Page 5

CHAPTER 5

O nce Coral was safe, I got organized. The bakery was a mess, splattered with her blood, and so was Coral, so that had to be cleaned up. Ecstasy was supposed to open in half an hour and Coral would not be behind the counter. And there was the dead woman on the floor, so that had to be cleaned up, too.

These were the kind of problems I could solve.

I called Pike, pretty sure he was upstairs in Coral’s bed. He answered, surly at being woken, and I said, “Somebody just tried to kill Coral. Please come get her and take her upstairs,” and ended the call before he could say anything, and moved on to the next problem.

I texted Anita, Coral’s counter clerk:

CORAL HURT

PLEASE COME OPEN FOR HER

And then I texted Luke Granger, Max’s old buddy:

BODY IN ECSTASY

PLEASE REMOVE

Then I turned back to Dr. Quill, who was wiping the worst of the blood off Coral with wipes from Coral’s first aid kit. “Coral’s boyfriend will be down in a minute, and he has no tact, but he’ll be grateful. I am very grateful. We are very grateful. Are you sure you’re not staying?”

“Just long enough to clean out the pharmacy.” Dr. Quill said, beginning to clean her hands with one of Coral’s wipes. Very tidy. “Were you close to this Sid Quill?”

“Not very,” I said, not adding, Not nearly as close as he wanted to be.

“I have more questions,” she said.

“Understandable. Give me a minute to get this cleaned up, and then I’ll make you a coffee and I’ll tell you everything I know.” I was lying, of course, I was not going to tell her everything I knew. “I am very, very grateful that you saved my friend’s life.”

“She wasn’t dying,” the doctor said, her voice still without expression. “She’s hurt, and she’s going to need some painkillers, but her heart is fine, and her color is coming back.” She looked at the body on the floor. “That woman is dead. I assume the police are on their way.”

“Of course.” Well, Pike was on his way. “I just texted them. Him.” Well, Luke, too. “Them.”

Dr. Quill looked at Coral. “You’ll need to rest.”

“Really, Coral,” I said. “You can close the shop for a few days.”

“No,” Coral said.

I’d known that was coming, so I bent over to look in her eyes. “Then let Anita take over. You can sit at the corner table and observe if you want, but your arm is bandaged so you’ll just annoy people by not being able to wait on them swiftly, and the more rest you get now?—”

“What the hell?” Pike came out of the kitchen, having taken the back stairs to get down here, breathing hard for such a short trip. His flannel shirt was untucked and his silver hair was mussed. He had his gun in one hand and for the first time, I was nervous about him being armed since he was glowering at all of us but looked confused underneath that glare. He was weathered and tough, but at the moment he was also flustered.

“Put the gun away, Pike,” I said, and he dropped it to his side. I pointed to the corpse on the floor. “Do you know that woman? She cut Coral.”

Pike put his hand on Coral’s shoulder, and she nodded, looking exhausted, her white apron spattered with red. He swore and went over to the body, turning once to look at the doctor as he did so. “Who are you?”

“Be nice , Pike,” I said. “This is Dr. Jacqueline Quill, who has inherited Sid’s pharmacy and who just stitched up the woman you love.”

Pike ignored that and looked back at the body. “Don’t know this one. Outsider.” He looked over at Coral. “Do you know this piece of garbage?”

“I do not,” she whispered.

“Somebody’s daughter, possibly?” Dr. Quill said, her voice on edge.

“You think I should talk nicer about a woman who tried to knife an old lady?” Pike said to her, and Coral glared at him. He was going to pay for that later.

I looked at the corpse closely for the first time. A woman in her thirties, short dark hair, pale complexion, nothing extraordinary about her that screamed “dangerous assassin.” But Max would say that just meant she was a pro.

Maggs came to stand beside me, her body tense. She sniffed the woman again and looked up at me. “You’re getting a cookie,” I told her softly. It was the least I could do for a dog who had probably saved my life.

“She was a human being,” Dr. Quill was saying to Pike. “And you’re talking about her like she was a paper cup somebody dropped on the floor.”

“She’s not a paper cup. I don’t want to shoot paper cups.” Pike knelt and went through the woman’s pockets and came up empty, just doing his job, but beneath his bravado I could tell he was shaken. He took his cellphone out and took a picture of the woman’s face. I noticed that when Pike checked her hands, her fingernails were chewed to the quick. This was a woman who had had a hard life and a tough ending. Then he looked at the knife and frowned.

“The dagger is hers,” Coral said.

Pike nodded, and then the door opened and Luke Granger came in, huge as ever, all shoulders and biceps, Black and imposing in his gray hoodie.

“Good. Gotta body for you,” Pike said, but Luke was looking at the doctor.

Which is when I realized she was very attractive. I mean, I’d thought she was great stitching up Coral, but I hadn’t been in the mood to evaluate her looks.

Luke was evidently in the mood. But then he caught sight of Coral and began to move again. “What’s going on?” he said as he went toward Coral, focused on her now, frowning at the blood splatter. He knelt in front of her, looking her in the eyes. “Are you all right?”

I stole a look at Dr. Quill. She was looking at Luke, which was good. Luke is very impressive, big and muscular and calm and very nice looking, and there was Dr. Quill, tall and slim and calm and very nice looking.

So maybe Luke could seduce us a doctor. He was single. His son was about to go off to college. He had the time. It was the least he could do for Rocky Start.

“Doctor Quill,” I said. “This is Luke Granger. He makes beautiful wood furniture, so he probably cuts himself all the time. If you stayed in town, you could bandage him up.”

“I do not cut myself,” Luke said to me. “Much.” He stood, walked over to her, and offered his hand to the doctor. “Luke Granger.”

She stood and took his hand. “Jackie Quill.”

I got Jaqueline, he gets Jackie, I thought. Yes!

“What happened, Coral?” Luke said.

Coral shook her head. I think the enormity of the whole thing was finally getting to her.

“That woman tried to knife her,” I told him. “So I hit the woman with a chair and then Coral stabbed her with the knife the woman was attacking her with, in self-defense, but the body can’t stay here, so if you’d remove it, I’ll get Anita to run the shop while Coral rests”—I glared at Coral to stop any protest—“and we’ll all get back to work.”

“The police will want to see the body before you move it,” Dr. Quill said.

“I’m the law here,” Pike said. “I’ve seen it. She’s dead.” He looked at Luke. “Get the damn thing out of here.”

“I don’t think—” Dr. Quill began.

I intervened. “So we’ll have a cup of Coral’s excellent coffee and a slice of Coral’s butter cake, and I’ll bring you up to speed on Rocky Start.” Jacqueline shook her head, so I added, “Let me put this another way. You’re in here with four people and a dog you don’t know, in a town you don’t understand, and you’re trying to deal with what just happened as if it’s a normal crime. It isn’t. I’ll explain everything to you if you let these people do what they have to do.”

She shook her head again. “This was a robbery gone wrong.”

“No.” Pike glared at me. I knew he wasn’t talking about the robbery gone wrong; he was saying no to the explaining. But Jacqueline Quill owned property in town and she’d walked in on the dark side of Rocky Start; she at least needed to know the basics. I was pretty sure Max would agree with that. He was big on practicality.

I turned my focus back to the doctor. “Jacqueline, this was an assassination attempt.”

Pike made some noise of protest, but I ignored him.

I continued. “There may be more killers like her on the way. Coral needs to go to bed, Pike and Luke need to get this body out of here, I need to clean up this mess, and then you and I need to talk.”

She looked at Pike, who did his usual stone face, and then at Luke, and her eyes stayed on Luke.

He nodded. “Listen to Rose,” he told her, his voice gentle. “She’s the sanest person in this town, and she’ll help you understand. You’re in a very strange place.”

If Luke approved, then Max would approve, and Pike was outvoted.

Jacqueline Quill looked at me. “Call me Jackie.”

“You bet, Jackie,” I said and went to get the mop and Maggs’ cookie before I got the doctor some coffee and cake and convinced her to stay in Rocky Start.