A Killer Cake (5 page)

“Don’t give yourself too much credit,” I said
with a smile. “Moose needs to be reminded every now and then who’s
really in charge around here these days, and I’m more than happy to
do it.”

“You’re braver than most men in the county,”
the sheriff said.

“Aw, he’s just a pussycat if you dig down
deep enough.”

“Sorry, but my shovel doesn’t reach down that
far,” the sheriff said.

Moose slid a plate through the window.
“Number twelve is ready.”

I grabbed the sheriff’s plate—fried chicken,
fried okra, and a biscuit—and slid it in front of him.

He studied it for a moment, and then he asked
with a smile, “Do you think it’s safe for me to eat this?”

“Moose takes his food seriously,” I said. “He
might browbeat you halfway down the street, but he would never
serve anything he wouldn’t be willing to eat himself. If you don’t
believe me, ask him yourself.”

“No, I trust you both,” he said, and then he
picked up the chicken and took a healthy bite. “Man, this is some
kind of wonderful.”

“We’re glad you like it,” I said. I knew that
I’d have to smooth things over with my grandfather later, but at
least I’d managed to keep the sheriff from locking us both up for
obstructing justice.

“Now, about Kelly Raven,” he said as he
stabbed a few pieces of fried okra and waved them in the air. “What
exactly did she tell you?”

I glanced at the register before I answered
and saw a few people standing in line waiting for me. “Tell you
what. You finish eating, and then we’ll talk.”

“Promise?” the sheriff asked. “What if you
get busy again?”

“Martha will take over the register, and Greg
can handle the kitchen by himself. Moose and I will make ourselves
available to you, no matter what.”

“That’s all I can ask,” he said as he took a
bite of his biscuit. The look of sheer pleasure on his face was
worth watching.

I rang up the customers, and then I walked
back into the kitchen. Greg smiled at me, but Moose had nothing but
a scowl for me.

I took a deep breath, and then I said,
“Before you say one word, tell me that I wasn’t right.”

“About which part?” Moose asked sullenly.

“About every part,” I answered. “It’s my
diner now, right?”

“Right,” he replied grudgingly.

“Right?” I asked. “Try to say it this time
with a little more enthusiasm.”

“Right,” Moose said a little more
brightly.

“And I can take care of myself, can’t I?” I
asked.

He stared at me, and then he started
laughing. “I can’t very well deny it, can I?” He turned to Greg and
asked, “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get along so well with this stubborn, strong
minded, opinionated, independent woman?”

Greg just laughed. “Go ask Martha about being
married to someone with those exact same qualities. I’m willing to
bet that her answer will be the same as mine. We happen to love the
people we’re married to,
because
of who they are, not in
spite of it.”

“I’m not
all
of those things,” Moose
said.

I couldn’t help laughing.

Moose studied me for a few seconds, and then
he asked, “What’s so funny, Victoria?”

“Not a thing in the world,” I said as I
reached up and kissed his cheek. “You’re one of a kind. You know
that, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure that you can say that so
emphatically. You and I seem to have quite a few things in
common.”

I grinned at him. “I’m taking that as a
compliment. You know that, don’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t you? I happen to think that
you’re just about perfect.”

“You’re just biased because you’re my
grandfather,” I replied.

“I certainly hope so,” Moose said. He glanced
out the window, and then added, “Sheriff Sourpuss is just about
finished with his meal. I suppose we’ll have to talk to him before
long.”

“There’s no time like the present,” I
said.

“I don’t guess we have much choice,” Moose
replied. “Lead on.”

“We’re ready if you are,” I told the sheriff
as Moose and I approached him. “There’s a table free over by the
window we can grab.” I hated leaving Martha and Ellen to wait
tables and run the register, but hopefully it wouldn’t be for long.
At least things were slowing down enough for us to have a few
minutes. I found myself wishing that it would just take that long,
but I wasn’t about to hold my breath.

As we got settled in, the sheriff pulled out
his ever-present notebook and pen, and then he looked at us. “Let’s
get started. First things first. Tell me everything that happened
from the moment you walked in that building.”

“Actually, it sort of started before we even
made it inside,” I replied.

The sheriff sighed for a second, and then he
said, “That’s fine. Start wherever you need to. Just don’t leave
anything out.”

Chapter 4

“Are you sure that’s it?” the sheriff asked
as he finished taking the last note. Between the two of us, my
grandfather and I had relayed every word and expression that we’d
heard and seen in Roy Thompson’s office during our conversation
with Kelly.

“Every last thing that we heard,” Moose
said.

“Good,” the sheriff said as he stopped
writing and closed up his notebook. “I appreciate your
cooperation.”

“That works both ways, doesn’t it, Sheriff?”
Moose asked.

“What do you mean?”

I explained, “Well, we were pretty
forthcoming with you. Can you at least return the favor? What did
you find out so far that we don’t know?”

Sheriff Croft shook his head. “I shouldn’t
have to remind either one of you that it doesn’t work that way. I
wouldn’t even be here right now if you two hadn’t gotten to Kelly
Raven before I could manage it myself.”

Moose waved a hand in the air. “That’s old
business, Sheriff; we’ve been properly scolded already. Surely you
can give us something. How else are we going to stay out of your
way if we don’t know where you’re headed?”

He thought about it for five seconds before
he spoke. “I’m still collecting information, and I really don’t
have much more than what you two got out of Kelly. I will say this.
Her story is remarkably consistent in the retelling, from what she
told us.”

“Was it to the point where it sounded
memorized, or was there enough variation that it sounded
believable?” I asked.

“I don’t know. She seemed to hit the same
highlights with you as she did with me, but unless I knew exactly
what she told you word for word, there’s no way to know. You didn’t
happen to record your conversation with her, did you?”

“We’d never do that,” I said.

“Just because we never thought of it before,
but we’re going tape recorder shopping as soon as you leave,” my
grandfather said.

I wasn’t sure if Moose was kidding or not,
and clearly, neither was the sheriff. “I would advise strongly
against doing that, Moose.”

“Why? It could be very helpful at some
point.”

“Don’t overestimate its value. We have
recordings we take that accompany signed statements that the
subject volunteered for the interview, and they still get thrown
out on technicalities sometimes. You’re just asking for trouble if
you try it, and there’s no real upside to the risk you’d be
taking.”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going to do it.” I
turned to my grandfather and asked, “Right, Moose?”

“Hey, it was just a thought. Don’t worry.
I’ve already forgotten it.”

The sheriff nodded, and then he said, “Now,
if you two will excuse me, I’ve got some suspects to
interview.”

“Who are you going to start with first?”
Moose asked, clearly eager to get started with our own
investigation.

“Do we honestly have to have this
conversation again so soon? At least for now, I want you both to
stay away from James Manchester, Sylvia Jones, and her son, Asher.
Do we understand each other?”

“How long is ‘for now’?” I asked him. “Six
hours? Eight?”

“What? No. Days. I’m talking days.”

“Well, we both know that’s not going to
happen, so there’s no use pretending that it is,” Moose said, and
for once, I kept my mouth shut. I happened to agree with him. If
the sheriff tried to take every suspect away from us, we’d be left
out in the cold, and the threat to our diner’s reputation wouldn’t
allow us to sit idly by and trust the sheriff to clear our good
family name.

The sheriff wasn’t all that happy with us,
but I agreed with my grandfather. This was not the time to back
down. “How about two days, then?” he suggested.

“We’ll stay away until tomorrow morning,”
Moose countered.

“Noon tomorrow, and that’s my final
offer.”

Moose frowned, glanced at me, and then he saw
me nod. In an instant, he stuck out his hand. “Sold. It’s a
pleasure doing business with you, Sheriff.”

Sheriff Croft looked bemused as he took my
grandfather’s hand and shook it. “I have a hunch my life would be a
whole lot easier if I just locked you both up and forgot where I
put the key.”

“We all know that you’d never do that, no
matter how tempted you might be,” I said with a grin as the front
door opened, “but if you ever decide to, Rebecca will have us out
in a heartbeat, and nobody will be happy after that.”

“Did someone just mention my name?” my best
friend asked as she walked into the diner.

“Speak of the devil, and he appears,” Moose
said with a grin.

“Actually,
she
appears,” Rebecca said
with a grin. “Was there something I could do for you, Sheriff?”

“I was just leaving, counselor,” he said, and
did as he promised.

After the sheriff was gone, Rebecca asked,
“What was that all about? Or do I really want to know?”

“Sometimes ignorance is bliss,” I said. “It’s
nice to see you. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. “I’m here all
the time.”

“Not that often,” I corrected her, “and
rarely in the afternoon.”

“What can I say?” she asked with a smile. “I
just felt like playing a little hooky. Care to join me, or are you
too busy with your murder investigation?”

“How did you know we were investigating Roy
Thompson’s murder?”

“Come on. He died eating a slice of your
cake. Why wouldn’t you dig into it? Was that why the sheriff was
here? Did he tell you to stay out of it?”

“He did, but just for twenty-one hours,” I
said.

“Then you have time for a little shopping,”
Rebecca said.

I looked at Moose. “What do you think? We
don’t have much to go on without those three suspects. I can spare
an hour, can’t I? My next shift here doesn’t technically start
until five.”

“Go,” he said agreeably, something that
instantly got my suspicions up.

“Moose, you’re not going to do anything
foolish like investigate on your own without me, are you? We
promised the sheriff, remember?”

“If memory serves, we agreed to stay away
from three specific suspects. Knowing Roy Thompson, I’m willing to
wager that there were more folks than that who wouldn’t mind seeing
the man dead.”

I turned to Rebecca. “Sorry, but I can’t go.
I have to babysit my grandfather.”

“I understand,” she said as she started to
stand.

Moose said angrily, “Nobody, and I mean
nobody, needs to babysit me.”

“Then promise me you’ll stay here, or I’m not
going anywhere.”

Moose mulled that over, and then finally, he
said, “How about if I make a few telephone calls from the office in
back? That would keep me here. Would that make you happy?”

“More than I can express,” I said as I kissed
his cheek, and then I turned to Rebecca. “Let’s go. I’m all
yours.”

I waved happily to my grandfather as we
walked out, and after a moment, he smiled and waved back to me. I
had no doubt that he’d make productive use of the time I was gone,
but I needed to relax a little with Rebecca. We spent far too
little time together these days, and I found myself missing
her.

It was just too bad that murder had a way of
getting between us.

By the time I got back to the diner, I was
feeling much better. Spending time with Rebecca always seemed to do
that to me. She was one of those old friends that, no matter how
long the gap between our visits, it was as though no time at all
had passed between us when we managed to get together again. The
feelings of happiness I was experiencing didn’t last all that long,
though. My grandfather was waiting impatiently for me by the front
door when I walked in, ready and eager to go. I just hoped he had a
lead worth following that didn’t include the list of suspects that
the sheriff was currently pursuing.

“Come on, Victoria. Let’s go,” Moose said as
he clutched his coat in his hands. “I’ve been on the phone since
you left, and I’m getting some real gold from my contacts.”

“He wanted to call you a dozen times, but I
wouldn’t let him,” Martha said calmly after she finished ringing up
one of our customers.

“She’s worse than you sometimes,” Moose said
with a hint of ire in his voice. If there was one person around who
could control my grandfather besides me, it was his wife, not that
I thought I could ever manipulate Moose into doing something that
he didn’t want to do. The man could be so stubborn at times that it
was a job convincing him that a plan had been his in the first
place.

“I told you it wouldn’t kill you to wait,”
Martha said with a soft smile.

“Okay, I didn’t die from it, but it pretty
near knocked me unconscious. Now, are we going to stand here all
afternoon gabbing, Victoria, or are we going to go follow up on my
new leads?”

“I’m ready to go wherever you lead me,” I
said.

“Then the first place we’re going is out of
this diner.”