5 A Bad Egg

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Jessica Beck is the
New
York Times
Bestselling

Author of the Donut Shop Mysteries from St. Martin's Press
and

Author of The Classic Diner Mystery Series

and The Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries

from Cozy Publishing.

To my mother, Ruby;

a real jewel!

A
Bad Egg by Jessica Beck; Copyright © 2013

All
rights reserved.

No
part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or
electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage
piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. This is a
work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events,
or locales is entirely coincidental.

Recipes
included in this book are to be recreated at the reader’s own risk.
 
The author is not responsible for any damage,
medical or otherwise, created as a result of reproducing these recipes.
 
It is the responsibility of the reader to
ensure that none of the ingredients are detrimental to their health, and the
author will not be held liable in any way for any problems that might arise
from following the included recipes.

Chapter 1

When Gordon
Murphy originally left town, everyone said good riddance, especially Ellen
Hightower, our morning waitress at The Charming Moose, a quaint little diner my
family and I run in Jasper Fork, North Carolina. My grandfather, our diner’s
namesake Moose, had always called Gordon a bad egg, and no one but Ellen had
ever had much cause to disagree with him. Like many girls who were not quite
women yet, Ellen had gone out with Gordon initially
because
he was a bad boy, not in spite of it. She’d believed in her
heart that she could change him, if only she had the chance, but five years
into a hasty marriage, and two kids later, Gordon hadn’t changed one bit, and,
to no one’s surprise, he left them in the middle of a snowy night in December.
As far as anyone knew, Gordon never gave another thought to his ex-wife and his
children after he filed for divorce a year later, but that all changed the day
he came back to town five years after he’d first left. Just as summer follows
spring, I suppose that it was inevitable that mayhem would ensue, and as things
always seemed to go, they centered around me and my extended family at The
Charming Moose.

“Gordon, I
told you last night. You can’t have my children.” The second I heard Ellen’s voice,
I knew that there was trouble.

I hadn’t been
up front when Gordon Murphy slipped into the diner, or I would have told him
that he wasn’t welcome at The Charming Moose. I’d been in back chatting with my
mother, who ran the grill from six to eleven in the morning.

“They’re my
kids, too,” Gordon answered calmly as I walked out front.

“You gave
them up the day you walked out on us,” Ellen said. She was physically shaking,
and her voice quivered a bit, but she wasn’t about to back down. Normally,
Ellen was a woman who was content with her life, and I knew that our customers
appreciated her soft smile and the kind words she dished out along with the
food she served.

This woman
was someone different altogether, a mother bear fighting for her cubs, and if I
were Gordon, I’d watch my next words very carefully. There were a handful of
folks eating at the diner, but no one was about to make a sound for fear of
upsetting the scene.

“That’s not
how the law sees it,” Gordon said almost cordially. “I’ve consulted with my
attorneys, and they believe that I have a solid case for joint custody.”

“You’re
bluffing.
You
couldn’t afford to hire
anyone.”

Gordon
shrugged. “I’ve changed, Ellen. I’m doing fine now on my own, and with Jessie’s
support, the kids will have a better life once we’re married than they’ve ever
had with you.”

“You told me
last night how rich she was, but that doesn’t mean a thing.” Her voice faltered
a little as she said it.

“Ellen, let’s
be reasonable,” Gordon said.

I planned to
stay out of it, since Ellen was doing just fine on her own, but when I saw her
reach down to the counter to grab the sharp serrated knife that Malcolm Mason
had recently used for his steak and eggs, it was time to move in.

I grabbed the
knife before she could, and for one split second, Ellen looked at me with a
feral expression. It was gone nearly as fast as it had appeared, but it scared
me nonetheless.

It was time
to put a stop to this. “Gordon, you need to leave the diner, and I mean right
now.”

“I don’t see
why I should. I have as much right to be here as anyone else,” he said.

“Funny, that
sign says that you don’t,” I answered as I pointed to the printed sign under
the register. I could kiss my grandfather for installing it when he’d first
opened the diner. It allowed us the right to refuse service to anyone we
pleased, and I’d used it myself on more than one occasion in the past.

“I’m not
asking for service. I just want to talk to my wife.”

“Ex-wife,”
Ellen said, spitting out the words. “And as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing
left to talk about.”

“That’s where
you’re mistaken,” Gordon said, and I knew that he’d pushed her too far with his
last comment.

“Know one
thing, Gordon,” she said icily. “I’ll see you dead before you get my children.”

Gordon looked
pleased by the threat as he looked around the dining room. “You all heard her
just threaten me, didn’t you?”

I smiled
brightly at him. “I’m sorry. Did you say something? I was lost in my thoughts.
I missed all of your conversation.”

A frown
appeared on Gordon’s face as he looked around the room and realized that no one
was looking at him now. “So that’s the way you’re going to act? Mark my words.
You’ll all pay for this.”

I was about
to say something when Ellen’s dad, Robert Hightower, came storming into the
diner. He was the very definition of an overprotective father, and when it came
to his grandchildren, there was nothing that could keep him from defending
them.

“Get out, you
worthless piece of garbage,” Robert said. He normally had a bit of a stammer
when he spoke, but there wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his voice right now.

“I’m warning
you, old man. If you try something with me, I’ll beat you just like I beat your
little girl’s boyfriend last night.”

That was news
to me. What had gone on the night before at Ellen’s place? She had come into
work that morning a little quieter and more subdued than normal, but she hadn’t
said anything about an earlier confrontation with her ex-husband. And who was
this boyfriend? Was Ellen keeping secrets from me?

“You
sucker-punched Wayne, and you know it,” Ellen said, and at least that part
became clear. She and the mechanic had been flirting for months, but I hadn’t
realized that it had progressed beyond that. “He’d kill you in a fair fight.”

“Let him know
that I’m ready any time,” Gordon said.

“There won’t
be enough left of you after I’m through,” Robert said as he started toward
Gordon. The younger man had thirty years on his former father-in-law, but I
wouldn’t have placed any bets on a confrontation between them at the moment. Robert
was vigorous and swarthy, and I didn’t doubt that he could do some real damage
to his opponent, given the level of his motivation.

“Hang on
here, folks,” Sheriff Croft said as he walked into the diner. “Everybody just
take a deep breath.”

“Sheriff, I
asked Gordon to leave, and he refused. I’d appreciate it if you’d escort him
out,” I said.

“Is that
true?” the sheriff asked as he looked at Gordon.

“Listen, I
know that none of you like me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have rights.”

“You do for a
fact,” the sheriff said, “but the lady asked you politely to leave her diner,
which is well within
her
rights, and
if you continue to refuse, I’m going to show you the inside of my jail, not
that you haven’t already seen it more than once in the past.”

“Fine, I’ll
go for now, but this isn’t over,” Gordon said as he stared at Ellen.

“I meant what
I said,” she answered.

The sheriff
started to walk behind Gordon as he headed for the door, and Robert Hightower
followed close behind.

“Where do you
think you’re going?” the sheriff turned and asked him.

“I thought
I’d stretch my legs a little,” Robert said as he looked intently at Gordon.

“Why don’t
you let me buy you a cup of coffee in a second, and we can talk,” the sheriff
said, and then he turned to me. “Victoria, set him up, would you?”

“Thanks, but
no thanks,” Robert said.

The sheriff
shook his head, and then he took a step closer to Ellen’s father. “It wasn’t
exactly a request, Bob.” I’d never heard anyone but Robert Hightower’s closest
friends call him Bob. It seemed to do the trick.

“You’re not
worth it, anyway,” he said to Gordon with a sigh.

Ellen’s ex
just smiled, and I thought Robert might come after him because of the grin
alone, but he calmed down, and I said, “Let’s get you that coffee.”

He nodded,
and Ellen took her father’s arm and guided him to a seat at the bar.

A few minutes
later, the sheriff came back in, and I was relieved to see that he was alone.

“Is
everything okay?” I asked him as he walked past my station at the door.

“No, I’ve got
a hunch that it’s not okay at all, but there’s not much that I can do about it.
Would you mind bringing me a cup of coffee, too?”

“I’d be
delighted. Thanks for handling that.”

The sheriff
just shook his head. “All I did was postpone the inevitable. Have you seen
Wayne over at the garage? He’s got a black eye that must be killing him, but he
wouldn’t tell me where he got it.”

“I know,” I
said.

“Yeah, so do
I, now.”

I got the
sheriff his coffee, but it was clear that he wanted some time alone with
Robert, so I walked over to Ellen and joined her as she bussed one of the
tables. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m
furious,” she said. Her hands were still shaking, and I could see that she had
a white-knuckle grip on a poor fork that hadn’t done anything to her. “He’s got
some nerve coming in here and demanding my children.”

“Don’t worry.
He won’t win.”

“You heard
him, Victoria. He’s got a bank of lawyers now that he’s with a rich woman. I’m
going to lose my kids if I don’t do something drastic. I just know it.”

“Slow down. That’s
not going to happen. We’ll enlist Rebecca to make sure of it.” Rebecca Davis
was my best friend, and a superb attorney at law. While she didn’t take an
active part in my unofficial investigations, she was wonderful company, and
someone I cherished.

“You can’t
promise that, and you know it.” There was an air of defeat in her words, and I
knew that this must have been killing her. Ellen had gone all that time without
running into her ex-husband, but now he was back, and with a vengeance.

“You’re
right. That was out of line. But I can promise you that Rebecca will fight to
the death to make sure you don’t lose your kids. You’re a great mom, Ellen. No
judge is going to take your children away from you.”