt too hot at times. Thankfully the breeze from the ocean streamed through, rustling the large mango leaves overhead and fluttering Faith’s sundress.

  “Here I am,” Tonya said, striding up behind them from the main path. She was back to her larger-than-life, stylish self, with a turquoise Grecian dress that skimmed her ankles. She’d paired it with a cropped white linen jacket, sunglasses with super thick white rims, a white handbag, and white Converse, which was an unusual combination of formal and casual but looked completely awesome. Her teeny tiny braids were pulled back in a topknot. “What’s this all about, Ellis? I had customers who wanted lunch. I had to turn them away.”

  “Where are your staff?” Ellis said icily.

  “I gave them a break, of course.”

  “I said everyone needs to be here. Or are you deaf?”

  Laura widened her eyes at Faith. Faith made the same look back, then studied Ellis. She had never seen him like that before. What was going on?

  “Ellis, don’t you dare speak like that to me,” Tonya said. “What’s going on here?”

  “Just get them here, now!” Ellis hollered, then stormed off behind the tree. After a second he came back, angrier than ever. “I need every single last member of staff here. I thought I made that perfectly clear!”

  Faith cut up her mango on a tissue in her lap, her mind racing, while Tonya tutted and pulled out her cell phone. The mango’s sweet aroma was so heavenly and creamy, Faith made a mental note to make a new dessert out of it. Paradise Pudding, maybe, since the mangoes grew there. With mango and cream and… crumble, perhaps? Anyways, she’d have to think about that later. Cakes and pies and treats couldn’t take up all her headspace anymore. The real question was, why was Ellis so mad? “Do you think something’s happened?” she whispered to Nathan and Laura. “Why’s he acting like that?”

  Laura shrugged. “This is totally not like him.”

  Nathan kicked his flip flops off and sunk his tanned bare feet in the grass. “What if he did it? Now he’s called us all together to confess to the crime.”

  “Nathan!” Laura said, punching him in the arm. Then a cloud fell over her face. “What if that’s really true?”

  Faith looked over to where Ellis had disappeared behind the tree. “I would have said no way, but right now we have to suspect everyone.”

  “I suspect Laura,” Nathan said instantly.

  Laura shot him a dark look. “You shouldn’t make a joke out of it, Nathan.”

  “Trust me, this is miserable enough already,” he said. “We’re gonna need all the laughs we can get right now.”

  *****

  Chapter 14

  They had to wait a good while for everyone to assemble, and by the time the shade under the mango tree was crowded with vendors and their staff, Ellis was hopping mad.

  “I told everyone to be here on time!” he hollered. “I should just fire every single one of you for wasting my time.”

  “Yeah, well, I should sue you for wasting my money,” Josiah hollered back. “I have a huge long line of people waiting for smoothies and cocktails and juices. And you drag us here to get yelled at? Thanks a bunch.”

  Ellis’ face was turning purple. “Don’t get an attitude with me, sonny boy. I thought you hippie dippy weirdos didn’t care about money, anyways?”

  “Stop!” Tonya shouted. She stood in between Josiah, who was edging forward, fists clenched, and Ellis, who looked like he was about to burst. She spoke in a calm, authoritative voice. “Now, Ellis, why did you bring us here? What was it you wanted to say?”

  As all this was going on, Faith took a moment to eye up the crowd. She saw Lula, who had gone over to look at something for Josiah. Apparently he wanted to add a treehouse seating area in the back of his beach shack, made out of bamboo. “This guy wants the world,” Lula had told Faith in confidence. “And he doesn’t want to shell out a single buck for it, either.”

  She saw Merlene, as always with a file under her arm. Faith hadn’t as yet dug deep into the accounts of the tearoom. In truth, she was still a bit intimidated by accounts and profit and loss and net and gross, whatever all that meant. She’d rather just bake and serve all day. But she knew that wasn’t an option in the long term. As soon as the tea room was back open again, and she’d taken some money in, then she’d have the guts to take a look at the books properly, she told herself. Was there any reason for Merlene to want to kill Joanne? Faith knew Merlene was the accountant for every vendor in the place, and her imagination started running away with her. What if Marlene had been siphoning money out of the accounts and Joanne had caught her? Maybe they’d had a confrontation and Merlene had killed her. But surely if that was the case, she’d have strangled her, or done something more in the heat of the moment, not poisoned a cherry and placed it on one of the cupcake Faith had delivered?

  It was only then that Faith realized something for certain, and she wondered why it had taken her so long to get it straight in her mind - the murderer was framing her. The murderer had put poison in the cherry, then planted it on top of Faith’s cupcake. But when? Faith had gone over there quite late to deliver the cakes to her. Would Joanne really have gone out for long enough that evening for someone else to have sneaked in and put the cherry there? Or maybe she came in early the next morning, the morning she was found dead. But if Ellis had found her body just after he opened the gate, how would she have gotten in that morning? Her heart thumping, Faith watched Ellis carefully as he spoke to Tonya in lowered tones, his body practically vibrating with rage. Maybe he really had done it. Maybe he really was going to confess to them all.

  “I am going to make my announcement now,” Ellis declared loudly. “Everybody be quiet and listen up, because I’m not going to say this twice. Got it?”

  A murmur went through the crowd.

  “I can’t keep silent any longer,” he said. “I know who did it!”

  Gasps echoed through that quiet space under the mango tree, and Faith felt her own breath catch. Was he about to say her name? She imagined everyone turning to watch her, like in slow motion. That would be nothing short of a living nightmare.

  “Who is it, then?” Josiah asked, his voice full of doubt.

  “I’m not going to say,” Ellis said loudly. “But that person is here today. And they know who they are. And I’m going to speak to you directly now. Everyone else can ignore this, but murderer, listen carefully. Listen very carefully indeed.” He cleared his throat and his tone became something else altogether. It was quieter than before, but somehow even more threatening. “You have two choices. The first choice is to go to the Sheriff or Deputy Valdez and turn yourself in. Your second choice is to run and hide. And you had better run and hide somewhere real real far away, like in a tiny Russian village, or, I don’t know, in the mountains of Timbuktu, because otherwise I will find you. Joanne was a… very dear friend of mine. I will stop at nothing to see that she gets justice, whatever form that justice may take.”

  Faith watched Ellis’ eyes closely, to see if he was looking at anyone in particular, but he seemed to sweep through the crowd with his gaze, not stopping to stare at any individual.

  “But you seem to think there’s a third option,” Ellis sneered. “Waiting it out. Playing it cool. Playing it innocent. Hoping no one will find you out. But guess what, I’m watching you. I know exactly who you are. Exactly what you’ve done. I don’t know why you’ve done it, but that doesn’t even matter. Right here, right now, I’m giving you three days. Three days to hand yourself in. If not, screw everything, I’m coming after you. And there’s no way you’ll be escaping. You can count on that.”

  *****

  After they’d finished up at the tearoom, Laura had to hurry off to go hop in her dad’s car, which he was waiting in by the entrance to Paradise Point. Lula had put the finishing touches on the veranda construction, but it st
ill needed a few protective layers of waterproofing and termite protection. Faith and Laura had decided they would stain it a welcoming shade of lilac, which would be set off by the white handrails and framing for the very simple roof covering, which Lula was going to bring in a small team to construct over the next couple of days.

  Faith locked up and reveled in the glory of standing on the veranda for a moment. She wondered with a smile what Nimbus and Cirrus were doing. There was a watchman at the apartment building so she’d thrown all the windows open. It was quite high up so it was comfortable enough with the air streaming through, and she was sure Nimbus and Cirrus were having an awesome time playfighting and climbing all over their scratching post. But once they were trained well enough to come back to the house, she planned to install a catflap in the front door and let them wander outside. When she’d told Laura that, Laura had tapped the side of her nose and told her she had an awesome plan, but she’d have to wait and see.

  Faith wondered what Laura’s surprise could possibly be, and felt glad that they had made up as she stood on the veranda. With the breeze whispering past, the tropical bushes blooming all around, and the golden light of the late afternoon illuminating everything with a warm glow, she allowed herself a second of peace. She knew it wouldn’t last for long, what with the murder investigation, and the fundraiser coming up, but just for a couple of minutes she pushed all that to the side.

  Nathan was still spreading gravel all around the plants. He really was a perfectionist. So many times he’d told them he was done and the garden was all ready, but then five minutes later he’d change his mind and declare they must have another bougainvillea arch here or a hibiscus bush there. Faith wondered if he really was that dedicated to gardening - since he was doing it all for free - or if he was just trying to come up with excuses for why he should stick around.

  He looked up and grinned. “We don’t stop, do we?”