Treacherous Tart (9 page)

Still, it seemed strange to have her come here today. Was this another attempt at beating Aunt Clara out at something—in this case grief?

“Can I help you with something?” Maggie didn't want to interrupt their moment, but she didn't want to think what would happen if Aunt Clara saw her rival in the pie shop, crying for Donald.

“I wanted to see the spot where he died.” Lenora bit hard on her lip to try to stem the tears. “I wish I could've been here for him. I wish I'd been here to share his last moments.”

Alice looked up at Maggie. “You're Clara's niece, right? It's nice to meet you. Your aunt talks about you all the time.”

Maggie didn't know Aunt Clara had regular visits with Lenora and Alice. She knew they met occasionally at the library. Clara and Lenora's friendship just wasn't something she understood. She didn't know why they wanted to spend time together when all they did was snipe at each other. Well, it was their friendship. She didn't have to understand.

“Nice to meet you,” she replied. “I didn't know your mother was dating Donald Wickerson.”

Alice nodded. “Imagine her surprise when she read the
Durham Weekly
and found out that Donald might have been a serial killer. We'd barely assimilated that information when we heard about his death—and that he'd been dating Clara too.”

“I can imagine that was very traumatic,” Maggie empathized. “I'm so sorry. Can I get you something—coffee, water?”

“Some water would be nice.” Lenora's voice was weak and trembling.

“It's very quiet out here.” Aunt Clara peered through the service window between the kitchen and the dining room. Her eyes widened when she saw Lenora. “What's going on?”

Maggie had hoped to avoid this. “It seems your friend Lenora was also dating Donald. I'm sorry.”

“What?” Aunt Clara scurried out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “Lenora, were you trying to steal Donald from me?”

“Me trying to steal him from
you
?” Lenora managed a pathetic laugh. “That's rich. He was probably dating me first.”

“That's what you said about Fred forty years ago.” Aunt Clara put her hands on her hips as she approached her friend and rival. “I was dating Fred
and
Donald first. Must you always covet my leavings?”

“What are you talking about, Clara Lowder?” Lenora pushed herself to her feet and glowered down at her. “At least I have a daughter who is really mine, not one dropped off at my door that belonged to someone else.”

“Maggie is just like a daughter to me.”

“
Just like
isn't the same thing. Did you push her
out of your body after days of painful, near-death labor?”

“Is it always like this?” Maggie whispered to Alice.

“Always. They actually got kicked out of the library a few months ago.” Alice shrugged. “I'll take some coffee and a big piece of Amazing Apple pie with a slice of cheddar, if you have it.”

“Sure. I'll get it for you.” Maggie hoped the disagreement would be over before the snowflake-making schoolchildren got there. After the commotion yesterday, two old women on the floor pulling each other's hair out was not going to be good for Pie in the Sky's reputation.

“You've always been a greedy woman, Lenora,” Aunt Clara told her. “I think you should leave now.”

“I will. I only came to pay my last respects to Donald. I felt like I needed to visit the place where he spent his final moments.” Lenora looked at Alice. Maggie was about to put pie and coffee in front of her. “We're going now.”

“I'm not going until I eat the pie, Mama.” Alice put a bite of apple pie in her mouth and smiled. “Divine!”

“
Well!
” Lenora sat down hard on her chair again.

Maggie thought it might be better if they left right away too, but she knew Aunt Clara was close to Lenora, despite everything. “Maybe you'd like something now too,” she suggested. “Aunt Clara has to go
back into the kitchen and make more pies. The morning is only starting. We'll still see a lot of customers today.”

Aunt Clara took the hint as Professor Simpson and two firefighters from the local station came in the front door. She marched into the kitchen like a pint-sized majorette, shoulders back and head held high.

“No dead bodies so far,” Professor Simpson macabrely joked as he sat down with his newspaper. “I think you should try to keep the riffraff out of the place, Maggie. I'll have coffee, and a slice of that apple pie with a little cinnamon on top. Thank you.”

The two firemen wanted coffee and slices of Fantastic Fig pie to eat there, with an Evie's Elegant Eggnog pie to go.

Maggie kept her eye on Lenora and her daughter as she dashed around the dining area, taking orders and delivering food. She hoped that the disagreement was over between Aunt Clara and her friend. She'd never seen the two women together before—and hoped it wouldn't happen again soon.

Alice seemed okay. They'd only just met, but Maggie liked her. At least she seemed normal.

“I guess we'll be going now.” Alice approached the cash register and took out her wallet.

“Don't worry about it.” Maggie waved away her money. “It's on the house. I think we've all been
through enough with what's happened. How is your consignment store doing?”

“Fair.” Alice put away her wallet and swiped her longish bangs from her eyes. “It will pick up. Getting started isn't easy. You were lucky to walk into something established like this.”

“I know.” Maggie patted the top of the cash register with her hand. “I'm glad it was still here when I came back.”

“Let's do lunch sometime.” Alice smiled. “It was nice meeting you.”

As Alice was walking out the door, Aunt Clara called out, “Is that man-stealer gone yet?” She didn't even look through the window between the kitchen and the dining room.

“Yes. They just left.” Maggie put up a new order for a slice of pumpkin pie. “You know, she's as hurt as you are by all of this. Donald played her false too.”

“
Bah!
” Her aunt didn't want to hear it.

They were busy again for another ninety minutes before the crowd slacked off. Maggie cleaned up, put on a fresh pot of coffee for the after-lunch crowd, and went back in the kitchen to help Aunt Clara.

“Ryan is bringing us lunch,” Maggie told her. “I hope pizza sounds good.”

“That sounds fine. I'm not especially hungry. It's been a hard morning.” Aunt Clara put six pies in the
oven. “I'm starting to feel better. Any word from Ryan about Donald's killer?”

Maggie told her about the women on the dating service site, trying to find a way to explain without making her aunt feel worse.

“So he was more than two-timing me?” Aunt Clara shook her head in devastation, but then her expression changed to disgust as she cleaned off the counter. “Maybe the police shouldn't even bother looking for his killer. The world may be a better place without him.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she started crying again.

“I'm sorry.” Maggie put her arms around her. It broke her heart to see her aunt hurting like this. “Maybe he was afraid you were going to reject him. Or maybe he put his profile up on the site before he knew you. As for Lenora, we only have her word that she was even dating him, right? You know how jealous she is of you.”

Maggie didn't really believe any of that, but she kept her theories to herself. She felt bad playing on the two women's rivalry to make her aunt feel better, but she hated seeing Clara cry.

“Thank you for being there, Maggie. I guess we all make mistakes.”

They made ten more Marvelous Mince pies. Maggie was careful not to overwork the crust. She noticed that the ingredients, as well as the bowl and
mixing implements, weren't as cold while she was making the last five crusts. Maybe that was the problem. Her aunt had always insisted that keeping everything cold was a big part of fabulous crust.

She asked her aunt about it.

Clara considered the problem. “Maybe we should only do five at a time. We could re-chill everything for a few minutes. That might help.”

“I'll do that next time.”

“I'll try it too. You know, I'm not perfect. We've been working in such volume since you came back. We may have to try some different ways of doing things. I can learn something new too.”

“I don't know.” Maggie laughed. “I like you the way you are.”

Clara's pretty face blushed, and tears gathered in her eyes. “Thank you, dear. I like the way you are too.”

“Who's hungry?” Ryan called out from the dining room. “I've got pizza that smells so good, I thought I'd have to eat it by myself on the way over here.”

Maggie poured sweet tea for herself and her aunt. Ryan laid out the pizza box and then got himself a soda.

“What did Frank think about the dating service idea?” Maggie asked as they sat down to eat.

Ryan shrugged. “I couldn't really tell. He was so busy reading me the riot act over my piece in the paper that he didn't say much of anything else.”

“You
did
go against his wishes.” Aunt Clara took a bite of pizza. Ryan and Maggie stared at her. “I'm old, not deaf. I can hear the two of you plotting things when I'm upstairs at the house. You might want to keep that in mind next time you're getting a little frisky in the parlor.”

“Okay.” Ryan laughed and took a sip of soda.

It was Maggie's turn to blush. She changed the subject to Lenora's visit that morning. “She was really upset about Donald's death. She said she read your article and then found out about Aunt Clara dating Donald. That's why she and her daughter came today.”

“They say the killer always finds a way to revisit the scene of the crime,” Ryan reminded her.

“Oh, Lenora is annoying, but she wouldn't hurt a fly.” Aunt Clara shot down that idea. “What about the other women on the list?”

“I'm planning on visiting them tomorrow night since I can't get them on the phone.” Ryan helped himself to another slice of pizza. “I was hoping you could come with me, Maggie.”

“Sure. That would be great. Aunt Clara has her bingo tomorrow night.”

“Don't worry about me anyway. I can always find something to do.” Aunt Clara smiled at them. “Good pizza. I can't eat any more, but thanks for bringing it, Ryan.”

A bus driver stopped in for pie and coffee. Aunt Clara told Maggie to finish her lunch with Ryan and she'd take care of it.

“What about the actual scene of the crime?” Maggie asked him when she was gone. “Do they know where Donald was shot yet?”

“Frank briefly told me that the shooting happened on the far end of the strip shops, next to the X-Press It place, almost in the alley. There was blood over there that matched Donald's, and a blood trail that came here on the sidewalk.”

“That's about five hundred feet away from Pie in the Sky.”

“Something like that. Frank doesn't have any suspects. He's still looking for the gun.”

“Has he contacted the families of the murdered women Donald was married to yet?”

“I don't know. Maybe you should ask him. I think it will be a while before Frank and I have a civil conversation again.”

Ryan had to leave to attend a city council meeting about proposed new bus lines. “I'll see you later,” he said. “You're going to talk with Angela, right? I figure since you know her, she's more likely to give you a decent response.”

Maggie nodded as he kissed her. “She's coming in for the book club this afternoon. I'll ask her about it then. I'm sure she'll have an interesting excuse.

I'm not telling Aunt Clara about Angela and Donald being together too. I don't want a repeat of what happened with Lenora this morning.”

“I won't say a word.” He grinned. “But my money would be on Clara in a grudge match between them.”

Maggie shook her head as she took the pizza box to the kitchen. There was a large piece of crust with some sauce and cheese on it. She opened the back door and looked for the cat.

“Kitty-kitty?” She didn't see her in the alley. “I have food for you that isn't pie.”

The cat came out slowly from behind the large trashcan next to the shop. She and Aunt Clara used it for recycling since the city didn't provide receptacles for it.

Maggie put the pizza on the stoop, and stepped back. The cat pounced on it and dragged it away.

“Are you feeding that creature?” Saul from the laundromat next door grumbled. “Bad habit. It won't go away.”

She didn't say anything in return and closed the back door. Hadn't she said almost the same thing when she'd first seen Aunt Clara with the cat?

That was before she'd realized how thin the poor thing was. No animal should have to live that way. She'd be safe now with them. No more nights on the street.

Maggie ignored Saul's warning and asked Aunt
Clara what she thought about keeping the scrawny cat at the house.

“I think that's a wonderful idea! We can get a bed for her and take care of her. But we have to give her a name.”

“What about Queen?” Maggie washed her hands.

“That's terrible.” Aunt Clara tapped her chin as she thought. “What about Starlight?”

Maggie saw the school class starting to come in to make snowflakes and drink hot chocolate. They'd have to talk about a name for the cat later.

Maggie took care of their orders. She loved to watch Aunt Clara with the little kids. She made snowflakes too, and hung all the children's snowflakes on the big window in front of the shop.

She would've made a wonderful mother
, Maggie thought with a smile.

She kicked herself mentally. What was she thinking? Aunt Clara
was
a wonderful mother, and Uncle Fred was a great father. Maybe it wasn't the same as Lenora and her daughter, but it was as good as any other mother-daughter relationship—better than some.
Much
better than what she'd seen between Lenora and Alice.