5 A Bad Egg (16 page)

“Wow, thanks
for that,” I said sarcastically. Did I really show more fondness for my
grandfather than my own dad?

“I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have said that. Forget it.”

“I would if I
could,” I said as Moose pulled up in front of the diner.

I left him to
park the truck. I had some thinking to do.

To my
delight, my father was at the diner with my mother having a bite to eat. I
walked straight to him, put my arms around him, and hugged him tightly. After
our embrace, I pulled back a little so that I could look him straight in the
eye. “You know how much I love you, don’t you?”

He looked
startled by the question, but he nodded and smiled. “Of course I do. I love
you, too.”

“Hey, how
about me?” Mom asked.

I hugged her
as well. “I love you both. Equally.”

“That’s
always nice to hear, but what brought that on?” Mom asked.

“I just
wanted to make sure you both knew how I felt,” I said.

“Well, we
do,” Dad said.

Moose came
back in, blew a kiss to his wife, and then headed straight to his son. To the
surprise of everyone there, he hugged him just as I had. “I don’t say it nearly
enough, but I love you, Son, and I’m proud of the man that you’ve become.”

Dad was thoroughly
confused now. “Okay, am I dying or something? Is there something that you two
aren’t telling me?”

“We’ve just
been dealing with a lot of family intrigue with Gordon Murphy’s murder,” I
said. “It’s made us both realize again how much our family means to us.”

“Hey, where’s
my hug?” Greg asked from the kitchen. “It’s not fair. I’m the one slaving away
over a hot griddle, and yet no one is showing me any love.”

“I’ll correct
that immediately, then,” I said with a smile as I walked to the door between
the kitchen and the dining room and hugged him as well.

“Excuse me,”
Jack Kiley said, “but if you’re all through with your hugfest, I could use a
refill on my sweet tea.”

“So, you’re
not interested in a hug to go along with it?” Moose asked him with a smile.

“No offense,
but not from you,” Jack answered.

“None taken.
I don’t blame you a bit, but it appears that we’ve used up our portion of hugs
for today. You’ll have to take a rain-check.”

“That I’ll
do, but I’d still like the tea.”

“Coming right
up,” Jenny said.

“I’ll take
care of it.” I grabbed the pitcher of tea and refilled Jack’s glass. “Don’t go
anywhere. I need to talk to you.”

Jack looked
at me and grinned. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, I just
want to ask you a few questions. Give me a second, okay?”

“Okay,” he
said.

I walked over
to Jenny and said, “You can take off, Jenny, if you’d like the rest of the
night off.”

Jenny smiled
at me. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“I’m sure
that you are, but it’s hard to do this job all day without more of a break than
you’re getting. Take advantage of my offer and go home. You can sleep in
tomorrow, too. Ellen’s going to work until eleven, if that’s okay with you.”

“Are you sure
that she doesn’t mind?”

“Just between
us,” I said in a quiet voice, “I think being with her parents around the clock
might be driving her a little stir crazy.”

“I can
respect that,” Jenny said. As she took her apron off, she said, “If you’re sure
you can handle things here, I gratefully accept. I’m not afraid to admit it. I
really am beat. Victoria, I have a whole new respect for you after what I’ve
been through today.”

“We all play
an important part in keeping The Charming Moose running smoothly,” I said, “but
thanks for the thought.”

“See you
tomorrow.” She paused, and then Jenny added, “If Ellen changes her mind once
she gets here, I’m just a telephone call away, okay?”

“Okay, and
thanks again for stepping in, Jenny.”

“It’s been my
pleasure. Your grandmother is fun to work with.”

“She has her
charms, doesn’t she?”

“That’s one
way to put it,” Jenny said. I saw her stop and say something to Martha on her
way out, something that caused my grandmother to smile. Jenny was like that,
spreading smiles wherever she went, and I knew yet again that we were lucky to
have her.

“Well, we’re
taking off,” Dad said as he and Mom approached. They were on their way out the
door when my father pulled me aside. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

He hadn’t
called me that since I was child, with the exception of a few times when I’d
been in some serious trouble.

That’s how I knew
that he was really worried about me.

“I’m great,
Dad.”

“What really
brought on that hug?” he asked quite seriously.

“I don’t
always tell you how much you mean to me,” I said. “I know that I spend a great
deal of my free time with Moose, but that doesn’t mean that I love you any
less.”

“Victoria,
listen to me carefully. I’ve never resented the relationship you have with my
father. Would I like the two of us to be closer? You know what? We’re close
enough. He loves me, and I love him, as hard as that is for me sometimes. You
two are a great deal more similar to each other than either of you are to me.”

“And you
don’t really have a problem with that? Be honest with me,” I said.

“I’m just
glad that you each found someone who could stand to be around the other one,”
he said with a big grin, and kissed the tip of my nose, another thing he hadn’t
done in ages. It made me feel like a little girl again, and I was glad again
for who my father was. Moose and I were close, but a girl’s father is not
easily replaced.

Jack called
me over, and as I approached, he said, “As much as I love eating here, I have
to get back to work.” He pushed the plate away and smiled. “That’s the best
lasagna I’ve ever had in my life. Who made it?”

“That’s one
of Greg’s specialties,” I said. “It’s one of my favorites, too, but honestly,
he’s so good, my list of favorites is a mile long.”

“I understand
completely. Now, what is this all about?”

I took the
seat beside him and said, “This won’t take a minute. Have the police spoken to
you about the day of the murder?”

Jack frowned.
“Sure, of course they did. They wanted to know if I’d seen anything suspicious
that day. I told them no, and they went away.”

“That’s the
only thing they asked you?” I asked.

“The deputy
seemed to have something else on his mind,” Jack said. “Besides, what else
could he have asked me?”

“Do you sell
pipe like the one that was used to kill Gordon?”

Jack just
shrugged. “Sure, but it’s not like I’m the only supplier. I sell a great many
things at the hardware store in the course of a day.”

“Any pipe
that day, though?” I asked.

“No, I don’t
think so. One of the guys might have rung something up while I was helping
someone else, but I don’t believe anyone sold pipe.”

That brought
out a new thought. “Would you know every customer who came into the hardware
store that morning and afternoon?”

“Yes,” he
said, and there was no room for debate.

“Really? You
just said someone else might have sold some pipe while you were away from the
register. How can you be so sure?”

“Because I
might not make every sale, but I know who shops in my store,” he said, and I
didn’t doubt it for one second. Jack prided himself on his personal touch with
customers, and I’d experienced it myself on more than one occasion.

“Okay, good.
Did any of these people come into the hardware store the day of the murder?” I
named our complete suspect list, including Ellen.

Jack
stretched his neck a little as though it helped him think. “Robert was there
getting some caulk, and Mitchell came by to have a key made. That’s it.”

“And you’re
certain neither bought any pipe?”

“Positive,”
he said.

“Let me ask
you one more thing. Is there a chance that one of them stole it?”

That clearly
didn’t make Jack happy at all. “I lose some every month to theft, I know that,
but we do what we can. I can’t say for sure that no one took a length of pipe
if he shoved it down his pants.”

“Do you keep
a good inventory of things like that?”

Jack shook
his head. “Not good enough. Our numbers are a little sketchy on things like that.
Sorry I couldn’t help.”

I smiled at
him as I grabbed his check. “You helped me a great deal. Lunch is on the
house.”

“I wasn’t
looking for a free meal,” Jack protested.

“That’s why
it’s so much fun to give you one,” I said.

“Victoria,
the City’s been using that alley to store some construction materials. They
cleaned it up after the murder looking for clues, but that pipe shouldn’t have
been that hard to find. Whoever got it didn’t have to take one step into my
hardware store.”

“Maybe not,
but if it’s all I’ve got, I’m going to use it. Thanks again.”

“At least let
me leave a tip,” Jack said.

“I can’t stop
you,” I said with a smile, and then I tore up his check.

Moose walked
over after Jack left. “What was that all about?”

“You could
have come over,” I said.

“I didn’t
want to cramp your style. Did Jack help any?”

“He told me
that Robert and Mitchell shopped in his store the day of the murder, that he
couldn’t account for every pipe he had in inventory, but most important of all,
he said that the alley was full of construction materials at the time of the
murder, so the murder weapon most likely came from there.”

“It was still
worth a shot checking,” Moose said.

“But probably
just another dead end,” I answered.

“Hey, we take
leads where we get them,” my grandfather said. “At least we got to tell your
father how we felt about him.”

“That’s true.
He doesn’t resent our relationship, by the way.”

“You came out
and asked him?” Moose asked.

“Why not?”

“What did he
say, exactly?” Moose wanted to know.

“He was happy
that we’d each found someone who could stand us,” I said with a grin.

“Well, he’s
not wrong there.”

Chapter 13

After my
folks and Jack left the diner, I told Martha, “You’ve had a long day. Why don’t
you and Moose take off and get some rest this evening? I’m going to need you
again some tomorrow, if you’re willing, and I don’t want to completely wear you
out today.”

“You know
that you can call me anytime,” Martha said, though I noticed that she didn’t try
to talk me out of sending her home.

“And I want
to be able to keep doing that, but I’ve got things here covered tonight.”

“Thank you.”
She saw Moose across the room swapping lies with Lefty Hicks and called out,
“Are you ready to go yet, you old fool?”

“You’re going
to have to be a lot more specific than that, or half the men in here are going
to try to leave with you, Martha,” Lefty replied.

She laughed
at that. “Lefty, there’s no old fool like mine. The rest of you are just pale
imitations of the real thing.”

“That stings,
Martha. Remember once upon a time you preferred me over this fellow here. We
went to the Spring Dance together in middle school.”

Moose shook
his head. “You may have gone there together, but she went home with me, Lefty.
You always seem to forget that part of the story.”

“That’s
because you kidnapped her,” Lefty said. “Can you think of any
other
reason she’d choose you over me?”

“I can think
of dozens,” Moose said with a smile.

My
grandfather slapped his old friend on the back, and then Moose approached
Martha, extending his arm. “My lady, if you’re ready, let’s go home.”

Martha kissed
his cheek, and I could swear that she blushed a little as she did so. “You
never change, do you?”

“I thought
you loved me just the way I was,” Moose said.

“In the
beginning I might have changed a few things if I could have, but truth be told,
I’ve gotten used to you over the years, warts and all.”

“If there’s a
compliment in there, I’m having a hard time spotting it, but I’ll just assume
you meant there to be one, and I’m going to take it.”

After my
grandparents were gone, the diner seemed positively restrained. Greg was in the
kitchen working his magic, and I was waiting on customers and ringing them up
when they finished eating. We were a good team, but there wasn’t time for us to
chat for more than a brief word now and then.

Greg and I
were closing up for the night when I saw that we were about to have one last
customer. If it had been anyone else, I would have turned him away, but this
happened to be someone I was pretty keen to speak with.

“Do you have
a minute, Victoria? I know it’s closing time, but this conversation might be
beneficial to you as well as to me.”

“Sure thing,
Sheriff Croft. Come on in. I’m sure that Greg won’t mind.”

“Hi,
Sheriff,” Greg said as he came out front. “Don’t mind me. I’ve got more work to
do in back.”

“I won’t be
long,” the sheriff told him.

“Take your
time. I’m working on a new cobbler recipe, so I don’t mind the extra time in
the kitchen to experiment.”

“You’re
kidding, right? I love your cobbler just the way it is,” the sheriff said.

“Thanks, but
it can
always
be better. Everything
can, as a matter of fact. Well, not everything. Fried eggs are as good as they
are ever going to get. Bacon, too. That stuff is unbelievable.”

“I thought
you cut bacon out of your diet completely,” I told my husband.

“Every now
and then I have a nibble,” he confessed. “Not more than once a week, and never
an entire piece. Victoria, I have to make sure that our supplier is keeping up with
the quality of the products we serve. I owe it to our customers.”