A Fatal Slip (20 page)

That left Jackson and Nate on my suspect list, and with Nate’s secondary connection to the dead building inspector, it was time I spoke with the coffee shop owner again. It would wait until morning, though. For now, I was going to enjoy a quiet dinner at home with my husband.

At least I hoped it would be quiet.

Chapter 11

“Carolyn, if you keep coming in this early, I’m going to have to put you on the payroll.” Nate Walker was in a chipper mood, in direct opposition to my own. I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and the night before, Bill had gotten me sucked into a movie that I had to see the ending of. Hannah was leaving for Italy later today, so yet again, I’d given myself plenty of time to talk to Nate. Maybe too much.

“I’m not here just for the coffee, even though I love it,” I said. “Nate, we need to talk again. I’m not happy with the way we left things yesterday.”

“Now why do you have to go and ruin a perfectly good morning like that?”

There were a few other early birds in the coffee shop but not enough to require any attention from the owner.

“The sooner you ease the suspicions around you, the faster I get off your back and move on to somebody else,” I said, probably a little more honestly than I should have.

“I guess that’s worth a few minutes of my time. Carolyn, for somebody without any official police standing, you surely do manage to make a lot of waves in this little town.”

“What can I say? It’s a gift. Would you like to join me at a table, or should we go outside again?”

“Let’s go over here,” he said, pointing to a table that was out of the way. “But keep your voice down, okay? I don’t want the world knowing my business.”

“That’s fine with me,” I said. Hopefully we’d be able to get through this without too many fireworks.

“So, what do you want to know. I’ve thought a lot about it, and I’m willing to talk to you now.”

“Let’s start with Bob Halloway.”

He looked truly surprised by the reference. “Winnie’s cousin? What about him?”

At least Nate hadn’t tried to deny knowing him. “How well did you know him? I understand you were a pallbearer at his funeral.”

Nate nodded. “They had trouble getting enough guys, so I stepped in at the last second. It was no big deal. We weren’t all that close, but it was kind of a family duty I was willing to perform.”

“And you don’t hold any resentment about the way he died?”

Perplexed, Nate replied “Carolyn, what does that have to do with anything?” Before I could say anything, he said suddenly, “Wait a second. You don’t think Bob’s death had anything to do with Charlie’s murder, do you? I told you, I hardly knew the guy, and what I did know, I didn’t care that much about. He was loud, and he had a habit of telling the most inappropriate jokes in all of the wrong places. We’d lost touch after Winnie died. To answer your question, no, I didn’t kill Charlie Cobb to avenge my dead wife’s cousin. Was that it?”

He started to get up, and I put a hand on his arm. “No, there’s something else. I understand the sheriff spent some time investigating you just after your wife’s death.”

Nate’s face went rigid as I said it, and I knew I’d pushed him a little too far yet again.

“What do you want to know?” His words were icy.

“What really happened the night Winnie died?”

Nate just shook his head. “You know what? I just changed my mind. I won’t talk about that ever again, not with you and not with anybody else.”

When he stood this time, I made no move to stop him. What if the guy was innocent in all of this? How would I feel if I were in his shoes? I had to be careful. Nate deserved that much at least.

He walked around the counter, and I left the coffee shop. That was the last questioning session I was ever going to have with Nate if I could help it. If he was hiding something, he was too good at it for me. And if he wasn’t, I didn’t want to push the man into the past any more than I already had. His memories of his wife were all he had left of her, and I wasn’t about to diminish them in his eyes.

 

“There you are,” Hannah said when she walked into Fire at Will an hour later. There were two coffee cups in her hands. “You stood me up again.”

In my haste to get away, I’d completely forgotten about her. “I’m so sorry.”

Hannah handed me a cup. “I understand you and Nate had a little chat this morning.”

“He told you that?” I asked, then took a sip of coffee.

“No, but one of his employees did. It appears the man has departed the premises yet again. You seem to have that effect on him lately, according to the cashier.”

“What can I say? It’s a talent I rarely use, repelling men.”

“What did you two talk about this time? Wait, I don’t want to know. The last thing I need in my life is to get dragged into your little hit squad.”

“It’s called the Firing Squad, and you know it.”

“Fine, call it what you will, but you and your little group leave quite a wake around town. You seem to leave bruised feelings wherever you go.”

I frowned. “Do I sense a hint of criticism in your voice?” “Me? Never. It must just be your imagination.”

“Hannah, when Bill’s freedom and his reputation are at stake, I’ll ruffle as many feathers as I have to so I can clear his name,” I said, despite my reservations about pushing Nate again. Hannah didn’t have to know about that.

She nodded. “I know how you are, Carolyn. I’d expect nothing less from you.” Hannah looked around the shop. “Where’s my son this morning?”

I glanced at the clock and realized that he should have been in ten minutes earlier. “He must be on the late shift today.”

“And that’s something you don’t know about? What’s he been up to lately?”

No way on earth I was going there with her. The best way to answer her inquiry was to meet her with another question, as many times as I could get away with it. “Why do you ask?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. He seemed particularly happy after work yesterday.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“I suppose so. I just wish I knew why.” She was troubled, that much was clear.

I knew the reason for David’s new and brighter mood, but it wasn’t my place to divulge it. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Probably because I’m afraid of the answer I’ll get.” She moved to the door, then said, “Next time you stand me up, I’m charging the coffee to you.”

“That’s fair,” I said with a grin. “Thanks, Hannah. I’m sorry I missed our usual get-together.”

“Please, I’m only teasing. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Have a safe trip, but be sure to have fun, too.”

“I will,” she said.

“Bye.”

Two minutes after she was gone, David walked in. “Is the coast clear?”

I tapped my foot on the floor. “David Atkins, are you actually ducking your own mother?”

“Let’s just say I need a little more space than she’s willing to give me right now,” he admitted. “Her time in Italy is somtehing we both need right now.”

“Did you talk to Annie?”

He nodded glumly. “That’s why I’m late. We were talking until midnight and I didn’t get much sleep.”

“I take it things didn’t go well.”

He rubbed his eyes. “You should get a crystal ball. Let’s just say I don’t have to worry about her looking me up the next time she comes back to town.”

I suddenly felt sorry for Annie. “She’s hurt, but she’ll get over it. You did the right thing.”

“I know, but it didn’t make breaking it off with her any easier.”

I patted his shoulder. “It’s tough being a grownup, isn’t it?”

“Does it ever get any easier?”

I smiled at him. “Not yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if it ever does.”

 

Jenna came in around lunchtime, but I was with a group of customers and couldn’t talk to her right away. I nodded toward her, then held up five fingers to indicate I had five more minutes before I’d be finished. I was helping a group of seven—three adults and four children—paint their own plates. If the application process was any indication of how the finished products would look, I wasn’t sure they’d take their pieces of art after they were fired, even though they’d already paid for them. That was why I always insisted on cash up front. A lot of customers never bothered to come back to pick up their wares, or refused to take them once they saw the results. It wasn’t that hard to do, decorating a plate, a mug, or a saucer, but some folks seemed to have the knack of ruining them without trying. I didn’t have very high hopes for the group at hand.

“Give me a few days,” I told them as I held the front door open for the last stragglers, “then you can pick up your pieces.”

After they were gone, Jenna said, “That looked like fun.” “Well, appearances can be deceiving,” I said as I cleaned the tables and tried to put the paints back in some kind of order. “I’m not sure what they’re going to say once they see the finished products, but at least they had a good time doing them. What brings you by?”

“Can’t I just come to work on a project of my own?”

“Of course you can,” I said as I washed my hands. I had to scrub all the way to my elbows, though truthfully, that wasn’t an unusual occurrence at my shop. “What would you like to do?”

“Take you out to lunch,” she said.

“What about making something here first?”

“I was teasing, Carolyn. Can you get away for a bit? I was thinking about going to the Waterfront.”

The Waterfront was a restaurant that was out of my price range on a good day, and there was no way I could pay for my meal without forgoing some other luxury, like water or electricity. “Thanks, but I’m not sure I have that much time.”

“Did I mention that it was my treat?” she asked with a smile.

“No, you failed to give me that piece of pertinent information. Why the largesse?”

She came close to me and said softly, “I just inherited some money, and I wanted to share the celebration with a friend. Trust me, today I can afford it.”

“I’m not exactly dressed for it,” I said, staring down at my blue top and khakis.

“You look fine. The lunch crowd there is always dressed casually.”

If she didn’t mind how I looked, then I wouldn’t, either. “If you’re sure,” I said.

“You’re the first person I thought of.”

“I find that hard to believe. Don’t worry, I don’t mind if Butch was busy.” I grinned at her, waiting for her to deny it. The sparks had been flying between the two of them for some time, and I kept wondering when they’d act on them.

She didn’t answer me directly, which was a sure give-away, in my book. Instead, she smiled lightly, then said, “Perhaps you were the second, but at least you made the list.”

“So what happened with Butch?”

Jenna shrugged. “He couldn’t make it. No matter how much he protested that he’d love to accompany me, I had the distinct feeling the Waterfront was not his idea of an enjoyable place to dine.”

“He’s got a few rough edges, but give him time. He’s getting better by the day.”

“So you say,” Jenna said. “Would you like to come, or must I go to the third name on my list?”

“I’d be delighted to join you,” I said, matching the formality of her invitation. I didn’t even want to know who that third person was. “David, could you come here a second?”

He joined us from the back. “What’s up, boss? Hi, Jenna.”

“Hello, David.”

“I’m taking a long lunch,” I told him. “I trust you’re fine with that.”

“After I didn’t show up on time this morning? You can take the rest of the day off as far as I’m concerned.”

The idea hadn’t crossed my mind, but suddenly, that was exactly what I wanted. “You’ve got a deal. You know how to close up. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He looked surprised, since I was almost always there at closing time. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking? I trust you, David. You should know that by now.”

“Of course I do,” he said. “Have a good time.”

I hesitated at the door. “David, I didn’t even think to ask you if were feeling up to it. Will you be all right?”

“Absolutely. Now go, and don’t give the shop a second thought.”

“We won’t,” Jenna said as she put her arm through mine and we left Fire at Will.

 

The restaurant could have been used in a photo shoot for New England elegance. Bone china adorned each table setting, and vases of freshly cut flowers graced the room like individual gardens. The white linen tablecloths gleamed in the sunlight coming in through the plate glass windows overlooking the river, and I tried to capture the images in my mind to savor later.

After we were seated, I studied the menu and had to catch my breath when I saw the prices.

Whispering so no one around us could hear, I asked, “Are you sure about this?”

Jenna smiled. “Please, you are my guest. Choose whatever you’d like.”