Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“What are you tryin’ to do, Merritt Baker, get yourself killed walkin’ in the dark?”
“I can see just fine,” I said, because really, there was no issue.
“But that don’t mean people can see you!”
“Really, Benny, I—”
“Get in the truck!” he roared at me.
I was called a damn fool several times, and he refused to drop me at the end of my drive, instead taking me nearly to the foot of the stairs leading up to my front door. I thanked him, and when I made the offer of tea, he finally stopped sputtering and said that yes, he would love to take home some coconut cream blend for his wife, Lorraine.
Despite starting off crappy, it had turned out to be a very nice weekend with a few minor exceptions.
Monday morning, I was taking my time getting ready when I got a 911 text from work about the furnace. Apparently, I needed to get there ASAP, as there was no heat on the second or third floors. The first always stayed warm, as the hearth was there and we had standing heaters that resembled braziers out on the patio. Originally, I had wanted tiki torches out there, but I’d been mercilessly outvoted.
As usual, when I was in a hurry, I ran the short distance over the hills and then down to the limestone quarry, and made the leap from the top of the slope to where the marble benches were. Then I quickly climbed the steps and slipped around the side of the building and under the arch to enter the courtyard of my eatery.
“Oh, thank God,” Evie said when she saw me. “It’s cold as crap in the library, and there are kids up there freezing.”
The local preschool would bring children for story time every Monday morning. We served graham crackers and yogurt for dipping afterward.
Something wasn’t right with her story, though, and we both knew it. She was shifting from one foot to the other and couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting. I stopped moving and stared at her.
“What?” she asked, sounding guilty.
“You’re a liar. You got me here early for some other reason. Everybody knows we’re nursing the furnace through its last winter and I’m replacing it in the spring. Plus, all of you know how to mess with the thermostat.”
“Do we?”
“Yes.”
She bit her lip as Dakota walked out of the kitchen, saw me, grimaced, then turned around and walked right back through the swinging door.
“Get out here now,” I yelled, then took a seat at the end of the counter. The breakfast rush was over, and we wouldn’t be slammed again until lunch. It was steady, which I was thankful for, as I was able to keep a staff of thirty gainfully employed, but no customers were paying attention to me raising my voice.
Dakota came back out and stood on the other side of the counter, staring at me. She was soon joined by Evie, Lupe, and Gaia.
No one said a word, and I glared at all of them.
They all smiled.
“What is going on?” I asked them.
Dakota cleared her throat. “A very handsome man—and I do mean a very handsome man—came and picked up food for you on Saturday morning. We were all just wondering, you know, how that went?”
“That’s why the ruse?”
“Maybe.” Dakota shrugged.
“You couldn’t have just called me and asked?”
Lupe, who was working her one Monday a month—Taylor Kang needed it to meet her husband in Lewisburg so her son could have a supervised visit with his father and the court-appointed counselor—scoffed loudly. “We all know that if any of us had called you about it, you would have hung up. You tend to be very secretive about your love life.”
“I’m leaving,” I announced, getting up. “I’m closing tonight, I shouldn’t even be here.”
“No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait,” Laura Banks, another of my servers, ordered as she came running up to join the four other women. “Did they really dig up your new neighbors’ yard looking for human remains? I heard the state police crime scene unit was out there.”
I shook my head at her.
“What? If you’re not spilling about your sex life…” She turned quickly to look at the others. “He wasn’t, was he?”
“No,” they all said at once, sounding really put out over that.
Laura’s attention was instantly back on me. “If we’re not hearing about you and the gorgeous man with the biceps and the thighs and the baseball cap and the dimples—”
“I nearly died when he smiled at me with the dimples,” Dakota confessed, fanning her face with a menu.
“—then we should at least get to know why they’re digging up your neighbors’ yard looking for people they murdered.”
I put both elbows on the counter, laced my fingers together, and looked at all of them. “Do you think if the state police found murdered people on the Swann land, perhaps someone would have been arrested?”