The Murder in Skoghall (Illustrated) (The Skoghall Mystery Series Book 1) (9 page)

Jess examined the chairs. Oak, medium stain, slatted back and solid seats. She sat in one and rocked it, wiggled a little to make sure it felt right. They were perfect. She beamed at Tyler, but he did not look very pleased for her. Maybe he was still agitated by the swallows. “I’m sure there’s more in there,” she said.

I think I’ll wait outside. Get some air.”

“All right.” Maybe later she would ask what had happened in that shed. She turned back inside and adjusted the ladder so it was under a rafter. She balanced the swallows’ nest in one hand and held the ladder as she climbed up with the other. She put the nest on the rafter, then slid it back toward a joist where it might be supported. She imagined the swallows coming home to find their nest violated. “I’m sorry,” she said before backing down the ladder.

Jess picked her way through the length of the shed. Most of the tables were so crammed with junk, she couldn’t tell if the wood underneath was worth looking at. She’d need hours to make sense of this place, and with Tyler on edge outside and Shakti home in a crate, Jess felt rushed. She worked her way along the other side of the shed, hurriedly passing by this pile and that heap, pausing when things caught her eye, but never lingering. Then near the front of the shed she glimpsed something that made her heart leap.

The side of a sturdy piece of furniture presented itself. The base was that of any cabinet, but the top was cut with a graceful double curve, the signature of a roll top desk. Jess moved closer, her heartbeat climbing. Old papers and shoeboxes full of trinkets had been stacked precariously high on the desktop. She began clearing it, adding these objects to other piles, each threatening to topple under the added burden. The exposed desktop was unmarred. Behind the piles, tucked under the top ledge was a filing box full of stereoscopic cards. Jess looked around for the stereoscope to view them and found it quickly in a large bin. She hugged the box of cards to her chest for a moment, then set it aside and finished clearing the desk. When Jess saw it in all its magnificence, she shouted.

Tyler burst into the shed. “What is it?”

“A roll top desk!”

“Dammit, Jess.” Tyler’s face pinched in anger. He slid something back into his hip pocket, shielding it from her view with the flat of his hand. With his other hand he pushed his hair away from his face and looked behind him, behind her, everywhere but at her.

“I’m sorry. I got excited.” She pointed at the desk. “It’s exactly what I was hoping to find.”

Tyler shook his head and sighed heavily, clearing most of his irritation away. “Okay. Let’s get it out to the truck.”

Jess touched Tyler’s arm in apology and he flinched away. She withdrew her hand and waited for him to say something.

“Looks about…” he held his hands out to measure its width, “three feet at the most.” He looked back at the door. “Let’s clear a path for it.”

Jess carried the stereoscope and cards outside and set them on one of the rocking chairs so they wouldn’t be forgotten then joined Tyler in widening the exit. While moving things, she unearthed a nested set of four Red Wing Pottery mixing bowls. The stoneware from just across the river was famous in the region and highly collectable, also very expensive. She added the crockery to her pile. They were relieved to find the desk sat on steel casters neatly hidden by the baseboards of the two pedestals. An old office chair, clearly a mate to the desk, hid behind it under a pile of filthy curtains. Jess freed it from surrounding clutter and claimed it as her own. She was crawling with excitement that she kept in check, afraid to upset Tyler again.

Jess clapped the dust and grime from her hands. She looked up at the house and found the old man filling a window, watchful of their movements. When they got to the door, he already had it open and stood waiting. “Hi,” Jess said.

The old man did not respond other than to suck his lips in between his gums. She imagined a difficult life for him and that her purchase would be an unexpected boon on this beautiful day. She listed for him what she would like to buy. The old man smacked his lips, a bit of saliva springing out and dropping to land on his hollow shirtfront. “That ought to be worth $200,” he said.

“I don’t think so,” Tyler objected. Jess looked at him in surprise. “That stuff needs to be refinished. It’s filthy, and I’m sure it’s warped. How many decades has that stuff been sitting out in a shed, exposed to all the cold and heat?”

“Well, now…” the old man began slowly, thinking over his reply.

Jess opened her purse and withdrew her wallet. She had brought a pile of cash from her “mad money,” hoping for a find like this. She selected two hundreds from the back of the pile. “Look at that, I have $200 exactly.” She pressed it into the old man’s hand and cupped the bottom of his fist with her empty palm, something like shaking to seal the deal. “I’ll take good care of them,” she assured him. “And I’ll come back when I have more time to look.”

“You do that,” he said before stepping back and closing the door on them.

“I wish you hadn’t done that,” she said as they walked toward the truck.

“Done what?”

“Negotiated with him. The wood is not warped, and $200 is a great price. It’s not enough, really.”

Tyler sighed and pushed his hands over the top of his head. “I’m sorry. I’m used to bartering with people. It’s a bad habit, I know.”

“Besides, he looks like he needs the money.”

“All right, Jess.” He opened the passenger door for her and she climbed in. Tyler pulled up to the shed, backing in so the tailgate was near the desk. Jess was wondering how they would get the desk in there when Tyler dropped the tailgate and slid out two steel ramps and laid them on the ground.

Jess’s irritation vanished. “That’s brilliant.”

“I don’t know about brilliant, but they come in handy. I have to save my back.”

“Is something wrong with your back?” she asked as they maneuvered the desk to the edge of the ramps.

“Old injury. If I’m not careful I can end up laid up for days.”

“Then you better let me push. I don’t want you getting hurt over my desk.”

He smiled at her and his eyes showed warm admiration. “See these?” He flexed a biceps impressively. “I have way more of this than you do. Fact of nature. I’ll be careful about my back.”

Jess did as much of the work as she could, but had to admit that Tyler was right about upper body strength, and she appreciated his help anew.

Getting the desk inside the house wasn’t too difficult, it was getting it upstairs that hurt. Jess offered to wait and hire movers, but Tyler was determined to see it all the way to its final home. Despite her better judgment, she agreed. When Tyler left, her desk was in the front bedroom, and her television in the back bedroom. She waved him away from the front porch with her gratitude and a dinner invitation for that same evening. Now, she had the afternoon to herself, time to shower, play with Shakti, and figure out what she was going to cook for a chef.

Chapter Five

Jess emerged from the shower and dressed in a flowered skirt and brown top. It was the first time she’d worn a skirt since the move, and she was feeling particularly feminine. She stopped in the office before going downstairs to admire her new roll top desk once more. Jess ran her hand over the smooth surface before plunking down in her chair. The chair squeaked as she pushed it back on its spring. She let it rock her forward and find its own equilibrium with another squeak each time it tilted away from the desk. She put her hand into one of the bookstalls, feeling the smooth side panel, thinking how neatly her Oxford English Dictionary would fit inside. The letter cubbies called to her next. She couldn’t help probing one of the smooth compartments with curious fingertips. She felt something and jerked her hand back out. Jess leaned forward to peer inside, wondering what small treasure awaited discovery. Whatever it was, it was too far back to see. She slid her hand inside again and found it. Pinched between her first and second fingers like tweezers, she withdrew the lead cowboy.

Jess stared at the little figure in disbelief.

She had a dinner guest coming soon, which was reason enough not to think about the cowboy. She set it atop the desk and stood up to go downstairs. Pausing before she turned away, a wave of deep sadness came over her and she wondered how she could ever imagine herself a writer.

Pushing away dark thoughts of fraud and posing, Jess decided to fix one of her specialties: stuffed bell peppers. Tyler arrived as she busily sautéed garlic, onions, carrots, and celery. She moved the pan off the burner and went to the door, wiping her hands on a towel and smiling for her guest. Suddenly this felt like a date and Jess had her first rush of nerves. Tyler offered up a bottle of wine and kissed her cheek. His smile dropped as he moved into the house with a stiffness to his gait that Jess had not seen before. He set the wine on the kitchen table and turned around, his mouth forming a word, but instead of speaking, he winced and his hand shot to his lower back as his hip did a funny little bob.

“Are you all right?” Jess touched his arm in concern.

Tyler straightened up. “Yes. Just a back spasm.”

“Oh, Tyler, I am so sorry. We never should have moved that desk upstairs.”

“I insisted, didn’t I?” He tried smiling, but his lips only thinned into a tight line with a curl at both ends.

“I should have refused. Does it hurt very much?”

“Not too bad. I took something before I left. It should kick in any time now.”

Jess brought one of the dining chairs into the kitchen so he could sit at the farm table. “I’m cooking tonight, so you just sit and keep me company.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tyler grinned at her.

Jess poured them wine and turned the flame up under her pan and stirred the vegetables. “Do you like bell peppers?”

Despite her protestations, it wasn’t long before Tyler insisted on helping, claiming he felt useless watching her work. She let him fix a romaine salad and they talked about the day, ruminating about the old man, making up stories about how he had amassed the shed full of “junk,” as Tyler called it. “Hey, now,” Jess said, “I found some great stuff in there. I’d like to go back with more time to kill. In fact..!” She went into the living room and returned with the mixing bowls. The largest one filled her arms like a beach ball. “These are for you.” She set them on the table in front of Tyler.

“No…” He pushed his hand through his hair. “Jess, you shouldn’t have. I mean, they’re great, but it’s too much.”

Jess snorted. “Too much? You saw what I paid for all this stuff. You are a chef. These are really cool mixing bowls. Right?” She looked at Tyler, waiting.

“Yes,” he said finally.

She let out a breath of relief. “Good. Really? If you don’t like them, that’s different.”

“No, I like them. I just. I’m not used to people giving me gifts. It’s, ah…it’s really nice.”

With that settled, Jess slid the bell peppers in the oven and poured them a second glass of wine. They went out to sit in her new rocking chairs while Shakti roamed around the front yard. The house’s shadow fell over the base of the sugar maple and the tree’s shadow fell over the smokehouse. In the woods nearby, a woodpecker tapped away and Jess, having forgotten the cowboy for the moment, sighed at the pleasure inherent in rocking on her own porch with a glass of wine and a friend. Maybe more than a friend.

Jess pulled the casserole dish out of the oven and set it on the stovetop. The juices bubbled away, the peppers’ shiny skins curled at the edges and the smell of the vegetables steeped in garlic and spices pleased the senses. She placed one of the red pepper halves on each plate and carried them to the dining room. Tyler followed her with the tossed salad and a basket of bread. “Everything looks delicious,” he said as they took their seats. Although the sun would not set completely for another hour, being surrounded by trees made it feel like the gloaming. The candles heightened the effect, adding a romantic soft glow over the table. Jess sipped her wine, watching as Tyler cut a piece from his bell pepper. She would allow him the first bite and watch his face to see what he really thought.