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“Maybe I should just get April a better job than waitressing at a bar,” I say, one eyebrow arching. Jonah calls this my British Asshole look, but I can’t stop it. “Surely you agree she can do more.”
All three women plant a hand on their hips in a seemingly synchronized motion and my instinctive reaction is “oh crap”. My British Asshole look drops.
“She is more than a waitress,” Mandy tells me. “I’m sure on the surface, that’s how it seems, but she is a very sweet, loving girl who finds a lot of happiness in taking care of others. I’ve told her that when her life settles down a little, she should consider being a teacher or a social worker or something. She is so good with everyone who comes in there.”
Ada nods. “She is so patient with Charles and his dementia. She’s taught Michael Spanish. His son married a wonderful Hispanic woman whose mother doesn’t speak much English. Michael wanted to be able to talk with her and asked April to teach him some basic phrases. I guess she did very well in Spanish in high school and then after he asked her to teach him, she went online and studied even more.”
Mandy smiles. “And though she doesn’t have time to bake first thing every morning, she does love to make lunch down there for everyone. She absolutely glows when people compliment her. I think being needed there is very important to her.” Mandy’s smile turns to a frown. At me. “She doesn’t just pour beer.”
“In fact, she rarely pours beer. Dan doesn’t serve alcohol until after six. That’s when Ruby’s shift starts,” Ada informs me.
Cecelia leans forward, pinning me with a direct look. “I assume you’re concerned about Christopher and the trouble he caused last night.”
Mandy and Ada both look at her. She nods at them. “April left him and came to stay here with Ruby last night.”
I frown. “How do you know that?”
She points across the street. “My dead husband’s sister lives right there. She saw April arrive and witnessed what happened with Christopher on this porch. It’s a small town, Henry.”
I blow out a breath. “Then you understand why I need to keep her away from Christopher. That means she needs to be somewhere more secure than the bar.”
“We can help with Christopher,” Ada says.
I give her a questioning look. “Do I want to know what that means?”
Mandy laughs. “If poisoning some cinnamon rolls and burying a body was all it took, we would have gotten rid of Cecelia’s husband twenty years ago.”
I look at Cecelia. “Was your husband abusive?”
“No. Just a boring misogynist.”
“Why did you stay?”
“Because I didn’t become friends with these two until he had stage three brain cancer. If I’d known them when I was younger, they would have talked me into leaving sooner.”
Mandy gives her a smile and Ada bumps her with her hip.
Cecelia just shrugs. “Anyway, I’m not above threatening Christopher with a meat cleaver to the balls,” she tells me. “But I don’t need to do that. I can do something much worse.” She looks at her friends. “Wecan do something much worse.”
“What’s that?”
“Make his life miserable if he’s an asshole to her,” she says.
I study her. That’s very similar to what I said to Christopher myself last night. “He’s already been an asshole to her.”
“But we didn’t know that,” Ada says. “Now that we do, we can make sure it stops.”
I think about that. “Do you know Christopher well?” I ask. “What kind of work are you in?”
Ada laughs. So do Mandy and Cecelia.
“I know him well enough. And it doesn’t matter what kind of work I do,” Ada says. “My work doesn’t have to affect him. I live in the same town that he does. I interact with the samepeoplehe does. I also interact with the same people April does.”
“Meaning?” I ask.
“It’s hard to blend in in a small town. It’s hard to have anonymity. It’s hard to disappear into a crowd. If you’re a terrible person, people find out. And people generally don’t want to associate with terrible people. Especially when the rest of the town will then assume you’re a terrible person too.”
“Peer pressure,” Mandy says. “It doesn’t just work in grade school.”