A Fatal Slip (3 page)

“Then perhaps that’s where you’ve erred in your life.”

Okay, that was just about all the snootiness I was going to take from her. “And exactly how long have you ever been married at one time to the same man? You don’t have to give me the longest one, just try to come up with a cumulative total for your last three husbands,” I said, my biggest fake smile plastered on my face. It was a mean thing to say, but she’d asked for it. Well, she had. Okay, maybe the chilly temperature and my need for a caffeine fix had driven me beyond the boundaries of propriety, but that was just too bad.

“I’ve been married only twice, and you know it. I don’t care to tabulate the years in my life I have wasted on men,” Kendra said. “Nor should you.”

“Hey, I never said I wasted a minute of my life being married to Bill.” This conversation had the potential to get really ugly really fast.

Fortunately, Rose showed up before Kendra and I could square off in the street for some hand-to-hand combat.

Kendra saved me from snapping at Rose for being late by beating me to the punch. “Did your clocks all fail on you this morning?”

Rose blushed, turning her normally pale complexion the same shade of red as her hair. “I’m sorry. I had company last night.”

“Was it IBM or Xerox?” I asked, smiling.

“What? No, not that kind of company. I meant I had a visitor. A man,” she added lamely.

“And when did he leave?” Kendra asked as she studied Rose with those hawklike eyes. “Or is he still at your house waiting impatiently for your return?”

“He’s not there now,” Rose said, and if anything, her blush deepened. The poor girl needed rescuing, but I wasn’t in the mood to do the honors. Maybe that would teach her not to keep her friends waiting for her while she was off dallying with a new man. Did I actually just think that? Where had my spirit gone? Could Kendra be right? Maybe I was just an old married woman after all. But was there anything wrong with that? It surely beat Kendra’s lifestyle, and Rose’s, too, for that matter. No, with all his faults, and trust me, Bill had more than his share, I was certainly happier with him than I would have been without him, and in the end, that was the only thing that mattered.

I’d had just about enough of Kendra’s browbeating. “Leave her alone, Kendra.”

Rose glanced at me with her obvious thanks, but I wasn’t about to let her off the hook that easily. “She’s right, though. You did keep us waiting.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Don’t keep apologizing, just get some coffee in me. We can surely take enough time for a cup before we brace Nate.”

Kendra scowled. “I agree with Shakespeare’s sentiment that if there’s something unpleasant to be done, it is best done quickly.”

“And I agree with Juan Valdez. There’s always time for a cup of coffee. Besides, it will remind Nate that not only are we his fellow business owners, but we’re his customers, too.”

“She’s got a point,” Rose said, backing me up.

Kendra was wavering; I could see it in her eyes. It was time to push her over the edge. “Tell you what. The coffees are on me, and I don’t even mind if you get that expensive blend you love so much. Come on.”

“Very well, if you two insist,” she finally said.

It was all the encouragement I needed. I was at the counter in front ordering before Rose and Kendra even made it through the door. After we placed our orders and I was paying, I asked the man behind the counter, “Is Nate around?”

“He didn’t come in this morning,” the clerk said.

“Is he sick?” I had never been in the coffee shop when Nate wasn’t somewhere on the premises.

“Not that I know of,” he said as he gave me my change. “He’s the boss. He doesn’t have to ask me for permission for a day off if he feels like taking one. Next.”

I stood my ground, ignoring the push from behind from a fresh batch of customers. “This is important.”

“Then call him at home, if you want to risk getting your head bit off. Nate doesn’t like to talk business when he’s away from the shop. Excuse me, but there’s a line of folks behind you.”

There was no excuse for him, but I stepped aside anyway. Kendra and Rose were sitting at a table by the window when I carried the tray with our coffees over to them.

As I passed them out, I said, “He’s not here. The clerk told me Nate’s taking the day off.”

Kendra stood. “That’s impossible. He never takes a vacation. If these doors are open, he’s here.”

“That’s what I thought, but the clerk didn’t agree.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Kendra said as she stormed toward the counter.

Rose asked, “Should we go with her?”

“Are you kidding? I’m sure we’ll be able to hear every word she says. Besides, I want to sit here and enjoy my coffee, don’t you?”

“I could use the jolt,” Rose admitted.

I took a sip, then asked, “So, who’s your mystery man?” As her cheeks blossomed again, I added, “Rose, you really are going to have to learn to control that.”

She touched her face with her hands. “It’s just awful, isn’t it? I hate it when I blush. I think of it as the curse of the redhead.”

“Then try not to think about it. Let’s see, what might take your mind off it? I know. Tell me who was at your place until all hours of the morning.”

Rose shook her head, though she still couldn’t control the blush of her cheeks. “I’m not saying,” she said. “I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Then don’t tell Kendra,” I said. “She’ll have it all over town by lunch. Speak of the devil and she appears,” I added as Kendra rejoined us.

“Ladies, we’re leaving.”

I still had half a cup left, and she hadn’t touched hers yet. “Can’t we at least finish drinking our coffee first?”

“There’s no time for that. Bring them.”

As I grabbed my coat, I asked, “Where exactly are we going in such a hurry?”

Kendra said, “We’re going to find the errant coffeehouse owner. I have a sneaking suspicion where he’s hiding from us.”

“Who said he was hiding?” I asked. “He didn’t even know we were coming by.”

“Believe me, if I know Nate Walker—and I do—there’s no doubt about it, I know exactly where he’ll be.”

I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know, but there was something in me that made me ask. “Kendra, where exactly are we going?”

“To the cemetery.”

Chapter 2

“He’s not here. Can we go back to the coffee shop and wait for him there?” Rose asked Kendra in a whining voice. The town cemetery, filled with tombstones that ranged from the seventeen hundreds to just a few weeks old, looked brooding and forlorn, even with the weak sunshine trying to break through the clouds.

“Don’t be such a baby. I know Nate’s around here somewhere. We saw his van in the parking lot, didn’t we?”

“I hate this place,” Rose said as she kept glancing around. “It always gives me the shivers.”

“How about you, Carolyn?” Kendra asked me as she arched one eyebrow. “Are you frightened of cemeteries as well?”

“I’m not in any hurry to take up residence in one, but they don’t bother me otherwise. I have too many old friends and family buried here. What made you think that Nate came here? It’s not where most folks would spend a rare day off, is it?”

Kendra shrugged. “I was here a few months ago and saw him kneeling beside one of the graves. A caretaker told me he visits the site often, and I made a mental note of it. Look, there he is, over by the maple tree.”

I looked where she was pointing, and sure enough, Nate Walker was leaning over a grave site, having what appeared to be an earnest conversation with whoever was in residence there.

“Shouldn’t we give him some privacy?” I asked. “I hate to intrude on him.”

Kendra snapped, “He’s not hosting a party, Carolyn. We need to talk to him, and we can’t put it off. Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.”

“They would match the rest of me, since I’m still freezing, but no, I want to own Fire at Will, if there’s any way possible to do it.”

She nodded in triumph. “Then let’s go see if we can make it happen. Come on.”

Neither Rose nor I had any real choice in the matter. We followed Kendra as she bore down on Nate with a stoked fire in her steps. I felt sorry for the coffee shop owner, but at least Kendra’s determination wasn’t focused on me, and that was something to be grateful for. I’d been the target of her powerful personality too many times before.

Nate looked shocked to find us approaching him at the grave site. He mumbled something to the stone, then stood and met us a ways from the interment, as if he were shielding the conversation from the occupant. “What are you three doing here?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“We need to talk to you,” Kendra said in a reply that disregarded Nate’s tone. “It’s about the coffee shop.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Nate said. There was nothing unsure in his voice.

I touched Kendra’s arm. “Come on. Let’s do this later.”

“We’ll do it now,” she said harshly.

“I said no,” Nate said as he started to walk past us.

Kendra stepped in front of him to block off his escape. “Have you made up your mind, then?”

She wasn’t backing down, and we had no choice but to stand together. All three of us looked at him earnestly. He took his time replying, then said, “So that’s what this is about. You’re concerned that I’m going to blow the sale for the three of you.” Nate looked at me with his piercing blue eyes. “Now you’re in on it, too?”

“It’s true that I want to buy the pottery shop,” I said, trying to at least make my voice match his. “Is that so wrong?”

His angular face softened. “Of course not. I’m just not sure I can go through with it.”

Kendra said, “So you’re going to sink us as well. I’ve known you practically all your life, flaws and features through and through, but I never took you as someone so selfish.”

He looked at her with a fierce expression in his eyes, and I saw his hands ball up into fists. “You know I’m not. I just haven’t made up my mind yet. Don’t push me.”

“Leave him alone, Kendra,” Rose said. She’d moved away from us and was staring down at the tombstone Nate had just been visiting.

“Get away from there,” Nate said sharply when he noticed where she was standing.

Rose looked at him as if he’d slapped her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . . I was just trying . . . I’m so sorry.” She ran back toward town—a thousand yards from the cemetery—and I started to follow her.

“Where are you going?” Kendra asked me acidly.

“I’m going to see if I can comfort her.” Before I left, I turned to Nate and added, “You didn’t have to be that mean to her. What’s gotten into you?”

He didn’t answer, and honestly, the man looked as surprised by the outburst as Rose had been. At the moment, I didn’t care about him, or Kendra, either. All I wanted was to catch up with Rose and offer her some aid, if I could.

I found her in Rose Colored Glasses. Her shop was full of stained glass objects, from bird feeders to sun catchers, and the predominant color scheme was red. I knew when I was upset, Fire at Will was where I wanted to be. There, or home, but then again, I had Bill waiting for me there. I wasn’t sure what or whom Rose had waiting on her, but she’d headed to her shop, so that had to say something about her current disposition.

I found her dabbing at her cheeks when I walked in. “Hey, it’s all right. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

She looked at me with red eyes. “Do you think I ran in here because my feelings were hurt? I’m tougher than that, Carolyn.”

“Then what happened?”

“You didn’t see the tombstone, did you?”

“No, I didn’t get the chance. Who was it, one of his parents?”

“It was worse than that. It was his wife.”

“I should have guessed as much.”

Rose looked confused. “I didn’t realize Nate had ever been married.”

“That’s right, you came to town a few years after it happened. I remember it all too well. Winnie and Nate Walker had only been married three years when she died.”

Rose looked stricken. “What happened to her? Was it cancer or something like that?”

“No, she was killed by a hit-and-run driver one night after locking up the coffee shop by herself. Nate had been home sick, and when he hadn’t heard from her, he dragged himself out of bed in the middle of the night to look for her. I heard that the shock of finding her lifeless body crumpled by the side of the road nearly killed him.”

“How horrible it must have been.” Rose looked as though she was going to weep again.

“It’s been fifteen years, but I don’t doubt Nate still mourns for her. As far as I know, he’s never even looked at another woman since then. To make matters worse, they never did find the driver who struck her, and long after the police gave up, Nate did his best to find her killer himself.”

“Did he?”

“No, I think he finally realized it wasn’t going to happen.”