Page 4

As soon as Greg arrived at the mission, Emma and I were o n our way home.

“Don’t you want me to show you where I found the body?” I sat in the driver’s seat with the Jeep running and the heat on high. I was still freezing.

“I’m sure I’ll find it. I just want you out of here before the rest of the emergency vehicles get here. Besides, Mom needs her purse—well, the pills in her purse. Did you find it?” Greg looked around me and saw it on the floor at Emma’s feet. “Good. At least we don’t have to wor ry about that.”

“Nope, there’s no worrying there.” I thought about the letter. Sooner or later, I would blurt out my knowledge of what Sherry was trying to do. But right now, there was a murder, and he had enough on his mind without me complaining about a stupid letter from his ex. We were getting married, no matter what.

I was already on the road when I realized I hadn’t told him about seeing a priest at the mission or the gray car. That letter from Sherry had rattled me more than I’d realized. I used the Bluetooth setting to call Greg. As I expected, I got his voice mail. I left the information and added, “Don’t worry about entertaining your mom. We’ll work through her list of tourist s ites to visit.”

Emma looked at me, probably hoping for a hint that she would be going along. But I knew I’d be leaving her home when we went o ut sightseeing.

When I arrived home, I handed Amanda her purse. “Here you go. So, what do you want to do today? Greg won’t be ho me until late.”

Amanda rummaged through the purse and paused before pulling out a bottle of pills. She tucked the opening closed and stood. “After I take this, I’d love to go visit the Castle. Is it op en on Sundays?”

“Let me check.” I moved to the office. It wasn’t lost on me that Amanda took her purse with her as she went to the kitchen for water to take her pill. I thought that my soon-to-be mother-in-law knew that I’d seen the letter. She just didn’t want to ask me directly. I was going to have to be the bigger person here. Not one of my strongest c haracteristics.

I turned on the computer and looked up the Castle’s website. If we left soon, we’d be able to stop at the bookstore too. I needed caffeine and a lot of it to be able to keep up this cheery at titude all day.

When I came back out, I decided to put the problem in the safe in my head. I wouldn’t think about it until after the wedding or after Amanda had left. I didn’t know if I could get past her part of the Sherry caper, but I wasn’t giving anyone the satisfaction of getting upset over something that wasn’t an issue. Greg loved me. We were getting married. No matter what anyon e else thought.

I smiled at Amanda as she stepped out of the kitchen, still clutching her purse. “It opens at eleven. I need to make a stop first, if you’r e ready to go.”

She nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

Maybe she thought she’d gotten away with it. Whatever she thought, didn’t matter. Greg was investigating who had killed Kane Matthews. I wanted in on this investigation. The killer needed to be given a medal before Gre g arrested him.

Maybe I wasn’t in the best of moods.

We drove to the bookstore, and I parked in front. It was busy for a Sunday morning in January. Several months ago, when she’d lived above the shop, Evie had suggested that we open for a few hours on Sundays. She’d watched a lot of people pause at the doorway, checking the hours listed. Now that Deek was living above the shop in the apartment, they switched out working on Sundays. Today, Evie was behind the counter, making coffee drink s for a couple.

I pointed Amanda to the stools and the menu. “What can Evie make for you?”

Amanda studied the menu carefully. “A double shot mocha with caramel?”

“Sounds good.” I waited for Evie to finish with the customer before stepping up to the register. “Have you been bus y all morning?”

“It’s been steady since I opened. The best news is that I’ve sold a book with every coffee.” She smiled at Amanda. “You must be Greg’s mom. You have the same eyes.”

“I’ve never heard that before.” Amanda smiled at Evie. “But yes, guilty as charged. Maybe I should grab a book while we’re here. I finished the one I brought on the plane.”

“What do you like to read?” I asked. I had sent her books during her treatment, but I’d been working off a list she’d sent me. And the list had been all over the place. Women’s fiction, fantasy, mystery, nonfiction, and even some la wyer mysteries.

“I think I need some fantasy. Where’s your young adult section? I’ll go grab a couple while you’re getti ng our coffee.”

Evie pointed out the section to Amanda and reached for travel mugs. “You want your coffee to go?”

I nodded. “And put this and the books on my account. What’s in the back? Any good advance reader copies?”

The publishers sent out advance copies of books to bookstores to entice them to order the titles. The staff and I tried to make sure every book was read and reviewed for Deek’s newsletter, but we also wrote Staff Pick cards on one new release a month that we fell in love with when we were reading. We all had different favorite genres so we had a lot of variety in the books we recommended.

“There’s a new women’s fiction from that author who came here last January. The one that writes books set in New Orleans. And a mystery. I think everyone’s been leaving those for you.” She handed over the cups and held up a finger. “Hold on, I’l l go get them.”

“See if there’s any new fantasy back there too,” I ca lled after her.

Deek had set up a table in the back that held all the advance copies when they came in. They each had a sheet. If you took one, you wrote down your name and made a check if you wrote a review. That way, not everyone reviewed the same book. Although a lot of the popular books got several reads on the sheet before Deek rotated the book off the table.

When Evie came back, she had four books in hand. She tucked them into the bag along with the books that Amanda had brought to the counter. Then she handed the bag over to me. “Do you want any treats to go wi th the coffee?”

“None for me.” I held out my hands to ward off the sugar. “My final fitting is done. I don’t want to gain an ounce between now and next Saturday.”

“I don’t think it works that way.” Amanda gave me a sideways hug. “But I’ll have one of those snowflakes if y ou don’t mind.”

“Bag up two, just in case you get hungry on the drive.” I turned toward the door and saw Molly Cordon hurry into the shop. She came up to me and grabbed my arm. “Molly, what’s wrong?”

“You need to help me. The other guy, Deek, told me that you are married to the head cop. That you could help me.” She glanced at Amanda and Evie, who were watching the exchange. “I need to talk to you alone.”

“Come over and sit down. Evie, would you get Molly a cup of coffee? Or would you like cocoa?” I put my arm around her and led her to a table near the wall.

“Do you have tea? I’m a little chilled. I’ve been waiting outside for you to show up.” She sank into a chair. “I parked my car behind the bed-and-breakfast where I’m staying and wal ked into town.”

“Okay.” I still wasn’t sure what she was saying. I turned back to the counter and told Evie to make a hot tea instead. I sat down and waited for Molly’s breathing to slow a little. When Evie brought the teapot and cup, I pushed the basket of tea bags toward Molly. “You pick what you want.”

Molly grabbed a cranberry herbal tea out of the pile and took it out of the package, letting it steep in the hot water. She pressed her lips together and looked up at me. “I think someone’s trying to frame me for murder.”

* * * *

I called Greg, and he sent Toby over to take Molly’s statement since Greg and the crew were still out at the mission. She had told me the story before Toby arrived and kept the same points when she talked to him as I sat ther e and listened.

“When they kicked me out of the open house on Friday, I left a note for the head guy, Kane Matthews. I told him that I was Carlie’s mother and I just wanted to talk to her. To make sure she was all right. This morning, I got a call from a man. I don’t think it was Kane. He said Mr. Matthews would meet me at the old mission and gave me an address. I asked if Carlie would be there, and the man said that Mr. Matthews wanted to talk with me first. To see if my heart was pure. If it was, he’d let me on the compound to see my daughter.” Molly was on her second cup of tea and her hands had s topped shaking.

“So you drove to the old mission. What time did you get there?” Toby’s voice was calm and warm. Like all he wanted was to hear her sto ry. No worries.

She nodded. “I arrived a few minutes before nine. He said he’d be in the old graveyard. That there was a bench inside the walls where we could sit and talk.”

“The graveyard. Did you consider that you were being pranked?” Toby had a sweet smile.

This time Molly laughed. “I did a little. But on the off chance that he would let me talk to Carlie? I was going to take the chance. She’s been gone since October.”

“Okay, so then what happene d?” Toby asked.

“I ignored the sign to pay for parking. I want to be completely honest, even if it costs me a fine for not paying the charge. I parked and found a map of the trails. I followed a wooden sign and went over a tiny bridge, then headed to the large building. The graveyard was in a courtyard at the end of the building.” She closed her eyes for a minute. “It was foggy and I could barely see the trail in front of me. I just followed the map. Soon, the adobe wall came into view, and I headed to the far left side and the first openin g in the wall.”

This time, Toby didn’t encourage her to continue. He let the s ilence do that.

“I went into the courtyard and saw someone by a large stone. I thought he was kneeling in prayer. When I walked over, I called out hello, and when I touched his shoulder, he fell over. It was Kane Matthews. I’d seen a picture of him on their website . He was dead.”

I held up a finger and Toby nodded. “Molly, what colo r is your car?”

“The rental? Gray or silver, I guess.” She looked confused at my question.

“One more question. When you left, did you see a vehicle parked nex t to your car?”

She hesitated. I could see the thoughts running through her head. “To the right of my car, yes, there was a Jeep. I’d forgotten about that. I don’t think it was there w hen I arrived.”

“I take it you saw Molly’s car in the parking lot?” Toby loo ked over at me.

“Yes. I went to see if I could find Amanda’s purse. She left it there yesterday when we went to tour the site. I took Emma with me so she’d get a walk today even if we got busy. I saw a gray car when I parked, but it was gon e when I left.”

Toby stood and grabbed his phone. “I need to call Greg. Where are yo u going to be?”

“Amanda and I are heading to the Castle. Call us if you need anything else. Can Molly go now? I can drop her off at her bed-and-breakfast.” I smiled at Molly, who looked a little less shaken than she had when she came into the bookstore.

“I’m staying at South Cove Bed-and-breakfast. It’s not far, I can walk.” Molly stood and looked at Toby. “If we’re done? I need to buy a book to try to relax. It’s bee n a crazy day.”

“You can go. Please stay in town until we figure out what’s going on.” Tob y met her gaze.

“Don’t worry about that. My daughter is at that compound. I’m not leaving here until I talk to her. If she’s happy there, I’ll go home. But I need to hear it from her.” Molly stood and went over to t he bookshelves.

Toby smiled at me. “At least Greg can’t say you intended to get mixed up with this one. It found you.”

“He’ll say it anyway.” I grabbed the bag with the books and looked at Amanda. “Ready to go?”

“Are you still up to going? I mean, you find a dead body. Then you chat with a woman who claims she had nothing to do with it, yet she was there. Maybe we should just go home and wait for Greg.” Amanda watched Toby walk away, already on the lin e with her son.

“If I stayed home and waited for Greg when things like this happened, I’d never leave the house. Let’s go put another check mark on your vacation to-do list. Besides, I need a distraction.” I took Amanda’s arm and we head ed to the Jeep.

I thought this might be her first investigation that she’d been close to. Man, she had a lot to learn.